Where to Next?

[Macbeth]

Invisible flight, eh? Is Ceru's spirit bird familiar thingy visible? Myabe it could scout out the camp more thuroughly.

 

[injuredwyvern]

Invisible flight, eh? Is Ceru's spirit bird familiar thingy visible? Myabe it could scout out the camp more thuroughly.

My "spirit bird familiar thingy?" I'm going to assume you mean my hawk - and her name is Skye.

Sure, she could scout out the area for us, but tactics aren't really her thing. I don't think strategic positions and potential escape routes are something she would really be able to really recognize. If we want that kind of info, one of us will probably have to check it out ourselves.

 

[BSF]

*shrug* In all fairness, I am not sure anybody else has ever seen your Spirit Hawk. Heck, even though I dropped in some commentary on what she might be saying, nobody besides Ceru really heard it. You gotta figure to folks that aren't accustomed to Spirits, your Spirit Hawk is pretty weird.

 

[Macbeth]

Skye doesn't have to give us strategic information, it just has to give us locations. If it can tell us were the gnolls are most concentrated, where the cvptives are, where the heyenas are, etc, we can make sense of it.

 

[Kultar]

Do they? I didn't realize Tyrm had ranks in Knowledge (Nature) or in Handle Animal that would indicate he spent any time paying attention to such minor details of the world.

I would refer you back to the Game Administrivia post: Knowledge Skills. This falls under that roleplaying of willful ignorance. While we see drug sniffing/bomb sniffing/cadaver sniffing dogs in relatively common use today, there was a time when that was not the case. Heck, weren't bloodhounds the only dogs portrayed with useful tracking skills at one time?

DnD doesn't model the real world very well at all. If it did, all of us would have ranks in many, many knowledge skills. Willful ignorance is the key. I don't expect Ayla or Felix to understand the intracacies of a pentacle unless they have studied Arcana, or perhaps the Planes. I don't expect anyone besides Oceas and in some cases Ceru, to differentiate between different types of undead. I don't expect somebody that doesn't have any ranks in Knowledge (Nature) to be able to tell the difference beyond obvious details of mundane creatures and plants.

Is that a blue spruce or a pine? Now imagine that you are a native of a rainforest in Bali and you have been transported to New Mexico, will you know the difference? Unless you have studied, probably not.

Look it's a dog. People in my village kept them as pets. some of them even trained their dogs pretty well. Of course, while some of the other kids were busy playing with their dogs, I was speaking with the town elders learning about the ways of the world. Negotiation with merchants, the art of conversation to learn more from people, and even a bit about dweomercraft and jewellry are my strengths. Who needs dogs whenyou can get people to help you in your tasks?

That's kind of the slant I could see Tyrm taking with his skill selections. He is your character though, so the perspective he takes with his skills is your call, not mine. So long as he isn't trying to act on information he wouldn't have, that's fine.

As for editing the post, I have already made my adjustments. I wouldn't worry about changing anything on your end.

Whatever dave. Tyrm's people lived in a forest and every culture in history have used dogs/wolves to hunt with and as such so would Tyrm's. Thats not to say that Tyrm studdied every last thing about dogs and their abilities but something as common as the fact that dogs can smell well should not be restricted. Any commoner in the medieval period could have told you that dogs could smell well and hunt people down. Yet I would not classify them as having ranks in knowledge nature. But like I said...whatever. Take away EXP or lob off Tyrms arm, kill him, or ban me from participating I really dont care.

 

[BSF]

Skye does a bit more surveying of the Gnoll camp site before returning to Ceru and telling him what she has observed.

The highlights as far as information you seem to be looking for.

Cover: Scattered trees. Occasional boulders. Lots of grass. Skye's take on it? Stay low in the grass like all smart animals do. (Obvious drawback, you guys don't crawl very fast and the grass will block your view of where you are going.)

The dip between rises: You can try to come in around a rise, or over the top of a rise. It is a large area between rises and the two-leggeds are spread out in a rough circle. They have cleared a large circle of grass and are piling loose wood in the center of the circle.

The two-leggeds: The pale, bound ones are laying spread out on the ground near the circle. The dog-faced ones are resting or wandering around. Roughly 6 hands of them were resting when Skye started her survey. Partway through the survey, some of the dog-faces stopped wandering and lay down while others got up and started wandering around. There are some dog-faces that seem to move in a circuit along the rises. They move with purpose and often pass each other.

The four-leggeds: There seem to be about a hand of them. They were eating together when Skye began her flight. By the time she was returning, they had finished their meal. They moved about and settled down into different places along the slope of the rises. Skye has good vision, but she is not sure any of you will see where the four-leggeds have settled down. Especially if it gets dark.

Paths in and out of the camp are not apparent. Most rabbits and other animals would not try to get in there for fear of being seen and hunted. But you two-leggeds act the role of the hunter, so maybe you are looking for a way to hunt these two-leggeds in a new way?

It is dusk, the sun is setting within a few minutes. Anything further 'today' will be done at night. We can advance the clock further into the evening if you guys are not up to trying anything right now.

 

[BSF]

Whatever dave. Tyrm's people lived in a forest and every culture in history have used dogs/wolves to hunt with and as such so would Tyrm's. Thats not to say that Tyrm studdied every last thing about dogs and their abilities but something as common as the fact that dogs can smell well should not be restricted. Any commoner in the medieval period could have told you that dogs could smell well and hunt people down. Yet I would not classify them as having ranks in knowledge nature. But like I said...whatever. Take away EXP or lob off Tyrms arm, kill him, or ban me from participating I really dont care.

