Reign of Winter (Inactive)

Game Master Just a Mort

Ok a "giant weasel" is a medium sized character, so Einar would have sidestepped to start to get a flank with Crummock, but unfortunately he can't do that this round.

I told you its a custom monster already...

How about if we bot Ziva to have her mantis fly over and flank?

sorry, not trying to be pushy, I just assumed that if it was grappled and Einar wasn't that Einar was bigger.

well that would help a little ;)

Animal companions always take shortest route. Unless flank trick or DC 25 handle animal check.

Animal companions always take shortest route. Unless flank trick or DC 25 handle animal check.

The LN GM strikes again. hard to argue with that even makes sense.

Oh dear. There's a flank trick on Vernai's sheet. Retconned.

Sigh, I shouldn't assume no flank trick. Assume makes an @ss out of u and me.

wow, talk about really a LN GM, who else would check character sheets for addendums to rules!

If Einar needs to alter his last post he can.

Please do. Sorry for inconvenience caused. My bad!

sorry guys ignore einar shooting the bow, I didn't bet back in time to alter the attack

"We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas and
A Happy New Year!"

Though its been Christmas for more then 18 hours now... =) But sorry! I was busy!

And update your hp, guys, thanks. Or we could all hold a Christmas party here, with monsters going for Christmas vacation too ;)

Sorry guys, xmas is wrecking me :(

Things should improve though tomorrow afternoon (technically today afternoon since I got back and its past midnight), and then day after I'm probably back to normal activity.

Ziva,

Enjoy the holidays and don't worry about it! Family and friends need time too!

I'm sitting here in the living room where my pregnant daughter is entertaining both her grandmothers, everyone else is in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the dinner before the brothers and sisters and cousins get here.... ssshhhh don't tell anyone, I'm crashing for a moment before the holiday festivities start.

Merry Christmas All ;)

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a good holiday and best wishes for the new year.

The javelin throw is just to stall, what is the plan? We talked about enlarge is that a possibility? We also talked about magic oil for a weapon, which one and who has it? I'm Just hoping we can get it right the second time ;)

I didn't answer this earlier, sorry.

The only people Enlarge Person works on are Ziva and Mr. Whiskers. Einar and Crummock are both native outsiders so it doesn't work on them.

Magic Weapon, Sleep, Snapdragon Fireworks are all things we got to better deal with Izoze. Magic Fang helps too!

I think we may still have one Magic Oil, but since I didn't take one I'm not sure where it is. Might be on Crummock?

Crummock had it hidden in his spring loaded wrist sheathe. Ooooh, sneaky!

Also once you finish dealing with Izoze and Squalid, you ding level 2 =D

Waiting to see what Ziva and Vernai do.

I'm on a plane, posting when I get back home.

Hey, its the *efficient* way to use it ;-)

I'm hoping that Vernai will go and flank on (and take a big bite out of (and then a second (as an AoO) if it tries to escape)) that nasty little creature...

The DC for using any trick an injured animal has is 12, so you'll need to roll for handle animal for anything other then making Vernai move up to Izoze and attack(since she will just follow previous orders. If you fail your handle animal check she will just follow what she was previously told). Vernai automatically uses her grab ability if she hits.

True, but it is a *Free Action* for Ziva to 'Handle Animal' to get Vernai to do a trick that it is trained to do (such as flank), so she can just keep trying until she succeeds...

Consequently, there is no reason why it won't just do it :-)

I'd allow 1 try per command/round, I do not think the rules were meant to be interpreted that way. Besides, dumpstats? >.<

*gives the GM an innocent look*

Hang on, I thought we had a Lawful Neutral GM, who was all about rules as written, not 'as they should be' ;-)

After all, it makes perfect sense to me, that if Ziva saw Vernai *not* doing what she told it to do, she would keep shouting at it, until it did the right thing :-)

Hey now I'm all for free spirited animals doing whatever they like!

Just gimme 30 mins or so and I'll have something up. I'd do it now but my character sheet with my longbow bonus is back at home. I think it's like a +5 from memory but unsure and I don't think I can melee the avatar wannabe.

*Growls at Crummock, but reluctantly agrees*

Fine :p

Just ignore the part on what I said about animal companions, for tricks known, then.

And Vernai is a she, not an it!

