This is the OOC thread for the Briars and Thorns Adventure.
Character finalization and crunching is next up on the list of things to be completed.
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Hello fellow catfolk. Would the party prefer a trapfinder or a ninja?
I'm more of a fan of the traditional rogue over the mysticism that the ninja brings, but both are fine choices.
Hey all, thanks for picking me. Can't wait to play with you all.
@Djon: I would say either though I do get trap finding already, won't hurt to have a pair of people that can.
The original Layali build is a ninja but I changed her to a ranger since I wasn't sure how she might fit in. :)
I say play what makes you happy.
Heh, I am all kinds of psyched for this. Thanks for the pick :)
Here is Rethe, complete with alias now. I'll do a double check of his stats and stuff, but I believe it should be mostly up to date. If anyone has suggestions on making him a bit more useful for the party however, let me know.
@ Djon: I'm with Layali, whichever one you'd find more fun is likely good. I'd figure either could contribute nicely to the group. I personally happen to enjoy ninjas more than rogues, but that's just me.
Also, Djon's backstory had Rethe in mind for the one who was injured in the hunt before Djon's self-imposed exile, yes? Just curious if Rethe would be aware of this, for his dealings with Djon. Though it probably won't matter too much, I don't think he's not one to hold a grudge. Though hmm... perhaps the spirits that surround him would enjoy messing with Djon on occasion because of it :P
@Rethe thats correct I chose to keep it vague in case either of us didn't get in but I had your character i mind when writing it.
As for which acrhitype ill play every thing will be finished tonight let you know then.
Done.
First post in the IC thread is up, just a brief something to get the party together.
As a rule, I tend to roll any passive rolls (saves, perception) that would occur without conscious effort, just to smooth out the flow of the posts, since waiting for a post of a single roll throws off the flow. If there are any objections to this, let me know.
Also, I'm actively looking for advice on making better posts, so feel free to chime in here if you think a post could have been improved in one way or another.
Keep any pure OOC posts here, and Game On! :)
No objections from me
Yep, I'm fine with you handling passive rolls whenever you need to.
Although actually, now's probably a good time to ask how you'd like to handle Rethe's Misfortune ability. Black Cat can only be done after he would normally be hit, so I can probably just respond to that when needed, but Misfortune can be done on any d20 rolls, so any preference on how to run that smoothly? For example, setting up some general rules for what would cause him to use it (such as allies rolling under 5 on a saving throw, enemies rolling crit threats or higher than, I dunno 16 or so and, you know, general purpose stuff like that)?
In regards to the opening post, should I assume Rethe is in the forest on his way to the city, and hasn't met up with anybody yet? Or did most of the group leave the tribe grounds together?
Don't want to clutter things up before I get my bearings :)
The group is in the forest traveling towards the city together, save for Djon. Djon is headed towards the group, since the job specified delivery to someone that "he would know when he saw them".
Whether or not everyone follows Layali in tracking the ghoul is something else entirely.
Getting everyone together would have been a bit disjointed as Djon's trip would have had him waiting on everyone within a few posts. I wanted to get everyone together first, before encountering anything, else a ghoul or pair of ghouls with lucky rolls would make short work of a character far too early.
For Misfortune, feel free to add in an edit or something like:
Misfortune: (Roll here), (new flavor text)
Though if you want to set up criteria, that also works. We'll fiddle with it as it goes.
In regards to the setting of the area, feel free to add in details that I may have omitted. For instance, with that vague sort of a setup I gave, it is perfectly acceptable for Layali to close within 30' before firing, if it is preferable to her.
I have no objections to passive rolls. Anything that minimizes the amount of dice code I need to type works for me (I tend to take 10 a lot).
** spoiler omitted **
Correct.
I apologize if I missed it, but which XP track are we going to advance on?
Had to stop to answer the phone and Layali ninjas my post. That's what I get for posting from work. Time for a little edit magic.
lul.
So, guess I can ask if the message from Djon is of any major importance?
It is a blank page. :D Magic.
Awesome :P
Had to stop to answer the phone and Layali ninjas my post. That's what I get for posting from work. Time for a little edit magic.
Layali is not a ninja. I rebuilt her ;)
Layali is not a ninja.
Wow, talk about a movie flashback! I loved that movie!
Link to the map is up on the campaign listing and CC is appreciated. I'm aware that there are other map making programs out there, but haven't tried any of them yet beyond this one. I suppose I should work on my Excel proficiency.
The group is approaching from the SE. The grey square is an overturned wagon.
In regards to guidelines on Misfortune, so it can be run without interrupting game flow much.
I'm thinking:
-Whenever an ally rolls a saving throw of 5 or less (before modifiers that is).
-Whenever an enemy rolls an attack of 16 or higher (again, before modifiers).
Restrictions:
-Can only be done once per round, as it uses an immediate action.
-Only once per day on any given creature, so after one reroll on someone, they'll basically be immune for 24 hours.
-30 foot range.
Now, in most cases, this is probably likely to affect the rest of the party more than Rethe, so would anyone suggest changes or additions? Another possibility would be to hold off on causing enemies to reroll unless they roll a crit threat perhaps?
Edit: Also, if I'm scarce for a day or so, my apologies. Got some minor dental surgery (wisdom teeth, specifically), so may be sleeping it off for a bit. Or maybe not, but I figured I'd give some heads up.
Hold mine for a crit against me 19 for bladed weapons 20 for others. And Ill still fail any saves if I roll a 5/6/7 so how about first fort save under a 10?
Okay, so you'd prefer if only crits be rerolled for enemies?
