BendBars/LiftGates
First Post
My group ran through their first 4e combat last night. It was kind of hectic, since we were also experimenting with Map Tool and were doing it all through the chat window rather than with a voice chat program.
Level 6 party of a fey warlock, a fighter, a wizard (cleric), and an archery ranger, plus a level 6 NPC fighter, versus:
1 Orc Eye of Gruumsh
1 Dire Wolf
2 Orc Berzerkers
6 Orc Drudges
I expected this to be kind of tough for them, but they nearly wiped the floor with the orcs. Part of this was due to their terrain (yay! terrain is meaningful!), where they took a defensive stand and established a front line at the top of a rubbly slope. The orcs had to bunch up on the difficult terrain, with the result that they were almost all stuck grouped together, stationary, during the wizard's turn. One fireball killed 5 of the minions. The berzerkers were the nastiest bit, as one snuck around behind landed a critical hit. The fighter got bruised up pretty badly when the Eye's chaos word knocked him on his ass right next to his pet wolf, who of course gets bonus damage against prone targets.
I think they learned the lesson that:
1) Controllers eat minions for breakfast.
2) Strikers get quick results when they focus their firepower on enemy brutes, but at the expense of the poor defender who is left to take on all the rest of the monsters.
Level 6 party of a fey warlock, a fighter, a wizard (cleric), and an archery ranger, plus a level 6 NPC fighter, versus:
1 Orc Eye of Gruumsh
1 Dire Wolf
2 Orc Berzerkers
6 Orc Drudges
I expected this to be kind of tough for them, but they nearly wiped the floor with the orcs. Part of this was due to their terrain (yay! terrain is meaningful!), where they took a defensive stand and established a front line at the top of a rubbly slope. The orcs had to bunch up on the difficult terrain, with the result that they were almost all stuck grouped together, stationary, during the wizard's turn. One fireball killed 5 of the minions. The berzerkers were the nastiest bit, as one snuck around behind landed a critical hit. The fighter got bruised up pretty badly when the Eye's chaos word knocked him on his ass right next to his pet wolf, who of course gets bonus damage against prone targets.
I think they learned the lesson that:
1) Controllers eat minions for breakfast.
2) Strikers get quick results when they focus their firepower on enemy brutes, but at the expense of the poor defender who is left to take on all the rest of the monsters.
