Defense of Brookside

Game Master caster4life

Init doesn't really make sense here since you guys will start attacking as soon as they come into sight.

I admit I have to disagree with the assessment.

If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round. You can also take free actions during the surprise round. If no one or everyone is surprised, no surprise round occurs.

Combatants who are unaware at the start of battle don’t get to act in the surprise round. Unaware combatants are flat-footed because they have not acted yet, so they lose any Dexterity bonus to AC.

Aside from the potential for ranged attackers to get off another extra attack against flatfooted AC, more specifically it's important for those who would cast.

A double-whopper like that is a significant strategic advantage...and among the rewarding reasons to invest for high Initiative. Just saying :)

Brolin, you have dancing lights right? Do you think you could add to our illumination? It seems like a waste, but the light arrow trick is pretty easily defeated, dancing lights is harder to deal with.

Cast light on me, then I will fly and engage. With that they will all he illuminated

Light is a touch range spell, so since Kazador is standing on the ground instead of the wall no one can reach him to touch him.

The orc has seen Kazador and they've stopped just outside range of our archers. We need to get light over there, otherwise none of us will be able to do anything about them.

I must confess, I don't understand why Kazador and Algric are standing outside the wall at all. I kept looking at the map and thinking "Oh, he hasn't moved his tokens into position yet". But here we are starting the fight, with everyone carefully hidden and all signs of our presence concealed except for the two dwarves standing in plain view in front of the wall ...

Yeah they should be on the wall, especially Algric....

Note: The orcs haven't stopped. This is just where initiative order officially begins.

Also, combat has begun after a lot of prep time. Let's roll with our tokens where they are and move them in character.

Right, so I think we're waiting on Kazador, then, as he's the only one who can see them at the moment.

Right, so I think we're waiting on Kazador, then, as he's the only one who can see them at the moment.

True, but GM has said we could hear them, I think it's safe for you to shoot the light arrow at a square and then continue form there. Fyrtor should still have a standard action left which I'll take once I can see something lol.

Also, since Kazador seems to insist on being enlarged...
Lost wand charges: 1d10 ⇒ 2
Remaining turns of enlargement: 1d10 ⇒ 5
I guess we could hear them after all, but not quite time it as good as can be.

Also, @Algric: If you want to move into position, you'd best not take the ladders -_- they don't work for anything heavier than a halfling child.

@Mel: I concur with Fyrtor, we could hear them and the fact the two dwarves just let loose with their first arrows(well, Algric, Kazador stomped his in anger) should probably tip you off as to the presence of enemies. Light would be appreciated so spells can be targetted.

All right then, thus it shall be. Once I get home from work.

Flying dwarf has landed. 1-3 dead orcs, probably.

Rules questions:

1. Brolin, what's your thing that's giving us +4 attack/damage called? And what type of bonus does it grant?

2. GM, does Divine Bond apply to just one chosen weapon, or can you activate it on different weapons? Asking so I'll know if Kelian can only use it on his bow -- which would be appropriate for an Erastilian -- or if he could use it on a longsword in some future fight.

Kazador: No orcs dead yet. It's the surprise round so you could only standard action charge. Even with a full round you move then swing once which isn't enough to kill most of the mooks in Kazador Gravr.

Mel: Yes it can be any weapon he's holding.

Turion: Yes just surprise round for now.

Shoot, I forgot you can't make full attacks in the surprise round even if you yourself are not surprised. So Mel's iterative in her last post never actually occurred. Sorry!

My whole thing gets really messy if we didn't win initiative...

1. Brolin, what's your thing that's giving us +4 attack/damage called? And what type of bonus does it grant?

Ah!

I misread my class ability. The ability in question is called "Spirit Aura" which grants a Spirit Dancers "Seance Boon" to allies within 30 feet. But the +4 untyped bonus to hit and damage comes from an entirely different ability called "Spirit Bonus". The Spirit Boon is +2 to damage, no bonus to hit.

Sorry for getting the class abilities wrong. :[ I blame the play by post format; it exacerbates the issue by putting days and/or weeks between every time I use any given ability, giving me plenty of time to forget/misremember it.

So Kazador, 60 ft away, gets +2 damage but not the +4/+4, yes?

I think so? Don’t know medium bonuses well enough :p

So after doing some reading I believe Brolin gets the +4 to hit damage and fort saves from spriti bonus. The rest of us off we are within 30ft can get the +2 to damage for seance boon.

Dang the medium is a fiddly class and spirit dancer makes it even more fiddly.

