Ravenloft preparations and intro

For discussion of the Expedition to Ravenloft
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NukeHavoc
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Post by NukeHavoc »

maybe if you were taking 10 or 20 on it or if you were doing research. it seems to be somewhere between an immediate action and a free action.
but then again you have trouble remembering where your keys and wallet are.
As a house rule, I think it's worked fine.

And I know where my keys and wallet are ... it's my glasses that I'm having trouble with today. :)
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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EvilGenius
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Post by EvilGenius »

Is it a mind-affecting supernatural effect? I would think it's not going to affect undead then, if they're immune to mind affecting effects.
setanta14 wrote:The Challenge stuff would work on non-mindless undead (Int 5+ required)
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EvilGenius
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Post by EvilGenius »

Totally agree.
malphas wrote: an ideal party make up for this sort of thing would be 1 tank fighter or cleric 1 turn & dust cleric, 1 support cleric or bard/marshal combo, 1 or 2 really strong wizards or sorcerers with appropriate spell selections and feats that maximize fighting undead. 1 lock/trap rogue as above.
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erilar
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Post by erilar »

setanta14 wrote:The Challenge stuff would work on non-mindless undead (Int 5+ required)
I agree in most cases. Per Ken's example, I do think that a Knight might be able to call out Strahd - he's appealing to the vampire's ego and temper. I don't think that the effect will unbalance the Ravenloft setting. The Knight will have to temper its use with his own preservation, since he'd possibly be taking on a larger number of enemies than without it.

There are other cases that will be open to interpretation, so I was just warning you ahead of time. A challenge is a cultural-based effect. The more feral the creature, the less effective it might be, IMO. Against a pack of recently-fed Ghouls, I agree that you might be able to provoke or anger them into focusing on you. If the pack of Ghouls had been starving for days, however, I'm thinking that the plump halfling had best find a tree to climb...
"This enemy you cannot kill. You can only drive it back damaged into the depths, and teach your children to watch the waves for its return." - Quellcrist Falconer
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erilar
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Post by erilar »

EvilGenius wrote:Is it a mind-affecting supernatural effect? I would think it's not going to affect undead then, if they're immune to mind affecting effects.
Again, it's a cultural effect, appealing to the ego of the creature. If it has a high Int (non-mindless undead), and retains some level of self-awareness, it might be affected depending on the circumstance. I think that if the Challenge effect were supposed to demoralize the creature in some way though, it wouldn't work.
"This enemy you cannot kill. You can only drive it back damaged into the depths, and teach your children to watch the waves for its return." - Quellcrist Falconer
setanta14
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Post by setanta14 »

I was mainly interested in the Shield Ally ability where you can choose to absorb half damage for an adjacent friendly... And the Fighting Challenge where the knight just picks one enemy to get bonuses against in combat, the only abilities that affect others are the Test of Mettle and Bulwark of Defense... One is a will save or attack the knight first, the other makes enemies treat threatened squares as difficult terrain
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NukeHavoc
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Post by NukeHavoc »

setanta14 wrote:I was mainly interested in the Shield Ally ability where you can choose to absorb half damage for an adjacent friendly... And the Fighting Challenge where the knight just picks one enemy to get bonuses against in combat, the only abilities that affect others are the Test of Mettle and Bulwark of Defense... One is a will save or attack the knight first, the other makes enemies treat threatened squares as difficult terrain
I think is exactly the sort of thing we should use the soon-to-be-created rules section of the Wiki for. e.g. -- I have no idea what the penalties for difficult terrain are, and I'd rather not look them up in game.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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erilar
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Post by erilar »

All those things should work just fine. Fighting Challenge and Test of Mettle might not work in all circumstances against smart undead (say our starving ghouls or perhaps a blood-frenzied vamp spawn that's already been in combat for a few rounds), but probably would in most circumstances.

The only one that I'd say wouldn't is Daunting Challenge, and that's 12th level and won't come into play anyway. I think we're in good shape.
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erilar
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Post by erilar »

NukeHavoc wrote: I think is exactly the sort of thing we should use the soon-to-be-created rules section of the Wiki for. e.g. -- I have no idea what the penalties for difficult terrain are, and I'd rather not look them up in game.
Waiting for our dumb CRM database to sync, so looked this up on the Hypertext SRD:
Hampered Movement

Difficult terrain, obstacles, or poor visibility can hamper movement. When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.

