Neil leans back in the big chair, having regaled the group with his recollections of the geese that used to terrify visitors outside Gypsy's house.

(Since Twas the Season, he wonders if their comeuppance had been to adorn a family's dining table.)

Wearing a cosy Nordic cardigan, Neil has already unpacked and now that everyone else is seated, he picks up where they'd left off.

Although The Haunted Helm is an old TSR D&D adventure, I've adapted it for 13th Age and am using the structure from the official 13th Age beginners adventure, Blood & Lightning.

Accordingly, you receive another Incremental Advance after the fight with the white dragon.

Scanning ahead, the beginners adventure gives the party a level-up after the next encounter. That's interesting. Since you can reverse your Incremental Advances (frex, new spells) when you level up, the Incremental Advance we're talking about here is only valid for one encounter. So I don't want to linger on it.

Needless to say, I've applied an Incremental Advance to the PCs. More hit points for D, Jex, Seyja, and Weston. Zoltan gets Strong Recovery feat, and Tindarien gets Lightning Fork feat. This boosts everyone's hit points enough to clear the Staggered condition. When Zoltan uses recoveries now, with Strong Recovery he'll roll two Recovery Dice, use the highest. (I've applied this retroactively to the recovery Zoltan used after end of battle with the dragon, gaining him an extra 3 hp.)

So, what's the party's status after the Incremental Advance?

D HP: 28/28; Rec: 4/8; AC 14, PD 15, MD 11; Init +9
J HP: 20/32; Rec: 2/8; AC 14, PD 12, MD 11; Init +4*2
S HP: 25/43; Rec: 1/8; AC 15, PD 15, MD 11; Init +3*2
T HP: 24/24; Rec: 3/8; AC 11, PD 12, MD 14; Init +3
W HP: 23/44; Rec: 5/9; AC 16, PD 14, MD 11; Init +3*2
Z HP: 24/40; Rec: 6/8; AC 21, PD 13, MD 14; Init +2
Al HP: 15/27; AC 17, PD 14, MD 12; Init +3

You'll need to optimise what recoveries you have left, and using them in battle will be more difficult because you've misplaced Nestaron.

Normally, to level up mid-adventure you'd have to accept a campaign setback, so this is a good example of what one of those is. It's an in-continuity dire turn of events that can't be undone, and is intended to create dramatic highs and lows in the story.

In this case, you can't save Nestaron immediately, but you might just be able to rescue him. And how long will it take the dragon to convince Nestaron to heal it? I don't know, but I'm excited to find out, and that's what it's all about! grin

(It also us to focus more on the PCs, since Nestaron was being ghosted.)

OK, so generally speaking in HHE I make skill checks in the background and try to integrate the results into the GM posts.

Jex's most recent is a good example. I decided that his Bandit +2 background was most apt to forging alliances with strange folk in the wilderness, rolled and succeeded.

As an Adventurer-tier skill check, he needed DC 15 on a d20, so not as easy as you'd think with only +2. I also gave him +2 advantage for Neptune's role-playing.

As the published adventure is written, Bearkiller only guides the party into the dragon's lair, abandoning them before the climactic battle.

I ruled that would be the result of a fail. But I rolled 18, making the bonuses somewhat redundant, but hey, better bonuses than penalties!

So Bearkiller is now a follower, like Sergeant Almador.

I haven't previous posted stat blocks for followers as they're just reskinned low-level monsters from the rule book or Bestiary.

• Heilbutt, reskinned Orc Warrior
• Sergeant Almador, reskinned Human Thug
• Bearkiller, reskinned Ettercap Hunter

Fire Bomb

There's no alchemist's fire listed in the rule book, so what do we do? We use the Impromptu Damage rules for such things. They suggest the fire bomb might to DC 15 to make. It would be a ranged attack vs PD, and do 1d10 fire damage on a hit, half damage on a miss.

Because a blizzard dragon is vulnerable to fire, you crit on an 18-20. Getting some special effect out of the fire bomb relies more on the PC throwing it. Demonstrate some key quality of the character, how they're so smart, or brave, or imbecilic and cowardly (who knows?). Entertain the rest of the group, enhance the story. If the manoeuvre is dicey, we can make a skill check for it.

We're getting ahead of ourselves though. Who is going to make the skill check? Who has a background in making fire bombs?

Maybe Weston's Street Hawker or Advocate tie in to street riots he participated in as a lad?

Maybe Seyja's Fire Dancer made use of all kinds of flammable liquids? Etc.

Those are just two examples. Again, it depends on you, the players, to explain how your backgrounds are relevant to any skill check.

Humbled.

I have something in mind for the 'fire' that uses hawker but is =not= a 'molotov cocktails' which seem a bit of a reach. I can send you what I have in mind Neil ... if you want to make sure you agree, I can PM you what I have in mind.

Never mind. I hadn't seen your followup post. Sounds like Molotov it is <g>

Neil - A note on your post a few back, Zoltan can heal mid-battle using his Lay on Hands. Still, the limit of Recoveries still applies.

No problem, Mike. If you had a cool idea for a fire bomb, you should definitely share! That's what it's all about. I'm just giving you one option to get you started and keep us moving if need be.

You wouldn't neccesarily need to use a rag in the molotov either. Considering matches have been around since the 4th Century AD, I reckon the alchemists of the Dragon Empire must have come up with storm matches by now. That's what the Finns used in the original molotov cocktail design. Much more reliable than a rag, though perhaps a bit too geeky for your trendy modern day rioter.

