Rules Arbitration

If you have a rules question or dispute, put it here and I will respond when possible.

1. Are we doing the standard alignments?

2. Apologies, I've never played (or been in party with) a monk before. It looks like I can potentially make 5 attacks when I take the Attack action: 2 weapon strikes (spend 1 ki to make one a Stunning Strike), bonus unarmed strike, and then spend ki for a Flurry of Blows (2 more unarmed strikes)

3. What about hitting opponents with a grapple, hoisting them 60ft into the air and dropping them? Legal? Nothing in RAW against it but I know that some GM's disallow it. But I am actually contemplating making it so Fēng's monastic order considers such tactics as dishonorable.

1) You can be whatever alignment you so choose. Usually I say no evil alignments (because you all should be heroes) and no CN (because most people use that as an excuse to do whatever they want) but really, you all seem mature gamers so I'm not going to tell you what you can and cannot do. Just don't be a dick and everything should be ok.

2) Actually, you only get one bonus action so you can either take a free attack for three attacks in a turn or spend a ki point to do flurry as a bonus action and get four attacks. There is no limit on the amount of stunning strikes you can do in a turn except your total ki pool (i.e. you can use stunning strike every time you hit with an attack).

3) A grappling action replaces one of the attacks during your Attack action and is an Athletics check vs targets Athletics or Acrobatics (i.e. it is not an attack roll). The creature being grappled has the Grappled condition; the grappler does not. Once you have grappled someone, you can move them with you but your movement speed is halved (so you would only be able to fly up with them 30ft for 3d6 falling damage) unless they are two or more sizes smaller than you (so Tiny or Diminutive in this case).

Ever type a word so much it loses meaning and becomes weird? Grapple . . . what's up with that.

Haha! Yeah, happens to me too :-D

Thanks for the rules clarifications. My mistake was overlooking the part where it says Flurry is a bonus action.

I'm playing CN, but I won't be that guy who does whatever he wants. I am looking to play out a redemption story most likely. If noting else Kildrak will see the party as a potential political tool for his endeavors.

I play CN as well, but more along the lines of a lawless person who doesn't really fall into the good or evil category. Occasionally does acts of both in achieving goals, generally within a self(or tribe) defined warrior code. When I play ruthless mercenary characters I usually label them CN.

I guess my real question is do we have to put our alignment on the charsheet or is it enough that we roleplay our character to the best of our ability? Diff GM's have diff opinions on this. Just checking :-)

Oh and update on the grab-and-drop-from-a-height technique: the Order of the Golden Talon has nothing against it.

I had noticed the two of you were and figured it would be fine. I usually go to this site to help guide my CN actions. Also, I am usually playing with highschoolers or younger. If there be high schoolers on here, I'd just as soon not know.

And yes, I would note your alignment on your character sheet.

I'll answer mikelzap's question here. Yes, attacking from a hidden position grants advantage on the attack roll against those from whom you are hidden.

Didn't know where to put this: I will be away for a couple of days and unable to post. Thanks!

How are we handling critical hits and damage? It's supposed to be doubling the base dice rolled. I think we just quickly add a second post with "critical damage" and we roll another die. Like for my crossbow I roll a 1d8+3 if crit I make a second post with 1d8 rolling. I figure this is something we should figure out before it happens.

I think a quick edit with the necessary extra damage dice wouldbe sufficient. Also, your sneak attack damage would double on a crit if it applied.

Hi! I'm back from my trip and anxious to get back to the adventure :-)

Jabes, be sure to add +4 damage per attack when you roll in the future. Since you attack with dex, you add dex to damage.

*facepalm* D'oh! Ok, got it. So sorry! :-D

I'm back at max health I tried to roll a 1d8+3+3 to show life domain but it doesn't allow to break up modifiers I guess. Will just do 1d8+6 next time.

Sounds good.

This is the second time initiative has come into the conversation. I figured it was easier, because of everyone's varied schedules and the forum style play, to use an initiave variant that is as simple as "Heroes turn - Monsters turn". That way combat can be more organic and not have to wait on single players to get to their computer, slowing us down to a halt. Basically, once the monsters have taken their turn, it resets and anyone can act once again.

