Rappan Athuk [Pf]

Game Master Chris Manos

Honestly, changing it around a little is fine, if you want to.

You could put acid in there, sure. Or spikes on the bottom.

That's the nice thing about illusion magic, there's not a whole lot of limits to it.

If I'm gonna do it, I might as well go for the Acid.

OK let's change it to a 10' wide L- shape between the ghouls and us. Belle can close off another side with glitterdust and voila, instant defense on 3 sides.

Everyone move up into the pocket

OK. I am just not getting this. You want us to move forward next to the illusory pit and leave the safety of high ground with a nice solid wall at our backs?

Why? And try to explain in character (gameplay) in 6 seconds or less. Because Belle, for one likes that nice big wall. Think of it as her security blanket. Wall at her back, Reynauld and Gary in front of her. Pretty sweet and cozy is all I'm saying.

Technically, it's the safety of low ground. The southern mausoleum is sort of in its own little hollow.

I think Magnus fears that the ghouls will climb the mausoleum and come at you from above.

I'd rather they try that than run out there and trust my back to an illusory pit. But if Magus can be persuasive enough IC and the others run for it, Belle might become a little less cozy there all by herself :)

Gav, I'm kinda with Belle on this one - wouldn't it be safer with the mausoleum at our backs? Even if they climb, I'm not sure they can reach us from up above, and we should be able to pepper them with spells and attacks as they do it?

Aren't you denied your dexterity bonus to AC while climbing?

Hint* Hint* :D

They can jump down on us, negating any disadvantage from climbing. I'm happy to go with the majority vote on this, but with the mausoleum being easy to climb, I would send some people to climb the sides and then jump down on us from above. They only need to get one in our midst to paralyze half of us, and then they can surround the fighters and annihilate them. I think its too risky, as 2 spells can negate most of their attempts to surround us, but as I said, I am happy to go with the majority vote.

You are assuming the two illusion spells? If they do not save, correct? Otherwise we are immediately surrounded.

The mausoleum can buy us a couple of rounds, right?

Alternatively, I can place the pit in a strip along the entrance and one side of the stairs, meaning that they would have to climb the side of the stairs to attack, giving us a tactical advantage if we wait on the stairs. Belle can place glitterdust at the top of the stairs if they try getting to us that way.

I thought we were inside the mausoleum.

Nope :P

I was thinking along the lines of putting a pit on one side protecting a flank. I thought you had to concentrate on the spell and if so then I don't think you can have two of them going at the same time - unless there is a duration past concentration lapse or unless you can concentrate on two at once.

Anyway, if they DO start to climb, you can warn us and we could do the pit protection thing. But IC I just don't think all that can be communicated in 6 seconds and the fear of their climbing is far less than the immediate concern of being surrounded by a dozen way-to-intelligent ghouls that could easily see through the illusion. It only takes one saving throw or spellcraft and the fellow will be shouting to the others that they need to disbelieve giving them a big bonus to ST (I think that is how illusions work) and the whole plan falls apart. And I would not be at all surprised if their leader turns out to be a spellcaster.

Even with a Saving Throw, it will slow them down. The pit is along a flank, however it can be arranged to cover any 5 10'x10' squares (so long as they are together), which means that it can cover 2 sides (a flank and a front) with a respectable width of pit. You are right that it is concentration, so I can only maintain 1 per round, which I hadn't realised.

To be honest, what I mostly want to do is bunch them up so I can take a lot of them out with burning hands. If there are a few stragglers left, they will be easy to take out, but anything that forces them to attack across a narrow frontage is a bonus in my book.

and I don't fully agree that we have just 6 seconds; we have been travelling together for a couple of weeks, plenty of time to thrash out general tactics. More specific ones; yes just 6 seconds, but general principles like when and how to use illusions would have been discussed just as we are now.

You don't really have time to discuss tactics that extensively.

I based my comment on only having 6 seconds on this observation from the GM which was a while ago in the same round of combat. Frankly, as a player, I'm feeling self-conscious because of that and feel like we should move things along.

Just to be clear, Magnus' actions for this round is that he concentrates on the pit spell?

Also, did Belle take any actions last round? I might've jumped the gun a little here.

Edit: Yeah, just going to delete my last post, and wait until I know what Belle and Magnus are doing with their actions.

So, for reference, this is what the map will look like after Belle and Magnus have taken their turns (barring movement or ghoul kills on their part, of course), and this is what the map looks like right now, except the pit is really the same 'L' shape as seen in the above map.

