Yeah, I read it too, not really knowing what it was. Fortunately it didn't affect anything since Nme'an assumed either he could turn the intruders away or they would (eventually) out roll Themp's attempts at stealth.
Also, hope it's okay that I assumed Beorae found fish in the river (a 23 Survival seemed to be more than sufficient). Please let me know if that's something the GM needs to handle!
It should be stated that Nme'an's magical fine-china plates are not canon.
The "plate" would be whatever we planned to eat trail rations off of... Maybe a trencher? Maybe a large piece of dry bark?
Wow! He saved your life and you go and deprive him of his, and his children's, and his children's children's children's income and retirement like that! Not even our rogue could backstab more deviously than that!
...
Yeah, the plate is a joke.
:(
From a gameplay standpoint, what does our current situation count as? Is this a "surprise round" or something else? Surprise rounds happen before initiatives, right?
Reminder: Alignments.
(Aka, how does a well meaning but ultimately destructive, dishonest, law breaking, sleep interrupting father (if he was a father... he never told Nme'an who he was or really why he was there, just that he wanted to beat on Themp for... "because") not show up on the Detect-Evil-O-Meter. And how, with all those italiced adjectives, does he rate less evil than a mere puppy kicking minion?)
Warning: I’m going to reveal the nature of that man’s alignment below. It helps me explain his actions.
Detect Evil will tell you if someone possesses an Evil alignment. There are three Evil alignments: Chaotic Evil (CE), Neutral Evil (NE), and Lawful Evil (LE). We can get into their differences later, if you wish.
There are three Good alignments (as represented by you four): Chaotic Good, Neutral Good, and Lawful Good.
However, there are also three Neutral alignments: Chaotic Neutral, True Neutral, and Lawful Neutral. Those with Neutral alignments do not have any moral obligation toward good or evil.
The man you interacted with possessed one of the Neutral alignments. While he was clearly lying to your faces, and eager to beat up Themp (for reasons neither he or Themp answered clearly), he also showed respect toward the Order of the Dawnflower, and did not arbitrarily tell his men to attack all of you, just for guilt by association. And even though he promised Themp that he would see him again, the man kept his word when he told Nme’an he would leave, unsatisfied.
Now, it may be within some Good alignments to “turn the other cheek” when wronged, but Neutral alignments are not bound by such compunctions. Whatever history is between he and Themp, the man felt that an imbalance had to be rectified, and acted on this feeling. Could it be called revenge? Sure, but even the Good can be guilty of that. Could it be that the man was overreacting to an offense perceived as a magnanimous dishonor to his family? Perhaps, but overreactions of themselves are not evil. He waited until he knew Themp would be out of the city, and he hoped that the law only extended as far as the sight of the city guards.
Alignments represent philosophies, doctrines, and core concepts that guide a character’s conscience, but this does not mean a character will follow these philosophies 100% of the time. There inevitably comes a choice between two conflicting desires. Fortunately, it takes more than one mistake for someone to require an alignment shift (it would be really crummy if a Good character was penalized for lying a few times*). Traditionally, alignment shifts bestow a penalty to experience points, but we can get into that later.
Even if the man was eager to dole out his version of justice, that doesn’t necessarily mean he would get home and boast about it to his family and friends. More likely, the imbalance of honor that he felt ate him up inside and he couldn’t let it go, to the point of costing him sleep and keeping him from enjoying life the way he used to. Who knows? MAYBE THEMP RUINED HIS LIFE. Heh. Or maybe I put too much thought into a very unimportant character to the story. Does that answer your questions?
*Which reminds me, there are some significant differences even within the Lawful Good-Chaotic Good spectrum. I get the sense Nme’an wouldn’t approve of stealing from the rich, even if it is to feed an orphanage, yet to Themp or Mot, that might be the most effective way of “doing good” that they could think of. Even two people of the same alignment are not guaranteed to get along.
TL;DR: Some people are just douchebags, but that doesn’t make them evil.
I can't speak for Raga, but that cleared it up pretty well for me. :)
Hey just wanted to let everyone know that it'll be a couple days until Netherfire can reach a computer to post. So if you have any sort of lives outside of the game (pff, I know right? Ridiculous.) now would be the time to attend to it. Heh.
Noooooooo!
But does this mean that YOUR computer works now?!
Heh, no. I JUST TOTALLY HACKED THIS COMPUTER I FOUND DOWNTOWN!
(read: I'm using a computer at the library.) Heh.
He has JUST said he will be out for a couple of days, Beorn...
Chewie said that Nether would be out… I was asking about Chewie's computer. :)
Right, that's what I said.
