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<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 5854579" data-attributes="member: 3586"><p>I ran the first session today. Five players attended - one more than I was expecting, as the brother of one of my invitees also wanted to play. I was happy to accommodate him. Character generation took about an hour longer than I'd expected - two-and-a-half hours instead of one-and-a-half, mainly due to the unfamiliarity of some of the players with the system, as they hadn't played any 3E-version of D&D before, and also due to a lack of rulebooks. (One hardcopy, one ipad PDF, and one laptop PDF).</p><p></p><p>Roleplaying details in the character generation were pretty light, likewise roleplaying was at a minimum during play. I'll see if I can tease out more RP-moments as the game progresses.</p><p></p><p>The characters they eventually created were as follows:</p><p></p><p>Greg - Reven Darklite - CG human ranger</p><p>Michael - Alanna Oltar - CG tiefling rogue</p><p>Lee - Blezir Direlite - N elf cleric of Pharasma</p><p>Tim - Serena Valerius - CG half-elf sorcerer (celestial)</p><p>Dave - Kui - LN halfling monk</p><p></p><p>We did a lot of fiddling with Tim's spells as the game progressed; originally he had Summon Monster I, but he shortly discovered how weak that was for a first-level Sorcerer, and we swapped it out for Magic Missile; his other spell-choice was (on my suggestion) changed to Sleep.</p><p></p><p>I'm extremely skeptical about the effectiveness Dave's monk (Str 10) will have in the campaign: I've never found monks that great in 3E, and this one seems to be very ineffective at attacking in any case.</p><p></p><p>Greg, who had most recently played a 4E campaign with me to level 30, was rather struck (as I was) by the problems the characters had hitting and dealing damage in the combats. The group is a very high-Dex, low-Str party, with the highest Dex actually belonging to Lee's cleric! However, bow-fire is very tricky without Precise Shot in PF, especially in the cramped sewer tunnels of the game.</p><p></p><p>As I mentioned in my previous post, we began <em>in media res</em>, which was just what the players needed after a lot of character generation: the party, rushing through the sewers, were attacked by two 3-man patrols of Hellknight armigers, part of the local guard. I described how their guide through the sewers - Janiven - was knocked unconscious by the gauntleted fist of one of the guards, and then we rolled for initiative and the fight was on.</p><p></p><p>Initially, four guards attacked the group, whilst two more approached from behind (delayed a round - the pursuers). The guards were pretty tough as written - AC 16 and 9 hp each - which, with most of the group dealing a "massive" 1d8 damage, meant the combat was a fairly frustrating affair for the players, especially as Greg kept rolling 1s on his damage dice.</p><p></p><p>Tim cast two major spells during the battle; one was Summon Monster I (Viper), which gave us a lot of trouble trying to find the viper stats in the bestiary, for some reason. It also demonstrated what a poor spell it was at present - we swapped it out for Magic Missile immediately thereafter. Tim's more effective spell was sleep, which was only able to affect two of the guards due to their positioning. </p><p></p><p>Michael is *really* inexperienced with the D&D rules, but has played WoW, so was wanting to go into 'stealth mode' and similar tricks. I was kept on my toes trying to explain the differences in systems (you can't hide if they can see you!), whilst also absorbing the new rules. He did successfully tumble behind one of the guards - although it took his entire time, thanks to the sewer water creating a lot of difficult squares on the map.</p><p></p><p>Greg protected Tim from the rearward guards, and Tim demonstrated that his celestial lineage could heal... Mick, but not the more damaged Dave and Lee. Lee managed to throw an icicle into one of the guards, but missed with another, as he gave one of his domain powers a try.</p><p></p><p>One of the guards fled when reduced to 1 hp, and the last remaining one also fled (with Greg futilely attempting to strike it in an opportunity attack). The battle was theirs!</p><p></p><p>We then jumped back to the initial recruiting of the party by Janiven, which I hoped would allow some roleplaying, but ended up being mostly an expository monologue from myself. Oh well.</p><p></p><p>Back into the sewers! And loot - some potions of healing and some swords and stuff. Janiven recovered, and led the group to the way out, only there were some (about eight) sewer goblins in the way. Another battle ensued, which once more demonstrated (a) how bad bows are in cramped quarters, especially with little Precise Shot (Greg has it), and (b) how horrible the party is in melee.</p><p></p><p>Tim used Sleep to send two goblins into "imminent death" mode, the party killed two more, and the remaining goblins fled shortly thereafter. </p><p></p><p>From here, the group entered the deserted chapel that was the Rebel Base, and as it was now five o'clock, we ended the session there after four hours. We should get a lot more done next session.