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Tavar
2010-06-04, 05:58 PM
So, last night was the third session in a Red Hand of Doom game being run over IRC, and the fecal matter definitely hit the rotary blades.

Party:
Me-Liara (http://www.coyotecode.net/profiler/view.php?id=7266), Human Person Man's Domain Favored Soul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57097) of Pelor. Healer and secondary frontliner.
CrypticOcean- Retribution(Ret) Warforged Crusader. Primary Frontliner, focus on Stone Dragon and Devoted Spirit.
Eurus-Dasha Mal, Changling Factotum, Skills Plus general utility.
Zemro Shivic-Byron Hanes, Human Conjuration focused Wizard.
HunterOfJello-Zosimos Darkspell(Zos), gnome beguiler. Skills +illusion/enchantment spells.
DragoonWraith-Russengolmo(Russ), Gnome Swordmage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149724). Glass Cannon.

First two sessions
We're part of an established party, and hear that this somewhat remote keep(Varath Keep) might have some loot. So of course, like any good set of violent hobos adventurers, we go to check it out. We're headed for a nearby town called Drellin's Ferry.

Less than a day out, we're ambushed. The initial attack is by 6 hobgoblins just inside the tree line. Some damage is exchange, but the main problem is that it takes some time to actually drop the enemy. By the time we do, another 6 Hobs have arrives, as well as a Hellhound. The hellhound does some decent damage to me with it's breath weapon, though my energy resistance mitigates it to a certain degree. We continue to fight, with me generally missing. Also, someone's casting spells at us(often chained spells), and we can't see him yet. After a couple more rounds of this(I mentioned whiffing attack rolls, yes?), a new enemy appears. It's a hobgoblin in Fullplate, and he starts out by giving everyone -4 to attacks unless it's at him. It takes about 3-4 rounds to drop him, even with everyone concentrating at him. Really, it's embarrassing how much we're missing and generally doing nothing. By the end he's even taunting us about how useless we are. Then the caster finally appears, we realize it's a devotee of Tiamat, and it again taunts us with how useless we are. Eventually, Russ gets him in a kind of grapple, but before he goes down he has one more shot. Chained Blindness. And everyone but Dasha fails their save. But the enemies are all down, so I guess we can chalk this up as a win. While looting the bodies, Dasha finds a stash of gold, and pockets a 'finders fee'. Then she leads us into town. We drop of the unconscious caster with the town guard, then head to the local temple for some curse removal. Luckily, it's a church of Pelor, so with my member discount, it's only something like 72 gp a pop to remove the curse.

After finding an inn to stay the night, everyone but Ret goes to sleep. Not needing sleep, he stays up, and is approached by the town mayor, who informs him about the Hobgoblin problem, and how it seems to be growing. Ret says that we'll probably look into it, and the session ends.

In the next session we regroup, decide that we might as well check out the problem, especially since they're in the same forest that contains the keep. Oh, and we hear about a guide who can show use more closely where the keep is. After selling the loot(except for the fullplate, which Liara claims since it pings as magical). We then head out, easily meet up with Jorr, and continue one. While passing through a swamp, we're attacked by a 6-headed Cryohydra, this actually takes up about 90% of the session, as it's hard to get close enough to hit it, as all the terrain is difficult, and it never actually gets close to us. Ret actually falls, as he takes several BA. Eventually the others take it down, and I make my sole contribution bashing it while unconscious so it doesn't fast heal back up. After healing those who need it, we continue on and find the keep. Others do some initial scouting, finding some goblins and worgs in the stables. This session ends.

Third Session, Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Enveneration.
I missed the first two hours of this session, but apparently the others went in and tried to take out the worgs/goblins, without scouting the other buildings. All I know is that when I joined the session, there were only two worgs left, quickly reduced to one, who escaped into another building. Meanwhile, my character is right by the gates, having stayed back because I was unavailable. I was then confronted by a Manticore, who I was somehow able to bluff into thinking that I was on it's side, and that I would take care of the adventurers, buying us a round or two to regroup, I spend this time buffing myself with Bulls Strength and Enlarge Person, and then manage to make my first, and only kill of the game, hitting and killing the thing. At this point, Ret's rather worse for the ware, so I go over and use my wand of vigor to start healing him. As I do so, I get hit with Enveneration, for 3 negative levels. Thus begins the absolute massacre and humiliation of our party. After that attack spell, his invisibilty spell wears off, and we see the bugbear, flying above where the Manticore was. We focus our fire, and do just about nothing, with some just barely under rolls, plus the fact that Dasha ran out of encounter abilities. Next round, me and two others are hit with a Fell Magic missile, dealing more negative levels(at this point I'm at 4/5). We decide to follow Dasha's lead, as last round she ran for it. There are a couple more shots fired, but either missed, or it used wings of cover to deflect them. Know, during the fight with the wolf, Ret had actually gone into what looked to be the main barracks and came out talking about a minotaur and more hobgoblins, so at this point we decide to get out, as we seemed to be out of our weight class. Byron tries to buy us some time with a Born of the Three Thunders lightning bolt, but the caster shrugs off the effects.

