* Points of Interest The arena boundaries are the outer walls, 30' above ground level, and 10' below ground level.
     * There is a transparent wall of force ceiling 30' above ground level.
     * One combatant starts at position A, the other at B.
     * The ground consists of rough marble (hardness 10, hp 10 per cubic foot (or 20 hp per inch over a 5 ft by 5 ft square) with a 6 inch deep layer of sand on top. The sand increases the hardness of the stone by +5, but you can scoop all of the sand out of a 5 ft by 5 ft area with a full round action (which prompts an AOO).
     * The sand is fine-grained and white, and does not impede movement. Walking on it grants a +4 circumstance bonus to Move Silently checks. The sand is too fine and light to be used as a weapon.
     * The walls are made of rough marble, and are 30 ft high. Climbing the side of a wall is DC 20.
     * The pillars are also made of rough marble. They are approximately 5 ft in diameter, and a 5 ft tall section of a pillar is 100 cubic feet. However, you can bring a pillar down by narrowing your focus a bit. The minimum damage you need to deal to bring a pillar down is 25 cubic feet, or 250 damage.
     * Breaking a pillar with sudden force is a STR check (Hardness 10, Hit Points 1000, stone, one piece: DC 30.
     * Climbing the side of a pillar is DC 20. When you can reach the top edge of a pillar, it is DC 10.
     * The top of the pillars are flat-topped and rough, and make good standing platforms.
     * Diagonal movement between the central pillars offers enough space for Large creatures to move unimpeded, and Huge and Gargantuan creates to move while squeezed.

Tristram starts in A08, Isigar in O08.

Begin!

Tristram appears in the arena immediately prepares for battle. Flexing his well-toned body he tries a few practice swings with the chain, leaving the greatsword in its scabbard for now.

As the northener appears, Tristram raises an arm in salute, calling out: By Torm, I swear to fight you using all my skill and might!
 Prep Round 1:
   [Free]
   [Move]
   [Standard]

 Prep Round 2:
   [Free] Knight's challenge: assign Isigar
   [Move]
   [Standard] ready chain

 Status:
   Initiative: 11
   AC (Touch AC): 19 (13)

   Damage Taken: 0
   Damage Dealt: 0

 Effects: Bulwark of defence (threatened squares treated as difficult terrain)
 Vigilant defender: DC for tumbling past/over increases +1/lvl (+5)
 Shield block (+1 shield AC) vs Isigar
 Knight's challenge: +1 attack & damage vs Isigar, 8 rounds

A SONG OF ICE...

A flurry of snow materializes at Isigar's end of the arena ground, obscuring vision with a blanket of swirling white that extends out about thirty feet from where the druid is presumed to be.

Inside the globe of snow, Isigar grins and waves merrily at the knight.  Tristram seems a nice enough fellow, if a tad... earnest, and a little quick to involve his god Torm in his activities.  Isigar frowns, struck by a thought.  Is the man a priest as well as a fighter?  He seems to carry his weapon like a straightforward enough warrior...  But his weapon is the same as that of the priest Lyssander.  Oh well - all will be made clear soon enough.

"One is hoping to fun in play-combat!" he calls out good-naturedly, then turns to the business of preparing himself for the battle.  He casts a spell from the scroll he is holding, then tucks it neatly away, and signals to Kaalk.  With some effort, Isigar snaps a blue spell-tile, and Kaalk does the same to a gray one, greedily gobbling up the tile's broken shards.

Prep Round 1:
  [Standard] Cast Bull's Strength from scroll (3 Min) (share with Kaalk)
  [Move] Store scroll
  [Swift] Activate amulet (2 charges)

Prep Round 2:
  [Standard] Snap spell tile (Mage Armor) (1 hour)
  [No action] Hide within the snow's concealment:  Hide check 17

Status:
  Initiative: 9
  AC (Touch AC): 22 (18)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 0


Effects:
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (29 rounds)
Mage Armor:  +4 AC (1 hour)
Obscuring Snow: 30' radius snow, total concealment beyond 5', partial concealment within 5' (pre-cast)
Snowsight:  Normal vision in winter weather conditions (pre-cast)
Primal Instinct: +5 to Initiative, Survival (pre-cast)
Heart of Water: Swim, breathe water, invocable freedom of movement (pre-cast)

