[D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

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IceBear
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[D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Holding this space for an AAR for the Scales of War adventure path. Already tried and aborted this campaign once when a few of my players moved away, should be restarting again tonight.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by The Meal »

So awesome! Can't wait!!
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

I always plan on writing a lot more detail than I find the time to do, but I hope to do better this time. Let me see what I can remember from the first session back in early August.

Our three heroes (at this point I cannot remember their names and only 2 of the three will be playing in the upcoming games) consisted of a human paladin, a dwarven cleric, and an eldarian rogue. They were on their way to the town of Brindel in hopes of finding employment as caravan guards. It was late afternoon when the group arrived at the Antler and Thistle tavern to wash away the dust from the road. Moments later, however, sounds of screams could be heard outside but before they could open the door to check, the door to the tavern crashed open and a group of goblins and hobgoblins rushed inside to butcher the patrons. The cleric noticed that the goblinoids were wearing insignas of the Red Hand - a massive goblin army that attempted to conquer the region approximately ten years ago - and relayed the information to his comrades. The paladin moved to guard the door and prevent anymore monsters from entering while the rogue and the cleric did their best to stop the goblins from harming any of the citizens inside the bar. While the goblins quickly fell to the group, they weren't able to prevent one of the goblins from throwing a fire bomb into the bottles of alcohol behind the bar. The dwarf shed a tear at the sight of the burning booze, but then the group had to fell the burning building to the street where they could see much of the town was similarly engulfed in flame. Sounds of battle rose from all around them and suddenly, a huge ogre - tied to a wagon full of casks - came around the corner of the street. Before the group could react, the hobgoblin archer on the back of the wagon lit a crude fuse on one of the casks which the ogre then promptly threw at the paladin. The paladin managed to jump aside as the cask hit the side of the burning building and exploded in flame. The cask contained some sort of vicious fuild that was highly flammable and now lay in a burning pool in front of the group.

The paladin charged towards the ogre while the cleric called upon his god to smite the hobgoblin with holy flame. The ogre, waiting for the paladin to come within range flew into a frenzy of rage when the paladin struck him with his blade and landed two solid blows with his giant spiked club against the paladin. The holy knight fell to the group, sorely wounded, until the cleric called upon his god to heal him. As the hobgoblin took aim against the distracted cleric, the rogue's dagger buried itself deep into his back - no one had noticed the stealthy eladarin step into the Feywild and reappear behind the wagon. Within moments the battle was over - the ogre and hobgoblin were slain and the guards had driven the Red Hand off. Soon, however, the town discovered that the Red Hand had captured several townsfolk and broken into the museum and stole several relics from the previous war against the Red Hand. Someone surely will be sent to return the lost folk and the treasure from the goblins.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Off-topic: This isn't my normal group but with the shakeup in my normal group's playing time it's either this or nothing. So, let me introduce the characters to you so you can see how little imagination/creativity I'm going to have to work with:

Willem, half-elf paladin
Richard, thiefling warlock (who's player just discovered the Looking for Group webcomic - yeah, that's an original name for a warlock)
Dan, an eladrin rogue (played by Dan - yeah, that worries me when people can't even come up with a name)
Thoradrin, a dwarven cleric

On-topic:
The next morning, as the group were eating breakfast in one of less damaged inns, they were approached by a young man dressed as a page who proceeded to hand Willem a summons to the home of Councilman Eoffram Troyas. As they walked towards the councilman's home, Richard recalled that Troyas had a reputation for being a politican with little time for traditional beauracray and a veteran of the previous war against the Red Hand. Once the group arrived at Councilman Troyas' home they were lead by a finely appointed halfling butler into a lavish study. There Troyas informed the group that he, acting on behalf of the town council, wished to hire a group of adventures to strike back at the Red Hand, rescue the captured townspeople, and retrieve the stolen artifacts. Having heard of their victory over the goblins and ogres, Troyas felt that the group were the most likely candidates for the job, but he wanted to meet with them personally to see if his faith in them wasn't misplaced. The group, however, came across as murderous louts which cooled his enthusiasm towards them considerable. Still, they were already here in town and did slay and ogre so he decided to offer them the job, albeit, the reward was much less than he originally was willing to offer. (Offtopic - this was the first time I ran a skill challenge, but I didn't want to just announce it was a skill challenge and have people roll dice as that felt too gamey so I tried to roleplay it which lead to people making dipolmancy and bluff checks that really shouldn't be trying those skills and thus the group failed the challenge).

Leaving Troyas' home, the group headed towards the small green area just inside the north gate of town where they were informed that a hobgoblin prisoner was being held in the stockades. Upon reaching the prisoner they attempted to intimidate him into revealing the location of the Red Hand's lair. The hobgoblin, however, was hardly impressed (he was a soldier in a hobgoblin army where death was fairly common afterall), but he was bored. As such, he decided to brag about how Commander Sinruth had taken over the ruins of castle Rivenroar in the name of the Red Hand and even drew the group a map (though not as accurate a map as it could have been if the group had actually impressed him, and he also left out the part about all the undead that were inhabiting the castle as part of Sinruth's army).

Feeling flushed with success at scaring a hobgoblin locked up in the stocks and surrounded by guards into drawing them a bogus map and getting paid 200gp (instead of 400gp) the group set off. Fortunately for the group, Dan was an able tracker and was able to keep the group on the trail of the band of hobgoblin raiders as they marched up the slope of the nearby mountain range. Thoradin was also quite capable of steering the group around natural hazards such as sheer cliffs, deadfalls and the like so the group made good time tracking the Red Hand raiders back to the ruins of Castle Rivenroar. However, just as the day was drawing to a close, and the group could see the ruins of Rivenroar in the distance, they fell victim to the hobgoblin's treachery. As they walked along a path inside a small ravine towards the ruined castle, Dan failed to notice that the Red Hand had avoided this route, and as such they had only gone about fifty feet or so into the ravine when suddenly four creatures exploded from the ground in front of them.

