creatures do not block line of sight/effect.
Sound good?
Well, that would have COMPLETELY changed my action!!!!
A different, OTHER Sahuagin would have made its save!!
Totally changes EVERYTHING.
In case its not obvious : :-)
Funny thing is, according to the encounter building rules in the DMG, this encounter is only considered Medium difficulty!? I'd hate to see a deadly one!!!!???
Are you sure that's not for one Sahuagin vs. a party of 4? This seems pretty damn deadly to me...
Hey, I've actually been creating encounters using the DMG rules lately. I found this wtf awesome calculator that does the math for you:
But yeah, its beyond deadly if these are normal sahuagin. 3 would be hard, 2 would be easy. Actually impossible to make a medium difficulty encounter, oddly enough.
That said I'm all for the "lets see what happens" anyways. Escaping a sahuagin lair after we awake from unconsciousness sounds fun.
Okay, well, there's actually something at play here that makes this look a lot worse than it is. Which, I was sort of trying to telegraph, thought I was doing a decent enough job, but maybe my hints weren't as clear as I thought they were... There's a reason I never put an icon on the map for Cenfa, he's a plot device in this battle, not really an NPC. :) I'm sure you'll all figure it out in short order. :P Also, there was a reason I had two of the bad guys throw their spears right off the bat (in my mind it lowers their overall CR pretty significantly because their claws and bite don't do that much damage.) After my in-game post, I'm sure you'll all see why the "actual" encounter is not as difficult as it originally looked. Though, it is still rather deadly. Sahuagin have many abilities that make them very dangerous.
Yikes, math is not my strong suit. Using Gomdebo's handy calculator, I realized I completely forgot that you're supposed to multiply the total XP of monsters depending on how many there are (3-6 monsters = *1.5 for a group of 6 PCs). So, even after my little bit of DM shenanigans/make it more than just a straight combat encounter is revealed, this is still/actually a deadly encounter. I'll stop trusting my reading of tables and math in the future, and just use that handy calculator instead. :) So, to sum up, I'm learning a lot, and you all are the beneficiaries of my 5e DM newb-ness. :) Thanks again for your patience.
No worries that's how it goes, just trying to not be annoying and second guess everything, hehe. I had a lot of help when I was starting out, too.
Clearly at this point I've exhibited that I need someone more experienced second guessing me!! :) Don't worry, I welcome all constructive criticism, and game discussion. I'm not one of those DMs that's going to punish you because you pointed out a flaw or fault. I'll be the first to admit I have flaws/faults, and I frequently make mistakes. Even so, the game has always been fun. Some of my mistakes have been our most memorable moments. :) So, to be clear, keep second guessing me, until I'm doing everything right. It's, like I said, absolutely one of the reasons I'm here, to learn! Also to flesh out Eafphqu, but mostly to learn. :)
Now, who's going to grab that ship's wheel, or rescue Cenfa???!!!
My understanding is that we get a free object interaction each turn, so someone who doesn't need or want to be in the middle of battle (one of our spellcasters, for instance) could handle the wheel and still take their full actions in combat. Does that sound right?
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My absolute favorite character died by having a giant’s fist go through his chest.
My second favorite character was unceremoniously gunned down due to poor decisions.
Both GMs remained great friends and I just made new characters.
So for me at least, please let the dice fall as they may. The game is 10x more fun that way. It shows that adventuring is dangerous and life isn’t proper CR.
My understanding is that we get a free object interaction each turn, so someone who doesn't need or want to be in the middle of battle (one of our spellcasters, for instance) could handle the wheel and still take their full actions in combat. Does that sound right?
Yes, but how will they handle the wheel??? Keep it straight? Turn right? Turn left? Cenfa was lastwatch foreman because of his knowledge of the river, and his ability to steer by moonlight. :)
One way or another, this combat will be over in 30 seconds or so. If Cenfa is gone and someone else who knows how to steer hasn't shown up by then, we go find them. Until then, we keep the wheel straight unless we have some reason to do otherwise.
