Defense of Brookside

Game Master caster4life

I’ve got zero range. But I do have AC27 and 74HP. With invisibility my Stealth is +20. I think it’d be a shame to leave the slow tank in the back while sending in a (near) full caster. If and when trouble breaks out, I think that Kazador would be better suited to tank out a horde of orcs, while Fyrtor disables them from afar.

Agreed that setting down a cask of x does not break invisibility, even if x is black powder.

Fyrtor, no I'm going to stick with RAW when it comes to standard action charges. Thanks for asking, though.

Cool, so Kazador and Mel go quietly into to area, Kazador hangs back a bit while Mel sneaks in to drop the cask and then falls back. When it goes boom everything starts.

Kazador, I wish I had something left to disable with from afar. While I'm technically a full caster I'm really more build as a 3/4 caster plus. I only get 4 slots per level and I'm 1 level behind. I make up for it with versatility via herbalism and being decent in melee.

Remember that Brolin’s out of second level spells for today - he can’t cast invisibility.

I believe we are counting on Turion being able to do so.

Aye, I can cast Invisibility - 2 spell slots of second level left atm.

How long is the time to explosion for the cask after lighting the fuse?

I am specifically asking because I would not waste an individual invisibility on the keg of powder if it explodes a moment after they noticed it(i.e. surprise round where Mel flees=>boom)

That said, Mel has invisibility-like stealth skills even without the spell. Since skill checks don't auto-fail or auto-succeed, her 40+ result will likely assure her safety...heck, even if there's a caster with see invisibility he's not guaranteed to spot her.

the more interesting question is how the fuse is lit. they have darkvision - and light sources(like open fire) have funny interaction with invisibility...

The fuse can be covered, powder provides its own air, so putting it into a sack or similar should be fine.

It's not so much the fuse I am worried about, it's the necessity to light it. If it has a one-round time to blowing up, lighting it beforehand is not really an option and would need to be done there, by Mel. In what is probably complete darkness - so even a light source in a sack could be visible. Hence my question on the delay between lighting the fuse and explosion.
It was demonstrated to you when they blew up that little sideboat. So you should have a rough idea if it's a couple seconds or half a minute.

Ah, I thought you were worried about the light from the burning fuse being seen. I'm not sure we know how long the fuse is actually. We saw it used once, but we haven't had any other experience with it. I think it would be mostly an educated guess... :(

I think Túrion specified that he's only got enough juice left to do two castings of invisibility. So we can pick at most two of Mel, Kazador, and the cask to be invisible. I'm inclined to think that Mel and the cask are the only sensible choices.

Having bollixed up our first attempt, they are absolutely 100% certain to be aware of our presence and alert to shenanigans. There are 12 orcs in there. If I've done the math right (which is never guaranteed!), then that means there's a 46% chance that at least one of them will roll a natural 20 on their Perception check.

It's extremely likely that somebody in the group of orcs is going to roll high. With even a small modifier of +4 or +5, Kazador is almost certain to get spotted -- even with Invisiblity -- unless he too rolls very high.

Meanwhile, Mel's Stealth modifier is +22 to start with; adding +20 from Invisibility would set the Perception DC to notice her at a steep 43 even if she rolls a nat 1. Once the cask is in place it would count as a stationary object, gaining a +40 bonus from invisibility; still very hard to spot. You'd need somebody rolling a natural 20 with a +20 bonus, which is a tad unlikely at this level.

Mel currently has Darkvision running, so she can see to light it; but yes, the light might give away its presence to the orcs. I suppose we could always chuck a pebble with Light on it around the corner as Mel goes in.

It would be nice if we could arrange the keg to have, say, a 3 round fuse so we could light it before going around the corner. The GM would need to weigh in on that.

I concur with the math, and your reasoning regarding the stealth results is what I meant to express in the previous posts. You are almost impossible to spot - others not so much.

That said, I still maintain that maybe not 2 castings are necessary. Unless they were confronted with black powder before, they are unlikely to spread out panicked even if they notice the keg.
If they do, then they are at an extremely bad tactical position and still subject to shrapnel.

The reason I would like to limit the expenditure to one casting, of course, is that second level slots also fuel Web. And I think after blowing them up, it could still be a good idea to split their remaining forces with a casting - several will have soft cover, or even hard cover if Mel can't reach a spot exactly in the gap of the palisade(even so it's hard to expose all of them). Standing at the corner and slinging a web the moment the explosion takes place could create a beneficial tactical situation - one the impact of we should measure against the potential additional damage possible by keeping the keg invisible.

