Thal... I'll be moving things forward soon, no post equals indecision and skipping a turn.

Xeno - your basic sheet is up. I'll bring you in shortly.

As a note, one of the spirits Gerad is currently channeling allows him to grant every party member some equipment - so if Xenophon is joining us he will get it too as soon as he or she actually joins the party. From earlier:

You do like to buff everyone!

The post looked fine Xenophon. Usually we include the dice roller message just for posterity, but overall, first time post looked good.

I need to 'recreate' the map and do an update... but I'm beat...

Get some rest. We're not in a big rush.

Is that Lady3 in O-10? Where did she come from? I don't recall any references to her when we started our attack, and I don't recall her being on the map.

She moved from O-6 which she was on the map. I have neither added nor removed anything from the previous round, the link is active for the previous round. And all my round updates are archived.

Plus, of course, blind angles, building interiors, invisibility, dimension door, stealth powers...

So long as she has not been watching "How Not To Be Seen"... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VokGd5zhGJ4

Like almost all Monty Python, it is very classic!

Very classic.

But yeah, she's always been part of the merc band, you can always check the other maps. Also, not sure why it matters if she's calling for a nice truce. But, if you really want to add the mercs back into the battle, I can arrange that. Probably not a wise course of action since your resources are on the lower side...

Pesky should angel and demon arguments are taking on a life of their own...

Well, depending on my energy level I should have another round update later tonight or tomorrow.

Eh, a young mage being lectured by his Familiar(s) is pretty classic and provides bonus byplay - and it's not like anyone else HAS to pay attention to it if it's not their thing.

Now I wonder what Apex thinks!

Oh, you really don't want Apex getting in on the action. NPCs are quite talkative!

Okay, I am confused about attack order. Two 'orcs' attack me.

18 AC for 2 damage
20 AC for 6 damage

Both attacks fail to penetrate my AC. Furthermore, one of the orcs draws an AoO from me when coming within my 10' reach.
I hit that orc at AC 29 for 25 damage.

Then it's my turn. I use a full attack to hit each orc once, and my personal Haste lets me get another hit in, presumably against the one I DIDN'T Crit.

The first Orc I crit against, doing 60 damage.

The second Orc I hit at AC 35 for 25 damage. My extra atrack due to Haste also hits the 2nd orc, hitting AC 26 for 23 damage.

Now the latest post indicates that they shook off those attacks and counter-attacked me, one critting me for 18 damage, and one missing me completely.

Have I got that straight?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:07, Wed 08 June 2022.

John's AoO happened "last round". They have 26 HP, so 25 from the AoO doesn't drop one.

This was the initiative order I was able to construct from what was listed, if it's incorrect we can fix it. The previous round I just jumbled everything together for PCs and then did the NPC actions to speed it up. But with map recreated and working, this round tried to align correctly.

24 Gerad
21 Neron
19 Xenophon
19 Giant
14 Orcs
10 Khorolf
10 John

Orcs go before John, (Cause I have him listed as 10 and the orcs as 14), they get their attacks, and then John gets his attacks and dropped both. (I must have missed a crit cause I didn't see: Just noticed this was a crit. *4 damage = 60.
So, the 15 is what I applied, not the 60, which means John could attack one more orc.

But AoO happened last round. Because last round John was doing his gadgetry stuff. No AoO this round as none moved into his range, they struck, one hit the other missed, then other than a missed crit, John succeeded.

Hopefully, that makes sense.

Got it. So they attacked and failed last round, and then I did my alchemy riff after their attacks. Gotta work on higher initiative then.

From the 18 damage I took, I can apply my Damage Resistance of 11, and the rest comes off my 10 temp hp (from Wine of the Valkyries)?

It is annoying how a single low roll for Initiative can so easily mess you up in combat.

If the GM lets you get away with it, the cheapest work-around is something like "Divine Spark Of Warning. A few times each day something warns you of violence, allowing you to begin reacting before others are even aware that a fight is underway" (Luck, Specialized / Only for Initiative (3 CP))

It's kind of boring to just "Take 20" on things like that - it takes all the excitement out of it - but for the occasional boss fight situation it may be worth it.

@John - Yes, DR is applied first, the remainder comes from temp HP and then normal HP.

The initiative has never seemed to be a big deal in most combats UNLESS you are a glass cannon type. And then PEW and splat. I've known some characters to intentionally delay to the end so their effects could have more impact.

Get the warning special ability on your primary weapon - +5 to the initiative. The feat improved initiative is still a thing, though Eclipse allows for +8 in +2 increments.

Oddly enough, I miss Weapon Speeds. That really changed the battle in a dynamic way. Big heavy weapons were slower, while smaller weapons were much faster. Though I vaguely recall the initiative being a d10. Could be wrong. 3.x came around and everything became d20. Skills became standardized, weapon speed was discarded, THAC0 became to Hit, and values went up not down, and saves were condensed into three categories - I'm tough, I'm agile, I'm Mentally resilient.

Seven Seas actually bases additional actions/attacks based upon roll and speed. Unfortunately, that would further complicate battles in PbP formats.

Now, considering (Unlike a TTRPG) battles are rarer, even once per day would mean always going first. I mean, you talked your way out of the last combat. You didn't necessarily have to engage in this combat, so it's not like combat is the driving force of this game. It still happens, but options are available to avoid such conflicts if desired.

d20 initiative is kind of clunky - but it is fairly easy to implement in PBP.

It was kind of nice when it was really worthwhile to - say - focus on daggers because their speed factor was so low that you got extra attacks. You didn't have everyone using the tiny selection of "mechanically best" weapons,
This message was last edited by the player at 07:37, Tue 14 June 2022.

Xenophon isnt visible from my position, is he?

Not through a wall, nope.

He was talking to Neron who being on higher ground realized something was off, and assumes that unlike this group, the kid needed assistance.

I think Crits are automatic!

And if the Orcs can take those hits we are in BIG trouble!

1) Yes, crits are automatic. Though in one game I stated a crit against crit immune critters resulted in max damage. Cause I hated rolling natural 20's and it was a skeleton or undead or something else and then you roll crappy damage. Rubbing salt in a wound!

2) They aren't really Orcs, but Air Elementals... This was discovered by the true seeing a few PCs had.

They have 26 HP each, so yeah, no, two are definitely going down...

No fancy sight for Khorolf! And John knows Orcs, so...

Running short on big burst attack stuff. Still... should have enough HP to take another hit. He's still got almost all his real HP.