Rhenny
Adventurer
July 26, 2013 D&DNext Playtest Session
Continuing our adventure with 12th level PCs.
Rynlore – Human Nature Paladin
Mythra – Elven Wizard (Evoker)
Levos – Elven Rogue/Assassin with a bow
This was a 3 ½ hour sessio
Recap: The adventurers are in an evil burial ground exploring 3 mausoleums to collect 3 keys which will open a central mausoleum. They are trying to reunite two dead lovers (Valkar and Sarahara) who had been killed and cursed by an evil sorcerer, Tegross the Mad. The adventurers already have a green key from the eastern mausoleum. They are currently inside the southern mausoleum in a hallway that they believe will lead to a treasure room.
The session: As they approached the double doors that block their path, they saw that there was a golden key hole, much like the door they just opened using a golden key they found. Levos put his ear to the door, and confidently told the others that it seemed clear. Then he searched the door itself for traps, and all seemed safe. Rynlore, used the key and then pushed the door open. The room inside had granite flagstones for about 20’ x 20’ and then in the distance, the party saw a glistening pile of treasure, golden coins piled up with armor and weapons sticking out in random directions. One item caught Rynlore’s eye, a belt with a bear head belt buckle. The belt was staked to the ground in the treasure pile. Mythra opened her spellbook and began to chant. In 10 minutes, she could see the magical aura of the belt, and she realized it radiated powerful transmutation magic. Rynlore, intrigued, but the belt, pulled at it, but found that it was stuck securely. Just then, Mythra and the others noticed grinding sounds, and she could tell that the side walls were beginning to slowly move together. They would have only about 20 seconds before the two walls met. Quickly, Levos checked the door they entered and found that it had locked. He tried to unlock it, but after fuddling about with the mechanism, he realized that the lock was superior. Mythra, fearing for their lives, decided to cast Passwall on a 5’ section of the northern wall, creating an exit to the graveyard outside. Rynlore tried to pull the belt again, but his strength failed him. All the while, Levos took the party’s bag of holding and began scooping up treasure. Finally, as the walls got closer, Levos tried to pull the belt free, and he succeeded. (Here Levos used Ace in The Hole, and we were a little puzzled that as written, he could use it for any check. It didn’t make sense that he could use it for a pure strength check, but we let it happen). When the walls were pressed together, the group exited through their passage with about 4,000 gp, a set of plate mail and the fine belt. Outside, Mythra identified the belt and told Rynlore that it was a Belt of Frost Giant Strength. Rynlore thanked Levos for help, but reiterated that he had “loosened” the belt which probably made it easier for Levos to free.
The party re-entered the southern mausoleum and traveled to the east doors. Rynlore opened them easily, and the others scanned the hallway that ended with another set of doors. Rynlore walked up to them and the ground fell away sending Rynlore down into a 15’ pit. He fell with a clang, and then the group realized he was not alone. A wight was in the pit with Rynlore attacking him and doing horrible damage that sapped the life force from the brave paladin. Within a few seconds, Levos fired an arrow straight through the wight’s skull, ending the threat. Rynlore climbed out of the pit with help, and balanced himself on the side closest to the eastern doors. He opened the room and found a room with 4 sarcophagi and 8 wights. One of the wights charged at the paladin and tried to knock him into the pit, but the paladin stood his ground. As Mythra and Levos climbed down the pit and into the room with Rynlore, Rynlore stood forth and turned the foul creatures with his divine power. All of the creatures cowered before him and moved to the four corners of the room. One by one, the party ended the wight threat, but at the end of it, Rynlore found himself weakened even more by a handful of additional energy draining attacks. (Max HP 80 instead of 100). Searching the room, Levos found a beautiful mithril chain shirt in one of the sarcophagi. He donned it immediately.
