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Rukus Power Attacks for 3 points (making him +16 on damage), and then rolls two consecutive natural 20's. Spears have a x3 crit rating to start with. Since Rukus was reading a spear against attack, and this unfortunately was a mounted charge, it became x4 critical damage... 1d8+16 x 4
Ouch, that really sounds nasty. :-) Also it must have looked really cool, impaling the poor PC and Rukus throwing him over his shoulder... I hereby give this PC death a coolness score of 10 out of 10. :-)
Name of PC: Ulric, son of Lars
Class/Level: Male Human Paladin 6
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha
Story:
Ulric and his allies faced off against the lamia matriach Xanesha at the top of the Shadow Clock. While his allies made sure to keep themselves moving around the rooftop battlefield, Ulric settled himself into a cozy spot on the ledge--a man without fear of the 200 ft drop to the street below. When the lamia matriach came charging at him in a bull rush, the paladin could do little to stop her--as he raised the longbow in his hands in futile attempt to defend himself. Ulric, son of Lars, was pushed ten feet off the roof ledge. A last ditch attempt to save himself by grasping some ruined scaffolding proved equally fruitless--as Ulric splattered on the streets of Magnimar having taken 70 points of damage.
Name of PC: Ulfgar Holderhek
Class/Level: Cleric 11
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants - The Ancient Library
Catalyst: "Hold the door open."
The party has been doing hit-and-run attacks for the last several game days. This session, they killed the Headless Lord then found the entrance to the library. They defeated two Shining Children resulting in two of five party members being blinded - Ulfgar and the party Wizard. Ulfgar, being blind and generally useless, was told to hold open the door to prevent another Shining Child from being summoned. The party then spent 20 minutes talking with the Librarian.
Mokmurian, thinking the party has followed the usual tactics, leaves his lair to assess the damage, and finds the party in the library. During the ensuing fight, Mokmurian uses Wall of Force to trap the Barbarian and Rogue at the far end of the hall. That leaves the party Sorcerer in the middle of the hall, blind Ulfgar still holding the door open and wonder what is going on, and the blind wizard hidden deep inside the library. The sorcerer teleports behind the Wall of Force leaving Mokmurian alone with only the blind cleric as a target - and having no idea the rest of the party has deserted him. Mokmurian hits him with a Disintegrate spell and Ulfgar fails the save reducing him to ashes.
UMATO Human Shapeshifter Druid lvl 4.
Killed by Iesha in the Foxglove Manor.
Name of PC: Volvere Trelock
Class/Level: Rogue 3
Adventure: Burnt offerings (a grand total of 79)
Catalyst: Bridge to (from) Thistletop
Story: So the party had more or less cleared out Thistletop (didn't find Malfeshnekor though), wounded and tired, they decided to head back to Sandpoint. They had arrived to Thistletop via boat, but the fisherman had left as soon as he dropped them off. So this time, they had to walk. They came to the bridge, only to find it partially collapsed (some goblins had fled the longshanks when they found out they were the heroes of Sandpoint - forgetting to disarm the trap before crossing the bridge themselves...). There was no pressure on them, and they could've come up with dozen simple solutions. However, they decided it would be easy to climb across. The first character made it easily enough. However, the rogue of the party was not so lucky. After a few bad dice rolls he plunged to his death. Rather embarrasing...
The rest of the party spent the next hour trying to fish out his body to be buried in Sandpoint (and because he kept a lot of the loot).
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Name of PC: Zeldax
Class/Level: Male Human Fighter 1
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Goblin dogs, inexperience, and wanting to be a hero
Story:
I'm going to give some background on the player first. Please forgive lengthy verbal assault. :)
We started the game with 3 people and 5 PCs. Our first session my son watched a little bit. On our second session he came down not long after we started with a fighter rolled up, geared up, and generally ready to play. I was completely taken aback that he went through all that trouble by himself with no help. After a few seconds of silence and fighting back one of those "I am so proud of you tears" I let him join in. We took a lunch break and I helped him finish up feats and some other minor things. This game day went pretty good and he learned some things about his character. On our third day the group just arrived at Thistletop. Everyone but my son was now 2nd level. With a 6 party group I had to really beef up the adventures. One of the maze rooms I put in 5 or 6 goblin dogs. My son being naive but very heroic decided to run up and lay the smack down. At level 1 with no backup for a turn or two (due to limited movement in the hallways) he ended up in over his head. As he ran up 3 of the dogs surrounded him. By the 2nd turn he was down and the last fatal blow was struck.
He looked at me kind of strangely, and asked if he was ok. I looked at him and felt a pang of sadness that his first major game experience ended so quickly for him. He got up from the table and was heading up the stairs. As he did so I could see his eyes water up slightly. Everyone at the table was kind of silent. Then one of my players said, "Hey, it's ok. You did a great job." I gave the guys a quick look and told them I would be right back. He was upstairs with a look as if he just found out the most horrible news you could imagine. After a quick pep talk and promises of bringing in another PC he started to perk up. He had already made a cleric as his warriors companion. Who would be seeking his revenge. Not long after he changed his mind about the cleric and we rolled up a Elf Ranger for him to play. He gets to start at 3rd and he is really excited about the animal companion. As a surprise for him I am painting up Valeros as Xen the TWF Elf Ranger of Desna. It should be done this week just in time for our next session.
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Well the adventurers raided Fort Rannick with some casualties.
Name of PC: Kaven Windstrike
Class/Level: Ranger 2/ Rouge 5
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Lamia Matriarch
Story: When he was revealed as the traitor, he ran to her side stating his love for her. She killed him because he was useless to her.