Ret picks him up in order to help him flee, and we proceed out the gates as fast as we can. Not quite fast enough, as the caster targets Liara with a Ray of Exahstion, which she failed, probably due to the -4 from negative levels. She was then paralyzed(starting dex of 8, -2 from enlarge person, -6 from exhaustion), causing her to use a standard action to dismiss the enlarge person. Still, she couldn't get far, and all of Koth's(the caster) attention was focused on her. We then engaged in some nice little banter. Him trying to persuade me to join him, me refusing, him revealing to be my father, until Ret came charging back, trying to save me, I guess. It failed, due to a bands of steel. He then offered to release him if I would join him. Both Ret and Liara decide that they aren't going to walk away from this, so as a defiant last action Liara sacrifices a spell slot to cast magic missile through an item.

The guy had Shield up, dammit.

Finally Koth tires of taunting Liara, and gives her one last chance. She refuses (reciting a version of Saint Michael's prayer, in Latin). He then casts envenerate on her again, and she dies. The surviving members of the party continue to harry Koth, hoping to get Ret out of there, but he takes a Scorching Ray Coup De Grace to the face, a dies. The rest run away.

So. Yeah. My character is dead. Now I need to think up what to replace her with. Here's the 16:1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)? 3.5e

2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)? We'll be running the Red Hand of Doom campaign module - but you knew that already.

3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many? Four players, no alternates.

4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)? Weekly IRC sessions, expected to last between three and five hours.

5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)? Level 5, no bonus xp.

6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with? Standard 5th level WBL, AKA 9,000 gp.

7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes? As this campaign is doubling as a playtest, I'd like to see some of the standard archetypes for comparison. How you accomplish this is up to you. Due to the time constraints of the campaign, I'd advise against craft-focused characters, such as Artificers.

8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? No templates. Other than that, go nuts. Do try to at least make a modicum of sense, though.

9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points? 28 point buy. Link to a handy point buy calculator. (http://yellowrex.com/tools/pbcalc.php)

HP is maxed at first level, average thereafter.

10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so? Alignment is in place, and while it should reflect your character's general outlook, it is not an iron cage. No Evil alignments, and while Chaotic Neutral and Lawful Good are both fine, Chaotic Stupid and Lawful Stupid are not.

11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it? No penalties for multiclassing. However, you must take at least two levels of any given class before your next class jump.

12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them? DM rolls are done behind the scenes. Player rolls will be done in a die rolling thread on the GiTP forums.

13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules. Flaws and Traits are in play. Characters can take one Flaw, which must have a noticeable negative impact on the character. They can also take up to two Traits, which must play into their personality and outlook as appropriate.

Also, Detect Magic cannot find auras on things you could not normally see. Not because I'm going to send hordes of invisible enemies after you and expect you to find them with a cantrip, but because it's a pet peeve of mine.

14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)? Your characters all know each other, and have been adventuring together for some time. During your last journey, you uncovered a rough map of Elsir Vale, with special care being taken to mark a location known as "Vraath Keep". Notes on the map coincide with local legends that speak of a great treasure contained within a hidden vault in the keep. The exact details are up to you, and while it's fine to keep it slim at first, I'll expect backgrounds to be fleshed out between the chosen players.

15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above? The campaign contains ample opportunities for all three. The exact breakdown depends on the party's method of approaching situations.

16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters? All 3.5 WotC books are fair game, provided I have it or can reasonably find information about what you intend to use. Note, however, that while a bit of pepper jack can give some spice to a dish, gouda goes in the trash. In other words, don't make me take my red pen to your character sheet and tell you to be reasonable.
Any Thoughts? Do note that I'll come in as a 4th level character, not a 5th.

jiriku
2010-06-04, 06:11 PM
Wow, you guys got your butts handed to you. I'd say maybe some type of buffing or support character who can give the party bonuses, since you guys seem to miss so much. Perhaps a bard or crusader. Or a bard/crusader. I'm growing fond of that multi-class combination.

RHoD has a reputation for a pretty poor set of default monsters, so it's possible your DM has reworked the encounters and optimized the bad guys a bit. If that's the case, you can expect it will only get more difficult from here. Build your toon carefully.

