I would like to apologize, and, I hope that you will all forgive me. I was quite uptight at the start of our session. As the host, I feel compelled to provide you all with a comfortable environment and a gaming experience with as few interruptions as possible. Being a single dad makes it difficult for me to mitigate interruptions. For the most part, I think my daughter has done incredibly well with the circus that happens at the house once every month on our game night. However, I still get very anxious about it all, and, while several of you have commented that you do not mind, I still feel that I dropped the ball this past Saturday night. Particularly when it came to the fear aura that the osyluths generate. The fact is, once you save against an osyluth’s fear aura, you do not have to make another save against that osyluth for 24 hours. I kept losing track of who had saved and who had not. I have had time to reminisce about the game, and, I think that Ymir, Solanthos and Dexter got the shaft. Ymir and Solanthos both made saves in the first osyluth encounter, and, I recall now that I made them take an extra save or two. Ymir ended up running away in that encounter, and, that should not have occurred. Likewise, Dexter ran away in the second encounter, even though he had made his initial save. I will try to come up with a better way to keep track of these things in the future, but, I hope you guys can forgive me for the oversight.
Secondly, someone suggested to me that I write up a tactical review of the combats that you had with the osyluths. The idea is to point out some of the mistakes that were made and to highlight the points where good decisions were made. I like the idea of a review, and, what I would like to do is point out:
1. Good decisions that were made, along with a “What if” to illustrate what would have happened if you had made a bad decision.
2. Mistakes that were made from ignorance of the enemy you were fighting and which would have been hard to avoid.
3. Poor tactical decisions that were made, with an explanation of what would have been a better choice and why. However, I do not want anyone to feel like they are being picked on. Let me ‘splain:
One thing to remember: Without foreknowledge of what is in your immediate future, you cannot expect to be prepared for every possible situation. Until the last session, none of you had ever combated a baatezu (devil) before, and therefore, It is doubtful that you would have known to prepare for that kind of monster.
The beautiful thing about the whole combat with the osyluths was the fact that almost every special attack or defense that the osyluths have was used. This means that you have learned that osyluths:
· Have some kind of damage reduction 10.
· Are immune to fire
· Can fly
· Can teleport at will
· Can attack with a bite/claw/claw/sting as a full attack action
· Have one heck of a grapple modifier
· Have a reach of 10 feet
· Have a fear aura with a 5 foot radius
· Do poison damage with a sting attack that saps strength
· Have spell resistance 21
The next time you fight an Osyluth, you will be better prepared, because you should know what to expect.
I would like to point out that the observations I am providing are my own, and, they are solely from the realm of my own opinion. As such, you readers may or may not agree with me, and that is fine. I am not trying to pick on anyone, nor am I trying to belittle anyone. These are just my thoughts and of course, you can take them or leave them for what they are worth.
From the perspective of the DM, it was nice to see you fight something that was out of the ordinary. There were some tactical mistakes made by a few members of the party, but, mistakes are not truly bad unless you fail to learn from them.
So, on to the review. . .
1. The Keep and Baron Euphemese
There was the potential for an encounter at the keep, when the osyluth first appeared atop the tower. The fact of the matter is, the osyluth was itching for a fight and was hoping you would strike. What you did not know, is that there were two more osyluths inside, numerous hell hounds infernal clerics, militia members and other, as of yet, unseen creatures in the tower. Had you attacked the osyluth on the tower, you would have been overwhelmed with enemies and you would either have suffered a total party wipe, or, you would have all run for it and tried to get out of town. Had you run for it, the osyluths would have flown to you, grappled with any character they could single out and then picked you up and flown away with you. If any character within an osyluth’s grasp had attempted to fight his/her way out of the grip, the osyluth would have climbed to 150 feet and dropped you, forcing you to take 15d6 falling damage. Those who did not struggle, or who survived the initial drop, would have been taken to the nearby prison, where they would have awaited their executions. You would have had time to formulate and attempt an escape, but, success was not guaranteed. The bottom line is, opting out of this initial fight was the RIGHT decision, and, it saved you a lot of time, death and heart ache. Kudos to
Gyrr for suggesting it, and kudos to the rest of you for acting on that suggestion.
2. The militia patrol
The militia members were scared. The use of web to immobilize them, while using a precious spell slot, was actually extremely advantageous. It should be obvious to you that you do not want to kill the militia members. They are only obeying orders out of fear. If they do not follow these orders, they will be killed by the devils that now rule the roost. Immobilizing them and questioning them was the perfect solution. You were awarded double the experience for this encounter because you preserved their lives and used your noggins.
3. Militia patrol with osyluth.
· Once again, it should have been obvious that the militia members were acting out of duress. Alas, you killed the four militia members immediately. It wil be a sad day in their households, when their loved ones hear of their demise. You went to great lengths to avoid taking the lives of the 6 previous militia members, so, I was a little surprised that you killed the next 4, particularly when you could have opted out of using Evard’s Tentacles to inflict damage. Had it not been for this, the use of this spell would have been more beneficial. You could not have known right off the bat that the osyluth had the ability to teleport at will. So, other than using the spell to prevent the osyluth from teleporting into squares that were occupied by the tentacles, the spell had no more significant value.
· Drake started off by doing very nice damage to the osyluth. Tactics fell apart though soon thereafter.
A. When it became obvious that the osyluth could teleport, Lianna did the smart thing and pulled out her bow so that she could do ranged damage. However, rather than skip a round of damage, she went with the option of dropping her melee weapons and running to a point where she could get a shot off. Ok, it’s understandable, so, not too bad at this point. However, once she got a shot off, and saw that her arrow did no damage, she automatically assumed that the damage reduction that the osyluth had required magic weapons to overcome. Liana blurted this out as well, and, this had a ripple effect.