Levos snuck ahead through the northern doors, and he peered into a room that looked as if it were once a grand dining hall. The table was set with silver plates and candelabras, glasses and utensils. As Levos scanned the area from the shadows, he heard the ghostly sound of people dining and at times the flickering images of spirits dressed in noble vestments sitting at the table eating ghostly food and drinking ghostly wine. Quietly, Levos reported back to the adventurers. Mythra recalled some local lore about a number of benevolent nobles who had ruled small neighboring regions, and to her, it seemed as if these were their ghosts. She even recalled a story about Sir Bloor, and Sir Garovour, two of the ghosts that Levos had mentioned. Armed with this knowledge, Rynlore took out his lute, and walked into the banquet hall playing a song in honor of these nobles. The ghosts at the table turned to Rynlore and beckoned him to join them at their feast. Rynlore continued playing for his audience, capturing their hearts as Levos and Mythra emerged from the shadows. The spirits invited them all to dine with them, Sir Bloor saying “Come, join us. Your heart shall determine if the feast will harm or sustain you. If you have malevolence in your heart, woe to you. If your heart is benevolent, then you shall be sustained.” Rynlore was the first to partake, and as soon as he at the phantasmal food and drank the phantasmal wine, he felt his life force return to him. (Now his maximum hit point value was at 90 instead of 80…the damage he took from the wights and greater wights). After a few seconds of indecision, Mythra and Levos decided to join the table with Rynore and the ghostly nobles. The group discussed the fate of the nobles, and found out that they had been victims of Tegross the Mad just as Valkar and Sarahara, the two lovers, were. Sir Bloor told the group that they might be able to rest when Tegross the Mad is ultimately defeated, but they hoped that the adventurers could help Valkar and Sarahara and further their own quests. After dining, the party noticed that a large dish of red liquid in the north of the room began bubbling, and when Sir Bloor said that the ghosts would help and pointed to the bubbling dish, Mythra went over, inspected it and retrieved a red key from the bottom of the dish.
Bidding the spirits adieu, the party left the mausoleum and noticed the hellish mist that that stank of the abyss. As they turned north toward the western mausoleum, they were attacked by three barbed devils demanding, “give us the keys.” Having a difficult time seeing through the mist, the party prepared for battle. Levos fired his bow at one of the beasts, a sneak attack that deeply punctured the devil’s chest. Rynlore found himself engaged with two of the beasts, as they could sense that he was the one carrying the keys. He swung “Brightbeater”, his magic warhammer, and hit the mark, injuring one of the devils, but in the process, he also sustained injuries from the two foes fighting him. Mythra uncorked a cone of cold, which did some damage to all three of the devils, but not as much as she would have liked. After a few rounds, the devils were all felled, and the group proceeded towards the western mausoleum.
This was the entry hall that they had already gone to (a couple of sessions before). They knew about the whirlwind trap in the center of the room and they knew about the 4 pillars with the strange bas relief faces atop each of them. Levos volunteered to climb the pillars and look for a way to deactivate the trap. Atop each pillar, he found a lever inside the mouth of the faces; he pulled the lever forward at each pillar, and although he slipped and fell, sustaining minor damage, on the last two pillars, he was able to deactivate the trap.
The party continued through the northern doors and Levos scouted ahead. In this hall were a number of alcoves every 5’ down the 80’ hall. Light was flickering in a number of the alcoves, and when Levos stealthily moved up to one he saw a burning skeletal creature with glowing red eyes staring out almost through him. It seemed as if that skeleton did not see the hidden Levos, unfortunately, another one did see the rogue, and attacked from behind. Levos was caught between two of the creatures, so he ran back to the others, taking a number of burning wounds as he fled. Soon the party faced 4 of these burning skeletons, and they found out that not only could they attack with their burning claws, but they could also shoot forth sheets of fire, which burned Rynlore, Mythra (who was resistant), and Levos. In this battle, Levos was able to score a number of deadly sneak attacks, yet the skeletons were resistant to the arrows’ deadly points. Mythra fired her frosty ray at the foes, sometimes hitting with deadly accuracy (critical hit), but Rynlore’s warhammer did the most damage, smashing the skeletons and pulverizing them with each mighty blow.
