[DnD] Let's Cast Magic Missile!

Well, the level 1 Adventurer is already well and beyond what a regular human being is capable of. I'd say depending on the skill set, they're at par with Olympic-level athletes. (Like say, someone trained in athletics, endurance, what have you...)

Horses in real life can drown in as quickly as thirty seconds, but that's cuz they're skittish and get all panicky and stuff. So.... I'm sure an unconscious l'il pony will last much longer than that~~~

I was speaking idiomatically.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

It's become apparent to me that I've completely misread the battle map (Skills was right all along, damn).

I thought the amphitheater had a layout similar to this, in the sense that the dark brown railings are "stairs" and the light brown floors are "seats":


In which case going up a level is but a hop away.

So it seems the level one layout looks something like this:


First question. Is my understanding of the ground level layout correct?

Second question. Are the distances between levels short enough for an acrobatics check, or will it need a (presumably DC 20) athletics check to shinny up the pillar?

You said that the railings give partial cover both ways, so this means they're definitely taller than waist height. If I'm not mistaken, large creatures like the Hulk have a threatening reach of 2, giving them the ability to opportunistically attack from a distance (signified by the orange box).

Third question. If Cal were to move three squares in the manner indicated by the lime line, will the railing block the AoO? Or will it just take the -2 penalty to hit (giving Cal a total of +4 against the roll)?

Fourth question which may invalidate the third question. How many endurance failures, independently of death saves, before death by drowning occurs?

Final question. Administering First Aid to Use Second Wind (DC 10 - no need to even roll for Cal) allows the target to use Second Wind without taking an action - will unconscious characters benefit? If not, will a successful First Aid heal check to stabilize the dying (DC 15) negate the need for endurance rolls?

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by ;749468

First question. Is my understanding of the ground level layout correct?

More or less?

Quote:

Second question. Are the distances between levels short enough for an acrobatics check, or will it need a (presumably DC 20) athletics check to shinny up the pillar?

How would... even if you wanted to jump up and catch the railing, that would be Athletics. Each tier is 10 feet above the one below it, so you could conceivably make that jump with a (very) good roll. You don't necessarily need to go up the pillar; one of you must have a grappling hook...?

Quote:

large creatures ... have a threatening reach of 2

A few of them do, sure.

Quote:

Third question. If Cal were to move three squares in the manner indicated by the lime line, will the railing block the AoO? Or will it just take the -2 penalty to hit (giving Cal a total of +4 against the roll)?

Are you asking me if a giant can or cannot reach over a gate? This strikes me as less of a rules question and more of a common-sense thing.

Quote:

Fourth question which may invalidate the third question. How many endurance failures, independently of death saves, before death by drowning occurs?

Well, if Denny fails one check he'll lose his healing surge. For each failure after that he'll have no surges left and will take damage equal to his level each time, meaning he'll take adequate damage to die after four more rounds.

(They really do make it difficult to drown, don't they.)

Quote:

Final question. Administering First Aid to Use Second Wind (DC 10) allows the target to use Second Wind without taking an action - will unconscious characters benefit? If not, will a successful First Aid heal check to stabilize the dying (DC 15) negate the need for endurance rolls?

A: Denny has a healing surge, but has no second wind. Second Wind isn't a universal feature. (It would apply to unconscious characters otherwise)

B: Stabilizing Denny would only negate his need to make death saves, it would do nothing for the fact that his head is underwater. He would stop "dying" but he would still be drowning (and consequently dying of direct damage).

C: I'm just going to stab it to death god damn dude

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

So... does cover rules apply for the melee attack then?

Originally Posted by Pangalin

C: I'm just going to stab it to death god damn dude

Hay, I want to keep him alive. Just exploring all available options before making a decision. Don't be haterin'

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yeah, cover's still cover, it's not usually relevant in melee but reach attacks are the exception.

I have drunk deeply of the haterade

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, it looks like Operation: First Aid followed by dragging him away won't work.

