Current conditions that might not be gleaned from the narrative.
You are on a busy street, about 20 feet wide. It is clearing quickly. If you were to initiate combat right now, it would be difficult terrain for 3 rounds.
The three Hellknights that are converging on Arimar, Gwen, and Malgrim are lower ranking knights. They think there is something suspicious about Malgrim, and are looking to 'check it out'.
The other three Hellknights are moving towards where they think Benaiah is.
There is no connection between the group of three and Benaiah.
You are a block, or 1 minute away, from the Frumpy.
Just something to note, there is a distance penalty for perception skill checks (actually raising of the DC by +1 / 10 feet). Also, if Benaiah stands still, his bonus for being invisible goes up to +40.
You may even rule that, given the presence of a crowd, Benaiah has even more bonuses to his check (cover, noise, etc). I find it hard to credit that, without magical aid, a Hellknight would see an invisible man in a crowded square... or at least that his check result would be only 19, even if he rolled a 4.
I don't mean to be argumentative, just thought I'd mention some modifiers that you may have neglected.
Also, is being invisible a crime?
Also, is being invisible a crime?
To a Hellknight - yes. What you have to understand about how I am RP them, they feel as if they are the law, above the law, whatever you want to call it. You have yet to see an interaction between the Hellknights and City Watch to see if it really holds up with the real law.
Just something to note, there is a distance penalty for perception skill checks (actually raising of the DC by +1 / 10 feet). Also, if Benaiah stands still, his bonus for being invisible goes up to +40.
You may even rule that, given the presence of a crowd, Benaiah has even more bonuses to his check (cover, noise, etc). I find it hard to credit that, without magical aid, a Hellknight would see an invisible man in a crowded square... or at least that his check result would be only 19, even if he rolled a 4.
Benaiah has not been fully exposed yet. He has lots of options available to him at this point.
I don't mean to be argumentative, just thought I'd mention some modifiers that you may have neglected.
All true. But it is happening. Because FUN.
:-)
Hey boys, I know we've just left it as things are getting tense but I absolutely cannot promise I can post today. I may be able to try, but chances are slim. Spending most of the day frantically getting ready for Thanksgiving (my youngest was home with a rash - that's cleared up now - for the last two days so I'm behind on prep-work).
My best bet is to get it all done and then check on things tonight, but now was really my only time to post.
I'm assuming tomorrow is out for everyone, too, but just in case... I also cannot post tomorrow. ;-)
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I am also traveling for the holiday weekend. Leaving tonight, home Saturday evening. I'll be posting on my mobile when I am able.
-Posted with Wayfinder
lol Just logged in now to say I will be spotty posting until Friday at best. Enjoy your time with family, eat lots of turkey, watch football, and enjoy yourselves.
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Go lions, and everyone row the boat with me on Friday at 5. Happy thanksgiving, I am thankful for all of you!
-Posted with Wayfinder
Hope you all have a great day. You're a great group of dudes :)
Happy Thanksgiving and all that.
So still on vacation mode for sure.
New map, Benaiah, if you could please check out the map, and PM, email, or text someone other than me where you move to, but don't actually move your toon their. Once that is done the Hellknights are going to randomly, non-lethal attack some squares.
Hope that makes sense. :)
Just a note on mechanics (not on fun) but doing a double move in these invisible situations is invariably the best option. Might not be good for stealth, but if they want to try to perceive you, it costs them a move action. To try to attack, costs a standard action. Either way they only have a move action left, so (unless your move was less than half theirs) you could always get away. Of course since there are now more of them, they could try to perceive and then pass on the info. Still, invisibility rocks.
The bookkeeper should definitely just double move away.
Yeah it is a total longshot. Just waiting to see it one of my shots in the dark has a chance, then I make a roll.
Most likely this will be the end of the Hellknight encounter and we shall get back to walking to the Frumpy.
Sorry for the delay everyone. Ran into some issues. I will get this on track later today. Sorry again for the delay.
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Just a note here for completeness sake - There isn't much Benaiah can do during the downtime. All of his buffs are shorter durations, and so I won't use them until they potentially become necessary. That will have to be on a case by case basis, so I won't be able to make any blanket SOP statements about that.
As far as SOP, beyond what we have already mentioned, Benaiah will be up all night with the Bookkeeper keeping a vigilant watch. This is the kind of situation that lends itself to the 'take 10' option, for a perception of 18. The Alarm spell will definitely help with some of the anxiety of the watch. Likely if something happened that made him suspicious, he might stop and focus, or "take 20" on a perception check, but I am guessing that would end up having to be situational as well.
