Welcome to Thunderdome

Leisher wrote: I enjoyed that Gordon. Poor Mordigan...

Don't feel sorry for Mordigan. I'm glad i'm RPing good enough that the whole group hates him.

Leisher wrote: Speaking of, who is Morganthra?

I believe Morgantha is the name of the old lady that sold Mordigan the dream pastry back in Borovia.

Troy might have to correct me if i'm wrong.

Stranger wrote:

Leisher wrote: I enjoyed that Gordon. Poor Mordigan...

Don't feel sorry for Mordigan. I'm glad i'm RPing good enough that the whole group hates him.

I saw it more as a friendly, if sarcastic rivalry.

GORDON wrote:

Stranger wrote:

Leisher wrote: I enjoyed that Gordon. Poor Mordigan...

Don't feel sorry for Mordigan. I'm glad i'm RPing good enough that the whole group hates him.

I saw it more as a friendly, if sarcastic rivalry.

actually i did too.

Mordigan actually kinda likes BeeDee and their friendly rivalry.

Can't say the same about a few others in the group...

GORDON wrote: I saw it more as a friendly, if sarcastic rivalry.

I was hesitant at first, but I'm liking a paladin who doesn't have a stick up his ass. He can't be "on" all the time or that'd be lame and way out of character for a holy man, but fun ribbing and rivalry between the damage sponges makes sense.

Stranger wrote: Mordigan actually kinda likes PeePee

Called it. Not judging. You do you.

Stranger wrote: Can't say the same about a few others in the group...

Koban doesn't hate Mordigan. In the moment, he could have killed you, but he knows your act wasn't the result of maliciousness, just stupidity and a failure to be a good teammate (You didn't listen to your teammates' desire to not rob a grave.). He responded in kind.

If we find a cure, there will still be a bridge to mend, but you'll be able to sleep at night without fear of waking with a dagger in your throat.

Nice work everybody! I will work on the guard responses this morning when I get into the office.

Morgantha was indeed the dream pastry lady.

Solid responses! BeeDee wins best title.

I will try to get the roll20 thread trimmed to just finished forms so it can be read quickly.

Party will be Level 4 the next time you complete a long rest. It’s 7:30pm-8pm when the forms are being filled out and the initial guard encounter is taking place.

All City Watch Questionnares have been completed. You can find them on the Roll20 thread or here:


Initial Guide:
Cleared - you are cleared to go into town
Priest - A priest has been summoned to aid your injuries
Detective or Izek - higher ups in the City Guard have been notified
Hold - You flagged something

This exercise produced like a dozen plot hooks. Love it.

You cheeky bastard. I knew what you were planning, tried to dodge it, and you still hit me with it.

For fuck's sake. Has Koban not been through enough?

P.S. I intentionally fudged my form just for you. I hope you caught it.

But the individual seems trustworthy, a man of the people

Damn straight!!

Stranger wrote:

But the individual seems trustworthy, a man of the people

Damn straight!!

The guards are clearly dumbasses.

GORDON wrote: Was it proclaimed that we are now level 4?

Bump

GORDON wrote: Bump

The Party will be Level 4 the next time you complete a long rest. It’s 7:30PM and dusk when you arrived at the town gates, and it's dark as you fill out the forms and the initial guard encounter is taking place.

Question/Discussion, ability checks.

The way we are doing things seems completely opposite of how things were done back in 2E, and let's just make sure we're all on the same page:

The higher the Ability Score you have, the easier it should be to make that saving throw, right?

Some things should be automatic. If a stuck door takes 7 STR to open, and the fighter has 18 STR, then really... does that require a dice roll? It isn't like he was just feeling REALLY weak right that second. It wouldn't ever happen, ever. Maybe a roll for a critical miss where he/she loses his/her footing, or something, but not for a static thing like, "stuck door requires 7 STR to open." 8 STR requires a few moments of effort. 18 STR opens it easily. The end.

And then the saving throws.... let's say the thief is crossing the ice. He has to roll a DEX check (or whatever) to make sure he doesn't slip and fall. If he has 18 DEX.... then he/she is incredibly coordinated... and it's almost impossible he's going to lose his footing... so on a D20, a 1-18 roll means he didn't slip and fall. A roll of 19 would be a stumble, a 20 would be a tumble and damage. It seems like we're often doing the opposite of that, and I just wanted to make sure I'm not high.

