OOC (out-of-character)

[reefwood]

The Rift - dead zone effects

Apr 14, 2010 14:36:32 GMT -5 Rabbit said:

The Rift is devoid of life and magic. Nothing has ever been known to grow anywhere inside the canyon, and spells fizzle without effect up to a mile in all directions of the canyon. Additionally, the temperature is dangerously high during the day and drops to freezing within moments of nightfall.]

Is that to say the rift (and a mile in all directions) is a complete 'magic dead zone'? Or is it more that magic usually does not work near the rift, and even less inside it?

I have a decent amount of mundane income pool remaining. I may just get some mundane weapons to prepare for nonmagical combat. Sahme Sweetwater is a bit bulky so he might fair alright in a prepared melee.

Also, some alchemist items might be helpful since they are not magic based and should work fine inside the Rift.

The Rift is a dead zone. No magic works there. This is what you can learn from the captain:

The Rift suppresses any spell or magical effect used within or brought into the area. Time spent in the area counts against the duration of any suppressed effect. No spells can be cast in the area. Summoned creatures and incorporeal undead wink out if they enter the Rift and return to their native plane. The effects of instantaneous conjurations are not affected because the conjuration itself is no longer in effect, only its result.

A normal creature can enter the area, as can normal missiles. Furthermore, while a magic sword does not function magically within the area, it is still a sword (and a masterwork sword at that). The spell has no effect on constructs that are imbued with magic during their creation process and are thereafter self-supporting (unless they have been summoned, in which case they are treated like any other summoned creatures). Elementals, corporeal undead, and outsiders are likewise unaffected unless summoned. These creatures' spell-like or supernatural abilities are temporarily suppressed while in the Rift.

In addition to the dead zone inside the Rift, the same kind of dead zone exists outside the Rift up to a mile. This outside area seems to fluctuate, so maybe one day the outside dead zone in a particular spot only stretches out 100 feet, but 2 miles further up along the Rift, the outside dead zone stretches out 2,500 feet, and the next day, both may distances may change.

Alchemist items work fine in the dead zones.

[reefwood]

Scheduling

The conclusion to War Stories: Chapter 6 - A Brother Lost will be on Tuesday the 27th. Woo!

[Rabbit]

roger that, thanks for making the adjustment everyone.

[reefwood]

Chapter 6: Rift Adjustments

Since magic items will fail to work in the area affected by the Rift, I want people to take note of certain things that may affect their characters.

1) If you have a magic item that increases Strength, please also calculate your load limits based on your mundane Strength. Your total load won't change, but losing Strength could increase it from Light to Medium or Medium to Heavy, and as a result, affect speed too.

2) If the mental ability score that determines your spells has a magic boost which results in extra spell slots, these slots will be lost when you enter the Rift. They can be regained when you are outside of the Rift and are able to prepare new spells.

3) Magic items that increase ability scores in Pathfinder don't affect everything related to the ability score until being worn for 24 hours. When you enter the Rift, magic items no longer function. When you exit the Rift, magic items function normally again but are treated as if you had just put them on (i.e. less than 24 hours). Depending on your build, the things affected may be the same for less than a day as they are for 24 hours, but you can see the quoted area below for what is affected right away.

4) Supernatural abilities (Sp) do not function in the Rift, so check to see if any of your racial abilities or class features are (Sp). Extraordinary abilities (Ex) work just fine.

EDIT: 5) Fortitude saves will be need while in the Rift, so be sure to calculate what yours is without magic bonuses.

There are probably a lot of other minor things that will change while in the Rift, but I think there are the more unique ones which will be good to sort out ahead of time. Most other stuff can probably figured out on the fly, if needed, and will likely just be a flat & simple reduction to rolls. Though, it may be good to jot down your list of magic items or list of abilities/skills/feats/etc affected for an easy reference of what to double check while in the Rift.

Strength: Temporary increases to your Strength score give you a bonus on Strength-based skill checks, melee attack rolls, and weapon damage rolls (if they rely on Strength). The bonus also applies to your Combat Maneuver Bonus (if you are Small or larger) and to your Combat Maneuver Defense.

Dexterity: Temporary increases to your Dexterity score give you a bonus on Dexterity-based skill checks, ranged attack rolls, initiative checks, and Reflex saving throws. The bonus also applies to your Armor Class, your Combat Maneuver Bonus (if you are Tiny or smaller), and your Combat Maneuver Defense.

Constitution: Temporary increases to your Constitution score give you a bonus on your Fortitude saving throws. In addition, multiply your total Hit Dice by this bonus and add that amount to your current and total hit points. When the bonus ends, remove this total from your current and total hit points.

Intelligence: Temporary increases to your Intelligence score give you a bonus on Intelligence-based skill checks. This bonus also applies to any spell DCs based on Intelligence.

Wisdom: Temporary increases to your Wisdom score give you a bonus on Wisdom-based skill checks and Will saving throws. This bonus also applies to any spell DCs based on Wisdom.

Charisma: Temporary increases to your Charisma score give you a bonus on Charisma-based skill checks. This bonus also applies to any spell DCs based on Charisma and the DC to resist your channeled energy.

