Amusingly a fire related death:
Name: Dryden
Race: Kitsune
Classes/levels: Ninja 2
Adventure: Snows of Summer
Location: Soulbound GuardianCatalyst: Character is a witch hunter and is highly proactive in destroying anything that remotely smells of witchcraft. Seeing the doll in the chair, with no one actually having entered the hut he convinced the rest of the party to stand far back from the hut while he standing about 10' away from the door lobbed Alchemists Fires in order to burn it down.
The Gory Details: He hit the hut with 2, and I ruled that it would probably take at least 1 minute for the hut to completely burn up. I allowed half a minute to pass, then had the Doll use charm person and convinced him to walk in the hut (he also failed the save to do something it wouldn't normally do). In the hut (due to initiative) the doll managed to paralyze him before he could back out.
Between the distance of the rest of the party along with the Doll's Frostfall staggering a few of them no one was able to drag the ninja out of the fire before his paralysis lifted.I was actually going to roll just random 1d6 fire damage per round but everyone at the table Ninja included decided it would be much more realistic for it to result in autodeath seeing as the hut technically would collapse on him.
Does charm person work on kitsune?
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Name: Entire Party
Race: Two humans, an elf, and an ifrit
Classes/levels: Sorcerer, Magus, Rogue, Oracle (all 1st)
Adventure: The Snows of Summer
Location: Just entering the woods
Catalyst: That Damn Yeti
The Gory Details: I figured that I'd test out the random encounter table for the adventure, and since the party has an oracle with the lame curse wearing heavy armor traveling through snow drifts, I figured it had taken them long enough to get to the ambush site that I should check. The dice call for one, and the encounter is, of course, a yeti!I quickly glance at the stats, and I realize exactly how boned the party is. The yeti gets surprise on them, and charges the oracle, dropping him in a single strike. The rest of the fight goes poorly for the group - they manage to do about 30 points of damage to it before the last of them goes down, but they all die.
As this was a terrible start to the campaign, I handwave that this encounter never happened. After all, anyone can kill off a firstie. High-level PCs are worth more points!
Ick. I think it was a very bad idea to run things as you did.
I mean, sure, ok, you rolled a Yeti in the random encounter table, and you don't want to fudge it - very understandable, yetis are cool. But just having the Yeti charge the party and claw at them? I mean, why would it even do it?
People seem to forget that the table is named "Random encounters", not "Random battles". An encounter with a Yeti could mean many things - yes, it could mean an all out fight, but it could also mean something like the party finding the body of a slaughtered animal - desribe it something like, "It is obvious the creature was killed with a large claws, maybe larger than those of the biggest bear youv'e ever seen. What is more disturbing about the corpse is the fact that it remains uneaten, bare flesh freezing in the snow, dead eyes staring from a severed head that lies several feet away from it's body. Whatever killed this animal may had the body of a predator, but it wasn't looking to eat."
That's a random encounter with a Yeti. Another possible encounter is the players hearing a distant roar, or the PC who stands guard at camp in the black of night suddenly seeing red eyes staring hatefuly from the darkness.
Even if you want to have an encounter with the actual creature instead of just a sign that it's there, there are still plenty of ways to make the encounter a non combat. Maybe the Yeti is just guarding it's territory, and it growels menacingly at the PCs without attacking (after all, they shouldn't look like easy pray, with their weapons and armor, and them being 4 is also a factor), or maybe the Yeti stumbles, dazed, through the PCs path, and if they appraoch they see it appears to be disoriented and uncapable of concentration - due to the fact it stapped out of the winter portal, experiencing powerful magic and a dramatic change in temparatures (it should be used to much colder environments). The PCs can kill it without much difficulty (don't reward them the full XP though obviously).
I'm just saying that your campaign is now over because you insisted to make a random encounter a battle, even when it was so obviously impossible for the PCs to survive. Not only are non combat encouners sometimes much more fun and interesting than combats, but in this case one was needed to continue the campaign.
Well, obviously the Yeti would have needed to have wandered over from Irrisen, which begs some questions, as in
a.) is the Yeti with the invading forces of Irrisen?
b.) if it is, what is his general disposition. Probably not very good.
c.) if it isn't, how does it feel being in a strange land far from home? It is probably a bit confused, which can be good or bad for the party.
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Ick. I think it was a very bad idea to run things as you did.
I mean, sure, ok, you rolled a Yeti in the random encounter table, and you don't want to fudge it - very understandable, yetis are cool. But just having the Yeti charge the party and claw at them? I mean, why would it even do it?
People seem to forget that the table is named "Random encounters", not "Random battles". An encounter with a Yeti could mean many things - yes, it could mean an all out fight, but it could also mean something like the party finding the body of a slaughtered animal - desribe it something like, "It is obvious the creature was killed with a large claws, maybe larger than those of the biggest bear youv'e ever seen. What is more disturbing about the corpse is the fact that it remains uneaten, bare flesh freezing in the snow, dead eyes staring from a severed head that lies several feet away from it's body. Whatever killed this animal may had...
