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Vacationus interruptus has struck, and I'll be away / possibly internet-less for a few weeks.
Please feel free to DMPC Garand as necessary to keep things moving.
(At the moment, he's looking to see if there's some sort of culvert or drainage system that we could take up to the tower, instead of the open stairway.
If that's not a viable option;
Sub-option 1 would be to try and sneak as far up the stairs as possible during the night without being detected by folk atop the cliff/tower/thingie.
Sub-option 2, perhaps some sort of distraction from summoned fliers could keep the defenders topside harried while we dash up the stairs.
Some combination of the two (attempt to sneak, and if discovered, attempt summons to hinder attempts to rain death down upon us) might end up being more realistic than pinning our hopes on one or the other.
Just a note that as we get further and further into May I'll get busier and busier at my day job, so please forgive any absences on my part.
I am on the road for the next two days until I get to Dhaka. I should have decent internet there once I arrive.
I got here in one piece.
Looking forward to this combat!
I just gotta comment on those rolls by Raith. Man those rolls were ABSOLUTELY unbelievable. How you can roll FIVE d20 rolls and roll nothing less than a 16 is unfathomable.
Man those were some nasty rolls, dude. Awesome stuff. :)
I was pretty shocked myself. I had to double check and make sure I had put 1d20 in the column. I thought the dice roller had rolled a d16 to 20 or something. Given all the horrible rolls I've had in the past, it was nice to finally have a good round. I hope it helps us.
Sorin still burned through most of his spells. That was rough. Sorin hasn't had the funds or time to create any high-level scrolls or even a nice wand of haste or some-such.
I don't look forward to the encounters above. Sorin is shaking with trepidation.
When did you burn most of your spells, Sorin? I thought you only used a haste. How are we looking on spell power?
two hastes down. Still got:
Dispel Magic
Scorching Ray
Bull's Strength
Web
Protection from Evil
Grease
Feather Fall
and cantrips + a bunch of 1st level scrolls.
That's right. We fought that stupid shrieking spider thing. This game is way different playing 20 point buy stats. I'm used to rolling in a very generous manner. You steamroll just about everything when the players have high stats. Saves are rarely missed. This is a new experience.
I'm enjoying it so much I decided to try it in our campaigns. It certainly has cut down my prep time. I usually let them steamroll the common encounters, I build main encounters to challenge them and their high stat characters. You can run Adventure Paths pretty much as they are written with 20 point characters. I can focus more on story development rather than encounter design.
I've been screwing myself on AC when fighting defensively and going Total Defense. I forgot to add the bonus for a high acrobatics skill. Found the bonus while randomly reading up on skills.
So, I have had my posting frequency decrease lately, and I have realized that it is time that I face facts. I cannot continue for the time being, at least until I get my feet underneath me and I figure out how all this is going to work.
What is "this"? Well, I am starting med school this year. In about a month, actually. I also am in the middle of a move from Hawaii back to Michigan. And last but not least...I am an older student, so I haven't been "in" school since oh...1998.
To say I am nervous and a bit freaked would be an understatement. I just don't think that I can continue posting until I get settled in, get my study rhythm down and figure out what is what.
I am certain that I will be scratching the walls and looking for a good stress release in a few months, and will most likely return...probably to a game or two.
In any regard, its been a good two years of fun. I have really enjoyed this. I am certain that posting regularly has helped my writing and probably helped my career in the process. You guys are a fantastic community, wonderful brilliant and imaginative writers and just lovely people. Cheers and I hope to see you again in a few months.
CB, everyone.
I must simply say, thank you. I have had a blast. From the start this has been a great campaign. It has been wonderful growing and learning with the characters. This has been my longest running campaign. We have been playing for nearly two years now, and it has been awesome.
I must say that you have done a masterful job CB keeping the story moving along, keeping us engaged and interested.
If life hadn't intruded, I am certain that we would have finished the entire path...in a few more years! (lol)
Anyways, its been a pleasure everyone. I will miss you all.
Zeta, it's been a blast on this end also, dude. Enjoyed runnin' with you in this one and Carrion Hill as well.
Good luck to ya in all of your endeavors! I can say I wouldn't want to be the one having to move over such a great distance. That's just one heck of a move.
Take care of yourself, buddy!
Wow, CB. Coming from you, that means a lot.
I will stay to finish out the combat as best I can.
