Up to death 6 this week (counting the dead familiar).
The PCs were in the Cagewright lair, slowly working their way to the Tree of Shackled Souls. While searching the training room, one of them heard a clink of metal outside the door. Shortly thereafter, they heard the sound of someone(-thing) making a clatter of metallic noise (the giant moving up in full plate) and then stopping.
The swashbuckler, Lia, opened the door and tumbled out into the hall, ending up right next to a Flamewarder (there were 4 of them and Coalfire). Rather than move back away and into an area better covered by her companions, she stayed put to fight. Two flamewarders were enough to take her down as one of them hit three times, the second hit twice but critted on one attack with his greataxe. It wasn't a pretty sight.
This is, in fact, the second death Lia has suffered by getting into a dangerous situation and not retreating.
The party won, but even Bub the half-ogre barbarian needed a heal spell to go toe to toe with Ti'irok Coalfire for more than 1 round.
15 Deaths in the Shackled City....not sure if anyone can top that...and I had the misfortune of being a player...I only lost 2 characters...we had two players each on their 5th by the endgame....
Since December we've had three more deaths and a toading as the party has gone through Foundation of Flame and Thirteen Cages.
Our bard tried to hit the Fiendish Morkoth with a baleful polymorph, but didn't get through his spell reflection, so turned himself into a toad. That lasted most of the rest of that adventure, as he was the guy with Break Enchantment. Once Cauldron was evacuated, our evoker had time to rest and untoad him.
Our barbarian experienced something worse than death, a farastu disarmed him and held his magical greatsword in the cleric's blade barrier until it shattered. He complains more about that than all the times he's died.
Once in the Fiery Sanctum, our cleric of St. Cuthbert died when the minotaur Cagewright attacked the party from behind. He saved the wizards, but he paid the ultimate price.
And last week we had the Moltenwing fight. Chiklet, our bard's cohort (a Quetzalcoatl) was turned to ash when the pyrochlastic dragon breathed his disintegrate breath, and then the party barbarian died again while being grappled in molten lava by the wyrm.
I'm not even sure how many deaths that is now.
I have managed to run through this entire series with only two deaths so far. The first death was during a Huanted Village side trek in the middle of Demonskar Legacy where the party was facing off against the Necrocaunts. The 7th level gestalt dwarf barbarian/monk was cut down by the frost giant mummy (whom I reskinned as an ogre) from dlevedeep's alternate foreshadowing article. The second death was this Monday in Secrets of the Soul Pillars when the 11th level gestalt ogre barbarian/ranger got his head crushed by Zarik Dhor. The half dragon won initiative and critted on his first hit. max damage bumped it into massive damage range and the ogre botched his save. Splat, one dead ogre.
This came at a time when they were complaining that the encounters weren't challenging enough. I don't think I'll hear that complaint again for a while.
4E, a few close calls but no deaths so far (about to start Zenith Trajectory). Against Skaven, and then later against Triel, both times over half the party was making death saves (3.5 equivalent: in negative HP), which is to be expected I suppose.
The Triel encounter was purposefully rough (Triel, two ogre bodyguards, and two shadow-using, blinding skirmishers, and two automated crossbow turret traps, AND a bookshelf trap, AND a magical evil rune circle...) but the Skaven encounter was shocking, as it was just him (elite controller) and a minotaur statue bodyguard, taken from Thunderspire Labyrinth, and a few spiders. They just could not hit the statue to save their lives.
The only really surprising near-death experience was in Chapter 1, when the party somehow managed to aggro three separate encounters all at once:
- the animated mass of chains (easy difficulty)
- the ogre in the room (moderate difficulty)
- the room of hobgoblin archers/guards (moderate difficulty)
That was pretty hairy. However, I let one of the PC's charm/bluff the ogre into getting mad at the hobgoblins, so he spent about half the time attacking the party and half the time fighting the hobgoblins. Otherwise it would have definitely been a TPK. It did also make it one of the more memorable moments for that PC. :)
Well, i can now tally up two more deaths in my SCAP game, which brings me to a grand total of three deaths.
2. Lord Orbius Vhalantru kills the druid with his death ray.
3. Lord Orbius Vhalantru kills the cleric/bard with his disintegrate ray.
We just finished Thirteen Cages and there were many more deaths.
The Cleric died in the first fight in the Fiery Sanctum when, in the midst of a demondand fight, the minotaur Cagewright attacked the party from behind. He saved the wizards and sacrificed himself.
The Bard's cohort, the Quetzalcoautl (affectionately named Chicklet when they couldn't pronounce his real name) died to the pyroclastic dragon's disintegration breath weapon, leaving the rogue who was riding him suspended in mid-air over a pool of magma like Wile E. Coyote. The rogue survived.
The Barbarian expired when the pyroclastic dragon held him under the lava for too long.
The Cleric died again when Alakast (now fully awakened and in control because the Cleric failed his will save) had him fight the haraknin. Mooks ganged up on him and killed him.
The Barbarian died again while shackling the Tree of Shackled Souls when Dyr'ryd turned his full attack towards stopping him.
The Cleric died again because he was wielding Alakast (again) and was the only one with a prayer of fending off Dyr'ryd once the Barbarian was dead.
I haven't been keeping count of how many deaths, but at this point both the Cleric and the Barbarian are thinking about rolling new characters simply because they'd be higher level (APL-1) than getting Raised yet again and losing a level (APL-2). They've already gone off to the big city and used their "absolutely one and only" True Res scroll, and I threw in another True Res scroll in the dragon's hoard just so they could continue.
BTW, the only character who hasn't died is the party Evoker. He's come close a number of times, actually dying once but popping right back up with a Revivify spell the next round. He's had his share of save or die moments, but always made the save.
