JamesonCourage
Adventurer
I think it went well, and I did enjoy it. Apparently they're enjoying it, too; they all want to play again tonight. So, we'll see how that goesSounds like an excellent session! I'm glad you're enjoying
D&D 4E JamesonCourage's First 4e Session
Scrivener of Doom
Adventurer
I don't want to crap in your thread so I'll just give you the TL; DR version. It's set in Shadowdale of FR, Elminster is dead (this is common in my games) and the Zhents have sent in a freelance mercenary necromancer (level 2 solo controller) and a band of orcs (level 4 soldier [leader] as leader; others are level 2 brute or minion brute) to stir up strife before the Zhents invade.
The necromancer has animated an undead horse and rider to create a headless horseman (level 1 solo soldier; the horse and rider are treated as a single creature) that terrorises Shadowdale each night. The most interesting thing about the necromancer is that he has a ghoul familiar (level 2 soldier) that cannot be destroyed without slaying the necromancer and the necromancer can see, hear, and speak through the ghoul.
That's the short version. There's a lot of RP/investigation as well.
Oh, and the necromancer lives in a hollow tree which is blatantly ripped off from Dragon 76 (Forest of Doom) and the LFR adventure Illsydra.
Hopefully that really is a TL; DR version... and, as you can see, there's not an original idea in there.
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JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Sounds cool. Thanks for sharing
My players did some of that tonight, too. I'm glad we got to spend more time there.
Ha, well, it sounds fun, and that's really what matters, isn't it?Hopefully that really is a TL; DR version... and, as you can see, there's not an original idea in there.
JamesonCourage
Adventurer
It was a lot of fun. They asked me to DM again tonight, so I actually ran another session. They all had a lot of fun with it, too, it seems.
I was planning on running it like an alchemist's fire, more or less. I probably would have used page 42 to run it, and used the Normal Low damage expression (1d6+3 according to Quickleaf's document, I think). Perhaps if they have more expensive materials, I'll up the damage expression. But, it was just prior to their first combat ever with me, and they were thinking outside the box (the Wizard player hasn't played in 12 years, since she was 13 years old); I wasn't about to tell them no when I could do it using the useful page 42 rules without worrying about it breaking anything.
Really, the Wizard would do more damage just using one of her powers, but this would just let her pass it off to the Monk (who could sneak up and throw it, and doesn't mind being up front). That seemed like a fair mechanical trade to me. It didn't work out for them, but they're keeping this kind of thing in mind while we play now, so it's all good. Twice so far the Monk player has said "I'm using this" and held up the "Stunt" power card I wrote up for each of them, before telling me what she's doing. As long as they keep it up, I see a lot of fun ahead
JamesonCourage
Adventurer
So, we had our second session tonight (about six and a half hours of play). Apparently, the players were very excited after the first session, and when they noticed our schedules lined up, they informed me that we were playing again. Unfortunately, the Wizard player cancelled at the very last minute, so I ended up RPing that character (I just had her stay with the party).
[sblock]The players started out talking to one another about their plans, now that their first adventure was over. They also went a little deeper into exploring each others backgrounds. This was a purely inter-party RP session, and it lasted for about an hour, and was pretty good. They ended up agreeing to start splitting things five-ways instead of four-ways, and having the fifth slice go to the "party fund", which will be used for things like inn stays, repairs, hiring people, and general other expenses (things like potions also wind up here).
They also all agreed to help another achieve their goals: the Warpriest wants to kill those marked to die by The Raven Queen, and help those marked to live (marks only he can see since his resurrection); the Monk wants to eventually go back home to confront her brother, who she suspects had her parents killed (and had her framed for the murder, landing her in prison for 5 years); the dwarven Fighter is looking to make money and gather magic items, basically; the Wizard is looking to learn things about this world before returning home (to the Elemental Chaos that she was summoned away from), especially about rituals and magic in general.
I also gave each player a minor quest at the beginning of the session (on a strip of paper that only they read). The Warpriest was supposed to look for ways to more proactively serve The Raven Queen; the Monk was supposed to find a way to make Kord notice her (after "losing" her competition to the Fighter last session); the dwarven Fighter was supposed to make a friend, either in the party or with an NPC; the Wizard was supposed to learn a new ritual, or make progress towards learning one.
