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I decided to take the plunge and run a 4e game, pbp. I totally like the rich background of Golarion but my players wanted to go 4e. I guess this is an experiment to see if these can mesh (pbp & 4e, 4e & Golarion).
The PCs:
Thorvaldt Jarlsgaart: Dwarven warlord
Serawyn Lathandriel Meladrinya: Eladrin rogue (I ruled that Kyonin elves, being high elves were eladrin, and Forsaken elves were elves as written in the 4e PHB).
Balakar of Sarenrae: Dragonborn cleric of Sarenrae (I decided that dragonborn are nomads that live on the plains east of Taldor and north of Qadira. Most worship Gorum, but Balakar must have been influenced by missionaries from the south and taken up the worship of Sarenrae. The player loves the flavor of the goddess. He wields a hand-in-half scimitar (bastard sword stats).
Jacob Strife: Human wizard most likely from Galt..escaping the chaos there.
Virago: Tiefling warlock
Landres of Serre: human paladin of Desna (since paladins no longer have to be lawful good...a holy warrior of the goddess of luck..very cool)
The Setting:
I changed Brindol to the city of Yanmass (hopefully, not too much will change in the Campaign Guide, but the cities were about the same size, and I have not presented a map of Yanmass yet just in case). The Elisir Marches are on the northeastern edge of Taldor.
{In general, the PCs prefer Golarion to the generic 'points of light' setting, and have obtained the player's guides to start and will most likely purchase Gazetteers at least}
next time...the first encounter(s)....
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I'm playing in a 4E game where the DM is running that scenario after running Kobold Manor and Keep on the Shadowfell. He's added stuff and changed it up a bit, so I'm interested in seeing what your version looks like.
My campaign journal can be found here:
http://patrickjw.livejournal.com/
I didn't know what the mod name was, so I just referenced it as Return of the Red Hand.
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Beware of Spoilers of course!
We've completed the first two encounters.
In the Bar Fight! Balakar, Serawyn, Jacob, and Balakar established that they already knew each other. I named the barkeep (Carter Ooster) and made him an informal acolyte/advocate of Cayden Cailean.
The fight went well with Balakar taking out the first wave of hob's with a breath weapon. Carter got burned (but I didn't make him Rabble...whew!), and Sera' pulled him from the fire. The goblins were eventually dispatched.
Jacob took a bitumen torch and the ongoing damage. The player failed the save to put the damage out and did not catch on that he could stop, drop, and roll as a standard action. Also, he was upset that for fx, his hair got singed and we had an argument as to whether or not it would grow back with healing surges. Sigh...{This is my first, though no only experience with the lack of a need for long-term healing....which I don't like}.
Besides him, the other players had a good time. None of them had to blow daily powers, but a few used encounter powers.
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For Landres and Virago, in order to get them the 145xp that the others received from the Bar Fight! I started them off with an outside encounter of 1 goblin blackblade and 5 hobgoblin grunts. This was almost overwhelming for the two players, with Landres having to used both lay on hands. They did survive and felt very heroic for doing so.
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The two groups met up outside the bar and chit-chatted. I sprung the Ogre Bombadier encounter. This fight was more challenging and could end in the death of a character if the ogre gets a lucky hit (2d6 slam + 3d6 explosion + 1d6 ongoing fire). I messed up here and only did 3d6 to the wizard (Jake) on a hit. The ogre's reach and tree trunk nearly dropped two more characters and the paladin (Landres) lucked out taking only minimal damage when he closed. Ultimately, they prevailed, but not without using a few daily powers.
This encounter and its possible TPK implications debunk the myth that encounters are not as deadly in 4e v 3.5 (AP-types).
I did add a goblin sharpshooter to keep up with the xp rate for 5 players (since I have 6), however, it and the hob's didn't really factor in, being taken down in a few hits. The ogre though....the warlord, cleric, and pally had to close, and had to get lucky...Three crits on the attacks (one by the rogue on an encounter, two back to back by the cleric), and a successful daily saved the day.
A lot of good pc interaction took place after the fight.
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I ran the Summons as a rp'session and not as a skill challenge. It did not seem necessary and to me would have seemed forced. I will try and run the interrogation as a skill challenge.....
Comments are appreciated. Thanks.