With the heart of the Stolen Lands explored and the bandits who ruled there scattered, the long-contested realm finally lies open for pioneers and settlers to stake their claims.:
Amid the rush of opportunistic travelers, the PCs find themselves stewards over a new domain, tasked with the responsibility of guiding and guarding a fledgling nation struggling to grow upon a treacherous borderland. Yet the threats to this new nation quickly prove themselves greater than mere bandits and wild beasts, as the monstrous natives of the hills and forests rampage forth to slaughter all who have trespassed upon their territory. Can the PCs hold the land they’ve fought so hard to explore and tame? Or will their legend be just one more lost to the fangs of the Stolen Lands?
When the tendril wraps around her mare's neck and starts pulling, Alia had already gotten ready to dismount and help Scarlet, jumping off from the poor animal as it got drawn to the floor.
Drawing her Estoc, she pushes forward, infusing her blade with arcane power, and, once Alia is at the opposite side from her friend, stabs at the plant creature:"Leave her alone!"
Reflex Save vs Thorn Bush DC 16:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 121 Damage Reflex Save vs Entangle DC 13:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19Not entangled
Scarlet and Alia both strike home but the vine still roils the thorns about it and its tendril continues to thrash. Then gnome sorcerer sends a wave of fire at it. The catches it and burns it down to the root taking a bit of the fauna around it and lighting the patch on fire.
Inspire Courage +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.
Round 1
The Bold May Act!
________________
__ Zokon
__ Posh
__ Scarlet
__ Numalar/Sir Didymus
__ Alia [Alia's horse -28 hp, unconscious, dying]
__ Celyne/Luna
@Celyne: Unless Initiative is deceptive, Numalar managed to burnify it. As such, the current problem is two-fold: My horse is dying, which would significantly impact overland speed, and the patch is burning down(I so expected that to happen -_-), which means no fangberries if we don't manage to quench it. I think there's no more vines to shoot with moonlight, so you MAY want to add an action of what you want to do if there's no enemies you can see.
Instead, Celyne casts stabilize on Alia's horse, saving her 'create water' for later for the berries... a life in the balance is worth more than some berries, regardless of the reward.
Source Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #25: Bastards of Erebus
Dousing a fire requires a large amount of water or other non-flammable material, such as dirt, to be deposited on the burning area. One effective strategy for extinguishing a fire quickly is to surround the burning area with nonflammable material. PCs doing this must make a ranged touch attack against an AC of 10 to deliver their payload to the intended square. The following indicates how many 5-foot squares of fire a number of the listed containers can extinguish with successful delivery.
Waterskin: Twenty waterskins full of water extinguish one square.
Bucket: Four buckets full of non-flammable material extinguish one square.
Gallon Container: Twelve gallon containers of nonflammable material extinguish one square.
Cauldron: One cauldron of non-flammable material extinguishes one square.
Portable Hole: A portable hole filled with non-flammable material extinguishes a 12-square-by-12-square area.
Bag of Holding: A bag of holding, type I filled with nonflammable material extinguishes a 3-square-by-3-square area, type II extinguishes a 5-square-by-5-square area, type III extinguishes a 7-square-by-7-square area, and type IV extinguishes a 10-square-by-10-square area.
I'll grant that a strength check DC 18, done as a full-round action, is enough (cinematically speaking) to stomp out/smother a big fire (like a 5x5 square's worth) at the cost of possibly igniting yourself. You can keep your roll giving you what you need, but possibly catch fire, or you can reconsider your action knowing what you (now) know about forest fires.
Catching on Fire wrote:
Characters exposed to burning oil, bonfires, and non-instantaneous magic fires might find their clothes, hair, or equipment on fire. Spells with an instantaneous duration don't normally set a character on fire, since the heat and flame from these come and go in a flash.
Characters at risk of catching fire are allowed a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid this fate. If a character's clothes or hair catch fire, he takes 1d6 points of damage immediately. In each subsequent round, the burning character must make another Reflex saving throw. Failure means he takes another 1d6 points of damage that round. Success means that the fire has gone out—that is, once he succeeds on his saving throw, he's no longer on fire.
A character on fire may automatically extinguish the flames by jumping into enough water to douse himself. If no body of water is at hand, rolling on the ground or smothering the fire with cloaks or the like permits the character another save with a +4 bonus.
Those whose clothes or equipment catch fire must make DC 15 Reflex saves for each item. Flammable items that fail take the same amount of damage as the character.
"No good letting this grove burn down. We need to support the biodiversity of this ecosystem!", Alia shouts, her mind focused on stomping out fires, only to see them flare up again in other places.
