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A Farewell to 3E (parts 1-3) - REVISED with Part 3!
- Thread starter MerricB
- Start date
The first encounter of our final 3.5e session had taken a little over an hour, I think, although with the confusion of people arriving and just greeting each other, it might not have been that long. Perhaps more to the point, the combat had only just reached its 5th round. The Ogres and Blasphemes got to act twice each; old father Copperleaf had four actions in all. By the dint of the daze effect of the Blasphemes, I'd dropped Greg down to two actions in the entire combat, but I was sure he'd make up for it in the future. He didn't disappoint.
3rd Edition: Combinations and Specialisations
One the most glorious things about 3rd edition D&D has been the breadth of scope it has given the players as regards to their characters. I am a big fan of allowing the conception of the character to be reflected in the mechanical underpinnings of the game. Although in previous editions, we were fairly content to play the part given to us, as time has gone on the game has allowed more and more styles of characters to be constructed.
Strangely enough, and despite the fears of Gary Gygax, 3rd edition multiclassing did not lead to the advent of the one-man-band "supercharacter". Instead, 3rd edition rewarded specialisation. Characters might be built out of many parts, but those parts would be chosen very carefully by the players so that they achieved the ultimate goal; and that normally was a very specialist one!
EN World's Piratecat one described me as an "early adopter", in that I was normally one of the first to not only buy a new 3e book, but to integrate it into my campaigns. That was definitely been the case for this campaign, and my players aided me in it wholeheartedly. Consider...
Sarah was playing a Fochluchan Lyrist (from Complete Adventurer) with druid shapeshifting (from PHB2).
Greg was playing an Incarnate (from Magic of Incarnum)
Adam was playing a Dwarf Soulknife/Illumine Soul (from the Expanded Psionics Handbook and Complete Psionic), with feats from Races of Stone and Player's Handbook II
Nathaniel was playing a Knight (from PHB2) with manuevers from Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords.
The final session included monsters from Monster Manual I and Monster Manual V.
The variety of experience was astounding. And, mostly, it all hung together.
The problem with all of this variety came from the specific combinations of powers that made the specialist so much more effective than the generalist. Sarah's Fochluchan Lyrist was not a bad character by any means, but took a back seat to the other characters when combat came along. And some of the problems with 3e were fundamental to the system; issues that could not be fixed without pulling everything down and relaying the foundations. More on that later!
The Second Encounter: The Tender Wings of Fear
Upon the party's return to the upper world, I joked that they'd been down there for months (which is how long it'd taken us to play all the sessions of their exploration). Note to the wise: if you write a maze to confuse and confound your players, expect them to be confused and confounded!
Sarah pointed out that they'd been in an outpost of Chaos, so it was entirely possible that they had been down there for months. It'd certainly explain how the armies of Ulek and the Fhoi Myore had managed to reach this outlying spur of the Principality of Ulek. Every so often you have to go with the theme of the thing rather than looking too closely for explanations. This was the final session, and it was going to be a big one!
Enter plot explositors A & B, otherwise known as Countess "Penny" and Lady Caitlin, who explained to the party that they (and the armies of Ulek) had driven the Fhoi Myore up to this sacred site, where they hoped to trap the Fhoi Myore in great stone rings... also, it seemed that the planar boundaries were thinner here. Whatever Daddy Dearest had been doing in the labyrinth below, it can't have been good, and stopping it could only give the good guys an advantage, right?
Just to add an extra detail into the ongoing story of Ulek, I announced that the Countess was now betrothed to one of the scions of the Keoish royal house. As expected, Willem didn't take it at all well. I'd first introduced "Penny" into the campaign in its original incarnation, and both Sarah and Nathaniel had lots of good memories of the roguish Penny, then a young girl, getting into all sorts of trouble. Now her guardian (the Count) was dead and she was the Countess... a lot of things were coming to their fruition.
Instructed to harry the Fhoi Myore army where they saw fit, the group headed on out into the forest. There they discovered a lot of soldiers - friendly soldiers - retreating from something further into the forest. As they feared no fear, they headed further in to discover a pair of human mercenaries - highly trained mercenaries (hum Ftr 16) - and a flock of four Blackwings.
What's a Blackwing? It's an undead vulture from MMV that has a fear attack when it dives or screams. Of course, this was a high-level party and they'd all had Heroes' Feast for breakfast, so goodbye fear effects.
