When I GM, I go with the interpretation that shields are strapped, so I will pick that interpretation here as well.
Thanks for raising it!
I've always assumed they were both strapped and held.
A strap goes around your forearm to secure it and you hold a handle. If you release the handle, it is easy enough to let the shield slide off and the strap is loose enough that it's also relatively easy to slip your arm into and grasp the handle.
And as so often happens, this party is going to suffer Death by Dice...
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Hi folks, I should have given more of a heads-up, but I'll be on vacation next week. There's Internet, and I should be able to keep up (or at least at the pace I have been), but I just wanted to let you all know.
Have a nice vacation .... hope its a good one ... oh all vacations are good!!!
Enjoy! And don't feel like you have to keep up any pace if it interferes with your enjoyment!
Incidentally, de Sibelius, I apologize that I keep referring to your character as "Symeon". As Fundin pointed out before, I'm playing/GMing in a rotation where there's a character with an identical icon named Symeon and for whatever reason his name instinctively pops into my mind.
It's a problem well known to gnomes, humanoids always have difficulty with their names, even the easy names.... :-)
Good job he hasn't given his gnomish name ... even I can't remember that...
And I didn't take note of how his first name was created... it was supposed to be something like a man whose word cannot be trusted.. but I can't remember exactly the words that got translated.
The cloaked figure materializes in front of Lazlo and approaches the source of the voice. It speaks in an otherworldly, sonorous tone.
"Ita frater, dic quid scis de hoc loco et suis civibus.
** spoiler omitted **
So I originally had the cloaked figure speaking common but after thinking about it for a bit I figured that it would be better for them (I've decided to go with a gender neutral pronoun for the eidolon henceforth) to speak in whatever native language psychopomps speak since I vaguely remembered psychopomps having their own language. After checking my eidolon's profile I was disappointed to find that they only spoke mundane languages. Some quick internetting showed me that psychopomps speak requian. I considered emailing GM Watery Soup to request that my eidolon could speak this language but after looking up eidolons I found a hidden rule that eidolons speak their native tongue and share this with their summoner. It's tucked away in the eidolon description and easy to miss. Hero Lab totally missed it and so did I until today. Anyway I have properly added Requian to both Lazlo and the cloaked figure's statblock.
Here are the relevant rules.
Specifically the language entry near the bottom.
And for anyone wondering I'm using latin as a substitute for Requian via google translate.
"Can you tell us when and how did the evil come here?""Old ... old! The evil was here before the manor was here! His name is Tchekuth! And he hates nosoi."
The Xarwin Caul? Is that the odd film around the manor? Have we encountered anything referring to it as the Xarwin Caul?
The Xarwin Caul? Is that the odd film around the manor? Have we encountered anything referring to it as the Xarwin Caul?"Can you tell us when and how did the evil come here?""Old ... old! The evil was here before the manor was here! His name is Tchekuth! And he hates nosoi."
Well, well. It seems like this is my bad.
Indeed, my quick search of this thread indicates you've never heard of it as the "Xarwin Caul," its formal name in the scenario. However, the membrane has been likened to a caul in one of Fundin's dreams.
The Xarwin Caul does, indeed, refer to the membrane that surrounded the house.
I'm kind of dragging my feet for de Sibelius to confirm he's back. Laurel's attempted theft is going to trigger combat.
Sounds good!
The skeleton takes some mental damage as Galimus touches it.
It would be under immunities. I poked around on AoN at some of the skeletons and saw that some had immunity to mental and some did not. Looking at the int and wis of the not immune skellies I found that they actually don't seem to be mindless. I guess that's why they aren't immune? <shrugs>
They ditched the general immunities for the most part in this edition and spell them out for each creature.
I would assume that, because it is not mindless it is not immune to mental attacks.
A note about de Sibelius:
I don't know what's going on with Deevor, but I'm reluctant to declare de Sibelius missing and replace him, because Deevor and I had set up this game as part of a GM exchange.
I've made the decision to continue with 5 PCs; it should be fine because I've been adjusting the material from the standard 4 PCs anyway. If you feel that his absence leaves any skill gaps that need to be filled, let's have an OOC discussion now.
I'll either allow some retraining (you're about to level up) and/or throw in some bonus items to fill those gaps.
In-game, de Sibelius will mysteriously vanish, which is consistent with the theme of the scenario.
I think skill-wise we would be fine without de Sibelius, meaning we should have everything covered.
If you are reluctant to drop him just yet, we can temporarily remove him from the party, could be handled with some sickness that would make him wait in some room for us. If Deevor comes back he can join us again, if not he could disappear, die, or change into a monster ;)
Just a couple of ideas. I also DM'ed him but got no response.
In-game, de Sibelius will mysteriously vanish, which is consistent with the theme of the scenario.
I'm hoping for a Scooby Doo style rotating bookcase while everyone's back is turned.
Haha, agreed. I think we will be fine and he can find his way back if he returns.
"You sure these are undead Fundin?" Zoi tries to get a closer look as he tests out a ray of positive energy into one of the creatures. "What is that ghost talking about? What is his?"
Shoot did I tricked you Zoi? :D I throwed the undead based don't the image of the creatures :D My recall knowledge told me nothing :D
Sorry about that
Haha, all good. That is the fun part about those checks.
