You think another player will speed things up? My experience tells me the opposite, the more players, the more things get bogged down waiting for each other. With more people the chance that someone is sick or extremely busy with work, on vacation or otherwise occupied is increased meaning more periods with lower activity.
I respectfully disagree and partially because of what you mention.
There is always someone 'not available' and it's easier to carry on the game with 4 (out of 5) players than with 3 (out of 4) players.
The potential for more interaction between players also increases with another player.
But I get your point. If a game has players that are the type to wait around for others to post then that game will suck move at a very slow pace. :)
We as players should always be posting and pushing/prodding other people.
One should only slow down a little so as to not hog the limelight too much but otherwise one should post away.
Game on!
Hi guys! I was one of the hopefuls who wanted to join in when GM Toothy first posted recruitment on these boards. He asked me to join a couple of days ago, and I'm grateful he did. I'm going to do my best to keep this game moving and interesting.
I haven't gotten to the end of the gameplay thread so far, but I'm reading to try and catch up with everyone.
I recognize most of the characters (all except Brevon) from the original recruitment so I know a bit about you guys anyway.
Hope to have a good time with you guys :)
The thing about increasing speed with a 5th player is more towards the RP scenes then the combat ones. It is pretty uncommon to have more than one round of common each day and since I generally bot you in the situations where you are unable to post, having to bot 1 or 2 players is the same to me.
With one more player, we have better chances of getting things moving on. When two players are away in a 4 player game, that is half of them, and this could cause the remaining two uncertain about pushing the game or not. With 5 players in the same situation, there are 3 players to move the things along.
I will be indeed adjusting the difficulty of the encounters and as soon as we finish this first book, I'll ask you if you want the difficult to be pumped up (again). I also have the impression that it is 'too easy' even without adding the mythical rules to it.
Welcome Kai! I hope we all have fun.
I was just looking over the loot sheet. The items you've highlighed in red are items you propose adding to the loot pile and selling, Toothy? If so that's fine, as I haven't much need of those things (except maybe the light crossbow/bolts, but we've just found some upgrades).
Thanks for the warm welcome guys!
I just realized I hadn't edited my stats to reflect that I have 35 nonlethal damage and fatigued from hunger and thirst. All of that is nonlethal damage so I believe rest heals it at a rate of 1 per hour.
Welcome Kai :). Hopefully I'm proved wrong and your joining proves to be a boon.
I'm a bit uncertain on the rules of starvation:
Characters who have taken nonlethal damage from lack of food or water are fatigued. Nonlethal damage from thirst or starvation cannot be recovered until the character gets food or water, as needed—not even magic that restores hit points heals this damage.
I'm guessing the damage doesn't just disappear when he eats. However, can you heal it with magical healing after he eats/drinks?
I believe that's correct. Thankfully, he's eating right now.
Actually you heal 1 nonlethal hit point per level per hour.
I don't want to sound greedy... :)
but both Brevon and Elriel have hinted at removing anything valuable from the cultists and alchemist.
Did we find anything?
Finding stuff we can use is always more fun than something we just have to sell or trade away. Not saying you should make all gear fit our party, but I think it would be cool to make some small adjustments, like turn that longsword into a shortsword for Elriel. Not that it would actually be great against demons, but at least he could have used it.
From the cultists:
3 potion of cure light wounds
3 scroll of cause fear
3 scroll of comprehend languages
3 unholy water
3 mwk chain shirt
3 mwk scythe
3 dagger
3 spell component pouch
3 unholy symbol
30 gp
From the alchemist:
2 potions of cure light wounds
1 potion of cure moderate wounds
1 potion of barkskin
1 potion of invisibility
1 potion of spider climb
1 +1 leather armor
1 dagger
1 ring of protection +1
1 portable alchemist kit
4 silver holy symbols (two of Iomedae, one of Shelyn, and one of Desna)
@Rukzha: I'll keep that in mind but technically Elriel can still use it since he took levels in ranger.
Ah, that also means he probably want a longbow and not a shortbow... I'm sorry for forgetting that when we bought earlier...
