Well, that virtually guarantees the rest of the adventure will be a breeze. My 20s are usually followed by a string of sub-10s. (then again, I did confirm the crit...)
I'm very glad that happened right now - all the (good) drama of having an OHKO of a PC without all the (bad) drama of said PC actually dying.
Reporting in as promised :)
Whew! Got me worried with Grukk there. Even if the orcs weren't an illusion so glad drosk's init was good enough to heal him right away that time.
If those weren't illusions Grukk would have been dead before he hit the ground, much less before Drosk could heal him. Hooray for technicalities.
Zeb didn't even show the strength mod for that damage roll. I don't think even Garik would have survived that if this was a real fight.
whoa! it was that bad, huh? didn't manage to see the damage hehehe
Yeah, he was dropped to below negative CON in one hit!
ok took a peak at the spoiler and lol! It WAS that bad! Guess our bunch o' newbie adventurers are that 'loveable' to be spared by them golarion gods from that encounter :D
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That was a very fun encounter. I was totally duped, but since I didn't check the rolls until later, I didn't realize how badly Grukk got chopped. Since the other text showed that something was out of sorts, I didn't look.
I must admit, I consider this one of the charms of low-level characters. The ever-present possibility of a "death by [insert simple or martial weapon here]" gives an exciting tension to the game that isn't as present at later levels.
"Death by Saving Throw roll of '1'" at higher levels gives a similar feel, but at least you get to roll the die that kills you. [And death isn't as bad as it's cracked up to be by this point, either.]
But at 1st level? A goblin with a pointy stick and a bit of luck can put you in the grave. Awesome!
Just wanted to concur w/regards to the group. I'm enjoying this cast of characters (and the players & DM behind them, of course), and the hook to draw them together feels very natural. I'm looking forward to seeing the camaraderie develop.
Yeah, Grukk took something like 31 damage from that crit if I had remembered to add the strength mod. Greataxes are literally murder. I'm glad his story hasn't ended yet, though, (especially as replacing a PC at this point is narratively awkward).
Ok guys, it's friday night here and I gotta go offline for the weekend and be back sunday night (your time zone) as usual. I'll try to check in during the weekend (very doubtful though) so whatever guard duty the group decides while I'm not online is ok with me. During Garik's watch he'll wear his hide armor but will take it off while sleeping.
lol! Me, too. So 1st level post-traumatic experience reaction..."Holgast's Demise?" Holgast should be honored as this might be the first epic Grukk'll be making lol!
If so, Wisdom check: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8. I'll let the others interpret that result as they will!
Well I guess for this one I'll interpret as more of due to the resulting taste (a tinge of dwarven scalp most probably) and some unintended "extra" ingredients (red 'noodles' maybe?) Don't worry Garik won't tell Aunt Beryl. He should've known Drosk's not up to it :)
Perception check: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Second Perception check (if needed): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4!
Ok. This is freaky. Are we sure Zeb's not messing with the codes? He crits & we are getting 1's? lol :D
Sorry, folks, didn't do as much over the weekend as I intended because I was down to the wire (and tired) from the tail-end of a two week project.
My schedule has also been sort of rearranged so I'm usually posting in the evenings CST now, but I'll try and sneak in in the morning too.
Also, Drosk is an incredible cook.
So...hungry.... :-)
well...there's....this....wolf....
:-)
So...hungry.... :-)well...there's....this....wolf....:-)
"Aye! Wolf meat! Nice an' gristly! Just what th' stew needs!"
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Of course, I'm worried that I just put an arrow into the side of the one helpful wolf in these parts.
E.g. "I am Nerfblennin, but you can call me Snarl. I have come to guide you...OWW! Damn elf!"
Or maybe it was the mayor's dog. Or a woodland spirit disguised.
See, Holgast's trick has really messed me up! Lol!
Of course, I'm worried that I just put an arrow into the side of the one helpful wolf in these parts.
E.g. "I am Nerfblennin, but you can call me Snarl. I have come to guide you...OWW! Damn elf!"Or maybe it was the mayor's dog. Or a woodland spirit disguised.
See, Holgast's trick has really messed me up! Lol!
:)
Yeah, I'm at odds about it, too. I was envisioning a whole pack, which would be dangerous. So far, this looks like some poor, starving wolf just begging for scraps, and instead is going to get all heck rained down upon him because everyone's in a bad mood after Holgast's trick.