At least, not catching fire herself.
Could either Ray of Frost be used to selectively attack spots where the fire jumps over, or prestidigitation to either "chill" them or artificially cover them(to smother flames)?
Whee! Scarlet seems to be having more fun stomping the flames (and the plant that tried to eat her) than worry about catching fire.
"Haha! We're gonna need a lot of water to extinguish this. Should I work on the flames? Or grab the berries before they burn down?"
It would take 10 man-minutes to collect a significant amount of fangberries. However if you just want to pick a few to eat....
Alia of the Blade wrote:
Could either Ray of Frost be used to selectively attack spots where the fire jumps over, or prestidigitation to either "chill" them or artificially cover them(to smother flames)?
Yeaaaa-NO.
Inspire Courage +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.
Round 2
The Bold May Act!
________________
__ Zokon
__ Posh
__ Scarlet
__ Numalar/Sir Didymus
__ Alia [Alia's horse -28 hp, unconscious, stable]
__ Celyne/Luna
__ The fire
Hey, no sarcasm needed. If fire damage causes things to blaze up, then cold damage could well be a reasonable counter. I mean purely mechanical, Ice Storm would not even snuff out a candle unless the damage breaks it. As such, ray of frost doing 1d3+1 cold damage versus the fires 1d6 fire seemed a reasonable possibility :P Not arguing, I'm fine with the call, but that response made me want to clarify my train of thought.
Hey, no sarcasm needed. If fire damage causes things to blaze up, then cold damage could well be a reasonable counter. I mean purely mechanical, Ice Storm would not even snuff out a candle unless the damage breaks it. As such, ray of frost doing 1d3+1 cold damage versus the fires 1d6 fire seemed a reasonable possibility :P Not arguing, I'm fine with the call, but that response made me want to clarify my train of thought.
My thought runs thusly: by the math it looks as though it takes about 20 gallons of water to put out a 25 sq ft fire. If this were a case of my heat gun vs your cold gun in open air that would work and they would cancel each other at this point the fire has too much volume for a ray to handle. That, and the fact that it is an instantaneous cantrip, and doesn't really leave anything (or anything really significant) behind in the whole smothering department, where the reasons for my ruling. On a similar note it will take Celyne 27 castings of create water (2 gallons/level for 6 gallons/rd) to douse the current fire.
Rather than playing all 27 rounds, let us assume that with Celyne keeping the fire at bay, Zokon helps stomp with Alia and Scarlet while the gnomes and eventually everyone else slowly wades into the field to collect 4 of Numalar's tophat's worth of (surprisingly--in the Altoid-sense of the term--bitter tasting) fangberries.... at the cost of looking like they crawled out of a thorn bush by the end.
FIRE-FIGHT OVER
That night, after completing your survey of the area, the wind whips into a howling thunderstorm with 40 mph winds mixed with a little damp snow during the second watch as the temperature drips below freezing in the middle of the night.
There are six hours in the wee hours of the night starting at the beginning of second watch that dip down to near-freezing causing a cold hazard. Until then it's lots of rain and thunder. Let me know what you want to do.
| Bloodrage 12/12 | Fire Strikes 3/3 | HP 43/43 | AC 18 T 14 F 14(Uncanny Dodge) | CMD 19 | Saves 6/4/0 (+1 Will vs Mind Affecting) | Init 3 | Perception 3 | 4 Female Ifrit Bloodrager (elemental, fire) | Spells 2 |
Scarlet stomps as many fires as she can, clearly enjoying her time, then trying to be serious when she notices her allies. "The berries are safe, right?" She looks at the collection of berries. "Good."
As the weather turns for the worse, Scarlet wipes some snow off her nose. "We'd better find a relatively warm and dry place to put a tent for some shelter, and fast."
Survival:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23 Man my dice are on fire.
"What about over there? Looks like the snow would fall to our sides."
Since you will be stationary everyone gets a +4 bonus to the SIX(!) Fortitude saves I'm eventually going to ask for, thanks to Scarlet's awesome survival check.
Oh, and we'll hand wave the thorn damage sustained, but what about the poor horse!?
The Taun-Taun will help me make the fortitude saves. Even if it smells worse on the inside. J/K we'll burn a few wand charges unless someone objects. At 5.5 average, thats 6 charges to get it back up and running at reduced health?
1d3 ⇒ 1(Celyne, Numalar, Posh - people with worst Fortitude, alphabetical)
Realizing the weather will only get worse, and the storm including rain make it harder to get a fire going, or find dry things to burn, Alia follows Scarlets advice, making sure that her horse is well wrapped up close to the others so they can share warmth, and that Vega is protected from the rain, and his cage covered with blankets in the middle of the horses, too.
