Since not all of the loot was that great looking in my previous post, I thought I would do a follow up post that included some cooler items. Some of these things will be intended for higher level characters. Other items may not be ideal for any one of us in particular but are interesting enough that someone might want to save up or perhaps coerce TC and make him drop it. I'll include the prices so you have some idea of how close (or far!) you are from getting the item as well as a brief explanation if it seems like that is needed.
**You can skip this paragraph if you don't care how pricing works. I'll put an example at the end of each item so you know how much a weapon/armor of each type might cost.**
The cost of weapons increases exponentially as you add bonuses to them. So a +2 weapon will cost more than 2 +1 weapons. Regular enhancement bonus are easy to track. A +5 greatsword has the base price of a +5 bonus plus the cost of a MW greatsword (all magic weapons have to be masterwork weapons). However, there is more than can be added to a weapon or piece of armor besides a regular enhancement, and that is what makes pricing confusing. Take the "Animation" enhancement listed below. It does not have a set price. Rather, it costs however much gold it would take to get an additional +3 bonus. So if you were thinking of buying a +1 heavy steel shield of Animation (all items with magical effects must first have at least a base bonus of +1) it would cost 16170g (16000g as the base price of a +4 enhancement and an extra 170g for the MW heavy steel shield). However, a +2 heavy steel shield of animation would cost 25170g (25k as the base price of a +5 and another 170g for the MW shield). There are lists the base prices of enhancements for each type of weapon in the Dungeon Master's guide. Final note, in case you didn't know, a +1 or +2 or whatever in front of the weapon just means that you add 1 or 2 or whatever number to your attack and damage roll. A +something in front of armor just adds that to you AC. Oh, one more final note, if you don't see "(base)" after the thing listed, then it is an actual piece of armor or a weapon or whatever and it has a set price.
I don't know if that was an effective explanation of pricing. Let me know if you have a specific combo in mind or want to know what other options you have (since I certainly did not list them all here, I only gave a few that looked interesting to me) and I can let you know how much it would cost.
On to the goodness!!!!
Shield of Animation +3 bonus (base) - Upon command, an animated shield floats within 2 feet of the wielder, protecting him as if he were using it himself but freeing up both his hands. Example: +1 heavy steel shield of Animation 16170g
Dragonhide plate 3300g - This suit of full plate is made of dragonhide rather than metal, so druids can wear it. Otherwise, it is identical to MW full plate.
Armor of the Wild +3 bonus (base) - The wearer of a suit of armor or a shield with this ability preserves his armor bonus (and any enhancement bonus) while in a wild shape. Example: +1 Dragonhide of the Wild 19300g
Adamantine Breastplate 10200g - This nonmagical breastplate is made of adamantine, giving its wearer damage reduction of 2/-
Mithral Full Plate of Speed 26500g - As a free action, the wearer of this +1 mithril full plate set can activate the armor, enabling her to act as though affected by a haste spell for up to 10 rounds each day.
Lion's Shield 9170g - This +2 heavy steel shield is fashioned to appear to be a roaring lion's head. Three times per day as a free action, the lion's head can be commanded to attack (independently of the shield wearer), biting with the wielder's attack bonus (including multiple attacks, if the wielder has them) and dealing 2d6 points of damage. This attack is in adition to any actions performed by the wielder.
Weapon of Bane +1 bonus (base) - A bane weapon excels at attacking one type or subtype of creature. Against its designated foe, its effective enhancement bonus is +2 better than its normal enhancement and it deals an extra 2d6 damage. Example: +1 Flail of Orc's Bain 8308g
Weapon of Flaming +1 bonus (base) - Upon command, a flaming weapon is sheathed in fire. A flaming weapon deals an extra 1d6 points of fire damage on a successful hit. Example: +1 Flaming Longsword 8315g
Weapon of Vorpal +5 bonus (base) - Upon the roll of a natural 20 (followed by a successful roll to confirm the critical hit), the weapon severs the opponent's head from its body and kills him. Example: +5 Greatsword of Vorpal 200350g
Dagger of Venom 8302g - This black +1 dagger has a serrated edge. It allows the wielder to use a poison effect (as the spell, save DC 14) upon a creature struck by the balde once per day.
Oathbow 25600g - Of elven make, this white +2 composite longbow (+2 strength bonus) whispers "Swift defeat to my enemies" in Elven when nocked and pulled. Once per day, if the firer swears aloud to slay her target (a free action), the bow's whisper becomes the low shout "Swift death to those who have wronged me." Against such a sworn enemy, the bow has a +5 enhancement bonus, and arrows launched from it deal an additional 2d6 points of damage (and x4 on a crit instead of the normal x3). However, the bow is treated as only a MW weapon against all foes other than the sworn enemy, and the wielder takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls with any weapon other than the oathbow. These bonuses and penalties last for 7 days or until the enemy is destroyed.
