As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

[DnD 4E Discussion] Heroes of Shadow. Dhampyr Vryloka Vampire now possible.

1505153555659

Posts

  • JishianJishian ◥▶◀◤ Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    If they really want to try and suckle at the M:tG teat, why not:

    1. Make a Dominaria/Multiverse setting for D&D, or even just a Monster Manual/Vault with Magic creatures
    2. full on D&D Expansion for M:tG (or just change names/art for one of the core sets to cut development costs)
    3. Rebrand the Archenemy packages to be D&D themed, could spark interest in magic players in the d&d world, could use Strahd and Ashardalon decks and it would help promote their board games too. Maybe something similar to the Raid decks the WoW card game had, those were fun.
    4. D&D Duel Decks - would be stand alone for non-magic players to get into magic, would be D&D themed to interest magic players in d&d
    5. Make up their minds whether or not they want a miniature line/game, if so, there could be a Magic set/faction. I know a lot of magic players that would like figures of their favorite cards, and they could include D&D stat cards and/or the corresponding magic card.

    Also I recently found my old HeroQuest board game, and it really comes across as D&D 4E lite. With extremely minor tweaking, that sort of system could be adapted for a D&D or Magic themed board game and alleviate a lot of the major headaches with running a D&D game (needing a lot of prep time, needing a lot of time and players). (quest book and rules manual are on this site if anyone is interested in looking at it http://www.yeoldeinn.com/system.php#books). Ravenloft is a very different style game and I think they could all coexist.

    Jishian on
  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    soxbox, message me on AIM.

    I have the character API ready.

    Infidel on
    OrokosPA.png
  • angrylinuxgeekangrylinuxgeek Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Dr. Face wrote: »
    Ok so for some reason the forums aren't letting me search so I can't find where info about CB Loader is in the thread. Can anyone point me in the right direction or PM me what I need to know?

    Also, last I read Essentials wasn't available yet but Dark Sun features were, correct?

    http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3368249

    angrylinuxgeek on
    sQwJu.png
  • HorseshoeHorseshoe Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Infidel wrote: »
    soxbox, message me on AIM.

    I have the character API ready.

    hot

    Horseshoe on
    dmsigsmallek3.jpg
  • IncenjucarIncenjucar VChatter Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    You could totally make a deck-building game that was based on D&D. DM cards and Player cards would be two separate series, and you can have the cards be divided by power source and/or party function.

    Just not IN D&D itself.

    Incenjucar on
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Jishian wrote: »
    Also I recently found my old HeroQuest board game, and it really comes across as D&D 4E lite. With extremely minor tweaking, that sort of system could be adapted for a D&D or Magic themed board game and alleviate a lot of the major headaches with running a D&D game (needing a lot of prep time, needing a lot of time and players). (quest book and rules manual are on this site if anyone is interested in looking at it http://www.yeoldeinn.com/system.php#books). Ravenloft is a very different style game and I think they could all coexist.

    Oh shit man, I remember playing Hero Quest back in 6th grade. That was awesome.
    Horseshoe wrote: »
    Infidel wrote: »
    soxbox, message me on AIM.

    I have the character API ready.

    hot


    Oh dear me, I believe I am gettin' tha vapors!

    Tofystedeth on
    steam_sig.png
  • soxboxsoxbox Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Horseshoe wrote: »
    Infidel wrote: »
    soxbox, message me on AIM.

    I have the character API ready.

    hot

    Baby has been made: http://onlinetabletop.appspot.com/campaign/1/encounter/1/combatants/new

    (An Ugly baby, but we'll put this one under the stairs when we have a prettier one).

    soxbox on
  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Looks like it only works in Chrome though for the moment, should be good once the javascript is sorted out for all.

    edit: looks like sorted

    Infidel on
    OrokosPA.png
  • HorseshoeHorseshoe Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    snarl is so going to kick that guy's ass

    Horseshoe on
    dmsigsmallek3.jpg
  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Yay it imported Vinter. :^:

    Infidel on
    OrokosPA.png
  • Mr_RoseMr_Rose 83 Blue Ridge Protects the Holy Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Holy fuck this is great.
    soxbox/Infidel is definitely the winning ticket.

    Question though; is the source of damage/healing etc. logged somewhere?

    Mr_Rose on
    ...because dragons are AWESOME! That's why.
    Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
    DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    It is very nice this. Definitely deserve the ton of praise it is going to get. I'm considering using it from time to time for the odd thing as well.