NPCs

I've just posted 13th Age-style stat blocks for those monsters/followers we've used who aren't in the 13th Age SRD.

They are simple reskins of existing monsters that require very little (if any) work for the GM. In fact, in the official 13th Age demo, they use a group of lizardmen and an ogre and tell the GM to describe the ogre as a 'giant dragonman'. No conversion work required.

But HHE is based on a published D&D adventure from the 1980s, and it was quite a different beast.

Gypsy and I have talked about the original adventure, and as I told her, it's one of the worst adventures I've ever read. Seriously. And that's why I chose it, because most of it would be irrelevant to a 13th Age game.

The original adventure is all about the PCs returning a haunted helm to a white dragon's lair, but the encounters are appalling designed.

The lowly 1st level party first encounter two mountain loins. A party of 1st level adventurers would have enough trouble contending with a cat, let alone two mountain lions, but it's OK because as written, a dragon rider swoops in to save the PCs. This awesome duo (GM's character anyone?) are Renn and Caeric.

After the night attack by the dragon, where Renn and Caeric can have an awesome aerial battle that the PCs can watch, they meet another awesome duo, the barbarian Bearkiller and his pet albino dire wolf (um, another GM's character?).

The adventure continues with one more dubious combat encounter, and then Renn, Caeric and Bearkiller and his albino dire wolf all abandon the PCs before the final fight against the white dragon.

They don't make 'em like that anymore!!

So HHE is an adaptation for 13th Age and message gaming, but also for the 21st Century role-playing gamer.

An armed party of seven, setting upon a pair of mountain lions sound more like trophy hunters to me than epic heroes. So in HHE, the lions were already dead. We had the Battle of Heilbutt's Hallow instead, which was not only more exciting, but intimately tied to the PCs stories (Seyja's).

Renn and Caeric can eat my shorts. This game is about the PCs, not the NPCs, so they were dead on arrival too, but still awesome in their own way. It was an opportunity to dish out treasure, since it's generally not found with monsters in 13th Age.

Finally, Bearkiller has been shrunk to 3 feet tall. He still thinks he has an albino dire wolf, which is awesome for him but doesn't overshadow the PCs. He's a 2nd level blocker though, compared to Heilbutt and Sergeant Almador who are 1st level troops, so he's a 'party asset' well worth having, in the same way a decent magic item is.

Also note that the PCs will soon be joining him at 2nd level if they survive the next encounter. This will set them up for the final fight, and I have to say, reading ahead in Blood & Lightning, it could be the toughest yet.

Actually what I =had= been thinking of was just dousing the dragon and using a fire arrow to set it ablaze, but lets just move on <g>

Actually, I get the 'reasoning' behind two strangers who save a group of unprepared 'adventurers' from certain death not wanting to become their mothers <chuckle>

But yeah the mod was not meant for 1st level characters <g>

Alas, The Haunted Helm as written by James Ward really was meant for characters level 1-4. But I'm not sure a 1st level party could have taken on an adult white dragon in Basic D&D.

Anyway, back in the day, a D&D campaign was the GM's love child, his theme park, and the players were just visitors--- Bloody hell, just like the D&D cartoon actually!!

But these days, the trend is less about the GM's world building and more about the players creating a world collaboratively, with the GM as the coordinator.

Regardless of how powerful 1st level characters are in D&D or 13th Age, I don't think it's ever fun for the players to need saving by a flashy NPC, let alone twice in one adventure. The PCs should be doing the rescuing imo.

I think adventures (and RPGs) have improved considerably since then.

That has often been the case for D&D mods. One of the things that they do to mitigate that ... at least in the later years ... has been to talk about 'APL' as in Average Party Level. You add up the current levels of all the party members and that gives you a number. There are several versions of each encounter (as few as 3 as many as 5) that attempt to address the problem of 4 first level characters in a party verses 6 4th level character. While not a perfect system, it was an improvement over the previous lack of any 'guidelines' of how to adjust encounters beyond the 'If the party is having too much or not enough challenge, feel free to adjust the encounters' text that they had used in the past <g>

As the the 'GM's Love Child' idea, yeah, there were certainly GMs like that. But the best GMs had the players involved with the story to =some= extent. Sometimes it was as simple as "what do you guys want to do next" to some pretty intense 'brain storming' sessions where we all tossed out ideas. Of course, the GM would pick and choose with out telling us ... and would often distort them quite a bit so that we didn't 'recognize' then (until it was too late <chuckle>), but still we all felt really involved. Sadly, that was not as common as one might wish <sigh> But when you found a GM like that, he (or she) was definitely a keeper!!!!

I'm a relative n00b compared to some of you guys; I started GMing Basic D&D Revised when I was 10 years old, back in the Eighties. My age might have been a mitigating factor but I think I was a terrible GM. Back then, I really saw it as GM vs players. (Maybe this is why we ended up playing Advanced Heroquest instead? That literally was GM vs players.)

I had NPCs who were my love children... always wiser and more knowledgeable than the PCs. I used traps out of Grimtooth's Traps, that instagibbed players caught in them. I was completely at the mercy of the rules. I used the level of encounters they recommended, I dished out the treasure they recommended.