I've found that my group hasn't had anywhere near the amount of deaths I expected in the SCAP so far. We've played 40 sessions are currently in Occipitus. There has been 1 death to date - the Hexblade who died in the Kopru Ruins fighting the Ogre Zombies of all things.
There have been 42 times that players have been unconscious though so the party is definitely being challenged. I give my players 3 Action Points per level to use. On a number of occasions now a player has used his action points to either stabilise himself or to give himself the Improved Toughness feat for a round (this keeping his hit points above the magic -10 figure and allowing someone to rush over and administer some healing).
I did expect a much higher number of deaths though.
Olaf the Stout
I've found that my group hasn't had anywhere near the amount of deaths I expected in the SCAP so far.
We didn't have any deaths until Occipitus. Since then we've had an awful lot of deaths.
You'll notice my deaths are all two characters dying over and over again. Those players are the newest to D&D and don't seem to have the survival skills the others have.
Also, my players insist that I be actively trying to kill them at all times. I asked them. I always thought it was much more fun to almost die, but not quite. They say that is correct, but it's only fun if they know they pulled it out through their own efforts and not me pulling punches.
I've rolled all my dice out in the open this campaign (which is a first for me) so the players know that I'm not pulling any punches. The Rogue in the party has rolled horribly for hit points so far. That, combined with his average Con score means he is the one I am expecting to take a dirt nap next.
Olaf the Stout
I've found that my group hasn't had anywhere near the amount of deaths I expected in the SCAP so far. We've played 40 sessions are currently in Occipitus. There has been 1 death to date - the Hexblade who died in the Kopru Ruins fighting the Ogre Zombies of all things.
There have been 42 times that players have been unconscious though so the party is definitely being challenged. I give my players 3 Action Points per level to use. On a number of occasions now a player has used his action points to either stabilise himself or to give himself the Improved Toughness feat for a round (this keeping his hit points above the magic -10 figure and allowing someone to rush over and administer some healing).
I did expect a much higher number of deaths though.
Olaf the Stout
Well, one of the ogres critted the party cleric for 41 points, so I can see how that sort of thing could lead to a death.
In other news, the next-door-neighbors to the ogre-zombies managed to inflict a one-two punch of 1.fear and 2.a worm on the soulknife. Sadly, the player was away for this. Even worse, we let his character in the Age of Worms campaign get 'kidnapped'(?) by a giant spider when he missed a session for that game too. He's a tad irate, but finds hope and joy in the party now being between his 'zombie' and a nightmarish t-rex skeleton.
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We're one session into Foundation of Flame now, and I've had ten kills so far.
1.) Life's Bazaar - No fatalities.
2.) Drakthar's Way - Desmond, Half-Orc Cleric of St. Cuthbert 3 - Stabbed to death by Silent Wolf goblin during an ambush.
3.) Flood Season - Pyron Pendragon, Human Fighter 2/Warmage 1/Wizard 1 - Killed by Triel Eldurast.
4.) Zenith Trajectory - Ferret, Human Warlock 5 - Killed by Gottrod's breath weapon.
-Ferret - Human Warlock 6 - Shot to death by Aushanna.
5.) Demonskar Legacy - No fatalities.
6.) Test of the Smoking Eye - Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 10 - Sacrificed himself during the Test of the Smoking Eye (I'm not counting this as a kill).
7.) Siege of Redgorge - Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 10 - Killed by Nabthatoron.
8.) Secrets of the Soul Pillars - Rand Hollow, Elf Ranger 10 - Killed by cone of cold cast by assassin Kennock Brage.
-Cordak the Conjuror, Dwarf Wizard 10 - Drained to death by dread wraith during the battle with Ike Iverson.
-Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 11 - Paralyzed and killed by Vittriss Bale.
9.) Lord of Oblivion - Ferret, reincarnated Halfling Warlock 14 - Drained to death by dread wraith during the battle at House Rhiavadi.
-Ferret, reincarnated Human Warlock 15 - Killed by Vhalantru's finger of death eye ray.
10.) Foundation of Flame – No fatalities yet.
During the course of the campaign, we've had several close calls with TPKs as well, including a few where I went easy on them in order to prevent a premature end to the game:
1.) Life's Bazaar - Kazmojen had three PCs into the negatives before he was finally brought down.
2.) Drakthar's Way - The PCs had fought Drakthar twice and hadn't done very well against him, so they refused to retreat the third time. Had I used Drakthar's bat swarms to their fullest, I could easily have killed everyone.
3.) Flood Season - Triel killed one PC and battered everyone else, but a lucky crit by the ranger took her down before she could do any further damage.
4.) Zenith Trajectory - Gottrod killed one PC with his breath weapon and put two more into the negatives before he was killed by a desperation searing light from the cleric.
-Aushanna killed a PC with her first arrow by critting, then knocked two more out before the rest could escape. I forgot that she could teleport through the doors leading into her chamber, otherwise she would surely have finished them off.
5.) Lord of Oblivion - After the PCs burst in on the cabal of villains at House Rhiavadi, I had to scale back a bit to keep them all from being killed. At the end of that battle, one PC was dead, another had been petrified, and a third had been banished to another plane.
Up to three now:
1. A fey sorcerer against the two skulks waiting to ambush the pc's at the start of J-rune (and yes, the player is still trying to live it down).
2. Warmage against Drathkar.
3. Soulknife against a spawn of kyuss.
We just finished our several years SCAP campaign a couple weeks ago. It's been a lot of fun to finally be able to read all the posts in these forums. My own character in the campaign, a bard, was the one to gain the Smoke Eye template. He died 4 times during the campaign. Of the other 5 players, as I recall, only one (our wizard), survived the campaign without dying at least once.
