DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games HHE: The Haunted Helm OOC: Drizzle

OK, after battle recovery rolls. You can view all the rolls in the dice roller to your left (see Drizzle).

But what the furkin am I talking about?

All healing in 13th Age is tied to Recoveries. Each character has a set amount that increases per level, and they have to spend one to recover. So a cleric's Heal spell allows another PC to spend a recovery and regain hit points according to their recovery dice.

Some feats buff this. Tindarien has Strong Recovery, which allows him to roll two recovery dice and use the highest. Seyja has Strongheart, which increases her recovery dice from d10s to d12s.

Healing potions add extra dice to your recovery. In battle, instead of attacking you can Rally, spend a recovery to regain hit points.

So running out of recoveries is bad, obviously. Without recoveries you're reliant on scarce resources, such as a cleric's Cure Wounds spell, that grants free recovery.

It's worse because after each battle, if you're staggered (below half hit points) it's compulsory to spend recoveries until you're at full hit points.

If you have no recoveries left to do this, you still roll recovery dice, which give half the hit points, and for each one rolled you get a -1 to attack and defence for the rest of the adventure, or until the next Full Heal-Up. (Remember, a Full Heal-Up is basically half a day of rest and recouperation. See above.)

Anyway, after the recovery dice, how do things stand?

D HP: 21/21; Rec: 4/8; AC 14, PD 15, MD 11; Init +9
T HP: 24/24; Rec: 3/8; AC 11, PD 12, MD 14; Init +3
N HP: 27/27; Rec: 8/8; AC 17, PD 13, MD 13; Init +2
W HP: 33/33; Rec: 7/9; AC 16, PD 14, MD 11; Init +3*2
S HP: 33/33; Rec: 3/8; AC 15, PD 15, MD 11; Init +3*2
Z HP: 40/40; Rec: 7/8; AC 20, PD 13, MD 13; Init +2
J HP: 24/24; Rec: 3/8; AC 14, PD 12, MD 11; Init +4*2
Al HP: 27/27; AC 17, PD 14, MD 12; Init +3

Next up, recharging powers!

For that, I need you all to roll 1d20,1d20,1d20,1d20,1d20. That's 1d20, five times, not 5d20. So go ahead and do that in the dice roller on the left. I've done an example for you.

Weston rolling 5 d20s 'cuz I was told to <g>
MikeD rolled 1d20,1d20,1d20,1d20,1d20 and got 20, 14, 15, 12, 14

D's rolls are 8, 6, 6, 19, 7
D Power recharge
Pandemonium rolled d20,d20,d20,d20,d20 and got 8, 6, 6, 19, 7

Eww

What are recharge rolls, Neil? Well, powers generally have one of several usages. At-Will, Per Battle, Daily, or Recharge After battle.

Powers that recharge after battle will have a recharge number, frex, 11+, and after battle, if you roll higher than that, ka-boom, you take the power back.

So I've asked for 1d20 rolls, five of, to cover any recharge powers you used. I'll apply them in the order that the powers were used, since we kept a log.

• D. Did not use any recharge powers. That's "Eww" to "Phew"!
• T. Used Lightning Fork (16+), rolled 18, regains use
• N. Did not use any recharge powers, although he did use Bless, Cure Wounds and Shield of Faith daily powers
• W. Did not use any recharge powers
• S. Used Barbarian Rage (16+), rolled 17, regains use
• Z. Did not use any recharge powers, although he did use 3 of 3 bonus Smite Evils
• J. Used Befuddle (11+), rolled 4, and Song of Heroes (11+), rolled 9. No recharge

While we're making lists, here's what I have down for your Incremental Advances then.

• D. Shadow Walk Adventurer-tier Feat
• T. Hit Points
• N. Healing Domain Adventurer-tier Feat
• W. Power Attack Adventurer-tier Feat
• S. Barbarian Rage Adventurer-tier Feat
• Z. Hit Points
• J. Soundburst Spell

Nestaron gets an upgrade for his healing. When casting a healing spell, the recipient can use one of Nestaron's recoveries instead. Or, because he also has Protection Domain, any other player character can volunteer their recovery. So when Nestaron heals, the party pools its recoveries.

One word of caution about how Nestaron's built. He is entirely healing focused, as such he misses out on a cleric's formidable offensive magic.

However, Tindarien's spell choice makes him better for attack single targets, as he doesn't use the sorcerer's breath weapon. And you have no wizard in the party.

So in MMORPG parlance, your damage dealers are also your tanks.

What does this mean? Well, unless you're ambushed again, you need to find battle advantage. This can be a strategy that employs terrain, or a trap, maybe your own ambush, etc. It's the role-playing stuff that will translate to an advantage in battle. Although a Viking-style face-off is ballsy, if the enemy has spellcasters, they'll probably have more AoE powers than you.

Still need recharge rolls from Neptune and Gypsy, then we'll be ready to move on to the next scene, which I think you will also find interesting, and will allow us to explore some more 13th Age-isms.

Tindarien Recharge
Gypsy rolled 1d20,1d20,1d20,1d20,1d20 and got 18, 12, 15, 16, 19

This is exactly why I like tactical maps. Using a tactical map you can see exactly where the chokepoints are, you can line up your ranged pcs (archers and spellcaster) behind the front rank who can block enemy access to the more vulnerable. In a battle run without a tactical map, like this last one, I had no idea what the terrain was and where we might setup such a position.

Yup that is much harder to 'accomplish' with the whole 'theater of the mind' concept. It means that the mods have to be written with that in mind. I am not sure that many writers are there yet <wink>

Well, while I agree to a certain extent. It also comes down to the players too.

