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Post by DnDPaladin on Mar 7, 2016 4:05:15 GMT
and then the game started and they just decided to never come back here and go back from where they came.
thats a nice setup for an adventure.
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Post by Meph on Mar 7, 2016 11:48:22 GMT
and then the game started and they just decided to never come back here and go back from where they came. thats a nice setup for an adventure. That could have happened, but it didn't. While my players are free to choose where they go at all times in my game, I doubt they would ever run away from a setup like that, knowing that I had something like this planned out for the evening. Thanks, it was a nice setup. It definitely wowed the players when they walked into the game room and saw it. I purposely put things in the crypt to set the players on edge. 2 Statues on both sides of the portal, 2 dried up holy water basins on each wing, 2 magically burning braziers at each end. One of the alcoves was missing a coffin and only had a statue dedicated to the first leader of the manor. On top of that the Shadow Fiend lurked in the shadows the whole time watching them, with a couple players "detecting" it a couple times and knowing that they were being watched. It set the stage for them and they spent some time double checking statues and such waiting for things to come to life. =) Once my kids go to school this morning I will get my pics uploaded and type of the game summary. This was the final night of this manor and the player ended the night finding a town and finally getting a rest.
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Post by Meph on Mar 7, 2016 15:41:19 GMT
This week we wrapped up the ruined Dwarven manor. One player was working, one is in Florida for a month, and a third had a kids soccer tournament so he arrived late. The night was split into 2 parts, the first being the crypt itself with 4 players and then the remainder of the caves with 5 players. Not knowing what to expect my players were really cautious tonight. They were really expecting the statues in the crypt to come to life. Of the 12 alcoves, 11 of them had coffins and only 3 of them had anything living....or unliving in them. They decided to move as a group with 2 fighters opening a coffin with the cleric at the ready, and the other fighter watching their backs. The strategy worked pretty well for them and they were able to handle the crypt fairly easily. While they were a bit on edge and expecting the worst, they had dealt with most of the real problems in this dungeon already. The crypts were labeled and some of them they had learned about in the journal they found a couple weeks back. They ended up setting a few members of the Erde family to rest. They again managed to make it through the night fighting a Wight and a Spectre with no level drain. The main fighter did get hit by the Spectre but using my new house rules he made his "Save vs Death" which prevented the level drain. The players really like that new rule and it allowed me to throw 6 Wights, 1 Wraith, and 1 Spectre at the party. They were very cautious about each fight but still managed to take 6 hits in these fights, all of them luckily saving and avoiding the level loss. I think I like this new rule because I was able to use these monsters against my party, still have a significant risk to the party, but not so much that they will just avoid the encounters. The amount of XP they gain from fighting them made it worth it for them. On a side note I will probably lower their xp a little in the future since I have significantly reduced the overall risk. So the party cleared the crypt out eventually putting Robar Erde, Gersidi Erde the Rat Queen, and the "Unnamed Brother" to rest. During their time in the crypt the Paladin got a sense of great evil coming from the portal so the players took a wide berth of it thinking that it was the portal itself. As they were leaving one of the players glimpsed something off around the portal and realized that there was something there watching them. They moved up to investigate and the Shadow Fiend decided to show itself. As the battle began the Shadow Fiend used it's abilities to try and unbalance the fight from the beginning. I decided he was able to use both his Darkness 15" radius and Fear once per day instead of either or. Unfortunately I made a fatal mistake and cast darkness first. Based on initiative one of the fighters charged the Fiend to attack, next segment the Fiend cast darkness on the other 3 party members. Unfortunately they were split up enough where they were all able to easily move out of the darkness that round. The next round he cast his Fear which made the entire party drop their weapons and run. The party all had other weapons so once they ran out of the crypt and the fear dropped, the equipped other weapons and ran back in to fight. At that point they were able to beat him down before he could do enough damage. What I should have done was feared the 3 of them from the