Epic Level Campaiging - Idea #3: Godlike

The last of my Epic Campaign Trilogy ideas is the New Gods campaign.

• What if the reason that the gods have no stats is because they have faded away?
   
• Why do we assume that the gods are more powerful than the Level 32 or 33 demon prince, or a level 34 elemental lord?
• What if upon assuming an Epic Destiny the character is actually filling an empty slot in the pantheon? Or what if they are all empty?

One of the posts in the thread that inspired this series of posts mentioned the Norse myths that feature Thor and Loki going out on adventures - drinking with giants, etc. Some of them read very much like what D&D characters might do. So what if the "Gods" are really just level 30 characters? Norse, Greek, and even Egyptian gods exhibit very human behavior, interact with mortals in some very direct ways including getting caught up in their politics. They also wander the land and the planes at times, fighting mortals and monsters and getting wounded and occasionally killed. That doesn't sound much like the modern concept of a "God" as an immortal all-powerful entity - that sounds like a high-powered mortal.  Star Trek and numerous comic books and probably many other sources have postulated the idea that ancient gods may have been advanced alien beings worshiped as gods by primitive peoples - why not use all of that?

My proposal for using this in Epic pretty much requires that you be OK with using the planes as an adventuring option. If that's OK then let's roll forth. Some  assumptions:

1.  As long as there are intelligent beings inhabiting the world then there are divine forces driven by their thoughts and passions and beliefs - this is a "gods are powered by belief" point of view, not a "gods are powerful in and of themselves" point of view. Each of these things combines to create an energy in the universe - Divine Power (think white light). Each of them also empowers its own specific power source - War, Music, Sky, Sea, Motherhood, Love, Wisdom - pretty much anything you could be a god of, has a separate stream or "color" of the divine spectrum.
    
2. The energy created by each of these individual forces looks for a focal point, and that focal point is a always a particularly powerful mortal that is attuned to that particular energy. A Barbarian who chooses Demigod as his epic destiny at level 21 becomes the focal point for War. A Paladin who chooses Glorious Spirit becomes the focal point of Honor. A Wizard who chooses Lorekeepeer becomes the focal point of Knowledge. They don;t have to be divine characters, that's just how it works. To put it in more D&Dish terms, the epic level character becomes an Avatar or that force, kind of like how gods in older editions could send an avatar off around the planes to take action. In this world, one of these forces is what allows a mortal to proceed beyond level 20. Without choosing an epic destiny, mortals top out at 20, so by definition (again - for this world) an Epic level character is a god, the personification or anthropomorphizing of a belief. It is this extra power that pushes him beyond what mere mortals can achieve.For whatever reason, this tops out at 30 - you can go no farther in your current form. Beyond level 30 the character becomes one with their force and no longer has a physical form - all they can do is manifest as a spirit and give warnings or advice - think "force ghost" like Kenobi in Empire Strikes Back and you have the right idea. Another angle: "Strength" is eternal, the God of Strength is not.
3. There are physical beings in the universe more powerful than level 30. Some of these are Elemental Lords and they powerful because they were born with the universe and have been in it since day 1. Some of them are demon or devil lords, and they are powered by the souls they claim from foolish mortals when they die - mortals who worship a particular force (in the guise of whatever god they believe in) join with that force, but those who fall to evil outsiders go to power them instead. Long ago (say, in 1st edition ) they were weaker but over the centuries they have grown immensely in power and now may be strong enough to overcome the gods themselves. In any case, 30 is a mortal limit, and these beings are not and never have been mortals.
4. People worship the gods who long ago ascended to become one with their force because they don't know any better - mortals are not  educated in the technical details of life beyond level 20. These old gods can still appear to their worshipers and they can still see what's going on in the universe but they can no longer affect it directly, which is why mortal followers and champions are so important. The gods tend to rise in groups (aka pantheons aka adventuring parties), remain in power for a time, then grow more distant from or less active in the world (as they hit level 30 and begin to fade out). This explains the different representations of gods over time but since it is tied to a particular force much of the religion remains consistent over time, with only the physical representation really changing.
5. This means that the power of a religion, or a group of religions, or even Divine Power in general, tends to be cyclical - Heroes ascend to Epic, take a very active role in the universe damaging things, repairing other things, and just making waves in general. Then they hit level 30 and though they may hang around for a time they will eventually merge with their force and then things quiet down for awhile. Until a new set of gods arise. Often, the spirit of the previous god of that force will take a very active role in selecting a new one through prophecy, dreams, and direct communications with priests and champions of the faith. Maybe the reason those new gods come about is in response to some Demonic or Chaotic stirring in the universe - Orcus starts to upset the balance of things and heroes begin to ascend in response (which is why there's a plot waiting for them at level 21). In short gods arise to solve a problem, but once that problem is solved they tend to get bored and eventually merge with their force out of boredom if nothing else.

Just to state it clearly, my goal with these ramblings is to come up with a system of divinity that fits the game mechanics rather than trying to reconcile two existing, set things. If the gods are "Level Infinity" or off the scale, then a demon prince at level 34 can never really be a threat to them in any way within the game system. That means the reasons for the whole "we have to stop Orcus or the universe dies" start to look a little contrived and it relegates the players to sidekick status at best, even at Epic levels, which is exactly when they should NOT be sidekicks. Instead, if it's "Nope, you're the God of War now, good luck" then they have a whole new level of responsibility and might even feel something of a burden and fear of dropping the ball. That's how Epic should feel  - there is no higher authority.You can't radio Starfleet and ask for help. You can't wait for Superman to show up.You can't assume Elminster is going to clean up your mess.  Using this approach, if the universe dies it truly is your fault.

One fun thing to do - and I would be tempted to wait until the players ask about it - would be introducing them to their Astral Domains. Every god has one, right? So one day they wake up and they just know how to get there. When they do they are greeted by their angels or archons or elementals or whatever type of servants they have, led around the realm by their majordomo, taken to their citadel and shown their throne, and generally made to understand that this is real - they are now the god of X and this is their place. They can learn to reshape it in the form they see fit (maybe as a skill challenge the first time they try) and they can decide who to allow to enter and leave.


