The Father of Waters

Game Master Fighting Chicken

That's perfect!

That said, if it bugs anyone, tell me and I'll tone it down.

Is there such a thing as a magically binding contract?

Honestly, I don't know. How about you give me an arcana check and we'll see what the dice say?

It took two channels to bring Arnik back to consciousness. I'd suggest that you notice Drazan when you get back to the excise (nice large fire going there by the time you're done with Arnik), and get him some help. Not that you're going to need it tomorrow or anything.

I'll wait to see if Oios or Rigel are going to chime in, and if not, I'll move you all onto the next day. Almost to Cornucopia...

knowledge:arcana: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

Imix has never heard of such a thing. So the dice say :)

Oios has his say and made his rolls. Ready to move on.

So, PBP is probably not the best format to explore the nuances of human memory...

There is no Dennek. Arnik is simply misremembering the man's name - Dannet - the description of being the same description that Oios has encountered before:

Oios nods at Isitel and puts it away The etchings on the blade mark it as belonging to The Order of The Stag. A mercenary company of elite ex soldiers working for the rich and the powerful. I doubt the dead men belonged to this. So we have Dannet, short olive skinned Excise Head of Piney Bluff, spreading tales of Shadeholme soldiers attacking and stealing furs. We have a Tall blonde Tkoyah with a silver fox chain searching for mercenaries and hiring the Order of the Stag whose weapon we found on the dead men. Oios summarizes with a shake of his head. What did the dead men know that was worth killing them to keep hidden?

Sorry for the confusion, and I'll not get too bogged down in such nuances in the future (or if I do, I'll make sure to make a note of it, so it is obvious). Please note though, that there are inconsistencies with the description of Dannet that Arnik just gave you and that of Tex's description of the man, and that is entirely intentional...

I'll get us moving along this afternoon.

Ah.. Okay. Well. That makes sense and we got the story of the Stag stealing the job from two places

Edit: It's hard playing a character smarter than you.

Oh indeed, you've figured out who hit Piney Bluff, and who ordered it done, whether or not Dannet is his real name. And a description of Dannet/"Dannet."

Oios might get rid of the ghandasa depending on what the team discusses amongst themselves before the next day. I think people will want to talk about it? Maybe not?

Rigel would certainly agree with that - hide it somewhere safe, so we can come back to it if needed (it's evidence, after all); but certainly don't carry it with us...

Should be another 2 channels left last night (Istiel only needed 2 plus the first 2hp, did Arnik need more?)
If that is so channel: 1d6 ⇒ 5channel: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Sorry about the fact I keep forgetting about the mechanics spoiler :(

Probably best to hide it, agreed.

Should be another 2 channels left last night (Istiel only needed 2 plus the first 2hp, did Arnik need more?)

If that is so [dice=channel]1d6[dice=channel]1d6
Sorry about the fact I keep forgetting about the mechanics spoiler :(

No worries about the spoiler - it'll come eventually!

Arnik only needed two channels to come up from all the nonlethal Istiel dished out on her :)

Looks like three of us posted on top of one another. Istiel's action still stands.

@Imix:

Heh, I forgot to do something about the money you owe. Eh, we'll handwave it.

surge round 1: 1d100 ⇒ 23

Right now, you've got one round of buffs up. If you're going to continue buffing, we'll check the spoilers as we go.

EDIT: We may not get much further without a fight breaking out if people keep walking into the woods.

So, since Drazan has an axe but not the proficiency to use it, I've been thinking about weapon proficiencies. I think that anyone can gain proficiency with a weapon by spending a week (8 hours a day) practicing with that weapon (non-consecutive).

There hasn't been any downtime yet, but it will happen, eventually.

In the meantime, the axe is a masterwork greataxe, so if Drazan attacks with it, it will only be at -3 to hit.

I was about to post the mechanics of the arrow volley when I got called away. Oios, you may want to retcon your action, as Paola is down.

PCs are up.

