Glad I Ate Her IC - Rattigan/Gurak

[Toliudar]

character sheet

It has occurred to me that, with a bunch of monster characters, the balance amongst which is hard to determine, and with us starting in a gladiatorial context, it might be useful to give the players with completed PC's an opportunity to try them out 'in the ring.'
• All of you will face the same opponent. No XP will be rewarded for these fights.
• Winning is explicitly not the point of this, so feel free to read each others' threads.
• Instead, I'm looking at how a character works, and how a player writes (which is NOT to say that I need sonnets in each post).
• Participation is voluntary, and I may accept players who don't participate in this process, but I figured that it might be fun, and gives me more information.
• The Friday deadline for new applications remains, but I may delay selection of a team to move forward to group play by a few days while I move some of these individual threads forward.

Should you choose to participate, from your past experience, you know the following:

The arena is a 50’ cube, with a tight lattice of force on all sides, and there are audience bleachers on all four sides. The floor of the arena is gravel and dirt, but you know from talking to other gladiators the force lattice extends below the surface.

Usually, your opponents are already in the ring when you enter. You start in a small waiting area adjacent to the arena, supervised by a pair of grim-faced guards.

There is a table in the waiting area with a disorganized pile of battered-but-serviceable weapons and shields, in a variety of sizes and configurations. Spending 1 round at the table finds you any medium sized common weapon, or a medium sized buckler, large shield or tower shield. For each size smaller or larger, add one round of searching. For a martial weapon or spiked shield, add 1 round of searching. For an exotic weapon, add 2 rounds. None of the weapons are masterwork, of special materials, or otherwise mechanically exceptional. If you are searching for a missile weapon, the associated ammunition is found with the weapon.
Anything that you do in the waiting area that harms the guards gets you summarily and efficiently killed. Otherwise, you can go through any preparations/buffing/etc that you wish. Once the signal comes for the doors to open, the two guards immediately force you out into the main arena, and the fight begins. Resisting the guards gets you summarily and efficiently killed.

From your past experience, you might have only a few seconds in the waiting area, or you might wait a minute or two before the fight begins. Functionally, this means I’ll be rolling a d20 to determine how many rounds of preparation you have before the start of the fight. In your first post, I’ll ask you to lay out your character’s actions in each of 20 pre-fight rounds, and I’ll let you know when that sequence of actions is interrupted by the start of the fight. You're under no obligation to do anything in any of those rounds.

[Rattigan]

Gurak prowls in, tail lashing around angrily behind him. He's done this far too many times. His hands and eyes search for what is needed, falling into the same old routine, while his mind drifts and wanders. He daydreams of times half-forgotten guarding the cubs, of his first encounter with Olgany, his latest knitting pattern...and the hope of freedom.

All too soon, it is time for another human to die. One more tiny pebble on the mountain of Gurak's revenge on those who slew his kin...

Spoiler: Plan

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2 rounds finding a rapier to shove through belt.
1 round Mage Armour
2 rounds finding a composite shortbow (+1-3 draw strength mod)
2 rounds finding a short sword
Rest of time pacing back and forth till I'm pushed out and then Gurak casts Haste as he enters the arena.

[Toliudar]

Rounds of prep before the doors open: (1d20)[17]
Opponent Initiative: (1d20+2)[5]
Gurak's Initiative: (1d20+3)[20]

[Toliudar]

Gurak quickly arms himself with a rapier, short sword and composite shortbow. He prepares himself with magical armour, and then waits for what seems like eternity before the horn blows. The two stone-faced guards sneer up at the muscular goblinoid and haul the doors open. Just then, the section of force lattice in front of the doors vanishes, and the varag is hurled into the ring.

the doors slam closed behind Gurak, and the crowd begins to cheer for blood.

In front of him, about ten feet away, is a sleek tiger, its immaculate pelt bristling with the anticipation of violence. About twenty feet behind it, in the middle of the ring, a second tiger crouches.

Spoiler

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You find whatever strength adjustment you want - just let me know.

I'm going to pause at the start of your initiative. You can go ahead and make a casting of Haste your first standard action, but I wanted to give you a chance to reconsider, if desired. Go ahead and post a first round of actions.

[Rattigan]

Gurak ruffles his feathers in irritation. Beast fight. He hated the beast fights.

He cups a hand to his mouth and yells to the crowd, the familiar drama drummed into his skull by his masters finding him. His fanged mouth makes the words come out thick and distorted, but no less loud. "Two cats to face Chimaera? Why waste time like dis?"

He then shifts almost quicker than the eye can follow from grandstanding into action, all colour draining out of his body and spearing out towards the closest tiger to splash on the face of the tiger with a blinding flash. Meanwhile his form fades from view completely, becoming invisible. He leaps into the air on wings silent as an owl and prepares to swoop down on his mouse...

