With a new campaign comes new characters. The players were at first hesitant to give up their favorite characters but now are enjoying these immensely. Without further ado, here is our cast for this campaign.
"Badger", Gnome Aerialist Rogue 1
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"Badger", which is not his real name (but he refuses to tell the players his name) enjoys making trouble and using his thievery to cause trouble (first session antics include stealing poker chips from a blackjack table at a tavern, sneaking into the Deva's bed in the middle of the night, and switching their drinks so that she looked like an alcoholic). He slipped through a rift in the Feywild at an early age and has been living in and around the port city of Sasserine ever since. One of his worst experiences that he remembers from his childhood in the Feywild is being chased home by a rabid badger. This is where his nickname "Badger" came from, and he has a deathly fear of badgers to this day. "Badger" is also very outgoing (for his height) and likes older women, hence his attraction to Lavinia. His goal in life is to earn lots of money and items, and he counts money when nervous.
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"Badger", level 1
Gnome, Rogue
Build: Aerialist Rogue
Rogue Tactics: Artful Dodger
Background: Birth - On Another Plane (+2 to Arcana)
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 10, Dex 18, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 16.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 10, Dex 18, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 14.
AC: 16 Fort: 10 Reflex: 16 Will: 13
HP: 22 Surges: 6 Surge Value: 5
TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +11, Thievery +9, Athletics +5, Bluff +8, Acrobatics +9, Streetwise +8
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +5, Diplomacy +3, Dungeoneering -1, Endurance, Heal -1, History +1, Insight -1, Intimidate +3, Nature -1, Perception -1, Religion +1
FEATS
Level 1: Backstabber
POWERS
Rogue at-will 1: Deft Strike
Rogue at-will 1: Sly Flourish
Rogue encounter 1: Guarded Attack
Rogue daily 1: Trick Strike
ITEMS
Leather Armor, Adventurer's Kit, Short sword (2)
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Kayah, Deva Avenging Paladin of Avandra 1
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Kayah is very sarcastic and found the party very funny in their first encounter. She came out of her comfort zone a little to join the group, because she doesn't mind people, but is a little quiet and keeps to her self. She had to remind "Badger" that she doesn't go for guys under four feet tall (he's only 3'4"), but that didn't stop him from sneaking into her bed once or twice. Kayah has a dark history: in her past life, she killed a large number of people and barely avoided being reborn as a rakshasa. In this one, her whole family was massacred by bandits, but she was saved by Avandra (the wagon flipped over and trapped her under it, hidden from the bandits). This led her to dedicate her life to Avandra and wear a necklace at all times in memory of this event. She plays with this necklace when she is nervous or excited.
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Kayah, level 1
Deva, Paladin
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 14.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 11, Cha 14.
AC: 18 Fort: 15 Reflex: 11 Will: 13
HP: 25 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 6
TRAINED SKILLS
Religion +7, Heal +6, History +7, Diplomacy +7
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -2, Arcana, Bluff +2, Dungeoneering +1, Endurance -2, Insight +1, Intimidate +2, Nature +1, Perception +1, Stealth -2, Streetwise +2, Thievery -2, Athletics +2
FEATS
Level 1: Virtuous Recovery
POWERS
Lay on Hands: Lay on Hands
Paladin at-will 1: Challenging Strike
Paladin at-will 1: Enfeebling Strike
Paladin encounter 1: Radiant Smite
Paladin daily 1: Blood of the Mighty
ITEMS
Vanguard Maul +1, Plate Armor, Adventurer's Kit
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Sardis, Genasi Resourceful Warlord 1
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Sardis is a watersoul Genasi with a high temper. He hails from the Dragon Coast and has been all over the world before coming to rest in Sasserine. He had a near brush with slavers in his youth, and his hometown was destroyed in a fire when he was thirteen. He's been traveling ever since, because he doesn't have much family. He is deeply tied to his water soul, loving swimming and water. He even grows a little transparent when he's angry; the water in his veins begins to evaporate.
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Sardis, level 1
Genasi, Warlord
Build: Resourceful Warlord
Commanding Presence: Resourceful Presence
Elemental Manifestation: Watersoul
Background: Dragon Coast
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 20, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 11.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 11.