Benaiah doesn't need weapons handy since he can use his claws once he mutates. No sleeping in armor, since it is full plate and that causes other unfortunate issues, but will wear it while on watch.
Can't think of anything else important to mention right now... Let me know if you have any question's I've left unanswered!
Hey everyone just wanted to check in to say I hit a small snag. Worked it out and crafting yes I said crafting. I will get a post up and updated map as soon as I can. Might be a bit so don't refresh every 5 minutes or do. Check tomorrow
Ok got Benaiahs buffs. Super nice. Many thanks for that. And yes Arimar, please buff. And tag lines. Please update tag lines.
So time is a funny thing crazy how fast it goes when you are doing something fun. And with that I'm out of time. Pick up tomorrow and again my apologies for the delay.
Still waiting on buffs from Arimar and Gwen if you want them.
So in real life terrifying news in Mac with my HL files crashed. And for some reason I didn't back my characters up. I will be on this after work today. Words escape me to describe this feeling. But very bad comes to mind.
In future, Dropbox + Herolab works exceedingly well.
Good luck with the recovery mission!
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As the horrendous Plot Point lunged forward, escape for Arimar and his party seemed hopeless. When suddenly, the DM's Computer had a sudden heart attack and died. The digital peril was no more. The quest for the Fountain of Bethesda could continue.
(A bit of levity; it seemed appropriate. Sorry to hear about the computer though. I know all too well how much that sucks.)
Sorry to hear about your computer troubles. That type of thing can be annoying and stressful to deal with. I guess what I'm learning is that I should probably back up my HL files somewhere too, as I currently don't at all.
Yeah I really really put a lot of time into making quite a few custom NPCs. Not looking forward to replicating that if I can get everything restored.
As a side note, thinking positively, do you back up the HL files to Dropbox or do you store them there?
Why does work take so long when you want to be home troubleshooting your computer?
You store them there (in a folder on your computer under the Dropbox/ subfolder) then it automatically syncs with Dropbox's servers and out to any computers (or phones or tablets) that you've shared that drive with.
No news is bad news. Regardless the game will move forward tomorrow. Ugh!
Sorry to hear that :(
Sucks man! Have a good day today anyway.
Good news - back up and running (and backed up to Dropbox) Won't have to worry about that.
Bad news - out of time. I will shave some time today and get this back up and running.
So this is my first design where I really tried to make it hard/challenging, but not be a dick. I would really appreciate all feedback, but just remember I am a sensitive flower.
See you soon.
No problems at all mate, it just gives me more time for Kingwiki. Check it out some time... and get your character ideas in. Goes for you, too, Chris. Sorry, Mike.
Just to clarify, as I know this isn't the first hard/challenging encounter you've made before: You were trying to be a dick the other times?
Heh.
As for feedback, the tension thus far is palpable. Though, perhaps that is simply because of the anticipation. I love the set up, and we're all genuinely on edge waiting to see what comes up those stairs (or through the window, or down from the roof, or... why am I giving the GM more ideas?).
Also, this is my first time playing a paladin on these forums, and definitely my first time with a pally in combat with this group. Your (collective) feedback is also appreciated. One of the reasons I went with this build was to shore up our tanking ability (which was definitely lacking). I'm just hoping at least someone we fight is evil. ;-)
Well, finally up. Hope you enjoy.
First crunch. There was a lot there. Specifically I wanted to address Arimar being FF as that has game consequences. You were all aware of an attack so there is no surprise round, and even though he readied an action, a character is considered FF until they act in Initiative Order. We have been using the term readied loosely to describe actions before Initiative begins. Definition wise -makes sense. Game wise - Arimar is still FF since his Initiative was after the Hooded figure and swarm.
Second design. The first few encounters I made(and there haven't been too many) were very thematic. Sea creatures, evil cultists, ect. I specifically designed this to be hard. Really hard. But winable.
I harken back to <redacted> and deeper darkness and that PFS scenario was designed to optimize rules to kill a PC. I tried not to do that, but might have erred with the SA damage. More on that later.
Glad to hear things are back up and running! Things are definitely at a tense cliffhanger, but the intrusion of real world is everpresent ;) On the subject of combat, I've always had a terrible time making things hard / challenging (without being unfun.) That said, we've been slightly combat light this campaign, so a harder battle really isn't out of line.
