Yeah let me put him on. I just got back.
Just for clarification – the domed ceiling of this room is 30 ft high. Which means if you’re enlarged, with a reach weapon, you can basically hit anywhere within the room. No promises for people flying OUTSIDE, though.
And thats the reason why I was so careful with the snows. Because 1 solid hit= splat. As in insta-death.
Roughly speaking Radosek is 60 ft away from the edge of tower. The 2 rounds is because Vernai needs to maintain grapple, then move at half speed = 20 ft per round. So you can't hit him yet.
I'm not even thinking about grapple mechanics with regards to fliers and light weight, I think that'd be too cruel...
Eh. Re: Grapple mechanics, and flying, in this case at least, I would argue that his Fly spell is keeping him aloft, his weight (as far as Vernai is concerned) is negligible ;-)
If he was flying via wings, though, it would be a different kettle of fish...
Yeah I did that. Else both him and Vernai would fall to their deaths together >.< And I don't like killing animal companions when their masters aren't around >.<
Mathematics behind:
If you really get into weight limitations, 66 x 1.5 = 99 lbs. Male humans start at 130 lbs. Well. You can’t fly at medium.
And oh. Since we're coming to the end of this:
Was what came up on the random encounter chart when you guys were level 1. I rerolled it. That really isn't fair.
TPKing on a random encounter table that has no choice on player part is just stoopid. What were the devs thinking off?
If you remember your cloak was acquired at level 2. But, nevermind. Also there was a fly check for Vernai not to lose 10 ft altitude when she got AOOed. Which could prevent grapple. Ahh...too lazy to reton that.
Well, there's also a point between choosing to murderhobo or not.
You see, by choosing to murderhobo, you're likely to spend resources(spells, wand charges fixing up the mess), and in worse cases possibly risk getting killed. So after you're done, you urm...get rewarded? Blah. That just sounds wrong, encouraging people to murderhobo.
For people like Jairess, I can totally see her giving up loot, cos she REALLY doesn't care about it. Hestrig however...definitely not. Its the dragon side kicking in. If you started making wagers, yes you could've tricked her out of some of her loot, but that's a different story.
If you want to attack NPCs on sight(they'll obviously fight to defend themselves), I won't stop you, but I suspect Mr Whiskers wouldn't be very happy.
I'm still not sure on how I should handle loot issues with regards in sparing creatures.
Add random caches? Put it on the next bad guy you fight?
Suggestions?
Yeah, that's the problem - the APs are, generally, built on the assumption that you *will* pretty much murderhobo everything - it's kind of a long-standing tradition for both D&D and Pathfinder.
That said, the high road isn't supposed to be easy, otherwise everyone would do it.
Consequently, I would advocate that you should not put in additional treasure - if we choose to not murderhobo, we are acknowledging that we are making a loot sacrifice in order to do so.
FYI, I will be on the road a fair bit over the next 36 hours or so, so my posting ability will probably be minimal.
Then we probably put combat on hold until you come back. No point moving without 2 players.
As a GM I don't want to punish player choice etc. And I don't see anything wrong with the high road. Not many have what it takes to take the high road.
Unfortunately due to my LN nature, I can't really reward it either, except when you see how the game world changes for the better...
And yes you could have and I even gave hints by saying feel free to make wagers etc.
No, please don't delay on my account!
I will just start healing myself, and Nadya will keep firing.
What we are really waiting for is Radosek to be dragged close enough for Einar to clobber him ;-)
Its the journey, not the destination. Come on. 2 players is half the crew lol. And I'm very tired of botting. I didn't think flying in the air to grapple someone would be a whole hassle of rules >.<
And despite my best efforts, I still didn't get the whole sequence right >.< And that's after all my experience I have flying. Which is quite some. I'm quite ashamed of myself, really.
Not to mention I still don't know how I'm going to explain to Ziva how Vernai ended up permanently blind >.<
Re: Fly
It no longer has the limit of light encumbrance. The devs took that line out of the rules for Pathfinder.
Re: Loot.
You need to replace it in order for us to get to WBL. Hestrig may not share her loot, but dragons tend to be rather manic. There might be treasure that she doesn't value that she would point us towards. That or fill with a side quest we get because someone didn't die.
Time to go read gameplay now.
Barding, Medium Creature and Large Creature
Barding is a type of armor that covers the head, neck, chest, body, and possibly legs of a horse or other mount. Barding made of medium or heavy armor provides better protection than light barding, but at the expense of speed. Barding can be made of any of the armor types found on Table: Armor and Shields.
Armor for a horse (a Large non-humanoid creature) costs four times as much as human armor (a Medium humanoid creature) and also weighs twice as much (see Table: Armor for Unusual Creatures). If the barding is for a pony or other Medium mount, the cost is only double, and the weight is the same as for Medium armor worn by a humanoid. Medium or heavy barding slows a mount that wears it, as shown on the table below.
Flying mounts can't fly in medium or heavy barding.
Removing and fitting barding takes five times as long as the figures given on Table: Donning Armor. A barded animal cannot be used to carry any load other than a rider and normal saddlebags.
