Seamus and Jorvik's Strategy Notes
Oct. 15th, 2004 02:54 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
ralphmelton.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ralph_dnd[In-game, Seamus won't deliver this speech until you return from the Gorge of Fire. But I might as well work on it now, while work is being low-key. I may revise and extend this at times]
At some appropriate time, Seamus says, "So, I've been trying to devise advice to give on how to prepare for your next assault against Garrett. For another perspective, I've been talking a bit with Captain Jorvik--he doesn't know the secrets of the arcane so well, but he's got excellent perspectives on military strategy.
"His first point was about the description of your last battle with Garrett." Seamus does a very recognizable imitation of Jorvik's manner. "He said, 'Wait a minute. I'm a scout and sneak, I've been honing those skills since before the first Cataclysm, I'm a vampire that helps those even more, and I'm engaging them in a head-to-head fight? I should be hiding, hitting them and running away.' After further discussion, we've agreed that you had two factors that brought him into a protracted fight: he was overconfident and did not fear your abilities, and you managed to take him by surprise and disarm him of Weeping Wounds.
"Unfortunately, you cannot count on being so fortunate a second time, especially if you do not know where to find him. So I think you need to think about two parts of your strategy: ways of getting Garrett to stand and fight instead of retreating, and ways of avoiding attrition. As Jorvik puts it, 'Every time the vampire scratches you, gets chopped nearly in two by your sword, and runs away, he wins.' You'll want lots of healing magics, and some way to prevent or recover from the effects of his stealing your life.
"Also: Prolix's efforts have established that Garrett's castle has areas without breathable air. Jorvik agrees that Garrett would be delighted to take the battle to those areas, where he can breathe and you cannot. I know of two magic items that could help in that situation: the bottle of air could be shared among you; the necklace of adaptation would provide more effective help for a single person.
"When I mentioned these ideas to Jorvik to see what he thought Garrett's response would be, he asked, 'Can I take your air-breathing device away?' So, you may want some sort of backup plan if you think that Jorvik's ideas match Garrett's. But, of course, that adds to the expense.
"I mentioned to Jorvik Prolix's proposal of using an antimagic field in a confined place to hamper Garrett. His response, after a moment of thought and some exploration of the ramifications of the spell: 'I grab the gnome, jam the dagger in his gut so that Turok can't knock it away, and try to suck down on his blood. Either he'll have to cancel the antimagic field to get any healing, or before long, I can move the antimagic field wherever's convenient for me. Your idea might work, if Turok and Kyle are whacking on him while he abuses the gnome--but I sure hope you didn't need that gnome for something else.'
[added Jan-7-2005:]
"One thing more: your plan is to teleport in, do what damage you can, and then teleport out. They are expecting this, I'm sure--so I would expect them to have prepared the dimensional anchor spell to keep you in place. It would be obvious to cast it on Larissa doing the teleporting--but it would be perhaps even more effective to keep one of the others in place while all the other members of your squad vanish."
[more later as I think of advice to give. I welcome OOC feedback from my players about this advice; do you want more or less?]
At some appropriate time, Seamus says, "So, I've been trying to devise advice to give on how to prepare for your next assault against Garrett. For another perspective, I've been talking a bit with Captain Jorvik--he doesn't know the secrets of the arcane so well, but he's got excellent perspectives on military strategy.
"His first point was about the description of your last battle with Garrett." Seamus does a very recognizable imitation of Jorvik's manner. "He said, 'Wait a minute. I'm a scout and sneak, I've been honing those skills since before the first Cataclysm, I'm a vampire that helps those even more, and I'm engaging them in a head-to-head fight? I should be hiding, hitting them and running away.' After further discussion, we've agreed that you had two factors that brought him into a protracted fight: he was overconfident and did not fear your abilities, and you managed to take him by surprise and disarm him of Weeping Wounds.
"Unfortunately, you cannot count on being so fortunate a second time, especially if you do not know where to find him. So I think you need to think about two parts of your strategy: ways of getting Garrett to stand and fight instead of retreating, and ways of avoiding attrition. As Jorvik puts it, 'Every time the vampire scratches you, gets chopped nearly in two by your sword, and runs away, he wins.' You'll want lots of healing magics, and some way to prevent or recover from the effects of his stealing your life.
"Also: Prolix's efforts have established that Garrett's castle has areas without breathable air. Jorvik agrees that Garrett would be delighted to take the battle to those areas, where he can breathe and you cannot. I know of two magic items that could help in that situation: the bottle of air could be shared among you; the necklace of adaptation would provide more effective help for a single person.
"When I mentioned these ideas to Jorvik to see what he thought Garrett's response would be, he asked, 'Can I take your air-breathing device away?' So, you may want some sort of backup plan if you think that Jorvik's ideas match Garrett's. But, of course, that adds to the expense.
"I mentioned to Jorvik Prolix's proposal of using an antimagic field in a confined place to hamper Garrett. His response, after a moment of thought and some exploration of the ramifications of the spell: 'I grab the gnome, jam the dagger in his gut so that Turok can't knock it away, and try to suck down on his blood. Either he'll have to cancel the antimagic field to get any healing, or before long, I can move the antimagic field wherever's convenient for me. Your idea might work, if Turok and Kyle are whacking on him while he abuses the gnome--but I sure hope you didn't need that gnome for something else.'
[added Jan-7-2005:]
"One thing more: your plan is to teleport in, do what damage you can, and then teleport out. They are expecting this, I'm sure--so I would expect them to have prepared the dimensional anchor spell to keep you in place. It would be obvious to cast it on Larissa doing the teleporting--but it would be perhaps even more effective to keep one of the others in place while all the other members of your squad vanish."
[more later as I think of advice to give. I welcome OOC feedback from my players about this advice; do you want more or less?]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-10-18 01:22 pm (UTC)(Minor aside: does D&D support lanyards? I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to make it harder for my sword to be pulled from my hand.)
I hadn't thought through the implications of Prolix's spellbook run. What spells are these items based on? Can we use some sort of breathing magic in potion or scroll form?
no subject
Date: 2004-10-18 01:41 pm (UTC)Halt Undead is useful, but is a Will save.
Liandra has a death ward spell that immunizes against "death spells, magical death effects, energy drain, and any negative energy effects." Bad news: it's 4th level and 1 minute/level.
Making it harder for the sword to be pulled from your hand: this looks like a job for a locked gauntlet. But it has down sides--in particular, you can't use that hand for spellcasting.
Those items for dealing with foul air both have water breathing as a prerequisite, which is available to Liandra. But the description of water breathing says "can breathe water", not "can breathe foul air". I don't know of any spell that allows breathing foul air.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 06:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 07:54 am (UTC)The disarm rules specifically say "You can use a disarm action to snatch an item worn by the target." And there are other pieces of text that imply that you can use disarm to remove a non-weapon from someone's hand, so a bottle of air that you were passing from person to person would be vulnerable to disarm attempts.