FitzTheRuke
Legend
I ran my 9th Demo on Sunday, and I’m having a blast DMing 4E for new players. I’m doing this every Sunday at my store, Hourglass Comics in Port Moody BC Canada (if there’s any locals on here who want to sign up! Plug!)
Here’s a quick run-down of this week’s Demo (with crunchies!)
Without a lot of time for these demos, I get into the thick of things pretty quick, and my basic design is to have 1 skill challenge, 1 mixed minion, monster fight, and 1 solo monster fight, in no particular order. (I run a different session each week, to amuse myself, in spite of there being totally different players each week, it being an introductory demo.)
So, this week I started ‘em just waking up from a good night’s rest in the middle of a jungle. Some were rolling up their bedrolls and tying them to their backpacks, while someone was stirring a pot of morning gruel over a little fire. Already the day was heating up to be a hot one, and the damp jungle was steaming.
The ranger, suddenly perked up, hearing some kind of grunting and rustling in the thick leaves of the jungle. He dropped his pack, warned the others, and grabbed his bow. The others strapped shields and grabbed weapons, as the ranger pushed aside some giant leaves to reveal….
Giant Gorilla Level 2 Solo Brute
Large Natural Beast XP 625
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +3
HP 240 Bloodied 120 Speed 8
AC 17 Fort 17 Ref 15 Will 14
m Slam (Standard, At-Will)
Reach 2, +8 vs AC; 1D10 + 5 damage
M Double Attack and Knockback (Standard, At-Will)
Make two Slam Attacks if both hit target is pushed 1 square and knocked prone
Toss You Aside (Minor, when an adjacent enemy becomes bloodied)
+8 vs Reflex; 1D6 + 5 damage and slide 4 squares and knocked prone
Thundering Roar (Minor, Recharge 5, 6) Thunder
Close Burst 3; +6 vs Fort; 1D4 + 4 thunder damage and target is pushed 1 square
Bound (Move, At-Will)
Giant Gorilla may shift up to 2 squares
Big and Heavy (Special)
The Gorilla moves 1 square less from forced movement
Can’t Be Bothered (Immediate Reaction)
When first bloodied, Gorilla will immediately move its speed away. On its turn it will leave. If attacked it may recharge Thundering Roar and use it as an immediate action.
Str 20 (+6) Con 18 (+5) Dex 14 (+3) Int 5 (-2) Wis 12 (+2) Cha 15 (+4)
Initiative was rolled and the Gorilla went first, leaping out into their little campsite clearing, slamming the ranger and roaring, knocking everyone back.. I’m gonna skip the round-by-round, but essentially everyone spread out, and the Gorilla got to roar a few times. I never got to knock anyone prone because
f the dwarf fighter (who it’s incredibly hard to move or escape from) and I never managed to toss anyone aside (my one chance missed) though I knocked the fighter out, pounding her into the jungle floor.
The gorilla moved off into the jungle when it was bloodied, and rightly, the good role-players assumed it would leave them alone at that point and planned to let it go, but the scrapper player-types chased it into the jungle, in spite of the cover, concealment, and difficult terrain they managed to catch it and knock the poor thing down.
The paladin and fighter both took a good beating, (the cleric kept them up) and everyone had a bit of damage from the roaring, The players got a pretty good grasp of the game pretty quick, including two 4e haters and a guy who’d never played D&D before at all. (Actually he was one of the better players.) Incidently I had 6, playing 5 of the pregens (no wizard) and an Elf Rogue.
After packing up, they continued down a trail, searching for the lost temple of Tsocotl. They came to an old moss-covered rope-bridge, and my skill challenge.
I made it DC 10-14-18 with 2 successes getting one character across, and 2 failures dropping them in the river (2d6 damage and start anew with 2 successes to get ‘em out, and 2 failures to float ‘em over rocks, 2D6 damage, repeat)
The eladrin slipped halfway across (acrobatics) and then teleported the rest of the way (I described the bridge in the feywild as a golden bridge with intricate carvings over a grand waterfall, which the eladrin simply walked across, reappearing in the “real” world on the other side.)
