Aubrey's Eberron campaign. (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

Don't get carried away - it's literally just a spreadsheet with standard fields for me to fill in, it doesn't calculate anything or link to anything. I use it so I don't lose my NPCs and monsters like I have with the myriad bits of paper.

Oh, I thought you used your super accounting abilities to come up with some formula that does all the heavy lifting for you!

6 hp and grappled... any suggestions for my replacement character?

Two options

Delay and see if one of us can drop the baddie so you don't have to waste an action

OR

Swift etherealness coupled with metamorphic spell (Still Spell and if Aubrey allows it, Silent Spell, too) then followed with a move action to retreat or maybe two move actions.

Good ideas, both, but I cannot cast because of his high CMB and the rules for casting in a grapple. I did not think of delaying - you would think I do it enough...

dang. didn't know you were so low, though even if i had known, there is precious little i could have done about it.

the only cure spells i can metamagic-rod-reach are too low to keep you alive through one more damage instance from them, and these foes have proven that i have next to zero chance of moving through their squares without ending up prone and useless.

I only have 70 hp at best and he dealt 64 in one attack, so there was nothing for you to have known until just moments ago, game-time. I foolishly chose to glitterdust when I wasn't standing in the bosom of the party, so her death, should it come now, is on me.

The bluff is a good gambit. Other than that I suggest we just hit H4 (that's the one holding you, right?) with all we can. Between Janosz' arrows and Kaz's flame strike, how is he looking?

Off-grid until Monday morning.

Regarding the line of effect and area of effect discussion, it seems pretty clear that a wall spell would not stop and start again on the other side of a solid inanimate barrier, but I would think a ring would circle a solid barrier if it didn't intersect anywhere. But this is a weird one because with it visually blocked the caster doesn't really know if the path is clear or not. If it were a burst of emanation effect it would easily wrap around the open space and continue to fill its area on the other side of that wall as long as the targeted point had line of sight and effect because of the open doorway but this isn't one of those spells. So there you are. Some words with no useful opinion. :p

I'm in a village around the Sparta area for a couple of days. I'll be posting but I might leave complicated dice rolls for Aubrey or someone else if I need any because they are a little aggravating on a phone when they pile up.

I guess i just dont see what says it wouldn't stop/start around solid barriers. The hemispherical wall spells do it, stopping at the ground whether even or uneven. It's magic. The wall appears along the line as dictated where there is open space. It isn't a contiguous wall by its nature, it's just a field of floating spinning blades. But ok

It's magic, but the rules exist to give the game balance. The rules around walls are very unclear - another bit of 3e where the rule-set is vague. But I think it's fairly clear in the general rules that solid objects break the line of effect, and on that basis I think it's reasonable to assume that breaks the wall.

How is Sparta Ith? And how did your US trip go by the way? Getting any closer to the move?

I'm back in Athens now. It was a very short trip for me, but welcome after working 21 days in a row. First swim of the summer. The particular village where my sister in law has a family summer house is really close to the sea and the coast there is very much like an island. The area is so clean that sea turtles are nesting on the beach.

We've had the last interview stage for Mrs Ith to get a green card. We should have her passport returned and the permission for her to enter the US as a resident in a week. We will try to time a move for the winter school term so from now the decision to move becomes much more real. It is difficult. And we have a lot of decisions to make. She doesn't want to move really, because her friends and family connections here are extremely broad, but things are not improving in Greece and will continue to get worse. At the moment, Syriza knows they can't win the next election so they focused on changing election laws to benefit themselves. They couldn't pull enough votes to make the changes go into effect during the next election so their current strategy is passing every law the EU/IMF wants to keep the money coming, but enacting none of them. The idea being that whoever wins the next election will have to actually follow through on all of the difficult implementation and Syriza attacks them for the difficult changes in order to regain power by calling an early election once people are pissed.

One thing they have done though is declare that Greece can only have 4 tv stations other than the 4 state channels. We currently have 8. They won't be giving licenses to any channel who has opposed them politically so only 2 of the 8 existing channels will likely be allowed to continue as a business. One license will go to a channel that will be like Fox news for Syriza and one will go to a mafia guy who is literally on trial for drug trafficking mass quantities of heroin and 8 of the witnesses in his case have been mysteriously murdered this year. Going forward there will be one guy who is a political appointee who has the authority to revoke licenses for any reason he sees fit. Sounds great right? Mrs Ith's channel opposed Syriza and has been denied a license in the first round of the application. This is one of the primary catalysts for the move. And who knows? If she hates it in the US we may move back at some point. But we have to spend some time there to complete the green card process so we will find out.