Name of PC: Vale Temros
Class/Level: Ranger2/Fighter 4
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Lamia Matriarch
Story: He charged the Lamia Matriarch only to be the second to die.
Name of PC: Orik Vancaskerkin
Class/Level: Fighter 4/ Ranger 2
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Lamia Matriarch
Story: Sent to serve with the Black Arrows after being captured at Thistletop. He was the third to die by the hands of the Lamia Matriarch.
Name of PC: Altina
Class/Level: Ranger 7
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Karly-Lop Kreeg
Story: After loosing most of the Black Arrows and tired of sneaking around, the party set fire to the New Barracks and snuck around behind the ogres checking out the fire. They quickly dispatched several ogres when Altina was gutted by the ogre fighter and the party realized some ogres were much tougher than others.
I had switched Lucretia's and Xanesha's places. Xanesha still proved to be a challenge to the party and got away. They were very upset when realizing she had fled the fort. They had searched every room for her wanting to finish her off. She will return and cause them much more grief.
Name of PC: Ragnar (also known as Ragnar the Timid and Ragnar the Chaste (through no fault of his own)
Class/Level:Human (from the Lands of the Linorm Kings) Fighter 3
Adventure: Burnt Offering
Catalyst: Yeth Hound to the Throat
Story: The party had cleared the top of Thistletop and had wandered down to the next level finding the Temple of Lamashtu. They kicked the door in and before anyone stepped in, both the Yeth hounds began howling. All bar one (Thorgar the Mighty Druid 2/Barbarian 1) ran off upstairs while Thorgar charged in and challenged the Yeth hounds to come get him.
Somehow... with no fudging from me he managed to hold off being floored for the 6-7 rounds it took for the party to return to help him. He dropped to -6 just as the other restormed the temple and the Varisian sorceress fired a volley of Magic Missles to get their attentions. Cue another fight and Shalelu using her wand of Cure Light to get Thorgar back up and the party killed one Yeth hound then started to hem in the last one. One critical later and Ragnar had his throat torn out by the Yeth hound.
Several days later they held the funeral for Ragnar on the beach at Sandpoint, burning him on a pyre as Thorgar (in his reincarnated form- more later) gave a speech that had us in stitches. A true heroes send off.
Name of PC: Thorgar (the Mighty)
Class/Level:Shoati Druid 2/Barbarian 1
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Attempting to Overrun Nualia and being Death Knelled
Story:On the groups return to Thistletop (with a new dwarven fighter in tow to replace Ragnar) they fought their way through the 2nd level, catching Bruthazmus with his pants down (literally) in the harem and incinerating most of the room with a Burning Hands spell. They subdued Orik and were surprised how co-operative he was (after capturing Lyrie and getting a torrent of abuse from her). They ventured into the third level and found Nualia who's Yeth hound was swiftly slain and she bottlenecked the PC's for a time before Thorgar attempted to open a second front by Overrunning her... Cue a critical from Nualia and Thorgar dropped... She then paused to check if he was alive before casting Death Knell on him. They later managed to kill her and take Thorgar's body back.
Back at Sandpoint they were pulling their hair out as the questioned Madame Vavishti about who could reincarnate Thorgar who eventually pointed them to a 7th level Druid who lived about 4 days away. Even though Thorgar was killed by a death effect (Death Knell) I allowed them to bring him back (mainly cos we all thought Thorgar was brillant and his Riding Dog Companion Bono had the most kills in the party - The goblins called it the Devil Dog) and also because I couldn't understand why Nualia had a 18-20 threat range with her sword and he'd been criticalled on an 18.
He actually came back as a Human although this time he was a bit different being white and shorter (he views it as a bonus as he can go the Ven Vinders shop now and have another crack at Shayliss)
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Location of Death: Bramblewoods preceding Thistletop
Character Killed: Percival the Bold, Human Wizard
Cause of Death: Vicious goblin dogs.
Percival the Bold was slain defending his comrades from the combination of goblins, goblin dogs, and Gogmurt and companion. The beasties attacked in waves, with Gogmurt appearing after about round 5. All of the monsters were slain before the rickety bridge, but in the end, only one PC was still conscious, with the rest bleeding and Precival reduced to -8, unable to stabilize his festring wounds. First casaulty of the campaign, and they're just getting ready to enter Thistletop.
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ADVENTURE: Burnt Offerings
LOCATION: Glassworks
CHARACTER: Shamus MacGregor, Dwarven (1st) Barbarian from Janderhoff
CAUSE/MEANS: Fumbled attacking three Goblins in the Furnace room, fumble caused Shamus to fall prone. Three Goblins quickly picked up Shamus and threw him into the furnace. Damage took the already injured Barbarian to -19.
ADVENTURE: Burnt Offerings
LOCATION: Enroute to Thistletop
CHARACTER: Alth, Whisper Gnome (2nd) Rogue from Riddleport
CAUSE/MEANS: While resting at camp before reaching the Thistletop a Giant Constrictor Snake wandered into camp. Finding the small edible creature it began it's meal. The party member on watch (Brandon, 3rd Swordsage) noticed this when the snake was attempting to swallow the crushed Gnome. Instead of raising the alarm he instead attempted a single handed daring rescue. After his first hit didn't kill it he decided to alert the sleeping party. The next character to step in was a 2nd lvl Fighter (replaced Shamus) who then fumbled striking the Whisper Gnome and finishing off the snakes work.
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
PC: Henry
Class: Rogue/Fighter // Enchanter/Master Enchanter
Catalyst: Scanderig
PC: Kimiko
Class: Sohei // Rogue/Swordsage
Catalyst: Mokmurian
PC: Roakhar
Class: Scout/Man of Will/Kensai // Warblade
Catalyst: Mokmurian
PC: Jardeen
Class: Cleric/Walker in the Wastes // Swordsage
Catalyst: Scanderig
Description:
After skipping the exterior of Jorgunfist as well as the majority of the first level, the PCs had a very rough time with the Headless Lord and his entourage followed by the Shining Child guarding the library door. Undeterred, they decided to press on to Mokmurian's chambers and try to take out the lion in his den.
