Key Our Cars

I managed to corral all my old players (from roughly 15-20 years ago) and bring them together for a night of 4th Edition. I like to think everyone had a good time.  I certainly tried to make it reasonable entertaining. Not to mention my killer production values.

We had a human warlock (feylock), a dragonborne warden, a razorclaw avenger, a longtooth ranger and a human artificer at the table.  All first level, 4th edition negates entirely the need for my previous standard with older editions of starting everyone at 3rd level. I really think the artificer’s healing is head and shoulders over the top compared to all the other leader’s healing.  Extremely flexible.  Use donated surges to heal and either heal, grant AC bonus and the AC bonus can be flipped over to temporary hit points as needed.  What’s not to love there?

Over the last year+ I’ve come up with several changes to the existing DnD system that have playtested well for me (see notes waaaay down below if you’re really interested) and they worked well this time.

With my rules in effect, the primary ones being average damage and increased hit ratio IMO, with 3 players completely new to 4th edition and only 1 pretty well versed we got through a good amount of RP including search and description, dialogue with NPC’s and group discourse on what might be going on, (Oh sorry that’s right, you can’t RP with 4th edition, ignore that), several skill challenges and 2 significant battles in about 3 hours of game play.  Battle one included 10 minions, 7 standards, 5 PC’s and 4 active NPC’s and 15 NPC targets.  Battle two included 9 standards, 1 elite, 5 PC’s,  2 active NPC’s and 9 NPC targets. Â  So yeah, 4th edition can be fairly fast paced and flowing.

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Aftermath Report –

We start our evening with a spring festival gone horribly wrong and then things get really bad.  But let’s start at the beginning shall we?

Torel the Avenger, Stak the Ranger, Elisssa the Warden, Biminey the Artificer and Dra’kin the Warlock went to a spring festival party in their home town.  They were young, it was spring and things were looking great with the world. 

They were mingling, enjoying the wine, giving the other single unattached young townsfolk the once over, planning their pick up lines when things went to hell in the blink of an eye.

A slaver raid descended upon the party goers, using come kind of alchemical knockout gas bombs they swooped through the meadow stealing the young or attractive or healthy or merely unlucky and stole them back to their waiting ships. 

Strangers at first our five woke up in the bottom hold of a slave ship manacled tightly among 25 other similarly shackled capture-ees.  Most of the others were people like themselves, townsfolk although not all from their town.  There was one beast of man who they found out was a pit fighter by the name of Doan.  Doan eventually freed himself and then his three companions and after a quick search of the vessel the rest.

The slavers on board were all dead, apparently from a very nasty poison.  Each died in screaming pain, their insides eaten away. Each had a circle with a slash through it carved into their foreheads.  Biminey dredged up from the depths of his memory a tale he’d read in the archives of a group of heroes many decades earlier that had fought the slave trade and their symbol was a circle with a slash through it.

[Metagamey - The poison is a particularly horrible way to die. Once consumed it affects the stomach acids and lining, drastically increasing the potency of the acids and decreasing the lining's ability to protect from it.  The affected person literally dissolves himself from the inside out.]

Of peculiar note was the fact that 6 sets of manacles were empty and laying on the floor of the hold.  In addition the ships boat was missing which could easily hold 8 to 10 passengers.

They searched the ship and each was able to arm and armor themselves from the slaver weapon lockers and bags of effects but they found no real valuables on board. As if someone had already cleaned the place out.  Biminey discovered several hidden compartments and recovered a couple of enhanced items that he kept to himself for now, he didn’t know the other people.  He also was able to rebuild his robotic hand [I came up with this as his familiar given his artificer nature instead of the Disembodied Hand familiar].

Comparing notes they realized they’d probably drifted north into sealie territory.  A range of the ocean held by amphibious carnivorous humanoids that defended their territory pretty strongly.  And enjoyed the meat from such defenses.  So they start setting sail back south, it’ll be slow going because they have to tack against the northerly winds.