The elf slipped all the way across with 2 acrobatics (balance) successes
The paladin fell through the bridge and had to be fished out, by throwing him ropes and pulling him up the other side (elf & eladrin athletics). The dwarf climbed down to the river and swam across (athletics), and was helped up the other side on a rope (athletics from the eladrin) The cleric threw a rope across (athletics) and tied another around it, and around himself (giving him bonuses to the acrobatics to tip-toe across) and made it. And finally, the warlock spent some time dangling in the middle (1 failure) but eventually made it across.
Eventually they got to the temple, which the eladrin scouted to find two sentries:
Snakeman Minion Level 2 Minion
Medium Natural Humanoid XP 33
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +2
HP Dies when struck for damage Speed 7
AC 16 Fort 15 Ref 15 Will 12
m Longsword (standard; at-will, Melee) Weapon
+5 vs. AC; 4 damage
M Bite (standard; at-will, Melee)
+5 vs AC, 2 damage and ongoing 2 poison damage (save ends)
Serpentine (Special)
The Snakeman can shift through difficult terrain and cannot be knocked prone.
Skills Nature +7 Stealth +9 Alignment Evil Languages Draconic
Str 15 (+3) Con 13 (+2) Dex 17 (+4) Int 11 (+1) Wis 13 (+2) Cha 11 (+1)
Equipment: Leather Armor, Longsword
The ranger used his daily to kill ‘em both. (The player had no idea about minions)
Then the party rushed the temple stairs. There were two more minions, and three full on snakemen.
Snakeman Level 3 Soldier
Medium Natural Humanoid XP 150
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +2
HP 47 Bloodied 23 Speed 7
AC 16 Fort 16 Ref 16 Will 13 Resist 5 Poison
m Longsword (standard; at-will, Melee) Weapon
+7 vs. AC; 1D8 + 4 damage and target is Marked until Snakeman’s next turn
M Bite (standard; at-will, Melee)
+6 vs AC, 1D4 +.3 and ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends)
Coiled Strike (standard; recharge 4, 5, 6) Chose an at-will attack, it gains Reach 2, +4 damage, and target is pushed 1 square
Serpentine (Special)
The Snakeman can shift through difficult terrain and cannot be knocked prone.
Skills Nature +7 Stealth +9 Alignment Evil Languages Draconic
Str 16 (+4) Con 15 (+3) Dex 17 (+4) Int 12 (+2) Wis 13 (+2) Cha 11 (+1)
Equipment: Leather Armor, Longsword
The fight took place at the temple enterance (the Jungle Temple map from the new DDM starter) The party and the snakemen rushed each other while one of the snakemen blew on a big horn (which summoned the last monster, who arrived at round 4.)
Young Green Dragon Level 5 Elite Skirmisher
Large Natural Magical Beast (Dragon) XP 400
Initiative +10 Senses Perception +8; Darkvision
HP 126 Bloodied 63
AC 20 Fort 17 Ref 17 Will 15 Resist 10 Poison
Speed 7 Fly 10 Saving Throws +2 Action Points 1
m Bite (standard; at-will, Melee) Reach 2; +10 vs. AC; 1D4 + 3 damage and ongoing 5 Poison damage (save ends)
m Claw (standard; at-will, Melee) Reach 2; +8 vs. AC; 1D4 + 3 damage.
M Double Attack (standard; at-will) The dragon makes two claw attacks.
M Tail Slash (immediate reaction, when a melee attack misses the dragon; at-will)
The dragon uses its tail to attack the enemy that missed it; reach 2; +8 vs. AC; 1D4 + 3 damage, and the target is pushed 1 square.
C Breath Weapon (standard; recharge 5 6) * Poison
Close blast 5; +6 vs. Reflex; 2D4 + 3 damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 poison damage and is dazed (save ends both).
