Name of PC: Darius/Human
Class/Level: Inquisitor/Cleric 8/2
Adventure:The Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst:Barl's Earth Breaker crit on an attack of op.
Story:
Party stepped in to fight Barl and the Stone Giant guard, the party handled the guard early but Barl's fireball, and touch spells had left the party pretty dinged up, even more so, since they got dinged up badly against Lamatar earlier. So when the guard dropped, the barbarian charged accross to meet Barl at his throne, and the two traded blows, and the barbarian got his lights knocked out. Dying but with no one else in melee at that moment, the Inquisitor rushed into Barl's range and willingly took the AoOp to cast Cure Moderate Wounds...and Barl critted the attack, and smashed the Inquisitor into pulp.
The rest of the party consisting of a Wiz/Ranger, Fighter, and Bard chipped Barl down to the point of surrender, and they still killed him in revenge.
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Name of PC: Shalaye Elaciathina "Lace" Starjewel Omoroi
Class/Level: Sorcerer 6
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders - Vorel's Laboratory
Catalyst: Skinsaw Man & Vorel's Legacy
Story, short version: After nearly being haunted to death at Misgivings the party finally reached Skinsaw Man in Vorel's Laboratory. Aldern's pleas for mercy were convincing . . . that is, until he snapped back into Skinsaw Man and drew his razor. Lace was quick to maneuver forward onto the table top to attempt to Shocking Grasp the foul Ghoul but this drew her too close to the source of all evil -- Vorel's Legacy. Suddenly she was overcome by Vorel's undead force and inexplicably began to consume the black mold and a single misguided touch electrocuted herself blowing off her little aasimar head!! Awesome way to go out!
Name of PC: Saren the Black
Class/Level: Monk 4
Adventure: Burnt Offerings (Thistletop Catacombs)
Catalyst: Main Antagonist
Story: Saren couldn't quite keep up toe-to-toe with the enemy and dropped. Later, an area effect ability dealt damage to an unconscious Saren and was enough to kill him.
Name of PC: Ravisus (1/2 elf)
Class/Level: Witch 5
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Skaveling
Story: Unfortunate positioning places the witch adjacent to the skaveling. She attempted to cast a spell without casting defensively. And the skaveling crits on his AoO.
EDIT: Ravi also had both ghoul fever and Vorel's Phage, so the player is pretty convinced that it was a mercy for Ravi to die a violent death.
Name of PC: Oberyn (1/2 elf)
Class/Level: Cleric of Gorum 5
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Ghouls
Story: I'm GMing two PF campaigns and this'll be the third PC I've killed with ghouls in the span of a couple months. You'd think a level 5 cleric could avoid paralysis, but both he and the front line fighter where immediately paralyzed. Fortunately for the fighter, the ranged party members took out one ghoul, but that left one to coup de grace poor Oberyn.
Name of PCs: Old Man Scrimshaw
Class/Level: Evoker 9
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants (3.5)
Catalyst: Necklace of fireballs
Story: Found a kobold...
It should be pointed out that I run with the "players roll all the dice" option from Unearthed Arcana (adjusted for odds). And as Scrimshaw unleashed a blast of flame or some such 5th level fiery spell, Scrimshaw's player laughed with glee as he rolled a nat 20, an auto fail for Engva. Well, that meant some of her gear might have been damaged as well, and when I looked it up, I laughed with glee when I saw her Type IV necklace of fireballs.
Luckily, the cleric had a revivify on hand.
Name of PCs: Old Man Scrimshaw
Class/Level: Evoker 9
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants (3.5)
Catalyst: Necklace of fireballs
Story: Found a kobold...
** spoiler omitted **
Oooh -- one of my favorites so far! Awesomeness!
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Name of PCs: Flame
Class/Level: Firepelt small cat animal companion for a Ranger 7
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders.
Catalyst: A much-feared critical hit.
Background: The first time I looked at the Scarecrow's sheet I thought: "If he crits he kills". One shot of his Power Attack-enhanced scythe critical would take the party's paladin tank from full 68 HP to dead. So I was reticent about the fight.
Story: The PCs attacked the mill and spent the next couple days tangling with Magnimar's justice system. The ranger helped the Captain of the Guard Acacia Uriana to search the mill and they had arrived at the plan of releasing the ravens and following them next day (after the ranger would prepare speak with animals to obtain more information). So she was supposed to guard the mill, and as she got there, the Scarecrow ambushed her.
She ran with her animal companion to the mill, where she hid and managed an ambush (complete with a surprise round). Although the pair dealt a LOT of damage to the golem, its first attack in the fight was a natural 20 followed by an 18 and bam! Flame was dead. Noticing the danger, the ranger tumbled across the room, jumped into the river and swam for her life.
Name of PCs: Alec Sarti
Class/Level: Human Cleric 7 of Sarenrae
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders.
Catalyst: Two spear crits in a row.
Story: The group faced Xanesha with a mind-controlled Orik in tow. During the fight the cleric was an all-star champion: healed everyone, threw down a Holy Smite which left the lamia blind and dispelled the charm person effect on Orik, netting them a powerful ally. A long battle of attrition followed, lasting a good 9 rounds. In the very end, Xanesha was running away invisible, followed by the ranger and cleric (while the rest of the group remained at different stages of unconsciousness or at the top of the tower). They attack the cornered lamia, and she goes all-out. The first attack - a natural 20 followed by a solid 17. 30-something damage, which was nothing to worry much since the cleric had taken almost no damage. Then the second attack - 19 followed by 18. Aaaand he's dead. The ranger managed to slay Xanesha, though, watched by a lot of curious if wary Underbridge inhabitants.
His death and the group's actions of rooting out corruption and evil in the city encouraged some clerics of Sarenrae (lead by his former mentor) to renew the ruined church at Underbridge. The group donated Alec's share of the treasure to the church, which used it to build a new clock tower and renovate the building, so Magnimar in my campaign now has a growing cult of Sarenrae working to spread their goddess' light to this shadowed place.
