GM ThinkingFlesh's GM101 - Phantom Phenomena (Inactive)

Game Master Caro Cogitatus

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Scarab Sages

Intit +2 AC 14, T 10, FF 14 HP 9/9 Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +3 CMD 13 Perception +5

Holy crap. I just realized that I have rope. I'll be getting that out next round. :)

Grand Lodge

N Male Human medium 1 | hp 10/10 | AC 17 /14T/ 13FF | Init +4 | Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 | influence: 1 | Spd 30' | Perc. +5 | Conditions: Draw from the Deck (Strength)

I'll post after the retcon takes effect and someone's triggered the AoO.

Can Elena have her actions back? Or would she really have attempted to climb again.


King, Elena posted her actions this round knowing that the strategy was still being discussed, so I'm gonna say those can't be taken back.

Dark Archive

66/66 Max || AC:19 T:11 FF:19 CMD:18 || Fort:+8 Refl:+4 Will:+6 || Init:+3 Perception:+9 || Lawful Neutral Male Human Inquisitor (Living Grimoire) (7) || Hand of the Acolyte 7/7

I plan to climb to the top and then turn to assist others while swinging at the fungus. We really need Elena up here. She has the herbicide on her sword and we need that. I hit it for 5 of so earlier and it has healed so we need take it down as quickly as possible, and the bonus damage from the herbicide will help a lot.

I still think we ret-con Elena up top where she was pulled down from. She can maybe even run around to the bridge from there in a turn or 2. Alternately maybe someone up top can push it into the pit and we mob it down there. I don't know what Gulch's or Erasmus's CMB are like for a Bull Rush.

Grand Lodge

N Male Human medium 1 | hp 10/10 | AC 17 /14T/ 13FF | Init +4 | Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 | influence: 1 | Spd 30' | Perc. +5 | Conditions: Draw from the Deck (Strength)

Does Fran have a Fortune available for Erasmus to push the plant down with?

Mathos, are you sure you want to climb up if the plant is going down?

Dark Archive

66/66 Max || AC:19 T:11 FF:19 CMD:18 || Fort:+8 Refl:+4 Will:+6 || Init:+3 Perception:+9 || Lawful Neutral Male Human Inquisitor (Living Grimoire) (7) || Hand of the Acolyte 7/7

If you are pushing I would prefer to stay down. I will ret-con my post to assist you with a CMB? Maybe I can distract it, I dunno.

Silver Crusade

Lawful Good Human Paladin/2

Elena is stuck in the pit. She'll need to climb out regardless.

I agree with King: Elena takes Fran's heal from Rhasuel (putting her at 10/11) and put Fran and Wormling back on the ledge (part of the recon.)

Grand Lodge

N Male Human medium 1 | hp 10/10 | AC 17 /14T/ 13FF | Init +4 | Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 | influence: 1 | Spd 30' | Perc. +5 | Conditions: Draw from the Deck (Strength)

We will have plenty of time to secure a rope and take our time after combat.

I just don't want to act until someone provokes an AoO. It would stink to fall unconscious before Erasmus can heave-ho.

Readied actions to attack if you can't provoke would be most helpful, I think.

Silver Crusade

Lawful Good Human Paladin/2

So your plan is to have Erasmus knock the plant into the pit while the ranged attack from the top ledge?

I don't believe Elena has vision of Erasmus so she has no idea what he's doing. I played Elena in the way I thought she would act with her current knowledge. Also, a character can attempt to climb twice right? Elena used her Move Action for a Climb and her Standard Action for a Climb. Please let me know if I did the mechanics wrong.

Dark Archive

66/66 Max || AC:19 T:11 FF:19 CMD:18 || Fort:+8 Refl:+4 Will:+6 || Init:+3 Perception:+9 || Lawful Neutral Male Human Inquisitor (Living Grimoire) (7) || Hand of the Acolyte 7/7

Ok, so I tossed my book in the hopes of drawing an AoO with my ranged attack within the 15 foot reach of the fungus's tentacles. Hopefully that opens a window for you Erasmus. I should have 16 AC so should have a good chance of it missing, fingers crossed.