start leaving 1 player in front of him to take the brunt of his attacks. Next round darkness in the hall where they fled from preventing them from easy re-entry and nearly impossible to pickup their dropped weapons immediately. Live and learn but they got a free pass on what could have been a much harder encounter. After clearing out the crypt the players decided to finish clearing out the caves. The 5th player showed up and joined back up with the party. They ended up running into the 2 Erde Nobles (Wights) that they had lost track of a couple weeks ago. They found Helevos Erde the First, also knows as the Flayer. He is the BBEG in this dungeon and roamed the lower crypt areas. He is a Spectre and had the greatest change of causing heartache with a 2 level drain touch. He only hit one player and he made his save. The last cave they found was the dumping pit for Helevos the Flayer. 11 of his victims haunted that cavern as Shadows. While only 2+2HD they created big problems for the party. The cleric and paladin both failed their Turn Undead and the party was forced to fight. While they are low damage, they also drain a single point of Strength temporarily with each hit but if they reduce a player to 0 then they will become a Shadow themselves. Several players were hit but the Paladin took a big brunt of the hits, reducing her Strength by 7 points total. After this battle the players decided they had enough of Erde Manor. They made their way back to the cave they found on the 3rd level which lead to the outside. They made camp for the night and realized the manor was in the lower hills of a mountain range. The Thief made his way up a tree to see if he could see anything. They were located close to a river leading south and the Thief was able to notice a settlement to the south. After a day of travel the party arrived at the Town of Vendare, just outside the Palace of the Count of EOR. We ended the evening with the players finally dealing with treasure, identifying items, resting, training, etc. Next week we will begin the next phase of this campaign. After much deliberation I have decided that my campaign will be located in Greyhawk rather than my own world. Black Bay, my starting town will be located in the Kingdon of Nyrond. While I have lots of Forgotten Realms materials including several boxed sets, I am a bit more partial to Greyhawk. It's a bit more grounded for my tastes while Forgotten Realms is a bit too "epic" for my tastes. Here is just a little more background on how things are starting to tie together.The Shadow Fiend had been summoned to the prime material plane by Dalnir the Black Wizard and trapped into his service. When a Shadow Fiend is trapped on the prime material plane they choose to attach themselves to Black Dragons so Dalnir used Dulwin the Black to gain compliance of the Fiend. What the players haven't found out yet is that there are multiple portals around the world, one of them being here in the Dwarven Manor. The one they found in Dalnir's tower was NOT one of those original towers but was instead created by Dalnir as an attempt to link it to the others. These original portals can be activated by simple command words and can also connect to other planes, as well as other worlds. Dulwin was charged with guarding the portal in the temple and held the only crystal that could activate that portal. The players stole it and went through that portal effectively making it worthless without that crystal. Dulwin was forced to leave the tower and fall back to the land of EOR where he last left the Shadow Fiend guarding the portal they last found and used to pull the Fiend through.
Upon arriving at Erde Manor, Dulwin ends up briefed by Cue Two the Mephit. As a reminder Cue Two is 1/3 of the soul of Jubal the Ogre Shaman. After seeing Jubal and Cue One destroyed by the party, Cue Two has stayed with the party in the background and decided to align itself with anyone who will destroy the party, namely Dulwin the Black. Dulwin learns the players are headed for the Town of Vendare and the Palace of John Brunis, Count of EOR. The players have no idea how close they are to coming face to face with the Black Dragon they ran from back near Black Bay.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 8, 2016 2:17:20 GMT
Now that looks like it was loads of fun!
Looks like the 2.5D Next works out very well! I like the looks of it.
I wonder what the mats would look like if they had black grid lines instead of white. I love the stone texture work on them. I guess the white lines are like a light grout?
Hey does wood come 7/16 inch thick? I.e. Same thickness as your open Forge tiles. Because I was thinking it would be cool if you had 2.5 D Next tiles/mats along with 2.5D Next walls combined with OpenForge tiles forming in the exterior walls. If you can get 7/16 inch thick wood you could create a bunch of 6 x 6 and 12 x 12 tiles for the center of your dungeon. Actually the 6 x 6 tiles would not be 6" x 6" they would be 150 mm x 150 mm since OpenForge/Dwarven Forge tiles aren't quite 2 inches.
