GM Peachbottom's War for the Crown

Game Master Peachbottom

No worries. It's really not a big deal.

Sorry, wanted to get a post up with a proper profile for Julania but apparently the Paizo website is being slightly more uncooperative than usual. I'll try to get something up tomorrow.

What do we think, do we have time to check out the encampment now before we return to Yanmass?

You are still in Yanmass. If you look at the Yanmass map, you are at #10. The large forest right in the center of the city.

Tallgrasses is going to be 15 miles west of the city. Which is about 3 hours each way on horseback.

Oh, I didn't realize we were still in the city. Well, I think it's worth following this lead right away while we are still circling around the cult, but I'm open to other plans if anyone has one.

(By the way, the dancing lights are with Henrika, about 20 feet ahead of her, and not with Jack, so Jack is in dim light, right?)

I drew a circle on the map you can use for the light from the dancing light. Since the light outside is only dim, the full 40' radius of the spell bumps up to normal light.

Feel free to move it wherever you want.

Xallis, both of your characters still have two standard actions from the round before initiative began and the surprise round. Dismounting was only a move action. Juliana also has a standard action.

FYI, Tychus' attacks will kill the lion attacking Henrika, if that would affect anyone else's actions.

Hey GM, I was checking to see if the lion grappled Jack, and it doesn't look like it did, because the bite missed. But you reduced his AC by 2 after the first attack as if it did, so I wanted to confirm. If it didn't grapple him and the AC reduction is a mistake, then it wouldn't have hit with the first claw attack either (19 vs AC 20).

Whoops. Jack is not grappled. His AC shouldn’t have decreased. That’s an editing error on my part. That claw attack would be a miss. I’ll revise the hp on Jack in my next post.

Trevor, you and Malphene had a Round 0 as well, so you've still got a turn for both characters.

Why in the world was he so far ahead anyway? Feh, stupid orc.

Really, Ichabod? "Stupid orc?" :(

Can I confirm that since she is no longer grappled and the lion is dead, Henrika can charge lion #2?

Yes, I don't see any issue with her charging lion #2.

A friend of mine linked to this, and I thought it was a great essay on a subject near and dear to all of us. Not trying to call anyone out or anything, but I bet we can all appreciate the sentiment!

GM, am I wrong about this? I wonder if folks aren't sure if this is so, and are honorably playing as if the turns are lost because they were skipped or didn't happen. But eight unused standard actions at the beginning of a difficult fight are tactically important enough that I feel like I shouldn't just shut up about it. That's a lot of buff spells we could have cast, or even just moving closer to the battle!

You are correct, Henrika.

I gave everyone an opportunity at the beginning to have a full round to dismount and make a preparatory action.

Then Tychus, Jack, Xallis/Navia were allowed to take 1 more action in a surprise round.

I moved ahead because I assumed if they didn't post all the actions, they didn't want to take them.

Or if I was unclear, I apologize. If anyone is entitled to an action that was overlooked, I have no problem making corrections.

I generally don't think I'm too strict that I wouldn't let you fix something that got skipped.

That link was good, Eriktd. As someone who wants to get things done, I agree with a lot of that.

Giving Tychus a hero point for killing that first lion with a critical hit. And giving Jack/Henrika a hero point for taking the brunt of the lions' charges.

Oh! My appologies. THe way I (mis)read the sequence of events is that we arrived, began to dismount, and that triggered the ambush. And that our surprise round was our opportunity to spend a move action to dismount.

I've got a few things Xallis might have done in the opening round, but most of them mess with the sequence of events too much.

How about we say in the surprise round Navia made a perception check to make sure there weren't any more ambushes on our sides, Xallis drew his potion of gaseous form, and Julania pre-cast divine favor? Then in the surprise round Xallis casts grease on Julania to make it harder to grapple her. That seems reasonable without being too disruptive to the timeline.

Fine by me. I'll make those updates next post.

That link was good, Eriktd. As someone who wants to get things done, I agree with a lot of that.

Mostly what resonated with me was the caution that our gaming time is valuable and limited, and because of how much I appreciate it, I want to make sure I'm participating to the fullest.

I was going to say Tychus’ could use the reaction with Dignity’s Barb to block one of those but I looked it up and it only works within 30 ft and Tychus is too far back. Oh well.

Yea, the timing is a bit awkward over PBP, but I'll gladly use the ability whenever a relevant situation pops up.