Lord Snow? That is an absolutely awesome commentary. Yes, I did forget "random encounter" doesn't equal "combat situation for extra XPs" but can instead be used for atmosphere. And you also have to consider this: Yeti are not suicidal. You have four armored and armed individuals. Why risk it? Hell, it could even tail the PCs... and then after they fought the Wyrm and left, hear nomming noises and if they return... the corpse of the beastie is gone.
In short, the Yeti is an encounter... tailing the PCs... and adding to their paranoia, without even being a direct encounter!
I'm embarrassed. I've been GMing for 20 years... and didn't consider that option. I guess this old dog has learned a new trick... and I'm quite grateful.
Although I agree wholeheartedly with you Lord Snow, not every encounter is a combat, table expectations generally dictate how I treat an encounter.
This blurb in the Yeti entry also helped me qualify this random encounter as a combat scenario:
Although yeti stories are accurate in their portrayals of fierce, stealthy, and immensely strong creatures, they are not when it comes to ascribing the yeti's temperament and source. They dwell in small tribes atop their distant mountains, where they are sheltered from contact with most other races. Those with violent or cruel natures are usually forced out of tribes to live lonely lives as exiles, and without the support of a tribe such yeti are often driven to raiding lowlander settlements, thus perpetuating the myth of the yeti as a demon made flesh.
This was a lonely Yeti that wandered through the portal here. So alone, disoriented, in unfamiliar and warmer areas, and likely picked on by Fey (or Teb or any of the others), and my players hankering for a combat all came together for a random encounter (battle).
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Ick. I think it was a very bad idea to run things as you did.
I mean, sure, ok, you rolled a Yeti in the random encounter table, and you don't want to fudge it - very understandable, yetis are cool. But just having the Yeti charge the party and claw at them? I mean, why would it even do it?
People seem to forget that the table is named "Random encounters", not "Random battles". An encounter with a Yeti could mean many things - yes, it could mean an all out fight, but it could also mean something like the party finding the body of a slaughtered animal - desribe it something like, "It is obvious the creature was killed with a large claws, maybe larger than those of the biggest bear youv'e ever seen. What is more disturbing about the corpse is the fact that it remains uneaten, bare flesh freezing in the snow, dead eyes staring from a severed head that lies several feet away from it's body. Whatever killed this animal may had...
Lord Snow? That is an absolutely awesome commentary. Yes, I did forget "random encounter" doesn't equal "combat situation for extra XPs" but can instead be used for atmosphere. And you also have to consider this: Yeti are not suicidal. You have four armored and armed individuals. Why risk it? Hell, it could even tail the PCs... and then after they fought the Wyrm and left, hear nomming noises and if they return... the corpse of the beastie is gone.
In short, the Yeti is an encounter... tailing the PCs... and adding to their paranoia, without even being a direct encounter!
I'm embarrassed. I've been GMing for 20 years... and didn't consider that option. I guess this old dog has learned a new trick... and I'm quite grateful.
:D
really nice to hear this :D
Can't wait to run this AP for my Co Gm ! Good thing he loves getting screwed with!
Rohkar was a TPK. No Yetis yet. lol.
As requested. I apologize for any grammar mistakes, or poor narrative constructions.
Name: Freyr Jotunsson, Baz Strongfist, Knave, Shou Black, and Garis Shadowleaf
Race: (in order) Ulfen, Garundi, Gnome, Dhampir (Gebbite), Taldan Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Inquisitor 2, Barbarian 1/Fighter 1, Alchemist 2, Fighter 2, Fighter 1/Rogue 1
Adventure: Reign of Winter: Snows of Summer
Location: The Hunting Lodge
Catalyst: Rohkar and his army of undead.
The next game night we continued the fight, round one, Knave detonated a buffed bomb on himself, dealing 6 damage to each of the zombies, Shou, and Rohkar (who took 3 from a succeeded reflex save) then was mauled. Being zombies, I just had them either charge, or five-foot-shift/slam their nearest and most open targets. Garis was mauled, and Baz and Freyr found themselves slowly backed into the back room as they continued to withdraw from two zombies. (Baz had a reach weapon and when he decided to withdraw I had that zombie go after Garis in front of the fireplace). Shou mowed down a few, both burdened and assisted by Rohkar's channeling (Dhampir), and then I rolled a 50% chance for the target of Rohkar's death knell, and Knave, with his -1 will, was the first to die. Then Garis bled out. Shou followed suit while trying to get from being stuck outside to in Rohkar's face. After a successful Murderous Command on Baz, he killed Freyr, and then Bleeding Touch ended Baz when he finally went for Rohkar, after all of his friends were dead. Denara bolted, rallied a new group, which included Freyr's brother, Jormyr, who had been separated from Freyr since leaving Irrisen, and was under the impression he would finally be reunited with his brother.
