Chapter 19: Discussions / Q&A

[Darren]

Jeff, I don't want to make a whole thing out of this, and I hate "undoing" anything, but did Kal not get a chance to Counterspell the mage's attack? I believe he is just within range, and I had said that he wanted the opportunity to do so on any magic attacks from the mage (I believe this is the first one since I said that).

[Brian]

I'm curious to know if Counterspell can stop a magical attack by a wand or staff, or does it have to be a spell cast by a magic user?

[Darren]

Jan 7, 2021 10:39:41 GMT -4 Brian said:

I'm curious to know if Counterspell can stop a magical attack by a wand or staff, or does it have to be a spell cast by a magic user?

OH! If it was a power of the mage's staff, then obviously that's a different thing. I wasn't clear on that. I'll wait for clarification from Jeff before posting.

[Jeff]

Jan 7, 2021 10:32:50 GMT -4 Darren said:

Jeff, I don't want to make a whole thing out of this, and I hate "undoing" anything, but did Kal not get a chance to Counterspell the mage's attack? I believe he is just within range, and I had said that he wanted the opportunity to do so on any magic attacks from the mage (I believe this is the first one since I said that).

There won't be any undoing here.

See my very note about this the last time the geyser attack was used: ashlock.proboards.com/post/44985/thread

In brief, it's not a spell. No foe has cast a spell in this battle. Not all magical attacks work like spells. When monsters do use spells, they're called out as such. Take, for example, a dryad. Let's say you're fighting a regular dryad. If she were to try casting any of her spells (circled in red), you could counterspell them. But if she uses her Fey Charm ability (blue arrow), you can't counterspell that. It's just part of what she can do inherently without invoking spells that theoretically other creatures can learn and cast.

[Jeff]

It's also kind of like how a hypothetical enemy mage could cast Counterspell when Streko casts Banishment (if he uses a high enough slot, of course), but no one could counterspell Streko's Turn Undead ability.

[Darren]

Totally understood! I didn't realize it wasn't a spell. Thanks for the clarification!

[Darren]

Jeff, I think Kal's remaining Sorcery points are wrong on his sheet. By my count, he's only used 5 since his last rest, so he should have 6 remaining, not 4.

[Brian]

Geez, Mel gets taken out of one fight and y'all are getting your butts beat.

[Jeff]

Got it, Darren. Sorry, 6 remaining.

[Ken]

If Streko is still up, is the skeleton considered flanked by these attacks?

Flanking ain't a thing in 5e, Darren.

Jan 7, 2021 11:18:16 GMT -4 Brian said:

Geez, Mel gets taken out of one fight and y'all are getting your butts beat.

Belarin has him on the ropes!

[Jeff]

Well, flanking was presented as an optional rule in the DMG, and I certainly used it in 3rd and 4th editions. But at this point it overcomplicates the rules. I think if we were doing tabletop, and had more real-time battles, I'd at least consider. But even then, flanking is about two people adjacent to an enemy, in melee. Not ranged attacks.

[Darren]

Yeah, I didn't know if it applied to range attacks, and I've been through so many editions now I don't know what's what anymore. 😁

[Ken]

Jan 7, 2021 23:01:30 GMT -4 Dave B. said:

Shorak can only drop to one knee shivering and barely able to hold on to his boomerang. Too slowly the lethargy begins to fade from his body.

Dave, is Shorak not making an attack this round?

[Jeff]

He can’t. The Celerity potion’s drawback.

[Ken]

Ahhhh, dammit, that's right! Yikes.

[Darren]

Before I post, Jeff, since Belarin is now dying, I assume that makes him prone. If Kal were to cast Lightning Bolt in a line that crossed where Belarin is on the ground, would he be hit by it, or could it be considered to pass over his prone body?

[Jeff]

That would be fine. Yes, Belarin's prone. Kal would certainly need to move somewhere else (like closer to Shorak), but he could lightning bolt from the railing and and not even angle it too far down. The mage is tall (but still considered Medium-sized), so he could just shoot through open air that way, keeping off the ground.

[Brian]

Talk about kismet: I wrote my post for Mel about two hours before Dave wrote his for Adamant, but they meshed so well, especially regarding Adamant's question to Kal. It's almost as if we've been doing this more than, oh, say, a decade.

