DM Salsa Presents: The Curse of the Crimson Throne (Inactive)

Game Master AdamWarnock

Annabelle's still up, but she's one hit away from a KO.

Yeah, I normally roll so bad it's funny, this time I got four critical threats in less than 15 rolls. Talk about bad luck :P

As I said, I have a plan in place, even if the whole party goes down.

(And don't worry fellas, I'm not going to kill you off hand.)

Salsa, please don't kill my characters. Between Nic bleeding out, Horatio rolling horribly in both stats and battle, Helena being taken god-knows-where, and the kind of stuff likely to happen to Vivian given the tone of the campaign, I'm starting to think you have it in for me. Is this the price I pay for being in all your games? :P

EDIT: Also, Rhas, that was a wonderful fade-to-black post. =)

Also, Rhas, that was a wonderful fade-to-black post. =)

One must admit that this fight has at least given us some great fade-to-black prose, if not serving us all a healthy slice of humble pie XD

Absolutely it has! Though I must admit, Nic's lesson from all of this won't be "Okay, so I need to be cooler, keep my head, and actually make a plan before I go in". It'll be more like "MOTHERF#@*ER, YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT".

She's not too fond of humble pie, apparently.

Sigh, running, I guess. Salsa has had as many misses as hits, even if they were critical an astounding amount of the time. I think our party has missed what...once (not counting 'extra' attacks like Nic's riposte or AOO's)? The 'mundane' enemies had the same HP total as our highest tank character. Salsa started using questionable tactics to give Calcedon and Paulus AOO's to help finish off the dross on the left side. The fight was lopsided.

No offense meant, Salsa. Parties need to learn when an encounter is unmanageable and when to run for the hills, too. In some modules/adventures they put insane encounters in that the party is meant to run from, only to cause a TPK because the party is assuming that every encounter is doable. Calcedon's point for better planning is also noted.

I'll readily admit that I have a bit of the invincibility complex. This is only the second time one of my PbP characters has gone down ever, so I have very little experience in identifying when an encounter is overwhelming. Chalk this one up to a learning experience!

This is my fourth character KO, and in all my obsessive gaming, I've only had one PC death. (Erasmus Ravensdale, who died in service to Taldor during The Pallid Plague. He got better.)

I just shudder to think of what's going to happen to Nic now. >.>

If worse comes to worse, I have a second character already in mind, though I really like Rhasuel and would like to show youall his other sides.

I like Rhasuel, too. He's just the right mix of insightful and doddering. =)

Yeah, but this didn't really have the smattering of 'we should run' when we began. There were 2 people to the 8 of us. Then there were 10, and by that time we were already separated, mostly surrounded, and had already lost Zev (a fairly heavy hitter). We had managed to squeak by vs the 10 with a few rough spots, and it was only the appearance of the two new that really turned the tide. By then we were thoroughly embroiled.

I wouldn't say an all out run is needed, but a little 5' step/turn could have allowed for some regrouping and covering. Also, I was waiting to see if the Daze took hold, as Calc said, that would have put two dogs (one literally) out of the fight for at least a round.

I still think that with some tactical maneuvering and luck (also no one still has used their Harrow for the AC bonus), it could still be pulled off. We know now that the female is a caster (therefore likely squishy and not melee capable).

EDIT: And Zev doesn't fade to black, he goes down in flames taking someone with him ;)

This gal ain't for running... she's unleashing her inner half orc!

Agree 100% this fight isn't done yet... we nail a crit at anytime and things could swing quickly...

Mercy could likely burn a Harrow bonus and fight defensively to give her an AC of 22...

Elise if we get through the scrap we can reframe our holy warrior women :)

Well, thanks for not blaming me for being unfair at least. I meant for this to be a challenge, and it turned out quite deadly, No one has to make new characters just yet, and I do have a plan to get you guys out of this mess even if even one's KO'd. That said, I will be more careful about making level appropriate encounters. According to the calculator that punched the numbers into, this was a CR7 encounter, even if it did come in waves. Like I said, You guys are going to be at second level after this mess.

On the subject of character rebuilding. This time only, I'll allow you to do a rebuild of your character as long as you keep the same rolls from before and the same class when you level.

Yeah, a CR +6 encounter is a bit much for even a double sized group. We might be able to handle it in a bit when we get a little more forgiveness in our HP and more spells and such under our belts.

Part of getting into a new group is learning how to work with each other, and that includes GM's too. We all learned a few things, and we had some fun fade to black posts, and I am glad I don't have to re-roll my character. He's not down now, but he doesn't have that good AC to finish this fight without taking more hits.

In any case, we'll see who gets to retreat or even if that's an option for us and we'll go from there.

Yeah, and I'm still fairly green when it comes to balancing an encounter. I'll be more mindful of that next time. Right now the Deckers are hurting, and aren't going to waste energy chasing you down.

I need to do the reverse, in my Carrion Crown game - most of the party seems to walk through a bulk of the encounters...

Those of you who don't have your HP, AC, saves, initiative modifier, and perception check bonus in the line with your gender, race, and class, can you please add them. Also, Calcedon, can you add you attacks and spell DCs to your stats? That would make my job a little easier.

@Annabelle: That's the issue I have most of the time, but everyone seems to be having fun, even when I blow the curve all out of whack.

