I will be mostly offline from May 29 - June 1. Some access in the morning and evening, possibly.

If you want a serious shot at the check working, you’re going to have to stop attacking him. Griswold, it’ll be up to you to make the others stop since it is your check.

Noted Wrenn. Thanks for the heads up!

Yeah, I wasn't sure how to handle it, since we've already made some attacks this round.  Either Griswold makes his persuasion check and then the other attacks go off, if the monster doesn't back down, Griswold's persuasion check is made at the end of the turn (to carry over to the next), its wasted, or something else.

I don't really mind if it is wasted.  At least he made the attempt.

Combat is a little fluid right now and since you didn’t attack, I’ll rule that you could have waited till the other attacks landed before making the check.

Okay, cool.  Thanks :)

I have also just remembered that Griswold already used his Action Surge against the goblins, so I'll remove his dodge action form the post.  Sorry about that.

Moving the scene forward on Monday. I’ll need a decision about how you want to move forward.

I thought Griswolds persuasion attempt was just happening after the three attacks?  Was I wrong?

I've been holding off for Gris's stuff. How do you want us to handle things?

It is happening last, but any continued attempts will need consent from the group. Griswold is trying to stop battle with a skill test. You need 5 successes before 3 failures. You can use any skill you are trained in, but you can’t repeat skills. If you get the 5 successes, you can try to recruit Grunt as an ally. Failure means he keeps fighting.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:13, Sun 27 May 2018.

Eri will be wary and doubtful but respect his attempts.

Arizima will be about the same.

Looking for a post from someone tomorrow, otherwise combat will resume as normal.

Ah, sorry I forgot you had made a post >.<

Anyway, I don't really have too many trained skills that I can use.  I could try animal handling, I suppose.  Perhaps there is some empathetic understanding there of the conditions I suspect Grunt has been living in and his treatment by the goblins.  Otherwise, I can try to defend against attacks or assist someone else.

I could...investigate?

Possible choices seem to be difficult. I guess we need to be a bit a bit more liberal with the interpretation of how the skills work that usual (Griswold's use of Animal Handling was a stretch, for example).  I don't know what skills people have trained, but something like:

Investigation: "Grunt - you bare all the signs of a slave.  The goblins beat you didn't they?  Forced you to do whatever they wanted you to do and kept you in chains.  Come with us and you can have your own life."

Medicine: "Your skin and fur looks diseased Grunt.  You're sick and not in a way that will get better by itself.  You don't like to be hurt, well how about a long, slow and agonising death from illness?  Come with us, we'll help you or find someone who can."

Insight could be good: "Grunt I understand - you're scared, angry and lonely, but it doesn't have to be that way anymore.  We could be your friends."

Perception too: "Look around you grunt - the goblins are all gone.  You're free now.  You don't need to fight for them anymore."

We need to make a maximum of 7 tests and Griswold has made 2.  So we only need 5 more to determine whether we pass or fail.  If we could use the 4 above, we'd only need 1 other.

Hm....I don't know how much help I'd be...especially since Eri's strong skills are sleight of hand and athletics... :(

If you can think of anything you need from me, let me know. Otherwise Eri will wait and see how things play out and then keep attacking as needed.

I have to say, I have never been the type to try to use persuasion during a fight. I'm more of a fight now and ask questions never kind of person. I should probably start thinking outside the box a little more! :)

Maybe we don't have enough skills between us to make it work? :(

Regardless, GM, are we still acting in initiative, or are we making our skills tests outside of the normal turn order?  Thanks :)

Combat is on pause right now, so you can post in whatever order you like. BTW, the DC is 12 for a test. It’s not hard to get one, but Grunt is going to take a lot of convincing.

As for skills, calming and getting Grunt to trust you is the goal. You can attempt to entertain him, investigate his circumstances, or even try heal his wounds and disease.

Sorry to say, Eri, but persuasion has already been used. You’ll have to pick a different skill that hasn’t been used.

Ah! I suspected that could be the case! Curses! I'm still getting used to the 5e thing

Still need a few more rolls. Kharash, go ahead and enter the scene if you wish. I won’t keep you out anymore.

It's a bit corny but I tried....

That was great - well done Eri.  And no more Corny that Griswold's shenanigans. :D

Thanks very much! I'm just really glad I got a good roll, phew!

I hope we are not losing more people. :(