As for tanking, Malgrim was supposed to be tanky (Huge Con, Decent AC, DR) but he kind of fell into the trap of "Ok, so I can double move to try and catch up with the melee... OR I can just throw a boulder the size of a greatsword at someone." For better or worse, tanking in Pathfinder really comes down to positioning and threat factor, which really haven't panned out for him. (Is it sad I kind of miss tanking in 4E?)
I, for one, do enjoy Arimar the Paladin :)
Edit: *reads update that was posted while writing*.
I take it back! Arimar should definitely be tanking, yep.
Minor note, Malgrim should have Flesh of Stone for DR 2/Adamtine. Not a huge deal... yet.
Pulls out popcorn while waiting, with Arimar's blood pooling on the ground.
Re: Damage Types of weapons.
It's in the Monster Manual and SRD Bite is Bashing, Piercing, Slashing. Claws are Piercing, Slashing.
My guess is that the swarm is larger than diminutive, so weapon attacks still damage, but only do half damage. (If it was, say, bugs, we'd probably be in trouble.)
Thanks to both of you for that! Sorry I made you look it up...
And thanks for the clarification on the natural attack damage types!
No worries. Malgrim is right the swarm are tiny.
Minor note, Malgrim should have Flesh of Stone for DR 2/Adamtine. Not a huge deal... yet.
Pulls out popcorn while waiting, with Arimar's blood pooling on the ground.
Fixed. Thanks.
Another time, we'll talk about this FF and readied action thing. Another time.
For now, it seems crazy that you can't wait for a door to open and then attack whoever comes through it... and there is a way to resolve it without breaking the rules (or too much, depending upon your opinion).
As your rule is that a readied action is useless, please mentally redact that I took one (he wouldn't have attacked a swarm with a falchion).
Oh, forgot to add... so the alarm spell and Arimar's detect evil were useless then? From the layout of the Frumpy Duchess, it seems impossible that they could set of the alarm or detect evil and attack us without taking a move action... and it seems like Arimar suffered a full round attack (remember you can't 5-ft step around corners).
Again, perhaps a discussion for another time and you know I'm not precious about my PCs... just don't want to disadvantage the others, too.
Another time, we'll talk about this FF and readied action thing. Another time.
For now, it seems crazy that you can't wait for a door to open and then attack whoever comes through it... and there is a way to resolve it without breaking the rules (or too much, depending upon your opinion).
Think about A New Hope. Did every rebel kill a stormtrooper with their first shot? Did every rebel shoot before a stormtrooper? .
Also, you are not attacking mindless monsters, but a very, very skilled opponent. One, frankly, more skilled than you all.
Who is to say that there wasn't a readied action to attack whatever was behind the door once it 'blew'?
Oh, forgot to add... so the alarm spell
The alarm spell was a fantastic idea, and one frankly that would have saved one of your lives had you not had it in place. A lucky off screen roll proved it a moot point, but believe you me, it was needed and very intelligent game play.
Arimar's detect evil were useless then?
When your opponent is not evil, yes.
From the layout of the Frumpy Duchess, it seems impossible that they could set of the alarm or detect evil and attack us without taking a move action... and it seems like Arimar suffered a full round attack (remember you can't 5-ft step around corners).
As the door was closed, he did that and then some. Like you buffed, he buffed. No one said anything about the alarm going off and doing something. Form all of your posts, it seemed clear to me that you all were using your room as a defensible position.
Initiative began once the door was 'blown' and you had line of sight with each other.
All good. So the alarm went off and we just waited? I would argue that the alarm triggering would begin initiative, but it's your game mate. Happy to be playing.
Im here. Just waiting for Gwen.
Im here. Just waiting for Gwen.
I'm here, just waiting for Gwen and whatever invisible / unforseen enemy is going to make an appearance and crank the Doom up to 11. :D
It's either that or the laws of group initiative means Malgrim is secretly an enemy, though with his Will save I wouldn't put it past having failed a Charm person and not even knowing it ;)
Side note: Our group is not wise.
Im here. Just waiting for Gwen.I'm here, just waiting for Gwen and whatever invisible / unforseen enemy is going to make an appearance and crank the Doom up to 11. :D
It's either that or the laws of group initiative means Malgrim is secretly an enemy, though with his Will save I wouldn't put it past having failed a Charm person and not even knowing it ;)
Side note: Our group is not wise.
Haha, I hope you're on our side, Malgrim :)
Also, sorry for the delay everyone. Just got a post up. Big surprise... inspire courage.