Indeed, good to get on. Do us a favour next time please and bob a quick warning notice ahead of time to keep everyone aware. We all know how real life bites!
Ta
Apologies again. I promise to increase my verbosity re: absences in the future.
and thanks for letting Oso vent his anger at that kobold.
GM - you mentioned this game was a kind of "learn the ropes" exercise for you regarding 5E. I'm very much in the "rules are just guidelines" camp, so am accustomed and comfortable playing pretty loose with the rules-as-written.
Having said that, I've got a reasonable amount of familiarity with 5E (although I realise it's new, so that's inherently limited). Would you like me/us to raise rules queries here as we go along? I'm only interested in that if it's useful to you, I couldn't care less as a player and don't really enjoy games which go back and alter the action based on trying to "get it right". Nonetheless, if it's for a writing assignment it might prove useful to you to have things queried - perhaps especially so where the 5E rule is different from the PF rule.
GM - you mentioned this game was a kind of "learn the ropes" exercise for you regarding 5E. I'm very much in the "rules are just guidelines" camp, so am accustomed and comfortable playing pretty loose with the rules-as-written.
Having said that, I've got a reasonable amount of familiarity with 5E (although I realise it's new, so that's inherently limited). Would you like me/us to raise rules queries here as we go along? I'm only interested in that if it's useful to you, I couldn't care less as a player and don't really enjoy games which go back and alter the action based on trying to "get it right". Nonetheless, if it's for a writing assignment it might prove useful to you to have things queried - perhaps especially so where the 5E rule is different from the PF rule.
That would be fine with me, Steve. I'm hoping to write an adventure using the 5th edition rules in the near future, so any help familiarizing myself with the rules system is appreciated.
No worries. As I said - I'm not at the rules lawyer end of the spectrum, but might have some useful comments.
The thing that prompted imy query was the dagger wielding kobold disengaging and fleeing into the keep. PF might be different, but the 5E disengage action doesn't grant you any extra movement (you need the dash action for that). So when he disengaged, that would prevent opportunity Attacks throughout his move (not just for the "first square"), but would only allow him to move the usual amount (presumably thirty feet).
As I understood it, he was near the corner at the base of the tower the gap in the wall - my impression was that the door to the keep was further away than that (and that he would have needed to take a dash action to make it in one go).
Admittedly, I may just have misunderstood the situation. If so, please try not to read this in a "smart ass" tone of voice. :p
If the kobold was a rogue he could have used his cunning action ability to dash. Assuming I understand those rules correctly.
No worries. As I said - I'm not at the rules lawyer end of the spectrum, but might have some useful comments.
The thing that prompted imy query was the dagger wielding kobold disengaging and fleeing into the keep. PF might be different, but the 5E disengage action doesn't grant you any extra movement (you need the dash action for that). So when he disengaged, that would prevent opportunity Attacks throughout his move (not just for the "first square"), but would only allow him to move the usual amount (presumably thirty feet).
As I understood it, he was near the corner at the base of the tower the gap in the wall - my impression was that the door to the keep was further away than that (and that he would have needed to take a dash action to make it in one go).
Admittedly, I may just have misunderstood the situation. If so, please try not to read this in a "smart ass" tone of voice. :p
Tone of voice is a hard thing to portray accurately in a PbP game, so I appreciate you trying :)
I was basing my "disengage" on the old withdrawal action from PF, so good to know the difference.
Sorry, I thought we were waiting for someone to post. Turns out I was right, but the person was me.
Map link in the header has been updated, FYI.
Have we as a group ever fought the undead in one of our past adventures? I'm inclined to think we've knocked around a couple of skeletons...
Have we as a group ever fought the undead in one of our past adventures? I'm inclined to think we've knocked around a couple of skeletons...
Yup, let's say that you had a run-in with some skeletons when you were exploring the tomb of the Great Chief Kehat, one of the greatest leaders of the indigenous people that inhabited the land now known as Cheliax before the Taldans arrived from the east. The tomb is located in northwestern Cheliax, in the southern foothills of the Menador Mountains, northwest of the town of Kantaria. See THIS MAP of Cheliax for reference.
A second later, two melodious voices rise in harmony, beautifully calling out to every one of you to join them and fly up the chimney and from there to everlasting happiness.
That's the line of the game right there.
Question: I have cantrip: True Strike. Does that mean I can cast that as many times a day as I'd like?
Question: I have cantrip: True Strike. Does that mean I can cast that as many times a day as I'd like?
As far as I understand it, yes.
Do you want me to declare it each time, or can we assume I cast it before each fight?
Do you want me to declare it each time, or can we assume I cast it before each fight?
Well, as far as I understand it, the spell only lasts one round and takes an action to cast, so do you want to make it your first action of every combat?
Incidentally, True Strike provides the kind of "open to interpretation" situation that is reasonably common in 5E. You can imagine a situation where Aredhel casts true strike (as an action) then moves her speed and discovers an enemy, then uses action surge to grant her an extra action which she uses to attack.
