Over in the land of game design theory...
Lots of modules use traps poorly. A trap should add to the tension of a location. Just having a random trap in the middle of a hall is not a big deal, especially in an edition where you can take 20, because it either just consumes healing resources (if you don't find it) or consumes gameplay time (if you do).
A good trap either creates a complication, or adds to an existing one. This means typically it either:
1. Creates a puzzle in how to bypass or disable it that the party must solve
2. Hits during an existing encounter and makes that encounter more difficult, dangerous, or complex
For instance, a trap that simply barricades the passage you just came through - this doesn't use up resources, but it can change your tactics because now you need to find an alternative exit and can't just leave when you get injured. Or a trap that casts rock to mud on part of the floor while you're in an encounter - now making that encounter harder.
The Temple is kind of a mixed bag as it has some traps that are interesting and some that are weaksauce.
One of the things I hate the most about bad trap design is that many Pathfinder organized play designers (specifically) think that because of the rules for taking 20, they can only use traps by setting an arbitrarily high DC (I recall DC 40 for a first-level adventure). This is a failure because it presumes that the pressure of a trap is in not finding it. Being able to find traps is ok, but if you want to make it so people can't take 20 while searching, you put the trap in a place where the party will already be in combat, with a trap that makes the fight harder. (This is why ettercaps are such memorably tough opponents despite not being physically very powerful, because of the webs and poison that they use during encounters.)
Quick head's up: I'll be offline for the next couple of weekends (from 5 PM Eastern on Fridays 'til after noon on the following Mondays); please bot Bataleigha's actions as needed. I should be online as normal during the weekdays.
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To a select few games:
I propose that we start using these charts instead of the normal fumble and critical rules.
After rolling either a 1 or 20, fumble or crit, you roll percentile dice (d100) on the appropriate chart to see what happened.
They're from MERP, so there are modifiers at the bottom. And spell charts for the appropriate damage, or just "spell criticals" for generic damage.
What do you think?
Eek! I haven't seen those evil charts since my days playing Rolemaster.
Not sure why I spent as much time as I did playing that one...3 hours to make a character that can be lost 30 seconds into a game.
That being said, I'm alright with it if everyone else is.
I am opposed to crit hit/fumble charts.
I don't see the need to complicate the game or leave more of our success or failure to chance.
Not a big fan of variant crits/fumbles.
So there's a specific reason that I don't use critical hit tables, and that is because there are different expectations about the outcome of combat for players and for monsters.
PCs are expected to go through many, many combats in their careers. Some might be fatal if handled poorly or if luck turns against you, but usually you have enough resources to manage the battles if you don't overextend yourself.
Monsters are expected to get killed. Most encounters are set up so that the monsters are a threat, but they will die much faster than the PCs.
When you add critical hits to the mix, this means that PCs - who will go through far more fights than your average monster that shows up and dies in a few rounds - are going to not only give out more crits in their career, but take more as well. And as soon as you have crits that start causing persistent, lasting wounds, or that cause instant kills, you shift the balance of PC survival markedly. Now any encounter has a small chance of just instantly killing you regardless of how well-prepared you may be. You might survive a crit from an orc with a falchion at a low level (you'll almost certainly be at negative hit points and dying, but you will probably not die instantly unless you have a low hit point total to start with). But if that crit now has a chance to decapitate you, then it doesn't matter that you took the Toughness feat on a barbarian with an 18 Con. The role that you chose with your limited resources (feats, class levels, ability scores) is invalidated by random events. Crits of varying severity mean that your PCs, who have to worry about the long run of odds, will eventually suffer some kind of horrible maiming or death.
Additionally, crits that cause lasting injuries - blindness, loss of a limb, etc. - are far, far worse to PCs than to monsters. If you cut off the ogre's arm, who cares? You're just going to kill him on the next round anyway. But if you shatter a PC's kneecap, he probably has to give up adventuring and spend his days sitting on a stool outside of a tavern telling passersby how he used to be an adventurer until he took an arrow to the knee.
At some point next year I'm planning to run a converted 5e version of Arduin, Kyle, so I'll keep you in mind if you are still looking for something a little more "hardcore." :)
Yep, I’ve had that discussion/argument numerous times on the boards and Facebook. for the PCs.
Incidentally, I do use customized crit tables when I use a system with Hero points (or whatever you want to call them). Under PF, if you threaten a crit you can spend a Hero point to confirm it and roll on the table. Since most monsters don't have Hero points, they don't get special crits. Gives heroes a nice little "oomph" (especially martials) and doesn't give the monsters a huge overbalance.
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Meh. I didn't say this was the best idea ever, I just remember that it was fun tripping over invisible imaginary undead turtles and getting lucky crits that turned a "I am in no way being effective in this combat" into "OH YEAH! WHO DA MAN!"
Mind you, there -is- a modifier system built in. The MERP system had the various "types" of crits that gave from -20 to +20 on the tables. We could just as easily say that a modifier is +/- (damage - target's AC). Or something, so that big hits for big damage had big crits (read: PC rolls), but not every kobold that rolled a 20 is gonna get a big bleed even on a high roll.
But whateves. =)
Also, we could just as easily adopt the Inspiration points as the Hero points you speak of, and give them specific and defined powers. Or, just as easily, steal the Resolve Point formula from Starfinder (bonus of main ability + level) and say that it only applies as crit/fumble currency.
