Wrath of the Righteously Inept GM (Inactive)

Game Master Unruly

Ok, so my work internet decided to stop flaking out, and I was able to look it up.

The flat footed no shield bonus rule is apparently a common house rule, but I don't like it, so we won't be using it. So flat footed wouldn't deny you your shield bonus.

As for flat footed in general, RAW you're flat footed so long as your turn in combat hasn't come up yet, regardless of being aware of the enemy. Basically it ends up meaning that just because you're aware of the enemy doesn't mean that they can't catch you off guard with a punch. Maybe they've got faster reflexes(aka higher init) or maybe you were distracted for a second(feint).

Seems a little odd. I'm picturing two gladiators in a ring, both are aware of the other, and yet the one who swings first always catches the other off guard?

Yup. Pretty much. But then again, we're talking about a game where armor doesn't actually prevent damage but somehow makes you harder to hit, a large number of people can regularly survive falls of 50ft+ with not so much as a broken bone, and you can apparently use a buckler to defend yourself from being attacked from 16 different directions at once.

This is because the rules don't model armor realistically, don't really model anything relating to broken bones, and don't have rules for facing. And that's without getting into all the wacky stuff that magic lets you do.

So being flat footed until your turn comes up, regardless of awareness, isn't that big of a deal, in my opinion. And besides, the example of two gladiators facing off would come down to whoever went first being the gladiator with the fastest reflexes. The other guy might have been trying to block the attack that he knew was coming, but the first guy was just faster. Think of it like this scene from Enter the Dragon. Bruce Lee and the other guy are squaring off, both know the punches are gonna start flying, but the other guy can't react quick enough to stop Bruce from kicking the crap out of him.

Very good point. Love that scene. :)

So how's this new site update treating everyone? Is everyone able to see the new post markers, or is the site update screwing things up?

I'm not sure I like the new layout of the campaigns tab, where all the different threads are listed on a single line. It takes a bit longer to see which threads have new posts since everything is in-line with each other.

It also seems to have broken Wayfinder. It's a third-party app, so it's up to the developer to fix it, but it's still an annoyance when I liked using Wayfinder to check in on things every once in a while.

Eh..So so.

I am not a fan. It makes it a lot harder to see at a glance which threads have updated.

Yeah I'm not a big fan of the new layout, everything seems to have moved on the site in general. I suppose I will get used to it after a while.

I've been having performance issues for the past couple of days which may or may not be related to the upgrade.

Do you all see the same things or am I imagining them?

I had a few problems

I also had performance issues. And I'm sad that the Wayfinder app broke.

Is it true that we never dealt with the remaining cultists? We should do that when we get the chance.

Is it true that we never dealt with the remaining cultists? We should do that when we get the chance.

I asked what you were doing with them, but it was right as I started the NPC argument so I think it may have been skipped over by you guys in the ensuing flurry of argument posts.

My bad. :(

Can we retcon what we did with them? I'd be fine with tying them up to be dealt with by Lann's people when they come to clean this place up.

Or just kill them.

I imagine we wouldn't have forgotten if we actually were looking at them. Seems easiest to just say we tied them up.

Medical emergency came up for my brother-in-law's family, so I'm having to go take care of my sister's kids today. Won't be able to update until I get home, and I don't know if that will be later tonight or tomorrow.

Sorry about that, folks. My brother-in-law's sister got put into an induced labor last night, while his aunt(who his parents take care of because she has Downs) was having heart surgery, and everyone else in the family was laid out with the flu. Kinda got sucked into a perfect storm of crap going on and called in as a babysitter.

Everything's fine now, but they were just short handed on people to do stuff.

Also, quite the nasty round update, eh?

Wow, that is certainly a lot going on. Glad everything is OK.

So..... a boy or a girl?

Girl. If it weren't for the fact that the baby-daddy is currently deployed in Afghanistan, I wouldn't have had to babysit because my brother-in-law could have stayed home to watch the kids.

But, since they had to induce labor for medical reasons, the Red Cross is bringing him home for a week or so. So that's nice.

Sounds like they definitely needed you to step in!

Glad everything is okay Unruly, and thanks for moving me out of the cloud, darn work got the better of me. Stupid new projects.

