The invoker in my party is quite noticeably the lowest-damage output PC (though has reasonable AC, and picks up in damage output against radiant-vulnerable targets). Admittedly he is optimised for languages, rituals and knowledge skills rather than combat.
D&D 4E JamesonCourage's First 4e Session
- Thread starter JamesonCourage
- Start date
JamesonCourage
Adventurer
The player is strongly leaning towards the Ranger (Scout) build, but hasn't really looked over races yet. I think he'll settle on this build, and I'm going to suggest playing as an elf. Thanks, [MENTION=87792]Neonchameleon[/MENTION], for the suggestion. (I'd suggest human, but he said "I think I want to play something non-human" while we were chatting earlier.) He likes the idea of being "more knowledgeable like Strider was", rather than being book-smart.
Once I get his build (most likely on Friday night after work / we hit the gym), I plan on posting what he comes up with. I know he also likes the idea of being a sort of martial protector for druids, but he's just kicking around ideas right now. We'll see what he comes up with.
Once I get his build (most likely on Friday night after work / we hit the gym), I plan on posting what he comes up with. I know he also likes the idea of being a sort of martial protector for druids, but he's just kicking around ideas right now. We'll see what he comes up with.
JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Alright, so the new player got his character finished last night, and we're set to play a week from today. Here's what he came up with:
Kenny: Kenny is one of my oldest friends, and he's played in my campaigns since I first ran them (which introduced him to RPing). He will be playing a level 4 Wilden Ranger (Scout) / multi-class Druid (Initiate of the Old Faith). He has the Fey Beast Tamer theme (he has a young owlbear companion), and has the Orphan of the Gibbering Massacre background (his community of Wilden on the Feywild was wiped out by Mind Flayers when he was a young child). He was spared as a child during the massacre (though a Mind Flayer found him while he hid during the chaos, stared at him while he heard indistinct whispers, and then left him to live for no apparent reason). A community of wilden druids found him after the massacre, and took him to their small community on the mortal world, where they raised him as one of their own. However, it wasn't long before he gained the ability to speak in Deep Speech, and when one of the elders found out, they took special care to hide it from the others.
As a wilden, he was trained to fight against the incursions of those who sought to harm nature, and was extremely proficient. He learned the ways of the ranger, becoming a protector of their settlement, which was drawing more attention from the Far Realms than ever before. When he showed a natural talent for dealing with beasts (he has the Beast Empathy wilderness knack, the Animal Empathy feat, and +15 to Nature) -most notably by finding and raising a young owl bear that he coaxed from the Feywild- he was given special attention by the elder wilden, who taught him some of the ways of the druid (like how to wild shape).
When he was seventeen years old, he was told by the elder that he needed to leave the settlement. His presence might be attracting other creatures from the far realm, or he might just be a ticking bomb -the elder didn't know for sure. However, he knew that the best way to deal with the problem was to go out and gain some experience in combat, and find allies powerful enough to aid him in his quest: find the mind flayers who destroyed his community and eliminate them. He was gifted the ability to communicate with his home, however -the Whispers in the Willows alternative reward allows him to send messages through trees, and the elder sent a young potted plant with him, so that they can keep in touch. With that, he set off.
As far as mechanical capabilities go, he has Wilderness Tracker, Beast Empathy, and Ambush Expertise as wilderness knacks. He went with the Flashing Blade Mastery style (he's using a rapier / short sword for two-weapon fighting). He worships Melora (and has Melora's Storm Blessing as an alternative reward, allowing him to fly once per encounter). He's trained in Acrobatics, Athletics, Dungeoneering, Nature, Perception, and Stealth. He has the Aspect of the Spider and Hawk, giving him bonuses to speed, Perception, and attacking into cover / concealment, or climbing, Stealth, and attacking creatures he has combat advantage against. He has Oak Skin (resist 4 for the encounter) as a daily power, and Swarming Locusts as an encounter while in beast form (to deal damage in a blast and grant combat advantage). He also has the Practiced Study feat, along with the following martial practices: Master Artisan (to make whatever is handy), Temporary Fix (to keep things rolling if something breaks), Warded Campsite (to make sure the party is safe while resting), and Survivor's Preparation (to prepare against the elements).
