OCC Thread

[ragnboneshopper]

I'll wait for at least one more person to chime in before updating...

[saalaria]

Am back so catching up on all the action. Will jump in as and when!

[Majik]

Hey guys... I didn't check the game until afte the 27th as I thought we were on hold until after that.

Anyway, I'll jump in and try to remember what the hell is going on. ha-ha
I seem to have forgotten much over summer vacation, including who my PC is and what his back story was.

[ChubbyPixie]

Hey guys... I didn't check the game until afte the 27th as I thought we were on hold until after that.

Anyway, I'll jump in and try to remember what the hell is going on. ha-ha
I seem to have forgotten much over summer vacation, including who my PC is and what his back story was.

Good to have you back.

[ragnboneshopper]

Glad you're still with us, Majik! I felt real bad after putting you through the rigors of character creation and then a huge layoff. I intro'd your character a little bit, but if you feel the need to retcon/alter anything, do let me know, and there's plenty of room for your characters to get to know each other still...

Onward and upward...

[ragnboneshopper]

So we appear to be at full force once again!

Please note that I awarded XP from the battle with the frogmen in the action thread, right at the end of the last post of the battle. This is how I'll roll from now on, so do note your XP gained, and remember to add any XP bonuses from high prime requisite scores, because I don't do that. If you get enough XP to level up, you have to wait for a rest before you can actually gain a level.

Also, I just want to note again, since Majik is newly joining us and this doesn't always come up, that with all else being equal, when it matters, those who post first have their actions happen first. If three characters shoot missiles at the same target and all hit, the attacks happen in order of posting. When four characters are attacking one creature in melee, the first to post lands their attack first, and so on. This way we know who actually killed that critter...

Also, the combat round works out in the following way:

1) Initiative is rolled by each side (actually rolled by the DM). Higher initiative goes first, lower initiative goes second. Winning initiative begins acting on the segment number rolled by the losing side; losing initiative begins acting on the segment number rolled by the winning side; on a tie, everything happens at once (though in the same order of action as follows).

For instance, if the party rolls a 6 and the monsters roll a 3, the party goes first, their actions beginning on segment 3, while the monsters go second, their actions beginning on segment 6.

2) Order of actions...

a. The side that won initiative goes first, their actions beginning on the number rolled by the OTHER side:

- spells start casting on the initiative count rolled (no movement allowed for characters who are casting; spells explicitly readied ahead of time/before combat starts are cast on the initiative count rolled as long as the spells do not take more than 10 segments; for spells that take longer than 10 segments [ie, longer than a round) to cast, the spell goes off on segment #X - 10, where X = the total number of segments to cast the spell)

- missile shots happen on the initiative count rolled, a split second after any spells (for those characters attacking with missiles and not moving)

- any movement described happens

- melee attacks happen (along with missile attacks taken after movement; these occur simultaneous with melee attacks)

b. The side that lost initiative goes, in the same order of actions as above. Rinse and repeat.

[onlyme]

Ok... I have Malone at 11 short of leveling. Just need a couple of sleeping rabbits to attack...

[ragnboneshopper]

Ok... I have Malone at 11 short of leveling. Just need a couple of sleeping rabbits to attack...

Shouldn't be a problem...

[Majik]

After the fight, do we try and collect arrows... if they ar not busted... or do we keep track of that sort of thing?

[ragnboneshopper]

After the fight, do we try and collect arrows... if they ar not busted... or do we keep track of that sort of thing?

I think Vargr before me had a house rule that I don't remember off the top of my head. My usual way of handling this is to say that, as long as you have time and you specifically state that your character is looking for it, you can always recover half of your spent ammo, rounded up. Some get lost, some get broken. I don't need the headache of rolling to find out specifically.

[ragnboneshopper]

Here's a link to Majik's charsheet for Fairfax, in case anyone wants to familiarize themselves further...

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=643#p121544


And Majik asks for anyone to let him know if they find a pic suitable for portraying Fairfax.

Game on!

[saalaria]

Just to check we are of the same understanding Rag. A Lizardman breathes air, he is a good swimmer and can hold his breath longer than a human - how long though?
I am of course thinking he can get down to the body, search it, hack the ring off and return without inhaling the liquid...doable?

[onlyme]

I wouldnt try it without being tied up so someone can pull you up if you become paralyzed.

[ragnboneshopper]

Just to check we are of the same understanding Rag. A Lizardman breathes air, he is a good swimmer and can hold his breath longer than a human - how long though?
I am of course thinking he can get down to the body, search it, hack the ring off and return without inhaling the liquid...doable?

Good question, saalaria. The Monster Manual indicates that lizard men are very good at holding their breaths, but gives no guidelines for how long. From everything I can tell via the wondrous internet, lizards can hold their breath for a very long time indeed, though I believe much of this length of time has to do with going into a fairly dormant state. Increased activity would seem to cause a lizard to more quickly need fresh oxygen, at my best guess.

