This is my first time running combat in a play-by-post environment, so if anyone has any feedback, please feel free to share it with me!
Combat's flowing really well, so you're doing a great job! One minor suggestion though, it might make it easier on yourself and us if you number/letter the battle grid on the x and y axes. Then it'll be easier to pinpoint exactly where everyone's moving to or which creature is being attacked.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I'll do the grouping as suggested (so Caelia/Igmar/Zev are now up in the order as I post this), and I've labeled the battle grid.
I may not be able to post for the next 36 to 48 hours, as I'm going in on Monday morning for minor surgery to remove some old metal fragments from my leg.
The little buggers have been worming their way inwards and one has started pressing up against the sciatic nerve in my upper left leg. It's not as serious as it sounds, as there's a cushion of scar tissue around the fragment, but the pressure against the nerve is causing me a bit of pain. Hence it's coming out tomorrow.
Although it will be day surgery and I'll be home in the afternoon, they'll have me on painkillers too, so I may be too sleepy and dopey to write anything coherent here. Long story short, if I don't post for the next two days, please don't write me off, and just NPC any responses from Aishe as needed. :)
No sweat, Aishe. I hope you have a speedy recovery, and hopefully we'll talk to you again real soon. :)
I also wanted to wish all the dads out there a Happy Father's Day! As the saying goes, anyone can be a father but it takes a special person to be a dad. Best wishes, everyone! :)
Don't worry, Aishe, and thanks for letting me know!
On another topic, my apologies for making this first encounter such a brutal one!
As some of you know, adventure paths are typically designed for four adventurers, so I will be adding more challenging encounters than are written. I want to find a good balance between encounters that the party should survive in most cases, yet still remain challenging. I will continue to tweak things as we go to keep everything interesting (hopefully).
Although the dice have to share in a bit of the blame as well, at least so far. :)
I've put a campaign tracking sheet up on the campaign info tab. On this page, I'll be tracking key character stats (mainly the most-used ones for mass rolls so I don't have to check each character sheet), wealth, various items found, experience points and rations.
It's not fully complete yet, but I'll be continuing to add to it as we go. If you spot any mistakes, please let me know here in the discussion thread.
Looks good to me. Just checking in; figured there was no need to post while unconscious.
Hi all. I have to be careful sitting down at the moment, thanks to several stitches in a delicate location, but I'm back. Sorry for the delay.
Hey Aishe. Good to have you back. A bit disappointed you didn't post while doped up though. Would have been more interesting. =P
I poked around the spreadsheet too. Only thing I saw to correct was Sarya's +7 geography skill. Seems like a lot of work went into it. Hopefully it helps make everything easier on you though.
Hey Aishe. Good to have you back. A bit disappointed you didn't post while doped up though. Would have been more interesting. =P
Heh, sorry to disappoint you; they never give me much in the way of opiates like morphine or codine, as I have a susceptibility to them. It only takes about a third of the normal dose to send me into la-la land. Hence I actually am technically as doped up as I can be at the moment and still be conscious. Actually I have a friend who's a pharmacy student; I'll have to remember to ask him about how common that is next time I see him.
See? Random and meandering stream of thought... I am in la-la land.
Prestidigitation can be used to "chill, warm, or flavor 1 pound of nonliving material". Given time, could I use it to thaw the ice around the bodies so they can be examined and transported?
I think you're asking the wrong question Arkady. You should be asking us what flavor we want our corpsesicle to be.
Prestidigitation can be used to "chill, warm, or flavor 1 pound of nonliving material". Given time, could I use it to thaw the ice around the bodies so they can be examined and transported?
The ice in this context is non-magical, and the ambient temperature is just above freezing. Given enough time, the ice will melt by itself, so I have no problem with using prestidigitation in this context.
If the temperature was below freezing, or the ice was magically maintained in someway, I would probably say no. And trust me, it will get colder!
I think you're asking the wrong question Arkady. You should be asking us what flavor we want our corpsesicle to be.
Albatross?
The weather will be getting worse soon, so I wanted to post a refresher on some of the rules I'll be referencing. In particular, I'm looking at the "Weather" and "Environmental Rules" sections of the "Environment" chapter, "Cold-Weather Outfit" in the "Equipment" chapter, and "Survival" from the "Skills" chapter (all Core Rulebook):
Cold and exposure deal nonlethal damage to the victim. A character cannot recover from the damage dealt by a cold environment until she gets out of the cold and warms up again. Once a character has taken an amount of nonlethal damage equal to her total hit points, any further damage from a cold environment is lethal damage.