At Home in the Trees (Special)
If the Green Dragon ends its move with any part of it in a Forrest square, it gains concealment. The Green Dragon can shift through difficult terrain due to Forrest.
Skills Nature +8 Alignment Evil Languages Draconic
Str 16 (+5) Con 15 (+4) Dex 17 (+5) Int 16 (+5) Wis 14 (+3) Cha 12 (+3)
By the time the dragon got there all the minions, and most of the snakemen were toast, though the paladin was still busy trading misses with one of the snakemen.
Not expecting a dragon (although the elf and the eladrin heard the beating of wings two rounds before it arrived) the party was bunched together and took a full blast of poison gas when the dragon flew out of the jungle and landed on the temple.
Most of the players had used their dailies on the gorilla, but they all had action points, and went crazy on the dragon with ‘em, the rogue managing a flank with the fighter, in spite of getting a tail in the face every time he missed. The fighter took a lot of bites, and was crazily making saves (with much help from the cleric) and the cleric got some good radiant damage on the dragon., and the ranger and warlock kept hitting it from as far away as possible. They’d spread out by this point, so when the breath recharged, I could only hit one target with it no matter where I put it.
I have to say that three strikers in a party can beat a single monster down pretty quick, especially while a fighter locks it in place.
Seeing as I made this dragon only elite, I took away it’s bloodied breath, which I really missed having when it got bloodied. I had a heck of a time getting the dragon back into the forest for the At Home in the Trees ability, and they cut him down before he could take much advantage of it.
All the players had a good time, and the 4E haters liked it. (They had simply walked through the door to look at 3e stuff as I was starting the game with only 4 players, so I invited them to try it – they were skeptical at first but sat down to give it a shot.) One of them preordered the books. The other one said he’d get the PHB, but was still a bit upset because he personally owns over thirty 3.5 books.
Any questions or comments? I think this has gone on long enough.
Fitz
Here’s a quick run-down of this week’s Demo (with crunchies!)
Without a lot of time for these demos, I get into the thick of things pretty quick, and my basic design is to have 1 skill challenge, 1 mixed minion, monster fight, and 1 solo monster fight, in no particular order. (I run a different session each week, to amuse myself, in spite of there being totally different players each week, it being an introductory demo.)
So, this week I started ‘em just waking up from a good night’s rest in the middle of a jungle. Some were rolling up their bedrolls and tying them to their backpacks, while someone was stirring a pot of morning gruel over a little fire. Already the day was heating up to be a hot one, and the damp jungle was steaming.
The ranger, suddenly perked up, hearing some kind of grunting and rustling in the thick leaves of the jungle. He dropped his pack, warned the others, and grabbed his bow. The others strapped shields and grabbed weapons, as the ranger pushed aside some giant leaves to reveal….
Giant Gorilla Level 2 Solo Brute
Large Natural Beast XP 625
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +3
HP 240 Bloodied 120 Speed 8
AC 17 Fort 17 Ref 15 Will 14
m Slam (Standard, At-Will)
Reach 2, +8 vs AC; 1D10 + 5 damage
M Double Attack and Knockback (Standard, At-Will)
Make two Slam Attacks if both hit target is pushed 1 square and knocked prone
Toss You Aside (Minor, when an adjacent enemy becomes bloodied)
+8 vs Reflex; 1D6 + 5 damage and slide 4 squares and knocked prone
Thundering Roar (Minor, Recharge 5, 6) Thunder
Close Burst 3; +6 vs Fort; 1D4 + 4 thunder damage and target is pushed 1 square
Bound (Move, At-Will)
Giant Gorilla may shift up to 2 squares
Big and Heavy (Special)
The Gorilla moves 1 square less from forced movement
Can’t Be Bothered (Immediate Reaction)
When first bloodied, Gorilla will immediately move its speed away. On its turn it will leave. If attacked it may recharge Thundering Roar and use it as an immediate action.
