There's one to cross off the bucket list, eh? "Sword... fight... with... dinosaur.... Check!" ;D
Let's a avoid the follow-on in that list, "dance with the devil" for a while though. I don't want to fight bone devils just yet.
Thats ok, plenty of devils of all shapes and sizes. Honestly though, the Mwangi Expanse and surrounding countries are mostly about Demons. Devils prefer Avistan :)
Oh, good! Ansha's parents would fit right in.
...the magic holding the brave summoned canine to the jungle frayed and crumbled; the dog disappearing from the Material plane with nary a trace.
Since Summon Monster is a full-round cast, shouldn't the dog still be in existence until just before her action on round 4 (since it appeared just before her action on round 2)? I assume it doesn't get a third action just before it vanishes, but it would still provide flanking for one last round.
Round/initiative count
1-4 (cast)
2-21
2-17
2-11
2-4 (finish casting; dog appears at count 2-3)
3-21
3-17
3-11
3-4 (1 round duration)
4-21
4-17
4-11
4-4 (2 round duration would end at 4-3)
If the dog has had two full rounds where it can attack, it is disappearing before getting a third at CL2.
Yeah, I had figured that--but wouldn't it still exist for two full rounds, rather than just long enough to perform two full actions?
That's how we've been playing it with my conjurer in another game (Jade Regent). The summons only gets <caster level> number of attacks, but there's a lot of value in letting them stay around until just before their initiative in the next round: to make AoOs, provide flanking, or just soak up an attack a party member doesn't have to.
That's how Bit of Luck and other rounds/level effects work, after all: they last until the caster's next turn and cease just before her initiative.
Sure, misunderstood. I just dismissed it early in narrative for simplicity as I was certain no AOO's were going to be provoked. But it matters for Kieran's flank. Assume the mutt is still there then, i'm not going to make another map update just for it :)
We best start making a few hits or I'm guessing the ankylo is going to start killing us one by one :P
I don't think any of us can take a hit and stay on our feet. Qhude might manage one and stagger on with a few rage hp.
Yep - Qhude might survive the first one and be left just standing... which will make the second strike probably enough to kill him outright...
We best start making a few hits or I'm guessing the ankylo is going to start killing us one by one :P
I could say something about maybe letting the Nature Oracle have more than one chance at the wee beastie's weak save before attacking, but saying something like that would be petty. :7)
'sides we have a few tricks up our sleeves.
Well Ansha took two runs at it's 'weak' Will save in addition to your Charm and none of them made it through...
Plus it was all like roaring and charging and stuff :P
For Pete's sake, Qhude, your AC is nine?!? Is there a reason you're not wearing any armor to fight a dinosaur?
Machoness.
Yep - Qhude left his armor at home. In his admittedly prehistorically focused brain he interpreted the stories he knew of the animal as an indication that armor wouldn't be any use.
That plus I was initially expecting we might meet the lizard in the open and be able to use skirmish type hit and run tactics - but that disappeared when we hit jungle and the ankylo has cover against anything 10ft away on top of it's already good AC. That's the same reason he didn't try swinging the polearm.
Bad decision - most likely. Manly decision - mos def :P
To be fair, with a +11 to hit, there's no actual practical difference between a 9 and a 12 AC. Of course, now he's entangled so he could have missed you on a 2 and not just a fumble if you'd had your armor. :P
I knew it was a good thing that I tried that second Color Spray last round--now Qhude's in the way of a third.
If the ankylosaurus hits me this round you have my permission to cast the color spray such that it catches me in the effect.
It's quite possible he'll be unconscious anyway!
Exactly - but it will be better he be unconscious than suffer a second hit that would have a very strong chance of outright killing him :)
Anyone else think AK is just letting his dice mojo build up until he rolls a natural 30 on this Will save?
I often wonder about his strange powers over dice.
I saw that phantom post, Fredrik!
Sorry Ansha! I re-read Joana's post, second-guessed myself, and tried to double-check things. Your profile came up blank (because I was looking at yours instead of your character's), but I was in a hurry, so I decided to do something with family first and iron my post out later. Revised:
That's how Bit of Luck and other rounds/level effects work, after all: they last until the caster's next turn and cease just before her initiative.