Spoiler: OOC

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Using Conceal Spellcasting for shock factor. Sleight of Hand check (1d20+10)[15] vs onlooker's Spot checks.
Casting Blinding Color Surge on the nearest tiger.
Will save DC 15+1 for Cloaked Casting (opponent is flatfooted) or become blinded for one round. I have Invisibility for 1 round/CL. It's broken by casting or attacking, as per Invisibility
Flying straight up 30ft. Since I am a Varag I can take 10 on a Move Silently check at any time, so that is 23 on not making noise. Please let me know if you need a Hide check.


This'll be a good indicator on if there's something lacking with him I could use the last few Feats and GP to shore up. There's several potential builds. Let me know if you want me to pick one and go with it f

I could have pre-cast Invis in buffing before hand, but just seemed like something a seasoned gladiator would have been discouraged from

[Toliudar]

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Spot vs cloaked casting: (1d20+3)[12]

Save vs blindness: (1d20+4)[7]

Listen: (1d20+3)[10]

Make two spellcraft checks if you would like to identify what the second tiger is doing.

Your turn.

The varag's colours smash unexpectedly into the big cat's face, covering its eyes. The beast's head whips around uncertainly, its nostrils flaring as it tests the air.

The tiger in the centre of the arena yowls, and a shaggy-furred brown bear appears about half-way in between the two tigers. The tiger hisses and screeches, and a hemisphere of deep grey fog appears all around it. There is a clatter of claws on gravel within the swirling mist.

[Rattigan]

Spoiler: OOC

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Spellcraft 1: (1d20+11)[27]

Spellcraft 2: (1d20+11)[21]

How large is the hemisphere of obscuring fog? Does it cover just the one tiger, or the whole menagerie? Does it reach up to where I'm flying, or has it....mist me?

[Toliudar]

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Bonus points for the awful/brilliant pun.

Spellcraft results: Summon Nature's Ally 4, Fog Cloud.

the fog reaches up to about 25' in the air at its peak, and includes both tigers, and indeed about the centre 2/3 of the arena.

This is a useful time to remind you that with Gurak's maneuverability he needs to fly laterally in order to go up. I'm assuming that he's now about 30' up, and well off to the side of the arena somewhere.

[Rattigan]

Gurak flies forward under his cloak of invisibility, inwardly sighing. This won't be a very impressive fight. This is clearly an amateur or convict, and a cowardly one at that.
His wings twinge a little as he forces them into motion, gliding down to just over the last known location of the yowling tiger. He touches his tooth briefly before a wave of flame washed out from his hand, making it appear like he can indeed breathe flame like the namesake of his stage name.

Spoiler: OOC

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Ah yeah sorry. Was going to take Improved Flight feat in one potential build but didn't in the end. Good catch.

Burning Hands damage. (5d4)[14] Ref save DC12 (normally 11, but +1 for cloaked casting)

Aiming down to hit the yowling tiger with the back edge of the cone if they haven't moved, and aiming the rest of the cone back towards the last locations of the other tiger and the bear.

I'm currently ~10ft above the yowling tiger, so 15ft off the ground.

[Toliudar]

Gurak spirals down to above the fog cloud and lets loose a blast of flame. Based on muffled cries within the crowd, it sounds like Gurak managed to hit both tigers.

There is a crunching gravel sound within the fog cloud. Off to Gurak's left within the cloud, there is a sound of the purring and screeching.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Reflex saves: (1d20)[9] (1d20)[7]

[Rattigan]

Gurak grins a toothy grin as he smells burnt fur, sniffing the air as he silently drops down into the fog cloud to land on the arena floor.

If they wanted to hide in the mist, then he would just have to burn it away. He reaches for the power, wincing as the magic within burns fast and bright, then relaxes as the familiar sensation of the world slowing and blurring around him takes hold. Now he could really MOVE.

Spoiler: OOC

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Was waiting for you to say it was my go again, but then realised the purring and screeching was probably the tigerDruid Doing A Thing. Oops!

Tumble check to land safely after closing wings: (1d20+17)[20]

Taking 10 on Move Silently again, as per racial trait, for total of 23. If you want to impose a penalty because it's loose gravel, no worries.

Move action: Get direction of the scent, so Gurak knows where to aim (since he has Scent special ability)

Standard action: Cast Haste. +1 bonus on attack rolls and a +1 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves. +30ft all move speeds. Also get concealment (20% miss chance) from the Blurred Alacrity feature of Swiftblade.

Sleight of Hand check to make verbal and somatic components less noticeable: (1d20+10)[21]

2 2nd level spell slots spent on Haste. Total number spent so far: 3 2nd level slots

Then 5ft step to the side after, to try and throw them off.