Hello and welcome and thanks for your interest in my game. I have played with all but one of you as either your DM or a player. Please introduce yourself to the degree you a comfortable doing so, and tell a bit about the character you're playing. Nothing is set in stone, even for the characters for whom this is a continuing adventure.

Froodle, Drake and Frug each just finished a run through of the Kobold Hall adventure in the back of the DMG, along with another player who decided to bow out after they defeated the final encounter. That adventure and its three quests were enough for those characters to reach level 2, which is why we're starting there.

My preference is that the characters know each other to some extent. We can discuss how that is. One option to consider is that Aleyathas has a patron/employer named Granton ir'Merdreen, who is a human art and antiquities dealer and aspiring member of the Aurum.

The party can also be entirely freelance, taking jobs or following up leads as they see fit. They can even have their own business or collection of businesses, as long as their work also positions them to have adventures in the city.

I'd like the characters to start somewhat humbly (insofar as that as possible for 4th Edition characters). Mainly what it means is that they have yet to gain a substantial reputation or standing in Sharn. This means that they are currently in the least amount of trouble they will ever be.

Once people have sorted out their characters, we'll start with a fairly easy introductory combat scene, probably a straightforward "kill-em-all" kind of situation. I normally prefer situations that have a little more point to them, but this will be to introduce you (or refamiliarize you) with my approach to combat, and let you all learn a bit about each other's capabilities.

Hi fellow players

I’m Lee otherwise known as Drake. I live in the UK, married with three kids, a step daughter and a 5 ½ month springer spaniel. I retired 18
Months ago at 49  from my 30 Year career but recent times have seen me return to some part time work.
I’ve always loved the RPG world dating back to Ian Livingston’s and Steve Jackson’s solo final Fantasy books. I’ve been gaming with Declan (Froodle) since the early 90’s playing Runequest, with sporadic games of Traveller and Cthulu. The last few years we’ve delved into playing 4E and during lockdown we’ve been having a weekly online session together.

I lean towards Paladin/Clerics as I like the ability to heal and to Protect the team coupled with the ability to fight and hold their own.

Drake is a devout Bahamut follower, with an almost maniacal drive to bring balance to society in Bahamut’s name. Honor, bravery, Valor  and justice are watchwords for Drake. A deep desire to excel and to improve his abilities are driving forces for him. Drake is happiest when he is in the thick of things  witnessing team harmony, acting together to achieve their goal.

Drake abhors cowardice, bullying, injustice and villainy.

In reply to Drake (msg # 2):

Cool, congratulations on your retirement.

Eberrom is known for having a lot of gray areas to it. It's quite likely that those Drake looks up to don't always avoid the things Drake abhors and that those who oppose him don't always embody those things. How does Drake reconcile that?

I don't have a lot of plans to introduce moral dilemmas, but that way if thinking about the world should set the tone somewhat.

Weird - I just got my first pension cheque myself, and after D&D was also into Traveller and RQ. If you like 4e and Glorantha, you might like 13th Age Glorantha.

Sietnyas might have been referred to the group as an Undersharn guide - it's been his sideline for a couple years. Maybe he worked with some other clients of Granton ir'Merdreen? He's a Sharn native from someplace deep near the Cogs. Technically he worships the Dragon Below, which might not sound so cheerful, but the kobolds interpret him differently than others, and think most of the other cults are pretty weird and steer clear of them.

Hails all.

I am very pleased to yet again try and play. I have GM'ed almost exclusively for the last 4 years and joined in 2008 here on RPOL and have ever since then run some sort of game. Mainly 4e and WFRP 2ed.

I have on many occasions run across Paul as a player and am thus happy to play along side him yet again.

As a person I am 38, work as a senior software consultant and hail from Denmark, which means my timezone may differ from at least some of you.


As for Tur, he is an elf raised in a run down house in the rattlestone area, alongside three siblings, a single mother and a long distance father. He is thus a homebody, and sees the area as a his home, his area, his proving grounds and will fiercely protect it.
He is attentive, calm, alert, and outgoing. His moral complex leans on following the laws of Sharn, seeing the good in all, and wronging right, but due to his upbringing also knowing that that ideal is often challenged and the world is a plethora of colors in terms of morality.

As an Avenger, he is basically a divine recon unit - with focus on finding the light in others, respecting those close to one self, and abandoning the rising darkness in the world.

Tuur is in a few words, dedicated, driven, but also highly protective and territorial. Sharn is his home and he will go to great lengths to protect it.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 4):

I like the idea of "monstrous" races being less kooky about their worship of the Dragon Below.

In reply to Tuur (msg # 5):
That all sounds good. Is Tuur an avenger of the Undying Court, or some other religion, or just of goodness, or something else.

I haven't played, played with, or run for an avenger before. My understanding is that their "striker shtick" is their extra attack roll. I've run into one person who seemed to feel that their focus was on provoking opportunity attacks for extra damage. My view is that enemies would be able to tell if their opportunity attacks would risk more damage on their side and might not take them. Does that work for you, or is that too metagamey?

We have three divine characters: Frug, the invoker/artificer; Drake the paladin; Tuur the avenger. I assume as players you can all work together, but do you want to explore in-game tensions between their religions?

Also, all three of our new players are strikers. No problem with that, of course, it just means that the party can't rely on having a lot of HP recovery, bonus granting or control.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 3):

Thanks Paul an easier pace of life and making choices based on what I want to do rather than necessity is a great position to be in.

I think Drake knows the world is imperfect and is flawed and he has to live/work and engage with the flawed world and ideals. Drake sees his role as trying to improve the moral code of those around him but is accepting that not everyone is up to his self made high standards. However his honor is also a prime driver and loyalty means that he is able to accept the imperfect actions of others.

<quote Sietnyas>
Weird - I just got my first pension cheque myself, and after D&D was also into Traveller and RQ. If you like 4e and Glorantha, you might like 13th Age Glorantha.

Is 13th Age Glorantha a game on RPOL?


Congratulations on receiving your first Cheque and hopefully a more stress free life

I have no issue with enemies that think. If they have an int score above 3, they are sentinent and able to understand, and if I do piddly damage but am close, why bother and vice versa. If the wizard far away is interesting, they will go for the wizard rather than the avenger.

As for OA - yes, they rely on distance closing, being like teflon, but also sticking to their oath target, and hence penalizing anyone who dares to move away.

In that sence it is fine with me to go with the above.

That said, if people worry in regards to control(which avengers offer in their own curious way), or healing, do advise, and I will gladly revisit another character(or re-adapt tuur) as his background allows for alot of interpretation. That said, you don't need control if you can kill anything before they get to act up...*smirk*

I want to be a team player first and am adaptable to what we need and what the game requires. That is my main focus.
I have for now, done a final edit on the character to ensure all is in check, so that is all fine and dandy. But do advise if anything needs to change on my behalf, character wise etc.

I never answered whoops.

Tuur follows the path of light, which like modern buddhism is more of a life philosophy than a pure religion, at least to "outside" races.
It offers teachings and following the great light, abandonishing the dreaming dark, good vs evil basically.

This is what caught me mostly:
Do not look to deities for divinity. Divinity is within the grasp of mortals if they but touch the Great Light. Use your honed skills to discover and vanquish evil beings.

So yeah, one could argue he is more in the service of good, but not a named deity rather a lifeview.

I haven't seen any games with the system on RPOL, but there might be  - 13th Age is a D&D 4e-like RPG published by Pelgrane Press. It was written by the lead 3e and 4e designers (Jonathan Tweet and Rob Heinsoo). 13th Age Glorantha is a supplement from Chaosium that adapts the game for the Glorantha setting.

Publisher page: https://site.pelgranepress.com.../13th-age-core-book/
13th Age SRD: https://www.13thagesrd.com/
13th Age Glorantha: http://www.13thageglorantha.com/
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Sat 17 Apr 2021.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 11):

Nice one .... I’ll have a look thanks

I tend not to do extensive reviews I'd character sheets, but I usually look at the numbers for ability scores, HP and defenses to make sure everything is in line with what the game assumes. So, please put st least that much info into your character sheet to show that you're ready for the introductory scenario. Thanks.

Found a text 4e sheet in the resources folder, and filled it in. I'm maintaining stats in the offline Character Builder to get the math right.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 1):
Hello, I’m Matthew and I play Frug. I live in California near LA & teach high school art. I had an after school program that included students playing D&D prior to the closures. For close to a decade we ran 4th Edition, but the past few years 2018-2020 they talked me into 5th. I don’t post until the late evening mostly because of not having downtime internet use until then.

Frug has started to make more sense to me, as I played through the first adventure with Froodle and Drake. He is trying to figure out how to use his divine and arcane powers while working with a group.

I run an online 4E game too, with some of my former students who kept in touch after graduating. I have scanned what some of you have said. Need to finish leveling up Frug. I’m thinking about a daily temp HP thing that can be passed around as needed and changing my summoned creature to the one the invoker has.

Please post at least your basic details (ability scores, HP, defenses) in your character sheet next time you have a chance so we can get started.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 16):

Got it! I think that it’s all updated correctly. Stupid hybrid leveling HP earns my 4.5 HP per level, so yeah 4!

Hi everyone, I'm Declan, playing Froodle. I've been gaming and roleplaying for 40+ years and Drake (Lee) is one of my gaming group. We know each other well and have had the honour of being each others best man too! I wonder if his wife has forgiven me yet? Or even whether she has forgiven him?

Anyway, mainly played as a GM / DM over the years in a;; sorts of games - Mostly Runequest, occasional early Traveller, Tunnels and Trolls, Boot Hill, Privateers and Gentlemen, even a Dr Who RPG. I've been a player in Call of Cthulu, Traveller, early D&D but picked up the 4th edition when I was looking for something that may be simpler than Runequest to get back into after a bit of a break. It sat on the shelf for a while and when we eventually got to playing it 5th edition had come out. We stuck with 4th though. I've run some adventures as DM but still find the system quite new, I certainly don't have the in depth knowledge I do with some other systems.

Looking forward to adventuring with you - the last week has been a bit hectic but I've finally managed to get an update on here. Based in the UK. Or previous advanture showed that time zones really aren't an issue.

Drake, please check your private messages.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 19):

I'll post the start of the first encounter soon.

One of the new players may be bowing out. I've already started composing the post for the first encounter. I'll post it soon.

As mentioned, we'll be starting with an encounter. Please roll initiative.

When you post your initiative (which will be in this thread this time, but might be in the in-character thread later), please write out your character basics as follows:

Name: (MaxHP/Current HP; AC/Fort/Reflex/Will) Initiative XX.

For instance, Drake would write:

Drake: (32/32; 21/15/14/16) Initiative XX.
(Drake, your shield boosts your Reflex too).

Once I have all of those, I'll post the start of the encounter.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 22):

Frug (27/27; 16/12/14/14) Initiative 4

Sietnyas: (30/30; 17/14/17/12) Initiative 21

 Drake: (32/32; 21/15/14/16) Initiative 13

TUUR: (31/31; 18/13/16/16) Initiative 21

Froodle: (40/40; 21/17/15/12) Initiative 19
This message was last edited by the player at 17:23, Thu 22 Apr 2021.

Great, thanks.

I'll post the IC stuff shortly.

This is a get-your-feet wet combat. There's not meant to be anything tricky. You're just supposed to beat the stuffing out of these guys.

If you haven't played combat in one of my games before. Feel free to delay to watch others act, and to ask questions. Basically:

If a thing seems like it would be possible, based on what has been written before, then it's probably possible and you don't have to ask me if it is. Just assume I would say yes.

In other words, if a thing seems like it would be true, but no one has written that it's not true, then it can be true.

The key thing is the statblock at the bottom of each post (sometimes the environment details are important, but you can also leave those to me). When you post, quote the last (i.e. most recent) post that contains a statblock, and include that statblock in your post, with any modifications resulting from your actions.

Mistakes are bound to be made. If so, any corrections should be made in a subsequent statblock, not edited into an earlier statblock. Retroactive changes risk making this even more confusing than it already is.

