The Back Room: Live Tabletop Games

11:02 AM

Ok, D perception, D initiative, K perception, K initiative: 4d20

4d20

15

20

13

20

lol those who beat a perception DC of 8, see a smaller swine hiding behind some bones

G percep: 9, G init 11

2d20

2

7

E percep 8, init 10

11:04 AM

@Miniman whats the final initiative of Dharval and Kheldor?

@daze413 20 & 20 :D

TSP, Wilbur: 2d20

2d20

6

17

which one do you want to go first?

Um...paladin, I guess

Are they 5 foot squares or 10 foot squares?

11:05 AM

5

Initiative Count - Dharval > Kheldor > Wilbur > Golthakas > Elthios > The Swine Prince

Yeah, D moves up 30 feet but doesn't close to melee yet

that's your move, what about your action?

oh and since Wilbur failed his stealth, lets say everyone pretty much sees it

Ready an action to attack any enemy that comes into reach

(10 ft reach, using halberd)

ok, Kheldor's up

is it bad if we star the initiative count so we can see it on the side? heh

Kheldor will move up and cast Spiritual Weapon

Then Sacred Flame on the Swine Prince

11:09 AM

d20

20

Nvm that then

18?

ok, so you're concentrating right?

No, spiritual weapon doesn't take concentration

okok. done?

11:10 AM

Yep

You hear a squeal come out of the smaller swine, it pops its head out and shouts at Dharval. casts Vicious Mockery roll a cha save

d20

9

That's 15

sorry wisdom save

11:12 AM

Ah, 12

that still makes it, barely.

Yay!

everyone roll insight checks please

D then K

2d20

15

3

11:13 AM

G then E

2d20

13

16

G 14, E 22

D 18, K 10

To those who passed a DC of 12, [spoilers](you see Wilbur talk with The huge creature, and it looks at Dharval with a sort of glint in its hollow eyes)

ok I forgot how to spoiler

meh, only one failed anyway

ok, Golthakas now.

spoiler (mouseover for spoiler text)

Golthakas: "Dharval--shall I hasten your approach?"

11:16 AM

haha ah well, its kinda silly since its just 2 players and 2 PCs

"I'd appreciate that - I don't know what that thing is, but I think it needs to die!"

TSP gives out a bellowing roar as you say that.

it squeals with the voice of a thousand pigs, all writhing in rage and anger

Golthakas moves up and casts haste on Dharval

(plugging his ears as he does so)

Golthakas done.

Elthios is next

Elthios will fleetly tiptoe her way past her compatriots...

...and fire off three radiant sun bolts, at the cost of 1 ki

11:21 AM

@nitsua60 Oooooh.

3d20 +7 each to hit

(on TSP, btw)

3d20

16

12

@nitsua60 The light, the promise of safety...

all hit

+4 each, 3d6

(does the roller only parse die statements alone on their own line?)

3d6

•

11:22 AM

@nitsua60 Yep

25 radiant dmg -> TSP

after spinning her spear with a flourish, E is done

noice. The creature howls, sharp and pained, eerily sounding like a massacre of pigs

The swine prince, despite having no legs, sends his free arm out and drags his hulking form over to Dharval, knocking over some Bones as it does so. (you trigger your ready action)

d20

8

15?

11:24 AM

that hits

1d10

5

9 nonmagical slashing damage

you adding divine smite to that?

ok

Huge cleaver in hand, it brings it down to bear at the Paladin twice...

2d20

5

10

11:26 AM

14 and 19

AC 21

cool. so all attacks miss

(thanks for the haste!)

(don't forget +2 from haste =D )

haha clutch

ok, so Dharval's turn. (dang forgot to move Wilbur)

11:26 AM

ok, with haste, 4 attacks at +7 to hit

4d20

19

6

11

14

@Miniman Golthakas smiles nervously, hoping the wall-o'-paladin holds that thing at bay.

umm.. 2 extra, 1 haste attack, wheres the fourth?

@daze413 Ah, Polearm Master, sorry

ah! ok, yeah. whats the total of the 6 roll?

11:27 AM

13

still hits

roll damage

Awesome! I'll smite on all 4 grins

hahaha

ok

3d10 1d4

1

6

9

3

11:28 AM

So that's...35 nonmagical slashing

ouch

and radiant?

is it a fiend?

no, it is not

kk

8d8

5

4

1

5

1

6

2

4

11:29 AM

well... im kinda debating that. But for now lets say not

26 radiant

28?

ouchie. Bloodied

yeah, 28

Ah yeah - maths is hard >.>

so much dice

11:30 AM

Paladins are a little ridiculous

a little ;)

Kheldor

Kheldor will attack with spiritual weapon and cast spiritual guardians

d20

20

so that's a crit for spiritual weapon

2d8

4

7

11:32 AM

15 radiant damage

it's still up, despite grievous wounds.

