[003] Into the War Camp

[ffilz]

I checked and the Second Strike is on the same BAP as the first one. 50% BCS, and an additional -1 to BCS.

Hmm, so BCS 4... Which if they have any much armor at all quickly reduces to almost ineffective...

[Marullus]

@GM Marullus - From their outlines, can we see how the guards are armed and armored? Specifically, do they have dai-kyu or han-kyu?

It is pre-dawn, but it does seem from their outlines that the pair have dai-kyu and ashigaru armor.

[jemmus]

Either way seems difficult, Toshizo says. But I am inclined follow Ha-san's suggestion about taking the road, killing the two guards, and rushing the house. I don't know if we could kill 20 of them here on the mountainside before they kill us. Taka-sama and Eiji-san, do you agree? Or we can toss a coin and let the kami-sama decide for us.

[Marullus]

I will be home this weekend.

Is this the plan, then?

Assuming you guys have surprise on the tower and are shooting from the road, tell me your preferred range and do you first round of actions. I can pick up adjudication there.

[jmacatty]

What are the chances of getting to 50' without being detected?

[jemmus]

I'd like to get to within 30 yds if we can (point blank range for Toshizo's 2-man rating dai-kyu). If not, 50 yds will still be Short range (+0 modifier to hit).

Is Ha's BAP or second action phase number 6 or lower? If so and we get surprise, we could shoot on Toshizo's second action phase of 6. If the guards' BAPs are higher (before) phase 6, they wouldn't get an action this turn. Their phases would have already passed. We'd get a free turn of actions on them. (1114.2)

[Marullus]

What are the chances of getting to 50' without being detected?

Details were back here: viewtopic.php?p=551754#p551754

The ridge where the watchtower stands has been cleared of trees, giving them an unrestricted view for at least 60 yards in all directions.

At 60' your presence will be revealed (which may be part of a plan).

Beyond that is a Hidden Things check. The guards make a Wits save (modified by your roll with Shinobi-jutsu if a Ninja).

[jemmus]

Hmm. How far is it from the road and edge of the clearing to the house? How many people can climb up the ladder to the watchtower at a time?

I think each guard would have to be hit with over 10 arrows to be killed. By that time the bandits in the house will be alerted and have time to don armor. Perhaps instead we should rush the house. The guards will probably be shooting arrows at us the whole way, but it can't be avoided. Or we could try loosing arrows at them, then charging and battling them with dai-sho on the watchtower. Then as the bandits come from the house, we can shoot them with arrows, and battle them one by one as they ascend to fight us on the watchtower. Of course, the two guards may do the same thing to us as we ascend to the watchtower.

And then, there is still the option of staying on the mountain and fighting them as they come up the slope. We could try to find a narrow, rocky place where it would be hard for them to encircle us, and Taka-sama could make the ground before us into mud.

Perhaps our only hope is to kill the leader as soon as we can. They are just robbers fighting for treasure. Maybe when their leader is dead, they will value their lives more than their courage and honor. "This may be the last morning of this life," he thinks. "Fighting bandits for a merchant, on behalf of a samurai clan whose name we don't even know. Such is the way of a ronin, I suppose. Alright then, it's good."

[ffilz]

I forget, do we have a timeline here? Maybe waiting and watching for a good time to strike would be advantageous?

A point of culture understanding: I get that the ronin can expect to be sent on a suicide mission, would a shugenja feel the same obligation?

I really don't expect Taka to be of much use in the fight other than to cast mud. If we were dealing with a lone guard, the poison dart spell might be effective, but that's not our situation.

Is the Buddhist Gakusho going to have any reason to attack bandits?

[jmacatty]

Several thoughts:
1. Are you sure we can get to 60 feet without being spotted? If so, I will be at short range with my bow, which will give me a BCS of 12 + 1 (using AP arrows) - AC of target (*say 5, but likely less) for a BCS of 8.
2. With a diversion, I likely can close to 50 feet before firing which will leave me at Point blank range, adding 6 to my BCS for a net of 14.
3. With AP arrows, I cause 4d5 (at point blank range, 5d5) damage with each hit, averaging 10. The guards HP totals will be between 10 (avg. man) and 45 (2d level Bushi max), as such it should take 5 hits max, and could take as few as 1 hit.
4. I think we need to kill the guards, quickly, drop bows and charge the camp.

[jmacatty]

Also, I've been confused. We need to make sure we are using yards regarding ranges. Are we spotted at 60 feet or 60 yards?

[ffilz]

Also, I've been confused. We need to make sure we are using yards regarding ranges. Are we spotted at 60 feet or 60 yards?

