House of Ainsley: Out-of-Character Discussion

Ah, okay. Danke.

Further research revealed that it was actually a siren in the original Tomb of Horrors; she was a potential ally (and perhaps the only good thing in that entire dungeon), but Gary Gygax was counting on genre-savvy players being so paranoid by the time they found her that they'd chuck a Fireball spell at her or fill her with arrows or whatever. The crypt chanter didn't show up until Tomb of Horrors was re-released for D&D 3.5.

I wonder if any Tomb of Horrors modules are on eBay. There probably aren't any 1st Edition modules for sale (and if there were, they'd probably be, like, $500 each anyway). But I'll take what I can get.

Poopy.  I forgot to add some of those "broken stone edge" underlays to rough up those grass spots in Karnoz's latest map.    

Forgive me my trespasses.

Okay...I really hate to break it off like this, but I really need to find my bed and go sleepy-bye now. I'll finish Jazzy's update once I roll out of bed, stuff my face with cereal and stumble back to one of my computers (probably the desktop; it has the bigger keyboard). Sorry, Jaz. Don't give up on me.

Those "edited [X] times in total" are a bit obnoxious, and I try to keep the counts low, but edits do happen. At least those essays are done now, and I can move on with Keitha and the ghouls. I hope I didn't make the entries too long. Should y'all be paying attention to Al-Shadan's babble? Yeah, maybe. Will any of the people, entities or locations in Al-Shadan's babble pop up later in the campaign? You'd better believe it. So pay attention, maybe.

I'm also reminded now about how some people--myself included--will adopt certain things from a real-world setting to a fantastic setting, but for whatever reason (like advanced, modern-day medical terminology being inappropriate), the things have to be adapted to the setting. Even though you can probably figure it out, "lungsputter" is pneumonia. The more you know.   

Okay, I'm off to bed. See ya in about eight hours. Hang in there, Jaz!

Keitha's done!  Karnoz is next.  

I also took the liberty of keeping Donovon away from the "front lines," so to speak.  As Darmalgartr and Kulrath are now better armed and better armored than Donovon is, they would make better choices for leading a pincher attack, so they're the ones flanking the passage where Keitha will be leading the ghouls in pursuit.  Sure, Donovon is effectively immortal, but the duergar don't know that.  

(Ronnie came by and picked up the duck house, by the way.   )

Omg.....

I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry.

Will post posthaste.

YaY! Wraith is home! Welcome back!

:-)

Hopefully I'll stay back lol!

I have returned...and Wraith seems to have come back with me. We missed you, Wraith.

I'll have to get to these posts tomorrow; unfortunately, my job hunts have yet to bear fruit, and my bank account's getting lean, so I might have to go back to the soul-wrenching prison guard job. I left the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on good terms, and the Assistant Warden told me face-to-face that I could come back at any time. But that job really made me pay for those fat paychecks in ways that just can't be measured in dollar signs, so I truly don't want to go back. But, like the adage goes, any port in a storm.

See y'all tomorrow?

Sorry, Tiger; I'm still crunching together Darrovan's army.  Have you decided what you might want for Gustov's army yet?  Remember: There is no "one correct answer" here.  The trick is to pick your army, consider their strengths and weaknesses, consider how they are likely to interact with the terrain and the enemy, and conduct your tactics accordingly.  As Fighters go, Gustov is cunning, charismatic and suitable as a force leader, so he should be able to adapt to the various situations which can arise on the battlefield.

I'll continue with Gustov's update in the meantime, of course.

Also, I'm moving Sylvea and Ariean back to the Active Characters list in the Party topic.  Welcome back, Wraith.  

Okay, so by my count, these are Sylvea's prepared spells, at present; any spells which she has already cast this day have been crossed out.  Does this look correct, Wraith?

