DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fantasy SKT: The Storm King's Thunder OOC thread

Zhu has a bonus to all interactions with Dragons, however it is a Charisma based bonus not a Wisdom bonus.

I updated the sheet in this thread quite some time ago, quoted here for your convenience.

Thanks for the link to the update. I need to try to get all those links in the pinned thread with everyone's sheets, 'cause my organization sucks. Looks like you currently have 53 which is still under the 57 average.

For everyone, please let me try to add some clarifications here.

TLDR: This is a puzzle, not combat. Please have fun roleplaying your reactions. Nobody's going to die. If you really want that stone, it's not going to be as simple as using a crowbar, though.

Summary if you're still reading: You can try to figure out how to get the stone, or you can leave it alone (like millenia of adventurers before you). Standing there and staring fear in the face is not a viable solution, and vague threats are intended to dissuade you from that course of action. This is probably going to require a team effort and the RP is headed that way, yay.

Nitty gritty details for the few of you who really care: I'm using the Adult Red Dragon's "Frightful Presence" as the basis for the effect you're seeing, in terms of game mechanics and rulings. Some problems with that as written is that you can "wait it out" and it's based on range and there's immunity from it after a save. I've borrowed a little (specifically the line-of-sight bit) from XGtE's "Illusory Dragon" which is pretty kick-ass. But a harder challenge may mean a more valuable reward, no? Maybe. Do you even know what the other stone does?

The smart thing to do is to back off out of the effect. The stubborn and prideful thing to do is to refuse to take a single step back, unsuccessfully wrestle with the unquenchable voice of internal panic and try to solve things anyway.

Rawr.

Kriv pushes Zindra.... ROFL Love it!

Heh.

Shoving normally uses contested ability checks.

But while frightened, ability checks are rolled at disadvantage (for both). This may be the lowest contested shoving contest in history

Is Zindra in a position where shoving would put her next to the wall? We never set things up but given the two of them facing fear so awesomely, I think I'll say this works under the Rule of Cool

But ya gotta do your rolls first.

Maybe with this strategy we need a Dexterity (Dancing) check.

So I may actually have 5 minutes to breathe shortly. Were we supposed recreate the pcs in D&D Beyond from Roll20? If so, is there a game/campaign setup in D&D Beyond for us to use, or just create the pc stand-alone?

Here is the DnDBeyond Campaign Link

OK, mostly done I think.

Zhu is in the room. I would presume once you've saved from a particular Illusion that you don't need to save again (or at a minimum have a large bonus)?

Moving this discussion OOC.

I'm trying to keep this both as simple as possible but also not letting it get unbalanced to the point where if at first you don't succeed then you can try, try again. As the Genie of the Lamp said, "Ixnay on the wishing for more wishes."

I am basing the effects off actual spells/conditions/traits, but these are designed for turn-based combat. So for example, a dragon's frightful presence lasts for only a minute and if you either outlast it or save against it, you're immune for 24 hours. This is fine in combat, in which you can't just stand around and drink tea for a minute to neutralize the impact.

And this is powerful ancient magic protecting the stone and the dragon in the mural is one of their pantheon of gods (the chaotic evil fire one) and it's lasted here thousands of years because it's not supposed to be easy to remove. So can you try things again? Sure. They aren't going to get easier and may get harder and the penalties for failure might get worse.

But you are heroes! You can remove it, and while my originally designed requirement failed, all I'm really trying to prevent is the same people trying the same rolls infinitely.

I will say that at this point this needs to be a team effort. Just poking around with one person trying something without taking any prep work is unlikely to solve this. I had really hoped the magical combination of Sindar's singing and pushing others toward the mural to get around the "can't approach voluntarily" requirement would be the solution. I might even award inspiration when this is all over.

Some thoughts to leave you with in summary:
- Come up with a team plan and execute it.
- Make your next effort your best one. Every failed attempt may escalate the penalties and difficulty until it's nearly impossible.
- You already know you'll need to combat fear, and that you may need multiple people near the stone to do something with it. You've figured out one way to do that, but I've just looked at everyone's sheets and see at least three other characters with abilities to neutralize this particular illusionary evil source of fear (one of which is an area effect). Combine one person neutralizing the negative and another person doing something to confer advantage, and you've got a winning combination.
- Do you really want this stone? Do you know what it does? You've been hauling around the other stone for a while without investigating it. Maybe it's not worth the effort. Or maybe it is.

Of course we want it! It is there and we are adventurers!

But maybe it's just a paperweight! Or a pokemon where you gotta catch 'em all!

Quick note:

I'm doing my best to keep "in character" on asks on the costs of various things.

We also are in a format where we aren't really keeping track of such stuff.

So please do assume that unless it's made obvious in the post that things are more/less expensive than normal, that any costs are "normal/standard/expected".

That seems reasonable. I felt like the stabling was a reasonable price. My mental aside for Sindar was to remember being very, very poor living on the streets at a point in his life. His fortunes have changed shall we say.

You may all be amused that as DM pro tempore, I really try to keep the game balanced, and as such have researched a stat block for a child.

I am amused that a kobold is mentioned as part of the reasoning for the stats...

They have smilarities!

With the proper face paint you can't even tell the difference.

I am not sure if I had asked this question before but do doppleganger mimic even the scent of a person that they impersonate?

You've asked before.
For the sake of this game, they mimic every physical aspect of those they impersonate.

On the current Doppelganger thing, any chance to make an Arcana or Nature or History roll to see if anyone knows details?

Yes, there's a chance. Roll for the chance.

But seriously... if you want to know a specific thing, ask a question and make an appropriate roll (probably Arcana if it's "what can they do" based or History if it's "what have they done" based). Don't expect a lore-dump on a generic "tell me more about doppelgangers" roll though.

It's also worth remembering this isn't the first time this matter has come up. The Doppelganger has been a known issue since the previous campaign, there is a veritable treasure trove of information we have already been given about them, from Phandelin, Triboar and our various private discussions. Rereading is fun and helpful here, I'll be going over the old threads at some point myself.