Will be interesting when she finally does reveal that she's not JUST and elf girl
This is a first :P
Whole group is going :
Let her talk, cause I can't
Heh
Heh indeed. Adela has the Diplomacy and will speak up if needed. Lets just hope it's not. :)
Well, the boards are back...
Hellooo
Things are looking fairly stable?
Looks like it
First time I was able to get on for some reason. Hi everyone!
Btw I think we are waiting for GM reply. Hopefully GM has figured out the boards are back!
So, Dare (and really everyone)... How do you feel about character death?
I personally kind of like it, even as a player-- it heightens the tension of combat to know that my character might actually die right here, and if they do I get to make something different. But I've also seen a player on the verge of tears when it happened to them, and another ripped their character sheet in half in frustration. A lot of people fall somewhere in the middle.
As a GM, I like to use different tactics for different monsters, to keep fights more dynamic. This particular one, in its description, specifies that it attacks "not caring whether it leaves any survivors, so long as it acquires its next meal." So my intended tactic for it was going to be to focus on the easiest target until that target was dead-dead, then go from there based on what was happening to it (maybe disengage, maybe press the attack, depending on how injured it was and what the circumstances were). I just didn't expect that to happen so quickly.
If you don't like the idea of your character dying, I'm more than happy to work something out. This game is, of course, supposed to be fun. :)
i dont mind, heck i have ideas for if i die, and GM likes it, but its my opinion, not the character in question
It's not something I'm looking for, but sometimes it's going to happen and I'll accept it. I've lost characters before and carried on.
Kingmakers random encounters table was always regarded as nasty. :)
If it happens it happens. We all try to avoid it but it's part of the game. King Michael does have a potential to be a meat grinder if you hit the wrong area too early, but it's also one of those that makes it a lot easier to come up with a replacement character
I certainly accept it's part of what can happen in a game. Obviously I don't enjoy it, especially as I tend to put a lot into background and roleplay when I can, and it doesn't always feel good to have that work end with an unlucky roll of the die. But nonetheless it is what it is, and it is part of how the game works. Obviously with those die rolls, Dare is clearly most sincerely dead; orc ferocity can't even help her here.
The question for you is how do you plan to treat this?
If there's options to seek raising even if eventually, cool. I can wait.
If Dare's just dead... honestly I would struggle to shift gears with a new character so unexpectedly, so if the plan is just that Dare's torn to smithereens and there's nothing the party can do because we're nowhere near finding a high level cleric and a fortune in diamonds (which is completely understandable), then I'll just say thanks for having me and farewell. If it were a tabletop game I'd stick around but it takes so long in a PBP to find character voice and rhythm with the other characters it doesn't feel worth it. I was already the newbie to the group and was just stopping feeling that way, and so I don't savor the chance to start over.
Simply conversationally, since you ask me how I feel about it, when I GM, I have a 1-free-resurrect rule. This is to help avoid disaster at very early levels when it would disrupt the party and the story to just lose a PC in the middle of things, especially as it isn't always easy to just introduce a new character right in the middle of things. This free resurrect comes with a cost -- usually the PC gets a battle scar that offers a minor but permanent hindrance (there's a system for that IIRC in Skull and Shackles that I reference). I will as GM also use it to further the plot. Maybe the PC while unconscious has a vision of their deity giving them a mission. Maybe a major NPC shows up to save the character, but that PC or party now owes that NPC a favor. Something like that. It is only once and the next time the party needs to be prepared to seek a resurrect or create a new character, etc.
I don't suggest that you do this, just noting, since you asked, that's what I do to mitigate the inconvenience while making sure there's consequences and the near-death still serves the story.
My plan is to drink the potion of enlarge next and take advantage of the 15ft reach with my fauchard to hit and run.
@Rhiann, Adela - the withdraw action is definitely your friend...If you try to stay in melee with a CR6, we're going to need multiple ressurection effects, not just one. Get out of melee range (50+ ft) and use missile weapon...
