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Running player commentary on PCat's 4E Campaign - Heroic tier (finished)
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<blockquote data-quote="Sagiro" data-source="post: 5065558" data-attributes="member: 726"><p>Some notes on the combats this session:</p><p></p><p>- The first fight was in a long, 3-square-wide sewer tunnel. The floor actually sloped up to the walls at the edges, meaning we had some extra squares to use while moving, but if you ended a move there you were subject to balance checks. The enemies came at us from both directions, so we were effectively bottled in.</p><p></p><p>- The monsters themselves were two Foulspawn Manglers, each astride a Carrion Crawler. The former were incredibly dextrous, with an encounter power that let them make four different basic dagger attacks in one round, shifting between each. And while the dagger attacks are only 1d4+3, they get an additional 2d6 with combat advantage.</p><p></p><p>- The Crawlers themselves have tentacle attacks that a) are +10 vs. Fort, which means they rate to it us about 65% of the time, b) cause ongoing damage and slow with a save at -5, and c) as you fail these brutal saves, you go from slow, to immobilized, to stunned. With no bonuses to saves (and our leader, a Shaman, has no such powers), we have a 30% chance to make a save. The math words thusly:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Chance of making your first save: 30%</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Chance of missing your first and making your second: 21%</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Chance of missing your first two saves and making your third: 15%</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Chance of becoming stunned, a.k.a. Paralyzed: 33%</p><p></p><p>- For all of that, this was actually a pretty easy fight. (This was our 2nd fight of the day; the first had been of modest difficulty, and had wrung out a majority of our dailies.) It was an object lesson in the wisdom of focused fire. We all pounded on the nearest Crawler while the other was still way, way down the tunnel, and finished it off in a round or two. Then we finished off its rider in similar fashion, just as the second pair was arriving. As such, we never actually got caught in the tactical pincers.</p><p></p><p>- It helped that luck was with us in that fight. Cobalt in particular hit with every attack he made, doing massive sneak attack damage and getting good use out Blinding Barrage. We were coordinated, effective, and won decisively.</p><p></p><p>- Unfortunately, that left us with almost no group dailies remaining, and Doc Caldwell only had 2 Surges. And the boss-battle was yet to come. We ended up starting that battle but ran out of time; we'll finish it next game. </p><p></p><p>- Regarding that second battle, against a “Bloodkiss Beholder,” which I'm guessing is a level 9 or 10 solo (we're a party of six 6th level characters, plus an NPC whose effectiveness is unclear to me): Uh oh.</p><p></p><p>- With no dailies and a powerful opponent, we really need(ed) luck to be on our side. No such luck. Our first two collective attack rolls (Cobalt and Stron) were “1's.” </p><p> </p><p>- Our first 15 attack rolls included: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3. Particularly galling to me was the round in which I burned Ignoble Escape to shift past its OA, rolled a “1” on Dazing Strike, and then rolled a “3” with Low Slash. All of this was with combat advantage from the Shaman's Haunting Spirits, which meant I was at +16 to hit with those rolls!</p><p></p><p>- Of the 15 individual players' turns thus far, we've managed to land FOUR hits. We've only done 80 points of damage, 24 of which is from the Paladin's mark. I think we have one Daily left among the whole party (Cobalt's Downward Spiral), and the monster has dealt out a LOT of damage in its two turns. </p><p></p><p>- Grim, grim, grim, but fun!</p><p></p><p>- Piratecat has also introduced a difficult terrain type into this battle which is awesomely gruesome, or gruesomely awesome: bodies hanging from the ceiling by chains. They're dangling right at ground level, so we have to push past them if we move through a square that has one. I don't know if it's better or worse that they're desiccated from the Beholder sucking out all of their blood.</p><p></p><p>- Did I mention that it's also undead? Which would be great, if we had a source of Radiant damage. Which Piratecat knows dang well that we don't! (Actually, Toiva the paladin has one on a Daily, long-since used.)</p><p></p><p>- Piratecat did hint after the session that he had modified the creature's power downward somewhat from its “official” template. It still seems pretty bad-ass to me; it has an aura that gives it free attacks against as many targets within 2 as it wants, that do between 15 and 20 points of damage each. And our party is <em>not</em> strong at range, what with three primarily-melee fighters as our strikers, and a melee paladin as our defender. </p><p></p><p>- We are experiencing one of 4E's strange adventuring-day dynamics: the dramatic arc wants the big boss battle to be at the end of the day, but that's when you've run out of your best powers! Maybe Piratecat is just trying to teach us better resource management. And to be fair (to him), we <em>knew</em> we were going to have this third battle, even as we were engaged in the second one.