Chaos Scar (D&D)
Started a new campaign Friday night(it seems like I use this phrase more than I should, but hey- two gaming days allows for more campaigns, and it lets our new player try out another character before she leaves us for a return to college).
For this game, Tosha, one of my housemates, was taking the DM chair for the first time outside of some delves she's run. I suggested she try running the Chaos Scar, a new project in Dungeon that is a spiritual descendant of the Caves of Chaos. In short, each month a couple of adventures will be published in Dungeon, each one representing about 4-5 encounters found within the Chaos Scar Valley (created when an evil meteor crashed centuries before). Although tied together by location and with an overall go of defeating the meteor, there isn't a set plot line- more of, here's what's availalbe, what do you guys want to look into?
I think this marks both our most humanocentric party and one of our lightest armored groups.
Barry has an eladrin fighter (whose name I can't recall), a soldier of fortune who stands as the steel wall in front of the light armor group.
Jason is playing Hydrus, elf monk, our cloth wearer. Jason's played around with the monk in delves and has been looking forward to campaign play with one (and looking for the full release in PHB3).
Diane is Torrian, human rogue, who befriended a druid on a quest and ended up here.
I'm pulling double duty to bring us up to fighting weight of five. Artan, human shaman, is our first dedicated use of the class (we'd seen one in a delve). His homeland cursed centuries ago by the passage of the meteor, he comes seeking the source of corruption to heal the land. His spirit companion is a bear spirit he refers to as Little Brother. The spirit reflects the land and is diseased and haggard, but each victory helps restore it.
My other character is Vexia, human swarm druid. Cast out of her tribe/sent on a quest (she's got nifty powers, but I figure she makes people uncomfortable with the way she shifts into a mass of insects- the one to one wild shape of regular druids is normal enough, but someone who goes from one to many...) she adopted Artan as a father figure and also wants to root out the corruption.
First adventure pit us up against bullywugs infesting a ruined keep. I have a fondness for bullywugs, as I recall them showing up as antagonists in the old D&D cartoon. I'm happy with their 4e story, where they provide a first level monster grouping that isn't goblins or kobolds. They're also nasty environmental hazards and taint the area around them so badly that spending a healing surge around them weakens you.
The 'wugs got off to a good start, with two brutes charging our rogue and (in part due to one hit and one crit) putting her in single digits. We were able to move in and save her, but it was a sign of things to come. Most fights had one or more characters dropping into bloodied. I recall another encounter that pitted us against some giant frogs- something I associate with low level AD&D adventures, and I'm always happy to see in new editions. Not so happy this time- the green bastards swallowed Hydrus and Vexia (who, to be fair, was a mass of bugs at the time), stunning them and inflicting ongoing damage.
I came away pretty happy with my characters, although considering how better to play them. With Artan, how to make best use of the spirit and his own powers is something I'll have to work on. I found rather than using a move action to move the spirit, it was quicker to use a minor to dismiss the spirit, then another minor to re-conjure it in a better location (close burst 20 provides lots of options). However, doing so meant Artan wasn't getting move action, so the battle would drift out of his ranged attacks. I see Primal Powers now has a feat to make the summoning a free action. I think I know where my second level feat is going. I found in Spirit Cacade one of my favorite first level daily powers. It's pretty potent in its own right, doing 2d10 on a single target. Hit or miss, it adds damage to the next three attacks that allies make when the targets are adjacent to my spirit companion; 1d6 is added on the first hit, 2d6 on the second, and 3d6 for the third.
Vexia, I was concerned about friendly fire- most of her attacks are close bursts or blasts. For the most part, I was able to avoid hitting anyone on my team... and thankfully Hydrus has a high reflex for when he was caught in the effect. I look forward to best using my swarm damage resist, which coupled with the highest HP in the party (toughness helps) gives her a lot of staying power.
For this game, Tosha, one of my housemates, was taking the DM chair for the first time outside of some delves she's run. I suggested she try running the Chaos Scar, a new project in Dungeon that is a spiritual descendant of the Caves of Chaos. In short, each month a couple of adventures will be published in Dungeon, each one representing about 4-5 encounters found within the Chaos Scar Valley (created when an evil meteor crashed centuries before). Although tied together by location and with an overall go of defeating the meteor, there isn't a set plot line- more of, here's what's availalbe, what do you guys want to look into?
I think this marks both our most humanocentric party and one of our lightest armored groups.
Barry has an eladrin fighter (whose name I can't recall), a soldier of fortune who stands as the steel wall in front of the light armor group.
Jason is playing Hydrus, elf monk, our cloth wearer. Jason's played around with the monk in delves and has been looking forward to campaign play with one (and looking for the full release in PHB3).
Diane is Torrian, human rogue, who befriended a druid on a quest and ended up here.
I'm pulling double duty to bring us up to fighting weight of five. Artan, human shaman, is our first dedicated use of the class (we'd seen one in a delve). His homeland cursed centuries ago by the passage of the meteor, he comes seeking the source of corruption to heal the land. His spirit companion is a bear spirit he refers to as Little Brother. The spirit reflects the land and is diseased and haggard, but each victory helps restore it.
My other character is Vexia, human swarm druid. Cast out of her tribe/sent on a quest (she's got nifty powers, but I figure she makes people uncomfortable with the way she shifts into a mass of insects- the one to one wild shape of regular druids is normal enough, but someone who goes from one to many...) she adopted Artan as a father figure and also wants to root out the corruption.
First adventure pit us up against bullywugs infesting a ruined keep. I have a fondness for bullywugs, as I recall them showing up as antagonists in the old D&D cartoon. I'm happy with their 4e story, where they provide a first level monster grouping that isn't goblins or kobolds. They're also nasty environmental hazards and taint the area around them so badly that spending a healing surge around them weakens you.
The 'wugs got off to a good start, with two brutes charging our rogue and (in part due to one hit and one crit) putting her in single digits. We were able to move in and save her, but it was a sign of things to come. Most fights had one or more characters dropping into bloodied. I recall another encounter that pitted us against some giant frogs- something I associate with low level AD&D adventures, and I'm always happy to see in new editions. Not so happy this time- the green bastards swallowed Hydrus and Vexia (who, to be fair, was a mass of bugs at the time), stunning them and inflicting ongoing damage.
I came away pretty happy with my characters, although considering how better to play them. With Artan, how to make best use of the spirit and his own powers is something I'll have to work on. I found rather than using a move action to move the spirit, it was quicker to use a minor to dismiss the spirit, then another minor to re-conjure it in a better location (close burst 20 provides lots of options). However, doing so meant Artan wasn't getting move action, so the battle would drift out of his ranged attacks. I see Primal Powers now has a feat to make the summoning a free action. I think I know where my second level feat is going. I found in Spirit Cacade one of my favorite first level daily powers. It's pretty potent in its own right, doing 2d10 on a single target. Hit or miss, it adds damage to the next three attacks that allies make when the targets are adjacent to my spirit companion; 1d6 is added on the first hit, 2d6 on the second, and 3d6 for the third.
Vexia, I was concerned about friendly fire- most of her attacks are close bursts or blasts. For the most part, I was able to avoid hitting anyone on my team... and thankfully Hydrus has a high reflex for when he was caught in the effect. I look forward to best using my swarm damage resist, which coupled with the highest HP in the party (toughness helps) gives her a lot of staying power.