There are some problems with this idea. For one, it pretty much means you can't use any of the published campaign worlds as written. I'm thinking if you want to go whole hog with the idea that the Spellplague REALLY messed up the Forgotten Realms you could try it there - the gods faded with it and no new ones have arisen but it's time now. Purists in your game will probably scream, but they probably already screamed when the 4E Realms came out anyway so why not? The default D&D world could work too - maybe one of the reasons  the Empire of Nerath fell was because Erathis faded out and no one replaced her. It might also work in Dark Sun too, but you're talking major changes if you run a campaign set after the ascension of these new gods. Secondly you want to keep it secret from your players, or at least I would. The look on their faces when they hit 21 and pick a destiny and you tell the wizard "OK, you're now the god of magic" should be priceless.  However it means the gods can never physically manifest in the campaign prior to the big moment and for some campaigns that might not work. Thirdly it is quite a different take on things than most Divine hierarchies in D&D so it may not work for your group - that's OK I'm not sure it would work for some of mine. The idea that Thor is someone's 28th level barbarian and Loki is a 26th level rogue might blow too many synapses. But I'm going to do it, sooner or later.

As always comments and criticism are welcome.

Epic Level Campaiging - Idea #2: JLG

Idea #2 is "Justice League Greyhawk" - Looking at 4E, Epic level characters have amazing powers and are very hard to kill. Maybe we need to stop looking at dungeon crawls and start looking at other genres for inspiration - especially other genres that feature high-powered characters....like Superhero comics, movies, and games! If Heroic Tier corresponds to street level super heroics, and Paragon is similar to something like the X-Men, the Epic means you're one of the heavy hitters.What's more Epic than saving the world? Some staples of superhero campaigns that translate fairly well are:

• Alien invasions! So, instead of aliens use demons, or elementals, or dragons. Maybe Elemental Lords have decided to destroy the material plane to return it to the elemental chaos. Maybe the demons have breached an ancient gate and are pouring out of it en masse. Maybe Dragons have been rare in your game before but now they start showing up in flocks like birds - where are they coming from and why? 

• Defeating the evil megalomaniac mastermind .is a pretty common thing in super stories too.  What if an evil god has had enough of "balance" and finds an artifact or spell or forms an alliance that gives him the power to lock away the other gods?  By level 20 or so Divine PC's would be fairly big players in the gods' organization on the plane - they might get one last urgent message hinting at what is happening followed by silence. When things start to change they will take action. When's the last time your 20th level cleric was on the run from something, hunted by enemies who know what he can do and want to hurt him? If you're hurting for plot think "what would Lex Luthor do? What would Doctor Doom do? What would Apocalypse or Darkesied do? The ideas should come soon enough.

• The War in Heaven - In some comics two alien races may go to war and that war eventually spills over into earth. This works a little differently than the invasion plot (or it could be used as a precursor to the invasion plot) in that the aliens are not interested in controlling the planet - it just makes for a convenient battleground. The PC's will probably not like random battles between an Earth Titan and a Pit Fiend wrecking their home town, especially if they are running things. They may start off like a fire brigade and try to stomp out individual threats, eventually realizing that that's not a long term solution. Instead they have to try and end a conflict between two alien races - and that's a whole different kind of problem than "Kill Orcus". Think of the ways this could be accomplished: 1) Try to arrange direct negotiations between the leaders of both sides 2) pick the side they favor then help them eliminate the other one, with the PC's as valued allies and captains among the force 3) Create an alliance of other parties (maybe other powerful characters or even some other outside race that hates both of the warring races) and wipe out both sides, or devastate them to the point they stop fighting. This allows for the possibility the new allies go too far and begin exterminating the now-weakened warring factions which ends up forcing the PC's the switch sides to maintain some kind of balance. Your aliens here could be demons, devils, elementals, dragons, giants, slaad, or some kind of undead.

Now some of these would benefit from the laying of some groundwork at lower levels. Say you want to make demons a part of Epic play.

• Sometime in the Heroic levels your party is hassled by demonic cultists and their annoying high priest (a recurring enemy) and eventually tracks them down and wipes out a temple to Demogorgon.

• In Paragon play a new powerful force arises on the fringes of their home territory and it turns out it's led by one of the 12 Death Knights of Demogorgon. Skirmishes ensue until the final confrontation with the army and its leader at the climax of the paragon levels. Maybe in one battle their old enemy turns up having been recovered and raised or maybe he's a demon now and leads one of the fights against the group. At this point the PC's may wonder why a demon prince is taking such interest in their homeland - a stealthy approach back in Heroic and now a more direct approach in Paragon. Maybe there's a resource or an artifact the prince is after? Or maybe he's secretly after on of the PC's and trying to lure him into a fall?

• In Epic the demons start popping up, and causing trouble,  maybe kidnapping an important NPC ( a love interest, an apprentice, an heir),  forcing the characters to pursue to the Elemental Chaos and eventually to the Abyss.  The party must fight through a horde of demons before facing off with the big bad himself. If you just want to have a big fight, let the party face off with the remaining 11 Death Knights of Demogorgon first, before the big bad enters the field. At this point you could go for a straight up fight or maybe there's a twist - the prince doesn't want to fight the PC's, he wants their help in defeating some other evil that's too strong for him while he's holding off his rivals. Tharizdun, elemental lords, a titan - there's something else out there that he can't beat so he's looking for help the only way a demon can. There are all kinds of possibilities here with the party having to decide if they want to help a demon prince out, whether to take him out first, or if he's even telling the truth.

One of the challenges at Epic is filling out 10 levels worth of action. One of my solutions if you are going to feature a Big Bad or Bads is to make the lieutenants interesting (and powerful) so that it makes their leader that much more impressive. Maybe the deathknight Vorthax is known for having a skeletal appearance, wearing burned and blackened plate armor, and wielding a greatsword that burns with green fire.His powers use a lot of fire and he mostly fights with his personal Nightmare and a pair of corrupted fire elementals. A different knight might have blue skin and live in a fortress in the frozen north, having a lot of cold powers and fighting with n army of undead. The others would have their own quirks and flavor and be of varying power levels. Think "Supervillains" here if you run out of easy ideas, it could restart the creative engine.

In the example above you could detail out each of the 12 Knights and have the newest and weakest member be the climactic opponent for Heroic tier, the one they face in the final battle that takes them to 11th level and sets them on their path for Paragon. A rationale here could be that rather than living in the Abyss  each knight has to build and maintain a fortress on the material plane and that's what this one was trying to do when the PC's stopped him.

During the Paragon adventures there could be several quests involving contact or conflict with the Knights until at Epic levels the group realizes they are the key to defeating Demogorgon and targets them systematically. They wouldn't be the focus of the campaign until early Epic, but they lend both continuity to the campaign and a sense of accomplishment as these long-term evils of the campaign world are slowly extinguished  The characters become mighty heroes righting wrongs and establishing themselves as the defenders of the world, then face off with a major threat - the master of these immortal terrors himself.  At that point it could be a straight-up fight or the DM could throw in some twists as outlined above.

