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If he shows up with no horses or wagon, to inform us that the NPCs who went with you are *also* captives of the town guard, Zarabeta will be even *more* convinced that he's working the other side. :)
So much for the elf's master plan then! *Insert evil yet inconspicuous laughter here*
Such bad press Set gets. I blame the Greeks. Also for goat cheese.
The Greeks? I believe we reserved all of our bad press for Pluto, or Hades, or whatever it is he is called anyways. Mmm, cheese... Though I prefer feta cheese myself! Heh!
If we had time..which we won't I'd have suggested we dig a couple of pot traps in as well..you dig a hole put a pot in it cover it with a small layer of earth and leaves..horse comes along pot smashes and the horses foot goes down into the sharp shards..used with great effect at the Battle of Bannockburn
<grumble grumble rebellious Scots grumble grumble>
Even a gopher hole can snap a horses leg (although, as a farm boy, I wince at the thought of hurting horses)! I wish there was a low-level excavation spell to exhume or bury people or whatever that could be adapted for quick pit creation.
There was one somewhere, a cantrip or 1st level spell, you cast it once and you got a hole in the ground, a second casting filled it in and popped up a headstone ... good for those high fatality-rate campaigns.
Such bad press Set gets. I blame the Greeks. Also for goat cheese.
No, Set's bad press comes entirely from his own actions. I mean to kill your brother once is a bit lame, maybe forgiveable, but nothing to boast about, but to do it twice? You can't blame his son for being peeved ...
That reminds me, I must turn over another look at my Phade campaign world ... I used a lot of Ancient Greek/Egyptian influences there.
No, Set's bad press comes entirely from his own actions. I mean to kill your brother once is a bit lame, maybe forgiveable, but nothing to boast about, but to do it twice? You can't blame his son for being peeved ...
[crazygodrant]
Pshaw, piss off the god of war and storms, by horning in on the fertility business and skulking around with other gods wives? He got what he deserved. The fact that he managed to get out of it didn't make him any tougher, so he got his pasty self discombobulated again, in the first-ever game of deicidal whack-a-mole. And yet, somehow, the slimy creep gets a *promotion* out of it. A fish ate his winky, and he still has the chutzpah (if not the cohojones) to claim he's the god of fertility? Yeah, right.Let's just ignore that *nobody* in the Ennead for a second believes that Osirus is actually Horus' dad. Even if it was possible, it would still be improbable. Ra got that action. It's good to be the king, I guess.
Osirus, the Twice-Butt-Kicked God of Eunuchs. That's what he should be known for.
Oh no, Set's not bitter... :)
[/crazygodrant]
I thought Set was God of Eunuchs after his fight with Horus? <dig><dig>
Scurrilous gossip. As is the scandalous version of how Horus lost his eye. Really, those lector-priests needed to get out more and meet some women.
Anyway, Isis made things work with a staff of wood (go feminism!) ... that babe was so hot she could make a corpse get up and walk ... come to think of it, she did!
Meh. Necrophilia. So not sexy.
And Isis had to bring her own wood to the party. It's not Osirus could provide.
Hope everyone feels better! Sorry to hear that the fall flu season has gotten to ya.
My entire household came down with the flu a few weeks ago. Coughing in my face, rasping, spraying, wheezing. Somehow, I managed to not get sick (knock on imitation wood).
I must have had this particular bug already or something (last time I had swine flu was like 10 years ago, and it paralyzed one of my vocal chords. I was voiceless for about eight months. Much fun was had at my expense, while I was unable to retort with anything other than a whisper!).
Wasn't swine flu -- some 24 hour thing that's settled into a nasty cold. Work is pushing me now.
Map key and notes from me and Dabbler:
Plain tan = burnt out grassy ground
Plain green = grassy ground
Dark green leaves = shrubs/low trees (some cover)-- no thru movement
Dark brown leaves = scrub -- cover to kneeling or prone -- difficult movement.
Castle Rivad is off the bottom of the map. Westcrown is off the top.
Thank you! OOC (because Waifrin isn't that tactically minded yet, although she may learn) there are three primary areas where a group of ambushers could lie in wait:
1. On either side of the bridge, on the north side of the river - close to where we want to stop the auto de fe. Disadvantage is the attackers would be disbursed and retreat would be difficult because of the scrub.
2. On the south side of the stream. This is further away but with the bridge blocked it is very safe. Disadvantage is that from here the Hellknights will not be able to give chase.
3. In the north-east, around 52-LL. This small patch surrounded by shrubs and the odd tree could conceal attackers who would be able top retreat quickly if they had horses.
"Bless those elvish eyes of yours," ....