@Ziva: It is a +3 bonus (assuming Dex 14, and MW weapon are the only things you have). Honestly, though, with the -4 for melee, -4 for cover, and -4 for the target being prone, you are probably better off shooting at the *other* flying thing, and letting the melee crew handle the pint-sized Avatar.

@GM Mort: Well, Crummock hasn't done a course in giant Mantodea husbandry, so he really can't tell which it is ;-)

*Growls at Crummock, but reluctantly agrees*

Fine :p

Just ignore the part on what I said about animal companions, for tricks known, then.

And Vernai is a she, not an it!

hey, my daughters here with her dog, when the dog gets on the sofa she keeps repeating off until he gets down, she can say it like 30 times in six seconds

I would only allow a single attempt at the Handle Animal.

It looked to me like Ziva had meant to shoot at the air elemental weird creature rather than Izoze. I don't think it matters much, but the way Mort phrased it I think the player and GM assumed different targets.

Now to post my own actions.

Now you have one windy in the air left. Sorry, I needed a little time to calculate all the different modifiers, as well as Izoze's last words...

Well, whilst in Whirlwind form, there is precisely jack we can do about it... we'll just have to wait until it runs out of puff, and then dog-pile it.

so we still get to kill the air elemental, or whatever it is.

By right the encounter was supposed to take place at midnight, after the party settled down to bed. Since the party has been marching the whole day, and hasn’t indicated they want to stop for the night, I didn’t want to dictate the party’s actions just to set up an ambush. I think it would be too unfair. Considering that Izoze can possibly take out the person on night watch(i.e if it happens to be Mr Whiskers), with a single magic missile, then she and Squalid could go around the camp CDGING everyone…that’d be too cruel. I may be a bit of an @rse and give you a tough time at times, but there are certain lines I wouldn’t cross.

“Rocks fall, you die” strikes me as taking away player agency, which I’m loathe to touch.

Also once you finish dealing with Izoze and Squalid, you ding level 2 =D

So how do you want to do it? Everyone levels after the night is finished?

Yes you ding after the night, and the night passes uneventfully.

Since we are leveling, I thought it may be good to go through the Reign of Winter Players Guide and check how we (as a group) are doing versus the skill recommendations made there. That way we can pick up some of the skills that the group is missing.

I've listed the people who already have a rank behind each of the skills.

You’ll face animals, fey, and humans at lower levels, then giants and magical beasts. At higher levels, expect evil outsiders, undead, and possibly even a few dragons.

So, monster ID skills would be:

Survival would be a very good skill to have, as would Stealth and Use Magic Device. Characters will also be traveling to new lands during the campaign, so Diplomacy, Linguistics, and Knowledge (local) may be useful in dealing with natives and new surroundings. Being able to survive in cold terrain is a must, but the adventures will also take characters into forest, mountain, and urban environments as well.

Added skills:

This Adventure Path brings the PCs to a number of far-flung places, locations that might very well end up being extremely foreign to most characters. In order to get by when it comes to communicating with natives of these places, it would serve a PC well to invest in the Linguistics skill. Furthermore, early on in the campaign the PCs visit the nation of Irrisen, whose residents don’t generally speak Common, but instead treat the Skald language as their common tongue. Some Irriseni also speak Hallit, and Sylvan and even Aklo may be helpful for communicating with some of the fey natives.

Skald (Crummock, Einar, Mr. Whiskers)

This isn't striking me as a particularly stealthy group, so perhaps we plan to ignore that recommendation. We should most likely try to fill in the other skills though.

Kn: Religion
Kn: Planes

Sylvan language, although having another who speaks Aklo would be nice so someone can understand Crummock during battle.

Mr. Whiskers is already planning to put effort into Knowledge Planes. I don't mind putting points into the other gaps, but wanted to discuss it first in case someone wanted that to be part of their expertise.

I intend to keep Spellcraft and Knowledge Arcana at max ranks. Other than that, I'm pretty flexible about what he specializes in.

To comment on Mr Whiskers comments:

I intend to continue to max all of my existing skills.

I am happy to pick up Sylvan at level 2.

I am actually happy for *no-one* else to take Aklo - I find being able to post unintelligible asides, and needing to pantomime at times, moderately diverting ;-)

Level 2:

+1 BAB

+1 Will

+9 hit points (assuming 1/2 maximum HD +1)

+1 Diplomacy, +1 Handle Animal, +1 Linguistics (Sylvan), +1 Perception, +1 Sense Motive, +1 UMD

+1 level 1 spell slot

Additional Spells Known: Mending

I am actually happy for *no-one* else to take Aklo - I find being able to post unintelligible asides, and needing to pantomime at times, moderately diverting ;-)

We are hitting CR +3 and +4 battles. Not being able to communicate reduces our effectiveness since it makes it harder to coordinate actions.