Rapier of Puncturing 25320g - Three times per day, this +2 wounding rapier allows the wielder to make a touch attack with the weapon that deals 1d6 points of Constitution damage by draining blood.
Sylvan Scimitar 23657 - This +3 scimitar, when used outdoors in a temperate climate, grants its wielder the use of the Cleave feat and deals and extra 1d6 points of damage.
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Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
loot, gear and treasure
Whatever you want to call it, getting new ish is my favorite part of playing roll playing games. But it occurred to me after last week (when I knew exactly what I wanted to drop after the encounter) that some might appreciate some help in figuring out what drops they should be hoping to find. Since we are on the brink of level three, I thought I would put out a list of the basics that we all might want as level up and venture through level 3.
A few things to note before we get started. First, you don't have to want the things I listed. It is just meant to be a sort of starting guide in case you have no idea. Second, you don't have to wait for these things to randomly drop in order to recieve them. So far, our DM has been rather lenient in what we are able to buy in between campains. I would imagine that that will continue into the future and so you can certainly hope for a sweet sweet drop but you could also just save up some money and buy your heart's desire as well. Finally, be patient. The intended way for loot to be distributed is really confusing, especially because 7 people is so much bigger than the normal party size. The easiest way to think about it might be in terms of straight cash. On average, a single level 3 encounter will drop 900g for the 7 of us to split (that is up from 600g from a level 2 encounter). Sometimes that will take the form of cash for us all to split but othertimes there will be a little bit of cash and then one big item for just one person to have. So if you ever get something really big, realize that you might have to wait awile before you get another super-pimp drop. I'll put the cash value of all the recomended stuff below so you know which things are big and which are not as big.
Alright, on to the loot!!
OJ
Composite Longbow (+2 Strength) 300g
MW Greatsword (he might already have this benefit) 400g
Mithril chain shirt 1100g
Potions of Bull’s Strength 300g
John
Composite Longbow (+2 Strength) 300g
MW Longbow (he might already have this benefit) 315g
Full plate armor 1500g
MW heavy steel shield 170g
Potions of Bull’s Strength 300g
Dan
MW Flail (he might already have this benefit) 308g
MW Short sword 310g
Mithril chain shirt 1100g
MW heavy steel shield (I’m not sure if you carry a shield with you, just in case) 170g
Potions of Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace 300g (each)
Brian
Wand of magic missile (caster level 1) 750g
MW light crossbow 335g
+1 bracers of armor 1000g
Scroll of: summon monster II, web, blur, fog cloud 150g (each)
Potions of Fox's Cunning 300g
Angela
MW rapier 320g
Mithril chain shirt 1100g
Potions of Cat’s Grace 300g
Wand of magic missle (caster level 1) 750g
MW longbow 300g
MW long sword 315g
+1 bracers of armor 1000g
Scroll of: color spray, charm person, cause fear 25g (each)
Potions of Eagle's Splendor 300g
Julia
MW scimitar 315g
Wand of cure light wounds 750g
Scroll of: barkskin, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, owl’s wisdom, flame blade, flaming sphere 150g (each)
Potions of Owl's Wisdom 300g
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Monday, September 29, 2008
Oregon - USC Madness
So this weekend is a big game. Oregon - USC, the alma maters of 4 out of our 7 adventurers (and the other three don't really count). 5 pm.
My parents will be out of town, but they have a large television and a nice barbecue and air conditioning and good seating arrangements and all that jazz, so they've offered me use of the ol' place for purposes of watching the game. Can you guys join me?
I'm steeling myself for a couple of things. 1) USC is going to be psycho mad since they lost to a garbage team last week. 2) Oregon's quarterbacks SUCK. We have like 5 of them. None of them are good.
So I have a feeling it may be like years past (the several before last year). Oregon comes out strong in the first quarter, but doesn't really dominate. They get a TD, maybe a FG too, but don't really pull away like you think they should. The second quarter, they make some more good plays, but USC starts to get back in it, and it winds up being a 3 point game at halftime, and Oregon fans can feel things start to slip. In the third quarter, the four horseman of the apocalypse show up and ride down every Oregon player who is any good. USC promptly scores 4 TD's and puts the game away early in the fourth quarter.
Then again, USC did lose to Oregon St...hmmmm.
Of course I think we CAN win - I'm just taking the pessimistic approach for superstitious reasons. Don't tempt the football gods. Go Ducks!
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My parents will be out of town, but they have a large television and a nice barbecue and air conditioning and good seating arrangements and all that jazz, so they've offered me use of the ol' place for purposes of watching the game. Can you guys join me?
I'm steeling myself for a couple of things. 1) USC is going to be psycho mad since they lost to a garbage team last week. 2) Oregon's quarterbacks SUCK. We have like 5 of them. None of them are good.