E.g. "I am Nerfblennin
If this were the name, due to someone's recent nickname I would be required to constantly call him Nerfmaster sucktown.
Also since the wolves haven't acted yet during the surprise round if Telperion wanted he could have made a sneak attack since they don't have dex to their AC yet. Well assuming they are within 30 feet, thats a fairly long range though for in the middle of a camp in a forest. I don't think they have uncanny dodge to keep from being flatfoot in the first round. Maybe it has barbarian levels though, that would be scary. Though they are just wolves so maybe he wouldn't want to. >.>
I should post in this topic more so people know that I'm not dead.
At any rate I hope Bolkin's initiative ends up being better than his Perception.
Also unless these are wolves with machetes taped to their legs or something I doubt the Bolkin's gonna have much luck disarming them. Still, that's what Dirty Tricks are for.
Or he could just do the boring but effective thing and smack them. Smacking things is usually something that Fighters do.
I probably could have handled this a little better mentioning he'd be running off on his turn. 'Course some of you seem to be clued in to what's going on...
Also I had totally forgotten about sneak attack to be honest. Pretty sure at the edge of the dim firelight is well out of range, though.
So far, this looks like some poor, starving wolf just begging for scraps, and instead is going to get all heck rained down upon him because everyone's in a bad mood after Holgast's trick.
yeah...poor wolf actually...or poor ally? Holgast really messed us up lol I's also expecting a pack with all those howling and Garik was about gettin' ready to rage like crazy and one scrawny wolf showed up.
Well, the group's night isn't over yet. And darn it's gonna be edgy. Welcome to Level 1 adventuring, indeed! :D
'And suddenly the moon starts falling from the sky upon Holgast's command. While plummeting to the earth it slowly turns to reveal a grinning face.'
Oh zelda how I miss you. the moon.
This is what Grukk expects at this point.
Sorry for the radio silence the past few days. I've been tied up for the past three days working 12+ hour days drilling and sampling at an explosives manufacturing facility (yes, you could say business is booming), and I'm pretty beat. I'll try to have a post for Drosk up in the morning.
Bluh, dice love me when I'm the DM, hate me when I'm the player.
Maybe I should vary the order in which I do my PbP posts... Maybe I'd stop rolling poorly in the zombie apocalypse game I'm in.
Bluh, dice love me when I'm the DM, hate me when I'm the player.
Maybe I should vary the order in which I do my PbP posts... Maybe I'd stop rolling poorly in the zombie apocalypse game I'm in.
Meanwhile, Bolkin is getting lucky on the entirely wrong things.
Re: initiative order, I’d say the wolves got a +2 circumstance bonus to init due to stalking the fire. They could see us long before we could see them. Problem solved! :-)
Yeah but still... Zeb's messin' with the dice codes gettin' those 20's...he just hasn't gotten around making it work with his player profile lol! :D
Meanwhile Bolkin is having the worst luck ever. At least he didn't get 'disemboweled' on a single attack though.
Free Hand Fighter dodge bonuses and Improved Trip can't come fast enough.
Meanwhile Bolkin is having the worst luck ever. At least he didn't get 'disemboweled' on a single attack though.
Hey if I were the DM making that roll I would be throwing a party after I tpk the party with first round criticals.
I think the dice gods are trying to drive me nuts.
I shouldn't be this ecstatic that Bolkin got a mediocre roll in combat for once, but I am. Gotta take what I can get I suppose.
Haha, I didn't think everyone would go along with the food thing. I was just hungry at the time and felt that I would go off my own hunger. Good thing lunch is coming soon.
Well, at least Garik's handling himself fine, but I'm crossing my fingers for Bolkin right now. Of course, as it is it would take a massive amount of bad luck to actually die here, but his luck so far hasn't exactly been stellar either.
It's funny, the last time I had a barbarian in a group I was running, she was hyper competent as well. We'll see if Garik keeps that up.
Anyway, more seriously, this particular encounter made me realize it might be worth it to have some sort of maps (particularly in the more cramped and confusing crypt). My default fallback here is to just use my Photobucket to post maps with a labeled grid and people declare where they're moving and I update it once a round (or so) which should keep things less confusing.
Alternately, if I can figure it out and everybody has a Google account* (I'm not sure this is necessary), I can do like one of my other DMs here and use a spreadsheet program for the map. If anybody has preferences/objections one way or the other, lemme know.