Honestly, this didn't bother me so much. The Blackwings were fairly weak in the first place - especially compared to this party - and the main purpose of the next two encounters was not to be really, really challenging but instead to allow the players to revel in being 16th level characters! It worked, of course. (What bothers me more is how a lot of 3e combat, especially with fear effects, becomes a binary affair. Either you've got the protection, or you're in trouble. I rather hope 4e can fix that problem).
One of the best purchases I've made have been the D&D Dungeon Tiles set "Ruins of the Wild". I really hope we get another of them at some point, because wilderness maps are tricky. I have two sets, and for these final encounters I just shuffled the tiles around to form the battlemats. You'll also notice if you look closely that the enemy don't look much like undead vultures - rather more like a dragonne and some giant bats. A misconception about D&D Miniatures is that its about getting the right miniatures. No, it's about getting a lot of miniatures, of which many will be close enough to the monsters you want to portray. Getting the right miniature - like the Mounted Paladin mini for Nate's character - is just a bonus.
Undead creatures make the cleric cohort and Adam (who, as an Illumine Soul, has special anti-undead powers) very happy. This combat really didn't take very long at all - just reaching the third round - but that's ok. The Blackwings won initiative, made their initial attacks (mostly ineffective), and then went "poof" into clouds of dust as Quickened Turn Undead made short work of them. The mercenaries were made of sterner stuff.
Just not much sterner.
I think I also made the mistake of moving the mercenaries up in one turn and not attacking with them. Ragnagor and Willem did quite a bit of damage to them as a result, and I don't think they inflicted much in return. Adam's Ragnagor got the last blow in, and the second encounter was over - in just over two rounds! The party rejoiced and moved further in...
3rd Edition: Combinations and Specialisations
One the most glorious things about 3rd edition D&D has been the breadth of scope it has given the players as regards to their characters. I am a big fan of allowing the conception of the character to be reflected in the mechanical underpinnings of the game. Although in previous editions, we were fairly content to play the part given to us, as time has gone on the game has allowed more and more styles of characters to be constructed.
Strangely enough, and despite the fears of Gary Gygax, 3rd edition multiclassing did not lead to the advent of the one-man-band "supercharacter". Instead, 3rd edition rewarded specialisation. Characters might be built out of many parts, but those parts would be chosen very carefully by the players so that they achieved the ultimate goal; and that normally was a very specialist one!
EN World's Piratecat one described me as an "early adopter", in that I was normally one of the first to not only buy a new 3e book, but to integrate it into my campaigns. That was definitely been the case for this campaign, and my players aided me in it wholeheartedly. Consider...
Sarah was playing a Fochluchan Lyrist (from Complete Adventurer) with druid shapeshifting (from PHB2).
Greg was playing an Incarnate (from Magic of Incarnum)
Adam was playing a Dwarf Soulknife/Illumine Soul (from the Expanded Psionics Handbook and Complete Psionic), with feats from Races of Stone and Player's Handbook II
Nathaniel was playing a Knight (from PHB2) with manuevers from Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords.
The final session included monsters from Monster Manual I and Monster Manual V.
The variety of experience was astounding. And, mostly, it all hung together.
The problem with all of this variety came from the specific combinations of powers that made the specialist so much more effective than the generalist. Sarah's Fochluchan Lyrist was not a bad character by any means, but took a back seat to the other characters when combat came along. And some of the problems with 3e were fundamental to the system; issues that could not be fixed without pulling everything down and relaying the foundations. More on that later!
The Second Encounter: The Tender Wings of Fear
Upon the party's return to the upper world, I joked that they'd been down there for months (which is how long it'd taken us to play all the sessions of their exploration). Note to the wise: if you write a maze to confuse and confound your players, expect them to be confused and confounded!
Sarah pointed out that they'd been in an outpost of Chaos, so it was entirely possible that they had been down there for months. It'd certainly explain how the armies of Ulek and the Fhoi Myore had managed to reach this outlying spur of the Principality of Ulek. Every so often you have to go with the theme of the thing rather than looking too closely for explanations. This was the final session, and it was going to be a big one!
Enter plot explositors A & B, otherwise known as Countess "Penny" and Lady Caitlin, who explained to the party that they (and the armies of Ulek) had driven the Fhoi Myore up to this sacred site, where they hoped to trap the Fhoi Myore in great stone rings... also, it seemed that the planar boundaries were thinner here. Whatever Daddy Dearest had been doing in the labyrinth below, it can't have been good, and stopping it could only give the good guys an advantage, right?
