It is really difficult (and reasonably so) to stop an ongoing fight using a Diplomacy skill. If you look at the actions tied to that skill, they are all Exploration Mode, and usually take 1 minute minimum to Make an Impression etc. Until you have a much higher proficiency in Diplomacy, those rolls just aren't going to help much once a fight has started, in most cases.
I mean if an armed band invaded my home and murdered my sister, I might not feel much like talking while they were still actively trying to kill me also...
In my mind, this is a good change from PF1. Can be understandably frustrating for PCs, but you can Diplomacy all you want on the front end and avoid the fight altogether perhaps.
And they all died at the hands of a lone bugbear in the first room, is maybe not how I want this story to end....
I don't expect to be able to end it with just a diplomacy roll or anything. I am simply playing the character.
Find your intimidating side! Frightened condition is pretty powerful in this system with the tight numbers, at least from what I’ve seen.
Oh, she'll try! In my mind, she's very much off-kilter right now because she's used to being very good at what she does, and since the dice rolls have been so cruel :P she's off her game.
And they all died at the hands of a lone bugbear in the first room, is maybe not how I want this story to end....
I mean, we did kind of murder their sibling...... Hopefully, I can get them to drop!
Yeah I hadn't looked at Intimidate/demoralize before this fight just trying to find some ways to help, its really powerful. I'll probably try and learn intimidate to get some extra points in it moving forward.
Oh, intimidation builds can be QUITE nasty, and the feat tree is amazing with the capstone being essentially free kills if they crit fail as they die of fright.
I'll have to look into that... I am not super familiar with 2e builds but intimidation can be fun if you do it right...and avoid being super cringe haha.
If you have time and it’s of interest, I’ve enjoyed MnMaxed’s actual play podcast of Extinction Curse. They do a pretty good job of explaining the rules and feat selection and whatnot.
One of the PCs goes pretty deep into the intimidation and ends up really helpful to the group, numerous fights likely won due to a timely intimidate.
The players are a bit crude at times, and do play up the crazy carney stereotype, however, which might not be for everyone.
I have not listened to that podcast before but may on your recommendation. I don't love the idea of the Extinction Curse, but maybe it will grow on me.
I didn’t either but 2e podcasts aren’t super common.
It turns out to be a reasonably interesting AP once it gets going.
I've played a bit of it before my GM had to move. The circus can begin to maintain itself after proper roles are given at a certain point, and that's when things get interesting.
Glad you are back. You are up now! I will post for you later this afternoon just to keep things moving otherwise.
He just posted, haha. :P
Glad you're okay, and I understand fully about travel fatigue, being a former OTR Driver.
Barracks - Post Combat Summary
Olaf (2/18hp remain)
Serpens (5/16hp remain)
Fentus (no resources used)
16 Valdrin (5/18hp remain; cast Command)
13 Elise (9/17hp remain; 8 arrows remain)
12 Trista (no resources used)
Let me know if you have different totals, or something I missed.
I have 9 arrows left. Went back and re-counted.
Noted. I will correct my count.
Treat Wounds as used by Valdrin here does take 10 mins per character, but it also takes a DC 15 Medicine check (unless Valdrin has some ability I don't see) so since he rolled less on Elise and himself, they don't gain any healing from that treatment. Olaf and Serpens gain 10 and 15hp each respectively.
Elise and Valdrin only benefit from the heal spell and net 2hp each.
Once he attempts Treat Wounds on you, you cannot use again for 1 hour, even if a failure. Battle Medicine, which can be used in combat, is only able to be used once per day.
So by my count, Valdrin is at 7/18, Elise is at 11/17, Olaf is at 14/18, and Serpens is back at 16/16. Trista and Fentus are uninjured.
Don't forget there are two minor healing potions (1d8hp) in the party loot pile.
Ahhh, rip. Better than nothing!
Ahhh, rip. Better than nothing!
maybe your healing didn't take, because you were up and searching instead of resting...
I moved Elise (and Fentus with the light) to the room she found the loot in. To be clear, she has not searched other areas besides the bed-fort.
Once we hit level 2, I'll auto succeed on the treat wounds and Battle Medicine checks with assurance, it's just rough at level 1.