Anyone is empowered to make corrections. I'd rather not discuss what you think should be different, I'd rather you made changes. For really big goofs, such as I can admit I've made before, I may need to make a major revision, but I hope to avoid that.

I'll try to recap things a bit in here in OOC after I post, so it's clear what I'm trying to convey, without cluttering IC. In general, if you need something to be true, like, for instance, you pushed someone so that they're next to someone else, as a set up for an area attack, state that. Just stating the push and direction might not be clear enough.

So, what I will clarify here is that these enemies are grouped in such a way that a few of them could be caught in a burst 1 or blast 3, but the minions in particular are currently spaced so only 2 could be caught that way. This positioning will change, of course.

Sietnyas and Tuur are up, with identical initiative and identical Dexterity. They can decide who acts first.

Please note: each of the Emerald Claw warriors gets to make a free flail attack against an adjacent target when reduced to 0 HP. The sergeant can only do this if he is currently wielding his flail.

The gravehound also gets an attack when reduced to 0 HP. Also, any critical hit on the gravehound will reduce it to 0 HP.

These final attacks are all free actions.

The numbers for the creatures basic attacks are listed in the statblock, so if you kill something go ahead and roll their free attack. You may even choose their target, if they have a choice.

The attack information is also useful if you should provoke an opportunity attack from an enemy, or force them to make an attack, etc.

Took that on board and rolled for them.
You're up next Paul. Time for their bigger hitters to play

I have gotten into the habit of bolding words and phrases in my posts that I think are noteworthy. Usually, they're things that are key to the mechanics, like who is targeting whom with what, and what that outcome is. If it's annoying, I can stop, and no one else is obligated to do it.

The marks the knights apply are nothing fancy, just the standard: -2 any attack that doesn't include the marking creature as a target.

With two dragonborn on the field, I'll note that the knights are positioned in such a way that it would be impossible to catch them both in a close or area attack without targeting Sietnyas.

I have some informal ways of stating positions, when the exact number of squares isn't known or doesn't matter too much. I can't say I didn't steal this from some other game.
Adjacent means adjacent.
Engaged usually means adjacent and implies that blows have been traded or are about to be.
Near or close means within a move. If the slowed condition or difficult terrain is in play, this might need further clarification.
Far means more than a move away, but probably not two moves away. Again, certain types of effects might mean some clarification is in order.
I find 4th Edition situations don't usually get further apart than that, but if they do I'll make it as clear as I can.

Remember that a flanked character needs to move at least 2 squares not to be adjacent to at least one of them.

Take it away, Drake!

Per the rules, a charge ends a character's turn, unless they spend an action point. However, since Drake wound up not benefiting from the charge and was close enough to have moved, attacked and used lay on hands, there was no overall advantage gained.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 32):
I used my burst one on the two knights and three allies. If I read all of it correctly, all five of them are in a three by three area.
So top of the round to you all!

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 32):

Thanks Paul I just reread the charge rule and noted the two sentences over the page. I’ll know for next time whoops.

Hmm. I have a very position-dependent ability I'm not sure how to use - Shifty Maneuver which lets himself and allies in a burst two all shift one. Sietnyas would like to get a flank and/or get adjacent to at least two enemies. Is that possible?

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 35):

This is a good example of "if you think it's possible, then it's possible." Read over what has gone before to get a sense of things, then, if what you want to do still seems plausible to you, do it.

The only minor difficulty this power presents is that there would be choices for the other players to make. However, since you have some particular locations to which you would like your allies to shift (namely to provide flanking), and no one stated any preference not to be moved, I suspect they won't have problem with it. They have really high defenses right now, so one place will be much like any other to them.

As you're flanked, you're already adjacent to two enemies, though they are not adjacent to each other.

Tuur is up! Well, he's prone, but it is his turn!

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 37):

Looks like Tuur forgot to save against the ongoing damage!

In reply to Frug (msg # 38):

And to take the damage. I'll update the damage when I post. Tuur, please roll a save.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 39):

Gah! Sorry!
Rolled a nat 1!

I would greatly appreciate it if everyone would include just a few more details in their dice rolls and posts. I'd like to know what power is being used, and what its effects are, though if I know the power I can look it up.

Be sure to read through the stat block when you start your turn, to catch effects that might pertain to you. Then make sure to scan through again and update with any changes (which will help catch things like necessary saves).

The gravehound, not unsurprisingly, has vulnerable 5 radiant. Tuur's radiant attack on it should have done 5 more damage, so I've fixed that.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 41):
I put a +4next to Drake’s HP, it should be next to AC

In reply to Frug (msg # 42):

OK. His HP aren't likely to change in the near future anyway.

Ah, I did include that the first time around, but missed it this time. Shall ensure I remember each time as much of what Tuur does is radiant. My bad!

Quick observation
The sergeant has reloaded the crossbow, which is a minor action as stated, but isn't he also holding a heavy shield, which, for players at least, doesn't allow for 2 hands to be free for the task of loading?

If it's different for NPCs then I'm cool with that - they tend not to have a choice of weapons and listing someone with more than one bolt would seem daft if they couldn't use them, especially where they aren't an ongoing entity beyond one encounter.

In reply to Froodle (msg # 45):

You make a good point about NPCs possibly being different. A closer look at Monster Manual entries, at least early ones, indicates that not only do they not operate on most of the same basic rules as PCs, but they don't even abide by the guidelines in the DMG for making monsters.

There's nothing I'm aware of that requires a DM to change a creature's defenses depending on circumstances like the use of a shield of not. However, on the listing in the Challenges tab, you'll note that there are two different scores listed for the sergeant's AC and Reflex, one with the shield and one without. At present, in the stat block, his defenses are set to those without the shield.

Again, though, if anyone looked at those scores and thought they should be different, they could change them. No one has attacked the sergeant yet, and even if they had the different scores would only matter if they has only hit him by two.

I hope that helps.

I can understand how monsters need to be different in their calculations, constraining them to PC rules might make them a bit weak in some circumstances, as well as time consuming trying to generate one for a different circumstance.

I remember reading a post / thread of comments a while ago about descriptive combat and how everyone, even monsters can be assumed to have a base AC and anything above that relates to their armour / shield / hide etc. So for example a roll of 17 against a creature / PC wearing armour and carrying a shield giving an AC of 20 might be described as hitting but not penetrating the armour while a roll of 18 or 19 would hit the shield etc.

I can't remember who wrote it, it may even have been you.

I don't think we need to overcomplicate monsters, I'm happy with them being face value

In reply to Froodle (msg # 47):

That's a whole different topic, to my mind. You may notice that I don't describe any attacks specifically as hitting. Since HP isn't just structural integrity, an attack or effect can lower HP even if the subject isn't even physically affected.

I just saying that something might be listed as wearing one kind of armor and have an AC that doesn't make sense. And of course monsters usually don't have magic amulets and the like. Their numbers are mostly formulaic.

But, when it comes to things like having a shield or not, or using an action to load a crossbow that's something easy to take into account, and I think it's intended. If the creature was designed to, say, make two corssbow shots and then perform a shield bash, then I'd say, yep, it's just very different from a PC. But this guy isn't like that.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 48):

The sergeant was hit by Sientyas throwing a dagger on his first turn.

In reply to Frug (msg # 49):

Right, my mistake. But the roll would have hit even if his shield had been equipped, so at this point there's no difference.

Drakes Divine sanction stays in place till the end of my next turn. If the enemies don’t include me as a target in their attack then they take 7 Radient damage the first time they do so on their go.

I believe that all the enemies but the Sergeant are within 3 squares of me which is why they are all subject to my sanction.

I know this nullifies Froodles mark for now but he can do it again on his turn.

Frug you’re up
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Wed 28 Apr 2021.

In reply to Drake (msg # 51):

Cool, that all makes sense.

Nice finisher Sietnyas

Three down, but most of our encounter powers are used, I think. That Fanatic property is annoying; next time, we have to try to take down fanatics at range.

I won't worry about Tuur posting this weekend, but I'll move things ahead on Monday. Have a good weekend!

I will post shortly.

In reply to Tuur (msg # 56):

Cool, thanks. I'll try to update today.

Just a thought. How does this game/GM feel in regards to retraining at say level ups etc? Any thoughts on this or ways to approach it? It is merely an "ahead of time" question more than a current need.

In reply to Tuur (msg # 58):

Standard retraining is of course an option. I'm open to going beyond that, so that people can play characters they enjoy. I think the rules limit it to one change of a feat or a power so that characters didn't change more drastically than a DM or group might like, but the fact that any change was allowed implies to me that a DM or group can allow larger changes.

Over to you Paul, my turn couldn't have gone much worse really, two misses and the opportunity attack I provoked was a critical

Hey ho

In reply to Froodle (msg # 60):

The knight at least took 7 radiant damage, which I'll note when I post.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 61):

great, thanks, I missed that

I guess with that in mind I should have given you the option of not taking the opportunity attack, though of course had you not, the sanction would have come in on the knight's next attack anyway.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 61):

It’s handy this sanction thingymabob

In reply to Froodle (msg # 63):

I thought about stating a preference, and I might in future situations, but I want to leave it to the players as much as possible, so things can keep moving.

If I don't state otherwise upfront, it's even possible for a player to state that a creature doesn't take an opportunity attack on a given opportunity. In this case, it's plausible either way: either he doesn't want to take the radiant damage on a low chance to hit, or he's such a fanatic that he doesn't care.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 65):

To be honest Paul I was expecting to be surrounded and flanked for a round with the intention of soaking up a round of attacks which would hopefully allow the other teammates to opportunity attack or to move to flanking the enemies the next round. At least that was my intention but this far it hasn’t panned out that way.

So I wanted to utilize it to reorganize the battlefield layout.

Hmmm isn’t a battle standard on my wish list haha .... but I can’t have all the toys!!!

In reply to Drake (msg # 66):

That was just the troopers, and one did move up on you. I'll post for the other opponents soon.

Unlike Froodle, my creatures had a pretty good round.

I imagine Drake is going to get back at the knight, but bear in mind that he's in the zone of the standard and would take a -1 penalty to damage if he attacked the sergeant instead (the penalty wouldn't matter against the trooper). That is, as long as the knight is still alive.

I don't think I've ever as a player or DM gotten the +1 damage bonus for two-handing a versatile weapon. I would have had the sergeant equip his shield, but today I learned that equipping a shield is a standard action. I guess it makes sense, but it seems a bit steep. The sergeant would have to be pretty cocky to bother equipping his shield if he didn't start with it.

Also, I'm sticking with the sergeant's flail damage of 1d10+1, but if you encounter another sergeant I think I'll probably bump it up to at least +3.

If someone gets rid of the trooper, the PCs and the enemies will act on opposite sides of the initiative....

Ouch. That is all. Guess my round options became vastly limited. Nice hit thought.

Don't forget we need to update the stout knight hp down to 18 for the 7 radiant damage when he attacked Froodle with the opportunity attack.
Drake can always do it on the next status block

In reply to Froodle (msg # 70):

Yep I’ll update the HP .... hmm time to help Tuur I think

Paul can I clarify if the Sergeant is at least 2 squares from Drake?

Also will we be having an extended rest after this to get back our daily’s if used or not?

Thanks

In reply to Drake (msg # 71):

Oops, I said I'd do that, too. I just had such a busy turn....

Go ahead and clarify whether the sergeant is at least 2 squares from Drake. I don't think it has been stated either way.

I'll give XP and some treasure for this, and count it towards a milestone, but the intent was to serve as an intro/refresher for mapless combat, so yeah, you can have any used daily resources back afterward. Go to town.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 72):

Thanks Paul .... I’ve decided not to charge in any case

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 72):

Tuur is alive

Frug all yours

In reply to Drake (msg # 74):

All my turns are misses, so next round is going to focus on an AC bonus for someone next to an enemy. Let me know if you want a +1 to AC. If I hit the target next to you I can push them. I get distant advantage if you’re flanking an enemy, so if you’re able to get me that bonus would help (looking to benefit from the new feat)!

