DM Voomer's Age of Ashes

Game Master Voomer

Thanks, Dario. Oopsie :D

Been a busy couple days-- working on buying my first house and adulting, on top of setting up time consuming labs for my students =D I should get a post up by this afternoon but lacked time to do so this morning.

Most folks seem okay with Roll20, so I'm going to go with that moving forward! Easier for me to track things, easier for you to see how hurt things are (it shows a health bar but no numbers, so there is still mystery but you can gauge if something is near death without asking me), and determine the range of things like spells or ranged weapons. Also has a fog of war feature to hide rooms, a DM layer to hide stealthed or invisible critters, etc.

If you're new to it, make an account and use this link to join my game. Then you can ignore EVERYTHING on the right hand bar. That's for if we were rolling and posting there and stuff, which we aren't. ALL I plan to use it for is the map function.

There are tools for the map on the left. The most important tools are just the ruler (which will let you click on the map and drag to measure distances) and the drawing tool (in case you lay down an AoE you can draw it and add it to the map.) Also a zoom function. When you need to move your token or pan the map around, you go back to the normal cursor tool.

I'll make up tokens for you guys this evening and try to get a map of the citadel put together as well. Will take a wee bit of time so might be light on the posting until it's all set. So ya know, 2-3 posts a day instead of 4-5, lol ;)

Oof. Buying a first house. Both exciting AND extremely involved. That's cool though. Hope it all goes smoothly for you. :)

Congratulations DM Fern! That is awesome and super hectic! I hope it goes super smoothly!

Enjoy your first hobbit hole!

I'm in the Roll20 game--heh, I was a little younger when I made my profile photo :D

This appears to be the rule for Crit Fails, btw:

"The rules for critical failure—sometimes called a fumble—are the same as those for a critical success, but in the other direction: if you fail a check by 10 or more, that's a critical failure."

So, that's a crit fail on track only if the Track DC is 17 or higher.

There is both the +/-10 rule, and the nat1/nat20 rule in Degree of Success. If a roll is a natural 20 it increases the result by one level, and if the roll is a natural 1 it decreases the result by one. In addition to the numerical result being +/-10 of the DC.

Everyone buying houses and stuff. Meanwhile me with 25 years left to pay the bank...

Congrats. I had a work related event today. Will post tomorrow.

Lisitsei Nagorát wrote:

This appears to be the rule for Crit Fails, btw:

"The rules for critical failure—sometimes called a fumble—are the same as those for a critical success, but in the other direction: if you fail a check by 10 or more, that's a critical failure."

So, that's a crit fail on track only if the Track DC is 17 or higher.

There is both the +/-10 rule, and the nat1/nat20 rule in Degree of Success. If a roll is a natural 20 it increases the result by one level, and if the roll is a natural 1 it decreases the result by one. In addition to the numerical result being +/-10 of the DC.

ah, well, crap. Thanks for the explanation.

Yasami, I'm in the same boat. 24 years left to pay the thing off?

Yeah, count me in the pile too. 23 years give or take.

Quick Roll20 note, go to the settings gear at the top right, under personalization, change display name to your character, since I don't know who is who if you don't =)

Heh. Yeah, that would be useful wouldn't it.

Also useful - can you put the link to the Roll20 map in the top section with the other links so that we don't have to try and search up the post again. Or am I just missing something obvious about Roll20?

I can, though once you're in the game you just log in to Roll20.net and it's sitting there waiting =)

Ah. So it is.

Sorry. I think I finally got myself put in there on Roll20 but I wouldn't put money on it. I'm no computer guru by any stretch so it's possible I still may not have done anything. :P

Finally got that post in there after being ninja'd twice! :P

and I was JUST about to have Cev heal you too!

Goodberry is the S-tier choice for out of combat healing. Medicine checks to Treat Wounds will eventually do as good and even better if we have people taking a couple of the skill feats for it. Currently, as we have found, Treat Wounds is a bit unreliable.

Divine Font would be the A-tier second choice option though.

When these threads are quiet it makes me VERY sad and it makes Cevendyl want to go to church ...

Just re-reading the rules on Critical Fails. So, even though the DC for Treat Wounds is probably DC15, a nat 1 makes the fail into a critical fail. That's rough.

When these threads are quiet it makes me VERY sad and it makes Cevendyl want to go to church ...

