Dungeoneering: Back to Basics

[Dean]

So it's assumed that we've all already met and talked a little shop with each other. Discussed our abilities, our histories a bit perhaps. Got past initial disagreements about elves and drow, paladins and priests and so on, yeah?

[Ancient History]

Yup. Skipping right to the dungeon entrance.

[Sam]

So it's assumed that we've all already met and talked a little shop with each other. Discussed our abilities, our histories a bit perhaps. Got past initial disagreements about elves and drow, paladins and priests and so on, yeah?

Well, no one has killed anyone yet, so presumably we're all getting along well enough to work together. Or else people are just waiting for a better time to suddenly but inevitably betray one another.

Betsy would have been formally introduced to any gentlemen in the group (at minimum, Sir Spastis and both men of the cloth), but regular introductions would have sufficed for Guillermo and Atani. I don't have enough information on Tim to say whether he's a suitable prospect for marriage. Not that any of you should get your hopes up.

She is "formerly of the Millfordshire Pemberton-Tamblings" and is "good at getting out of a tight spot" but otherwise hasn't said much about her past or her abilities, deflecting overly direct inquiries on grounds of impropriety.

[Dean]

Mmmmm creamy cleric

[Silent Wayfarer]

I'd prefer to flesh out Tim in play, also because I don't want to waste character-building on a 1 HP wonder.

[Hicks]

So this is a thing I do for characters: I create Standard Operating Procedures (or SOPs) so that if there is ever a question about what my character is doing, I can just point here and say I was doing this. These SOPs were made to fit the 2e cleric primary role as a support class, a secondary combatant and primary healer. If you are wondering what I'm doing, I'm trying to do this:

Standard Operating Procedures for Xaxus

• SOP #0: Each SOP is given in order of importance; Xaxus will always seek to do them as long as they do not conflict with a lower numbered SOP.
  
  SOP #1: Xaxus never willingly goes first; he prefers to go third, after the thief checked for traps and the meat shields have entered the room.
  
  SOP #2: By default, Xaxus has his Scythe in his right hand and a lit torch in his left. During combat, he will drop the torch and use his scythe with two hands; he will never willingly leave the light of his torch. Should he be forced to retreat and abandon the torch, he will always seek to go back to where he came from and light a new torch as soon as possible; in case of victory, he retrieves the torch.
  
  SOP #3: If anyone in the party is injured, Xaxus will try to use his Healing Proficiency the very next round to heal 1d3hp.
  
  SOP #4: Xaxus wants to command undead, and will seek to command them before doing anything else lower on this list.
  
  SOP #5:While in melee, Xaxus will always try to flank with other melee characters, but will not let an enemy get between him and the door he just entered; unless specifically mentioned, Xaxus attacks enemies in the way of the party's exit in preference of all others.
  
  SOP #6: If Xaxus is not in melee and there is no other melee to support, Xaxus uses his sling on the nearest enemy.
  
  SOP #7: Unless as part of the party's ambush, an immediate life and death emergency, or specifically stated otherwise, Xaxus will not cast spells if enemies have line of sight to him; spells, especially healing spells, are too precious to be carelessly lost to a melee or ranged attack.

As time goes on, SOPs will change and new ones will be added, because I haven't thought of everything and something unexpected will happen that I will want to not happen in the future. I'll try to keep a change long as to when and what things have changed.

[Hicks]

Incidently, when do characters die? At 0 hp? At -10 hp? At -CON hp?

[Dean]

0, except for bears and some other monsters which can go to negatives for no reason.

[Sirocco]

Wait what? No bleeding, rushing to bandage the fellow player, healing to 1hp etc?

[Ancient History]

Marching order, dungeoneers. The corridor is five feet wide and eight feet high, so single-file is about the best you can manage (especially with a minotaur).

[Silent Wayfarer]

Wait what? No bleeding, rushing to bandage the fellow player, healing to 1hp etc?

I believe that was a 3.X innovation.

[Ancient History]

When a character reaches 0 hit points, that character is slain. The character is immediately dead and unable to do anything unless some specialized magical effect takes precedence.

