I have no idea where I fall in the initiative order, but if I get an attack of opportunity, I bite somebody.

"Whatsa matter, badger too bad-ass for ya? Come back and fight, cubs and smelly piggy man-thing!"

[Spade's TB] They're lucky they didn't take a shot at me -- Grell's not the only member of this party who can rage. Lemme at 'em, I'll splat 'em! :)
posted by Scholeologist at 2/21/2004 07:52:00 PM

Die, rotten wolfie! I shall avenge He-Who-Feeds-Me!
posted by Scholeologist at 2/21/2004 01:46:00 PM

All of those seemed like shots with some urgency, such that taking the extra -4 penalty for a few rounds was a bad idea.
I never said don't shoot at all. But if you took one move action and one fire action, you'd be progressing down the hill with no penalties, I think. (I could be completely wrong about this, but my understanding is the -4 riding penalty only happens if your mount is making a double move.) I understand you'd get fewer shots off, but I think it'd be worth it. And if Linnam and Bishop are never going to be near melee, what's the barding for?

I'm not really even concerned about the group being split up -- having spellcasters and bowmen in the back is pretty standard. And the fact that you were hitting pretty well is a good point. The main issue is how far back that rear group is -- front line people are going down here, and no one's around to replace them, or heal them, or whatever. If Grell finally does drop, we'll have softened up the remaining baddies enough that the completely uninjured Bishop and Linnam could probably take them out themselves in hand-to-hand combat, even though they're not "front-line" fighters. But if they had been closer, there's a chance that some of the pain could've been spread around, or that they'd be in a position to do something helpful before Grell and Barik die.

Now, as far as "playing with a plan" goes, I have to admit that this encounter would also have gone a different way if Barik and Grell hadn't charged in. We could have watched the orcs kill off the mysterious strangers, and then attacked all together. Tactically, that might have worked out quite well, although I don't think it would've been in character for Barik, Grell, or Alonzo. I started the charge in, but Barik's initial charge was all of 20', so someone could've said, "Hey, wait! Let's talk about this," but I think everyone was on board with the "save the fleeing people" idea right away.

I just don't want the party to think that I'm throwing obscenely difficult things at them all the time
Scott, I have to admit that although various things have not gone Barik's way, essentially all of the combats after the big ambush have seemed (in retrospect, anyway) to be pretty reasonable. [Not counting fumbles -- darn it, I said I wouldn't go on about that. :) ]

And as far as the hobgoblin fight, as I recall it was the Js who screwed up the plan...
They started it, but Alonzo and Barik trading facing the hobgoblin was a mistake. If at any point Grell, Alonzo, and Barik had the chance to attack him together, we could've really gotten somewhere. That's mostly my fault. Well, and Drusilla running off on her own wasn't the best idea either.

Another combat question, that I'm genuinely curious about: in the hobgoblin incident and thereafter, everyone's been concentrating their fire on the rider -- why not try to shoot the mount first? With worgs, they're as dangerous as the riders, and they're bigger targets. If they drop, there's a good chance the rider can take damage and have to spend a turn getting up.

At the goblin turnpike, I theorized that everyone knew something I didn't, and after consulting the PH, decided that Mounted Combat made attacking the mount unattractive, since they got another chance to avoid the hit. But looking now, I see that only works against a single attack per round (which is why Spade and I were attacking the worg, not the cleric.) So it's not as clear to me now that attacking the mount is a bad idea. What're other people's opinions?
posted by Scholeologist at 2/21/2004 12:18:00 PM

(I'm really sorry, Bob...Fumble followed by a 2 on your recovery...)
If my opinion on the wisdom of the fumble rule hasn't already been made obvious, let me know, and I'll fill this space (or another blog) with rantings of wrath.

More to the point, Barik wasn't unarmed -- he had a handaxe in his off hand already, and could attack twice with it. Why didn't I get to continue my full attack at least that much?

One might argue that it wouldn't matter (Grell killed all the orcs.) But there might at least be a chance I could've cleared a way for Grell to get a shot at Holg this last round. (And heck, if Grell had gotten that shot at Holg, Holg mighta dealt with him and not attacked me.)

