[Wulf's BARAKUS FOLLIES] LOST CITY OF BARAKUS TPK...?

[Wulf Ratbane]

"Wulf Ratbane, for all that he’s a bastard, and a murderer, and a capitalist, and an exploiter, he’s also a visionary who understands what it is to be a human intervening in the world. "

Ok, dammit.

Sigged.

 

[Cintra]

Dire Ape is a critter on the Summon Nature's Ally 4 list, so if that spell was cast at 7th level, the party should only have to survive 2 more rounds before the apes disappear, too.

 

[Desdichado]

And I have to give credit to our favorite Trotskyist fantasy author whom I paraphrased.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

They should just flee, calling for the other PCs as they go. If they're going to go down, it's better to go down closer to allies (who can stabilize/heal) than in a room where help will be cutoff by 3 dire apes.

And remind the fighter that he doesn't need to outrun the apes, he just needs to outrun the gnome.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Dire Ape is a critter on the Summon Nature's Ally 4 list, so if that spell was cast at 7th level, the party should only have to survive 2 more rounds before the apes disappear, too.

That would require a level of mercy I'm not willing to rise to.

At any rate, Wall of Iron is a 6th level spell (and Dire Ape is Summon Monster V, fwiw)-- I'd assume the caster/creator to be one and the same.

 

[Treebore]

This just illustrates that anytime you use a Necromancer module, or Goodman module, never break the rules of adventuring. Especially the "Never, ever, split the party."

Besides, encounters are designed around the assumption there will be at least 4 PC's of the appropriate level. Necromancer designs the main encounters for a party of 6.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Besides, encounters are designed around the assumption there will be at least 4 PC's of the appropriate level. Necromancer designs the main encounters for a party of 6.

That's never really bothered me about NG, actually. I prefer a "status quo" kind of game anyway, so in my mind there's no such thing as a "main encounter designed for X players."

The encounter is what it is, and it is up to the players to recognize whether it is too tough for them or not-- as opposed to being my responsibility to nerf the encounter because I only have 5 players.


Wulf

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Ok, that was embarrassing.

The fighter attacked the wounded Ape with full power attack, obliterated it, and cleaved into the second ape, for a ton of damage.

The sorcerer zapped the 2nd ape (now wounded, down to 17 hp) with her Scorching Ray, but couldn't quite kill it.

The cleric came back and cast a targeted Dispel Magic on summoned Ape #3-- poof.

The remaining Ape made a valiant effort to do SOME damage before it was killed... but no.

Basically they mopped the floor with my Apes in about 2 rounds.

I forgot about Cleave...

I did have the satisfaction of watching them trigger every other trap on the level, but alas, not even a single death tonite.

 

[Corsair]

Wulf, that what I call a good game. The kind where depending on how the dice fall, you either get heroic victories or ignoble defeats.

 

[Staffan]

This just illustrates that anytime you use a Necromancer module, or Goodman module, never break the rules of adventuring. Especially the "Never, ever, split the party."

Some good tips that I think come from RuneQuest (at least, I found them in a photocopied version we had lying around in our gaming club, as well as on the character sheets we were using):
[bq]1) Listen to the GM
2) Avoid play domination by a few players
3) Plan ahead
4) Organize first
5) Don't divide the group
6) Don't do something without reason
7) Avoid unnecessary encounters
8) Always watch the rear
9) Provide releif for the front line
10) Take action
11) Ignore loot until the objective is acheived
12) Don't despair when HP and MP are low
13) Maintain Faith
14) When all else fails, Play Dead [/bq]