So one of my regular gaming buddies and I decided we wanted to try out the rules. The problem: we're the only two people around. We decided to try it out anyway with me DMing and my friend going alone and see how 4E stacks up with a solo adventure.
Now, this was pretty short notice. As in, I had five minutes to think up an adventure before we started rolling dice short notice. Raiders from Oakhurst wasn't going to cut it in such a short time, far too much cutting down to do. I used the tomb map with some alterations, set my player on the path to the tomb with some orders to clear out the kobald infestation and let her go. I kept things simple: no real traps or skill challenges, more pure combat to test out the system.
I'll admit, I was nervous. I thought there'd be alot more work to do creating the adventure right that it wouldn't be feasable. What made me even more nervous was that my player picked out the Wizard pregen to use, since my experience with Wizards playing solo involved the PC getting squashed in short order. Still, I figured that we could always start over if something went catastrophically wrong.
I had the PC start at the top of a hill surveying the tomb from afar, easily spotting the kobald encampment just outside. The first surprise of the day was the Wizard's success at stealth, she was easily able to approach the Kobalds through the forest (rather than taking the path) and hitting in the surprise round, much to her delight. She magic missiled one on the surprise round then won inititive and killed another with yet another magic missile. The two remaining Kobalds then charged into the bushes but were unable to reach (thanks to Magic Missile's long range) and came too close together, being incinerated with a Scorching Burst.
The player's reaction was nothing short of ecstatic. She was on her feet cheering.
But she'd made quite a bit of noise, so she proceeded more cautiously toward the tomb. After some fussing about trying to work up a plan, she opened the double doors with mage hand and cast a light into the chamber but didn't have a proper angle to see into the room (she'd remained at the base of the stairs). Hearing some scuffling inside (the kobald minions inside rolled low for stealth), she decided to create the sound of someone walking up the stairs with ghost sound.
It took me a minute to eyeball how to resolve the bluff, then figured that, since she's using a spell, she could make an Int check vs. the Kobald's perception (since it's basically illusion and Insight would be the same anyway). Anyway, she succeeded and the Kobald Slinger's ambush was released prematurely along with his gluepot while the two Kobald Minions with him charged out of the room but failed to spot the Wizard (yet again) hiding behind the railing at the base of the stairs (thick, stone, railing). She scorched them but the Slinger moved up and used the door for cover (winning inititive) but his stinkpot missed wildly. The Wizard scortched him but nowhere near fatally.
Things got nasty when the Slinger hit with his firepot, dealing significant damage. The wizard missed with a return volley of magic missiles then ran deeper into cover and did the old stop, drop and roll to get the fire out. I gave her a +2 to her saving throw and she made it, leaving her Bloodied. The Slinger wasn't about to let her go, however, hopping up onto the railing above and firing down on her with another stinkpot, this one hitting.
It was all to no avail when she rolled a natural 20 for her next magic missile, leaving him with only a few hp left and bloodying him. The wizard then ran around the corner to hide and, intimidated, the Kobald took cover again behind the railing on the stairs, readying another firepot. After using her second wind, the Wizard peeked out from behind cover but the Kobald was waiting. He missed with the firepot due to her cover, though, while she blasted his head off with a final magic missile despite cover.
The wizard looted his body 'just in case'.
At this point, we made a few jokes about 'gunfight at the OK coral', but we were both on the edge of our seats. Technically, the encounter was over her head but a bit of ingenious thinking (not to mention that the Kobald Minions are really very weak) enabled her to split the group and prevail, though the 'gunfight' was close.
Another short rest, add an action point for the milestone.
Entering the tomb, the wizard discovered a second set of stairs that lead down and heard some chanting coming from below. Peering down, she saw the Kobald Wyrmpriest praying at a crude altar to Tiamat. Beating the priest's passive perception with her stealth check, she 'put the whammy on him good' using a force orb, then followed up by winning inititive and blasting him with magic missile. His return Energy Orb's +16 to hit (from Monsters and More found here on ENWorld) really shocked her. I think it's literally the first time a PC has told me 'I'm taking cover!' in panic and it being a good move.
