Hellknight Hill: The Lost Ring

Game Master Joana

Bronze Dragon and Breachill Lore.

Actually that is something I had not considered. Ren is supposed to get two free spells at level up, but it does occur to me that they do kinda sorta need to come from somewhere, especially given how we are in the middle of exploring a ruined keep and all.

I know that spells you get for free at level-up actually don't have to come from anywhere. I've seen James Jacobs say that the assumption is that the PCs are studying the spells they're going to get on level-up when camping, etc., and level-up is when they finally master them. So in theory every wizard's starting spellbook has 53 spells in it, but they haven't learned how to cast 38 of them yet.

Wizard Dedication is a bit different in that you "gain" a spellbook from somewhere when you take the feat. But given that Jonagher already has a wizard-y book as part of his backstory, it makes sense that it has his 4 cantrips (plus any spells he gains from future feats). Perhaps it's just Ren's off-screen tutelage these last few days that have allowed him to make sense of them.

Furthermore, I am also not sure if I can update his memorized spells yet.

Since filling spell slots requires resting, neither Ren nor Jonagher have had a chance to do it yet. You'll be running off the spell slots you filled last preparation time (when you were 1st-level) until tomorrow morning when you can fill your new slots.

So what's the plan with the lizard-steaks?

Sorry for the delay, guys. This week's been eating my lunch. I'll update gameplay when I've slept.

*bump* for Jonagher. I'll post for him on Monday if he hasn't checked in by then.

Sorry. Missed my cue. Didn't realize I was up yet. The game's moving at a slow enough pace (during combat, at least) that it's sometimes multiple days before it comes back around to me. :)

The other table asked to use a block-initiative method, where all the PCs who have initiative in a row are up at once and act in the order they post. I think it does make combat move more quickly.

The downside is that it makes it complicated to figure out when durations should end. I.e., if Shaserai casts his protective ward before Ragna acts in round 1 but then doesn't post until after Ragna acts in round 2, is the cantrip active on her second turn or not?

If everyone would like, we could adopt that method over here as well.

The smoothest PbP combat I've experienced was with a GM that used averaged party-based block initiative.

Say you have 4 PC's and they stumble into 4 hostile skeletons. DM rolls initiative for all four PC's, adds the totals together, then divides by the number of PC's. Does the same for the skeletons. NPC's groups would get at least as many initiative die as there were PC's so single enemies like a dragon wouldn't lose initiative to an unlucky nat 1. Whichever party got the higher average initiative goes first, anyone within the active initiative block could go in any order. Always got through at least one round of combat per day, often two rounds. It does make both PC's and NPC's more dangerous since they can much more easily gang up on one target.

I'm fine with whatever. I am concerned with how much of a halt we have ground to.

Honestly, I am fine with whatever makes the DM's job even a little easier. Although I have never played with a block-initiative method (I think), I am sure it is not something I cannot get used to after a combat or two.

I'm fine with using block-initiative. Combat is a little rough on PbP, so whatever makes it smoother is good.

Question, can you treat wounds on a diagonal? I want to battle medicine Alak and produce flame, but then I have no actions to move.

Question, can you treat wounds on a diagonal? I want to battle medicine Alak and produce flame, but then I have no actions to move.

The first diagonal counts as 5 feet, so yes, you can reach Alak from your present position.

All right, Ren, Jonagher and Highness can all act in this block. We'll try it out for a while, but if anyone doesn't care for it, you can PM me or revisit the issue here in the discussion thread. Personally, as a player, I don't care for block initiative. I don't mind it as a DM because no one steps on my turn. ;)

[ooc]If Alak is still missing HP Shaserai Treats Wounds on him, if not, the ointment thing is just fluff. He then casts a 3 action heal.

Alak's only 1 HP off full. The 3-action Heal will do just fine.

there were no other doorways out of that room that the soldier came from with the 2 bodies in it? And the bodies had been stripped of anything? Did we determine what they were?

There are four doors in addition to the one you went in by -- northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest -- but it seemed like the party consensus was to track down the growling from the north before opening any more doors.

I meant to give you what the bodies had on them but then forgot to add it to the post: They each are wearing leather armor and carrying morningstars and slings.

Really busy day. No time to get the map right tonight; I'll get it done tomorrow.

Unfortunately, Highness, I believe you have to use an action to Interact to retrieve the bag before you throw it; however, you can draw the tanglefoot bag (action 1), throw it from where you are (action 2), and then tumble through (action 3) and cover the mechanics of what you want to do with your stylish description of the action working as flavor text.

Alseta's Ring wrote:

...Jonagher's action is pending. Please note that Zort and Breckez are both in K16, Breckez on the floor and Zort 5 feet up in the hanging nest.

If Zort is 5 feet up in the nest and Jonagher can take a clear shot without displacing Highness, he'll go ahead and take it from his current position rather than mount the potentially unstable chair occupied by the goblin.

While Jonagher does have a clear shot, Zort did use an action to Take Cover, which gives him a +2 bonus to AC. Do you want to go ahead with the shots on Zort from where you are or move first and fire at one of the other enemies?

Hmm... Quick question(s):

With 25 movement speed Ren either takes 1 action and ends up at P14 or 2 actions and can get to N14 and beyond, right?

Also, from P14, does he have line of sight to just Breckez or Zort as well?

