Hey guys, let's wait till we get the results of our knowledge checks back before moving on, there might be more that we want to do here.
I concur with Rasellia. We provided checks, lets wait for the results before running off.
Don't worry. Keldor's just running away from the awkward situation/conversation. He's not big on personal confrontation (especially with women) and tends to escape from such things as fast as possible (At least figuratively if not usually literally).
He's basically just looking down the tunnel right now trying his darnedest not to worry if he upset anybody...
=)
Relatives are almost all gone and I think I've recovered emotionally. Expect me back in posting form by the end of the week at latest.
Glad to hear it, DM. Hope you're holding up alright.
FYI: While I expected to be able to post during the combined work/private trip over the weekend, life had different plans. I'll be attending a funeral tomorrow and it's kept me busy the past 2 days, too.
I will try and post again as soon as possible, please do bot as needed.
Sorry for my silence, people. I'm running my first PFS special tomorrow - #8-00: The Cosmic Captive - and I've spent an entire week getting ready for and stressing over it. After tomorrow it'll be over, and I can get back to posting.
No problem Silvester, GMing can be a lot of work.
And just to remind you all, you need to post your intentions and move your icon on the combat map or tell me what you want to do and I'll move you. Some tunnels might be narrow so single file might be required.
I'll stay behind Keldor and Silvester, as agreed upon, with 5 feet safety-distance between Basil and the one in front of her(in case either of those before needs to step back quickly).
My plan is to basically be at the back of the party at all times since I'm the only real ranged character. So I'll wait till the rest of the party moves to move up, otherwise feel free to keep me moving with the back of the party Default.
Hey folks! Apologies for the silence, the holiday season's been seriously kicking my ass.
Generally shoving Hali near the back is fine with me as well. She's hardly martial as it is, but such is the life of an Investigator.
updates tomorrow, hopefully
Hey, quick question. Keldor, why do you keep taking the front? Silvester's the full-BAB beatstick with a higher AC; shouldn't he be taking point?
His character likely doesn't know that yet. I can totally understand why someone encased in a full body suit would think that they would be the best choice to take point until they get a full measure of everyone's true abilities.
At this level Gauntlet is basically a meat shield with a slightly higher AC and one that I can heal.
He wishes to absorb as much damage as possible so the rest of you remain unhurt longer.
He's also Lawful Good and endlessly curious, which influences him greatly. (He's no paladin however.)
...so he walks in front.
Once Gauntlet 'disappears' for a while, he has no problem moving back and letting the tougher people go first.
Aye. What Ember said.
Plus many Eidolons make it a priority to pick up Reach, if only for the added Battlefield Control and AoO against approaching enemies.
I am somewhat surprised that Gauntlet picked up AC first(which only really becomes reasonably decent with the +2 extra bonus from level 2), so there may be whole different priorities here, possible wanting to wait until large size to get reach from being a biped?
No idea, but while I agree that mechanically, Silvester should take point, flavorwise, it makes sense if he stays closer to Rasellia, his ward, not risking himself unnecessarily if someone else willingly does so :)
I agree with Basil on flavorwise reasons. If Rase stays in the back and Sil takes point, he would likely be too far away from her for his own peace of mind.
I mean, Silvester's backstory does talk about how he's a bit of a glory-hound and somewhat brash as well. I can't talk on behalf on his player but mechanically as a swashbuckler he's going to have a bad time if he's not near the front. However I'll leave this to be decided by him and Keldor *shrug*.
Oh, don't get me wrong...gloryhound and stuff is fine. But he still came as your bodyguard and should make sure you are not jumped by creepy crawlies from the dark...in addition, the guy who gets the glory for the kill is the one still standing. Which, usually, is not the first man in a charge against enemy lines(they do tend to die glorious deaths, though). *smile*
Honestly? I expect both of them to frontline most of the time. In narrow tunnels like these, they could simply alternate...(as a suggestion).
Then again, we best hope there's not too many of these tunnels. Because even if precise shot would remove a -4 for firing into melee, there would still be -4 for soft cover if ranged people stand behind our frontliners.
So technically, a -8 penalty for me, -4 for everybody with Precise Shot.
Plus a simple bend in the path outright eliminates any ranged support, making it a 1v1 affair...worse if there's an end of the narrow stretch allowing enemies to gang up.
So from a meta-game-perspective: Battles in narrow tunnels tend to be not-fun, long-winding affairs...I do hope it will only happen seldomly.
(Or, like in the present case, open up into a more open area where they CAN stand shoulder-to-shoulder.)
