S@squ@tch's Against the Giants - Team Gold

[s@squ@tch]

[sblock=OnlytheStrong]

He slips on his gear and heads out.

need something more descriptive for your action. what gear do you grab (armor will take more than 1 round to don for example), do you jump out, or climb the rope (only 1 person can climb the rope at a time per the description)? [/sblock]

[sblock=Rope Trick folks]
I think I am going to impose a slight initiative penalty on the folks in the 'trick -- you won't be able to act before Domoris does, even if your initiative roll is high enough.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Hudder]
I will make what you have work -- seems too good of a heroic action not to.
[/sblock]

 

[EvolutionKB]

OOC: Let me know if I can still take my action as intended, if not, I may switch what I do.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Void looks down and shivers to the sight of the Illithids, anger raises swiftly in him but he calms himself.
A warrior needs to fight calmly and right. He will try to jump down and blend with the flora immediately. A sneaky approach will do the job against his cunning eternal enemy

 

[Rolzup]

Darv comes awake with a start, fumbling for his spectacles. "THis is no way to wake up," he complains, as he begins casting a spell....

[SBLOCK=OOC]
Initiative: 16. Cast Barkskin, in lieu of donning his armor, and allow the others to exit first. Can't use Dark Knowledge until he sees what he's dealing with, after all.

As a side note, my idealistic version of Darv as a sort of budding military strategist isn't working out too well -- I suspect that it's the sort of thing that functions better in a TT game.... Would you be amenable to my reworking his spell-book a bit, to make him more effective and useful? Pick up a few more direct combat spells, and drop the stuff like Guiding Light and Blessed Aim, which have yet to see any use.[/sblock]

 

[s@squ@tch]

Darv comes awake with a start, fumbling for his spectacles. "THis is no way to wake up," he complains, as he begins casting a spell....

[SBLOCK=OOC]
Initiative: 16. Cast Barkskin, in lieu of donning his armor, and allow the others to exit first. Can't use Dark Knowledge until he sees what he's dealing with, after all.

As a side note, my idealistic version of Darv as a sort of budding military strategist isn't working out too well -- I suspect that it's the sort of thing that functions better in a TT game.... Would you be amenable to my reworking his spell-book a bit, to make him more effective and useful? Pick up a few more direct combat spells, and drop the stuff like Guiding Light and Blessed Aim, which have yet to see any use.[/sblock]

[sblock=Darv]
Feel free to rework your spellbook after the encounter.

Although some of your spells may not have been as effective as you thought they would have been so far, keep in mind that all of the encounters so far have been random wilderness sorts -- which may or may not be different from, say, infilitrating a giants stronghold. Each type may present a different challenge.

[/sblock]

 

[Graf]

[SBLOCK=OOC]
Initiative: 16. As a side note, my idealistic version of Darv as a sort of budding military strategist isn't working out too well -- I suspect that it's the sort of thing that functions better in a TT game.... Would you be amenable to my reworking his spell-book a bit, to make him more effective and useful? Pick up a few more direct combat spells, and drop the stuff like Guiding Light and Blessed Aim, which have yet to see any use.[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC - just my two cents]I like the idea of a military strategist... !

Your spell book is pretty well balanced to my mind (except for hold person, but I just hate that spell, never works for me).

Three of your 4ths are combat (flame strike, obviously a combat mainstay, and moon bolt, which I hadn't heard of but is pretty awesome looking)
Prayer at 3rd isn't sexy but it's pretty useful,and, hopefully, we'll see some Fell the Greatest being useful later. Mass lesser vigor is a great one if we start to get hurt, or just as an "everyone heals" spell. And DM is swingy but it's hard not to take it (if you can hit the check it's pretty useful, and stripping buffs off an arcanist is very powerful).
2nd is tough for all classes, but IMHO you've made some fantastic choices Close Wounds and Mass Snake's Swiftness are both supremely useful. (the fact that I'm playing a combat character, of course, makes close wounds particularly appealing).

