The PCs open the door, the sorceress casts fireball....then quickens a fireball....then uses a Hero Point (from APG) to cast a third fireball in the same round....and all my priests were gone. And the Paladin hadn't even begun to smite stuff yet. It was pretty silly.
Just out of curiosity:
- How could the sorceress cast a third fireball via Hero Point? Last time I checked, you could recall a spell. Nothing states you can immediately act again
- IIRC the party is supposed to be level 6 or 7 at the point you mentioned. How did they come by quickened fireballs at that point? The spell level should be out of reach until level 14, and a Rod of Quicken should be a bit too expensive at that point...
Hero Points actually have many uses. One of those is they can be used to give yourself an extra move or standard action (i.e. one more attack or spell cast).
For the spellcasting, we actually decided that Metamagic feats just don't get enough love. As a result, we came up with some house rules for dealing with metamagic use.
The gist is this:
#1 You can apply metamagic feats spontaneously to a spell as a move action.
#2 You can use each meatamagic feat a number of times per day equal to your prime casting stat mod.
#3 If you're casting defensively, you must make a concentration check equal to 15 + double the adjusted level of the spell.
#4 When you use it (and you've made the concentration check if needed) you have to make a spellcraft check equal to 15 + the adjusted level of the spell for it to work.
#5 If the adjusted spell level is higher than your current casting ability, you add a cumulative +5 to the spellcraft DC for each level it is above yours.
#6 If you fail the spellcraft check, you take damage equal to the adjusted level of the spell. If you fumble (roll a 1) you take damage and also pull a fumble card.
So in my example, Alliana the Sorceress sees a room full of bad guys. She casts fireball as a standard action. As a move action she then quickens a fireball(making her spellcraft roll to do so). Then she spends a hero point to get another standard action to cast another fireball. Of course, as a 7th level sorceress this means she has used up 3/5 of her 3rd level spells for the day, and she was pretty out of juice by the time they got further into the Temple.
Hero Points actually have many uses. One of those is they can be used to give yourself an extra move or standard action (i.e. one more attack or spell cast).
For the spellcasting, we actually decided that Metamagic feats just don't get enough love. As a result, we came up with some house rules for dealing with metamagic use.
The gist is this:
#1 You can apply metamagic feats spontaneously to a spell as a move action.
#2 You can use each meatamagic feat a number of times per day equal to your prime casting stat mod.
#3 If you're casting defensively, you must make a concentration check equal to 15 + double the adjusted level of the spell.
#4 When you use it (and you've made the concentration check if needed) you have to make a spellcraft check equal to 15 + the adjusted level of the spell for it to work.
#5 If the adjusted spell level is higher than your current casting ability, you add a cumulative +5 to the spellcraft DC for each level it is above yours.
#6 If you fail the spellcraft check, you take damage equal to the adjusted level of the spell. If you fumble (roll a 1) you take damage and also pull a fumble card.So in my example, Alliana the Sorceress sees a room full of bad guys. She casts fireball as a standard action. As a move action she then quickens a fireball(making her spellcraft roll to do so). Then she spends a hero point to get another standard action to cast another fireball. Of course, as a 7th level sorceress this means she has used up 3/5 of her 3rd level spells for the day, and she was pretty out of juice by the time they got further into the Temple.
How do these rules apply to prepared casters? My initial thought is they can't cast spontaneously, and if they decided to prepare a spell, they must make a spellcraft check or lose the slot for that day as if they had cast a spell.
Back on topic, my party did something similar to this. Except they bottle-necked the doorway while the sorcerer spent three rounds tossing in fireballs, the Cleric of Sarenrae helped a little with the one fireball spell he had prepared.
It would be similar to the spontaneous casters. So instead of memorizing/preparing their spells with the metamagic additions to it, wizards or even clerics could add it as a move action when the situation calls for it. They then make the spellcraft check while casting to see if the addition of the metamagic works or not.
The reasoning behind this was that metamagic feats, at least with our gaming network, weren't being taken because they were such a hassle and prepping spells for the day you never really knew WHAT you'd need, let alone what spells you should prepare at a higher level with metamagic.
NobodysHome, you never finished your write-up...don't leave me hanging!
And even though the discussion is months old,mI'll relate one of my favorite tactics for gamers who feel you aren't being fair, or shouldn't play "smart" monsters...