Overall, he feels very utilitarian, and has a pretty strong theme going. I've played with Kenny for years, so I'm expecting he'll fit in with no problems, and he seems greatly encouraged after I sent him an 18-page summary of our past five sessions. He says his character can empathize with the dwarf and genasi for feeling isolated, and that his character will hate unnatural undead (and Vecna / Orcus in particular of the gods), giving him something to bond with Warpriest of The Raven Queen over.
He's excited to play, even though he's not happy about us using the battle map. I think he'll get used to it, but we'll see. Thanks for the help again, everyone
Kenny: Kenny is one of my oldest friends, and he's played in my campaigns since I first ran them (which introduced him to RPing). He will be playing a level 4 Wilden Ranger (Scout) / multi-class Druid (Initiate of the Old Faith). He has the Fey Beast Tamer theme (he has a young owlbear companion), and has the Orphan of the Gibbering Massacre background (his community of Wilden on the Feywild was wiped out by Mind Flayers when he was a young child). He was spared as a child during the massacre (though a Mind Flayer found him while he hid during the chaos, stared at him while he heard indistinct whispers, and then left him to live for no apparent reason). A community of wilden druids found him after the massacre, and took him to their small community on the mortal world, where they raised him as one of their own. However, it wasn't long before he gained the ability to speak in Deep Speech, and when one of the elders found out, they took special care to hide it from the others.
As a wilden, he was trained to fight against the incursions of those who sought to harm nature, and was extremely proficient. He learned the ways of the ranger, becoming a protector of their settlement, which was drawing more attention from the Far Realms than ever before. When he showed a natural talent for dealing with beasts (he has the Beast Empathy wilderness knack, the Animal Empathy feat, and +15 to Nature) -most notably by finding and raising a young owl bear that he coaxed from the Feywild- he was given special attention by the elder wilden, who taught him some of the ways of the druid (like how to wild shape).
When he was seventeen years old, he was told by the elder that he needed to leave the settlement. His presence might be attracting other creatures from the far realm, or he might just be a ticking bomb -the elder didn't know for sure. However, he knew that the best way to deal with the problem was to go out and gain some experience in combat, and find allies powerful enough to aid him in his quest: find the mind flayers who destroyed his community and eliminate them. He was gifted the ability to communicate with his home, however -the Whispers in the Willows alternative reward allows him to send messages through trees, and the elder sent a young potted plant with him, so that they can keep in touch. With that, he set off.
As far as mechanical capabilities go, he has Wilderness Tracker, Beast Empathy, and Ambush Expertise as wilderness knacks. He went with the Flashing Blade Mastery style (he's using a rapier / short sword for two-weapon fighting). He worships Melora (and has Melora's Storm Blessing as an alternative reward, allowing him to fly once per encounter). He's trained in Acrobatics, Athletics, Dungeoneering, Nature, Perception, and Stealth. He has the Aspect of the Spider and Hawk, giving him bonuses to speed, Perception, and attacking into cover / concealment, or climbing, Stealth, and attacking creatures he has combat advantage against. He has Oak Skin (resist 4 for the encounter) as a daily power, and Swarming Locusts as an encounter while in beast form (to deal damage in a blast and grant combat advantage). He also has the Practiced Study feat, along with the following martial practices: Master Artisan (to make whatever is handy), Temporary Fix (to keep things rolling if something breaks), Warded Campsite (to make sure the party is safe while resting), and Survivor's Preparation (to prepare against the elements).
Overall, he feels very utilitarian, and has a pretty strong theme going. I've played with Kenny for years, so I'm expecting he'll fit in with no problems, and he seems greatly encouraged after I sent him an 18-page summary of our past five sessions. He says his character can empathize with the dwarf and genasi for feeling isolated, and that his character will hate unnatural undead (and Vecna / Orcus in particular of the gods), giving him something to bond with Warpriest of The Raven Queen over.
He's excited to play, even though he's not happy about us using the battle map. I think he'll get used to it, but we'll see. Thanks for the help again, everyone
Scrivener of Doom
Adventurer
That's a really interesting character he has, both mechanically and in terms of the fluff. Very cool.
JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Alright, it's late, so I won't take too long with this one. The player of the Monk isn't going to be available during these sessions, so I worked her out, and I worked the new player of the Wilden Scout in (so bear with the contrived beginning). So, tonight's session:
[sblock]I didn't hand out any minor quests for the first time in all of our sessions. I wanted to wrap up their first major quest tonight (or see if they even lived through it), and next session, I have plans for their minor quests.
We picked up where they had left off, with kobolds running into the room. Before anyone could react, black fire shot out of the ground, killing the kobolds on the front lines, and the same undead knight (Votan) they had seen several times before stepped out. The dragon yelled at him to get out of the way, but he only seemed amused. He told the party that it had been long enough, and that he was going to bring Dawn (the gnome Monk with the Infernal Prince theme) to train, even if he had to drag her. He warned the party that they didn't stand a chance against him in their current state, but Dawn said she wouldn't go willingly. Votan asked the party if they stood by her, and they all indicated that they did. Beid, the NPC Bard, asked if they could solve things diplomatically, but when it looked like it stood no chance, he was on board for a fight, too. As of this point, the dragon ordered the living kobolds to kill the knight and take "the magic on him", but Votan created more black fire, killing more kobolds and harming the dragon, who quickly escaped down a spiral staircase. It was at this point that the party engaged in combat.
They stood no chance. Votan is a level 13 solo. They identified that he was a death knight of Asmodeus during the combat with some skill checks, and while they did a little bit of damage (two crits), he barely looked fazed, and many of the attacks that didn't roll high enough were stopped supernaturally (throwing axes stopping before they hit him and just falling into nearby black fire, etc.), rather than mundanely, which stood in sharp contrast to the capabilities of enemies up to this point (he is Paragon, after all). He quickly killed Beid, and followed it up by killing the Wizard, and then the Fighter. The Monk dropped while she was trying to flee, and the Warpriest tried to tell Votan that he won, and he could take her (in an attempt to survive the fight), the death knight just laughed, saying that they had shouldn't have fought if they felt that way. He then killed the last remaining PC, the Warpriest.
The Wizard, Fighter, and Warpriest all awoke in a nearby pile (at 1 HP), along with the Scout (whom they had never seen). The Wizard and Warpriest recognized the wilden race, at least, but the Scout had no idea why it had just woken up in a pile of bodies (it had been traveling, and had gone to sleep in a field). The PCs noticed that Beid's body was present as well, but was burned, and he was dead. A successful check gave them the knowledge that the death knight's fire must have spared them after he left, though he didn't have to. They began to question the Scout, but more black fire appeared, and Votan stepped through. He applauded the PCs for their bravery in facing him even in their injured condition, and indicated that Beid had not survived because he tried to talk his way out of it first. He encouraged the party to eventually come for him for revenge, to see if they could rescue the Monk before he broke her and bent her to Asmodeus' will; he even taunted that he might train her to defeat them when they come for her. They asked his name, and he gave it, and retreated into the black fire. As the fire died down, he promised them they would be safe in the room.
The party took him at his word, and took an extended rest. The Warpriest and Wizard filled the Scout in on their position, and he told them about his own. The Scout had a feeling that he needed to be here, and while he didn't know why he felt that way, he was on a quest from his elder to find others powerful enough to help him get revenge on the Mindflayers that destroyed his community, so he went along. The Warpriest also saw a mark of The Raven Queen on the Scout, indicating that he should live, so the Warpriest was on board with protecting him. The lost genasi Wizard and the exiled dwarven Fighter both bonded with the now-lost Scout.
After the extended rest, the party left the room, only to be immediately attacked by five kobolds. One was their chief, which was the one they had seen in full plate earlier (a level 5 soldier leader), one was a priest of Tiamat (level 5 artillery leader), and three were armored warriors (level 7 minion soldiers). The Fighter cleaved his way through the minions while hitting the chief hard, and the fight went smooth enough for the party. I don't think anyone dropped, but the Warpriest dipped low at one point. The kobolds were dispatched, save for the priest, who was spared but knocked unconscious (though he was marked for death by the Warpriest via his encounter power granted by The Raven Queen).
