Convention Time Again!

[Rain Yupa]

I'll be in Stamford, CT this weekend (Friday thru Sunday) playing a 6-part 4e campaign in a convention.

I'm bringing a Good Human Inspiring Warlord/Sword Marshal/Demigod (games range from 3rd to 25th level). I read Sword Marshal is the suckiest PP, so that what I decided.

As an alternate/back-up, I also have a Lawful Good Dwarven Preserving Invoker/Stonecaller/Chosen. Stonecaller got mediocre reviews at best, so weeeeeee! rofl

I'll see if I can post updates about highlights of games. I'll be posting where I'm needed as much as I can tomorrow morning, but after that, don't expect posts from me until I get home Sunday night, or possibly the following Monday morning. :3  

[Plainsfox]

GL Rain  

[Rain Yupa]

3 hours to go until I leave, and I just finished up the second character. sweatdrop  

[Rain Yupa]

Game #1: We were recruited by an angel to go through time and stop the six major calamities that will result in the destruction of the humanoid races. Our first stop was the desert ziggurat of Zehir, where his minions were transforming captives into monsters to serve them. Our main objective was to save one person so he can lead the humanoid races in a rebellion; the other was to destroy a monster that would wreck untold havok on humanoid lands.

Game ended up being rushed due to there only being 2 players (each with 2 characters). We skipped like half the adventure, due to time constraints. All in all, my Invoker did better than my Warlord, but my Warlord did the healing aspect of his job adequately enough. In the final battle though, I continuously failed to roll above 5. My turns went REALLY quickly >_>'

The DM used monsters that were probably too high in level, but we did all right considering. The toughest I think was +5 levels above ours.

Have to get to bed shortly. Next game begins in 6.5 hours!  

[Rain Yupa]

Game #2: There were undead demons in the Shadowdark that had managed to open a portal, and were using it to abduct random humanoids and slaughter them on the spot for sport. There's apparently a thing called the Wyrm Bridge across a river of souls in the Shadowdark. Its made of the corpse of a purple worm. It's actually suckier than it sounds.

The major battle didn't go so well, as the player playing the ranger (who's used to playing skill-monkeys, like bards) decided to be clever and attempt to rush the portal from across the grid map (like, 30+ squares away) in an attempt to close it early. There was a good 6 or 7 demons hanging around, all potent opponents. He figured he'd soak one or two attacks and then resolve the portal thing quickly. He's a bow ranger with a Con of 11.

Yeeaaahhh... they ganged up on him as the rest of us were caught up on the Mezzodemon guarding the gate, and its a miracle he didn't get flat-out ganked. The fact he managed to last long enough to RETREAT back to us (wasting a good 4 turns double moving) is by luck itself. Other than that, the battle went KIND of well. We won, but it would have been a more decisive victory if the ranger was... you know... shooting the demons with his bow, instead of covering his eyes and assuming they couldn't see him.

sweatdrop  

[Raganui Minamoto]

Don't you love people like that?  

[Rain Yupa]

Game #3: We got to explore the dreams of a Mithral Dragon, attempting to discern the identity of a great threat to the timestream and the fate of the humanoid races. Sounded good. First encounter was against a Gold Dragon Construct (from Dragonomicon 2), where we tried to reason with it. And it tore into us in the first round as we were busy making diplomacy checks at it. The same player who played the ranger was playing a sorcerer this time (both were pre-genned characters from the Character Builder).

We learned how utterly stupid the Character Builder can be when done randomly. There were a bunch of powers that didn't make much sense. He was being clever and used his Master of Flame PP utility power which turned him into living flame, rending most of the Gold Dragon Construct's attacks useless against it. However, he can only make fire attacks against it in that form, and he had no fire powers beyond what he got from that PP. He was apparently a lightning/storm sorcerer, but his only lightning/storm powers were his at-wills. What?

Ended up being a final battle between us, the Mithral Dragon, and a Nightwalker, the foe from its dreams. To summon the Nightwalker, the Mithral Dragon had to give up some of its sanity, so it attacked us or the monster randomly. Due to the nature of summoning the Nightwalker form the past, the space/time fabric was frayed or somesuch, so factors of the dragon (or us) changed throughout the battle. Normally, this changed the Dragon from wyrmling to Ancient status (it was almost always Adult or Ancient, by luck of the dice). And it REALLY, REALLY liked to randomly target the wizard in all its attacks X_x

But each turn, we alternated the d6 roll that determined the age of the dragon. I got a 6 (the only one who did so), so it turned my level 17 character to any level from 1-30. I got a 4. It was Save Ends, but I couldn't make the save! I spent almost the entire battle hiding to avoid the wrath of the Nightwalker, or the angry Ancient Mithral Dragon who liked to recharge its breath attack EVERY ROUND. This left our subpar sorcerer and a competent dwarf warden to carry us all. I literally made 1 attack roll the entire time, and used 2 inspiring words, 1 encounter utility power, and 1 daily utility power. But the Nightwalker eventually fell and the Dragon regained its senses.  

