Yeah, I know. Just noticed giving the tentacles opportunities to roll several GC's per round goes against the idea of victims escaping them. Reading the spell description again this is how I read it. Anyway, Lyssander is up next.
Also, nauseated is a severe condition: only one move action/turn, so no spell casting.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:55, Sun 26 Feb 2012.

Lyssander proceeds to act.

Round 5:
  [Free]
  [Standard]  ?
  [Move]  ?

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Double move

---

Status:
  Initiative: 21
  AC (Touch AC): 22 (12) (+1 vs. ogre mage)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 0


Effects:
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (30 rounds)
Magic Tattoo: +2 saves (resistance)
Magic Tattoo: +2 attack (competence)
Shield: +4 shield bonus (20 rounds)
Alter Self (Protectar): flight 60' (30 minutes)

Final Position: (not visible from ogre mage's current location)

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
D-21, 5' up, no part of the flight path is visible to the Ogre Mage

---

The escape from the grappling tentacles was but a fleeting victory as the web held the ogre firmly in place. Now that the noxious cloud suddenly envelopes him the giant-kin can do little else than endure the stinging flames of the web and try and hold off the crushing strength of the tentacles. At least he could try and avoid breathing in the poisonous gases.

Round 5:
  [Move] Still held in place
  [Free] Fort save against nausea: 21 success
  [Standard] None
Status:
  Initiative: 8
  AC (Touch AC): 21 (11)

  Damage Taken:   2 (5 regen)
  Damage Dealt:   0

Effects:
Oil of Shillelagh 3 mins
Cat's Grace: +4 DEX
Invisible: 9 minutes
Deaf: 1 hour (negates effect of Buzzing Bee spell)
Entangled
Grappled
Cover (from Web)
Concealement (from gas)
Nauseated (only 1 move action/round)

Final Position: Same as before, KL 25/26

OOC: Fort save to be rolled on Garath's action (done), also next round the ogre is free from the webs (subjected to 2d4 damage) but not free from the tentacles, and still nauseated.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:56, Mon 27 Feb 2012.

OOC:

1.  Why the Fort save?  Once you fail a Fort save, you are nauseated for as long as you are in the cloud, plus some randomly determined number of rounds thereafter...  Additional Fort saves don't do anything, or are you reading the spell differently?

2.  I assume you are ruling that if a creature occupies several cubes that are filled with burning webs, the creature still only takes one 2d4's worth of fire damage, is that correct?  I'm not disputing this ruling, just making sure that it is in fact your intention to rule this way, because I've seen a ruling on this same issue go the other way in a campaign that Garath is in with DM BCM.

3.  I think the column at L24, floor-to-ceiling, is still solidly enwebbed after the burning on Garath's turn on round 6, so the Ogre Mage is still entangled next round.  After Garath's turn on round 7, the webbing at L24 from floor to 5' will be burned away, but 5'-10' will still be there - will the Ogre Mage be entangled and attached to the ceiling at that point?  Or do those webs just vanish?
[I think I see the source of some of the confusion.  Ogre Mage is in K,L/24,25, but you have him listed as K,L/25,26.  Msg #33 lists the correct position, but in msg #41 you say "same as above" but you also write "KL 25/26".  I assume the Ogre Mage is still in K,L/24,25 since, with the grapple, he couldn't really have gone anywhere.  Accordingly, he is still enwebbed next round.]

1. Ah. I misread the description of the spell: Failed to spot the "succeeds on its save" part. Not that it matters much but...

Here's a question for you: how can you cast the spell at that distance? That's 70' away, which means you need to achieve CL 18 unless I'm mistaken? Please review your actions for round 5.





2. There is nothing in the description of the spell that would suggest such a ruling.
3. 25/26 is the correct position. I misread the map when first posted the position. Please count for yourself starting from position PQ  23/24: only with generous ruling regarding squeezing and cutting corners could I have reached 24/25.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:41, Tue 28 Feb 2012.

