Lair Assault: Attack of the Tyrantclaw

[Taed]

Our first dino-venture went pretty well, but we did ultimately lose. I think only one of us got bloodied. But there was sure a lot of work for the DM with all those dinos and orcs running around!

One thing that went well for us was a Ranger who used Stalker's Mist to obscure the squares around the druid. The DM had the non-controlled dinos ignore it and the orc mages sent area attacks into it, which eventually killed the druid.

All of the crates that we had "bought" were destroyed in the first orc mage blast.

We won't have that ranger next time, so my storm warden will take Nature's Abundance, which is a burst 3 of cover, which will give us the equivalent of +2 to all defenses (Right? Does cover really affect non-AC?).

I was also looking at using Intimidate to get the dinos to run away once we bloodied them. I've never used it before, so let's see if I have this right... I can pretty easily get a +16 for Intimidate (remember that I'm a warden, so I'm using strength / constitution), using a +3 Skill Training Feat and a Background +2. The will for a dino is probably around 20 as a guess, and probably around the same for the orc dinoriders. They would be hostile, giving them a +10 bonus. There's also a bit about a -5 bonus if we don't have a language in common -- does that apply to creatures with no language? So, I'm looking at my +16 versus 30 (maybe 35), which is not good odds. Any ways to get significantly better Intimidate?

Also, other than Slick Armor (which only affects Acrobatics grab checks, not Athletics), is there any way to avoid getting grabbed by the pterodactyls?

One memorable moment from our loss was that my storm wardent went over to 2 triceratops and riders, attacked them, and was able to Slide them 1 (Mark of Storms, also Gale Wind), thus dismounting the riders and still having them around me. A pterodactyl then swooped down on me and flew off with me. On my turn, despite then being 10 squares away, I attacked the pterodactyl with a lightning power, which also then did 9 damage (due to Form of Mountains Thunder) to each of the marked creatures (2 dinos and 2 orcs). So, I then used an action point and did the same thing with a different power, and ended up with 3 of them bloodied. Plus, on each of those attacks, I was able to slide the pterodactyl down and over a square, so I was lower and not over the tar. So, despite being carried away, I was still in the fight. Unfortunately, the druid died before I got my next turn.

 

[jester_gl]

Nature's abondance cover works against anything. Unlike concealment, cover actually works against burst and blast. Normally you determine if you have cover from the origin square of the burst, but that utility power simply gives cover to all allies in the zone.

Against pterodactyl I don't think there is a whole bunch of options. Feather fall from the wizard, having a fly speed (pixie will fall but takes 3d10 less damage), readying an action to prone it or being a fighter and having it marked (move away=stop the move with a hit, and this is not an attack of opportunity).

Intimidate has a lot of options to increases, but it easier to intimidate the orcs as they do have a language. All telepathy options requires the target to at least speak one language and dinosaurs don't.

But take a drow or crab hengeyokay (to stay fey) warlock devil spawn theme and wandering duelist background with a skull mask, skill focus and beguiling tongue utility, and you suddenly have a +29 intimidate warlock. You could also be star pact to get a random +1 from a kill. If there are multiple bloodied enemy on the field a single standard action will intimidate all of them at once.

 

[Netherstorm]

OK just ran it again at the store. Spoilers just in case

[sblock]

The group I ran it for this time is a mix of players, most of them are pretty new. Some of their turns took a loonngg time even with help, and we only had two hours, but they pretty much were about to have a tpk when we finished.

They put small crates all around Hyacinth, then put some to 'wall off' a side of the map. They were very effective, actually, as the climb dcs get higher and higher and the monster climb bonuses aren't high enough to make me want to risk trying to climb.

They had one magic turret, and I'm pretty convinced it is not worth taking. d8+3 damage is not worth it.

They decimated the first wave of minions, but then quickly got swamped by the ensuing waves.

I spent a number of attacks breaking open boxes. The party had a healer who kept 'buffing' and healing everyone. I noticed that everyone tries to include the turret as an 'ally', to give it temporary hit points. It's an object, not an ally. An ally is defined in the rules compendium as "a companion to the power's user".

They lasted til the druid transformed, and then it just got real ugly. The PCs had spread their attacks around, so almost all of the dinosaurs and non-minion orcs were till on the field!

Once the T Rex rampaged it was bleak. The seeker got pinned by two reavers and a pterodactyl and was killed. The others were in the tar taking piles of damage, getting mauled by dinosaurs and orcs when we stopped.

It was brutal, but they seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. A few onlookers expressed an interest in playing soon, so hopefully I'll get to run it at least one more time.

Nobody has figured out the secret power of the plinth. One player at least tried the nature check, but he rolled a one. And this group didn't realize that the dinos fled when bloodied, though one player was close to figuring it out. This is because it took a very long time for them to bloody one.

Three hours seems to be the right amount of time to run this.

I think next time I'll switch up the waves. Maybe start with the pterodactyls, and save the minions for last! That might be fun....

[/sblock]

 

[corwyn77]

One memorable moment from our loss was that my storm wardent went over to 2 triceratops and riders, attacked them, and was able to Slide them 1 (Mark of Storms, also Gale Wind), thus dismounting the riders and still having them around me.

...

I was able to slide the pterodactyl down and over a square, so I was lower and not over the tar. So, despite being carried away, I was still in the fight. Unfortunately, the druid died before I got my next turn.

This seems an inconsistent double standard to me. In the first case forced movement separates the two figures; then in the latter, when it's convenient, the forced movement takes you with the creature instead of leaving you behind to instantly fall.

Regardless, what kept the pterodactyl from going higher and over the tar on its next turn?

 

[Netherstorm]

Yeah, forced movement is tricky with mounts. It goes like this: "If the mount is pushed, pulled or slid, the rider moves with it. If the rider is pulled, pushed or slid and the mount isn't, the rider can have the two of them move together. Otherwise, the rider is dismounted and falls prone in the destination space of the forced movement."