Oddly, for such a basic mechanic, I had a heck of a time trying to find a text for that; the best I can do is that if a 1 round duration is like a 1 round casting time, then it would last until right before your next turn. (Just as you say.) So, a 2 round duration would get a second attack on your next turn, and then stick around until right before your turn after that.
A spell that takes 1 round to cast is a full-round action. It comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the round after you began casting the spell.
It appears where you designate and acts immediately, on your turn.
Round/initiative count
1-4 (begin casting)2-21
2-17
2-11
2-4a (finish casting; dog appears and caster's initiative is bumped)
2-4b (dog and caster act)
3-21
3-17
3-11
3-4a (dog stays for another round)
3-4b (dog and caster act)
4-21
4-17
4-11
4-4a (2 round duration ends)
4-4b (caster acts)
5-21
5-17
5-11
5-4 (caster's initiative is unbumped)
(Also, they nerfed SM I to summon a dog instead of a riding dog, but that isn't relevant.)
Anyone else think AK is just letting his dice mojo build up until he rolls a natural 30 on this Will save?
Hee hee.
Ok, assignment is in, promised day with the other half is done... Now I can finally start updating my games. Just in time for everyone to get busy with the holidays and family and all that nonsense ;).
Round/initiative count
1-4 (begin casting)
2-21
2-17
2-11
2-4a (finish casting; dog appears and caster's initiative is bumped)
2-4b (dog and caster act)
3-21
3-17
3-11
3-4a (dog stays for another round)
3-4b (dog and caster act)
4-21
4-17
4-11
4-4a (2 round duration ends)
4-4b (caster acts)
5-21
5-17
5-11
5-4 (caster's initiative is unbumped)
I was actually mid-reply when you deleted it, which confused me for a moment. Anyway, I was counting one in the wrong direction with my previous diagram about initiative order. But I had been assuming that the dog acted immediately, and since it arrived with the completion of the spell just prior to the caster's next action, I figured that meant that it arrived just before the caster and acted then.
Looking forward to finding out if Qhude lives or dies :) - not sure if I got caught in Ansha's latest color spray or not.
He shouldn't be. The edge of the cone should be in the square to his west, in D37. Kieran's unconsciousness gave her a clear shot.
At least the last damage roll was low enough that Qhude could probably survive another hit :)
Meh, should have color sprayed him. It's the only way to get him to fall back when he's already raging. :P
You could be on the verge of victory. Clearly its time for Tebati to stick it with her trident, right? ;).
Current HP: 9
4 of those HP are due to Rage and will disappear when he goes unconscious - so effective HP: 5
Non-Raging Con is 14, so death starts at -14 HP - which gives a 19 HP window for the hit.
Ankylosaurus damage is 3d6+8, or I need it to roll an 11 or lower on 3d6 to have any chance of living.
Average result for 3d6 is 10.5 - so if the dinosaur rolls above average, Qhude is instagibbed.
Doesn't look too good for our intrepid Bas'o :P
Yeah, never a good sign when you're facing a thing that does more damage in an average hit than you've got hit points at max, especially when it's got a +9 attack bonus and can hit you with low-single-digits.
In retrospect, the guisarme would have at least given you a +4 AC bonus for cover -- though at the cost of giving it an equivalent armor bonus. Then it hits you on a 5 or higher, and you're hitting it on a 15 or higher or so? Wearing your armor and attacking with a reach weapon would have moved its target to 8 or higher, but the numbers are still against us, when all it takes is a single non-critical hit to knock each of us out. Long story short, the Freehold Council vastly overestimated our prowess.
Of course, if that thing fails one Will save out of four, we had a decent shot at winning. :P
EDIT: Going back and adding it up, we've actually done more damage to this thing than I thought -- feels like we've barely scratched it. If we can just find a way to keep Qhude out of the Boneyard, N'bellocq and that gnome whose name I misspell every time I don't copy-paste it might actually be able to finish it off with a good roll or two.