B. Ymir decided, based on that information, that he could not now damage the creature, because in bear form, he had no magic attack and assumed that he could not be able to do damage. Therefore, Ymir decided to stand still and forego a move and attack. This is called metagaming, and, this is one way that metagaming is bad. It turns out that the osyluth has damage reduction 10/good. This means that that unless the weapon that hits the osyluth is good aligned, the first 10 points of damage done on an attack is absorbed. Well, Ymir could have done far more than 10 damage on his attacks, but, because he got the wrong idea and because he was metagaming, he skipped a couple of rounds worth of attacks. It’s not good, when your primary damage dealer is staying out of combat due to ignorance and metagaming.
C. Lianna is specced for two-weapon-fighting. She gets more bonuses and will do more damage when attacking with two weapons. Once Liana realized that her bow was not going to be effective, tactics should have been employed to pick up her melee weapons and try to attack with them. I even suggested that she might spend a round moving to her melee weapons, picking them up and then positioning herself for a full-round-attack on the next round. I know that Liana was hoping for a critical hit, but, a bow threatens a crit on a natural 20. A rapier threatens a crit on an 18-20. The much higher crit range means that Lianna had a greater chance of causing damage by just using her rapier. In addition, Liana could have helped set up a flank for either Ymir or Gyrr, making it easier to hit the AC of 25 that the osyluth enjoyed. It is important to remember that, while you do want to survive, group tactics will also help you survive. When you opt out of a fight, you leave your companions deeper in the lurch, and, you make it easier for the monster, who can now pick you off one by one.
D. Solanthos did try to optimize his spells. His use of lightning bolt was good, because it did teach you that the osyluth has magic resistance. However, in using it where he did, he did manage to catch two party members in the line of effect. Need I say more J. I began to feel sorry for Solanthos, when he decided to cast the fire-based spell (the name of the spell escapes me) only to find out that the devil is immune to fire. I know how troubling it is for a caster to go through his spells without much of an effect. However, you did learn about osyluths and fire immunity.
E. Kudos to Dexter for his sling kill on the Osyluth. The Halfling took out the monster.Truly a David vs Goliath story!
4. Two osyluths.
· This fight actually went better than the first osyluth fight. It was faster anyway. The fear aura really gave the impression of imminent catastrophe. However, Ymir kicked ass!. He critted the first Osyluth and killed it, before the second one had made it outside and was able to join in the fray.
· Drake took an awful chance by going inside the temple by himself, while everyone else took the fight outside. He used his slippers of Spider Climb to seek an advantageous position to shoot arrows on the osyluth inside. To his dismay, the osyluth flew up to his position and attacked. Unable to resist the terror, Drake bolted and ran outside, away from the fight. The tactical mistake here was the fact that Drake place himself into a position where he could not be healed. While he thought he was in an advantageous position, it turned out not to help. It was fortuitous for Drake that he actually failed his will save on the fear check, or, he might have ended up dead. The bright side here is that you were able to learn about the osyluth’s ability to fly.
· While Solanthos found himself without his most effective spells, he stayed within range to try to harry the remaining osyluth. He did manage to land one magic missile, but, the creature’s spell resistance was tough to beat. Again, this was a learning experience.
· Not to pick on Liana, but, there was a tactical error on her part. Again, she is specced for dual wielding. However, she quickly used up her remaining supply of arrows, hoping to land a critical hit. It would have been more beneficial for her to maneuver into a flanking position and attack with her magical rapier, gaining a +2 attack modifier for both herself and for Ymir. Granted, Liana was suffering from a strength of 6, due to the ability loss she suffered from the previous fight, but, she left poor Ymir hanging by himself.
· Fortunately for you all, Ymir was able to overcome his own fear, and he pulled off the truly heroic feat of taking out the second osyluth. The bards should truly sing about Ymir whence the tale is known by all.
5. The portal
· Korik had to expend a few turn attempts, but, his intuition paid off. I know I heard one person suggest that turning would not work against the column of fire that radiated evil, but, Korik made the attempt anyway and was able to successfully destroy the portal. Nice job here, and, it should be noted that doing away with the portal has not only made your lives easier for the rest of the adventure, but, now the immediacy of further assaults has lessened, and you should be able to rest
6. The imp.
· This fight was easy. You guys did what was necessary.
7. The infernal clerics
· Again, a fairly easy fight. The infernal clerics never stood a chance.
8. The Hell Hounds.
· The resist fire that Dexter cast on everyone was a nice touch. It saved Gyrr from taking additional fire damage. Tactically though, one flaw was the Liana’s attempt to use animal empathy during a fight and on a hell hound. A successful knowledge nature check would have been enough to tell you that the hell hounds would not have been affected, since they are extra planar and not animals. In this case, I would urge everyone to get familiar with your characters and their abilities, so that you know what is and what is not appropriate for any given situation.
Over all, the evening was successful. It was a learning experience to be sure for all of the players and the DM. No one was killed, and, you guys accomplished a number of major things, particularly the killing of the osyluths and the destruction of the portal. After your hell hound fight, you may want to consider resting, but, keep in mind that you have not cleared out all of the temple.
You are three to four encounters away from completing the adventure. All but one of those encounters should be fairly easy. The last fight will be challenging, but, you will ding after it. So, please bring your level 7 and a level 8 character sheet with you for the next adventure. Also, if you think you might want to buy items for your character after the end of the adventure, try to have an idea of what you want to get. You might not have enough gold to do it, but, if you end up with enough, then you’ll be able to make the purchase and we can get right into the next adventure.
Our next session is on September 18th. JJ will not be there, but, Cliff is going to play Drake.