Also, Mikelzap, you'll have to choose whether you want to cast Shield of Faith and a second cantrip or Inflict Wounds.

PHB p202-

I think this works extremely well for PbP :-) I've seen some other things attempted in other games but for me because of the nature of PbP this works best even though it does render some features & feats useless.

Damn, I missed that bonus action rule completely. :) Let's keep the attack roll and go with a dagger attack.

Looks like I made some mistakes with crits and damage. Only Lizardfolk 1 actually crit it seems . . . weird since I remember seeing 20s. I'll figure it out in the morning.

For everyone:

Back in previous editions, characters had an opportunity to take something known as a five foot step as part of their move action so that the could disengage from the enemy with out incurring an Attack of Opportunity. Now, there is an action called Disengage that allows you to move up to your speed without provoking Attacks of Opportunity. However, the lack of a Disengage action does not completely limit your mobility because once you enter a creature's threathened range, as long as you don't leave that range, you don't provoke Attacks of Opportunity meaning you can run rings around an opponent to better position yourself without provoking your enemy's reaction. Just watch out for overlapping threathened ranges from multiple creatures and moving in and out of those.

In regards to the use of Inspiration: I haven't awarded any Inspiration up to this point. Inspiration is a mechanic the DM uses to reward good roleplaying. More information on how it can be used can be found in the PHB pg 125. Caveat here is I am pretty bad at remembering to grant it. You all are doing a pretty good job at playing close to your character traits. Because of that, I will say that everyone has had a point of Inspiration and will recover up to one point (never having more than a total of one point) of Inspiration after a long rest. In the case of exceptional roleplay, and the player is not presently inspired, the DM may award additional Inspiration.

Kildrak's turn will remain as written but in the future, there are no more five foot steps. Kildrak has used his daily Inspiration, all others have a single Inspiration remaining from the previous day. The long rest has been interrupted so you will still have an opportunity to earn one after you finish your rest.

Sorry I missed the initiative ruling here. Totally makes sense for PbP. Do we want to introduce a group initiative roll for when neither side is surprised? That could potentially salvage the usefulness of some initiative-enhancing feats.

Whoops, sorry...I could have sworn the rules were there. Must have been a play test version that had the 5-foot step and Start with Inspiration.

Sorry for the mess on the game thread, guys! I don't know what's happening. I've reported it to Keleth. http://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/711/?p=13076#p13076

TMK, I wonder if this was the same issue you came up against when you tried posting a wall of rolls?

Yeah, maybe. I just blamed it on me misreading late at night but when I first saw that the numbers weren't what I remembered, my brain did a somersault. They could have changed when I added in the crit rolls but I can't be sure. I'll try to keep a more watchful eye.

Just testing my die rolling theory.

Yup - my theory is confirmed. The dice parser hates spaces. I typed exactly the same in both boxes each time. I'll add it to your bug report @Jabes

Note that only the spaceless entries worked properly. The d30 thing is just bizarre, though! :-)

Is it OK to do what I just did and re-roll an attack with inspiration but keep the damage (which anyway was rolled together with the first attack), or should I re-roll the damage also? I'll do it now anyway to keep things moving, but would be good to know for future which damage 'counts'.

I don't remember putting in any spaces in between values but there might have been spaces at the ends because I was doing cut and paste.

Keleth's reply also made me wonder if it might have something to do with hitting the Add Roll button multiple times before putting any data in. That's never caused problems for me before but then again I've never tried to attach 16 rolls to a single post before either.

So here's a test:

Well, the post finally worked. Either Keleth fixed something or it was harlandski's spaces theory or it was the data input before clicking Add roll again technique, or even the fact that I only put 12 rolls in instead of 16. Cleaning up the thread now.

I don't understand - why did I miss after using inspiration to reroll?

Edit: I went back to the PHB and realized inspiration gives advantage, not a reroll. Been playing too much Savage Worlds and Fate it seems! :-)

Foolsmask - you used three Vampiric Touches but you only have 2 spell slots. If you want to keep the attack roll we can change it to Eldritch Blast and roll new damage.

