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<blockquote data-quote="Zinovia" data-source="post: 5462331" data-attributes="member: 57373">Given that there were five NPCs that could wind up tagging along with the party before they reached Seaquen, I decided to cut a few before they outnumbered the PCs.&nbsp; My group started with five players and now has six.&nbsp; We didn't need the extra combat support.&nbsp; Nor are 1st level characters so fragile in 4E that they need an NPC cleric to keep them alive.&nbsp; Torrent was cut entirely.&nbsp; The group had a meeting with the daughter of the Doge of Seaquen.&nbsp; There they learned of the Ragesian army and a potential deal being made with the Inquisitors to keep the city safe in exchange for giving them a list of all the mages.&nbsp; One of the characters worked for the councilman Erdan, and knew of information smuggled out of Ragesia that they had to retrieve.&nbsp; Another of the PC's had attended school at the Lyceum, with Lee Sidoneth as his mentor.&nbsp; I made Lee a water genasi, to go with the hydromancer role, and the PC was a genasi swordmage.&nbsp; It all worked nicely.Crystin and Haddin were rescued by the party, and tagged along with them for quite awhile.&nbsp; Haddin helped in combat only when he felt his life was endangered.&nbsp; Since Crystin was described in the 3.5 version as being essentially worthless in combat, I assumed she was untrained as a mage and had her stay out of the way.&nbsp; I was surprised to see her given combat stats in the 4E version.&nbsp; Haddin mind-controlled a barmaid in a town they were passing through, and wound up getting himself killed for it. Tiljann never came with them at all.&nbsp; She was in the fire forest, and did stuff there, but they left her there, with the wooden sword, to pick up the pieces in the Seela village.&nbsp; There was no reason for her to leave with the group when her own people needed her.Katrina was rescued and accompanied the party to Seaquen, where she insinuated herself into Simeon's staff.&nbsp; There she has a front row view of everything going on.&nbsp; She doesn't travel with the party.&nbsp; If she did, I would stat her up as a companion character. Balan was a diplomat, and had no combat stats.&nbsp; I saw no reason to make him an effective combattant, and so he stayed out of the way in fights.&nbsp; The group managed to keep him alive the whole time, despite an assassination attempt.I plan to eliminate other NPCs that I consider to be unnecessary in future modules, such as Three Weeping Ravens.&nbsp; You can probably tell that I dislike having extraneous NPCs around, unless the group is small enough to need the extra combat support.&nbsp; Mine has six players already, so more help is unnecessary.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Zinovia, post: 5462331, member: 57373"] Given that there were five NPCs that could wind up tagging along with the party before they reached Seaquen, I decided to cut a few before they outnumbered the PCs. My group started with five players and now has six. We didn't need the extra combat support. Nor are 1st level characters so fragile in 4E that they need an NPC cleric to keep them alive. Torrent was cut entirely. The group had a meeting with the daughter of the Doge of Seaquen. There they learned of the Ragesian army and a potential deal being made with the Inquisitors to keep the city safe in exchange for giving them a list of all the mages. One of the characters worked for the councilman Erdan, and knew of information smuggled out of Ragesia that they had to retrieve. Another of the PC's had attended school at the Lyceum, with Lee Sidoneth as his mentor. I made Lee a water genasi, to go with the hydromancer role, and the PC was a genasi swordmage. It all worked nicely. Crystin and Haddin were rescued by the party, and tagged along with them for quite awhile. Haddin helped in combat only when he felt his life was endangered. Since Crystin was described in the 3.5 version as being essentially worthless in combat, I assumed she was untrained as a mage and had her stay out of the way. I was surprised to see her given combat stats in the 4E version. Haddin mind-controlled a barmaid in a town they were passing through, and wound up getting himself killed for it. Tiljann never came with them at all. She was in the fire forest, and did stuff there, but they left her there, with the wooden sword, to pick up the pieces in the Seela village. There was no reason for her to leave with the group when her own people needed her. Katrina was rescued and accompanied the party to Seaquen, where she insinuated herself into Simeon's staff. There she has a front row view of everything going on. She doesn't travel with the party. If she did, I would stat her up as a companion character. Balan was a diplomat, and had no combat stats. I saw no reason to make him an effective combattant, and so he stayed out of the way in fights. The group managed to keep him alive the whole time, despite an assassination attempt. I plan to eliminate other NPCs that I consider to be unnecessary in future modules, such as Three Weeping Ravens. You can probably tell that I dislike having extraneous NPCs around, unless the group is small enough to need the extra combat support. Mine has six players already, so more help is unnecessary. [/QUOTE]

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