Hip-Hip-Hooray!
Flykiller, if you need to keep things light for a while, I'm sure we would all understand. We're just happy to have you back!
That news is better than a whole bushel full of happy! :)
How much does a bushel full of happy cost these days anyway? ; )
Look forward to the restart.
Depends on if you have to pay retail or not. :)
For some reason the gameplay thread isnt displaying when new posts are made for some. So everyone be sure to go to the gameplay thread to check out the new posts.
Anyone seen Illithia?
Could be related to me taking over the game from the previous DM, which has led to the campaign name being different from the thread name.
I personally use RSS to keep tabs on all my games. I started by using built-in IE feed reader, then switched to Google reader, and now use a shareware program called FeedDemon. Google reader is the best but its update period is too long (something like 4 hours if there's only one subscription). Other ways require exporting the feeds into an OPML file as threads come and go to keep sync between multiple PCs.
I've also PM'ed Illithia to account for the lack of updates on the Campaign page.
I didn't see the (new) for that either. Posting now. Sorry for the hold-up. Hopefully me posting in there will shake it loose and make it work properly again.
Hey guys, I'm back on the boards from a long hiatus as well, so I'll be catching up to all my boards (which will take a while), and posting ASAP.
Just a thought--are these tieflings waaaay above our pay grade? If we can't make a serious dent in the next round or two it might be best to cut and run. : s
I think it's just our luck with the dice so far. If we can get one or two asleep, then we'll be fine.
Unfortunately I don't really have that option right now, Ferrucio. :(
I promise to tell everyone else they should drag you along. ; )
You promise? You really do care!
I originally thought to give the big bad tiefling a falchion with power attack, but looked at the numbers and decided against it. Now I'm happy with that decision, or else that strike would have cut Bishop's head off clean!
Since we're using partial advancement, it's hard to precisely determine the challenge level. I intended this encounter to be challenging for you, with an edge towards hard, to give you a taste of what it takes to take down the Bastards of Erebus. I prefer running fewer but harder encounters, once we get back to the pre-written part of the AP, you might notice a shift towards more but easier encounters (unless I come up with a way to work around it ;) )
The dependence on the die rolls at low levels manifests very clearly now. Let's see what your lullabies are capable of! :)
Yikes... 18 damage.
If only being an evil outsider actually gave him the evil subtype. :)
What do you guys think we should do with these sleeping tieflings? We need info on the Bastards of Erebus, but three prisoners might be too much to manage even tied up.
We need to decide rather quickly in game time. At this level, the Sleep spell only last 1 minute.
Well I think the only option is to get our info and go home. We don't want to kill them and taking them to the authorities will just end poorly for us.
I think we need to get out of here ASAP. Let's not push our luck--or overemphasise the need for intelligence on the tieflings' lair. There are other ways to gather it without bringing a wolf into the sheep paddock. I can't imagine Arael or Janiven would be pleased to see us dragging him back.
I am likely to only post sporadically over the next few days. Deadlines looming at work. : s Sorry in advance for any absence, feel free to adjudicate Ferrucio's actions in my absence.
Flykiller: I'll make sure to make time to post Ferrucio's actions as per his plan once I hear back from you, but other than that I can't make any guarantees unfortunately. : s
My intention is to get these few answers out of our tiefling and then get out. If he puts up any resistance, then I'll drop another Sleep spell on him and we run. If I can get his spellbook out of it, then I count it as a huge win.
I think that jives with what Dracius had in mind -- It's not like he or (especially) Illithia would be allowing thumbscrews and chains as part of the interrogation.
I think that jives with what Dracius had in mind -- It's not like he or (especially) Illithia would be allowing thumbscrews and chains as part of the interrogation.
You hear Ferrucio's distant sigh.
Amateurs...
; )
The eagle isn't smiting anything, but you are right, I've taken into account an Augment Summoning feat that Ferrucio doesn't actually possess (unusual for my wizards--post edited). Thanks for prompting me to double check that!
Flykiller and I have been going back and forth for the last week over PM about whether the eagle gets one attack or all of its natural attacks; an intellect devourer gets all four of its natural attacks on a coup de grace. In either case, it's going to be easy enough for Flykiller to adjudicate when he comes back. It's all out there; he can just change the second DC to 17.
Mechanically it would make more sense for Ferrucio to summon a celestial eagle, but he simply doesn't feel comfortable with that idea...so fiendish it is.
