(OOC) Fitz's Folly (ToA PBP)

[Neurotic]

Not really, I've been letting you fluff it that way, but he doesn't really have any terrain-specific abilities that I know of. I guess he could have advantage on the check because of it.

i meant it literally. The canopy is usually clearer if for no other reason than because the branches need to be thick enough to enable the trees to spread around. And thick branches don't have many small, blocking features. Not because he has special movement (besides climbing speed), but because the terrain is clearer.

That's why monkeys are arboreal - it is safer, faster, and their food is there.

Now, getting up could be a problem if I cannot move (since I rolled 5 )

 

[FitzTheRuke]

i meant it literally. The canopy is usually clearer if for no other reason than because the branches need to be thick enough to enable the trees to spread around. And thick branches don't have many small, blocking features. Not because he has special movement (besides climbing speed), but because the terrain is clearer.

That's why monkeys are arboreal - it is safer, faster, and their food is there.

Now, getting up could be a problem if I cannot move (since I rolled 5 )

Right, but the trouble with this line of thinking is that there are very little in the way of trees. We're not talking about a forest with a large canopy. Even for monkeys, climbing mostly only takes them upward - if they want to move in other directions, that usually involves jumping.

Here's the description from the adventure:

The city basin is densely packed with ruined villas and overgrown courtyards. Buildings in Omu are shaped from limestone. Thick, broad-leaved vines engulf most structures, while ferns and thorny bushes choke the streets. Cautious characters can move through the city at a rate of 200 feet every 5 minutes. Even if they throw caution to the wind, the density of the undergrowth makes it tricky to move faster than 200 feet per minute.

That last bit is during Exploration, but "cautious" is usually moving at about half-speed, and "caution to the wind" is usually double-speed (here, it seems to be five times as fast instead of four, but whatever). That makes "normal" speed works out to about 10 feet a round, on average - worse than difficult terrain.

So think broad-leaved vines, ferns, and thorny bushes. Not exactly easy to climb. You can climb the buildings, and the actual trees (they are also covered in vines).

 

[Neurotic]

So...I can climb up the tree, but I'm essentially stuck there then. OK, bad luck for Myrral. The idea is to "entangle" the orc and move from wizards line of sight...so behind the tree is fine. If I can get that far.

As for the closeness, Myrral stood next to a tree to try and fool the Reds

 

[FitzTheRuke]

So...I can climb up the tree, but I'm essentially stuck there then. OK, bad luck for Myrral. The idea is to "entangle" the orc and move from wizards line of sight...so behind the tree is fine. If I can get that far.

As for the closeness, Myrral stood next to a tree to try and fool the Reds

No, you can do anything you want. You just can't do it automatically and with a 100% chance of success. If you want to climb a tree and jump to another tree, you can certainly do that. There just has to be a second tree close enough to the first, and you might need to roll athletics. I'm usually pretty generous (at least in my mind) about this sort of thing, because I like people doing cool stuff, but I'm not so generous as to just have it be available all the time, automatically.

I get what you're going for, and I would probably have gone with it, had you rolled a beautiful check.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Speaking of generosity, can everyone tell me what magic items you all have, if any? I remember an alchemy jug, I think. Haven't thought about it in awhile.

I'm sure I seem stingy with items, but I have actually given out quite a bit more magic items in my games than I usually find in the adventures. (Similar to levelling, I think it's probably partly that we only get about as far as an IRL game would get in a single session about every three months or so). So it just "feels" like no one has gotten any magic items, or that we haven't leveled up lately, when it hasn't been that "long" in the game.

Still, I'd think that Red Wizards should carry some interesting stuff, and I want to know what you have before I decide what they have.

 

[Neurotic]

I didn't realize the trees are so sparse, that is all.

Myrral has no magic items

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I didn't realize the trees are so sparse, that is all.

Sure, yeah. I guess I didn't make it clear enough - most of the overgrowth is not made of trees. Most of the trees that are around were established while the city was still a thing. The fastest growing foliage in this jungle is ferns, vines, and brambles, which choke out the trees before they can get going. Even the extant trees are covered in vines (though this makes them easier to climb, if you can get to them).

On this map, for example, there's only one thing that is definitely a tree (BA20-BC24). It's possible that the dark-green thing that Myrral is beside is also a tree (or a bunch of trees) but a trunk is not visible, so it's hard to say. I'm fine with interpreting it as a tight-packed group of trees (a copse) that Myrral can get up on top of, but there wouldn't be far for him to go. Still, he'd be above everything. But he does have to get a little more inside that green bit to climb it, and at the moment (because of the poor roll) he's stuck. Probably got some prickly vine caught on his fur!

Next round he can probably do it.

 

[Neurotic]

Lets just hope that wizard has better things to do than kill opposing caster

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I guess I should point out - I was not necessarily trying to provoke the Sticks into a fight, and you don't have to fight them just because I posted a combat-starter. I just wanted to make sure it was an option, and drop into rounds-timing, because it's important for what might happen to Harb (plus we play fast-and-loose with the turn sequence in Exploration Mode, and I want to make sure that everyone has a chance to decide what they want to do here).

It's true that a Red Wizard is a sizable threat. This could get ugly. But story-wise, I just wanted to establish that they're bullies, and used to getting their own way. They're not raving maniacs, though, and it's still possible to negotiate with them, should you want to go that way. The only problem with that tactic is that they will probably not go for any deal that isn't better for them than it is for you.

(Or to put it simply: You can fight them, or you can buy them off - you just have to figure out a price that you're willing to pay.)

 

[Neurotic]

Like fake cube