It is a concentration spell that lasts for one minute. I can use it for up to that length. It says so in the last sentence of the spell. It is a more potent than previous editions in that it isn't a one time use spell. Pg 285 for reference

Fair enough. I kept looking for something like, "If it misses you can keep using it." The fact that it's concentration would have tipped me off but I thought it was just a melee spell attack so therefore an action. My bad and I'll be more thorough for future rulings.

I agree it seems OP at first, but comparing it to other spells it balances. Magic is just a lot different in 5th Ed. And I did have to double check and make sure I didn't miss something when you posted. What you said kind of made sense but I was sure I was using it right.

Is Jabes gone?

I'm still around :-) Just a busy day and these are work hours for me (It's 3:25pm here right now).

Ah I see West Aus? It's 3:25am for me. Headed to bed soon. I work evening shift so I'm up at odd hours.

Manila :-) It's GMT+8. But I also keep crazy hours :-D

Test

Test

X

Just for the record: Whenever Cassandra changes form, she incorporates all her clothes etc into her as per the option in the PHB.

I posted ahead of mikelzap but Feng will go after Urki so I'll attach rolls to my post after mikelzap posts. Do we have surprise/advantage here?

EDIT: Looked it up, no advantage on surprise attacks. A pity, because I rolled a 1 on the fourth attack :-P

I don't believe Feng and Urki know about the "innocent farmers"

Though the goblins did tell us about this

Is this game still going? Should I just attack the chief? Is he using the guard action each then/day?

Sorry for the delay everyone. I'll post today.

No worries! Looking forward to it! :-)

Yeah, no worries. Good to be going again!

Just so I can plan things out: How far is Cassandra from the hobgoblins now, do I have a perch where I could safely change back into human form and not fall to the ground (bamboo you said, maybe not...), and are any of the hobgoblins standing right on the edge of the cliff, or at least within 5 feet of it?!

You are 50 ft from the closest Hobgoblin. Two stand near the edge.

Reminder to everyone: Now that the captain is prone, melee attacks against him have advantage and ranged attacks against him are at disadvantage. Pls correct me if I'm wrong.

Jabes that is true but he is also stunned. So it's a wash AFAIK. I forgot the prone rule because I was so excited for stunned. Either way I missed horribly. :D

You're correct, of course. I totally missed that :-)

Hehe. I like that! :-) Too bad I've been busy with work and missed an entire round of combat. Thanks for making it totally in character for Feng!

Damn, Feng is in trouble. 10/38hp. I don't need to savr vs massive damage unless Feng drops to 0hp, right?

Doesn't it suck that by RAW in 5E you need to either be a Battle Master or have the Martial Adept feat to do disarm attacks? Anybody could attempt that in 3E. I hope TMK will houserule that it's ok because I like what Cassandra's attempting. Will hold my post til we get a ruling on that. Feng will either Disengage or throw caution to the wind and attempt a disarm as well.

I approve of all the action options listed in the DMG pg 271-3 with the exception of Marking. We can take a vote if we want the Lingering Injuries rule moving forward unless we like the world of magical healing means true healing.

Extra Action Options would include:
Climb onto a Bigger Creature
Disarm
Mark
Overrun
Shove Aside
Tumble
Hitting Cover
Cleaving Through Creatures
Injuries
Massive Damage

In my mind you can do anything you really want. These just give us a base to work with as DMs in the case a player asks, "Can I do that?".

Success.

Actually in reading the Disarm rules, it gets to be opposed.

You still succeed.

Oh cool! I've never read the DMG so I checked out the pages you referenced just now. So Cassandra pulls it off, woot!

Here's Feng's save vs massive damage then. Aaand that's a fail :-(

At first, I was like "Feng, that came from two attacks, so you are actually ok." But then I saw that the Martial advantage made the one attack a whooping 20 damage so yeah, Massive Damage. Go ahead and roll a d10. Don't get a one.

Here goes.

You are unable to take reactions. Usually I say the attacker winded you when you cant take reactions.

I missed the discussion about disarm, but I'm obviously pleased with the decision :-) I'll check out the DMG combat options you mention. Generally I'm a fan of "anything can be attempted", which is pretty much canon in 5e, though subject to DM approval.