Heh. Well, I am usually here. I check in about every 30 minutes unless I am busy working on one particular thing. I generally have to multitask like mad though and just add refreshing the page to the list of tasks.

I just have nothing intelligent to say at the moment.

When these threads are quiet it makes me VERY sad and it makes Cevendyl want to go to church ...

Things felt a little slow early yesterday, then I woke up this morning to a million gameplay posts, lol =D

Cevendyll wrote:

When these threads are quiet it makes me VERY sad and it makes Cevendyl want to go to church ...

Heh. Well, I am usually here. I check in about every 30 minutes unless I am busy working on one particular thing. I generally have to multitask like mad though and just add refreshing the page to the list of tasks.

I just have nothing intelligent to say at the moment.

I tend to be pretty available even if you only have questionably intelligent things to say ;) everything cannot be a rules lesson, it's really okay

(those are my favorite tho)

How about a PBP lesson request then? Metagaming, I know that those are goblin dogs. I am not sure about how the goblins are going to feel about us killing their dogs. But I also don't want to speak for the entire party. So do we have a poll here on the discussion forum about how we want to play this out?

Well, I don't think I can poke out my own eye or somehow contract goblin pox by rolling a nat 1 on Kn Nature, so I'm gonna do that.

How about a PBP lesson request then? Metagaming, I know that those are goblin dogs. I am not sure about how the goblins are going to feel about us killing their dogs. But I also don't want to speak for the entire party. So do we have a poll here on the discussion forum about how we want to play this out?

You "know" that those are goblin dogs ... or you would like to believe those are goblin dogs because of what you 'know' about the adventure AND because what GM has officially shared with us is consistent with those monsters actually being goblin dogs?

I am typing all of this without having gone back to read through Gameplay, but I do not remember a reveal or a die roll that confirmed they ARE in fact goblin dogs, and, as a matter of confirmation, I'd like to make sure we all think it's still the GM's adventure. So with that said, does anyone "know" they are goblin dogs? "Knowing" they are goblin dogs would mean "knowing" that Fern did not change that element of the pre-written content.

I do NOT feel that Cev & I know that. Having said that though, I did actually go back, and the words 'goblin dogs' are there from 06:29 this morning; so I guess they're goblin dogs and for some reason we all didn't notice and react?"

Based on that, I would gladly have the party kill monsters and explain later that someone's 'pets' seemed dangerous.

I think, especially with the area that we're in being the site of a major campaign against goblinoid creatures, that a surprising number of common folk would know what a goblin dog looks like if only to identify a threat. Whether they know more then that or not, we don't know.

Whenever you're unsure of something but feel like it is reasonable to ask, just ask here in the Discussion or mention it OOCly in the game discussion. I could see it being a Very Easy Nature roll for locals, while it may be a bit more difficult for those who don't normally encounter goblinoids or have a long/intense history dealing with them.

Recall Knowledge is also technically a secret roll, so the DM is supposed to make it for us. I made this for you DM Fern so you won't be hassled to make it. Just replace the ( with [. I got everyone except for Cev, I couldn't find his sheet and my eyes are feeling quite tired.

Hate to be anal about this, but you got my name wrong.

Hate to be anal about this, but you got my name wrong.

but A and U are right next to each other ...

I need a photo of your keyboard right now., Cevendyll.

I need a photo of your keyboard right now., Cevendyll.

I guess it must be whereever the link to my character sheet went ...

(other than your character suddenly being from Tian Xia)

Jsyk, I'm on my phone, so if we get into a fight, I can post on here, and I can check Roll20 (although it's very blurry and difficult) but I can't move myself around.

As for rolling secret checks, I would suggest making a copy of this here sheet. The players can fill it up and you will have macros at the ready, if you slap a link to it into the thread header.

I would never get your name wrong. That is the Dario of the past, the late-night, post-GMing Dario. He cannot be trusted...

I should have clarified, but I gave away that they are goblin dogs because I figured they are common enough critters in a word crawling with goblins that you'd all know what they were, even if you'd never encountered one personally, just like I know what a whale is despite never seeing one personally -- especially given the context that goblins live in this structure. Next time I'll roll a knowledge check DC 2 or something ;)

Dario, thanks for the assist! I appreciate it.

Yasami, that sheet is awesome! I appreciate that A.)you guys can update it every time you level, so I don't have to change a bunch of stuff on my end, and B.) it includes proficiency levels, which matter for some checks.

