The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

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Dlover
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Dlover » Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:11 pm

Mehr's not made for escape. If his hands get bound up the only spell he can cast is Light. :p
My game:
Hunters of Letrua; Character list
Also Player / Monster stats, skill lists.

My characters:
Tugs Tails, the goblin that was sort of a trapper and wears a bear's tail at his neck, for some reason - Lair of the Mountain King (Run by Thinks)
Alex Sparo, A city boy, poor of sight, who has learned to manipulate people and make the most of what he, and others, have - Trinity Isles (Run by Mort)
Mehriv Turajin, a Noble Dragonborn Sorcerer sent from his clan because he wasn't dragony enough. - The Wandering Archipelago (Run by Thinks)

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Arch Lich Burns
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Arch Lich Burns » Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:12 pm

Unfortunally Gwen has no idea that they are onterested in killing and pelting the 'demon'

Edit: pretty positive thinks made this with 3rd lv characters in mind, which is why it's a bit deadly.

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Rodgeir
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Rodgeir » Mon Jan 15, 2018 3:34 am

Varsk's duel is taking too long. Much longer than I'd planned though I hope to finish it today and then Varsk will refocus to the NE on the remaining archers. He isn't in good shape but no-one really is at this point.

The problem is it will take Varsk at least two turns (probably 3) before he can engage which is a lot of potential damage raining down from those archers and I doubt he can drop them all himself if everyone else is clinging to life.

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Dlover
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Dlover » Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:11 am

It seems that the terrain made things a bit more complicated too. The lizards had archers shooting at the melee skirmish pretty much constantly while some of our own ranged capability needed time to get in place. Mehr needed something like two or three turns just to reach a position where he could actually see anything. That's without considering that I then wasted a turn and spell slot on Sleep.
My game:
Hunters of Letrua; Character list
Also Player / Monster stats, skill lists.

My characters:
Tugs Tails, the goblin that was sort of a trapper and wears a bear's tail at his neck, for some reason - Lair of the Mountain King (Run by Thinks)
Alex Sparo, A city boy, poor of sight, who has learned to manipulate people and make the most of what he, and others, have - Trinity Isles (Run by Mort)
Mehriv Turajin, a Noble Dragonborn Sorcerer sent from his clan because he wasn't dragony enough. - The Wandering Archipelago (Run by Thinks)

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Rodgeir
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Rodgeir » Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:57 am

I am not really sure how we could have been better positioned to handle this fight. There were really too many archers to reasonably have hunkered down in the ruins and have them come to us while we weakened them with range (and the woman would have died). We were probably too spread out initially and the time getting into position under fire tore us apart.

My idea with Varsk was to stop/slow the west group while the NW group was dealt with, which was marginally successful in that it took two archers out of fight, but to have really been effective another attacker was needed to get the lizards heading towards the ruins (preferably a ranged one). As it is now Varsk is so out of position he won't be able to impact the fight again until another probably 2 or three people drop. If we win this is will be by the skin of our teeth.

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Dlover
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Dlover » Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:57 am

Well, for one thing a couple of us tried hunkering into around the ruins with the intention of providing ranged support, then couldn't actually do that from where we were, so in the future it's probably better to stay a bit closer together where we can actually support one another. Would probably have helped considerably if I weren't dawdling around for the first few rounds.
My game:
Hunters of Letrua; Character list
Also Player / Monster stats, skill lists.

My characters:
Tugs Tails, the goblin that was sort of a trapper and wears a bear's tail at his neck, for some reason - Lair of the Mountain King (Run by Thinks)
Alex Sparo, A city boy, poor of sight, who has learned to manipulate people and make the most of what he, and others, have - Trinity Isles (Run by Mort)
Mehriv Turajin, a Noble Dragonborn Sorcerer sent from his clan because he wasn't dragony enough. - The Wandering Archipelago (Run by Thinks)

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thinkslogically
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by thinkslogically » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:27 am

The slope will provide full cover from the northern archers if you duck down on the south side of it, but it will also block your shots at them. Gwen's getting shot at because she's still standing halfway up it.

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spiderwrangler
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by spiderwrangler » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:28 am

It may fall to the ranged folks if the archers keep their distance, at least to keep them pinned down without getting shot all to shoot. If we clear the nearby folks, I'm probably going to try to slip along the scarp and follow Varsk to the take them down from behind.

