JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Alright, so another session tonight. All four players made it (plus me, of course), and we played for about 8 hours! Play report:
[sblock]I began by privately giving everyone a minor quest for this session. The Monk and the Fighter has the same quest: "connect with other followers of Kord." The Warpriest had "keep the party safe from the fallout in the city", while the Wizard had "help another player character achieve a short term goal."
So, the players started off talking about what to do after dealing with The Blades at the end of the last session. They were pretty sure they wanted to skip town before their actions (you know, killing people) drew unwanted attention to them. So, they decided to stealthily leave the town. The gnome Monk scouted ahead off of the ship, noted that it was still foggy and nobody had seemed to notice yet, and they started to walk out. However, I told them that black fire appeared on the docks, and a large-sized fiery devil came out, along with a tiefling in robes (the Warpriest and Wizard identified the arcane runes on the tiefling's dagger as Warlock markings). The black fire then disappeared.
The tiefling told them that she was only there to deal with the Monk, and that the others were free to go. She even told them to go look into Bazzalth, since they would be interested in what they found. They asked why, and she offered to tell them more if they agreed to leave the Monk. They one-by-one said that they weren't leaving her, so the tiefling smiled and shrugged, and we rolled initiative.
It was an interesting fight. The large devil was a level 3 standard brute (vs. the level 2 party), and the tiefling was a level 4 elite artillery with Warlock-themed powers (and the tiefling racial to damage someone back if they damaged her). The tiefling kept conjuring blackflames (those who start their turn in the flames or move through it take damage), and even moved the flames a few times (as a move action). Since the party started the fights on the docks, their exit was quickly cut off, and it was hard for them to get past the brute (which had reach out to two squares).
The party was taking a beating early on, and the Monk went down. The Warpriest brought her back up, pushed her into the water off the dock, and yelled for everyone to run before jumping into the water himself. The Fighter jumped in next, but the Wizard got dropped before she got a chance to jump. The Warpriest brought her back to consciousness, but the brute fire devil grabbed her, preventing her from running. This caused the Fighter to attempt to break a support beam (he failed an Athletics check), but the Monk used an encounter power to fly over and then broke it (natural 20 on her untrained Athletics!). The devil brute and the Wizard were dumped into the water, and the brute failed a saving throw and let the Wizard go during the tumble. The Fighter then dropped the brute, and now that things were turning around, the Warpriest marked the tiefling Warlock (mark of the Raven Queen), and teleported to her (daily power).
They fought with her, but it took a bit. She could teleport to other sections of blackflame (recharge power), and was doing her best to avoid them, but they eventually wore her down (the Fighter-Knight is good at pinning bad guys down). The Monk dropped again, but a healing potion from the Wizard brought her back up, and a shuriken from the Monk took the tiefling down, ending the combat (the blackflame disappeared now as well). Unfortunately for the party, there was nothing to loot, and they were badly beat up now (0-3 surges left).
More blackflame appeared, and a man in full plate armor walked out, with a sword at his side. The party could sense that he was very powerful, and the Warpriest noticed that he was likely undead (with a Religion check). He told the Monk "good job, that was the first test. There will be more." Then he left. The other PCs wanted to know what he was talking about (the players are all positive that this is all because of the Monk's "Infernal Prince" theme -and they're right, of course), and the Monk agreed to tell them later.
After resting for a few minutes (short rest) while the Monk scouted around, the Monk discovered that there was a magical silence area around their section of the docks that nobody could hear into, which is why nobody noticed the fight. It gave them a chance to plan their escape, and they decided to attempt to sneak their way out of the city, and forget about the money that Varult Hammerheart owed them (the dwarven Cleric of Kord that hired them).
They started to leave, and I called for a complexity 4 skill challenge. The players made good progress, succeeding on a lot of checks early on. The Wizard used a cantrip to summon more fog (successful Arcana), the Monk led the party through the city (Streetwise), the Warpriest made sure everyone was in good shape and there was no blood trail (Heal), etc. Since the players needed 3 successful hard DC checks, the skill challenge took a big longer, and they ended up with something like 13 successes (instead of the 10 they needed), since the flow of the skill challenge took them on that route pretty naturally. The Monk did end up stealing a money pouch from some nice wealthy folk who stopped to talk (50 gold, not bad), and they ended up at the inn/tavern where Varult Hammerheart had hired them.
