I am fine with pressing on. I can still get my spells off reliably, and still have a decent list to work with. (Proceeds to fail all casts)
Let's press on!
-Posted with Wayfinder
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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You may notice something unusual about this fight.
Hey, uh, Teb-- Teb's on the initiative list twice.
Teb Knotten is a mythic creature, possessing a unique ability known as "dual initiative" allowing Teb to act twice in any given round of combat. Teb is the single most deadly opponent you have faced yet and there is an undeniable presence about him that none of the other creatures thus far have possessed.
Things You Learned About Teb
Way back, you all succeeded at a bunch of checks about moss trolls, here's what you'd learned:
1) Moss trolls, more so than other trolls, hate fire. In fact, they're downright terrified of it and will do anything they can to destroy any source of fire they find. Teb would be shaken within 30 feet of visible flame and will ceaselessly attack the source of the fire in an attempt to extinguish it.
2) Moss Trolls can change shape into trees at will. Don't be fooled!
5) Teb regenerates all damage done to him that is not caused by fire. Only fire can be the end of this creature.
Yvonne bomb, go!!!!
Two questions
1) Why does his scent negate concealment? Is it like mythic scent or something?
This special quality allows a creature to detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense of smell. Creatures with the scent ability can identify familiar odors just as humans do familiar sights.
The creature can detect opponents within 30 feet by sense of smell. If the opponent is upwind, the range increases to 60 feet; if downwind, it drops to 15 feet. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at twice the ranges noted above. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench, can be detected at triple normal range.
When a creature detects a scent, the exact location of the source is not revealed—only its presence somewhere within range. The creature can take a move action to note the direction of the scent. When the creature is within 5 feet of the source, it pinpoints the source’s location.
A creature with the scent ability can follow tracks by smell, making a Wisdom (or Survival) check to find or follow a track. The typical DC for a fresh trail is 10 (no matter what kind of surface holds the scent). This DC increases or decreases depending on how strong the quarry’s odor is, the number of creatures, and the age of the trail. For each hour that the trail is cold, the DC increases by 2. The ability otherwise follows the rules for the Survival skill. Creatures tracking by scent ignore the effects of surface conditions and poor visibility.
As far as I know, that's referring to invisible or hidden creatures. Just like using scent to locate which square an invisible creature is in doesn't remove the 50% miss chance on them, I would think unless he has a way to see through snow he wouldn't be able to ignore the concealment from it either.
Edit: A quick search of the boards seems to support my assertion.
2) Was he written up as mythic, or is that you being evil? :P
Oh... Dam! Mythic foes... Shall our hero's become Mythic as well one day... I look forward to finding out.
Yvonne will become mythic.
...when I ignite the powder kegs strapped to her.
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I don't think we will become mythic - for three reasons. For one, Rob did mention waaaayyy early on he was going to be making changes to part 1 of RoW, but the rest of the campaign would remain relatively the same. Two, the Mythic Adventures book states that Mythic enemies can be used against non-mythic PCs as a way of giving them a new, more unique challenge. And three.. I don't think Rob would throw such a big thing at us without giving us a heads up - Mythic campaigns are wholly different than regular ones, after all. Some players might not like it.
Others.. well, others would love it. Personally, I'd be all for it if he did it - but I'm also fine with a regular campaign.
That being said...
Marcellano would go Guardian for sure.
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Rasso you are *totally* right about the scent thing. So much so that I realized I'd been using it wrong forever. I always assumed it negated the miss chance because you could pinpoint the square! It makes sense why not, and I'll roll his miss chance on subsequent rounds that it is snowing heavily. Sorry about that!
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Also he was not written as mythic. However, what you're seeing here is based on some ideas by Neil Spicer, the books author. He talked about changes he would have made had mythic been out at the time. You'll see some of those as we progress.
Also making Teb mythic helps make him a good solo threat versus eight PCs ;)
In the game with Liette I always feel like it's impossible to challenge you guys with a single foe anymore. Even ones 5-6 levels higher than your CR only last like two rounds. But they do so much damage that PC death is a real issue. Maybe I should start making you guys fight some mythic monsters too.
In that case, Rasso, might I recommend hazardous terrain, similar to what Rob is doing?
A simple fog spell can even the odds greatly - In a test of something completely unrelated to any of the campaigns I'm in, I had two Dretches.. yes.. DRETCHES.. nearly kill a party of 4 level 2's and 3 npcs - all with two well-placed Stinking Cloud SLAs. They combined the cloud's stinking effects with their own perception and stealth skills to ambush and nearly outright kill one PC - the others were too busy being nauseated. Would I have had them attempt to summon more Dretches.. they very well might have killed the party. Only the insane, suicidal antics of the Halfling Bard saved the guy - the bard provided a juicy target instead of his downed, dying comrade - and somehow came out of the melee nearly unscathed, despite having lower AC and having a dretch focus all of its attacks on him for numerous rounds.
In a straight fight, those dretches would have been butchered since the players had Cold Iron weapons and two hard-hitters.
Well this is eight level 10 characters with like 50 point buys and custom races (at least some of them; they were rolled 6d6 take high three) in a wilderness campaign in the Worldwound. They have three dedicated ranged characters and can usually put out around 200 damage a round. So the problem against a single foe is action economy. I can challenge them fine if I throw several mobs at them, but a big bad scenario is getting harder to manufacture in a way that challenges them, but doesn't lead to a guaranteed PC death from the BBEG doing like 150 damage on a full attack with +30 or something to hit. But the only things that have that much HP hit like that.
