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I made my Halfling Avenger to play alongside my fiancé's Zealot, but his bundle of credit is second level, so she was on her own for level 1. She did, however, play alongside a Stalker, so I will add in thoughts on that as well. For my 1st level feat I took Power Attack (15 Strength), and for my 1st level Social Talent I took Social Grace towards Bluff.
The scenarios (in order of play): The Confirmation, First Steps, The Wounded Wisp
The Cast: Avenger, Stalker, Swashbuckler, and whoever else was able to play that particular scenario.
The Confirmation
Spoilers:
The were only the 3 of us for this, so we grabbed ourselves a pregen (Kyra, in case we needed healing). We had all already played the scenario, so we had were able to really focus more on our characters, and how they would play out. I started in my vigilante guise, and the stalker started in his social guise. As soon as the briefing was over however, the stalker had to “leave for a moment”, and his vigilante guise returned saying he had been told by 'this guy outside' to fill in for him. With that we were off. There was a lot of good natured back and forth between the party and Janira before we encountered the wolves, but they were merely a speed bump (so no difference from when we've played it in the past...). None of us could make survival checks to save our lives, so we had to force march to make the caves by nightfall.
The first test of our characters came when the Minotaur made his appearance. Janira said “run!”, but I decided my character did not like bullies, and so she went after him (with the party's approval). The stalker had Janira's backpack (that she had already thrown us), so he got out a tanglefoot bag, and put it to good use. Minotaur ended up being entangled, stuck to the ground (the GM was having bad luck with his rolls), and flanked; he did not last long. So far, the avenger was feeling like a fighter, just with an unusual background twist.
We proceeded to explore the caves, talk to Uri, and figure out some of the blessings (the swashbuckler had forgotten them, so we let her solve them). We then went off in search of Uri's friends, and after some cooperative attack –> 5 foot step, got them close enough to the cleric to hit them all with her channels. My avenger also crit a zombie with her handaxe, which was fun, though nothing special to the class. We also ran into the mites and their centipede. Between the stalker and swashbuckler flanking, the mites went down quickly, and my avenger squashed the bug.
We returned to Absalom victorious.
The first test of our characters came when the Minotaur made his appearance. Janira said “run!”, but I decided my character did not like bullies, and so she went after him (with the party's approval). The stalker had Janira's backpack (that she had already thrown us), so he got out a tanglefoot bag, and put it to good use. Minotaur ended up being entangled, stuck to the ground (the GM was having bad luck with his rolls), and flanked; he did not last long. So far, the avenger was feeling like a fighter, just with an unusual background twist.
We proceeded to explore the caves, talk to Uri, and figure out some of the blessings (the swashbuckler had forgotten them, so we let her solve them). We then went off in search of Uri's friends, and after some cooperative attack –> 5 foot step, got them close enough to the cleric to hit them all with her channels. My avenger also crit a zombie with her handaxe, which was fun, though nothing special to the class. We also ran into the mites and their centipede. Between the stalker and swashbuckler flanking, the mites went down quickly, and my avenger squashed the bug.
We returned to Absalom victorious.
Final thoughts: The avenger played much like a fighter, and the stalker (from my perspective) played much like a rogue.
First Steps
Spoilers:
In addition to the three of us, we also had a Druid, a Witch, and a Hunter. Two of the players had never played before, so they made all the decisions for us. Both the stalker and I started in our social guises. We saw Amenopheus first, and while he was giving us the details, the stalker had to 'use the potty'. His vigilante guise returned with some excuse about the social guise, and we were shown down to the room. Those of us who had played before sat back and let the other two figure the puzzle out.
Next, we went to The Pickled Imp, and were sent to the warehouse. The various animal companions took out the rats, and then we let the new players figure out how to get the box.
The orphanage was next, and we made our knowledges to get the neighbor's gossip. However, none of us could make a diplomacy check to get the kids to talk, and the stalker finally ended up using some very... ...interesting methods (RP, not mechanics) to get what we needed out of Auntie.
We saved the Paracountess for last. While the rest of us went in to deal with the imp, the stalker tried to sweet talk Zarta. The imp (and it's DR) gave us the most trouble out of all the encounters, but we were finally able to get it to relinquish the box.
We were on our way back to the Grand Lodge, and encountered the ambush. The stalker climbed up on the roof, while the rest of the party engaged the gang. The stalker dropped flasks on the bad guys, while the fighter types closed in. Both animal companions were down at one point, but the party had more than enough muscle to take down the enemies.