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Post by Meph on Mar 14, 2016 10:17:47 GMT
Now that looks like it was loads of fun! Looks like the 2.5D Next works out very well! I like the looks of it. I wonder what the mats would look like if they had black grid lines instead of white. I love the stone texture work on them. I guess the white lines are like a light grout? Hey does wood come 7/16 inch thick? I.e. Same thickness as your open Forge tiles. Because I was thinking it would be cool if you had 2.5 D Next tiles/mats along with 2.5D Next walls combined with OpenForge tiles forming in the exterior walls. If you can get 7/16 inch thick wood you could create a bunch of 6 x 6 and 12 x 12 tiles for the center of your dungeon. Actually the 6 x 6 tiles would not be 6" x 6" they would be 150 mm x 150 mm since OpenForge/Dwarven Forge tiles aren't quite 2 inches. The mats are pretty dark as it is. I think with black grid lines it might be tough to see them.
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Post by Meph on Mar 14, 2016 22:01:13 GMT
**CAUTION - If you plan to play in the AD&D 1st Edition Module I2-Tomb of the Lizard King then stop reading. Spoilers ahead.The party met with the Count of Eor and agreed to head to Waycombe and investigate the disappearance of a squad of the Count's men. They had gone to Waycombe to investigate the reports of Brigands attacking the merchant caravans and never returned. The Count calls a meeting with the Merchants for the party to gather information that evening. While in the meeting, Tinlo the Thief notices one of the Count's priests leave the room to be replaced by another. He notices that something seems off just in time to see the priest begin casting a spell. He yells a warning as the party and count are struck with a Flamestrike spell. The Wizard mercenary that the party hired fails her save and succumbs to the Flamestrike. In the madness that ensues, the priest slips out the back door and uses his Dust of Disappearance to evade capture. High Priest Jorlon raises the Wizard from the dead and the Count begs the party to make haste for Waycombe. The journey to Waycombe is 5 days on horseback and goes by rather uneventful except for the nagging feeling that several party members get that they are being watched. They spend a couple nights at Inns along the way and hear some stories about the Brigands as well as some stories about Sakatha the Lizard King. A wannabe Bard in one Inn sings them a song about the ancient Lizard King Sakatha. On their last day of the journey the party crosses the river outside of Waycombe and are ambushed on the bridge by 20 lizard men. Somehow the lizard men knew they were coming and set a good ambush. The party only survived due to the mercenary Cleric and Wizard that they hire. The Wizard stopped the assault from one end of the bridge with a well placed Stinking Cloud and the Cleric took out several Lizardmen with a couple Hold Person spells. After the fight the party decided to push on since they were only a couple hours out of Waycombe. Just before Waycombe they came upon Barlo Trume, the head of the squad that the Count sent out that never returned. Barlo tells them that he was held prisoner in the Brigand camp in the copse of trees just behind the Inn. He says there are about 40 of them in the camp. He refuses to go with them and they find the whole conversation odd. They decide to stay outside of town and watch the Inn since its one of the few buildings still standing. The night is uneventful but they still get that feeling of being watched. The party at this point is paranoid that an attack is imminent. They decide to go into Waycombe and check out the Inn. They come upon the Innkeeper as he is finishing up packing what he can and about to leave town for good. He tells them some stories he has heard about Lizard Men and Sakatha. He also tells them about a crazy hermit in a hut by the swamp. The party decided to stake out the meadow and copse of trees behind the Inn that night from a fortified position inside the Inn. Shortly after dark the party spots 2 humanoid figures walk to the center of the field, turn towards the Inn and start yelling taunts at the party. The don't take the bait and stayed at the inn, most likely saving their lives. In the morning the party is starting to disbelieve Barlo Trume's story and decide to cautiously check out the Brigand camp in the copse. They find the copse devoid of any camp or even signs that there ever was a camp. At this point they decide things are getting weird so they go check out the hermit by the swamp to see what he might know about Brigands or Lizardmen. One of the players actually correctly guessed that Barlo had been charmed to give them a false story. I didn't confirm it with them but they did put that much together. The party had no idea how their cautiousness most likely saved their lives. The taunting in the meadow was a trap. If the players had gone into the meadow, Dulwin the Black Dragon was waiting to ambush them when they made it to the middle of the field. Dulwin hasn't been seen since last February when the party ran from him in Dalnir's folly after killing his 2 hatchlings. They recently read a journal about him from 400 years ago at the Erde Manor. 400 years ago happens to be the same time Sakatha the Lizard King disappeared. I wont go further into detail about how they are interconnected but lets just say that the party is soon to be face to face with this pissed off adversary! So the party went to the hermit's hut and met Stephen Demanis. Demanis was once a captive of the Lizard King and is now insane. After some entertaining conversation, Demanis confirms that he can take the party to the Lizardman Temple in the middle of the swamp. That is where the party left off for the week, ready to head through the swamp. Next week could very well be their last!