Wow, the situation there is astounding - not in a good way. I hope the move goes well and is a good new start for you guys.

Sounds like a good (if short) holiday near Sparta though anyway.

that beach sounds awesome, everything else, not so much. hopefully things turn out well for Greece, but as that is not likely to be the case, hopefully your move to the US works out well.

Damn. It's like Italy under Berlusconi, only worse. Amazing.

Just to let you know that from this Friday evening I will on holiday for a week. I will be in the Scottish Highlands (though the bit nearest to Glasgow) and therefore unlikely to be able to post in this time.

OK, that's me until next week.

Should we talk tactics and how to get through this one since Aubrey is more or less away for a little while yet?

Ezreal has some offensive options left, but they are unlikely to drop any individual opponents. Mostly I can chip away at them but am unlikely to drop any through a solid attack. (fireball x1, scorching ray x2, magic missile x1) I can empower the fireball with a dragon shard and a scorching ray through metamagic mastery.

More importantly I could cut down the battlefield with wall of force. I expect that wall of force will block the inspired on the other side but that he doesn't need line of effect to continue hitting us. Line of sight will probably be enough for a psychic type. If it is important, Gil could layer an illusion over the wall to also block line of sight. However, I think leaving as few as possible on our side of the wall, eliminating them and healing ourselves up a little before proceeding would probably be best.

Meanwhile- if we don't block line of sight on the wall, Gil is equally capable of wrecking havoc on those guys through a wall of force.
-Incite Riot, Feeblemind, Dominate Person, Confusion. These guys have good saves and the SR. Gil can compensate somewhat by using cloaked casting if she is still invisible for +1 DC, using an enchantment where she has spell focus for another +1 DC and she has spell penetration for +2 vs SR. Not bad. Then if you use a spell with multiple targets you are more likely to get one. Also Confusion is low enough level that you could use your persistent metamagic rod to force 2 saves before they can pass.

Kaz I don't know divine casters well enough to have anything useful to say other than a healed up Janosz will be eager for round 2. Would righteous might and divine power put you in a position to melee these guys?

Are any of these guys still invisible? I could fix that later.

Anyone else got some ideas here?

With Rod's current spell selection he's probably better off healing people up than anything else; most of his remaining offensive spells and more suited against other types of opponents (I think these guys are native outsiders, so he cant dismiss or banish them) and/or allow spell resistance. He might be able to do a little bit with his bow, but may be better off keeping others on their feet. He doesn't have a whole lot of good buff spells other than a few that I think can only target himself.

Kaz might be able to stay in melee with these guys now that he is in base to base range (cutting out the AoOs) and healed up, but they could continue tripping him which could be frustrating. If Kaz wants to mix it up with them or stay offensive I can keep Rod in a healing / defensive role.

Wall of force is probably a good idea.

Would the wall of force slow them down enough to retreat into a back room, cast invisibility circle on everyone, and depart? Do we have a means of mass transport?

Just wondering about Aubrey's comment implying perhaps beating them down is not the way to go. Diplomacy seems a long shot, surrender won't fly with this group if we are still conscious, what does that leave? Fight or flight?

If we can go in different directions - or appear to - perhaps we can divide their forces and take out those that follow us. The comment that they can find us when we rest is especially troubling for the spellcasters, I think.

Stream-of-conscious, sorry, so it probably doesn't make sense, but it's a hit and run post. ttyl

As far as Kazadar goes, using those two spells would help me out. That's why i took them, i just rarely get a chance to cast them because I am trying to heal someone or myself. Which is fine, because that's how i built him.

Divine Favor is +3 atk/damage, and Rightous Might makes me large, for all the good and bad of that. not sure that part is worth it. I'd go from 1d8+10 damage per hit to 2d6+12, but I'd lose 3 AC in the bargain. Net +1 to hit.

The two spells cost me two rounds of casting, three if i am healing someone but if Rodergo can cover that at least once it could help Kazadar.

