Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Agent of Dread »

For xp! Though, in Oz's case, there's little difference. :P
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Agent of Dread »

Oz's innate "speechcraft" bonus is kind of insulting. :P

Also, though of an upgrade for probably rather later on.
  • Restless [ Active ] [ 1 use ] [ 20+n AP per use ]
    [ ... ]
    -> Nica may use this Ability without use restrictions while she has [ 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 ] or more charges of Kinesis. [ ?? AP ]
Last edited by Agent of Dread on Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Shade »

He knows how to get what he wants. :P
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Cimeries »

  • Restless [ Active ] [ 1 use ] [ 20+n AP per use ]
    [ ... ]
    -> Nica may use this Ability without use restrictions while she has [ 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 ] or more charges of Kinesis. [ ?? AP ]
20 / 40 / 60 / 80 AP respectively.


A little side note Re: the way I see "speechcraft" checks:
A perceptive character will analyze the situation well and identify a good middle ground for both parties.
An intelligent one will put their point across succinctly and effectively.
A character with high willpower will demonstrate sheer conviction and strong body language when making their point.

A combination of these factors (taking the average of the two highest stats) determines your character's "style" of persuasion, and the value determines how good they are at it.
Don't feel like you have to role-play the character in any particular way because of this, though, this is a purely mechanical solution for gameplay purposes.
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Shade »

Four buffed watchers?
That, uh, escalated quickly.
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Agent of Dread »

Indeed. :P The only reason I didn't post right away was because I wasn't sure if we actually wanted to bail on this one, but honestly if we go right in on the tendrils I'm still feeling pretty good. As long as we can make the toughest one drop the rock...
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Shade »

Not feeling it, tbh.
Devour Mana being a minor action means I would probably be completely worthless after the first round (I cannot resist the spellpoint theft even with a perfect roll), and depending on how the damage bonus from Nightmare Fuel is applied, Ameia and Oz are in very real danger of just flat-out getting OHKO'd by Tendril Strike.
I probably would've bailed on even just three, but four is making the decision easy for me, especially when they come pre-buffed. All we can really do is hope these guys don't cause any trouble if we just leave them alone.
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Agent of Dread »

It's true that at most 2x2-3 tendrils lopped off per turn still leaves us plenty of time to be zapped and smacked. Some extra cannon fodder would really help in this regard, so running to try and get any backup we can might be for the best.
Alternately we can try and shotgun one without a spell shield, at least on our first turn, since Oz should still have the INIT to get off a double cyclone. I think if we can eliminate one in a single turn then our odds get significantly better.
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Shade »

I mean, we might be able to "win" (I'm honestly not even sure about that - these jokers have 104 HP + two free hits in total, and they could probably just-recast their Mage Armor and Spell Shield if we break 'em), but I doubt Ameia and Oz would survive the fight. Watchers are enemies I really don't want to encounter in groups, much less at high stress, and even less so when they're as tanky as these particular specimens. I could probably zerk one down provided I don't miss, but what do you plan to do against the other three?
Even cutting off their tentacles doesn't seem like a very good move considering it increases their stress, and Psychosomatic Mutation - which is triggered by said stress - counteracts the tentacles lost to a significant extent.

I honestly don't want to deal with these things at all. I suppose we might as well go play in the forest some more and wait until Tudor's soldiers have dealt with them.
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Agent of Dread »

I think we should try to drop one and run. Our odds of doing so in one turn are decent and I doubt anyone will go to Death's Door within a single turn, so making the retreat after that should be an option, and leaving three to the soldiers or whatever else have you is likely a hell of a lot better than leaving four.
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Shade »

All of these jokers currently get a +9 damage bonus against Ameia and a +4 damage bonus against Oz. Considering they can plausibly attack up to 8 times in a single turn (and that's assuming Tendril Strike isn't a multi-hit attack like the ram attack of the stags is), the chance of us getting reduced to a fine red paste is actually is pretty high. Ameia has great AC and a chance to resist the damage component of Devour Mana, but Oz literally needs a perfect roll just to resist the damage, and his AC against physical attacks is still pretty garbage (thanks a lot, Ellen!).

Plus, I really don't feel like spending another day just recovering our HP and MP. Judging from what we've seen so far, it's very plausible to lose all your HP in one attack from even a basic enemy, and it takes several days just to recover enough HP to survive another hit without instantly dropping back down to Death's Door. I really don't want to take any chances.
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Cimeries »

Protip:
This fight can be won.

Another Protip:
It doesn't have to be.

I like the idea of dropping one and retreating. I'd even go as far as to say we can take out two and then retreat with acceptable losses. Ginny has 4 charges of shatter guard right now, so we can negate their protection as we target them with spells.

Edit:
Tendril strike is a single target melee attack, and has 1-2 base damage per tendril, so yeah, Nightmare Fuel turns it into a meatgrinder. Not every tendril attack will actually hit, since each is calculated separately, but we should move anyone with high stress to the back row if we engage them.
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Agent of Dread »

Could Shatter Guard Metamagicked onto an Arc Bolt ignore Spell Armour?
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Cimeries »

Yes.
It's better used with Oz' Cyclone though, since it will give us more time to deal that extra 50% damage before the watcher's turn starts.
(Since Oz has the highest INIT).
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Re: Aria of Ruin PnP - Talk Thread

Post by Shade »

Cimeries wrote:Protip:
This fight can be won.
Sure it can, but I'd rather stay alive. Being alive kinda has its merits!
Cimeries wrote:Ginny has 4 charges of shatter guard right now, so we can negate their protection as we target them with spells.
I'll admit I actually forgot about that, but our offense isn't even the issue, strictly speaking. The issue is that every single one of the watchers could plausibly OHKO any of us just with tendril strike, and judging from my near-death experience, multi-hit attacks bypass the Death's Door protection to some extent.
Cimeries wrote:Tendril strike is a single target melee attack, and has 1-2 base damage per tendril, so yeah, Nightmare Fuel turns it into a meatgrinder. Not every tendril attack will actually hit, since each is calculated separately, but we should move anyone with high stress to the back row if we engage them.
That's actually insane.
That's 12-24 base damage against Ginny and Nica, and 120-132 damage against Ameia (who has 17 HP).
Even if the actual damage dealt is likely going to be lower, that's not something I'm willing to expose any of us to.


Just checking - could I, in theory, cast a spell and then still retreat using my minor action?
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