We're still going through Life's Bazaar but so far there have been two PC deaths in addition to Fellian. Both deaths came from Kazmojen and/or Prickles.
My players just finished Zenith trajectory. 3 deaths so far :
Two against Triel
One against Dhorlot (First of three encounter before they kill the dragon)
My campaign has just started (two sessions in), and so far there have been two deaths. Lini was flanked by two dark stalkers and Fario was mutilated by the grell. No PC deaths (but it's early yet).
Two dark stalkers? I thought there was only one in that dungeon.
Dark folk are always a family where the stalker views the creepers as his children. Great article in Dragon #32x (3 is my guess)
You are correct! I meant creepers. The creeper from J44 retreated unseen to J45 to warn Yuathyb, who fled like a coward when he heard how many there were (the group hasn't encountered him yet). He told the creeper in J40 to join his comrade in J45, where they both waited in ambush. ;)
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15 Deaths in the Shackled City....not sure if anyone can top that...and I had the misfortune of being a player...I only lost 2 characters...we had two players each on their 5th by the endgame....
I killed 67 characters in this campaign. Not sure if anybodies beaten that one yet...
Or was it 63...
My favorites were when the barbarian jump off the cliff in that underground cave (don't recall which adventure it was), and gotten eaten by the water demon, because he didn't trust the elevator cage. Then, in that same adventure, the party was heading back up in the elevator, when one of them got mind sucked by the kopru, and cut the rope, drowning all three characters inside the cage.
I've still just had the 1 death. PC's are in Occipitus at the moment. I'm averaging just under 1 KO a session (41 KO's in 42 sessions, only 1 in the last 6 sessions though).
I thought that there would have been more deaths but they just haven't happened. A TPK has looked like a possibility on several occasions but the PC's managed to survive.
I did have to bring back an ex-PC Favoured Soul as an NPC about 6 sessions ago though after the Cleric left the party. It quickly became apparent that, without anyone able to cast healing spells, the party was a few bad rolls in combat away from everyone dying.
Olaf the Stout
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Our party just wrapped up Thirteen Cages - I have twelve PC kills plus three cohort kills as of today.
1.) Life's Bazaar - No fatalities.
2.) Drakthar's Way - Desmond, Half-Orc Cleric of St. Cuthbert 3 - Stabbed to death by Silent Wolf goblin during an ambush.
3.) Flood Season - Pyron Pendragon, Human Fighter 2/Warmage 1/Wizard 1 - Killed by Triel Eldurast.
4.) Zenith Trajectory - Ferret, Human Warlock 5 - Killed by Gottrod's breath weapon.
-Ferret - Human Warlock 6 - Shot to death by Aushanna.
5.) Demonskar Legacy - No fatalities.
6.) Test of the Smoking Eye - Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 10 - Sacrificed himself during the Test of the Smoking Eye (I'm not counting this as a kill).
7.) Siege of Redgorge - Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 10 - Killed by Nabthatoron.
-Shensen Tesseril, Cohort - Killed by Nabthatoron.
8.) Secrets of the Soul Pillars - Rand Hollow, Elf Ranger 10 - Killed by cone of cold cast by assassin Kennock Brage.
-Cordak the Conjuror, Dwarf Wizard 10 - Drained to death by dread wraith during the battle with Ike Iverson.
-Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 11 - Paralyzed and killed by Vittriss Bale.
9.) Lord of Oblivion - Ferret, reincarnated Halfling Warlock 14 - Drained to death by dread wraith during the battle at House Rhiavadi.
-Ferret, reincarnated Human Warlock 15 - Killed by Vhalantru's finger of death eye ray.
10.) Foundation of Flame – No fatalities.
11.) Thirteen Cages - Desmond, Half-Orc Cleric of St. Cuthbert 16 - Disintegrated by Moltenwing's breath weapon.
-Shensen Tesseril, Cohort - Killed by Ti'rok Coalfire.
-Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 15 - Killed by Grehlia Cairnis.
-Shensen Tesseril, Cohort - Killed by Dyr'ryd.
PC Name: Audric Macalevan (Male Smoking Eye Human Fighter 2, Psychic Warrior 2, Swordsage 7, Noble Trait)
Adventure: Secret of the Soul Pillars
Location of Death: Level 2 of Karran-Kural
Catalyst: Blasted to dust by Fetor Abradius
Long Description: There have been several deaths since the last one reported, but this was the first that wasn't prevented by one of those nifty spells from the Spell Compendium that allows you to bring back a character within 1 round of their death. Because they were reversed so quickly, I haven't counted those. This is death number 4, and the second death for Audric.
The party managed to make it through the first half of Karran-Kural with little difficulty, overwhelming and slaying the Ice Devil and Iron Golem with little difficulty. Once they descended into the lower level, however, their luck abandoned them. They arrived in the intersection right to the south of the hole from above, and noticed one of the corridors was obstructed by icy lattice.
The party elected to have the Sorcerer clear the strands away with a series of Firey Bursts (the reserve feat) before checking to see what was behind two doors at the end of the hallways. Unfortunately, this allowed Fetor Abradius to hear them coming before they even reached his Alarm point, and to spend several rounds buffing. The party failed their listen checks to notice his spellcasting, and were consequently surprised when a pair of lightning bolts nearly killed said sorcerer and severely damaged half of the rest of the party.
Audric charged Fetor Abradius as is his normal strategy, however Fetor's Mirror Image and other buffs were doing a good job of protecting the mage. One Empowered Magic Missile later, and Audric was down to single-digit hit points. The party Cleric was on the job, however, and a Heal spell brought Audric back to full fighting strength.
