Am I a bamboozler?

[Beholder Bob]

I recently convinced my dm to run me in a solo game. My character is a gestalt hex warrior – war mage of 4/4, and I was run through a 2nd level dungeon. Did I bamboozle the dm (was it a fair dungeon level to run me through, or was I too high a level)? I’m wondering, as I went through it fairly easily, but it seemed to be mostly due to a high amount of luck (I’m AC 19, not exactly untouchable, and as a war mage, I rocked when I discovered almost all my foes were of the fire type – ^ Frost Orb ^). Should I get normal exp?

By my estimation, I figured 4 level 2 characters = el 5, or equal to a 4-4 gestalt. Did I make a mistake?

The dungeon, by the way, was from an older dungeon magazine w/ roughly 12 rooms. The title mentiones fire in its name, has a magic blue door, and was the sealed in chamber of a bunch of bandits who served a guy called the fire lord. It had a magic shield that absorbs or dispels or …. fire creatures that you touch. Got it off of the innkeeper at the start.

If I erred, please let me know, I don’t want to take advantage of my dm! Of note, my dm was my wife - god help me if I've done her wrong!

BB

 

[Crothian]

Sounds like you might have. A 19 AC is pretty good for second level characters for instance so foes designed to face second level characters could easily have a ghard time hitting that.

 

[Beholder Bob]

Drats!

Crothian: Damn! I thought I'd estimated the power balance fairly! Hmm, perhaps I should surrender the treasure gained and drop xp to 1/4! I almost died on the 1st round I dealt with the mephits - they were 3.0, so each fired 2 magic missiles at me - luck allowed me to have a few hp left after that!

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[Beholder Bob]

Crothian: I considered the game, and thought I'd mention this...

A 2nd level fighter in banded mail with a large shield and a 12 dex has a ac 19, as would a chainmail wearing 14 dex fighter. As a 2nd level character gets 900 gp, this does not seem to be an extreme ac.

Most of my foes rolled to hit ac 18 or lower, rarely connecting with me, except for a lone morloch who almost finished me off with good luck and a strong arm (dropped me to 2 hp).

Now, perhaps the module was not well balanced? Or perhaps the changes from 3.0 to 3.5 made a difference (I know 3.5 fire mephits do not shoot off 2 magic missiles each - they just shoot a single 4d6 no save fire ray each - GACH! If they had been updated, I'd have been a dead man! Go figure, 4 of em is CR 6).

BB