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Post by jennifer on Mar 15, 2016 11:11:08 GMT
Eek! Hope they survive next week! The name of this module totally reminds me of the lizard king in Don Bluth's Dragon's Lair Which I eventually beat on my iphone a few years back -- countless quarters I plopped into that machine.. and it was like 50 cents a game not 25!
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Post by Meph on Mar 15, 2016 20:02:16 GMT
Very familiar with the Lizard King. I have Dragon's Lair, Dragon's Lair2, and Space Ace on my arcade machines. Don Bluth games were great! =)
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Post by teazia on Mar 18, 2016 3:20:09 GMT
You need to use DMS Scotty's sponge technique on the Openforge tiles floors. Then your world will be complete. 2e plus Openforge, I couldn't do any better myself.
Some favorite quotes:
I work in a prison and have been trained as a locksmith
and
I also let the players know in this last week off that the kid gloves were off. Paralyzation, Petrification, Poisons, Level Loss, Death Saves....
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Post by Meph on Mar 20, 2016 14:09:39 GMT
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Post by Meph on Mar 20, 2016 14:22:59 GMT
So the way this encounter will play out is the players will enter from the stairs at the bottom. The first room has 10 pillars and is empty. The back wall looks like it's made of shells. As the party moves to investigate the room they realize that the back wall is a curtain made of strands of hanging shells. 10 Brigands with Crossbows will pop out and shoot at the party, then engage with daggers. That will be a trivial encounters but could soften the party a little.
When they enter area 2 they will see 3 murky scum covered pools of water, an altar, and a bas-relief on the back wall. The timer begins when they enter here. 5 rounds later the bas-relief will slide open and Dulwin, the 15HD Black Dragon that they ran from over a year ago will rush out of his lair. The first round he will immediately take to the air. Both areas 1 & 2 are open air. On round 2 he will fly over the party and breathe acid. This is where my party really better be on the ball. I have given them access to Protection from Acid and Corrosion from the Spells and Magic book. Along their way through the swamp there will be plenty of hints including some acid covered corpses.
On the 3rd round, 3 water weirds form in those 3 pools and attempt to pull any party members within 10' into the pools to drown them. If the party is smart then after the dragon flies over the first time they will either run to area 1 and use the pillars for cover or into area 3, the dragons lair, and force him to the ground. Once again, the kid gloves are off and if they choose to play dumb it's going to be over fast.
On the 5th round he will fly back for a 2nd acid breath. On the 6th round he will land and target the biggest threat. I really can't judge how this is going to play out. I have worked on this encounter all week. The group is 2nd edition but the dragon was originally 1st edition, which is significantly weaker in some ways. I actually upgraded him to a 2nd edition dragon which means he potentially has a stronger breath weapon, but it's rolled vs being a static number. By the module his breath does 49 points 3 times. The 2nd edition version does 14d4+7 which equates to 21-63 points or 42 point average. Hit Points rolled out to 60 instead of 49, but once again he is facing tougher 2nd edition characters. They will have (7) level 5-6 characters including 2 clerics so they are well within the proper level ranges for this encounter. It wont be easy, but I am going to let the dice fall where they may!