You just never know... I've seen (and even been in) a party that took down a CR +4 monster with very little difficulty, even though it's supposed to be an extreme challenge. This one definitely seems to be the expected level of challenge though. I love the tactical thinking!
Doing this sans arcane caster is definitely an added degree of difficulty.
@Rhiann, Adela - the withdraw action is definitely your friend...If you try to stay in melee with a CR6, we're going to need multiple ressurection effects, not just one. Get out of melee range (50+ ft) and use missile weapon...
Seconded. Living to fight another day versus hoping the dice land in your favor is a good thing. Of course I'd love you to grab Dare's body on your way out but not every fight is meant to be won!
Just kite the slow plant with ranged weapons and we will trim it to a brush
Took my AoO now the big question, run or swing again.
Standing and fighting is almost certain death. Running leaves me open to an AoO that'll probably kill me.
I opted for withdrawal, to not give up the AoO. Unfortunately, I'm 1 level away from being able to move my full speed in medium armor so I can only get 80ft away from him, and hope that when he comes after me next round I pull off another AoO AND he misses. Or literally everybody crits this round.
Otherwise it's been fun.
Dear Rhiann...
Smack!
You silly git!
You have a composite longbow, and 120 arrows on your sheet, and I told you what to do...
That doesn't help when he runs up to me point-blank. What part of having a longbow prevents it from running up to me at 3x movement? What part of having a longbow won't get me immediately killed trying to shoot it at point-blank range?
What part of having a longbow would get me far enough away that it can't just charge and kill me? I double moved to get space to shoot. It charged me. What part of having a longbow would prevent that from happening?
Well. Run is x4. So that would at very least give you 1 round to shoot before it gets to you. And even if it keeps following you, the rest then can shoot. Either way it's a win
Anything or anyone still standing that can draw it away from the 7hp girl she'd be happy to kiss afterwards
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't know if y'all as players know each other well and it's hard to read the messages, but as a person who's character is lying dead on the ground and thus might have the most stakes in y'all doing well in this encounter... please be patient with one another. It's pretendy funtime games.
I don't mean to say this to be dismissive--we put a lot into our characters and getting frustrated in a difficult situation is completely valid. But at the end of the day we all signed up for this to have fun together. It's obvious people aren't right now. Maybe we need to take a breath and brief break.
Erik, I get that you're frustrated because no one is taking your tactical advice. It's good advice, and at the same time, other folks have their own ideas of what to do and know their own character's limitations and style of fighting best. They need to be able to have agency.
But that doesn't mean players can't plan together. Obviously you don't have to take my advice either. But my suggestion is stop posting in the thread for a day or two and everybody discuss this (as they're doing now) to come up with an action plan together OOC. Then post, after all four players have agreed on what to do next.
GM, I think the party is stymied. And folks might also need some assurances about how things go forward. If Rhiann dies as well as Dare, from my POV the most realistic response for the survivors is they run. And we'll just have to figure out what's going to happen to us from there. If you have an idea of what the party can do, maybe a hint's in order.
Also, if there is a TPK, what's your plan? End the game? What do you want most out of this?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
While she's furious that Dare is dead if Rhiann dies then Adela will run.
Despite being a Cleric of Pharasma this is really the first time someone close to her has died in front of her and she's not thinking too clearly.
Another falling will get it though to Adela that this is not a game we can win.
A shame really as the growing relationships within the party were very enjoyable.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My advice to you all is:
Stay the course.
You're actually doing really well against it. Erik's tactic is sound-- your enemy is slow, certainly slower than most of you, making it perfect for kiting (hitting it from a distance while moving to stay out of reach). At the same time, Rhiann having a reach weapon has worked out great for her (and by extension all of you), giving her some free attacks and letting her swing without provoking any attacks herself.
And remember Rhiann: the enemy is no faster than you are, so if you forego your attack and double move to get out of reach, it has to forego its attacks and double move to get back to you-- while all your allies get to make attacks of their own. This is what it means to be a successful tank!
