D&D 4E Kruthiks, Needlefang Drakes and Foulspawn in 4e MM

[pawsplay]

I'm happy that it looks like the carrion crawler has finally become a threat. It's now Paragon only.

You've come a long way, baby!

What the.... ??

 

[Rechan]

I'm happy that it looks like the carrion crawler has finally become a threat.

FINALLY become a threat?

8 attacks at +3 = on average, 3 hits. That's 3 fort saves per round that need to be made.

I wiped a 7th level party with 3 carrion crawlers.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Carrion crawlers are weird. Glass cannons with much the same issues as mind flayers. And 8 attacks is just wonky. I'll rewrite them if I run 3e again, probably make it one attack. Maybe change the paralysis to acid.

 

[Rechan]

Everyone is not happy. PCs are arrested. Tried for murder.

They fight their way out of prison. Now they are wanted criminals.

Eh? I've never seen that as a "natural" progression. Why would the PCs be tried? It was the monsters that done the killing. All they did was piss the monsters off.

If anything, the community would get together and say "You started this, you go and kill them all, thus stopping the raids." Thus, they must make amends.

And really, any PC that goes into a dungeon, kills half the inhabitants, and walk off, is asking for trouble. They should know that it's a risk.

Paizo has an adventure out that is similar to this. Humanoids are attacking a budding community, PCs kill them. Monsterse the humanoids give tribute get mad because they no longer get tribute, come attack the community looking for the PCs. PCs kill them. Wizard who used the monsters as guardians for his fortress come and puts a magical bomb in the community. PCs go to his house and kill him, fix the bomb. That's not heavy handed, that's a progressive plot that makes sense.

I think this is a lot of making a mountain out of a molehill due to unnecessary concern. I don't read the tone as the GM leaping up to say "HA HA you got the town killed neener neener! LOOK DEAD BABIES YOUR FAULT HAHAHA" while shaking his dice at the players. I read it as simple cause and effect - the PCs kick the monster hive, and it results in the monsters coming back.

 

[LostSoul]

I think this is a lot of making a mountain out of a molehill due to unnecessary concern.

Yeah. It was just one throw-away line that I wouldn't have liked, under certain circumstances, in a game I edit: imagined was taking part in.

I guess it was just a bad day.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

What the.... ??

"You've come a long way baby!" Old slogan for Virginia Slims cigarettes. Trying to catch on to the rise in "Women's Lib." An ironic catch phrase with a dwindling audience.

 

[kennew142]

You know, I really like the "group rooms together into a big encounter area" thing. I've decided to start doing that myself when designing adventures.

(I'm actually in progress on one now... but not yet to the dungeon part.)

Funny thing is that I had always assumed that this was the way D&D scenarios were meant to be designed. The earliest published modules were replete with such encounter areas. In the G1-3 series, several encounter areas said things like (paraphrase): if combat breaks out in room 20, then the giants in room 21 will join the fray in d6 rounds, and the giants in rooms 22-24 will join the battle in 3d6 rounds.

Some later dungeons used a more static approach, but my design style had already been influenced by the earlier modules. I always believed that the kick-in-the-door, kill the orc and steal his pie scenario was more of a joke than a design trope. Maybe it was more common in homebrewed scenarios.

Nonetheless, it is good to see that there will be a discussion of encounter design in the new DMG.