Swin puts her arm on Darren's shoulder as he moves forward. "They were waiting. Half door in the west wall, crossbows I think. Expect the same. Do you want to be invisible? Or I can do that thing where I try to blink in and out of this plane."
“Whatever you think is best love.” Darren says before he heads do then ladder. (I assume there would be time to say that. But I suppose that depends on Steve rules things 😊)
What is the makeup of the floor in the basement? Wood, stone, earth? Swin is wondering about using mold earth to create a barrier for the party to hide behind down there.
So, you are all on the ladder, one above the other, Darren at the bottom (10 feet from the ground), then Balassar (15 feet), then Alton (20 feet), then Swin (25 feet), and Kef at the top, five feet vertical distance between each of you. Darren at the bottom, you are ten feet off the ground, and as soon as you move down at all you will be in the room and visible to any enemies there.
Sliding down the ladder costs normal movement.
I want to try to make this make sense, but still keep initiative order, so I will assume that you all drop into the room below (correct me if this is not the case), and have however many feet of movement remains to you for that turn, but then somehow you all still act in initiative order.
So regardless of initiative, it is Darren who drops down into the room first, and is therefore met by a single crossbow bolt (13 against AC for 4 points of piercing damage). Happily, because he rushed down so quickly, only one of the enemies had reloaded his crossbow; the others are still arguing about what happened to the weird bird.
Round One: Balassar Fighters 1, 2 and 3 (they look strong, like the ones you fought above) Brigands 1, 2 and 3 (they look weaker) Darren and Swin Alton and Kef
Balassar is up. You are at the bottom of the ladder, with 15 feet of movement still to use. This is an empty cellar room, with stone brick walls and a tiled stone floor in bad shape. There's no furniture of note in this room, but there are lamps on the walls that provide decent light. You see a barricade formed from two desks pushed together (the orange line on the map), providing cover to the crossbow-wielding fighters on the other side. It doesn't look too strong.
Balassar sighs as he holds his shield up and walks carefully along the wall to the and just locks eyes with the fighters as he breathes out his breath weapon, letting out a roar.
OOC: Hoping this makes sense Movement 15ft straight line so his back and side are against the wall looking into the room at a diagonal as he breathes out his 15 ft cone breath weapon, hoping to hit fight 1,2,3 and brigand 2 if I measured this right
Breath Weapon: 15ft cone of ice (Con save DC: 14 for half damage) 10 cold damage on fail, 5 cold damage on success (if this didn't break the barrier as well please let me know if you need a roll or anything as he continues to move)
Movement 10 ft after his breath weapon to place himself next to brigand 1, in front of fighter 1 and on the side of fighter 2
Bonus Action: Giant's Strength
Action Surge: two attacks one on fighter 1 and one on fighter 2
Attack on fighter 1: 19 (12+7) for 5 damage if it hits, Giant's Strength roll: 1 (The damage from this strike, yikes not so good dice)
- Activating the fire rune on this attack for 3 fire damage, and creature need to make a str saving throw DC 14 or be restrained by shackles of fire that deal 2d6 fire damage at the start of each of its turn. (full detail in spoiler)
In addition, when you hit a creature with an attack using a weapon, you can invoke the rune to summon fiery shackles: the target takes an extra 2d6 fire damage, and it must succeed on a STR saving throw (DC:14) or be restrained for 1 minute. While restrained by the shackles, the target takes 2d6 fire damage at the start of each of its turns. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, banishing the shackles on a success. Once you invoke this rune, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Attack on fighter 2: 13 (6+7) for 10 damage if it hits
Cones are always tricky. I think it would be impossible to hit Fighter 1 from that location because the blast would go through the wall. I think it hits Fighter 2 and 3, and also Brigand 2.
Fighter 2 and Brigand 2 take the full 10 points, but Fighter 3 ducks behind the table and avoids the worst, taking only 5 points of cold damage.
The barricade is weakened considerably by the blast; Balassar kicks it aside using his free interaction with an object, no rolls needed.
Balassar moves up into the thick of battle, surrounding himself with enemies. He strikes at Fighter 1, cutting and burning; you see shackles attempt to ensnare him, but unsuccessfully (he made the save). He does still take 9 points of damage.
