TOPIC: True Grind - GenCon 2016 - AoW/EldritchRune/UR?

Hello all!

Few quick announcements for this year's True Grind.

First of all, there will be a sub-class of saving throw (the exact type will be specified at the beginning of the actual Grind). If you fail that type of saving throw you can instead take a certain amount of irreducible damage to succeed instead.

That damage will depend on the difficulty level. Normal = 5, Hardcore = 10, Nightmare = 20, Epic = 30

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As for the variable token effects:


Eldritch Runestone (Resilient Mind and Body) - Your character gets +20 Max HP


Amulet of Wonder (Adept of Time and Space) - After taking their standard action, a player may take another standard action. However, you then lose your next standard action (which will probably be on the next turn but could be later due to status effects or other circumstances). If your second action is to attack again, let the DM know beforehand. The DM will calculate your damage and you will slide again, with all the other sliders still on the table.


UR Special (Master of Time and Space) - The UR Special can be used in the dungeon if you need it (i.e. you do not need to turn it in beforehand during coaching). You get two effects, each of which can be used once during the adventure:

1. After a die is rolled, you may change the die roll result to whatever you wish.
2. After a combat slider is slid, you may move the slider to any position and orientation you wish. (This can be used after all sliders have been slid).

Creative players may find other ways to utilize these once-per-adventure abilities during the course of the adventure.

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Please let us know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Thanks! Now I get to see if I can free up a neck slot...

1. Do you have to demonstrate your capacity to use UR Special ? in the coaching room, or just when you want to use it?

2. Can you use more than one UR Special ? (This seems perhaps too good with bracers of the quivering palm).

3. How will the sub-class saving throw bonus be calculated? If you can't tell us that, will things that grant "+1 to saves" grant +1 to the sub-class? Can you use Figurine of Power: Scarab/Cat on the sub-class save?

Or does sub-class just mean "one of reflex, fort, or will" and you're not telling us which it is?

4. For the AOW effect, do you still get a free action in both the round you get the extra action, and the round you don't?

5. For the AOW effect when you say "...a player may take another standard action":

* is this any player, or the player who is under the influence of the AOW who has just taken a standard action?

6. Is the AOW effect usable (or not) each round? Or is it 1 per room or 1 per dungeon?

7. PM sent in case in case it would be a spoiler...

1) I'm not sure I understand your question; you just turn it in to the DM when you want to use it, no need to show it in the coaching room.

2) I'm 99% sure that you can't

3) I believe the subclass will be derived from one of the standard save classes (Reflex, Will, or Fort). For example, if the subclass was based off of Reflex, then your Reflex saves bonus would apply to that subclass save roll. The goal here is that you won't know in advance which stats will be the most important.

4) Yes, it only uses up your next standard action (typically the very next round unless you end up dying and being revived, then it will be the next standard action you could take). You get a free action for both rounds.

5) The player who is wearing the AoW is the one who takes the extra standard action.

6) That's a good question, I didn't think to ask Eric about that one. I'm guessing you can use it basically every other round if you wanted to (you must use a standard action to use a second standard action, so you couldn't do it two turns in a row)

Matthew Hayward wrote: Thanks! Now I get to see if I can free up a neck slot...

1. Do you have to demonstrate your capacity to use UR Special ? in the coaching room, or just when you want to use it?

No, you don't need to demonstrate the capacity to use the UR Special. Just turn one in when you want to use it.

2. Can you use more than one UR Special ? (This seems perhaps too good with bracers of the quivering palm).

Sure you can! If you've really got that many UR Specials to spare! (FYI: Boss monsters are usually immune to death effects though).

3. How will the sub-class saving throw bonus be calculated? If you can't tell us that, will things that grant "+1 to saves" grant +1 to the sub-class? Can you use Figurine of Power: Scarab/Cat on the sub-class save?

Sub-class saving throws usually (but not always) default to a normal saving throw.

So Death, Disease, Poison, and Petrification are sub-classes that utilize Fortitude.
Falling is a sub-class of Reflex saving throws.
Charm, Dominate, Fear, and Illusions are sub-classes of Will.

Broader categories (which tend to be Fortitude or Will) may include Gaze and Undead touch attack sub-classes.

Or does sub-class just mean "one of reflex, fort, or will" and you're not telling us which it is?

For spoiler reasons, I won't announce ahead of time what the sub-class will be, but it will be made clearer at the time of your event.

4. For the AOW effect, do you still get a free action in both the round you get the extra action, and the round you don't?

Yes, you still get a free action the following round but not your standard action. So:

Round 1: Standard action + free action + an advance on next round's standard action
Round 2: No standard action (used the previous round) + free action

5. For the AOW effect when you say "...a player may take another standard action":

* is this any player, or the player who is under the influence of the AOW who has just taken a standard action?

