Orcs of the endless and unconquered Forest (OOC)

[Re'ozul]

Yes you can, but be short and precise.

[Kantolin]

I know when Smith is going!

Always dead last. :P

Initiative roll: (1d20-14)[-6]

Smith's first post (in probably every combat) will be mentally complaining that he misses being a combatant due to all this psionic crap, then being a good tribesman and helping.

[rweird]

Kantolin: How can you get that big a penalty on initiative?

Re'ozul: Okay, is that for both before we act in combat and when it isn't our turn or just one? If it is just one, which is it?

[Kantolin]

Originally Posted by rweird

Kantolin: How can you get that big a penalty on initiative?

He is proficient with neither his full plate nor his tower shield. Summarily, he has that penalty on about anything physical he tries to do in them. He wears them, however, because his job has become to aid people, and thus it's more important that he remain standing than it is for him to be whacking things.

He then doesn't like it, but he never complains. Whacha gotta do.

(Although given his strength, if he puts the tower shield down it's actually manageable, should he /need/ to).

[rweird]

Originally Posted by Kantolin

He is proficient with neither his full plate nor his tower shield. Summarily, he has that penalty on about anything physical he tries to do in them. He wears them, however, because his job has become to aid people, and thus it's more important that he remain standing than it is for him to be whacking things.

He then doesn't like it, but he never complains. Whacha gotta do.

(Although given his strength, if he puts the tower shield down it's actually manageable, should he /need/ to).

Ah, forgot about the penalties for being non-proficient.

[Man on Fire]

initiative (1d20+4)[5]

Through I need to try something first. Talking is a free action, right?

[Kantolin]

Originally Posted by Man on Fire

initiative [roll0]

Through I need to try something first. Talking is a free action, right?

Re'ozul said yep! So long as you are short and precise.

[Man on Fire]

<looks at the holly Wall O'text he just wrote>
Eeeem...At least I'm precise, right?

[Winds]

Hooray for being slow...

(1d20+10)[12]

[Re'ozul]

Originally Posted by Kantolin

He is proficient with neither his full plate nor his tower shield. Summarily, he has that penalty on about anything physical he tries to do in them. He wears them, however, because his job has become to aid people, and thus it's more important that he remain standing than it is for him to be whacking things.

He then doesn't like it, but he never complains. Whacha gotta do.

Heh I was playing a Pathfinder healing cleric up until last week who had the exact same problem, only he didn't have a tower shield as, with a strenght of 8, he would have collapsed if he had tried carrying that as well.

Ok, here is the camp map, the two figures in the middle are Hassnak and Sorunnar. They are effectually in grapple.
All of you are either in or closely around the hut at (-S|-120). So tell me where you are and I will place you.
I completely forgot about coordinates when I made the map and am now too lazy to shift all of that.
Whitish guys are gnolls the ones with the colorful border are orcs.

Map:

Spoiler

[Man on Fire]

Can you please place Rada as close to the Hassnak and Sorunnar as possible? How about O 134?

[Re'ozul]

I can give you -O|-129.

[rweird]

Zalgrin (my tiger animal companion, large sized) is a -W|-114. I left him at the edge of camp.
Grazik is at -S|-119.

[Winds]

Gell will start at -A -159.

[Man on Fire]

Originally Posted by Re'ozul

I can give you -O|-129.

It will have to do.

[Sutremaine]

All this excitement while I'm at work... Looking at the map I'm reading -S -120 as being about thirty feet away from the hut, is that right? I'll take -Q -125, which I think puts me between Rada and the -S -120 starting point.

Initiative: (1d20+3)[9]

[Kantolin]

Smith isn't quick, so he'd probably be a little closer despite it not being benificial for him. Maybe at -S | -124? If my head is on funny and that's not a reasonable spot, anywhere in the immediate area near other people is plenty. ^_^

[Sutremaine]

Oh wait, I have a Small Earth Elemental today. I'm rather glad I wrote everything ever on my char sheet this in-game morning.