    Aegeri on
    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • 3cl1ps33cl1ps3 I will build a labyrinth to house the cheese Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Okay so I'm sick of trying to wrangle together a group for the Dark Sun campaign I want to run and I want to a PbP.

    I don't know how to work MapTools.

    Is there a tutorial anywhere on using it/making the tokens/moving the tokens/etv?

    3cl1ps3 on
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I added Eron, but he's in reserve, and I don't know how to dereserve him.

    Tofystedeth on
    steam_sig.png
  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I added Eron, but he's in reserve, and I don't know how to dereserve him.

    Edit the token and change from Reserves to Active.

    Make sure you give him a position too, I think it puts off-board pieces as Reserves automatically.

    (Creature tab to edit a token.)

    Infidel on
    OrokosPA.png
  • Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    D&D 4th can't die until I have a Dungeon Master's Guide 3.

    The break in the corebook numbering cycle would offend my OCD tendencies too much.

    Professor Phobos on
  • soxboxsoxbox Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Yeah, to move from reserve to active, you need to set the initiative. Anything on the initiative tab will do you. Location can be edited by clicking on the ?? Where the location should be.

    soxbox on
  • Mr_RoseMr_Rose 83 Blue Ridge Protects the Holy Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    How "live" are the updates between clients? I mean if you have multiple peeps looking at the same encounter and they all do something, how long before they see each other's moves?

    EDIT: Also, a minor bug; the drag/drop functionality doesn't play nice with lower-case grid co-ordinates, apparently. If you have someone with a co-ord. like "a16" then try to drag the token somewhere it won't move (or even select?) but if you replace that with "A16" everything works.

    Mr_Rose on
    ...because dragons are AWESOME! That's why.
    Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
    DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
  • soxboxsoxbox Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Mr_Rose wrote: »
    How "live" are the updates between clients? I mean if you have multiple peeps looking at the same encounter and they all do something, how long before they see each other's moves?

    EDIT: Also, a minor bug; the drag/drop functionality doesn't play nice with lower-case grid co-ordinates, apparently. If you have someone with a co-ord. like "a16" then try to drag the token somewhere it won't move (or even select?) but if you replace that with "A16" everything works.

    If one client updates the encounter, the others won't get updated unless they refresh. There's APIs that google provides which should help me make it real-time-ish and they look pretty simple, but it's not my priority right now.

    Just fixed the lowercase position bug.

    soxbox on
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Hmmm, it seems to center token pics down and right of the center of the token

    Tofystedeth on
    steam_sig.png
  • IncenjucarIncenjucar VChatter Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    You know what would be a truly fantastic compromise between tokens and miniatures?

    Shrinky dinks.

    I think I may look into them at the local art store this weekend. If they have blanks I can put my art skills to use. For those without such talents, WotC could just release sheets of them, with or without color already applied - you could still customize the colors, just like with a lead mini.

    Incenjucar on
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I love a good close combat in 4E. Nothing is more satisfying to me [as a DM] than when I make a choice with how a monsters powers function and it works perfectly. Not giving the tomb spider host "zombies" an MBA added a subtle but important aspect to the combat. It really let the PCs exploit their weakness to pull back a previously difficult position into one that was rather risk free. At the same time, big ugly spiders that jump will never cease to be a great concept.

    Aegeri on
    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Flipping through this Thunderspire Labyrinth book.

    Pretty sure I won't be using even half of this.

    Quid on
  • Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I just spent like an hour getting a map and tokens together for next week's MapTools game and it didn't save or something! ARGH.

    EDIT: Oh, to heck with it. Next week- skill challenges and character development. Week after next? FIRE

    Professor Phobos on
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Hooray! tokens look good now.

    Tofystedeth on
    steam_sig.png
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    What's that you say? Game session notes? Don't mind if I do.
    Dark Sun: Builder's Cry

    After a bit of a hiatus due to Christmas and New Years eve based shenanigans I was back into the game this week. Unfortunately, Hadithi the Dray Shaman's player was unable to play anymore so I was forced to find a new leader for the group. One of my former IRL players was keen but unfortunately I don't think his internet got to his house quite in time - so they had to deal with this session without a leader. This is a tall ask in a game the way it was going so I decided to have a shortened session and delay things out a bit. Ultimately the players wouldn't want to go too many encounters without a leader - the sheer "swing" factor is immense in these situations - and I didn't want to introduce a PC whose player wasn't even in the game yet!