Sietnyas keep em busy!

Sietnyas is up.

Thanks Drake! I owe you a round at the local tavern!

Anytime my pleasure ...now let’s kick some ass!!!

Knight out of action; sergeant and trooper left.

If this trooper survives, he's getting a promotion to a standard creature.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 80):

He's gone, no promotion in the offing now.

That moment when you suddenly remember the magical armour you are wearing should have had an effect a couple of turns ago - it's so new I forgot I had it on

When I triggered the knights opportunity attack by moving he scored a critical hit on me - my razor armour should have dealt him 1d10+con mod, so 1d10+2 damage.

My fault for forgetting, especially as I did the knight's roll and irrelevant now as the knight is dead and even a max damage wouldn't have killed him at the time - but still a "d'oh" moment

Over to the sergeant

In reply to Froodle (msg # 81):

One more down

At least you’ve remembered the razor armor for the main event :-)

Aw, bummer. Well, D&D combat and use of characters is ultimately about practice. And this is why I like wishlists: if the razor armor wasn't something you had specifically asked for, you probably wouldn't have remembered it at all.

When the sergeant is reduced to 0, his final attack will target whomever adjacent to him has the lowest AC.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 83):

All finished off ... well done team !!! The last fanatical attack was close ... but not close enough.

Thanks again Paul good combat

That was just a practice fight, right? Or should we continue in character?

We've got lots of melee capability, anyhow. Paladin and 1/2 an artificer might be enough healing. The 2 dragonborn give us some minion-clearing bursts, but otherwise looks like we don't have a lot of area or ranged attacks?

Sietnyas used all his encounter tricks. His daily is a low-damage close blast 3 that blinds for a round. Think I might trade the feat that lets him give -2 to enemies' attacks for a turn with the one that gives advantage on isolated foes, just to make sneak attacks easier to adjudicate without a grid. It'll also let him do sneak attacks on isolated guys with a ranged basic, so that'd give us some ranged punch.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:08, Sun 09 May 2021.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 85):

That was just practice, yes, to get used to the approach and the makeup of the group. But, this will lead into the actual game.

I'll post something shortly, dealing with the aftermath.

Good work!

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 86):

Some practice hahaha  Tuur on -5 hp

In reply to Drake (msg # 87):

Yes, I probably should have clarified upfront that I wasn't intending for this to pose a serious risk of death.

As mentioned, I'm granting experience and treasure and progress toward a milestone, but you can get all your daily resources back. Treat it as if you've had an extended rest.

As I write the next post, you all could come up with the way you know each other. It shouldn't be elaborate, just something to convey that you're essentially a team and that you're in the adventurer game.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 85):
As the half an artificer, I would like to give you a heads up on what else I have besides the single heal. My level 2 daily is 20 temp HP that can be passed and spread out as a minor action. I took ranged advantage, so that I can use the work that you are doing in melee to help land my invocations and magics. My encounter is all about a three by three square that buffs the party and hurts enemies (if I hit). I’m looking at other heal options for the future too.

Looks like we have single-target ranged OK, once the dice roller gets over it's hate-on for Frug :-). I like Blades of Astral Fire, which looks like it'll be useful in a lot of encounters.

Any ideas for how we met up? Not too long ago Sietnyas was hiring himself out as a guide to groups navigating Undersharn; he has his own personal mission that made him want to undertake something more permanent than the occasional guide job.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 90):

I think that Frug might’ve met up with Sietnyas on one of those Undersharn journeys. Frug is looking for anything that he can innovate on for the forgotten of society and innovation requires resources, so going into unknown regions helps with funding. It’s the knowledge skills that get Frug brought in for explorations, but with the understanding that he can get into a fight if needed.

If push comes to shove, I have no issue shifting to a different class(Keeping name and persona), but I will let that be up to the group as a whole. There are plenty of options and yes, healing and soaking it seems is fine, but we do lack yes, some degree of area effecting abilities and bursts. But we should do fine regardless.

As for Tuur - he is from the rattlestone in Sharn and is a fierce defender of the city as a whole, but in particular the downtrodden and weak, in line with his own codex and his belief. That said, he like many others seek out any area where the darkness might be taking over and suppression or risk to the general populous is at a chance.

The City Watch has asked the party to stay on the scene so they can be questioned by an inquisitive. A woman who looks like a reporter is also eager to talk to you, and Frug appears to have some admirers.

Have some fun interacting with Crivens for a day or so and then I'll move things along.

I am om vacation until late sunday (16th) so I will likely not update much if at all.

In reply to Tuur (msg # 94):

No problem, thanks for letting us know.

I'm tracking experience in a Google sheet. You each got 125 for that encounter.

Even though not all of you went through Kobold hall, I'm also giving each of you the "overflow" XP from that encounter, which comes to about 150 XP. So, 275 total. Well on your way.

I'll aim to post this weekend.

Just as a heads up, Tuur is planning, with my go ahead, to change from an avenger to a ranger. I feel like this is a pretty low impact change at this point. If anyone else sees a need to change after the intro encounter, please let me know.

In reply to Frug (msg # 91):

In the pre-adventure to this, Drake, Froodle, Frug and a couple others traveled to the lower levels of the city and encountered a vicious gang centered around a young white dragon. The dragon itself seemed most interested in some curious forms that had formed in the ice of a pool in the deserted tower levels it had taken over.

The symbols were indecipherable, but ever since glimpsing them, everyone who had been there has had those symbols interspersed in their dreams, and felt a very slight urge to investigate deeper levels of the city. They met Sietnyas and Tuur in the course of this.

The urge, as I say, is slight, not compelling, something to be pursued with free time when other concerns are not pressing.

At present, you're not in the employ of any group. You have very cheap lodgings (or are squatting somewhere) in or near Lower Dura, which is one of the poorer areas of the city. It's not any more or less dangerous than anywhere else, but it's dangerous in its own special ways.

Feel free to add to that, but that's what we'll go with.

Dario Danno is curious and incisive - or nosy and impertinent, depend on who you ask. The party may have heard of her. You can decide if she has heard of you, and you may come up with one question that shows some knowledge about you, but would be awkward for you to answer. You can also decide how you respond, of course. Just bear in mind that she's not actually cruel, but is bucking for a headline and is willing to be annoying accomplish that aim.

Not much to say about Crivens. He's essentially a freelance detective. A word about NPCs, though: Crivens can fey step, but not all eladrin can do so. Only the more noteworthy members of the race have put in the time or have the talent to make actual use of that kind of ability. The same with dragonborn and their dragon breath, elves with elven accuracy, etc. In other words, if you're dealing with a crowd of "civilians" they'll mostly just be "people," without much defensive or offensive ability. Also members of a particular group, like a troop of bandits, might also be of varied races but have powers that reflect that group, rather than their race. Just FYI.

The people in the crowd who are watching Frug are part of a sect of Onatar worshippers. They have heard of Frug and are eager (though nervous) to meet him and get his guidance, protection, blessing, etc. (I'm basing this off of the idea that an invoker carries a divine spark within them, granted by that god. This would tend to make them somewhat revered, I think, at least by some people. I can revise this if that's not the idea you're going for.)

The Bell, Book and Candle is a tavern in Lower Dura. By the sound of it, it might cater to more of a magically inclined sort, though presumably they'll take anyone's coin.

Possible question topic:
Sietnyas likes to say that of all the groups he guided, "no one was eaten! alive". One person got too close to a knell beetle, though Sietnyas warned him. He was dragged off and eaten. But he was already dead from the beetle's sonic blast, so that doesn't count.

Sorry guys, been a bit hectic here. I'll have some time to respond to recent posts tomorrow

Sietnyas might have an angry merchant prince after him.

The Onatar sect is offering a fairly major quest here: making some nearby towers (or the lower sections of them, anyway) safe for Lower Dura inhabitants to return to.

I read this after I replied to the sects speaker. I’m hoping to have a meeting in a less public place and this is right at the heart of Frug, so there’s going to be some discussions with the party about that.

In reply to Frug (msg # 104):

Sorry guys rough week I’m
Back now

My family is in town for a reunion right now, so I probably won't post for a few days.

I've been trying to put out a few things that could get you more involved with the city.

A member of the Aurum, a sketchy mercantile group, has their eyes on Sietnyas and therefore on his associates.

The Emerald Claw is active in Sharn and now has reason to hate the PCs.

Frug is a minor messiah with an Onatar cult in the district and they want his help pushing out back the dark, uninhabited regions that surround the point of light.

Sounds like there's some interest with those and they can even be concurrent efforts. All of them have pretty good possibilities for gold, items, XP and reputation in the city.

If you have anything else you'd like to see in the mix, let me know.

I can see the emerald claw line being good for Froodle.
A short break actually suits me too so don't stress about that and enjoy the family time.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 106):

Likewise enjoy the family time it’s rare

The emerald claw have placed a target on their back as they wantonly attacked Drake and the group .... Drake would
See the Emerald claw brought to its knees

In reply to Drake (msg # 108):

I’m glad for the break too. Life’s been busy and my usual down time has become catch up time...

Take a rest Mate, you deserve it.

As for timelines, Tuur could easily fit into most of them, he is basically a mercenary at this point, so that is not hard to fit in. The emerald claw one is obvious as they impose a direct risk to the town, to him and to the community he frequents.

The options we've got now seem like enough to keep us busy for a while. Have fun reunioning!

Discuss and let me know in this thread what you want to do. Some suggestions are:

Wait idle for the cultists' message then meet with them.
Try to meet with Crivens at the Bell, Book and Candle.
Prepare for reprisals from the Emerald Claw.

Remember that you have all your daily resources.

There's now an ongoing skill challenge called "Marked by the Claw." I haven't written it out yet, but the idea is that the Claw will want to get back at you and things you do and how well you do them can give either them or you an advantage when that moment comes. As a reminder, I try to focus on action not just on "looking around" or thinking. But I'm on hand to help advise on courses of action if things aren't clear.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 112):

I think Crivens in the first instance

In reply to Drake (msg # 113):

I'm sorry, could you clarify that a bit?

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 114):
My thought is that we’re talking about how to deal with the possibility of Emerald Claw reprisals, as we go by the Bell, Book, and Candle (BBC). Frug would like to make himself easy for his fellow followers of Onatar to find, so he is looking for clock shops, smith’s and other maker types. When he can find something cheep to buy to support a business, he does.

In reply to Frug (msg # 115):

So, he's trying to make himself more known in the district, build some rapport?

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 116):
Yes, building relationships and finding places where he can workshop some stuff if needed. It’s probably going to be a bit of scouting the edges of the dark and light of Lower Dura.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 114):

Sorry

I think we should follow the option to see Crivens at the now nicknamed BBC to investigate further.

If we have any cash available I’d like to purchase some healing potions for general use.

Crivens first works for me, though I'm also curious what the groupies are up to.

How many will the party purchase?

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 120):

As many as we can afford .... unless the rest of the team feel other items are more key?

Trying to get a handle on our healing. I think we're fine for one encounter, but might not have much endurance?

I think Frug gets 1 healing infusion per long rest encounter? And has a daily that gives temp hp. Any other healing now or in the near future?

And Drake has 2 Lay on Hands per day?

Froodle has a daily self-heal and a daily self-temp hp power.

Does Ranger Tuur have anything?

Sietnyas has nothing.

So looks like we have 1 per-encounter heal. The daily limit on Drake's Lay on Hands is likely to be a problem at some point. We might want to look for items with daily heal powers, or multiclassing to cleric or similar.

But Cure Light Wounds potions are pretty feeble. A couple for emergencies are fine, but I'm not sure we want to spend all we have.

We should have been all dwarfs - minor action second wind would be handy :-)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:52, Fri 28 May 2021.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 122):

Drake has lay on hands as you say it’s 2 x a day due to wisdom but with the addition of healing hands so an additional 4 hp.

I also have glorious charge a daily power which gives allies in range 3hp
.... so not a lot

I think your assessment regarding each encounter is accurate but 10hp per Potion is better than nothing

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 122):

Artificer healing is described differently than for other classes. They get their infusions at the end of an extended rest and then may replenish any of the ones they started with during a short rest. So it works out to about the same. Frug can use one healing infusion between short rests.