Of course, by this time Mokmurian was quite aware of the PCs and was buffed to the gills, plus he'd called the Scanderig to hide in the walls until the PCs were fully commited to the fight against him.
As soon as the PCs entered the room, Mokmurian laid his opening gambit with a reverse gravity stranding several of the PCs (I warned them they might want potions of fly...). Roakhar had managed to snag himself on a pillar in the room and was able to drag himself free of the reverse gravity effect, and Kimiko Shadow Jaunted out. The two of them charged forward, only to be caught in the middle of a solid fog and cut off from each other by a wall of force. Roakhar was trapped with Mokmurian, while Kimiko got to play with the newly-joined Scanderig; Roakhar got two scorching rays and a vampiric touch, although he did get some good hits as well. Still, even his tremendous amount of hit points couldn't stand up to the giant wizard's barrage.
Jardeene was the next to fall, turned to stone by the Scanderig's magic, then Mokmurian scorching rayed and disintegrated Kimiko to death, leaving him and the Scanderig to face the lone wizard Henry. Henry gave a good account of himself, ultimately bringing Mokmurian to within 0.5 hit points of unconciousness, but he could not prevail; Mokmurian polymorphed into a will-o-wisp and fled the chamber, while the Scanderig walled Henry in with a wall of fire and wall of stone plus the already-erected wall of force. With nowhere to go, Henry attempted to teleport himself away, but the Scanderig was waiting for him and dealt him a vicious blow, dropping him.
This was the first battle that actually resulted in a TPK throughout the entire adventure path for my group. In the end, because they came so close and because they really wanted to see Sins of the Saviors and fight Karzoug, I used DM fiat to rewind time and tip the one die roll in their favor, allowing Henry's shadowy evocated scorching ray to do one more point of damage to Mokmurian, dropping him to negative hitpoints. At that point, I released the Scanderig from its bound service and allowed the PCs to recover.
This fight was absolutely brutal for the party; Mokmurian is NOT a CR 15. He's closer to CR 17 or 18, IMO. I added the Scanderig because the players took their time in the fight with the Headless Lord and gave Mokmurian plenty of time to study them and their fighting techniques; he thought he could probably use some melee backup.
I just had a TPK at the end of Burnt Offerings. Before I go into details, here are the characters:
Vargren, Male Chelaxian Wizard 4
Aras, Male Shoanti Barbarian 4
Finch, Male Varsian Rogue 4
Thurgar, Male Dwarf Cleric 4
As a bit of background, I had decided that the Forbidding binding Malfeshnekor would have an escape clause: specifically, a non-evil character must spill his own blood on the threshold of the prison room to break it.
So, everything was going fine. The party put Nualia down, but decided that leaving an even more powerful follower of Lamashtu (Malfeshnekor) around would just cause problems later. So they buffed up and went in with the barbarian in the lead. An invisible Mal promptly dropped a charm on the barbarian, who needed a 19 to save, which he rolled on the nose. Next the rogue tumbled into the room, ending adjacent to Mal. The Cleric then dropped a silence in the room to shut down Mal's casting. So far, so good. When Mal's action came up again, he mauled the rogue, dropping him to zero hit points. Seeing this, the barbarian stepped out of the room. The rogue then decided to tumble right back out of the room, making his roll, then dropping unconcious to the floor at the end of the tumble, which TOOK HIM RIGHT OVER THE THRESHOLD. I gave him a 50% chance to spill blood on the threshold, the dice went the wrong way, and Mal was free. Needless to say, things got ugly fast. The rogue had one of the party's two magic weapons, and he spent the whole fight on the floor bleeding out. Mal squeezed past the barbarian, freeing himself from the silence while trapping the wizard in it, and completely dividing the party. The cleric then burned an action dispelling the silence just so the wizard could cast spells. Mal chewed through the barbarian (very quickly), then the wizard (which took longer due to a mirror image spell), and finally the cleric. All the while the party was whitting Mal down with magic missles and the like. When he ate the last party member he was down to 28 hit points. Not pretty (but fun).
We are tossing around the idea of rolling up a new party and starting at the beginning of Skinsaw, but that means I lose the Aldern connection, which would be a real shame. I might just suggest we run Crimson Throne.
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Updated totals:
1st adventure (Burnt Offerings): 90 (5 animal companion/npc)
2nd adventure (Skinsaw Murders): 35 (1 animal companion/npc)
Side Quest:4
3rd adventure (Hook Mt): 18
Side Quest: 1
4th adventure(FotSG): 12
5th adventure (Sins): 1
6th adventure (SoX-S): 0
still no one for spires and only one for sins?
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Name of (n)PC: Talia
Class/Level: Animal Companion, Wolf
Adventure:Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Chief Ripnugget
Story: The Party (Nuna, Female Human Shoanti Fighter 3; Iloryn, Female Elf Wizard 3; Shalise, Female Human Varisian Cleric of Desna 3; Runik, Male Dwarf Druid 3; Adenian, Male Elf Bard 3; Talue, Female ELf Rogue 3; and [npc]Milva, Female Half-Orc Rogue 3) had been pretty successful at ambushing the goblins of Thistletop on the various goblin paths, so Ripnugget dispatched the remaining Goblins from the other tribes and 4 of his own warriors under the watchful eye of Bruthazmus and Gogmurt, and aided by one of Nualia's Yeth Hounds. In a harrowing fight, The Yeth Hound and Gogmurt are sent packing after the death of Bruthazmus and the Thistletop Goblins and surrender/flight of the other tribes' Goblins.