Growing frustrated by this turn, Fetor risked his Disintegrate spell against Audric, barely scoring a hit. Audric rolled his save and failed by one, suffering 28d6 damage. The dice came up with 99 damage, which was 9 hp more than Audric had at full, so Audric was blasted into dust.
The party quickly rallied, and a volley of Flamestrikes and a smite from the party's Paladin quickly eliminated the Loremaster. They were too late to bring back Audric, however, and had to retreat to Occipitus where he could be Raised.
Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
Until today in my campaign we have had a few character deaths yet:
1) Turok, Halforc-Barbarian, died in chapter 1 in the fight with against Xukasus.
2) Again Turok died in combat with Kazmoyen, the slavetrader.
3) Lemartes, Human Paladin of Lathander, was killed by Tongueeater, the Werebaboon in chapter 3.
4) Unlucky Tramiel, Elven Druid, died together with his companion Azrael the plack panther later this chapter. They were killed by Triel Eldurast in the Kopru ruins. (A very unlucky critical by Triel sent Tramiel directly to -10hp)
Fortunately I gave the party at the beginning of the campaign four small bags of diamond dust of true ressurection. So nobody got penalties because of these deaths so far. But we are in the Kopru ruins now and there is no diamond dust anymore. It's going to be interesting, if the party has learned from these events or not.
To be continued...
In order to stop a party split with the bard and evoker at 18th level and the cleric and barbarian at 14th level I had Alakast ask to be broken over the Tree of Shackled Souls.
I was going with Alakast, the brother of Nidrama, giving his soul at the forging of the quarterstaff Alakast. It's a nice intelligent item whose progression was posted here somewhere and I yoinked for my campaign. The party had used a Wish spell to fully awaken it, but the cleric couldn't match Alakast's ego, so kept doing the bidding of the staff instead of the other way around. After he was fully awakened, the party pretty much wanted him gone, as he was a pain in the butt.
So, with two of the party dead, two blind, and the Tree shackled, the Evoker broke Alakast. The spirit of the Deva fused with all the energy coming off the Tree and used it to True Rez the two fallen party members and Heal everyone else. Alakast will now guard the Tree for the rest of time, his spirit is bound to it.
So now I've got two 18th level characters and three 16th level characters who are rebuilding Cauldron and doing the research and such necessary to get them to Shatterhorn.
Another death in my SCAP game, which brings me to a grand total of four deaths.
2. Lord Orbius Vhalantru kills the druid with his death ray.
3. Lord Orbius Vhalantru kills the cleric/bard with his disintegrate ray.
4. Decrihni Baiul kills the rogue with Slay Living spell.
The rogue sneaks in, masked by the racket of the pipe organ, and, rather than outright stabbing him to death, grabs both of Decrihni's spiked chains off his person and throws them as far away as possible. The mad cleric spins around from the organ and, unarmed, tells the rogue that he will please his 'dark god of madness' by slaying him.
The fighter/rogue runs into the room at the first sign of trouble and nails Decrihni good. The rogue then pulls his weapons and gets a solid hit in, bringing the evil villain very close to death.
Decrihni acts and casts Slay Living, making his concentration check to avoid attacks of opportunity. He then reaches out and touches the rogue, who fails his save and dies.
Wow, good for Decrihni!
I looked at that encounter and said, "Wait, the bad guy has his back to the door and is playing a very large pipe organ made out of bones?"
Here's how things normally go for Decrihni--
Party opens door stealthily or Decrihni fails his listen check because he's playing a pipe organ.
Party pauses a moment to consider whether this is a good guy or bad guy.
Party notices the bones and (rightly) concludes this is a bad guy. Initiative is rolled, mostly to see which of the party members go first during the surprise round.
Party unloads on Decrihni. Decrihni dies without taking an action.
PC Name: Celia (Human Female Paladin 11/Fist of Raziel 1)
Adventure: Secret of the Soul Pillars
Location of Death: Level 2 of Karran-Kural
Catalyst: Tried to out-melee a dracolich
Long Description: I got another one just 2 weeks after the last one! After a trip to Occipitus to Raise Audric and a quick jaunt to Sigil to replenish supplies, the party returned to Karran-Kural. Most of the guardians were dead by this point, and the party made short work of what remained.
When the party entered the room containing the Soul Pillars, however, Vittris Bale was waiting for them. Audric attempted to maneuver in quickly as is his usual style, however he quickly met the Dracolich's gaze and was paralyzed.
The party's spellcasters spread out and began pelting the dracolich with spells, but Vittris Bale shrugged most of the hits off while preparing itself for a nasty fight. The party's paladin, while not as quick as Audric, had recently come up with a few tricks of her own, including a limited earth-glide ability. She used this to pass through the wall and emerge on the same side of the pit as Vittris Bale, then hit the wyrm with a charging smite for a good 30-40 damage.
Enraged, the dracolich turned his full fury on the lone mortal who had dared to challenge it directly, and ripped the brave warrior apart with a massive flurry of power attacks. Unfortunately, the party's healers were too far away to save her in time, but a few Orbs of Fire from the party's Sorcerer were enough to bring the dracolich down before it could slay anyone else.
Celia was reincarnated the next day, which prompted ANOTHER emergency trip to Sigil to obtain a Permanant Enlarge Person, leaving Celia as a non-plussed 6'8", 380 pound male gnome!
Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
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My crew are now starting Zenith Trajectory...
Count so far is 3
1.) Life's Bazaar - Jaffar the Blessed, Half-Orc barbarian 2 - eaten by the minic in the treasure room of the the Malachite Fortress.
