tower is 30' tall
With a double move the illusory soldiers should wind up behind tower. That will be plenty to cover them until they come around corner and get in front of ramp down. At that point the wall being right in front of them will protect them from attacks and the breath.
Otherwise round after next the archers will collect us. I would put it at the top edge of river before slope down, starting at edge of tower. The archers can't fire indirectly high enough to hit anyone next to the wall. They'd have to fire many hundreds of feet almost straight up.
Connor/mahorfeus/kamenhero - Sorry for holding your games up but I work all day tomorrow and won't be able to post until late.
Connor - Portia really just wants to go help the kids get out. She wants to go upstairs and help any of the kids who might be slow (disabled ones, young ones) and carry them out of the building.
Mahorfeus - Anna wants to wait in the first room for blindness to go away. She will station Dar'shyn in front of a tunnel in alert in case any humanoids come close.
No worries. I always have a rule that real life trumps games.
Kiora: It's not clear from the entry: Does the Urannag have any senses other than tremorsense? i.e. would they be treated as blind versus someone walking on air? Also is the disarm 2d6+ranks or 3d6+ranks? The stat block has the latter.
Also, it seems like the disarm isn't really disarm, it's just a combat usable action that trades a FRA to give a chance to stagger it.
Disarm: Autohit with an average of 15 damage (18.5 if 3d6) and 55% chance to stagger. This provokes an AoO
Val FRA (no Adamantine, inspire courage): 4 attacks of 19.5 avg damage, hit chance is (75/75/50/50), for 48.5 avg.
If stagger was guaranteed maybe, but I'm not sure if a 55% chance to stagger for one round is worth giving up over half of Val's damage. With Val/Ary/Hinagiku all going at it at once, we could probably kill them in a single round.
Ugh they've also got a 15' reach. I'm not sure how you're supposed to fight these things. The disarm ability is (ironically) a trap, because you'll die before you get a chance to disarm the thing to stagger it.
Edit: I just noticed the disarm ability provokes AoO's, so it's utterly worthless. You can literally try to disarm it and have it hit and entrap you, then cage you the second its turn is up as a swift action.
You want to fight the urannags in order to cross?
That's sure to gather attention, isn't it?
I guess another point of concern is this: How many could there be in the river? Conceivably there are some urannags in the entire riverbed, fairly close together so that most of it is trapped. That could be dozens of these little CR 8 creatures. If we punch a hole, who's to say that more won't just filter in?
a) I don't want to fight them, but we haven't got much choice now, have we? :P
b) They don't move until they've trapped something, so if we make a path, we will be fine to cross.
In theory, if they are evil and demonic, we might be able to use Hinagiku's detect evil or Ehren's spirit sense to see how many there are.
Edit: Given they're huge and have a 15' reach, there's probably something like 2 or 3 in any given crossing area. They've got a 60' tremorsense, so they probably spread themselves out naturally. In a 90' crossing that'd be 2 we'd have to kill, and the others would be out of reach to attack if we went through the middle of them.
When reading my ID spoilers, you should read my spoilers first (not skim them) THEN read the statblock (if you want to). The point of looking at the statblock is to parse mechanical information I might not give, but because I generally change monster stats/HP anyway, it is mostly good for things like a general idea of how bad their saving throws are at base, etc. Otherwise you will miss any changes I made to the statblock that I wanted to point out to you in the spoilers, which can be possibly deadly if you proceed to make assumptions based on the statblock rather than the information I actually gave you. In the future, I will not go out of my way to correct such assumptions :p
But yes, it is intended to be 3d6 damage for a disable device check.
In general, when I'm reading the knowledge checks, I'm looking for interesting information about the creatures and then go to the stat block at the end to look at how it works mechanically.
These two statements are identically worded for almost the entirety of it, and it reads exactly as if it were copy-pasted from a stat block:
Additionally, the urannag is staggered for 1 round (Fort, DC of Disable Device check, negates).
Additionally, the urannag is staggered for 1 round (DC 16 Fort negates the staggered condition).
What ends up happening is you skim a copy-pasted segment, and go back later to read the full thing in detail in the stat block. What I read from your post is that there's a stagger condition with a fort save. I don't think it's reasonable to expect us to have to cross-reference every bit of text that looks like might have come from the stat block with the stat block to parse for changes. Something as simple as bolding changes that you're referring to in your text that differ from the stat block would make it clear that you've made changes from the stat block. Either that or when you've made changes explicitly say that anything in the knowledge checks above supersedes the information in the stat block (that statement is only used if changes were made, otherwise it doesn't help). At least then we know that any stat-block-y thing in the knowledge checks is the correct interpretation, regardless of what the stat block says.
