Treasure of Talon Pass, Part 6

Having crushed the imp and his iron defenders, the party was ready to enter the Test of Valor. The dragonborn paladin was ready, declaring his gung-ho-ness to anyone who would listen, and wound up being the one to break down the door and crash head first into the final room.

Once the defenders were in the room, the rogue raced in and started trying to climb out of the arena/pit. That was the signal for the BBEG to unleash all the monsters at once instead of one group at a time. Since the monsters included three guard drakes, just two of which had destroyed the first Garback, I was a little worried.

I had no reason to be. The paladin opened with a dragon breath on the minion skeletons and destroyed most of them, then closed on the burning skeleton and kept it from using its more effective ranged attacks. The guard drakes rolled horrible to hits, so their extra damage for being near allies rarely came into play. The burning skeleton's 1 hit point fire aura and melee damage were so laughable the rogue and paladin ignored them while beating the tar out of him.

The party had destroyed most of the arena monsters by the time the evil mage finished taunting them each round and started throwing spells at them. Once he did, every ranged character in the party ganged up on him and took him out in a round. I think when he went down he was bloodied, slowed, cursed, dazed and on fire. We've been using pipe cleaner rings to track effects, and all you could see of the mage mini at the end was his little head poking out the top of a pile of rings.

Analysis:
The party had re-gelled quite a bit by this point. They were remembering to always let the laser cleric go before someone who was about to expend an encounter or daily power, so she could set up a +2 to hit with lance of faith. Everyone was looking for opportunities to set up flanks for the rogue. The fire resistant tiefling was taunting the burning skeleton as best he could to draw its ongoing fire damage away from other party members and onto his obscene collection of temporary hit points from fallen cursed minions. A successful final battle all around.

Treasure of Talon Pass, Part 5

After defeating the drakes and arbalesters, the elf cleric easily found the secret door at the north end of the stage. The party crept north through the secret passage into the abandoned dusty room. They were a bit unnerved by the silence, and even more by the shadow that flitted past the partially open door at the north end of the room.

They crept into the central hallway and the wizard threw the door completely open with mage hand. As she did so, two other doors opened and a ghoul emerged from behind each of the three now-open doors. Meanwhile a wraith floated out of the south wall behind the cleric. The defenders did a pretty good job of locking down the ghouls, in part because they kept getting hit and were spending all their time immobilized. The rest of the party mostly tried to deal with the wraith. At first it looked like the wraith might be a real problem, but it rolled crap to hit. Once the cleric started hitting with her radiant ranged powers, it didn't last long. Once the wraith was destroyed and the full party turned on the ghouls, they didn't last long either.

Analysis:
The lead-up was kind of tense, but once the battle was joined the party did a really good job keeping the monsters split up and pretty ineffective. I probably should have withdrawn the wraith and had it attack from another direction, but it didn't really have a good way past them or a good angle to come back in from.

The penultimate room was an amusing encounter. The imp talked to them as the party tried to convince him that he should ally with the dwarf wizard instead of whoever he was currently helping. The imp stayed near his escape route, but was ignorant of the fact that the rogue had spotted it and warned the wizard. With talks breaking down, and afraid that reinforcements would come out of the hole, the wizard blocked it with a cloud of daggers. With no way to retreat, the imp was slaughtered in a round. They then formed a battle line and beat down the iron defenders that came running from the other side of the room.

Analysis:
The imp managed to accomplish his goal of getting at least two party members across the wall of difficult terrain, but that just meant they were right on top of him after they cut off his escape. One horrible initiative roll later and it was all over for him. The party handled the iron defenders much more easily now that I know to use the 4e MM rules (free opportunity attacks against the single guarded creature) for them instead of the DDM rules (free opportunity attacks against anyone who attacks ANYONE but them while adjacent).

