View Full Version : [3.P] Red Hand of Doom Campaign Journal(s)
After a few months of trying to get a group together for Red Hand of Doom, I've come across a bit of an...interesting situation. The first group I tried to put together was online with 2 guys from high school. They're really solid roleplayers and optimizers (not munchkins, but they know how to make a solid build). I had them set up 2 characters apiece because I knew they could handle it, and we actually got a few sessions in. However, after that, it started falling apart because of massively conflicting schedules and college workloads. I didn't consider this a big deal, so I moved on to group #2....
Group number 2 is a group I've played with a few times. They're largely friends of my girlfriend, who lives about 45 minutes away, so sessions with them are infrequent. The previous DM for the group had to stop because of his schedule (sensing a pattern here?), so I thought, "Hey, I wanted to run RHoD, and here's a group that wants a DM. It'll be super easy and won't take much work, but they should like it." Anyway, I offered, and they didn't seem too enthused, so I dropped it. Meanwhile, or, a few days later, at any rate, we had group #3....
Which is my regular gaming group. We meet once or twice a week, and have been all semester. Recently, though, it's been falling apart because, of the 6 members, we have 4 decent RPers/builders/people, a disinterested RPer that doesn't like combat, and an utterly toxic member that we've basically decided to boot in the next week if he doesn't get it together (we've talked to him, etcetera. I don't want to get into it.) Anyway, the problem there is that one of our decent members is his brother, and we'll lose him, too, but really can't stand gaming with the guy anymore. That's 2 down, and there's about an 80% chance that the disinterested member will leave, too, leaving us with only 3 people, total. So, I said, let's get another 2 or 3, and we'll run this module I've really wanted to run for a while. It was, of course, RHoD.
Now we come back to group #2... They had misheard or I'd misspoken, but on describing RHoD to them, I'd said "a little like LotR," and they'd thought I'd meant "game in Middle Earth." One of them read back through chat logs for some reason, realized what I meant, and they came back to me the day after I decided to run group #3 and asked if I was still willing. I figured "Sure, why not. We don't play often, and really, it won't be much extra work," and agreed to run it for them.
And finally, back to group #1. I heard from them literally hours after group #2, and the pair of them had realized that their schedules and mine finally worked (one of them lost a job and the other dropped a class), and they borderline asked/begged me to run the game for them again, because neither of them have a group. I almost said no, and then a combination of pity and it being 3 a.m. took hold, and I agreed to start their campaign back up again, because, hey, it's not that much extra work. Right?
...
So that's where I'm at right now. All three groups are majorly interested, and I genuinely think I can manage it, so I'm going to go ahead and run all three. All the groups run core PF rules with 3.5 material allowed, and I'll be using the same statblocks (for the mooks, at least) against all 3 groups. I may shake up the major fights to be different based on group composition, but we'll see when we get there. I'll also be using the wonderful Red Hand of Doom Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171284) made by our very own Saintheart while running this, and fishing heavily for advice in this thread. I'll also be drawing heavily on the three campaign journals linked in that thread, especially Saph's.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the three groups:
Group #1
This group is decent at building characters, but loves the roleplay more than anything else. As mentioned previously, it's two guys running two characters apiece. They are, I feel, the most solid group.
In the role of front-line brute, we have Rangolikan (sp), a hellbred paladin with a homebrew archetype that trades away some of the more mystical paladin abilities for some fighter-type ones and a toned-down Nightmare mount. The player isn't a fan of ToB, so I left it at that.
This player's second character, an archivist that goes by the name Ingolan. He's a venerable old man, and is rocking some of the Vow feats, which seem to make him stupidly hard to hit. He's had a vision of death and destruction coming to the Vale. He and Rangolikan have come here in the hopes of stopping it, and on the way to Drellin's Ferry, they meet up with...
Tass, a human alchemist. He's traveling to Drellin's Ferry because he's heard of a strange plant in the area that has unique properties. The character is a little spastic, and OOC, the player explained that this would allow whatever quest hooks I had to sink in. Tass is travelling with his trusty bodyguard...
Jarlbund the dwarf. He's a totemist, and fiercely loyal to Tass. He tends to grouch around out of combat and then set himself to puree when entering combat.
Both players do very well with keeping their characters separate. It's entertaining to watch them run two characters at once. I'm privately placing bets with myself on which of them has a mental break first. I'm leaning towards the alchemist/totemist player.
Group #2
This group is the least optimized of the three, and are also the ones I worry about the most, because the group has 3 (!) new players. Anyway, the characters are as follows-
A half-elf cleric by the name of Brand (not a reference to League) with the Flame and Healing domains. I don't really know what his player's doing; he seems to be going Rule of Cool with Flame domain, buffer with his spell selection, and generic healbot with the Healing domain. It's definitely an interesting character, though; I hope it pans out. I'll probably suggest some spells to the player if he starts struggling.
A gnome beguiler by the name of Acera, planning on a mindbender dip and run by my girlfriend. She surprised the crap out of me with this one; she's never been big on optimization but actually did a damn good job with this character. She ran a flaw by me that I thought reasonable (any time she's near a spell of the Light descriptor being cast, she has a 50/50 chance of suffering a seizure) and used it to pick up Skill Focus (Bluff). She's apparently going to try to start her own religion.
A half-elf Ranger named Bushidai following the archery route. He's one of the new players, but seems to be doing pretty well picking up the system. He's playing a generic mercenary-for-hire.
A human rogue named Silvia, focused on TWFing. This one I worry about; she has no system mastery at all. Hopefully I don't end up with a Kenny situation, but she's good-spirited and a good RPer, so I'm not too worried.
Group #3
This is my regular group with two new members. They're actually the group that worries me the most as far as TPKs go.