I've decided that healing potions will not be for sale, since they are level 5 items, but they can be obtained by other means i.e. encounters, which can mean combat or skill challenges or both. In other words, you can work for them, but not necessarily buy them.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:09, Fri 28 May 2021.

That's what I was missing - 'During a short rest, you or an ally can spend a healing surge to replenish one of the infusions expended.' Played with an artificer quite a few years ago, and remembered him having encounter healing, but didn't remember why! So we're not as poorly off as I feared.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 125):
I was bad about doing the replenishment on my curative infusion. I’m bummed that I only get one, but I will be asking for surges.
I think that I would like to change my level 2 feat from ranged advantage to multi class Cleric, if Paul is okay with that. I have not used the feat and being part cleric would be good to have the extra daily heal. It makes sense with my storyline and the fellow followers of Onatar.

There's no obligation to engage with anyone here, but I'll say that there is some potential for experience and potions of healing if you do engage, whether it be with Berrt or Gunther or the scene in general.

Let me know what you'd like to do.

House Ghallanda and House Jorasco are legitimate halfling dragonmarked houses, but they are entangled with the Boromar Clan, which is a halfling criminal dynasty infesting Sharn. It's possible that Gunther might be able to do business with the Needle and Gut, but it's also likely that he'd have the Boromar's looming over him.

It's possible to examine the constructs to get some advantage over them in a fight, or to get them to leave, but either approach would require a skill challenge that would involve some risk. It's not enough just to examine them from afar. Let me know what you'd like to do and I'll tell you what you'd have to do to get to make useful skill checks.

What I had in mind was an opportunity to smash up some constructs. You could focus instead on roughing up whomever has been stealing from Gunther's. Or something else.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 129):

I’m using some stuff from my inquisitive’s kit that I picked up when I made Frug. I don’t know if there’s anything that he could get from looking at the dogs, but he is genuinely curious. I had wanted the ritual casting from the classes, but it didn’t come with either hybrid package, so my thought is that Frug just can’t get the time in to become a ritual caster, but constructs are a big interest to him. With his old summons Geodesic being his attempt at a construct.

In reply to Frug (msg # 130):

Anythin Frug, or anyone else, wants to do about these constructs is doable, you all just need to decide what that you want to do, so I can decide how difficult and complicated it is.

For instance:
Gain some advantage over them in subsequent combat:
Initiative bonus: easy, simple.
Damage bonus: moderate, fairly simple.
Attack bonus: hard, somewhat tricky.

Trick them into accepting instructions
from Gunther: easy but complicated (i.e. not difficult steps, but many)
from the local halflings: moderate, complicated

There's no particular "right" solution, nothing you can necessarily puzzle out from clues. Pretty much nothing of use can be accomplished simply by looking without. You have to get your hands dirty and take risks. A basic way for things to go wrong would be for the constructs to malfunction and start damaging things and people.

Anything done to alter the constructs will probably require: getting physical control over them; tricking or convincing them of things; and making internal changes to them. A team effort.

Can't give mechanical dogs drugged meat, but maybe you can trap them? Or just take them out from range. Sietnyas has a trick to do thievery quick, if you need to plant some device on them.

We have to find out what the little guys in the shop do too; they might be the bigger danger. Can't trust little guys.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 132):

The way I see this guys is we have a few choices

Bash and smash the constructs - probably a shorter engagement and not a permanent fix
Trick the constructs - again  a shorter engagement

Both the above options won’t help Gunther in the long run

Contact the House Cannith representative  to get the commands -a little longer
Investigate and identify the thieves - also a little longer

Any preferences?

I’m happy with any of them
This message was last edited by the player at 18:07, Wed 09 June 2021.

Monster knowledge, constructs - is that Arcana or as per normally Dungeoneering? I know Tuur is trained in the latter and may know how to switch them off or disrupt them? It is a long shot, but as he is also trained in stealth, it could be a possibility?
That said, I share Drake's overview - and know Tuur would like to see justice first, if at all possible. But he is keen to also do things shortterm if needs be.

OK, this isn't working. I'll try a new tack shortly.

The curative admixture will buy a little time, but Gunther isn't just down some HP, he's got a crossbow bolt in his chest. Saving him represents more like a skill challenge, a difficult, complicated, time-limited one.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 136):

Paul, I am confused on how you want us to use skills. I have been writing out character actions for how Frug was investigating the dog machine. In that I felt that I was communicating the idea that it could be arcana or history, but didn’t see any reason to make the roll. I thought you were going to ask for skill rolls when you wanted them. It’s been a while since I saw how you are running skill use and challenges in this PbP.
I have a plus 10 to heal, so I rolled to help Gunther. Not sure what else I can do to help him.

I’m also frustrated with stuff in my career, going to be teaching in person for the first time since November 2019. So, I may be struggling to actually make sense of what I am reading through here.

In reply to Frug (msg # 137):

My apologies for the confusion, and thanks for not making rolls earlier. And I'm sorry to hear about your frustrations with work. It's going to be a weird next few months for lots of people.

I started writing something complicated, but decided against it. I could tell that you were fishing for information, and you were saying the things that in other games, yeah, would have the DM asking you to roll History or Arcana or something. You don't need to do that in this game.

What I'd like you to do is tell me directly, as a player, what you want to accomplish, assuming you had all the information you needed. If, say, you wanted to track down the builder and get the pass phrase from them, you could attempt that, and it would probably involve at least some History to make sure you wound up questioning the right person.

Things have moved a bit past that point, because I thought we needed it, but what did you want to accomplish, assuming you had all the information you needed? Gathering information, as I see it, is not a goal, it's just stuff to make the goal easier to accomplish.

The new situation is a little more clear-cut, I think, which is why I shifted gears. You pretty clearly stated what you wanted to do. I would have preferred to tell you the DC and what you could hope to gain on success or lose on failure, but Heal is fairly straightforward as a skill and I can respond to what you've rolled.

Again, I'm sorry if it's frustrating. I recognize it's not the usual approach, but it avoids rolling for rolling's sake, and will, I hope, prioritize action over investigation.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 138):
I think that I get it. With history, I was hoping to recall how commands and homoculi are established. Arcana maybe for determining what commands the makers created as possible for the construct. Now that we’re in this situation, I need to figure out if I ask Drake to cover me while Frug mixes stuff up or take Gunther across the street.

Since Drake and I have some history, I will ask here; what do you think is better. I’m thinking that given our street scene Frug might be thinking it’s best to stay put. So if I don’t hear from Drake by tonight (after 10PM pst), I will start to make something (arcana) there...

I'll give you each a success for the use of a healing power, but to be clear that kind of healing is not going to be enough. Lost HP aren't the same as a specific wound. The bolt needs to come out and he need the holes in him closed up.

Please don't roll skill checks until I provide the DC and the pass and fail results. Just let me know what you're trying to accomplish and what you're doing to accomplish it.

As soon as Frug grabs any materials, he's attacked by homunculi. Everyone please roll initiative.

Spectacular initiative of 6 for Sietnyas. best to get those 1s out of the way early!

I did you just one better, rolled a 2. I reckon the diceroller is having a bad day?

Froodle I’m good with you going before me. I made that horrible Thievery check, so it’s going to make sense that I go later.

Paul Obviously I didn’t get how you want to do skills.

Should I type out what I would like to do and state the skill I think that I would use. Once I see a response I make the roll.
After doing the thievery check and Drake making a heal check, seeing you say that it would take more than healing, I figured that I was doing skills correct. I was surprised at the timeline of the posts.

Right. The point is that I don't necessarily know what skill to call for, what DC to set or what success/failure results to set until I know what a player is doing. And the player doesn't necessarily know what skill to roll, whether they've succeeded or not, and what the result is.

It's not the usual way and it's time consuming, but I find I'm not very good adjudicating things after I see a roll, unless it's very obviously good or bad. Even then, I'm never sure how harsh to make the consequences or how beneficial to make the results, If I set things before the player makes the roll, then I'm removing some of the effect of me seeing the roll first. I also avoid looking at player skill bonuses. I'm trying to make the check as difficult as it "should" be, not unconsciously aim for a specific difficulty.

Some stuff, like climbing a wall, or jumping a gap has known numbers in the game. Those kinds of things and attack rolls don't need to wait for to chime in.


I'm not sure what you mean, but I haven't been reading things as closely the last few days. Apologies if I've confused things.

If someone wants to make use of a particular skill I'm happy to work with that. Tell me what you'd aiming to accomplish with the skill. I might modify it a bit. Possibly I'll suggest a different skill.

I'll get initiative rolled and get the status block up ASAP.

Edited to add: The above is also laid out under the Variations from the Core Rules thread.
I should have made it clear up front that his wound couldn't just be healed. But I was desperate to get things moving and I didn't realize that you'd expect to just be able to fix him magically. That's not what I was going for. It's a skill challenge, and he's healed when the party does enough to heal him, not just when someone thinks or decides they've done enough. I don't think anyone was trying to get around that, I think I just didn't make it clear.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:33, Thu 17 June 2021.

I decided to grant a success for each of the powers used and each of the heal checks.

Gunther will die if not attended to. That is, the skill challenge gains one failure automatically. If he's attended to in a round, he instead gets to make a save, and if he succeeds there's no failure that round.

I decided that what you've done so far counts as "attending," and I gave Gunther a save. It was a 3, so even with several bonuses that wouldn't succeed.

The final check of the challenge involves doing some serious repairs to Gunther. I haven't decided how to adjudicate it yet, but getting the help of the Jorasco-certified healers across the street should be part of it.

Tuur, Drake and Sietnyas can be aware of the commotion. It will take them one move to get to the front door of Gunther's establishment. If they want to go somewhere else, let me know.

Drake, you're up. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 147):

Immediate Reaction: If I am hit, I go invisible! Since I’ve been up to nonsense that’s going to get me attacked!

In reply to Frug (msg # 148):

Cool, thanks for specifying.

You asked a question in another venue regarding how to proceed with skills. I think you're basically asking how to proceed with the skill challenge. I've been allowing healing powers to count for a success. If someone uses a skill, it will take a standard action, and the final check has to involve skill.

If you take physical steps to administer to him, or have mixed a medicine to deliver, or something like that, roll Heal.
If you're concocting something alchemical, or trying to tap into magic to staunch the bleeding, etc, roll Arcana.
If you're appealing to the gods to intercede or applying a balm to help keep Gunther still, Religion would be appropriate.

If you're trying something substantially different from that, or you want to use a particular skill, describe what you're doing or what you're trying to accomplish, or both and I'll tell you the skill and the DC. If it's to do with this challenge, pass and fail just mean you gain a success or gain a failure. If it's to do with something else, I'll specify the pass and fail risks.

I hope this helps. Thanks for the questions, it's really helping me think about my approach.

Frug is invisible. He's also dazed and slowed, though slowed probably doesn't matter much.

The clay scouts are invisible to creatures that are dazed.

The shop is not very large, about 15 x 15 (3 x 3 squares). There are shelves, a small counter, and a back room.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 150):

Paul, I made my rolls and then started to quote you in chance meetings, when I remembered Froodle goes before me. I also choose to use religion for my skill check because Drake had just used heal and thinking that I should use a different skill. Let me know if I should use those rolls or roll after Froodle.

It shouldn't matter too much who goes first here.

You have 5 of 6 successes. The last success has to be a DC 20 Heal check.

Lower DC check, including Heal, can be performed to "attend to" Gunther. As long as one person succeeds at attending him in a round, you only gain a failure if he fails a save on his turn. If no one successfully attends to him, you incur a failure.

I'll say that checks to attend to Gunther don't cause failures themselves, but he can't gain more than one save per round.

A failure on the final Heal check will incur a failure.

I will generally not care if someone uses the same skill twice in a row or two of their turns in a row. I know some skill challenge approaches require that, but I don't, because I find it artificial and I find it causes thi gs to get ridiculous.