Overall I think it's a valid approach to running Epic adventures. It could begin as a more reactive approach to things - superheroes tend to be more reactive than proactive anyway - but it doesn't have to stay that way for long. Once the threat to the city/kingdom/world has been identified then they can go on the attack to resolve it, hopefully leading to a satisfying ending to the campaign.

Epic Level Campaiging - Idea #1: MANG!

I've been reading this thread at EN World about Epic Tier play and there is an interesting mixture of opinions in it. There also seem to be a few people throwing up their hands and saying they can't see how to make it work due to campaign impact, lack of enemies, or a disinterest in planar themes for their game. I had some ideas on all of those so I have outlined three ideas for Epic play, the first of which is below.

Note: If you have been running a campaign for 20 years and have players that have been running the same characters for that long then you may not want to do any of these. I think that after a few years a campaign achieves a certain comfort level and those involved, players and DM alike, would be loathe to upset it too drastically.  Also, Epic play is designed (in 4E anyway) to have an end point. This is a totally different attitude than many old school campaigns that were intended as an open-ended sandbox kind of thing that had no planned ending - as long as someone was interested, the campaign would keep rolling along. Neither one is wrong, they're just very different and I would say incompatible at a basic level unless people are willing to risk shaking things up. This particular one is a concept that the world could recover from though - read on:


For those who really don't like the extra-planar element, how about this:  Your PC's have achieved level 20, defeated major evil, and secured a comfortable life for themselves as rulers or leaders of the kingdom. All is good and no one is terribly interested in attacking the Abyss or baiting Tiamat or giving Ogremoch a bath. Then one day a large chunk of rock floating in the sky is sighted off the coast of the players' continent. It moves inland, casting a shadow across the land, then disgorges all manner of flying creatures and ships that begin terrorizing the kingdom, then a magical projection informs the populace that they are now part of the Empire of Mang the Unmerciful. Cue dramatic music and player reaction!

Yes, this is Epic Idea #1 "Mang the Unmerciful" or the invasion from across the sea.

First, who is Mang? Mang is a higher-level Epic character who has chosen the path of the Dynast or the Empire Builder and is working hard to make it come about. He has legions of troops from all kinds of races the PC's have never seen. He has strange magic they have never encountered. He has seen it al land done it all and nothing will surprise him. He has a destiny to fulfill and nothing will deter him, either.

Alternatives: none really. You need to make this guy up, probably just like a level 30 PC. You could have a ruling council instead of a single leader, but  then you lose the epic destiny angle. unless you make it an adventuring party. Heh. That would enable a series of smaller climaxes as each one is confronted and defeated leading up to the final defeat of the last few characters at the end. It could be a fun alternative if you're had a lot of singular bad guys at lower levels

Second, How does it start? If you want dramatic build-up, let Mang start with a neighboring kingdom, maybe an ally, or maybe an enemy. Let him make an example of them. This should be an alien threat and it should use none of the conventional featured monsters of the campaign thus far and it should utterly dominate. Later, conscripted conventional forces will add a little horror to the campaign as the defeated are added to Mang's unstoppable war machine. The initial actions of the PC's are likely to be reactionary - gather forces, gather information, find out what's going on - but at some point will become proactive as the invasion proceeds. There could even be an initial setback as the PC's kingdom is conquered, their cities are razed, and their armies defeated. They may have to retreat and regroup.

Alternatives: If your world is completely mapped then Mang is from one of the moons. Your world has moons right? It's right there in your notes - it's just that no one cared enough to ask about them before. If not then maybe he's from the Hidden Moon that no one speaks of - clearly an evil place, perhaps tainted by the Far Realm.. Going there is probably dangerous. If he conquered it then he is clearly a major major badass and probably has powerful backing.

Third - Resources? Say you're playing in a normal campaign world like the Forgotten Realms. Well then Mang's troops include a whole bunch of Warforged ala Eberron and a bunch of monsters and races from the Dark Sun books. Banned the PHB 3 in your campaign? Make the enemies Psionic! The main thing is to give the warlord's forces a feel of being totally alien. Imagine a group of players fighting Drow for the first time ever in the form of a 20th level hit team coming to assassinate the king. Darkness dropping everywhere, plentiful use of poison attacks, female leaders - it's a whole different thing from say orcs, ogres, and giants. Plus, if the divine figures prominently in your world then the Emperor may have whole pantheon of gods backing him - alien gods the PC's know nothing about, or a pack of Elemental lords, or even an Infernal or Abyssal power.I like the Alien Gods idea best  - keep the players guessing. Make it a Far Realm power and blow their minds.

Alternatives: What, you don't want to drop a bunch of Warforged Battleminds on your PC's? Ok, then use extra-planar race but make them non-extra-planar. Githyanki would be great here - alien, powerful, and mean. They don;t have to be specifically from the Astral plane - they are from "a distant kingdom". Mang defeated their lich-queen and forced the entire race into servitude which the race hates but they have no choice. this easily leads to an adventure to rescue the lich-queen of the githyanki, setting the race free and robbing Mang of one of his most powerful troop types. heck, they might even join the PC's army with a good diplomacy roll...

Fourth -  What do they do? The players have to get away from the initial invasion or turn it aside then either join it or try to stop it. This is about the time they should be choosing their Epic Destinies - Demigod? Maybe you are the "Fist of Ares" chosen to lead his armies. Archmage? Maybe you are the Arcanist Supreme, defender of the world against the threats of the corrupted magic of the Far Realm. Trickster? You are the Ultimate Rebel, focal point of the forces of Chaos to resist this eruption of Law and restore the natural order of things.  Once destinies are chosen then the players should be full of ideas - teleport to Mang's homeland and find out his enemies and weaknesses; Gather a force of dragons and make a direct assault to capture one of his smaller floating fortresses to begin fighting him on even terms; craft a magical artifact capable of blowing his floating fortress out of the sky; unleash the tarrasque to give him a different problem  to deal with; Rally the faithful across the entire continent to gather an army as large or larger than his -there are all sorts of options so let your players do some of the lifting here. It should be epic - think Star Wars, with Mang's floating fortress as the Death Star and you're on the right track..

