Hi All,
I am prepping to run the Clanhold dungeon this week for my group (Anniversary Edition) and I am hoping for some help with a couple of questions.
1) In general - are spells or tactics listed in 'Before Combat' already incorporated into the Stat Blocks? I have generally assumed they are - and removed them if my Players managed to catch them unaware.
2) Lamarter Bayden's (pg 178) energy drain doesn't list the number of levels? Am I meant to be able to derive this somehow or was it just forgotten?
3) Barl Breakbones tactics specify he casts Fly if he has the chance (on himself I assume). But he has no fly skill listed? So what do I use for any fly checks he needs to make?
4) Does Barl's HP of 152 include his activation of his Sihedron Medallion's false life? I assume no - and he gets an additional 8d10 temporary HP once activated?
Edited to remove stupid question :-)
Thanks for any help in advance!
1. Generally, yes. They usually call out what's been included in the stat block in the Tactics section.
2. That's an omission in the stat block. Looking at the entry for frost wight on p. 276 of the Bestiary, frost wights bestow one negative level.
3. The Fly skill can be used untrained, which makes it the same as a Dex check (+5 for Barl).
4. His stats as printed don't include the false life. Please note that the false life effect of a Sihedron medallion grants 1d10+5 temporary hp, not 8d10. (That would be a LOT of temporary hp!)
Good luck!
Thanks for the reply! I misread the 'false life' spell as an extra d20 per caster level :-) I thought it seemed way overpowered!
So does Barl take a -2 on fly checks due to being size Large? This makes sense if he were using wings - it makes no sense to me that the size of a creature would effect its flight if it were using magic or a supernatural ability.
Actually a lot of the fly skill rules seem to be written for winged creatures - why would a creature flying using the 'fly spell' need to make a DC15 flight check to 'Hover' - the fly spell says "Using a fly spell requires only as much concentration as walking, so the subject can attack or cast spells normally" - yet a DC15 flight check to hover seems to imply this is not the case - you dont have to make a DC15 'Walk' check at the end of your turn to remain standing....
The 'Fly Skill' also says "Creatures with a fly speed treat the Fly skill as a class skill"
So given that the Fly Spell gives the subject a fly speed while subject to the spell - would they get the +3 bonus of it being a class skill?
I would suggest the reference to the "fly speed" in the Fly skill description applies only to creatures with a native fly speed (or if you're feeling generous, creatures polymorphed or shapechanged into the form of a creature that has a native fly speed.)
It does not make much sense to me for a spell that gives you the ability to fly for at most 20 minutes lets you get the class skill bonus in skill ranks. Even if it worked that way, to get that bonus you would also need to have added an actual skill rank in Fly.
Lastly, and perhaps more compellingly the Fly spell explicitly directs how it affects Fly skill checks: "The subject gains a bonus on Fly skill checks equal to 1/2 your caster level."