The Year of the Dragon

It is, in fact, the year of the dragon now and what a year it is shaping up to be!

My epic tier campaign is finishing out our last adventure in the Scales of War Adventure Path, which puts them directly into conflict with the mother of all chromatic dragons herself, Tiamat. Epic Tier play has gotten a lot of attention in the last year from bloggers putting up all kinds of ideas on how to address the issues around the most broken of the tiers of play in 4th Edition D&D and using all the benefits of all that iidea space along with three years of DMing experience, I’m reworking a great deal of the final adventure to give it more panache and a strong finish to a campaign that will hopefully be worth remembering and celebrating.

I’ve talked already about the issues that have come up with railroading the party, which my party actually really likes, as well as with drawing their character stories onto the rails of our game and making it a unique and special experience as we finish up and for the most part it has not taken a great deal of effort to make those changes really click well.

The Last Breath of Tiamat, the final adventure of the Scales of War Adventure Path, is going to need a little more work than my usual fare. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of good starting material to work with here. Small party of heroic adventurers infiltrating an enemy bastion, sneaking behind enemy lines through a great black gate, trying to avoid detection and seeking the means to finally defeat their greatest enemy. It is cliche, but proven. On top of that a nasty draconic ward that is essentially one or two-shot deadly that can only be disabled by defeating the draconic guardians imbuing it with power, sets up a very strong (if simple) dungeon that could be pretty cool for an epic tier party to cut their newly level 30 teeth on before facing the big momma herself.

It could, in theory, do this, but unfortunately the adventure as written just turns into a grinding battle of solo dragons that are essentially the same other than switching out damage keywords and different trappings with some flavorful hazards and traps. That doesn’t sound like the exciting and interesting end to a three year venture to me. Now I don’t want to spend a ton of time picking out what really ticks me off about this since it was obviously written WAY before people were playing at Epic level and a lot of lessons have been learned in that time. What I do want to do is show just what I did to make this adventure at the end of Epic Tier just a bit more epic.

I really wanted to keep the iconic components of the adventure all together. The setting and story is all staying, but I am going to establish a few things that will set the tone a little differently as well as set the time frame that the party has to complete the task. Tiamat is pretty much all, but defeated at this point. Her alliances have failed her, her army is scattered and her home forces are divided with in fighting as the mother of betrayal is betrayed at last. So what does a god do when everything looks down? Blow up the universe of course! I thought it would be more interesting (and this is in my home campaign cosmology so bear with me now) if Tiamat’s realm was situated in the Elemental Chaos. Sure, she is one of the divine, but if any god would be set up in an elemental infused hellhole it would be her. So given this information, I thought, if Tiamat was going to try and pull one last F U to the planes she’d probably try and take out big brother while she is at it. 


So when the party first entered her base they heard her talking in desperation to her former allies through a communication scry in her main lair. After exploring for a bit though, they hear her again echoing through the halls saying, “Fine then prepare to die you, motherless slug.” With a mighty roar, they feel the entire hall reel and buck and an enormous magma geyser infused with the full power of the elements began to not only roar, but pulsate in the center of the main chamber. They got the sense that the living volcano this domain is built upon is ready to blow, but an eruption on this scale would be larger than any ever recorded in history. With a quick Arcana check, the wizard was able to tell that this explosion will be so tremendous that it will destroy Tiamat’s palace, but not only that it would rip through the planes. After an additional Arcana, Religion, or History check they were able to tell that the target of this explosion will be a domain of the Astral Sea, but given the positions of the cosmology the Primary Material Plane lies right between the two so it would be blasted through devestating the world and leaving a giant hole just seeping into the Elemental Chaos. Essentially, and I know I’m going to have to frame this repeatedly to my players because it IS convoluted, if they are unable to stop Tiamat before the eruption of the volcanic fortress, the entire fortress will be destroyed in a titanic blaze of glory that will also devastate the Mortal World and reach all the way to the Astral Domain of Bahamut, levelling it and potentially killing Bahamut, Kord and Moradin. From what they can tell, they only have 10 hours left.

