I'll give it another few hours before botting folks.
Welcome to the climactic encounter of In Hell's Bright Shadow, folks! Nox is just across the bridge!
I've had two critical threats and like three nat 1's in this fight.
Really feast-or-famine over here.
You excel or you totally screw up! There's no in-between.
I'll give Aisling another few hours before botting her.
Since I know that Nyxra may not have caught my post, I'm posting in here to let her know she can change her action from attacking (and missing!) an unconscious hell hound.
Posted.
My dice roller hates it when I try to be cool.
I'd been saving a casting of Glitterdust for Nox since a blinded Nox seems much more desirable than a Nox with reach who hits very hard, doles out AoOs with reach, and probably has a high AC.
But Vantine was set back in her progression toward that and it looks like things have moved past a chance to use it since it's a AoE spell.
Vantine will do what she can to help out otherwise, which means don't expect anything. Best of luck out there folx!
It looks like Glitterdust targets an area, not an individual, so you could probably cast it a bit past her and catch her with the corner of the AOE.
Anyways, I'm really glad Aisling can haul all this dead weight around... Probably should have got a mithral gauntlet... I can afford it... Not sure why I didn't...
Yes, I'm aware of that. It's what I did with the previous glitterdust casting. I guess we'll see what opportunities come up after Vantine's reset to cast it.
On the other hand you could have honored a simple request and the spell would have dropped this round.
She was already in melee range of Jessi and the Raven, so we either would have had to move and provoke which would have used up the spell anyways, or 5-foot-step and she could do the same and still attack to the same effect. Figured it was best to get inside her reach and at least get an attack off in exchange.
I'm so glad you're certain on my behalf that Nox would have continued to advance alone away from the bridge. Definitely best to take it upon yourself to spoil my setup rather than waiting to see.
It's a moot point going forward. I will be retiring Vantine after this combat in favor of a self-sufficient class. Clearly we're not a group that favors teamwork, so a witch is simply out of place.
Exhausted tonight, so no post. I'm sorry to hear that this has confirmed it for you, Vantine, but I want you to have a character you enjoy, so let me know what you're thinking when you have an idea.
Re teamwork, I think there's a difernce between IC teamwork and OOC teamwork. IC it maeks sense that you and Raven are both a bit chaotic, you maed a request and he ignored you.
I have to admit I didn't know what you were planning but hitting Nox with glitterdust while we keep our distance would have made sense. If you'd put that in the discussion thread I would definatly have agreed it was a good tactic and suggested we stay out of the way while you do it. In gameplay, it's jsut one character telling another what to do.
OOC I con't have any ideas for this fight. I'll channel to keep us going as much as possible but I need to use my sword to stop her regenerating as well.
In all the games I've played in there has been a set of norms about how communication can be used during encounters.
1. If something is said by a character Bold Text that information is also available to NPCs, friendly or not. Whispering sometime avoids this depending on the particular context.
2. OOC communication can't be used in place of IC speaking because it effectively grants the party telepathy. It's too easily used to skirt the limitations of IC speech, especially in combat for ad hoc, timeless planning and coordination.
So, under the unwritten rules I've always played under, Vantine could yell out her request and include why, which makes Nox aware of it as well, and allows her to act on that information. In this case, a very obvious spell caster asking for a clear area around the target because she's casting and AoE spell would generally suggest to the target they should hug the other party members and share the coming pain. If that is, the caster is willing to go so far as harm their own allies.
Alternately Vantine could make the request OCC or in the discussion thread while telling everyone exactly why, granting herself telepathic communication with her fellow party members. Or, put more simply, cheat.
What I mean by teamwork is, in this case, listening to fellow party members and acting on their requests if possible because we trust each other to have a valid reason for the request, and behave in helpful ways based on those requests. I'm not saying nobody in the party is a team player. But teamwork takes everyone to be onboard, not just some people.
After all, Vantine is a spell caster, what else is she going to do after springing Ill Omen except cast a spell?
It doesn't matter anyway. The wheels are already turning and Vantine is out in favor of another character who won't need to make requests of others in order to function effectively.
After all, Vantine is a spell caster, what else is she going to do after springing Ill Omen except cast a spell?
tbh, I have trouble remembering what everthing *my* PC can do, asking me to rmember yours as well is optimsitic. I think there's a middle way betwen the 2 options you posted - no need to put detailed tactics, but jsut a reminder that your PC has used some area spells in teh past and might apreciate a round before we all rush in? I for one would find that sort of reminder very handy.
Or you can idk, make one passive agresive post after another IC *adn* OOC while brushing off any attempted fix by saying it doesn' matter. But I think I know which option is more fun for teh rest of us.
I'll leave it to the GM to clarify how much information we can freely share and how, and follow those guidelines.
I'm sorry if my reply was brusque or passive aggressive, I meant only to explain that I was abiding by the way every other PbP I have played in operates, or has operated.