Elvish eyes, they're watching you. They see your ev--ry move.
Seriously was that one of the worst moments in the LotR movies? "Legolas, what do you see with your elvish eyes?" Oh, spare me please!
Thanks, Set. Nice of you to give me the heads up. Fortunately for you
- I don't have the bestiary yet.
- More importantly, I am lazy.
I really don't want to have to run the conjured beast. I'd much rather you run the damn thing and look about attack bonuses, etc. It's bad enough trying to get decent utilization out of your foes without having to do it for your allies too. Also, I doubt I can be trusted with the comic potential of a rogue summoned creature.
That brings us to a question, How do you want to do the conjuration shtick? Are you randomly grabbing creatures from some celestial plane ? When you summon a certain type of creature, do you always get the same individual? Plenty of RP possibility in the second. Some other mechanic?
How would you feel about scaling your communication ability with level or length of relationship? Strictly for you to roleplay. (As always I would reserve the right to stick my oar in the water. Even Uqabi is not immune from that.) So maybe at first level whatever you summon spots a foe and goes trough claw/claw/bite or whatever. Around second level you can get them to do simple tricks like a cat. Third or fourth, simple tricks like a dumb dog. Fifth, like a smart dog. Or something.
I'm fine with running the beasties myself, I was just worried that it would look like me being a dick when the celestial doggie does what the spell describes (attacks foes to the best of it's ability) and ends up killing someone, since we have been admonished to stick to nonlethal force. Zara will not be able to call it off, other than by dismissing it (which will be a standard action on her part, and quite possibly be too late, no matter her intentions).
My intention is for the dog to attack one of the horsemen, since she can't pick a target for it, other than by placing it to appear next to an enemy, and, given it's size, will likely attack a horse, instead of trying to leap for a rider. Or maybe it will target a riders leg and attempt to use its free trip to pull the rider off of his horse...
I'm not intending to have the dog attempt any coup de graces on fallen foes or do anything strictly designed to kill a foe (as Zara has not actually attempted to kill anyone, contrary to the views of the NPCs, who probably think that she's got a pile of dead bodies in her recent past from the way she gets scolded in every single scene not to kill anyone!), but it's got an Int of 2 and probably wouldn't understand orders to attempt nonlethal damage in any event.
Just to be stone-cold clear; I have zero intention of attempting to use an uncontrollable dog as an end-run around the instructions not to kill anyone! Obviously, Janiven is in charge, and since she could probably single-handedly take all of us, I'm not gonna test that. :)
[Note that the idjit player forgot to take Celestial. I was wondering why, during character generation, I had an extra language, that I ended up spending on Dwarvish... Can I have permission to change that real fast? Even if celestial critters no longer speak or understand Celestial (or, amusingly, no longer are Good creatures, meaning that fiendish and celestial beasties can't Smite each other!), she'd have at least made the attempt!]
As for the metaphysics;
I've always pictured celestial and fiendish critters being created from free-floating extraplanar energy. We talked about it in the beginning of 3.0, and decided that the idea of the Seven Heavens being occupied by cetes of hymn-singing celestial badgers was just too Disney for us, so we had pure planar energy embodied in the material world in the form of familiar material planar animals (such as badgers and dogs and octopi) even if the planes that donated the energy had nothing of the sort dwelling within them. When slain or dismissed, the energy flows back to the upper (or lower) plane in question and returns to disembodied planar energy.
But it's your thing, and, as far as I know, canonically, there are indeed badgers in heaven. Infinite numbers of them, actually!
I'd avoid allowing someone to call up the same critter by choice, as it runs the risk of A) the critter still being wounded, and B) the character making changes to the critter, making it better. That's a level of book-keeping I'm not really interested in, rolling to see if my celestial dog survives the poison when he returns to heaven, and then marking him off my summons list if he fails or something, nor am I interested in optimizing by buying a set of chain shirt barding for my favorite summoned dog to raise it's Armor Class by four.
If the critters are indeed actual critters, I'd house rule that their manifestations on the material plane are like astral projections of their true forms, which remain in heaven (hell, the abyss, wherever), and if slain, poisoned, diseased, cursed, ability-damaged, level-drained, etc. those conditions don't affect the actual creature in heaven (hell, etc.). That which is created up there (or down below) is eternal and incorruptible, to mangle a phrase.
Set, you may change out dwarf for celestial. You haven't used it yet so there's no continuity issue. I like the celestial energy to matter summoning idea. It's cool. So a new creature every summons. And you ought to be able to call off the dog, even at first level. Now a giant demonic toad or infernal cat on the other hand ...