    I took my time at the beginning of this session just explaining the situation, with the caravan and asking the players what they had done during their year away (or in) what is now called "Free Tyr". I also established that numerous factions vied for control of the now "Free" city state and a recent development threatened to swing that balance of power. Rumors of a city that had risen up from the sands far to the south east of Tyr had begun circulating for months - with nobody finding them credible. Until one group came back to the city with unusual artifacts and even masterwork metal items of unknown origin. All of whom claimed that the artifacts had been found from the so called "Lost" city that the rumors had been speaking of.

    This evidence firmly convinced many in Tyr - not to mention many factions outside of it - that there was something substantial to these rumors. So a full expedition was planned to journey to the new city to plunder its riches for Tyr (or whoever makes the smartest move to usurp them). Essentially, I established that numerous power groups within and even outside of Tyr had a vested interest in the treasures of this place. To entice the players characters, I seeded some general plot hooks that could be developed by players as a part of their background to get them involved. For example, numerous noble and merchant houses in Tyr are helping fund and equip the expedition: But none of them want to truly share the glory with the others.

    To emphasize this, I had the lead NPC of the caravan Techulan come down the line inspecting those he was to depart with. Upon coming across the PCs he had a short conversation with them, giving the group a mysterious statement that he would "Need individuals who could get things done when the time comes" - a potential offer of work or maybe even a veiled threat. I would feel this is the first of many offers the PCs might get as they rise in power and prestige - who they support will be very interesting indeed.

    Ultimately though this module is about travel. I've always loved the long haul desert caravan concept in Athas. In this module I wanted to really show just how difficult traveling long distances through the wastes safely was in Athas. When you aren't dealing with monsters, you're dealing with immensely inhospitable terrain and even more terrifying than any monster the unforgiving weather. In many ways this module is a true mood setting for Dark Sun as a setting. Although I didn't get time in this session to introduce it, an important concept early on that I will be introducing into the game is sun sickness. How the blasted dying sun of the world warps, mutates and generally makes life miserable for almost anything.

    In order to set the mood for "Travel" in Athas I didn't want to show the PCs the whole map. There are two things I hope this accomplishes. The first is to show the PCs how little of the actual world their characters truly know about - mostly a region in and around Tyr itself. The second was to really show a sense of progression through the world visually and not just from a purely descriptive point of view.
    KnownWorld.jpg
    The amount of the world the PCs know about.

    After the caravan left Tyr, the first hazard they faced was - quite fittingly IMO for the theme and feel I am going for - a blistering dust storm that rapidly rolls into the caravan's path. This was a "three part" skill challenge that was mostly done communally and had a simple structure. Each round the PCs made a communal athletics check or endurance check. If at least half the PCs made it they got a general success on the skill challenge. If more than half failed, they got a failure. The initial goal was to flee from the dust storm before it arrived to seek shelter in a nearby rock formation around a mile off the main road. A success here put the PCs in a good position and meant they avoided the second, much more difficult part of surviving in the open during the dust storm. The final part was simply taking shelter in the rocks and enduring the storm.

    Simple, but demonstrates the power, speed and danger of Athas' unpredictable weather. The PCs succeeded at the first part with fair ease and like with any SC, I was pretty liberal in general with letting the PCs ideas work if it fit. A great thing to see was most of my players spend their ceramic before leaving Tyr on items that fit the setting quite well. Things like desert clothing, sun balm, desert filters and similar. I allowed PCs to make use of most of these, combined with secondary checks like perception/nature to improve their chances of succeeding the skill challenge. Naturally, the PCs escaped rather unscathed in the end - though some of their colleagues were not so lucky and were rent apart in the violent swirling dust before their eyes. This again had a distinct point other than trying to be dramatic: I wanted to emphasize just how dangerous the weather was to those who travel the wastes. Not just have gratuitous death for the sake of it.

    Even with the successful skill challenge, the PCs still found that the caravan had split up to a great degree. Perhaps fortunately the PCs heard a sharp cry of a Crodu - a tall velociraptor crossed with chicken reptile used as a beast of burden - within the distance. Investigating, they found one of the pack Crodu carrying precious survival days had become lost. Unfortunately for it the beast had blundered right into a silt sink and was going under quickly. To make matters worse the caravan had been tailed by several ssurrans. You'll remember that the PCs encountered a bunch of these guys before and really hated them then.

