D&D 4E Running player commentary on PCat's 4E Campaign - Heroic tier (finished)

[Siuis]

My players keep nudging me as well. Part of it is a time issue, or more realistically a "making the time" issue.

To echo WLS (who I apparently can't give XP to right now), much as I would love to be able to read another PCat Storyhour, he should only take it on if it's something he wants to do--something where he'd rather spend the time on it than doing other things, because there are hours and hours of work that go into that.

I agree entirely. Part of the fun is in the wanting though. I'm actually on my way now to see how Abernathy's Company is doing (since this party is still recovering from their wounds ) and half the fun of that story is also in the waiting with 'bated breath. By all means, PC, just continue playin. That's all we really want out of you. We'll hear stories by trickle-down and be ok.

Heck, I'd be happy with a quick writeup of what happened in the conclusion of his last campaign. (Defenders of Daybreak?)

QFT. There is a small part of me that feels like was a TV that got cancelled just before they finally finished it.

Piratecat, you realise this makes you the Joss Whedon of ENworld, right?

Hm. That reminds me of how ALF ended. WARNING: some of that stuff is funny, but the last one left me on the brink of tears. So be careful.

 

[Sagiro]

Run #51 was this past week. The previous session ended with the party attempting a short-cut through the huge city of Capria. Said short cut involved two uses of the Tree Stride ritual; we spotted trees on a large “floating island” high above the city, and figured we could pop up to it, then spy a second tree at ground level closer to our destination and pop back down.

The first part went just fine. The floating island was a well-tended garden with trees, streams, a small pond, and even some waterfalls that poured down upon the city below. We walked across to a tree on the far side so that Bramble could cast the second ritual.

That’s when the undead attacked! It seems that once upon a time, the Emperor had this patch of garden magically scooped up from somewhere and set to float above his capital city, only discovering afterward that it was actually a well-tended graveyard. We had no idea that in the decades since, the Emperor has come to use this place as a killing ground for prisoners, since the undead invariably rise up and kill anyone who walks there.

As for the fight:

- It started with a Son of Kyuss (Level 13 Brute) and about a half-dozen Wretches of Kyuss (Level 13 Minions) burrowing up out of the earth to attack.
- A second, similar wave showed up a round or two later. I think that all told we faced two of the Sons, and about a dozen wretches. Piratecat will have the exact numbers.
- If you’re not familiar with these creatures: The Sons of Kyuss have a “Burrowing Worm” attack that causes Ongoing 10 Necrotic. If you fail a save, the damage increases to 15. Fail another save, and it goes up to 20 and you’re stunned. Fortunately, only one character (Logan) was hit, and he saved on the first try, thanks to his Heroic Action racial (human) ability.
- The minions were – well, they were minions, but with a slight twist. When killed, they exploded, damaging all adjacent enemies. That lesson was hardest learned by the Sorcerer Gilran, when he used Spark Form to kill at least three of the minions. Each one exploded on him, and he took some serious damage from that.
- …But not as serious as it might have been, since he used a different power earlier to switch his natural resistance to “necrotic.” Good call!
- Also, the minions had excellent hit rolls, and did 13 points on a hit (10 more on explosion), and the damage added up quite quickly on several PC’s. Wolfram (formerly Doc Caldwell, but he’s traveling incognito) was knocked unconscious at one point, and we didn’t want to kill the minions surrounding him until he was somewhat healed.
- Speaking of the consequences of killing these undead: I personally considered trying to throw them off the island, thus raining undead down upon the city below. I nixed that plan when we realized they explode in a shower of deadly worms upon death!
- Thanks to the Invigorating Spirit feat, Bramble the shaman does (Healing Surge + 9) with each use of Healing Spirit, plus an additional 2d6 to a second character, plus (and we forgot this) 5 Temp HP to allies adjacent to her Spirit Companion. It’s pretty sweet.
- The wizard Strontium (a.k.a. Inquisitor Zacris) has some power or ability that lets him cast Magic Missile as a minor action. Combined with the auto-hit nature of that spell, that’s 2 minions killed per round, guaranteed! (In fact, there were continuing waves of minions after the first two, but Piratecat declared by fiat that with Stron mowing them down, we didn’t have to play out the ongoing combat.)
- Now that Logan has changed from a ranged-attacking Rogue to a melee-oriented Avenger, my melee-Rogue has a flanking buddy again! Yay! That’s allowed me to make more use of my utility powers that let me shift my move.
- Relatedly, you may be wondering why the rapier-wielding ranger isn’t a flanking buddy. The answer is: Wolfram has powers that let him dart in, attack, and dart away again. When my turn rolls around, he’s disengaged. However, we discovered a good synergy this game with Bramble’s Capturing Jaws power, which lets us flank with her Spirit Companion. Wolfram can move, use the SC for a flank, and then move out, so that Cobalt can then do the same.
- We could have retreated from this battle any time we wanted to, by dashing back to our original “gateway tree.” Wolfram and Strontium were certainly in favor of that when things were looking grim early on, but the fight never got quite out of hand enough to make us seriously want to flee. (And then Wolfram went unconscious, which made fleeing an even less enticing choice.)

