Chapter 12: Q&A / Discussions

[Jeff]

Never mind, found it! I'll add the link to my post.

[Ken]

FYI to Dave Bean: Sorry, Shorak can't see Belarin at the moment. He's invisible. Spoooooky!

[Dave W.]

Jan 29, 2016 11:35:52 GMT -4 Jeff said:

My mistake for not having included, but I definitely rolled it. Do you know if Rolz previous date's results can be accessed? I should have linked to that one, as I did for other saving throws in the same round.

But he did actually make the save.

Yes. In Rolz, in the right half of the screen there are 5 icons:

a question mark
what looks to me like a trash can
a cog (universal symbol of options)
an envelope (mail!)
and a book.

The one that looks like a trash can to me is in fact the log. Click on that and you can go back as far as May 29th 2015. I'm guessing this entry:
JLaSala:1D20+7 → 21(14 + 7)#Charisma saving throw

is the one in question.

[Dave B.]

Jan 29, 2016 13:33:53 GMT -4 Ken said:

FYI to Dave Bean: Sorry, Shorak can't see Belarin at the moment. He's invisible. Spoooooky!

Yeah, but he knows you're somewhere near. He's seen you pull that trick in battle before.

[Ken]

I thought about that. ;-) Works for me! He's certainly done it plenty of times.

[Darren]

For what it's worth, Joe, the spider didn't say how many of the ghouls we needed to bring back, nor did it specify that they had to be "alive". Getting surrounded, especially now that we also have to fight a wraith, is really bad. Streko is really good at taking out undead. I don't think it would hurt to even out the field a little bit and given Adamant some breathing room....

[Dave B.]

Hey, if the spider eats the wraith, I doubt it will care if there are any ghouls to have as a side course.

[Ken]

True. After the rib-eye steak, there's no need for chicken nuggets.

[Jeff]

Ahh, but don't most kids prefer chicken nuggets and/or fingers?

[Ken]

Ohhh that's right, Mama Spider has kids! They need a Ghoul Happy Meal!

[Darren]

I'm going to wait to see the results of Adamant's move before I take mine. Whether or not the ghouls try to flee from him may make an impact on what Kal does.

[Dave W.]

Yeah, I'm a little nervous about how this turns out...

[Jeff]

I'll post very soon, Darren: but note that even if any ghouls fail their save, they won't be moving until their turn comes up. Still, you'll be able to see which ones will right away.

[Dave W.]

So pleased that worked! I was hoping at least half would fail... it could have been bad.

So is anyone else concerned that Streko keeps taking damage when Condign does? (Okay, I'm also a little concerned that Condign is taking damage right now...) We need to bump looking into that to the top of the to-do...

[Darren]

Agreed, but there's only so much we can do about right now. We just have to hope they both survive until we clear this fight, then we can see about un-linking them.

[Joe]

Streko has a thought about that.

[Darren]

Hey, Jeff...how do you want to handle something like Kal's Counterspell? I honestly completely forgot that I had it, but if I did, I probably would have tried to use it when the emissary cast his spell on Shorak. I'm not saying that's what we should do now, but given the nature of play-by-post, what do you think the best way is to handle that moving forward?

[Ken]

Darren, just FYI based on Kal's last action: Kal doesn't know that Streko is there (invisible), so he might still have used Lightning Orb.

[Dave B.]

So should I roll up another rogue for my next character or try something different?

[Jeff]

Feb 4, 2016 21:36:38 GMT -4 Darren said:

For whatever it's worth, if Streko hadn't moved up next to the wraith, Kal could have used Lightning Orb on it without fear of hitting an ally. Lightning Orb would have required the wraith to make a dexterity save, and he would have taken damage regardless of whether he made the save or not, which would have caused him to have to make a check for his concentration. The only reason I didn't use it is because I had no way to target the wraith without hitting either Streko, Shorak, or one of the ghouls who was on the run. A lot of Kal's spells can hit multiple targets, but he needs space around the target to not hit an ally. Something to think about when maneuvering in the future....

Feb 4, 2016 22:55:08 GMT -4 Ken said:

Darren, just FYI based on Kal's last action: Kal doesn't know that Streko is there (invisible), so he might still have used Lightning Orb.

Right, Kal does not know where Streko is in this moment. I'm always encouraging players in my games to have their characters talk more together about their tactics so this is less of an issue. If I felt like they did so—even if it's not roleplayed through completely—I'd be more forgiving about PCs knowing and understanding what other PCs are up to even when they don't have their attention fully, because they'd develop a good sense. They'd have expectations. But a few of you guys definitely have some tricks up your sleeves that haven't been shared. So there's a downside to that.

That said, Kal has seen Streko go invisible for brief moments (not unlike Belarin), so I can see Kal being nervous about throwing an area-of-effect spell as a result.

As for Counterspell, there are two ways we can handle this in play-by-post:
(1) When an enemy is casting a spell within 60 feet and Kal is aware of it, I can simply say so then stop and wait for you to decide if you want to Counterspell. It's a precious spell slot to be sure so I don't want to make that judgement for you.
(2) You can tell me once any battle begins whether you're willing to Counterspell at first opportunity (or something conditional like that) so I can resolve it as it comes up. Like if Kal suspects one of the monsters is a spellcaster and you could say he'd be on the lookout for using it. At the same time, if there are a few spellcasters, you can simply set the conditions like, "If the more powerful-looking wizard casts a spell, I'll Counterperspell, but I won't bother with the ones who look like apprentices."

So you tell me!

One thing I never want to do is backtrack, though. The phrase "I would have" is my pet peeve in D&D.

[Darren]

I agree whole-heartedly with the "I would have" thing. I absolutely want to avoid that, which is why I figured it's better if we address it now.

I think both of the options you laid out are good, and I'll try to do the second one as much as possible. My only hesitation in the first one is a concern about slowing down the game. I guess we can try that (when the second conditions don't apply (or haven't applied, yet)) and see how much it slows things down. If we all hate it, we'll figure out something else.

Thanks!

[Jeff]

So option 1?

[Darren]

Yes, option 1, with the caveat that when I know about it or it makes sense, I will also lay out conditions per option 2.

[Ken]

Ack, I again forgot that I get a second Eldritch Blast attack! I'll update shortly.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using proboards

[Dave B.]

A quick question regarding the disengage action. Is the act of disengaging the entire action or can you move as part of the disengage? Or, is moving a separate action? Just curious.

[Jeff]

Disengaging uses your action. BUT....Shorak's a rogue and he has this class feature:

Cunning Action: On your turn, you can take a bonus action to take the dash (move your speed a second time), disengage (movement for the rest of your turn doesn't provoke opportunity attacks), or hide (attempt a Stealth check) action.

[Ken]

Jeff, yeah, you're right about the pact dagger -- I keep forgetting that implements are not quite has useful as they were in 4E. I'll keep it in mind in future.

[Dave B.]

Feb 5, 2016 21:15:36 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Disengaging uses your action. BUT....Shorak's a rogue and he has this class feature:

Cunning Action: On your turn, you can take a bonus action to take the dash (move your speed a second time), disengage (movement for the rest of your turn doesn't provoke opportunity attacks), or hide (attempt a Stealth check) action.

That's what I figured. Just wanted to confirm.

[Ken]

Joe, I just wanted to double-check: Streko has at-will attack cantrips, correct?

A light or daylight spell could also negate the disadvantage that the darkness is creating for us.

[Jeff]

Actually, Streko doesn't have Light as a cantrip, and Daylight isn't one of his prepared spells at the moment. He does have an everbright lantern in his haversack, though it requires and action to take anything out of the haversack.