Skull & Shackles (solo, complete) (Inactive)

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

I wasn't sure, I asked Gruk about a slate for jaundice, and didn't get an answer so I wanted to double check. Does the same go with trying to talk Gruk out of Elek's gear, I think he's wishing he had his armor and sword...

That was my fault; I forgot to respond to that. I'll retroactively respond once combat is done. As for Elek's gear, you can buy it back for full price or figure out a way to get it back for free. XD

hmmmmm, for free.... we'll work on some ideas. Is the destructive blast + 1 at everyother level or is that just the cannon?

Just the cannon. Destructive Blast has its own progression based on your caster level.

Wow, in close quarters, unless he is using the sphere, he does not do a lot of damage. So need to get the bigger sword and remember to position for flank.

I get in trouble when I start to play my rogue types like frontliners.

An odd question, if I remember right neither of the disciplines duelist or pirate has medium armor.

Such is the curse of DEX-based characters, I'm afraid.

[Discipline] talents typically just grant weapon proficiencies. You're looking for Equipment:Armor Training.

cool, at higher levels he will be better, both damage and ac, once finesse training kicks in, and he starts looking at mitheral armor... but for now it is what it is. He'll need a tank t hide behind, and Breaker looks like that to me :)

I guess I should be glad that you decided to have the rat bit Conchobar instead of Elek :( What to do, what to do...

He's lucky I didn't confirm. Only had 2hp before that attack. He's still very saveable, though, if you can get him to a healer in time.

We'll took him to the galley and asked for help. hopefully one of them can stabilize him while Elek goes to get help.

edit: Headed to the store be back in an hour

So I havn't looked at feint much but can you use feint and fighting defensively in the same round?

So a standard action would be 'feint' 1d20+5 if he beats the opponents psd he gets to make an attack on a flat footed foe?

edit headed to the grocery store, brb

Lurker from one of YBD's other games chiming in. Ril here has a few Fencing talents already, and more coming as she levels.

"...can you use feint and fighting defensively in the same round?"

I'd expect the answer to be "Yes, but the attack penalty from Fighting Defensively will apply as a penalty to your PMB check for the feint." GM, am I even in the ballpark there?

"So a standard action would be 'feint' 1d20+5 if he beats the opponents psd he gets to make an attack on a flat footed foe?"

Without any other feats or talents supporting it, Feint is rough because it drops you to one attack every other round, since you need a standard action for both the feint, and the attack. Now Ril took the Deft Maneuvers feat; dropping the action cost of a Feint to a Move action helps enormously, letting you go "Move to Feint, Standard to attack FF" on each turn. Other Fencing Talents can be used to get this to an even yummier place. LMK if you want to "shop talk" use of the Fencing Sphere.

EDIT: Fast Feint might be the first talent you look at just to improve action economy, or the Deft Maneuvers feat from the "Elephant In The Room" Feat Tax package. (Ril has both, because overkill is good.)

Yhrrilka's correct.

At the moment, your standard action feint would make your opponent flat-footed against your next attack. Not particularly useful. To feint and attack in the same round, you'll need Dual Wielding:Cunning Combo, Fast Feint, Feint Strike, or Deft Maneuvers.

Based on your build, the best method is probably Dual Wielding:Cunning Combo + Mixed Assault and Fencing:Feint Strike. Standard Action arm cannon + feint attempt. If feint is successful, you'll get a free harpoon attack.

Before zipping my lip, I'm just going to elaborate on one thing I said yesterday, explaining why I took both a feat (Deft Maneuvers) and a Combat Talent (Fast Feint) that do the same thing (reduce feinting to a Move action). They both do that, but they both also do other things, and there's enough non-overlap that it was worth doing.

Fast Feint also allows for moving with a successful feint (if I spend Focus). Deft Maneuvers throws another +2 to feint checks, and also serves as the "Improved [X]" for all maneuvers where X has Combat Expertise as a prereq (Trip, Disarm, etc.). I haven't used those maneuvers a ton, maybe one disarm and a trip, but it's good to know I have those options in my back pocket if I need them.