With only Balassar in the mix at the moment, Fighters 1, 2 and 3 as well as Brigand 1 attack him, with Brigands 2 and 3 keeping their distance and attacking Darren with their newly-reloaded crossbows.
It's a cluster of mace blows raining down towards Balassar, and the Fighters seem to co-ordinate effectively, fighting well as a team: Fighter 1: First attack, 22 against AC, hits for 5 points of bludgeoning damage Second attack, 15 against AC, misses Fighter 2: First attack, 20 against AC, misses Second attack, 19 against AC, misses Fighter 3: First attack, nat 20, 13 points of bludgeoning damage Second attack, 21 against AC, misses Brigand 1 attacks with a scimitar, 17 against AC, misses
So a total of 20 points of bludgeoning damage against Balassar.
Two crossbow bolts fly towards Darren, who has half cover because of all the bodies in the way: 19 against AC for 7 points of piercing damage, 21 against AC for 3 points of piercing damage.
Brigand 2 gives a loud shout: They're here! They're hitting us! We need backup!
(If I understood post 6109 correctly Darren has 20 ft of movement left for this first round. And will post accordingly)
Darren notices just a moment to late that he’s in for another volley of crossbow bolts putting up his shield in time to stop one of them. (14+2 cover+5 shield=21 total, using his reaction and lvl 1 spell)
He then moves quickly to the entrance to the next room (bottom left corner of current room) Summoning a skeletal hand as he repositions towards brigand 1 chill touch (to hit: 15 damage 13 necrotic)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Swin begins humming, and starts her bladesong (BA). She moves down the ladder and then 15 feet along the north wall to just opposite the little wall bit from B1. (She's got 40ft of move from bladesong.)
She looks at the others and says, "I'll try and go have a look,"and casts blink.
She may or may not shift to the ethereal plane, yes if 11 or higher: 5
I think she has no more movement left.
(I've evidently always misunderstood this spell -- I thought you could move through the ethereal plane when you are on it, but you are only on it between turns. Can you use a reaction to ready an action to move/scout through ethereal plane with the condition being you succeed in shifting to the ethereal plane? Then you shift back to within 10 feet of your original spot?)
So she does go to the ethereal plane, but she's used her action already, and thus can't use reaction to ready an action. So she stays put, looking around the ethereal plane for Rhane. Can she see through walls?
While on the Ethereal Plane, you can see and hear the plane you originated from, which is cast in shades of gray, and you can't see anything there more than 60 feet away. You can only affect and be affected by other creatures on the Ethereal Plane. Creatures that aren't there can't perceive you or interact with you, unless they have the ability to do so.
Tricky one. I guess you can use a reaction, so you can ready your movement. Like any readied action, when the trigger occurs, you either do the readied action (in full and as previously stated) or you do nothing - so you can't move five feet and then decide if you want to continue or stop, for example. And you must end your movement in a place where you can still see a location within ten feet of where you entered the ethereal plane, if that makes sense.
So, before you pop into the ethereal plane, what exactly is your readied action/movement?
Swin, if she has any movement left, readies a move to the spot immediately east of Fighter 2. So she gets ready to go there (the spot's within 10 feet of the spot she cast from and stopped at before shifting), ends her turn, and then shifts, and then the readied movement happens, and she moves there in the ethereal plane.
Does she see anything more than what can be seen on the prime material plane? Can she see through stuff?
I'm starting to regret taking this spell, I had a wildly different conception of it when I selected it.
(It's mostly just to keep you safe in combat, rather than to explore the world through the Ethereal Plane I think. As I understand it, no, you don't see anything more than on the material plane, unless there were ethereal creatures around for you to see. If you would like to retcon it and not choose that spell, that's fine - then give me your alternative action for this round. Otherwise, give me the go ahead and we'll go with your plan above.)
That's fine, Darren first, Balassar second, then who after that?
Alton follows behind Balassar down the ladder, "Now we've really got to put the hurt on these guys for killing a poor bird."
Initiative: 11
Be excellent to each other, and roll for initiative dudes!
Swin puts her arm on Darren's shoulder as he moves forward. "They were waiting. Half door in the west wall, crossbows I think. Expect the same. Do you want to be invisible? Or I can do that thing where I try to blink in and out of this plane."
