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Running Commentary on Rel's 4e Campaign (Complete 8/2/10)
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<blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 4660398" data-attributes="member: 99"><p>Thanks for all the comments and readers thus far. The gang just left after our second session and I wanted to post an update while things are still fresh in my mind.</p><p></p><p>Storywise, the PC's entered the desecrated temple of Pelor and confronted the Wraith that lurked within. It was a back and forth battle for several rounds with the group dishing out damage and the Wraith regaining it (thanks to the corpse of its body lying across the altar and breathing out a smoky cloud of darkness each round to let it regenerate). The PC's finally managed to remove the sacrificial dagger from the corpse and this stopped the regeneration and they quickly dispatched the undead horror (the cleansing of the altar was also a milestone).</p><p></p><p>During the battle Mialain the Cleric did a Power Stunt where she "pulled all the light from within the room and channeled it into a single bolt which she hurled at the ghostly enemy". She missed. BUT, the bad guy was standing right in front of the doors to the inner sanctum and a concentrated burst of light unlocked them (temple of Pelor after all).</p><p></p><p>After the fight they located three doors out of the main temple area. One led to the apartments once used by the clerics, a second down into the catacombs and the third into the inner sanctum of the temple. There was a door behind these doors and it turned out to be guarded by a pair of statues. These ended up being nearly as difficult a battle as the Wraith as the pair of Clay Scout Homunculi kept more than half the party Dazed and unable to see them each round. Fortunately they stayed fairly stationary which made them relatively easier to hit.</p><p></p><p>Once finally inside they discovered a glowing book made of glass that they deciphered thanks to the Cleric's Comprehend Languages ritual. The book magically produced the names of evildoers and their crimes. The writings suggested that this magic was at one time used by the Knights of Pelor to hunt down those who committed evil acts and return them to the temple. Those who repented were merely sentenced to work in the mines (an entrance to these mines was located at the back of this chamber) while the unrepentant were smitten with the holy fires of Pelor. The final entries in the book told of the High Priest's dilemma with the coming of the Mists over whether to release the prisoners in the mines (whereupon they might do evil again) or keep them locked inside to face near certain death.</p><p></p><p>Mialain had foreseen something about a "book that isn't there" in a vision from Melora and so she decided that a book made of glass was close enough and kept it. The PC's then proceeded to explore the catacombs where they encountered a pair of bug like creatures, which got in some nasty bites but were otherwise dispatched fairly quickly. They discovered that these bugs were getting in through a narrow crack from somewhere up above when a swarm of smaller ones threatened to overwhelm them. Quick reactions by Zanne the Warlock and her Flames of Phlethegos, Power Stunted to engulf a larger part of the swarm, destroyed it in a single spell.</p><p></p><p>Searching further through the catacombs they found one of the vaults had been broken into and had a small tunnel leading out the back. Eshik the Ranger climbed quietly up the tunnel to investigate where it led. Upon reaching the top he found himself in another chamber and signaled the others to join him. But before they arrived he was struck by a dart (seemingly fashioned from some body parts of the insects they had just fought) by an unseen attacker who quickly retreated. The rest of the party made it into the room and they determined that they were in the Prison Mines of Pelor.</p><p></p><p>There we called it a night.</p><p></p><p>My observations are these:</p><p></p><p>They pretty well rock against Undead. Lots of powers that do Radiant damage.</p><p></p><p>Everybody performs pretty well in their "role" but there is a lot of straddling the lines and in ways I wouldn't expect. Zanne the Warlock does more damage than anybody in the group but surprisingly also takes the role of Defender a bit too by putting herself in danger in order to take advantage of all the Temporary Hit Points granted by her Infernal Pact. By the same token the Cleric with Divine Glow and Divine Guardian is doing a reasonable job as a substitute Controller. Their lack of Controller is also offset by the two melee types, the Paladin and Ranger, being Dragonborn and getting their breath weapon.</p><p></p><p>We got to see several house rules in play and all worked pretty well. Both the Paladin and Ranger recovered from being Wounded last session and that was handled fairly quickly and easily but it also made a big difference. This rule makes Endurance and Heal much more important than normal (which seems to me to be "not very important" as a baseline).</p><p></p><p>The Power Stunts worked seamlessly and were interesting. They are similar to Dailies however in it being kind of a bummer when they miss.</p><p></p><p>The mid-combat milestone felt like worked the way I wanted and gave a sense that the momentum of the fight really shifted heavily in the PC's favor. I liked that a lot.</p><p></p><p>A few "background skills" got worked into this session including Astavian's history as a Caravan Guard and Eshik's knowledge of stonecutting. These really supported the good roleplaying by the group as a whole.</p><p></p><p>There has been no sense of grind at all during any of the combats. Most don't seem to last more than about 5 rounds anyway and there has been little or no repitition of At Will powers, with the exception of the Ranger's Twin Strike. And that seems to be what he prefers to do most of the time anyway.</p><p></p><p>Things To Work On:</p><p></p><p>I've not done as much mixing of enemy roles in the encounter design as I probably need to but next session should remedy that to some extent.</p><p></p><p>I also have had the terrain be a factor to a minor extent in a couple fights but I feel like I need to have a more interactive combat environment so they can try a few more creative stunts. I'd like to see a bit more skill use in combat.</p><p></p><p>Final Note:</p><p></p><p>At the pace things are going I'm probably going to have them hit 2nd level after next session. I also told them that, unlike campaigns I've run in the past, I'm not going to purposefully make each successive level take longer to reach. I'm thinking that 1 level every three sessions might be a pretty good pace. We'll see how it goes.