(This is an answer to a spoilered question but I'm making it public because it's useful for everyone to know.)
During Caravan Combat or Caravan Rolls, it is already presumed that you are casting all relevant spells and taking all relevant action (without needing to use up spells slots or daily uses.) Remember that the Caravan is "leveling up" to reflect your growing power and abilities that you are using on a daily basis, not because the Wagons themselves are gaining experience.
There are certain situations where specific spells or types of spells have an extra added benefit if you actually use up a spell slot to cast them during a Caravan activity. Which spells do this are highly specific based on the particular situation.
Even if it seems logical that another spell you have would also have a beneficial effect, remember that you are already considered to be casting it. It is HAVING its beneficial effect - it is simply not one of the ones that is considered by the AP to be "extra useful" and give special additional effects. (Even if you think it should. Caravan Combat works on its own set of rules.)
In this situation, the "extra benefits" are restricted to certain spells that enhance your defensive fortifications by blocking your enemy, slowing them down, or setting off traps. They provide these benefits because the fortifications are giving them a special boost by letting you channel foes towards them. If you have a spell that will increase everyone's character's AC by +50 for 70 rounds, that's great, you are using it, but it will have no "extra" effects here. It is already accounted for by the fact that your Caravan is 8th level, like you.
(We might want to free up all possible spell slots anyway, in case there's some personal-level showdown fight among the mass combat.)
And as a quick note, this one will be resolved as Caravan Combat. If it were being resolved as mixed Caravan and regular combat (which can and will happen), I would have said so. I don't have any interest in playing "you used up all your spells slots because the GM said it would be a good idea and now you're going to get punished for it" gotcha games.
During Caravan Combat or Caravan Rolls, it is already presumed that you are casting all relevant spells and taking all relevant action (without needing to use up spells slots or daily uses.)
(Emphasis mine.)
So although it makes sense for our characters to dig into Stores to have more (personal-scale) spells at hands for our big battle, the caravan combat rules relieve us from having to worry about the expenditure of these resources? Nice!
Holy crap, 8d8+4 damage per hit. Our piddly Increased Damage seems so futile next to that.
Then again, we shouldn't be comparing our damage to theirs, but to their hitpoints. If we did 3d6+9 rather than 2d6+9 damage, that would be a 22% increase in damage output, or an 18% reduction in battle duration (assuming we win) and thus damage taken. That sounds like a better deal than 20 extra hitpoints.
(Of course, the Increased Damage doesn't add to our survivability in cases like the chimera, where we just take damage and can't do much about it.)
At least our AC seems to be holding up for once. Yay fortifications! :)
I believe this is where one of us shouts "Ha! Is that all you've got?"
I believe this is where one of us shouts "Ha! Is that all you've got?"
famous last words...
:P
I believe this is where one of us shouts "Ha! Is that all you've got?"
Wave two. In which they establish ... that wasn't all they've got.
Holy crap, 8d8+4 damage per hit.
The undead on the way to the Storm Tower were doing 8d8 .
I think Myriana has the right idea, Officially Not Liking the undead.
I think Myriana has the right idea, Officially Not Liking the undead.
Alaric has mixed feelings, because channeling to destroy undead is fun.
The most dangerous Caravan encounter possible in this module is what you'd have met if I'd rolled the random encounter called "Death From Below" while you were in the Boreal Expanse. 10d8+5 damage, considered to be CR 11. (Not necessarily a "fight to the bitter end" like this one, however, as there are conditions under which it would have left.)
Claimable Items
Terra Cotta Warrior (8,000 gp)
Once per day, the possessor of this terra-cotta talisman can reroll a single attack roll as an immediate action, with a +1 luck bonus on the reroll, and keep the most favorable result. The talisman also contains a small vestige of the spirit of a warrior that can be called upon once per day as a standard action to manifest itself as the spell spiritual ally, caster level 7.
No claims.
I'll lay in a claim for the Terra Cotta Warrior. Sounds very useful.
As for the Spiritual Ally, does it use my own BAB and Wisdom (or Charisma?) modifier? Or the minimal requirements for the spell, as if it were a wand?
No claims.
I don't want to be the guy with all the cool terra cotta stuff, nor do I want it to be unclaimed.
But since I see that Hrunndalf has laid a claim, and since I think this one fits both Hrunndalf's and Rhost's styles, I make no claim.
I do sense a theme building. I wonder how many terra cotta items we're going to find? Do we get an army?
As for the Spiritual Ally, does it use my own BAB and Wisdom (or Charisma?) modifier? Or the minimal requirements for the spell, as if it were a wand?
The second -- a staff is the only exception to that rule for magic items.
That means it would have an attack of +7, and deal 1d10+2 force damage (bypassing DR). If you used it to flank it would, of course, get the flanking bonus too. It could also benefit from stuff like bless, bardic music, Tactician, Blessing of Fervor, etc.
The weapon it uses isn't specified, and I would let you pick the favored weapon of any appropriate god (any non-evil diety will probably be fine), so it might have a nice threat range or crit modifiers. Once you settled on a choice, that's the weapon it would be for all time, though; the magic item will not change its religion.
A quick word about immediate actions -
We're getting into levels where immediate actions are becoming possible through various means. Obviously, this is a little tricky to handle in the Fog of War rules.
I'd like to start out by trying it this way - if you have an immediate action that is available to your character on a regular basis (a spell you can cast, a thing you can do daily, etc.), let me know if what circumstances you want it triggered.
