The Fountain of Bethesda (Inactive)

Game Master TheBobJones

Here's my take on Benaiah's Buffs (sounds like a tv show):

Bull Strength: The spell grants a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength, adding the usual benefits to melee attack rolls, melee damage rolls, and other uses of the Strength modifier.

Inspire Courage:An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 5th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +1

Heroism:The target gains a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks.

Not really relavant to the stacking discussion
Longarm: Your arms temporarily grow in length, increasing your reach with those limbs by 5 feet

Phantom Blood: If the loss of hit points at the end of a temporary effect that modifies your Constitution (such as a barbarian's rage or a bloodrager's bloodrage) would cause you to become unconscious or kill you, you gain temporary hit points equal to your caster level (maximum 10).

+4 Bonus to Strength (+4 Enhancement)
+4 Bonus to Attack (+2 Competence, +2 Morale)
+2 Bonus to Weapon Damage (+2 Competence)
+2 Bonus to Saves (+2 Morale, supercedes the +2 vs Charm / Fear)from Inspire Courage)
+2 Bonus to Skill Checks (+2 Competence)
+5' Reach
+X HP if he would go unconscious from losing rage (not sure what his caster level is)

Awesome sauce. Thanks so much for that. Back to my literally stack of papers at work.

Wow, Malgrim. Amazing job putting all that together. Well done, sir.

*slow claps with mouth slightly agape*

Well done sir. Well. Done.

And Thank you.

:D

Heh, not a big deal :)

(It should be noted that the +4 strength will confer a +2 bonus to attacks, a +2 damage on the bite, and +1 damage on the claw, but I wasn't sure how you were throwing that in)

Thanks! Yea, I've got a 'table' in my profile that helps with all of the bonuses and negatives. I just add it up for each buff I've got

-Posted with Wayfinder

Wow what an interesting rule question. Here are some quotes from the SRD.

Total Concealment

If you have line of effect to a target but not line of sight, he is considered to have total concealment from you. You can't attack an opponent that has total concealment, though you can attack into a square that you think he occupies. A successful attack into a square occupied by an enemy with total concealment has a 50% miss chance (instead of the normal 20% miss chance for an opponent with concealment).

You can't execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with total concealment, even if you know what square or squares the opponent occupies.

Line of effect
A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what a spell can affect. A line of effect is canceled by a solid barrier. It's like line of sight for ranged weapons, except that it's not blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors that limit normal sight. A line of effect starts from any corner of your square and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier that would block it. A line-shaped spell affects all creatures in squares through which the line passes.

So rule wise, and RL wise, you should be able to pull a bowstring back and fire an arrow down the hallway without being able to see.

But in this case, Malgrim wants to target a specific square, one he cannot see. I liken it to being blindfolded and having to throw a baseball a certain distance and direction. That seems harder then say aiming for a specific square because you have to compensate for both distance & direction.

So I would say 75% miss chance, on a miss roll a d4 and it will be 5-feet 1-right, 2-left, 3-infront, 4-behind all relative to Malgrim and the square he is aiming for.

Thoughts?

Total darkness is 50% miss chance. Blinded is like total darkness and is also a condition (that comes with dex mods, if I'm not mistaken). You could rule that the others can tell him where to point his bow... and I would just say 50%. Up to you of course!

I decided given the high chance it wouldn't work, the relatively slim chance it would do what I wanted, and the worst case scenario that it blocked Benaiah, it wasn't worth the effort. Also:

Total darkness is 50% miss chance. Blinded is like total darkness and is also a condition (that comes with dex mods, if I'm not mistaken). You could rule that the others can tell him where to point his bow... and I would just say 50%. Up to you of course!

Blinded does not give you a penalty to attack.

–4 penalty on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks

Malgrim I adjusted your attack by 4.

Thanks for pointing that out. You are correct that Precision Damage is negated by Concealment. First time with a Precision based-damage dealer, and I was too excited about you all being denied your Dex Bonus. To peel back a bit, the characters in this encounter were designed to complement each other and the I though the spell the rat used here would have worked. Missed the Concealment part. Benaiah's corrected damage is 6.

The d8s would have been (are) correct <insert evil laugh> if I could have applied Precision Damage

The d8s would have been (are) correct <insert evil laugh> if I could have applied Precision Damage

Stalker Vigilante? (wild guess)

TheBobJones_GM wrote:

The d8s would have been (are) correct <insert evil laugh> if I could have applied Precision Damage

Stalker Vigilante? (wild guess)

Trump voice "WRONG"!

Sorry that was mean. Good guess.

Hey all, just to let you know that I'm still reading along and still enjoying doing so. Unconsciousness tends to put a crimp on the PbP and I feel you've had enough of Arimar's weird change-over stuff already that a dream sequence would be a little too tired and disruptive.

Just wanted to post so that you knew where I was. :-)

We know where you are. Fixing red links. :)

Down to 15...

Just a quick note about your environs, you are all currently Blind and Deaf and moving through Difficult Terrain.

