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<blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 8527944" data-attributes="member: 71699"><p>We played the 59th session of our Tomb of Annihilation campaign. Here's a 5e* example from it. The situation was the result of a vast number of actions and decisions, and I won't capture every detail. I won't cover for example, the 'sleeper' cursed item that caused a near-TPK. Or the hags, protecting their 'lovely' godling.</p><p></p><p>The party were determined to destroy the Soulmonger. An artifact disrupting revival magic, and decaying every creature that had ever benefited from such magic. This brought them finally to the 'cradle' of the Atropal, a death godling being born into the world according to the designs of Acererak. The Soulmonger existed to feed the Atropal.</p><p></p><p>Using legendary actions, the Atropal was wailing, inflicting exhaustion on creatures failing their save against it. It was doing that because the characters had shattered the Soulmonger... it's 'milk bottle'. They had freed the unconsumed souls within it, in doing so. Including their fallen friends Malef, Ka-lu, Sebastian and Moss, whose spirits they saw departing. (Players present voiced the spirits of their erstwhile characters.) In each of its turns, the Atropal was draining life (deals necrotic damage to the character, restoring HP to itself). It's aura was suppressing healing on characters near to it.</p><p></p><p>Conversation was continuous, and player thinking was often explained out loud. They discussed that in destroying the Soulmonger they had satisfied their major purpose in the fiction. That was, aiding Syndra Silvane to destroy the Soulmonger (albeit in our campaign, things became more complicated as some allies hoped to retrieve and suppress it, to study it's power.) Some player-characters felt the Atropal despicable and dangerous. Others prized more their own lives.</p><p></p><p>The party chose to stay and fight, but this decision was by no means final or binding. Debate between fight or flight was ongoing, with each turn in the battle. Due to the Atropals immunities and vulnerabilities, the party's best hope to defeat it was Drusilia, with her arrows that dealt radiant damage. As a rogue, she needed sneak attack to make those count. Recollect that three levels of exhaustion applies disadvantage to attacks, and will negate sneak attack.</p><p></p><p>Thus we come to three connected moments in the battle.</p><p></p><p>1) We're in fiction. Keshma - a Dao - swore to help the party destroy the Soulmonger, which is now done. She has control of an air elemental. She loudly complains and announces her intent to leave. Characters remind her that the tomb is sealed and entreat her to continue to help. As it happens, Aarasmus knows this isn't quite true, because there are cracks in the ceilings on the first floor that the Dao might pass through using <em>gaseous form</em>. Thus persuasion and a degree of deception are engaged. The air elemental is the party's best chance of keeping an allied creature next to the Atropal, to enable sneak attack. Keshma is friendly to the party and the risk (to her) is minor (she has no intention of entering the cradle, and can see into it from where she is.) What happens next is meaningful, but I decide it's not uncertain: no roll. She does as asked, which is send in her elemental, which she speaks about as one might a loyal pet. Back to cubes. Sneak attack is enabled.</p><p></p><p>2) We're in cubes. Drusilia makes a save and fails - taking her third level of exhaustion. Back in fiction. Drusilia's player describes her indecision out loud. Her choices are constrained. With her halved speed she is forced to choose between taking a shot she knows will deal little damage, or dash to get out of the aura. The obviousness of her square for attacking, makes hiding shennigans ineffective, but she can still use cunning action to dash. It's riskier to take the shot and dash once rather than her possible twice. Other characters pipe up, encouraging her to fight or describing their readiness to flee. She takes a quick shot, which inflicts little damage because of exhaustion, and falls back 30', leaving herself still very much in danger.</p><p></p><p>3) We're in fiction. Clement sees all this and reassures Drusilia. Notwithstanding his own cowardice (or he might say, focus on life and song), he's motivated by his promises to Princess Mwaxanare, who has said she will take him on as royal concubine once she frees Omu from the yuan-ti and the arch-lich's influence. He has already retrieved the artifact she needs to do this, but the Atropal is in the way of his perfumed and contented future. Clement moves forward to touch and casts one of his possible two <em>greater restorations</em>. In doing so, he is leaving himself at exhaustion 3 which will soon become exhaustion 4. But he re-enables sneak attack. Back to cubes.