Hmm... Quick question(s):

With 25 movement speed Ren either takes 1 action and ends up at P14 or 2 actions and can get to N14 and beyond, right?

Correct.

Also, from P14, does he have line of sight to just Breckez or Zort as well?

From P14, he can see all the enemies.

Hey, apologies. I’m on vacation this week in the NC mountains and Internet has been spottier than expected. We’re returning home on Saturday, so please NPC Jonagher until then.

Enjoy your vacation! Will update a little later tonight when I can access my map.

Highness, unarmed strikes are Agile, so you should only take -4/-8 on your second and third attacks. Doesn't make a difference with those rolls, of course, but it might in the future.

I missed that Highness hasn't posted yet. Are you going to continue focusing on the enemy in the room or head toward Ragna and the door she's trying to batter down?

Ragnahild of course...Highness definitely would give chase to the fleeing critter...just not by himself.

Only 1 away from another crit on Battle Medicine, so close.

OOC: Jonagher Interacts, Interacts, and readies a coup de grace?

Readying takes 2 actions, but there isn't a coup de grace rule in 2e anyway.

By my reading, unlike in P1e, you can Delay only part of your turn rather than having to Delay the whole thing, so Jonagher can Delay 1 action and take it at any time before his next turn at the cost of moving his initiative to that slot in the order.

That's fine. Let's go with that.

Jonagher, the boggard in G18 is the only enemy you have line of sight/effect on, so I had you shoot at him.

That's fine. Thank you.

Fwiw, I'm not sure that Ragna can end combat until her Rage ends, which won't be until round 10, she's unconscious, or she can no longer see an enemy. It seems a little old-school.

Is there a loophole there, in the charau-ka no longer being an "enemy" when it's surrendered? Does Crisischild want there to be a loophole? Up to the players.

(Highness, technically, a boggard's tongue can be severed with 2 slashing damage, if you really want it.)

Sorry it took so long for me to check in, it's been a hectic week at work with sudden shift changes and I've felt so drained, I've barely done anything that wasn't work or sleep.

I can try to counteract the rage with my focus spell soothing words, but what would be the dc?

If an effect’s level is unclear and it came from a creature, halve and round up the creature’s level.

Ragna's level 2 and the source of the Rage, so that would make the counteract DC 11, I think? Does that sound right?

So to counteract it, Shaserai would roll 1d20+8 and try to beat DC 11. Because the Rage level and spell level are the same, he has to succeed or critically succeed to counteract it.

(Highness, technically, a boggard's tongue can be severed with 2 slashing damage, if you really want it.)

Way too gross. And while goblin, I really didn't want Highness to be a full murder-hobo.

ew.

So...

I am not sure if it is lack of time or lack of energy or lack of inspiration or a combination of the above (most likely...), but I find myself unable to keep up with the game. Obviously, given the fact that it is not exactly moving at breakneck speeds, the fault, so to speak, is with me and my lack of... well... the above.

Thus, I believe I will have to withdraw and step back a little or a lot. I think I need a hiatus of sorts from the forums until such a time when my interest or energy return.

Thank you for the game. You have all been wonderful players and Joana, though it goes without saying, has been an incredible GM.

Sad to see you go, it was a pleasure to play with you. I wish you the best.

Very sorry to hear that, Castor. I enjoyed Ren. :(

I'll bot Ren until we get to a point where he can naturally leave the party.

Sorry to see you go, Castor. A lot of people have lost their energy and inspiration these last 18 months. I hope you get to feeling better soon =)

So the vial was under a flagstone buried in the hole?

Like maybe someone concealed it under a loose stone in the floor at some point and never came back for it.

Has it been more than an hour since the birds?

I'd say close enough. There's been three encounters since then, along with the talking in between.

Highness is injured too.

We've heard what I suppose is the bear roar, so I don't think we have much time to save Pib and Zarf before they are gobbled up. The nonmagical healing would take 10 minutes each on Ragna and Highness, so I think this is the best compromise. I can still use battle medicine on Highness if necessary once in combat.

lets do this.

Okay, in this situation, the party and the bear are both aware of each other, so we'll go ahead and roll initiative. It's unclear how long it will take to clear the door enough so that it can be opened, so we'll play it out and see how much time everyone has to get ready before the bear gets out.

It takes one action to attempt to clear the debris; roll me a d8 + Str modifier for each action. If your character is going to do something else, like move somewhere, ready an action, design a path to funnel the bear out of the room (by closing or opening doors or placing obstacles), etc., just let me know what they're spending their actions on.

Was this bear trained to recognize the sounds of an excavation team?

I find this bears awareness to be highly suspect.

A reminder that readying in 2e takes 2 actions. I was going to post about that in the discussion thread on Jonagher's last initiative but got interrupted while I was posting and never got over here to get it done. (I gave him the step up onto the chair as part of the Stride; it's not like he needs hands free to scramble up there.) Recall Knowledge also takes an action in 2e when Knowledge checks were free actions in 1e; Highness, I gave you the Knowledge check, as it's unlikely that the bear will get past both Shaserai and Ragna so you'd be triggered this round.

One improvement that P2e hasn't made over P1e is to allow a grizzly bear to be Intimidating. Maybe it's the hat and tutu....

I'll have a post up later today, lost track of things over the weekend.

Any pre-battle positioning/planning, or are you ready to open the door?