Sounds good to me. Had a little fun broken water pipe to deal with last night and I have jury duty this week so my post rate might be a bit slow this week if I get a trial and I get so bored my mind turns to mush :)
Sounds fine to me.
You travel another 6 days before your travels are disturbed , this time in broad daylight as Tarak is doing his scouting in eagle form. He sees, coming from afar, a thing that looks like a flying lion with the head of a ram. And it seems headed right for the other three trudging along by foot.
Ok, just because I can't not post something, I figured I'd jump in here and say that I'm waiting for Tarak to inform us. If it takes a bit, I'll post some fluff later.
LOL!
I appreciate it actually. Shows your active and interested and that is encouraging.
I used to hurry and post as quickly as I could, in some games it would be just me and the gm for days. It seemed like it discouraged other's more than encouraging them. So I try to wait for others to post. Especially since Tarak has information to share, I don't want to assume he has and pass over his opportunity to have a significant post.
But, my habit has become sitting down in the morning reading posts while the coffee brews, then think about them while I cook my wife's breakfast and then post after I've had coffee and breakfast. I keep checking the games through the morning and afternoon, then less so after my wife's back home in the evening.
I was also looking to see if I could post something, but it does look like Tarak needs to act before the rest of us can do much more then a fluffy post.
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Urah can grumble about the day's event being quiet and boring hereby earning himself the Jinx of the party.
Nice. That works for me.
I’m here, posting in a moment
Sorry, I mean mechanically, is it large or huge?
Urah and Malgrim, remember to place your icons on the map. Once you do I'll put the beast and the mule on.
Large
Where's the trees I was looking to take cover under?
lol.
placed though the map seems like it'll make me separate from the others.
I am on the map.
So is the creature. It is on the other side of the river for now.
There are some pretty big trees on that map, not just the small ones.
When you launch a preemtive strike and it is not a surprise situation, you automatically win initiate. At least that is how I will rule it.
Cool, doesn't bode well for Gnasher or the ram-lion-eagle-thingy?
Rolling a 4 for the to-hit means the AoO probably will not hit.
Though on rereading the description it says ...
So it is the readied action and not the AoO that gets the bonus (as you rolled it) which would occur before the AoO. Speaking of which, next time role the readied action before the AoO in cases like this as that is the chronological order they would occur in.
Sorry, I spent so much time looking for the info on the brace and the readied attack, that I got turned around and thought the aoo would happen first, since it should be flipped, make the roll for the aoo the brace and vice versa.
I don't blame you. Most folks would normally do the AoO first and then the normal attack since that would be chronological. Practically reflex. But with a readied attack, where the conditions are fulfilled at the limit of the range of your attack, the readied attack would come first. So reflex vs. thinking it out and reflex wins.
Cool, was just trying to do all the stuff right and still confused myself, like I said it's cool with me if you switch the rolls, it looks like the group is doing pretty good with out him.
The thing that confuses me is the aoo's using reach weapons especially when large. At 20 ft range, then 15 ft range then 10 ft range and potentially 5 ft range. If or when he's supposed to switch to the natural/bite attack.
I love playing Gnasher but he confuses the heck out of me...
The AoO happens when someone leaves a square in your 'zone of control'. It only happens once per movement so only one AoO even if the subject runs circles around you.
So, ignoring combat reflexes for now (which really get's messed up because when he is large his dex is 12, so he only gets one, but when he's regular size his dex is 14 so he gets two) If Gnasher is large, his reach starts at 20 ft. if an enemy only moves to 15 ft that as a 5 ft step, so no AOO. But if it moves to 10 ft or 5 ft that's an AOO, but is it an AOO with the reach weapon or the bite?
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You get more AoOs from Combat Reflexes but they have to be different sources. So if two enemies rush you and you could get two AoO. Or if someone cast a spell and then ran through your ZoC you could get two AoO on the same person.
If you could get your AoO satisfied by either a bite or a weapon, you choose. You would not get both.
You are right about the 5' step. That does not provoke. But it is more about the action taken than the distance travelled. A 5' step is a specific action. To move more than that you take a normal move action, from the very beginning, so the first 5' travelled is part of a move action, not 5' step action, and provokes. In fact, if you were particularly stupid you could move 5' and declare it as a normal move and provoke. Then again, it might not be so stupid (see the panther style tree) if you WANT to provoke. Note that 'move' is a category of action as well as a specific type of move action which involves moving up to your movement speed. Naming them the same was not a helpful idea of theirs.
One tricky thing I have to mention is that if someone is on the diagonal two spaces away (thus putting him at an effective 15' distance) and he moves towards you (putting him at a 5' distance) he is considered to have moved through your 10' square for purposes of determining eligibility of an AoO. This would apply for any movement that cuts the distance by 10' when only moving 5'.
Fun, huh!
I'm debating with myself if tarak is a chase a fleeing enemy down kind of guy or not. I'll await the results of the pair of attacks before I decide.
On the one hand he's kind of a go with the flow kinda guy, on the other hand he was a pirate and this thing might have treasure.
At first I thought I may have underestimated the party and should have boosted the CR, but then I realized your main damage dealers rolled VERY well.