Final Position: O8

Kaalk

Prep Round 1:
  [Standard] Look around

Prep Round 2:
  [Standard] Snap spell tile (Fist of Stone) (1 minute)
  [Move] NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM

Status:
  Initiative: 9
  AC (Touch AC): 29 (17) (incl. effects of cover)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 0


Effects:
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (29 rounds) (shared from Isigar)
Fist of Stone:  +6 Strength for some purposes (10 rounds) (non-stacking with Bull's Strength)
Obscuring Snow: 30' radius snow, total concealment beyond 5', partial concealment within 5' (pre-cast) (shared from Isigar)
Snowsight:  Normal vision in winter weather conditions (pre-cast) (shared from Isigar)

Final Position: O9, -5'

[Neither Isigar nor Kaalk are visible to Tristram.]

Just a quick note: leaving the boundaries of the arena, such as being below the floor in any way means forfeiting the game. Also, all combatants start at ground level.

Seems to me the rules are pretty clear about the boundaries of the arena.  Fine with Kaalk being at ground level initially - please feel free to proceed on that basis (and deem Kaalk's AC reduced by 8 from the numbers posted above).

EDIT:  For the avoidance of doubt (and of argument), just wanted to state explicitly that Isigar and Kaalk have their weapons at the ready.  (If the default rules are that you enter the arena with sheathed weapons, please interpolate the appropriate move actions to draw weapons into the prep above.)
This message was last edited by the player at 01:04, Thu 13 Nov 2014.

Indeed! Carry on then. Weapons seem to be sheathed by default, but for the most part it is of no consequence.

At the sight of the snowfall, Tristrams mood sours. Fighting in the blizzard, again!? Have you been talking to Lyssander, Isigar? One could almost imagine you two having a previous acquaintance. he says, mostly to himself as he stalks across the battlefield.

Round 1:
    [Free]
    [Move] Move to G08
    [Standard] Ready action: strike at the first enemy in sight

  Status:
    Initiative: 11
    AC (Touch AC): 19 (13)

    Damage Taken: 0
    Damage Dealt: 0

  Effects: Bulwark of defence (threatened squares treated as difficult terrain)
  Vigilant defender: DC for tumbling past/over increases +1/lvl (+5)
  Shield block (+1 shield AC) vs Isigar
  Knight's challenge: +1 attack & damage vs Isigar, 7 rounds

  Final position: G08

...AND FIRE.

"Am fighting like shamans of my people - blizzard is armor for us," Isigar responds, grinning at Tristram.  Southrons generally did not handle the snow very well.  But, did the knight's words carry an implication that the Kelemvorite cleric fought with snow as well?  Very interesting; the Ulutiun shaman resolves to have words with the pale death-priest at some point.

In the meantime, there was a little trick Isigar has learned from his recently-made friends in the forests of the south - he cups his hand, and opens his othersight to the vision of a wind-dried copse, lightning-struck, the desiccated wood catching fire with shocking speed...  A small flame bursts into being above his palm.

He nods to Kaalk, and the two start moving toward the human warrior, with Kaalk seeming to walk down an incline as it steps out into the arena, until the sand of the arena's floor is lapping at its chest.

Round 1:
  [Standard] Cast Produce Flame (5 Min)
  [Move] Move (40' speed)
  [No action] Hide within the snow's concealment:  Hide check 13

Status:
  Initiative: 9
  AC (Touch AC): 22 (18)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 0


Effects:
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (28 rounds)
Produce Flame:  5 minutes
Mage Armor:  +4 AC (1 hour)
Obscuring Snow: 30' radius snow, total concealment beyond 5', partial concealment within 5' (pre-cast)
Snowsight:  Normal vision in winter weather conditions (pre-cast)
Primal Instinct: +5 to Initiative, Survival (pre-cast)
Heart of Water: Swim, breathe water, invocable freedom of movement (pre-cast)

Final Position: H11 (not visible to Tristram)

Kaalk

Round 1:
  [Standard+Move] Double move

Status:
  Initiative: 9
  AC (Touch AC): 29 (17) (incl. effects of cover)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 0


Effects:
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (28 rounds) (shared from Isigar)
Fist of Stone:  +6 Strength for some purposes (9 rounds) (non-stacking with Bull's Strength)
Obscuring Snow: 30' radius snow, total concealment beyond 5', partial concealment within 5' (pre-cast) (shared from Isigar)
Snowsight:  Normal vision in winter weather conditions (pre-cast) (shared from Isigar)

Final Position: H10, -5' (not visible to Tristram)

You know, all this snow really impedes my vision! Any chance of you turning it off for us to have a proper fight? Tristram says, only partly in jest, as he finds himself completely surrounded by heavy snowfall, and with some annoyment imagines the effect it will have on his steel gear.