It was like I was in an arm's race with the PCs. The Orcs of Thar had already introduced piecemeal armour that allowed for a greater degree of customisation/optimisation of AC, and playable monster races. Then the D&D Master Set introduced weapon masteries, and PC offensive capability increased massively, and the mystic (i.e., D&D monk) character class.

I remember one of the PCs was a troll mystic with optimised armour and magic katars. The thing was unstoppable!

And yet for that, I still look on those halcyon days with great fondness, because we still played every Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon, and despite the mechanics, we created unforgottable stories that have stuck with us to this day.

(Our parents encouraged us resolutely. I understand why now, of course. We were inside, under their noses, keeping ours clean, and for an outlay that worked out to about 10 quid a month for new books!!)

Wouldn't it be amazing to play twice a week, face to face again!

There are certainly a lot of GMs that play that 'adversarial' game. That doesn't mean it is the =right= way <wink> And just so you don't feel =too= bad, that 'idea' has been around since the very beginning back in the 70s <g>

And yes, I have to admit that the players who wanted to spend their time optimizing their 'stats' rather than their PC's story were certainly a contributing factor. I could always tell the 'tweekers' when I ran them at a convention <chuckle> Those games were usually over in just a couple of hours instead of the normal 4 <g>

And I understand the 'attraction' of character 'stat' optimization. but I have (mostly) been about having a 'character' rather than a stat block <wink>

And yes!!! I desperately miss the regular gaming ... even when it was once a week!! As it is now, I have not played a 'f2f' game in almost 3 years <sigh>

I think it's time for a 'heroes prepare' montage.

Give us a short paragraph, maybe only a couple of sentences, describing what your character is doing to prepare for the confrontation with the dragon tomorrow.

Tindarien is working on the key. Weston and Seyja are working on the fire bomb. But other than that it might be adjusting armour, sharpening swords, tweaking strings, stretching, who knows, I leave it to your imagination.

End each post on an appropriate elipsis... to give it that montage feel.

Edit: Excellent! Keep 'em coming, and to assist you, we need some epic music! Like Journey To The Abyss by West One Music.

If you are excited and want to own the pdf of a bunch of 13th age stuff for a paltry price. Check out Bundle of Holding 13th Age deal

Thanks Pandemonium! That's an absolute bargain for anyone interested in 13th Age. I'd recommend the Bonus Collection, simply because it has the 13th Age Bestiary (i.e., Monster Manual), which is an invaluable time-saver.

OK, so a large tranche of posts today, worth taking your time to read through. We also have some more vignettes with more plot teasers to amuse ourselves with, before we set out on the final push.

Here's where you should probably start reading.

I'm now on holiday, chillaxing and enjoying the Festivities, so now's the ideal time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Xmas to you too!

Baalzebub.. brings back memories!

I have just two words for all y'all ... 'Bah' and 'Humbug' <chuckle>

Happy Xmas to everyone too. And an extra dose of Hum just to bug Mike.

Why thank you <vbg>

Traveling. May not be able to post until tomorrow.

It is that time of the year, Zeim. Safe travels!

That was interesting. The skill checks went very badly for the PCs, with only Jex and Tindarien succeeding (and even them by a whisker). This was with a DC 15.

So for a moment it looked like disaster for the party, but then I rolled a paltry 4 for the damage, making the whole thing a bit of a storm in a teacup.

Anyway, to get us over the Christmas slowdown, I've written it up and moved us on at a pace.

Important to note that even 4 damage was enough to prompt automatic recovery rolls from Seyja, Weston and Zoltan (to avoid being staggered). Seyja now has no recovery rolls left! So whenever she uses a recovery now, it gives her half healing a cumulative -1 to attack rolls and defences!

This is how 13th Age balances the PCs. Yes, they're pretty damn awesome, even at 1st level, but eventually they tire out. The PCs will be entering the climactic fight with much less resilience.

D also fumbled (natural 1), so that gives him the 'weakened' condition for the first round of the next combat. That's -4 to attack and defences. So Pandemonium, you might want to try something relatively low risk in that round. The condition clears after the first round.

Hmmmm ... so did we =not= 'rest' in the cave? I thought that would give us at least some recoveries back.

I think Neal said early on that your recoveries are for the entire adventure, not for just one day.

<gak>

Hmm, so the Shadow walk isn't low risk is it? It involves an attack, which against a dragon is unlikely to work anyway. Guess I will have to get creative.

Aye. It seems the authors were struggling for a more accurate term to for 'Daily' powers.

'Daily' doesn't literally mean every 24 hours, or after every night's sleep. What 'Daily' means is after every 'Full Heal-up', a Full Heal-Up being a day of rest and relaxation, usually in an inn, or at a stronghold, but sometimes in the wilderness if camping or on expedition.

Most adventures are one day affairs, according to 13th Age, thus they use the term 'Daily'.

Zeim, Nep. This also applies to Lay on Hands and other powers described as 'per day'. Zoltan could definitely have used Lay on Hands last night, but since there's no benefit in retconning, we'll keep it as is. In-continuity the party would have been exhausted by the time they reached the cave from the time beyond time, so it's not out of character that Zoltan might've held off until morning. If you particularly want to retcon, let me know, it's no probs. There isn't any advantage in it that I can think of though.

Pandemonium. Since you took Shadow Walk feat as an Incremental Advance, if you fail on your attack, you can still act, move/attack as normal, so it is pretty low risk. Of course, if you failed Shadow Walk and decided to attack normally, it'd still be affected by the -4 in the first round.