When the new group arrived (now a Ninja, Inquisitor, Paladin, Paladin/Fighter, Cleric/Fighter, and the Druid) they found Baz, Freyr, and Shou had been reanimated. Ten-Penny, having one day between the initial siege and the avengers of the previous party, ran for it.
I posted the gist of this fight in the DM reference thread because it lead to two parties fighting Rohkar, and the second party had a turn coat (ninjas...) that let him loose.
Name: Quendalin
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Gestalt Wizard Rogue level 3/3
Adventure: Snows of Summer
Location: After the Winter Portal
Catalyst: The Hungry Mantis
The Gory Details: The party uses the elf's spyglass and sees a dogsled team heading towards a disoriented giant mantis down the path so they rush off to help out the inevitable monstrous attack.
I have a strong group of five with 10 bonus hp each, either epic stats or trading down two stat point buy tiers for being gestalt, plus enhanced out of combat healing through reserve points.
I have bumped up solos and elites by various methods for this high powered group so this advanced mantis became an advanced mantis solo using some rules from Trailblazer and 4e as inspiration. That means x5 hp, whirlwind attack, and combat reflexes to handle a whole party + Nadya by itself.
The often enlarged epic stat paladin has been dominating combats thus far and the elf has not gotten off a full attack sneak attack the entire campaign. This time he rushes in dodging the attack of opportunity and gets himself into flanking position and sneak attacks. The first full attack round the mantis misses everybody except a dogsled guy and the rogue feels confident about doing massive sneak attack damage while feeling safe. He hauls off with two blades and his transmuter ability for a natural attack third and pulls it off for 32 damage, outdamaging the smiting enlarged paladin. He's feeling the striker power and riding high.
The second round the mantis tags everybody and wounds heavily. The rogue thinks his fantastic offense is worth the risk and full attack sneak attacks again and stands his ground. The third round the bloody mantis tags him again and he goes down to 1 hp. He thinks he is close to finishing it off and forgets that others can heal him so he sneak attacks again and does not mention to anyone that he is heavily wounded. He does a lot of damage and stabs it with his steely knives but he just could not kill the beast.
Round four the mantis gets a crit on him and rips him from stem to stern and below con points into negatives. Dead, dead, dead.
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Name: Elo/Nagash/Bjorn/Skaz von Squips/Alonzo
Race: Aasimar/Garundian/Ulfen/Ratfolk/Tian
Classes/levels:Level 11 Oracle/Wizard/Cavalier/Alchemist/Fighter
Adventure: The Frozen Stars
Location: The Rimekeening Crevasse
Catalyst: Frost Worm Death Throes!
The Gory Details: The party attracted the attention of the pair of frostworms and ended up fighting them in rather close quarters. Both worms were near death when Bjorn made the first kill. Death throes kicked in, causing the first worm to explode - knocking most of the party down, as well as killing the other worm - which resulted in all but one party member (the Vanara ranger, Chim Chim the Immortal) to be little more than bloody piles of cold sludge.
Chim Chim has put the remains of his friends in a small jar.
Name: Elo/Nagash/Bjorn/Skaz von Squips/Alonzo
Race: Aasimar/Garundian/Ulfen/Ratfolk/Tian
Classes/levels:Level 11 Oracle/Wizard/Cavalier/Alchemist/Fighter
Adventure: The Frozen Stars
Location: The Rimekeening Crevasse
Catalyst: Frost Worm Death Throes!
The Gory Details: The party attracted the attention of the pair of frostworms and ended up fighting them in rather close quarters. Both worms were near death when Bjorn made the first kill. Death throes kicked in, causing the first worm to explode - knocking most of the party down, as well as killing the other worm - which resulted in all but one party member (the Vanara ranger, Chim Chim the Immortal) to be little more than bloody piles of cold sludge.
Chim Chim has put the remains of his friends in a small jar.
Dang, already level 11? Speedy.
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Well, level 10 now it seems. :p
My players just narrowly escaped a TPK at Rohkar's. The Cleric reached -8hp, and was dragged back to Heldren on a horse. And that was with most of the raiders locked outside and distracted by a burning toilet.
I expect to be making a proper appearance in this thread soon.
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We had some near death experiences including the river crossing where the party was woefully ill prepared to be fighting on glare ice that then started to crack and break and a botched nighttime assault on the lodge. We are heading into another with a botched daytime raid on the Pale Tower. They will be teleporting into a killzone and it will be a tough battle.
However, the only death so far:
Name: Ausk
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Sorcerer 2
Adventure: Snows of Summer
Location: The Border Wood
Catalyst: The party made a second foray into the Border Wood to find the rumored giant weasel and save the memory of the now dead huntsman.
The Gory Details: After a night spent in the hunting lodge the party drove deeper into the forest and the supernatural snow, now better prepared and equipped than their first foray. The hunt was largely uneventful but they steadily found more and more signs of the weasel and they knew they were closing in on the beast. However, the great creature found them first. As they moved along, looking for more signs it lay in wait aside the trail for its prey to draw closer. As they were passing it pounced. A random target had it land on Ausk with a critical for max damage. The great beast swiftly disemboweled the sorcerer and turned on the rest of the party, who promptly slaughtered it before dragging their friend and the creature's head and pelt back to Heldren.