After talking for a bit, the Warpriest excused himself, and went to see Loase (the revenant seer of The Raven Queen), and asked him if The Raven Queen needed anything done in the area (I assume he was looking at completing his minor quest). Loase said that the Warpriest had his mission, and that there was nothing new to have him do. He told the Warpriest to watch after the party, and help guide their decisions. The Warpriest then inquired about a cheap place to stay while they were in town, and Loase led him to a house in a shady part of town, where he introduced him to Berit, a very large human. Loase took his leave, and Berit offered to let the players rent two rooms in a three-room house at a cheap rate, and the Warpriest said he'd take the deal to the others before he went back.
In the meantime, the gnome Monk looked around town, getting a feel for everything. After exploring and getting a feel for the layout, she returned. While both of the others were gone, the Fighter struck up a conversation with the Wizard, disclosing his reason for being banished from his homeland and clan, which he hadn't mentioned to the others (I assume to pursue his quest). The Fighter / multi-class Paladin of Kord said that dwarves tended to fear arcane magic, but that he was curious, and had been banished for continuously looking into it despite being told not to. Eventually he was cast out, and is now making his way in the world alone. The Wizard said she knew what it was to be alone far from home (since she had been summoned against her will), and they bonded a bit over that. She also agreed to teach him about arcane magic when they had time, and she wasn't seeing to other matters.
When they were all together again, the Warpriest showed the party to Berit, who led them to the prospective house, and the PCs agreed to stay there. Berit took his leave, leaving them to settle in. They actually didn't trust talking about their plans there, so the Monk led them all on a walk to a quiet area, where they talked about what to do first. Since funding seemed like a good place to start (the Fighter wants money, the Wizard can use it to learn new rituals or fund others, and the Monk wants it to hire others before confronting her wealthy brother), they started asking around if anyone was funding adventurers.
They heard that the person with the loosest purse strings in town when it came to this was a dwarven cleric of Kord named Varult Hammerheart (the same dwarf from the first session). They tracked him to a tavern (and waited for him to finish with a group of three other adventurers), and asked him if he had anything that they could handle. He said that a new criminal ring was popping up, and that certain criminals and certain city officials wanted them disposed of. The party agreed to go for a small fee (he offered 3 gemstones worth 100 gold each), and set out looking into tracking down The Blades (the new criminals).
I ran this as a complexity 4 skill challenge (10/3), and it lasted most of the session (though it was interrupted a few times). The Monk found out where to go first (she found people who were in contact with The Blades; 1/0 on the challenge), and the Wizard filled the party in on just how untrustworthy this lot was (on a successful History check; 2/0). They party made their way to speak with them, but they quickly failed on a Bluff check to inquire about The Blades (2/1), and the criminals laughed at the lie, and asked to speak with the gnome Monk alone (making everyone nervous). Immediately after this, the Warpriest failed by a Diplomacy check to convince them that they were staying together (2/2), and the criminals now insisted that they talk to the Monk alone. They party was ready to fight, but the Wizard used a cantrip to substitute her Arcana for an Intimidate check, and succeeded in scaring them enough that they decided to bug the Monk anymore (an advantage took a failure away; 2/1). The Fighter then Intimidated them successfully, and they got information on where to go next (3/1): a Shadowmancer named Rourt, and to track down two Eladrin twins that ran The Blades.
The party left, and went to see Rourt. The Wizard used a cantrip (Suggestion) to convince the two that answered the door to let them in to see the Shadowmancer (4/1), and they went inside. The Shadowmancer came out, and the party could sense his dark connection to shadows immediately (shadows of various objects he passed reached out to touch his shadow). He sat down, and asked what the party wanted. The Monk used Insight to pick up on his cues (5/1), and caught on that though he was calm, he was on the brink of madness, he was violent, and that he felt safe, probably because of nearby reinforcements. The Warpriest immediately caught his dark connection to all of the shadows in the room with an Arcana (6/1), as well as a connection to cold; he also picked up on feint fey teleportation magic. The Monk tried to use Thievery to disable the dark shadow magic, like she had done to the Shadowfell portal, but she failed, and the magic strengthened, suppress some of the party's life force (6/2). The Fighter assisted the Warpriest in lifting the suppressing aura, since they both had Heal (another advantage to undue a failure, though the check failed; 6/2 still), but the Shadowmancer was beginning to become agitated. They tried to talk the Shadowmancer into revealing the location of the Eladrin twins, but things became hostile quickly, and a combat commenced (with him calling for help).