I have to say, I am really excited about the final fight. I don't know if you guys are going to survive it! On paper at least, it looks hardcore.

Well ... from a 'strategy' perspective, the sooner folks get 'healed up' the better ... in case there is 'trouble' in the night or what ever. But since nothing happened ... I don't see a big problem either way ... unless I missed something <g>

Don't we have healing potions that might have augmented the heal ups? Still not quite sure how they work with recoveries and such.

And a technical question. We are climbing up to the cave above, where the dragon has it lair. The chimney effect with the felt covered walls etc... Obviously setting the walls alight would make that area really hot. But it isn't big enough to draw the dragon down into it and set it off is it?

If we use the burning wall idea, we need to keep the dragon in the lair, which might be difficult.

Yeah, that's my take on it too, Mike.

Pandemonium. Healing potions are interesting, mechanically. They still use one of your recoveries, but they give an extra kick to your recovery dice.

D, for example, rolls 1d8+1 for his recovery dice, but with a bog standard healing potion, gets +1d8 extra.

Zeim asked whether Lay on Hands uses Zoltan's recovery dice, since it spends one of his recoveries. It doesn't alas. The recipient still heals as normal, with their own dice, but it's the paladin's recovery that's spent. Still, it allows Seyja to avoid the -1 to attack and defence, and this is really where Lay on Hands comes in, um, handy.

Regarding the mine and the old shale. The miners were worried about the oil shame being ignited. It would burn rather well, sort of like a giant fireplace. Fresh air would get sucked in from the mine entrance at the bottom, into the combustion chamber, with heat and smoke rising out through the chimney/mine shaft, via the dragon's cavern.

Heat and smoke sufficient to drive a dragon out of its lair would likely be sufficient to kill you too though.

I'm not sure it's useful, but hey, it's good to know that if we need a little more spectacle, we can set the whole place on fire!

FWIW, I would also be surprised if the little bit of 'fuel' we have would be enough to make a fire big enough to do what we would need <g>

Neal, I get it about the healing. Makes sense.

New question, from the last encounter, when we did do some damage, can we determine the dragon's weakness? In other words, which defense AC, PD or MD is weaker?

BTW, just to be clear tactically, Jex is going to start singing the Song of Heroes just as the battle is about to start unless we are confident that there's zero chance of surprise on it. If that's the case, he starts singing it ASAP, before the battle begins.

Yep, and that's a good point about bard songs. Generally, there's no benefit to waiting to use them. Singing uses a quick action each turn, so the bard still has a move and standard action left per turn. In this way, it doesn't interfere with the bard's other actions.

That allows the bard to fight, cast spells, all that other fun stuff, while singing. Similar to the cleric's Heal spell actually. In 13th Age neither the bard or the cleric have to stand there like prize turnips buffing and healing the party. They can do that and still take scalps.

I posted the stats for the maimed blizzard dragon in the Canon thread. Here's a summary.

HP: 120; AC 20, PD 18, MD 18, Init +8; Staggered

Its vulnerability is fire. Fire-based attacks crit on a natural 18-20, instead of natural 20.

An interesting note from the 13th Age writers, they think it's better to give players stats on monsters.

This allows them to make proper decisions, rather than gambling on unknown quantities. It also prevents wasting of limited PC resources.

So, frex, if someone wanted to use a daily cold spell on the white dragon (Yeah OK, not a great example!), you should tell them the dragon's resistant to cold (though not immune).

I think that's fine, but I'd like players to explain how their characters know such things. Not necessarily a skill check (unless it's some really obscure/unusual creature), but some explanation. Otherwise it starts to look like the PCs are carrying around a pocket Monster Manual, and you miss out on a good opportunity to develop character.

Something like "well if the monster is using cold, it would seem likely to have some sort of resistance to it or end up hurting itself, as it were"?

Yeah, or anything in-character really.

Also, remember that Blood & Lightning advises the PCs are levelled up before the final fight, without a Full Heal-Up. This contradicts the rules in the same book. It does make sense to level up during a rest period in-continuity, because then the game session doesn't grind to a halt at a random point.

However, I think the writers wanted players to experience a bit of 2nd level play in the beginners adventure, and they'll certainly need the extra welly to tackle the climactic encounter.

Disrupting the session isn't a problem in a message game, but we'll still find a nice story moment to level up.

Are all Tindarien's spells available to him?

Huh, good point, we haven't done recharge rolls from the previous battle yet!

So Gyspy, Tindarien needs to roll for his Lightning Fork (16+). Still has use of other spells.

Neptune, Jex needs to roll for his Song of Heroes (11+). Doesn't have use of Befuddle, but still has Chaos Bolt and Soundburst.

Exeter, Seyja needs to roll for her Barbaric Rage (16+). She also adds +3 to recharge Barbaric Rage.

We have some time, so you guys can roll 1d20 in the Geese dice roller to the left. Also note that Jex has a Symbol of Gathered Power that will allow him to recharge his Soundburst or Tindarien's Feather Fall after battle.

Zoltan has also used Lay on Hands to heal Jex and Seyja. Where does that leave us?

