Out of Character discussion:

Mead for everyone!

Oh shit, close the door!

I recall the first time I played D&D, back in 2nd Edition, my Halfling Thief snuck open a door and peered inside, to which the GM gave me a note describing the ogre within. I gleefully told my party about the treasure I saw, and then shut the door behind them. I think that was the moment I realized that while I could do anything I wanted in a game, that didn't mean I should...

I was considering to allow a sneaky-peek but I decided to kabosh that when Mal started putting plate-clad boots to the doors earlier. That would definitely negate allowing you guys a surprise attack, but I also figured the Ogre is preoccupied with a bone, and is going to be a nasty customer as it is, so I opted not to allow it a surprise roll against the party.

Oh man, I was getting spoiled with those zombies! I had forgotten what it was like to go last.

The timing works out, since I'll be in the mountains again this weekend. Just an easy hike to an alpine lake.

Have fun!

I'm thinking I'll temporarily NPC Mal and Norris in the morning for this Round if there isn't a post by then, just to keep things moving along. Not sure what I'd have either of them do yet, as I don't really want to put them in harm's way directly. But at the same time, Mal's one of the most heavily armored and healthy PCs right now and I'm not sure she would sit back and wait for the ogre to attack others, judging by @dominion451's playstyle.

Norris is pretty squishy, and I'm not sure he would jump into melee with an ogre directly. He might wait for a chance to backstab at best... We'll see. Hopefully I don't have to decide.

Sorry guys, on call weekend. Mal would and does indeed rush to the front line albeit not with out a fair amount of grumbling ;)

No worries. I assumed you were doing work stuff.

Perhaps a thread with expected actions for each encounter. Could be updated when we encounter new enemies to avoid week-long turns in combat!

Well I will always defer to the DMs judgement when being NPC'd. Mal will always swing her hammer or turn undead when possible but whatever the DM decides is cool by me.

Well now you have me curious. OSE slings should be the same as B/X D&D slings. Are you meaning like 5e D&D slings? Because if that's the case, I've been doing that wrong in my 5e game. Let me look into that today...

I've updated the post for Eltrezar's turn, and he missed wildly with a dagger.

Okay, noted. In theory, that might not be such a terrible deal this round, as it gives him a chance to use his Magic Missile with a bit more "Ooomph" than 3 damage later, and Eltrezar would probably have noticed that the ogre tends to focus on those that have caused injury to him first (not that he doesn't intend on crushing each of you in turn eventually).

It's been a week or so since we heard from @Demagor. Not super concerning, as there hasn't been much need for them to post for Norris, aside from this weekend when Norris's turn was up, but it was a long holiday this week here in the U.S., and maybe thay had holiday plans. So no real biggie yet, but to keep things moving, I'll give @Demagor a day to jump back in then if we don't hear anything I'll NPC him for the Round.

That said, I think there's two options Norris might consider from where he sees things:
1. Norris, with only 4HP, opts to stay out of Lubash's melee range and continues to plink at the ogre with his sling: +3 To-Hit, 1d4 Damage.
2. Norris drops the sling to the floor, draws his short sword, makes a large circumnavigation of the immediate melee in the corner and hits the ogre with his Thief "Backstab" skill: +5 To-Hit; 2x (1d6+1) Damage.


Some DMs rule that a PC must first succeed either a "Move Silently" or "Hide in Shadows" test before "Backstab" can be utilized, but this really makes the "Backstab" skill nearly impossible to implement for low level Thieves, due to low percentage rates for those prerequisite skills. The only rule, R.A.W., for "Backstab" is that the target has to be unaware (hence why some DMs require the other skill rolls first), so I like to rule as a DM that thieves can use Backstab whenever an enemy is engaged with another target because they're focused on the enemy in front of them and thus "unaware" of one running up from behind.

So the first option is a safer bet for the low HP Thief, and has a decent chance of hitting and still doing a minimal amount of damage. The second option has a big chance of hitting and a big chance of doing serious damage, but would definitely put the thief at risk of getting absolutely pulverized by Lubash's attack, which if anyone has been paying attention to the DM's dice rolls, is not a slap on the hand by any means.

I'm leaning towards being safe because I don't want to be responsible for a PC death because I NPC'd it, but I'm also on the fence as to what Norris might do, based on how @Demagor has RP'd his PC and his backstory.

As bold as his character's personality has been, this isn't some unaware mark that we're up against, it's a named Ogre. I feel like his character would probably stand back and let the meatshields get up close while he used his sling. Also, it seems the safest way to be useful until we have further clarification as to how to proceed.

True, but I'm willing to give Thief class the benefit of the doubt that while the monster does probably know the PC is in the room, if it's distracted with an enemy directly before it, it will likely not notice if one of you attack from behind while it's distracted (hence "unaware"). For other classes the only benefit to this strategy is the enemy doesn't get the benefit of using their shield (assuming they have one). But for the Thief class, they get that, plus the +4 To-Hit bonus, plus the double all Damage bonus. Otherwise it's virtually impossible for a thief to get the "Backstab" ability until they're at like 5th Level+.
I actually like this perspective, especially since the Thief Class is as squishy as a Magic-User Class at low levels, and it would be a huge risk if the ogre chooses to attack him. It's very likely a 1st Level Thief will not survive a hit from Lubash. So that sort of takes the ball out of my hands so that I'm not responsible for a one-shot kill of someone's PC.

So for the time being, I'm gonna go with @cowleyc's suggestion that Norris will continue to stay back and snipe with his sling, though if @Demagor decides to risk the dangers of the "Backstab" before I NPC them tomorrow, that's certainly an option. Just not the one I will choose for him because it's too dangerous for me wo want to assume responsibility for at this time.

You know, the sling bonuses change from version to version. I think BECMI first added strength to the damage of thrown weapons and then in the Revised Basic they added it to slings, I don't remember it for 1e, but 2e and 3.5 used Str for sling damage and 5e uses dex for damage. So many slings, so little time.

NPC action for Norris?

Sorry, all. Illness, combined with a hectic RL, work issues, and overall holiday stress led me to turn my attention and effort over to everything but the fun stuff. I hope to catch up and resume by this weekend, hopefully, sooner- you have not lost me!!