Knightlord
First Post
Hello everyone. My group tried out 4E last night, playing the "Return of the Burning Plague" adventure. And so begins the recollection and analysis. Enjoy.
Player 1: Skamos, the Tiefling Wizard
Player 2: Riardon, the Eladrin Ranger
Player 3: Shakrath, the Dragonborn Warlord
Player 4: Kathra, the Dwarven Fighter
We started off the evening with some small roleplaying in the settlement, simply to allow the players to get a feel for their characters. After some interaction, they were off to the Mine. When encountering the first group of Kobolds, the players were amazed at how much tougher they seemed when compared to 3E Kobolds. However, despite the Kobold's upgrade, the group mowed through the lot of them with relative ease, thanks to "their" upgrade. As the group moved deeper in, they decimated more of the Kobolds, the Dwarven Fighter drawing them to her as she charged into the middle of them. Shakrath's player aided the party with bonuses to attacks and primarily aided the fighter, allowing her to make extra attacks. When only one Kobold Dragonshield remained, he attempted to flee, evading the fighter's Opportunity Attack. However, Skamos's player made short work of him with a magic missile to the back, promptly exploding the poor Kobold.
Moving deeper still, the group discovered the boulder overhead, and cleverly used it against the next group of Kobolds. Dislodging it, the boulder rolled down the tunnel. I had the player that succeeded in actually dislodging it (Skamos) roll a d6. He rolled a 5, so I determined that the boulder had killed all of the Kobolds down below.
The players were feeling good now, immensly impressed with their powers and sheer toughness. They really liked the Healing Surges and Action Points, which they saw as giving their characters a "cinematic" feel (one player referenced "I Am Legend" in which Will Smith's character is getting roughed up by one of the Diseased humans, bitten and thrown about, yet manages to summon enough inner strength to survive and fight back). The player's moved on and confronted the Wyrmpriest and his minions. With a mighty exhalation from Shakrath's player, the minions were eradicated. Skamos attempted to rid the Mine of the Wyrmpriest with his Daily Power, Acid Arrow, but failed to hit. I must add here that while we all laughed at Skamos's failure to hit, it was starting to become a trend for the Tiefling Wizard (The Player jokingly attributed his character's inability to hit to his ridiculous name. The player renamed him to Damien Redmoon). Eventually, the party defeated the little fiend, but did not feel the need to take an extended rest as they all felt fine and secure in their abilities still (In our 3E games, we would have stopped to rest long ago as 1st level characters, but in 4E, not so). Fighting the skeletons, the player's faced fierce resistance. Eventually, Shakrath's player fumbled, giving the monsters a +4 to hit him next round. Sensing his mistake, the Skeletons communicated with each other in their unholy tounge, informing the Blazing Skeleton of the opportunity that was now present (Seemed like something a soldier, even an undead one, would notice and attempt to exploit, if only on a minor scale). The Blazing Skeleton disengaged itself from the Riardon and Skamos (oops, I mean Damien, *cough*) and leaped at the Warlord, evading an Opportuity Attack from the Wizard. Now facing two formidable foes, the Warlord attempted to rally his allies. Kathra shattered one of the Warriors, sending it's remains tumbling into the pit. She quickly moved in with her move action and readied herself to take some of the pressure off of Shakrath. With combined assaults from Riardon and Damien from behind, the Blazing Skeleton eventually fell into a smouldering heap, but not before seriously burning Shakrath. The remaining Skeleton fell to the focused fire of the party, thus granting them another victory.
Now, with most of their powers expended and their Healing Surges beginning to drop, and with some of the characters seriously wounded, they wisely decided it was now time to rest for an extended time.