The combat was pretty simple; the Shadowmancer (elite controller/leader), 2 thugs (minions), 2 thug rangers (artillery minions), and 1 thug enforcer (standard brute). Two of the minions were killed by a lucky shot from the Monk's encounter power that does some splash thunder damage (good for her getting Kord's attention), and the fight in the house took place in about three rooms, but nothing that unique took place. The Monk took down the Shadowmancer on a cleave (her Flurry ability), knocking him out, and she also took down the standard monster.
The players took a rest inside the house, checking it and looting the bodies. The Wizard found a Last Sight Vision ritual (good for her quest), and they found a healing potion and some gold. They tied the Shadowmancer up, and used Heal to wake him up. He seemed to have no interest in telling them anything, but the Monk promised to let him go if he answered their questions. This was a lie, because the Warpriest had announced his intention for killing the man immediately after the fight was over (he was marked for death by The Raven Queen). The Bluff succeeded (7/2), and he told them of a ship where he meets the twins at night. The Warpriest said that it was his time to die, and then killed the Shadowmancer. Afterwards, the mark of death of still on the Shadowmancer (very unusual), and a successful Religion indicated that he should retrieve it. When he picked it up, I gave him The Raven Queen's Shroud alternative reward. In-game, he can now mark people for death, and The Raven Queen will give her blessing on it (good for his quest).
The party moved on, though the Monk failed to lock the door with Thievery. The Warpriest noticed storm clouds had rolled in, and when the Monk looked up, a lightning bolt hit her (again!), and I gave her the Spirit of Storm alternate reward, though I took a healing surge away from her, and blackened her current ki focus (though it was still functional for now). She had definitely gotten Kord's attention (good for her quest).
The party made their way to the ship, and the Wizard used another cantrip to substitute Arcana for Stealth, and summoned some fog so that nobody saw them sneak on board the ship (8/2 on the skill challenge). They snuck downstairs, and the Monk failed a Stealth check to keep the party hidden (8/3); the skill challenge was set to fail, but the player of the Warpriest asked if there was anything he could do to save the skill challenge (since he was next on initiative in the challenge). They had two advantages left, so I told him he could, though he had to spend an encounter power and an advantage to even try. He used a healing power, succeeded on a Perception check to look for danger to avoid, and took away 1 failure with their last advantage (8/2). They made their way deeper into the ship, where they encountered a door with voices on the other side. The Fighter threw the door open, used his Paladin Mark on one, and jumped at them with Athletics (9/2 on the skill challenge).
This started another combat, this time with the Warpriest down one healing power. The fight went pretty quickly in the tight quarters of the inside of the ship, with the Wizard taking pains to block escapes with Storm Pillar and not light things on fire with her other powers. The party dispatched the enemies, but they needed some healing, so they decided to rest. The rest was interrupted by reinforcements arriving, and they had to fight off this second wave with no healing powers. The party came out the other side collectively upright, but weren't happy about how they had been attacked while trying to rest. They decided to move the crates and barrels in the room to barricade the doors, and rest.
Nobody bothered them this time, and they rested up to full, and checked the crates (the Wizard found the Comrade's Succor ritual, and the Fighter found a Thundering Warhammer). At the end of a rest, a Perception check alerted the Monk and Fighter to two voices on the other side of some crates. The Monk struck out alone to investigate and report back with her good Stealth, and succeeded (10/2), finally completing the skill challenge. She found the two eladrin on the other side of the crates, talking about dealing with the intruders alone rather than reporting it to the authorities, and that they could hire more through Berit (the moneylender they met earlier who had provided them with a room), who had been providing all the muscle for The Blades up to this point. The Monk checked in, and the party decided to split up, sending the Wizard and Warpriest to sneak up behind them (with the Wizard's cantrip for Stealth), with the Monk and Fighter getting ready to move the crates and flank them. When they were in place, the Monk used Ghost Sound (she had said she'd give the Warpriest and Wizard a certain amount of time to set up) to make the sound of a fighting dragon on the other side of the crates, and the twins started to leave through another door (to flank the intruders). The Warpriest and Wizard started to move, and we rolled initiative (I ran the twins as two elites).