I do Gauntlet's evolution based on a chart I created. He's very golem-like in this incarnation, and therefore he's very tough and durable (Hence +AC). As a Synthesist I designed Keldor with more of an 'Iron Man' concept rather than a combat melee specialist. He wants to be a hero and has scientific leanings. People are always saying Synthesists are too powerful, so I feel that, along with the Unchained rules, its my job to make sure Gauntlet's useful but that he makes sense to the character concept too.
Interesting. I always found Synthesists interesting, but not overpowered.
They only have 3/4th bab(somewhat offset by the strenght bonus, but barring access to some feats for longer), AND they give up action economy. On the plus side, they could dump their physical stats, but that brings it's own problems in situations where being with the Eidolon is not feasable(or if it's dismissed after attribute damage has been sustained, which could lead to instant-incapacitation)
On the plus side, they are very fun to play around with. And with admittedly more character attached over an Aegis(which would mechanically be capable of fulfilling that role better).
*shrug* I'm looking forward to seeing what you had in mind for him.
That said: I think we do, overall, have a very interesting cast of characters in this game, and I hope you all stick around so I can see where you're going with them ;)
On that note Keldor, I can't seem to find your stat's without Gauntlet equipped.
As much as I would love to offer a valid opinion on matters of martial arrangement...I seriously wasn't kidding. Hali's your tinkersmith. I imagine I'll be throwing out more Aid Another rolls than anything else. I mean she's not against making combat blunders for the sake of her pride...but that whole "Half health and out of gadgets" status does go some way towards making the idea substantially less attractive at the present time.
If I'm honest, I don't think much as to positional tactics at present. Putting meta aside: the party's still pretty much a ragtag of tenuously connected strangers. Mega-enthusiast in the pseudo super-suit wants to play point-guard? Noble-trained swashy wants to out-do him? Be my guest. I'll just stick back here wondering how this cave hasn't collapsed under the weight of Black Hill.
P.s.: I think everyone agrees tunnels are annoying, but hey; we knew what we were in for. Maybe. Sort of.
Here. Anything in Parentheses is Gauntlet's bonuses for me.
I will remove them for Keldor's avatar now.
DONE. Under Keldor's avatar you can see Keldor's stats with Gauntlet (second spoiler) and without (first spoiler).
Basil:
I would allow you to close your eyes to prevent making the blinded save, but you will effectively be blinded until you open them again.
Keldor:
Thanks. Forgot that you posted with two different alias's.
Well, a one-hour duration is a long time, in hostile territory. If it was something passing quickly, I would take the risk, but I think I'll subsequently(in following rounds) accept the "temporary" blindness by closing my eyes, then be ready if something else comes pouncing.
Bonus points for wasting pellets on a single enemy creature...scatter-attacks are not foiled by concealment!(No miss chance with a shot gun)...but I may need to make audible perception checks to pinpoint my comrades and make sure I have a clear line of fire...-
I don't know, GM; this sounds like a gaze attack. I ran one of these beasties in a PFS scenario about a week back, and I remember the ability had 'gaze' in the name. Sorry for metagaming, but that means that - by the rules for gaze attacks - there are ways we can attempt to mitigate it without just going "Okay, you're blinded anyway," which means we don't have a long and tiresome slog ahead of us. The rules for averting your eyes are entirely separate to the rules for blindness.
PSA: Working out some things in the encounter to make sure I'm doing things right. Will update when ready and/or enough players post.
Okay, so I've looked over the creature specifically to see if I'm doing its special ability wrong. Despite my gut, I'd rather not screw over the party at such an early stage, even if it is a mistake.
So, treat the blinding light as a gaze attack, with all the options preventing a gaze attack offers.
I only have two characters posting actions currently, so hopefully we can move forward from here.
Ready to post, as said, holding until both Keldor and Silvester did their thing. I could rush up and shoot now, but in case they are both blinded, I may instead rush in, rather than stay at range.
I do think I'll run out of ammunition earlier rather than later, so I'll have to make do with melee occasionally.
@Silvester: I think you did not need to make a save, there. You did and thats fine, we'll work with it and roll around that.
But in most games on the boards I play in, it's established that in Pathfinder, you always try to roll high.
Those 3 Mirror Images? A 4 hits.
25% Concealment? 26+ hits.
etc. - I know there is theoretical deviation in the teleport rules, for example, but it seems useful to otherwise establish a basis of how things are done...and "roll high=good for the one who rolled" is the consistent pattern, there, with low rolls usually indicating failure.
So if averting eyes, the 1-20 range would have been calling for a save...but then, one could reason we were surprised by the creature anyhow, and did not yet have time to figure out that we need to look away.
