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PC: Alton Underbough, Halfling Ranger 1/Rogue 3
Adventure: Bullywug Gambit
Location of Death: En Route to Krakens Cove, the land route
Catalyst: Troll
After the ship we were originally going to the Cove in burned, thanks to the now deceased Rowyn (our DM likes to change things up a bit), we made it to shore and started slogging through the swamps to try to make it to there by foot. Encouters with stirges,Kuo-toa, and a black dragon were all survived, but a full attack from a troll which hit all three attacks, plus its rend, plus a confirmed crit on one of the three attacks (I don't remember which one, this was a few weeks ago when we last played), resulted in Alton going from 30 hp to -12 hp immediately. Luckily, with the loot from that dragon horde, there should be enough to get him raised by the cleric of Kord when we get a chance.
He literally gets cut in two or the equivalent of what -50HP looks like. Any suggestions what that would look like?
well, I would call that shredded or thoroughly pulped , but you haven't got a harvesting machine or steam roller handy, right ?
perhaps "sliced in two, lengthwise" ? With extreme prejudice ?
my condolescences ;)
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We started our Savage Tide campaign with a bang. 6 dwarves to start...
Name: Olzej Kegfoot(Druid2)
Location: Rowyn's Lounge(There is no honor)
Catalyst: Olzej bravely(??) ran into the lounge with the rest of the party and his trusty animal companion a few steps behind. A couple of 5 foot steps and poor Olzej was flanked by Rowyn and her pet (other word for booty that rhymes with mutt)butt-tugger(as that is what the name morphed into over the course of the battle). Olzej was repeatedly stabbed in his vital organs by the pair and that was the end of our dwarvish friend. His twin brother Lazlo Olzeggio(druid2) has taken his place and is now taking care of Buesta, his brother's wolf.
Name: Sajoh Prideheart(Cleric2), Fowl Jutiyen(Rogue2)
Location: Crimson smuggler's hideout(The bullywug gambit)
Catalyst: Ripclaw! Sajoh moved into position to cast magic weapon spells on Stench the fighter's swords. Too bad Ripclaw went first, and with his reach, completely thrashed Sajoh on round one with a full attack. The remaining dwarves were in a state of shock. Fowl tried to flank and line-up a full attack for the next round. Ripclaw had three targets to choose from, so I made it random with the dice and Fowl was chosen. A full attack from Ripclaw left the poor rogue bleeding, but still alive at -9 hit points. The dwarves cheered and started looking for healing materials until we saw who was next in the initiative order. Poor Fowl! Tried to stabalize at -9 but couldn't get any air in his lungs despite his companions yelling "don't head towards the light!!"
These two dwarves were replaced a little later when the rest of the party heard some screams in their language and ran to investigate. They found 2 dwarves, Scrimps Treethroat(cleric2) and Koot Gillicutty(rogue2), tied up and about to be the main course for the savage cook :)
Only 3 of the original 6 remain *and Buesta the wolf but as soon as he dies the next one will be named meat shield #2 and so on....
PC: Rob N. Steel
Adventure: Bullywug Gambit
Location of Death: Harliss Javell's Room
Catalyst: A dagger to the forehead
Background: My husband was our group's DM for almost two full years. He decided he'd had enough and someone else had to take over. So I, being his loving wife, decided I would run the STAP, my first DM'ing experience. He now has what I call Character ADD, meaning he feels the need to make a new character every half a game. So this was his second character, a halfling who murdered his first character (who had severely pissed off a black market weapons dealer in Shadowshore, and a magic shop owner).
The rest of the party had their talk with Harliss and literally bolted once they found out about Drevoraz. My darling husband, with the cleric, decided it would be more fun to kill Harliss and take her stuff. He capped her knees, she threw a lucky dagger into his forehead. Oops, but hilarious.
Also, my first player kill :)
He'll be coming back as a Goliath barbarian/fighter gestault (we always gestault).
Crew 2 suffered thier first character deaths this past Saturday the 29th of December:
Where: Slaughtergarde Temple (Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde)
When: 2nd foray into the complex
Who: Ebil Mark - dwarf paladin of Moradin; Agent J - dwarf fighter
Why: Critical Blows from named raging Quaggoth named Smash.
The 3rd character death for both the session and the campaign
Where: same place
When: 3rd foray into the complex after a week's hiatus game time
Who: Ebil Mark - elf paladin of Moradin (thanks to reincarnate)
Why: 2 overlapping 5th level Fireballs, failed first Reflex save, went to early negative hp, incinerated by the 2nd 5th level Fireball.
Lesson Learned: Dwarves do not seem to handle reincarnation well...
Well, if they think the V-Rex was a nasty critter, your poor players are in for such a rude, rude awakening down the road ...
Quoting an old but currently relevant post, since there have been rough times recently.
PC: Drake, human warblade 12
Adventure: The Lightless Depths
Location: The lair of the Bilewretch
Catalyst: Ulioth & the Bilewretch
The PCs had a hard time with the advanced brain stealer, and after retreating from the first encounter returned to defeat the beast who managed to escape death using a contingency dimension door (the big nasty had a customized spell list). The destruction of Tlaloc's Tear did little to satisfy the PCs.