So, I'll say that under normal circumstances, Swilbosh can remain underwater (or hold his breath) practically forever if he simply comes up for air every 20-40 minutes or so (if it ever matters, we'll just average it out to every 30 mins).

When things get testy and adventurous underwater, let's do it this way:

- Swil can automatically remain under for a period up to his Con total (so, 14 minutes)
- After this time has passed, each round or minute requires a Con check to remain under without starting to drown if he does not reach air the next round (because he's a lizard man, I figure he can tell when it's time, and this gives him an advantage to get to the surface before drowning begins).
- Each additional round after the first during which Swil is active (in combat, working, struggling in any way) requires this check to be made with a -1 penalty to the Con score.
- As soon as Swil becomes still and goes into a dormant state, the -1 penalties stop building up, but he still must pass a check every round at the penalty he's gotten to (so, eventually he's going to fail one and have to come up for air).

My usual (though probably never written down before now) drowning rules, since it's come up:

- All characters can hold their breath for at least one minute with no check needed. Characters with a hp bonus from Con can add this bonus to the number of minutes they can hold their breath before they inhale automatically.
- After this time has passed, a character must start making Con checks, with a -1 penalty after the first round, which doubles to a -2 penalty the second round, -4 the third, and so on. This lets a character attempt something truly heroic and have a fighting but quickly decreasing chance to succeed.
- On a failed check, the character starts to drown that round; there's pretty much no chance to get to air if they haven't already done so, it's too late. Unless aided by another character or somehow thrown to shore by chance, the character will essentially die in 1d4 rounds and is not breathing if pulled out of the drink after that many rounds have passed.
- The character may be resuscitated if another character can convincingly role play how they would know to perform such an act. For another 1d4+Con HP bonus rounds after drowning, the character can be resuscitated (after this, if successfully revived, the character will be brain dead anyway; only magical means could bring them back at that point).

So yes, it's doable for Swil to dive in, hack off the ring finger, and pop back out. Let me know if you have questions or if I missed anything, and onlyme makes a good point too...

[Majik]

I of course have no way of knowing the potential gains in obtaining the rings or what-not off the dude in the pool… however I now wonder if it might not be the true owner of the tower, over come and now prisoner in his own mage-tower….

But anyway, in my gaming experience situations like this rarely end well… I say leave the poor “dead” fellow, and his items, and let’s move on.

I could be wrong, or just overly cautious, but “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

[ragnboneshopper]

Just so that everyone is clear, I've fed Majik info on what Fairfax knows due to his being an exiled member of the Kharg. You can implicitly trust the factuality of his info. Of course, Fairfax doesn't know everything there is to know...

Also, just to make it clear for saalaria, Thurinor is pretty sure the pool itself is safe for short periods. I'm not, as DM, trying to trick anyone there. He rolled a 2 on his Int check, almost as good as he could roll (it's a roll-under). Clearly, those who put the robed man down into the pool were worried about him getting out again, so it's not necessarily a death sentence to take a dip, though a rope around an ankle or wrist is a good idea. That said, it's clearly an adventurous thing to jump in.

I'll wait to see what saalaria decides, as you're fairly split on whether or not to investigate further, and this one needs to be saalaria's call if it's Swilbosh's neck on the line (unless someone else volunteers to jump in)...

[Majik]

Fairfax will hold the rope if someone goes in, but for sure Farifax isn't going in... he already took a bath this month. :p

[Majik]

If I may, prior to this most recent attack: Fairfax, answers Thurinor’s question while (I assume as a strong fighter he was holding the rope to help if necessary pull the lizard man out of the “pool”) helping in the pool room.
“The Hardway Mountain is part of the Griff Mountains. I was on my way there when I was ambushed and brought here. Is that from whence you came? Did you see the griffons? It is said that from the highest peaks you can see "the Great City" to the south.”

At report of the ghost:
“But what of this ghost of an old Kharg leader, who was he? The Eye of the Serpent – as told to me by my father, the Eye can only be SEEN from the top of Hardway Mountain. It is something of a mystery to me, by I was lead to believe it was the river that meets a scared island in the valley”

[ragnboneshopper]

If I may, prior to this most recent attack: Fairfax, answers Thurinor’s question while (I assume as a strong fighter he was holding the rope to help if necessary pull the lizard man out of the “pool”) helping in the pool room.
“The Hardway Mountain is part of the Griff Mountains. I was on my way there when I was ambushed and brought here. Is that from whence you came? Did you see the griffons? It is said that from the highest peaks you can see "the Great City" to the south.”

At report of the ghost:
“But what of this ghost of an old Kharg leader, who was he? The Eye of the Serpent – as told to me by my father, the Eye can only be SEEN from the top of Hardway Mountain. It is something of a mystery to me, by I was lead to believe it was the river that meets a scared island in the valley”

I added this to one of my posts, at or about the appropriate place...

Update in the action thread soon!

[Majik]

Thanks rag.