Old Ways OOC III

[Roland St. Jude]

But I've missed two rounds worth of actions already waiting for answers on questions.

I see three questions (in posts #307, #324, and #348), which I answered promptly and then this question...

So, I'll try and paralyse the cleric then?

It's fine to ask fellow players for advice, but it's ultimately up to you to declare your own action each round. If you don't, then you risk either DM action or no action.

My sleep spell should come off before the cleric casts silence.

It can happen this turn on your action, if you save versus the silence and move out of the sphere. I'm not going to retro in an undeclared action.

The best way to approach this is to declare your action and I'll try to make it work. If you really have doubts, provide some alternatives in the spoiler for your action. It's easier to try to describe an action to effectuate your desire or choose from among options than to retro in an undeclared action.

It helps if you include the limits or lack thereof in your intentions. For example, when archers declare they're firing into melee, it's helpful to know their willingness to hit allies. I assume people will forgo a shot rather than risk hitting an ally (moreso for flaming arrows, magic bolts, paralyzing magic, etc.), but they want to proceed nonetheless, they should say so.

Your point on mixing up battle lines is a good one. That's pretty much the problem here. It gets better as a group works together longer, but there's a time cost to keeping battle lines straight and sometimes the foes catch you by surprise and muddle things.

EDIT: I'm ready to post the next IC DM post, so if you want to roll for the save and edit your post accordingly, you can. Otherwise, I'll probably roll the save for you and move things along.

[Gwendol]

That's ok, I'm still working on getting used to the character and the game. Being in the "wrong" timezone doesn't help either!

[Roland St. Jude]

That's ok, I'm still working on getting used to the character and the game. Being in the "wrong" timezone doesn't help either!

As someone who has played in some primarily European PbP games, I can sympathize.

Failing the save means the effect is centered on Athos, so he's not going to be able to move out of it. Making the save would have meant it wouldn't stick to him and he could have moved out of it.

[Frivolous]

This feels like a car chase where I commandeered an enemy's vehicle and am now chasing after another enemy. Only with horses.

Hoping the priest isn't a good rider.

[Nevaera]

This feels like a car chase where I commandeered an enemy's vehicle and am now chasing after another enemy. Only with horses.

Hoping the priest isn't a good rider.

Heheh, yeah, I was thinking, "Oh thank goodness for Brandon and his quick thinking. I thought they'd get away... Kinda bad*** chase scene now.

"I'll bet the priest is low on spells.

"Although, I hope he's not like the Hobgobbo mages in that he may have saved some wicked fireball/something to use yet."

[Kish]

Well! That's more like it...I just realized I forgot to factor the Bless into the damage roll (though I remembered it for the attack roll), so that should be 7.

[Gwendol]

My spellcasting has been crippled, so back to the sling...

[Matthew]

Yet another swing and a miss from Nathros; good job the other characters are pulling more weight!

[Koren n'Rhys]

Don't worry, Mycah's got him, and Bran can finish the bastard off.

[Nevaera]

Liking the optimism.

I don't know if Bran can catch up enough or not. Or if that guy's got more to say still either. >.<

Spoiler

Show

My observations on our condition right now (for the sake of tactical decisions):

1 Fleeing caster on horseback (either mage or evil cleric is my guess - possibly hiding some kind of imortality based on the comment about us being mortals who should back off)

1 Living rider in combat with Nathros.

1 Sleeping or roused healthy snake inside Magical Darkness.

1 Crictically injured snake inside Magical Darkness.

---

Neela can try her magic still.

Ash doesn't know how long her curse is going to last, but it's negated all her training and the bonus from the magic in the sword.

Brandon is alone against the caster.

Nathros has Mycah near by with Aditi, Alanna, Athos, and the hirelings aiding in attacks.

Penny is alert and keeping her distance, possibly with Aditi.
____

That's all I got for now.

[Frivolous]

Roland, I hope to find out before I post IC: Can Bran attack this round with his newly acquired sword?

And does he need to make another Riding check or something to catch up?

Before I forget, embarrassing oversight: I should note that Bran can't grip the reins of the new horse with his right hand if he's holding his shield in it.

I suppose he can direct the horse with his legs. That's how trained riders do it anyway.

[Roland St. Jude]

Roland, I hope to find out before I post IC: Can Bran attack this round with his newly acquired sword?

And does he need to make another Riding check or something to catch up?

Before I forget, embarrassing oversight: I should note that Bran can't grip the reins of the new horse with his right hand if he's holding his shield in it.

I suppose he can direct the horse with his legs. That's how trained riders do it anyway.

You mean the round that you're posting now? Yes. You can ride to him and attack.

You have to make a Ride check whenever you attack from horseback and if you fail you can't attack (or your attack auto-fails, which has happened to the riders a couple times this combat already). If a player doesn't make it themselves, I just go ahead and make it. (Which is typical for most rolls.)

[Gwendol]

Looks like I keep hogging the bad rolls...

[Koren n'Rhys]

Not to sound whiny, but I thought it was pretty clear Mycah was taking that last bow shot at the priest before going to check Ash. Realistically, I doubt the damage would make a huge difference, but still...

[Frivolous]

Thanks for the info, Roland.

I think Bran failed both the attack and the Riding check. Oh well. At least he caught up.

[Nevaera]

Not to sound whiny, but I thought it was pretty clear Mycah was taking that last bow shot at the priest before going to check Ash. Realistically, I doubt the damage would make a huge difference, but still...

I thought so too. Your IC words reflected that fine to me. Then I studied more closely and I think this was what caused the confusion in your spoiler:

If I can still attack after the move:

I still think Mycah fired the arrow before coming to Ash cause I think you meant a different "move".

He continues to close the distance while the priest voices his warning and, as he wheels his horse to flee, the scout launches a final arrow at his back.

