Out of curiosity, anybody know for sure how the Conjurer's Dimensional Steps works?
Can he only teleport 5 feet each time he uses the ability? Or must the distance he teleports each time he uses it be something like 5 feet or 10 feet or 20 feet or 100 feet and so on and not, say, 33 or 21 or 49 feet?
No, he would have a "pool" of 30 ft/level worth of teleportation. He can use as much of that as he wants each time he uses the ability (e.g. in a given day, a level 10 wizard could teleport himself 175 ft once, 75 ft once and 50 ft once).
Yes, that is pretty much the way I see it as well. I mean, I understood the "pool" part (in your example a 10th level conjurer would have 300 ft. worth of teleportation per day). It was the 5-foot increment part that confused me a bit. As I understand it now, it just means that the distance (in feet) you teleport each time must be a number such as 5 or 10 or 20 or 75 and so on, not 22 or 37 or anything like that.
All in all, something similar to the Shadowdancer's Shadow Jump ability.
I took it to mean that it counts as a 5-ft 'chunk' even if it is less than five feet, so you can teleport 32'7" if you want ... it still counts as 35'.
When are you guys finding time to read the rules? I'm not even keeping up with the game thread!
I have not actually read the rules, at least not all of them. But I have checked out those parts I have an interest in: the rogue (since I am playing one over here), the wizard (I almost always play elven wizards if I can help it), the eldritch knight and shadowdancer (interesting prestige classes) and a bit of the skills and feats sections. The rest I have just glanced through really.
When are you guys finding time to read the rules? I'm not even keeping up with the game thread!
The rules haven't changed tremendously since the Beta (or even the Alpha, for that matter), so I stretched my reading out over a year.
I'm in the process of being made redundant. As such, I am the only one left in my department and have nothing to do all day but answer the occasional phone call from the department that has taken over our work in another office. Browsing the web is about all I can do .... :(
Guys, The adventure was kind of railroady getting you into the sewers. But now that we're here I'd like to give you a little more scope. Unfortunately Janiven would be the natural leader, and I'd rather not be the one directing the party. Can you guys (or one of you) "PCNPC" her for the duration of the sewers? I will take care of her in combat. Morosino I can handle.
Alternatively, I can contrive to separate her from the party.
Am also open to suggestions.
I'd be happy enough with the DM rolling some dice (Survival checks or Knowledge (local) or Knowledge (dungeoneering) or whatever) and saying "Your best guess is to go left" and move on with the story. I find dungeon-crawling where you keep asking "left or right?" tends to bog down a PbP game.
Agreed - can you assume we follow her advice until we either:
- Find the sword marks
- Run into something
- Get totally lost
Thanks for the feed back. I'll have her run you through the sewers then. I just didn't want it to seem like I was running your lives. You're still in charge of battles.
["Dilemma or not," Akorian notes, "We're carrying lights they can easily see...and from a lot further away than we can see them. So they know we're here. And if they know, they'll surely be sneaking up behind us. ..."
Come on. WOuld I do that?
Come on. WOuld I do that?
I'd be rather disappointed in you if you didn't!
Guys, a word of warning. I often post, then edit or add material after I look at it. Especially if I'm trying to respond to more than one post by you all. So if you're posting within a couple minutes of me on the game thread, please be aware that my post might change. Usually slightly or to add detail, but once in a blue moon more than that.
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Guys, a word of warning. I often post, then edit or add material after I look at it. Especially if I'm trying to respond to more than one post by you all. So if you're posting within a couple minutes of me on the game thread, please be aware that my post might change. Usually slightly or to add detail, but once in a blue moon more than that.
I do the same, often two or three times, as I usually post before doing an Invisible Castle roll, go make the roll, and then come back and edit it in.
Sometimes I even edit Zarabeta's b#~&@y comments, but, obviously, not often. :)
I am not sure what I enjoy more, the adventure itself or the interactions between this motley crew of characters? Probably both methinks!
The PC interaction is easily half of the fun! I think we're going to be a little edgy until we can see what each other can do - the goblins weren't exactly a major threat.