The Wizard used Storm Pillar to block the door just before they reached it, blocking the twins in, with the Warpriest moving to block the doorway leading to the Wizard. The twins started ganging up on the Warpriest, but the Monk used her daily power that lets her slide enemies and shift squares prior to an attack, quickly moving the crates out of the way and attacking them from behind. The fight had some interesting twists, with the twins teleporting a total of three times, and the party splitting up (the Monk fighting one of them alone for a time). Since only one of the twins was marked for death by The Raven Queen, the Warpriest had used his new mark on the other one, so he'd feel fine killing both. Eventually, both went down (the second twin to Storm Pillar!), and none of the players dropped during the fight.
Afterwards, they scouted the ship for anyone else, and after they didn't find anyone else, took a short rest (still no extended rest today). They also searched the ship for anything valuable, and found a new mace for the Warpriest (a Holy Healer's Mace), and a Rain of Hammer's ki focus (as soon as the Monk found this ki focus, her old, now-charred ki focus crumbled to ashes). They also found a holy symbol of Tiamat on each of the twins, but the Warpriest destroyed them. The players decided to head out from the ship, but are debating on whether they should go to confront Berit about his involvement, or if they should head to an inn and avoid him. However, we called the session here.[/sblock]
Overall, I had a lot of fun running this session, too. The players are really learning how to work together in combat, and the Monk seemed a lot more survivable (in large part thanks to @Manbearcat... the Monk used her new power a lot, using the minor action to dart in and out of combat and taking advantage of the attack penalty). None of them even dropped this session, though they're a little beat up: the Fighter is at 25/38 with 6/12 surges; the Warpriest is at 19/33 with 6/11 surges; the Monk is at 25/32 with 1/7 surges; and the Wizard is at 18/32 with 7/10 surges.
The players told me multiple times how much fun they're having, and complained (lightheartedly) about how much they disliked skill challenges (since they had been rolling pretty poorly, save for the Wizard). However, they've expressed great enthusiasm for the campaign, and my two roommates immediately hopped on the character builder when we got home, looking at their level 3 builds, which they're hoping to get to use during the middle of next session. Though the Wizard player couldn't be here this session, the Fighter player (who hadn't played since 1e) also said that he's having a great time with it, and I have to admit, he's pretty dynamic during play.
So, at the end of the second session, I can safely say I'm enjoying running 4e, and they're enjoying playing in it. I'm hoping to continue to lightly guide play through minor quest prompts without being overbearing, and I'll continue to let their decisions shape my world (for example, now I know that dwarves in my setting fear arcane magic!). It's been fun, and I think it's time for me to start sifting through proper rewards for level 3 (not that I think they need them!). I'm planning on putting a lot of pressure on them next session, prior to an extended rest, so we'll see how they handle it
[sblock]The players started out talking to one another about their plans, now that their first adventure was over. They also went a little deeper into exploring each others backgrounds. This was a purely inter-party RP session, and it lasted for about an hour, and was pretty good. They ended up agreeing to start splitting things five-ways instead of four-ways, and having the fifth slice go to the "party fund", which will be used for things like inn stays, repairs, hiring people, and general other expenses (things like potions also wind up here).
They also all agreed to help another achieve their goals: the Warpriest wants to kill those marked to die by The Raven Queen, and help those marked to live (marks only he can see since his resurrection); the Monk wants to eventually go back home to confront her brother, who she suspects had her parents killed (and had her framed for the murder, landing her in prison for 5 years); the dwarven Fighter is looking to make money and gather magic items, basically; the Wizard is looking to learn things about this world before returning home (to the Elemental Chaos that she was summoned away from), especially about rituals and magic in general.
I also gave each player a minor quest at the beginning of the session (on a strip of paper that only they read). The Warpriest was supposed to look for ways to more proactively serve The Raven Queen; the Monk was supposed to find a way to make Kord notice her (after "losing" her competition to the Fighter last session); the dwarven Fighter was supposed to make a friend, either in the party or with an NPC; the Wizard was supposed to learn a new ritual, or make progress towards learning one.