Cleric Spells:
0 Level: Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect magic, Light, Resistance
1st Level: Cause Fear, Command, Detect Undead, Obscuring Mist
2nd Level: Ghost Touch Armor, Zone of Truth, Darkness
3rd Level: Sheltered Vitality, Animate Dead

Domain Spells:
1st Level: Sanctuary
2nd Level: Identify
3rd Level: Protection from Elements

Domain Powers:
Use Arcane Magic (Constant), Protective Ward (1 use per day)


Also, I'll go ahead and add Sylvea's Zombie to the Party thread.  Any skeletons and/or zombies conjured up with the Animate Dead spell are permanent until destroyed, so it looks like that zombie's here to stay.  Maybe Sylvea should come up with a name for the stinky bugger.  

That sounds about right :-)

And Sylvea will most likely come up with something lol

Ainsley, more out of curiosity than anything, but how many undead/summoned creatures can one mage control at a time? Also, do you still allow that a cleric can switch one uncast spell of the same level for another? IE Drop create water for a second light spell?

GoldenDrakon wrote:

Ainsley,  more out of curiosity than anything, but how many undead/summoned creatures can one mage control at a time?

As a rule of thumb, the limit to how many creatures a spellcaster can control at any time is equal to a total number of Hit Dice equal to twice the spellcaster's Level.  Sylvea is a Level 5 Cleric, so she can control up to 10 Hit Dice of undead animated with her own spells.  To continue the example, a typical humanoid zombie has 2 Hit Dice, so Sylvea can control up to five zombies at a time; if she gets carried away with the Animate Dead spells and animates five more zombies while she still has one following her around, then one of the zombies will slip free of her control (though fortunately, the cleric gets to choose which undead are released from her control).

But the creatures animated or controlled through spells are counted separately from those commanded through a cleric's use of the Rebuke Undead ability.  If the cleric has twice as many Levels as the undead have Hit Dice, then any undead who would normally be awed (read: frozen in place by the Rebuking) are instead commanded.  Sylvea is a Level 5 Cleric, and 5 divided by 2 and rounded off gives us 3, so she has the option of commanding any undead creature with 3 Hit Dice or fewer...like more of those zombies.  At any one time, a cleric can control a number of undead whose total Hit Dice don't exceed her Cleric Level, so Sylvea can command up to 5 Hit Dice of undead through one or more successful uses of Rebuke Undead.

So if Sylvea's shrewd about it, she could end up bossing around as many as seven zombies at a time (five from Animate Dead and two from Rebuke Undead), with one Hit Die left over for her Rebuke limit (which she could easily fill with a typical undead skeleton or some other undead critter with 1 Hit Die or less).

Certain magic items may be able to increase the cleric's maximal number of controllable undead, so keep an eye out for those.  Certain Feats (such as Empower Turning) increase this limit as well.

Alternately, a cleric who rolls very well with her Rebuke Undead attempt may command a single undead creature which has more Hit Dice than the cleric has Cleric Levels, but the effort demands the cleric's full and constant concentration, leaving no room to command or control other undead (or to do much else besides controlling the big, powerful, nasty beastie).  So let's say that Sylvea's leading around two zombies commanded through her Rebukes.  Along comes an undead mummy who decides that Sylvea's intruding on his turf.  Fortunately, Sylvea still has a few more Rebuke Undead attempts left for that day, so she grabs her spooky chalice, quaffs an Eagle's Splendor potion to improve her Charisma by 4 points and tries to Rebuke the mummy.  Sylvea's a Level 5 Cleric, but the mummy is a 6 Hit Die undead monster.  So she rolls the Rebuke attempt and aces it with a Natural 20.  So she barely manages to bring the mummy under her thrall, but bossing the mummy around will be a 24/7 job for her.  The zombies slip free from her control as a result and, being as mindless as they are, the zombies might wander off, they might continue following her around out of habit, or they might decide to turn on her (and will probably run right smack into that strong, tough, angry mummy that Sylvea just hijacked...).

GoldenDrakon wrote:

Also, do you still allow that a cleric can switch one uncast spell of the same level for another? IE Drop create water for a second light spell?