Just to add an extra detail into the ongoing story of Ulek, I announced that the Countess was now betrothed to one of the scions of the Keoish royal house. As expected, Willem didn't take it at all well. I'd first introduced "Penny" into the campaign in its original incarnation, and both Sarah and Nathaniel had lots of good memories of the roguish Penny, then a young girl, getting into all sorts of trouble. Now her guardian (the Count) was dead and she was the Countess... a lot of things were coming to their fruition.
Instructed to harry the Fhoi Myore army where they saw fit, the group headed on out into the forest. There they discovered a lot of soldiers - friendly soldiers - retreating from something further into the forest. As they feared no fear, they headed further in to discover a pair of human mercenaries - highly trained mercenaries (hum Ftr 16) - and a flock of four Blackwings.
What's a Blackwing? It's an undead vulture from MMV that has a fear attack when it dives or screams. Of course, this was a high-level party and they'd all had Heroes' Feast for breakfast, so goodbye fear effects.
Honestly, this didn't bother me so much. The Blackwings were fairly weak in the first place - especially compared to this party - and the main purpose of the next two encounters was not to be really, really challenging but instead to allow the players to revel in being 16th level characters! It worked, of course. (What bothers me more is how a lot of 3e combat, especially with fear effects, becomes a binary affair. Either you've got the protection, or you're in trouble. I rather hope 4e can fix that problem).
One of the best purchases I've made have been the D&D Dungeon Tiles set "Ruins of the Wild". I really hope we get another of them at some point, because wilderness maps are tricky. I have two sets, and for these final encounters I just shuffled the tiles around to form the battlemats. You'll also notice if you look closely that the enemy don't look much like undead vultures - rather more like a dragonne and some giant bats. A misconception about D&D Miniatures is that its about getting the right miniatures. No, it's about getting a lot of miniatures, of which many will be close enough to the monsters you want to portray. Getting the right miniature - like the Mounted Paladin mini for Nate's character - is just a bonus.
Undead creatures make the cleric cohort and Adam (who, as an Illumine Soul, has special anti-undead powers) very happy. This combat really didn't take very long at all - just reaching the third round - but that's ok. The Blackwings won initiative, made their initial attacks (mostly ineffective), and then went "poof" into clouds of dust as Quickened Turn Undead made short work of them. The mercenaries were made of sterner stuff.
Just not much sterner.
I think I also made the mistake of moving the mercenaries up in one turn and not attacking with them. Ragnagor and Willem did quite a bit of damage to them as a result, and I don't think they inflicted much in return. Adam's Ragnagor got the last blow in, and the second encounter was over - in just over two rounds! The party rejoiced and moved further in...
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Mark said:Sorry to inform you, clone, but it is Adam leading a double life. Unfortunately, now that you have discovered the secret . . .
omg my clone is rolling my dice, ill kill him!!!
on another note, i kindof have a soft spot for that movie. silly i know.
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The second encounter of this final D&D 3.5e session hadn't taken much time at all, and it looked like the same would be true of the third. This wasn't a session with a lot of roleplaying and exploration it; it was all about resolutions. Things I'd set up years before were finally playing out in their final form.
One of the really nice things about long campaigns - and it was certainly true of this one - is that events that happened in the past continued to have a relevance in the present. I was able to have recurring villains that the players loved to hate... an essential part of a good story; rather than merely a good game.
Of course, not every session was great, especially towards the end of the game as I began to get conflicted between telling the story and prolonging things so (a) 4e could come out or (b) PCs could hit 20th level. In the end, I chose to finish it in one glorious burst rather than artificially prolong its existence, and I'm glad I did.
Encounter the Third: Fomorians, Winter Wolves and a Priest of Chaos
Players of D&D with a certain level of knowledge of the game will notice the incongruous addition of Winter Wolves to the encounter list above. No, they weren't advanced. Just two regular Winter Wolves that weren't even worth experience points to this party. However, they served a couple of purposes.
First, they flagged what was to come in the final encounter (Kerenos and his hounds), and second they were something that the group could lord it over. The fact that I really like their miniature doesn't hurt, either!
Fomorian giants have long been one of my favourite monsters and they have a pretty nifty 3rd edition incarnation as well. They're really fun because they have this ability called Trample that will deal damage even to characters as insanely armoured as Nate and Adam. I think Adam's character Ragnagor had an AC around 45 or even higher during this encounter. Giants vs Dwarf, don't you know?