So that sets the framework for the ending of our campaign with world shattering consequences. Can the party brave the danger, defeat their enemies and save the wold one last time!?!  We’ll just have to see how it plays out.

In the coming weeks/months, I’m going to post the changes I made to the draconic guardians that the party needs to overcome in order to gain access to Tiamat and a bit after that I’ll include my final changes to the Dark Queen of Dragons herself. I’ve also got a couple of other projects I have been working on much more long term that will be popping up in the coming weeks/months and conveniently they are all dragon themed!

Thus begin the Days of the Dragons. May they be long and dangerous.

Take Two Creatures and Call Me in the Morning

**This post contains spoilers from the Scales of War Adventure Path. You have been warned.**










The folks over at Roving Band of Misfits wrote a post that got me thinking. We know it is always a dangerous thing when a DM starts thinking. They proposed a new method of creating solo monsters with a dynamic that changes over the course of a combat. Specifically, the idea was that instead of it being one one monster with a ton of hit points, why not create two monsters that are overlaid and both take actions while one creature takes damage at a time. Once one creature is killed, they only get one set of actions which creates a dynamic change in the combat.

For the final battle of my adventure, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Solos have had a lot of problems for a LOOONG time and the technique presented by the Band of Misfits was a novel approach to the concept. Implementing the idea is pretty simple and they detail the principles behind the idea in their blog post linked above.

image from Deviant artist Pale Drow

For me, this worked in to a major battle sequence I put together involving a Drow king (I know, right?!?) who had usurped the Efreet of the City of Brass while allied with Tiamat's forces. I used two templates to construct the Solo beastie. I started the idea that basically due to his new mastery of the elemental forces of fire, the drow king had taken command of the fire armies and formed a spectral suit of armor made of the flesh of Efreet noble. So I used an Efreet elite as the first stage of the solo monster. His AC is higher and he has a fly speed, but as he takes damage his hitpoints will be depleted.  His hardened fleshy armor slows him down a bit and he is less reflexive too. Once he is bloodied, certain effects kick in and he is constantly getting worn down until those final hitpoints are chipped away and all that is left is the final stage of the creature.

To make matters worse, he will have a second initiative account as the Drow King himself (also an elite Drow taken from Monster Manual 3). While the first stage is active, both monsters will be making attacks against the party which is a pretty dangerous threat. They will also be unable to do damage to the Drow King until they damage his elemental armor and once that fall away, he will lose an initiative action making him more desperate and more dangerous. I cranked his damage when this happened to decrease the number of actions taking place, but increase the threat making him feel more deranged and more dangerous as he got backed into a corner. At least that is all how I designed him to operate as a monster. I specifically chose two elites that were also leaders and had aura effects to give buffs to their allies (in this case a horde of elementally imbued Drow minions who were rampaging against the party attempting to catch them alight with flames from the elemental chaos), but as always happens things don't always go according to plan.

As the encounter panned out, the elemental minions didn't survive very long. One well placed Chain Lightning spell nuked the entire room and killed all, but two of the minions. So the leader effects weren't that useful as a whole. The effect of the change was pretty cool. When the first creature's set of hit points were reduced and it went from being bloodied to being non-bloodied and the defense numbers were suddenly really different, the party really responded to that. It was dynamic and different and I like how that played out. The one thing that didn't work so good was the sheer quantity of hit points. This was entirely a mistake on my part. Both halves had the same massive bucket of hitpoints where I probably should have had the Efreet starting creature have the bulk of hit points so that as soon as he dropped and lost his magical armor he would have felt more like a glass cannon. The fact that he had just as many hit points to go after the first piece disappeared made for a slug match of a combat. That's really a different conversation and part of the design dynamic of Epic Tier. Overall generating a Solo creature that is a real threat in this level of play was really interesting in a story sense, but I'm definitely giving it another crack to see how it would play out with more dynamic hit point totals.

The next time I try using it, I'm going to have a gnome creature (leveled up from heroic) whose spirit is trapped in time and stuck inside an iron golem construct. I'm going to balance the hit points more skewed the way they should with the gnome creature with less hit points up front and once defeated the iron golem with more hit points to deplete. Combining a brute and a lurker should prove interesting. More on that later.