Set, you may change out dwarf for celestial. You haven't used it yet so there's no continuity issue. I like the celestial energy to matter summoning idea. It's cool. So a new creature every summons. And you ought to be able to call off the dog, even at first level. Now a giant demonic toad or infernal cat on the other hand ...
Cool, thanks. According to James Jacobs, a conjurer should be able to roughly direct his critters attacks (attack this foe or that, use this option or that) but not do anything terribly strategic / tactical without calling up an intelligent outsider such as a fiend or archon or whatever.
Seems like a generous house rule, given that the spell description doesn't actually allow for that, but if the boss-man thinks it's okay. :)
Edit: Even better, Zara had different languages listed in the top of the profile and the bottom of the profile. Doh...
I have done a smaller map of the area we were fighting in as people were having problems with the larger one.
I am also in shock after Waifrin just managed to pull off what she did without a hitch ... I was fully expecting to fall off the horse, fail the concentration check or miss the target completely ...
Since you're all pretty much on init 8 because of waiting for the lancers to hit the caltrops, I'll wait for more posts before describing Waifrin's results.
Thanks! I assumed those in 40 & 45 QQ were the crossbowmen dismounted from the wagon, and that the six mounted un-armiger's are the grey sword-symbols, unless there are more mounted Hellknights I missed?
Thanks! I assumed those in 40 & 45 QQ were the crossbowmen dismounted from the wagon, and that the six mounted un-armiger's are the grey sword-symbols, unless there are more mounted Hellknights I missed?
Stupid me. I've been rolling 6 crossbow shots, but 2 of those guys (driver and leader) are on the coach roof. 4 of them are on the ground. (though i may have neglected to describe them getting down before firing.)
So sword symbols are unarmigers. And the H-knights to either side of the coach each represent 2 crossbowmen.
Excellent!
Mounted Combat reference: (spoilered) for length.
Mounted Combat
These rules cover being mounted on a horse in combat
but can also be applied to more unusual steeds, such as a
griffon or dragon.
Mounts in Combat: Horses, ponies, and riding dogs
can serve readily as combat steeds. Mounts that do not
possess combat training (see the Handle Animal skill)
are frightened by combat. If you don’t dismount, you must
make a DC 20 Ride check each round as a move action
to control such a mount. If you succeed, you can perform
a standard action after the move action. If you fail, the
move action becomes a full-round action, and you can’t do
anything else until your next turn.
paizo.com #1214376, Tom Kinnare <tkinnare@comcast.net>, Sep 8, 2009
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202
Your mount acts on your initiative count as you direct it.
You move at its speed, but the mount uses its action to move.
A horse (not a pony) is a Large creature and thus takes up
a space 10 feet (2 squares) across. For simplicity, assume that
you share your mount’s space during combat.
Combat while Mounted: With a DC 5 Ride check, you can
guide your mount with your knees so as to use both hands to
attack or defend yourself. This is a free action.
When you attack a creature smaller than your mount that
is on foot, you get the +1 bonus on melee attacks for being on
higher ground. If your mount moves more than 5 feet, you
can only make a single melee attack. Essentially, you have to
wait until the mount gets to your enemy before attacking, so
you can’t make a full attack. Even at your mount’s full speed,
you don’t take any penalty on melee attacks while mounted.
If your mount charges, you also take the AC penalty
associated with a charge. If you make an attack at the end of
the charge, you receive the bonus gained from the charge.
When charging on horseback, you deal double damage with
a lance (see Charge).
You can use ranged weapons while your mount is taking a
double move, but at a –4 penalty on the attack roll. You can
use ranged weapons while your mount is running (quadruple
speed) at a –8 penalty. In either case, you make the attack roll
when your mount has completed half its movement. You can
make a full attack with a ranged weapon while your mount is
moving. Likewise, you can take move actions normally.
Casting Spells While Mounted: You can cast a spell
normally if your mount moves up to a normal move (its
speed) either before or after you cast. If you have your mount
move both before and after you cast a spell, then you’re
casting the spell while the mount is moving, and you have
to make a concentration check due to the vigorous motion
(DC 10 + spell level) or lose the spell. If the mount is running
(quadruple speed), you can cast a spell when your mount has
moved up to twice its speed, but your concentration check is
more difficult due to the violent motion (DC 15 + spell level).
If Your Mount Falls in Battle: If your mount falls, you have
to succeed on a DC 15 Ride check to make a soft fall and take
no damage. If the check fails, you take 1d6 points of damage.
If You Are Dropped: If you are knocked unconscious, you
have a 50% chance to stay in the saddle (75% if you’re in a
military saddle). Otherwise you fall and take 1d6 points of
damage. Without you to guide it, your mount avoids combat.