Str 20 (+6) Con 18 (+5) Dex 14 (+3) Int 5 (-2) Wis 12 (+2) Cha 15 (+4)
Initiative was rolled and the Gorilla went first, leaping out into their little campsite clearing, slamming the ranger and roaring, knocking everyone back.. I’m gonna skip the round-by-round, but essentially everyone spread out, and the Gorilla got to roar a few times. I never got to knock anyone prone because
f the dwarf fighter (who it’s incredibly hard to move or escape from) and I never managed to toss anyone aside (my one chance missed) though I knocked the fighter out, pounding her into the jungle floor.The gorilla moved off into the jungle when it was bloodied, and rightly, the good role-players assumed it would leave them alone at that point and planned to let it go, but the scrapper player-types chased it into the jungle, in spite of the cover, concealment, and difficult terrain they managed to catch it and knock the poor thing down.
The paladin and fighter both took a good beating, (the cleric kept them up) and everyone had a bit of damage from the roaring, The players got a pretty good grasp of the game pretty quick, including two 4e haters and a guy who’d never played D&D before at all. (Actually he was one of the better players.) Incidently I had 6, playing 5 of the pregens (no wizard) and an Elf Rogue.
After packing up, they continued down a trail, searching for the lost temple of Tsocotl. They came to an old moss-covered rope-bridge, and my skill challenge.
I made it DC 10-14-18 with 2 successes getting one character across, and 2 failures dropping them in the river (2d6 damage and start anew with 2 successes to get ‘em out, and 2 failures to float ‘em over rocks, 2D6 damage, repeat)
The eladrin slipped halfway across (acrobatics) and then teleported the rest of the way (I described the bridge in the feywild as a golden bridge with intricate carvings over a grand waterfall, which the eladrin simply walked across, reappearing in the “real” world on the other side.)
The elf slipped all the way across with 2 acrobatics (balance) successes
The paladin fell through the bridge and had to be fished out, by throwing him ropes and pulling him up the other side (elf & eladrin athletics). The dwarf climbed down to the river and swam across (athletics), and was helped up the other side on a rope (athletics from the eladrin) The cleric threw a rope across (athletics) and tied another around it, and around himself (giving him bonuses to the acrobatics to tip-toe across) and made it. And finally, the warlock spent some time dangling in the middle (1 failure) but eventually made it across.
Eventually they got to the temple, which the eladrin scouted to find two sentries:
Snakeman Minion Level 2 Minion
Medium Natural Humanoid XP 33
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +2
HP Dies when struck for damage Speed 7
AC 16 Fort 15 Ref 15 Will 12
m Longsword (standard; at-will, Melee) Weapon
+5 vs. AC; 4 damage
M Bite (standard; at-will, Melee)
+5 vs AC, 2 damage and ongoing 2 poison damage (save ends)
Serpentine (Special)
The Snakeman can shift through difficult terrain and cannot be knocked prone.
Skills Nature +7 Stealth +9 Alignment Evil Languages Draconic
Str 15 (+3) Con 13 (+2) Dex 17 (+4) Int 11 (+1) Wis 13 (+2) Cha 11 (+1)
Equipment: Leather Armor, Longsword
The ranger used his daily to kill ‘em both. (The player had no idea about minions)
Then the party rushed the temple stairs. There were two more minions, and three full on snakemen.
Snakeman Level 3 Soldier
Medium Natural Humanoid XP 150
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +2
HP 47 Bloodied 23 Speed 7
AC 16 Fort 16 Ref 16 Will 13 Resist 5 Poison
m Longsword (standard; at-will, Melee) Weapon
+7 vs. AC; 1D8 + 4 damage and target is Marked until Snakeman’s next turn
M Bite (standard; at-will, Melee)
+6 vs AC, 1D4 +.3 and ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends)
Coiled Strike (standard; recharge 4, 5, 6) Chose an at-will attack, it gains Reach 2, +4 damage, and target is pushed 1 square
Serpentine (Special)
The Snakeman can shift through difficult terrain and cannot be knocked prone.