The problem with them noticing the keg is that they might have time to grab it yell "Catch!" and throw it back to us.

That assumes they know what it is, AND are given enough time to react.

Depending on fuse lenght, that may be a issue, but you could keep your hand on the invisible fuse, then let go and run for it moments before it explodes.
Maybe someone even picks it up, but it explodes before he has time to consider throwing it.

Or, if that is not an option, you may even throw it towards them, turn around and run, timing it so it explodes in mid-air above them.(which could be favorable for a very short fuse time if we still want to light it beyond the corner). (Throwing it being the action that triggers a surprise round, which you spend moving back around the corner)

I could also grease the keg if we put it into a bag for you to carry - in that case, slapstick antics may take place even if they go for returning to sender-

They don't necessarily need to know what it is. We're enemies. They're going to be immediately suspicious of anything we try to get near them.

Reaction time is another thing altogether.

A lot depends on how long we can set the fuse for. GM?

Keep in mind that if there's any variability with the fuse length estimate that we make and we are using a short fuse it''s very possible that Mel doesn't throw the keg in time to have it blow up in the air and it instead blows up in her hand.

It's not as simple a thing to time as it might sound and we have almost zero knowledge of how this works in character. We've literally seen it once in our entire lives (twice if you count the Serpent exploding with us on board.)

Yes. Mel has evasion and an excellent reflex save; but she would prefer not to test their limits needlessly. A longer fuse would be very much appreciated.

Well you didn't see the fuses when the Serpent blew up.

One of my favorite riddles: You have two fuses. All you know about them is that they each burn for 1 hour. Burning speeds might not be homogeneous within or between fuses. How do you time a period of 15 minutes?

Cut them in half! ...Wait no... uh...

So, about that alchemist's fire...lol

Hm. I can figure 30 minutes by setting a fuse ablaze from both sides. 15 minutes I would have to half that again, which seems difficult to do.
Unless...

That said, it does not sound like lighting the fuse is a workable idea at all unless we have sufficient fuse to test the burn rate and get an idea of the timing. Otherwise we might be better of placing an unlit keg there...then cast a web spell covering the keg and set it ablaze with alchemists fire...

Well you didn't see the fuses when the Serpent blew up.

Didn't they do a demonstration for us where they lit a keg, put it in a boat, shoved the boat off into the bay and the boat went boom?

One of my favorite riddles: You have two fuses. All you know about them is that they each burn for 1 hour. Burning speeds might not be homogeneous within or between fuses. How do you time a period of 15 minutes?

Simple. I go get a fuse with known properties and use that one ...

Ok, so no web then. Do we wait until the keg goes off to start our assault, or do we try to jump the gun a bit?

I could summon another aether elemental which if it's not close to them is pretty had to hit (basically they have greater invisibility but a easier to pinpoint) and it could be throwing random things at the orcs while flying.

Brookside GM wrote:

Well you didn't see the fuses when the Serpent blew up.

Didn't they do a demonstration for us where they lit a keg, put it in a boat, shoved the boat off into the bay and the boat went boom?

I think that's our one time, and even then it's not like we were able to observe it closely.

Keg first, then assault.

Nice, Turion!

Mel I meant that you've seen the fuses once because you couldn't see them the second time when in the hold.

Ok, so are we all agreed then, there is no web coming, Turion is using his last level 2 slots to invis Mel and the keg, when it goes boom we charge?

Out of curiosity how many slots do you have left Turion? Do you need/want to borrow my pearls? They are only level 1, but you are more dependent on slots than I am and we're leaning pretty heavily on you to make this work. I can get by without them for now if you'd like to use them while we have a chance.

That's the plan.

I do think one invisibility + timing thing right would + web would be preferable.

But I submit to Mel's plan of using both slots for her and the Keg.

I'll post the agreement in a while, or you can assume compliance and keep going.

I have half my slots left, Fyrtor. No worries just yet. There's also 2 Level 3 spells left, which are likely to be pits again for lack of meaningful options - so even after the invisibilities, I have juice for 5 rounds.

After that, I have the Run Feat that allows me to head to the outpost faster than the orcish reinforcements(or the dwarves, for that matter). So no worries on my end. *smug grin*

lol, ok, but if having some extra grease would have made the difference you'll never hear the end of it :)

btw, Mel...
This implies you can take 20 on the Treat Deadly Wounds Checks.