Alternatives: If they decide to join him then the campaign then just got really interesting. The PC's get to pay back all those other power=players that snubbed them in prior sessions. The Epic destinies could be tied up with recruiting allies to join the fight -the abyss, the nine hells, archons, elemental lords, the primal spirits, etc. Other sources of inspiration here involve anything that covers a struggle against overwhelming forces: Babylon 5, Lord of the Rings, Terminator movies (hey time travel), Space Cruiser Yamato - inspiration is everywhere.  Think "missions" rather than wandering around type adventures and it should be good. 

Fifth - How does it end? Well it could end with the last surviving PC having a sword-duel with Mang on the top of his fortress as it slowly falls out of the sky, but that can be hard to arrange. It could be a raid on dragonback to fly into the interior of the fortress and destroy the magical engine that powers it or infiltrating the rock, drawing off the elite guard, then facing off with Mang and his second-in-command inside the palace. Perhaps Mang is slain as the apparent climax of the campaign then the alien god that lent him its power manifests over his dead body and an even bigger fight is on for the finale at level 30.

Alternatives: A lot of this will depend on what your players do but there does need to be a way for them to win and it does need to be more than poisoning Mang's drink IMO. Serious damage should be done, depending on how much you want to hit the reset button at the end. This is a good way to "change the map" and set the world up for a New Age, which might even be the next campaign. Maybe one of Mang's lieutenant's escapes with a smaller fortress and some troops and becomes the main threat for that next game at the lower levels, becoming a permanent part of the new landscape, along with new races and new magic types and items.

Return to the Ruins of Adventure - Session 13:

Our heroes:

Mikal, Level 3 Human Infernal-Pact Warlock
Althea, Level 3 Eladrin Wizard
Uthal, Level 3 Goliath Barbarian
Jovanni, Level 3 Half-Elf Bard
Kordan, Level 3 Human Fighter

Hiding in the ruins for the night after the battle with the Zhentarim the party rested their bodies and refocused their will on the upcoming ambush. Their preparations were complete and they expected to begin combat sometime before dawn. Soon enough, the slightly muffled tramp of booted feet can be heard approaching. Peeking out of their positions, the heroes take in the sight.

The hulking form of an Ogre leads a small procession. Behind him a half-orc in black plate armor carrying a shield and a massive flail appears to be the leader of the band. He is accompanied by another half-orc in chainmail and bearing a shield with the symbol of Bane and carrying a mace. Five orcs escort them with heavy armor, shield, and battle axe while hovering over them is a flaming green skull that darts back and forth, scanning the ruins. It looks like a tough bunch, and a hard fight.

(DM Note - it was. This was the longest fight of our 4E campaign at 14 rounds)

With their extra preparation time the party achieves surprise and opens up with ranged attacks and some repositioning. The Ogre is the primary target and he roars in pain.

After the initial surprise though, fate turns against the party as almost all of their attacks go wide or are deflected by the now alerted Banites. The Flameskull moves into optimum position and begins flaming party members, eventually dueling at range with the wizard. Kardon the fighter has to fight through the orcs to engage and slays two of them as he does so. The cleric becomes a target after firing off a nasty spell and he goes down quickly. Mikal the warlock concentrates on the Ogre until his infernal feedback loop (Hellish Rebuke) takes down the Ogre when the Flameskull blasts him and this turns the tide. Uthal the Barbarian fights through orcs as well and engages the half-orcs but is hit by a spell and has trouble shaking it off. The fighter keeps the Banites busy until he can shake it off and then things thin out quickly.

In the end, the Half-Orc Hand of Bane stands through it all with the flaming green skull keeping overwatch near him as he duels the barbarian and the fighter. Both of them take beatings from the leader but he is eventually overwhelmed and falls. the flameskull takes one last shot, nearly killing the bard, then turns to run but the barbarian finally lands a hit on it and shatters it forever.

While the rest of the party catches their breath Kordan searches the bodies and eventually finds a large sack on the leader. He opens it and finds the armor rolled up inside.He unrolls the Invulnerable Coat of Arnd as sunlight shines down and dramatic music swells in the background, and realizes his destiny is now set.

That's when he hears a small voice call out to him from the ruins

"Well I thought we might have been too late to the party but I see you've saved us some trouble.  Now hand over the armor and we'll let you live."

The party glances around and notices a lot of heads popping up in the ruins. Small heads. They appear to be surrounded by halflings, and they wear the colors of the Fire Knives.

Uthal Commentary


DM Notes: This was a session-long combat, our longest by far, but it was pretty dynamic with a lot of movement back and forth, ranged attacks, and some minions that actually survived more than 5 rounds. The warlock, the wizard, and the bard all took pretty good beatings too, which is unusual. Even a single tough fighter type, assisted by a buffing buddy and a ranged combatant and some minions to hold off the concentration of fire, can be a challenge for the party.

Round 2 saw an almost 100% miss rate by the party so Round 3 saw 3 action points being burned which helped turn things back around.as the cleric was killed by this extra effort. After that there was some effort to focus fire on one target but it was not totally successful as even if 2 or 3 characters focus on one target it's rare for the entire party to do it on one. This will be a theme that shows up in future summaries too.

This was a level 8 encounter, 5 levels over the party, and they handled it - it was tough, but no one died and they did slaughter all opposition. I think same-level encounters may be too easy for them (and I haven't done many of those after 1st level) but I am encouraged that a +5 encounter was something they could handle. This gives me more options down the road in terms of opposition.

It was long and it was tough but I think everyone was happy with it. I thought the nastiness of it served as a pretty good test to acquire the armor but I didn't want them to just walk away with it, so another group has been watching and plans to move in now to seize the prize while they are (theoretically) weakened.  The party was concerned but not afraid. More next time.

Bonus Monday Post

Just as a special bonus post, here's some more 4E character talk. This is a potential backup character if the Tempus Cleric goes down unexpectedly.  First, some fluff:

For the Realms one of the big "evil" areas is Thay. The Red Wizards of Thay have been a threat to the Realms since the 1E version of the world. Now in 4E the leader of the region is a super-lich who has imposed his will on the formerly somewhat fractured nation. The leaders of the region are known for magical power, evilness, and intriguing against one another.