She then approaches Celyne, and casts Endure Elements(per arcane bond/any one spell known) on her:"Looks like a bad storm coming, at least one of us knowledgeable in the healing arts should be sheltered from the cold, if anybody else needs assistance. It will also allow you to look after Vega, Luna, the dog and the horses without worrying about your own well-being."
She then sits stoically at the location designated by Scarlet, resisting the urge to try and cuddle up with someone to preserve body heat. Right now, pride seemed more important.
Should we make the Fortitude Saves right now, or will you call them out later? Or will they be spread over significant time intervalls? Because if so, I could prepare more Endure Elements-Goodness tomorrow(and refresh with the pearl)
When the weather starts to turn Zokon starts thinking of a few options that can enhance Scarlets idea
Survival aid Scarlet:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
"Howabout a tent for the horses and maybe foliage on the ground to help prevent cold from below.. keep them together and also us, lets all bunch together for sleeping and watches to keep ourselves warm."
Should we make the Fortitude Saves right now, or will you call them out later? Or will they be spread over significant time intervalls? Because if so, I could prepare more Endure Elements-Goodness tomorrow(and refresh with the pearl)
I'll call them out as soon as most folks let me know how they are preparing. Also between Scarlet and Zokon you currently have 10 +4 bonuses to divide among the party, Naleksa,the horses, the dog and the cats. Let me know how you want to divide them.
2d100 ⇒ (29, 61) = 90
2d100 ⇒ (14, 25) = 39
Naleksa has one set of furs and one set of cold weather gear that she is willing to sell at her usual mark up. If no one buys, she uses them herself and makes warm noises in front of people who fail their first save.
"Thank you Alia, that helps a lot... I was getting awfully cold... and it will only get worse. I fear for the others though... especially Posh and Numalar... they are both on the spare side and don't have a lot of insulation. When it's time to bed down, I will recommend that they cuddle up with someone warm... Luna would be a good candidate.. she generates a lot of heat and two gnomes can curl up with her easily."cats, and dogs too, tend to have body temps around 100 degrees F
Gnome Sorcerer 4 | AC: 15, TAC: 13, FAC: 13, CMD: 11 | HP 7/23 | Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +6 | Init +5 | Perception +9, Sense Motive +2, Darkvision 60' |
Resources:
Spell Slots available: 1st: 5/8 2nd: 3/4 Claws: 8/8 rounds left SLAs: Dancing Lights, Prestidigitation, Flare, Produce Flame
"This is Brevoy. You need to dress warm. Anything I can do to help?"
Numalar has (and has always had) cold weather clothing. Does that help? Thought it prudent since the game began at the end of winter.
Numalar can sleep in those clothes if necessary. He also has a courtier's outfit, which if necessary he could put on under the cold weather clothing as an extra layer.
And then, he can also help start a BIG fire.
The rules say that in cold weather an "unprotected character" is susceptible to damage but doesn't mention an effect for characters who are "protected" until you get to the "severe cold" category.
Sir Didymus and Luna have fur coats and are adapted for cold. So I'm not too worried about them. If they stay close to a fire and to people they should be fine. I'm mostly worried about the horses.
But we are still in forested territory, aren't we? It should be possible to rig up some kind of shelter for the horses (and the mules) taking advantage of tree cover. The horses will naturally huddle together. Mind you, wild horses survive this kind of weather all the time.
"Let's try to keep the horses under the trees and out of the wind."
If you have means of starting and keeping a proper fire going after "lots of rain with stormy winds", by all means do so - a campfire bead may also be something convenient to craft, if we "order" it from the pool, it will barely reduce our respective personal wealths(in this case, we would simply need shelter and not worry about finding dry fuel or getting a fire going). @taking advantage of cover/animals/taking shelter: I expected Scarlets check followed by "be stationary and get a bonus" to mean exactly that. I am not truly worried for the animals, they should be quite capable of dealing with weather. Vega also has a Fur Coat, btw. :P Still doesn't hurt to let them have some extra warmth.
Numalar has (and has always had) cold weather clothing. Does that help?
Yep, +5 circumstance bonus on Fortitude saving throws against exposure to cold weather.
Numalar Auritonius wrote:
The rules say that in cold weather an "unprotected character" is susceptible to damage but doesn't mention an effect for characters who are "protected" until you get to the "severe cold" category.
In this particular case I would put it this way, let's say you went camping in really bad weather (high wind, rain and snow), would wearing your winter coat reduce the chance of you feeling out of sorts and fatigued after an hour (or six) of such exposure. Could all the wind and wet lead to hypothermia? This time around you get the bonuses. If it were a nice, calm, clear but otherwise cold winter day, I'd say you were 'protected' against the exposure.