So I have a feeling it may be like years past (the several before last year). Oregon comes out strong in the first quarter, but doesn't really dominate. They get a TD, maybe a FG too, but don't really pull away like you think they should. The second quarter, they make some more good plays, but USC starts to get back in it, and it winds up being a 3 point game at halftime, and Oregon fans can feel things start to slip. In the third quarter, the four horseman of the apocalypse show up and ride down every Oregon player who is any good. USC promptly scores 4 TD's and puts the game away early in the fourth quarter.
Then again, USC did lose to Oregon St...hmmmm.
Of course I think we CAN win - I'm just taking the pessimistic approach for superstitious reasons. Don't tempt the football gods. Go Ducks!
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Saturday, September 27, 2008
Adventure Recap 2 - Jungle Fever
So, I've been kicking it with the same dudes from the Grey Griffin Dungeon Hop (yeah, you don't know what happened to that dragon, do you? Let's just say I had to get "medieval" on it) for the past few weeks, and suddenly one thing led to another and some out-of-luck townsmen started to run their mouths about how "someone's been kidnapped." We found out the dude's name and the path he took, and set off into the jungle to let people know that level two or not, we mean business.
More after the jump...
In a bit of fortune, we were sent to save a kidnapped brother named "Marion" (only a brother would name their boy Marion) who had been dragged into the jungle for no good reason. We no sooner took eight steps into the wilderness when a giant monster made of leaves sprouted in our path and decided to make life difficult. Making things even worse, we HAD been chilling with a raging Barbarian named Malakalak, but he went AWOL right before the jungle cruise leaving us bereft of someone to intimidate the wolf if it got out of line. Needless to say, I put my own brand of Buck Unit Sauce on the Tree Monster, earning a free +10 damage that I still haven't used, and clearing the way to .. BEHOLD! a Jungle Temple Of Some Sort! Who knew?
Apparently Ponce De Leon had traveled this way before, because we stepped into a clearing and saw a shining font of glowing water, which healed all our wounds, refreshed our spells, and gave us all a bit of a contact high... sure enough, we also found Malak doing laps in the water like a black Milorad Cavic. After he popped out and gave us the runaround about how "we needed him to save the day" and all this business, we came face to face with the guardians of the Jungle Temple (Of Some Sort) who had murder on "they minds." Two serpents, one giant thing standing on a bloody temple, two men in robes, and one captured prisoner.. could it be our boy Marion?? could we stare down the forces of evil and emerge victorious??
Obviously, since my Boltness was in full effect, we could and we did. Malakkarious immediately begin making his presence felt with a massive rage, and Taran Tha Rangah took out his sword (which he phallicly named Rage) and went to work on the serpent dudes. Being a man of insight and action, I took the hooded dudes and showed them what's what (Knee-Juahz, all of them), and our caster-types made their presence felt with a magic missle fireworks display.
Things DID get a little shady when our Sorcerer took it straight in the dome from the temple guardian, but only a few moments of unconsciousness ensued before our beast-master arrived on the scene. We're still struggling to keep the wolf in check, but even the wolf put his teeth on some enemies just to prove our righteous intent.
Anyway, coast cleared, and to be honest, I'm not sure what became of the prisoner. Still, the stairs that led deep into the temple beckoned, and I'm about to make somebody pay for what they did to our Sorcerer... (you know how Lord Beezy likes to holler at 'em!)
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More after the jump...
In a bit of fortune, we were sent to save a kidnapped brother named "Marion" (only a brother would name their boy Marion) who had been dragged into the jungle for no good reason. We no sooner took eight steps into the wilderness when a giant monster made of leaves sprouted in our path and decided to make life difficult. Making things even worse, we HAD been chilling with a raging Barbarian named Malakalak, but he went AWOL right before the jungle cruise leaving us bereft of someone to intimidate the wolf if it got out of line. Needless to say, I put my own brand of Buck Unit Sauce on the Tree Monster, earning a free +10 damage that I still haven't used, and clearing the way to .. BEHOLD! a Jungle Temple Of Some Sort! Who knew?
Apparently Ponce De Leon had traveled this way before, because we stepped into a clearing and saw a shining font of glowing water, which healed all our wounds, refreshed our spells, and gave us all a bit of a contact high... sure enough, we also found Malak doing laps in the water like a black Milorad Cavic. After he popped out and gave us the runaround about how "we needed him to save the day" and all this business, we came face to face with the guardians of the Jungle Temple (Of Some Sort) who had murder on "they minds." Two serpents, one giant thing standing on a bloody temple, two men in robes, and one captured prisoner.. could it be our boy Marion?? could we stare down the forces of evil and emerge victorious??
Obviously, since my Boltness was in full effect, we could and we did. Malakkarious immediately begin making his presence felt with a massive rage, and Taran Tha Rangah took out his sword (which he phallicly named Rage) and went to work on the serpent dudes. Being a man of insight and action, I took the hooded dudes and showed them what's what (Knee-Juahz, all of them), and our caster-types made their presence felt with a magic missle fireworks display.
