Playing Cynlalia - Tips and Hints

Your Weapons

You have three available melee weapons:

• Unarmed Fist - a Bludgeoning weapon. Traits: Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, Unarmed
• Shortsword - a Piercing weapon. Traits: Agile, Finesse, Versatile S
• Dagger - a Piercing weapon. Traits: Agile, Finesse, Versatile S

You have two available ranged weapons:

• Dagger - a Piercing Weapon with a 10' range increment. Traits: Agile, Finesse, Thrown. Note that when thrown, the dagger does not have the Versatile S trait.
• Longbow - a Piercing Weapon with a 100' range increment. Traits: Deadly d10, Volley 30'. You are presumed to have a quiver with 40 arrows. Spent ammunition is not recoverable.

Range increment indicates the range at which the weapon is most effective. Making an Attack on an opponent within this range incurs no range penalty. For each range increment beyond the first, a -2 penalty is incurred. (Thus, throwing a dagger at an opponent 15' away incurs a -2 penalty on the attack roll. Firing an arrow at a target 225' away incurs a -4 penatly; etc. Note that the Volley trait can incur penalties of its own.

Weapon Trait Definitions

Agile - If you take multiple Strike actions in the same combat round, the penalties for your second and third strikes are -4 and -8 instead of the default -5 and -10. (If you use the #2 and #3 buttons on your character sheet, these adjustments are already incorporated into the Roll20 dice rolls.)
Deadly - Weapons (melee or ranged) with this trait do extra damage on Critical Hits. After doubling the base damage, the indicated die roll is made and that number is added to the damage total. (The "deadly" portion of the damage is never doubled.)
Finesse - You are permitted to use your Dexterity bonus instead of your Strength bonus to adjust your Attack roll. (Your Roll20 character sheet is already configured to use your DEX bonus as that is superior to your STR.)
Nonlethal - Weapons with this trait will, by default, not kill an opponent. If the opponent is dropped to zero hit points, it is unconscious, but does not gaing the Dying condition. You can use this weapon to make a Lethal attack, but you must declare this before attacking, and you take a -2 penalty to the Attack roll.
Versatile - The weapon can be used to inflict a different type of damage other than its default. The additional type is listed with the trait: (S)lashing, (P)iercing, or (B)ludgeoning. If you do not specify explicitly during an attack, the default damage type is assumed. Different damage types may matter as some creatures have Resistances or Weaknesses to specific attack types.
Volley - The weapon has a "minimum effective range" as well as a maximum. Targets closer than the distance stated with the volley trait are attacked with a -2 penalty.

Special Class Abilities, Actions, and Feats

You have the Forlorn Elf Ancestry Feat.
Because you know that you are a very long-lived individual, likely to have many non-elf friends and companions live and die during your lifetime, you have developed a mental shield of sorts that protects you from emotional effects. You gain a +1 bonus on savint throws against any emotional effects. Unfortunately, you also find it difficult to make emotional attachments, and gain a morose aspect to your personality that others may interpret as aloofness or even defeatist.

You have the Hunt Prey Class Ability.
This allows you to use a single Action to declare that you are focusing yourself on one particular type of creature that you are "hunting". You gain a +2 Perception bonus when Seeking, and a a +2 Survival bonus when Tracking a creature of this type. You need to be Hunting Prey in order to activate other features and abilities as well.

You have the Hunter's Edge: Flurry Class Ability.
WIth this feat, if you are attacking a creature that you have declared to be the object of your Hunt Prey ability, your multiple attack penalties are significantly reduced: to -3 for a second attack and -6 for a third attack (-2 and -4 if the weapon is Agile.) This applies to both ranged and melee attacks. For game purposes, since the base penalties are baked into the Roll20 dice rolling buttons, we will call this a +2 bonus for a second attack, and a +4 bonus for a third attack.

You have the Animal Companion Ranger Class Feat.
You have gained the services of a Young Animal Companion - in your case, this is the young wolf Aerel. Whenever you are using your Hunt Prey or Hunter's Edge abilities, your companion automatically gains these benefits as well. You must remember that your animal companion is, first and foremost, an animal. It does not have exceptional intelligence, and you cannot communicate with it any better than you can communicate with a pet in the real world. Left to its own devices, it will do "animal things", with two major exceptions: it will never wander too far away from you on its own, and it will not flee at the first sign of danger to you (or even to it). Your animal companion does not get its own initiative slot during combat - it acts during your turn. As a Minion, it gets two actions during your turn - but you must tell it what to do using a Command an Animal Companion Action. It will not automatically attack a threat; in fact it's default action will be to stay at your side and look for guidance. Note that I have made some adjustments to the Rules-As-Written restrictions on Commanding an Animal Companion to make things a bit more realistic.

Command an Animal Companion

This action is similar to the more generic Command an Animal action, except that with your animal companion, you do not need to perform the skill check roll -- you automatically Succeed at the action attempt. You can give your companion one or two Commands with a single Command Animal Companion action. Note that some of these commands are valid only for the round in which they are issued; others are "ongoing". Details are provided for each known command.

As a young wolf, Aerel understands the following commands:

• Leap - The animal will jump over some obstacle (provided it is physically capable of doing so). This command will only be obeyed within the combat turn in which it is issued.
• Sit - Your animal companion will sit down. It will remain in this position until you give it another movement command.
• Lie Down - Your animal companion will lie down. It gains the Prone condition. It will remain in this position until you give it another movement command.
• Get Up - Your animal stand up if lying down or sitting. Any further movement requires a separate command.
• Come (or Heel) - Your animal stop whatever it is doing and will move to your side, taking as many Actions (across turns, if necessary) as necessary to get to you.
• Seek (or Go Find) - Your animal companion will begin to Seek the designated creature type, or a friendly party member by name, or - if you are currently using your Hunt Prey ability - whatever it is you are hunting. It will only "go find" a party member that it considers friendly. If it is a party member, the animal companion will continue to move until it is next to the target. If it is "hunting", it will stop moving when it senses the target creature, and will vocally attempt to alert you (growl, yip, howl, etc.)
• Attack (or Sic 'em, or Get 'em) - Your animal companion will attack the target you designate using its natural attack abilities and instincts. If necessary, it will take as many Actions as necessary to reach the target. It will continue to attack until it or the target is unconscious or dead, or you issue a contravening command. Note that an Attacking animal is not providing Support.
• Support - If you are in melee combat, your animal companion will attack whatever you are currently attacking, but it will do so in a 'restrained' manner that provides a specific bonus to you. If you do not re-issue this command every combat round, your companion will revert to an "Attack" command, and you will not longer have the Support bonuses.
  
  Aerel's Support action is to tear at the legs of your foe each time you successfully Strike your opponent. With each of your successfull attacks, the target loses 5' of speed for 1 minute, and loses 10' if you Critically Hit. If the target's speed drops to 0, it falls to the ground, gaining the Prone condition.

If your Animal Companion is performing an action that "carries over" into subsequent turns, it still only gets two Actions that take place within your combat turn. (The third action is presumed to be spent keeping a watchful eye on you in case you have further instructions for it.)