As a side note, even covered lanterns are going to be hard to kept lit with the amount of wind.
Numalar Auritonius wrote:
But we are still in forested territory, aren't we?
Most of the land the party is in now is rough rolling hills. There are a few trees dotted here and there, but not enough in one place to shelter the entire group, and with the thunder and lightning you might not want to risk it.
Barring any other prep. We are now down to three (3) Fortitude saves for the evening for each person (sans those blessed by endure elements). 10 of these saves gain a +4 bonus due to survival checks. Cold weather gear gives you a +5 bonus that stacks with the survival bonus. Furs give you a +2 bonus that does not stack with survival (the assumption, I guess, being that you are smart enough to already be huddling with your dog).
Scarlet In addition to the poor weather I need an additional Fort save DC 11 after everything else.
Gnome Sorcerer 4 | AC: 15, TAC: 13, FAC: 13, CMD: 11 | HP 7/23 | Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +6 | Init +5 | Perception +9, Sense Motive +2, Darkvision 60' |
Resources:
Spell Slots available: 1st: 5/8 2nd: 3/4 Claws: 8/8 rounds left SLAs: Dancing Lights, Prestidigitation, Flare, Produce Flame
RPGGGM wrote:
would wearing your winter coat reduce the chance of you feeling out of sorts and fatigued after an hour (or six) of such exposure?
Compared to not wearing your winter coat? Absolutely.
RPGGGM wrote:
Could all the wind and wet lead to hypothermia?
The wind and wet are only a problem until we get our tents up. We are obviously not going to spend the whole night out in the rain and snow. Getting the tents up securely could be difficult but together we can do it... I assume survival checks would be involved.
survival (either myself or aid another):1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Once they are up and we are in the tents the wind and rain are kept out. And the snow actually helps, since it piles up on the sides of the tents making them more secure.
What can I say... I'm from Canada. They train you from childhood around here with what to do about the cold. And it's colder where I am now that it is where our characters are.
| Bloodrage 12/12 | Fire Strikes 3/3 | HP 43/43 | AC 18 T 14 F 14(Uncanny Dodge) | CMD 19 | Saves 6/4/0 (+1 Will vs Mind Affecting) | Init 3 | Perception 3 | 4 Female Ifrit Bloodrager (elemental, fire) | Spells 2 |
"Nighty night, folks!" Scarlet falls right asleep.
Man it's cold... Do we apply the survival checks before or after we roll? If it's before, Scarlet will take 1 Fort Save for the DC 17 roll. Fort DC 15:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 Fort DC 16:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12 Fort DC 17:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Man, did this bruise go away yet? Fort DC 11:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Male Gnome Bard/ 3rd AC: 15 (T 12, FF 14), HP 20/20 5NL, Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +1; +2 Enchantment | CMB +1, CMD 14 | Init +3 | Perc +4
RPGGGM wrote:
Naleksa has one set of furs and one set of cold weather gear that she is willing to sell at her usual mark up. If no one buys, she uses them herself and makes warm noises in front of people who fail their first save.
Would a save be required for sharing her warmth? *wink* Eitherway, as per Posh's drawback he's after the one warm body that's going.
@Alia Did you want to continue the earlier discussion at this point? Done during the watch of course.
would wearing your winter coat reduce the chance of you feeling out of sorts and fatigued after an hour (or six) of such exposure?
Compared to not wearing your winter coat? Absolutely.
RPGGGM wrote:
Could all the wind and wet lead to hypothermia?
The wind and wet are only a problem until we get our tents up. We are obviously not going to spend the whole night out in the rain and snow. Getting the tents up securely could be difficult but together we can do it... I assume survival checks would be involved.
That's what the survival checks up to this point have been for. Yours however can help.
Aye, but Scarlet only attempted to use one of the survival-boni against her disease-Save. If she has Furs, that should give her a +2 Flat bonus on all her (environmental) saves, right? Since she did not dip into the 10x(+4)-pool in the first place.
That said, would holding on to a stone or waterskin that is warmed via prestidigitation help? I am thinking this kind of mechanism. If it is kept close, below protective cover, and permanently re-warmed via Prestidigitiation, would it help? I know the effect is severely limited, but considering how long things can hold warmth if properly isolated, and that there would be a constant influx of "warming" it would seem reasonable to at least get it "warm" if not hot for some source of personal heating
"Nighty night, folks!" Scarlet falls right asleep.