They decided to check in, and they talked to him. They attempt to sell him a lot of the weapons they had looted, but he wasn't interested (even after a failed Diplomacy check to convince him). The dwarven Fighter challenged him to a drinking contest to change his mind, and made a Hard Endurance check (ending the skill challenge, actually), allowing them to sell the loot to him. He also got to pay them (3 gems at 100 gold each), and they filled him in on killing the twin eladrin, but left out the Shadowmancer / devil at the docks incidents. The Monk used Ghost Sound to tell the Fighter to ask about any monasteries of Kord in the area (since her teacher from her work camp had mentioned one), and the Fighter asked Varult if he knew of any such place. He did know of one (about three days away), and he told them how to get there.
The party said they were going to take their leave (the party was still itching to get out of the city), and Varult mentioned privately to the Fighter that he had heard of his personal issue (being outcast), and expressed hope that maybe one day the Fighter could regain his dwarven name. The Fighter nodded in grave agreement, and the PCs left. On their way out, a human started to follow them rather openly. He had a lute, and offered to sing songs for them during their travels and tell them stories (for cheap, he promised!). They agreed (he wanted 5 silver per day if they were paying for his meals, which they provided with their Everlasting Provisions basket), and off they went.
The party stopped for a couple of days to let the Wizard learn her rituals, and time passed uneventfully. They went on their way, and arrived at the monastery, where the Fighter noted that statues they were passing had some markings of Kord on them. When they were almost to the monastery walls a storm elemental appeared, and said in primordial that they were not to pass without first proving their worth. The Wizard translated (since she's a Genasi from the Elemental Chaos and knows the language), and the Monk and the Fighter started debating which one would prove themselves almost right away. The storm elemental spoke again, saying that it would test all of them, and summoned a lightning elemental and a wind elemental, and we rolled initiative.
This fight was tough on the party, as I used a level 3 elite controller (the storm elemental), along with two level 3 elite artillery (wind-themed and lightning-themed). The combat took place up a paved road, with multiple 10 foot drops near the statues on the side, which came into play multiple times. I'll leave out a lot of the specifics, but I'll note that the 3D terrain was interesting (just like in the dock combat, as of the point they jumped in and climbed/teleported back out). The Wizard used Hypnotism to throw creatures off the ledges multiple times, though they also got thrown off a few times by the wind elemental. At various points, the Wizard, Fighter, or Warpriest went down, and stretched healing powers / healing potions brought them back up (good thing the Wizard made more during their journey with her Brew Potion ritual). At one point, both the Warpriest and the Wizard went down (the Warpriest to an opportunity attack to go give a potion to the isolated, dying Wizard), but a lucky roll on a death saving throw brought the Wizard up, who gave the potion to the Warpriest, rallying the party. (The player of the Fighter later told me he thought it would be a party wipe here).
Though they won, they were pretty beat up, but they took their time healing (letting the Warpriest recover his healing powers and using it on them). (At this point, they had earned enough experience to level up, and since they had new sheets already printed, I let them change sheets out for their level 3 feats during the short rest.) The Monk was incredibly mad at the Bard for not helping, who told her that he wasn't about to get involved for 5 silver per day and without hazard pay. Though the Monk thinks he's useless, the Warpriest discussed terms with him to help out. Though the Bard wanted money for combat and for his knowledge, the Fighter successfully used Intimidate (against a Hard DC) to convince him to provide both services for the same price. So, he's tagging along for now, even though the Monk wants him gone.
The party moved to the gates of the monastery after about 20 minutes of healing, and the gates opened when they arrived. They were greeted by Monks of Kord, congratulated on defeating the storm sentry, and offered hospitality for as long as they wished to stay. The Wizard immediately asked about perhaps studying at a library, and the Warpriest asked for a quiet room to pray in. The Monk and the Fighter decided to wait for their friends, and went to spar with the Monks that were training.
