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<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 6039269" data-attributes="member: 3586"><p>The twins (Michael and Tim) weren’t able to make this week’s session, which saw no kingdom-building at all. Instead, we launched headlong into the fourth adventure in the series, Blood for Blood. </p><p></p><p>The game began with the attack on Tatzlford of a group of 25 mercenaries, 10 barbarians and six trolls. It is (ahem) a poorly-written encounter, as any party worth their salt would be able to deal with the mercenary forces in a couple of rounds by the use of fireball and other area effect spells. Instead, we got to preview the mass combat rules for Pathfinder and the group got to make some defensive plans - Dave’s wizard used fabricate to set up extra defense, snipers were placed in trees and on roofs, and barricades were set up. </p><p></p><p>Some good rolling from the players and some poor rolling from the mercenaries gave the party a slight advantage as we moved to a fight against six advanced trolls.</p><p></p><p>Apparently, in Paizo lands it’s fine to just say “trolls have a template” without applying the template to their stats. It’s laziness that I find pathetically useless. After flipping through the Bestiary a bit, I went with the Quick Fix advanced template and the fight was on. And then over. Greg’s paladin charged into the middle of the trolls, and the beasts couldn’t hit him. Well, they could on natural 20s, but not enough to make a difference. With fireballs being cast to hit the 15’ tall trolls and not Greg, the fight’s end was never in doubt.</p><p></p><p>The commander of the attack had escaped in the commotion (the group actually asked me what happened to him some time after it ended and they were celebrating, but it was a bit too late to capture him), and they settled down with the young woman who had brought them the warning; she came from the neighbouring “kingdom” of Fort Drelev. Well, it’s a city-state. Well, a town. It’s ruler was in trouble - not that he was a nice sort to begin with - and he had made alliances with neighbouring forces and was trying to annex the kingdom of the players.</p><p></p><p>Just as a note: Fort Drelev: 1 hex. Wyvern’s Demense: 70 hexes. How is this (a) a good plan and (b) even possible under the rules for kingdom-building? Well, it isn’t, but you’ve got to live with things like that in this series; the disconnect between “rules for the game” and “story” are big in Kingmaker.</p><p></p><p>An insult (and ‘danger’) like this couldn’t be ignored! So, the group rode around the swamp that separated their lands from Fort Drelev, found the secret passage into the keep, and killed Lord Drelev. Easy, huh?</p><p></p><p>Admittedly, it was a little more involved. They disguised themselves as merchants as they came into the town, and talked a little to the townsfolk (who were being oppressed) before meeting their contact in the town, the local brothel madam, who they got on very well with. She let them know about a secret passage into the fortress, and the next evening they made their way inside.</p><p></p><p>Two black puddings in the first chamber blocked their way, and shortly they became three, no four, no five, no six! puddings due to some rapid-shot action by Lee’s ranger. Oops! But the puddings couldn’t hit Greg, so it didn’t matter much. The two wizards (Talia and Dave) took them down pretty easily.</p><p></p><p>Incidentally, Greg’s paladin has an armour class of 30 in this adventure. The trolls had a +10 to hit, the black puddings have a +8 to hit. I’ve seen this happen before: it’s very easy to stack AC beyond what lower-CR monsters can hit.</p><p></p><p>It’s actually quite interesting what Paizo have done with the fortress here: it’s very similar to the ‘tactical’ format that Wizards used for most of 4e: the rooms of the fortress are described briefly, with the bigger encounters in a separate section later. The encounters aren’t those two-page space-wasters of 4E though. </p><p></p><p>Lots of secret doors awaited the party, but Lee’s ranger was with them so their Perception checks were successful. They began by finding their informant’s father, one-time servant of Lord Drelev, and now tainted prisoner. They gave him his arms and armour back, and set him to guard the way out whilst the group continued their exploration. Talia was able to open most of the locked doors; the one remaining door fell to Dave’s “knock” spell, and the treasury was gained!</p><p></p><p>Up above, a swift fight against two guards raised no alarms, and then they discovered Lord Drelev himself, along with eight guards, in his throne room. Greg charged in, and a “slow” spell from Dave ensured that the battle was no contest at all. Drelev actually had a good chance of hitting Greg, and his additional sneak attack damage meant that Greg’s paladin took a couple of nasty hits, but with “smite evil” online, Greg didn’t take long to kill the Baron.</p><p></p><p>From there, they discovered the leader of the attack on Tatzlford (he surrendered), the Baron’s wife (she surrendered) - and shortly thereafter the Baron’s wife escape, spirited away by her brother, who was a wizard and still at large. He might return for revenge at a later date - or possibly not. He seems smart enough not to!</p><p></p><p>A few hill giants in the courtyard proved troublesome, but after Greg slew a few of them, the rest became very co-operative. </p><p></p><p>With the Baron dealt with, the group got the town favourable to their cause, and planned their next expedition: into the hills to rescue a sister and deal with the barbarians behind much of the recent trouble.