He has just said that his computer is out for a couple of days...
;)
Oh, because Chewie and Nether are the same person. Right. Heh.
This new development certainly strengthens that theory... for me at least. :p
My sword gets crits on 19 and 20, and I rolled a 16+3. Does that count or does it have to be a natural 19?
Also, procedural question. The wolf attacked while threatened by me? Did I "lose" the ability to do an AoO because I was readied? Basically, did I do EVERYTHING right? :p
1. You'll have to roll a natural 19 for a potential crit.
2. The reason Nme’an did not get to make an AoO against the wolf in P10 is because he stood too closely to Mot. If Nme’an stood in P9, for example, he would’ve been able to make an AoO. Here’s why:
Moving more than 5 feet though threatened area provokes attacks of opportunity. However, the first 5 feet into threatened area does not provoke.
The Charge attack action requires the attacker to use the straightest line to their target, ending in the closest square from the starting place of the Charge. The closest square was P10, and the wolf did not pass through P9.
Since the wolf entered and stopped in the first 5 feet of Nme’an’s threatened area, he does not provoke an AoO. Does all that make sense?
Bah. It does. Wish I had know that earlier though! :(
Just wanted to know that Beorae would have gotten a critical hit if she had been using her Scimitar instead of her Short Spear. The Scimitar gets crits starting at natural rolls of 18, and she rolled a 19! (Scimitar ATK: 1d20-2 (18-20/x2))
Yeah… she knows. >.<
is an ugly crit number. I need to fix this Strength issue. I wonder if we will happen upon some fancy gear one of these days. I bet that old wizard had tons of magical stuff locked away in that tower of his!
Maybe you should think about that feat that Themp has that let's him use his dex in place of str. Throw another point into str and you'd go from -2 on every attack to +2! :)
Yeah, that feat rules
That's only for attack rolls. Str is still used for damage rolls on the weapons Beorae can use (she can't use a bow, which is crap). The feat would be semi-helpful, but doesn't fix the damage issue.
Ah, right. Well, get your magic on, girl!
She's trying! Her spell count starts going up quickly, so leveling will help a lot. Just have to rely on Shark for attacks right now :)
If only we leveled up more frequently, or at all..
*nudge* *nudge* *wink* *wink*
:PPP
Woah there, Mr. Greedypants! It's only day THREE! ;-)
Heh, indeed. In our Valcia game, we played an entire YEAR before we leveled up!
Game year or year year?
Year year my friend, year year.
Heh.
On an unreleased note, what's the rules on 5 foot stepping? I want to do a 5 foot step to P11 and then attack Wolf4 (Q12). Am I correct in that this would: 1. Not generate an AoO from the movement because it is just a 5 foot step. B. Give me the flank bonus (+2 to ATK, what about damage?) to Wolf4 because Themp is on the other diagonal side? and 3. Generate an AoO from Wolf3 (P12) because I'm attacking his friend while threatened?
A. Yes, it will not generate an AoO since it is just a five foot step.
B. Yes, +2 flank bonus to attack, but no bonus for damage. However, Themp gets his sneak attack damage bonus should he attack wolf you now, together, are flanking.
C. No, you don't run the risk of an AoO by merely attacking. (Could be wrong on this one, pretty sure I'm not)
Melee attacks do not generate AoO, unless you're unarmed. Ranged attacks do, though.
Completely random question: For Sorcerers, which are the bloodlines we can choose under our rules? Aberrant through Verdant?
He's slaughtering wolves and reconsidering his life's calling…
Speculation, hearsay, and lies!
Just because I like to plan way ahead and never want an unfortunate roll of the dice to deprive me of storytelling opportunities and have decided to repurpose Nme'an crippled* full Elven brother as my first contingency character and have very tentatively decided to make their mother my third string character doesn't mean that Nme'an is having a crisis of identity or anything!
*For the record, how with all the instantaneous magical healing could two of the other champion contenders have been killed and the other have been in threat of not pulling through? Or what of an older brother to a previously unknown Thaleniel knight who received a grievous leg wound back in 491, how would that not have been healed to good as new within a few days? Do wounds, for story purposes, take hold and become harder and harder to reverse the longer they exist? A lack of potions or healers could then cause a longer term problem after, say, a goblin raid...
[edit]And yes, Third String Mother would make a good name for a band, or at least a song.[/edit]
Nme’an: if you are going to cast Detect Evil, I should point out that you won’t immediately know if the alpha wolf is evil. The Detect spells kind of work in waves, you’ll see what I’m talking about in the spell description. Also make sure your target is within the 60 feet cone.
