Sunday, December 18, 2016

SNAP! ~ Round 7

The beetles begin to swarm the party:


All the moves above were randomly generated, with the beetles balanced to go after the nearest targets ~ sorry, Aleksandra, the beetle moving over your bo stick was a total aberration.  Really a low chance.

All the beetles attack except for the one in 1210: it took five AP to move from 1305, and doesn't have enough move to attack Aleksandra ~ so she gets off easy this round.

Okay, alphabetically:

One beetle, in 0809, attacks Engelhart.  He declared he was facing 1009, so it is a flanking attack.  I roll an 8, missing.  Yes, on a d20.

I have three attacks on Gudbrand, in 0807, 1007 and 1008.  All are -1 to attack but the one in 0807 flanks Gudbrand.  That one rolls a natural 20; my second d20 roll was a 9.  The beetle rolls 5, doubled for 10 damage.  Gudbrand is stunned and will stagger into 0908, Rowan's hex, as 1008 is full of combatants.  On top of that, the beetle in 1007 rolls a 19, hitting for 4 more damage.

Gudbrand is not dead, not even unconscious; he is, however, at -1 hit points, cannot attack this round and is at 90% of his stat abilities for checks and combat effects.

I have two attacks on Lothar, from 1108 and 1209.  The beetle in 1108 hits with a 15, causing 7 damage.  That is enough to stun Lothar, throwing him into Aleksandra's hex.

And I have two attacks on Rowan, one from 1008 and the other from 1009.  These miss with an 8 and a 9.

So, a brutal round.  Here's how it looks:



Aleksandra and Rowan, you can push the stunned people in your hex out of your hex at a cost of 1 AP; you can't push Gudbrand up the slope, however.  You choose the hex.  You cannot attack out of the hexes you are in without pushing them out.  You can, however, move and leave them where they are; it is your choice.

Engelhard, Rowan and Aleksandra are free to otherwise take action.

The experience stands here thus far:

Feeling it.

Here's the state of things after the player's attack:


29 comments:

Embla Strand said...

Wow. This is rough (and I am enjoying it, no worries, Alexis). At least no more beetles appeared!

I think, at this point, we have lost the ability to escape as a group. Maybe one or two of us could get out, but that's it. If we try to leave, I volunteer to be one of the last people out.

If I can push Lothar to 1011 I do so, else to 1010.

I face 1109 and attack the beetle in 1210. My (d20) roll gives me a 17-2=15 to-hit, and I deal 1 whole damage.

Lothar Svensson said...

Lookit all that XP I get if I survive!

Alexis Smolensk said...

Good news, Aleksandra ~ while you don't kill the beetle, you do stun it, driving it back into 1309. You have 2 AP remaining.

You got that right, Lothar!

Alexis Smolensk said...

I finally got an image of Gudbrand made. He can be seen on the Appearance post. He'll turn up the next time I post a round.

Embla Strand said...

Wonderful! Then I move to 1210, facing 1209. If I have enough AP left, I pick up my bo stick and slide it through my sash. Else, I stand my ground in 1210.

Pandred said...

I'll ask for the future, but won't be doing what I ask for tactical reasons: can we push our limp comrades into enemy occupied hexes, and what are the effects on battle?

Having said that, I shove Gudbrand into 0808, which is NOT occupied. I'll then smash the beetle in 0809, and if my single remaining AP will allow it, I'd like to turn and face the beetles in 1008.

I know speaking is 6 words per AP, which is fair enough. Does that mean you'd like party tactics to be discussed in such a manner?

To-Hit: 20! Triple Damage Die: 18
Damage: 2 (Not counting Critical Hit)

Alexis Smolensk said...

Aleksandra ~ not going to use the bo stick? No proficiency penalty.

You have time to pick it up, but not to put it in your sash.


Alexis Smolensk said...

Rowan,

Regarding shoving stunned comrades: they're not limp, they're just rattled. They're fully able to take a rational facing, be aware of what's going on and defend themselves (armor class remains unchanged!), they're just not able to be proactive or attack. They're back on their heels, as it were. You're just nudging Gudbrand over, easing him with a hand on his shoulder, guiding him into 0808.

