And thank you all for accepting my orphaned character into your merry band. That's been a long time ago, itself.
Early 2019. I was a sub into the other game, very early, and when Shisumo had to stop running it, Aerel was in limbo for a year, real-time, before you kind folks adopted me.
Wow, that's a lifetime ago. Thanks again.
Pretty sure that was (Su) and not a spell or SLA, since we didn't see any signs of casting (and SLAs have visible manifestations). So I think Grum failed by 5 even with Benedict's aura. Not sure if that makes it any easier to take but it does illustrate that upgrading a cloak by +1 wouldn't be enough.
DC 23 is pretty tough, figuring that even good saves are about equal to level.
Grum, at least, does not drop his weapon due to his Gloves of Dueling.
"Panicked: Characters who are panicked are shaken, and they run away from the source of their fear as quickly as they can, dropping whatever they are holding. Other than running away from the source, their paths are random. They flee from all other dangers that confront them rather than facing those dangers. Once they are out of sight (or hearing) of any source of danger, they can act as they want. Panicked characters cower if they are prevented from fleeing."
Do the Panicked PCs know the source of their fear?
And I think we all are up. I am quite certain OOC that this "elf" is the source of the mind-affecting thing vs Grum and also the Fear effect, and I am somewhat annoyed to see that my Sense Motive needs to be optimized more. I don't want to metagame this, if Benedict should be convinced that she is an innocent in need of protection (until she openly attacks us) then so be it. But maybe there is some way IC to see.
I might wait a day or so for Amkarang's save to decide what to do.
Since Benedict got his full 8 hours rest equivalent, does he have back his daily abilities? Smite Evil, Alter Self, Barroom Brawler, and Tactician?
I might wait a day or so for Amkarang's save to decide what to do.
Since Benedict got his full 8 hours rest equivalent, does he have back his daily abilities? Smite Evil, Alter Self, Barroom Brawler, and Tactician?
yes
How many rounds are we out of the fight?
Are we panicked again when we see her again?
When we fled, did we see the ghouls? I presume we would run away from them, also, per the description of the condition.
There are quite a few magic items that protect against fear, once we get to Kraggodan and hopefully have the opportunity to buy or commission things.
Talismans can be very useful if you don't really need a neck slot item. Warrior's Courage, Ankh, and Freedom make a good set for example (Grappling has been a problem for us a few times).
If I had the spare feat slots I would take Fearless Aura but I don't think I can afford it. Many competing needs.
The Bravery class feature (which William and Amkarang have) gives fighters almost a good Will save against fear, but would have still needed a decent roll.
Benedict and Heals can share teamwork feats to boost saves but unfortunately we didn't know what we were up against until it used that ability.
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Would this protect against magical fear? It seems like a form of mental control. Not being forced to run away, drop a weapon or attack allies? It’s useful. Even if +2 is expensive (especially when his AC isn’t the best)
I was thinking of forgoing a cloak of resistance and taking this instead. Maybe buy a cloak of the hedge wizard…maybe Abjuration. 1/day shields until he gets defensive training at lvl13. Or transmutation. Mage hand, enlarge person and expeditious retreat can all be useful.
That wouldn't help with fear I don't think. The spell at least is: emotion, fear, and mind-affecting. As you pointed out it also wouldn't stack with a cloak of resistance.
I think William has it right - fear effects don't constitute mental control in the way that, say, Dominate Person does. I would imagine that Mind Buttressing follows the FAQ for "Protection from Evil" and blocks similar effects (although without any dependence on the caster's alignment).
Another item you might look at is this one - gives +2 Wis (so +1 to Will saves) and also can diminish fear effects.
Grum's saves are generally pretty good, especially against spells or SLAs. You might look to the human feats Defiant Luck and Inexplicable Luck to handle the occasional bad roll.
GM, are you waiting on anything from us?
I think we are finishing up resting and then moving on.
And XP of course.
Does Aerel need to return to sleep? I think he woke up early with the sound of the approaching ghouls...
19,200 xp
Since the previous night was spent with morlocks harassing the party, if Aerel doesn't go back to sleep he'll deal with penalties for fatigue.
Aerel tucks into his bedroll for a little longer.
Did I heal the last of my Dexterity damage with a night’s rest?
A full day passed, so Haela would have healed you of any remaining damage easily.
Think you also had Bandages of Rapid Recovery on.
Thanks, Benedict. We definitely talked about them, but I never applied the healing from them. It's actually been multiple days in-game before I remembered to ask about healing, I think, so that poison should be well and truly gone by now, bandages or not.
Rules question here: if we initiate combat now, do we gain a surprise round if Benedict's Bluff check beat the creature's Sense Motive?
These rules from Ultimate Intrigue say: "Not every surprise round begins with an ambush from unseen assailants. If a character or several characters unexpectedly attack in the midst of a conversation or other normal activity, their victims might be surprised. To determine if a victim is surprised, he should attempt a Sense Motive check opposed by the assailant’s Bluff check rather than a Perception opposed by the assailant’s Stealth check."
Obviously I wouldn't expect you to tell us if Benedict's Bluff check was a success (we'd have to initiate combat to find out if it was good enough), but my hope is that the rules work that way.
Short answer, no.