Set: That's why I usually prefer Sleep to Color Spray -- less chance of allies getting in the way (in my experience).
I find it kinda fun that teamwork is at an almost embryonic state.
Which reminds me: Hogarth, sorry for almost skewering Mother...
That's because we don't have much idea of what each other can do, and how to best utilise that. We would have been best holding action and letting them come to us to use our ranged effects, but that doesn't best utilize the element of surprise. The fighters know that element well, and want to use it so they are moving in to engage. Raven would prefer to ambush, the casters to lure. But we'll get there ...
I find it kinda fun that teamwork is at an almost embryonic state.
Which reminds me: Hogarth, sorry for almost skewering Mother...
I didn't think D&D had rules for accidentally skeweing someone. ;-)
Couple things on the ongoing battle. Was in a generous mood, gave Marius a DC 15 ref save to win +10 on his will save. May have been too generous. I rolled the save.
Wellard, about Marius' round 1 attacks. They don't quite add up for me. -4 to hit on non-lethal, right? And d6, d6 for damage? Doesn't matter too much. After Waifrin blitzed him you could have blown him over. Also, assumed you would keep waiting for him rather than move forward to attack. Did I read it right?
Set, holding your attacks will risk nerfing them, but I will always try to find some rationale to get a readied action off.
Dabbler, props for the maps.
Everyone I'm digging the posts. Nice details.
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Set, holding your attacks will risk nerfing them, but I will always try to find some rationale to get a readied action off.
Thanks!
Dabbler, props for the maps.
Seconding that, heartily. Having a map when my character is using spells that require careful angling, like color spray, is totally awesome.
Thank you! It's no trouble really, and it's useful to all of us to have a good idea of what is going on for area effects, AoOs and the like. I got into the habit in Wellard's Wilderlands game as I had the character with the area-effect spells and it's just too useful not to do!
Heh! Between Akorian, Zarabeta (who hopefully will not be taking the bolt that zipped over Mother's head and the fact that the elf called out the warrior woman's name as indications of his being a spy or some such.. right, Set? *Winks*) and Waifrin, I am seeing more than a bit of conflict, at least as far as leadership and stuff like that are concerned. Oughta be great fun! On with the show and all that jazz!
the fact that the elf called out the warrior woman's name as indications of his being a spy or some such.. right, Set? *Winks*)Ooh, I didn't catch that Raven was the name-dropper! More suspicion to add to the already flavorful brew!
Never attribute to malice what can be better explained by incompetence.
Yeah, but the woman is paranoid, paranoid I tell ya! Of course, we are more or less complete strangers and the elf happens to be a thief that arrived late at the meeting and...
...Am I digging his grave right now...? :-P
Would you like a shovel?
May I ask where each of us is from? Curiosity more than anything, but I am also kinda wandering what time zone each of us is at.
~Channels tall English comedian with slicked down dark hair and possibly a small mustache, dressed in a dark suit with a narrow black tie~ "YOU BASTARDS!" ~End channeling~ Holy heavens you kicked the s*+# out of that patrol, including the 5th level fighter I threw in "just to even things up."
May I ask where each of us is from? Curiosity more than anything, but I am also kinda wandering what time zone each of us is at.
Nice idea, Castor. I was going to ask that myself as soon as I caught up to everyone's posts.
I'm north of Boston. Been playing since Jimmy Carter was president, with a 20 year hiatus.
5th level fighter? Ouch...
I live in Greece, Athens in particular (being Greek and all...). According to this, I am at GMT +2, which would make it around 2.30 p.m. on Saturday the 26th as I am writing this.
It has been around four to five years since I actually played D&D last time, since my friends have managed to scatter themselves all over Greece, Europe and even the U.S. (best friend is doing his PhD at Newark, Delaware). Thus, this is a very VERY welcome opportunity. *Grins*
Toronto, Canada. I started playing in the Trudeau administration (which doesn't narrow it down much!). Last week I had my first face-to-face D&D (well, Pathfinder) game in 14 years.