After resting they set off toward the pyramid. Evading a kopru patrol they used a reflective disguise spell to make themselves appear as their foes, allowing them to take the behemoths completely by surprise. Inside the pyramid Drake and Ridley (the Adamantine Chef) dove into Ulioth's flooded chamber, the former protected by freedom of movement and the other by a crystal of aquatic action. Combat ensued instantly with Drake delivering a Rabid Bear Strike as the opener. Ulioth recoiled in pain, only to retort with a pair of full attack actions that left Drake at 0 hp. Ridley managed a hit with his cleaver while Drake used his healing belt - Ulioth, badly wounded by only two of his foe's attacks, decided to retreat to the Bilewretch's chamber for a last stand.
Ridley pursued the kopru, while Drake stayed back to get as much healing as possible from whoever could dole some out. Ridley was greeted by the Bilewretch of Holashner, being grappled and nearly pulled apart by numerous appendages. The chef quickly escaped with a use of his teleporting anklets (an item from the MIC), just as the rest of the party came flying down into the chamber to back him up. The Bilewretch decided now was good time for its breath weapon, and when the flaming bile cleared, it was apparent that Drake had not received enough healing. At this point Ulioth reappeared, and the combined forces of the two monsters sent the PCs packing for a second time since their initial visit to Golismorga.
Drake's resurrection is expected, so all is not lost. However, spirits are down and little time remains until the alien city floods and the Lords of Dread pack up and move into the next adventure, making it all the more difficult...
Man, I love this thread. So much delicious carnage.
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Location: The middle of the Isle of Dread as they are travleing to the wreck of the sea wyvern.
After exorcising a demon form one of the NPC's and battling a Vrock, the party walks for 4 days of uneventful travel. On the day before arriving to their final destination of the wreck of the sea wyvern, they come across 6 diplo dinos. Being that the party is level 9 and 10, 6 CR 3 creatures should be no problem, right? Well it did not happen that way. At the srat of the combat the mage/necro levitates into the air about 30 feet, way out of range of the 6 dinos. This leaves only three for the monsters to fight. The thief, barb, sorc Thallius rages and starts going to town. 5 fumbles later, the dinos effectively brought the 10th level character down to 1/2 hit points. The cleric decided to cat first level spells becuase of the idea that these 6 were not much cmpared to the CR 11 deomns, dinos, and monsters they had no problem battling. Next thing you know is one of the dinos flanks Thallius and drops a devastating critical. Pick a card and it read triple damage. Thallius drops to -7 and his rage is about to wear off. Even though he stabilizes from the bleeding, his temp hit points wear off and he drops to -20+ Before you know it nbow their are 5 remaining dinos surrounding 2 remaining PC's. They both drop quickly leaving the mage who trys to fly down to cure the almost dead Thallius. Upon doin g this the dinos surround the mager and many bite attacks drops her to 1 HP. Now we have 2 bleeding Pc's, one dead one and a mage at 1 hp against 5 dinos,a ll of which have less than 6 hp each (they never tag teamed any of them just battled one on one. If it were not for a magic missle dropping 4 of them, leaving one, this would have been a TPK. I choose to have the one flee after the attack so another 10th level PC not have died. Amazing that this party kills and destorys CR 10+ creatures, but we almost have a TPK with 6 CR 3 creatures. Funny! Anyway Thallius, one of the original characters, died. The cleirc raised him, but the player decided to retire the character afterwards. Anyoone have a wierd battle like that. I would love to hear the lowest CR creature to take out a mid-high level character
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In The Battle at Wat Dagon St. Kargoth killed Solaris a gated in solar . By charging through the front door of the temple on his nightmare.Hitting with a crit on a spirited charge. 250 pts damage from 1 hit.The Solar was brought back 2 life via wish spell a round later. Mad Roger Rackham killed just before Kargoth fell in battle.A full attack from St Kargoth's unholy sword and the Bolbilous sphere was all she wrote.Rackham brought back 2 life via revivifie.
(Can't find my notes at the moment, so character names are what I can remember, some are first names, some last names).
Party:
Freddy ??? - Human Fighter (TWF tree)
??? Varlance - Skarn Cleric of Wee Jas
Kirchoff ??? - Human Warlock
Laneya - Halfling Scout
PC: Kirchoff - Human Warlock 8
Adventure: Here There Be Monsters
Location of Death: Shrine to Demogorgon
Catalyst: A bad day for the character and the player.
After almost losing the cleric to Olangru's Harem (technically a death, but I twisted a house rule a little out of guilt for having been picking on the cleric for the whole session without realising it), and then a near-TPK at the hands of the fiendish baboon mob (I LOVE grapple), the party find the secret room and open it up.
Now, the player was having a bad day, as was the character. The scout had also been having some issues with her trapfinding/disabling. As Laneya approached the two chests carefully, the rest of the party standing out in the throne room, Kirchoff had a bout of impatience and strode into the room.
"We don't have time for this!" he declares, levelling a finger loaded with an eldritch blast at one of the chests.
I asked the player whether he was seriously about to 'zot' the chest. He confirmed that this was so, so I told him to choose right or left.
Yeah...he chose left. And failed his reflex save. The difference between the scout's reflex save and the warlock's was enough that the scout effectively used the warlock as a human shield to avoid the resulting fireball.
Needless to say, Warlock hit points aren't enough to take fireball damage.