Huh?, a half-giant Aegis (swapped over to Wisdom from Intelligence) I don't know how to describe him better than this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlVqfC8-UI).
Absalon, a *facepalm* pansexual human Cleric of Calistra. Yes, he wields a whip.
Sliph, a human cleric that, so far, isn't really set in a build yet. The player is very new, so we'll see how this goes.
Harry Harvel, a half-elf Summoner. Left half elf, right half human. He's apparently bat-guano levels of insane.
Ollie, a human Fighter with the archer archetype. Walking reference to the Green Arrow.
The group has a few prospective members, and will be starting up after spring break is over.
Links to the Entries
Group #1
Marauder Attack, Drellin's Ferry, and Jorr Natherson (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14839260#post14839260)
Group #2
Maruader Attack and Drellin's Ferry (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14951990#post14951990)
Jorr Natherson, the Hydra, Vraath Keep (sort of), and Skull Gorge (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15040796&postcount=10)
Vraath Keep Redux (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15096451&postcount=19)
Group #3
Marauder Attack, Drellin's Ferry, The Hydra, and Finding Vraath Keep (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15103316&postcount=23)
Links to the Horde Rank and File
Hobgoblin Regular (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=528690). Restatted as Fighter 2.
Hobgoblin Sergeant (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=547378). Restatted as Crusader 5.
Hobgoblin Veteran (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=529474). Restatted to Fighter 4. Still pretty meh as far as threat level.
Hobgoblin Bladebearer (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=528674). Restatted as Fighter 2/Whirling Frenzy Lion Totem Barbarian 2. I wanted these guys to be scary and attention-grabbing without being complicated or particularly lethal.
Doom Hand Cleric (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=528666). These are actually largely unchanged from the module, but I did redo their spell lists a little.
Links to the Big Bads, by Group
Group #1
Wyrmlord Koth (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=529981). Pretty much the same, really. I'm not quite sure how this encounter will go.
Group #2
Ozzyrandion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/dragons/dragon/chromatic-green/green-dragon-juvenile). I redid his feats and bumped him up an age category, but otherwise, he's from the SRD.
Wyrmlord Koth (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=529981). Same as for Group 1. I can personally vouch for the fact that Practiced Spellcaster was worth it.
Group #3
Currently blank.
Group 1, Part 1
Intro.
Ingolan and Rangolikan (Rang from now on) have traveled from up North to reach Elsir Vale. Ingolan had had a vision of a clawed red hand sweeping across a map of the area, and knew it was a portent of doom. As they came down through the forest, they became a little lost, and ended up about halfway between Brindol and Drellin's Ferry. They chose to make for Drellin's Ferry, because of its more central location.
Tass and Jarl had left Brindol 2 or 3 days beforehand, and were also travelling to Drellin's Ferry. They were in the region because Tass had heard of an herb grown only in the Witchwood that had powerful alchemical properties. This, of course, was promptly forgotten, because, you know. PC.
Session 1.
At about noon, Tass and Jarl catch Ingolan and Rang on the Dawn Way, about halfway between Terrelton and Drellin's Ferry. They're a little spooked by the tall, brooding man in full plate, with red eyes and a pitch black horse snorting fire, but they get over it, because, again, PCs. They offer to ride along together, because, once again, PCs do that stuff, and Ingolan gladly accepts the offer.I'm basically willing to handwave it for this session, because I want to get things moving along and I don't feel that it's a big deal for the players to do this. As morning wears on, the players approach the ambush. The Nightmare, of all of them, catches a hint of the impending ambush, nickering softly and warning his rider of danger. Rang readies his weapon but does nothing else, and suddenly, arrows fly from nowhere, catching the party by surprise. Jarlbund is hit twice, but all it does is enrage him.Rangolikan (Rang from here on out) is also targeted, but his high AC makes him nigh-untouchable for the regulars. The arrow targeted at Ingolan shatters due to one of his Vow feats. Surprise round over, and Rang wins initiative. He charges into the forest and mows one of the regulars down. Ingolan slides off of his horse and takes cover, not willing to engage in combat yet. Tass takes a round to buff up, and it's the regulars' turn again. They volley, and two of them hit Jarlbund again. Engraged, he charges one of them, and, when the dust dies down, there's a fine red mist settling about him. At this point, Uth-lar and Zarr are alerted. Zarr charges out of the building, aimed straight at Jarlbund (the closest. I swear, I'm not targeting the player. This character is just in direct line-of-fire a LOT this combat for some reason. I hope this doesn't become a recurring thing). Uth-Lar pops invisibility and comes out of the building. Rangolin is back up, and he repeats his charge+kill combo on the next hobbie on the north side of the track (For those curious, he's somehow managed to have straight lines between them despite the trees). Seeing his friend and new allies in danger, Ingolan drops Web on most of the rest of the hobgoblins. This doesn't hinder their shooting, though, which is what they continue to do on their turn. Tass chucks a bomb at a pair of them that have grouped, incinerating one and badly burning the other. Jarlbund continues to draw fire from the mooks, but, more importantly, Uth-Lar hits him this round for a ton of damage, dropping him to single digits. Zarr summons a hellhound on Ingolan, which drops him to negatives (Yeah, taking the -6 to Con from venerable kinda bites sometimes). Over the next two rounds, the regulars continue to pepper the group, doing minimal damage. Jarlbund downs a potion of CMW and is promptly dropped back down to single digits by Uth-Lar again. Rang circles back around to use his LoH on Ingolan and deal with the hellhounds, and Tass continues dropping bombs on the surviving regulars. Jarlbund gets hit with Hold Person from Zarr, who is promptly slaughtered by Rangolikan, and Ingolan hits Uth-Lar with a Hold Person of his own. The battle is over at this point, and the players successfully capture one of the mooks, who (*sigh*) is intimidated into spilling the few beans he has.
