The Back Room: Live Tabletop Games

Kedearian

12:03 AM

yeah

Iszi

Where are you putting the Origin Square?

Kedearian

10/9

one square of the horse is in the burst

Iszi

Answer would be yes, then. The horse is a creature within the area of the blast.

Kedearian

wasn't sure if you had to get the whole critter in the spell effect

C. Ross

Ummm, wouldn't Serai wouldn't have been in that?

Iszi

12:06 AM

No, it's an area 1

Sohum

depends on where Serai charged to

Iszi

? Serai charged?

Sohum

yes?

check wave

Kedearian

this is the problem with not everyone being here, this is what i'd like to do, but if it would lead to friendly fire i'll change

C. Ross

You centered on x10,y9?

Sohum

12:08 AM

@Kedearian ftr, I think it's fine. If, by the time your turn comes around, people have moved around a bit, I think it's okay to shift the DScramb's center accordingly

C. Ross

I'll just make my charge to x8,y11 (leaving out of burst one)

Kedearian

i put in a "do this if it would cause friendly fire" note.

C. Ross

updated the map accordingly

Iszi

@Kedearian It would definitely cause friendly fire. You come after me in initiative order.

Kedearian

well... prepair to be scrambled?

Iszi

12:15 AM

I'd rather not, thanks.

K-Trawl would be a much better option.

Or, re-target the dimensional scramble so that friendlies are not in range.

@BrianBallsunStanton This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. Having to cover every contingency especially is an issue for Controllers.

Sohum

@Iszi like I said, it really isn't an issue. It's not as if his center is set in stone

He's declared intent, mechanicswise whatever that ends up being will be fine

Kedearian

i'mmma chargin' up mah fireball?

crap my internet space ship is under attack, afk'

Iszi

@Sohum But, with his declared intent, he then has 3-4 creatures for which he has to choose placement. And, by my estimate, NONE of them are going to be where they are right now, whenever his attack goes off.

Sohum

@Iszi so we go relative. If he wants to clarify on why he chose certain squares that'll help. If it really is a different situation by the time his turn comes around then we'll work it out

it's not as if everyone moves away from 10x9 and the dscramb fizzles on nobody

/me just suddenly realised that at l2 he suddenly gets a +10 to hit

+4 dex mod +3 proficiency +1 light blade expertise +1 thief weapon talent +1 half level

Iszi

Nice work

Kedearian

12:26 AM

twinker!

also.. i target my scramble on where ever gets the most hits of bad guys

Iszi

...while avoiding good guys, I presume?

Kedearian

unless they are dragon-related, yeah

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton Looking at your initiative revision. Seems that Player vs. Monster initiative is determined by whether the majority of players fall before or after the monsters, then Players and Monsters are grouped with each other? Then, within their portion of the initiative order, Players act on a first-come basis?

@Kedearian May we try to keep the horse? Someone might want to try mounting it.

@Kedearian Perhaps change to K-Trawl, or re-target? Or, don't care about the horse - your choice.

Sohum

12:49 AM

@Kedearian hey, Brian suggested LBE

@Kedearian plus, rapiers are awesome :D

okay, yea. Noble Bred for War was pretty twinky

but... it's pretty cool too, right?

Iszi

@Sohum LBE?

Sohum

Light Blade Expertise

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton Are you granting us drawn weapons, or were the 3 non-stealthed characters keeping everything holstered under the presumption that negotiation would be attempted first?

Kedearian

1:28 AM

changed my action since only hitting 2 people with scramble feels like a waste.

Iszi

@Kedearian K-Trawl is a pull, not teleport. But, 8/10 is a valid landing spot.

Iszi

2:17 AM

@BrianBallsunStanton By "you need to include your actions" are you talking to me? If so, my actions are pending a few question resolutions. See chat log, please.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

2:43 AM

@Iszi free drawn weapons are fine.

@Iszi Players act on a consensual basis. If it becomes a problem they act in initiative order, but if everyone agrees X should go first, they can.

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton Thanks. Covers all I needed, I think.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

@CRoss no.

basically if you guys all want the controller to go first, let him

now, I'm off to lunchish stuff.

please include flavour text in your wave decrtipions, and I'll narrate a scene in the Ic room

Iszi

3:42 AM

Looks like we've all got our work put in for this round. :-)

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

4:21 AM

and now... lets see what happens

Sohum

I was pretty sure that they were minions :P

Iszi

The "Acolyte" bit gave it away if so... that's why I suggested limiting the information given in monster descriptions.