The Yeth Hound's return, severely wounded, puts the Thistletop Goblins on High Alert, withdrawing to their encampment completely, leaving only their Goblin Dogs to patrol the Thistle Tunnels under the "watchful eye" of Gogmurt. Gogmurt, having barely survived two beatings from the PCs already, decides to grab Tangletooth and head for the hills, waiting to return after all this "Longshank foolishness" has been settled.
The PCs recover from their wounds and prepare to assault the encampment. Runik quaffs an Invisibility Potion and explores the Thistle Tunnels, finding it mostly abandoned. The party makes short work of the Goblin Dogs.
After a long discussion on tactics regarding the rope bridge, they decide that Talia can cross the bridge, drop Bruthazmus's head outside the doors of the "Fort" and run back over the bridge with little enough danger. Talia does this, taking a minor wound from the Goblins in the Towers. The Party responds by sending volleys of arrows back at the towers, managing to kill two of the 4 Goblins in the towers. Another Goblin comes out to see what he head is and is also killed. The Goblins shut the gates again, and the 2 Remaining Goblins in the tower squat down to hide.
Talue and Milva start to cross the bridge, and when Talia attempts to cross, the trap is activated. Talia and Talue make their saves, jumping back on shore. Milva begins to fall, but Iloryn keeps her from splating with a quick Feather Fall spell. Once in the Water, Milva begins making her way to the shore (being a Sailor and having Ranks in Swim), and the party, after a few Mending spells on the Bridge, proceed across cautiously. Now that they are within better range for the shortbows, the tower Goblins try again, getting themselves killed in the process.
The party (minus Milva) make their way around the Fort, rescuing Shadowmist, and finally making their way into the Throne Room. By now, Ripnugget has gotten impatient waiting for them and has mounted Stickfoot and the Commandos and Warchanter are also impatiently waiting to bring the pain. His attempt to get Adenian to come forward fails, and he orders the attack.
Talia and Talue move forward to engage the enemy while Runik and Shalise summon creatures to help. In short order, the room becomes quite crowded. Unfortunately for Talia, she is the chief target that Ripnugget can attack, so he concentrates on her while two Commandos flank Talue, dropping her quickly. Iloryn and the summoned Bombadier Beetle concentrate on the Warchanter, bringing her down, while the summoned Hippogriph tears into two Commandos. Nuna moves up to deal with the Commandos on Talue.
A few rounds later (with Shalise moving to heal Talue and Nuna keeping the Commandos busy), the summoned creatures disappeared and Talia wounded and retreated gives Ripnugget the opportunity to take down one last fearsome foe before he dies. He charges Talia and gets a Crit. Already wounded, the twenty some-odd points are more than enough to kill the wolf outright . The party has blocked Ripnugget's escape, however, and he falls by the end of the round.
Runik explores the rest of the upper level, hoping to find some Goblins he can kill, to no avail....
Name of PC:
Class/Level:
Adventure:
Catalyst:
Story:
still no one for spires and only one for sins?
Will 3 PCs and a cohort help with sins? :)
Name of PC: Ulfgar Holderhek, Merovech, Phane (cohort)
Class/Level: Cleric 11, Wizard 12, Cleric 10, respectively
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors – Shimmering Veils of Pride
Catalyst: Starting a second fight in the next room
A party of 6 PCs and 2 cohorts entered Runeforge. They started with Pride as it was the leftmost passage. Everyone made their Will saves at the entrance except the sorceress who was the only character with the sin of Pride and was immune to the Mirrors. I had been worried going into this module that a number of characters would die in this fight, but they did well. Near perfect, in fact. Probably because most of the players had dealt with dual Mirrors of Opposition before and had learned how to deal with them. The only real difficulty was the time fighting 14 opponents.
Unfortunately, Merovech made the big mistake. He had two Feeblemind spells memorized and figured his odds of saving against both counterparts was low, so he Dimension Doored into the large chamber. This activated the Simulacrums who all cast Greater Invisibility. Merovech area dispelled 3 of 4. The Simulacrums retaliated with enough Scorching Rays to kill Merovech, activating his Contingent Dimension Door to appear next to Phane (for a Revivify) right at the entrance to the main room. The Simulacrums spotted Merovech, saw him get revived, saw two duplicates get cut down during the round, and counted 4 people (PCs or duplicates) they could see and more around the mirrored corner. Four empowered Fireballs later, 2 PCs and a cohort were dead, another PC barely alive, and 2 duplicates were fried.
The Barbarian/Rogue made all saves, taking no damage. He and the sorceress (who finally arrived to the fight) were able to finish the Simulacrums with help from the rest of the party. With both clerics dead, the party rogue had to use a Raise Dead scroll to bring one back.
Name of PC: Veruca Moss
Class/Level: Sorcerer 12
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors – Halls of Wrath
Catalyst: Sleeping in the entrance room to Wrath
So the group enters the Halls of Wrath and most of their buff spells are knocked down by the entryway (one of the security features I added to the entryways of all 7 sections of Runeforge). The party barbarian kills the golem after a couple of rounds, between fits of laughter over an Iron Golem with a bow, then needs to be healed. The party finds the teleport circles, but decides they want to rest to regain spells before continuing because they lost so many buff spells. They all forgot that sleep wasn’t required and made the really bad mistake of sleeping in the entrance room to Wrath as they didn’t want to try to pass the Mirrors protecting Pride. Veruca was on watch and standing in a corner away from the rest of the party when the attack happened. The demon teleported in next to her (having used Clairvoyance for location) then full attacked the next round for the kill. The rest of the party took a beating, but managed to get away from the rest of the attackers with the Barbarian/Rogue reaching Veruca’s body before Dimension Dooring away.
