Game day adventure
Old Gumphrey
First Post
Yeah, your DM was awful. The encounter with the statues is VERY difficult, our party was almost killed due to a bad roll streak. The statues were capable of knocking you to the ground with a hit, then getting to hit anyone on the ground with a free action. Although I imagine you guys probably bypassed that encounter, especially if the DM was being lazy.
The boss encounter was much easier. Since the ghost guy helps you, it's basically a fight with 4 skeletons. Woo. Ghost guy killed the evil wizard in less time than it took me to walk to the pillar and climb it (I was going to get up there and check him off the side so the rest of the party could get to him), about 3 rounds. Of course, my ranged Brute Strike with the handaxe might have helped that along.
The boss encounter was much easier. Since the ghost guy helps you, it's basically a fight with 4 skeletons. Woo. Ghost guy killed the evil wizard in less time than it took me to walk to the pillar and climb it (I was going to get up there and check him off the side so the rest of the party could get to him), about 3 rounds. Of course, my ranged Brute Strike with the handaxe might have helped that along.
pedr
Explorer
The table I ran through triggered the final boss encounter before dealing with the statues so had to face both together.
I got the ghost to help out after a few rounds even though it was technically not 'helpful' at that point, so things lasted longer, but with the cleric and wizard cut off from the final room by the statues the party didn't really stand a chance.
Bad form to TPK young/newbie players, but they all seemed to enjoy it, even though they 'lost'! I did 'forget' about the 'free kick if you end turn adjacent to a prone enemy' more than a few times otherwise it'd have been over a lot sooner!
I got the ghost to help out after a few rounds even though it was technically not 'helpful' at that point, so things lasted longer, but with the cleric and wizard cut off from the final room by the statues the party didn't really stand a chance.
Bad form to TPK young/newbie players, but they all seemed to enjoy it, even though they 'lost'! I did 'forget' about the 'free kick if you end turn adjacent to a prone enemy' more than a few times otherwise it'd have been over a lot sooner!
GishBandit
Explorer
In my case, I had a fool try to kill the ghost so we ended up killing it in the first chamber. We didn't need it for the rest of the adventure. Technically, the first encounter after the first chamber where you are not supposed to kill the ghost was easy to get through. The next encounter was the statues and they were hard.
I almost got killed when being knocked down and if it weren't for the player with the fighter saying, "you can't take an action point when you turn is done. The kick you when you are down part of the statues action was at the end of its turn. I don't know if that is true or not, but I lived.
One of us died due to constantly kicking the downed guy. The DM ruled that even though the rogue was down and in the negatives he still gets kicked by their power to kick you when you are prone and next to them.
The ending encounter did not last long. The Elf did not have a lot of hit points; he lost initiative and went down before he got to go.
Over all we all had fun and I can’t wait to get my hands on the books.
I almost got killed when being knocked down and if it weren't for the player with the fighter saying, "you can't take an action point when you turn is done. The kick you when you are down part of the statues action was at the end of its turn. I don't know if that is true or not, but I lived.
One of us died due to constantly kicking the downed guy. The DM ruled that even though the rogue was down and in the negatives he still gets kicked by their power to kick you when you are prone and next to them.
The ending encounter did not last long. The Elf did not have a lot of hit points; he lost initiative and went down before he got to go.
Over all we all had fun and I can’t wait to get my hands on the books.
Scarface6174
First Post
It was pretty easy, especally cause 2 of us have been "playing" 4e since the DAY KotS came out. The other 3 were learning it as we went. Everyone had a lotta fun and we steamrolled the whole set of encounters. Nobody even went DOWN.
The statues went down within 4 rounds. We went against 2 cause I failed the check to disarm the runes, but handily disarmed the 2nd effect of the runes. Our Dwarf kept gettting hit by the statues but never went prone cause of having literally 4 godo saves in a row.
The final encounter was dang easy. Our Cleric got into a great position to turn ALL the undead except the ghost. That allowed me to get into position to knock him offa the pedastal (and go prone!) which got him outta the fight for a round. The only thing HE ever did to hurt us was slow me and the cleric and give us 6 points of dmg each. Yeah..... it was easy, but VERY enjoyable.
Nice D20 and custom painted Eladrin I got out of it!
The statues went down within 4 rounds. We went against 2 cause I failed the check to disarm the runes, but handily disarmed the 2nd effect of the runes. Our Dwarf kept gettting hit by the statues but never went prone cause of having literally 4 godo saves in a row.
The final encounter was dang easy. Our Cleric got into a great position to turn ALL the undead except the ghost. That allowed me to get into position to knock him offa the pedastal (and go prone!) which got him outta the fight for a round. The only thing HE ever did to hurt us was slow me and the cleric and give us 6 points of dmg each. Yeah..... it was easy, but VERY enjoyable.