I’ll admit this fight turned out a little more challenging than planned but I have every confidence you’ll pull through. With all the extra characters, I need to find the sweet spot where it’s not too hard but also not too easy.

I’ll admit this fight turned out a little more challenging than planned but I have every confidence you’ll pull through. With all the extra characters, I need to find the sweet spot where it’s not too hard but also not too easy.

Oh it could have been much sillier. At first, I was considering taking Xallis' summoner brother as his cohort.

Balancing PF1 fights can be really tricky. All things considered, you're doing a great job so far. And besides, it's fun when the encounters make you sweat from to time.

Might be a bit before I post again. Can't ddo my turn on a work brwak because #summonerthings

I'll get it up around 11 pm central

Oh wow, I did not realize I could make rake attacks on a charge before grappling. Also, sorry about the mixed numbers. For some reason the lion's stats are one of the few on d20PFSRD that doesn't account for Augment Summons for some reason so I missed some stuff while manually entering it. Also also, should the lion have 10 more HP because it hs DR 5/evil?

Yes, you get the rake on a charge, but I can see where the confusion comes from under the description of rake.

Rake (Ex) A creature with this special attack gains extra natural attacks under certain conditions, typically when it grapples its foe. In addition to the options available to all grapplers, a monster with the rake ability gains two free claw attacks that it can use only against a grappled foe.

Pounce (Ex) When a creature with this special attack makes a charge, it can make a full attack (including rake attacks if the creature also has the rake ability).

So, with the lion, it gets the rake on a charge. And also, if it is grappling, it gets the rake against the opponent grappled.

And, yes, I forgot the lion's DR. The bandits attacks are not evil. I'll give the lion 10 hp back.

Henrika looks over the traitorous soldiers they have taken prisoner to see if they are wearing anything like uniforms or head-dresses that might allow the party to disguise themselves as members of the compound. If they do, she will borrow enough for everybody that isn't Navia (and clean them of unpleasant odors with prestidigitation).

The soldiers were wearing outfits to make them look like Qadiran bandits instead of Taldan cavalry. The outfit consisted primarily of turbans, face masks, and brown/tan cloaks and robes.

There was a picture of the bandits attacking in the book. I pasted it in the current map in the corner for reference.

You defeated enough of these enemies to have an outfit for everyone if you want one.

I guess the token I ended up using for them looks a little different, but whatever.

Do you want to try to trick the enemies instead of going in guns blazing now? You can go with any strategy you want. I just want to understand the plan so I steer things in the right direction.

My thinking is that we would enter just before Navia attacks the upstairs room, with the hope of us catching unprepared soldiers as or before the alarm sounds. My suggestion to dress as the traitors was basically to give us a brief advantage of surprise if they should come across us in the hallway, i.e. "Hey, aren't those our guys? What are you doing here... oh no!" I think we have a hat (wig) of disguise that Henrika or someone else can wear to help sell the deception, if it comes to that. (Probably not Jack since he's in full plate.)

I assume Navia won't last very long, so when she falls Xallis should be able to summon something else.

Also, based on what Henrika sees in the other soldiers, would she be able to make a good guess if they are 5 HD or less? Trying to decide if it's worth holding the wand of color spray or if she should stick with Koriana's blade. (If she doesn't know I guess she can split the difference and wield the sword one-handed.)

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15

Remknds me of the time people in a Star Wars campaign wanted to name their s@** the SS "Sir She's One Of Ours" in hopes that it would buy a round's worth of time while the enemy plays Who's On First.

The Taldan Traitors in K5, K6, and K9 are the same ones you fought on the field. They had 5 HD each.

The Traitorous Officers, since they are higher ranking soldiers, you can surmise might have 1 or more HD above 5.

Any commanders upstairs will definitely have more than 5 HD.

But there are (10) 5 HD traitors, that you see, out there, so the wand of color spray could still be effective. And you know from when Xallis used glitterdust on them, their Will saves were crap.

My suggestion to dress as the traitors was basically to give us a brief advantage of surprise if they should come across us in the hallway, i.e. "Hey, aren't those our guys? What are you doing here... oh no!" I think we have a hat (wig) of disguise that Henrika or someone else can wear to help sell the deception, if it comes to that.

I'm always down for a little subterfuge ;)

Yeah, let's sneak in if possible and pounce!

