Thoughts on my 6th Level Bo9S & PH2 Game

[BASHMAN]

So, I ran my first session tonight using the Tome of Battle Bo9S and the Player's Handbook 2 tonight.

The rules for the campaign were that any character's base class must come from those 2 books or the Miniatures Handbook (I like the Warmage, but not the other stuff in Complete Arcane, and I like the Favored Soul, but not the other stuff in Complete Divine, and I think the Healer and Marshal are cool as well).

I began this rather unusual campaign because the people I game with have no love for the PH2, or Bo9S. They use the Complete Series and PHB only for base classes. Why wouldn't the PH2 or Bo9S be allowed you say? Because nobody in the group except me bothered to buy them, and cannot be bothered to read them. Then I remembered how one of our members got everybody else to begin using the Complete Series... he DMed a game using them, and people found out that they actually like those things.

So I based the plot of the campaign on a videogame called Fire Emblem. Basically the party are various royal servants-- The Warblade was the Princess' personal bodyguard, the Crusader was a Captain of the Renais military stationed at the castle, and the Dragon Shaman (renamed Dragon Knight in my campaign) was of an order also stationed in the castle. They were there as part of the last bastion of defense against the invading forces of the nation of Grado. Oh, and one player who couldn't decide what to make ended up playing the princess' pet tiger! Everyone was level 6, and began with 13,000 gp of items as per the PH2 (about 7k more than the DMG says npcs have).

Now, I followed my own rules for the campaign-- so there were no NPC fighters, monks, clerics, wizards, etc. Every NPC they fought was from PH2, Bo9S, or the Minies handbook (except monsters, of course, and the standard "warriors" and other "npc" classes).

The mission was that the party have been helping to defend the castle, when the enemy had sapped one of the walls, and was begining to come in through the breach. The Arch-Duke, commanded the Captain (Crusader) to go with the Bodyguard (warblade) and the Dragon Knight (dragon shaman) to find the princess and take her out of the palace, through the secret passage.

The first fight took place in a large hallway outside the princess' door. The party was coming down one set of stairs as enemies were coming up the set opposite them. They faced off against 2 Warblade Lv 4, and 4 warriors lv 2.

It was a pretty good fight. The Dragon Shaman utilized his Entangling Exhalation feat very well-- entangling one of the warblade lieutinants-- and also sorely pissing him off. The warblade essentially focused on making the Dragon Shaman miserable thereafter, and tried to use a Power Attack with Emerald Razor-- but the crusader, who has Shield Specialization, Shield Ward, and a +2 heavy shield turned a potentially deadly blow into a miss with his Shield Block maneuver. Then, the Dragon Shaman pummeled him with a spiked chain.

The next round the warblade used Disarming Strike to take his spiked chain away. The Shaman then incurred an AOO trying to pick it up, but then the warblade took damage from the shaman's damage shield aura and collapsed (he'd taken other damage already).

The Warblade Bodyguard made great use of Sudden Leap and tumble to avoid AOOs from the enemy soldiers equipped with glaives, and utilize his full attack action to clear them out.

The party then united with the princess (Healer 3/Marshal 1), her pet tiger (awakened, but without extra HD or anything like that), and made a break for the secret passageway.

Just as they were about to make it, they were cut off by a Lv 7 Warmage, Lv 6 Knight, and two more Lv 4 Warblade lieutenants.

The tiger ran right up to one of the enemy lieutenants and slaughtered him in one round (pounce is sick). He was followed by the Crusader and Warblade Bodyguard.

Then, the enemy Warmage blasted a fireball, doing 17 dmg to everyone who made their saves (they all did). Suddenly, it looked like this was going to be a fight instead of a slaughter.

The Knight then went, using his Knight's Challenge Test of Mettle to draw aggro from the PC Warblade and Crusader (the tiger made his save). He then CHARGED the tiger, rolled a Crit, and almost put him down. At first, It seemed the badguys might win, but this bold move was my big mistake.

The knight's job was to stand next to the Warmage, using Shield Other and various other things to keep her from taking damage. Instead, he rushed in, headlong for glory, and was taken down by the tiger on his next turn. Note-- if you are fighting a tiger, NEVER end your round where it can take a full attack on you...