Sohum

well. I-OOC was pretty sure that they were minions.

Iszi

All I'm saying is the only monster anywhere near our level, from the Monster Creator, that had "Acolyte" in its name, was a minion.

Couldn't find the man in yellow by name, though.

Sohum

...there's actually a monster just called "acolyte"?

I just assumed brian took some reasonable stats and reskinned them as cultists

Iszi

4:30 AM

I don't think so... let me double-check...

No, there's not one just called "Acolyte", but I think these are "Human Cult Acolyte".

Sohum

huh.

Iszi

Or, it could be a "Cultist Acolyte" now that I look again.

If that's the case, they're not minions.

Sohum

they're dropping in one hit...

Iszi

Oh, didn't catch the IC updates... yeah, they're Human Cult Acolytes then.

I'd say more, but this is probably enough metagaming as it is.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

....

And this, kids, is why we make monster knowledge checks.

::cackles::

Sohum

4:36 AM

Hey, he knows as little about us as we know about him

we'll be fine

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

hitting DDI for monster stats makes the GM grumpy.

Grumpy GMs..... well, we have resources

::cackles evilly::

Iszi

Hey, DM's the one that gave it away.

Sohum

ftr: I didn't even touch DDI

or a Monster Manual, or anything

and I took great pains to not let my OOC assumptions guide Sam's actions

Iszi

Wow... Man In Yellow's bloodied already? Going easy on this maiden voyage, eh? No complaints.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

::cackles::

Sohum

4:38 AM

Serai is her

edit alert

@BrianBallsunStanton edit alert

Iszi

Crap... again? Can't believe I missed that.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

yeah, fixed

Sohum

no it's not

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

fixed again

two pronouns

Sohum

yep

okay, looks fine

Iszi

4:42 AM

Pondering: Why did Man In Yellow move? Pretty sure he started in the southwest corner of the wagon?

Sohum

" At that, the yellow robe man takes a step backwards, almost as if he didn't want to get blood on his robes..."

Iszi

Ah.

Sohum

I'm assuming Brian's fudging a little on movement and turns for dramatic!ness

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

Nope :)

::grins evilly::

I'm doing turns in order as written on wave

but not fudging movement at all. Which should cause you guys to go "utoh"

Sohum

that was still surprise round

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

4:43 AM

Yup!

Iszi

Squeaky's move will have to go one more square eastward then.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

Yes, I'll assume sane interactions there

Sohum

as in, no free actions, no immediate actions, no opportunity actions surprise round?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

eh?

you get free on surprise, don't you?

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton For range to the man in yellow.

Sohum

4:45 AM

nope.

"If you're surprised, you can't take any actions (not even free actions, immediate actions, or opportunity actions)..."

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton Just verified myself in the Compendium. @Sohum is right.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

hrmm, action type isn't listed... brb, will ponder

Iszi

Point is, action type doesn't matter.

Sohum

to do anything at all in the surprise round, you have to not be surprised.

which is still workable

Iszi

With a high enough Perception check, yes.

Sohum

4:47 AM

maybe he knew the sneaky party was around, if not exactly where they were

Iszi

Okay, now that's fudging.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

right, in that case, he'll take the shift when eagle-eye drops one of the minions during the round.

Everything's shiny

not to fret

Sohum

:P

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton Don't forget to factor in CA for the surprise round, in case one of the other's didn't.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

yup

no-one's actually missed yet. It's kind of annoying

well, twice

Iszi

4:49 AM

Interesting. The RC doesn't mention OAs or IRs, only Free Actions.

Sohum

I'm quoting from the PHB

the original printing

Iszi

Wonder if that's supposed to mean that they can take OAs and IRs, and the D&DI Compendium needs updating?

RC overrides PHB - newer material.

(RC = Essentials Rules Compendium)

Sohum

I see

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

"Surprised: If you’re surprised, you can’t take any actions (not even free actions, immediate actions,
or opportunity actions), and you grant combat advantage to all attackers. As soon as the surprise round ends, you are no longer surprised."

Iszi

That's from the D&DI Compendium. I have the Essentials Rules Compendium, which omits the "immediate actions or opportunity actions".

Non-surprised creatures can take a single Move, Standard, or Minor action and any number of Free Actions except for Action Points.