Wish them luck.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Mar 21, 2016 2:02:46 GMT
you know something is wrong when you have your whole combat scene planned out before the players even played anything...
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Post by Meph on Mar 21, 2016 9:50:36 GMT
Go away DnDPaladin, this is my weekly game thread. I don't need you spewing that same garbage that you ruin every other thread with.
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Post by curufin on Mar 21, 2016 12:11:27 GMT
So the way this encounter will play out is the players will enter from the stairs at the bottom. The first room has 10 pillars and is empty. The back wall looks like it's made of shells. As the party moves to investigate the room they realize that the back wall is a curtain made of strands of hanging shells. 10 Brigands with Crossbows will pop out and shoot at the party, then engage with daggers. That will be a trivial encounters but could soften the party a little. When they enter area 2 they will see 3 murky scum covered pools of water, an altar, and a bas-relief on the back wall. The timer begins when they enter here. 5 rounds later the bas-relief will slide open and Dulwin, the 15HD Black Dragon that they ran from over a year ago will rush out of his lair. The first round he will immediately take to the air. Both areas 1 & 2 are open air. On round 2 he will fly over the party and breathe acid. This is where my party really better be on the ball. I have given them access to Protection from Acid and Corrosion from the Spells and Magic book. Along their way through the swamp there will be plenty of hints including some acid covered corpses. On the 3rd round, 3 water weirds form in those 3 pools and attempt to pull any party members within 10' into the pools to drown them. If the party is smart then after the dragon flies over the first time they will either run to area 1 and use the pillars for cover or into area 3, the dragons lair, and force him to the ground. Once again, the kid gloves are off and if they choose to play dumb it's going to be over fast. On the 5th round he will fly back for a 2nd acid breath. On the 6th round he will land and target the biggest threat. I really can't judge how this is going to play out. I have worked on this encounter all week. The group is 2nd edition but the dragon was originally 1st edition, which is significantly weaker in some ways. I actually upgraded him to a 2nd edition dragon which means he potentially has a stronger breath weapon, but it's rolled vs being a static number. By the module his breath does 49 points 3 times. The 2nd edition version does 14d4+7 which equates to 21-63 points or 42 point average. Hit Points rolled out to 60 instead of 49, but once again he is facing tougher 2nd edition characters. They will have (7) level 5-6 characters including 2 clerics so they are well within the proper level ranges for this encounter. It wont be easy, but I am going to let the dice fall where they may! Wish them luck. Awesome set up! Looks like a fun encounter. I will be very interested to learn how the PCs fair against the dragon, and what tactics they use. From the floor plan, I'm thinking spread out and use the pillars as cover to try to mitigate the dragon's breath weapon. Pepper the dragon with missile fire and spells. If I remembered the acid protection, I'd douse the tank with it and send 'em in....hopefully against a weakened dragon. Then, send is support if the dragon engaged in melee. Would I fair okay? ....or am I lunch?