Things DID get a little shady when our Sorcerer took it straight in the dome from the temple guardian, but only a few moments of unconsciousness ensued before our beast-master arrived on the scene. We're still struggling to keep the wolf in check, but even the wolf put his teeth on some enemies just to prove our righteous intent.
Anyway, coast cleared, and to be honest, I'm not sure what became of the prisoner. Still, the stairs that led deep into the temple beckoned, and I'm about to make somebody pay for what they did to our Sorcerer... (you know how Lord Beezy likes to holler at 'em!)
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Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday
So there is a USC football game this Thursday at 6. I'm not sure what that does to our game but it might mess it up a bit. I think it would work fine for Angela and I to play on Friday though if we wanted to try that instead. How does that work for others?
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Friday, September 19, 2008
Fun Times with Bad Ideas
Unbelievable. Just...I don't even have the words for this. Picture after the jump.
Here's the link to the site if you're interested: http://www.partyusa.com/titanic.htm
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Here's the link to the site if you're interested: http://www.partyusa.com/titanic.htm
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Monday, September 15, 2008
we doin this?!
Is it going down on Thursday night, or are we all going to think up excuses again?
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Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Our Beloved Paladin
Saw this quote:
Wow, Usain Bolt really IS a paladin. Awesome.
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Usain Bolt returns to Jamaica a hero. How beloved is he? "Barbara Blake Hannah, a special consultant to the Ministry of Information, Culture and Sports, said: 'Sports is one thing that holds Jamaica together. I heard that on the day of Bolt's 100 metres, no one here was killed. Even murder took a holiday for him.'" Swell.
Wow, Usain Bolt really IS a paladin. Awesome.
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Monday, September 8, 2008
Scheduling Snafus
Well, good news and bad news. Bad news first?
The Bad News: I’m a bonehead. Okay, I know what you’re saying (“That’s not news!”), and maybe I’m being a little harsh on myself because this just happened last week, but here it is anyway. I don’t think we can do Thursday this week. We got a coupon for free Angels tickets and Thursday was the only day we could use them. I didn’t even think of our D&D thing until this morning. So we can’t do Thursday.
I vote that we do Wednesday this week. OJ gets done with his practice at 8, and even though it’s kind of a crappy night for people since Thursday is still an “actual workday” rather than a “fake workday” like Friday, we only have one encounter that we have to handle before our adventure is over. So this week’s session should be a little shorter than normal, as far as I can tell. Tuesday works for us as well, in case anyone was wondering. Or we could do Saturday night after the USC game and after the birthday party we’re going to, but that would have to be about 9 or 9:30, and I don’t know what TC’s availability is that day.
I’m really sorry about the inconvenience, but seeing as playoff tickets are a pain in the butt to get a hold of (and expensive at that), this may be the last Angels game we go to this year, so we’re not really interested in ditching the tickets.
The Good News: I am most likely (like 95%) not going to be playing softball on Thursday nights for a couple months. This means we can probably have Thursday night as our regular night and get started as soon as OJ can make the party. This should work better for most people, so that’s a good thing.
I hate having to change the schedule so last minute, but we can do a different day this week if everyone else can. The other option is that you guys go without us, and as much as that would suck, it’s not the end of the world if that’s what you wanted to do.
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The Bad News: I’m a bonehead. Okay, I know what you’re saying (“That’s not news!”), and maybe I’m being a little harsh on myself because this just happened last week, but here it is anyway. I don’t think we can do Thursday this week. We got a coupon for free Angels tickets and Thursday was the only day we could use them. I didn’t even think of our D&D thing until this morning. So we can’t do Thursday.
I vote that we do Wednesday this week. OJ gets done with his practice at 8, and even though it’s kind of a crappy night for people since Thursday is still an “actual workday” rather than a “fake workday” like Friday, we only have one encounter that we have to handle before our adventure is over. So this week’s session should be a little shorter than normal, as far as I can tell. Tuesday works for us as well, in case anyone was wondering. Or we could do Saturday night after the USC game and after the birthday party we’re going to, but that would have to be about 9 or 9:30, and I don’t know what TC’s availability is that day.
I’m really sorry about the inconvenience, but seeing as playoff tickets are a pain in the butt to get a hold of (and expensive at that), this may be the last Angels game we go to this year, so we’re not really interested in ditching the tickets.
The Good News: I am most likely (like 95%) not going to be playing softball on Thursday nights for a couple months. This means we can probably have Thursday night as our regular night and get started as soon as OJ can make the party. This should work better for most people, so that’s a good thing.
I hate having to change the schedule so last minute, but we can do a different day this week if everyone else can. The other option is that you guys go without us, and as much as that would suck, it’s not the end of the world if that’s what you wanted to do.
