Baltron's Bacon's page

Looks like we have our DM and 4 players for a 4e campaign. We still have room for one or two additional players, so if you have any interest, please respond to this e-mail. It is shaping up to be a really great game!
-Carl

If any other players in the Portland, OR area are likewise looking for a group, let's form one ourselves. Let's see if we are a good fit. We can work out the details of Dm-ing duties, game hosting, etc as the group develops.
-Carl

Hi there. I'm a long-time dnd gamer looking to join a group in the Portland, OR area. 4th edition would be great. I'm open to playing in whatever realm you are currently adventuring in. I'm a reliable team player with DM experience and a ton of minis to add to your gaming day. A mix of tactical combat, roleplay, and a fun, relaxed environment is the way to go for me. Thanks for reading.
-Carl

shoveled the snow

With my players being in the mindset of 'aggression before discussion', i would have been surprised if they didn't attempt to destroy the egg, which is what happened. Escorted by a few of the remaining lizardfolk in the lair (Hiska, much to the shagrin of the party's own driud, was killed in battle), they entered the egg chamber. The lizardfolk were eager to destroy the unborn dragon, in hopes of nurturing their progeny and renewing the devestated lizardfolk tribe (the lizard king btw was determined to be to blame for the war, not the humans). Although the barbarian/rogue did a cursory examination of the egg (he saw a hairline crack with a tinge of luminous green in the fissure), it was ultimately determined that if the lizardfolk wanted the egg destroyed, the party wasn't going to stop them. Spread out throughout the chamber, actions at the ready, the lizardfolk began hacking at the outer shell. when it cracked open and the volumous green, writhing goo poured from within, the characters were surprised, but didn't panic. Initiative was rolled and knowing the worms spread at 5 feet per round, the characters had to react quick or all would be for not. Grabbing a tanglefoot bag from the druid, the bard proceeded to toss it to the ranger (knowing her ranged attack was far superior than his own). She proceeded to roll a confirmed critical hit directly on the egg! (I swear, i've never seen anyone roll as lucky as her, its truly remarkable). With the egg being described as the size of a halfling, i determined that the goo would harden and stave off the worms long enough for the warmage to resolve a fire orb. Good thinking resulted in the party earning a cool CR8 xp award for saving the colony.

Hey there. I Dm a game every 2-3 Saturdays from 10a -7-8pm. I just lost a player and would prefer recruiting for a sixth rather than npc-ing. The campaign is set in Eberron, and we are following the AOE adventure path. Our next session is Sept 10th, so if you have an interest, e-mail me soon! Thanks

rhodie1211@yahoo.com

Calling all dms, I need your input as to how you would handle transitioning Filge's 'house of horrors' into a base the pcs can use. specifically:

1. How you would handle Balabar Smenks' reaction to Filge's demise and ensuing observatory occupation?

2. When the Diamond lakes militia garrison or the office of governor -mayor Lanod Neff get wind of their new neighbors, would you have the players required to purchase the deed? If so, what amount of taxes would be levied?

3. If Balabar officially owns the deed to the observatory, how might he be, uhmm, 'persuaded' to transfer ownership?

FYI, none of my players in the campaign are residents of Diamond Lake (I am using the Eberron campaign setting, and all player backgrounds were written before we started the adventure path).

Just thought I'd get some opinions here, knowing there is really no right or wrong way to handle this

Calling all dms, I need your input as to how you would handle transitioning Filge's 'house of horrors' into a base the pcs can use. specifically:

1. How you would handle Balabar Smenks' reaction to Filge's demise and ensuing observatory occupation?

2. When the Diamond lakes militia garrison or the office of governor -mayor Lanod Neff get wind of their new neighbors, would you have the players required to purchase the deed? If so, what amount of taxes would be levied?

3. If Balabar officially owns the deed to the observatory, how might he be, uhmm, 'persuaded' to transfer ownership?

Just thought I'd get some opinions here, knowing there is really no right or wrong way to handle this

wardrobe malfunction. "Beware

before the lactating

The mold can be a problem, but how embarrasing would it be to be tpk'ed (albeit non-lethal) to brown mold? When i ran this encounter, i tried to describe the unnatural heat syphoning effect as very dangerous 10 ft beyond the radius in which the non-leathal damage would occur. Also, even though knowledge-Dungeoneering cannot be used untrained, (BTW DC 12 is more than reasonable) I gave any 'Races of Stone' (i.e. the dwarf in the party) a chance to identify the phenomenon (DC 15). he rolled a 16, warmage popped it with a ray of frost, end of story.

Blkhwk 421, force missle mage is from dragon #328. I too, find that class very interesting: with the right metamagic feats you will be able to fire off 6 max damage magic missles that can bypass Brooches of Shielding, Shield spells, as well overcome spell resistance more readily. This can happen as early as 6Wiz/3Fmm! Nothing like a guaranteed 30 points of damage each standard action. Has anyone build this yet? Curious to see what route you took (i.e 6 levels of wizard, or is there a more optimal build?)