D HP: 24/28; Rec: 4/8; AC 14, PD 15, MD 11; Init +9, Weakened
J HP: 27/32; Rec: 2/8; AC 14, PD 12, MD 11; Init +4*2
S HP: 42/43; Rec: 0/8; AC 15, PD 15, MD 11; Init +3*2
T HP: 24/24; Rec: 3/8; AC 11, PD 12, MD 14; Init +3
W HP: 38/44; Rec: 4/9; AC 16, PD 14, MD 11; Init +3*2
Z HP: 32/40; Rec: 3/8; AC 21, PD 13, MD 14; Init +2
Al HP: 21/27; AC 17, PD 14, MD 12; Init +3
Be HP: 32/32; AC 18, PD 14, MD 14; Init +6

Not sure of any mods, but Seyja rolled for barbaric rage:

1d20 = 14

Jex song of heroes
Neptune rolled 1d20 and got 14

Those are both recharged then, ready for the next battle.

Tindarien got an 11

Neal - Any reason for Zoltan not to use one of his recoveries on himself now to get to max hps?

I don't think so. Since we're out of combat, you can effectively use recoveries with no disruption, so if you did want to top off your hp, now would be a good time to do it.

Make it so.....

Aye aye, cap'n!

D HP: 24/28; Rec: 4/8; AC 14, PD 15, MD 11; Init +9, Weakened
J HP: 27/32; Rec: 1/8; AC 14, PD 12, MD 11; Init +4*2
S HP: 42/43; Rec: 0/8; AC 15, PD 15, MD 11; Init +3*2
T HP: 24/24; Rec: 3/8; AC 11, PD 12, MD 14; Init +3
W HP: 38/44; Rec: 4/9; AC 16, PD 14, MD 11; Init +3*2
Z HP: 40/40; Rec: 3/8; AC 21, PD 13, MD 14; Init +2
Al HP: 21/27; AC 17, PD 14, MD 12; Init +3
Be HP: 32/32; AC 18, PD 14, MD 14; Init +6

That Strong Recovery feat works wonders, I can see why a lot of 13th Age players consider it de rigueur. Looking at the options available per level up, I think most classes, at some point, would want to pick it up.

Fortunately Strong Recovery doesn't define the in-continuity nature of the feat. A PC could have any number of character building reasons for it.

Update: Jex kindly refused Zoltan's Lay on Hands and used his own recovery during quick rest phase.

So Gypsy, Tindarien didn't recharge his Lightning Fork. So you'll be short of your big burst damage dealer in the next damage.

Traps. It looks like D is stepping up to deal with this one, although now's the perfect chance to highlight a difference between 13th Age and D&D. Since skills are tied to Backgrounds in 13th Age, it's not only rogues who can thievery skills. Tindarien, for example, Relic Hunter +5 must have encountered devious dungeon traps before. All it'd take is an in-continuity explanation and if the group's happy, roll with it.

But let's put D on the spot. Pandemonium, give me a 1d20 roll, you can add Thief +5 or Master Villain +5. Be aware that master villains don't have a great track record for their trap-making skills! You can also add +4 for Dex, for a total of +9 and +1 for level and a total of +10 overall. You will have to entertain us with a post though. I've given you some cues to get you started.

If anyone thinks they can assist, do chip in.

Edit: Skill checks are ability score mod + level + Background skill + 1d20.

Hopefully that entertains.

It did indeed, Pandemonium! And that's a fine result on the roll, even before we add in any assistance. I reckon you've avoided being turned into ground drow and alerting the dragon.

MikeD, Seyja asked Weston a question...

I can answer that one for you. You've used a bundle of storm matches, tied around the outside of the bottle (just like the proper WW2 Molotov cocktail design). So you'll have a striking strip. The storm matches will burn steadily for half a minute max. We'll call that 2 rounds in battle.

Sorry Ex, missed (well, probably forgot between reading and replying <sigh>) that it was directed at Weston <sigh>

So, it's time to level up. The adventure says you'll need to be 2nd level for this final battle and I won't argue that point.

However, this level up doesn't come during a Full Heal-Up (a period of rest and recuperation) so how do we explain it?

Well, this is now your classic pre-battle scene. Close-ups of each character's face, rousing music and maybe a fateful speech.

Sergeant Almador's started you off. This is a moment to illustrate a fundamental character development.

Answer this in your post:

If you (your character) were going to die in the next battle, what is the one question/truth you would want answering?

Next, you're standing in a circle. Tell us one thing your character likes/appreciates about the character standing to the right of them.

D> Jex> Seyja> Tindarien> Weston> Zoltan> D

These can be written as the characters thoughts or however you want to do it. Having done it, you will be deemed eligible for 2nd level!

Because of the Incremental Advances, you're most of the way there already. You have the hit points, you have the feats. Other choices are outlined in the 13th Age SRD.

I think all that's left for me is bumping up my stats (AC, PD, MD, etc) because of the level up from 1st to 2nd.

You left Almador out of the list ... also Bearkiller, but I am not as concerned about him. The sergeant, on the other hand, has been with us a while and should be included in the circle!!

As to the level up ... I forget what we =have= done ... vs ... what is left to do <sigh> Can we get a hint there??

thanx <g>

I think a power is needed for D. I would like to add Evasive Strike, it seems perfect to have stable of abilities.

Not sure all that is involved beyond that, other than the obvious numbers stuff.

OK, first thing's first, Incremental Advances are all reversible, they're not carved in stone, so the decisions you made then don't have to apply now.

(Having said that, everyone made pretty smart choices for their Incremental Advances, so I doubt anyone will want to change.)

Let's take each character in turn. An important note, Feats are usually upgrades to existing talents/powers/spells. A barbarian can have Power Attack and Power Attack Feat.

