World's Largest Dungeon in actual play [Spoilers!]

[Hussar]

Heh, I remember that trap. I ruled that the spear was stuck. One PC decided to rip it out, despite knowing that there was a trap. The jokes got lewder and lewder as he repeated failed a strength check to pull it out. Then the fireball went off and toasted the PC.

I think I was pretty much stunned at that point. Despite the HUGE number of deaths I'd dealt to the party, some players just could never seem to get enough.

Wonder if I have the transcript from that scene. It was funny as hell as I recall.

 

[erucsbo]

Rasts - once you ignore the battle tactics in the book and play them sensibly they suddenly become dangerous.
Last time they easily dispatched a handful of normal rasts that I had thrown at them (J57 area), this time the Rasts went the Paralyzing gaze route and at one stage had all but one party member paralyzed or grappled. Mystic Theurge had lost 2 points of Con and the Sorcerer 3, and even the heavily armoured Eldritch Knight dwarf failed his fort save vs Paralyze (rolled a 1) and started to get in to trouble. They eventually managed to kill or severely damage enough of the Rasts for the rest to flee.

Q: - attacking someone in a grapple - looks like there is no downside for someone swinging a sword at an opponent that is grappling a party member. No chance to hit the party member and the grappling opponent is denied dex bonus. And the weight of the characters means that if the rasts paralyze or grapple them then it is extremely unlikely that they can carry them away (can't fly carrying anything more than a light load). I would have thought there might be something about hitting the other person (party member) in the grapple - but no. Am I missing something?

 

[Hussar]

I don't believe so no. There's nothing about hitting friendlies in a grapple with melee attacks. This is why rogues LOVE grapplers.

You could always call in a couple of the Godrasts and have them carry out paralyzed PC's. Or coup de grace. That's always fun.

 

[Janaxstrus]

We played through up til 14th level, then got TPKed by the Charisma draining Dread Wraiths in the tomb.

Since our DM ruled it was corrosive and not negative energy, we had no defenses against it.

We had been a party of 4 with 1 NPC

Dwarf Clr6\Radiant Servant 8
Dwarf Wiz8\Ftr1\RuneCaster5
Whisper Gnome Scout14
Half-Orc Ftr3\HO Paragon3\Orc Paragon3\Occult Slayer5

And a Wizard 14 as an NPC

 

[rvalle]

Wouldn't Pro Energy (Acid) work?

My group just made 14th level. They've been trying to clear out the Fire Giants and been fighting a battle of attrition. They hit them, kill or perma-blind some and then retreat to rest. After a few battles like this the Giants had 5 members blinded with no way to remove it and several members dead.

I racked my brain over what the giants could do and came up with something suitable evil.

There is mention of how the Dragon is aware of things happening outside the ice via various magic items each group has. Or that he is trying to influence things via these items.

So.... I had the Dragon contact the Giant Queen and persuade her into making a deal. The Giants have too dig a hole though the ice where there is a crack. I figure this is where the book says the Efreeti was going to burn a hole though from N to J. Once in they betray and sacrifice the perma-blind Giants to the Dragon. In return each surviving Giant gets a Dragon scale to wear around its neck. This will give the Dragon the ability to cast touch or other spells though that Giant. So they can get things like Spell Resistance, Spell Immunity and other such things.

They also left one of their Captains behind (whom I had already added a few levels if fighter too). He is going though a metamorphosis and becoming a half-dragon Fire Giant. Maybe a Fiendish half-dragon Fire Giant.

This should kick the encounter up a notch and provide the Dragon (and me) with much amusement.

rv

 

[erucsbo]

My party made a deal with the Giants. I figured that the giants had most to lose from Tyrus if he got free, so played on the party fears about if the giants died, then there would be nothing stopping the Ogre-mage from releasing the dragon. Oh - and sundering a few of their weapons helped them make up their minds.
It's all part of trying to get them to think first before resorting to weapons.
Sometimes it works, but they still revert to "see, kill, loot" mode more often than I'd like.

 

[erucsbo]

There is so much that is removed from the Rasts section of the Pyrefaust once Serratine has been dealt with that it becomes essentially a bug hunt. Room descriptions get cut down by 2/3 in some places.
The party hit the Godrasts and dished out enough damage to take them all down.
Rogues with greater invisibility - being able to do scad-loads of sneak attack damage at range - are really getting annoying.
The rasts are excellent when 1 on 1, especially if they can get a paralysing gaze off, then start draining Con, but their low AC and inability to do much when grappling is not helping to keep the tension high.

 

[jim pinto]

News

Hi Guys,

I know I've been gone a long time, and I'm about three months late with this announcement, but with the exception of my blog, I have not said this anywhere else. And I wanted you to know first --

(enough preamble jackass; just give them the news)

I am officially back at AEG as the Creative Manager. And while we will have limited exposure in the RPG market, I thought it nice to at least say thank you to everyone on this list who continues to support and play with this product.

I hope everyone's been having fun and I look forward to catching up with everyone soon.

Peace

-

 

[DaveMage]

Best of luck with your new job!

 

[Hussar]

That's great jim pinto. Any 4e news forthcoming? *nudge nudge*