Switch sides.
Give them a pre-planned encounter with fun bad guys, give them a week to get familiar, and you play their characters. If you one round them, they'll see what their characters are doing, and hopefully realize that wasn't a challenge. But tell them to go all out. Tell them to kill their characters, with a safety that they won't die in real campaign, if necessary. And see how much fun it is. They will defend their "lairs" from the evil invading party savagely.
Anyway, I've done that a few times. Players always seem to love it.
As always, love your summaries, and the fact that you play with your family.
@mittean: The family game kind of "dried up" as we started Crown of Fangs. We started a second family game (Council of Thieves), a group game (Kingmaker), and, eventually, the Rise of the Runelords campaign.
So it's not so much of a lack of a writeup, but a lack of play time. All our spare time is going to Rise of the Runelords.
The kids just asked whether I'd start a campaign for them, and I asked, "Don't you want to finish Crown of Fangs with your mom?", and they said, "No, this one should be just us."
So it's in my "to do" list and we're absolutely hoping to finish Crown of Fangs within the next few months, but it's a question of time and motivation...
Totally understandable. A great short-(er) shot, not 1st level not 15th for the kids might be Red hand of Doom. Reminiscent of your orc invasion in CotCT, sounds like. As a matter of fact, being as I disliked the themes and travelling of the Hook mountain massacre, and Fortress of the Stone giants, I actually replaces them with Red hand of Doom. Fits the campaign, and the themes, much better, imho. Minus the Tiamat thing at the end, which just becomes Karzoug. :)
Well, to necro this thread, my group has decided to take another shot at CotCT and we're going to pick up where we left off.
I tossed around a few ideas and talked to some of the players and we decided to go with the Shadow Dancer staying dead (and coming back as a Paladin) while the Arcane Archer wants to keep his character. He's going to be unconscious and dragged into a lair full of Chuuls. I imagine tomorrows session will be mostly about rescuing the Arcane Archer (who will be me making his escape at the same time).
After that, They'll just have to finish up the Seven Swords of Sin module, before making their way to Scarwall.
I'm personally hoping that Paizo Gamespace will be up and running by then so I can use Gamespace and a projector for the Scarwall map and only draw for the fights on our battelboard.
Oh, I got very lucky in that a friend had a 24" wide printer and he printed massive blank grids for me, and as the players went through I used a pencil and straightedge to map in what they saw.
It took some time, but having multiple table-filling maps of Scarwall with the players' notes and warnings scribbled all over them was a blast.
And one of these days we'll pick up CotCT again; I'm just GM'ing three 'live' campaigns right now (Kingmaker, Rise of the Runelords, and Shattered Star) and playing in a fourth (Carrion Crown), so somehow free time is hard to come by.
Glad to hear you're resurrecting yours; I did enjoy hearing how your group was managing compared to mine. And Scarwall is an epic blast for players who like spooky dungeon crawls!
So the session was a blast, and we all really enjoyed it. I ended up running a side-quest for the side-quest due to the circumstances of the previous session.
He awoke to find himself trapped with a half-orc in some chamber where a half-dozen Chuul's smaller than the ones that attacked him, were sleeping in a glowing pool of water. Surrounding the youngling Chuuls, were a dozen or so translucent orbs that looked a lot like eggs. They noticed that the bottom of the pool was covered in coins and various items that looked like their gear. The Arcane Archer (Caresir) and Half-Orc Rogue (Mulk) managed to free themselves, before running for their weapons. Their movement alerted the younglings, and they had a brief but intense fight with the baby Chuuls.
Shortly after the fight, the recovered what gear they could, and re-armed and armored themselves, when a loud, thunderous roar laced with pain and grief echoed down into the chamber.
Meanwhile, the party regrouped and was joined by a Paladin of Sarenrae that had undertaken a personal quest to recover the Sword of Gluttony that was stolen from the church. He felt it was a slight upon his person, as he was the one on duty when the sword was taken.
The party decided to stage a rescue mission fore Caresir (being unaware of Mulk). They plunged themselves into the swiftly moving waters of an underwater river, and were quickly swept away, clashing against the rocks and tunnel walls of the river. Over a waterfall they flowed, right into the waiting arms of a Chuul on guard duty.
