In a recent session the players - playing their 15th level PCs - suffered their first PC death since 3rd level.
Having succeeded in a levelled-up version of Heathen - they killed Narrash and turned Jaryn back to the side of the righteous, using an interrupt to make sure that when he ripped out his amulet he didn't die - they were leaving the temple. This required fighting their way through the army of hobgoblins and Bane-ite cultists. I had statted up some hobgoblin phalanxes as 17th level gargantuan (4x4) swarms. They were facing 4 of those, plus about 40 minions of around 14th level or so - but with the advantage of terrain - the PCs were fighting their way down stairs into a ravine.
Of course, when they first broke out of the temple the PCs couldn't see all the forces arrayed against them - just two phalanxes in the ravine, and some Bane-ite rabble beyond them. They dealt with the first two phalanxes fairly handily, and it was only when the two additional phalanxes moved up from the army's camp that the PCs got a bit nervous. And at the same time they could see the rabble were chanting in an ecastatic frenzy, and managed to summon in one of Bane's angels of battle.
The angel immediately moved on the PC wizard on his flying carpet, and the wizard teleported (? - or something like that) away to take cover behind the dwarf fighter engaging one of the phalanxes. Unfortunately for the wizard the phalanx was able to swarm over the fighter and knock down the wizard (I had given them an encounter power "Rush: blast 4, level-appropriate damage, knock prone and then shift adjacent to any target").
When the prone wizard then tried to cast a spell to escape he took an opportunity attack that knocked him unconscious. And then the angel attacked with a storm of blades that picked up the wizard in its AoE, dropping him a couple of hp below negative bloodied.
The other PCs went on to defeat the hobgoblins and clean up the rabble, and flew back to civilisation riding the Phantom Steeds the wizard had summoned earlier.
Their arrival was triumphal, but tinged by tragedy as the body of their fallen comrade was carried to the temple of Bahamut by a cohort of dwarven NPCs chanting a low dirge (the PCs have a strong relationship with the dwarves of this town).
The patriarch of Bahamut promised to do his best to restore the soul of their fallen comrade. But that night, the PC ranger-cleric (of the Raven Queen) had a dream that revealed many immortals debating over the fate of the fallen wizard's soul - Erathis, Ioun, Bane and Kas - but no emissary of Bahamut was present. This degree of interest in the wizard's fate was not entirely unexpected - the PCs knew that the wizard was also an Acolyte of Divine Secrets (invoker multiclass) and a Divine Philosopher (invoker paragon path), in the service of Erathis, the Raven Queen, Ioun and perhaps also Vecna. But the PCs took the dream as a sign that some other means of resurrction might be needed, involving a god closer to the situation than Bahamut, and the PCs arranged for a friendly priestess of Ioun to be permitted into the temple (through the side door, so as not to embarass anyone!).
The PCs supplied her with a range of ritual components and religous bric-a-brac they had collected on their travels, and her prayers succeeded. The fallen wizard opened his eyes! But at the same time his complexion changed, taking on a bolder hue, and a mark on his face in the form of a stylised raven appeared. The sorcerer PC asked "Malstaph, is that you?" and the wizard replied "Malstaph - I remember that name."
Fully reborn, Malstaph the wizard is no longer a human but a deva. He has full recollection of his past lives and deaths, and his service to the gods has become his entire raison d'etre.
Mechanically, the PC has been rebuilt as a Deva Preservation Invoker (keeping stats the same but swapping INT and WIS - with the secondary stat getting a boost out of the shift from human to deva). Many feats have been spent to maintain the same skill selection as the old PC.
The old PC had a dragonling familiar. Unfortunately the dragon did not recover from his master's death - but the new PC has a book imp familiar instead, a "watcher" for Bane and Levistus sent as part of the agreement whereby Bane permitted the resurrection to take place at all. (The player wanted a book imp familiar. I wrote in the "watcher" clause. It lives in one of the character's ritual books.)
We haven't seen much of the invoker in action yet, but my impression so far is that it is probably a bit less versatile than the wizard, but perhaps packs a bit more punch. It will be interesting to see.
The player has also issued strict instruction to everyone at the table that his PC is not to be known as "Malstaph the White".