Nice D20 and custom painted Eladrin I got out of it!
NaturalZero
Hero
Overall we had a lot of fun. Much more than any 1st level game of DnD ive ever played.
The statues were a bit of a pain, but we ended up defeating them after dancing around in the room for a bit. Our human fighter mauled the guys while spending the entire combat on his back though we lovingly refered to their "kick 'em while their down" ability as "curbstomp".
Our DM didnt realize that the ghost was supposed to help us during the final encounter, so we fought everything ourselves (i guess it was mentioned in the book after the actual entry for the combat). I was playing the eladrin wizard and thought i would be cute and teleport up behind the cultist and use thunderwave (now known as "sonic booooom!") to knock him down between the fighters. I got up there, hit him with the power, only to find that a force field was blocking him from falling! Needless to say i was dead in a few rounds with nothing but a dagger and a 1d6+4 at-will blast to use without provoking.
The party eventually killed all the skeletons, climbed the platform, and proceeded to gang stomp the cultist in traditional DnD style. Afterwards, we learned how utterly outmatched a party without a ranged striker is against a hovering deathmachine/dragon that can hit the whole party every other round with a breath weapon while flying above melee range.
The statues were a bit of a pain, but we ended up defeating them after dancing around in the room for a bit. Our human fighter mauled the guys while spending the entire combat on his back though we lovingly refered to their "kick 'em while their down" ability as "curbstomp".
Our DM didnt realize that the ghost was supposed to help us during the final encounter, so we fought everything ourselves (i guess it was mentioned in the book after the actual entry for the combat). I was playing the eladrin wizard and thought i would be cute and teleport up behind the cultist and use thunderwave (now known as "sonic booooom!") to knock him down between the fighters. I got up there, hit him with the power, only to find that a force field was blocking him from falling! Needless to say i was dead in a few rounds with nothing but a dagger and a 1d6+4 at-will blast to use without provoking.
The party eventually killed all the skeletons, climbed the platform, and proceeded to gang stomp the cultist in traditional DnD style. Afterwards, we learned how utterly outmatched a party without a ranged striker is against a hovering deathmachine/dragon that can hit the whole party every other round with a breath weapon while flying above melee range.
pedr said:
Yeah, that is what happened with our group - our dwarf managed to clamber up next to the wizard at the start of combat, and then burnt an action point and crit him with his daily, which largely removed him as a threat (he could cast and provoke, or move and provoke, or shift and get hit...)
But once the statues joined in, things were a bit rougher.
Personally, I really enjoyed the adventure - at least in part because my first action in my first 4E combat was to jump up onto a sarcophagus that collapsed around me and burst into flame, which I feel really set the tone for 4th Edition to come!
Old Gumphrey
First Post
Yeah I'm with you on that one. My first action was leaping over a different sarcophagus after the other fighter did exactly what you did, and then smacking a hobgoblin with a greataxe. Good times!
FATDRAGONGAMES
First Post
SPOILERS BELOW:
Our party did great in the first encounter. We were able to knock both of the hobgoblins prone in two adjacent squares, then tipped the sarcophagus onto them, dousing them in oil. We did well against the skeletons, but the statues kicked our butts, nearly ending in a TPK. My fighter was able to kill the elf, and with a LOT of luck the last two standing PCs were able to off the remaining statue. We never figured out how to disable the pedestal the two kids were chained on and ended up tripping the trap.
Our party did great in the first encounter. We were able to knock both of the hobgoblins prone in two adjacent squares, then tipped the sarcophagus onto them, dousing them in oil. We did well against the skeletons, but the statues kicked our butts, nearly ending in a TPK. My fighter was able to kill the elf, and with a LOT of luck the last two standing PCs were able to off the remaining statue. We never figured out how to disable the pedestal the two kids were chained on and ended up tripping the trap.
Dracollich
First Post
The group I ran this for had a blast and I didn't take it too easy on them. Had I not spent time reading it over ahead of time, it would not have gone so well. The group had a ranger instead of the thief. The player had played in a preview game before and wanted to give the ranger a try. This caused the final encounter to be tough.
I almost ahead a player death when the fighter got knocked down and then kicked while down. Didn't know he had gone into the negatives when he was initially knocked down. The only thing that saved him was after described him being stomped on and told him the damage I realized the statue had been weakened by the ghost the prior round.
I almost ahead a player death when the fighter got knocked down and then kicked while down. Didn't know he had gone into the negatives when he was initially knocked down. The only thing that saved him was after described him being stomped on and told him the damage I realized the statue had been weakened by the ghost the prior round.
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