The Unseen Servant forums

I personally question the efficacy of the Deflect ability in the PbP medium. While I appreciate the concept, I think it might work better at a table where the player gets an enhanced sense of impact for their character. While I do follow along in the Rolls thread, and your narration does convey the sense of skill, the ability to avoid strikes with a Deflect skill is diluted as a character-defining trait when it's the DM doing the rolling.

IMO, the enhanced attack and damage are quite worthwhile in this medium, as they should speed up combat. The enhanced AC might prolong combat, but it also helps to mitigate the potential for harm to the PCs. It could be kept or not, dependent on the need for speeding up combat.

I think your solution for allowing other characters that should expect to be in combat to have a Skilled proficiency under their belt is a good and generous one, but I'd also propose at least contemplating doing away with the Deflect ability altogether. It will only get more pronounced as we and our foes increase in level, and 20-round combats cannot be fun for you to have to roll and narrate.

I'm thus in favor of making combat both faster and deadlier, though that may be an easier suggestion for me to make as my character has the superior buffer of HP within our group.

Given his AC and inability to wear armour, I like Rhys' ability to deflect some attacks.

I thought TK was giving people the ability to retcon some proficiency choices; is that accurate?

I'm torn. I fully appreciate TK's desire to not have combat drawn out for 20 rounds. On the other hand, I think people should be responsible for their character build decisions.

I am also in favor of keeping Deflect.

My feeling, regarding it stretching out combat, is that monsters shouldn't typically have weapon mastery. The high-level chieftains of humanoid tribes, maybe, but not just ogres, hobgoblins, bugbears, etc. Like, basically, only things with a name should ever have weapon mastery.

Wyzard wrote:My feeling, regarding it stretching out combat, is that monsters shouldn't typically have weapon mastery. The high-level chieftains of humanoid tribes, maybe, but not just ogres, hobgoblins, bugbears, etc. Like, basically, only things with a name should ever have weapon mastery.

That makes sense. Although, you'll note, that BTB all ogres are Skilled in the club, for instance. p.270, DD. Although, I could totally see doing that for purposes of pbp.

So, I need to know if you guys are returning to the surface or going back for the bags of gold.

Well, the bags of gold are on the way. So let's pick them up on the way.

I'm content with picking up the gold.

As a non-combatant, I don't have much opinion on the Deflect issue. I can see Al's point on it's benefit to Rhys, but ultimately it is TK who needs to bear the burden of all the extra rolls. When I've used Weapon Mastery in the past, it has only been with significant beings and not the average monster, as Wyzard suggests. That kept it reasonable, IMO.

I'm in favor of grabbing what gold we can when we go by the room where we left it, but not sticking around there.

Let me think on this some more, but I think I am inclined to eschew things like Deflect for non-named opponents and substituting some other benefits. Such as a flat -1 bonus to AC, or extra hit points, or something.

I didn't mean to open a can of worms. I'm certainly happy to keep things the way they are. If a creature is given an ability in the rules, I'd think it should keep that ability, though TK can certainly modify that if he wants to (whether to make the encounter move faster or make it tougher, etc.).

~*~

As for the gold, if we're planning on coming back here for more mayhem on the following day, it might be more prudent to just leave the gold where it is. If we're returning to civilization on the morrow, then we certainly want to collect it all.

How appropriate that I vanished for a couple of days and Tev got paralyzed! That's awesome.

Sorry for my disappearance. I don't even know what happened this weekend. I fell into a black hole, apparently.

Alright, this is what I'm figuring for money carried. We don't want to drop below 20' per round, so the limit for any given PC is 1,200 coin weight. There's 5k coins, but we probably won't get that many.

Semele: 752 in gear + 448gp =1,200

Bruno: 775 in gear + 425gp = 1,200

Rhys: 223 + 967gp = 1,200

Severi: 668 + 532gp = 1,200

Thurgan: 738 + 432gp = 1,200

Tev...Tev is already over 1200, I guess? he needs to just throw some shit away, we eat twice as many wandering monster checks at 10' as we do at 20.

