Fax Celestis
2009-01-20, 07:51 PM
So I'm running a series of adventures for my wife. She's playing all four characters in an effort to both let her get a closer glimpse at what DMing is like and to give her some experience playing non-sneaky characters (she has this tendency to play only rogues and roguelikes).
So she's playing a party of four. She rolled her stats using the 5d4 method (I find it to give a better curve than 3d6, with a higher minimum and maximum roll but lower chances for both). She's ECL 2.
1. Drog (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=1854), Half-Orc Barbarian 2 (Str 18, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 10; feat: Intimidating Strike)
2. Belladonna (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=1856), Strongheart Halfling Scout 2 (Str 12, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 13, Cha 9; feat: Luck of Heroes)
3. Zookmadge (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=1861), Gnome Sorceror 2 (Str 11, Dex 16, Con 19, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 19; feat: Celestial Sorceror Heritage; mostly blasty and buffing spells)
4. Jasen, (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=1862) Human Cleric 2 (Str 17, Dex 12, Con 17, Int 15, Wis 18, Cha 15; feats: EWP (Greathammer),
Combat Reflexes)
Some House Rules
Skills are condensed: Hide and Move Silently are Stealth; Listen and Spot are Awareness; Open Lock is part of Disable Device.
Game Prep
The adventure assumes you run the adventure that comes with the Eberron Campaign Setting: I glossed over it (because ECL 1 adventures are needlessly lethal and the heroes are weak) and threw it into the backstory bit. The wife, who doesn't like starting lower than ECL 4, was okay with this.
Sharn
The party moved through the message house mini-encounter smoothly, managing to get some information out of the message transcriber with a lucky Diplomacy roll. The scout's high Survival score identified the tracks as kobold and warforged footprints, and, assuming no more information was to be had, the party left the building. (They were correct in this: the poor gnome had told the party pretty much everything she knew.) The party did notice that whoever had roughed up the gnome and ransacked the place hadn't taken the gold or any valuables (such as the sending stone); only the letter designated for the party cleric was missing. Since the party had gleaned that the message intended for them had been from Lady Elaydren (their last employer), they decided to venture to the inn where they had previously met her.
On their way, the rain outside let up and a giant owl dropped a message at their feet. Despite being surprised, the cleric picked up the scroll case, popped it open (rather trustingly, to be sure: it could've been trapped) and read the message, which indicated that the party should meet Lady Elaydren at the Broken Anvil, which is where they were headed anyway. A good Awareness check let them notice that the sealing wax on the scroll was not emblazoned with a House Cannith crest like Lady Elaydren's letters usually were.
The party decided that this was not subterfuge but rather to maintain plausible deniability: this was mostly due to the fact that the letter was signed by "Lady E" instead of "Lady Elaydren d'Cannith". As such, they went to the Broken Anvil as requested. They met Lady Elaydren there, where she hurriedly handed them a handy haversack full of stuff and said, essentially, to get the hell out of dodge.
Four kobolds and a Warforged Fighter 3 popped into the room at this point and attacked. Two of the kobolds and the warforged won initiative. Drog took out three kobolds himself due to having a huge STR score and an actual BAB. Zookmadge was ineffectual as she got hedged in early by a pair of kobolds and didn't want to risk their AoOs. Belladonna wasn't given enough mobility to skirmish, but still managed to take the fourth kobold. Jasen charged the warforged right off the bat but missed twice before landing a blow. Lady Elaydren cowered behind a table. The party stripped the warforged of his cutlass +1 (it's a longsword in the adventure, but I figured if he's named Cutlass, he might as well use one) but left the rest of the gear and bolted for the docks.
The party was given the option of taking the lightning rail now and having the journey to Rhukaan Draal take 12 days, or wait until morning and take a ship which would take 5 days. They opted for the latter.
Asea
The sailing trip was uneventful until they neared Kraken Bay: once there, the ship was beset by eight skeletons. The skeletons were set upon the ship by agents of the Emerald Claw, but none of the PCs hit an awareness check high enough to notice the necromancer on shore. This combat was a bit more dire: there were a lot of opponents, and the riding dogs of both the halfling and the gnome were nearly killed. Drog managed to take out two skeletons, Zookmadge a third (with her newly purchased wand of magic missile), and Jasen saved the day with a lucky Turn Undead check that was powerful enough to destroy the remaining five undead in one fell swoop. The party received 200 gp in reward from the captain, as well as a letter of commendation from House Lyrandar (which is arguably more valuable than the gold).