On a side note, there were technically two character deaths by this point. I had been unconsciously picking on the cleric for the whole session, and when I realised it, I had whacked him down (via bar-lgura harem) to -9 hp. He failed to stabalise and lay dead on the cavern floor. The warlock was standing next to him, happened to be holding a wand of CLW, AND was acting on the same initiative. He asked if he could 'jump start' the cleric with the wand, so I stuck a high DC on the Use Magic Device check to balance it off a little and told him to go for it. By some miracle he made the check and the cleric was 0 hp and stabalised. It was a sort of apology for beating on the guy incessantly for the last four hours.
PC: ar'neth de jorasco hal/m/cl olladra 12th
Adventure: TLD
Location of Death: deep tunnles leading to golismorga
Catalyst: a pack of destrachan
a pack of destrachan snuck close enuff to the group while camped in the lightless tunnels. garth while on watch missed them untill they were to close and unlessed there sonic attack arneth manged to gainm his feet but falled all his rolls .useing and action point he manged to get a cure spell off saveing a fellow party meber life b4 his death. a stature of him now stands in farshore. his plans to bring a jorasco house of healing to farshore has been taken up by his comrads of the sea dragons and is even now being built in far shore. his legacy will live on and he will be missed.
PC: Agent J, "elf" (reincarnated dwarf) fighter 2nd level
Adventure: Slaughtergarde Meets Savage Tide
Location: Slaughtergarde Temple
Catalyst: Hold Person lasting about 4 rounds plus a critical hit from a spiritual weapon doing 20 hp the face.
After being nickle-dimed over the previous 10 or 11 rounds, poor Agent J found himself struggling with a Hold Person spell, only to get a critical hit to the brainpan with 10 or fewer hit points remaining. This is the player's 2nd character death in as many sessions...
Adventure:There is No Honor
Location: Peril Under Parrot Island
Character: Fenric of Lorac (Aventi Rogue 1)
Poor Fenric was eaten by a ravenous zombie pirate because his cleric friend couldn't seem to turn undead (he rolled under a 5 on his check at least 3 times in a row) Fenric was in good standing with the gods and has been resurected. Surely, he won't die again over the course of this adventure, for I am a kind DM. ;)
1 player, dead twice in the Sea Wyvern's wake episode
A bardic swashbuckler and self-styled captain of the sea wyvern.
Died the first time, when they decided to follow a "lucky" flight of wyvern's to their nest, poisonous stinger to the chest and not drinking his lesser restoration potions. Rowyn wound up taking his eyeball, but died before she could escape, so he got it back. Then was lucky enough to get raised in fort blackwell.
Died the second time when a pseudopod from the hungry flotsam ooze crushed his chest, both boats had to return back to Fort Blackwell and sell most of the goods and treasure to raise him again.
On the plus side, he had made some awful multiclassing choices, but was able to rectify them by losing two level's. Not recommended though.
PC: Mikhal (Whisper gnome, sorcerer 1/spelltheif 12)
Adventure: City of Broken Idols
Location: Lair of the Skinwalkers on taboo island
Catalyst: After the party made a successful foray against the skinwalkers, the party teleported to Farshore, rested and then returned. There were few skinwalkers left alive, and when they teleported into their main chamber (the big one with the balconies and fire pit) there were no skinwalkers to be seen. Instead Xeramat had kindly sketched 2 symbol of death traps onto the floor. Mikhaal failed his save and was killed by one of the symbols. He was promptly raised a moment later.
PC: Wanda the Goat (Balon Greybeard the Dwarf Druid's animal companion)
Adventure: The Sea Wyvern's Wake
Location of Death: The Ruins of Tamoachan
Catalyst: The mummy rot trap in the sarcophagus
Description: Poor Wanda the goat was a pretty good animal companion (used pony stats after she sized up) in chain barding with her +1 Horn Caps. She single-handedly defeated the Bullywug Cleric in Lavinia's room in the previous adventure. But, she failed her save against mummy rot in Tamoachan, and the poor druid Balon had to put her down so she wouldn't suffer. "Now just drink this, Wanda," Balon said, holding back the sobs. "It's gonna make you go to sleep and then you'll feel all better. I promise." So sad, poor Wanda.
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2 new deaths to add
Both took place in the Well of Debased Eros, at the end of "Wells of Darkness"
Character: Hiro, ranger/psion/pyrokineticist (Currently in Fire-Giant form)
Level: 18
Hiro came to the well, saw the trees and whatnot, and jumped down to the bottom of the well, 100' down. He passed the 4 Huge girallons on the way down, taking exactly 4 hp of damage from the fall.
Then he saw the Gargantuan retriever, just standing over the pool. So, he whacks it for some significant damage.
Retriever returns the favor, Crit/Claw/Claw/Claw left him with about 10-15 hp left, then he stepped back and blasted him with about 45 hp of lightning bolt damage, killing him outright.
Character: Z, rogue/psion/elocator/avenger/wayfarer guide
Level: 18
Staying at the top of the well flanking the warmage on her flying carpet, Z didn't go high enough, as the Huge girallon climbed out of the pit and moved to engage. Just out of reach, her cohort was spared, so Z took all 5 attacks, all 5 of which hit.
Claw/Claw/Claw/Claw/Bite / Rend/Rend vs. Psion HP (about 75 iirc), not to mention the 70 vile damage meant she was in pieces after the first couple of attacks.