After they dealt with the kobolds, they searched them (finding two healing potions), and just before the Warpriest smashed the symbol of Tiamat, the Wizard stopped him, saying it was magical. It was a Symbol of Battle, and the Warpriest took ten minutes to attune it away from Tiamat, and to The Raven Queen (two successful Religion checks); it even had the symbol of The Raven Queen on it now. The Wizard used a ritual to rearrange everyone's healing surges, and the Fighter used his Heal skill to wake up the priest (while the Scout stayed on lookout). They questioned the priest (successful Intimidate), learning that most of the kobolds were killed by the death knight (who threatened to kill anyone who interrupted their "sleep"), as well as another kobold who showed up with two large dogs to attack them (a callback to the first session). Some others were told to retreat to a fortress by Bazzalth (the young white dragon), and the only remaining kobolds had just been killed. They found out that Bazzalth was in the throne room, and that the path to Yone was blocked by ice, but could be melted by powerful fire magic (which happens to be the Wizard's only daily power). The Warpriest then killed the kobold.
They started to move on, but were attacked by an undead assassin from the room they had just left (with the pile of bodies and the portal to the Shadowfell had been closed). They felt an aura of Vecna suddenly in the room, too. They moved in to engage the assassin, and were surprised to find there was another one hiding. They were both level 6 elite lurkers, with a recharge ability that allowed them to attempt to teleport and trade places when hit with a non-Will attack, redirecting the attack to someone else. They also both used an ability to hit the Wizard / Warpriest with an encounter ability, draining a healing surge and giving a death strike to them (this did not make the Warpriest happy). While annoying, the party actually locked them down pretty well. Only the Warpriest dropped, and that was because they focused on him (one said "he has the Truth" early on, referencing the First Truth that he had just learned that Vecna apparently has plans for).
They quickly searched the assassins and left the room. They found a rapier that seemed to appear as if from nowhere (a Hidden Weapon) on one of the assassins, and the Scout took it with permission. After taking another short rest in the stairway, they debated if they should go for the dragon or for Yone, and opted for the dragon first. They made their way to the throne room, and slowly spread out, approaching the dragon (who just watched them from its perch on the frost giant throne). When they were spread out enough, they decided to attack (without talking), and we rolled initiative.
The dragon was homebrew (as all but one monster has been), but was strongly inspired by the Blizzard Dragon (I think), and had an aura that would build up before hurting them (sliding them in the meantime). It was a level 6 solo soldier, and this was a great fight. It also had a fear aura (-1 attacks/saves, save ends, but each save increased the penalty by 1... the Warpriest got down to -4 at one point, while the Wizard hit -6). Everyone but the Fighter dropped (multiple times each). They started off strong (dailies / encounter powers), but as time wore on, they started feeling the pressure more and more. The Warpriest and Wizard ended up with two death strikes, and the Scout had one. Towards the end, they were looking pretty, but a strategic use of flight, claw/bite, and action point claw/bite ended up dropping the Wizard, Priest, and Scout in one round, leaving only the Fighter against the dragon. He moved to the party (it missed his AC on the OA, which is 25 at level 4!), gave a healing potion to the Warpriest to bring him up, and used his Heal skill to bring up the Wizard (she would have missed her next death save, too -we rolled to find out). This rallied the party (the Warpriest brought the Scout up with a healing power), and while things weren't easy, the Fighter finally killed the dragon (yelling "for my clan!" as he dealt the killing blow).
The party sighed some relief, and decided to try to wait for near eighteen hours for another extended rest (twelve hours plus six for the rest). While waiting, they searched the treasure in the corner, and collected 2,500 gold pieces, 6,300 silver pieces, 4 gemstones, and a bag of holding (which they were happy to finally have). The Scout used a successful Nature check to harvest good dragon scales from the body (he has the Master Artisan martial practice, and wants to look into making dragonscale armor). The dwarf had the Scout fashion the dragon horns into something wearable, so he could display his triumph. While waiting, however, the room started to get colder and colder, and I called for Endurance checks before they finished their extended rest. The Scout used his Survivor's Preparation martial practice, keeping everyone warm and ignoring the Endurance checks. I let them finish their extended rest.
Afterwards, they moved on to Yone, the Winter Spirit Guardian. They found it on top of an open platform, along with the Winter Shard, which was responsible for the blizzard-like weather it was creating for miles and miles around. The briefly tried to talk it into stopping, and while it said it wished it could (and expressed it's great reverence to The Raven Queen), it had to obey its last order. With that, they engaged it in combat.
