I'll agree it's not perfect, but I feel I'm playing it as true to the system's rules as I can. The toughest part was adjudicating whether the earlier combat was over and figuring out what's fairest -- resetting the initiative or continuing the existing combat. Either way, however, you wouldn't have been able to attack them until you spotted them or they came out of hiding.
But given that you were not in "hot pursuit" by regrouping, pausing, and sending a scout, I felt that resetting the initiative made the most sense.
Sending in a summoned creature could trigger combat (and thus, initiative), if the hidden creature decides to attack it. It would still get the surprise round if the summoned creature doesn't spot it first, however.
Scent is tricky, but I think it still works mostly the same way. Upon coming into range, the scent ability lets you know something is there, but unless you beat its stealth roll you still don't know where it is. If it remains in hiding, you can use Scent to pinpoint the square it's in, but it doesn't mean you see it unless you beat its stealth roll.
I hope this makes sense.
Ultimate Intrigue tried to refine this further with "States of Awareness". It does indicate that there is a difference between being aware of foes and actually being able to see them, but it's not explicit about which state does or doesn't give a surprise round.
I should have climbed onto the crates. I didn't realize how restricted my range of vision really was - hanging back was a useless tactic, sorry.
We can probably handle Grum's movement. I imagine this fight will take a while given the enemies' AC and fast healing. But as long as they can't flank us, they don't do a ton of damage either.
But two of us are flanked now. William's in a pickle.
If we drop the one Grum is fighting, that one is providing two flanks.
William could use Total Defense and move into the space that Benedict vacated. He would take some AOOs, but have the benefit of Lastwall Phalanx for even more AC.
Or I suppose he could withdraw and avoid one AoO altogether, but his AC would not be as good. I just wish I was hitting something. As far as I can tell, I'm 0 for 5. Be a good time for vital strike if I had it.
I have a potion of remove fear - I'm wondering if giving up an attack for a +2 next round is worthwhile. Aye/nay?
I guess either that or turn off Deadly Aim (since that gives you a -3). But maybe see how this round goes and if we manage to drop one.
Has anyone switched to silver weapons?
Just askin'
Benedict has not. There is an alchemical silver dagger in Party Loot, but a) I don't know who has it, b) drawing it from a regular backpack would provoke, and c) it would do a lot less damage.
If the issue is DR, he's better off with his flail.
If the issue is regeneration, we can CdG them afterwards.
Aerel has some silver arrows I think.
Aerel has cold iron arrows, but I didn't see his silver arrows until I just looked. He was relying on Clustered Shots to overcome DR.
We are now at 71,120 XP each and need 75,000 for 9th level.
I added the loot to the sheet - mostly to the "To Sell" tab, although we will still need to ID the unknown items. I put the Bird Feather Tokens in "Party Loot" where we already had 1 such item.
I imagine that we would allocate the magic gear to various NPC combatants for the battle, and ask compensation afterwards assuming the city survives. Rather than trying to find a buyer at this time.
How do you 'designate a target' for the Bird Feather Token to carry a written message? Can we just say 'Kosseruk' or 'Zanathura' and it will know how to find them?
I feel like I am taking over the game more than I should. Bluff, Sense Motive, and schemes are all in Benedict's wheelhouse, and that is what this mystery is all about. Plus, I am so excited to post as soon as anything happens (I check more than I should during the workday).
I will dial it back. Maybe we can go have a straightforward brawl the next in-game day.
Doppelgangers are also mentally exhausting to deal with. Either you suspect everyone and come up with complicated schemes to unmask them (fun to a point) or you get the GM to rule that some trivial method of detecting them works, rendering them pointless.
I'm just about wrapping up the intrigue and espionage part of the adventure. (Though, you're still free to perform some intrigue and espionage of your own.)
We're going to soon get into the straight fights rather than all this sneakin' around.
I second that. Benedict (and his player) are doing fine. Don’t change a thing.
Potential locations to visit:
Warbeast training camp;
Nesting location for wyvern scouts;
Transport routes for siege engines;
Munitions camp outside of Ecru;
Possibly the camp of the commander, a minotaur named Kosseruk (we don't have communiques here, just the hobgoblin prisoner);
The wizard's tower.I would prioritize the wizard's tower - the sooner we get them on the job, the more they can do to prepare Longshadow for an attack.
But uncovering the saboteurs is also important.
Aerel had wanted to do the munitions camp, so that next?
At some point we have more work to do in town. The walls need work, and Benedict can get full ranks in Knowledge (Engineering) through Advanced Armor Training, using the Manual of War. I'm happy to wait until the next day on that.
If we aren't going to do in-town projects, but go fight something instead, then Benedict will use the Manual for a different feat. Again, anybody else who wants to try swapping out a fighter bonus feat for a day can feel free to use the Manual.
