Email2020-07-22 18:14

Answers to a couple of the questions from Dave......

- I will leave it to the clerics to investigate Avatars.....

- Pretty much all of the major races will have a mixture of fighting styles etc. depending upon the military unit, particular strengths are:

Elves: Spear Phalanx, Archers, Light Cavalry

Alverans: Heavy Infantry, Heavy Cavalry, Pathfinders/Scouts

Solarans: Medium Infantry (think Romans), Super Heavy Cavalry

Lizardfolk: Beserkers, Crossbows

Orcs/Trollls: Hordes of rabble, Undead

- Gohde...... that is for you to wonder..... you did have a (slight) chance to spot the ambush but didn't

- "Levels" of soldier - do bear in mind that I always play army magic resistance / damage sharing

In general:

Village Militia: Average 1st level (mainly 0th but with some ex-army types in there)

Town Militia: Average 1st level

City Militia/Police: Average 3rd level

Green Military Unit: Average 4th level

Regular Military Unit: 6th level

Seasoned Military Unit: 8th level

Elite Military Unit: 10th level

- Vinmira - I will handle in a separate eMail

- Military Comms - based on the characters experience so far - primarily by courier

- Hand Signals - NOPE!

- Other Players - No info available

- Requisitions: Will handle with Vinmira

Cheers

Darrell

On Wed, 22 Jul 2020 at 16:08, David <[[1]]> wrote:

> *Solara has long had a program of recruiting disparate groups from amongst the poor in his kingdom. These groups are sent out on basic missions, usually reconnaissance or the like, in the full expectations that most will not survive*. What a coincidence! Methinks the Alverans do exactly the same. I wonder how long till we get promoted – at the moment I guess we have just climbed from the bottom rung of ‘totally incompetent’ up to the next level of ‘almost totally incompetent’.
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> I really hadn’t expected the size of the bridge garrison – for some reason I had envisaged a quaint rustic bridge with a small garrison of a couple of dozen men, not a major structure guarded by a battalion. I don’t think I would have been so worried about us not knowing if it was still being held by Alveran forces if I had realised.
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> I assume that we will spend at least the rest of the day at the bridge, and get a good night’s sleep before departing on the following morning – unless we are asked to stay longer. It does depend on the expected recovery time of the injured woman and boy, and what they are able to tell us about their attackers and why they had left Braerk in the first place.
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> **Questions** – in no particular order:
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* > Now that Avatars are ‘official’ knowledge, can the clerics learn how they are acquired and their effects? We don’t want them making accidental choices like the druids. Also, what common knowledge can be given to the rest of the party about their capabilities. (By the way, do cleric/mages get both avatars and familiars, and mage/druids get both familiars and totems?)
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* > Can we have a brief “Soldier’s guide to Humanoids and other opponents” to compliment our previous “Cook’s guide"? Then we can learn useful things such as how to recognise and fight them, rather than just how to prepare dinner for them. (Don’t need anything written by Darrell – just have more info when we next come across new critters.)
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* > How did Lieutenant Gohde’s ‘trip-wire’ party of 12 people avoid being noticed by our totems so easily? (Was it their 'brown' gear and brooches, or spells, or just skills etc?) We need to learn the limitations of using our totems for scouting, and possibly learn some tricks ourselves for avoiding detection.
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* > Can we have some feel for the ‘level’ of the soldiers and officers? (Level may be a meta-concept, but all class levels are given a game-world title in the PG, and the spells they can cast or ‘years experience’ etc can all give an idea.)
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* > What will Vinmira tell us about himself, without us prying too much – it’s just that he is obviously a maverick rather than dyed-in-the-wool military, yet appears to be quite high up in the command structure. (I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up being our boss – given that he is the sort of character to be in charge of the ‘irregulars’)
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* > How do military communications work? This is as much a meta-level question as anything – it’s just that in a magical D&D world, using magic for communication might be its most important function in the military.
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* > Can we be shown the basic hand signals used by army – just in case we get caught up in a skirmish it could be useful to know what’s going on, and not get totally in the way.
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* > What other ‘players’ are there in the field at the moment, other than Alveran regulars, Elves, Orcs, the odd Solaran reconnaissance squad and strange not-troll type creatures? Is there any way we can tell if a group that we happen to come across are friend or foe (eg a standard challenge/response that is used?), and it would be useful to know the emblems/banners of other army groups that we may come across.
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> **Requisitions** – if we are given permission to get some supplies off the quartermaster, or failing that use some of the gold that we found to buy some stuff behind the main supply tent...
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* > Disease cure/prevention potions/poultices/treatments – in case we get hit by dirty darts.
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* > Some scouting garb (eg ‘brown’ gear worn by Gohde’s group if it improves our scouting/hiding abilities - though I don't suppose we'd get any of those brooches if they are what to do the trick)
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* > Some paper – just a few sheets so Dougal doesn’t always have to use his spell book for sketches.
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* > Joshua is still after some very basic daggers (for throwing), and Dougal could do with a crossbow (or other monkish missile weapon) so that he can do something other than just stick his tongue out at enemies beyond melee range.
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> Cheers - David
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