LOL! If only!
Or they are harboring a deep resentment against some artisans aboard the Rail and have decided to do something about it :-)
Erix: damnit, Will saves, my old foe!
Ah well, sorry all.
Just means you get to take a breather. This is simple sleep, so if someone kicks you you will wake up automatically. And if not, you can always write a dream scene if you are so inclined ;^)
Assuming that Phin can move around the living spell with an acrobatics roll, can she get to Green 2 in order to attack this round? Just wondering before I post.
Sure, there's only 3 squares (character circle lengths since the map lacks proper grid) between you. If you don't mind the thing eating up more of Erix's strength. If it drops to 0, he is a goner after all.
In which case I would like to play Erix's grown-up daughter...
Oh, I just checked and Str loss won't actually kill a character. So Erix is safe, sort of... not that any of your characters have any idea exactly what is happening to Erix, except that he's down. Not like there are handy status symbols floating above everyone's head like in a MMO ;^)
I was gonna say 'Can she be named Erixa' but it seems it won't be needed.
I had assumed that the spell would continue to travel down the length of the train car and not stand over top of Erix. I take it that that is incorrect?
If the spell is going to hover over top Erix then Phin will continue to battle it. If it continues on its way then she’ll go for the humans and help Baran.
You really have no way of knowing...
Are you kidding - if I have to go down distracting these guys then heal me later - destroy that living spell. You and Lupi may be the only things that can harm it. If you don't take it out it will eat its' way through us all. Heaven forbid it should down you or Lupi before you do.
@Kirsdrake: if it is ray of enfeeblement, the penalty doesn't stack. Does this one?
They do stack, but that stat drain will not last long - certainly not past one encounter. Not that Erix could know it.
0h man, this could go so wrong. Alua is totally going to lose her s#%!
Agreed. But it’s not like we can keep him calm until we get to Sharon or trust that he doesn’t get a thumb cramp.
I think the plan is better than most. Besides, getting the dead man’s switch from the bad guy always works on tv or in the movies so it should work for us :)
It would have been possible to talk the man out of his desperate stunt, but Baran's plan is certainly a lot flashier ;^)
At least you didn't say 'boom-ier' :)
Boomier might still be in your future. We shall see ;^)
I'm seriously considering multi-classing as a swashbuckler when we go up a level, but dammit, I like those 2nd level spells.
I thought it was a great idea, and Alua will come around. She just got a scare.
I can TOTALLY see Baran as a swashbuckler!
Baran should follow his heart. It's done him well so far. He'd make an awesome swashbuckler or an awesome bard :)
Suits me just fine. Just remember that levels are a bit hard to come by in this campaign, to reduce the need of scaling up enemies too much to match you.
Suits me just fine. Just remember that levels are a bit hard to come by in this campaign, to reduce the need of scaling up enemies too much to match you.
Noted
Sorry, stuff happened. Posting will have to wait until tomorrow or the day after, I'm afraid...
There is NO WAY these guards get to take this guy for free!! Alua will be asking for payment. We're PIs after all. How much should she ask for apprehending a dangerous criminal?
And don't forget disarming the dangerous device. That takes skill!
Sounds reasonable, but the guards aren't authorized pay you a dime, and they have jurisdiction here – somehow, I doubt you’d catch a criminal in Sharn and then refuse to hand them over to the Watch unless they pay you cash up front. Feel free to try that IC; though ;^) Asking and making arrangements to get rewarded after the fact by House Orien would be feasible, although the guards here aren’t in a position to make promises or discuss amounts of money.
Congratulations, another encounter cleared.
Thank you. I was getting slightly worried as the solution of this group was the same as the previous group I played (invisibility + attack). The implementation was better.
Last time we introduced the first open roof railroad car in Eberron :).
When we do next level, can someone please remind me to buy Erix some social skills?
Oh, as I said before, Diplomacy rolls aren't nearly as important as what you actually say IC. If a roll is required, good dialogue can drastically alter the DC requirement, and some diplomancer PC who takes part in the dialogue can make the (single) required check at some point, even if you are the one that drops the most important dialogue lines that affect the NPC's reaction.
Do not let low skill ranks prevent you from trying to reason with people. At the same time, there is no place for the Basket Weaver builds in my games!
Your slow progression shows a flaw in the design of the game and how unbalanced it gets at very high level. I'm very much enjoying this.
Well, I'm not sure I'd call it a flaw as such, but I'm just getting tired of characters growing so strong that after a few levels, you need to routinely throw enemies capable of leveling armies at them... there can only be so many very high level monsters roaming around the world. But if people stay relatively lowe levels, if you can never get as many magical items as yoru EWL would suggest you should have... even a "regular" enemy still remains a serious challenge. And it's much easier to reason why the party might continue running to that level of enemies (rather than there being a dragon behind every corner of the dungeon, because anything lesser would just be yawn-inducing).