Both characters were Revenanced and then Revivified. The team then spent a bit in Farshore to heal up the Vile damage and get geared up for killing more demons.
-the hamster
Crew 1
* Appetizer, death by Air-aspected Final Strike feat courtesy of a one Chakaranka, ankylosaur extraordinaire.
* Admiral Monkamuck, courtesy of a failed massive trauma saving throw from the same blast.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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PC: Bonnie the hired mercenary
Adventure: The Bullywug Gambit
Location of Death: Vanderboren Mansion
Catalyst: Huntress Lorb-Lorb Tub
Description: Bonnie and her partner Clyde (what can you do) were hired to fill the fighter void after Templeton the Genasi Fighter got himself captured when he stormed the house alone. The party got in the front door and were merrily whacking Bullywugs in the garden and ballroom until Lorb-Lorb got her fat ass off the chair, grabbed her guisarm, and went to work.
Irritated and enraged she leant over her bullywug helpers for a 2-handed power attack. She critted poor Bonnie for an incredible 75 points of damage, dropping her to about -60 and absolutely ruining the floor. All without dropping her cigar or losing the white underpants tied to her ear.
After that the party decided to use tactics, disposables, 2nd level spells, bedclothes ...
(I made her a barbarian 5 ranger 1, pumped her stats a little, and gave her a big stick with a sharpened hook on the end)
PC: Issus, Lizardman Barbarian 8
Adventure: Tides of Dread
Location of Death: Atop the church in Farshore
Catalyst: Vrocks
The initial three vrocks managed to summon one ally and then they teleported atop the church to start their dance. Being unable to make a Knowledge: Planes check, the PCs didn't know what the vrocks were up to. Taking more than 3 rounds to deal with the vrock on the ground, the Dance of Ruin goes off, killing no one but wounding them greatly.
Hearing the dance continue, Issus runs to the church and climbs up the side. He attacks the dancing vrocks, managing to kill one of them and stopping the dance. This enraged the remaining two vrocks who tore Issus limb from limb in their anger.
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2 deaths in a 3 character party tonight. Here There Be Monsters, in Dark Mountain Pass. The elf rogue/wizard noticed the secret door to the crypt and went over to examine the wall, triggering the mummified guardians to rise. The group along with all remaining NPCs got trapped and killed. Too many folks succumbing to despair. Hot DM dice. Baddies with High DR. And above all Con drain. The ranger was already poisoned by the centipedes in the previous fight. Mummy Rot added to that misery.
RIP Mika - Olman Ranger 7
RIP Lissa - elf Wizard 5/Rogue 3
The Monk/Druid got away, so the campaign may continue...
So I was feeling a little bored this evening and took the liberty of updating the death total. I didn't have the patience to deal with NPCs and sidetreks and such, so I've only factored in PC deaths that took place in adventures that are party of the AP. Some one with more energy can do a more accurate accounting if they wish...
TiNH: 106 PCs
BWG: 68 PCs
SWW: 90 PCs
HTbM: 59 PCs
ToD: 35 PCs
TLD: 24 PCs
CoBI: 30 PCs
SoS: 11 PCs
ItM: 6 PCs
WoD: 3 PCs
EomE: 2 PCs
PoD: 1 PC
The carnage count is looking good.
PC: Vaego Stonewall, half-orc fighter 2/paladin 5/cleric 1
Adventure: "Here There Be Monsters"
Location of Death: The shrine to Demogorgon, in Olangru's harem
Catalyst: Couldn't hit a dang thing, unlike the bar-lgura he was swinging at.
Though Vaego had cleaved a bloody swath from Fort Greenrock (where he joined the party) to the Fogmire, it was in Olangru's harem chamber that he finally faltered. He fought a bar-lgura one-on-one, but was unable to hit it to save his life.
(The rest of the PCs were all in low single-digit hit points after this battle. It was very close to a total party kill.)
Exactly, I imagine PoD must be be a real cakewalk, little to no probability of character death on that one.
In my tallying it was HtBM that was wracking up the most kills since the last death count. In previous talleys it was always the first 3 adventures, and although they still added to their totals the numbers weren't as high. As we all know many campaigns fizzle out in the first few adventures, so the number of parties reaching the end of the campaign might be slim. However, it seems that many groups are now in the meaty middle area of the campaign which could account for the upswing in PC death in those adventures. As a dm I can give testament that HtBM and CoBI are both nasty adventures. ToD and TLD are also deadly, but I think HtBM is one of the toughest ones in the campaign.
so once we're past city of broken idols it should be smooth sailing ;)So I was feeling a little bored this evening and took the liberty of updating the death total. I didn't have the patience to deal with NPCs and sidetreks and such, so I've only factored in PC deaths that took place in adventures that are party of the AP. Some one with more energy can do a more accurate accounting if they wish...
TiNH: 106 PCs
BWG: 68 PCs
SWW: 90 PCs
HTbM: 59 PCs
ToD: 35 PCs
TLD: 24 PCs
CoBI: 30 PCs
SoS: 11 PCs
ItM: 6 PCs
WoD: 3 PCs
EomE: 2 PCs
PoD: 1 PCThe carnage count is looking good.