Since you two both helped me out I filled in your numbers for you =D I had to guess on the proficiency levels so double check me. For the rest of you, check the macros link above! It's super easy and only takes a couple minutes to fill in.

Fern, you missed a few, so I just filled that in.

Dario, all is forgiven. For now.

Quick question for you guys -- with a total of 13 combatants, as I'm setting to roll initiative here, it's landing us with NINE BLOCKS for combat. With some folks posting in the daytime and some in the evening, that feels like it's gonna slow us waaaay down.

What are your thoughts on rolling the same initiative for all the dogs? And going forward, each 'type' of enemy gets one rool (ex. we're fighting a boss, some archers, and several melee grunts. That would be three different rolls.)

For bigger groups, it is totally fine having some be grouped up altogether under the same initiative. Makes things easier for sure.

I generally roll the same stat blocks with one initiative roll. Precisely for this reason.

Like all goblin frogcatchers (or whatever else they might be) get a blanket roll, goblin shamans get 1 blanket roll, etc.

Okay, long as I am not alone in that idea I'll go with that =D

It is known to make things even more dangerous having all of the enemies going in one block. None of the characters can react or do anything after one of the enemies lands a hit and drops a character and before the rest of the enemies get their turn. I'm already expecting this to be a very difficult fight if those are in fact 5 level 1 Goblin Dogs.

9 blocks is probably too many, but it would be good to have the enemies split into at least two groups. I am good with a bit of rounding to get both us players and the enemies into fewer initiative blocks.

Yeah, split em into two groups.

Solid plan, will do.

Guys, I already explained this. Just roll 20's on attacks and saves.

Throws hands in the air while walking away angrily

How many times must I tell this to people?! GAWD!

So looking at the map, I could move in between Joran and Dario to whack the Goblin Dog in the doorway. But if I did that, the doorway would be completely blocked and that might complicate things for any other melee types or ranged fighters that might be have their jobs made harder by cover. Thoughts?

Ranged attack penalty due to soft cover isn't the worst thing in the world.

I don't think it affects spell attacks, so Cev's TKP will be fine. I have plenty of other things to do instead of shortbow.

I can't speak for the other melee types though.

Edit: Cover. And cover provided by creatures in the way provides a +1 circumstance bonus to AC - no matter which side the creature is fighting for. It does affect spell attacks because it increases AC - which is what spell attacks target.

For tactics though, having all of these miniboss-level enemies attacking one or two people may be problematic.

It would be three, since it's myself, Dario, and Joran. But I still see your point.

Ok, regarding Secret Checks:

Secret Checks

If you know that the GM is attempting a secret check—as often happens with Recall Knowledge or Seek—you can usually activate fortune or misfortune abilities for that check. Just tell the GM, and they’ll apply the ability to the check.

The GM can choose to make any check secret, even if it’s not usually rolled secretly. Conversely, the GM can let you roll any check yourself, even if that check would usually be secret. Some groups find it simpler to have players roll all secret checks and just try to avoid acting on any out-of-character knowledge, while others enjoy the mystery.

GM Fern, do you want Recall Knowledge checks to be secret, or no? (or a mix of both?) I can see it going either way. If you mass roll everyone's Knowledge, someone's gonna get the roll, which is effective for the party. If you allow people to roll, they get to feel good about flexing one of their skills (if they are posting enough). Your call!

In combat, RK takes an action.

Outside of combat, I would recommend using the knowledge skill's DC for passive knowledge. Then using rolls only when the character states that they are using RK.

Yeah, PF2 doesn't actually have a 'take-10' rule - but that was wrapped into the skill DC values.

For recall knowledge, I think it's more fun if someone chooses to flex their skills, as you say -- the way you chose to in regards to goblin dogs. Sometimes someone might have a skill not readily obvious in its use, in which case I might roll for them (ex. Yasami has Lore: Breachill. Let's say you guys find some object relevant to Breachill in some other city. A high check would tell you it's from Breachill, but you'd probably never think to roll it if it was just some random object, so I'd roll for her, or ask her to roll.)

For secret checks that need to be actual secrets, (like the NPC rolls deception and you roll perception to sense motive), I feel like it's lame to post it in spoilers since everyone is totally going to read them (I would, lol). I know we can simply NOT metagame, but is it kosher for me to roll those in ACTUAL secret, like at my desk with dice? >.> Seems like the same thing as rolling behind a DM screen. I pinky swear I am not a dice fudger.