Zankul/Sam's teleport also will need modifying, to 11/9 and 13/9

Or perhaps better, 11/8 and 13/10

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

4:59 AM

and we have a new challenger!

Sohum

...shit

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton Note Zankul's updated IR.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

yup

I'm being generous in interpreted actions

Iszi

?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

like that IR is "only if a threat worthy of a daily hits me"

I'm assuming the players are sane.

Iszi

5:01 AM

1.) Vengeance is Mine isn't a daily.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

oh, really?

Iszi

2.) I was keeping fairly specific to cover that.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

Cute. Okay. Specific works.

Iszi

Fearless Rescue is my Daily.

Sohum

@Brian save the map already!

Iszi

5:02 AM

@BrianBallsunStanton Vengeance is Mine is an Encounter.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

map saved

Iszi

Ok... methinks the remaining actions perhaps should be redirected a bit.

Who's left to process?

Sohum

rihkim and squeaky.

Iszi

What's total damage on Yellow Robe?'

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

Finally, a miss

27

Iszi

5:06 AM

@Sohum What do you think of us redirecting Squeaky to the smoke, and then we teleport to flank that?

Sohum

works

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

Well, happily, it's a miss.

Iszi

Crap.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

And now it's their turn.

Sohum

and Sam is actually still hidden

huh.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:08 AM

yup

it's great being a rogue.

Iszi

@Sohum Smoke's going to probably come after either me or Serai. If it comes to melee me, you answer to Vengeance is Mine?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

I really like what I've seen of the thief so far.

::Cackles::

Sohum

@Iszi you know it

and yea, metagamingly I get the feeling the yellow-robed-guy is the actual threat, and the bumbling and the "accidental" breaking of the orb is an act

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

::cackle::

Iszi

Metagame: Yellow guy was bloodied in one round plus surprise. Unless he's got some heals or an insubstantial power lined up, he's toast.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:10 AM

Hah! Just enough to hit

Sohum

but that's metagame. pretty sure Sam's going to redirect his attention to that thing

Iszi

Blue-green smoke is the unknown, and probably insubstantial as-is. I'd consider that hard.

Crap.. I had a feeling those ant-pogs would come in too.

Sohum

yeaaaaa....

spider, more like

Iszi

Looks like ants to me. Good thing we made quick work of those minions.

Sohum

metagame: shift as a free action grr.

Iszi

5:16 AM

@BrianBallsunStanton Looks like you missed moving Squeaky.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

eh?

Sohum

he hasn't saved

oh, no, he moved the other cultist

Iszi

Squeaky had to move before his attack, to be in range.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

ah

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton Where'd the 1 damage come from, the chain?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:19 AM

Whee. Red on Red :)

yup

Sohum

aaaand there we go

what? man in yellow is evolving?

Iszi

Aww... crapptiy crap.

Here's hoping the damage stays.

Sohum

@BrianBallsunStanton edit alert, "whisp" in line before last

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

yeah. ::shrug::

edit timeout

Sohum

:(

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:20 AM

Me not mod, me not able to fix that stuff

Iszi

Pretty sure it can be either way... in fact, Wisp may be correct.

Yeah, it's Wisp.

Sohum

okay, at this point I'm expecting someone to note that Serai should try a nonlethal takedown on the last human alive on the board

Iszi

Whisp is not in M/W

Metagame: Note the use of the word "seemingly"

Sohum

...I was going to correct that to "enemy human", but I just realised. None of us are human, are we?

Sam's pretending to be is all

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

And that's round 1.

Wasn't that bad, was it?

Sohum

5:24 AM

...

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton TBD

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

::cackle::

and of course, nothing will be joining you all in later rounds, oh no...

oh, actually

Sohum

quick note: should the wisp be where yellow-robe was?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

er, yes

but that's Ok

Iszi

@Sohum Told you it was an ant.

Revise my IR to the Ant

Sohum

5:27 AM

/me concedes

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

Sam, I have a present for you:)

Iszi

I'm sure the Wisp is insubstantial. Don't want to waste MBAs on that.

Add IR: Fearless Rescue to first fallen allly.

Sohum

eeeeeeeeeeeeep

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

muahahahaha

IT KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE....

Iszi

Crap... tremorsense.

Sohum

5:29 AM

NO NO NO

do you not know that is a rogue's worst nightmare

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

pruning chat logs

er, wave

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton Where's that pit, and how deep?