AC: 17 Fort: 16 Reflex: 14 Will: 11
HP: 22 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 5
TRAINED SKILLS
History +8, Intimidate +5, Heal +4, Diplomacy +5
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -1, Arcana +3, Bluff, Dungeoneering -1, Endurance +1, Insight -1, Nature +1, Perception -1, Religion +3, Stealth -1, Streetwise, Thievery -1, Athletics +4
FEATS
Level 1: Improved Initiative
POWERS
Warlord at-will 1: Viper's Strike
Warlord at-will 1: Commander's Strike
Warlord encounter 1: Warlord's Favor
Warlord daily 1: Bastion of Defense
ITEMS
Chainmail, Light Shield, Battleaxe, Adventurer's Kit
Saturday, February 13, 2010
New Cast: Savage Tide
Our party has gotten tired of dungeon crawling. The Wizards of the Coast modules, we feel, don't provide enough story, and although the encounters are fun, they take us from dungeon to dungeon. Now we've gotten into the more urban Adventure Path, Savage Tide. It's a 3.5 Adventure Path, so in the first session I had a little trouble converting the fights and making them interesting, but hopefully this will be rectified over time.
On the other hand, we had a lot of nice role-playing; the tiny gnome rogue developed a crush on Lavinia Vanderboren (trying to win her favor at every opportunity), the genasi warlord used his water-breathing powers to good effect, and the deva paladin of Avandra quoted her god's proverbs in battle.
I look forward to seeing how this plays out.
On the other hand, we had a lot of nice role-playing; the tiny gnome rogue developed a crush on Lavinia Vanderboren (trying to win her favor at every opportunity), the genasi warlord used his water-breathing powers to good effect, and the deva paladin of Avandra quoted her god's proverbs in battle.
I look forward to seeing how this plays out.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Game Session - Wednesday, August 19
Today I was running the Wizards of the Coast adventure "H2 - Thunderspire Labyrinth". Our group mainly consists of inexperienced D&D players, only one (two if you include today's guest) had played before. One of them, myself, only has a bit of experience beyond this campaign. The other, the party's guest cleric today, has played many editions of D&D but this was his first time with 4E.
The party consists of Jigsaw, a tiefling war wizard that has dabbled in sorcery and revels in elemental powers, Ouran the dragonborn fighter who consistently asks if he can stuff peoples' heads in his mouth, and Balazar, a dragonborn paladin who makes light of his healing abilities and instead revels in the use of his breath weapon. Our guest today was Gyurgi, a cleric of Avandra who was captured by the Bloodreaver slavers. He bears a mark on his temple that no other members of the party know the meaning of (it is actually the mark of the Grimmerzhul duergar clan). Missing today were our Shifter Shaman Thorn, who is my character, and Eleana the eladrin rogue.
The party got into the Chamber of Eyes with a little trickery that ended up getting the goblin guards locked out of the Chamber of Eyes. Once they realized the door was locked, the paladin attempted to bash it down whilst the rest of the party engaged the goblins that had appeared on the balcony above. The fighter, always looking to engage in hand-to-hand combat, scaled the wall, while the cleric and wizard rained spells on the two goblin archers from below. After long, one of the goblins went down, but Ouran was finding out just how powerful a bloodied goblin can be. Meanwhile, Balazar had finally broken down the door, only to be confronted by two more goblins.
Balazar's cries for help echoed down the corridor, so, confident that Ouran could handle the one remaining goblin, the cleric sprinted towards the melee, while the wizard fired a shock sphere. There was a roar from the next room and a vicious bugbear came rushing into the fray, swinging his morningstar into the paladin. After a couple devastating blows, though, the cleric called on Avandra to strike the bugbear with thunder, and scare one of the goblins. Both fell soon after. The remaining hobgoblins were easy work.
The party consists of Jigsaw, a tiefling war wizard that has dabbled in sorcery and revels in elemental powers, Ouran the dragonborn fighter who consistently asks if he can stuff peoples' heads in his mouth, and Balazar, a dragonborn paladin who makes light of his healing abilities and instead revels in the use of his breath weapon. Our guest today was Gyurgi, a cleric of Avandra who was captured by the Bloodreaver slavers. He bears a mark on his temple that no other members of the party know the meaning of (it is actually the mark of the Grimmerzhul duergar clan). Missing today were our Shifter Shaman Thorn, who is my character, and Eleana the eladrin rogue.
The party got into the Chamber of Eyes with a little trickery that ended up getting the goblin guards locked out of the Chamber of Eyes. Once they realized the door was locked, the paladin attempted to bash it down whilst the rest of the party engaged the goblins that had appeared on the balcony above. The fighter, always looking to engage in hand-to-hand combat, scaled the wall, while the cleric and wizard rained spells on the two goblin archers from below. After long, one of the goblins went down, but Ouran was finding out just how powerful a bloodied goblin can be. Meanwhile, Balazar had finally broken down the door, only to be confronted by two more goblins.