Ah. Death by Stupidity. ^^;;
Name of PC: Achille
Class/Level: Wizard 7/Diabolist 10
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst:A wizard in an antimagic field becomes a fragile monkey... but a dragon is still a dragon (and a rune giant with vital strike is still a rune giant with vital strike).
Story:
Achille teleported himself and his melee buddies to where they thought Karzoug would be waiting. When they saw Karzoug, the ranger popped an antimagic field (long story). This made the wizard a very tempting target to Karzoug's dragon and rune giant. The dragon got a full attack, and the rune giant dealt a massive vital strike, taking the wizard down to well below his negative constitution score. A breath of life in the next round saved him.
Name of PC: Raunkin
Class/Level: Wizard 17
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst:Mage's Disjunction, Wail of the Banshee
Story:
Raunkin got disjoined in the first round of combat, eliminating his pre-combat buffs, which really made it hard for him to resist the wail of the banshee in the second round. He was brought back to life with a wish.
Name of PC: Gnfr Bison
Class/Level: Fighter 10
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants (3.5)
Catalyst: Charm monster and dispel magic
Story: The sorcerer made some friends...
Name of PC: Hunter Thomas
Class/Level: Human Druid / 8
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Rocks falling on head
Story: the party had come face to face with the Jotunblood Hill giant Lokansir, after the parties barbarian found herself buried under ruble, the Druid shapeshifted into an earth elemental to try and dig her out ( not healing fomr first earthquake or the club upside the head he had taken) only to get crushed by the next Earthquake spell, Alas poor hunter was not long for this world, and
Name of PC: Thrall( yea I know)
Class/Level: Half-Orc Fighter / 8
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: A very big Club
Story: same encounter as above, Left with only 7 HP to his name and a 5' adjust from Lokansir, this 1/2 Orc thought it would be smarter to back away and pop a potion or 2, only to get taken out by a 35 point club attack.
Name of PC: Eddrick Mornay
Class/Level: Human Cavalier / 6
Adventure: Hook mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Large Rusty Hook
Story: after winning the heart of Shelelu this noble warrior started forming plans for his future with the woman he loved, they had recently captured the goblin fort of thistletop and was having it rennovated, and discovering that his beloved Shelelu was now pregnant, Eddrick decided that after he helped his freinds free Fort Rannick from the twisted Kreegs that he and Shalelu were going to retire and raise a family properly, however in the final battle with Jargaath, Eddrick was distracted about all these events in his life and failed to raise his shield in time to prevent the large rusty hook from driving thru his skull, and there his dreams and plans spilled on the floor at the hands of an inbred ogre.
Name of PC Wesh
Class/Level Fighter 2
Adventure Burnt Offerings
Catalyst A certain tiny witch ...
Name of PC Meylom
Class/Level Wizard 2
Adventure Burnt Offerings
Catalyst A certain rickety bridge ...
Maybe I didn't describe it well enough, because no-one thought to search for traps, and sure enough they all go over, bridge collapses, and the only person to fail his save was the wizard.
A few rounds later, the poor guy drowned, despite his party members best efforts to dive in and save him ...
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Name of PC: Pitch, lover of the Forest
Class/Level: Gnome Druid / 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Assumptions of the extent of Goblin Misogony
Story: When Chief Ripnugget beckoned him to come forwards and engage in parlay, the peace loving gnome gladly obliged. He was just the right amount of respectful and his speech contained enough non-sequiturs to even contain even Ripnugget's attention, but when the conversation turned to Nualia, things went sour. The Chief, infatuated, could not be convinced to turn on her, but when the Gnome offered to "buy" her, it was the last straw, and Ripnugget initiated combat, ordering his commando's to move in.
Pitch was accosted by one, slicing him, but nowhere near downing him. But Valiant Ripnugget, supported by steadfast Stickfoot charged him, and rolled a 20, as a result, the damage was multiplied by three and the peaceful Gnome met a grisly end.
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Name of PC: Elisa "Crow" Bloodgru
Class/Level: Half-Elf Gunslinger 4 Fighter 5 Rogue 1
Adventure: Hook Mountain
Catalyst: Letting Lucrecia run away the first time
Story: Lucrecia escaped via a dimension door the first time they fought her, so I gave her another level and had her sitting at Barl's feet in the Clanhold. As the fight began she began burning fourth level spells. She targeted the cleric with a Phantasmal Killer, but the fortitude save was made. Then she tried the same thing against "Crow" and the former pirate screamed in terror and dropped dead instantly.
The party had amassed a great deal of wealth and "Crow"'s cohort was going to use the money to bring her back.
Name of PC: Dirk Wilhelm
Class/Level: Human Paladin of Erastil 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: The Shadows
Story:
Instead of going immediately for him, they went for the path they hadn't been able to access previously, as the Alchemist and Monk who were left behind to make sure Malfy couldn't leave found the way to open the doors with the golden pillar. After entering the room slowly, the three Shadows attacked. Two grouped on the front-line Wilhelm, while the third hit the Ranger in the back.
Channeling Energy, he drew the ire of the two front Shadows while the Rogue attempted to assist from behind one. Without his Sneak Attack, they were unable to defeat the Shadows before a pair of deadly strikes(4 and 3) drained what remained of his strength. His allies gained swift vengeance, with the Monk, Ranger and Alchemist letting the Shadows fade from existence. The Paladin rose next round to attempt to kill his allies, but the Monk again Flurry'd him down, and let his soul rest in peace.
He is survived by Zephry the Kobold Rogue, who will be raising one of the Goblin babies from Thistletop as a Paladin in his name.
I tried to fudge the roll at the end that brought him to -2, but the player was fine with the death. First one of the campaign, and first one since I've started GMing. I felt as bad as I did good about it.
Name of PC:Farak Bararr
Class/Level: Dwarwen Cleric 3
Adventure:Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: NualiaName of PC:Hurrg
Class/Level: Dwarwen Barbarian 3
Adventure:Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: NualiaStory: Both was taken prisoner after a party split. The 3 remaining adventurers tried to take Thistletop, but had to flee to survive.