So, after we finished the second Tree Stride ritual, we finished our shortcut and reported in to the local Grey Guard tower. Afterward, Strontium/Zacris went looking in a library for information about himself (from long ago) and his tower, which we still want access to. Piratecat ran this as a mini-skill challenge, to determine how many of his prepared print-outs he was going to give Stron’s player. (We got two – I don’t know if PC had any more.) They’re cool and puzzling and apparently contain all the information we need to gain access to the tower.

Next game: figure out those clues, and try again to gain access to the Strontium’s old abode!

 

[Iceman]

- The wizard Strontium (a.k.a. Inquisitor Zacris) has some power or ability that lets him cast Magic Missile as a minor action. Combined with the auto-hit nature of that spell, that’s 2 minions killed per round, guaranteed! (In fact, there were continuing waves of minions after the first two, but Piratecat declared by fiat that with Stron mowing them down, we didn’t have to play out the ongoing combat.)

Wizard's Fury. On one hand, it doesn't have a big Daily Power effect on the turn you cast it. On the other, it turns you into an encounter-long artillery piece. Some love it, some hate it, I think it's pretty cool.

However, we discovered a good synergy this game with Bramble’s Capturing Jaws power, which lets us flank with her Spirit Companion. Wolfram can move, use the SC for a flank, and then move out, so that Cobalt can then do the same.

My shaman loves that power. I tend to identify a melee-only threat, hit him with it while he's not adjacent to anyone (since it immobilizes), then move the spirit so everyone can flank (for a +5 bonus due to the Protector rider) with it for one turn. It gives our monk one turn of nova combined with one turn of action denial on the original target.
I really enjoy playing a shaman -- leader, controller, lots of flavor.

Keep 'em coming!
-VIC

 

[Piratecat]

Wizard's Fury. On one hand, it doesn't have a big Daily Power effect on the turn you cast it. On the other, it turns you into an encounter-long artillery piece. Some love it, some hate it, I think it's pretty cool.

Exactly, Vic. Peg loves it because she loves the auto-hit magic missile, and it was the perfect choice in this circumstance. During the minute-long ritual they had to cast it let Stron completely eliminate the threat before the rising corpses got close enough to do any damage. I have this image of an aerial view of the PCs on the floating island, waterfall shimmering into rainbows as it falls off the edge, with Strontium systematically flinging magic missiles at the wretches of Kyuss while they completely fail to surround the party.

This was a good fight. I had awful luck hitting with the burrowing worms (neat effect: with every missed save the worms burrow deeper into you, increasing the ongoing damage from 10 to 15 to 20 + stun.) MM3 monsters are so much better designed than monsters from the previous Monster Manuals. Other than my normal "reduce defenses by 1 to compensate for the expertise feat", no changes were needed at all. Plus, I rolled something like 4 or 5 natural 20s. My old Paranoia d20 (a game where a 1 is good and a 20 is awful) never fails to roll high.

The small skill challenge at the end was something new I'm trying. The challenge (with rapidly escalating DCs - history 17, [social skill] 21, arcana or perception 25, and several skill checks at arcana 29 (and perhaps other skills) coming up) gives physical clues in the form of some stuff I've written. If the players can figure it out based on what I've written, they'll get a big bonus on those upcoming arcana 29 rolls. If they succeed they may be able to bypass some of Zacris's tower's defenses. If they can't, combat and death and flaying!

I'd actually expected the tower approach to be combat from the start, although it looks like a very tough one. The PCs are interested in finding a non-combat solution because they (quite correctly) anticipate it to be deadly. I want to reward them thinking their way through problems, so this is a work-around that allows either result.

I'll include the clues they got about Inquisitor Zacris and his tower. My players can feel free to read these again (they're just spoiler blocked for space), but please no speculation in this thread about what they may have to do.

