conversations.from: system
conversations.value: ROLEPLAY_MODE: Develop the plot slowly, always stay in character. Describe all actions in full, elaborate, explicit, graphic, and vivid detail. Mention all relevant sensory perceptions. Keep the story immersive and engaging.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: "You are in the middle of a forest, in search of an abandoned keep, when an insectoid creature leaps out from cover at you, scythe-claws raised" 
   
   Spoiler 
  
   
   
  
   The Scout 
   Duvall 
   Jade Tooth 
   Eric the Egoist 
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: You're being attacked by a single Chatterling, which is attempting to attack from hiding. You're all on the red circle, the monster is H2.
  
  Chatterling's Hide: (1d20+7)[ 25 ] 
  Chatterling's Move Silently: (1d20+7)[ 10 ] 
  Chatterling's Inititive: (1d20+7)[ 10 ] 
  
  Duvall will start in E5.
  Duvall's Inititive: (1d20+1)[ 12 ] 
  Duvall's Spot: (1d20+2)[ 10 ] 
  Duvall's Listen: (1d20+7)[ 11 ] 
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Zak the Paladin: Spoiler: OOC: Eric's Rolls 
   Initiative:  (1d20+1)[ 4 ] 
   Spot:  (1d20+1)[ 14 ] 
   Listen:  (1d20+1)[ 4 ] 
   
  
   
   Spoiler: OOC: Scout's Rolls 
   Initiative:  (1d20+4)[ 18 ] 
   Spot:  (1d20+5)[ 12 ] 
   Listen:  (1d20+5)[ 8 ] 
   
  
   Edit: Scout is in D4, Eric in E4
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Yue Ryong: Jade Tooth sniffed the air, already aware of it's presence, but not able to pinpoint it.
  
   
   Spoiler 
  Can't beat that hide. But thank you, Hunter's Sense.
  Initiative: (d20+1)[ 8 ] 
  
  Edit:And, I'm in D5.
   
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: Inititive Order 
  Scout
  Duvall
  Chatterling
  Jade Tooth
  Eric
  
  Eric and Scout are surprised.
  
  Duvall attempts a reversed Inertia Surge: (1d20+13)[ 32 ]  vs DC 19
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: The Chatterling attempts a normal Inertia Surge on itself: (1d20+9)[ 14 ]  vs DC 19
  It failed, so it is unable to move for the round and can do nothing.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Yue Ryong: Jade tooth took up a ready stance, preparing to catch it with the leading edge of his blade the moment it broke cover and came in reach.
  
   
   Spoiler: Crunch 
  Ready action: Steely Strike, Power attack 1
  Attack:  (d20+6)[ 15 ] 
  Crit Confirm:  (d20+6)[ 13 ] 
  
  Damage:  (2d4+5)[ 12 ] 
  Crit Damage:  (4d4+10)[ 16 ] 
   
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Zak the Paladin: Starting Round 2:
  Seeing something happen, The Scout looks around to see what is going on.
   
   Spoiler: OOC: Rolls 
  Via "Quick Reconnoiter" using my free spot/listen check to see where this thing is
   Spot:  (1d20+5)[ 15 ] 
   Listen:  (1d20+5)[ 21 ] 
  Will finish once I know what I can and cannot see.
   
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: It spoke an utterance, an inherently loud thing. You hear it over there by that tree without needing to make a check.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Zak the Paladin: We got a spy over here!  He shouts as he moves into position to attack
   
   Spoiler: OOC: Actions 
  Move 15ft to F6, drawing my bow while doing so, and attack the creature.
   Attack:  (1d20+5)[ 13 ] 
   Damage:  (1d8+1)[ 9 ] 
   Skirmish:  (1d6)[ 4 ] 
   Critical Attack:  (1d20+5)[ 12 ] 
   Critical Damage  (3d8+3)[ 15 ] 
   
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: That was a miss.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: Just realized that I was waiting on myself to post. 😳
  
  Duvall will attempt to keep the Chatterling pinned down with another reversed Inertia Surge: (1d20+13)[ 28 ]  vs DC 21
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: The Chatterling attempts to speak a normal Inertia Surge on itself again: (1d20+9)[ 28 ]  vs DC 19.
  Since it is successful, it will move to F3.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Yue Ryong: ((...which triggers my ready action. And then it's my turn anyhow.))
  
  Jade Tooth's opening strike was followed up immediately by a lightning-fast strike to the things abdomen, as his stance shifted to prepare another hammer blow like the last.
  
   
   Spoiler 
  Recover Manoeuvres/Attack:  (d20+3)[ 13 ] 
  Crit Confirm:  (d20+3)[ 15 ] 
  
  Damage:  (2d4+3)[ 7 ] 
  Crit Damage:  (4d4+6)[ 17 ] 
   
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: Um, you said you were in D5, it started in H2 and went to F3. It does not pass through any squares you threaten, so how did you attack it?
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Yue Ryong: ...So I was. Somehow I got it into my head I was in E5 (which still wouldn't work &gt;_&lt;). Ah well. Nix the ready action, move to F4 and smack. And since I didn't use the maneuver on the ready action, hit him with it now, so +4 to the attack, bringing us to 17 to hit.
  