You might be thinking of Spontaneous Casting.  The cleric can still sacrifice a prepared spell to cast a different spell, but that spell can only be a Cure spell or an Inflict spell; the type of spell cast depends on the Level of the spell being sacrificed, as well as the cleric's Alignment or patron deity.  Good clerics can sacrifice uncast spells to cast Cure spells, evil clerics can sacrifice uncast spells to cast Inflict spells and morally Neutral clerics can sacrifice uncast spells to cast either Cure spells or Inflict spells (chosen at the time of the cleric's character creation; only an Alignment shift can change this inclination).  I'm thinking of house-ruling it to where Neutral clerics of Healing always cast Cures and Neutral clerics of Death, Undeath or Deathbound always cast Inflicts, but I'm still thinking the matter over.

So back to your example, Sylvea couldn't sacrifice her (presently prepared but uncast) Create Water spell to spontaneously cast a Light spell, but she could sacrifice Create Water to cast Inflict Minor Wounds instead, just as she could also sacrifice any of her uncast 1st Level spells (like Cause Fear) to cast Inflict Light Wounds, any uncast 2nd Level spell (like Ghost Touch Armor) to cast Inflict Moderate Wounds or any uncast 3rd Level spell (like Sheltered Vitality) to cast Inflict Serious Wounds.  This makes clerics of Evil alignment a greater threat in melee (as harming someone in melee with an Inflict spell can be comsiderably easier than whacking them with a weapon) while also giving them the means to heal any undead allies (as the living are fueled by Positive Energy, the undead are fueled by Negative Energy, Cure spells are Positive, Inflict spells are Negative...in short, Inflict spells heal the undead while Cure spells harm them).

This can also lend clerics a bit more versatility with their abilities to heal or to harm, simply by preparing the opposite spells.  If Sylvea had prepared Cure Light Wounds for one of her 1st Level spells, she could cast it on herself or another living subject (and thus heal), or she could cast it on an undead enemy for cheap and easy damage; alternately, she could sacrifice that Cure Light Wounds spell in order to spontaneously cast Inflict Light Wounds on a living enemy or an undead ally.  (There's also nothing saying that she can't cast that Inflict spell on herself, but unless she has the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat, I'm not sure why she would want to do that.)

But I should also note that any spells granted by the cleric's Domains can't be sacrificed for spontaneous casting, as Domain spells are direct acts of intervention from the cleric's god and thus are "pipelined" right from the cleric's god, not "filtered" through the cleric herself.  For example, Sylvea presently has Identify as her uncast 2nd Level Domain spell (compliments of her Magic Domain), but she can't sacrifice that Identify spell to cast Inflict Moderate Wounds instead.  That would be like Evening Glory herself showing up at Sylvea's doorstep saying, "Behold, my faithful servant!  I have brought for you a free puppy!" only for Sylvea to say, "No thanks; I'm a cat person, so take that filthy mutt baby back and give me a kitten instead."  Sacrilege, right?  So only uncast spells from the cleric's own spell list can be sacrificed for spontaneous casting; Domain spells are off-limits.  Aside from that limitation, go crazy.  


Also, did you notice that these forums have changed again?  There's no longer an extra line break after each /quote or /center command.  I'll have to remember that.

The House of Ainsley wrote:

Sorry, Tiger; I'm still crunching together Darrovan's army.  Have you decided what you might want for Gustov's army yet?  Remember: There is no "one correct answer" here.  The trick is to pick your army, consider their strengths and weaknesses, consider how they are likely to interact with the terrain and the enemy, and conduct your tactics accordingly.  As Fighters go, Gustov is cunning, charismatic and suitable as a force leader, so he should be able to adapt to the various situations which can arise on the battlefield.

I'll continue with Gustov's update in the meantime, of course.

I am still trying to configure things.  Got a new job a few months ago and shortly after I started two people quit.  They haven't replaced them yet, so I have had to work extra.  Good for me, because more hours equals more money.  Bad because between job and family I don't have too much extra time to devote to online stuff.  My sons accident didn't help either.  The docs say he is healing fine and on schedule to make a full recovery.  He is getting stronger and can do more on his own, but because his leg will require at least three more months of rehab he needs help doing some stuff.  