Atha, the half-orc Master of the monastery, showed the library to the Wizard, and agreed to a ritual exchange (he had her Last Vision ritual copied, and she learned the Seek Rumor ritual, allowing her to use Arcana instead of Streetwise to look for rumors on the street, albeit at a higher DC). She didn't even consult with the party, and just spent 8 hours copying the ritual over and learning it. In the meantime, the Warpriest went to a meditation room and prayed to The Raven Queen, trying to connect with her, and asking if he was on the right track. He didn't get any sort of real response other than a feeling of approval of his actions, but he seemed to be happy with that, and he went outside and spoke to Atha while the others sparred.
The Monk asked Atha if he had anything he needed done, since they were looking for work as adventurers. He said he had a few things, but that he wanted to observe their abilities first, as a group, before the sent them out. He asked them to spar with four of his students. He offered them extra incentives for a second fight, and even more for a third, which would be against his star pupil. The party agreed, eager to see what he offered them. Though they had to wait for 8 hours (for the Wizard), the Master asked the Monk and Fighter to spar off and on until they were ready while he watched them, and he made conversation with the Warpriest in the meantime. When the Wizard emerged, they entered a large sparring ring, and some Monks went in to light some ceremonial firepits before the fight.
We rolled initiative. The four enemy Monks consisted of a level 3 standard brute (strength-themed), two level 3 standard skirmishers (agility-themed), and a level 3 standard lurker (lightning-themed). The enemies quickly made their way to the Wizard over and over again, dealing a lot of damage to her quickly. So while she dropped in this fight, nobody else did, though it was tough on the party for the most part (the gnome Monk did very well).
Atha congratulated the party, and showed them the prize if they completed the second fight: magical cloth garments (a Battle Harness), which were identified by the Warpriest and the Wizard. The Monk really wanted them, and the party agreed to continue to fight. Though they asked for a break and were given five minutes, they failed a Diplomacy check to gain ten minutes. After five minutes, more Monks entered (essentially the same makeup), and another combat went under way. The party took a beating a little more thoroughly this time around, though they protected the Wizard a bit better. They also took the lightning monk down early (the lurker), and didn't have to deal with a lot of his problems from the first combat.
With that completed, Atha called for the next prize to be brought out. The Warpriest and Wizard identified it, and the Wizard and Monk rolled successful History checks on it. It was +2 Dwarven plate armor (and the Fighter had no magical armor yet), which was of the finest dwarven craftsmanship, with carvings of great dwarven ancestors. The Fighter really wanted it, but felt a little awkward, since he was an outcast. The party successfully asked for a 10 minute break if they were to continue (successful Diplomacy), and the Wizard used a ritual to help rearrange the party's healing surges (she was at 0 after healing).
Every had 2 healing surges going into the last fight (save for the Wizard, who had 1), which was against Idane, the eladrin Monk and star pupil to Atha. Before combat, he summoned 5 lightning manifestations. We rolled initiative, and the Wizard went first. She immediately dropped her daily fire power, hurting Idane and killing one of the manifestations (she discovered it was a minion). She used an action point and used an encounter power to hit three more minions, leaving only Idane and one manifestation (which she destroyed one round later). The party took the queue from her, and started dropping dailies.
Though Idane was a level 5 elite brute (and the five manifestations were level 5 minions), he went down easily enough, though he got some good damage in. Still, everyone is at 1-2 healing surges left, and the dwarf just got his new Dwarven Armor, which he was very happy with. Since we were about 20 minutes past where we wanted to end initially (I asked if they wanted to play the fight out now or at the beginning of next session, and they opted for now), we ended the session there.
I counted all of their individual minor quests done, gave them XP, and we called it a night.[/sblock]
A few things to note, I guess, along with related questions:
[sblock]Now that I'm not just using equal level monsters, the PCs are dropping more often, and it's really upping the tension during the fights. There were some cool parts that came up (like the Wizard getting up on a successful death save and using a healing potion to get the Warpriest up, rallying the fight), and I'm really glad I branched out to higher level enemies this early, as I was initially planning on keeping it pretty close to party-level for a while, as the players are mostly new. It feels like the PCs are really resilient, though, and they're fast learners, so I'm glad I upped the tension without causing a party wipe. (So, question for anyone reading: any ideas on how often I should be dropping them in combat? How much pressure is too much for "normal" non-boss fights? What's the average fight I should be looking at? Level +1, Level +2, etc?)