After the fight, the adventurers took a rest to bandage themselves. Rynlore (out of HD of healing at this point) used a few of his own healing spells to recover some of the damage he had sustained, while Levos (using the rest of his HD of healing) and Mythra (using a few more of her HD) both tended to their wounds. At the final doorway in this mausoleum, the party prepared. Rynlore opened the doors and the group saw an alter about 30’ before them, atop the alter, an undead figure shrouded in black platemail armor, wielding a greatsword in one hand, an elegant shield in the other, rose and prepared for a fight. The adventurers feared that this was a death knight so Mythra and Levos remained over 80’ away while Rynlore charged in to challenge the creature face to face. Before, Rynlore could attack, he heard the whistle of Levos’ arrow pass by his ear and thud deeply into the visor of the death knight. The death knight shrieked, raised his sword and struck the paladin a painful, necrotic blow, but the paladin stood his ground. Then, two wraiths flitted into view and joined the fight. The two wraiths moved towards Rynlore, one hit him, but he was able to shake off the energy drain, the other swung at the paladin, but missed. Mythra moved into the room and placed a Fire Wall behind all three opponents. The wraiths fizzled and popped, but the death knight stood his ground.
Before the death knight could summon his Eldritch Fire, another arrow pierced his body, and Rynlore’s magic warhammer hit hard. The death knight crumpled to the ground and fell to pieces at the foot of the alter. On the alter, the party found a third key, and a small box. After inspecting it carefully, Levos realized the box was trapped, so he took it into a corner away from the others and attempted to disarm it. Unfortunately, he could not trick the mechanism; the box opened and a puff of poisonous gas injured the rogue before the gas dissipated. Inside the box, the party found 4 healing potions. Rynlore drank 3 of them right then and there. The party also realized that the shield the death knight was wielding was a Spellguard Shield, another item that Rynlore would use! (Mythra identified all of the magic items with the time they had).
With all three keys, the adventurers were ready to approach and unlock the central mausoleum, yet they had to prepare for the worst, realizing that each time they left a previous mausoleum, they were ambushed by barbed devils demanding the keys.
Comments
The group is pretty worn down at this point. Rynlore and Levos have no more HD of healing left. Rynlore has only 63 of 90 hp (down 10 hp to this maximum of 100 until a long rest too). Levos has 65 of 74 hit points. Mythra is at 66 of 69 and she has about 6 HD of healing left, but she only has 2 third, 1 fourth, 1 sixth level spells left. The group does have about 6 healing potions, and Rynlore has 1 third level spell slot left.
I wanted to test if the magic items that Rynlore uses (+1 warhammer, Belt of Frost Giant Strength) unbalance the combats). They seem to work fine. His +7 extra to hit and damage feel good, but they do not make him seem like an uncontrollable killing machine. There was a small discussion about retraining, but we decided that it would be silly to allow the paladin to retrain his attributes. One idea that the group mentioned to avoid the trap that a low strength PC could find a belt of giant strength and then never have to train up strength again, was to make it so that in order to wear the belt, there should be a minimum strength prerequisite. Maybe you need a 17 strength to wear the belts in the first place since they are really bulky and heavy.
One thing we think feels a little wrong is Ace In the Hole. It seems weird that the 10 strength Elven rogue, can expend this resource and automatically score a 20 on a strength check. We think this ability should be limited to dexterity checks and other trained skill attempts.
I’ve been having fun using monsters as is and modifying some (greater wights). It is very easy to make the modifications. I’m really looking forward to when WoTC actually works on the monsters though to make them even more interesting.
The death knight fight was a little easier than I thought it would be, but I had decided before hand, that if the death knight was not engaged by an opponent, he would throw his Eldritch Fire at the adventurers. If he was engaged, he would take up his sword and shield. Rynlore charged in before the death knight, so that saved them a very nasty fireball attack. Also, Levos especially rolled very well during that combat, piercing the death knight’s 18 AC more often than the odds merit.
The final part of the adventure will be very dangerous for the party. We look forward to finishing it in a couple of weeks.
As DM, I like to create an outline for my adventures before the games. I set up the monsters and decide what treasure is available and where it might be found, but I also like to add or change things as we play to be more responsive to what the players do and say. One thing I'm noticing is that the speed of play using attribute checks for lore and other actions is very fast. So fast that it is actually more difficult for me to improvise and come up with additional information and backstories for Folklore, Arcane Lore, and other knowledge checks that the players make. I'm starting to realize that I need to start preparing some of that information more before our games. Other than that, it has been really easy to make small adjustments like changing the amount of monsters that attack or making small changes in their abilities or scores if necessary (this session I didn't need to change anything). I'm also finding it easy to play along with the players to give them more chances to do things and interact with objects in the game.