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Sunday, September 7, 2008
Schedule for OJ in the next two months
Well, as some of you may now its now that wondeful time that's called the fall season where I manage to stretch myself over 7 days of sitting at numerous pool decks over OC. That being said I figured I'd post my times so that when we decide to figure out what normal day we play then I can hopefully be there. Without much further ado here it is...(mind you this does not include games, or tournaments where I know I will run late or won't be able to make it.)
Monday
-End at Beckman HS @ 8:00pm
Tuesday
-End at Servite HS @ 8:30pm
Wednesday
-End at Tustin HS @ 8:00pm
Thursday
-End at Beckman/Foothill 8:00/8:30 (League Nights for Servite last game at 6:00)
Friday
-End at Tustin HS @ 8:00pm (Mind you after next friday I basically have tournaments every single weekend.)
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Monday
-End at Beckman HS @ 8:00pm
Tuesday
-End at Servite HS @ 8:30pm
Wednesday
-End at Tustin HS @ 8:00pm
Thursday
-End at Beckman/Foothill 8:00/8:30 (League Nights for Servite last game at 6:00)
Friday
-End at Tustin HS @ 8:00pm (Mind you after next friday I basically have tournaments every single weekend.)
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Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Adventure Recap - Day 1
Well, it’s not the ideal situation, but I think I could get used to these guys. Despite our struggles with the kobolds in the mine, I decided to give this little band a try. There are some business reasons (a chance to kill more orcs) and some personal reasons (did I mention this druid…), and overall, it just seems like a group that can get things done. There are some quirks, but it’s not a bad lot for all that.
Our travels took us to some podunk village called Greywhistle or Gargamel or some such thing. Apparently the village has been plagued by raiding parties from the nearby mountains. “I’ll bet it was orcs,” I thought as we learned the particulars. The chance to slay those dumb beasts was enough for me, but the promise of a pile of cash doesn’t hurt either. Bolt claimed that the reward money wasn’t important and feigned interest in punishing these evildoers for their crimes against the town, but as I understand it, his “rock” business is struggling and he could use the gold. Seems he’s been sniffing into his profits.
So we soon found ourselves in the corridors of a mountain fortress. This one didn’t hold quite as many surprises as the last one did, thanks mainly to our rogue, Amaryllis, who is quite adept at finding and disabling any traps that might be waiting for us. It is certainly not thanks to our gnome, whose main contribution was letting us know that the fortress walls were indeed made of stone. It's odd that he was able to stay so silent during our last adventure. Also, Bolt’s knowledge of nobility and royalty brought us the invaluable information that the doors were, in fact, made of wood.
We quickly dispatched some kobolds and goblins, one of which was searching for some sort of document. One of them shouted something about being a monkey, so I put an arrow in his eye to let him know that I didn't appreciate him insulting monkeys like that. We also managed to take down an orc, which I didn’t even get a chance to hit. But hey, a dead orc’s a good orc, as I always say. Bolt proved himself quite useful as he slew foe after foe.
We met with some stronger resistance, especially from a harpy who managed to enchant me for a time. The experience wasn’t at all unpleasant, until she whacked me in the ribs with her bone club. The group managed to dispatch the harpy and moved on to its toughest challenge.
We knew something was up the minute we entered the room. We saw four coffins (three intact) and a dead orc lying on an altar with a red crystal glowing behind it. “Hey guys, there are coffins and an altar in here!” Moonglum shouted helpfully. After finding a few nice items from the broken coffin, we examined the altar and the crystal. “Rock PRETTY” declared Malak with a sense of wonderment. Then all hell broke loose.
The orc decided that he wasn’t really dead and got up to start pounding people. If there’s one thing I hate worse than live orcs, it’s undead orcs. Skeletons started popping up left and right on top of the three remaining coffins. I finally got a chance to show what I could do with Rage as I bashed those decalcified undead minions with unequaled aplomb. Malak used his brute strength to smash the coffins. Lotheryn managed to keep us going as we took hit after hit from that mysterious crystal. The gnome, who, despite his new title as Captain Obvious, is actually quite adept at the arcane arts, took enough damage to send him into the fetal position, but Lotheryn healed him up enough to keep going. Ieuan played some beautiful music to give us confidence, and finally Bolt was able to smash the crystal (which he pocketed, of course).
Throughout our adventuring, we found some pretty nice stuff. I got a nice enhancement for Rage, and Amaryllis got a nice cloak, as well as some tools to help her with her pilfering. We found some health potions, some Nike Air Max boots, which Bolt is putting to good use, and some additions to our armor. It was a valuable experience, and I think it made us all stronger. When we encountered the minotaur who seems to be one of the major players in this whole fiasco, we sent him to his death with relative ease.