This shows that Mycah was trying to attack in the same round that the priest began his retreat and rounds happen all within 6 seconds theoretically. Init. determined that the Priest began and pursued his action first, so he'd have a head-start. If Init. were rolled individually and Mycah happened to roll higher, Mycah would be able to "hold an action" to attack right as the rider was going past. (Does Mycah have a bonus to that sort of thing? I forget.) As it is though, we lost init, I believe, so he would just have to fire from his spot on the other side of the darkness then try to move to Ash after, I think.

That's my interpretation.

[Frivolous]

I'm just glad Aditi is getting good rolls; 2 hits in a row, I think.

If Aditi's lucky streak continues, Bran may end up doing nothing more than distract the cleric while she turns him into a pincushion.

[Nevaera]

But for the ranged penalties.

[Roland St. Jude]

@ Koren: Nevaera's sussed out how I read it. I took the first paragraph as description of last round, because by the time you're posting, some of the stuff in there has already happened, like the priest wheeling his horse around and such.

It never occurred to me that you'd expect to fire, move, and fire. I just assumed you had: 1) priority one move to Ash and 2) priority two attack, if able.

I can understand if you intended to attack and then move, but then where does the attack at the end in the spoiler come from?

Regardless, if you had attacked first, you wouldn't have made it all the way to Ash. It'd be a mess to retro that in now, so unless you feel very strongly about it, we'll leave it as is.

[Nevaera]

What if he made it to Ash and all the stuff I posted happened on this round rather than the last?

Like, last round, Mycah fired and then ran a little ways.
Then this round Mycah made it to Ash, shared some angst, and fired at the last rider.

?

That's the only thing I can think of to help.

But I guess it might be best to leave it alone then, if this sort of thing doesn't seem like an easy fix.

---

Oh, ooh! Is a Curse permanent? Or are Curses temporary? I was scared to ask before, but it seems combat might end soon now - and I just can't hold back my curiosity much longer. :P

[Koren n'Rhys]

No need to go back and try to change anything, it's not important and shouldn't make any difference.

Looking back, I can see how that comment in the spoiler caused most of the confusion - and that was my mistake since I had copy/pasted the spoiler block from a previous round.

For what it's worth, in 1 minute rounds (not 6 sec) here's how I saw it happening:
Round A: M full-moves around sphere, no line of sight so no arrow.
Round B: Moves and fires into priest's back & draws his attention.
Round C: Another arrow as priest rides off, then moves to Ash for angsty drama.
Round D: Wrap angst and fire arrow at remaining rider.

But it's really not a big deal and certainly not worth changing anything.

With that, I'm headed away for the rest of the weekend and won't be able to post until late Monday or Tuesday sometime. Thanks all!

Edit to add: I obviously don't know distances here, so made some assumptions there too, based on your comment about Mycah "running the entire distance to Ash's side".

[Nevaera]

Ahh, rounds are 1 min. I was wondering if they were longer maybe than in 3rd. (haven't played 4th/5th)

Hmm, I believe it was mentioned that the sphere was 60' diameter (30' radius).

---

Happy Thanksgiving (/Columbus Day) everyone! ^_^

[Roland St. Jude]

I'll get a new IC post up this afternoon/evening when I'm back at a real computer.

@Nevaera: Bestow Curse is permanent, though powerful magic can remove it.

[Nevaera]

Aww, poo.

I'll have to see if we can get Mr. Snake Master ...
(why is it always snakes? Is it cause I had one taxidermed? :P)
... to fix me - if we can find a way to capture and threaten him.
My next best shot I'm thinking is Alanna - if we can get her leveled up enough.

Ah, but such is the life of a BECMI D&D character. >.<
All that hard won skill - plus a cool magical sword - nerfed.

Heheh, at least I still have wicked AC (when I'm not paralyzed).

[MeanMrsMustard]

Attack roll because I was a derp in the IC.
(1d20+2)[21]

[Matthew]

Oh crap. We really need to get some distance between ourselves and these snakes so we can take them out with missile attacks. Even though we do much better damage at close quarters, their ability to instantly kill with poison makes things crazy risky.

[Roland St. Jude]

Oh crap. We really need to get some distance between ourselves and these snakes so we can take them out with missile attacks. Even though we do much better damage at close quarters, their ability to instantly kill with poison makes things crazy risky.

And if they're anything like the first batch, they attack twice per round. Yikes.

[Nevaera]

Ohhh, was THAT their trick. I didn't recall the mention of double attacks, but it did seem there were a lot of attacks at Ash in the beginning.

<--- (it's all starting to come together for her)


Oh, don't forget Neela, guys. She could cast sleep on the whole area of snakes before they slither away from the smaller area if you guys clear out quick enough. Yes Ash is in there, but she's useless but for the slight defenses of her armor anyways. Plus, who's to say the snakes will consider her a threat in the first place now? If they seek vibrations, she makes none.

Even risking just one comrade in the area of the sleep effect might be worth it (one of us could just kick them awake in the same round if they failed their save vs. spell).

[Roland St. Jude]

Ohhh, was THAT their trick. I didn't recall the mention of double attacks, but it did seem there were a lot of attacks at Ash in the beginning.

<--- (it's all starting to come together for her)

Yeah, that's what all those "twice in quick succession" and "bites draws back and bites again" bits were.

Oh, don't forget Neela, guys. She could cast sleep on the whole area of snakes before they slither away from the smaller area if you guys clear out quick enough.

Neela already used her sleep spell on the initial batch of snakes. She's tapped out of combat spells and has one utility spell left, though I don't think she's discussed it with anyone.

[Gwendol]

I will cast sleep when and if I can. Can Neela use the wand of paralysis? If so I know what my next action will be.