Ariane Wald's page

Seeing Dalgrym fell the gnolls in front of him, Ariane steps carefully around the pillar and fires at one of the blind gnolls who are left.

The one nearer to Dalgrym, if I can aim at it without cover penalties; otherwise the other one.
1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29
1d8 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Freki circles around, going for the throat of the final gnoll near him, still rolling around in the grease.

1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24
1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
This would also come with the usual trip effect, but the gnoll is already down so it shouldn't be relevant unless it does something unexpected as an immediate action.

By the way, who's the dwarf now opposite Freki? I can't seem to fit him to a character on the initiative.

Much appreciated, thanks.

Muttering crossly under her breath, Ariane snatches up another arrow and fires again.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Attack: 1d8 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

I'm having technical issues with my internet, and am unable to view the map. Freki will go for a flank with one of the standing gnolls if he can; if not then he'll attack one that's one the floor.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10 (+2 if flanking)
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Trip (if attack successful): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12 (+4 if flanking)

Sorry for not posting much recently. I had work-related things, technical issues, and then a nasty illness. I have now returned, and unless something else comes up I should be back to normal posting rates.

Dalgrym: strictly speaking, the free trip attempt is on every successful bite attack, but yes, it would apply to AoOs, etc.

Ariane steps onto the top of the stairs, aiming a shot at one of the gnolls threatening Dalgrym. The one that's furthest West, to be precise.

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11 Attack
1d8 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 Damage

Freki circles around the gnolls on the left, until one of them is trapped between himself and Uthala. He then leaps forward, snarling.

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16 Attack
1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 Damage

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13 Trip attempt, if the attack hits.

It's Ariane, not Ariana.

Also, what is she doing there? Unless something moved her against her will, she should be in the square I've circled in orange. Remember that she's an archer, and so she didn't need to go into melee to fight! Is it possible you got her mixed up with Freki?

Ariane smiles as she draws her bow, Hjartaleita. "This should be fun." She moves backward towards the centre of the room, before turning and firing at two of the gnolls in the direction from which she came. Freki bounds forward to attack another.

I'm going to need a token for Freki; any old wolf token will do. I'm also assuming we're going with the "animal companions act on their owner's initiative" rule, since otherwise a PbP game will get bogged down. If not then let me know and I'll roll an initiative for Freki for future rounds.

Ariane is firing at one of the gnolls; I've marked it as "attacked" in orange on the roll20. Freki's strategy will depend on Ariane's success: if Ariane doesn't kill the gnoll, Freki will move to space "Freki 1" and attack it too. If Ariane does kill it, then Freki will move to the gnoll's former spot (ie Freki 2) and will attack the gnoll to the South, gaining flanking bonuses.

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 Ariane's attack
1d8 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 Ariane's damage

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20 Freki's attack (+2 if flanking)
1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 Freki's damage

If Freki hits, he gets a free trip attempt as a rider:

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18 trip attempt (+4 if flanking)

Still trying to figure out whether Ariane and everyone else is being retconned in or not.

So are we retconning the new characters into the fight, or are we going to be introduced in-universe in some way?

Initiative:

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

I'm ready!

I've already bought a wand of CLW. Perhaps your money would be better spent on a wand of lesser restoration if you want to go down that route? Be sure to get one made by a paladin so it counts as a first level spell.

So when are we starting?

Ah, is a spirit animal more of a familiar than an animal companion, then? Sorry, I don't know the Shaman class very well.

I'm liking the idea of Ariane's buffing allies and being a secondary healer, especially if Roylenna is using life link and gets in over her head. Is that acceptable to Ariane?

I'm seeing her role as healer (obviously) and possible ranged combatant, less buffing and basically non-existent melee combatant.

If you're OK with focussing mostly on healing, that's fine by me. When I saw your plans for Roylenna, I kind of focussed on the archery at the expense of some of Ariane's healing potential.

As Dalgrym points out, you might find it a bit dull if that's all you're doing. If your spirit animal is like an animal companion and can contribute effectively in combat in its own right that will reduce the effect a lot, though. You might also want to consider making Roylenna a secondary buffer, since healing is often not needed in the first rounds of a combat and it's useful to have something else productive to do. But it's up to you, and since we're both playing prepared casters we can always swap things around a bit if we need to.

Source: One of my favourite PCs is a halfling healer using the Spheres of Power system, who is unable to do any offensive combat at all due to a curse but has a powerful draconic companion.

Pixie Rogue: Thanks. Ariane now has a completed profile! It's mostly just a copy-paste of stuff from the mythweavers character sheet at present, though, and the latter has more detailed information.

Ariane is a classic archer-cleric. She can fight in melee, but is at her best when she's hanging back and raining down arrows on the enemies/buffing the rest of the party. Her default spell selection tends more towards utility at the moment, although obviously as a cleric she can change that very easily. Her bow, which is rather powerful for this level, has a name and some personal value to her - I'm hoping there will be time to enchant it further while travelling between different locations during the game.

She also has an animal companion - a wolf named Freki. Unsurprisingly, he's more of a melee-er, with a focus on flanking and using combat maneuvers.

Edit: Argh. I just took about an hour writing up botting instructions on my profile, and the forum ate them.

Also, brvheart: I believe I'm still waiting for an answer regarding the Northlands language? Is it just Common still, and if not, is it going to feature in the campaign at all? I'm asking because Ariane would definitely know it for backstory reasons. If it's not likely to come up during the campaign at all, would you consider it reasonable to let me learn the language without spending a point in linguistics?