I think a decent summation. Definitely wasn't expecting Thorn to go down in 1. If he's not outright dead, can Seldon get to him to burn a cure spell at least? The Swarm might give us a great chance to pull back and outlast them.
Barek may look to step up and engage Blue and the Chief to block them moving forward any. If Tunder can finish off Red, that can even things a bit. The Swarm probably envelopes the back of the room, we could get Thorn and retreat a bit. Remember, Selena can't control the swarm, so it's probably best for us to get out of its way.
I am telling you, nobody, I mean nobody, hates killing players worse than I do, so I went back and did some checking
Seldon channeled on 1/19 bringing Thorn back to full HP. He then took a hit in the Trophy room on 1/27 for 5 damage making him 16/21. Then initially in this Throne Room he got hit again early for 7, making him 9/21.
The feat of Ripnugget's, Spirited Charge, calls for double damage on charges, and I chose not to use it, hoping for a way after the Critical roll, but with the lizard bite (for 8), and the chief's blade (for 16 more) , our elf warrior fell to -15 (not -13 as initially reported, not a math major...) which by rule kills him.
Even if he had been fully healed, a would've had to pull the Spirited Charge, which would've done quadruple damage, given the crit. (1d4+5)x4 is a minimum of 24 (his total hp) and a max of 36. That plus the lizard bite would've likely ended him anyway.
This is not a pushover fight, and it could've been worse if I'd played a party-hating GM tactically and had the whole fort after you instead of in increments. At the end of the day, it's a dice rolling game, and they came up unlucky as hell for the poor guy.
It's my first PC death as a PbP GM, and it makes me sad. Here's too you, Thorn!
A couple of ? then. First when you double a double such as a crit with spirited charge doesn't that turn into a x3 multiplier in pathfinder instead of x4, not that it matters now but for future note.
2) if a PC drops like this how are we to know in game that he is dead and not unconscious so we don't end up using all actions to try and bring someone bak tht is impossible to bring back. Is it ok to metagame in this instance.
3) is there a way to bring back Thorn if we have to go back to Sandpoint? Pool resources or take a collection for a hero of Sandpoint to be raised or reincarnated? Is there anyone in Sandpoint able to cast those spells? Just don't want to see Thorn gone as a player if there is a way to bring him back, preferable, or have him make a new character?
4) last and I know this is grasping at straws here as it is probably an auto success, but trying to save Thorn, did the goblin need to make a handle animal check to spur it to charge?
Good thoughts and ideas. I am pro-player so let's explore these.
1. It seems you are correct in assessing a double damage crit, it should e x3. Not that it matters much to this case. But the chief is still mounted (just saying...).
Multiplying Damage: Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results.
Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage. So if you are asked to double the damage twice, the end result is three times the normal damage.
2. In this case, because of the massive crit, I think it would be easy to see the wound was fatal. In this case his head is nearly severed (only nearly in case you do want to bring him back.) Feel free to have that knowledge ingame, but because fo #3 below, I'd think you'd try to recover him.
3. Not sure you know enough about Sandpoint to know. Raise Dead or Resurrection are options but require a 9th or 13th level cleric to cast. Raise dead is also 5450gp per the PFS guide, and resurrection is about 2x that. Also, if True Love where present, he might be brought back by a Miracle Pill. Maybe Magnimar or even Korvosa?
I can consider another character for the player, or your attempts to revive. There is an opportunity ahead for an NPC to join up and he could fall over there as well. I haven't seen or heard from the player yet to discuss.
4. Handle Animal is a DC 10 skill check. Ripnugget's Handle Animal is +9. I guess there is a 5% chance of him failing his roll.
Looks like he made it.
oops I didn't mean resurrection I meant the druid equivalent... reincarnate.
Thanks for exploring the options DoctorEvil.
Well, let's hear from Thorn himself. How do you want to play this?
That is what happens, especially when they don't listen to him... :(
He was decapitated, you should not waste cure spells on that corpse.