There is a big difference between smelling well, which most animals do compared to humans, and scent, which is a special quality of creatures.

Ayla could readily tell everyone that most animals have Scent. She can do this because she has spent skill points in Handle Animal and in Knowledge (Nature). Not because of any ephemeral - I could have learned this without using any skill points rationale. Allowing Tyrm to know this without using those skills begins to overlap on a PC that has spent those skill points. It is a minor concern now, but it becomes a more important concern further down the line as far as character progression is concerned.

You don't like it. That's fine. The skill system in 3.x is flawed because it is designed to maintain class balance. (Not to mention that some of the skills have strange mechanics. C'mon, a guy wearing 50 lbs of metal in the form of Full Plate only takes a -6 to swim checks? Clearly that one was designed to make the game playable rather than have a PC die an ignomius death just because he was pushed into a lake.) Many, many people argue that the only skills that have any place in the game are the physical skills. The other skills should strictly be roleplayed. According to that school of thought, Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive, knowledge skills, and the like should be thought and acted out by the player.

Personally, I think that limits the character concepts some people are willing to try out. I am happy with the 3.x skill system because it allows a lot more variation. It is flawed, but we are playing a game where everything is abstracted and balanced against each other. Skill points are a precious commodity (though not as precious as feats) and you choose your character's strengths and weaknesses by spending them. The fact that some classes get more skill points than others is supposed to give certain classes more skill strengths as opposed to spellcasting, special abilities and combat.

 

[BSF]

As a word of advice before you guys embark on this excursion. Potentially, this could turn into a huge melee. I would suggest you go through your equipment/treasure and make sure you know who has what. As Mike earlier pointed out - "Does anybody have anything in their inventory that we might be able to get a little crazy with and possibly pull this off." You might want to explore your options and you will definitely want to be sure you know if anybody has curative potions/scrolls/whatever.

Normally, I just let you guys sort these things out yourselves. But the last big combats most of you experienced were with PCs that were much higher level and that had a lot more options available.

Be sure you know who is carrying what. Be sure you have investigated all your options. If you go toe-to-toe with the Gnolls, be sure you are ready for that.

 

[Macbeth]

Well, I'm glad to hear what Skye had to say, but nothing too suprising there. Li will thank Ceru and his seishin* for information.

So what do we do? First, I'd like a little more information:

Li will ask Ayla if she knows anything more about the gnolls. Anything about their biology, ecology, culture, etc. would be great. Ceru might also know something about this. Anything they know about hyenas would be nice too.

Next, Li would like to get a general inventory from everybody. He won't press the issue too hard, but he would like to know what everybody is carrying. If anybody has things they'd rather kepp hidden, Li won't be too invasive, but I would like to know what we have to use.

A subset of the inventory is healing. Do we have any healing items? Potions, etc...

Next, how is everybody? How do the spellcasters feel? To cut into game terms, how's everybody's hp, spells, etc?

Finally, what spells do we have available that could draw attention? Things that create light, sound, or solid creatures are best.

Here's my current idea: The spellcasters make a show of power that draws the gnolls onto one of the rises, where Li and Tormal fight like crazy, with Ayla peppering the gnolls with arrows from a distance. Ceru summons everything he can. Li, Tormal, Ayla, and the summoned creatures keep the gnolls busy on one rise.

While they keep the gnolls looking (and fighting) one way, Felix and whoever he chooses to take with him go in and rescue the survivors. They should take out any remaining gnolls that get in their way, but they have to be carefull to not let the gnolls fighting on the rise be alerted. Once the survivors are out, they move them to a safe distance and provied support for the group on the rise as they try to disengage.

The key part of this plan is using spells to draw as many gnolls as possible onto the rise, to clear out the camp as much as possible. That still may leave the gnolls who are resting in the camp, but then again, they may join the fight on the hill.

I'd like to get a feel what we have to work with before I throw out any more ideas.


*Japanese for spirit, according to About.com. Just figured I'd throw that in for some flavor.

 

[Macbeth]

Looks like I got beat to the point. Teaches me to take so long typing a response.

Anyway, here's Li's stuff:

Current hp: I don't actually know, apparently Li revived at the end of the last session, but I don't have an exact number.

Subdual: Again, no exact number. I need to know how long it's been since Li droped.

Spells/Abilities/Etc: His psychic abilites are usable, depending on how much hp/subudal he has left. He also has his use of Kiai Smite (which he has never used yet. I need to remember it next time).

Gear: Li will gladly tell everybody that he has:

His nagamaki, which he refers to as 'Isamu' (Means "bravery" in Japanese.)

His Wooden nagamki, which he calls 'Takeshi' (Means either "bamboo tree" or "brave" in Japanese.)

A small steel mirror

some jems

3 flasks of holy water

A Scroll Case Carrying:

8 Sheets of Paper
The left over seeds from the tree we damaged
Sketos' Nail
​

Some gp

Some sp

A Scroll of Comprehend Languages

An Obsidian Wand

(I still have potion written down, but I don't recall where it's from, so I may have it confused with the ones Oceas is carrying.

He wears travelling clothes






And, just a random note: I just realized that Li shouldn't actually have two languages (He has Common and Eastern at this point). However, since I spent points for the Forienger advantage, I was wondering if I could just have the Eastern language for free. Otherwise, I guess I know where I'll put some skill points next level.