Anyway, good hit, I'll consider my options regardless, then post a bit later.
The way I've run it - always have - is that when something gives a chance of x%, a result of 1-x indicates that that thing happens.
A 50% miss chance means that 1-50 misses.
A 20% miss chance means that 1-20 misses.
A 50% chance to recover lost ammunition means that 1-50 recovers the ammunition.
But that's just the way I've done it. How about we let the GM decide if that's something he's cool with, hmm?
I've always allowed people to roll either high or low as long as they've stated which they are choosing and being consistent with that throughout the game.
Personally, the way I play as a player is usually rolling low means bad things happen (in terms of saves) and rolling high means good things happen (landing a save, hitting an enemy, etc).
No precedent was set, and I tend to believe players aren't trying to be sneaky about dice rolling (except this one time I had to actually state the order I wanted saves, initiative, and attacks rolled in).
For now, I'm inclined to go with Ember's suggestion. As long as you're consistent with your methodology, I don't see any problem with anyone choosing their preference of how they perceive the dice, and it makes things easier since when most folks post they default to the rules and knowledge they know in their head and the way they've been doing things.
Any concerns?
Works for me, consistency is the key! Beware the dreaded glare, of GM's
hard stare! Keep your dice on an even keel, or face the wrath of Default and KNEEL!
=)
Not at all, but in that case...if you have a 80% chance to hit with a 20% miss chance, thats 1-20 misses, 21-100 hits.
if you have a 80% chance to not need a save, with a 20% chance to be affected when averting your eyes, then 1-20 is "bad" and misses, and your
'good' 80% of 21-100 would mean no save is needed.
You interpreted it as "20% chance for something bad" and thats the upper 20 result as "that happens".
All fine, I guess I just read it difficult as "80% chance of nothing bad happens", and was surprised you did it the other way round.
Hey Default, Rasellia's player is having some connectivity issues on his laptop. He's going to try fixing it tomorrow-ish, but in the interest of keeping combat moving, he's requested I ask that you bot him. Rasellia will make an attack roll with her gravity blast against the creature - she has point-blank and precise, but the creature gets cover.
Hey, made it back to a functioning computer. Got my post up, so don't worry about botting me.
Glad to hear it, having a computer on the fritz is no fun.
Yeah, sucks but luckily fixed now.
So GM I am going to have a go at identifying that creature, but I'm not sure know what knowledge I should be rolling. I've gone for dungeoneering as I am fairly sure history or arcana would not help with knowing about this thing but since I don't know it's creature type I'm not sure if that will help. How do you want to do knowledge rolls going forward?
Once again, plans in real-life simply don't work out.
I was to attend a training workshop most of this week, and expected to have plenty of time to post during the nights at the hotel, so was a bit lazy last weekend and spend time preparing for the trip.
Little did I know that we only met up at the hotel, then moved by bus to a cabin in the mountains for teambuilding purposes. No phone, no Wi-Fi, and even if we had, no time to post.
It was a very interesting experience, but yeah, sorry for going MIA/AWOL, I'm back and will make sure to catch up on all my games and post ASAP.
Finals are over and I'm currently competting at a national leadership conference. Should be back by Monday and resume a better frequency of posting now that schools out.
Apologies for the lack of keeping you all informed. Up until now most free time was trying to fix metaphorically shooting myself in the foot on one final.
Understood!
=)
All good Default.
I've had a hectic season myself, so I'm absolutely not one to talk. Best of luck with everything!
My life always seems hectic. :/
"That is brown mold!" she says rapidly "It can knock people unconscious, we should hurry over there, that person might still be alive!"
Lets not overlook one aspect of the mechanics:
If a creature’s nonlethal damage is equal to his total maximum hit points (not his current hit points), all further nonlethal damage is treated as lethal damage. This does not apply to creatures with regeneration. Such creatures simply accrue additional nonlethal damage, increasing the amount of time they remain unconscious.
Since we identified it: Brown mold does 3d6 nonlethal cold per round. That means it can knock out low-level characters quickly, and then the nonlethal piles on and quickly turns lethal.
What I'm trying to say: Dude is dead if he's even been there a minute.(even if we ignore that the stuff is already growing on him)Of course, wether we KNOW it works that way is on a whole different page. If we want to pretend we don't, we can mount that hurried rescue, but we should make sure none of our own perish in the attempt after having successfully identified the threat.
Just a heads up, will be on a short family get-away. Should be back Monday to reliably post.
Got the lurgy, post coming in the morning.