RP decision: what would you do (here as Coran)? (spoilers)
Lemernis
Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
In my "Let the Fates Decide" game I now have Coran burgling Ramazith's tower. I'm in a spot where I'm just curious how others might handle it.
First a quick bit of setup: With this gaming method I use card flips (red suit = yes, black suit = no) or die rolls (via WotC die roller) to make some decisions, either for fun value or because I'm genuinely uncertain what the character would do. That said, what I imagine a character would likely do always takes precedence over using chance in response to a situation. But again, as mentioned, the card flips and die rolls do also add fun value for a lot of things in the game by adding a random element. (Hope that all makes sense.)
Coran is wearing the Boots of Speed. And included in his inventory are two invisibility potions, one potion of magic blocking, one oil of speed, one healing potion, and one poison antidote potion.
So... Coran picks the lock. He everso slightly cracks the door (didn't think of it, but I guess I could have flipped a card for whether the door creaks! Oh well.) I believe we may presume Coran can pick the lock and peer in undetected because he is a fourth level Thief in stealth mode. So he peers in. And he spots Ramazith, who is right there on the first floor of the tower. From a RP standpoint I like to get a little creative with something like this; yes, Ramazith is there on the first floor, but let's say he doesn't literally have to be facing the door. The question I formulate then is: Does Coran have access to get to spiral stairs undetected, i.e., for example, is Ramazith facing away from the front door engrossed in a book such that Coran may slip past him up the stairs unseen? The card I flip is a red suit, so yes. Coran may advance. Which RP-wise I figure Coran (ever the risk-taker) would do.
Up the stairs he goes. On the next level are mustard jellies. Not a problem.
Still in stealth mode of course, Coran carefully creeps up the stairs on the second floor and peers up to the third floor level. There he spies no less than five ghasts shambling about. Myself, I don't think it is believable that he could stealth past five of them undetected even with boots of speed.
So the question I pose to you all now is...
Within this gaming method would you
a) RP that Coran gulps down a potion of invisibility and advances?
b) RP that Coran turns back? (Five ghasts on only the third floor of a tall tower is not a good sign of what may lie ahead.)
c) flip a card as to whether he advances upward with the potion of invisibility?
First a quick bit of setup: With this gaming method I use card flips (red suit = yes, black suit = no) or die rolls (via WotC die roller) to make some decisions, either for fun value or because I'm genuinely uncertain what the character would do. That said, what I imagine a character would likely do always takes precedence over using chance in response to a situation. But again, as mentioned, the card flips and die rolls do also add fun value for a lot of things in the game by adding a random element. (Hope that all makes sense.)
Coran is wearing the Boots of Speed. And included in his inventory are two invisibility potions, one potion of magic blocking, one oil of speed, one healing potion, and one poison antidote potion.
So... Coran picks the lock. He everso slightly cracks the door (didn't think of it, but I guess I could have flipped a card for whether the door creaks! Oh well.) I believe we may presume Coran can pick the lock and peer in undetected because he is a fourth level Thief in stealth mode. So he peers in. And he spots Ramazith, who is right there on the first floor of the tower. From a RP standpoint I like to get a little creative with something like this; yes, Ramazith is there on the first floor, but let's say he doesn't literally have to be facing the door. The question I formulate then is: Does Coran have access to get to spiral stairs undetected, i.e., for example, is Ramazith facing away from the front door engrossed in a book such that Coran may slip past him up the stairs unseen? The card I flip is a red suit, so yes. Coran may advance. Which RP-wise I figure Coran (ever the risk-taker) would do.
Up the stairs he goes. On the next level are mustard jellies. Not a problem.
Still in stealth mode of course, Coran carefully creeps up the stairs on the second floor and peers up to the third floor level. There he spies no less than five ghasts shambling about. Myself, I don't think it is believable that he could stealth past five of them undetected even with boots of speed.
So the question I pose to you all now is...
Within this gaming method would you
a) RP that Coran gulps down a potion of invisibility and advances?
b) RP that Coran turns back? (Five ghasts on only the third floor of a tall tower is not a good sign of what may lie ahead.)
c) flip a card as to whether he advances upward with the potion of invisibility?
Post edited by Lemernis on
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Comments
Or just run away and come back with more power!! Seems more RP acceptable to go bak and come again.
Another factor worth taking into account is that he's going to exhaust both invisibility potions with this burglary if he uses the invisibility potion. Because when he reaches wherever there is potential treasure he will leave invisibility when he takes action upon the world by picking locks. And then to descend the tower and get back out, ideally, it would be safest to use the other potion of invisibility.
There are no more potions of invisibility available at Sorcerous Sundries. But IIRC there are other places to buy some in the city yet. (Between he and Eldoth they would surely know where.)
I mean, he could also just run down the stairs in stealth mode because he has the boots of speed--and especially if he used the oil of speed he would truly be just a blur. Ramazith would probably realize that someone was there. But wouldn't see anything but a blur.
The night is young and Coran may have more targets for his burglary spree. So trying not to use up the invisibility potions is another factor. But I guess there's the other locations to go get more of them (the Shop of Silence and an unnamed potion shop come to mind).
Anyway, a wizard's tower is a potentially big score for treasure. So I expect he'd probably feel it was worth it to use up the potions.
Still I consider returning empty-handed less likely than chugging the potion in order to steal from the rich.