Laurel Cassius Clay Watch Out Desna darts in and out, landing a punch squarely on the construct's jaw.
Funny enough, I was a couple of times in Louisville for work, and never got to see his museum :( I watched some recordings of his fights.
Galimus - unless I'm mistaken (and I'm writing this publicly as a form of peer review), in 2e the grappler does not gain the Grabbed condition, only the grapplee. So if you grapple someone, in general you wouldn't need to make a flat check (and are not flat footed, etc.).
Furthermore, Shield is verbal only, so I think you wouldn't need to make a flat check because there's no Manipulate trait, and can Shield even when you are the grapplee.
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Catching a local con the next 2 days - see you on the flip!
Also:
Galimus - unless I'm mistaken (and I'm writing this publicly as a form of peer review), in 2e the grappler does not gain the Grabbed condition, only the grapplee. So if you grapple someone, in general you wouldn't need to make a flat check (and are not flat footed, etc.).
Furthermore, Shield is verbal only, so I think you wouldn't need to make a flat check because there's no Manipulate trait, and can Shield even when you are the grapplee.
+1
All leveled
Galimus - unless I'm mistaken (and I'm writing this publicly as a form of peer review), in 2e the grappler does not gain the Grabbed condition, only the grapplee. So if you grapple someone, in general you wouldn't need to make a flat check (and are not flat footed, etc.).
Furthermore, Shield is verbal only, so I think you wouldn't need to make a flat check because there's no Manipulate trait, and can Shield even when you are the grapplee.
I meant the flat check for my Oracle curse. My skill ancestor was dominant that round so if I would have tried anything but a skill I would have had to roll a flat check to do it.
Although, I guess I need a ruling on whether grapples, trips, disarms, etc. count as strikes and therefore would also require a check when I'm in skill mode.
Lazlo is levelled up and I don't really know what magic items he might actually need/want beyond a striking rune for his rapier.
Perhaps some level 1 or 2 occult scrolls or maybe a wand?
I leveled up Fundin. I got the aura of courage and I think combat climber (as it is most likely to be useful than Underwater fighting feat ;)).
Fundin would benefit from striking rune :)
So how do we split the gold? Equally among the folks? (roughly 45 gp per person)? Or are we pooling the budget to buy items needed for folks?
I'll get Galimus leveled up, today.
I vote for pooling the budget.
I never know what to buy for my characters who don't get into direct combat anyway so I'd rather all the frontliners get striking and armor runes than try to figure out how to spend 45 gp.
Also, my daughter is out of school this week so my posting may be slow.
Anyone have any objections to me taking Animate Dead as a spell?
Waiting for Laurel? HP seems to be updated but not sure header was.
Also, I'm almost certain I have COVID (test was negative but everyone else in my family tested positive and we all have the same symptoms). :( I'm fully vaccinated, so it's more inconvenient than life-threatening, but posting may be slow over the next few days.
Oh no! Take it easy and I hope you and your family get well soon.
That's not good. Hope you feel a bit better quickly.
@GM - all the best to you and your family, I hope you will all recover quickly without any lasting effects. I was coughing for weeks ;)
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Anyone have any objections to me taking Animate Dead as a spell?
Ugh. Fundin could ;) He is a follower of Magrim:
Edicts Perfect a craft or trade, carve runes, destroy undead, aid others with completing unfinished tasks
Anathema Treat gravesites irreverently, mistreat your tools, create undead, damage a soul
His background is about his fighting Whispering Tyrant, he hates undead profoundly ;) So that would create friction, but it could be a nice RP opportunity ;)
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When it comes to purchases ;) For my casters at lvl 3 or 4 I either got a staff or a spellheart. Spellheart lets you get another cantrip, an interesting choice could be Perfect Droplet attacked to armor let you walk through enemies after casting it. Could be a good way if a fight starts with you positioned badly, and you don't have acrobatics.
I got it after fighting enemies immune to all spells but ... (put here fire, acid, sonic, cold) ;)
It's all good. I can pick something else. I had a couple in mind and was just trying to decide between them.
I didn't think about a staff. I think that could be a good choice I'll do a little research about which one I want.
rainzax - sorry, I didn't notice everything else had changed. You're all good!
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All - I didn't notice this when I first prepped, but there are a real dearth of striking runes given out in this Adventure. If you want them, you're gonna have to buy them.
You do have 228 gp, so figure out how to split it and let me know if you want to "buy" anything. We can skin it as you going into town (several days) and selling/buying, or, just finding stuff in the ballroom.
My vote is for a Healing Staff for the group. 60gp for some extra healing and a +1 bonus HP to any healing spells held by the wielder.
I'm fine with delaying on a striking rune if we're running low on funds.
I AM THE DECIDER
I'll voluntarily bow out. Zoi is a better healer than I am and the healing staff was all I was looking at.
Looks like Lazlo.
Two other questions:
1. Do you intend to rest before heading upstairs?
2. Which staircase would you like to use? (I've made the arrows blue to differentiate them from stairs going down), which I probably should have done from the beginning.)
a. The grand staircase in the foyer.
b. The staircase in the ballroom.
c. The circular staircase in the library.
d. The staircase from the kitchen.
Zoi will dream of the Ashen Man and take the Grand Staircase.