Encumbrance by Weight: If you want to determine whether your character's gear is heavy enough to slow him down more than his armor already does, total the weight of all the character's items, including armor, weapons, and gear. Compare this total to the character's Strength on Table: Carrying Capacity. Depending on the character's carrying capacity, he or she may be carrying a light, medium, or heavy load. Like armor, a character's load affects his maximum Dexterity bonus to AC, carries a check penalty (which works like an armor check penalty), reduces the character's speed, and affects how fast the character can run, as shown on Table: Encumbrance Effects. A medium or heavy load counts as medium or heavy armor for the purpose of abilities or skills that are restricted by armor. Carrying a light load does not encumber a character.
I agree for magical flight, yes no limits, but for winged flight(like Vernai), I believe there still are limits. If not, link me the dev post that says so, so I can read it(might've spent too much time on PBPs, not enough time on rules ;))
I'm working and studying at the same time. Yeah I don't really have the time to design side quests(even if I had any idea on how to do so). Sorry, I'm a new GM, not an old school one. If I design encounters, I bet it'll be a total disaster, since until today, I have no idea how the CR system works =D
Chances are I'll just insert loot on the next encounters, lootless areas or something like that. And it won't be a 100% conversion(I'll only take the big value items) because I hate maths and I ain't going to count the value of every sapphire, emerald, ruby...etc.
*sighs. More work keeping track of NPC lewts :(*
*gives a sad whine*
Anyway about whether people want me to insert loots for talked over encounters:
Crummock: No
Mr Whiskers: Yes
Einar:?
Ziva:?
I can't find a dev post or FAQ.
What I can do is point to previous rules discussions that point out that barding is a subset of armor and the line about barding is for mounts.
Breaking it down:
Flying mounts can't fly in medium or heavy barding.
Encumbrance counts as armor.
Barding is a subset of armor. Being a subset means there are other things that count as armor but are not barding. (Monkeys are mammals. Not all mammals are monkeys.)
Since encumbrance doesn't say it acts as barding, it shouldn't prevent flight.
Lastly, the restriction is on mounts, not what a flying creature can carry. Even if you decide to count encumbrance as armor, the case you are looking at doesn't involve someone riding a flying creature.
---
NPC loot:
It doesn't have to be that exact nor does it have to be those particular items. If you need a place to put it, how about on the wandering encounters?
Guys,don't worry about closing the portal. You'll automatically suceed.
Just feel free to RP(esp about the journal) and all that, Book 1 of ROW is done.
Encumbrance = armor.
All barding is a subset of armor.
So what I see is that encumbrance = barding = can't fly.
Otherwise you could get Vernai to just airlift you to places. Which I'm fine with, but there must be resource investment, I.e, ant haul, or just at the time she becomes large and gets the strength to do so.
Encumbrance = armor.
All barding is a subset of armor.
So what I see is that encumbrance = barding = can't fly.
Otherwise you could get Vernai to just airlift you to places. Which I'm fine with, but there must be resource investment, I.e, ant haul, or just at the time she becomes large and gets the strength to do so.
All barding is armor. Not all armor is barding.
All monkeys are mammals. Not all mammals are monkeys.
Also, it only limits flying mounts. The old rules in 3.5 limited it by encumbrance.
Vernai providing an airlift would probably require a trick or pushing.
Still, if you want to limit flyers to light load just define if it is limited to winged flyers or all methods of flight.
Winged. Other means of flight there is an investment already paid in, so go nuts.
Pushing is easy. Out of combat you can push as many times as you like.
Oh I hope my villians were realistic, had believable motivations and didn't feel like cheesy cupboard ;)
The time you're going to set off for Whitethrone is your crafting time between books. I'm willing to give a maximum of 1 week. Please vote how long you want it to be in discussion.
Sorely unarmed?
And yeah, you still need to tie up one loose end - Mierul.
What you're suggesting is cold blooded murder - in using people to trigger traps. I believe the Geneva Conventions says something about wartime prisoners.
Mierul doesn't believe in the life debt kind of thing. If you do wake her up, you'll see.
Besides you could always non lethal the @ss of people and threaten to kill them unless they deal with the traps for you, which would be NPCs solving a PC problem, which as a GM I don't really care for, and generally strictly try to prevent.
Since we have crafting time, is anyone interested in alchemical items?
Anything up to DC 21 Mr. Whiskers can make taking 10. We have an alchemical lab right in the tower, although I don't think it would be smart staying in the tower.
Oh you can pack the lab and go off to Walsby...take ye time.
She will tell you what Hatch already has. That the vault is trapped(because she listens to what Radosek blabbers :P).
Truth is, vault IS trapped. You can fiddly, deal with the consequences, or you can just skip the lewt =D
I'm not putting you and gunpoint and saying, you have to go through that door ;)
If you want to really use Mierul as trap bait, I could allow it, this once, without repercussions but frankly it gives me quite a bad taste in the mouth.
But please RP it among yourselves, and tell me if that's what you really want.
We will want to find a cleric/priest/etc to cast Remove Blindness on Vernai before spending money on other things.
@ Mister Whiskers, What Alchemical items would you recommend? I would think something with fire would be useful.