Also in 4E Tieflings are now a standard player race. Since they are both somewhat tainted by evil as a race and somewhat magically inclined I think an association could be made with their ancient homeland of Bael Turath (mentioned frequently in the 4E default world setting) and the current Realms nation of Thay. That is, perhaps whatever was there before the Red Wizards took over was the center of the old Tiefling Empire. Tieflings might now be in a somewhat subservient role to the interloper humans who moved in after the collapse and took over. Stealing some easy references, they might operate somewhat like the Narn in the early seasons of Babylon 5 - a race dominated by another and chafing under the yoke. I would also envision their society as being somewhat like Klingons from Star Trek, though not the Samurai Klingons of the Next Gen era but the Cold War Klingons of the original series - ruthless, calculating, deceptive, not afraid of a fight but preferring to have the odds on their side, but not humorless drones either. Note that I don't see this as "all Tieflings"  are this way, I see it as "this particular group of Tieflings" is this way. Other groups might be more like the later Klingons, while others might be more like Ferengi, to continue the Trek references.

One new class for 4E is the Swordmage. This is an Arcane class that is mainly a melee fighting class that goes with light armor and uses magic for defense and mobility. It's portrayed as an Eladrin thing but there's no reason to think they're the only ones who started this. I can see an ancient order of tiefling mage-knights who wield nasty blades and light armor and go teleporting around the battlefield.

The outcome of these three ruminations is Kor Koloth, Tiefling Swordmage. Let's look at a 4E character line by line:

Kor Koloth, level 1
> Yeah it's a trick name but I like it.

Tiefling, Swordmage
Build: Assault Swordmage
Swordmage Aegis: Aegis of Assault
> Simple enough. There are 3 types of Swordmage - one that shields allies, one that pulls enemies to them, but I choose the one that goes after the enemy.

Background: Thay (Thay Benefit)
> This is key - the "Thay" background lets us use Int as the base score for hit points instead of Con and this is huge as you will see in a minute.


FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 14, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 20, Wis 9, Cha 12.


STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 14, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 18, Wis 9, Cha 10.
> Tieflings get a +2 to Int and a +2 to Cha. Intelligence normally affects Reflex defense, Armor Class, and some skills. For Swordmages it is also the primary attack stat - almost all of their powers are "Int vs. something". For this character, with the Thay background, it also is the base for hit points. So by making these choices we have made Int by far the most important ability score and thus it's worth getting it up to a 20. Normally I'm fine with an 18 primary, even with a racial bonus, but this is too good to resist.


AC: 20 Fort: 12 Reflex: 15 Will: 13
> And here is one reason why: Swordmages get a +3 to AC id they have one hand free and are in cloth or leather armor. So AC is Base 10 + 3 for the class feature, +2 for leather armor, +5 for Int modifier. Starting out with a 20 AC is  huge for a front-line melee combatant. For comparison, a 1st level Paladin in Plate + Heavy Shield is also AC20. it's about as good an AC as a starting character can have. His other defenses are alright, with Reflex being pretty good due to the Int bonus.


HP: 35 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 8
> Here is the other reason we wanted a 20 Int - it means we start with 35 hit points! That's as much as a starting character can have short of taking the toughness feat and that's probably gong to show up down the road. Defensively this character is a beast, with a very high AC and very high hit points - for a frontline defender this is awesome, and for one who could be teleporting around the battlefield away from healing it is even more beneficial.


TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +10, History +10, Diplomacy +6, Athletics +7
>He's likely to be the party authority on Arcana and History, he's not terrible at Diplomacy, and physical challenges are no problem either.


UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics, Bluff +3, Dungeoneering -1, Endurance, Heal -1, Insight -1, Intimidate +1, Nature -1, Perception -1, Religion +5, Stealth +2, Streetwise +1, Thievery
> Well everybody has a wekness and his is here. He's OK with Religion but the 9 Dex and its -1 modifier hurts him on some important skills. The penalty can be erased down the road but he is by no means a skill-monkey.


FEATS
Level 1: Intelligent Blademaster
> This feat allows him to use Int as his attack stat on Basic attacks. This is important because some swordmage abilities allow him to make Basic attacks when triggered. Basic attacks also come into play with Opportunity Attacks, and as a melee defender class he will see more than a few of those.  Taking this lets us ignore Str for attack bonuses and maximizes the use of our 20 Int.


POWERS
Swordmage at-will 1: Luring Strike
>This is a normal attack that lets him shift himself and the target if he so desires

Swordmage at-will 1: Greenflame Blade
>This one will see a lot of use as its a normal attack that does Str modifier damage to all enemies adjacent to the main target. This is one reason to raise Str to a +2 modifier even though we've focused on Int for our attacks - that Str modifier boost shows up in a lot of Swordmage powers and 2 points is enough to slay minions. If he gets swarmed while all by himself he can clear out a bunch with just one hit. It also has the Fire keyword - more on that below.

Swordmage encounter 1: Flame Cyclone
> This is a close burst attack that does 1d8 fire damage + Int modifer + Str modifer. It's another minion sweper, basically, but with the double modifer it does enough to hurt a group of non minions too.  This also has the Fire keyword.

Swordmage daily 1: Frost Backlash
>This is a single-target attack that is an immediate interrupt , so it fires off when Kor is hit - it does triple damage + Int mod so it's pretty nasty and it doesn't burn up one of his own attacks - on his turn he can act normally.

Future deelopment here would be to take Hellfire Blood at level 2. This is a Tiefling-only thing that adds a +1 to hit and damage to all attacks with the Fire keyword - and there are a lot of Swordmage Fire attacks, starting with one of the at-wills and the encounter power chosen above. This means that using a longsword Kor normally has a +8 to hit with his Int-based attacks. When he advances to 2nd he will get a +1 level bonus, and if he takes this feat he would then have a +10 with most of his attacks when a +7 or +8 is considered pretty good. He would also have a pretty nice damage modifier.

Also down the road could be proficiaency with the Bastard Sword (for the d10 damage on a 1-hander) and maybe Toughness (+5 hit points at heroic) to enhance one of the already strong parts of the character. With a feat at every even level he could be very nasty and very tough by 6th level - as if he wasn't already.

So there you have it - I like the concept and actually had it before I had any mechanics down beyond "Tiefling Swordmage" and wondering how that would work. Once I got happy with the idea I discovered that mechanically it is very potent both for offense and for defense - always a nice discovery. Personality wise I would probably play up the Klingon thing - calm, calculating, and not afraid to bervally taunt his enemies.

Anyway I don't typically spend a lot of time here on mechanics and that is not likely to change - I just wanted to run through it once to show some of my thinking when working up a new character.

Motivational Monday

Random Saturday Notes - I've played a game of 4E D&D!

Well it's a big deal for me as I run almost all the time and I haven't been a player since a 3-session run in the fall of 2009 which was a 3.5 game.  One of my players wanted to run a one-shot game to warm up his DMing skills after a few years so I jumped at the chance. As usual I over thought the whole thing.

