Chapter 15: Q&A / Discussions

[Elvis]

Awesome. I'll wait for him to let Thul know. 😄

[Ken]

Jeff, any follow-up with Belarin after the last post?

[Jeff]

Not yet. I'm trying to keep each group more or less in sync, time-wise. We're waiting on some people and the party is split three ways. This is just how it goes.

[Jeff]

May 21, 2018 9:01:24 GMT -4 Elvis said:

"Aye." Thul says, "Let me have 2 more bottles."

Does this mean Thul is consenting to Shorak leading him to Kal and the others outside the village?

[Jeff]

I can't proceed much without knowing. Thul had talked of going somewhere else at one point, so I need to know.

In general, guys, please: err on the side of too much information rather than too little. Oftentimes these super-short posts from you just makes me have to ask questions and wait longer.

[Elvis]

I'm following Shorak.

[Jeff]

May 23, 2018 9:38:03 GMT -4 Dave W. said:

---

I assumed Adamant wouldn't know what "United Aim" means, right? I'm assuming its a mercenary troop of some sort.

Nope, Adamant doesn't know what that means. A slogan of some kind.

[Dave W.]

I'm assuming they normally go about in funky yellow suits:


But I could be wrong...

[Dave W.]

Footnotes from Adamant's comments... ashlock.proboards.com/post/34123/thread

Consider an ill-tempered Adamant... High STR, WIS, CHA, possibly CON. Able to boost damage with every hit and spells to boot.

I'm concerned about saving throws. If you're near Adamant you'll get the +3 on saves and can't be charmed or frightened both of which I can imagine a fallen paladin being good at.

But Bless is such a mind-blowingly fantastic spell, we all really need to be covered by it in a round or two. Adding +1d4 to every attack or save is just too big.

Joe, Adamant is asking Streko to get everyone blessed quickly. If you use a first level slot you will only cover 3 at a time. You get an additional person per higher slot so it might make sense to use a 3rd level slot on the first round and then try to pick the rest up on the second. Unless you have other plans...

[Brian]

May 26, 2018 9:57:22 GMT -4 Jeff said:

I'm going to wait for the others before moving on here. But one mechanical note: There is a base 10% chance (owing to the +2 shield-like bonus) that any attack made against the vampire or ghouls will strike the halfling instead. This can be increased by other circumstances. Most of the halflings appear to be unconscious, so they're either at 0 hit points and quite vulnerable or else sedated some other way.

You are all well aware that the scratch of a ghoul can paralyze, so that may be a factor. Additionally, you all also know that anyone fed on by a vampire has its life energy sapped. If slain in this way, they may rise as vampires as well later. But Thul knows that a vampire spawn cannot create other spawn in this way, though they certainly can kill. Still, there are many unknown variables.

Posting for Belarin soon.

This battle should be a blast.

[Darren]

You threw Sem out a window, Jeff??? That's cold.....

[Jeff]

May 28, 2018 10:45:44 GMT -4 Elvis said:

**The intent is to shield the halfling and allowing the warforged to strike without fear of hurting the hostage.**

I'm missing the shielding part? How is he shielding?

[Elvis]

When Thul grapples the oathbound, smothering the halfling between us. The idea is that either negate the AC advantage, OR if any attacks done by the Warforged (or others) misses, they will hit Thul instead of the halfling.

And if the vials break against the oathbound, all the better. 

[Jeff]

The vials won't just break of their own accord, in any case. If you'd like to forcibly break them, that'd be an action. But you may want to secure the grapple first, in that case.

[Elvis]

The vials breaking was just a nice to have... 

The grapple is Thul's main focus at the moment.

[Brian]

Melethos didn't get his minute, did he?

[Jeff]

Not even close, no. Like 20 seconds max.

[Brian]

*Sigh* I thought so.

[Ken]

May 27, 2018 10:49:53 GMT -4 Darren said:

You threw Sem out a window, Jeff??? That's cold.....

Jeff LaSala: "Hold my mead."

May 28, 2018 9:11:34 GMT -4 Jeff said:

And then Belarin sees the man's body disintegrate...

[Jeff]

Heh, well.

I'll be happy to talk more meta about this moment, but only well, well after the fact.

[Darren]

Jeff, sorry if I wasn't clear. Kal was making a line with the wall, not a circle. I know I usually do circles, but that was not the intention this time.

[Jeff]

Heh, okay...I'll rework it.

[Brian]

Elvis, just a comment on game mechanics: Thul still has fifteen feet of movement left, I believe, on his round to use. That is, if Jeff rules you can use them at this point.

[Jeff]

Sure, although Thul can only move, at most, 5 feet back with the vampire with the rest of his move, if he wants it. (Because you always round down in this game, so half of 15 ft. is going to just be 5 ft. on a grid.)

In the case of things like that, you can put a contingency in your post. "If Thul succeeds in the grapple, he'll use the rest of his move back to the south."

[Elvis]

Sorry guys...

Thul kills Emerald Claws.

Jeff did warn you in the giant's camp. 😄

[Dave W.]

I don't think there are called shots (target specific body parts) in 5e. So the only thing I can think to minimize the chance to hit the halfling hostages is if we gain advantage on our attacks... we'd have our pick of rolls and could even choose to miss instead of hit within 2.

So I know there are conditions that could give us advantage: if the target is blind, stunned, or paralyzed... I think prone if you attack them with melee. Or if we are invisible.

I don't know what you guys have that might give us that but take a look.

[Dave W.]

May 30, 2018 10:49:32 GMT -4 Elvis said:

Sorry guys...

Thul kills Emerald Claws.

Jeff did warn you in the giant's camp. 😄

Well we all want to kill Claws, and Adamant is as motivated by the fact that there's an Oathbreaker here as Thul is with the Emerald Claws.

But we need to do things smart. We should co-ordinate and work to gain some advantage before just diving in... Like if you wanted to grab the guy and hold him for Adamant to hit, you should have made sure Adamant was in range to get to him and hit him. Unfortunately that won't be this round.

I'm sure we'll discuss the concept of trying to negotiate before the battle to protect the innocents as well.

[Jeff]

I can't recommend in-character discussion of how to approach future battles any more than I already do.

Correct, there are no called shots in 5E. Mainly because in theory most attacks are called shots: you're always trying to strike a particular spot. Your modifier and your roll is about how good you do with that attempt this time. That said, I'll consider other options you want to try. If you tell me you want to try to remove a halfling from a ghoul not by attacking the ghoul but by attempting to cut the ropes that bind them, then we can work it out.

Most unorthodox attacks like that would be at disadvantage, but you can give anything a try. For something like this, you'd need a bladed weapon in hand and basically use an action in the attempt. Sort of a combo of initiating your own grapple and taking the Help action. With risks. Obviously, our enemies have done this because it's difficult to manage.

Also, not one of your current enemies is wearing an Emerald Claw uniform. But that doesn't mean they're not behind it.

[Elvis]

Noted.

Going forward, I will change the way I play Thul.

Again, sorry.

[Brian]

No worries, Elvis. It takes time to get the right feel for a character. But I see Thul as an experienced fighter who might recognize that others can provide him with either assistance or information he might not have, or how to coordinate the strengths of each player to augment his abilities (and vice versa). We'll all get it worked out with time.

That is, if we live past this encounter.