And yeah, I think the saving throws probably will need to be a little more complex than that, since people can differ a lot on good and bad saves. That was sort of a catchall number.
@The Lost Voice - map looks fine to me :)
Quick question on the map. Is each letter/number 5 feet distance or 10? Since there's the unmarked spaces between each, I'm a bit unsure.
So, for example, would going from B2 to C2 be only 5 feet, or would it be 10? (I'm guessing 10 for now, but figure it's worth clarifying.)
Edit: And here's hoping that, if combat breaks out, it's within a minute :P If not though, Bless is probably his most useful spell by far just yet (barring heals if they're needed), so he likely doesn't need to cast much else.
Each square is 5ft, you are correct. The grid numbering is a bit.. interesting.
The Alphabet numbering for A,A2,B,B2 etc is fine, for the numbers maybe 1, 1b, 2, 2b, etc. Might work for now.
That's gonna be interesting.
"I move to B2-2b" ;)
But yeah, that sounds like it should work fine.
I'll give everyone a chance to agree or disagree on the plan of approach.
I'll give everyone a chance to agree or disagree on the plan of approach.
Works for me!
Sounds like a fine plan.
Downloaded GIMP to fiddle better with the maps that I'm using, and it isn't bad, though I'm obviously still learning.
The perceptions for the party vs. creatures is something that could bear some discussing, since I'm not trying to make it like a RTS where if one unit(character) can see the creature, then everyone can, but just the same, I don't want to accidentally disadvantage someone.
Map Updated, post up. Rethe will get his knowledge result before anything else goes into effect, but beyond that the map should reflect positions just before anyone chooses to do anything. I am using the standard 5/10/15/etc Knowledge result rolls.
For the sake of easier bookeeping (and timely posting), I will have the party go first, then the creatures, just to make things easier. Initiative will still come into play at some points, but in flat-out combat, it will be easier.
One thing you can do to make initiative important is roll everyone's initiative + the monsters. Then resolve posts in order of initiative when enough posts get done or bot someone if they take too long. Up to you on that I personally don't mind either way, just a suggestion.
As for knowledge then can I assume to be taking 10 on everything? At the moment my take 10 in any knowledge skill except nature is 12, as for nature it's 16.
Like Chara, I'm pretty much fine with however you'd like to run initiative.
And yeah, if it is taking awhile for me to post, feel free to autopilot me for anything needed.
same.
Since Aradesh is riding a large horse, you may want to put him on an intersection as opposed to a square or enlarge his image as long as he is mounted.
Good idea on the triggering conditions for Black Cat, Rethe. The difficulty came in that Misfortune would have triggered for Djon on his failed save, while Black Cat would have triggered for Rethe getting bitten. In this case, I erred on the side of preventing damage over re-rolling a Fort Save.
Creatures with red lines through them are downed, though I don't doubt the party will ensure the undead stay dead, while the green line under a character indicates Prone.
I'm glad. This is being handled better than I expected. I would have felt very bad about killing any one of you in the first encounter.
Good idea on the triggering conditions for Black Cat, Rethe. The difficulty came in that Misfortune would have triggered for Djon on his failed save, while Black Cat would have triggered for Rethe getting bitten. In this case, I erred on the side of preventing damage over re-rolling a Fort Save.
Yeah, in the case of multiple occurrences triggering use of Rethe's immediate actions, feel free to just go with the one that occurred first I think. It's probably the most sensible way to handle it. Since there's likely no way he would know if it would be needed later in the round, going with the first possible chance is logical.
If you'd like to just make an educated decision on which way to do it though, you certainly can do that as well. I don't want it to feel metagamey, but ya know, if the GM wants to do it... :P
Edit: Incidentally, I'm flavoring his rerolls to be the spirits that haunt him I think, if that's no problem. A combination of him exerting his will on them (Misfortune), or them actually trying to protect their 'host' or whatever he might be considered (Black Cat), despite their propensity for messing with him all the time too.
I just realized I've been forgetting Bless in my attack bonus!
So this is a reminder for everyone else just in case, though the last batch of rolls for everyone were pretty bad I'm not sure an extra +1 helps :)
Important point to bring up. What say you about using critical fumbles?
I personally haven't used fumble rules before, so I don't really know how they play out in general. So... I'll just refrain from voting :P
I would vote against using fumbles.
The majority has it. Fumbles, there will not be.
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I'll see what happens with Aradesh, Chara and the third ghoul before committing to actions for this round. If Chara has the same ghoul flanked via a 5-foot step up (not sure if that's blocked?), and it isn't dead by his turn, then he'll probably attack that. If it is, then he'll likely step up to F2 and attack the other, ignoring the 'new' arrival just yet. Once it's closer to his turn of course, I can just specify exactly, but in case it takes me awhile to get back or something.
Apologies. I was uncertain if you were basing your actions on the map and the potential for your attacks to land, dispatching the ghoul before you had to worry about dealing with flanking attacks. I'll stop overthinking and just move the characters as indicated.
Heh, it's no problem. It's quite possible I could suggest something early on which ends up being a poor tactical situation in light of other moves by the time Rethe's turn comes around. So if you would like to use your best judgment in such situations, feel free, I doubt it'll often be too major of a difference.
Oof, things are not looking so good.
Also, I'm not sure if he actually could have misfortuned when you did (since his turn hadn't come up again, I think he was still out an immediate action). Which is funny, because if it had gotten to his turn to allow for total defense, his AC would have been just high enough to avoid that hit too (before the reroll). At any rate though, guess he's out for awhile.
Good luck to the people still kickin'!