2.) Drakthar's Way - Didn't play this. Instead, the players went east up the river in my own version of Heart of Darkness. Surprisingly, they all (eventually) got back... a bit diseased but still standing...
3.) Flood Season - Jasper, Gnome Fighter 4 - Killed by Triel Eldurast, and Ruphus Laro, Cleric of Cuthbert 4 - also killed by Triel Eldurast.
Last night Gottrod's breath weapon almost claimed both Shensen Tesseril (Sorceror 5) and Six Lucky Jaguar (Druid 5), only falling to Elohir (Ranger 5) and Cryscar's (Fighter 4)final blows as they staggered on single hit points.
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We have one more session to go - this Saturday is the final fight with Adimarchus. Total of fifteen PC kills plus four cohort kills to this point.
1.) Life's Bazaar - No fatalities.
2.) Drakthar's Way - Desmond, Half-Orc Cleric of St. Cuthbert 3 - Stabbed to death by Silent Wolf goblin during an ambush.
3.) Flood Season - Pyron Pendragon, Human Fighter 2/Warmage 1/Wizard 1 - Killed by Triel Eldurast.
4.) Zenith Trajectory - Ferret, Human Warlock 5 - Killed by Gottrod's breath weapon.
-Ferret - Human Warlock 6 - Shot to death by Aushanna.
5.) Demonskar Legacy - No fatalities.
6.) Test of the Smoking Eye - Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 10 - Sacrificed himself during the Test of the Smoking Eye (I'm not counting this as a kill).
7.) Siege of Redgorge - Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 10 - Killed by Nabthatoron.
-Shensen Tesseril, Cohort - Killed by Nabthatoron.
8.) Secrets of the Soul Pillars - Rand Hollow, Elf Ranger 10 - Killed by cone of cold cast by assassin Kennock Brage.
-Cordak the Conjuror, Dwarf Wizard 10 - Drained to death by dread wraith during the battle with Ike Iverson.
-Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 11 - Paralyzed and killed by Vittriss Bale.
9.) Lord of Oblivion - Ferret, reincarnated Halfling Warlock 14 - Drained to death by dread wraith during the battle at House Rhiavadi.
-Ferret, reincarnated Human Warlock 15 - Killed by Vhalantru's finger of death eye ray.
10.) Foundation of Flame – No fatalities.
11.) Thirteen Cages - Desmond, Half-Orc Cleric of St. Cuthbert 16 - Disintegrated by Moltenwing's breath weapon.
-Shensen Tesseril, Cohort - Killed by Ti'rok Coalfire.
-Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 15 - Killed by Grehlia Cairnis.
-Shensen Tesseril, Cohort - Killed by Dyr'ryd.
12.) Strike on Shatterhorn - Archmage Cordak the Conjuror, Wizard 18 - Killed by wail of the banshee cast by Embril Aloustinai.
-Mae, Rogue 18 - Killed by wail of the banshee cast by Embril Aloustinai.
13.) Asylum - Ferret, Human Warlock 19 - Decapitated by Ver'ech's (my version of Dark Myrakul) vorpal scythe.
-Annah Taskerhill, Cohort - Killed by horrid wilting cast by Ver'ech.
I wasn't reading the previous posts, since I'm a player, but I want to point out tough fights for our party. I won't be counting kills which were Revivified a round later, because there were a lot of those. :D
1. My Gnome Wizard died at the Citadel of Feathers in a room with the flying books. Since we were resting for a few days I didn't have my buffs on (namely Heart of Earth and False Life), so 18d8 did 98 dmg to me and killed me.
2. Almost a wipe at the hands of the three assassins. DM once again ruled that I didn't have my buffs on because I wasn't expecting a fight in Cauldron (even though I cast them every single day and didn't really had the chance when I woke up since the day basically began 'next day at breakfast' ) so one attack by the half-orc and 2 fireballs later dropped me into negatives (because I was in area of Silence and they had a surprise round by the time I got out of the area I was hit by tha last fireball) and since the rest of the party was unnarmed they also didn't do much better, so 5/6 members of our party died.
3. During the attack at the cathedral of Wee Jas, our gnome bard/rogue/invisible blade died at the hands of Ike Iverson and our Half-Orc Ranger was killed by Grey Render Zombies
4. In Karan-Kural, Half-Elf Sorcerer was killed by coulpe of Lightning Bolts cast by Fetor Abradius.
So 10 deaths so far. Some were permanent level loss, some were True Ressurection.
Another death in my SCAP game, which brings me to a grand total of five deaths.
2. Lord Orbius Vhalantru kills the druid with his death ray.
3. Lord Orbius Vhalantru kills the cleric/bard with his disintegrate ray.
4. Decrihni Baiul kills the rogue with Slay Living spell.
5. Moltenwing kills the shadowdancer with his disintegrating breath.
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My campaign ended about a month ago. The final battle took an entire session of game time for us, and Adimarchus managed to rack up five kills before he was slain by Desmond, our cleric. My final tally for the campaign was 20 PC kills and 4 cohort kills.
1.) Life's Bazaar - No fatalities.
2.) Drakthar's Way - Desmond, Half-Orc Cleric of St. Cuthbert 3 - Stabbed to death by Silent Wolf goblin during an ambush.
3.) Flood Season - Pyron Pendragon, Human Fighter 2/Warmage 1/Wizard 1 - Killed by Triel Eldurast.
4.) Zenith Trajectory - Ferret, Human Warlock 5 - Killed by Gottrod's breath weapon.
-Ferret - Human Warlock 6 - Shot to death by Aushanna.
5.) Demonskar Legacy - No fatalities.