Character: Mikhaal, whisper gnome, sorcerer 1/spellthief 12
Adventure: City of Broken Idols
Location: Taboo Island temple complex
Catalyst: Engulfed by flesh ooze
Details: This was Mikhaal's second death in as many days. You may note above that he was recently killed by a symbol of death. The party had just finished their do or die battle against Khala and Xeramat. It was a tough fight that pretty much expended all their resources, yet they all barely survived. After resting the night they decided to go and finish looting the complex. The flesh ooze had been previously chased out of its pit and was still lurking in the tunnels. Mikhaal noticed the stench as he approached a T intersection in the halls. It stunk, but he was getting used to stinks in this place (what with the hezrou and all), so he didn't think much of it. He rounds the corner. The Flesh ooze is right there and gets a surpise attack on him. It misses with its pseudopod. However, it rolls well on initiative and he rolls shit. The thing runs him over, he fails both his reflex and fort saves (even with the help of action points) and he is engulfed and absorbed into the oozes body. Needless to say he is not returning and a new character will be brought into replace him. In his memory the party served a special meal of gealatin with chunks of pineapple carved into the shape of little gnomes floating in the gealatin. The irony was that as a spell thief Mikhaal spent much of his time absorbing the magic of his foes, so it was fitting that he was absorbed by his enemy.
Character: Pinkus, human, Ftr5/Rog5
Adventure: Lightless Depths
Location: Gallivant Bay
Catalyst: Playres Complete Lack of Long Term Memory
So last week we finish up Tides of Dread and are discussing where the group will go next. They want to go north to find the Lords of Dread and we talk about the giant dragon turtle Larissa had to bribe last time she was up there.
Tonight, the party is getting ready to go:
DM: Any preparations before you head North?
Players: Nope
DM: Are you sure?
Players: Yep
DM: Really?
Players: Yep
DM: OK, you arrive at Gallivant Bay. Tavey calls down from the Crow's Nest that a large shadow is headed your way under water.
Players: Oh, yeah, the dragon turtle. What did we bring to bribe it?
DM: -- silence --
Players: Ah, crap.
Emraag appears, is hostile, breaths his fire breath on the whole boat. Battle ensures. Pinkus, wearing the Cloak of the Manta, jumps into the water to take the fight to the beast. He doesn't succeed. Claw, claw, bite and Pinkus is dead.
The rest of party though does summon 2 large water elementals and one huge one. Emraag eventually flees but the elementals are faster and kill Emraag. So while Pinkus died, they did get 90k in treasure they aren't supposed to have.
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Character: d'Lyrandar Soulknife2/Rogue2
Adventure: Frogs in the House
Location: Vanderboren Manor - Master Bedroom
Catalyst: Foolish rogue charged Drevoraz, Drevoraz rolled a Critical and a hit. He immediately dropped at -6HP. The parties cleric3/Rog1 isn't much of a cleric as he worships the Traveler, oddly enough, he's not much of a rogue either...
Now in my game, I allow players to use an Action point to stabilize, he decided to try to roll, I think he just wanted to re-roll...
PC: Allen Walker, warmage/fighter 5, son of a noble family in Sasserine
Adventure: Sea Wyvern's Wake
Location of Death: River Menace
Catalyst: The hydra.
Long Description:
So my group decided that during this stop they would all go for a swim! One member of the party has Called full plate armor, so being naked was all well and good. Another member wears her elven chainmail basically at all times after being caught on Parrot's Island without it. Another player wears none regularly (our bard/druid) so no big loss swimming without it.
Then we come to Simon, our soulknife/fighter (Des) and David, our warmage/fighter (Mr. Allen Walker.. the third..). These two separated from the pack (ie on the other side of our massive waterfall) and were without armor as well as weapons (not that it mattered much for Simon).
The hydra appeared on the side with the bulk of the group, our two girls and Mr. I'm an agro and a half (aka my husband). Well, David is first in the initiative and casts whirling blade.. which worked a little too well. He was in the water to cast it, and ended up a fair distance away, just a little farther than the girls. So the hydra turned and went at it. It moved just far enough that it couldn't attack, the girls turned on their heels and ran, as did our aggro (shoulda known that spelled disaster).
Our soulknife went to the back of the hydra and whipped a mind blade at it, with little effect (he's kind of a wuss). David realizes there are alot of heads right next to him, so running will provoke attacks of opportunity, but he knows that hydra will kill him. So he casts a spell (I forget what now) on the defensive (smart boy). It's not enough.
The hydra takes it's full attack on David, and sadly, he's dead dead dead with the hydra doing a full 73 points of damage (I rolled too well).
This was our first non-stupid PC death (the first being my husband acting like a moron with Harliss). It was sadness all around, but I love when my players take a death well and move on to the next character. He'll be joining the game again this week, since that was how we ended our game :)
Character: Argent (Air Gensai, fighter 1/Swashbuckler 3/Wizard 2/Abjurant Champion 5/Eldritch Knight 3)
Adventure: Serpents of Scuttlecove
Location: Outside the Minting House
Cause of Death: Disintegrated by an angry Yuan Ti wizard.
Details: I beefed up the minting house encounter a little. It featured the Leech, a pair of 7th coil assasins, 2 Yuan Ti wizards (10), and 1 Yuan Ti wizard (15).