Ride (Dex; Armor Check Penalty)
You are skilled at riding mounts, usually a horse, but
possibly something more exotic, like a griffon or pegasus.
If you attempt to ride a creature that is ill suited as a
mount, you take a –5 penalty on your Ride checks.
Check: Typical riding actions don’t require checks.
You can saddle, mount, ride, and dismount from a mount
without a problem. The following tasks do require checks.
Task Ride DC
Guide with knees 5
Stay in saddle 5
Fight with a combat-trained mount 10
Cover 15
Soft fall 15
Leap 15
Spur mount 15
Control mount in battle 20
Fast mount or dismount 20
paizo.com #1214376, Tom Kinnare <tkinnare@comcast.net>, Sep 8, 2009
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Guide with Knees: You can guide your mount with your
knees so you can use both hands in combat. Make your
Ride check at the start of your turn. If you fail, you can
use only one hand this round because you need to use the
other to control your mount. This does not take an action.
Stay in Saddle: You can react instantly to try to avoid falling
when your mount rears or bolts unexpectedly or when you
take damage. This usage does not take an action.
Fight with a Combat-Trained Mount: If you direct your wartrained
mount to attack in battle, you can still make your
own attack or attacks normally. This usage is a free action.
Cover: You can react instantly to drop down and hang
alongside your mount, using it as cover. You can’t attack
or cast spells while using your mount as cover. If you fail
your Ride check, you don’t get the cover benefit. Using this
option is an immediate action, but recovering from this
position is a move action (no check required).
Soft Fall: You negate damage when you fall off a mount.
If you fail the Ride check, you take 1d6 points of damage
and are prone. This usage does not take an action.
Leap: You can get your mount to leap obstacles as part
of its movement. Use your Ride modifier or the mount’s
Jump modifier, whichever is lower, to see how far the
creature can jump. If you fail your Ride check, you fall off
the mount when it leaps and take the appropriate falling
damage (at least 1d6 points). This usage does not take an
action but is part of the mount’s movement.
Spur Mount: You can spur your mount to greater speed
with a move action. A successful Ride check increases the
mount’s speed by 10 feet for 1 round but deals 1d3 points
of damage to the creature. You can use this ability every
round, but the mount becomes fatigued after a number of
rounds equal to its Constitution score. This ability cannot
be used on a fatigued mount.
Control Mount in Battle: As a move action, you can attempt
to control a light horse, pony, heavy horse, or other mount
not trained for combat riding while in battle. If you fail the
Ride check, you can do nothing else in that round. You do
not need to roll for horses or ponies trained for combat.
Fast Mount or Dismount: You can attempt to mount or
dismount from a mount of up to one size category larger
than yourself as a free action, provided that you still have a
move action available that round. If you fail the Ride check,
mounting or dismounting is a move action. You can’t use
fast mount or dismount on a mount more than one size
category larger than yourself.
Action: Varies. Mounting or dismounting normally is a
move action. Other checks are a move action, a free action,
or no action at all, as noted above.
Special: If you are riding bareback, you take a –5 penalty
on Ride checks.
Due to certain work-related stuff I will not be able to post until the weekend. Sorry guys... Thom, you may use Raven as you see fit so that the adventure moves on while I am gone.
Are you a fan of The Monkees? I am. I really love the episode where they use Peter as a battering ram to open a door. Hmmm....
...I really love the episode where they use Peter as a battering ram to open a door.Hey...was that a subtle hint as to the best resolution for freeing Arael? I knew that rogue would come in handy for opening doors! ;-)
Reminds me of the story of Log, the Timberrogue. :-)
Due to certain work-related stuff I will not be able to post until the weekend. Sorry guys... Thom, you may use Raven as you see fit so that the adventure moves on while I am gone.Are you a fan of The Monkees? I am. I really love the episode where they use Peter as a battering ram to open a door. Hmmm....
The only major 1960s group with all its members still living...hows that for trivia.
Neil..with regard to the comments I made re Kingmaker..if you choose to run Fellnight Queen..then I have this witch I'd lke to bring to the party
Neil..with regard to the comments I made re: Kingmaker..if you choose to run Fellnight Queen..then I have this witch I'd lke to bring to the party.
I'll keep that in mind, Wellard. A witch would certainly make for a very interesting character choice to venture through Fellnight Queen.
Regardless, I've made no concrete plans to run a PbP game yet. If I did, however, it would probably involve FQ, just because I know it would be a limited run. And, given that I might have more writing projects down the road, I need to make sure I can split my time between all of those things (and do them justice) while also making time for the rest of my non-gaming life, you know?
