Klaus
First Post
Hi, Kids and Kidettes!
Once again, thanks to all for their feedback on earlier "Is This Party Underequipped" threads! You've been very helpful.
First off, I sat down with the 3 players and explained why I was going to change their characters a bit. They all had the default array of stats (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), tottaling 25 points. My first measure was to increase that to 32 points. In the end (and now counting with the increase they earned at 4th level), they were looking like this:
Human Ranger 4: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8
Half-elf Wiz3/Rog1: Str 10, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 12
Human Cleric 4: Str 12, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 13
I expanded the troglodyte lair a bit, and they killed off the regular trogs failry easy (as it should be). They had more trouble killing the trog leader (now a Cleric 4 with 45 hp, AC 22, a heavy flail and a giant lizard pet). But teamwork made all the difference (protection from evil, bless, familiar-sent shocking grasp, the ranger jumping atop an altar to get higher-ground bonus). After they killed the trog leader, they let the trog females and young go away. The trog chapel (to the Tentacled God, aka the roper) gave them clues that the creature was tough (eating a dwarf wizard and warriors, letting trogs with torches go by).
At this point they leveled up to Ranger 5, Wiz3/Rog2 and Cleric 5. The ranger acquired a +1 studded leather and a +1 longsword, and the cleric got some healing scrolls and potions.
They went to the sinkhole and faced the gray ooze. Arrows and a longsword strike made short work of the ooze before it could dissolve any equipment. I braced myself for the roper fight.
The ranger went ahead to a cave lit by dozens of candles alongside the river (the trogs placed them there for the Tentacled God). He rolled a 29 to Hide, but the roper rolled a 30 to spot (lucky dice). Since he was alone (or so the roper thought), 6 strands attacked the ranger, who dropped to Str 0 in one round and beggan being pulled over.
On the following round, as the roper was pulling the ranger over, the wizard rogue fired off a Melf's Arrow (missed) and the cleric used her first Summon Monster III to summon a thoqqua (they were trounced by a thoqqua in Sunless Citadel, and thought it'd be good). I allowed the ranger player to roll for the thoqqua.
And the thoqqua began decimating the roper, thanks to the fire vulnerability (damage becoming 1d6+3 slam plus 4d6 fire!!!), to which the cleric added alchemist's fire and the rogue added oil. Due to the oil, the roper failed its next save to catch on fire, and took 2d6 fire damage per round! It missed a couple of attacks on the thoqqua, and died in about five rounds! A CR 10 creature! The wizard tried to daze the roper, but I described how the spell wasn't getting in, and how she tried to "push" the spell (caster level check) and how that failed.
They jumped over to help the ranger get up, found the nice treasure (
) and then went off to finish that level of the dungeon. The lucky bastards used Speak with Dead on the dwarven corpse that had the key to the Iron Door, and asked "What danger lies on the descent to the Forge?". Wanting to reward their clever phrasing, I answered "Do not step on the thirteenth", which will allow them to pass over the magic mouth alarm.
All in all, the party is no longer underequipped, and they are proceeding to the Forge.
It has been fun, and now they're getting ready for some serious action. Can't wait to see the dragon fight. I expect at least one Celestial Large Shark making life hard for Nightscale.
Once again, thanks to all for their feedback on earlier "Is This Party Underequipped" threads! You've been very helpful.
First off, I sat down with the 3 players and explained why I was going to change their characters a bit. They all had the default array of stats (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), tottaling 25 points. My first measure was to increase that to 32 points. In the end (and now counting with the increase they earned at 4th level), they were looking like this:
Human Ranger 4: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8
Half-elf Wiz3/Rog1: Str 10, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 12
Human Cleric 4: Str 12, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 13
I expanded the troglodyte lair a bit, and they killed off the regular trogs failry easy (as it should be). They had more trouble killing the trog leader (now a Cleric 4 with 45 hp, AC 22, a heavy flail and a giant lizard pet). But teamwork made all the difference (protection from evil, bless, familiar-sent shocking grasp, the ranger jumping atop an altar to get higher-ground bonus). After they killed the trog leader, they let the trog females and young go away. The trog chapel (to the Tentacled God, aka the roper) gave them clues that the creature was tough (eating a dwarf wizard and warriors, letting trogs with torches go by).
At this point they leveled up to Ranger 5, Wiz3/Rog2 and Cleric 5. The ranger acquired a +1 studded leather and a +1 longsword, and the cleric got some healing scrolls and potions.
They went to the sinkhole and faced the gray ooze. Arrows and a longsword strike made short work of the ooze before it could dissolve any equipment. I braced myself for the roper fight.
The ranger went ahead to a cave lit by dozens of candles alongside the river (the trogs placed them there for the Tentacled God). He rolled a 29 to Hide, but the roper rolled a 30 to spot (lucky dice). Since he was alone (or so the roper thought), 6 strands attacked the ranger, who dropped to Str 0 in one round and beggan being pulled over.
On the following round, as the roper was pulling the ranger over, the wizard rogue fired off a Melf's Arrow (missed) and the cleric used her first Summon Monster III to summon a thoqqua (they were trounced by a thoqqua in Sunless Citadel, and thought it'd be good). I allowed the ranger player to roll for the thoqqua.
And the thoqqua began decimating the roper, thanks to the fire vulnerability (damage becoming 1d6+3 slam plus 4d6 fire!!!), to which the cleric added alchemist's fire and the rogue added oil. Due to the oil, the roper failed its next save to catch on fire, and took 2d6 fire damage per round! It missed a couple of attacks on the thoqqua, and died in about five rounds! A CR 10 creature! The wizard tried to daze the roper, but I described how the spell wasn't getting in, and how she tried to "push" the spell (caster level check) and how that failed.
They jumped over to help the ranger get up, found the nice treasure (
) and then went off to finish that level of the dungeon. The lucky bastards used Speak with Dead on the dwarven corpse that had the key to the Iron Door, and asked "What danger lies on the descent to the Forge?". Wanting to reward their clever phrasing, I answered "Do not step on the thirteenth", which will allow them to pass over the magic mouth alarm.All in all, the party is no longer underequipped, and they are proceeding to the Forge.
It has been fun, and now they're getting ready for some serious action. Can't wait to see the dragon fight. I expect at least one Celestial Large Shark making life hard for Nightscale.