And that's also partly why I want to tell you when to roll checks. I would rather that you not think in terms of your skills but what the situation calls for and what you think your character would do. Ideally, you should just have to describe your actions and let me worry about what skills that brings to bear. I could just roll for you, but I think people prefer to roll their own skill checks.

I'm fine with your rolls going first Frug. I'll write up my bit in the morning, sorry for the delay

So, Froodle, he will basically head over to the shop in response to the commotion and if allowed, do what he can for gunther. In terms of contributing to the skills challenge, he would try to get there as quick as possible, possibly strapping on his shield as he goes? This being more than he could normally achieve at normal pace may utilise his athletics skill to manage it successfully, or evading the construct if it reacts to him passing? Or, if the challenge needs to relate specifically to Gunther, perhaps knowing he has a high skill in heal, no doubt from his time on the battlefield as a fighter, the athletics could be used to get to the shopkeeper quickly, or if he gets there comfortably anyway, maybe history or heal to remember a time when he successfully staunched a wound on an injured ally, in which case ditch the shield idea.
Some ideas on the skills he’d try to use if he can get that far, I’ll be guided by your thoughts on how much he can actually achieve and which roll, if any, he can make. Of course, it may be that getting as far as the shop is all he can do.

Of course if I can get there and am able to try for the DC20 heal check I'll be willing to do that - if the party is happy with that - I have a +10 bonus so a reasonable but not guranteed chance

Since myself, Sietnyas and Froodle have to spend at least a round to sprint to Gunthers, can we plausible do anything else this round? I am just pondering, as even as an Elf, I am struggling to see us being able to get further than the main door and that is if we are sprinting hard out the door.

That's what I was thinking Tuur, my additional suggested options were more in hope than expectation.

If Paul says that's all we can do I'll update the status block and we can move along

The street isn't that wide, and it's just a bridge, so the buildings are fairly close together. I'd say anyone in the Needle and Gut can make it into Gunther's with one move. The iron guardian outside won't attack, yet.

Checks other than the DC 20 Heal are not helpful in this round, because Drake has already attended for this round.

Equipping weapons and shields will require the normal actions. Shields take a standard action to equip. I recommend generally assuming they're already equipped.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 158):

I forgot to update my stat block, so I made the edit to show that I saved against dazed.

Thank you for the clarification. That suggests a move then to Gunthers.

Just about to roll and checked my sheet again - my +10 relates to athletics, not heal - where I just have a bonus of 7.

Tuur, Sietnyas, do either of you have a better chance?

If so. I'll get to the door and delay. If not, I'll risk the luck of the die, but will need a 13

In reply to Froodle (msg # 161):

Bear in mind that there are also homunculi attacking. They're going to keep attacking Frug until they're stopped.

intervening there may be more up Froodle's street

I guess a move across the bridge and charge as a standard through the shop on one of the clay scouts would be allowed?

I'm guessing they are invisible to Froodle as well as Frug?

So some negative modifiers (-5) would apply

If you're happy that can be achieved in one turn I'll roll

For some realism I'd probably say my shield isn't equipped while eating stew, and he'll equip it next turn once Froodle knows what he's got himself into.

In reply to Froodle (msg # 163):

The scouts are invisible to dazed characters, and with Frug's save no one is presently dazed.

Alas, Sietnyas is more about the stabbing than the healing.

Either Tuur or Sietnyas can act now.

Sorry! Hadn't realized I was up. I'm assuming the plain scout has no one next to it for their redirect reaction - can it redirect to just make Sietnyas miss instead, or does it need an adjacent creature?

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 167):

It needs an adjacent creature.

I'll move things along on Monday or Tuesday. Tuur still has time to post.

Solid, I was going to post, and well move and that was it so that is perfect for me.

OK, I'm up! I'll post soon.

If you're next to a defender when you attack a clay scout, the defender makes a basic attack as an immediate reaction. 1d20+8, 1d8+3 damage.

The shop is getting crowded. If a creature moves more than a couple of squares, they're likely to take an opportunity attack (if they are visible to the target).

Drake is up!

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 172):

I’m only slowed currently, are the clay scouts invisible to me?

Sietnyas is bigger than the clay guys, but still not so big - could he move around okay on the shelves? Could the dogs reach him?

They're only invisible to dazed creatures. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear.

One can climb the shelves with a DC 9 Athletics check. The quadrupeds can't reach someone up there, but they can also climb.

I'll post soon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:39, Fri 02 July 2021.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 175):

Paul I moved to and Divine challenged the Plain Scout if it was viable and I wouldn’t incur an opportunity attack. If I did I would stop at the enemy that would opportunity attack and divine challenge that one instead.
I didn’t list it on plain scout instead it was one of the other enemies.

In reply to Drake (msg # 176):

Ok. You decide if you incurred an opportunity attack, and what else would have changed.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 177):

I didn’t realise you were waiting for me sorry guys. I’ve taken Sietnyas hit as I divine challenged the plain scout and would’ve likely therefore been attacked by it.

In reply to Drake (msg # 178):

That's fine. I think there's more like a 50/50 chance of most creatures violating a mark or not. After all, it's 7 damage from the mark or the risk of far more than that from the striker. But your adjustment is fine.

It's Froodle's turn.

It looks like both Frug and Froodle did 6 damage to the glazed scout, but only 6 damage was scored on it rather than 12? Before either attack, it had 21 hp. Shouldn't it have only 9 hits left now?

Does Sietnyas have 22 hit points or 13?

Sorry All, on holiday so posting is Limited until the 25th.

In reply to Tuur (msg # 181):

I’m going to be going on a big trip from July 25th into August, for two weeks. Not sure if I will be able to post much.

Can I get a decision on my questions a few posts back in #180?

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 183):

Sorry, I missed that. But the answer is that I don't really know. When it's your turn, go with what's in the latest stat block, and post what you think is correct whe the you post.

So who does know???

There's three errors AFAICT. Best I can make out is:

In 81, Drake adjusted DM turn 80 to challenge the plain scout, and have it attack Drake instead of Sietnyas. He gave HP back to Sietnyas and removed dazed, and added dazed to Drake, but forgot to add the damage to Drake. Sietnyas should have 22 HP, Drake 23.

In subsequent turns 82/83/84, Fruggle/Frug didn't use Drake's adjusted statblocks. Crossposting, or maybe just quoting the wrong post?

In 83/84, Frug hit the glazed scout for 6 but didn't reduce its HP. It should have 9, not 15.

Should I make these adjustments?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:13, Wed 14 July 2021.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 185):

No one probably knows. So I'm saying set it to what makes the most sense to you. You can do that now, by posting an updated stat block, or you can wait until your turn and set it to what makes sense to you.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 185):

Yep that looks about right to me too thanks Sietnyas

In reply to Drake (msg # 187):

I didn't realize how long Tuur would be gone. I'll try to move things ahead soon.

Okay, let's see if there's any chance of keeping this going, skipping ahead, starting over or any other kind of salvaging.

I'll have Tuur delay for now. Sietnyas is currently up and welcome to act.

I am back and will read up asap, to fully join and offer what I can to the game again.

In reply to Tuur (msg # 190):

Cool, welcome back.

Took Sietnyas' turn ahead of Tuur. Glad you're back, Tuur - you're up!
This message was last updated by the player at 02:29, Tue 27 July 2021.

Hello Paul and All!
If I don’t post within 24 hours of my turn coming up, I will use Thundering Armor on myself if I am adjacent to an enemy. Otherwise I will use it on an ally that’s adjacent to the most bloodied monster.
I’m in Tahiti until
August 7th

I've interjected with the razor armour effect - keep the critical hits coming!

Over to you Drake

In reply to Froodle (msg # 194):

My turns complete no longer dazed Paul your up with the scout

I'm on business travel today and tomorrow, I'll aim to post this weekend.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 196):

Once the glazed scout is finished, please let me know if there’s anything adjacent to Frug. I’m going to be looking for a group that I can get with a burst of good for ally’s and bad for constructs!

I've done the interrupts for Froodle and the alloyed defender.

Also taken my turn as with the scout gone there is no attack to follow up on Frug.

Over to you Frug. Not sure there is anyone adjacent to you t=right now, but it's a small shop, so who knows. I tried to shift to stay in contact with the alloyed defender. I I can do that and be adjacent to you while avoiding being flanked myself then I will.

In reply to Froodle (msg # 198):

I kept it short, could have given more people higher AC, but I made a mistake on the target for my roll. I think that it makes sense, with the way things have gone for Frug.

The defenders are going to stop fighting at this point. I'll write that up soon.

Let's try this:

I'll try to keep posting a status block, even out of combat, so it's clear what I think is going on. I recommend copying that and adjusting it, the same as in combat, to help make clear anything from the description that you think is important.

I'm getting on the road tomorrow to take my daughter to college. I probably won't update between now and next Tuesday.

I'm away at the moment too so not able to contribute in a meaningful way until Sunday

In reply to Froodle (msg # 203):

Hello All, I’m back from Tahiti and just finished my first week back as a high school teacher. I have taken an action for Frug, that seems like it’s going to be moving the narrative forward. I put the scene block back in the bottom, with Frug at the door. Glad that I didn’t miss much.

Tahiti sounds nice! Work or recreation?

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 205):

Family vacation to Tahiti. My wife planned it all out last fall, thinking that nobody would be planning a trip and she got great deals for awesome places to stay. We were able to keep it relatively low cost because we stayed in AirBnB and cooked our meals. My daughter is a year and a half, so she flew for free. Such a beautiful place. Encountered a guy from NASA that was there for work.

In reply to Frug (msg # 206):

I’m also away sorry I’ve not posted sooner … signal has been almost none existent. Hope all have had great vacations

I'll aim to move things along this weekend, with the party obtaining at least some of what they were after and then proceeding to try to find the Bell, Book and Candle.

The party isn't required to buy the potion if they don't want it.

There's a way to get at least one more potion, if the players want one.

I'd prefer not to get into haggling over price. If you'd like, we can assume Berrt offered it at a higher price and you talked him down to 50 gp.

The other door is to the back storeroom of the shop. It wouldn't be particularly difficult to open.

It's not meant to be a puzzle. There's another homunculus inside that I thought might come into play earlier. At this point it wouldn't make much of a combat encounter, even with the iron defenders. There's another potion of healing inside.

I'll move things along shortly.

Actually, I believe my original thought was that the party could acquire potions not by buying them, but succeeding at a challenge. The party succeeded, so I'll move things along with that in mind.

Healing potions aren't a big priority for me, so I'm not that invested in trying to get them. Moving ahead is fine; I'm having trouble figuring out what to do in this situation, anyway  - everything I'm guessing seems to be wrong!

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 213):

I believe the fault is mine. I'll review recent posts and I might contact you with a direct message, if that's OK.

Getting into the back room is worth doing, it's just not a particular challenge. The party can just do it. In fact, I'm planning to have the halflings open it in my next post.

One thing I didn't follow up on was Sietnyas looking for the line of the shot that took down Gunther

Yes, it came from outside the shop. Based on the angle, it probably came from an alley next to the Needle and Gut, but from someone talker than a halfling.

The game doesn't differentiate between bolts for hand crossbows and regular crossbows, but this one came from a regular crossbow. I.e. The halflings aren't directly responsible.

The dogs have activated because they have the task of guarding the other homunculi.

I should mention that the dogs also benefitted from a short rest. Heroic tier monsters have a single healing surge, and they each used theirs.

Froodle has some time to roll initiative. I'll get things moving soon.

OK, the cobra is up. I'll act for it soon. Then Sietnyas will be up.

Sorry,
I'll catch up on the latest and roll initiative in the morning

In the short rest I'll equip the shield and use a healing surge. I'll update the block when I roll I initiative

Okay, Froodle, I don't mind if you act now. I future, I'll probably ask people not to roll once we've gotten going, or act I think the next turn.

