Friendly Fighter

Grigor's page

106 posts. Alias of Ballentino.


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Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

It's not really Grigor's option at this point. You can write in black, I can only write in blue. :)


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Agreed with all the above. Except for the HP -- accounting indicates that Grigor is still unconscious, no matter how unlikely that seems. Unless I misunderstand the strain/injury rules, Grigor is still in the negatives and so does not yet recover his strain damage. I'll let the DM know here in a spoiler his exact status, and he can inform the party of details or roll his eyes and decree consciousness as he desires....

DM only:
Grigor has 42 HP, 40 strain, and 3 injury, putting him at -1HP.

Jonesing to write in black instead of blue here, but, couldn't we just follow the lizards up the river for the rest of the day, and camp a bit north of the river in mutual protection, and then break for home the next morning?


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Err, very sorry to not get back to the PBP until this long after the live session. I have some potentially minor retcon-requiring information. After the healing burst, Grigor is still unconscious. And really, after all of my hinting during the session, weren't you guys just about to Very First Thing rush over to Grigor's lifeless near-corpse and stabilize him? ;-) (It's okay though; I had a miraculous roll on the last round of the battle and ended up stabilizing myself, thank you very much. :-D )

Sooo, housekeeping, does Grigor gain a level while he's dying? If this gives him enough HP that he's above zero, does he suddenly revive? :-P I mean, we don't need to train to gain a level, but do we need to be conscious? ;-)

General note: I apologize for being such a baby about charge details during the fight. I'm always so worried that I'm doing things wrong and getting the party killed that I can lose perspective.

Finally, and a very minor point, are we really going to roleplay this that anyone in the party (Finwik excepted) thought that Grigor, running back to the entrance calling all the time for Gladius, was doing so in order to flee and leave the rest to their fate? Really? The guy whose whole, oath-sworn duty in life is to stand by his buddies, with his history of routinely sacking the bod, is making all that noise so that he can run away? Grigor can be a bit of an arse, but I just can't see Kyras doubting these intentions... All that said, yes, Grigor appears to need a remote for his ride.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor says Kyras, drop back beside Bjelich. He pauses until just after Kyras can steady himself from the last discharge of the wand, and either moves 5' into the square E28 if Kyras has vacated it, or stays where he is otherwise, and readies to strike at the wisp when it appears again (moving 5', then, if he needs to and he can).

longsword +1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 201d8 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Breaking to some degree from his preceding suggestions, but eager to plunge metal into the elusive foes, Grigor takes a readied action to (as helpfully suggested above) move towards the Wisp when it appears, and if he can attack after doing so, attacking with his sword.

Note that no Swap Places Tactician effect is in place; no swapping can occur.

Potential move up to 20', potential readied attack: longsword +1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 181d8 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

DM, I've lost track of where the wisp has been, and I can't see it in the posts. Could you please let me know where the wisp appeared (maybe map coordinates?) on rounds five and six? And did Grigor's readied action get turned successfully into a Swap Places in round five? Also, is it possible to have a readied action to attack, moving up 5' if necessary, but still moving the 5' closer even if that isn't close enough to attack? Is it possible to have a RA of attack if possible, MA full move otherwise? Just what conditionals can be stuffed into a RA? ;-) Thanks.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor seems utterly unsurprised by the wisp's latest move. Horses won't help. Keep tight and form into a rectangle, with Kyras and Striker at one end, Finwik with me at the other, Danna and Bjelich in middle. Middle two do nothing except try to stay alive, it's picking on you.

Yes I know that you probably can't direct Striker that precisely. And obviously, unless you have a good belief that the wisp moved to a space that leaves you clear, or you're trying to draw out the AoO so that Bjelich can cast, don't use more than a 5' step to form up.

Grigor readies an action to attack the wisp if it materializes within reach, or a standard action Tactition of Swap Places otherwise. If this is permitted -- otherwise he just readies the attack.

readied attack, longsword +1, challenge: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 9 + 1 = 111d8 + 5 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 3 = 12

Is Photobucket down? I suddenly can't see the maps.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

readied attack, longsword +1, challenge: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 9 + 1 = 141d8 + 5 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 3 = 12

I want Kyras to roll for me. :-)


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor readies an action to strike the will-o-wisp when it appears, moving to it if necessary.

That's a good plan, he says as he gets himself set, now is there any way to make it easier for us to hit it? Bjelich, can you bless the party?


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Retreat in D&D is generally very hard, and if anything Pathfinder makes it even harder. It's often difficult, for example, to deal with fallen comrades. In this case, the creatures probably move faster than our horseback speed of 35', and they fly. That all being said, retreat is not necessarily a bad option here... and basically, no one has good reason to be angry with you for making that choice. It wouldn't hurt to grab anything we can't do without and get the horses ready, but I'm far from sure that's the best option. Grigor was trying to get the fire to throw up enough sparks in the right direction to outline the ball, maybe you could try something like that? Sorry I can't be more help.

Did Kyras make a knowledge check? Was it resolved? Should I make one for Grigor?