6.) Test of the Smoking Eye - Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 10 - Sacrificed himself during the Test of the Smoking Eye (I'm not counting this as a kill).
7.) Siege of Redgorge - Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 10 - Killed by Nabthatoron.
-Shensen Tesseril, Cohort - Killed by Nabthatoron.
8.) Secrets of the Soul Pillars - Rand Hollow, Elf Ranger 10 - Killed by cone of cold cast by assassin Kennock Brage.
-Cordak the Conjuror, Dwarf Wizard 10 - Drained to death by dread wraith during the battle with Ike Iverson.
-Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 11 - Paralyzed and killed by Vittriss Bale.
9.) Lord of Oblivion - Ferret, reincarnated Halfling Warlock 14 - Drained to death by dread wraith during the battle at House Rhiavadi.
-Ferret, reincarnated Human Warlock 15 - Killed by Vhalantru's finger of death eye ray.
10.) Foundation of Flame – No fatalities.
11.) Thirteen Cages - Desmond, Half-Orc Cleric of St. Cuthbert 16 - Disintegrated by Moltenwing's breath weapon.
-Shensen Tesseril, Cohort - Killed by Ti'rok Coalfire.
-Atraiyu, Human Paladin of St. Cuthbert 15 - Killed by Grehlia Cairnis.
-Shensen Tesseril, Cohort - Killed by Dyr'ryd.
12.) Strike on Shatterhorn - Archmage Cordak the Conjuror, Wizard 18 - Killed by wail of the banshee cast by Embril Aloustinai.
-Mae, Rogue 18 - Killed by wail of the banshee cast by Embril Aloustinai.
13.) Asylum - Ferret, Human Warlock 19 - Decapitated by Ver'ech's (my version of Dark Myrakul) vorpal scythe.
-Annah Taskerhill, Cohort - Killed by horrid wilting cast by Ver'ech.
-Ferret, Human Warlock 20 - Drained to death by Adimarchus' snakes.
-Cordak, Dwarf Wizard 20 - Stabbed to death by Adimarchus.
-Desmond, Half-Orc Cleric of St. Cuthbert 20 - Stabbed to death by Adimarchus.
-Cordak, Dwarf Wizard 20 - Stabbed to death by Adimarchus (again).
-Mae, Human Rogue 20 - Imploded by Adimarchus' gauntlet.
PC Name: Audric Macalevan (Male Smoking Eye Human Fighter 2/Psychic Warrior 2/Swordsage 9)
Adventure: Lords of Oblivion
Location of Death: Oblivion
Catalyst: Zapped by Big V
Long Description: This is party death number 6, and the third trip to the afterlife for Audric. The party was feeling confident after waltzing through the Last Laugh Safehouse and House Rhiavadi more or less unscathed, and the easy defeat of the creatures in House Vhalantru only raised their confidence.
The party had no idea that combat was about to begin with Vhalantru when they arrived on the second floor of Oblivion, and after puzzling out a way to open the doors (they didn't have the proper spells prepared to trigger the doors, but they came up with a clever alternative of first dispelling the door to temporarily supress its wards and magical defenses, then to cast knock before it engaged again) Celia the paladin earthglided through the wall to the north to see what lay beyond.
It was Vhalantru.
Celia managed to retreat back through the wall before Vhalantru could react (thanks to a stellar 4 die-roll on V's initiative!), but Vhalantru was hot on his tail, opening the door only to come face to face with Meric, the party's Catfolk rogue. Thanks to Meric's poorly-playtested prestige class allowing him to use a dance that would force Vhalantru to make a Will Save each round or be dazed, a stalemate developed around the doorway, with Vhalantru using his anti-magic cone to stop it from effecting him. This also surpressed Celia's permanant enlarge person (as noted above, she was reincarnated as a female gnome) and scared the crap out of the party's spellcasters, who essentially ducked around corners and panicked for a few rounds.
Audric did his best to break the stalemate, however, moving quickly into Vhalantru's room to try to force him to split his attention and divert the antimagic cone. Unfortunately for Audric, he rolled a 1 on his Fort save to resist Vhalantru's Disintegrate ray, and took 93 points of damage right off the bat. He managed to resist a Slow ray successfully, but was finally hit with Finger of Death. He managed to pass the save, but after being almost blasted to dust, the 19 damage he took from the successful save was enough to kill him anyway.
The party pulled back out of sight, and this time it was Vhalantru's turn to be overconfident. As he emerged into the room they were in, he was hit with a number of readied actions doing enough damage to take away about half of his hit points. None of his Eye-Beams managed to take down another PC, either. Vhalantru knew things were going poorly, but before he could withdraw, Celia scored a critical hit with Power Attack and Smite Evil all active, and drew the Decapitated critical card.
While the idea of decapitating a creature that is essentially just a big floating head is odd, I allowed the card to function anyway. Celia did 79 damage with that Crit, which was enough to kill Vhalantru, even if he hadn't also failed the Fortitude Save to resist being killed by the critical.
The party is now preparing to withdraw to have Audric True-Resurrected, as his share of the haul from House Rhiavadi will more than cover the cost.
Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
Another death in our campaign. We just started Foundation of Flame and during the meeting of Cauldron's nobles to decide who'll be the next mayor the Derros attacked. Unfortunately for the 3 PCs who attended that meeting, the 3 other PCs (me included) found politics boring and teleported to a nearby tavern. Imagine the glee on our DM's face when we said that. :D They failed their Mass Suggestion saves, and sat idly while Derro Bersekers started decapitating the attendees in the surprise round. In the first round, 4 derros full attacked our valiant Ranger/Beastmater and he died.