I think we need to wrap up as many of these missions as we can, all of them if possible. Do we know where they are so we can map out a route that maximizes our time spent and missions attempted?
Bringing this forward. I don't know what day we are currently on.
The time constraint is really weighing on me even more now that I see the distances.
The warbeast camp, at 35 miles NNE, is 7 hours on horseback (about 5 mph, though we only make half that speed if it is entirely trackless hills). Maybe we could hit that and the wyvern nest (which is sort of on the way at about 20 miles N) on a later 2-day trip.One of many things that would be much easier with a standard party (Communal Phantom Steed, for example).
We are at 9 days before the attack. Best-case scenario:
Days 1-2 to river crossing, wizard's tower, and munitions camp.
Days 3-5 prepping and trying to catch saboteurs.
Days 6-7 (if we are done with prepping) hitting warbeast camp and wyvern nest.
Days 8-9 buffer for things going wrong.
Day 10: Party!
This makes it sound like the munitions were near the wizard's tower? And now has our newly-rescued wizard doing on her task while we root out the infiltrators?
Map updated.
There is, in all the missives that you can see, no specific location of Kosseruk's camp. You get the impression that she's moving around.
The farthest location is the warbeast camp, which is roughly 28 miles north of Longshadow.
We would have hit the munitions camp after the river crossing except that we ended up having to keep Navah with us.
So we had meant to hit the munitions camp earlier. On the positive side, capturing the saboteurs didn't take too long.
Maybe finish town prep, in case we get delayed on our next excursion? I don't want to do a long trip and leave the walls unfinished.
I say we hit the scouts and warbeast camps and see how much time we have left when we get back to town. If we have time we hit the munitions camp, if not we spend more time readying the town.
With the saboteurs dealt with and Navah's work on the lyre of building, hopefully the townspeople can make headway on the walls in our absence. If that's the case, I'm inclined to follow William's idea.
However, on the other hand, the earlier we hit the scouts and warbeasts, the more time they have to recover from the loss of those assets...
So I'm leaning toward finishing the town's preparations so they are in the best condition, especially considering that there is no guarantee that we will be able to return.
Okay. If it's going to be a 2- or 3-day trip, can we do one work shift in the morning to get at least some progress on the walls or other tasks, and reassure the townspeople, and then leave at noon?
After the craziness of the previous day they could use some reassurance. Otherwise there would be rumors that we were banished for killing Solomon Zane or something like that. Disappearing at dawn would not be a good look.
@GM, is there XP for the remaining two doppelgangers or for doing the town prep?
We should also get a new wand of CLW or two, think about forging orders, and see what we know about wyverns and how to prep for fighting them.
XP for the remaining two doppelganger infiltrators is 6,400 xp
XP for the town's readiness (so far) is 9,600 xp.
Are the xp values there per person or pre-dividing for everyone?
That's for the whole party. It hasn't been divvied up yet.
16,000/5 = 3,200
71,120 + 3,200 = 74,320
Close!
Wow, really, really close! We just need to track down a couple of raccoons and we'll be there...
Wow. Of course, I had earlier missed the fact that you get a bunch of xp for upgrading the town. There's still a few more opportunities to do that if you'd like, which will probably put you over what you need to level with a few more successes.
I'm dreaming of interesting feats again. Right now, I'm most interested in Exceptional Pull for my low-strength archer or Elven Accuracy. I realized today that I don't need Point-Blank Master to avoid AoO because I have an archetype feature (Safe Shot) that provides the no-AoO benefit.
Exceptional Pull is an interesting one. The wording's unclear if it makes your strength count as 2 higher or if it makes the potential strength rating of the bow higher.
Would anybody else want to take Shake it Off to boost our saves?
There are a ton of good feat options for Benedict if nobody wants to take that one, so no worries either way.
Also, the Players' Guide had recommended bonus feats at levels 4, 9, and 14 if we aren't using the Militia System (which would provide its own bonuses). The GM had set the list as Alertness, Athletic, Deceitful, Fleet, Magical Aptitude, Persuasive, Self-Sufficient, Stealthy, and Toughness. If we do get such a feat at level 9, Benedict would probably take either Alertness or Toughness.
Exceptional Pull is an interesting one. The wording's unclear if it makes your strength count as 2 higher or if it makes the potential strength rating of the bow higher.
Some review on the forums makes it appear to be unworthy. Oh, well.
I’m not expecting to be alongside everyone, so I don’t think I would provide much benefit via Shake It Off.
Exceptional Pull was consistently panned on the forums as a poor option compared to getting Adaptive on a bow.
Elven Accuracy seems potentially helpful. Manyshot and another arrow is hard to turn down. If I got more sneak attack opportunities, I could pick up another d6 or get a flat bonus from Focused Shot, but that has not happened much.
I might start building towards Greater Feint to give Aerel more Sneak Attack opportunities. Making some combat use of Benedict's Bluff skill seems useful.