In the last battle we didn't have hard walls to funnel the enemy. So we were open to ambush a bit more than other situations.

As players we could have said "we lead them into a tightly wooded area" or some such and arranged things differently.

I agree it takes more imagination to describe things and not simplify them too much. It is similar to the thought process that occurs going from d20 stuff to more gestalt stuff like Fate.

Aye, you've got the idea Pandemonium. The environment isn't set in stone, it's more like sculpting clay.

You have a rough description of the locale, but the players' intention should drive the details, unless it's a specific set-piece (frex, battle on a rope-bridge over a chasm).

So to gain terrain advantage, the player or PCs might ask: OK, we can't take this frost giant in a stand up fight, we need to lay a trap for it. Maybe we can lure it to a precipice, or under a cliff? Trip it, or drop boulders on it. Etc.

Or, if it is a stand-up fight, they might ask: OK, we're massively outnumbered by these skeletons, is there some way we can bottleneck them so we're only facing two at a time? Or, well, we don't want this battle yet, can we beat a retreat to more favourable ground, maybe a hill, and gain some advantage?

The Battle of the Cascades was an ambush in open, and broken ground, so there wasn't much for it but to fight for your lives. Sometimes that's the only viable option.

We'll move on while Neptune's building up to those recharge rolls. (Personally, I like to breathe on my dice, warm them up in my hands before rolling. Gypsy on the other hand, likes to stare at other people's dice and hex them. We all have our rituals.)

What I have for you next is an example of how 13th Age uses Icon Relationships to flavour an encounter.

We've already seen a little of that with the goblins. Because they followed the Orc Lord, they had battle axes and did +1 damage.

But in the next encounter, we'll use the Icon rolls to alter the story itself. We'll find out how afterwards, but for now I'd like you all to roll your Icon Relationship dice.

What, you don't remember what they are, from when we talked about them on 27th April this year!? Ah, OK.

Looking at your own character sheet, you can see your Icon Relationships on the left, about two thirds up.

Listed is an Icon, a score, and positive/conflicted/negative.

For example, Williag has a +2 conflicted relationship with the Dragon Emperor, and a +1 positive with the Lich King.

So I'd need to make two separate rolls using the Drizzle dice roller. The first would look something like this...

Character: Williag
Action Description: Dragon Emperor +2 conflicted
Dice Roll: 1d6,1d6
Game Turn: Icon Relationships

You roll 1d6 per point in the relationship, +1, +2 or +3, etc.

Character: Seyja Banic
Action Description: Orc Lord +3 Conflicted
Dice Roll: 1d6,1d6,1d6
Game Turn: Icon Relationships

Dice Roll Results: 2,6,4

So I have +3 with the Great Gold Wyrm, so I roll 3d6 ... correct?

Weston Gr Gold Wyrm - positive MikeD rolled 1d6,1d6,1d6 & got 3, 1, 3

So maybe the wyrm isn't sure about Weston this week, month, year <sigh>

Pale Dusk Icon rolls
Looks like positive Archmage for 5.

Don't remember if a 1 is anything. Don't think so, but if it is, note the 1 in the negatively flavored The Black.

D The Black-, The Diabolist+, The Archmage+
Pandemonium rolled d6,d6,d6 and got 1, 4, 5

Tindarien has The Diabolist -1, The High Druid +1, The Elf Queen +1

Tindarien Diabolist, High Druid, Elf Queen
Gypsy rolled 1d6,1d6,1d6 and got 1, 6, 1

Talk about extremes! I think only the 6 counts.

Zoltan: Diabolist -1, Great Gold Worm 0, Crusader +1

Zoltan Icon Rolls
Zeim rolled d6,d6,d6 and got 5, 6, 5

If it's 5's and 6's he's got em all! <g> if only 6's count then GGW (Conflicted).

Nice roll Zeim. They all count.

Wow we have a lot of stuff falling into place.

Right then, I'll tot up what we've got so far and update once Neptune's rolled.

Archmage 1
Crusader 1
Diabolist 1
Great Gold Wyrm 1*
High Druid 1*
Orc Lord 1*

*Rolled 6s

Nestaron rolled 4, 3, 4 on High Druid, Priestess, Crusader. Nada. Just typical!! Well, let's see if Neptune can break the deadlock.

Sorry about being late here. A sudden burst of busy-ness in life. Here are my rolls, which I make totally blind, having no clue what they're about. I need to do some reading...

Jex Icon rolls, Prince of Shadows +2, the three +1, Archmage +1
Neptune rolled 1d6,1d6,1d6 and got 3, 2, 4

So nothing decisive, but we can work with those results, certainly.

You'll notice my posting's a little slow recently, btw, I'm just riding out a bit of tendonitis in the right hand/forearm and trying not to exacerbate it, in a way that fast-typing tends to.

You want to be sure that you =do= get over it before you do too much!! I know a woman that tried to 'work through' Carpal-tunnel and ended up losing the use of her left arm for almost a full year! Not sure it tendinitis is as susceptible to that sort of problem, but I wouldn't want you to risk it!!!

I blame internet p0rn!

Physio reckons it might not be tendonitis, but rather a thumb sprain. Could be, I do high intensity training and was doing body blasters the week before. Just strange that it first came on while I was typing.

Your character sheets should now be updated with your Incremental Advances, btw.

Not sure how it happened, but you lowered my AC again. Should be 20.

Huh, yeah. Strange. Well it's sorted now (and uploaded).

Also guys, I forgot to mention I'm away on business this week!!

Show week is nearly over, peeps. Same thing every year, this week's a bit of a write-off for leisure time.

I think I'll have a post for you tomorrow PM though.