WotL OOC Thread II

[chese780]

Did we not get anything for Buddy Cop Sense?

Also, who's this Gilean person.

[spyguy1503]

Technically, though, he was right. Yvette and Xyleena only stole from the party. The last group they put together, two of them straight up tried to kill the party.

[

Still early yet

[JadedDM]

The main question is though, does punching/wrestling specialization negate the automatic AoO that enemies get against unarmed combat?

As far as I can tell, it does not. You'd still need to disarm the opponent first, either with a called shot or with a spell (like Grease or Fumble). Or just stick to meleeling enemies without weapons (unarmed opponents don't get the AoO, including those that don't have hands).

Well, it's a random sort of choice since Arulia hasn't really trained on anything new or found any new weapons, but I'll go with the morning star for her weapon proficiency. I guess that there's not much choice anyway...by my count, she's already got 4 of the 9 bludgeoning weapon proficiencies as is. Morning star it is!

Well, if you are feeling limited, there are other options than just taking every bludgeoning weapon in the book. There is weapon style specialization. Not sure if you are familiar with them, but there is Single Weapon Style, Weapon and Shield Style, Two-Handed Weapon Style and Two Weapon style. I can give more details on any of them, if you like. There is also the unarmed specializations, like Haahque is talking about.

There is one other option, too. Since you've reached the first tier of divine favor with Paladine, and Paladine's 'favored weapon' is the long sword, I'd be willing to let her take that as a single exception to the 'bludgeoning only' rule.

Did we not get anything for Buddy Cop Sense?

Traditionally XP isn't granted for ability or proficiency checks.

Also, who's this Gilean person.

The god of Neutrality, among other things. I'll go over the Divine Favor thing again for those who are new.

I've been working on a little project here, in regards to the true gods of Krynn. I knew that at some point, some of the party will want to convert over once they become public knowledge. But which ones? Some of you aren't all that knowledgeable about the setting, and so don't even know who the old gods are. And I would like, at some point, to introduce a true cleric NPC to the party, so they can have magical healing again (since some of you are still nursing wounds from the mines).

So what I've done is, I took all 21 gods and boiled them down to multiple aspects or traits that most appeal to them. Then I go through the first chapters of the game, and write down each time a PC did something that would please a god, based on their traits. So a character who spent some time in self-reflection might get a +1 from Zivilyn, or someone who showed compassion to another might get a +1 from Mishakal, and so on. Also, more overt deeds are worth more points. Giving a homeless man a few coins might be worth +1 point from Mishakal, whereas building a soup kitchen to help feed many homeless could be worth considerably more.

Then I add up the points. So far, there is no clear pattern. Most of you have 1-2 points in multiple deities. I figure once you acquire enough points in a certain deity's favor, that deity will make some attempt to reach out to you. I was thinking maybe 5 points for a Good or Evil god, or 10 points for a Neutral one. (This is because the Neutral gods are much more passive when it comes to seeking out worshipers.)

Of course, a PC can always reject any deity that contacts them. However, if the PC continues to rack up points of favor for that deity, they might try again later.

I've decided that since Grubnick is a cleric of Sirrion, a neutral deity, he only needs to earn half as many points to become attuned (5 instead of 10).

Once you reach that first level of attuning, you'll receive a dream or vision of some kind from that particular deity. This is them trying to reach out to you. You can then accept them or reject them. If you are playing a cleric and you reach the first level of attuning with your patron deity, then basically the dream is just to 'catch up' on what's happening. If you are a cleric and you reach the first level of attuning with a deity that is not your patron...well...that's awkward, isn't it?

If you reach the second level of attuning (10 for Good/Evil, 20 for Neutral), you are sent a henchman that is a worshiper of that particular god. This henchman might be a cleric or not, it depends. Paladine might also send a knight, for instance, or maybe Habbakuk would send a ranger, etc.

Not sure about the third level and beyond. So far nobody has reached the first, so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself by even thinking about it.

[Chris1234]

The Gods thing sounds interesting. Is there a list of the 21 gods?

[JadedDM]

Yes, although it's incomplete. I've been adding to it as the gods are slowly introduced to the game.

[Haahque]

Well provoking an AoO every round in combat with at least half the enemies Haahqae's going to fight (probably more) is going to make him end up dead very fast, especially since he's half-caster and seems to be rolling rather low on his HP dice.

And as far as I can tell, he's not allowed to take weapon specialization (bow) since he's not a fighter.

So he'll have to settle for some sort of melee weapon. So is there anything preventing him from taking proficiency in swords? (Does he have to say "long swords" or "one handed swords"?)

[Chris1234]

What is a kapak?
And what is a baaz?

[JadedDM]

Thieves are allowed to learn the following weapons: Club, dagger, dart, hand crossbow, knife, lasso, short bow, sling, broad sword, long sword, short sword and staff.

