JollyDoc's Shackled City: FINAL POST [Updated 11/2!!]

[Dolza]

Woah

*grabs jaw from floor*

Grimm looked around. The one they called Ajax was dead. Wathros was dead. Caine was dead. Now, Tilly and Rusty were dead. The original Bright Axes, the ones present at Bal-Hamatun, had met their end[/QUOTE]



Wow, that was simply brutal. I've loved this story hour for a while but never felt really compelled to comment. after reading that last installment i had to speak up. Great job and keep it up!

dolz

 

[htetickrt]

Very cool. Is it wrong to be slightly jealous that another DM's large, raging, spiked chain-wielding monstrosity got more kills than the one I made?

Next time, I'm making mine half dragon too.

 

[Longbow]

Good god, one round fo battle and someone is dead again. So brutal...

 

[LordVyreth]

Wow, Rusty finally suffered an actual death. And you'd think that after dying so very often up to this date, Tilly would have learned to keep his big mouth shut at times. So, did the party bring back at least one of the original Bright Axes? Rusty at least seemed like a reasonable choice. Any chance they pitched in for a True Ress by now?

And how fast did those two die, anyway? Were you just rolling really nicely on the critical hit rolls? I swear if I was in your game, I'd get heavy fortification armor or some other equally useful item ASAP.

 

[Joachim]

Wow, Rusty finally suffered an actual death. And you'd think that after dying so very often up to this date, Tilly would have learned to keep his big mouth shut at times. So, did the party bring back at least one of the original Bright Axes? Rusty at least seemed like a reasonable choice. Any chance they pitched in for a True Ress by now?

And how fast did those two die, anyway? Were you just rolling really nicely on the critical hit rolls? I swear if I was in your game, I'd get heavy fortification armor or some other equally useful item ASAP.

Rusty and Tilly were both killed in the same round due to critical hits. A Power-Attacking minotaur with a 38 STR and a huge spiked chain can deal a little bit of damage. Also, we did not worry about walking through town, and we had not healed up to max (Rusty and Tilly were at about 2/3 or so).

As far as Tilly goes, his player (Chris) was gone and Gfunk was his proxy player. Gfunk decided to taunt the minotaur and quickly got Tilly killed. So both Gfunk and I have the ignominious distinction of playing Tilly the two times when he was actually killed (and not revivified). WOO HOO!

Both Tilly and Rusty were eventually raised by Jenya, but that will be discussed in the next update.

 

[Lela]

Good, cause I really like Rusty. Rock on, oh thou magical Dwarf.

Oh, Joachim, I've been meaning to ask. You were reading the Expanded Psionics Handbook, right? Opionion?

I gotta say that I really don't like the first one. Drove me nuts and was too easy to brake. I'm hoping they worked the bugs out, at the very least. Revised completely wouldn't be all that bad either.

 

[Joachim]

Oh, Joachim, I've been meaning to ask. You were reading the Expanded Psionics Handbook, right? Opionion?

I gotta say that I really don't like the first one. Drove me nuts and was too easy to brake. I'm hoping they worked the bugs out, at the very least. Revised completely wouldn't be all that bad either.

Hmmm...how do I put this one. It has some serious potential for powergaming, but overall I think the system has improved.

I will say this...its like the Sorcerer class. Very, very nasty as a DM monster, but pretty balanced as a PC class. Same with the Psion. A Psion can be absolutely brutal in one or two encounters per day, or moderately effective in several encounters. Its all about the PSP's spent.

The other classes, and most of the Prestige Classes are pretty disposable. The Thrallherd is interesting, however, as is the Cerebremancer (think Mystic Theurge with both classes relying on INT instead of split between two stats).

 

[gfunk]

Hey everyone, just came back from my wedding/honeymoon in India. I had a blast! Now to comment on the matters at hand:

1.

As far as Tilly goes, his player (Chris) was gone and Gfunk was his proxy player. Gfunk decided to taunt the minotaur and quickly got Tilly killed.

Yeah, that was totally my bad. I got a little carried away and poor Tilly paid for it with his life. Of course, this might not have been a problem if Rusty hadn't also been taken down with a critical Cleave.

2.

I've been meaning to ask. You were reading the Expanded Psionics Handbook, right? Opionion?

My last act in JollyDoc's campagin was to make a Psion for anybody to play in case their PC died and they wanted a new one. He is quite broken in my opinion. A Shaper with maxed-out Int and Overchannel is quite powerful with temporal acceleration coupled with astral construct.

3. I will be at gaming on Sunday. On Jollydoc's side. . .

 

[ltclnlbrain]

It was beginning to look very grim for the Bright Axes. Or more appropriately, it was beginning to look very Grimm.

Very clever. That line drew a chuckle from me.

Indeed, a half-dragon minotaur is not something one would expect to find when walking around the streets of Cauldron. When I ran this adventure, I placed this encounter while the party was on the way to the Cathedral, so they were all at full strength. Despite this, the minotaur still managed to kill one of them and severly injure several others before they put him down. All in all, general nastiness.

Keep up the great work!

 

[Joachim]

My last act in JollyDoc's campagin was to make a Psion for anybody to play in case their PC died and they wanted a new one. He is quite broken in my opinion. A Shaper with maxed-out Int and Overchannel is quite powerful with temporal acceleration coupled with astral construct.

There are lots of things that are somewhat broken/unbalanced:

Crystal Shard - Ranged touch, up to 1d6 per level per PSP...here's the kicker, No Save, NO SR.

Temporal Acceleration - Requires a free action to activate, so when you are done with your free round of time YOU STILL HAVE YOUR NORMAL ACTION REMAINING

Ectoplasmic Cocoon - Again, no SR, and with Burrowing Power (metapsionic) you can still pummel your enemy while he is encased.

Hail of Crystals - Sort of a mini-version of meteor swarm, but is not energy specific, and again, NO SR (anyone beginning to see a pattern here?)

Astral Construct - Sort of a choose-your-own-summoning spell. Here's the kicker: its not a (summoning) spell. Its a (creation) spell, and therefore is immune to Forbiddance and Protection from Evil (because you summon a Construct, not an outsider). With the feat Boost Construct + Overchannel....OUCHIE.

All in all, the system is fairly interesting, but could (and will) be abused. I reviewed Gfunk's build, and believe that while he built a solid framework, I refined it to the point of pure unadulterated nastiness.