They had never seen such creatures before - they looked to be a cross between a giant lizard and a praying mantis - but they did notice that two of them were larger and were covered in longer spikes than the other two. Willem ran towards the creatures and fired his crossbow at them but his shot was wide. Richard likewise moved towards them, pulling the shadows about himself as he did until he was concealed by the darkness. Calling upon the name of his infernal master, he cursed one of the bug-lizards and them lifted his hand to shoot hellfire at it, but he, too, missed. Thoradin noticed that the creatures seemed to be avoiding a patch of earth to the left of path and as Dan started to move towards the creatures along the right he saw that the ground looked cracked and weak. Then the two larger bug-lizards arched their back and barbed spikes flew towards Willem and Richard striking them both for nasty wounds which, seconds later, burnt painfully - poisoned! Dan snatched a dagger out his bandolier of throwing knives....and promptly dropped it on the ground. Thoradin raised his voice in prayer to his god Pelor, and immediately Willem's and Richard's wounds closed. He then lifted his holy symbol towards the sky and a bolt of firey radiance lept from it and struck one of the smaller creatures, burning it painfully, and inspiring Richard to do the same as he threw a ball of hellfire at the monster he had cursed and wounded severely. Then, however, the larger creatures attacked again and when they were finished Richard was lying on the ground, dying, and Thoradin was poisoned. Willem, was also covered in blood as he had moved into melee range with the creatures only to discover how vicious their spikes and claws could be. Thoradin charged up towards on the smalled creatures while holding his warhammer aloft in Pelor's radiance, and then he landed a killing blow upon one of two smaller bug-lizards. The radiance lept from his warhammer onto the dying warlock which then healed some of his wounds. Seeing the creature that had almost killed him was again eyeing him, Richard shouted some arcane words which summoned a giant, demonic hand of fire from the earth which then swatted it, burning it with hellfire and knocking it ontop of the patch of weak earth. The ground immediately collapsed underneath it and it fell into a set of burrows. It was so weak from the warlock's attacks, however, that the short fall finished it off.

Willem, in the meantime, had failed to do any significant damage to the remaining monsters and was so badly wounded that he was forced to call upon his paladin's powers just to keep himself alive. Then, out of nowhere (literally for Dan had stepped out of this realm, into the Feywild, and then back into this world) the rogue appeared behind the larger of Willem's oppenents and stabbed it with his dagger, severing it's spine. The remaining creature, lacking the poisonous spines of the adults, was then quickly dispatched. Bloody and wounded, but victorious, the group decided to rest for the night before actually entering the ruins of Castle Rivenroar (end of session)
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by The Meal »

Awesome! What level are your characters?

One requested tweak from this reader -- smaller paragraphs! Big blocks of text can be intimidating for folks who may or may not want to read along...

Thanks for sharing this with us!
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Played the 3rd session last night; I will update the thread later as best I can later. I think this time I will describe the action via game mechanics (as best I can remember as I can't remember each player's actions on a round by round basis). Some notes:

1) 4E is deadly. I know that everyone was thinking the PCs were going to be too powerful with all their hitpoints and powers but I haven't dropped so many characters so fast before. I haven't killed anyone yet, but I've had a lot of close calls.

2) Swarm monsters are nasty, especially without area-effect abilities

3) While wizards don't deal damage like they used to, but they have a lot more area effect powers than most other classes and my group is sorely missing that.

4) The role of the dwarven cleric has switched back to the original dwarven cleric (cleric of Kord, not Pelor - I *hope* my musical player syndromn has settled down)
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

The ground rose early and broke camp. Castle Rivenroar was in complete ruins - destroyed by the original Red Hand of Doom a decade prior. The group spent about half a hour searching through the ruins before they found a slick set of stairs descending into the darkness. Thoradrin believed that these steps lead to the crypts for the nobles who lived at Castle Rivenroar. Descending the steps, the group found themselves deep underground and in a large T-shaped room with double doors set in the T-section, one on the west wall, one on the north and one on the east. A pair of braizers lit the room, one in the north east corner and one in the north west. Fifteen feet in front of Willem and Dan stood a pair of snarling hobgoblins dressed in heavy scale armor and weilding heavy shields and fails. About 20-feet beyond the hobgoblins, flanking the northern set of double doors, a pair of crossbow armed goblins took aim at the group. The sharpeyed rogue noticed the floor underneath the braizers was scraped and scuffed leading towards the south wall.

Round 1
Thoradrin cast Lance of Faith at one of the hobgoblin soldiers, burning it with divine fire and inspiring Willem (+2 on his next attack roll)
Hobgoblin #1 moved up to Willem, swung at him with its fail and missed.
Hobgoblin #2 moved up to Dan and stuck Dan with its fail, slowing him for 1 round. Well trained, the hobgoblin stepped back out of the way after landing a blow.
Goblin #1 took a minor action to nudge open the northern door which started the braizers sliding towards the south wall. It then took aim at Dan and hit him with a crossbow bolt.
Goblin #2 also shot at Dan but missed.
Willem marked Hobgoblin #1 and then swung his sword at it but missed
Dan used his fey step ability to teleport into a flanking position behind Hobgoblin #1 and then backstabbed it.
Richard cursed Hobgoblin #2 and then struck it with an eldritch blast.
A gout of fire shot from one braizer to the other, burning though the empty space between them

Round 2
Thoradrin used a minor action to call upon Kord to heal Dan (who was near death from the multiple hits he took in the first round). He then moved up to hobgoblin #2 and attempted to use his righteous brand power but missed
Hobgoblin #1, being backstabbed by Dan (and because the DM forgot it was marked) turned and hit Dan with it fail and was burned by Kord's mark for doing so.
Hobgoblin #2, attacked Thoradrin with it's fail, hitting him and slowing him.
Both Goblins shot Dan with their crossbows which dropped him into unconsciousness.
Willem attacked Hobgoblin #1 and hit it with an enfeebling stike making it weaker on its next attack
Dan failed his first death saving throw
The braizers slid another 5-ft south
Richard shot an eldritch blast at one of the goblin archers and hit it
A gout of flame shot between the braizers again

Round 3
Thoradrin used a minor action to use his Healing Word ability to bring Dan back to consciousness. He then stepped back from Hobgoblin #2 and cast Lance of Faith on it, hitting it and granting Willem +2 on his next attack roll.
Both Hobgoblin #1 and Hobgoblin #2 attacked Willem, hitting him and wounding him badly.
One Goblin shot at Dan, hitting him, and the second shot at Thoradrin, also hitting him.
Willem hit the hobgoblin in front of him with a shielding strike which in turn granted Dan a +2 on his AC
Dan, flanking Hobgoblin #1, backstabbed it and killed it.
The braizers slid another 5-ft south
Richard hit the same archer with an eldritch blast
A gout of flame shot between the braizers again.

Round 4
Thoradrin cast Lance of Faith and missed
Hobgoblin #2 hit Dan
Goblin #1 and #2 hit Dan dropping him
Willem hit Hobgoblin #2
Dan succeeded death saving throw #1
The braizers, being at the south wall, slide north.
Richard summoned a demon hand which hit goblin #1 and knocked it into the path of the fire between the two braizers which struck it and burned it to death.

