Homecoming (Inactive)

Game Master The Wyrm Ouroboros

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Maybe I'll do something. If I don't have a post up when you decide you want to post, go ahead. I can't really see what else Burhul would do in this situation.

EDIT: Derp'd on the dice roll.

Will wait for Nissa, Brooks or Horst to post.

Sorry. I really should be back for real this time.

Blah. Me too. (Important, that.) Christmas presents all around tonight.

Merry Christmas, guys!

I just wanted to take the opportunity to say that I am enjoying myself immensely.

... aaaand we're back. Thanks for your patience, everybody. L-tryptophan - sheesh!!

To judge if the Provost is trustful.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

... looks like Baltor is not good at judging people!

Think of it this way - the Lord Reeve has held his post for over 45 years - been in power pretty much as long as any of you have been alive. He's seen the other Lords of Mosval (Lord Seneschal and Lord Guardian) come and go. You might think of him as the de facto ruler of Mosval, because he functionally is. If he's corrupt, then he hides it really, really well.

Alternately, since he's the one that's been in power, you can think he probably wouldn't want a horde of greenskins pounding on the city gates, eh? ;)

Brand's sense motive check Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

EDIT: Realized it should be sense motive, not perception, so I adjusted it...and Brand fails at sensing motives.

Knowledge (History): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6 for the mage-lord. I'd also like to humbly point out that, as a scholar and professional tutor, the Professor would almost certainly know of the issue if it was a major historical event.

Also, on the Campaign Info, the document titled "Homecoming" is unavailable to me- Windows asks if I want to search online for a program capable of opening the file, and is then unable to find one. I'm assuming that's the document with all the important world-building information the lack of which has been confusing me, since I've read all the other documents.

You mean the Google Drive page? Or the 'Homecoming.hl' page there? If it's the latter, the .hl means 'Hero Lab' - the file is the Hero Lab tidbits I've put together for the campaign, and is useless without Hero Lab itself.

In regards to the kolshi'ichanth mage-lord, mostly 'what everyone knows' - thousands of years ago, the kolshi mage-lords (supposedly creators of dragons and most of the other sentient races) got into a wee bit of a tussle with the dracotaurs over which race would dominate the world's magic, and the kolshi - the shapeshifters, of which the changelings are supposedly the devolved descendants - lost. But not after huge battles. There are stories (there are always stories) of mage-lords who went dormant instead of surrendering their magical mastery; for one to wake up would be the equivalent of the coming of an irritated cataclysm that sees everything that lives as being beneath its notice.

If, of course, such a thing were to actually happen. There's no -proof- of kolshi mage-lords still existing.

Also - ask questions. I LOVE questions.

So one could say the Kolshi'ichanth Mage-Lords (what a mouthful) are directly tied to the world's creation myth? I'd imagine there might be variations and further detailed accounts on the subject but they are essentially a super-powered precursor race, perhaps on a similar scale to the Atlanteans or perhaps more biblically, Angels? Angels of doom in this case.

And sorry for disappearing for a while. Though it seems you guys have gotten along without me. I kept telling myself I would post soon until about a week passed. Procrastination is the devil.

Essentially, yes - and though it's Atlanteans instead of angels, the cataclyms were world-wide. There are, however, ruins of their civilization, so it's less myth than it is legend; the Phoenix Empire also have records going back at least that far that detail visits from the kolshi'ichanth.

Just to let you know, they're mostly referred to as 'kolshi'. And the mage-lords were essentially the ruling caste.

*sighs* Okay, so Mason dropped, griping about a slow posting rate. Tempted to just restart this grablix, do recruitment the way most everyone else does.

I apologize sincerely for my part in the slow posting. I had simply come to the conclusion that the rate we were going was the one that everybody seemed to prefer.

Nah, it's okay, it happens. Like I said, it's a holiday thing - almost every game I've ever been in slows down between the monday before Thanksgiving until after New Year's. It's just a question of how much, and whether or not it can recover. I think we'll recover. I'm also getting nibbles on potential replacements, so we're all good.

