GM Foxy's 2nd Legacy of Fire

Game Master Foxy Quickpaw

Roryx speaks Draconic, but he is not very good at Diplomacy.

Well, it seems Roryx will be our face this time then :)

Let him be interpreter to get the spell going, then let someone else take over?

Question: Do you know any second level spell, divine or arcane that is better than burst of radiance? (maybe excluding pally spells, as they come in at level 7).

I'm not complaining here, just wondering.
- 1d4 fire damage per CL, no save to evil creatures
- at least dazzled, if not blinded
- range long
- 10 ft radius area spell

It's like an early fireball, with extras. Heck, at CL5, or if you throw in meta-magic intensify, it is actually better than a fireball if your enemies are evil. If you don't need the larger area of effect.

I would say it is the best cleric control spell until greater command (and that one is mind-affecting so burst of radiance can still be better in some instances).

It is only comparable to glitterdust from the wizard list in my opinion. That one does not damage, but reveals invis, which is also cool.

If comparing with other types of spells, I would say ironskin is perhaps better, or at least equally over-powered in comparison with other cleric level 2 spells.

It is at least much better than sound burst, the only comparable spell from the core.

The damage isn't that big of a deal, but the blindness effect is awesome. Glitterdust (trades damage for reveal invisible and no SR) and Create Pit (often more disabling on failed saves, stays around as an obstacle, no sr), are at least in the same league.
Limp Lash is perhaps more powerful.
Defensively, Symbol of Mirroring (depending on how the GM rules on symbols in general) can be more potent. Also, you'll see more Mirror Image spells cast at lvl 12 than Bursts of Radiance...
Out of combat, you can argue for Rope Trick, Tears to Wine (at high levels), and Page-bound Epiphany (also at higher levels).

If I did ready a spell and didn't cast it, do I still lose the spell slot?

No.

@Roryx
My thoughts about why it was appropriate for the gnoll beast to hit you are too specific to make a house rule of it, applicable for everyone. So keep your mirror image.

Ok deal, but I am still curious about it - if you want to share, of course.

And please Foxy, if you think it was applicable in this case, but not applicable in others, it is all good anyway - you are the GM, you know all the secrets of the Universe where our adventures happen, and the GM ruling is king :D

Hei Foxy, what building are we next to? I kind of assumed we were close to the trogs building as we were following the western wall (I have drawn a green arrow for the movement I thought we were doing).

As for the blinded pinpointing discussion. I kind of understand both of you. When a creature is invisible I have seen usually run like Foxy says, if someone can point you where the creature is, you can just go there and deal with the 50% mischance.

Now, I understand as Roryx points, if you are blinded, it is not that easy to follow instructions of where exactly to attack just by voice. Perhaps it can help the rules on how to pinpoint invisible creatures, which means basically is a Perception DC 20+1 for each 10' distance (+20 for invisibility/non visible creature, -20 for targeting creature who is attacking). The same rules point that if you attack the creature, the creature automatically pinpoints you and it knows where to attack back.

And then, for much as we know, this beast might have scent. Then, it could know you are within its scent range (normally 30'), and if you are adjacent to it, then it automatically pinpoints you. If not, with a move action, it can know the direction where you are.

Hope it helps.

I hate it when my GMs bend the rules in ways I can't use for my player character. So if I do the same and you call me out on it I'll correct that.

Also I didn't look up the pinpoint rules and wasn't aware that the DC is that high.

As for the current situation. The Beast is standing next to the gnoll cleric with no one approaching and nothing to do. Speech is a free action. You can approach the beast only from the front. which translates to left, front-left, front-right, and right. And it only specifies a square of 5x5 foot. It's not like hitting a nail on the head. So the cleric has a whole round of talking to give the gnoll beast the idea to hit in a general direction on one of four commands. And hearing you approach is a DC0 listen check.

One flaw might be, that I assumed, the orientation of the beast hasn't changed since the blinding. Another flaw is that the beast isn't the brightest candle on the cake.

Green circle added to the green arrow.

can I still see the cleric?

I hate it when my GMs bend the rules in ways I can't use for my player character. So if I do the same and you call me out on it I'll correct that.

Also I didn't look up the pinpoint rules and wasn't aware that the DC is that high.

As for the current situation. The Beast is standing next to the gnoll cleric with no one approaching and nothing to do. Speech is a free action. You can approach the beast only from the front. which translates to left, front-left, front-right, and right. And it only specifies a square of 5x5 foot. It's not like hitting a nail on the head. So the cleric has a whole round of talking to give the gnoll beast the idea to hit in a general direction on one of four commands. And hearing you approach is a DC0 listen check.

One flaw might be, that I assumed, the orientation of the beast hasn't changed since the blinding. Another flaw is that the beast isn't the brightest candle on the cake.

Thank you for explaining your reasoning Foxy ;)

Are we sure we cannot run faster than an armored cleric with half the party being ranged builds and a couple of animals with over the mean speed movement (Kheldron moves 50 feet per round for example and has the same rounds to move as the cleric who probably has 20 feet speed)?

If we really can do nothing for the alarm to rise, I personally think we came here for the gnolls and we will have to storm the place at one point or another, so now is not particularly worse than in a day or two.

But if most people prefer to run away, I am fine too.

I was going off that assumption (that it was pointless to give chase), since Foxy's post seemed definitive. But maybe we can actually catch up to him? I do not know exactly on the area map where the patrol encountered us.

As for storming the place, Roryx has already said his piece - he was against going through the front door. And he still is :P

The space between the two buildings is about 30 feet. Of course you get him. The only question is, what else you will find inside. And raising the alarm is just fancy talk for shouting for help in gnoll.

We can go in there but I dont think we will be able to handle more than one more gnoll patrol.

