EB's Tyranny of Dragons - OOC (full)

To answer TallIan's question in the game I have some new info....

Two Sub-Actions while you are Engaged in Melee are Fall Back and Flee.

Going to put the rules here and then link this post in the RG so you have better access to them.

Fall Back:
- Is a retrograde move facing the opponent(s) and can be used in conjunction with a parry, and any opponent creature(s) are able to follow if not otherwise engaged.

So if your character finds himself in melee and wishes to get out "carefully" he will fall back. And if there is another character their to help then they will not be pursed. A way to disengage from melee and get back into ranged combat for some characters.

Flee:
- A rapid withdrawal from combat as possible, which exposes the fleeing character to a free rear attack by all those engaged in melee with them at the time.
- Starts Evasion/Pursuit rolls should anyone wish to follow the fleeing character.

This is the action the kobold performed and allowed for William to get in a free attack. It does not allow for two or more attacks as granted by high level or specialization.

EB, I don't think you figured Sebastian's CON bonus of +1 [for 15 CON] into his hit points for first level. Presuming max hp at first level, it seems to me that he should have (6+1) + (4+1) / 2, which should give him 6 hp at Level 1/1 instead of the 5 listed on his character sheet, shouldn't it?

Speaking of back-up characters, Sebastian would like to have a human illusionist henchman, who regardless of whether he may have superior abilities to Sebastian or not, has been conditioned to believe that Gnomes are better illusionists. I'm thinking that his abilities will favor the physical, DEX and CON, over WIS and CHA, but STR should still be the dump stat, and INT should be his highest under amost any circumstances. COM is rolled later and not included in with the others, isn't it?

Another possible back-up character would be either a Half-Elf Druid or a Human Paladin [if I'm lucky enough to have the stats for it, which is doubtful given your dice, or I guess he would default to a fighter, even though we are way too overstocked with fighters right now. If he's a fighter, he might favor a polearm [ranseur, spetum, or guisarme] and attack from the second rank, switching to shield and shortsword if faced toe-to-toe with enemies.] Of course, a paladin would never stand in the second rank, and would definitely weild a longsword.

You are correct - I had found out you get your CON bonus per HD in a FAQ I was reading on AD&D 1e last week. So Sebastian should have 6hp to start.

I like all the concepts and once the group has "henchmen money" probably around this adventures 500+ mile caravan chapter, you will be able to meet lots of potential henchmen, hirelings, and NPCs. Rolling Method V should get you your paladin (stress should) but if not I will allow you to raise a stat (like CHA) up to the minimum needed. I did this for poor Sebastian.

I'll worry about a henchman when I survive level 1.

Another question: Sebastian doesn't have a list of first level spells that he knows, but presumably phantasmal force is among them. Can I determine the rest of his spells according to 1EPH rules? Incidentally, I looked at those rules last night, and it says you can either roll or just select them. Do you have a problem with me choosing the spells I want?

Scratch this -- got the brother's spell book and everything. 1E rule was that casters did not have to roll to see if they knew the spells in their spellbook, but only those that they found while adventuring. When a new level is gained, a caster gets one spell during his training (presumably instructed in its casting by the mentor) for which no intelligence roll is necessary.

EB, you can certainly run your game any way that you see fit, but I just can't resist pointing out some 3.5 practices that appear to have crept into your 1E game: In 1E, Dex did not modify initiative. Initiative was a straight, unmodified d6 roll for each side. Tied initiative was obviously much more common then, and combatants with tied initiative acted in order of highest Dexterity first. The reaction/attacking adjustment of dexterity was applied to reduce the number of segments of surprise a combatant suffered. For example, say a patrol of Orc guards rounds a corner and encounters an adventuring party taking a moment's rest. The Orcs roll a 5 on a d6 for surprise, and the adventurers roll a 2. Combatants are ordinarily only surprised on a 1 or 2, but some monsters have abilities that alter this, and likewise a combatant only surprised a foe if a 5 or a 6 was rolled for surprise.. Ordinarily, this would give the Orcs three segments (a segment was a 6 second division of a one minute melee round) of surprise in which to act, and a melee combatant gets a full array of attacks each segment against a foe who is surprised. The Dexterity reaction/attacking adjustment reduces the number of segments a surprised character suffers, so the thief with a 17 (+2 reaction/attacking, -3 AC) is only surprised for a single segment before initiative is rolled.

This was an unusually complicated system, and I assume and hope that this is why it was scrapped in later editions. I just wanted you to be aware of it, since this is supposedly a 1E game.

EB did tell us Dex is not used for initiative. He corrected me when that happened. Keep reading the IC thread, perhaps?

INIT and combat is very, very confusing in 1e, but I am hoping it is compatible with pbp.

For now I just want people to tell me what their character wants to do and I decide (on my notepad secretly before reading any posts), then I roll INIT for both sides and apply or explain away why something couldn't be done that turn. So far so good, glad to have you aboard with your 1e knowledge, to help me with my mistakes, better two pair of eyes than one (and really old ones at that, lol).

Have you played 1e on pbp before? If so you have any insights to what may cause problems?? Spells? Monster? etc.

Well, init and combat isn't just hard. It is inscrutable. Don't the folks over at dragon's foot have armed camps of people warring about how to properly interpret those rules? (Or am I thinking white box D&D?)