Female Human Oracle 3/Paladin 3/Holy Vindicator 2 [HP 74/74 | AC:21 | T:12 | FF:19 | CMD:20 | Fort:+14 | Ref:+11 | Will:+14 (+2 vs charm and comp.) | Fire Res:1 | Cold Res:1 | Init:+1 | Per:+0 | Sense Motive:+0 | Bluff:+5 | Dip.:+16 | Stealth:+0 | Spellcraft:+9]
Veronica nods at Catcher's desire to stay, adding "We could use the rest, everything given. And this place seems safer than any we've run across so far."
Once they decide to settle down, Veronica sets to seeing about everyone's wounds, with both magic and simply her skilled hands.
Channel Energy:3d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 3) = 9 Lay On Hands, self:2d6 ⇒ (3, 3) = 6 Take 10 to Treat Deadly Wounds. Everyone gains their level in HP Assuming the summary numbers are correct, everyone should be at full now.
Their wounds now gone or bandaged, Veronica finally collapses to a corner of the cavern, her robes squishing from all of the blood coagulated within it at this point. Laying her head back, she laughs for a moment before saying "This... has been daunting encounter. And it has been such a long time since I have had the opportunity to supplicate so intensely!"
And the contrast between her almost giddy voice and her form, her armor and clothes ripped and torn, her body covered in slowly healing wounds and blood both old and new, could not have been greater.
Female Human Oracle 3/Paladin 3/Holy Vindicator 2 [HP 74/74 | AC:21 | T:12 | FF:19 | CMD:20 | Fort:+14 | Ref:+11 | Will:+14 (+2 vs charm and comp.) | Fire Res:1 | Cold Res:1 | Init:+1 | Per:+0 | Sense Motive:+0 | Bluff:+5 | Dip.:+16 | Stealth:+0 | Spellcraft:+9]
Feel free to disregard the below math. But thinking about this totally nerd snipped me while I was bored at work.
Math! For great Justice!:
Time for some rough estimation. Let's assume a spike is a cone. Let's go ahead and assume we are talking about a 3' x 30' path and an average spike length of 2.5 feet. We'll round our results to 4 decimal places along the way.
Volume of a cone is V = pi * r^2 * (H/3).
V = 3.1415 * r^2 * (2.5/3) = 3.1415 * r^2 * (.8333) = r^2 * 2.6179
The area of the circle that is the cones base is A = pi * r^2
So let's pick, arbitrarily, a small and a large radius. For a 2.5' long spike, let's just pick .25' and 1' (this is a diameter of 1/5 and 4/5 the length).
Now let's take a look at how densely these cones can be packed. Circle packing has ~90% maximum efficiency. The formula for number of maximally packed area of cones would be: Floor((W * H * .90) / cone_area)
Ok, so no we can find the min and max total volume for our small and large spikes.
V_total_small_min = 46 * .1636 = 7.5256 cubic feet.
V_total_small_max = 412 * .1636 = 67.4032 cubic feet.
Not surprisingly, using big or little spikes doesn't really make nearly as big a difference as how packed they are. So how densely packed can they be and still all be affected by Gromff's spells?
So, if Gromff is affecting the entire cone, he can affect an area with about 25% packing efficiency.
But what if Gromff doesn't affect the entire cone? What if he just affects, say, everything more than 6" away from the wall? A cone 6" smaller than our example is 80% the height and 80% the radius of our previous cone. This means the new cone is about half the volume (.8^3) of our old cone.
This means if Gromff leaves 6" for a step, he could affect twice as many cones (a 50% packing rate).
To affect the entire 90% packing maximum, he would have to leave ~11" on the cone. For a 75% packing rate head would have to leave a 9" on the cone.
Of course, all of this partial cone stuff assumes he can affect a non-contigious area, which is up to DM interpretation.
- - - - -
Of course, we could say 'screw it' to the steps and just remove some spikes. If he wanted to affect a 3'x30' area, he could affect it to up to 2.4 inches deep. So he could just 'slice' that section wall away from the rest, letting it crash to the cave floor under it's own weight (which might necessitate needing to clear some of it away) and then we could try to climb the now-smooth wall, maybe even using the spikes left on each side as a sort of make shift ladder.
