Here is my review of my One Shot Through the Kobold Caves using APG classes:
The Party:
Mr Fu - Orc-Blooded Martial Artists (hard style) Powers:
Leaping Strike
granite Palm
Charging Gorgon Kick
Catch the Striking Scorpion
Humbug: Earth Gnome Conjuration Nature Priest
Powers:
Lightening Fists
Swarming Summons
Diving Raptor (flavored as a Giant Cockroach)
Blinding Bats (Flavored as a Gnat Swarm)
Napoleon - Shire Halfling Savage Warrior
Powers:
Distracting Blow (I assume this only applies to your attack right?)
Warding Strike
Kick them When their Down
Hounding strike
Bowie - Eladrin Spell Binder Powers:
Eye Bite
Phantom Strike
Grasping Shadows (From Dragon 364)
Imaginary Terrain
Piper - Minotaur Skillful Troubadour
Powers:
Nicks and Scratches
Phantom Strike
Get them off of Me!
Sooth the Savage Beast
The Adventure:
The Minotaur player was worried that the Troubadour would not provide enough healing for a five member party, so the only way I could get him to play one was to provide a healing potion for each player at the start of the adventure. This probably made the adventure a little easier then I had thought.
This party had already conquered the cavern before with their normal characters, and with the added boost of the healing potions the party felt invincible, which was probably not a good thing. The first few encounters was full of foolishness; Mr Fu (Martial Artist) would start each encounter by running into battle Quick Striking and then running back to hide behind the Bowie (spellbinder), Napoleon (Savage warrior) would spend each round charging from one enemy to the next, ect ect. However as time went on the party got over the newness of their PCs, and started playing smart.
I have to share the end to one of the most epic combats I have ever seen in 4th to date: On the Big Boss battle the dice suddenly turn against the players. The Wyrm Priest and Drake go down relatively quickly, but for some reason the Dragon Shield refuse to quit. Eventually they bring one down, but the last one proves unnervingly lucky: so far it has three critical hits to it's total, but his support is down two rounds ago.
The Dragon Shield Attacks Humbug, manging to get its fourth critical in one combat. Humbug does not look good and I curse not using a DM screen.
Mr Fu charges into combat and knocks the Dradionshield on his back with a Charging Gorgon Kick before shifting out of the boulder's path with an action point (donated by Piper two rounds earlier.) This is followed up by a savage stomping by Napoleon (Kick em When They're Down! Crit!)
Napoleon makes his limping escape with a cloud of biting gnats (blinding bats; no opportunity attack for you Sr Kobold!) The Boulder rounds the corner before either the Dragon Shield or Napoleon can react, and both are hit. When the dust settles Napoleon is critically injured, but standing (3 hp left), the Dragon shield is not as lucky.
Here is my final analysis; The Team worked well together, although it did have some problems with minions.
The Martial Artists was perhaps the most chaotic character I have ever seen. It was impossible to pin him down. The combo of charging, pushing atacks, and shifting was pretty impressive. The player has asked if he can switch his main character for an Elven Martial artists after this session.
The Nature Priest was and still is my favorite class over all. the Flavor is just to damned cool, and the implementation is fantastic. I was very happy to see the player keep with a theme as well.
The Savage warrior is an even better Defender than I thought. It's very tempting to attack a charging player, and it becomes hard to ignore him once he's marked you, especially once he starts getting free attacks when you do (Most likely buffed with effect such as Distracting Blows and Warding strike.) I thought the lower damage might hinder this, but extra attacks really make up for it. I imagine a more optimized character would have been amazing
The Troubadour provides plenty of healing, we were worried for nothing. The team work effects made this probably one of the funnest characters to watch in the game. If there is one class that typifies the intended feel of fourth, I'd say the Troubadour is it. I am at a lost as to why a non-minotaur character would pick Inspiring Strike over Phantom Strike at first level, however.
I'm still not a fan of the Spellbinder, as it doesn't feel very controllerish to me.
And yet another word from our sponsors