Round 2:
     [Free]
     [Move] None (listen 3)
     [Standard] Ready action: strike at the first enemy in sight

   Status:
     Initiative: 11
     AC (Touch AC): 19 (13)

     Damage Taken: 0
     Damage Dealt: 0

   Effects: Bulwark of defence (threatened squares treated as difficult terrain)
   Vigilant defender: DC for tumbling past/over increases +1/lvl (+5)
   Shield block (+1 shield AC) vs Isigar
   Knight's challenge: +1 attack & damage vs Isigar, 6 rounds

   Final position: G08

"Is fighting under eye of Ulutiu, why is not proper?" inquires the arctic shaman, in a teasing tone.  He hopes he can open the heart of this southron to the idea that different peoples have different versions of "propriety".

With a flick of the wrist, he tosses a flame at Tristram, then is off again, circling the knight in a wide arc.

Kaalk, meanwhile, thrusts powerfully at his opponent with his sharp-tipped weapon, and then also moves away.

Round 2:
  [Standard] Throw flame (from Produce Flame) at Tristram
             Attack 23, hit, damage 14
  [Move] Move (40' speed)
  [No action] Hide within the snow's concealment:  Hide check 6

Status:
  Initiative: 9
  AC (Touch AC): 22 (18)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 14


Effects:
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (27 rounds)
Produce Flame:  4 minutes
Mage Armor:  +4 AC (1 hour)
Obscuring Snow: 30' radius snow, total concealment beyond 5', partial concealment within 5' (pre-cast)
Snowsight:  Normal vision in winter weather conditions (pre-cast)
Primal Instinct: +5 to Initiative, Survival (pre-cast)
Heart of Water: Swim, breathe water, invocable freedom of movement (pre-cast)

Final Position: C9 (not visible to Tristram)

Kaalk

Round 2:
  [Standard] Attack Tristram
             Attack 23, hit, damage 14
  [Move] Move (20' speed)

Status:
  Initiative: 9
  AC (Touch AC): 29 (17) (incl. effects of cover)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 14


Effects:
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (27 rounds) (shared from Isigar)
Fist of Stone:  +6 Strength for some purposes (8 rounds) (non-stacking with Bull's Strength)
Obscuring Snow: 30' radius snow, total concealment beyond 5', partial concealment within 5' (pre-cast) (shared from Isigar)
Snowsight:  Normal vision in winter weather conditions (pre-cast) (shared from Isigar)

Final Position: E8, -5' (not visible to Tristram)

What does the pet attack me with? Ah, longspear. Is it really proficient with simple weapons?

How can you do so much damage with produce flame? Normally, at your level the damage should be 1d6+5 (which happens to be the maximum damage).
This message was last edited by the player at 08:36, Fri 14 Nov 2014.

OOC: Could you please indicate the route you and Kaalk take the last round? It looks to me like Kaalk will have to pass close to Tristram.

OOC:  If I'm properly following our discussion in the OOC thread, two points remain open -

1.  Whether Fist of Stone can affect an earth elemental, and
2.  Whether Kaalk's improved cover decreases to normal cover when it attacks, and, if so, what does Kaalk need to do (5' step, move, etc.) to regain improved cover.

On #1, we've resolved to let the Fist of Stone effect be deemed valid for this fight, and I'll take up the question with the regional DM for a ruling.

On #2, even if Kaalk's cover was reduced when it attacked, it has since then moved 20' so should have improved cover again.

So, unless there are other open questions - are there? - I think we can resume the match.

OOC: No, I think we're done with the rules questions. Some of Kaalk's movement should trigger AoO's from Tristram, but with cover and concealment that isn't happening.

