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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AFGNCAAP" data-source="post: 2808831" data-attributes="member: 871">Ditto--I can relate from personal experience.  The series of Eberron modules (Shadows, Vampire's Blade, etc.) are tied rather close together & don't allow for much downtime at all.  Our group's aritficer had a hell of a time.My group's characters seem to be in the same unorthodox boat, but we barely did well.  Because of the odd mix, we FREQUENTLY had to rest between battles, because so many resources got used up during the fight, not to mention some poor player choices during the games (like the player of the group's healer charging into melee combat & getting taken down).Character deaths didn't help matters much, either: new characters came in at the same level as the lowest-levelled member of the party.  Over time, this REALLY held back the group & made some modules really tough (A CR 7 module with 2 8th-lvl, 1 7th-lvl, and 3-4 5th-lvl PCs doesn't really add up well).The party, in 1 form or another, had the following PCs.  I'll list them by player, since soem players had multiple character deaths/retirements.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Me: A human bard/human paragon (retired after Vampire's Blade because the half-elf ranger reported the details of our covert, tell-no-one-about-it mission to his house; cost the group its pay after a very costly & difficult mission, & the ranger his freedom; the bard shifted from NG to N because of it)--said character died (as a pre-gen for another player) during a later adventure. Then a half-elf barbarian/half-elf paragon/extreme explorer who intends to go into Human paragon.  I have a (soon to be evil) gnome wizard who's looking to level up in Alienist, & who isn't present since he skipped out to evade potential reprisal for a very selfish act committed earlier.  Think of a gnome, looks like Riff Raff, sounds like Zorak.  Utterly crude & nuts.  Plans to kill Player 1's gnome PCs (family rivalry).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">DM's wife: A shifter barbarian who died from ghoul; A half-vampire spellfire wielding human paragon/battle sorcerer (yes, you heard me right--check the player tag as for why) who died from lethal giant ruins trap; A half-earth elemental spellfire wielding fighter/battle sorcerer (ahem-player tag) who died it the latest battle, now reincarnated as a gnoll; and a gnome druid who died in the same battle as the aforementioned PC-turned-gnoll.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player 1: One of the few sole survivors of the original group, a gnome artificer.  Intended to retire, & have his PC's son, a gnome bard (think gangsta rapper, with kobold sidekick/accompanying vocalist).  After the last mission, gained a few nifty artificery things that may pull the greedy older gnome out of self-imposed retirement.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player 1's younger brother: Another long-time survivor. A warforged cleric with Adamantine Body, a starting Wis of 14, and a starting Str of 8 (yes, with Adamantine Body).  Died in the most recent battle with many other characters.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player 2: A new player, he took on the character of a brief participant, an elf ranger, then when plot/opportunity presented itself, took on his own PC, a human fighter.  Died, but brought back.  He's a new addition, so he wasn't part of the earlier chaos.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player 3: Mr. Bad-Luck Magnet.  1st, & still surviving PC, was a half-elf ranger who talked when he shouldn't have--he was imprisoned, then exiled, & just now is admitted back into Breland, though for pending case review.  A archery-based ranger who seems to fail saves, lose all gear recently purchased (from falling out of an airship he was trying to climb out of when it reached its destination), and the inevitable natural 1's while shooting ranged into melee w/ allies in it.  During the exile, had a warforged fighter/paladin (in an effort to make an unstoppable combo) who died after failing his save vs. a bodak's gaze (only 1 in the group to do so).  I think he had another PC (to replace the exiled one) who met swift death as well.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player 4: Where should I begin?  All of the PCs were highly "self-motivated" & caused problems for the rest of the group.  All died relatively soon (except a pre-gen he was given when he jumped in mid-adventure, which left soon after that adventure ended).  The pre-gen was a half-orc barbarian; but his own PCs (both dead) were a changeling spellthief/chameleon & a human warlock; a gnome rogue (along with my gnome wizard) double-crossed the rest of the group, & while my PC skipped town, his PC suffered reprisals.  Said player doesn't frequent anymore due to new work (3rd shift) schedule.</li> </ul>Honestly, our group suffered severely.  We really lacked the D&D "basic 4" (fighter/rogue/cleric/wizard), which seemed to be a useful combo for the standard-issue modules we ran through.  The artificer was handy, but REALLY suffered from the almost-nil downtime between modules.  The arcane spellcasters were partial, either due to class design (artificer, bard), or player build (the DM's wife PCs, who had races with rather high Level Adjustments--maybe actually had 1st-2nd lvl as a spellcaster, then the rest of it eaten up by a level in another class, & then the LA).  The artificer covered the open locks/traps bit (with the lack of a rogue for the most part), but losing him to a trap really hurt spellcasting.  Our AC tank was the cleric, who shouldn't be front-line as it is, and the frequent warrior was the low-AC, Weapon Finesse, archery-based ranger whose player got bad rolls.  And, it really didn't help that these module series were heavy on crit-immune critters like undead, elementals, constructs, & warforged, who in turn got their fair share of crits against us.The Eberron game is on pause for World's Largest Dungeon by the same DM.  Hafta see how we fair against it (our chances may be better since Player 4 isn't present--he really screwed with the PCs chances of success just because he felt like doing it; same player habitually cheated [which we all knew and expected]; he apparently was acting like this with another group he gamed with, too, which was a bit more lax than our group [& which you'd think would cater to his preferences more]).  But, nevertheless, Eberron was a nice setting, but quite a rough ride.</blockquote>

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