DM themed play-by-post D&D game : OOC thread

[beowuuf]

Bloodily?

The idea is that many minor things you could do while undertaking a standard action (mostly moving) are classed as being move actions. If you are skillful in combat (+1 base attack bonus) you can combine unsheathing a sword or putting on a shield with a move actions (like moving and buckling on a shield, or getting up and unsheathing a sword). However, they are still intensive enough operations on their own that it counts as a move action if you do nothing else 'move-y'. Hence in a surprise round you can't unsheathe a weapon and attack, though you could move and unsheath a weapon, ready to strike next round.

The idea of the five foot step is just giving a mechanics to the fact that really combat isn't static (hence why each person gets a 5 foot zone around them to call their own usually!) So really when undertaking a standard action, the 'jitter' or a personmoving around can probably get them five feet away from where they were, while they are still concentrating on their task. Obviously, the five foot step is a mechanical fudge, so if a person is deliberately moving somewhere with a move action, they don't also get this fudge.

Long story short - 'no', and 'well spotted' The mechanics soooorta make sense, but yeah, it's not like basic D&D or 2nd ed

And yeah, speaking of how the round goes, I think I have an AoO to roll at least!

[beowuuf]

Oh, and unless you have certain reflex-boosting feats, you only get one attack of opportunity per round. So I was just pointing out if you do a move action that isnt' concentrating on your enemy, he could make an attack. However, by making that attack, he then cannot attack other people similarly distracted

Again, the AoO is a rules fudge to account for making each person act in turn, even though it's all supposed to be happening at once. Luckily, it's still limited a little by common sense!

[Lord_BoNes]

Here's the rolls you asked for, Beo: (1d20 = 17, not sure of the damage, but this is the damage for the sword 1d8+1 = 3+1 = 4)

[beowuuf]

Cheers! Non-lethal attack? You can always spend the first round using 'sense evil' instead if you wish. Note that if you do detect evil, you are pretty much honour-bound to smite it and give no quarter though

[Lord_BoNes]

That sounds like a good idea. And non-lethal, it they're NOT evil... if they are, then lop their heads off!

[beowuuf]

Ok, so doing the rolls and calculations for the next update. Westian will manage to score a good strike on Arbrut, though not a killing one.

However.... Arbrut will basically run Falkor through when Falkor attempts his next spell Falkor will be at 0hp, which is an odd middle state between dropping down unconcious and bleeding to death, and still being upright and holding it together. If money chooses to try and finsih the spell, Falkor will be dying. If money chooses to not cast the spell and have Falkor try to hold himself together, Falkor will be very vulnerable.

Just pointing out to anyone who hasn't yet moved....umm, which is probably just Haynuus infact

[Lord_BoNes]

My "round 2, standard action" will be to cast lay-on-hands (8hp) on Falkor.

A side thought: you've mentioned the 3 uses of abilities per encounter, does that apply stack onto lay-on-hands? IE: can I use the my 8hp multiple times, therefore healing 24hp, but leaving myself without any more healing ability (until I rest)... if this is the case, does it also stack with my usual 8hp per day? In other words, do I get my 8hp for my ("once" per day cast) and then get the x3 per encounter on top (24hp)?

[beowuuf]

LB - so using a standard action for one round will let you know if there is evil in the room or not. You can chance your arm that it is the emprisoning soldiers with some skulls on their armour.

A second round would let you know how many and how powerful the evil was, and it would take a third round to know exactly which people/items in the room were evil.

Note you could do movement actions while detecting evil.


It would perhaps be reckless for a paladinto make assumptions after the first round, but then again it depends on your character. With his natural ability scores, would he be a little arrogant? As you've seen before, at the end of the day intentions are neither rewarded nor punished - just results. make the right choice and your standing is safe!

Play as your character dictates, paladins need to observe their alignment tightly right up until evil is involvled, in which case they can be a little bit...extreme...