Also, in two different combats today (out of the five we ran), 3D terrain popped up, and it was a lot of fun. I don't remember off-hand who told me to include it if I can (sorry guys, there was so much advice in that first thread! Thank you, whoever you were), but the dock fight and the fight up the slope were both a lot of fun, and very tense, too. I think I'll keep an eye out for ways to work in balconies and the like in the coming days. (Question: any fun suggestions? It looks like my players are looking for any adventure these Monks want to throw at them, so I can work in pretty much anything, as I've got no specific adventure in mind for them yet.)
The Monk is so much more resilient than she used to be, but the Wizard is starting to take a beating, now. That seems about right, even with the Wizard's 18 Constitution! (Question: her familiar is going down pretty easily in combat when it's in active mode, so that's something that I think I should probably expect most of the time, right?)
Now that they're level 3, they mostly got a new encounter power attack. Some of them seem quite good (like the Warpriest's encounter power). I think this'll mean that combat will get a little more dynamic, with less dependency on at-will powers. (Question: is this the case? As we level, are encounter powers slowly going to take over for everyone but the Fighter-Knight?)
Also, just so I can give some feedback to the Wizard, since I think she wants a blast-y at-will. Anything look good for her? Right now she has Storm Pillar and Hypnotism (with more damaging encounter and daily powers). She's found a use for both as different times, which makes sense. However, I think I might bring up retraining something, if she wants to, so she can point and shoot more often (this was her second session playing, and before this campaign, hadn't played in 13 years, since she was 12 years old). Any suggestions for a good combo if she were to retain Storm Pillar or Hypnotism?
Also, I'm very used to the battle map as of this point, and drawing stuff up pretty quickly is getting easier. Something I did want to ask: how do you guys deal with the 3D aspect? When the storm elemental was flying, I stacked the token on some dice (there were more efficient ways, but I wanted them to get a real feeling that it was flying), but that won't always work. For example, when they dived in the water at the docks, several of them moved under the docks (to get out of line of sight of the Warlock). What's the best way to handle this sort of thing? Draw an identical section off to the side and just compare? I imagine things will get tough if they move their PC mini in a square occupied by another PC miniature or one of my tokens.
[/sblock]
Overall, three sessions in, I'm having a lot of fun with the campaign, with the players, and with 4e. I've been using the difficulty by class level on pretty much everything, I'm enjoying skill challenges (Daniel, the Warpriest doesn't like them too much, but that's a combination of rolling low and the skill challenge from last session lasting a while... he did admit the other three have gone by pretty quickly, though, and he says he sees their place in the game), and I've been referencing the cheat sheet @Quickleaf made a lot (like when people were shoving those poor sparring Monks into the ceremonial fire pits
). As of this point, I haven't had to improvise any monsters (I don't have the internet at the host's house, since he doesn't have wireless set up, so I can't pull up emergency monsters on the builder), but I'm interested to see what I do with it using the document, too.
We're planning on playing again Thursday, since this is a rare chance for us to get two sessions in a week again (it's just after finals at school for some of us). I'm liking that I can use the minor quests to help guide play via voluntary actions (by rewarding XP), as that lets me prepare a little better (if they cooperate with the quests, which they always have), and I'm looking forward to exploring stuff happening in the campaign world (the dwarf dealing with his faith in Kord, as well as dealing with other dwarves as an outcast while he's in his new ancestral dwarven armor; the Wizard interacting with elemental spirits when she's from the Elemental chaos and far from home, and attempting to learn new rituals / magic; the Monk dealing with her faith in Kord, as well as balancing the party's tolerance against attacks from devils / her own want of revenge for her brother who framed her; the Warpriest following the commands of The Raven Queen, which might come up more when they learn more of Bazzalth / his interactions with the undead). I've got some hooks already planted, and I plan to expand on some stuff I've introduced briefly (Tiamat holy symbols, Bazzalth, the undead knight that emerged from the blackflame and disappeared, perhaps Berit sending trackers if they're not too far for killing his thugs, etc.).
Lots of fun stuff ahead, and I'm looking forward to dealing with it. Guess I should hit the compendium and start looking at making some monsters, checking over treasure, and getting ready for Thursday, huh?