DM TB: Indeed, that's why you all keep missing. Things are going much less well than they could have...
Ordinarily, I would find DM comments about how the party's doing and what they should have done offensively patronizing, but I don't in this case, because I agree with it so much. And this isn't a further knock on Fabio -- Jacob is at least equally to blame here. Telling Alonzo once that he's a frontliner and you're an archer is fine, but when you realized that Far Shot isn't really helping much, and that they weren't firing back, it wouldn't'a killed ya to advance and fire, advance and fire, at the very least.

But bitching about it now doesn't do any good. Indeed, bitching about it later, which was what Barik intended to do, wouldn't do any good either, but would at least communicate opinions on strategy within the story. And heck, having half the party hang back like cowards while the rest of us perish might not be good teamwork, but it does make for a good story -- will they be wracked with guilt? Will they overcome their cowardice in some later fight, because they know the pain of this loss? Although it might not have been the best tactics, this might be the most appropriate character behavior.

posted by Scholeologist at 2/21/2004 05:33:00 AM

Spade does, however, fail on his Intimidate Check to scare the wolf off.

[Bob's TB, actually Rebecca's TB] I should really get Spade one of those spiky black leather collars, to improve his Intimidate Checks.

And maybe a piercing or two. :)
posted by Scholeologist at 2/20/2004 08:49:00 PM

>>>His dire wolf is unhurt.
>>Nuh-uh, he's been whacked and clawed, but not enough. The wolf that killed my Lightfoot will PAY! :)

>Correction duly noted. His dire wolf is not hurt.

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!! :)
posted by Scholeologist at 2/20/2004 11:19:00 AM

It's also enough to get the wolf's attention.
Apparently not enough, since that foul beast continued to attack Lightfoot. Which leads to...
His dire wolf is unhurt.
Nuh-uh, he's been whacked and clawed, but not enough. The wolf that killed my Lightfoot will PAY! :)

From Bob's point of view, I kinda appreciate that all those orcs ignored Holg and attacked Barik instead of "the half-human", since I know Grell doesn't have a lot of hit points to spare. But I don't think Barik appreciates, once again, facing off with the tough guy while Grell has his fun swiping at grunts.

So let's try trading partners...

"Grell! Hextor's lackey is here, waiting for your blade, swung with Pelor's might!"

I am going to full attack all (but one) of the generic orcs around me (especially the punk that's tagged me for 5 points each time -- I just know it's the same guy :) ). If I get a Cleave, I use it _not_ on the last grunt, but on the wolf.

If you are planning on attacking multiple orcs, you must say who you're attacking first!
I guess this might count as metagaming, since I'm really arguing for the next time: although with this dense battlefield it's pretty understandable, in principle (like if there were fewer people) wouldn't I have the option to see how my first attack went before I decided to keep attacking or do something else?
posted by Scholeologist at 2/20/2004 09:41:00 AM

but...if you all get your posts up (and principally I need Barik's, since he's the one with the most options here) tonight, I'll roll the move and write it up before bed.
I stayed up as late as I could waiting for the results of this last round -- but my time is 5 hours later than whenever you post (if you're in the Eastern time zone). On the bright side, I'm pretty sure this post'll be there when you wake up this morning. :)

Anyhoo, Barik is grimly impressed with the morale of these orcs. They've been reduced to about 50%, their leader's down, a third of them are trapped, and yet they're still here. More heads to fall to the waraxe, I suppose. :)

If I can full attack Holg's mount, I do. If I can't, then I'll full attack the grunts around me. If there's more of them than I have attacks, I'll leave one of them in between me and Holg if I can.

Oh yeah, one other thing: "Spade, drz!" I direct Spade toward that dirty worg that attacked my Lightfoot.
posted by Scholeologist at 2/20/2004 03:38:00 AM

Aim for the leader and his horse!
Not the mount, just the leader!

If by ``leader'' you mean the guy that's been fighting Grell, he doesn't have a mount anymore:
The blast blows the rider off his worg, and a double handful of orcs drop dead, burnt to a crisp.