Oh-there was an IC kerfuffle when Tass took advantage of the guy he'd seen maul his friend being hold-personed and delivered a CDG with a bomb. I described it as shoving the bomb into the guy's mouth and stepping back. It was messy, and Ingolan took exception. It was settled pretty quickly, though, and OOC both players were having a lot of fun.
Anyway, they move on to town, dragging their prisoner along behind them. They meet the town guards, and after turning the hobgoblin over to Sergeant Hersk and promising that Rang won't cause "devil trouble," they're waved into town.They find room at the Old Bridge Inn, and have a quiet drink while relaxing.
While they're doing this, Norro and Soranna seek them out to ask the players to help with the problem of the hobgoblin raiders.Soranna is uncomfortable asking anyone for help, but knows when her men are outmatched. She's also quietly amused by the flustering of Norro when dealing with things outside his comfort zone. Norro, meanwhile, negotiates a price with Tass while describing the extent of the situation to Ingolan. When this is settled, he leaves the inn, headed to the comfort of his home, and, more importantly, his brandy. Soranna stays behind to have a drink and a game of poker with some of her men and with Tass, who she takes a (platonic) shine to. The PCs go to bed, planning on rising early and starting out towards Vraath Keep.
As they make their way through town the next day, they're aprehended by Soranna, who tells them that Avarthel was looking for "the short angry one." She also tells them that they should seek out Jorr Natherson; in her words she'd "forgotten that the crazy old hobo was living in that neck of the woods again." Despite her harsh words, she seems to feel a moderate amount of affection for him.
Session 2.
Ingolan and Jarlbund find Avarthel in his grove, talking to animals and being generally druid-y. Ingolan is largely ignored, but Avarthel speaks with Jarlbund, apparently enjoying the company of another as concerned with nature as he. As the PCs turn to go, Avarthel gives them a few potions of CLW (Ingolan's player doesn't have reason to suspect that this campaign can get vicious, and I don't want to punish them for not having a cleric in the group. Yet, anyway).
The PCs travel into the forest, and go to meet Jorr first. Upon meeting him, they're struck by how...crazy he is. I borrowed ThiagoMartell's advice, and opened him with "GET OFF MY LAWN," and just ran with it from there. He adores his dogs, and talks to them as though they're people. He also mutters constantly to himself, and is just a fun NPC all around.
The Hydra
Ah, the dreaded Hydra encounter. This, sadly, was not as entertaining as I'd hoped for. The players, through a combination of luck and good perception checks, spotted the sleeping Hydra. They chose to try to slip past it, and all succeeded on their stealth checks. I even asked for a Reflex save to avoid a slick patch on the bridge from Jarlbund, which he made. I realize now that that was un-sporting, but damn it, I wanted that fight. Anyway, despite by attempted railroading (which I did apologize for. I was being dumb), the players got past. Knowing that the Hydra only had 20 ft/round movespeed, I decided to at least have a little fun. Jorr chucked a rock at it, and the entire party high-tailed it out of there.
After they were at a safe distance, Jorr explained that it was a game he always played with "Old Scaly." Old Scaly tried to eat him, and Jorr tried to sneak past. So far, Jorr was winning.
Nighttime Scouts
I'm not going to detail the combat again, but it was brutal. A trio of warg riders ambushed the PCs at night, and were absolutely shredded by the players. I think it was a total of three rounds. That concluded the session. This was also the point at which this group took its unplanned break. The campaign will resume with the players (hopefully) going after Vraath Keep.
Thoughts
The players seem to be having an easy time with the two encounters they've had so far. I'd like some input on the Vows Ingolan has taken, as the player and I are both unsure as to whether they're functioning as intended, because they make him basically immune to the Hobgoblin rank and file.
Am I going to far overboard on the NPC characterization? The players like RP, but I'm worried that I'm giving too much time to largely unimportant NPCs.
For the purposes of this journal, did I go overboard on combat description? It definitely seemed like a lot that boiled down to "the players wiped the floor with the mooks."
I'm definitely redoing Koth, and am considering giving Karkilan a few Crusader levels. Thoughts?
Question for anyone that's come across this before: The Archivist has taken a bunch of the Vow feats. In particular, he's got Vow of Peace. How does this interact with arrows striking him, or mundane swords striking him? As best I can tell, they outright shatter with no save, but this seems....broken, at best.
Igneel
2013-03-14, 12:50 AM
Question for anyone that's come across this before: The Archivist has taken a bunch of the Vow feats. In particular, he's got Vow of Peace. How does this interact with arrows striking him, or mundane swords striking him? As best I can tell, they outright shatter with no save, but this seems....broken, at best.
From my understanding the Vow of Peace makes the manufactured weapon do a Fort save (only bonus it gets I think is any enchantment bonus it has) vs destruction according to this section of the feat description...
If a creature strikes you with a manufactured weapon, the weapon must immediately make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + one-half your character level + your Con modifier) or shatter against your skin, leaving you unharmed.
Yeah, considering the low-ish level the game begins this seems quite unfair for the hob's and their largely non-magical weapons. But then again there is a Special note for both Peace and its prerequisite Nonviolence to take into consideration about the person not causing harm and not being allowed to incapacitate enemies so that their companions can kill them. In at least MY Dm's evil eye (and he openly admits he's evil so its safe for me to announce it) he would consider both the Web (which 'trapped' a few hobs long enough to be bombed with one killed and another injured) along with the Hold Person (you didn't mention if you killed this one, but I assume this is the one you took captive) could be held on grounds to loose his Vow... Dangerous grounds arguing what breaks vows and what doesn't I know but then I assume the player was aware of this when he took the feats.
Up to you on deciding (and hopefully discussing it with the player) what is considered grounds for losing the Vows, but as the game goes on the monsters with natural weapons and/or spellcasters will be his biggest threat that I can see.