It was clear that the minotaur wasn’t the brains behind the operation, so our job isn’t quite done yet. But after such a run of victories, I’m confident we can handle anything that comes our way. I’ll bet even a dragon couldn’t stop us now.
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Our travels took us to some podunk village called Greywhistle or Gargamel or some such thing. Apparently the village has been plagued by raiding parties from the nearby mountains. “I’ll bet it was orcs,” I thought as we learned the particulars. The chance to slay those dumb beasts was enough for me, but the promise of a pile of cash doesn’t hurt either. Bolt claimed that the reward money wasn’t important and feigned interest in punishing these evildoers for their crimes against the town, but as I understand it, his “rock” business is struggling and he could use the gold. Seems he’s been sniffing into his profits.
So we soon found ourselves in the corridors of a mountain fortress. This one didn’t hold quite as many surprises as the last one did, thanks mainly to our rogue, Amaryllis, who is quite adept at finding and disabling any traps that might be waiting for us. It is certainly not thanks to our gnome, whose main contribution was letting us know that the fortress walls were indeed made of stone. It's odd that he was able to stay so silent during our last adventure. Also, Bolt’s knowledge of nobility and royalty brought us the invaluable information that the doors were, in fact, made of wood.
We quickly dispatched some kobolds and goblins, one of which was searching for some sort of document. One of them shouted something about being a monkey, so I put an arrow in his eye to let him know that I didn't appreciate him insulting monkeys like that. We also managed to take down an orc, which I didn’t even get a chance to hit. But hey, a dead orc’s a good orc, as I always say. Bolt proved himself quite useful as he slew foe after foe.
We met with some stronger resistance, especially from a harpy who managed to enchant me for a time. The experience wasn’t at all unpleasant, until she whacked me in the ribs with her bone club. The group managed to dispatch the harpy and moved on to its toughest challenge.
We knew something was up the minute we entered the room. We saw four coffins (three intact) and a dead orc lying on an altar with a red crystal glowing behind it. “Hey guys, there are coffins and an altar in here!” Moonglum shouted helpfully. After finding a few nice items from the broken coffin, we examined the altar and the crystal. “Rock PRETTY” declared Malak with a sense of wonderment. Then all hell broke loose.
The orc decided that he wasn’t really dead and got up to start pounding people. If there’s one thing I hate worse than live orcs, it’s undead orcs. Skeletons started popping up left and right on top of the three remaining coffins. I finally got a chance to show what I could do with Rage as I bashed those decalcified undead minions with unequaled aplomb. Malak used his brute strength to smash the coffins. Lotheryn managed to keep us going as we took hit after hit from that mysterious crystal. The gnome, who, despite his new title as Captain Obvious, is actually quite adept at the arcane arts, took enough damage to send him into the fetal position, but Lotheryn healed him up enough to keep going. Ieuan played some beautiful music to give us confidence, and finally Bolt was able to smash the crystal (which he pocketed, of course).
Throughout our adventuring, we found some pretty nice stuff. I got a nice enhancement for Rage, and Amaryllis got a nice cloak, as well as some tools to help her with her pilfering. We found some health potions, some Nike Air Max boots, which Bolt is putting to good use, and some additions to our armor. It was a valuable experience, and I think it made us all stronger. When we encountered the minotaur who seems to be one of the major players in this whole fiasco, we sent him to his death with relative ease.
It was clear that the minotaur wasn’t the brains behind the operation, so our job isn’t quite done yet. But after such a run of victories, I’m confident we can handle anything that comes our way. I’ll bet even a dragon couldn’t stop us now.
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Monday, September 1, 2008
Rules Clarification...
So one thing that kind of gnawed at me the whole time was the movement in combat thing. I don't think we can move twice our speed in a round AND take another action. The way the rules are worded make this confusing, but here's my rationale.
For those of you who have the player's handbook (v. 3.5 - Bethany I gave you the 3.0 version, but it should say the same thing, just on a different page number maybe), here's the ruling and where the confusion may lie. On p. 147 of the handbook, it says that "generally you can move your speed in a round and still do something...if you use both of your actions in a round to move your speed, you can move double your speed." That seems pretty clear that we are limited to moving only one times our speed if we want to do something else.
The confusion lies in the next chapter. On p. 163 of the handbook, it says that "characters generally don't walk during combat - they hustle or run." On the previous page it showed that hustling = double your speed. So there's the confusion - it sounds like one chapter said you get to move during your turn, and the next chapter said that you hustle during combat so you would move double your speed every time you take a movement. But I think that's the wrong conclusion.
I think what it MEANT was that if you hustle during combat, which is generally what you do, you can move double your speed in one round. In fact, that's what Table 9-3 seems to indicate. Your speed for one round when you hustle is double your normal speed. But the key is that it is for a FULL ROUND. Not a round where you take some other standard action, like attacking. So if you hustle for half a round and spend the other half a round doing something else, you get to move your standard speed, which is half your hustle speed. I know that's confusing, but it makes sense if you think about it.
