Daniel, do you want us talking about combat tactics in this thread during combat or not? If you feel it gives us an unfair edge or takes things out of IC too much, let me know and I'll be sure to keep such comments to myself.
In my (kind of) defense for wrecking your plans, Svetlana, I'm finding it challenging to visualize what people are doing in terms of the battle map. It's why I used square designations liberally, to help me keep track. I'm sure I'll get better at this as we go on.
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Well I was also trying something new by not labeling the bandits. Combat is chaotic and frantic, and rarely do you have time to talk to your allies and make plans during the fight, so once in awhile things get botched. Damen, from where he was standing, could not even see Svetlana, nor would he really have any idea that she charmed the bandit. I LOVED Svetlana's reaction to this, and Damen played it as a warrior would...strike out at the nearest enemy.
All-in-all it was a fantastic ambush...Kent and his stupid grease spell killed my poor bandits before they could even get going !!!Good Job...
The only problem you did not foresee is one of the bandits being outside the gates when they closed.
Combat tactics should be arranged here in the discussion area, but once the fight begins...well depending on the circumstance, you take your turns and let the others do theirs...besides you can always yell at each other in a common language you hope your foes do not understand...or make your own!!!
Regardless, you all did fantastic, and the bandits will be surrendering on their turn....and who knows what became of the one that got away...maybe a chase is in the making!! LOL
It's not away yet.
Indeed. Long bows have scary range. If someone can open the door me, he'll not likely live.
All-in-all it was a fantastic ambush...Kent and his stupid grease spell killed my poor bandits before they could even get going
What can I say I suck at killing or hurting stuff, but throwing people off their game that I rock at. Or at least I hope so only been in two combats so far not enough data points.
So where is Areanna? She needs to shoot down the fleeing bandit.
you have got your money out of that one spell...I am afraid to see what you might do with more..lol
Kent will be the third-level conqueror of Golarion, capable of destroying entire nations with a single fireball.
You need to be level 5 in order to cast fire-ball and to tell the truth I don't know if I am going to bother to learn the spell you get haste at that level and you guys will be able to do a lot more damage then any fireball.
Oops. Third level spell. What is wrong with me lately?
In my (kind of) defense for wrecking your plans, Svetlana, I'm finding it challenging to visualize what people are doing in terms of the battle map. It's why I used square designations liberally, to help me keep track. I'm sure I'll get better at this as we go on.
It's all good then. Daniel is right about fog-of-effects, which I like for realism if not completely correct by RAW (which makes people half-way omniscient for anything with 30 feet), so Damen not realizing that the guy was about to attack his own leader is more than plausible. Likewise, with 6 20PB PC's vs an AP, we are already overpowered and shouldn't need to wring every little tactical advantage out of situations to win. It's nice to let a little inefficient realism slip in. My only concern in whole episode was the sense that maybe you weren't really paying attention to what the other PC's were trying to do. We all like to develop our character's personality, and both Svetlana's mind-bending tactic and Ulryk's attempt to get the goblin to surrender in the last combat had the common element of character-developing events that were in some ways snuffed out by Damen's action. If this is just because you're getting used to the mapping and visualization though, I'd agree that you'll pick it up over time. So harm, no foul.
Please understand I'm not trying to rules lawyer this into some sort of unfun scenario. If you want to rule that there's no way Brigid could attack the lead bandit without injuring Svetlana as well, I'll adjust her actions accordingly.
P.S. I hate that there's no way to make sure I'm not coming across as sounding bitter or resentful. So I just have to point it out. That's not the way it is. At all.
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No..not a problem and I understand what you mean...I was actually just going to have him attack Svetlana, but after looking up the rules for a grapple, I thought I would do that instead. But a little real world thought sometimes need to trump the game mechanics. The sword you are wielding is huge. That said, exactly how are you planning to get past Svetlana and hit the bandit, when he has her held against himself, with a dagger to her throat? You are right he is easier to hit (no Dex bonus)I did give all a chance to notice; 1. The bandit palming the dagger, and 2. His intent did not match his outward actions. And Kent casting a non-violent spell like colour spray allows for a resolution that does not require a strong-arm response, but rather a 'soft touch' if you will.
