That what I thought too. Thank you.
@Mal: I was thinking. One of the biggest dangers remaining are the group of archers in the north west. (Excepting the big boss and his magic bear who have not yet come out to way waste to us.) Could you summon a herd of Auroch's to trample them down? Since they have bows it will be harder for them to use AoO. Being trampled by 3-4 smiting auroch's that have a strength buff would be tough for them.
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Valjoen, would you be amenable to allowing the use of essences to modify or enhance the effect of stock feats? Because I had an idle thought about how useful it would be if Garidan could sometimes use Dazzling Display--and Diplomacy in place of Intimidate--to bolster allies within its range (essentially putting on a show of absolute confidence that the situation will work out as he intends).
Granted bonus would be the inverse of the shaken condition's penalty, with a duration similar to that of Intimidate's demoralize (1 round base, one additional for every 5 over the DC).
Should we have Gruskorb continue running towards the new front?
Will do.
It's been a bit of a busy time getting back to work this week. Sorry for hte short post yesterday. I'll get a good response to Truk's and Garidan's post up tonight or tomorrow morning.
@Niyut - Did you move the archers and ground troops from the trap area last round?
I did.
I didn't move Gruskorb, however.
Thank god I have RSS feeds set up otherwise I would feel bad about being an entire block of initiative.
There are some wounded archers on the wall protected by a wind wall, which makes ranged attacks against them coming from the north impossible. The rangers outside the walls simply cannot hit them. They could be fired upon by the worg riders in the breach, but it seems like they double moved to get into the breach.
From the description, I'm also not entirely sure how the collapsed tower also took out the north facing wall. Since the cliff giant tore down the south facing wall of the tower. Unlike the archers being shot through a barrier that categorically makes such attacks impossible, I'm sure that it's possible but can you describe it a bit more so that I understand better?
Good call on the wind wall.
There are not two separate walls, north and south. But rather a single 10' thick wall. The walls butt into the towers on either side of the river. When the western river tower fell it left a gaping whole between the wall that Truk stands upon and the wall section between the two towers. I'm not going to figure any damage to the walls, just the tower. When the giant removed a large section on the south side of the western river tower, the entire tower fell like a toppled tree... that is what allowed Truik, to ride the tower down. I didn't have it collapse like a demo'ed building that just falls straight down.
Don't judge the artistic ability, but I've put up a page with the map that should help.
Does that clear it up?
Awesome! That makes so much sense now. And, honestly, I think your artistic skill in conveying complex information pretty cleanly is extremely impressive. What I find even more exceptional is your willingness and good cheer in explaining the hard stuff!
I think there were more archers before the attack maybe one or two thwarted by the wind wall? Or am I misremembering? The female cleric should probably give thanks to the King of the gods when all those arrows are knocked aside.
Also, don't forget the effects of bless. :-)
Moved here so as to not clog the gameplay thread :).
Fair enough, but you never established the reference point in question to start with; is this "Quadrant A," for example, in the top left, or the bottom right? See what I mean? Without knowing where your directions begin from, how I can I give anything even close to sort of directions you'd like?
Also, as I pointed out before, I think it's this map in particular that's the issue; it's a LOT bigger than anything we've had encounters on, with an increased scale on the squares to further complicate things. ((And since I think it would be helpful to likewise clarify my movement references, I mean a full 10x10 square when I say "square," while a "space" is a 5x5 segment within a square.)
Having finally caught my balance again, I'll get caught back up on what I'm assuming are the substantial happenings tonight and post in the early AM (Eastern).
It is my most sincere hope I didn't miss the platypus invasion in my hiatus.
Fair to a degree. I was thinking of it reading left to right (and top to bottom) as is the English standard, but if you told me to use play-ground four square rules it be a different square. However, in that scenario where we hadn't agreed it would be in one of two places in the actual square you want. So, pretty close. :-p
Having finally caught my balance again, I'll get caught back up on what I'm assuming are the substantial happenings tonight and post in the early AM (Eastern).
It is my most sincere hope I didn't miss the platypus invasion in my hiatus.
Not only missed it, but also the sweet, sweet invasion-themed participation rewards and event acheivement lootbags. See what happens when you have a life outside of the campaign?
;p
Ahhhhhh screaming about tactical movement!
I've added a grid to the inner portion of the map :)
It would be a little tedious to label each 5 foot square, so I've labeled each 10 foot square. If you want to move to a certain area describe is as something like "I move to the top-right part of C12", or alike.
Hopefully that fixes that up.
Thanks, Mal. :-)
I miscounted. It looks like 31 archers east of the breach can fire on the worg riders. Hopefully, that many arrows can give Foramdar some breathing room.
