The Dreaded Isle

[Dead Greyhawk]

The booty from the slain pirates:

2 sets of chainmail,
a magical broadsword
a gold finger ring (15 GP)
belt pouch contains 5 SP, 7 CP.
light blue ring
wicker switch
belt pouch contains 2 GP, 5 SP and two quartz gemstones (200 GP and 75 GP)
gold armband (20 GP)
belt pouch containing 3 SP, 7 CP.
gold chains with ‘lucky charm’ (10 GP)
belt pouch containing 1 GP, 7 SP.
gold finger-ring (5 GP); belt pouch contains 9 SP.
gold chain with ‘lucky charm’ round neck (10 GP)
red agate (50 GP).
gold earring in right ear lobe (5 GP)
belt pouch containing 11 SP.
gold armband round left forearm (20 GP)
belt pouch containing 11 SP.
belt pouch containing 4 GP, 8 SP.
gold finger-ring studded with small emeralds (75 GP)

[Dead Greyhawk]

Also, as a head's up, we'll be ending promptly at 5 pm next week, as I have an evening commitment.

[venger]

Is Kimball anywhere near 2nd level, by chance?

[Dead Greyhawk]

Kimball makes 2nd. Morvan makes 4th level cleric.

[Ginger]

Hooray for new levels. That's new 1st and 2nd level spells for Morvan and more survivability for Kimball.

What was the treasure we got from the ship. 400 SP? Should we add that to this list?

[Dead Greyhawk]

Yes, 400 SP.

[Wolfgar]

Don't forget there are debts to Kazan and Cullen for financing this prison break. Kazan shelled out 100 gp for weapons and another 200 gp to Cullen for bribes and information. Right now it is more important to outfit the party with supplies but eventually when we have a big score we should first reimburse these expenses before splitting the treasure among the party.

[Ginger]

Was anyone else made uncomfortable by the closeness of yesterday's fight? We need to think up some tactics for our next encounter. We should stick together a lot more than we have been.

[Mr. Trommer]

I know I was which was why I backed off. The "Otto Maneuver" hasn't been working out too well for me.

[Ginger]

When we're in a wide open area like that, I think we should have Kimball and Cullen do most of the killing with the rest of us setting for charge to kill anyone who comes too close. Certainly, Kazan kneeling with a spear in front of Kimball will be pretty potent.

Otherwise, we risk getting mobbed and separated. It will also help with spell-casting, so clerics won't have to move to heal the melee fighters.

[Wolfgar]

Oct 27, 2008 15:44:35 GMT -5 Mr. Trommer said:

I know I was which was why I backed off. The "Otto Maneuver" hasn't been working out too well for me.

The Otto Maneuver didn't work so well for Otto either. Too many chances to get surrounded and grappled even if you can kill two monsters a round.

Cullen was pretty useless in the fighting yesterday but since he does better using a missile weapon or back stabbing he should hold out of melee when possible. (Note: Back stabbing doesn't work as well in the current combat mechanism. You can't back stab while charging, so you either need to have someone walk by you or you need to move into melee and then hope they don't get a chance to turn around next round.)

I agree that Kimball could become a killing machine with someone shielding him.

Note that yesterday was kind of an anomaly: a) we didn't have any armor; and b) we were fighting in the open instead of a dungeon. Now that we have armor I think having Basil and Zinc in the front row makes sense. Kazan is still too easy to hit. He can stand in front for a couple of rounds if Zinc is casting spells but he can't go toe-to-toe with anything large. What we need is a Run spell for Kazan. Not that he needs the extra movement but it would let him charge every round. Then we could use him to chase down enemy archers.

[venger]

Every run in Kimball has had with crossbows has ended badly. : (
Going for point blank range on those dudes was a mistake.

We should come up with a buddy system or something. Always stick with your buddy.

Basil and Kazan (melee fighter/fast skirmisher)
Zinc and Kimball (crossbow/longbow)
Morvan and Cullen (unreliable, crossbow/shortbow)

[Ginger]

I finished writing up Week 2. It still needs some editing, but it's finally all in the standard write-up style.

I'm going to post it here this weekend, so get your edits done.

[Ginger]

We need separate corridor tactics and open space tactics. If we're in a corridor, Basil and Zinc stand in front, since they have the best ACs and HPs. Where possible, we can shift 5' a round to get more people involved.

When we're in an open room, I still think we should bunch together. Spell casters and bow men are deadly, and they'll have to engage us. That'll mean charging in and being impaled on bastard swords and spears.

[venger]

Since Kazan doesn't get a dex bonus to his AC, does that mean he can kneel and set for charge with a spear with no penalty, while someone shoots over him?

[Dead Greyhawk]

Cullen is also at 200 GP for bribes and travel costs to the various folks.