Okay guys, if I cast burning hands from where I am now, only half the stairs would be covered. We have no room to maneuver piled up against the wall here; ideally I would need to be between and behind Reynaud and Garrosh, and there would need to be a gap between them. Belle will also need to be able to maneuver between them to cast Cure Light Wounds, and we may need to be able to maneuver as events unfold. I would suggest you move forward a bitto give us an extra 5' of maneuver space.

Belle's action the first round was to start a summon monster. Is this the second round? I thought the ghouls would have moved closer so perhaps I was fooled into thinking it was still the first round.

Yes, this is the second round. We will have the third round very soon.

Pre-combat: Party leaves the southern mausoleum. Gates shut behind you. Spot ghouls ahead.
Start of combat Map.
Rd 1: Party(not including Agyen) <- wins initiative, Magnus(casts Silent Image), Tony(Readies two flasks for throwing), Garrosh(casts Protection from Evil), Belle(Casts SMII), Reynaud(is a fighter, so eh.)
Rd 1: Ghouls <- they ran towards you.
Post-Round 1 Map
Rd 2: Party(Agyen has first action here) <- We are Here, Agyen(casts Bless), Garrosh(casts Divine Favor), Reynaud(readies action), Tony(drinks Antiplague), Magnus(???, presumably includes concentration on spell), Belle(???, presumably includes picking a type and location of summon, and maybe giving it orders?)
Rd 2: Ghouls <- Happens as soon as I know what Belle and Magnus are up to.

Sorry if all this was confusing. I shall get in the habit of putting round-headers on my IC posts, I think. And maybe keep a log like this somewhere you can get at it.

Team,

I wanted to let you guys know I am going on vacations from next Sunday onward, for about two weeks.

I'm travelling with the family tomorrow, before the vacations start proper, so I should be able to keep up the posting until Sunday, but after that I cannot guarantee it since I will probably be immersed in tepid sea or pool water, hopefully with some sort of alcoholic beverage closeby :D

As always, bot me as needed - go GANG!

I'll be on vacation the week of the 4th, but I'm bringing my chromebook and banking on their having decent internet and the wife not minding an hour or two gaming.

Gavmania, could you post for Magnus in the IC for this round please?

miteke and Edeldhur, I do hope you have a good time on your vacations :)

Alcoholic beverages are nice!

oh, oh! I have a request! I'm going to summon an earth elemental next turn that would profit from an enlarge spell. You can cast enlarge on an earth elemental, can't you? It says humanoid and I'm not sure an earth elemental counts.

Elementals are outsoders, sadly.

'Humanoid' is referring to the creature type, not the concept of humanoid shape.

I'll update before I get to bed, sometime. Expect the next round to be up in an hour or two.

Each of the eagles carve long scratches into the scalp and shoulders of two ghouls.

They snap at the eagles in retalliation.

10 Claw v. 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11, 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
10 Claw v. 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11, 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
10 Bite v. 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4, 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

1 Claw v. 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8, 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
1 Claw v. 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6, 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
1 Bite v. 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20, 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

4 Bite v. 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11, 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

One of the celestial birds are caught in the maw of a ghoul, and summarily crushed, disappearing from the material plane. The other one weathers the tide, and caws in victory.

The tide of ghouls rush past the ones caught up fighting the eagles, and veer around the illusory pit. The quicker ones slow down as they reach the mouth of the stairs, apparently not wanting to be the first one into the fray, at least without backup closer at hand.

The remaining eagle takes a shot at one of the ghouls rushing by. Alas, its talons rake nothing but air.

Talon vs. 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9, 1d4 ⇒ 1

Map!

Guys, we're still bunched up with no room for maneuver, and I can still only cover half the stairs. It might even be worth moving down the stairs to take out a couple before the rest arrive, but I'll leave that up to you. Remember, ghouls average 13 hp (or more) and I can do an average of 10hp damage to all that I can hit with burning hands, so the more I can cover, the better. Also, if they hit you, they may paralyze you - so don't let yourself get hit!

If we move in we'll get surrounded and that's what happened last time.

You could always move your pit to cover a flank. That would help. But I for one am not as interested in maneuvering as in keeping the number of ghouls that can engage at one time to a minimum.

Would you guys rather have a google drawings document that everyone can edit in?

I've done it before; I found it very fiddly, and have had problems with people editing stuff they weren't supposed to (i.e. moving their allies into places where they'd rather have them stand for various reasons, or editing the on-screen damage counts), as well as the editor not being very good - its layer function sets every object as its own layer, for example, and once the maps get above a certain size, things get unwieldy.

That said, if everyone values equal access to moving and editing the stuff, I could accomodate that.