A few hours later as night was falling Doan declared himself captain and ordered everyone else below decks so they wouldn’t be in the way so he and his three companions also pit fighters could guard the ship through the night.  A few of the other captured objected (our heroes) and were able to convince Doan that they wouldn’t be in the way and should stay up on deck.  (skill challenge).

During this ‘discussion’ a sealie gathering party came across the boat and attacked gaining a surprise round.  The sealie gatherers and guards weren’t a serious threat but there were so many of them that several of the other captured people died before the mass of the attackers could be killed. Â  Doan himself died pushing a giant crystaline ooze creature off the ship which had engulfed one of his companions, the ooze grabbing hold of him even as it went over the side. At least one of the sealies escaped from the fight.  Even as clean up started one of the slavee’s came screaming up from below. 

The ooze or another one like had dissolved several holes in the side of the boat and was working on more.  A few jabs with a spear sent it on its way.  Leaving a boat that was taking on a serious amount of water.

Patchwork was made (another skill challenge) and they had plugged the leaks enough that a 9 person chain of buckets could make headway against the water incoming and already in.

Some of our heroes took a break, Elisssa staying up amidships on watch and Biminey asleep on the wheelhouse.  The rest settled in for a snooze.

Alas it was not to be, a true sealie raiding party showed up, several raiders, a selie shaman and a string of corpses animated by dark arts.

This fight was not to be that easy with Biminey, Elisssa, Torel and Stak all being knocked down and dying.  Biminey was able to avoid such a fate and Dra’kin finally waking up they beat the creatures back killing most but again with one escaping.  The raider that got below decks killed more of the slavee’s before escaping over the side after seeing all his side wiped out.

Without enough people to keep the ship afloat and provide people with rest breaks, their fate looked grim indeed but an island was spotted in the distance and they managed to keep the ship afloat long enough to beach it a couple hundred yards offshore.  A tower atop a plateau in the center of the island caught their attention.  After arranging for the 5 remaining slavee’s and the two remaining pitfighters to remain with the ship and start repairs our heroes headed through the jungle toward the tower.

A skill challenge got them through the jungle relatively unscathed, each lost a healing surge to the difficult jungle conditions but it could have been worse.

At the top of the plateau they found a stone keep, old, weathered with a tower jutting up from inside it. Climbing the worn by age, not use, steps a cleverly carved stone gate, designed to look like wood rose in a jerky halting motion with deep grinding noises revealing an inner courtyard.  Inside they spotted an outdoor temple, pillars of stone raised to the sky without a true roof, stone containers hold flowers and shrubbery and statuary circled by stone benches dot the inner courtyard. 

What wonders await our heroes inside?  I know but I’m not telling.  If you want to know then be there for the next installment.  Or read the aftermath report afterward. 

In terms of phat lewt, the party gained a Pinning Dagger (Torel ended up with it), a Skewering Spear (Biminey), a Circlet of Second Chances (Biminey), and Bloodthirsty Bracers (Elissa).

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House rules in effect –

1. Magic items provide neat effects / abilities.  Defense and Attack bonuses are gained by level. This has a ton of good benefits and no bad ones other than you won’t be able to say I have a +4 sword.
   
2. The first target of an power takes damage of +1/2 of the attacker’s level.
3. Removing 1/2 level bonus from attack and defenses and skills and DC’s on both sides.
4. Adding in a +2 attack bonus for everything.
5. Every healing effect gains +1/2 level in bonus healing on top of any other bonuses.
6. Using average damage for NPC’s.  Players can use average damage or roll normally.
7. Magic Item Usage – You can use all your item dailies once per day.  No more than one use per slot type with the exception of weapons, you can expend two weapon dailies per day.
   
8. You’ll gain levels at key plot points, not by exp.
   
9. Modified skill challenge system.  You have three rounds whether they’re seconds, minutes, hours or years to succeed. How many successes you get determines how successful you are.
10. Mostly Dead.  When you’re reduced to 0 hit points you suffer Weakened, Slowed and Dazed effects and suffer a -5 to all dice rolls for attacks and skill checks.  And must still making dying saving throws (three strikes and you’re dead).