I'll just give you my basic thoughts about Gustov's force configuration.  At least 20 Calvary.  I know that that will use up a third of Gustov's points but I want a mobile hammer in the force.  The rest of the force is where I am having some trouble.  All I know for certain is that remaining force will be made up of at least 1/4 of archers.  The rest a mix of fighters, peasants, and other fighting men.  I am looking to create mobile force that can move quickly and adapt to changes in the battle scene. Golden Drakon I know that you will read this and youf advice on force construction would help.  That is all I got for now.  More to follow in the future

Spirit of the Tiger wrote:

I am still trying to configure things.  
Gustov's force configuration.  At least 20 Calvary.  I know that that will use up a third of Gustov's points but I want a mobile hammer in the force.  The rest of the force is where I am having some trouble.  All I know for certain is that remaining force will be made up of at least 1/4 of archers.  The rest a mix of fighters, peasants, and other fighting men.  I am looking to create mobile force that can move quickly and adapt to changes in the battle scene.  Golden Drakon I know that you will read this and youf advice on force construction would help.  That is all I got for now.  More to follow in the future

Actually, I knocked an effective fighting force together in about 20 minutes without much effort. Seriously though, glad to hear that you boy's doing much better and that things are looking up for you.

As for advice, I have some thoughts, but all I can say is what -type- of force do you want to command? You do not have the numbers to create a truly universal type army so I recommend making a more specialized fighting force. Historically, you would be a supporting force to your father anyway..... As another idea, you could pick all specialized, hero units and go the 'commando' rout and see how much havoc you could raise that way too.

Maaaan.... what did I get myself into.

I hate feeling like a noob again. I feel like I'm missing all the clever bits of my Cleric simply because I don't know they exist.

Can you point me towards something I get read online (as I don't have the money to buy anything at the moment) that would help me to gain more Clever Points?

Spirit of the Tiger wrote:

I am still trying to configure things.  Got a new job a few months ago and shortly after I started two people quit.  They haven't replaced them yet, so I have had to work extra.  Good for me, because more hours equals more money.  Bad because between job and family I don't have too much extra time to devote to online stuff.  My sons accident didn't help either.  The docs say he is healing fine and on schedule to make a full recovery.  He is getting stronger and can do more on his own, but because his leg will require at least three more months of rehab he needs help doing some stuff.

I'm glad that you at least have a job.  I'm still unemployed.  It's tempting to go back to the prison, but I don't have any seniority, so I'd be walking right back into the same old mess.  

So are the doctors saying that your son will be good as new before the year's out, or is there going to be any permanent damage?  Here's hoping for the former.

Spirit of the Tiger wrote:

I'll just give you my basic thoughts about Gustov's force configuration.  At least 20 Calvary.  I know that that will use up a third of Gustov's points but I want a mobile hammer in the force.  The rest of the force is where I am having some trouble.  All I know for certain is that remaining force will be made up of at least 1/4 of archers.  The rest a mix of fighters, peasants, and other fighting men.  I am looking to create mobile force that can move quickly and adapt to changes in the battle scene.  Golden Drakon I know that you will read this and youf advice on force construction would help.  That is all I got for now.  More to follow in the future

Seeing as Gustov is an armored rider himself, I can see why you'd want cavalry to ride with him for swift shock attacks, which can be very effective, particularly against archers, catapult crews and such.  The biggest liability with going that route is the terrain; horsemen would be pretty much restricted to the two bridges or the river ford, since horses wouldn't be so great at negotiating the ravine or the river.  That river ford might slow such cavalrymen considerably, but once they're past the river, those archers and ogre rocklobbers could be in serious trouble.