Wellard and I are in the UK, although at opposite ends of it. We're both veteran players from the dungeon crawls of the late '70s /early '80s, played through the 'satanic panic' and rode the White Wolf Wave of the nineties until the release of 3e at the dawn of the new millennium ....
I am impressed we nailed the 5th level guy, but then we had the element of surprise, we (despite their rushing in half-cocked) managed to make use of our spells/missiles effectively in conjunction with the mêlée fighters. We also had some good luck (Marius dished out some serious hits), and our opposition seemed more prepared to deal with peasants than armed, spelled-up adventurers itching for a fight.
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Actually Dabbler's slightly off in his dates for me..I first played D&D in April 1974..yes thats right I'm an original 3 small books in a white box player..saw the Greyhawk and Blackmoor supplements introduced(they actually made the game playable)..then Eldritch Wizardry's introduction of Psionics..which has made me wary off them ever since...back then they really were broken.I added to that with the Arduin Grimoires and the early judges guild stuff
I was the first person to buy a 1e book in this country outside the Games Workshop staff...ok I'll stop now before my beard chokes me shall I:)
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Also north of Boston, here. (Nashua, NH.)
I've been playing since the early '80s, and, while I own stuff like Gods, Demigods and Heroes, I didn't start playing until the big hardback books were out.
Wow, Arduin Grimoire. That bring back memories. Stuff like Arduin Grimoire, All the World's Monsters and the old Judges Guild modules (especially Dark Tower) were awesome, back in the day. These days, I look back at them and they are (more or less) painfully bad. Although I still like to pillage ideas from Arduin Grimoire...
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Kill Kittens...and Phraints
Phraints kicked butt. Then again, every new release, there would be another race that kicked butt even more, like the Deodanths.
That artwork for the Kill Kittens was creepy, with them eating the paralyzed dudes face off.
Good old Dave Hargrave, pioneering the concept of 'template' by having a solid percentage of his new monsters be dragons, wyverns, etc. that were also wraiths or vampires or shadows. "Hey, I've got a new idea for a completely original monster! It's a Troll. That's also a Ghoul!" Still, the man was a mad genius for stuff like the Star-Powered Mages.
In game it looks like we are almost ready to factionalize. Marius, Waifrin and Zarabeta have a pretty strong practical streak (and by practical, I mean cold-blooded). :) Akorian, Janiven and Mother Vangelis, not so much. Raven's the wild card. I think he's humoring Akorian and would have humored us just as fast if we went on a throat-slitting spree.
Zarabeta, "I come not to praise Westcrown, but to bury it."
Well it is necessary to realise that while Mother Vangelis and Akorian have seen the bad side of Cheliax, they haven't experienced it; Waifrin, Marius and Zarabetta have experienced the dark, brutal side, or at least it's results. To Waifrin, for example, a Hellknight is not a person, he is a monster that she remembers causing her pain. Mother Vangelis was actually successful in getting Waifrin to see past the uniform - briefly. Sorry Ma V, but you may have to adopt another daughter (a VERY moody teenager) to keep her on the straight and narrow! And that's quite apart from what Marius is going to be saying to her concerning what she was doing throwing lightning blasts around ...
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Oh, I wasn't criticizing anything, I'm kind of loving how we are each coming from different areas, and some of us are meshing, and some of us are conflicting. It's totally cool.
And, given the 'six strangers meet in a bar and are thrown into an adventure together' structure of the adventure, it's totally appropriate.
It would be twelve different kinds of jarring (even kinda meta-game-y) if we did clique like a well-oiled machine, given the scenario. Distrust and anxiety are as much a part of Westcrown's atmosphere as oxygen.
I'm operating with several different theories in how I'm choosing to portray Akorian this early in the game.
1) I'm assuming he and Raven have at least some shared history. They both knew Janiven prior to the meeting at the tavern. And presumably, they've worked together at least a couple of times on some small things. Nevertheless, with Raven being a full-blooded elf and Akorian a noble Chelish citizen, they come from different enough cultures that he never feels like he fully understands where Raven is coming from at any given moment. Even so, he appreciates the elf's skills and generally friendly demeanor (towards Akorian, at least).