In Pathfinder, 1 hit point is no different than all of them, at least in terms of the actions you or an enemy can take. So it can feel like you aren't making any progress and cause frustration in a tough battle like this one. But you are! Without giving too much away, it's well below half HP and at this rate won't last much longer.
Keep going!
Also, if there is a TPK, what's your plan? End the game? What do you want most out of this?
Been thinking about this, and if there's a TPK I think we should all decide how we move forward. Not right now, and you can always change your mind, but there are a few options.
1) At least for right now, the adventure could pretty easily be continued with different characters-- "Well the previously chartered group all got slaughtered, so here's a new group that's been given the same charter, good luck." Another interesting way to slot in new characters would be having you all come out of the Stag Lord's bandits; maybe you decide to break good and finish the job, then go get a charter retroactively.
2) Resurrecting the same characters is always doable, although I may work with each of you to come up with a way of explaining it in-universe.
3) Depending on the exact circumstances of the TPK, some third option may present itself. If it's another big monster like the shambler, maybe one of you wakes up to discover the party has been taken to its lair, and you have to revive the others and get yourselves out. If it's NPC's, maybe they bring you back for some nefarious scheme and now you have to defeat them but from your back foot. Or something.
4) It doesn't even have to be unanimous, so some combination thereof. Yuki said she doesn't mind rolling up a new character and Dare strongly prefers not to, so maybe at least one of you is new and at least one of you gets brought back. Et cetera.
The final option would of course be to simply stop playing, and if someone does decide that then I'm happy to have spent time with you. Regardless, it's worth thinking about what you personally would prefer.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
@GM
I highly doubt we will stop playing ;) you're doing a magnificent job so far. Random dice rolls tend to mess with a party, is not the GMs fault. We will find a way. But I don't think we will experience a TPK soon.
If Adela dies then I've got family in her background that would be eager to come to the Stolen lands and continue her work.
Hopefully not as I'm enjoying Adela.
I would be saddened to lose Death Quaker, I've enjoyed their play and I felt Dare and Adela were slowly becoming friends in an odd couple kind of way. :)
Aw, well thank you kindly Adela! I was enjoying Dare settling into the group. And yes, I like Adela and Dare as kind of a yin and yang, and Adela's patience and kindness are a definite boon to Dare. That's why I'd be loath to start another character, because Dare was only just clicking with the group and some good development was happening. I don't really want to have to do that and reset my character's perceptions of the others, etc.
This said, since my initial post, I have looked over my character stable and there's one or two characters I could pull on if we all had to start over... one of which is another grumpy half-orc, but in a very different way than Dare. But I'd really not want to have to start up a newbie with the same group. If in the TPK scenario we all had to start anew I could probably come up with something though. I think as the GM says, since recent events, you might not TPK. If only the dice gods would let y'all hit once or twice more!
Rhiann, I'm writing an angry letter to the RNG on your behalf.
It's Christmas again, and I am travelling until 2 January. I hope to keep up with posting, but cannot make promises. Bot me if needed.
BTW macabre though it may be, you all can certainly loot Dare if you need to for the time being. Her anytool might come in handy.
Heh. True.
The topic of being Dare back, it may have to be suggested to us by some more knowledgeable source. Rhiann for one as the least magically inclined member of the party, I likely in no way he thinks raising some life on the Dead is anything other than a physical tale unless it involves a necromancer... Which to a level 2 fighter might also be a fanciful tale.
We can assume you take her body back to Oleg's for burial rather than burying her in the middle of nowhere. But yes, I think it's reasonable that bringing her back may not even enter your minds at this level and in this circumstance.
Even if we knew about raise dead, I doubt we will know of a level 9 cleric. Or perhaps even a level 7 druid
Dare, I hope you don't mind me taking some inspiration from your backstory. I would like you to choose an ally to compose a response to Lista explaining the current situation. Since you all have spent so much time together in-game, you can decide how much (if anything at all) the others know about Lista and what happened.