"THAT IS NOT DEAD WHICH CAN ETERNAL LIE!"

**This post contains spoilers from the Scales of War Adventure Path. You have been warned.**

I asked one of my players to write out a narrative for the final battle of our current adventure because of how completely he had neutered the fight by his actions, which I described in my last post. I debated for awhile what to do when he completely busted up my plans and I thought about running the combat encounter but giving the NPC of Bahamut to the party to use against the final boss, but I decided that it would just end up feeling like a grind so handing the reins over to the player as a reward for his creative thinking seemed the logical answer to my problem. Handing over creative control of the story on such a large scale was really hard, but made for a very interesting end. He’s a natural storyteller (he’s a DM too) so I knew this would be a rewarding experience for him, but I had NO IDEA what was coming for me. I thought I would post this so you could see how the narrative summation of a final fight that was just going to be a drag mechanically ended up being really worthwhile and made a very neat story moment in our campaign.

“Time, Kildrak?! Time is a theory of the utmost worthlessness to me. My whole existence has been dictated by time. The time that has passed, the time that will pass and the moments by which we define time that are circling our presence at this instant. We have but to reach out into the ether to dispel all that time can construct around us. My very existence was purposed so that in a single moment, a singular fragment of history, the planes could breath and in that breath consume my life and in the very next exhale an essence more powerful than I could ever hope to be. My life has been spent waiting in and on time, so no Kildrak. I will not rest now upon this spire with you for I am needed. We are all needed as we have always been. The strength that lifts is only supplement to the strength that sustains, and that is what I ask of you now. That is what I ask of all of you. Stay your wounds, and steal your weapons a bit longer from the sheaths for which I know they so hunger for so as to give solace to your aching hands and the burdens that bite tear at your backs. And do not this deed lone for Bahamut, but for all those whom you fight for. For a brother. For a father, mother, and queen. For a soul, for a conscience, and even for glory, Kildrak. For what greater glory is there to be had in this life or the next then to go gnawing and ripping into the dark from which you tire, only to beat it back with less strength than whence it’s entrance gripped you. We all tire. We will always tire. The powerful play goes on and we may contribute a verse. What will your verse be? And how loud will you proclaim it?”

And with that I tore my feet from the ground which they so yearned to rest upon if only for a moment longer. Like weights they tired with the fight that only fear can bring to pull me down. Yet my wings beat on, taking me closer and closer to the clash that was inevitable. Where I would stand by my god’s side and embrace him in life or death which ever might come first, for to deny my god would be death.

I neared the flaming falls and as I burst forth through them I felt the searing pain that I knew awaited me in their fiery grasp and yet as I burst forth from the falls, the fire licking at my scales with a thirst unquenched, a renewed sense overcame me at it’s burning hands met my skin, and I thought to myself, “If I am able to feel this much pain, then in the reverse I must be able to feel this much elation.” And it all came back to me. My past life… my wife standing on the Arkhosian temple steps… my companion and friend Basix as he once was… I had felt happy then. And I would feel happy again someday. I would overcome this pain and in a day that once shined so bright, but was now so dark, so sheltered by the tendrils that reach out from the recesses of lost hope to obscure the eyes of faith, I would rejoice. I would smile again in the presence of my compatriots and in the halls of fellowship and for that I flew on renewed by what once hurt me, but could never hurt me again.

As I reached the fallen form of Bahamut lying below the hideous behemoth form of Namissi, I could view his breast plate of platinum scales still heaving. Though they were scarred and blood birthed from many wounds about his newly risen body he still had breathe in him. It was so clear what I had to do.

“I call now,” I spoke aloud to myself, “upon that words that time has forgotten to be recalled now to my soul. Oh though we all may one day slip into the eons that pass into forsaken corners of space that time destroys and turns to dust I stand HERE! NOW! IN THIS MOMENT! I command all that is in me to exist not only from this moment to the next, but to turn the wheel of time and act upon the levers that will continue to turn forevermore! FOR THAT IS NOT DEAD WHICH CAN ETERNAL LIE! AND WITH STRANGE AEONS EVEN DEATH MAY DIE!!!”