I think they've mostly been tripping with their AoOs, and going for the murder with their attacks on their own turn, so if i don't move i might be OK. I am now full up on HP but he will still go down in 3 of their hits, and with their bonus to hit, they have a 90% chance (the last attack was +32+2, and my AC is 36 vs giants, they only miss on a 1 or 2) of hitting me even though I am the highest AC in the party i think. Regarding those three hits it'll take to kill him, having already cast Heal, I can no longer out-heal the damage they'd do to me. I have three 3d8+11 heals left in me, and a 4d8+11 if i don't cast Divine Power.

Hmm. 90% chance to hit (and or trip) and the ability to drop any of us in 3 hits max is not looking good.

It would hold them off for 12 rounds, assuming they don't have a means to bypass it which may or may not be true with the inspired back there. He might be able to dispel it.

How about Wall of force as before, Gil blocks it visually with an illusion, Kazadar stone shapes us a door out of here and we split. Downside- they catch us almost immediately if we go to the walkway on the right. If we go through the wall on the left we'll just be in another property right next door. Maybe drop through the floor, then out the windows into open air from the back side? From there- Ez can fly and cast it on another, Gil can cast fly several times if necessary. Ez has a featherfall ring. We could also attempt to take advantage of free fall aiming at any balcony or bridge because they have constant featherfall fields to protect from falling debris. Failure means a messy death though. I could split with some of the group via dimension door to lose them for now. Gil could use invisibility sphere for the others. We will have a very short lead with only 12 rounds, a need to kill at least one of them on our side of the wall and multiple castings required to escape. We'll need to lose them quick.

Alternatively- if we cannot escape, diplomacy isn't going to do it here, but bluff might. On that route Gil casts glibness and once they have won or we give up she gives them the "shards". I don't like this plan, but I have 3 other dragonshards that are not the ones they want. They are Eberron shards, not Khyber shards so if these guys know what they want that will require some heavy duty bluffing- however Gil is surely one of the most convincing liars in the world of Eberron. She could potentially throw a very very temporary illusion on them to pull it off. I'm not eager to try this plan though because I lose 13,100 gp worth of gear in those 3 shards.

If we go for escape, where to? Ezreal is inclined to hole up in the Karrnathi Embassy because he feels it will be heavily defended and politically too difficult for the Riedrean's to attack directly. Any other thoughts?

btw- Ogre magi can fly forever which is one reason we need to lose them quick.

Yeah i dont think the fake stone gambit will work, they'd probably divine through any illusion. To that end, they may use the stones to find us when we flee. Wall of force/wall of blades/illusion to block LOS plus stone shaping through floor or wall if possible would be good.

A few people could hold their breath in a portable hole to make escape easier.

Casts illusion of a wooden case, 'levitating' toward the door and over the wall, "Fine! You want these? Go get them!" And let them fall.

Okay. Escape plan (Wall of Force, Illusion, Stone Shape) with whatever bluff Gil can come up with as plan B. Ez will head for the Karrnathi Embassy. Any thoughts other than that? I thought about locking the shards in a Kundarak vault but they'll just try to dominate or possess one of us to withdraw them.

Also, our goal was to deliver these shards back to the kalashtar, but it seems like they won't be able to hold onto them and we don't know what to do with them except keep running. That's a dilemma.

Can we get a joint bank account? Haha

How many can you take to the embassy with you?

An adamantine chest with superior lock and nondetection spell in our tent guarded by 1 or 2 golems/warforged?

Or regarding the Kundarak vault idea, place a caveat that it requires all of us to gain access to it not just one person. Although the baddies may simply try high level illusions and shapechange spells to bluff their way in.

As for our current situation, we simply need Ez to take off with the shards along with one other individual (Kazadar or Rod) to watch his back. Hopefully this will stop the baddies and force them to try to find Ez and follow him.

Of course, they may decide to take the rest of us down and use us as hostages.

I don't think Karrns negotiate with terrorists. haha

If the shards are in an extra-dimensional space like the tent-mansion, can they be detected magically short of epic magic? Would stuffing them in a handy haversack make them effectively undetectable by mortal magic?