Farak and Hurrg was beheaded by Nualia, and their bodies were consumed by Yeth hounds. A glorius sacrifice to Lamasthu!
What an awesome post 666! Nothing like a sacrifice to an evil demon goddess to make a poster proud!
I agree. This is awesome. Best 666 post ever. Lamashtu be praised for the offerings she was given!
Name of PCs: Gnfr; Mrxyf
Class/Level: Fighter 10; Ranger 10
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants (3.5)
Catalyst: Jotun Blood Hill Giant
Story: Not much of one, other than just taking way too much damage.
Name of PCs: Ozvanna
Class/Level: Sor/Rog/Arcane Trickster
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants (3.5)
Catalyst: Disintegrate
Story: Mokmurian filled the hall with fog...
Name of PCs: Imaharu
Class/Level: Kitsune Barbarian 12
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Zaelsar
Story: Leeroy Jenkins into the lamia, went one on one while the party dealt with her sister. 3rd round in her Falchion went crit, crit, crit, and Imaharu fell over dead.
Name of PCs: Snips
Class/Level: Hippogrif animal companion to Zangar Dwarf Wiz 8/Ranger 4
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Lokansir
Story: Hill Giant brained it over and over again into fine paste
Name of PCs: Star Cutter
Class/Level: Roc animal companion to Galdirae Aasimar Druid 12
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Ogre Fighters in Jorgenfist
Story: Roc took on the Ogres killed one, but one critted and made a mess of the poor bird.
Name of PC: Yari
Class/Level: Lvl 7 Barbarian (grappling specialist)
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murder: Shadows of Time
Catalyst: The Scarecrow
Story: Honestly, I didn't think the Scarecrow would manage this, but against an over-sized party (there are 9 players in my group) but, attacking from hidden, the Scarecrow managed serious amounts of damage to a sorcerer and a cleric.
After the cleric and the sorcerer managed to fly out of the Scarecrows reach, it turned its attention to the next target, a monk (the replacement PC for the player that lost a wizard earlier in the campaign) and took the monk down to negative hit points (at which point, the PC expected a repeat of his wizard and started rolling a replacement character). But this wasn't to be the monks time.
Yari the barbarian, raging at the near death of his companion (or not - he'd probably be the first one to loot the body) charged and grappled the Scarecrow, and the cleric and paladin brought the monk back from the brink of death. But the Scarecrow managed to escape the grapple and with one might swing of it's scythe (nat 20 and confirmed crit) eviscerated the barbarian. The rest of the party panicked at the death of thier comrade escaped up the tower.
Four weeks to the next session and the big showdown.
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Name of PC: Lugh Illdarach "Illya" Rycesh (Male Half-elf)
Class/Level: Rogue 9 (Scout)
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants (RotRL AE Hardcover)
Catalyst: Stone Giant
Story: The heroes were on the last leg of fighting off the Stone Giant invasion of Sandpoint. Longtooth had been defeated and they faced off against Teraktinus and a trio of Stone giants at the feet of The Old Light. The battle was hard-fought. Illya had been knocked unconscious and revived by a teammate. Illya put some distance between himself and the giants, but one of them charged and knocked Illya unconscious again. Teraktinus was killed and the giant took one last attack against Illya before retreating. Unfortunately, that parting shot was enough to turn Illya into paste.
Although Illya was killed, Sandpoint was saved.
Wow... first TPK.
Name of PC: Lukane
Class/Level: Ranger 3 (Switch hittin')
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Demonstrated the glorious awesomeness of the 'self cleaning' hallway trap
Name of PC: Theodore Stolish
Class/Level: Barbarian 1 (drunken)/ Vivisectionist 2
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Nualia backed up by Bruzhamus
Name of PC: Grace
Class/Level: Monk (Zen Archer)
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Nualia backed up by Bruzhamus
Name of PC: Beldana
Class/Level: Changling Witch
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Nualia backed up by Bruzhamus
Name of PC: Haemar
Class/Level: Paladin
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Nualia backed up by Bruzhamus
The group, reeling from fights with Chief Ripnugget, the Yeth hounds and the tentamort, decide to boldly press on to maintain the initiative and prevent the monsters in this dungeon from regrouping. (the bugbear had run from the previous engagement)
The party was reasonably suspicious when they saw the 'clean spot' in the hallway... threw a statue into the square and watched as the 5 rounds of unmitigated horror happened with no one in the trap.
While the party discussed how to deal with the trap the breast-plate clad ranger decided to jump it... rolled a modified 4 on jump check.. landed in the trap, blew his reflex save and everyone watched in mute horror as all four attacks hit him, and he 'stuck the landing' already in negatives before the fall damage into the pit finished him.
This noble band decided to press on, opened the door to Nualia's chamber and charged in. Everything was going 'well' at first, Nualia made her slumber hex save, bugbear's arrow fire was ineffectual, and the paladin and barbarian were whittling down the boss. She changed tactics and channeled energy, dropping the zen archer (who was way low on hps from earlier fights) and hurting everyone else (including bugbear). Bugbear stepped up and dropped barbarian with a well-placed flail.
Witch slumbered the bugbear and stepped in to provide a flank for the paladin. Nualia promised the Paladin "if he didn't surrender, he would watch them all die"
A few round of back and forth ended with the witch falling to Nualia's sword. Now it was one on one, and the dice favored the baddie.
The last moment the party had was the paladin, bound, being awoken to see her keep the promise, and finish everyone who had stabilized during the fight, before killing the paladin
One pound of flesh...
