LostSoul
Adventurer
We had our second session last night, and it was good fun. There were a few things that I thought were neat in last night's game, and I'll mention them here.
We started off right after the last session, where the PCs defeated the first encounter. The Wizard tried to use Nature to determine if the kobolds had some kind of organization, but failed. He figured they were just a band of wandering monsters, and there would not be any more around.
I kept this in mind for later, because I don't want rolls that don't matter.
In the second encounter (the kobold ambush) I decided that DC 25 Perception checks were too high - 10 + Stealth was what I went with. Now, because of the Wizard's earlier failed roll, I gave him a -2 on his Perception - he wasn't expecting any more kobolds and wasn't looking out for them the way he normally would have been. Most of the kobolds got surprise anyways. Since the Wyrmpriest was too far away from the PCs to spit acid at them (his energy orb power), I had him "stunt":
"I will finish what my fallen brothers started! Irontooth will kill you all - starting with you!" He rolled Intimidate vs. Will + 5 against the Warlock (who went down a couple of times last game), hoping to deal some psychic damage. He missed - the Warlock got over his near-death experience from the last game.
Although at first the fight was going against the PCs, the turning point was when the elf shifted into difficult terrain.
I allowed the Rogue to use Acrobatics instead of Athletics to climb one of the boulders - described as a Jackie Chan-move, springing off the kobolds flanking him.
The PCs then captured one of the dragonshields and Intimidated him for information on his lair (and they took his left toe for a 2gp reward from Padraig, something I added). Then, when he was released, the Warlock blasted him. Sweet revenge.
They went to fight the gnome, and the Cleric used Diplomacy on one of the rabble to try to convince him to flee. He failed. The minion would have taken some damage if he succeeded, and that would have "killed him" - or made him run, in this case.
The PCs dominated nicely, and I felt sorry for the poor guard drakes, playing up their relation to each other, having them cry out when the other was hurt.
Douven Staul told them about the death cult (no need to hide the adventure from the PCs), then ran off to Fallcrest to warn the guys there about Orcus.
The PCs took an interest in the glyphs on the map and the treasure they found, so they started making rolls to determine what was up with that. I decided to roll with it. I said it was a warding seal, designed to trap something in - and the dragon had been sacrificed to power it. The mirror they found was an ancient relic of Nerath, and the Wizard had heard legends that such mirrors were used to trap demonic creatures. It was empty now, and drained of magic, but I told them it could be powered again somehow. (I have no idea how at the moment. We'll see if the players use it in a neat way later on.)
They rested up in Winterhaven before going to fight Irontooth. In Winterhaven the Wizard had some words with Padraig when the Lord scoffed at the idea of death cultists. He took a Quest - something like, "Replace Padraig with a competent Lord." Very cool.
The fight at the waterfall with the guard minions went well for the PCs, but Irontooth was warned and he came out of the waterfall to issue a challenge to the PCs. That's where we ended for the night.
Good fun. It looks like 4e is good for resolving player actions that aren't spelled out, allowing for player creativity to influence the game in unexpected ways. I'm interested in seeing what kind of stuff they are going to pull against Irontooth next time.
We started off right after the last session, where the PCs defeated the first encounter. The Wizard tried to use Nature to determine if the kobolds had some kind of organization, but failed. He figured they were just a band of wandering monsters, and there would not be any more around.
I kept this in mind for later, because I don't want rolls that don't matter.
In the second encounter (the kobold ambush) I decided that DC 25 Perception checks were too high - 10 + Stealth was what I went with. Now, because of the Wizard's earlier failed roll, I gave him a -2 on his Perception - he wasn't expecting any more kobolds and wasn't looking out for them the way he normally would have been. Most of the kobolds got surprise anyways. Since the Wyrmpriest was too far away from the PCs to spit acid at them (his energy orb power), I had him "stunt":
"I will finish what my fallen brothers started! Irontooth will kill you all - starting with you!" He rolled Intimidate vs. Will + 5 against the Warlock (who went down a couple of times last game), hoping to deal some psychic damage. He missed - the Warlock got over his near-death experience from the last game.
Although at first the fight was going against the PCs, the turning point was when the elf shifted into difficult terrain.

The PCs then captured one of the dragonshields and Intimidated him for information on his lair (and they took his left toe for a 2gp reward from Padraig, something I added). Then, when he was released, the Warlock blasted him. Sweet revenge.
They went to fight the gnome, and the Cleric used Diplomacy on one of the rabble to try to convince him to flee. He failed. The minion would have taken some damage if he succeeded, and that would have "killed him" - or made him run, in this case.
The PCs dominated nicely, and I felt sorry for the poor guard drakes, playing up their relation to each other, having them cry out when the other was hurt.
Douven Staul told them about the death cult (no need to hide the adventure from the PCs), then ran off to Fallcrest to warn the guys there about Orcus.
The PCs took an interest in the glyphs on the map and the treasure they found, so they started making rolls to determine what was up with that. I decided to roll with it. I said it was a warding seal, designed to trap something in - and the dragon had been sacrificed to power it. The mirror they found was an ancient relic of Nerath, and the Wizard had heard legends that such mirrors were used to trap demonic creatures. It was empty now, and drained of magic, but I told them it could be powered again somehow. (I have no idea how at the moment. We'll see if the players use it in a neat way later on.)
They rested up in Winterhaven before going to fight Irontooth. In Winterhaven the Wizard had some words with Padraig when the Lord scoffed at the idea of death cultists. He took a Quest - something like, "Replace Padraig with a competent Lord." Very cool.
The fight at the waterfall with the guard minions went well for the PCs, but Irontooth was warned and he came out of the waterfall to issue a challenge to the PCs. That's where we ended for the night.
Good fun. It looks like 4e is good for resolving player actions that aren't spelled out, allowing for player creativity to influence the game in unexpected ways. I'm interested in seeing what kind of stuff they are going to pull against Irontooth next time.
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