I've also read the massive damage rule and find it flavourful and (scary) fun.

Sorry, exactly how many hp did Urki heal Fēng for? And did Fēng expend any ki on his last turn? Thanks!

1. He missed twice (no stuns) (0), dodged against remaing hobgoblin (1).

I healed Feng for 18 points.

Thanks!

So this hobgoblin claims he can't speak Common. I suddenly realized that I never assigned Fēng's languages. Race gives him Aarakocra, Common, and Auran, then Outlander background gives him "one of your choice" I don't think their tribe would have much to do with goblinoids so I'm not picking that. Anybody in the party speak goblin?

No, nobody does that I know of. It was one of the ways to diffuse the earlier Goblin encounter as well. It would be useful in a place populated by gobs and hobgobs.

Also, since you aren't picking Goblin, you should pick something explicit for that language.

Not me. Kildrak lived deep in the mines, so common and Dwarven were all he was taught.

Damn, I wish I hadn't won that opposed roll LOL! The damn prisoner is going to be a liability! But I had to play my character, y'know?

I think it's great drama. Also continues the "Who is the leader of this party?" thing, which is a very important question to Cassandra.

Though playing her flaw as just obeying orders which any other characters say, or interpreting things as orders which really aren't is also fun!

Yay for (mild) PvP!

Hopefully the Hobgoblin is dead. Ai Shan is pretty ruthless, and the symbol on the odachi has made him pretty much without care. He will not be affording pity or mercy to any enemies going forward, though he is CN, he has a code.

I'm cool with that. It may cause consternation in the party so I would be prepared to explain yourself in character.

So my question right now is: Do you all want to travel presently or wait until nightfall? In either case, there will be a skill challenge. I am still considering how to run an efficient skill challenge in PbP with all party members getting an opportunity to get involved without using the same skills.

Fēng still thinks the quickest way to the top is to fly up there. Of course he thinks this it's what he's trained to do. It's a risky proposition in daylight though, as any one of those mangonels can knock him and his passenger right out of the sky. Flying up under cover of darkness would pretty eliminate that threat. But Kildrak made a very good argument against waiting for nightfall. The longer the party waits, the higher the chance of the alarm being raised. What if the next captain manages to sound the alarm before the party can take him down? What if the captain we killed was supposed to make an end-of-watch report and he actually does raise the alarm by being dead? If the alarm goes up we want to be as near the top as possible, not down here. We need to move, and move now. If we run into a fight we need to hit fast and hard and keep moving. Cassandra can boost party stealth and give us a good chance to make it to the top undetected. That's my/Fēng's vote :-)

Kildrak votes we move away from this area now. If we can stay hidden until dark that'd be awesome. But if that's not an option in the DM's opinion we attack during the day.

As for how a skill challenge would work, this group tends to post pretty regularly. Rolling initiative and having us wait our turn would not upset me.

I tend to agree. I do not like the idea of an uphill fight in daylight.

Rather, moving from the area until nightfall may be the best thing imo. Just because an alarm is raised doesn't mean a target is expecting an attack from an "impossible" back door.

I don't foresee climbing as being all that hard really, if we have a flyer to assist with crampons, grappling hooks etc

Cassandra is really waiting for someone to lead us on, but ooc I agree, and I think we have a quorum. Cassandra is also super perceptive, so if she or anyone else hears anything, she can cast Pass Without Trace and we should be pretty safe even in daylight.

The skill challenge has begun. For this skill challenge, the party needs at least one stealth success and one survival success per round to keep from being seen or leave signs to be seen by hobgoblins.

For skill variance between the five of you, you can't gain more than one success in a skill as a group per round. Urki, Kildrak, and Feng still have actions for this round. Applicable skills could include Stealth, Survival, Athletics, Nature, Perception, or anything else that you can make useful. If someone fails at a skill, another party member can try for a success in that skill. If a success has already been rolled in a particular skill, you can use a second success in the same round to give advantage to a party member on that skill in the next round.