I knew we should have pulled them to us, especially since this is their chief.
Good luck everyone.
Soooooo... am I rolling up another character or what? At low level, meaning below 5th any sort of ressurection is beyond normal means.
To answer some questions...
Heal checks are awesome to determine how hurt someone is or if someone is dead. Status is great too, though that is a later spell. There are other low level spells that can be helpful too.
On a side note Thorn would gladly accept the burden of paying back the group for the raise dead spell. Though it would take him forever... Seldon would be the only one who knows of this, then again maybe not.
For what it is worth the raise dead spell costs 5000 gp in diamond dust. I am fine with giving up 1000gp once I have that to get you back. I figure we all will be needing some form of help like this at some point, you just happened to be first.
Do we want to set aside 10% for a party und just for this reason?
Not that it completely erases the deficit, but Selena took the trait to get 10% more on sold goods and 5% reduction on magic crafting. That should help us out financially later. Just have to get tht far and survive right now.
I would prefer you to come back as Thorn as I personally hate seeing PC die from unlucky rolls.
You can roll up someone new or help the group figure out how to pay for the raise dead/reincarnate/resurrection. If you like Thorn and want to keep him, or if you'd rather have a new concept is really up to you at this point.
That cold iron returning dagger that Mirela has is incredibly valuable, and could fund most of a caster cost if you wanted. Or you could have a bake sale...
Wow cold iron returning dagger? Dang that is like 10302 gp right there. Sold for 60% and we have enough already.
Honestly I really like Thorn and I would like to raise him.
Now we just have to kill off all of the goblins and make it back to Sandpoint.
Sorry if I am a pest, but do you need anything else from Selena before the recap. Want to kill these guys and get Thorn raised and get him back in action again.
Go team!
Everyone doing ok? Quiet lately and just checking in.
Not sure if you've booted me yet... I'd understand if you had, but if not I've returned.
Needless to say, the last six weeks of my life have been hellishly busy. I was working a new contract, and working on a basement renovation in the evenings. One of these two overly time consuming events has finally relaxed, so if you'll have me, I'd love to come back.
Haven't heard anything yet about you being booted. Hopefully not, although it would mean I could go back my original avatar image... ;p
Also don't know if you noticed but Thorn died so we have to figure a way to get him back as well. We mentioned selling the returning dagger but don't know if we are in a position to head to Magnimar to have it accomplished or not.
I'd be down with selling the Returning Dagger to get Thorn back from the dead. It was really more a nice +1 weapon, the returning aspect was nice, but I can easily do without.
Welcome back! You've been missed! You're just in time to see us turn this fight around I hope,
Watch her get the killing blow on the goblin chief with her tossing the dagger. That would be the icing on the cake for Miri.
Miri if we sell the dagger I will make sure to keep some scrolls of magic weapon on hand. I have 2-3 already should we need them. Just never seems like I have the time to buff when needed.
I'm having a similar experience. Now that the better minute/level buffs are available I think it might be good to make a point of letting Miri scout so we can be better prepared. I can pretty much keep communal protection from evil and bless up whenever we're expecting these tougher encounters.
Looking over my spell list I'm definitely regretting my choice of that perform trait. I've been drooling over Fate's Favored since Ultimate Campaign came out. I could be getting so much mileage out of divine favor!
Ye gods this a tough fight... sure doesn't pay to be an elf right now! Not that I'd want to change the last action, but I can control Mirela again now Doc, I'm finally able to check again on a regular basis.
Nice hit by the way Barek; I can't imagine the Chieftain surviving that.
Welcome back Mirela. You picked a good time to be absent as it was all combat. Glad you will be back on a regular basis.
Advancement to level 4 for you, and then a discussion about what to do with/for poor Thorn.
Remember you can choose to take the one-half HP rounded up or roll for new (if you roll a one, you can re-roll subtracting one from the new result). You have to choose in advance.
Please list your upgrades here so I can update my portfolios properly. Don't forget to gather any loot here as well.
