As You Command OOC

[Waistcoatwill]

Where did Cypher end up after being sucked into the ship? If he draws his spiked chain would he be able to reach either the hippocampus or the ramfish with a 5ft step?
without stepping fully back into the water? Cypher doesn't want to drop his weapon into the depths if something goes wrong.

@MrAbdiel - I think water breathing lets you use verbal components. I've been wrong many times before in this fight though!

Swim check (1d20+8)[20]

[JbeJ275]

Where did Cypher end up after being sucked into the ship? If he draws his spiked chain would he be able to reach either the hippocampus or the ramfish with a 5ft step?
without stepping fully back into the water? Cypher doesn't want to drop his weapon into the depths if something goes wrong.

@MrAbdiel - I think water breathing lets you use verbal components. I've been wrong many times before in this fight though!

Swim check [roll0]

You’re at the back of the flooded broom at the bottom of the ship. Perhaps 20ft away from the gushing waters. You could move and attack the Ramfish but bear in mind the penalties with that sort of thing.



EDIT: Sorry. The Ramfish is still by the hole, the Hippocampi holding the chain is much further out from the hole. You’d definitely need to swim out to get in range of that.

[Waistcoatwill]

Cool, it'll need to be caution to the wind. Cypher has a normal move of 60ft currently and 10ft reach. If he is likely to make it far enough to get to the hippocampus he'll do it. If it looks too far away he'll do a double move to get within 10ft.

He'll Dodge on the Ramfish and gets +4 AC from mobility for AoO (AC 27).

I'll edit the IC post to reflect that later.

[JbeJ275]

OK, so regarding the chain thing. You're very likely to succeed and you can get 10 feet away with all your movement and taking an AoO from the Ramfish, but you would be able to see the Hippocampi is just dragging the chain downwards. So it'll fall under gravity to just be next to the Hippocampi still, if at that moment the momentum of the chain was heading up it might get pulled back out of the beast's reach, but right now the Hippocami is descending. I might have it make a reflex save to grab hold of it again quickly enough or are you envisioning something else? I like your idea I'm just not sure what this is looking like in your head.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

maybe sharkan's pushing of the chest will raise the chain out of his reach?

[Waistcoatwill]

maybe sharkan's pushing of the chest will raise the chain out of his reach?

Exactly, ideally turning a tug of war into some unopposed time for Sharkan to pull thr chain back in. I assumed it was pulling the chain sideways rather than down, so I thought just dropping it might also help that goal, but it still help Sharkan a bit.

Edit: Turn-based combat makes it a little tricky to interrupt ongoing things like this but I'm totally happy with whatever makes sense to you with it playing out.

[MrAbdiel]

Hooray, enemy in full flight. If there's room for sneaky attacks of opportunity, we'll take 'em; but otherwise time to stop it yoinking that chest.

Swim check for ol' Typho. Should be fine unless he totally craps the bed. (1d20+5)[11]

Edit: And this is why you should carry an Adamantine hatchet, folks. Oof.

[Waistcoatwill]

Isn't picking up an item in 3.5 a move action that provokes an attack of opportunity? So the hippocampus might only be able to do a normal move action after it grabs the chain rather than withdrawing.

Cypher only gets one AoO per round, but either way he should probably get one before the hippocampus starts moving again.

Edit: 15 to hit on that Hail Mary, oh well...last turn of haste this round, I'm guess the hippocampus will have moved out of his range though, is that right? Otherwise all that's left is to power attack the chain and hope to crit. Attempting to grab hold (being dragged) and pick the lock underwater sounds impossible.

[MrAbdiel]

Lamorak certainly thinks we're at break-the-chain oclock. If you can give me another round without letting any more chain out and Typho and Lamorak can double-attack that weakened chain segment, I think we have it.

I'm imagining this right, aren't I? Hippocampus is trying to pull the lockbox out by the chain, but the box is still on board?

[Waistcoatwill]

Realky clever move there By Sharkan!

Okay, I assume the chain jiggles a bit from being attacked. Does each segment need to be attacked to break it, or is the HP for the whole object? Sorry for the IC physics question! With max power attack and damage halved for being underwater, cypher does 1d4+8 damage, so three attacks might do it.

If he knows that the chain next to him will be unweakened by whatever jiggling is going on then he'll try to disarm again if possible. If the chain looks substantially thicker than normal chain he'll also try to disarm again. If the box hasn't moved very far inside the ship hopefully the hippocampus hasn't moved much either and it'll still be possible to reach it (+/- movement).

[Dusk Raven]

I admit, I'm not sure what Maiabel should be doing at this time...

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Break a Chain? attack a swimming Enemy? help with the Chest?

[Waistcoatwill]

Whack the chain! Don't know if you're close enough to full attack it, but that could be amazing! Your standard dangerous defence strike would be still be really good!

If you have any ability to lock the chain in place (or even damage the chest) that could also be clutch.

[MrAbdiel]

Break a chain! If we can get a single hit of 15 damage on that thing, it'll break at the point where it's hit. At that point, the battle's basically over. Or else the hippocampus can come back to try for the smaller chain and we'll pound it into goo.

[JbeJ275]

I mean, it’s a masterwork chain so I changed those numbers a little bit that principle very much stands. It’s very much a breakable item.

[Dusk Raven]

Well, I did send an attack its way - I assumed I'd have to move more than 5 feet to reach it. I'm not sure how much good I did, though.

[JbeJ275]

Well, I did send an attack its way - I assumed I'd have to move more than 5 feet to reach it. I'm not sure how much good I did, though.

No you’re still next the hole in the hull. You can reach the chain and still full attack.

[MrAbdiel]

If anyone had a teleport left, could they.. grab the chest and teleport, and teleport it 'out' of the chain loop?