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Clarifying Grigor's Challenge benefit to the party: while the beastie is threatened by Grigor (i.e. in the range of his weapon, 5' for the longsword), any melee attack from any party member is made at +1 to-hit. Watch that this is three technical conditions: beastie is in threat range of Grigor, ally is attacking, attack is a melee attack. It's complicated, so I thought I'd explicate.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Seeing Danna hit again (and fall?), Grigor Challenges the ball of energy (I think he can? FA) and swings again at it (SA).

Concealment miss: 1d100 ⇒ 53
attack, longsword +1, flanking, challenge: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 9 + 2 + 1 = 251d8 + 5 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 3 = 16

Party adjacent to "thing" get +1 to-hit.

Have any useful magics to employ? Now is the time. he asks his companions.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor got his shiny sword in the stagfortloot; it's additional to the one held for Akiros. He also has a MW lance from bringing Falgrim to justice, and Finwik had talked about passing the +1 amulet of natural armor to the front-line warrior, although I'm not sure on the status (or even wisdom) of that transfer. But if Finwik isn't using it in his stats, Grigor should be.

Sorry about the Will-o-wisp call; IRL these creatures are widely known mythological creatures in Slavic cultures, equivalent to witches in huts. We can amend Grigor's call to What is this thing? at DM's discretion.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor races to where the floating light last was (MA), while calling out to his party Are they Will-o-wisps? Where is it! Coat them with something! and pulling out his +1 longsword* (part of movement), and attempts to plunge the sword into the creature (SA/attack). If he's in the middle of any of the prior post's declared actions at the start of his turn, he drops anything in his hands (except the shield). If he can kick that log into the fire as he runs past, he does; I'm assuming not. If he was just picking it up, and he can, he drops it into the fire.

Perception check to pinpoint the creature's location, DC = 0 (notice a visible creature) + 20 (invisible) + 2 (unfavorable conditions) - 20 (creature is in combat) = 2:
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
The above is clearly wrong but I can't find rules to fix it; please advise and adjust. I'm pretty sure that the +20(invis) and -20(in combat) are correct, so perhaps the base value is not 0? For whatever reason, it has to be harder than this. I've added unfavorable conditions for the lighting, but nothing for distance. For now, I'm assuming Grigor has not successfully pinpointed.

I have heard frightening word that the DM is to roll the 50% miss chance, so that we don't know whether we missed because of this or because we're attacking into the wrong square.... However, I'll roll one and our DM can accept it or not as he desires. I'll use the convention that low is bad, high is good:
Concealment miss: 1d100 ⇒ 18

attack, longsword +1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 121d8 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

References: http://paizo.com/prd/skills/perception.html , http://www.pathfinder-srd.nl/wiki/Invisibility

*Grigor has a +1 longsword. Who knew? :P


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Miscellaneous notes. Grigor now brings his own pack horse with him when he travels, carrying camp gear, feed, food, tools, a couple spare lances, a spare longsword, a longbow with arrows, a light wooden shield, and a few miscellaneous items. After seeing Finwik's success with the spiders, he has added three vials of acid to the pack. Despite this list, the horse will be far from fully loaded, and can easily accommodate some items spread out from a repurposed pack animal. It is not combat trained though.

Grigor's player knows that Tig is A Quest and that therefore there must be actions that the party can take to save him, but yeah, as has been noted, Grigor the character has been pretty sure from the start that the boy is Tatzylworm-food, and that the party is on a quest to find and destroy what ate him. Regardless of any implausible conversation with Mikmek, I'm going to assume going forward that for some reason Grigor knows what the boy looks like. He's not going to return to the city square and pull out a half-decayed leg and ask "Could this be his?"

When he gets the chance (assuming the party survives...), Grigor asks Danna if she knows what rattlecap mushrooms are, what uses they might have, and whether she has speculations on what the witch is making and whether it could harm the Silverguard's interests.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor stays on foot, but keeps Gladius close. He also moves to be near Kyras. If there is time, he will do the following things in sequence, not moving abruptly to do them: take up his shield, prop his (unloaded) crossbow upon a ready and convenient seat at the fire, pull out his potion of SoF and place it at a handy spot (maybe next to crossbow?), and ready a good-sized log so that it can be easily kicked onto the coals of the fire. He has been watching mostly away from the lake, where the second light has appeared, since the party was roused.

How far are we from the lake?


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor looks steadily at Mikmek. Well which is it? he asks, Can you answer all of my questions, or have you already told me everything you know? He smiles briefly, but continues. How old is Tig? Did he just go out to play to parts unknown, or did he travel along the lakeshore to the west and south? Do we know that he left the settlement? Did he go alone? What day and time? Did he take a route that he often took? Did he have a purpose, such as often returning from play with something useful? Who are his parents? What do they do, and what is their current state? Grief or not, do they appear to have some normal comprehension that the very most probable outcome of anyone, child or not, who walks out alone and goes missing in the wilderness that currently surrounds us is that they have been eaten?

