4e Campaign - Thunderspire Labyrinth - Transition
Posted 12th January 2009 at 05:58 AM by ashockney
Updated 12th January 2009 at 06:04 AM by ashockney
Updated 12th January 2009 at 06:04 AM by ashockney
Tonight we had a transition adventure. Having been jumping through the "module" hoops, I wanted to take some time to unpack this adventure, and bring some more meaning and value to the characters. I had most of the characters backgrounds push forward with events in the Seven Pillared Halls. The party got access to some rituals. The rituals from 4th - 6th in the heroic tier can open up some doors and make a party much more independent in operating.
The party got a note from Paldemar (trap!) and went down the Road of Shadows to the ambush. This encounter played very well. The combination of powerful artillery behind an excellent tank worked really well. The warlocks teamed up on the first fighter into the room, and the combination of multiple attacks with the ongoing damage was too much for him. He ultimately ended up retreating from the ambush to find cover and heal. The Warder was powerful, and his ability was excellent when I first used it, however, with several different ways to immobilize an opponent, they prevented it from using rampage again, which turned it into a pretty obvious one-trick pony.
The second encounter was with the gnolls and Bar-lgura (random encounter 10). I was a little disappointed in this encounter. At times, it seems to easy for the PC's to negate the most powerful enemies. Although I did deal over 100 points of damage to the ranger in this combat (who survived), it never seemed like the party was really threatened. The wizard opened with sleep and then froze the front ranks of the gnolls. Both of these reduced their effectiveness. The gnolls and bar-lgura hit like a truck, but against the defender (fighter's) 26 AC, it was not a significant threat. The cleric kept everyone in the fight, and threw a little damage into the mix as well.
Tonight we got to see first hand how powerful the damage over time (continuous damage) can be in the game. I really like how this mechanic works, although I'm not a HUGE fan of all the accounting.
Also, there were concerns expressed about the flow of the story-arc that come with the initial adventures. They don't seem to be pointing to some dark, brooding master villain behind the scenes. I noted that I'd read that in reviews and on the internet, and that we were not alone in his experience.
After tonight's game session, we had an interesting discussion about taking monsters straight from 4e and plugging them into a 3e campaign. Could it work?
The party got a note from Paldemar (trap!) and went down the Road of Shadows to the ambush. This encounter played very well. The combination of powerful artillery behind an excellent tank worked really well. The warlocks teamed up on the first fighter into the room, and the combination of multiple attacks with the ongoing damage was too much for him. He ultimately ended up retreating from the ambush to find cover and heal. The Warder was powerful, and his ability was excellent when I first used it, however, with several different ways to immobilize an opponent, they prevented it from using rampage again, which turned it into a pretty obvious one-trick pony.
The second encounter was with the gnolls and Bar-lgura (random encounter 10). I was a little disappointed in this encounter. At times, it seems to easy for the PC's to negate the most powerful enemies. Although I did deal over 100 points of damage to the ranger in this combat (who survived), it never seemed like the party was really threatened. The wizard opened with sleep and then froze the front ranks of the gnolls. Both of these reduced their effectiveness. The gnolls and bar-lgura hit like a truck, but against the defender (fighter's) 26 AC, it was not a significant threat. The cleric kept everyone in the fight, and threw a little damage into the mix as well.
Tonight we got to see first hand how powerful the damage over time (continuous damage) can be in the game. I really like how this mechanic works, although I'm not a HUGE fan of all the accounting.
Also, there were concerns expressed about the flow of the story-arc that come with the initial adventures. They don't seem to be pointing to some dark, brooding master villain behind the scenes. I noted that I'd read that in reviews and on the internet, and that we were not alone in his experience.
After tonight's game session, we had an interesting discussion about taking monsters straight from 4e and plugging them into a 3e campaign. Could it work?
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