Since the secret is now out there, Ferrucio fully intends to see if he can track down and assassinate the last tiefling once you guys are done with it. It will be interesting to see what the repercussions are.
Whilst Ferrucio's background, character and even alignment are designed for him to be able to come around to the 'Good' side of the moral alignment equation, it's simply not something that should happen overnight--hence his actions here. He believes the best thing to do is eliminate the opponents that we may have to face in less than 24 hours if we choose to assault the Bastards' lair. And it sends a message that he dearly wants someone--anyone--to hear: that you don't mess with Ferrucio Charthagnion. There's a lot of unresolved anger there. Whether he channels it constructively or not is mostly going to come down to the interactions he has with the other PCs. He may yet go out in a blaze of glory. Or ignominy. ; )
I seriously worry for party cohesion if Illithia finds out. It will be a very interesting roleplay opportunity though.
As for the coup de grace, I don't see any reason why you would get more than 1 attack. Nothing in the text suggests more than 1 attack is possible. The intellect devourer's ability is special, and you'll note that it's really 1 attack with special damage (as sneak attack is only applied once), rather than 4 attacks. I think my reading is pretty sound, though I'm interested in hearing the inverse arguements if you think there's still a case.
Totally unexpected, Ferrucio! Yeah, our Shelyn contingent ain't going to be happy. Uncertain how Dario will feel about it. I'll have to think on it.
I do have to agree with Illithia on the coup de grace. In past games even with multiple iterative attacks, I don't recall getting more than one attack on the coup de grace. If you did, then it would be nigh impossible to make that save past level 6.
I don't really have an argument per se, it just doesn't make sense to me--from a real-world standpoint, which I admit is not the best position to work from!--for a creature that naturally has multiple attacks to only use one of them when making a coup de grace attack.
Iterative attacks? No. You don't have time to aim each of your attacks carefully in order to generate the auto-crit.
But a creature that has multiple appendages that all work independently? Yes.
That's how I run it when I GM, but I'm aware that's not necessarily the norm (apparently it's way outside the norm!), so I did ask Flykiller the question about how he'd like to run it first. He came back with an "I lean toward the single attack interpretation but I'm not sure"; we haven't resolved it yet, and I didn't want to make a post with only half the information if Flykiller went with the single-attack-only interpretation.
But whichever way it goes, I'll be happy to play along. : )
And yes, you do not want to be a helpless PC fighting monsters with multiple attacks in my campaigns. You get mauled into oblivion pretty quick. : D
###
On party cohesion, that will be interesting. Speaking as a player rather than as my PC, I am keenly interested to see what happens to Illithia when she is confronted with the necessity of killing in order to further the agenda of the Children of Westcrown; it's easy to foreswear killing when it's only an idea, but if it's kill-or-be-killed and your opponents have no compunctions about putting a spear through your guts, you (generic you) don't always have the luxury of choice. Or you do, but one choice leads to martyrdom (or to not even being remembered at all), while the other leads to an opportunity to continue your mission.
So which is more important to Illithia? Her as-yet only mildly tested principles, or her desire to make change and do good? I sincerely hope we get to see her resolve tested on that front.
It's that kind of creative tension that fascinates me with roleplaying. Illithia's stance had a very strong influence on my formation of Ferrucio's past and personality--I tried to make him redeemable but at the same time remote and quietly furious. I know as a player I'd like him to turn to Good, but I won't force it. And as a player I certainly want to see him summon a devil or two using the planar ally spells, and that isn't happening until at least 7th level, so it may not happen for quite some time!
That's one of the things that drew me most to Shelyn. Playing a pacifist (not quite in this case, but it's similar) has always interested me. I actually started a character in Skyrim where I intended to go through the whole game without a single kill (the character was abandoned when my Xbox broked and I bought Skyrim for PC instead, so much better). It's a difficult road though, as you mentioned. And Illithia will obviously "swing the sword" in defense of a friend (as evidenced with Bishop in the most recent scuffle), but to what extent she'll project those feelings onto the cause remains to be seen. Especially with Dracius, Ferrucio and the others tugging at her.
If Bishop was aware of it, he would totally appreciate Illithia's effort.