Continuing our adventure with 12th level PCs.
Rynlore – Human Nature Paladin
Mythra – Elven Wizard (Evoker)
Levos – Elven Rogue/Assassin with a bow
This was a 3 ½ hour sessio
Recap: The adventurers are in an evil burial ground exploring 3 mausoleums to collect 3 keys which will open a central mausoleum. They are trying to reunite two dead lovers (Valkar and Sarahara) who had been killed and cursed by an evil sorcerer, Tegross the Mad. The adventurers already have a green key from the eastern mausoleum. They are currently inside the southern mausoleum in a hallway that they believe will lead to a treasure room.
The session: As they approached the double doors that block their path, they saw that there was a golden key hole, much like the door they just opened using a golden key they found. Levos put his ear to the door, and confidently told the others that it seemed clear. Then he searched the door itself for traps, and all seemed safe. Rynlore, used the key and then pushed the door open. The room inside had granite flagstones for about 20’ x 20’ and then in the distance, the party saw a glistening pile of treasure, golden coins piled up with armor and weapons sticking out in random directions. One item caught Rynlore’s eye, a belt with a bear head belt buckle. The belt was staked to the ground in the treasure pile. Mythra opened her spellbook and began to chant. In 10 minutes, she could see the magical aura of the belt, and she realized it radiated powerful transmutation magic. Rynlore, intrigued, but the belt, pulled at it, but found that it was stuck securely. Just then, Mythra and the others noticed grinding sounds, and she could tell that the side walls were beginning to slowly move together. They would have only about 20 seconds before the two walls met. Quickly, Levos checked the door they entered and found that it had locked. He tried to unlock it, but after fuddling about with the mechanism, he realized that the lock was superior. Mythra, fearing for their lives, decided to cast Passwall on a 5’ section of the northern wall, creating an exit to the graveyard outside. Rynlore tried to pull the belt again, but his strength failed him. All the while, Levos took the party’s bag of holding and began scooping up treasure. Finally, as the walls got closer, Levos tried to pull the belt free, and he succeeded. (Here Levos used Ace in The Hole, and we were a little puzzled that as written, he could use it for any check. It didn’t make sense that he could use it for a pure strength check, but we let it happen). When the walls were pressed together, the group exited through their passage with about 4,000 gp, a set of plate mail and the fine belt. Outside, Mythra identified the belt and told Rynlore that it was a Belt of Frost Giant Strength. Rynlore thanked Levos for help, but reiterated that he had “loosened” the belt which probably made it easier for Levos to free.
The party re-entered the southern mausoleum and traveled to the east doors. Rynlore opened them easily, and the others scanned the hallway that ended with another set of doors. Rynlore walked up to them and the ground fell away sending Rynlore down into a 15’ pit. He fell with a clang, and then the group realized he was not alone. A wight was in the pit with Rynlore attacking him and doing horrible damage that sapped the life force from the brave paladin. Within a few seconds, Levos fired an arrow straight through the wight’s skull, ending the threat. Rynlore climbed out of the pit with help, and balanced himself on the side closest to the eastern doors. He opened the room and found a room with 4 sarcophagi and 8 wights. One of the wights charged at the paladin and tried to knock him into the pit, but the paladin stood his ground. As Mythra and Levos climbed down the pit and into the room with Rynlore, Rynlore stood forth and turned the foul creatures with his divine power. All of the creatures cowered before him and moved to the four corners of the room. One by one, the party ended the wight threat, but at the end of it, Rynlore found himself weakened even more by a handful of additional energy draining attacks. (Max HP 80 instead of 100). Searching the room, Levos found a beautiful mithril chain shirt in one of the sarcophagi. He donned it immediately.