Balazar's cries for help echoed down the corridor, so, confident that Ouran could handle the one remaining goblin, the cleric sprinted towards the melee, while the wizard fired a shock sphere. There was a roar from the next room and a vicious bugbear came rushing into the fray, swinging his morningstar into the paladin. After a couple devastating blows, though, the cleric called on Avandra to strike the bugbear with thunder, and scare one of the goblins. Both fell soon after. The remaining hobgoblins were easy work.
The Chamber of Eyes: Thoughts
My thoughts on the Chamber of Eyes, that I've done so far: My party handled the strategic element of it quite well, spitting up the fights strategically and choosing the back route, even if they didn't quite do it on purpose. They avoided the stone doors with the mark of the Bloodreavers on it. They still haven't figured out the mark I planted, which handily coincided with the guest appearance of an extra PC in the party. This mark on the temple of the cleric, which is supposed to be a branding that he received after being sold to the duergar. I plan to introduce those marks on the duergars' weapons when they reach that combat later in the Chamber of Eyes, in addition to on the Grimmerzhul Trading Post sign when they go back to the Seven Pillared Hall.
I'm having an ongoing experiment with how to portray rules situations in more than their straight rules formats. For example, I'd rather say, "The duergar's skin glows as your fire breath courses over him and it seems to have no effect. He has fire resistance," as opposed to, "Your attack only deals 3 damage. He has resist 10 to fire."
In addition, when it comes to the encounter with the duergar, I was thinking of modifying a couple of their powers. For example, I think the beard quills power is a bit silly. I was instead trying to make it a bit more demonic and menacing, enforcing that they were demon dwarves instead of just weird looking ones. I want them to feel a little different than "just another humanoid".
I'm also worried about them tactically neutering the last encounter of the Chamber of Eyes. This is one that I've always found to be a good one. The dire wolf, the double-levels with the archers, and the chief make a nice climactic fight with the reward of a couple rescued slaves at the end. However, if they come around from the way they are headed right now, it'll turn into a bunch of archers lined up, waiting to be destroyed. The dire wolf plays no role, and it's just boring. I'd love some advice on how to subtly steer them back on track.
Also, I plan to cut out the incriminating documents and replace them with other clues as best I can, because I think it's a little overused in the Wizards published adventures. Also, it makes the players feel better if they figure these things out for themselves.
Last point - I'm going to introduce Brugg the ogre on their next trip into town, and I'll also try to point an arrow towards Paldemar, the main villain of the adventure. Failing that, my goal will be to make them hate all of the slavers as much as possible - that way, when they find out Paldemar is behind it all, they'll hate him too. Since the people who live in Fallcrest were taken by these slavers, they have connections that they value. Any advice would be most appreciated.
I'm having an ongoing experiment with how to portray rules situations in more than their straight rules formats. For example, I'd rather say, "The duergar's skin glows as your fire breath courses over him and it seems to have no effect. He has fire resistance," as opposed to, "Your attack only deals 3 damage. He has resist 10 to fire."
In addition, when it comes to the encounter with the duergar, I was thinking of modifying a couple of their powers. For example, I think the beard quills power is a bit silly. I was instead trying to make it a bit more demonic and menacing, enforcing that they were demon dwarves instead of just weird looking ones. I want them to feel a little different than "just another humanoid".
I'm also worried about them tactically neutering the last encounter of the Chamber of Eyes. This is one that I've always found to be a good one. The dire wolf, the double-levels with the archers, and the chief make a nice climactic fight with the reward of a couple rescued slaves at the end. However, if they come around from the way they are headed right now, it'll turn into a bunch of archers lined up, waiting to be destroyed. The dire wolf plays no role, and it's just boring. I'd love some advice on how to subtly steer them back on track.
Also, I plan to cut out the incriminating documents and replace them with other clues as best I can, because I think it's a little overused in the Wizards published adventures. Also, it makes the players feel better if they figure these things out for themselves.
Last point - I'm going to introduce Brugg the ogre on their next trip into town, and I'll also try to point an arrow towards Paldemar, the main villain of the adventure. Failing that, my goal will be to make them hate all of the slavers as much as possible - that way, when they find out Paldemar is behind it all, they'll hate him too. Since the people who live in Fallcrest were taken by these slavers, they have connections that they value. Any advice would be most appreciated.
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