Besides that, from what I can see your players have interesting party combos and it will be interesting to see how far they make it. I wish them good luck, course I'm used to the one I'm in where my Dm is a bit harder on us. XD
From my understanding the Vow of Peace makes the manufactured weapon do a Fort save (only bonus it gets I think is any enchantment bonus it has) vs destruction according to this section of the feat description...
That's the conclusion I'd come to, which makes him largely immune to arrows.
Yeah, considering the low-ish level the game begins this seems quite unfair for the hob's and their largely non-magical weapons. But then again there is a Special note for both Peace and its prerequisite Nonviolence to take into consideration about the person not causing harm and not being allowed to incapacitate enemies so that their companions can kill them. In at least MY Dm's evil eye (and he openly admits he's evil so its safe for me to announce it) he would consider both the Web (which 'trapped' a few hobs long enough to be bombed with one killed and another injured) along with the Hold Person (you didn't mention if you killed this one, but I assume this is the one you took captive) could be held on grounds to loose his Vow... Dangerous grounds arguing what breaks vows and what doesn't I know but then I assume the player was aware of this when he took the feats.
Up to you on deciding (and hopefully discussing it with the player) what is considered grounds for losing the Vows, but as the game goes on the monsters with natural weapons and/or spellcasters will be his biggest threat that I can see.
Yeah, I'll definitely be looking at ways to circumvent that particular defense. As for the Vow feats and their...rather restrictive clauses, I've told him that, as Vow of Poverty is a large self-nerf, the clauses of the other feats will be kinder. Specifically, as long as he a) tries to negotiate, b) does no direct harm, and c) prevents his allies from killing prisoners, he won't be in danger of losing his benefits. He's been really good about towing the line so far, and I don't expect him to step over it.
Besides that, from what I can see your players have interesting party combos and it will be interesting to see how far they make it. I wish them good luck, course I'm used to the one I'm in where my Dm is a bit harder on us. XD
Oh, I intend to up the ante later on XD I'm using up through Vraath Keep as trials for all three groups to see exactly how far I can push them. I'm expecting at least 2 deaths per party. I can also see the Archivist+Paladin combo getting in serious trouble with the Ghostlord.
Igneel
2013-03-14, 04:32 PM
That's the conclusion I'd come to, which makes him largely immune to arrows.
Yeah, I'll definitely be looking at ways to circumvent that particular defense.
All I can really say is that any intelligent enemy that sees their weapons simply breaking on this guy would probably switch to a different strategy. Whether that means continuing to fire arrows (as it doesn't destroy their bows at least) or even switching to fists or spells just for him, he's painted quite a target on his back.
As for the Vow feats and their...rather restrictive clauses, I've told him that, as Vow of Poverty is a large self-nerf, the clauses of the other feats will be kinder. Specifically, as long as he a) tries to negotiate, b) does no direct harm, and c) prevents his allies from killing prisoners, he won't be in danger of losing his benefits. He's been really good about towing the line so far, and I don't expect him to step over it.
Good good, I've seen people that didn't talk such things before the game started and then have fights over certain loop holes and such the player comes up with.
Oh, I intend to up the ante later on XD I'm using up through Vraath Keep as trials for all three groups to see exactly how far I can push them. I'm expecting at least 2 deaths per party. I can also see the Archivist+Paladin combo getting in serious trouble with the Ghostlord.
lol, guess that's the difference between my Dm and you.
We've had practically a party wipe at the Keep, and after the two survivors of a party ~7 returned to the Ferry and 'recruited' replacements they even hired some of the local guard to accompany them (I'm referring to them like I'm not a member because it was during a time I couldn't play after the party wipe). They got the Keep, though with heavy loses of at least 2 more party members and half the npcs. As I said, my Dm is evil in best case XD
lol, guess that's the difference between my Dm and you.
We've had practically a party wipe at the Keep, and after the two survivors of a party ~7 returned to the Ferry and 'recruited' replacements they even hired some of the local guard to accompany them (I'm referring to them like I'm not a member because it was during a time I couldn't play after the party wipe). They got the Keep, though with heavy loses of at least 2 more party members and half the npcs. As I said, my Dm is evil in best case XD
I mean, my players tend to put a fair bit of effort into their characters, and killing them my the dozen seems...excessive to me. Anyway XD I'm running group #2 through their first session tomorrow night. I'm interested to see how they'll do, since I haven't seen half of their character sheets.
Group 2, Part 1
Intro.
The party began on Day 0, in an inn in Terrelton. Silvia and Bushidai are drinking at a bar, and overhear a pair of local thugs talking about a map they've got for some old ruins. Silvia and Bushidai decide that that sounds more entertaining than rolling the local rich people for money, and swipe it. Acera and Brand both spot this happening, and follow the pair after they leave the inn. A little while later, after examinating the map, the four of them agree to head out to this "Vraath Keep" and see why it's important enough to be marked the way it is. Silvia and Bushidai agree to let Acera and Brand follow along, as they were the ones that figured out what the map was for.
Ambush
The next day, the party sets off along the Dawn Way. They crest the hill leading to the ambush, and half the party immediately spots it (mental "damn" from me). Bushidai immediately opens fire, while Acera the beguiler alerts the two members that there are people hiding in the treeline. Combat begins, with the hobbies sniping from the trees and Bushidai and Brand returning fire with arrows and flame. Acera drops 2 of the 6 with sleep, and Bushidai and Brand drop another between them through damage. Uth-Lar and Zarr have been alerted, and after a few rounds of buffing, come charging out into the fray. Zarr, invisible, drops a hellhound right behind Brand as Uth-lar charges him. He gets to Brand (who is wearing heavy armor), and attacks once (Brand: "okay"), twice (Brand: "Huh?"), three times (Brand: "....") for pretty significant chunks of damage. silvia, the rogue, has at this point dropped a hobgoblin in the treeline and charges the hellhound, dropping it with one hit from her dagger, before being dropped to exactly 0 HP by the remaining two archers. The beguiler tagged Uth-Lar with Hideous Laughter (picked up with Advanced Learning), and with that, the fight was largely over. Zarr popped out of invisibility to be immediately downed by Bushidai, who'd picked Goblinoids as a favored enemy (go figure).