That ring of protection will be useful, but who should have it? Elriel already has a ring and Kai has lower AC than Brevon while Kelumarion has less need for defenses than the rest of us. Though lately Arrika have been storming into melee instead of using her spells, so maybe she should have it?
Does Kai regain a HP every 15 min or 4 every hour? The first makes more sense to me.
Ah, that also means he probably want a longbow and not a shortbow... I'm sorry for forgetting that when we bought earlier...
I'm Ok with the shortbow. I think longbows should only be really used outside. I think Elriel looks 'cooler' using a shortbow. :)
Just a quick recap of the armory's loot.
Secret Armory
cold iron longswords x3
cold iron shortswords x2
heavy crossbows x2
composite longbow (+2 Str)
mwk cold iron heavy mace
cold iron longspears x2
cold iron crossbow bolts x50
cold iron arrows x100
+1 longsword
+1 holy arrows x5
arrow of evil outsider slaying
mwk chainmail x2
+1 breastplate emblazoned with Iomedae's holy symbol
mwk heavy steel shield
+1 blinding shield (heavy)
In addition to the other magic things, we've also now got 4 potions of CLW and 1 potion of CMW to share. I updated my stats for the shield.
Elriel can actually use the breastplate now that he got medium armor proficiency. It'll cut into his speed and ability to tumble and disarm traps, but it might be worth it. Ideally we would a mithral one somewhere, but that's easier said than done.
Gone for a day and I come back to twenty-something posts in both gameplay and discussion. Geez, people! ;)
A big welcome to Kai - I do find that five people helps to provide a wider range of interaction and keep things moving a little better. Look forward to getting to know you!
I got a crossbow earlier, so I'll go ahead and grab ten or twenty of the bolts. Other than that I think I'm good.
Elriel can actually use the breastplate now that he got medium armor proficiency. It'll cut into his speed and ability to tumble and disarm traps, but it might be worth it. Ideally we would a mithral one somewhere, but that's easier said than done.
Not too cool either, walking around with something heavy and making lots of noise.
Not my idea of Elriel.
Sorry for being a pain but I feel that small mechanical benefits do not a PC make.
You are not a pain at all!
It's not even clear it actually mechanically superior either since giving up the ability to tumble and 33% of your movement speed is a real cost, especially when you so much want to flank.
At least you could benefit from that medium armor proficiency if we do find a mithral breastplate.
This weekend has been tricky for me to post. It feels like every time I sit down to post I get interrupted by something.
And holy batman that is a lot of posts. I should have something up soonish-like.
I'm actually a little bit confused about the altar. Was it in the secret armory the whole time? Or did we move to a different room?
I'm trying to figure out how Hilde's arm could have gotten in there and how I should react to the mess on the altar.
The altar is right outside in the room we fought the cultists.
Got it. Thank you very much.
Kai, we're usually not that active on weekends. Adding a new player at the end of the week probably spurred a lot of this activity.
I'm excited to see an unchained monk in play--I haven't really seen monks played at all, but unchained looks really interesting.
Ahh, I see, that makes a lot of sense actually. Everyone is probably busy with life and thingson the weekends.
I was really excited about the new monk too. The old monk only really started to get better than a fighter at around 11th level, and then strictly better than most melees at around 16th. Now he's got much better durability and more options to perform in and out of combat to make him a more valuable party member.
On an unrelated note, why does Elriel put
tag?
In his posts? It looks like it's there to separate scenes or something but I'm still not sure.
Ahh, I see, that makes a lot of sense actually. Everyone is probably busy with life and thingson the weekends.
On an unrelated note, why does Elriel put
tag?
In his posts? It looks like it's there to separate scenes or something but I'm still not sure.
I usually have more time on the weekends, especially in the mornings because the family likes to sleep in late.
Regarding the 'tag?', I usually do not consider a post complete unless it invites others to roleplay. The tags are such an invitation.
Feel free to ignore them through :)
Game on!
@Kai: I like discussing mechanics and I hope you don't mind. If you don't like it, just tell me and I'll stop and you can disregard the rest of this post. I just noticed you don't have power attack and I'm curious why not? It seems really good on a monk now that they have full bab.