The player under the influence of the AoW.

6. Is the AOW effect usable (or not) each round? Or is it 1 per room or 1 per dungeon?

It is NOT limited to once per room or once per dungeon.

Assuming that you have a standard action every round (i.e. you do not get a status effect that prevents you from acting), then you can use it every other round. For example:

Round 1: Take two standard actions
Round 2: No action (used in Round 1)
Round 3: Take two standard actions
Round 4: No action (used in Round 3)
Etc.

Kirk Bauer wrote: 2) I'm 99% sure that you can't

I'm skeptical if even one UR Special will get used at GenCon, so if someone really wants to use multiple UR Specials, then have fun doing so!

Incognito wrote:
Sub-class saving throws usually (but not always) default to a normal saving throw.

So Death, Disease, Poison, and Petrification are sub-classes that utilize Fortitude.
Falling is a sub-class of Reflex saving throws.
Charm, Dominate, Fear, and Illusions are sub-classes of Will.

Broader categories (which tend to be Fortitude or Will) may include Gaze and Undead touch attack sub-classes.

I understand - thanks!

4. For the AOW effect, do you still get a free action in both the round you get the extra action, and the round you don't?

Yes, you still get a free action the following round but not your standard action. So:

Round 1: Standard action + free action + an advance on next round's standard action
Round 2: No standard action (used the previous round) + free action

I know what I'm about to write doesn't work with this effect as written, but it might be cool if the 2nd standard action allows you to split up various standard+free action granting effects across turns like:

* Bracelets of the Zephyr
* Cabal Set
* Lenses of Sage Speed

Example:

Round 1:
Free action - Drink potion with Pouch of Tulz
Standard action - Melee attack
AOW Standard action - Read a scroll with Lenses of Sage Speed

Round 2:
Free action - Read a scroll with the other half of the Lenses of Sage Speed effect (assuming player is still capable of reading a scroll)

Basically, I'm asking that for any "achieve 2x of an effect using a standard and a free action" effect allow you to use the standard on one round, and the free on the subsequent round with this ability (which would be a bonus above and beyond what is proposed).

Thematically this makes sense to me as the name of the effect makes me think you are hopping through time.

It would be as if: you did do both the standard and free on the second round, just your magic AoW ability projected the standard action back in time.

Two more about the UR Special ?:

* Can you move any player's puck, or only yours?
* If you are a Ranger or Monk can you move both your pucks, or just one?

Matthew Hayward wrote: Two more about the UR Special ?:

* Can you move any player's puck, or only yours?
* If you are a Ranger or Monk can you move both your pucks, or just one?

You can only move one puck but it does not have to be yours.

Using this ability can also bypass hypothetical barriers, like the time that Iron Golem had a magnetic field (which was a block of wood limiting your sliding mobility). Etc.

Just FYI. Keep in mind that the character apps and the spreadsheet have the AoW, UR Special and Eldritch Rune Stone effects for BHM and IDD. With the effects being different for Grind, if the builds include any of those items, the Grind coaches will need to subtract out the effects manually, and apply the Grind effects.

I would recommend that players create the Grind builds without those items and apply them at the coaching room. Obviously if you are running Behold Her Majesty and Into the Deeper Dark, you are good to go with the full build.

Cranston wrote: Just FYI. Keep in mind that the character apps and the spreadsheet have the AoW, UR Special and Eldritch Rune Stone effects for BHM and IDD. With the effects being different for Grind, if the builds include any of those items, the Grind coaches will need to subtract out the effects manually, and apply the Grind effects.

I would recommend that players create the Grind builds without those items and apply them at the coaching room. Obviously if you are running Behold Her Majesty and Into the Deeper Dark, you are good to go with the full build.

AoW is easy enough to include and adjust for, just don't add two more rings

However, a question regarding AoW...could a rogue use it to get two sneak attacks in one round?

Anything else we need to know for True Grind?

Last year you sent a nice little sheet that gave us hints and ideas so we can adjust what we needed to bring.

Cheers,
Kale

Cain Eyebright wrote: However, a question regarding AoW...could a rogue use it to get two sneak attacks in one round?

I bet I can answer that one:

No. If the Rogue does a Sneak Attack in Round One, they have used the ability to sneak attack for the room, and could not do another one in Round Two. While they could make a normal attack after their Sneak Attack, they couldn't do 2 S.A.s

With the possible exception of: Boots of Drowkind ... since those give you the ability to Sneak Attack a second target, you could conceivably do 2 Sneak Attacks (against different targets) in the same round, if you had them equipped with the AoW (and Hood of Elvenkind, since you'd still need to spend a round of sneaking prep, otherwise.)