General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
A dragon lair encounter, always usefull for adventure planning. The dragon in this case is fairly active in its lair defence. Interesting tidbit for this, the Purple Dragon is psychic.
Well, I'll say this. I thought the Brown Dragon sucked - it was 3.5e's Sand Dragon, only now they're all CHEFAGON, THE GOURMET CHEF DRAGON. Which makes them entirely useful for one encounter ever, because it makes them an entire race of one really annoying NPC basically.
Which, well, even given 4e's design philosophy for monsters, there are multiple ages of Brown Dragons, so I can still complain because I'd never want to run into more than one of them.
The purple dragon seems, from this preview, to be totally badass.
A bit better than the other previews. But I wonder why the dice decide when the dragon returns and not the DM? Well, it fits with my impression of 4E (which I won't repeat here to avoid flames).
Also, in 4E this tactic is rather suboptimal as it gives the PCs the chance to recharge their HP and encounter powers when you leave long enough.
Still, its nice to see that Hit & Run tactics are finally supported in a product.
As for the purple dragon. Looks nice, but I don't like its sunlight vulnerability. That should be reserved for undead.
__________________ Everything about RPGs is subjective, so everything I say about them is I my opinion and not hard facts
Having a backstory is good. Using this backstory in game is better. And for that you need background skills.
4E, the game where you play HSMFOS
Heroic
Only good, or at least unaligned adventurers are supported and no monster you can fight is good aligned.
Super-
The PCs become masters in any skill automatically and it is impossible for them to be bad at a mundane task
Mutants
Compared to NPCs of the same strength, PCs poses a ungodly amount of HP and can withstand huge mountains of punishment. That or they can spontaneously regenerate wounds.
From Outer Space
Yet despite no matter how powerful the PCs become, they can never do anything special what the "natives" (=NPCs) can do like animating a skeleton.
Me likey that Purple Dragon, I can definitely see this one being the I adopt as a "Urban Dragon". I can see it as the type that hides behind darkness, mind-tricks, psionic abilities, etc.
The weakness from the sun is a purely psychological issue and non-magical because it fears and is not used to such exposure (probably will be magical in the actual fluff, but that is how I am taking it :P )
The weakness from the sun is a purely psychological issue and non-magical because it fears and is not used to such exposure (probably will be magical in the actual fluff, but that is how I am taking it :P )
While in 4e, HP represents other things than just physical damage, I am inclined to say 233 damage is not a psychological problem. :P
While in 4e, HP represents other things than just physical damage, I am inclined to say 233 damage is not a psychological problem. :P
*Goes back to read* Whoops, lol, my cursory glance missed the damage from sunlight and paid attention to only being allowed a standard action and missed the damage at the end. :P Oh well, 4 words and 1 number to snip off that text.
But I wonder why the dice decide when the dragon returns and not the DM? Well, it fits with my impression of 4E (which I won't repeat here to avoid flames).
As someone who's looked in a 2ed product directed towards DMs, this is hardly the edition to complain about random die rolls influencing what the PCs face.
And in this case, just like the rolls to recharge monster powers, it is to prevent the monsters actions from being completely predictable to the players, they NEVER know when this big monster is gonna show up, because NO ONE knows.
And if you as a DM think there is an appropriate or dramatic time for the big bad to pop out on them, then go ahead, what could be easier? At least the encounter gives you directions for a fun encounter and a rough idea for how often the monster should show up, even if you do want to wing it.
This is what instructions to use randomness in an encounter should be like.
Better than a random enounter table that could have the party facing a displacer beast, a flumph, or a dragon. (Although like a lot of things from the 80's, it's kind of awesome, though probably frustrating in actual play.)
Also, in 4E this tactic is rather suboptimal as it gives the PCs the chance to recharge their HP and encounter powers when you leave long enough.
If the dragon pops up, by itself, long enough after an encounter that the player's encounter powers have reset, you're not running it right. During an encounter, it will pop up again so long as the encounter is ongoing. When the encounter ends, the dragon wont show up again until the players hit another encounter, in which case they have other things to use powers on then just the dragon.
Wow. Five hours, 37 minutes from the preview; the book's not even out.
I thought it would take people longer to pick up on that.
Here are some quotes for Orukurtz, if people want to make him reeeeally disturbing:
"I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight... razor... and surviving."
"We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig. Cow after cow. Village after village. Army after army. "
"It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror."
Here are some quotes for Orukurtz, if people want to make him reeeeally disturbing:
"I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight... razor... and surviving."
"We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig. Cow after cow. Village after village. Army after army. "
"It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror."
Also: "I think I just ate a bug."
__________________ Looking for a game in Boston? Next D&D meet-up 9/12/09 noon at Pandemonium Books
I'm going to have to check the monster manual to see how strong the Primal Storm is compared to other Level 19 monsters. It seems really really strong.
Also, in 4E this tactic is rather suboptimal as it gives the PCs the chance to recharge their HP and encounter powers when you leave long enough.
Still, its nice to see that Hit & Run tactics are finally supported in a product.
Hrmm... That would be roughly 50 failed "dragon shows up again" rolls in a row.
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