Huh those are some interesting suggestions. Moira can attempt thieves tools, but the DC is higher at 21 (DC 20 for the ground floor).

Zaiya, note that the book grants advantage on information, not disabling wards.

I would say that you can aid each other, though that means both of you need to be standing right in front of the ward.

Anyway, as long as you guys don't do anything ra-



Uh. Y-you are welcome to try sieging the tower I guess? There may be consequences of attacking it directly though.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:40, Mon 11 Jan 2021.

Hm... would Zaiya's direct assistance to Moira lower the DC or grant Advantage?  As it stands, Moira has a +9 to her Thieves' Tool check, so it would need a 12 and above to success.  So any edge that could be given would help.

Guidance before you go up

This would fall under Aid Another- two skills that apply to a situation, both PCs have prof, one aiding the other.

So Moira would have advantage (but then, Zaiya and Moira both need to risk the ward going off in their faces).

I'm game.  Zaiya, you'd be the other one in the blast radius, so what's your call?

Hmm, Moira why not you roll first, record both rolls and let's see if Zaiya confirms anything sometime in the next 20 hours.

If she does not, I will take the roll without advantage (the "left" dice). Just so things don't stall here.

I realise this puts undue pressure on Zaiya since you guys will see both rolls. Let's just wait. If Zaiya doesn't respond in another 20 hours Moira, just make the roll without advantage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:40, Tue 12 Jan 2021.

Alright in the interests of not stalling things, Moira please make the roll without advantage, we will assume Zaiya is standing aside for now (unless she responds soon).

Should I make the climb check as well, or is it just assumed to be a given at this point from the various precautions we've set up already?

Ah, make the climb check too please :P

Just give me until tomorrow, I just finished driving home and I'm just waiting for my body to crash out before passing out

We do need to pick up the pace on things, though.
It's been over a week and we haven't even _entered_ the first room.

Yea I'm gonna say that this has stalled for long enough. I anticipated a degree of discussion since this -is- a complex wizard tower and the party has every right to be cautious, but it really should not be taking this long to get past one trap.

Please attempt the check(s) Moira. You still.have Guidance. I'll update asap once you have rolled.

Urk, just saw the post Moira. Apologies for the delay.

U'lin, feel free to climb up whenever you want. Just make the athletics check, guidance and advantage both apply. Mainly, this is to see if the party takes any falling damage from trying to get onto the roof (so far none xD)

How far is it from the roof hatch where the party is perched into the top floor of the tower?  If those suits of armor attack, can they actually reach us?

Roof is about 20ft up, so no.

Not with their swords at least.

Just noticed, but for the record Moira I originally said the DC for using thieves tools instead of an Arcana check to disable the glyphs is higher- 21 vs 18.

For future attempts, I think a Thieves Tools (Intelligence) check at the same DC makes more sense. I originally set a higher DC because it seemed like thieves tools would be slightly "off tangent" for solving the problem, but realised 1) classically, in DnD rogues were the ones that disabled magical traps anyway and 2) penalizing people for using less-than-ideal skills for a task isn't the kind of game I want.

However I did want a way to reflect that this is different from disarming a non-magical trap. Hence, Intelligence instead of Dex for magical vs non-magical traps. Hope this makes sense to you guys.

EDIT: I also updated the original message to include the changes to Zaiya's detect magic sight, as well as fixing an issue that had the Primordial text as secret instead of just scrambled (not that anyone in the party can speak Primordial)
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:03, Thu 14 Jan 2021.

Absent anything else, let's do an "everyone let loose ranged/cantrip damage on the left armor, repeat if it's still up" and repeat when down for the right if it doesn't retreat?

Alternate Skill Checks
Thanks for the catch on the higher DC, DM.  I lost it amid all the OOC math, but Moira still made the check either way since even using her +0 INT mod still rolls in at 23.

For things like INT being used for magical disarming, I'd agree but for the sake of certain context.  Moira applies mundane solutions to magical problems and thus far has based all her work entirely on using precision tools and dexterity, so I feel it's more akin to the more classically accepted "Use STR instead of CHA for Intimidation checks" route that allows musclebound characters to actually be as physically imposing as they logically should.

I think using INT instead of DEX would apply if Moira was attempting to disable a magical trap without having the aid of someone trained in Arcana at her side.  So long as she has a "magical bomb squad specialist" assisting her to explain what the magic is and how it works, it seems reasonable to me she'd be able to address the problem with deftness of hand.  If she doesn't have someone like Zaiya telling her whether to snip the red wire versus the blue wire - let alone that such proverbial wires are even there at all - then she reasonably wouldn't have any understanding and have to rely on her +0 INT mod and a whole lot of luck.

Living Armor
I'm down for the "fish in a barrel" approach, yeah.

Our reward for the climb above.  I like it.

Fair point, I'll accept this reasoning (and the use of Dex) provided Zaiya first manages to succeed on her own Int check to analyze a given magical trap.

Sound good to me, DM.  And it offers an interesting alternative mechanic to the usual "Assist other = Advantage" approach.

agreed

Zaiya? Claire? Are you guys okay with Moira and U'lins plan to just attack the armors from the hatch? Any additional spells you want to cast or prepare beforehand?

Yeah!  Sorry about that, spent most of the day in bed, there's something for you.

Responded! Do confirm if you are on board with Moira's plan, in light of the new information.

I'll be creating a new OOC thread and locking this one soon. Do migrate over!