The party coup de grace'd all but one of the remaining enemy, and interrogated the last one. They found out that the Red Hand numbered in the thousands, and failed some Sense Motive checks when told that Koth was the leader. They finally killed him, too, after he ceased being useful (yeah, one of those parties). The cleric set about reanimating some of the corpses while the rest of the party searched the farmhouse, finding the sack of gold. They also found Zarr's holy symbol of Tiamat and correctly identified it. After looting everything they could carry, they set off.
Drellin's Ferry
Before leaving the treeline, the cleric had his brand-new skeletons go to the other side of town and bury themselves, which was...surprisingly clever. The party enters town, and are stopped by Hersk for his routine questions. They tell him that they cleared out a band of hobgoblins, which surprises him. He waves them through, and, as they're headed in, Brand asks if there's someone in authority he can speak to. He's pointed at both Captain Anitah and Mayor Wiston as being in charge, and seeks out Captain Anitah. As the rest of the party shops around town (No, you CAN'T find any aboleth mucous), the cleric finally comes across the Captain and engages her in conversation. He asks if the town has tried to deal with the hobgoblins yet. Anitah has, by now, heard about the group that took out the warband. She tells him that the only group of men she's sent in to deal with the hobbies came out looking like hamburger. He asks a few more questions, and takes his leave after she asks where she can find him later.
Later that night, Captain Anitah and the Mayor enter the Green Apple in search of the party. They ask if the PCs would be willing to travel into the woods on the other side of the river to find out what's got the hobgoblins, and worse, riled up. The PCs are initially reluctant, but as soon as the word "gold" is brought up, they prick up their ears. The PCs bargain for 700 apiece, and a promise of some small, helpful magical items. Finally, a much irritated Mayor and Captain leave the building, and the PCs head to sleep.
Thoughts
The PCs are doing fairly well. The party is well rounded, with high damage coming from the Ranger, and to a lesser extent, the Rogue. The cleric is acting as a front line meleer, prebuffing the party and healing during fights, with the beguiler hanging back and dropping foes fairly consistently. I worry that they won't have the staying power to deal with some of the longer fights, but I suppose Vraath Keep will test that. They're also much more clever than I gave them credit for, which is really what got them through that fight so intact. The beguiler will be invaluable with Mindsight at level 7.
Group 2, Part 2.
Getting to the Keep.
The session (and Day 3) started with the players going around town, collecting their items from Sertieren. They got a potion of invisibility, a potion of CLW, a scroll of Summon Monster I, and a feather token of boat. After this, they leave town along the Dawn Way, heading for Jorr's cabin. Upon reaching his cabin, they're greeted in typical redneck fashion ("Git off my lawn!" + barking dogs), but are quick to mention the hobgoblin raiders, and he agrees to go along with them. The party sets off along the Dawn Way again, and soon comes to the river crossing. Things are going well, and then the cleric with a -6 modifier to Stealth tried to cross. The hydra wakes up and charges forward, making a beeline for the cleric. Jorr and Bushaido both back away and get a shot off, while the beguiler tossed an alchemist's fire. When the hydra reached the causeway, it opened up on the cleric, hitting a grand total of once. Jorr, Bushaido, and Brand return fire (see what I did there?), and Acera hit the thing with Daze Monster. The battle's over at this point. Everybody, including the rogue, was able to open up with a full attack, and the hydra slumped to the ground, dead. The party searched the wagon, and came across the +1 mithril breastplate, which Bushaido was delighted with. Continuing into the forest, they come to the branch for Vraath Keep. They scout around the perimeter a little, and I had them run into a scouting patrol. They got the drop on the patrol, and mauled them. The cleric animated one of the worgs, and the group decides to pitch camp.
Random Encounter!
At this point, I realize that I haven't checked for random encounters yet that day. Of course, there is one. I have a practice of letting players roll the dice for the encounter, so I hand them over to Acera's player. The dice decide they hate her, and a grey render shows up as the sun is coming up. My initial plan was to have it largely ignore the players, but Bushidai opens fire immediately, so it charges at him. He scampers up a tree, and then the thing is surrounded by Brand's skeletons. It turns into a "who can pump out more HP damage" fight, with the skeletons taking most of the beating. They finally drop the thing after Acera hits it with hideous laughter (picture a grey render rolling on the ground laughing. Go ahead. I'll wait).
...WTF?
Sidenote: I redid the layout of the keep a little, giving the tower three stories, with the war-room moved to the second floor. It made more sense to me at the time.
The cleric realizes that he can probably reanimate this thing if he releases his other skeletons, but he has no more onyx on him. He rides to town and back, which I rule takes the whole day. In the meantime, the other three players scout. Bushidae does perimeter patrols, and occasionally spots a new patrol out. He doesn't engage at all, but does figure out their schedule. Acera casts invisibility, and walks in the front door. She wanders around a bit, and finds the stables, the barracks, and the manticore's den, but is prevented from going any further by doors, the bane of every invisible person. She heads back to camp.
Silvia has a smidgen more success than the other two. She climbs up the outside of the keep, and looks in the first window she comes across. She sees a large goblinoid (Koth) bending over a desk, reading some notes. She can't really see much else, so she sidles sideways to the other window facing outwards, and looks in again. There's a desk there, and she says she looks for something to swipe. I have her make a Perception check while I consult my notes, and....yup. She spots the map. She makes her umpteenth stealth check, and swipes the map unnoticed.
