Save my character before tomorrows match. Mission Impossible

[dascarletm]

So Background:
This is an online war campaign I am playing set in Rokugan. The DM has allowed ToB characters, and thus I'm a crusader. Last session we ended in a predicament for my character, Kirito. I'm surrounded and have little to no hit points, and full steely resolve.

Here is the set-up.

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I'm the one with Kirito as the name, the spear men around me all wield naginatas (10ft reach 1d10 damage) and are level 1 warriors. The guys holding their heads are samurai who are either level 2 or 3, wielding katanas. All the troops on the tower are our troops, and all named tokens are allies, (Both on the bridge below me are players.) Purple circle by the token means disarmed/using secondary weapon (as with the samurai next to me who is using a wazi.)

All the players are together in initiative, and the DM is just letting us move around in the initiative order as we choose. Enemies have just went, and it is our turn.
I have 6 HP and a full 10 in my steely resolve which will go to my HP at the end of the round.

My character:

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Level 4 Crusader. (Max HP, 48 total, 6 current)
Str: 17
Dex: 12
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 8
Cha: 16
AC: 18 (+7 Great Armor, +1 Dex)
Weapons: +1 Katana, MWK Wakizashi, MWK Comp Longbow (+3STR setting), MWK Naginata
Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Ancestral Weapon
Talismans: Pass without trace, expeditious retreat x2, feather fall.
Maneuvers known: Stone Bones, Crusader's Strike, Douse the Flames, Leading the Attack, Tactical Strike, Battle leaders charge.
Special: due to stuff that happened the session before this, I get one free readying of one maneuver at some point in this battle.
Maneuvers readied: Crusader's Strike, Douse the Flames, Leading the Attack
Stances: Marital Spirit(currently up), Leading the Charge

My allies near me:

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Saji is a scout with comp longbow (idk specifics pretty standard though)

Lightning Cho is a water shugenja (most spells exhausted)

Character above lightning Cho is a fighter with reach weapon. He is heavy spec'd for mobility and ac. He usually runs through taking attacks of opportunity (none usually hit). He is also getting healed by cho this coming turn

Green NPCs Tortoise Ashigaru Lvl 1 warriors with quarterstaves, Blue NPCS Crane ashigaru with long spears and short spears. Most are also equipped with longbows

Is it hopelessly lost? Am I going to need to ready a reserve character?

PS: sorry i had to make this post quick so excuse syntax errors and the like. Doing this during my lunch break. We play tomorrow at 5:30 as well.

Also thanks for the help in advance

[Diarmuid]

I think you have to let Cho heal the mobility guy, then have him run up and hopefully exhaust some of the AoO's you would provoke from moving where you are.

He moves up and attacks whichever of the 2 Samurai may have already taken some damage to either drop it or soften it up for you.

You dont have much choice but to use Crusader's Strike on a Samurai and hope you can PA/Cleave to kill the other one. This will heal you for (1d6+4)+2+2 (from Martial Spirit) in a best-case scenario.

The only other option I see is to have Cho 5' step to the left of mobility guy and then ready an action to heal you when you come into range. Use your special abiltiy to ready Tactical Strike and charge to the square just north of where Cho ended up (not provoking any AoO's) and then attacking the guy in range.

You could change this up slightly to move you and Cho each up a square which should let you cleave and gain another 2 HP from Martial Spirit, but this puts Cho in range of being attacked by multiple enemies when he casts.

This also leaves the mobility guy low on health as well.

[Darrin]

Hmmm. A little spitballing:

1) Drop your weapon and surrender. If the samurai are lawful, they will be honor-bound not to kill you (at least without a good reason), and should be able to stop the ashigaru from skewering you "just because". Hope that the DM then moves towards a "prison break" scenario.

2) Fight defensively or go full defensive, and 5' step your way into a more defensible position... uh... towards the bridge?

3) Make a run for the bridge, avoid all the AoOs (um... yeah), jump in the river, and hope the current is fast enough to get you off the board before the spears/arrows can kill you.