Any idea how to calculate a reasonable CR for a party of 4? is there a chart somewhere or guidelines? I always struggle with getting the right level of challenge.
I've never gm'd and haven't looked at the cr/monster level type stuff. So, I'm no help there.
I realize at low levels Gnasher does a lot of damage (especially against gnolls) and provides some battlefield control with the reach weapon (Is battlefield control the right term?) But with his low will save I fear against Casters he may become a liability. So, it may not be the CR level, but the type of monster. If it's strictly melee violence, Gnasher/this group will do better than against casters.
IT feels like we've got a sweet team at lower levels, I'm curious to see how we do at upper levels against more magically inclined challenges.
I generally calculate CR based on Party composition and adjust changes in AP and scenario given encounters based on that.
For examples, gunslingers in the party etc. Some encounters will just be a walk in the park with these guys in the party.
The monsters likely to be in that terrain and if advantageous enough against the party.
Monsters with class levels or templates.
I usually do my CR calculations on a +2/-1 basis for face to face games.
For pbp, It's +1/-2 as Forum Dice rollers I've foudn can be just petty.
What do you mean by +2/-1? +2 for the more challenging, -1 for the run of the mill beat them into dust encounters?
Speaking of which, that last encounter was a cryosphinx at +3 (I added the advanced template) and you guys messed him up pretty good. Because, like Urah mentioned, I saw it was right up your beat-meat alley.
Hmm For Example,
The Party is at CR 4 on a whole.
So to give them a challenge, the highest CR encounter I'd give would be a CR 6.
If the party happens to be in really bad shape, maybe a CR 3 encounter.
I'm also kinda evil so if the party has 5 members.
My CR budget is 4x5= 20.
so to plan a session for my group, I have a budget of CR 20 to be divded into several encounters for them.
With the highest encounter being a CR 6 or 7 looking on how fantastic they are to the lowest being a horde of CR 1 creatures.
For us a single encounter with less resistances/Sr might be easier for us.
Although the Sphinx could fly, in terms of damage output we are superior as a single hit from Gnasher and Malgrim would put anything in dire straits.
I shouldn't be giving ideas to my GM though lol.
One of my Gms thought it would be funny to put us up against a hill giant druid and its dire wolf pet.
Have you ever being clubbed by a giant enchanted club after being tripped? It wasn't funny.
Party of 5 at level 5.
So how did you get to CR 4 for the party? You are all at 5th level so I thought that would be CR 5.
Any CR 6 creature I've looked at would be a cake walk for you guys.
I'm also thinking that a series of encounters in a single day would be harder than a series on different days and the CR per encounter should be different. Right?
Thanks a lot for the input, by the way.
Balancing an encounter for a party is an art form. Not an equation. CR is a rough estimate and you have to look at some key things to see what it will actually do (AC, special attacks that shut down the whole party, special defenses we can't overcome, etc.)
I have a statistician friend who cackles over a CR 15 encounter with 128 level 1 wizards each with a wand of Magic Missile lvl 1 with a few charges left in each wand. Its absurd. Anyone without the Shield spell dies in a round. He has proven over time to not be great at balancing in several games. :P
And you are right about multiple encounters per day. Most CR ideas are based on the idea the party can do 3ish encounters per day. So if we only hit one it should be pretty easy unless we are very restrained. But if you start hitting 4+ it gets a lot more likely characters die, mainly because you just can't keep up with the healing or the burst damage you might have had and used several encounters ago. I think that this is especially true in this group. If we hit a hard encounter that actually reaches us we are in trouble. if we get 4 of those we are not going to be in good shape.
Also, any single powerful creature encounter will almost always be easier then a group of monsters of roughly comparable, or slightly less, power then the party. One creature gets everyone's attention. It gets less actions which means it has less potential to do a lot and will allow for the party to focus and strategize more easily. So a couple hundred wizards with wands is deadlier then a single massive dragon will ever be to most characters.
I actually think the biggest thing about this encounter though is you let us effectively get the drop on it because most of us are ranged. If it starts by landing right next to us this is a different encounter. We are scouting and taking precautions, and its good you allowed us to benefit from that. But it made it a lot easier.
For what its worth, if you find we are too strong you can look at how the quick Advance rules to see if they are helpful. I ran Giantslayer for a group of seven friends and I used it a lot. Mainly with named characters or solo monsters. Once I advanced hellhounds several times because the party was in the low teens and it was a waste of a fight to run base hellhounds.
The +2 to all rolls does a lot in improving Saving Throws and letting them hit. The 2xHD hit points lets monsters stick around a little longer. The +4 AC makes things way more survivable. But if the monsters AC is already high, like this guy, be careful about that. If we can't hit the monster on anything less then a 20 we are going to die. But you can add all or some of the template and it will have an impact and is super easy for you to handle as a judge. But watch the AC. It does become a bit unfun if we can't actually touch the monster where adding a bunch of hit points just lets more of the group do its thing.
In the Giantslayer game I also just raised the amount of hit points everything has. The game gives somewhere betweeen 50-75% hps on different monsters. 90% of max will take more resources to get through and make the base monsters lost longer without just nuking the party.