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Name of PC: Zakstag
Class/Level: Shoanti Duskblade 8
Adventure: Hook Mountain/ Burnt Offerings (/Skinsaw)
Catalyst: Malfeshnekor and Xanesha
Story: When they first met our charming barghest prisoner, they could not defeat him (indeed, Zak was incredibly lucky to survive his second attempt) and was hellbent on going back one day to finish the beast off.
The party was also rather annoyed at the fact that Xanesha managed to get away from them (the fact that she ran off with a lot of really expensive magic items made it only worse).
I was sure that sooner or later, probably after Hook Mountain (when they'd have plenty of time), they'd make the trek back to Thistletop to fight Mal, and since they were upset about the lamia matriarch getting away, I decided to let the two join forces: Xanesha, with her ability to disguise as a regular human, would stalk the hated enemies who foiled her plans, and from there it would be fairly easy to pick up on their (or at least Zak's) obsession about a certain outsider.
She'd seek him out, offer an alliance (we'll fight them together, I prepare them with a ritual, you eat their bodies while my master gets their greedy souls, and I'll free you so we can go our separate ways), and wait for the party (which I thought would be a nice battle for a party of 4, with the power level they'd have at the time).
Instead, the Shoanti decided to go alone, leaving his earstwhile companions behind (CN and not very attached to them, so small wonder his obsessions are more important to him).
Of course, he was no match for Xanesha (which would not have needed Malfeshnekor at all, and in fact he was dropped during the fight), who defeated him, tied him to an altar, revived Mal (with a potion, he wasn't quite dead), who proceeded to eat the duskblade's hands (you never know with spellcasters). Xanesha properly prepared him with the Sihedron rune, and Mal devoured him.
After that, the two went their separate ways, but it's very likely that the rest of the party will meet one or the other (or both) again.
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Name of PC: Gonzadol
Class/Level: Dragon Shaman 8th
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Wet Papa Grazuul
Story: Gonzadol peered into the pool that Grazuul was in and was first pierced with Grazull's Military Fork, Then on Grazuuls next turn he droped his fork and clawed and bit Gonzadol, scoring one critical hit sending Gonzadol to negative 13. Then the ranger Aurodo filled Grazuul with three arrows scoring a critical hit and putting Grazull over his current hitpoints in subdual damage. The party then used their fire and acid to finish of the scrag.
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ADVENTURE: Burnt Offerings
CHARACTER: Aramilia the Elven Ranger (Female)
LOCATION: Warchief Ripnuggets' Throne Room
CAUSE/MEANS: Well this little battle in the throne room was going ok, except that whenever the Paladin attacked with his overhead chop he quickly dispatched anything with one hit, not to mentions this players lucky dice...three Natural 20's in a single combat!! Well karma came around when I rolled one against Aramilia and rolled 100% on the Crit chart...end result...decapitation. This also was the ONLY time I ever hit with Ripnugget.
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Name of PC: DM (me)
Class/Level: Dungeon Master 1
Adventure: Burnt Offerings (Between 1st and 2nd session)
Catalyst: Players Want to Break Me
Story: They don't want to break me, just the limits of my sanity. As my level indicates I'm a new DM. That's not entirely true. I ran an Exalted game for 2 years. But that concluded nearly 2 years ago, badly. I've been freelance writing so I can have a creative outlit that is RPG oriented.
To get to the specifics: I said that just about anything WotC produced should be fine as long as I read it first and it is not from a short list of prohibited books (Bo9S, etc). They're good on that 2nd part, but two of the players ("Bip" and "Bop" to protect their identies) built their entire characters around stuff that I did not read beforehand. Both Bip and Bop have substantially more books then I do since Bip downloads them off (redacted) and gives them to Bop. I'm against (redacted); call me lawful alignment. So I read the reserve feat that Bip wanted to use. I'm not for it because from where I stand it's a 4E playtest feat. But I have no other reason against it so I allow it. Bop wants to build his entire character around a PrC and association from Complete Champion (that has no flavor in RotRL). I allowed the PrC but not the association since I am not playing with associations. Bop whines that he now has to change his entire character but I tell him no since we already played with his character and he was the one that did not get my approval on something before building his character. So he whines about Bip being allowed his reserve feat. I'll probably tell him that he took the gamble that I'd approve a whole set of rules that I didn't expressly allow.
Then Bop complains that I did to much page flipping. Well I am sorry that I have 2 jobs and a daughter that I am also preparing to see. DMing isn't my highest priority, unlike Bop who is in his mid-30's doesn't have a job (full time or otherwise), and lives at home with his parents. For the record, Bop use to run the game, but the players made a unanimous decision that we never want to do that again (long story).
Frankly between this and plenty of less then plesant experiences from previous games with this group, I'm already ready to quit the group (maybe find a different group, but not them). Not to mention that DMing ALREADY has become a chore and isn't fun. Not with these two munchkins.
Score 1 for the players.
Name of PC: Kalkas
Class/Level: Cleric of Sarenrae 3/Sorceror 3
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Hucker Graul
Story: Having absolutely annilhilated Rukus and Crowfood, the party made their way down to the cellar of the Graul farmhouse, only to be confronted with a raging Hucker. Kalkas' first action was to cast a scorching ray on Hucker, which hit him for a considerable amount of damage. Hucker's response was to charge the unfortunate unarmoured caster. Two hits later and Kalkas was down.