Seems legit, Quint. So by 30 seconds you mean five more rounds?! :) Psalm's description was so great. I can just imagine the wheel starting to spin as the current of the river starts working against the loose rudder, then faster because the sails lose the wind, and him jumping in and just trying to hold her steady as she goes till someone else can get back to the wheel. Good stuff. That was exactly the kind of moment I was hoping for when I thought about this scenario in advance. Keep up the great work everybody!
I figure 5-6 more rounds is an upper limit. If we haven't killed them by then, it will probably be because they've killed most of us. Either way, I don't see it lasting much longer than that at the rate that they dish out damage. As always, one good spell from one of our casters could end it a lot sooner.
I'm quite new to 5th edition and it turns out that I really screwed up in my spell selection.
I chose Grease because its a very useful spell in Pathfinder. Turns out that it was totally useless in this encounter (which is why I didn't cast it). Losing 1/2 their movement (worst case if they fail their saving throw) wasn't going to change anything :-(.
So, don't count on much from me :-(
Wow, they really hit that with the nerf stick. That sounds more like a cantrip than a first level spell.
Edit: Oh, I see. It's not so much that the spell got specifically nerfed, they just made it a lot easier to recover from the effect it produces.
Btw, I've played with Mended before, and he usually lets you swap out things like that as long as you haven't used them yet.
If we survive the first fight I'll ask him :-). Swapping something in the middle of combat seems excessive.
If we survive the first fight I'll ask him :-). Swapping something in the middle of combat seems excessive.
What don't you like about grease? I think it is a very versatile battlefield control spell. Difficult terrain doubles the cost of movement, and anyone that is in the grease when it is conjured must make a Dex save or fall prone. Likewise anyone that enters the area of the grease or ends their turn there must make a Dex save or fall as well. Remember that in 5e standing up from prone requires fully half your available movement (for example if you have 30' of movement, it costs 15' to stand up from prone), so dropping someone prone in difficult terrain could, basically, take them out of that turn of the initiative. Even if they just used the Dash action to get more movement, then they aren't making an attack that round.
Having said that though, Quint is right, if you want to swap it out both from your spellbook, and your list of prepared spells, because it is not what you thought it was, I have no problem with that happening now, mid-combat. It's easy to retcon something that's never been used. :) Now, I also don't want people using that as an excuse to run roughshod over the rules and when they see a situation that a spell they don't own could be useful, switching things around just to get access to it. Also, once you've used something in the game it is stuck. Narrative evidence of an ability via it showing up in the game is much harder to re-imagine. ;)
What don't you like about grease?
I might easily be overreacting to a single situation but in this exact battle it was totally and utterly useless as far as I could tell. Losing 15 ft of movement (best case) would NOT have stopped any of the Sahuagin from just advancing. They'd have just walked around the grease and still made it to wherever they wanted. Basically, they were 10 or 15 ft away from where they wanted to be anyway. At the moment, it seems like there needs to be a true choke point together with some reasonably distances involved for it to be useful
Having said that though, Quint is right, if you want to swap it out both from your spellbook, and your list of prepared spells, because it is not what you thought it was, I have no problem with that happening now, mid-combat.
Thank you for that. If you're ok with it, I'll swap it for Sleep.
Although it makes perfect sense that Boddy would find himself woefully unprepared so I'm also quite happy just sticking with what I chose if you prefer
No, go ahead, swap it for sleep. I have no problem with that. :)
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! I hope all your stockings are stuffed with joy and love, and maybe some D&D stuff too. :P
Just an FYI, as I know that it appears to be a good time to cast that sleep spell... Sleep does not target just enemies, and it always targets creatures in ascending order of current HP, meaning the creature with the lowest hit points gets targeted first. Right now that would be Drun!!! Just wanted to make sure you were aware, so you don't knock Drun of Saxwyn out of the fight unwittingly. :)
He could easily place the center of the sphere so as to exclude any party members, though...
