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

Neil bustles into the room and shrugs off his Blackrock jacket. It's beaded with water, as is his bald pate.

Towels are on hand.

Slate grey light lingers around the windows, from a damp, overcast day outside, but inside the room is bright and cheery.

A little late, he sets about unpacking his GMing paraphernalia and greeting his friends. It's always good to see them, and after they're settled he recaps from last session.

...So very exciting stuff, if you ask me, and the first round shows off 13th Age combat quite well.

<Hands out copies of 13th Age SRD to anyone who hasn't got one>

The designers aren't fans of ambush rules, they give a few suggestions but I skipped them and rolled for initiative as normal.

It's not Vietnam. The VC don't suddenly open fire on your patrol from the undergrowth with machineguns.

So the designers have a point, the ambushers have to break from cover and rush you. Maybe if you were caught completely unawares I'd use ambush rules, but not here.

Again you can see how Mooks change strategy somewhat. The GM wants to soften up the PCs with Mooks. The PCs, however, have some awesome powers they can't use on Mooks, so they really have to eliminate the Mooks first.

Mooks may die easily, but they hit as hard and as often as full rank monsters. It's a very bad idea to ignore them. Since they're more numerous than full rank monsters, they have more hit rolls.

Combat was enjoined with with 6 Goblin Scum (Mooks), 4 Goblin Grunts, 2 Goblin Shamans... <Everyone sings "And a partridge in a pear tree!">

Note on initiative order. Humans roll initiative twice and pick the best result. Their Quick to Fight Trait.

JEX
So Jex opens with a high damage attack against the Mooks, using his Jack of Spells Talent to cast Chaos Bolt. Jex could have started a Bard Song too.

He probably wouldn't have used his Daily Song of Spilt Blood initially, and having rolled attacks, Song of Heroes wouldn't have benefitted anyone in the first round anyway.

So Neptune, you can decide whether Jex was singing Song of Heroes under his breath in the first round, and gain second round/final verse benefits. Or maybe he was singing nothing in the first round, and decides to sing Song of Spilt Blood now.

Singing doesn't stop you from fighting or spellcasting, btw.

WESTON
He uses his bow, but it's an unlucky roll, a 2+5=7, a miss. His Deadeye Archer means that a miss still does damage equal to level, so 1 point, but Deadly Assault only applies to rolls, not fixed damage -- you can't reroll if there is no roll -- and Second Shot requires a hit with a natural 16+.

Interestingly, Weston has Deadeye Archer feated, so it's an improved version. His Dex mod gets added to the miss damage, and is enough to kill another Mook.

Why does missing do damage in 13th Age? Because missing and doing no damage feels bad and prolongs combat. Miss damage represents a PC's attack not going according to plan, but not being ineffectual either.

Weston's using his sword in the second round, unless the bow is needed. 13th Age isn't anal about switching weapons, provided they're ready for action not packed or stowed.

SEYJA
Starts Barbarian Rage. This makes barbarians devastating against Mooks, since surplus damage carries over to the next Mook and so on. For example, Seyja does enough damage in this round to slay three Mooks. With the Mooks all dead by the end of the first round, she'll now being attacking full rank monsters and some of her other powers should come into play.

PALE DUSK
This turned out to be an easy decision. Rogues aren't at their best against Mooks, but pushing through the melee to get to the Grunts or Shamans would trigger opportunity attacks, so sod that. D uses Shadow Walk instead. He's ignored by enemies and can now dance around them to reach a his target. Shadow Walk allows you forfeit your attack that turn, for freedom of movement and double damage on your next turn.

Pandemonium, you need to decide who your preferred target will be. If you hit, you will do double damage. If the target is already engaged in melee with someone, you trigger Sneak Attack too for triple damage.

NESTARON
In short, his spell's primary effect failed to damage the Shamans, but it's secondary effect boosted Tindarien's AC. More importantly, he used his Invocation of Community to negate all critical hits against you guys. That later proves crucial, as Tindarien takes a crit that could have done 14 damage! (He has 18 hit points.)

ZOLTAN
The Grunt that attacked rolled low and triggered the tiefling Curse of Chaos, daily racial ability. Instead of damaging Zoltan, the Grunt does half damage to itself. Oops. Zoltan then uses Bastion to absorb half of the 7 damage done to Tindarien by a Grunt and follows up with Smite Evil, for 17 damage. Against the Goblin Scum, that would have been 3 dead Mooks, but it drops the Grunt to 2 hit points.

