|
Post by GRWelsh on Jul 14, 2021 6:04:34 GMT -5
Eric once had a ninja character (NPC class from DRAGON) who had a rope of entanglement and he abused the hell out it since it was considered to be an automatic hit. I can see why it would be interpreted that way, but most hold or paralyzation effects in the game are not automatic, and require either a saving throw or a successful hit.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 14, 2021 7:18:54 GMT -5
Right, everything is either roll to hit, or a save. Maybe it was intended as a one shot monster attack, and once it's used the party has to cut it off the entangled party members, or if the party got one it would be cut and ruined after a few uses.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 14, 2021 7:30:42 GMT -5
I gave one to the players before, and it was a pain. At one point the character entangled a magic-user. The magic-user had teleport memorized, and since it's verbal only I let him teleport away, taking the rope with him. The party later found the cut pieces of the rope in the magic-user's chamber. In retrospect I probably made it too easy for the party and the rope should have been destroyed sooner.
|
|
|
Post by grodog on Jul 14, 2021 17:08:12 GMT -5
The Greyhawk version is ever more boss:
Rope of Entanglement: A magical rope which will entwine itself around from 2-8 man-sized opponents (reduce or expand accordingly for other sizes of opponents). It can be hit only on a 20, and it can take 20 damage points before it is destroyed.
Needing a 20 to hit (regardless of PC level/monster HD) is quite powerful. And I agree that both versions look like there's no saving throw, no hit roll/it's automatic. I think that's pretty reasonable if you think of the rope as disposable, as you suggest, Scott---sort of like a Quaal's Feather Token perhaps.
Allan.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 20, 2021 8:12:23 GMT -5
The downside of prep work is the inverse ratio between the amount of prep work you do on an encounter and the likelihood that you will use it. The latest example is Nedylene's cave. I expanded the details and fully statted out all of the drow. I included notes for what kind of info Nedylene would share with the party about Eclavdra and Erelhie Cinlu, the politics, factions, etc. And the party completely ignored the cave and walked right into the mind flayers' cavern.
|
|
|
Post by geneweigel on Jul 20, 2021 14:43:50 GMT -5
A foe can have a crude map with a note. Always works.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 21, 2021 11:55:59 GMT -5
Eh, usually, especially at lower level, or with monsters you've designed, but on more than one occasion I've remembered some detail after the fact that would have invalidated the party's coup de grâce attack or made the encounter much more difficult. And I want to give the monsters their due. Coming up is an encounter with almost 30 drow of both sexes, multiple classes and level ranges and magic items. There's no way I could do this encounter justice with a crude map and a note.
|
|
|
Post by GRWelsh on Jul 21, 2021 13:22:10 GMT -5
I think Gene meant you could direct the players back to Nedylene's cave by having them find a crude map and note found on a foe elsewhere.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 21, 2021 13:24:07 GMT -5
Duh!, yeah.
|
|
|
Post by geneweigel on Jul 21, 2021 14:21:42 GMT -5
Sorry, I didn't spell it out.
I meant like "fools with treasure" and an arrow on a vague outline map that emphasizes some feature they noted in passing.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 21, 2021 14:33:46 GMT -5
Oh, you spelled it out fine. I was just having a moment.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 25, 2021 0:08:44 GMT -5
7/24/2021 Session The Party: Plāsolder: 10th level human fighter Corbek: 10th level human cleric (St. Cuthbert) Jastra: 5th/10th level gray elf fighter/magic-user (F) Ember: 9th level human cleric (Pelor) (F) Findros: 5th/9th level high elf fighter/magic-user (NPC) Faeringar Bowman: 7th level human fighter (Corbek's henchman) Ingo: 5th/7th level gnome fighter/thief (Jastra's henchman)
Starday, Harvester 15th, 577 CY Once rested and healed the party returned to the Hall of the Fire Giant King, heading directly to the 3rd level. This time they took the western passage before reaching the mind flayers lair. Just before entering the cavern at the end the party triggered a ballbearing trap. Thousands of ballbearings covered the end of the passage and the entrance of the cavern. Nine female drow rushed to greet them. The party was afraid to move, and the drow didn't attack right away. After a few questions Nedylene guessed the party was responsible for ruining Eclavdra's plans, and she stated as much. She told them she, or most of the drow, held no ill will for them or the surface world, but only Eclavdra and her allies were a danger. She explained that Eclavdra was trying to set herself up as queen of the drow and would likely keep trying to acquire wealth from the surface to finance her efforts. The party did not do a great job asking questions, but they did get the name of the drow city: Erelhei Cinlu, approximately how long it would take to get there (2 - 3 weeks), the fact that there are multiple houses, most following Lolth, but Eclavdra and her allies serve the Elder Elemental God. Eclavdra's house is the Eilservs, and there was no way to get around the mind flayers. Nedylene said she wasn't sure if Eclavdra was still around, or if she returned to Erelhei Cinlu. If she was still around she would probably be at her outpost north and west of here, where the party were already trying to get to. The party wanted to see if she was there, and the drow let them leave. The party entered the mind flayer cavern. The mind flayers emerged from behind two separate rock columns. Three party members moved to engage one, two closed on the other. Ingo became invisible and snuck in to try to back stab. Corbek stayed back in reserve in case he had to use another wish to save them. As the party charged the mind flayers used mind blast, and it was much more effective this time. Plāsolder panicked and turned to flee. Jastra was feebleminded. Ember reached one mind flayer, Findros and Faeringar reached the other. The mind flayers tried domination. Ember saved but Faeringar failed. Facing the mind flayer alone, Ember used Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn to hold it. It triggered the paranoia response. Faeringar attacked Findros, but Findros attacked the mind flayer. The next round Ingo successfully backstabbed the mind flayer and got max damage, 19 points. The mind flayer used its psionic ability and teleported away. Ember was on the verge of attacking Corbek to escape when Findros was able to paralyze her with his wand. Corbek had to use his last wish to restore Jastra's mind, and a cure insanity allowed Jastra to regain her wits. The killed the held mind flayer and found a few gems on him. In the eastern end of the room the found the mind flayers treasure, but were unable to open the small puzzle box. To be continued.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 25, 2021 10:16:51 GMT -5