Rhukaan Draal
The PCs arrived in Rhukaan Draal without further issue. They got lucky with a Gather Information check and found out about a bar that catered to non-goblinoids. This just happened to be the bar that their contact, (ironically named) Failin, was in. They met with him, he extorted money from them, and he agreed to take them to Rose Quarry. However, when they left the bar, Failin was accosted by two bugbears who claimed they were "investors" in his "latest hair-brained scheme" and that he owed them a significant sum of money. Failin denied this, Jasen stood up for him, and--when things turned sour--Failin activated a magic item and teleported down a back alley. The bugbears assumed that the gnome in the back (since all gnomes are magical) had used her magic to teleport him somewhere, and attacked. Jasen took a number of hits, dropping him down to near-zero, but his horse (!) protected him and did a number of strikes on one of the bugbears. The other one was beset by Drog and Belladonna, and he died in a matter of rounds. Zookmadge flung some magic missiles at the first bugbear, softening him up for Jasen's critical (19-20/x4 is a nasty combination), which not only killed the bugbear, but would have been enough damage to kill both bugbears.
Failin thanked the party, refunded them their money (reluctantly) and took them to his land cart. Session was called here on account of time.
Observations
Drog is a powerhouse and a machine. He hasn't raged yet, but when he does (and when Zookmadge drops an enlarge person on him) it is going to be epic. Belladonna is having trouble getting the area to activate her skirmish ability. Zookmadge picked up on the "get a wand of something blasty" extraordinarily quickly, so she uses her spells known slots for things that aren't so blasty. Jasen is situationally good: his attack bonus isn't good enough to consistently land hits, but when he lands a good one, things die.
Jasen's Turn Undead will likely be inordinately useful in the coming section, where there are dwarven glass zombies. Also, Zookmadge looks weak now, but she'll likely be the strongest member of the party in just a few levels.
The PCs didn't earn enough XP to make it to 3rd level: they only got 800 in total, putting them 1200 short of ECL 3. They've also been hoarding their gold, rather than spending it, which may prove beneficial if they need to. As of right now, they have a tidy sum nearing 3000 gp between the four of them, though a large portion of this came from Lady Elaydren: the haversack contained 500 gp and 150 pp.
So she's playing a party of four. She rolled her stats using the 5d4 method (I find it to give a better curve than 3d6, with a higher minimum and maximum roll but lower chances for both). She's ECL 2.
1. Drog (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=1854), Half-Orc Barbarian 2 (Str 18, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 10; feat: Intimidating Strike)
2. Belladonna (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=1856), Strongheart Halfling Scout 2 (Str 12, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 13, Cha 9; feat: Luck of Heroes)
3. Zookmadge (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=1861), Gnome Sorceror 2 (Str 11, Dex 16, Con 19, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 19; feat: Celestial Sorceror Heritage; mostly blasty and buffing spells)
4. Jasen, (http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=1862) Human Cleric 2 (Str 17, Dex 12, Con 17, Int 15, Wis 18, Cha 15; feats: EWP (Greathammer),
Combat Reflexes)
Some House Rules
Skills are condensed: Hide and Move Silently are Stealth; Listen and Spot are Awareness; Open Lock is part of Disable Device.
Game Prep
The adventure assumes you run the adventure that comes with the Eberron Campaign Setting: I glossed over it (because ECL 1 adventures are needlessly lethal and the heroes are weak) and threw it into the backstory bit. The wife, who doesn't like starting lower than ECL 4, was okay with this.
Sharn
The party moved through the message house mini-encounter smoothly, managing to get some information out of the message transcriber with a lucky Diplomacy roll. The scout's high Survival score identified the tracks as kobold and warforged footprints, and, assuming no more information was to be had, the party left the building. (They were correct in this: the poor gnome had told the party pretty much everything she knew.) The party did notice that whoever had roughed up the gnome and ransacked the place hadn't taken the gold or any valuables (such as the sending stone); only the letter designated for the party cleric was missing. Since the party had gleaned that the message intended for them had been from Lady Elaydren (their last employer), they decided to venture to the inn where they had previously met her.