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I am traveling after work today so my ability to post tonight may be zero. We will see. I will be offsite rest of the week but should have time and access to post, except perhaps for actual travel days.
Will post this afternoon.
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Thanks, it may be a little bit until I get the map arranged, possibly not till tonight, so hold your actions until we get in rounds and you can see the set up.
I did get the map up, but will have to return to get the initiative order set as duties are calling. Back later for that. You can set yourself along the southern edge near the iron gate however you see fit.
LMK if any questions about how this appears from the description.
thanks for your patience today. Had a long drive to complete mid-day. Should have lots of free time tomorrow day, so may be able to post when I am usually working. Best of luck with this big boy!
I completely understand!
I'm most active when at work myself, since if there isn't much going on, I need some sort of reading or stimulation!
Hoping everyone's day has been going well! I wonder if we might need a rest after this fight, lol. Looks like it might be a bit harsh!
Ohhh, we definitely will need that... especially if Elise continues to roll like poop.
I have the utmost confidence in our group! An overgrown lizard shouldn’t be too bad!
Guess we’ll see how the dice gods feel about us.
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Sorry guys, this weekend did not go as planned. But try to get something up now, and perhaps again tomorrow before heading back home.
No worries Doc!
Elise..... how did you anger the dice gods?
I have no idea what I did to deserve this.
I just rolled a major crit and OHKO'd one of my players in my Plaguestone game... maybe I should have posted here first.
Oof, everything here hits HARD!
2e hits a lot harder overall than 1e did, especially the critters vs humanoids. I'm trying to keep you up!
I need to get a healer's kit next time we go to town so it's not all on Valdrin...but apparently it wouldn't matter, given my rolls? lol.
I appreciate the battle medicine, that surely does help a lot.
I'll be repairing a lot of shields for a number of levels during healing breaks, I think its not till 4 or so that you can actually get a shield that has a decent amount of HP that doesn't break in one or two hits.
Also, I'm enjoying the action economy in 2e with this guy because its certainly more of a challenge to figure out how I want to play out the next few rounds.
For example in 1e I'm fairly certain I could have dropped the shield and gone 2H with a couple free actions, here that's two interact actions. Much more difficult of a choice when I need to do thing like attack and spell strike, not to mention the Arcane Cascade I haven't had a spare action for yet.
Hopefully the dice will cooperate and it won't matter by the end of this round though :)
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I need to get a healer's kit next time we go to town so it's not all on Valdrin...but apparently it wouldn't matter, given my rolls? lol.
Once level 2 hits, the 1 hour wait time for heals will go away, and I won't have to roll for medicine checks with assurance being an auto success. If I want to start hitting the DC 20 heals though, I'll still have to roll.
The Medic Archetype Opens up lots of Out of Combat and In Combat tricks, which is great.
Picking up Continual Recovery at 2, and Ward Medic at 3 will make healing much, much easier.
Ohhhh, that's cool. You're not kidding with that! That'll be really helpful. Still, couldn't hurt to have some backup here and there!
I am trained in medicine as well, but at a mighty +3 it’s hardly a sure thing :)
I do plan to put another rank in it at some point… probably, maybe, to be reasonable when we are higher level.
At least that’s the plan, but it’s clearly subject to change as we go along.
No worries on that, as with assurance and medicine becoming expert at level 2, I'll have out of combat heals covered. The spells later on will help mitigate other things, or do super heals. I plan on Magic Hands at level 6 to boost it even more.
Sorry again guys My grand plan of posting while away did not turn out good at all, but I just got home late tonight, and will be able to get going at regular cadence tomorrow for a while. Apologies!
Weekends and life happens, so no worries! I've been out all day myself, getting things prepped for moving.
No worries!
Life happens. :) It's all good!
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Rules Moment - part 2
Just to be clear, a character uses a skill to perform an action. So in this case, the action is Climb and the skill is Athletics. In order to be sneaky, the skill is Stealth and the action is Sneak. Looking at the rules, Climb has the Move trait, and is a skill check the players should/can roll. Sneak, however, has the Secret trait, which means the players may ask for a Sneak action (Stealth check) but the DM makes those, you don't know if you are sneaky or not, until further actions reveal it. I will honor existing Stealth (Sneak) attempts, but in the future, they need to be Secret, unlike Climb checks etc.