Levos snuck ahead through the northern doors, and he peered into a room that looked as if it were once a grand dining hall. The table was set with silver plates and candelabras, glasses and utensils. As Levos scanned the area from the shadows, he heard the ghostly sound of people dining and at times the flickering images of spirits dressed in noble vestments sitting at the table eating ghostly food and drinking ghostly wine. Quietly, Levos reported back to the adventurers. Mythra recalled some local lore about a number of benevolent nobles who had ruled small neighboring regions, and to her, it seemed as if these were their ghosts. She even recalled a story about Sir Bloor, and Sir Garovour, two of the ghosts that Levos had mentioned. Armed with this knowledge, Rynlore took out his lute, and walked into the banquet hall playing a song in honor of these nobles. The ghosts at the table turned to Rynlore and beckoned him to join them at their feast. Rynlore continued playing for his audience, capturing their hearts as Levos and Mythra emerged from the shadows. The spirits invited them all to dine with them, Sir Bloor saying “Come, join us. Your heart shall determine if the feast will harm or sustain you. If you have malevolence in your heart, woe to you. If your heart is benevolent, then you shall be sustained.” Rynlore was the first to partake, and as soon as he at the phantasmal food and drank the phantasmal wine, he felt his life force return to him. (Now his maximum hit point value was at 90 instead of 80…the damage he took from the wights and greater wights). After a few seconds of indecision, Mythra and Levos decided to join the table with Rynore and the ghostly nobles. The group discussed the fate of the nobles, and found out that they had been victims of Tegross the Mad just as Valkar and Sarahara, the two lovers, were. Sir Bloor told the group that they might be able to rest when Tegross the Mad is ultimately defeated, but they hoped that the adventurers could help Valkar and Sarahara and further their own quests. After dining, the party noticed that a large dish of red liquid in the north of the room began bubbling, and when Sir Bloor said that the ghosts would help and pointed to the bubbling dish, Mythra went over, inspected it and retrieved a red key from the bottom of the dish.
Bidding the spirits adieu, the party left the mausoleum and noticed the hellish mist that that stank of the abyss. As they turned north toward the western mausoleum, they were attacked by three barbed devils demanding, “give us the keys.” Having a difficult time seeing through the mist, the party prepared for battle. Levos fired his bow at one of the beasts, a sneak attack that deeply punctured the devil’s chest. Rynlore found himself engaged with two of the beasts, as they could sense that he was the one carrying the keys. He swung “Brightbeater”, his magic warhammer, and hit the mark, injuring one of the devils, but in the process, he also sustained injuries from the two foes fighting him. Mythra uncorked a cone of cold, which did some damage to all three of the devils, but not as much as she would have liked. After a few rounds, the devils were all felled, and the group proceeded towards the western mausoleum.
This was the entry hall that they had already gone to (a couple of sessions before). They knew about the whirlwind trap in the center of the room and they knew about the 4 pillars with the strange bas relief faces atop each of them. Levos volunteered to climb the pillars and look for a way to deactivate the trap. Atop each pillar, he found a lever inside the mouth of the faces; he pulled the lever forward at each pillar, and although he slipped and fell, sustaining minor damage, on the last two pillars, he was able to deactivate the trap.
The party continued through the northern doors and Levos scouted ahead. In this hall were a number of alcoves every 5’ down the 80’ hall. Light was flickering in a number of the alcoves, and when Levos stealthily moved up to one he saw a burning skeletal creature with glowing red eyes staring out almost through him. It seemed as if that skeleton did not see the hidden Levos, unfortunately, another one did see the rogue, and attacked from behind. Levos was caught between two of the creatures, so he ran back to the others, taking a number of burning wounds as he fled. Soon the party faced 4 of these burning skeletons, and they found out that not only could they attack with their burning claws, but they could also shoot forth sheets of fire, which burned Rynlore, Mythra (who was resistant), and Levos. In this battle, Levos was able to score a number of deadly sneak attacks, yet the skeletons were resistant to the arrows’ deadly points. Mythra fired her frosty ray at the foes, sometimes hitting with deadly accuracy (critical hit), but Rynlore’s warhammer did the most damage, smashing the skeletons and pulverizing them with each mighty blow.