The players regroup towards the end of the day (Day 4, for those keeping track), and Silvia shows them the map. After some debate, they send Bushidai's hawk with a message to Drellin's Ferry, warning them of the oncoming danger, and immediately head for the bridge (completely bypassing Vraath Keep). Brand has reanimated the grey render as a bloody skeleton, giving it fast healing 5, 14 Charisma and, when it's destroyed, the ability to reform an hour later. Yeah.
The Bridge.
The players arrive at the bridge around 11 pm. They don't break the treeline, and Acera pops invisibility to go forward and scout. She sees the rough layout of the guards, and spots Ozzyrandion atop his tower. After seeing this, she comes back, and the group lays some (very) rough plans, and immediately execute them. Acera uses ghost sound followed by minor image to mimic a large silver dragon swooping in and landing on the bridge. Ozzy pounces on it and finds himself standing inside it, going from angry to confused to furious in the space of a few seconds. Meanwhile, the grey render is barreling down the bridge towards Ozzy, while Silvia and Bushidai climb up the right-hand tower and take out that guard. The guards on the other side have been alerted, and start making their way down the bridge. Acera drops vertigo on them as they cluster up, pronating a hellhound and two of the hobgoblins. Ozzy, meanwhile, has engaged the grey render, which successfully grapples a dragon (facepalm) and steps off the bridge (facepalm). The dragon makes its grapple check to escape this, and I give the render a Reflex save to avoid falling off as well, which it makes. Ozzy takes off, heading towards the opposite bank, and the players have a sudden revelation concerning the exact level of excrement they've gotten themselves into. Brand, who's made the top of the lefthand tower at this point, continues trying to down that guard, while Silvia and Bushidai take running jumps off the tower and head for the hills (well, forest). Acera maintains concentration on keeping the guards vertigo-ed, but the sergeant (redone as Crusader 5) comes up the tower behind Brand and starts whaling on him. Brand follows Silvia and Bushidai's examples, coupled with using the guard as a cushion for his fall (sidenote: this killed the guard. Never say falling damage is negligible, especially when you're essentially taking it twice). Ozzy has, at this point, circled around and blasted, with one go, Acera, Silvia, and Bushidai (I love it when players cluster for breath weapons). They bolt as Ozzy lands, conveniently trapping Brand between himself and the sergeant.
At this point, it's worth noting that the grey render is making hamburger out of the remaining guards on the bridge.
The sergeant (fortunately for Brand) gets the first attack in, dropping him to -1 hp. Ozzy sees the cleric go down and takes off after Acera (fortunately for the rest of the group), and the sergeant begins dragging Brand back to camp with the intention of questioning him.
Remember the grey render? The sergeant is now forcibly reminded of it, as it runs up and mauls him. He's still standing, and starts trading blows with it. Silvia has returned at this point, and comes up behind the sergeant, dropping him with a sneak attack. She performs first aid on Brand (I gave it a DC 15 to bring him up to 0. Not technically how it works, but it seemed reasonable). He gets up and heals himself most of the rest of the way, as his render returns to mauling the guards. Acera and Bushidai are returning at this point, after Acera successfully distracted the dragon after using her potion of invisibility and casting silent image. Silvia is looking around the southern two towers for some way to bring the bridge down, and finally makes the Perception check to find the weak spot (I described it as a fist sized hole in the bridge. This is important, although I didn't think so at the time). The render takes out two of the guards as Acera and Bushidai show up, and the group briefly consults about how to take down the bridge before Ozzy shows back up. Acera then pulls out her feather token (tree) and says "I put it in the hole in the bridge." Brief flabergastation ensues. The render takes out the final two guards, and, as the group hears Ozzy coming back at top speed, Acera puts her plan into action. The tree sprouts into being instantaneously, doing more than enough damage to bring the bridge down. The group scampers for the trees just before Ozzy shows back up.
As Ozzyrandion comes back from his unsuccessful hunt, he notices something. The bridge is missing. He looks wildly around, and only sees one standing creature anywhere near it. The grey render. He charges it at top speed and hits it with his breath weapon, ending in melee range of the render. Mistake. It takes a swing at him, successfully grappling once more, and steps off the edge of the gorge. The dragon gets its free check to escape, at the +4, and....completely fails it. 15d6 fall damage later, and, as far as the group is concerned, Ozzyrandion is gone. The render reforms an hour later and climbs up the gorge, rejoining the group as though nothing had happened.
Thoughts
....what just happened? I don't...I don't even know.
Ivellius
2013-04-06, 05:32 PM
I have two comments: next time, don't let them make Heal checks to recover hit points for someone. (Without long-term care, I mean.)
Also, necromancers are a bit powerful.
I have two comments: next time, don't let them make Heal checks to recover hit points for someone. (Without long-term care, I mean.)
Also, necromancers are a bit powerful.
Eh, the hit point was more a matter of convenience than anything else; he was already stabilized and could easily have made the DC 10 Con check to become disabled. I'm not overly fussed about it and it didn't change anything, I don't think.
And yeah, necromancers are pretty powerful. Even without the grey render under his control, I think his hobgoblin skeletons would have been a big asset that fight. He's playing pretty dang smart.
Ivellius
2013-04-07, 02:16 PM
Eh, the hit point was more a matter of convenience than anything else; he was already stabilized and could easily have made the DC 10 Con check to become disabled. I'm not overly fussed about it and it didn't change anything, I don't think.