Yone was a level 5 solo artillery, and the Winter Shard was a level 5 elite controller. The two could push / pull, immobilize the PCs (save ends, with a failed save petrifying them, though save ends still), etc. They destroyed the shard pretty quickly, leaving Yone without as much control. Though they kept getting petrified and a few people dropped, the Fighter shoved Yone off a ledge, the elemental hit another ledge about ten feet lower. Before Yone could climb back up, the Scout was able to charge it, hitting it with his dual-wielded weapons, banishing Yone.
Eoh, the Earth Spirit Guardian, rose out of the ground, announcing that it had suppressed much of Yone's power (which they knew something like that would happen after defeating Eoh). He retrieved the Winter Shard, did something to it, and then Yone stepped out of the Winter Shard. Both began to speak at length with the genasi Wizard in primordial. They both offered to help the PCs; Eoh offered to leave some earth elementals to shuttle them up/down the mountain for whenever they wanted to come to the frost giant castle, and Yone offered to leave some elementals to activate the cold-dependent frost giant defenses. The party happily accepted, and plan to use the frost giant castle as a base of operations when convenient. Eoh then offered to take the party to the monastery of Kord, which they accepted.
Eoh dragged them into the ground, reemerging at the monastery. They were spotted and taken inside. Atha, the master of the monastery, spoke briefly with Eoh in primordial, and then asked them what happened. They filled him in, though left out why Dawn was gone. He was happy they had succeeded, giving them the promised payment (230 gold and 4 gemstones, which paled in comparison to the young dragon's hoard). He also gave the Wizard access to the Object Reading ritual from his library, which she was happy about. Atha said he would teach strength techniques to the scout (martial practice: Uncanny Strength), and said he could teach him grace, too, if he was willing to pay 100 gold pieces (martial practice: Reliable Balance). He gave three "potions" to the Warpriest, but the Wizard quickly identified them as alchemy (Corpsebursters). Lastly, he led the PCs to a small tomb, where he presented the dwarven Fighter with a casket; it was the corpse of Prince Borrick Cloudforge. Atha said that the dwarven armor that the Fighter wore (that he had been awarded by Atha) was related, but did not say how. Atha said that the Cloudforge clan, deep in the earth, would be very grateful to see their fallen prince's body returned (the Warpriest, a mul [surface dwarf in my campaign], said "very grateful" solemnly at that). The dwarf said he wanted to return the body, and while Atha nodded, he warned that showing up in dwarven culture while in ancestral dwarven armor as an exile would likely cause him problems. The dwarf nodded, but has plans to return the body regardless.
With that, we called session. They also leveled up to 5, though we didn't handle that yet.[/sblock]
Okay, there are a lot of thoughts I have on it, and other specifics, but I have to sleep. Sorry for the rambling post; I hope a couple of you enjoy it
[sblock]I didn't hand out any minor quests for the first time in all of our sessions. I wanted to wrap up their first major quest tonight (or see if they even lived through it), and next session, I have plans for their minor quests.
We picked up where they had left off, with kobolds running into the room. Before anyone could react, black fire shot out of the ground, killing the kobolds on the front lines, and the same undead knight (Votan) they had seen several times before stepped out. The dragon yelled at him to get out of the way, but he only seemed amused. He told the party that it had been long enough, and that he was going to bring Dawn (the gnome Monk with the Infernal Prince theme) to train, even if he had to drag her. He warned the party that they didn't stand a chance against him in their current state, but Dawn said she wouldn't go willingly. Votan asked the party if they stood by her, and they all indicated that they did. Beid, the NPC Bard, asked if they could solve things diplomatically, but when it looked like it stood no chance, he was on board for a fight, too. As of this point, the dragon ordered the living kobolds to kill the knight and take "the magic on him", but Votan created more black fire, killing more kobolds and harming the dragon, who quickly escaped down a spiral staircase. It was at this point that the party engaged in combat.
They stood no chance. Votan is a level 13 solo. They identified that he was a death knight of Asmodeus during the combat with some skill checks, and while they did a little bit of damage (two crits), he barely looked fazed, and many of the attacks that didn't roll high enough were stopped supernaturally (throwing axes stopping before they hit him and just falling into nearby black fire, etc.), rather than mundanely, which stood in sharp contrast to the capabilities of enemies up to this point (he is Paragon, after all). He quickly killed Beid, and followed it up by killing the Wizard, and then the Fighter. The Monk dropped while she was trying to flee, and the Warpriest tried to tell Votan that he won, and he could take her (in an attempt to survive the fight), the death knight just laughed, saying that they had shouldn't have fought if they felt that way. He then killed the last remaining PC, the Warpriest.