Striking the perfect encounter balance can be difficult at the best of times... in my table top Planescape game last week, my players tore through an encounter that I thought was going to be hellishly difficult in less than three rounds. Granted, the players are level 8 and mythic tier one, but the creature was a CR14 boss with three mythic tiers of its own.

Needless to say, it has forced me to go back to an old tried and tested model I always used to use - hordes and hordes of medium strength creatures and maybe one or two tough guys. Forcing players to divide their attention is the best approach I find, and exactly what you did here Salsa, I just think the rolls you had were made a challenging encounter play more like an epic one. On paper, these jokers probably should've gone down faster, but that didn't happen for a number of reasons, and the two boss like NPC's at the end basically finished off what the minions had started.

Pathfinder and D&D 3.5 are fun systems, but the proliferation of skills, feats, classes and stats inevitably leads to a tough situation for GM's, how to appropriately challenge players without the constant threat of TPK. At the end of the day, all fights may look reasonable on paper, but when put into practice, the reality of that encounter can swing one way or another very easily.

Done as asked, and I'm down too.

Might I suggest Zev's potion to one of the two ladies still standing?

I believe Annabelle still has her action this round. Also, I was thinking more tactical retreat and regroup rather than run. If they believe we're running, that would be great.

I've better range over his daggers, so maybe. Take the light blue mook down?

My preference would be get Zev up and limp away, get out of this corner. Like to the end of the corridor. Wait for them to start gloating and dividing the 'spoils'. Then start tagging them. Up to you what you want to do, of course.

Can Annabelle 'drag' Zev with her? I don't have any potions.

I believe he said he had a self-use potion on him.

Yes you can, and I think only Mercy and Paulus know which potion it was.

Yes, it's not until 2nd level where my CLW extracts can work on others. That's why he said to use it on himself (that and he was the only one with 20 damage at the time) ;)

Also, try not to waste much time attacking the dogs if you can. They are likely only around for maybe 3 rds each (duration of 1 rd/lvl, and don't think she's a Summoner or it wouldn't have been a 1 round casting time).

Hopefully we get Zev up and running next round, if Annabelle can pop em with a ranged attack, Paulus just stay in the fight, we can hopefully rally...

Merc still has her Smite which I've been saving, and Zev and his great ax will bring some heavy hitting back into our ranks.

We're still in the fight! (but agree we need to be more tactically savvy :)

DM-Salsa et al: With regards "rebuild" I'm not looking to change Mercy per say - was just looking to augment her abilities with an additional archetype and have settled on the obvious choice: Warrior of the Holy Light - will give her some additional healing and buffs for the group (as befits her role as a Paladin of Sarenrae)

Have copied over the tenets of the Dawnflower's Holy Warriors as a reminder. She'll be focussing gained feats on improving her ability with her scimitar so when she does look to finish a fight, she can do so quickly. Am taking the "shield maid" as a less literal title - she'll defend the group through abilities/deed/example etc.

Zev also still has his mutagen and some harrow to bump his AC hopefully enough to help. Given the chance/need, he can also use his enlarge extract to get reach (and crazy extra damage).

I might switch around my spell choice. Having CLW would have been huge here. We'll see.

I've already effectively been given a rebuild. I'm good. Though combat reflexes would be really nice >.>

Not a rebuild, already a part of my plan, I'll be taking a level of Barbarian, then back to all Alchemist. Going for Master Chymist, and the savage is his overbearing Orcish half.

Just confirming before I post the next round, The three of you that are left are going to get Zev up and fight?

Can't speak for the others DM-S... am hoping we will be making a stand; with Zev up we've a heavy hitter back.

Canny use of Harrow Points and with favour of the fickle dice gods means we could still win the hour.

Mercy will at the least be buying some time for the others to run if they decide that's the preferred strategy.

I would like to make a stand, as well, foolish as it is. I would prefer to feign a retreat and heal back up, but whatever works.

The voice of reason Paulus :) - could make for some great in-game RP

This reminds me of the time my players in Kingmaker tried to take on a Will-O-Wisp at level 1. Or when they tried to take on 4 Spectres at level 2. I told them they won't be able to kill everything in the game, and gave them plenty of opportunity to run, but did they listen? Of course not. They're PCs. ;-)

Lots of electrical damage and many negative levels later, I am sure they are wiser for it.

That reminds me of my first PFS character. The poor girl was killed by a bartender and then almost killed by a spectre. Funny thing was, she was going to try and stay behind the meat-shield of a fighter that was also at the table.

Are we waiting on Annabelle at this point?

Yes.

Dreadfully sorry - the move went slow due to the roommate doing his stuff at the last minute, so I'm interwebs starved.

She's all for proping Mr. Arkomin and using a tactical withdrawl.

Once we get out of sight, assuming they don't seem to be following, I'd like to give my scimitar to Mercy and then channel. Then we pop back out, Annabelle lights them up, and we start round 2. Any issues with that?

Nope. I won't be able to get things rolling until I get home tonight though.

Sounds good to me, Paulus.

YEAH! ROUND TWO! GO TEAM! *cheers from the unconscious sidelines*

Hype! Woot!

Excitement and loud noises!

And even a little time for what constitutes flirtation for half orcs lol.

*procures pom-poms*
Go Team!