The details will soon be posted in my campaign journal, but the jist is that Argent was busy fight a Yuan-Ti assasin in an alley. He had taken some wounds despite his 50 AC. The wounds were thanks to improved feint sneak attacks using "Find the Gap" and "Wratih Strike". He just finished taking out his enemy when the Yuan Ti wizard decided to make him a target of disintegrate spell. He was nuked for 125 damage when he only had about 30hp left. The party still won the fight, and after the battle they collected his ashes and had him ressurected. The full story will soon be available in my campaign journal (canuk runs Savage Tide).
Character: Billy the Druid (Druid 4)
Adventure: Pre-Savage Tide Slaughtergarde
Location: Elevator Room, Slaughtergarde Armoury
Catalyst: Crit'ing a Hill Giant
After chucking a spear dealing out a vicious critical hit to the hill giant as said giant had finished laying low his dire jackal animal companion, the giant Power Attacking for a -9 to hit/+18 damage with his Large greatclub proceeded to charge the offending druid and smear him all over the place with a 39 hit point non-critical hit, killing him outright in one mighty blow.
PC: Shin Zu Abe, human Samurai 6
Adventure: Sea Wyvern's Wake
Location of Death: bottom of the pit, on board the Thunderer, Journey's End
Catalyst: Climbing down a rope while wearing full plate
In the most disorganised, tactically-inept battle you'd ever hope to avoid seeing, the PCs filtered down (via rope) to the bottom of the pit in dribs and drabs, getting beaten up one after the other and completely foiling the mage's big plot of dropping a barrel of alchemist's fire down the hole and following up with a fireball or three.
Until the time came when the samurai rolled a natural 1 on his climb check. Down he went - a 60 foot fall for 6d6 points of damage (and the Mother of All even managed to make her save for half damage from being landed on, just to add insult to injury) and going prone when he hit the ground. On the very next initiative count - natural 20 on the bite attack from the Mother. Crit confirmed, 34 points of damage, dead samurai. And the wizard piled on 39 points of fire damage next round when he decided to go with his original plan and damn the collateral damage, so his friends won't even find enough of his body to bury.
Player wasn't too cheesed since he's been meaning to try out a swordsage, and I got to lecture the PCs about the inevitable consequences of being tactical numpties too (damned if I've put all this work into the campaign to have it fizzle out in a meaningless TPK because the players can't work together!), so it wasn't all bad, I guess...
Character: Edmund Taskerhill, human, male, fighter 15
Adventure: Serpents of Scuttlecove
Location: "The Wreck"
Catalyst: full attack by Cold Captain Wyther that had two Crits in it.
Details: The all out intense assault on the Wreck was starting to wind down. Ziovayne had just been laid low along with many other defenders. Wyther joined the fight. Edmund flew in and attacked him hitting with a solid blow from his Halberd. This roused his ire, and he unleashed a flurry of attacks against Edmund. Edmund took two crits from his bastard sword as well as a couple of other hits. The total damage was about 170 and finished Edmund off. Unfortunately the next round the party finished off Wyther before he could cause any more trouble, but at least he took down one character.
That's awesome. Khala's pretty bad ass. Its nice to hear him wrack up a couple more kills.
Character: Marn Dirtyape - Rogue 13/Fighter 1 and Admiral Jacques LeChiffre - Swashbuckler 5/Fighter 4/Rogue 5
Adventure: City of Broken Idols
Location: Taboo Temple 46
Catalyst: Khala the Two-HeadedThe party went in light due to several no-shows. THe only other character they had was a gnome Mystic Theurge. Atacking from the balcony, they managed to pin down the baddies with a Control Winds spell from the Nimbus Bow. Khala Simply teleported into melee range and went to town. Immediately, Captain Lechiffre and Marn were Afraid and Confused. Marn, unfotunately able to act normally for a round, tumbled through Khala to set up the flank, only to realize that he couldn't escape Khala's two-headed gaze. Likewise, he quickly fond out that his ring of invisibility was useless. Without cold-iron weapons, and without their all-important sneak attack, neither could get through Khala's damage reduction.
Captain LeChiffre went down in two rounds of full attacks, even with stoneskin,and the Con drain finished him off. Marn only lasted a round.
Khala and Gregor Cledane, the gnomish mystic theurge played cat-and-mouse amound the temple's pillars for a while (he was reduced, flying, and invisible). During this time he was able to use Close Wounds to bring Marn into positives. Khala dispelled the Control WInds spell, freeing Onatali and the Skulvyns. While Gregor attacked Khala using Assay Spell Resistance and Magic Missile, Marn stood and healed himself using a wand, making himslef the prefect target for Onatali, One failed Fortitude save later he was paralyzed, the next he was coupe de graced. Finally, Gregor managed to teleport away with Marn's body, leaving Captain LeChiffre behind to be Onatali's next meal.
I felt bad about the short-handed encounter, so I had the Church of the Whirling Fury cut them a deal on True Ressurection. This would have been tough with a table full of people. One Greater Dispel Magic on the flying gnome and it would've been a TPK. Oh well, at least I next session I get to watch...
Characters: Xavier Meravanchi (sorceror 4), Larz Drinkin (wizard 4), Favored Soul of Kord 5, elf warrior 2 spear-elf and 2 summoned shocker lizards
Adventure: Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde (prequel to Savage Tide)
Location: Slaughtergarde Armoury
Catalyst: Troll mercenary Fighter 2 with 6 pt Power Attack, Cleave...