4) Ready an action to trigger after an attack, drop prone and "play dead" (how's your Bluff roll?).

5) "Some day I wish we could all drink tea together" speech. This is a staple in HK action movies where the main character spouts off an inspiring speech to the bad guys about how they really should be good guys, and then they suddenly switch sides. Not likely to work unless you can pull of a ludicrously hard Diplomacy roll.

[Nettlekid]

So your main concern is getting out of harm's way and away from all those polearm-wielding enemies without being AoOed to kingdom come? Because your odds are pretty low, but there is at least one thing you could do to get away from them without taking any AoOs. It would still leave you in a bad position, but it might be worth a shot.

Charge your tank fighter, or if your move speed is high enough, one of the Redshirts (Sorry, Greenshirts) in the back. I know that sounds bad, but you have Battle Leader's Charge which you can prepare (you said you had the power to automatically call one known maneuver to be readied?) and that means you can charge without provoking AoOs from anyone on the side. Get out of there and onto the bridge without any AoOs. Since you said the fighter is designed to be a tank with a high AC, you have two options. One is to do the attack regularly. If you hit you'll deal regular weapon damage+10 from the maneuver, which isn't good, but you will recover a small amount of health from Martial Stance. You'll still go unconscious at the end of your turn, so that's probably what you don't want to do. Also you smash him up pretty bad. On the other hand, if you Power Attack for everything, and take as many penalties as you can (like make it nonlethal, or hell, drop your weapon when you get to him and Unarmed Strike for nonlethal) you can hope to miss that high AC, leaving him no worse for the wear and you out of harms way, even if you're still knocked out anyway. It's not a good plan, but I think it might work. Especially if you have faith in your allies to pick up the slack.

[dascarletm]

All good ideas, but what about stone bones? Does it reduce my Steely resolve damage?

Would battle-leaders charge let me go through enemy squares at all?


As a role-playing note, I'm going for a "Great Honorable Warrior Leader" type. Any feasible way of not running away? If that is the only option, then I'll do it.

[Diarmuid]

Stone bones will not help reduce the damage coming out of your Steely Resolve.

It would have helped reduce the incoming damage from the weapons that filled your Steely Resolve, but once it's in there it's not subject to DR anymore.

You need to heal at least 5 points of damage before the end of your turn to remain standing once your turn ends. Thankfully and damage you take from AoO's or other means before your next turn will go to your Steely Resolve again and perhaps buy you another round, as long as that damage doesnt exceed your SR pool and available HP.

[Nettlekid]

"He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day." It's noble to want to fight until the last man, but a great military leader will accept when the tide has turned. And it is far more noble to protect the lives of your allies at the cost of your pride. Besides, you might not be running away for good. You'll probably be able to retreat, use the bridge as a choke point to stifle the oncoming attackers (although the reach weapons make that hard) and with a healing spell if you can spare one, followed by Crusader's Strike, you'll be back on your feet.

I really think the best shot is to Battle Leader's Charge away, attack your Fighter ally with it with nonlethal damage (because it'll be healed away at the same time as the normal damage he's about to be healed). If you try to leave and provoke attacks of opportunity, you will eat TWELVE attacks by moving a single square. As you are, you're going to go unconscious. But 12 attacks will kill you, since you're practically at -4 already as soon as your Steely Resolve breaks down.

Now, are those guys in the rear (the green and a couple of blues) allies or enemies? If they're allies, get back and let them clog up the bridge, keeping the enemies at bay while your Scout snipes from the tower. If they're enemies, you're pretty screwed and you should probably dive into the river first chance you get. Charge a fish.

Do you know what spells the Shugenja has left? Those can turn the tide of a battle.

[Yogibear41]

5 foot step, fight defensively, crusaders strike one of the level 1 guys hope you kill him cleave to another and hope you kill him. Then Pray your AC is high enough to get you to the next round

Or have your water priest do some awesome crowd control spell or something to save your life. I'm not very familiar with them so I'm not sure what they can do.