[Rain Yupa]

Game #4: Last one for the night. This time, a king asked us to recover an artifact known as the Golden Skull, which had been stolen away from the kingdom by devil worshipers, prior to the prince's 12th birthday where he was due to inherit it. Our job to get it. Sounded simple: We go in, we grab it, we go out.

There was one random encounter with hobgoblins on hippogriffs as we sailed on the flying boat thingy to the city. We had a group of 6 this time, and we flowed really well together. Wiped that encounter real good, even though I (the only leader) took more damage and used more surges than any other character, especially the 2 defenders (one didn't even have to use a surge later, he wasn't down enough HPs!)

When we arrive, we drop down via ropes to the rooftop, and find a way in. A series of rooms, and we were met with one group immediately who were trying to pass off our intrusion as "understandable and alright", but they were trying to keep our guard down as they went for the door to alert the others. We didn't buy it.

Killed one of the tough baddies, bloodied the Warforged who surrendered. We captured him, and he told us the layout of the building and where to find the Golden Skull. Alright, that's fine. We short rest, and we expect the next room to be filled with enemies, so the wizard prepares a silence ritual, and we open the door prior to him completing it and he casts Silence within the next room, so it doesn't alert anyone else.

However, at the last second, the Warforged ran in to alert them so they wouldn't be surprised. We were like, "Ummm... we had said we captured him." But the DM had said that we actually didn't do anything to restrain him. So he was apparently wandering around freely for those 10 minutes for the ritual, unsupervised? But TECHNICALLY the DM was right, we didn't SAY we tied him up. We all had kind of assumed that it was all part of the 'capture' dealie. stare

So though the Silence goes up, there's no surprise or anything. So we start trying to pile through the door, and they try to counter-pile. However, a minion decides to go to the door of the next room and alert THOSE bad guys that we're there. Then someone from THAT room alerts the NEXT room about it. So we basically had 3 encounters in one. Normally I would say it would have felt more like 2, but it gets better.

The Golden Skull apparently gets to make attacks against every creature within a certain radius of it, +10 vs Will (this was a lower level game). On a hit, the creature had to give up its standard action to try to obtain the skull, using a minor to attempt to activate its powers (which would reset combat back a couple ticks, like undoing the last 3 actions or something). By the time the combat was about 60% done, two of the six players had to go. So rather than NPC them, or reduce the encounter as some "fled" or something, he just removed the two PCs and left the monsters we had. So suddenly we had 3 encounters for a party of 6 into one huge mess, and now the party was the size of 4. With most of us losing our standard actions every turn (heck, often our move actions as we kept moving closer to the current Skullbearer).

It ended up being a precarious balance of almost all of us having less than 10 hp left, there being some sort of boss devil being the only monster left, and combat resetting on good mandatory Artifact-using rolls. Overworked and underpaid Warlord is overworked and underpaid X_x

Eventually we did FINALLY succeed and return the Skull and it was all good, but not before a really, REALLY stressful encounter.  

[Rain Yupa]

Raganui Minamoto

Don't you love people like that?

I tried to explain to him. Emphasizing this was an IC plea, not an OOC plea. I was not telling him that his plan didn't have merit or how to play his character; but if he went through with it, we were all going to die. If we wanted to succeed in the mission, we needed him to at least help us thin the enemy ranks first before he tried to play hero.

After about turn 3 of combat (when he was surrounded by 3 demons and one demon that had reach on him), he realized WHY I had told him to stick with the group, rather than outside of my range 5 healing powers. There was even that abducting demon from MM2, the one that does a crapload more damage if no allies are nearby the hero it attacks (and he basically broke rank and rushed right towards it). -_-'  

[Plainsfox]

>< Reminds me of someone I know. *goes off and hides* ><  

[Raganui Minamoto]

Plainsfox

>< Reminds me of someone I know. *goes off and hides* ><

Yes, but HE did one-turn the big boss that the DM had been hyping up for awhile.

Also, Rain, sounds like that last DM was kinda an a**. I hate serious, literal DMs like that, in which you have to specifically say some things that are normally assumed.  

[Plainsfox]

Actually, I was thinking of another idiot. The type who ran a Water Genasi in a sea campaign.

Well, at least you know now he's a literal GM. Do you have any other games with this GM, Rain?  

[Lord of the Vine]

Rain Yupa

We learned how utterly stupid the Character Builder can be when done randomly. There were a bunch of powers that didn't make much sense. He was being clever and used his Master of Flame PP utility power which turned him into living flame, rending most of the Gold Dragon Construct's attacks useless against it. However, he can only make fire attacks against it in that form, and he had no fire powers beyond what he got from that PP. He was apparently a lightning/storm sorcerer, but his only lightning/storm powers were his at-wills. What?

Wait a minute; he built a storm sorcerer and used FIRE? The hell?  

[Raganui Minamoto]

Plainsfox

Actually, I was thinking of another idiot. The type who ran a Water Genasi in a sea campaign.

If I remember right, he also saved our asses by Sovereign Glue-ing an enemy down to an enemy ship.  

[Plainsfox]

That was the abberation. Gar. I forgot who played him ><.