[beowuuf]

There are two things going on here. I'm limiting the amount of cool stuff spellcasters can do per encounter. Also, as a paladin you naturally have a further limit to how often you can use some of your powers each 'day'.

So for example, you can use 'sense evil' as many times as you like per 'day', but only potentially three times each encounter. Meanwhile, you can only heal 8hp in total per 'day', AND cannot lay on hands more than three times an encounter.

Note also that I'm limiting powers per encounter in a global pool. So you need to mix and match smite, sense evil, lay on hands, etc, and you cannot do more than three instances IN TOTAL. So perhaps two sense evils and a smite, two lay on hands and a sense evil, etc.

As you will find out, the game day is much shorter than normal (and levelling up will also reset the day counter) but it's still a way to limit your powerful abilities. After all, even without your powers you are a fighter comparable to Haynuus!

Note than magical item effects will also come from this pool for all spellcasters - so for example falkor has to choose between his natural willpower abilities and using staves/wands each encounter. Westian would have to choose between prayers and holy items each encounter. And your character would have to choose between enchanted weapon powers and his natural paladin powers each encounter.

[Ameena]

Regarding the possibility of lying to Drommal about Arbrut starting the attack, I'm sure any other character might well do so, but murafu integrity means they don't tell direct lies like that. They will sometimes deceive by not telling the whole truth, but they won't say anything that's directly untrue. So Ameena wouldn't say "Arbrut just attacked Falkor for no reason", rather she'd say something more along the lines of "They're fighting back there...that Arbrut fellow - I noticed he didn't seem to like us much...", which implies that Arbrut might have kicked off the violence but doesn't actually specify that he did.
However, that's all moot because not only did Falkor start the fight, he did so with the obvious intention to kill. If he'd just tried to knock Arbrut out or something, Ameena's actions would have been entirely different (if she had nipped through the teleporter it would have been deliberately, rather than through fear, and with the intention of stalling Drommal and others with the aforementioned implied speech). But lobbing a big (well, dinky, I suppose, since it was Lo-level) ball of fire at someone usually implies that you are trying to fry them to a crisp...which doesn't normally imply that you're trying to just disable them. To keep my character in character, I can't really play right into the hands of the rest of the group, unfortunately, because of the inherently mostly-peaceful ("mostly" because, as mentioned before, they do fight, but usually in self-defence or to protect a friend, and never to kill if they can help it) nature of the Murafu.
Sooo anyway...I gather I get to go again. It's tricky trying to wonder what to do...my character seems to have turned out both simple and complicated at the same time - "Ooh shit, my friends have started a fight, bugger this I'm running away...oh crap I'm a member of a social species stuck in a place where I have no idea of where the exit is, if there is one, and all manner of scary monsters probably roaming about. Stay with group of apparently homicidal people and risk them kicking off more needless violence, or run off on my own and end up getting eaten or curling up in a ball of miserable loneliness...bollocks..."
Well, alright, so she wouldn't actually think of it in those exact terms, but given a chance to calm down a bit and think it through, that's the gist of what she'd be left with.

[beowuuf]

And hopefully that's what makes this game interesting to watch and hopefull to play too!

For playing a charaacter, if in doubt go with your gut. If Ameena would bolt and run, and only later realise she infact is better off going back to the group, that's some interesting tension The only two times I can think of where I regretted the decisions and outcomes of playing my character are times where I made decisions where I overthought and let subtle meta-game thinking in. Vice versa, some of the best were jsut ignoring mechanics and anything else and just going with the initial instinct.

[Ameena]

What is meta-gaming, anyway? I hear it mentioned quite often at club too, but haven't managed to work out exactly what it is yet.
And I just posted an IC post. I think it's mechanically alright. But let me know .

[ian_scho]

I'm glad you updated the map, Beo! Posting too.

[beowuuf]

Meta-gaming is where you step outside of the character and make decisions as a player. So for example, if Ameena was needing proof of Arbrut's villainy, and so money had Falkor go back through the teleporter even though there was no reason for Falkor to do that, it would be meta-gaming.

