D&D
First game of D&D I've run since becoming a dad...
D&D went well. For one reason and another we went from 6 players to 2. Ah well.
So what was the adventure?
Finding a map to a ruined temple the characters decide to harvest the heart of a large drake in order to make potions. Along the way they encounter vampirates, chavlings, and a t-rex!
Day 1 Encounter 1 - The characters arrive in town to find lodging and are invited to help another patron settle his tab. A short fight with some vampirates later (re-skinned human npcs with an added mesmerize attack - an attack that failed to work) and the characters have a treasure map.
Interlude - The characters head to a local halfling druid to get more details on the map. The druid is called Neil, and lives with Vivian, Rik, and Mike. Hilarity ensues, and the PCs decide to either repair the digs that the young halflings are living in or burn it to the ground with them inside. Vivian nuts the Monk in the balls as part of a 'sparing session'. Jerzei Balowski also made an appearance and offered to burn buildings down in exchange for money. They also met a drow carpenter.
Day 2 Encounter 1 - The characters explore a ruined city, following the map. They find their way blocked by a series of collapsed buildings and are faced with going over, around, or under (via the sewers). A low Athletics skill means that the monk fails to climb the shifting rubble, and is further impeded by the Vampirates who did manage to get up on top of the rubble and start pelting him with stones. Eventually a rubble avalanche occurs and the characters find themselves dumped into the sewers.
Day 2 Encounter 2 - This was either going to be a fight with Chavlings in ruined buildings and back allyways, a fight with the Chavlings in the sewers, or a fight with Vampirates or Chavlings atop a mountain of shifting rubble. In the end the players opted for the sewer route as it seemed the most direct. With cries of "eee,aaah,yooo" and "eeeer,blingbling,innit!" the Chavlings bravely defended their torture den from the outsiders. The PCs managed to get most of the Chavlings to run away, killing a few to make their point. This was the first proper combat and the Cleric + Monk combo really worked! The monk engaged enemies and laid out the smack-down while the cleric was free to concentrate her healing on the monk while putting out AoE attacks. In a strange way it worked better than a larger group where the cleric would have had to split her healing. The party got lucky as the Chavlings just couldn't get off their most powerful effects.
Extended Rest - After popping their heads out of a tunnel to find a load of drakes the party decides to rest up in the sewers.
Day 3 Encounter 1 - The party emerge from the underground to explore the drake-infested area. Most of the drakes avoid the party until the party round a corner to find a group of 4 large red and yellow drakes that the other drakes are avoiding (guard drakes with 1/2 hp). The party engage the drakes and just as the last one is staggering on it's last hp a 'huge size' (a 3x3 base with a 10ft reach) drake turns up. It's a T-Rex! The party fight it bravely, and due to it's size find themselves easily flanking it again and again. The low reflex of the monster combined by my inability to get off the super-funtime swallow attack (+15 vs Fort - swallows a grabbed and bloodied creature whole - but at no point was someone both grabbed and bloodied simultaneously). Eventually they kill it and cut out it's heart.
Day 3 Encounter 2 - Making their way back through the sewers the PCs encounter one of the Chavling priests who summons forth Eidolons of Torog. (The EoTs were two reskinned horse statblocks with the mount stuff removed and an added Word of Torog feature). The priest escaped and left the EoTs to teach the intruders a lesson, the lesson here being that move-through trample attacks against foes that are tightly packed provoke opportunity attacks. The PCs clumped up and the EoTs took many AoEs. The AoEs healing feature (heal an ally to full HP provided an enemy is bloodied) never happened due to the cleric keeping party HP just above bloodied at all times, though it came close when the EoTs were each a couple of points off dead and the cleric was bloodied - but she got out a minor healing effect just in time for the EoTs power to become useless.
Surprises?
The six Chavling Filthwizards and two Chavling Filthwizard priests were challenging for 2 second level characters but not insurmountable, even with acid doing 3d10 that the characters got dumped into a couple of times. Lots of healing and the inability of the Chavlings to get off their Splattering Chunder attack saw the characters through fine.The characters faced a t-rex (a level 10 crocodile with -10 to all defenses). The t-rex failed to get off it's swallow attack :(. Maybe next time. The t-rex was fun to run.
Loot gained -
840 Gold Each
Boots of Holding (re-skinned Pouches of Shared Acquisition plus Bag of Holding, found in T-Rex's stomach)*
Battle Standard of Might (Purchased in town)
Two Ever-burning Torches
* These are level 15 items mixed with a level 5 item! This is a bit much for the party, but I didn't realise when I was handing it out. I might have to make them a cursed item somehow to balance out the twenty six thousand or so extra gp that these are worth, in order to make it level appropriate. Potentially their abilities have game-breaking implications. However, the curse needs to be something that doesn't unbalance things in the other direction. OK - the boots will only work when within 100ft of each other (20 squares) and intelligent creatures and/or effects can not go through (items only), and items must be a maximum of 3lbs, and one boot must be laced closed before the item is accessible from the other boot. That brings it back to something similar to a less-good bag of holding with two shared openings.