On his action, Meerthan cast Sending and we teleported back in and mopped the floor with them, but the damage has already been done.
The irony is, I always have Anticipate Teleportation active on me, so everything could have been avereted had I stayed for a while longer. :D
Now finishing chapter 5. So here an update.
1) Turok, Halforc-Barbarian, died in chapter 1 in the fight with against Xukasus.
2) Again Turok died in combat with Kazmoyen, the slavetrader.
3) Tramiel, Elven Druid, was killed together with his companion Azrael the plack panther by Tongueeater, the Werebaboon in chapter 3.
4) Unlucky Lemartes, Human Paladin of Lathander, died later this chapter. He was killed by Triel Eldurast in the Kopru ruins. (A very unlucky critical by Triel sent Tramiel directly to -10hp)
5) Dalmiong, the Elven Sorcerer, was killed during the Necrocaunt ambush by Dralan, the frost giant mummy.
To be continued...
Now they are on Occipitus, chapter 6. So here a new update.
1) Turok, Halforc-Barbarian, died in chapter 1 in the fight with against Xukasus.
2) Again Turok died in combat with Kazmoyen, the slavetrader.
3) Tramiel, Elven Druid, was killed together with his companion Azrael the plack panther by Tongueeater, the Werebaboon in chapter 3.
4) Unlucky Lemartes, Human Paladin of Lathander, died later this chapter. He was killed by Triel Eldurast in the Kopru ruins. (A very unlucky critical by Triel sent Tramiel directly to -10hp)
5) Dalmiong, the Elven Sorcerer, was killed during the Necrocaunt ambush by Dralan, the frost giant mummy.
6) Tramiel was blasted by a fireball cast by the noble salamander Arrokh in the cathedral of feathers.
To be continued...
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Just started, first sesion, first death:
Belly dancer chick Swashbuckler 1: Dead against 4 last laugh thugs backed by a half-ogre enforcer, just after they beated 4 last laugh thugs, at least I gave them a bard ally...(wich died in the combat, of course, I dont know if that makes 2 deaths)
They were investigating the disaperances (I didn´t gave them the riddle), the chick got resurrected by her missing mistress, whom she was searching.I made her one of the cagewhrigts, she resurrected her and said GTFO! to the confused player... this promises to be as bad meat grinder as Age of worms was,it ended in TPK in that one...
Returning from Occipitus the group has to defend Redgorge against the evil forces coming from Cauldron (DD's siege of Redgorge). So here a new update after the 7th death.
1) Turok, Halforc-Barbarian, died in chapter 1 in the fight with against Xukasus.
2) Again Turok died in combat with Kazmoyen, the slavetrader.
3) Tramiel, Elven Druid, was killed together with his companion Azrael the plack panther by Tongueeater, the Werebaboon in chapter 3.
4) Unlucky Lemartes, Human Paladin of Lathander, died later this chapter. He was killed by Triel Eldurast in the Kopru ruins. (A very unlucky critical by Triel sent Tramiel directly to -10hp)
5) Dalmiong, the Elven Sorcerer, was killed during the Necrocaunt ambush by Dralan, the frost giant mummy.
6) Tramiel was blasted by a fireball cast by the noble salamander Arrokh in the cathedral of feathers.
7) The bard Meran was shot by Todd Vanderboren who used his humanslaying arrow.
The player was not really amused when I told him it has been a humanslaying arrow. I think I shouldn't do this anymore. Save-or-dies are a bit nasty and have nothing to do with a heroic fight.
To be continued...
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Second death:
Jaskar Hetara(Warblade 5 Hell reaver 1)
Died in the Kopru ruins by Tarkilar (the gnoll huecuva cleric of Erythnul)
The group made easy work of the ruins until Tarkilar casted hold person at the warblade, then he (it?)coup de graced him.
Well this bad luck death aside there haven´t been too much deaths so far. Now heading to Bhal-Hamatung...
No. 8! Nabthatoron is great!
1) Turok, Halforc-Barbarian, died in chapter 1 in the fight with against Xukasus.
2) Again Turok died in combat with Kazmoyen, the slavetrader.
3) Tramiel, Elven Druid, was killed together with his companion Azrael the plack panther by Tongueeater, the Werebaboon in chapter 3.
4) Unlucky Lemartes, Human Paladin of Lathander, died later this chapter. He was killed by Triel Eldurast in the Kopru ruins. (A very unlucky critical by Triel sent Tramiel directly to -10hp)
5) Dalmiong, the Elven Sorcerer, was killed during the Necrocaunt ambush by Dralan, the frost giant mummy.
6) Tramiel was blasted by a fireball cast by the noble salamander Arrokh in the cathedral of feathers.
7) The bard Meran was shot by Todd Vanderboren who used his humanslaying arrow.
8) The cleric Finadoc Decirc died between the pincers of Nabthatoron during the final battle of the siege of Redgorge.
To be continued...
BTW: The siege of Redgorge was great. Thx DD for this wonderful scenario!
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There have been a number of close calls in the campaign so far, mostly with the Shackleborn Amras Lindenwood, elven fighter.
A Phantasmal Killer spell nearly took him out.
The Last Laugh kidnapped him, cut his arm off, and turned him to stone.
Now, at the end of last session, he met his match at the hands of a drow warband in the Underdark.
Thankfully, the party has the price of a Raise Dead banked at the temple, so he should be back without too much fuss.
My PC's are still going strong. They're currently level 11 an saving Redgorge from the Blue Duke, Stormblades and Cauldron army (thanks DelvesDeep for the adventure outline!).