Mathos, you're 20 feet down. The only characters within AoO range at the moment are Gulch and Erasmus. I made the same mistake earlier.

Dark Archive

66/66 Max || AC:19 T:11 FF:19 CMD:18 || Fort:+8 Refl:+4 Will:+6 || Init:+3 Perception:+9 || Lawful Neutral Male Human Inquisitor (Living Grimoire) (7) || Hand of the Acolyte 7/7

Bah, stupid me. Yeah, ok. Please make my action a readied action for when Erasmus makes his combat maneuver.

Grand Lodge

N Male Human medium 1 | hp 10/10 | AC 17 /14T/ 13FF | Init +4 | Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 | influence: 1 | Spd 30' | Perc. +5 | Conditions: Draw from the Deck (Strength)

Yeah, Erasmus had hoped some others would make the climb, so he didn't have a chance to come up with or explain this plan. You all did him cross the bridge, though. I assumed other characters might come up with the "if we can't get to the fun-, let's bring the -gus to us" sort of idea.

Dark Archive

66/66 Max || AC:19 T:11 FF:19 CMD:18 || Fort:+8 Refl:+4 Will:+6 || Init:+3 Perception:+9 || Lawful Neutral Male Human Inquisitor (Living Grimoire) (7) || Hand of the Acolyte 7/7

If Gulch moves he'll provoke

The Concordance

HP: 38/38 l AC: 14 (18 w/ Mage Armor), T 14, FF 12 l CMD 15 l F +6, R +6, W +8 l L1: 1/4, L2: 2/4, L3: 3/3 l Init +6 l Senses: Perception +1, Low-Light Vision
Skills:
Diplomacy +11, Handle Animal +5, Kn. Arcana/Local +12, Kn. History/Planes +8, Kn. Nature/Religion +10, Linguistics +6, Spellcraft +12, UMD +6
Female NG Half-Elf Witch 6 l Active Conditions:

Erasmus has been Fortune'd as requested!

(Also I'm home from work now :D:D:D)

*edit* The idea of bringing the fungus among us hasn't occurred to Fran but I figure she can probably just see that Erasmus is trying to come up to the creature so of course she's going to help her handsome friend out... :)


I see what you did there, Erasmus. :-)

As I understand it, Gulch provokes an AoO based on using the Climb skill within threatened range. No getting around that.

I don't know if it's RAW or not, but I would lean toward ruling that you're prone after completing a climb up to a cliff ledge, so standing up would also provoke.

But if Gulch did both in the same round, it would only provoke once since the critter doesn't have Combat Reflexes.


Mathos, you want a Readied Action to throw your tome if/when Erasmus makes his move. Be aware that that will incur the -4 penalty for ranged attacks into melee.

Dark Archive

66/66 Max || AC:19 T:11 FF:19 CMD:18 || Fort:+8 Refl:+4 Will:+6 || Init:+3 Perception:+9 || Lawful Neutral Male Human Inquisitor (Living Grimoire) (7) || Hand of the Acolyte 7/7

Wait. I will forgo any attack this round and double move to get over near Elena. That should get me a spot for melee.

Dark Archive

66/66 Max || AC:19 T:11 FF:19 CMD:18 || Fort:+8 Refl:+4 Will:+6 || Init:+3 Perception:+9 || Lawful Neutral Male Human Inquisitor (Living Grimoire) (7) || Hand of the Acolyte 7/7

With Gulch becalmed what are our AoO options? Can Mr Sunshine or Estra provoke from the other side of the pit?