I try to play major villains the same as I would play a PC. And I am sorry if this felt railroaded, for that was most certainly not my intent. What I want to have happen here is the players to think their way out of the situation; either by wit or brawn.
Regardless, thanks for speaking up and voicing your concerns. This is your game after all, and I want it to be fun for everyone...as it plays out, however, Kent's spell will most likely take care of this situation nicely, but I want you all to be aware that if you have a concern or problem, then please bring it up!!
Thanks Brigid
It's all good. Like I said, game mechanics don't always allow for those classic cinematic situations like the hostage standoff. Under the rules, I could have moved around 30 feet while drawing my sword, reciting Shakespeare, and still attack him.
At least this way, I get to pull off another cinematic classic: the dual hostage crisis! Well, for like two seconds until Kent dropped our perp. :)
Daniel, would the female bandit still rise? Rising from prone provokes an attack of oppurtunity and I did not (and was positioned even before combat ended) to make such a attack if she got up from the ground. Ulryk even warned the woman he would do so if she got up from the ground and if she glanced up at him she'd see even with the change in her leaders situation hers would not change (yet - of course if the leader threatened Svetlana's life if he didn't let the doxie go as well, that's another story.)
From a gamemaster / rules perspective, I would personally have given the bandit the surprise round to grapple Svetlana and then top initiative, allowing him to inflict damage with the dagger provided he maintains the grapple. Unfortunately the rules are a little fuzzy here. Normally a called shot to the neck is at -10, however, if grappled i'd reduce that negative.
Alternatively, he could try to do a pin manuever with a free action to coup de grace if you wanted to be really mean / flexible.
I completely understand what you are trying to do here. Unforutately HP's don't really reflect well a threat to the neck or the like.
If he had a few grapple feats then he might be able to pin her in one round then do a coup de grass in the next round.
But don't worry about it this just means that both of our fighters should take grapple feats. :} I see many living shields in our future.
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Well he was not trying to kill her, just use her as a hostage to try and get away. As for the female, your are right and you could have attacked, but she was unarmed and was just standing up, not really a hostile act. Again maybe I should have had you all roll initiative, but Kent solved that problem very nicely...and sorry Svetlana for the surprise attack...it was just out of convenience really...he was going to try and knife whoever got close to him.
I think I am going to change my alignment from CG to NG.
Anyone feel like holding a quick trail for the two bandits? The leader is likely going to be put to death, but we don't have anything on the girl yet besides hanging out with mixed company unless the Oleg's have some more tesminony.
No need to apologize to me! If was a fun RP actually.
I just learned goblin. Comprehend langages is a good spell for learning quickly.
I'll strip the bodies then acid splash them.
Sounds good. That was quite a flurry of action. I'll update HeroLab tonight and post a leveled up Svetlana.
Ulryk will definitely want to have a trial for them after they have both been questioned thoroughly. Then we will bury or burn the bodies or what-have you. Might be a reward for bandits killed, so burying the bodies might be preferable so we can retrieve evidence later. We can deal with that after in RP though.
We have an interesting mix of alignments in the party, though I think Ulryk is the only Lawful member.
I'll level myself this afternoon.
How do we deal with hit points? Roll here, or take the average?
Daniel, same question about hit points. I also PM'd you a question regarding leveling.
Basic updates: BAB increases by 1, Fort save increases by 1.
New Feat: Improved Trip likely, maybe power-attack dependant on PM
HP to be determined by your method.
New skills: Ride 1 rank (+5), Intimidate 1 rank (+6), Handle Animal 2 ranks (+7), Knowledge Dungeoneering 1 rank (+5) --> additional skills possible, but definately these.