The Wizard, Fighter, and Warpriest all awoke in a nearby pile (at 1 HP), along with the Scout (whom they had never seen). The Wizard and Warpriest recognized the wilden race, at least, but the Scout had no idea why it had just woken up in a pile of bodies (it had been traveling, and had gone to sleep in a field). The PCs noticed that Beid's body was present as well, but was burned, and he was dead. A successful check gave them the knowledge that the death knight's fire must have spared them after he left, though he didn't have to. They began to question the Scout, but more black fire appeared, and Votan stepped through. He applauded the PCs for their bravery in facing him even in their injured condition, and indicated that Beid had not survived because he tried to talk his way out of it first. He encouraged the party to eventually come for him for revenge, to see if they could rescue the Monk before he broke her and bent her to Asmodeus' will; he even taunted that he might train her to defeat them when they come for her. They asked his name, and he gave it, and retreated into the black fire. As the fire died down, he promised them they would be safe in the room.
The party took him at his word, and took an extended rest. The Warpriest and Wizard filled the Scout in on their position, and he told them about his own. The Scout had a feeling that he needed to be here, and while he didn't know why he felt that way, he was on a quest from his elder to find others powerful enough to help him get revenge on the Mindflayers that destroyed his community, so he went along. The Warpriest also saw a mark of The Raven Queen on the Scout, indicating that he should live, so the Warpriest was on board with protecting him. The lost genasi Wizard and the exiled dwarven Fighter both bonded with the now-lost Scout.
After the extended rest, the party left the room, only to be immediately attacked by five kobolds. One was their chief, which was the one they had seen in full plate earlier (a level 5 soldier leader), one was a priest of Tiamat (level 5 artillery leader), and three were armored warriors (level 7 minion soldiers). The Fighter cleaved his way through the minions while hitting the chief hard, and the fight went smooth enough for the party. I don't think anyone dropped, but the Warpriest dipped low at one point. The kobolds were dispatched, save for the priest, who was spared but knocked unconscious (though he was marked for death by the Warpriest via his encounter power granted by The Raven Queen).
After they dealt with the kobolds, they searched them (finding two healing potions), and just before the Warpriest smashed the symbol of Tiamat, the Wizard stopped him, saying it was magical. It was a Symbol of Battle, and the Warpriest took ten minutes to attune it away from Tiamat, and to The Raven Queen (two successful Religion checks); it even had the symbol of The Raven Queen on it now. The Wizard used a ritual to rearrange everyone's healing surges, and the Fighter used his Heal skill to wake up the priest (while the Scout stayed on lookout). They questioned the priest (successful Intimidate), learning that most of the kobolds were killed by the death knight (who threatened to kill anyone who interrupted their "sleep"), as well as another kobold who showed up with two large dogs to attack them (a callback to the first session). Some others were told to retreat to a fortress by Bazzalth (the young white dragon), and the only remaining kobolds had just been killed. They found out that Bazzalth was in the throne room, and that the path to Yone was blocked by ice, but could be melted by powerful fire magic (which happens to be the Wizard's only daily power). The Warpriest then killed the kobold.
They started to move on, but were attacked by an undead assassin from the room they had just left (with the pile of bodies and the portal to the Shadowfell had been closed). They felt an aura of Vecna suddenly in the room, too. They moved in to engage the assassin, and were surprised to find there was another one hiding. They were both level 6 elite lurkers, with a recharge ability that allowed them to attempt to teleport and trade places when hit with a non-Will attack, redirecting the attack to someone else. They also both used an ability to hit the Wizard / Warpriest with an encounter ability, draining a healing surge and giving a death strike to them (this did not make the Warpriest happy). While annoying, the party actually locked them down pretty well. Only the Warpriest dropped, and that was because they focused on him (one said "he has the Truth" early on, referencing the First Truth that he had just learned that Vecna apparently has plans for).