Surprised as they were, they quickly dispatched the creature, before plunging back into swift currents of the river.
For what felt an eternity, the party was slammed against the tunnel walls, scraped against the sturdier rocks, crashed into each other and they followed the river, desperately glad for the Water Breathing magic cast by Lucius Fey. Finally, over a final watefall they feel, into a wide open chamber with much calmer waters.
Truely shocked they were, but not nearly as shocked as the half-dozen Chuul of various sizes, including once that had reached a truly massive size. This massive Chuul spoke to them in a variety of languages, before reaching one they understood.
The part attempted non-violent methods via Diplomacy, but they refused the Chuul's offer of giving her (the Chuul) all of the parties magic in exchange for safe passage. When the party offer denied, her second offer was rather simple.
"Kill them all, my children. Then bring me their gear."
A desperate fight occurred as the party tried to rally in the thigh-high water. The Gnome duelist especially was uncomfortable with the water coming only below his chin.
Fortunately, the might bard Trina happened to be on their side. Her spells and bow greatly aided the party, and it wasn't too long before the Chuul were defeated.
Onward they continued, looting what they could, now convinced their companion had perished as some of his gear had been recovered from the Chuuls. After the mother, they plunged, deeper and deeper down the river they flowed.
Twas not long before they fall from the rivers flow into another large cavern inhabited by the Chuul Mother and more of her children. As the party fell into the room, realization of the death of her children reached the Mother's mind. A might roar filled the chamber, filled with grief and pain as the proof of her children's slaughter was made apparent.
The Mother demanded blood of her children, and prepared to release a torrent of vicious attacks. However,a she readied herself, a handful of arrows sprouted from the creatures back and she roared in pain.
It twas here that Caresire and Mulk managed to join up with the party to take down the Chuul Queen.
The Chuul, however, was not so easy a foe. For centuries, nay, millenia, she had lived in this region. Originally an experiment by the ancient Thassilonians, she had survived where many had not. For centuries, she hibernated when the great blackness infested the sky.
Turning to face the elf and half-orc that had escaped the nursery, she spied the many crushed remnants of her childrens's eggs. Into a blind rage she fell, and swept forward tot he arch, only to strike him so hard, he flew backwards through the air.
The rest of the party was engaged by the children of the Mother. Lucius Fey would have none of this though. He gathered to him some of his party and Dimension Doored after the Mother.
The Mother backed off a little, but only to cast Obscuring Mist as she took advantage of her ability to fight blind. The Half-Orc Rogue, Mulk, and the Gnome Duelist tried to sneak up on the Chuul, only for her to snatch them out of the water.
Her claws nearly crushed the life out of her two victims, but a well timed Breath of Life saved the life of the Gnome.
Prior to this, to make movement easier, Lucius Fey cast a Wall of Force on the tunnel behind where they entered, clogging the flow. As the battle waged on, more and more water built up in the tunnels behind them.
Fortunately, the beast was slain with no loss of life. But an immediate threat remained. The build up of water was reached incredible levels.
A minute after the spell was cast, it faded away and hundreds, if not thousands of gallons of water flooded the remaining chambers.
The nursery was the final chamber, and the pool the eggs were in was no ordinary pool. Designed to both nurture growth of the young, to heal wounds, the pool was also designed to resist the flood waters that came with every spring. Whenever water entered the pool, no matter the speed, it slowed to a gentle flow so as not to disturb the young.
The party took refuge in this pool, using tieing themselves off hoping to resist the high pressures of the oncoming flood.
To their great amazement, the waters rushed forward at incredible speeds, only to slow to a crawl when entering the pool as the magic of the pool activated. The nursery itself flooded to fill every space, but the water within the boundaries of the pool, were slowed.
The party survived. They rescued their companion, and even made 2 new friends along the way. They recovered magical items from other not so fortunate adventurers, and decided to take a short rest there, at which point we ended our session.
I think the Hiatus really helped us to calm down feelings and tempers, look over characters, and fix some problems the group had as a whole. For the first session in some 8 months, we did amazing. Made it through a great deal of combat, got some good role-playing, good loot, and good times.
Well, I'm really tired now (there was points in this write up I started nodding off), so I'm going to head to bed. I'm hoping further sessions end just as well as this one did.