Mehr, do you have Tides available? RAW, it can be used on saves, which includes death saves?
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Dlover
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Dlover » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:32 am

1. That's the second time a person has referred to me by character name. :p
2. I do have it available.
3. I think Mehr's KO'd rather than dying, since he only dropped to 0hp despite taking 9 damage at 2hp. Am I still rolling?
My game:
Hunters of Letrua; Character list
Also Player / Monster stats, skill lists.

My characters:
Tugs Tails, the goblin that was sort of a trapper and wears a bear's tail at his neck, for some reason - Lair of the Mountain King (Run by Thinks)
Alex Sparo, A city boy, poor of sight, who has learned to manipulate people and make the most of what he, and others, have - Trinity Isles (Run by Mort)
Mehriv Turajin, a Noble Dragonborn Sorcerer sent from his clan because he wasn't dragony enough. - The Wandering Archipelago (Run by Thinks)

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thinkslogically
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by thinkslogically » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:33 am

Arch Lich Burns wrote:Edit: pretty positive thinks made this with 3rd lv characters in mind, which is why it's a bit deadly.
Nah, I figured that out before it became a problem :)

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spiderwrangler
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by spiderwrangler » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:46 am

Dlover wrote:1. That's the second time a person has referred to me by character name. :p
2. I do have it available.
3. I think Mehr's KO'd rather than dying, since he only dropped to 0hp despite taking 9 damage at 2hp. Am I still rolling?
I also refer to Korrik in first person, and all of the players in my game by character names... Avoids the issue of asking the wrong person about the wrong character!

There are no negative HP in 5e, so when you hit 0HP, you're dying unless you stabilize, which someone hitting with a melee can choose to do instead of a level blow.
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Arch Lich Burns » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:04 am

Is there a feat to make range attacks not be wt dis if you have an enemy in your face?

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Dlover
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Dlover » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:18 am

Huh, so... I'm going to assume Mehr's stabilised since Thinks didn't ask for a saving throw after Korrik's action. Which probably isn't the best news, actually, since if I could've rolled a 20 Mehr would be back at 1hp, and potential death is already pretty much done with its looking and started with prodding us impatiently. :p
My game:
Hunters of Letrua; Character list
Also Player / Monster stats, skill lists.

My characters:
Tugs Tails, the goblin that was sort of a trapper and wears a bear's tail at his neck, for some reason - Lair of the Mountain King (Run by Thinks)
Alex Sparo, A city boy, poor of sight, who has learned to manipulate people and make the most of what he, and others, have - Trinity Isles (Run by Mort)
Mehriv Turajin, a Noble Dragonborn Sorcerer sent from his clan because he wasn't dragony enough. - The Wandering Archipelago (Run by Thinks)

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spiderwrangler
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by spiderwrangler » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:18 am

Yes, Crossbow Expert.

ÔÇó You ignore the loading quality of crossbows with which you are proficient.

ÔÇó Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesnÔÇÖt impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.

ÔÇó When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a loaded hand crossbow you are holding.
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thinkslogically
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by thinkslogically » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:21 am

Apparently Crossbow Expert incorporates it:
http://engl393-dnd5th.wikia.com/wiki/Feats
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/16/cr ... ged-spell/

But that's kind of an expensive trade-off if you're not very interested in crossbow multi-attacks. It's up to you and depends on how much time you want to spend in melee really :)

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thinkslogically
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by thinkslogically » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:26 am

Ok, I've just seen the chat about using Kobold Fight Club to rate the encounters you guys are facing and I want to have a quick chat about it now because I can see this potentially becoming problematic.

So for starters, I didn't actually use KFC to plan this encounter (for either level 2 or 3), and there are a couple of reasons why. Partly it's because I like to use slightly modified monsters, but mostly it's because there's more to an encounter than just numbers and challenge ratings. If you all lined up in front of 10 lizardfolk and stood still punching each other, then yeah, you'd probably die pretty quickly. But as soon as you start using the terrain, setting up ambushes, isolating enemies or whatever other smart / weird strategies you can come up with, you're changing the rules of the game in your favour and the KFC ratings go out the window. This works both ways of course, but effective strategising has almost nothing to do with challenge ratings. A horde of mindless zombies could be a big, dumb cakewalk or an absolute deathtrap depending on who's pulling their strings.

The bigger problem is that if you start using meta-information in favour of IC information then you're not going to get an accurate read on what you're running into. So, I'd ask that you please don't rely on websites like KFC to inform your player choices. Pay attention to IC information and use that instead. Like I say, I do alter monsters somewhat to suit the game and give them all a bit of diversity, and if you don't pay attention to what you learn IC I can see you guys unneccesarily avoiding / running headfirst into trouble. I haven't noticed this being an issue in-game at all, but I wanted to address it now since it's come up, just in case it was a looming problem :)

We can talk about the specifics of this battle after it's over if you like.