TINDARIEN
The sorcerer is engaged in melee, so most spells trigger an opportunity attack. Disengaging can trigger an opportunity attack too. But not if you teleport. He's a high elf and uses his daily racial power to do so. This puts him away from the melee and gives him an angle on the Shamans to use Lightning Fork. What follows is a Natural 20 (Critical) followed by a Natural 1 (Fumble). You don't see that every day! Fumbles aren't terribad, it just means you miss and don't do your miss damage either. So one Shaman got the s*** blasted out of him, whilst the other got away without a singe.

Shamans in 13th Age are the highest priority targets, which is why the GM will shield them behind a wall of Mooks. These Goblin Shamans use Shaking Curse that inflicts 8 damage, can spread to another target, and next round does 2 damage every time the target is engaged in melee. Seyja, Zoltan and Tindarien have been struck by the curse.

Gypsy, you owe Nestaron and Zoltan. Together they saved Tindarien from being dropped to 4 hit points in the first round.

<Takes a gulp of tea>

OK. So some of the goblins are Staggered. This means nada, unless you have powers that trigger against Staggered enemies, so it's worth noting.

Weston, Seyja, Almador and Nestaron are free and can choose targets. (There's a free Grunt and the Shamans further away, but ganging up on the Grunts is also a good idea.)

Jex, Heilbutt and Zoltan are engaged in melee with Grunts.

D is free and walking in shadow. Tindarien is free and at range. They can pick targets, though they're optimally placed to attack the Shamans.

One Grunt and both Shamans are free, and reinforcements arrive in the second round. They're likely to be orcs.

Note of interest. The Grunts are doing +1 damage because of the Orc Lord's axes. However, now they're outnumbered, they will only do 5 damage instead of 7 in the second round.

I won't review every combat like this, but since we're playtesting 13th Age here, I wanted to give you an introduction.

Thanks, that helps clear some things up. Weston's next attack will be on the grunt.

Excellent! So, Weston could attack Grunt4 with either bow or sword. He's good with both, which does make it difficult to decide which to use.

The Escalation Dice will be set to 1 in the second round! All PCs get a +1 to attack. NPC allies and enemies don't get this bonus. The heroes are the heroes. In the third round, it will be +2 and so on.

So it can be beneficial to hold a once per battle power, Power Attack, for example, until you have a bit of sweetening from the Escalation Dice.

The Escalation Dice maxes out at +6 to attack. It represents the party's esprit d'corp, grim determination, and when the going gets tough, the tough get going-ness. (More importantly, it prevents combat from getting drawn out into yawn fests.)

Weston has his sword out ... for now <g>

D will Shadow walk to the last remaining Shaman. The intent is to backstab on his turn, hopefully while it is engaged.

Great explanation of things. I really appreciate it. Having played 13th age without the explanation somethings were not as clear as they are now. Thanks!

Assuming the first shaman is toast, Tindarien will chaos bolt the other one. If my assumption is wrong he will try to finish off the one he lightning bolted!

And thanks guys!

BTW don't have the teleport listed on my sheet & didn't know about it either.. like it though!

I think it's a High Elf Racial ability, Gypsy.

A wounded animal is often the most dangerous, so yes, the Shaman1 needs finishing off, as does Grunt3 (nom de guerre "Groil").

Of course, this highlights the difference between Mooks and full rank foes. If Shaman1 and Grunt3 were both Mooks in groups of Mooks, in the second round you could cut through their 6 and 2 hp, and carry that damage into one of their Mook brethren.

Alas, all the Scum are dead, no more Mooks remain.

Gypsy. Zeim is absolutely correct. In 13th Age, high elves have the racial ability Highblood Teleport. Once a day, they can teleport anywhere nearby that they can see.

Likewise, Zeim's tiefling used Curse of Chaos to make a goblin face-plant and take half damage from its own attack.

The humans all used Quick to Fight to get a second initiative roll and pick the highest.

Pandemonium hasn't used his dark elf's racial ability yet, Cruel, which does 5 damage per round on an enemy that he hits with a natural even roll. That's best used against a boss.

And Nestaron's a half elf with the Surprising ability. He can subtract 1 from any of his d20 rolls, once per battle. Can be extremely useful if you have powers that rely on rolling odds or evens.

And Pande, I'm glad you liked the round review. Although I won't review as in depth as this in future, I'll always answer any questions you guys ask.