But, just thinking about it Fell the Greatest -> Mass snakes swift -> (assuming 4 melee combatants in contact with the giants a 75% hit rate and huge sized foes) is 8d6*0.75 + party avg damage*4 = ~81 + the regular damage boost
*=Lets call it 15 (that's roughly what Hudder does, so I'm actually lowballing it)

Using a 3rd to set up a 2nd that triggers 80+ (or 60+ if not giants) without a saving throw seems pretty impressive to me. I'm not sure if you could produce more damage another way. And I think you could do it while protected by sanctuary (giants not being known for their tremendously high will saves).

Being jumped in the middle of the night is the worst for casters, since your spell selection is depleted and anything you use will effectively cost double (since you both cast it and lose it for the next day).

Just thinking out loud of course, your spell book is your spell book. But if I were going to play an archivist I'd be mighty tempted to crib Darv's book.
[/sblock]

 

[Graf]

[sblock=ooc - Davan's armor]I think that Davan's Full Plate of Easy Travel +1 means he can sleep in it.... no?
So, really, assuming he wears his belt, medallion and ring to sleep and that he's got the scrolls in a bag or something, it's probable he can pick up his shield and mace and be done with it.

I'm sort of assuming that the armor being comfortable enough to sleep means he can have stuff like a bag on his shoulder (or a scroll bandoleer) without much discomfort.

Just thinking out loud.
Man is Hudder going to be a pest when he finds out about that armor of easy travel. "Where'd yah buy it? Cannith sold it tah yah? Canna independent artificer make it? How much did it cost ya?"
Armor you can sleep in... if Hudder gets a suit he'll never sleep in anything else.
(Feel pity for his wife-to-be, if you don't already... )[/sblock]

 

[s@squ@tch]

[sblock=ooc - Davan's armor]I think that Davan's Full Plate of Easy Travel +1 means he can sleep in it.... no?
So, really, assuming he wears his belt, medallion and ring to sleep and that he's got the scrolls in a bag or something, it's probable he can pick up his shield and mace and be done with it.

I'm sort of assuming that the armor being comfortable enough to sleep means he can have stuff like a bag on his shoulder (or a scroll bandoleer) without much discomfort.

Just thinking out loud.
Man is Hudder going to be a pest when he finds out about that armor of easy travel. "Where'd yah buy it? Cannith sold it tah yah? Canna independent artificer make it? How much did it cost ya?"
Armor you can sleep in... if Hudder gets a suit he'll never sleep in anything else.
(Feel pity for his wife-to-be, if you don't already... )[/sblock]

[sblock=Armor of Easy Travel]
Per the MIC, Easy Travel grants the user the ability to carry up to a medium load as if it were a light load, along with being able to walk up to 10 hrs/day before having to make a Constitution check to avoid nonlethal damage.

No information given re: sleeping, so it would not be allowed to wear without the penalties of sleeping in armor.
[/sblock]

 

[s@squ@tch]

Round 2 - Partial

Initiative:

22 - Domoris - Dive Attack (move to 6,8 - 5' elevation) HIT for 27 damage before DR
21 - Mind Flayer #1 - 5' step (4,7), Casts spell
21 - Mind Flayer #2 - 5' step (4,9), Uses spell like ability on defensive
21 - Mind Flayer #3 - Mind Blast all within shaded blue cone
21 - Mind Flayer #4 - Mind Blast all within shaded blue cone
21 - Morph - 7 bites - 2 HIT Mind Flayer #2 for 14 damage before DR
15 - Davan - Stunned
15 - Dreadnought - Stunned
14 - Void - Helpless
12 - Darv - Dark Knowledge (+1d6 dmg)
10 - Hudder - Attack MF#2 - 1 HIT for 26 damage before DR



Bird-Domoris caws in anger as the things tear at his mind, and blood-fury begins to take over. A dark blur, the druid dives for the nearest foe, his feathery form becoming more hardened and oddly fanged as it does so. The augmented talon tears through the flayers robe, and also finds a crease in the armor as it plunges into the creatures skin.