If Redmane and the bear are invisible, the imp with its constant Detect Magic has a chance of spotting the auras.
Nasty thought here. We turned the center into a meat-grinder and broke that prong of the assault. We're moving left to deal with the second prong and a new breach, and we've got reinforcements on the field and handling things out beyond.
So wouldn't this be a handy, dandy old time for Red and Bear to lead a third prong to our wide-open right, now that our defense assets have been revealed and used?
They would still die to the lava spikes. I hope he does that.
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If Redmane and the bear are invisible, the imp with its constant Detect Magic has a chance of spotting the auras.
I don't recall us using detect magic in combat. Usually, we've been out of combat so I've sped up the process. So, let's set the ground rules for it.
1. Every round you want to use detect magic to search, it is a standard action.
2. It is a 60' cone. So, I need you to place the cone on the map for the area that you are trying to detect.
3. First round, you get the presence of auras. Second round, you get the number of different magical auras and the power of the most potent aura. Third round, you get the strength and location of each aura. If the items or creatures bearing the auras are in line of sight, you can make Knowledge (arcana) skill checks to determine the school of magic involved in each.
So, after 3 rounds of standard actions, you can determine the 5' square in which an aura exists within the cone assuming that the aura has been there 3 rounds. Therefore, if you look in the right spot and Redmane stays in the cone for 3 rounds, you will only know that an illusory aura exists in a certain 5' square. You won't "see" him, so you can't target him directly. Any direct attacks in that square will have a 50% miss chance.
I'll drop a 60' cone on the map. Malthazir can place it as he wishes to search. Make sure you have the point of origin correct as it is the corner from which you can spin the triangle. This round will be the first of his search as I believe he has been doing a lot of double movement. If someone wants to reread the battle to determine how many rounds he has only made a single move and had a standard action available to search, I'll increase the rounds of the detect magic. I'm a little pressed for time this weekend, and want to get the next round of combat done rather than research this one. :)
I've added a grid to the inner portion of the map :)
Thanks, Malz!!
That's great for us, but the Imp is constantly under the effect. Wouldn't the cone be constantly swiveling based on how and where it's looking and not be any specific action?
He doesn't need to take an action to cast, but would need to take actions to survey the area. I'll say for him, he gets the impression of auras constantly, but needs to take a standard action to determine number of auras and to determine the strongest aura within the 60' cone during the first round he concentrates on an area. And then he gets the strength and location of each aura during round 2. He'll still need to use the cone to determine an area to check.
Malz, please note that the stone stairs to the east of him will block his line of sight that direction. At this time, he sees auras to the east, south and north.
That's probably the most reasonable interpretation. If it were designed so imps could pinpoint magic instantly, they would have something more like arcane eye or the like.
You had 12 rolls for the archers shooting the elites, but there are far more archers who could take a shot at that area? I know that each individual archer can only take one shot per round, but I'm confused about how they are contributing if they don't get to roll?
Maybe he has them clustered in groups, and that is what the rolls are made for?
Well, I thought maybe that but looking at the gnoll archers they seem to get individual rolls for their attack for the turn. I want all 31 of our archers in position to try to fire or at least have their numbers add to a modifier or something.
Basically, I'm a little confused by mass combat so far. I'm enjoying how epic it feels, but I'm still getting the ropes and that involves asking questions.
If it is a matter of making the rolls, I'm more than willing to roll the digital dice to decrease the epic work load on our GM in this battle.
Basically, I'm a little confused by mass combat so far. I'm enjoying how epic it feels, but I'm still getting the ropes and that involves asking questions.
If it is a matter of making the rolls, I'm more than willing to roll the digital dice to decrease the epic work load on our GM in this battle.
For each GM I've had do a campaign with large-scale combats, there have always been some special rules involved. I usually concede quite a bit of leniency for their sanity is necessary; having recently come into GMing a campaign with this style of fighting again, it is refreshed in my mind how important that latitude is.
Maybe help with the digital rolls would be good. Maybe a handwave of god would be good too!
For the large groups... Haemil archers, Haemil soldiers, gnoll ranger, gnoll elites & gnoll slayers... I've been determining a percentage success rate based on their highest ask bonus v. the AC. Then, look at the number of attackers and apply the percentage. So, if I determine a 33% success rate and their are 30 archers... 10 hit. Then, if there are 15 targets, I'l roll 10d15 to determine which of the 15 targets were hit with each arrow... so some targets get hit multiple times. Additionally, I'm not giving them iterative attacks or extra attacks, but assuming that the same % would apply evenly. The average damage per arrow is roughly 1/8 of their HP, so I'm giving them 4 wound levelss... black (i.e. not hit yet), yellow, red, dead... for things that do less damage of against the elites that have more HP, I'm adding in orange to make it 5 levels.
