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Message: <blockquote data-quote="keterys" data-source="post: 4131572" data-attributes="member: 43019">WotC Greg actually gives us several interesting things in his <a href="http://www.gleemax.com/Comms/Pages/Communities/BlogPost.aspx?blogpostid=53126&pagemode=2&blogid=2948" target="_blank">Gleemax blog</a>This is a follow-up to my Monday blog, in which I described the PCs’ encounter with a creature far beyond their level. The creature they faced was an Angel of Vengeance, a level 19 elite brute. As a result of being a brute, the creature was doling out massive damage. By the time we resumed the encounter on Tuesday, the party had no healing left. Valinae had used all her lay on hands, and the healing word and inspiring word powers were exhausted as well.As the battle resumed, things were looking grim despite the allies the party had gained.The angel continued to focus its attacks on Valinae, dividing blows between her and the Bear Queen (the chimeric creature that had joined them at the end of last session). Valinae was forced to resort to basic attacks in an attempt to circumvent the angel’s resistance to her radiant attacks. Meanwhile, the chimera’s elemental attacks were also of little aid because of the angel’s resistances. Although not normally high on defense, this brute was high enough in level (and had a special ability to reduce attack rolls) that PCs and NPCs alike were doing everything to try to hit the creature. The NPCs (who were at or below the level of the PCs) ended up using the aid another action to help the rogues hit.Nonetheless, the battle started to drag a bit. As characters exhausted their daily and encounter powers, it became obvious that the battle was going on too long. In the future, I think I’ll avoid throwing creatures of such higher level at the PCs (even if they have allies). Although a challenge is good, it’s frustrating to miss so frequently. This is a danger with throwing higher-level solo monsters at a party as well. The higher defenses drastically reduce the baseline PC attack success. In Chris Perkins’s game, our group often gets around high defense monsters by using indirect damage, such as ongoing damage or the marking effect imposed by the paladin’s divine challenge. Many daily powers do half damage on a miss, and this also helps bring down high-defense, high-level monsters. However, this group had few such powers that could beat the creature’s resistances. If it had been 5 levels lower, that probably would have been more reasonable.A few rounds after the battle started to drag, things turned around and got more interesting. The paladin, Valinae, was felled by one of the angel’s hits, and though an NPC was there to stabilize her, she’d already used her second wind and so couldn’t rejoin the battle. At about the same time, Kriv scored a critical hit for about 40 damage, finally bloodying the angel. The result was an explosion of fire that consumed the 5 or 6 characters surrounding the creature. Not only that, it knocked Valinae precariously close to death. However, bloodying the creature also had the benefit of lowering its defenses some, so the battle started to speed up.The angel was doing about 20 damage with each hit, but Whisper (and to some extent Kriv) were able to do almost that amount when they got sneak attack. The angel was focusing its attacks on the toughest of the adversaries (the chimera), but after a few powerful hits from Whisper, the creature turned its attention to the rogue and felled him in one round. This shows a good distinction between the paladin (who managed to tank the angel for about 10 rounds) and the rogue...who managed to tank it...not very long. Rob also built Whisper has a high damage yield rogue, so while his damage output is good, his durability is poor.He was revived and retreated out of harm’s way. At this point, the wizard finally rejoined the battle from a distance. Gerheart had made a tactical decision (and a wise one at that) to stay hidden from the angel. He remained out of sight using a combination of blur and invisibility (and probably survived because of it). He faced a dilemma because most of his elemental spells would do little or no damage to the angel, so he turned to one of his few non-elemental spells—stinking cloud.The combination of the NPCs aiding the rogues in their attacks, plus the chimera’s vicious attacks, plus the persistent poison damage, quickly reduced the angel’s hp, but not before it was able to fell the chimera. When we’d started the battle in the previous session, I suspected the PCs might be able to kill the angel before this happened (given they had acquired the NPC allies). Unfortunately with Sammy (the warlord) out this session, it tipped things back in the favor of the angel. So despite having used its second wind, the chimera was mortally wounded just as the group was able to finish off the angel.What followed the battle was a surprise to me. During the fight, the town’s barbarian clan fighters had carefully watched the PCs. I expected a fight to ensue, but the PCs successfully delayed an encounter until after they recovered. Afterward, they spoke to the town’s authority who was prejudiced against them. An argument over the body of the Bear Queen ensued, but through a strange combination of honesty and deception (in the form of a social encounter), the PCs were able to not only escape the town without a fight but also were able to leave with the now-transformed corpse of the queen of the barbarian nation. Next session should be interesting when they use the Speak with Dead ritual.There was some talk about attempting a Raise Dead ritual on the Bear Queen, but I think the players have gauged what the result would be. Because many rules and rituals are not so cut-and-dry as in 3rd edition, it leaves the DM the prerogative to do what’s best for the story. For that reason, the characters might glean some information from the Speak with Dead ritual because it can help the story without giving everything away. On the other hand, if they were to raise one of the main NPCs who has been at the crux of the story and conflict, it would, in a way, cheapen the story.I feel that if important personages can just be raised with a simple Raise Dead ritual, then assassination, intrigue, and even war become somewhat obsolete. With a ritualist always standing by to perform Raise Dead, it would eliminate a lot of potential plot material. I never much liked the resurrection and raise dead spells in 3rd edition. In fact, for almost 4 years my DM ran a campaign without them, and we never really missed them. Character died often enough to make death feel like a threat. Yet it was never that frustrating. In a story driven campaign, I like to feel like death is more a plot device than a mechanics piece. If my paladin was to sacrifice himself to save the rest of the party, I wouldn’t want them to turn around and raise him. I suppose that’s why 4th edition gives the DM more prerogative. Although you want your players to be happy and enjoy the game, sometimes it’s important to make a call for the good of the story and not for the consistency of mechanics.</blockquote>

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