In my Obituaries book it reads: "Ausk, Half-Orc Sorcerer 2, disemboweled by a giant weasel."
His replacement character is a barbarian. lol
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Name: Wolfy
Race: Wolf
Classes/levels: Mad Dog Barbarians Animal companion (3HD)
Adventure: Snows of Summer
Location: Just outside the Hunters Lodge
Catalyst: Archers, lots and lots of archers
The Gory Details: The party set off the trap outside of the lodge while attempting to get a look at the situation. As the Party waited to see what they should do and took a defensive posture (not a lot of stealth in the group) they decided to wait and see what would come for them as they were still a ways out from the lodge. When all of the not sick bandits emerged with bows and the party decided they were not friendlies, initiative was rolled. Due to some lucky roles on my part the archers went first and with the first volley took down the parties Barbarian to negative hit points. The party quickly recovered and retreated dragging the barbarian to safety, but not before the poor wolf stepping in front of its master protectively and menacingly was hit on almost every attack the archers made against him and turned into a pincushion. His corpse had to be left behind as the party did not have anyone willing to go back for his body after that volley as they retreated to the relative safety of the cover of the woods and revived the barbarian. When they assaulted the camp again later and much more organized they found Rohkar wearing a fine new wolf fur cloak.
His replacement companion is a giant weasel named Squirmy.
Wow, not a lot of folks getting past Chapter One!
My group meets once a month. I'm lucky we're even at the lodge. (Though I could have had a TPK if I didn't warn the newly selected party leader that splitting the party to cover the second exit and smoking out the bandits was a Bad Idea. (Mostly about the splitting of the party.) Though that caused a meltdown for half an hour....
But yeah. If I were to lay odds, I'd say Frost Skeletons that automatically damage anyone near them, a level 3 Cleric using his Channel Negative Energy against 1st level PCs (yes, it's not in the tactics for him to do that but a lot of GMs don't memorize the tactics), and the inability to take 5-foot steps in the snow can be a lethal combination.
While it is far too late to change it, my one recommendation which would make more sense storywise and reduce the lethality of Rokhar would be to make him a Rogue 1/Cleric 2... and have several pairs of snowshoes at the Lodge.
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Pff. Kill zem, kill zem all. RoW demands moar corpsicles!
Pff. Kill zem, kill zem all. RoW demands moar corpsicles!
You misspelled Reign of Yeti's, unless you meant Reign of Weasels, which seems to be the going trend now.
Pff. Kill zem, kill zem all. RoW demands moar corpsicles!You misspelled Reign of Yeti's, unless you meant Reign of Weasels, which seems to be the going trend now.
I'll need to point this to my player whose first character nearly got devoured by a weasel trio in his very first encounter.
This will forever be etched in my mind as Reign of Yetis.
Had a close TPK situation at the lodge with Rohkar. After 30 minutes of coming up with a really good plan that used the clothing from the 3 raiders right before the lodge, the Rogue set off the crossbow trap...and it critted. Dropped her to -6 in one shot. Healthy Bandits started shooting from the lodge taking the Wizard character to 1 hp, and the Magus was busy trying to get the rogue dragged back to relative safety.
I decided to play it easy and have some commotion disturbing the inside (Rohkar started killing the sick bandits and the Frost Skels took care of the live ones) and he raised them all after that. Gave the cleric a chance to channel and the fighter a chance to put a couple potions into the fallen.
This first chapter is DEADLY. And I'm still waiting for the right moment to bring back the Yeti from earlier...as a Barbarian Yeti.
Plus, they've let a lot of the encounters escape (in terms of the Fey) so they will have a LOT to deal with once they get to Teb.
Have Ted send them out in a couple waves. First send the Fae as a main force with "no retreat" options with our favorite Elk/Fae partnership. Then do the attack with our Ice Mephit and air elemental with another "no retreat" option. If everyone is at the Winter Gate, even if you enforce the 5' visibility and blizzard with wind rules for the fae as well as the PCs, you'll have a TPK.
My party got beat up badly by the troll guarding the portal (Teb Knotten), after ransacking everything looking for goodies, the black rider shows up, after all that fun, they got distracted and wanted to run through the portal immediately, as a result they werent healed up for the next battle with the Mantis, which caused a TPK. (a winter witch, an armored hulk barbarian, a menhir savant druid, and a magus)
We will be rebooting starting with characters who are all snow caster elves and picking up with events in Shackled Hut after a chance meeting with one of baba sagas other riders.
I think the new group will be a Druid, A Cavalier, a Rage Prophet and Im not sure on the fourth, they are all trying for a mounted "Dragoon" style adventuring group... so everyone will have an animal companion and good mobility.
Any ideas on how to do that with an arcane caster or a rogue? (or an arcane rogue multiclass)
(the rage prophet will have levels of nature oracle)
The lodge fight can be rough. On the boards here there was a group who TPK'd and just never restarted.(Go through that whole fight again against foes who are all healed up and have undead reinforcements? Meh.)
