Discussion for a Kingdom of ashes OOC II

[Laurel]

The invisiblity sphere is what I was thinking of, thanks Gerti!!! And the reason we did not use it was that we needed about 20 spheres to get the whole boat and then we would have had to cast invis. on the mast anyways. If we cast this before teleporting on one person, not our main attackers (so Xath maybe) it could still work for a 10ft. radius around her. On saturday we were trying to cast it on the ship as an object, which would have made it look liek there was a whole in the water.



The player's book says: TUMBLE (DEX; TRAINED ONLY; ARMOR CHECK PENALTY)You can’t use this skill if your speed has been reduced by armor, excess equipment, or loot. Check: You can land softly when you fall or tumble past opponents. You can also tumble to entertain an audience (as though using the Perform skill). The DCs for various tasks involving the Tumble skill are given on the table below.

So, a successful tumble check lessens the noise, and what about adding move silently checks? Also what is the roof or the top surface we will be landing on? --Looking for DM/duke to answer--

I also think this is a better option then scaling the walls and hoping no one sees us or the rope, since that option is rolling for hide, move silently and climb.



The docks are a possibiliy for escape. We just need a different strategy for getting out then for stealing a ship, unless we are taking sailors with us. We only have two players with ranks in sailing (Xath and Archonus). Or we could try the whole scry on one person and signal when we get ship, storm and such again.

 

[The_Universe]

-We need to stick together. Seperating may seem sneaky and devious and murderous but, I don't think that we can chance having one of us get caught... I'd rather see all of us caught and trying to escape together than one of us caught and the rest of the group trying to get them out.

Huge fan of no splitting up!!!! That is the whole reason we are going as a group. I would say though that in that light once in the palace, we should already have a walking/line order, who interrogates, who knocks people out, etc. That way when we hear foot steps there is an automatic reaction of bribers (Justice/Xath) staying in hallway while others hold back/flank. Bribers get them into position and then smash (Kareth/Arfin/Archonus) quickly and cleanly kill/knock out enemies. Then take bodies into rooms, it is already set in place who gets to interrogate, they do thier thing. We move on. Back-up will need to be posted outside or at door in case people go by in hallway or try to go to room.
As Liz said there needs to be stories set-up beforehand, so there is no fumbling with why we are here or where we are going or any such stuff.

Both of these points are good, but splitting up within a single building is a very different affair than splitting up and going to various points all over town (which has generally been the problem, before). Don't get so worried about staying together that you fail to include small-unit battle tactics in what you're planning. As long as you guys all don't just wave and go to different rooms as soon as you get in the palace, splitting up may not be a terrible idea. At some point, someone may need to circle around to get behind an enemy, etc.

Nonetheless, both of you have put some thought into how to structure every encounter to your advantage--that's great. Excellent work...just remember not to limit yourselves TOO much.

But, moving on....

 

[The_Universe]

The spell you were looking for is Invisibility Sphere, and it suits our purposes very well. Like Invisibility, it lasts 1 minute per caster level. It effects all CREATURES within a 10 foot sphere at the time of casting. Creatures who leave the sphere become visible, but creatures who enter the sphere after the spell has been cast remain visible. Those creatures originally inside the sphere can see each other normally.

I'm going to comment about as much of the inviso comments as I possibly can, here. Based on what I read (thanks for posting the spell, Kat!), the sphere would only affect you. The reason that you didn't cast it on the ship was three-fold. 1) you could see the people in YOUR 10 foot sphere, but not anyone in the NEXT 10 foot sphere. 2) if you moved out of the sphere you started in AT ALL, you were visible. 3) Even if you could center the spell on the boat (which I decided you couldn't, since it was too big to be an 'object' in terms of the rules), it would still appear to be a boat-shaped hole in the ocean.

If you cast it on one of you, and you all stay within 10 feet of each other, you could remain invisible until you leave the radius of the spell, without making a hole appear in the roof. However, it requires you stay very close to each other, which is not always a good plan...a 10 foot radius puts you all in range for a single damage spell (like fireball, or even a dragon's breath weapon...). Nonetheless, if they never know you're there, no harm done.

Also, for the elemental. If need be, couldn't we get a higher level scroll? Since Liz can cast the spell, she wouldn't even need to roll UMD to use it.