I'm gonna swap Anevia from No One of Consequence to Mythic Sneak Attack for now. This means that every first attack she makes in a round always qualifies for sneak attack, even if she doesn't have any hidy holes or flanking (hedging my bets!). She can also use mythic power to sneak attack things that are normally immune to sneak attack, so she'll have that option in a huge pinch. I'll maybe grab no one of consequence later. :)
Bolding changes won't happen because that just incentivizes people to look for bold changes and then switch to looking at the stat block for all other information, which is even worse. In general, my intention is that you don't need to look at the statblock to be ready for an encounter. I know that at least Ary dislikes looking at the statblock of an enemy, and I respect that. But I can use OOC tags for explicitly mechanical information, and usually I do.
Really, the only reason I explicitly allow looking at a statblock at the end of the spoilers is because I know that some of you will look at them regardless of if I say you can or can't. So at the very least I can prepare for that by saying you shouldn't share that information with the group without an appropriately high DC check. I personally don't think there is much useful information to be gleaned from them versus the spoilers, especially given that I often tweak them one way or another. Guaranteed I tweak HP, but often ability scores, or swapping feats in and out. I also may change key points of fluff (ecology).
Also, if you feel there is info missing from the statblocks, you can always just ask me. Stuff like 'how often can the brimorak fireball?'.
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Isilme brings up a fair point that as written the urannags should be cooler enemies for disable device characters to deal with, so I'll addendum the following under the third spoiler tag:
- A creature needs thieves' tools or equivalent to disable a urannag.
- The damage dealt to the urannag with a successful disable device check is a number of d6s equal to the creature's number of ranks in disable device.
- A creature with at least 5 ranks of disable device may use their knowledge of the creature's mechanical workings to outwit its ability to sense the world around it. Such a creature can use make a DC 20 stealth check to be invisible against the urannag's tremorsense. If the urannag is already aware the creature is there by other means (for example, if the creature is actively attacking it) then the successful check grants it 50% concealment and penalties as if blinded.
- A creature with at least 10 ranks of disable device (or alternatively, 5 ranks of disable device and Skill Focus (Disable Device)) stuns the urannag instead of staggering with a successful disable device check.
Ok, so new plan:
1) Use Hinagiku's detect evil to scout the shore near where we want to cross and map out locations of the Demon-traps.
2a) If we find a place with a 5+' gap between demon traps, we build a path across there, and use that to get the army across. The traps don't move unless they've eaten, so as not to give themselves away, so we should be ok.
2b) If we don't find a place where we can cross neatly, throw ghoul corpses in range of the traps. They will grab and flense, and then move to a new location and hide. That should create a gap in coverage for us to build a path through.
If we can't get either to work, we kill them. They're super slow (10') and on difficult terrain, so it's totally feasible to kill them at range with buffs. Heck, the banshees could wipe them out in one volley likely, since they can be sneak attacked.
I'm figuring we'll probably need to kill or bypass two of them to get across safely due to their area of coverage (45'x 45', 15' reach on huge mob)
All that Ary has left is suggesting to Indisy to inform the troops of Anevia's return, to throw the nest off the top of the tower once it's been blessed, and then Edit: ... maybe not sleep again?
I think it'd be worthwhile to have the debris placed on the main avenue of approach. That'll keep their cavalry from charging if they cross when we aren't expecting it.
Good evening, friends.
Isilme and I are going to Bonnaroo this year. We're leaving tomorrow and will not return until next week on Tuesday. I might be able to check in discussion a few times but otherwise will not be available to respond to posts until we return. Have a good week :)
Have fun!
So, today's the day that we're supposed to make our attack on the Citadel, yes?
My understanding of the plan is thus:
1.) We have ~2/3rds of our forces hole up in Paradise Hill in order to protect the civilians, prisoners, and diseased people that we've rescued.
2.) We organize about 1/3rd of our soldiers (infantry and clerics, mostly) into a couple of troops to bring with us. Also coming with are Ayavah, Anevia, Kule, Shu Lien and Hua Xing. Are we bringing any other significant NPCs?
3.) We use the cultists' beasts of war to break the bridge connecting the Citadel and Southshore, hoping that this will prevent the majority of their reinforcements from supporting the defenses inside the Citadel.
4.) We head down to the riverbed and throw a couple of ghoul corpses in to see if we can create a path big enough that won't be within reach of any urannags. If that doesn't work, we fight urannags until we've cleared a path.