Spirit aura grants spirit bonus to allies within 30 ft so Kazador doesn't qualify. Shared seance grants bonuses to all allies who participate in the seance. Have you guys been participating in seances? If so, I'd really like to see that RPed. XD

Got my surprise round in, and my round 1 rolls for when that is needed.

And yes, that will be interesting to rp!

So I spent a full turn plus a stanard action already, so I think Fyrtor is done already.

I think I'm more confused about Brolin's mechanics now than I was before I asked. :-Þ So are we getting +4 attack/damage, or just +2 damage?

GM, questions on sight mechanics.

There's an arrow with light on it stuck in ground. It emits normal light in a 20 foot radius, and dim light for an additional 20 foot radius around that. How does that interact with the whipping black tentacles and the web over the area? I mean, I'm imagining huge, hideous shadows of tentacles and webbing jinking all over the sides of the buildings; but does it decrease the light level for purposes of sight?

If I count squares right, assuming the tentacles/webbing don't block the light too much, currently sight works thus:

Algric: can see Kazador and one orc at the outer limits of his darkvision.

Mel and Túrion: can see the four orcs in the tentacles, and can just make out Kazador and the one orc closest to the light source thanks to low light vision. (Unless Túrion swapped out low-light vision for some other racial trait -- I wouldn't want to presume! :-Þ)

Fyrtor, Brolin, and Kelian: can see the four orcs in the tentacles and nothing else. Oh, except Kelian's bow is now a light source and so they can see each other.

Is that right?

Web seems like it would block light. 20 ft of web gives total cover. So nobody can see the two orcs in the back of the web but everyone can see those in the front of the web. I'm going to rule the web blocks the light from illuminating outside of the web. And yes, wickedly cool shadows.

Only Algric can see Kazador and the other orc. Kazador is the only one who can really see what's going on over there. Which concerns me because he's alone and has drawn a WHOLE lot of orcish attention... We'll see how that works out...

I'm also confused. Brolin, you grant +2 damage to those who participate in the seance with you. What does that entail? It's a 1 hour ritual so I'm assuming no one else did it with you? It seems that Brolin is therefore just granting the +4/+4.

Will update in a few hours, taking Fyrtor's full round action into account. Thanks for the reminder, Fyrtor.

Well, no need to be concerned. If he gets too much attention he can always withdraw. And given that he has flight, that means heading back to the walls.

At the very least it will keep the orcs running around and not towards the party on the wall.

All that said, I'm hoping that AC27 (25 when flanked) will be enough to keep him safe for awhile.

Well, one way or another we're going to find out! Kazador's pretty much on his own out there, since nobody else can see him (except Algric). I'm kind of assuming this is wave 1 of at least 3, so Kazador may soon have many friends to play with.

On a slightly morbid note, running ahead of the party into a group of orcs is how Cyrus Lem died the death ...

Well, no need to be concerned. If he gets too much attention he can always withdraw. And given that he has flight, that means heading back to the walls.

At the very least it will keep the orcs running around and not towards the party on the wall.

All that said, I'm hoping that AC27 (25 when flanked) will be enough to keep him safe for awhile.

The ability to withdraw is a big assumption... We'll see how it goes..

Well...one last attempt at teleporting if that doesn't work. But let's see! Can't wait

Fyrtor has low light vision (heart of the fey) so his sight matches Mel and Turion's.

@Spirit Dancer and the shared boni...it's an archetype thing.

At 2nd level, a spirit dancer’s weaving forms create an aura that grants his current seance boon to all allies within 30 feet. When he grants a seance boon that requires a decision, each ally makes the appropriate decision the first time that ally receives that spirit’s aura each day. That decision remains in effect if the ally is affected by that spirit’s aura again later that day.

This ability replaces shared seance.

I once started to put together a Spirit Dancer. I realised I did not have the time to do it 'proper' so postponed the concept, but I did get to look into the class a bit.

@Lowlightvision: That's a racial element. Really, Mel? Just because I was rash and not very good at training with our ancestral arms, you question my heritage thinking I got some round-ear eyes? *shaking head disappointedly*
But I added it to the Status Line now to make it more clear.

XD

First I assume you have longbow proficiency, and thus come in for a head-shaking. Then I don't assume you have low-light vision, and come in for a second head shaking!

I may as well just resign myself to head-shakings now, as there doesn't seem to be any good way to avoid them. :-Þ

Should I shake my head too? Assuming I can't see as well as you pointy ears because I'm supposedly human? lol I'll add low light to my status line as well.