To alleviate as much confusion as possible, PCs are in gold on the map. Dead and dying are in red. Green background is difficult terrain and provides concealment, carts can be used for cover from the opposite side of the cart.

Boo urns. I thought Oios had enough time to get the ward up before the arrows hit.

Well...

You've got enough time to get a ward up before the next volley hits!

Silver linings!

No point now when actions are better spent killing as much as possible :)

Please ignore the warding post.

Edit: Bah too many innocents.

Does Drazan get an AoO and his readied action and his turn? So far I just have the readied action posted. I'll edit or add on after clarification

So what do you guys think? Concealment is terrible for fighting because it's an extra roll to miss and with unchained action economy any one of us could die really really quickly to one archer and there's way too many archers to contend with. :| Do we try and take out the Fox man to hopefully scatter the rest? But Isitel is already really hurt and getting to the Fox man is going to be really hard for pretty much everyone.

Tactically, this is hopeless; but there are times when metagaming just doesn't cut it and you have to go with your character.

This is one of those times.

Drazan, you'll get an AoO as well.

A lot of this battle is going to be run abstract. Hamfatten and his folks, Suhha, Utzi, maybe others are also combantants, so you don't have to kill every single archer. Those folks will be doing some of the lifting too.

I'm cruel but not that cruel.

And the archers won't just be going after you all either. They've got innocents to shoot.

Oh wait. I am that cruel!

Sure, but 3 arrows a round from ... 22 archers (plus lefty and righty?) means there's enough for everyone.

I want things to be tense, but I think that it will become apparent when the fight goes on that things aren't as hopeless as they look*.

Trust me when I say that I don't want to kill you all. What would be the fun in that?

*You'll get more insight into this soon, both mechanically and narratively.

So, since Drazan has an axe but not the proficiency to use it, I've been thinking about weapon proficiencies. I think that anyone can gain proficiency with a weapon by spending a week (8 hours a day) practicing with that weapon (non-consecutive).

There hasn't been any downtime yet, but it will happen, eventually.

In the meantime, the axe is a masterwork greataxe, so if Drazan attacks with it, it will only be at -3 to hit.

Good opportunity to ask that maybe since martial weapon proficiency was effectively removed from the list of benefits warriors and barbarians have, is there anything we can have added in its absence?

Hmm, I'll think on it, Drazan, and get back to you before next round.

Can you let me know what square you've charged to and who you've attacked? I want to make sure I get you in the right place...

Yeah, D14. Ill include that moving forward. I thought I was able to change it myself and then I got distracted after realizing I couldn't :P

GM Belicose Poultry wrote:

So, since Drazan has an axe but not the proficiency to use it, I've been thinking about weapon proficiencies. I think that anyone can gain proficiency with a weapon by spending a week (8 hours a day) practicing with that weapon (non-consecutive).

There hasn't been any downtime yet, but it will happen, eventually.

In the meantime, the axe is a masterwork greataxe, so if Drazan attacks with it, it will only be at -3 to hit.

Good opportunity to ask that maybe since martial weapon proficiency was effectively removed from the list of benefits warriors and barbarians have, is there anything we can have added in its absence?

The house rules say

Combat expertise, power attack, deadly aim are now combat options for anyone with a +1 BAB. Feats that are keyed off of these feats now need the ability to use this combat option as a prerequisite.
Mobility is merged into the dodge feat. Feats with dodge as a prerequisite now just need dodge.
Point Blank Shot no longer exists. Precise Shot is used as a prerequisite for archery feats instead.

All the classes that lost full martial get these rules from level 1.

Poot - I need a surge to go with this. Spoiler says '9'.

stats: Small animated object
Is Apchux small or medium?
If small, animating now. If medium, enhancing shield first.

so, animated object zombies are way weaker than conventional zombies in some way. The way they're better is their indestructibility.
Can I spend the CP to let him attack with his spear?

I hope Istiel lives long enough to get deflect arrows next level, cause she sure could have used it now.

