That's a tough call. I think that both should require a roll, otherwise me (as in, the dude sitting here typing who has pretty much never ridden a horse) could just sit on an exotic mount and never suffer AoOs. I'm not sure Acrobatics make sense for the rider, though, as you can't dance around acrobatically while mounted. Perhaps Pearl should have to roll acrobatics vs Rolg's CMD and then Liane should have to make a ride check vs Rolg's CMD. I'd say that if Pearl's roll fails, no ride check is needed and both characters would be subject to an AoO. If Pearl can't be acrobatic enough, Liane is a sitting duck since she's in the saddle.
So, first an acrobatics from Pearl. If it fails, Rolg can AoO both. If it succeeds, ride from Liane. If it fails, Rolg can AoO only Liane. If it succeeds, Rolg can AoO no one. You guys good with this? The rules aren't really evident on this, so I'm trying to go with what I feel would be fair. Thoughts?
Cornered into a side of the arena, Liane reverses Pearl direction and sends the roc into a flurry of short turns and waves to try to avoid Rolg hammer. Then, once she is out of reach in A11, she turns into her saddle and fire another arrow at the dwarf before looking for cover behing a pillar and moving to C16.
Arbiter:
Fly to avoid AoO from B6 to A11 (half speed so 50 ft of movement used). Pearl acrobatics check:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23 Liane ride check:1d20 + 18 ⇒ (14) + 18 = 32 Bow attack in A 11:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17, damage:1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Then move from a A11 to C16.
Current spells: Shield companion, Ant haul, Shield of Faith 35/40
Pearl acrobatics check 23 vs CMD
Liane ride check 32 vs CMD
Bow attack 17, damage 10
Rolg watches as the little opponent slips from his reach once more, wincing as yet another little arrow pierces his defenses. He moves to the southwest to find some cover.
Arbiters:
Drop rage, double move to F/G 3/4
Mutagen rd 7 of 100 (cast @ surprise)
shield of Faith rd 6 of 20 (cast @ rd 1)
Divine Favor rd 5 of 30 (cast @ rd 2)
Enlarge Person rd 4 of 10 (cast @ rd 3)
As the dwarf moves back to look for cover, Liane reverses Pearl mid-flight. Flying from C16 to A10, she targets the part of the large dwarf still visible behind his pillar with another arrow before jerking her mount into a sharp turn between the two top-most pillars to go almost back to where she started (D13).
Arbiter:
Direct Pearl from C16 to B15, A14 puis A10 (40 ft equivalent),
Standard Action fire at Rolg with cover (4th arrow): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22, damage:1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Direct Pearl to turn 90° to B10: Fly check DC15:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21, then movement to C10, D11-D13
Current Spells: Ant haul, Shield companion, shield of faith 34/40
Movement C16_B15-A14-A10,
Bow attack from A10 22, damage 5 (Rolg has cover so +4 to AC)
Sharp turn to B10 Fly check DC15 success
Movement to C10, D11 ending up in D13.
Pearl double move, D13 E12--E5 D4 C4 B5--B13
Liane bow attack 20, damage 10.
(the attack is from D4 (half of the movement, attack penalty of -4 already added, Rolg has no cover)
The arrow skitters off the dwarf's shield, and the dwarf responds by rushing across the intervening space… once again readying his polearm as he gets nearly directly underneath Liane. His shield falls to the arena sands, reverting to its original size.
Arbiters:
Double move to A/B 11/12
Drop shield (in B.12) + rage
2nd rd of rage used
Mutagen rd 9 of 100 (cast @ surprise)
shield of Faith rd 8 of 20 (cast @ rd 1)
Divine Favor rd 7 of 30 (cast @ rd 2)
Enlarge Person rd 6 of 10 (cast @ rd 3)
Double move to A/B 11/12, drop shield and re-angrify.
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So that should be another Pearl Acro + Liane Ride if you want to get gone.
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You're up.
Nah, I don't trust Pearl acrobatics while you're not entangled, so I'm going to use another tactics and try to entangle you again :).
Round 9
As Rolg gets into position again, Liane utters a few words and the dwarf suddenly seems to loose his reflexes. Taking advantage of this situation, Liane takes out a second weird looking arrow out of her quiver and fires it at the dwarf before flying to the south of the arena.
Spellcraft DC 16:
Litany of sloth
Arbiter:
Swift action cast litany of Sloth.
Standard action bow attack with tangleshoot.1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16, entangled for 2d4 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7 rounds.
Free action direct Pearl to K15
Current Spells: Ant haul, Shield companion, shield of faith 32/40
Cast litany of sloth on Rolg, no AoO this round,
Fire another tangleshot arrow: ranged touch attack 16, entangled for 7 rounds.
