Humble Bundle RotRL (Inactive)

Game Master mathpro18

Family comes first! No worries.

I agree with Ariza's comment from the Gameplay thread that having numbers on/near the goblins would help to understand who is attacking whom.

I will see what I can do. I will try to get a summary post up before I leave and then if I have time I will renumber things as it will REALLY help on my end as well.

Ariza, as an FYI, Mage Armor provides a +4 armor bonus. Denche already has a +3 armor bonus from the armor he's wearing. So the net effect is only an additional +1 bonus; they don't stack.

Which is still better, so maybe you still want to do it. I just want to make sure you understand the real effect.

And don't feel bad for making that mistake this is our first real combat situation(in this game anyway) so you're still learning. You guys are all doing very well for being new players. I unfortunately don't have time to edit the map before heading home but I'll see if I can do it real quick before my wife gets home from work.

Thanks for correcting me about the mage armor, Rak. I had no clue and I wouldn't have done that ... I know for next time :)

Sorin just a heads up when you use both your star-knives your at a -2 with each to hit even with the two weapon fighting feat. Not a big deal this time since your hit was still a hit with the -2 and your miss was still a miss but for future notice just something to keep in mind.

Ariza I'm sorry you wasted a level 1 spell...

So whats everyone's general opinion on how this is going? This is very different than how battles are supposed to run in a face to face group but its the best that we can do in an online format that I've found. If there are any changes you would like for me to make let me know.

Mage Armor wasn't a total waste; it still makes Denche harder to hit, just not as much harder to hit as Ariza expected.

I think the battles are progressing smoothly.

As for the dual wielding, With Two weapon fighting, I get a -2 to each weapon. But doesn't weapon finesse kick in and give me +4 dex to hit with each weapon?

Yeah, seems to work fine. Now with the numbering it's also clearer on who's doing what to whom. I now changed the avatar of the slain goblin, so it's clearer he's dead (right click->change->recolor).

As for changes, one thing that may help is posting a mini-stat block in each combat post. its handy to know where everyone else is at stat wise and I only mention it because I can't remember how much HP I'm at. lol

I was wondering the same about you too, Sorin. I'm glad that you're down to one goblin, 'cause you're taking the brunt of the damage here.

I originally conceived Rak as a ranged fighter, but with Denche also ranged, and Sorin finesse, perhaps I should revisit my plan; it seems we could use a tank. Any advice for changing direction on that now that I'm already statted out for ranged combat?

As for changes, one thing that may help is posting a mini-stat block in each combat post. its handy to know where everyone else is at stat wise and I only mention it because I can't remember how much HP I'm at. lol

Updated my last combat post with said spoiler I will also note any status conditions you guys might be suffering from if/when that happens in that spoiler.

Sorin your currently at 3/10 hit points and thats already after Rak healed you earlier lol. Its rather apparent who my favorite PC to beat on has been so far :P

So was I right about two weapon fighting?

Math is 1d20 -2 (two weapon fighting with feat) + 4 (weapon finesse)

So was I right about two weapon fighting?

Math is 1d20 -2 (two weapon fighting with feat) + 4 (weapon finesse)

I stand corrected...if I actually read the math explanations you actually take time to type up it might help...derp.

I was wondering the same about you too, Sorin. I'm glad that you're down to one goblin, 'cause you're taking the brunt of the damage here.

I originally conceived Rak as a ranged fighter, but with Denche also ranged, and Sorin finesse, perhaps I should revisit my plan; it seems we could use a tank. Any advice for changing direction on that now that I'm already statted out for ranged combat?

If you wanted I would allow you to rebuild him to be more in your face. Otherwise you can keep him the way he is for the rest of this level and then dip into a more combat heavy class. You can multiclass in Pathfinder rather easily.

I'll have to able to tank a bit too, because until later when I can cast too, I'm always one roll away of borking the bow again and having to rely on melee.

What if an extra player joined us as the tank we lost?

I am loving every minute of this. Such a great bunch of folks. Math I am learning a lot from how you are handling the combat - since I haven't ever played at a table, I can't compare to a "normal" version of this anyway :)

Yeah, I planned for Sorin to be a mid range fighter doing the classic rogue bit of sneak attacks and flanking. He could stab and he could throw-stab. But yeah, this concept takes off when Sorin gets more knives, the quick draw feat, and maybe that one belt that let's knives return to him.

I went with rogue to get some skills that would be useful, I wouldn't mind speccing to be a bruiser of sorts.

What do you guys think?

In looking over my options for turning Rak into a more tankish combatant, one of the major hurdles I see is weapon access. I'm not particularly keen on multi-classing; are there other ways to get access to martial/exotic weapons (other than a feat)?

I see ways that I can shuffle the stats around to get the STR up so it's better for melee, but if the best I can swing at someone is my warhammer, I'm not sure that's worth it.

No other than feats or class dipping there are no other ways to unlock proficiency. You do have all simple weapons plus rapier(favored weapon of your god)

Yup, that's what I was seeing as well. What I'd be looking for is a good two-handed weapon to wield with 1.5x STR bonus. Dwarven Urgosh would be great, but even though it's martial for me, I don't have martial proficiency. I'll keep reading and see what I can come up with.

And Sorin, I don't know if we gain much turning you into a tank. We'd effectively lose your sneak attack, as Denche and I would both still be ranged. The whole reason I brought this up was to get you a good target to flank against. :)

It might not be a bad idea to take a level in fighter though, I'll look into it.

Ariza, talking is a free action, so I'm pretty sure you can do both (remember all my shouting?). You also have a +1 bonus to bluffing from your charisma and bluffing is not a skill you have to train for.