Treasure of Talon Pass, Part 4

Wow, apparently it's been a month and a half since we left our 6-PC party resting in a room where they just defeated two wights and a bunch of zombies. This past weekend we finally all got together again, and the PCs saddled up to tackle level 2 of the dungeon in Treasure of Talon Pass. I added one monster to almost every encounter to balance the party having 6 members instead of 5.

They stepped off the stairs into the lower level and the weird statue room. The dragonborn paladin led the way and was immediately attacked by a spiretop drake and fired at by one arbalester (strange crossbow-topped construct). As soon as she could, the wizard used mage hand to rip down one of the curtains in the center of the room, revealing all the drakes. The five drakes swarmed the party while the two arbalesters mainly targeted the paladin simply because he was standing closest to them.

Things took a bad turn when the rogue circled around to flank a drake and took the full brunt of both arbalesters' double shot power. At first it looked like she'd been killed outright, but that was just because I rolled all attacks and damage at once instead of applying them one at a time and having the constructs switch targets when she fell. I need to keep a closer eye on character hit points in the future, especially when rolling multiple criticals.

The paladin stayed in the middle of the room fighting the last drake and healing the rogue while the rest of the party charged the arbalesters and made pretty short work of them at close range (though the fighter took a number of bolt attacks at point blank range and might have gone down if the last construct had fired one more shot). The wizard got up behind the last one and tried to thunderwave it off the stage. Unfortunately I seem to be really good at rolling the save you get when someone tries to slide you off a ledge, and they had to finish it off as it lay prone and pitiful at the edge of the stage.

Analysis:
Taking a month and a half off really showed. The other party has been meeting every week, is 4th level, and acts like a well-oiled machine at this point. This group charged around aimlessly by comparison. I'm hoping for an experience closer to the former than the latter when Laurel starts DMing in two weeks.

Treasure of Talon Pass, Part 3

After defeating the kobolds, the rogue unlocked the cabinet in their room and found gold, a potion and boots. They then decided to return to the secret door they had found before proceeding further from the entrance.

After passing through both secret doors, they found themselves face to face with the two wights. The cleric made her Religion check to identify them as such. At this point a panic fueled by fears of 1st edition level drain set in. The paladin slammed the door and the rogue got to work spiking it shut. The group fled toward the entrance but got cut off by one of the wights leading a trio of zombies. Meanwhile, they could hear the remaining undead forcing the secret door open behind them.

Things looked grim, but the zombies fell readily to Acid Arrow and the paladin's breath weapon. The wights got off one attack each before being brought down by coordinated attacks. Since the wights had split up to cut the party off, the one who fell second was unable to reanimate the other.

Analysis:
I probably should have waited for the party to come around and try the other entrance to the undeads' room. The wights would have been much more effective as a pair. I could have also used some non-minion undead to round out their defenses. Again, the party is too large to keep the encounters as written.

After their victory the group decided it was time to rest. The undeads' room seemed to be safe enough, since the kobolds had apparently already determined that they were afraid to go there. They settled in and the rogue put on the boots she had found. As she started jumping and running around the room to see what effect her new footgear might have, everyone started to chime in with ideas.

"Walk up the wall!"
"Try to teleport!"
"Click your heels together three times!"
"Set them on fire!"

I still don't know why these people want to set everything on fire.

Treasure of Talon Pass, Part 2

After defeating the kobold sentries on the ledge, the group found the kobolds' ladder, got everyone up on the ledge, and pursued the kobold that fled.

In the next room, they encountered the decoy dragonshields who were supposed to draw them into the rear part of the room. The party won initiative and did enough damage to the decoys that they barely escaped the front area with their lives, and never did make it into the rear - the group cut them down in the curtained passageway. The remaining kobolds made a valiant effort, but the party soon got through their lines and took their leader down in a single round with an inspiring display of teamwork. The wizard hit him with Chill Strike and left him dazed, the cleric hit him with Lance of Faith to give the rogue +2 to hit, and the rogue charged in and finished him off with a basic attack and a pile of sneak attack damage because he was dazed.

Analysis:
I've read quite a few complaints that low-level 4th edition monsters (and characters) have way too many hit points, and that it's no fun to have to whack away at them for multiple rounds. This encounter showed that it doesn't have to take multiple rounds for a well-coordinated party to take out a low level monster. It only took three characters to take the kobold wyrmpriest from full hit points to dead in a round, and only one used an ability that wasn't at will (and it was merely a per-encounter, not a daily).

Treasure of Talon Pass, Part 1

August 2nd we got the whole group together again.

When we last saw our heroes, they had just completed the Kobold Hall adventure by slaying the big bad dragon at the end. It was, of course, only a matter of time before further adventure sought them out. The dwarf who commissioned Rhaen to track down the dragon hide in Kobold Hall found her again. He sent them off to Talon Pass to find the Jade Chalice and told them about the orcs also headed that way. After a bit of party gathering they made their way to the ruined Tower of Talon Pass and the dungeon beneath it.

In the entry room they searched the strange rubble and took note of the pieces of blades in it. They tried to sneak up on the orcs in room 3, but were foiled by the guard wolves. A fairly straight fight ensued. Afterward they found the secret door to room 2, but didn't like the look of the passage behind it and left it alone for the time being.

Room 4 was a bit more interesting. They managed to get to the entrance without alerting the kobolds, but they didn't want to face the slingers on their ledge. The warlock crept into the room under cover of Shadow Walk while the wizard tried to set the wooden* ledge on fire with a mage handed torch. The torch distracted two kobolds, but the third spotted the warlock and started firing.

Once the fight was on, the rogue got up on the ledge while the ranged types gave her support from below. The melee types had a round to think they had nothing to do, then the dragonshields came in. In the end, only one kobold slinger escaped to warn the leader in the next room.

Analysis:
This group is both coordinated and large - I need to beef up the remaining encounters before we meet again. I hope I have enough minis for the job. On a side note, why do PCs always want to set everything on fire? Whatever is wrong with them?

* Is it wooden? I think I assumed so because it's drawn a darker color on the map. The adventure text doesn't say. In retrospect it's probably meant to be stone and that's why there are no notes on how much damage it can take.

Revised Cast of Characters

Rhaen Farearitil, human rogue

Maersai Catalpacircle, elf cleric

Revis Hatha, minotaur fighter

Vistra Frostwarden, dwarf wizard

Garback the Younger, dragonborn paladin

Modrothep the Unfinished, tiefling warlock

Yes, I know this is a cheap easy post, but it's been a long day and I'm tired. Besides, I need an up-to-date cast post to refer back to later (like tomorrow when I actually get around to posting part 1 of yesterday's game). And we have a new picture of Garback with his shiny new armor and sword, so it's not a total rehash either.

If a Medium Size Minotaur Knocks Over a Large Dragon, is it Silly, Cool or Both?

a.k.a. Kobold Hall, Part 3

With the kobolds defeated, the rogue found the convenient note and key on the leader.

Area 5 - The True Threat
I replaced the map in the adventure with a long, cold sloping passage into the Frostfell Rift map from Fantastic Locations: The Frostfell Rift to make the terrain more interesting. The party crept in slowly, caught a glimpse of the dragon in the distance, and tried to talk to it, giving it time to circle around behind them. Once the fight was fully joined, the weakening breath seemed to worry the party a lot, especially when it scored a critical on the paladin (frost breath in your face, defender boy). The slowed, weakened minotaur fighter used goring charge to knock the dragon prone. This gave the rogue combat advantage, which she used to hit the dragon with her Easy Target exploit, and that allowed her to keep combat advantage for the rest of the fight.

I want to focus on the goring charge. Here's the relevant text from the minotaur entry in the back of the Monster Manual:
Special: You must charge as part of the attack.
Hit: 1d6 + Strength modifier damage, and the target is knocked prone.

We also have to look at 4e charging:
Movement Requirements: You must move at least 2 squares from your starting position, and you must move directly to the nearest square from which you can attack the enemy.

Slowed simply reduces movement to 2 (still far enough to charge), and weakened reduces damage (and says nothing about extra effects). The text of goring charge says nothing about the relative size of the attacker and the target. So by the 4e RAW, a slowed, weakened, medium-sized minotaur PC can use her goring charge to knock over a large-sized (or even bigger) dragon, making it prone and thus subject to her rogue ally doing Very Bad Things to it.

Analysis:
Realistic, no. Can be glazed over with action-movie-style description, yes. Player glee while recounting the moment repeatedly, priceless.

Are you the kind of DM who would:
1) Point out that even though no rule prohibits it, so many factors are inhibiting this action that you overrule the RAW and let the dragon keep its feet.
2) Run with the rules as written while describing the minotaur, a cloud of icy shards flying off her in all directions, running at the dragon in sumptuously-filmed action movie slow motion and bowling it over with a supreme effort of strength and will.

I'm #2 and fine with it. The player of the minotaur talked about this event almost daily for the entire week after it occurred, and with a grin on her face every time. The charge was probably the turning point in the battle - once the rogue nailed the prone dragon with Easy Target, she kept dishing out sneak attack damage every round while the paladin kept it marked so it couldn't effectively get rid of her. The teamwork displayed was inspiring to watch unfold. Three rounds later, the dragon went down under a pile of massive punishment.

Kobold Hall, Part 2

Now that the dead PC had been replaced and the borrowed wizard swapped out, the adventure into Kobold Hall continued.

Area 4 - The Big Boss
As DM, I found the rolling boulder confusing and weird. The battle map indicates that it should roll in circles around the room, but that makes no physical sense (and physical traps should obey physical laws, even in worlds with wizards and dragons). Instead I had it come around the corner and head down the entry passage as the party entered. This had the interesting effect of keeping two party members (the warlock and cleric) out of the room for the first few rounds of combat.

Lots of action ensued. Slingers rained down stones while dragonshields and the spiretop drake engaged the party. The wizard pushed a dragonshield closer to the wyrmpriest so the dragonborn could catch both in his breath weapon. Hatha attempted the first improvised attack of the campaign by trying to knock a slinger off the wall with a ladder - one Str vs. Reflex check later the outcome was decided, nice and simple. Near the end of the fight, a couple of party members attempted to daze or knock down the remaining enemies to give the rogue a chance to finish them off with a sneak attack. By this point all the kobolds were low on hit points and these attacks kept killing them instead, much to the rogue's chagrin.

Analysis:
Keeping two characters out of the room for a few rounds created an interesting dynamic - it allowed the fight to initially go pretty well for the bad guys, but also let the good guys get back on top pretty dramatically once their prodigal members returned. I didn't use the spiretop drake as effectively as I could have - he never used Flyby Attack, instead just landing and slugging it out with the paladin. Apparently even the simplified "all right there for you" 4e stat blocks still aren't simple enough for me.

Introducing New Characters

When we last saw our first band of intrepid heroes, Garback the Stabber had just been slain by guard drakes.

Since this was mostly intended as a mini-campaign, I was flexible with how Garback would be replaced. Jason elected to keep the same race, but changed classes to give the party two defenders instead of two leaders. Jen, having decided she liked the wizard class, also wanted to replace her borrowed wizard with one of her own creation (in fact, this is why Pele, the wizard in the second party, was originally created).

Jen came up with the amusing scenario that would swap out the PCs. Since the borrowed wizard was sent on his quest by the high level NPC wizard, and it had already been established that the NPC had access to a teleport circle, she thought the wizard should do it. Wwyzzarr's quest would transfer to Jen's new wizard, and off they'd go.

