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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BASHMAN" data-source="post: 3447248" data-attributes="member: 8277">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.</blockquote>

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