Regarding tactics: I'm good with the party discussing general tactics outside the AP system ~ but if you get specific, tell Engelhart to move into 1010 or attack an advised enemy, I want that counted against your AP.

Contrariwise, shouting that you're all going to die and that you're trapped in here, that's fine; no AP penalty there.

I take it you did 2 x 2 damage = 4. That stuns a beetle, knocking it back into 1107.

Embla Strand said...

I'm not proficient with the bo stick either...

In that case, I kick it back to Lothar's hex.

Pandred said...

Woohoo!

With the above in mind about tactics-talk.

I can cast us out of this guys, but I need some body-blocking to make that happen. In all honesty, I should have prepped it last round, but for some reason I didn't think we'd get swarmed so fast, even though I knew they could get here quickly. Just not thinking clearly enough.

I know that will be easier said than done, given our condition now.

Alexis, just to double clarify here: we cannot push our stunned allies into enemy occupied hexes? I believe your answer is no.

Alexis Smolensk said...

Hm. I really did start you guys broke, didn't I?

Very well, the stick is with Lothar in 1011. I'm tempted to make you make a dexterity check, since it's a ten-foot kick, but you have a 17 and I'll rule that's good enough.

I didn't make you check to grab the ten-foot throw of the spear, either.

Pandred said...

Equally I'd like to note: I was swinging for the beetle behind me, in 0809.
If I don't have the ap to turn like that and still move Gudbrand, I understand and the swing would have been for the beetle in 1008, but I would vastly prefer to strike 0809 and free up the space behind me.

Alexis Smolensk said...

Rowan,

The entangle spell requires living plants. The matting does not qualify. I described it as "literally chewed up" ~ it has been, by the beetles. I described it as a "matting of crushed wood, vegetable material and earth" ~ which it is. As such, there are no strands in it, nothing to entangle with.

I'm going to go to the entangle spell on the wiki right now and write "living" in front of the word "plants."

Pandred said...

Oh snap, then we're pretty well boned. If we live through this round, we'll need to think pretty damn hard.

Alexis Smolensk said...

Ah, Rowan, I'll make that correction.

And you're correct on moving friendly forces into enemy occupied hexes.

Alexis Smolensk said...

Aleksandra, way back in the beginning of this fight, you threw a rock at a beetle and I said that it bounced off. I came across that comment and the rock hit with a 15. Can you please roll 1d3 damage for me, and I'll take it off a random beetle?

Embla Strand said...

In my case, I started out with very little gold, but I think that was due to my character's gambling affiliation more than anything else.

Yay! Some small thing going our way!

...It's a 1...

Yeah, we're boned. That's OK.

Pandred said...

Ha, if our d20s wanted to act like it, we'd have had a much easier time here.

Thac0 20 is unforgiving of poor dice. I think we might lose Gudbrand, which would frankly be unfortunate in the extreme, but depending on how the dice shake out it's possible that we'll only have a single casualty.

Not likely, but possible!

Alexis Smolensk said...

I rolled randomly, it came out the upper of the two beetles in 1008. And it wasn't enough to make the beetle have an upset stomach and not fight the next round. Sorry. Your extra point of damage has been noted for x.p. purposes.

Embla Strand said...

Alexis, you do not need to apologize that my 1 damage did not upset the poor beetle's stomach. We are in this mess of our own free will and take ownership of our suffering. I appreciate your diligence in giving me the opportunity to deal that damage.

Engelhart Askjellson said...

I move into 1010 and attempt overbearing into 1009.

I have frankly no idea how this will turn out, but I feel that chancing on killing just one beetle is bound to be insufficient for our purposes.

Attack roll: 3.

Modifiers abound for this thing, so I'm not actually sure that I missed, despite yet another brilliant roll on my part.

Alexis?

Engelhart Askjellson said...

My total weight carried is at 59.66 lbs. and I weigh 171 lbs.

It was made from a flank and I'm agressive (?) against low-int beasties.

I rolled a 1 for the damage.

Alexis Smolensk said...

