DM Harpwizard’s Heroes of Elsir Vale (Inactive)

Game Master GM Harpwizard

I have not play tested this idea, but this is what I am thinking.

20 (Hit, 1d4 damage, possibility of critical)
20 (Confirmed critical, additional 1d4 of damage, possibility of additional dice of damage)
19 (Confirmed additional damage, 1d4 more damage, because 18-20 is critical - possibility of additional damage)
15 (Hit and confirmed additional damage 1d4, but no further chance of critical)

Hence a total of 4d4 + 1d6 for the sneak attack.

Ouch!

I think I would recommend only doing the extra damage with consecutive natural 20's. Adding more and more criticals based purely on the critical range of the weapon is going to make higher crit range weapons (and spells and effects like "Keen") be much more powerful.

So, in your example, it'd be 3d4+1d6, with the rolls ending at the third roll of 19.

Think of a raging barbarian with a keen falchion and you'll understand what I'm talking about!! That's gonna MESS YOU UP right there.

Agreed! That was the one thing I was still debating. A natural roll of 20 will be needed to inflict further damage than the usual critical.

As far as the marching order goes, I think that while moving into unknown areas, it might be a good idea for someone as quick and quiet as Bofus in the front. Directly behind him could either be a strong melee character or a spellcaster. I am not sure what order the middle could be in but having another somewhat strong character in the back to be on guard for ambushes might be worth while. Thoughts?

dude, you're talking like a seasoned player. :-)

You want a strong rear guard for sure. My personal recommendation would be:

point/scout: Bofus or Thordak, depending on whether we need to track or "simply scout"

Mantooth--Front Guard
Florence
Cebre
Thordak or Bofus (whomever is not scouting) for missile support or flanking
Matthias--Rear Guard

This keeps the squishy spellcasters between the metal-skinned meat shields. :-)

Any other opinions?

Yeah or if it's wide enough Bofus in front, Mantooth and Thordak on the flanks, then the rest as you said. I've just gotta get healed up... I would be fine being up front, especially in tunnels because I have darkvision and some sweet Dwarf racial bonuses when I'm underground.

Good morning, folks! I am off on an overnight field trip to Historic Fort Ticonderoga today and tonight. I don't know what access I will have, but I will definitely be back in about 24 hours. Have a great day!

Cool with me, I sang from any position :)

That's what I heard. ZZZZZIIINNNGGGG!!!! ;-)

A couple of question about shield use:

If I have a light shield, it would be strapped to my left arm.
The PRD says one can hold things but not "use a weapon" with a light shield.
With my crossbow, I would be "using" it with my right hand, and the left hand would support it.
Is this feasible? Would I be able to do it, with or without penalties?

Congrats to Thordak on his brilliant Graduation speech last night! Most impressive!

I am referring to the slaver at X5.

Happy Father's Day to all teh gaming daddys out there (I only know of one for sure, DMHW--but if there are any others . . . ) :-)

Thanks, Bofus! We had an awesome day yesterday at the Quechee Balloon Festival. Last night we were right there on the grounds when they inflated 20 balloons all around us and they took off into the air! Spectacular!

Quechee Balloon Festival

so, who should be keeping track of recovered treasure until we get a chance to sell/distribute it? We could split coin right away, but I certainly can't carry any more stuff, so someone's going to have to carry it. Does anyone want to be the treasurer?

I woulnd' tmind keeping track of stuff, as long as someone else carried it. . . which brings up another question.

DMHW, when it comes to selling mundane items like masterwork weapons/armor, simple gems, even minor magical trinkets we don't have a use for, do you feel the need to role-play out the sales, or is simply taking the market value (which is half of what the item sells for) is OK?

Finally, someone should take and wear/use the Ring of Jumping. Bofus cna already jump, so one of the more heavily armored folks should probalby take it. (which brings up yet another point--are we OK in distributing treasure items with a "I'd like that" method, as long as we try to be fair? And that items go where they're most needed?)

@Mantooth: I hope you're not put out by my request for Mantooth's payment. There are two thigns going on here.