Do we want to bluff our way out of this, or are we more action oriented here?

Not sure what Bluff would get us. We basically intended to attack, right? The ruse was to catch (some of) them unawares? Unless anyone objects, I’ll have Henrika attack, probably with a blast from the wand of color spray.

If you want to attack, you all can get a surprise round on the enemies. You can post your action now or whenever you get a chance. Although normally you'd only get a single action in a surprise round, since a lot of you are crowded outside, I don't want you to feel like you can't do anything; you can all get a full round (standard and move) to act. The enemies will be flat-footed.

I'll roll initiative for Round 1 next time I post.

I was looking at why Anua's damage was so high. It included a power attack, that I didn't mention. Plus spell enhancements.

I suppose we should have guessed that Jaliessa is a spellcaster, but I'm surprised she had buffs active for a meeting with her lieutenants. Still, that might mean that they are no longer active by the time we face her. :)

Some of her spells have long durations, so yes, some spells were already cast.

Jaliessa is a hunter. Ranger/druid hybrid class.

I don't mind, but Henrika can dismiss her heightened awareness spell to give her a +4 to initiative, and that seems like it will also achieve your goal, so I'll do that if it's okay.

Also, I know I didn't specify, but I had intended Henrika's hypnotic stare to target Traitor #4 (the one that was closest to her when she activated the wand), and that would have given that soldier a -2 to Will saves, so I think he should be stunned too. :)

Yes, I'll bump your initiative up 4. And yes, you can use hypnotic stare to make the other traitor fail his save. I'll adjust in the next post.

Sorry, I should have reminded you earlier, but when Henrika casts color spray, she treats enemies as if their HD were 1 lower because of her mental potency ability. If the traitors have only 5 HD, I think that means that Traitor #4 was blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round. So they wouldn't be able to provide a flank on Jack or draw a concealed weapon and stab him.

Or is it because the enemies have more HD than I thought? It's pretty fiddly using the wand in these close quarters, so I figure it's only worth it if Henrika has a chance to really take someone out of the fight.

Oh. My mistake. Yes, they only have 5 HD. So I will revise.

Dmg.: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

This should be a 1d8+3, right? Malphene's Str is 16 (+3)

Hey, shout out to the GM for managing this absolute soccer riot of an encounter. I can only imagine how much it takes to write up these 20-participant posts.

Thanks. I definitely think Tallgrasses was designed for you to only have to handle one or two rooms at a time if you took a little caution. But you all decided to burst in and provoke the boss immediately, so I just rolled with it.

Technically, I don't think you can charge through allies spaces, but I recognize the tight quarters you are fighting in, so I'll say its okay. Officer #4's attack of opportunity misses Jack. Jack's overrun exceeds the enemy's CMD by 5 so he knocks the enemy prone.

It wasn’t a charge, it was just a double move— I checked the rules and that’s included in the list. Sort of a strongman alternative to tumbling with Acrobatics. :)

If you get into a fight in the mess hall (K9), I'm going to say you can't just walk through a table space. But you can get onto a table space with a DC 12 Jump check or a DC 5 Climb check. Getting off a table space is no additional action. If you do bother to climb onto a table, I'll give you a high ground (+1 bonus to melee attack rolls) against those not on tables.

Spaces that look like they are partially table and partially normal ground, can count as both types of spaces and you can pick which type most benefits you.

Spaces with chairs, you can move through normally.

I think the enemy can easily undo Jack's dirty tricks by spending a move action, since Jack doesn't have Greater Dirty Trick yet. It's still somewhat effective when Henrika goes immediately after him, since she can take advantage of the trick before the enemy has a chance to respond on their turn.

I forgot about the ability to remove the condition. Thanks for the reminder. He can stay blind though. It wouldn't change the results of his attack and I don't expect him to get another turn anyway.

Hmm.. Innocent servants, or cultists of a murder god? Choices, choices.

Just a quick correction to your buff timers list: both Henrika and Jack have drunk potions of bull's strength, which have a duration of 3 minutes each.

I'll correct it.

I originally advanced Jaliessa and Jondus because I thought you'd stomp them if you encountered them alone in their rooms.

It would have been Jaliessa and two officers. Or Jondus and two grasslings.

But since you've walked into this gigantic mess of multiple encounters, I've reduced them back to their base as-written forms.

You're welcome.