After talking for a bit, the Warpriest excused himself, and went to see Loase (the revenant seer of The Raven Queen), and asked him if The Raven Queen needed anything done in the area (I assume he was looking at completing his minor quest). Loase said that the Warpriest had his mission, and that there was nothing new to have him do. He told the Warpriest to watch after the party, and help guide their decisions. The Warpriest then inquired about a cheap place to stay while they were in town, and Loase led him to a house in a shady part of town, where he introduced him to Berit, a very large human. Loase took his leave, and Berit offered to let the players rent two rooms in a three-room house at a cheap rate, and the Warpriest said he'd take the deal to the others before he went back.
In the meantime, the gnome Monk looked around town, getting a feel for everything. After exploring and getting a feel for the layout, she returned. While both of the others were gone, the Fighter struck up a conversation with the Wizard, disclosing his reason for being banished from his homeland and clan, which he hadn't mentioned to the others (I assume to pursue his quest). The Fighter / multi-class Paladin of Kord said that dwarves tended to fear arcane magic, but that he was curious, and had been banished for continuously looking into it despite being told not to. Eventually he was cast out, and is now making his way in the world alone. The Wizard said she knew what it was to be alone far from home (since she had been summoned against her will), and they bonded a bit over that. She also agreed to teach him about arcane magic when they had time, and she wasn't seeing to other matters.
When they were all together again, the Warpriest showed the party to Berit, who led them to the prospective house, and the PCs agreed to stay there. Berit took his leave, leaving them to settle in. They actually didn't trust talking about their plans there, so the Monk led them all on a walk to a quiet area, where they talked about what to do first. Since funding seemed like a good place to start (the Fighter wants money, the Wizard can use it to learn new rituals or fund others, and the Monk wants it to hire others before confronting her wealthy brother), they started asking around if anyone was funding adventurers.
They heard that the person with the loosest purse strings in town when it came to this was a dwarven cleric of Kord named Varult Hammerheart (the same dwarf from the first session). They tracked him to a tavern (and waited for him to finish with a group of three other adventurers), and asked him if he had anything that they could handle. He said that a new criminal ring was popping up, and that certain criminals and certain city officials wanted them disposed of. The party agreed to go for a small fee (he offered 3 gemstones worth 100 gold each), and set out looking into tracking down The Blades (the new criminals).
I ran this as a complexity 4 skill challenge (10/3), and it lasted most of the session (though it was interrupted a few times). The Monk found out where to go first (she found people who were in contact with The Blades; 1/0 on the challenge), and the Wizard filled the party in on just how untrustworthy this lot was (on a successful History check; 2/0). They party made their way to speak with them, but they quickly failed on a Bluff check to inquire about The Blades (2/1), and the criminals laughed at the lie, and asked to speak with the gnome Monk alone (making everyone nervous). Immediately after this, the Warpriest failed by a Diplomacy check to convince them that they were staying together (2/2), and the criminals now insisted that they talk to the Monk alone. They party was ready to fight, but the Wizard used a cantrip to substitute her Arcana for an Intimidate check, and succeeded in scaring them enough that they decided to bug the Monk anymore (an advantage took a failure away; 2/1). The Fighter then Intimidated them successfully, and they got information on where to go next (3/1): a Shadowmancer named Rourt, and to track down two Eladrin twins that ran The Blades.
The party left, and went to see Rourt. The Wizard used a cantrip (Suggestion) to convince the two that answered the door to let them in to see the Shadowmancer (4/1), and they went inside. The Shadowmancer came out, and the party could sense his dark connection to shadows immediately (shadows of various objects he passed reached out to touch his shadow). He sat down, and asked what the party wanted. The Monk used Insight to pick up on his cues (5/1), and caught on that though he was calm, he was on the brink of madness, he was violent, and that he felt safe, probably because of nearby reinforcements. The Warpriest immediately caught his dark connection to all of the shadows in the room with an Arcana (6/1), as well as a connection to cold; he also picked up on feint fey teleportation magic. The Monk tried to use Thievery to disable the dark shadow magic, like she had done to the Shadowfell portal, but she failed, and the magic strengthened, suppress some of the party's life force (6/2). The Fighter assisted the Warpriest in lifting the suppressing aura, since they both had Heal (another advantage to undue a failure, though the check failed; 6/2 still), but the Shadowmancer was beginning to become agitated. They tried to talk the Shadowmancer into revealing the location of the Eladrin twins, but things became hostile quickly, and a combat commenced (with him calling for help).
