[OOC] Keratia: Story of the Surf, Tales of the Deep

[Lucius Cypher]

I would say roll Arcana, since Talogan won't know, but if you ask Nyx she'll mention that water wouldn't affect her Witch Bolt in any meaningful way. It wouldn't electrocute anyone beyond her original target, not to mention she'd have to be within 30 ft to hit them anyways. She would explain though that Lightning Spells cut through water more easily than fire or cold spells; fire spells not only have difficulty getting through water (made at dis) but they also lose out on damage (Being fully submerged in water gives you resistance to fire). On the other hand various forms of cold damage such as her ray of frost would have a bit of difficulty reaching the target (attack at dis) due to how how the water would constantly eat away at the energy she puts into a beam, but the damage will remain the same. Lightning spells have neither issues as long as Nyx can see the target, and would just have to roll her attacks and damage as normal for the spell.

[rush99999]

I need you to settle a disagreement a friend and I are having. Is Keratia pronounced 'Kuh-ray-she-ah' or 'Keh-ra-tee-ah'?

[Lucius Cypher]

I pronounce it Keh-ra-she-ah. Incidentally I was once thinking of splitting Common into different regional variants such as North, Southern, and Eastern, but since those were more accent based than actually phonetically different I figured it’d be too much of a hassle. Though back when it was an idea, how one pronounced Keratia was the most straightforward way of figuring out what regional dialect of common you learned.

[rush99999]

Out of curiosity, do metal ships exist in Keratia or has the naval technology of the world only advanced as far as wooden ships?

[rush99999]

Quick question, is Johnathon still with the group? Talogan brought him along as well but you've made no mention of him for a while now.

[Lucius Cypher]

Whack. I completely forgot about him. I'll just say that he's been super quiet and mostly just been listening to you, having not really much anything insightful to say.

[rush99999]

Alright then. Another thing, does the Kraken have any throwable weapons in its armory other than the oil flasks that could put holes in the shipwreck without setting it on fire? Also, how far away from the ship are those rocks that Nyx mentioned would be a safe place against the drowned?

[Lucius Cypher]

Throwing weapons? No, not really. At best you have harpoons which can stick into the hull of a ship, but they're not big enough to cause any sort of structural damage. You'll need siege weapons like a balista for that, or better, a cannon.

From what Nyx pointed out to you, the bulk of the shipwreck is about thirty-feet away from the beach coast on top of various rocks and crags. From what you can tell those rocks are only barely jutting out from the waters (You'd likely be able to see them if it was low tide), and evidentially stable enough footing for the Drowned to walk around. Forty feet away from the coast itself are larger rocks and rougher waters that will be both difficult to pass and will likely kill any drowned that tries to go through it and fail to maintain their footing, which is very likely considering the drowned are still zombies and thus suffer a zombie's weakness in terms of coordination (They don't have any).

So basically the ship is somewhere about 10 or so feet from the rough rocks. I ought to make another map.

[rush99999]

Is acquiring a ballista any easier than acquiring a cannon?

[Lucius Cypher]

Balista's are still sold by guilds, but they have far less restrictions than cannons and more importantly, easier to obtain on the black market. They're worth about 500 GP from reputable sources, but some places might sell higher or lower depending on the rarity, reliability, or if it's hot (aka stolen) or not.

A ballista has a range of 120/480 feet, and can do 3d10 Piercing Damage. It does not do extra damage to structures however, but can still ignore a structure's damage threshold. It takes one action to load the weapon, one action to aim it, and one action to fire it. It cost 1 GP for your standard Ballista bolt.

[rush99999]

Could a banshee's resistances be bypassed by silver weapons?

[Lucius Cypher]

Yeah. Silver is the poor man’s magic weapon since it will effectively turn the weapon into something “like magic” but without any actual magic benefits like +1 or anything like that. It’s 100 GP to silver a weapon though, and a skilled enough smith. That might not be available here in Red Shard, but chances are you can find silver weapons at certain vendors, or weapon blanches.

Weapon blanches are akin to poisons one that you coat a weapon with them but they provide a temporary effect to the weapon such as soldering, rust coating, etc.

[rush99999]

Out of curiosity, do metal ships exist in Keratia or has the naval technology of the world only advanced as far as wooden ships?

[Lucius Cypher]

Full on steam ironclads? No, but there are some sailing ships that incorporate metal armor. The empire of Ferric has warships with metal hulls that are still powered by sails, which most people call “Iron Islands” because no one has actually seen them leave harbor. While their portentously threat on a straight up fight have been theorized, professional think these Iron Islands were just the dwarves trying time make Iron Clads, failing due to the weight of the ships making them sluggish and impossible to maneuver in the ocean, and trying to save face by saying that they’re being saved for emergencies.

However armored ships in general are a thing, in particular the nation of Jailailk and Atagaanilk utilize things called Turtle Ships, which instead of putting armor on the hull of the ship, the armor is on the deck, effectively creating a large barrier over where the sailors are. Powered by both sails and rowers, despite its armor it’s actually very agile, and designed to ram into larger ships to scuttle or to allow its crew to board. The Atagaanilk ships are sometimes armed with cannons thanks to their trade with Doros, but this usually meant making more space for cannons and less rowers, so their Turtle Ships are slightly slower, and most don’t have more than four cannons, which is not a lot for a warship.

All this being said, the typical meta when it comes to naval warfare is to be able to move fast, maintain your formation, and shoot back hard, so yo save on cost and weight most of the best warships don’t have much armor, or at least what armor they do have is rather light. Hence why Doros is one of the more powerful naval countries in the world thanks to having a massive army of fast moving, hard hitting ships, even if their defenses are lacking.

[rush99999]

Come to think of it, a ship made entirely of metal probably isn't the best idea in a world where the spell Heat Metal is a thing.

[rush99999]

How many oil flasks are there in the Kraken's armory?

[Lucius Cypher]

About thirty. And those flasks are mostly meant to be used to burn the deck of an opposing ship. A whole barrel would be worth about 10 GP, which is the price for the oil and barrel.

[rush99999]

Does the map mention the name of the hamlet?

[Lucius Cypher]

Nope, that’s how small it is. It’s simply “the fishing hamlet” as far as anyone else is concerned.

[rush99999]

Does the map also fail to mention which god the hamlet temple is dedicated to?