</p><p></p><p>The players seemed to enjoy themselves, and we'll pick it up again next week.</p><p></p><p>Cheers!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 5854579, member: 3586"] I ran the first session today. Five players attended - one more than I was expecting, as the brother of one of my invitees also wanted to play. I was happy to accommodate him. Character generation took about an hour longer than I'd expected - two-and-a-half hours instead of one-and-a-half, mainly due to the unfamiliarity of some of the players with the system, as they hadn't played any 3E-version of D&D before, and also due to a lack of rulebooks. (One hardcopy, one ipad PDF, and one laptop PDF). Roleplaying details in the character generation were pretty light, likewise roleplaying was at a minimum during play. I'll see if I can tease out more RP-moments as the game progresses. The characters they eventually created were as follows: Greg - Reven Darklite - CG human ranger Michael - Alanna Oltar - CG tiefling rogue Lee - Blezir Direlite - N elf cleric of Pharasma Tim - Serena Valerius - CG half-elf sorcerer (celestial) Dave - Kui - LN halfling monk We did a lot of fiddling with Tim's spells as the game progressed; originally he had Summon Monster I, but he shortly discovered how weak that was for a first-level Sorcerer, and we swapped it out for Magic Missile; his other spell-choice was (on my suggestion) changed to Sleep. I'm extremely skeptical about the effectiveness Dave's monk (Str 10) will have in the campaign: I've never found monks that great in 3E, and this one seems to be very ineffective at attacking in any case. Greg, who had most recently played a 4E campaign with me to level 30, was rather struck (as I was) by the problems the characters had hitting and dealing damage in the combats. The group is a very high-Dex, low-Str party, with the highest Dex actually belonging to Lee's cleric! However, bow-fire is very tricky without Precise Shot in PF, especially in the cramped sewer tunnels of the game. As I mentioned in my previous post, we began [i]in media res[/i], which was just what the players needed after a lot of character generation: the party, rushing through the sewers, were attacked by two 3-man patrols of Hellknight armigers, part of the local guard. I described how their guide through the sewers - Janiven - was knocked unconscious by the gauntleted fist of one of the guards, and then we rolled for initiative and the fight was on. Initially, four guards attacked the group, whilst two more approached from behind (delayed a round - the pursuers). The guards were pretty tough as written - AC 16 and 9 hp each - which, with most of the group dealing a "massive" 1d8 damage, meant the combat was a fairly frustrating affair for the players, especially as Greg kept rolling 1s on his damage dice. Tim cast two major spells during the battle; one was Summon Monster I (Viper), which gave us a lot of trouble trying to find the viper stats in the bestiary, for some reason. It also demonstrated what a poor spell it was at present - we swapped it out for Magic Missile immediately thereafter. Tim's more effective spell was sleep, which was only able to affect two of the guards due to their positioning. Michael is *really* inexperienced with the D&D rules, but has played WoW, so was wanting to go into 'stealth mode' and similar tricks. I was kept on my toes trying to explain the differences in systems (you can't hide if they can see you!), whilst also absorbing the new rules. He did successfully tumble behind one of the guards - although it took his entire time, thanks to the sewer water creating a lot of difficult squares on the map. Greg protected Tim from the rearward guards, and Tim demonstrated that his celestial lineage could heal... Mick, but not the more damaged Dave and Lee. Lee managed to throw an icicle into one of the guards, but missed with another, as he gave one of his domain powers a try. One of the guards fled when reduced to 1 hp, and the last remaining one also fled (with Greg futilely attempting to strike it in an opportunity attack). The battle was theirs! We then jumped back to the initial recruiting of the party by Janiven, which I hoped would allow some roleplaying, but ended up being mostly an expository monologue from myself. Oh well. Back into the sewers! And loot - some potions of healing and some swords and stuff. Janiven recovered, and led the group to the way out, only there were some (about eight) sewer goblins in the way. Another battle ensued, which once more demonstrated (a) how bad bows are in cramped quarters, especially with little Precise Shot (Greg has it), and (b) how horrible the party is in melee. Tim used Sleep to send two goblins into "imminent death" mode, the party killed two more, and the remaining goblins fled shortly thereafter. From here, the group entered the deserted chapel that was the Rebel Base, and as it was now five o'clock, we ended the session there after four hours. We should get a lot more done next session. The players seemed to enjoy themselves, and we'll pick it up again next week. Cheers! [/QUOTE]
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