Short Version: Troll mercenary had previously dropped the sorceror to -9 hp, the wizard poured a CMW potion bringing him up to 3 hp, troll's turn came around. End result: 3d6+26 hp per hit, killed favored soul, cleaved into and killed spear-elf on first swing; killed wizard and cleaved into sorceror on 2nd swing; bite killed and cleaved into, then killing 2 out of 3 shocker lizards.
Troll earned a name and lives to fight another day...
Characters: Da Pimp (Wizard - Conjurer 5) and Warlock 5
Catalyst: Mezzoloth tacks Cloudkill to emanate from itself, failed DC 17 Fortitude saves for 4-6 HD characters = death by poison.
Short version: Mezzoloth (that had previously dispatched 4 out of 5 hench-elves with this same cloudkill ability) uses the tried and true method of cloudkill to kill as many humanoids as it can. Said mezzoloth dies, loses its head and its trident. Mezzoloth set to stew in the lower planes for some time before able to return to the Material Plane and exact hideous vengeance...
Character: Yvy (human, female, sorcerer/malconvoker 15)
Adventure: SoS
Location: The lair of the 7th
Catalyst: ranged sneak attacks by a Yuan-Ti assassin
Details: will soon be posted in my campaign journal "canuk runs savage tide"
Character: Commodore Hexen Ineptus, Barbarian (Whirling Frenzy) 12
Adventure: City of Broken Idols
Location: area 43, Taboo Temple Kopru lounge
Catalyst: reciprocating critical hits, OR: What's Good for the Goose, is Good for the Gander.
Short Version: The good Commodore charged into the flooded room (via water breathing and a ring of freedom of movement), criticaling the behemoth for 109 hit points. On its action, it used a swift action to activate its one-shot (3 charges and then kaput) version of a Heartseeker Amulet, scored a 46 hp spear hit (thanks to a 12 point Power Attack contributing +24 damage when wielding a spear two-handed) then criticaled the character for a whopping 146 hit points on its second spear thrust, outright killing the character. The remainder of its full-round action was spent masticating the character's face a bit...
I usually don’t write these, but after last night’s chaotic session I had to tell someone.
There are two players in the group, we had more but some dropped out, so last week they went into the thief’s guild with 5, the two players each had 2 PCs, one with a bard and a fighter, the other with a ranger and a rogue, and me with an NPC wizard. all of these characters were PCs at one time or another, but their players are gone and we still have the character sheets.
Anyway, they totally dominated the guild, so I told them they should be able to get along with just one PC and I will keep the wizard around for magic and such.
So we went to Kraken’s Cove. I ran the ranger as an NPC and the players had a rogue and a bard.
They came to shore north of Kraken’s Cove and walked through the forest, the ranger got everyone lost a few miles east of the cove, it actually took 3 days for them to find the place. They met a Grey Render in the forest, it was pretty friendly, helped them fight off a pack of hungry wolves, but it wouldn’t go close to the cove.
They took care of the monkeys easily enough (cause I forgot their damage reduction) then they headed down to the walkway. As soon as the three of them were on it, it started shaking so they all ran for it, then it collapsed. They all grabbed onto the rocks and the rogue made a great climb check to get over to the beach.
Now at this point they have already noticed the burning boat heading their way. The bard and ranger made terrible climb checks and fell into the water. They swam under the wreckage and made it to shore eventually.
Meanwhile, the rogue was on the beach so he started going through all the crates and such, where he found some savage pirates. He fought a little, but he doesn’t have a weapon that can beat that DR so he tumbled away and drank a potion of Invisibility. Then he began to explore some of the caves, making noises and attracting the attention of another 3 savage pirates and a savage dinosaur.
He returned to the beach to find the bard and ranger fighting the pirates. From there they fought their way into the caves, the rogue was playing with the dino, trying to ride it and capture it.
At one point there were some Savage Pirates in one room feasting on the corpses already there (they had made really bad listen checks) so the rogue made a bluff check to tell everyone to be quiet. The ranger had taken some intelligence damage, so I was just playing him in character with bad judgment when he (with one hit point left mind you) placed himself right in the intersection of the two caves near the beach exit and announced loudly that he would stay here and watch their backs as they explored the caves.
The two savage pirates looked up from their meal and charged. The ranger lasted a few more rounds, he made it to the beach, but eventually they got him and made a meal of him (L, he was my all time favorite Driz’zt clone…. But there shall be another).
Meanwhile, inside the rogue was now trying to hide form the dino, hoping to make the most of his sneak attack, they got through about half of it’s hit points. the rogue leaped from his hiding place and attacked, hoping to get sneak attack damage and what not. His missed, the dino then made a full attack and the rogue was disemboweled before he hit the ground.
The bard, after seeing the death of his ranger friend, went in search of the rogue. He got into the room and had to come pretty close to get a good look of the dino eating the rogue, he made a move silently check and the dino didn’t notice him, so he escaped, made it back to the Sea Wyvern where he met up with the NPC Wizard (who is also an Aventi).
That’s pretty much the bulk of the story, the player of the rogue then made a ninja who’s backstory is that he is an assassin hunting the rogue who just died. That story hook is working for now but I don't know what he plans to do if and when they actually find the rogue’s body.