[Ginger]

Oct 27, 2008 21:26:00 GMT -5 Dead Greyhawk said:

Cullen is also at 200 GP for bribes and travel costs to the various folks.

And the first magic shortsword we find.

[Wolfgar]

Oct 27, 2008 19:40:24 GMT -5 Ginger said:

We need separate corridor tactics and open space tactics. If we're in a corridor, Basil and Zinc stand in front, since they have the best ACs and HPs. Where possible, we can shift 5' a round to get more people involved.

When we're in an open room, I still think we should bunch together. Spell casters and bow men are deadly, and they'll have to engage us. That'll mean charging in and being impaled on bastard swords and spears.

Bunching together works so long as they don't have area effect spells to use against us - web, stinking cloud, fireball. Still I would rather be close together so that we can aid each other as opposed to spread out getting surrounded and overwhelmed.

I don't think relying on a buddy system will work at this stage. None of those groups are strong enough on their own right now to be separated from the others.

[Wolfgar]

Oct 27, 2008 21:22:06 GMT -5 venger said:

Since Kazan doesn't get a dex bonus to his AC, does that mean he can kneel and set for charge with a spear with no penalty, while someone shoots over him?

It is probably -2 to your AC or no dex bonus, whichever is worse.

[Ginger]

Does "no dex bonus" always mean "no dex bonus or -2 to AC, whichever is worse?" I think that should just apply to charging situations, and not to every situation where you're flat-footed.

[Mr. Trommer]

Happy B-Day Zinc!

[Dead Greyhawk]

Oct 28, 2008 12:04:25 GMT -5 Ginger said:

Does "no dex bonus" always mean "no dex bonus or -2 to AC, whichever is worse?" I think that should just apply to charging situations, and not to every situation where you're flat-footed.

Good question! I looked in the rulebook, and, as usual, we're doing it wrong! DMG p. 66 states

Armor Class of Charging Creatures: There is no dexterity bonus allowed for charging creatures. Creatures with no dexterity bonus became 1 armor class lower, i.e. easier to hit. Thus on AC 3 creature becomes AC 4. There is no penalty to AC 10 creatures for charging, however.

So, it should be only a -1 to AC for charging with no DEX bonus. Interesting how the +2 bonus to hit is greater than the -1 penalty to be hit.

I think that the case of someone kneeling or crouching with a spear in front of them is not a charging issue, but rather a prone target issue.

DMG, p. 70 states

Stunned, Prone or Motionless Opponents: Treat all such opponents as if being attacked from the rear, but in this case the ”to hit” bonus is +4 rather than +2.

Now, I view the kneeling or crouching character as not being in such dire straits as the stunned or prone character, but is pretty motionless. Hence, I'd think +2 to hit would be about right.

[Wolfgar]

So kneeling would lose all dexterity bonus and an addition -2 to their AC? I don't think anyone is going to volunteer to kneel in front of the archer.

[Ginger]

Oct 29, 2008 7:54:42 GMT -5 Wolfgar said:

So kneeling would lose all dexterity bonus and an addition -2 to their AC? I don't think anyone is going to volunteer to kneel in front of the archer.

Well, you'd just have to be darn sure that your weapon was long enough to make sure you'd hit first, score a successful hit, and kill the charger.

[venger]

Oct 29, 2008 7:54:42 GMT -5 Wolfgar said:

So kneeling would lose all dexterity bonus and an addition -2 to their AC? I don't think anyone is going to volunteer to kneel in front of the archer.

Lose all dexterity bonus, an additional -2 to their AC and the charger still has a +2 to hit.

Maybe Kazan can get on his hands and knees in the second rank and the archers can stand on his back to shoot over Basil and Zinc.

[Wolfgar]

Oct 29, 2008 9:19:28 GMT -5 venger said:

Lose all dexterity bonus, an additional -2 to their AC and the charger still has a +2 to hit.

Maybe Kazan can get on his hands and knees in the second rank and the archers can stand on his back to shoot over Basil and Zinc.

LOL! Best idea yet.

How many dice to stay on Kazan's back while he is crawling? Kimball is pretty light so Kazan should be able to move around pretty well. Or what about sitting on his shoulders?

[Ginger]

We should see what the encumberance value of a step ladder is. Or maybe a soap-box. The archers can stand on them to shoot from the 2nd rank.

[Mr. Trommer]

We need to get one of the full body shields for archers to shoot from behind them. What is the encumbrance value on one of them?

[Mr. Trommer]

I've posted what I've written so far. Still have the final battle and aftermath to do.

[Ginger]

I put Week 2 in its final version up. I'll take the 10%, and Josh, Lee and Eddie all contributed for 5%. On to week 3!