Nerd Pride Radio

And by that I mean, the dragon is going to be PUNY and there just happen to be Giants and bears around...

I have one major question about this. What about our horses? As I was trying to do the math for my character's moneybags, I read back thru what I said I was purchasing and realized horse barding was one of those items. And then I said to myself, self, why aren't you riding your horse around Sandpoint, fighting on horseback?

And if that is impractical at this late date, whatever, but it is something we should keep in mind. I don't know who all has war horses but I know that I do, and now he has some light chain-shirt type barding as well.

The second obvious question is: $#()*&$()*&(*&&^ A DRAGON IS INCOMING!!! $%*&(*#&^

What do we DO about a dragon? I haven't faced/thought of a dragon encounter since D&D days many years ago, so I have no clue. I mean, we don't want fire to break out, obviously. We're hoping that the townspeople, having been alerted by us Troubleshooters and the church bell tolling, are going to start taking shelter in the designated shelter buildings. But OMG. What are we doing to do? Assuming we are not made bear snacks.

I'm hoping that the dragonbane arrows that we bought in Magnimar will put a dent or two in its hide.

Past that, I'm not really sure. Hope for some good rolls? Fireball and Scorching Ray have been my go-to damage dealers, and they won't do spit against a dragon... unless it's a white, and that's too much to hope for.

Some of us are flying, and I can hand out a few more castings of it if we need to get you or Hal into the air...

Maybe we'll get some lucky save misses... I'm REALLY looking forward to finding out

To begin: while a dragon is a next level phenomenon, so was a black magga, so was a lamia. We stick together, find what hurts it, and take care of each other.
Not all dragons breathe fire (some do worse) and these giants seem pretty weird about whom they hang out with, so I concur: throw as many arrows at it as we can, and figure out what kind of a threat it is. If we drive it off, great. If we make it land, we'll figure it out. There's no question the town will take a hit, but it was a target to begin with. The giants have bought or coerced this thing into helping them. Maybe a giant, flying Dwyn could ride it? So far, their first feint cost us about a round and a half of response time, and some minor damage. If we can maintain most of our integrity until the main assault comes in, I'm confident we can deal with it.

Just a quick note for Darcs... We forgot the mechanics of the "Shocking Spell" again... Since the Shock Shield is an electric spell to begin with, the Bear has to save twice. If it were a non-electric spell, then making the first save would mean that the shocking part didn't need to be rolled for, but with electric spells, it still does. The 2nd save is a Fortitude save. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/3rd-party ... -metamagic) (I think that, since I have 5 points of electric resistance and the spell only did 5 points of damage, I can do just one save against the stunning effect, but I'll leave that up to you.)

ALSO, I just double-checked the chat log and I DID cast Defensive Shock on myself right after Anna cast Fly on me. It lasts for 6 minutes so it should still be active, so that bear needs to take another 3D6 of damage in addition to making another saving throw (Fortitude) to avoid being stunned by the shocking shock shield. I am not someone you want to manhandle! (Or bear-handle...)

I do not even want to know what bear-handling means. You ask these questions and you always, always get an answer you didn't really want to know.

As for Eldthor, Anna and Kay pursuing the dragon: I rolled 5 attack rolls on Roll20 for DMDarcs, to do with as he pleases. FYI, they were:
1) 29 to hit, 11+6=17 damage (including dragon-bane arrow)
2) 35 to hit, 11+7=18 damage
3) 33 to hit, 6+8=14 damage
4) 19 to hit, possible critical miss, 24 to hit to confirm
5) 37 to hit, 5+8=13 damage

Of course, it wouldn't be my dice if there wasn't a possible crit miss in the bunch...

As mentioned on Roll20, this doesn't include adjustments for range. You'll need to subtract the range penalties for each round. Use as many attacks as you can, once per round while he moves each round to keep within reasonable range. He'll go up to 3 range increments away (or 5 arrows, whichever comes first) before calling it quits.

OK, so Kay has 3 2nd level spells and three first level spells left. If she is within 40 feet she will use the 1st level spells, using a 2nd level slot to cast if needed. If she is between 130 and 160 feet, she will use up to three Aggressive Thundercloud spells, though they are less likely to do damage since a successful save negates them. If between 45 and 130 she will whip out a want of magic missiles (CL3) and take pot shots at the bad boy with that.

