GM Tarondor's Ptolus Campaign

Game Master Tarondor

Dain nods. "I hear it too. It's louder from that door." He points to the door on the left.

Nodding affirmation to the others, Tung will begin to slowly open the door on the left, his dagger poised to strike the source of this hummin.

This terrible place stinks of blood and chemicals. Stained operating tables stand within the chamber, with strange devices hooked up to them and hanging by chains over them. Spatters of dried blood surround everything. Gruesome surgical tools hang on hooks and sit on small shelves on one wall. Another wall is covered in grisly charts and diagrams.

A terrified and all-too-aware Iltumar is there, naked and strapped to a table, being prepped for some awful surgery by a elf in a strange mask. The Surgeon wears a voluminous robe that conceals most of his body except his head and his hands, which look like long, spindly metal claws made of scalpels, needles, and tools rather than actual hands. A featureless steel mask conceals his face.

This room is watched over by a creature once human but now resembling
only a shadow of her former self. Covered in scars and stitched-on additional layers of flesh, the guardian has had one hand and forearm
replaced with a strange serrated blade.

The surgeon mutters something and the guardian moves forward to the attack!

Dain: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33
Isabel: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21
Silas: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
Tilver: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (8) + 15 = 23
Tung: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24 +2 Initiative
Guardian: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (1) + 15 = 16
Surgeon: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (5) + 21 = 26

STATUS
Dain
Surgeon
Tung
Silas
Tilver
Isabel

Dain, go!

1e Tilver had the trait Surgeon in the Shadows! I forgot what it did, though...

It gave you either a bonus to damage or a bonus to saves vs. creatures related to the Surgeon. We're not doing that now since you have standard 2e backgrounds instead.

Dain moves through the secret door then calls out for The Lady to watch over us.

(1)Stride; (2&3)Cast Bless on everyone.

Everyone gets a +1 status bonus to attck rolls.

The masked elf mumbles a few words and disappears.

Everyone, go!

Is Iltumar on the table farthest from us?

Yes.

Isabel steps into the room and casts Faerie Fire toward the back of the room. Everything it that area has a lovely green glow around it in a ten foot area.

1st Action: Move Into the Room; 2 and 3 cast Faerie Fire.

The masked elf doesn't reappear.

Tung, Silas & Tilver, go!

Ok, let's see if I can do this right...

Tilver rushes into the room. "Iltumar!" He spots the guardian moving towards them and goes to confront him. It takes less than a second, but those of you watching see his eyes dart around the creature, finally deciding that its defense may be too powerful at the moment. He reaches out to pull the creature off balance instead.

Devise a Stratagem: 1d20 ⇒ 2
Free recall knowledge check. Occult +13; Arcana +13

Trip vs Reflex DC: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27

Tung rushes in behind Tilver to assault the abomination.
"St. Chasle banishes you!"
His dagger glows with a holy light as its hilt transforms to an elaborate hand and the blade lengthens to a slender point. He thrusts out at the guardian.

Shifting Divine Ally (into rapier), Stride, Strike
+1 Striking Cold Iron Rapier: 1d20 + 16 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 16 + 1 = 18Damage: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (4, 6) + 6 = 16Deadly: 1d8 ⇒ 4
Almost forgot the +1 to hit...

Tilver, Trip is an attack and would thus use the Devise a Stratagem roll. Would you care to do something else?

The guardian whips around her strange forearm-blade and parries Tung's attack.

STATUS
Dain
Surgeon
Tung
Silas
Tilver
Isabel
Guardian

Silas, go! And Tilver, re-go!

...If you Strike the chosen creature later this round, you must use the result of the roll you made to Devise a Stratagem for your Strike's attack roll instead of rolling. You make this substitution only for the first Strike you make against the creature this round, not any subsequent attacks....


Trip is not a Strike, but it does have the Attack trait.

That is what I was thinking, that a trip (or other types of athletics actions like shove) are not strikes. If, however, we take 'strikes' to mean anything with an attack action, then I'll revise my turn.

Noting his tactical options were poor at the moment, Tilver crouches a bit behind the table.

Take cover

Nope, Gary's right. The trip is fine. I even said as much in my guide to fighters. Just not thinking.

Tilver seizes the sleeve of the hideously deformed woman's tunic and pulls her off balance. She topples to the floor!