[dascarletm]

"He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day." It's noble to want to fight until the last man, but a great military leader will accept when the tide has turned. And it is far more noble to protect the lives of your allies at the cost of your pride. Besides, you might not be running away for good. You'll probably be able to retreat, use the bridge as a choke point to stifle the oncoming attackers (although the reach weapons make that hard) and with a healing spell if you can spare one, followed by Crusader's Strike, you'll be back on your feet.

I really think the best shot is to Battle Leader's Charge away, attack your Fighter ally with it with nonlethal damage (because it'll be healed away at the same time as the normal damage he's about to be healed). If you try to leave and provoke attacks of opportunity, you will eat TWELVE attacks by moving a single square. As you are, you're going to go unconscious. But 12 attacks will kill you, since you're practically at -4 already as soon as your Steely Resolve breaks down.

Now, are those guys in the rear (the green and a couple of blues) allies or enemies? If they're allies, get back and let them clog up the bridge, keeping the enemies at bay while your Scout snipes from the tower. If they're enemies, you're pretty screwed and you should probably dive into the river first chance you get. Charge a fish.

Do you know what spells the Shugenja has left? Those can turn the tide of a battle.

I think the shugenja is spent. the guys at the bottom are allies.

[Callin]

You have failed in your task and brought much dishonor upon you and your family. You must perform Seppuku immediately.



Honestly I agree with the charging fighter bit, get you out of immediate harms way when you drop. Then have your friends gather around you to try and get you stabilized or even back up if possible.

[Nettlekid]

Then yeah, I think this is what I'd do in your (and your team's) place. First have the Shugenja and the Fighter retreat to the other side of the bridge to heal. Have the Shugenja stand on the square on the right side of the bridge where the bridge begins, where there's a mix of earth and stone. Have the Fighter stand just in front of the Shugenja. Then you charge him with Battle Leader's Charge (I'm assuming 20 ft move speed due to heavy armor) which gets you there, putting you on the tile three in front of the first green soldier on the right. Punch your Fighter (do it Kamina style or something, flavor it so that it's a punch of encouragement) and pass out, because you will. But now you're out of harm's way, and all three of you are on one side of the bridge. The green soldiers can go around you and block off the bridge, fighting the polearm-wielders while your Scout snipes from the tower. Try to get some healing from the Shugenja if you can, if he has ANY spells left, because that keeps you in the fight.

[Darrin]

I really think the best shot is to Battle Leader's Charge away, attack your Fighter ally with it with nonlethal damage (because it'll be healed away at the same time as the normal damage he's about to be healed).

This. I think it's your best chance. (It's also 100 times smarter than anything I came up with.) It gets you into a much more defensible position, gives you a chance to heal enough to stay conscious (or puts you where an ally is more likely to heal you), and forces your enemies to come at you through a choke point.

For the charge to work, though, you may have to delay until your allies can move out of the way. You can't charge through your own allies.

[dascarletm]

So you all don't think the fighter triggering the AoO's before me, softening a samurai, then returning to the bridge followed by me crusader's striking (maybe cleaving) then move-action next the the fighter while pulling out my naginata to hold the bridge would be a prudent action?

[Deophaun]

Well, Battle Leader's Charge may not work, because it specifies "opponent," not "creature." It also goes against how you described your character (turning on an ally just to save your own skin is not very honorable).

You could withdraw, your first step going SW, and that means you will *only* take six AoOs. If the allied NPCs can use their longbows to drop a couple of the spearmen to the south, that could give you a reasonable window out. You will drop, but you'll only be dying, not dead.

[Nettlekid]

I know that feels more heroic and cooler, but no. Not at all. The main problem is the numbers. There are just too many of them. Even if your Fighter has a high enough AC to dodge all attacks, there's a decent chance that they'll get a nat 20 to hit. On their move they'll all be attacking, and you'll have plenty of damage to eat. You don't want to provoke more attacks. I expect they have decent health, but even if you could 1 hit kill them, then the Fighter kills one (two if he also has Cleave), you kill two, and you still have 15-16 enemies, getting flanking bonuses, and all of whom can attack you thanks to their reach. You're just too outmatched in terms of numbers. And if you used Crusader's Strike, then at BEST, rolling a 6 for health and Cleaving, you get back 14 HP, which leaves you at 10 HP after your Steely Resolve runs out. With the newly emptied Steely Resolve, you can take 20 damage before you get knocked out. There are almost 20 enemies, so if they do more than 1 or 2 damage each, you're as good as dead. As is your Fighter friend who jumped in to help you out.