Tavar
2010-06-04, 06:14 PM
Oh, it's obvious that she did so. I mean, DMM Chain? Wings of Cover? Whatever that guy in Full Plate was?

The buffing might help, but we also seem to have trouble actually taking guys down. I mean, it's often only one mook being taken out every two rounds. Dragonfire adept might help that problem, though.

KillianHawkeye
2010-06-04, 06:15 PM
RHoD has a reputation for a pretty poor set of default monsters, so it's possible your DM has reworked the encounters and optimized the bad guys a bit. If that's the case, you can expect it will only get more difficult from here. Build your toon carefully.

This is definitely true, as the book version of Koth has neither enervation nor Chain Spell.

Weezer
2010-06-04, 06:21 PM
This is definitely true, as the book version of Koth has neither enervation nor Chain Spell.

And I think my Animal Companion was able to take out half of that original ambush. The DM definitely upgraded the monsters, something they sorely need.

As for build advice what kind of character are you leaning towards?

Tavar
2010-06-04, 06:23 PM
Koth didn't have chain spell. Though he did have both Wings of cover and Fell Spell. The cleric from the first encounter had chain spell, as well as DMM Chain Spell.

PId6
2010-06-04, 06:24 PM
Whatever that guy in Full Plate was?
Crusader; the -4 was from the Iron Guard's Glare stance.

I'd suggest something that can deal good damage and have great defenses. At such a low level, Diamond Mind warblade is best, but DMM cleric can also work.

Tavar
2010-06-04, 06:26 PM
It wasn't. Iron Guard's Glare requires that you threaten the opponent, he did this to everyone.

Saph
2010-06-04, 06:32 PM
Given that Chain Spell reduces the save DC of arcing effects by 4, that was quite impressively epic fail in managing to get that many people to fluff their saves against a spell with a DC of 8 + ability mod. :smalltongue:

Anyway, yeah, as mentioned, she's upgraded the monsters heavily. You'll have to pick something pretty powerful to stand up against that at level 4.

Jarian
2010-06-04, 06:37 PM
They rolled, as I recall, one nine and three tens against the Chain Blindness. It was really sad.

The keep massacre was the result of two fluffed AoOs on the worg and an overly inquisitive warforged. Well, mostly, anyway.

PId6
2010-06-04, 06:39 PM
It wasn't. Iron Guard's Glare requires that you threaten the opponent, he did this to everyone.
Ah, that's... a bit different. I have no idea then, besides dramagically increasing reach (which I'm guessing isn't it). I'd like to know how he pulled off that trick at such a low level.

Ernir
2010-06-04, 06:40 PM
Jarian's game, right?

If so, I suggest something that can cast "Beg DM for mercy". I don't think getting into an arms race with her is going to be fruitful. :smalltongue:

Alternatively, if you're not ready to swallow your manhood just yet, something that can cast lots of other spells. Fullcaster heading towards a broken PrC?

Tavar
2010-06-04, 06:40 PM
We rolled naturally a 6, 4, 3, 2, and a 20. Oh, and one party member was absent from the session.

But, yeah. We're warned not to go to cheesy, but I'm regretting not going for a higher level of optimization now that I realize just what we're up against.

Saph
2010-06-04, 06:41 PM
Tell you what, you should play a Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold Loredrake. I could even show you a character sheet to use as a blueprint. :smalltongue: (Kidding.)

Jarian
2010-06-04, 06:43 PM
Tell you what, you should play a Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold Loredrake. I could even show you a character sheet to use as a blueprint. :smalltongue: (Kidding.)

Blackmail! Flithy slander!

...

I tone things way down for anything but the Neverending Dungeon. :smalltongue:

Tavar
2010-06-04, 06:44 PM
In all seriousness, I'm thinking about going druid, maybe with the greenbound summon feat. Gives a nice, strong meleer or two, and covers some pretty big wholes. The lower level is going to be a big hurt, though.

Saph
2010-06-04, 06:48 PM
Sounds pretty strong. Lack of spell slots and summon duration will be an issue, though, as will no Wildshape.

PId6
2010-06-04, 06:52 PM
In all seriousness, I'm thinking about going druid, maybe with the greenbound summon feat. Gives a nice, strong meleer or two, and covers some pretty big wholes. The lower level is going to be a big hurt, though.
Well, with the ridiculous power of Greenbound, that would probably work. I usually avoid it for power reasons, but it seems appropriate here. Ashbound is also worth taking since your CL is so low, and Augment Summoning is obviously good if you've room.