Who does have the ring? We never did decide... With Barkskin Kai got even higher AC than Brevon. Maybe Arrika?
Sudden promotion opportunity (interviewed today), sudden workload increase, sudden dentist appointment, sudden sleeping issues...life really needs to stop happening all at once. I'll catch up later tonight.
On power attack: there is already a lot of damage going around in this party and the monk isn't necessarily better than other classes at it. I think maybe I should have started that fight with a grapple which is sort of what I was going for but I couldn't decide so I just charged in. I thought about power attack, but I thought it might be good to have improved initiative as an anti caster measure and my attack bonus isn't particularly high, so I thought Dragon Style might be a better damage boost, especially after I get my hands on a belt of giant strength.
For the ring, maybe Elriel should have it? He has the lowest AC of us front liners so I think it makes sense.
@Arrika: congrats on the (maybe?) Promotion!
Haha I knew Dragon Style would come in handy. I can in fact charge through Elriel's square because of it. Although I guess I would have hit either way so it didn't come in handy so much...
Elriel already has a ring.
Improved initiative to deal with casters is an angle I hadn't considered. It seems like there has been a lot of casters so far.
Dragon Style is not going to be great until level 7 (even if it did allow you to charge in this situation) when you can use your unarmed strikes against the demons. Meanwhile power attack is an 80% damage increase. For situations like this when half the party is indisposed having more damage is very useful.
Killing the demons seems better to me than grappling them since there are so many of them.
@Arrika: Congrats on the promotion and condolences on the increased workload.
Personally I'm really busy between a sick kid and work so I don't have much free time. Feel free to bot me when my turn comes up (not like I can do anything atm anyway).
Fighting within a cloud is a weird situation. At 5 feet away you have 20% miss chance, but 10 feet away that increases to 50%. Brevon is last in iniative, so he can wait to see what the others do before acting. If Kai (or Elriel I suppose, but he already posted) manage to tumble past the demons he could simply step closer and attack instead of dropping his weapon. Of course what's done is done, so this might not have much use.
You can draw your weapon as part of a move action for free. Sheating a weapon is a move action. Would you allow drawing a weapon as part of sheating another Toothy?
Those are good points. If I'm going to get grapple feats in the future, Dragon Style is still not going to be worth nearly as much as Power Attack as you put it. GM would you mind if I switched them? If not, I suppose I can grab it as my 5th level feat instead, but Rukzha's point about it being much better at helping me contribute to a fight is something I overlooked when I switched over. Grappling only helps when an opponent can't be dropped in a round and can roll out some nasty effects the way a caster can.
If Elriel has ring of protection already, maybe I should take the ring after all? My AC with Barksin + Mage Armor would equal Brevon's.
The problem with tumbling through enemy squares is that its 5 + the targets CMD with an additional +2 per threatening enemy. I have a +9, meaning I would have to roll on the die exactly whatever the Dretch's CMD is, it feels like it might be wasteful.
Do what you want, it's your character.
I'll also be tumbling and flanking. I just didn't have an opportunity to end up in a flanking position this last time.
@Kai: Rukzha is our resident guru on rules but they are only suggestions.
There's nothing better to play a PC that you really want and are enthusiastic about. Even if it's not optimized.
Game on!
@Kai: Feel free to change your feat, since technically you never used it! Its already late around here so I'll update tomorrow... try to post your action before so I don't have to bot you!
I just remembered my sneak attacks deal bleeding damage (2). :(
Today is my birthday and I'll be traveling across the state for dinner with family. I may not post until tomorrow. Please bot me if needed. And try not to kill my PC on my birthday, thanks ;).
Happy Birthday Something Wicked!
Hopefully your awesome 26 AC will be able to keep you alive.
I'm not really sure what I should do right now. Those are stairs to the right of Brevon right?
The duration on Glitterdust is only for those initially affected by it right?
If that's the case I can just run headlong into all of them and try to set up for a sneak attack right?