Ariza is correct on the full-round for Bluff. "Attempting to deceive someone takes at least 1 round, but can possibly take longer if the lie is elaborate (as determined by the GM on a case-by-case basis)."

Interesting, thanks! Seems MP was lenient (intimidation is a standard action), but I'd also get a +4 size difference bonus on Intimidate checks.

still haven't found time to look over rogue bruiser idea, but will hopefully get to it by the weekend.

Hey guys just a heads up I have family in from out of town and tomorrow is a designated family day so I won't be posting at all. They've been here a week tomorrow so Saturday and Sunday will be spent saying goodbyes and then recuperating from their visit. What is it about spending time with ones mother in law that is so stressful lol. So I probably won't post again until Monday.

Don't worry, we'll be fine. Have some fun. :)

Btw, do you keep track of xp and will just let us know when we all reach a new level or do we need to do any bookkeeping?

How much loot micromanaging is there? Can we just assume we find buyers for common stuff and convert to sp/cp?

I have a very busy weekend that is starting tomorrow as well. I will be around when I can, but I am glad I won't be holding anything up :)

Hey guys I have the party treasure sheet started. Let me know if there are any issues. At the bottom I have it doing a running total of how much gold the party would get if they sold everything. I know the potion was given to the church but I'm not sure how to code the sheet to get it to take that into effect. Seems a simple if-then statement with a Boolean variable(yes the party sold an item or no it hasn't) would do the trick but I'm not sure how to do that in excel.

Why not just decrease the count? We'll always have the original in the gameplay thread — this one is more of a ledger though.

I moved the total to the top, so it never has to move again.

Thanks Denche

As for our lacking tankiness and melee, I've given it some thought and, if you guys don't mind, I'd be willing to reword Sorin as a swashbuckler. I get to keep most rouge like goodness and gain a sort of deft tankiness as well.

Thoughts?

I've done a (minor) rebuild of Rak; really just a shuffling of the point-buy for ability scores to bring up his STR without sacrificing much else. I haven't updated his sheet here yet but I'll do that soon. I'm thinking about dipping one level into Magus (Kensai) to get the better weapon proficiency I need. I was thinking of taking Dwarven Longhammer for that; it's a reach weapon and I've never played with a primarily reach combatant before. Would that be an effective counterpoint to your swashbuckler? One of my primary goals in this rebuild was to help get you more flanking opportunities for your sneak attacks.

Swashbuckler's don't get sneak attacks, rather they have panache points to do cool stuff. when I built Sorin, it was mostly to fill the void as a rogue, but I can accomplish a decent melee rapier fighter that ducks and dodges rather than tanks.

What say you DM, mind a bit of a character modification?

Nice, perfect initiative rolls. Ariza you can now blast most of them. :)

Yes might I suggest color spray

Yes might I suggest color spray

You can suggest, but that would imply I have that spell memorized. :) Are you suggesting that I memorize it because most smart people would - and you'll allow this one time correction?

Hey guys I have the party treasure sheet started. Let me know if there are any issues. At the bottom I have it doing a running total of how much gold the party would get if they sold everything. I know the potion was given to the church but I'm not sure how to code the sheet to get it to take that into effect. Seems a simple if-then statement with a Boolean variable(yes the party sold an item or no it hasn't) would do the trick but I'm not sure how to do that in excel.

Made a few mods to the tracking sheet, including tracking a total for what is still around vs. what we found in total. I think that is what you were after, yes?

So DM, think I could switch over to swashbuckler for party balance? I could you details on build if you'd like.

We've all been reading your spell list wrong Ariza. :(

RE sheet: what if use up two items of a kind? The new column could be numeric and there'd be no need for conditionals, but do we really want to track loot in such detail?

Tweaked the sheet to allow for multiple items. I actually use excel for a living, and scarily, I love figuring out how to solve tricky answers. So, despite my agreement that we may never need the level of detail, I enjoy the process, and now we have a way to track if we decide we want it. Can anyone think of anything else this might need?

My other question is, who is carrying all this stuff around? Or - how do we sell it all so we can just get the cash equivalent for those items that we do not want to keep?

Rak could reasonably carry the loot. With increased STR from the rebuild, he can carry more, and dwarves don't lose speed from carrying capacity. And if I recall, DM said he wasn't using encumbrance rules anyway. ;)

DM Mathpro wrote:

Yes might I suggest color spray

You can suggest, but that would imply I have that spell memorized. :) Are you suggesting that I memorize it because most smart people would - and you'll allow this one time correction?

Thought you had...but yes I'd allow the correction.

@ Rak: Bingo Rak I do not use Encumberance rules as long as players don't take advantage of my generocity.

@Sorin: Yes you can switch over to swashbuckler if you wish. I know this means we lose sneak attack as a party which is why Rak rebuilt his character but I still think Rak's rebuild is valid with out the sneak attack. Setting up flanks is still handy for the +2 to hit it gives both players afterall.

Cool, if we're lucky we can coup-de-grace two in the next round.

@DM I agree. I've been reading up on reach weapons and like what I see right now. I want to make sure that I don't nerf any future growth (i.e. Inquisitor solo tactics/teamwork feats) by focusing on reach combat, but it looks promising right now.

Also still debating what my dip should be to get martial proficiency. My initial thought was Magus (Kensai) which would give me a single martial weapon proficiency along with 2 castings of a 1-level spell (thinking Enlarge Person as the primary choice). Fighter, as a much simpler dip, would give me all martial weapons and a sweet little combat feat (Combat Reflexes for more AoO perhaps?). I would entertain advice, if anyone has any....