As dangerous as the mind flayer encounter was, the party only took three points of damage, when Faeringar hit Findros, and used no spells. The wish, the fuel from the Lanthorn, and the charge from the Staff of Curing are big resource hits though, especially heading into a protracted expedition into the underdark with teleport magic unavailable.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 25, 2021 11:28:47 GMT -5
After recovering from the mind flayer encounter the party headed west. They could see a reddish glow ahead and ignored several side passages as they proceeded. The air was growing hotter, and the red glow brighter the further west they went. The passage opened up into a huge cavern. A river of lava bisected the cavern. They could see a rope bridge crossing the lava. Smoke and steam clouded the air limiting visibility. The party centered the cavern to investigate. Two forms emerged from the vapors permeating the place. Humanoid looking from the waist up, but appearing fiendish with skin that resembled molten copper, flames instead of hair and glowing yellow eyes, below the waist they had large, red-orange serpent-like bodies. They slithered towards the party carrying glowing hot spears. The salamanders were 30' away when the party spotted them, allowing a round of missile fire or spells. Jastra used her Wand of Frost to hit them with a cone of cold and finders cast magic missiles at one. The cone of cold did big damage. The party won initiative and the fearsome-looking salamanders were killed before they could attack. The party explored the cavern on their. side of the lava river looking for any other exits or treasure the salamanders may have had. They found nothing and turned their attention to crossing the lava. Nobody trusted the rope bridge...
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 26, 2021 10:18:04 GMT -5
Plāsolder decided to use his slippers of spider climbing to go up the wall and across the ceiling, Jastra would use her wings of flying to cross the lava. Corbek could levitate, but since that only allows vertical movement the plan was for him to hover, and somebody with a rope would pull him across. The levitation would allow him to carry one additional person, and it was Ember. When Corbek and Ember were about half way across the lava, about a dozen drow emerged from several tunnels to the northeast. Plāsolder and Jastra recognized Eclavdra amongst them. Eclavdra recognized them. "Kill them all", she spat in the drow dialect.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Jul 26, 2021 10:19:19 GMT -5
We did not finish this battle. I may wait until after the next session and write it up then.
|
|
|
Post by grodog on Jul 26, 2021 14:18:42 GMT -5
We as well as the PCs were caught in media res, eh? Allan.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Aug 8, 2021 0:37:30 GMT -5
Continuing from the last session, we continued with Eclavdra's last stand at the Hall. It was a brutal, long slugfest. Ec;avdra caught Corbek and Ember with a flame strike, but they both saved. Eclavdra moved to the entrance of the escape tunnel and had the rest of the drow in front of her as protection. There was a lot of attempted magic, but most of it failed, the drow with their magic resistance, and the party with decent high level saves buffed by protection from evil and prayer spells. The drow used their darkness and faerie fire, and the party was continually forced to spend time countering the drow abilities. The male drow fighters were not very tough and they were falling pretty fast, and Eclavdra fled down the escape tunnel. Ember got caught in a viscid globe, and a magic exploding crossbow bolt stunned a few party members, and a few drow that were standing too close, but otherwise the two sides neutralized each others' magic, it was a big, long melee, with the party eventually being victorious. They quickly healed and ran down the passage to try to catch Eclavdra, and were caught by a lurker above. Because of their mad rush, and them not saying otherwise, I ruled they wouldn't be in a tight formation. I rolled random to see how many would be caught by the lurker, 6 of the 7 party members were trapped, luckily Plāsolder ended up being the party member that was not trapped, and with him slashing from the outside, and two party members poking from underneath with magic daggers, they were able to kill the monster before they were smothered. After being surprised by the lurker above, and most of the party taking smothering damage, the party gave up on chasing Eclavdra at that moment. They went back and searched the area where the drow came from. Corbek used true seeing in an attempt to locate any secret doors. There weren't any, but he did find a check that was hidden ny an illusion of a rock formation. The found platinum and gems, a wish scroll, a map, and several potions. The party decided to go back to Nedylene to ask some questions. She told the party it was a ap to Erelhei Cinlu, but she didn't know what the symbols meant. It wasn't the drow language, just symbols the map maker used. The party asked better questions this time and found out that it was common for outsiders of many races to visit the city. They learned of the houses and badges, but Nedylene wouldn't tell them her house or show them her badge. She also guessed at the scale of the map. The party decided to return to town before continuing to buy the supplies they would need for such an extended underground journey. And that was the end of the session and the G series.
|
|
|
Post by grodog on Aug 8, 2021 11:24:26 GMT -5
The party decided to return to town before continuing to buy the supplies they would need for such an extended underground journey. And that was the end of the session and the G series. Do you think they’ll continue, Scott, or get side-tracked once they return to the surface? Allan.
|
|
|
Post by Scott on Aug 8, 2021 12:52:53 GMT -5
Nedylene has stressed to the party that Eclavdra is still a threat and if they don't deal with her, she will definitely be back to cause more trouble on the surface. Plus, news of the drow has spread and brought several noble elves to the party's base in Sterich, and they will urge the party to investigate the drow homeland.
|
|