Since Cassandra already got stealth, Ai Shan wouldn't have had too. If he had known about the survial roll he would have rolled survival so you have the choice of keeping it as a stealth roll to give advantage to a party member on stealth in the next round or change it to survival. We'll keep the 19 so my guess is that you'll switch to Survival and just move forward saying that requirement for this round has been filled.

well post rounds then, I don't know if I can post again and have really good stealth and athletics for this

Nah, this round you, Harlandski, and Foolsmask have acted. However, Heirophant you have a choice: whether you want to keep your 19 for a stealth check and use it to give someone advantage on stealth next round (including yourself) or whether you want to switch your roll to survival (if you're trained which I'm pretty sure you are) and net the success there for the party.

No I'll keep the 19, even thought I am trained in survival. Odds are it's the best of possible outcomes for now. Good luck until next round friends :)

Then you should designate who will have advantage on stealth next round.

I'll keep it for myself I'm trained in it. Is it for stealth only or can I apply it to athletics or...?

I have actually never done (played or DM) a skill challenge

I would say advantage in that skill.

got it

Ok I am back sorry about yesterday. Will try and survival away.

Can I ask how long a round of the skill challenge is in terms of time? As you know, Pass Without Trace lasts an hour, but I don't know if it is applicable to this journey. If I could use it, it would obviously net us our Stealth success each round of the challenge.

Right, I would say that the use of pass without trace would give you a stealth success and advantage for whoever rolled the survival check for that round. Skill challenges are based on a preset number of successes vs failures.

I see. Are we on round two or round one of the skill challenge at the moment? Does Cassandra have to wait until you, themightykobold, post again before she can act again? Or are we in round two already?

Still in Round 1.

So Enhance Ability has the following possibly useful effects:

Bear's Strength - advantage to Str rolls [also doubles carrying capacity]
Cat's Grace - advantage to Dex rolls, no damage from falling 20ft

Cassandra has raw Strength -1, Strength (Athletics) +2; Dexterity +1

Not sure which would be more useful for a climb with a rope, or who else would benefit from this spell. If two characters are in more need than Cassandra, she can cast in on them and not on herself.

I'm going on holiday/vacation for three weeks in an area with patchy Internet access. I will do my best to post daily, but if you don't hear from me for longer than usual, you know why.

Please don't let my absence hold the game up. I think Cassandra's way of acting is pretty clear to everyone now, so please play her as an NPC if necessary:

* Perceive the f* out of things
* Use her druid abilities and spells to support the party
* For combat, if the threat is large, use lightning cloud, otherwise thorn whip for 'ranged' or shillelagh for melee.
* Curse like f*

Actually Cassandra's weakness for following orders could provide you with some fun if I don't turn up, but please don't kill my Genasi :-)

I kinda want to speed up the rest. Would we be ok streamlining the watch schedule? Repeat the last order and I can roll perception checks in a single post?

Yep, good idea :-)

Sure

sounds ok to me

Yes good idea.

Sorry was waiting for more than two replies. Big day at work today so I'll try to pst the rest by day's end.

so I hope this all made sense. If this didn't work, let me know.

Fēng is at 28/38hp. I think I should spend a Hit Die.

Long rest means you go back to full hp.

Was that a long rest? Oh right! :-)

I will need some sort of knowledge check from people to know more. History, Arcana, Investigation, Nature, or just an intelligence roll will work. Anyone trained can roll that skill. If untrained in all, roll Intelligence.

What, if anything, do the PC's know about relationships between Shimazu & Grigori?

I would say the PCs know nothing of any sort of political arrangement. They both would be Lawful Evil forces, with Grigori leaning towards neutral with his public face. The Black Bag stories are told as hushed whispers just in case they are true. Still, seeing these crow riders, no matter how similar they are in alignment, in this area is suspicious and out of place.

Grigori is a world power. Shimazu is a local/regional power.

The crows are 30 miles/2 hours away? I'm sorry, I hadn't caught that. Fēng sound silly now hehe!

OOC: Wouldn't it be faster (both in term of in-game time as well as RL posting time) for Fēng to just haul people one by one up to the top? Surely that would only take a few minutes!

