Funny you should mention that. I have wizardy characters that like using hydraulic push. Agirran is my 6'6", angry, greataxe-wielding wizard. Who would look appropriate bellowing in rage as he powered up, and speed-lines flowed around him like backward falling rain.
Otyughs, as far as I know, also try and eat organic material that visits the sewers, for whatever reason...
Also, if they EAT it, that means they also produce waste.The cubes would simply dissolve it and grow. If we can breed one that smells like lemon-y freshness, that would be awesome.
Also, as said: mindless...if they become too large, simply kill it and replace with a new, smaller one. It's not cruelty, they are basically like dangerous furniture...Hmm...lemon-fresh jelly. I'm not a fan of jelly but that sounds delicious! I'm making some jelly candy though for Halloween so that'll be interesting.
Hmm...well the problem with the creatures being mindless jelly creatures is they could escape and cause a problem as I don't think bars could stop them. The same could be said for Otyughs, but if they were trained then they'd avoid attacking people who wore certain identification (like a uniform) such as maintenance workers and/or heroes hired to clear out something else that has taken up residence.
This is certainly something fun to think about in regards to how the city would be build and the most efficient way in cleaning things up. I'm sure no matter what way we slice it, fey would be unhappy with any kind of building in this land.
Elemental Plane of Citrus for half citrus cubes in grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange, pineapple, pomegranate and tangerine flavors?
For general info's sake the evil confections you fought were indeed gelatinous cubes with the young template added so they could fit down the narrow halls and not kill the characters outright. ;)
The theme of this dungeon is "Old Skool D&D Weird" (the last one was "Highly-Combustible Sewers"). Expect anagram-laced deathtraps, classically unfair D&D monsters (the ones you won't find anywhere else), and rampant strang-ocity. Hope, you brought your dungeon kayak for the gravity-defying, whitewater rapids.
Naleksa has one I'm sure. ;)
@Posh
Aye, but these Cubes don't have a climb speed. So you can basically have them sit at the bottom end of a garbage chute, with no escape.
Alas, I am well aware that nature finds a way...
But what would Aliatown be without it's share or troubles.
@GM: Aye, I figured it out with the young cubes, I love oozes so unfortunately I know the classics by heart - and I have to use templates extensively to keep my meta-players on their toes. ^_^
May I also say that I am happy we are doing this theme dungeon NOW...and not in about 5-10 levels?
Anyway, as long as you don't start to use spoiler tags with "Party Will Saves" and then mess with us in individual spoilers, I'm all fine.
Anyway, as long as you don't start to use spoiler tags with "Party Will Saves" and then mess with us in individual spoilers, I'm all fine.
Damn. Oh well. I'll come up with something.
I'm an old Mage: the Ascension Storyteller (actually all the Storyteller system games) and when a player character was on the edge of Quiet (read: insanity) I would send an email around before game night to all the other players and tell them what sort of nightmare I had instore for the crazed Mage and how they could add versimitude to the experience. As being a mage means you have much of reality by the short hairs things could get pretty trippy.
Tried playing Mage 2 or 3 times. Yay Paradox.
I really liked the idea of the game.
Alas, never had a GM of your caliber...and those games definitely need someone who can pull it off well.
So no Sphere of annihilation in a statues mouth or pit or anything we could climb in?
There's a door....
;)
Well, for the protocol...if we DO run into a sphere of annihilation that starts tracking us, Alia will "nope" right out of that dungeon, hop on her horsie, grab Vega and the anvil, and leave.
Worse if that sphere is actually a "spider of annihilation" by extenting long legs and crawling towards us. Alia would change her quest to find a new Starstone to Earthfall-nuke it from orbit. I mean, my race has a solid exit strategy.
TALKIN' ZOMBIES
So the talking zombies. I can't remember ever seeing anything in any Bestiary or Monster Manual that said that zombies, as monsters cannot vocalize. Obviously with intelligences rivaling that of most potatoes, most zombies are not what you would call the most able racantours. Still, there is presidence. Some zombies can render the name of their favorite snack dish--BRAINS!, and many more can still moan. The fact something is not intelligent does not preclude it from making noise, as demonstrated by record players and any number of politicians.