What's the Fighter's health like? Because it might be better that you get the healing from the Shugenja instead of the Fighter, and then if you have enough HP left you get back into the fight and heal the Fighter with Crusader's Strike on your own. I'm still a little worried about those reach weapons overpowering your green soldiers (if they don't have reach then two rows of reachers can fight one row of greens) but you have a bow, as does your Scout, so you can offer ranged support.

EDIT: As for Battle Leader's Charge letting you attack an ally, I think to refuse that would be nitpicky RAW on the DM's part. And players can abuse RAW much more easily than the DM, so that's a slippery slope. It's understandable for anything like Crusader's Strike (so you don't just smack allies and heal a lot) but for this, it just says opponent because why would you attack your friend? If you used that interpretation, a Frenzied Berserker with levels in Crusader could prepare all "attack opponent" maneuvers and be unable to use them on the allies he later finds himself attacking, because they aren't really opponents. Besides, although the text says "opponent," the information block states Target: One Creature. So it should work. Just say that you see the Fighter backing away, and your noble warrior pride forces you to rush over there and smack him in the face, before grabbing him by the collar and giving him a stirring and inspirational speech about never giving up the face of danger. Play it up!

[Darrin]

Just say that you see the Fighter backing away, and your noble warrior pride forces you to rush over there and smack him in the face, before grabbing him by the collar and giving him a stirring and inspirational speech about never giving up the face of danger. Play it up!

If you don't think your character would ever attack an ally, you can bull rush at the end of a charge instead of attacking. He was "out of position" or standing in the only spot that gave you a chance to turn the tide of battle. You'll still drop, but at least you'll be close enough to allies that they have a better chance to revive you.

[avr]

"Marital" Spirit? Do I want to know?

OK, I know that should be Martial Spirit.

Attacking an ally in Rokugan sounds like setting yourself up for serious dishonor, even if it would be healed for free in another moment. Ask your DM before even if you're going to use bull rush.

If the samurai drop, might someone be able to intimidate the mooks into backing off? Since you and the fighter would probably have to use your actions to do this, this would require either the scout or shugenja to be half decent at the intimidate skill, which might be too much to ask.

[dascarletm]

"Marital" Spirit? Do I want to know?

I call upon the thought of my wife to heal my wounds.... Not even going to edit that.

[Rejusu]

I'm surprised no one has pointed out that attacking after a charge is a purely optional action:

Attacking on a Charge
After moving, you may make a single melee attack.

As far as I know there's no restriction on using charge for movement only. Which is good because randomly attacking your ally would likely be out of character.

[Telonius]

How stable is the bridge? Is attempting to bring it down an option at all?

[Eldariel]

Currently you're falling to -4 HP at the end of the turn. Crusader's Strike and Martial Spirit are the only way for you to remain conscious, so an attack has to be made. However! Cho can heal. He could heal the mobility Fighter but more importantly he should be healing you this round instead, since it'll keep your conscious. This way you could use Stone Bones instead of Crusader's Strike which increases your chance of survival tremendously.


I think your plan is honestly the best one. Have the mobility Fighter eat AOOs. Use Stone Bones (can you guesstimate their AC from the fight? Can you afford the -4 from Defensive Fighting? You need to hit; if you have a decent [say, 50/50] chance of hitting with Defensive Fighting, go for it), Hope//Pray that you hit (otherwise you're probably dead), move to the bridge triggering any AOOs headed your way.

