The depiction this time has a lighter grey at the top of the map, showing the limit of the party's sight of the corridor at the top of the room. I hope that makes everything clearer.
As promised, the party is allowed two rounds, to make up for moves lost before. Pandred is stunned, so cannot take his second attack - but the rest of the party can act. Lothar, please indicate Bergthora and Valda's move and attack; they will prefer to attack with hand to hand weapons. I'll have Fjall and the others come down the stairs when the party's round is done.
The party can act.
UPDATE: the party has moved, here is their position:
14 comments:
I move to 912, (-1AP) put my lantern on the ground (-1AP), and draw my battleaxe (-3AP).
I already wasn't allowed an additional attack from the last post, does that mean that I, like the creature in 0510 that I stunned on my own round, will not be able to attack in the next round, which I will incorrectly-but-lack-a-better-term call the first non-surprise round?
Yes, the creature will still be stunned.
Think of it as the party's first move all happening before Pandred is fully surrounded; then Pandred hits, and is hit in turn by Engelhart's stone. Then the creatures miss Pandred.
And now it is the party's turn and Pandred is stunned. The stunned creatures will move and then Pandred will.
*I know, it is weird; but I will explain it when the combat is over.
I'm pretty sure I understand it. Maybe post-combat there can be some sort of discussion on the nature of "held actions" or conditional triggers or whatever we'd like to call it.
For now I'm interested in trying not to roll a third character too soon.
I hope that one of the things I will eventually be able to teach the players online is this:
ENGAGING the enemy is a strategy. Yes, it makes sense and all to hold your ground, enter the battle cautiously and with the best possible advantage . . . but one of the things this combat system changes is that combat is NOT a one-on-one affair.
Most combat systems are more or less built so that the opponents are shared out equally and that each person fights their opponent, personally. This system isn't like that. There are all kinds of ways that this system punishes caution ~ for example, downplaying the effectiveness of missile fire during melee by introducing friendly fire.
Here, in this example, Pandred is in trouble. Even though the room is full of friends, until they ENGAGE, Pandred is fighting these four creatures by herself. I'm not doing what other DMs do. I'm not "sharing out" the enemy. The party has to advance, risk a hit and force the enemy to split their attacks. Otherwise, the enemy will always try to kill you one by one.
I don't want to criticize Embla here . . . but I want to point out that by her concern for not breaking the lantern, she's slowing herself down; and because she's chosen to keep her distance while pulling out her weapon, she's increasing Pandred's danger.
Suppose, instead, she had rushed at the creature directly, then used the lantern as the weapon this round, hoping to light the root-thing on fire. At the same time, engaging! Forcing the creature to fight Embla and not Pandred.
Now, there's a very good reason for NOT attacking with the lantern ~ I told you that the air could be potentially flammable. But we need to ask ourselves as players ~ we're risking SOMETHING, no matter what we do. In this case, to protect the lantern, to protect the dangers of bad air, we're risking Pandred.
There are no safe courses. Rationally, yes, you don't want to rush in; but you don't want to hold back too much, either!
I move the full distance to 0811.
I will set down the frog lamp, as I'm not willing yet to break what may be our only key to further parts of this dungeon (1 AP), draw my longsword (6 lbs, so 2 AP), then move up into 0711 (1 AP).
Bergthora, meanwhile, will draw her shortsword while moving up to hex 0612.
Valda will go for the flank, likewise drawing her shorsword and moving up to hex 0710.
Hopefully that will draw the attention of a couple of these suckers (pun intended). No actual attacks as such yet, but at least one of them is engaged.
If they moved last round, can't they break into a run? Not to put too fine a point on it, but dropping to 12hp with two attacks due my way has got me a bit on edge.
Good point. Alexis, did they move far enough last round to be able to break into a run/charge this round? If they have, I think Bergthora would be able to charge the rootbeast in 0611, yes?
Because of Engelhart blocking the doorway and them coming down stairs, no, I don't think I can let them break into a run this round.
As well, because the root-thing is 6 and a half feet high, apparently about 350 lbs and made of wood, I don't think Bergthora would be keen on charging. She's a big girl but she's likely not to overbear it.
Ok, I'll stick to my original plan then.
[As a matter of interest, I've been working on chainsawing some Ash logs into rough boards, and Oh My Goodness that stuff is tough to get through. Very heavy, very wet stumps. I'd estimate a 2 1/2 foot section of roughly 14 inches in diameter weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 lbs]
This site is wonderful. White ash has a specific density of .67, or 670 kg per cubic meter. So yes, it is very heavy.
I'm just getting ready for a short shift; I was working last night. I should be home around 5 EST. I'll get the next round up just after that. Sorry about the delay.
There, I've updated the player's movement. You can see it in the post above. That took longer than I expected. I'm working on the next post now.
The next post is up. Please make your next moves.
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