So far, it has only been a minor inconvenience. As we continue, I expect it will get worse.

Are you sure we can afford to continue not being able to communicate during battle?

Given your request, I will avoid learning that language this level. Please let use know when you change your mind.

I will finish Einar tonight at work, He linguistics so he will pick up sylvan also. For clarification, does Crummock understand what we are saying when he is speaking Aklo?

For clarification, does Crummock understand what we are saying when he is speaking Aklo?

No.

Tongues: In times of stress or unease, you speak in tongues. Pick one of the following languages: Abyssal, Aklo, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Ignan, Infernal, or Terran. Whenever you are in combat, you can only speak and understand the selected language. This does not interfere with spellcasting, but it does apply to spells that are language dependent. You gain the selected language as a bonus language. At 5th level, pick an additional language to speak in combat and add it to your list of known languages. At 10th level, you can understand any spoken language, as if under the effects of tongues, even during combat. At 15th level, you can speak and understand any language, but your speech is still restricted during combat.

That's what I thought.

well as long as we work out a plan before combat I'm happy. Thematically I ponder about the idea of a "rager" listening to difficult instructions while raging. Where making plans before hand may help, and then when I forget what the actions were I can blame his "raging"

Having said that, at some point in time, I was hoping to quote Anthony I think it's a 2:48 if you want to fast forward ;)

Another question that I assume I know the answer to. Einar took linguistics as a "background skill" so he picks up a language every level, thus the plan to eventually take aklo, if for no other reason because someone could teach it to him, but I will respect Crummocks request. So to the question, can we change "background skills" like we can "adventure skills"

Each level you may put ranks into any of the background skills, it doesn't have to be one that you already have points in. You can even trade adventuring skill ranks for more background skill ranks, but that generally is only useful to the Bard or Skald.

So no, you do not have to max Linguistics and Knowledge: Geography every level. You could put them into two completely different background skills.

cool, didn't know that, I will look at the knowledge skills available in background and see if they apply to the above needs.

Background skills include:
Appraise
Artistry
Craft (any)
Handle Animal
Knowledge: Engineering
Knowledge: Geography
Knowledge: History
Knowledge: Nobility
Linguistics
Lore
Perform (any)
Profession (any)
Sleight of Hand

The thing to note is none of the knowledge skills that allow you to identify a creature are background skills. That said, with the amount of travel they talk about in the RoW Player's Guide having someone with Knowledge: Geography could be useful.

Mort allows crafting so having Craft (Armor), Craft (Weapons) or Craft (Traps) could also be of use.

Crummock and Ziva both have Handle Animal, so we probably don't need anyone else in the group with that skill.

My earlier post was focused on the skills mentioned in the Player's Guide so we (as a group) could try to fill in holes. That doesn't mean that other skills aren't useful.

Oh, do we get background skills, I must have missed that. I'll need to add then to my character then. Seeing as Handle Animal is characterized as a background skill, any large preferences? Worth noting Ziva has dungeoneering, which people forget is also a monster ID skill, although its just for oozes and they might be pretty uncommon. Still, its nice to be able to ID one when it shows up!

Yes, we have background skills. I've really liked it in every campaign I've been in which used them.

I had not forgotten that Dungeoneering is a monster ID skill. It is also used for aberrations which are generally more common than oozes. I was just trying to get the skills mentioned in the Players Guide covered first.

Dungeoneering is more then for oozes. It helps you identify Eldritch Abdominations! Or maybe, for your sanity, you rather not know....

Anyway, please set up how you want your night watch to be, so I can just use it as the campaign default the next time you sleep in the wild. Or are you not setting up one?

I like Background skills because they play into your background... that's why I thought you weren't supposed to change them, not the first time I'm wrong, not going to be the last.

Einar will take the middle watch, are we doing three watches or four?

RAW, I don't think there is anything preventing you from changing your background skills each time you level; that said, I personally prefer to keep them the same from level to level.

Re: Watches, I think we should do three four hour watches, with Crummock, Einar, and Ziva taking them.