Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 5092079" data-attributes="member: 16069">Going from memory here so be kind, DM'ed this approx. 6 months ago-Skill Challenge, as you say lacked personality- I remember there was a Dwarf and a some kind of Wizard, was the other guy cut in half or something.Basically had the Dwarf and the Wizard get in the parties way, attempt to physically restrain them (obviously that wouldn't really work but the players went with it). These two called out the parties wizard and (2) dwarves and started bad-mouthing them, the mad dwarf getting very physical-"yah sunburned top-siders, wouldn't know one end of a spade from the other, call yourself a Dwarf- how tall are you boy, I didn't realise they stacked chippings that high etc."Result Dwarven Priest of Moradin passes all skill checks, doesn't rise to the bait. Rock (Dwarven Fighter- real Tank) fails every skill challenge (terrible dice rolls) and damn-near loses the whole challenge on his own. The parties Eladrin Mage remains cool and calm, aloof, as the ghostly Wizard calls into question his ability to weave any significant magic, Eladrin drops a few encounter powers and Arcana checks 30-35 consistently, the ghostly mage is soon satisfied. The other ghost is the quiet one who only gets involved after his two compatriots have insulted the PCs thoroughly, asks a few more questions for the finale of the Skill Challenge- who are you, why are you here, what do you hope to achieve- Diplomacy and social skills to the fore. Once he's ascertained the PCs are the good guys he tells them what he knows and wishes them well.In my campaign the Well of Demons also involved a further skill challenge to turn it into a testing ground for adherents of Kord- which I wove into the chat with the ghostly figures also.The party leader is a Fighter devotee of Kord.Some of the rooms were real nasty, as one of the previous replies stated the oubliette chamber saw our Rogue join the Gnoll for a while. He managed to survive by amusing the Gnoll with an impromptu magic show (sleight of hand), while performing a song-and-dance number, it's the way we roll- don't ask. I seem to remember that entire chamber involving PCs creeping arpund with their eyes shut, bumping into stuff, yelling friend or foe and then lashing out- took a good while to play through and for the first thirty minutes was very enjoyable, less so after 45 minutes.The chamber with Blood in it was also pretty bad when the minotaur statues got flaying, however the Rogue managed to leap from a statue onto a Demon's head and then on again to recover the blade, it's know his basic weapon. I think in fact the Rogue never got wet at any point using other PCs as stepping stones for his return journey- he's not universally liked our Rogue.The actual Well of Demons with the dragon was a major disappointment, particularly as the PCs were waiting for the Dragon to emerge, or at least two of them- both Fighters were.Dragon ended up marked and unable to get away very quickly (first round), there after it was just a dull take down fight with the other PCs arriving to join in the fray, and yes I tried the stun and the darkness spheres etc but the Fighters just marked it all to hell and kept on hitting when they needed to.Whereas the last fight with Scarmaker was a doozy, particularly as throughout the fight Scarmaker is consecrating the well of demons to Yeenoghu while Cathal is trying to consecrate the place to Kord- first to five successes, with the PCs as free actions having to hell out prayers, truisms, exhortations etc to attempt to turn the tide and prevent Scarmaker getting his way.Lots and lots of good tactical play, dailies spent etc. and still the PCs only just win through- I beefed up this final encounter, adding at least 3 levels to each creature in the room, I seem to remember.Very tough, PCs thought this was the hardest fight they'd ever been in at the end.Oh just remembered if I thought a fight was going much too easy then from the well of demons would spring a... Demon, who would then rush to whichever combat the PCs were winning and attempt to turn the tide. I did this at least twice and introed some nasty bad guys.Cheers Paul</blockquote>

Verification