An unprotected character in cold weather (below 40° F)must make a Fortitude save each hour (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who has the Survival skill may receive a bonus on this saving throw and might be able to apply this bonus to other characters as well (see the skill description).
In conditions of severe cold or exposure (below 0° F), an unprotected character must make a Fortitude save once every 10 minutes (DC 15, +1 per previous check), taking 1d6 points of nonlethal damage on each failed save. A character who has the Survival skill may receive a bonus on this saving throw and might be able to apply this bonus to other characters as well. Characters wearing a cold weather outfit only need check once per hour for cold and exposure damage.
A character who takes any nonlethal damage from cold or exposure is beset by frostbite or hypothermia (treat her as fatigued). These penalties end when the character recovers the nonlethal damage she took from the cold and exposure.
Extreme cold (below –20° F) deals 1d6 points of lethal damage per minute (no save). In addition, a character must make a Fortitude save (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or take 1d4 points of nonlethal damage.
Snow Falling snow has the same effects on visibility, ranged weapon attacks, and skill checks as rain, and it costs 2 squares of movement to enter a snow-covered square. A day of snowfall leaves 1d6 inches of snow on the ground.
Rain Rain reduces visibility ranges by half, resulting in a –4 penalty on Perception checks. It has the same effect on flames, ranged weapon attacks, and Perception checks as severe wind.
Heavy Snow Heavy snow has the same effects as normal snowfall but also restricts visibility as fog does (see Fog). A day of heavy snow leaves 1d4 feet of snow on the ground, and it costs 4 squares of movement to enter a square covered with heavy snow. Heavy snow accompanied by strong or severe winds might result in snowdrifts 1d4 × 5 feet deep, especially in and around objects big enough to deflect the wind—a cabin or a large tent, for instance. There is a 10% chance that a heavy snowfall is accompanied by lightning (see Thunderstorm). Snow has the same effect on flames as moderate wind.
Severe Wind In addition to automatically extinguishing any unprotected flames, winds of this magnitude cause protected flames (such as those of lanterns) to dance wildly and have a 50% chance of extinguishing these lights. Ranged weapon attacks and Perception checks are at a –4 penalty. This is the velocity of wind produced by a gust of wind spell.
Fog Whether in the form of a low-lying cloud or a mist rising from the ground, fog obscures all sight beyond 5 feet, including darkvision. Creatures 5 feet away have concealment (attacks by or against them have a 20% miss chance).
I'm also taking advice from the AP itself (which unfortunately you probably won't have access to), the Player's Guide for the AP, and the Rules Forums (when necessary).
The first environment we will be entering is cold weather with falling snow. This means:
- Visibility is cut in half
- -4 penalty to Perception checks
- -4 penalty to ranged weapon attacks
- Unprotected flames (torches, etc.) are automatically extinguished. Protected flames (lanterns, etc.) have a 50% chance of being extinguished
- Magical instantaneous flames are not affected by the above rule, but any spontaneous fires caused by fire spells or abilities are affected by the above rule
- Movement costs are doubled. This means (for example) 5-foot steps are no longer allowed in combat (you must use a move action).
- Every hour, I will be rolling a fortitude save. The DC will start at 15, and go up every hour the party remains in cold weather.
- Those wearing cold-weather gear (everyone except Arkady, I believe) will receive a +5 bonus to this save.
- If everyone wishes to move at half-speed (this speed reduction applies outside of combat only, but is cumulative with the reduction from the snow), A DC 15 Survival check will give each character an additional +2 bonus to this fortitude save. This bonus can be shared with an additional character for every 1 point by which the Survival check result exceeds 15
- If anyone fails their fortitude save, they will take 1d6 points of non-lethal damage, and will have mild hypothermia - treated as fatigued. This condition will last until the non-lethal damage has been cured
- Characters with cold resistance 2 will subtract 2 from the points of non-lethal damage taken. If this reduces the damage to 0, then the character is unaffected by the failed fortitude save.
If anyone has any questions or thinks a rule should be interpreted differently, please post here and I can update if necessary.
Unprotected flames (torches, etc.) are automatically extinguished. Protected flames (lanterns, etc.) have a 50% chance of being extinguished
You just made me realize that I neglected to purchase any form of light source before leaving Heldren. Normally one of my standard purchases is an Ioun torch or other magical means of light, provided the character has the coin for it. This time I forgot completely. :p
I forgot to mention one last thing. The wolf animal companions, and Arkday's arctic hare familiar are all native to cold environments, so they will have a natural ability to thrive in these conditions. Extreme and magical cold will still affect them (I'll figure out how exactly a bit closer to when it will be applicable).
