Post/Author/DateTime	Post
scoobs 04-24-07, 04:41 PM	For instance, there is a Quast named Quasit in one room. He has invisibility and will attempt to escape with a scroll. If damaged, he'll hide from the PC's while healing himself. The PC's are new to the game, and didn't take the sack of flour to reveal the Quasit, so how are they suppose to fight this thing? Excerpt of the development (Legends are Made, Not Born) Tactics: While a PC climbs down the shaft, Quast is waiting invisible. First, he drops the invisibility, and casts cause of fear to frighten the PC away. If that fails, he ususe his poison ssiting to soften up any persistent PCs. If wounded, he always retreats for a round or two to allow his fast healing to take effect. If the PCs continue to pester him, he retrieves the scroll, turns invisible, and flees. If the PCs recovered the sack of flour from area 1-3, it could be hurled at the square occupied by an invisible target. If hit with a successful ranged touch attack, the invisible target is covered with flour and visible for 1d3 +2 rounds. I am afraid this can be boring, with the PCs chasing around the quasit for no reason, until it finally escapes with a scroll. I'm assuming the Quasit is just going to get away, since the PCs didn't think to take the sack of flour :shrug: There isn't a "Cool Ways to Make Fight Interesting" as there is with some of the other rooms.
olshanski_home 04-24-07, 11:41 PM	If a quasit attacks, he becomes visible for a round and can only go invisible on a later round. Having only 13 hp, it is likely that he can die in one round with a single hit such as with a greatsword, or in 2 hits by ordinary attacks. It is likely that every character will get a chance to attack the quasit when he is visible. The quasit is also vulnerable faerie fire (Drd1) or Glitterdust (Sor/Wiz2). The quasit is tiny and doesn't threaten a space, so he can be grappled without penalty. His grapple modifier is -6, which means he almost certainly fails, and if he attempts to escape at best he uses his dex modifier. I'd say that if the quasit bothers to attack the party with his sting even once, he is putting himself at great risk.
tos_shai_hulud 04-25-07, 03:35 AM	The quasit is small and doesn't threaten a space, so he can be grappled without penalty. His grapple modifier is -6, which means he almost certainly fails, and if he attempts to escape at best he uses his dex modifier. While grappling is a good tactic, I am not certain what you mean that he can be grappled without penalty. Just because he does not threaten the squares around him does not mean that he would not get an attack of opportunity from a character entering his square. But, his attack is very weak, and characters attempting to fight him would have a very easy time of it. If more than one character attempts to grapple, he gets an AoO against the first one, but not any after that. Is that what you meant?
olshanski_home 04-25-07, 07:19 AM	I meant exactly what I said. (though I admit I used the adjective "small" to describe the quasit when I should have used the mechanical term "tiny"). A quasit is a tiny outsider. Its reach is 0. When you grapple, you first make a melee touch attack against your target. In most cases, this provokes an AoO. As long as you are adjacent to the quasit, you provoke an AoO, but it cannot reach you. You wouldn't provoke an AoO from the quasit when you move into its space (see step 4 below). To start a grapple, you need to grab and hold your target. Starting a grapple requires a successful melee attack roll. If you get multiple attacks, you can attempt to start a grapple multiple times (at successively lower base attack bonuses). Step 1: Attack of Opportunity. You provoke an attack of opportunity from the target you are trying to grapple. If the attack of opportunity deals damage, the grapple attempt fails. (Certain monsters do not provoke attacks of opportunity when they attempt to grapple, nor do characters with the Improved Grapple feat.) If the attack of opportunity misses or fails to deal damage, proceed to Step 2. Step 2: Grab. You make a melee touch attack to grab the target. If you fail to hit the target, the grapple attempt fails. If you succeed, proceed to Step 3. Step 3: Hold. Make an opposed grapple check as a free action. If you succeed, you and your target are now grappling, and you deal damage to the target as if with an unarmed strike. If you lose, you fail to start the grapple. You automatically lose an attempt to hold if the target is two or more size categories larger than you are. In case of a tie, the combatant with the higher