Still only 1 PC death, from the Ogre Zombies, back in the Kopru Ruins. Last session a Dire Wolf animal companion died after taking 4 x 9d6 Cones of Cold and failing 3 of the 4 saves.
Apart from that they party has been going strong. Kaurophon was barely a speed bump in the road. I think he got a surprise round action and maybe a first round action before he was dogpiled and killed.
Olaf the Stout
PC Name: Meric (Male Catfolk Rogue 6/Bard 1/Cloaked Dancer 5/Mounteback 4)
Adventure: Strike on Shatterhorn
Location of Death: Skullrot Asylum
Catalyst: Sacrificed by Embril
Long Description: There have been a number of brief deaths over the past few levels, but each time until now it was a cohort and/or was immediately repaired by one of the instant raise/reincarnate spells from the Spell Compendium.
This time was different.
Freedom's Dawn tracked the remaining Cagewrights down to their lair beneath the ruins of Shatterhorn, and after a fairly easy fight against Ssythar, the Mohrg, and Therynn (who had escaped the Firey Sanctum thanks to the party taking a poorly timed shopping trip immediately following stopping the Tree of Shackled Souls), and a much more frustrating fight against the Medusa Rogues, the party stumbled upon Embril's lifeless body. She was guarded by Shebelith (who had also escaped at the same time as Therynn) and the Spellweaver, who immediately scared the heck out of the party by casting Time Stop (the first level 9 spell they had encountered) and hitting Audric with 6 simultaneous Magic Missile spells respectively.
The rest of the party hurried down the narrow hall to reinforce Audric as Greater Shadows emerged to further stack the odds against them. Moving into the room, Meric had the misfortune to be the target of Embril's Magic Jar spell, and he failed the save by 1 point.
"I have a plan, guys!" announced the possessed Meric, who moved further into the room and took up a position next to Embril.
"What's your idea?" asked one of the other players.
"I touch Embril's body and plane shift out with it!" Jaws dropped.
"Wait, what?" "How did Meric do that?"
End of session.
A helpless captive of Embril, Meric was quickly moved to Skullrot, where she just had time to sacrifice him to Nerull before the guardians of the tower fell upon her and captured her themselves.
Of course, Meric's body was put to good use in golemcrafting, and it is my hope that the party will find Embril, tortured half-to-death and driven quite mad, when they arrive at Skullrot in chapter 12 themselves. If/when they do, it should be interesting to see whether the party puts her out of her misery or leaves her to her much deserved fate.
Meric's player has elected to bring in a new character, and has selected a Monk with a very amusing take on the Vow of Poverty.
Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
Héhéhé...
It's been a long time without a dead since level 5 now they are level 9-10 (6 PC).
On occipitus:
Guillaume de Bashevil Paladin5/rogue1/Shadobane inquisitor3.
While hunting for the black dragon they met 3 Vrocks, he won the initiative over the group closed with the demons but not reaching them so he was out of the haste...and 4 rounds later after killing 2 mirror image and missing 2 saves to avoid being stunned he was at -16hp.
The 3 Vrock escaped before being killed on the 6th round but the group really had a bad dice rolling frenzy, the first round of the dwarf fighter gave 1 3 and 3 for the d20 rolls with power attack 5 and the following rounds were a little better but not much I even think that if he had continued to use PA he would have hitted only 4 or 5 times the 22 AC of the Vrocks.
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3 deaths more:
CHARACTER:Phoenix Reindhart (Sorcerer5/fiend blooded4)
CATALYST: Dont split the party!
ADVENTURE: The demonskar legacy
LOCATION: Minuta's board
CHARACTER: Azhaara (Swashbuckler1/Fighter4/dervish3/tempest1)
CATALYST: Critic elementals
ADVENTURE: The demonskar legacy
LOCATION: Minuta's board
CHARACTER: Fario Ellegoth (Fighter4/rogue4)
CATALYST: Being a good guy
ADVENTURE: The demonskar legacy
LOCATION: Minuta's board
Sumary of facts: The characters logged in the drunken morkoth saw the fire from their rooms when they were about to sleep, the cleric in Alek Tercival house is too far but start to go there, while the fighters are donning their armour the sorcerer decides to go there even if he is almost depleted of spells, when the fire elementals appear they start pounding him very bad, he cast delay death, going to the number of 211 negative hit points, the character have a flaw with wich he must attack whoever damages him, so he cannot flee. Finally the fighters arrive and start attacking the elementals but still there are only 2 of the party members, and the sorcerer is low of spells, the elementals are pounding them and I make the Striders arrive since they are strong allies of the party, Shensen and Fellian start healing the sorcerer and Fario charges the only elemental alive, he is pounded by the opportunity attack of the elemental and the regular attacks killed him, the characters bring the elemental down to 1 hp,and then it attacks the dervish and critic her killing her too, then it dies, the sorcerer starts drinking healing potions like crazy, and Fario and Shensen try to save him to no avail, they managed to bring him to minus 23 hp, not enough. When the cleric finally arrives and find the lone remaining warblade asked. What happened?
It doesn't quite count as a kill, but let us go for an "almost" kill by my DM.
Zaara, my female drow paladin missed her save vs the beholder's disintegrate ray and then I realized that she has a magic resistance. A roll of 8 or higher was needed for her to be destroyed and a 6 was rolled. What a major relief. I would have been depressed had she gone away.
When: Second Game of the campaign Chapter 1
Who: William the Half Orc 1st LV Inquisitor
Reason of Death: The Mimic in J60 and no one knowing how to speak Dark lands. Also not know when best to let something alone.
When: Second Game of the campaign Chapter 1
Who:Rollend the half elf 1st LV bard
Reason of Death: Suicide over his Half brothers death