Engelhart,

In a normal situation against one beetle (see <A HREF="http://tao-of-dnd.wikispaces.com/Overbearing>Overbearing</A>), you might have gotten +9 for your weight and +1 for the flank, that's would still only be a 13 rolled. That would still a fail.

It makes NO SENSE, however, for you to sidestep to 1010 in order to overbear! This means that you're trying to force the beetle in 1009 into 1008 ~ because that is what you're trying to do. This creates a situation where you're pushing against ALL THREE BEETLES AT ONCE . . . meaning that your benefit is only one third greater than the weight of the beetles (you'd need to be 180 pounds to be half greater). That greatly reduces your effectiveness to +1 to hit, massively ruining the bonus for flanking that you sought to gain!

Moreover, even if you had tried to push the beetle directly into 1108, you still would have been pushing against TWO beetles, making your bonus only +3, only to ensure that you would be attacked by two beetles if you failed to stun one of them.

Instead, you could have just swung with your hammer (would have missed anyway, admittedly) and potentially done a d6 of damage, instead of the d4 you would have rolled had you succeeded at overbearing.

You're overthinking ~ but I'm glad you're trying new things. Sometimes, though, you just have to dig your way out.

Anyway, you're facing 1009 when your move ends.

I'm ready to start the next combat post. It is 1 AM in Lisbon for Engelhart ~ and I am working in the morning, assuming the restaurant is still in operation.

I'll let you know when the post is up.

Alexis Smolensk said...

I've posted the image for the end of the 7th in the post above, so that everyone can see what they've done.

Lothar Svensson said...

The way I see it, we couldn't have lasted long enough without earning some coin for me to get over this cold, so this was our best chance for some ready coin. We've had some bum rolls, sure, but you don't get to Valhalla by starving to death!

Engelhart Askjellson said...

Alexis, the intent was for a domino-clash of some sort to happen and to attempt trapping the beetles all in the same hex, in order to prevent some number of attacks from being launched come next turn.

I also didn't really interpret the situation as trying to push into all three beetles summed up at once, for me that would mean I'd have to be overbearing into an hex that already contained all 3.

Also, the attempt would have been to hit AC 8, at least as according to the wiki.

@Lothar: your stashed furs could have made the telling difference, but then, I didn't even know you were sick until we got out here. Or that Aleksandra wasn't proficient with her weaponry, or that Gudbrand had nothing but a knife, or that we needed to align our religious outlook.

Alexis Smolensk said...

Quite right about needing to hit AC 8. My error, I concede the point.

Not to belabour the point, but defenders are not "dominos" ~ a term which would presume they're motionless pillars that can be tipped over. They are still defenders: and as you push towards them, they push back. The rule is intended to give strength to military columns that are two, three or more deep, thus strengthening those columns and by giving them MASS. There are no rules for support columns in D&D; the overbearing rule gives me an opportunity to create one.

And wow, I did not know that Aleksandra would not wisely choose to be proficient in a weapon she could afford, or that Gudbrand would forget to buy a weapon at all.

Pandred said...

On that last point, to be fair, we'd been asked for proficiencies a little bit before seeing the actual Market tables, though as I understand some of us hadn't chosen until quite late in the process to begin with.

I had assumed my all-wooden weapons would be cheap (indeed, was hoping the club would be free of charge), but they wound up costing a considerable amount all things considered: I hadn't thought about how few weaponcrafters would be around to make such a thing. Not nearly as much as my clothes, mind you, but more than I had expected.

Ah well, live (maybe) and learn!

Alexis Smolensk said...

I think I was suitably flexible throughout the character making process. I think people could have asked if they could change their proficiencies; I would have certainly said yes.

Most of the wooden weapons chosen had metal parts. Moreover, I see no reason why a highly skilled profession - weaponwright - should be expected to give weapons away for very little money, whatever they happen to be made of. I think that is a tremendous fault of game systems that don't consider rarity of skill to be worth noting.

A club WAS free of charge. You let yourself be duped by the market sellers, when weapons were laying around everywhere. But that's what happens when the kids from the Stix decide to go adventurin'.