In cold weather, the animals will not have to make fortitude saves. In snow, they will not suffer from a reduction in movement. They still suffer the perception, visibility and ranged attack penalties (if anyone figures out how to make their companion/familiar make a ranged attack).
I forgot to mention one last thing. The wolf animal companions, and Arkday's arctic hare familiar are all native to cold environments, so they will have a natural ability to thrive in these conditions. Extreme and magical cold will still affect them (I'll figure out how exactly a bit closer to when it will be applicable).
In cold weather, the animals will not have to make fortitude saves. In snow, they will not suffer from a reduction in movement. They still suffer the perception, visibility and ranged attack penalties (if anyone figures out how to make their companion/familiar make a ranged attack).
My daughter did it with the share spells ability and Burning Gaze. She called it "Laser Bear". :)
My daughter did it with the share spells ability and Burning Gaze. She called it "Laser Bear". :)
Bears with frickin' lasers! That sounds incredibly fun.
She had a blast with her Bear Shaman druid. She could wild shape into a large bear, had a large bear companion, and could summon a large bear. A couple of castings of Burning Gaze and it was an amazing sight.
The character was a gnome. One time she was in a game with a Barbarian with throw anything. The BBEG was about to escape, so she turned to the player of the Barbarian and said "Throw me!" Without batting an eye he grabbed the gnome (one handed, too) and hurled her. She used a readied action to wild shape just before she hit. BOOM! Nothing like a large flying bear with a gnome attitude hitting you to ruin your day. :)
Kudos to your daughter; the only thing cooler would be an aquatic druid with a shark companion... and lasers...
Hmm... so do you think this painting from 1835 gives the flavor of the woods the characters are about to walk into?
I've had a little experience working alongside EOD sniffer dogs; extreme cold does affect their senses just like it does ours. However, their sense of smell is so much greater than ours to begin with, so I'd suggest that the effect is negligible on their scent perception, for all intents and purposes. That said, I'm no kind of expert on the matter, just throwing it out there... :P
Yeah, I'll say that you don't need to apply the falling snow penalty to perception checks based on scent. So just indicate which sense(s) you are using and apply the penalty as appropriate.
Regarding Arkady being able to act before a trap does, the only thing I've found elsewhere is in this post, which isn't really definitive. I'm still not 100% convinced either way.
Fair enough, it was just a thought I had, and didn't even do any research on it myself.
Hey folks,
I am going to be away on vacation next week from July 3 to July 7. I will not be posting during this time, so any major developments will have to be put on hold for those days.
I'll try and set it up so that there is a pause in plot development while I am away so the characters can converse on the trail.
A soft cascade of snow falls from an overhead branch, hissing softly as it strikes the ground.
I have never lived anywhere with significant snow ... is that natural? I can't tell if that's just story dressing or a clue we're supposed to respond to ...
I've lived in areas with heavy snowfall, but to me it sounds like something is on the tree, making the existing snow fall off.
To be blunt, I don't want Arkady to die this early in the campaign.
I am playing this encounter pretty much according to the instructions in the books. I'm not even scaling encounters up any more for the bigger party size. Some of it has just been lucky dice rolls, but I'm beginning to wonder if these challenges are harder than most adventure paths.
In any case, here is what I'd like to propose. First, if anyone can find a rules loophole as to why Arkady should not be dead, I'll gladly retro-actively change the results of the tatzlwyrm's attack. If there's no real rules way to save Arkady, I'll hand-wave his status so he's not dead. I still want the attack to sting in that case, though, so he'll be at the lowest possible HP that keeps him alive (-12 HP is his current limit).
Of course, if Arkady really wants to start a new character, we can let him die and add someone new to the party that they encounter in the woods. This would be my least preferred option, though.
So I put on my nerd glasses and poked around the internet a bit. You only get a standard or movement action during a surprise round but I assume he used a standard action to do a normal movement speed charge...and pounce allows for a full attack during a charge. But I think this bit from the SRD might save Arkady. =P
"If you get more than one attack per round because your base attack bonus is high enough (see Base Attack Bonus in Classes), because you fight with two weapons or a double weapon, or for some special reason, you must use a full-round action to get your additional attacks."
I think Sarya has the right rule here - even though pounce allows a full attack on a charge, since it's a surprise round charge, it is not a full round action.
