DM Puppet Master's Humble Bundle Welcome Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Anon A Mouse

So I realize that everyone has a map piece. Is there a complete one or do we need to put it together on our own?

@DM Puppet Master I don't have enough money for the potions anyway so I'll trust in the healing abilities of my fellow companions :)

By the way, do we have to add the contents of the backpack to our character sheet? If that's the case, I suppose they'll count towards the weight limit so I will have to rearrange my possessions and leave a couple of things in town. Or maybe I could sell the things I don't need?

You don't have to add them to your character sheet, but it would be a good idea. Since PBPs take a long time, you will most likely have forgotten what you got if you don't, and it's generally easier to check your character sheet than trying to search through the gameplay thread to find the original post.

You can sell things if you want. Normally you sell things at half their value, but since we're still at the beginning of the game, you can sell for full price. Another possibility is that if it's not something your character needs, you could see if any of the other characters might want it.

One more question. Is there any difference between sleeping in a tent vs sleeping in a bedroll? I know that sleeping in armor causes fatigue but is there any negative modifier for sleeping out in the open in a bedroll if it is, for example, raining or snowing?

I don't know if there are actual rules for that, which means it'll be up to the DM. Since the weather isn't a big part of this module (unlike, for example, Reign of Winter), I'm going to say the only difference between the two is that a tent provides soft cover.

Great, I'll keep my bedroll then. Thanks!

Hey all, you've started your first combat. I've tried to lay out the basics, but pipe up if you have questions.

Init: I, like a number of PBP DMs, will make some rolls for you to speed things up. One of these rolls is initiative. Initiative will also done in a "group" order. That means that everybody who goes before the enemy can go at any point, no waiting for other members of your team. So even if Jaed hasn't posted his action yet, Finnrick and the others can still post their actions because they go before the enemy.

Combat Map: I will be using Google drawings for maps. You should move your character as you wish on your turn. If you do any kind of area of effect thing, you should draw that as well.

Post rate: Since in combat not posting will hold up other people, if you haven't posted your action within 48 hours of your turn coming up, I reserve the right to bot your character to move things along. If you wish, you may put how you'd like for your character to be botted in your profile, and I will do my best to use those intsructions.

OK, I added my possessions to the alias. I am medium load with the tent. So I either need to cut 19.5 lbs elsewhere, drop the tent, or be under a medium load.

So, understanding this, I can delay and go with the group after the enemy? My preference would be to do that.

So, understanding this, I can delay and go with the group after the enemy? My preference would be to do that.

You can, although in this case, that would be the equivalent of giving up your turn (the second group will be making their round 1 actions at the same time the first group is making their round 2 actions). Might I suggest readying an action instead? For example, you could move closer and ready an action to melee attack any orcs that come within reach of you.

That was what I was unsure of. Thanks for the tip.

I just realized that I didn't take into account the cover in my last post (a scored a critical so not that it is going to change anything). In this case, the enemy would have had cover because I have another character in front of me, right?

Could I have taken a ready action to shoot when I have a clear line of sight and if I don't, get the shot at the end of the round?

If you take a readied action but then your trigger never comes up, you lose your action. So no, you wouldn't have gotten to shoot at the end of the round if you never got line of sight.

Since you were expecting something to happen, it would be reasonable to assume you had a weapon out already, so you could have used your move action to move to get line of sight rather than to draw your weapon. I'm pretty much going to assume that everybody has a weapon drawn unless they're in a town or somewhere where it would be a social faux pas to do so unless I'm told otherwise.

question regarding rolls: what is the recommendation? roll (with the [ dice ] shortcode), preview and then write my post based on the preview result?

also, is it ok if I do my free action (knowledge(local)) roll before being able to act?

I am not trained in knowledge local. Can I roll a nature check instead?

I forgot that Millsy might have multiple attacks. In order to attack more than once (if you have a character with multiple attacks), you need to take a full-round action, which is what you get if you combine your move and standard action. So you can 5 ft step and then full-round attack, but you can't move more than that.

@panegyric: I personally use preview to see what I roll, yes. And yes, you can make your Kn(local) roll before being able to act, but you can't inform other people of what you know until you can act.

@Finnrick: The knowledge check is to identify the creatures. These creatures fall under kn(local), so a kn(nature) check wouldn't help you. Also, you add Str to melee attacks, so Millsy's attacks would have a +1 damage. You would also normally roll the trip attempt, but in this case you knocked out your opponent, so it doesn't matter. Also, Millsy's attacks should normally be +7 (+1 BAB + 5 Dex + 1 small sized)

Ok thank you for the clarification going forward I know what to do

Can I recover the used crossbow bolt from the orc's chest or is considered gone?

And thanks for your patience answering all the questions DM Puppet Master!

It's considered gone, but for mundane, non-poisoned crossbow bolts/arrows, as long as you're not abusing it, I'm fine if you want sort of hand-wave how much you have left. It's pretty cheap and kind of a pain to keep track of. I perhaps should have mentioned that earlier.

Another combat thing I should have mentioned is charging. If you have a clear path to your enemy, you can get a +2 to hit in exchange for a -2 to AC for 1 round.

And problem! re: answering questions. :-)

Any chance of understanding the creatures by the language they speak?

And you have to have kn(local) in order to do a check on that, right?

You would need to know the language you are eavesdropping on.

I'll update the gameplay thread when I'm home in about an hour with the pdf.

Knowing what language they speak wouldn't necessarily help you identify the creatures; for example, a number of people in this group know languages like goblin or slyvan despite not being goblins or fey.

The knowledge check was partially to identify the orcs, but more so to identify facts about the orcs (like that they have light sensitivity).

