Paragon Advice
- Thread starter Delgar
- Start date
Otterscrubber
First Post
Is there a corresponding reduction in the HP of the monsters with this?
Otterscrubber
First Post
Heralds of Hadar, one of the few creatures that have the ability to keep PCs from healing themselves. Made for an interesting fight, our DM used them in the end of our heroic tier and one of us actually died!! We are also almost comically unable to roll a 10 or higher when trying to make saving throws. This didn't help.
Obryn
Hero
I've said this before, but IMO this isn't required because I'm not using high level monsters.
In my level 28 epic game I got through two encounters in two and a half hours. One was EL 0 and the other was EL + 2. That is REALLY good for epic and I would easily have got a third and maybe even a fourth in as well. The fact is without needing monsters vastly over the PCs level to challenge them and the fact that they are fairly hittable overall these days means epic is far less grindy. I'm getting through more encounters and the encounters are more fun overall.
Reducing monster HP is probably not going to be of any benefit when just using reasonable monster levels does the same thing.
Okay I thought I'd give a quick update here, and share my thoughts on my first running of a paragon game.
Earlier I posted the setup for the game, the characters will be taking part in a dream sequence of a past life of my Deva player. They will all remember who they are but will be trapped in the body of another, except for the Deva who will think that he is his past self.
My plan was to push them to the limit through several encounters burning their resources till the grand finale.
The combat started off with a fight on the rooftop with a modified dracolich. I removed most of it's stunning abilty and this fight went fairly well. Due to a well timed mass resistance the group didn't really suffer to much resource drain here.
Next was a fight on the stairway with some guards and minions, this encounter lasted only a few rounds. The players actually burned a couple dailys here in stances, so they decided to press on without a rest. Well the barbarian charged onward, ahead of the rest of the party (he plays a very cautious wizard in the regular game) right into 4 Elite golems. Had I action pointed with all of the golems I think I could have outright killed him. This fight was really tough, really long and really painful on the characters. I would probably never run a fight like this in my regular game but I wanted to see how far I could push them.
I had two more encounters planned before the final fight, but I decided to skip those and move on to the finale. In the final fight the players would face:
Erandis (level 16 Elite controller)
Captain Zaknoril (Level 16 Elite soldier, leader)
Crysiana (Level 16 Elite Skirmisher)
Death Knight (Level 16 Elite Soldier)
2xAbyssal Ghoul Swarms (Level 16 swarms)
Cyclopse Rambler (level 16 brute)
It looked tough. Really tough. The players went all out and they chewed this encounter up and spit it out. Sure they were hurting and had used up all their healing, but in the end they prevailed and Malas the Deva killed Erandis. And this is where the great reveal comes into play, in that the final requirement to complete the ritual to turn Erandis into a lich was for her to be slain by a paladin.
Zaknoril resumed his true form, (Level 19 Solo Skirmisher Green Dragon) and Erandis mother, Minara entered the fray (Level 19 Solo Controller). The beaten down party was no mactch for the might of these two giants and they were summarily slain.
Zaknoril asked Malas what he would do if they told him that his love for his wife was unatural? What would he do to save his family? His child?
As the group lay dying on the floor, Zaknoril returned to his human form and kissed his wife. She told him that the ritual was complete and that he should take Erandis away from here. That she was the only one who knew what Erandis' Phylactery is and that secret would die with her tonight. They embraced, kissed and then Zaknoril shoved his sword through her heart.
The world went black for the characters and they returned back to their original bodies. Okay well they heard a demonic voice speak out to the player of the wizard reminding him of who he is, and that he is "the master of dreams".
Although I didn't give the players any xp for their experience I wanted to give them something seeing as they gave up three sessions for what was really a little experiment. So, I decided that the events that they had participated in had affected them so much they each brought back a piece of their dreamself in the form of a multiclass feat of the class they were playing.