Fortunately, the party druid had a last breath spell prepared, so Kalkas was pulled back from the tunnel of light at the very last moment. :)
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
PC: Allum Thief 1/ wiz 2, Daruk Barbarian 2, Talus, Ranger 1
Catalyst: Gogmurt and the goblin refugees
The party decided to immediately track and attack the goblins in their hideout at Thistletop after the raid. After trying to burn the goblins out unsuccessfully, they then proceeded with a frontal assault. Mind you, the smoke from their fire alerted the whole compound.
In the entry room at the thistletop lair- where the hole is- the PCs faced off with Gogmurt whose hit and run tactics left Daruk filleted and on fire. Gogmurt's animal companion, with help from a goblin dog, took out Talus the ranger, and Gogmurt critted the rogue with his flaming sword. (using the Crit Hit deck- was tres ugly). Gogmurt then turned his attentions to the cleric, Nim, and dropped him to 0, but Shalelu was with them and managed to drag him out of the way, heal him, and the rwo escaped. Almost a complete TPK, and a vicious fight.The goblin refugees were apparently only meant as extra XP as the players had no trouble dropping them...
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32
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I'm working on a new house rule for diplomacy checks that take just a round. It makes sense that someone can say "Hey, we mean you no harm" in less than a minute. They can probably say that much in a round, fair enough. If an NPC is truly hostile, they're not going to stand there for a minute while you talk at them. They're going to eat you, like Radar.
Trying to do a Diplomacy check in one round can be done, it just requires a -20 to the check. I believe this is in the PHB.
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Name of PC: Sir Mortimer
Class/Level: Chelaxian male Fighter 5
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Plumetting Inferno (Haunt)
Sir Mortimer ran to the Observatory to help Lamahno, the fighter/ranger/transmuter when the haunt activated (it was an Universal Haunt because they were only four PCs). Both PCs failed their Will saves and both jumped through the windows. Lamahno could grapple the roof, but Sir Mortimer failed the next Reflex & Climb rolls. Even, the attack failed with a natural one in the dice... and died from the falling.
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Character: Jericho Paladin of Torag (3rd lvl)
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Location: First level of Thistletop
Cause: The party entered the lower level of Thistletop...while going through the sleeping quarters area they opened the door to Orik's room, and quickly shut it. Brazthumas came out of his room howling at the party and as the attentioned turned Orik opened his door Bastard sword ready. "Falin" Cleric of Torag stepped up with his enlarged Warhammer and crushed Brazthumas with a critical hit on the first strike (Poor Bugbear) then I critted with Orik against Jericho killing him instantly, and yes oddly enough the Cleric attacked Orik on his next turn killing Orik with yet again another critical hit.
Character: Mickey O'Reilly Human Fighter (3rd lvl)
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Location: Second level of Thistletop
Cause: After being panicked and placed in a incapacitated state Nualia was able to coup de grae the unfortunate fighter.
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Name of PC: DM (me)
Class/Level: Dungeon Master 1
Adventure: Burnt Offerings (Between 1st and 2nd session)
Catalyst: Players Want to Break Me
Story: a sorry tale...
My unsolicited advice would be to go core (perhaps converting to PFRPG would be a good excuse). Tell the party that rules knowledge is stopping both you and them from having fun - so you're going to strip back to core and concentrate on the game.
That should help cut the munchkinism and lessen the impact of your inexperience.
Name of PC: Ulfgar Holderhek, Val Mar'Tigan
Class/Level: Cleric 10, Paladin/Ranger/Noble 4/3/4,
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors – Halls of Wrath
Catalyst: Taking time to buff and not caring they were spotted
So after beating a hasty retreat from the entry room of the Halls of Wrath with the remains of the Sorcerer (see previous post about a dozen up), the party returns the next day ready for some revenge. Val spots the eyes from a Prying Eyes spell. The eyes retreat back towards the teleport circle, alerting the two guards who step into the circle to warn the rest of the complex. The party spotted the guards as they stepped through and correctly surmised the alarm was being raised.
Instead of giving chase, the party spent the next 5 rounds casting Buff spells. Eventually Ulfgar, Val and the 2 rogues stepped through simultaneously - only to be met with 8 fireballs from the waiting wizards. Ulfgar and Val died in the horrific explosion while the rogues took no damage.
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ok ok not looking at the others, but i don't think my dm knows about this place yet...
Advenure 2, The Skinsaw Murders.
In the middle of the haunted hous, we had just encountered the revenant in front of her mirror.
The undead hating druid (ME) shoots her, and eventually she grabs the cleric/ardent (Taris) and does her favorite claw claw bite constrict trick.
I managed to get him up from the 1st round of attacks, but the next one killed him outright.
Finally, the paladin was able to land his smite and dropped it, but not before Taris was mulched at like -18 or so.
It took all the treasure from the house and a little bit more party loot to reincarnate him as a dwarf.
Taris, Cleric 2/Ardent 3, dead by revenant.
-the hamster
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CHARACTER: Hooley Praasalot (Cleric) Read the name carefully
Died in Thisteltop when one of his party nembers unleashed a spell
to defeat a monster and it killed him instead.
The character has now come back in book 4 as a ressurrected servent
of the Runelords (yeah I took some liscence) but because my players
are reading this website now, they are learning about the story
in advance, so I am changing things dramatically.
Jamie
Name of PC: Ronnin
Class/Level: Female Elven Rogue, Level 7
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha
Ronnin was sent forward alone to scout out the roof of the clock tower... it ended with a fall to the cracked grimy cobblestones below.
... nuff said. (although the party did pay to get her raised from the dead... so you might well hear about her demise again).