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Theis2
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Theis2 » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:59 am

Totally agree, this is a tough or "deadly" encounter, but we had the upper hand with the ambush and had the potential to get rid of some lizardfolk right away and put it to a medium or even easy enounter according to KFC before they even got to act. We sadly spread out and I know the dice were against Merric during the ambush sequence so he certainly didn't monopolize on being at the right place at the right time. (curse you arms of hadar for rolling 3 damage out of 12!)
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Nioca
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Nioca » Mon Jan 15, 2018 10:10 am

To be fair, Syli hasn't been much help either. She's got no attacks that really work outside of point-blank range (which is the wrong place for Syli to be; note to self, grab arrows after fight!), only three spell slots (one of which effectively got wasted on the person we were supposed to be rescuing, at least from a tactical standpoint, and the other only had about half-impact thanks to some lucky rolls from the lizardfolk), and her wildshape currently has both arms tied behind its back, what with only having cat form to fall back on (admittedly very useful if Syli decides to bug out, and she's been teetering on the edge of that for a few rounds now). She hasn't been useless, but she's been pretty darn close. Although I do think she managed to redeem herself a bit with taking down the one warrior (I honestly didn't expect to pull that one off. :lol: )

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spiderwrangler
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by spiderwrangler » Mon Jan 15, 2018 10:23 am

What are your requirements for learning a new shape? We need to track down some non swimming, non flying critters in this swamp and let you study them!

As far as ranged stuff, I'm sort of in the same boat with my darts (of which I only have 3 left), the short initial range makes it hard to kite.

We've just had lots of low rolls this fight, and I took 2-3 turns getting into position, but we've got this.
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Nioca
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Nioca » Mon Jan 15, 2018 10:41 am

spiderwrangler wrote:What are your requirements for learning a new shape? We need to track down some non swimming, non flying critters in this swamp and let you study them!
Basically, it's the following:
-She has to have the basic shape and locomotion down (e.g. Avian, Quadruped Mammal, Fish, etc.). Right now, she's got Quadruped Mammal (which covers 95% of what she wants anyway).
-She has to study the animal in question. Just getting their form is long-rest equivalent, although the animal doesn't necessarily have to be alive. Protraying that animal convincingly requires further study of them in their natural habitat, but right now, just having access to the form would suffice.
-It has to not fall afoul of any limitations (what you basically pointed out; pretty much everything we've encountered either swims or flies).

I'm not complaining, mind, it's just that we've been pretty dead-set on getting to the encampment as quickly as possible, which hasn't left much option for extracurricular activities on Syli's part (that's part of why she wanted to investigate that lizard nest, although she didn't know it was lizards at the time).

((also, last post for a while, work beckons))

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Rodgeir
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Rodgeir » Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:03 am

I didn't bother checking KFC until it was brought up, mostly because it doesn't seem to work out. That being said I don't think you were trying to kill us (at least not all of us. :D ), we've just not had the best luck. I am frustrated by the terrain from Varsk's side but I like the added complexity as a player.

I am also confident Varsk will save the day. o:)

And I would very much like to discuss the mechanics of this encounter to improve my encounters!

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Dlover
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Dlover » Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:51 pm

You can trust that I'll never use KFC because I'm sure that it's useless. We'd still be murdered by a group of rats because the dice don't like us. :p
My game:
Hunters of Letrua; Character list
Also Player / Monster stats, skill lists.

My characters:
Tugs Tails, the goblin that was sort of a trapper and wears a bear's tail at his neck, for some reason - Lair of the Mountain King (Run by Thinks)
Alex Sparo, A city boy, poor of sight, who has learned to manipulate people and make the most of what he, and others, have - Trinity Isles (Run by Mort)
Mehriv Turajin, a Noble Dragonborn Sorcerer sent from his clan because he wasn't dragony enough. - The Wandering Archipelago (Run by Thinks)

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thinkslogically
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by thinkslogically » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:14 pm

:lol: I would not be surprised!

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Nioca
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by Nioca » Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:32 pm

Welp. Not good. :(

I updated Kal and Gwen's HP; Gwen's wasn't updated, and Kal's was two shy (a Lay on Hands wasn't accounted for).

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spiderwrangler
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Re: The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

Post by spiderwrangler » Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:45 pm

I don't think we have options to get people back above 0 HP, do we? Stabilizing might be as good as we can do.
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