The one closest to you, Keth, who's facing the spell caster, is on a worg. Since he's closest to you, you might think of him as the ``leader''. Especially since, if the artillery and cavalry do their thing, the other leader is goin' DOWN. :)

Barik the Bloodthirsty
posted by Scholeologist at 2/19/2004 11:26:00 AM

Grell can Rage? How interesting; who knew?
I was pretty sure he wasn't always a cleric. I didn't know he was a ragin' cleric.

Damage is +1 mighty, +2 favored enemy.
Linnam's got a favored enemy? Who knew? :)

Alonzo continues arrow fire on the leader until he comes in close enough...
I don't think anyone's going to come much closer to you than they are now. If you want a piece of the action, come down and get it! :)

Oh, and if there was any ambiguity, I charge whatever bad guy is still alive and threatening Grell, not realizing that he's making his Hulk transformation. But that's okay -- I'm sure there'll be people for Grell to whomp on when his turn comes around. Uh, don't whomp the dwarf, 'kay? :)
posted by Scholeologist at 2/19/2004 11:16:00 AM

They could be two-headed aliens with faces that are a mass of tentacles -- if they're fighting the orcs, Barik's on their side. :)

Can I charge the guys near Grell? Am I still on the downhill -- how hard is getting there going to be? (I still don't want any DC 20 ride checks).

If the big nasty guy is still standing when it's my turn, I charge him if I can. If I can't charge him, but can get to him and attack him (waraxe, one handed), I do that instead. If he's dropped, my next aim is the cleric guy Holg. If he's down or inaccessible, and Grell isn't unconscious, I'll charge/attack the other one, Keth. If Grell is down and it looks like the orcs are going to stab him a few times for good measure, I'll fend them off and let the sorcerer deal with Keth on his own.
posted by Scholeologist at 2/19/2004 07:05:00 AM

Oh, sure. That's the DM response I was looking for. :)

Lightfoot is a light warhorse, actually. My Ride is +3 (1 Rank, +2 Dex). I don't know how Grell was moving (I guess making his horse run at full speed down the slope), but I don't want to try anything that involves a 20 DC Ride check. :)

posted by Scholeologist at 2/18/2004 10:45:00 AM

Barik advances in after Grell -- I don't think my bow will do much good until I'm within 200' or so. So I'm just moving for now.
posted by Scholeologist at 2/18/2004 07:58:00 AM

In the interests of trying to play fair, I think Lightfoot is currently at Medium (counting Barik), and so can only go 20' down the hill. But moving, shouting, casting all at once sounds good to me! Woo hoo!

(Just in case it matters, I'm trying to use Entangle to get a _lot_ of the grunts -- that's more important than getting the crispy rider guy. If he's in the mix with a bunch of grunts, getting him too is just frosting on the cake. mmm...crispy cake...)
posted by Scholeologist at 2/17/2004 08:33:00 AM

I assume that Barik's in front (since I'm leading us through the wilderness).

I charge down the hillside (well, go down the hillside as fast as I can without flying off the horse -- it looks pretty steep) and shout to the 2 sandy people "Allies in trouble! We come to reinforce you! Climb more if you can!" If (as seems unlikely) Barik ended up with the signal whistle, he blows it.

I'll check tonight (my PH is home), so I'm not sure how the range for my spells compares with my (or their) archery range. My plan is to cast Entangle as soon as I'm comfortably within range, to cover the area that the front of the orcs are on (taking into account that they're moving toward us.) If I'm being shot at by that time, I cast defensively or whatever you call it.

(I'm assuming I got the same spells as yesterday, which I _think_ were Entangle and Longstrider.)
posted by Scholeologist at 2/17/2004 06:08:00 AM

Where's Spade in all this? (I want to role-play, and my primary character's frozen. :) )

And how did the crawler get to hit me multiple times, after it moved?
posted by Scholeologist at 2/15/2004 01:10:00 PM

Oops, I forgot to edit my character sheet after Scott's earlier correction: my damage is +3, whether with the waraxe or the throwing axe.

posted by Scholeologist at 2/15/2004 07:59:00 AM