Hellknight Hill: Bumblebrashers! (Inactive)

Game Master Joana

That suggestion sounds good to me. I'll go ahead and make a quick post saying so IC :)

She cranes her neck when Gethric rounds up all the equipment from their foes. "That's a really nice shiny. Too bad it's a stupid dog, though... You're welcome to it. Maybe it brings good luck. Or maybe it could be magic?" Her eyes go wide at the prospect.

Darla will have to detect magic. After that, I can roll a secret check for anyone with the appropriate skill to try to identify it.

The loot list is up on the Campaign Info tab. I haven't listed all the mundane weapons and armor dropped by the enemies. Packing every hide shirt and dagger back to town to sell for half-price has always seemed deeply anti-heroic to me. Feel free to claim and use anything you find, and I'll make up for the sales price of the stuff you're not interested in by adding some coinage to the treasure along the way, if no one objects.

Revka wrote:

She cranes her neck when Gethric rounds up all the equipment from their foes. "That's a really nice shiny. Too bad it's a stupid dog, though... You're welcome to it. Maybe it brings good luck. Or maybe it could be magic?" Her eyes go wide at the prospect.

Darla will have to detect magic. After that, I can roll a secret check for anyone with the appropriate skill to try to identify it.

The loot list is up on the Campaign Info tab. I haven't listed all the mundane weapons and armor dropped by the enemies. Packing every hide shirt and dagger back to town to sell for half-price has always seemed deeply anti-heroic to me. Feel free to claim and use anything you find, and I'll make up for the sales price of the stuff you're not interested in by adding some coinage to the treasure along the way, if no one objects.

Far from objecting, I thoroughly agree. I’ve never really seen a way to play “looting the bodies” as heroic. :)

That definitely works for me!

Hey folks, is everyone still on board? It seems like our posting has slowed quite a bit, which is a shame. For myself, I was eager to see the story open up and develop a bit more, and we seem to be almost at that point? (if I'm not mistaken)

I'll take a lot of the blame for the slowdown. I only half-leveled my PC, kept changing my mind on what feats to take, and wasn't sure what items I'd updated on her sheet and what items I hadn't...so, I kept putting the job off. It also doesn't help that I'm still a novice with the 2E rules system.

Thanks to Revka's skillful guilt-trip, I've finished leveling Darla. Here are the main additions:
Bard Feat--Cantrip Expansion (chose Chill Touch and Telekinetic Projectile)
Skill Feat--Hefty Hauler
New 1st-Level Spell--Magic Weapon

Added 8 + 1 (Con) hps and bumped everything she's proficient in up by 1. That sound right?

I'll take some blame as well. I should have posted at least yesterday and didn't. I had to double-check Gethric's level-up and didn't get to it over the weekend, so I'll go over him and Darla both this afternoon. Aronida, have you leveled? It looks like your character sheet is at least partially updated.

Mark, Distracting Feint has Scoundrel racket as a prereq, and Gethric's chosen Thief racket.

When you get around to updating your character profile, your hp should be 26, and saves, DCs, attacks, and all your skills but Stealth should go up by 1; Stealth goes up by 3 to +10 due to raising your proficiency to Expert.

Darla's level-up looks good.

Hey folks, is everyone still on board? It seems like our posting has slowed quite a bit, which is a shame. For myself, I was eager to see the story open up and develop a bit more, and we seem to be almost at that point? (if I'm not mistaken)

Joining the conga line of self-blamers. I'm really struggling with depression at the moment, to be frank. It's stupid because I'm online more than ever, but I just feel inadequate so every time I try and write a Gellius post I feel dumb.

I've been here before (and it's nothing serious) I just need to push through and put up what I consider a dumb post. Sorry for that...

On a lighter note..

I am having a purge of my RPG books (a semi-regular occurrence) and have previously run them as forum-wide giveaways, but they do take a lot of emotional/time effort to run and I'd rather have a smaller pool of recipients.

Is anyone here interested in some free books? (There's a fair bit of D&D 5E stuff, a truckload of Traveller books, a teensy bit of PF2 stuff and a handful of PF1 books. There's also some mixture of 5E/6E Shadowrun and various 'sundry' books (Like Runequest, The original Star Wars game from the 80s that got re-released a few years back....stuff like that).