Man it's cold... Do we apply the survival checks before or after we roll? If it's before, Scarlet will take 1 Fort Save for the DC 17 roll.
Man, did this bruise go away yet?
The result of a survival check made to get by in a hostile environment usually applies for 24 hours, so it adds to all of Scarlet's fortitude checks caused by said environment. So you're good.
Although she feels as though she might be coming down with something, but not enough to affect her performance today. Maybe another night's sleep is all she needs.
Aye, but Scarlet only attempted to use one of the survival-boni against her disease-Save. If she has Furs, that should give her a +2 Flat bonus on all her (environmental) saves, right? Since she did not dip into the 10x(+4)-pool in the first place.
That said, would holding on to a stone or waterskin that is warmed via prestidigitation help? I am thinking this kind of mechanism. If it is kept close, below protective cover, and permanently re-warmed via Prestidigitiation, would it help? I know the effect is severely limited, but considering how long things can hold warmth if properly isolated, and that there would be a constant influx of "warming" it would seem reasonable to at least get it "warm" if not hot for some source of personal heating
I tend to think that most of this sort of thing is covered by the survival bonus. What else are you doing for all those hours? Basically, you have the wisdom and know-how to do these things. And Numalar just brought up the aid count to 16 +4 bonuses.
Actually, I don't have wisdom, and my survival is crap. All I'm doing for these hours is try and get through without having to tick off toes or fingers on the frostbite checklist. Also, having lived for much longer than many of those more capable, Alia is unwilling to seek aid. She may not have the pride drawback, but an Elf needing help to survive in the wilderness because it's gotten a little cold? She won't admit that. Also in-game reason for casting Endure Elements on someone else(gameplay-wise, because Celyne had the worst Fortitude-Save)
That also means the cold weather-outfit is available for Posh, who can cuddle up with Naleksa.
@Posh/Discussion: Definitely will continue, maybe while exploring tomorrow. Right now, I don't think Alia wants to talk very much ;) I have job experience with standing outside for 6+ hours with little room to move and almost no shelter at temperatures below -10°C while there's a snowstorm. Casually chatting was not high on the list of priorities, there ;) - but then, I kind of expected not to sleep, at all, during this stormy night, so didn't consider watch shifts. Either way, I'll answer the discussion, but at a time when it feels more in-place to me, ok? :)
Gnome Sorcerer 4 | AC: 15, TAC: 13, FAC: 13, CMD: 11 | HP 7/23 | Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +6 | Init +5 | Perception +9, Sense Motive +2, Darkvision 60' |
Resources:
Spell Slots available: 1st: 5/8 2nd: 3/4 Claws: 8/8 rounds left SLAs: Dancing Lights, Prestidigitation, Flare, Produce Flame
RPGGGM wrote:
And Numalar just brought up the aid count to 16 +4 bonuses.[/ooc]
And FYI I didn't bother to use any since I had the cold weather clothing bonus. Figured they would be better spent elsewhere.
What kind of bonus does Sir Didymus get? I haven't rolled for him yet. Does he count as wearing Cold Weather Clothing? Or as wearing furs? And is there any bonus for him being in my tent?
Let's definitely apply survival bonuses to the horses and mules though.
In the deep watches of the night just as the sun starts painting the sky purple and rose, Alia stands up to stretch. She surmounts the hill the party had sheltered behind from the stinging ice-filled wind before the storm ran its course and there to the south amid a tumble of rolling hills she espies a campfire's worth of smoke seeking the clouds.
By the area map Alia is looking down into the hex rumored to be the location of a lost or ruined settlement abutting the great lake. If you want to turn aside from the path to investigate you may. This event happens an hour before the end of third watch.
If you failed a save you take 1d6 points of nonelethal damage from exposure to the cold and storm per failed save. There are three saves and their difficultis increase as the night wears on (DC 15, 16, and 17 respectively). This damage can only be cured by sometime in the warmth. I am still missing some saves, which I'll roll when I get home.
Trying to keep covered with blankets and sheltered during the first 2 shifts, Alia feels the icy fingers of the blizzard creeping into her more and more. When the cold grows worse in the night, but the storm grows weaker, and her watch starts, she stands up and starts some physical training...hoping that the exercise would help her generate some body warmth. It does help, somewhat, and when, close to sunrise, she runs up the little hill, she sees the smoke.
With Celynes response, I assume I simply shared the info.
"Well, we are here to explore these lands, right? Besides, with the map lost, my guess is as good as any as to where the ruin I am supposed to find is. May as well be some other settlement was built at it's location, then abandoned. Still wonder if I should have asked Ed...but I was uncertain about his motivation...sorry, I'm talking too much...too worked up."