Round 5
Thoradrin moved next to Dan and attempted to bind his wounds (Heal check of 19 vs DC15). This allowed Dan to use a healing surge to regain 5 hitpoints and wake up from unconsciousness. The hobgoblin made an opportunity attack vs Thoradrin but missed.
Hobgoblin #2 attacked Thoradrin and hit him
Goblin #2 shot Thoradrin with its crossbow.
Willem attacked hobgoblin #2 and hit him
Dan used his second wind to heal another 5hp
The braizers slide 5-ft north
Richard cast an eldritch blast at the remaining goblin archer hitting it

Round 6
Thoradrin used a minor action to use his healing word (dwarven ability) and then used lance of faith on the hobgoblin, hitting it and granting Dan +2 to hit.
Hobgoblin attacked Willem and missed
The goblin shot at Thoradrin and hit him
Willem attacked the hobgoblin and hit
Dan backstabbed the hobgolin and killed it
The braizers slide 5-ft north
Richard cursed the goblin and then cast an eldritch blast at hit, hitting it hard

Round 7
Thoradrin cast lance of faith at the remaining goblin, missing
The goblin fled through the west door
The rest of the group decided not to pursue the goblin but rather to take a short rest (End of Combat)
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

The group moved to quickly close and secure the western doors that the goblin fled through and the northern door the the goblin opened at the beginning of the combat. Once both sets of doors were closed the braizers stopped moving. The adventurers noticed that above each door was a mounted plaque - the one above the west doors said
“To Von Urstadt.” The north doors say “To Rivenroar Family.” The east doors say “To Von Jallach.”

Dan put his ear to the western door and could hear goblin voices talking excitedly, but at a distance. After a few moments he was reasonably sure that the voices weren't approaching, so the group did their best to fasten the doors closed and then discussed their situation. They felt that to go to the west would mean walking into a large band of goblinoids that were ready and waiting for them. Thus, they decided to go east.

Dan opened the eastern doors and saw that there was a dark corridor beyond. Lighting a torch they could see that the corridor went to the east for a short distance and then turn to the north. Upon rounding the corner they saw a steep staircase heading upwards. Proceeding up the stairs they could see a faint bluish glow before them. When they finally crested the steps they saw a large rectangular room. The room was base except for a set of blue glowing runes carved into a 20-ft by 20-ft section of the floor in the middle of the room. They could also see there were several empty niches carved into the walls along the perimeter of the room - perhaps to hold bodies of the Von Jallach family. They could see there was another set of double door to the east.

Willem decided to move closer to the runes on the floor in order to take a closer look, but as he did so the group could hear an ominous chittering, hissing, and squealing sound from the north east and the north west. As they watched, hundreds, if not thousands of tiny lizards scrambled out of the alcoves from where they could hear the sounds. These lizards coalesced into two large swarms; these critters then hissed at Willem (who noted their incredibly sharp, needle-like teeth as they did so).

(At this point I asked them if they remember those cute little dinosaurs from "Jurassic Park" that killed the guy at the end of the movie and asked them to roll for initiative)
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Session #3 - Encounter #2

Round 1:
The needletooth swarms won the initiative and rushed around the glowing square of runes on the floor and attacked the hapless paladin. (DM comments - OMG, these things are NASTY. As a minor action they get to attack someone and if they hit they knock them prone. They can then take a standard action to bite them for 2d10+4 points of damage (instead of the normal 1d10+4). They also get to attack anyone within one square of them for free if they start their turn next to them. Also, because they are a swarm they take 1/2 damage from melee and ranged attacks, but they take 5 more damage from area effects (which my group has none)) Anyway, the paladin was knocked to the ground and promptly chewed upon by both swarms.

Dan moved up and attempted to stab at some of the little lizards and missed.
Willem started his turn next to both swarms so they both attacked him for free, both hit (one of which was a critical) and we had a dying paladin in Round 1 (ouch!)
Thoradrin cast lance of faith and hit one of the swarms for minimal damage
Richard cursed one of the swarms and then hit it with his eldritch blast

Round 2:
The two needletooth swarms ran into the middle of the groups giving up Opportunity Attacks as they did, but were missed by everyone. One swarm knocked Thoradrin prone and then proceeded to chew on the dwarf. The other swarm did the same to Richard (At this point the only player still standing is Dan and he's contemplating running away)

Dan moved towards the swarm attacking Thoradrin and stabbed it.
Willem failed a death saving throw.
A gnome suddenly appeared in front of Dan and hit him with a war pick as a sneak attack.
(Finally some good luck for the players)
The swarm in front of Thoradrin missed with it's free attack, then he used his healing strike to attack the swarm in front of him, and criting it. This killed the swarm and healed Willem. Since Thoradrin was a cleric of Kord and he rolled a critical hit he could heal another player at the same time, for which he chose Richard (who was down to 3hp if I remember correctly).

Unfortunately, the swarm in front of Richard hit with it's free attack bringing him back down to 3hp. Richard then stood up (move action), used his eldritch blast on the swarm in front of him (standard action), and then used an action point to take another move action to move away from the swarm.

Round 3:
The swarm moved towards Thoradrin knocked him prone, but missed on the followup attack.
Willem then cast Upon Pain of Death on the swarm and killed it.
Dan then stabbed the gnome, who then turned invisible and fled down the stairs past the group. Richard pursued the gnome and slew it with his eldritch blast when it became visible again. (end of Combat 2 - I'm obviously remembering this one incorrectly as it took more than 3 rounds).

Richard found a key on the gnome, and when the group went through the eastern door they found one of the townspeople chained to the wall. Richard used the key he found to free the townsman from his chains while the group discussed what to do next. I believe they mean to attempt to rest in this room as they are in sore shape, but they seem to be forgetting that the goblinoids know they are there. I guess we'll see what happens next session (which might not be for a few weeks as it's Canadian Thanksgiving next Monday and most of my players will be away)
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by hentzau »

Reading and enjoying the AAR, IceBear. Thanks for posting!
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by Peacedog »

I especially like the combat blow-by-blows, as it really shows off 4e.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by The Meal »

Yeah, this kicks ass!

Would love to get more DM insight as to the game world and what's going on behind the scenes (that the players don't know about). This stuff fascinates me!
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by Peacedog »

Well, if I am a ranking NPC with scrying ability, I'm going to allocate some of my resources to bolstering my swarms.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Thanks for the feedback. I actually don't have a lot of background information on game world - I'm using a series of modules that WotC is releasing in Dungeon magazine on a monthly basis. The series is supposed to take the group from 1st level to 30th but they say they are reluctant to release an overview as they are planning some big surprises that they don't want ruined. I have skimmed the first three adventures and from what I can see there is an entity/organization (seems to be of extra-planar origin) that is trying to rebuild the Red Hand of Doom from 10 years ago. I can tell you that the hobgoblin threat in this module is pretty much an experiment by an organization from the Shadowfell (the 4E Plane of Shadows) who are using a Sinruth's (a hobgoblin who remembers the glory of the Red Hand of Doom) ambition to test the defences of the world.

The original Red Hand of Doom module was about a hobgoblin who was a son of Tiamat that raised an army to conquerer the world. I recall that the final battle included an avatar of Tiamat so I'm not sure if Tiamat is going to be the final villan or not.