While I don't think that Posh mentioned it, he suspects that these zombies were broken records, repeating their last words, over, and over, and over again.
Worse if that sphere is actually a "spider of annihilation" by extenting long legs and crawling towards us. Alia would change her quest to find a new Starstone to Earthfall-nuke it from orbit. I mean, my race has a solid exit strategy.
"It's the only way to be sure." - Ripley
TALKIN' ZOMBIES
So the talking zombies. I can't remember ever seeing anything in any Bestiary or Monster Manual that said that zombies, as monsters cannot vocalize. Obviously with intelligences rivaling that of most potatoes, most zombies are not what you would call the most able racantours. Still, there is presidence. Some zombies can render the name of their favorite snack dish--BRAINS!, and many more can still moan. The fact something is not intelligent does not preclude it from making noise, as demonstrated by record players and any number of politicians.
While I don't think that Posh mentioned it, he suspects that these zombies were broken records, repeating their last words, over, and over, and over again.
I believed that they might have been talking based on illusion magic, however this certainly makes it FAR creepier and I LOVE it :D
Speaking of creepy I do have the first part of Strange Aeons and I am very tempted to run it one day, but I'd like to create my own adventure at some point as use all these different adventures as inspirations.
One thing I like to think of as a GM, which often shakes and warps a player's perception is the alignment of a creature. Who says all Medusa MUST be evil? Who said all Aasimar are Good? Focus on the word often used in bestiary "Mostly" or "Usually" and new possibilities open.
For an example, a group of adventurers were travelling down a roadside and saw a bunch of goblins fighting human fighters. The Paladin (doing what a paladin does best) calls down a smile and charges the Goblins, but then he needed a penance afterwards because the Goblins were actually good aligned and the farmers were evil humans who had stolen Goblin babies that these creatures were just trying to rescue and bring back home so congratulations for saving the humans, you racist!
Playing with people's expectations is always the best, especially with monsters and a party that's low level might go on a quest to slay a troll, but they'll think in character "It's not a troll. It's probably just some large creature or a wizard using illusion magic." and then you drop on them either a Young Troll or somekind of giantkin that's been mutated or something else entirely!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Cruel GM! :)
The player in me figures I won't be there soon, and probably end up in front of a locked door anyway, so join him, have an interesting encounter with someone really weird who may or may not be important again later.
But Alia is screaming about her friends being in danger and getting her firm well-shaped behind back down there ASAP because it may make all the difference in the world even if she comes late to the party and has no idea where she is.
I'll post later or tomorrow, gotta contemplate :)
Also, Scarlet will spend a lot of time worried where Alia is while staying away from the thing in the dark.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
"WOOF!"
Oh, shut up!
You cruel people. I'll dig through the posts and try to write something later. :P I intended to do so yesterday, but was unable to catch up, and the pace continues :)
Keep it up!
Sorry for not responding in a while. Yesterday I was feeling quite Ill (caught a bug from people at work that's been going around) but I'm feeling much better now.
I may not be able to post for 24 hours starting about 13-ish hours from now.
|
Moved this from Gameplay.
@swap places with ready: TECHNICALLY, it would work similar to the feat, without the FEAT, using a ready action. If Numalar does a normal movement, provoking(or using acrobatics to not provoke) and moves into Scarlets square, with movement left, simply moving through allies, then Scarlet could have her "ready action" trigger on the condition of "Numalar enters my square", and 5-foot step forward+attack. Then Numalar could forgo the remainder of his movement and end movement right there, in Scarlets former spot. Unlike the Teamwork-Feat, this needs a very specific setup, though, and prevents her from full-attacking or moving+attacking. My 2 cents :)
I think Alia understands what I am getting at. The feat is interesting, but the person you are swapping with does not need a ready action; they use an immediate action instead, which is great if you are a martial who doesn't use your swift actions much.