On their way, the rain outside let up and a giant owl dropped a message at their feet. Despite being surprised, the cleric picked up the scroll case, popped it open (rather trustingly, to be sure: it could've been trapped) and read the message, which indicated that the party should meet Lady Elaydren at the Broken Anvil, which is where they were headed anyway. A good Awareness check let them notice that the sealing wax on the scroll was not emblazoned with a House Cannith crest like Lady Elaydren's letters usually were.
The party decided that this was not subterfuge but rather to maintain plausible deniability: this was mostly due to the fact that the letter was signed by "Lady E" instead of "Lady Elaydren d'Cannith". As such, they went to the Broken Anvil as requested. They met Lady Elaydren there, where she hurriedly handed them a handy haversack full of stuff and said, essentially, to get the hell out of dodge.
Four kobolds and a Warforged Fighter 3 popped into the room at this point and attacked. Two of the kobolds and the warforged won initiative. Drog took out three kobolds himself due to having a huge STR score and an actual BAB. Zookmadge was ineffectual as she got hedged in early by a pair of kobolds and didn't want to risk their AoOs. Belladonna wasn't given enough mobility to skirmish, but still managed to take the fourth kobold. Jasen charged the warforged right off the bat but missed twice before landing a blow. Lady Elaydren cowered behind a table. The party stripped the warforged of his cutlass +1 (it's a longsword in the adventure, but I figured if he's named Cutlass, he might as well use one) but left the rest of the gear and bolted for the docks.
The party was given the option of taking the lightning rail now and having the journey to Rhukaan Draal take 12 days, or wait until morning and take a ship which would take 5 days. They opted for the latter.
Asea
The sailing trip was uneventful until they neared Kraken Bay: once there, the ship was beset by eight skeletons. The skeletons were set upon the ship by agents of the Emerald Claw, but none of the PCs hit an awareness check high enough to notice the necromancer on shore. This combat was a bit more dire: there were a lot of opponents, and the riding dogs of both the halfling and the gnome were nearly killed. Drog managed to take out two skeletons, Zookmadge a third (with her newly purchased wand of magic missile), and Jasen saved the day with a lucky Turn Undead check that was powerful enough to destroy the remaining five undead in one fell swoop. The party received 200 gp in reward from the captain, as well as a letter of commendation from House Lyrandar (which is arguably more valuable than the gold).
Rhukaan Draal
The PCs arrived in Rhukaan Draal without further issue. They got lucky with a Gather Information check and found out about a bar that catered to non-goblinoids. This just happened to be the bar that their contact, (ironically named) Failin, was in. They met with him, he extorted money from them, and he agreed to take them to Rose Quarry. However, when they left the bar, Failin was accosted by two bugbears who claimed they were "investors" in his "latest hair-brained scheme" and that he owed them a significant sum of money. Failin denied this, Jasen stood up for him, and--when things turned sour--Failin activated a magic item and teleported down a back alley. The bugbears assumed that the gnome in the back (since all gnomes are magical) had used her magic to teleport him somewhere, and attacked. Jasen took a number of hits, dropping him down to near-zero, but his horse (!) protected him and did a number of strikes on one of the bugbears. The other one was beset by Drog and Belladonna, and he died in a matter of rounds. Zookmadge flung some magic missiles at the first bugbear, softening him up for Jasen's critical (19-20/x4 is a nasty combination), which not only killed the bugbear, but would have been enough damage to kill both bugbears.
Failin thanked the party, refunded them their money (reluctantly) and took them to his land cart. Session was called here on account of time.
Observations
Drog is a powerhouse and a machine. He hasn't raged yet, but when he does (and when Zookmadge drops an enlarge person on him) it is going to be epic. Belladonna is having trouble getting the area to activate her skirmish ability. Zookmadge picked up on the "get a wand of something blasty" extraordinarily quickly, so she uses her spells known slots for things that aren't so blasty. Jasen is situationally good: his attack bonus isn't good enough to consistently land hits, but when he lands a good one, things die.
Jasen's Turn Undead will likely be inordinately useful in the coming section, where there are dwarven glass zombies. Also, Zookmadge looks weak now, but she'll likely be the strongest member of the party in just a few levels.
The PCs didn't earn enough XP to make it to 3rd level: they only got 800 in total, putting them 1200 short of ECL 3. They've also been hoarding their gold, rather than spending it, which may prove beneficial if they need to. As of right now, they have a tidy sum nearing 3000 gp between the four of them, though a large portion of this came from Lady Elaydren: the haversack contained 500 gp and 150 pp.