A great example of meta-gaming that is generally accepted is where the group take on a character for no good reason except he is a PC.

Otherw examples are playing a battle purely from a tactical standpoint (so for example you've had Ameena run away for a character reason. Meta-gaming, she should have stayed and attacked someone close to get sneak attack damage in and perhaps provided a flanking bonus to someone.

The fact you don't do it, to the extent you don't even know what it is, is good

[beowuuf]

Yeah, sorry Ian, this combat is being a little bit chaotic due to a few factors. Hopefully we'll get into a rhythmn. Glad to do anything - like adding the strikethroughs - to help

[Ameena]

Ahh, in that case, I seem to have meta-gamed pretty much all the time in tabletop games, but when I'm able to write it down in story-form as an RPG like we're doing here, it's easy to get into character, and stay there, since I've been doing it for years and years anyway, in one form or another .


As an edit - Ooh I see you posted your latest IC update while I was still writing mine - it took a while plus I went to the loo partway through typing. But yaaay it means I have an update to read .

[beowuuf]

LMAO, so did people keep yelling at you for it, and you thought they were jealous cause you were obviously just playing too well and making them look bad?

[Ameena]

Right, now I've read the IC posts...it seems you're online right now...do you want me to edit my previous post (the one I made earlier this evening which clashed with your update due to the timing of our postings), or shall I add on Ameena's reaction in a separate post but still consider it a continuation of the previous one?
And ouuuch, Falkor got pwnzored .
Oh yeah, and what was so good about the previous post anyway? You said you liked it...and no, I won't delete it or anything. It doesn't need changing, just a bit added on afterwards - just need to know if you want that as an add-on to that post or as a new post by itself.

[beowuuf]

I just like the what she said blending into what she thought.

If you can just add a reaction to Falkor being down. Ameena will come in just as Arbrut is falling in a charred heap on the floor (the lowest damage he can take is 2hp, and that's all he has!) and Fakor falling uncnscious.

I'm getting the Drommal update done, but that will be just after Ameena comes through and reacts.

[Ameena]

Okay, I'll do it as a new post then...


Edit - Alrighty, there we go...ended up being a bit longer than I thought it might, but meh, it's one of my posts, so I dunno why I was expecting anything less . But now I'm going to bed...somewhat later than I'd planned but never mind - it's Friday .
Oi, Cleric - get over here and heal the halfling! Yeah, I know we've now got a Pally who can sort-of heal too, but Ameena hasn't really noticed him yet or has any clue what he is or what he can do.

[beowuuf]

Aurek's healing is in someways more limited and in other ways much better - he can touch heal. He also has some of the healing spells of Westian too. So between then, thye can fix you up as long as you can survive the fight. This time you are dealing with confused soldiers - harder to heal if your enemy won't stop the battle

[ian_scho]

Questions:
* Can Haynuus stabilise Falkor? It'd be an action instead of swinging his sword?
* Is chucking his unconcious body through the teleporters possable? Can HAynuus somehow prevent the soldiers from passing through, while letting the allies flee?
* Fuck, forgotton now... Oh yeah. Can Haynuus wait until immediately after OB's turn to see if he heals the halfing anyway?

[beowuuf]

Answer:
1) Yes, even without the heal skill you can make a DC15 wisdom check to provide first aid. Lucky, you have bandages from the mummy, so if you wish to use them you won't take a penalty. Further, you self-sufficiency feat gives you a +2 bonus. Yes, the heal check is a standard action. Watch out, it provokes an attack of opportunity from those around you.

2) It is, although it will make Falkor's condition worse (he'll lose an extra amount of hp). You can try to prevent the soldiers passing through by doing what you are doing - at the moment you and Ameena block easy movement through the teleporter by being on those two squares (I keep forgetting you casn't move diagonally passed a wall, so people can't sneak in through the sides.