</p><p></p><p>This was typical of the fight. A constant intermingling or movement back and forth between clouds and cubes. Considerations in the fiction, prior conversation, constraints, promises, hopes and so on, were given voice to by players. Cubes were informing those constraints. Choices in fiction - many things said - brought us back to just our particular cubes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="clearstream, post: 8527944, member: 71699"] We played the 59th session of our Tomb of Annihilation campaign. Here's a 5e* example from it. The situation was the result of a vast number of actions and decisions, and I won't capture every detail. I won't cover for example, the 'sleeper' cursed item that caused a near-TPK. Or the hags, protecting their 'lovely' godling. The party were determined to destroy the Soulmonger. An artifact disrupting revival magic, and decaying every creature that had ever benefited from such magic. This brought them finally to the 'cradle' of the Atropal, a death godling being born into the world according to the designs of Acererak. The Soulmonger existed to feed the Atropal. Using legendary actions, the Atropal was wailing, inflicting exhaustion on creatures failing their save against it. It was doing that because the characters had shattered the Soulmonger... it's 'milk bottle'. They had freed the unconsumed souls within it, in doing so. Including their fallen friends Malef, Ka-lu, Sebastian and Moss, whose spirits they saw departing. (Players present voiced the spirits of their erstwhile characters.) In each of its turns, the Atropal was draining life (deals necrotic damage to the character, restoring HP to itself). It's aura was suppressing healing on characters near to it. Conversation was continuous, and player thinking was often explained out loud. They discussed that in destroying the Soulmonger they had satisfied their major purpose in the fiction. That was, aiding Syndra Silvane to destroy the Soulmonger (albeit in our campaign, things became more complicated as some allies hoped to retrieve and suppress it, to study it's power.) Some player-characters felt the Atropal despicable and dangerous. Others prized more their own lives. The party chose to stay and fight, but this decision was by no means final or binding. Debate between fight or flight was ongoing, with each turn in the battle. Due to the Atropals immunities and vulnerabilities, the party's best hope to defeat it was Drusilia, with her arrows that dealt radiant damage. As a rogue, she needed sneak attack to make those count. Recollect that three levels of exhaustion applies disadvantage to attacks, and will negate sneak attack. Thus we come to three connected moments in the battle. 1) We're in fiction. Keshma - a Dao - swore to help the party destroy the Soulmonger, which is now done. She has control of an air elemental. She loudly complains and announces her intent to leave. Characters remind her that the tomb is sealed and entreat her to continue to help. As it happens, Aarasmus knows this isn't quite true, because there are cracks in the ceilings on the first floor that the Dao might pass through using [I]gaseous form[/I]. Thus persuasion and a degree of deception are engaged. The air elemental is the party's best chance of keeping an allied creature next to the Atropal, to enable sneak attack. Keshma is friendly to the party and the risk (to her) is minor (she has no intention of entering the cradle, and can see into it from where she is.) What happens next is meaningful, but I decide it's not uncertain: no roll. She does as asked, which is send in her elemental, which she speaks about as one might a loyal pet. Back to cubes. Sneak attack is enabled. 2) We're in cubes. Drusilia makes a save and fails - taking her third level of exhaustion. Back in fiction. Drusilia's player describes her indecision out loud. Her choices are constrained. With her halved speed she is forced to choose between taking a shot she knows will deal little damage, or dash to get out of the aura. The obviousness of her square for attacking, makes hiding shennigans ineffective, but she can still use cunning action to dash. It's riskier to take the shot and dash once rather than her possible twice. Other characters pipe up, encouraging her to fight or describing their readiness to flee. She takes a quick shot, which inflicts little damage because of exhaustion, and falls back 30', leaving herself still very much in danger. 3) We're in fiction. Clement sees all this and reassures Drusilia. Notwithstanding his own cowardice (or he might say, focus on life and song), he's motivated by his promises to Princess Mwaxanare, who has said she will take him on as royal concubine once she frees Omu from the yuan-ti and the arch-lich's influence. He has already retrieved the artifact she needs to do this, but the Atropal is in the way of his perfumed and contented future. Clement moves forward to touch and casts one of his possible two [I]greater restorations[/I]. In doing so, he is leaving himself at exhaustion 3 which will soon become exhaustion 4. But he re-enables sneak attack. Back to cubes. This was typical of the fight. A constant intermingling or movement back and forth between clouds and cubes. Considerations in the fiction, prior conversation, constraints, promises, hopes and so on, were given voice to by players. Cubes were informing those constraints. Choices in fiction - many things said - brought us back to just our particular cubes. [/QUOTE]
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