Dark Archive

I find it fitting that the Asmodean would sacrifice a kitten in the name of a safe bull rush :)

Dark Archive

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66/66 Max || AC:19 T:11 FF:19 CMD:18 || Fort:+8 Refl:+4 Will:+6 || Init:+3 Perception:+9 || Lawful Neutral Male Human Inquisitor (Living Grimoire) (7) || Hand of the Acolyte 7/7

lol. A kitten or an old lady. There's options :P


Wormling and Erasmus are no longer Calmed. The successful attack this round broke that effect. And Gulch never was.

Edit: Ah, I see now. You meant Dazed. Gulch is, in fact, Dazed. Carry on.

Were I giving non-PFS experience points, Wormling would get some bonus ones for that observation. :-)


"Doom Girl" // ♫ // ◇ ◈ ↺ // PbP Events // // PbP GM Kit // Year of Fortune's Fall // DA Duology Maps

HEY! No sacrificing the Kitten!

So with the retcon. It can be tough in PFS to figure out what can be fair without totally turning back the clock. On the other hand, I don't think most people would argue with a GM call that returned hit points that would not have been expended if the attack had not happened.

I say, go with your gut.

___

I love the plan of Drawing the Attack of Opportunity, but I (Hmm) is hesitant to do that with a 4 hit point witch's spell book. Witches are so dependent on their familiars that I am really hesitant to do anything that might hurt Fran.

On the other hand, Fran is first level. So her spellbook / familiar could totally reset. But I am not doing it without Fran's permission.

Hmm

Dark Archive

66/66 Max || AC:19 T:11 FF:19 CMD:18 || Fort:+8 Refl:+4 Will:+6 || Init:+3 Perception:+9 || Lawful Neutral Male Human Inquisitor (Living Grimoire) (7) || Hand of the Acolyte 7/7

Completely understand Hmm. It was not an intentional thing to have you sacrifice yourself, just looking at who is in a position to do it. Another option would be to get everyone into position this round, hope Gulch passes his save next round and go then.


Thanks, Hmm. So if the retconn seems fair, I'll just need two characters to roll their 2d6-2 hit points, and up to two characters move themselves either up or down the cliff, as they wish.

My suggestions would be Elena and Erasmus for the HP, and Wormling and Gulch for the climb. But don't listen to me, I'm trying to kill you. :-)

Mathos, you may have meant Erasmus to make his Save. Gulch already failed, and is Dazed for one or more rounds (Gulch knows how long, but Erasmus doesn't).

Silver Crusade

Lawful Good Human Paladin/2

Elena is sitting at 6/11 HP. Elena will take the heal if nobody else needs it more. Also, if Elena falls unconscious again, someone could pick up her longsword and attempt to use it. Elena would see it as a valiant effort to eradicate their foe.

2d6 - 2 ⇒ (6, 2) - 2 = 6

Grand Lodge

N Male Human medium 1 | hp 10/10 | AC 17 /14T/ 13FF | Init +4 | Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 | influence: 1 | Spd 30' | Perc. +5 | Conditions: Draw from the Deck (Strength)

How did the fungus use two spell-like abilities and get a bite attack in one round?


King:

Melee bite +5 (1d6+2), 2 tendrils +3 (1d4+1 plus pull)
Feats Improved Initiative, Multiattack
At will—touch of madness (DC 14)
Touch of Madness (Sp) wrote:
The cerebric fungus may daze one living creature by making a successful touch attack. The target creature must succeed at a DC 14 Will save, or it becomes Dazed for 4 rounds. The dazed subject is not stunned (so attackers get no special advantage against it). This is a mind-affecting enchantment, equivalent to a 2nd-level spell.

Two tendrils using Touch of Madness, plus bite. Multiattack allows it to use all three.

As always, if I've gotten it wrong, I appreciate the opportunity to learn.

Silver Crusade

Lawful Good Human Paladin/2

Ventiine lurks on the Paizo site, waiting to sneakily post. Heh heh heh...

