Chapter 8: Q&A / Discussions

[Jeff]

Sure, but with the important distinction that death is not necessarily the end in D&D. It's not, unlike the self-destruct in Spaceballs, irreversible.

[Mike]

Oof. I'd planned on doing something different, but oh well. No worries, though.

Guess that's what I get for taking too long to plot out my move.

[Darren]

Jeff, is the skeleton-dragon under the water a viable target for anyone with ranged attacks?

[Jeff]

Good question, Darren. The answer is yes, specifically because Histra's corpselight (green fire) magic is identifying it as undead...this allows you to target it right now, when ordinarily the dark water would give it total concealment.

However, it has partial concealment. So that's a -2 on any attack rolls while it's underwater. If you happen to use a fire attack, that'll be an additional -2 on the attack roll.

[Darren]

Do electricity attacks get any bonuses in water?

[Jeff]

Nope.

[Darren]

Bummer.

[Jeff]

Mike, remember, you can't shift on difficult terrain unless you're taking some action that allows you to shift more than 1 square.

[Mike]

The elven racial ability wild step negates that, as noted in my actions.


Wild Step: You ignore difficult terrain when you shift.

[Jeff]

Heh, awesome. Forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder.

[Mike]

I'd forgotten it as well. Would've come in handy in the battle against Krez.

[Jeff]

Gentlemen, now that the battle is truly joined, it's time to introduce you to your first solo monster out-of-game. Just as Krez was the first elite you faced.

In 4E, some monsters are so bad-ass they need no allies; they're as deadly as a whole bunch of enemies in one. This bone dragon thing is one such. By design, Histra and her grandfather are helping to hold back the peripheral enemies, which leaves the rest of you to take this guy on. And it will take all of you to do so. It has almost as many hit points as all of yours combined, it has action points, and a bonus to saving throws.

But it's also got a vulnerability to radiance of 10, as Syrdan's attack has just shown. So keep that one in mind, you divine types.

I'm just telling you this so you know it's all right to concentrate your efforts against it. You can still do whatever tactics you want, and there just might be other strategies, but I wanted to at least tell you this much.

For the record, Syrdan the Undead Slayer's best guess is that this is not a dracolich, but it sure acts like one and seems intelligent enough. It looks like it's formed from various beast bones and maybe even some real dragon bones, too. Perhaps some sort of hybrid dracolich-like thing, would be your best guess. Histra's corpselight reveals that it's truly undead, though, so it's not just some golem. Bear that in mind.

[Jeff]

Also, everyone: Please remind me (each round, if needs be) about certain triggers. Like Kal's once-a-day mithral armor defense.

May 17, 2011 13:00:54 GMT -4 Darren said:

Chromatic Orb vs. Reflex (1d20+8=11)
I HATE THE DICE ROLLER SO MUCH!!!!!
Damage (miss) (1d10=8)
Damage type (1d6=1) = Radiant damage and target is dazed (save ends)

[/color][/quote]
Let me guess. You're going to blame this one on Chromatic Orb again.

[Darren]

I really don't think Chromatic Orb has ever actually hit its target. Just sayin'....

But at least it came up as radiant damage. For once, the dice roller's incredibly low rolls worked in my favor.

[Jeff]

Brian:

Syrdan gains back 6 hit points for using an action point is sight of Condign.

Got it. Updated. Thanks for the reminder.

[Mike]

Should there still be six skeletons up by Adamant and Syrdan? I thought there should only be five of them now.

[Ken]

May 17, 2011 15:33:56 GMT -4 Mike said:

Menacing Presence attack roll #1 vs. AC (1d20+13=31)...

WHAT? You mean one of our Daily powers may have actually hit?! After Chromatic Orb and Curse of the Dark Dream missed, I feared we would get a repeat of the vampire fight.

Additionally - as per the power description for Menacing Presence:

Until the end of the encounter, any enemy that starts its turn adjacent to you takes a -2 penalty to AC until the end of its next turn.

So at least for this turn, everyone else (except Belarin) can take advantage of that. It'll continue so long as the creature continues to begin each round adjacent to Syrdan.

Noted. If Belarin is able to shift the creature 1 square again next turn, he'll make sure that it's still adjacent to Syrdan.

[Mike]

May 17, 2011 16:01:21 GMT -4 Ken said:

WHAT? You mean one of our Daily powers may have actually hit?! After Chromatic Orb and Curse of the Dark Dream missed, I feared we would get a repeat of the vampire fight.

Oath of Enmity is a beautiful thing.

May 17, 2011 16:01:21 GMT -4 Ken said:

If Belarin is able to shift the creature 1 square again next turn, he'll make sure that it's still adjacent to Syrdan.