Fēng has a fly speed of 60ft (Aarakocra 50ft + monk's Unarmored Movement 10ft). Doubling for Dash, negated by halving for the passenger = 60ft per round with a passenger, 120ft per round on the tip back down. 8.33 rounds to get up to the top + 4.17 rounds flying back down = 12.5 rounds per round trip. 4 party members = 3 round trips + 1 one-way trip = 45.83 rounds = all done in approx 27.5 minutes.

Sounds good to me, but I am not checking your math haha

It would probably earn you some exhaustion. Let me look into those rules and see.

themightykobold, you said that with the rope it's difficult terrain, but that just means reduced speed - no need for a climbing (ie Strength - Athletics) roll? Just checking as if we do need to roll to climb I'll probably boost Cassandra's strength, and another party member if needed - any takers?

Maybe Cassandra can buff Feng to prevent that?

Good idea!

PHB p. 237 Bull's StrengthThe target has advantage on Strength Checks and his or her carrying capacity doubles.

In that case, maybe Cassandra only needs to cast the spell on Feng?

I'm going to be afk for about 48 hours, so Cassandra can go ahead and do that if the DM agrees.

Correct, no need for climbing rolls if you have the ropes secured. It's just slow going and you only have the five ropes so you'll have to use them wisely.

Jabes: I have calculated the weight of your goods to be 55lbs. If you were to set them down on the ledge and then take people, you could lift up to 150 (10 STRx15) or 300 (with Bulls Strength). You would have to roll a Constitution saving throw after each trip at DC 10+(the number of trips you have taken). Your teammates weigh, using the average weight of their race plus their gear weight: Ai Shan 241 (118+123), Kildrak 210 (122+88), Cassandra 285 (170+115), and Urki 230 (36+194). You would need Bull's Strength to lift any one by themselves and have to make a Con save after every trip (four Con saves DCs 11, 12, 13, 14).

So yes, it's possible but definitely a strain on your endurance.

Ok, I'm going for it. Fēng is going to need that Bull's strength, Harlandski. I'm hoping that by climbing, the rest will make it a little easier for Fēng on the subsequent trips. I will have to decide later about Fēng's backpack. Contents are: bedroll, mess kit, tinderbox, torches (10), rations (10), waterskin. I think he'd survive without it for a while but that pack lying there in the dust is going to be a dead giveaway so yeah he'll definitely have to go back for it once he's got everyone up top.
Why does she weigh more than anyone else? LOL!

Ok, I just rolled 3 failures and 1 success....

As I said, I used the average weight of the races. Online I could not find anything more than the genasi wiki page with no differentiation between the four sub races. 170 was the average. Genies must weigh a whole ton more than they look.

The three failures means three levels of exhaustion.

Haha I was just joking around, not questioning your computations :-)

Exhaustion, wow. Well can we say Feng stopped trying after feeling the effects of 1st or even the 2nd level of exhaustion?

As far as I'm concerned, you've only brought Cassandra to the top according to your original post (and then failed the 1st save). You also seem to have encouraged the others to start climbing. If you took others up though, we would use those rolls so you can sort of decide how exhausted you'll get since you can see the results already.

In other words, after carrying Cassandra, Feng is now at exhaustion level 1. I think he'll go ahead and take another party member up before deciding he can't take any more. What about going back for his pack? Will that exhaust him further?

No it will not.

Our mission is to retrieve an artifact (do we have a description of it?), not necessarily to take down Shimazu, right? So theoretically we could accomplish the mission without a fight, right? But yeah, can't blame Ai Shan for jumping right in, because that's his personality. And Cassandra's personality is that she follows whoever leads, so there she goes. I suppose if/when Ai Shan attacks, Fēng will join the fight as a matter of honor. And because, to his monastery masters' constant frustration, he's young and impulsive. :-D

Jabes.plays.RPG, I feel bad that, as one of the healers of the group Cassandra can't do anything about your exhaustion, but Cure Wound doesn't cut it, and in the absence of a specific effect, it seems a long rest is all that will help you... Oh and that we're all acting pretty unreflective and bloodthirsty, but as you say it fits our characters...

I'm quite happy with everyone's roleplaying, actually. I feel that everybody's actions are true to their characters :-) I don't know if even a long rest will cure the exhaustion. But I chose this and knew I'd have to deal with the consequences.