[Brian]

Jan 8, 2021 15:48:53 GMT -4 Darren said:

"Adamant," Kal calls out. "Melethos is below and he is asking for your help. But just you. Everyone else, that thing is coming back any second. Try to surround it and keep it occupied. Let's give the two of them a chance to get Calitraia back. Take up positions around that hole. Adamant, use the rope to get down. Be. Quick."

Darren, don't forget you tried the rope thing before and it did not appear where Melethos currently is.

[Darren]

Well, I figure it will at least get him lower without having to jump the whole way. *shrug*

I could cast Fly on him, but then Kal can't use any of his other Concentration spells and I think we're gonna need them when the fiend comes back.

[Brian]

Melethos fell the whole way...

[Jeff]

Even if Adamant is using rope, any rope, am I missing how? Is he tying is to something? Is someone expecting to hold his weight??

[Dave W.]

Oh, I thought we had tied it to something before but didn't look it up... my laziness. Was Kal just holding it? I'm not sure Kal can hold Addy's weight. Adamant weighs 290 lbs without gear. No one has feather fall I suppose...

[Dave W.]

OH! you know who probably could hold Addy's weight! Melethos! Let's just get him up here and then he can help Addy down...

[Brian]

Funny.

[Darren]

It's a Rope of Entanglement, right? Couldn't we attach it to the capstan (which is right next to the hole)?


For that matter, couldn't we tie ANY rope to the capstan? Can we tie multiple ropes together? Kal apparently has a 50' rope in his pack....

[Jeff]

Yup. You can physically tie it like any rope, but it happens to be shorter than the average coil of rope which is 30. Rope of Entanglement is only 30 ft.

You can definitely pull out a regular rope (free action) and tie it (action), if you already have it on your person. Another turn to do a very hasty knot on the captain.

I'll roll with whatever you want to do.

[Jeff]

Jan 9, 2021 12:49:23 GMT -4 Darren said:

"Adamant! Wait! I will give you the ability to fly down to Melethos."

_______________
I know it's out of turn, but hoping Dave will delay his action instead of just jumping in.

Turns, though, are use them or lose them. Ready action is the only alternative. It lets you use your reaction to take a readied action but you can’t also take a move during that reaction (unless your reaction is a Dash).

[Brian]

I don't think this is meta gaming, because I'm just reminding everyone of something we'd already agreed upon: our mission is to rescue Calirataia and return her to the Dragonfly.

That is all.

[Brian]

I'm going on a small rant. I hope you'll understand and not take anything personally.

Obviously, none of you know what's going on with Melethos, and I'm not going to divulge any specifics, but the situation is, in my opinion, serious. So serious that I've started some background research on rolling up a new character. Sure, if you look on Rolz it doesn't appear that he's doing much, but I've held off on some actions that might, eventually, be necessary. What I have done this week, though, is think and plan. I have spent hours considering severals ways I could play this out without Melethos dying, and over and over, my plans failed.

Then I hit on it, something that might work. I got excited. Holy shit, this might actually work!

This was Thursday. I waited for my turn, posted in Mel's private thread on Friday morning, some of which you saw as his thoughts to Kal.

I knew I had to wait a bit, but boy was I excited to see if my plan works.

It's now Sunday afternoon... and I'm still waiting.

Now I'm frustrated. I'm sitting here, with a nifty plan in which I've invested tremendous amounts time and thought, hoping I don't lose a character I've played for over a decade, and I'm again waiting because some people take a day or two off from the game. This sounds selfish, I'm sure. It is selfish. But dammit, I'm getting tired of being invested in a game where other players seem minimally interested. I'm starting to think, why do I even bother? I work hard at injecting emotion into DE so we all can get more out of it. I wrote a post in Mel's private thread this week, probably one of my top five posts of all time, knowing only Jeff would see it. It was over 600 words long. I did it for me, but I did it also for Jeff, because he gets out of it only as much as we put into it, and he works harder than any of us. I put in what I think is a lot, and for what?

I'm serious. I'm starting to wonder whether it's worth the effort.

Thus ends my rant. Thank you for listening.