Having succeeded in a levelled-up version of Heathen - they killed Narrash and turned Jaryn back to the side of the righteous, using an interrupt to make sure that when he ripped out his amulet he didn't die - they were leaving the temple. This required fighting their way through the army of hobgoblins and Bane-ite cultists. I had statted up some hobgoblin phalanxes as 17th level gargantuan (4x4) swarms. They were facing 4 of those, plus about 40 minions of around 14th level or so - but with the advantage of terrain - the PCs were fighting their way down stairs into a ravine.
Of course, when they first broke out of the temple the PCs couldn't see all the forces arrayed against them - just two phalanxes in the ravine, and some Bane-ite rabble beyond them. They dealt with the first two phalanxes fairly handily, and it was only when the two additional phalanxes moved up from the army's camp that the PCs got a bit nervous. And at the same time they could see the rabble were chanting in an ecastatic frenzy, and managed to summon in one of Bane's angels of battle.
The angel immediately moved on the PC wizard on his flying carpet, and the wizard teleported (? - or something like that) away to take cover behind the dwarf fighter engaging one of the phalanxes. Unfortunately for the wizard the phalanx was able to swarm over the fighter and knock down the wizard (I had given them an encounter power "Rush: blast 4, level-appropriate damage, knock prone and then shift adjacent to any target").
When the prone wizard then tried to cast a spell to escape he took an opportunity attack that knocked him unconscious. And then the angel attacked with a storm of blades that picked up the wizard in its AoE, dropping him a couple of hp below negative bloodied.
The other PCs went on to defeat the hobgoblins and clean up the rabble, and flew back to civilisation riding the Phantom Steeds the wizard had summoned earlier.
Their arrival was triumphal, but tinged by tragedy as the body of their fallen comrade was carried to the temple of Bahamut by a cohort of dwarven NPCs chanting a low dirge (the PCs have a strong relationship with the dwarves of this town).
The patriarch of Bahamut promised to do his best to restore the soul of their fallen comrade. But that night, the PC ranger-cleric (of the Raven Queen) had a dream that revealed many immortals debating over the fate of the fallen wizard's soul - Erathis, Ioun, Bane and Kas - but no emissary of Bahamut was present. This degree of interest in the wizard's fate was not entirely unexpected - the PCs knew that the wizard was also an Acolyte of Divine Secrets (invoker multiclass) and a Divine Philosopher (invoker paragon path), in the service of Erathis, the Raven Queen, Ioun and perhaps also Vecna. But the PCs took the dream as a sign that some other means of resurrction might be needed, involving a god closer to the situation than Bahamut, and the PCs arranged for a friendly priestess of Ioun to be permitted into the temple (through the side door, so as not to embarass anyone!).
The PCs supplied her with a range of ritual components and religous bric-a-brac they had collected on their travels, and her prayers succeeded. The fallen wizard opened his eyes! But at the same time his complexion changed, taking on a bolder hue, and a mark on his face in the form of a stylised raven appeared. The sorcerer PC asked "Malstaph, is that you?" and the wizard replied "Malstaph - I remember that name."
Fully reborn, Malstaph the wizard is no longer a human but a deva. He has full recollection of his past lives and deaths, and his service to the gods has become his entire raison d'etre.
Mechanically, the PC has been rebuilt as a Deva Preservation Invoker (keeping stats the same but swapping INT and WIS - with the secondary stat getting a boost out of the shift from human to deva). Many feats have been spent to maintain the same skill selection as the old PC.
The old PC had a dragonling familiar. Unfortunately the dragon did not recover from his master's death - but the new PC has a book imp familiar instead, a "watcher" for Bane and Levistus sent as part of the agreement whereby Bane permitted the resurrection to take place at all. (The player wanted a book imp familiar. I wrote in the "watcher" clause. It lives in one of the character's ritual books.)
We haven't seen much of the invoker in action yet, but my impression so far is that it is probably a bit less versatile than the wizard, but perhaps packs a bit more punch. It will be interesting to see.
The player has also issued strict instruction to everyone at the table that his PC is not to be known as "Malstaph the White".