Everyone are on the stairs, if you compare to the old area (where Rukzha and Arrika are), you'll see that. To the right of Brevon there is a wall I believe.
Glitterdust is just for those there initially yes. Compare the area of the spell to the effect of for example fog cloud.
With so many enemies, they are bound to be rather weak, otherwise the CR of this encounter wold be too high. Though of course Toothy could be modifying things in unexpected ways (I would like that), so don't hold too much faith in that. That means setting up flanking might be unnecessary. Go for it if you can get it easily, but don't do it if it costs too much. Note that sneak attack works against flatfooted and blind enemies without the need for flanking. I think the most important thing is to find room for everyone to attack as space will be rather cramped.
Learning as we go is part of the fun, both for characters and players. We can even get extra RP opportunities out of it, like with the vermileks. So feel free to just post actions even if you are not sure it's the right one.
Alright thanks for the helpful insight. Basically as long as my actions help set up space for allies to attack from it should be OK is what I'm understanding.
To help with the cramped space, I think that an Acrobatics/Climb DC 15 would be a fair enough number to allow you to jump/climb over the stairs costing you a move action, for an example, moving Elriel 5ft south.
Well, this is a pickle.
map question: Elriel is standing in a grayed-out section of the map. Is that the top of the stairs or an unexplored space beyond the wall? Is Kai currently standing in the only available space I could enter the hall? Brevon cannot tumble due to his armor, so my options are limited...
I don't understand how Elriel got to his current position either. Is that through a doorway? To get there he would have to walk through a bunch of people I think.
You actually go after the tieflings Brevon, so what you can do now doesn't really matter as the battlefield is bound to change. However you could always pull out your reach weapon or even attack T1 or T2 from your current position. T1 might have cover though. As for movement since that applies for everyone (Elriel, Irabeth and Kelumarion), I believe it's possible to get to the square SE of Kai without trouble (since they are flatfooted and can't take AoOs yet) and any square of a dead tiefling would also be available. Both Elriel and Kai might have killed someone already (which may matter for Kelumarion's movement.
Personally I think it would be cool if Arrika made a pit on the western side of the corridor. She can get relay of the positions from Kelumarion to position it correctly. A bit of a shame it doesn't create a real hole, but an extradimenesional one as it would be cool to have them fall down to the first floor, but it might be for the best in this situation.
Elriel actually moved to an invalid place, since the end of the stairs are south of Brevon, so I moved him to another position, assuming an acrobatics check to jump over the stair rail.
Rukzha is correct that, being flat-footed, none of the tieflings (T's) will be able to make Attacks of Opportunities. To make it easier, I'll make a partial recap, resolving the already posted actions.
Elriel actually moved to an invalid place, since the end of the stairs are south of Brevon, so I moved him to another position, assuming an acrobatics check to jump over the stair rail.
Rukzha is correct that, being flat-footed, none of the tieflings (T's) will be able to make Attacks of Opportunities. To make it easier, I'll make a partial recap, resolving the already posted actions.
Thanks for the clarification. That helped in this instance.
Wow, they almost all made their saves :(. Hopefully they are not as lucky with their counterattacks.
Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days! Still figuring out job/promotion stuff, still getting workload out of the way, still have sore throat/cough/earache, and now I'm looking at a possible relapse of the stuff that put me in the hospital. It is a fun, fun time to be me. :D
Sadly asking an ally to do something during your turn doesn't really work during your turn, unless said ally is before the rest of the enemies. As it is, all the tieflings will get to go before Elriel moves out of the way :(. Of course it's only a 25% chance Elriel fails his reflex save, so it might be fine to cast it with him in the area. Though it would be cool if Toothy did allow it as you want.
I moved your tokens on the map, we were over on the right, on the old map (bottom of stairs).
Shoot, I forgot to check the turn order to see if he acted before them. My bad. :( Although, since I readied the action specifically for Elriel's being out of the way, I could theoretically cast after the tieflings have acted and Elriel moves (thus triggering it), and if they stay where they're at then the pit would still catch them. If not...well, wasting spells happens sometimes. :/