In reply to Nicollo Baldino (msg # 40):

merry christmas etc etc etc :) hope you enjoyed yourselves

After being trapped at the in-laws for two nights, and then too shattered to post last night, I can get back into the swing of things.

Hope everyone had a good time, and that they got some lovely IK gifts :)

In reply to Gorren Stonefist (msg # 42):

Best ever gift for me was a magic 8ball in the shape of a d20 :P

Complete with random comments on 3rd ed and 4th ed :P

Personal favorite

"Not valid in 4th edition."

Well, guys, it just come to pass that I'll be spending the next days completely isolated from any technological achievement beyond the fire, so, at least as far as 2013 and the first few days of 2014, I will be unable to connect to the internet and follow what's going on with the fellow recruits of the Iron Fist.

So, I wish a Happy New Year for everyone, and I hope that when I come back there will be still a village and soldiers to face a beast... not just the carcass of the ones it didn't mind devouring.

See you all in 2014!

Have fun, Nicollo!  And be careful out there amongst the flora and fauna!

Like you, I hope that you don't return to a smoldering husk of a village ... :)  Of course, if it is due to explosions, I suspect that the Fist and not the Mauler will be the cause...:D

Sorry for taking so long. Summer is really awful without air conditioner and such a low voltage that the modem keeps reconnecting constantly.

But Happy New Year!

How far away is the beast from the village? As whilst it will reach in 10 rounds, without knowing how fast that is, it Is hard to gauge the distance and penalty for shooting at the thing.

As I wouldn't want to waste ammunition trying to hit the thing when my character would accept that at the current distance it is likely to miss.

Its speed is 40 ft

Reading the description, it would be reasonable to assume the creature is about 400' away (10 rounds, at 40' per round)....but considering creatures get 2 actions (a move and a standard) each round and can thus take a double-move (since it's not doing anything else), it could conceivably move 80' per round and thus be 800' away.  The DM will have to clarify.

Also keep in mind...if for whatever reason it decided it really wanted to get to the village in a hurry (for instance, if it noticed people shooting at it and was able to determine they were a threat), it can run at 4x (5x if it has the Run feat) it's normal speed...so that'd be 160-200' per round.

I think that the GM considered that the beast would either run or charge.

Damn it. It either rolled a 20 or it is a very special kind of Mauler.

Yes, I actually did roll a 20! I figured I'd roll a 6 or something like that, and was already trying to figure out what the beast would do next. And the 20 came up! It could have succeeded with a 17, though!

Wow, Rrger, that has got to be the worst luck I have ever seen for spell failure. :)

A couple of fun facts:

- Nicollo's horse is a Heavy Horse with a speed of 50ft and the Run feat - that means it can run 5 times its speed when in full movement, and does not lose the Dex in his AC while doing it. That's when it's unencumbered (I'm not sure and I'm away from my notes to see if tthe combined weight of Nicollo and Arshalon would make him encumbered, so maybe that's not that much)... I do hope the Mauler has a lower max speed than that.

- Nicollo's horse is called Jester, but there has been some time now when I'm calling it Joker. Guess he just received a nickname...

Heavy Horse, or Heavy Warhorse?

A heavy horse can carry up to 200 lb. as a light load (at speed 50), but more than that drops it (to 40 I believe).
A heavy warhorse can carry up to 300 lb. as a light load.

Hrm...not sure what kind of armor Nicollo and Arshalon wear, but I'd guess you each weigh more than 150 lb.

Either way, I doubt you're over a medium load, so you should at least be able to match the Mauler (Arshalon said it has speed 40), which means it should catch you (unless it also has the Run feat).

Just a Heavy Horse. And, it is, in fact, Encumbered. Considering it's load (Jester carries some of Nicollo's equipments) and Nicollo weight (summed with what the gun mage is carrying) we are already at 220 lb. I don't know how much Arshalon contributes to it (I doubt it to be much more, though).

Anyway, until he gets to 400 lbs, he is carrying medium load, and Run says that if he is carrying no more than medium load, he can run 5 times his normal speed. So 250 ft that is.

The mauler doesn't have the run feat, but it does have a special ability burst speed. At its full speed, the mauler tops out at 320 feet (full ran x 2) during one of its frenzied charges. It's only doing 160 at the moment... perhaps a little more because it's running downhill.