With a week's notice I knew I wanted to play a leader type so I made up 3 different warlords and then tried out about 3 different clerics. Then I made an avenger and a sorcerer just in case someone else wanted to play a leader. In the end, I settled on a battle cleric that is the next generation of one of my old sets of characters. We started at 1st level and the party was:

• Dragonborn Paladin of Torm (played by the Warlock player in my usual game)
• Human Avenger of Oghma (it's very funny - DON'T YOU KNOW THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM? was utttered more than once during the game - played by the Bard from my usual game)
• Half-Orc brawny rogue with dual daggers played by Lady Blacksteel (very brawny - 18 Str, 18 Dex, another major change from the Wizard she plays in my usual game)
• Dragonborn Dragon Sorcerer played by Apprentice Red (I normally keep the kid game and the grown-up game separate but we needed a 5th player and he was available)
• Human Battle Cleric of Tempus played by yours truly (more below)

I thought I would ramble on a bit about my character since I don't get to play them very often. Butalus Maximus the IVth is the most recent scion of the Maximus family that began back during a 2nd edition Forgotten Realms game. I liked clerics just fine in D&D back then but once Faiths and Avatars came out they were my class of choice for the rest of that edition for one reason: Specialty Priests. Basically each deity in the realms got a custom class that still had some connection with divine magic but got a lot of other nifty powers as well. Tempus specialty priests got to use a nasty spiked gauntlet and got to pick one non-blunt weapon as their signature weapon and they got a +1 to hit and damage with it. So in short order our party had a half-elf cleric in blackened full plate wielding a longspear and refusing to heal anyone who had more than half their hit points left (this wasn't totally dickish behavior - there was a specialty priest of Mystra in the party as well and she was pretty easy with her healing). He eventually died fighting a Red Dragon.

His human nephew joined the priesthood soon after and took up the two-handed sword as his chosen weapon and had a decently successful career (replacing his sword at least 3 times) before retiring with the advent of 3rd edition.

During  early 3E days Brutallus III made a brief appearance but the campaign ran in spurts and never really got a lot of momentum. The new flexibility of 3E meant that he didn't have to be a specialty priest - couple levels of fighter and a whole lot of cleric worked just fine. "Three" followed his predecessor and used the great-sword to great effect in his limited career.

(Yes I still have some of these character sheets. maybe I will post them up one day and look at characters through different editions)

So now a few years into 4E and Maximus IV finally appears. His first outing was not especially impressive - first roll to hit "1". Second roll to hit - "2". Later during the same session he managed a "4" and a "6" and even in 4E those are bad rolls. He did manage to help the rest of his party though, particularly in tagging a beastie with Righteous Brand (at will attack that does standard damage but gives one ally a +3 to hit it on their next roll) and setting the Rogue up to absolutely annihilate things with dagger +Dex bonus + Str bonus + Sneak Attack Damage boosted by a feat. Every time she hit on her turn it was for 20+ points of damage. Whew.

He also talks a little like Hulk Hogan, a lot of "Let's go get 'em brother", "Brother, have you heard the good news about Tempus? -Headbutt - Now you have!" and that kind of thing. Because that's what his ancestors did and it doesn't feel worn out after taking 8 or 9 years off.  He also doesn't heal you if you aren't bloodied. "That'll make a nice scar" was also said more than once during the session.

We fought some crocodiles at a swampy river crossing and some giant frogs near a sunken keep and it was a blast, even with multiple crappy rolls. It was especially refreshing playing with Lady Blacksteel and an apprentice and some friends of 10+ years and finally being on the same side! I really need to get back on that side of the screen more often.

Super Campaigns - Have we been doing them wrong for 30 years?

While working on the supers background and villains etc., I had a flash of insight and realized I may have been doing this wrong since the early 80's. Details:

Many many players come into RPG's through D&D. What's the modus operandi for a typical D&D campaign? Let me put a typical intro into my own words:

"You are a cut above the common man. Imbued with skills and abilities that set you apart. Instead of hiding in a town leading a mundane life you venture forth and test your abilities against the toughest of foes and if you survive you claim great rewards of treasure, fame, glory, and increased power."

So the PC's are special and they seek out trouble, defeat it, and take its stuff. I'm sure some of you can see where I'm going with this, but let's look at some more:

Shadowrun: You're special - better than almost anyone else at what you do. You work with a team and carry out dangerous assignments for rich rewards - sometimes for cash, sometimes for gear.


Star Wars: You have special talents and skills that make you stand out from the crowd. Seeing the tyranny that oppresses so many, you decide to fight against the existing social power structure. There are rewards of course, both material and not, and much of the reward you receive from each strike will be used to plan and execute the next strike, or to bolster your capabilities for those future strikes.

Vampire: You are special, different from the masses. You know that true power lies in the hands of a few individuals who largely maneuver behind the scenes - and you want that power. Or maybe you want to live a life of decadence - either way, inevitably someone like you, maybe even an old friend, will cross your path with a conflicting goal and conflict must result.

So in the implied campaign setting of all of these games you are a gifted individual who decides to take a path to power and that path often involves violently taking what you want from other people. You also tend to fight against, operate outside of, or feel apart from normal society, ignoring conventional laws or morality. Clearly we have been doing it wrong all of these years - we're not supposed to be playing Superheroes - we're supposed to be playing Supervillains!

Think about how other games work - the PC's listen for rumors, decide what they want to do, then go invade a dungeon/hit a corporate office/attack a hidden imperial base/ thrash a street gang and make off with loot, blueprints, respect on the street, etc. They don't sit around in the secret lair all day waiting for a call for help like firemen! They don't patrol a city waiting for trouble to erupt - they're the ones who go in and start the trouble!

If the police or city watch represent conventional authority, in which games are the PC's allied with them?

• Vampire - unless they secretly control the police, most Vamps want nothing to do with them and have little to fear from them anyway
• Star Wars - Stormtroopers are the enemy in most games, as is anything Imperial
• Shadowrun - Lone Star is something you run from or misdirect, not something you typically see as a cohort. 
• D&D - I can safely say that my players have spent far more time on the wrong side of most City Watches than they have spent having them as allies. Most of the time  it's a mutually uncomfortable tolerance, and I don;t think our experience is unusual.

So in none of these other games are the local authorities viewed as helpful allies. yet in most supers games the police are reinforcements, or cavalry, or helpful sources of information. They are on the players' side, which is a deviation from the normal RPG paradigm. This may be one reason supers games are less common - they feel different than most other RPG's and this is one major reason.