For example, Kalimac has a magic item that lets him reroll an attack roll as an immediate action; normally he would do that himself during his action declaration, but since it's immediate, it could also happen during an Attack of Opportunity he didn't roll for. So he might tell me, re-roll if I ever get a natural one during an Attack of Opportunity and haven't used the ability yet.
As another example, Melinda has access to the immediate action spell Feather Fall. She might tell me, I would cast it whenever an ally is in danger of taking falling damage as long as I have spell slots of Xth level or lower left.
And so on.
Should I be declaring this sort of thing now, or when I make my first round action declarations with my initiative, etc.?
And I think Lio and Alaric have useful options even for lower-level spell slots.
This doesn't matter for this situation, but this has come up before, so a quick reminder to the party: Alaric refreshes spells at sunset rather than sunrise.
Should I be declaring this sort of thing now, or when I make my first round action declarations with my initiative, etc.?
Now, ideally. The idea is to get a general rule of thumb for when unanticipated situations come up outside of your declared turn.
Current vote is leaning towards another level of Enhanced Caravan, by the way, but not enough to have settled the matter yet.
My vote is for Increased Damage.
My vote is for Increased Damage.
I also (change my) vote to Increased Damage.
The percentage increase is much larger and it seems to hit and AC may be more adjustable, though (unfortunately) quite likely in both direction.
Hey! The post count came back on the IC board!
Should I be declaring this sort of thing now, or when I make my first round action declarations with my initiative, etc.?Now, ideally. The idea is to get a general rule of thumb for when unanticipated situations come up outside of your declared turn.
OK. In that case, I like what you came up with. So mark me down as "please use the Horse Terra Cotta Talisman to re-roll if I ever get a natural one during an Attack of Opportunity and haven't used the ability yet."
Hey! The post count came back on the IC board!
I am so very glad I asked for that. And I already went and thanked them for it :).
I will put in a claim on the Terra Cotta Warrior for appearance's sake (as I know it will go to Hrunndalf).
Hey! The post count came back on the IC board!I am so very glad I asked for that. And I already went and thanked them for it :).
Woot!
Having said something very similar, not long ago, and having been pointedly ignored, Lio sighs.
So you did! Oops. I remember reading that post, but I forgot it again when the whole zombie apocalypse came between. Sorry. :\
I am anticipating that 9th level will most likely arrive for you guys by the end of the weekend.
I'm off on a road trip to Las Vegas, so my posting will be a bit constrained today. And I'm not sure about my internet situation while I'm there.
I'll be back to normal Saturday night. In the meantime I'll be posting as connectivity allows.
Notes:
1) The voting for the 9th level Caravan feat now leans slightly towards Increased Damage.
2) After Jaagiin (the last place in this module where you can realistically go shopping), I will temporarily no longer distribute any cash money with each loot distribution. Instead, I will keep a running tally of how much money is in the "pot" after magic item claims, and at the end of the module, I will divide the money up among you based on your loot claim totals and get things as evened up as I can. (So you will have the money by the time you reach Ordu-Anganhei and its sexy sexy 6,400 gp Base Value.)
Yay?
Yay?
This is indeed the appropriate response. Let the dancing commence.
The heat is not working again. Current temperature outside: -9 C.
Amusingly, I have been told to "imagine that I am in the Arctic" in regard to how to get through the night.
(This is a lot easier to take with a sane landlord, though, I will admit.)
Thinking of how far the characters have come (geographically as well as level-wise), it boggles me a bit to realize we're not yet through Part 3 of 6.
Part three is almost certain to be the longest in terms of both geography, time in game, and time in real life.
Leveling also doesn't happen at the same speed at higher levels - instead of going up three levels in a module, it'll soon be more likely to be two.
(There is still travel to come, Tian Xia is a big place and travel is a big part of the entire AP, obviously, but ... this is very much the EPIC JOURNEY setpiece.)
BTW, DM, what's your stance on retconning the content of conversations, such as Hrunndalf's reaction to Mel's speculation on the Lonely Maiden's "innocence" after he should have heard Lio's comment earlier...?
It bugs me to leave such continuity errors in-game as a result of out-of-game forgetfulness.
I'm not averse to minor retconning if everyone involved is amenable to it. I'd suggest having a quick spoilered OOC conversation with Liothonae here on this board to determine how/if it should be handled.
Sounds good.
Or maybe I'm just overthinking this?
I'm fine of course fine with Lio being peeved when Hrunndalf does things (without evil intent) that across to Lio as rude or disrespectful. I'd rather not have him do things that are objectively rude and disrespectful, especially without my (the player's) intention...
I don't think we need to retcon the event explicitly on the game thread as long as it won't have any in-game consequences later.
Possibly should have asked this earlier, but:
Do any of you want to spend a shopping/nontravel day in Ul-Angorn and/or Jaagiin, or do you want to just head on as soon as possible?
I don't know that I need a full day, but some time to pick up supplies would be useful.
Terra Cotta Warrior (8,000 gp)
I don't know that I need a full day, but some time to pick up supplies would be useful.
Ditto for Ul-Angorn at least.
I don't know that I need a full day, but some time to pick up supplies would be useful.Ditto for Ul-Angorn at least.
Three for shopping in Ul-Angorn.
Coldest night in the Netherlands since 27 years. The collateral damage this game is causing is starting to get out of hand.
Coldest night in the Netherlands since 27 years. The collateral damage this game is causing is starting to get out of hand.
It's warm in Honolulu. Maybe Europe is just having a cold spell? You guys are pretty far up north. Brrr. Cold.
Hope spring comes soon for you guys!