[reefwood]

Chapter 6: Damage Summary

It wound up being good that we had this extra time before entering the Rift because there are a lot of minor rules coming into play. Just to give everyone a better idea and simplify things, here's a summary of the projected journey's hourly damage at a normal pace with a speed of 50 ft:

Hour #1 - none
Hour #2 - none
Hour #3 - none
Hour #4 - none
Hour #5 - Fort DC 15 or 1d4 nonlethal heat
Hour #6 - Fort DC 16 or 1d4 nonlethal heat
Hour #7 - Fort DC 17 or 1d4 nonlethal heat
Hour #8 - Fort DC 18 or 1d4 nonlethal heat
Hour #9 - Fort DC 19 or 1d4 nonlethal heat AND 1d6 lethal from forced march
Hour #10 - Fort DC 20 or 1d4 nonlethal heat AND 1d6 lethal from forced march
Hour #11 - 1d6 lethal from forced march
Hour #12 - 1d6 lethal from forced march
Hour #13 - 1d6 lethal from forced march

The hours in the Rift are the most dangerous in terms of not being able to heal. If the average amount of damage is taken each round, this will total 12 points of nonlethal damage and 6 points of lethal damage. The heavy horses have an average hit point total of 19 hp, so based on average damage, the horses should be able to just barely make it through the Rift without any healing. It'll be close, that's for sure, but this average also assumes your horse fails every save.

Players make take the average hp for their heavy horses (19 hp) or roll (2d8+10). Heavy horses will have at least 14 hp, even if a lower amount is rolled.

The minimum damage through the Rift if all Fort saves are made is 2 points of lethal damage from the forced march. The minimum damage if all Fort saves fail is 6 points nonlethal and 2 points lethal. The max damage is 24 nonlethal and 12 lethal.

Armor/barding makes it harder to resist heat damage during the day. A cold-weather outfit will help resist cold damage, but this will add to Load, and you are expected to be out of the Rift well before nightfall.

Hustling lets you move twice as fast. It's free for the first hour but starts dealing lethal damage every hour after.

Damage from heat/cold, forced march, or hustling results in fatigue which imposes a -2 penalty to Str. This lowers the Load of your horse. You must maintain a Light load, so it would probably be best to not take more equipment than your horse can handle with a penalized Str. The heavy horse stats list regular and fatigued Loads. If you don't want your PC to leave equipment at the camp, options are to have your horse go without barding or saddle, or to have another PC with weight to spare carry some of your equipment.

Treat Deadly Wounds (Heal DC 20) can be used on a creature once per day. For a heavy horse, this would heal 2 points of nonlethal damage and 2 points of lethal damage (plus Wis bonus if the Heal check result is 25 or higher)

And finally... damage is taken at the end of the hour, so if your horse at least makes it 25 miles through the Rift, you're pretty much in the clear because even if the last 5 miles knock it unconscious, at least you will exit the Rift by the end of that hour, so at worst, you will have to drag the horse up to a mile to totally exit the "dead zone" to be able to heal it with magic. Of course, if a horse goes down sooner and cannot be revived...well, it'll be interesting to see what you guys do at that point

[reefwood]

Game Night

Just a reminder that we are playing tonight at 7pm - the second part of Chapter 6: A Brother Lost. Feel free to show up as early as 6pm to work on last minute adjustments.

[reefwood]

Scheduling

We are set to conclude Chapter 6: A Brother Lost next Tuesday (May 4).

But...if people are feeling ambitious and want to get together for an hour to finish things up sooner, I could do it on Friday at 7pm or Sunday at 8pm. Otherwise, see you on Tuesday!

[michael]

But...if people are feeling ambitious and want to get together for an hour to finish things up sooner, I could do it on Friday at 7pm or Sunday at 8pm. Otherwise, see you on Tuesday!

I could do either of those.

[reefwood]

Apr 28, 2010 12:20:47 GMT -5 reefwood said:

Scheduling

We are set to conclude Chapter 6: A Brother Lost next Tuesday (May 4).

But...if people are feeling ambitious and want to get together for an hour to finish things up sooner, I could do it on Friday at 7pm or Sunday at 8pm. Otherwise, see you on Tuesday!

Neither of these dates work for everyone, so we'll stick to Tuesday.

Also, not to get too ahead of things... cos who knows who this closing combat will play out, but... it would be good to know if people have any thoughts or feedback on flavor or style. Do you want to get back to the city or stay in the wild (grasslands/mountains) or try out new terrain? Fight more orcs or monsters or soldiers? Another long combat or more shorter ones? Or anything else? For example, I know that Rabbit wants to blow stuff up. Of course, none of these things are mutually exclusive, and if there are no particular preferences, I definitely have a few ideas brewing already to build on.

[michael]

I like the way this latest mission was set up. We had more objective based goals than the Mystery at Longtree, and the way we approached it was more open-ended than our missions in Verdas. I definitely do want to do bigger combat based missions like the Siege at Verdas again some time, but we did 3 in a row, and I'd prefer to wait before doing another one.