He pauses for Mikmek to register any shock or dismay, then continues, Obviously I won't just ask them that. But it's useful for us to know, whether another conversation about Tig will be hard for his parents or not. And do you know what truly is cruel? He points outside the settlement. Miles and miles of trackless dangers outside this encampment. That's what we have to keep everyone safe from, not just this child.

If you do know all of that, then by all means, let's have the discussion ourselves and spare the Tannersens. But if not, then there is an imperative stronger than their discomfort. And if Mikmek cannot answer, he gently beckons the kobold to lead on.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor looks quizzically at Bjelich, continuing to walk with him and Mikmek past the gate and towards the stables, keeping their private conversation out of easy hearing of guards and townsfolk. If we have reason to leave, why would we wait for the riders to return? But that doesn't argue that we shouldn't send them. We communicate with Greengate all the time, as is necessary for our budding baronny. I'd like to know, at some time in the future, if it must be, what Oleg can tell us about Bedlame. So we ask. I'll direct the riders myself if you prefer.

But he continues to look oddly at Bjelich. As for the townsfolk, he says, all that is necessary is that they not jump to conclusions. There is no true crisis, other than any of our own making. If the townsfolk think we were looking for the boy, and then hear that we are urgently interested in knowing about Bedlame, don't you think that this might trigger them to conclude, incorrectly, that we suspect her? In truth, we should have sent the riders yesterday, as soon as we heard about this near neighbour, for reasons independent of any purported missing residents. And we should ask only after direct informants. His face brightens as he turns closer to Bjelich. If our settlement could unravel because a boy who wanders foolishly into far harm comes to ill, then we would be lost. We're unlikely to face ruin because we can't save every lost lamb. We just need to display less disarray. You're not losing your nerve, are you friend?

After a warm goodnight to the priest, Grigor departs with Mikmek to the Tannersen home.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

If it's acceptable, back to the previous night for a moment...

Nonsense... says Grigor, in what is becoming his usual habit, as Bjelich concludes his conversation with Mikmek. A missing child has parents. Who has told the story of this Tig Tannersen? I will speak with them at once. And if we want to learn more about Bedlame, and the woman in the hut, if they are even the same person, we should send fast riders to Greengate to ask Oleg, Svetlana, and Bokken what they know. Bjelich, get Kesten to round up a squad on horseback, and when they are at the gate give them their orders: ride fast to Greengate, ask Oleg, Svetlana, and Bokken what they know of Bedlame or our witch, describe the hut with the golem Crow, and return with this information, and talk to no one about their task, neither then nor later. Fabricate some little need to explain their trip, perhaps, like some urgent herb for the princess. He jerks his head towards where Danna has departed.

Now, Mikmek, to the home of these Tannersens... He pulls his cloak in against the rain, and against any onlookers, and stalks off with Mikmek to knock as inconspicuously as is possible at the domicile.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Does Bedlame have a book on her shelf titled "How To Serve Gnomes"? ;)


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Buh... rereading, I very clearly said at first that we should always build sawmills in forests, without any qualifications. Which was wrong. Sorry, my bad.

What I am truly guessing is going to happen, is that the first time we build a sawmill in the forests of the Greenbelt, we receive a visit from some Fey, who would like to have a conversation with us... :-)


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Those pictures are nasty! How many BP is a Funeral Parlour? :P


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

I think that we can just presume that after leaving the hut, the trio heads south along the lakeshore for a bit, finds whatever they find, and then turns back north to go home, running across Finwik in the process. So... what do we find?


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Sigh... as usual, I need to clarify. I am definitely not suggesting that we game the kingdom building rules. I am not suggesting that we min/max our kingdom; I am suggesting ways to make sure that we don't make our kingdom into something equivalent to a gimped character. I am not saying that we must claim half of our hexes as forest hexes, or that we must always build a sawmill in every forest hex, or that we should fill our settlement with ten smithies. Instead, I'm saying that if we claim forest hexes and don't build a sawmill, we should understand what we're giving up, and that we shouldn't overlook eventually building one of each of some small, simple buildings like smithies, tanneries, libraries, mills, breweries, etc.

In particular, I am pointing out that buildings in settlements are Shiny, but are nearly unlimited in placement, whereas some terrain improvements are very powerful but starkly limited by the kingdom size, so that the rules are likely to assume you are filling them out liberally or you're going to get creamed by the first contender that pops over the hex map horizon.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor arches his eyebrows at the animation of the scarecrow. Apparently I have been addressing the wrong Crow, he says, but he turns his horse with the rest and moves away from the hut. As the group leaves, after Bjelich taps him and commends the old lady, he says, loudly enough for at least the crow to hear, With a settlement expanding just to her north, this woman is going to have to come to some accommodation soon. At this point, other than that straw golem, we seem to be all that is standing between her and a horde of enraged townsfolk. It would be good to find the boy and dispel some rumours. We can use all the friends we can find in this wilderness.

Grigor suggests that the three Guardians search south just along the lake a bit further, as much as they can while still returning to the settlement near nightfall. Was Bjelich saying above that this is what the trio already did? Couldn't tell. Once back, we can ask more questions, such as what evidence anyone has that "Old Bedlame" has ever or would ever take a child, and what else anyone knows about Tig and his interests and habits. And Grigor suggests that the next expedition leave before dawn and fully explore the area just west of Tuskwater, before or even rather than going to the hut again.