OOC:  Good catch!  I had forgotten that that was a spell with a range of short rather than medium.  I'll need to have Garath use his move action to get closer in order to cast that spell.  I'll let you know what position he ends up in.

Meanwhile, could you please have the Ogre Mage roll Reflex save DC 15 to avoid catching on fire?  (Hair, clothes, equipment.)

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/envi...t.htm#catchingOnFire

Characters exposed to burning oil, bonfires, and noninstantaneous magic fires might find their clothes, hair, or equipment on fire. Spells with an instantaneous duration don’t normally set a character on fire, since the heat and flame from these come and go in a flash.

Characters at risk of catching fire are allowed a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid this fate. If a character’s clothes or hair catch fire, he takes 1d6 points of damage immediately. In each subsequent round, the burning character must make another Reflex saving throw. Failure means he takes another 1d6 points of damage that round. Success means that the fire has gone out. (That is, once he succeeds on his saving throw, he’s no longer on fire.)

A character on fire may automatically extinguish the flames by jumping into enough water to douse himself. If no body of water is at hand, rolling on the ground or smothering the fire with cloaks or the like permits the character another save with a +4 bonus.

Those unlucky enough to have their clothes or equipment catch fire must make DC 15 Reflex saves for each item. Flammable items that fail take the same amount of damage as the character.

I firmly believe the burning web is of the instantaneous variety, as per the spell description.

OOC:  Okay - in that case, there appears to be an inconsistency among the DMs on this point.  In a campaign I am in, with DM BCM, a burning web caused a tunnel to catch on fire, which is inconsistent with the view that burning webs are "instantaneous" and "the heat and flame from these come and go in a flash" without setting stuff on fire.

I am fine with either interpretation, but could you please discuss with DM BCM so the ruling on this is consistent across RoA?

(Or maybe there is some reason why dried twigs in a tunnel are more flammable than hair and clothing, but that reasoning seems kind of strained.)

Will do. It's useful to look at alchemists fire for comparison.

Actually, there isn't even support for our current interpretation that the web deals 2d4 damage per burning square. The description simply states 2d4 damage.

True.  It also doesn't state that it is 2d4 per instantiation of the spell, so the language could be read to mean that if you once got burned by a web, you never take additional damage from walking through burning webs again, ever, because you have already taken the 2d4 damage and there is nothing stating that you take the 2d4 damage again.  Obviously, that isn't an interpretation that makes any sort of sense, but there you have it.  Feel free to add this question to the DM discussion of the rulings on treating flaming webs - let me know where the authorities come out on the matter...

That is drawing the consequences of the wording to the extreme, but yes. Please carry on though.

OOC:

For Round 5, Garath uses his move action to relocate.

If Ogre Mage's Spot check beats a Hide check of 18:

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Garath flits south across the building, disappearing from the Ogre Mage's line of sight around N14

---

And if the Spot check beats a Hide check of 22:

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Garath is peeping around the wall at N18, elevation 5', Improved Cover vs ogre mage

---

(Apply a -4 penalty on the Spot check for distance, and an additional -5 if you consider the Ogre Mage distracted - which, to be fair, is quite likely, between grappling tentacles, burning webs and whatnot...)

From the new position, Garath can cast Cloud of Bewilderment at the Ogre Mage.

No rush on the fire damage / burning web discussions, by the way - RL workload has picked up again, so if it takes a while to resolve the question, that's quite okay by me...

We have an agreement on the burning web question: it's a DM call regarding catching fire. And in this case (and any arena fight I preside over) burning webs will not cause characters to catch fire (nor will fireballs, firebolts, scorching rays etc, even when fired multiple times).

Proceed once you are ready!

OOC:  If Lyssander hovers just above the ceiling of the building, at J23, my read is that he would be able to attack the Ogre Mage (subject to partial cover from the webs) - right?  And if he hovers, 10' up, at I25, he would be unaffected by the smoke, and would be able to attack the Ogre Mage without being hampered by partial cover from the webs?