I like being able to move stuff myself, though I can definitely see issues occurring at times. I've played in a number of games where player movement is allowed and it seems to work pretty good. I've only seen an issue a couple of times and we worked it out without any problems.

If we move in we'll get surrounded and that's what happened last time.

Not if you move 5' forward, they will still have to come up the stairs to get at you, I will be able to maneuver and I can kill a good bunch.

The whole point of bunching them up is so that I can get as many as possible with burning hands. If I can't get to a position to catch most of them, it will be wasted, which means that you will be facing overwhelming numbers. Frankly, I don't wish to die because you won't move 5'.

As a bonus, you will have an earth elemental on your flank (Well, on Garroshe's).

I also need a 5' gap between you to blast through, else one of you will get hit by the burning hands.

Which is a thought; Belle if you summon another creature, why not make it a fire elemental? That way I can blast 'through' them and they are immune to my damage. It will then plug the gap between Reynaud and Garrosh.

The most you can get is 6 with burning hands in the best of circumstances. I'd rather you fry them 2-4 at a time than us get swarmed by all 13 at once.

I was also wondering, Reynauld, that if he had the ideal situation and there were 5 of them crunched up just beyond you in the cone area, would you mind catching the first 5' portion and taking the 5d4?

Not something I would want to do normally, but I know my character would be willing to take 12 points of fire damage in order to fry 5 of them with the same. I fear the paralysis more than the damage, at least at this point. Once they start attacking that might change.

Ditto with the Color Spray. If you do get paralyzed I fully intend to spray you to get the ghouls next to you. I mean, what the heck? Blinded + paralyzed is not that much worse than just paralyzed. In fact you may not WANT to see what is coming :) If you see it differently let me know. I'm not willing to piss a player off. Hopefully it won't come to that.

I am sooo getting a protection from evil spell when we get a chance so I can buff you. Are there any other good AC buff spells out there an Arcanist can use on another character? I'm not seeing much.

Enlarge person is good. And I bet that while Reynaud might not have that much use of it, Garrosh will like it a lot.

Come sixth level, there's haste, although you probably knew about that one.

Haste is nice. Only a +1 AC but lots of nice bennies. I was looking for something to boost AC though, like barkskin or shield of faith, that an arcanist could use. I just don't think there is anything.

If you say so about the whole 5' thing.

The whip only has 15ft. Range, right? You'd have to 5ft. Step forward to make that hit, I think.

Might be wrong.

You're right Olaf...

In that case if Reynaud steps forward those 5' (as per the debate above), Garrosh does the same. If not, then mine is a readied attack.

Yeah, let's do that.

Ok. You're moving the line a bit up, then. Sounds good.

Onward!

I still need Reynaud and Magnus' actions.

I can guess, but I would *really* prefer if you posted them, preferably with the specific actions written out in Ooc tag text.

If you don't to do anything, just post that.

By the way Belle, when you say two north of Tony, you mean this(1) as opposed to this(2), right?

By the way Belle, when you say two north of Tony, you mean this(1) as opposed to this(2), right?

Correct.

Tony, are you moving? Belle did not move up so that leaves the spot in front of her open if you want it.

The most you can get is 6 with burning hands in the best of circumstances. I'd rather you fry them 2-4 at a time than us get swarmed by all 13 at once.

How do you figure that? the description reads:

A cone of searing flame shoots from your fingertips. Any creature in the area of the flames takes 1d4 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 5d4). Flammable materials burn if the flames touch them. A character can extinguish burning items as a full-round action.

For Magnus, That's 4d4 damage, a minimum of 4, a maximum of 16 and an average of 10 damage.

I can boost it with potent magic to 5d4. (sadly I can't go beyond that unless I memorize it as a heightened spell, which I chose not to), which I probably will do. That brings average damage to 12.5, just a hairs breadth away from the 13 that ghouls normally have. 1 lucky die roll and they're toast. Of course, I could roll low for damage, but even so that would just mean that I would have to blast them again the following turn, or someone just needs to hit them once. All in all a good bet.

I agree with you on casting *through* someone, like Reynaud or Garrosh. If it comes to a choice between doing a bit of damage to an ally or letting 5 enemies live, I'll go with the damage; they can always be healed. Hopefully It won't come to that, and we will be able to maneuver freely to a satisfactory position.

Sorry if I was unclear. I was not talking about the amount of damage, I was talking about the number of ghouls you could catch in the AoE. I was just saying that it would be tough to get 6 ghouls in one blast and that you are more likely to get 2-4 at a time which is pretty good in my mind.

Tony, are you moving? Belle did not move up so that leaves the spot in front of her open if you want it.

Sure, I'll five-foot step into position and make a secondary line.