Kazador shakes his head because he keeps hearing about how great elven vision is, and they can't even see in the dark.

It's not the darkvision, Kazador, it's the accurately keen sense of hearing, sight, smell - mechanically represented by +2 perception.
Of course, that's a racial feature I traded away for an alternate class feature.
*submits to head-shaking from Mel now*

I have a proposal: let's all spend a round just shaking our heads. No doubt this novel military strategy will strike fear into the hearts of the orcs, leading them to flee and never return.

Indeed! I am definitely that kind of GM. :)

Now, just shaking our heads may not be enough. But collectively approaching the orc horde in a choreographed dance...that is certain to strike fear into their hearts.

"But I haven't got any ranks in Perform (dance)!" Mel wails.

Kazador: You're in a tight spot, atm. But I hope you can appreciate the respect these orcs have for a rune warden. They intend to deal with you before anything else. You and/or Algric might want to give the others a heads up ASAP.

Oops. That disarm was 6 too high. Didn't matter tho.

Hey Kaz...how do you feel about Tentacles?
Any particular aversion or allergy to be aware of?
On the downside, their IFF is nonexistant.
On the plus side, it's a spread, not a burst- as long as your fly lasts, you can try and exit straight up.
Plus: At least the Orcs would be somewhat busy trying to decide wether they mean to maintain the grapple on you or avoid getting crushed.
Minus: If they do decide to focus on you, and you can't escape, the tentacles could be dismissed to avoid murdering you, but not the orcs...

Save me Obi Wan Alagostor, you’re my only hope!

I knew the honorable senator from Alderaan, and you, sir, are no Princess Leia!

But Kazador, no cry for help? We don't know you're about to be orc stew. Experience has shown you to be very capable, so...

Also, in the same vein as Turions tenticles, how do you feel about a gravel storm? It's 5d6 bludgeoning, and leaves dificult terrain... Are we offering to help you too much? Lol

Edited to have some battlecries. You can probably tell he is in trouble.

Yeah, AOE everything. Fireballs, acid...lay it on!

Also if Kazador survives he will be buying:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment/armor/gauntlet-locked/

CMD 35 at lvl7 should be enough...I hope :p

But yay for gauntlets!

I dunno about that. I mean, it'd definitely help! But ...

I once played in a level 20 one-shot that featured battling an anti-party atop one of the Star Towers while titanic armies from the forces of good and evil fought a grand melee surging around the base of the tower. I was playing as Pirin, a merfolk oracle 1/cross-blooded sorcerer 19 who got around in a giant flying fish bowl.

On the opposing team, there was an arcane archer. He revealed his mad skillz by using his Hail of Arrows ability to target everyone simultaneously -- and I mean everyone, because we had misread the passage and missed the part where the number of targets was limited by his class level. So he raised his bow and fired a mighty shot not just at every PC, but at every soldier in both armies in a quarter mile range ...

... and rolled a Nat 1, thereby simultaneously missing thousands of targets and tanking his career average.

He was not happy when I tore the bow from his hands the very next round with a Quickened True Strike followed by a Pilfering Hand. The very trick which, I think, was just used on you. It's hard to get a CMD high enough to ever beat that +20 bonus from True Strike, even if they roll low.

Mel is correct. That is exactly what happened. These are a pair of magi specialized in taking down big single martial threats. Especially those that rely too heavily on one weapon. They were very necessary for the orcs to bring down the squad of rune wardens. They're also great for intertribal conflict.

Hmm...not that it matters. But Kazador is a weapon Master.

Weapon Guard (Ex)

At 2nd level, a weapon master gains a +1 bonus to CMD against disarm and sunder attempts while wielding his chosen weapon. This bonus also applies on saves against any effect that targets his chosen weapon (for example, grease, heat metal, shatter, warp wood). The bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd.

This ability replaces bravery.

So his CMD vs disarm is 26. I’ll update my profile for future rounds.

Also going to buy the gauntlet (CMD36) and a weapon cord

Weapon Cord

Source PZO1115

Weapon cords are 2-foot-long leather straps that attach your weapon to your wrist. If you drop your weapon or are disarmed, you can recover it as a move action*, and it never moves any further away from you than an adjacent square. However, you cannot switch to a different weapon without first untying the cord (a full-round action) or cutting it (a move action or an attack, hardness 0, 1 hp). Unlike a locked gauntlet, you can still use a hand with a weapon cord, though a dangling weapon may interfere with finer actions.

Yup, a weapon cord would do the trick. It won't stop you getting disarmed for a round, but at least you don't actually lose the weapon.