GM Michael's Giantslayer

Game Master Dread

I really wish I had picked up a spell such as Bless, what with all the melee combatants we're rocking! Sadly, the one buff I have - Enlarge Person - can't be cast on animals. I guess it does help out Rydell when it comes to damage and reach.

The reason I asked about the portcullis is that Rory's present location is 50 ft from where he had started. That's one move action. He would have turned and gone the other direction. Which he will now do with this move.

The map has "Stop hear" in yellow on it. so does Rory need to stop or can he ride on?

Indeed and I agree thats what he would have done. That being said, thats where combat would have initiated. They had heard the crowing rooster and the combat with the rats so knew you were about, which is why they decided to off Brynia.

Yes I realized Rory could get in their with them immediately, and there is something thats going to occur. so I put the stop there in place. Ill check and you may be able to continue

ok, well edit the post:

Edit: oohhhhh, you said they killed Brynia...

You can end up where you wanted. They are flat footed for attacks of opportunity.

You can end up where you wanted. They are flat footed for attacks of opportunity.

Oh thank god, or should I be thanking the GM :)

Ill give Rydell til tomorrow to post then bot him

Ill give Rydell til tomorrow then bot him

sorry all, had some family stuff come up over the end of this past week.

I'm unsure of the layout (as I can only see the room we were in last I think) and the fog didn't clear when I moved/I couldn't move past certain areas. I can only say he would have run to the place he thought the sound of the voices came from.

Hope things are going OK for you Rydell. So since your last post:

GMMichael moved you west and that hallway ended in portcullis blocking entrance into the room. So the last two rounds you have been stabbing through the bars at the troll. Ovril and Shel are behind you casting spells, Rory and Imara have gone around the other direction and are engaging the orc and half orc.

Ovril and Shel, could you both take a 5ft step back? :3.

OK, let me get this straight. Both Ovril and Shel moved back from the door, but didn't head down the hallway to come help Imara and Rory?

...Chickens :)

On a serious note, none of us are built to stand toe to toe in melee, Rydell's the closest and he will need heavier armor. Something we'll need to think about in the future and plan for.

edit:Rydell, When you step back from the troll and start shooting, realistically he will attack Rory. Depending on where the flow of combat is, we may need to withdraw and regroup.

I dunno where anyone is

Is Imara through the west door?

I forgot that with the fog of war you can only see where your at.

From the steps Imara followed Rory right then around to the left, in a U-shape. She is attacking the black orc from the east/right hand side, at the end of that hallway about 70 ft from you present location.

On a serious note, none of us are built to stand toe to toe in melee, Rydell's the closest and he will need heavier armor. Something we'll need to think about in the future and plan for.

I have been thinking a lot about Imara. I am frustrated with how little she hits. However, I think a lot of that has to do with bad rolls and two points of dex damage, so I'm prepared to give things more time before I make any major changes. I am reluctant to give up the Use Magic Device aspect as I believe that could be very fun (and effective) in the long run.

Here are my thoughts regarding not having a frontliner. It certainly makes things more challenging and will definitely hurt us in certain circumstances. But, I don't know that it necessarily means we have to change anything regarding party makeup. It probably does mean we need to do some serious thinking about tactics and gear, though. Imara was going to talk to Rory about teaching Storm to flank with her after this fight, but that doesn't really help address the issue with us not being able to take hard hits. It's one of the primary reasons I took Resilience as her first rogue talent. Buffing and debuffing can help a lot. They are also just getting to know each other, so I'm sure we/they will get better at working together as time goes on.

I agree we will need to use different tactics but we don't necessarily need to change our party make up . Rory and the wolves are built for hit and run, as long as they aren't expected to be 'meat shields' were good.

I can have Storm flank with you, but if I can having him flanking with Thistle or Rory it will be more effective because of the outflank. Also with splitting the 'companion' levels between them neither are as strong as a normal companion would be.

I was just pointing out that we will have to get creative.

Shel can pick up Chant next level and keep Protective Luck on everyone for a whole combat, so that will really help with the low AC’s.

Cool, obviously higher AC's will help, Once we have the opportunity Rory will purchase heavier 'light' armor (instead of leather) for the wolves, helping as well.

I was trying to say that we don't have one individual who will soak up a lot of damage, so we will need to be creative.

Rory bringing multiple bodies combines well with Channel Energy. Spread out damage + AOE heals. Shel and Orvil will still be suffering from Low Level Caster Syndrome for a couple more levels, but free Scribe Scroll feat helps a lot.