They're also part of the background mythology of this campaign (Fhoi Myore = Fomorian); the idea was that in the original invasion of the Fhoi Myore (oh, 3000 or more years ago), they'd possessed a race of giants. Being completely inimical to the realm, as they were creatures of Chaos, they twisted and deformed the giants. After they were banished, their former hosts bred true as twisted mockeries of their former selves - the Fomorians. Was I happy when DDM put Fomorian giants in their first huge set? You bet I was!
So the encounter began. Willem won initiative, and charged off on his horse to engage the lead Fomorian. The rest of the giants then acted, and moved into trample and otherwise engage the party. The fight was on!
If you look carefully at the photo just above, you'll find the miniature of the evil priest at the centre bottom. A little way up from him is Greg's character, Abigail. (Why a half-orc miniature? Poor charisma, and Greg wanted Abigail to be intimidating!) Throughout a great deal of the campaign, Abigail had melded some Airstep Sandals which allowed him to fly for greater and greater distances during combat - he needed to be on the ground at the end of his move, but they happily allowed him to ignore all the features of the terrain that were otherwise giving the party trouble (especially during the times they were fighting in the snow... watching a 15' speed halfling trying to move in heavy snow is just amusing).
Sarah's PC Lavena had her glowing triumph this combat as she nimbly Evaded all the attempts of the Fomorians to trample her (the less said about Ragnagor's efforts the better) and managed to Hold Monster one of the Fomorians which Johanna (Greg's cohort) promptly put out its misery. Coup de Grace, however you want to pronounce it, is a very useful ability.
The evil cleric did manage to Flame Strike the party a couple of times before Greg got up to it. This led to this memorable (if ficticious) exchange... ok, the facts were different from how I remember it, but the intent was true:
Me: "Ok, that flame strike hits those of you who failed the save for 43 damage, those of you who made it for 21 damage, and Sarah for nothing."
Greg: "I think the Wizard's in trouble."
Me: "What's her hit points?"
Greg: "Negative 42!"
Hmm... running around a battlefield on 1 hp; no wonder! In any case, the cleric stepped in with a Revivify and all was well again.
Healing was a funny thing during this campaign. Wands of Cure Light Wounds were everywhere, but Greg's Incarnate also had an ability that allowed him to heal each character once per hour - he took half the damage he healed, and it had a cap on it, but Greg healed better than everyone else due to another incarnate power - a wand of cure light wounds healed Greg for something like 1d8+14 hp at the end of the campaign!
As we got towards 4e, I began bringing in house rules - in particular the new Death and Dying rules. Greg actually managed to take advantage of those during this last session, rolling a natural 20 to recover and get back into the battle. That's just cool.
However, in the very last session, Greg had finally reached the point where he could heal at will... and the Cleric had the reserve feat that allowed her to heal everyone up to half hit points for free (given enough time). So, all that was needed after each of these battles was to heal 50 hp on Greg. Eep. Four charges of a cure light wounds wand to heal the entire party? This actually wasn't a problem for me - it's the action that I'm interested in, and long periods of recovery aren't periods of action.
The Fomorians weren't really having that much luck hitting Willem, and the two that were attacking the rest of the party were having a horrible time of it. Sarah was also trying to line herself up to give a War-Cry enhanced charge... and she just couldn't do it. Poor thing.
Eventually, the PCs dealt with the giants and the wolves, and closed in on the priest, who'd thoughtfully moved behind a tree so that Willem and Lavena couldn't charge him. A couple of big blows, and that was that for the cleric. Party 3, Fhoi Myore 0!
Lavena is in her cat form above. The priest was very dead.
This encounter had lasted just into the fifth round: the Winter Wolves had lasted 2 rounds, the Fomorians three. It was the priest who managed to survive just that little bit longer! It was now time for a little roleplaying and exposition just before the final encounter of the entire campaign; I'll deal with that in my next entry.
One of the really nice things about long campaigns - and it was certainly true of this one - is that events that happened in the past continued to have a relevance in the present. I was able to have recurring villains that the players loved to hate... an essential part of a good story; rather than merely a good game.
Of course, not every session was great, especially towards the end of the game as I began to get conflicted between telling the story and prolonging things so (a) 4e could come out or (b) PCs could hit 20th level. In the end, I chose to finish it in one glorious burst rather than artificially prolong its existence, and I'm glad I did.
Encounter the Third: Fomorians, Winter Wolves and a Priest of Chaos
Players of D&D with a certain level of knowledge of the game will notice the incongruous addition of Winter Wolves to the encounter list above. No, they weren't advanced. Just two regular Winter Wolves that weren't even worth experience points to this party. However, they served a couple of purposes.