STATUS
Dain
Surgeon
Tung
Silas
Tilver
Isabel
Guardian - Prone

Silas, go!

Silas moves forward and draws his falchion before slashing at the creature.

Attack +1 Striking Fearsome Falchion: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (14) + 16 = 30

Damage with +1 Striking Fearsome Falchion: 2d10 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 10) + 4 + 2 = 17

Silas takes advantage of Tilver's surprise maneuver to hack at the weird woman, who tries to dodge but can't get out of the way in time.

She vaults to her feet almost too swiftly to see and touches a glowing stud on her arm. Instantly, a sense of dread falls over all of you. You know that the odds are against you, that the only way you leave this place is in small pieces and that nothing can stand against such a monster. Especially not miserable, helpless, defenseless you.

Status
Dain
Surgeon
Tung
Silas
Tilver
Isabel
Guardian - Prone

Everyone give me a Will save!

Will: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23

Will Save: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

Does she seem to take the Frightened condition?

Yep. You both fail and both take the Frightened 2 condition.

Does Dain feel the effect from outside the room? Rolling save in case he does:

Will Save: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (2) + 15 = 17

Yes, it's anywhere in the building, and Dain also failed. Frightened 2.

Tilver and Tung?

Will Save: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

Will Save: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28

Status
Dain - Frightened 2
Surgeon
Tung - Frightened 1
Silas - Frightened 2
Tilver - Frightened 1
Isabel - Frightened 2
Guardian -

Frightened:You’re gripped by fear and struggle to control your nerves. The frightened condition always includes a value. You take a status penalty equal to this value to all your checks and DCs. Unless specified otherwise, at the end of each of your turns, the value of your frightened condition decreases by 1.

Note that "DC's" includes both your attacks and Armor Class.

Everyone, go!

Stratagem: 1d20 ⇒ 15

Tilver sees the opening and circles around the table, cutting the guardian off from closing with Isabel. He closes with her again and delivers a heavy overhand slash with his elven curve blade.

Strike: 15 + 16 = 31
Strategic Strike: 2d6 + 6 + 2d6 ⇒ (6, 1) + 6 + (4, 3) = 20

Tilver will move around the table and then advance along the wall to avoid any potential AOOs.

Tung steps closer to the table with Iltumar, giving him a brief glance.

Action 1: Step. Would I be able to quickly free Iltumar by cutting his bindings?

Tung steps closer to the table with Iltumar, giving him a brief glance.

Action 1: Step. Would I be able to quickly free Iltumar by cutting his bindings?

It will take three full actions.

Tilver (and everyone else), don't forget that you are Frightened, and that imposes a penalty on your attack roll, even one from Devise a Stratagem. Nonetheless, even a 30 is a hit, here.

Tilver's mental prediction goes as planned. She shifts left and feints low, he steps right, ready to parry the rising point of her blade and just as she exposes the joint of her elbow, his blade tip drops and reverses, slicing along that exposed joint, exposing some sort of flexible armor under the skin. She howls in pain and it sounds like nothing human...

Status
Dain - Frightened 2
Surgeon
Tung - Frightened 1
Silas - Frightened 2
Tilver - Frightened 1
Isabel - Frightened 2
Guardian - 15 damage

Shaken, Dain encourages the Lady's spirits to help the party, then moves into the room. He dodges around a table, steps next to Tilver, and nervously thrusts his spear at the surgeon's guardian.

(1)Increase radius of Bless to 10'; (2)Stride (E,N,NE,NW); (3)Strike.

+1 Striking Spear attack + Bless - Frightened: 1d20 + 11 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 11 + 1 - 2 = 17
Piercing damage: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 6) + 1 = 12

All allies within 10' of Dain gain a +1 status bonus to attack rolls.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here."
Tung assures Iltumar as his rapier whips out, leaving a blur of gold light as he thrusts toward his foe.

+1 Striking Cold Iron Rapier (1): 1d20 + 16 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 16 - 1 + 1 = 18 Damage (P): 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (6, 3) + 6 = 15 Sneak Attack: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 6) = 12 Deadly?: 1d8 ⇒ 4
+1 Striking Cold Iron Rapier (2): 1d20 + 16 - 5 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 16 - 5 - 1 + 1 = 25 Damage (P): 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (4, 2) + 6 = 12 Sneak Attack: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 6) = 9 Deadly?: 1d8 ⇒ 1

Strike, Strike.