I'm sure as we get a few more sessions under our belts and more roleplaying opportunities I'll put my own spin on things, but right now it's pretty much the module as written.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Peacedog wrote:Well, if I am a ranking NPC with scrying ability, I'm going to allocate some of my resources to bolstering my swarms.
lol - I actually weakened the swarms as things were looking very bad for the group at one time and the module was written for 5 players (I only have 4) with a wizard. Swarms are vulnerable to area attacks so they would have dropped quickly. However, my players were doing half damage to the swarms and those swarms could have been getting two free attacks against each character for 2d10+4 damage with each attack. Dan was down to 2 healing surges at this point and Willem and Richard were both very low on hitpoints. I remember "missing" Thoradrin a couple of times just so he could heal the others and I remember killing the first swarm with 10hp left (some of the players were getting discouraged at that point and I didn't want the campaign to screech to a halt because they got their asses handed to them too often).

So far combat has been very fun for me as a DM. All the monsters seem to have cool abilities and live long enough to use them. However, the group isn't doing so well. They are missing a lot - it's not that the monsters are hard to hit (well, the hobgoblins were but that was their "special" quality) they've been rolling low a lot. I'm sure Willem and Dan's players had a couple of streaks where they didn't roll above 6 for about 5 rolls in a row.

Skill challenges are interesting but I still don't think I'm running them well. I like the fact that it's not one dice roll but I haven't been able to blend them into rollplaying without it feeling too jarring. I think some of the problem is the group of players I have are mostly inexperienced and not great roleplayers. The couple of skill challenges I've run so far I've gotten no initiative from the group. If someone said "I'm going to try to distract the guards while you rough up the hobgoblin" it would feel much more natural than me saying to roll dice. Hopefully as everyone gets more comfortable it'll improve
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by Peacedog »

IceBear wrote: So far combat has been very fun for me as a DM. All the monsters seem to have cool abilities and live long enough to use them. However, the group isn't doing so well. They are missing a lot - it's not that the monsters are hard to hit (well, the hobgoblins were but that was their "special" quality) they've been rolling low a lot. I'm sure Willem and Dan's players had a couple of streaks where they didn't roll above 6 for about 5 rolls in a row.
I know the watchwords regarding 4e combat have been "dynamic" and the like. But it's another thing entirely to really see it in action (I've not really closely read any AAR type reports with combat specifics, previously). I have the books so I know some of the rules. But it's one thing to see "minor, move, standard and there's the type of things you can do with them on a given turn" and quite another to see it all playing out. You had a player drop and rise multiple times over the course of a couple of rounds. Normally it's a big deal in previous editions; unless a cleric is geared for doing it another way (3e only, iirc) you've got to touch to heal. Which usually means moving, which is generally a turn (and probably no cast on the tale end of a move), which means that best case scenario is often 2 rounds after a character drops. Here there's blasting, assisting, and even a little movement all rolled into one package. It looks really exciting to me.

I thought that a potential problem with the ruleset might be the high level homogenity. Oh, sure, Wizards and Fighters are different. But they're both capable of daily, encounter, and attack powers and everyone can get in on the AoE game eventually. Everyone gets some debilitating powers. Everyone gets some push/pull ability. The devil's in the details, but I think there's something to be said for a system that has classes/roles with radically different mechanics (I don't call it the one true way, mind).

But like I said, this looks really fun to me.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Yeah, I have to say that combat has been fun (I've just been feeling bad that the group is getting their butts kicked due to good luck on my part, bad luck on theirs, and their lack of cohesion - I suspect that will get better as the group starts to learn how to feed off each other's abilities). I like the saving throw mechanic for keeping the book keeping to a minimum. In the fight against the kruthik on the road, for example, at one point there were three poisoned PCs. I'm using some different colored tokens for keeping track of conditions, so it was just a simple matter of slipping a green token under each poisoned PC's mini and checking to see which PC had a poison marker under them when their turn came and doing the 5 points of poison damage. The player took his turn and then made a save at the end of his turn and that was that. I used to have to randomly roll for duration for each time a character suffered an effect and then track the individual durations. Now I just focus on the tactics the monsters will use.

I've started seeing the players use their powers a little more effectively. The rogue, for example, has realized that he can stand 2 squares away from a creature, use his standard action to use his deft strike power which allows him to move those 2 squares and attack. He then still has his move action left to shift away. The cleric, who likes wading into melee and using righteous brand, is noticing when the rogue is in flanking position and switching his attack to Lance of Faith just so he can give the rogue the +2 power bonus to his next attack. They are all starting to try powers which attack different defences now to gauge which is weakest. The hobgoblin soldiers, for example, had an AC of 20 (22 if they were next to each other), so when the paladin missed on an 18, the rogue immediately switched to his attack which attacked Reflex instead and was rewarded when he got a 16 and hit (their Reflex defence was only 16). That was thinking that was missing from the first couple of sessions. They should be reaching Level 2 shortly and gaining access to their utility powers which should make combat even more interesting.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by GrandMof »

Great AAR IceBer! I love reading about this stuff, I just wish I had the friends and time to do a 4E play through.
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IceBear
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Sorry, the next game was supposed to be tonight but a couple of my players can't make it (loooove those last minute cancellations) so it's been rescheduled to this coming Thursday.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Well, again at the last minute a couple of my players had to cancel so no game tonight now. Guess I'll give it one more chance before killing it off due to lack of attendance (sigh - I wish my main group would give 4E a chance rather than having to depend on these undependables).
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

For the first few combats Richard's player had still not arrived and since I didn't have his stats, Richard was "resting". Actually when Trevor showed up he didn't roll above 10 show it was just

The prisoner, a dwarf named Adronsius, thanked the PCs for freeing him. He told them that he and the other prisoners were blindfolded and taken down into the dungeon. All he could remember about the trip was it was “down the stairs, straight across the entry chamber, turning left in the room that smelled of goblin, then left again in the room with the crackling sound, around two right corners, then through a room that smelled of the dead, then up the stairs to a room with a sticky floor, right and up another set of stairs, then through a dusty room and left through a door. That good enough directions for ya?” He told the group that Mirtala was with him, but soon, being a dwarf, the goblins took him to this room and chained him to the wall and proceeded to beat him.

The group decided that they would backtrack the route described by Adronsius and try to rescue Mirtala next, but first they needed to rest from their battles. Since there was only one way into and out of this chamber, they decided to get some sleep here - with a posted watch of course. It was during Willem's turn at watch when he heard someone trying to open the door quietly. Willem slipped up quietly, and when the door opened - revealing a group of 4 hobgoblins and a goblin crossbowman - Willem drove his sword through the hobgoblin's neck.

Round 1: The two closest hobgoblins, screaming in rage at the death of their comrade thrust at Willem with their swords but were unable to get past his defenses.
Dan and Thoradrin woke up to the sounds of battle and jumped to their feet
Willem thrust his sword at a hobgoblin and missed

Round 2: The goblinoids attacked Willem but his shield protected him
Dan ran towards the battle and threw a dagger past Willem's head and into the throat of a hobgoblin, killing it.
Thoradrin likewise ran up to the door and cast lance of faith at the goblin crossbowman, burning it with Kord's power.
Willem took steped up into the middle of all of the goblinoids and used his cleave ability to kill the two remaining hobgoblins and wounding the goblin.