Here's the page on the knowledge skills. If you scroll down to "Monster Lore," it'll tell you what skills are used to identify which types of creatures. Since orcs are humanoids, they fell under Kn(Local).

To be clear, Erazmus can take a watch; it would just need to be the first or last watch. A common set up for 5 people is that you rest for 10 hours total with each person taking a 2 hour watch. With 6 you could do 1.6 hours each or you could do a 5 person watch with two people doubling up one of the watches or anything like that.

DO we need to adjust where we are setting up camp on the map?

So I had a question about my spells. As I understand it I get three level one spells a day that I prepare and I have to meditate for an hour to get them back. My question is can I change them out with any of the level one druid spells and can I meditate at midday or something like that to get them back? If the party decides to rest that is?

You choose the spells when you meditate. You can only change your spells and you only get spell slots back if the party rests for 8 hours and you meditate again. So once you've picked, there's no "quick" way of changing them or getting them back.

Ok cool that makes sense, thanks.

I have a question about Taking 10 and Taking 20. I expect to have a lot of trap finding and lock picking checks inside the crypt. Do I need to declare that I look for traps in each room? If so, do I have to roll the first attempt and if it fails then it is supposed that I expend more time looking for traps until I am sure there are or there aren't any traps?

Taking 10/20 can be tricky because they tend to be somewhat skill specific (as in before deciding you want to try to do that, you should check your specific skill to see if it explicitly tells you if you can or cannot take 10/20).

Disable device has some info on taking 10/20 with traps and locks.

One thing to note about skill rolls, is that your character doesn't actually always know how well they did in that they don't know what your dice rolls are. If they don't find a trap door, they're probably inclined to think that there is no trap door, even if they rolled a nat 1. If they fail to get a guard to let them inside a building, they may think that further persuasion might get through to them, even if they rolled a nat 20.

But specifically about perception to find traps, I'll give you a few options. You can pick one to be your "default" behavior and then just tell me if you choose to do something different.

- Roll or take 10 to search the entire room.
- Take 20. Either you must specify a point from which you're doing this (say, perhaps, the doorway when you enter each room), so I can add in distance penalties or you go along taking 20 every 10 feet.

And obviously in cases like this where entering a room triggered something, you wouldn't have had a chance to search for traps yet.

Thanks, that makes more sense than the core rules. I think I'll keep rolling for broad searches as the randomness makes things more interesting. And I'll try to make emphasis in that I take more time when inspecting individual objects (like a door or a chest) so I can take 20 in that cases.

Tomorrow I'm going on a trip abroad until Sunday. I don't know how often I'll be able to connect but I'll try to check the forum whenever I get an opportunity. As we are in the middle of a combat, if you are waiting for me please feel free to take my turn in my place. Just try to keep Jaed alive ;) Thanks!

Tomorrow I'm going on a trip abroad until Sunday. I don't know how often I'll be able to connect but I'll try to check the forum whenever I get an opportunity. As we are in the middle of a combat, if you are waiting for me please feel free to take my turn in my place. Just try to keep Jaed alive ;) Thanks!

Thanks for letting us know! If Erazmus hasn't posted his action by tomorrow evening, I'll start botting him.

How do I make a Ranged magic attack like dazzle?

How do I make a Ranged magic attack like dazzle?

If you mean Daze, you just declare a target and the spell save DC (10 + spell level + ability (Wis) modifier). Daze isn't actually an attack spell, which will say something like, "Ranged attack" or "Ranged touch attack" in the description.

Making a ranged spell attack is the same as making a ranged weapon attack. The main difference is that many ranged attack spells are ranged touch attacks, meaning that they ignore the foe's armor (use Touch AC).

I am going to try to continue to post atleast once a day but I am on vacation and some of it will be out in the mountains and I don't know how reception will be. Just letting y'all know.

Thanks for letting us know!

Enjoy your trip, hopefully you are not where all the snow is.

One question about healing nonlethal damage. Do you have to rest to heal it or does it heal 1 hit point per hour independently of what you are doing?

Unlike regular damage, it doesn't specify that you need to rest, so I would assume you heal 1 point per hour independent of whatever else you're doing.

Apologies for being rather silent for a few days, I'm just starting back to school after nearly 15 years and its kept me rather distracted... I should be able to pay more attention now, however!

Not exactly sure how often I cab use guidance. Can I use it on multiple people at once. Like before we go in can I cast it on Millsy and Jaed?

You can, yes. Just be aware that the duration is only a minute (10 rounds) and you can only cast 1 per round, so depending on how many people you cast it on before battle, some may have significantly less time in which to use it before it wears off.

cool thanks and i was just calculating Millsys new hitpoints after your merciless attack on him and realized that I dont know what his starting HP is. it says that he starts with 2 HD but I don't know what that means exactly.

So, from what I have seen, the hit die for companion animals are d8, and you get the average value for them. So Millsy would have (4.5)*2+1=10 HP. So after the healing she is at 2. I know heal, and I dont think that I can do anything more, can I?

I think she only took half damage because she passed the reflex save, that's if I did it correctly. I used her base reflex + dex bonus added to the d20 roll. I think you are correct about the base HP I'll adjust that on her sheet thanks.

Millsy's HP should be 2*4.5 + 2*(Con modifier). And yes, base save of +3 plus Dex modifier is Reflex save.

Also, Millsy was the only creature right next to the beetle that had actually attack it. :-P

Thanks for the clarification. I know it was the obvious person to attack. Doesn't make it sting any less for Finn. :P

Or for Millsy....

Can we move through squares occupied by friendly creatures? As in, can Etam pass through Erazmus' square?

Yes, you can move through allies' squares. You just can't charge through them.