GM Erich's Salvation Of The Sages (Subtier 10-11) (Inactive)

Game Master Thereus, Silver Crusader

Are we still planning to d-door over to the monolith? I recommend all the casters with low CMD be taken first... perhaps the monolith area is on bedrock and would be free of grasping graves.

Everyone taken through the door must be in physical contact with the caster (if not directly, then as a 'chain' like we had there), so given how we were placed, I had no choice but to include you.

ok cool... just want to make sure if it's ok with the GM that I grabbed Rogar's offered pick before we got whisked away.

Ga, we could have split this up and had the Amenopheus dimension door half of us. Oh well.

@Rogar, are you planning to d-door too or are you saving yours for later?

By RAW, there is a rule about suitable/unsuitable weapons for specific materials. i.e. swords work on rope, hammers don't. Picks and hammers work on stone walls, swords don't.

There is?! Link please? I need to learn that rule.

Ineffective Weapons: Certain weapons just can't effectively deal damage to certain objects. For example, a bludgeoning weapon cannot be used to damage a rope. Likewise, most melee weapons have little effect on stone walls and doors, unless they are designed for breaking up stone, such as a pick or hammer.

Smashing a weapon or shield with a slashing or bludgeoning weapon is accomplished with the sunder combat maneuver (see Combat). Smashing an object is like sundering a weapon or shield, except that your combat maneuver check is opposed by the object's AC. Generally, you can smash an object only with a bludgeoning or slashing weapon.

I think these requirements need a large amount of GM adjudication.

I think these requirements need a large amount of GM adjudication.

And that's okay. :)

Ga, we could have split this up and had the Amenopheus dimension door half of us. Oh well.

Shoot, I didn't notice/forgot he could do that too.

We might have to talk more about tactics in this section, especially since this is tier 10-11.

I'm just trying to get out of the grasping grave without wasting to many resources right now. I have several attacks so I can nickle and dime that monolith with power attack if I ever get there, but I'm really hoping you can knowledge your way to a solution.

I'm hoping that dealing with the monolith might help with some of these enemies.

It is also ok if you catch Rok in the area of any evocation. Rok thinks he is immune to magic.

Sorry if I didn't un-delay before the end of Round 1 - I'm entertaining visiting family here and the ale and wine is flowing... :P

If that's ok Theodric will take his first round's standard action right after the dimension door, wherever that puts him in the initiative (he was delaying for that purpose).

Round 1: standard action to smash the monolith with heavy pick.

heavy pick, two-handed: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (7) + 16 = 23 for 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13 dmg.

What are the non-damage options for dealing with the monolith?

If adjacent, suppress it as a standard action with a knowledge (arcana, planes, religion) or disable as a magical trap.

I think the sage that's in the battle with us is working on that. Those hairline fractures probably help with the heavy pick smash tho! :)

Suppress it? What is the Monolith doing?

The sage doesn't roll skill checks, only gives us bonuses. So may as well use his actions for the combat.

Vladek, I think you are out of range for the knowledge check on the Horde? But Rok does appreciate the evocation.

@GM: Would you allow me to use stone shape, and make the base of the monolith twice as wide, but half as thick? The goal would be to reduce its thickness, and thus hp.

@GM: Would you allow me to use stone shape, and make the base of the monolith twice as wide, but half as thick?

I think the real question is, would the monolith allow that? -_^

@Rok: I'm too far away NOW. That's because I moved.

Sure. You can affect 21 cubic feet so not quite half the base, but a substantial portion of it.

@Vladek. Got it, I'm relatively new to pbp. Is the convention that if one person passes the check it is assumed that it is shared with the group?

@Vladek. Got it, I'm relatively new to pbp. Is the convention that if one person passes the check it is assumed that it is shared with the group?

More or less. Thing is, that roll only got me the minimum information, which isn't much.

Sure. You can affect 21 cubic feet so not quite half the base, but a substantial portion of it.

22 with stonesinger.

What should our sage do? Ddoor the wounded away from the Monolith?

Lighting bolt the huge bonehead in the face of course! (seriously: line effect so target one square that's 15 feet high). We need to start piling damage on that thing folks!

Our healer should heal the sage or start channeling though!

Lightning bolt sounds good.