Right, not sure if I pushed too much with the Provost... I ruined it too much?

Absolutely not. You have, in fact, set up another sequence.

I'm still interested! I was in the hospital for the last little bit.

I hope you are better, and that it wasn't too serious!!

Oh dear. I'm sorry to hear that. As Wyrmie said, I hope it wasn't anything too bad.

Btw, what was the request that the Provost made that Nissa found so infuriating?

I think she means the request from the wizard - to move aside a bit.

... How is that undignified?

I dunno. I would have thought getting bowled over by a sizeable armchair to be more undignified, but hey ... ;)

BTW - next GM posting, including bad things happening to good people, comes later tonight.

Yay! Bad things! That means we get to kill stuff soon, right?

Yes - but not you.

:D

First, for 'Whooo Are You': Burhul can attempt a a DC 15 PER roll to hear what was said at the very beginning; you have a -2 to the roll for your luxurious headache. Hearing what happens after the others come in would be DC 20.

Second: Money matters. A crown is 5gp; the actual total is 6435gp. That being a sixth, then there's been 38,610gp missing from the coffers over the last three years. That's enough to pay almost eight hundred soldiers for over three months at 5sp a day - or, translated, enough to pay them to sack the city.

Third ... Combat!!

So, we do the combat in the Discussion thread or we wait for a post in the gameplay thread?

Sorry, my screwup - it's up now. Combat rolls here, then you write a good post about the results over there. If you knock someone out, or kill them messily, or whatever (you all know your thresholds, right?) then feel free to post the fates of your victims. Heck, combat is kind of fluid; if you slash at someone and do some damage, nick them, cut them up a bit.

I should write something about how I think of combat, though:

Your Level 1 HP Represents Your Real Health.

All the HP you gain after that represents luck, the ability to get out of the way of a blade or club and take a glancing blow or nick, that sort of thing. A chap with 75 HP of damage who takes 60 of it isn't smashed to pieces but somehow still going (unless that's what you REALLY want to do, but you should at least have the Endurance feat for that, y'know?); he's the guy who is sweating, tired, has a dozen nicks and surface cuts and scratches, who's going to be bruised like hell in the AM, but who hasn't taken any real damage.

This also means that high-level healing of massive amounts of HP is less 'putting blood back into your body and knitting shredded tissue back together' than it is rejuvenating your stamina and battle-readiness, inspiring your morale, and resetting your attitude about how lucky you are.

Alternately, the 'actual damage' HP is spread out evenly across your HP. Baltor and Brand at 3rd level both have 36 HP; for every 3 damage they take, only one is actual, real damage. If they're knocked down to 3 HP, and they're healing 3 HP a day, 2 of those HP represent getting their stamina, confidence, and sense of well-being back, healing the minor aches and pains, while the 'real healing' of cuts and breaks and blood loss is actually only 1 HP / day. In this version, since you've taken (HP / Level) 'real damage', high level healing DOES actually patch you up - but it also does a lot to set you back on your mental feet.

Everyone good with that? Let it inform your RP.

You know, I actually like your idea a lot more than the standard system. It always kinda bothered me that a person's ability to take physical punishment increased so easily.

Also, do you think you could post the currency rate on the Campaign Info?

I think the second method is better. The first one makes the most sense IMO, but it is really difficult to describe actions if no "real damage" is dealt, like:

... you score a critical hit, chopping 9/10 of the enemies health... and he evades, or parries your blow... and then some child throws a pebble at the enemy for the last hp and he is the hero!

With the second option we can always put some blood in our attacks, like a cut in his arm, an arrow on his tights or a concussion on his shoulder... none of them are deadly, but gives a better impression that some progress is being made.

Oh, yeah. I do have a question, for once combat begins. How does Protection from Evil work, both standard and in this universe? I ask because Ham is Chaotic Evil. It came up in another campaign when our cleric used Magic Circle Against Evil. Somebody pointed out Ham's alignment, which led to a great deal of arguing. It seems that, RAW, there's nothing to prevent PfE, and, by extension, MCAE, from being used to buff Ham. That seems wrong to me, both on a logical basis and a storytelling basis.