The combat was pretty simple; the Shadowmancer (elite controller/leader), 2 thugs (minions), 2 thug rangers (artillery minions), and 1 thug enforcer (standard brute). Two of the minions were killed by a lucky shot from the Monk's encounter power that does some splash thunder damage (good for her getting Kord's attention), and the fight in the house took place in about three rooms, but nothing that unique took place. The Monk took down the Shadowmancer on a cleave (her Flurry ability), knocking him out, and she also took down the standard monster.
The players took a rest inside the house, checking it and looting the bodies. The Wizard found a Last Sight Vision ritual (good for her quest), and they found a healing potion and some gold. They tied the Shadowmancer up, and used Heal to wake him up. He seemed to have no interest in telling them anything, but the Monk promised to let him go if he answered their questions. This was a lie, because the Warpriest had announced his intention for killing the man immediately after the fight was over (he was marked for death by The Raven Queen). The Bluff succeeded (7/2), and he told them of a ship where he meets the twins at night. The Warpriest said that it was his time to die, and then killed the Shadowmancer. Afterwards, the mark of death of still on the Shadowmancer (very unusual), and a successful Religion indicated that he should retrieve it. When he picked it up, I gave him The Raven Queen's Shroud alternative reward. In-game, he can now mark people for death, and The Raven Queen will give her blessing on it (good for his quest).
The party moved on, though the Monk failed to lock the door with Thievery. The Warpriest noticed storm clouds had rolled in, and when the Monk looked up, a lightning bolt hit her (again!), and I gave her the Spirit of Storm alternate reward, though I took a healing surge away from her, and blackened her current ki focus (though it was still functional for now). She had definitely gotten Kord's attention (good for her quest).
The party made their way to the ship, and the Wizard used another cantrip to substitute Arcana for Stealth, and summoned some fog so that nobody saw them sneak on board the ship (8/2 on the skill challenge). They snuck downstairs, and the Monk failed a Stealth check to keep the party hidden (8/3); the skill challenge was set to fail, but the player of the Warpriest asked if there was anything he could do to save the skill challenge (since he was next on initiative in the challenge). They had two advantages left, so I told him he could, though he had to spend an encounter power and an advantage to even try. He used a healing power, succeeded on a Perception check to look for danger to avoid, and took away 1 failure with their last advantage (8/2). They made their way deeper into the ship, where they encountered a door with voices on the other side. The Fighter threw the door open, used his Paladin Mark on one, and jumped at them with Athletics (9/2 on the skill challenge).
This started another combat, this time with the Warpriest down one healing power. The fight went pretty quickly in the tight quarters of the inside of the ship, with the Wizard taking pains to block escapes with Storm Pillar and not light things on fire with her other powers. The party dispatched the enemies, but they needed some healing, so they decided to rest. The rest was interrupted by reinforcements arriving, and they had to fight off this second wave with no healing powers. The party came out the other side collectively upright, but weren't happy about how they had been attacked while trying to rest. They decided to move the crates and barrels in the room to barricade the doors, and rest.
Nobody bothered them this time, and they rested up to full, and checked the crates (the Wizard found the Comrade's Succor ritual, and the Fighter found a Thundering Warhammer). At the end of a rest, a Perception check alerted the Monk and Fighter to two voices on the other side of some crates. The Monk struck out alone to investigate and report back with her good Stealth, and succeeded (10/2), finally completing the skill challenge. She found the two eladrin on the other side of the crates, talking about dealing with the intruders alone rather than reporting it to the authorities, and that they could hire more through Berit (the moneylender they met earlier who had provided them with a room), who had been providing all the muscle for The Blades up to this point. The Monk checked in, and the party decided to split up, sending the Wizard and Warpriest to sneak up behind them (with the Wizard's cantrip for Stealth), with the Monk and Fighter getting ready to move the crates and flank them. When they were in place, the Monk used Ghost Sound (she had said she'd give the Warpriest and Wizard a certain amount of time to set up) to make the sound of a fighting dragon on the other side of the crates, and the twins started to leave through another door (to flank the intruders). The Warpriest and Wizard started to move, and we rolled initiative (I ran the twins as two elites).