Game play has stalled, are we waiting for something? :-)

all the players have made a move so we're waiting on the DM. It was getting really tense so I was excited about it.

Yeah I hope this game hasn't died! It's been one of my favorite games! We already lost Kildrak because Foolsmask went on hiatus, I hope we haven't lost our DM as well! Hoping TMK will be back soon :-)

I'm still subscribed so I'm always ready for it to resume. At any minute. Whenever you guys are ready. :D

Also standing by... :-)

Sorry all for the standby. I had a funeral in the family and then a wedding for a friend that I was de facto best man/officiant for. I'm sorry to have left it at so tense a moment. I will write up a post tonight and get things going again. I'll probably be a bit less active though so lets try to post 1/2-3 days? Again sorry to vanish.

I'm so sorry for your loss.I'm glad you're back but totally understand that real life must be priority.

My condolences. I understand the need for less frequent posts, and am happy we can continue.

2-3 posts per week works fine for me. Glad to see you back. condolences.

Just to be clear, Fēng didn't hover uselessly just watching the combat and then let the Samurai escape, thought it seems that way because of the timing of the posts.

He came over the wall right behind Ai Shan and Cassandra. Though he hesitated to hit the meditating samurai (would have preferred to challenge her openly) he would have joined in once the fight began but the samurai took off. He took a quick moment to look back over the wall to check on the incoming crow riders to get a full assessment of the situation, and that's where we're at. ;-)

Urki in the heat of things may see it differently :P Not as a blatant "I'm not gonna hit him" but he may have seen something along the lines of "Are we sure?"

I'll wait for your retro attacks before I post Feng chasing after the samurai.

I've been debating how to resolve your move CancerMan. Since you wrote that you opened to door to attack, it would mean that the readied action of the Widow to cast the scroll on anyone who came through the door, would activate. I understand that you are trying to be quick so I think that they will resolve at the same time, both your surprise critical and the spell scroll going off.

If it was a readied action, I can see it going off before I managed to get to her. I'm not opposed to that result.

Or, we could roll initiative.

I'm not a huge fan of rolling initiative in play by post. Slogs things down a good bunch. We'll resolve the simultaneous action and then have the PC's side go first.

Just to confirm, Tonton's failed attack and spell save were his actions in the first combat round, or was that a separate round and you are waiting for me to post another set of actions?

The latter.

I'll need to roll a con save vs stun but roll two dice either way. If the Widow is stunned they'll be for advantage.

How many of my attacks managed to hit?

The first hit but she passed the strength saving throw. Similarly, she saved against both stuns. I realized after I started tallying the hits that the Dex save was unnecessary because they only come into effect for the bonus attacks from Flurry and neither of those hit. She has taken 48 damage.

I was in a rush last night but I'll post her turn today.

I was going through the current encounter again. Correct me if I'm wrong, but after the Widow successfully saves against Utamuro's trip attack, she also needed to save against his goading attack or else her attacks against Feng would have been at disadvantage.

Nevertheless, I have marked 25 damage on Feng's sheet.

His second attack didn't hit.

Edit: This would also mean that he didn't spend the superiority die which would only have activated on the hit.

Ah. Well, that makes sense. Thanks! :-)

I did just notice though that Urki's sneak attack should have triggered due to the Widow being in close combat with allies. As it is a crit, it would be an extra 2d6.

Will go roll that in the thread with some words of encouragement. ^_^

I'm pretty sure Utamuro just cut the Widow to pieces! :-D

It would be insight so you get +3 to both of those rolls, not that it helps too much.

CancerMan: You can have advantage because of the smoke and confusion.

Thanks, I've added it to my original post!

Jabes, roll perception or insight.

Added a roll to my post.

On a critical hit, all damage dice double including extra dice granted by abilities such as sneak attack... so I guess that means another 3d6 is coming the Widow's way.

Thanks! I wasn't sure so I opted to forgo the extra dice. I'll add the roll to my existing post.

I don't know how I did it but I ended up editing cancermans post instead of adding a new one.

I've done that a few times as GM before lol, the edit and quote buttons are so close together!