As far as the specifics, monster combat doesn't interest me that much unless there's a good reason for us to be doing it. The military side of our Pathfinder game is much more compelling to me. Beyond that, I'm up for anything.

[reefwood]

Correction - Longstrider, plus wand use

I noticed today that longstrider has a range of personal. This means it can only be cast on the caster or a companion creature with the share spells ability. Also, spells with a range of personal cannot be made into potions, but wands seem to be fair game. A scroll should be able to hold this spell too, but again, it can only be cast on whoever is activating the scroll.

Therefore, Sir Grolton can cast longstrider only on himself or Loyal Steed II. Not anyone else. In the last session, the 2 heavy horses would have had needed to have all their castings come from a wand. No worries on the mistake because doing this would have still been possible with more wand charges. Even if Grolton couldn't afford more charges on his wand, others could have used their income pool to obtain another wand. Anyway, I won't bother with figuring out how much it should have cost. We just need to remember this from here on out. Although, this does mean that the party won't be able to return to Verdas as quickly as they left.

Speaking of wands, I do want everyone to pay more attention to their use in combat because it takes a move action to retrieve a wand (though, I will allow PCs to keep 1 wand in their belt that can be pulled out as a free action in conjunction with movement, just like a weapon), and perhaps more importantly, then that hand is holding the wand until it is put away with a move action or dropped it as a free action.

[Rabbit]

Apr 29, 2010 19:31:12 GMT -5 michael said:

I like the way this latest mission was set up. We had more objective based goals than the Mystery at Longtree, and the way we approached it was more open-ended than our missions in Verdas. I definitely do want to do bigger combat based missions like the Siege at Verdas again some time, but we did 3 in a row, and I'd prefer to wait before doing another one.

As far as the specifics, monster combat doesn't interest me that much unless there's a good reason for us to be doing it. The military side of our Pathfinder game is much more compelling to me. Beyond that, I'm up for anything.

I agree with michael. It is good to have specific goals/missions to stay focused. And the big/tactical battles are lots of fun, but I don't mind spreading them out. It is even a good thing for variety sake.

Regarding what's next: an orc army threatening to flank our army could be a pressing matter and it might be required we blow up [*cough*], I mean do our best to weaken this large group of enemy savages. ...perhaps some guerilla tactics are in order to weaken the orc forces before they reach Verdas. We can't likely turn back an army, but we might give our boys the advantage?

[reefwood]

Game Night

Just a reminder that we're finishing up Chapter 6: A Brother Lost tonight. We left off last time in the middle of combat - fighting orcs in a cave. Sahme turned invisible and flew pretty far into the cave. He saw a few orcs, set off a fireball, heard some groaning, and is now trying to fly back toward the entrance but has an orc in front of him and a wolf behind him. Brion and Grolton have just ridden into the cave and are fighting orcs at the entrance.

We should be able to jump right back into things. I believe at the start of Round 8. Wrapping up combat and doing some post-combat roleplay shouldn't take more than hour, if that. If somehow things do go longer, we can just call it and continue online. Either way, there'll probably be some online stuff to do before deciding on the next mission anyway.

And thanks for the feedback! I'll be able to go more into things after we finish this mission.

[icnivad]

Yeah, I've enjoyed this mission as well. I pretty much agree with everything said. The orcs are an interesting threat and I like having the clear objectives. They feel more "military" than simply, "go explore". While I liked the seige style, it's nice to feel like we are the only part of the equation on the board, rather than just a small part of a larger battle. It makes me feel like our actions can make more of a difference.

Good catch on the longstrider. I'd missed that. I'm not sure I understand how it could be cast on the horses at all? If it has a range of personal, wouldn't a wand of longstrider also have a range personal? Unless the horses can use wands

[reefwood]

May 4, 2010 15:28:10 GMT -5 icnivad said:

Yeah, I've enjoyed this mission as well. I pretty much agree with everything said. The orcs are an interesting threat and I like having the clear objectives. They feel more "military" than simply, "go explore". While I liked the seige style, it's nice to feel like we are the only part of the equation on the board, rather than just a small part of a larger battle. It makes me feel like our actions can make more of a difference.

Despite being a small sliver of the big picture, I do base the overall direction of the war on the performance of the party. It's sort of like you guys are the gauge for how things are doing. If you succeed, it usually means that everyone on your side is succeeding, even if it isn't directly because of you. But yes, it is certainly a different feel to be on your own, and now that you are approaching decently high levels, it makes good sense for you guys to receive special missions like this one.

May 4, 2010 15:28:10 GMT -5 icnivad said:

Good catch on the longstrider. I'd missed that. I'm not sure I understand how it could be cast on the horses at all? If it has a range of personal, wouldn't a wand of longstrider also have a range personal? Unless the horses can use wands

That is a good point. I know that spells with a range of personal can't be made into potions, and it notes that the drinker of a potion is both the caster and the target. Since there is no range restriction on wands, I guess my mind took the potion info and somehow figured if personal spells can be made into wands that it means they no longer have to be personal...which doesn't seem to make any sense now that you point it out. So yeah, wands with a range of personal should only be able to be cast on the wand user.