If 40 feet or closer:
1) Ear-Piercing Scream (DC15 Fort Halves and avoids DAZE) 3D6 damage and DAZED for 1 round: 4+5+1=10
2) Ear-Piercing Scream (DC15 Fort Halves and avoids DAZE) 3D6 damage and DAZED for 1 round: 5+3+2=10
3) Ear-Piercing Scream (DC15 Fort Halves and avoids DAZE) 3D6 damage and DAZED for 1 round: 2+1+5=8
4) Ear-Piercing Scream (DC15 Fort Halves and avoids DAZE) 3D6 damage and DAZED for 1 round: 1+1+5=7
5) Ear-Piercing Scream (DC15 Fort Halves and avoids DAZE) 3D6 damage and DAZED for 1 round: 5+4+1=10

if between 130 and 160 for the first three rounds:
1) Aggressive Thundercloud (DC16 Reflex negates) 3D6 damage: 6+4+5=15
2) Aggressive Thundercloud (DC16 Reflex negates) 3D6 damage: 3+5+1=9
3) Aggressive Thundercloud (DC16 Reflex negates) 3D6 damage: 1+1+4=6

if between 45 and 130 feet and out of 2nd level spells:
1) Wand of magic missiles (CL3): 2D4+2=4+4+2=10
2) Wand of magic missiles (CL3): 2D4+2=3+3+2=8
3) Wand of magic missiles (CL3): 2D4+2=4+1+2=7
4) Wand of magic missiles (CL3): 2D4+2=2+2+2=6
5) Wand of magic missiles (CL3): 2D4+2=1+4+2=7


So, we have one rounds of hasted flight at 90ft per while taking a standard attack, so I'm guessing that I can take the first shot with the EPS, we'll have to see how it goes from there...

If we get too far for spells I guess I'll switch to short bow... Right now I'm enlarged, so the Arrows will do 1D8 dammage... (WOO) But my attack is a bit lower because of the DEX hit... (ignore the multiple attempts on the D20 site... it appears that you have to manually set the MAX on the strength bonus on your strength bow so that it doesn't add in when you have a buff...
1) 16 to hit 3+1=4 damage
2) 13 to hit 2+1=3 damage
3) 21 to hit 4+1=5 damage
4) 15 to hit 7+1=8 damage
4) 14 to hit 5+1=6 damage


Let's just say that I hope I don't have to use the bow...

What happens to a flying dragon if it is dazed? Falling damage?

If the dragon is dazed and we are close enough, the next Ear-Piercing Scream will be of the Shocking variety, which will require a second fortitude save if it fails the first one or it will be stunned. If it is stunned, I'll cast Shocking Grasp and go in for the Touch Attack (preferably after having the enlarge person undone... I'll roll it twice, just in case...)
1) Shocking Grasp (enlarged) - 13 to hit 3+3+4+5+5=18 spell damage and 1+4=5 sneak attack damage for 23 total damage
2) Shocking Grasp (Not enlarged) - 13 to hit 4+2+3+2+5=16 spell damage and 1+6=7 sneak attack damage for 23 total damage

Isn't that just funny as hell! I guess it just doesn't matter! (And I'd better hope that it is really, really easy to get a touch attack on a freaking dragon if I get the chance!)

[EDIT: Corrected the close range distance...]

For myself, I have 5 first level spells left, and I think that while we're in close range I will cast snowball. If we're in close range (45 ft) for two or three rounds remains to be seen, but I will do both and let Darcs decide. After we've left close range I will switch to magic missiles for the remainder of the rounds.

Scenario 1:

Round 1 - Snowball ranged touch - 14 5d6 cold damage - 16
Round 2 - Snowball ranged touch - 20 5d6 cold damage - 16
Round 3 - Snowball ranged touch - 17 5d6 cold damage - 21
Round 4 - Magic Missile SR Check - 15 5d4+5 damage - 14
Round 5 - Magic Missile SR Check - 22 5d4+5 damage - 16

Scenario 2:

Round 1 - Snowball ranged touch - 25 5d6 cold damage - 23
Round 2 - Snowball ranged touch - 13 5d6 cold damage - 13
Round 3 - Magic Missile SR Check - 17 5d4+5 damage - 15
Round 4 - Magic Missile SR Check - 18 5d4+5 damage - 14
Round 5 - Magic Missile SR Check - 14 5d4+5 damage - 14

If I get roasted in the process, use my remaining gold to raise dead me, please

Permission requested to make saving throws on behalf of the characters as necessary.

Go for it, my liege.

Of course, my good man

I reserve the right to piss and moan once if I die

Hope this is in round two or higher, because otherwise Dwyn is on her butt after failing so elegantly to mount the dragon....

Oh, and I think that, a good rule for Kay needs to be: One good blast from a breath weapon and she falls back out of range of that bad boy/girl, regardless of whether she makes her save to avoid (entirely thanks to rogue skills) damage or not! She wouldn't really want to face Eldthor if she died because of her recklessness after he told her to be careful.

[If this seems to imply that, had he not specifically told her, she might not think of it, you might be right... while not taken as a direct personality trait, like paranoia, personal recklessness has always been part of her style. Hence "Shock Shield", which causes damage to the wielder, and things like that. Many of the character choices have been with that play style in mind, though tempered a bit after the Barghest incident...]

Sure, go ahead and roll the saves for Eldthor.

Similar to Kay, if the dragon turns and fights, his strategy will change. He will not necessarily disengage, just take a different approach.

Waiting with baited breath...

I thought something was fishy...