Tristram reels from the hurled fire and the spear thrust, but has yet to see anything in the snow. Venturing a step forward after hearing some kind of rumbling noise moving from somewhere to his left over to the right. Through the whirling snow he makes out a shape, half-sunken in the ground. There is a brief whirring sound as the chain whips out, only to strike ineffectually at the animated pile of rock and earth. Isigar, is that you, or did you bring a friend? he calls out to the shape.

Round 3:
      [Free]
      [Move] 5' step to F9
      [Standard] Attack (17) miss

    Status:
      Initiative: 11
      AC (Touch AC): 19 (13)

      Damage Taken: 28
      Damage Dealt: 0

    Effects: Bulwark of defence (threatened squares treated as difficult terrain)
    Vigilant defender: DC for tumbling past/over increases +1/lvl (+5)
    Shield block (+1 shield AC) vs Isigar
    Knight's challenge: +1 attack & damage vs Isigar, 5 rounds

    Final position: F09

Kaalk's face is not particularly expressive, as faces go, but the elemental's posture seems quite nonplussed as the knight neatly sidesteps its longspear and comes inside its striking range.  It recoils from the whirling chain, and looks dumbly at the haft of its now-useless weapon - then back at Tristram.  What is it supposed to do?

But then a soft chanting is heard from somewhere behind it, and suddenly, with small cascades of dust, two additional arms emerge from Kaalk's torso.  Ah! Now it knows what to do.  Leaving its spear jutting out of the arena's floor like an angled sapling with a single steel leaf, Kaalk tears at the human with four sets of claws; then, its sudden surge over, it resumes its prior watchful attitude, one arm snaking out to wrap its claws around the spear's haft.

"Yes, is friend," Isigar answers Tristram's question from somewhere out in the swirling snow.  "Is Kaalk - is pebble fighting."  Though the Ulutiun is invisible, the smile can be heard in his voice.



Round 3:
  [Standard] Cast spell:  Girallon's Blessing (self, shared with Kaalk)
  [Move] Move (40' speed)
  [No action] Hide within the snow's concealment:  Hide check 19

Status:
  Initiative: 9
  AC (Touch AC): 22 (18)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 14


Effects:
Girallon's Blessing:  2 extra arms, 4 claw attacks (50 minutes)
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (26 rounds)
Produce Flame:  4 minutes
Mage Armor:  +4 AC (1 hour)
Obscuring Snow: 30' radius snow, total concealment beyond 5', partial concealment within 5' (pre-cast)
Snowsight:  Normal vision in winter weather conditions (pre-cast)
Primal Instinct: +5 to Initiative, Survival (pre-cast)
Heart of Water: Swim, breathe water, invocable freedom of movement (pre-cast)

Final Position: D5 (not visible to Tristram)

Kaalk

Round 3:
  [Full-Round] Attack Tristram
             Attack 14, miss
             Attack 30, hit, damage 11 (should have used modifier +8, not +9, in die roll)
             Attack 27, hit, damage 11
             Attack 22, hit, damage 11
             Rend damage 15
             Total:  48 damage
  [Free] 0'-adjustment (see note 1)
  [Swift] Regain spear (see note 2)

Status:
  Initiative: 9
  AC (Touch AC): 29 (17) (incl. effects of cover)

  Damage Taken: 0
  Damage Dealt: 62


Effects:
Girallon's Blessing:  2 extra arms, 4 claw attacks (50 minutes) (shared from Isigar)
Bull's Strength: +4 Strength (26 rounds) (shared from Isigar)
Fist of Stone:  +6 Strength for some purposes (7 rounds) (non-stacking with Bull's Strength)
Obscuring Snow: 30' radius snow, total concealment beyond 5', partial concealment within 5' (pre-cast) (shared from Isigar)
Snowsight:  Normal vision in winter weather conditions (pre-cast) (shared from Isigar)

Final Position: E8, -5' (visible to Tristram, 20% concealment)

Note 1:  Since Kaalk was wading chest-high in earth the entire time, it is unclear whether it ever lost its improved cover.  However, if it did get knocked down to regular cover, it should be able to reposition itself with improved cover at the end of its action.  The 5'-step concept implies some sort of minor positional adjustment being part of a full-round action; here, there is no 5' (Kaalk never leaves his square), so I call it a "0'-adjustment".  (In theory, it is possible - according to one reading of the rules - that Kaalk had only regular cover until its 0'-adjustment at the end of its action, leaving it more vulnerable to, e.g., readied actions or AoOs that interrupted its full attack.  But we don't need to face that question here.)