I believe the bridges in G5 are built in the second month of the settlement, while we're heading out in the middle of the first month. So, no bridges yet by my understanding. Presumably we can get someone to ferry us across the Skunk in some kind of boat, and signal to the settlement for the same when we return. Which brings up the question of how Tig made it across. Next time at the hut, should we make sure to at least find out if the woman's name is Bedlame? Can we see our capital from here, or would we probably be able to if it wasn't raining? Do we have a hope of seeing Finwik along the shore, other than by running into him?


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

I have done quite a bit of reading of the kingdom building rules, and I have to say that I don't understand them yet. I'm glad that someone else is running this for now. However, I have some comments; the TL;DR version is that we should always, always build a sawmill in all newly claimed forest hexes. (Sorry Danna :D ) Please disabuse me of any errors in this.

It appears to me that we should both claim a new hex every turn, and as well also (except with plains) generate at least one significant terrain improvement each turn. I'm using the term "significant", but what I mean is specifically one of the non-starred improvements, which are Mine, Quarry, and Sawmill. Basically, we should always claim a new hex, and then if it is a forest we should always put a sawmill on it, if it is a hill we should always put a quarry or mine on it, and if it is a plains we should always put a farm on it. We should probably also suck up the cost and always put a farm on new hill terrain too. (Before, in general, building fisheries.)

Here's how I see this. Let's look at each hex type in turn, starting with forest. If you claim a forest hex and build a sawmill, that costs 4BP, and your control DC increases by one, your consumption increases by one, and you get +1 Stability and +1BP income a turn. So on net, control vs Stability is a wash, consumption increases by one, you fall one behind on loyalty/econ control checks, and you get an extra BP a turn. Note that in terms of BP, this pays for itself in 4 turns! If we claim a forest hex, we should always build a sawmill. We're left with a terrain improvement left over to build a road somewhere.

Hills are relatively expensive, but very sustainable. I'll presume we add a quarry and also a farm, which I think should be the default, but which costs 11BP for the new hex in total. The control DC increases by one but is a wash vs Stability, net consumption goes down by one, and income gets +1BP. Payoff is 11 turns.

Plains are different; they have no significant improvement available. However, they are super cheap consumption-droppers. The claim and a farm costs only 3BP (and always building a road only makes this 4BP). Here, control DC increases by one and is unmitigated, net consumption decreases by one, and no income is generated, so there is no BP payoff.

Here's all this as a simple (broken..) table:

  • Terrain Cost Stability Consumption BP-Income Payoff
  • Forest 4 0 1 1 4
  • Hills 11 0 -1 1 11
  • Plains 3 -1 -1 0 n/a

From a metagaming standpoint, we should stoke our income by grabbing forests, and balance out the consumption with plains and hills. One forest + one plains nets out 7 cost, neg 1 stability, and +1BP/turn, so other than Loyalty/Econ checks, you have sustainable payoff in 7 turns plus however much it costs to buy +1 stability in a settlement. One forest + one hills nets out 15 cost and +2BP/turn, so sustainable payoff is in only 7.5 turns.

I contend that we should always build up a hex like this every turn, and use only the left-over BP for settlement improvements. BP payoff in 7 or 7.5 turns looks to me to be optimal growth; one Econ is worth only 1/3 a BP per turn in income, so I think all other options are relatively expensive. Naturally, we'll be building some roads just to connect our kingdom, but the +1 Econ for every four of those is miniscule (with a 12 turn payoff in the cheapest terrain, plains). Note that the metagame analysis suggests claiming as many forests as all other hexes combined; that may not fit with other interests, but we should probably keep it in mind.

In terms of settlement builds, I'll note as an example that a smithy is +1Stability/+1Econ for a cheap 6BP, giving an 18 turn payoff. I don't know of a faster building payoff than that. Presumably we'll be mitigating any net stability losses from plains hexes through settlement builds, and looking for gravy of all other kinds by building using the BP left over from terrain expansion. Basically, in early turns, it looks like Loyalty is a dump stat, but if we grow BP income quickly we can pull that up fast later. But we have to always build sawmills/quarries!

A final point. Are we going to be using optional trade rules? If so, we should plan ahead for which settlement will be which type of trade origin. Probably "Stagfort" gets mills and docks and goods, while "Olegfort" gets granary and stockyard and foodstuffs.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

We could call our party "The Synchronizers". :)


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor wants to be tactical, but the tactic that he wants to take is to do everything according to protocol (as usual..), so he's very happy with the selected choices.

Grigor stays on his horse for now, as Bjelich closes with the bell, and as Danna dismounts and rings it. He calls out to the crow in the nearby tree Hello little one, are you here to greet us? Can you send our salutations to your master, or perhaps your mistress, as well as any bell?

Grigor is currently mounted with shield and lance.