(don't forget Wilbur)

so... spirit guardians... doesnt hit Wilbur

(@Miniman you just burned all 4 L1 slots?)

@nitsua60 Yeah.

11:35 AM

and Wilbur will cast Vicious Mockery again at Dharval

wis save plox

d20

11

14

you're good.

You see Wilbur squeal out something unintelligible to you, but now the huge creature is looking at Kheldor

and it'll move behind the bones.

Golthakas next

Takes a step left and fires a ray of frost at TSP: +7 to hit

d20

11:37 AM

12

hits

19 hits for 2d8 cold

2d8

2

1

noice!

-10 to TSP's speed until my next turn, not that it'll matter...

did you say cold damage?

11:38 AM

@daze413 yes

nvm lol thats a stupid bluff to pull off in play by chat haha

lolfigsl

scares my players irl every time tho

ok so Elthios

and then Golthakas continues circling around, hoping to stay out of TSP's notice. G done.

E steps up...

oh no... a caster in melee... gonna be bad...

11:40 AM

two-hands her spear into the oozing-entrail parts for a stunning strike (costing 1 ki): +7 to hit

didnt you say you were WM?

@daze413 G is

nvm--draconic ancestry.

okok. i keep forgetting to check

the d20 if 1 = roll WMS

I didn't have time to make up the character, so I just pulled the L5 pregen from WotC's archive

ah ok.

11:41 AM

(back to E)

d20

20

oooh

DC 14 con save, pls

d20

4

11:42 AM

wait, that isnt magic is it?

it's... ki.

hmm... thatd be really up to me at this point, wouldnt it? but luckily I have 2 5e experts to help me?

Does not say magic in the "Stunning strike" description. It "interefere[s] with the flow of ki in an opponent's body."

ok, so its not magic so thats a fail

It's "the mystic energy of ki," according to ki's description.

Yeah--some monk things call out magic, but not this one.

11:44 AM

nah, im taking it akin to a Battle master maneuver. not many classes can do non magical effects

@nitsua60 Monk fluff does say ki is a magical energy, though.

(E.g. sun bolt is "searing bolt of magical radiance")

y'know what, at the risk of this encounter ending too early, lets say ki is magic. That ok? :)

OTOH, I think this fight's over if TSP fails

ikr?

11:45 AM

@daze413 THat's exactly what I was thinking.

d20

5

aaannnd thats a 13

The dice have really been on our side tonight

Is that an advantage, or Legendary save?

11:46 AM

advantage

Even at L5, I feel like there are enough encounter-enders that it might be nice to give him a legendary save.

I think I should put in some LRs on this one.

Hypnotic pattern, anyone?

Right. I'll put it in there on the next version.

The Swine King

@daze413 Nice

11:47 AM

IN any case, the initial spear attack which may or may not have stunned TSP does 2d8 + 4

2d8

4

6

14 mundane piercing

Now, is he stunned? There are three more attacks coming =)

let's say it did stun him. thou shant not smite the dice gods

yeah,

Okay, second spear strike, then two openhanded from flurry of blows (at cost of 1 ki), all at advantage...

6d20

18

11

13

5

7

11:48 AM

they all hit

14 is the lowest, so all three hit

(its not that hard to hit him)

all +4 dmg...

d8 2d6

7

•

@daze413 (That's generally a good thing - easy to hit but with big HP pools means players don't get frustrated)

11:49 AM

brb

@Miniman now, hitting Wilbur...

(phone)

@daze413 Well, if Wilbur ever joins the fray, that cowardly...swine.

A DEVASTATING BLOW!

lets end the encounter here.

TSP passes and next round dies

youll spend a few minutes chasing wilbur around

but youll kill it as well

So, first thoughts - is this going to be at the end of a dungeon or something?

11:52 AM

ok, so some quick tweaks...

Having all our resources made a big difference

it should be. We have time for maybe 4 encounters per session, so this should be the 4th

yeah, the smite wombo combo was big

if you look at the bottom of the sheet, you can see the HP

that was 63 damage in one turn

Yeah, it was pretty crazy

so, how do I fairly simulate the resources lost for a dungeon ender?

No idea, I've never figured it out - there's just way too many factors

But having done best-case scenario, we should probably aim to cripple the characters pretty heavily.

