Comments on: TPK http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/307 Advice on making your game great. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:31:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brian http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/307/comment-page-1#comment-40521 Brian Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:13:25 +0000 http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/307#comment-40521 Cold dice were, indeed, an issue for you unfortunately. Mike was a little bit luckier with his rolls, which could account for the fact that the fighter and ranger were the longest-surviving party members. As far as the bad guys' numbers went, most of their defenses were in the same range as yours. The soldiers and skirmishers both had AC 16, with their other defenses lower than that. Keltis Doran had a 17, again with everything else lower. The toughest enemies by far were those skeletons, with AC 18, Fort 15, Reflex 16, and Will 15, and 45 hit points (50 after Doran had worked is inspiring mojo). Combine that with their +10 to attack, and they were pretty nasty; easily the biggest threat in the battle. Part of the problem, also, was that I got some lucky recharge rolls. Those soldiers had a Powerful Strike ability that had to recharge after they used it: 1d10+6 damage, plus you get knocked prone. Pretty nasty, and they kept on getting their recharges. Doran also had some nasty ones that kept on recharging; he kept on missing, though, because of the ranger's use of cover. I kind of wonder about those skeletons. Their attack bonus seems pretty darned high for 3rd level, and I can't figure out where it comes from. Assuming they use Dexterity (their best stat) for their attack rolls, that's a +4, +1 because of their level, and maybe a +2 from the longsword, itself. That's +7. Where did the last +3 come from? Is it some sort of arbitrary bonus? I guess I won't know until I crack open the Monster Manual and see the methodology behind monster design. Cold dice were, indeed, an issue for you unfortunately. Mike was a little bit luckier with his rolls, which could account for the fact that the fighter and ranger were the longest-surviving party members. As far as the bad guys’ numbers went, most of their defenses were in the same range as yours. The soldiers and skirmishers both had AC 16, with their other defenses lower than that. Keltis Doran had a 17, again with everything else lower. The toughest enemies by far were those skeletons, with AC 18, Fort 15, Reflex 16, and Will 15, and 45 hit points (50 after Doran had worked is inspiring mojo). Combine that with their +10 to attack, and they were pretty nasty; easily the biggest threat in the battle.

Part of the problem, also, was that I got some lucky recharge rolls. Those soldiers had a Powerful Strike ability that had to recharge after they used it: 1d10+6 damage, plus you get knocked prone. Pretty nasty, and they kept on getting their recharges. Doran also had some nasty ones that kept on recharging; he kept on missing, though, because of the ranger’s use of cover.

I kind of wonder about those skeletons. Their attack bonus seems pretty darned high for 3rd level, and I can’t figure out where it comes from. Assuming they use Dexterity (their best stat) for their attack rolls, that’s a +4, +1 because of their level, and maybe a +2 from the longsword, itself. That’s +7. Where did the last +3 come from? Is it some sort of arbitrary bonus? I guess I won’t know until I crack open the Monster Manual and see the methodology behind monster design.

]]> By: Rich http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/307/comment-page-1#comment-40519 Rich Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:26:32 +0000 http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/307#comment-40519 You forgot to mention cold dice. I had very cold dice, and couldn't manage to hit ANYTHING. Meanwhile, baddies attacking at +8 or +10 against AC 15? Definitely not going to last long that way. The Pally's slightly more stout AC 20 held up better for a while..... And on the other side of the coin, I don't know exactly what the baddies AC numbers were, but we had +4 or +5 to hit. Not conducive to surviving, especially when outnumbered. I do agree that crowd control may have helped a lot, but at the same time, would it have? Don't know how well the "area effect" spells work, especially when they have the same low attack bonuses that the others have. You forgot to mention cold dice. I had very cold dice, and couldn’t manage to hit ANYTHING. Meanwhile, baddies attacking at +8 or +10 against AC 15? Definitely not going to last long that way. The Pally’s slightly more stout AC 20 held up better for a while….. And on the other side of the coin, I don’t know exactly what the baddies AC numbers were, but we had +4 or +5 to hit. Not conducive to surviving, especially when outnumbered. I do agree that crowd control may have helped a lot, but at the same time, would it have? Don’t know how well the “area effect” spells work, especially when they have the same low attack bonuses that the others have.

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