OOC Chat: Chapter 1 - As Above, So Below

[bwatford]

8 minutes ago, scootloops said:

I have extra water skins on Taborlin and I did plan on using Sanaa to help carry supplies. She can hold about 540 lbs if no one is riding, so we could get away with a barrel of water. Sanaa is thankfully a spirit creature, so we don’t need to feed/water her.

I’ve got about 60g left to spend on supplies. I’ll probably up my ration count a bit

Probably need to grab it some saddlebags

[scootloops]

Yeah, that’s on my list too

[bwatford]

I have put up a very important poll for all six of you.

Difficulty Level - Game Threads - Myth-Weavers

I am going to move us forward shortly by a day of travel, should not change the current narrative too much but will move us closer to our objective.

 

[bwatford]

Please make sure that your name or picture in your posting template links back to your character thread. Thanks.

[Ayeba]

7 hours ago, 8w_gremlin said:

Yeah, I think I might need to address some of the things I've taken and look at the other items available.
How did you get a bag of holding, I didn't see that on the list of items, or were they updated?
 

No, I don't have a bag of holding, but I could drop my existing magic item (Arcane Grimoire) for one with the GMs permission. I'd prefer to keep the grimoire, but I'm even more keen on not dying of thirst.

5 hours ago, Newcomer said:

I can prepare create and destroy water if we need it (you forget we have a druid!), and I also plan to cast goodberry at the end of the day.

And for that we are thankful. Just don't mess up the spell due to ley line disruptions. Oops, my spell accidentally destroyed your remaining water instead of creating more >p

5 hours ago, Newcomer said:

For what it's worth, I also have the outlander feature, which may help a teensy bit if water is limited but present?

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Outlander Feature specifically says "... provided that the land offers berries, small game, water, and so forth."

Bought an additional 6 waterskins, almost maxed out my carrying capacity.

[Ayeba]

On the topic of watch order: Assuming we get Tiny Hut up (and as long as I don't fireball myself at point blank range, I don't see why I can't try multiple times), it is probably unnecessary to keep a night watch, but I guess it can't hurt. Question can take the last watch before dawn.

As for marching order: As a squishy ranged character, Question would prefer to be somewhere near the middle or back, but preferably not the last one.

I suggest the following order:

• Noodle scouting sneakily ahead. 30-60 feet, maybe?
• Deidre, our highest AC character first.
• Taborlin next. Are you riding on the hyena?
• Willowveil? Do you prefer to be close or far from the action?
• Question
• Lynestra -- assuming you're mostly ranged.

Feel free to share your disagreements.

@bwatford, Question's raven (who is named Raven because she saw no logical reason to give it a different name) is by default always active and following fairly closely (10-20 feet) overhead, or sitting down somewhere nearby when the group stops. It has a passive perception of 13, and has been instructed to alert its mistress of any creatures it spots.

A question regarding the lay line disruptions: Does this effectively make reaction spells unusable? You can't exactly spend a bonus action as part of the reaction to stabilize a spell.

Edited April 24 by Ayeba (see edit history)

[bwatford]

11 minutes ago, Ayeba said:

A question regarding the lay line disruptions: Does this effectively make reaction spells unusable? You can't exactly spend a bonus action as part of the reaction to stabilize a spell.

It does not, most of the time the spell will go off regardless, a ley line disruption causes wild effects, usually in conjunction with the spell.

Right now, it is extremely high at 93% chance, with a bonus action it reduces it to 46% chance. (I have already checked for Tiny Hut, and no weird phenomenon has occurred.) But the 93% chance is not every day. It is like the weather, tomorrow may have a much lower instability.

There are over 200 possible side effects, so it should be interesting when they occur. A bonus action always reduces the chance by half. Reaction spells like shield, counterspell, etc. have the full chance.

Instabilities can be anything from a bouquet of flowers appearing, or the spell effects being maximized, or the spell failing or a werewolf being portaled in. About 35% of the effects are good, 35% bad, and the other 30% are just effects that are neither good or bad.

[Ayeba]

7 minutes ago, bwatford said:

It does not, most of the time the spell will go off regardless, a ley line disruption causes wild effects, usually in conjunction with the spell.

Right now, it is extremely high at 93% chance, with a bonus action it reduces it to 46% chance. (I have already checked for Tiny Hut, and no weird phenomenon has occurred.) But the 93% chance is not every day. It is like the weather, tomorrow may have a much lower instability.

There are over 200 possible side effects, so it should be interesting when they occur. A bonus action always reduces the chance by half. Reaction spells like shield, counterspell, etc. have the full chance.