She bats aside Dain's attack, whirls left and dodges out of the way of Tung's attack. But that turns her directly into the path of Tung's follow up. His well-aimed blade his her in kidneys.

Status
Dain - Frightened 2
Surgeon
Tung - Frightened 1
Silas - Frightened 2
Tilver - Frightened 1
Isabel - Frightened 2
Guardian - 31 damage

Silas and Isabel, go!

Did the 30 I rolled hit her miss? She seems to not have taken the 17 damage or Frightened condition, but the graphic text seems to indicate I hit her so I am confused what happened there.

Silas rears back in fear and then moves back to the creature before sending out a massive gout of pure cold fury!

Stride, Dragon Breathe x2. I believe I can hit it and miss all of my allies.

Dragon Breathe- 30 ft Cone of Cold Reflex DC 20: 10d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 2, 6, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6) = 38

I am not positive on the DC. So I think it is 10 +3 from Charisma +2 from trained Barbarian DC +7 Level for a total of 22 -2 Frightened. But I am not finding anything that says it is Charisma over a different stat so I am going off of what you said for the Ray of Frost bonus.

Yes you hit her. No, I didn't remember to apply the damage. And you'll have to remind me every time if there's a chance of applying a condition. Don't expect me to know what "Fearsome Falchion" means. You will also need to list the mechanics each time. Is it a Will save? What's the DC?

I looked up Fearsome. There's no save, but you have to critically hit. Your hit was not a crit.

I'll go ahead and apply the damage now.

Guardian Reflex Save: 1d20 + 17 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 17 + 1 = 26 Success.

Although she twists out of the way, the Guardian is still damaged by the wintry breath of House Dallimothan, her flesh blackening where the bitter cold has assailed it.

Status
Dain - Frightened 2
Surgeon
Tung - Frightened 1
Silas - Frightened 2
Tilver - Frightened 1
Isabel - Frightened 2
Guardian - 62 damage

Isabel, go!

Isabel shakes in the corner, but manages to pull herself together. She glances at a scalpel sitting on a table, and sends it flying at the woman. Then she moves to the other side of the room.

Telekentic Projectile: 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 13 + 1 = 20
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Isabel's damage on that spell should be 4d6 + 4

True. And her Attack bonus should have a -2 penalty for the Frightened.

The Guardian easily ducks the flying scalpel, whirls and slashes across the artery in Dain's right arm, spins, stabs Tilver and then retreats a few steps.

She gets precision damage against anyone with the Frightened condition.

Guardian v. Dain, plus Precision Damage: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (16) + 18 = 342d8 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (5, 8) + 7 + (1) = 21 Critical hit.
Guardian v. Tilver, agile, plus Precision Damage: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 262d8 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (6, 2) + 7 + (2) = 17 Hit.

At the end of her attack, all your Frightened conditions reduce by one.

Status
Dain - 43/85 hp, Frightened 1
Tung -
Silas - Frightened 1
Tilver - 68/85 hp
Isabel - Frightened 1
Guardian - 62 damage

Everyone go!

Dain continues to talk to the spirits in their strange language, but his tone becomes more aggressive. Suddenly, angry spirits hurl something that looks like a large pair of pliers off a shelf and into the gruesome construct lady. Meanwhile, more of the Lady's spirits arrive to help increase the party's fortunes.

(1&2)Cast Telekinetic Projectile at guardian; (3)Increase radius of Bless to 15'

Spell attack + Bless - Fright: 1d20 + 15 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (9) + 15 + 1 - 1 = 24
bludgeoning damage: 4d6 + 3 ⇒ (1, 3, 1, 4) + 3 = 12

All allies within 15' of Dain gain a +1 status bonus to attack rolls

Silas steps forward and lets his rage rip through him as he swings at the creature.

Stride, Rage, Strike. The Rage adds to damage but reduces my AC by 1. I gain 10 Temp HPs from Rage.

+1 Fearsome Striking Falchion, Frightened 1, Dain bonus: 1d20 + 16 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 16 - 1 + 1 = 23

Falchion Damage+Rage: 2d10 + 4 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (3, 4) + 4 + 2 + 2 = 15

The guardian's weird technical gear masks any emotions she might have, but it does seem to enhance the deadly precision of both her offense and defense. She seems to effortless lean out of the way of Dain's pliers while also planting a boot in Silas's breadbasket, throwing off his shot by just enough.