D'OH! just saw that I mistakenly wrote "provocative a choice Orlov would be for their capital city" above, when I meant "provocative a choice Orlov would be for our new capital city". My bad; hope this fixes any mistaken impressions. As for the capital city name, I'm just finding a roleplaying excuse for introducing a possible name. It can change or not as everyone would like, but I agree that there is no need to keep one that is actively problematic. Also, my understanding is that Kyras spent his youth in the forest after having some mysterious reason for his parents leaving court when he was a babe; is this incorrect? Presumably Kyras would have mentioned this to Grigor by now? (Grigor would care.)


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Bah, I see now by re-reading the above that this all happens right away and that Grigor would have no time to take the actions I stated before the party sojourns south. I'm not going to bother editing my previous post, so that his actions are taken after this adventure, unless otherwise noted. Reading fail.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor has spent much of the first few weeks of the new kingdom on patrols around the new territories, apparently, for now, an army-of-one. :D He has probably joined with Danna on some of these. Some time soon after the founding, though, he takes a couple of weeks away from direct Generalship and travels back to Rostov to meet with his father, his mother, and his two brothers, and he informs them of his activities.

Grigor's parents impress upon him how provocative a choice Orlov would be for their capital city, and he returns with a suggestion for a new name: Zelenya, after the verdant city of archaic Brevic lore. He also brings back a small load of books for the fledgling library, some of which cause some puzzlement to the library's first attendant -- but they won't be turned down when there are early empty shelves.

Along with Danna and Bjelich, upon hearing the news, Grigor is eager to search out this "Old Bedlame", and readies Gladius and a pack horse for the journey. What will you be riding? he asks Finwick expectantly.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Nice work Kyras. I like the names and the build choices. I, too, am confused about the roads, but am willing to bet that there is some sense to them.

I have a suggestion for the group name: the Sliver Guardians of the Greenbelt, or Silverguard for short. Perhaps we're overloading the name "Silv[...]" though....

I'm happy with a straight line to the gold vein, and then the one or two squares more to Oleg's, and then "fattening out" from there. It would be nice to connect ourselves back to our sponsors, even if that leaves us a little stringy for a couple of turns. Frankly, it is probably an essential route that many of our citizens are taking right now, whether we officially claim it or not. Following rivers is also good.

Could you maybe add an extra line at the end of each kingdom post that tallies the final BP count? And personally, at this point I'm happy to spend any BP that have a six month return, down almost to the last, although I could be convinced otherwise, for example by being shown some scary events....


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor looks around the storeroom for a torch. He doesn't feel like heading through the trapdoor while Akiros is still right at the top.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Ha ha! Okay, I'm still not communicating.... when you think medieval, you can exclude late medieval. The party has a charter, the charter has provisions, and Grigor plans to execute that charter. Grigor has seen a number of trials before, but he has never heard of a jury.

Maybe you just need to see it work out in roleplay. We say "judge, jury, and executioner" in a pejorative sense, implying that all three should be different. Grigor would agree to the extent that he would think it better, in general, if the judge were not the executioner. However, out of the PCs, he thinks only Kyras would be up to a role as bailiff, and Kyras has let him down in the past about this. He won't trust it to Akiros. So it looks like he's stuck doing it all himself. :)

The aim is that, when it's done, the one thing that it won't be called is time-consuming. It's not that I want trials to be unfair, but they shouldn't get in the way of gaming, and by chance Grigor has an interest in efficiency.

...just read Danna's post. She looks slender, but she is remarkably strong for her size... maybe Grigor has his bailiff... :)


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Some commentary on trials. I think that when I talk about trials, I'm confusing people, so I want to clarify.

It's easy for people in our society to not know just how terrifyingly recent are many things about trials that we take for granted. For example, the notion of being innocent until proven guilty was only really put into practice near the end of the eighteenth century. That's not a typo. Maybe you've all known that forever; I only learned it last year.

That being said, people have been holding trials of some sort or other for thousands of years, for longer than we have recorded history, and across essentially all societies larger than a tribe. Arguably, the reason that people have held trials is not as much because it would ensure better justice, but instead because it deflected blame from the powerful, who were interested in exacting punishment while making the fewest possible enemies.

When Grigor is putting on a trial, he's thinking a medieval trial. You should think less about modern courtroom dramas and more "I'm going to get medieval on his ass".


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Oh, that all makes sense then. So the Staglord did 32 damage to Grigor in one hit, putting him to -1HP, and I had it all recorded correctly. Grigor made his subsequent fort save on the first round. As I understand it, after the battle, Bjelich healed Grigor for 27 of the injury damage, and then the strain would heal, so he is at 0 strain / 5 injury now.

The rest is just colour, not substantive. A character takes 32 damage, which is enough to kill any ordinary person outright. However, they have 31HP. One thing to do is to describe the damage as an effect that would pretty invariably be fatal, but then the character is found to miraculously survive, because they have high HP. Another thing to do is to describe the start of an effect that could be fatal, but then end the description with the character exhibiting power that partially mitigates the effect because they have lots of remaining HP, but still succumbing enough to "drop". I prefer the latter, but neither is wrong.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor sighs a little, and leans in to Bjelich before he makes his way to the stairs, saying If you get back and for some reason the trapdoor is closed fast, knock like this: and uses his right hand to rap against his wooden shield twice, then twice, then three times, then once. Leaning in closer to Bjelich, he continues ..and try to get Danna to come back up before you get too deep. I've got a bad feeling about this...