I had thought the same but somewhere along the way I think I got proven wrong. I can't remember the circumstances though. Maybe it was more in the frame of me thinking they couldn't access our dreams from in there but it turned out to be wrong. Does make sense that all dreaming minds access the dream lands regardless of plane or extra dimensional space. The shards might very well be undetectable there (idk) but the problem will be them filtering through our dreams to figure out where they are.

on the last post Kaz was hit, HC rolled 1d20+32. In that same post, another giant rolled 1d20+23. Was there a mistake or are they different enough in their stats to warrant a disparity of +9?

I'll check, might be a fingerslip, might be the impact of Power Attack.

EDIT: Ah, well, HC is a psychic warrior and the others are monks. So the different is probably down to different STR scores.

Hi all, I'm doing a sponsored walk round 13 of the bridges over the River Thames in London on the 9th of October. If you would like to sponsor me, the link is here. Many thanks for your generosity (and may worms coil in the privy parts of those who fail to sponsor me).

I have embarked on my annual autumn excursion to Someplace Else(TM) and so my availability and access may not be what they generally are. It looks like I should be able to post in the evenings, but can make no guarantees, so please feel free to bot Gil as necessary.

I should be able to resume normal activity after the 17th.

Enoy PR!

Hi folks. I'm around - just feeling crummy about life. I'll get caught up tomorrow.

No worries, we've all had times like that. It's difficult to keep up with the games - which are not really all that important - when other life stuff is going on and taking up bandwidth. I hope things sort out soon.

Hi folks. I'm around - just feeling crummy about life. I'll get caught up tomorrow.

Hey mate, no worries. Hope all is ok.

I've been running your guys, hopefully I haven't stuffed anything up too badly.

would attacking through a blade barrier such that their appendage passed through be enough for them to take damage?

It doesn't specifically say yes or no. I searched for some sort of consensus via google in some forums, to no avail. But it would make sense.

well, i could use Breath of Life and then chuck you down the hole. Kaz doing so with the Reposition combat maneuver appears only to provoke an AoO from you, which you couldn't make because you are out cold. with average rolls on Breath of Life you could survive unless the fall is very far. Reposition technically can't move you to a dangerous location such as a pit, but one could argue that the pit is much safer than the alternative. However, that is two standard actions. if you use AP to stabilize, i could reposition you down the hole and you'd still take fall damage, but that'd likely re-kill you unless you had decent CON and it was a very short fall with good rolls. I could jump down and Breath of Life you at that point, but then the others would just have to get in the hole without me taking the brunt of the attacks.

one of the others could use the Drag maneuver (provided they could avoid any AoOs that might be provoked by getting to you) to Drag you behind them into the hole. Janosz could 5ft step (avoiding AoO) to AI37 then Drag you into the hole behind him. I have to heal you no later than next round to have Breath of Life work. But you might be able to get away with using your AP after you are repositioned/dragged/kicked into the hole, stabilizing after the fall damage (up to GM).

Kaz has already cast blade barrier this round, so breath of life is out of the question unless Aubrey lets you retcon - but honestly, blade barrier might be a better idea anyway if it helps everyone escape (possibly) without taking AoOs from the giants. I think without the barrier Kaz would get AoO'd to hell if he tried to breath of life then reposition Rod. Janosz might be able to reposition him next round - I'll risk the fall damage and can possibly use the other half of my action points or rely on Kaz to breath of life him if the fall kills him again.

If worse comes to worse and you can't save Rod without someone else dying, try to at least loot his pockets for the shards then escape (they're in his belt pouch, rest of the group would have seen where). He's stable and the oni have no reason to kill him (when they can use him as a bargaining chip instead). Then someone can organise a rescue mission later ...

would attacking through a blade barrier such that their appendage passed through be enough for them to take damage?

It doesn't specifically say yes or no. I searched for some sort of consensus via google in some forums, to no avail. But it would make sense.

I'd say so. If it were a Wall of Fire, for example, you'd take fire damage. Anyway, I guess you have done it already.

Oh, and it should be safe to assume that someone is yelling at the kalashtar NPCs to get down the hole, so hopefully they will (better yet one of those useless gits can use some sort of psionic power to save Rod ...)

The Rod situation can be addressed, but probably not in the middle of combat, so I wouldn't leave him. Anyway, I doubt Janosz would leave him anyway.

Well the whole "within one round" thing could be fudged by the nature of PbP and party actions grouped in initiative blocks speeding up play. But yes if they get Rod down the hole between my channel and someone else having wands of cure and your AP, we will get you back this side of the Flame.