In order to get passed you or Ameena, the soldiers would have to do an overrun (basically using oppossed strength check to push you out of the way), a bull rush (using an opposed strength check to push you through the teleporter, though it needs a greater success for them to be able to follow), or a trained acrobatics check (and even though they have the skill, their armour makes it tough). In all cases except the acrobatics check, you'd get an attack of opportunity before they even got to you.

3) Yes, the two things you can always do are a) ready an action, where you gamble on using a standard action to interrupt the round, but it needs a specific trigger, or b) what you want to do, which is delay until after another person. With the delay, you cannot interrupt anyone else's actions, but on the plus side you get to go when you want otherwise and get your full round's worth of actions.

Note that the readied action is how you would deal with blocking both squares if Ameena left. You'd stay on E6, and have a readied action of 'I will attempt to grab anyone who attempts to go through'. Grabbing someone would leave E6 exposed, but would let you stop someone trying to bypass you. I would also let a grab readied action stand as an alternative to an AoO if someone decided to run through you or bullrush you - you could grab them as they got close and try to stop them that way

So there we go, answers in summary:
1) Yes, yes.
2) Yes, and 'you can try'
3) Yes

[beowuuf]

He really wanted to know the answer to this last one... he was, after all, wearing a suit of it himself.

Hehe, I love it when my players manage to think ahead of me, or at least spot a potential pitfall / encounter I was toying with

To be honest, Falkor surprised me by picking up on the armour thing when to me it was a small detail with some background I had done for myself for amusement. Of course, then I realised the implication of it and let him run with it. Glad his sacrifice of a skill use back then, and now Aurek's actions will lead to an interesting discovery and save the party some pain

I mean... wut?

[Lord_BoNes]

Haynuus took a defensive posture over Falkor, shifting Ameena out of the way if need be. "Can you help him Westian?" said the half-orc. Anyone attempting to stop Westian (or anyone else for that matter) from healing Falkor would now get a very angry response with a Falkion.

I do believe that it is spelt "falcion". LOL, trust the half-orc to do that...

[beowuuf]

When it's used to defend Falkor, it's a Falkion

[Ameena]

Falchion .
Because of Falkor's condition, Ameena's gonna be staying close - she won't be too opposed to one of the non-soldiers trying to investigate, so if Haynuus wants to attempt a heal or something, she won't try to stop him. Since it's rather obvious (at least, to umm...non-half-orcs ) that trying to chuck a probably-mortally-wounded person about won't exactly do anything good for their health, however, she'll try and point out as much if Haynuus tries to lift or otherwise move Falkor, especially knowing what she knows so far about him - that however benign his intentions, his umm...methods can be a little...erm...rough?
Meanwhile, if anyone wearing scary skully armour tries to get close, expect them to get a warning if they do so slowly. If they move quicker or try to attack, she'll skip the warning and go straight to the teeth instead. Well, actually, would that count as an unarmed attack and provoke and AoO? Damn these mechanics, lol.
Anyway, that's a rough idea of what she'll be doing. Of course, I shall wait till my next go to see what she actually does. I suppose this is the bit where Westian goes "Oh no, I can't heal him, I don't have a flask...let's see if I've got anything else in my bag which might hel...hey hang on, wtf, where the hell did this flask come from?!" .

[ian_scho]

Would stuffing an unstoppered VI flask in an unconcious Halfling actually work?... Well, assuming you put it in the right hole of course

[Ameena]

I don't see why not - just pour a bit down his throat, slowly, until it's all gone or he wakes up and can carry on drinking it properly.
That's assuming Westian can manage to cast a Vi potion without fizzling away all his mana, of course .

[beowuuf]

Exactly, it's assumed that you trickle the potion down their throat and BANG they're back up. As far as I'm concern, you'd partially splash the potion onto a wound to heal that would externally, and then drink the rest to heal injuries internally and revive them.

Ameena, you are right your unarmed strike would provoke an attack of opportunity. If you aren't moving, you can unsheathe a knife as a move action and and ready an attack after that as your standard action.