The Rings of Destiny (OOC)

[Penguinator]

"Religion check for skeletal information on skeletons"

From the I'm assuming that's a joke.

Why are all my rolls four? >_<

[Ramsus]

Hahaha, I have no idea why Vesth thought our initiative is much of a problem. We have the defender sitting in a choke point. As long as none of the skelingtons have ranged attacks we're in a great position. And if some do...well you can fire past my square to get at them most likely.

Pengi is also a melee combatant right? So, if he joins me in the doorway (and holds actions if needed) we can basically operate as one way wall. (Yeah I understand Pengi's character is more set up for chasing things around but, given the excellent tactical situation we should try and take advantage of it. If he runs into the room on his own he's going to get mobbed by the others.)

Edit: &we, if you think you can, get in one of the two squares behind mountain and try to hit one of the far away guys. Nvm, just looked over your powers again, the only thing you could use to hit anything far away would be shielding cube and thinking about it most likely all those skeletons will be coming our way rather quickly, so go ahead and attack the nearby one (basically any of your attacks outside of wasting your Daily would be good here). The benefits or a Resistive Formula on Tar-Kan might be worth one of your two uses for the encounter (I would have included Mountain but, Mountain is probably (guess work here) going to spend most of this combat using the attack that gives him temp HP).

Gah, and here I go, already trying to boss everyone around. *sigh* Well, those are just my suggestions (and I'm still kinda new to this too so, if you guys have better ideas, don't feel like you have to agree with me).

Edit 2: Vesth, what are you using to make the map? It looks nicer than what I'm currently working with.

Edit 3: Pengi, how many arms does your guy have?
I think the reason for the about checking skeletons is that there's really not a whole lot to know about those two particular kinds (the two I'm assuming they are anyway). Still, those who can (are trained in Religion) still should make it, just to get us in the habit (and he could always be pulling a fast one on us) of making monster knowledge checks. They're really very useful.

Edit 4: I just remembered Pengi is using a Spiked chain, you don't even need to get in (their) melee range of these guys. You could just stand in one of those two spots behind me and laugh at them getting opportunity attacked if they tried to get to you. (I would suggest B14 though, just to make sure they can't get past us.)

Edit 5: Ok, this is getting ridiculous. After this combat I'm going to refrain from this level of tactical suggestion unless it's asked for. (It's bad for me to try and act like all of the pieces of the board are mine. )

[usourselves&we]

It's fine that you like being the strategist, just poke us in the right direction/ tell us if we are doing stuff incorrectly and it will all be good.

As such is this the proper way to phrase a turn?

'Chee moves to B13 and attacks skeleton at A16.

[Static Shock] 1d8+5'

the rod would make it a +6 right?
What did Rod Expertise change was it another +1 to make the attack a +7? or something else?

what of the turn can be replaced by fluff?

[Ramsus]

Well, I'm not exactly sure how Vesth wants us to do things...

I'd say you wouldn't ever want to replace your mechanical stuff with flavor stuff. Probably mixed in together or just one then the other, however works for your style/clarity.

I believe that movement would be correct.

Rod Expertise: "Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to implement attack rolls that you make with a rod. When you hold a rod, you gain a +1 shield bonus to AC and Reflex. The bonus to attack rolls increases to +2 at 11th level and +3 at
21st level." So you already have all that stuff calculated in.

+6 with Rod Expertise is correct. You probably want to do the roll to hit and the damage roll, unless you have a reason not to, just to save time. (Can always just ignore the damage roll if you missed.)

Hmmm, so for example:

Mountain lunged (Move from A1 to FFXII-2) at the skeleton with a swift uppercut, bunny in hand (Melee Basic Attack (1d20+4)[19] Damage: (1d4+4)[7] ) and then ate the bunny in one gulp! (Minor Action: Use potion of delicious bunny. Gain temp HP: (1d4)[4] .)

[usourselves&we]

So the attack would be 1d20+6 and the damage is 1d8+5, yes?
Yes, eat the bunny in front of Stoop, watch him cry!!!

[Ramsus]

That would most certainly be correct.

[usourselves&we]

Gah, for got to say the the attack was Static Shock as previously said it was going to be.

[Ramsus]

Well, you could double post and add a description of what your attack looks like. (As far as I know nobody actually even pays attention to the flavor descriptions of attacks and just uses their own.)

Edit: Oh, just as a note. Run is actually a specific type of movement action. While it'll often make more sense for your character to be "running" in flavor you should still note that it's just a regular Move. (Common movement actions: Move, Run, Shift, Stand Up, Crawl.)

[Vesth]

I use RPTools for the map. It's quite nifty!

I wouldn't mind anyway you phase your attacks, but I would recommend something like this:

As he ran, he tossed the dagger, the cold steel flashing through the darkness at the monster he knew would be there.

