webtroll's page

So the current group running through the adventure includes:

A half-orc barbarian with the berserker strength replacement (although he thinks he is a paladin)...

A human monk with the vow of poverty feat (from Book of Exalted Deeds)...

A midget human wizard with a lemur familiar (same thing as lizard from PHb)...

An elven rogue who is practicing to be a jeweler...

A dwarven cleric who is practicing to be a war priest...

A human ranger who is taking the archery path...

The problem? The half-orc has monkey grip and has a sword that does 3d6 damage... his damage potential is off the charts for the game, which means I have had to scale up the encounters. Anyone else finding this kind of problem?

Our group stumbled a bit, and so I have started with a new group (two returning players, so I am reworking the first couple months of adventures). This new group is:

Half-Orc Barbarian with the Berserker Strength replacement. He claims he is a paladin, and will cry "SMITE EVIL!!!" whenever he swings at something.

Elven Rogue with crafting skills. We call her our Antiques Roadshow. She is working on modding up the goods the group finds so she can sell them for more than their actual worth.

Human Monk with the Scared Vow/Vow of Poverty feats. Otherwise know as our beggar. He is trying to play him like Caine from the Kung Fu series.

Dwarven cleric. He is really working towards becoming a war priest.

Human Wizard and Larry the Lemur (his familiar). He is a human, although a midget, so is constantly mistake for a dwarf. (He is 4'10" tall, and pretty rotund.) He is an alteration specialist, and has a love of zoology/biology, so takes apart any animal the party kills. I can't wait until Kraken's Cove with this one... ;)

Started a new group in the AP this weekend. They worked real well with a couple of near misses.

Dwarven Cleric gets knocked to 0, and shoots back up to 9 (of 10)... Half Orc Barbarian drops to 3 (activating his Berserker Rage replacement from PHbII) when fighting the Rhogdessa on the Blue Nixie. Our rogue and monk manage to drop it before it can finish him off. The cleric heals him to 9 (out of 14). In the last fight of the night (the decided to stay and wait for the "buyers", the half-orc dropped to 3 AGAIN... managed to finish them all off, including a leap from the deck of the ship to skewer the last guard on their skiff.

He will have a couple good scars after that night.

I suppose I can round this out since we are starting to settle into the full group. We just completed the Bullywug Gambit and we will be starting "Month Three" this week. Our party is as follows:

Student Shin; Human Monk 5 (with a ring of jumping and slippers of spider climb, we will be calling him Spider Man soon enough...)
Quentin Peck; Human Ranger 5 (favored enemy human... he was a privateer hunting pirates; and is a replacement for the bard as we needed more THUMP to the party)
Kerel Kraag Soong; Elf Wizard 5 (working towards that missile specialist PrC)
Cora Underhill; Halfling Rogue 5 (our ADD burglar)
Kara Theel; Human Cleric 4 (new player that wanted to play the healer for whatever reason)
Dungar Longshanks; Dwarf Fighter 4 (apparently he is the party xenophobe)

I fear what happens once we get that dwarf and the cleric out to sea. One trip overboard and we are rolling up new characters... ;)

The halflings could always hire a gondolier to take them out there. Should not cost too much and the guild hall is right near the dock in question. 8 on 4... ;)

I suppose I added in the death from the clearing of Vanderboren Manor, I suppose I can add in the heroics as well.

The party gets back into the port of Sasserine and heads for Vanderboren Manor. The wizard of the group is a noble born elf and has "taken a liking" to our employer. On the path to get to the Manor House, I go through the description of the streets, likening it to the throng that one would find on Bourbon St. during Mardi Gras. So they being the trudge through the crowd.

I am gearing up for the encounters that are listed in the AP, when -- frustrated with the slow going -- the party decides that our monk is the fastest, so should go on ahead. He proceeds to use the Slippers of Spider Climb to make his way up to the roof of the nearest building, and with the help of the Ring of Jumping, bounds from rooftop to rooftop like he is Peter Frickin' Parker. He did come in for one flying kick on a stilt walker from on-high before the party sent him packing to the Manor House again.

That Flotsam Ooze is starting to frighten me. Surprisingly, we had our first actual death last night. Lots of "how negative will you go before the group finishes off the big bad", but no deaths.

Quentin Peck, Human Ranger 4
Location: Basement of Vanderboren Manor
Catalyst: A Bullywug's Great Club

During the clearing of Vanderboren Manor, the Ranger didn't think of the potion of cure moderate wounds on his belt and rushed in to quickly finish off the Rust Monster. Seeing his beloved pet crumble to rust, the Cheiftan of the Bullywugs rushed in and dealt a devastating blow to the one Quentin Peck. He did not score a critical, but did deal max damage (23 until the wizard broke out the wand of ray of enfeeblement).

He did make his way back to the party through the use of some divine magic, having learned his lesson to use the potions when you have them.