Dany is still in a position to observe this.

She can see it.  Just not relay that information to anyone...:)

You should have rode a Light Warhorse, Nicollo...:)   Higher top speed, and same carrying capacity as a Heavy Horse (though, admittedly, you can't turn a Light Warhorse into a Heavy Warhorse).

EDIT:  So, if we can trip/entangle the beast into the water.  Can you brain-lock and drown it, Arshalon?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Thu 02 Jan 2014.

He should be riding a displacer beast, had this monster existed in the Kingdoms, hehehe.


GM, how far from the village are the riders and the beast? And are the improvised caltrops that Goren prepared near the entrance they are approaching?

My idea now is that, if the beast does not charge them before, Nicollo will try to jump over the caltrops in the hope that would slow the Mauler down long enough for him to dismount, or to find a way for it to lose them in the buildings...
This message was last edited by the player at 21:42, Fri 03 Jan 2014.

The 'path' the beast had taken before was a slight angle towards the village, arriving at the top of the short road that went up the hill to the barn. There were a few other buildings along that road... two still standing on the side of the road where the barn was, and three on the other side.

A couple of caltrop pits had been dug on that road, a few more at the base, and then along the main village road. They were all marked with small pieces of cloth that Nicollo has no problem spotting, so he knows how to avoid them.

The mauler is heading downhill in the direction of that hill road, since that's the path it cleared before, and that's the direct the scents came from. Not much impedes the large creature's charge, and most seems insignificant to it, but that doesn't mean a few things (a tree stump in particular) don't alter its direction ever so slightly.

So it's hard to say just where it will 'hit' the village. If it goes through the old demolished barn, it will probably destroy the two houses beyond it, which will probably halt its charge. If it heads down the road, it could step on some of the caltrops. That may stop it, but if they don't, it will collide with the building right across the main road from the hill road, which is on the lake.

It will be hit the top of the hill road in two rounds.

Err... It must stop becaus he can't take any action. At worst, if it has been charging downhill, his body can slide down, but he can't move at its own will.

I didn't want to bring it up (I have a tendency to be a rules lawyer, and I like to curtail that tendency whenever I can), but Arshalon is technically right.  "Can't take actions" is not meant in the common sense english terms, but in the game terms of "unable to take Move, Standard, or Full-round actions".  No move actions, no movement.

Naturally, the GM can rule as he likes.

I read a book once, set in 13th Century Poland, where a time-traveling modern-day engineer built a windmill. The local count saw how slowly the vanes were moving and thought there was no force at all to it. When challenged, he went over and tried to stop it by hand. Not only couldn't he do it, but it lifted him off the ground and three more knights that rushed to his aid. They still couldn't stop it.

Mass and motion can generate a tremendous amount of force.


Also, I remember running down a hill (at least once) and losing control. My natural instinct was to maintain my balance, but I couldn't actual perform any actions... probably not even scream! If I'd lost my balance, I'd have fallen to the ground and tumbled the rest of the way down the hill.


The mauler isn't performing an action. He hasn't fallen down because his instinct has taken over. He's not technically doing a move action, because he's got no conscious control over what he's doing. He's merely continuing a move action started in a previous round, carried on my momentum.

Stopping would be an action, but since he can't perform any, he can't stop. Likewise, stumbling would likewise be an action because it would most likely be the result of a panic attack.


Mass + momentum = a lot of force, and it requires that much again to stop it.

The mauler is a wild animal. There is nothing but instinct that controls him, even before the Ego Whip.

The vanes of the windmill only had air to drag them. Which is not much, and clearly allows a lot of force to build. With the count and three more knights after some time, the result would be different.

When you was running down a hill you performed an action which was keeping balance.

The mauler has the the ground to drag its legs and can't perform any action. There is no such action as stopping. The action is charging. Charge is a full-round action, that starts and finnish in a single round. The animal is doing a full-round action when it shouldn't be doing anything except letting the momentum drag him forward on the ground, without moving its legs.

Just like in this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOPJsj9efIc

The rhino is killed, it gives 5 steps and falls, the ground producing enough drag to slowly it down harmlessly.

Even if momentum is enough to keep the mauler moving...it certainly can't keep it's balance, which means it should fall and tumble uncontrolled down the hill.  At the very least, prone and flatfooted, no?