[sblock]I began by privately giving everyone a minor quest for this session. The Monk and the Fighter has the same quest: "connect with other followers of Kord." The Warpriest had "keep the party safe from the fallout in the city", while the Wizard had "help another player character achieve a short term goal."
So, the players started off talking about what to do after dealing with The Blades at the end of the last session. They were pretty sure they wanted to skip town before their actions (you know, killing people) drew unwanted attention to them. So, they decided to stealthily leave the town. The gnome Monk scouted ahead off of the ship, noted that it was still foggy and nobody had seemed to notice yet, and they started to walk out. However, I told them that black fire appeared on the docks, and a large-sized fiery devil came out, along with a tiefling in robes (the Warpriest and Wizard identified the arcane runes on the tiefling's dagger as Warlock markings). The black fire then disappeared.
The tiefling told them that she was only there to deal with the Monk, and that the others were free to go. She even told them to go look into Bazzalth, since they would be interested in what they found. They asked why, and she offered to tell them more if they agreed to leave the Monk. They one-by-one said that they weren't leaving her, so the tiefling smiled and shrugged, and we rolled initiative.
It was an interesting fight. The large devil was a level 3 standard brute (vs. the level 2 party), and the tiefling was a level 4 elite artillery with Warlock-themed powers (and the tiefling racial to damage someone back if they damaged her). The tiefling kept conjuring blackflames (those who start their turn in the flames or move through it take damage), and even moved the flames a few times (as a move action). Since the party started the fights on the docks, their exit was quickly cut off, and it was hard for them to get past the brute (which had reach out to two squares).
The party was taking a beating early on, and the Monk went down. The Warpriest brought her back up, pushed her into the water off the dock, and yelled for everyone to run before jumping into the water himself. The Fighter jumped in next, but the Wizard got dropped before she got a chance to jump. The Warpriest brought her back to consciousness, but the brute fire devil grabbed her, preventing her from running. This caused the Fighter to attempt to break a support beam (he failed an Athletics check), but the Monk used an encounter power to fly over and then broke it (natural 20 on her untrained Athletics!). The devil brute and the Wizard were dumped into the water, and the brute failed a saving throw and let the Wizard go during the tumble. The Fighter then dropped the brute, and now that things were turning around, the Warpriest marked the tiefling Warlock (mark of the Raven Queen), and teleported to her (daily power).
They fought with her, but it took a bit. She could teleport to other sections of blackflame (recharge power), and was doing her best to avoid them, but they eventually wore her down (the Fighter-Knight is good at pinning bad guys down). The Monk dropped again, but a healing potion from the Wizard brought her back up, and a shuriken from the Monk took the tiefling down, ending the combat (the blackflame disappeared now as well). Unfortunately for the party, there was nothing to loot, and they were badly beat up now (0-3 surges left).
More blackflame appeared, and a man in full plate armor walked out, with a sword at his side. The party could sense that he was very powerful, and the Warpriest noticed that he was likely undead (with a Religion check). He told the Monk "good job, that was the first test. There will be more." Then he left. The other PCs wanted to know what he was talking about (the players are all positive that this is all because of the Monk's "Infernal Prince" theme -and they're right, of course), and the Monk agreed to tell them later.
After resting for a few minutes (short rest) while the Monk scouted around, the Monk discovered that there was a magical silence area around their section of the docks that nobody could hear into, which is why nobody noticed the fight. It gave them a chance to plan their escape, and they decided to attempt to sneak their way out of the city, and forget about the money that Varult Hammerheart owed them (the dwarven Cleric of Kord that hired them).
They started to leave, and I called for a complexity 4 skill challenge. The players made good progress, succeeding on a lot of checks early on. The Wizard used a cantrip to summon more fog (successful Arcana), the Monk led the party through the city (Streetwise), the Warpriest made sure everyone was in good shape and there was no blood trail (Heal), etc. Since the players needed 3 successful hard DC checks, the skill challenge took a big longer, and they ended up with something like 13 successes (instead of the 10 they needed), since the flow of the skill challenge took them on that route pretty naturally. The Monk did end up stealing a money pouch from some nice wealthy folk who stopped to talk (50 gold, not bad), and they ended up at the inn/tavern where Varult Hammerheart had hired them.