2) Although Akorian may have never experienced the bad side of Westcrown in the painful ways of Waifrin, in other ways, he's experienced something far worse. His own family and many of his friends are part of the hierarchy that perpetuates that pain on all of Cheliax. In addition, coming from the nobility, he at least has some idea of his country's past greatness...a historical legacy that inspires him to aim for something better.
3) Akorian has a religious faith that sustains him. By placing his trust in Milani, he believes she will guide him in bringing about a change for the better in Westcrown. The campaign guide states many of Milani's priests automatically resign themselves to someday becoming a martyr for whatever cause they pick up. So, with martyrdom weighing heavily on his mind, in many ways Akorian already views himself as dead. Thus, what motivates him the most is the legacy he will leave behind. And that's what drives him to live every moment in a way that makes it the best, shining example he can possibly achieve. That way, once he's gone, hopefully his actions and words continue to motivate people to achieve his long-term goal for a better Westcrown and a nobler Cheliax.
Just my two-cents,
--Neil
P.S. In terms of gaming history and location, I'm from North Carolina (born and raised). I started playing with Basic D&D in 1980 using just the old school box (not the red one...rather, the color image of a wizard and a warrior encountering a dragon atop its treasure hoard). Within that same year, we transitioned to AD&D and I've dabbled with every incarnation since.
Since the adventure starts with the good ol' fashioned D&D tradition of the adventurers meeting in a tavern and forming a party, I like how there is no synergy at first, each doing things the way he or she used to do them when they were by themselves; why would six strangers instinctively know how to best take advantage of each other's strengths and abilities, even if they know what 'class' each of them is?
As for Raven, the way I see him, he really is carefree and relaxed, not bothering too much with cold, hard practicality; despite his age and race, a fountain of wisdom he is not, as Neil said at some point through Akorian. Despite having the capacity to be anything from mildly unpleasant to downright nasty when annoyed or waking on the wrong side of bed so to speak, he is not prone to bouts of red hot anger or generally overly passionate displays. He is a bit reckless however and sometimes tends to place a bit too much faith in luck, especially considering that he is not used to working with groups of people in stealthy situations, i.e. a bolt shot in melee or calling out a friend's name when he should not. He will not murder someone in what he sees as cold blood and stand his ground defending that view (e.g. the captured goblin, since the goblins were not out to get them, but just protecting their territory), but might be persuaded, though not happily, to do something extreme if it makes enough sense to him (e.g. the knights who were out to get them and would capture and quite probably execute them); all in all, let others make the big decisions and he will see if he will be following them or not. And the way he sees politics, which he really dislikes as a conversation subject, is more or less what V said, although he is not as fanatical: People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people. Bottom line? He does as the mood strikes him; he really is chaotic, but in a nice way!
As for his companions, he does see Akorian as a friend since they seem to have worked together under the same 'flag' in a manner of speaking (and since Neil started it, I enjoy building up on it as the adventure moves along) and he is quick to consider someone as being his friend. But as far as the others are concerned, he is still taking their measure: Marius seems more than a little cold and a bit too practical for his taste, too much 'ends justify the means', at least in his view. Waifrin intrigues him, but he does find her overly... well, wild and 'explosive', metaphorically speaking. With Zarabeta, the only thing he has noticed is her somewhat jittery demeanor, but since they have not interacted much, he would not go so far as to call her paranoid, nor has he noticed that she is mistrustful of him. And Mother Vangelis, he actually likes her and finds the woman quite amusing, in a 'salt of the earth' 'heart on your sleeve' kind of way, though he will probably never call her Mother and actually manage to keep a straight face.
Ta da!
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My take is that Marius read the guys moves saw he was an experienced opponent but overconfident(the Hellknights are you know) and realised that non lethal wasn't going to do the job..you'll notice he drew off as soon as he was asked to.