Spoiler

Move: To S34
Standard: Toss Dagger
Attack: (1d20+2)[8]
Damage: (1d4+2)[6]

What I do need though, is a mention of what skill you use, and any element (cold, etc.) if any, because some monsters and resistant, some monsters are vulnerable and all that

EDIT: It is very much appreciated if you also mention your attack is against what. (eg. against AC or against Ref.). And please mention what monster you attack in IC!

[Ramsus]

Ah, thanks.

I just assumed you checked people's sheets/books for stuff like damage type since powers have so many various things going on. I'll remember to include it though in the future.

[Ramsus]

Darn, archers. Ok, so....can I close the doors and attempt to hold them closed until I can hear at least two other creatures on the other side?

Edit: I'll just post in the IC thread that I do that so that if I can, Vesth can just move things on. If I can't, well I would have had to wait to see the answer anyway.

[Vesth]

You can certaintly try.

[usourselves&we]

So has this momentarily stopped combat?
Arcana could be used to sense the placement of the skeletons, right?

[Vesth]

Skeletons are held together by necrotic energies....so yes, yes they can. Unless there's some other magical signature that's drowning them out.

[Penguinator]

I keep forgetting to put Tar-Kan's speech in the right color...

But I don't want to change that post, 'cause a 16 roll on that check is pretty nice.

[Ramsus]

Well, anyone have any issue with our plan being to go another round to let everyone position, have &we hold his next action, and have Mountain boot open the door again? (Though who knows if the door will last that long. At least our melee characters are forming a wall now.)

[usourselves&we]

If the door will hold that sounds like a good idea.

If the door is standing come Chee's turn and we are not here to say that we are holding the our action, this is here to say that that is the plain and let Mountain kick the door down. Then Chee can zap one of the stronger skeletons (maybe they wont burst into dust) when a post can be made on this end.

[Ramsus]

Looks like Vesth didn't mention it but, I'm pretty sure it's Matthias' turn. Unless Skeletons move and attack doors as a free action.

[Vesth]

Apologies. You said to wait for 2 skeletons. So some moved off, and some...yadada.

Anyway, it's Mountain's turn by the time the second skeleton gets close.

Everyone may rearrange themselves however they like while waiting for the skeletons to get into position.

[Ramsus]

Aren't you skipping Ligo? After he declares his movement and it comes around to my turn I boot open the door again (minor action? ). Going to sleep now though, so as soon as you feel it makes sense to go ahead and fast forward to that part.

[Vesth]

Um yeah. The second monster that comes is just before Mountain's turn, so everyone is entitled to move to their favorite positions. Opening the door IS a minor action!

[Vesth]

Please note that rituals still have a *rather long* casting time, so you won't be able to spontaneously cast it without preparation.

[Matthias2207]

So... Is it a good idea to cast a ritual, or don't I have the time for that? I could still club the skeletons to death with my staff, if need be.
I thought Thorn Spray could do some nice damage to the two skeletons behind the door, but well...
Please explain ritual preparation/casting.
BTW, At-Will powers can be used more than once, whenever I want and Encounter once per encounter?

[Vesth]

Google is awesome! Check the houserules on rituals again.

As explained in the *updated* houserules, the rituals now have a minimum casting time of 5 rounds, i.e. you need to spend 5 rounds just to prepare the ritual. You can't exactly do anything else while preparing your ritual for casting. So it's more like a 'before-battle preperation' thing.

At-will powers can be used once every round.
Encounter is once an encounter (to be exact, you need time to take a breather to refresh. If more monsters barge in and you don't have time to rest, it's not counted.)
Daily is once a day (8 hours with sleep).

[Matthias2207]

5 rounds of doing nothing!?
I'm just going to bash their skulls in.

[Ramsus]

Yeah, you don't really use rituals in combat unless it's for plot reasons. Also, the things they do often aren't very useful to combat anyway.

Also to note, it's pretty hard to attack things through doors/walls/etc. And by hard I mean more or less impossible the way the rules work.

[Matthias2207]

Do I actually have rituals? I thought the stuff under 'Powers' were rituals, but now I'm not so sure anymore.
What I really need to know: is it possible for me to use Thorn Spray in my next turn?
After that I'm probably going to shift to Beast Form and use Grasping Claws on the nearest enemy.

[Ramsus]

Your powers are your spells. Rituals are down under Rituals (it's on the lower right side of the character sheet.) The difference is basically that your power spells are combat/encounter stuff and the Rituals are longer spells that do a variety of different stuff (pretty much none of it very useful to combat).

[Matthias2207]

I'm going to use Animal Messenger to taunt the enemy.
Dog: Hey you, bonehead! I found your mother last night, shared her with my friends!

[Vesth]

...yeah. Animal Messenger is a ritual. Which has a 5 round casting time.