Also also, your posted turn looks correct. Well done with the 5 foot step! Hooray tactics!
The Core Rulebook contains these bloodlines that sorcerers can pick from.
Perhaps the healers could not get to the others in time, or they were horrible adventurers pushing their luck? Or both? Oh, and I should mention that while hit point damage is the most common form of injury in this game, you can also sustain damage to your ability scores. For example, some poisons can ravage your Constitution score (and thereby making them harder to resist, since Constitution affects Fortitude saves), and some diseases can sap your Strength score. This damage can be healed by 1 point for 8 hours of rest, or by the Lesser Restoration spell or better. Ability score damage is different from ability score drain, which represents a permanent loss of ability score points. Thankfully, ability drain is not common until much higher levels.
So to answer your question Nme’an, untreated wounds in Pathfinder typically take a long time to heal, but are surmountable. For story purposes, and if the player was all for it, I would consider bending the rules to accommodate some kind of permanent disability, but that isn’t something I would normally do unbidden. I would try to work with the player to figure it out.
EDIT: Also, Beorae, you cast Detect Magic while adjacent to a wolf. Casting a spell while in a creature’s threatened area provokes an attack of opportunity. If you like, you can say you took a 5 foot step before casting, since you had enough actions to do so last round. Just start your turn 5 feet away from Wolf 3 and you’ll be fine.
If you allow the attack of opportunity to go through, you might lose the spell midcasting, and it fizzles in your hands. Just state what you want to do in ooc at the beginning of your next turn. I won’t always prompt AoO avoidance, but I know all of you are still learning.
Ok, I moved her on the board according to a 5-step rule. I didn't move her originally because it seemed that both adjacent wolves were already dead (I posted Shark's moves first). But I can dig that it's all the same round, so they're technically alive at the time. :) I'll be sure to watch that going forward.
Timing like that is easier to keep track of on a table, rather than an internet. If the wolves hadn't died (for whatever reason), Beorae might've been bit.
Heh. Big post there Nether!
- So to get an exact fix on an evil thing Nme'an would need to Detect Evil for three consecutive rounds? Or can it be three rounds separated by other actions? Does it matter if he focuses on one single object (the Alpha in this case) vs just kinda starring in a direction?
- Thanks for the link to the Bloodlines. Fortunately the one(s) I was looking at are available. And to be perfectly clear, I love Nme'an and have no intention of losing him. I was just having fun at the end of the week while Paizo was trying its best to corrupt its database. (Looks like they did a minor rollback as one of my posts vanished!) I also love to have consistency of storyline and preplanning this stuff makes me happy. :)
And yeah, if I played with Hev'an Aldael or Arana Aldael (Nme'an's brother and mother) I'd love to work out some disabilities for them. Hev'an, specifically, would have some sort of permanent leg injury reducing his movement by a bit. Arana would be a town leader and diplomat trying to foolishly adventure out to avenge the deaths of all three of her sons and would probably have some minor penalties to some skills until she got the hang of things story wise, as well as an occasional story based failure at various attempts until she was up to speed. Basically, I love adding to the story and atmosphere of the game with things like this, as long as I don't inadvertently get my characters killed at a critical moment! :p
- Also, what's the rule on movement and AoO? I know I can shift 5 feet, if I move more than that away from wolf 6 he doesn't get to attack does he?
1. Nme'an needs 3 consecutive rounds to determine a particular creature to be Evil.
2. If you move more than 5 feet away from an opponent, you will provoke an attack of opportunity. However, an Acrobatics check (DC equal to their CMD) will avoid provoking the AoO. The roll doesn't cost an action, and even with a high ACP, you sometimes still have a small chance at not provoking as you move.
Edit: Nevermind, just saw your post. Everything looks right!
Is Smite Evil a free action? I want to Smite, Move, and Attack in the same turn but not sure I can...
Smite Evil is a swift action. Swift actions take less time/effort to accomplish than a standard or a move, but more than a free action. You get one swift action per turn.
Were-what now, did she say?! Oh great, that's even better than wolves...
Themp unconsciously steps further away from the wolves and, after a second of hesitation, fires at the wolf harassing the tiger.
Why did Mot's AC go to 13 when his Char profile says 14 when raging? Is it because he doesn't have the shield equipped, or am I missing something?
It's an accident in my profile. Good eye. I'll probably fix it next time I get to a computer.
Question about player progression: If we have an encounter with, say , 8 wolves and we only defeat 4 and scatter the remainder, how does the XP get calculated? Do we only get XP for the wolves that were slain, or do we get XP for all 8? Mostly curious about how the mechanics work. :)
I was about to Smite the heck out of the leader too! :(