If it's only going to be a few months, then maybe CB or one of us can run Sorin's actions for the time being. Until he at least gets the move done and gets settled in. We have been playing almost two years. It sounds like the move and getting settled in is the hardest part of the situation being dealt with. Once Zeta is settled in and studying, he'll probably occasionally want to take a break now and then and be able to post.
We're going to need to take a rest and recuperate break after this battle. We're spent as a group. If we live that is.
No joke!
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Yup. Garand was going to cast lesser restoration to save bear-spirit, but realized he had to save it for Pavel. (And it takes 3 rounds to cast, so he have to wait until he can get out of AoO range and not have featherbutt flinging fire bolts at him.)
Izumi had our one potion of lesser restoration, so that's probably in the hands of whoever killed him...
Rough fight. And my craptastic healing didn't help. I had Garand supposedly heal everyone to full at the top of the stairs with a couple of channeled energies, and somehow missed Pavel, who went into combat with 8 hit points.
Why do you have Sorin's ward stacking, Celestial? It's usually a deflection bonus which won't stack with Prot. From Evil or a Paladin's Smite. Did you change the ward bonus type?
Okay. I didn't realize that. If that's the case then my AC is 21.
If Celestial changed the bonus type, it may stack. Then my AC will be higher as well. That would be nice.
Heck yeah! It'll definitely be a huge plus, that's for sure.
'Cause ya know, we could most definitely use it, is all I'm sayin'. :P
We gotta hope this Werebear goes down quick. Then we need to grab Garand and get out of here as fast as possible. Get back to the caravan and hope the old woman priest can get Pavel and Garand back up.
What Char Ops is talking is the usual module run like a video game moving from room to room. Celestial doesn't run the module that way. He groups quite a few rooms together into one big combat. No way the cleric can avoid healing with that much damage coming in.
I've been in boring modules that run encounters so the party can easily dispatch them room by room. In those the healer can act in an offensive manner without healing until post-combat. That's not the case here, so you're doing fine. Might want to memorize a delay poison given these ninja darts during the next rest. A delay poison will keep us up for these fights. Restoraton spells are nearly impossible to use in combat because of the casting time. delay poison keeps whoever you cast it on protected for hours.
I think from here on out we need to hold on to the haste spells until we're sure we're in a serious brawl. Single creatures and small numbers we can handle without haste. A fight like this we need those haste spells.
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Good advice with the delay poison. A wand of that might be a good investment for Garand, since he would have needed at least four of them for this encounter and the last.
Still, Celestial gave us a major break with the Handle Animal / swarms stunt. We don't have a lot of swarmfighting utility among us, and it's entirely possible that they just would have murdered us all by themselves...
I also could have taken a look at my own hit points and drank my potions instead of relying on Garand before the fight. So, really, it's my own fault.
That swarm trick was nice. I thought it looked cool from a story perspective too.
I think that the AC bonus does stack with most things because it is a "deflection" bonus vs. armor bonus.
As for the hastes, both of those previous fights had me thinking that we were in real trouble. That flying insect thing was real trouble except for its one botched save vs. Garand's blindness/deafness (mad props to Garand...that was sweeeeet!) We couldn't even see the stupid thing to target it effectively. And the second fight didn't seem like it was going much better.
So I blew both hastes early. I was hoping that the party would get a chance to hole up before running into the major opposition...but I guess we were destined for an epic battle.
A deflection bonus makes you a walking ring of protection, which is nice to have. Both protection from alignement spells and paladin smite provide deflection bonuses, so they normally don't stack with the ward. Shield of Faith doesn't stack either. I think those are the three most common spells and abilities that provide a deflection bonus we can have in this party besides a ring of protection.
If your ward is stacking for some reason, I want to make sure I apply the AC bonus. I only applied one of the AC bonuses to my character during the combat.
Okay, I'm curious.
That bear of Garand's. I was thinking it was a summoned creature. But apparently it's real? I was wondering why a summoned creature kept taking Con damage.
I've never seen a cleric with an animal companion. That's interesting.
Oh yeah, that's right. I guess I've never seen anyone use it. Cool.
Raith's been training with the various swords he carries long enough. For 6th level I'm taking a fighter level.
Fighter 1 (Weapon Master)
Bonus Feat: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Katana)
Hit points: 6 + 2 Con = 8
I'm intending him to flurry with the katana. If you could start thinking up how you want to handle that Celestial, I would appreciate it. He's going to be that sort of Japanese Sword Saint type of monk.