[sblock=ooc]Sorry for the delay. Was trying to double check rules on a couple of things before I went making adjustments.
So, first, Gragnor was acting in a surprise round. He only gets a move or a standard, not both. I was going to allow for a five foot step + standard, but then I looked up hard corner rules and realized where my mistake was. My assumption is that Gragnor wants to pin the creature in and open the entry for others rather than activate his amulet.
I spent a lot of time digging around for when fighting defensively adjustments take effect. The only reference I could find was this, under the
Attack action section:
Fighting Defensively as a Standard Action
You can choose to fight defensively when attacking If you do so, you take a –4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 to AC until the start of your next turn.
Emphasis mine. My reading on this is that you have to have initiated an attack to fight defensively, and Gragnor couldn't do that in the surprise round, since closing to melee range takes his actions for the round. He still has an impressive AC of 25, though, until round 1.[/sblock]
Gragnor moves in to pin the creature, which lets out a noise somewhere between a growl and a squeak. It lashes out with the blade in its hand, but Gragnor barely has to pay attention to it to avoid the attack.
Unfortunately, though he noticed this creature, he missed two others, which had apparently secreted themselves into the alcoves where the empty burial urns rested. With their own series of gutteral sounds, the other two surround the otherworldly panther, blades at the ready.
As the creatures move into position, Kalgor notices that the light from Tryien's Ioun torch, which previously covered him, suddenly stops at the turn in the stairwell.
[sblock=Actions & Status]Creature 1 attacks Gragnor and misses.
Creatures 2 and 3 close on Gragnor (here Gragnor benefits from the same hard corner rules that frustrated his own attempts, since they block both the other creatures from charging).
Status
Creature 1: Undamaged
Creature 2: Undamaged
Creature 3: Undamaged
Anaerion: 37/37
Ausk: 67/67
Gragnor: 17/26, Mage Armor, Fighting Defensively (Total AC 27)
Kalgor: 45/45
Tyrien: 40/40[/sblock]
GM: | All PCs now up for Round 1 | |