She retuned fire with another magic missile and missed while the Kobald took a que off her and took cover at the base of the stairs. The tables turned when the wizard used her second wind, gaining a defense bonus as well as hp, and the Kobald missed his next attack between that and cover. The Wizard then used up an action point and hit him with Acid Arrow and Magic Missile, pulling him down to Bloodied. He returned the favor, dropping her down to bloodied with the next attack, but she replied by combining Infernal Wrath with Bloodhunt (effectively negating his cover) and a Magic Missile, finishing him off between it and ongoing acid damage.
Yet more Gunfight at the Ok coral jokes ensued. It was becoming a theme. Still, I haven't had a monster instil that much panic in a player for a very long time, I was a bit worried that the Wyrmprist was going to be too much but some smart thinking won my player through.
The hardest fight was yet to come and I think my player sensed it. The Wyrmpriest had been bad enough, so she took an extended rest to replenish which I was ok with. She'd also been low on Healing Surges.
Returning to the final door of the adventure, listening to hear 'ominous scraping noises', she used her mage hand trick again to open the door. Unfortunately, she lost inititive to the Skeleton Warrior, it charged out and took a swing at her and hit, bloodying her without a critical (I rolled max damage). What probably saved the Wizard's life was quick thinking. She shifted back, whipped out one of the Slinger's gluepots and hit the Skeleton with it. I ruled that it was a straight d20+dex mod roll - it was a long shot - but it paid off when she rolled a total of 19. Unloading with daily, encounter and anything else that she could (as well as using up second wind) finished off the Skeleton in the end, through it took three or four rounds to do it.
We both agreed that the skeleton could have killed her quite easily after that first attack (which was nasty), since by virtue of being a melee fighter it would have been harder to take cover against it. But the Wyrmpriest was probably nastier on paper, even if we both felt the Skeleton came closer to killing her, it had more luck with that first roll than the Wyrmpriest did in the entire fight.
The end result, my player wants to play again and I definitely want to play again. Though it was solo, which always makes the player think things through a bit more, I think that using tactics seems much more important from both sides of the DM screen. My player said that she liked the simplicity of things like cover, which she usually doesn't bother with in our regular games of 3.5. She also liked that she could be stealthy as the Wizard, which let her get the drop on the bad guys more times than not and attributed to much of her success in the game. I think it made her feel enabled where she hadn't back in 3.5. She also loved the minion fight at the beginning since it made her feel like a badass. We both agreed that the combat was faster and ran more smoothly leaving more time to think about strategy.
The only downside we hit was with saving throws. It took us both a bit to get used to them, I think mainly because they're a bit fiddly rules-wise. It took as a few minutes to get when they were used and when the effects that you were saving against applied and it wasn't that clear in the quickstart rules if an ongoing effect was applied before or after the save was made (I ruled before, I hope that was right, still have to check PHB Lite). It's definitely alot different to saving throws in previous editions particularly in feel.
One on one, monsters are a lot more challenging. This might be a side effect of the player choosing the wizard but even so, the Wyrmpriest would have given any PC a serious run for their money IMO, though my consistently low damage rolls gave the player some breathing space. Either it or the Skeleton could have easily taken the wizard out if she hadn't been smart about it which is certainly in line with what WOTC have been saying.
Soloing is still difficult with what we have now. I have a feeling that using higher level minions over standard monsters will be the way to go in 4E solo but even so. +16 to hit with 1d10+3 damage on the Wyrmpriest's Energy Orb, I almost hope that's a typo. It does make me worry that the Wyrmpriest's abilities put it a fair bit above the Skeleton Warrior despite the fact that they're the same level (based on the experience of the playtest). I can't say that the Skeleton had the advantage in Melee, since the Wizard's AC and Reflex defenses are both 15 and the Skeleton has +10 to hit with 1d8+2 damage.
