D&D 4E Running Commentary on Rel's 4e Campaign (Complete 8/2/10)

[Rel]

So, what's the picture you found online? You still have a link?

Yeah here is the online link:

Google Image Result for http://monopader.mo.funpic.de/upload_files/images/merchandise/chakram/two_piece_chakram_apart.jpg

It's down at the bottom, the two piece chakram. That's what the daggers were that the Black Moon warrior guys were using. They never did have a chance to snap them together and throw them though.

 

[TerraDave]

mmm, flavourful.

I was going to say you could have also used nature and endurance in the skill challenge...and you did, at least one of them.

 

[Rel]

mmm, flavourful.

I was going to say you could have also used nature and endurance in the skill challenge...and you did, at least one of them.

Actually we did see endurance used a couple times. I think I failed to mention it but it was done in a sort of "I don't swim worth a crap so I'm going to just hold my breath and hope the current carries me to the surface soon." way.

 

[Rel]

Oh Hobo was asking me about this a while back but I finally settled on how I handle the way the Mist works:

Every hour you are exposed to it, it makes an attack vs. your Fort Defense. The + To Hit on this is based on the intensity of the Mist.

If it "hits" you then you make a Saving Throw or lose 1 point of Constitution.

If your Constituation is below half its normal value then you also make a second Saving Throw. If you fail that then you gain some kind of mutation.

The exact nature of these mutations are determined by me but I've got my WFRP books handy for that kind of thing. It is possible to gain some mutations that actually help you (like Mist Resistance) but ALL of them come with aspects that change your appearance and not for the better.

 

[Piratecat]

Reading with interest.

 

[catsclaw227]

Every hour you are exposed to it, it makes an attack vs. your Fort Defense. The + To Hit on this is based on the intensity of the Mist.

If it "hits" you then you make a Saving Throw or lose 1 point of Constitution.

If your Constituation is below half its normal value then you also make a second Saving Throw. If you fail that then you gain some kind of mutation.

This is very interesting... But doesn't it go against the 4e meme of not affecting ability scores?

I would also love to see your house rules in a condensed format, instead of needing to mine the "How I fixed 4e" thread. I am not sure what is in the final set of rules and what isn't. I liked your ideas and I am curious what you finally ended up using and what is and isn't working.

 

[Talltree]

I really enjoyed the start of this campaign. I even enjoyed the relatively drawn-out messing about at the beginning because we were RP-ing the cautiousness of a thrown-together bunch of strangers.

I really enjoyed the first night, too. This may have something to do with the fact that I have not been in the gaming group since before my daughter was born (over 7 1/2 years ago!), and I just enjoyed playing period.

This is actually not my very first experience with 4E as we have played a few sessions with the aforementioned 7 year old, but that didn't have the flavor that this new campaign has.

I was pleasantly surprised that my character was as effective as she was. I remember back to other first level characters that I've played that weren't terribly useful. I don't think I'm going to change anything yet.

I really liked my daily power of the Divine Guardian. He was very effective against minions and killed/wounded at least 4-5 of the bad guys. I just need to think of a cool name for him... My daughter says "Glowy" but I'm not sure that's very respectful.

Anyways, I think fun was had by all! can't wait to see how it unfolds.

For the record, I was never more than 7 HPs down in any of the combats (of course I AM the cleric, but I used very little healing on myself - only 1 healing surge as I remember) . Rel made it seem like we were very bad off at the end of the falling in the river episode.

 

[Rel]

This is very interesting... But doesn't it go against the 4e meme of not affecting ability scores?

It might but I don't care much. Mostly because this is more of a plot device rather than an effect that expect to come up all that often in the game. There are multiple ways to avoid the effects of the Mist (not the least of which is to stay out of it entirely). Unless the party meets two conditions:

They must be in the Mist for an extended period of time.

and

They have no ritual ingredients at all.

Then they are almost never going to suffer these effects. And if they do then the book keeping is likely to be fairly short in duration before they either escape the Mist or are so mutated that I relegate them to NPC status.

I would also love to see your house rules in a condensed format, instead of needing to mine the "How I fixed 4e" thread. I am not sure what is in the final set of rules and what isn't. I liked your ideas and I am curious what you finally ended up using and what is and isn't working.

I'll try and get that together. I wrote a document that summarizes some things for the players and that would be a good starting point. I'll try and have something up on Monday.

 

[TarionzCousin]

For the record, I was never more than 7 HPs down in any of the combats (of course I AM the cleric, but I used very little healing on myself - only 1 healing surge as I remember) . Rel made it seem like we were very bad off at the end of the falling in the river episode.

Never admit to your DM that his "Near-Total TPK" was anything short of miraculous! Otherwise he'll just make the encounters more difficult.

P.S. Make the other players say "All praise to Melora" or something like that before you will heal them. DM's love that. It's called being "in character."

 

[Hypersmurf]

It's down at the bottom, the two piece chakram.

Ah, memories

-Hyp.