Tomb of Horrors (4e) - Group 2, Part 2

Game Master Rev Rosey

Fellow players, any suggestions on how to equip this swordmage?

For a weapon, it depends on how you want to balance offence and defence. A glaive does more damage and has reach, but a longsword is more accurate and means your warding will be better. The longsword also has the advantage of working with the Farbond Spellblade property, which lets you use it as a missile weapon. Either could be Jagged, which is better if you're solely melee and certainly worse if you find yourself at range.

Iron Armbands of Power are nice, +2 to melee damage rolls. Acrobat Boots, you can't do your job if you're sat down and they let you stand as a minor action. There's also a helm which gives you a bonus to Will defence and has a daily power giving a bonus to attack rolls for the encounter which I think would be nice, but it might be too expensive.

I have Arishat back up now. I've put up a section of group benefits at the top of her page before her stats. Would it be worth compiling a list of these for each party somewhere?

@ Rev Rosey; sunday evening/monday morning sounds fine to me.

@Rev Rosey

I just finished up my char sheet and emailed it to you. I am now figuring out how to post character details on this piazo system (no matter how that sounds, it is not yet a defamation of the paizo posting system!).

Barel Dlode is a dwarven warden that I think will be fun to use and can soak up lots of attacks while playing a little bit of a controlling role.

Is longsword the best option for him, being that he is an assault swordmage? Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt assault the striker bent defender route?

You need to create an alias in "My Account".

I'm just passing by... not stunned to have missed recruitment for this at all, in any way.

Rats.

Fabes, you can go alternate. It filled with terrifying speed. The home group is likely to get a run around with this (if you'll let me), so the chances are high that you won't be missing out.

Cotesia, I got your character file. Thank you.

Rosey - I don't know if you've signed up for DM rewards on Wizards' site, but I just got the basic module conversion of Tomb of Horrors in the mail today for free. I haven't opened it yet, but I'm pretty sure it's similar to the Village of Hommlet module they sent out last year, a really bare bones conversion of the original module, nothing close to the box set that's on the way. I don' know if it's too late to sign up, but I saw this and thouht it was worth mentioning.

No, I haven't. Thanks Ghetto, I'll take a look.

Rev, a couple things to note for combat with Lyan. I'll be tracking them, too, of course, but these are things that will routinely show up on enemies' turns.

* The first time he is bloodied by an attack during an encounter, the enemy that bloodied him is immobilized (se). This is automatic, no action.

* He has an at-will opportunity action, triggered by a marked, adjacent enemy shifting. Lyan gets to shift 1 square (not necessarily in pursuit, but probably usually).

He also has a huge number of immediate actions available, but since those have to be picked and chosen (one per turn), that's on me . . .

Thanks.

Rev, I'll be typing Kidlat's complete stats for the profile. Just a heads up: it will be different from the CB file I sent, i.e. equipment, feats, computation of bonuses, etc.

Is longsword the best option for him, being that he is an assault swordmage? Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt assault the striker bent defender route?

It's true that the assault swordmage fulfills the role of secondary striker.

In my opinion, the extra attacks granted by choosing aegis of assault outweigh the difference in damage between two and one handed heavy blades.

I'll tentatively suggest Sunday evening/Monday morning if that suits everyone?

Sounds good.

After reviewing my CS again, I noticed that I had a couple of items that kind of duplicated an effect, so I'll probably change one of them. Also might change my armor from the "flying" armor, to an armor I saw (Forgot the name for the moment) that is kept in Astral space and only summoned when you need it (At Will) That way my Dex based skills can be used without penalty, and I only need to spend a minor action to summon my armor. Might not be a bad idea to have a back up rogue in TOH. ;-).

Kidlat - that's fine. Just make sure the profile is as complete as you can make it.

Lyan - I'll try and remember all that, but keep reminding me.

Vladimeer - again, fine and makes a great deal of sense.

If anyone wants to send updated CB files, I can replace the old ones.

Looking like a late Sunday kick off at this point. I look forward to gaming with you all.

Rev Rosey, I swapped out Tome of Binding feat for the Superior Implement Training, Accurate wand at level 12. It gives me an additional +1 to hit with all my powers.

Accurate wand is definitely this season's must-have item. Good choice.

Not that much slows me down, but a reminder to our estimable British DM: Many of the Americans are likely to be busy much of Sunday pm, setting things on fire.

Ah. 4 July. I had indeed forgotten as it's not something we celebrate round here. In the interests of transatlantic harmony, Monday it is.

It gives me a little more time to work out something challenging for you all.

Please help clarify this point: swordmages use their blade as an implement. Does this mean that the enhancement bonus of the blade apply to powers that only contain the IMPLEMENT keyword WITHOUT the WEAPON keyword?

Please help clarify this point: swordmages use their blade as an implement. Does this mean that the enhancement bonus of the blade apply to powers that only contain the IMPLEMENT keyword WITHOUT the WEAPON keyword?