  Sorry for being an idiot. I miss having an up-to-date map to work from.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: Is there an easy way to do up-to-date maps?
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Yue Ryong: No idea. I mostly use iDroo on skype, but that won't work here.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Zak the Paladin: I meant to post this earlier, then somehow got distracted and closed the tab. My bad.
  
  Eric(D4) will see the (assumed medium sized) creature and immediately throw some strange goo with his mind.
   
   Spoiler: OOC: Rolls and Effects 
  5ft step to D4, Move action to draw out crossbow, Standard action to manifest  Entangling Ectoplasm , unaugmented
   Attack TOUCH:  (1d20+2)[ 21 ] 
  If this hits, the creature is entangled for 5 rounds.
   
  
  
  Also, for future reference,  we are are we using the "normal" transparency rules(they are transparent, SR=PR, etc.)?
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Zak the Paladin: Starting Round 3: 
  The Scout moves once again to gain an advantageous position and unloads another round into the beast.
   
   Spoiler: OOC: Attack and Damage 
  Move 15ft to H4, attack again.
   Attack:  (1d20+1)[ 2 ]  Point-Blank, Fire into Melee
   Crit Threat:  (1d20+1)[ 6 ] 
   Damage:  (1d8+1)[ 7 ] 
   Skirmish:  (1d6)[ 2 ] 
   Additional Crit Damage:  (2d8+2)[ 6 ] 
   
  
  Also, subtract 4 from Eric's attack roll since I forgot that Jade Tooth had moved into melee with the creature.
  
  Current positions:
  The Scout: H4
  Duvall:E5
  Chatterling:F3
  Jade Tooth:F4
  Eric:D4
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: Jade Tooth wounds the chatterling and Eric successfully entangles the creature.
  It retaliates against Jade Tooth:
  Attack1: (1d20+3)[ 6 ] 
  Damage: (1d3+1)[ 2 ] 
  Attack2: (1d20+3)[ 5 ] 
  Damage: (1d3+1)[ 2 ] 
  
  Duvall speaks a reversed Minor Word of Nurturing:
  Truespeak: (1d20+13)[ 32 ]  vs DC 19
  Damage: (1d6)[ 5 ] 
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Yue Ryong: Another attack slipped forward, again readying himself for a powerful strike to come.
  
   
   Spoiler 
  Attack/Ready Maneuvers: (d20+3)[ 23 ] 
  Threat: (d20+3)[ 7 ] 
  
  Damage: (2d4+3)[ 7 ] 
  Criti:  (4d4+6)[ 15 ] 
   
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Zak the Paladin: Eric, Feeling good about the situation, smirks and fires the crossbow.
   
   Spoiler: OOC: Attack and Damage 
   Attack:  (1d20-1)[ 0 ]  Fire into Melee
   Damage:  (1d8)[ 8 ] 
   Crit Threat:  (1d20-1)[ 12 ] 
   Additional Crit Damage:  (1d8)[ 8 ] 
  He will then spend a move action stowing his crossbow, expecting to move into the melee.
   
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Zak the Paladin: Start of Round 4 
   What the hell is with this guy?   The scout moves around once again to try and get a better shot.
   
   Spoiler: OOC: Attack and Damage 
  Move to H2 and attack.
   Attack:  (1d20+1)[ 18 ]  Point-Blank, Fire into Melee
   Damage:  (1d8+1)[ 9 ] 
   Skirmish:  (1d6)[ 2 ] 
   Crit Threat:  (1d20+1)[ 10 ] 
   Additional Crit Damage:  (2d8+2)[ 10 ] 
   
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: Alright, if I'm doing the math right, that's game over for the chatterling.
  
  So, time for a few quick opinions: Did this feel appropriate for a CR 2 encounter? Was the creature interesting tactically? And what would be a good next test involving more of these guys?
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Zak the Paladin: Appropriate for a CR2, I would say yes, but it did sort of fail to do anything with its main shtick.
  As for multiples, probably just general swarm tactics. See what happens when there are multiple creature trying to slow us down.  Maybe give Eric a reason to use up more than 1pp.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Yue Ryong: I'd not call this unreasonable. Balancing at this low a level is always kind of tricky, as it swings fairly heavily on individual dice rolls, and we rolled that bit better... still, it did feel threatening, if not unmanageable.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: The creature actually was getting decent use out of its utterance, as it was able to negate movement restricting effects and actually close to melee range.
  
  I'm away from my books. What's the CR of an encounter with two CR 2 creatures?
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Yue Ryong: An encounter of two equal cr monsters has an encounter level of two higher than normal CR. In theory. Tactical synergy may drive that up a bit, but that's the basic assumption,
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Kyeudo: I've put up  another test , this one with two Chatterlings.