DM Haldhin |
Going forward, I would greatly prefer to have characters making skill rolls and letting me fill in the details. This request is primarily to help me save time since I need to control the flow of information into the game. Without having that control, I have to basically do the work twice. :)
Not a big deal this time, but as the game continues, I'm going to need to do more and more "behind-the-screen" work, and I'd prefer to avoid delays whenever possible.
That said, since the characters have some captives, I would strongly urge characters to make some knowledge rolls if they are able to do so.
Bydar |
Going forward, I would greatly prefer to have characters making skill rolls and letting me fill in the details. This request is primarily to help me save time since I need to control the flow of information into the game. Without having that control, I have to basically do the work twice. :)
Not a big deal this time, but as the game continues, I'm going to need to do more and more "behind-the-screen" work, and I'd prefer to avoid delays whenever possible.
That said, since the characters have some captives, I would strongly urge characters to make some knowledge rolls if they are able to do so.
Understood, and sorry if we slowed things down too much. Rolls are up for Bydar, though I don't think he'll get much for them.
DM Haldhin |
No apologies needed, and I never mind people posting so it didn't slow me down at all. I'll gladly sit back and read when the party is role-playing!
Like I said, my biggest concern is that people get the information I want to give them so everything is clear in my notes. Running this AP as I am requires some pretty extensive documentation to keep everything in order. Making sure I do that accurately (and one time) is the reason behind my request. Didn't mean to make it sound like lecturing or giving orders, really asking for help more than anything. :)
Arumil Amaim |
Sorry but I dont normally make rolls for unfailable skills. I did not roll for kobold info sense their CR 1/4 and with my bonus even on a nat 1 its a result of 12, sense its monster CR + 10 for information their DC is 11. But I will if you want even on unfailable checks. Correct me if I am wrong on this for your game. I mostly do it to save space and keep things neat. ;)
P.S. I never got any results for my rolls about the sootscale tribe. Their is no info?
DM Haldhin |
I understand where you're coming from, but when identifying monsters, the higher the roll, the more information your character receives. Just making the minimum DC doesn't mean your character knows everything about them - and it allows me to emphasize information that may be pertinent in certain situations.
I'll try to remember and add spoiler tags for skills going forward. Hopefully that will alleviate people having to make a dozen dice rolls.
Tried to post this earlier, but guess it didn't go through. Arumil has never heard of the Sootscale tribe, though the name seems oddly mundane for kobolds. Usually they give themselves much more graphic and violent names, ostensibly to intimidate their foes.
Arumil Amaim |
Well so far there is nothing to give, translated their last words to you guys already. Arumil will avoid keeping you guys up with every word they say because that could make them skittish. If anything important becomes known or anyone wants a playback he has no problem telling them afterwards.
Bridgette Etna Asta Valerius |
Arumil Amaim |
Ah man game over man, its over!
Just kidding, but really a black dragon. I am guessing by its size its a young adult which is worse sense black dragons are smaller among the chromatics. More power per size, peachy just peachy. xP
Arumil Amaim |
Its bigger then raxus laying down, so its a large easy. A large black dragon at its weakest is young adult, CR 10.
Wyrmlings are tiny, their CR is 3. Even a new born could very well wipe out our party. This guy could wipe out our trading post easy.
Then again I still have my doubts if it really is a black dragon, still rather be safe then sorry. Would like to see the results of my knowledge roll and meet it to confirm.
Arumil Amaim |
If it only speaks draconic then Arumil may have to translate still that could also be an aid another bonus. But it should at least know common if its the age I am guessing.
I just hope you guys listen to Arumil, dragons are touchy. xP
Temerith |
Temerith is highly unlikely to open his big fat mouth in front of a dragon, he's very aware that he's quite prone to jamming his whole foot in there if he gives himself the chance.
I think returning the kobolds unharmed, and even fed, will probably be a good gesture on our behalf, but I do not believe that trying to do any serious dealing with a black dragon will be in our best interests at the moment.
Bridgette Etna Asta Valerius |
I'll be updating my renders of Gunda and Bridgette since some new content from Daz that I was looking for was released and on sale.
Thinking on Bridgette's mother and some crazy stuff she did,
now I need to render her.
I think I'll start a rough draft rendering on Arumil and Bydar,
so we have a full PC cast rendering.
Arumil Amaim |
Temerith I think we would have let them go when we met with the kobolds outside. If not Arumil would have insisted on doing that. Otherwise he would refuse to enter the place, not crazy enough to have a pair of kobolds tied up in their own den much less before their dragon chief.
Just saying xD
Arumil Amaim |
Hopefully with tha nat 20 its high enough to get all info on Smoke Dragons.
@Bydar
As long as it is not starting at hostile with a Cha mod you should have improved its mood. Personally I would guess its at indifferent.
DM Haldhin |
Yeah, I forgot to release the kobolds in box-text, but it all worked out. Releasing them meant you kept your word, so you're all good there. They were pretty happy actually. Fed, protected by a big group of people, got to sleep next to the fire. What kobold wouldn't love that? :)
Arumil, your skill check result will definitely get you a bunch of information, I just have to compile it. Will do so today.