Besides, it just seems a bit unfair that we can move pretty much wherever we want whenever we want. Applying this rule would make movement a bit more meaningful since we won't always be able to get our guys exactly where we want them (meaning either more attacks of opportunity for TC or less desirable attack positions for us). I say we implement this movement thing the next time we play.
One other point that I'll make, but I'll try not to belabor it. I know I did this for me and Julia, but I'm not sure anyone else did. Everyone knows what their base speed is - that's the speed we have written down. But that speed gets reduced if you have a certain amount of gear (that's why we wrote down light, medium, and heavy loads). So depending on how much crap you have in your backpack, you may not be able to move your entire speed. It could get pretty involved if we try to add and subtract weight every time we pick up or use an item, so I don't think we want to do that necessarily. I think it would be easy enough for people to take an inventory of what they have right now, find out what size load you're carrying, and see if that affects your speed (and your armor check penalty, actually). Don't worry about most stuff you pick up in battle, unless it's clearly consequential (like if Lord Bolt wanted to pick up Ieuan if she was unconscious and move her to safety). We'll refigure it after battle is over for all the miscellaneous crud we get.
Read the rest of this post
For those of you who have the player's handbook (v. 3.5 - Bethany I gave you the 3.0 version, but it should say the same thing, just on a different page number maybe), here's the ruling and where the confusion may lie. On p. 147 of the handbook, it says that "generally you can move your speed in a round and still do something...if you use both of your actions in a round to move your speed, you can move double your speed." That seems pretty clear that we are limited to moving only one times our speed if we want to do something else.
The confusion lies in the next chapter. On p. 163 of the handbook, it says that "characters generally don't walk during combat - they hustle or run." On the previous page it showed that hustling = double your speed. So there's the confusion - it sounds like one chapter said you get to move during your turn, and the next chapter said that you hustle during combat so you would move double your speed every time you take a movement. But I think that's the wrong conclusion.
I think what it MEANT was that if you hustle during combat, which is generally what you do, you can move double your speed in one round. In fact, that's what Table 9-3 seems to indicate. Your speed for one round when you hustle is double your normal speed. But the key is that it is for a FULL ROUND. Not a round where you take some other standard action, like attacking. So if you hustle for half a round and spend the other half a round doing something else, you get to move your standard speed, which is half your hustle speed. I know that's confusing, but it makes sense if you think about it.
Besides, it just seems a bit unfair that we can move pretty much wherever we want whenever we want. Applying this rule would make movement a bit more meaningful since we won't always be able to get our guys exactly where we want them (meaning either more attacks of opportunity for TC or less desirable attack positions for us). I say we implement this movement thing the next time we play.
One other point that I'll make, but I'll try not to belabor it. I know I did this for me and Julia, but I'm not sure anyone else did. Everyone knows what their base speed is - that's the speed we have written down. But that speed gets reduced if you have a certain amount of gear (that's why we wrote down light, medium, and heavy loads). So depending on how much crap you have in your backpack, you may not be able to move your entire speed. It could get pretty involved if we try to add and subtract weight every time we pick up or use an item, so I don't think we want to do that necessarily. I think it would be easy enough for people to take an inventory of what they have right now, find out what size load you're carrying, and see if that affects your speed (and your armor check penalty, actually). Don't worry about most stuff you pick up in battle, unless it's clearly consequential (like if Lord Bolt wanted to pick up Ieuan if she was unconscious and move her to safety). We'll refigure it after battle is over for all the miscellaneous crud we get.
Read the rest of this post
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Adventure Recap - Day 0 (the pre-quest)
(I intend this to be first in a line of post-adventure posts so that we have a record, however meager and biased, of our adventures that at which we can look back and giggle.)
With Moonglum on the sidelines due to an acute case of being weak, the six of us (Lord Bolt, Taran, Malak, Lotheryn, Iuean, and "Angela") started out on a grey, mournful day in the remote, uncivilized town of ... heck, I don't know, Grant's Pass? It wasn't a very remarkable town. In fact, it was kind of dingy... but crawling with women! Malak's kind of town, as he unsuccessfully tried to convey non-verbally (Malak requires an unskilled "show emotion other than rage check" to use body language -- he rolled a 2) to the group. Anyway, the weather wasn't the only thing that was depressing... all the women seemed depressed, and didn't want to talk to a fly brother (or his crew). We wasted no time in learning more...
after the jump, more on our first adventure.
Anyway, after Malak failed to make any progress by intimidating anyone, finally Ieuan the Bard figured out the source of the women's trouble... all the men went to a mine and never came back. A few awkward conversations later, we found out that a group of racially oppressed goblins ("kobolds") had taken over the silver mine (or so they assumed) and had also, somehow, poisoned the well water. Despite the protests of Lord Bolt and Malak (who both had better things to do than solve someone else's problems), and despite the annoying insistence of Taran the Ranger that Lord Bolt was supposed to care about the problems assailing the village, the whole group went down to the mine.