++++

Other observation:


Dungeon Master's discretion: I think the DM has to be less of a stickler for the rules when one of your players says something crazy like, "BeeDee is going to make an action, now. He is going to completely disregard self preservation in order to pin this vampire spawn against the wall." What I mean by that is, I think the DM should allow BeeDee a very high bonus for success, and a very big penalty for dodging the next blow that comes his way. He said he just eschewed any defensive measures in order to accomplish a specific task. But then the dice rolls happen, and it's just standard "grappling" stuff and no adjustments are made. Yeah, maybe the rule book doesn't specifically address a statement like, "I'm going to put my all into pinning him to the wall, in effect making myself incredibly vulnerable to counterattack in order to achieve my goal." I say in that case, fuck the rulebook, and just do what sounds logical. If a 200 pound guy in armor says he's going to try to pin that guy to the wall for a round, at all costs, maybe don't just roll a "to hit" check. Be the God of the universe. Make the call on your own. Make the game funner, and your players more creative in their problem solving.

The end.

No offense intended. This just isn't stuff we can't discuss in detail while in-game.

I think that's how we've been doing things so far for Skills Checks. The Difficulty Checks(DC) for skills right out of the book:
5 = easy
10 = moderate
15 = hard
20+ = heroic

The thief(Koban) is making a check on your iced over lake. Say it's a difficult, but doable. I set the DC at 15. Dexterity check sounds right. Now let's say the thief talks me into using his Acrobatic skill, which he's proficient with.

It'd be a D20 + 4(DEX) + 4(Proficient Acrobatics)

He's got a good chance to pull it off, and is the best in the party at it, but he can still screw up. It's essentially impossible for him to get a score under 5, which might straight drown him.

Even if he slips, and falls - I probably give him a true Saving Throw (Dex) to grab on to the lip of the ice on his way down. (Koban would get like a +6 on this)

A plate wearing fighter? Would have more difficulties.



I'll be very receptive if people tell me they are eschewing defense for RP purposes in combat. I'll award you advantage on your attack, but in turn give monsters advantage against you, stuff like that. You have to tell me before you make a roll and don't like it, though.

Troy wrote: The thief is making a check on your iced over lake. Say it's a difficult, but doable. I set the DC at 15. Dexterity checks sounds right. Now let's say the thief talks me into using his Acrobatic skill, which he's proficient with.

It'd be a D20 + 4(DEX) + 4(Proficient Acrobatics).

He's got a good chance to pull it off, and is the best in the party at it, but he can still screw up. It's essentially impossible for him to get a score under 5, which might drown him.

Explain to me what that 4(DEX) means.

GORDON wrote:

Troy wrote: The thief is making a check on your iced over lake. Say it's a difficult, but doable. I set the DC at 15. Dexterity checks sounds right. Now let's say the thief talks me into using his Acrobatic skill, which he's proficient with.

It'd be a D20 + 4(DEX) + 4(Proficient Acrobatics).

He's got a good chance to pull it off, and is the best in the party at it, but he can still screw up. It's essentially impossible for him to get a score under 5, which might drown him.

Explain to me what that 4(DEX) means.

Koban has 18 Dexterity which translates to a +4 modifier to all Dexterity related things.

The proficiency bonus may only be 2. I know Koban can double two of his.

So in your example, you set a difficulty rating of 15 for the ice, then give an 18 sex bonus of 4, then an acrobatics modifier of 4...then added to a random d20 roll. So he has to roll. 7 to not fall?

Ha dex bonus

GORDON wrote: So in your example, you set a difficulty rating of 15 for the ice, then give an 18 sex bonus of 4, then an acrobatics modifier of 4...then added to a random d20 roll. So he has to roll. 7 to not fall?

Well, a 7 or more and he would "succeed" without complications.

Lower and I get to introduce complications. He's unlikely to fall and drown, as I already outlined.

I bet that lake is cold.

For most characters they don't get to double the proficiency bonus.

So let's say with a 18 dex u get a +4 to your roll but if you are proficient in acrobatics (on roll20 the box would have a check mark) you would also add your proficiency bonus to that. So at level 3 your proficiency bonus is +2 and you would have to roll a 9 to pass a 15 difficulty rating. If you're not proficient in that skill then you would have to roll 11.

Troy wrote:

GORDON wrote: So in your example, you set a difficulty rating of 15 for the ice, then give an 18 sex bonus of 4, then an acrobatics modifier of 4...then added to a random d20 roll. So he has to roll. 7 to not fall?

Well, a 7 or more and he would "succeed" without complications.

Lower and I get to introduce complications. He's unlikely to fall and drown, as I already outlined.

I bet that lake is cold.

I bet it's cold, too... and I wonder how a failed roll would cause the thief to crash through 6 inches of ice. But, a guy with 18 dex... basically an olympic-level gymnast... has to take that 40% chance that he's going to have a hard time and/or drown. 18 DEX is almost superhuman.

Long story short, I disagree with this new method, it seems unnecessarily, overly complicated compared to "Roll your DEX, or lower," but I honestly don't have strong feelings about it. I just didn't understand it until now. And it's a lot to remember, and prone to get screwed up in the heat of the game.

See y'all in an hour.