I will point out that Raven indicated no lack of understanding or confusion. He had a different opinion of Vantine's plan's feasibility and acted against it without discussion first.
It's one thing for things to not work because of a miscommunication, that happens. It's another for things not to work because a character decides not to let them. More precisely, it's not even about Glitterdust, although Vantine needed the clearance for that too. It was about other characters not giving Nox any attack targets so Ill Omen wouldn't be activated and would work on Nox's save against Glitterdust. Raven hijacked Vantine's spell to use for his own purpose. He said so. Spoiling a Glitterdust casting was the extra rider attached.
I've been hesitant to chime in, partly because (since I'm running Hell's Rebels myself) I have player knowledge that I'm trying to keep separate from character knowledge. Also, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by taking sides. That being said, however....
...we need to get our poop together, people...NOW.
We have two ways of going at our Nox problem: weakening her combat potential and hitting her with attacks that she can't regenerate. (Using both options would, of course, be optimal.) AFAIK, only two PCs have the weapon quality to negate Nox's regeneration, and only one of those is currently using it. And that person--Aisling--is also our party's healer. If she goes down, cue Capt. Quint to sing "Farewell and Adieu to You Fair Spanish Ladies." Vantine's our backup healer now: Jessi's used all her spell slots and the potion of CLW she was carrying.
At this point, all Jessi can contribute is a flanking bonus to someone who can actually hurt Nox, a bit of damage here and there, and maybe using the total defense action to draw off an attack or two from Nox. I thought she might also be able to use her magic boots to slide into flanking position without eating an AoO, but see the natural 1 the dice roller gifted me in my post above.
Any more bad rolls for us and this can get ugly fast. We cannot afford to use poor teamwork on top of that.
Unless there's a wand of CLW someone has that I'm not aware of, Vantine isn't the backup healer. She doesn't have the spell prepared.
Aside from a wand of Acid Arrow, which she needs to successfully UMD to use, and then successfully score a hit into melee, she has nothing except one casting of Glitterdust, cantrips, and a dagger.
She has the results of her Misfortune hex still to come this round.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
She should be grappled now, I doubt she has 25+ cmd so the fight might be over even though shes probably back to full health..
We have an unused CLW wand, I bought it the first week of the rebellion from the treasury. I don't know who wants it but I suggested Jessi take it because her boots make her the most mobile in an emergency.
I totally forgot about the wand, and Jessi and Vantine don't seem to have ever made a final decision on who was to carry it. I agree with the Raven's reasoning regarding Jessi's mobility with the magic boots (latest nat 1 notwithstanding) and will add the wand to her equipment and a charge tracker beneath her alias.
And just in case another player might have forgotten a detail as well, Jessi gave Nyxra her oil of align weapon a bit earlier so someone who can actually do decent damage could take the fight to Nox.
I'll give Nyxra another few hours to post - though it may end up being until tomorrow morning my time. Things are a little hectic in my life at the moment - nothing bad, just... hectic.
If the Raven charges, can he jump over the table that's in the way during the charge? He's last in initiative so he probably won't have a path anyways, but I guess clarification for the future would be useful. The closest I can find to an official "ruling" on jumping during a charge is the Janni Rush feat, which gives a bonus when you jump while charging. Figured I'd ask for your interpretation just in case.
I'd say you could make an Acrobatics to leap the table, sure. A fail would mean the charge fails, though.
At the same time, unless Aisling and maybe Vantine move out of the way, there's no legal charge there.
Yeah it probably won't happen this fight but it's good to know for the future.
Vantine isn't moving. She's using the action to extend Evil Eye. She's using standard to cast Glitterdust.
I think Nyxra might be clear of the spells 10' radius AoE but warned her to move if not. Vantine is holding the spell until Nyxra takes her actions. If Nyxra is within the radius and doesn't move away, Vantine will cast the spell anyway.
While I hold out little hope Nox will fail the save (hardly anything ever does), it is possible. If Nox fails the blindness will last 3 rounds. It would be best if everyone closed some distance to Nox to make best use of those rounds.
Nyxra: You would be well served, and we desperately need, for you to apply the Oil of Aligned Weapon on your sword and use it rather than a bow against Nox. We're not going to beat her fast healing doing what we've been doing so far.
She doesn't have an immediate action so she is reach-less this turn. This is our best opportunity to surround her whether Glitterdust takes or not. I'm going to bed soon. The Raven is last in initiative, if everyone else goes before I'm back to post, you can move the Raven to flank with whomever if there's enough move speed to do so, or just into melee if not.
She technically does, I think? I'm pretty sure she has it each round, but I may be miscalculating.
My thought is that she either has reach or doesn't in any one of her turns - she can switch between it during any point in the round, but she doesn't have the ability to do it more than once per round.
If you use your immediate action on someone else's turn - she used hers on the Raven's turn - you lose your swift/immediate until after your next turn. If you use an immediate action on your turn it's a regular swift action. It's one of the major reasons the Swashbuckler class is so bad. Its' immediate actions are all used on the enemies' turn, so you lose 80% of your class abilities for one turn every time you use them lol.