I edited my post for this turn as well - I'm going to use Righteous Pursuit if needed as an immediate interrupt, so Syrdan can hopefully stick close to the creature for at least one more round. And then I can start using Bond of Pursuit, which might continue the effect a little longer.

[Jeff]

May 17, 2011 16:00:08 GMT -4 Mike said:

Should there still be six skeletons up by Adamant and Syrdan? I thought there should only be five of them now.

Ahh! I see I left a sentence unfinished in my post. Anyone notice that?

As if on cue, a new skeleton rises from the piles near the back of the line, seconds after Belarin's spell destroyed one. Out of the

I'm updating it now...

[Dave W.]

May 17, 2011 12:43:26 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Adamant's getting all Thor-like. But I'm not sure what this means:

At End of Round: Skeleton #6 if he's still alive(?)

should have indicated that skeleton 6 was challenged at the end of round.... I seemed to have cut the challenged verbiage... Sorry.

[Jeff]

There was a recent shift in the format of Google docs, so if you see some font color or spacing wonkiness, bear with me. I'll get it right again.

[Jeff]

Ken:

No damage, but Belarin can still slide it 1 square (save ends). He slides it 1 square southeast.

But I believe that won't occur until next round, Ken. Sustain effects start "on the turn after you create an effect."

[Dave W.]

May 17, 2011 19:40:31 GMT -4 Jeff said:

There was a recent shift in the format of Google docs, so if you see some font color or spacing wonkiness, bear with me. I'll get it right again.

Yeah, nice job Google...

[Dave W.]

May 17, 2011 13:06:00 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Also, everyone: Please remind me (each round, if needs be) about certain triggers. Like Kal's once-a-day mithral armor defense.

I'll put a reminder in for Martyr's Blessing, an immediate interrupt if an ally is adjacent to me and gets hit by a dragon attack, I'll step in and take the hit.

My other immediate interrupt is if I get with an energy attack (fire, lightning, psychic, radiant, or thunder), my Disk of Energy Resistance gives me a Resist 5 vs that energy type until EoEncounter.

[Ken]

May 17, 2011 19:45:34 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Ken:

No damage, but Belarin can still slide it 1 square (save ends). He slides it 1 square southeast.

But I believe that won't occur until next round, Ken. Sustain effects start "on the turn after you create an effect."

Ah phooey, you're right. It does say "Sustain Minor" which is quite different from "Effect." As the PHB says, "Starting on the turn after you create an effect, you sustain the effect by taking the indicated action." I so rarely miss with that power that it's never needed to be discussed before.

But would that also mean that our Napoleon Solo (one of the best names in TV history) doesn't get a chance to save until the next round since nothing has happened yet?

[Jeff]

Darren:

Jeff, I believe the dragon would have been dazed from Kal's attack, as well. I assume these effects don't stack in terms of being able to take actions, but I think he needs to make multiple saving throws, right?

EDIT: I think we've had this conversation before, and you said that when it misses only the damage type and not the damage effect apply. I keep thinking that's not the case. Let me know.

Yeah, we have. The Miss entry for Chromatic Orb is simply: "1d10 damage. Roll a d6 to determine the attack's damage type, as above." There's no secondary effect on a miss with this particular spell. Mainly because the Hit is quite good.

What multiple saves are you referring to?

[Darren]

Well, the multiple saves wouldn't matter because there's no secondary effect. But if you are hit with an effect multiple times that requires a save, don't you have to roll a saving throw for each instance of it that hit you?

[Ken]

Per the PHB: "Each round, at the end of your turn, you roll a saving throw against each effect on you." I'm not the DM, but since it doesn't specify each instance of an effect, I'd say that multiple applications of the same effect don't stack. That is, you can't "double-daze" someone and have them make multiple saves in the same round against the same condition. And it works both ways. If two vampire lords bit you in the same round, you'd have to save vs. one instance of being weakened, not two.

[Darren]

See, I don't think that's the way it went during our vampire fight, but I could be wrong and I'm too lazy to go back and check.

[Ken]

May 18, 2011 11:46:03 GMT -4 Darren said:

See, I don't think that's the way it went during our vampire fight, but I could be wrong and I'm too lazy to go back and check.

Darren, since it's important to not casually criticize the DM without support, I did go back and check. Kal was bitten and weakened by Krez. He failed his first saving throw. After being healed, he was quickly bitten and weakened again by another vampire, yet he wasn't "double-weakened." He continued to make saving throws vs. the weakened effect, singular not plural. Yes, many of those saving throws blew monkey chunks, but that's beside the point.