From Bofus' perspective, he didn't think Mantooth really would ask for anything, and the way Mantooth treats his family blade makes it clear how precious it is to him--seems only right that the blade should get soem attention, you know?

From MY perspective (the player), I know you're relatively new to the game. I wasn't sure you were even aware that you could enchant a masterwrok blade (in fact, it must be masterwork in order to be enchanted), or how desireable that would be. The way I see it, armor is important to keep you safe, but you can't kill bad guys with it. When I was a front-line fighter, my weapon was my #1 priority; any extra cash I had went to keeping it as powerful as possible.

So, if I overstepped my bounds, I do apologize. Bofus, however, would do it again, unless Mantooth told him to mind his own business. :-)

Hello all! Just finished up a great table session with DMHW in the Sunless Citadel! My sorcerer, Ol' Blackhands, is such a wimp after Thordak, though! Anyhow, I will be going away tomorrow around noon, and I won't be back until AUGUST 15... Until then, Mantooth and Matthias will be running Thordak from another alias. I am having a great time, and I hope I don't miss too much while I'm gone!

@Mantooth and Matthias: Don't cause too much mischief with Thordak! I'll send you some Dwarven grammar rules I made up, along with my stats block.

@Bofus: Your post was not off-putting at all. It was very helpful. I appreciate you using Bofus' desire to help Mantooth to help me as a new player. I had completely forgotten about enchantment, so feel free to keep reminding me/helping me in such ways in the future.

@Thordak: Have fun in rattlesnake country.

Am I mis-managing my attributes? It appears as though most of those slavers were stronger than Mantooth.

No, Mantooth, you are doing great! Those slavers were tough!

@Bofus: Level Up!

@Bofus: Level Up!

@Thordak: I did Sunless Citadel as the first module of the campaign I recently ended. Awesome memories! I'm certain you had fun, because DMHW is an excellent table-top DM.

@Mantooth: glad to know it. It's good to have others looking out for ya, you know?? :-)

@Everyone: I've got a character-build decision to make, and I could use some input. Looking at the party makeup at 1st level, I'd assumed our damage output woudl be big enough that I wouldn't ahve to concentrate too much on combat with Bofus. So, my plan was to NOT concentrate on combat feats too much, and look for other, "general use" feats (like Fleet a couple times). Now that I'm at the point where I'd either choose Fleet or Combat Expertise (for Dex to hit in melee), I need to gather opinions: do you all think we're "good enough" in combat that I don't need to bother gettin gCombat Expertise at this time? Let me know what you all think, please.

I can always get it later (and I still might), but recall that I won't be doing much combat damage without a sneak attack, unless I can get more plusses to damage (which I'm not foreseeing any time soon with a 10 str!)

Bofus, I appreciate your desire to diversify. However, I will also tell you that you cannot go wrong with anything to help you with combat. Without giving anything away, I will tell you that there are some very epic battles planned!

I'd second that, my fighting power is mediocre to low...-_-

Great, well as long as everyone else seems to be forwarding their skills in combat, I think I'll put the rest of my ranks towards Mantooth's true passion - alchemy!

Hmm, good thoughts all (except that alchemy thing, smart-touche!!) :-)

The question really is, DMHW, is it worth it to spend precious resources (feats and rogue abilities) to increase my ability at something I'm bad at (combat), or something I'm good at (everything else!!).

Perhaps I'll go Fleet at 3rd, Finesse Rogue at 4th, putting off Trapspotter 'til 6th.

or maybe Fleet @ 3rd, Bleeding Strike at 4th, Finesse at 5th, Trapspotter 6th.

having a 20' movement really sux. It's the biggest drawback to the ol' Small size.

Fighting defensively as a Standard Action: You can choose to fight defensively when attacking. If you do so, you take a -4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC for the same round.

and if you have 3 ranks in Acrobatics, you get a +3 on AC! :-) (and +6 to full defense rather htan +4)

That's helpful to know. I will definitely consider ranks in acrobatics in the future, especially if there are going to be more broken bridges to be crossed. How will Mantooth and Matthias get rid of their disease? More fortitude checks?

