The Journey of a Thousand Miles (Jade Regent AP)

Game Master Sensen

I cannot speak for Cyrus, but if you have the chance to harm the chief or do something to weaken his odds (like a shield of faith or protection from evil, or give him a summon to fight to), I would prefer that and risk the odds of being killed by a critical, rather than having him one more round attacking us.

Yuto can maintain one of us up even if we are hit, thanks to resolve, although if we are at the negatives then yes, probably healing is better. At least you know that is going to work.

Just do as you prefer, I just want to make sure you do not feel the pressure to come and heal Yuto because he is on edge. In the end if Gutwad goes down, the Tian is more safe than with any amount of HP :)

I was expecting the goblin tribe to be like the end of the book, in Rise of the Runelords, you don't do it until the end, when you are already 3rd level. But here we are, taming the odds against a horde of goblins and their chief! Uhuuuuu!!

Oh, wait. I forgot that Cyrus is actually 1 hp less than Yuto right now, due to a minor mechanical mixup when Gutwad last attacked him.

Also, as you'll likely discover, the Licktoads are not the Thistletops. Their highest level character is equal to one that the Heroes of Sandpoint fought during the attack.

Teruko doesn't have many direct damage options other than her crossbow, which is problematic because of the weather. Between that and her earlier promise to bring Cyrus and Arika back alive, I feel her most in-character choice right now is healing. Even if she doesn't actually heal that much. *Shakes fist at the dicebot.*

In another level or two she'll have more options.

Well, uh, that happened. Gutwad's pretty damn dangerous to a level 1 human at this range.

On a somewhat separate note, Teruko is going to be seriously traumatized if Cyrus ends up dying anyway. So, uh, don't expect much out of her the next couple rounds besides trying to heal him. (Again, I swear I'm not trying to be difficult. At this level once Bless is cast she doesn't have many good options anyway.)

Keep rolling like that and he probably will die. He's pretty low.

Teruko will remember that. And be extremely traumatized.

(I'm sorry Cyrus! It's dicebot's fault.)

Heck. Not cool. Not. Cool.

I took alternate racial traits instead of Hatred, but if Cyrus dies I might just bring that back into Torra's build. >.<

Added a bit of extra trauma to my previous post for Teruko, because Lonjiku's such a good father.

This is precisely what I was thinking when I came up with Teruko's concept, so kudos to you GM. However, did I mention traumatized in my earlier comment? Because she is going to be so traumatized after this.

So, should I try to confuse Gutwad or pump out more healing?

Looks like Gutwad is retreating? Maybe we should as well.

Hitting Gutwad with a confusion effect might be less productive given how random it is but taking a chance on it could stop him from escaping or attacking us any further for a round. Choice is yours, of course, but given that Cyrus is dying and Yuto still pretty low it might be better to just pop off another channel.

I myself I'm also kind of stumped on whether to follow Gutwad or join the try to aid Torra with that Heal roll. (rubs chin)

The healing is more likely to buy us one more round I think. Nice trick though when enemies are clustered, Seishin.

I think he stepped back to avoid an AoO when shooting the bow Torra. Not really retreating. I do not see an exit in that building either.

Cyrus should be stable now, thanks to Yuto's resolve, and he will be safe if receiving some healing anyway, so it is better if you others focus on bringing the chief down.

Specially Torra, as you are our best damage dealer.

Yuto will soon take the first line, so do not fear to go to the front, you will be there exposed only for a round before he comes in. Except for a critical (and that is unlikely with a bow), you should be safe.

My second option was to position Torra between Cyrus and Gutwad, yeah.

Note that Hana is currently the only one who can see the skeleton on the map (this is only relevant to Seishin, though).

Note Cyrus never fell, and never was bleeding, he always was stable, at the negatives and staggered, but stable. Because Yuto spent his resolve on him and that happens at the time he is damaged.

This is part of Yuto's archetype, he can protect a character when issuing a challenge, and he did this with Cyrus. Sorry if I was not clear enough in my posts.

So, to give an explanation of what my reasoning is in playing Cyrus the way I have been, tactically speaking:

Cyrus is not, in fact, outright suicidal. He is not feeling terribly attached to life, and desperately wants to see Gutwad dead so that his friends' deaths will have purpose. He's somewhat reckless, heedless of his own safety, and wants to kill Gutwad personally, if he can. This has the side effect of making him much less effective a tactician than he might otherwise be - hence his charges, his resistance to the idea of someone else charging in there, etc.

I am not trying to traumatize your characters. Much.

This may make more sense when I've posted for the next round, which may happen tonight, but will definitely happen tomorrow morning GMT-5... or is it GMT-4? Daylight Savings Time is silly.

EDIT: Yes, Yuto kept Cyrus up. If Seishin wants to change his action, that's fine. He doesn't need to, though.

EDIT: Yes, Yuto kept Cyrus up. If Seishin wants to change his action, that's fine. He doesn't need to, though.

Yep, my comment was more directed to point out Torra's Heal check was invalidated by the fact Yuto maintained him on feet and stable :)

If Torra wants this RP moment of drama with Cyrus though and does not want to retcon her action, I do perfectly understand, and I am fine to let Cyrus drop and save my resolve use for myself.

Ah, in that case Torra would move to position herself between Gutwad and Cyrus. Not sure if moving through so many people counts as difficult terrain, she has 20' speed so if she can make it there in one move action that's great, she'll use her standard action to attack Gutwad.

She should be able to move to the square next to Hana, but that's in melee range.

