Chapter 5-159: It’s the Thought that Counts (1/2)
“Seventeen hundred hours of rep counts for one Meta? Seventy days worth of time?” She rolled her eyes. “Okay, you have the fun toys, but that just sounds colossally boring, and I can Meditate endlessly if I have to.”
“Yes, but Meditation doesn’t have any negative modifiers. Rep Counts for Weirding stuff have a Concentration Check affected by fatigue modifiers, which can grow VERY quickly, you can’t just Cast-and-forget. The Concentration check to do that for a +9 is a base 38.”
“That can’t be that harsh if you build for it as a Ten. What’s your modifier right now? +40?”
“+46, Steady Focus.”
“Taking Ten on a +46.” Sama rolled her eyes. “Riiiight.”
“Two universal skills, four Casting skills,” I answered back, giving her shoulder a slug. My fist bounced like I’d hit a tire; I wasn’t worried about hurting her, and she barely noticed it. If it hurt her, my fist would probably be broken.
“Depending on Tradition, right,” she agreed, nodding at the memory.
Stealth and Perception were naturally the universal Skills if you were an adventurer. For an Arcane main Class, Concentration, Meditation, Arcane Lore, and Spellcraft were primary. For Divine, swap the last two for Faith and Religious Lore. For Druids, Faith and Natural Lore. For Binding, Spellcraft and Planar Lore. For Artifice, Alchemy and Spellcraft. For the Heartsong, Diplomacy and a Perform Skill.
“You realize you just described a +28 modifier you need the Concentration Skill Tree at Four to Take Ten on as ‘not hard’,” I laughed at her.
“Oy!” She knocked my head once, being obvious about it, and I still yelped. “Power of Ten Magos Ten I’m talking to here! Are you judging things by these folks around us being stuck at Six? You’ve already arranged for a +46, and it’s only going to get higher, right?”
I grumbled as I rubbed my head, certain I was going to have a bump on it. Damn Hag-happy muscle women... “I certainly hope so. I’m pretty sure it’s going to let me take my Fours, and I have a big, big desire to get the Sagedom for it, thank you kindly.”
“Oh, what’s that Sagedom?” she asked brightly. “Did you inherit it? I didn’t know Aelryinth had a Sagedom...”
“He never claimed it in public. Sage of Focus... add all mental modifiers for all your Casting Attributes to your Concentration check.”
She narrowed her eyes and turned to look at me. “Are you serious?”
“Totally.”
“You get to add FOUR ABILITY SCORES to a skill check?!” she demanded in a stage whisper.
“I’ve got everything but the base Concentration Skill Mastery.”
Sama rolled her eyes at the sky. “Mithar and Valus. That... what do you do with a skill check that high?”
“Make Saving Throws against no-save Death Curses from post-Thirty Death Giant Demi-liches?”
She opened her mouth and shut it, then smirked. “I shouldn’t be rolling my eyes at grabbing for high numbers.”
“Yeah, I know what Sama’s to-hit numbers are back home after Way of Water, Air, and Fire IV, and all them damn modifiers she started stacking up.”
“We might have to hit crazy optimized Magas with post-40 AC’s!” she replied shamelessly.
“Yes. Or Magmawights.” Her smug smile slipped a bit.
“That’s your guess?” Her eyes turned to the cinderstorm. “Okay, that’s a damn good guess. A Firezone is an awesome protection against most undead, although I have a feeling it won’t work against the big one in Russia...”
“No, that Cardinal would just Control Weather to make a constant driving blizzard, and keep infusing soulchill into everything, cooling it down faster than the magmawight could keep it artificially heated. Nega-lance all its Fire minions to undeath, and take it out easy. Maybe if another Shroudzone could have come here, it would have been a fight...” I trailed off. “What’s your Trembling Domain telling you?” I asked sharply, slowly raising my feet off the ground on the patient Disk I was sitting on.
Sama blinked, and the transition to kill-happy melee bitch was in full force. Her bare feet hovered an inch above the ground as she looked down, concentrating intently on what the vibrations were telling her, above and beyond the constant patter of the cinders and ash coming down.
She whistled a very precise two-tones.
I clutched my hand, and the Hut vanished even as the occupants thereof were hurling themselves back and away on their Disks, Guns springing to hand and/or Weapons drawn.
The Mick additionally smoothly gathered the cards and chips as he kicked away and flicked up his own Force Armor to turn aside the falling ash as he left the protection of Master Fred’s Ward. Because he could, natch.
There was an explosion of stone and ash right in the middle of where they’d been playing cards, scattering molten stone, fire, and shards of earth and rock in all directions as a mighty roar filled the air. A huge serpentine creature wreathed in fire and molten stone smashed through Master Fred’s Ward Wall and rose thirty feet into the air, towering over everyone before it began to arch over and peer at us, pausing as if to revel in our fear and awe and...