Regaining their awesome strength, the player's marched forward into the final confrontation. They entered the spring. I had them roll Perception checks (an error on my part as I totally forgot about Passive Perception) to see if they noticed the Hobgoblins on ther other side of the stalagtite. They failed and the Hobgoblins recieved a surprise round. The Archer opened up on the Ranger, dealing good damage. The Warcaster followed up against Shakrath with his shock staff. The Soldiers closed ranks and marched against the Warlord and the Fighter, dealing enough damage to the Warlord to knock him unconscious. Things were looking grim now as it was time to roll initiative for the 1st "true" round of combat. Luckily, the PC's won it and procceeded to try and reverse their perilous situation. Kathra spent her turn reviving the Warlord, then spent an action point to take a swing at the soldiers, to no avail. The Ranger struck the archer for a good 11pts, elicting a grunt of pain from the archer. Damien tried his Daily Power, Sleep. Alas, though, he failed to hit, causing only the Slow part of the Power. To his ire, the Hobgoblins used their immediate Resilience power and they all shook of his entire power. On their turn, the Archer returned fire against Riardon, this time dealing around 12pts of damage while the soldiers turned their attention toward Kathra, dealing roughly 14pts to her. The Warcaster blasted Damien, who was once Skamos, with his Force Pulse, severely injuring the Wizard and knocking him prone. The PC's retaliated quickly, but with less effect. Kathra again failed to strike the soldiers and Shakrath's breath weapon also failed. Riardon failed to strike the archer this time around. Damien, however, hefted himself up and pulled out his Wand of Accuracy, sending a Magic Missile into the Warcasters gut. Sadly, this would be Damien's last stand. On the Warcaster's turn, his shock staff recharged and he dealt to Damien 1pt off of max damage. This reduced Damien to below his negative bloodied state, killing him. Meanwhile, the soldiers continued their relentless assault against Kathra and Shakrath, dealing roughly 7 pts to the Fighter. The Archer missed Riardon this turn. Kathra finally managed to land her Crushing Blow power against one of the soldiers and absolutley destroyed him. Riardon shifted his attention to the Warcaster after using a Healing Surge and dealt him a killing blow with a critcal, thus avenging Damien. Player 1 reentered the game with Corrin, the Halfling Paladin, and promptly landed a critical hit against the archer, slaying him. Now, only the soldier remained, and like the sole skeleton before him, fell before the party's combined might.
We finished up by roleplaying the ending and leaving a possible hook for future adventures. Overall, my players were extremely pleased with the playtest and are seriously looking forward to 4E. They loved that characters were now tough enough to viably survive, despite the fact that the monsters seemed a little tougher than they were in 3E (a fact they also liked). The powers seemed to be a big hit ('cept for Skamos, who usually couldn't hit squat and began to take on a comical feel. lol) and were well recieved. Ending, the game seems fun and everyone had a great time. It was also a positive experience for me as a DM, as it was relatively easy to run and didn't really require any prep time.
Most importantly though, and this is not specific to 4E, it allowed us all to get together and have some fun while enjoying each other's company, and that is, in my opinion, what D&D is mainly all about.
Overall, judging from this sample adventure, my players and I so far give 4E two thumbs up. However, we will wait for the actual game to be released before making any real judgments.
Edited one comment out. If you want to know why, send me an e-mail.
--Dinkeldog
Player 1: Skamos, the Tiefling Wizard
Player 2: Riardon, the Eladrin Ranger
Player 3: Shakrath, the Dragonborn Warlord
Player 4: Kathra, the Dwarven Fighter
We started off the evening with some small roleplaying in the settlement, simply to allow the players to get a feel for their characters. After some interaction, they were off to the Mine. When encountering the first group of Kobolds, the players were amazed at how much tougher they seemed when compared to 3E Kobolds. However, despite the Kobold's upgrade, the group mowed through the lot of them with relative ease, thanks to "their" upgrade. As the group moved deeper in, they decimated more of the Kobolds, the Dwarven Fighter drawing them to her as she charged into the middle of them. Shakrath's player aided the party with bonuses to attacks and primarily aided the fighter, allowing her to make extra attacks. When only one Kobold Dragonshield remained, he attempted to flee, evading the fighter's Opportunity Attack. However, Skamos's player made short work of him with a magic missile to the back, promptly exploding the poor Kobold.
Moving deeper still, the group discovered the boulder overhead, and cleverly used it against the next group of Kobolds. Dislodging it, the boulder rolled down the tunnel. I had the player that succeeded in actually dislodging it (Skamos) roll a d6. He rolled a 5, so I determined that the boulder had killed all of the Kobolds down below.The players were feeling good now, immensly impressed with their powers and sheer toughness. They really liked the Healing Surges and Action Points, which they saw as giving their characters a "cinematic" feel (one player referenced "I Am Legend" in which Will Smith's character is getting roughed up by one of the Diseased humans, bitten and thrown about, yet manages to summon enough inner strength to survive and fight back). The player's moved on and confronted the Wyrmpriest and his minions. With a mighty exhalation from Shakrath's player, the minions were eradicated. Skamos attempted to rid the Mine of the Wyrmpriest with his Daily Power, Acid Arrow, but failed to hit. I must add here that while we all laughed at Skamos's failure to hit, it was starting to become a trend for the Tiefling Wizard (The Player jokingly attributed his character's inability to hit to his ridiculous name. The player renamed him to Damien Redmoon). Eventually, the party defeated the little fiend, but did not feel the need to take an extended rest as they all felt fine and secure in their abilities still (In our 3E games, we would have stopped to rest long ago as 1st level characters, but in 4E, not so). Fighting the skeletons, the player's faced fierce resistance. Eventually, Shakrath's player fumbled, giving the monsters a +4 to hit him next round. Sensing his mistake, the Skeletons communicated with each other in their unholy tounge, informing the Blazing Skeleton of the opportunity that was now present (Seemed like something a soldier, even an undead one, would notice and attempt to exploit, if only on a minor scale). The Blazing Skeleton disengaged itself from the Riardon and Skamos (oops, I mean Damien, *cough*) and leaped at the Warlord, evading an Opportuity Attack from the Wizard. Now facing two formidable foes, the Warlord attempted to rally his allies. Kathra shattered one of the Warriors, sending it's remains tumbling into the pit. She quickly moved in with her move action and readied herself to take some of the pressure off of Shakrath. With combined assaults from Riardon and Damien from behind, the Blazing Skeleton eventually fell into a smouldering heap, but not before seriously burning Shakrath. The remaining Skeleton fell to the focused fire of the party, thus granting them another victory.