    Naturally the ssurrans were unimpressed with the arrival of the PCs and neither were the PCs happy about their potential survival days being looted. The fight of the sinking Crodu was on. The ssurrans started by splitting their attentions between stealing what they could from the Crodu and delaying the PCs as long as possible. Roughly 3 minions attempted to steal survival days, while the bulk of the ssurran forces attacked the PCs to hold them up. I had two purposes behind this.

    1) The first was to emphasize how opportunistic the inhabitants of Athas were and to make the world feel "alive". These monsters weren't specifically interested in the PCs whatsoever, merely the previous supplies that the Crodu was carrying. They were opponents just by circumstance, not because they were lurking around in a dungeon waiting for the PCs to put an axe in their brains.

    2) The party had no leader, so this allowed me to deliberately stall back any "alpha" strike from the hard hitting ssurran dune walkers and shaman. Effectively the tactics were delaying, not to win and so the creatures were only interested in grabbing what they could then running. This helped just even out the combat and not put as much pressure on the PCs, especially compared to if I had committed 100% of the monsters to the combat.
    EnemyTactics.jpg
    The ssurran shaman hung back near the Crodu, using his ranged powers to harass the PCs from safety. When it looked as if his front line clan mates were going to fall, he beat a hasty retreat before the PCs could get a good shot at killing him.

    And after keeping the mage dominated for almost three rounds due to some unlucky saves - the shaman recognized a losing cause when he saw it, ordering his clan mates out of the combat.

    But to fight again?

    We shall have to see........
    Flight.jpg
    Brave sir Inix Skull ran away he did...

    The mage having recovered from his dominate chased down one of the fleeing ssurrans and killed it for a fitting revenge. Although there is now the issue of how they get the Crodu out of the silk sink, I decided to leave that until next session and hopefully I can introduce the new player through that skill challenge. Overall I had ticked the main points on what I wanted to accomplish immediately with this 'travel' section of the game. So I am pretty happy.

    But it's going to get so much more diabolical.

    Aegeri on
    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • Mr_RoseMr_Rose 83 Blue Ridge Protects the Holy Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Oh Aegeri...this still doesn't look like Tron.


    ;-)

    Mr_Rose on
    ...because dragons are AWESOME! That's why.
    Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
    DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    You can't fool me twice multiple tabs in firefox. YOU WIN THIS TIME.

    Aegeri on
    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • streeverstreever Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Aegeri, as always, I am super impressed at your game!

    streever on
  • soxboxsoxbox Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    soxbox wrote: »
    Mr_Rose wrote: »
    How "live" are the updates between clients? I mean if you have multiple peeps looking at the same encounter and they all do something, how long before they see each other's moves?.

    If one client updates the encounter, the others won't get updated unless they refresh. There's APIs that google provides which should help me make it real-time-ish and they look pretty simple, but it's not my priority right now.

    Bah, apparently when I say "I'll do it later", I actually mean "that's much more interesting than adding powers" and I'll go and do the shiny thing.

    Updates should happen live across browser windows now - on the condition that both windows are logged in as different users (you can test this out on the test campaign by adding yourself to the player list http://onlinetabletop.appspot.com/campaign/1).

    soxbox on
  • TerrendosTerrendos Decorative Monocle Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Having played in other of Aegeri's games, I am apparently notorious for failing important saving throws. As a Mage, at least I couldn't cause too much damage. At least this one wasn't ongoing 25 damage (save ends), First Failed Save: ongoing 50 damage (save ends), Second Failed Save: petrified (no save).

    Aegeri says he doesn't like save or die effects. Apparently that doesn't apply to save three times or die effects. :rotate:

    Terrendos on
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    If it wasn't for you I'd never put them in as they wouldn't be useful <3

    Aegeri on
    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • ThemindtakerThemindtaker Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Saw this and thought of you guys. And Essentials.

    Themindtaker on
  • KilroyKilroy timaeusTestified Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Saw this and thought of you guys. And Essentials.

    Man, I fucking loved Dragonstrike. I watched that video at least once a week when I was a kid. Shit, I'd still watch it if I had a VHS player. Sure, it's cheesy as all get out, but it's one of the reasons that I love DnD so much.

    Also I still use the minis that came with the board game. And the tiles. And the boards, on special occasions.

    Kilroy on
  • Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    So I'm still working on my replacement firearm rules for Gamma World. I ended-up dropping nearly all my initial ideas.

    Here's a brief run-down of what I'm shooting (pun unintended) for:

    Gun Omega Tech
    * Gun Omega Tech is not as powerful as other kinds of Omega Tech, but it has the possibility of being used more than once in the same encounter.
    * Gun Omega Tech requires ammo. A piece of Gun Omega Tech is always found with at least one round of ammo (meaning that it is untapped). Firing that round of ammo from the weapon taps the Omega Tech. This Omega Tech can then be untapped by expending a certain number of ammo tokens, meaning that it can be used again in the same encounter. However, this is not without its risks.
    * Whenever a piece of Gun Omega Tech is tapped for a second, third, etc, time in an encounter, the player must make an overcharge check. On a result of 10+, ammo tokens can be spent to untap the card. On a result of 9 or less, the Gun Omega Tech explodes in the player character's face, dealing damage. The Gun Omega Tech card is then discarded.
    * Some kinds of Gun Omega Tech can be salvaged.
    * Gun Omega Tech cannot be used with Weapon powers.

    Salvaged Guns
    * Salvaged Guns are slightly stronger than other forms of salvaged Omega Tech. This is balanced by the fact that most salvaged Omega Tech can be used at-will, while Salvaged Guns require that ammo tokens be spent to use them.
    * Salvaged Guns can be used with Weapon powers.
    * Example: An attack made with a Jury-Rigged Shotgun deals a minor amount of damage to all creatures adjacent to the attack's primary target.

    DSCF1005.jpg

    How is this looking? Are there any immediate problems I'm somehow overlooking? Do you think I'm putting-in too much work for too-little pay-off?

    Hexmage-PA on
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    And now yet another session of DnD. This time my other Eberron game and this time yet another very close combat :O
    Eberron: Dark Prohecy

    I had to go walkies in the morning for key supplies and got unfortunately rather delayed before the game - losing a bit of the session. Pro tip for aspiring DMs: Make sure you have your delicious snacks and drinks ahead of time! This means you don't get caught out on an early morning walkies and miss some of the game! In any event DnD was had and shenanigans abounded: Pretty much as usual in fact.

    In any event the game got underway with the PCs finding a route through the webbed town to investigate the source of the noise. This did only come about after some careful deliberation about just burning down the web and the village with it. Inevitably they found the source of the yelling - an elderly gentleman standing outside his tiled house fending off numerous hungry giant spiders. Curiously the fellow was not trying to use his spells to harm them, merely keep them back while "talking" to the creatures. Trying to explain rather diplomatically that the spiders shouldn't try to eat him as he was their "friend".

    Of course it was obvious that the spiders had other ideas, with several of the stealthy critters having already moved around behind him. Charitable as the PCs are they moved into combat to help deal with the spiders - in a slightly more violent manner. Things proceeded fairly well, clearing out the majority minion spiders with relative ease. Even the deathjump spiders that had plagued them in the past didn't prove to be as dangerous - despite jumping from the roof. In a slightly ironic twist, the elderly man went down as the minion spiderlings felled him with bites combined with vulnerability.
    GryllGoesDown.jpg
    Gryll the "spider expert" got quite a nasty surprise here.

    The PCs were more than in control of the situation and were able to rescue him before an unsightly death. He explained to the PCs he was trying to force the creatures back and had never known them to be so hostile. Naturally the characters told him about the fact the spiders were controlled, which caused Gryll to remember that he had indeed seen a woman with the beasts. After a short conversation explaining what was going on, Gryll suggested further survivors may be at the mayor Arden Galen's house. Gryll regretted that he had 'confiscated' the mayors main weapon, a magical flaming halberd in fear of destroying the entire town*.

    As the PCs had saved them Gryll had no problem handing over the weapon, several vials of alchemists fire and some potions of his own concoction "Gryll's Amazing Arachnid Damaway!" Aside from having a strange name, this item has two important points in the game. If you read the previous session write up, you'll see the PCs got firmly hammered and many of them are very down on surges. Although an extended rest would be perfectly fine at this point in the game, I wanted to keep a bit of pace up for a short while. I also wanted options for regaining surges when the PCs advanced to the next area to regain surges.