Yeah 4th level and more spells...
Will keep the 1/2 HD rounded up for Selena. Will get the update done shortly as I am looking at skill points and where to put them.
I'm traveling this week, so I won't be able to level Barek until a little later. Another level of fighter though and it gets him the Brawler's replacement for Weapon Training, which gives +1/+3 to hit/damage on his unarmed attacks. Don't forget the +1 stat increase too.
Shall we get Thorn back to Sandpoint?
Rogue Talent: Fast Stealth (4th)
Uncanny Dodge
+1 Dexterity
+1 Reflex Save
+7 HP (Avg HP, +1 Con, +1 Favored)
Skill Allocation for level 4 (11 points)
Acrobatics +1 (Rank 4)
Climb +2 (Rank 3)
Bluff +1 (Rank 4)
Diplomacy +1 (Rank 4)
Knowledge (Local) +1 (Rank 2)
Disguise +1 (Rank 2)
Perception +1 (Rank 4)
Sleight of Hand +1 (Rank 4)
Stealth +1 (Rank 4)
Swim +1 (Rank 2)
I am fine with that. Depending on how it plays out Selena still wants to m,I'll the goblin dogs at range with her acid splash cantrip. That might make up some of the difference in xp so we still level.
I am all for returning if we think there is reason to believe that he can get a raise dead or reincarnate in Sandpoint.
From memory it's too small a town and we'd have to send him to magnimar so if thorn wants to wait for a raise he'd probably be waiting another week or two. No word from him on playing an NPC in the meantime, but Shalelu and... Somebody in thistletop are both options there. I'm with Selena on clearing at least this floor before we retreat. Or licking our wounds and pressing on. I'll write up an IC post as soon as I'm off site this afternoon
I've not killed enough characters to have a hard-and-fast rule about assigning XP's to dead PC's. If the group wants to cut Thorn in the on the total, it'd mean 633 per person or a total of 5796. You lose my rounding benefit and end up 204 short of the level. If you waste the goblin dogs, it will likely be enough to get you there anyway, but you may hit unexpected trouble.
In order to do share with Thorn, which means delaying the leveling, I need a vote from everyone. Selena and Tunder I assume are for that. I'd like to confirm that Mirela and Barek are okay as well, and can undo their completed level ups.
Need to find a 7th level druid for reincarnate or a 9th level cleric for raise dead. Per the AP, Father Zantus is 4th level cleric and there is no druid in the community of Sandpoint. It's going to have to be Magnimar or elsewhere (or send for someone).
Thorn did say he likes his character and would prefer to play him on, rather than pick up an NPC or new PC.
Just confirming that Selena is good with sharing the xp.
Also she wouldn't know about further problems so would still like to take out the dogs now while they are here from up on the roof.
I'm fine to share XP, since he did start the battle with us... there is something to be said about a brush with death providing some practical experience to a warrior (although, this is more than just a brush with death I suppose).
That said, we'll all have to revert to our level 3 selves; probably should've waited until we settled this issue before updating. Oh well, c'est la vie.
As to how we raise him, that becomes more complicated. We can sell the returning dagger to raise the funds, and I'd be happy to replace it with that +1 Shortsword (if nobody is opposed) in the loot as Miri's new offhand weapon... but getting all the way to Magnimar poses a significant problem.
1) We'll need to finish up here I would think, as it might take several days to get to Magnimar, sell the dagger and raise Thorn, which would give the goblins time to recover somewhat.
2) If we do finish off here, Thorn is going to miss out on further XP in any event, which is kinda crappy.
I feel as though there are no good options here, but I'm open to suggestions.
The shortsword is a small short sword so you would be taking the penalties to use it as an off sized weapon. -2 to hit I believe.
What would be great is if they had a scroll that we could pruchase and just have SEldon make the CL check to use it to get Thorn back. Either way we still need to get 2 restorations as well to get Thorn back to full strength.
