[Age of Worms] Champion's Belt Thoughts

[Wolfwood2]

Don't read this is you want to be unspoiled for the Champion's Belt module in the Age of Worms adventure path.

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We finished Champion's Belt last Friday, and I have to say that we blew through every encounter. Most of the fights lasted about two rounds. The DM was pretty much running the bad guys as written, and he is definitely considering beefing up the opposition next adventure.

Plotwise it was a nice break from dungeon crawls. The interaction with the other teams, though limited, was fun. I only wish we could have gotten more interaction with Loras Raknym. We saw him at the big events but never got any one-on-one time or a chance to understand his personality. His motivations were inferred second-hand.

We took out the Apostle of Kyuss while exploring the sewers on the second day, so the final arena battle was an easy trot to victory over Auric's team. We exposed Loras in front of the crowd after our victory, but he had already gotten wise and fled.

At times it did seem a litte too easy. We have a five member + one cohort party. (Paladin, Psion, Ranger-archer, Cleric, Artificer, and the cohort is a fighter.) Buffed with Spell Compendium spells and artficier infusions (as we had the chance to be in the arena fights), the paladin and archer could each put out 70+ points of damage per round. In fact, my paladin broke 100 points of damage on one charge for the first time during the final battle. (Not a critical, just 5 points of power attack and a smite while charging with a lance for triple damage.)

This may drop back to saner levels once we can no longer blow all our buff spells for one battle. Though the big undead worm still went down in two rounds, and we weren't all that buffed.

We actually managed not to kill Auric because the psion Dominated him into surrendering. Not that he was grateful, as he seized upon our 'cheating' (only cheating in his mind and not per the referees) as his justification to himself why he lost.

Currently there's some internal debate about whether we should give Ekaym the 10,000 gp it will take to Resurrect his sister. One the one hand we want to be nice, but on the other why should he get his sister back over any of the other folks who died during all this?

Anyone on this board played through Champion's Belt? Were the fights as easy for you?

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Well

My players had a much harder time in the Champion's Belt.

They never found the Ulgurstasta underground , and had to fight it in the arena.

prior to that, their tank was killed by the Froghemoth (a truly nasty fight -- it has an insane grapple check).

In the arena, the ulgurstasta managed to eat auric, and you know what happens after that. My PCs were lucky to get out alive.

But then, I'm a rat bastard DM.

Ken

 

[Deekin]

I was running it in eberron, and Ended with a TPK vs the Cleric. The players broke in via the ooze tunnel, but the undead held them off long enough for the cleric to ready and fully buff himself. It didn't help that our party was a rouge/figher/swashbuckler, a telepath, an Executor (From Iron Heros), and a feral mintaour thrall.

 

[Wolfwood2]

I was running it in eberron, and Ended with a TPK vs the Cleric. The players broke in via the ooze tunnel, but the undead held them off long enough for the cleric to ready and fully buff himself. It didn't help that our party was a rouge/figher/swashbuckler, a telepath, an Executor (From Iron Heros), and a feral mintaour thrall.

When we hit the cleric, he ran out and promptly got grappled by the psion's Astral Construct. Complete shut-down. He got the chance to cast one Blindness spell, which didn't succeed. (He had an anti-life shell up, but it doesn't work on astral constructs.)

To be fair, we were getting a lot of lucky rolls that night. The party swept through the ghasts, the oozes, and then the Spawn + Morgh without taking a point of damage. When the cleric released the Apostle before he died, we were down only some spells and power points.

 

[Testament]

Enjoy the cruise while it lasts. I mean it. From this point on AoW shifts into turbo gear and gets DEADLY. I've got a party of powergamers who shredded The Champion's Belt, but the next few parts have left them near begging for mercy.

Spire of Long Shadows in particular is a hellish meat-grinder.

 

[Bagpuss]

Our group had an odd time with the Champions Belt.

First of it seemed clear that the enemy would know if we entered the tournament and could easily stack it against us as he was in charge of it so that was one reason not to enter it.

Second we had a Paladin in the party who could not justify entering a blood sport, where there was a real risk of killing someone just for the entertainment of the masses.

So we never entered the tournament and instead managed to sneak into the underground complex via waterbreathing through the river.

We tackled all the undead stuff that you should have met after levelling up first. It also didn't help that our cleric is multiclassed so was actually two or three levels behind what the adventure expects. Being a Dwarf Cha is his dump stat so I think we had to fight everything with no successful turning.

It was far from an easy adventure, but the DM did an excellent job of dealing our unusual approach to it.

I was a big disappointed we didn't do the whole arena bit, still there was no logical reason to enter the tournament which was likely to be rigged against you and also a blood sport.

 

[lior_shapira]

Our group (which I'm DMing) has won two rounds already and is facing Madtooth the Hungry tomorrow morning. They've just now managed to find the secret door in the wine cellar to the hidden cult area. So far it hasn't been easy for them, I tend to give them more than they can chew, and they did struggle. Actually the first battle against the three other teams was easier than the battle against 'Pitch Black'. My players don't have a lot of powerful area effect spells, so more than 3-4 opponents and they're in trouble.

In general I find AoW to be pretty intense and difficult, with EL consistently above the party's recommended level... We're actually debating now on how to houserule death so people won't hit -9/-10 so often and get cut out of the adventure.

 

[Wolfwood2]

Our group had an odd time with the Champions Belt.

First of it seemed clear that the enemy would know if we entered the tournament and could easily stack it against us as he was in charge of it so that was one reason not to enter it.

Second we had a Paladin in the party who could not justify entering a blood sport, where there was a real risk of killing someone just for the entertainment of the masses.

To be honest, we kind of shrugged our shoulders and said, "If that's what the adventure module is built around, we'll rationalize IC reasons to do it."

My paladin of St. Cuthbert paid a visit to the local church and they seemed okay with the idea, so I figured I was in the clear.

Paladin's aren't barred from neutral acts, after all, and fighting in the Games (where all the other competitors have entered freely) is just a somewhat darkish neutral.

 

[Festivus]

When I ran that the group came within one round of disaster for the ulgurstasta. Beyond that, yeah it was a breeze for them. I am approaching my second time DMing it, and will likely reprogram some of the competitors with classes and spells from other sourcebooks (e.g. a book of nine swords competitor would be much more challenging than the core ones presented).

I don't think the objective of that module is to seriously challenge the PCs as much as divulge information and move the overall plot forward... but when you have a group of powergamers it never hurts to challenge them a little.

The next adventure ticks up the difficulty a bit, and it only gets harder (as others have said). My first group ended at the Spire of Long Shadows after a TPK. This next time through I plan to up the power curve before they get there so they don't walk into spire as confident (read cautious) as the last party.

 

[Numion]

I was a big disappointed we didn't do the whole arena bit, still there was no logical reason to enter the tournament which was likely to be rigged against you and also a blood sport.

"If they do not wish to take a few risks, their characters should stay home and become shopkeepers and farmers.

Then wish them luck!" -- Gary Gygax