</p><p></p><p>Alright, off to bed with me and I'll answer any questions in the morning.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rel, post: 4660398, member: 99"] Thanks for all the comments and readers thus far. The gang just left after our second session and I wanted to post an update while things are still fresh in my mind. Storywise, the PC's entered the desecrated temple of Pelor and confronted the Wraith that lurked within. It was a back and forth battle for several rounds with the group dishing out damage and the Wraith regaining it (thanks to the corpse of its body lying across the altar and breathing out a smoky cloud of darkness each round to let it regenerate). The PC's finally managed to remove the sacrificial dagger from the corpse and this stopped the regeneration and they quickly dispatched the undead horror (the cleansing of the altar was also a milestone). During the battle Mialain the Cleric did a Power Stunt where she "pulled all the light from within the room and channeled it into a single bolt which she hurled at the ghostly enemy". She missed. BUT, the bad guy was standing right in front of the doors to the inner sanctum and a concentrated burst of light unlocked them (temple of Pelor after all). After the fight they located three doors out of the main temple area. One led to the apartments once used by the clerics, a second down into the catacombs and the third into the inner sanctum of the temple. There was a door behind these doors and it turned out to be guarded by a pair of statues. These ended up being nearly as difficult a battle as the Wraith as the pair of Clay Scout Homunculi kept more than half the party Dazed and unable to see them each round. Fortunately they stayed fairly stationary which made them relatively easier to hit. Once finally inside they discovered a glowing book made of glass that they deciphered thanks to the Cleric's Comprehend Languages ritual. The book magically produced the names of evildoers and their crimes. The writings suggested that this magic was at one time used by the Knights of Pelor to hunt down those who committed evil acts and return them to the temple. Those who repented were merely sentenced to work in the mines (an entrance to these mines was located at the back of this chamber) while the unrepentant were smitten with the holy fires of Pelor. The final entries in the book told of the High Priest's dilemma with the coming of the Mists over whether to release the prisoners in the mines (whereupon they might do evil again) or keep them locked inside to face near certain death. Mialain had foreseen something about a "book that isn't there" in a vision from Melora and so she decided that a book made of glass was close enough and kept it. The PC's then proceeded to explore the catacombs where they encountered a pair of bug like creatures, which got in some nasty bites but were otherwise dispatched fairly quickly. They discovered that these bugs were getting in through a narrow crack from somewhere up above when a swarm of smaller ones threatened to overwhelm them. Quick reactions by Zanne the Warlock and her Flames of Phlethegos, Power Stunted to engulf a larger part of the swarm, destroyed it in a single spell. Searching further through the catacombs they found one of the vaults had been broken into and had a small tunnel leading out the back. Eshik the Ranger climbed quietly up the tunnel to investigate where it led. Upon reaching the top he found himself in another chamber and signaled the others to join him. But before they arrived he was struck by a dart (seemingly fashioned from some body parts of the insects they had just fought) by an unseen attacker who quickly retreated. The rest of the party made it into the room and they determined that they were in the Prison Mines of Pelor. There we called it a night. My observations are these: They pretty well rock against Undead. Lots of powers that do Radiant damage. Everybody performs pretty well in their "role" but there is a lot of straddling the lines and in ways I wouldn't expect. Zanne the Warlock does more damage than anybody in the group but surprisingly also takes the role of Defender a bit too by putting herself in danger in order to take advantage of all the Temporary Hit Points granted by her Infernal Pact. By the same token the Cleric with Divine Glow and Divine Guardian is doing a reasonable job as a substitute Controller. Their lack of Controller is also offset by the two melee types, the Paladin and Ranger, being Dragonborn and getting their breath weapon. We got to see several house rules in play and all worked pretty well. Both the Paladin and Ranger recovered from being Wounded last session and that was handled fairly quickly and easily but it also made a big difference. This rule makes Endurance and Heal much more important than normal (which seems to me to be "not very important" as a baseline). The Power Stunts worked seamlessly and were interesting. They are similar to Dailies however in it being kind of a bummer when they miss. The mid-combat milestone felt like worked the way I wanted and gave a sense that the momentum of the fight really shifted heavily in the PC's favor. I liked that a lot. A few "background skills" got worked into this session including Astavian's history as a Caravan Guard and Eshik's knowledge of stonecutting. These really supported the good roleplaying by the group as a whole. There has been no sense of grind at all during any of the combats. Most don't seem to last more than about 5 rounds anyway and there has been little or no repitition of At Will powers, with the exception of the Ranger's Twin Strike. And that seems to be what he prefers to do most of the time anyway. Things To Work On: I've not done as much mixing of enemy roles in the encounter design as I probably need to but next session should remedy that to some extent. I also have had the terrain be a factor to a minor extent in a couple fights but I feel like I need to have a more interactive combat environment so they can try a few more creative stunts. I'd like to see a bit more skill use in combat. Final Note: At the pace things are going I'm probably going to have them hit 2nd level after next session. I also told them that, unlike campaigns I've run in the past, I'm not going to purposefully make each successive level take longer to reach. I'm thinking that 1 level every three sessions might be a pretty good pace. We'll see how it goes. Alright, off to bed with me and I'll answer any questions in the morning. [/QUOTE]
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