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Post by Meph on Mar 22, 2016 0:24:35 GMT
Well curufin, that is exactly how I would have played it, that's NOT what they players did..... So last night was an interesting experience. I was pretty sure my party was going to die, but I made sure they had all the tools that they needed to win. I gave the clerics Resist Acid and Corrosion. I also printed out the rules on cover and concealment and handed them out to each player. They knew they were up against something big but they weren't sure what it was. On their journey through the swamp the came across a couple of the militia that they were originally charged with locating. They found them dead in the swamp, corpses covered in acid and half melted. On their night before reaching the temple, one of the players spotted a giant dark form fly over them in the night. This pretty well set the stage and the players were thinking Black Dragon. Having run into this particular Black Dragon in the past they were familiar with the effects of the acid breath and they quickly pieced it together. As they explored Area 1 of the temple the brigands parted the sea shell wall and ambushed the party. They immediately took advantage of the cover and concealment rules and used the pillars to hide behind as they moved forward to attack the brigands. These were only 1 HD brigands and the party took care of the quickly. After the brigands the party decided to explore Area 2. As soon as they entered I privately started tracking the rounds. As a couple of the members approached the altar they heard a loud grinding noise as they saw the bas-relief on the back wall slowly sliding open. This is where my whole party really threw me for a loop. The Wizard cast Haste on a couple of the Fighters while everyone else ADVANCED in the room. The whole idea of taking cover just flew out the window and one Fighter moved in front of the stone altar. Round 1Considering the party did what they always do, rush right in, I decided that I couldn't justify mercy or any sort. The dragon had initiative, stepped into the room and immediately breathed acid on the fighter. The fighter had already taken some damage and then failed his save. He took 37 points of damage from the acid breath and immediately dropped. He was at -2HP. We play -10 is death. A heal can bring a character back to 1HP and consciousness, and then additional healing can bring them up higher. After breathing on the Fighter, the Dragon immediately took to the air and flew out of the temple. This is where the party really surprised me. The first thing they did was the Wizard cast Silence 15' radius targeted on the Dragon. Being a 15HD Adult he had 20% magic resistance which he failed. Then he had a 6 Saving throw which he also failed. This was the beginning of the perfect storm of my bad rolling and the players super luck! With the dragon in flight, one fighter down, and the wizard having cast the rest of the party focused on the downed fighter. Once of the Clerics cast a Cure Light Wounds on the Fighter and brought him back to 1HP. The Paladin rushed up with her Lay on Hands and healed him up to 11HP. Round 2The next round the Water Weirds began forming in those pools and the players immediately moved away from them. The Clerics cast healing on the Fighter again and he drank a potion of Extra Healing. Again the party baffled me because they decided that instead of running for cover behind the pillars, they chose to run into his lair forcing him to the ground but trapping themselves in. At this point I though they had just sealed their fates. Round 3The party decided to take opposite sides of the cave and wait for the Dragon's return. The Fighter/Cleric cast Resist Acid on himself and the Wizard prepared a spell. Round 4The Dragon returned, landed just outside and charged at them breathing Acid. This is probably another area where I screwed up. He went for the Paladin and Fighter Cleric on the right side. If I was thinking better I would have targeted the left side as I would have hit more of them, especially the Wizard that had silenced him. The paladin made her save and the Fighter/Cleric with Resist Acid failed, they both took half damage and suffered 21 Points of damage. No I am not sure if I did this correctly but according to the MM it states that a dragon gets 3 attacks + Special. I elected to have him claw twice at the Fighter who already went down once and Bite the last Fighter who had been untouched. Again my flaw was leaving the Wizard untouched. The Fighter took massive damage from the 2 claws and was reduced to 1 Hit Point. The other Fighter was greatly damaged. At this point most of the party was pretty hurt, a couple of them really close to death and I was actually feeling bad for them. Then it all fell apart. Remember, they cast Haste on a couple of the Fighters. It was round 4 so they still had this round and the next of Haste. A couple of the players hit the dragon but most of them missed his -2 AC. Things were looking bleak until the Wizard again pulled a miracle out of her ass. She cast Blindness on the Dragon. Again the players had luck on their side, I missed the 20% MR and missed the saving throw. So now the Dragon was Blind and Silent, panic was starting to set in. Round 5I decided that the Dragon wasn't about to let these puny adventurers kill him so next round he was going to Wing Buffet at his -4. The damage alone from that may have killed a couple players and then he would have blindly lashed out for his 2 remaining attacks this round. It was all or nothing at this point and he wouldn't have his 3rd breath until round 7. Of course none of that happened. In the last part of the campaign that they had just finished a few weeks ago, the ruler of the Manor was now a Spectre that roamed the Crypts. He had a hidden treasure room which the party had found. His prized possession was a magic ring. The ring allowed the wearer to cast Hold Monster once per day but he had to roll with a 10% chance of backfiring on the caster. I had given this to the party as per the adventure without an real thought as to how powerful it really was. My mistake. So, round 5 the Thief ends up winning initiative. He had the Ring of Hold Monster. This is the point where I am praying to the dice gods to not screw this up. Hold Monster on a single target gives them a -3 to their saving throw. Again I give the dragon 20% to resist magic, he fails. The moment of truth, I roll his saving throw. His Save vs Spell is 6 +3 =9. I roll a damn 4. That's it, the Dragon is held. As per our houserule, any held creature is an automatic hit for max damage. And that is how my players lucked their way through what should have been certain death to them. I really was hoping they would step up to the plate, show some superior tactics, and out play the dragon. Instead a combination of lucky rolls for them and bad rolls for me saved their lives. But in the end, a win is a win!
