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

[Piratecat]

Even so, you know its tricks, the full layout of the lair, and the PCs have all their big guns. So I'm left to wonder what might offer in some level of surprise/complexity.

I think I'd be foolish to discuss any details here.

EDIT: what would you do? Come suggest ways you'd build the encounter! Not for my players, please.

The answer, though, is that I ask myself: how does the monster think? It's been threatened in its lair by someone who escaped once and then brought back allies who attacked it and escaped again. Is it self-confident or smart enough to predict future trouble? And if so, will it delightedly wait for the enemy to show up, flee elsewhere, become the aggressor and take the fight to the enemy, or turtle up to defend its lair? Perhaps a combination of the above? A really good dungeoneering* check might answer that question, or the group may have to return to the sewers to find out for themselves.

They know it's undead, intelligent but stubborn, easily angered but probably lazy (especially if agents have been bringing food to it, instead of it going out to hunt for food), and has an awful sense for interior design.

* No one in the group has a dungeoneering check worth a damn, so I like to say stuff like this. It keeps me amused.

 

[Aravis]

* No one in the group has a dungeoneering check worth a damn, so I like to say stuff like this. It keeps me amused.

Since when is +7 not "worth a damn?" I tmay not be nearly good enough, but +7 is pretty good. Not a +12 I grant, but still pretty good.

- Aravis

 

[Piratecat]

Since when is +7 not "worth a damn?" It may not be nearly good enough, but +7 is pretty good. Not a +12 I grant, but still pretty good.

I agree. But while Toiva's getting a significant circumstance bonus on the check because she just got killed by the relevant monster, I'm having trouble with the whole "communicating the results to the rest of the party" thing.

 

[coyote6]

That's what the speak with dead ritual is for! All they have to do is kill the monster, retrieve her body, and use the ritual to find out how to kill the monster.

There may be a flaw with that plan.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

There may be a flaw with that plan.

I'm not seeing the flaw. Run the plan past me again?

 

[WizarDru]

* No one in the group has a dungeoneering check worth a damn, so I like to say stuff like this. It keeps me amused.

This makes up for you admitting you were WRONG up-thread. Seriously, Kevin...never let them know you made a mistake. It only gives them HOPE.

 

[jydog1]

Yesterday's run saw our first PC death.



" It must have been too angry to think straight – Toiva just did not let up with the verbal abuse for the entire combat."

I'm having no problem seeing Aravis doing this.

 

[Sagiro]

Since when is +7 not "worth a damn?" I tmay not be nearly good enough, but +7 is pretty good. Not a +12 I grant, but still pretty good.

- Aravis

Hey Aravis, I'll give you five bucks if your next character has a maxed-out Dungeoneering skill!

(Have you decided yet on a class?)

 

[Piratecat]

Aravis was asking about available races, at which point I realized that the more monstrous races in the character builder aren't ones I'd encourage. This strikes me as slightly hypocritical, since I'd totally love to play a minotaur barbarian -- but there it is.

Before I update 'em on my wiki, here's some musing about the place of a few races in my world.

I'd rather not have drow, or at least all the baggage that comes with them -- if you wanted the racial stuff I'd reskin 'em with a new background, probably the feywild night elves who creep across the countryside while others sleep. I want traditional drow to stay a potential bad guy and not a PC race.

Genasi are generally tied to Alim, the fabled lost city of djinn that disappeared from the world due to the spreading taint of mortals. It's said that Alim was a vast place of wonder that was swallowed overnight by the desert; any genies outside of it were left bereft with no more communication with their caliph, and eventually bred with humans as they spread across the world. They don't usually have their own culture; they're a worker class in the empire, typically forced to toil in conditions too miserable for proper folk (underwater, or in the brutal north, or in forges, depending on their nature.)

Goliaths are common in this part of the empire, a conquered slave race that now are usually used for toil. They're often considered to be a little like an ox: not particularly intelligent, dangerous when provoked but useful for heavy labor. The remaining shreds of goliath culture harbor a lot of resentment about this.

Half-elves often are deliberately bred by noble families to make sure that they have representatives in the vast Caprian bureaucracy. It's mandatory that all half-elves serve several years in the diplomatic corps. Culturally, many half-elves who choose to stay in the corps become eunuchs to symbolize that they remain impartial and have no family but the empire. this is, of course, widely noted as a load of horsecrap, but it's impossible to gain the really plum positions in the corps without making the symbolic gesture (or making others think you have.) Half-elves often wield true political power in Capria, and humans would fear them if they didn't need them so much.

Hobgoblins were brutally crushed by Capria's armies and turned into a slave race. Time has integrated them somewhat, and they're even considered "people" instead of "monsters" by the more urbane citizens, but the race is still heavily subjugated. You will see some hobgoblins in the Guard as a result; warlike or dangerous hobgoblins receive far less tolerance than a warlike human, and so hobgoblins that could be a threat to civilized citizenry are often executed. Some opt to join the Grey Guard instead.​

 

[Aravis]

I agree. But while Toiva's getting a significant circumstance bonus on the check because she just got killed by the relevant monster, I'm having trouble with the whole "communicating the results to the rest of the party" thing.

Good, because her Dungeoneering check is..er, was, only +4. Bramble, on the other hand, has a quite respectable +7.

- Aravis

PS: Phththththt...