It seems increasingly futile to try to have Benedict keep up in direct damage-dealing, outside of the 1/day Smite Evil he will get at level 10. But I don't mind him helping everyone else do better.
Benedict definitely needs a lot of retraining, and I guess once the Ring of Sustenance comes into effect he can do that without a real need for downtime.
I have ranged disarm, but an abysmal CMB, so I don’t expect to get much good from it. I can take Manyshot. I was literally trying not to build another William because he’s got that covered, but having the two of us put a dozen arrows in the air in a matter of seconds is hard to argue with.
I could also look at Snap Shot and Combat Reflexes - you know, that’s a tempting combo. Would that allow me to disrupt spellcasting from a distance as an AOO?
Answering my own question, Snap Shot only allows AoO from 5'.
Shadow Strike would allow sneak attack damage for targets with some level of concealment.
Feint Partner and a point in Bluff on my part would be a cheaper way for Benedict's feints to give Aerel sneak attack opportunities, if that's of interest.
Before you head out, the most recent improvements to the town nets another 6,400 xp.
So go ahead and level up!!
@Aerel - Benedict taking Greater Feint would be a better choice, I think; three feats for him (CE, Imp Feint, Greater Feint) versus three for him (CE, Imp Feint, Feint Partner) and one for Aerel (Feint Partner), and the former option would benefit the entire party. It can't happen this level but I can build towards it.
Taking CE this level, and then can get the other 2 at level 11. Benedict can actually pick them up on a temporary basis the next in-game day; using Manual of War to swap out Flagbearer for Improved Feint, and using Barroom Brawler to pick up Greater Feint for 1 minute. Might be a good option for a boss fight.
Strictly speaking, Feint Partner would only require the one feat. Three feats is a heavy price - what do you calculate the benefit being?
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Lvl 9
HP: 6 (class) + 2 (HP) + 1 (Toughness) = 9
Saves: +1 Ref + 1 Will
Skills: 2 (class) + 1 (FCB) = +3 Heal (need it...)
Feat: Advanced Weapon Training -> Abundance Tactics -> Barroom Brawler
Class: Weapon Training 2
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Barroom Brawler goes from 1x per day to 3x per day. Yay for spells!
As a heads-up, here is what Grum can now do with his 3x "spell slots"
He can cast dispel magic max 1/day
He can cast minor image 3x/day
He can cast see invisibility 3x/day
3 points of evocation. 1 point casts burning hands, 2 points casts lightning bolt
He can cast dimension door 1/day!
Resist 5 to an element for 24 hours
[url=https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/item-mastery-feats/ability-mastery-item-mastery/]+2 enchantment bonus
(Can't do lessor restoration yet, need 2 more points in heal)
(Can't do telekinesis yet, need 1 more level in fighter)
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* TLDR: 3 spell slots. Can be used to cast healing spells, dimension door, fly (1 minute), dispel magic, see invisibility (1 minute), +5 Elemental Resist (24 hours), +2 Enchantment to a stat (24 hours)
I figured that +2 spell slots was more important than +2 damage. Also, I'll be using 1 spell slot for +2 Enchantment Bonus to Strength. I figure that if I'm trading out the +2 damage at this level for +2 spell slots, I can use one of those spell slots for +1 hit and +1 damage.
@Aerel - If Benedict takes only Feint Partner, then feinting is a standard action. He gives up his entire attack to give Aerel about +2 to hit and +1d6 damage.
If Benedict takes Combat Expertise and Improved Feint, then feinting is a move action, so he basically gives up his iterative attack. Not as big of a deal at this level, but Aerel still needs to take the feat.
If Benedict eventually takes Greater Feint, then Aerel doesn't need to take Feint Partner at all, and the whole party benefits (maybe +2 to hit or so).
What I would suggest is that Aerel and Benedict both take turns reading from the Manual of War tomorrow morning to pick up Feint Partner and see how it works. That's a big part of why I crafted the item, to be able to try out different feats. I am not sure which of Aerel's feats are bonus fighter feats that he can swap out for a day, but maybe Clustered Shots?
A Sipping Jacket with a potion of Vanish could help Aerel get some Sneak Attacks. Or Dust of Disappearance for a boss fight.
@Grum - Barroom Brawler can't actually let you use Ability Mastery for +2 Str; that feat takes 10 minutes to use, and Barroom Brawler only lasts 1 minute. (Also, I am fairly certain we will not ever reach base Fort save of +12 for Breath of Life, since that would be level 20; First Aid Gloves may be better.) And don't forget that Barroom Brawler is also good for mundane situational feats like Step Up, Disruptive, or Blind-Fight. BUT... you can get the AWT option of Abundant Tactics in lieu of taking a second weapon group (which you would normally get at level 9) and ALSO get a general feat to use for Weapon Specialization or Ability Mastery or whatever.