Oh, and NPC specialists continue to remain viable for far longer - it's rare to run into Expert 15 NPCs (for good reason), but if the PCs won't eclipse an Expert 5's skill ranks too quickly, there is a reason for the PCs to ossacionally turn to NPCs for aid (other than those few Elminster-level sages most settings have tucked in somewhere).
The other option, that I used, is to keep on adding bonuses to enemies to balance things out.
The poor regular giants needed a +12 GM bonus to be able to hit (without natural 20) the groups paladin at level 15 in Giantslayer campaign. Luckily GM bonuses stack with everything :).
But yes, I also like low levels more. It's easier to run for both players and GMs.
Yeah, those bonuses ;^) Still, I do kinda remember some adventure module bosses almost getting one-shotted before they had time to do anything except look pretty.
Yeah, those bonuses ;^) Still, I do kinda remember some adventure module bosses almost getting one-shotted before they had time to do anything except look pretty.
Yes, the final boss too. I was too tempted to see, if he really could be one-shotted with just three PCs. In retrospect, I should have brought him back with some undead template for some more rounds of fun, but it was already late in the evening.
So... CL3 Hold Person wand with 15 charges, one bottle of Feather Fall (intendede as a getaway tool for jumping the Lightning Rail at high speeds), and one CMW potion. For the moment, I'll go and all this stuff to the party pool until you figure out who takes what.
Lupi has a bit of interest in the wand, but maybe it fits Alua's style better as she does not want to hurt people. There are two CMW's in the party pool, Lupi would like to take one just in case both healers are down. Opinions, please :).
Feather fall should go to one of our two good climbers.
Healing potions - at least one should go to Lupi, the other to Alua who does that damage transference thing. If she's going to take hits for others she should have something.
The wand of hold person - if Lupi can use is I have no issue her having it. It seemed like a spell trigger that Alua could use without a skill check.
@Kirsdrake - I understand your point, but I try to keep character's 'fluff' in line with their 'crunch'.
Also, regarding Erix's state of mind. He went down a dark road when he got sent back into PTSD and attacked Baran - I mean he wasn't that stable to begin with. He finally relaxed from his paranoia and then got triple-ambushed and taken out by a spell when he'd just started to relax.
Not sure how fun "Survival" Erix is, but I'm having trouble dropping it from my mental model of the character.
OK, Lupi takes the wand and one CMW potion. If anyone needs holy water Lupi will share hers. We have been seeing quite a lot of undead...
@Kirsdrake - I understand your point, but I try to keep character's 'fluff' in line with their 'crunch'.
Even that won't protect one from the fact that a 10th level character can take a direct hit from a heavy catapult and mostly worry about their hair getting messed up ;^)
Sorry, more that I try not to have characters who have no ranks in a skill talking in a way that suggests a lot of training.
I'm fine with the low levels - I agree on the way levels escalate everything such that a module becomes useless. Most of the rpgs I play have a far slower xp growth.
It's not just HP though. I like they gatekeepered flight at 5th level and super-fast distance travel at 9th, but it means a module has to be built with those breakpoints in mind.
I ran out of time tonight so I hope to post tomorrow
So Baran:
Tells almost the entire truth to ir'Morain. He dodges details to make it seem the 'Tower' was taken just before the team got there but that the site is now buried beneath a mountain of Darguun stone.
If you put stock in alignments then Baran's is chaotic good. He is fine with breaking the rules but not stealing. He feels that ownership of the 'Tower' is kinda' 50/50. They were working for ir'Morain so it belongs to him. They went through hell for it so it belongs to Phin. He hopes to talk to the team and get a consensus. ir'Morain will certainly want it but it seems to have bonded with Phin. I feel like people will come hunting for it and us having it puts it us in danger but giving it to the university would put it in reach of people who could use it to terrible ends.
Sure, as far as you know, if anyone "owned" the Tower before it was the orcish spirit who lead you to claim it for yourself. It's not like you were stealing it from the Professor - without you, it's quite likely it would never have been recovered, the Foulspawn would have got it eventually or it would have got buried under the mountain when another expedition team would have taken it and then failed to make a clean getaway. Impossible to see how the Professor would see it without telling the truth, though ;^)
Impossible to see how the Professor would see it without telling the truth, though ;^)
Quite right - a deep conversation with the team first.
Sorry. Baran's post treads on Phin's a bit as she'd already discussed the disarming of the bomb - but he's going for an effect.
Hahaha! Baran spellchecked to Batman! Ha!
Phin would be ok with telling the Professor about the artifact they found because he may actually know more about it or know where we can find out more about it. She doesn’t want anyone to take it from her/them, but she understands that in order to find out about the Tower then they’ll need to share info with someone.
We might be able to convince hi it's best the tower stays with us but let's have a in-game discussion. I'm looking forward to playing this out.