That's cool, my actions don't change anything that's already been stated by others.
Hopefully it fits in

I know I rolled late, if you prefer we can say Froodle is equipping his shield this round and will act next round

I'm easy either way tp keep the game in line

In reply to Froodle (msg # 223):

As you've already posted, we'll keep it how it is. It didn't occur to me to ask you to hold off. No problem!

I know this approach doesn't make movement powers easy, but this area is small enough that a shift can go a long way. The halflings will take advantage of it, and anyone who wanted a slightly better location can probably have it.

I'll update soon.

Because of the weird nature of this combat, Drake is up next. If he doesn't attack, it will be Tuur up after him.

Ok. Noted.

Mindless dungeon bashing aside, I see no real benefit to a fight unless you really, really want to know what’s in the cupboard guarded by the iron cobra?

In reply to Drake (msg # 228):

The main issue is the protection of the halflings. They would also be appreciative of having safe access the storeroom. But there's no requirement to fight here.

For future reference, what kinda of things do you consider not to be mindless dungeon bashing. I prefer to avoid that too, but perceptions vary.

Paul I enjoy a good fight … but I think when we are given an ‘out’ and not for any huge benefit then it’s risk
V reward issue. Fighting just for fighting’s sake isn’t really what I’m into. So when we stop fighting and can manage to exit when we aren’t going to benefit much from it … there’s no point.

But also using brains rather than brawn is appealing

You don't necessarily have an out here, depending on what your goals are. For instance, the party is not at very much risk, but the halflings could be harmed.


This is only fighting for fighting's sake if the goal is survival. That's true for a lot of fights. So far, I've tried to avoid making that the only available goal. However, I can't make all goals provide "much benefit" as that's rather subjective. So, that's part of what I'm asking: what kinds of goals make a fight worth fighting? It varies for everyone.


I'm in favor of that, to a degree. If you mean you'd rather "solve" combat and either trivialize it, or avoid it, in every case, I'm afraid I can't really make that game, because I enjoy the combat aspect of the game and having only easy or avoidable fights makes it less fun for me. But I am to a degree open to situations in which the PCs can, through skills, or just choices, obtain some advantage, especially if it's at the risk of winding up with some kind of disadvantage. I'm open to them not fighting, available fights, especially if choosing not to fight means some kind of goal will not be achieved, or achieved as fully.

The ideal is that I would only come up with situations that all of us 100% enjoy and engage with. I'll definitely need lots of player input to even try do that, though.

The halflings definitely want the run of Gunther's place and they'll appreciate the PCs help with that. This being Eberron, aiding the halflings is not necessarily either evil or good, but it might make them more amenable toward the PCs, which might prove useful. On the other hand, Gunther might be put in a bad spot, and smashing the Cannith constructs might get on that house's bad side.

So, you all definitely don't need to fight. In addition to your actions you can do as Drake did and convey your intentions. If those intentions are to disengage and move on, that's fine. The halflings will react, and will try to get their way, but if anyone sees this as "punishment" or "coercion" let me know. That's not my intent.

Tuur is up. It's looking like the group just wants to back away and get the halflings out of danger. Is that right?

That seems to be the way the group are heading, though of course Froodle is always up for a fight.

I get where you are coming from regarding setting up encounters and having the players try to avoid the ones that seem tough, it's not much fun for the DM if the players win every fight easily.

Sometimes a hint or suggestion that there's more to an encounter than a fight, with encouragement of roleplay (not a bad thing) can influence players more than you intend and get them not charging in when that is what is expected. It's a difficult balance, especially when not playing in person where a few words or tone can give the right message if things start going differently.

As for this encounter - Froodle is happy to fight. I partly stayed back, preparing, on this turn as I rolled initiative late, then when it was high and we'd already started though it would be a bit off to go charging in with an attack, effectively before those who had already acted.

As a party we need a resolution re the halflings, do we protect them, or do we think they are going to "take over" the shop and need reminding the proprietor is in charge (maybe I need to read back over that bit to see where we stand with them - (if I recall they are not evil, but also not good)

I must admit I want to post but am hesitant to understand if this is really a fight the group needs to take. None in the gathering took anything but were just there when it happened. And we actively warned against them doing so. Should justice not simply be had here?
At least Tuur, airing on the side of good and neutrally lawful can advocate for this.
I will give it a post, and see what it brings..

Let's see what the halflings do then,

My readied action will expire and from the order I'm next up at the start of the next round.

Perhaps we need to decide our strategy by chatting here before we act. Froodle likes a fight, it's in his nature and background, but launching an attack to hit first while others will be heading out of the door maynot be in his best interests, though may make for a funny (comical) situation that would serve him right.

I guess the question is whether Gunther wants the defenders and cobra gone - if so Froodle is willing to be part of making that happen. If Gunther wants them to stay then we play it that way
This message was last edited by the player at 11:18, Thu 09 Sept 2021.

In reply to Froodle (msg # 235)
Frug is about protecting the halflings. So if we’re able to get them out safely he’s good. He was planning on blasting the snake once someone else attacked it, so he could boost their AC. This seems like it could have more to do with the darkness creeping on the edges of the district.

Yeah, true.

My position is that fighting is, in general, fun, but that it should never be just a fight. If I do things right, there should always be a reason one side, or the other, or both is fighting, something they want their way on that others want to prevent.

This requires that there be things that the players and characters want for themselves, and wants that other might have that the players and characters want to prevent. What I try to avoid using for goals are "survive" and "wipe out the other side." That's pretty much what the first fight was, but the point there was the meta-goal of having everyone experience no-map combat with this group.

I would be grateful for any thoughts you can give me regarding what you think are goals worth fighting for to achieve or to prevent others from achieving. I guessed in these last two situations that you might want to help keep Gunther alive, and that you might find it worthwhile to attack the homunculi to help out the halflings. It wasn't too surprising that you were ambivalent about it. Not a problem.

Anyway, I think the party wanted to find the Bell, Book and Candle. Is that still a goal?

Sietnyas would have been willing to try again once the less-combatant halflings were out of the line of fire - he wanted to see if the snake would react to a stealthy use of a hurler-snatcher to grab things from beyond it's 'threatened zone' - but certainly isn't going to try it by himself, and I don't think him and Berrt would be quite enough oomph.

Finding the Bell Book & Candle and meeting Crivens there was indeed on the itinerary, AFAIK.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Tue 14 Sept 2021.

Yep, off to find the Bell, book and candle

You can ignore Zizmith, if you want. He won't take it personally.

Please give me a general sense of the course of action you take. I'm going to assume the party sticks together in their efforts, unless someone does something that really seems like it would separate them for a time.

You are fairly free to establish facts, as long as they don't contradict what has been established. For example, don't say "I know where The Bell, Book and Candle is," because I've said that you don't. But if you think you know someone in Gate of Gold, or know a quick route to a likely location, or overhear someone mention it, you can do that kind of thing. That's not a guarantee of success - your friend might turn out not to be trustworthy, the shortcut might be blocked, you might have misheard - but it paves the way for you to at least try to make progress.

As unusual or counterintuitive as it might seem, please don't roll any skills. Focus on creating and describing your character's course of action. I'm happy to help, if you're not sure what to do or how to write it, and if there's a particular skill you want to use, I can help you describe the kind of action that skill would call for.

If you need more description, let me know. I will either provide it, or ask you further questions to establish new facts. Also let me know if anything about my approach is unclear.

OK, that appears to have landed with a thud. I'm open to making the situation about something else, or advancing things to a point everyone would find more engaging.

Doh! Somehow got messed up about who was waiting on who. Sorry!

It's still possible to take additional approaches. If the party stops for a time Zizmith will stick more or less with them, hoping they'll continue.

I've been hosting a gaming weekend for the last couple of days. I have a rough idea how to respond to above but need to sit down and write it tomorrow.
Others may be busy too. From your end I'm sure it can be hard to judge if we're not engaged or just life getting in the way at times

In reply to Froodle (msg # 244):

My apologies for being impatient.

No need to apologise, we haven't posted so you couldn't know what we're up to.
Sometimes we are all quick, sometimes we're not.
By commenting again you've at least got a reply explaining where we're at so you know what to do.

Hey, I am a bit out of it this weekend. Feeling the emotional stuff after loosing my grandma, she was 98 and it was expected. The emotions were not expected by me. I have been reading, but haven’t posted anything.
I will jump in where I think it makes sense.

In reply to Frug (msg # 247):

No problem, take your time. My condolences.

I'm working up the next post, with an aim to post this weekend.

Sietnyas, the exact fiction you posted won't quite work in the area through which the party will be traveling, but I get the general idea that you're staying alert and trying to cause distractions. Please make a DC 19 Bluff or Perception check. On a success, you throw off any pursuit for the time being. At this time, there's no downside to failure, but you and anyone who aids you can't do so again until after a rest.

Incidentally, if you take a rest, you'll come under observation again.

Sietnyas, the approachings sounds are a different issue than the party being followed, so you can still roll if you want.

It's quite possible (though risky) to concoct something to throw animals off the scent. Let me know what you do.

Missed the previous OOC message somehow - sorry! Gave a Perception check a try; managed a 15.

OK, spell out here exactly what you're aiming to achieve and I'll start asking for rolls from people.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 253):

Frug is trying to get a magical sent masking camouflage by building a contraption that will diffuse the smell of humanoids with the smell of the area we are in. Kind of a techno magical trash fog machine

In reply to Frug (msg # 254):

Gotcha. Like scent camouflage. You can at least make something quick and temporary, enough to make it hard to track you if you leave the place you're in now. It can be made more permanent with time and effort, if necessary.

For now, make a DC 14 Bluff or Nature check. Anyone who helps gather "ingredients" can roll the same skill at DC 10 to aid (+2 on success, -1 on failure). Success: You generate a masking odor that will cause scent-guided creatures to need extra time to try to find you. Failure: The odor befuddles the intended animals, but has the effect of attracting certain others, potentially giving away your route.

And is there an overall goal for the party? Did you want to go on the offensive, or just get away and reach Castellan, while keeping this individual safe? Or something else?

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 255):

Frug rolled 19 using 1d20+5.  Nature to camouflage our smell! SUCCESS
My thought is to get safely to our destination and help the stranger get to safety.

Should I have written something in chance meeting?

In reply to Frug (msg # 256):

No, you don't have to write anything in the IC thread. I assume everyone is reading both threads. I'll update there soon. There will be a few more steps involved in escaping the hunters.

Sietnyas helps some, rolling a 12.

You're not required to follow my suggestion in the post. Just let me know what you do, and I'll tell you if there's anything to roll.

If the party has committed to the route Sietnyas has found, I'll call for a skill check or two. As I see it, the party is trying to get away from any pursuers as well as make it to Castellan before too long.

That's what I think the plan is, anyhow :-)

Characters don't have to try to remember things. The "trying" comes in when they want to make use of what they remember.

Daask is a gang composed primarily of monstrous humanoids: ogres, goblinoids, harpies, goblins, kobolds, and the like. They tend to be the most direct and violent of Sharn's gangs, and will happily accept money to cause pain. For all that, they are also involved in efforts make monsters a more respected population in Sharn. They mostly don't mind if that respect is highly fear-based.

Sietnyas, make a DC 14 Perception or DC 17 Stealth check. This is to see if you lead the party in a way that will take the gang significant time to figure out.

The party needs to do something that drastically shortens their path, or throws another hitch in the pursuit. Jumping down or climbing up a level, for instance, while staying on the same path.

Standing your ground and confronting them is an option, though evasion will allow the party to get into a safer position, as they're still probably in Daask territory. Also, the presence of Moll might complicate a fight.

Just let me know what you do.

I'm treating this as a skill challenge, in case that wasn't clear. I'll put the details in the challenges thread, if anyone wants to look at them. In terms of skills, I'll call for rolls for anything anyone does that could work toward success. I'll err on the side of agreeing with you, and if you're not sure what to try, ask me or the group.

Frug can cast ghost sound, so if he incorporates that into his trap, he can get a +2 to the roll. If Sietnyas aids him on whatever check Frug makes (Thievery or Arcana to make an alarm, Thievery or Bluff to mislead) Sietnyas doesn't risk the -1 penalty, due to his trap sense.