[Sirocco]

Oh boy.

Sigh... well, re: marching order, I'm waiting for DR's answer. If he's up for it, I'll go right behind him; if not, I'm willing to take point, after casting a detect evil in front of me.

ETA: In any case, Spastis unsheathes his longsword and holds his hooded lantern in his shield arm, on which his small shield is strapped.

[Sam]

Betsy can take point, unless someone strongly objects. She may try to squeeze back to the middle if there's a fight, though.

[OgreBattle]

Guillermo is fine with being in the front or as rearguard, with thieves scouting ahead and 1d4 hitdice classes in the middle.

[Darth Rabbitt]

There's an optional rule in the DMG that allows PCs to die at -10 (0 means unconsciousness, and -1 to -9 means dying, like in 3.x) but they basically can't do anything for a day after they survive being brought back from the negatives (assuming they do), unless they get a heal spell cast. I think the rule's called "Death's Door?"

Gilles is content being between Betsy and Spastis in marching order.

[Hicks]

I would like to go fourth, after the theif, paladin and minotaur.

Edit: but will settle for fifth.

[Ancient History]

Note: The minotaur is Guillermo, Gilles is the drow.

So, we have:

Betsy (front)
Sir Spastus
Gilles
Xaxus
Tim
Atani
Guillermo (rear)

I'm going to assume this is the marching order from here on, unless specified otherwise.

[Dean]

I agree with that order, though if Gilles is willing I submit that he should wiggle in front of Spastis to give the longest sight range and a double chance of discovering traps

[Sirocco]

And risk losing both the party's rogues to a random trap? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that...

[Hicks]

I would think Gilles would be better off behind me. I have twice his hp and a lower armor class.

[Dean]

I submit to the democratic majority. If were putting all our trapfinding eggs in Betsy's basket then I agree we should move Gilles behind Spastis and Xaxus.

[Sam]

For reference (emphasis mine):

Find/Remove Traps:

The thief is trained to find small traps and alarms. These include poisoned needles, spring blades, deadly gases, and warning bells. This skill is not effective for finding deadfall ceilings, crushing walls, or other large, mechanical traps.

To find the trap, the thief must be able to touch and inspect the trapped object. Normally, the DM rolls the dice to determine whether the thief finds a trap. If the DM says, “You didn't find any traps,” it's up to the player to decide whether that means there are no traps or there are traps but the thief didn't see them. If the thief finds a trap, he knows its general principle but not its exact nature. A thief can check an item for traps once per experience level. Searching for a trap takes 1d10 rounds.

Once a trap is found, the thief can try to remove it or disarm it. This also requires 1d10 rounds. If the dice roll indicates success, the trap is disarmed. If the dice roll indicates failure, the trap is beyond the thief's current skill. He can try disarming the trap again when he advances to the next experience level. If the dice roll is 96-100, the thief accidentally triggers the trap and suffers the consequences. Sometimes (usually because his percentages are low) a thief will deliberately spring a trap rather than have unpleasant side effects if the trap doesn't work quite the way the thief thought, and he triggers it while standing in the wrong place.

This skill is far less useful when dealing with magical or invisible traps. Thieves can attempt to remove these traps, but their chances of success are half their normal percentages.

This isn't 3.x's Search skill. Most of the traps we're worried about have to be found manually.

edit: also, re-reading the description of the corpses, are their arms attached to the rest of them? Or are *only* the arms still hanging? I think we may have misunderstood that line.

[Hicks]

I stand by my statement that "Bony corpse" is not "bone white heap of skeleton". In every case we should shell them at range, or at least nuke'm from orbit... it is the only way to be sure.

[Sirocco]

As I read it, the arms are the only thing still hanging.

ETA: Maybe I didn't get it right. "From the wound flow spiders"? What sort of wound would a skeleton have? AH, can we have a more accurate description of the corpses? Are they skeletal or is there flesh left? Are they completely hanging from the chains or are they crumpled at the bottom, with only the arms hanging?