I very much appreciate the interest, though. And I'll keep you in mind if I do run a game. :-)
Due to certain work-related stuff I will not be able to post until the weekend. Sorry guys... Thom, you may use Raven as you see fit so that the adventure moves on while I am gone.Are you a fan of The Monkees? I am. I really love the episode where they use Peter as a battering ram to open a door. Hmmm....The only major 1960s group with all its members still living...hows that for trivia.
Really? I tried listing major 60s groups I haven't found a counter-example yet, but there's got to be one. And do the Monkees count as major?
I refer you to the following list...
Had the top-charting American single of 1967 ("I'm a Believer"). (Billboard number-one for seven weeks) with "Daydream Believer" tied for third.
First band to use a Moog Synthesizer in a top-10 album (used on "Star Collector", "Daily Nightly" and "Love Is Only Sleeping" from Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., released in November 1967).
Gave the Jimi Hendrix Experience their first US concert appearances. It should be noted that Hendrix's heavy psychedelic guitar and sexual overtones did not go overly well with the teenage girl audience.
Compelled another David Jones to change his surname to Bowie to avoid being confused with Davy Jones of The Monkees.
Gene Roddenberry was inpired to introduce the character of Chekov in his Star Trek TV series in response to the popularity of Davy Jones, complete with hairstyle and appearance mimicking that of Jones
The Monkees reunion tour was the largest grossing tour of 1986.
Introduced Tim Buckley to a national audience, via his appearance in the series finale, "Mijacogeo, Or – The Frodis Caper".
Last music artist to win the MTV Friday Night Video Fights by defeating Bon Jovi 51% to 49%.
First music artist to win two Emmy Awards.
First television series to star teenagers living on their own without parents.
First rock band to use a multimedia live concert show (film, stage choreography, and music).
First actual live concert footage to be featured in a motion picture (Head, 1968).
Had seven albums on the Billboard top 200 chart at the same time (six were re-issues during 1986/87).
The Monkees are one of only ten artists achieving number-one hits in the United States and United Kingdom simultaneously.
More of The Monkees spent 70 weeks on the Billboard charts, becoming the 12th biggest selling album of all time (Billboard.com).
Four number-one albums in a one-year span. The only act to have their first four albums go to number one on the Billboard charts.
Held the number one spot on the Billboard album chart for 31 consecutive weeks.
Held the record for the longest stay at number one for a debut record until 1982 when Men At Work's debut record Business As Usual broke that record
..I'd say they were major ..ok not as big as the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Stones but then who was???
oh and another one..the only major 60's group never to have changed it's line up.
"Call them off or by the true gods I'll geld you before I kill you"
Wellard, thank you for that line. Oh and I don't know if it's RAW but you can non-lethally "coup de grace" in my game.
hogarth, I'm warning you. Unless Mother quits neutralizing my NPC threats, and starts futilely swinging weapons at them -- her time will come. ~frown~
Neil, and everyone. Sometimes I may seem a little -- obtuse shall we say -- when NPCs interact with you. (Giobanni in the coach) Often I just want to play, to stretch it out a little, especially encounters I personally have pegged as important. (If I make up and bring back NPCs it's ususally personally important to me.) I love diplomacy, intimidation, bluff, sense motive, and will usually reward good rolls eventually, occasionally it may take 2 or 3 rolls. Or you may want to find out a little more before making your pitch. DIplomacy is hard to balance because I don't want one roll to always give you what 15 combat rolls will.
Set, I love Zara but feel I am inadvertently nerfing her. Please stick with it. I'm sure her time will come.
On the other hand Dabbler, I'm glad you've given me a way to nerf Waif -- just give her a big crossbow.
Castor -- I thought for sure Raven would knife Giobanni. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed leaving you behind him like that. Too trusting.
I hope you're all enjoying the game as much as me.
Well Waifrin needs to conserve her power points for when it's really needed, I figure, and she couldn't hit the riders outside thirty feet regardless. And don't worry - while she seems to punch above her weight with impunity right now, when her wild surge gets more effective you'll see her knocking herself out almost every other time she uses it ...
... and yes, the game is a lot of fun! I've reached that stage where I'm on the edge of my seat, can't wait for the next plot development and can't wait to level up ...
Set, the spray worked out well for you. I figured the horses should save too so of your two targets you slept 1 armiger and the other's horse.
Very cool, thanks for helping with the placement. With this sort of mapping situation, spells like cones are not really practical for the player to adjudicate.
Snatching up whatever weapons can be snagged, and running the horses off, seems like the best thing we can do now, so that the troops have to walk home and procure new weapons. Stealing their armor as well sounds like a decent idea, since we probably have an hour or more before more reinforcements can arrive.