This is a dangerous region and nothing's going to relax it's guard easily
I have to say that is really discouraging.
Despite us knowing about this thing, making a plan to confront it (with a very good Bluff check), and being the ones who choose to initiate combat we might still end up rolling poorly on initiative and be flat-footed.
I guess I don't know how to use the Bluff skill.
Anyway, to combat.
I'm not saying there can't be a scenario where that's possible, but I'm sure that you all won't want me to have an NPC make one Bluff check and get a whole surprise round for all involved even though you have no reason to trust them.
I can see your point, but anyway, I think we are now waiting on you to roll initiative.
I just tested positive for COVID. I don't know how this will effect my posting but wanted to let you know.
Hope you fight it off fast!
Hey folks, sorry my posting has dropped off so severely, my summer job has really been kicking me in the rear and I don’t have as much time to post as I’d like.
Just glad to hear you are doing OK. Much prefer to hear that you are busy and not recovering from some health emergency.
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I have added values to all of the loot.
A few unidentified items:
Dwarven Stoneplate
Pigments (probably Marvelous Pigments? Would like to keep)
magical large obsidian 9-rings broadsword
Magical Ring
A few unpriced mundane items (I suppose we need Appraise, or at least a good Sense Motive against Navvi's offer):
Jade Crown
Gold and Ivory Necklace
The total sale value before those items is just over 94,000 GP (so almost 19,000 each). It seems high, but that is the accumulated loot from the valley of ogres, the Morlock lair, and the Long Walk to this point. As we went up from low-10th to mid-11th in that time, and the difference in WBL between those levels is 20,000, it seems very accurate (considering that there are also some useful items we kept).
Yes, thanks for doing that.
The unknown magical ring is from here, the morlock chieftain's room.
Has it been long enough for new attempts on those identification attempts? Seems like it probably is.
I should be able to give it another go.
The other unidentified items are:
Dwarven Stoneplate
Pigments
magical large obsidian 9-rings broadsword
I highlighted where the ring was from for the GM's benefit, since we have found many magical rings.
Nice. For the record, Aerel has no interest in any of these items.
You mean the elven archer and scout doesn't want the dwarven-made stoneplate heavy armor?
I'm shocked
Amazing but true. /smh
If we keep the Stoneplate (maybe for Haela?), the Ring (awesome for anyone except Aerel who already has Evasion) and the Pigments, then our shares are over 22K each.
(And Benedict has an IOU from Amkarang for 6,000 from the last distribution so he is in for a windfall.)
What is the normal limit for Navvi's wares?
Like, "She has anything under _,000 GP and then a few items above that"?
I'm expecting that real high-ticket items would be found or commissioned in Kraggodan. But wands, scrolls, potions, maybe some Talismans, could be good to pick up here.
Edit: given that we probably don't need all the money right now, I might hold on to the axe that Grum described as a "Horde Breaker" - the +2 Mighty Cleaving Dwarven Waraxe. It would be cooler to sell it to merchants in Kraggodan. Even if we get the same price for it, it should go to them.
I have no problem with Haela wearing the stoneplate if no one else wants it. I have 2 rings already and I think one of the melee fighters might be better with it.
What is the normal limit for Navvi's wares?
Like, "She has anything under _,000 GP and then a few items above that"?I'm expecting that real high-ticket items would be found or commissioned in Kraggodan. But wands, scrolls, potions, maybe some Talismans, could be good to pick up here.
She has a 75% chance of having anything 1,000 gp or less in stock. She can buy up to 5,000 gp worth of items off the PCs.
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Well that's easy. We sell 5,000 gp worth of items for shares of 1,000 each.
I have 4,985 marked to sell, for shares of 997 each. Close enough.
+1 Heavy Wooden Shield
Scroll of Inflict Critical Wounds
Oil of Magic Weapon
+1 Chakram
+1 Short Sword
MW Thieves Tools
3 MW Heavy Crossbows
+1 Spear with slight smell of fungus
I will take those off the loot tracker and think about what I might want.
Same. I need to work toward weapon enhancements and ability scores.
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Sorry if I am stepping on any toes. Grum is a melee fighter. With a choke point that is only 2 wide, we end up with Haela and Benedict in front, with Grum unable to do anything as he doesn't have a reach weapon. As there are only 2 enemies, I was hoping to move forward a tad bit, so all 3 non-reach melee fighters can fight the 2 enemies.
I mean....Grum could shoot. But it would be at -9 to hit compared to melee (shooting into combat), and damage would drop from 3d4+23 down to 1d8+2.
I mean, Grum is gonna Grum. Totally in character.
But I was hoping that we wouldn't need to engage them in melee at all, that Aerel and William could take them down before they got to us. Those two can deal a ton of damage with full attacks, especially against a foe with lousy AC (like oozes usually have). Aerel has Clustered Shots, and while William doesn't have that, he does a bit more damage per hit normally.
If we have to fight them in melee, Benedict will be up there with Grum. I just didn't want that moment to come sooner than it needed to.
That was awesome. A huge Crit and entangled…the perfect attack. And in response Grum crits it back for just as much damage. :)
Except it's an ooze and therefore immune to crits.
:(
I'm at a work conference this week, so I don't have access to the books.
Please bear with me.