I'm mainly asking for help as to how it will apply in this campaign, but as the guys and I have been unable to come up with a satisfactory solution to the dilemma, I would welcome any insights into how it would work in a fairly by-the-book game, as well.

Another question, now in regards to the actual combat:

1) Once the fight started, did the commoners run away or are they still around? Asking this because one large AOE spells that could caught innocent people.

2) Is there a common rule in Mosval (and other cities in the world) regarding killing someone in personal defense? In many settings/cities it is ok, but better to check first before chopping someone with a greatsord.

IIRC, currency is in the Google Docs link. I may shift it over.

I'm about to snooze (yeah, my sleep schedule is screwed), so I'll get back to you on Ham - though I'll note that he is, at current, NOT Chaotic Evil. (Chaotic Nasty, so far, yes, but we haven't seen him otherwise.) I do need to re-read the aforementioned spells, but I'll note that IMO it seems logical that while an individual could have a spell cast upon them that repulses their own race, the same cannot necessarily be said of alignment. While you CAN have a 'protection from' spell cast upon them that defends against their own alignment, at the very best the spell would afflict them with the penalties as it suppresses their own self. More likely, it would fizzle, wasting the spell. At the very worst, it would stun the character, if not incapacitate them for the duration of the spell. This will be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis - so you can't chuck a 'protection from your own alignment!' spell on an opponent and expect them to collapse to the ground in agony.

Regarding actual combat:

1) From the viewpoint of commoners, sudden fights that start nearby them begin in about the second round. This accounts for a) actual time required to perceive, recognize, and react, as well as the general uncertainty of 'what the hell should I do?!?' that a non-combat-trained individual possesses. Consider it as being the surprise round for you guys is 'is something happening?' for them; first round for you guys is surprise round for them. Only those people closest to the fight, actually looking at it when it happens, are going to be in the same time-set as you; their main concern is getting far enough out of the way to not get hit by a swinging sword - 10', basically, then pause to retreat further if it's necessary. (Lots of people running away from a point = stampede = trampled people.) An AoE in a crowded marketplace is a Bad Thing, especially since it'd take a LOT for it to become un-crowded.

2) In most civilized cities, it goes mostly as it did in the quasi-civilized areas of the American West - killing someone who's just trying to beat you up can lead to a world of hurt, legally. (Accidentally punching them and breaking their neck is different.) If they start pulling out the lethal weapons, though, you'd best pray you can show that they were swinging them to kill, or you might well be gallows-bait. In more frontier towns, like Ice Bay, it's like the lawless portions of the American West - pitched battles between gangs in the streets is going to result in poor people looting corpses, because essentially Might Makes Right - though if you kill a couple of, say, Burhul's gang, sauntering off afterwards, they may well send a dozen guys after you to put you into the ground, even if it costs them six more fellows - because Might, in that case, is still on their side.

TL;DR version: your homicide really DOES need to be self-defense, instead of chopping a bar brawler in half with a sword twice your size. ;)

Standard Action: Cast obscuring mist Casting Defensively (DC 17): 1d20 + 8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 8 + 4 = 17

This spell creates a cloud effect with 20ft. radius centered in Baltor for 3 minutes. The vapor obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. A creature 5 feet away has concealment (attacks have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker cannot use sight to locate the target).

Move Action: Walk away from the attackers. This will probably provoke AoO from the two thugs... just remember the 20% miss chance from the obscuring mist.

Ham's alignment depends on whether you are basing it off of intent or actions. The Doc seemed to make it clear to me that we're looking at both, but intent is more important. In that case, yeah, Ham is evil. He is also, arguably, a psychopath. His main joy in life is killing and hurting others. The only reason he doesn't go on hideous killing sprees is because subtlety is in his best interests for survival.