We've got 2 potions of remove disease. Time (and successful Fort saves) will also do it . . .

DMHW, I'm OK with levelling Cebre as long as it gets "finalized/OK'ed" by someone before things like feat selection are written in stone.

Level Up Hit die - 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

If Mantooth takes Divine Health now with his paladin level 3 does that mean the rat disease is vanquished?

Mantooth, you are a lucky luck sack! Nice dice roll for hp, and yes your are now immune to disease.

Hey folks, I am leaving for my inlaws for 4th of July weekend. I am not sure how much I will be able to post away from home. Feel free to role-play and discuss plans with each other, but I cannot guarantee how soon I will be able to post again. I will be back Tuesday night at the latest.

Level Up hit die 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

I wasn't really sure what to add to Thordak for skill ranks, so I mostly just put them in skills he already had. I am open to suggestions for how to level Thordak. Thordak has also taken Power Attack at his per his normal handler's written instructions.

Level Up hit die 1d10+3

I wasn't really sure what to add to Thordak for skill ranks, so I mostly just put them in skills he already had. I am open to suggestions for how to level Thordak. Thordak has also taken Power Attack at his per his normal handler's written instructions.

hmmm . . . you know, I'd question Power Attack. Personally, I'd have chosen Precise Shot. I mean, he's got the Archery specialty for his Ranger "thang" and he's got Point Blank Shot , Precise makes more sense to me.

and, I find Power Attack to really only be a reasonable option when you've got a high enough bonus to hit to make the penalty more digestable. (my tabletop barbarian is goign to get PA at 3rd level, but by that time he's goign to have a pretty high hit roll due to crazy strenght, weapon focus, etc)

Honestly, I'd think he'd get more mileage out of Precise.

Skills--I'd need to review my "ranger lore" to decide that. Survival certainly, perception, not sure what else off the top of my head. Anything he gets a bonus from due to traits or class would be my main focus.

Continuing this discussion . . . I was at a party last night discussing character build theory with one of my regular tabletop gamers. I've long held that "reasonable specialization" is the way to go. Meaning, don't be too much of a generalist with feat and class selection, but don't specialize TOO much.

Also, you've got to accept your limitations. Like Bofus, for example. At this time, if I get into melee, i"m toast. I can pull off a sneak attack once in a while, but I've got to be VERY selective and smart about how I fight. I'm a skills guy--but more than that, it's "sneaky skills" with a slight "schmoozing" side; I'm a bluffer, not a diplomat.

With fighting characters, as you progress in level you're going to find it harder and harder to have "2 schticks" like melee and archery, unless you're really good at creative builds. Dedicating limited resources (like feats) to one "branch" is going to necesarily mean the other branch suffers. (I had a friend who ran a sorcerer, and he insisted on getting bow-related feats. I tried to talk him out of it: "by the time you hit 11th level, you're going to be a mediocre sorcerer and a crappy archer." He quit the campaign due to personal reasons--no, not unkind advice!!--before I was proved right :-) )

Anwya, my point is, know your limitations, work within them, and trust your team mates. I'll probably get Combat Expertise and one other combat-related rogue talent, but I'm not going to focus on battle (if I did, I'd go 2-weapon fighting, which would take a good amount of feats to pull off correctly) because you guys have that covered nicely. I'll sneak around and disable the traps for ya, though!

I may write a letter to the real Thordak and ask him if he'd like to change his mind. I also may need shopping instructions if we are to keep finding treasure houses like this.

On another note: Does anyone have any suggestions for which Mercy Mantooth should take?

I created a new profile for my running Cebre at DMHW's request (you'll note the name). Jsut so you all know and don't think the real player is back . . .

Mercy for Mantooth:
Out of the possibilities, I like Shaken, followed by Sickened. There's lots of stuff that can scare ya, and the Shaken condition is a pain in the butt. that, and it leads to the Frightened mercy. (get Poison as soon as you can. Stunned is great--being stunned is fairly rare, but it SUUUUUUUUX)

Shopping . . . SO glad you asked. :-) I love this stuff.