Now, with most of their powers expended and their Healing Surges beginning to drop, and with some of the characters seriously wounded, they wisely decided it was now time to rest for an extended time.
Regaining their awesome strength, the player's marched forward into the final confrontation. They entered the spring. I had them roll Perception checks (an error on my part as I totally forgot about Passive Perception) to see if they noticed the Hobgoblins on ther other side of the stalagtite. They failed and the Hobgoblins recieved a surprise round. The Archer opened up on the Ranger, dealing good damage. The Warcaster followed up against Shakrath with his shock staff. The Soldiers closed ranks and marched against the Warlord and the Fighter, dealing enough damage to the Warlord to knock him unconscious. Things were looking grim now as it was time to roll initiative for the 1st "true" round of combat. Luckily, the PC's won it and procceeded to try and reverse their perilous situation. Kathra spent her turn reviving the Warlord, then spent an action point to take a swing at the soldiers, to no avail. The Ranger struck the archer for a good 11pts, elicting a grunt of pain from the archer. Damien tried his Daily Power, Sleep. Alas, though, he failed to hit, causing only the Slow part of the Power. To his ire, the Hobgoblins used their immediate Resilience power and they all shook of his entire power. On their turn, the Archer returned fire against Riardon, this time dealing around 12pts of damage while the soldiers turned their attention toward Kathra, dealing roughly 14pts to her. The Warcaster blasted Damien, who was once Skamos, with his Force Pulse, severely injuring the Wizard and knocking him prone. The PC's retaliated quickly, but with less effect. Kathra again failed to strike the soldiers and Shakrath's breath weapon also failed. Riardon failed to strike the archer this time around. Damien, however, hefted himself up and pulled out his Wand of Accuracy, sending a Magic Missile into the Warcasters gut. Sadly, this would be Damien's last stand. On the Warcaster's turn, his shock staff recharged and he dealt to Damien 1pt off of max damage. This reduced Damien to below his negative bloodied state, killing him. Meanwhile, the soldiers continued their relentless assault against Kathra and Shakrath, dealing roughly 7 pts to the Fighter. The Archer missed Riardon this turn. Kathra finally managed to land her Crushing Blow power against one of the soldiers and absolutley destroyed him. Riardon shifted his attention to the Warcaster after using a Healing Surge and dealt him a killing blow with a critcal, thus avenging Damien. Player 1 reentered the game with Corrin, the Halfling Paladin, and promptly landed a critical hit against the archer, slaying him. Now, only the soldier remained, and like the sole skeleton before him, fell before the party's combined might.
We finished up by roleplaying the ending and leaving a possible hook for future adventures. Overall, my players were extremely pleased with the playtest and are seriously looking forward to 4E. They loved that characters were now tough enough to viably survive, despite the fact that the monsters seemed a little tougher than they were in 3E (a fact they also liked). The powers seemed to be a big hit ('cept for Skamos, who usually couldn't hit squat and began to take on a comical feel. lol) and were well recieved. Ending, the game seems fun and everyone had a great time. It was also a positive experience for me as a DM, as it was relatively easy to run and didn't really require any prep time.
Most importantly though, and this is not specific to 4E, it allowed us all to get together and have some fun while enjoying each other's company, and that is, in my opinion, what D&D is mainly all about.
Overall, judging from this sample adventure, my players and I so far give 4E two thumbs up. However, we will wait for the actual game to be released before making any real judgments.
Edited one comment out. If you want to know why, send me an e-mail.
--Dinkeldog
Last edited by a moderator:
