JustKim
First Post
Just finished A3 and it was a TPK. Three characters ended up unconscious and two died from the three strike rule.
We started it a 5 minute rest after A2 so the PCs could recover encounter abilities. The rogue snuck into the cave to check things out, and wanted to explore deeper into the cave where Irontooth and company show up later. I ruled this was not possible since there was nowhere to squeeze through the enemy lines while hidden. The fighter and paladin snuck in successfully, and a surprise round started with the cleric and wizard still outside.
The PCs attacked the northmost cave, which meant that the wizard's area spells were not as effective. Once the kobolds acted they began coming up on both sides of the wall dividing the north and central cave. Area spells took out the minions two at a time, so the minions lasted longer, but they did not do much damage. I noticed that the flat damage of minions means they cannot benefit from critical hits, which is clever.
The paladin snagged a skirmisher from afar with its ranged mark and once again ended up taking a lot of damage from two of them in a flanking position. The paladin was healed once and used a surge to keep its hit points high, but the PCs were doing well up until the 3rd round of combat when Irontooth and company appear.
The tactics section says that Irontooth tries to flank with a dragonshield. Since the dragonshields are much better infiltrators, I had them take the initiative and push into the PCs' ranks.
One way I see this could have been avoided is if the rogue used a shifting power to move a dragonshield over to the fighter, or just away. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. Irontooth used an action point to attack both the paladin and rogue twice, both of them were reduced to single digits and picked off by the wyrmpriest. In 3 rounds the rogue failed 3 death saves and died.
The fighter hit Irontooth with Brute Strike, which brought his hit points down to the 40s and caused him to be bloodied. With the spellcasters reduced to ineffective melee attacks all the damage against Irontooth came from the fighter. Every round Irontooth regained 5 health. The fighter bought it, then the wizard, and then the cleric.
So A3 concluded with a bunch of sad sideways-tuned PC counters, the wyrmpriest untouched, one dragonshield and Irontooth unmoved from the 40-50 range of hit points where he became bloodied. I'm sure things could have gone better but they also could have gone worse, and when I run the adventure with my regular gaming group they won't have the luxury of doing test runs to see what works and what doesn't.
While looking ahead at the treasure the dead PCs would not be getting, I noticed the first magic item. I also noticed it doesn't give enough information about it.
My conclusion is that the A3 encounter is too difficult. I'm thinking maybe I should remove the wyrmpriest, and reduce the effect of Irontooth's Blood Crazed power- likely by removing the healing.
We started it a 5 minute rest after A2 so the PCs could recover encounter abilities. The rogue snuck into the cave to check things out, and wanted to explore deeper into the cave where Irontooth and company show up later. I ruled this was not possible since there was nowhere to squeeze through the enemy lines while hidden. The fighter and paladin snuck in successfully, and a surprise round started with the cleric and wizard still outside.
- The encounter doesn't give a DC for sneaking inside even though it's mentioned as a possibility. I decided it would be 11 since the highest modifier among the first wave is +1, and this seems to be how the stealth DC in A2 worked.
The PCs attacked the northmost cave, which meant that the wizard's area spells were not as effective. Once the kobolds acted they began coming up on both sides of the wall dividing the north and central cave. Area spells took out the minions two at a time, so the minions lasted longer, but they did not do much damage. I noticed that the flat damage of minions means they cannot benefit from critical hits, which is clever.
The paladin snagged a skirmisher from afar with its ranged mark and once again ended up taking a lot of damage from two of them in a flanking position. The paladin was healed once and used a surge to keep its hit points high, but the PCs were doing well up until the 3rd round of combat when Irontooth and company appear.
The tactics section says that Irontooth tries to flank with a dragonshield. Since the dragonshields are much better infiltrators, I had them take the initiative and push into the PCs' ranks.
- Can a creature shift diagonally across squares adjacent to an enemy? I ruled no, based on the fact that you can't shift diagonally through squares adjacent to an obstacle, and you can't move through an enemy's space even though enemies are not described as obstacles.
One way I see this could have been avoided is if the rogue used a shifting power to move a dragonshield over to the fighter, or just away. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. Irontooth used an action point to attack both the paladin and rogue twice, both of them were reduced to single digits and picked off by the wyrmpriest. In 3 rounds the rogue failed 3 death saves and died.
The fighter hit Irontooth with Brute Strike, which brought his hit points down to the 40s and caused him to be bloodied. With the spellcasters reduced to ineffective melee attacks all the damage against Irontooth came from the fighter. Every round Irontooth regained 5 health. The fighter bought it, then the wizard, and then the cleric.
So A3 concluded with a bunch of sad sideways-tuned PC counters, the wyrmpriest untouched, one dragonshield and Irontooth unmoved from the 40-50 range of hit points where he became bloodied. I'm sure things could have gone better but they also could have gone worse, and when I run the adventure with my regular gaming group they won't have the luxury of doing test runs to see what works and what doesn't.
While looking ahead at the treasure the dead PCs would not be getting, I noticed the first magic item. I also noticed it doesn't give enough information about it.
- The +1 dwarven chain mail says it gives a +1 bonus to AC. Doesn't it depend on what armor your were wearing before? Who can wear it? What is the penalty? I have no idea.
My conclusion is that the A3 encounter is too difficult. I'm thinking maybe I should remove the wyrmpriest, and reduce the effect of Irontooth's Blood Crazed power- likely by removing the healing.