He could easily place the center of the sphere so as to exclude any party members, though...
Which is exactly why I offered the heads up. :)
Good morrow all. I hope your holidays went/are going well. I had a thought this weekend, that I think will make things easier for all of us going forward. One of the most cumbersome things that I've experienced in my other PbP games is when characters are talking in different languages. A frequent way to conquer that, that I've seen, is to use Google translate, and post the words in an actual world language that exists. While that does provide some great visual appeal, it can get clunky and sometimes just interferes with the flow. So, for the purposes of this campaign, I'd like to offer up the following solution.
When a character is speaking in another language, simply do it like this.
Cenfa turns to his captain and says,
This way, we are only ever writing things in English, but it is still clear that the character was speaking in a different language. Other PCs that don't speak that language would understand that their character doesn't know what was said, but they, the player, can read things.
Sound good?
Thanks!
That works fine.
I've been rethinking my skills a bit. It's weird for me not to play an intelligence-based character, but as I play him more, I find that jumping and climbing are much more a part of how I roleplay the character, so I'm thinking I should move my proficiency in investigation to athletics. Would the GM allow this (I haven't rolled either skill yet), and would someone else have investigation covered?
Quint, yes, we can make that switch. I'll adjust accordingly in HL, and you can do likewise on your Mythweavers sheet.
Where on the map. Are we. I assumed that the impressive Daybreak Bridge, which was cool by the way. I had a total moment where I had deja vu of the Fellowship passing the Agoranath, the big statues on the river.
That its the day break bridge spanning a river that cuts through the Evening and Morning Forest, I am assuming that there is a connection in the naming.
Happy New Year all!!! Psalm, in-game you have arrived at your destination: Blueblossom Haven. If you look at the "big map" on the setting site homepage you should see the Daybreak Bridge and Blueblossom Haven marked there. Also, of some geographical note. They are the Evening and Mourning forest. Which is definitely a play on words of evening and morning, obviously then, as you astutely recognized the Daybreak bridge fits that thematic. However the Mourning forest is so named because it grows a special kind of reed in the swampier portions, these reeds, as they bend in strong winds, make a sound like a wailing woman. For everyone who hears the sound in the forest the first time, it is rather unsettling, because it does sound very much like a woman in pain and anguish. :D As Vaslov said, you can all stay aboard the ship and sleep, or head into town and follow the noise to one of the few taverns that still has people entertaining themselves with drink and company.
Happy New Year all!!! Psalm, in-game you have arrived at your destination: Blueblossom Haven. If you look at the "big map" on the setting site homepage you should see the Daybreak Bridge and Blueblossom Haven marked there. Also, of some geographical note. They are the Evening and Mourning forest. Which is definitely a play on words of evening and morning, obviously then, as you astutely recognized the Daybreak bridge fits that thematic. However the Mourning forest is so named because it grows a special kind of reed in the swampier portions, these reeds, as they bend in strong winds, make a sound like a wailing woman. For everyone who hears the sound in the forest the first time, it is rather unsettling, because it does sound very much like a woman in pain and anguish. :D As Vaslov said, you can all stay aboard the ship and sleep, or head into town and follow the noise to one of the few taverns that still has people entertaining themselves with drink and company.
Thank you for adding the link. I knew I had seen it previously. In my head I figured that a bridge named Daybreak would be between the forests as I noted the names earlier. I was hunting clarification and I could not find the full map. I was for whatever reason only getting the north east quadrant.
Sorry all, came back to work after the long weekend to a pile of stuff I was not prepared for, and my partner in crime out with the flu. Which means I've been bogged down with RL stuff. I have a lot of stuff I need to get through every day this week, but I will try my best to get a post up at some point. This is fair warning that it might not be until Friday afternoon.
I have a few questions.
1- Just out of curiosity is anyone of us actually a Republic Citizen and even better a member of one of the orders?