Edited to add: DC 14. On a failure, the makeshift traps go off prematurely and help lead the gangers in your direction.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:56, Tue 26 Oct 2021.

I've put on something for Froodle

Let me know if it's the sort of thing you are looking for leaning towards a roll on atheletics or endurance

I'm still not confident with skill challenges as a DM myself, trying to make them more than just a series of dice rolls

Obviously trying to play to his character strengths (physical rather than trickery) while giving meaning and context to the roll with what he is trying to achieve
This message was last edited by the player at 15:31, Tue 26 Oct 2021.

In reply to Froodle (msg # 266):

Yes, if Froodle did something like that, to block the way, I'd call for a check, probably Athletics or Endurance. If the aim was to mislead, I might call for a Bluff or Stealth check, as in, you're trying to move the obstacle quietly and make it look like it hasn't been disturbed, not necessarily focusing on the biggest and best barricade.

Skill challenges are tricky, and my curre t approach isn't ideal, but it does seem to get people thinking about what's going on in the game, rather than just how to use their best available skill. I mean, that's what people will still aim to do, but with, I hope, a little more consideration of the fiction. You all are doing great and making this very interesting.

When deciding what he's going to do and how he can contribute I'm thinking of how he would react - more braun than brain in general and translate that into actions. Naturally this will favour his better skills as they are the basis of his "character".

The trick as I see it from a player perspective was summed up nicely in an article recently circulated in our group locally. Decide what the character would do, explain it, then let the DM set the required skill and DC. This helps avoid situations where players look at their sheet, find the highest modifier and say "I'll roll this skill, I have a +9 and if it works then it'll do  . . . . etc). The "it'll do . . . " bit can sometimes be a bit weak so the statement of what is being done and what it is trying to achieve needs to come before any roll, if necessary with interaction and clarification between player and DM before the DM decides the skill and level.

That's my understanding of how it should work, but understanding can lead to failure of implementation in the heat of play.

If you are happy for me to make a roll based on maintaining rear guard and covering Frug while he looks for items then I can do. Just confirm the most appropriate skill and level please. If you'd like more to it then I can expand the narrative.

In reply to Froodle (msg # 268):

Yeah, that's how I see it, but I understand that it goes against how lots of people prefer and expect to play, like "I roll Perception, 32 total, what do I see?" It also goes against the good habit most people have of knowing the rules and rolling the dice without having to be reminded. But it's still a good approach.

It also has the potential pitfall of someone doing something they think will help and not being asked to roll. Like, I didn't realize you were thinking I'd have you roll for Froodle. That's to do with my view of what I think the goal is, which involves moving through the city to escape the pursuing gang members. I had been taking Froodle's action as sort of passive, or reactive, and so I didn't call for a roll.

So, if I don't seem to be on the same page as you, do as you did and ask me or tell me you'd like to roll. If people have skills they want to use, or just generally want to participate, I'm happy to help find a way for them to do that.

I keep forgetting that I want to describe other dangers and problems in these dark zones of the city. There should definitely be small creatures around that don't rise to the level of a full monster or even a minion, but are still troublesome and make rooting around in dark corners unpleasant. If Froodle is trying to do something about that ongoing concern, describe it and I'll consider what roll it needs and what progress it makes. If he uses his dragon breath to help his effort, that would be worth a bonus. (Though I want to be careful about letting powers rack up bonuses.)

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 265):

Thanks for the reminder about the gnome use of ghost sound. I read it and it seems like it wouldn’t make sense to use for the trap. So I didn’t take the bonus, but used it to communicate with Froodle. I’m not going to be able to use it again until our next short rest.

In reply to Frug (msg # 270):

No problem. I love gnomes and I love finding fun (if not useful) uses for ghost sound.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 271):

I like where you have gone with the skills challenge. I’m sure that I could make up all sorts of narrative stuff that I would use alchemical mechanical magic, especially with the prompts from Sienitas.

I ran an adventure for a friend last week and my my 8 year old daughter joined in with an old character and one she's just rolled up.
Anyway, the old one advanced to L2 so we spent some time going over her levelling up benefits etc.

Anyway, a bit of a long winded way of saying I looked over Froodle's sheet and realised I hadn't taken another Feat at L2.

If it's okay with you Paul he'll add Powerful charge as a Feat (I've put it on the character description)

Froodle, no problem.

We're almost through the skill challenge. I cna just end it, but I'd be thrilled to actually get through it, pass or fail.

I just need a definitely statement of action.

You can fight, if you like, but it seems a bit of a shame to change gears when you're close to completing this challenge.

Just to be clear here, you can pretty easily escape at this point. Even if the party flubbed two rolls, they only need one more.

I think I can make the encounter enjoyable, I just don't want you to feel like you /have/ to fight.

I'm struggling to see a way Froodle can help complete the challenge, his role seems more passive helping others with their trickery and finding ways.

That's not to say we need to turn it into a fight, just more a case of waiting to see how the skill challenge plays out which I think we should see through now.

Open to suggestions for how a fighter can influence the challenge outcome - feel free to throw ideas in anyone

In reply to Froodle (msg # 276):

Well, in general, try to imagine your character and what he looks like and what he can do.

Im imagining that he's big and strong. I think we talked about him moving an obstacle in the way, to give the party extra time to get away. That's one example.

Someone big )with help) to move an obstacle and replace it, and someone else to disguise it so it looks like it wasn't moved might work.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 278):

As I see it, that can be one check. A big enough thing either will look inherently like it hasn't been moved recently, or can be jammed into an opening, rather than just set down to be moved again.

So, who exactly is doing what? In the in-character thread, please describe the action your character takes, and summarize it below the description.

To be clear, Mol is not taking any action on her own yet. My mistake for leaving out a status block.

Let me know if you're taking her advice, planning to attack the gang members, or something else.

You've succeeded at the skill challenge incidentally. You can reach "civilization" without further difficulty.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:34, Thu 11 Nov 2021.

Cool, I'll move things along shortly.

In future, I probably won't make travel within a district all that difficult. I was eager to explore that aspect of things, though, so thanks for bearing with me.

If you're still after the Bell, Book and Candle, we can probably have the party reach it in the next post or two. If I don't hear anything to the contrary, I'll move things along in a few days.

The week got away from me. I'll update soon.

Sorry for disappearing for a bit. Was persuaded to DM an FTF game and all my free time seemed to vanish. Should be able to keep up for now.

No problem, things have been slow. I'm halfway trough a post. I hope to finish it soon.

Oof, sorry that took forever.

Sietnyas, what is it you were describing to Gre?

Feel free to ask questions of Crivens. He knows some ways the party could cause problems for the Emerald Claw.

This is also an opportunity for you to send things in the kind of direction you might prefer. The Emerald Claw is involved in all sorts of things, so if either player or character wants to angle in certain directions, the player can bring it up to me/us or the character can bring it up, and the player can clarify what they're after.

He's looking for the doohickey that caused him to be sent above - the yterbsijamak, a clan heirloom lost generations ago, but then sighted in a dream by the clan wisewoman, in the hands of a human, in daylight and in the city.

The yterbsijamak is a thing of priceless cultural value (and as far as Sietnyas knows virtually no other value, since it is his clan's ritual teeth-sharpening stone, and is to all appearances just a smoothish stone with many scratches and marks on its surface). The kobolds admire its color, but the color is noticeable only by some races with darkvision, and just a dull grey to others.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 287):

I like the most recent post and I am trying to figure out what to say in response, but I am rather out of it with some medical issues that came up on Monday. Don’t wait for Frug to respond if you have something to say.

No rush in replying. Feel free to put this out of your minds until after the new year. Then we can come back and reassess, see how people are feeling.

Happy Holidays!

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 290):
You mention sea ships and a river. Is there both river and ocean? I’m just trying to figure out what the city’s massiveness is like.

It goes underground and so high into the sky that gravity functions differently.
I just tried looking up the size of a city block, but that didn’t help.
How many levels are near the shore of the ocean/river? What would our characters know of this?

Just trying to think out loud and generate some conversation. I have never played in a city game and I feel like I should have some sort of a district where Frug was for his prior life.

I posted a few sentences about Sharn's proximity to water in the locked thread about Sharn.

In terms of size, I don't have many good numbers for the dimensions of Sharn, and I wouldn't want to have to be consistent with them. The overall point is that it is so large that two-hundred thousand people can exist in it and vast sections of it are still almost entirely empty.

That's fewer people than lived in New York even in 1790, and the size of Sharn probably compares favorably to New York today. So, the people huddle in groups of about the population of a town.


Gravity functions oddly almost everywhere in Sharn.

I'm not sure what you mean by "how many levels are near the shore." To be clear though, Sharn is basically nothing but towers. There might be smaller buildings, but they are almost always built into or contained inside or sit on a bridge that stretches out from a tower.


Cool. Yeah, I'd be happy for people to connect their character as much to Sharn as they like. I just don't want anyone to feel like they have to research and memorize facts.

As your characters are up-and-coming, it makes a lot of sense for them to be from one of the Lower districts, or even from the Cogs, which are the lowest part of the city, lying even below the Depths. The Cogs are an industrial area, more or less.

The Eberron Campaign Guide suggests the kinds of things that might exist in each level (Upper, Middle, Lower) of each main district (Dura, Menthis Plateau, Central Plateau, Tavick's Landing, Northedge - Cliffside and Skyway don't have levels), but really every district would have to have some of everything. Some just have more of some things. So, we can make anything make sense for an origin for Frug.

Happy New Year! It looks like Frug and Sietnyas are still onboard; the rest of you, if you're sticking with this or would like to bow out, please chime in, either in or out of character.

Obviously, Streetwise will have the most to do with using contacts within a city in order to get inside mercantile warehouses. However, under certain circumstances, Bluff, Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate, and Perception can be used for the same kinds of approaches that one would use with Streetwise, but not a direct swap (unless one has a skill-swap type power or feat).

Other knowledge checks can potentially be useful, too, but will generally require some direct connection to the kind of location you're trying to reach. Like, if the Claw is importing a particular kind of monster, the corresponding knowledge skill can help lead to where that kind of animal is being stored.

Please continue to bear with me a bit on skill and skill challenges, if you would. My aim is for them to go quickly and be interesting, and to lead to something, not just give you information to then have to puzzle out. Before we dive into another one (and there's also one currently ongoing) please let me know if you have any feedback or requests for me.

I definitely don't want to go much longer without some combat, so I do have that in mind.

Finally, I'm going to work out the experience rewards so far. I'll let you know those shortly.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 293):

Hi guys … I know I’ve been slacking sorry about that many excuses to make  but essentially I had other priorities  new year …  new lifestyle

I’m still in

Hi, still here too.

I saw your comment giving us the opportunity of taking a break until the new year and took it on board.

Checked in for a look today and realised, wow, a week of the new year has gone already.

I'll have time tomorrow for a read through of recent posts and get myself back up to speed on where we are

Happy new year everyone

Cool, thanks for the responses. I haven't heard from Tuur but they have logged in recently so that's fine.

By my calculations, the party has 290 XP, which I'm rounding up to 300. I'm going by the book for now, but I'm eager to get more encounters, skill challenges and quests going to bulk that up.

My thought is to move directly to when the party has gone to one of the warehouse districts, and is looking for or starting to set up in some lodgings. There are things that I could have pop up during the trip, but I'd like to have you more firmly established in a longer-term goal before I toss in more distractions.

Unless anyone chimes in with some other preferences, I'll move things along soon in a new thread.

Sorry all. Illness and Xmas took the wind out of me. I am here, but I admit, I have not participated alot and I apologize greatly for this.

I will read up and follow along in the new thread.

Sounds like we're all still around.

Starting off in a warehouse district sounds good to me.

Aside: Sietnyas thinks he's canny and sly, but he's not at all a social rogue. He'd be pretty meh at subterfuge. Sneaking around, dealing with traps, and stabbing things are more his line. Does Drake have any social skills? Anybody else?