Overall a very positive, very intense, experience.
Now, this was pretty short notice. As in, I had five minutes to think up an adventure before we started rolling dice short notice. Raiders from Oakhurst wasn't going to cut it in such a short time, far too much cutting down to do. I used the tomb map with some alterations, set my player on the path to the tomb with some orders to clear out the kobald infestation and let her go. I kept things simple: no real traps or skill challenges, more pure combat to test out the system.
I'll admit, I was nervous. I thought there'd be alot more work to do creating the adventure right that it wouldn't be feasable. What made me even more nervous was that my player picked out the Wizard pregen to use, since my experience with Wizards playing solo involved the PC getting squashed in short order. Still, I figured that we could always start over if something went catastrophically wrong.
I had the PC start at the top of a hill surveying the tomb from afar, easily spotting the kobald encampment just outside. The first surprise of the day was the Wizard's success at stealth, she was easily able to approach the Kobalds through the forest (rather than taking the path) and hitting in the surprise round, much to her delight. She magic missiled one on the surprise round then won inititive and killed another with yet another magic missile. The two remaining Kobalds then charged into the bushes but were unable to reach (thanks to Magic Missile's long range) and came too close together, being incinerated with a Scorching Burst.
The player's reaction was nothing short of ecstatic. She was on her feet cheering.
But she'd made quite a bit of noise, so she proceeded more cautiously toward the tomb. After some fussing about trying to work up a plan, she opened the double doors with mage hand and cast a light into the chamber but didn't have a proper angle to see into the room (she'd remained at the base of the stairs). Hearing some scuffling inside (the kobald minions inside rolled low for stealth), she decided to create the sound of someone walking up the stairs with ghost sound.
It took me a minute to eyeball how to resolve the bluff, then figured that, since she's using a spell, she could make an Int check vs. the Kobald's perception (since it's basically illusion and Insight would be the same anyway). Anyway, she succeeded and the Kobald Slinger's ambush was released prematurely along with his gluepot while the two Kobald Minions with him charged out of the room but failed to spot the Wizard (yet again) hiding behind the railing at the base of the stairs (thick, stone, railing). She scorched them but the Slinger moved up and used the door for cover (winning inititive) but his stinkpot missed wildly. The Wizard scortched him but nowhere near fatally.
Things got nasty when the Slinger hit with his firepot, dealing significant damage. The wizard missed with a return volley of magic missiles then ran deeper into cover and did the old stop, drop and roll to get the fire out. I gave her a +2 to her saving throw and she made it, leaving her Bloodied. The Slinger wasn't about to let her go, however, hopping up onto the railing above and firing down on her with another stinkpot, this one hitting.
It was all to no avail when she rolled a natural 20 for her next magic missile, leaving him with only a few hp left and bloodying him. The wizard then ran around the corner to hide and, intimidated, the Kobald took cover again behind the railing on the stairs, readying another firepot. After using her second wind, the Wizard peeked out from behind cover but the Kobald was waiting. He missed with the firepot due to her cover, though, while she blasted his head off with a final magic missile despite cover.
The wizard looted his body 'just in case'.
At this point, we made a few jokes about 'gunfight at the OK coral', but we were both on the edge of our seats. Technically, the encounter was over her head but a bit of ingenious thinking (not to mention that the Kobald Minions are really very weak) enabled her to split the group and prevail, though the 'gunfight' was close.
Another short rest, add an action point for the milestone.
Entering the tomb, the wizard discovered a second set of stairs that lead down and heard some chanting coming from below. Peering down, she saw the Kobald Wyrmpriest praying at a crude altar to Tiamat. Beating the priest's passive perception with her stealth check, she 'put the whammy on him good' using a force orb, then followed up by winning inititive and blasting him with magic missile. His return Energy Orb's +16 to hit (from Monsters and More found here on ENWorld) really shocked her. I think it's literally the first time a PC has told me 'I'm taking cover!' in panic and it being a good move.
