Sagiro's Story Hour: The FINAL Adventures of Abernathy's Company (FINISHED 7/3/14)

[Innocent Bystander]

Boy do I need to go through the pdfs for a refresher. Good thing I've got two weeks of holidays coming up.

I (now) recall the dragon at Verdeshane, and the one in the past. The dracolich is hard to forget, and I also remember the skeletal dragon, they were the reason I wrote '(live) dragon' I have no recollection of the baby white though. Wow, was that a long time ago.

 

[Joshua Randall]

“I bet he’s not immune to ass-kicking damage,” says Dranko.

*snicker*

Our group calls it 'sword to the face damage', but the point remains. (Heh, 'point'... *groan*)

We've fought two other (smaller) dragons; one at Verdshane, one ridden by the emperor's raksasha servant back in the past. None this old or puissant.

Puissant is a great, Gygaxian word.

 

[Everett]

I'd always known that Morningstar (and by extension the rest of the party) was going to be summoned back to kill a Big Bad Dragon. Now, at the very moment that I first mentioned "The Slayer" and "The Throggun's ascension," I didn't know exactly what was going to be involved. (I remember having the idea at the time that the big dragon skeleton was going to turn out to be the one they'd fight, but I dropped that idea once the party fought the dracolich in the ravines of Il-Drosh.)

To address Piratecat's question more directly: it was very early on that I decided that it would be a straight, no-moral-quandary battle royale with a dragon. And what led me to that decision was the party's collective certainty that there would be a moral quandary; as I'm sure you surmised, I enjoyed subverting player expectations from time to time.

The battle that marks Morningstar as "The Slayer" would be unsatisfying somehow if they had to slog through moral quandaries to get to it, given that Morningstar almost never shares the party's moral uncertainties.

 

[Siuis]

According to my notes:

Honor of Nemmin is a +6 keen, good-aligned shortsword, which grants the wielder +10' to movement. Also, 1/day Ernie can invoke Nemmin's Glory, which lasts for the remainder of the encounter:

- +5 to BAB
- +10 Sacred Bonus to STR
- + 4 Sacred Bonus to AC
- Anyone you damage in this form gets a -4 to hit penalty if they make a melee attack against anyone else.

Invoking Nemmin's Glory uses up an uncast 9th-level cleric spell, and while under its effects, Ernie cannot cast spells or use spell-completion items.

Forgive my inherent munchkinism, but my first thought is "in what situation is +10 attack, +5 (7?) damage and marking an enemy worth losing spellcasting for the test of a battle?"

And then I thought about it. As epic games go, yours is definitely epic in scope, but as far as epic mechanics go, your game seems downright manageable.

Which sounds like an insult because of the way I wrote that, but it's definitely not.

That's a fascinating level of trust, that I think I will actively work to engender that. A character need only meet about 75% of their optimized potential, because for 99% of the game that will be more than sufficient. I think that's a sign of great DMing, that your players are willing not to twink out, but rust in your discretion.

Ell's Will is a +6 morningstar with the ghost touch ability. It allows Morningstar to quicken one healing spell per day of up to 8th level. In addition, against creatures with spell resistance, it has a +5 unnamed bonus to hit, and does bonus damage per hit equal to the spell resistance of the target. (No, that's not a typo. That's some serious bonus damage!)

This is a fabulous weapon and I am going to have to give it to an NPC sometime soon, to deal with all the rampant SR 60+ we've got going.

Amazing how whatever Sagiro finds time to write ends in a cliffhanger - or just leaves you craving more in general!

I find that all good writing tends to do this.

Also, there's an RBDM quota. He's got to keep it up, you know

 

[oliverhenshaw]

+5 BAB means an extra iterative attack too, doesn't it?

 

[Enkhidu]

+5 BAB means an extra iterative attack too, doesn't it?

I was thinking more along the lines of power attack being the silver lining, but yeah - extra iterative.

 

[Everett]

Forgive my inherent munchkinism, but my first thought is "in what situation is +10 attack, +5 (7?) damage and marking an enemy worth losing spellcasting for the test of a battle?"

And then I thought about it. As epic games go, yours is definitely epic in scope, but as far as epic mechanics go, your game seems downright manageable.

Which sounds like an insult because of the way I wrote that, but it's definitely not.

That's a fascinating level of trust, that I think I will actively work to engender that. A character need only meet about 75% of their optimized potential, because for 99% of the game that will be more than sufficient. I think that's a sign of great DMing, that your players are willing not to twink out, but rust in your discretion.

Seems pretty clear that Ernie would invoke the weapon's Glory only in a situation that calls for him to meet an enemy head to head, with the rest of the party providing backup while Ernie essentially fights as a Paladin would.

 

[StevenAC]

Well, that puts things in a somewhat different light!

Ah, that awkward moment when you realise the big ominous half-dragon ogre is actually on your side... Loved this unexpected switch.

For those who've downloaded the Collected Story Hour, I've tidied up the ending of the latest chapter (27) now that the Company's adventure in Naslund is over. Also, as a byproduct of my re-reading the entire story over the last few months, I've found and fixed a few dozen minor typos which had previously gone unnoticed.

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to you and all your players, Sagiro. I hope the veterans of the Company are enjoying their first Christmas in retirement -- and I'm looking forward to seeing the conclusion of this epic campaign unfold. Happy 2012!

 

[Everett]

For those who've downloaded the Collected Story Hour, I've tidied up the ending of the latest chapter (27) now that the Company's adventure in Naslund is over. Also, as a byproduct of my re-reading the entire story over the last few months, I've found and fixed a few dozen minor typos which had previously gone unnoticed.

Your Collected Story Hour is always an excellent read, and it's kind of fascinating to look back at years upon years of interspersed comments from myself and the others who follow Sagiro's story and be able to see it all as one long-running conversation, which I've been part of for over 6 years. Thanks, Steven.

 

[Everett]

*bump*