The blade's enhancement bonus applies to both Implement and Weapon powers.

Although they might have also appeared in an earlier book, rules concerning Using a Weapon as an Implement are in the Appendix of Player's Handbook 3 p. 219. So for swordmages, a blade "works like a normal implement for you, but you use neither the weapon's proficiency bonus nor its non-magical weapon properties with your implement powers".

You do apply "the magic weapon's enhancement bonus, critical hit effects, properties and powers". Although it warns that a magic weapon's properties and powers are often "worded in such a way that they work only with weapon attacks". In addition, the "ranges and damage expressions" of implement powers override a "weapon's range and damage die".

Thanks for the answer.

The bonuses from the feats Raging Storm and Elemental Blade Attunement, do they stack?

No. Bonuses of the same type (in this case, "feat bonuses") do not stack.

No. Bonuses of the same type (in this case, "feat bonuses") do not stack.

Thanks for that. It seems I have two feats needing replacement.

Just need full profiles from Cotesia and bmars.

If you'd all be kind enough just to check in some time in the next 12-24 hours, I'll get you started.

Bear in mind that this is very much a test-drive both for you as players and me running two concurrent groups. I've tried to construct something that will allow you to test the capabilities of your characters, but of course I have no more idea than you what the actual adventure will include.

At the end of the encounter, feel free to make any changes to powers, feats and equipment. Looking at the lists, it does occur to me that you are striker-lite. Each group has two defenders, two leaders, one controller and one striker. Past experience suggests that this might lead to longer fights, but we'll see how it works out.

You should note that the monsters are built around MM3 principles of lower hp and higher damage output, so it may well be fine.

Good to go, I think.

Same here, I think. This may not be the most optimal build for him, with his powers and gear selection, but I haven't really followed 4E recently, and they have a bunch of new stuff in the rules I am not familiar with. I'll see how it goes.

Thom almost has the secondary striker role handled, and he has a lot of summoning stuff as well, so I see him as a controller/striker hybrid.

If you guys have any suggestions for additional gear/rituals/power changes, feel free to let me know.

Check in :), Party of 6, under the name Bond. James Bond.

Eric, play it by ear. I've built a lot of non-optimal characters in my time and they mostly survive. One of the beauties of 4e that it's really quite difficult to build a completely ineffective pc. I'm aware that there's a school of thought which regards this as a weakness, but personally I like knowing that if I choose to build a gnome pit fighter, it will still be a functional character, albeit a non-optimal one.

And now I have a mad urge to try and do that very thing.

Good to go:
Lyan
Thom
Lynore

I'm good to go sorta. I have a 5 hour drive tomorrow (July 5th) but I'm on EST and should be able to do some posting before and after. :D

We are done blowing stuff up. Check back Monday, as I will be entering her info throughout the day tomorrow. Happy 4th!

Good to go:

Lyan
Thom
Lynore

I'm ready to ride!

One of the beauties of 4e that it's really quite difficult to build a completely ineffective pc.

I agree. The disparity between optimal and non-optimal characters is a lot smaller, and the player has to go out of their way to make their character completely ineffective.

@Rev Rosey

I just finished up my char sheet and emailed it to you. I am now figuring out how to post character details on this piazo system (no matter how that sounds, it is not yet a defamation of the paizo posting system!).

Barel Dlode is a dwarven warden that I think will be fun to use and can soak up lots of attacks while playing a little bit of a controlling role.

I'm sorry if this reply is too late for you, but if you're still looking for suggestions on a format to post you character details might I suggest an arrangement of Barel's powers according to action. Something like my character profile where the class and item powers are grouped according to:

• Opportunity Actions
  
• Immediate Interrupt & Reaction
  
• Free Actions
  
• Standard Actions
  
• Minor Actions
  
• Move Actions

That way I can go through the list and remember that although I was knocked prone this round, I can use a free action to activate my Surefoot Boots to stand up then use Twin Strike (standard action) followed by Ruffling Sting (minor action).

This style was inspired by the new MM3 stat block format and I'm hoping this method will make it easier to keep track of the myriad powers you get at paragon tier. (I guess we'll soon find out in the test encounter!)

Rev, I have tried to make the profile as comprehensive as I can, I hope it's enough.

Rev, I have tried to make the profile as comprehensive as I can, I hope it's enough.

Pissst!, hey buddy you're wearing no pants.

Kidlat wrote:

Rev, I have tried to make the profile as comprehensive as I can, I hope it's enough.

[OOC]Pissst!, hey buddy you're wearing no pants.[OOC]

LOL

Kidlat is wearing the clothes appearing in his avatar pic.

Last time I look there wasn't an avatar.

@Cotesia - Peasant's advice above is a good plan.

@Rad - Kidlat looks OK to me. I trust him to wear pants.