When it comes up in the game, it's often a situation where the dm isn't sure and doesn't want to bring the game to a screeching halt because it's a pain to look up (took me a few minutes to find it just now, pg 254 of the rules compendium) so the dm just makes a ruling.

It came up for me in Scales of War a few years back and I ran it wrong. It kind of ruined what was supposed to be a very big fight.

In the second pterodactyl example, forced movement can actually end a grab, so one way to escape the pterodactyls is to hit them with a pull/push/slide. Sounds like the warden didn't want the grab ended or he would have fallen into the tar pit.

 

[Taed]

Yeah, forced movement is tricky with mounts. It goes like this: "If the mount is pushed, pulled or slid, the rider moves with it. If the rider is pulled, pushed or slid and the mount isn't, the rider can have the two of them move together. Otherwise, the rider is dismounted and falls prone in the destination space of the forced movement."

Ah, we didn't do that (didn't even think of it), so I slid the two riders and two mounts, but didn't have the riders become prone when the slides in different directions dismounted them. It actually seems like they should get the fall-or-prone saving throw. I'll try look that up.

In the second pterodactyl example, forced movement can actually end a grab, so one way to escape the pterodactyls is to hit them with a pull/push/slide. Sounds like the warden didn't want the grab ended or he would have fallen into the tar pit.

We totally forgot that forced movement would break a grab. Had I remembered, I would have slid both of us away from the tar with the first slide, and then broke the grab on the second slide. The falling damage probably wouldn't even bloody the warden.

As for what prevented the warden from getting dropped in the tar the next turn, it's at that point that the druid died, so neither the pterodactyl nor the warden got another turn.

 

[Kynn]

I played it today. We went long on time and had done over 200 points to the T-Rex, and half our party was still up, so the DM gave it to us as a win.

After things collapsed, my pixie ninja was using the ballista to shoot dinosaurs, pew pew!

 

[Zuche]

My latest group opted to tackle nightmare mode shorthanded. At their request, I agreed to hand them two extra turrets. They figured that piling boxes two to three high around the druid, with crossbow turrets on top of the bigger piles, would be enough to stop the attackers while they sniped away at their enemies from the towers.

With the way I was rolling for those first few rounds, it might have worked out for them if they'd been playing on regular mode. Two rounds in, I'd only managed to cut two paths in to reach the druid, and they'd already killed one pterodactyl, a reaver, and most of the minions.

Then the storm conjurers arrived and obliterated every single box the first two waves had softened up, leaving only one pillar. Round four came, and they breathed a sigh of relief when an anklyosaur came up 1 hit point shy of killing their employer.

Then they remembered that there were still seven attackers all lined up to go after her next, and it was all over before the fourth wave even got to act.

After some review, I think I've been a bit too generous with the crates and turrets. I'm not sure the usual immunity to forced movement applies when you destroy the crate at the base of the pile or if someone opts to dislodge all of the boxes at the top of the pile. Destroying the base of a pile is likely to damage every object on that pile, and perhaps knock over anyone standing on top of it.

I've also taken a look at the victory conditions again, and realized that their plan, intended to ensure their long-term survival by hiding at the top of the towers, is not a winning strategy. If it can't get at them, it's got no reason to stick around--and you need to kill it to win. As I see it, if the group all tries to hide out on the tower, the tyrannosaur leaves soon after to become the Tyrantclaw tribe's version of Shardik, with grim results.

We had a group of six merrily curb-stomp their way through this scenario a week ago. Two were unconscious and one had died by the end, but none of the others were bloodied. We'll see how they fare against Nightmare mode next time, now that I know better than to start the heavy dinosaurs on the narrow edges of the map.

 

[Matt James]

Excellent battle reports. It's great to see the senario in action with those consuming it.

 

[Taed]

Our second attempt went better, all but winning in the 6th round. We had the T-Rex down to 50 HPs with 3 PCs (barbarian, warden, ranger) left, but ran over on time, hitting 5 hours.

We didn't do that much different from the first time, but we did have a cleric this time, which helped keep the druid alive (last time, the druid died just before completing the ritual). The warden had Nature's abundance, which gave a burst 3 (7 x 7) area of cover, and the ranger gave Stalker's Mist with a burst 1 (3 x 3) of concealment, so the area around the druid was better "protected". We also stayed closer to the druid.

We had two characters die, both from being dropped into the tar from the pterodactyls. My warden had taken Torog's Lamentation of the Shackled Boon, which grants a teleport 2 on being grabbed, but the warden wasn't a target of the pterodactyls this time around.

The DM did a clever thing this time around, with the 1st round pterodactyls just flying around at 30 height (out of our range) and scoping out the area. That meant that some of the powers that we activated in the first round ended up being useless if they lasted only one round. That also meant that the later rounds were busier.

My storm warden also took the needs-to-be-errattaed Vecna's Boon of Diabolical Choice, which is a no-level 0 GP item that we decided was valid for Lair Assault. The Ability Score part of it didn't help that much because some of the warden's effects rely on Strength and some on Constitution, so the character still needed high scores in both since the Boon only affects the Attack section. So, that just allowed me to eek out 2 more HPs and 1 AC. (But for other character builds, it could be extremely useful.) But the other part of the Boon gives 2 more slide, and since most of the storm warden's powers (due to the build and the Mark of Storms) allow slide 1, that then gave the warden slide 3 on most attacks. That worked out well in that it allowed synergy with the ranger who would set up dangerous terrain and then I'd slide the monsters on top of it for further damage. In the final rounds, it also allowed sliding critters into the tar, but on something like 5 or 6 attempts at that, every one made the fall-or-prone saving throw.