Okay so here are my thoughts on my session:
-The players really enjoyed it, it gave them a chance to play a different character class and see what sort of power their characters will come into. However, jumping into a fresh paragon character is complicated, there are lots of little bits and pieces to remeber; such as:
Immediate actions
Action points
Attack bonuses
Damage bonuses
and much, much more. There were many times where we missed things but that's the way of things.
- The players have a lot of choices and options, which is good, but can be overwhelming. Especially when your not used to the characters. I'd never recommend a game start at paragon unless it involves very veteran players.
All in al it was a complete success and everyone had a great time. Right now they are roleplaying via e-mail, trying to figure out what just happened to them. Good times, good times.
Earlier I posted the setup for the game, the characters will be taking part in a dream sequence of a past life of my Deva player. They will all remember who they are but will be trapped in the body of another, except for the Deva who will think that he is his past self.
My plan was to push them to the limit through several encounters burning their resources till the grand finale.
The combat started off with a fight on the rooftop with a modified dracolich. I removed most of it's stunning abilty and this fight went fairly well. Due to a well timed mass resistance the group didn't really suffer to much resource drain here.
Next was a fight on the stairway with some guards and minions, this encounter lasted only a few rounds. The players actually burned a couple dailys here in stances, so they decided to press on without a rest. Well the barbarian charged onward, ahead of the rest of the party (he plays a very cautious wizard in the regular game) right into 4 Elite golems. Had I action pointed with all of the golems I think I could have outright killed him. This fight was really tough, really long and really painful on the characters. I would probably never run a fight like this in my regular game but I wanted to see how far I could push them.
I had two more encounters planned before the final fight, but I decided to skip those and move on to the finale. In the final fight the players would face:
Erandis (level 16 Elite controller)
Captain Zaknoril (Level 16 Elite soldier, leader)
Crysiana (Level 16 Elite Skirmisher)
Death Knight (Level 16 Elite Soldier)
2xAbyssal Ghoul Swarms (Level 16 swarms)
Cyclopse Rambler (level 16 brute)
It looked tough. Really tough. The players went all out and they chewed this encounter up and spit it out. Sure they were hurting and had used up all their healing, but in the end they prevailed and Malas the Deva killed Erandis. And this is where the great reveal comes into play, in that the final requirement to complete the ritual to turn Erandis into a lich was for her to be slain by a paladin.
Zaknoril resumed his true form, (Level 19 Solo Skirmisher Green Dragon) and Erandis mother, Minara entered the fray (Level 19 Solo Controller). The beaten down party was no mactch for the might of these two giants and they were summarily slain.
Zaknoril asked Malas what he would do if they told him that his love for his wife was unatural? What would he do to save his family? His child?
As the group lay dying on the floor, Zaknoril returned to his human form and kissed his wife. She told him that the ritual was complete and that he should take Erandis away from here. That she was the only one who knew what Erandis' Phylactery is and that secret would die with her tonight. They embraced, kissed and then Zaknoril shoved his sword through her heart.
The world went black for the characters and they returned back to their original bodies. Okay well they heard a demonic voice speak out to the player of the wizard reminding him of who he is, and that he is "the master of dreams".
Although I didn't give the players any xp for their experience I wanted to give them something seeing as they gave up three sessions for what was really a little experiment. So, I decided that the events that they had participated in had affected them so much they each brought back a piece of their dreamself in the form of a multiclass feat of the class they were playing.
Okay so here are my thoughts on my session:
-The players really enjoyed it, it gave them a chance to play a different character class and see what sort of power their characters will come into. However, jumping into a fresh paragon character is complicated, there are lots of little bits and pieces to remeber; such as:
Immediate actions
Action points
Attack bonuses
Damage bonuses
and much, much more. There were many times where we missed things but that's the way of things.
- The players have a lot of choices and options, which is good, but can be overwhelming. Especially when your not used to the characters. I'd never recommend a game start at paragon unless it involves very veteran players.
All in al it was a complete success and everyone had a great time. Right now they are roleplaying via e-mail, trying to figure out what just happened to them. Good times, good times.
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