Khyber's Harvest, almost wiped at encounter 2!! - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Khyber's Harvest, almost wiped at encounter 2!!

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Phobos
Jul 17, 2009 10:02:14 Might be some spoilers, so be warned. Were running this in Eberron (although implied, just making it clear) so I'm sharing this here.

We started with a level 2 party, 5 characters (but only 4 to start). The 5th was to be found inside the cave after the initial fight. Perhaps that started us off wrong to begin with.

We had a Warforged fighter (defender), a Kalastar Invoker (controller), a Gnome Artificer (leader) and a Goliath Barbarian (striker). Our Dwarf Warden (defender) was inside.

The players were doing an awesome job on investigation, the story was going great. They had found not one, but two necklaces so far, but were not really aware of what they meant or who they were symbols for.

Approaching the cave they failed to see the hidden blades, and only spotted the orc axemen. As a result the warforged and goliath went into the clearing while the invoker and artificer stayed hidden near the bushes.

There is a lot of in game roleplay going on, the invoker telepathically suggests the war/gol try to bluff the "guards", they already suspect all is not as it seems and know they are not villagers. Talk about the worst two characters to try and pull this off....flat out they bomb the challenge.

So in a fun scenario, I pretend they succeed and make them think they are about to be escorted inside. Their plan is ambush the guards by having the invoker and artificer come up from behind...only what happens is, they are ambushed when the invoker and artificer move up, the blades come out and are now in easy striking range.

The battle was not horridly long, but what struck me was the excellent roles I kept getting for the orcs, 17-20 plus bonus. Damage was just as bad. The warforged was bloodied after the first round of combat.

Needless to say I had to start fudging some results behind my screen and fast. When it was all over, all encounter powers were used, the artificers healing was depleted, the warforged was inert, and the barbarian was below 10 health.

It was exciting, but a bit hair raising. They played their classes well, and by all accounts did not make too many tactical mistakes once they got control of the situation, but dice be dammed!

#2
serphet
Jul 17, 2009 12:47:03 sounds like a case of good roles on the DM's part.
#3
Arcane_Guyver
Jul 17, 2009 13:56:31
...what struck me was the excellent roles I kept getting for the orcs, 17-20 plus bonus. Damage was just as bad.

My DM chair was hot this week, as well. I and the other two DMs had some mad d20 luck going, to the players' detriment. :embarrass
#4
nthdegree256
Jul 18, 2009 11:44:08 I know I saw another thread where people were discussing the difficulty of this adventure, and Hellcow popped in to suggest that the suggested tactics for some of the encounters play it a little rougher than he had originally intended - the
Show
shadow monster encounter,
#5
Hellcow
Jul 19, 2009 16:09:45 I do suggest you check out my comments on this thread. I hope you enjoy it!
#6
polt
Jul 21, 2009 10:10:06 It's a pretty easy fix though.

You see that the second encounter of your game is too hard. So you help the pcs. You fudge your rolls. You convince the players they're winning, and then the bad guys do something that prevents the players from following (smoke, darkness, web, whatever). Then the bad guys flee into the cave, and you're done.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Phobos Jul 17, 2009 10:02:14	Might be some spoilers, so be warned. Were running this in Eberron (although implied, just making it clear) so I'm sharing this here. We started with a level 2 party, 5 characters (but only 4 to start). The 5th was to be found inside the cave after the initial fight. Perhaps that started us off wrong to begin with. We had a Warforged fighter (defender), a Kalastar Invoker (controller), a Gnome Artificer (leader) and a Goliath Barbarian (striker). Our Dwarf Warden (defender) was inside. The players were doing an awesome job on investigation, the story was going great. They had found not one, but two necklaces so far, but were not really aware of what they meant or who they were symbols for. Approaching the cave they failed to see the hidden blades, and only spotted the orc axemen. As a result the warforged and goliath went into the clearing while the invoker and artificer stayed hidden near the bushes. There is a lot of in game roleplay going on, the invoker telepathically suggests the war/gol try to bluff the "guards", they already suspect all is not as it seems and know they are not villagers. Talk about the worst two characters to try and pull this off....flat out they bomb the challenge. So in a fun scenario, I pretend they succeed and make them think they are about to be escorted inside. Their plan is ambush the guards by having the invoker and artificer come up from behind...only what happens is, they are ambushed when the invoker and artificer move up, the blades come out and are now in easy striking range. The battle was not horridly long, but what struck me was the excellent roles I kept getting for the orcs, 17-20 plus bonus. Damage was just as bad. The warforged was bloodied after the first round of combat. Needless to say I had to start fudging some results behind my screen and fast. When it was all over, all encounter powers were used, the artificers healing was depleted, the warforged was inert, and the barbarian was below 10 health. It was exciting, but a bit hair raising. They played their classes well, and by all accounts did not make too many tactical mistakes once they got control of the situation, but dice be dammed!
#2 serphet Jul 17, 2009 12:47:03	sounds like a case of good roles on the DM's part.
#3 Arcane_Guyver Jul 17, 2009 13:56:31	...what struck me was the excellent roles I kept getting for the orcs, 17-20 plus bonus. Damage was just as bad. My DM chair was hot this week, as well. I and the other two DMs had some mad d20 luck going, to the players' detriment. :embarrass
#4 nthdegree256 Jul 18, 2009 11:44:08	I know I saw another thread where people were discussing the difficulty of this adventure, and Hellcow popped in to suggest that the suggested tactics for some of the encounters play it a little rougher than he had originally intended - the Show shadow monster encounter,
#5 Hellcow Jul 19, 2009 16:09:45	I do suggest you check out my comments on this thread. I hope you enjoy it!
#6 polt Jul 21, 2009 10:10:06	It's a pretty easy fix though. You see that the second encounter of your game is too hard. So you help the pcs. You fudge your rolls. You convince the players they're winning, and then the bad guys do something that prevents the players from following (smoke, darkness, web, whatever). Then the bad guys flee into the cave, and you're done.