As a player, I like where Ferrucio is going with this. Having basically two polar opposites in the same party is good as long as people are mature. Bishop is a little in the middle. He doesn't like killing people, but understands the necessity as a last resort. He will probably just watch the ensuing spat and only interfere when it becomes too heated.
Dracius will likely also have issues with it -- he's an idealist and filled with romantic notions -- But, the bottom line is that he, who worships beauty, will not do well will the sheer ugliness of the act...
Based on how people are playing their PCs, I would say that he's a little less of a pacifist than Illithia -- possibly as a result of his street-level upbringing -- so that he views standing up in defense of loved ones, or the weak, as the proper role, as abuse and random violence are, themselves, ugly, ugly things... and so he has a duty to act against them.
In terms of the RP, I think it's hard to predict -- I will say that having mature players who realize that characters arguing means exactly and only that is probably the single most important element, but at the same time, playing those characters (properly) may still result in an IC impasse.
You may be alone on this one Ferrucio. Dario sees himself as more of an academic than a fighter - whether he really is or not remains to be seen. Likely, he'll have a distaste for the outright killing of a helpless foe, though he may ultimately see the theoretical merit to it.
One thing which might temper his reaction, though, is that they're tieflings. I reread the Player's Guide and I want Dario to be a real, native Wiscrani, complete with the prejudices. He might think Ferrucio is wrong to have killed them, but "at least they were only tieflings."
I'm actually glad I have an opportunity to think about Ferrucio's reaction to the other PCs' reactions--on the one hand I can see him getting angry and defensive, but on the other I can also see him being calm and self-assured, confident that he did the right thing in the circumstances.
It will be really interesting to see what happens when this comes out--even if you guys don't spot him, I'm sure this (or something else in the future) will become common knowledge, one way or another. : D
I'll be on hiatus for the next few days, as we uproot ourselves and move across the ocean. I should have internet when we arrive there, but it might take a bit to get everything sorted out. Feel free to play Dario as appropriate while I'm out.
Good luck! Have a safe trip. Which ocean are/were you moving across?
On the subject of coup de grace:
Intuitively, it also seems to me that a coup de grace is a single strike, and having to operate multiple weapons/limbs hurts the power and precision of each one. But this is a game with its rules, and if we use the intellect devourer example, four claws 1d4+1 each turn into a 8d4+8 coup de grace, which is clearly four identical critical hits bundled together (plus the sneak attack which counts separately and just once per coup de grace rules). So I decided that the rules work in this way.
I count that the interrogator group was about one block away from the fight when Ferrucio did his move, so definitely visually obscured.
Ferrucio's voice sounds in your mind.
Ask him about entrances and exits...
; )
Still no internet at the new apartment, so things may be spotty for me for a bit. We've moved to Poland for a couple years.
Welcome to the Old World :)
Not trying to be a bigot or obtuse, Bishop. Just trying to play out how a Wiscrani might feel towards a tiefling. Show Dario that tieflings can be trusted and he might come around...
I get it. And Bishop has the attitude of someone who's had to work with folks from all walks of life.
Sorry for the delay; I take it there are no objections to taking the house route and no futher interactions with the prisoner. I'll advance things now.
None here.
I'm good.
Fine by me.
Seems reasonable.
Dracius did not detect any divine presence or religious significance of the blobs. They did, however, radiate a very unstable and constantly changing magical aura of moderate strength, which did not belong to any of the eight classic schools. It was more like a radiation of raw magical energy.
I'd say it's djezet, but that's red, not silver. Otherwise, this has me stumped!
Did I actually say it's silver-colored anywhere? I said 'mercury-like' :) I meant that it looks like liquid metal, but is of no specific color, or maybe varied colors.
I may have been not very decriptive there, but the idea was that it was a collection of unstable alchemical reagents which, left unattended for too long, began forming into an alchemical ooze swarm. You would have identified it with just a bit higher Arcana check, or with a Craft (alchemy) check which I believe no one in the group has.
It is no more sentient than a collection of bacteria or fungi, just hungry and reactive to light/magic/vapors etc.
Oh, and there's no reason to believe that ALL of the containers there are broken :)
To be fair, mercury is silver in colour. It was called quicksilver by alchemists and early chemists.
Just as well it's not djezet; that stuff is expensive and would have any bunch of PCs worth their salt right in there looking to capture it regardless of the danger levels. ; )
Not to say we won't head back downstairs after we play ghostbusters.