2- @MendedWall12 Do you want to handle NPC interaction and town investigation linearly or is it safe to put in a Time/Place descriptor and start multiple interactions. Pro- more interactions happening faster for us in real life. Con- keeping track of who is where and if one conversation turns south they the subsequent later interaction might need to be retconned.
3- @MendedWall12- the Pantheon bits say that Aldellion is Amren's daughter but sometimes wife. Is this like Greek god incest shenanigans or is it mythos/theology differences due to race, language or region.
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I believe Boddy is a recent graduate of the arcane order, which is part of the reason Quint came along (he's looking for an angle to get into the academy).
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Yup, that is his backstory. He is NOT a citizen of the Republic, though :-)
I didn't really expect my Dr Doolittle thing to yield results :-). But Boddy is now definitely going to try and track that lead down a little. It sounds like it may well be friendly
@MendedWall12 I was looking over my character and I realized we never discussed this:
Feature. Discovery: The quiet seclusion of your extended hermitage gave you access to a unique and powerful discovery. It might be a great truth about the cosmos, the deities, the powerful beings of the outer planes, or the forces of nature. It could be a site that no one else has ever seen. You might have uncovered a fact that has long been forgotten, or unearthed some relic of the past that could rewrite history...
I have no real thought in mind as to the subject of this. It certainly might be fun to tie it to the World. I am also open to the idea that I left the hermitage to resolve the last bit of my discovery or I learned something that I want to confirm or disprove (I made a discovery but wish I hadn't).
2- @MendedWall12 Do you want to handle NPC interaction and town investigation linearly or is it safe to put in a Time/Place descriptor and start multiple interactions. Pro- more interactions happening faster for us in real life. Con- keeping track of who is where and if one conversation turns south they the subsequent later interaction might need to be retconned.
I am perfectly fine with everyone putting a time/place header in their posts and running multiple settings simultaneously. More to keep track of, yes, but also much more investigation friendly, and likewise just more realistic. In a friendly city of the Republic, it would be senseless not to split up and gather information from multiple sources and then meet back up to try and tie everything together.
3- @MendedWall12- the Pantheon bits say that Aldellion is Amren's daughter but sometimes wife. Is this like Greek god incest shenanigans or is it mythos/theology differences due to race, language or region.
Very much Greek incest shenanigans, when I first imagined it, but I really like your idea that it could just be theological differences based on race. So, I guess we'll say a little of both. :)
@MendedWall12 I was looking over my character and I realized we never discussed this...
I am wide open for however you want to play this Psalm. If you're looking for suggestions for some kinds of knowledge or secrets that might play well into this adventure, let me know. Otherwise, please throw out any ideas you have, and I'm sure we can work together to make them work. :)
3- @MendedWall12- the Pantheon bits say that Aldellion is Amren's daughter but sometimes wife. Is this like Greek god incest shenanigans or is it mythos/theology differences due to race, language or region.Very much Greek incest shenanigans, when I first imagined it, but I really like your idea that it could just be theological differences based on race. So, I guess we'll say a little of both. :)
So which cultures are more like to see her as mother? Which are more like to see her as warrior princess? And which is most likely to have a god who married his own daughter. And even more interesting who aware of this are they?
Is it fully known that Amren made his daughter his queen? That doesn't feel lawful good. Did the daughter trick him pretending to be someone else? Or like Oedipus is it they didn't know but should have known? Are they still together? Or were they full on tricked by the evil gods? I could see Zogus tricking them but now they are somehow honor bound. So Zogus pulled some magical whammy on them that resulted in a shameful pairing but being bound by oath she is his queen.
@MendedWall12 I was looking over my character and I realized we never discussed this...I am wide open for however you want to play this Psalm. If you're looking for suggestions for some kinds of knowledge or secrets that might play well into this adventure, let me know. Otherwise, please throw out any ideas you have, and I'm sure we can work together to make them work. :)
Well this endeavor is to flesh out your world. Some how in my head assuming we are sufficiently awesome our characters will be NPCs that are famous movers and shakers. "Elminster who, this is the archmage Boddynuck." Given that I figured something you want significantly felt within your world or a campaign relevant discovery (known or soon to be revealed).