One thing I wanted to point out, is my interpretation of powers. What is Shadow Walk? What is a Chaos Bolt? Etc.

13th Age acknowledges that every gaming group, every adventure/campaign has its own flavour, so it doesn't describe powers in detail. It leaves that to us.

Shadow Walk, for example. The effects of the power are that you are ignored by enemies until you reappear in your next turn.

So it's not teleportation, because you have to move around as normal. If whilst shadow walking you jump off a cliff, you still go splat.

It's probably not literally merging with shadows, because it's not dependent on there being shadows.

So we might assume it allows you to walk like a shadow. Unnoticed, a part of the background, if you will.

Yet it doesn't effect allies, as such. They can still see you.

So what does Shadow Walk do exactly? Who knows. I've left it relatively open for you to describe. Maybe it becomes impossible for enemies to focus on you, so you're always at the periphery of their vision? Or maybe they don't see a rogue but only a shadow.

Finally, following on from everything I've just said, there's one important thing you need to know...

In 13th Age the PCs have One Unique Things, that make them unique within the story. They are already somewhat unique mechanically.

All other NPCs and monsters in 13th Age are created differently to the PCs. So, every human you encounter won't roll twice for initiative, it's only human PCs that do that. Not every high elf teleports down the street.

Likewise, you won't ever come up against an NPC 3rd level wood elf ranger who has all the powers of the PC version. The NPC version might have one or two powers of a ranger, or some other powers entirely, unique to him/her, if that works better.

This means that not every backalley rogue can magically disappear in broad daylight. Only the PC rogue has Shadow Walk.

This is one of the most D&D-like aspects of 13th Age's design.

So this means, firstly, in-character, the PCs would be surprised by the powers of their companions. Secondly, the NPCs and monsters might not have your awesome powers, but they might have their own, so be aware!

Neat! Thanks!

Here we go. Round 2 and 3. I've resolved two rounds this time, because it was that many before more real decisions became available for you guys.

Round 2 could be summed up as "unlucky dice rolling" for the PCs, Round 3 having a more even distribution.

I guess the main feature of these two rounds is healing.

Tindarien's a damage magnet!! So far this combat he's taken 38 damage!

He only has 18 hit points, so it's only the combined effort of Nestaron, Jex and Zoltan that has kept him alive.

You might notice that healing powers uses Recoveries. Most of you have 8 of these. Once they're spent, that character can receive no more healing. Even healing potions use a Recovery.

A PC can use their own Recoveries in a battle by Rallying instead of a normal combat manoeuvre. But offence is often the best defence.

OK ... a bit confused about who of the bad guys is left and where they are.

Weston's 1st choice would be to get back to my bow and take out the remaining shaman (or the leader if the shaman is dead by then <g>), but depending on how many foes are still in his immediate vicinity, he may have to continue to 'slice and dice'.

No probs, Mike. We could break it down thusly.

Starting at the river, closest to Weston.

1. Jex is in a bloody, dirty, fight with a goblin grunt. Both perilously close to plummeting into the river. Looks like it could go either way.

2. Almador is duelling a goblin grunt and appears to have the upper hand. Polearm vs axe.

3. Halfway up the slope, Seyja is holding her own against 2 orc berserkers, but is tiring fast against their heavy mauls.

The goblin shaman isn't engaged. If he targets Seyja again with his curse, it would quickly down her.

4. Farthest up the slope, near the trees, D, Heilbutt and Tindarien are in a savage melee with 3 orc warriors.

Offensive spells had been traded by Tindarien and the goblin shaman, but Tindarien's been drawn back into the melee.

Individually, the goblin shaman represents the most dangerous foe on the battlefield at present. Engaging him in melee will curtail his cursing ability, but if your ranged attacks are stronger, you might kill him sooner.

All foes are Nearby. In 13th Age, there are essentially two ranges: Nearby and Far Away.

Nearby is somewhere you can reach in one move action (i.e., the same round). Far Away is somewhere you can reach in two move actions (i.e., next round).

There's another quasi-range, Behind X ally. This explicit means you're keeping X ally between you and the enemy. If that ally is unengaged and an enemy moves to attack you, that ally has to option to intercept.

That's about as tactical as 13th Age gets. It prefers you to describe what you're doing and make sure you can do it without too much fuss, especially if it's a great idea that contributes to the excitement.

So when writing your combat post, you can (and should) focus on telling an exciting story about your character, rather than picking apart your d20 combat options.