(Tunnel, whatever)

Sohum

like, literally. he dreams of bright sunshine on a grassy plain with clowns and minotaurs and ants and things

ALL LOOKING AT HIM

worst nightmare

Iszi

@Sohum I think any battle on a grassy plain in the first place - no concealment - is a nightmare.

Sohum

yes but CLOWNS

and CLOWNTARS

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:31 AM

the pit is under the wagon, unknown depth

Sohum

they have to be involved in any bad nightmare

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

it's mostly just sucking mud right now.

The horse is /seriously/ unhappy

Sohum

and the horse is... yea

unhappy enough to kick out at anything that's next to it?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

That's certainly a chance :)

Iszi

So, its small enough that the wagon straddles it, and anyone in the wagon's space is on top of the wagon?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:32 AM

But right now it just wants to be /gone/

yes. The wagon is unhappy terrain right now

cause it's half-way fallen in

Iszi

Unhappy != difficult?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

lets see here

Sohum

I'd assume climbing into the wagon would cost an extra square of movement, but movement on the wagon is unrestricted

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

Wagon is high, so it's tough to scale in the first place (athletics check to scale) and acrobatics to move on the shifting surface

Iszi

@Sohum Shhh... let the DM come up with that himself.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:34 AM

but it won't take extra movement, beyond the chance of falling prone, next to something that wants to eat your heart

::smiles::

Sohum

oookay. Sam's not touching the wagon, then

Iszi

@BrianBallsunStanton Could someone with a good enough check, jump over the near side of the wagon and on to the opposite side?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

Yup

that's a simple athletics check.

Iszi

Athletics?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

mind you, tricky, but doable

Iszi

5:35 AM

What's the total DC?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

you'd want a running start

Sohum

and oh look, who's the guy with a hyoog athletics check around? :p

Iszi

(I'm bad with jump-math)

snicker

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

if you have running start, it's check/5 squares for a horiz jump. I'd say it costs an extra "jump-square" because of the height.

you'll need to make one acrobatics roll to remain upright on your landing if you're in the cart.

or it's a "jump, land, cart sinks into hole with force of landing, fall"

Iszi

Need a check to stand after prone?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:37 AM

nope, just for movement

Sohum

so, DC15 to clear it with a running start?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

to vault the wagon completely?

Sohum

yea

Iszi

k... prone may be worth it then.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

yep.

Iszi

5:38 AM

No, I think DC15 w/run is to jump onto the wagon and land on the opposite side. If you want to land on the ground opposite, it would be 20 - right?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

::cackles::

er, wagon is 2 wide

oh, right, +1 tall

Sohum

so, if it knows where I am, I'm effectively not hidden from it, right? i.e., no CA?

Iszi

Right... add the 1 for jump height.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

so yeah, 20 because 4 squares of movement

that is correct, good sir :)

Am I not Merciful?:

Iszi

@Sohum Don't worry... you'll have CA soon enough from flanking.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:39 AM

::descends from heaven in gleaming white armor::

Sohum

to burn the Changeling Trick or not...

hey, Brian, mind pasting the full updated skill rules for Bluff?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

urgh

Sohum

on wave, I'd assume

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

yes, I do

but um... bluff in combat?

Sohum

:{

Iszi?

Iszi

5:41 AM

@Sohum What are you trying to do with Bluff?

Sohum

yep

can't remember if it's still a standard action or not...

Iszi

@Sohum Diversion to hide, I guess?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

WTH? they have opposed checks now?!

Iszi

Yup

Sohum

Bluff to gain CA is a rule as well

Iszi

5:42 AM

It's against target's passive Insight.

Sohum

I don't need a diversion to hide :P

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

oh, it's passive

Iszi

Standard action, once per Encounter.

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

okay, good.

Iszi

Hide until end of your next.

Sohum

5:43 AM

and how long does the CA last?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

EoNT

Iszi

Er... CA until end of your next, I mean,.

Sohum

right

so, usefuller if you'll be burning an AP

Iszi

Yeah.

I'm thinking I'll jump over and nail the trucker with Viper's Strike while flanking. That'll give you CA without needing to burn the Standard to check.

Sohum

I could move 0 to hide, and attack

Brian Ballsun-Stanton

5:46 AM

nope :)

you don't have cover or concealment from the gent

Sohum

?

I totally have cover

Iszi

gent?

Brian Ballsun-Stanton