You know, in that case I'd just offer to restart the campaign fresh. They'd have to deal with earlier encounters which may be altered but that way they'd be better able to think tactically... or even should the GM so choose, have a couple early adventures in Helgren prior to the snows so that they reach the Lodge at level 2.
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I very nearly had a TPK on my hands as well. The party magus went down in the fight against Rohkar to the two frost skeletons. They'd heard that Rohkar was a necromancer, so they took the precaution of taking the heads of the corpses. However, since animate dead doesn't really care if the corpse has a head or not, they rose. For fun, I had the headless bodies pick up their own heads and hold them out in front of them by the hair, their lifeless eyes rolling around in their disembodied heads. When they attacked, they swung their own heads at the party as makeshift weapons!
They won, but it was a very near thing. Those frost skeletons are brutal at first level, and Rohkar's no slouch!
You know, in that case I'd just offer to restart the campaign fresh. They'd have to deal with earlier encounters which may be altered but that way they'd be better able to think tactically... or even should the GM so choose, have a couple early adventures in Helgren prior to the snows so that they reach the Lodge at level 2.
That can be done, but they would still be doing everything over again and the players just didn't want to do that. Getting 12 bear noses in Helgren would just add to the tedium.
Name: Camille
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Paladin (3)
Adventure: Snows of Summer
Location: Courtyard of the Pale Tower
Catalyst: Radosek
The Gory Details:
Having cleared through the first two floors of the tower my group rested in the room Hestrig's bedroom and set bear traps in the doorway.
Prior to the fight with Radosek the group were worn down by a fight with some more guards who had returned and Jairess (who surrendered and fled when the characters gave her chance to)
Then the battle with Radosek started. His use of mirror sight and the functionality of the ice teleporters (one PC at a time), gave him an early tactical advantage with elementals crowding the ice teleporter and restricting tactical movement.
He unleashed multiple ice spears on the party (including two that hit said paladin with one of them a failed save). The Wizard was blinded and reduced to 0 HP so became useless.
When weakened he flew out the window, healed and animated the dragon. One Paladin stayed shooting from the tower, whilst Camille and the Viking jumped out of the window using feather fall.
The ice dragon rounded on them, where Camille was hit 4 times in 3 rounds (i managed to roll low on the damage dice every time) to reduced her to 0, and a final ice spear took her to -15 and dead outright.
The Viking destroyed the statue and then ran and threw his greataxe at Radosek dropping him and ending the grueling encounter. Thegroup got into an argument about what to do with Radosek. They requested him to repent his association with Nazhena (which he did to save his own skin) and let him leave the tower.
It would seem the group are struggling with the dilemma of captured enemies. The paladins know they are evil or servants of evil, but also know they are the established authority in the area
(**Use of hero point mean the Paladin lives on but it is still a mechanical "death" so I posted here)
Alright, Necrovox reporting in again!
Tonight we were in the Pale Tower, second story, at 2 am. So I made a few changes.
Name: Dawei Tsui
Race: Tien
Classes/levels: Ninja 3
Adventure: Snows of Summer
Location: The Pale Tower, level 2
Catalyst: Gardhek
The Gory Details: The ninja opened Gardhek's room without stealthing and so I had the doppleganger assume Lady Argentea's form. As we already had a TPK, the Ninja came in as the bastard son of Argentea's father. He beat the Doppleganger's sense motive, and the Cleric of Gorum asked the doppleganger who she was supposed to marry. At that point Gardhek assumed the ninja's form to try and mess with the enemies that hadn't seen Argentea, and the ninja attacked as result. We rolled initiative and Gardhek got four hits on the ninja over 2 rounds, resulting in about 30 points of damage. Killing him, I described it as the doppleganger ripped out his throat, spraying kill bill style. Best part? The Cleric had attempted to grapple the ninja to pull him out of the room before the Doppleganger ever attacked.
Aftermath: The gunshots from the gunslinger awoke the rest of the tower, Hestrig ordered the fey to join her, and the Spriggan awoke and kept working in his kitchen (made him a little bonkers). Mierul, who had pretended to be neutral joined in and resulted in about a 2 minute fight as healing potions and heal spells were burnt. In the end, Mierul surrendered and was let go, who then killed Ansel's NPC Isiamir on tier one, who had volunteered to join them when he was burnt alive (though he survived with again, 1 hit point, but his wife's head was chopped off). He was brought to -8 fighting Bordegga and the guards, and was brought to 1 hp before they assaulted the second level... They found him headless and a trail of vomit. Then they assaulted the Mandragora, which wailed on the inquisitor and then strangled and drained the gunslinger to -4 con (from 14 to 10) and -9. It died before it could make that last point of damage =( ... Finally they fought Mig, who almost killed the Inquisitor (-12 with 14 con after a 20 point of dmg crit from a large sized morningstar). Blood flowed this evening. Twas glorious.