D. Hit Points and Shadow Walk Feat for Incremental Advances. Has to select one more 1st level rogue power. I'd probably go for Tumbling Strike, as it would stack with Tumble for +10 to Disengage. Is one of the rogue's most potent combos.

Jex. Hit Points and Soundburst Spell for Incremental Advances. Has to select another Feat. I'd be tempted by Pull It Together! Battle Cry Feat. This adds +1d4 to healing per point on the Escalation Dice.

Seyja. Hit Points and Barb Rage Feat for Incremental Advances. Nothing else to do.

Tindarien. Hit Points and Lightning Fork Feat. Must select one more 1st level spell. Under normal circumstances, the obvious choice would be Breath of the White Spell. Although it does cold damage, it might still prove useful against the dragon as its damage output is unrivalled. Resist Energy Spell might seem like the obvious choice, but actually a dragon's attack bonus is so high, it might be ineffective.

Weston. Hit Points and Power Attack Feat (definitely want to keep that) from Incremental Advances. Must select one new manoeuvre. I'd probably choose Comeback Strike tbh. Always useful.

Zoltan. Hit Points and Strong Recovery Feat. Nothing else to do. Because 13th Age Paladins are designed to be very simple mechanically, and Zeim is an experienced player, I'd be tempted to use Paul Fanning's Strong Heritage rules to make Zoltan more mechanically complex. Something for Zeim to look into for the future.

MikeD, feel free to include Sergeant Almador in your post. That would be great! I'll leave him out of the circle, but yes, if anyone else wants to comment on Almador or Bearkiller, go ahead.

The Breath spell is the obvious choice from the small selection. Also a better choice if one is building the character for onward progression rather than the next fight.

Aye, exactly, and even if the dragon successfully resists it still takes half damage. Half of 3d6+3 is still high damage.

Ummm ... first, how many HitPoints? I couldn't find that in the SRD. Never mind ... found it <g>

Next, Comeback Strike claims to the be a talent not a maneuver.

Hmmm ... also ... just to be clear ... it says "skill checks increase by 1" So if stat is 18 (+4 bonus) ... the skill stays at 18 but the bonus goes to +5 ... right? Does that affect things like Hit Points which have a con bonus which goes up by 1??

Comeback Strike is a Talent, MikeD, absolutely right. That's what happens when you try to post on the sly from work! Weston's lacking a manoeuvre for natural even misses. I'd go for Heavy Blows. If you buy its first Feat, you can trigger it on a natural odd or even miss. Handy.

Mechanically, the job of the fighter is to deal damage consistently. Skill checks are ability score modifier + level + Background score, so they effectively increase by 1 when you go up a level.

Hmm, we forgot to add D's level to his disarm traps skill check! Fortunately it made no difference, 22 vs 23, still a success.

So just to confirm, the 'stat bonus bumps' apply to all the things that use them ... right?

Lemme go check out Heavy Blows, but I suspect that, with your knowledge of the game so far beyond mine, I will go with your suggestion <g>

I will also go with GM expertise, Tumbling Strike.
Thanks

Unless I'm misreading things, don't I get a new song or spell too?

I like your suggestions and if I was right, let's add Song of Spilt Blood

Hi Neptune. Bard's Spells and Songs share the same slots, so you can swap out Soundburst (you picked it up in an Incremental Advance) for Song of Spilt Blood if you wish. This isn't a Full Heal-Up (roughly half a day of rest and recuperation), so you can't swap out all of your spells/songs like you normally could at level up. But in the interests of science, if you wanted to swap Song of Heroes for Song of Spilt Blood, I'm game.

Pandemonium. Tumbler + Tumbling Strike is a combo that's spawned many a thread on the forums for being over-powered, so I take that as a sign that it's worth having.

Exeter has reminded me, Gypsy and MikeD, you might as well cash in your chits now. MikeD you have to pick what you get in return for yours. Gypsy, you get a +1 to attacks and damage vs the Beast.

Gypsy, you also never chose abilities for your familiar, Farvi. You need one permanent ability (excluding Tough) and two transient. They're also listed on p150 of the rule book if you have it, in the Wizards chapter to save space.

OK ... new ... provisional ... char sheet sent by PM <g>

Your recommendations for Seyja suit me fine, Neal...

Neal - Just to be clear, the optional Racial Powers you posted the link to were for another game, in the future, not for Zoltan for now, correct?

Agile (Perm), Mimic & Alert

Thanks Gypsy.

Zeim, if there's something in there that particularly catches your attention, we can work on it but need to do so sharpish so we don't hold up the game for everyone.

Basically, one flaw 13th Age does have -- and some might consider it a strength -- is that they've intentionally designed classes to have a level of complexity to cater for different player demands. They consider wizards are most complex, possibly suitable for more experienced players. Barbarians are the least complex, possibly suitable for beginners. Paladin is also very simple, mechanically.

I think it's good that they have a scale, but inevitably the problem is, some experienced players will want to play barbarians but might want the simplicity. Paul Fanning's rules allow you to add a dash of complexity to a class, by swapping out feats and/or talents.

Right, your char sheets are updated and that should equate to the following!