    Like the previous "tonics", these potions restore 2 surges but they have another powerful benefit: They automatically end effects ongoing upon the PC that have the poison keyword. You might think this is something more than worth hanging onto if possible, but like many things I made sure they had only a specific utility. Gryll carefully developed his serum to interact with the injuries and poisons of arachnids. Unless you're damaged by such an arachnid it doesn't function. The point of this is both a fluff and again, mechanics reason. This part of the game has a lot of arachnid enemies, so allowing these to be used only when damaged by an arachnid (since your last extended rest it should be noted) means it keeps it very useful here - but rapidly means they become useless later.

    Effectively it means it keeps the adventure flowing and gives the PCs some extra surges, without actually becoming a problem if they are saved up later into the campaign. Either way the players decided to just hang onto them for the time being and moved on, marching through the town to reach mayor Arden's home (and hopefully further survivors).

    On the way the PCs ran into something genuinely horrifying in the town's central square. Almost entirely webbed over, numerous disfigured and disgusting web bound humanoid creatures rose up. These were the unfortunate victims of a terrible monstrous spider called a tomb spider, which turns the dead into walking corpses filled with a nasty surprise: A swarm of deadly spiderlings. Here is where a bit of planning from the items I gave the party comes into play.

    This encounter was pretty difficult but it could become even more difficult if the zombies were not killed in the correct way. Each one not killed by a fire keyword power would immediately burst like an overripe balloon - spilling numerous spiderlings out. The spiderling swarm is not only more powerful than the zombie (a level 2 brute vs. a level 5 lurker swarm), but imposes considerably better effects and an aura. The zombies however were incompetent fighters, having no ability to make OAs or even charge (due to lacking a melee basic attack). So good use of the PCs flaming halberd (suitable for the Paladin defender), the alchemists fire and the Artificers chaos engine weapons powers could make all the difference.

    To cap off the encounter was the tomb spider itself, which I actually changed quite dramatically to fit more of a lurker role with a couple of new powers. Instead of the powerful ongoing damage, I added straight dice to damage for the bite, added another alternative bite attack and a potential jump attack (similar to the deathjump spider). Although he could not attack twice a round as a dedicated elite could, the spider made up for it by being able to front load damage effectively. The pounce attack for example knocks a target prone and then automatically hits it with the bite attack.

    Combat began with the rogue staying back and throwing a dagger, being cautious about the zombies - while the Warforged assassin plowed into one. The critical hit smashing the creature to pieces, but then releasing the swarm of biting and deadly spiders into the fight! With the jig up on the purpose of these rotting undead husks, the PCs realized they would need to finish them off with fire or risk further swarms appearing. By the end of the first round, everything looked well under control until the tomb spider parent joined in.
    TombSpiderSurprise.jpg
    The tomb spider bound into combat, knocking the paladin prone and then inflicting an extremely painful bite. A second enfeebling bite then put the paladin into an awkward position.

    The tomb spider was a considerable threat with its bite preventing the use of an opponents second wind for that encounter. Additionally I copied the black dragons heal check removal power for a secondary enfeebling bite attack. Should the power hit, the unlucky PC ends up with a -2 penalty to speed and vulnerable 5 necrotic until the end of the encounter (or a successful heal check as a standard action, ouch!). Unfortunately for the paladin, the spiders initial jump slammed into him successfully and he got automatically bitten. Fortunately for the paladin, when it rolled for damage the hit was a critical! This is fortunate because the attack was an automatic hit, so couldn't get the massive 25 damage from the crit. The spider was forced to settle for a more measly 17 points of damage. It made up for it with enfeebling bite, imposing the conditions above and dropping the paladin unconscious.

    Now the fight just got real. The zombies continued to present little threat, while the swarm pursued and damaged other PCs. Inevitably, the tomb spider cornered the artificer and provoking an opportunity attack (with little other choice - hemmed into a corner with a zombie nearby) the spider bit him down. This left the combat in a delicate position!
    DeadlyGame.jpg
    The artificer was pinned against the wall and made a risky attack, which unfortunately for him didn't come off.

    However with the paladin up and not interested in further spider or zombie based shenanigans, he rapidly finished off the tomb spider (with a sigh of relief from the other players). With the vile beast dead the situation was still precarious.
    DelicatePosition.jpg
    The tomb spider was dead but the zombies were still up and about.

    However several things were firmly in the PCs favor. The first was that the zombies were mostly badly damaged - so a solid hit from any fire power or a vial of alchemists fire would finish them off. The second thing was that I made the zombies have the clumsy property - so they had no melee basic attack. This meant the PCs could walk around them with impunity and quickly feed potions to their allies. Even when the rogue was clunked unconscious by a brutal critical hit (wasn't far off being killed either!), the PCs didn't have to worry much about moving away from the creatures.