The last easy way is to just add numbers. Two of those creatures adds 1 to the CR and doubles the potential damage, doubles the hit points, and probably deprives us of our ability to focus fire effectively. It becomes way more dangerous.
But in the end balancing a game is an art form. Do you best. Feel it out. And as long as we focus on the fun hopefully everyone (including the GM) has a great time.
You make some good points. And a lot of them match what I've been thinking. You have a few glass cannons in your group which means the monsters I throw at you should have lots of HP and low damage output or
1) The battle is over too quickly as you rip through their HP
or
2) The battle turns deadly as the monster rips through your HP
And I have to be careful with the mooks. You know, the swarm of low level henchmen? They can do serious damage to front-liners with a lower AC.
Hmm I based on CR 4 because of how Weak Urah is lol.
Like a CR 2 despite being level 5.
Though you're right the Party is a CR 5 equivalent.
Yes Urah is a glass cannon. Actually he's just Glass Decoration.
Not even cannon worthy..............
Quick Advance rules are very good.
Yes never look down at a swarm of low level mooks, they're deadly.
The way I see this party as.
Gnasher - Melee DPS primary/ tank secondary
Malgrim - Range DPS/ skill monkey secondary
Tarak - Caster DPS/Support / Skill monkey secondary
Urah - Glass Decoration / Support/Healer secondary.
So I went to read Malgrim's post a couple hours ago, and decided I needed coffee. Now that I'm back and have read all these very interesting posts, it makes me realize that I made the right decision when I decided not to GM...
I think I understood most of the logic, I think. I at least know what a glass cannon is...
So Urah, 'Melee DPS' and 'Range DPS' what does the DPS stand for? I assume it some sort of damage. With Gnashers low AC I wouldn't call him a tank. His goal is to kill all of them before they kill him... With the 20 ft reach weapon, would that be considered some 'battlefield control'? I'm torn with the 'large' reach, it gives him more distance, but restricts the 'Combat Reflex's' to one AOO instead of two.
By the way, glass decoration is funny :)
DPS=Damage per second. Its mainly for online multiplayer games to rate how good a class is at dealing damage in combats.
Our group is oddly formed. But as mentioned before, I think we can make it work. We are heavily focused on wands but with the wands being rechargeable that really helps us out.
GMing is an acquired taste. I have ran a lot, but never really acquired the taste. Sometimes its fun. Often frustrating. I do it for my home group to repay those who run for me around here. And someone has to or no games exist to be part of.
Thanks, that makes sense.
I think our group will work fine, at some point Gnasher may have to stop rushing in before everyone is ready, that includes remembering to use his own buffs.
But with the Sphynx coming to us it seemed pretty straight forward :)
I agree with Malgrim.
GMing is an acquired test. Sometimes it can be frustrating to see a group fall apart because of player issues and when forming a group, certain players maybe rejected due to the way they play.
I had one who was really disruptive and had no regard for the consequences. Was asked too leave.
Doing this tends to leave a sour taste.
Gnasher AC is 23 before Rage.
Mine is 14. A 14!!! that's the lowest AC of all.
Even the Pack Mule has higher chance of surviving then I do! lol
...Sometimes it can be frustrating to see a group fall apart because of player issues and when forming a group, certain players maybe rejected due to the way they play.
I had one who was really disruptive and had no regard for the consequences. Was asked too leave.
Doing this tends to leave a sour taste.
Curious, I've not played at a table since college, (1982) but started playing here on the boards in '14. Do you think the same applies as much to PBP? I've noticed most of the folks here are super polite. I can't tell if their walking on eggshells, or just that way in real life, or if they don't want to shake anything up.
In RL I tend to try and be polite/nice, but when it's been 'enough' I tend to speak my mind. I've not found that very common here. I don't know if I should 'tone it down' sometimes or not.
I'll admit, I've made a couple of posts I wish I could have back (Especially one when I hadn't slept for 36 hrs due to work, and jumped in an argument) But usually I try to stay even keeled.
I think its a mix of luck of the draw and its a lot easier to do stupid stuff when you don't have to write it out. That also probably leads to weeding out people you might not care to have around.
Given how badly our rolls were to make camp. I'm now considering looking to invest into web shelter lol.
:)
Had any of you made a decent survival roll to at least determine where there might have been a cave, Gnasher's perception roll would have guaranteed you would have spotted it. As it is you will have to make due.
Watches are
1) Tarak
2) Malgrim
3) Gnasher
4) Urah
No objection to watch order
It happens, Sorry I didn't catch it earlier. We had the grandkids in town Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I was still checking posts quickly but not as much and not as focused.
Yep. One of the reasons I like to think of the GM as part of the 'team'. Though I get to make all the final rules decisions, I welcome it when folks point out mistakes, or point me at rules sections in case it was not deliberate, or just offer suggestions.
Speaking of, I did my stun rolls (failed one) already, did you need more than just the first 3?
Corrected.
Utah's ray singes the back of the fleeing ambusher as it tries to make it to safety, glaring over his shoulder. After that he is too far away for the ray.
Sorry this confused me. Urah took his first shot as it was fleeing? So is it too late for gnasher to step over and take a swing at it?