Please do not spoil anything beyond the point in the Adventure Path that my gaming group has gotten to!
Thanks.
So my gaming group is playing through "Three Faces of Evil", the second adventure in the Age of Worms adventure path. We had some player arrivals and departures back at the beginning, but now seem to be settled down into a stable group.
The PC's are:
Paladin (my PC)
Psion (Egotist)
Ranger (archery focused)
Cleric (heavy healing focus)
Artificer (Eberron style class)
At the end of the last session we had just finished up a battle in the stronghold of the Vecna group and killed what I assume to be the Faceless One we've been hearing so much about. We had already polished off the Hextor group and the Erythnul (sp?) grimlocks. We haven't had any chance to explore the Vecna area beyond that, as it was really late and we all had to leave as soon as the battle was done. (So no discussion of what's in there please.)
Anyway, this adventure has been a little frustrating in that we've basically been trapped in the mine for two levels now. We had to bribe our way past the Dourstone Mine guards to get in, so we can't exactly tramp back out and go to Diamond Lake whenever we please. We've had to keep going back to hole up in the Hextor compound to heal up. It's pretty much been one long, blood-soaked slog.
Frankly I think it's a little silly that the other factions just wait while we heal up after we go in and smash them up, then retreat. I mean, the Hextor compound has a pretty solid door with bars, but you'd think they'd at least pound on the door or something. That seems to be the way the adventure is designed to play out, though.
It's been pretty frustrating for our Artificer, who can't build anything or scribe any scrolls while we're down here (DM's ruling). He has, honestly, been not exactly the powerhouse that I've always heard Artificers were supposed to be. He mostly ends up taking hits so that the more offensively oriented party members can stay up longer.
Anyway, the battle locations have at least been interesting. I like how the use of natural rough terrain and ledges and hollows made the grimlock caves more challenging. The Labyrinth was fun too, with the bird-guys popping out from behind secret doors and sniping at us. And when they brought out the dire weasels things got scary fast. Nothing like 1d4 con damage a round to put the fear into PCs. Lucky for us we were able to run back out and recover before having to face the dude with a necklace of fireballs.
The Faceless One went down pretty easy, though. Mostly it was because the psion was letting loose with Energy Stun every round, and the DM rolled lousy on saving throws. I think the Faceless dude got to act about 2 rounds out of a six round combat. He managed to get his summon off, but a Huge Centipede isn't all that threatening. The only really worrisome moment was when my paladin got dropped to negatives from 8d6 points of fire damage. Two wizards with a scroll of scorching ray each can do a heck of a lot of damage!
Faceless Dude also got some breathing room with a Web, but killing the bird-things in the Labyrinth had left us with a good supply of alchemist fire, which made clearing a path much easier. (And the archer took him out in the end anyway.)
Anyway, I hope we can a little more room to move next adventure. We leveled to 5th at the end of last session, and I am looking forward to getting my paladin's bonded mount. I've even invested in the Mounted Combat feat and would appreciate the room to use it.
Like I said, this adventure has been very claustrophobic.
Thanks.
So my gaming group is playing through "Three Faces of Evil", the second adventure in the Age of Worms adventure path. We had some player arrivals and departures back at the beginning, but now seem to be settled down into a stable group.
The PC's are:
Paladin (my PC)
Psion (Egotist)
Ranger (archery focused)
Cleric (heavy healing focus)
Artificer (Eberron style class)
At the end of the last session we had just finished up a battle in the stronghold of the Vecna group and killed what I assume to be the Faceless One we've been hearing so much about. We had already polished off the Hextor group and the Erythnul (sp?) grimlocks. We haven't had any chance to explore the Vecna area beyond that, as it was really late and we all had to leave as soon as the battle was done. (So no discussion of what's in there please.)
Anyway, this adventure has been a little frustrating in that we've basically been trapped in the mine for two levels now. We had to bribe our way past the Dourstone Mine guards to get in, so we can't exactly tramp back out and go to Diamond Lake whenever we please. We've had to keep going back to hole up in the Hextor compound to heal up. It's pretty much been one long, blood-soaked slog.
Frankly I think it's a little silly that the other factions just wait while we heal up after we go in and smash them up, then retreat. I mean, the Hextor compound has a pretty solid door with bars, but you'd think they'd at least pound on the door or something. That seems to be the way the adventure is designed to play out, though.
It's been pretty frustrating for our Artificer, who can't build anything or scribe any scrolls while we're down here (DM's ruling). He has, honestly, been not exactly the powerhouse that I've always heard Artificers were supposed to be. He mostly ends up taking hits so that the more offensively oriented party members can stay up longer.
Anyway, the battle locations have at least been interesting. I like how the use of natural rough terrain and ledges and hollows made the grimlock caves more challenging. The Labyrinth was fun too, with the bird-guys popping out from behind secret doors and sniping at us. And when they brought out the dire weasels things got scary fast. Nothing like 1d4 con damage a round to put the fear into PCs. Lucky for us we were able to run back out and recover before having to face the dude with a necklace of fireballs.
The Faceless One went down pretty easy, though. Mostly it was because the psion was letting loose with Energy Stun every round, and the DM rolled lousy on saving throws. I think the Faceless dude got to act about 2 rounds out of a six round combat. He managed to get his summon off, but a Huge Centipede isn't all that threatening. The only really worrisome moment was when my paladin got dropped to negatives from 8d6 points of fire damage. Two wizards with a scroll of scorching ray each can do a heck of a lot of damage!
Faceless Dude also got some breathing room with a Web, but killing the bird-things in the Labyrinth had left us with a good supply of alchemist fire, which made clearing a path much easier. (And the archer took him out in the end anyway.)
Anyway, I hope we can a little more room to move next adventure. We leveled to 5th at the end of last session, and I am looking forward to getting my paladin's bonded mount. I've even invested in the Mounted Combat feat and would appreciate the room to use it.
Like I said, this adventure has been very claustrophobic.