</p><p></p><p>- Can't wait for next session! Best case: we win! Worst case: some or all of us get to try out interesting new character classes! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sagiro, post: 5065558, member: 726"] Some notes on the combats this session: - The first fight was in a long, 3-square-wide sewer tunnel. The floor actually sloped up to the walls at the edges, meaning we had some extra squares to use while moving, but if you ended a move there you were subject to balance checks. The enemies came at us from both directions, so we were effectively bottled in. - The monsters themselves were two Foulspawn Manglers, each astride a Carrion Crawler. The former were incredibly dextrous, with an encounter power that let them make four different basic dagger attacks in one round, shifting between each. And while the dagger attacks are only 1d4+3, they get an additional 2d6 with combat advantage. - The Crawlers themselves have tentacle attacks that a) are +10 vs. Fort, which means they rate to it us about 65% of the time, b) cause ongoing damage and slow with a save at -5, and c) as you fail these brutal saves, you go from slow, to immobilized, to stunned. With no bonuses to saves (and our leader, a Shaman, has no such powers), we have a 30% chance to make a save. The math words thusly: [INDENT]Chance of making your first save: 30%[/INDENT] [INDENT]Chance of missing your first and making your second: 21%[/INDENT] [INDENT]Chance of missing your first two saves and making your third: 15%[/INDENT] [INDENT]Chance of becoming stunned, a.k.a. Paralyzed: 33%[/INDENT] - For all of that, this was actually a pretty easy fight. (This was our 2nd fight of the day; the first had been of modest difficulty, and had wrung out a majority of our dailies.) It was an object lesson in the wisdom of focused fire. We all pounded on the nearest Crawler while the other was still way, way down the tunnel, and finished it off in a round or two. Then we finished off its rider in similar fashion, just as the second pair was arriving. As such, we never actually got caught in the tactical pincers. - It helped that luck was with us in that fight. Cobalt in particular hit with every attack he made, doing massive sneak attack damage and getting good use out Blinding Barrage. We were coordinated, effective, and won decisively. - Unfortunately, that left us with almost no group dailies remaining, and Doc Caldwell only had 2 Surges. And the boss-battle was yet to come. We ended up starting that battle but ran out of time; we'll finish it next game. - Regarding that second battle, against a “Bloodkiss Beholder,” which I'm guessing is a level 9 or 10 solo (we're a party of six 6th level characters, plus an NPC whose effectiveness is unclear to me): Uh oh. - With no dailies and a powerful opponent, we really need(ed) luck to be on our side. No such luck. Our first two collective attack rolls (Cobalt and Stron) were “1's.” - Our first 15 attack rolls included: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3. Particularly galling to me was the round in which I burned Ignoble Escape to shift past its OA, rolled a “1” on Dazing Strike, and then rolled a “3” with Low Slash. All of this was with combat advantage from the Shaman's Haunting Spirits, which meant I was at +16 to hit with those rolls! - Of the 15 individual players' turns thus far, we've managed to land FOUR hits. We've only done 80 points of damage, 24 of which is from the Paladin's mark. I think we have one Daily left among the whole party (Cobalt's Downward Spiral), and the monster has dealt out a LOT of damage in its two turns. - Grim, grim, grim, but fun! - Piratecat has also introduced a difficult terrain type into this battle which is awesomely gruesome, or gruesomely awesome: bodies hanging from the ceiling by chains. They're dangling right at ground level, so we have to push past them if we move through a square that has one. I don't know if it's better or worse that they're desiccated from the Beholder sucking out all of their blood. - Did I mention that it's also undead? Which would be great, if we had a source of Radiant damage. Which Piratecat knows dang well that we don't! (Actually, Toiva the paladin has one on a Daily, long-since used.) - Piratecat did hint after the session that he had modified the creature's power downward somewhat from its “official” template. It still seems pretty bad-ass to me; it has an aura that gives it free attacks against as many targets within 2 as it wants, that do between 15 and 20 points of damage each. And our party is [i]not[/i] strong at range, what with three primarily-melee fighters as our strikers, and a melee paladin as our defender. - We are experiencing one of 4E's strange adventuring-day dynamics: the dramatic arc wants the big boss battle to be at the end of the day, but that's when you've run out of your best powers! Maybe Piratecat is just trying to teach us better resource management. And to be fair (to him), we [i]knew[/i] we were going to have this third battle, even as we were engaged in the second one. - Can't wait for next session! Best case: we win! Worst case: some or all of us get to try out interesting new character classes! :-) [/QUOTE]
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Running player commentary on PCat's 4E Campaign - Heroic tier (finished)
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