11:58 AM

so, I added: Aggressive, Legendary Resistance (1 use), and 1 Legendary Action (1 melee attack or some other thing, maybe move?)

took out 20 HP and 1 melee attack on its turn

Ok, let's say the Paladin has used all but one level 1 spell slot and all but one level 2 spell slot. Channel Divinity recovers on a short rest, so I'll assume he has that.

all short rest abilities are safe to assume they have

Let's say he's used 15/25 lay on hands hp.

For the cleric, let's leave him with...two level 1 spell slots, one level 2 and one level 3?

give him a bit more level 1s

oh right

kk, three level 1s.

12:03 PM

he can only use as much as he has actions anyway

that last fight, how much did he use up?

Yeah, for the cleric it doesn't mater as much as the pally.

[gimme 5 more minutes]

spiritual weapon + spirit guardians only, right?

@daze413 one level 2 and one level 3

@nitsua60 take your time

12:03 PM

@daze413 Yeah.

Thoughts on Wilbur?

he doesnt do much except call shots and cast vicious mockery... and run

@daze413 I'd definitely suggest giving him something more annoying so that players have to decide whether to go after him or not, rather than just focusing on the BBEG.

ok, but I set this encounter up that if Wilbur gets hit, TSP goes after the one who hurt it.

And if Wilbur dies, TSP loses his mind and starts raging

by raging, I mean reckless attacks

Ooooh, nice

@Miniman yeah, I was considering having E or G take a potshot at Wilbur, but two failed mockeries didn't seem too threatening.

12:10 PM

I guess if I have to make Wilbur more annoying... maybe something thats still liveable?

@daze413 Yeah, you don't want a cool interaction like that to go to waste, after all!

Maybe if Wilbur has some controlling aspects? Or if he's the one animating bones into skellies?

hmm... in the game, Wilbur stuns party members. But stun is too strong a mechanic in DnD

but anyone who's ever read the wiki before playing DD knows NOT to kill Wilbur

@daze413 that gives the monk all her ki

@daze413 What about Command? 1-round crowd control that doesn't give all the negative effects of any of the conditions.

12:13 PM

@daze413 I hadn't played it, but just wanted to focus on the obvious threat unless the side-threat looked important, too.

@nitsua60 it should be fine. The players would know a boss is up so a short rest could be assumed to have happened

Do the bones do anything if we tread across them?

@Miniman Also Dissonant Whispers. Just move your speed away, and youre still good for the next turn

@daze413 Nice.

@nitsua60 no, they're just difficult terrain

12:15 PM

@daze413 Also cover, you said?

Do you want to run again, with either different characters or some simulated running-down of these ones?

@Miniman yes, 3/4 for small. 1/2 for medium

(If so, I'll need ~ half an hour's break)

@nitsua60 we figured to take out some spell slots

@nitsua60 let's just adjourn for now? My brother wants to play GW2, and my laptop is with my other brother and I hate typing on the CP >_<

No worries. I'm going to head off to work, then.

12:17 PM

@daze413 Cool - let me know when you want to pick it up.

In general: I liek the layout and the theme and the flavor.

alright, thanks for the feedback. They are invaluable! :D

Peace.

@daze413 Yeah, you introduced him really well - even without the picture, you totally got the feel across!

@nitsua60 this isnt actually a playtest, I am actually advertising this awesome game. go buy it

@Miniman haha thanks! The mental picture definitely helps with that.

see ya guys!

12:19 PM

Cya! And thanks again for the distraction, it was fun!

Frezak

12:34 PM

Hey, People. I just asked a question, but can't think of an actual applicable tag. Help?

Is it okay to comment on my own question stating such?

Q: Does ki count as magic for the purpose of an antimagic field, or is it only fluff?

1:04 PM

@Frezak absolutely okay to comment thusly. Also, this is "The Back Room," a lightly-used room; you may have been looking for "RPG General Chat"

10

I was verifying whether my fighter's Sun Blade would in fact be a useless hilt in an antimagic field (AMF) and came across this question on a few other sites, and it piqued my interest. My first instinct is that "no, monks can still use ki effects in an AMF because they're just awesomely in cont...

(cc: @Miniman)

1:22 PM

@nitsua60 I thought we had something about it somewhere.

Frezak

Huh, I thought the chat name wasn't the one I remembered, but then I told myself "But you clicked the usual button, Frezak! You're just old and your brain is crumbling is all!"

@Frezak yeah, it often catches me by surprise if this room isn't the top-left.

@Miniman I'm not totally sure I buy Korvin's answer, but I don't know if I've time or energy to compose a counter-argument.

@nitsua60 Classic tragedy - you helped create the monster you now wish to slay :P

2:08 PM

@nitsua60 perhaps an analysis of the effects of, say, maneuvers which are clearly non magical vs ki strikes? That just rekt the swine prince