[sblock]Skill challenge to bypass the guardian of Inquisitor Zacris:


Part 1: History: DC 17 (can only be attempted if visiting a sage)

From the journal of Cleric Rozikar, Sword of the City:

"And the Inquisitor took me to his tower of Wonders, with the traitorous slaves were brought in tow behind us. He advised us to hurry, less his safeguards strip the flesh from our bones, "before I wish it done" he said, and it was risible, and we laughed heartily so as not to offend. And the Inquisitor stood upon the disc of shimmering silver as the tower unhinged itself, and the Inquisitor called upon the Seven Dark Eyes of Dread Ysid, and the Guardian was stilled; so did he then bid us run to the disc where we were safe, and one of the slaves fell and was flayed before our eyes, the the Inquisitor bid us let him lie as a warning to others. And so we did."​

Part 2: Diplomacy, intimidate (etc.) DC 21: to get access to forbidden texts containing mentions of Ysid.




Part 3: Arcana DC 25: (only possible once successes are reached in the first two parts)

From the spidery scrawls of Yundoon, Odassian warlock, flayed alive by Inquisitor Zacris for crimes against the true Gods:

"hE waTCheS, yOU fOol. yoU FoOL. DoN'T yoU fEel It? hE wAIts in tHe sKY aBovE anD WHiRls aBoUT ouR hEAds as The sEAsoNs tuRn. he waiTs beHiNd mirROrS aNd in evERy eYe. hE aPes yoUr sHapE aNd sHEen anD DaNCes mERriLy wHen hE tHInKs yoU cAn't sEe. buT i cAN! i caN! tHe miRRoRs aLiGn, onE fOr ev'Ry EyE, and eAch sEes the othEr as tHey reFLeCt theMselVes bAck! thIs is hoW yOU cAll hIm anD drAw uPon hIs wILL, heAr the sINginG. tHe sinGing! i wiLL siNg for YOu, anD yOu wilL seE Him yoURseLf wheN you dREaM, and wHen yoU sHave, and whEn you drESs, and wHen you DiE. hE waTcHes you alWays, anD he sIngS yoUr seLf awaY.​

Parts 4-6: Arcana DC 29 x3 (bonus if they're doing the right thing(s):

Disable the tower's guardian.

Failure: (Not saying in this thread.)[/sblock]

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

What are the PCs' skill bonuses like these days? I'm guessing around +15-+19 for good skills, with +12 or so being the "decent but not great level," but I wanted to check, since I've never played in or run a regular (low) Paragon game. I'm trying to get a handle on how hard the DCs are.

 

[Piratecat]

What are the PCs' skill bonuses like these days? I'm guessing around +15-+19 for good skills, with +12 or so being the "decent but not great level," but I wanted to check, since I've never played in or run a regular (low) Paragon game. I'm trying to get a handle on how hard the DCs are.

A bit lower than that, topping out at around +16. More-or-less up to date character sheets are here:

Piratecat's Gaming Wiki / Who the PCs are

Wolfram (formerly Caldwell, he's in disguise) doesn't have the best skills of anyone, but he does have the second-best for most. His best skills are +12 to +14. Bramble has a once-per-encounter skill boost that gives her something like +5, and for games where Sagiro writes up this thread he gets a +1d6 bonus to add to a roll during the next game. Assisting (of course) adds +2 or -1 per person who tries to help.

Interestingly, Caldwell's player is optimizing the PC for skill challenges. His paragon path is being picked to give him as many trained skills as possible. It's really cool, fits the (university educated) character perfectly, and ensures that it's a part of the game I can't ignore.

 

[Piratecat]

Played tonight. Sagiro will write the analysis - the last entry in this thread, in fact, as the group levelled tonight and we'll start a new thread for Paragon tier - but I'll give you one teaser. The group found approximately 2,000,000 GP worth of treasure!

Bastards better not claim I'm stingy now.

 

[Vargo]

Can't wait to find out what kinds of strings are attached...

 

[Blackjack]

The group found approximately 2,000,000 GP worth of treasure!

The group "found treasure" in the same way that I can visit the Tower of London and then claim I "found treasure" because I saw the Crown Jewels.

 

[Piratecat]

The group "found treasure" in the same way that I can visit the Tower of London and then claim I "found treasure" because I saw the Crown Jewels.

Not true at all! I mean, presumably Strontium owns all that treasure. It's just a little hard to access right now, like a 401K account that flays you alive if you try an early withdrawal. (ahem) I'll stop with the spoilers. And the flaying.