@Baltor--I don't think they can take AoO's if they can't clearly see you. The AoO is provoked by the movement through threatened squares and you've only 5 ft stepped that can clearly be seen. At least, that's how it's been judged at tables I've played at before, so that's how I think it's judged.

Regardless, Brand is using his turn to draw his weapon and follow Baltor. He's holding on to Baltor's pack, but I'll also roll the perception check to make sure he stays with him alright, though I imagine it's a DC 5 as they're within the visible 5 ft range.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Pretty sure I managed to follow him :=)

Actually, you have two guys in front of you and one guy behind you in a relatively crowded street. I suspect I wasn't clear enough in regards to that you two being basically braced (people on either side). While you'll have the surrounding 15' from you two clear (the initial shock of people seeing the violence, pulling away), that still means needing another 10' of movement to get into the crowd.

In regards to concealment and AoO - you have concealment, not total concealment, from three guys 5' away from you. If you have a DC 5 to follow Baltor because he's 'in the visible 5' range', they have enough visibility to spot him starting to pull away. It's a 20% miss chance, not a 'I THINK he was there, *swing anyhow*' 50%, so it's like looking at someone through a screen of leaves - they can can see enough to see you backing away. So the two in front of you (which was originally behind you, #3 and #4) will at least get the AoOs. The third guy (thug #2) who is behind you (which is in the direction you were going) is as close as the two of you are to each other as you pull out, and so would receive several AoOs if he had them (which he doesn't) - but he'll have several O's to A, at the very least. ;)

Also, consider these two things: first, it's broad daylight. While you'll be able to get past them now, they'll be able to follow you just by the bundle of fog oozing through the street, so when you're done moving (through streets you're not especially familiar with, and which you can't see anyhow, because concealment works both ways with 20' of it) they'll still be there - just 20'-25' away.

Second, it's broad daylight in a working-class area of a city in a low-magic world. A sudden cloud of fog welling up, with figures moving around inside it as it rolls towards you ... I'm not saying it'll be a riot or a mass panic, but you're sure to cause some consternation and disquiet.

Either way, up to you.

I understand all you said DM and agree with it. The spell was more of a way to clear the crowd and get out of that pesky ambush/flanking situation Baltor and Brand were. Since Baltor has really high flat-footed AC, I guess he will be safe with the AoO's. When outside of the fog, Baltor and Brand will be able to better position themselves, making flanking harder or at least get some AoO themselves as the thugs position to flank.

In any case, if you think it would be better to act in a different way, here is Baltor's alternative action (or his next action on rd 2, once he leaves the fog at the end of round 1).

Move Action - draw greatsowrd
Standard Action - attack for non-lethal damage
Attack (greatsword), non-lethal: 1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 5 - 4 = 18
Damage (greatsword), non-lethal: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 6) + 3 = 13

In any case, let me know before I post it on the gameplay thread.

What you do is up to you - I just thought I'd post a reminder - but if you're going to attack, don't forget to indicate who you're attacking.

Right. So I'll keep his former action and the attack will be his second turn action. The target will be decided after the thug's turn, since Baltor will hit, probably, the first one to leave the fog.

Rolling Perception real quick before I go food shopping. I'll have to take some more time to finish sorting through everything, but I'm really happy this is picking up. I'm also really happy I decided to go with the Thug archetype. :)

Perception (Headache): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

I actually just realized I think I'm supposed to wait for you to tell me what I heard.

Brainthoughts. And stupid work.

DM, the thugs only made AoO, right? So they should act before our round 2, correct?

Sorry for not providing the links! Was not aware that you were not completely familiar with 3.5/PF... I'll provide the links in the future.

So, until the moment, the thugs attacked and surrounded Baltor and Brand... Baltor cast his spell and run to its edge, receiving many attacks even if his armor protected him. Brand also run and also received an attack. Now, it is the thugs turn that will follow them or anything else.

They acted, yes - but they're moving cautiously, which in this case will mean moving at half speed. You won't be able to see them. sorry. Y'all can act in MI.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

To look around for somewhere to hide or an easy route to flee.

There are a couple warehouse doors open that are close to you.