Thanks Yhrrilka, So is there a combat that I can take a look at where you used feint? I normally focus on straight up combat damage or sneak attack, so this is kind of new to me.

This might sound weird, but I have not done a ton of feinting to date. Right here seems to be the most I've done. Part of that is because I'm teamed, so it's actually quite easy for me to set up flanks with the more melee-focused of my two teammates, Torsten. (I have another talent that allows for ridiculously easy flanking.)

But admittedly, part of that is just because I forget to! If you take no other advice from me, I'd say the most valuable thing you can learn to do in YBD's game is something I call "Use the whole buffalo." In other words, make sure you've got something to do with your Swift, Move, and Standard actions. GM will tell you, it's taken some time to get myself used to working like that, but Spheres-based combat goes best when you have a plan for all of your actions.

For Yhrrilka right now, I'd say if she was in a 1v1 combat with the way she is right now, a "typical" turn would look like this:
Move action: Feint check
Swift action: Feint Strike (it's in my "Combat Talents" spoiler)
Standard action: Energy Strike (this one is in my "Magic Talents" spoiler)

If the Feint check succeeds, this results in two attacks against the target's FF Armor Class. Both of them will get the Fatal Thrust dice and my Sneak Attack dice*, and the second one (the Energy Strike) gets another 3d8+6 Fire damage. On a failed Feint check, I still get the latter attack.

*Fatal Thrust triggers on the same circumstances as SA, so giddyup!

Also of note is that in that example, I haven't even had a chance to use Studied Target yet! :) I'll throw that around when I'm in between targets, or if I'm lucky I get a chance to ST a guy before the fight breaks out. Mixing in both that and Aggressive Flanking (the Flanking talent I mentioned earlier) to contribute in a meaningful fashion has been kind of a fun challenge.

I hope that not-as-little-as-I-hoped explanation helped. If there's something else I can clarify, LMK and I'll be happy to!

Coming off of what Yhrrilka's said, the biggest takeaway is probably that Spheres changes one of the fundamental combat norms: "5ft-step and full-attack." Instead of focusing on straight up combat damage, Spheres makes combat more cinematic and combo-based. Full-attacking still works perfectly well, but as Yhrrilka's example shows, that's usually the least-interesting option.

My thanks for distilling what I was trying to say into three sentences. :)

Just double checking, Roger was red, I'm assuming that was hostile, would loosing to him make him unfriendly? Then the 30 make him indifferent or friendly?

He's been improved to Indifferent based on a combination of the loss and your Influence check.

yikes

I hope the post isn't too confusing. I've not read up on feint, and we have the grand kids (four and eighteen months) for the weekend so posts won't be more detailed until after their bed time.

You're perfectly fine. Have fun with the grandkids. XD

So did Elek use one of the two 'influences' on Owlbear? Will start working on a post :)

No, there wasn't enough time.

Apologies for the lack of posts today. My Bones V pledge rewards arrived, so I've been busy sorting through $700 worth of miniatures. Things will be back to normal tomorrow.

lol, I had to google 'bones v pledge rewards' looks like a ton of fun!

Most relevant bits are the 3ft-long pirate ship and the crew of skeleton pirates. XD

If you're ever confused about the rules of a dice game, let me know, and I'll calculate everything. Badger knows a bunch, so odds are she'll be playing a different game each time you interact with her.

Sadly I'll probably always be confused about a dice game, but if you spell them out a little, I should be able to muddle through.

I'm resisting the urge to quote "I never gamble with my money, only my life."

If it's not cool to ask Sandara to help like he is, please let me know. Also, the 'rum roll' does he get to keep it for the evening if he passes his evening rum to Tilly?

No worries; Sandara's one of the few Good-aligned crew and is explicitly written as a helpful ally. XD

Yes, you get to keep it regardless of what you do with the evening ration. On "hang out with Kroop" days, you're trading CON damage for an extra ship action (and the CHA bonus, of course).

"If you're trying to make friends, it won't work. Plugg doesn't like you, and you're too soft for my tastes."

:(

Wow... Soft? the guy has a prosthetic that pulses darkness.... And it turns into a cannon... man, tough crowd.