Daniel would you care to post up the loot gained?
new spells
endure elements
protection from evil
one more first level spell slot
+1 will save
+1 bab
Skills +8 ranks 2+5int+1human
1 rank in spellcraft
1 rank in senseMotive
1 rank in Nature
1 rank in craft alchemy
1 rank in Local
1 rank in Engineering
1 rank in ride
1 rank in perception
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sorry...hp are roll or average +1 whichever you feel most comfortable with. But not both (Brigid you did not know so I will not count your roll)
I will list what you gathered from the bandits:
Money (hard currency, mostly in silver and copper):85gp
Gems and Jewelry: A silver amulet in the shape of a stag's head: ~35gp; 2 silver rings and 6 copper bracelets: ~25gp
Weapons: 5 short swords, 4 short bows, 1 longbow (composite), 1 dagger; 60 arrows
Armour: 6 sets of leather (in various states of repair)
Other: There are 6 horses with full tack minus saddlebags.
All these horses will be taxing poor Oleg's stable...a new corral might be needed!!
Anyone with the appraise skill can look at the items to get a better value on them. Also Oleg will stand as a witness to the number of bandits encountered, and their trial (if you have one)
In that case never switch the rank in ride to apprise and I roll.
examine the Amulet with
on the amulet just in case the first guess was too low.
I will gamble and roll.
Can I use Animal handling to determine if any of the horses are combat trained? Also, what is the composite strength of the longbow?
EDIT: Did I just get average+1? Hmm. I'll take the extra HP for favored class, so bump my new Hps to 18.
I'll take average +1. I hate relaying on luck. Unless I can use prescience to pre-roll and see what I would get.
I'll take favored class to health.
I'm going to assume that my apprise roll was high enough to know that
short swords 10 gp *5
short bows 30 gp *4
longbow (composite) 75gp *1
leather armor (bad repair) 5gp*6
+money 85gp
+stag's head and jewerly 60gp
=137 gp in sellable assuming Olag pays half price as per usual however I'm hoping that if we let him pay using store credit he will pay 275gp
so 420(if he pays full) /6 (I think there's 6 of us) =70gp each share.
I think that we will want to hold on to the jewelry. Also we have extra horse which can be very useful.
Thanks for the leniency on the HP!
I suppose the next big question is if the horses are war-trained. Ulryk's got the skill to determine that, I suppose.
Oh, and does the composite long bow have a high strength draw?
Okay, I have Leorn leveled. I'm not going to bother leveling Areanna as she is ready to leave. I'll take my chances with the dice and see what I get.
Leveled Damen:
Archery Combat Style
-Rapid Shot
+1 BAB (total +2)
+1 base F/R saves (total +3/+3)
9 skill points (6 base + 2 int + 1 favored class)
+1 Survival
+1 Perception
+1 Knowledge (Nature)
+1 Knowledge (Geography)
+1 Heal
+1 Handle Animal
+1 Climb
+1 Ride
+1 Stealth
And I'll roll for HP:
Whoop!
We all like to develop our character's personality, and both Svetlana's mind-bending tactic and Ulryk's attempt to get the goblin to surrender in the last combat had the common element of character-developing events that were in some ways snuffed out by Damen's action.
Hopefully I haven't poisoned anyone's fun. Having identified the problem, I'll be more cautious in the future.
Hopefully I haven't poisoned anyone's fun. Having identified the problem, I'll be more cautious in the future.
You'll have to work a lot harder than that to poison anyone's fun! Seriously though, it's all good. You're just figuring out the maps. No biggie.
As for Svetlana's level up, not a lot of new stuff: she'll take the average on hp, and put ranks into Bluff, Diplomacy, Sense Motive and Stealth. Rest is updated on the profile.
Game on!
Leveled Damen:
9 skill points (6 base + 2 int + 1 favored class)
+1 Survival
+1 Perception
+1 Knowledge (Nature)
+1 Knowledge (Geography)
+1 Heal
+1 Handle Animal
+1 Climb
+1 Ride
+1 Stealth
I am so jealous especially sense you forgot to add in the skill point you get for being human.