Let me know if anyone is interested and I'll post the list here. You folks can have first dibs. (I'm happy to cover postage and everything and it's fine if you want to get something, read it then on-sell it or re-gift it...total obligation free). :)

Adding to the chorus of self-flaggelating apologies - I'm definitely still here, enjoying and connected... but work has been kicking my butt and it's at the point of not having enough hours in the day. I think we're just a bit in the down turn of the ebb-and-flow and we'll phoenix our way back out of the mire soon enough. I will be more strict with myself finding time to touch on the thread and actions though so that I'm not the lodestone weighing down.

Doh! - on the feat issue... I'll slide it to the side and replace with Unbalancing Blow.

I'm still around and Aronida has been leveled. I'll add to the chorus of apologies and try to be better about posting.

Don't worry, folks. It happens. I'm just glad to read that everyone is still here and enjoying themselves with the game.

Steve, take care. I hope you'll feel better soon. Regarding the books, thanks for the offer. But I'm trying to cut back on physical gaming supplies myself. :*)

Don't worry, folks. It happens. I'm just glad to read that everyone is still here and enjoying themselves with the game.

I haven’t played much PBP but I’m thoroughly enjoying this game (plus I’m learning how PF2 actually works, which is good).

Aronida, Quiet Allies has a prereq of Expert in Stealth, and rangers don't get their first skill increase until level 3. And your statline still says Ranger 1, though you've updated everything else.

Steve, like Iff, I'm in need of a purge of gaming books myself. (Plus, as a subscriber to most of the lines, I probably have all the same Paizo books already.) I don't blame you for not being enthusiastic about a free-for-all; all the packaging and shipping sounds exhausting. Do you not have a used book store around that will buy them from you? You may get a pittance, but it fills the same service of getting books in the hands of someone else who wants/needs them.

Plus Gethric has quiet Allies :) - so it frees up a feat for something different for you? As I read it there isn't much benefit in 'both' of us having the feat.

My bad. I've taken Quick Jump instead.

Double-checking: Are you guys going to go look for the mysterious armored figure right away, or are you going to rest first? I believe you may be low on daily resources after the fight with the Cinderclaws.

If you want to rest, the Bumblebrashers will be happy to let you do so in their rooms in the vault and keep watch for you. (That's still an option if you choose to go look for the M.A.F first, as well; as long as you're at the Citadel, you're welcome to rest under the Bumblebrashers' protection.)

With curious mien IRL Gethric would probably want to get after it... but meta Gethric should probably have a short nap...

Gellius definitely wants to go straight to speak to whoever it is, but will be guided by those with daily resources. Seems only fair, since Revka seems to spend all her energy keeping him on his feet... ;)

If I haven't messed up in keeping track of things, Revka still has 2 cures available. One 1st level spell used, but those don't matter all that much. It also seems like everyone is at full health. There doesn't seem to be a very good reason to wait (and we might miss this person if we take a nap first).

I say we go now.

Joana, not for this situation, but for the future - do you think I could take the Defend exploration activity to get the benefit of interacting with my Main Gauche to gain a +1 to AC at the start of an encounter? (In lieu of carrying a shield for the +2).

That's pretty clearly not covered by the RAW, but is perhaps similar enough?

Hi folks. I've had eye surgery on Tuesday. Recovery isn't going so well. It might be a few more days before I will be able to read up and post again. I'm sorry for the absence, please bot me as needed.

I hope things improve soon. Rest up!

Joana, not for this situation, but for the future - do you think I could take the Defend exploration activity to get the benefit of interacting with my Main Gauche to gain a +1 to AC at the start of an encounter? (In lieu of carrying a shield for the +2).

That's pretty clearly not covered by the RAW, but is perhaps similar enough?

As you say, it's not RAW, but it's definitely along similar lines. I don't see why not.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Iff! Does anyone remember what Revka generally does for an Exploration activity?

Thanks. I'm doing reasonably well, and am back at the point where I can at least read again, with some effort. That's good for distraction. :)

Great to hear. :)

Glad you're better and hope you continue to improve, Iff.