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Post by curufin on Mar 23, 2016 0:43:41 GMT
Ah those crazy dice rolls...gotta love it. Well, Im glad they made it through alive, now I can keep tuning in for progress updates. So, what was in the dragon's hoard?
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Post by Meph on Mar 23, 2016 0:55:20 GMT
105 Gems and boat loads of silver and copper.
Flail +1 Plate Mail +1 Scroll of Protection from Undead Potion of Bronze Dragon Control Potion of Fire Resistance
and.....
Longsword, Defender +4!
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Post by Meph on Mar 23, 2016 0:57:13 GMT
Oh and the drama continues. The party had 2 NPC casters that they hired, both of which pretty much won this battle for them. Now some of them want to completely stiff the NPCs on their share of the treasure because "they are only NPCs and will be gone when this adventure is done".
I am staying out of this argument and hope they stiff them. I can't wait until they run into them down the road when they get their party together and come back for some retribution.
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Post by Meph on Apr 11, 2016 21:10:54 GMT
I haven't posted the last few weeks since there wasn't too much to report. After the Dragon the party made their way into the first level of the dungeon which is primarily made up of Human Fighters and Chaotic Evil Clerics. As I stated before, this is the highest level the players have seen in decades and they aren't used to the type of treasure I have been giving them. I am running this as per the module and the players have gotten the equivalent of about 60,000 GP value in gems and jewelry. They have also gotten a lot of magic items, much more than I have ever awarded before. On the flip side though, they need them!
This week the party 4 Players and 2 Player Run NPCs faced a level 3 cleric. The players had some horrendous saving throws and the Cleric held the Paladin, both Fighters, and the Cleric in the first round. The Thief and Magic user managed to pull it out and defeat the cleric along with 4 other level 2 clerics that added to the fight staggered rounds apart. The only spell the Mage had left at the end of the fight was Lightning Bolt which in that close range would have rebounded and killed the party.
They got to learn first hand what its like to be held and beat on. We house rule it that help creatures are automatically hit and take max damage per hit. The originally wanted held to be automatically slain but now they are seeing how max damage might be better =)
They also saw the dangers of a Killer Mimic which was disguised as a door. All 3 fighters were stuck by the Mimic suffering single attacks only at a negative.
While exploring the first level of the dungeon there were several shrines dedicated to Demons and a Chaotic Evil Deity. The Paladin made it a point of destroying those shrines, burning the books she found dedicated to the Deities, and burning the Evil robes she found in one antechamber. The final battle on this level was with the Chaotic Evil Patriarch Ul-Lon, who is a level 8 Cleric. He really enjoys killing people slowly with poison. He also wielded a Staff of the Serpent (Adder). He has Poison and Speed Poison spells ready and was going straight for the Paladin first. As soon as the Paladin saw the CE Cleric she charged him so it was on!