If you're wondering why Lann is nauseated on a 12 when Kel didn't get it on the 11 before, it's because I initially read the DC for a different ability and had it mixed up. But for the sake of the game, lets just say this one smells a bit worse.

This noxious cloud is brutal!

Man these dretchs are breaking the Geneva convention!

The demons aren't signatories. Though, oddly enough, they did sign the Berne convention...

I suppose they're just more interested in protecting their intellectual property than they are their own troops.

Rex, I moved you again just to keep things moving since you're still nauseated. All I did was take you out of the cloud so that you wouldn't have to keep rolling Fort saves and run the risk of refreshing the duration.

I also want to say that something I've noticed myself doing is rolling AoO's for people. I know that PbP comes with some more general concessions about things like that and allowing the GM to do certain things for characters, but I'm not sure if AoOs should fall under that. For the most part it's been Kel that I've been rolling them for, since he's got more than one and has been in the position to take them more often than not. Also, in most cases it's in a situation where those AoO's most likely won't be used for anything else(like this most recent one).

I just want to make sure that it's okay with you guys that I'm doing that. I'm thinking that this has come up before, but a quick search of the thread didn't reveal anything other than a comment Max made, and the discussion Kel and I had about how to handle the Bodyguard feat which was a similar, but different enough, situation.

Fine with me

Totally fine with me. It's all the same dice roller.

Good here as well. For me, that falls under the category of keeping things moving.

Me too. Particularly with Max, I'd be surprised if he ever got in a useful AOO.

Works for me as well.

Dia, you should probably run for the door. Kel doesn't know you're down there.

This fight is intense. :)

OK, will do. That does sound like a good idea.

What are you confused about Tina?

Withdraw lets you double move, so you can actually go farther than that if you want.

Kel, not to be argumentative, but Aid Another is an attack roll. It's against an AC of 10 rather than the enemy's AC, but it's still called out as an attack roll.

It makes no mention of being immune to anything that would affect a normal attack.

Alright. I've never seen it used that way, but it sounds fine to me.

Ok, sorry for any confusion on things, folks, but lets see if I can clear things up.

My update where Tina got hit with the full brunt of the attacks included tracking that assumed nothing was done to prevent those attacks from landing. Which would have put her at exactly 0hp, and left her Disabled. Being Disabled would have prevented her from using Withdraw, as it's a full round action. But since Kel stepped up with Bodyguard and In Harm's Way, Tina was never reduced to 0, was never Disabled, thus she could make a Withdraw action.

I think Tina's confusion may have come from that, since I had the tracking at that time listing her as Disabled. But that's been remedied, since the order of events has changed. So Tina, if you would care to move further away from the combat, please do so.

Kel, I saw your thread in Rules, and I've added my own input to it. For the time being, we'll just handle things as though any concealment/miss chance that affects the enemy applies to Aid Another when that enemy is involved. If the Rules thread ends up pointing in the other direction, we'll do it that way from that point on, similar to how we did things with Suicidal before. Sound fair?

Also, you mentioned Grapple being able to ignore concealment. I can see that applying when maintaining a grapple, since you're already in full-body contact with the target, but not for initiating a grapple. I also don't see any written rules to that effect, but like I said I can definitely see it being the case when maintaining a grapple.

This combat has been an interesting one, I'll say that. And I'm sorry if I'm making things confusing. It's not intentional. If anyone has any more questions about recent events, please ask away and I'll try to get things sorted out.

That definitely sounds fair. Upon thinking about the concealment issue, I can definitely see how applying the miss chance makes sense. I just hadn't thought about it that way before.

Okay

I was reading another thread about WotR yesterday, specifically one about Radiance, and it made me realize that I read Radiance's description wrong.

The sword is supposed to be treated as a Masterwork Cold Iron Longsword, and I had previously said it was just a Masterwork Longsword. So I've ammended the loot sheet, and am sorry about that. That screw-up has made this fight harder than it technically should have been so far.

Also, speaking of the loot sheet, it's getting kinda crowded. To remedy this, I've added additional tabs for each of your characters. That way, when you guys take something from the loot, you can put it on your individual sheet and there won't be any confusion about who has what. It will also, hopefully, make keeping track of used material resources easier, since they should be removed from the sheet as they're used. Of course, things that are undistributed or given to NPCs will remain on the main page for the time being.