Rigel, if you could please, an enlarge person on Istiel or Drazen would be helpful.

Is there a skill to know formal battle tactics?
Does the concealment apply to ranged and melee?

Yikes - I forgot I had an SLA! Sorry. Good thinking.

Yeah, D14. Ill include that moving forward. I thought I was able to change it myself and then I got distracted after realizing I couldn't :P

Great! You all should be able to edit the spreadsheet, but not the link on the wiki. Either edit yourself or let me know - either way is fine. And if for some reason you can't edit the spreadsheet, let me know too - it means the permissions are wonky.

@GM: Potentially you could extend the free Combat Stamina to any class that had all martial proficiencies or something?
I think widespread use of that feat will also act to comparatively downpower magic and fix the caster-martial disparity. I was curious to see it in use.

It will up-power full BAB martials, but leave characters like Rigel that are not full BAB or casters in the lurch. I'm still thinking on this, but haven't come to a conclusion yet. So, I lied - no decision this round.

The balancer with the weapon groups as proficiency is supposed to be that 1) everyone has weapon groups (and thus won't have access to all weapons) and 2) the means to pick up a martial weapon prof is a relatively small investment in time (especially when we get into the sandbox phase of the game, which is approaching soon in PBP terms - so, still probably a little off in RL time, but in game time pretty close).

I'll continue to think on a little sweetener to add. I like the idea of Combat Stamina in some form. I'm playing a character with it in another game and it has its place for martials for sure.

I'm also tinkering with lowering the non-proficiency penalty for martials for using weapons to -3. So, with a MW weapon like the axe, Drazan will only be at -2 until he picks up proficiency.

Poot - I need a surge to go with this. Spoiler says '9'.

stats: Small animated object
Is Apchux small or medium?
If small, animating now. If medium, enhancing shield first.

so, animated object zombies are way weaker than conventional zombies in some way. The way they're better is their indestructibility.
Can I spend the CP to let him attack with his spear?

Ah, I was treating your surge earlier as the "9". I'm a little confused about why Imix surged then? In that case...

1d100 ⇒ 83

Yup. We'll go with that.

As for animated Apchux, yes and yes! He's small because an animated not-quite-undead corpse is something I've never seen before, and Rule of Cool all the way. I'll roll for Apchux this round just to get next round started, but please take control of animate not-undead Apchux from here on out.

Also, spear proficiency with 1 Cp seems inline with what the options are - works for me.

Can you do me a favor when you're putting together relatively complicated actions like animating Apchux, and spell out in the post why it works, mechanically? It will save me some time double-checking your abilities since I'm still getting familiar with the SoP rules. No need to do it here with Apchux - I figured it out.

I hope Istiel lives long enough to get deflect arrows next level, cause she sure could have used it now.

Note to self - need even more archers when Istiel hits level 2!

Istiel, you still have at least one of the potions from the Mountain Men, right? Just pointing that out...

Is there a skill to know formal battle tactics?

Does the concealment apply to ranged and melee?

Profession (Soldier), Lore (Warfare), and creatively used Knowledge (History) or Knowledge (Engineering) could all do the trick, IMO.

Pfffft who needs martial weapons? Hell, technically Istiel doesn't even need ARMS to fight.

Note to self - need even more archers when Istiel hits level 2!

Istiel, you still have at least one of the potions from the Mountain Men, right? Just pointing that out...

Note to self: Don't reveal character planning to the GM. (Even though it's all listed on Istiel's character sheet)

She has one of the Mountain Men potions, yes, though she wants to study it. If she gets hurt again she'll probably drink it cause who knows how potent it is. She also has a potion of cure light wounds as well. I went with the mage armor potion first just in case she has to go toe-to-toe with Fox Priest.

I've been wresting with the deadly nature of RAE and how to represent those that aren't special, combat-trained, etc. Folks who even, in the case of a bunch of mooks, given numbers and the nature of three attacks a round, could do some serious damage (also, in large fights, that's LOTS of dice rolls for me to keep track of).