I picked up Weapon Focus: Composite Longbow. Skills added are Ride, Stealth, Survival. Plus 1 BAB, +1 Fort.
I get Bravery too...
Bravery! Forgot that. Yep, get that too.
re-counting
short swords 10 gp *5
short bows 30 gp *4
longbow (composite) 275gp *1
leather armor (bad repair) 5gp*6
+money 85gp
+stag's head and jewerly 60gp
=237.5 gp in sellable assuming Olag pays half price as per usual however I'm hoping that if we let him pay using store credit he will pay 475gp
so 620(if he pays full) /6 (I think there's 6 of us) =103.3gp each share.
I'm guessing someone is going to want the Composite bow (I can't use it) which will be quite a bit above a share, but we don't need to keep the wealth completely even all the time. All I would want to buy are spells and I don't think olag has them in stock at the moment I guess I might put in a order.
I can make use of the composite bow, but I'm probably not the best choice. I'd suggest Brigid gets it since she has the strength for it and seems to be primarily bow-based.
Thanks for catching the missed skill point, Kent. +1 swim as well, then!
Wow, that bow would be... perfect. I'd certainly like to lay claim to it. I'm pretty well kitted out for the bow. Or, we could do the haggling in-game as well.
A trussed up body, you say?
@Daniel: Let us know when we're good to launch into the IC Thread again.
Brigid - I am surprised you stuck with base fighter and did not take the figher Archtype Archer. It seems to fit what you are trying to do with your character. If you were unaware of it:
The archer is dedicated to the careful mastery of the bow, perfecting his skills with years of practice honed day after day on ranges and hunting for game, or else on the battlefield, raining destruction down on the enemy lines.
Hawkeye (Ex): At 2nd level, an archer gains a +1 bonus on Perception checks, and the range increment for any bow he uses increases by 5 feet. These bonuses increase by +1 and 5 additional feet for every 4 levels beyond 2nd. This ability replaces bravery.
Trick Shot (Ex): At 3rd level, an archer can choose one of the following combat maneuvers or actions: disarm, feint, or sunder. He can perform this action with a bow against any target within 30 feet, with a –4 penalty to his CMB. Every four levels beyond 3rd, he may choose an additional trick shot to learn. These maneuvers use up arrows as normal.
At 11th level, he may also choose from the following combat maneuvers: bull rush, grapple, trip. A target grappled by an arrow can break free by destroying the archer's arrow (hardness 5, hit points 1, break DC 13) or with an Escape Artist or CMB check (against the archer's CMD –4). This ability replaces armor training 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Expert Archer (Ex): At 5th level, an archer gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with bows. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 5th. This ability replaces weapon training 1.
Safe Shot (Ex): At 9th level, an archer does not provoke attacks of opportunity when making ranged attacks with a bow. This ability replaces weapon training 2.
Evasive Archer (Ex): At 13th level, an archer gains a +2 dodge bonus to AC against ranged attacks. This bonus increases to +4 at 17th level. This ability replaces weapon training 3.
Volley (Ex): At 17th level, as a full-round action, an archer can make a single bow attack at his highest base attack bonus against any number of creatures in a 15-foot- radius burst, making separate attack and damage rolls for each creature. This ability replaces weapon training 4.
Ranged Defense (Ex): At 19th level, an archer gains DR 5/— against ranged attacks. In addition, as an immediate action, he can catch an arrow fired at him and shoot it any target he chooses, as if he had the Snatch Arrows feat. This ability replaces armor mastery.
Weapon Mastery (Ex): An archer must choose a type of bow.
Ulryk could also make use of the composite bow, but I think it makes the most sense for Brigid to take it at this time.
How do we want to divide the treasure? Personally, Ulryk would probably take the stag head silver amulet if no one expressed interest in it. It's close to his own heraldic animal of an elk.