They quickly searched the assassins and left the room. They found a rapier that seemed to appear as if from nowhere (a Hidden Weapon) on one of the assassins, and the Scout took it with permission. After taking another short rest in the stairway, they debated if they should go for the dragon or for Yone, and opted for the dragon first. They made their way to the throne room, and slowly spread out, approaching the dragon (who just watched them from its perch on the frost giant throne). When they were spread out enough, they decided to attack (without talking), and we rolled initiative.
The dragon was homebrew (as all but one monster has been), but was strongly inspired by the Blizzard Dragon (I think), and had an aura that would build up before hurting them (sliding them in the meantime). It was a level 6 solo soldier, and this was a great fight. It also had a fear aura (-1 attacks/saves, save ends, but each save increased the penalty by 1... the Warpriest got down to -4 at one point, while the Wizard hit -6). Everyone but the Fighter dropped (multiple times each). They started off strong (dailies / encounter powers), but as time wore on, they started feeling the pressure more and more. The Warpriest and Wizard ended up with two death strikes, and the Scout had one. Towards the end, they were looking pretty, but a strategic use of flight, claw/bite, and action point claw/bite ended up dropping the Wizard, Priest, and Scout in one round, leaving only the Fighter against the dragon. He moved to the party (it missed his AC on the OA, which is 25 at level 4!), gave a healing potion to the Warpriest to bring him up, and used his Heal skill to bring up the Wizard (she would have missed her next death save, too -we rolled to find out). This rallied the party (the Warpriest brought the Scout up with a healing power), and while things weren't easy, the Fighter finally killed the dragon (yelling "for my clan!" as he dealt the killing blow).
The party sighed some relief, and decided to try to wait for near eighteen hours for another extended rest (twelve hours plus six for the rest). While waiting, they searched the treasure in the corner, and collected 2,500 gold pieces, 6,300 silver pieces, 4 gemstones, and a bag of holding (which they were happy to finally have). The Scout used a successful Nature check to harvest good dragon scales from the body (he has the Master Artisan martial practice, and wants to look into making dragonscale armor). The dwarf had the Scout fashion the dragon horns into something wearable, so he could display his triumph. While waiting, however, the room started to get colder and colder, and I called for Endurance checks before they finished their extended rest. The Scout used his Survivor's Preparation martial practice, keeping everyone warm and ignoring the Endurance checks. I let them finish their extended rest.
Afterwards, they moved on to Yone, the Winter Spirit Guardian. They found it on top of an open platform, along with the Winter Shard, which was responsible for the blizzard-like weather it was creating for miles and miles around. The briefly tried to talk it into stopping, and while it said it wished it could (and expressed it's great reverence to The Raven Queen), it had to obey its last order. With that, they engaged it in combat.
Yone was a level 5 solo artillery, and the Winter Shard was a level 5 elite controller. The two could push / pull, immobilize the PCs (save ends, with a failed save petrifying them, though save ends still), etc. They destroyed the shard pretty quickly, leaving Yone without as much control. Though they kept getting petrified and a few people dropped, the Fighter shoved Yone off a ledge, the elemental hit another ledge about ten feet lower. Before Yone could climb back up, the Scout was able to charge it, hitting it with his dual-wielded weapons, banishing Yone.
Eoh, the Earth Spirit Guardian, rose out of the ground, announcing that it had suppressed much of Yone's power (which they knew something like that would happen after defeating Eoh). He retrieved the Winter Shard, did something to it, and then Yone stepped out of the Winter Shard. Both began to speak at length with the genasi Wizard in primordial. They both offered to help the PCs; Eoh offered to leave some earth elementals to shuttle them up/down the mountain for whenever they wanted to come to the frost giant castle, and Yone offered to leave some elementals to activate the cold-dependent frost giant defenses. The party happily accepted, and plan to use the frost giant castle as a base of operations when convenient. Eoh then offered to take the party to the monastery of Kord, which they accepted.