Quint's sheet says he's at 600. He could haul 600gp more.

Vanco is at 738 + 432 = 1200.

The Problem is that I'm not sure if we actually have sacks or not to carry all this loot. If we're reduced to just stuffing as much as we can in our backpacks, we're going to leave here with a lot less than that.

I think a lot depends on the intention of this other group of adventurers, plus how long it takes Tev to get moving again.
E.g., if they are likely to attract wandering monsters away from us, we might be able to risk going slow.

Wyzard wrote:Tev...Tev is already over 1200, I guess? he needs to just throw some shit away, we eat twice as many wandering monster checks at 10' as we do at 20.

Tev is at 1167 cn and can carry 32 gp. He also has 2 large empty sacks in his backpack.

He'd normally be at 1017 cn, but we wanted him to be using his halberd, so he brought that along. That's an easy enough thing to leave behind, if we'd prefer he carry 150 coins.

If somebody else made sure to carry rope, 4 flasks oil, 1 torch, and 2 iron spikes he could save 120 cn. Then again, he might as well carry those if we want them along since he's always going to be over 800 cn until he drops his backpack. That might save someone else going over 800 cn.

If he drops his backpack and just keeps armor, shield, sword, crossbow, and coinpurse, he's at 797 cn and better able to flee.

It's unfortunate Dark Dungeons doesn't allow for STR modification to encumbrance.

Edit: My apologies; Tev's personal wealth has grown by 101 coins since I last updated his encumbrance. He'll have definitely left the halberd behind (hidden where the gold stash was) when we grabbed the gold, and could therefore carry 81 coins of the gold stash out. I'll convert more of his personal wealth to gems when we return to town.

Alethan wrote:Rhys jerks a thumb over his shoulder, "If it is adventure and excitement you crave, Baso, then you are sure to find it down that way. There are, or at least there were, orcs down there. But there is something bigger, too. Some sort of proto-orc. They look similar, but are bigger and meaner. We dealt with a few of them, but I'm most certain there are more - plenty for all of us, to be sure. We have had some success, although we haven't found much of value on them yet. We are hoping there is a hoard not yet discovered. But for the time being, we were pulling back to see what is wrong with our man Tev, who can't seem to move at the moment."

"A bit of advice for you. If you have any wine, don't drink it in celebration until you're safe from here. That is, if you have any left." He points at the remains of the solid grey gunk on his pants. "There are some rather large beetles down here with a nasty sort of spit. You'll want to wash it off with strong wine before you get turned into one of the pillars you'll be sure to see further on."

Rhys acts cordial and polite, as is his nature with fellow adventurers. But he is also cautious and does not let his guard down, as is his nature with fellow adventurers...

thirdkingdom wrote:Beso the Boisterous

A brief expression flits across Beso's face. The companions, having no doubt experienced such a range of emotions themselves in the past, have no trouble identifying it. "So, you say you battled these creatures, yet did not find their hoard? Would you mind, uh, telling me where their lair lies?" He examines his fingers intently. "So we can, um, avoid it, as the creatures you describe sounds deadly indeed."

*headdesk*

The expression, by the way, is one of unadulterated greed.

Wyzard wrote:*headdesk*

A lovely expression! (I should write it in emails to the management more often.)

thirdkingdom wrote:The expression, by the way, is one of unadulterated greed.

Hmm.

How about sending them off in direction of the monsters to buy us time to get out of there with Tev and this treasure for some R&R?

Well if they go towards where the ur-orcs are then they'll get a fight and give us some time to get out.

MonsterMash wrote:Well if they go towards where the ur-orcs are then they'll get a fight and give us some time to get out.

We really have no way of knowing that. For all we know, there aren't any more of the beasts, or they left "Bob" behind, armed with a cleaver and a frying pan, to defend the treasure room.

I guess it's not so much as if there are any ur-orcs left, but more that we want to get out for now. Maybe this other group would fare badly against a cleaver and frying pan.