Female Human Oracle 3/Paladin 3/Holy Vindicator 2 [HP 74/74 | AC:21 | T:12 | FF:19 | CMD:20 | Fort:+14 | Ref:+11 | Will:+14 (+2 vs charm and comp.) | Fire Res:1 | Cold Res:1 | Init:+1 | Per:+0 | Sense Motive:+0 | Bluff:+5 | Dip.:+16 | Stealth:+0 | Spellcraft:+9]
Veronica watched as the creature walked off, still unsure of how to feel about all of this. Catcher's words had rung true, this creature was not a devil, despite his wickedness. And it seemed as if he had been just as wronged by the moon beast as the others.
Still, she feared what other evil he may cause now that he was free. And chances were good that they would not be around to stop him. Still, in the absence of wrong doing would they be right to take his life for what he may have done, or may yet do?
All of this weighed heavy on her heart. But she took some comfort that this was the action that Brother Gromff supported. He had been a beacon of Righteousness so far. Still, she knew she had many nights of prayer and reflection ahead of her.
Putting the thoughts out of her mind for now, she instead focuses on what she knows to be right, and begins to inspect the ex-slaves for injuries and wounds that she might tend to.
Welcome everyone, good to see you! I'm looking forward to interacting with all of you!
@Valence - I have Leadership, but I don't plan on combining my organization. They're loyal to ME and ME alone... luckily, I'm loyal to the pact. Besides, I intend to use them mostly as spies anyway.
As far as personality goes, well, Nahia is a sweet and tender woman with a penchant for fine food and liquor. If you want more then either observe it in game or beat my bluff. : )
Also, as Cohorts go, if you would prefer to use yours then we can see about pushing Seren into the background. I can let her run my sisterhood for a while.
@Aku I'm confused. In what post did we find the third eye?
- - - - -
@Rose, I'm not really concerned with any of the equipment found for myself. Maybe just a share of gold if we have any left once this mission is done.
And I thought you were against the lyre of building before?
And if you want I can grab a copy of the map image and you can just draw on it in paint or pinta or something. And I was actually thinking that Kitara could spend some time shaping stone to close off some of the side tunnels with thin walls. Perfect for spying and pincer ambushes.
- - - - -
@All, The answer to the firemans pole is simple. A lever changes the stairs into a twisty slide.
Female Human Oracle 3/Paladin 3/Holy Vindicator 2 [HP 74/74 | AC:21 | T:12 | FF:19 | CMD:20 | Fort:+14 | Ref:+11 | Will:+14 (+2 vs charm and comp.) | Fire Res:1 | Cold Res:1 | Init:+1 | Per:+0 | Sense Motive:+0 | Bluff:+5 | Dip.:+16 | Stealth:+0 | Spellcraft:+9]
Veronica stood on the deck of the Salt, leaning over the rail and looking back at the as the ruins shrank in the distance. Her right hand was gently rubbing the dried blood on her robes, the crusty, powdery feel of the dried blood giving her a certain comfort.
We did good things here today. We rid this world of an old evil, resanctified a holy place, and saved dozens of people from future threats. But we also almost lost our lives to that threat... Brother Gromff was right, I was foolhardy to rush into the battle like that. My companions aren't familiar with the tactics of my people...
And it did not help that I was weak. Brother Gromff, Roland... even the girl Catcher are greater warriors than I. I've been so focused on defeating the devils that I've forgotten my place as a maiden of the Broken Shield. My skills are not yet honed for such endeavors... And in my blindness my companions nearly paid with their lives, instead of mine own.
She knelt her head to whisper a quiet prayer of forgiveness, but the prayer turned into a rasping cough that made her muscles twitch.
Should I apologize to them? Brother Gromff may chide me but wouldth ultimately dismiss it unimportant since we still won. Roland wouldth laugh it off saying I did what was best... Catcher wouldth chide me as well, though she seems to chide much. Though that doesn't mean that she is wrong. No, an apology would do little but reduce their faith in me, and faith is what we need right now.
Maybe it would be best if I followed in Brother Gromff's example. He seems to be a beacon of strong faith in the abnormally dark world. And while his faith is not mine, it is clear that his virtue is to be admired... Maybe that is my new role... as the Shield to his Sword...
But would that be ignoring my charge from thee, Ragathiel? Would that be running from my destiny as thy vengeful blade? Or was thy choice of a pick for me a sign that I should follow one of the stone? Am I to be apostle or warrior? Shield or Blade?
