tt's Survivor's Salvation -- SFS 1-30 (Inactive)

Game Master therealthom

I'm baa-ack!

Shokil scores free lunch again!

With apologies to Mr Rodgers.

You have to know when to hold em, know when to eat them, know when to grab one quickly, and know when to run.

Sorry guys. Pulled an all-nighter for work Monday and at my age the crash the following day is spectacular. Didn't mean to no show yesterday.

Okaaay.

My parents have sold their house and Monday I'm going to Illinois to help them move back to Connecticut. Trying to squeeze a lot of work in before Friday. This weekend I'll be trying to get the house squared away. Unless I get a lucky confluence of time and internet access, I won't be posting much or even at all until December 4 or so.

I'll try to maintain at least 1 post a day until Monday.

Anyway, I've got to fly. See you in December. (And hopefully a few times in between. )

Take care, Tom. Thanks for the update and absolutely no problem at all.

Be safe.

Staar's been around the block!

This whole scene reminded me of Tommy Lee Jones in the first Man in Black movie.

That was a really fun movie.

OK. I'm back, but the traveling has me really beat. My next post might be incoherent.

My apologies, I must not have refreshed the browser on posting as I had not seen Staar's intimidation attempt. My post seems a little out of sync with the action.

The confusion of near simultaneous action. No apologies required.

I would also like to offer sincere apologies - work and COVID have given me zero free time of late. I'll catch-up properly asap

No worries, I was holding off on botting anyone because it was the weekend and I know some people post more slowly then. I often do.

That and I think I've already slowed us down once because of work.

You might want to have a look at the map. Due to the chase, the party was strung out when Shokil, Staar, and Saeron started talking with Bargai. I adjusted positions based on posts during the conversation.

I also refer you to the Dec5 spoiler addressed to Bele , Kneepuncher, and Saeron.

GM is correct about drawing a weapon as part of a move - level 1 operatives have +0 BAB so cannot do so.

All good. I initially thought my idea was thwarted, too. However, the wisp has 60ft movement and that should cover the remainder, I think. Unless there is an issue with action economy that I missed?

Not action economy. You are perfect there. My question is range. Can the wisp move more than 35' from you?

Magic and Spells chapter
Range
A spell’s range indicates how far from you it can reach. For more information on how ranges work, see Range on page 271.

WISP ALLY 1
School conjuration (creation)
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect one distracting, glowing servant
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
You draw forth otherworldly energy to create a small, spherical, floating wisp that can distract your enemies in combat. This wisp can move 60 feet per round in any direction, and you can direct it as a move action on your turn. If the wisp occupies the same space as an enemy, the wisp provides your choice of either harrying fire or covering fire (see pages 246–247) against the enemy each round on your turn, and it follows that enemy within range automatically unless you direct it to change targets. The wisp is made of pure light and energy and can’t be damaged in combat, though it can be dispelled as normal.
In addition to the function described above, the wisp sheds light in a 20-foot radius in a color of your choice (chosen when you cast the spell).

P 271
RANGE
An effect’s range indicates how far from you it can reach. An effect’s range is the maximum distance from you that the effect can occur, as well as the maximum distance at which you can designate the effect’s point of origin. If any portion of the effect’s area would extend beyond this range, that area is wasted. If a range is based on level, this means caster level for spells, class level for class features, and item level for weapons and equipment. Standard ranges include the following....

Well, you do learn something new everyday!

I had read the "follows within range" as referring to the wisp's range of movement.

A little pressed for time currently, but have updated position on map. So Saeron moves 30 ft, then casts spell into door 35 ft away.

Thanks for the explanation Tom.

Interesting, so if you do a lightning bolt at near maximum range, it is going to be a short bolt.

Maybe I've got it wrong. I am no rules expert. To keep things moving let's use my ruling for now and if I'm wrong I'll make it up to you all.

I did have it wrong. Traditional thinking was correct, but only because of the following:

Conjuration
Conjuration spells bring creatures, objects, or energy (potentially including healing energy) into being or transport them to new locations. A conjured creature or object must arrive in an open location on a medium capable of supporting it. It can’t appear inside another creature or object. The conjured creature or object must appear within the spell’s range, but once conjured it does not have to remain within the range.

So because Wisp Ally is a conjuration, the traditional interpretation holds. Conjure 'creature' and it can move at will. But an area effect evocation or illusion would end at the range boundary even if the 'center' of the effect was at maximum range. So Aerondor's right that a lightning bolt at max range would be a short bolt. Or a fireball at max range would have an area or effect more like a hemisphere.

And I do learn something new every day. SuperS feel free to move Saeron back to her original square if you wish.

Thanks, Thom. It's not often I play casters, so I did some digging last night in an effort to improve my knowledge in this area, as well.

In particular I read about the spell types and was trying to understand the difference between how summoning spells would be treated differently than the creation.

The difference seemed to be in where the creature came from/was created and where it returns to/dissipates at the end of the spell/upon defeat.

Looking at the spell descriptions, there is the mention of "within range" for Wisp Ally, but there is no such phrasing in Summon Creature.

Happy to roll with your ruling either way.

I have moved Saeron back to original position, and added a token for the wisp.

By the way, Thom - thanks for going to the length of asking on the boards for input about the Wisp Ally range. I appreciate the amount of consideration you gave to it.

