Saturday, July 11, 2015

Diceless Pathfinder: Example Combat

The following is an example combat between four iconics and an adult red dragon in the diceless system.  This combat could go down any number of ways depending on what the characters choose.  Here's one way.

Contestants

Adult Red Dragon: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/dragons/dragon/chromatic-red/adult-red-dragon  We are going to assume he has AC 33 with shield up.

Valeros Iconic Fighter: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/npc-classes/npc-codex-iconics/iconic-fighter/iconic-fighter-12

Seoni, Iconic Sorcerer: http://www.pathfindercommunity.net/iconic-characters/seoni---iconic-sorcerer/seoni-iconic-sorcerer-12 (Note that while the iconic wizard can pierce the dragon's SR, the iconic sorcerer cannot. So lets look at her for our example).

Lem, Iconic Bard: http://www.pathfindercommunity.net/iconic-characters/lem---iconic-bard/lem-iconic-bard-12

Kyra, Iconic Cleric: http://www.pathfindercommunity.net/iconic-characters/kyra---iconic-cleric/kyra-iconic-cleric-12

Pre-combat

Before battle, the Dragon casts haste and shield on himself.

Seoni casts overland flight on herself and both stoneskin and displacement Valeros, Kyra, and Lem.  She then hastes the group, and uses her scroll of protection from energy on herself.

Lem casts heroism on Valeros, Kyra, and himself.  He casts shield on himself.

Kyra casts fire shield and freedom of movement on herself.

Combat Starts

Lets assume the group is 30 feet south of the dragon.

Initiative is as follows: Valeros 19, Seoni 19, Lem 17, Dragon 15, Kyra 12

As soon as combat starts, everybody must make a save against frightful presence, but at DC 21 nobody fails (though Valeros is close - good thing for Bravery!)

Round 1

Valeros and Seoni delay, allowing Lem to start singing.

Lem starts singing Inspire Courage, giving everybody a +3 morale bonus on saves and a +3 competence bonus on attacks and damage.  He moves forward and to the right to make sure he's not caught in a fire cone, getting ready to get behind and flank the dragon.

Valeros runs up to engage.  With just a standard action vital strike he attacks at 40 vs the dragon's AC 33.  28 Damage.

Seoni casts chain lightning, which fizzles against the dragon's SR.  Damn!  Well, we won't be doing that again.  She flies up in the air to make sure she's not caught in a fire cone.

Dragon's turn! Valeros is dealt 4 fire damage from the aura. The party has already dispersed too much for fire breath.  At most, he can catch Valeros and Kyra, but Kyra clearly has some flaming aura already.  Full attack then!  He focuses on Valeros, his only target, and attacks at 37, 37, 37, 34, 34, 34.  - all above Valeros' AC.  Luckily displacement eats half of these and stones skin takes off a lot.  Only 21 damage!  The dragon starts sweating.  Firebreath next time.

Kyra, last of the lot, moves forward to attack.  She takes the opportunity attack, though displacement and stoneskin only bring it down to 6 damage.  She then swings her scimitar, now with +6 to attack and +5 to damage. Her attack is at 33, criting the dragon.  She deals 30 damage.  Now the PC's know the dragon's AC.

Round 1 HP:
Dragon: 154/212.  Valeros: 105/130. Seoni: 80/80.  Kyra: 99/105. Lem: 105/105

Round 2

Lem cast Grease on the ground beneath the dragon (now the dragon can't maneuver as well) and then moves around to flanking the dragon.  He takes the opportunity attack (with stoneskin and displacement, average 6 damage).

Valeros is now flanking.  With all of his buffs, he's got a mighty +8 to attack and +5 to damage.  He pulls out both his weapons and attacks at 40/40/35(crit)/30 with his long sword and 37/32 with his short sword.  That's a whopping 112 damage.  The maneuvering and buffs really paid off!

Seoni watches her buffs take their full effect, and she sees the dragon thinking about escaping. Not today.  She casts wall of force directly above the wyrm.  It's not flying anywhere without needing to get through her flankers.  She, in the meantime, flies out of the dragon's fire breath range.

The dragon bumps his head on the wall of force and realizes he can't fly away.  He can catch both Kyra and Valeros in his fire breath though. A DC 24 ball of fire rolls through the area.  Valeros only just saves due to his buffs, but he still gets hit for 36 damage.  Kyra just fails her saving throw, but her Chill Fire shield ensures she's only dealt 36 damage. His aura also deals his attackers 4 damage.

Kyra sees her chance!  Holy power floods the area, healing everybody 24 hit points. She then gets ready to start swinging if need be.

Round 2 HP:
Dragon: 50/212.  Valeros: 89/130. Seoni: 80/80.  Kyra: 83/105.  Lem: 101/105.


Round 3

Valeros obliterates the dragon.  The party celebrates their CR+2 victory and collects their rewards.

This seems like it would go down pretty much the same as a game with dice, except Seoni would probably keep trying (and likely failing) to break SR.  The result is much faster (I can see this combat taking maybe 15 minutes), and the results are based off of player and GM choices both before and during combat.



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