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 6039269, member: 3586"] The twins (Michael and Tim) weren’t able to make this week’s session, which saw no kingdom-building at all. Instead, we launched headlong into the fourth adventure in the series, Blood for Blood. The game began with the attack on Tatzlford of a group of 25 mercenaries, 10 barbarians and six trolls. It is (ahem) a poorly-written encounter, as any party worth their salt would be able to deal with the mercenary forces in a couple of rounds by the use of fireball and other area effect spells. Instead, we got to preview the mass combat rules for Pathfinder and the group got to make some defensive plans - Dave’s wizard used fabricate to set up extra defense, snipers were placed in trees and on roofs, and barricades were set up. Some good rolling from the players and some poor rolling from the mercenaries gave the party a slight advantage as we moved to a fight against six advanced trolls. Apparently, in Paizo lands it’s fine to just say “trolls have a template” without applying the template to their stats. It’s laziness that I find pathetically useless. After flipping through the Bestiary a bit, I went with the Quick Fix advanced template and the fight was on. And then over. Greg’s paladin charged into the middle of the trolls, and the beasts couldn’t hit him. Well, they could on natural 20s, but not enough to make a difference. With fireballs being cast to hit the 15’ tall trolls and not Greg, the fight’s end was never in doubt. The commander of the attack had escaped in the commotion (the group actually asked me what happened to him some time after it ended and they were celebrating, but it was a bit too late to capture him), and they settled down with the young woman who had brought them the warning; she came from the neighbouring “kingdom” of Fort Drelev. Well, it’s a city-state. Well, a town. It’s ruler was in trouble - not that he was a nice sort to begin with - and he had made alliances with neighbouring forces and was trying to annex the kingdom of the players. Just as a note: Fort Drelev: 1 hex. Wyvern’s Demense: 70 hexes. How is this (a) a good plan and (b) even possible under the rules for kingdom-building? Well, it isn’t, but you’ve got to live with things like that in this series; the disconnect between “rules for the game” and “story” are big in Kingmaker. An insult (and ‘danger’) like this couldn’t be ignored! So, the group rode around the swamp that separated their lands from Fort Drelev, found the secret passage into the keep, and killed Lord Drelev. Easy, huh? Admittedly, it was a little more involved. They disguised themselves as merchants as they came into the town, and talked a little to the townsfolk (who were being oppressed) before meeting their contact in the town, the local brothel madam, who they got on very well with. She let them know about a secret passage into the fortress, and the next evening they made their way inside. Two black puddings in the first chamber blocked their way, and shortly they became three, no four, no five, no six! puddings due to some rapid-shot action by Lee’s ranger. Oops! But the puddings couldn’t hit Greg, so it didn’t matter much. The two wizards (Talia and Dave) took them down pretty easily. Incidentally, Greg’s paladin has an armour class of 30 in this adventure. The trolls had a +10 to hit, the black puddings have a +8 to hit. I’ve seen this happen before: it’s very easy to stack AC beyond what lower-CR monsters can hit. It’s actually quite interesting what Paizo have done with the fortress here: it’s very similar to the ‘tactical’ format that Wizards used for most of 4e: the rooms of the fortress are described briefly, with the bigger encounters in a separate section later. The encounters aren’t those two-page space-wasters of 4E though. Lots of secret doors awaited the party, but Lee’s ranger was with them so their Perception checks were successful. They began by finding their informant’s father, one-time servant of Lord Drelev, and now tainted prisoner. They gave him his arms and armour back, and set him to guard the way out whilst the group continued their exploration. Talia was able to open most of the locked doors; the one remaining door fell to Dave’s “knock” spell, and the treasury was gained! Up above, a swift fight against two guards raised no alarms, and then they discovered Lord Drelev himself, along with eight guards, in his throne room. Greg charged in, and a “slow” spell from Dave ensured that the battle was no contest at all. Drelev actually had a good chance of hitting Greg, and his additional sneak attack damage meant that Greg’s paladin took a couple of nasty hits, but with “smite evil” online, Greg didn’t take long to kill the Baron. From there, they discovered the leader of the attack on Tatzlford (he surrendered), the Baron’s wife (she surrendered) - and shortly thereafter the Baron’s wife escape, spirited away by her brother, who was a wizard and still at large. He might return for revenge at a later date - or possibly not. He seems smart enough not to! A few hill giants in the courtyard proved troublesome, but after Greg slew a few of them, the rest became very co-operative. With the Baron dealt with, the group got the town favourable to their cause, and planned their next expedition: into the hills to rescue a sister and deal with the barbarians behind much of the recent trouble. [/QUOTE]
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