I'm also considering the idea of posting the stats for mook type enemies. That way people know how much HP something has left so they know whether to attack it or not without me having to give a description. May break immersion but that's an OK sacrifice for me. AC is a little more iffy, but adjudicating your own hits might help too. I've only seen this done in SAGA where saves are static defense numbers as well, so it wouldn't carry over to PF quite so smoothly.
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My preferences: I'd love to have a map. Either method is fine with me.
However, I can play without the map, too. I don't want you to get swamped in terms of time. That is, I'd rather see the characters keep going than see a map, if it comes to that.
But mostly I want Garik to come save my elf-flavored kibbles from this wolf I can't stab! :-) I'll wait a bit to see if he posts today.
The Google Docs spreadsheet program is a pretty easy way to prepare maps for PbP combats (I was able to figure out how to do it on my own, and I am by no means tech-savvy!). If you want to maintain DM-control for editting the map, all you need to do is to post the link to the map in the PbP. If you want all of the players to be able to edit the map (which can make things a bit more confusing), then you will need each person's e-mail address to set it up so they have editting privileges on your documents. If you need any help, please feel free to ask!
I prefer using some type of map, since some feats and combat options are rather dependent on being able to see a tactical representation of what's going on.
I too would very much love to see a map. Either method works with me, although I don't have any experience with Google spreadsheets. Still, I'm willing to learn if necessary.
One game I'm in is using dabbleboard. Example. We've only used it for one encounter so far, but I kind of like it. Everyone can adjust it, but I think only the DM had to sign up.
And I was going to suggest posting the AC, hp, and saves of minor enemies. That way the DM doesn't have to post after each player's move to update the status of the baddies before the next player's move.
To be honest I was iffy about not using a map myself, but I figured I'd go for the narrative approach in the first couple of battles to see how it worked.
I've got plenty of free time ('specially this weekend), so I'll look into Dabbleboard there and Google spreadsheets. I'll also start giving the mook's relevant combat statistics unless someone is vehemently against that.
Sorry guys. Was just able to post a few moments ago. It was a weekend for me here when I am usually offline.
I'm ok with having maps. Though I'm not too sure I'd be able to keep up since I do go online at work only where most websites are blocked (except of course paizo heheh :) ) But so far the ones mentioned above (raven's dabbleboard and photobucket and google docs) I can access fine so I think I won't have problems with those. But I'll have to learn first of course since I'm not that savvy yet with those since RL stuffs take a lot of my time (that's why I can only play PbP :P). Honestly, I don't even know what "mook" or SAGA means, sorry heheh. Willing to learn though, guys, willing to learn :)
Our battle was off to a rough start, but I think we can consider this our first actual victory. Well done, everyone.
It's perfectly alright, Garik, both on the weekend front and unfamiliarity front.
Mook is a term for a minor bad guy. i.e., Stormtroopers or orcs. This is in contrast to the Big Bad, BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy), or just the 'leader' type in an encounter.
SAGA is the Star Wars SAGA roleplaying system, which was an iteration of the d20 system. My comment about it was mostly an aside.
I can't convince Dabbleboard to load; I suspect it has to do with my terrible Internet, so I'll probably be falling back on Google. That's a shame 'cause I had always wanted to find a good whiteboard program. Fortunately I've got a bit yet before we'll really be needing maps again so I can continue to weigh my options.
EDIT:
Oh, right, I was going to ask how people felt about handling XP. I normally just keep tab of it myself and let people know when they've hit a level. If you guys would rather I reward it as we go, I could do that too. (For reference, between the Orcs and the Wolves, everybody is at 333(.3 repeating, if you're so inclined)).
Think I'm gonna go edit and repeat myself in the play thread too.
I have no problem with out-of-turn posting - in fact, a lot of my PbP history actually just went with everybody posting, then the DM sorting it out. (Usually with lots of conditional statements and blah blah blah). We seem to be pretty good about posting regularly even in initiative order, though.
Of course, sometimes you'll have to amend your action or lose out on a nice crit - but them's the breaks.
Sorry I posted out of order during combat, there.
I was actually hoping Garik's gonna miss his attack on the wolf so that Telp's turn would still happen. The imagery of Telp's attack was totally epic...gout of blood towards his open mouth was really so....him! :D lol