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Organized Play Member. 6 posts. No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 4 Organized Play characters. 1 alias.


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Hello Vritra. Here is a character that I would like to play through Rappan Athuk (or at least see how far I can survive :) Human Arcane Duelist Bard, focusing on melee. I am interested in the psionic ruleset, but I don't have access to those. I prefer versatile characters over complete munchkined or min-maxed PCs.

*Benan Odonata*

> Living most his life within the outer limits of a metropolis, Benan grew accustomed to strange sights and strange beings. He made his living as a member of the local watch and eventually worked his way to an upper level investigator position within the city's law enforcement agency. He maintained order within his district, but was not opposed to letting a small infraction go unnoticed; especially if doing so would enable him greater access to information about the black market and it's operatives. However some more zealous and devout operatives began to hassle Benan about his 'gray' deals. These hardliners \ continued their attacks on Benan's character even after he had busted a prominent pesh ring, his success of which due to no small part to his confidential informants.

> Able to hold his own in a scuffle coupled with the air of authority Benan held over his loyalists, it seemed that he was on his way to higher positions of power. This did not come to pass as a fanatical sect of religious inquisitors overpowered many smaller criminal enterprises, locking up or outright killing many of Benan's contacts with the underground. Furious, Benan made an impassioned argument to the heads of the city's small council. He argued that such force would push the underground cartels into a defensive position and would lead to a war between law and chaos within the city. Being charged with the protection of the common folk, such a war would undoubtable hurt the merchant, the smith, the baker as fighting broke out within the streets.

> It seemed that Benan had won the minds of the council, but the inquisitors religious crusade would not be held back by a man with common sense. The inquisition faction brought forth a former confidential informant who gave damning testimony about Benan's deals with low level pimps and pushers. This was seemingly enough to blacken his good deeds. Benan was forced to resign or otherwise face persecution at the hands of the inquisitors. His name had also been marred to the underground crime syndicates. With no jurisdictional power, an entire city at the brink of war, and enemies all around him, Benan fled the city.

> Benan has made a vow to acquire power that will enable him to defeat the inquisitors and to clear his name. Yet that was 10 years ago, and Benan is feeling the effects of the years on his human body. He agrees to a delve within the infamous Rappan Athuk dungeon as a sort of last chance at finding the artifacts he needs before old age, or worse, prevents him from making good on his promise.

I have a build breakdown up to ninth level if you are so interested. I would very much like to participate in an online only campaign. Thanks!


Okay, I have been following the comments on this thread so far, and I would like to clear up what the oracle is doing to get his +6. He took a level of ranger to get the favored enemy bonus and the martial weapon skills and he has a trait and perhaps an archetype. This guy knew he was fighting demons so he made a demon killer. Can't really blame the guy.

I have decided to change my viewpoint on the game, or rather how I approach the game. There need to be 'easy' fights so the players feel awesome, there need to be 'story' fights where these fights just happen, and then there are the 'difficult' fights where I get to challenge the PC's.

Thank you all for the help and the advice. I will update the threads (or even this thread) with an update as my party starts to move through Book 2.

One last bit of requesting advice though: If I wanted to break or steal a PC's weapon, how would I best go about doing it? I want to sort of kick the table leg out from a PC or two and make them think or act differently.


Lochar: Thank you for your feedback. I like how supportive the community is.

Bartleby42: Yes, the cleric is overshadowing the party. He consistently does more damage than the paladin does when the paladin is smiting a demon. Also, the most frustrating thing I find with him is his 10 ft reach. Swinging a lucerne onto an enemies head requires wide movements, though the three problem players are all experienced GM's so if I call a rule down I need to be sure that it is legit or at least be able to quote a rulebook.

Magnuskn: Yes, in the future I will not be taking AoO's just because I can. Crane Wing is very situational so I need to learn what it allows for in what situations so that I can beat it when I want to.


I am also interested in knowing how the cleric is getting the extra +6 vs demons! (hence the character audit)

+12 damage is unbuffed. This is his base damage vs demons. against other enemies it's just +6, somehow he is able to double is damage modifier vs demons.

I agree that sometimes i get caught up in the GM vs player mentality. When the players blatantly use metagaming and play the tabletop game using its rules that kills my fun. I want to tell an epic story, not run a dice rolling game being the guy that always loses.

Keep in mind that my party has only just reached mythic tier. Everything that I wrote concerns their first 6 levels. I expect powergaming, but the level with which i need to adjust encounters is a bit staggering.

I completely and wholeheartedly agree with you on the sorcerer. I am new to GMing and when I helped her make her character (actually I didn't help her, the cleric guy did) she based her character off of Azula from the Avatar: Last Airbender show. To help fix her character, I'm debating giving her a boon, artifact, or feat that allows her to cast so many spells per day as if they had the good descriptor. So if she uses her lightning bolt, it can do good damage instead of lightning. To offset this I'm thinking about giving her some RP conditions to fulfill i.e. she needs to play like a paladin to keep this boon. Should be interesting.