grapple check modifier wins. If this is a tie, roll again to break the tie. Step 4: Maintain Grapple. To maintain the grapple for later rounds, you must move into the target’s space. (This movement is free and doesn’t count as part of your movement in the round.) Moving, as normal, provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents, but not from your target. If you can’t move into your target’s space, you can’t maintain the grapple and must immediately let go of the target. To grapple again, you must begin at Step 1. While the above is clear from reading the rules, I've gone ahead and grabbed the relevant section from the official FAQ: Q: If an enemy makes an attack against me that would provoke an attack of opportunity (such as a disarm or grapple attempt), do I get the attack of opportunity if I can’t reach him? Would the Close-Quarters Fighting feat help at all? A: Strictly speaking, if you don’t threaten an enemy, you can’t make attacks of opportunity against that enemy. Thus, if an ogre tried to sunder your elf’s longsword from 10 feet away, you wouldn’t get an attack of opportunity against the ogre (since an elf wielding a longsword doesn’t threaten an enemy 10 feet away). This is true even if the ogre is reaching out with his hand, such as when trying to grapple you. The FAQ does suggest that if this bothers you, you could houserule it away. I believe that reach is a powerful tool (and worth every bit of the +LA for large races), and I do not houserule it away. I also think it is one of the only things that makes tiny animals less of a threat vs unarmed medium creatures.
tos_shai_hulud 04-25-07, 11:19 AM	Ah, interesting.
PenderGrass 04-25-07, 02:52 PM	I also think it is one of the only things that makes tiny animals less of a threat vs unarmed medium creatures. While I agree that it makes sense that tiny creatures (which have a threat area of zero) should be less of a threat to larger creatures, I would think it might be worthwhile scaling this. For instance, a human fighter in combat with a colossal+ dragon would appear to be the same scale as a quasit vs. that same human. So, the same type of logic should be applying. Just a thought (one that may end up being a part of my campaign). :dragon: ****
olshanski_home 04-25-07, 03:07 PM	Pendergrass, I don't know what your last post meant. I believe its fair that a tiny quasit typically cannot attack a medium human without provoking an AoO (unless invisible). The same would be true for a human vs huge dragon, in which the dragon has a wide threatened area through which the human must pass before making the melee attack. Likewise, a dragon can make attacks such as trip, grapple, (attacks that normally provoke an AoO) etcetera from outside the humans reach... and as long as the dragon is outside the human's reach, the human can do nothing to prevent it.
PenderGrass 04-25-07, 03:37 PM	Pendergrass, I don't know what your last post meant. Mostly thinking out loud. :dragon: ****
scoobs 04-29-07, 09:20 PM	Thanks. Let me get this straight, however. So, if an NPC or PC is 2 sizes smaller than whatever is trying to grapple it, it gets no AoO?
olshanski_home 04-29-07, 10:14 PM	Any time a grappler makes the touch attack from outside the smaller creature's reach, an AoO is provoked, but the smaller creature cannot reach the larger creature and thus cannot take the AoO. This works for grapple and trip. It isn't a matter of "2 sizes smaller", it is a matter of the smaller creature not being able to reach the larger creature. Small and medium creatures have the same space/reach, so it is a bit confusing there... but a large creature can often attempt to trip or grapple a medium creature from 10 ft. away. A tiny creature, like the quasit, has a reach of 0 so it cannot ever make an Attack of opportunity against an adjacent foe.
Phrennzy 04-30-07, 01:45 PM	For instance, there is a Quast named Quasit in one room. He has invisibility and will attempt to escape with a scroll. If damaged, he'll hide from the PC's while healing himself. The PC's are new to the game, and didn't take the sack of flour to reveal the Quasit, so how are they suppose to fight this thing? Excerpt of the development (Legends are Made, Not Born) I am afraid this can be boring, with the PCs chasing around the quasit for no reason, until it finally escapes with a scroll. I'm assuming the Quasit is just going to get away, since the PCs didn't think to take the sack of flour :shrug: There isn't a "Cool Ways to Make Fight Interesting" as there is with some of the other rooms. Your players will suprise you when the quasit makes itself known...