First, they flagged what was to come in the final encounter (Kerenos and his hounds), and second they were something that the group could lord it over. The fact that I really like their miniature doesn't hurt, either!
Fomorian giants have long been one of my favourite monsters and they have a pretty nifty 3rd edition incarnation as well. They're really fun because they have this ability called Trample that will deal damage even to characters as insanely armoured as Nate and Adam. I think Adam's character Ragnagor had an AC around 45 or even higher during this encounter. Giants vs Dwarf, don't you know?
They're also part of the background mythology of this campaign (Fhoi Myore = Fomorian); the idea was that in the original invasion of the Fhoi Myore (oh, 3000 or more years ago), they'd possessed a race of giants. Being completely inimical to the realm, as they were creatures of Chaos, they twisted and deformed the giants. After they were banished, their former hosts bred true as twisted mockeries of their former selves - the Fomorians. Was I happy when DDM put Fomorian giants in their first huge set? You bet I was!
So the encounter began. Willem won initiative, and charged off on his horse to engage the lead Fomorian. The rest of the giants then acted, and moved into trample and otherwise engage the party. The fight was on!
If you look carefully at the photo just above, you'll find the miniature of the evil priest at the centre bottom. A little way up from him is Greg's character, Abigail. (Why a half-orc miniature? Poor charisma, and Greg wanted Abigail to be intimidating!) Throughout a great deal of the campaign, Abigail had melded some Airstep Sandals which allowed him to fly for greater and greater distances during combat - he needed to be on the ground at the end of his move, but they happily allowed him to ignore all the features of the terrain that were otherwise giving the party trouble (especially during the times they were fighting in the snow... watching a 15' speed halfling trying to move in heavy snow is just amusing).
Sarah's PC Lavena had her glowing triumph this combat as she nimbly Evaded all the attempts of the Fomorians to trample her (the less said about Ragnagor's efforts the better) and managed to Hold Monster one of the Fomorians which Johanna (Greg's cohort) promptly put out its misery. Coup de Grace, however you want to pronounce it, is a very useful ability.
The evil cleric did manage to Flame Strike the party a couple of times before Greg got up to it. This led to this memorable (if ficticious) exchange... ok, the facts were different from how I remember it, but the intent was true:
Me: "Ok, that flame strike hits those of you who failed the save for 43 damage, those of you who made it for 21 damage, and Sarah for nothing."
Greg: "I think the Wizard's in trouble."
Me: "What's her hit points?"
Greg: "Negative 42!"
Hmm... running around a battlefield on 1 hp; no wonder! In any case, the cleric stepped in with a Revivify and all was well again.
Healing was a funny thing during this campaign. Wands of Cure Light Wounds were everywhere, but Greg's Incarnate also had an ability that allowed him to heal each character once per hour - he took half the damage he healed, and it had a cap on it, but Greg healed better than everyone else due to another incarnate power - a wand of cure light wounds healed Greg for something like 1d8+14 hp at the end of the campaign!
As we got towards 4e, I began bringing in house rules - in particular the new Death and Dying rules. Greg actually managed to take advantage of those during this last session, rolling a natural 20 to recover and get back into the battle. That's just cool.
However, in the very last session, Greg had finally reached the point where he could heal at will... and the Cleric had the reserve feat that allowed her to heal everyone up to half hit points for free (given enough time). So, all that was needed after each of these battles was to heal 50 hp on Greg. Eep. Four charges of a cure light wounds wand to heal the entire party? This actually wasn't a problem for me - it's the action that I'm interested in, and long periods of recovery aren't periods of action.
The Fomorians weren't really having that much luck hitting Willem, and the two that were attacking the rest of the party were having a horrible time of it. Sarah was also trying to line herself up to give a War-Cry enhanced charge... and she just couldn't do it. Poor thing.
Eventually, the PCs dealt with the giants and the wolves, and closed in on the priest, who'd thoughtfully moved behind a tree so that Willem and Lavena couldn't charge him. A couple of big blows, and that was that for the cleric. Party 3, Fhoi Myore 0!
Lavena is in her cat form above. The priest was very dead.
This encounter had lasted just into the fifth round: the Winter Wolves had lasted 2 rounds, the Fomorians three. It was the priest who managed to survive just that little bit longer! It was now time for a little roleplaying and exposition just before the final encounter of the entire campaign; I'll deal with that in my next entry.
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