Thank you for your feedback.


This will be along post, I need to just write out what I have in my head. If you would please read through it and then give me some feedback or constructive criticism on how to better manage my campaign and players, I would be most grateful.

My table has just completed book 1. They have reached 6th level and mythic tier 1. When I first started this campaign back in September I had 6 players at the table. Due to this I generally increased the number of enemies by 1.5 to offset the increase in players. Over time attrition has affected my group and right now I have a solid table of 4 players. My most pressing issue with the table is that I am playing with three players who are masterful powergamers.

The 'effectiveness' to which these guys slaughter encounters would be admirable if it weren't so damn frustrating for me. This is my first AP and originally I had wanted to run the books as closely to as written as possible. I just wanted to focus on gaining experience as a GM and not have to worry about how to build encounters. However I have learned that I simply cannot do that.

My table is very combat-heavy. The designated healer of the group is actually the hardest hitter because he somehow devised a way to hit with a lucerne for 1d12+12 vs demons. He was doing this at level 4!! This guy easily does more damage than the paladin does when he is smitting! Another concern of mine is how often the players metagame. I very frequently hear 'i bet these clerics don't have combat reflexes, so I'm going to move in this manner to provoke all their AOO's for my teammates." I hate metagaming at the table. It kills all the fun I have from trying to tell an engaging and interesting story.

For most of the first book, I started by giving all the enemies max HP, then I started to apply advanced simple templates, then I started to just make up abilities for the enemies because the party was quite literally slaughtering everything I put them against. I mean, these guys are 'almost' breezing through CR +3 or +4 encounters! I can barely keep enemies alive for two rounds! You are probably interested in hearing this, but I beefed up the evil clerics encountered throughout the first book. In one fight with the base clerics, I gave the clerics a 2d6 channel burst with a will save of 16. I did this on the cuff without planning it because I was so frustrated with the party. This ended up being on of the more memorable encounters as it really scared some of the party members because they can't block or negate the damage.

As a GM, I am more interested in the story, the feel, and the atmosphere of a campaign. I want to have the players go through a challenging moment before I give them something good, but the way in which they slaughter everything awesome (like mythic tier 1).

I have realized that I need to deviate from the books. Instead of thinking vertically and simply increasing the number of enemies and their stats, I need to think creatively to challenge this party. In this endeavor, I am looking for advice and suggestions on what I could do.

The party is very martially heavy. I haven't audited the characters in a few levels so I am a bit fuzzy on the specific build my players are using. Here is the list of characters being played:
1) Aasimaar Cleric (Party healer, uses a lucerne and hits demons for 1d12+12, other enemies for 1d12+6, this guy is a f$!#ing beast and I hate his damn reach and AOO)

2) Aasimar Paladin (standard paladin, I expect him to hit hard however his ridiculously high AC is a tough barrier to get past)

3) Half-elf Drow Swordlord (I can't believe that just by switching some racial traits this guy gets access to darkness and fairy fire as spell-like abilities. He cheeses his Crane wing all the time which is fine but he complains if he doesn't get to deflect anything or everything)

4) Elf Sorcerer (This is actually my favorite PC because the player plays the character and not the game. Unfortunately she is electricity based and most demons are immune to electricity. I want to give her something so that she can still do her damage and feel cool.)

5) Human Figher/Inquisitor (This guy is fun to play because he focuses on the bull rush feat line but he doesn't often make it to the games)

They have fought nearly all the encounters by charging the enemies and then hitting them all until they stop moving. I want to scare these guys, make them think and act differently. I want to evoke emotions and suspense at the table, not just run perfunctory campaign.

Ideas of Mine:

- Hit the party in their weaknesses: RP encounters (difficult because of paladin's high Diplomacy), No ranged support for the party, more environmental/terrain difficulties.

-Make an 'anti-party' of three NPC's that have access to everything the players do. I'm thinking a tiefling synthesist summoner who has bound a good angel, an evil cleric, and perhaps an evil gunslinger mercenary. I would like this group to become recurring villains.

-Infuse more 'chaos' into the campaign. I want to build a crystal or portable shrine that each round emits a different effect depending on what I role. Like a -2 to all good people within 60 ft, slow-spell effect, tremors, negative burst, rifts in material plane to abyss, etc. My idea is to augment the battlefield.

- I don't want to kill the PC's, just make it more difficult for them.

Thank you for reading!

1/5

I know I am late to the party, but I just learned about Gen Con and the opportunities for volunteering. If there are any slots left, I would be happy to help out where I can! I have not much experience with GMing (I have only done less than a dozen sessions so far) but I plan to do a lot more Society events over the summer.

So Mike, if you could use some more help, let me know! I am able to provide for myself, though I would like to know soon so I can try to book room reservations as I'm sure the city the convention is held in is going to be pretty full.

I did send you an email Mike. I look forward to hearing from you soon!