OOC Discussion III: Bride of OOC

[Zhym]

Bragar- Once out of the water. If possible he will get back into his armor.

The zombies and Agax are between Bragar and the stairs.

[Zhym]

Agax Gryyg, game mage:

If possible, and not currently "in melee" with the monsters, Agax will fall back as far as he can and still Turn Undead this turn.
If "move and Turn" isn't allowed in one action, or if Agax is already in melee and will suffer free attacks on him if he retreats, then he'll just Turn Undead.
Either way:

The priest of chance held forth his holy symbol and strange polyhedral talisman of probability and potential and cried, "Back! Your chance is already over! All possibility has left you! Go back to your cruel master who has robbed you of life and opportunity!"

Turn Undead: [1d20] = 10

Agax is in melee with the zombies now. He can mount a "fighting retreat," which means he can back away from combat while parrying. But be can't attack or attempt to turn while he does that (a turn attempt requires forceful presentation of the cleric's holy symbol. You can't present something forcefully while backing away).

From your post, I assume Agax will stand his ground and try to turn the undead?

[Inferno]

From your post, I assume Agax will stand his ground and try to turn the undead?

Correct. Thanks.

[GreyWolfVT]

That depends on what you mean by "near." Agax is near the middle of the hallway. Gragog is about 20' back on the stairs.

Here's a quick & rough diagram:

Map 12 YAH.png

The "G" represents Gragog. Anyone on the stairs is also there or further back. Bragar and Scarlett are beyond the door to the north.

That answers my question quite well I figured I was much removed from the current situations.

[Zhym]

Oh, and zombie positions on that map are approximate.

[Dram]

Where is Bragar on your map?

[Zhym]

He isn't. He's in the cell block past the north door. No one there has had a spare 10 minutes to map the place out.

[Stirling]

Surely the lightening bolt is going to disperse and zap all the party in the water, metal armoured comrades are going to be more vulnerable. Scarlett would not recommend it.

[Zhym]

I'll allow a "height targeted" lightning bolt, but the zombies will get +2 to their saving throws because the bolt won't be at mid-body level.

Also, I'm assuming Agax is casting the 10'-wide, 40'-long version of the bolt. Because Agax is in melee, he'd have to fire the bolt at point-blank range. He's safe, but if he wants to get the zombie fighting Lar, Lar will have a chance of getting hit: half damage if he fails his saving throw, no damage if he makes it.

[Inferno]

Thanks, Zhym. Yes, a forked bolt. He won't attempt to hit the zombie fighting Lar, to protect the brave paladin from electrocution.

[Inferno]

"There is one zombie left, and you have the ring of water walking. If you want us to help let the enemy approach, just a thought," calls Castran from the stairs.

Zhym, can Agax and Lar retreat without giving the hand and the zombie free attacks at +4 to hit?

[Zhym]

A person in combat can back away without giving his opponent a free attack, but he can only parry while doing so, not attack.

Also, if you back away, you won't be able to avoid any floor traps between you and the spiral stairs.

[Zhym]

BTW, this map marks the rough locations where Scarlett and Bragar triggered the floor traps.

[Zhym]

Here's something I hadn't noticed before about the Spiritual Hammer spell:

The material component of this spell is a normal war hammer which the cleric must hurl towards opponents whilst uttering a plea to his or her deity. The hammer disappears when the spell is cast.

So the material component is a 5-lb hammer that's consumed by the spell? Who's going to carry enough hammers around to cast that spell more than never?

House rule: Bragar Battlehammer can cast Spiritual Hammer without using up a hammer (which he doesn't have anyway). My preferred rule would be to have throwing a hammer start the spell, with the hammer falling to the ground when the spell expires. But Bragar doesn't have a hammer (despite his name), so I'll go with the no-hammer ruling instead.

I also noticed that this in the spell description:

[T]he damage it causes when it scares a hit is exactly the same as a normal war hammer, i.e. 1-6 versus opponents of man-size or smaller, 1-4 upon larger opponents.

But a normal war hammer does 2-5 to S/M size opponents. Ah, 1e! Your slipshod editing is part of your charm.

Anyway, I'll say the spell description is correct as to damage: 1-6. Strength bonuses don't apply, however, since the cleric isn't using his strength to wield the weapon

[Storm11]

There isn't a war hammer listed in the PHB, apart from the scores in the spell description. It just says hammer in the weapons section, and whilst it's less effective it suggests it isn't a war hammer, just a normal hammer.

[Zhym]

I interpret the hammer listed in the weapons section to be a war hammer. That seems most consistent with how the term is used elsewhere. The difference in damage is probably just an editing issue or a holdover from OD&D.

[Zhym]

Shinyah, Owl

Shinyah will fly over and try to distract the zombie.

How close to the zombies will Shinyah fly? If he isn't close enough to be attacked, he probably won't be close enough to be a distraction.

[Scott308]

Close enough to get attacked, if that's the case.

[Zhym]

Gotcha.

BTW, I just remembered that I forgot to take Lar's PfE aura into account when determining which attacks hit this round. The attack against him missed instead of hitting. Both attacks against Ajax still hit, however. I've updated the post accordingly.

The DM regrets the error.

[Inferno]

Hi,
I'm going away for a long weekend. I don't expect to be online. I'll be back on Wednesday.

Please NPC my character if I'm holding things up. Agax will fight alongside Lar or retreat with him, it's up to the paladin.

Thanks. Have a good weekend, everyone.