Skills Nature +7 Stealth +9 Alignment Evil Languages Draconic
Str 16 (+4) Con 15 (+3) Dex 17 (+4) Int 12 (+2) Wis 13 (+2) Cha 11 (+1)
Equipment: Leather Armor, Longsword
The fight took place at the temple enterance (the Jungle Temple map from the new DDM starter) The party and the snakemen rushed each other while one of the snakemen blew on a big horn (which summoned the last monster, who arrived at round 4.)
Young Green Dragon Level 5 Elite Skirmisher
Large Natural Magical Beast (Dragon) XP 400
Initiative +10 Senses Perception +8; Darkvision
HP 126 Bloodied 63
AC 20 Fort 17 Ref 17 Will 15 Resist 10 Poison
Speed 7 Fly 10 Saving Throws +2 Action Points 1
m Bite (standard; at-will, Melee) Reach 2; +10 vs. AC; 1D4 + 3 damage and ongoing 5 Poison damage (save ends)
m Claw (standard; at-will, Melee) Reach 2; +8 vs. AC; 1D4 + 3 damage.
M Double Attack (standard; at-will) The dragon makes two claw attacks.
M Tail Slash (immediate reaction, when a melee attack misses the dragon; at-will)
The dragon uses its tail to attack the enemy that missed it; reach 2; +8 vs. AC; 1D4 + 3 damage, and the target is pushed 1 square.
C Breath Weapon (standard; recharge 5 6) * Poison
Close blast 5; +6 vs. Reflex; 2D4 + 3 damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 poison damage and is dazed (save ends both).
At Home in the Trees (Special)
If the Green Dragon ends its move with any part of it in a Forrest square, it gains concealment. The Green Dragon can shift through difficult terrain due to Forrest.
Skills Nature +8 Alignment Evil Languages Draconic
Str 16 (+5) Con 15 (+4) Dex 17 (+5) Int 16 (+5) Wis 14 (+3) Cha 12 (+3)
By the time the dragon got there all the minions, and most of the snakemen were toast, though the paladin was still busy trading misses with one of the snakemen.
Not expecting a dragon (although the elf and the eladrin heard the beating of wings two rounds before it arrived) the party was bunched together and took a full blast of poison gas when the dragon flew out of the jungle and landed on the temple.
Most of the players had used their dailies on the gorilla, but they all had action points, and went crazy on the dragon with ‘em, the rogue managing a flank with the fighter, in spite of getting a tail in the face every time he missed. The fighter took a lot of bites, and was crazily making saves (with much help from the cleric) and the cleric got some good radiant damage on the dragon., and the ranger and warlock kept hitting it from as far away as possible. They’d spread out by this point, so when the breath recharged, I could only hit one target with it no matter where I put it.
I have to say that three strikers in a party can beat a single monster down pretty quick, especially while a fighter locks it in place.
Seeing as I made this dragon only elite, I took away it’s bloodied breath, which I really missed having when it got bloodied. I had a heck of a time getting the dragon back into the forest for the At Home in the Trees ability, and they cut him down before he could take much advantage of it.
All the players had a good time, and the 4E haters liked it. (They had simply walked through the door to look at 3e stuff as I was starting the game with only 4 players, so I invited them to try it – they were skeptical at first but sat down to give it a shot.) One of them preordered the books. The other one said he’d get the PHB, but was still a bit upset because he personally owns over thirty 3.5 books.
Any questions or comments? I think this has gone on long enough.
Fitz
I hope to do some more when I leave my second, part-time job - it'll free up my weekends.
Awesome job man, great to see people spreading the excitement about 4E. The part that strikes truest with me is how much fun DMing even this little piece of 4E has been.