I higher level caster casting Summon Monster I would be identical to Justice casting it. Summon Monster I-IX are not the SAME spell, they are just similar spells--which means that even if someone had a better version, you'd still have to UMD (Use Magic Device) to get it to go. Anyway, 15 seconds or 90 seconds...none of it is going to be enough to get you the hell out of Dodge.

As far as feather fall and noise. Anyone with a sufficient tumble should be able to avoid making noise while landing. I can jump off of my swivel chair and barely make a sound. (I know this from doing stunts, not because I like to jump off of chairs for fun)

I agree that this is possible. Liz's comments re: the contact solution are also salient. However, despite the fact that the falling bottle was loud to us, I doubt the people in the apartment below even heard us. Tumble DC 15 lets you treat any fall as if it were 10 feet shorter, so that's (generally) what you're shooting for when you make tumble checks as you hit the roof. They'll have a chance to listen if you miss it, but unless they have their ears to the roof, you'll at least have some time to move away from the landing spot before they can investigate. In all--there are risks, but none that are so large so as to make this part a no-go, at least from my perspective.

Moving on...

 

[Laurel]

As always looking for group input on feelings with it, but unless we have a layout of the palace it may be better to stick together. It would stink to have someone or part of the group get lost in the maze of hallways and rooms, though it may allow for more killing all around if we split into two main groups.

 

[The_Universe]

So, a successful tumble check lessens the noise, and what about adding move silently checks? Also what is the roof or the top surface we will be landing on? --Looking for DM/duke to answer--

The roof is tile. The Duke has no idea what kind of tile it is. That kind of consideration is something that someone in his station never really had to worry about...

I also think this is a better option then scaling the walls and hoping no one sees us or the rope, since that option is rolling for hide, move silently and climb.

Regardless of whether you scale the walls IN, based on what I have seen so far, you're going to have to scale the walls OUT. So you're going to have to do this sometime, the question is just WHEN. (unless someone has developed an exit strategy that gets you from the palace to the docks, which is where (I think) you're planning on going.

The docks are a possibiliy for escape. We just need a different strategy for getting out then for stealing a ship, unless we are taking sailors with us. We only have two players with ranks in sailing (Xath and Archonus). Or we could try the whole scry on one person and signal when we get ship, storm and such again.

Defenders tend to alter the defenses to prevent attacks that they are familiar with. Thus, they'll probably be a great deal more prepared for this than they were last time, and so getting out of the harbor will be a great deal more difficult. Stealing a boat will not be impossible, but it will undoubtedly be more difficult than it was in the past.

 

[AIM-54]

I thought the plan was to use the folding boat, which would be significantly more manageable with only Archonus and Xath to work/guide others in working the boat. Of course, that means those two need to survive...

Unless there's some blazing incompetence in harbor security, I don't think stealing another boat is a good plan at this point in time.

 

[The_Universe]

As always looking for group input on feelings with it, but unless we have a layout of the palace it may be better to stick together. It would stink to have someone or part of the group get lost in the maze of hallways and rooms, though it may allow for more killing all around if we split into two main groups.

This might help give you an idea of what you're dealing with. Below is a top view of the palace, sketched from the memories of varying people who live there.

The side view with the wall is VERY crudely drawn...the wall follows the pattern you can see on the top view (the black outline of the courtyard), not the straight line I drew in.

 

[Xath]

So, we all stand on each others shoulders, put on a giant trenchcoat, and pretend to be Syvattagor.

In all seriousness though, Is there any way the duke could draw (or have someone draw) sketches of the parts of the palace that he does know?

 

[The_Universe]

DONE (with all of the stuff I need comment on from yesterday)!

 

[Laurel]

Regardless of whether you scale the walls IN, based on what I have seen so far, you're going to have to scale the walls OUT. So you're going to have to do this sometime, the question is just WHEN. (unless someone has developed an exit strategy that gets you from the palace to the docks, which is where (I think) you're planning on going.

Well, one way is better then having to do it twice, plus going down is much faster then climbing up- right? Rules again, but would going down be a use rope or climb check? It is hand positioning and wrapping it correctly around your leg, but you still have to hold on?...

Defenders tend to alter the defenses to prevent attacks that they are familiar with. Thus, they'll probably be a great deal more prepared for this than they were last time, and so getting out of the harbor will be a great deal more difficult. Stealing a boat will not be impossible, but it

will undoubtedly be more difficult than it was in the past.

It seems we are head to docks for exit route (I am taking this from posts by Jeramiah and Liz) We could always do an early changing of the guards to gain access to a ship.