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I've got a few new entries to add, and this time from The Shackled Hut. Here's lookin' at you, Jim Groves!
Names: Eiliff Blood-Eagle, Artemis, Kressimir
Race: All three humans
Classes/levels: Barbarian, Rogue, Druid (All 5th)
Adventure: The Shackled Hut
Location: The Howlings, (Wages of Sin Encounter)
Catalyst: Urination
The Gory Details: Alright, so a few background details. The party has six members, plus both Nadya and Ringeirr actively participating. Consequently, I have to adjust all the encounters up 1-2 CRs (usually one). All of my winter wolves have the advanced template, and I removed the sickened effect for this particular encounter. Additionally, I gave both winter wolves the same gear as Greta, making them off-duty guards spoiling for a fight. In hindsight, this bumped the CR up to CR9 - significantly more difficult than the original encounter, but not beyond all bounds of reason.
Kressimir, the druid, is wearing the rimepelt and appearing as a winter wolf in human form. The two off duty guards, seeing an unfamiliar face and spoiling for a bit, decide to start harassing him. The winter wolves start asking questions about the rest of the party, and Kressimir tells them that those are his slaves, and they'd best leave his property alone. Being animals at heart, one of the winter wolves decides to show Kressimir how wrong he is, by marking his territory: he urinates on Ringeirr right in front of him. Kressimir responds by unsheathing himself, and returning the favor right in the guards face. It was quite literally a pissing match.
Two great axe crits and 3 party member deaths later, the rest of the party is left with a whole alley full of corpses to deal with. . .
PROBABLY not how the encounter was envisioned by the author, but hey, these games take a turn for the weird sometimes!
Name: Rriddt'z Hon / Li-He
Race: Fetchling/Human
Classes/levels: Ninja/Sorcerer
Adventure: The Shackled Hut
Location: Road to Whitetrone
Catalyst: Nogrimm the Winter WolfThe Gory Details: The party failed the perception roll, they got ambushed by Nogrimm and the falconers, the ninja and the sorcerer were behind and Nogrimm attacked, he really injured the ninja in the surprise round and he won initiative too so he used the breath weapon right away killing off the ninja and dropping the sorcerer down to -5. Just after Nogrimm one of the falconers chopped the poor Li-He head, could have easily become a TPK.
Did you buff up the "Special" Winter Wolf at all?
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Oh man I've got two TPKs already that I've been putting off posting here.
Round One
Name: Hanski/Behrouz/Arany Gyemant/Lahni/Bic Bic
Race: Catfolk/Human/Dwarf/Dhampir/Goblin
Classes: Ninja/Witch/Druid/Fighter/Alchemist (all level 1)
Adventure: Snows of Summer
Location: .... the Lodge, of course
Catalyst: Animated bandits
Round Two
Name: Phineus the Taupe/Dirt Gandaldore/Arany Zafir/Lahni/Nadya Petska
Race: Venerable Human/Venerable Human/Dwarf/Dhampir/Human
Classes: Wizard/Sorceror/Druid/Fighter/Ranger (mostly level 3)
Adventure: Snows of Summer
Location: Pale Tower
Catalyst: Hidden doppelganger during boss fight
At least after that one, they had enough hero points to survive the TPK, so they woke up when the other party member and the party's hireling pulled them out of the corpse pile in the courtyard. Rokhar then showed up offering them the chance for revenge on Radosek. Lahni, of course, remembered him and told Zafir that he killed his sister Gyemant. Things went downhill from there, but they killed both Rokhar and Radosek that session, so I think they were pretty pleased with themselves.
Phew.
I hope book two goes a little easier for them. Nadya is dead, so I have to find them a different way into the beginning of that book.
They crammed EVERYONE into the teleporter and beamed upstairs to find Radosek, his goat, and Mierul waiting for them.
All that AND a doppleganger? Ouch!
Got a new one.
Name: Viktor
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Oracle of Milani/7
Adventure: Mother, Maiden, Crone
Location: Chamber of the Dawn
Catalyst: Party Conflict (PK)
This is unusual for my group, but we had an inner party conflict that resulted in a PC death. The CG oracle of Milani decided that he was not going to heal the LE Summoner (who happens to worship Asmodeus), because the summoner had informed the group that he may, from time to time, summon devils to help with combat.
After a particularly nasty battle with the Animate Dream, the Summoner requests healing from the Oracle, who denies him. . . the next thing I know, the Summoner's eidolon is pouncing the Oracle, killing him in one round, as he was still hurt from the previous battle. Meanwhile, Tryva, the third raven oracle, is just watching the party implode in front of her with a bemused expression on her face (as much as a raven can look bemused).
Much heated RP ensued. . . and I'm still trying to figure out where that came from! Needless to say, the party was not pleased at seeing their main source of healing killed by one of their own. They're all the rest of them various flavors of Neutral alignment, so there was no immediate retribution.