So what's the answer to this? Rebel anti-heroes? Nah, they're still reacting to events, they're just crankier. I suppose you could run something like the first Blade movie where he comes into town hunting vampires and is the one who initiates the action, but that's difficult to maintain over a full campaign with a limited enemy group Star Wars works because the enemy can be quite varied - Bad Jedi, Bad Droids, Bad Clones, Death Stars, etc. Maybe if you ran one campaign to establish some equally diverse organization as the main threat to peace, like say Viper in the old Champions universe. Then you could run another campaign focused on "Viper-Hunters" and it could be cool, but there's a simpler solution: just have everyone play Supervillains.

Now Necessary Evil tried this in a way (and it's great) but it still turned the villains into anti-heroes more than traditional super villains. I think we need to try a full-on Villainy Runs Amok campaign.

Some might say "but true villains would never team well enough or long enough to make that work." To this I respond that it happens all the time in the real world. There are plenty of real individuals with strong self-interest who can still see a bigger picture enough to work well with others, from corporate types to sports team owners to movie stars to just flat out wealthy individuals. Sometimes their plans work, sometimes they don't, but they keep trying.

There are other motivations as well - a common cause can bind together all kinds of strangeness. From comics you have the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and from Star Wars you have the Rebel Alliance just for starters. If the PC's start from a common origin then that may be a really good reason for them to form a group and stick together.

OK so how would this work - what's their goal? Simple - money and power, just like D&D. Some might have more complex motivations, but if those have been good enough for a huge number of D&D campaigns then they will do for a start. If Player A wants to build a giant laser to write his name on the moon he needs equipment so he needs to steal it or steal enough money to buy it. Player B wants to steal Impervium Man's latest suit of powered armor. Player C wants to get their name on TV and become famous. They decide to break into Stane Labs one night, steal the suit, steal a bunch of other valuable technology, and then send out a broadcast with Character C as the narrator crowing about what they did. It sounds a lot like D&D, or Shadowrun, or Star Wars to me. This is also awesome as a DM as you can go with the same mindset as you would in those other games - set up some different opponents around the city (or the country) including their bases (like a dungeon), include wandering opposition (police, patrolling heroes, corporate security). Plus I can still use all those nifty villain books - after all it's not like they never fight each other. If you look at it as "the city is the mega dungeon" then you begin to see some remarkable possibilities.

This also leads to some very interesting choices while avoiding some cliches. Superhero registration act? Who cares - we aren't heroes. But wouldn't that data be valuable to some people...? A secret organization is hunting mutants? Big deal - LOTS of organizations are hunting us! Alien invasion? Now we get to the interesting part, as heroes would just automatically jump in to stop them. The bad guys might still do that (invasions are bad for business) but they also might try to make a deal,  play both sides, seize an opportunity to take out a rival, or even ignore it and go for the gusto assuming that the heroes will handle it, leaving the banks more vulnerable. There are just a lot of interesting choices that heroes may never get to make but that these guys will.

I see a lot of freedom in a campaign like this, beyond the already pretty wide open superhero campaign. Not the "freedom" of playing evil characters in D&D where the word usually meant you could use poison freely and screw over your buddies while commuting imaginary rape and murder. No, it's freedom in the sense of turning genre standards upside down and giving players a chance to make different choices while following those instincts honed by years of dungeon-looting, TIE-blasting, and corporate extractions.

Am I going to run this right away? No. One, I need more time to think about it. Two, I need to establish the universe before I can turn it upside down and I have one session so far with Atomic City. Three, I think it's better for the kids to play the good guys anyway for now. When I get the chance, I'll let my older players try out Villainy Goes Amok in a different city most likely - maybe Millennium City from Champions. Letting the two groups operate at a distance but in the same world could mean a lot of possibilities down the road, from a straight-up slugfest between the two to some side-switching between heroes and villains.

Actually I really like that idea - maybe the Thursday Night Game is West Coast Heroes while the Saturday Night Game is East Coast Villains. Running them in parallel with two groups and planning to do it that way could be really awesome in a sustained campaign. I probably can't do it in 2011 but if the new supers game goes well then that would set up beautifully for 2012.

OK, so there's the awesome idea for the week. It gives me a nice long-term angle on Atomic City that I had not previously considered and maybe someone who reads this will get a chance to pull it off before I do. If so, let me know.

Return to the Ruins of Adventure - Session 12: Black Robes

Our heroes:

• Mikal, Level 3 Human Infernal-Pact Warlock
• Althea, Level 3 Eladrin Wizard
• Uthal, Level 3 Goliath Barbarian
• Tavar, Level 3 Deva Invoker
• Jovanni, Level 3 Half-Elf Bard 
• Kordan, Level 3 Human Fighter 

After scouting around and listening to more scuttlebutt our heroes have chosen an ambush point along the route they believe the Temple of Bane will be using to transport the Coat back to the temple. Word is that the Legion will escort them to the edge of Crimson Legion territory but not outside it. Another rumor says that a sizable temple force is meeting them at Kuto's Well, leaving only a small window of vulnerability between the edge of Podol Plaza and the ruined keep at the well. It is along this route that the heroes lay in wait.

While settling in to this site the party sees another group moving into the area, consisting of 3 figures in black robes and a few fighter types in black armor - apparently others have some bad intentions towards the Banites as well. This is not a tenable situation and as soon as both parties spot each other initiative is checked and battle is joined.

Fighting in a ruined section of city can be messy - there are only limited clear areas, there is plenty of cover, and it's difficult to move quickly if a situation develops. This proved out as the wizards on both sides unleashed big blasting magic right away and the more mundane types opened up with missile weapons. Uthal was the exception as he charged in.

In short order two of the guards are down and the Invoker is seriously injured. The two war mages have a power that does area burst poison damage and ongoing poison damage making them quite nasty. They can also blind a target and have various other ranged attack powers. The Black Sun adept has a power called "Rebellious Limbs" that lets them move a target against their will and them make a basic attack against themselves too and this was used against the barbarian very effectively, eventually causing Uthal to drop and begin making death saves. Uthal and Tavar took the brunt of the attacks but everyone was wounded at some point during the fight and it came down to one of the war mages blasting away as the entire party converged on him and blew him to cinders.