He then turns to Akiros, saying It looks like we'll have a few tasks on our hands for the next little while. We'll need to watch from the towers, watch the prisoners, and listen for trouble at this trapdoor, all at the same time. Where are those kobolds? And I'm going to guess you don't speak Draconic? He looks like he's about to leave to get the kobolds, but then reconsiders and waits around at the trapdoor for the first few minutes. After this, Grigor rounds up Mikmek and Nakpik, trying to pantomime a request that they watch from the northwest and northeast towers. He asks Akiros to watch at the trapdoor, keeping it open and listening for trouble. If all this goes according to plan, he watches the three prisoners, leaving occasionally at random times to confer with Mikmek on the towers, or to check in on Akiros and the trapdoor, or sometimes looking like he's leaving but then suddenly turning back to the prisoners and testing their bonds.

Can I have a reminder of who the prisoners are (as far as Grigor knows)? And I'd like to work out where they are in the fort -- probably the central chamber, right near the owlbear cage. Also, presuming there's a bit of time, Grigor will gather the most suitable chairs from the central table, and rope from the storeroom, and doubly-tie the prisoners into place in a slightly spaced row of chairs. Then in spurts, during his watch, he will arrange the table into a crude writing-desk in front of the prisoners and start constructing an even cruder gallows behind them, perhaps by repositioning and repurposing the Staglord's bed and trunks.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

I remember a bit more about the previous fight. It was the Staglord's super-powered arrow shot that took down Grigor. It took him just down to -1HP, and was described as an arrow striking through his armor and sinking into his chest. (I demurred, and suggested that the arrow embedded itself into the armor just at the shoulder, but that the force of it threw Grigor off balance and back, and that he fell clumsily, may have hit his head, and did not get back up. Perhaps a difference of opinion about whether "final blow" damage should be described with effects relative to the amount of damage done or relative to the final negative hit point number. Even with no help of any kind, the chance that Grigor would have died from this wound was very close to zero.) No one really paid any attention to the details and the battle continued. I don't think that this one hit could have done more than 27 damage, so Grigor should be fully healed. But he's still against exploring the dungeon right away. :D

For what it's worth, hitting the dungeon now is just an Objectively Bad Idea, from both in-game and out-of-game perspectives. If we were meta-gaming, we should be working out a way that our characters could possibly decide not to do it, taking wary account of our DM's pleas that we stop doing things that kill all our characters. I'm not meta-gaming Grigor, though -- Grigor would actually think it silly. If I were meta-gaming Grigor, he would just go along with it for the sake of party unity.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Hearing something, Grigor rounds the corner from the crumbled keep's central chamber into the storeroom just in time to catch Bjelich say I trust you will be able to manage this lot, and chant out a protective incantation. Startling in surprise, he sees the rest of the party over the yawning trapdoor at the end of the room, looking like they are about to descend.

What madness is this! he bellows. About to enter the dungeon? Fresh from a fight, with prisoners at our back, and a spellcaster of unknown power awaiting? You were just going to go in without my support? I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but it is common to design dungeons to have extensive size and to pack them with all manner of perils. You're descending into a mound below an old fort of unknown provenance, built for who-knows-what purpose, which is surrounded with sullied earth that emits a stream of fresh corpses by some unknown evil power. He's sputtering now. For Than? He's been down there a couple of days. I mean the boy as well as you do, but the odds of him coming to additional harm in another few hours are not high.

Grigor can perhaps be convinced to poke around into an initial hallway and a first room, but he'll pointedly depart, maybe trying to drag Danna out of there with him, before he starts a second in an obvious sequence. A possible resolution for the party is to convince everyone to agree that today we will just do a quick scouting mission to verify that we can't get Than trivially and to see if we can learn what to prepare for.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Girlfriend and I still having busy days. I'm running flat out just to make it to everything and still make it back home occasionally to feed my cat. We were talking wistfully today about just skipping New Years (but agreed that of course we really wanted to go).

I think I understand the strain rules, except for some rare end-cases that are probably covered at the link. Thanks for going through the examples. However, unfortunately, I checked when I was at home earlier today, and I didn't record damage well enough during our live session. Yes, I should have known better; I'm sorry. Now it's so much later that I can't remember details of the battle at all. Maybe someone else can recall enough details to fill in some likely blanks.

All that I recorded were two minor initial hits, and then nothing between having 31HP and -1HP. Presumably I didn't take all 32 points of damage in one hit.... did I? Was there a critical in there?

The standard rule for this, as far as I'm concerned, is that if the player couldn't be bothered to keep good records about basic things then they can't complain about going forward with the worst of the possible scenarios that fits the available data. However, there is always room for DM leniency, especially for new rules. I'll make sure to record this properly in the future, and I'm fine with any ruling now. Unless someone can recall better, that leaves Grigor with 32 - 27 = 5 injury damage, out of 42 HP. Basically, other than having used his one Challenge for the day, he's almost fully fit. Of course, the character Grigor doesn't want to go into the dungeon today at all, regardless of this...