The Wizard used Storm Pillar to block the door just before they reached it, blocking the twins in, with the Warpriest moving to block the doorway leading to the Wizard. The twins started ganging up on the Warpriest, but the Monk used her daily power that lets her slide enemies and shift squares prior to an attack, quickly moving the crates out of the way and attacking them from behind. The fight had some interesting twists, with the twins teleporting a total of three times, and the party splitting up (the Monk fighting one of them alone for a time). Since only one of the twins was marked for death by The Raven Queen, the Warpriest had used his new mark on the other one, so he'd feel fine killing both. Eventually, both went down (the second twin to Storm Pillar!), and none of the players dropped during the fight.
Afterwards, they scouted the ship for anyone else, and after they didn't find anyone else, took a short rest (still no extended rest today). They also searched the ship for anything valuable, and found a new mace for the Warpriest (a Holy Healer's Mace), and a Rain of Hammer's ki focus (as soon as the Monk found this ki focus, her old, now-charred ki focus crumbled to ashes). They also found a holy symbol of Tiamat on each of the twins, but the Warpriest destroyed them. The players decided to head out from the ship, but are debating on whether they should go to confront Berit about his involvement, or if they should head to an inn and avoid him. However, we called the session here.[/sblock]
Overall, I had a lot of fun running this session, too. The players are really learning how to work together in combat, and the Monk seemed a lot more survivable (in large part thanks to @Manbearcat... the Monk used her new power a lot, using the minor action to dart in and out of combat and taking advantage of the attack penalty). None of them even dropped this session, though they're a little beat up: the Fighter is at 25/38 with 6/12 surges; the Warpriest is at 19/33 with 6/11 surges; the Monk is at 25/32 with 1/7 surges; and the Wizard is at 18/32 with 7/10 surges.
The players told me multiple times how much fun they're having, and complained (lightheartedly) about how much they disliked skill challenges (since they had been rolling pretty poorly, save for the Wizard). However, they've expressed great enthusiasm for the campaign, and my two roommates immediately hopped on the character builder when we got home, looking at their level 3 builds, which they're hoping to get to use during the middle of next session. Though the Wizard player couldn't be here this session, the Fighter player (who hadn't played since 1e) also said that he's having a great time with it, and I have to admit, he's pretty dynamic during play.
So, at the end of the second session, I can safely say I'm enjoying running 4e, and they're enjoying playing in it. I'm hoping to continue to lightly guide play through minor quest prompts without being overbearing, and I'll continue to let their decisions shape my world (for example, now I know that dwarves in my setting fear arcane magic!). It's been fun, and I think it's time for me to start sifting through proper rewards for level 3 (not that I think they need them!). I'm planning on putting a lot of pressure on them next session, prior to an extended rest, so we'll see how they handle it
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Quickleaf
Legend
[MENTION=6668292]JamesonCourage[/MENTION] Nice play reports! Thanks for sharing, it's good to hear you guys taking to 4e well. You seem to have the system pretty well dialed in. The only advice I can offer has to do with investigative skill challenges...in your scenario the group had failed but one PC was able to use a skill challenge to prevent them from failing and thus they were able to acquire all the info they needed to continue on with the adventure.
Not sure if you meant to set it up this way or not, but generally I have adopted the GUMSHOE approach to investigations. In every scene when you take any reasonable action to gain a "core clue" you automatically get that clue (a core clue being something necessary to drive the mystery forward). Scenes also have secondary clues which require skill checks to obtain, and that's where the skill challenge takes place, in the secondary clues. That way the players never get bottlenecked nor do you end up with situations where the DM bends the rules so they succeed and get the clues they need.
Again, not sure how your setup looked behind the scenes, but it is something worth thinking about.