Ah, no, it's fine where she is now, I'll roll for an attack in Gameplay then.

Also, a thought, since this game is quite fast paced so far - several of my other games use Discord for quick tactical decisions and questions (also optional banter), is that something people are interested in? I know that not everyone uses Discord, so it would be all-or-nothing.

I have no strong resistance to the idea, but I also don't mind keeping it this way. It's up to the players.

General note for players: In the future please format your rolls thusly:
1d20+Attack/skill bonus+misc. bonus 1+misc. bonus 2-penalty 1-penalty 2

It would be helpful, just so I can easily check that the math works out. I know some of you have been doing it already (if not most), but I just wanted to clarify

Am I missing it on the Encounter Map or did Torra take down the skeleton already?

The latter. Sorry for the confusion. Skeletons are fragile.

I healed Cyrus for 3 HP. He should be stable without needing to roll.

I know, but it's not clear to me whether that automatically stabilizes him. If it does, that's fine. Either way, I'll make a decision firmly when the combat's over - he'll probably live. The rolls are mostly for my own entertainment, anyways. :P

But you shouldn't be looking in the GM rolls spoiler anyways. D:<

EDIT: I promise I'll stop doing it, because I do think it would make sense for any magical healing to stabilize a dying character.

"Did you see how I saved you, Cyrus? Did you? Did you?"

"If any sort of healing cures the dying character of even 1 point of damage, he becomes stable and stops losing hit points."

Why couldn't I find that? I knew it was there somewhere. Oh well. Some of Archive of Nethys' rules are hard to find.

Given the reduced movement for climbing and the reduced movement for tumbling the chief probably did not go very far, specially if he took his move action to open the door.

What rolls would you ask to jump over him in his escape?

Independently, how difficult would be to jump to the ground without receiving falling damage?

I don't quite get the first question, but in answer to the second one, it'd be DC 15 - worth noting is that he slid down the ladder, which was somewhat accelerated, and safer than jumping.

That said, if you do that, it would cost, I'll say, one square of movement, but you'd get a +3 to the Acrobatics check to avoid falling damage, and wouldn't fall prone even if you failed that.

Teruko wasn't in the room when the skeleton attacked Gutwad, and doesn't have K. Religion yet so her understanding of undead is a bit spotty.

Fortunately Seishin is around to correct her misunderstandings.

Ah, good point.

Hopefully Teruko bailing isn't too much of a problem. IC she's worried about Cyrus running headfirst into another skeleton, or a goblin, or just about anything really given how poorly he's been doing. (In more ways than one.)

I'm honestly shocked he didn't take damage from his jump. Like, I was literally expecting him to fail the Acrobatics roll and just... crack. His outright death wouldn't have been likely, but it was a possibility from falling damage, I think.

I did refrain from having him throw a knife at Gutwad, because I'm tired of him lying on the floor and bleeding out, and I think that after all you've done to keep him alive, deliberately choosing to send him into the negatives (rather than letting it happen due to dice) is just cruel.

Just you wait--he'll probably try to double-time it to Arika, strain something and faceplant just as he reaches her. :(

He got bitten by a snake. *innocent*

C'mon, dicebot. I don't want anyone to die to a gorram goblin, even if he is the climactic encounter for 1st level.

Note Seishin and Torra also get an AoO when Gutwad stands up. Although Torra's dagger is probably not going to do much, but with the +4 from prone worth trying!

At least I managed to avoid him running away again.

As I pointed out in the thread - Seishin's weapon is a reach one, so it doesn't threaten the square. Torra's not got her dagger out, nor does she have Improved Unarmed Strike, so no AoO there. Unless I'm mistaken?

Well, Torra can certainly decide she has her dagger sheathed, but I do not see why would she do that during combat (I am not very proficient with kineticists but I guess they only need one free hand like any other caster).

I thought Seishin was using a shortspear, I see, ok!

She needs both hands to gather power, but you're correct in that she can decide!

Torra would not have had her dagger out, as she had just climbed the ladder (for which you need both hands).

Good point!

I also did not know you need both hands to do your thing.

Strictly speaking, she doesn't - it just lets her make it more powerful by taking a move action beforehand, as I understand it.

Trying to decide whether Cyrus was more of a help or a hinderance here, given that you expended at least three healing spells into him, as well as two channels. Admittedly, the channels helped Yuto and Hana out, as well.

Meanwhile, he... hurt a single goblin. Who didn't even die to him, but rather to Gutwad's reckless rocket use. Of course, he also absorbed basically all of Gutwad's arrows, so there's that.

He certainly helped to the party survival. 58.33% of the goblin attacks directed at Yuto hit him. At that rate, if he had also received the attacks directed at Cyrus, Yuto would not be unconscious but dead.

A different thing is about positioning. The place was very cramped with people at times, and positioning was not easy at some spots. But otherwise he was certainly helpful in my opinion.

Yeah, I was wondering why the AP's designed with such a small room for that combat. Mind you, I added a goblin or two to make it a bit more of a challenge, but still.

It does seem to imply that there's an expectation that it'll go outside, as well, which, well, it did... but still, a two-square entrance with a number of goblins inside? I just found it a tad odd.

The watchtower handling the previous IC day was on me, though - the AP says "place them where you want." So I did.

Level 2

HP +9
New class feature Honor in all things
Skills
Acrobatics
Bluff
Climb
Intimidate
K. history*
K. nobility*
K. planes
Perception
Ride
Swim