D&D went well. For one reason and another we went from 6 players to 2. Ah well.
So what was the adventure?
Finding a map to a ruined temple the characters decide to harvest the heart of a large drake in order to make potions. Along the way they encounter vampirates, chavlings, and a t-rex!
Day 1 Encounter 1 - The characters arrive in town to find lodging and are invited to help another patron settle his tab. A short fight with some vampirates later (re-skinned human npcs with an added mesmerize attack - an attack that failed to work) and the characters have a treasure map.
Interlude - The characters head to a local halfling druid to get more details on the map. The druid is called Neil, and lives with Vivian, Rik, and Mike. Hilarity ensues, and the PCs decide to either repair the digs that the young halflings are living in or burn it to the ground with them inside. Vivian nuts the Monk in the balls as part of a 'sparing session'. Jerzei Balowski also made an appearance and offered to burn buildings down in exchange for money. They also met a drow carpenter.
Day 2 Encounter 1 - The characters explore a ruined city, following the map. They find their way blocked by a series of collapsed buildings and are faced with going over, around, or under (via the sewers). A low Athletics skill means that the monk fails to climb the shifting rubble, and is further impeded by the Vampirates who did manage to get up on top of the rubble and start pelting him with stones. Eventually a rubble avalanche occurs and the characters find themselves dumped into the sewers.
Day 2 Encounter 2 - This was either going to be a fight with Chavlings in ruined buildings and back allyways, a fight with the Chavlings in the sewers, or a fight with Vampirates or Chavlings atop a mountain of shifting rubble. In the end the players opted for the sewer route as it seemed the most direct. With cries of "eee,aaah,yooo" and "eeeer,blingbling,innit!" the Chavlings bravely defended their torture den from the outsiders. The PCs managed to get most of the Chavlings to run away, killing a few to make their point. This was the first proper combat and the Cleric + Monk combo really worked! The monk engaged enemies and laid out the smack-down while the cleric was free to concentrate her healing on the monk while putting out AoE attacks. In a strange way it worked better than a larger group where the cleric would have had to split her healing. The party got lucky as the Chavlings just couldn't get off their most powerful effects.
Extended Rest - After popping their heads out of a tunnel to find a load of drakes the party decides to rest up in the sewers.
Day 3 Encounter 1 - The party emerge from the underground to explore the drake-infested area. Most of the drakes avoid the party until the party round a corner to find a group of 4 large red and yellow drakes that the other drakes are avoiding (guard drakes with 1/2 hp). The party engage the drakes and just as the last one is staggering on it's last hp a 'huge size' (a 3x3 base with a 10ft reach) drake turns up. It's a T-Rex! The party fight it bravely, and due to it's size find themselves easily flanking it again and again. The low reflex of the monster combined by my inability to get off the super-funtime swallow attack (+15 vs Fort - swallows a grabbed and bloodied creature whole - but at no point was someone both grabbed and bloodied simultaneously). Eventually they kill it and cut out it's heart.
Day 3 Encounter 2 - Making their way back through the sewers the PCs encounter one of the Chavling priests who summons forth Eidolons of Torog. (The EoTs were two reskinned horse statblocks with the mount stuff removed and an added Word of Torog feature). The priest escaped and left the EoTs to teach the intruders a lesson, the lesson here being that move-through trample attacks against foes that are tightly packed provoke opportunity attacks. The PCs clumped up and the EoTs took many AoEs. The AoEs healing feature (heal an ally to full HP provided an enemy is bloodied) never happened due to the cleric keeping party HP just above bloodied at all times, though it came close when the EoTs were each a couple of points off dead and the cleric was bloodied - but she got out a minor healing effect just in time for the EoTs power to become useless.
Surprises?
The six Chavling Filthwizards and two Chavling Filthwizard priests were challenging for 2 second level characters but not insurmountable, even with acid doing 3d10 that the characters got dumped into a couple of times. Lots of healing and the inability of the Chavlings to get off their Splattering Chunder attack saw the characters through fine.The characters faced a t-rex (a level 10 crocodile with -10 to all defenses). The t-rex failed to get off it's swallow attack :(. Maybe next time. The t-rex was fun to run.
Loot gained -
840 Gold Each
Boots of Holding (re-skinned Pouches of Shared Acquisition plus Bag of Holding, found in T-Rex's stomach)*
Battle Standard of Might (Purchased in town)
Two Ever-burning Torches
* These are level 15 items mixed with a level 5 item! This is a bit much for the party, but I didn't realise when I was handing it out. I might have to make them a cursed item somehow to balance out the twenty six thousand or so extra gp that these are worth, in order to make it level appropriate. Potentially their abilities have game-breaking implications. However, the curse needs to be something that doesn't unbalance things in the other direction. OK - the boots will only work when within 100ft of each other (20 squares) and intelligent creatures and/or effects can not go through (items only), and items must be a maximum of 3lbs, and one boot must be laced closed before the item is accessible from the other boot. That brings it back to something similar to a less-good bag of holding with two shared openings.