Eoh dragged them into the ground, reemerging at the monastery. They were spotted and taken inside. Atha, the master of the monastery, spoke briefly with Eoh in primordial, and then asked them what happened. They filled him in, though left out why Dawn was gone. He was happy they had succeeded, giving them the promised payment (230 gold and 4 gemstones, which paled in comparison to the young dragon's hoard). He also gave the Wizard access to the Object Reading ritual from his library, which she was happy about. Atha said he would teach strength techniques to the scout (martial practice: Uncanny Strength), and said he could teach him grace, too, if he was willing to pay 100 gold pieces (martial practice: Reliable Balance). He gave three "potions" to the Warpriest, but the Wizard quickly identified them as alchemy (Corpsebursters). Lastly, he led the PCs to a small tomb, where he presented the dwarven Fighter with a casket; it was the corpse of Prince Borrick Cloudforge. Atha said that the dwarven armor that the Fighter wore (that he had been awarded by Atha) was related, but did not say how. Atha said that the Cloudforge clan, deep in the earth, would be very grateful to see their fallen prince's body returned (the Warpriest, a mul [surface dwarf in my campaign], said "very grateful" solemnly at that). The dwarf said he wanted to return the body, and while Atha nodded, he warned that showing up in dwarven culture while in ancestral dwarven armor as an exile would likely cause him problems. The dwarf nodded, but has plans to return the body regardless.
With that, we called session. They also leveled up to 5, though we didn't handle that yet.[/sblock]
Okay, there are a lot of thoughts I have on it, and other specifics, but I have to sleep. Sorry for the rambling post; I hope a couple of you enjoy it
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JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Off to work, but side note: the new player (who is a staple from my other group, and a close friend) had a lot of fun, and sees no problem with playing 4e.
Manbearcat
Legend
Welcome back. Sounds like your motley crew had a nice climactic finish to your Frost Giant Citadel storming.
One suggestion for a shared quest between the Scout and the Warpriest:
The Warpriest starts seeing a Mark of the Raven Queen on various parties (perhaps on horribly ruined bodies) that is different than the typical "Marked For Death/Life." Its a mystery what it means. Simultaneously, the Scout begins hearing those same indistinct whispers (that it heard when faced with the Mindflayer in its background) in the presence of the same parties. This is somehow associated with some terrible, unknowable thing from The Far Realm. Perhaps something that is going to undo the natural cycle of life and death. Something that is going to transcend life/death and...change the world.
These two were meant to be together. One to see. One to hear. Perhaps the other two are involved somehow as well.
One suggestion for a shared quest between the Scout and the Warpriest:
The Warpriest starts seeing a Mark of the Raven Queen on various parties (perhaps on horribly ruined bodies) that is different than the typical "Marked For Death/Life." Its a mystery what it means. Simultaneously, the Scout begins hearing those same indistinct whispers (that it heard when faced with the Mindflayer in its background) in the presence of the same parties. This is somehow associated with some terrible, unknowable thing from The Far Realm. Perhaps something that is going to undo the natural cycle of life and death. Something that is going to transcend life/death and...change the world.
These two were meant to be together. One to see. One to hear. Perhaps the other two are involved somehow as well.
Quickleaf
Legend
That's great to hear
Wait a second...*reading over adventure summary*...you started with an impossible decision, then a TPK against a vastly overpowered enemy, then a mysterious resurrection, you captured a PC whose player wasn't there...and that was all before you sent them up against kobolds, a dragon, and a spirit of elemental winter?!?
I must be DMing too soft.
Nah just kidding, rock on
JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Awesome. Just awesome. That'll be a nice start towards a transition towards Paragon, and the broader scope of things they'll need to deal with. Thanks for the awesome suggestion. Now to see if I can find a fun Alternative item for the Scout to use in relation to this development.
(Side note: He did start cursing at the dragon in Deep Speech by the end of the fight, simply out of stress. That was fun for him.)
JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Haha. They could have abandoned the Monk, but decided they'd rather die fighting as a party (which is very cool with me). They didn't really stand a chance, and I kind of used blunt force to transition the party with the player swap, but they took it in stride. It can always go bad pretty quickly if the players object to momentary rails, no matter how momentary. Luckily, they understood why I was doing it.That's great to hear
Wait a second...*reading over adventure summary*...you started with an impossible decision, then a TPK against a vastly overpowered enemy, then a mysterious resurrection, you captured a PC whose player wasn't there...and that was all before you sent them up against kobolds, a dragon, and a spirit of elemental winter?!?
I must be DMing too soft.
Nah just kidding, rock on
The dragon fight was epic, though. Super glad I asked for advice from you guys. You've all been so helpful
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