With the knight down, the Crusader was no longer limited to attacking only the knight, and went straight at the warmage, Smiting (his only smite of the day), and using the War Leader's Charge maneuver! This killed her in one hit.

The remaining warblade lieutenant spent his action to drop his sword and offered to "quit the field". As he ran away, the party heard men in the corridor shouting to him "idiot, you're going the wrong way". They knew more badguys were coming, so they had to hurry into the secret passage. I said any looting had to be done while they were still on init, so each person took 1 thing (a cape and one of the swords).

They ran into the passage, closed it behind them, and realized that the passage may not be any safer than the castle as the spirits of evil traitorous warriors arose around them (Reth Dekala from the Bo9S). This was the cliffhanger where I ended the game.

So, it seemed like the PCs had an easy time of things. The Knight did not do his job properly (I am so used to warriors being used for offense, I didn't think about his defensive abilities. I won't repeat this mistake [and they will see that knight again-- he stabilized on his turn and did not die].

Of the session, the most effective enemy was the CR4 warblade Lieutinant who disarmed the Dragon Shaman.

So, any suggestions of things to make it more challenging for them next session?

So far, I have them up against the Reth Dekala, a Xorn, a Chimera, and later a pair of Griffins.

 

[blargney the second]

Interesting write-up! I'm a big fan of the base classes in those two books, so it's fun to see them in action.
-blarg

 

[Arkhandus]

Yeah, neat to hear how it went.

I think one of the lieutenants probably should've been a Red Dragon Shaman using the Toughness aura (DR 1 or 2) which would've cut into the effectiveness of the full attacks a bit (long enough for him to get off a breath weapon attack against the party and buy some time). Of course the Energy Shield aura would've been almost as helpful (doing quite a bit of damage to the party altogether, but only a little to each PC), just not as good at keeping the enemies alive long enough for a concerted assault. The Knight charging in was certainly foolish (though not entirely out of character), but you won't make that miscalculation again.

There probably should've been a squad of 1st or 2nd level Warrior grunts along too, making it more difficult for the Warmage to be approached as easily and allowing for some minor flanking attacks to wear down the tiger, warblade, and crusader (as well as threatening the princess with sheer numbers, forcing PCs to move into some kind of tactical positions to block them off or something). Mainly this would buy time for the Warmage to get off a few spells, while the princess would probably have used her Healer spells to keep herself and the bodyguards alive long enough to geek the mage.

Also, that squad of Warriors would all (or mostly, considering the limited radius of a DS's aura) be benefitting from the Red Dragon Shaman's aura of fire shield or damage reduction..... But now I'm probably getting into the realm of a TPK situation.

In any case, with the numbers and levels of NPCs you threw at them, the battle wasn't really one that would be expected as a tough fight, so the results aren't surprising. It was an average or slightly-above-average encounter in terms of potential difficulty, the PCs got lucky and it turned out easier this time.



Perhaps try messing with their heads after they escape the tunnel, with an enemy command group planning around a tent near the escape tunnel's exit (not too close, but close enough that it's unexpected). These commanders for one section of the assault don't know about the secret passage nearby, but figure they're in a safe and relatively quiet place to hold their little strategy session. Then all of a sudden some folks not belonging to their company are spotted nearby by a sentry standing guard outside the command tent; the enemy commanders move in to engage since they have only a few token guards posted in the camp and the rest of their company is already engaged near the walls or something.

The enemy commanders of this section could be a Beguiler, a Dragon Shaman, and a Marshall, along with a Swordsage and a Knight. All similar in level to the PCs, or slightly higher level in the case of the Beguiler, perhaps. These middle-ranking commanders move in to engage the PCs, with only the Beguiler keeping to the back, behind the Knight or Dragon Shaman. The DS probably wields a longspear, the Marshall a glaive, and the other two melee'ers just greatswords or longswords. The DS and Marshall keep to the sides of the formation, probably with a 10-foot gap between them and their comrades, while the Knight and Swordsage stand closer with a 5-foot gap between; anyone wants to try a flanking maneuver, or reach the Beguiler, is likely to take AoOs from somebody.
example:
.........SS.....KN..........DS
...................................
MA..............BE..............