Instabilities can be anything from a bouquet of flowers appearing, or the spell effects being maximized, or the spell failing or a werewolf being portaled in. About 35% of the effects are good, 35% bad, and the other 30% are just effects that are neither good or bad.

Why am I suddenly reminded of my Deathwatch Librarian who got his soul sucked into the warp, never to be seen or heard from again?

Jokes aside, that sounds a lot more fun than what I thought the disruptions meant. I thought there was a 93% chance of the spell just not working. Thanks for letting us know.

[bwatford]

15 minutes ago, Ayeba said:

Jokes aside, that sounds a lot more fun than what I thought the disruptions meant. I thought there was a 93% chance of the spell just not working. Thanks for letting us know.

It is the chaos causing weird effects.

[8w_gremlin]

Willowveil, when combat starts, will probably summon some shades to do her fighting, and (keeping her bonus action to reduce the chaotic effects of no leylines)
the second round she'll send in her strange familiar, imagine a tiny humanoid made of twigs and thorns, with tiny wings to keep it airborne. (fly 40 ft, so not as good as the raven) whilst fighting entangling blasts.

So anywhere in the centre three positions, would be excellent.

@bwatford can you walk and take a short rest or is that too strenuous, I think I'm the only one who has the short rest mechanics and don't want to interrupt the flow of other players. it also should be noted that I can summon creatures for 2 hours at a time a couple of times a day, so wondering if I can summon, extend, and then rest as we move?

 

 

[Ayeba]

44 minutes ago, 8w_gremlin said:

I think I'm the only one who has the short rest mechanics

Wizards have arcane recovery. Don't know about the others.

[bwatford]

@8w_gremlin you can not travel and rest at the same time. It is not a light activity. There is however about 12 hours of daylight each day and the group can only travel 8, so i am sure a few resr each day during travel is normal.

[Newcomer]

Forgive me as I address things in a haphazard order here.

I have both Arcane Recovery and Natural Recovery, but more importantly Wild Shape is a short rest resource. I'll also want 10 minutes here and there to cast ritual spells.

I'm surprised the bonus actions only halve the chaos; the wording made me think the bonus action made it sure. So we're basically all wild magic sorcerers here. Good to know.

I'm okay with taking the rear; Zelda's definitely meant to be a back-lines character but isn't helpless up close.

Regarding the hardcore mode, I'm pretty torn, mainly because it's hard to know how hard each of the modes will turn out to be (and how amazing this team will be). I'd be inclined to vote for a middle option, letting the DM decide what's more interesting as we go, but I sense you want to take those decisions out of your hands so you can referee the module without constantly putting your finger on the scale. Hmmm.

Finally, I'd like the team's thoughts. My usual druid spells right now are entangle, faerie fire, goodberry, healing word, and speak with animals. If I swap one of those out for create and destroy water, I'll need to drop something. I think I remember seeing someone else had faerie fire? If someone else is casting it, then I probably can skip it. It's a great spell, but I also don't want to lose the option of ritually speaking with any animals we encounter (druids can ritually cast prepared spells; wizards can ritually cast from their spellbook). Meanwhile, I think entangle, goodberry, and healing word will probably see regular use.

[Newcomer]

Oh, and I can also cast alarm as a ritual, which can help us with the watch-taking. I suppose I should establish my end-of-day procedures: cast goodberry, ritually cast alarm, and possibly cast create or destroy water. I'll use bonus actions to aid those castings.

How do ley line disruptions and ritual casting interact?

[Ayeba]

21 minutes ago, Newcomer said:

Finally, I'd like the team's thoughts. My usual druid spells right now are entangle, faerie fire, goodberry, healing word, and speak with animals. If I swap one of those out for create and destroy water, I'll need to drop something. I think I remember seeing someone else had faerie fire? If someone else is casting it, then I probably can skip it. It's a great spell, but I also don't want to lose the option of ritually speaking with any animals we encounter (druids can ritually cast prepared spells; wizards can ritually cast from their spellbook). Meanwhile, I think entangle, goodberry, and healing word will probably see regular use.

I think you can safely drop Faire Fire. Both Faerie Fire and Entangle affect the same area (20 foot cube/square), so you'll be forced to choose between the two in a combat situation. I think Entangle is the superior spell in most situations. Entangle imposes restrained, which grants advantage to attackers, disadvantage on the enemies' attack, and immobilization to add insult to injury. There are scenarios in which the anti-invisibility from Faerie Fire is useful, but for the most part it only provides advantage to attackers.

Edited April 24 by Ayeba (see edit history)