I'm assuming she's a polearm archetype fighter which uses their immediate action to change reach but I dunno.
Hm, see, that wasn't clear to me. I was assuming it was round-based, but that makes more sense. Oh well, good thing to keep in mind in the future.
Nox can kill any of us from full health on a slightly-below-average damage crit, and she confirms a crit against our highest AC party members on a seven, so we need all the help we can get. Since the dice roller refuses to let us roll above a five or let Nox roll below a fifteen, we gotta take advantage of the esoteric rules most people don't even know about to survive.
@Vantine - I appreadciate your reply and I'm sory if I was a bit snippy with you. I get it must be furstrating to feel like your character doesn't have a lot to add, alhtough I really like Vantine and I'll be sorry to see her go. I hope we get to gieve her a good send off :)
I agree on not letting Nox regenrate. If I spend my action healing that's a turn i'm not hitting her with a Good weapon, and the damage we do jsut gets canceled.
Indeed! Plus, this is really a damage race - she can easily outlast you, what with the regeneration and generally high HP. So stacking on damage real quick is a good plan. Blinding her will help tremendously with her AC.
Fortunately, she's not managed a 20 yet on an attack, because, uh, that would be bad. She also has Power Attack, as you've seen a couple times. That would make it hurt. A lot.
On the other hand, I feel somewhat less bad about this than I do about the scrivenite, because she is supposed to be the climactic fight of In Hell's Bright Shadow. Unlike the scrivenite, who just was... inexplicably challenging?
Nox can kill any of us from full health on a slightly-below-average damage crit, and she confirms a crit against our highest AC party members on a seven, so we need all the help we can get. Since the dice roller refuses to let us roll above a five or let Nox roll below a fifteen, we gotta take advantage of the esoteric rules most people don't even know about to survive.
Aslo, combat reflexes plus reahch is jsut rediculous. Throw in at will telport and regerneration and you've got a CR6 monster, at least.
On the other hand, I feel somewhat less bad about this than I do about the scrivenite, because she is supposed to be the climactic fight of In Hell's Bright Shadow. Unlike the scrivenite, who just was... inexplicably challenging?
The frustration here is the f%$%ing dice roller. This fight seems well designed - I love that Paizo gave the polearm user a chokepoint to take advantage of - our rolls are just garbage and hers are god.
Yeah, I'm not sure why the dice roller seems to want you all to fail this so badly, but seriously, it's getting silly.
Though, to be fair, her teleport's not at will. It is still gross on what's supposed to be CR5 encounter.
I'll give Raven and Nyxra another few hours before botting them.
The Raven shall move into melee with the lady.
I'll once again say that Vantine is casting Glitterdust on Nox as soon as Nyxra's actions are in regardless of where people are at. You've all been warned a couple of times at least not to be within 10' of her.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Vantine does go before Raven, so she won't actually hit him. Nyxra will be going before her, though, so she'll have to worry.
Nyxra stepped back 10'. I believe she still has a standard action to use. Dropping a weapon is free, and she can draw one as part of a move action correct?
That's quite correct. If she doesn't chime in speaking against it, I'll assume that's what she did.
Turns out, being blinded only applies a -2 to AC... it also loses your Dex bonus to your AC, but she doesn't have that, so she's mostly hard to hit. Also, that Acrobatics roll was lucky - she had a 50/50 chance of falling over, there.
Yay and Yay! The acid will also do damage again the next round if I have the rules right. Acid Arrow is a 2nd level spell, which means a minimum caster level of 3.
I believe those are tables on the map so Vantine should be in a location that gives Nox no cover. If I'm wrong, Vantine still has a little movement left and can reposition.
I'd say that at this distance, she wouldn't get cover - given that Vantine is closer to them than Nox is.
I'm feeling just as frustrated as Vantine is right now, don't worry.
I've only rolled above a 10 on the dice maybe twice in this entire encounter.
Has anyone else been experiencing where you make a post and it like... disappears and reappears for several minutes? Like you post to roll and the post is there, then you go to edit it and it's not there, then you refresh and it's back?
If that makes any sense.
Has anyone else been experiencing where you make a post and it like... disappears and reappears for several minutes? Like you post to roll and the post is there, then you go to edit it and it's not there, then you refresh and it's back?
If that makes any sense.
Yep. Pretty sure it's a site issue that won't be addressed for a while.
I really wish Paizo would migrate to an out-of-the-box website solution. I appreciate that such solutions did not exist in Paizo's early days so they had to build everything themselves, but this website sucks and it gets worse every year.
Yes, that's an ongoing issue with the site. It's... not very well set up in general. Like edits being only open for an hour, or aforementioned "future posts." I call them that because they seem to register as posting a minute or so in the future, which is why they don't actually appear unless you force them.