I put an indicator on the map what way to go...

I put an indicator on the map what way to go...

Thanks, found her way around.

I picked up Sleep and Enlarge Person with the idea that the former could help insta-win a fight *if* we get the surprise round and the latter could turn a party member into a blender. Sadly, both cost a round to cast, and so far I haven't been able to justify the casting cost.

That, and enemies like spiders are immune to sleep :P

I love both Sleep and Enlarge, I don't think enlarge would help Rory much unless he dismounts, don't know if Rydell will be willing since he seems to be leaning archery. But both solid spells...

It looks like the fight is going our way, I just didn't want anyone to freak out if Rory and the wolves withdraw from a fight to get a better position later. I normally play a full BAB character that will hang in there until he or the opponent is unconscious. I just don't figure I can do that with Rory and still win.

Definitely, things should improve as we level up.

I forgot about outflank. Maybe Imara should take that feat as well? Do the wolves count as having that feat also, or only with Rory? Can three allies flank a medium creature at the same time? One of them wouldn't be directly across from another ally. Even if it works mechanically, I totally understand that you may want to have Rory's wolves fighting directly with Rory since that's your build, and I totally respect and understand that if that's the case. Just thinking through options.

. If she chooses Outflank, she automatically grants this feat to her animal companion as well.

So I believe that they would be able to use it with anyone. And if it isn't possible to flank with each other, obviously we will flank with others.

My thought process was to have Rory use weapons with a wide crit area so he could provide the wolves with more opportunities to attack and possibly trip. Getting and keeping enemies prone will go a long way to survive.

I agree we need to think through our options and work together, that includes having Rory or the wolves flanking with you. Maybe I need to think about having Rory dismount some and possibly using a higher damage weapon.

as I said before, I've played some of this AP, and many fights are in close quarters such as dungeons/caves etc. Enemies hit hard, and hit well. luckily, we have two full casters. Orvil and Shel, especially Orvil, will probably play key roles in keeping us alive. As many enemies have relatively low will saves.

There was a reason I stated my concern over our 0 con mod rogue. I could (if allowed) change some things around to make rydell melee, TWF particularly, however that would not help his AC. So may actually be counter intuitive, since I plan on picking up point blank shot.

as I said before, I've played some of this AP, and many fights are in close quarters such as dungeons/caves etc. Enemies hit hard, and hit well. luckily, we have two full casters. Orvil and Shel, especially Orvil, will probably play key roles in keeping us alive. As many enemies have relatively low will saves.

There was a reason I stated my concern over our 0 con mod rogue. I could (if allowed) change some things around to make rydell melee, TWF particularly, however that would not help his AC. So may actually be counter intuitive, since I plan on picking up point blank shot.

Curious, I need to be careful and not criticize the choices others have made with their character, just because it's not what I would have done. I honestly think each of us should play the character we want.

Then we need to figure out our strengths and weaknesses. We can explain that and develop it through combat like we are now. And understanding how the person want's to play their character; working together to be successful.

It seems Rory is a scout with a little druid magic, who will use hit and run techniques. Imara is a rogue who is developing a flair for magic. Rydell is a ranger who prefers speed and archery, Ovril is a fortune teller who can cast cards at range and Shel is a witch who prefers casting and a little chicken. Of course I'm talking about Phoenix, not her bravery :)

It seems Rory and the wolves work best if they can get the opponent on the ground. In time, a large wolf in medium armor may provide that frontliner we seem to need. For now we just need to remember that we don't have one.

Rydell, I wouldn't change to TWF just because of this, unless you were planning on it. Down the line we will have better armor and access to magical items that can balance some of it out.

I've only played a little into this game (were further now than I've been) But if were facing giants as the title infers were not standing toe to toe with them anyway.

Imara if you have room for a feat you weren't planning on, or if you hadn't planned to far. If you outflank it would let us easily use it with you. I may need to have Rory dismount and fight separate from Thistle. Or I may find that only one animal companion at my level is best. I don't know, I've never played a Hunter and the 'build books' don't cover this part :)

My thoughts are always for the party to play what they want. I try to play opponents true to their nature and not metagame how to defeat the characters. ie I dont give the bad guys insider knowledge. I find this makes the game more enjoyable. If the party breezes through an encounter, so be it. If they have trouble with it that makes it more enjoyable as well but in a different way.