IF one thing I am sure of, it's my own fallibility. I just want to get things right.

Everyone knows we're in combat now. To keep things moving, I'm going to start botting characters after 24ish hours when it is their turn. You can always post provisionally in spoilers before your turn, if there is something you really want to do and you are worried about missing the 24 hour dealine. I'll give Bele a few more hours.

Don't expect to miss much, but Kneepuncher is easy to bot: move if needed, full attack as often as possible.

Best laid plans. Karmic justice.

Spout my mouth off about keeping the game moving and then get stuck.

Sorry.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Posting will be erratic the next few days. Family, celebrations, etc.

I'll be away from about the 7th for a week or two. Please bot me as required.

Sorry, guys. Couldn't get free yesterday at home or today at work.

No probs, Thom.

Has anybody else been locked out? I couldn't log in for about 36 hours.

Was only able to get in after emailing tech support, and clearing my cookies as they suggested.

Yeah, had to do the same. They were spreading that info on the discord servers.

Welcome back, everyone!

I've pushed you to right to make room for the flood of characters who will probably gang up on my poor little ooze, but you may pick your own square.

Thank you. You picked juat the right spot.

Just crates and walls in that corner.

I'm both disappointed and relieved all at once.

Well done, guys. I really thought that combat would give you more of a challenge. I am really disappointed that I wasn't able to take over anyone. You rolled well when the fort saves really counted.

I played this on tier 1-2, so there was just one ooze, but it took over our toughest fighter. That made things pretty tense. Especially since my first level envoy scored about as much damage as Bele.

Moving forward, it seems that Oda and Bele have departed. Neither have posted since December 23. What would you think about finishing the scenario as a party of four?

I was expecting Staar to be taken over, since her AC is an all you can hit buffet. Too bad! I even had her charging a supernova to make things more interesting.

---

Gone for over three weeks, without any notice. They probably are overboard or on vacation till february.

I'm back, catching up.

I think if we continue with four, and if they come back, revert to a full table for encounters. I've done that before as a GM and is seems to work okay.

I'm fine with switching to adjust until/unless they return.

As am I.

Hi All. I want to apologize for my absence. I went away with my family for the holidays and the expected wifi was not present. Additionally I have had a couple of events happen in my life that, happily, are now resolved for the best. I have custody of my kids which is great and they are enrolled in school (the school year here runs January - December).
Then the outage with Paizo and here we are.

I am back now.

Good to have you back, Ietsuna!

Sorry for the delay on my part guys. Combination of a busy weekend and I couldn't log in after Sat morning despite clearing my cookies.

Let's see what you've been up to.

TR, a spot of bad luck there. I figured there were three logical targets and rolled randomly -- the dice stuck it to you.

I'm pretty sure I've got that right and Staar is down. If you want to double check, please do. If she is in fact down, and you want something to do, you could run Bele.

It's cool, she's built to be a glass cannon. If the enemy is still up by next round I'll stick to ranged attacks from the floor, though.

I'll pass on the botting, a trick attack operative... meh.

Staar should be close to being back to full HP after the channel.

Nothing to help with the SP, sadly.

Sorry guys. Work crushed me this weekend.

That was the last combat.

Unfortunately, I'm travelling today; early work on Tuesday. I'll try to wrap up play on Tuesday night. Meantime post your questions for the android, and maybe some social skills and computer checks.

I won't be able to get you chronicles until probably Sunday night because I won't have access to PDF editing until I get home.

Even though I can't edit the chronicles, I have reported the scenario on-line. You should see the applied credit for your character.

I'll wait another day to conclude, just to see if anyone can crack the computers or wants to explore the Collective.

I usually don't do this, but because of the delay with chronicle sheets, I will offer to email them directly to you, if you wish. Merely supply an email address below.

Thanks very much for GMing.

I'm off for the weekend ,but it looks like that is a wrap anyway.

And thanks very much to the other players too.

Saeron's comment about a capable team was well made. With about half the team playing up a tier, I was very much afraid there'd be a dead character or two. The slimes can hit pretty hard. You guys even crushed the skill checks against Jiwalla.

The only place you kind of fell down was the computer checks inside the collective.

I was trying to hold some spells in reserve as it felt there'd be another encounter with the "boss". I never considered the slimes were the bosses. Ah, well.

Saeron has a paltry +5 in Computers that I could have tried, but my delay in posting due to RL stuff meant it had wrapped by the time I got to post. My apologies all, if we missed something juicy.

I thoroughly enjoyed the scenario - and actually felt useful as a healer - prior to this mission I think Saeron had used maybe 3 Mystic Cure spells and healing touch twice. It has been rare that anyone actually took HP damage. It was nice to get to use some of those abilities. Life link was actually quite handy in a pinch.

Thanks to Thom for running, and all the players for a great run.

I'm happy to just get a link for the sheet, if you would prefer to email, I can provide one though.

It's always a bit of a challenge playing with a spit tier. I was trying to not dominate the combats. Luckily with my rolling that was not generally an issue.

Chronicle Sheets are here!

As always please double check my work.

Thank you for your patience. I have enjoyed running the game for you all.

Good times. Now go sign up for Outpost IV

hmm... it didn't want to give me access.

I always seem to get the permissions wrong the first time.
Try this!