As for the rest of the party..well...he's suspicious off Raven whose arrival seemed just a little convenient..Akorian strikes him as someone who hasn't ever had to face up to the realities of life..he's not sure what to make of Mother having known few ordinary women in his life (remember his romantic entanglement is with a whore)Zarabetta is too plain and shy to attract his attention however he did appreciate her back up even though he gets a little nervous around magic.
And Waif just scared the crap out of him though he won't admit it in public
Akorian had best watch out though..once Waif gets what his gods message is all about, he might just find himself with a fanatic on his hands
LOL, Waifrin is a rollercoaster of emotion, and very passionate to boot, plus she's actually rather scared of her own power. Right now she is finally getting to act on things that have been bottled up for far too long as well, so don't expect restraint. Once she gets a measure of self-control, she should settle down ... a bit.
Redirected from the game thread:
Because, sometimes, it serves the story and dramatic tension better to split up. Plays out more like a novel that way, rather than a dungeon crawl where the party just faces off with one encounter after another. :-)
Just for the record, I hate splitting up the party unnecessarily, especially in a play-by-post game. I find it sometimes turns into one or two people posting a whole novelette while the rest of the players twiddle their thumbs. A play-by-post game goes slowly enough without having to wait for other people to finish doing something that excludes the other players. That's on top of the fact that it often doesn't make sense in character either. There are times when it makes sense (e.g. a sneaky character scouting), of course.
Just my two cents. :-)
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Just for the record, I hate splitting up the party unnecessarily, especially in a play-by-post game.
My dislike of splitting up comes in three parts;
1) Didn't anyone ever watch a horror movie?
2) Great, Bob is doing stuff, I'll go watch TV until he's done scouting ahead / cyberdecking / astrally projecting / dream-walking / scrying / whatever.
3) D&D is balanced around a 4 man party. Anything we encounter is meant to challenge the group. Go off and scout alone *and die!* Worse yet, you've left us a man down, which means that we will be more likely to get TPK'd from a level-appropriate random encounter meant to challenge all of us.
But in this case, it's pure meta. Akorian and Raven decided to go off on their own and, possibly, get lost. It's not like we can restrain them from doing so, and, purely in-character, it's not like Zarabeta's burning with the desire to put her life at risk chasing off after them.
We are just lucky that the four guards didn't try to overwhelm them with Aid Other Grapple actions or Bull Rush-into-sewage actions, leaving us two men short (and Cleric-less!) for whatever encounter lies ahead.
Plus, the mention of 'garbage eaters' from the Goblin suggests that there might be Otyugh down here. Not something I would want to face in a full group, let alone a group at half-strength...
Just for the record, I hate splitting up the party unnecessarily, especially in a play-by-post game. I find it sometimes turns into one or two people posting a whole novelette while the rest of the players twiddle their thumbs. A play-by-post game goes slowly enough without having to wait for other people to finish doing something that excludes the other players.
Having played with Tim as the GM of a PbP before, and had a good run in a one-on-one "novelette" before being introduced the party, I'm not worried about that happening.
1) He's a good enough GM to know when to pull us back together.
2) He's a fair enough GM not to overwhelm those that have split up.
3) He's using Pathfinder and that makes all of us more survivable at low-level.
Nevertheless, I understand your concern. I think we'll be okay. And my primary reason for escorting the Hellknights while the rest of you pressed on centered around maintaining the tension (i.e., our need to escape with Janiven) and also to serve as a catalyst for future NPC interaction (i.e., the Hellknight leader will likely cross paths with us again). That's doubly important to my character, because of his background. Plus, it gives Akorian and Raven a chance to talk with one another about the rest of the new recruits. ;-)
--Neil
Neil, as long as you're metagaming, has it occurred to you that my master plan, including the entire CotCT campaign has been to get Akorian in just this postion ?
Interpretation Aid:
And
Neil, as long as you're metagaming, has it occurred to you that my master plan, including the entire CotCT campaign has been to get Akorian in just this postion?
B-but...how did you know I'd eventually play a character like Akorian and lobby to join your CoT game in addition to the CotCT game?
Oh, you're good. You're really, really good. ;-P
--Neil