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

[Rel]

This thread continues to have me counting the days until I can start my own 4e campaign. Great stuff!

What I particularly love is seeing how durable (even without a healer per se) the PC's are in the face of relentless wave after wave of bad guys. Since that's kinda the way I roll as a GM then I'm pleased to see how well this style is supported by 4e.

 

[the Jester]

Sounds awesome. We're playing a (significantly larger) siege situation imc right now, and it's been awesome fun for the pcs (defending a city) as they get to kill tons and tons of enemy minions for every time their forces even take damage!

Of course, much like your situation here, there are a lot of bad guys...

Good luck to the party; I suspect that your ensuing "negotiations" will prove most interesting.

 

[KidCthulhu]

Sagiro's note on Acid Arrow raises my question to y'all. The description says this spell does ancillary damage to all creatures adjacent to the target? But when the target is large, or has an unexposed side, that becomes kind of ridiculous. If I'm fighting a dragon, and all my allies are around it, the acid still does splash damage, even if the creature is 30' long? That seems slightly broken. It is an "arrow" of acid, not a ball or globe. It's a missile, not a burst.

In the same tactical position, I was able to use a burst spell without hitting any allies, but couldn't use a non-burst spell. Sounds broken to me. Flavor text is winning over tactics.

Anyone else want to weigh in on this? I'm trying to get PC to house-rule this. With a party full of flankers, I may never get the chance to use this!

 

[LostSoul]

Can you pick Phantom Chasm from Dragon 364? It's a burst 1 that can leave its targets prone - perfect for your rogue buddies.

 

[Rel]

Sagiro's note on Acid Arrow raises my question to y'all. The description says this spell does ancillary damage to all creatures adjacent to the target? But when the target is large, or has an unexposed side, that becomes kind of ridiculous. If I'm fighting a dragon, and all my allies are around it, the acid still does splash damage, even if the creature is 30' long? That seems slightly broken. It is an "arrow" of acid, not a ball or globe. It's a missile, not a burst.

In the same tactical position, I was able to use a burst spell without hitting any allies, but couldn't use a non-burst spell. Sounds broken to me. Flavor text is winning over tactics.

Anyone else want to weigh in on this? I'm trying to get PC to house-rule this. With a party full of flankers, I may never get the chance to use this!

You should be sure and bat your eyelashes at him. That would work on me. But then again maybe he's spent the last 20 years building up an immunity to iocaine powder your considerable charm.

I think you're reading it correctly from a strict rules standpoint. But this is one of those "believability vs. rules" things that I'd just handwave as a GM. I might say that the area is effectively a Burst 1 so that you'd still get some splash on a large creature but you could target whatever square you like (including the center) of a creature that has a 3x3 base or larger.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Through the power of magic, when you cast acid arrow on a Large target, you create a Large acid arrow that is 2x2 squares. That's why it still splashes your friends who are flanking the Large target.

*blink*

Okay, that does sound kind of silly.

 

[LightPhoenix]

You get the same problem with any power that references "adjacent enemies" (eg Force Orb). I think the most reasonable interpretation is the one Rel put forth; all powers/effects that say "adjacent enemies" are actually Burst 1, with the caveat that they don't affect the target square.

 

[Zustiur]

The damage applies the first time he makes an attack before the start of your next turn... as long as he's marked.

If he's still marked next round, then "your next turn" is another round away.

If he's still marked the round after that, then "your next turn" is another round away.

He can only take the damage once per round, but he can take it in multiple rounds.

-Hyp.

Then we've been playing it wrong. I wish it was worded differently.
e.g. "the first time ... each round while still marked." or something.

 

[Blackjack]

- This game showed us the awesome power of the wizard to clear out minions.

This was the game that showed me the awesome mechanic that is minions. As Sagiro notes, we took advantage both of wizard spells as well as any tactical advantages we could get out of the terrain; that's part of why we had such a high kill count. Still, in 3.5, a horde of 50 foes would simply have overwhelmed us. To make this a fair fight, PCat would have had to send a smaller group of tougher enemies, and that would have changed the feel of the fight considerably.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

Sounds like a fun time! Was the exploding barrels a "Yeah! High five!" moment or was it an "Oh S@#!@" type moment? It seems like the Grey Guard still holds some 'oomph' in the area. I'm sure that will come up in the negotiations . . .