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Name of PC: Adrastos
Player: He's Skjaldbakka on these forums
Class/Level: Fighter 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Shadows
Story: In the dungeons below Thistletop, after defeating Nualia, the party chose to press on to divest the goblins of any remaining wealth. In the catacombs south of Nualia's lair, there were three shadows that drained the life from Adrastos, the half-elven fighter. Unlucky rolls killed the crap out of him, while the 6 Strength gnome rogue next to him managed to survive. Poor freaking Adrastos.
Jeremy Puckett
Name of PC: Bard cohort (so it only kind of counts)
Class/Level: Bard 9
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors – Ravenous Crypts of Gluttony
Catalyst: Failed corridor Will saves
Of the 5 PCs and 2 cohorts in the party, only 2 PCs (Barbarian and Sorcerer) and the Bard cohort made their Will saves to get to the entrance room - and all three failed their despair saves and were paralyzed with fear. The next party member to arrive is the Paladin who makes his save 2 rounds later (he only needed to roll a 5), but too late to save the bard. Interestingly, the bonus the Paladin gives vs fear would have allowed the Barbarian, Sorcerer, and Bard to all pass the despair saves.
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Wartooth: Dire Wolf Companion to Toki, Druid 5/Beastmaster 1
Where: Skinsaw Murders, Iron Belltower
Catalyst: Crit confirmed from Large-sized scythe.
The Scarecrow nailed poor Wartooth (from prone, mind you) with a Nat-20 followed by a rolled 15 on the confirmation.
I had to roll the 8d6 damage since the DM did not have enough dice out, yielding enough damage to total 100 hp worth.
The cleric caught him with a close wounds spell, bringing him up to -17 hp (we rule that you die at -Con, not -10), when DM called for massive damage save.
DC 15, Fort save +11, needs a 4 or better to not die.
Rolled a 3. Dead Wartooth, very angry Toki spends a couple minutes chopping up the dead golem, wearing his head, with the hat still attached, as his own hat for a while.
-the hamster
Updated totals:
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1st adventure (Burnt Offerings): 100 (6 animal companion/npc)
2nd adventure (Skinsaw Murders): 41 (2 animal companion/npc)
Side Quest: 4
3rd adventure (Hook Mt): 20
Side Quest: 1
4th adventure(FotSG): 12
5th adventure (Sins): 8 (2 animal companion/npc)
6th adventure (SoX-S): 0
RIP Thomas, gnome bard, cohort to the party paladin.
Adventure: Sins of the savior
Catalyst: Freezemaw the dragon.
Freezemaw swooped down on the party blasting them with his icy morning breath. He rolled around and came in for another dive snatching the halfling paladin up right off her dog. He took the paladin up to an altitude of 200 feet and chewed on her a little. Meanwhile the sorcerer cast fly on the Shoanti barbarian below.
The barbarian flew up to engange the dragon in aerial melee. Freezemaw wheeled around and blew ice on the trapped paladin and the barbarian. The barbarian retaliated by charging and missing. Freezemaw dropped the halfling snack, thereby creating a large impact crater and leaving the poor dear in the low negatives on hit points. Freezemaw opened up a can of whoop ass on the barbarian.
The barbarians next move was to bravely run away. Fleeing into the cave. Freezemaw randomly chooses a new target, and swoops down snatching up poor Thomas. Freezemaw's turn ends within reach of the party on the ground. The sorcerer runs up puts his hand on thomas and on another companion and dimension doors up to the cave! The elementals make their presence known by moving up the stairs. The cleric has by now reached the paladins impact crater and has brought her back from the brink.
Thomas bravely steps away from the sorcerer and dim doors down to her masters side, planning to take the rest of the party up to the cave.
Freezemaw circles and dives at the remaining ground based PC's. Again snatching up a random opponent, again it is Thomas the bard. This time though Freezemaw rises high into the air, and poor Thomas is out cold (bleeding in the negative hit points)
The sorcerer dim doors to the ground in order to get the paladin and the cleric safely by the elementals.
Freezemaw, high in the air begins flying towards his lair. On the way he stops to perform a coup-de-chew on the bard, ending his tiny life.
Eventually the party did confront the dragon in his lair, and after a nearly four hour battle and nearly three more deaths they did prevail. But not before poor Thomas had been eaten.
What a fight!
My unsolicited advice would be to go core (perhaps converting to PFRPG would be a good excuse). Tell the party that rules knowledge is stopping both you and them from having fun - so you're going to strip back to core and concentrate on the game.
That should help cut the munchkinism and lessen the impact of your inexperience.
Thanks, but I quit the group. It really was the last straw for me.
Name of PC: Fireblossom
Class/Level: Male Gnome Druid 12
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst: Freezemaw
Story: As the party raced about, casting spells to summon keys, the dragon Arkryst, known as Freezemaw to the local Shoanti, woke. Seeing tender morsels delivered literally to his doorstop, the ancient white dragon swooped down to attack. His icy breath engulfed the party, chilling them to the bone. The plucky little druid broke away from the party, both to fling spells skyward and to avoid another freezing blast, only to be scooped up in the creatures mouth. Freezemaw then began beating skyward, with the intention of dashing the gnome against the rocks, but a bombardment of spells from the party's cleric and wizard shortly and violently ended his life. In mid-air. The gnome survived the fall, but not the weight of the dragon that landed on top of him.
Fortunately, he wasn't so far gone that the cleric couldn't restore him with breath of life, but a death's a death.
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Name of PC: Roakkad of the Shriikirri-Quah
Class/Level: Ranger/Rogue: 11/1
Adventure: FotSG
Catalyst: Mokmurian and his Mighty Disintegrate spell
Story: The party, after having a terribly confusing fight with the Hounds of Tindalos, charged through the double doors. Mokmurian was waiting. Roakkad ran across the room to start to get the the Villian. Alas Mokmurian had a Hound with him and was able to get the Solid Fog off to slow everyone else behind.