Originally, I was thinking of instituting the "blooded" condition, meaning that those NPCs that don't have it are essentially shaken in combat, but that meant a lot of extra bookkeeping.

When I was designing this fight, something else occurred to me: NPCs can still obtain the blooded condition after they've been in five fights. But until they do, instead of being shaken, a simple attack takes two actions instead of one.

This means that instead of taking three attacks a round, mooks like the guys and gals that you're fighting now can only take one attack action a round.

I think this is an elegant solution to a disconnect I wasn't digging: trained warriors are now still very deadly, as they should be, but your average Tkayan isn't going to be attacking three times every six seconds and raining death down on all that oppose them. Also, it saves me a lot extra rolling.

Hopefully, from a narrative standpoint, it is obvious that the guys and gals you're fighting are not tactically sound, and not, from a mechanical standpoint, "blooded".

Oh yeah - Drazan's tomb. If you all want to go there, great - the excise moves slowly enough that you can catch up to it by the time it is attacked.

Let's resolve that after this fight.

It will up-power full BAB martials, but leave characters like Rigel that are not full BAB or casters in the lurch.

Good point. I think the free combat feats help high BAB characters more than anyone else.

I'll continue to think on a little sweetener to add. I like the idea of Combat Stamina in some form. I'm playing a character with it in another game and it has its place for martials for sure.

I'm curious to know more about how it actually plays out.

I'm also tinkering with lowering the non-proficiency penalty for martials for using weapons to -3. So, with a MW weapon like the axe, Drazan will only be at -2 until he picks up proficiency.

lowers by 1 per day?

Ah, I was treating your surge earlier as the "9". I'm a little confused about why Imix surged then? In that case...

1d100 ⇒ 83
Yup. We'll go with that.

Ah, my bad;

I think the problem with the "bob average" attacking 3 times is the nat 20 auto-hit. Doesn't matter how much penalty you stick on the attack if a nat 20 is going to hit anyway. That means 3 quick attacks have a 15% chance of doing damage regardless of AC. It makes sense a dramatically appropriate hero might 'luck out' (or have enemies luck out) 5% of the time, but falls down when you have armies flinging heaps of arrows.

Happy with the "2 attacks for unblooded NPCS" though.

On the other hand, it does bring an element of 'realism' to the game: medieval combat was horrifically dangerous and even a skilled warrior had a good chance of dying.

It also means adventurers are less likely to laugh when the common folk complain about the local goblins: with potentially 3 attacks/round, a goblin raiding party is truly something to be feared - for exactly the reasons Imix just gave.

That's a good point, Rigel. I think you might have convinced me. This is a lethal ambush - if we survive we should be proud.

Good points, but you'll all have enough tough fights, and the locals should fear a goblin raiding party. Those little buggers would be blooded and thus get up to three attacks a round.

I want you guys to be super humans but not superhuman. P6 flattens things enough that you won't be superhuman, but by non-coms not having the blooded condition, it means that even though you're inexperienced, you're still special.

Hmm. These are not soldiers.... I think we were just tricked into slaughtering a bunch of "innocents" by Fox Priest, further making Shadeholme look like a bunch of murderous scumbags.

Worse, Istiel gave him her name. It's likely she's about to become scapegoat, and may be stripped of her mask or banished. We might ALL get banished or imprisoned gfor this.

Of course, this is out of character musings. In character, Istiel is just confused and ANGRY. PUNCH THINGS

"Rakk the king" and attacking an Excise. By legal definition they're not innocents. Incompetents, maybe... but we're legitimately attacking bandits of not outright rebels.

Still, I have a bad feeling about this. I think we're being further set up.

History's written by the survivors - people will believe what Rigel tells them; particularly if she's backed up by a Suriname and a warrior-monk.

Sorry for no update yesterday. Work is being very mean to me right now. I'll do my best to get the next round up at lunch. May not happen until tomorrow...