But if you're unsure as to how he would respond to the situation he's in, why not flip a card?
Remember, Coran's philosophy is "Great peril yields great beauty".
...What? Its Coran!
1) attempt stealthing past the ghasts without using the invisibility potion
2) leave and return with more ingenious gear
3) throw a pebble to distract the ghasts
For (1) I'd have to flip a card as to whether he succeeds without the invisibility potion. Coran's Move Silently is 83 and Hide in Shadows is 33. But I have to say, this gets into whether we take stealth in BG to be literally equivalent to invisibility. Because with five monsters there, it just doesn't seem plausible to me that Coran could get past so many of them without at least one of monster visually noticing Coran's movement, even moving silently and incredibly fast. He would still be relatively visible. Also, in a tabletop game what would the DM say about that? According to the Monstrous Manual ghasts are very intelligent (Int 11-12) and as a form of ghoul "have a terrible cunning which enables them to hunt their prey most effectively."
However, in a similar vein, if Coran uses the oil of speed he'll be super-Hasted--and that means he can easily blow past any guards in a blur. But there is then the problem that the hobgoblin elites and kobold commandos on the floors above (that he is about to encounter if he proceeds) would, I believe, detect something racing past even at a blinding speed; and they would surely pursue him upward. Then he'd be unable to loot the top floor without a fight against a huge number of enemies. It would be tough to defeat that many foes even super-Hasted. So I think Coran would be forced to use a potion of invisibility to escape. If I wanted to play that out the game engine would force me to CLUA those monsters in on the top floor. Heck, Ramazith might even show up. But anyway, that starts getting complicated.
For (2) in such a world it makes total sense that characters would conceive of "powergame" strategies. We think of them. Why wouldn't they? And in fact if it was a tabletop game we'd be coming up with stuff like that routinely. But I think this gets down to my own comfort level with that playstyle as an overall gaming experience, though. I tend to shy away from stratagems that I feel risk making the game too easy.
For (3) Coran has a (standard) buckler, so I'd use that to distract the ghasts. If I went with this I'd then have to flip a card to see whether it succeeds.
Just to refresh people's memories here is what the level looks like:
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So there is a kind of indoor garden surrounding the spiral staircase. One of the ghasts does have a direct line of sight, though. I think it is actually plausible for Coran to wait until the coast is clear and zip up high enough on the stairs to peer into the next level and see what's there. But the risk of being spotted is pretty great. So I'm still sort of leaning toward him using the invisibility potion...
Actually, studying it a little more it looks like once he climbs the stairs to peek up into the next level he could easily be spotted over the tops of the plants. So the potion he will take. :-)
I guess I could also have him take the chance, and flip a card as to whether he is spotted at the top of those stairs when peeking up into the next level.
Edit: That's what I did, actually. Question posed in my mind: Is Coran spotted at the top of the stairs when peering up into the next level? Card flip result = red suit. So yes, he is spotted. Coran was positioned at the top of the stairs when I flipped the card. I therefore unstealthed him there, and the ghasts started pursuing him. He then quaffed one of the potions of invisibility and headed up to the next level.
Okay, I see from EE Keeper that Ramazith is a level 9 mage with the following spells memorized:
Chromatic Orb
Magic Missile
Agannazar's Scorcher
Flame Arrow
Lightning Bolt
Improved Invisibility
His last name is Flamesinger according to Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast, so interesting to note the fire spells.
Anyway,he would not be able to dispel Coran's Invisibility. I roleplayed it that Ramazith casts Improved Invisibility when he learns that there is an intruder in the tower, and his guards search the tower.
I guess I could CLUA some monsters to now bar the 1st floor door, requiring that Coran kill them... which means also a battle with Ramazith...
I went back to the save just prior to Coran entering the tower. I replayed everything up to the point that Coran gets back down to the first floor. This is the point at which I had flipped a card with the result that Ramazith has learned from his guards that there is an intruder in his tower. And he would be invisible then, I feel.
So on the first floor I CLUAed one hobgoblin elite, one kobold commando, and one ghast (a ratio of 3:1 seems about right). They would be blocking the door, preventing the intruder from leaving.
Ramazith is of course visible in-game, but per the RP I think he would have cast Improved Invisibility. So I imagine that Coran can only see the three monsters blocking the way out.
Coran (who is still invisible) now seeing that the way out is blocked, and uncertain where Ramazith currently is, returns back up to the second floor to think through how to exit the tower.
Coran decides to load up arrows of ice (he has seven of them) and make his play. His plan is to swiftly kill the guards that block his exit. He doesn't take any potions preemptively; although he has now added to his gear another potion of magic blocking and an elixir of health in addition to an oil of speed, a poison antidote, and a potion of magic blocking. He could super-Haste himself now but he would rather get a free shot at the ghast.
Coran descends, assumes a position opposite the front door, and fires at the ghast. Game-engine-wise Ramazith is then scripted to teleport to the top floor. I guess I will now just accept Ramazith's scripted taunt and teleportation to the top floor as the action that he takes. Otherwise I think it gets to be a little too much of a departure from the game (i.e., this scripted encounter).
Coran was able to kill the three monsters without too much trouble, though he did have to quaff a poison antidote due to taking a poisoned arrow from the hobgoblin elite. Also two healing potions.
Coran quickly gathers up the loot from the three monsters and leaves the tower. He's not keen about taking on a wizard and his small army.