Kydan, Dragonborn Runepriest, illustrated by Symatt

 
I would like to say that I then charged at Namissi with every part of me that would move, but I do not think there was enough within to gather the strength to me. I charged at Namissi with as much strength as a man charges the earth when falling. I was so unaware of all around me that I’m not sure how hard I hit Namissi, all I know is that it was enough for my blow followed true and the ancient runes bound in my body ignited and I turned with my open palm to Bahamut and as the healing light burst forth to drench the Platinum Dragon in radiance, I saw my god rise.

To his full form he rose, but he did not stop there. It seemed he had become more now in his resurgence than he was before in life. His anger was reformed, his rage re-ignited, and his spirit as violent as a Tarrasque!

Forward my god sprang, his powerful wings beating and breaking the air itself. Namissi was bewildered for but a fraction in time, yet that was all it took. That was all I needed. Like my god towering over me, my conscience and fortitude was set ablaze. Bahamut’s head reared back and forth, striking and biting he tore forward at the giant blue exarch of Tiamat. Their claws and teeth clashed again and again. Their blows were like thunder, their moments like water. Ichor seeped forth from the many wounds they exchanged. It was then that I ruptured onwards to aid my Lord in battle. I felt my body grow in stature as my weapon found its mark on the exarch. Together we fought though my body was weak my spirit spurred me onward, begging my muscle for just a moments more energy. Just enough to finish what had begun.

In an instant though the battle rounded on us as Namissi’s strength seemed to double. His ferocity was impossible, his fury unstoppable. He knew he was the final exarch. The final hurdle between us and Tiamat and his queen would have a show of him before his body adorned the ground in defeat. A defeat that had seemed inevitable only seconds ago. My strength was failing me. I was failing me. I begged and pleaded with my body to continue but I was broken. Time had won. Kildrak was right I had to rest.

“Stand little one! Stand as you can. On your knees if you must, crawl if it is all you can rally, save do not cease. He is almost overtaken!”

“My body is breaking within me Bahamut…”

“As it should, as it has, and as it will again before your time is through. But that time is not now.”

“I wish to…”

“Do not wish. Wishes are for those who cannot gather the strength to try! You and your patriots have tried and succeeded a thousand fold. In some ways more than I.”

“My weapon is too heavy; my shield is a weight to the grave.”

“Then cast them off and fight with your body and soul! The fight is ours as long as we never give up.”

“I feel the defeat in the corners of my essence, hiding and waiting for the darkness to come so that they may rise up and drag me down.”

“Defeat is in all of us little one. It always will be. You must learn to not run from it, but set after defeat and burn it! Let defeat be the fuel that spurs you on! You and your compatriots have done the impossible so many times before and I ask it of them and you again! Spit in the face of impossible and take to defeat like a battering ram!!!”

It was over in the next instant. Namissi’s rage was so all-consuming on Bahamut and I that his blindside was turned on his conquerors. As Namissi threw all he had against us, Kildrak, Muffi, Bettledex, Hermy, and Xune came like the fires of all the Nine Hells down upon his form as arrows, magic, swords and hammers falling together in harmony, breaking into the back of the beast. Their aim was true, their swings flawless. The raven’s wings enclosed and snuffed out the light of Namissi blow after blow. Sparks flew as iron and metal clashed upon tooth and scale. The littlest creatures can often pack the hardest hits. Rage as I had never seen before poured out of the dwarf’s maw. His hammer falls rivaled Erek-Hus’ deathly swing. Spells flew hitherto birthing rocks and flame anew in life. Bettledex manipulated the very world surrounding us and bid it to rise up against the final exarch. And from Xune’s crossbow, a single bolt: an ancient and most sacred artifact, The Arrow of Fate. She loaded the arrow of bone and with well timed precision and aim that only falls from those most… cunning, she fired it directly into the beast’s belly and he was cast down upon the ground beneath us. Namissi was fallen.

So that's how our session is starting this week......

I love Epic Tier D&D.