Name of PC: Viorel
Class/Level: Witch (Hedge witch) 12
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: A very angry cursed Mokmurian
Story: The heroes of Sandpoint finally faced the infamous Mokmurian, which started the fight by casting 'fog cloud' and 'solid fog' on the players. Viorel replied by casting his favourite spell, 'mind fog', on the giant overlord... who rolled a 1 on his Will save! He proceeded to affect the giant with the Misfortune hex the following round. Feeling a bit dizzy and very angry, Mokmurian attempted to disintegrate the witch (but he saved, thanks to a well-spent hero point), then scorching ray'ing him, and finally fireballing him to death the next round. Fortunately for Viorel, the party alchemist was able to cast 'breath of life' the following round.
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Character Name: Neje StormCloud
Class/Level: Witch (hedge witch) 8
Adventure: The Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: A confused raging Jaagreth
Story:
Alright, this was a big one and almost a full party wipe so I’m going to break it up some to give you the full effect of it. First of all let me give the group and a house rule I use.
Lem (Halfling Monk, 8, uses UMD and wands to buff himself and heal)
Tozreh (Tiefling (catfolk) Ranger (trapper, natural weapon style), 8, and his small cat companion)
Lodan (Human Conjurer (teleportation spec), 8, and his Imp familiar (who uses UMD and healing wands)
And
Neje
House rule: I abhor the instant death by an enemy who hits multiple times for ungawdly damage so I implemented a luck rule for instant death scenarios. The PC rolls (d20+ character level) vs a DC (10 + monster CR for the monster who did the death blow) and if they succeed the PC is at negative HP equal to their Con -2 (so they have a couple of rounds till they bleed out). This still adds quite a bit of danger AND urgency to the fights, but leaves the PCS feeling less helpless.
Also I changed some of the monster’s feats and spells to fit the story better.
OK, the party had done a great job of setting up a diversion before assaulting Fort Rannick (they had searched out an orc tribe in the area and convinced them to help take the fort and had given a summon nature’s ally to the rangers) and were doing a split assault. The party would sneak through the tunnels and smoke out the shocker lizards while the rangers and the orcs assaulted the main gates (WAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Sorry had to).
Well because of the diversion I ruled that the only ones left in the main keep were Lucrecia, Jaagreth, and two other ogres as guards. I figured Lucrecia would boost Jaagreth some and ruled that the party would have about a 25% of encountering them together. Well I rolled and look at what that, the party was going to encounter them together. The party made quick work of the ogre guards then headed upstairs almost right away (assuming the leaders would be there) so I made a perception check for the BBEGs. Lucrecia got a 20 so she knew what was coming and decided to do some buffs and prep work (in spoiler below).
Lucretia used her illusions on the chapel to make it seem smaller to help funnel the PCs into the middle, then cast invisibility on her and Jaagreth, haste, then mage armor and divine favor.
The party moves cautiously up the stairs then check some of the side rooms. Finally they open the door to the chapel and see Lucrecia (illusion) standing there amid a pile of slain rangers reading a parchment at which point the Imp notices magic, but hasn’t had a chance to examine anything to get an idea of what it is and Lem declares a charge (everyone rolls initiative as a result). I’ll break down the rounds below.
Lucrecia wins init and casts a silent mirror image. Lem charges the illusion and hits it, which dispels the illusion. Tozreh’s cat hold’s action for a command (but I give it a perception to smell others in the room), Tozreh tells his cat to search for the caster (since he now knows it’s an illusion) who then moves in and finds Lucrecia, and then moves into the room and readies an action to attack any enemies that move into reach. Neje casts burning gaze on her familiar and stays outside the room. Jaagreth uses Charge Through to do an overrun on Lem and charge Tozreh ( I ruled that since he was invisible Lem couldn’t side step and Jaagreth had held his action till a second character entered the room) and succeeded (knocking Lem down and doing 32 points to Tozreh). Lodan orders his familiar into the room while invisible to provide support, then casts summon monster 3 (and gets 2 crocodiles which he places on either side of Jaagreth).
Lucrecia drops her illusions and casts Sanctuary defensively. Lem uses an ability to instant stand and charges Jaagreth and wiffs (nat 1). Tozreh’s cat makes its will save and attacks Lucrecia, but misses. Jaagreth full attacks Tozreh and gets 1 hit, 1 miss, and a critical hit (totaling out for 128 points of damage) which should instant kill Tozreh (he makes the luck role and instead has -10 HP). Tozreh lies bloody on the floor (no save the first round). Neje uses Evil Eye (vs saves) on Jaagreth and her familiar uses burning gaze on him for no damage (Jaagreth made his save). Lodan’s imp attempts to heal Tozreh, but rolls a total of 9 on UMD, the crocodiles attack (one hits, but is unable to grab Jaagreth for 18 points of damage) and Lodan casts Acid Arrow on Jaagreth and misses (nat 1 to hit).
Lucrecia takes a 5 foot move and casts mirror image (2 images). Lem attacks Jaagreth and hits once (out of 5 attacks) for 12 points of damage. Tozreh’s cat moves and attacks Jaagreth to protect it’s master and misses. Neje attempts to use misfortune on Jaagreth, but he rolls a nat 20 to save, so she cackles and her familiar attempts to burning gaze Lucrecia (but can’t beat her SR). Jaagreth attacks Lem and each croc (hits one croc for 26 points of damage, leaving it with 2 left, misses the other, and hits Lem for 31 points). Tozreh lies bloody on the floor (fails to save). The Imp fails to use the wand again (almost a nat 1 too) and Lodan casts Excruciating Deformation on Lucrecia, he makes his will save but fails to get through her SR (a nat 1 on that roll)
Lucrecia takes a 5 foot move and hits Lem with her Wisdom draining attack (dropping her sanctuary) and drains 2 wisdom. Lem attacks Lucrecia, but fails to hit even the images. Tozreh’s cat attacks Jaagreth again and does 14 points of damage. Tozreh makes his stabilization roll. Neje casts Bungle on Lucrecia but can’t get past the SR either (remember her SR is only a 19) Jaagreth attacks Lem, the damaged Croc, and Tozreh’s cat (hits the croc for 34 points of damage, killing it, hits the cat for 38 points, knocking it down to -1, and hits Lem for 38 points). The Imp finally uses the wand and revives Tozreh (with a total of 18 HP) and Lodan casts another Acid Arrow at Lucrecia (this gets through SR, and hits, but only hits an image).