When you have lots of extra cash, consumables are the way to go. You always want to have as many aces up your sleeve as you can comfortably afford. Potions like Fly, Protection from Evil, See invisibility, Invisibility, water breathing . . . look through the level 1-3 spell lists of all types of spells and see if there's stuff you like, preferably that's not very level-dependent (higher level = higher cost). Spending 300 gp on a potion of fly seems like a lot of money, but it's worth it when the bad guy can fly and you can't. Or if you fall into deep water in your spiffy plate armor, a potion of Water Breathing will save yer butt until someone else saves it permanently!

The other thing to think about is saving up for something good, typically a weapon. When and if we're in a place where you can get higher level enhancements (big cities generally), you'll want the cash to put something beefy on your weapon. I'd recommend thinking about what you want your weapon(s) and/or armor to get, and save up some of your cash for that. Keen is always a winner; Holy is too. More straight plusses never disappoint (there's no such thing as "too much damage").

@Matthias. You have leveled up. You are now 3rd level. Please roll hit points, add ranks to various skills, and pick a feat. Do you need help updating your character sheet? Just ask.

Good morning guys! Today my wife and I celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. We are heading out for the day to hike around the alpine gardens of Mt. Washington. Have a great day. I will try to post again tonight.

Hey, congratz! (I'd forgotten how close yoru anniversary was to ours) Hope you had a great hike--but a bad day hiking is better than a good day working . . .

So we ended up going up Mt. Lafayette instead. We had an awesome hike and my son was thrilled to hike his first 5000 footer. Although it was hard to believe, but on the summit we had nearly 45 mph gusts of wind and being in a cloud we could barely see a thing. It was very exciting!

Ah, so the boy has been bitten by the 5K bug now?? :-)

Hey all - Having recently crawled out from under a rock, I have discovered that the good Harpwizard has returned to gaming without me. Having now threatened undermine the footings of all dungeons into which you would otherwise lead your adventure, the good Harpwzard has agreed to allow me to bring my magical powers and second rate humor to the party.

HP 2d6 ⇒ (6, 1) = 7

Welcome Tirion! Glad to have you around.

I'm sure DMHW will tell you this, but you're entitled to reroll HP results of 1. :-)

And with 2nd rate humor, I'm sure you'll fit right in!!

This is true, Tirion. Feel free to reroll that last 1 you rolled. Trust me, you will need every hit point you can get! : p

Hey, welcome-I need a short wrap up about our party:

Cebre: gone but played by Bofus atm?
Thordak: Gone but played by DMHW atm?
Mantooth: Still around
Matthias: MIA?
Tirion: New?
Bofus: Very around
Florence: Still there

Is that correct? If yes, I'D rather send the npc pc into some kind of vacation.

"Bofus, Florence, and Mantooth, I would like to thank the three of you that for keeping our story moving along during these summer months when people are absent. I really appreciate your dedication and commitment to our great game! Although posting is a little thin for some, I am having a really fun time. I hope you guys are still enjoying yourselves!"

A few notes:

• Cebrë will not be coming back. I am planning an exit strategy that fits with our plot.
• Bofus. Thanks for keeping Cebrë going! You will be relieved of that job very soon.
• Tirion will be coming along very shortly. We are just finishing up some final touches to his character sheet. After tonight, if you see anything we missed, please don't hesitate to let us know here in the OOC Thread.
• Thordak is still away until around August 15th. He has actually been played by Mantooth! Nice job Mantooth! You really have his accent nailed!
• I have emailed Matthias. I am not sure where he is right now. I may have the Brindol Lions capture him and put him in jail soon. :-)
• I will be leaving for vacation on July 31st for a period of about two weeks. I will be in Nova Scotia without internet access so we will probably end of taking a short break in our game. If there are any planned absences, even if for only a couple of days please let us know. This thread is the place to mention it. Thanks!

Hey all, almost finished with the character sheet. Here Reroll of the 1 on 2nd HP roll:

1d6 ⇒ 3

Not much better, but 2 hp is 2hp

Tirion--your "Rough and Ready" trait is actually in your "feat" section. :-)

and yes, I'm "very around." heh.