You seem to have the system pretty well dialed in. The only advice I can offer has to do with investigative skill challenges...in your scenario the group had failed but one PC was able to use a skill challenge to prevent them from failing and thus they were able to acquire all the info they needed to continue on with the adventure.Not sure if you meant to set it up this way or not, but generally I have adopted the GUMSHOE approach to investigations. In every scene when you take any reasonable action to gain a "core clue" you automatically get that clue (a core clue being something necessary to drive the mystery forward). Scenes also have secondary clues which require skill checks to obtain, and that's where the skill challenge takes place, in the secondary clues. That way the players never get bottlenecked nor do you end up with situations where the DM bends the rules so they succeed and get the clues they need.
Again, not sure how your setup looked behind the scenes, but it is something worth thinking about.
Manbearcat
Legend
You're pretty dialed in already. That is a great second session and good job documenting it (the mechanics conjoined to the narrative are clear and present).
On the "Arcana Bomb" thing, that is one of the great things about 4e. There are lots of ways to handle this. You can:
- Use Rituals with Alchemist's Fire (sub arcana keyword if need).
or
- You can just as easily page 42 it and use a fitting damage expression and downsize contingent upon effects added (down one for burst, down one for slow, etc). What is truly great is that, if there is no real gain in the action economy, you can just adlib some kind of cool X-Men like "Fastball Special" whereby (in the fiction) the Wizard pulls a small pint of Witchfire (or some other genre name) from a bandolier, says a word or two, taps it with wand and tosses it to the Monk when the Monk says "Bartender. Brew please!" The Monk then tosses it at the bad guys (burst 1 in 10, creatures, L + 3 vs Ref, 1d6 + 3 fire) and the "Arcane Bomb" explodes with the equivalent punch of a standard At-Will. No action economy gain over the monk just using a standard at-will. Just some fun, handy utility (but not overpowering) and some narrative dynamism. Win.
On the "Arcana Bomb" thing, that is one of the great things about 4e. There are lots of ways to handle this. You can:
- Use Rituals with Alchemist's Fire (sub arcana keyword if need).
or
- You can just as easily page 42 it and use a fitting damage expression and downsize contingent upon effects added (down one for burst, down one for slow, etc). What is truly great is that, if there is no real gain in the action economy, you can just adlib some kind of cool X-Men like "Fastball Special" whereby (in the fiction) the Wizard pulls a small pint of Witchfire (or some other genre name) from a bandolier, says a word or two, taps it with wand and tosses it to the Monk when the Monk says "Bartender. Brew please!" The Monk then tosses it at the bad guys (burst 1 in 10, creatures, L + 3 vs Ref, 1d6 + 3 fire) and the "Arcane Bomb" explodes with the equivalent punch of a standard At-Will. No action economy gain over the monk just using a standard at-will. Just some fun, handy utility (but not overpowering) and some narrative dynamism. Win.
JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Thanks. I could've turned out to be a lot faster if they had rolled a bit better, or if things had turned out differently in the fiction, but it worked out pretty well. I really like the tension that the skill challenges bring to the table, so I plan to make pretty consistent use of them.
Thanks! I think I have a pretty firm grasp on it. Two of the players keep pointing out differences between how I run things and the last DM did with 4e, but it's basically all positive. But, I'm staying a lot closer to RAW than he is, apparently, so I guess that says something about how much fun they're having with a lesser-modified 4e than with a heavily houseruled 4e.Nice play reports! Thanks for sharing, it's good to hear you guys taking to 4e well.
Thanks for the advice. I don't run investigative scenarios all the time, but they definitely come up often enough. And I do have a lot of other clues that I like to pepper (like the holy symbols on the mountain, and then again this last session), so I could certainly do what you're talking about here.
Generally, I had no real intention of stopping them from exploring things too much, as I had banked on them biting on this particular adventure hook, and had only prepared monsters for this stuff (I didn't have much notice before our next session!). I'm also used to a more sandbox-style mode of play with my main group, but I'm taking a very different approach with this 4e campaign. With that in mind, your advice, above, is a pretty good reminder to me about how I should proceed, rather than just letting them fail and seeing what they do (even though that's my usual approach, because I find that pretty interesting). Anyways, thanks for the advice