If we are not in a combat-situation, considering Healer's Hands reduces that 1-hour time to a full-round action, it could be worth taking the 2 minutes to always have the maximum result with bonus healing.
Just saying.

So guys, are we going to do this thing?

Aye, my kids disagreed with another post yesterday :)
I did tell you to go ahead though.

Next time, we should make certain that Keg is covered with nails, arrowheads and other juice little metal fragments it can propel through orcs.

It's all good. Kids do that sometimes :) and you did say to keep going.

I don't know if we'll run into blackbpower again (probably) but if we do we should definitely take some time to make our explosions even more satisfying.

That went off better than it had any right to. Let's see how things go from here, eh?

Yeah... reinforcements have definitely heard the enormous boom, I don't think we have to worry about the signal horns any more...

Well, this time I remembered to post in gameplay.

If you rush ahead before I get to post again, next round my last daily use of 'shut big guy down without save' is carried by some lovely magical missiles to the orc leader, unless 4 of the orcs nicely bunch of for a pit.
I did not know if the map was current, and wether difficult terrain allows a pit as there's likely rubble and surface damage, so not sure how flat the space is.

Definitely not a flat space on the defenses.

Are the orc's prone?

No. Mechanically, a fireball or other explosion does not knock prone. It would be cool but it would also be a massive action economy boon to grant you guys.

For narritive just say that they won Initiative and used their round to get up

Mel shouldn't your bow be dealing an extra d6 of damage from merciful?

I am shocked he would resist such a forceful invitation to go prone.
Which begs the question - on a quick assumption that it's roughly the same guy as the first warlord - did he remember to chug his potion of heroism between our improv theater and the big bang?
If not, he should have lower CMB&CMD, if yes, he should glow and allow identification of the spell effect post-demise. Which could be interesting to know, because then we could poke at them and go back into defensive...either they'll come looking after a while, or risk their buffs running out. (Heroism lasts a while, but other, more short-term buffs do not, and chances are they are getting ready the moment they expect trouble)

1. He's not the same guy as last time.
2. Yes they had a little time to buff. I did forget to have the other rangers cast their resist fire spell though...
3. Why would he glow? Certainly detect magic would allow you to identify ongoing buffs.

So, that was rough. :( Should I use expeditious construction to make a walled are for the elves? Use obscuring most to protect them, or rush in?

GM how tall of a wall can I make if I limit the length? The spell calls out 3ft tall, but it also mentions simple structures and adjusting length and steepness.

I don't see anything about making it taller...

I made a mistake on how long the wall could be, it is fixed now.

Okay, so that grants us partial cover apparently, +2 AC and +1 on reflex saves.

That's very good, because Túrion really needs it!

I think we're in trouble nevertheless. Kelian's got an AC of 24, but got hit twice and lost just over half his hit points. I suspect favored enemy (human) at +4 on attack and damage, and wish he hadn't used his 1/day smite last battle. The +2 AC it could give him would be helpful about now.

I can still drop the fog and we all run away, let's see how this round plays out, hopefully everyone is till on their feet by the end of it.

BTW from what I can tell the wall provides full cover, however it stops doing so if your opponent is within 30 ft of the wall.

Here's the relavent text for the SRD combat section:

Low Obstacles and Cover
A low obstacle (such as a wall no higher than half your height) provides cover, but only to creatures within 30 feet (6 squares) of it. The attacker can ignore the cover if he’s closer to the obstacle than his target.

Obscuring Mist is good for running away, yes.

EDIT: Oh, and this may also be relevant:

Partial Cover: If a creature has cover, but more than half the creature is visible, its cover bonus is reduced to a +2 to AC and a +1 bonus on Reflex saving throws. This partial cover is subject to the GM's discretion.

So I think the wall, being only 3 feet tall, only provides partial cover to Medium creatures. A small creature like a halfling or a gnome would get full cover.

I am sincerely grateful that I went and read Kelian's class features again. Being able to heal himself as a swift action five times a day is super good. And important! Otherwise I'm pretty sure he'd be dead this round, since he's about to eat four readied attacks plus probably another four full attacks, for a total of twelve attacks this round not counting archers.

He may still be dead. He had 29 hp left at the beginning of the round, and healed 13, putting him at 42. While his AC is good at 24 it's not THAT good. Just a few high rolls on those attacks and he's a goner. But moving forward was the only reasonable choice.

Now I'm going to go look up defensive fighting.