D HP: 24/28; Rec: 4/8; AC 15, PD 16, MD 12; Init +10, Weakened
J HP: 27/32; Rec: 1/8; AC 15, PD 13, MD 12; Init +5*2
S HP: 42/43; Rec: 0/8; AC 16, PD 16, MD 12; Init +4*2
T HP: 24/24; Rec: 3/8; AC 12, PD 13, MD 15; Init +4
W HP: 38/44; Rec: 4/9; AC 17, PD 15, MD 12; Init +4*2
Z HP: 40/40; Rec: 3/8; AC 22, PD 14, MD 15; Init +3
Al HP: 21/27; AC 17, PD 14, MD 12; Init +3
Be HP: 32/32; AC 18, PD 14, MD 14; Init +6

Neptune. I swapped out Song of Heroes for Song of Spilt Blood, as above. We might as well try it out.

Nope. I'm singing the Song of Heroes so I won't take the Song of Spilt Blood.
This is what I saw that made me think I could add it (not replace something with it).

That's right, so you have Song of Heroes, Soundburst and Befuddle (3 total), plus Chaos Bolt from your Jack of Spells Talent. I'll swap Song of Heroes back.

MikeD, a reminder of your chit's uses...

• Succeed at a minor skill check -No longer needed
• Receive a potion, scroll, rune or mundane magic item -A magic rune might no go amiss. It would give you +1 to attack and damage for one battle, with an additional random special effect
• Restore one recovery -Potentially useful
• Redistribute recoveries among the party with 1d4 losses -Too risky at this stage
  Most importantly, you have to describe how you got this from the Order of Averness, perhaps through a flashback

Ummm ... I got 48 for Weston's HP 4*(8+4 con) = 48. Did I miss something?

I agree with everything else.

Weston's Con is 16 not 18, so the mod is only +3. Thus (8+3)*4=44. Also, check out my previous post for more on your chit. Time to cash it in!

I thought that there was a +1 to the stat mods ... does that not count for HP? If not ... do other things ignore the level bump to stat mods?

I see the confusion. There is no level bump to the ability score mod.

Most dice checks involve adding your mod and level, so on the char sheet you'll see a row with them added together for quick ref. It's purely for quick ref though.

Hit points use a different mechanic. Hit points are (class base hp + CON mod) x class level multiplier, which for a 2nd level fighter translates to (8 + CON mod) x 4.

Level is already factored into the class level multiplier. It's what makes your hp increase every level.

Ahhh ... got it. Thanks for the clarification.

Neal - a couple of interesting Feats in the link you sent, but it's OK to just move forward as is for now.

Np, Mike. I'd glad to have questions to answer, since this is a demo adventure in some ways.

Zeim. Aye, I think they broaden the Feat selection list quite nicely. You could, for example, swap out Implaccable for Strong Heritage, which would then give you two heritage Feats in additional to Zoltan's current feats. Sacrifice a Talent for two Feats? Could be worth it if you found something that really tickled your fancy.

Yes, and some of the new Feats duplicate the Talents so you could effectively give up a Talent, get it right back with one of the new Feats and then effectively get another Feat for free.

None of the heritage Feats duplicate Talents are far as I could tell. Some are similar but significantly different. For example, dropping Implaccable, Zoltan could gain Mythic Flesh, which has a similar mechanic to Implaccable but is significantly narrower in scope.

MikeD. Let me know what you want from cashing in your blank chit.

I was planning to save the chit for an emergency, but if you have a suggestion, I am happy to consider <g>

Neal - There is that one, yes. While it impacts on-going damage from more limited sources than Implacable, it also is better in that it offers you 2 saves (one at the start of your turn and one at the end) whereas Implacable only moves your save from the end of your turn to the start.

There is also a Feat there that would replace Lay on Hands (to some extent) as it allows him to have a pc adjacent to him use a Recovery as a Quick Action 2x/day. The main difference there is it uses the pc's own Recoveries instead of allowing Zoltan to use his own to heal somebody else.

So, somewhat different, but close enough that they effectively would replace the Talent, especially if you consider that in exchange for the modification you get a free Feat.

Hi MikeD. This is effectively the last chance to cash in the chit. So it's a use it or lose it situation.

Aye, Zeim, it's almost like small print in the heritage Feats. Mythic Flesh applies to untyped damage only, for example. That's a tiny niche compared to Implacable, which always applies. Celestial Touch doesn't allow the lending of the paladin's recoveries, which is the main advantage of Lay on Hands.

I think receiving two heritage Feats for one Talent is a fair trade, because individually those Feats probably won't be as useful as the Talent. They do, however, allow you to customise and add flavour, which can help further define a character.

Agreed.

OK ... it seems like the most useful choice at the moment would be the weapon upgrade to one of his swords. We =are= about to face a dragon, after all <g>

So, a rune it is! These are small chunks of oriom that have a magical rune carved onto them. The rune is touched to the weapon, a magic word spoken, and the rune is transferred to the weapon, where it glows until it burns out (1 battle). Someone at the Order of Averness gave you this rune, so tell us how that happen in-char and it's yours.

Gypsy. Your chit (+1 attack and damage vs the Beast) represents knowledge Tindarien gained of their foe during the investigation of the dragon rider wreckage.

Is it too late for Weston to choose the "Potion of Instant Dragon Death" instead?

But he isn't a dragon, so it wouldn't do him any good if he drank it, would it? Besides, he isn't suicidal ... yet <weg>

And yes Neil, appreciate any advantage we can get. Have a not so good feeling about this battle but as a player 'bring it on'!