We made our way through to the the Hall of Silks, although the Krenshars did come down to check out the noise. Ripclaw nearly killed our Ranger/Privateer, and now both the ranger and our rogue are suffering from "The Sickness". They are holding up to rest (regain spells), and because we were at the end of our game time. I am thinking 3 or maybe 4 adventures. I am noticing that without fudging at 3rd level, this section of the AP is a meatgrinder. Our monk is reduced to little damage (1d6+2 for those unarmed, non -magical attacks), and the only magical weapons in the group are the ranger and the cleric.

Lotus Dragons
Jade Ravens
Scarlet Brotherhood

Oh, and a monk in the party... yeah, I can totally see a bit of an oriental bent to it. Of course we did just add in our first Privateer into the party. ;)

Are you including even things they don't fight/get XP for? Like Havill... Javiss... Mamba Jamba... whatever the name of the obscene leveled pirate capatian woman is?

I like the idea. At the very least some superstitious people that shake the gris-gris at you when you walk by would add flavor... ;)

Never been to Port Royal. Visited New Orleans a couple times, and I could see this with an almost sectioned off city...

Yeah, they made it out as places where you can create your own side adventures if you have a party needing some more "beef" to it. At least that was how I read it... skimmed it, really. ;)

Now I wonder if I should have Rowyn show up after the events at the Taxidermist's Hall to offer her help in the PCs' investigation and search of the place. Hmmm........

If you did, I would do it with a purpose. Not wanting them to bring harm to Guttugger, she would lead them away from a felldrake and more towards maybe Lizard Men or a snake of some sort.

I already posted this in the "glories" post, but it was so funny I think it needs to be posted twice.

During the final fight with Rowyn and Guttugger, the halfling rogue who can't seem to get a flank in edgewise decides not to tumble past Guttugger, not to tumble through his square, but to jump on his back, spur him on, and call out "Time me! Eight seconds!"

Through some great rolls she hung on for a record time for any halfling cowgirl!

I had the same problem. But I came up with an easy solution. The Killani family is rich. After the body is turn over to the watch and eventually turned over to the family, they simply pay to have secretly resurrected. This give the Killani’s an easy way to find who was behind the destruction of there plans when it come to hiring the assassins in “Bullywog”.
In my groups case, the leader of the party, Black Widow Poe (played by my wife), cut off Rowyns tattoos and carved her symbol into Rowyns forehead(Wow, I spleep next to this woman).Anyway,its going to make the dethroned guild leader look pretty gruesome for “Sea Wyvern”.

Mine (as can be read about in the STAP Glories thread) did as well. Two incredibly good rolls and done. On the plus side, I need a side adventure as I have one player who missed most of the No Honor section and has a grand total of 780 XP. I can't see throwing him into the Bullywug Gambit at 1st level. So one option for a side adventure is that the Kellani Family tricks the PCs into going into the jungle to retrieve X Plot Device to help raise Lavinia's parents, or the Harbormaster. Either way, the person giving them the task is a disguised spy/rogue hired by the Kellani Family to not only get the means to raise Rowyn, but to get the party to do it for them.

Well, my party is mostly light-to-no-armor stealthy people. They snuck in to the guildhouse, dealt with the sleeping theives, and were having a light time of things until they got to the Spider Thingys and the Worg. Still, they came out of things on the upper hand. Then came the dealing with Rowyn Kellani...

During this fight in an incredibly small room (how do they fit all that crap from the description of the room in there?) our halfling rogue who determines she is not going to get a sneak attack in decides to not tumble around Guttugger, not tumble through his square, but bounds on top of him and screams, "Time me! Eight seconds!" She proceeds to make the checks to hang onto him for all she is worth.

Now if this wasn't enough for me to slap a hand over my face and shake my head, Rowyn proceeds to jump back into her bedroom, and Guttugger (temporarily free of the rogue) is blocking the door so she can quaff her potion and escape in gaseous form. Our monk declares he is going to attempt to tumble through his square and into the room. So a DC 25 with his 8 skill check on tumble. He rolls a 19 to tumble through the square, and gets in. He then proceeds to roll a 20 on the hit to her, and confirms for the critical.

Great day for the party... headache for the DM later in the AP... ;)

We have just worked our way through the first month of the AP. After dealing with the LD, we have
Halfling Rogue 3 from the Merchant District
Halfling Bard 3 from the Cudgel District
Human Monk 3 from the Champion District
Elven Wizard 2 from the Noble District
Half Orc Barbarian 1 from the Champion District
Human Swashbuckler 2 (backup "thump") from the Noble District

Due to a prolonged absence by the barbarian (who is using the Berzerker Strength replacement), we had to introduce the Swashbuckler who is kind of a communal character played by whomever shows to back them up. I am hoping he will be taken on soon by a regular player, or that he will get replaced by a more "thump-worthy" version of a "thump".

Oh, and the lack of priestly magic is dealt with using the Merchant's purchasing skills to get deals on healing potions.