At the mine, things went from bad to worse. First of all, we couldn't figure out who was supposed to hold the torch. Or whether we should even use a torch and not a hooded lantern. Then we couldn't decide who should stand in the back of the group, and even though we had our best people on the case (Angela and Taran), we kept sniffing down hallways to no avail. We were assaulted by various traps and crappy enemies, pausing just long enough in each room to contract a disease before finally dealing roughly 10 times the damage we needed to just to kill the Kobolds we stumbled across. Malak was probably the star of the show, missing rarely and getting hit even less. Lotheryn struggled with her pet, but healed Ay-Ven at a particularly critical moment, and generally made herself useful. Taran mostly shook his head in the back of the group and wondered how he got here, and Lord Bolt charged to the front heroically (showing some of that Paladin can-do) and missed... and missed... and missed. Occasionally he died. It was very embarassing.
The encounter reached its climax in a long room with shelves, where after dealing with a cloud of baking powder exploding and getting in our face, we killed a bunch of kobolds, then a bunch of rats, and then carelessly freed a Dire Weasel who proceeded to wreak havoc on our sense of self-worth by relentlessly resisting our efforts to just step on it and be done with it. The danger didn't cease with the cessation of the Weasel, though, as Lord Bolt's predatory nature got the best of him at last... he ate diseased oats and fell gravely ill, causing his constitution to briefly drop into negative numbers. Fortunately, though, Angela looted like it was going out of style, and brought back a metric ton of gems, which we promptly "slanged" to the local community.
Oh, we didn't bring back their men. Nor did we find out what was wrong with their well water. But eventually a cleric did heal Lord Bolt's diseases.
Read the rest of this post
With Moonglum on the sidelines due to an acute case of being weak, the six of us (Lord Bolt, Taran, Malak, Lotheryn, Iuean, and "Angela") started out on a grey, mournful day in the remote, uncivilized town of ... heck, I don't know, Grant's Pass? It wasn't a very remarkable town. In fact, it was kind of dingy... but crawling with women! Malak's kind of town, as he unsuccessfully tried to convey non-verbally (Malak requires an unskilled "show emotion other than rage check" to use body language -- he rolled a 2) to the group. Anyway, the weather wasn't the only thing that was depressing... all the women seemed depressed, and didn't want to talk to a fly brother (or his crew). We wasted no time in learning more...
after the jump, more on our first adventure.
Anyway, after Malak failed to make any progress by intimidating anyone, finally Ieuan the Bard figured out the source of the women's trouble... all the men went to a mine and never came back. A few awkward conversations later, we found out that a group of racially oppressed goblins ("kobolds") had taken over the silver mine (or so they assumed) and had also, somehow, poisoned the well water. Despite the protests of Lord Bolt and Malak (who both had better things to do than solve someone else's problems), and despite the annoying insistence of Taran the Ranger that Lord Bolt was supposed to care about the problems assailing the village, the whole group went down to the mine.
At the mine, things went from bad to worse. First of all, we couldn't figure out who was supposed to hold the torch. Or whether we should even use a torch and not a hooded lantern. Then we couldn't decide who should stand in the back of the group, and even though we had our best people on the case (Angela and Taran), we kept sniffing down hallways to no avail. We were assaulted by various traps and crappy enemies, pausing just long enough in each room to contract a disease before finally dealing roughly 10 times the damage we needed to just to kill the Kobolds we stumbled across. Malak was probably the star of the show, missing rarely and getting hit even less. Lotheryn struggled with her pet, but healed Ay-Ven at a particularly critical moment, and generally made herself useful. Taran mostly shook his head in the back of the group and wondered how he got here, and Lord Bolt charged to the front heroically (showing some of that Paladin can-do) and missed... and missed... and missed. Occasionally he died. It was very embarassing.
The encounter reached its climax in a long room with shelves, where after dealing with a cloud of baking powder exploding and getting in our face, we killed a bunch of kobolds, then a bunch of rats, and then carelessly freed a Dire Weasel who proceeded to wreak havoc on our sense of self-worth by relentlessly resisting our efforts to just step on it and be done with it. The danger didn't cease with the cessation of the Weasel, though, as Lord Bolt's predatory nature got the best of him at last... he ate diseased oats and fell gravely ill, causing his constitution to briefly drop into negative numbers. Fortunately, though, Angela looted like it was going out of style, and brought back a metric ton of gems, which we promptly "slanged" to the local community.
Oh, we didn't bring back their men. Nor did we find out what was wrong with their well water. But eventually a cleric did heal Lord Bolt's diseases.
Read the rest of this post
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