Without the feat it seems like there should be some way of doing this with readied or delayed actions.
I'll move us ahead later this evening (4-5 hours from now).
So what's the plan? Should you stay or should you go? If you stay there may be trouble. If you go it may be double. So you gotta let me know.... ;)
OOC kibitz about it here and RP tell me in Gameplay.
Scarlet definitely wants to finish the dungeon, but common sense is finally catching up to her. We burned a lot of resources just finishing off the Iron Maiden. This Crypt King guy is probably much tougher, and I'd like to meet it at full strength.
With all that Scarlet's seen of this place underneath a temple of Erastil, she definitely wants to clean up this place. The zombies, the cursed iron maiden, the random death pits- it's all too unnatural.
Uh...if we decide to sleep, where are we gonna rest for the night?
Well i'd like to keep going.. maybe go out and get my longsword for the
gelatinous cubes
|
|
I would be inclined to search the areas aside from where the Crypt Thing is.
Like the prison. We were not able to get through there. I might be able to wear through the lock with repeated acid splashes.
If we see something particularly scary, we can run. But all we have left now are wand charges (which we're going through like crazy) and cantrips.
I am surprised by this, but I wholeheartedly agree with Numalar.
If we decide to rest before going after the crypt thing, it can simply scatter us again, tomorrow. Best make sure the place is as save as possible, before that happens.
Preferably today.
And hey, I have a color spray left! If we meet anything non-undead non-mindless, I could use it!
I am surprised by this, but I wholeheartedly agree with Numalar.
If we decide to rest before going after the crypt thing, it can simply scatter us again, tomorrow. Best make sure the place is as save as possible, before that happens.
Preferably today.And hey, I have a color spray left! If we meet anything non-undead non-mindless, I could use it!
My opinion is to finish this place, however I'd like us all to clear out the rest of the place before facing this creature again.
If the decision is to press through the rest of the dungeon sans the room with the 'thing' in it, go ahead and place yourselves as you like in any of the explored areas aside from that room and the west side of the zombie prison (the cell door is still locked).
Tamris, Rain and the stranger leave by the way they came. Tamris loiters around for a minute or two but Ed seems to be in a hurry (and tetchy) and soon has them on their way. You can still talk to them if you like and I'll answer already posted questions when i'm off work.
|
|
My thoughts on facing the crypt thing today or tomorrow are this:
We were already low on resources from fighting the bear when we entered the dungeon thinking it would just be some kobolds.
-----
We could go for it now and we might be able to take it on. But it could be bloody. Numalar's knowledge check (read the spoilers if you want) revealed that they have claws that are dangerous, in addition to their teleportation thing.
Magical weapons and blunt weapons should bypass DR. Zokon, Alia, and Scarlet are all equipped with those. BTW Alia - is there a limit on how long your weapon can be magical?
If I have a clear line of fire I can acid splash every round at only a -4 to hit for it being in melee with friends. Since it's a touch attack that's not too bad. I am averaging only 3 damage per hit though.
----
On the other hand, if we are confident that the rest of the dungeon is safe, we can wait until tomorrow. Then tomorrow we seed the dungeon with lit torches at key intersections so that when teleported we can find our way back quickly.
When the crypt thing tries to teleport us, we voluntarily fail the save so nobody is left behind to face it alone. Then we meet up and attack again.
What do you think?
-----
BTW, I could hit the crypt thing every round with burning hands if positioned right.
Imagine this:
N - represents Numalar
C - represents the Crypt Thing
A - represents safe spots for allies to stand
_ - represents an empty space
* - represents burning hands AoE.
N _ _ _
_ * * *
A * * _
A C A _
A A A _
With this positioning I can hit C with burning hands and not risk hitting any friends.
Yeah, let's avoid the Crypt Thing for now, and regroup the next day to fight it.
Next step: Return to the prison and look for a release switch/kick down the door/melt the lock?
|
|
@ GGGM:
Would Naleksa be able to provide us with Holy Weapon Balm? It is an alchemical item normally costing 30 gp.