Peace to you all

**spoiler** AOW

In the Whispering Cairn adventure there is an encounter with a frenzied owlbear who recently severed the tatooed arm of a thug. I drew the tattoo on my arm and in dramatic fashion 'flopped' it on the table. Everyone got a big laugh out of it, and it really made an impression!

Peace to you all

Ditto in the burning steppes, aka inland empire, ca. Hey, on a completely unrelated topic, is it blazing hot at your casa as it is at mine...its not even the hottest month yet! yikes.

peace to you all

To Eric Moya, James Jacobs, et al:

Sending you a little 'love' and appreciation for all your hard work with this magazine. This is my 28th year in RPGS (almost exclusively in a fantasy setting), and the Whispering Cairn is the best 1-3rd level adventure in the D20 setting EVER PRINTED. Likewise, both DUNGEON and DRAGON magazines are at or near their best with regards to layout, content, and artwork. A suggestion: go on holiday after all this is resolved. No need to perpetuate the onslaught of 'middle age burn out', eh? A quick lyrical interlude from Neil Peart to exemplify my point, if you will:

'The writer stares with glassy eyes-
defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined
and streaked with tears of rage
Thirty years ago how the words would flow
with passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
by sickness and indecision...
And he limps across the floor
and closes his bedroom door'

Peace to you

I too would like to see fewer +1 longswords and more items that spark player creativity. the 'Weapons of Legacy' sounds like it will be a great resource to incorporate 'flavorful' items. Am i wrong in my calculations, or are there insofar zero cursed items in the AOW adventure path? Those bad boys are 'instant' roleplay experiences, and keeps the players a bit honest with their 'detect magic radars'. I mean cmon, 3 evil cults and no magical experiments gone astray? hmmm

Well, your players did choose to split up, which usually doesn't work out very well, especially if its a lone low-level bard...! An 'i'll teach you a lesson' DM might have had Kullen rage at first chance, especially if the Dip checks were as bad as you said they were (i.e. going from unfriendly to hostile). How you played the NPC's was WELL within the limits of 'reasonableness', so i wouldn't fret any further. Anyways, how much gear can a 2nd/3rd level bard have? Lesson learned, no harm, no foul (aka Chick Hearn :) ) Its coincidental that the bard in your campaign failed his Dip checks twice...mine did the same, but actually perpetuated a lot more violence as he got the idea to disguise himself as Filge...caused a messy, messy barfight, indeed! Good fun though. Peace to you

While we're on the subject, am i interpreting the advancement rules correctly for a druid's animal companion at third level? Say a druid has chosen a wolf as his companion at the start of his adventuring. Upon reaching 3rd level, the wolf gains 2HD, +1str/dex, +2 natural armor, a couple of tricks, etc (pg. 36, PHB). No big deal, eh? well, in the MM a 4 HD wolf is considered a large creature, which further gives this beastly another +8 str, +4 con, +2 natural armor, etc (pg291, MM) and now makes his trip attacks very, very powerful VS medium-sized creatures...your thoughts?

Since my players have had some experience with swarms and living spells, they were prepared with flasks of oil, alchemical reagents, and torches. As a new DM, it might be a good idea to have an NPC from town (ran by you) go with the characters who has 'some supplies that no one else thought to bring'. This is an effective way to help the players along, without being too invasive. Also, drop hints as to the 'flamability' of the spiderwebs in the stairwell connecting areas 4 and 7. Swarms only move at 20ft, so the PC's could head for the long stairwell, and as a readied action light it up when the swarm hits. since the slasher has some intelligence the characters will have to deal with it after the flames die down.

SPOILERS BELOW

So we finally got to play the Whispering Cairn tonight. The intrepid adventurers consisted of:

male halfling rogue
male elf ninja
male human fighter
male human wizard
male human barbarian
male human cleric

They met in the abandoned mining office, and after brief introductions and a few surprises, headed off to the cairn. Finding it easily, they entered and found the broken portal and soon afterward were attacked by the wolves. They dispatched the wolves without much trouble (well...the barbarian pretty much did it single-handedly), healed up some of their wounds, and pressed on. After finding the indigo lantern and elven armband they proceeded to area 7. They were very cautious and searched all the hallways and decided to climb up to area 8. At least, the rogue and ninja did while the more bulky characters waited below. The rogue failed to find the trap and the two of them almost got blown away but managed to catch onto the chain and climb down before falling. They fled before the wind picked up enough to cause any damage, so they were shaken but unscathed. Next they tried moving the sarcophagus and the arcane elevator popped up. They weren't sure what to do with it and put the yellow lantern in it and then attempted to send it down by turning the sarcophagus again. This pointed it at the other elevator, and after hearing the loud cacophony the elevator broke and the skittering of the beetles began. I asked them to roll initiative and round-by-round asked them what they were doing for the 2 rounds before the beetles arrived. A couple of them started fleeing, others poured oil on the ground and others braced themselves. When the beetles burst forth one of them was fetching the yellow lantern (and the torch they'd put in it), but then the rest of them began to flee. Seeing this, the ninja (who was fetching the torch) ran after them. Of course the slasher is faster than they are and caught up with the ninja and then the others turned around to save their companion.