Grand Lodge

N Male Human medium 1 | hp 10/10 | AC 17 /14T/ 13FF | Init +4 | Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 | influence: 1 | Spd 30' | Perc. +5 | Conditions: Draw from the Deck (Strength)

GM:
The ability is marked as spell-like (Sp). Those take a standard action unless it says "As an attack action" or similar.

The fungus could attack with two tendrils and make a bite, but they would be normal attacks, and not daze.

Check out the Magic Chapter of the Core Rulebook for more information about Spell-like abilities.


Okee-dokee, thanks to King I have learned again.

I had always assumed that the (Sp) designator stood for "Special", but it actually means "Spell-like", and requires a Standard action.

I incorrectly had the fungus doing these types of attacks as part of a full-round natural attacks action.

So if the fungus wanted to use that ability it would have to choose one target only, and forego the bite attack. So let's retconn that while we're still in the same round.

Which target?: 1d2 ⇒ 1 Sorry, Gulch. You're the "winner".

And Erasmus gains back 4 HP from the bite that didn't happen.

Thanks for asking the question, King, and for the answer.

Grand Lodge

N Male Human medium 1 | hp 10/10 | AC 17 /14T/ 13FF | Init +4 | Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 | influence: 1 | Spd 30' | Perc. +5 | Conditions: Draw from the Deck (Strength)

The Fungus is a more complicated statblock than average for a tier 1-2 adventure.

I'd browse through the Universal Monster Rules on the PRD to get a sense of some of the many different abilities. Keep it handy when prepping an unfamiliar statblock.

Silver Crusade

Lawful Good Human Paladin/2

I'm glad I'm not GMing. This is way too complicated for me!


"Doom Girl" // ♫ // ◇ ◈ ↺ // PbP Events // // PbP GM Kit // Year of Fortune's Fall // DA Duology Maps

I'm glad that this monster has provided so much to discuss. I think that everyone has learned more about combat in this section than in any other.

And now... let's kill this plant. Die plant. Die.

I am also going to say that when you are dealing with a low tier party that is struggling, it is more than acceptable to use slightly less than optimal tactics as a GM. Don't softball unneccessarily -- fights like these are memorable, after all. But it is more than okay to use suboptimal tactics is the party is being absolutely trashed by your monsters.


It wouldn't be so bad if I weren't inadvertently cheating by rolling natural 1's on my Knowledge (Pathfinder) so much. :-)


"Doom Girl" // ♫ // ◇ ◈ ↺ // PbP Events // // PbP GM Kit // Year of Fortune's Fall // DA Duology Maps

As I said, this has been a really good learning experience for all involved. We all start somewhere.

One of my local Venture Lieutenants in Minnesota recommends that GMs read the combat chapter of the CRB all the way through once a month. He told me that you will find something new to learn every single time.

Have I done this? No. But I've read through it twice this year, and it really made a difference in my understanding of combat and monster statblocks.

Hmm

Grand Lodge

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N Male Human medium 1 | hp 10/10 | AC 17 /14T/ 13FF | Init +4 | Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 | influence: 1 | Spd 30' | Perc. +5 | Conditions: Draw from the Deck (Strength)

No one told me this hobby had homework. Ugh.


"Doom Girl" // ♫ // ◇ ◈ ↺ // PbP Events // // PbP GM Kit // Year of Fortune's Fall // DA Duology Maps

I don't read it every month... Honestly, there are things that are just much more entertaining to read out there.

But the rules to combat in this game are complex. The good thing about PbP is that we have time to look them up as we go.


Well done, Pathfinders! That was a tough battle.

@Hmm, how are we handling Chronicles again? I need assistance in creating/finding my event code, etc.


The Man. The Myth. The Mask!

The chronicle/reporting progress is what I need the most help with. I know next to nothing about it.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
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"Doom Girl" // ♫ // ◇ ◈ ↺ // PbP Events // // PbP GM Kit // Year of Fortune's Fall // DA Duology Maps

I've asked Jesse to make a guest appearance, and he said he can be by the main GM101 thread later today.

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