Lucrecia five foot moves and casts Confusion based in the hall which hits everyone, but her, Lem and the last croc (Jaagreth and Tozreh fail their save). Lem attempts to heal himself with a wand, but failes the UMD. Tozreh’s cat makes it’s stabilize check. Neje casts lightning bolt on Jaagreth (which also hits Lem, but it’s ok he has evasion!! Wait he rolled a 2 to save.. damn), but Jaagreth saves and only takes 12 damage (Lem takes 25 damage though and is now down to -7 HP). Jaagreth (as a result of being confused) 5 foot free and full attacks Neje (hitting all 3 times for a total of 97 points of damage which should instant kill her.. quick roll a luck check.. ohhh.. she rolled a 2. Correction it did instant kill her). Tozreh rolls to act normally, gets up (no AoO due to Confusion) and attacks Jaagreth (for 34 points of damage) The Imp goes over to check on Neje and then flies to Lem. Lodan attempts to dispel confusion, but fails.
Lucrecia casts invisibility. Lem’s blood creates a natural grease spell (fails his stabilize check). Tozreh’s cat lays there sleeping while everyone else works. Neje joins the cat in a nice underserved nap (I’ll leave them both out of future breakdowns due to them not being in combat). Jaagreth attempts to attack Tozreh, but actually misses all three times (see I roll bad too). Tozreh rolls to act normally again and opens up on Jaagreth and hits all three times (for 65 points of damage which fells the mighty ogre). The Imp attempts to heal Lem and succeeds (leaving him with 19 hit points) then waits by Lem in case he needs to do it again. Lodan attempts to dispel confusion again, but fails again.
Lucrecia casts dimension door into the hallway (right next to Lodan). Lem attempts to heal himself with a wand and succeeds (giving him 30 HP). . Tozreh rolls to attack the nearest person, which is Lem..he charges the Halfling and hits for 27 HP) The Imp tries to heal Lem, but fails his UMD. Lodan casts mage armor on himself.
Lucrecia uses her wisdom draining touch on Lodan and drains him of 4 Wis. Lem tumbles out of Tozreh’s threatened area and moves into the hall and shuts the door Tozreh babbles incoherently. The Imp hides in the rafters in case Tozreh sees him. Lodan casts burning hands (defensively) on Lucrecia, but fails to get past her SR.
Lucrecia attacks Lodan with her dagger (doing 18 Points of damage and 1 wisdom drain) Lem attempts to heal himself with a wand and succeeds (giving him 39 HP). . Tozreh rolls to attack himself (and does 7 HP of damage, leaving him with 11) The Imp continues to cower in fear. Lodan 5 foot steps back and then casts invisibility on himself, then teleports back into the room.
At this point I rule that Lucrecia heals herself and rebuffs (New mage armoe and mirror image (3 images) herself while waiting to see what happens. Tozreh gets a few more rounds of babble and act coherently. Lem heals himself up to 54 hp. And Lodan attempts to find Lucrecia by using his conjurer’s teleport ability and the Imp’s innate detect magic. Let’s fast forward to the end of confusion.
Lucrecia is right next to Lem and invisible, she attacks him and does 30 points of damage and 1 Wisdom drain. Lem tumbles through her square to make sure his allies can attack her and then hits Lucrecia (but only dispels one of her images). Tozreh has one more round on confusion and rolls to attack the nearest creature (which is someone in the hall), I rule he bursts through the door, but he hasn’t enough movement to get to anyone. The Imp flies to Lem, but is too far away to do anything but arrive there. Lodan moves so he can see the combat and casts Excruciating Deformation again (but fails to bypass her SR).
Lucrecia attacks Lem again for 12 points of damage and 1 wisdom drain (Lem’s down again!!). Lem makes his stabilization check. Tozreh finally free of the charges Lucrecia and drops one of her images. The Imp tries to heal Lem, but fails his UMD. Lodan uses a wand of scorching ray on Lucrecia (and succeeds, taking down her last image).
Lucrecia casts confusion again (defensively, and gets Tozreh, The Imp, and Lodan in it. Tozreh is the only one who saves). Lem imitates a sack of potatoes . Tozreh attacks Lucrecia and hits twice for 48 damage. The Imp babbles uncontrollably. Lodan rolls to attack the nearest creature which is Tozreh. He casts burning hands (which also gets Lucrecia) and both of them fail their save (and he actually gets past SR) and take 16 points of fire damage.
Lucrecia attempts to cast Cure Mod Wounds on herself, but fails to cast it defensively. Lem is one with the ground. Tozreh's player asks me if he can opt to take damage to himself in order to make a full round attack on Lucrecia, due to the fact the party is in dire straits (I want my MTV.. sorry….) I allow it and he hits all three times and kills Lucrecia (but takes 5 points of damage and falls down dying). At this point I rule that the confusion drops on Lodan and the Imp and the combat ends.
The party was able to reincarnate Neje (now she’s a dwarf!!), but I have to admit it was one of the most intense combats I've run. Also I may have fubared some of the HP's above, but it gives you the gist of it.
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Name of PC: Shadworth Warman
Class/Level: Gunslinger 6
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Followed his brother straight into the room with the cultists
Story:
Due to how things happened we wound up at the sawmill after meeting the Mayor and being threatened with prison. We wound up staking out the place all day. At dusk we picked the lock and explored the place. We got to the third floor and the barbarian tried to bluff them into thinking we were timber inspectors. They invited him in and the gunslinger followed his brother, the barbarian in. My ranger hesitated as he felt nervous about this whole set up. It ended with the Gunslinger going down pretty fast. He finally died due to the summoned lemurs from Ironbriar.