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Hi all. My current understanding is that, while I could definitely post something useful next, the game is in a bit of a lull and I'm not particularly slowing things up by not posting right away. I have the same understanding about all of our other projects, e.g. Roll20, with which I have done nothing. If this is not the case and someone is waiting on me for anything, please let me know.

Just FYI, in this campaign, prisoners and trials are next on Grigor's mind; he anticipates early afternoon completion in the same day, and it's probably closing on noon. I'll write up a very brief "discussion" note about trials to explain.

I would like to make a request, in the case that anyone has any free time this close to Christmas. I tried to send around a Google Doc spreadsheet to everyone with the campaign calendar. I couldn't send it to our newest player, because I don't have his email address. It's possible I didn't properly send it to anyone at all -- I don't use shared GDocs much. Could someone take a quick look to let me know that they received it, and whether there is anything immediately problematic with it? I'm a big believer in two pairs of eyes and my own fallibility. Also, could someone who knows it please send our newest companion's email address to the group? Thanks.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor has no interest in being the ruler of our new kingdom, and I have no interest in playing the ruler. :)

Looking briefly at PF kingdom rules, the good possible roles for Grigor are either General, Royal Enforcer, or Warden. Out of these, the one that makes by far the most sense is General.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

I thought that I would get a chance to finish up this post last evening, but ran out of time again. This post is a bit functional rather than in-character. It has also become huge; there is a lot going on. Sorry for the lengthy delay.

Grigor looks around and asks urgently about the situation as he is revived, and after reassurance thanks Bjelich for his assistance, and then makes sure that the prisoners are very well secured rather than help Danna with the various horses, begging her pardon.

At least for now, he binds each conscious bandit by the hands/arms and feet/legs, soliciting help and suggestions from Finwik if he is nearby at any point (explaining stoically and without elaboration that the party has had a hard time with prisoners). Grigor even looks like he's about to consider handling Akiros like all the rest until a sharp look and throat clearing from Bjelich entirely deters him. He looks for two areas that can be temporarily purposed for holding live prisoners: one for bound, conscious bandits, and a second for unconscious, lightly restrained casualties. Preferred qualities of these spaces: walled, not easy to climb, has ceiling, has only one entrance, the inside can easily be viewed from outside, near to each other, has a barred gate for a door, is not over top of the trapdoor down, otherwise empty or empty-able. Unfortunately what appears to be the optimal spot is currently occupied by an owlbear; Grigor will therefore push this issue but I won't have time to work it out in-character in this post. (Grigor is largely disinterested and baffled about the ultimate fate of the owlbear. If there were peasants, he wouldn't want it rampaging through them.) In this process, he will take a quick tour of all of the aboveground parts of the fort.

Grigor certainly lets anyone who is uncertain of this know that he definitely intends to try the prisoners at the earliest convenience. I'll role-play this with Kyras in a later post, if I get the time. In general, he makes sure that at least one party member is watching at least the conscious prisoners at all times.

During all of this Grigor deals with booty and bandit equipment only as necessary to disarm, bind, and secure the prisoners, leaving all goods in a pile safely far from the live bandits, or for other more interested party members to get at immediately. He makes sure to leave the prisoners with nothing other than minimal clothing. The bandits that are very certainly dead he leaves for Kyras to carry outside the fort, nodding appreciatively at the thought, and helping Kyras with the task if he is done with the prisoners. He agrees that Falgrim Sneed is to be returned to Oleg's (but grumbles a bit quietly to old party members about Kesten) and proposes that the Staglord's corpse be taken back to the old bridge before being thrown into the river.

After the item analysis by Kyras, Grigor takes a special interest in the magic longsword, spending some time moving through what look to be extremely formalized dueling stances with it, and perhaps obscurely whispering something at times. After a bit of this he finds a place where the group can all hear him, brandishes the new weapon, and indicates to the others I would like to keep this as my mainstay. He then silently awaits a response to his implicit request, his eye on the prisoner quarters again.

When Bjelich suggests that he keep the potion of lesser restoration, Grigor asks about its properties, and then says It is best, tactically, if a member of our party who cannot bring this effect through their own powers keeps such an item, and immediately afterwards it is as though he has never had any concern with the matter, independently of what Bjelich says or does. Grigor does ask if he can keep (if I read this right) one of the two potions of cure moderate wounds.

As long as no one dissuades him (due to its unknown nature), Grigor also tries out the Staglord's bow, testing its draw, and climbing to the top of the northwest tower with a quiver and his other two (!) bows from the cart, inviting Mikmek, Bjelich, and Kyras along for the view if they are interested and not busy. He sends a couple of arrows flying from each bow far out along the entrance path. He could switch back to this bow, but given the time it takes him to de-shield it's probably a better fit for Kyras or Bjelich.