The details were repeated, cleared to 60 YARDS... We aren't sneaking up on them...

[jemmus]

I suppose the gakusho and shugenja could be motivated by the rewards. 5 gold each for completing the mission, silver for heads, and selling the recovered supplies to the merchant.

On the archery table on p.11, what does the Man-Rating Modifier (e.g. +1 for point blank) apply to? BCS, hit point damage, number of hit dice?

[jmacatty]

I'm not trying to be a dick, but Marullus said we would be seen at "60' " which means 60 feet. I just want to be clear.

[jemmus]

He might have been typing on a phone or on the road. I'd go by the typed out "yards" in the original post.

[jmacatty]

Sounds good to me.

[jemmus]

I found the answer to my question about Man-Rating modifiers. The +1 for point blank adds a die of damage. Seems like I would have remembered that, but I didn't. viewtopic.php?p=546821#p546821

[jemmus]

Toshizo has a 2-man dai-kyu and its point blank is at 30 yards. His partially encumbered BMA is 5, so running 10 yards per turn, it will take him three turns to get to point blank range. His partially encumbered BCS is 9, +1 for armor piercer, +2 for point blank = BCS 11. If we again assume AC5, 30% chance of hitting per turn. Damage is 2d5 for man-rating +2d5 for point blank = average of 10hp per hit. Times 30% chance of hitting = 3.3 hp average damage per turn.

Heavy armor is great for defense, but there are some serious penalties to offense. Toshizo's kyujutsu BCS dropped from 17 (unencumbered) to 11 (partially encumbered) because of the -25% penalties to Deftness and Speed scores. BMA went from 7 to 5, MNA from 2 to 1, BAP from 12 to 5.

Question to GM: Can we take of armor components to lighten to, say, to Partial Samurai Armor? It seems like that would make sense. Because the donning armor rules say characters gain 1 AC per turn.

[Enoch]

Marullus is on a road trip until the end of this week, and presumably posting from his phone.

As I mentioned before, Eiji is near-useless in a fight (as much because of his Buddhist philosophy as for lack of combat skill). But if you need somebody to act as a distraction, he could probably do that.

[Marullus]

Hi guys, I'm back and getting myself together again.

I'm not trying to be a dick, but Marullus said we would be seen at "60' " which means 60 feet. I just want to be clear.

He might have been typing on a phone or on the road. I'd go by the typed out "yards" in the original post.

I meant yards, which is described as the standard measurement in Bushido.

Discussion:

The maps for this adventure include no scale for distances. This is a tower designed specifically to offer defensive advantage to the tower and I picked 60 yards as it allows them all of Short range and a distance that is hard to close on foot. It seemed reasonable they would take that precaution.

On the other hand, this is supposed to be a hidden site in a secret valley, and a 120 yard clearing on top of a ridgeline with a tower in the middle of it can't help but be conspicuous and visible.

I wasn't expecting this planning step to be a stumper. I'm willing to err on the side of them keeping the valley a secret and reducing the 'cleared range' - if it is only cleared to 30 yards it still gives them safely Short range (and command over point blank) and also reasonable assurance they can't be charged by surprise while allowing them to be more secretive in their location.

As for the distance from the tower down the steep trail into the valley to the house, let's keep that at about 150 yards.

I will allow it as 30 yards cleared space (partial cover being available further than that) and then 150 yards from the tower down the trail to the house in the valley below.

Question to GM: Can we take of armor components to lighten to, say, to Partial Samurai Armor? It seems like that would make sense. Because the donning armor rules say characters gain 1 AC per turn.

That is reasonable, within the confines of armor type.

Discussion:

Armor (1103.2) specifies that Samurai, Ashigaru, and Ninja armor are mutually exclusive and that Light and Heavy are made of different materials. Light is lacquered leather and heavy is metal plates. Scavenging Armor (1103.5) is also a thing, allowing you to take armor parts you don't have to reach a higher category, which implies you could willingly lower AC by doing the opposite.

Light Samurai armor can be: Partial (AC 3), Regular (AC 4), or Complete (AC 6).
Heavy Samurai armor can be: Partial (AC 5), Regular (AC 7), Complete (AC 8), Superior (AC 9), or Master (AC 10)

So, lowering to socially-acceptable armor levels as a Samurai is only possible with light armor, removing the limbs and face protection and wearing only the body armor and helmet.

Also note that actual armor class adds your level when using a Favored bugei, which I assume affects combat but not social mores.

What do you guys think of the optional rule for damaged armors?