So far you folks have been adjusting to challenges well. Learning capabilities and coming up with tactics. It will be fine.

I wasn't thinking about the fact that Rory would be mounted on Thistle while flanking. That makes much more sense. :)

Yes, I agree that we should all play the characters we want and I agree also with Michael that we'll be fine. And if we're not, then we can adjust things as needed. It's more fun for me that way, to be honest.

I wanted to play a rogue because I wanted to play a heavily skill-based character who uses magic to augment her skills and combat (I just can't get into bards). Maybe that means she's more likely to be killed, but I'm okay with that.

Also, Rory, I meant to say earlier that I totally understand if Rory ends up having to pull back from a fight for tactical or survival reasons.

Since everyone but Shel is making attack rolls most every turn, I’ll prepare more Blessesess from now on. I got really confused as to where everyone was in this combat so ended up wasting a lot of action economy.

I think I’ll go into the Spirit Channeler Emissary prestige class. It continues most of the important Shaman stuff, and it gets a pretty cool ability that acts like Summon Monster, the familiar becomes the summoned monster. I think... I think Phoenix would like that... a lot. A summoning build could help with the meatshield issue, actually.

Phoenix turning into something strong and intimidating... yeah, I can see that. And worse the chicken will think that it is protecting it's allies from it's awesomeness by taking a lesser form...

Oh wow. That's amazing. Phoenix will become even more narcissistic than he already is.

Ill give Rydell til tomorrow then bot him.

He could be having trouble with this stupid polar storm if he’s in North America.

truth

Hey Imara did you flank with Rory? or Rydell?

Rory. I updated roll20.

I updated the Loot list. It's also linked in her character info bar. I couldn't get the one at the top of the page to work.

Note that I indicated several things Imara would like. I assume she won't get them all and am fine with that...she just wants many things. But is also willing to share. She also can't carry any more weight right now, so there's that...

Shel can take the scroll of Barkskin to cast on someone. She already has a scroll case and I believe they can store 4 scrolls each, so someone else who will be using scrolls can take the other case or Shel will take it just because. I don't think there's anything else she would want.

Ovril can take one of the smokesticks. Being able to deny opponents (especially archers!) vision might come in handy. We might want to spread them out, so that we can possibly create a corridor of smoke if/when we need to.

Other than that, nothing on the list seems overly useful for Ovril.

I do think we ought to give the light xbow and the special bolts to someone who can use them. If no one takes it, Ovril can. Being able to do bypass DR with silver and cold iron can be a lifesaver.

As for weight, We can tie things on Storm, he's carrying nothing now.

I didn't see anything that 'spoke' to Rory, in other words not halfling gear. He's just going to need a little cash to upgrade the wolves armor to chain or lamellar.

I will try to remember to look at his spell list to see if he can use any wands Ovril or Shel can't.

Are you guys able to edit the loot list? If not, I can change it so you can. Can anyone cast Ghostbane? If not, Imara can take it and attempt it with Use Magic Device.

Does Ovril has another ranged weapon? Rory, Imara, and Rydell all do, probably either him or Shel should take it.

With magic weapons you don't need the spell on your spell list. The weapons just has the ability

We have a scroll of Ghostbane we picked up awhile ago. I didn't think to clarify!

Shel won't be able to hit anything so probably Ovril for the xbow.

Is the scroll Ghostbane or Ghostbane Dirge?Not finding 'Ghostbane' but 'Ghostbane Dirge' is on the Shaman list.

I'll take the xbow. He has the stats and feats to optimize it, and haha yes, I tend to hold on to specialized weapons *if* an adventure/dungeon/campaign gives them to you.

Hints, foreshadowing, and all that. An adventurer ought to be prepared ;)

I agree, I tend to hold onto the items we find as well. Sadly, there aren't as many 'halfling' things as you med. humanoids get to see :)

Hmnmm. I have "ghostbane scroll" written down. I'll double check.

Imara kneels and despite the 'help' of Phoenix, she easily opens a particularly difficult lock, and opening it she reveals- a potion labeled as 'Darkvision', A scroll Labeled Barksin, a Scroll Labeled ghostbane, a well made light crossbow, and a bolt case containing 10 regular bolts, , 10 cold iron bolts and 10 silver bolts

So, it was labeled "ghostbane". Maybe that is 'ghostbane dirge'? Is there some kind of check we can roll to find out?