This is where the parties quick thinking tends to get themselves in trouble. Ul-Lon is very confident and planned to torture the party. We recently switched from rolling initiative once per encounter to rolling individual initiative every round. Players move on their initiative and begin casting on their initiative. Spells go off on init+cast time, melee happens at init+weapon speed. Actions are declared BEFORE init as per the rules. I have 2 players that have lately been trying to "game" the system. Ul-Lon won initiative and began casting Poison on the Paladin. One of the fighters decides on his initiative that he is no longer going to attack (on his weapon speed) but instead is going to "charge" him and bash into him trying to disrupt his spell. Now first, a charge attack can't be done without a proper charging weapon. Running into him could be done but honestly I feel the way he went about it is just trying to circumvent the weapon speed mechanic. If he had declared this action from the start it would be one thing but he didn't. So this is where as a DM I allowed the players to screw themselves.
I told him I didn't like the way he was circumventing it but told him to do it anyways. He wasn't sure what I was up to and got suspicious but ultimately he did the "charge" and hit him. I allowed it to disrupt his poison spell and the player felt like he got over on me. I made his failed cast as his action for the round and Ul-Lon did nothing. They were feeling good about it and decided they had an over confident cleric in front of them and it would be easy prey.
Round 2 begins and the Mage declares that she is casting silence on the cleric. She beat him in initiative by 1 segment and began casting. Next segment the cleric, now surrounded by 2 fighters and a Paladin decides to take the one action that would keep him alive and spoke the activation word and the snake head of his Staff of the Serpent came to life. The Wizard silence went off, the Cleric failed his save and the party cheered.
Of course this is where they realized the mistake they made. The over confident cleric had just had his spell casting ability taken away and was left literally only with a deadly snake staff in his hand....so he struck out at the Lawful Good Paladin who stood right before him! Of course no epic battle would be complete without someone rolling a natural 20, and of course unlike the bad rolls with the Dragon, the DM dice were rolling well last night. The cleric hit the Paladin square in the neck with his Staff of the Serpent and the Adder bit her right in an open spot in her armor. The paladin failed her saving throw and dropped dead on the spot!!
I can tell you at that point the party had a big "Oh Shit" moment! They burnt everything they could to take him down. They successfully blinded him giving him a -4 to attack which is probably all that saved them. He got 3 more round of attacks on the fighters before they took him down. Luckily for them he needed a Natural 20 with his -4 and he never hit them again.
This is where I faced a dilemma. In all honesty I really wanted to leave her dead because I think they need to learn that lesson the hard way. After the way they got lucky with the dragon they think they are invincible. The thing is that my Paladin in the past hadn't always played her role very well. She ended up with the +4 defender from the Dragon and magical Plate Mail from another player. She was moved to "point" in the party and was thrown into the leadership role. She spent this week really playing that role as well as playing her Paladin pretty well. She made it her mission to root out the evil in this dungeon starting with destroying the shrines. Her biggest achievement came earlier in the night though when the party came across a Book of Vile Darkness. The Neutral Thief tried to pick it up and took quite a bit of damage. He decided NOT to try reading it, put it down and the party was trying to decide how they could safely take the book. The Paladin refused and ordered the book to be destroyed.
Because of the events that took place earlier in the night I decided that it was time to have a little fun. As the Paladin died she was visited by an Avatar of Pelor (her Diety). They Avatar praised her for her recent service to Pelor in helping to destroy the evil priests and their shrines. He told her that Pelor still had a use for her and she would soon be called upon to perform a Holy Quest in the name of Pelor. He restored her back to life but she was very weak an needed lots of rest. That is where the party ended the evening.
They are going to need a weeks rest before she is able to continue. They still have another couple session before this dungeon is complete and still have a lot of really dangerous stuff to come. I need to start working on ideas for what type of Holy Task she is going to be asked to do. I am really liking the direction the campaign is going. While the players this life is great with all this treasure flying around, soon I am going to start introducing scrolls. The party will soon learn that spending 10k gold on a Raise Dead or Restoration scroll is well worth it when a party member is dead or just lost 2 levels. Should be interesting to see how they handle it.
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Post by teazia on Apr 13, 2016 1:08:28 GMT
Sounds like great fun! Keep it up!
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