From a GM perspective, this couldn't be going any better.

For just a quick note about our environs, Malgrim wants to be back on that boat right now.

Counterpoint:

I am completely useless in the ash storm. Most of us are because we can't see anything, and we have no idea what is going on.

Now, the enemy caster, whom Malgrim has rightly ID'd as the most dangerous threat, is also hamstrung, since he can't cast anything with verbal components in an area of silence.

In my opinion, we are all on the the same plane of suck now. Gwen didn't give us any advantages, but she did take presumably take away their one advantage in all of this.

Also, there is a big mechanical difference between silence and being deaf.

Deaf means you have a 20% spell failure chance. Silence means anything with a verbal component simply cannot be cast.

The brilliance of casting it on herself is that the rat doesn't get a will save to negate the effects, as long as she is close enough to it. If the rat is in the area, it can't cast spells with a verbal component.

Just wanted to point that out so Lockwood doesn't feel like he is hurting our cause. I think it was a good move. Now we are all useless and can fumble around in the dark until the ash storm disappates

Yeah, I agree. It was a tactically difficult move, but it *probably* hurts him more than it hurts us. Luckily unless he's an 8th level druid he can't get blindsense from Wild Shaping, and the ash storm hopefully would screw up scent.

I do have a feeling it'll be a bit rough to play out 4+ more rounds of "fumble and flail" in PbP, though ;)

Very true. I did use deaf in place of silence. Mechanically I understand the difference just felt cooler to say deaf and blind.

How about "We're in Barney?"

Also, I would expect I would know if I hit the rat or not, however, in absence of some confirmation, I'm going to assume that an intelligent foe isn't going to just hang around where I can hit it.

I am interested in why you think you would know if you hit the rat or not. You are currently blinded and cannot see, and you cannot hear due to the silent spell

I am interested in why you think you would know if you hit the rat or not. You are currently blinded and cannot see, and you cannot hear due to the silent spell

Re-reading the post I realized that I didn't explicitly state I was using the elemental blade power (melee attack); an issue with trying to be flavorful with versatile abilities, and trying to rush. Generally speaking if Malgrim is making an attack in melee, that's the weapon mode I was intending to use.

Anyway, with a melee attack I would expect to have some sort knowledge if the attack hit resistance was my thought. It doesn't really make much difference, as after two attacks that failed to have a noticeable effect, I was going to try and find a more productive use of my time than blindly inflicting more property damage ;)

Good call on trying to clarify :)

Oh I get it. Malgrim's blade does not find the rat.

Also, there is a big mechanical difference between silence and being deaf.

Deaf means you have a 20% spell failure chance. Silence means anything with a verbal component simply cannot be cast.

The brilliance of casting it on herself is that the rat doesn't get a will save to negate the effects, as long as she is close enough to it. If the rat is in the area, it can't cast spells with a verbal component.

Just wanted to point that out so Lockwood doesn't feel like he is hurting our cause. I think it was a good move. Now we are all useless and can fumble around in the dark until the ash storm disappates

Preach it, Benaiah! Please make me seem smarter than I am :)

Honestly I wasn't critiquing your Gwen's character's action. I am so used to you all kicking my butt so quickly that I am just glad that I got these two into the 5th round.

On the plus side, the alarm spells should still tell us if someone tries to leave... well, Gwen, anyway. Also, Arimar remains unimpeded by blindness, deafness or difficult terrain!

On the plus side, the alarm spells should still tell us if someone tries to leave... well, Gwen, anyway. Also, Arimar remains unimpeded by blindness, deafness or difficult terrain!

Unconscious is arguably the second worst status condition ;)

Can someone mark the alarm spell on the map please?

Nice reminder Arimar.

Ok, I need a clarification.

The ash storm spell does not specifically say anything about giving targets the blinded condition.

I know this is splitting hairs, but based on my last post, the blinded condition has some obvious bad side effects. If mechanically the spell doesn't actually blind us, are we subject to the blinded condition's effects?

I'm fine either way you rule, just want to make sure that we are all on the same page. Much like the deaf/silenced, I'm not entirely sure that just because it is dark we are considered blind...

Of course, I only ask after I fail something miserably... heh... /ducks

blocks all sight

The creature cannot see.

All the threads I've read say that Ash Storm assumed the rules for blindness. If you have come across anything different I'd certainly reconsider.

Honestly I wasn't critiquing your Gwen's character's action. I am so used to you all kicking my butt so quickly that I am just glad that I got these two into the 5th round.

No worries, dude. I was just joking around, since Benaiah/Steve did a better job of explaining my action than I did.

I mean, I'm pretty sure I didn't hurt our chances that badly :)

Also, Arimar remains unimpeded by blindness, deafness or difficult terrain!

Haha! I loved this line :P

Can someone mark the alarm spell on the map please?

Nice reminder Arimar.

I'm not near a computer currently, so I won't be able to mark the locations right now (for the same reason I can never move my own tokens :0 ). It would probably have to be tomorrow. Sorry!