Answering here for ease of discussion.
First of all, happy you took inspiration from the backstory, that's what it's there for! I don't care much for folks adding to the backstory (as in what directly happened to Dare, that might affect her character) without chatting with me about it first; grabbing an NPC from it is fair game.
I think Adela writing back to Lista would make the most sense, especially given not only she is quite friendly with Dare but also a priest of Pharasma, who I assume would be trained in condolence messaging.
Dare as a rule is fairly cagey about her personal history. But I think it's reasonable to assume at some point someone's asked her about her burn scars and she mentioned the fire at the orphanage 9 years ago and that she was blamed for it even though she pulled four kids out with her.
Dare's not overt about her own faith either but a lot of her pyrographic artwork has themes that reference Sarenrae. She probably has some scraps of wood with symbols of the Dawnflower on it amongst her belongings.
I think folks could piece together that Lista knew Dare at the orphanage and even if they don't, she's speaking as an acolyte of the god Dare primarily worships, so letting her know what happened would make sense.
Assuming this all goes well, on leveling up I'll take a level of Fighter with the Tactician archetype. Dying will make Dare want to work harder on toughening herself up and improve her approach to combat, which feeds into her already wanting to improve her swordsmanship.
Going with the average. 5 + 1 + 1 hp. ! +1 for Con, +1 for Fast learner.
Saves - +1 Ref.
BAB +2.
Skill points - Diplomacy. Heal. Knowledge Arcana, History & Religion. Perception. Spellcraft. +1 skill point from Fast learner.
Background skills. +1 Painting & Cooking.
Feat - extra channel.
Working on the letter. :(
Fighter (Unbreakable) 3
Definitely going with average 6+2 Con = 8
+1 BAB
+1 Reflex
+1 Will
Armor Training
Starting at 3rd level, a fighter learns to be more maneuverable while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. Every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, and 15th), these bonuses increase by +1 each time, to a maximum –4 reduction of the armor check penalty and a +4 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed.
In addition, a fighter can also move at his normal speed while wearing medium armor. At 7th level, a fighter can move at his normal speed while wearing heavy armor.
Feat: Combat Reflexes
Skills: 2+1Int + 1 FCB =4 (Acrobatics, Climb, Knowledge Dungeoneering,Sense Motive)
Background Skills: Knowledge Engineering, Handle Animal
I'll take the 10 hit points, please!
Leveled Dare and crossing fingers:
Level in tactician fighter
+ 1 BAB, +2 Fort save
4 skill points: 2 into Spellcraft, 1 into Intimidate, 1 into Knowledge (Arcana)
2 background skill points: 1 into craft (pyrography) and 1 into knowledge (geography) (she gained this as a class skill w/ tactician archetype and I thought it was reasonable she was trying to pay attention to where they were going)
(At one point I confused myself with my skill point spending so accidentally overspent; I think I corrected everything but if something doesn't look right LMK).
Level 3 feat: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades)
She has Magical Knack trait so caster level still goes up by 1
Haven't updated her microstatblock yet, will once she's brought back.
Sorry for triple posting: starting Monday I will be involved in Christmas stuff for the week and will be slow, if I post at all. Happy holidays everyone!
Have a blessed Christmas for those who won't be able to post. Luckily everyone knows it's slow this time of the year
Yea I kinda figured posting will be low for the next week or two. Enjoy your holidays everyone!
I may be celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, my character will be celebrating the return of a friend
Also
Have a blessed Christmas all
Someone sent a multi million dollar object in the mail I'd be suspicious too. Lol
Wellllll there's a big difference between what something costs and what it's worth. A treatment for muscular dystrophy costs quite a lot IRL-- but if you don't have that, is it worth anything at all?
From Lista's description, this thing wouldn't have worked on anyone else. Obviously that theory went untested, but if true, what would it have been worth to anyone but you?
Merry Christmas all! And a happy new year. Will post soon, Date will need to process being dead!