They decided to check in, and they talked to him. They attempt to sell him a lot of the weapons they had looted, but he wasn't interested (even after a failed Diplomacy check to convince him). The dwarven Fighter challenged him to a drinking contest to change his mind, and made a Hard Endurance check (ending the skill challenge, actually), allowing them to sell the loot to him. He also got to pay them (3 gems at 100 gold each), and they filled him in on killing the twin eladrin, but left out the Shadowmancer / devil at the docks incidents. The Monk used Ghost Sound to tell the Fighter to ask about any monasteries of Kord in the area (since her teacher from her work camp had mentioned one), and the Fighter asked Varult if he knew of any such place. He did know of one (about three days away), and he told them how to get there.
The party said they were going to take their leave (the party was still itching to get out of the city), and Varult mentioned privately to the Fighter that he had heard of his personal issue (being outcast), and expressed hope that maybe one day the Fighter could regain his dwarven name. The Fighter nodded in grave agreement, and the PCs left. On their way out, a human started to follow them rather openly. He had a lute, and offered to sing songs for them during their travels and tell them stories (for cheap, he promised!). They agreed (he wanted 5 silver per day if they were paying for his meals, which they provided with their Everlasting Provisions basket), and off they went.
The party stopped for a couple of days to let the Wizard learn her rituals, and time passed uneventfully. They went on their way, and arrived at the monastery, where the Fighter noted that statues they were passing had some markings of Kord on them. When they were almost to the monastery walls a storm elemental appeared, and said in primordial that they were not to pass without first proving their worth. The Wizard translated (since she's a Genasi from the Elemental Chaos and knows the language), and the Monk and the Fighter started debating which one would prove themselves almost right away. The storm elemental spoke again, saying that it would test all of them, and summoned a lightning elemental and a wind elemental, and we rolled initiative.
This fight was tough on the party, as I used a level 3 elite controller (the storm elemental), along with two level 3 elite artillery (wind-themed and lightning-themed). The combat took place up a paved road, with multiple 10 foot drops near the statues on the side, which came into play multiple times. I'll leave out a lot of the specifics, but I'll note that the 3D terrain was interesting (just like in the dock combat, as of the point they jumped in and climbed/teleported back out). The Wizard used Hypnotism to throw creatures off the ledges multiple times, though they also got thrown off a few times by the wind elemental. At various points, the Wizard, Fighter, or Warpriest went down, and stretched healing powers / healing potions brought them back up (good thing the Wizard made more during their journey with her Brew Potion ritual). At one point, both the Warpriest and the Wizard went down (the Warpriest to an opportunity attack to go give a potion to the isolated, dying Wizard), but a lucky roll on a death saving throw brought the Wizard up, who gave the potion to the Warpriest, rallying the party. (The player of the Fighter later told me he thought it would be a party wipe here).
Though they won, they were pretty beat up, but they took their time healing (letting the Warpriest recover his healing powers and using it on them). (At this point, they had earned enough experience to level up, and since they had new sheets already printed, I let them change sheets out for their level 3 feats during the short rest.) The Monk was incredibly mad at the Bard for not helping, who told her that he wasn't about to get involved for 5 silver per day and without hazard pay. Though the Monk thinks he's useless, the Warpriest discussed terms with him to help out. Though the Bard wanted money for combat and for his knowledge, the Fighter successfully used Intimidate (against a Hard DC) to convince him to provide both services for the same price. So, he's tagging along for now, even though the Monk wants him gone.
The party moved to the gates of the monastery after about 20 minutes of healing, and the gates opened when they arrived. They were greeted by Monks of Kord, congratulated on defeating the storm sentry, and offered hospitality for as long as they wished to stay. The Wizard immediately asked about perhaps studying at a library, and the Warpriest asked for a quiet room to pray in. The Monk and the Fighter decided to wait for their friends, and went to spar with the Monks that were training.