And I agree with roryx, the plan was absolutely never to storm the place. We wanted to use the troglos or sneak in via the hidden stairs.

I think Roryx readied attack was never executed or did I miss it?

I assumed no one ever got close enough. Not sure though.

Map updated.

Roryx can either do this as a readied attack, which would move his initiative before the hyaenodon. But as it would survive that, there are no other changes for this round. Your decision.

EDIT: Moved your initiative, as it allows you to act before the enemies again. You still can object if you don't want that.

All good Foxy - that works for me ;)

@Omari
You're right. I had Khedron considered as target, but decided otherwise but beyond the post, which clearly states Manuun, the decision didn't stick with my mind.

@ Foxy Not that I envy the gnoll his hit, it was not his turn.

roryx and me are up before him and still have a chance to end this before he lands his hit.

Meh.

There are 3 humans going after Heshan, but I do see an arrow on Ohrmizd and company initiative block. Does it mean we can go with our actions now? Or we wait for Heshan and the remaining 3 Humans to do their thing?

I have added a Cross frame crop to the fallen gnoll for Mannun's clarity (the frame was orange when I posted, so I guess Foxy means the red frame to mean a defeated enemy).

Heshan doesn't have a fair chance to do a game changing thing, as he is still way behind and even when walking up he'll have no line of sight to attack into the room.

So as almost everyone is around we're moving on.

The humans aren't too eager and are blocked anyway.

Thank you for the bot Foxy. Been a bit busy over the past few days. Happy Easter everyone!

Happy Easter! :)

"Am I going to have to remind you of this every 5 minutes? Kill then Loot then Burn..."

Rather than burn Roryx's shield spell...
Omari urges the party to keep it's mind on business.
Barring objections, onto H16

Let's talk about this.

So far Foxy has been pretty flexible on us tracking spells duration. It is easier for the people doing the loot tracking to resolve this stuff when it appears as otherwise it might get lost in the swamp of posts later on. The time consumed is always pretty abstract and subjective, and it benefits no one trying to rationalize that. So let's just do as it is better for us as people in here, not necessarily what makes more sense realistically. It is a game after all.

That said, I am fine with H16 next and grateful for the push.

What is the southern tunnel?

The tunnel South of H19

Actually we still could try to raise the trap using people who actually have strength.

Yeah, south of H9, I have added a green arrow to the map!

I hope Manuun's Perception is enough to find the secret door though. If that is the case I suggest we explore there first.

Ouch, that is a tough hit to Ohrmizd's pride. He is just giving you others the chance to make shine your hours of training at Garavel's gym :)

I hope Manuun's Perception is enough to find the secret door though. If that is the case I suggest we explore there first.

Nope.

@roryx, Heshan: Sortry, you are of course right, I got certainly carried away by the adrenaline of the initiative roll.

I think Ohrmizd is probably the guilty one in this case Manuun :P

I checked the spell again, and unlike Omari's spell which affects only evil creatures I see no such safe guard for Ohrmizd's spell.

If I didn't miss something, this approach sounds a lot like throwing suspicious women into rivers to check if they are witches, as witches are made of wood. And then drown those who float and pity those who didn't.

Aaaah, nothing like some good old Monty Python wisdom :D

This one?

In reality other European countries inquisitions were way more stupid and reckless than the Spanish one and in contrast cases were judged on arbitrary discretion in northern countries at the time. Where there was a judgement and not a mere public lynching.

In contrast the Spanish Inquisition was a bureaucratized system and only a very small amount of cases ended up in actual conviction, the system being the best of its time among all other countries on identifying neighbors fabrications due to grudges and fear to unknown.

It is all a myth of the Black Legend the other European countries were using as propaganda against Spain which was the global empire of the time.

It is not very different to what other countries do today when talking about nowadays great powers trying to alienate the global opinion against them because they cannot confront their economic and militaristic domain.

It is an image that seems not to die off on behalf of recovering the historical reality.

Is there a way to at least help put out the fire?

I'm totally pro Spanish Inquisition. Our work department took them as a role model and my boss was even addressed as Tomás de Torquemada by one colleage.

But as Roryx pointed out already I'm taliking about this one and not the historical one.

Is there a way to at least help put out the fire?

Water always helps, so Omari might be able to douse the fire. Besides that, I think it should be possible to quench the flames with a blanket, or cloak. For practical purposes: Full round action, +4 for the cloak, Reflex Save DC15. Automatic success with create water.

This one?

Pure genius.

OK, people keep asking why I think the carrion king isn't down the hole. The ladder was described as "lashed together" - to me, that means improvised. No improvised ladder can support a giant gnoll that weighs what, 600 lbs+ (he's a large creature, like the other giant gnolls).

However, I suspect we have entered dungeon designer architecture land again. 200 feet down?!? Think how much digging and ladder building that is... Never mind this long tunnel at the bottom of it.

Another question to ponder: how did the slaves get into where we were exploring? (Not through the spider lairs, nor through the way in we excavated, and given they don't know what's down the hole, they didn't come in that way either...) Was the way in boarded up behind them?

Was the way in boarded up behind them?

Yes.

Also, as no one states a decision in gameplay how to proceed anymore: The tunnel goes on for half a mile. You tell me if you want to see the other end of it.

I do not understand your concern, but if it helps to ease your worries, there are other stairs in the map the gnolls can regularly use to go down but we have just not managed to reach, because we have not found the secret door (thanks Manuun to try for it) and you want to avoid the burned room.

Since Kulko has definitely a lot less experience in bribing people than Manuun has, do any of you have a guess hw much would be appropriate.

we have an maethyst worth 100 gp in our possession which sounds like tit would be overpaying or we can provide any suitable number of goldpieces if neccessary

I would start offering the less valuable gem.

Still, mephits are known to be slick on their deals, I would not hope for getting much in exchange.