Tung, Tilver, Isabel, go!

Tilver realizes the intelligence of the foe he's fighting as she darts back out of range after attacking. "Tung, cut off her escape!" The former gladiator advances with his sword high, but then kicks out with his leg at her ankle.

Stratagem: 1d20 ⇒ 5

Trip vs Reflex DC: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34

Actions:
1: Devise a Stratagem + Free recall check(Known Weakness)
2: Step
3: Trip

Tilver gets a free recall knowledge check as a part of his Stratagem from Known Weakness. He has Occult +13 and Lore (Chaos Cults) +17. I think I'll put the typical recall skills in his stat line for you, GM. A crit gets him a bonus to his attack (and potentially for everyone else too), so you'll have to let me know if that secret recall knowledge check is a crit, GM. I'll say that's a awkward mechanic to have to keep asking the GM if a secret roll was a crit, even face-to-face.

Also, I forgot about shared stratagem last time. Whenever he hits a target using his Stratagem dice (and replaces his Str bonus to attack with his Int bonus, except that they're the same right now), he gets to designate an ally and the enemy is flat-footed to that ally. I'll try to remember to do a designation next time, but it'll default to Tung as long as they are fighting the same enemy.

Tilver steps up to the Guardian and once again trips her with surprising ease.

Tung, Isabel, go!

My +13 did include the -2 for frightened. I'll break it out in the future. Thanks for the higher attack reminder.

Isabel sends another sharp object flying at the creature.

Telekentic Projectile, Frightened 1, Bless: 1d20 + 15 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 15 + 1 - 1 = 21
Damage: 4d6 + 4 ⇒ (1, 2, 2, 3) + 4 = 12

Tung moves around the table to cutoff any retreat.
"Someone cut the boy free!"
He then stabs down at the Guardian twice.

Stride N,NE,SW,Strike,Strike

+1 Striking Cold Iron Rapier (1): 1d20 + 16 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 16 + 1 = 20Damage (P): 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (4, 1) + 6 = 11 Sneak Attack: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 1) = 2 Deadly?: 1d8 ⇒ 6
+1 Striking Cold Iron Rapier (1): 1d20 + 16 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (10) + 16 + 1 - 5 = 22Damage (P): 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (1, 5) + 6 = 12 Sneak Attack: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 6) = 8 Deadly?: 1d8 ⇒ 4

Unless the Guardian's version of Frightened is different, Frighten reduces by one at the end of a creature's turn, not the source of the condition. Frightened on AoN

Despite being on the floor, the Guardian blocks, dodges and simply shrugs off everything you can throw at her. Then she rises up swiftly without using her legs, just springs into a standing position, vaults over the table and Iltumar and attacks Silas with her weirdly curved blade, but the litorian is ready for her and dodges her attack!

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (14) + 17 = 31
Sword v. Silas, Frightened: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (6) + 18 = 242d6 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (5, 2) + 7 + (1) = 15
Sword v. Silas, agil, Frightened: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 202d6 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (3, 2) + 7 + (1) = 13

Yes, she and vaulted over the table as a single action.

Status
Dain - 43/85 hp
Tung -
Silas -
Tilver - 68/85 hp
Isabel -
Guardian - 62 damage

Everyone, go!

Silas turns and delivers a flurry of blows.

Rd 2/10 Rage. Strike, Strike, Strike.

+1 Striking Fearsome Falchion, Dain Bonus: 1d20 + 16 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 16 + 1 = 25

+1 Striking Fearsome Falchion, Rage Bonus: 2d10 + 4 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (5, 4) + 4 + 2 + 2 = 17

Second Attack +1 Striking Fearsome Falchion, Dain Bonus: 1d20 + 16 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (4) + 16 + 1 - 5 = 16

+1 Second Damage Striking Fearsome Falchion, Rage Bonus: 2d10 + 4 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (10, 7) + 4 + 2 + 2 = 25

Third Attack +1 Striking Fearsome Falchion, Dain Bonus: 1d20 + 16 + 1 - 10 ⇒ (14) + 16 + 1 - 10 = 21

Third Damage +1 Striking Fearsome Falchion, Rage Bonus: 2d10 + 4 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (5, 1) + 4 + 2 + 2 = 14

Some sad rolling, but the first might hit.

Is the guardian bleeding?