So, the next time we all met, on July 13th, the first thing that happened in game was that two new characters teleported into the party's midst. One, a dwarf wizard, told Wwyzzarr that the NPC "wanted to see him", and before the eladrin could say "Wait, what?" he was teleported away. Garback's body was also teleported away to save the party the trouble of figuring out what to do with it. This seemed like a great idea until it was pointed out that Garback was carrying the only treasure they had found up to that point. Oops.

Garback the Younger, dragonborn paladin

Vistra Frostwarden, dwarf wizard

Kobold Hall, Part 1

Once the party had been hurriedly teleported to the dungeon entrance, they got down to business.

Area 1 - Sludge Pit
I added one extra kobold slinger to this encounter since we had a 6-PC party. Like the introductory text says to expect, this was a pretty straight slugfest. Wwyzzarr tried to thunderwave a kobold into the sludge pit, but he made his save. I don't recall much else of note.

Analysis:
The kobold slinger in the barred hallway should have escaped to warn his friends in area 2. I was afraid the party would focus on chasing him to the point where they would effectively turn the first two encounters into one long one, and I had read that doing so could often spell TPK. Unfortunately, in retrospect I think it would have made area 2 a better encounter.

Area 2 - The Tomb
The kobolds won initiative and I got too excited over it. The kobolds charged the party instead of following their prescribed tactics. The party, even though they hadn't really gelled into a unit yet, destroyed the kobolds without much effort.

Analysis:
With the addition of the escaped kobold above and more attention to tactics, this would have been a much more interesting encounter.

Area 3 - During this encounter the party started to gel. They had figured out some effective teamwork tactics like using the cleric's Lance of Faith or the warlord's Commander's Strike to get more damage out of the fighter or the rogue. Jen discovered she likes the 4e wizard class when Wwyzzarr ruined the kobolds' day with a mage hand that disabled their weird trap thing by untying it from the ceiling. The other memorable moment of the battle was not as good for the party - Garback the Stabber was cut down by charging guard drakes. He discovered too late that leader classes should lead from the rear.

Analysis:
Despite the death of Garback, I think this encounter went fairly well. When Garback fell, Hatha was glued to the floor and having trouble freeing herself, so the situation looked pretty grim. Fortunately she freed herself before the drakes could turn any more party members into kibble.

Cast of Characters

Rhaen Farearitil, human rogue

Maersai Catalpacircle, elf cleric

Revis Hatha, minotaur fighter

Wwyzzarr, eladrin wizard

Garback the Stabber, dragonborn warlord

Modrothep the Unfinished, tiefling warlock

Kobold Hall, Introduction

On June 22nd, I ran 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons for a group larger than one player for the first time.

There were three players, each playing two characters:
Laurel

• Rhaen Farearitil, human rogue
• Maersai Catalpacircle, elf cleric

Jen

• Revis Hatha, minotaur fighter
• Wwyzzarr (a character she borrowed from me), eladrin wizard

Jason

• Garback the Stabber, dragonborn warlord
• Mordrothep the Unfinished, tiefling warlock

I was running Kobold Hall, the sample adventure in the back of the 4th edition Dungeon Master's Guide. I used all three suggested plot hooks, giving one to one of each player's characters (Rhaen got Dragon Hide, Wwyzzarr got Terrible Secret, and Garback got Kobold Bounty). The wizard who gave out the Terrible Secret hook offered the use of his teleport circle to send the whole party straight to the dungeon entrance.

Analysis:
In retrospect, I rushed the teleport quite a bit. I wanted to get the party into the action and try out the 4e mechanics ASAP. We'd also just come off a campaign that seemed to constantly drag while everyone waited for someone else to move things along, and I was determined to not let that happen on my watch. Because of my too-aggressive pushing, Rhaen initially got teleported into the dungeon carrying nothing but a sword, so we had to retcon her spending her starting gold once they arrived. No real harm done, but not the smoothest DMing job I've ever done.