Heh. Syl's quite the odd character.

it's funny, I wasn't even planning on ever speaking to her, wanted to try and pick some of the other low hanging fruit. But if she's the only one that can help him, well then, I guess he's up to the challenge.

Since the weather sphere dissipates when it's not focused on, I assume he didn't have to give a command for it to quit. He didn't spend a spell point to keep it going, but wanted a small demonstration and I need to get used to using the sphere's.

For the record, there are other crewmates who can jimmy a lock; Syl's just the best at it. Or you can figure out another way to get into the lockers. XD

So you're aware, this is Weather Category 5 - too powerful for you to adjust at your current level.

So you're aware, this is Weather Category 5 - too powerful for you to adjust at your current level.

I was thinking about that a little, but I'm not sure he wants to tip his hand in front of the captain or Plug.

I've played the AP to where they are put on the second ship, but Elek wouldn't know about that. I think Elek would want to keep his weather ability under wraps so he didn't stand out. I'm sure the Captain would keep someone who could control the weather much closer that he would someone who can put eggs in soup. Elek isn't staying on the Wormwood any longer than he has to, he's just hoping to take a few crew members with him.

You're busily untangling a rope when a huge wave washes over the deck, knocking several of the crew off their feet. Conchobar is caught off guard and is carried overboard! You're the only person who seems to have noticed.

Since you told me not to roll for the evening I figured something would happen, better this than a keelhauling, I hope.

I said Elek tied himself off, How long would the rope be, in case I decide to have him jump in the water. Are there any life preserver type things? Can Elek still see Conchobar and can Elek see what he's doing? If you need a perception roll for him, go ahead and make one I trust you

The rope's as long as it needs to be. Ships always have coils of rope laying around, after all. There are no life preservers, though, and the seas are extremely rough. Elek can see Conchobar, but likely only for another minute or two before he's too far away to rescue.

Cool, I'm figuring Elek will jump in and save him. So is their anything with the basic weather sphere that could help here. Could he try and calm the water around them? Or anything like that?

So going to go watch Loki with my wife, will post once it's over...

Not for a storm this severe. There are seven levels of weather severity. You can currently affect weather up to Level 3. Unfortunately, this is a Level 5 storm, which means it's too powerful for you to affect.

Enjoy the show; I'm two episodes behind, but what I've seen so far has been great. XD

I didn't know if he could use three levels of storm effect to make the five a two or something like that. So I'm assuming he can get someones attention dive after Conchobar and hope that the others use the rope to pull him and Coonchobar back on deck...

So my wife and I watch Loki on Saturday night while my mom takes a bath (that way she doesn't have to watch it). What funny, it's my daughter's Disney, but 'falcon and the winter soldier' was such an emotional rollercoaster, she's not going to watch 'Loki' until they are all out so she can binge watch them.

Sorry about the delay. My internet's down, and I'm not sure when it's coming back up. I'll update Gameplay when I'm able.

Thanks for the heads up. Take all the time you need, Elek's too tired to go anywhere.

In order to save time, I'll be eliminating a good chunk of the work days. This should help keep things from getting too monotonous. Just giving you a heads-up since you've played through a bit of this AP before. XD

cool, I've totally forgotten how many 'work days' there are, didn't really pay attention the first time. Elek's main concern is getting the crew on his side first, then exploring the ship.

editSo now I'm just wishing I could keep the roll for influencing Rosie and use it on the next day. but to keep thinks simple I will reroll... "billions of Blue blistering Barnacles"? nice...

Edit #2 Is there an ooc list that tells what the different peoples jobs are? I know I can go back and find a couple, might do that if one isn't readily available

I'll put the jobs on the Crew page.

EDIT: Riggers are marked with an 'R.' Everyone else is either a swab or a special role (cook, quartermaster, etc).

Thanks, that way when I talk to them I can incorporate what they are doing.

Hmmm, was out cutting the lawn, so now I can get caught up :)

awww, that's just dirty pool, everyone who wasn't friendly or higher dropped a level. Aren't they smart enough to know it was the officers that got the meal...

Ok, back to the drawing board.