2 potions of invigorate

Here is the weird thing, how long does your Fatigue last?

fatigued after rage for a number of rounds equal to 2 times the number of rounds spent in the rage.

How long does Invigorate lasst?

10 minutes/level

What happens after Invigorate ends?

the subject takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage, along with the return of the original condition(s)

So for a time, you stave off the effects of Fatigue.

A fatigued character can neither run nor charge and takes a –2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue causes the fatigued character to become exhausted.

So for a temporary abate of 2 for dex and strength, you then lose 1d6 hp and go back to Fatigue. Seems good in the short term.

And I would agree, no rage cycling with this.

[/brainfart]

Interestingly enough, a potion of lesser restoration does, among other things, "eliminate any fatigue". It's more expensive, but it is on the alchemist spell list (4th), and 150gp isn't that expensive for a one-off in circumstances like these.

So, rage cycle with a lesser resto, but (most often) invigorate to temporarily alleviate your stress.

Or, see if John is willing to allow cracked green prisms and their resonant powers. ;-)

Interestingly enough, a potion of lesser restoration does, among other things, "eliminate any fatigue". It's more expensive, but it is on the alchemist spell list (4th), and 150gp isn't that expensive for a one-off in circumstances like these.

So, rage cycle with a lesser resto, but (most often) invigorate to temporarily alleviate your stress.

Or, see if John is willing to allow cracked green prisms and their resonant powers. ;-)

Rage cycling with a 4th level spell - for sure.

And you bet for the ioun stones. You are ex-pathfinders ;)

So I am at a crossroads. My intent is always for you all to have fun, but currently one party member down, and the others are pretty much unable to do a whole lot. As Malgrim pointed out, not the best for PbP. And as Benaiah pointed out, this will last a few rounds.

But <redacted> so it is important to continue in rounds as we are.

Please continue to bear with me and continue playing your characters as intelligently as you always have.

No worries :) I was mostly pointing that out, as we're likely going to be stumbling blind for 4+ rounds, we could have queue'd actions. Like, I'm probably going to keep moving in the direction of where I last knew the Book Keeper was and start making walls until I stumble into the rat or the Book Keeper. Gwen seems like she's just going to wander around looking for the Rat. Benaiah is going to try to go after the assassin, and probably fall a few times doing so. Arimar is going to do his impression of the floor. We could possibly set up our upcoming turns and conditionals of what would bring us out of them (stumbling into the rat, Assassin, or Bookkeeper probably.)

Anyway, I was just trying to brainstorm how to handle a situation like this myself as well ;)

That is a good point about the bookkkeeper. We should put him on the map. As far as his actions go, he is just going to cower in the corner. I put him on the map where I surmised you said he was. Feel free to adjust, but he is invisible for 3 minutes or 30 rounds.

And if someone can point out where the Alarm spell is please and thank you.

I believe there were two alarms, one on each entrance (2 x windows and 2 x doors for our 2 rooms). Marked on the map.

Main aim was to not be spuriously set off, but also to give us the most advance notice possible. Hard to get an exact size without grid markers, but I think I got it mostly right...

Sorry for the terse post. In between Holiday craziness and didn't want to hold up the game more for "I double move"

Whoops, looks like I wouldn't have been holding anything up after all ;)

Well, I've braved holiday post office lines, shopping, and airport traffic; now I've got a day to recover a bit before I fly out myself (out of town Monday-Friday.) I'll have a laptop, but unsure how much I'll be able to post.

Sorry about the delay everyone, this is the first time I opened my laptop all weekend. Crazy with Christmas.

I'd really love to polish this off before Christmas if we could.

Apologies for the slow posting.

@ Arimar: Next round I was thinking of casting a cure light wounds on Arimar, to try and get him back in the fight. Would you rather I hold off, because of the risk it might put Arimar in being at a low HP level while we try to buff him up?

Arimar's reply: "..."

Do whatever you feel is appropriate. Don't feel I need to get back into the fight - got plenty of stuff to keep me occupied elsewhere.

Wiki.

Anyway... if you want Arimiar in the fight, he can spontaneously lay on hands to himself as a swift action for a bit of extra healing.

Don't feel I need to get back into the fight - got plenty of stuff to keep me occupied elsewhere.

Wiki.

Sad panda.

Sad Panda? I'm still reading along, John. Still waiting to act... or post ooc advice. ;-)

Good and valid points. Let me digress. So right before the knife throw what was occurring? Everyone is blinded and can't hear. During that, the hooded man retreated and was behind the corner. So prior to the hooded man's turn, Benaiah has no idea where he is. Once the ash stops, and everyone regains their sight, Benaiah is looking around but doesn't see him as he is still behind the corner.

So on his turn, the hooded man uses Bluff to distract Benaiah, who still hasn't seen him, then the hooded man five foot steps and throws the knife while Benaiah is distracted.

That accounts for Arimar's action economy and Benaiah's can't hide in plain sight.

And no to Snipe, DC is way too high.

So Benaiah is correct, no longer Stealthed.

And your help has been much appreciated Arimar.