5.) Using expeditious construction, we create a path across the river and ferry our soldiers across. Meanwhile, the group attacks the nearest towers in order to kill the brimorak watchmen.
6.) Once we have soldiers inside the Citadel grounds, we attack! Our main goal is to find the Sword of Valor, which we think is stored somewhere in the basement. An alternate goal is to kill Staunton Vhane and whatever other commanders that they have in hopes that this will rout the remaining forces.
One more part: We cross the moat and use Ehren's foothold ability + grappling hooks and ropes to get the army into the citadel proper. To do so we'll need to be able to cross 30-40'.
A single expeditious construction will probably make it easy on the troops, since the water's 4' deep. The group will get up to the tower first, clear the way then throw ropes down. Between Ehren's footholds and the ropes, the paladins autosucceed at climbing.
At some point we need to take the outer tower, as it has some more brimoraks in it, but I think it can likely wait until we've taken the inner gate.
I hope the two of you have fun. :)
I don't really have much to say in the way of adding things to the plan. For Ehren I think it is mostly just a matter of having the right spells prepared so that we can get into the citadel.
So I'll prepare expeditious construction so that we can get across the river. Assuming things with the urannags work out, I can cast it three times with the same slot by using my pearls of power.
I'll prepare communal resist energy so that we can tackle the brimoraks without the army being blown up by fireballs. They're really weak without their fire spells, so I might not even bother preparing cold spells to help deal with them.
I believe that both control water and creeping ice were suggested for crossing the moat. Nothing we've learned about the moat suggests that it is particularly dangerous, so I will work under the assumption that that part will be relatively straightforward.
Did I miss anything?
We should try to have some way to get to the top of the brimorak towers quickly prepared, since our plan relies on us clearing them all out. Spending several rounds reaching the top like we do with other towers just isn't going to cut it, I don't think. Also, I fully expect them to -run- when their fire does nothing :p
Additionally, we should establish some manner of way to signal the garrison at Paradise Hill. If something goes wrong, we need to be able to hear about it quickly so we're not caught off-guard.
Would the urannags nomming the ghouls be exceedingly loud? If so, we're just as well off murdering a few and saving time, probably, if we can't find a path across.
What spell were we using to mask our travel? If Mirage, for what purpose? It can't hide structures. :(
Good point, I don't know though, I think Isilme and Ehren were the ones who made that decision.
That's something I hadn't thought of. Does Xan have anything in his bag of tricks that could help? I feel like just whipping up a fog cloud or something with Shadow Conjuration would be kind of obvious, but I don't really know all the ins and outs of our spell casters' set-ups.
It's hard to say exactly how loud it will be. At best, if fighting the urannag's proves unnecessary, it'd mainly be the sound of Ehren's spell casting. The fighting and ghoul corpse sounds will probably be fairly noisy though. That said, unless the enemy is patrolling nearby, the distance modifiers should make it pretty difficult to hear.
As far as mirage goes, I do not believe it will work. But if we are going to cross as soon as we build the passage, I don't think hiding it is really necessary, provided we have some kind of distraction.
What time of day are we attacking? If we move at night, we'll go unseen by the drake riders and the brimoraks won't have nearly as much range on their fireballs.
The goal was to go at night (I think it is specified in the plan document).
So then... I believe our goal should be to spend as much of the day as possible without doing anything/using any resources. Perhaps we can continue bombarding the southern bank to try and keep the enemies on their toes, and to keep them back. Maybe we can station archers along the riverbank to shoot at anyone who gets close.
We need to handle the urannags, but we need to do so in a way that uses as few resources as possible. I recommend that we lean heavily on our NPCs, and try our best to utilize ranged weaponry.
I don't think we need to hide the pathway, and I think anything we try to do that will be more conspicuous than the pathway itself.
I think that, for the most part, Anevia is uniquely equipped for dealing with the Urannags, even without disable device; she's able to hit them for force damage with sneak attack, leaving them with an exceedingly low movement speed, and then simply flee and recover. If we do similar in multiple locations simultaneously, we mask just what it is we're doing/planning. They'll relocate on their own in this way, possibly even letting us 'kite' them into leaving us a path, intentionally. I'm unsure.
The goal was to attack asap in the morning. In game time that would be now. We can't Afford to wait another day to attack because of food supplies and the increasing probability the enemy will figure out how to assault us directly.
As far as Mirage goes I would only interpret structures to mean large buildings, not the berms. But I think we decided it didn't matter anymore. By the time the berms are visible the assault will be well under way and they will know it.
Stuck in car during rain so figured I would post :p
YAAAS. CARSTUCK.