Not quite sure right now what the best tactical positions would be, but that seems like a decent start. The Beguiler would work his mind magic on the PCs or princess, while the Dragon Shaman unleashes breath weapons and stabs anyone who gets to close, moving to guard the Beguiler when necessary, and using his Toughness aura to keep everyone alive (then switching to the Vitality aura if someone gets knocked down too low in HP, but sticking with the Toughness aura most of the time). The Marshall does his thing, boosting the party's attack power with auras, and the other two just try to draw the PCs to them so they can beat the PCs to a pulp.

The Knight and Swordsage should probably be a bit lower-level than the PCs, since they'll be the main melee machines wailing on the party, while the Dragon Shaman and Marshall just provide support in both offense and defense (doing some damage but probably being second fiddle to the Knight and Swordsage). I could be wrong, though; the KN and SS might need to be a bit higher level (6th-8th), with the DS and MA only around 4th or so, and the Beguiler around 6th-9th. In any case it'll be the Dragon Shaman giving them all a fighting chance, with his sheer resilience and auras. A stronger offense might be the way to go, using Energy Shield and having all four enemies besides the Beguiler move into melee right away.

 

[hong]

The group looks heavy on the meleeists, so the natural way to make things tough for them would be to use archers. And rough terrain, so they can't close the distance in 1 round. However, only do this if they start complaining that the new classes are too munchkin.

 

[Piratecat]

What did the players think about the classes by the end of the session?

 

[BASHMAN]

The group looks heavy on the meleeists, so the natural way to make things tough for them would be to use archers. And rough terrain, so they can't close the distance in 1 round. However, only do this if they start complaining that the new classes are too munchkin.

Actually I just clicked the link on your sig and found something to throw at them. A pair of Level 5 Armored Reavers. However, to prevent lots of PC whining, I am changing them to warforged and just telling the party they are constructs that use maneuvers & have special abilities. For some reason, that would be a lot more acceptable to them than if the armored reavers were human.

 

[BASHMAN]

What did the players think about the classes by the end of the session?

Well, I did not have time to have the usual "so how'd it go" discussion after game, however, in play, they seemed to be having a grand time with it. The Crusader and Warblade were really enjoying the use of their abilities. The warblade did complain that my interpretation of RAW for how Warblades recover spent maneuvers was stingy though.

I don't allow a warblade to use a maneuver or make a full round action when they recover their maneuvers. They must use a standard action to attack or flourish their weapon. But since this rule applies to NPC warblades as well, I don't see this being a problem in the campaign long-term.

The Dragon Shaman was a bit peturbed that his class does not cast spells (he always wants to play some sort of caster, with the most bonuses possible). However, his character was very effective as a healer, and drew plenty of aggro due to his entangling breath weapon, and was good for boosting the party initiative to beat the bad guys at the beginning of combats. I think he was just T.O.ed that he got disarmed. He also got upset that I did not let him announce a change of auras to Energy shield-- when he was just hit by an attack. I explained that to do so is a swift action, not an immediate action. He then said "well, since it was a swift, I could have done so on my turn." Yes, you could have, but did not elect to do so. You can't do a swift action in response to someone else's action. On your next turn you can change it." He then got mad saying that he would have changed it if I didn't "cut him off" after his turn. Two people took their turn between his and the badguys. He could have mentioned it anytime in between, and that would have been okay, but to do so when an enemy had just succeeded in an attack roll against you, and would therefor take damage from an effect that was retroactively added after his attack, is silly.

 

[RigaMortus2]

What levels were these PCs? Just curious, you didn't mention it. It seems like they are higher level (fighting a group of enemies that consists of a lvl 7, lvl 6 and (2) lvl 4s)... I am surprised the tiger was able to drop one of the foes on his first (set of) attack(s).

Nice write up btw!

 

[BASHMAN]

They were all 6th, except the tiger is probably ECL higher than 6. The thing said CR4, but we all know the CR system is FUBAR. Savage species has a minotaur, rated CR4 but is a 6th level character in the Minotaur character class, so I am hoping that the tiger was in the ballpark.

 

[shilsen]

CR and ECL are not even remotely related to each other, and WotC has never claimed that they are.