How much damage have we done to the overgrown lizard anyway?
Edit: Never ye mind, I have added it up. We have done a total of 45 points of damage. Not bad, but it is still standing, so...
3 from Kieran's thrown dagger
5+9=14 from Kieran's sword
5+9=14 from N'Bellocq's arrow
4 from Jakob's spear
10 from Qhude's cestus
3+14+14+4+10 = 45 damage it looks like?
Edit: got the same number as F. Castor so it must be right :)
Meta-wise a standard Ankylosaurus has a HP total of 10d8+30 - but this has the young template, so should be more like 10d8+10 or a range of 20 to 90 HP... assuming it's a standard Ankylosaurus.
Meta-wise, if it goes by the same way we gain hit points -that is, 1/2HD+1 plus whatever other bonuses we have from CON and whatnot, if memory serves- then it should have a total of 60 hit points. Of course, this might be wishful thinking on my part, since it would mean that we are actually close to downing the bast... err, the beast.
Of course of course, our characters do not know that and what they are seeing is a big bad dinosaur resisting their spells and starting to wipe the floor with them... ;-)
Bit too much meta here guys, i'd rather you don't look at the average anklyosaurus stats etc. :). I may or may not have used the young template to represent its size anyway :).
Thanks for totalling the damage though. I had it down correctly but I was second guessing myself.
Tebati I assume your delaying on until next round then, will update the round with you still on delay.
Heh - lets just call it a thought exercise by the two who aren't going to change their action anyway... Qhude will either rage on, or join Kieran in the blessed black :P
Come tomorrow, I will be going on some much needed vacation for a few days. I should be back on Saturday. Please DMPC Kieran as needed.
I have a haunted oracle in another game. The running gag is that she's always throwing her crossbow at the wizard. :)
I have a haunted oracle in another game. The running gag is that she's always throwing her crossbow at the wizard. :)
eh.. the wizard deserves it. Full arcane wankers.. (says the person playing a Witch and a Wizard in other games.)
Oddly enough, up until I started PbPs, I actually played wizards more often than not in my pen-and-paper games. Though, at the moment, I really really want to try out the magus; I always liked warrior/mages, such as the Forgotten Realms bladesingers, and the magus seems like a perfect fit for my tastes. Now if only I can find a game and a reliable DM, as well as a bit of time...
One idea I have been kicking around is a game where wizards are very very rare. Magi would be the civilized academic arcane class with Witches, bards et al filling in the gaps.
Still pondering how make it work. Would Clerics be rare compared to Oracles & Inquisitors for example. And there is the whole Druid question, maybe have Nature Oracles and Sylvan sorcerers use the Druid spell list? It gets complicated fast.
Man...I have been on a major dicebot slump for about 2 weeks now across all my characters with almost all rolls below 8 and the only 18+ was on a reaction roll with a merchant.
In roughly twelve hours I will willingly subject myself to an eight hour period of physical exertion, sleep deprivation and general sanity slippage.... that is to say I'm flying down to Australia with two kids on a red eye. I shall be doing the christmas thing, familial visitation thing and even attending a ten year University re-union... which should be interesting to say the least.
That will mean that I shall not be my usual self when it comes to internet connectivity and PbP response. I should still get online here and there, but it's unlikely to be every day - and even when I do time will be short so you will have to endure a lesser amount of my usual sesquipedalian loquaciousness. If at any time you feel I'm holding things up, feel free to DMPC... or you know have Qhude get angry at something, insult a village elder then brood quietly.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Krazy Kwanzaa or even Positive Emotion Non-Religious Holiday Vacation Day... depending upon your own predisposed proclivities. I look forward to further electronically shared adventures in the post-Mayan calendar New Year.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Merry Christmas! We had a white Christmas here, which is quite unusual for Texas. :)
A well timed channel, considering it prevented Qhude's demise. Is Kieran conscious again after the last channel? Hard to check as I'm posting on iPad while travelling
Don't know how far in the negatives he was, but that's only a total of 6 hp she's healed with 2 channels.