Items with Craft DC after them. Some of these are expensive.
Alchemical Fire (20)
Thunderstone (25)
Acid (15)
Frostward Gel (25)
Tanglefoot bag (25)
Antitoxin (25)
Antiplague (25)
Bloodblock (25)
Weapon Blanch Cold Iron (20)
Weapon Blanch Silver (20)
In order to be able to do any with a Craft DC of 25, I would have to find and learn the Crafter's Fortune spell.
Crafting takes time but allows you to create the item at 1/3 cost.
I still need to work out what scrolls Mr. Whiskers wants to scribe. I will also be using the Identify spell on any items we haven't identified yet such as that cauldron.
If Mr. Whiskers is over-ruled on the vault, he will insist on using Identify on each item in order to reduce the chances of us using a cursed item. Getting a remove curse would be quite expensive.
I am sorry. You will not be able to find a priest in Walsby to fix Vernai. 1st level casting available only. This IS part of AP life, I won't try to sugar coat it. But I won't make it too hard for you, there will be a solution in sight after 2 encounters(not including random ones), in the next book.
I will also tell you there is nothing in the vault that will fix Vernai.
So the weddings finished (back tomorrow) and I find out Vernai is permanently blind :(
Ziva is going into that vault trap or no trap until she finds a cure. I don't see her pushing ahead until she finds a solution - she would be a horrific partner to Vernai if she just ignored it.
I've decided using Mierul as trap bait will not result in an alignment shift. But there will be consequences. And that's all I'm going to say about that.
Uh, Ziva would do the vault herself. Possibly even feels guilty it happened after giving it orders.
Einar - you can't take 10 on this. Or I would have just automatically botted you to do it. Please continue - if you still wish to do so. It isn't too late to turn back...
I guess you people usually don't play rogues.
Ignoring all the times that NPCs have told us not to mess with the vault, you have:
Radosek being the apprentice and higher level than us. He had to be at least 5th level to use Summon Monster III -- which is required to summon multiple small elementals. Scrying normally requires a 4th level spell, so 7th level caster minimum.
Vault IS trapped.
You weren't given additional information. With regards to the perception check:
Beating this check by 5 or more also gives some indication of what the trap is designed to do.
Most traps have a Disable that is near the difficulty of their perception.
Mr Whiskers determines there is a Glyph of warding in the door.
Magic traps may be disarmed by a character with the trapfinding class feature with a successful Disable Device skill check (DC 25 + spell level).
So minimum Disable Device DC was 28. I've seen stuff that puts it higher than what was listed, but not lower.
We still don't know which item(s) are cursed. The ones that aren't magical are probably somewhat safe. Cursed items tend to have two DCs to identify them -- one to tell what the item emulates and another much higher value to find the curse.
I hope that we can survive long enough and have enough treasure to get both the Remove Blindness and Remove Curse we will now need.
Hey, if people like to live dangerously, I can't stop them, can I? =(
We know it's trapped - Ziva just doesn't care. She's looking for any solution to get Vernai sight back so she isn't leaving anything unturned. If you don't like it then find an alternative to it rather than complaining that people dont play rogues. Recognise the IC decision.
EDIT: Mr Whiskers we already have a scroll of remove curse. Why do we need another again?
Sorry if my post above was seen as a complaint. I had intended it as hints a character can use to tell ahead of time if a trap is going to be really nasty. Sorry that it came off more as a complaint.
As a player, yeah it sucks to come back and find out something bad happened to your character. I fully understand that. That was one of the reasons I stated curing Vernai came first. Sorry, I should have also said something in character as well.
In character, Ziva said nothing. I would have liked if she had given an indication of how desperate she was so that I could have reacted to that.
In character, Mr. Whiskers explained to Einar why he thought robbing the vault was a bad idea. He even showed a rare display of anger when Einar stubbornly insisted he wanted to do it. Finally -- in spite of not agreeing with the action -- he did what he could to help and then left.
When I wrote Mort about what Mr. Whiskers would do to help, I didn't know what magic was on the vault. I just said I would do my best to identify it. Had I known, I might have suggested we check if there was anyplace we could get an Erase spell. Really not sure there, since it would have meant my character taking on the risk.
As for the remove curse, I didn't remember we had a scroll of it. That makes it a little better, although there is still the caster level check. I believe if successful, that will only help Einar not Vernai. We will most likely need to find a priest of some sort and do spellcasting services to cure the blindness.
So, time to move forward.
Someone may want to tell Mr. Whiskers that Einar got the vault open. We will want to take what loot we can while still being cautious of curses.
Break jaws or maybe burn the whole bodies in order to prevent Speak with Dead. In some ways, burning the bodies may be better.
Since we will find out there isn't anyone in Waldsby who can cure either of the conditions, we may want to get away from town before taking our break. If I were the Winter Witches, I would be sending someone to the tower immediately, and we don't want to be in the area when they arrive.
We will want to decide if we attempt the Remove Curse with the scroll or wait and try to trade it to someone for multiple castings (as may be required) until they successfully make the caster level check. Sort of a group decision.
Mort is waiting to hear how long we want for crafting (1 week max) and how to make up for not being murderhobos.