If you're looking for something mobile and adaptable to the terrain, you might also consider the rangers.  Bardosylvania has no shortage of rangers, they're good with stealth where needs be (especially in the great outdoors), they're handy in ranged combat and even handier in melee, they can handle the terrain here and can swim across that river with few problems; those enemy archers, rangers and rocklobbers would have to hit a bunch of small targets (the rangers' heads) bobbing across the river before the rangers popped out of the river and ran over them (though Gustov couldn't go swimming with them, of course), or Gustov might take the rangers into the river near the wooden bridge and try to take out the aquatic elves so the rest of the army can cross the bridges without getting speared from below.  On the other hand, rangers aren't nearly as armored and durable as your cavalrymen might be, and a cavalryman can swiftly outrun a ranger on level terrain for obvious reasons.

Your archers would be a useful pick, of course.  Bardosylvania has plenty of archers too; if you're in a land where the trees are said to outnumber the people, you might as well work on your bowyering and fletching, right?  Gustov would have to choose between standard archers (armed with shortbows) and longbowmen; he could easily field twice as many archers, but longbowmen have the advantage of greater range; if they can hit Karkova's entrenched archers but the archers can't hit them back, the Karkovans will be faced with the choice to either scatter and move closer to the river (thus forfeiting their advantage) or to stand fast, hunker down and die in droves.  On the other hand, going with the archers in lieu of the longbowmen could mean being able to blacken the sky with twice as many arrows once the enemy's in range.


Yeah, something like that.  

GoldenDrakon wrote:

Actually, I knocked an effective fighting force together in about 20 minutes without much effort.    

He did. He also gave himself a very hearty pat on the back over that. You know our GD.

GoldenDrakon wrote:

Seriously though, glad to hear that you boy's doing much better and that things are looking up for you.

As am I. Rock on, Super Tigerman.

GoldenDrakon wrote:

 As for advice, I have some thoughts, but all I can say is what -type- of force do you want to command? You do not have the numbers to create a truly universal type army so I recommend making a more specialized fighting force. Historically, you would be a supporting force to your father anyway.....

...unless Gustov says, "Screw you, Dad! I'm going over there and supporting General Reiherstadt, even if he is a jerk!", at which point Darrovan would say "Well, fine! Screw you too, Gustov! I always liked your older brother better anyway, and he's second in line for the throne, so screw you!" And then they wouldn't have a word to say to each other at the family's Harvestide get-togethers, and Darrovan would rewrite his will and bequeath almost everything he has unto Jozen while leaving half an acre with an outhouse on it to Gustov (and absolutely nothing to Ulana because she's a rebellious whore and a disgrace to the family name)...yeah, it could get ugly.

But Gustov doesn't have to back Dad up if he doesn't want to. But I should probably finish up with Darrovan's force just in case you decide to take Drak's advice here, shouldn't I?

GoldenDrakon wrote:

As another idea, you could pick all specialized, hero units and go the 'commando' rout and see how much havoc you could raise that way too.

...like "The Dirty Dozen," D&D style. Having a tiny fighting force like that could limit the adaptability of Gustov's fighting force, and they could easily go in too deep and get swamped with sheer numbers if they're not careful. But when each one of those commandos could singlehandedly snap the necks of a few dozen enemy regulars...yeah, I can see the perks of going this route too. Plus, Gustov would get the ego boost of bossing around several people who could singlehandedly kick his ass.

Wraith wrote:

Maaaan.... what did I get myself into.

The sewers beneath Palemare, apparently.  

Wraith wrote:

I hate feeling like a noob again. I feel like I'm missing all the clever bits of my Cleric simply because I don't know they exist.

Can you point me towards something I get read online (as I don't have the money to buy anything at the moment) that would help me to gain more Clever Points?

I think that you're doing pretty well, actually.  Sylvea's only Level 5, so not many of those "clever bits" exist just yet.  For the most part, she only has to look forward to the usual stat boosts (Attack Bonus, Skills, a new Feat every third Level, et cetera) and spells...more spells, and increasingly powerful spells.  "Hi!  We're an army of ogres, and we're here to kill you, Sylvea!"  "I'm casting Fire Storm!"  "Ow ow ow ow ow!  Holy fish, half of us just died!"  "Now I'm casting Earthquake!"  "Run away, guys!  Run away!"