As Roakkad fought the Hound and the rest of the party fumbled through the fog. Mokmurian sent the Shonti flying back into the murky mess. Many spells and hit and run tactic for Mokmurian ravaged the party causing Roakkad to pull his wand to heal the rogue.
Just at that time, Mokmurian came around the corner, saw the party relied on sub par healing and blasted Roakkad with a Disintegrate. One failed saving throw later and 90 points of Damage poor Roakkad was a pile of dust.
Just after that the rogue pulled her wand of Enervation and started to blast the life out of Mokmurian. All said and done, the wand was no longer magical and Mokmurian was no longer a wizard.
Thanks, but I quit the group. It really was the last straw for me.My unsolicited advice would be to go core (perhaps converting to PFRPG would be a good excuse). Tell the party that rules knowledge is stopping both you and them from having fun - so you're going to strip back to core and concentrate on the game.
That should help cut the munchkinism and lessen the impact of your inexperience.
Good for you DMcCoy. Find some kindred souls to play with, so that -everyone- can enjoy themselves. Players often forget how challenging it can be to DM.
Name of PC: Gen
Class/Level: Human Female Barbarian 1/Fighter 5
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha
Name of PC: Walsh
Class/Level: Human Male Cleric 6
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha
Name of PC: Jigmar
Class/Level: Rogue 6
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha
Story: The party had figured out where the BBEG was, and knowing it's a clock tower, figured on flying to the top and working their way down. It'd worked for them at the mill, so the party mage made up enough scrolls and the whole bunch flies up to the top. With them walking around on the roof trying to figure out exactly how to get down, I gave Xanesha some spot/listen checks to start buffing...so she wasn't even fully buffed (had invis/fly/silence and the false life from the medallion up)
Gen and Jigmar decide to go inside to investigate her lair and she pops the flying demon major image...everyone falls for the illusion and goes outside to fight it...and miserably fail to detect it's an illusion. Xanesha proceeds to move up to just outside her silence spell and scorching ray's the rogue, revealing her. The party mage casts web and gets her stuck inside the room, so the party then lines up to whack at her as she tries to get out. The eventual result? 3 swings with the last being a crit on the barb/fighter...dead. Next round, 3 swings, 3rd a crit on the rogue...dead. The cleric had moved in to heal the 1 round xanesha had gotten off on the fighter before the crit round, and decided to try to cork so the mage could continue blasting...3 swings, 3rd a crit, dead cleric. The mage is blasting away with everything he's got and manages to live through Xanesha's flying charge at him (thank you mirror image!) long enough to deal the last 20 pts of damage...dead Lamia.
The best part is the fighter's player had managed to be the one who always lived through the near TPKs from previous campaigns.
Name of PC: Amanda ("A man, duh!")
Class/Level: Fighter/Barbarian/Rogue 4/5/3
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors – The Vault of Greed
Catalyst: Dispel Magic
Only three characters at the last session - Wizard, Sorcerer, and Amanda, all level 12. Amanda has been the primary offense for the party since the beginning, so the party is comfortable with having only 3 characters. The party avoids the mist, handles the mephits perfectly and easily defeats a Coin Golem I added to the area.
When they face the Ordikon, he is in the last room on the far side of the pool. The sorcerer gives Amanda a Fly spell then Amanda tries to Fly across the pool - only to have Ordikon's readied action dispel the Fly dumping Amanda into the pool where he fails the Will save. Next round has Amanda fail another Will save dropping INT to zero. The wizard and sorcerer thinksit's an after effect of touching the water and continue to attack Ordikon. Next round, another Will save failure and Amanda is dead - his soul sucked into the pool.
I ended up reversing this death due to the party not having a cleric and being willing to play with only 3 characters. That and I want the party intact when they start Xin Shalast.
Name of PC: Khorin One-Ear
Class: 15th level Halfling Rogue
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast (this is my first PC death since Burnt Offerings!)
Catalyst: Lamia Harridan and Harm
During the assault on Karzoug's Spire, the party of 6 defeated 12 cloud giants, 6 storm giants, 2 rune giants and the Champion of Greed (she only got to attack once). But, rather than retreat and rest, they decided to open one more door into the room with the anima lens. There they encounter Ceoptra, her harridan lackeys, Khalib, and 2 rune giants he had recruited for muscle. It was an epic battle, particularly since the PCs were just about out of their most powerful resources. The Khorin, for some reason, got a little bit further into the room than was a good idea, and one of the harridans cast harm on him. He was blinking, but that didn't help him, and he rolled a natural 1 on his Will save. 120 missing hit points later, he was toast. The party considered running away but felt that they didn't have anywhere to go, so stuck it out and emerged battered but victorious.
Next week: Into the Eye of Avarice!
PS They're probably going to Raise Khorin, so maybe I can post him again later.
Mistake or house rule? (and maybe would not have changed much anyway) Harm reduces you only to 1hp no matter how many hp you had before or how big the damage was.
Mistake or house rule? (and maybe would not have changed much anyway) Harm reduces you only to 1hp no matter how many hp you had before or how big the damage was.
Ack!
Harm charges a subject with negative energy that deals 10 points of damage per caster level... If the creature successfully saves, harm deals half this amount, but it cannot reduce the target's hit points to less than 1.
I always read the bit about not reducing to less than 1 HP as part of the "if you save" sentence. Thus, if you make the save you take half damage, with a maximum of your current HP-1. If you fail the save, though, all bets are off and you take level*10 HP damage. Is there an errata or something somewhere? I would love to know so I can save the PCs the cost of the Raise Dead.
O
PS Woo hoo! Post #200!