The spell says that "on your next turn" you get advantage on your first attack - so RAW it wouldnt yet apply, despite Aredhel having cast it and still concentrating on it. However, it seems a little silly that, now that the spell is active, it sort of 'skips' an attack. On the face of it, it might seem like advantage should be granted to the 'action surge attack'.
The contra-argument to this interpretation is that it would deprive the opponents of their opportunity to disrupt Aredhel's concentration that they would if she had to wait until next turn. The contra-contra-argument being that that's just part of why action surge is good.
The designers have generally said that these kinds of rulings are deliberately left vague so that different groups will come to their own understandings and approaches - which places a fair bit of pressure on the DM to be fair and the players to trust the DM.
Interesting point. IMO, getting to spam True Strike every round would not be fair. Action surge is already good, and the text of the spell does say "next turn", not "next action". I'm going to rule that you CAN'T use it in the same round. 5e tends to give small bonuses here and there for minor abilities, and using a racial ability in this way tends to go against the RAI, I think. If you can come up with a better argument for why it should be allowed, however, I am willing to hear it.
That's fine. I'll be specific moving forward about when I cast it.
Interesting point. IMO, getting to spam True Strike every round would not be fair. Action surge is already good, and the text of the spell does say "next turn", not "next action". I'm going to rule that you CAN'T use it in the same round. 5e tends to give small bonuses here and there for minor abilities, and using a racial ability in this way tends to go against the RAI, I think. If you can come up with a better argument for why it should be allowed, however, I am willing to hear it.
The racial ability itself requires consumption of an action - so it only enables spamming true strike every second round (which, as a general rule is worse than attacking each round - the same chance to hit and critical, but you miss out on the possiblity of hitting twice).
It's only with action surge that she could perhaps cast and attack in the same round - which then can't be used until after a short rest. Note that it's still not much of a strategy in a stand-up fight:
1. cast true strike
2. use action surge
3. attack with advantage
is worse than:
1. attack
2. use action surge
3. attack
The best use of true strike is when you have a round to prepare (such as when the opponents are closing, you're attacking from ambush or you're waiting for some trigger before your attack). It's also useful if you happen to be up against a hard-hitting enemy who is close to death.
The situation I'm describing above is very situational and is more based on 'in world logic' than any real power consideration - spending an action to gain advantage is a wash at best, so there's not a significant risk of being overpowered - it's more whether the logic bothers you of a spell boosting attacks being concentrated on but not 'coming off'.
Are we stalled out again?
No, I'm here. I was just waiting for Oso to post, but I shall no more!
unfortunately Imsh cannot act ...and wisdom is one of his chosen saves..lol
Well, the harpies have fled to their refuge and are only using their entrancing song, so momentum has definitely shifted to the party.
Map in header updated again.
We also never decided on a final marching order for the party. I know Mandraiv is in front, but there was talk about putting Oso next, but also Aredhel. I'm just asking because ... oh, no reason ... :)
Can we also clarify the current lighting?
As per mandraiv's recent suggestion, artius will be near the back if it's dark. In fact, given minor injuries it's probably best for him to hang back a little anyhow.
I thought Imsh cast a light spell on someone's shield...and would recast it as needed. As to marching order, I believe Imsh is at the back of the party.
Lurkin'.
Sorry, we have our big convention this weekend in Portland, so I'm running lots of PFS. Will be able to post again Sunday PM West Coast time.
I'm operating here with the Pathfinder based assumption that normal weapons can't harm a swarm? That true for 5E?
I'm operating here with the Pathfinder based assumption that normal weapons can't harm a swarm? That true for 5E?
They have damage resistance, which means they only take half damage.
Oh! Well. That changes things. I've had too many bad experiences with swarms where they've been immune to normal damage. Aredhel's diving back into the fray!
Yeah, those fine swarms in 3.X and Pathfinder really are dangerous, especially the hellspawn wasps that are also immune to fire. How many parties carry around non-fire-based area effect attacks? Specifically, these 5E swarms have resistance against slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing, so they take full damage if you have any weapon, item, or ability that does ANY other kind of damage.
I would suggest we try and lure them out from behind their barricade.
Map of level 2 added. The entrance room with the trash and the insects was the farthest one on the right.
Thanks for the healing, Imsh!
Thats what I'm here for! lol Can't seem to hit the side of a barn otherwise....haha
Been sick in bed since Sunday. Apologies for not posting. Will be back tomorrow.
Feel better!
And I'm back. Still have a cough and some congestion, but at least I don't feel like sleeping all day anymore.
Happy birthday! Thanks for letting us know.
Apologies for my sparse posting. I'm reading along but working twelve hour days at the moment - don't have a lot of creative energy.
Holiday from next Monday though, so I expect to pick up the pace again in a week.
And I'm on vacation this week and traveling to places with limited connectivity. Please don't wait for me if things need to move along, though I'll try to keep up!
Thanks for letting us know, all.
Just an FYI, but I'm beginning to change aspects of this adventure, since it's clear that a standard dungeon crawl can be pretty dull as a PbP.
Thumbs up.