She goes after Alton.
Initiative: 14
Balassar just holds up his shield "Just stay behind me if possible I guess."
Initiative: 22
“Whatever you think is best love.” Darren says before he heads do then ladder. (I assume there would be time to say that. But I suppose that depends on Steve rules things 😊)
(Forgive the accidental second initiative roll.)
What is the makeup of the floor in the basement? Wood, stone, earth? Swin is wondering about using mold earth to create a barrier for the party to hide behind down there.
So, you are all on the ladder, one above the other, Darren at the bottom (10 feet from the ground), then Balassar (15 feet), then Alton (20 feet), then Swin (25 feet), and Kef at the top, five feet vertical distance between each of you. Darren at the bottom, you are ten feet off the ground, and as soon as you move down at all you will be in the room and visible to any enemies there.
Sliding down the ladder costs normal movement.
I want to try to make this make sense, but still keep initiative order, so I will assume that you all drop into the room below (correct me if this is not the case), and have however many feet of movement remains to you for that turn, but then somehow you all still act in initiative order.
So regardless of initiative, it is Darren who drops down into the room first, and is therefore met by a single crossbow bolt (13 against AC for 4 points of piercing damage). Happily, because he rushed down so quickly, only one of the enemies had reloaded his crossbow; the others are still arguing about what happened to the weird bird.
Round One:
Balassar
Fighters 1, 2 and 3 (they look strong, like the ones you fought above)
Brigands 1, 2 and 3 (they look weaker)
Darren and Swin
Alton and Kef
Balassar is up. You are at the bottom of the ladder, with 15 feet of movement still to use. This is an empty cellar room, with stone brick walls and a tiled stone floor in bad shape. There's no furniture of note in this room, but there are lamps on the walls that provide decent light. You see a barricade formed from two desks pushed together (the orange line on the map), providing cover to the crossbow-wielding fighters on the other side. It doesn't look too strong.
Balassar sighs as he holds his shield up and walks carefully along the wall to the and just locks eyes with the fighters as he breathes out his breath weapon, letting out a roar.
OOC: Hoping this makes sense
Movement 15ft straight line so his back and side are against the wall looking into the room at a diagonal as he breathes out his 15 ft cone breath weapon, hoping to hit fight 1,2,3 and brigand 2 if I measured this right
Breath Weapon: 15ft cone of ice (Con save DC: 14 for half damage) 10 cold damage on fail, 5 cold damage on success (if this didn't break the barrier as well please let me know if you need a roll or anything as he continues to move)
Movement 10 ft after his breath weapon to place himself next to brigand 1, in front of fighter 1 and on the side of fighter 2
Bonus Action: Giant's Strength
Action Surge: two attacks one on fighter 1 and one on fighter 2
Attack on fighter 1: 19 (12+7) for 5 damage if it hits, Giant's Strength roll: 1 (The damage from this strike, yikes not so good dice)
- Activating the fire rune on this attack for 3 fire damage, and creature need to make a str saving throw DC 14 or be restrained by shackles of fire that deal 2d6 fire damage at the start of each of its turn. (full detail in spoiler)
In addition, when you hit a creature with an attack using a weapon, you can invoke the rune to summon fiery shackles: the target takes an extra 2d6 fire damage, and it must succeed on a STR saving throw (DC:14) or be restrained for 1 minute. While restrained by the shackles, the target takes 2d6 fire damage at the start of each of its turns. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, banishing the shackles on a success. Once you invoke this rune, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Attack on fighter 2: 13 (6+7) for 10 damage if it hits
Cones are always tricky. I think it would be impossible to hit Fighter 1 from that location because the blast would go through the wall. I think it hits Fighter 2 and 3, and also Brigand 2.
Fighter 2 and Brigand 2 take the full 10 points, but Fighter 3 ducks behind the table and avoids the worst, taking only 5 points of cold damage.
The barricade is weakened considerably by the blast; Balassar kicks it aside using his free interaction with an object, no rolls needed.
Balassar moves up into the thick of battle, surrounding himself with enemies. He strikes at Fighter 1, cutting and burning; you see shackles attempt to ensnare him, but unsuccessfully (he made the save). He does still take 9 points of damage.
Fighter 2 takes 10 points of damage.