Not great for normal weapons, but give one to Zokon who then applies it to 10 arrows just before going after the Crypt Thing.
It would make Zokon's arrows count as magical against the Crypt Thing and also adds 2d4 damage (possibly a third d4 on a failed save). Zokon could just go rapid shot on the bugger.
Mobile phone, so just answering quickly: 2 minutes per arcane pool point. I have nothing else to spent them on currently, so effectively 4 encounters per day, more if they are in close sequence. I think i may have missed one use, but i am certain i have at least one left.
Hmm. I've not seen that item before, it's damn useful.
Would Naleksa be able to provide us with Holy Weapon Balm? It is an alchemical item normally costing 30 gp.
Not great for normal weapons, but give one to Zokon who then applies it to 10 arrows just before going after the Crypt Thing.
It would make Zokon's arrows count as magical against the Crypt Thing and also adds 2d4 damage (possibly a third d4 on a failed save). Zokon could just go rapid shot on the bugger.
Naleksa can supply most portable items that you could find in a thorp-sized community, so no item more expensive than 50 gp. There is a practical limit to how many items of a particular sort she carries. So while she has one 10-foot pole she probably does not have three or more. If she doesn't have an item in stock you can try asking her again after a week has passed.
But I have to say, I never quite understood why they think ammunition/ranged combat needs boosts like that.
All that "one melee weapon or 50 units of ammunition" - which you can then spread around. or "one melee strike or 10 ranged attacks".
It doesn't make sense, mechanically, to give one aspect the advantage here.
That said, yeah, lets buy it for Zokon. Heck, buy as much as she has stocked.
I'm better off unpacking my bow and using those arrows, instead of using my Estoc.
|
|
All that "one melee weapon or 50 units of ammunition" ...
I'm inclined to agree... items like these seem to be ideal for archers and not that useful for melee fighters.
But I guess the logic is that if you miss with an arrow the arrow is gone, whereas if you miss with your sword you can still try again.
I'm better off unpacking my bow and using those arrows, instead of using my Estoc.
Really? Why is that?
Is it just going to be Scarlet in melee against the thing then?
All that "one melee weapon or 50 units of ammunition" ...I'm inclined to agree... items like these seem to be ideal for archers and not that useful for melee fighters.
But I guess the logic is that if you miss with an arrow the arrow is gone, whereas if you miss with your sword you can still try again.
I'm better off unpacking my bow and using those arrows, instead of using my Estoc.Really? Why is that?
Is it just going to be Scarlet in melee against the thing then?
Posh could help with his amazing combat skills!
Yeah I didn't find it that funny either, dice. He could try to hit AC 10 with the aid action in that case.
Because with a Bow, I would do 1d8+3+2d4 damage, with an option of 1d4 more.
Average 4.5+3+2.5+2.5=12.5, not including the potential extra 1d4.
With the Estoc, 2d4+5, or 2.5+2.5+5, or Average 10, with no extra damage.
I would, potentially, have a better hit rate with the Estoc, and if it's suspectable to critical hits, I have a theoretic advantage with Estoc...albeit I think I only ever had crit threats on 20, never rolled a 18 or 19...so-
Also, no concentration needed for spells, no withdraw action needed to get away. And when I would have iteratives or hasted attacks, bow would always allow full attacking :P
Either way, it was a rant, against "more power to ranged because it's not already the most powerful method of getting full attacks off with Point-Blank-Master, Clustered Shots, Manyshot, and Rapid Shot"... don't get me wrong, I like playing ranged chars myself, wouldn't want it differently, but it just irks me when melee gets the short straw even on things like this weapon balm. *shrug*
Obviously, I won't let Scarlet be alone in melee, and would join her at the front.
I should also mention that there was a brief overview of Gyronna and the Black Sisterhood on the 4th page of the Knowledge (River Kingdoms) handout on the campaign page. It's vague but there, and common knowledge.