Round 3: The goblin took a step back and shot at Willem with his crossbow, but missed.
Dan used his fey step to teleport into a flanking position and then used his torturous strike encounter power to do 18 points of damage with a single blow and killing the goblin.

After cleaning up after the battle, the group finished resting, and - dwarven prisoner in tow - set out to find Mirtala
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

The group returned to the entry chamber and based on the information the dwarf provided, took the western doorway. Before them was a short corridor that turned to the north. Dan moved up to the corner to peer around it and saw a chamber before him that appeared, from the number the sleeping furs and hobgoblins to be living quarters. He also noticed doors set in the north and west walls. Unfortunately for Dan, the hobgoblins saw the light from the group's sunrod and prepared for the attack.

Round 1: Willem charged around the corner and shot his crossbow at one of the hobgoblins, but missed
Dan likewise moved up and threw a dagger at a hobgoblin and also missed
Thoradrin moved up around the corner and cast lance of faith, but missed the hobgoblin.
The hobgoblin rushed forward and attacked Dan and Willem with Dan being struck twice. The hobgoblin soldier swung his mighty fail at Willem but missed.

Round 2: Willem marked the hobgoblin soldier with Kord's power but missed it with his sword
Dan stabbed the hobgoblin in front of him, killing it
Thoradrin stepped up next to a hobgoblin but missed it with his attack.
The hobgoblin in front of Thoradrin stabbed him with his sword
Dan was stabbed twice by the hobgoblins in front of him
The hobgoblin soldier swung at Willem again but missed
The northern door swung open and two goblins armed with crossbows stepped through. One of them pointed his crossbow at Willem and shot him with a bolt

Round 3:
Willem hit the hobgoblin soldier with an enfeebling strike
Dan used his fey step to teleport behind the hobgoblin line, and threw a dagger at one of the goblins and struck it in the shoulder
Thoradrin used a minor action to use Healing Word on Dan and then usedhis Righteous Brand power and killed the hobgoblin in front of him and then blessed Dan with Kord's favor.
The hobgoblin soldier struck Willem with his fail, shifted one square away from Willem, and then moved up next to Dan.
Two hobgoblins attacked Willem but missed
One of the goblins moved up to flank Dan and stabbed him with his sword

Round 4:
Willem attacked one of the hobgoblins next to him, killing it. He then moved up next to the hobgoblin soldier
Dan, now in a flanking position against the solider, attacked and wounding it severely. He then shifted away to avoid being flanked by the goblin
Thoradrin used lance of faith to burn the goblin archer and inspired Willem's next attack
The hobgoblin solider was compelled by Kord's mark to attack Willem, so he did but missed
The remaining hobgoblin minion attacked Thoradrin, hitting him
The goblin with the crossbow shot at Thoradrin hitting him - Thoradrin was now wounded badly
The other goblin stepped up and attacked Willem with its sword but missed

Round 5:
Willem attacked the hobgoblin soldier with enfeebling strike and hit it
Dan moved back into flanking position with the hobgoblin soldier and used his torturous strike encounter power to do 25 points of damage and killed it
Thoradrin used Healing Word on himself (minor action), then used Righteous Brand on the hobgoblin in front of him (killing it and giving a power bonus to Willem's next attack) and then he moved up next to the goblin with the crossbow
The goblin with the crossbow shifted back and shot Thoradrin
The other goblin swung at Willem but missed

Round 6:
Willem stabbed the goblin and killed it
Dan moved around the remaining goblin, backstabbing it and killed it.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Sorry, there was one more encounter from last night that I haven't had a chance to post yet. I basically had to pull some punches in that one or I would have killed a couple of players - essentially I had a couple of monsters that had an powerful area effect ability and in both cases I could have moved them in an area to get three characters (including, both times, a character that was down and dying). I am pretty confident I would have hit and finished them off so instead I moved the monsters into suboptimial locations. I'm not normally that forgiving, but since neither player actually did something stupid to get them in that position but rather the encounter was just a tough one with me rolling well again (rolled max damage three times in a row). I'll try to get the play by play up tomorrow.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by Peacedog »

It looks like tehy are starting to get a feel for things in that goblin encounter in the living quarters. I can see where something new tactically speaking could throw them off. And good DM rolling never helps.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

After the battle the group searched the room, but other than goblinoid trinkets and personal items, there was nothing in the room. Peering through the open set of northern doors the group saw a long corridor but in several places the floor had collapsed leaving gaping holes in the floor. Hanging above each of the holes were a couple of ropes that the players surmised the goblins used for swinging over the pits.

While tempted to check out the corridor, the group remembered the dwarven prisoner's directions would lead them through the eastern set of doors, so, a few moments later the group had found themselves outside the eastern doors in a corridor that turned north. They could see that at the end of corridor, there was a large chamber shaped like an inverted triangle. There were two sets of doors at the far end of the chamber - one on the east and one on the west. Hanging between the two doors was a large tapestry which depicted an ominous looking castle overlooking a swamp. The group started looking at the tapestry, trying to determine if the picture was of a castle they were familiar with. Unknown to them, the tapestry was actually a portal and by staring at it they were sending their psychic energy into the magic that powered the portal. Suddenly one of them noticed that there seemed to be something moving at the bottom right corner of the picture and then, to their shock, a huge reddish blob slittered right out of the tapestry, onto the floor, and then moved towards them
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

DM Notes:
This was the fight that I'm pretty sure I could have killed two of the four characters in. The group was fighting the following:

1 Ochre Jelly
Ochre Jelly (O) Level 3 Elite Brute
Large natural beast (blind, ooze) XP 300
Initiative +0 Senses Perception +2; blindsight 10,
tremorsense 10
HP 102; Bloodied 51 see also split below
AC 18; Fortitude 16, Reflex 14, Will 14
Immune gaze; Resist 5 acid
Saving Throws +2
Speed 4; see also flowing form
Action Points 1
m Slam (standard; at-will) ✦ Acid
+8 vs. AC; 2d6 + 1 damage, and ongoing 5 acid damage
(save ends).
Flowing Form (move; at-will)
The ochre jelly shifts 4 squares.
Split (when first bloodied; encounter)
The ochre jelly splits into two, each with hit points equal
one-half its current hit points. Effects applied to the
original ochre jelly do not apply to the second one. An
ochre jelly can’t split if it is reduced to 0 hit points by the
attack that bloodied it. Left alone, the two halves of the
ochre jelly recombine into a single creature at the end of
the encounter.
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Str 13 (+2) Dex 8 (+0) Wis 12 (+2)
Con 11 (+1) Int 1 (–4) Cha 1 (–4)
and two specters which, according to the module were hiding in the floor and would attack from behind the group in round 3.
2 Specters Level 4 Lurker
Medium shadow humanoid (undead) XP 175 each
Initiative +8 Senses Perception +6; darkvision
Spectral Chill (Cold) aura 1; enemies in the aura take a –2
penalty to all defenses.
HP 30; Bloodied 15
AC 16; Fortitude 16, Reflex 16, Will 17
Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic, insubstantial;
Vulnerable 5 radiant
Speed fly 6 (hover); phasing
m Spectral Touch (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic
+7 vs. Reflex; 1d6 + 2 necrotic damage.
C Spectral Barrage (standard; recharge 5 6 ) ✦ Illusion,
Psychic
Close burst 2; targets enemies; +7 vs. Will; 2d6 + 2 psychic
damage, and the target is knocked prone.
Invisibility (standard; at-will) ✦ Illusion
The specter becomes invisible until it attacks or until it is
hit by an attack.
Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common
Skills Stealth +9
Str 10 (+2) Dex 15 (+4) Wis 8 (+1)
Con 13 (+3) Int 6 (+0) Cha 15 (+4)
Personally, I don't see how this is a level 2 encounter that the module calls it and I also realize I pretty much forgot to use the Specters' insubstantial and aura abilities for most of the fight (which probably helped the group survive).
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Initiative Order:

Specters (but not until round 3)
Willem
Thoradrin
Dan
Richard
Ochre Jelly

Round 1:
Willem moved into the room towards the ochre jelly and shot at it with his crossbow but missed
Thoradrin moved up and cast Lance of Faith at the ochre jelly doing very little damage to it. He granted a power bonus to Dan's next attack
Dan moved up and threw a dagger at the ochre jelly but missed
Richard cursed the ochre jelly, moved up and cast Eldritch Blast at the ochre jelly but missed (poor guy never hit anything all night - highest total was 13)
Ochre Jelly moved up to Willem, hit him with a slam attack for maximum damage, causing Willem to be covered with acid

Round 2:
Willem took 5 points of acid damage, and attacked it with his On Pain of Death power but missed (which caused 1/2 damage but I notice now that he forgot the 1d4 points of damage once per round. Willem failed his saving throw so still is suffering from acid damage.
Thoradrin moved up and used his avenging flame daily power to hit the ochre jelly and catching it on fire
Dan moved into flanking position and used his Piercing Strike to hit the ochre jelly with a sneak attack
Richard cast Diabolic Grasp but missed.
Ochre Jelly took 5 points of fire damage, attacked Willem with it's slam attack for maximum damage.

Round 3:
Two specters rose out of the floor behind Richard but both missed
Willem took 5 points of acid damage, attacked the ochre jelly but missed. Willem made his saving throw and was no longer affected by acid.
Thoradrin took a minor action to use Healing Word on Willem. Then he used righteous brand to attack the ochre jelly, hitting it and granting a power bonus to Dan.
Dan used Piercing Strike to sneak attack the ochre jelly causing it to split into two
Richard shifted away from the specters and cast eldritch blast but missed
Ochre Jelly #1 took 5 points of fire damage, then attacked Willem for maximum damage (putting the acid effect back on him). It made it's save from fire.
Ochre Jelly #2 used flowing form to slip behind Dan and hit him (acid)

Round 4:
One specter turned invisible and the other attacked Richard, hitting him for little damage
Willem took 5 points of acid damage and fell unconscious but made his saving throw
Thoradrin took a minor action to use Healing Word of Willem (reviving him). But missed with his attack
Dan attacked ochre jelly #2 but missed
Richard shifted away, attacked, but missed
Ochre Jelly #1 used its action point to attack Willem twice, bring him down to -6hp and putting acid effect back on him
Ochre Jelly #2 used its action point to attack Dan twice, bringing him to negative hitpoints and putting acid on him

Round 5:
Specter #1 appeared and used its Spectral Barrage power (I could have put him in a position to hit Willem with this and that plus the 5 points from the acid on his next turn would have put him beyond his negative bloodied). This failed to hit the ochre jelly but it did hit Thoradrin.
Specter #2 attacked used it's Spectral Barrage power next to Richard (again, I could have gotten Dan in this too, but didn't) but missed
Willem took 5 points of acid damage and failed to save from both the acid and death (Strike 1 of 3)
Thoradrin (in which was the best stroke of luck) used his Healing strike power on ochre jelly #1 and rolled a 20. This killed the ochre jelly, allowed him to heal Willem, and then he used the Kord's Favor ability from the crit to allow Dan to heal
Dan stood up and used his second wind but took 5 points of acid damage (saved at the end of his turn)
Richard shifted away, attacked and missed
Ochre Jelly attacked Dan buy missed

Round 6:
Specter #1 attacked Thoradrin, hitting him
Specter #2 attacked Richard, hitting him
Willem took 5 points of acid damage, then used lay on hands on himself, and moved closer to the remaining ochre jelly (save vs acid was successful)
Thoradrin used lance of faith on the ochre jelly, hitting it and giving power bonus to Dan
Dan attacked the ochre jelly (Willem had moved into flanking position so it was a sneak attack) killing it
Richard attacked and missed
Ochre Jelly attacked and missed

Round 7:
Specter #1 attacked Thoradrin, hitting him
Specter #2 attacked Richard, hitting him
Willem attacked Specter #1 but missed
Thoradrin used his Turn Undead power to kill them both (well, not really - there was another round of mop up, but essentially that's what it was)
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by Arcanis »

Hey IceBear are you slacking on us or did the election get in the way of your group gaming? i'm looking forward to the next session details. This is a real help for me to decide if i want to push my group toward 4th or stick with 3.5 since they are adverse to change at all, it took 2 years to go from 3.0 to 3.5.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."--George Orwell
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

I'm Canadian so the US election wouldn't stop me from gaming; heck I didn't stop gaming for the Canadian elections :)

I'm just running into scheduling issues - one of my players was sent to Alberta for a week for his job and another player had to stay home with his kid as his wife had something to do last Monday night so don't think there will be a game until this coming Monday.