But he wouldn't have been contributing during the battle. *shrugs* I'm not saying it would've ended differently, but you never know. Also, it's RHoD--people expect a body count. :smallbiggrin:
dupersudi
2013-04-08, 07:47 AM
I fully intend to keep surviving, and our plan at that point was to bug out and let the Gray Render delay/deal with the dragon, I didn't contribute anymore to that fight. I hadn't read up on the rules on how to come back from negative hit points past becoming stable, and didn't know about the disabled status. That being said I'll try my best next time to cheat death to do it properly :smallbiggrin:.
I fully intend to keep surviving, and our plan at that point was to bug out and let the Gray Render delay/deal with the dragon, I didn't contribute anymore to that fight. I hadn't read up on the rules on how to come back from negative hit points past becoming stable, and didn't know about the disabled status. That being said I'll try my best next time to cheat death to do it properly :smallbiggrin:.
You'll need it... :smallbiggrin:
Sidenote: Group 1 should resume their adventure soon, and group 3 might be starting next Monday if, you know, anything resembling motivation happens.
dupersudi
2013-04-08, 03:56 PM
If those groups fragment we might be able to absorb the survivors. I like big groups and this seems kind of small to me. I would like a proper meatshield and combat mage. Only 4 people an eagle and a Bloody Gray Render. Though the render does kind of fill the meatshield role.
AwkwardTurtle
2013-04-08, 09:27 PM
Pfft, my sleep is more useful than magic missiles any day.
Okay, maybe not in all situations, but I do what I can.
dupersudi
2013-04-08, 11:03 PM
Fine I'll just cast the fireballs myself.
Group 2, Part 3
Preface: This was a short, combat-centric session.
The party rested after their fight at Skull Gorge, and rose the next day. After brief deliberation, they decided that they needed to take out Vraath Keep. They marched there and did the usual scout around routine. They didn't spot anything that was different than previous, apart from the guard stationed at the top of the tower. They laid plans (badly) and began to execute them (badly). Acera hit the guard on the tower with sleep, and Bushidai went up, CDG-ing the downed guard. Silvia followed him partway up, and glanced into the tower, noting that Koth was apparently not there. Acera waltzed in through the front door while invisible, doing some brief recon and spotting 3 hobgoblins and Karkiklan in the barracks. Brand (inside his render) started coming in through the front gate.
At about the same time, Bushidai decided that the top of the tower wasn't a great place for an archer to be, so he jumped down to the wall (Stealth check = failed). The enemies in the barracks heard him, and started pouring out. Meanwhile, the two hobgoblins that were guarding the main entrance opened fire on the render. Things were...less than ideal at this point. Karkiklan charged at Bushidai, and had the reach to hit him, taking off almost 1/3 of his HP in one swing. Silvia, meanwhile, had jumped down from the wall and took a swing at Karkiklan, dropping a ton of his HP. Bushidai and Silvia (with a Daze Monster from Acera hitting Karkiklan) whittled down the hobgoblins and took out the minotaur.
Meanwhile, the render and Brand were working on the 2 guards at the entrance, both of whom were benefitting from cover against the render. Acera dropped one with sleep, and the other was proving ineffective. Brand ordered the render to move on, which was a good call, because at this point, the manticore emerged, albeit sleepily. The good news here was that it emerged directly in front of the render, which promptly turned it into lots of very small pieces of manticore.
Koth, too, emerged from his war room, and promptly took 2 arrows from Bushidai. He backed up and self-buffed for a few rounds, and opened up on Bushidai with an energy-substituted Lightning Bolt (fire). At first, I rolled damage (33) and completely forgot the Reflex save. I looked at Bushidai's player and asked
"How much HP do you have?"
"21."
"Con score?"
"12."
"...crap."
Upon remembering the Reflex save (I felt really stupid) I had him roll it (he failed). Taking mercy on him, I rerolled the damage. 35. Bushidai was burned to a crisp.
During this time, one of the hobgoblins had run up the tower and was blowing a horn as loudly as possible. Acera dropped a silence on him, but the damage was done, and he'd gotten some sort of signal off.
The render mauled Koth (seriously, this thing is just about their most effective member), effectively reducing him to paste. At this point, the group was effectively mopping up, when I called for Perception checks.
Me: "Perception, please."
Group: "Crap."
Me: "You hear a distant roaring."
Group: "CRAP."
Me: "You see a large shape barreling at you over the treetops. It seems like only yesterday you saw it last."
Group: ....*attempts GM-icide*
Ozzyrandion landed on the walls of the keep, roaring his challenge. Silvia took that as her cue to GTFO of Dodge, and ran for the treeline. Acera and Brand, meanwhile, had holed up in the two towers guarding the entrance. Ozzy pounced at the one containing Brand, and hit him with an acid breath. Acera, meanwhile, pelted the dragon with spells, which were largely ineffective (except for one). The render attacked (who didn't see that coming?) and tore a chunk out of poor Ozzy's HP. Ozzy clambered up on the roof, fighting a moving battle with the render. Brand took the time to heal up, and Acera dropped legion of sentinels on Ozzy, who decided he'd had enough of this crap, and left (provoking the AoOs and taking 2 of them), jumping over to the roof of the kennels. The render followed and continued beating on him. Ozzy opened up with a full attack and turned to run, but it was too late. The render got one last attack in, and Ozzy was down for the count. The party skinned and looted his corpse, and then searched the keep. They found the treasure vault, complete with the Staff of Life. They correctly identified it, and then voted against raising Bushidai.
That was where the session ended. Hopefully next session is as entertaining; I'm looking forward to the new character.
Staff of Life
To keep the Staff of Life in line with the one presented in the book, I doubled the number of charges it takes to use heal and raise dead from it.
Axinian
2013-04-15, 05:23 PM
Any particular reason why they opted not to raise Bushidai? Was it because he alerted the guards?
Gotta do something 'bout that gray render, man. :smallbiggrin:
Any particular reason why they opted not to raise Bushidai? Was it because he alerted the guards?