The funniest thing about it all was that the Summoner kept claiming that it wasn't him, that his eidolon decided on his own to kill the guy because he was angry he wasn't getting heals after all of his hard work. . . :/
Got a new one.
This is unusual for my group, but we had an inner party conflict that resulted in a PC death. The CG oracle of Milani decided that he was not going to heal the LE Summoner (who happens to worship Asmodeus), because the summoner had informed the group that he may, from time to time, summon devils to help with combat.Much heated RP ensued. . . and I'm still trying to figure out where that came from! Needless to say, the party was not pleased at seeing their main source of healing killed by one of their own. They're all the rest of them various flavors of Neutral alignment, so there was no immediate retribution.
The funniest thing about it all was that the Summoner kept claiming that it wasn't him, that his eidolon decided on his own to kill the guy because he was angry he wasn't getting heals after all of his hard work. . . :/
Interesting... As long as the players remove themselves from the game (IE My character is my character, not an extension of my self) then the way things continue will be quite interesting. If you're going to push someone's buttons, you don't push the Medic's, so I could see the party in turn killing the summoner - which due to balance would result in a TPK. lol.
Any plans for incorporating a new character? (Centaur? ^_^ )
Interesting... As long as the players remove themselves from the game (IE My character is my character, not an extension of my self) then the way things continue will be quite interesting. If you're going to push someone's buttons, you don't push the Medic's, so I could see the party in turn killing the summoner - which due to balance would result in a TPK. lol.
Any plans for incorporating a new character? (Centaur? ^_^ )
Actually, I had Solveig travel with the party from Whitethrone. In my game, the "distraction" the PCs managed to create only lasted so long before the Winter Guard reasserted dominance in a major way, striking into the heart of the Heralds of Summers Return's lair. So Nadya, Solveig, and Bella all fled from the destruction and joined the PCs in the Hut before it left Whitethrone.
Then, I gave Solveig one scroll of Raise Dead from her old hideout (an item she grabbed literally as the walls were falling down around her). So long story short, I included a replacement PC cleric should things go horribly awry, or if the party needed some back up heals of some kind, and 1 freebie Raise Dead, which the party used on the Oracle.
This led to a pretty awkward and uncomfortable "Why did you kill me?" conversation between Viktor and his killer. Both players are keeping it in character, though, which is good. No one stormed off angrily or anything!
Actually, I had Solveig travel with the party from Whitethrone. In my game, the "distraction" the PCs managed to create only lasted so long before the Winter Guard reasserted dominance in a major way, striking into the heart of the Heralds of Summers Return's lair. So Nadya, Solveig, and Bella all fled from the destruction and joined the PCs in the Hut before it left Whitethrone.
Then, I gave Solveig one scroll of Raise Dead from her old hideout (an item she grabbed literally as the walls were falling down around her). So long story short, I included a replacement PC cleric should things go horribly awry, or if the party needed some back up heals of some kind, and 1 freebie Raise Dead, which the party used on the Oracle.
This led to a pretty awkward and uncomfortable "Why did you kill me?" conversation between Viktor and his killer. Both players are keeping it in character, though, which is good. No one stormed off angrily or anything!
Awesome! I was planning on having the Winter Guard do something similar...
Anyway, have another death report:Name: Branis Boldarm
Race: Human (Varisian)
Classes/levels: Cleric of Gorum (3)/Fighter 1
Adventure: Shackled Hut
Location: In Hoarwood, outside of Waldsby
Catalyst: Altered "Gremlin's Curse" event:
Because they elected to travel a different path, I elected to have the Raven Swarm and Gremlin Curse happen same day. The Raven swarm left 3 dogs, the inquisitor, the inquisitor's roc, and the witch blind. I used this to great effect as it turned into a massive pain in the neck to move the party, and when the sun began setting they found a mangled corpse of a bull elk.
They found massive footprints in the snow, as well as a small blood trail, but refused to follow it to far into the woods, and chose to camp on a nearby hill just 200 or so feet from the clearing where they found the elk. During the set up of camp the Ranger and the cleric managed to fix the inquisitor's eyes from the Raven Swarm attacks earlier that day.
First watch was uneventful, second watch I messed with quite a bit. Unbeknownst to the party, the Gremlin's that elected to harry the party, also decided to piss off the yeti that killed the elk. I had them aggravate the yeti, and make a lot of noise (Described to the wizard on watch as rustling and branches snapping and cackling). The dogs began growling and barking, and he got the party awake and prepared for combat, but nothing showed up.
Third watch I had the gremlins sneak into camp, and fail at cursing the inquisitor and the cleric, but successfully putrefied all of the party's food. The yeti, still angry, stalked them to the camp, but lost track of them when they DD'd out of the camp. Now, I have a layer who lacks a lot of common sense, and decided that he, the disliked Jadwiga Witch (previously the Ninja from my last post), would sleep in the treeline right outside of camp.
