Thematic use of Epic Destinies - how have you used them in play?

[S'mon]

& also at the Midsummer Ball last night, Dunstan Ironforge the Dwarf Knight (heading for Legendary Sovereign) promised to free his true love Serka from her oath to the Shadowed Chain. Her vow, sworn on the dark altar of Shar, would see her soul damned if she relinquished her pledge to commit her life to keeping Stonefang chained; a vow which includes remaining unmarried.

Dunstan: "Would you marry me if destroyed the Primordial Titan Stonefang and ended your Vow?"
Serka: "Yup!"

So now Dunstan has a Quest to destroy an unkillable Primordial, and end a six-thousand-year war...

 

[Manbearcat]

@pemerton I think I have a pretty good grip on the PCs in your group and I think one of your primary barriers is that each character is very "force-multiplication" driven. The only "dedicated" striker you have is not a swordsman but rather an immediate action driven ranged, Ranger/Cleric hybrid. Your Sorceror, from recollection, is an AoE heavy, buffed Blazing Starfall build. Then you have your Invoker who is right out.

Out of the two melee characters, the Paladin and the Fighter, one is built to be a very stout, single target Defender with secondary Leadership and the Fighter is built as an AoE damage/control machine; neither of which are particularly suited for the dynamics of a duel. With that being said, I think your Fighter has some built-in advantages that assist in creating a compelling duel; the forced movement involved in the build, above average AC and HPs. The first is really key. I know he uses a polearm so he probably has the feat tools for that that grants OA and buffs FM.

If I can make a few suggestions specifically to challenge that Fighter, it would be to:

1) Have an enemy that has a polearm as well and with it an aura 2 automatic damage to any enemy that is in the aura at the start of the BBEG's turn. That will incentivize and compel the Fighter to make tactical, movement-based decisions to move in and out of the aura, risking an OA on a move rather than taking the auto-damage. Further, the adversary should have forced movement rider (s) and possible an encounter power move action.

2) With the Fighter's and adversary's forced movement powers, Hindering Terrain and several Terrain Encounter Powers that are No Action riders triggered when a target enters the space would work great. However, I'd make these overt (as in power cards or annotations on the grid that get taken off when used). Eg;

Tangling Thicket of Thorns
Encounter - No Action
Trigger: Enemy enters the TToT.
Attack: Level + 3 (or 5) vs Reflex
Effect: Target takes 5 OG and is slowed (save ends). The TToT becomes difficult terrain until the end of the encounter.

3) I've been using end of round encounter cards for various fights since AD&D 2e Combat and Tactics. For duels especially, it will introduce round by round dynamism. An encounter card for a mobile hazard or random entropy is good; eg a log that rolls down a waterfall and attacks the duelists in the ankle-deep water, causing small damage, prone and sliding them to the edge of the secondary water fall (or just a slide in any direction of their choosing if it misses) livens things up quite a bit. The same applies for a stray arrow attack from a neighboring skirmish, or unseen slippery rocks. It animates the fight further by mandating mobility and brings all manner of genre "stuff" into play that would otherwise be outside of the scope of the duel.

@S'mon I'll look at those PCs and look over the available ED's tonight S'mon. The PC with primordial as atagonist is rife with material.

 

[Ferghis]

I mean who doesn't love Lesbian Stripper Ninja PCs?...especially this time of year.

Can't xp either of you. Dammit.

 

[S'mon]

Oh, re the duel IMC - the PC Varek was a Brawler Fighter, probably the perfect character for a fun duel.

 

[S'mon]

Here's the website for my game - http://frloudwater.blogspot.co.uk/ - I use Blogger but apart from the session entries I tend to update pages rather than make new ones. The main pages are in the list on the right - Loudwater Area NPCs, Eastern Grey Vale, and North (Travys) Manor are the most important I think.

 

[pemerton]

AIR duels in 3e were always pretty crap, to the extent that I recall in one 3.0 game the other players openly mocking the crappiness of it - two supposedly expert swashbucklers standing there carving hp off each other until one fell over. But 4e's Encounter & Daily powers (PC) and Recharge powers (NPC) made a very big difference, it felt a lot more interesting and dynamic. AIR both characters had push/slide powers and there was a real chance of pushing the other guy out of the combat field & into the attacker's own lines, which would have been bad, humiliating, and painful if not lethal.

Oh, re the duel IMC - the PC Varek was a Brawler Fighter, probably the perfect character for a fun duel.

OK, I can see that, and the contrast with 3E (and AD&D as well, I would imagine).
[MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] 's post is on-target about the melee builds in my game and why they're not duel-optimised. I'll think about some of those suggestions.

 

[Manbearcat]

We played today and things are looking up for her - she's just been recruited by the local 'Festhall' keeper as his Madam! He wanted someone with a strong track record in Human Resources...

I laughed by the way

Lesbian Ninja Stripper as Lord (errr Lady?) of Chaos:

Heroes of the Elemental Chaos

Living the Destiny

Few of your kind remain anywhere in the multiverse. You and your kindred souls are not mortals, nor gods, nor elemental beings; you are something else. As a Lord of Chaos, you might commit yourself to shaping a vast swath of the elemental plane into a domain of your own. You or your descendants could rule over an extraplanar kingdom forged by your will and imagination. Or you might choose to roam the multiverse, immersing yourself in every interest and experience that catches your eye. Whatever path you take, you eventually leave your adventuring career behind, drawn by the challenge of shaping and ordering your own private universe.

Primordial Guy as Punisher of the Gods (Dragon Mag Annual or 372) with his Immortal Curse naturally against the primordial in question.

 

[S'mon]

Primordial Guy as Punisher of the Gods (Dragon Mag Annual or 372) with his Immortal Curse naturally against the primordial in question.

I thought about that one yesterday, but he doesn't want to kill Stonefang for its own sake, for hate of the Primordials or for allegiance to the gods, but for Love. Love is a concept that seems strikingly missing from any Epic Destiny I've seen!

Edit: The player is French, so when he was playing Dunstan courting his dwarven lady-love via PBP on our Facebook group he was stunningly good at it; I quite went weak at the knees...

 

[S'mon]

OK, I can see that, and the contrast with 3E (and AD&D as well, I would imagine).

With AD&D, yeah basically you're right, but Gygax tells you that the duelists are leaping aroud Erol Flynn style within the 1-minute combat round - although you can only really move within 10' and attack, by my reading of the 1e movement rules - and it's all very abstract. In 3e with the short rounds and the Feats, the Touch AC etc it all feels much less abstract, so the fact that duelists still whack away at each other like battleships at Jutland or the knights in 'Excalibur' is even more jarring.

 

[S'mon]

I found a solution for the player who wants to switch his PC Quinn to Revenant - I'm taking a tip from [MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION] (as usual!) and I'm thinking I'll use the Zithirian's Dream sequence in P2 to do it - basically she dies during the dream in the embrace of Orcus' proto-exarch, Zithirian. When the group wakes up, Quinn isn't breathing, and can't be revived. Meanwhile her spirit appears before Orcus' throne; he plans to use her as an undead champion for his armies (probably would suggest the Vampire class if she actually went that way), but while Orcus is ranting and gloating as usual, a small girl appears from the shadows, and offers Quinn her hand - if Quinn takes it they flee into the darkness, and she can escape Orcus, but the girl is Shar, Goddess of Night, and Quinn has entered her service...

My favourite Revenant theme music:
[video=youtube;3YxaaGgTQYM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YxaaGgTQYM[/video]