OOC:
Appreciate it, that ends balassar's turn.
With only Balassar in the mix at the moment, Fighters 1, 2 and 3 as well as Brigand 1 attack him, with Brigands 2 and 3 keeping their distance and attacking Darren with their newly-reloaded crossbows.
It's a cluster of mace blows raining down towards Balassar, and the Fighters seem to co-ordinate effectively, fighting well as a team:
Fighter 1:
First attack, 22 against AC, hits for 5 points of bludgeoning damage
Second attack, 15 against AC, misses
Fighter 2:
First attack, 20 against AC, misses
Second attack, 19 against AC, misses
Fighter 3:
First attack, nat 20, 13 points of bludgeoning damage
Second attack, 21 against AC, misses
Brigand 1 attacks with a scimitar, 17 against AC, misses
So a total of 20 points of bludgeoning damage against Balassar.
Two crossbow bolts fly towards Darren, who has half cover because of all the bodies in the way: 19 against AC for 7 points of piercing damage, 21 against AC for 3 points of piercing damage.
Brigand 2 gives a loud shout: They're here! They're hitting us! We need backup!
Darren and Swin are up.
Balassar just swings at fighter 3 as he hits him.
OOC:
Using reaction Vengful Assault to attack.
20 (13+7) to hit fighter 3 for 10 damage
(If I understood post 6109 correctly Darren has 20 ft of movement left for this first round. And will post accordingly)
Darren notices just a moment to late that he’s in for another volley of crossbow bolts putting up his shield in time to stop one of them. (14+2 cover+5 shield=21 total, using his reaction and lvl 1 spell)
He then moves quickly to the entrance to the next room (bottom left corner of current room) Summoning a skeletal hand as he repositions towards brigand 1 chill touch (to hit: 15 damage 13 necrotic)
(I’m trying to break line of sight from the crossbow wielding enemies.)
Darren moves, and the skeletal hand touches the brigand, draining the life from him; his corpse drops to the ground.
Swin is up.
Swin begins humming, and starts her bladesong (BA). She moves down the ladder and then 15 feet along the north wall to just opposite the little wall bit from B1. (She's got 40ft of move from bladesong.)
She looks at the others and says, "I'll try and go have a look," and casts blink.
She may or may not shift to the ethereal plane, yes if 11 or higher: 5
I think she has no more movement left.
(I've evidently always misunderstood this spell -- I thought you could move through the ethereal plane when you are on it, but you are only on it between turns. Can you use a reaction to ready an action to move/scout through ethereal plane with the condition being you succeed in shifting to the ethereal plane? Then you shift back to within 10 feet of your original spot?)
So she does go to the ethereal plane, but she's used her action already, and thus can't use reaction to ready an action. So she stays put, looking around the ethereal plane for Rhane. Can she see through walls?
While on the Ethereal Plane, you can see and hear the plane you originated from, which is cast in shades of gray, and you can't see anything there more than 60 feet away. You can only affect and be affected by other creatures on the Ethereal Plane. Creatures that aren't there can't perceive you or interact with you, unless they have the ability to do so.
Tricky one. I guess you can use a reaction, so you can ready your movement. Like any readied action, when the trigger occurs, you either do the readied action (in full and as previously stated) or you do nothing - so you can't move five feet and then decide if you want to continue or stop, for example. And you must end your movement in a place where you can still see a location within ten feet of where you entered the ethereal plane, if that makes sense.
So, before you pop into the ethereal plane, what exactly is your readied action/movement?
Swin, if she has any movement left, readies a move to the spot immediately east of Fighter 2. So she gets ready to go there (the spot's within 10 feet of the spot she cast from and stopped at before shifting), ends her turn, and then shifts, and then the readied movement happens, and she moves there in the ethereal plane.
Does she see anything more than what can be seen on the prime material plane? Can she see through stuff?
I'm starting to regret taking this spell, I had a wildly different conception of it when I selected it.
(It's mostly just to keep you safe in combat, rather than to explore the world through the Ethereal Plane I think. As I understand it, no, you don't see anything more than on the material plane, unless there were ethereal creatures around for you to see. If you would like to retcon it and not choose that spell, that's fine - then give me your alternative action for this round. Otherwise, give me the go ahead and we'll go with your plan above.)