Those who just emerged from the Rope Trick are suddenly deluged with wave after wave of intense mental pain and pressure. Hudder, Davan, Void, and Morph all struggle to retain a grip on their conscious. After straining with all his might, Void emerged from the tempest with his consciousness intact -- the gith had never experienced the mental powers of the illithids, having only heard from elders in his village. Hudder is lucky to have been mentally sidetracked into wondering if he looked fat without his armor. Morph shrugged the effect off with ease, but the priest goes stiff. [Void, Hudder AP Spent, Davan Stunned, Morph Will Save PASS]

A heartbeat later, the three undergoe the same onslaught. All three are able to shake off the effects.

One of the flayers/squid-men outlined with the faint green light advances towards the stunned goliath, having realized that the warforged warrior offered no interest to his ilk. Wary of the hydra standing across from it, it invokes some sort of innate power and reaches out towards the goliath -- and he disappears from view!

[sblock=Spellcraft DC20]
The mind flayer appeared to have used Plane Shift.
[/sblock]

The last of the mind flayers steps back and looks squarely at Void. Intoning a few alien syllables in a garbled voice, it points its hand towards the Gith. It penetrates his innate resistances and causes him to double over in pain. [Fort save Failed, AP would not help]
[sblock=Void]
Your face blisters and begins to drip fluids, and your eyes cloud with blood - you cannot see! The pain and agony are too much for you to handle and you fall to the ground, helpless in your tortuous mental prison.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Spellcraft DC18]
The mindflayer cast the spell Wrack
[/sblock]

The seven headed hydra that is Morph shows a flurry of activity as it's heads sweep down and snap at the abberations that threaten him and his companions -- three of the creatures heads snap at the air surrounding the first mind flayer, whereas the other four heads box the closest mind flayer in -- 2 of the mouths close on the torso and shoulders of the flayer, opening slight wounds.


Taking a deep breath, Darv slides down the rope...his eyes widening as he sees the glowing Mind Flayers. "Hell and damn," he whispers. Taking a deep breath, he bellows out, "Strike at their tentacles! They're particularly sensitive, and they cannot bear to have them injured!"

"Ah've had squid before an' ah dunna care fer tha taste!" the repeated mental blasts seem to have muddled Hudder considerably but he lurches forward and delivers a blow to the squid approaching Lo-Kag with gusto. Taking heed from the gnome, his swing cuts from top down, opening a gash along the creatures mouth and one tentacle, while continuing into the torso. Green ichor begins to flow from the wound.

[D]aa[/D]

OOC:

Condition Summary:

Morph: Polymorph Self (139 rounds)
Lo-Kag: Stunned
Dreadnought: Stunned
Hudder: (77/85)
Void: Helpless
Darv: Barkskin (79 rounds)
Flayer #1: Faerie Fire (3 rounds)
Flayer #2: Faerie Fire (3 rounds)

Note: no light exists in the clearing except for the Faerie fire effect on the two Flayers (shadowy illumination to 5', 10' for those with low-light vision), any PC without darkvision, i.e. Davan/Morph/Dreadnought/Domoris/Lo-Kag will not be able to see the other two in the heat of battle without stopping and making a listen check.

 

[EvolutionKB]

Morph 49/49 AC 17

The seven headed hydra that is Morph shows a flurry of activity as it's heads sweep down and snap at the abberations that threaten him and his companions.

[sblock=ooc]I don't think I can make the spellcraft checks because I was in the trick when they casted their spells. 5' step to (5,9)

Three bites at mindflayer 1. Looks like only one that will have a chance to hit. 20 to attack and 6 damage. Attacks and damage for mindflayer 1

Four bites at mindflayer 2. Two with a possibility to hit this time. 24 and 20 to hit, 8 and 6 damage respectively. Rolls for attacks and damage vs mindlflayer2 [/sblock]