Name of PC: Fyn Leolthin
Class/Level: Witch 6
Adventure: Magnamar, in the clock tower. (Cant remember adventure title)
Catalyst: Reflected Lightning Bolt and GM Tom foolery.
Story: Fyn and her companions climbed the old clock tower to seek the the leader of the Murderous Cult. Seconds into the fight (Round rotation 2) Fyn let loose a lightning bolt to the unnartural creature who reflected right back to her. In a flash the clock tower and the surrounding area was was devistated by the arcane infused explosion.
The lightning bolt that was cast reflected back, and apparently all of my magic wands had to survive fortitude saves or deal 1d6 damage per charge. The explosion from my character alone was 145, initiating a chain reaction. Needless to say the bad guy died, the party, and every innocent civilian nearby as well.
Name of PC: Polosalthius Thunderfist
Class: Stonelord paladin level 2
Adventure: Thistletop
Catalyst: Goblin with a flaming longsword.
Story: Because of lack of intrest in my Witch at level 2, GM Allowed me to reroll a new character. That same day he died.
Name of PC: Return of Polosalthius Thunderfist
Class: Stonelord Paladin level 7
Adventure: Yeehaw, Hillbilly Ogre house.
Catalyst: 2 ghosts(?) and the Big Mamma
Story: A long fight in the hallway before Big Mamma, the Wayang Rogue initiated the fight by opening the door. Polo rushed in as quick as he could and stood strong for the entirety of the fight. He held the ghosts at bay until they were defeated, then it came time face the ogre, health down to 16, severely damaged strength and Dex (From spiders poison and lots of bad rolls), Polosalthius advanced upon the Ogre mage before being slain where he stood.
Name: Sylus Amongus (Forcibly retired, not KIA'd)
Class: Halfling Archer (Fighter: Archer 4/ Rogue 4)
Adventure: Black Arrow Fort
Catalyst: This is acutally a series of "Should be dead but GM said no."
Story:
Ogre and the Waterfall: After taking care of some shocker lizards, an ogre took notice, entered the waterfall cave, thumbs Sylus repedeatly, and wuld not let him escape.
Plant Abberation: Small party, grappled immedeatly, dragged into his mouth and digested (mostly).
Odd Man Out: Teleporting into the ogre controlled fort ranic, between the two parties, the teleport squad had one too many to teleport in (Player joined the game after the plan was made and was stuck with us.) Confident in my own abilities whiles hiding in a tried, I tried shooting and dispatching the ogres on the wall (Now equipped with Bows and arrows with high strength.) Arrows knocked Sylus unconcious, gravity did the rest.
Rats, why did it have to be rats: With only myself and the resident wizard taking part today, clearing out the rest of the hillbilly horror we fight the siamese ogre and his rats. Our strategy was to lure the rats into a pit the wizard created, while I rained hell upon them. It worked until the rats dragged me into the pit, getting out of it the ogre decided to crit me and wreck me as I tried to get out of the pit.
Name: Drielle Skyshaper
Class: Asimar Cleric (nothing but a straight healer)
Adventure: the caves behind fort ranic,
Catalyst: Ogre crits ...
Story: the wizard critically failed casting a spell, causing a stinking cloud to cover the rest of the party, and the two abnormally strong ogres, One ogre was slain, while the other was able to work his way out of the cloud that prevented sight beyond your square. The ogre was able to work his way out, get beyond my darkvision, came up behind and critted me. GM Said I couldnt die because no one else will be a cleric/healer.
Actually, no, every character just fell down the stairs... Honest.
I used to have explosive magic items. Whenever a magic item was critically damaged I'd roll on the Wild Magic table from 2nd ed. AD&D (though it WAS a 2nd ed. campaign - I just refused to allow wild mages... and then inflicted the chart for wild mage surges when magic items blew).
Most memorable was the opening of a rift to the Elemental Plane of Fire which ended up eating up several miles of the Underdark (during Night Below). They never did manage to close that one... just collapsed the ceiling if I remember correctly.
Character Name: Sir Swa
Class/Level: Cavalier 2
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Location: Runewell room in the Catacombs of Wrath
Catalyst: Sacrificed himself to save the party from Erylium
The Gory Details:
When the party, consisting of Mia (fighter), Ze (inquisitor), Audra (sorcerer), and Swa, encountered Erylium, they quickly found themselves floundering. Mia, already low on HP, was knocked unconscious by a summoned sin spawn. Ze found himself unable to puncture the quasit's DR. Audra's offensive spells consisted of electricity and acid, and were unable to damage Erylium. And Swa's trusty lance was barely able to reach the flying fiend.
Fighting a losing battle, as Erylium continued to summon monsters and toss her dagger, Swa dismounted, put Mia on his riding wolf, and commanded the wolf, Ze, and Audra to flee. Already low on HP, he then was Commanded by Erylium to approach her, thus walking into the runewell. However, he managed to survive the initial damage, and resist the rage effect. He did not survive much longer, as Erylium struck him and the gallant gnome bled to death in the runewell.
I do hope the GM then ruled the Runewell had fully discharged and gone out (after summoning another three or four sinspawn), seeing that it's blood that summons Sinspawn... ;)
I do hope the GM then ruled the Runewell had fully discharged and gone out (after summoning another three or four sinspawn), seeing that it's blood that summons Sinspawn... ;)
That is indeed the case. I now get to decide how Erylium will react. Chasing down the remaining party would be most in character, but would definitely result in a TPK as well as completely negating the noble death. Likely she will instead flee to Thistletop or something.
Don't forget her agoraphobia (I think that's the term). She may instead send the sinspawn out to snag a couple people and try sacrificing them in the pool to try and restore it. That would then force the PCs to return to the well... and even allow a couple NPC guards to go with them. She could pull the other surviving critters from the complex to the pool chamber as she would know this may result in a rescue attempt.
One of the NPCs could be the paladin that lives in town... thus giving the PCs a support unit who can harm the Quasit. Have the rest be guards... and some of the guards could even remain outside the complex to prevent anything from escaping.