I'm kinda left wondering what Mirage is actually for. It's a pretty high level druid spell, so 'ha, tricks!' doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe making an ancestral grove appear to be a barren patch of land to keep people from coming in and deforesting it? But that causes problems in that the critters wouldn't get hidden...
It doesn't make the critters disappear, but the critters can still Stealth within illusory foliage.
You can use it to lure people in with false inviting terrain.
You can use it to conceal terrain as different terrain, giving you an advantage while battling within it.
You can use it to conceal an important specific terrain feature (like a fountain of youth, or a particular bush that dispenses magical berries or something) in order to hide it.
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It turns out neither Kiora nor Isilme are axe murderers, and I'm not just saying that because my phone was still logged into Paizo!
But how do I know you aren't just a g-g-g-g-ghost!?
Well, they did not murder me... though we were always in public together... which might explain why.
Ary is a lovely human being with beautiful hair and great taste in Mexican food.
Oh, and I'm back, y'all. :) Hope you all had a great week!
My spell-list has been updated.
Don't think we need creeping ice or mirage to get into the citadel proper anymore. The water is only supposed to be a few feet deep. If we use a single expeditious construction that'd reduce the depth to a managable 1' deep. There are several areas on the map where the moat is ~30' too.
As far as crossing the river, we'll make use of detect evil first to scout for a path across without needing to kill. If we can't find one, we'll pick a good location and work to get rid of the urannangs there. We could have Anevia tag one on the southern shore really quick and test it's reaction. If it simply moves over that might be an effective way of clearing a path quickly. If not, we can make use of the ghoul corpses.
Only thing that's left is picking exactly what we're taking with us, how many clerics and what spells they're preparing.
I'm tired tonight, so if someone else wants to make suggestions along those lines, that'd be great.
Just bear in mind that crossing any sort of water in a paizo adventure results in a fort save v. disease. :P
Do you want superdemondysentery, ISILME!? DO YOU!? What about Hezrou Foot?
Yeah, using detect evil first seems ideal, then making noise all over the river bank with Anevia spotting the monsters and shooting them to make them angry and move around would be a good idea while we're messing around on the west side as well. That will mask what we're doing pretty well.
Ary doesn't replenish spells, as she stayed up during the night fighting, correct?
She will prepare exorcism thwap (Blessed Pinions) over swift-healing.
Stepping into polluted water shouldn't require a save though. That's why we have skin :P
Correct, I forgot about that. So just need Ehren's spells now.
You guys need to pick who comes with you, or I will pick for you. And I won't make any optimal decisions on your behalf.
As far as I know, we're just bringing cohorts (Kule, Ayavah, Anevia) and Hinagiku's monk buddies (Hua Xing and Shu Lien) when it comes to important NPCs.
Jorsal wouldn't be a bad choice to bring with, though.
Isilme mentioned wanting to bring Sosiel as well. He should prepare death ward and at least two castings of darkvision.
The only specific spell I've seen mentioned for the clerics is bless.
Anyway, my spells are prepared. Unless there is anything specific we need that I missed, I am gonna go ahead and lock it in.
Don't think we can take Kule, as much as I would like to. He still doesn't have a way to see yet, and we have no way to get him up into the castle. Without those two things, I think he'd wind up causing us more trouble than not.
Alright, so you're only taking Hua Xing, Shu Lien, Jorsal and Sosiel. No one else. Got it.
Upthread Valaria brought up a good point of thinking of how you want to signal Paradise Hill. No one responded to that so I'm assuming you don't want to hammer out a signaling system.
To my knowledge there was no plan of communicating with them... although, animal messenger could do that job I guess.
What time is it approximately and did Hinagiku get at least 2 hours of sleep during the night?
Also, I will be leaving for a conference tomorrow. It is in Singapore. It's going to take me 2 days to get there, but then, barring extreme sleepiness, I should be able to write posts at least once a day. However, I might also get extremely busy. So, basically, my posting my get really erratic and I apologize for it. I will be back home around the 27th of June... then I have one month of normal posting rate before I leave for the Netherlands.
Awesome, have fun in Singapore! Do you want me to bot you on Thursday and Friday?
Hinagiku would have been able to get 2 hours. Since you want to leave prior to sunrise under cover of darkness, it is around 3am (Ehren, Isilme, and Xanderghul would have needed to rest early for this, I am assuming this was done).
We are bringing troops as well, yes?
I don't know...are you? If so, you need to be specific.
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Yes, please do bot me Thursday and Friday... actually, bot me any day for the next two weeks whenever you feel like advancing the story. I will post when I can!
Alright, have a pleasant flight if I don't hear from you before then :) :)