Steve, I know Gellius's AC is 19. The ability is Athletics vs. Fort DC. I believe a tie still goes to the aggressor?

I’ll be without internet access for a period, so please bot my character during my absence. I applied for assisted-rate access, but the process is taking a while. I’m hoping to be back online in a week or so; if things drag out beyond two weeks, I’ll do my best to find a way to hop online long enough to give an update.

I'll post Darla's actions for the current round before I go silent (probably later tonight).

Sorry to hear that, Profession Smith. I hope things get sorted quickly. Red tape seems to drag out longer than usual with so many people out of their offices right now.

I'm still a little confused on the take cover action.

Would I be able to take cover (from the beds) while remaining in AU32? Would I need to move to AU31?

Take Cover is, I believe, subjective by design, but I know that makes it difficult to adjudicate in PbP when you can't get immediate GM feedback.

"Benefitting from cover" and "prone" are both fairly self-explanatory, but "near a feature that allows you to take cover" is quite vague and subject to table variance. I read it as "if you don't stand in the exact middle of your square and instead squish up to one side, if there is something solid-ish you'd be in contact with, you can use it."

So, given our last map, Gethric could Take Cover using the bedframe in AV30, and Revka could by pressing against the wall in AV33. But as the bedframes are on the left side of AU31, I don't think Gellius could Take Cover without moving.

Still, turned out to be moot in this case. I keep seeing people complaining PCs don't crit enough in P2e, but it seems to me like you guys have rolled them at a pretty good pace in this game.

Thanks - I do want to try and use cover a bit more, so appreciate some concrete examples.

Gellius has been chewing through his hit points (and really relies on everyone else to keep him alive) but he does have some very satisfying moments of churning out the damage as well! :)

Back online, full-time!

Catching up in my games as fast as possible.

I've also been continually impressed at the amount of hurt low level PCs are able to put out. The move from one attack per turn to potentially three is massive from a probability perspective, and obviously more rolls = more chances to crit.

There are several closed doors around the perimeter of the room, but it seems unlikely at this point that the person you're looking for came in this way. Do you want to open some doors or go back outside and around to the hole in the southern wall where the armored figure might have entered the citadel?

Round to the southern hole, I think.

Round to the southern hole, I think.

Agreed.

Works for me!

Going in? Rolling some skill checks first?

A quick message to confirm that I still exist - work has been debilitating-ly busy (not that it's an excuse) and I have been exceptionally lax. I'll show up in thread in the next hour or so and will give myself a percussive back of the head wake up call tap to be more consistent in engagement moving forrads.

A query on Gethric's ability: Surprise Attack: on first round of combat, if you roll Deception or Stealth for initiative, creatures that haven’t acted are flat-footed to you. - I'm guessing this doesn't apply as Gethric was speaking openly and not being slinky or deceptive? - by the way I'm cool with that interpretation.

Makes for an interesting consideration I need to keep in mind in the future though...

Yes, since you were the one to speak up, that effectively "broke" your Stealth. If it makes you feel any better, though, with those rolls, you wouldn't have hit even if they were flat-footed.

Heh - indeed. It's an interesting tactical nuance that I'll have to keep in mind in the future though.

So I *think* I'm doing this right.

Tiny creatures have a reach of 0 feet and must enter their opponent's square to make a melee attack. Step doesn't trigger AoOs for leaving or entering a square. However, unlike in P1e, there is neither a limit on only one (5-foot-)Step a turn nor a specific rule that entering an opponent's square triggers an AoO.

So a Tiny creature can Step into an opponent's square, make a melee attack, and Step out without triggering an AoO; it's only if they use an action with the Move trait (by moving more than 5 feet per action) that they would trigger the AoO.

That sounds right to me. Its a pretty action-expensive thing, after all.

A short round of appreciative applause to Revka on that last quip. From henceforth I think we should adopt 'the Carpenter fellows' as shorthand for the Order of the Nail.

It seems unfair that poison has varying effects on a save, failure, or critical failure but not a critical success.

I forgot to add inspire courage to the active effects last post, so that's 9 points of damage on Gethric's hit.