Perhaps a messenger can be sent to purchase the scroll of raise dead while we keep Sandpoint safe. Thus we can clear out the fort and keep the goblins in check during the meantime.
Regardless I am good with sharing xp to keep Thorn at the same level as us.
I'm all for giving Thorn XP. In fact I'm more used to keeping the entire party the same level regardless of what happens. As for what to do next, I'm not sure. We don't know if the goblins are on a clock at all or if/how they'll react to us killing their chief. Much less our demon girl.
How long of a travel is it from the goblins here to Sandpoint again? If I remember right it is less than a day. That means we could at least arrive at Sandpoint still toady. In the morning take Thorn to Magnimar to get him raised. If necessary we could have Selena go to get him raised and sell the dagg as she gets bonuses to selling items. Trait would allow the rest of you to guard Sndpoint and keep an eye on the goblins until we get back.
Level up summary (I'll update his profile once you give us the go-ahead.):
4+1+2hp (30 total)
scribe scroll (bonus feat)
+1 to Knowledge's from breadth of knowledge ability
4 skill points
an additional first and second level spell slot (with 15 minutes of praying I can actually fill these now and keep on pushing. I'm pretty sure Selena can do the same, come to think.)
With your permission, Doctor, I was wondering if I could take a drawback. The overprotective or attached drawbacks seem fitting after the loss of his comrade in arms and I'm a bit of a trait junkie. I'd take that Fate's Favored trait from Ultimate Campaign that I've been tooting my horn about, which boosts Seldon's divine favor and the effects of prayer on himself by +1. A little boost to his archery when he can buff up. It's a big drawback for a sizeable boost and I can understand if you're wary of changes like this after character creation. But the Drawback system seems like a nice organic way to pick up a trait.
Also I'm spending far too much time in the thread today. I'm sure it has nothing to do with this evening's looming deadlines... :)
DoctorEvil if you want the level up information now I have it for you even if we are holding off just a bit for now.
+1 Int
+1 BAB
+1 CL
HP: d6 (rounded up) +1 favored class, +2 con =7 for a total of 30hp
no feats
+1 first and second level spell (vanish and create pit respectively)
+2 2nd level spells to spellbook: knock and false life
+1 telekinetic fist and +1 damage
7 skill points: diplomacy, spellcraft, arcane, dungeoneering, history, planes, religion
Barek - got your hp, tell me what you take for favored bonus and skill points. Also what attribute you increase.
Mirela - you are good.
Seldon - Let's not add drawbacks and traits at this stage please. Learn to love yourself as you are, Seldon. Let me see how your ability update, skills, and spell set up for additional slots.
Selena - Vanish is an illusion spell, which takes up two slots, putting you over for the day. Give me a run down on what you have, and have used to make sure we are on the same page.
Tunder - need to see your updates as well.
That is right it is an illusion spell. In that case it will be protection from evil.
This is what I show I had prepared for the day plus the 2 new spells for leveling up. The spells with [x] behind them are those spells already cast.
Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 4th; concentration +8):
2nd (2+1+1/day)—
bull's strength,
bull's strength,
create pit,
summon swarm [x]
1st (3+1+1/day)—
magic weapon,
mage armor [x],
ray of enfeeblement (DC 15),
enlarge person (DC 15),
protection from evil
0 (at will)—
acid splash,
open/close (DC 14),
detect magic,
light
Telekinetic Fist (5/8 used per day) (Sp) 30' ranged touch attack, 1d4+2
I have also used 2 scrolls of enlarge and an alchemist fire.
Please let me now if there is anything else you need. Thanks
Selena - thanks. My stats agree with yours except I have you with still just 7 fists. 3+INT mod which is still +4, right?
Yeah,, you are right again. I added one thinking it was 1 per 2 levels as well. Fixing it now. This is what I get for not using herolab and trying to do it from work.
Selena doesn't have the strength or carrying capacity yet to haul stuff but neither do I worry about tactical movement for combat as much.
What is everyone's thoughts about the potions and gear?