Initiative: (1d20-1)[17]
Placement: 20ft south of Kusque, just beneath the ground.

It's probably not going to even surface, having 11HP, but it's on the field.

[Sutremaine]

Of course.

*ponders* Actually, while I have the elemental today, it probably isn't summoned at the moment. Kusque has been running to the outer camp and not expecting trouble, and the elemental has a 30ft range limit and a speed of 20ft. So scratch that previous initiative roll.

[GnomeGninjas]

Initiative: (1d20+7)[26] I think that my tiger uses my initiative since it is a mount.
Me and my tiger are at G -154

[Re'ozul]

Okay, due to how far everything is zoomed out I gave you colors.

Grazik/Zalgrin: Red
Kusque: Purple (With a slightly darker halo do differentiate from Smith)
Smith: Blue
Rada: Yellow
Gell: Orange
Mal: Grey

I put everyone in the positions they asked then moved the entire thing to where the numbers may be better readable and their relevant columns/lines better identifiable.

New map:

Spoiler

Will now resolve the Gnoll surprise round and the post in IC.

[rweird]

Why do the Gnolls get a surprise round even though I warned the us before hand and we where aware of the Gnolls? I understand that Sorunnar didn't expect it, or the guards, though we did. Do we get to act as well?

Also, who are the guards the Gnolls charged on the map and who are the Gnolls?

[Sutremaine]

When was the warning? I must have missed it. From what I can tell of the post, the guards and we became aware of the attack at the same time, when Hassnak got hold of Sorunnar.

[rweird]

I mean the party, Smith linked us, I conveyed my message, Rada said we should leave, and then Hassnak got hold of Sorunnar. I'm not talking about the guards not being surprised, I'm talking about the party.

[Sutremaine]

What I'm saying is that there wasn't any indication that the guards were any less prepared than we were, since the gnolls weren't doing anything especially suspicious before they started the fight.

When you wrote the post about thinking that the gnolls were going to attack, I didn't think you meant right this second.

[rweird]

I'm sorry for my lack of communication. I noticed (in a spoiler from the DM) them shifting after I made a spot check. I didn't know if it would be a few seconds, or a few minutes, or if they wouldn't attack at all, though I was guessing, knowing Gnolls rash behavior, soon.

[Re'ozul]

Yes.

Grazik managed to notice them shifting, no one else did.
When linked you gave a warning. However that warning was vague and no one really acted upon it.
Smith said to wait for them to make the first move (which they do with the surprise round).
Rada turned and was ready to go, which I interpret as not being utterly ready to jump on any percieved movement on the part of the Gnolls.
As no one else posted anything, no one else gets specified counters to the surprise round.

The only one I would be willing to give an action to in this surprise round is Grazik as the actual person who noticed. So Grazik can get a round of actions based on the map I gave. Afterwards we move to Initiative and go from there.

And to the question on who is who:

whitish ones are gnolls. Green border are orcs. You guys are the colored squares as I posted. The two in the middle are Hassnak and Sorunnar.

[Kantolin]

Sorry, I also misunderstood. I thought you meant 'As a general statement, the gnoll are unhappy with us' as well - although as I reread, it does seem more like you were warning about 'immediately/shortly'.

[rweird]

Zalgrin double moves to D|42/D|43/E/42/E|43.

Grazik casts Balor Nimbus, sharing the spell with Zalgrin.

IC post upcoming.

[Re'ozul]

Before I forget it AGAIN (as I am about to go to sleep).

Do you want to do the rounds turn by turn or go with total input?

Turn by turn:
Just walk down initiative and everyone does their thing.
Pro: Structured; little chance for mixups.
Cons: Can take a while

Total Input:
Everyone posts their projected actions for this round. Then they are resolved by inititiative.
Pro: Faster, more realistic feel.
Con: Can lead to old final fantasy problem of actions no longer being possible resulting in retconning of posts.

Considering that I tend to be the one with the greatest delay (due to timezones), it probably depends on your preferences.