| Prisoner301 |
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Plot Summary: Seemingly random people are murdered in the poorer areas of Alkenstar city. It turns out that a bored noble and his enamored investor have thought of a new, sickening way to entertain themselves. By adding some rare crystals to clockwork assassins, they are able not only to pilot them remotely but also "feel" like they are them and enjoy their kills. The PCs are hired to investigate, are ambushed by clockwork assassins too. They discover the crystals from the body of an assassin they manage to defeat. They follow the trail of the crystals through the mana wastes, find out what is happening in the dangerous mine where the crystals can be mined and return to Alkenstar to confront the noble and his inventor partner in his skyscraper apartment.
Team Composition: Team Screenshot
Zak: Human Gunslinger with the Way of the Drifter
Lirianne: Human Gunslinger with Way of the Pistolero. I allowed him to treat Pair Weapon Reload as a Gunslinger feat. Still, after Session 1 he was so disappointed with the performance of playing with Dual Pistols that he changed to Way of the Sniper.
Nikkit: Ratfolk Inventor with the Companion Innovation Clankers. Low Strength, played with Rapier and Dueling Pistol but quickly switched to Rapier and Shield.
Grub: Lizardfolk Fighter with a single bastard sword and empty hand for Feats such as Combat Grab, etc. He basically acted as our non-guns & gears benchmark.
Notes We are playing with the no-level to proficiency variant rules. Also, like our usual campaigns, I am designing the sessions to be cinematic, setpiece affairs. Meaning, all of our encounters are complex encounters with high difficulty. 95% of the encounters we play are XP 120 and above.
Session 1 Part 1:Storyboard Episode 1 Screenshot 1
The PCs are hired to investigate and start by randomly patrolling the streets at night hoping to be targeted. After a few nights with no results, they are ambushed by a local gang.
Encounter 1:Encounter 1 Screenshot.
List of Enemies:
4 Level 2 Ruffians. Built like Ruffian Rogue NPCs but with AoO. They start the combat in pairs blocking the way forward and backward Cost: 12XP * 4 = 48 XP
4 Level 2 Musketeers. Also built like Rogue NPCs wielded Musket Rifles with Firearm Ace. They are strategically placed high places such as 2nd story windows and a rooftop. Cost: 12XP * 4 = 48 XP
1 Level 7 Ratfolk Alchemist with the Alchemical Shot feat. He starts combat in the metallic ramp above the PCs. Cost: 36 XP
Total Encounter Cost: 126 XP
The encounter was fun but a bit on the easy side. The rogue NPCs didn't get many hits and the alchemist missed quite a lot too. It was cool seeing the gunlingers dispatching the musketeers at the higher ground. The Fighter had trouble being useful in the fight after dispatching the rogues at the ground level.
| Prisoner301 |
Session 1 Part 2: The PCs grab the head of the group that ambushed them. They soon realize the thugs have nothing to do with the murders; they just wanted to mug them for their gear. However, the rat-folk does remember one of his contacts mentioned seeing two weird, cloaked figures entering an abandoned workshop with rapiers dripping blood. The PCs visit the abandoned workshop, only to be ambushed by 2 clockwork assassins.
Encounter 2: Encounter 2 Ground LvL Screenshot
Encounter 2 Upper LvL SCreenshot
2 Level 11 Clockwork Assassins. Encounter Cost: 144 XP
The players where lucky to spot the Assassin on top of the machinery at the Ground level. The fight was very tough and nearly resulted in a wipe. I brought the Damage Resistance of the Assassins to 5 (from 10 at level 13) because none of the group had adamantine to bypass it. The firearm wielders dealt minimal damage on normal hits and the assassins having high AC resulted in a crit range of natural 19-20. The fighter lost time running up the stairs to chase the sniping assassin (hide+projectile launcher sneak attacks) only to have the assassin drop down to the ground floor. They managed to kill one assassin and the second one run away. The session ended with the inventor analysing the body of the clockwork assassins and finding out his internal parts are laced with a strange purple crystal.
Impressions after Session 1 Firearms felt flimsy. Very low damage compared to the Fighter and the Inventor. On the other hand, the Inventor felt very powerful, with overdrive plus his companions attacks making him the higher damage dealer of the party. He also had many options at any given round (tamper, command companion, strike, raise shield, heal, etc) making him a very fun character to play. Unstable was too limiting, but this has been addressed already.