The only thing I know for sure about 4E is that as a DM I don't want to play 3E anymore. I think if I was playing I might not feel that way, I might feel like I couldn't build the character I wanted (though, hopefully that'll start getting better with some of the new books coming out). But, as a DM running the game is just so much easier now. I use colored counters for the various effects so the only real book keeping I have to do anymore is looking at the table, seeing who has what effect on them and rolling for saving throws at the end of the turn. The monsters are more interesting to run and all live long enough to do something. A lot of the monsters have complimentary abilities which makes for some fun tactical decisions on my part. I actually have a 3.5 campaign too but it's been stalled since August as I really don't want to run it anymore as I don't enjoy DMing it nearly as much.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

sigh - well, it looks like this campaign may be sputtering out. One of my players just took a new job and his hours are such that he won't be able to play during the week. I will see what happens, but not expecting a change to the weekend to work :( I was having fun running this too.
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by hentzau »

IceBear wrote:sigh - well, it looks like this campaign may be sputtering out. One of my players just took a new job and his hours are such that he won't be able to play during the week. I will see what happens, but not expecting a change to the weekend to work :( I was having fun running this too.
Sucks. My game is finally starting up again tonight after I had a 2 month hiatus for rehearsals for my show. Hope I remember all of the rules!
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by Arcanis »

sorry to hear that IceBear. The game i was playing in just sputtered out too. I've been working on a redo of the Wheel of Time setting to run with my group but i don't have the energy to make that many changes and compile them together. Oh well at least after reading this thread one of the players in the group i'm in was interested in 4E.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."--George Orwell
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Arcanis wrote:sorry to hear that IceBear. The game i was playing in just sputtered out too. I've been working on a redo of the Wheel of Time setting to run with my group but i don't have the energy to make that many changes and compile them together. Oh well at least after reading this thread one of the players in the group i'm in was interested in 4E.
Yeah, I'm not giving up yet. David has said that he will have a better idea of what times to play will work for him after he's been at this job for a week or so. Hopefully we can arrange something. If I could just get the one guy in my main group to just give it a chance it would give me access to my better players and the prime Saturday night timeslot :) Unfortunately, he's stubborn and just has decided 4E isn't for him (decided that when it was annouced). Right now we have a good Shadowrun game going on Saturday nights. Normally I alternate weeks with the Shadowrun GM, but if I tried to do that now it might fracture the group which is why I've been trying to run this game with my B Team :)
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Managed to sneak another game in last Monday but life was too hectic to type up the AAR and now I've forgotten too much to do it properly. The guy playing Willem - the paladin - couldn't make it so we had to play with just three and no defender, but it turned out ok. The first encounter was supposed to be two gnome skulks and two magma claws but since we down to 3 players instead of the 5 that the module was designed for (and no defender at all) I decided to remove one of the magma claws.
Small fey humanoid XP 125 each
Initiative +8 Senses Perception +2; low-light vision
HP 34; Bloodied 17
AC 16; Fortitude 14, Reflex 14, Will 12
Speed 5
m War Pick (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon
+7 vs. AC; 1d8 + 3 damage (crit 1d8 + 11).
R Hand Crossbow (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon
Ranged 10/20; +7 vs. AC; 1d6 + 3 damage.
Combat Advantage
The gnome skulk deals an extra 1d6 damage on melee and
ranged attacks against any target it has combat advantage
against.
Fade Away (immediate reaction, when the gnome skulk takes
damage; encounter) ✦ Illusion
The gnome skulk turns invisible until it attacks or until the
end of its next turn.
Reactive Stealth
If a gnome has cover or concealment when it makes an
initiative check at the start of an encounter, it can make a
Stealth check to escape notice.
Shadow Skulk
When a gnome skulk makes a melee or a ranged attack
from hiding and misses, it is still considered to be hiding.
Alignment Unaligned Languages Common, Elven
Skills Arcana +10, Stealth +11, Thievery +9
Str 8 (+0) Dex 17 (+4) Wis 12 (+2)
Con 16 (+4) Int 14 (+3) Cha 13 (+2)
Equipment leather armor, war pick, hand crossbow with
20 bolts
2 Magma Claws Level 4 Brute
Medium elemental magical beast (earth, fire) XP 175 each
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +7
HP 64; Bloodied 32
AC 16; Fortitude 16, Reflex 14, Will 13
Immune petrification; Resist 10 fire; Vulnerable cold (slowed
until the end of the magma claw’s next turn)
Speed 4 (8 while charging)
m Claw (standard; at-will) ✦ Fire
+7 vs. AC; 1d6 + 4 damage plus 1d6 fire damage.
M Spew Lava (standard; at-will) ✦ Fire
+5 vs. Reflex; the target takes ongoing 5 fire damage and is
immobilized (save ends both).
Alignment Unaligned Languages Primordial
Skills Endurance +9, Stealth +8
Str 18 (+6) Dex 12 (+3) Wis 11 (+2)
Con 14 (+4) Int 2 (–2) Cha 6 (+0)
This encounter was setup with the two gnomes at the far side of the room, one of which was near a door. This door had a connection to the Planar Chaos and when it was opened it would summon the pair of magma claws. The rogue in the party decided to scout ahead a little and rolled very well on his Stealth check and a natural 20 on his Perception so when he peeked around the corner he saw the two gnomes and they did not see him so he hit the one not next to the door with a sneak attack and nearly bloodied (1/2 hp) it. The rest of the fight went surprisingly well for the group - mainly because they were rolling very well and I was rolling crap (unusal). The group found their first magic items in this room - a +1 flaming longsword and a +1 plate battleforge armor - both of which could only really be used by the paladin whom wasn't there :)

Because they did so well in their first encounter and we were so late in starting that I knew the next encounter would be the last for the evening I decided to go with the full encounter for this fight. This fight was against a bunch of ettercaps in a room that was filled with webbing. The room description said that 50% of the squares were filled with webbing and thus counted as difficult terrain and they needed to pass a DC10 Athletics or Escape Artist check if they entered a webbed square or become immobilized.
2 Ettercap Fang Guards (G) Level 4 Soldier
Medium natural humanoid (spider) XP 175 each
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +3
HP 56; Bloodied 28
AC 20; Fortitude 17, Reflex 16, Will 15
Resist 10 poison
Speed 5, climb 5 (spider climb); see also web
walker
m Greataxe (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon
+9 vs. AC; 1d12 + 5 damage (crit 1d12 + 17).
M Spider Bite (standard; at-will) ✦ Poison
Requires combat advantage; +9 vs. AC; 1d6 + 4 damage.
If the attack hits, the ettercap makes a secondary attack
against the same target. Secondary Attack: +7 vs. Fortitude;
the target is stunned until the end of the ettercap’s next
turn and takes ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends).
M Web Tangle (standard; at-will)
+7 vs. Reflex; the target is immobilized (save ends).
Web Reaper
The ettercap fang guard gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls
and deals an extra 2 damage against restrained and
immobilized creatures.
Web Walker
An ettercap ignores movement effects of spider webs and
difficult terrain related to spider swarms.
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Skills Stealth +9
Str 16 (+5) Dex 14 (+4) Wis 13 (+3)
Con 16 (+5) Int 5 (–1) Cha 11 (+2)
Equipment leather armor, greataxe
Ettercap Webspinner (W) Level 5 Controller
Medium natural humanoid (spider) XP 200
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +9
HP 64; Bloodied 32
AC 18; Fortitude 17, Reflex 16, Will 16
Resist 10 poison
Speed 5, climb 5 (spider climb); see also web
walker
m Longspear (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon
Reach 2, +10 vs. AC; 1d10 + 3 damage.
M Spider Bite (standard; at-will) ✦ Poison
Requires combat advantage; +10 vs. AC; 1d6 + 3 damage,
and the ettercap makes a secondary attack against the
same target. Secondary Attack: +8 vs. Fortitude;
ongoing 5poison damage (save ends).
R Web Net (minor 1/round; at-will)
Ranged 5; +9 vs. Reflex; the target is restrained (save ends).
A Webbed Terrain (standard; recharge z ) ✦ Zone
Area burst 2 within 10; +9 vs. Reflex; the target is immobilized
(save ends). The zone is filled with spider webs and is
considered difficult terrain until the end of the encounter.
Web Walker
An ettercap ignores movement effects of spider webs and
difficult terrain related to spider swarms.
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Skills Stealth +9
Str 16 (+5) Dex 14 (+4) Wis 15 (+4)
Con 16 (+5) Int 5 (–1) Cha 13 (+3)
Equipment leather armor, longspear
This fight still went pretty well for the group as I kept missing them :( I remember the group decided to not risk the web and pretty much stay put and used ranged attacks (which for the most part, without the paladin, didn't impact them too much. The rogue as one point fey stepped behind the guards to sneak attack one of them which made him my focus for a bit as I restraining him and poisoning him which kept stunning him, but he never went down and the group managed to defeat them easily finding the dead body of one of the townspeople they were supposed to rescue (guard captain) and a +1 nightbane dagger.