Group 1
Pat516 - Lyan Hurzin (hobgoblin battlemind). Good to go
vagrant-poet - Darwyn Tafare (human bard).
Peasant Railgun - Norrin Axebeard (half-orc ranger). Good to go
Scranford - Vladimeer (minotaur runepriest).
bmars3 - Levana Poria (??). Good to go
Tristan Mcleod - Darion Brightblade (human paladin). Good to go

Group 2
Cotesia - Barel Dlode (dwarf warden).
Bluenose - Arishat (tiefling warlord). Good to to.
Rad - Kidlat (genasi swordmage). Good to go.
Eric Swanson - Thom Verkial (human wizard). Good to go.
Ragna - Lynore (half-elf assassin). Good to go.
Xabulba - Saint Tavar (deva cleric). Good to go.

Arishat stands, or at least sits, ready to go.

Arishat stands, or at least sits, ready to go.

Excellent. List above amended.

Tavar is a deva, a deva deva not a Aretha Franklin deva, not eladrin.

IMO the worst named race.

IMO the worst named race.

For what it's worth, the word has a long history, and is reasonably appropriate: definitions

Tavar is a deva, a deva deva not a Aretha Franklin deva, not eladrin.

IMO the worst named race.

Oops. I knew that :) Apologies.

Any curious archeologist in this crowd?

Vlaidmeer is a curious archeologist. By the way I've got company till late this afternoon, so probably won't be able to finish things up till this evening. If you want to run the combat go ahead, and I'll try to catch up when possible. DM should have enough info from my CS to at least run a round or two if needed.

@Cotesia - Peasant's advice above is a good plan.

@Rev DM: My profile should be complete now...I changed a few things from the CS I sent you earlier..do you want another copy (I may change a few things after this combat though).

I saw Norrin's advice after finishing my current profile...I will modify organization (but not content) in a day or so.

I am not sure how Peasant's advice applies to me. I didn't think wardens used implements (or am I reading the wrond advise from Peasant)?

Pretty sure she meant the advice Peasant posted as Norrin.

Rev Rosey wrote:

Good to go:

I'm sorry if this reply is too late for you, but if you're still looking for suggestions on a format to post you character details might I suggest an arrangement of Barel's powers according to action. Something like my character profile where the class and item powers are grouped according to:

• Opportunity Actions
  
• Immediate Interrupt & Reaction
  
• Free Actions
  
• Standard Actions
  
• Minor Actions
  
• Move Actions

That way I can go through the list and remember that although I was knocked prone this round, I can use a free action to activate my Surefoot Boots to stand up then use Twin Strike (standard action) followed by Ruffling Sting (minor action).

This style was inspired by the new MM3 stat block format and I'm hoping this method will make it easier to keep track of the myriad powers you get at paragon tier. (I guess we'll soon find out in the test encounter!)

@Norrin: thanks, I like the idea. I may reorganize my profile in a day ro so, but I just finished posting it and am afraid I have already held up the combat thread too long!

Cotesia wrote:

I am not sure how Peasant's advice applies to me. I didn't think wardens used implements (or am I reading the wrond advise from Peasant)?

Pretty sure she meant the advice Peasant posted as Norrin.

Thanks... I found peasant's incognito post shortly after I posted that response. I subsequently edited my post (which I won't do in the future) so now everyone is wondering what we are talking about!). At least you had the decency to quote me :)

Vladimeer -- note that Paragon Defenses and Lightning Reflexes are both feat bonuses, so you're only getting half the benefit of the latter.

Norrin -- likewise for P.D. and Iron Will.

Thanks... I found peasant's incognito post shortly after I posted that response. I subsequently edited my post (which I won't do in the future) so now everyone is wondering what we are talking about!). At least you had the decency to quote me :)

No worries! Editing is fine, but the local convention is to flag the edits (e.g., with "EDIT:"). Note that posts are only available for editing for one hour, so it mostly only matters for the people who are constantly online . . .

bmars - could you give us a clue what class you're playing?

Group 1
Pat516 - Lyan Hurzin (hobgoblin battlemind). Good to go
vagrant-poet - Darwyn Tafare (human bard).
Peasant Railgun - Norrin Axebeard (half-orc ranger). Good to go
Scranford - Vladimeer (minotaur runepriest). Good to go for all practical purposes
bmars3 - Levana Poria (??). Good to go, but still a mystery
Tristan Mcleod - Darion Brightblade (human paladin). Good to go

Group 2
Cotesia - Barel Dlode (dwarf warden). Good to go.
Bluenose - Arishat (tiefling warlord). Good to to.
Rad - Kidlat (genasi swordmage). Good to go.
Eric Swanson - Thom Verkial (human wizard). Good to go.
Ragna - Lynore (half-elf assassin). Good to go.
Xabulba - Saint Tavar (deva cleric). Good to go.

Group 2 is all set I think, and Group 1 just needs their bard to check in and Levana to reveal what she is.

I'll get the threads sorted out.

Group 1 thread

Group 2 thread

The maps have slightly different colour schemes, but in all other respects are identical at this point.

Those of you with stats still to finish, put them in as soon as you can.

Have fun everyone and let's see how it all plays out.