Having said that....

Gypsy, if you're attacking the goblin shaman again, I'd recommend Scorching Ray. You've rolled odds with every Chaos Bolt so far, so you must be due an evens roll. If you get a high evens with Scorching Ray, you'll set the shaman on fire (1d8 damage per round). Worth a punt?

Well in most respect, Weston is about equal with bow or sword. There is a perk for each though. With a sword I can use 'Carve an Opening', but it doesn't sound like that will be of much use here. =But= with the bow I have a chance at 'Second Shot' ... so that seems like my best bet <weg> Of course, if you think I have a better option, I would like to know. That's how we learn <vbg>

Works for me. As you say, Weston is solid with sword and bow. Carve An Opening would also apply, you just need to roll odds for that one to kick in.

So far Weston's rolled evens on his melee attacks, but at least that triggered Deadly Assault. That's made a big difference!

Without Deadly Assault he'd have done 12 damage to his goblin grunt in total. With Deadly Assault, he did 22 damage!!

But let's give his bow an outing and see what he can do. Thus far his bow's been lacklustre, but it's only a matter of time before his rolling changes.

Seyja, once she's into her rage, is not much for strategizing. She bitterly hates orcs and would continue to engage them.

Stabby, staby, stab. I mean...

Works for me. Will use one of his powers next to try and end the same foe he had been attacking in concert with Helibutt.

Clearly you are an optimist <chuckle> But I have always been a sucker <wink> so bow it is.

Wow. Resolved another two rounds and they were brutal!! Writing them up Thursday.

I hope for them not for us.

Don't hold your breath on that one Pande <sigh>

For both! Carnage!

Let me just put this here "ow".

Yeah. Ouch.

Goes triple for me! Yee-ouch!

Some interesting things to note.

So far it looks as if Jex has been rolling poorly, and he has for his attack rolls, but his sustain song rolls have been superb. To sustain a song you have to roll natural 11+ and Jex sustained for 4 rounds, buffing everyone's attack rolls.

His battle cries have also saved Tindarien and Seyja's lives, and either way he's now free to spell cast without provoking opportunity attacks, so we should see more offensive magic from him. Neptune, you might want to consider Jex's Befuddle spell against a high value target. It could make them squander their turn. The orc chieftain or the beserker stand out.

Seyja might seem overpowered in this combat, but Barbarian Rage is a once an adventure ability, so it has a serious kick to it. Unlike more traditional D&D rage, it doesn't confer hit points though, so she's been burning through those at an alarming rate.

And Zoltan has been laying down some big hits with Smite Evil too. It too has a limited number of uses per adventure, but is more flexible than Barbarian Rage. Frex, if you activate barbarian rage to fight a couple of kobolds, that's it, wasted.

D has shown rogues to be high damage output characters too. They're effective with their daggers without Sneak Attack. With Sneak Attack and their other powers, they're in the top tier damage dealers. However, because their powers require Momentum (acquired by hitting but not getting hit), it's important they avoid taking damage.

D hasn't proven so effective at that, but that's the price for saving Heilbutt and Tindarien's lives. Crucially, like Jex, Tindarien is now free to cast spells without provoking opportunity attacks, so saving Tindarien could be instrumental to the wider battle.

With the orc chieftain on the field, Tindarien spent one round rallying to recover some hit points and avoid getting floored by the chieftain's Battle Curse. Tindarien has a feat that makes his recoveries more reliable, and he needs to stay upright, his spells are essential for wearing down high priority foes, since they don't target AC. Gypsy, Scorching Ray worked, though the others killed the shaman before it could take effect. Definitely one for foes with abundant hit points then, so perhaps the same thing on the berserker?

I groaned as Weston fumbled his first attack with the bow, natural 1, but fortunately in the next round his luck changed and he got off two solid shots, reaching across the battlefield to free up Jex and finally kill that SOB shaman. (A good job that Tindarien cooked the first one, otherwise the battle would be going far worse for the party.)

D is unconscious and dying. He has four attempts to succeed a death save to stabilise, though a PC with healing skills can stabilise him. That shouldn't be necessary though, Owain built Nestaron as a Heal-o-matic 3000, and he has an invocation/spell combo that can get D back on his feet from range. So the party should hold it's nerve, focus on dishing out punishment.

I think there will be lessons learned about 13th Age from this combat, and we'll go over them once we're done.

Hope you're all enjoying, or at least finding it interesting, thus far.