[Waistcoatwill]

How far would Cypher have to move to get withint 10ft of the hippocampus? He's going to try disarming again (rude not to with Sharkan's set up) but would try to do a little damage to the hippocampus as well if possible.

This is our last turn of haste, so Maiabel should enjoy that extra attack whilst she can! A good damage roll and she could certainly make a big difference!

Edit: is the hippocampus a medium creature?

[JbeJ275]

If anyone had a teleport left, could they.. grab the chest and teleport, and teleport it 'out' of the chain loop?

Yeah, I'd allow that.

How far would Cypher have to move to get withint 10ft of the hippocampus? He's going to try disarming again (rude not to with Sharkan's set up) but would try to do a little damage to the hippocampus as well if possible.

This is our last turn of haste, so Maiabel should enjoy that extra attack whilst she can! A good damage roll and she could certainly make a big difference!

Edit: is the hippocampus a medium creature?

The Hippocapus is a large creature, like a horse. You'd need to move ten feet, though you do get an AoO on the Hippocampi as well.

Realky clever move there By Sharkan!

Okay, I assume the chain jiggles a bit from being attacked. Does each segment need to be attacked to break it, or is the HP for the whole object? Sorry for the IC physics question! With max power attack and damage halved for being underwater, cypher does 1d4+8 damage, so three attacks might do it.

If he knows that the chain next to him will be unweakened by whatever jiggling is going on then he'll try to disarm again if possible. If the chain looks substantially thicker than normal chain he'll also try to disarm again. If the box hasn't moved very far inside the ship hopefully the hippocampus hasn't moved much either and it'll still be possible to reach it (+/- movement).

Sorry to have overlooked that. I'll treat the HP as being for a ten foot section so you could all move to attack it at once if you so chose. The Box and Hippocampi both moved ten feet so with a swim check you can catch up to it. The chain isn't much thicker than normal, but does seem to be very well made.

Isn't picking up an item in 3.5 a move action that provokes an attack of opportunity? So the hippocampus might only be able to do a normal move action after it grabs the chain rather than withdrawing.

Cypher only gets one AoO per round, but either way he should probably get one before the hippocampus starts moving again.

Edit: 15 to hit on that Hail Mary, oh well...last turn of haste this round, I'm guess the hippocampus will have moved out of his range though, is that right? Otherwise all that's left is to power attack the chain and hope to crit. Attempting to grab hold (being dragged) and pick the lock underwater sounds impossible.

That's correct, though I don't know if that makes sense given that it's grabbing something already in it's face instead of on the floor I'll rule it as such for now. The Hippocampi has moved out of range, but a swim check could let you catch up.

There is some slight confusion here, as strictly RAW the Hippocampi should have moved the box with it's full movement on each of it's turns only being potentially forced back ten feet and so be long gone. However I like the dramatics of his tug of war more so that's how we're doing it.

[Waistcoatwill]

Thank you for the detailed response! I'm loving the tension of this fight! I don't think I've been making very good tactical choices but I'm having good fun.

Cypher totally fluffed his AoO attempt and rolled a 2. Bands of steel only works on medium crearures, which I got confused about as the token was smaller than the ramfish, so he'd have tried a repeat disarm attempt instead of an attack to deliver his stored spell, but the check would only be 25 (and disarming a creature in the process of picking up a weapon may be impossible anyway).

Edit: On his turn he rolled a 1 for his disarm attack roll, which I assume fails unless the hippocampus also rolls a 1. Will do an IC post after work.
He managed a strong Swim check so he'll swim over and try to disarm again and hope the unseen servants make it more effective this time!

[MrAbdiel]

Wait, have I been imagining the Hippocampus to be further away than I though? How many feet from him to the breech in the hull?

[JbeJ275]

Wait, have I been imagining the Hippocampus to be further away than I though? How many feet from him to the breech in the hull?

It's like 40ft away, sorry for the misunderstanding as Roll20 really struggles to display verticality.

[MrAbdiel]

Oh! Oh my, that’s much closer than I thought.

I might give up on breaking the chain and just ride Typho down almost to adjacent to the thing, then grab the chain and start hand over hand climbing it. Like a terminator. Then it can decide if it wants to be stubborn or not.

[JbeJ275]

You can, the issue will be that even on a successful check a creature can only move one quarter of its land speed as a move action.

[Waistcoatwill]

Woop woop, nice one folks! Nail-biting stuff there.

Great twists and turns in those encounters JBE, it was brilliant fun!

I'm very excited about the XP too, it's been too long since I've played a non-milestone game. I'll have to ponder long and hard about if I want to take a crafting feat in the future but it might open up the option of a PHBII companion spirit for the team in the shorter term. There are some handy options that might help with team stealth etc., might be worth a look.

Cypher will be keen to interrogate Sharkan's new pal if given the go ahead by the others. Just to make sure that she doesn't have any noble intentions.

[MrAbdiel]

Hooray! Score one for the bad guys. I've set up a little IC debrief scene while we do the OOC stuff. But for me, a new priority has become: kit out the retinue to perform in aquatic encounters at full capacity! I certainly felt challenged.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

yay we have a now irritating woman who gets to live!

[Waistcoatwill]

If we can get Lamorak a +2 boost to his wisdom you could prep steed of the seas for Typho.

I'd overlooked the Swim spell before and Cypher could give one of the group a swim speed for 80mins. With a spell storing spirit companion that could become 30 mind of swim speed for everyone instead.

Edit: A least crystal of aquatic adaptation would also sort Lamorak's ACP for swimming.

[Dusk Raven]

Been a while since I've done underwater combat in 3.5. Fortunately, Maiabel has piercing weapons, and even though I only put a single rank in Swim, I rolled well. All in all, a good fight, although I was starting to worry about Maiabel's HP for a bit.