(Just making sure I have the various effects mapped out right in my head.)

Yes, and yes.

OOC:  Sorry for the long absence; RL pressures have abated, and I am back.


Garath advances covertly to a nearer location, circling behind a portion of a wall to take a position closer to his foe.  Once in place, he undertakes a quick arcane preparation, causing his eyes to glow with blue radiance as he determines how to bypass the monster's innate resistance to magicks.  Deftly popping a few small (and disturbingly insect-shaped) reddish-black specks into his mouth, he proceeds to unleash a conical burst of acid droplets at the Ogre Mage.

Round 6:
  [Free]
  [Move] Move to N22, 5' up
  [Swift] Cast spell (Assay Spell Resistance)
  [Standard] Cast spell (Acid Breath)

Grappling check for damage: GC 21.  If fail to beat the GC, damage is 7.

Flaming web (at ground level to 5' high) in squares: [Unclear - I think many sections of the web have collapsed by now due to untethering - thoughts?]
Flaming web (at 5' to 10' high) in squares: I24, K25, J26, M25, M26
Flaming web (at 10' to 15' high) above lava squares
Fire damage from burning web:  5

Acid breath:  Caster level check to overcome SR: 33, success.
Damage:  20, Reflex save DC 21 for half.

Status:
  Initiative: 22
  AC (Touch AC): 20 (13)

  Damage Taken:   0
  Damage Dealt:   7 (if fail OGC) regenerable but not yet regenerated; 17 (or 27 if fail save) non-regenerable

Effects:
Alter Self - ends round 698
Mage Armor - ends round 5998
Message - ends round 699
See Invisibility - ends round 701
Assay Spell Resistance - ends round 13


Final Position: N22, 5' up

The pale-faced priest comes into view of the Ogre Mage as he flies up over the top of the building.  His vicious chain swinging as he approaches, he halts a few paces away from the enemy, the reddish glow from the flames underneath giving almost a devilish cast to his appearance.  Vigorously, he brings down one end of his chain in a powerful curve, slashing across the monster's shoulders.

Round 6:
  [Free]
  [Move]  Fly to I25, 10' up
  [Standard]  Attack (25, hit; damage 11)


Status:
  Initiative: 21
  AC (Touch AC): 22 (12) (+1 vs. ogre mage)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 11 regenerable but not yet regenerated; 0 non-regenerable


Effects:
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (30 rounds)
Magic Tattoo: +2 saves (resistance)
Magic Tattoo: +2 attack (competence)
Shield: +4 shield bonus (20 rounds)
Alter Self (Protectar): flight 60' (30 minutes)


Final Position:  I25, 10' up

Struggle as he may, the ogre mage is able to avoid the crushing hold of the tentacles, yet is unable to avoid the cloud of acid and the vicious blow dealt by the pale priest shortly after. Bleeding heavily, and suffering from multiple burns from both flaming webs and acid spray, the ogre falls unconcious.

Battle over!

OOC: The ogre is at -1, and will regain conciousness on his turn due to the regeneration. Forgot that. If you want to continue the fight, we can, or we can consider it over.

OOC:  Given what Garath had planned for the next few rounds, I think we may as well consider it over...

Would you be interested in a rematch? Same arena and same opponent, though I am thinking about giving him a few sorcerer class levels. His gear and feats would be kept (only added to according to HD gained).

Maybe at some point.  I'm going to take a bit of a hiatus from the arena - a couple of months, I think.

If it's okay with you, I'll PM you when I'm ready for another bout, and you can let me know what you have in mind, assuming you have the availability/inclination at the time to set up a match?

Sure, no problem.

"So..." the wizard flies over and lands on the building's roof, not far from Lyssander.  "While we wait for the Arena masters to tidy up here and record our victory in the annals...  might I interest you in a game of lanceboard?"