Some more thoughts - even though the group hit 2nd level their 2nd level powers went largely ignored except for the rogue's tumble (with that and fey step he has two abilities that let him move into flanking position without suffering a opportunity attack) and the new feat the warlock took (can't remember the name, it was from Dragon Magazine and was added to the Character Builder program so I let him pick it; essentially, if he missed with his encounter powers - which he OFTEN does - he can sacrifice a number of hp equal to the level of the power to stop it from being expended - ie he can try again. That, coupled with warlocks getting temporary hp for killing things he cursed is a cool combo)
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Arcanis
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by Arcanis »

any more news on this IB? I like reading these and am debating to going to 4e for my home group. I have 2 groups right now 1 at a friends house, they are the experienced group that drives me nuts most of the time, and my group that plays at my house that isn't very experienced and it like pulling teeth to get them to really pay attention.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."--George Orwell
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hentzau
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by hentzau »

Arcanis wrote:... my group that plays at my house that isn't very experienced and it like pulling teeth to get them to really pay attention.
I have this problem with my group. It consists of my two buddies, my wife, her friend, and my 12 year old daughter. My wife is usually sorting socks, folding laundry, taking Tupperware orders, you name it, while we are playing. We've had about five 4E sessions and she just can't seem to quite grasp what is going on. I'm constantly giving her advice, especially since she is running the cleric and forgets to heal people. :D
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
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Arcanis
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by Arcanis »

that groups main problem is we play really late night after they all get off of work, normally start at 1 am and run until myself and the other co gm (trying to train him so i don't have to run everything) get too tired. All of us have been friends for years. One states he does it just as a reason to hang out, i think this is the main reason for all of them, while others say they have fun with it. The newest one to it all has been doing the best.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."--George Orwell
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IceBear
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Hi everyone that was curious with what was going on with this. Well, it's actually got a new lease on life as we moved the game to every other Saturday and added a 5th player (playing a wizard). Now I can run the module as written without trying to reduce the challenge levels. Unfortunately I don't think I'm going to be able to do massive AARs anymore as instead of a 2 hour game it's now a 5 hour game and life/work is too busy to allow me to do a long write up in detail so I'll try to hit the highlights.

1) The group rescued three more prisoners last session, one of which had been badly tortured and required a successful skill challenge by the wizard and priest to get her out of her canatonic state. That means the group has rescued 4 prisoners and found the body of the 5th, just two more to go.

2) Most of the combat encounters were pretty easy for the group now as they are all 2nd level and many of the last encounters in the first level of the dungeon were meant for 1st level groups.

3) The group have now climbed up to the 2nd level of the dungeon and I was excited by the tactics I could have used for the first battle (4 hobgoblin soldiers, 2 spitting drakes, and a goblin hexer) but I followed the tactics as written in the module - (round 1, soldiers charge the group, round 2 the hexer arrives from a nearby room and uses his powers to buff the hobgoblins and hinder the group) - but since the soldiers were minions none of them survived round 1. No more following the suggested tactics blindly :)

4) The last encounter for the evening was fun as I had the group terrified of ghouls. The group had come to a four way intersection with doors at the end of each hallway. They had gone to the left door and found a black sun emblem engraved on the floor there that absorbed light. While most of the group were in the room trying to puzzle out the purpose of the embelm the paladin (who has the perception skill of a blind and deaf frog) was left on guard duty. Ghouls, who apparently have become part ninja, snuck up behind him. The first one hit the paladin with a claw, immoblizing the paladin. Now, immoblized isn't really that bad of a condition in 4E - it just means you cannot leave the space that you're in - you can still attack and use abilities. HOWEVER, ghouls have a nasty, nasty, nasty, bite attack that they can only use on immoblized targets and it does 3d6+4 points of damage and stuns the target (save ends). Stun basically means you can do nothing. This design change was part of a core decision in 4E - to get rid of all "save or die" effects from previous editions. In the past a ghoul would have bitten you and if you failed your save then you're out of the fight paralyzed. Now, normally, it would take two rounds for a ghoul to take someone out of the fight and then possibly just for 1 round. Anyhoo - in this case the paladin was unlucky as I hit him with the first ghoul immobilizing him and then <drumroll please> rolled a natural 20 on the 2nd ghoul's bite attack. Since the guy playing the paladin decided playing a defender class with 11 CON was a good idea I dropped the paladin during the surprise round. The group were then terrified of ghouls to the point of allowing themselves to be completely surrounded by the zombies that were with the ghouls just so the ghouls couldn't reach them :)
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GrandMof
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by GrandMof »

Hey, have you guys gotten together at all since you last posted? I'm guessing if you did it was probably only once or twice since the holidays were around. Well keep it up whenever you have something to report :)
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IceBear
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Re: [D&D 4E]Scales of War AAR

Post by IceBear »

Actually, we're supposed to play next weekend - we were basically one or two men down all through the holidays and a couple of my players are out of town this coming weekend. I suspect that this will be the final session for the first module as there's not much left and then on to the next one. I can't remember many details about the next one - I believe an orcish army is attacking a nearby dwarven city and the PCs have to run about from stronghold to stronghold to bolster the defences. One of the design decisions in 4E was to make the outer planes more accessible to lower level parties as they are cool, but used to require high level magic just to get there and survive and since many groups didn't really play high levels much of the coolness factor was wasted. That said, the 3rd module is more fresh in my mind as the party ends up in the Shadowfell (what used to be the Plane of Shadows) to track down the arms dealer that was supplying weapons to the orcs (I think the group is supposed to be about level 6 by that time) and I remember one of the last fights dealing with hundreds of mooks surrounding the group in what appears to be a no-win situation.
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