Peni Griffin
First Post
My experience is atypical, as I modified the module heavily - and I'm beginning to think, not very well! I figured that leaving out one section would make up for the fact that the party started ahead of the planned curve, and I was nervous about the lack of a big arcane caster, but hoped that ingenuity and the size of the party would take up the slack. Does it ever! It turns out that leaving out chapter 2 gives the PCs way too much time to run around accomplishing things early in the module while the Horde's overwhelming numbers are moving into position.
Anyway, I am a big nonbeliever in "the build." Playing smart, lots of teamwork, and flexibility can cover a multitude of supposedly suboptimal choices, and if the DM's willing to let you recruit, there's plenty of NPCs who can reasonably be drafted into the war effort if you find you really need some function not filled in the party.
For what it's worth, I have found the rogue to be a major asset to the party due to his maxed spot check. I can't ambush these people worth beans. Also, he's way too good at intelligence-gathering. Not much in the way of traps and locks in the module, but a few of them are key, and incidentally people who can disarm traps can set them, too. Depending on play styles, I can see a bard or ranger with high intelligence providing some of the same functions. The bard (or other high-charisma PC, regardless of class) can also get a workout coping with all those NPCs, as a politically-minded DM can have a field day with the factions and personal agendas mentioned in the module. Just because nobody in Elsir Vale wants the Red Hand invading doesn't mean they'll all lay aside their differences and work and play well together! Resource management screwup by the Good Guys - who maybe don't trust the PCs, are trying to make a profit or gain a political point, or simply have their own boneheaded ideas about how things ought to be done - is a subtle way the DM can hinder the players if he wants to do it and the PCs give him an opportunity.
In the absence of a big arcane caster, the cleric is also doing a lot of heavy lifting and has been MVP twice due to timely and intelligent spell applications. Yes, you get a lot of cure potions, but the Red Hand also has means of taking people out that aren't reliant on direct hit-point whittling. But then I never think you should skimp on divine casting...A druid may do just as well, or better.
But really, there'll be stuff for everybody to do, as long as you focus on what you can do instead of what you can't. Parties that devote themselves to frontal assaults and delivery of mass damage instead of thinking tactically will have high casualty rates.
Mounts and modes of communication matter a lot when tearing all over the countryside the way you do in this module. The side that can size up its foes accurately and force the optimum range for the conflict wins the fights and takes the prisoners.
Anyway, I am a big nonbeliever in "the build." Playing smart, lots of teamwork, and flexibility can cover a multitude of supposedly suboptimal choices, and if the DM's willing to let you recruit, there's plenty of NPCs who can reasonably be drafted into the war effort if you find you really need some function not filled in the party.
For what it's worth, I have found the rogue to be a major asset to the party due to his maxed spot check. I can't ambush these people worth beans. Also, he's way too good at intelligence-gathering. Not much in the way of traps and locks in the module, but a few of them are key, and incidentally people who can disarm traps can set them, too. Depending on play styles, I can see a bard or ranger with high intelligence providing some of the same functions. The bard (or other high-charisma PC, regardless of class) can also get a workout coping with all those NPCs, as a politically-minded DM can have a field day with the factions and personal agendas mentioned in the module. Just because nobody in Elsir Vale wants the Red Hand invading doesn't mean they'll all lay aside their differences and work and play well together! Resource management screwup by the Good Guys - who maybe don't trust the PCs, are trying to make a profit or gain a political point, or simply have their own boneheaded ideas about how things ought to be done - is a subtle way the DM can hinder the players if he wants to do it and the PCs give him an opportunity.
In the absence of a big arcane caster, the cleric is also doing a lot of heavy lifting and has been MVP twice due to timely and intelligent spell applications. Yes, you get a lot of cure potions, but the Red Hand also has means of taking people out that aren't reliant on direct hit-point whittling. But then I never think you should skimp on divine casting...A druid may do just as well, or better.
But really, there'll be stuff for everybody to do, as long as you focus on what you can do instead of what you can't. Parties that devote themselves to frontal assaults and delivery of mass damage instead of thinking tactically will have high casualty rates.
Mounts and modes of communication matter a lot when tearing all over the countryside the way you do in this module. The side that can size up its foes accurately and force the optimum range for the conflict wins the fights and takes the prisoners.