The stairs... do they connect directly to street level, or is it possible to get to the second levels through them? I mean, there's gotta be a less athletic way for Lamid's people to reach them?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

THE STAIRS TO THE UPPER FLOORS WERE MOST INCONVENIENTLY DESTROYED IN THE FLOODING!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

That is indeed unfortunate. What shoddy construction work, for knee-deep water (else Gordy'd be making endurance saves too) to collapse them so. So much for my hopes of sniping the enemy from a very safe distance

Alas, the capricious whims of faith has conspired against Cal once again

P.S. Pang, I am moderately interested in playing on the opposite side of the DM screen and would like to ask if you have heard of any isometric mapping tools that show things in three dimensions...? So far I've tried two tools which both have a bird's eye view: Maptools and Masterplan. I prefer Masterplan's ability to manage a lot of bookkeeping, though Maptools has better tilesets and can show gridlines.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by ;749579

P.S. Pang, I am moderately interested in playing on the opposite side of the DM screen

Wait. What would you call what you've been doing up until now, then?

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Taking peeks. But now I want to kill PCs too~~~

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by ;749582

Taking peeks. But now I want to kill PCs too~~~

Want to kill player characters, eh? Got tired of just killing player horses?



What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Erm... you're the one who's killing player horses

Edit: So like, I thought Pang posted that Obama pic. Turns out it was the guy my horse was named after. Great shame.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've heard a LOT of talk about Masterplan but I've tried it a couple times and I really don't get the big deal. Maybe it's just a question of style but I have no use for keeping reams and reams of notes on the minutiae of every little thing, or writing for-fuck's-sake flowcharts to manage my adventures. The whole thing seems very spergy. AFAIK Masterplan's mapping capabilities are basically limited to the official dungeon tiles so enjoy having encounters in the same 15 or so rooms over and over.

Not that Maptool is without flaws. It runs in Java, which is a massive downside for anyone wanting a responsive app. It can only utilize 4 graphics layers and its handling of those layers is a clusterfuck. I guess the basic intent is that you make your map externally and just drag the finished image into Maptools but I like to have more flexibility than that.

It's kind of a shame but there really isn't a "good" mapping tool out there, there are a dozen options but all of them are either impossibly dense and clunky (Campaign Cartographer) or janky and useless (Dundjinni).

As for true 3D mapping I wouldn't have the faintest idea, the notion has struck me a couple of times but the payoff doesn't seem worth it. Best you could do is build maps in in the map editor of a game like Titan Quest or Torchlight, but even then it's not like you could actually "play" the maps in 3D. The only real 3D tabletop solution I've seen is the official D&D Gametable but that's kind of obviously dead in the water.

TL;DR if you want to play D&D in 3D buy Neverwinter Nights

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I guess the goal of Masterplan is to be able to use it as an interface to play long-distant DnD. i do like its ability to generate power cards from the compendium, and create encounters. And traps. I like the sound of traps. But not as a PC of course

Though the combat features like dice-rolling obviously won't be suitable for here. I guess yeah, the mapping features aren't so hot - I didn't want those generic black tokens for monsters, but couldn't change it. And the tilesets really pale compared to what Maptools has.

Too bad about the 3D tools then. Seeing how the interest has waned (when was the last time someone new signed on to play your game?), I guess it's not worth all the hassle.

How ya doing, buddy?

Man if a game requires characters to die in order for me to play and nobody has died in like 8 months I wouldn't be in a hurry to sign up either

Additional Spam:
Addendum: this thread is getting a little unwieldy at 100 pages, gonna make a new one soon. What should be in the OP that isn't?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Martial Power 2, and PHB 3 maybe?

And that Dragonborn book.

And a link to Character Builder. Why not?

And also the houserules in-force, which I think are:

1. Enemies deal more damage equivalent to a die-size upgrade, and have 2/3 of published HP to compensate
2. There is no limit on use of item dailies or action points
3. Free use of 1 non-creation ritual per day
4. Able to bluff merchants for discount

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by ;749590

Free use of 1 non-creation ritual per day

Whoa now, where are you getting this? I said you could use your healing surges instead of spending components, that's not "free". I don't think I put a once-a-day limit on it either?

