I ran MINI 1-3 today and pretty much had fun. Going into it I was of the opinion that it was gonna be the weakest of the Embers modules and I didn't change my mind, although some bits were better than I'd expected. On the other hand, I like the Embers mods a lot, so I'd still say it was on the average to good side of the LFR spectrum.
The bad: two fairly dull tactical encounters. The first two fights are pretty vanilla. The kenku can provide a surprising threat for a round or so but it's dependent on minions to a large degree, so it's fragile. I'd recommend thinking carefully about having monsters hold actions for that one. The mocking and taunting is a redeeming quality from a roleplay point of view, though.
The second fight -- yeah. Guards, a fence, done. Ah well.
I also disliked the skill challenges. 8 successes is a lot for an interrogation scene. It was really tough not to let it devolve into 6 Intimidation checks in a row. Roleplay helped but there's only so far you can go with it. The second skill challenge has the same problem: too many checks for too little ground covered. It really felt like neither of them were written with any attention to the DMG2 skill challenge chapter.
The good: the third encounter rocked my house. One of the strikers critted with his daily right off the bat, then AP'd for a finishing blow on the duergar. On the first round. But the fight still gave the PCs fits -- dust devils driving vulnerable PCs into lava flow is a definite win. A lot of PCs wound up spending entire rounds dragging their friends out of the fire.
The fourth encounter was also reasonably good. I like situations where the PCs need to figure out how to get past bottlenecks. It encourages cleverness. I also like throwing the gauth at low level parties, because it's an iconic monster.
The big bad's speech -- goofy as hell. I'd say all in all I wasn't blown away by the writing... little stuff like someone snapping their wrist twice in two paragraphs. Just a little clunky.
Cute kid roleplay is fun for me, so that's a good. I like Rathloff no end as well. And here's what really makes the module for me: it's the point at which Windrise Ports becomes a real place rather than a string of encounter locations. NPCs knowing each other is great connective tissue (and yes, I can't wait to run the end of MINI 1-4).
So yeah -- OK module made better by context. I'm not surprised it was a bit dull given that it's the natural low point in the six module sequence. Still loving Embers as a whole.
Be glad your group managed to win initiative and get rid of the duergar early. If he wins initiative, that combat becomes hard for the DM to avoid causing a TPK (without playing him dumb). +9 vs. NAD will hit most of the characters, and if you knock everyone prone, then most will still be within range of the attack which blinds. If the elementals also push the party into lava and keep them within an area burst 2 ... shudder.
Then come in with the third big damage attack, and mop up everyone who is left. I've decided that duergar theurges are the most challenging enemies that I've ever faced and run, as long as there's any terrain or enemies to keep them from being run in and immediately smacked down.
I've decided that duergar theurges are the most challenging enemies that I've ever faced and run, as long as there's any terrain or enemies to keep them from being run in and immediately smacked down.
Personally, I'm very curious about which designer/developer decided to change their damage from 1d8 (the Thunderspire Labyrinth version) to 3d6 (MM2) for most of the Duergar Theurge's attacks.
Sure, 3d6 is on the limited damage expression table for a level 5 monster. And sure, each of the abilities arguably qualifies. IIRC, one is Daily, another is recharge 5-6, and the last is recharge when first bloodied. But when a creature has three abilities that use this damage value, and two of those recharge, that means the DT will usually be able to use one of these abilities every round. This doesn't fit the limited damage expression's description, which is that it is for abilities that might get used "once or twice an encounter".
Be glad your group managed to win initiative and get rid of the duergar early. If he wins initiative, that combat becomes hard for the DM to avoid causing a TPK (without playing him dumb). +9 vs. NAD will hit most of the characters, and if you knock everyone prone, then most will still be within range of the attack which blinds. If the elementals also push the party into lava and keep them within an area burst 2 ... shudder.
The duergar got init and dropped Brimstone Hail immediately, actually. Then the sorcerer in the party stood up, critted with Chromatic Orb for 36 points, and followed up with a 15 point Chaos Bolt. So there you go... another reason to like having range in the party.
But yeah, that was a lucky crit and a good damage roll.
When I first played it, our group took one look at the setup and decided not to enter the killing field:
Narrow alley. Iron fence. Convenient Balcony. And a skybridge?!? They might as well write "THIS IS A TRAP" in big letters on the entrance to the alley.
So, instead, we asked the DM, "what are those buildings to the right and left of the alley?"
"Apartment Buildings."
"OK, we'll walk into the apartment buildings, find the stairs and walk up to surprise the archers waiting on either side of the skybridge."
"There seems to be an apartment at the end of the hall; there is no sign of a skybridge."
"Fine, we'll break in. Theivery 25."
"Still no sign of a skybridge."
"Wierd, well we're still not stupid enough to walk into that trap--we'll climb up to the roof, walk across, and enter through the roof of the villain's house. Are these flat-roofed buildings or do they have peaked and angled roofs?"
Our plan didn't work out perfectly, but it did keep the barghests from doing much until the gauth slid the paladin off the roof. Then the barhests proceeded to roll poorly and we lowered a rope and hauled the paladin back up before the barghests could savage him completely. My group cannot have been the only players who looked at that setup and said, "no way; we're not that stupid." So, I think a DM should be prepared with some basic idea of what to do in the event that the PCs decide not to walk into the jaws of that trap.
Another element of the mod that requires contingency planning is the second combat encounter. So, you just snuck into a guarded compound and you notice a pair of tieflings guarding a suspcious looking gate. You know that there is a barracks full of guards pretty close to the location. So, on the face of it, it looks like a situation where the sounds of combat could bring the whole camp down on your heads. We figured the situation called for a bluff so I snuck into the barracks and stole uniforms for the group and we tried to bluff our way in. We didn't have a very good plan (that's what happens when you let the 8 wis rogue and the 8 wis psion do the planning), but we did manage to at least get rid of the outside guards without causing a ruckus. My impression is that, story-wise, a non-combat encounter would be highly appropriate there and any groups with the appropriate skills might well attempt to bypass the guards with liberal usage of bluff, diplomacy, bribery, etc. I would go further and say that, regardless of the technical limits of DME, a good DM should be prepared to run non-combat solutions to getting past the guards at the inner gate.
I continue to enjoy the series. I look forward to playing the next one soon.
I enjoyed the multiple possibilities inherent in investigating and getting into the mines. Our DM ran with whatever we came up with, and we managed to bluff our way in as labourers.
My major complaint is that it was just too short. 4 fights and 2 skill challenges in what was supposed to be a double slot? It took us just over 5 hours, and we hardly hurried through the skill challenges/RP sections. If I'd travelled to a con with the intention of playing this over two slots, I'd feel short changed.
1 Thing I've never liked about MINI 1-3 though is the barfight SC and the getting into the restricted area combat.
It's not so much that I don't like the encounters it's more that I don't like the barfight being a SC, afterall what adventurer is going to cower away from a barfight that was unprovoked and the way that you can't really sneak/bluff your way into the restricted area.
As a a result I plan on DMEing the 2 encounters by doing a direct swap. I think the barfight SC with a slight variation on the wording but using the same complexity and skills would fit perfectyl to get into the restricted area and then have the combat from the getting into the restricted area as a bar fight. Again using the exact same monsters as if they just happen to be in the bar at that time and take exception to the PCs asking about their bosses.