Fixing up the two most-wounded party members, the group searched the black robed strangers and determined that they were Zhentarim, an evil criminal organization thought banished from this area. It was not a good sign, but at least this particular problem had been solved. Hoping their cover had not been blow with all of the pyrotechnics, the party staggered back into the ruins to hunker down and wait for the real ambush.

Uthal's take on things

DM Notes: This was a long fight, 8 rounds, that took several hours of real time, pretty much the whole session. These kinds of encounters are very different from a solo encounter like a dragon - this was more similar to the early early fight against the other adventuring party (outside the tavern) in that this enemy group had defender-types who could tie up an opponent while the 3 striker/controller types in the back could unload freely. This kept the barbarian and especially the fighter from closing on them and locking them down until the very end of the fight. Of course, with a wizard, a warlock, and an invoker, not to mention the bard, the team does not lack for ranged blasting abilities of their own - it was just a different kind of fight.

One interesting part of this encounter was that the party was reluctant to use their daily powers because they knew their true quarry was coming along soon and they knew that would be a tough fight, possibly tougher than this one. Once the hurt started coming in though, they did go ahead and use their big guns.  Then of course they spent a week of real time worrying about whether they would have time to rest before the next fight. There has been some discussion about players who go 1 encounter, nova off all of their powers, then retreat to safety before starting the next encounter. There are several ways around this, as shown here, and they mainly involve the concept that the players do not always get to decide when they will take their next extended rest, the DM does. Now they can certainly try to take one,  but the monsters don't always stay in their holes and wait to be attacked - sometimes they come after you. Other times an entirely different set of monsters stumbles over you and screws things up. There's just no telling the future at 100% accuracy, even in D&D 4.

Return to the Ruins of Adventure - Session 11: Jailbreak!

Our Heroes:

• Mikal, Level 3 Human Infernal-Pact Warlock
• Althea, Level 3 Eladrin Wizard
• Uthal, Level 3 Goliath Barbarian
• Kordan, Level 3 Human Fighter

We begin in Podol Plaza as the auction for the Invulnerable Coat of Arnd  wraps up. Rumor says that the lone survivor from the expedition that retrieved it is being held at the Crimson Legion's jail, a large stone tower on the edge of the plaza area. Thinking that the prisoner might be able to give them some intelligence (and that he is worth something to the temple of Torm) they decide to rescue him and then figure out how to acquire the armor.

Approaching the tower, the group notes a strong wooden door at ground level and some archers up on top of the tower. They knew the jailers were bugbears and that it would be a tough fight but there was no discussion of negotiation or deception. Althea used ghost sound to distract the archers as the party rushed the front door as quietly as they could. Not having a competent thief in the party Althea used her Fey Step to teleport inside, surprising a table full of bugbears playing dice. She then released the bar securing the door and welcomed the rest of the party inside and combat ensued. Facing the 4 man party was a 4 bugbear guard team who formed a battle line and dared the party to advance. This is where the barbarian's incredible mobility and the fighter's Tide of Iron proved their worth and made a mockery of their formation, splitting them and moving them into various positions advantageous to the team.

During the fight the head jailer bursts up out of a trap door to the dungeon and the fight gets a lot more serious. The barbarian takes a beating but unleashes a crit with some nasty barbarian power and takes a bugbear down, while the fighter exhibits his ever-improving stickiness by keeping the jailer off of the wizard, who is busy setting the hairy supergoblins on fire as is the warlock. Eventually the party triumphs in a tough fight that the DM rather enjoys.

After the fight the team heads downstairs and finds cramped smelly cells, one of which contains a seriously wounded cleric of Torm. They bind his wounds, get him mobile, and decide not to linger in the tower. On the way out it becomes apparent that the archers up top have sealed the trap door to their level with something heavy so the party makes a high speed exit from the area after ghost sound shows its efficacy again. Evading local patrols (Skill Challenge!) they eventually find a good spot to rest for the night and plan a way to heist the armor from the Banites.


Uthal Commentary on this session

DM Notes: This was a shorter session as we were down two players but we still had a good time. I spent some time setting up a skill challenge in case the party wanted to talk their way in to the tower but there was no need - my group is very much a Plan A team and there was no way they were going to negotiate with bugbears. Still, it felt good knowing they had the option if they chose to do so.

One of the missing characters for this session was the bard, and without a leader type the bugbear fight was somewhat tougher than it probably should have been,  but it was a good close fight with a lot of maneuvering in tight quarters. Plus some bugbears have a fun little "grab" ability that lets them use a party member as a weapon. It didn't work out but it was fun to try. the fight lasted 8 rounds, which is on the longer side for us.

 Several things are starting to become apparent about each character in combat:

• Once the Fighter gets on something it's not going anywhere, it's not making any ranged attacks, and it's not going to land a hit on anyone else. He's incredibly "sticky" and is a serious pain the DM's rear when it comes to executing a battle plan for the badguys. Plus as his reward for the Kuto's Well adventure he took a throwing shield, one he can throw and it returns to him in the same turn so he's not just a melee guy even when he's decked out for melee combat - now he's frigging Captain America too so he's getting even more ability to interfere with my combatants.
• If the barbarian wants to get somewhere he can do it regardless of what I throw in front of him. He's too strong to stop with a grab and his class abilities let him move through (or worse, charge through) opponent - occupied squares.and the Brutal hammer he uses ensures he gets decent damage at a minimum - most of the time it's much worse. He can be dropped, but it takes a lot of effort.
•  The wizard has learned how important the phrasing of those area/burst/blast powers are, where "all enemies in burst" vs "all enemies in burst" makes a great deal of difference, particularly in how much grief yo uare going to get from your own party. As a result she mostly has "enemy" targeting spells now other than Thunderwave. That stupid auto-hitting magic missile is pretty annoying too as it's a guaranteed 8 points of damage every round ignoring cover etc and that's the bottom of her damage curve. 
• The warlock is interesting as he often ends a fight with more hit points than he begins with. He has a very regular attack routine of Curse->Blast->Move (to maintain his concealment bonus) and pretty soon every enemy on the board has his little curse marker on it which means he gets temp hit points every time one of them dies. When pressed he can also unleash all kinds of area fire damage effects that usually mean he gets more hit points or some other bonus too.  He is rarely tested in melee but he's annoyingly effective there too.

There was only one combat encounter in this session which seems a little low, but there was a fair amount of planning, then the fight, then a skill challenge, then some more planning so no one seemed to feel short-changed. it was another good example of role-playing in combat as various quips were made, exclamations uttered, and verbal kicks to sensitive parts of the anatomy.  It was a good "action" session after the more talk session prior to this.