Investigation doesn't have to be fully (or at all) social. There can definitely be a sneaky aspect to it too, and both kinds of things can be useful. And probably other things I'm not considering.

I'm working on a post.

I'm going to have the party more or less established in a large and unused space in Precarious, on the edge of the maintained and "civilized" parts of Lower Dura. It won't be furnished and will need work, but it's obscure and offers plenty of room. And if need be, the party can always pull up stakes and move to another empty space.

The space has a few interesting amenities that could be fixed up. It has served a variety of purposes over the years.

You can each offer me one moderately useful, interesting or advantageous feature of the party's place. As many people as want to can also offer me a disadvantageous aspect of the space, but I'd like at least one. These don't have to be mechanical; they can be something like "easy access to seabird nests and their eggs" or "colorful murals" or (for a disadvantage) "situated near an active waste sluice."

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 298):

Frug lacks social skills, but has a lot of knowledge and works well with intricate things.

In reply to DM Paul (message # 300):

Good ventilation would be a great advantage for the warehouse.

I am thinking of a disadvantage being leaky or some moisture issue.

Froodle is focussed on food and fighting, so maybe the warehouse is situated near to some kitchens, where the smells frequently flow across on the breeze, also allowing him to try out different, new, potentially exotic foods without having to travel far.

A disadvantage could be that it is also close to a sewage deposit on the other side, so when the wind changes the smells are not so pleasant. Maybe that ties into Frugs idea of a leak or dampness giving a lower level of ongoing stagnant smells.

Another option could be an old long abandoned whetstone that with some care and repair could be used to sharpen his axe?

For Tuur - not being caught of guard is a huge thing. So elevation or a vantage point, like raised windows or skylights or really some means of a place where one can see those who approach the place from all angles, could also be a mechanical crane etc.

Disadvantage of a large place like that seems to be moisture, damp smell, bad sound internally due to no acoustic countermeasures meaning loud sound inside is amplified and annoying.

For an advantage, Sietnyas would like some sort of emergency exit, preferably hidden. Maybe a tunnel? He might have even dug it himself. Probably cramped for enormous dragonborn, but someone brighter might have suggested enlarging it.

Someplace big and unused might be unused for a reason - maybe some annoying critters people prefer to leave alone as too troublesome to bother with and not troublesome enough for the nearby locals to be worth the effort to roust? Like really aggressive birds, or ratty/raccoony scavengers.

Sounds like none of us is particularly face-y at the moment. We might want to get someone with a half-decent skill at some point. Lots of ways to do that.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 304):

Facey really isn't necessary. Give it a try first.


Thanks for the suggestions, I'll work them in.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 300):

Hmmm with Drakes focus on healing, a location that doesn’t encourage wounds to mortify. Also a good strategic view and a way to escape similar to Sietnyas I suppose again the combat side of Drake.

Disadvantages maybe somewhere cold draughty or in a poorer area

Working up a post detailing the party's new living situation.

Something will happen at the end of that. I'm not sure it will be combat, but go ahead and roll initiative.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 307):

Where do you want us to roll/post initiative?

Here? or just on the dice roller. Sietnyas has a 23!

Just to have it done.
08:43, Today: Tuur rolled 15 using 1d20+5.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 307):

Drake rolled 3 D20+1

Froodle rolled 13 using d20+3

You can still roll initiative, but I won't use it just yet.

You can describe a bit about where you're eating out. It's inside the tower (no sight of the sky, or outside of the city). It's inside Lower Dura, which means relative civilization, moderately crowded, on the dirtier, poorer side.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 313):

Frug rolled 14 using 1d20+1.  The eventual initiative .

Hey, good stuff gang. I'll read it more closely tonight. I'm trying to decide how the Emerald Claw wants to mess with you.

Okay, I've got something coming together.

Roll initiative if you haven't.

Please also roll either Perception or Insight DC 10 (because it wasn't a very clever deception). On success, you notice something suspicious and are able to act in the surprise round.

The specter is insubstantial which I am aware can be troublesome. It can also fly and phase. If it gets annoying, I'll take steps to make it more fun.

These monsters mostly want to terrorize. However, the party is being watched to see how they deal with dangerous situations.

Drake, a DC 10 Perception or Insight check please.

Frug, you don't need to ready fade away, as it's already a reaction.

Just a reminder: Invisible creatures can still be attacked in combat; it's not necessary to guess where they are. Attacks against invisible creatures take a -5 penalty for total concealment. Some powers affect only targets the attacker can see, and so would not affect the invisible creature.

Just a reminder that this is a surprise round, so you only get one action and can't spend action points. Tuur, no need to re-do your turn.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 318):

I succeeded and rolled a 13 perception I’ve posted it

In reply to Drake (msg # 321):

Cool thanks. Only poor Sietnyas failed.

The specter also has an aura 1 that gives enemies a -2 penalty to all defenses. He rely is very annoying.

I picked these creatures because they were thematic and fit with the set up, but I didn't consider anyone's power set. So, it's could be easy or hard to deal with this.

Tuur or Drake can take their surprise round action.

Frug's player has informed me that they will be away for an uncertain amount of time. Our pace is such that I don't expect much of an impact, but just be aware in case they seem u responsive.

I think I did already? If not do advise and I will update shortly.

Of course, my apologies.

Drake, your surprise round action please

Drake, I'm going to have you delay. Feel free to act whenever. I'll have the remaining monsters act soon, then Froodle can act.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 326):

Yep I’ve posted my surprise round

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 326):

I’m good to go, the thing wasn’t as bad as I had thought.

In reply to Frug (msg # 328):

Glad to hear it!

I'm sorry that took forever, everyone. Froodle is up.

I've taken my surprise round.

Rolled a real d20. Funny thing is I dropped it on the carpet before I rolled it properly - landed on a 20! Still, at least the real roll still hit.

Now for the real rounds

I'm on it.

I'm happy to have the swarm focus on Froodle. It's actually in some trouble, because it automatically attacks creatures that start in its aura, so Froodle is bound to get his combat challenge attack, if anyone else is nearby. Then again, it only takes half damage.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 331):
I attacked the swarm. Hope that I calculated damage correctly. Kind of a rushed post.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 331):

Well that makes a nice change some very lucky dice rolling

Half damage on the specter, alas, due to it being insubstantial (even when visible) - makes it pretty tough despite low defenses and HP. A good start on dealing with it, though. It may be the most dangerous enemy with its burst attack, if it recharges.

Sietnyas might help Froodle with the swarm next - he can use Riposte Strike so it'll get double penalized for automatically attacking him; that might finish it if regular attacks don't. He also wants to get close to the specter and gauntlets for the next round. But the remaining 3 gauntlet group is likely to mess up some spectators; not sure we have enough actions or area attacks to deal with them yet.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 334):

The tricky devil half damage. I’ve altered the post.

Just to highlight all the gauntlets are subject of my divine sanction as it was all enemies in a 3 square burst from the Spector

I did not alter the Specters HP on my round, that was a mistake, can anyone update it to reflect it?

In reply to Tuur (msg # 336):

I'll go over the most recent player actions before I post the actions for the claws and I'll post an updated status block.

Tuur and Drake: Unless someone takes care of the gauntlets near you, you will be immobilized from the start of your next turn, to the start of the turn after that. They're around you both, so an area attack that hits them will also include you.

Tuur and Drake are also in the specter's aura 1, and have -2 to all defenses.

Froodle, I rolled the swarm's attack on you at the start of your turn. Natural 1.

Looks like we don't have to kill all the gauntlets to be mobile - just have to kill enough so 3 aren't adjacent. 1 on the bystanders, 2 on Drake & Tuur, I think.

Sietnyas has one area attack left - Blinding Barrage (a low damage party-friendly blinding close blast 3 daily) that might do the trick on one group or the other if need be. We'll see what the situation is on Sietnyas' turn.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 339):

Yeah, that's right, they need a group of at least three to immobilize.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 339):

I have a burst that should help, so I will use it when I come up. Helps party and hurts enemies. I don’t remember initiative order, but it is my current plan for anytime we a grouping.

In reply to Frug (msg # 341):

Ouch nice response …. That hurt

Thanks Frug

Will update this evening - we've had a gaming weekend so apart from reading the updates haven't really prepped - it's great to be able to have them live again

Sietnyas comes to help Drake and Tuur. I guessed I could get 3 gauntlets and spectre in a close blast 3. He also tried to grab a map-like thing he noticed earlier - thought it may be just a fancy menu...

Spectre is accumulating quite a collection of conditions! And is up next, but blinded, slowed, and challenged.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:38, Wed 09 Mar 2022.

Sietnyas, make a Charisma check, DC 8. This will focus them a little, but they'll still need help knowing what to do. Others can advise them on their turns. State what you're doing to help the bystanders help themselves and I'll tell you what to roll.

Usual skill challenge rules. It's simple, so only 4 successes are required.
Victory: they manage to bat the claws away and escape.
Defeat: they bat the claws away, but get turned around or trip and are still on the scene and at risk.

Sietnyas, the paper is indeed a map. It's a complicated drawing of the layout and inventory of a local warehouse. We'll discuss it more later.

I thought about having the specter turn invisible and phase through the floor, and I probably would have done that if its power hadn't recharged. Not that it mattered with its rolls, but since the attack is a burst, its blindness didn't affect its attack roll. And of course it attacked Drake, so the divine challenge didn't trigger.

Did Tuur hit a gauntlet or the spectre?

A 14 on a charisma check to sway some patrons.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:22, Thu 10 Mar 2022.

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 346):

I'm sorting that out with him.

Updated. The specter is down to 3.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 348):

I did my encounter and I think that it makes sense that everyone would be in that burst 1. Drake is healed, so up in a conscious sense and I think that he is up in the sense that it’s his turn!

In reply to Frug (msg # 349):

Thanks Frug I needed that good save

In reply to Drake (msg # 350):

Back in the fight

Paul it’s you and the crawling Gauntlets … I’ve not deleted the conditions in the Spector
Just in case

AFAIK resistances of the same type and temporary hit points don't stack, you just get the highest.

Situation looks a lot better for our side now!

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 352):

Yep noted and corrected … oops

Think Gauntlets (DM) are up next?

Any idea who knows we're about in this area and knows we're working with Crivens? Emerald Claw is a suspect, but I'm not sure they know both?

In reply to Sietnyas (msg # 354):

Yep, I'm on it. And yeah, it's the Claw. They don't know everything, but they've been keeping an eye on you.

The claw aura is a little strange, but I'm going to rule that if it hits with the free attack at the start of one's turn that the condition lasts for that whole turn, rather than ending at the start of that turn.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 356):

Paul if the attacks on Drake were 11 and 17 v reflex then Both attacks are a miss due to having +2 on all defences as I used second wind

Therefore my current reflex is 18

If one of them was a hit and I’ve misread it then
I still have +2 resist all to my next turn so would
Have only lost 4 thp.

Sorry if the algebra is a bit confusing
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Wed 23 Mar 2022.

In reply to Drake (msg # 357):

I believe it. I think my eyes got crossed looking at the defenses.

Froodle and Sietnyas are immobilized until their next starts. I would suggest that there's probably one claw that, if killed, would remove the "adjacent to three claws" condition for Drake and Tuur. Obviously killing 2 would also end that.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 359):

The swarm of claws obviously hit Froodle.

He will take revenge when he can actually aim properly with his axe.

In your excitement and eagerness to roll damage, you forgot to record the roll result

In reply to Froodle (msg # 360):

Oops. Well, it's in the dice roller and I did apply the damage.

Sietnyas is immobilized, but could probably grab the gauntlets.

Here's where I should state that they are gauntlets of blood intended for Tuur. So, Sietnyas can don them and benefit from them (against the swarm, potentially) but they should find their way to Tuur.

Works for me.

Oops, I somehow misread Sietnyas's actions as involving an actual move, not a move turned into a minor. Apologies.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 364):

Tuur can you correct my thp back to 8 please as the last attacks missed Drake

Thanks

In reply to Drake (msg # 365):

Shall do.