Watch four rolls around and the Ranger and Nadya patrol and finally the yeti rolled an 8 for stealth (total of 20) and the Ranger got a 28 to hear it getting ready to eat the witch. She sneaks up on it, and screams when she sees it. This results in the party stumbling to grab weapons and find out what is happening. Round 1 the Yeti knocks out the witch with a claw, claw, rend, bringing him to -3. Round 2 the Yeti takes a bunch of damage from the Ranger, but freezes Nadya with his gaze. Round 3 the Cleric gets in the Yeti's face, taking an AOO bringing him to about 25 hp. The cleric swings, deals some pretty gnarly damage, and so I have the yeti power attack. The cleric, who is really a beefcake and has a decent armor class when he has his armor on, was no match for the Yeti. The yeti landed all of his blows, rended, leaving the Cleric at -16hp. 4 over his con. Dead. I described it as the Yeti literally just ripped him in half, spilling guts and quite a bit of blood onto the unconscious witch.The Inquisitor grabbed his shield and mace and ran out - but didn't get into melee range until round 4. When he finally engaged the Yeti, he too took an AOO, which missed (and missed only by 1, so had the inquisitor not had his shield he too would have died...), and then a full attack with power attack, resulting in a -6 hp inquisitor. During this time the Wizard, Ranger, and Nadya turned the Yeti into a pincushion, and so at 9hp I had it attempt to flee.
It made it forty feet. But still left the party with quite a few wounds to lick, and a new goal: reincarnate Branis.
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I wonder how many player deaths we've collectively seen due to Yetis? Quite a few, I think.
For a while, my players were calling this AP "Reign of Yetis."
I've not sicced a Yeti on them yet. But I did have an Encounter roll with a Yeti... and described it as they found some... unusual footprints going across their trail. Not every Encounter has to be combat, after all! :)
I may have a Yeti stalk them on the other side of the Portal, however. Or maybe attack them while they camp! :D
I've not sicced a Yeti on them yet. But I did have an Encounter roll with a Yeti... and described it as they found some... unusual footprints going across their trail. Not every Encounter has to be combat, after all! :)
I may have a Yeti stalk them on the other side of the Portal, however. Or maybe attack them while they camp! :D
That was my original intent... To build up quite a bit of suspense - should I have had it appear only to roar and run off?
No, you worked it in quite well because the Gremlins instigated things. The entire situation worked well in my opinion, even with a PC death.
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Name: Morrigana
Race: Elf (Snowcaster)
Classes/levels: Witch/6
Adventure: The Shackled Hut
Location: The Market Square
Catalyst: Flanked by bacchae
The Gory Details:
The party rogue and fighter missed game day, so the bacchae had to try and woo a druid, oracle, witch, and monk. Not an easy task. The three bacchae offered their wine to the party and were easily turned down. The party made to leave and the monsters struck. Two of the sisters flanked Morrigana and were helped out by one of the merchants they had charmed. Within a round she was unconscious, and a round later was dead. This despite the fact that the oracle successfully hit one of the bacchae with a curse knocking her strength down to a 12.
My Yeti is going to come back for them soon after their disgraceful encounter with him last time. With class levels.
No, not at all, I have 6 players and I usually buff up all the encounters, in this case I ran the encounter as written, next session they'll mess up in whitetrone and I'm quite sure a couple of them will die if they're not careful...Did you buff up the "Special" Winter Wolf at all?Name: Rriddt'z Hon / Li-He
Race: Fetchling/Human
Classes/levels: Ninja/Sorcerer
Adventure: The Shackled Hut
Location: Road to Whitetrone
Catalyst: Nogrimm the Winter WolfThe Gory Details: The party failed the perception roll, they got ambushed by Nogrimm and the falconers, the ninja and the sorcerer were behind and Nogrimm attacked, he really injured the ninja in the surprise round and he won initiative too so he used the breath weapon right away killing off the ninja and dropping the sorcerer down to -5. Just after Nogrimm one of the falconers chopped the poor Li-He head, could have easily become a TPK.
That fight was a challenge for my party too, they are 6 strong with 20 point builds but when archers get hot and players accidentally clump up vs AoE things get dangerous. Dropped to negative both Nadya and the party sorcerer, who as typical of that player, never remembers to have defenses up or use cover (you cast spells in an archery battle and you become target number 1...) Now that I think of it the cavalier dropped to negs as well, but that was pretty much every other encounter in book 1 so its easy to forget. Book 1 is definitely a hard module. Book 2... not nearly as bad.
Took a surprisingly long time for a player character death in this one for me.
Name:Ace
Race:Human
Classes/levels:Alchemist 8
Adventure:Maiden Mother Crone
Location:Caigreal's Boudoir
Catalyst:Standing too close to a weak minded barbarian.
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Name: Gundar
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian 3rd
Adventure: Snows of Summer
Location: Pale Tower
Catalyst: Final Battle with Radosek and Animated Ice Dragon
The Gory Details: Gundar having feather fall from the pale tower to the courtyard to challenge the Ice Dragon as his party memebers battled Radosek. Unfortunately for Gundar the Ice Dragon got off a couple of timely hits that ended the poor barbarian life.