Atha, the half-orc Master of the monastery, showed the library to the Wizard, and agreed to a ritual exchange (he had her Last Vision ritual copied, and she learned the Seek Rumor ritual, allowing her to use Arcana instead of Streetwise to look for rumors on the street, albeit at a higher DC). She didn't even consult with the party, and just spent 8 hours copying the ritual over and learning it. In the meantime, the Warpriest went to a meditation room and prayed to The Raven Queen, trying to connect with her, and asking if he was on the right track. He didn't get any sort of real response other than a feeling of approval of his actions, but he seemed to be happy with that, and he went outside and spoke to Atha while the others sparred.
The Monk asked Atha if he had anything he needed done, since they were looking for work as adventurers. He said he had a few things, but that he wanted to observe their abilities first, as a group, before the sent them out. He asked them to spar with four of his students. He offered them extra incentives for a second fight, and even more for a third, which would be against his star pupil. The party agreed, eager to see what he offered them. Though they had to wait for 8 hours (for the Wizard), the Master asked the Monk and Fighter to spar off and on until they were ready while he watched them, and he made conversation with the Warpriest in the meantime. When the Wizard emerged, they entered a large sparring ring, and some Monks went in to light some ceremonial firepits before the fight.
We rolled initiative. The four enemy Monks consisted of a level 3 standard brute (strength-themed), two level 3 standard skirmishers (agility-themed), and a level 3 standard lurker (lightning-themed). The enemies quickly made their way to the Wizard over and over again, dealing a lot of damage to her quickly. So while she dropped in this fight, nobody else did, though it was tough on the party for the most part (the gnome Monk did very well).
Atha congratulated the party, and showed them the prize if they completed the second fight: magical cloth garments (a Battle Harness), which were identified by the Warpriest and the Wizard. The Monk really wanted them, and the party agreed to continue to fight. Though they asked for a break and were given five minutes, they failed a Diplomacy check to gain ten minutes. After five minutes, more Monks entered (essentially the same makeup), and another combat went under way. The party took a beating a little more thoroughly this time around, though they protected the Wizard a bit better. They also took the lightning monk down early (the lurker), and didn't have to deal with a lot of his problems from the first combat.
With that completed, Atha called for the next prize to be brought out. The Warpriest and Wizard identified it, and the Wizard and Monk rolled successful History checks on it. It was +2 Dwarven plate armor (and the Fighter had no magical armor yet), which was of the finest dwarven craftsmanship, with carvings of great dwarven ancestors. The Fighter really wanted it, but felt a little awkward, since he was an outcast. The party successfully asked for a 10 minute break if they were to continue (successful Diplomacy), and the Wizard used a ritual to help rearrange the party's healing surges (she was at 0 after healing).
Every had 2 healing surges going into the last fight (save for the Wizard, who had 1), which was against Idane, the eladrin Monk and star pupil to Atha. Before combat, he summoned 5 lightning manifestations. We rolled initiative, and the Wizard went first. She immediately dropped her daily fire power, hurting Idane and killing one of the manifestations (she discovered it was a minion). She used an action point and used an encounter power to hit three more minions, leaving only Idane and one manifestation (which she destroyed one round later). The party took the queue from her, and started dropping dailies.
Though Idane was a level 5 elite brute (and the five manifestations were level 5 minions), he went down easily enough, though he got some good damage in. Still, everyone is at 1-2 healing surges left, and the dwarf just got his new Dwarven Armor, which he was very happy with. Since we were about 20 minutes past where we wanted to end initially (I asked if they wanted to play the fight out now or at the beginning of next session, and they opted for now), we ended the session there.
I counted all of their individual minor quests done, gave them XP, and we called it a night.[/sblock]
A few things to note, I guess, along with related questions:
[sblock]Now that I'm not just using equal level monsters, the PCs are dropping more often, and it's really upping the tension during the fights. There were some cool parts that came up (like the Wizard getting up on a successful death save and using a healing potion to get the Warpriest up, rallying the fight), and I'm really glad I branched out to higher level enemies this early, as I was initially planning on keeping it pretty close to party-level for a while, as the players are mostly new. It feels like the PCs are really resilient, though, and they're fast learners, so I'm glad I upped the tension without causing a party wipe. (So, question for anyone reading: any ideas on how often I should be dropping them in combat? How much pressure is too much for "normal" non-boss fights? What's the average fight I should be looking at? Level +1, Level +2, etc?)