I’d assume that for Gods they don’t have the genetic issues that mortals have...
True but such hang ups are more ethical-cultural matters. Even more interesting the gods defied ethics in many pantheons. Which makes alignment a tricky thing.
Interestingly god hook ups often brought about monstrosities.
Psalm, I think you might be delving a bit too deep into what is really just supposed to be esoteric mystery. That Aldellion is Amren's "daughter" is true from the same perspective that all creatures on Eafphqu are his children. He created them all (many indirectly through his deity offspring, but nonetheless he claims them all as his). The elves are the racial group that holds to a tradition that their race was born of Aldellion by Amren, and that she was given rule over the elves as their queen. Thus tracing their royal lineage back directly to Aldellion herself. Since gods are not bound by physical forms of procreation, it could very well be that Aldellion consulted with Amren about what form the elves should take, and that was his "contribution" to the creative process. So there wasn't, necessarily, any breach of morality or ethics there. Point being the gods are transcendent, outside of the binding of time, place, and physical bodies.
NOW!!! Your astute historical observation that in the Greek tradition many times incestuous deity relations birthed monsters has given me an excellent idea for Psalm's discovery. What if Aldellion created the elves after consulting with Amren, but, during that period when Desmos captured Aldellion, before his banishment to the Abyss, he also used her template of creation to spawn a different race of elves? The Drow!!! The existence of Drow in Eafphqu, at this point in the world's history are nothing but a whisper of a rumor, and, in fact, I did/do have some grandiose plans for those evil creatures to make a major impact on the global political landscape at some point. Letting everyone behind the screen a bit, I had the idea that the Drow are dealing secretly with the d'rak (orcs), and having them steal human women in their prime breeding years (it is well known that the orcs steal young women as well as treasure when they come raiding -- it is likewise common knowledge that half-orcs are a minority race on Iewiuf, thus most people put one and one together and get two, never supposing there's a third option), when they go on raids. This is, actually, one of the primary story lines of the tabletop game I'm running in the same system. :D The d'rak deliver the girls, unharmed (very importantly), to the Drow, who are using them to produce half-drow offspring. Of these offspring, they select those with physical characteristics that will allow them to pass as surface half-elves, and then train them rigorously as spies. Their campaign of espionage is already well under way! They dwell among you... The truth is out there. =D
So, let us say that Psalm's discovery happened once upon an almost moonless night, as he wandered around being unable to sleep. Psalm, wandering in the remote cave complexes of Ravenroost's Grand Burrow, as he many times liked to do, just happened to find a hidden set of tunnels that led him to wander by a long secret cave entrance. There he overheard a conversation in d'rak (unable to understand the words, but fully capable of identifying the guttural tongue as that of the orcs). Psalm snuck his way into the cave, and witnessed one of the rare encounters between a small party of Drow, and an orc raid party (reminding them of their bargain before they went a-raiding). Being the only "civil" person around, and unable to understand the language, Psalm came back into town with his strange tale of elves with dark skin, and was completely ignored and discounted. "You were just dreaming!" even his close friends said, but in his heart, he knows what he saw... :)
Sound good? Let me know of any tweaks or changes you'd like to make to the story. Or if you have any other questions. I fully appreciate your creative help Psalm, you've sparked me to think about/create much more lore for Eafphqu than I had anticipated at this early juncture, and I greatly appreciate it!
The only tweak I would suggest is that I found the cave in the Grumorjak mountains where he was living among the druids.
No worries, I've done the same thing probably a hundred times. I knew who it was supposed to be. :)
Psalm, that tweak sounds great to me. Consider yourself a bearer of the secret truth. The truth is out there... :D
Ready to head to the farm whenever.