Move your little pieces into position and let me know how you want to proceed (ointment and all). I see Scarlet is already there.
If there is any last minute healing, talking, purchases, etc... let me know that as well. I'm going to figure that at least 20 minutes pass (more depending on your actions) from the end of the fight to the moment you start scouting again. That should account for moving between the two camps (yours and Ed's, talking, long dramatic pauses, flashbacks and such). So note what magic might have expired.
|
|
@ GGGM: Could multiple people speed up the process by handing the pot of balm around? i.e.: Zokon dips 1 arrow and holds out the pot, then Numalar takes the pot (move action) and dips 1 arrow, then Alia takes the pot and dips one arrow, and so on.
In 2 rounds 5 of us could coat all 10 projectiles that way.
Maybe we should open with a volley of arrows from everyone decent on the first round? Numalar has a crossbow and he's not terrible with it.
That's what I was going to propose.. multiple people with an arrow.. go one after another
Yep, you can it's a bit of logistical/action economy conundrum, but plausible.
|
|
Let's see:
After the first assault where he teleports us to the 4 winds and we regroup...
Round 1: everyone takes the pot and dips one arrow.
Round 2: likewise.
Round 3: everyone puts one arrow in Zokon's quiver. Everyone who plans to use a missile weapon on round 1 keeps the other missile.
Round 4: Zokon picks up quiver... everyone moves into position
Round 5 or maybe 6: kick down door
If we continued today he wouldn't be able to scatter us again
That argument was made, and it is probably correct, however the other point that was made is that he might be pretty tough. He did actually straight up intimidate Zokon. If it could scatter you (and I'm not saying it can or can't) there might still be places in the dungeon it might be able to send you to (like those old skool Gygax rooms full of 72 trolls) that you might not want to visit by yourself, especially if you happen to be non-armored and lacking in offense. None of this is to say that you shouldn't try though. I'm just reminding everyone of the argument against.
Like, 72 trolls?
I mean, they may be prisoners and glad to rend the crypt thing that scattered them into an underground swimming pool with the ladder removed.
That said, I'm all for exploring the other areas, then withdraw. I'm still relatively good to go, but there is no use in overextending ourselves.
Plus as Ed said, there's variants of that thing. We know it could scatter, we know it has nasty claws. It may have other tools at his disposal. I'd rather go in with Scarlet full of Bloodrage(and ready to enlarge), and me shielded and ready to enlarge enlarged...then take it from there.
Btw, regarding "open with a round of projectiles"...
definitely.
I'm sparing a gold coin for that.
Everybody gets a free sling, and the gold coin buys 100 smooth sling stones(ammunition - so fully compatible with the weapon balm).
Advantage:
- Everybody is proficient with a sling and can use it.
- We get to use our strenght modifier on damage
- Ammunition is dirt cheap
- If you need to drop the sling(to flee, to cast, to use a melee weapon), it's free to replace - no worries needing to retrieve it.
- Bludgeoning damage(great against many things that are resistant to piercing)
Disadvantages:
- Min-Maxed casters would be penalized by STR-to-Damage.
- Certain Bow-Focused Feats don't apply.
- Bludgeoning damage(bad against things resistant to bludgeoning)
As the disadvantages are easily taken care of via people using Crossbows or Bows they already have, I'd still spend that gold coin for a dozen slings and 100 sling stones.
Naleksa?
Loading a sling requires 2 hands and is a move action that provokes AoO. Just sayin'.
Aye, but a loaded sling for an initial barrage can be held in one hand - allowing one hand free for spells, shields, or melee weapons to quickly swap over or wield two-handed after dropping the sling :)
|
|
I's a good point about it being one handed if you come in with it loaded. And I agree that most characters should have a sling as a backup weapon.
Numalar will stick to the crossbow as it doesn't have a STR penalty, as you mentioned. Is there anyone who doesn't have a ranged weapon?
If you are using a weapon that doesn't have the holy weapon balm on it then a sling is definitely better than a bow or crossbow against this guy.