Since Stone Bones gives you DR 5/- there's 50/50 chance that any attacks from your pole-arm wielding opponents will fail to damage you and since you heal for 2 with Martial Spirit, you only need 2 points from your Shugenja to remain conscious. Next round you're at a much easier-to-defend position and can heal significantly more, and with Stone Bones active, and you have 10 more points of Steely Resolve to absorb damage with.

Crusader's Strike is the next best thing I guess. But yeah, beef up defensively, heal up as much as possible and get out from being surrounded, and use the bridge as a choke point; only two of them can attack you at once. Your mobility Fighter could also Aid Another you with your attack to improve your chance of hitting since he has a reach weapon. That's the best you can do; your odds of survival aren't very high but they're non-zero and it'll be a great story if you do come out alive. There are simply too many of them to try and take them out at once so you need to focus on surviving for now and turning back the clock and remaking the universe down the line.

[dascarletm]

How stable is the bridge? Is attempting to bring it down an option at all?

The bridge is made of sturdy stone, there is a wooden one above us out of screen which an ally is burning to prevent even more reinforcements.

Eldariel,
I think I'll go with something like that later today.

However, sadly, most of the party blames me for charging gloriously into combat against outnumbered odds. So, I may not be getting much help.

We shall see.

[Eldariel]

Eldariel,
I think I'll go with something like that later today.

However, sadly, most of the party blames me for charging gloriously into combat against outnumbered odds. So, I may not be getting much help.

We shall see.

If the characters are friends IC, it doesn't matter how dumb his actions are, they'd probably try to help you. Just remind the players of that; you ****ed up, it happens, you're all in it together and their chances of survival are greater with than without you.

[Deophaun]

The problem is, expecting the shugenja to wade into that death trap to deliver a touch healing spell is unreasonable. You, Crusader, need to get out of there. Now. It looks like you have six archers that can concentrate fire on the group of level 1s in the southwest corner. They should drop two. If the fighter is nice, he can try to provoke AoOs from that group's survivors (try, because there's nothing that says they have to take those AoOs). Then, you withdraw, provoking no more than six AoOs, and maybe none depending on how your party did, and you fall unconscious behind the lines. Then it's reasonable for the shugenja to heal you.

[Nettlekid]

Are you guys really thinking about the mobility and action economy going on in this fight, because I don't think your plan is solid. For one, I'm assuming by the way you're talking that the Fighter has Spring Attack. Because if not, he's only going to be able to get up there, smack one enemy, and then eat a faceful of spears. If he does then he can get up there like you want, take a few AoOs, but if you want him to attack the Samurai then, with a move speed of 30, he'll end up one square closer to all the enemies than he currently is. Provoking a couple of AoOs on the way, but not from the many enemies in back who still have you in their sight. You're also assuming that none of the polearm warriors have Combat Reflexes, which wouldn't be a bad choice if you have a reach weapon and so it's not something you can definitely count out. You're also assuming that all the polearm-wielders will take their AoO. They might see two or three allies miss, and think "Eh, forget it, I'll focus on the armored guy who looks close to death in case he moves instead."

Unless you use Battle Leader's Charge, you MUST NOT move, especially before you attack (but probably after as well.) If your first action on your turn is a move, and the Fighter hasn't gone in to provoke any AoOs yet, you will face 12 AoOs with one step, and a couple more as you keep going. If you use Crusader's Strike to heal, kill one and Cleave another, you will be at 15-20 HP, about to take 10 from your Steely Resolve. If you move following that you will take 10 AoOs, say only 4 hit (probably more than that would, so 4 is generous), average damage 5.5, you'll take 22 damage or so. That's not unreasonable to assume, and that will knock you out, in your same position (you won't actually have moved before you take the AoOs) and now it's their turn! Also the moment you're knocked out, the Steely Resolve damage will kill you, so your ally can't even heal you. The Shugenja isn't going to move in to heal you before that, because all those many warriors are about to attack and they'll get both you and the Shugenja if he does so.