    Using the ability of his weapon and the paladins flaming halberd, the PCs finished the remaining zombies off without further swarm incidents - albeit ending the combat in a very hammered state. Due to several players needing (or wanting, I hear there was FOOTBALL?! in the US that day) to leave early we ended it there. Some interesting times lay ahead I feel, but once again I am incredibly happy to have another tight, interesting combat that swayed back and forth. This is something that I seem to be getting more and more in 4E - usually without killing anyone often. The number of tight combats I've had, compared to the number of PCs I've killed is very high. This is a really good thing.

    Part of the reason I felt satisfied was also that it was a good set up for making the magic items I gave PCs really count. Chaos Engine's ability to turn a power into a fire keyword power and the flaming halberd were central to the combat. Good use of these items would present a far easier encounter than if they didn't use them. Making them relevant and important choices in magic items - not just another +2 ranged and +1 melee weapon.

    As you can tell this was a really close combat and when you factor in an additional three potential swarms, the use of these items was essential to victory. I did remind the artificer about Chaos engines powers though. It was a couple of weeks since last playing and at the time, it may have been the difference between fighting an extra swarm (or not fighting it). This naturally helped finish off the remaining zombies with satisfying sounds of murderous baby spiders popping.

    *This seems stupid, but in reality Gryll was afraid of setting the main webs on fire. This would not kill many of the spiders as the web would not burn fast enough, but would destroy many of the towns house's thatched roofing - exposing them entirely to assaults by the creatures inevitable return. Not to mention that dispersing the creatures would cause them to flow into the surrounding forest, preventing the villagers from escaping that way either. Unfortunately, I did not get this explanation across to the PCs at the time. Another pro-DM tip, always read your own story notes so you get across important concepts before the game.

    Edit: Enfeebling bite was name changed to Festering Wound (which I thought was more appropriate). As an added bonus, here is the tomb spiders stat block.
    TombSpider.png

    Aegeri on
    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    If only I weren't currently DMing.

    Hybrid Fighter/Battlemind. Any appropriate race. I'd probably go Half-Giant or Dwarf for maximum "GRAH" factor.

    Hybrid Fighters get Combat Challenge, including the "attack marked enemy that doesn't attack you" power. Hybrid Battleminds get to mark one guy as a minor action every turn.

    Iron Guardian's (Battlemind PP) level 12 Utility power lets them ignore roughly 3/4 of incoming damage by spending a standard action on their turn.

    Spend a minor to mark, Standard to become nigh-invulnerable, then tank the hell out of something.

    Might as well name the guy "Daze Magnet" but what the hell. He'd be a blast when he worked.

    OptimusZed on
    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • HachfaceHachface Not the Minister Farrakhan you're thinking of Dammit, Shepard!Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    OptimusZed wrote: »
    Might as well name the guy "Daze Magnet" but what the hell. He'd be a blast when he worked.

    Fighters are already daze magnets. This is no real loss.

    Hachface on
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    This is why every fighter should invest in Superior Will. Not only does it boost will, but it gives you a save against those effects at the start of your turn. Conveniently the fighters secondary stat is Wisdom! Funny how life just works out for the fighter consistently in 4E isn't it?

    Aegeri on
    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I personally think that if done right these fortune cards could be really cool.

    There could be environmental ones, simple things like a heavy rain fall or maybe even an avalanche. There could also be ones that act a buffs that the DM could hand out as rewards. Or there could be quirky ones like that helmet that changes your gender etc.

    I really don't see the problem. The DM could decide how they would be distributed and who draws them when.

    Did anybody play that Den of the Slavetakers adventure? I remember in our group the DM handed us a little print out at the end that summarized the lasting effects of the adventure. Some weren't very specific like "Grundelmar the dwarven priest of Pelor at the House of the Sun in Fallcrest is impressed..." where as one gave you "a 25% discount on two 1st - through 5th level magic items" at a certain halfling's store.

    That's sort of how I imagine these playing out except instead of being inevitable consequences of the adventure they are random aspects that come in by being drawn by either the player or the DM. If done right they could spice up the adventure and occasionally put the DM in the reactive position instead of the player.

    Amigu on
    BitD PbP Character Volstrom
    QEz1Jw1.png
Sign In or Register to comment.