Yeah, clerics are a somewhat simple Class to master...not as simple as the Fighter, but plenty simpler than the Wizard, the Bard or the Rogue.  Every Class has its perks and its shortcomings, though; even though the D&D Wiki isn't the most reliable resource website in the world, they do have an article on clerics that you might look over.  Don't buy that rubbish about "Clerics can only be True Neutral if their deity's True Neutral," though; even then, the One-Step Alignment Rule applies.  Want to play a True Neutral Cleric serving a deity who's Whatever Neutral or Neutral Whatever?  Go for it.

Thankies!!!

Anytime, madam. Sorry for the late edit there.

You disappeared from the Chatbox! Did Kayleb get his bottle like you said?

Yup. I'm still breastfeeding as well as topping up with formula. So it takes around 40 minutes to feed him these days.

Learn to nurse faster, Kayleb!  Mom needs her internet time too.  

So now Sylvea's done with that encounter, so she can take a breather if she needs.  I should probably update that time block in the Party thread; I don't think I've updated it since Sylvea and Company got over Palemare's wall, and I'm sure it's well past noon now.

(Y'all need to get together and party up stat.  Keeping track of all these different times, dates, moon phases and seasons is a pain in the patootie.   )

Now that I think about it, did Ariean just suplex that zombie into a wall?  Even I'm not entirely sure.



Grappling.  Gotta love it.  

Patootie....

*cackle*

Wraith is once again amused by my choice of words.  

On a different note, I'm convinced that Thoros of Myr is a high-level Cleric of the Lord of Light...maybe mid-level, but he would have to be at least Level 8 if he can cast Raise Dead.


See?  

I'm sure he keeps the diamonds in his pockets somewhere.  He must go through plenty of diamonds, seeing as Beric just won't stop exercising poor adventuring practices and getting himself killed.  

GoldenDrakon wrote:

 As for advice, I have some thoughts, but all I can say is what -type- of force do you want to command? You do not have the numbers to create a truly universal type army so I recommend making a more specialized fighting force. Historically, you would be a supporting force to your father anyway.....

The House of Ainsley wrote:

...unless Gustov says, "Screw you, Dad!  I'm going over there and supporting General Reiherstadt, even if he is a jerk!", at which point Darrovan would say "Well, fine!  Screw you too, Gustov!  I always liked your older brother better anyway, and he's second in line for the throne, so screw you!"  And then they wouldn't have a word to say to each other at the family's Harvestide get-togethers, and Darrovan would rewrite his will and bequeath almost everything he has unto Jozen while leaving half an acre with an outhouse on it to Gustov (and absolutely nothing to Ulana because she's a rebellious whore and a disgrace to the family name)...yeah, it could get ugly.

But Gustov doesn't have to back Dad up if he doesn't want to.  But I should probably finish up with Darrovan's force just in case you decide to take Drak's advice here, shouldn't I?  

I agree with both of you.  Golden Drakon's point make sense as Gustov would mostly a back up force that should be able to adapt to the surrounding conditions.  

But House of Ainsley has a point also.  A long time ago a young 16 year old Macedonian Prince was leading a group of horse mounted warriors in a battle.  According to some sources he was to be a reserve force and was to attack only when ordered to by his father.  As this young prince sat atop the hill and watched the battle unfold he observed one group of enemy soldiers stay put while another group advanced.  This opened up a gap in the enemy's battle lines.  The young prince took advantage of this gap and road his calvary into the gap, thus decimating the enemy causing a route.  That was the basic version of events, so I am sure I left a few things out, but the idea of what happened is true.  5 points to the person who can guess the name of the prince in the battle, though its not really that hard to figure it out.  

I guess for now Gustov will be a reserve force, and stay with dear old dad. On the other hand if he does see an opening that is defiantly not a trap I can see him taking full advantage the situation.