Chaosforge 4e PBF - OOC

[Malek Deneith]

So monster types, or rather monster roles, let's talk about them. In general there are three kinds of them - there are speciality roles, there are the regular roles, and there is a singular sub-role.

I've already talked about one of the speciality roles:
- Minions as described earlier are 1 hp wonders that are there to crowd you and four/five/six (depending on tier) of them count as about one regular monster.
- This combat you've faced another speciality role. Our late friend Bortek was and Elite monster. Those, unlike Minions who come in swarms instead count as two monsters. As such Bortek had about twice as many hp as a regular monster (152 in his case to be precise) and packed much bigger wallop - his basic melee attack dealt 2d12+3 damage actually. On top of that Elite monsters get a +2 bonus to all saving throws (which means "save ends" effects have a harder time sticking against them) and come with 1 Action Point to give you even more trouble. Notably though most other stats like defenses don't get an upgrade, though Elites might at times get more interesting power sets (Bortek was a bit of an disappointment in that regard actually).

Regular roles are the bread and butter of monsters, and in fact monsters that have a speciality role nowdays have a regular role as well - Bortek for example was an Elite Brute. The roles are as follows:
- Artillery monsters are, as name implies, geared towards ranged and area attacks. They tend to have higher accuracy, but lower health. Gnome Illusionist you've faced this combat was of this role.
- Brute monsters come with high hit-points and increased damage (usually of melee kind) but tend to have lower than average defense values. You've only met non-pure ones thus far - Bortek and Zombie Shamblers (Minion Brute)
- Controller monsters are... well, imagine Berak but on the enemy side. Yeah. Obviously you haven't seen any yet.
- Lurker monsters tend to alternate high-damage attacks with evasive abilities on alternating turn. They don't have much in terms of health but are tricky to fight effectively. No examples yet.
- Skirmisher monsters are kind of a baseline. Their attack, health and defense values tend to be average, but they too have a niche of their own namely mobility and combat advantage exploitation. Dire Wolves this encounter didn't really get to show it off but their bites actually dealt more damage against prone targets and could knock prone if the target gave CA.
- Soldier monsters are the tough nuts to crack. They don't get higher hp, but instead they boast increased defense values. The also tend to have ways to mark enemies, and at times punish breaking those marks the way Quill does. Skeletons from first encounter were of this role.

Finally the sole sub-role is the Leader. It's kind of rare, in fact I don't think there is one in current adventure, but when they appear they're going to annoy you by granting other monsters various bonuses, temporary hp, and occasionally even flat-out healing them. Have fun.

[Xander Morhaime]

I have a small question, before getting into story and such - was Bortek alive? Before we beat him to a pulp, I mean. Was there bleeding and such... will roll on a skill if needed to determine.

Just trying to figure out how safe all that wonderful, wonderful food is to eat.

[LuckyDee]

A question to your question: regardless of his state of being, did you actually see him touch any of the food?

[Xander Morhaime]

I don't know, I was too busy looking at the food.

[Malek Deneith]

Yep, he seemed alive, he bled and all that. No, you didn't see him touching the food but then again you didn't have much of an opportunity to before the hostilities broke out.

[LuckyDee]

Can I please get a description of the room I'm looking into?

[slave]

did SKRen give a green light for Gosok's participation should it happen?

I'm assuming that he implicitly gave his premission by joining Berak by the fire. It should be easy to fix if it turns out that he didn't. :P

Should I write the ritual casting fluff or will you do it?

[Malek Deneith]

Your ritual, your fluff. If you want to be 100% sure feel free to PM the draft to me for a look through.

Edit: By the way, thelaptop you might want to actually spend some healing surges.

[slave]

Xander, you should probably use your Second Wind right now, since using it in battle would perhaps be less desirable and you only get one use before an extended rest anyway.

until next extended rest Quill can not heal hit points other than through Second Wind, does not recover spent encounter powers

So basically, if Quill goes to 0 HP or below, she is guaranteed to die? That is seriously risky. Considering that, we should probably just take an extended rest instead of casting the ritual.

[Malek Deneith]

@Second Wind - Second Wind technically is not a power so Quill will regain that one after short rest without a problem. As for the death question I'd probably rule she stabilizes at current HP if healed while at 0 or less (or if she rolled nat 20 on a death save) but does not regain hp and thus remains unconscious.

[LuckyDee]

Considering that, we should probably just take an extended rest instead of casting the ritual.

After this?

I plan on having Isirius live a little longer...

[Malek Deneith]

Dee, roll me a perception check.

[slave]

I plan on having Isirius live a little longer...

Ok, I'll cast the ritual. :P
I have to think a bit about the fluff though.

Second Wind technically is not a power so Quill will regain that one after short rest without a problem.

Since we can take as many short rest as we wish as long as the DM does not bombard us with encounters, would that imply that Quill can spend any amount of healing surges between encounters?

[LuckyDee]

Assuming you meant active Perception: 1d20+3=20

[Malek Deneith]

Technically you can. Practically it might make me bring down the hammer if abused... for obvious reasons.

@up - that I did mean and thank you.