Tavar
2010-06-04, 06:52 PM
There isn't much I can do about that, though. Level 5-6 is a huge break point for most classes that have one(3rd level spells or maneuvers). Level 4 is going to put me back a bit, the only question is how it's going to do that.

Eurus
2010-06-04, 06:56 PM
Reading your summary of it here makes that entire fiasco even more amusing in retrospect, I have to say... Granted, I doubt I'd be so amused if I hadn't managed to get the hell out of Dodge when things went bad. I like the druid idea, though, Tavar; we probably don't need a full healer, but we definitely at least need someone who can use a wand of lesser vigor.

Tavar
2010-06-04, 07:01 PM
I think the two positions we really need are Tank and Damage. Tank because, well, there's a lot of damage flying around, and we just lost our old tank. Damage because from what I've seen, it's taking us way to long to drop the mooks. Hence my Dragonfire adept suggestion. Plus, the latter can use such a wand as well, giving us two sources of healing.

DragoonWraith
2010-06-04, 07:09 PM
For whatever reason, Wings of Cover was really demoralizing for me. Heh.

I like both the Druid and the Song of White Raven Crusader suggestions.

Starbuck_II
2010-06-04, 07:16 PM
Wings of cover only blocks 1 attack/rd it says so Haste or Snake's Swiftness defeats it.
Area attacks get better benefit, but best choice versus spell is melee/ranged.

DragoonWraith
2010-06-04, 07:32 PM
Wings of cover only blocks 1 attack/rd it says so Haste or Snake's Swiftness defeats it.
Area attacks get better benefit, but best choice versus spell is melee/ranged.
I was right after him in initiative, couldn't access my Haste spell because of the negative level, and had BAB +5. Soooo... Yeah.

We should have run as soon as he hit us with Enervation, honestly. The one round spent trying to test his defenses probably cost us dearly.

Tavar
2010-06-04, 07:40 PM
Right. The problem was that we were only making one attack per round(he was out of melee range/the characters weren't there), and that our best chance of getting him on the ground was the first attack that he used Wings against. Plus, there were only 2 rounds between the time he hit me with enveneration and then the ray of exhaustion. Yes, if we had more time we would have been able to wear him down, especially since he was using quite a bit of power. By my count, he cast 2 4th level spells(enveneration), 3 third(Fly, Ray of Exauhstion, Bands of Steel), 2 second(Scorching ray, invisibility), and 2 first(shield, mage armor). In addition, there was a fell magic missile and 2 wings of cover.

Edit: I don't think it would have helped me. My movement took me as far as I could each turn, even before we all decided to make a run for it.

Tavar
2010-06-11, 09:52 PM
New Session!

So, I came back with Raj (http://www.coyotecode.net/profiler/view.php?id=7926), HERO OF THE LAND!
Mechanically, he's a crusader/cleric, going into a diety adapted RKV. He's mounted, using the Twin Spirit Homebrew discipline by the forums own The Demented One.
CrypticOcean came back with a Nerap[spelling?] binder named Thaundrex.

I'm not suite sure how Thaundrex joined the group, as once again I was late. Raj joined up with them soon afterward, interrupting the hunt for his recent traveling companions, who unknown to him left him in the middle of the wilderness to get away from him.

Meeting up actually had an interesting moment, when Raj met Dasha, the changling. Now, I know Dasha's female, and I thought that she was female in her current form. No, she was an elven male. Thus it was decided that Raj views all elves as female. Also, he swore himself to her service. That's not going to backfire...

In any case, we use the binders ravens to scout out the keeps, and then use repeated uses of a silence ability to get close to the barracks, and surprise the minotaur and hobgoblins inside. AS the area was scilenced(guess they failed their will saves?), we manage not to alert others, and rather quickly take out the resistance. I'm actually not that effective here, as I was unable to charge and due to some low rolls(I missed a sleeping target....). The Minotaur only got off one attack, brining the binder down to about ten health, but nothing else of interest happens. We then retreat, heal up, and return, after I've buffed myself with a couple choice spells.

It takes some time before we finally work up the nerve to open the door to Koth's chambers, but nothing really bad happens when we do. In fact, even now we aren't entirely sure what happened, but we think it had something to do with an alarm spell+rope trick. What we know happened follows: the binder was invisible and had darkvision, so we stowed our light and let him approach the poster bet. He opened the curtains, and then Koth pushed past him, and moved up the stairs, hiding behind the corpse on the second floor. Thaundrex follows, and thus the rest of the party follows him. We horribly flub our spot checks, and thus don't notice him, giving him time to walk off the roof into the courtyard and cast invisibility. Dasha immediately flees the scene(jumping off the roof to outside of the keep), while Raj attempts to use his riding dog to find the caster. That's where we ended the session.