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Yep, that's the word, Tangent. Elyrium's come a teensy bit unhinged after spending the last ten thousand years trapped beneath Sandpoint, so leaving the only home she's known for uncountable ages is probably more than she can process right now. Pair Tangent's solution with a friendly and wise NPC (say Master Gandethus, for example) letting them know how to punch through a quasit's DR.
Erylium gets as many kills as she does because PCs aren't prepared to deal with flying invisible foes that have DR. It might be a good idea to have that NPC sit down with them and plan out how they'll actually take her down. Basically, it boils down to three things: negate her air superiority, negate her invisibility, and negate her DR. Each PC has to answer that for themselves, and then they'll have a much easier time.
Short version: learning how to beat Erylium is a good textbook example on how to beat other foes that will use this same tactic in the future.
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Name of PC: Faenor
Class/Level: Ranger 8
Adventure: Fort Rannick
Catalyst: Lucrecia
Story:
Tasked with retaking Fort Rannick our GM simply sat us down after rescuing the black Arrows and put us at Fort Rannick to retake. He gave us the maps to it in full. After some talking we found a way to get the Thistletop Goblins over to the Fort to help us. Our now deceased Gunslinger had set up a way to redeem them.
My ranger thought they would make a wonderful distraction. So they did and the group insisted on sneaking through the caverns and the GM handwaved the Shocker Lizard battles.
The Paladin and Barabarian walked right in when she invited them. They also conversed until Lucrecia finally mentioned the army in the mountains. She dropped the Barbarian with a sleep spell. The paladin passed only due to being a half-elf.
Since our biggest damage dealer was down my ranger charged in. She basically between hitting the paladin and the Ranger took me down as she drained my con to the point I died due to taking massive damage.
Luckily I prepped. He is back again as a Catfolk instead of an Aasimar. I had spent money I had ona reincarnate scroll as that was all I could afford. Then gave the cleric money for diamond dust to regain my levels.
Name of PC: Shan' Teli
Race: Suli
Class/Level: Detective Bard 15
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst:Mummy Rot + Finger of Death from Azaven, Ordikon + Prismatic Spray
Basically she got mummy rot from the Ravenous Crypts, and none of the other PCs had a way to remove curse. Doing what they could they pressed on and fought Azaven, who seeing the bard's condition was promptly targeted with finger of death. (Note: Never ask a Necromancer to 'cure' ANYONE. Especially under pain of death.)
So the party Druid reincarnated her as a gnome, and then in the final hall battle with Ordikon he hit her with a number 4 and number 7, failing both. So somewhere on a plane is the dead body of poisoned gnome, that was born as Suli.
Name of NPC: Aldern Foxglove, aka The Skinsaw Man
Class/Level: Aristocrat 4/Rogue 3/Fighter 1
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Throttled to death by hair
Story: After having faced many of Aldern's minions, the PCs (joined by a Sorceress from Irrisen who recently joined the festivities) struck down the four Goblin Ghasts protecting Aldern's chamber. (Small note: the slippery conditions proved more treacherous for the Goblin Ghasts than the PCs - three failures prevented the ghasts from effectively overwhelming the front-line barbarian, though they did cut his hit points down by half. No paralysis though.) Upon entering, the PCs got the drop on Aldern, with the GMPC rogue/wizard getting a successful sneak attack on Aldern (whose hit points I'd increased to over 120 seeing that the Barbarian is quite deadly in combat), while the cleric used her last Channel Energy to smack Aldern and simultaneously negate the Haunt.
At that point Aldern went wimp-mode as recommended, and begged for mercy. The PCs didn't ask quite the right questions though so instead it was mention of Xanesha that triggered the Skinsaw Man's arrival. New initiative, and Aldern went second (after the Sorceress, who went for a Rime Snowball spell). I'd rewritten Aldern's magic items as I felt a Ring of Jumping was useless; instead I reduced his war razor to mastercraft status, eliminated the ring of jumping, and gave Aldern Slippers of Spider Climbing. This proved to be very useful as it let Aldern reach the Hated Foe (a ranger/wizard) and attack from the ceiling.
After the Snowball went off, Aldern was staggered; the Sorceress THEN cast Strangling Hair... and rolled a natural 20 to grapple. The Barbarian started using Aldern as a pinata... but it ended up being the Sorceress's hair, doing 1d6 damage a round, that ultimately killed the Skinsaw Man by reducing it to -1 hit points on the final round.
All in all? A superbly amusing battle that was won by a short sorceress with long blonde hair. ;)
How the heck do you strangle something that doesn't breathe? ^.~
The same question was asked by the PCs. I ruled that it wasn't the lack of air. It was the hair slowly crushing his neck. At the end, the hair snapped his neck. It was magically-enhanced hair, after all! ;)
A tiny bit of ashes...
Name of PC: Delvaniel Alvenas
Class/Level: Male Elf Wizard (Enchanter) 12
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: A very well prepared Mukmurian
Story: After getting really battered by those weird "time dogs" we got into Mukmurian's chamber. Delvaniel was invisible thanks to its Mislead spell. Delvaniel tried to Feeblemind Mukmurian but he rolled high... The effect was to anger Mukmurian, who was seeing invisibility, and he wisely chose to Desintegrate Delvaniel. Surprisingly, I missed my save and got disintegrated.
Our group Druid reincarnated Delvaniel into a brand new human the next day and we stopped Mukmurian once and for all.
Name of PC: Venser
Class/Level: Bone Oracle 8
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Spectre in catacombs behind Fort Rannek
Story: Told the rest of the party to flee as he tried (in vain) to take control of the Spectre before it drained all of his life away. Now there are 2 spectres in the caverns and 1 mindless Xanesha zombie.
Sorry, not really a PC death but the death of a Musket Master's musket.
Name of PC: Otto Oakeshotte
Class/Level: Gunslinger (Musket Master) 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings, up on Thistletop
Catalyst: Bad d20 rolls.