We returned to the Grand Lodge victorious.
Next, we went to The Pickled Imp, and were sent to the warehouse. The various animal companions took out the rats, and then we let the new players figure out how to get the box.
The orphanage was next, and we made our knowledges to get the neighbor's gossip. However, none of us could make a diplomacy check to get the kids to talk, and the stalker finally ended up using some very... ...interesting methods (RP, not mechanics) to get what we needed out of Auntie.
We saved the Paracountess for last. While the rest of us went in to deal with the imp, the stalker tried to sweet talk Zarta. The imp (and it's DR) gave us the most trouble out of all the encounters, but we were finally able to get it to relinquish the box.
We were on our way back to the Grand Lodge, and encountered the ambush. The stalker climbed up on the roof, while the rest of the party engaged the gang. The stalker dropped flasks on the bad guys, while the fighter types closed in. Both animal companions were down at one point, but the party had more than enough muscle to take down the enemies.
We returned to the Grand Lodge victorious.
Final thoughts: The avenger and the stalker didn't do too much, as we were trying to let the new players experience the scenario. We did enjoy role playing the encounters, but I don't think that was due to our classes, as much as our characters.
The Wounded Wisp
Spoilers:
In addition to the three of us, we also had a rogue, and a pregen (Kyra). One of the players had never played before, so he made decisions for the party. Both the stalker and I started in our social guises, but after the briefing, the stalker went “home to change [his] wet sweater”, and his vigilante guise showed up to take his place. We talked to people at the bar, and my avenger made her bluff check against never having met Janira before (since she played solely in her vigilante guise). We encountered spiders down in the basement, and the swashbuckler and my avenger took out one, while the other three took out the other. We reported back to Dreng, and then went off to ivestigate.
We decided to go to the wall of names first, followed by the cemetery. We met the Asmodean cleric, and finally managed to talk our way past him with a small donation. We found the coin, but no one had spellcraft, so we put it aside to ask Janira to identify it for us. We then went to Fimbrik's place, and met his illusions, though none of us could make the saves, even with seeing them in two rooms at once. We found his note, and were off to the Shrine of the Failed (after talking to Janira about the coin). Along the way, we heard the buzz about Sir Reinhart, and my avenger decided to “just take a peek, and catch up to the party later”. She met up with them at the shrine in her vigilante guise, and told them that she had been told they needed her help by “someone passing by, who wanted to go watch the show”. We found the secret room and papers, and met the Aspis on our way out. We worked together to take them out, moving up to threaten the spellcasters and giving flanks whenever possible. We defeated them without too much injury on our side.
We returned to the Grand Lodge victorious.
We decided to go to the wall of names first, followed by the cemetery. We met the Asmodean cleric, and finally managed to talk our way past him with a small donation. We found the coin, but no one had spellcraft, so we put it aside to ask Janira to identify it for us. We then went to Fimbrik's place, and met his illusions, though none of us could make the saves, even with seeing them in two rooms at once. We found his note, and were off to the Shrine of the Failed (after talking to Janira about the coin). Along the way, we heard the buzz about Sir Reinhart, and my avenger decided to “just take a peek, and catch up to the party later”. She met up with them at the shrine in her vigilante guise, and told them that she had been told they needed her help by “someone passing by, who wanted to go watch the show”. We found the secret room and papers, and met the Aspis on our way out. We worked together to take them out, moving up to threaten the spellcasters and giving flanks whenever possible. We defeated them without too much injury on our side.
We returned to the Grand Lodge victorious.
Final thoughts: This was the first scenario in which my avenger switched between her identities, and it seemed to work out pretty well. Finding the opportune time to do it was important, as I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the story. The avenger seemed more balanced in this scenario, maybe because there's a good mix between fighting and RPing to get past encounters. She fought like a fighter, but had more skills at her disposal for the non-combat periods. I felt the stalker was also able to be more his own class this time around.
Level 1 summary: I like the Avenger, but first level can be tricky no matter what class you play, as it's more about balancing your character than anything else. She didn't lose access to any of her abilities, as she didn't yet have vigilante talents, and her social talent at this point is more to help her bluff about her vigilante identity than anything else. I love the character from a RP perspective, and definitely look forward to seeing where she goes from here. The change from 5 minutes to 1 minute for switching identities was very welcome, as it made it easier to figure out when in the scenario to change over; as long as you're not in combat, you can usually spare a minute to duck down an alleyway or into another room. It was especially fun to play with another vigilante, and I look forward to playing my avenger at level 2!