I've used/use lots of terrain, more when they were lower level though. One area of my version of the Worldwound is completely covered in fog EVERY NIGHT. There was a fight before Rob joined where I put one of the two groups against I think eight cockatrices in the fog in amongst half a dozen huge boulders. It was kinda ridiculous, the fight went for something like 12 rounds and resulted in lots of stone horses and some nearly dead PCs. I've only outright killed one PC though. He flew off alone at level 9 to fight three half-fiend desert drakes at like 8,000 ft altitude. The shreds of his corpse achieved terminal velocity.
That's my longest running PBP, they started at level 6, and are getting near level 11 now. Man....it's been going for like almost two years now I think. It was originally two groups, now merged into one. I think only four of the eight PCs are originals now, all the rest are replacements. Only six are active at the moment, but about to pick up two more (the dead guy's replacement character and a new guy). But yeah...done rambling about my game now. This is way longer than I intended. Just can't believe it's been that long already.
(o_o)
Well this is eight level 10 characters with like 50 point buys and custom races (at least some of them; they were rolled 6d6 take high three) in a wilderness campaign in the Worldwound. They have three dedicated ranged characters and can usually put out around 200 damage a round. So the problem against a single foe is action economy. I can challenge them fine if I throw several mobs at them, but a big bad scenario is getting harder to manufacture in a way that challenges them, but doesn't lead to a guaranteed PC death from the BBEG doing like 150 damage on a full attack with +30 or something to hit. But the only things that have that much HP hit like that.
I've used/use lots of terrain, more when they were lower level though. One area of my version of the Worldwound is completely covered in fog EVERY NIGHT. There was a fight before Rob joined where I put one of the two groups against I think eight cockatrices in the fog in amongst half a dozen huge boulders. It was kinda ridiculous, the fight went for something like 12 rounds and resulted in lots of stone horses and some nearly dead PCs. I've only outright killed one PC though. He flew off alone at level 9 to fight three half-fiend desert drakes at like 8,000 ft altitude. The shreds of his corpse achieved terminal velocity.
That's my longest running PBP, they started at level 6, and are getting near level 11 now. Man....it's been going for like almost two years now I think. It was originally two groups, now merged into one. I think only four of the eight PCs are originals now, all the rest are replacements. Only six are active at the moment, but about to pick up two more (the dead guy's replacement character and a new guy). But yeah...done rambling about my game now. This is way longer than I intended. Just can't believe it's been that long already.
(o_o)
O_o
Dang!
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Yeah Rasso's a pretty damn fun GM and does some amazing encounters. Mythic monsters might be a great idea against this group.
Also, DR has been a huge kick in the dick to everyone, usually. Something with DR/epic would be a huge obstacle because none of us could penetrate it, and quite a few mythic monsters have it. DR of like 10 or more turns Liette's gunshots into pinpricks, and I bet it would even slow down Barek too.
I'll keep that in mind, Crusty one.
I was just thinking it might be better to wait until we knock it unconscious to use the zombie bomb. It's going to be hard to get him to hold still, and get everyone clear otherwise.
We have alchemist fire and oil on hand. No need to detonate a minion or our gunpowder at that point.
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I hope 22 on that trip is enough....Anyone else wanna try to throw an aid another on that?
Yvonne, Ar'z, I'm looking at you guys possibly.
Stunned can't take an action so no risk of attack of opportunity right?
+4 to our melee attacks on top of his -2 to ac for this round, and he's going to provoke plenty of AoOs from us the way we've got him surrounded when he does stand up.
Let's get em!
Marcellano, what do you think about grabbing the spear this round? I was planning to go with a Spellstriked Shocking Grasp for additional damage, but I feel like taking away the Trolls primary two handed weapon could really cut down on his potential damage.
Rasso and maybe Arz should coup de grace. Ordrud would have but could not 5-ft step.
Unfortunately he has to be helpless to do that, he's only stunned.
Oops. Wishful thinking. I thought stunned was helpless.
cheers
I want to try to write more than a two line post this time, which means it's going to need to wait a little bit as I'm swamped right now. I'll probably be making a full attack. He's gonna take a lot of damage unless I roll less than ~5 several times.
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Just a heads up, Crusty is going to be running a Shattered Star campaign set in the Ruins universe focused around a group working for the ciphermages who now serve Karzoug. The events in it run parallel to Reign of Winter.
Oooooh. -titillated-
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Congrats guys, you absolutely hosed that encounter. Low on spells and resources, ambushed, outmatched by a mythic foe, you used some great tactics and had some fantastic rolls! You deserve a pat on the back for doing so well. I wasn't pulling any punches and you've been fighting non-stop since the Frost Fir encounter.
And in other news I just got a message from Ar'Z and he'll be back to playing next week! :)
Woot!
*giddy-evil necromantic hand rubbing*
Got ya buddy! By the way crusty, you know my situation with work and deployments, but you think you might be able to make room for me in your shattered star game? Color me interested!
Hmm.. I'll look into it! I'll message you about it.
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Just so you all know, after this chapter ends (very soon) and you rest, I will be giving you all an opportunity for a carte Blanche character tweak. With the advanced class guide playtest coming out this is especially good timing.
This is a one time thing, and you will effectively be able to completely rebuild your characters (except for race) now that you have had time to see how they work in practice. There will be a few caveats, but I'll have a much, much more detailed post when the time comes.
...Marcellano the Swashbuckler, anyone?
Hrm. It would be really fun to try out one of the new classes, but Rasso aint Rasso if he's not a synthesist.
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Hmm, I might consider a rebuild of Styv, But I'm not certain how I might go about it.
It might be fun to approach his build from a more tactical/support/leadership angle.
Then again maybe I'll just keep going with Fighter and make due, Though even with a +3 to my shield damage for close combat, Styv's throwing shield has a hard time keeping pace in melee damage with Ordrud and Rasso.
Hmmm