I'm going to go ahead and work on getting the already assigned items put on each character's page, but then after that I'll leave it up to you guys for the most part. If you would include already existing gear from your characters on the spreadsheet, that would be nice as well because then I can use it to get an idea of the party WBL, and hopefully be able to see who is possibly lagging behind so I can try to custom tailor a few things and make sure that everyone stays on a mostly level playing field with each other.

Sorry for the screw-ups I've been making, like the Radiance thing, but I'm trying to fix them as I find them.

Sweet

That is a really good idea about the loot sheet. In that case, the main page becomes unassigned loot and it is easy to see what everybody has. I like it.

I got most of the assigned stuff moved listed on people's individual sheets last night, but I haven't deleted it off the main sheet yet. I need to go back and do some accounting for the potions used and stuff. I'm hoping to get that done this weekend sometime.

Ok, so, a few things - First, I went back and counted the potions. I saw 3 uses, while you've been given/found a whopping 12 CLW potions and 1 CMW. So there are a total of 9 CLW remaining. Of those, 7 had already been distributed to different characters, so I gave the last 2 to Deia(who didn't have any carried) and deleted them all from the undistributed list. I didn't touch the CMW. I also condensed all the cash totals down to a single item on the list.

Secondly, the party bank part at the very top of the loot sheet looks like it hasn't been touched since we left Neathholm, which is perfectly understandable. However, I'm slightly confused about the state of the bank. Did everyone update their personal character sheets with their cut? If so, can I zero out that section so that it's fresh for the next time you guys are able to sell things?

Third, I know we talked about this when Kosz left, and the general consensus then seemed to be a soft "no," but are you guys wanting to go back to being a 6-person party or to stay with being a 5-person? I've got a player from another game I'm in who's had a WotR game fall apart on him and asked if there's a spot open in mine. I leave the choice up to you on if there is an opening. Please, please, please do not feel like you have to say yes for any reason. I think things are going along well as they are, and wouldn't want to bring in another player if you all thought so as well.

And this last one can be seen as sort-of an extension to the above. I've been feeling like you guys are pretty much rolling over just about everything so far. I've been making some minor tweaks to things like HP and saves, but I'm wondering if it's enough. I want your input on if you think it's been too much of a cakewalk and I need to amp it up a bit, or if it's been just right.

I think its hardly a cakewalk. The two cultist fights were pretty challenging, as is this one. It seems about right to me.

Having more than 4 people in the party makes a pretty big difference. In my games I usually maximize enemy HP to start with. That tends to make fights last an extra round or two. Then, if I have a large party, I add an extra enemy or two to each fights ('one big monster' get half again as many HP per extra party member, and a +1 bonus to their weakest save).

Those are my fixes. They work pretty well.

As for adding a new player, I'd be ok with it. We have most party roles/concepts covered and I'm a little wary of potential toe-stepping, but if your friend's character seems like a good fit with our group I have no problem with an extra party member.

It would make the encounters even more likely to be steamrolled though. I highly recommend adding extra enemies. Think about it like this- A 6 person party is 50% more powerful than a 4 person party. That means we should be facing 50% more enemies in every fight to keep things even.

It means AoE abilities will be a little more potent, but that's fine really. AoE tends to be a somewhat weaker choice anyway, so seeing it get a little boost will be nice. They'll also be more potent against us, too since there are more of us.

I moved all of my stuff, including cash, to my character sheet/profile. From that perspective, I am good to go.

As far as another person, I am concerned about the quality of the player and how they integrate to the group more than anything else. We really work well together and I don't want to break that dynamic. If you think they can integrate well, I am cool with another player. If there are potential questions about that, I'd err on the side of caution.

In terms of difficulty, the dretches are a surprise because we had to retreat from them. Tuning is hard to get right but we could probably do with a little more difficult opponents. I will say that area effects and status attacks seem to give us more difficulties than bad guys with axes and swords.

I made sure to take my cut when noted

I don't think I've ever updated my character sheet. So I'm doing so now. I'll add the 52gp to my character sheet.

I'm okay with adding another PC.

I'll check and make sure my sheet is up to date as well.