But whateves. =)
The +/-20 in Rolemaster was based on the critical class that you scored, so a class C puncture critical would be more dangerous than a class A slash or a move/maneuver fumble.
I think this kind of feature is not the sort we'd want to retrofit into this game right now, but again you may find my updated version of Arduin to your liking (more detailed crits, Hero points, momentum, camaraderie, etc.), and I'll be sure to send you a PM when I run it in a few months.
@Jesse: Sounds like you might have a few takers when decide to start that one up....me included :)
You need it to go into stealth, right? Not to maintain it. So, I could do it behind Fezzik?
TL;DR if you leave concealment and don't get to concealment by the end of your turn, you leave stealth.
You can hide behind a creature that is larger than you, but you take a -10 penalty on your stealth check.
No problem. Only the darkvision users will see me, for now, muahahaha!
I'm going to the zoo of all places tomorrow. If I have time to post, it'll be later in the day. The DM may bot Bat as needed to keep things rolling.
I got really sick on Thursday and I'm still recovering, so I may be a little slow. Will try to keep this fight rolling!
Query: An 11 missed flat footed touch? Or a 10 if I wasn’t inspired?
When they first showed they weren’t in melee yet, and I flew up to eliminate cover, right?
Beastiary shows ghoul touch ac is 12
Most medium sized creatures have a flat footed touch AC of 10. Some magic items might increase that.
Interestingly, the module has information pertinent to this!
STANDARD CORRIDORS
Unless noted otherwise, corridors are of dressed stone blocks or worked from the natural limestone (or granite, in the lower depths). Walls and floors are smooth and polished wherever possible. The 10' wide corridors have gothic arches, peaking at about 17' height. The 20' and 30' passages and spaces have roman arches, about 30' tall. Unless otherwise described, doors are of oak, hornwood, or bronzewood. Each is about three inches thick, bound with bronze, and set with a large ring on each side. Cressets and sconces are along the walls, and unlit torches rest in most of the latter.
In 10' wide corridors, sconces are at 10' intervals. Cressets in wider passages are at 30' intervals. Both are staggered left, right, left, right (etc.), and unlit unless specified.
This is a 10' wide corridor so it's gothic arches 17' in height. Fezzik is Large size so he essentially takes up 2 squares of height, which means Zinnath's ability to fire past him at a creature below really depends on the angle of attack.
Without getting into trig, I'll handwave it and say that Zinnath fired before the ghouls made their rush, which means the angle was shallow enough that Fezzik didn't provide cover.
Ghouls have +2 natural armor and +2 dexterity bonus, both of which are negated by touch and flat-footed, respectively.
So, that will take out one of the ghouls - but not the one that hit Fezzik, because it was around the corner and not in Zinnath's line of sight; it wasn't until it ran back from the doorway and took its swipe that it became targetable.
Woot!
Not for Fezzik, obviously, but for dragon pride!
At least 10' (there are some... uh... big creatures down here). Zinnath probably caught the ghoul in the leg while it was halfway back in the room.
They will fear me! Well, undead can’t fear, can they?
FYI snowball was just errata'd and no longer staggers people. You may swap the spell if you wish.
It still does a stupid amount of damage though, right?
1d6 per level, cap 5d6, and can sneak attack, no save; it was moved to evocation, so it is now subject to SR.
Avoiding SR was certainly part of its allure. I’ll keep it for now, can swap at even levels or something like that if it becomes a nuisance.
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As a full-round action, an enemy can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless foe. An enemy can also use a bow or crossbow, provided he is adjacent to the target. The attacker automatically hits and scores a critical hit. (A rogue also gets his sneak attack damage bonus against a helpless foe when delivering a coup de grace.) If the defender survives, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or die. Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity.
Creatures that are immune to critical hits do not take critical damage, nor do they need to make Fortitude saves to avoid being killed by a coup de grace.
So are they doing a coup de grace? In that case there is an auto hit as a full round action. If not, then its a +4 to hit and -5 penalty to Dex of 0. So not an auto hit.
CDG takes an AOO, so not doing that. So Bat skates out FOR NOW.
Should we look at hiring some fodder in town or get some guards from the Badgers?
Of the people you rescued, the river sailor and the four men-at-arms will, if you provide them with clothes and weapons and armor, serve with you to strike down the place responsible for their duress.
That sounds like a plan. How much per day?
Equipment:
Studded leather 25gp
Lt. wooden shield 3gp
Short sword 10gp
I guess we should have kept some of the equipment we found, oh well.
Typical rate for a trained hireling is 3 sp/day (so 1½ gp/day if you hire all five).
Based on Fezzik's recommendation above, it would cost you 190 gp to modestly outfit the five potential hirelings. If you want 'em, just knock it off the loot sheet!
I say we do it!
I'm fine with that. The only question then is do we all travel back to Hommlet, send our hirelings then have them return to help us, or have them guard the rooms at the inn with the merchants. I vote for option 2 and maybe we can check with Otis for additional protection for the trip. Then we can return to the temple while they escort the merchants.
I'm fine with that.
On Bat's recommendation, Elmo will help escort the group back to Hommlet. Which is a good thing, because otherwise they would've had some real trouble!
Soooo Kyrie's player hasn't posted since the end of November. I sent a PM and haven't received any response. Do we want to get a replacement?
That sucks. I liked how Kyrie was being played. I think we should find a replacement. It's a good time with Christmas coming up and we have just started the Temple, so it makes sense in-game too.
I hope she is ok. I too will miss her, but I think we need to fill the billet.