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

[pogre]

Ok, that was embarrassing.

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

, but alas, not even a single death tonite.

pansy.

 

[Treebore]

I'm glad I was done swallowing my swig of soda when I got to rule #14.

Wulf,

I have the same opinion as you, which is why I like Necro and Goodman's modules. It is also why Necromancer design's their modules to be as deadly as they often are. I would guess Goodman has much the same philosophy, but I haven't seen them post it, so I can't say for sure. But I believe the lethality of their modules speaks for themselves just like Necromancer's does.

I'll give them the chance to figure out an encounter is more than they can handle, but if they stay and fight, may the dice rolls be with them. Which they often seem to be, darn it!

 

[Old One]

pansy.

No kidding...all that talk about bad-a** dire apes and TPKs and he doesn't even get one rend in...Wulf is losing his touch !

~ OO

 

[Plane Sailing]

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.

Reminds me of the last encounter from my game. I'm sure I had complaints along the lines of "you should have made it less tough since our wizard and cleric weren't with us tonight". That would be from the guy who died charging the CE wizard with four golems who wanted to talk with them. I think.

Cheers

 

[BryonD]

I forgot about Cleave...

Must have been in a lucky position to get to cleave between two 10-foot reach apes.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Must have been in a lucky position to get to cleave between two 10-foot reach apes.

I am sure he didn't feel lucky at the end of that session.

He was completely surrounded when the walls disappeared. One of the reasons I expected that the fight would go poorly, when in fact it helped.

I wasn't sure about my ruling at the time, but I assume that Spring Attack only negates AoO's from the target. I got in two swipes at the fighter as he bounded out of the room, but only one hit.

I think I was definitely too helpful with the players yesterday leading up to the fight. 4 out of 5 of my players are new to 3e; and both the fighter and the sorcerer are complete newbies.

The fighter was astounded that he could "use" all of his feats at the same time. "You mean I can Dodge, and Power Attack, and Spring Attack, and Cleave, and when I move I get +4 AC from Mobility all at the same time?"

 

[JoeGKushner]

I wasn't sure about my ruling at the time, but I assume that Spring Attack only negates AoO's from the target. I got in two swipes at the fighter as he bounded out of the room, but only one hit.


The fighter was astounded that he could "use" all of his feats at the same time. "You mean I can Dodge, and Power Attack, and Spring Attack, and Cleave, and when I move I get +4 AC from Mobility all at the same time?"

You're correct. Only AoO from the target are negated.

And yeah, it's great when a plan comes together.

I'm not too surprised at the outcome though but I'm sure lucky dice rolls helped things along nicely.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

They ended up burning through a LOT of action points last night, though.

They sprung a trap that summoned a flesh golem, and I think the cleric must have spent 3 or 4 action points on his AC to keep from getting killed. The APs absolutely made the difference, as even with a +10 BAB the golem couldn't hit his (action-point-improved) AC.

I ended up retiring two of my d20's last night that couldn't roll over a 6 all night. At one point I said, "I think I'm going to have to reduce the XP on this golem, cause my dice are rolling so bad."

For some reason they thought that was unfair.

 

[Desdichado]

Ironically, my players burned through a lot of action points last night too. I don't track XP in a standard way; I have arbitrary levelling after the conclusion of a "module" and they're starting to wonder about how fast they can burn through this one and level up again so their AP's can reset.

 

[Scorch]

I ended up retiring two of my d20's last night that couldn't roll over a 6 all night. At one point I said, "I think I'm going to have to reduce the XP on this golem, cause my dice are rolling so bad."

I hear you man. Last Saturday I had my party taking on two mummies (or mummy and "tough mummy" as they were called in the Barakus book) and I must have tried three times to hit the gnome sorcerer in the group who was plinking away at them with magic missiles. I could not roll over a 5 to hit him! Another combat I had a gnoll try to hit him twice and rolled a one twice. Either he is really lucky or I got me some bum dice.

On the plus side: I did get to mummy rot the fighter. Whee!

Scorch