Note 2:  Since the spear is not dropped but stays upright, a move action to "pick it up" seems unnecessary - Kaalk merely reaches out an arm and does not need to "bend over".  I count grabbing the spear a swift action, akin to quickly manipulating an object on or around one's person (e.g. Penny's flicking the pommel-cover on her flail).

If you'd be interested in a rematch, I would propose the following:

Option A:  Isigar does not use Obscuring Snow, and Tristram does not use trip attacks (except reactively in response to a failed trip attack attempt on him).
Option B:  Isigar does not bring Kaalk into the arena, and Tristram does not use attacks of opportunity.
Option C:  Both of the above.

I think each option balances the handicap imposed on either side, and could pose educational challenges to both parties.

Tristram can't really do anything about the onslaught and keels over as the massive damage overcomes him.

OOC: Nah, Tristram needs all help he can get, and then some. He's not really able to deal with full casters who come prepared, and is more built for support with a party (lock down enemy while others do the killing). No snow and no pet is an option, but even then Isigar will likely coast to victory. Tripping is a niche option, useful if enlarged, but again Tristram isn't strong enough to really make use of it.

OOC:  Huh.  I hadn't anticipated coasting to the double-XP, clean-kill-in-4-rounds type of victory that just happened.  Isigar seems to be a nicely rounded caster, with some damage spells (produce flame), some buffs (most of what I used this time), some debuffs, some battlefield control - and that's without the summoning part, either.

Frankly, I was expecting Tristram to have some more tricks up his sleeve; most of your characters do.

Not sure what would have helped against the snow, though, short of rather expensive blindsight/tremorsense items.  Torch bug paste would help against invisible targets but not ones obscured by snow.  Scent, maybe?  Or some way to obtain critters with scent, like a bag of tricks?  An amber scorpion would be handy for tremorsense, but Kail and Lyssander seem to have cornered the market on spiked-chain-wielders with summonable scorpions ;/

Maybe some way to entangle/delay Kaalk while you try and catch up with Isigar and beat on him for a bit from close range?  Isigar is hard to trip (+4 to trip checks from Earth Heritage), though, so it isn't easy to keep him from running away from you.  Assuming he even wants to run away - he isn't a melee bruiser but he can still do a fair amount of damage, especially to a human opponent.

A flight item - even for very short duration - would have kept you clear of Kaalk's claws.  If you can manage to hover, you can turn a 5-by-5 grid into a killzone, with your bulwark of defense and AoOs, while yourself staying out of range of non-reach weapons.  (Not very knightly, I suppose...)  But again, there's the snow - if you're more than 5' away, you cannot see the target, so maybe flight wouldn't have done that much for you here.

Any parting thoughts?  Shall we head back to the gathering area and see if anyone else wants to challenge Isigar?  First drink's on me ;P

I did look for things like snow goggles, but they do nothing (!) save give a measly bonus to save vs snow-blindness. Getting a fan would work, but isn't really something Tristram would do. Giving the elemental a reach weapon and being able to share spells at a distance were news to me, and really put Tristram at a disadvantage. Don't see what to do to counter the blindness, especially given his inattentivness.
Turin would fare somewhat better what with his fire spells.

Ironically, Kaalk isn't even intended to be a battle beast.  Imagine an Ape animal companion (available to druids level 4+), with the same buffs as Kaalk had.  Four arms - similar attack / damage rolls to Kaalk - each with reach of 10'.  And a grapple check of +15.  And, with the snow, -2 AC and no dex bonus to AC for Tristram, and the Ape can start a grapple without triggering AoO.  At 30' speed so Tristram can't easily run away.  (And with scent, so a potion of invisibility would not do much for Tristram either.)  That's a bruiser.

Kaalk is built more for utility (scouting, tool-use, ability to communicate) and survivability (improved cover, high AC) than for massive damage infliction - though, based on that last round, you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise!

Anyway.  I'm marching Isigar back to the gathering area, to see if someone else wants to challenge him before Ossian takes his turn...