Fly to K15
Did you cast that defensively (swift action spells still provoke, right)? If not, it still provokes an AoO. If you did, i'd love for you to have to use what I'm assumign is an abysmal roll you just made for that tangleshot attack for your concentration roll. :D
Did you cast that defensively (swift action spells still provoke, right)? If not, it still provokes an AoO. If you did, i'd love for you to have to use what I'm assumign is an abysmal roll you just made for that tangleshot attack for your concentration roll. :D
I've check that, swift action spells do not provoque AoO, otherwise this spell would be useless in this situation.
From the SRD: "You can cast a quickened spell (see the Quicken Spell metamagic feat), or any spell whose casting time is designated as a free or swift action, as a swift action. Only one such spell can be cast in any round, and such spells don't count toward your normal limit of one spell per round. Casting a spell as a swift action doesn't incur an attack of opportunity."
I'm half ashamed by the last roll as it's the fisrt time i've ever rolled max damage on all the dices of a crit.
Without glee, the mounted halfling stores her bow, draws her lance and sends Pearl Flying towards the downed dwarf.
Alighting close, she hops down from Pearl and grips her lance in both hands to finish the work.
Well, i knew i was in trouble when i lost initiative (by 1). It was gonna be an uphill fight from there. Then I should have gone for the Ear Piercing Scream once Fatigue and Entangle rolled off the first time.... like I said, frustrating, but well-played on your part.
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Double-critting simply expedited the whole thing.
Crushing Pearl would have been first order of business, yes. And I rolled an 18 for initiative. Oh well. Back to 0 rep level 4 for Rolg. It's actually the prevalence of Tanglefoots that annoys me most. They're so cheap when compared to the counter to it (solvent) that it makes it useless to buy solvent. For instance, you can buy 10 tangleshot arrows for the price of 1 solvent... not cool. But i guess it is what it is.
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I was hopign to be able to put together a buidl that could do fairly decent without being a ranged or magic-using combatant... that dream is being beaten down one loss at a time. :/
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I'm tryin to decide if I should just go with the flow or try to stick it out.
Crushing Pearl would have been first order of business, yes. And I rolled an 18 for initiative. Oh well. Back to 0 rep level 4 for Rolg. It's actually the prevalence of Tanglefoots that annoys me most. They're so cheap when compared to the counter to it (solvent) that it makes it useless to buy solvent. For instance, you can buy 10 tangleshot arrows for the price of 1 solvent... not cool. But i guess it is what it is.
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I was hopign to be able to put together a build that could do fairly decent without being a ranged or magic-using combatant... that dream is being beaten down one loss at a time. :/
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I'm tryin to decide if I should just go with the flow or try to stick it out.
I think your build is really good, you have good versatility and good power versus ranged opponents/magical users. You were just very unlucky vs Liane. I also have to say I'm getting more and more experienced at fighting vs strong enlarged melee opponents.
Against Shigeharu, I think you did not employ the right defenses (protection from elements would have helped a lot).
For tangleshot vs universal unguent: it's more 2.5 for 1 (20 gp vs 50 gp), but I agree it 's a really strong effect with no save and an easy ranged touch attack.
That's my 5 cents but don't despair, you're still well into the contest at 4th level. Keep Rolg, I like him.
I feel like such an evil man, playing with all of your emotions as I receive data on optimal low-level combat techniques. For what it's worth, Eben, I'm sending in a zero-casting goblin. We'll see how that goes.
I feel like such an evil man, playing with all of your emotions as I receive data on optimal low-level combat techniques. For what it's worth, Eben, I'm sending in a zero-casting goblin. We'll see how that goes.
Well, like I said, I knew it was going to be an up-hill fight from the get-go. And I'm interested to see how your gobbo does. I nearly did a very similar build (and still might).
Liane wrote:
Against Shigeharu, I think you did not employ the right defenses (protection from elements would have helped a lot).
Yah, but the thing is, that was the first I'd seen him use Shocking Grasp. And the spell wasn't what killed me (either time), it was the crits. Me yanking 10 points of damage off the top of that spell damage might have helped, but Rolg would still have dropped. Now I've seen him use electricity AND cold damage offensively… though I have to actually win 3 in a row for that to matter.
Liane wrote:
For tangleshot vs universal unguent: it's more 2.5 for 1 (20 gp vs 50 gp), but I agree it 's a really strong effect with no save and an easy ranged touch attack.
My mistake on the prices, but you get the idea. It's a losing tactic for the person removing the tanlgefoots, so all the opponent has to do is stock up enough.
Either way, sorry for complaining. It was frustrating, but it is what it is. I'm not shelving Rolg just yet. Just trying to figure out how to get another win (or three).