I had forgotten that natural armor bonuses stack with "armor" armor bonuses; that means that the amulet is very useful for anyone in the party. I don't know who should end up with it; Grigor would be happy with it. I don't understand the details around Kyras' sword, so I don't know the benefits of him taking the +1 rapier as a magic/backup weapon.

Huh, there's still lots more to deal with, but that's what I can do for now.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Bah, sorry that last post was a critical few hours late. I don't mind such delays, but I apologize to others who would prefer a faster pace.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Oh, right, thanks....

Grigor Round 28 Continued

Given that he survives... Grigor shifts into position to AH12 (5' step), ready to look for flanks. Being up close now, he notices that the Staglord appears not to have his bow with him, and he says Has he dropped his bow? Someone grab it!

I believe that Gladius can now move into AJ11/AK12, which he does, it being closer to Grigor.

So... what would have happened if Grigor was, for some reason, unable to take a 5' step? Is it then impossible for him to stand up? Also... I had written previously that Grigor saw his lance standing against the wall at AR11, but looking back farther it turns out that he actually stowed it on Gladius when he first dismounted. DM's call as to where it currently is; for example, lots of stuff could have fallen off Gladius during his couple of falls; please do advise.


Current Status and Effects
Grigor:
AC: 26/20/18, HP: 7/42
Perception +6, Ride +8, Handle Animal +7
Shield of Faith (+2 dodge) 8 rounds
Bless (+1 morale to-hit) 22 rounds
Gladius:
AC: 17/15/11 HP: 7/27


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor Round 28

Bracing his shield against an anticipated attack (SA total defense), Grigor calls for Gladius to come to him (FA) and stands up (MA, provokes).

This leaves Grigor in the square AI12, the square currently occupied by Kyras. Not sure what happens then. Presumably Gladius will move to AK12/AL13.


Current Status and Effects
Grigor:
AC: 22/20/14, HP: 7/42
Perception +6, Ride +8, Handle Animal +7
Shield of Faith (+2 dodge) 8 rounds
Bless (+1 morale to-hit) 22 rounds
Gladius:
AC: 17/15/11 HP: 7/27


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

LOL! Okay, now Danna really really has to actually make the move to AK14. :D

Grigor Round 27 Continued

Longsword crit confirm (Bless, Challenge, Flanking): 1d20 + 8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 8 + 1 + 2 = 281d8 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 3 = 8

Miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, THWACK! That might even distract Mr. Pointy from our healer....


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Grigor Round 27

Danna, move up between Mikmek and the wall and be ready to attack in coordination. Given that (in the initiative resolution before Grigor) Danna does move to AK14 and readies an attack on the Staglord, Grigor moves to AI12 (MA) and strikes with mutual flanking (SA). If Danna doesn't do that, then I'll post a new set of activities for the round.

Edited to presume Danna's action / at least get the d20 roll down, by DM's request. :)

Longsword (Bless, Challenge, Flanking): 1d20 + 8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 8 + 1 + 2 = 311d8 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 3 = 9


Current Status and Effects
Grigor:
AC: 22/20/14, or 20/18/12 vs non-Staglord, HP: 9/42
Perception +6, Ride +8, Handle Animal +7
Shield of Faith (+2 dodge) 9 rounds
Bless (+1 morale to-hit) 23 rounds
Dragon's Challenge of Staglord: +3 to damage, -2 AC vs. others, allies gain +1 melee to hit the target of your challenge while target is in your threatened squares.
Gladius:
AC: 17/15/11 HP: -1(stable)/27


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Hmm, nine "1"s and nine "20"s. It's already too late; I'll run it through Python and check the statistical properties Sunday or Monday.


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Dice Testing 4

normal: 1d20 ⇒ 9 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 20 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 1 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 15 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 2
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 2 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 6 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 14 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 1 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 3
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 11 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 19 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 13 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 5 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 10 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 9 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 2 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 6 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 18
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 20 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 20 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 14 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 19
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 12 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 9 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 17 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 1
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 20 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 12 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 8 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 12 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 17 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 8 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 1
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 6 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 1 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 11 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 1 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 13
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 18 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 18 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 2 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 10 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 19
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 3 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 8 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 2 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 19 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 6
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 19 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 19 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 3 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 20 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 14
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 7 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 17 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 3 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 20 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 5
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 1 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 17 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 8 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 15 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 1
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 12 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 10 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 4 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 2
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 2 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 20 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 13 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 12 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 4 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 3 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 20 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 6 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 9
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 7 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 1 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 14 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 4 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 12
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 4 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 12 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 18 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 8
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 20 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 13 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 7 normal: 1d20 ⇒ 10


Male Human L3 Cavalier (Dragon Order) Human L3 Cavalier

Note sure if I'm happy that I "passed" the 2, or unhappy that I "wasted" the 20. ;)

Dice Testing 3

normal: 1d20 ⇒ 16
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 6
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 10
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 9
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 7
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 17
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 15
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 17
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 9
normal: 1d20 ⇒ 17

error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 3
error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 12
error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 2
error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 3
error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 11
error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 9
error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 14
error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 16
error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 9
error: 1d1d20 ⇒ 12

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