She let out a heavy sigh before bowing her head in silent prayer.
I have grown lax in my practice and in my piety. I shall wait for a sign, and in the meantime I shall follow the middle road.
Please, oh great Broken God,
Please of great General of Vengeance,
Grant this pitiful servant the wisdom to follow the righteous path.
That I may serve you in your plans to free this world.
Amen.
And as another cough racks her frame, she leaves to find her companions.
- - - - -
Catcher:
Veronica approaches the girl with a slight smile and softly speaks. "Thank thee, Catcher, for all of the aid you have given us in these difficult battles. Were it not for thy prowess, we surely would have fallen to our foes by now."
- - - - -
Roland:
Veronica walks up the large man and starts to speak, though a soft cough interrupts her. "Thank thee, Roland. Thy strength ist impressive, and thy battle fervor equally so. It is good to travel with a companion as skilled as thee."
- - - - -
Gromff:
Veronica approaches the dwarf cautiously, ensuring that she is not interrupting a moment of faith. "Brother Gromff, firstly, let me say that thy faith and virtue are to be commended, as well as they skill in battle. And given that, I would make a request of thee."
She holds forth her 'walking stick' and lets the illusion melt away to reveal the mithril pick, with its ornate craftsmanship and bright metal in full display. "Already, I learn from thy example of virtuous fortitude, but I would ask if thee could instructst me in the handling of my weapon. Its use was an oddity to my people, and I fear that my lack of training has been made obvious in our recent encounters."
Ok, this is awesome and becoming my new theme song!
I must admit I was unable to think of Nahia when hearing it. But my grasp of songs meanings in english is really bad.
Like most songs for stuff like this, I had to look up the lyrics.
First of all, the song has a nice folksy feel to it. The lyrics often imply an otherworldy/spiritual element with lines like:
"And I don't fear the dark anymore 'cause I'm become all that."
"I have seen such things child on this, and the other side."
"When you feel yourself grow colder wrap the night around your shoulders"
In my head I see like a montage starting with Nahia's mother (the hag) singing it like a lullaby and then going through the various natural/spiritual rituals and some of the more tragic events in her life.
Holt nods at Ceres, her excitement starting to come out again, saying "Rather cute... Hmm, I wonder how they would feel if they knew we thought that? And can you imagine what our people are going to think of psychic centaur... dogs?" Holt stops and purses her lips as her mind flits through the best combination of words to describe the Mylthani.
Ok, this just ate a big post I had written, so this one might be a bit shorter.
Sellsword,
The issue with a system like that is that if you have players that don't like rolling lots of dice (yes, they do exist, one of them is in my group) then they aren't going to like it. I mean, there is a reason that Skill Mastery was kind of a crowning moment for the old Rogue (though it helps that the Rogue sucked, but still).
I've played that system in the past and it seems to work well for gritty games where every encounter is expected to be a serious fight for your life.
If have players that like to roll and want to do something like that, one thing I have done in the past is to roll multiple dice and take the average (round up). It still give you the same dice range but concentrates the rolls more towards the middle, with the more dice you roll concentrating it even more in the middle. In my experiences, this tends to get the players a good idea of what their normal limits are and removes any kind of luck (or badly crafted die) based hubris. Again, great for gritty games.
Going back to the exploding dice idea, one thing you could do is replace the d20 roll with a roll of 3d6 and let them explode. It averages about the same as a d20 but concentrates a little more in the middle, but the exploding lets you potentially have a higher range, and since you roll multiple dice the chance for exploding is greater.
Or instead of exploding you can change the bonuses to work like the old d6 systems: Give bonuses but every time the bonuses reach a certain point, add another die to the roll instead. So, if you wanted the difficulty to stay about the same, but allow for fantastical results, give bonuses until they total +3 and add 1d6 instead (so a +8 bonus would instead be 2d6 + 2, or a range of 4-14, concentrated towards 9). If you wanted to scale back how easy it is to reach the higher DC add dice every 5 or so (+8 becomes 1d6 + 3, for a range of 4-9, averaging around 6.5).
You might be able to combine the two and exploding, but I'd be careful there and I'd need to do the math and make the spreadsheets before I could properly suggest it.