He's not eating you yet, Bydar's roll saw to that. ;)
Arumil Amaim |
Well I got my wish list up, sense I am going crafting I put useful items. Dont expect to find them all but any of them will be good to have. ;)
I am sure Arumil will be a busy crafter with custom items once he gets the feats.
Bridgette Etna Asta Valerius |
If anyone wants to start doing their own DAZ Character renders,
Daz has Some content bundles at 50% off, as well as
Unbundled content at 50% off.
Though this sale lasts til Monday (Nov 19th) midnight.
and you can pick one freebie if you spend more than $30.
Though only 3 freebies are completely compatible with genesis.
The Genesis Bracers, M5 Poses, and the DM Druid valley.
DM Haldhin |
I am giving both Varnius and Gua Zhen a bit longer than normal to return to the game since I believe they both may have been affected by Sandy.
I'll keep everyone updated if/when I hear from them, and/or I decide we need to move on without them.
For now, I hope everyone is okay continuing with the five characters we currently have.
DM Haldhin |
Holiday Hours
For those who might not know, USA Thanksgiving is this Thursday, November 22. I’m heading out of town, so I will not be posting on Thursday, Nov 22 or Friday, Nov 23. Everything should return to normal on Saturday, Nov 24.
If anybody else is traveling and/or celebrating, please be safe, and enjoy the holiday.
Arumil Amaim |
Yeah in the folder it shows travel times and exploration times. When we explore and travel a hex we add both times, if we only travel then we just use that time.
Sense we explored nothing, made it to the tree then left it. I would say we have used up around 8 thru/or 16 hours depending how close we were to the tree when we woke up.
DM would have the final say or corrections, just my guess on things.
DM Haldhin |
Sorry for any confusion, Teremith. Now that I've got the travel times finished, hopefully it will be clearer going forward.
I'm actually counting travel in the exploration time, so you don't have to add both together. After looking things over, I'm also going to add another wrinkle. When traveling to a site within the hex, you only use 1/2 the travel time since you're not crossing all 12 miles.
I'm going to start keeping up with these details. Additionally, I'll let you know if anything really time sensitive is going to be affected by your travel/exploration plans. But feel free to ask if you have any questions.
Here are how the travel times work out for your current journey:
Please note, these details may not line up exactly with text posted in the Gameplay thread, but these are correct. Apologies for the minor retcon. Roughly, I'm assuming characters are awake and active from 6am - 10pm.
Day 1
Travel south from Oleg's Trading Post: 4 hours
Begin exploring hex containing Moon Radish Patch: 1-12 of 16 hours
Rest (overnight): 8 hours
24 Total
Day 2
Finish exploration of the hex: 13-16 of 16 hours
*Encounter kobolds*
Leave hex with Moon Radish Patch: 4 hours
Travel across plains hex SE of Moon Radish Patch: 8 hours
Rest (overnight): 8 hours
24 Total
Day 3
Travel to Sycamore Tree: 4 hours
*Meet Hhuristalax*
Leave hex with Sycamore Tree: 4 hours
Travel back to plains Hex SE of Moon Radish Patch: 4 hours
*Find cavern*
Currently ~ 6pm. (sunset around 7pm)
Arumil Amaim |
From my roll earlier, its was way over what was needed to get their stats. 10 + CR to gain info on them. Rolled a 10 with +12 mod for a 22. Why wouldn't he know they have darkvision with that result? How high of a result is needed to know something's senses?
DM Haldhin |
Arumil's result was pretty good, but it wasn't high enough to know every detail about mites. Between his knowledge, and what the dragon provided, the group knows quite a bit about them, but not everything.
Specifically in this case, a 26 (Base DC +15) was needed to learn about the mite's darkvision. Creatures with the fey subtype have low-light vision. Mites have darkvision though, making it a very rare ability in fey creatures.
Since this continues to be a question mark for us, and because I hate the "DM gets to decide what to reveal" aspect of Monster Lore, would it be okay with everyone if we start using a set chart of results? This way we would all be on the same page regarding what's learned about creatures when attempting a Knowledge check for Monster Lore.
I'm including a sample chart below that we use in our home game. We like it because it's based on the Knowledge skill rules, but expands them a bit to make everything easier to anticipate and understand from both the players and DM perspective. Please let me know what you think.
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Base DC: Typically set by 10+CR. This result identifies the creature, and reveals all creature type (and most subtype) traits. Commonly encountered creatures may have a lower Base DC.
Base DC +5: This reveals the most obvious things about a creature, typically its main threat, be that its physical attacks or a trademark special attack for which it is well known. This result also reveals what languages the creature usually speaks.
Base DC +10: This result reveals further detailed information such as spell-like abilities the creature might possess, or further information about physical attack forms beyond its primary attack method detailed previously. Special defenses or vulnerabilities are also typically listed here.
Base DC +15: This result reveals specialist knowledge about the creature, including unusual senses or abilities. This might include unique or rarely used abilities, or information regarding the creature's culture, morals, loves and hates - information unlikely to be known unless the knowledge checker has studied the creature.