This is just a faster, easier way for me to do the mass combats. Otherwise, when the gnoll archer attack, for example, I'd be rolling 3 attacks for original 60 or so archers. That is too much. While this method isn't perfect, it gets the job done.
If/when any of these attackers specifically targets a "named" PC or NPC, I've been rolling those attacks... or trying to.
Hope that helps explain the methodology.
It does! Thanks!
Small quibble: With Bless, shouldn't there be two sets one with an increased hit rate?
Wow. Color me impressed.
You're doing a great job handling such a complex combat. We know it's a lot, don't stress yourself :)
On an unrelated note, I've gotten around to making a "Daily Resource Tracker" in Malthazir's alias. It should significantly help me keep track of my abilities. I also discovered upon cross-referencing the wiki that some of my tracking was out of date, so everything should be polished up now.
@Niyut - Yes, I allowed the blessed archers to hit 1 additional gnoll this round.
@Malthazir - The mephitic only has 60' darkvision. You would have needed to summon him closer to the archers to see and target them... of course, he could then move afterwards. Otherwise, you can cast to that location, but you wouldn't know if the archers are still there. They are marked on the map as the last location that your Imp saw them. Let me know how you want to proceed.
Ah, my apologies. Vision is something I easily forget when the map is so open.
Unfortunately summon monster has a range of close, so where the mephit is placed at indicates the spell cast at max range and then him using a move action. My action will remain the same except instead of the mephit casting a spell he will sprint instead, ending in the position as indicated on the map.
Garidan, it looked like Gruskorb got some decent rolls for a change, and I would imagine both effects succeeded. Exploit as you will.
Garidan, it looked like Gruskorb got some decent rolls for a change, and I would imagine both effects succeeded. Exploit as you will.
Let's hope :D! I'll see what Valjoen has to say about my current AC and your results before posting.
"Lightning Trip: You cause 1d10 electric damage upon a successful trip with any whip. (LE1)"
Just a reminder that your whip is special. :-)
Oh No! Garidan did not prepare to parry. That sucks, can he parry after the fact with the right rolls? And his AC is better than 25 since he has the benefit of +3 deflection of the shield of Faith I cast on him. I think his paranthetical AC is still correct.
Had forgotten about the shield of faith as I didn't have it in the initiative counter.
@Garidan - What is hte extra +1 then getting you to 29?
@All - Anything other buffs I'm missing from the counter?
@All - Anything other buffs I'm missing from the counter?
All good here!
Also, if Garidan wants to retro the parry/riposte action, I'll allow. However, he can't cherry pick the one attack as that action requires announcing before the rolls/result are known. To use it he'll have to burn four points of panache (or fewer if four not available), to cover all four attacks. Otherwise, it would be a too much meta-gaming.
Are these elite rangers dropping any life Essences or any Arcane Essences since Rangers can start spell casting at level 4?
Sorry, only the "named" creatures are dropping essences. The gnoll rangers, elites and slayers are not.
It doesn't look like you have the buffs on Truk on the counter: Shield of Faith, Barkskin, and Cloak of Winds.
Good to know about the Essences! Thanks!! I thought the elites might since the nameless ogres were dropping life essences and got excited. If we survive this battle we can disenchant their magic bows. That will be some nice loot.
I consider the ogres, and giants... "named"
It's really just the masses of gnolls that won't get essences dropped.
Nope, not going to retcon parry in, though I appreciate the offer! As I explained to Niyut, however, parrying uses resources that are perilously close to dried up, so I'll have to forgo it.
As to that extra +1 AC? I haven't the foggiest clue! I don't think it's a typo though, because my touch AC also has one point extra beyond what shield of faith would provide, but flat-footed AC doesn't, so that's probably a Dodge bonus, but I don't think any spells provide that sort of bonus to AC.
As to that extra +1 AC? I haven't the foggiest clue! I don't think it's a typo though, because my touch AC also has one point extra beyond what shield of faith would provide, but flat-footed AC doesn't, so that's probably a Dodge bonus, but I don't think any spells provide that sort of bonus to AC.
It just occured to me, but my flat-footed AC may be the typo, if someone cast Haste before this second fight started and forgot to note it. Because Truk'tosh jammed toward that giant--the one he no-scoped in the head--with a hasted double move earlier in the fight.
If I recall correctly, Mal hasted you guys during the last battle. It's probably from that, which wore out hours ago in game. Truk used his fast movement ability he got from a life essence to do that move.