Story:
Set up an ambush to take out the goblin warchief and all his commandos. It was perfect. Otto also gets the highest initiative so he readys an action "to shoot the first goblin that shows itself in the open doorway..." and it happens and it's some magic-y goblin and Otto shoots it and it dies after taking 12 damage. Round 1 went as planned, but the rest of the encounter?
Round 2 - attacked, rolled 1 and misfired. Spent grit to clear and free to reload.
Round 3 - attacked, rolled 1 and misfired. Spent grit to clear and free to reload. Used up all (2) grit points. The fight was looking pretty hairy by now.
Round 4 - attacked, rolled 1 and misfired. I have no grit to clear it immediately. Musket is now "broken", -2 to attack.
Round 5 - attacked, rolled 1 and misfired. Musket blows up and is destroyed. DC12 Reflex for half damage (d12), also in one adjacent square I get to pick. I picked an empty one. Rolled a 3 reflex for a 10. Failed, took 10 damage.
Round 6 - got healed by the cleric, pulled longsword to stay in the fight. Attacked, rolled 1, missed. Nothing really bad happened as it's just a longsword.
Round 7 - attacked with longsword, hit the last goblin that had 2 HP left. fight ended.
To answer a few questions:
Yes, these were the new dice (Game Science BTW) that I got to replace the older Chessex dice that were rolling crappy the last session.
The Ronin, Wizard, and Desna Priestess saved the day on this.
Otto is now stuck in Thistletop with no musket. That musket had a lot of GP into it (comparitively) and Otto was going to wait to name it when it got it's first crit.
Yes, I now have a new viewpoint of the Gunslinger class.
Shun the dice! Destroy them in front of the other dice so they understand what it means to fumble!
This is why you have multiple sets of dice. When one die starts rolling truly horrifically you switch dice. =^-^=
Name of PC: Vincint
Class/Level: Human Oracle 9
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Mokmurian shaking his little finger.
Story: The Group had finally come to the climactic battle with the Stone Giant Mokmurian
The fight was going in mokmurians favor after some choice locations with the Reverse gravity spell and TK to send silly charging barbarians back into the same reverse gravity field, the party Oracle came up with the idea of silencing the Giant, but rather than casting it on the giant instead cast on the greatsword being used by one of the barbarians, followed up with the party sorc casting fly on the barbarian and several rounds of the already flying giant trying to stay out of the silence field, on one of those turns he cast disintegrate on the poor oracle with the history of failing saves and POOF one pile of dust was all that remained.
Name of PC: Bernie
Class/Level: Gnome Wizard ( Illusionist) 11
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst: The Scribbler
Story: the party was fighting the Glabrezu when the Scribbler decided to join the fray
When the fight first started everyone except for the dwarven barbarian passed their will saves against his fear aura, the dwarfs placement caused her to run further into the ruins and not out, she ran one room south into a room that is described as being covered in blood and bloody bits. The dwarf was also in possession of an item that allowed for teleportation but to only specific locations, on the dwarfs turn she teleported to thistletop ( party had converted into a keep). Now dwarf has no way to rejoin the fight. After a couple rounds the Scribbler d. doored to a different room. The Gnome went to the south room looking for the dwarf and found only walls coated in blood and gooey bits all over the place. ( this player is my best RPer in the group) he quickly through up an illusion making it look like a dead end to spare his allies the sight of what looked like the dwarfs grisly end. The party assumed that the dwarf had ported out and wanted to keep looking while waiting for her to come back. After another hit and run by the scribbler the group took a break to eat, I spoke with the dwarf player and explained that the dwarf would not have any chance of making it back in time. But I wanted her to play the scribbler so as not to be board all night, she liked the idea. She read up on him, I explained his tactics and we resumed play. The scribbler used his disguise self spell to look like the dwarf and after d. dooring to the staircase joined the group. ( the players assumed I cheated and let her come back early) the Gnome being the only one that had seen the bloody room walkup to the dwarf shocked and amazed that she was still alive only to be greeted instead by a hug but some flatfooted attacks from the scribbler. He ran to the back of the room and the scribbler target the large cluster of players with his confusion spell, the Arcance archer ( ftr/mage build), the healer, and the illusionist all failed their saves, next round the archer gets confused and opens up on the poor little gnome next to her.
Good Bye Bernie, next rounds she reduces healer to 7 health and the Sorc casts Hold person on the archer to keep her from killing party members. The who time this was going on the party’s second barbarian was fighting and finally killed the scribbler.
Name of PC: Return of Polosalthius Thunderfist
Class: Stonelord Paladin level 7
Adventure: Yeehaw, Hillbilly Ogre house.
Catalyst: 2 ghosts(?) and the Big Mamma
Story: A long fight in the hallway before Big Mamma, the Wayang Rogue initiated the fight by opening the door. Polo rushed in as quick as he could and stood strong for the entirety of the fight. He held the ghosts at bay until they were defeated, then it came time face the ogre, health down to 16, severely damaged strength and Dex (From spiders poison and lots of bad rolls), Polosalthius advanced upon the Ogre mage before being slain where he stood.
I was looking forward to the encounters in the house, however the Cavalier in my Party took one look at the House and said
"Screw That" he then convinced the party to torch the house and open fire on anything the tried to escape.
Name of PC: Finn and Tobi (Companion and Character)
Class/Level: Halfling Ninja/Chef 6 and 8 (respectively)
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Black Maga
Story: The halfling chefs were within the church trying to save any recipes that may have been hidden within the manuscripts while the rest of the party was off saving the school children. When Black Maga rose from the water and started battering the church they ran out to confront her as the rest of the party (one of whom was a bard and had some knowledge of her capabilities) chose to stay back and fire away at her. Breath of Madness and confusion quickly had the halflings grappled, crit energy drained, and dead in short order.
Oh noes! Woe betide those who slay the preparers of foodstuffs!! YARR!! ;)
Have their clan show up and turn Maga into fried calamari.
Mm...Banana peppers, maybe a spicy dipping sauce.