If you use Stone Bones instead of Crusader's Strike on that turn, then it's true that you are likely to shake off most damage from your enemies, but if you kill two with Stone Bones and Cleave and heal 4 from Martial Spirit, that leaves you at just 10 HP, which you're about to lose from Steely Resolve. That leaves you with DR 5/adamantine and 0 HP. Are you that confident that on their turn, every single warrior will roll 5 or less on their damage? A single point will knock you out, if not on this turn (because of Steely Resolve) then next turn when that damage pool rolls over. If you try to keep fighting and healing with Martial Spirit and Crusader's Strike, you will be fighting a losing battle, and you will lose. I guarantee it.

Because something else you're not thinking of is their next turn. You're so concerned with not dying right now, this round, that you don't seem to be considering what's just about to happen. Let's say your plan works exactly like you want it to, the Fighter provokes all AoOs, all miss, moves back onto the bridge, you get to the bridge with no AoOs and with ~5-10 health, not dead. The Fighter, after that Spring Attack, is STILL IN REACH OF THREE WARRIORS. You, if you have a 20 ft move speed (I assume), will be in reach of at least one, and others can get within reach with just a 5 ft step or a move. Even if your green allies move up to block off, because you stayed on the offensive this turn you're all too far out, and within striking distance. On the turn of the polearm-wielders, they can jab through a wall of green soldiers (indeed they must, since they can't attack adjacent) and stab you all till you die.

Instead, if you follow my strategy of Battle Leader's Charge back to the bridge, nonlethal attacking or Bull Rushing ("Get down, Mr. President!") or not-attacking your Fighter ally, then if you let him move first you'll end up at about the middle of the bridge, with your Shugenja and Fighter ally a little further back. If the Shugenja heals you, all three of you can stay in the fight. Meanwhile the backup soldiers form two rows of three, with a 5-ft space between the two rows. Don't let them get close enough to provoke AoOs from the polearm wielders, and shoot from that distance. The polearm-wielders will have to move to 10 feet away to attack, at which point the first row of soldiers takes a 5ft step forward to engage in melee (close enough that the polearm-wielders can't attack them) while the second row takes a 5ft step back and continues the archery assault on the polearm-wielders who are far enough back to damage the first row of your soldiers. Your team should lend archery support as well. Since your disadvantage is numbers, use the bridge to force the enemy into sending only a few of their warriors into battle at once, while you pick them off. That is your best chance for not only survival, but victory.

[Trasilor]

snipped.

Nettlekid is right. If you want your Crusader to survive, you need to move back to your group and hope your party moves forward to bottleneck the enemy.

If charging an ally seams completely 'wrong' for your character, prepare yourself for glorious death

Using the Battle Leader's Charge to "charge" your ally, and not choosing to attack after the charge - an option you can do with a charge - puts you back with allies.

For me, I envision a bit of a Han Solo event. You charge bravely, only to find overwhelming odds and charge back.

[Tvtyrant]

You aren't retreating, you are making a charging bullrush to prevent your ally from getting surrounded!

[dascarletm]

We know the mooks, polearmers, use the <insert correct name> stat array that gives 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8. As do all basic troops. We know they have +1 to str from the damage we've taken, and +1 con because of their health, so no Combat reflexes I think.

He does have spring attack, and the baddies have been taking the first AoO they can every time. From what they've seen from the battle they would most likely not expect me to go back. I've been yelling a lot of stuff to their samurai who have fallen back.

Battle leader's charging back is an option I may go with, but I just don't know if I can do it after all the trash talking

If i can take 2 samurai out, and 5 ft. step the allies behind the bridge could charge into glory and hopefully save my butt. They are under my control, and have been awaiting my command, assuming our allies could give them room to move across.

[Malachei]

If you survive, make sure to take Stone Power as your next feat.

[Nettlekid]

If you survive, make sure to take Stone Power as your next feat.

Stone Power's awesome, and Crusader 5 is the best time to have it. In my first-ever campaign I was a Warforged Crusader. I had the Adamantine Body feat, and then took Stone Power. With DR 2/adamantine, the Crusader's Steely Resolve to regulate what damage I took and when, and Stone Power, I never took damage. I was a tank. Almost literally.