She retuned fire with another magic missile and missed while the Kobald took a que off her and took cover at the base of the stairs. The tables turned when the wizard used her second wind, gaining a defense bonus as well as hp, and the Kobald missed his next attack between that and cover. The Wizard then used up an action point and hit him with Acid Arrow and Magic Missile, pulling him down to Bloodied. He returned the favor, dropping her down to bloodied with the next attack, but she replied by combining Infernal Wrath with Bloodhunt (effectively negating his cover) and a Magic Missile, finishing him off between it and ongoing acid damage.
Yet more Gunfight at the Ok coral jokes ensued. It was becoming a theme. Still, I haven't had a monster instil that much panic in a player for a very long time, I was a bit worried that the Wyrmprist was going to be too much but some smart thinking won my player through.
The hardest fight was yet to come and I think my player sensed it. The Wyrmpriest had been bad enough, so she took an extended rest to replenish which I was ok with. She'd also been low on Healing Surges.
Returning to the final door of the adventure, listening to hear 'ominous scraping noises', she used her mage hand trick again to open the door. Unfortunately, she lost inititive to the Skeleton Warrior, it charged out and took a swing at her and hit, bloodying her without a critical (I rolled max damage). What probably saved the Wizard's life was quick thinking. She shifted back, whipped out one of the Slinger's gluepots and hit the Skeleton with it. I ruled that it was a straight d20+dex mod roll - it was a long shot - but it paid off when she rolled a total of 19. Unloading with daily, encounter and anything else that she could (as well as using up second wind) finished off the Skeleton in the end, through it took three or four rounds to do it.
We both agreed that the skeleton could have killed her quite easily after that first attack (which was nasty), since by virtue of being a melee fighter it would have been harder to take cover against it. But the Wyrmpriest was probably nastier on paper, even if we both felt the Skeleton came closer to killing her, it had more luck with that first roll than the Wyrmpriest did in the entire fight.
The end result, my player wants to play again and I definitely want to play again. Though it was solo, which always makes the player think things through a bit more, I think that using tactics seems much more important from both sides of the DM screen. My player said that she liked the simplicity of things like cover, which she usually doesn't bother with in our regular games of 3.5. She also liked that she could be stealthy as the Wizard, which let her get the drop on the bad guys more times than not and attributed to much of her success in the game. I think it made her feel enabled where she hadn't back in 3.5. She also loved the minion fight at the beginning since it made her feel like a badass. We both agreed that the combat was faster and ran more smoothly leaving more time to think about strategy.
The only downside we hit was with saving throws. It took us both a bit to get used to them, I think mainly because they're a bit fiddly rules-wise. It took as a few minutes to get when they were used and when the effects that you were saving against applied and it wasn't that clear in the quickstart rules if an ongoing effect was applied before or after the save was made (I ruled before, I hope that was right, still have to check PHB Lite). It's definitely alot different to saving throws in previous editions particularly in feel.
One on one, monsters are a lot more challenging. This might be a side effect of the player choosing the wizard but even so, the Wyrmpriest would have given any PC a serious run for their money IMO, though my consistently low damage rolls gave the player some breathing space. Either it or the Skeleton could have easily taken the wizard out if she hadn't been smart about it which is certainly in line with what WOTC have been saying.
Soloing is still difficult with what we have now. I have a feeling that using higher level minions over standard monsters will be the way to go in 4E solo but even so. +16 to hit with 1d10+3 damage on the Wyrmpriest's Energy Orb, I almost hope that's a typo. It does make me worry that the Wyrmpriest's abilities put it a fair bit above the Skeleton Warrior despite the fact that they're the same level (based on the experience of the playtest). I can't say that the Skeleton had the advantage in Melee, since the Wizard's AC and Reflex defenses are both 15 and the Skeleton has +10 to hit with 1d8+2 damage.
Overall a very positive, very intense, experience.
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