JollyDoc's Shackled City

[Lela]

*Looks at Gfunk and rasis an eybrow*

Hmmmmm . . .

 

[JollyDoc]

A restraining order? Oh dear, what pray tell do you mean? Did I do something wrong? Please don't take the story away from my babies!

Ok Bee, you're officially off probabtion...just a misunderstanding

 

[gfunk]

Just came back from from gaming. Started our romp through "Demonskar Legacy" tonight. Learned some very important facts:

1. Elementals suck
2. Elementals are immune to sneak attack and critical hits
3. Elementals suck
4. Elementals have tons of HD and a truck-load of hitpoints
5. Elementals suck
6. Elementals are woefully under CRed
7. Elementals suck
8. Getting slammed repeatedly by Elementals sucks . . . BIG TIME

A lot of cool role-playing, to be sure. But -- HOLY CRAP -- those fights were absolutely killer. The Adventure Path was customed designed for TPKs it seems . . .

 

[Lela]

You forgot to mention. They're immune to mind influancing affects. Which nullifies most of Caine's semi-offensive moves.

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

Hello everybody, I'm back!

Nice storytelling, JollyDoc & Co. And respect for the players for completing the tough encounters - the devil did seem to be unkillable in that specific environment (not to mention the red dragon) !!!
The way I see it, the battle against Zenith would have gone easier with Gardrid and not Ajax in the party. I'm sure gonna miss that dwarven tank in the future... (Nothing against Ajax, but he probably can't even grow a beard!)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next write-up of your elemental encounter & hope we readers find out some more about the background of Zenith's madness & stuff.

 

[gfunk]

You forgot to mention. They're immune to mind influancing affects. Which nullifies most of Caine's semi-offensive moves.

Actually, they are immune to sleep, stunning, paralysis, and poison. They are not immune to mind-affecting effects in general.

 

[Joachim]

The way I see it, the battle against Zenith would have gone easier with Gardrid and not Ajax in the party. I'm sure gonna miss that dwarven tank in the future... (Nothing against Ajax, but he probably can't even grow a beard!)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next write-up of your elemental encounter & hope we readers find out some more about the background of Zenith's madness & stuff.

To be honest, I think you are dead wrong on the Gardrid vs. Ajax issue. Zenith never once even hit Ajax. While Gardrid would do 30+ points of damage in a decent round and Ajax will only do 10 or so, Gardrid would take 20+ a round (thank you, 17 AC) while Ajax would rarely take anyhing (thank you, 33+ AC plus DR 7/evil).

Gfunk and I differ on our opinions about offense vs. defense. If I am not mistaken he believes that the best defense is to kill the monster first, and its my opinion that the best offense is to not let the monster kill you. Both are valid arguments, and you can see the ultimate results in Joachim v. Entropy.

This weekend's session vs. the elementals was tough. Very tough. Yet again, the module designers would have seen fit to punk a typical 4 member group at the appropriate level.

The Bright Axes aren't typical, however .

 

[Lela]

Actually, they are immune to sleep, stunning, paralysis, and poison. They are not immune to mind-affecting effects in general.

*Checks books.* Uh, yeah, that's what I meant. *Looks around shiftily* In that case, their Will saves aren't all that great. You should have done pritty well.


Jochiam, you never addressed the issue of whether or not Ajax has a beard. I mean, that's important.

 

[sithramir]

Joachim. I totally agree with your view of defense being useful and not just "kill the monster quick".

I'd just like to note that since I DM a campaign its hard to put a lot of npc's against my group because the npc's work on "not dying" and my PC's seem to try to kill them in a round or two and if that doesn't happen they are screwed.

I'd just like to note thanks for giving me a cool NPC in my campaign (Entropy) but that my story hour won't be updated to include what happened as the party has all died in a TPK to a CR less than their ECL. I'm going to start updating a story hour based on the new characters and try to not fall behind..

Anyways. Loving your story hour and I wished I had some more PC's that'd role play a bit more and not just powergame (poorly I might add).

keep it up!

 

[gfunk]

. . . Gardrid would take 20+ a round (thank you, 17 AC) while Ajax would rarely take anyhing (thank you, 33+ AC plus DR 7/evil).

Gfunk and I differ on our opinions about offense vs. defense. If I am not mistaken he believes that the best defense is to kill the monster first, and its my opinion that the best offense is to not let the monster kill you.

A couple of quick points. First, my philosophy is strictly character-dependent. I like to try a lot of different things. Caine, for instance, is the ultimate total defense character. Entropy, on the other hand, was a fusion of offense and defense. When she was shapechanged her AC was generally in the high 40s, up to 50 in certain instances. However, the sheer power offered by an arcane spellcasters obviates the need for an impenetrable defense.

Pez, IMO was the ultimate fusion of offense/defense. He had a very good AC (28+) but his damage out put was significantly higher than Ajax's. His average damage at 8th level was 15 per hit (or 30 per round if both attacks hit) -- nearly on par with Gardrid. Also, he had full clerical spellcasting by which he could buff the hell out of himself.

Caine is the glue that holds the party together, IMO. With Jules, his lantern archon familiar, he has an awesome array of buffs that can truly even the oddds. The battle with the Eryines and Zenith Splitershield are evidence of this.