Besides, editing the monsters doesn't really count as a houserule since it really doesn't affect the player's understanding of the rules in any direct way.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Sorry, you're right. Component-free rituals for the cost of a healing surge. Didn't pay too much attention that particular mechanic since i can't abuse it (I probably confused it with Glock's 1 free bardic ritual per day)

But anyway, might as well clarify since we're talking about it. Does the healing surge donor have to be the same guy as the ritual caster? Cuz if Denny dies, I'm totally begging Acer to grow a friendly stray doggie to giant size for wagon-pulling purposes. Skills suggested enlarging a snake but I think that's silly and suicidal especially for a halfling.

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Yes, Zerg. People still have to pay for their own rituals.

Most dogs and snakes would be Small or even Tiny, so Beast Growth would only make them Medium and as such unsuitable as pack animals. A Dire Rat would work, though!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by ;749587

Too bad about the 3D tools then. Seeing how the interest has waned (when was the last time someone new signed on to play your game?), I guess it's not worth all the hassle.

Like Pang said, the waiting list stands at about three years at the moment so another game would likely be welcomed with open arms. Unless Pang decides to run Temple of Terror, the rest of us have little to do except take the piss out of you in this thread at the moment.

I actually re-read the first 70 odd pages of this thread the other day (It's tough being unemployed) and there's a lot of funny stuff in here. Nice to be reminded of the old adventures too. Remember when Knk dropped a wall on a dragon? Classic.

Pang, maybe you should include a list of achievements won by characters in play or retired in the OP of a new thread? I might even have enough free time to go through the old adventures and add up total kills for everyone to date, since leaderboards and statistics improve any events.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

If nothing else a ZergGame would have much higher lethality since he'd be using his rules-lawyerdom on the side of evil. It's only a matter of time until the goblins work out a 1-round infinite damage loop.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Ha ha, stat maxing on monsters would lead to pretty brief adventuring careers.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah, that's why I think running some kind of arena is the best option for a first go, essentially limiting it to a battle simulation (since we've all established that I completely suck at making dialogue)

But yes, anything run by me would probably have optimized monster compositions, with every last bit of strategic advantage squeezed out of the situation! But then again, I won't care so much regarding player optimization.

Permanent combat advantage with frost cheese? No problem!
Damage enemies with your teleports (arcane slashing)? Sure!
Infinite fey step + fey charge spam? Yes, you can!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

So, in a display of having far too much spare time, I went through the Dungeon of Doom and added up everyone's kills:

Bob - 10

Skeleton
Rat swarm
Halfling rogue
Ghoul
Human guard
Human mage
Zombie
Orc
Hobgoblin soldier
Black Dragon

Gabe - 14

Giant rat
Dire rat
Human maceman
Goblin
Goblin Skullcleaver
Wight
Wight
Zombie
Wolf
Orc
Goblin Skullcleaver
Goblin Hexer
Hobgoblin archer
Hobgoblin archer

Soggy - 8

Goblin
Giant ooze
Elf warrior
Wolf
Human guard
Zombie
Goblin sharpshooter
Hobgoblin warcaster

Argumentus - 16

Goblin leader
Fire beetle
Goblin
Giant ooze
Drake
Giant crab
Zombie
Zombie
Zombie
Zombie
Zombie
Orc
Orc
Goblin Skullcleaver
Goblin sharpshooter
Goblin sharpshooter

Fescue - 8

Fire beetle
Giant rat
Dire rat
Dwarf doorman
Stirge
Stirge
Goblin
Stirge

Brigid - 6

Zombie
Orc chieftan
Orc
Orc
Orc
Wolf

I'll probably do the others at some point too. It's really entertaining reading through the old threads and the other adventures weren't quite as long anyway.

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