GM Jhaeman's "Crypt of the Everflame" (Inactive)

Game Master Jhaeman

Should be 12 to take you unconscious and the. It becomes lethal, so 12 more to 0 so you would have been at -6 then heal 1 and stabilize at -5 with 12 Nonlethal

Yes, that's right--nonlethal damage "counts up" and is on a separate track than normal hit points until it exceeds your maximum hit points and is turned into lethal damage. It's a bit of a confusing system, but intended to represent situations where even "nonlethal" attacks like fists and kicks can reach the point where a person dies (a severe beating, a mob attack, etc.).

I became very familiar with the rule once while a player in a campaign. My PC became dominated and joined the enemy side, so was "off-screen" for a few sessions being evil. I got to play a temporary PC in the meanwhile. When my temporary PC encountered my real PC, I had the temp PC use nonlethal attacks to try and subdue my real one. But I rolled a x3 critical hit, and the real PC already had enough normal damage from other stuff that when the nonlethal damage exceeded max hit points enough to be converted into lethal damage, it accidentally killed her! It was both tragic and hilarious at the same time.

I became very familiar with the rule once while a player in a campaign. My PC became dominated and joined the enemy side, so was "off-screen" for a few sessions being evil. I got to play a temporary PC in the meanwhile. When my temporary PC encountered my real PC, I had the temp PC use nonlethal attacks to try and subdue my real one. But I rolled a x3 critical hit, and the real PC already had enough normal damage from other stuff that when the nonlethal damage exceeded max hit points enough to be converted into lethal damage, it accidentally killed her! It was both tragic and hilarious at the same time.

I'm curious - what were these respective characters?

The dead PC (my main one) was a multiclass magus/bard. The temporary PC was some sort of polearm expert fighter. The good news was the group was able to pay to have my main PC raised from the dead. (though I think she died again--permanently--not long after, anyway!)

The dead PC (my main one) was a multiclass magus/bard.

How did that work out for you while she lasted? I could see that being a monster-combination in a gestalt game, but not so much with normal multiclassing (they're both already hybrids....).

Ha, yes--I didn't know at the time that Pathfinder really disincentivized multiclassing! The character was great from an RP perspective, but tried to do way too many things mechanically and turned out to be not-so-great at any of them.

That puts me to negative 7 and bleeding out again.

Apparently we should have stopped because this room is just an automatic tpk

I thought someone had dragged T'Shar out of that room? I can't find it anywhere. He is far, far unconscious anyway, so if he's still in the room and taking arrows on his body on the floor, then he is extra dead and the new arrows are just pushing him into a pulp of ifrit.

Now that I'm aware and have acted, can I use Deflect Arrows? I'm not actually certain how it works on traps, but I don't see why it wouldn't.

Also, I have almost no clue what I should do here. Can't break the door with my Strength damage, healing people would be good but not good enough considering this thing seems to hit downed people as well. Ideas?

Only hope is to heal enough to keep someone up to drag everyone down back into the hallway and hope it has a limited number of arrows and stops eventually

Didn’t we batter down the door to get in here?

Nope, this was a door that pushes open easily (see March 23rd posts).

Sorry guys, I know this is frustrating.

I mean- it's a TPK and there's nothing we can do.

I'm hoping it runs out of ammo soon enough - I mean, it's a mundane mechanical trap installed in a long-neglected dungeon by a poor village as part of a rite of passage, it should....

Ugh, now I'm pretty sure everyone but Ao and I are dead. I've been having good enough luck and have a buffer against the arrows so I'll try to get him out, but not optimistic.

I do not understand how any group of 1st level adventurers is supposed to be able to survive this much damage- it's utterly absurd.

Really sucks because I used a GM credit with a special reward on this character that will be lost forever now.

I can't quite excuse it, but I think we un-lucked out, among other things. I don't remember much of the one or two other times I've played this, but this was never the big threat, the shadow was. Not to say it can't be, considering. Still, we don't have any Disable Device. And maybe we missed some sort of hint warning us about the trap or how to stop it?

Ugh.

So...what now? I wait for the trap to stop, get everyone's bodies on a cart or something, blank Chronicle for me and everyone else is dead - somehow our best option?

Technically, Uaine, you could keep exploring on your own (but I'd advise against it). If we end the module there, you'll get credit for the portion of the adventure completed.

Everyone else will also get a Chronicle, though obviously marked as dead unless they can clear the condition (unlikely at this low level, but in theory some folks might have boons from somewhere).

Okay folks, the session has been reported and Chronicles are available here. A disappointing ending, but I hope you all had fun along the way.

We just got unlucky I believe. That crit basically sealed Steppinwolf's fate. I suppose we could have tried jamming the arrow trap or something but did any of us have Disable Device?

The way I saw it, it was more important to get out of range of those arrows then heal up those who had fallen unconscious.

I hope I don't come across as a poor sport, BUT:

I don't want to die. I don't want it to end this way. I spent a Boon on this character (I know some others did for theirs, too).

I'm sorry for not tuning back in sooner (bear in mind I've started forswearing Internet use every Saturday this year), but given how badly this sucks for all of us, isn't there SOME WAY we can wriggle out of this, some stupid loophole or something?

Could we call in a VO to check the game for gaffes/screwups that might render some of it null?

I do still have two rerolls (folio and DM star), could they have helped any? Would you perhaps allow me to force a reroll of that one crit?

I mean, I've seen worse rule-fudging before when it comes to staving off stupid TPKs.

Here's a thought: I DID suggest we rest after the shadow-battle, and was semi-ignored. Would a retcon to see what would've happened had we opted to rest before venturing forth be feasible?

Sorry Ao, bad things happen sometimes--if there's no risk, there's no excitement. I've already reported the session and issued the Chronicles, so it's now outside of my hands. In theory, you could take it up with the regional V-C. Personally, I would find it frustrating if the entire session were reviewed like an appellate court examining the transcript of trial court proceedings to look for reversible error. But that's neither here nor there.

I'm going to set the campaign to Inactive, but I'll of course be available by PM.

If the GM wants, he will always manage to kill a player or the entire party, even in an environment as easy as PFS... And especially if they’re frustrated with something. The game has to be fun to the GM as well, and I’m sure our GM here got frustrated several times as the game dragged sometimes for days without posts, mine included. That particular trap is clearly not as lethal - usually the GMs would resolve an attack against the first person in the room, or give people a chance to react after a single attack in each, these things. For my character, I particularly spelled out that T’Shar was walking in the back and letting other people in first, as to observe what was going on before stepping in, but apparently this was ignored as (like I said) the intention was to make a not-designed-to-be-as-lethal trap kill one or more characters. But it doesn’t matter - it’s just a game, bad things happen, and I’d rather use it for learning (about people to play with, etc.).

Perform (Winds), Faction Pin: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16
folio: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (11) + 14 = 25
folio reroll: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31