Also, depending on where the thing was when it started, if it didn't move at least 10 feet, it couldn't get the charge bonus. That wouldn't negate the critical, sadly, so it's a moot point.
If only the first attack hit, then he took 11 damage, leaving him at -4.
I was just going to say Arkady should live simply because he's shiny and is made of candy... but I think Sarya's argument will work better.
Share spells lets you cast a spell of range "you" or "personal" on your companion as if it were range "touch". You would still need Reach metamagic in order to do it at range.
I was just going to say Arkady should live simply because he's shiny and is made of candy... but I think Sarya's argument will work better.
Aishe just got added to the Christmas list! ;-)
Thanks, I got hung up on the pounce rules. I've done some research now, and both of you appear to be correct, so we'll say only the first attack hit, and Arkady is at -4.
The creature did move more than 10 feet, the tatzlwyrm has a huge stealth bonus and is able to stalk the party in the snow fairly easily.
I am really regretting choosing Color spray as an offensive spell at this point... :(
I didn't even realize that there was a flank trick! My bad; this is the first time I've tried running an animal companion with a character, so apologies for not knowing what I'm doing.
EDIT; Found this under animal handling rules -
"Flank (DC 20): You can instruct an animal to attack a foe you point to and always attempt to be adjacent to (and threatening) that foe. If you or an ally is also threatening the foe, the animal attempts to flank the foe, if possible. It always takes attacks of opportunity. The animal must know the attack trick before it can learn this trick."
So now I know what Aishe needs to train Growler in next!
Yes, there were added only recently, in the Animal Archive. There was a big blog post discussing some of these tricks a couple of months ago.
Sorry, where am I on the map? Do I place myself?
Sorry everyone, I have had a busy day, put I will be posting an update in the next 12 hours.
I'm still here!
No worries! I've been gearing up for GMing at Paizocon.
About this:
Both actions provoke an attack of opportunity, so Igmar and Zev each get an attack of opportunity, and Growler gets two (because she has Combat Reflexes).
He doesn't actually get to take two attacks for this action, but if something else were to provoke from him in the same round, he could respond to that for another attack.
Both actions provoke an attack of opportunity, so Igmar and Zev each get an attack of opportunity, and Growler gets two (because she has Combat Reflexes).He doesn't actually get to take two attacks for this action, but if something else were to provoke from him in the same round, he could respond to that for another attack.
I was trying to make him take a move action to grasp Arkady, and a move action to back up... but you're right, he was already grappling Arkady, so it technically should have been only one action.
But as I mentioned earlier, I don't want Arkady to die, so I'll still count it as two actions. :)
As I mentioned earlier, I'm leaving for a couple of days and will be unable to post. Feel free to have in-character conversations while I am away, either continuing on along the trail (the next notable feature is 15 minutes away or so), or on the way back to Heldren to rest (it's about 2 hours back to Heldren at this point).
Sure thing GM. Have a good time and take plenty of pictures! And you can rest easy knowing your table is safe...for now.
It's up to the rest of you guys whether or not we want to keep going forward or turn back. Sarya would prefer to keep going forward even without any spells left but I'm not going to say no if Caelia's running out of healing.
I'm guessing that we won't be able to follow the trail all the way into the woods without having to camp. Despite the cold, with a few Survival checks, the party should be able to survive a night or two and rest up?
Yagello would prefer continuing as well, though I'm not so sure about camping in these conditions. Our clothes are already pretty wet from passing through this snow bank, and the temperature is only going to fall more at night. If anything, Yagello would suggest returning to the main road at night, building a strong fire, and using the two carriages as a makeshift shelter.
The drawback I can see to going back to the road every time the characters need to camp is that if the the trail is more than a few miles long, they'll end up having to re-trace it every day, and if the snow keeps falling... which given the name of the AP I'm betting it will... the going will just get tougher as the snow drifts grow higher. I don't disagree that camping in the woods is going to be cold, wet and miserable however. Perhaps the characters could look for a shelter somewhere nearby, and if they can't find anything suitable well before dusk, use the remaining time before nightfall to adopt Yagello's suggestion and return to the road?
Sorry I haven't posted anything, I've been at Paizocon all weekend.
I agree that it is likely to get more difficult the longer we wait. The big question is how are our spellcasters doing on healing magic? At first level we have to carefully ration our hit points. :-)
It's fine, Arkady. I was out of town for the weekend, too. Kind of a shame...I was really looking forward to having a chance at some character interaction without worrying about boring the GM to death. Oh well.