I believe that none of their characters really liked him (he was an abrasive drunk). That being said, he was the party's second highest DPR.
Gotta do something 'bout that gray render, man. :smallbiggrin:
Oh, things will be done. I have....plans for Regiarix.
Sidenote: They read this thread, so spoilers to a minimum, please. I'm not worried if they learn someone's name, though.
dupersudi
2013-04-15, 08:37 PM
I believe that none of their characters really liked him (he was an abrasive drunk). That being said, he was the party's second highest DPR.
Honestly his character while an ass wasn't moving against what the group wanted. So it was more of the penalties for being raised, and I want to have the staff of life charged just in case. And as much as I appreciate the render for all the enemies it has torn to fine bloody mists, there are other things I can raise. Though for alignment purposes I think I'll stay away from sentient undead. This of course doesn't mean I'm just going to let it be destroyed. And troll arms is my new favorite buff EVER. I also take responsibility for the terrible, terrible plan. Though sound in theory, it was executed horribly and that was entirely on me.
Group 3, Part 1
The game began with the players on the road between Terrelton and Drellin's Ferry. The two clerics of the group had had the vision of doom coming to the valley, and had hired the rest of the group to help them prevent it if they could. The game started on day 0, with the players introducing their characters and Abasalon catching a pair of rabbits (Brace of coneys! Taters!) with...his whip? I guess? Huh? warned his allies that "I get big when mad."
The next day, they began the last leg of the journey towards Drellin's Ferry. They crested a hill, and immediately made Perception checks anywhere from 30 to 2. So....surprise round! Huh? manifested expansion, scaring the crap out of everyone around him and making himself the target of all six ambushers' arrows. He immediately took out of them out in retribution.
Meanwhile, Harry ("I'm going by Jennifer today") had his eidolon ("It's a bear! With wings! It's a flying bear!") charge the nearest hobgobilin. Absalon and Sliph both astounded with a complete lack of effectiveness, while Ollie returned fire.
Hearing the noise, Zarr charges out of the ruined farmhouse, aimed straight at Huh?. All three of his attacks connected, taking Huh? down to about a quarter of his maximum hp. Huh? returned the favor, knocking out all of Zarr's hp in one go (this is about when I realized I needed to talk to Huh?'s player about his build). The rest of the group had taken out most of the rest of the hobgoblins at this point, knocking one of them unconscious and killing the rest. Uth-lar appeared briefly, but fled after casting invisibility.
The group briefly interrogated the hobgoblin they'd managed to capture, and, when they didn't receive instant gratification in the form of answers, executed him. Go figure.
Drellin's Ferry
The group entered the town of Drellin's Ferry relatively unmolested, although Absalon demonstrated his fear of guards. While in town, most of the group headed to the Old Bridge Inn to secure lodging for the night.
Huh?, however, had other ideas. He went in search of the Mayor to ask if there was anything he and his friends could help with. After some brief confusion of the Abbot and Castello ("What's your name?" "Huh?" "What's your name?") variety, and some more confusion about what exactly Huh?'s status was (the Mayor mistook him for a special needs person. I don't want to get into the ethics of it here. The character has a 6 in Intelligence and RPed it. The Mayor was kind to him), Huh? got the Mayor to come by the inn later that night to discuss what help the town might need. The character seemed to have it in his head that the town was already in serious trouble, but the Mayor was largely unaware of the blockade on the town.
In the meantime, Absalon had gone looking for uhm....look, I can't make this character SFW. I hope he doesn't continue in this vein. We'll see, I guess.
The Mayor, true to his word, stopped by the inn that night to speak with some of the more intelligent members of the party. He was troubled to learn of the hobgoblin raiders blockading the town, and asked the party if they could investigate the other side of the river to see if any more hobgoblins had come down out of the mountains. The party agreed, although Harry ("I'm Kevin now") asked for, and received, payment for the group. On his way out, the Mayor recommended speaking to Jorr, to see if he'd noticed anything out of the ordinary.
The Witchwood
The group headed out the next day, and reached Jorr's cabin. The dogs took an immediate liking to Huh?, and that was enough for Jorr. He hadn't noticed any goblinoids in the region, but he said he'd been laid up sick for "nigh on a week now." He suggested they hole up in Vraath Keep for the night, before heading off towards the foothills of the mountains.
The players pretty quickly ran into the hydra, and equally quickly made mincemeat out of it. Nothing of note happened during the battle, so I'm largely skipping over it.
Next, the players rolled a random encounter and got 4 warg riders across the bows. This fight lasted a while, as the wargs were able to outpace most of the party, circling around and letting their riders pepper the party with arrows. The party dispatched them fairly easily, although they once again failed to take a hostage. Also, Harry went by Jason for this fight.
The session closed with the players arriving at Vraath Keep near dusk. Most of them spotted the ghost being waved around, and actually bought it, but fortunately, Ollie had sharp enough eyes to spot the hobgoblin moving it around.
Thoughts
This group is...strange, for this campaign. I'm a little worried that it'll peter out due to a complete lack of information. I'm not laying any odds on them actually finding the map or the treasure of Vraath.
Axinian
2013-04-16, 10:28 PM
Thoughts
This group is...strange, for this campaign. I'm a little worried that it'll peter out due to a complete lack of information. I'm not laying any odds on them actually finding the map or the treasure of Vraath.
You may simply want to have the NPC's give them a bit more guidance than usual. Although, when PCs run out of information, they tend to come up with... interesting things to do.
You may simply want to have the NPC's give them a bit more guidance than usual. Although, when PCs run out of information, they tend to come up with... interesting things to do.
That's true.... I can definitely see this group ditching the planned path of the campaign and just harrying the Horde as it moves towards Brindol.
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