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RP decision: what would you do (here as Coran)? (spoilers)

LemernisLemernis 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?

Post edited by Lemernis on
CrevsDaakbooinyoureyesAristillius

Comments

  • TwaniTwani Member Posts: 640
    Coran would go ahead, I think. Poor, crazy, brave Coran. But indeed, as @Nonnahswriter says, life is adventure or nothing. He lives by making chances, after all.
    MacHurtoBlackravenjackjack
  • MacHurtoMacHurto Member Posts: 731
    Agree with the above. Also, coran is quite experienced and knows he will not be detected while invisible unless there is a powerful mage and he can probably run away if things turn ugly due to the boots. He is a guy to take chances and this one seems high enough
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    RP-ing Coran chugs two potions of Fire Resistance and blasts the Ghasts with Arrows of Detonation.

    Or just run away and come back with more power!! Seems more RP acceptable to go bak and come again.
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    edited March 2014
    No need to remind that this is what Coran would do, best we can guess, if we were in his shoes versus what we as players would like him to do... (I do agree he'd probably take the risk.)

    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.
    uglyducklynn
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    I think Coran is quite daring and confident, as some people before mentioned, so he wouldn't preventively waste one of few invisibility potions I'd say. Depending on his stealth skills and bots of speed he might even expect himself to be able to hide somewhere at some point before considering quaffing the invisibility potion.
    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?
  • FlashburnFlashburn Member Posts: 1,847
    I think he'd throw a small pebble to one side of the room, maybe one that was caught in his boots, to distract the ghasts. He'd venture further up the stairs and save the invisibility potions for the way back down, assuming he doesn't want to use them for the hobgoblins and kobolds. Those monsters are much smarter than ghasts, after all, and I don't think they'd fall for the old "what was that?" trick.

    Remember, Coran's philosophy is "Great peril yields great beauty".
    Blackravenlolien
  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    FYI, the door always creaks.
    Lemernis[Deleted User]Blackravenlolien
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    edited March 2014

    ... why not flip a card?

    This is one of those rare situations where I certainly could have flipped a card, but I found myself wondering if others felt that it would be very much who Coran is to venture forward. And I'm already kind of fascinated by several creative responses that I wouldn't have thought of:

    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.
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    jackjack said:

    FYI, the door always creaks.

    Lol, that's true! Better to fudge this, I guess.
    jackjack
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    edited March 2014
    You know now that I'm back in the game and looking at the third floor of Ramzith's tower, I realize that there actually is cover there! I totally overlooked that when I was taking notes on the game, but ran out of time to play and had to stop.

    Just to refresh people's memories here is what the level looks like:

    image
    View full size

    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. :-)
    Post edited by Lemernis on
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    I'd still have Coran use the potion defensively (i.e. if detected), rather than preventively. I can seem him having the potion readily at hand, in case some enemy spots him. If you roleplay stealth to be less durable and less likely to work in improbable situations than the game mechanics allow you to, you could pretend he gets caught earlier. But even then, the potion of invisibility and the boots of speed should make it easy in Coran's view to escape before enemies can close in on him and bar the way.
    Aristillius
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    edited March 2014
    A fair case could be made either way... (which indicates a card flip).

    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.
    Post edited by Lemernis on
    Blackraven
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    edited March 2014
    Does anyone know what level Ramazith is, and what spells he has memorized? I.e., someone with a game editor who can check? I've flipped a card as to whether Ramazith has learned of the intrusion as Coran makes his way down, and the result was yes, Ramazith is aware. I can't control Ramazith in-game, however, so there may not be much I can do with this. But from a roleplay vantage I still wonder what he would be able to cast...

    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...
    Post edited by Lemernis on
    MacHurtoCrevsDaak
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    edited March 2014
    Okay, no-reload starts to lose meaning here, lol. Due to game engine limitations of not being able to save when monsters are about, and all the roleplayed stuff, I did some reloading to get me to where I was--but also to add the new possibility of a roleplayed attack by Ramazith on the first floor.

    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.
    Post edited by Lemernis on
    CrevsDaakBlackravenjackjackMacHurto
  • Eadwyn_G8keeperEadwyn_G8keeper Member Posts: 541
    Ghasts move fairly slowly with no ranged attack IIRC so w Boots of Speed as a back-up I think Coran would go for it on the way up. Thinking that if one of them spots him he could easily outrun it.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    The problem here is that IRL, boots of speed would allow him to climb things and jump over the ghouls and ghasts. I'm thinking like Daryl did in that Mortuary basement when being cornered by all of those walkers. BG just doesn't allow for that kind of close quarters escapology. You can cut someone off and they can't wriggle out of the jam.
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