After the fight, the adventurers took a rest to bandage themselves. Rynlore (out of HD of healing at this point) used a few of his own healing spells to recover some of the damage he had sustained, while Levos (using the rest of his HD of healing) and Mythra (using a few more of her HD) both tended to their wounds. At the final doorway in this mausoleum, the party prepared. Rynlore opened the doors and the group saw an alter about 30’ before them, atop the alter, an undead figure shrouded in black platemail armor, wielding a greatsword in one hand, an elegant shield in the other, rose and prepared for a fight. The adventurers feared that this was a death knight so Mythra and Levos remained over 80’ away while Rynlore charged in to challenge the creature face to face. Before, Rynlore could attack, he heard the whistle of Levos’ arrow pass by his ear and thud deeply into the visor of the death knight. The death knight shrieked, raised his sword and struck the paladin a painful, necrotic blow, but the paladin stood his ground. Then, two wraiths flitted into view and joined the fight. The two wraiths moved towards Rynlore, one hit him, but he was able to shake off the energy drain, the other swung at the paladin, but missed. Mythra moved into the room and placed a Fire Wall behind all three opponents. The wraiths fizzled and popped, but the death knight stood his ground.
Before the death knight could summon his Eldritch Fire, another arrow pierced his body, and Rynlore’s magic warhammer hit hard. The death knight crumpled to the ground and fell to pieces at the foot of the alter. On the alter, the party found a third key, and a small box. After inspecting it carefully, Levos realized the box was trapped, so he took it into a corner away from the others and attempted to disarm it. Unfortunately, he could not trick the mechanism; the box opened and a puff of poisonous gas injured the rogue before the gas dissipated. Inside the box, the party found 4 healing potions. Rynlore drank 3 of them right then and there. The party also realized that the shield the death knight was wielding was a Spellguard Shield, another item that Rynlore would use! (Mythra identified all of the magic items with the time they had).
With all three keys, the adventurers were ready to approach and unlock the central mausoleum, yet they had to prepare for the worst, realizing that each time they left a previous mausoleum, they were ambushed by barbed devils demanding the keys.
Comments
The group is pretty worn down at this point. Rynlore and Levos have no more HD of healing left. Rynlore has only 63 of 90 hp (down 10 hp to this maximum of 100 until a long rest too). Levos has 65 of 74 hit points. Mythra is at 66 of 69 and she has about 6 HD of healing left, but she only has 2 third, 1 fourth, 1 sixth level spells left. The group does have about 6 healing potions, and Rynlore has 1 third level spell slot left.
I wanted to test if the magic items that Rynlore uses (+1 warhammer, Belt of Frost Giant Strength) unbalance the combats). They seem to work fine. His +7 extra to hit and damage feel good, but they do not make him seem like an uncontrollable killing machine. There was a small discussion about retraining, but we decided that it would be silly to allow the paladin to retrain his attributes. One idea that the group mentioned to avoid the trap that a low strength PC could find a belt of giant strength and then never have to train up strength again, was to make it so that in order to wear the belt, there should be a minimum strength prerequisite. Maybe you need a 17 strength to wear the belts in the first place since they are really bulky and heavy.
One thing we think feels a little wrong is Ace In the Hole. It seems weird that the 10 strength Elven rogue, can expend this resource and automatically score a 20 on a strength check. We think this ability should be limited to dexterity checks and other trained skill attempts.
I’ve been having fun using monsters as is and modifying some (greater wights). It is very easy to make the modifications. I’m really looking forward to when WoTC actually works on the monsters though to make them even more interesting.
The death knight fight was a little easier than I thought it would be, but I had decided before hand, that if the death knight was not engaged by an opponent, he would throw his Eldritch Fire at the adventurers. If he was engaged, he would take up his sword and shield. Rynlore charged in before the death knight, so that saved them a very nasty fireball attack. Also, Levos especially rolled very well during that combat, piercing the death knight’s 18 AC more often than the odds merit.
The final part of the adventure will be very dangerous for the party. We look forward to finishing it in a couple of weeks.
As DM, I like to create an outline for my adventures before the games. I set up the monsters and decide what treasure is available and where it might be found, but I also like to add or change things as we play to be more responsive to what the players do and say. One thing I'm noticing is that the speed of play using attribute checks for lore and other actions is very fast. So fast that it is actually more difficult for me to improvise and come up with additional information and backstories for Folklore, Arcane Lore, and other knowledge checks that the players make. I'm starting to realize that I need to start preparing some of that information more before our games. Other than that, it has been really easy to make small adjustments like changing the amount of monsters that attack or making small changes in their abilities or scores if necessary (this session I didn't need to change anything). I'm also finding it easy to play along with the players to give them more chances to do things and interact with objects in the game.