Also, in two different combats today (out of the five we ran), 3D terrain popped up, and it was a lot of fun. I don't remember off-hand who told me to include it if I can (sorry guys, there was so much advice in that first thread! Thank you, whoever you were), but the dock fight and the fight up the slope were both a lot of fun, and very tense, too. I think I'll keep an eye out for ways to work in balconies and the like in the coming days. (Question: any fun suggestions? It looks like my players are looking for any adventure these Monks want to throw at them, so I can work in pretty much anything, as I've got no specific adventure in mind for them yet.)
The Monk is so much more resilient than she used to be, but the Wizard is starting to take a beating, now. That seems about right, even with the Wizard's 18 Constitution! (Question: her familiar is going down pretty easily in combat when it's in active mode, so that's something that I think I should probably expect most of the time, right?)
Now that they're level 3, they mostly got a new encounter power attack. Some of them seem quite good (like the Warpriest's encounter power). I think this'll mean that combat will get a little more dynamic, with less dependency on at-will powers. (Question: is this the case? As we level, are encounter powers slowly going to take over for everyone but the Fighter-Knight?)
Also, just so I can give some feedback to the Wizard, since I think she wants a blast-y at-will. Anything look good for her? Right now she has Storm Pillar and Hypnotism (with more damaging encounter and daily powers). She's found a use for both as different times, which makes sense. However, I think I might bring up retraining something, if she wants to, so she can point and shoot more often (this was her second session playing, and before this campaign, hadn't played in 13 years, since she was 12 years old). Any suggestions for a good combo if she were to retain Storm Pillar or Hypnotism?
Also, I'm very used to the battle map as of this point, and drawing stuff up pretty quickly is getting easier. Something I did want to ask: how do you guys deal with the 3D aspect? When the storm elemental was flying, I stacked the token on some dice (there were more efficient ways, but I wanted them to get a real feeling that it was flying), but that won't always work. For example, when they dived in the water at the docks, several of them moved under the docks (to get out of line of sight of the Warlock). What's the best way to handle this sort of thing? Draw an identical section off to the side and just compare? I imagine things will get tough if they move their PC mini in a square occupied by another PC miniature or one of my tokens.
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Overall, three sessions in, I'm having a lot of fun with the campaign, with the players, and with 4e. I've been using the difficulty by class level on pretty much everything, I'm enjoying skill challenges (Daniel, the Warpriest doesn't like them too much, but that's a combination of rolling low and the skill challenge from last session lasting a while... he did admit the other three have gone by pretty quickly, though, and he says he sees their place in the game), and I've been referencing the cheat sheet @Quickleaf made a lot (like when people were shoving those poor sparring Monks into the ceremonial fire pits
). As of this point, I haven't had to improvise any monsters (I don't have the internet at the host's house, since he doesn't have wireless set up, so I can't pull up emergency monsters on the builder), but I'm interested to see what I do with it using the document, too.We're planning on playing again Thursday, since this is a rare chance for us to get two sessions in a week again (it's just after finals at school for some of us). I'm liking that I can use the minor quests to help guide play via voluntary actions (by rewarding XP), as that lets me prepare a little better (if they cooperate with the quests, which they always have), and I'm looking forward to exploring stuff happening in the campaign world (the dwarf dealing with his faith in Kord, as well as dealing with other dwarves as an outcast while he's in his new ancestral dwarven armor; the Wizard interacting with elemental spirits when she's from the Elemental chaos and far from home, and attempting to learn new rituals / magic; the Monk dealing with her faith in Kord, as well as balancing the party's tolerance against attacks from devils / her own want of revenge for her brother who framed her; the Warpriest following the commands of The Raven Queen, which might come up more when they learn more of Bazzalth / his interactions with the undead). I've got some hooks already planted, and I plan to expand on some stuff I've introduced briefly (Tiamat holy symbols, Bazzalth, the undead knight that emerged from the blackflame and disappeared, perhaps Berit sending trackers if they're not too far for killing his thugs, etc.).
Lots of fun stuff ahead, and I'm looking forward to dealing with it. Guess I should hit the compendium and start looking at making some monsters, checking over treasure, and getting ready for Thursday, huh?