They never even got to meet Captain Javell, the bard and wizard together went back to Sasserine and had to deal with the pollywogs by themselves, not having any idea what was going on either, in fact they were confused when I started drawing out a layout of the house, “we just wanted to go talk to her, we’re not attacking!”
I had the ninja join when they got in a fight with at the parade, he was pretty kickass in that fight.
(we play long sessions, I think this one was about 11 hours long, with breaks of course)
next they went about freeing Lavinia and the jade ravens and all the other NPCs that aren’t currently in use. the bard and wizard were in a bad way so they holed up in the library while the ninja went sneaking around the house.
He found the dogs and fed them the flesh of a dead badger he found in the atrium, then he put them on leashes and let them lead him through the house. They would sniff out some frog men, he would go invisible and let them do their thing, when he found a frog they couldn’t do much to he would step in with a katana. The whole scenario was pretty badass. he cleared out the first floor and went down to the basement, where he found a sorceress and some other bad guys. After taking care of them they rested for 8 hours and woke up at 2am. then they found the bard and wizard who were also done resting, and they went and cleared out the rest of the bad guys.
As much as this AP went way off track in this session, it actually kinda ended right where it should, except that now they haven’t met Harliss Javell and they haven’t collected all the XP and treasure that is laying around Kraken’s Cove, I suppose next week we shall see what happens there.
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Name of PC: Lagaan
Class/Level: Human Rogue 5
Adventure: The Sea Wyvern’s Wake
Location of Death: Sea Wyvern's Hold
Catalyst: A vengeful Rowynn Kellani
Story: The PC’s captured Rowynn alive in There is no Honor and handed her over to the authorities. She was thrown in jail, but later escaped, vowing vengeance upon the group of adventurers who had foiled her schemes. She managed to secretly get on board the Sea Wyvern and plotted her revenge. She took the appearance of Liamae, the Jade Raven’s Sorceress, and lured Lagaan, Liamae’s lover, under that guise, to the lowest level of the ship. There, she undressed and danced for him, completely mesmerizing him by her beauty and paralyzing him with a Hold Person spell. She had the time to coup-de-grace him before she got jumped by Ulgar, our group’s dwarven warrior, who’d woken up when “Liamae” had woken Lagaan who slept in the hammock next to his, and followed them in stealth because he’s a dirty, hairy little pervert. As he was struggling with the murderer, the almost-naked Ulfgar managed to rouse the whole ship, and Rowynn was later captured and killed for good, but she did get the honor of causing the first casualty of our group’s Savage Tide Campaign.
Had Ulfgar not rolled a natural 20 on his listen check to wake up, and then two very high rolls on his Move Silently check to spy on the scene, Rowynn would probably have escaped Lagaan’s murder scene completely unscathed and would have gotten the chance to cause yet more mayhem later on!
Name of PC's: unknown - PC's played by Agent J & Baron Morose
Class/Level: human fighter 5, centaur fighter 2
Adventure: The Sea Wyvern’s Wake
Location of Death: Tamoachan, location 1
Catalyst: Tchechiwhani's petrifying gaze
Short version: Behirilisk DC 19 Fortitude saving throw for the win. See "Slaughtergarde Meets Savage Tide" for the humorous details. Count 2 more technical character deaths via petrification for SWW.
Far as I can tell, the death tally stands at:
BWG = 71
SWW = 95
TLD = 25
CoBI = 33
SoS = 14
The other chapters thusfar remain unchanged sadly. Hopefully Sir Carborundum will have some tombstones of his own to report for everyone's gratification soon...
Characters: All of the 15,650 NPCs that populated Sasserine.
Adventure: Sea Wyvern's Wake
Location: Sasserine
Catalyst: Lavinia goes bad in a Big Way
Detail: role reversal and a woman who knows what she wants to do... activating a Shadow Pearl at 3 am'ish Sasserine time. Our heroes departed the city in a scene remiscent of the better parts of Apocolypse Now.
Character Name: Crank
Class: Spellthief
Race: Halfling
Level: 8th
Adventure: Here There Be Monsters
Catalyst: A very angry Bar-lguras
This was the first death in our Savage Tide Adventure Path. The party stepped through the mirrors in the Shrine to Demagorgon and found themselves in a cave that smelled strongly of wet animal fur. The party was quickly attacked by the Bar-lguras that called the cave home. Crank fought bravely, refusing to run even when he was seriously wounded (2 hit points remaining). At that point, a Bar-lgura unleashed a full attack on Crank, leaving him at -22. After the party defeated the hellish apes, Crank was raised by the special tar that was found in an ancient tomb.
Name: Yareth the Black
Race: Elf
Class: Beguiler/Spellthief
Level: 7th
Adventure: Homebrew adventure between Sea Wyvern's Wake and Tides of Dread
Catlyst: Big, hungry fleshrakers
After the tyrannosaurus was defeated (thanks to a glitterdust spell by Yareth), the party heard Tavey's signature cry for help in the nearby jungle.
The party ran into the trees, only to see Amella and Urol savaged by advanced fleshrakers. Yareth ran into the clearing, using daze monster to halt the dinosaurs before Tavey and Avner could be torn to shreds as well. Alas, when Yareth attempted to glitterdust the fleshraker to take it out permanently, the beast resisted the spell and leaped at Yareth, decimating the elf pirate. After the battle, Yareth's gear was quickly scavenged by the rest of the party.