UniversalMonster
First Post
Well, one of the my players (I'm the GM ) had a character killed tonight. It was actually a pretty heroic death, all things considered. I feel kind of bad about it nonetheless. It was not just one thing that killed him, but several things in combination.
Here's what happened: the group was on the plane of Pandemonium tracking down the last of four former chaos lords. The fourth was a renegade who had never renounced his status- and he had a pet Half-White Dragon/Retriever demon. The group was around 10th level- 6 Player characters and two Cohorts.
They had just battled past a few encounters with Driders guards and Howlers, and sealed themselves off from the Howler pack behind a porticullis gate. The third of three sudden pandemonium windstorms hit them then (see the Manual of the Planes) and the group paused to heal and re-orgnize themselves before continuing. I went ahead and let them heal-
Gregor (one of the heroes- a 10th level Ranger) opted to let the cleric heal a few other characters instead of himself.
This is when the Chaos lord Mulcibere appeared in an illusion, along with his (real) retriever/half-dragon pet.
The party had a brief conversation with the chaos lord which I used to drop clues for later and allow for some negotiation. However, I was cut a little short when the dwarven paladin in the group got a little boisterous. We roleplayed it out and ended with Mulcibere saying something like "Icefang! (the name of the retriever pet) Destroy them all and bring the Paladin to me. ...Alive. "
So the illusion of Mulcibere winked out and the battle began against the retriever/half-dragon.
Here's where they went wrong.
The party was too cautious. They wasted a few rounds with delaying tactics (summoned creatures, which I allow) and buffing
each other. Gregor and another fighter named Brede were the last delaying tactic- they charged in to give the retriever something to fight while the cleric, paladin, temple-raider and spellsword got ready. The druid and bard hung back.
The retriever picked up Gregor around the waist with it's mandibles (and improved grab), and shrugged off a series of attacks by the fighter. Gregor hacked away as he was being squeezed horribly. The cleric got off a holy smite which I ruled blinded the retriever for one round.
Two rounds later though, the retriever opened his eye of flame and roasted Gregor horribly (a 12d6 attack!). Later that same round the paladin and fighter managed to deal a destroying blow
to the creature, but it was too late. Gregor had taken 45 points of damage and he had only 32 left. He was at -13.
We created a little memorial, and you can see Gregor's last entry at http://the-never.net/molesfork/blogger.html
Here's what happened: the group was on the plane of Pandemonium tracking down the last of four former chaos lords. The fourth was a renegade who had never renounced his status- and he had a pet Half-White Dragon/Retriever demon. The group was around 10th level- 6 Player characters and two Cohorts.
They had just battled past a few encounters with Driders guards and Howlers, and sealed themselves off from the Howler pack behind a porticullis gate. The third of three sudden pandemonium windstorms hit them then (see the Manual of the Planes) and the group paused to heal and re-orgnize themselves before continuing. I went ahead and let them heal-
Gregor (one of the heroes- a 10th level Ranger) opted to let the cleric heal a few other characters instead of himself.
This is when the Chaos lord Mulcibere appeared in an illusion, along with his (real) retriever/half-dragon pet.
The party had a brief conversation with the chaos lord which I used to drop clues for later and allow for some negotiation. However, I was cut a little short when the dwarven paladin in the group got a little boisterous. We roleplayed it out and ended with Mulcibere saying something like "Icefang! (the name of the retriever pet) Destroy them all and bring the Paladin to me. ...Alive. "
So the illusion of Mulcibere winked out and the battle began against the retriever/half-dragon.
Here's where they went wrong.
The party was too cautious. They wasted a few rounds with delaying tactics (summoned creatures, which I allow) and buffing
each other. Gregor and another fighter named Brede were the last delaying tactic- they charged in to give the retriever something to fight while the cleric, paladin, temple-raider and spellsword got ready. The druid and bard hung back.
The retriever picked up Gregor around the waist with it's mandibles (and improved grab), and shrugged off a series of attacks by the fighter. Gregor hacked away as he was being squeezed horribly. The cleric got off a holy smite which I ruled blinded the retriever for one round.
Two rounds later though, the retriever opened his eye of flame and roasted Gregor horribly (a 12d6 attack!). Later that same round the paladin and fighter managed to deal a destroying blow
to the creature, but it was too late. Gregor had taken 45 points of damage and he had only 32 left. He was at -13.
We created a little memorial, and you can see Gregor's last entry at http://the-never.net/molesfork/blogger.html
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