Now staff is out, because Haahqae is too small to wield one. He's already got short bow and sling, so those are out. So for melee, you've got club, dagger (which can also be thrown), knife (ditto), and three kinds of swords.

What is a kapak?
And what is a baaz?

Oh, oops. I forgot Shima just arrived in town and doesn't know the different classifications of draconians yet.

Baaz are the more common ones with bronze scales. They make up the bulk of the occupation.

Kapaks are less common, with coppery scales and tend to keep to themselves.

[Chris1234]

Kapaks in charge of baazes?
Both are soldiery types (in general)?
Or casters of whatever ability?

[JadedDM]

No, not exactly. Baaz are more the common foot soldiers. Not too bright, but good at following orders.

Kapaks aren't leaders, but more like spies and assassins. They are special forces.

Neither are spellcasters. Bozaks are, and are usually commanders. But there is only one Bozak in the city, and that's the new prefect, Tethys.

There are two other kinds of draconians, Sivaks and Auraks, but neither are in the city and won't be appearing in this campaign most likely. They are much rarer.

[HorizonsDream]

Well all of the fighters did well this chapter (1.5K xp+, while everyone else was closer to 1k), but wow Kendra. Really raking in that solo XP there.

With what I want to do in the next chapter with Kendra, it might turn out that she'll get another butt load of XP too.

I really liked following the antics of the draconians while reading Kendra's sections, especially once they started to admire her. I felt bad for them when Kendra betrayed them, although I can't fault her in doing so. At the risk of spoiling things, their ignorance on their origins reminded me of Finn and his fellow Stormtroopers in the new Star Wars movie. Or rather, Finn and company reminded me of the draconians, since I just saw the movie on Saturday.

I actually felt kind of bad for killing most of the draconians because I liked them. Kendra kind of liked them too (aside from the captain, she didn't much like him). Out of all of them, she liked Perp the most. She gave the reason that she felt that leaving one of them alive was going to help her case, but she also liked Perp the most. She couldn't bring herself to kill him.

With the Fire Snakes starting to believe that Kendra is bad luck, I'm a little curious on what they might try to do about it.

[djhyland]

Well, if you are feeling limited, there are other options than just taking every bludgeoning weapon in the book. There is weapon style specialization. Not sure if you are familiar with them, but there is Single Weapon Style, Weapon and Shield Style, Two-Handed Weapon Style and Two Weapon style. I can give more details on any of them, if you like. There is also the unarmed specializations, like Haahque is talking about.

There is one other option, too. Since you've reached the first tier of divine favor with Paladine, and Paladine's 'favored weapon' is the long sword, I'd be willing to let her take that as a single exception to the 'bludgeoning only' rule.

I don't feel like Arulia is well-enough versed in Paladine's ways to go after the longsword yet. Maybe if she survives to get her next weapon proficiency, she'll have advanced in her knowledge of Paladine's doctrines that it'd make sense and I'll take it then.

I didn't know that the weapon and shield style was available--I suppose I should read the campaign information again, huh? Just to be sure, this is the one from Combat & Tactics where a character with that proficiency can shield bash either as the main attack or as an off-hand attack while still retaining the shield's AC bonus? If so, I think that Arulia will take that instead of the morningstar proficiency.

As for Ne-Chanz, well, the cold never bothered him anyway.

"Let it go! Let it goooo! Can't hold it back any more!"

Why yes, I have a seven year old daughter. Why do you ask?

[JadedDM]

Just to be sure, this is the one from Combat & Tactics where a character with that proficiency can shield bash either as the main attack or as an off-hand attack while still retaining the shield's AC bonus? If so, I think that Arulia will take that instead of the morningstar proficiency.

Not sure if it's the same in C&T, but I was talking about the one in The Complete Book of Fighters.

I'll let anyone use Shield Punch who has a shield, but it counts as a form of dual-wielding so the standard penalties apply. But if you take the Weapon and Shield specialty, I wave the penalties.

Basically you state you are going to make a second attack with your shield. This works with any shield except body shields, which are too big. You make a normal attack roll and deal 1d3 damage (plus STR bonuses) but you lose your AC shield bonus for the rest of that round.

And yeah, between Game of Thrones and Frozen I'm dropping all sorts of winter related references so far.

[djhyland]

Basically you state you are going to make a second attack with your shield. This works with any shield except body shields, which are too big. You make a normal attack roll and deal 1d3 damage (plus STR bonuses) but you lose your AC shield bonus for the rest of that round.

Okay, that sounds a bit different from the C&T version, but it still sounds good. Arulia will take it!

[JadedDM]

Okay then.

Any ideas how you want me to incorporate the meeting with Paladine? I can come up with something, but I thought you might have some input on that.