Well, I think I'm done with the group thus far. Last night was a disaster, which is a shame because it started out pretty fun.
We resumed our adventure with a guest player. The rogue was away, so we had another player playing a witch. It appeared that the darkness of the Shadowfell was supernaturally dark, dampening all light in the area. We couldn't stand around doing nothing, so I decided to intimidate the dwarven travelers into coming with us. I failed. The bard also decided to intimidate them--though I don't know why he didn't use his Diplomacy power to sweet-talk them with a +5 bonus, but whatever--and he succeeeded. So we set out into the night, seeking out the local constable. I had the wizard cast light on my warhammer to guide us through the darkness, and we quickly came upon the conductor. Err, constable.
He gave us choo--excuse me, two--tracks choices to pick from: locating a murderous hobbit or clearing out the armory. A true dwarf values worked steel, so that was my decision, and the party agreed the armory would be the best choice. We approached, and we saw what appeared to be guards. There were shifting shadows on the roof. I suggested we light things up, broke open a sunrod, and hurled it onto the roof. Despite my decent roll, I have low Dexterity, so I didn't throw so well. One of the other players decided to help me. He initially was going to boost me up, but then it somehow turned into a dwarf toss. I went along with it, and he rolled well enough that Binwin Bronzebottom flew a good forty feet, hit the side of the armory, and fell on his face. On the plus side, we could see everything, which included more living shadows and giant spiders.
Begin combat. Immediately, one of the spiders descends on me, and I end up poisoned because I guess my AC is lol tier. Then a shadow attacks, and because my dwarf has all his points in Strength (lol 20, is that even possible?), he takes damage and ongoing necrotic damage. At this point, I'm knocked to -2. Nobody bothers to heal me because I dunno. Next round, I take 9 damage from the ongoing necrotic/poison. I save against the poison, fail to save against the necrotic, and have an average death save. I'm at -11, which means I'm two HP from death. I explain to the group that I'm dying and if someone doesn't heal me this round, I'm going to die.
Like all healers, the ardent's healing has a range of five. I point out to her that she can move two squares and heal me. She decides against this because she might get hit with an attack of opportunity, and "a dying teammate doesn't really matter" compared to that. So I die the next round.
I spend the next 45 to 60 minutes playing with my phone. The DM resurrects me and says I have vampirism. Another player dies and the ardent doesn't heal him, either. The Essentials bard has really bad healing (since it requires an action on behalf of the injured to use), and the bard doesn't really understand how his character works, so whatever.
At that point, the encounter was over, and I'm about done with the group. The DM seems nice enough and runs a decent game, but the players don't really understand what they're doing and/or aren't interested in teamplay. Oh, I think we found a magic greatsword, but I'm a dwarf, so I didn't want to use a sword instead of my hammer.
Wow, given how team-based 4e is, you'd think even the most naive player wouldn't make that calculation. Getting you back in the fight to defend her is worth pretty much any sacrifice. Without the defender, the party gets steamrolled.
