D&D 5E 5e CB's Stonefast OOC -- COMPLETE

[Skarsgard]

My take. Passive perception is used 90% of the time to notice traps, hidden objects/foes, ambushes. Pretty much anything. Rolling for perception is an action to try notice things your passive may not. A passive perception of 15 is pretty darn good. However, rolling is you paying particular attention and you have the ability to roll much higher than your passive.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

The beetle has arrived next to the rest of the party.

This matches what I thought.

My take on passive Perception is that it's an opposed check. In a series of PMs with Forged_Fury, I used the term opposed "roll," but it's not a true roll. I imagine it to work like an opposed check. A creature has a presecribed passive Perception 9 can be spotted by a PC with a passive Perception of 12, no roll required. What muddles my thinking is how to handle the situation where a creature is actively using Stealth. Does a PC's passive Perception score get matched against the creature's Stealth roll? Or does the PC need to roll Perception?

Or--option 3--is this more a case of "DM uses instinct to evaluate situational context and either rely on a PC's passive Perception OR call for a Perception roll?" Given that 5e is intended to be rules lite, I tilt toward the latter.

 

[Forged Fury]

OK, so for the map, I can try to put something together. Given that the hallway is only 5' wide, I don't think more than one PC can be in melee with the target at a time. I would imagine that would be Colden since he just got bit. If that is incorrect, let me know.

In that PM I sent, it basically contained the only references I could find to passive perception in the Basic Rules (p. 60, I think?). As for how I'd play it, if the PCs don't tell me specifically that they are trying to notice something, I would just use their passive check versus whatever the opposing DC or enemy stealth check is, but that would work both ways with PCs and NPCs. I think you just have to watch out with allowing Taking 10, otherwise the party rogue is almost always going to beat a guard's passive perception score with their likely Expertise enhanced stealth check.

 

[Forged Fury]

Here's a map. We can start from here. If the positioning doesn't look right, please let me know and I'll move stuff around. I based the beetle's positioning based on this post that said I should move it one square to the west. I just filled everyone else in from there.

Happy to move people to wherever they need to be, just let me know. I did not add Meriene to the map. I also didn't do anything with Guran since I am not sure if he would have been able to sneak attack.

In the interest of least retconning possible, if we were to start the beetle one square to the east, everyone would be able to do what they had suggested they were going to do. The X would be one square to the east, Colden would be where the X was. Guran would have started out where Colden currently is but could move to the square south of where the X currently is to sneak attack the beetle. Thoughts?

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

passive perception means a general awareness when you do not state that you are looking for something.
e.g - you passive perception versus a dollar that is thrown on the sidewalk or a an old lady in sitting in a chair on the upper floor of a building. When you state that you are looking for something you will roll perception e.g - A dwarf is looking for hidden foes in the room.
Now if a character's passive perception is 13 and a goblin was hiding beneath a rug and rolled hide 12 than he is spotted even if the players didn't state that his character is looking for something.

 

[Forged Fury]

[MENTION=44144]CB[/MENTION]: Also, since PbP isn't really a good format for reactions, I figured it might be helpful to come up with a trigger for Fulgrim casting Shield. I was thinking:

IF Fulgrim's HP are < 5 AND Fulgrim is hit THEN Cast Shield (If slots available)

Does that work?

 

[tuxgeo]

Here's a map. We can start from here. . . .

Happy to move people to wherever they need to be, just let me know. I did not add Meriene to the map. I also didn't do anything with Guran since I am not sure if he would have been able to sneak attack.

Yes, I messed up badly with that announced Sneak Attack. In a 5'-wide hallway, the best he could do might be to recognize that Colden is the only party member between him and the beetle, and to lunge into Colden's square to make his attack, only to withdraw back to his original square when the attack was finished -- because, while a PC may enter an ally's space, the PC cannot end turn there.

Should I reroll that attack, leaving out the Sneak Attack die?

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[MENTION=61026]tuxgeo[/MENTION], after some thought, the best solution is for you to re-post an action for Combat Round 2 using the map Forged_Fury created for us, above. For clarity's sake, just delete as much of the text as you can in your IC post, then re-post anew in the IC with Guran's actions and any associated die rolls.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I figured it might be helpful to come up with a trigger for Fulgrim casting Shield. I was thinking:

IF Fulgrim's HP are < 5 AND Fulgrim is hit THEN Cast Shield (If slots available)

Does that work?

So you know whether I interpreted that equation the way you intended, here's what I read: "If Fulgrim's hit points are less than five and Fulgrim is hit then Fulgrim will cast shield." In other words, if his HP are four or fewer.

That's fine, but what if the default action you describe above conflicts with a stated action during initiative? Do you want me to cast shield for Fulgrim's turn that round, or do you want to stick with your stated action for the round? Also, be aware that in some situations having Fulgrim wait to get hit could require him to delay his action, which would lower his initiative count for the remainder of the combat rounds.

I'm ok with it if you are, but just want you to clarify.

 

[Forged Fury]

Yeah, 4 HP or fewer.

I think Shield is a Reaction, so it shouldn't take away from Fulgrim's Declared Action. I think the only time that might be a consideration is if he is trying to cast a 1st-Level spell with his Declared Action and only has one slot left with the Reaction occurring before his turn in initiative. If the trigger occurs before his Declared Action, I would go ahead and cast the Shield, then come up with something else to do for that turn.

ETA: I mainly just want to avoid an incident where I have it available and Fulgrim gets hit, taking him down all the way. There is tricky wording on how it's used (based on a few threads I've seen), but I think putting a trigger on it helps to alleviate some of those problems. It basically means that you roll and, if you hit, check the conditions I set. If they're met, raise my AC by 5 and check to see if it is still a hit. At least that's my understanding.