Swarms are tough!...

Since my players have had some experience with swarms and living spells, they were prepared with flasks of oil and torches. as a new DM, it might be a good idea to have an NPC from town (ran by you) go with the characters who has 'some supplies that no one else thought to bring'. This is an effective way to help the players along, without being too invasive. Also, drop hints as to the 'flamability' of the spiderwebs in the stairwell connecting areas 4 and 7. Swarms only move at 20ft, so the PC's could head for the long stairwell, and as a readied action light it up when the swarm hits. since the slasher has some intelligence the characters will have to deal with it after the flames die down (which could take sometime, as the descriptive text emphasizes their density). Have fun and good luck!

Although my PC's (six total) are only minutes away from encountering Alastor Land and his tickling tentacled Grick neighbor, I must admit the final encounter has been weighing on my mind for some time. This is my take on it:

Emphasize, re-emphasize, and then emphasize sommore that this adventure is a journey through the WHISPERING Cairn, Tomb of the WIND duke Zosiel, with Glyphs written in Vaati, considered the original written form of Auran, language of the AIR elementals. In other words, utilize the DC knowledge checks to their fullest by giving your players as much heads up as possible that need to be prepared to battle airbourne nasties.
Even if their checks are far from successful, Have Allustan or another NPC from Diamond Lake drop some timely hints to this effect.

Regarding the Wind Warriors themselves, in no way can these be considered CR4 creatures. Whomever developed these bombs sure'n hell did not use and/or consult the monster advancement template from the Monster Manual, or anything else that resembles v 3.5 Here's why:

In order to gauge the strength of these creatures with something we are more familiar with, I will be using the stats from a medium Air Elemental, and advancing it using the rules set forth by the Monster Manual. Notice first that a medium Air Elemental is a CR3 creture, with a powerful but limited Whirlwind attack (it can only be used for 2 rounds, and the elemental cannot make slam attacks nor threaten adjacent squares while in this form), and 2 rudimentary bonus feats.

1. Comparing ability scores of the medium Air Elemental to the Wind Warrior (+5 overall bonus to +9, respectively) one could argue a CR advancement is justified. Hoewever, the MM doesn't explain how to calculate going from an elite ability array to an 'epic' array (for lack of a better term), so i'll not explore this further.

2. Superior two-weapon fighting: Powerful, but limited (i.e. it requires a full round action, as well as engagement in melee, neither of which are advantagious to the Wind Warrior)and at about the same power as a whirlwind ability. Both of these qualities 'improve combat effectiveness in a minor way' so are good fro a +1 to CR and, likewise, cancel each other out.

3. Body suffusion: Decent ability, but limited in its scope of combat effectiveness, and doesn't justify a CR advancement

4. Sonic Blast: Mojo Mama! its an AOE that deals out 2d6 sonic damage-reflex DC 15 half (name me a PC that has sonic DR, and i'll name you a god), is a standard action, and can be washed/rinsed/repeated each round??? Definately qualifies as 'significantly improving combat effectiveness', good for +2 CR

5. Conclusion: even if you ignore the +9 ability bonuses and the body suffusion ex, you still got a CR5 creature, minimum. This puts the EL for this encounter at 7, which is totally unacceptable for a party of 4 3rd level characters. Even though I am running a campaign with six experienced players, I am gonna extend the sonic blast SU to a full round action, and utilize my skillz in descriptive text to satisfy the necessary 'shock an awe' us Dms so desperately need as closure to a boss encounter. :)

Is it just me, or are the wind warriors in the true tomb a TPK waiting to happen? What is to prevent them from just hovering over party members 20 feet, and blasting them with sonic attacks every round until they are dead? Most third level PC's will have no means of flying, and peppering them with arrows or Magic Missiles is chancy, considering they don't have to roll to hit, and can do 2d6 per round.

My solution was to treat their sonic attacks like breath weapons, ie, they could only be used every d4 rounds. Also, one of the PC's in our group is an aasimar, who took the feat celestial wings, and could thus fly (though he was the first to fall in the combat).

Just wondering...

New to this forum, long time DM. calling all PDF experts: what is the play-by-play for enlarging the stunningly rendered maps from the resource section to 1 in² scale? I have Adobe reader and Photo Impact Pro (i'm sure i need another adobe product before i can proceed... just dunno which one.) Peace to you all- unless you still play 'gamma world':)