Magor is an oracle, not cleric. I don't get channeling, and am not an effective combat healer in general :-(

Well then... no healing for this group? hmm... this ought to be interesting... O_O

What? No, plenty of healing - perhaps just not of the "en masse" variety.

@Magor: You DO know mass cure light wounds...as a matter of fact, that would seem like a good spell to cast all around right now.

@Magor: You DO know mass cure light wounds...as a matter of fact, that would seem like a good spell to cast all around right now.

But I also know better than to waste a round casting it. For example, I should be able to prevent more damage than that by suppressing the monolith, AND without using my highest level spell slot. 6d6 > 1d8+11

What's this suppress monolith business? a spell? an ability?

What's this suppress monolith business? a spell? an ability?

It was posted in Discussion, not Gameplay. It's a poor substitute for destroying the monolith, but you are tied up with the undead right now, so suppressing it is the best we've got.

Vladek Odradek wrote:

@Magor: You DO know mass cure light wounds...as a matter of fact, that would seem like a good spell to cast all around right now.

But I also know better than to waste a round casting it. For example, I should be able to prevent more damage than that by suppressing the monolith, AND without using my highest level spell slot. 6d6 > 1d8+11

That's assuming it can do that every round. Do we know that? Do we even know how it did that (the way it happened, it seemed more than a little bit like a reaction to the gashadokuro's bone-breath)? Consider also that mass cure light wounds could (unlike Channeling Energy) simultaneously damage the gashadokuro...and given that it's a malign negative energy font, possibly the monolith as well!

A bunch of unknowns that lend themselves to either decision, unfortunately.

@Magor; keep up the good work. I'm with you 100%.

@GM Erick; if that check was high enough, can we get some info on what the hell this Monolith is and what it does. This is a cool scene but I have no idea what is going on.

Not to be too obtuse, but you have all that you would know at this point. The monolith is there and shot out negative energy when the monster appeared. Could be a coincidence. Might happen again.

As mentioned, there is a way to suppress it, or it can be disabled or destroyed. Either of which will take some time.

Now there is a monster attacking you with a breath weapon that probably recharges.

@Evad Alacar; I think the reduced damage if from your improved evasion.

Ohhh! Good point thanks Rok! Totally forgot about it. Now I feel better.

I forgot to ask; how much reach did that big skeleton monster have? We would have seen this when it took the AoO on Rok.

fifteen feet

Magor, don't forget the +3 to knowledge checks from our sage.

Did we ever figure out if it was DR 5, 10 or 15?

Magor, don't forget the +3 to knowledge checks from our sage.

Thank you, I did indeed forget that bonus.

Today ended up being super busy, and isn't even over yet, so please bot me if necessary.

@Vladek, this whole fight was after the travel and rest.

@Vladek, The sage also had a dispel at the same caster level that I assume I'm using. I think they were operating on the same rules as us: recover after resting. So I was just hoping to get a greater dispel since I saw Roger had one prepped and we were resting anyway.

I dropped my idea for an order in the slide.

I don't know how tight it will be down here, sometimes BATTLEFORM:TIGER gets in the way. Rok has lunge and can reach over you guys in a fight, but grappling gets weird when I do that. I also have enough movement that I'm ok being in the back?

@Theodric: Didn't I cast delay poison on you? That makes the antitoxin pointless right now. Save it for when the spell expires--that's when you actually make the saving throws.

@Magor: sounds good!
@Rok: I'm ok with this proposed order of march.

@Magor Essentially everything down below will be stone. I get the door part, you can at least peek through. I don't understand about the walls, though. Do you want to follow the corridors with everyone else, or just beeline through everything?

The main thing is to peek into rooms before anybody walks in, but I also may enter the room other than through the door. And possibly take somebody with me.

The main thing is to peek into rooms before anybody walks in, but I also may enter the room other than through the door. And possibly take somebody with me.

Bad idea detector has been activated!

Magor Lavablood wrote:

The main thing is to peek into rooms before anybody walks in, but I also may enter the room other than through the door. And possibly take somebody with me.

Bad idea detector has been activated!

Rok is entirely game for this.

Being game is not the issue, it's bringing peril to you both needlessly and wasting the time of the four other players while you guys... scout?