If more than one condition applies, multiply together all additional costs that apply. (This is a specific exception to the normal rule for doubling)

In some situations, your movement may be so hampered that you don’t have sufficient speed even to move 5 feet (1 square). In such a case, you may use a full-round action to move 5 feet (1 square) in any direction, even diagonally. Even though this looks like a 5-foot step, it’s not, and thus it provokes attacks of opportunity normally. (You can’t take advantage of this rule to move through impassable terrain or to move when all movement is prohibited to you.)

You can’t run or charge through any square that would hamper your movement.
"This enemy you cannot kill. You can only drive it back damaged into the depths, and teach your children to watch the waves for its return." - Quellcrist Falconer
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EvilGenius
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Post by EvilGenius »

So for my Ravenloft cleric, I'm thinking along two lines.

Since I'm running a super undead destroying cleric in Maure, I'm not superkeen on making a clone at a lower level. However, given the campaign, an undead destroying cleric of Pelor or Mayaheine is not a bad idea. :)

I was also thinking about a cleric of Daern (of Instant Fortress fame). Daern is a hero-god concerned with fortifactions and protections. So I'm thinking a plate wearing protection speacialist; adept at protecting himself and others from various and sundry affects. Not really a combat guy, except in neccessity. I could still be good at turning, but not like Andulf is good at turning. :)
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Jonkga
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Post by Jonkga »

So, this is what I can make of the line-up so far:

Bob: cleric
Jess: cleric
Damon: bard
Cory: bard (?)
Ken: rogue
Nate: knight (?)
George: marshal (?)
Jon: fighter

Lance: evil vampire overlord (and all his minions)

Am I missing anyone?

Looks like we've no wizards/sorcerers at all...
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NukeHavoc
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Post by NukeHavoc »

Jonkga wrote:Looks like we've no wizards/sorcerers at all...
Cory mentioned playing a mage/sorcerer if needed. I'd say it's needed. :)
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
setanta14
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Post by setanta14 »

PS... the Knight has no diplomatic/bardic type abilities... plus, the DC for the Will save is pretty low, so Count Strahd would likely make it
NukeHavoc wrote:
setanta14 wrote:The Challenge stuff would work on non-mindless undead (Int 5+ required)
I think the bigger question is will this play havoc with the setup of the Ravenloft campaign? The diplomatic/bard-like aspects of the Knight may work, but I can see abilities like the Knight's Challenge ("I pick YOU, Count Straud!") as being problematic. Granted, this is an adventure, not a narrative, but IMHO these kind of knight's abilities are more in keeping with the battlefield, city adventure, or even a conventional dungeon than with Ravenloft.
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EvilGenius
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Post by EvilGenius »

geez, what is it with us and wizards? isn't cleric the sterotypical class that's always missing? lol!

2 bards. mmmmmmmm. well, i don't want to tell anyone not to play what they want, but two bards is probably 1 too many since their bardsong effects don't stack.

If there are going to be two bards, *please* make sure you coordinate spells known so we have diversity.

and a knight and fighter but no pally so far.

I'm not pushing anyone, but I really think we need a straight class wizard. :)
Jonkga wrote:So, this is what I can make of the line-up so far:

Bob: cleric
Jess: cleric
Damon: bard
Cory: bard (?)
Ken: rogue
Nate: knight (?)
George: marshal (?)
Jon: fighter

Lance: evil vampire overlord (and all his minions)

Am I missing anyone?

Looks like we've no wizards/sorcerers at all...
malphas
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Post by malphas »

erilar wrote: Hampered Movement

Difficult terrain, obstacles, or poor visibility can hamper movement. When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.

If more than one condition applies, multiply together all additional costs that apply. (This is a specific exception to the normal rule for doubling)

In some situations, your movement may be so hampered that you don’t have sufficient speed even to move 5 feet (1 square). In such a case, you may use a full-round action to move 5 feet (1 square) in any direction, even diagonally. Even though this looks like a 5-foot step, it’s not, and thus it provokes attacks of opportunity normally. (You can’t take advantage of this rule to move through impassable terrain or to move when all movement is prohibited to you.)

You can’t run or charge through any square that would hamper your movement.


more specifically:
Difficult Terrain

Difficult terrain hampers movement. Each square of difficult terrain counts as 2 squares of movement. (Each diagonal move into a difficult terrain square counts as 3 squares.) You can’t run or charge across difficult terrain.

If you occupy squares with different kinds of terrain, you can move only as fast as the most difficult terrain you occupy will allow.

Flying and incorporeal creatures are not hampered by difficult terrain.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/moveme ... stance.htm
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