OK, this final battle demonstrates 13th Age's very simple movement mechanics.

If we were to visualise these battles, the Battle of Heilbutt's Hallow would be the party drawn out in a line, and attacked by a front of goblins and orcs from the forest edge, and a front of goblins from the river edge.

For the most part, movement in the battle was irrelevant. All combatants were classed as "Nearby", meaning they could be reached with one move action. And the fighting was so spread out because of the broken terrain, advantage and disadvantage nullified each other, and most importantly, pushing passed opponents wasn't a feature.

Not so in the Ice Chamber. Here we can conceptualise the battle as a fight across a land bridge to an island, i.e., a tombolo.

The bridge is rocky and about 10 feet wide max. It's occupied by 6 dragonmen in paired ranks.

To avoid using a battlemat, 13th Age assigns those combatants that can't be reached without pushing passed others a condition, "Behind".

Pushing passed has no effect unless the opponent you're pushing passed is unengaged/free. If so, they can decide to intercept you. This halts your move and you become engaged with the interceptor.

Very simple.*

So within the first round of combat, this battle could become a real blender, as the ranks of the party and dragonmen clash.

And this is not unrealistic, given how difficult it is to form a defensive line in a real battle. You need troops that are drilled to fight as a unit, with standardised defensive equipment, such as shields or heavy armour.

*It doesn't cover all eventualities, but it does cover most sufficiently. To do something more ambitious, such as "I want to leap up, and run over their ranks, using their heads as stepping stones" would be a dicey move, a stunt, requiring a skill check against a DC. Or if it's a really random idea, just give a 50:50 chance of succeeding, so says the book.

I am looking forward to seeing how this all plays out <g>

And I wouldn't mind a bit of an OOC if I suggest doing something that ... to me seems reasonable ... but based on the rules is 'foolish'. That's not to say that I won't go with the foolish, but it would be nice to know <wink>

Oh aye, you never have to worry about that. I'll always let you know if it looks like an action is inadvisable. I'm a 13th Age newbie too, but so far it seems like the game's very forgiving when it comes to tactical decisions.

Also, everyone, I'm in Scandinavia on business this week but should be posting again by Thursday. That's going to push a first round resolution back until the weekend, I expect, so try not to get antsy in the meantime.

Have fun!!!

Just walked in the door, poured myself a scotch. Wanted to post and let you know I'm back.

Hmmmmm ... which scotch? Hopefully a decent single malt <weg>

Welcome back! But I bet the scotch is saying that for us.

I've been working on several different Taliskers I got for Christmas. They're proving dangeously quaffable! Especially after my return flight was delayed by 4 hours because of brake failure.

My favourite! And you get a huge free glass when you go around the distillery! I've been.. oh.. more than once!

I'm more of an Islay man myself, Lagavulin being my fave. But the Taliskers are a much easier drink, not as peaty, so you can really hit them hard.

I am an Islay fan aw well Neil. Mine seldom last more than a few days once to cork comes out <sigh> So I don't get to enjoy them as often as I would like.

Talisker, Lagavulin, Oban, Ardbeg, Laphroig, Bruichladdich ... damn there are just so many delightful examples I could keep on for far too long.

If you are looking to take a break from the peat, occasionally, there are some great Speysides too ... Glenrothers, Ben Riach, Balvenie, Cragganmore ... too many again <g>

Lagavulin is second on my list!

I have emptied several bottles of Lagavulin <g> But I wouldn't turn any of them down <wink>

I vote for Islay scotches too. They're great. When one of my best friends was near the end of his life, his last request was that we toast his life with some great scotch and that's what we drank.

Nice Neptune! If you can find it, Caol Ila is a lovely day-time Islay, for those times when you don't want to reek of whisky afterwards.

There's a restaurateur I know who invests in scotch, and by all accounts it gives a better return than gold. If you don't drink it. Probably not a good idea for you, Mike.

Am leaving Saturday morning for a 2 week business trip to Barcelona. I don't expect to have a lot of time to post, so please ghost for me while I'm gone if needed.

Noted "Caol Ila". I don't drink in the daytime. I mean it's night time somewhere, right?

Definitely worth trying if you like Islay Nep!!

Caol Ila - another favourite! We have similar good taste!

You'll need a strong drink after this round of combat!

Five natural 20s -- fortunately three of them for initiative -- and general high rolling made for a very offensive round on both sides.

Neptune. You don't need to roll, I take care of all that behind the scenes. (I used your rolls anyway for this round.)

Jex's Soundburst proved decisive in elimating the Dragonman Savages. These had very high damage output, capable of 12 damage in the first round and 15 in the second, without crits. You couldn't let these rampage through your front ranks.

However, the remaining Dragonman Mages are insidious. Only able to dish out low damage at first glance, but with an area effect and trickle of ongoing damage that stacks. After two rounds, the PCs could be taking 6 damage per round, 9 in the third, and so on. Nasty!

So, Gypsy, I'm recommending you break out the Breath of the White and waste them asap!

Hmmm. Zoltan's ability to save at the beginning of his turn instead of the end might come in handy, or do these get no saves?

Implacable is indeed handy, Zeim. You'll see just how handy when you check out the forthcoming notes. Suffice to say, it's probably that Zoltan will come out of the first few rounds in the best shape. But then he is the party's tank.

That round was bitty, but fell in favour of the party, I think. The ongoing acid damage is still a mare, especially for Seyja, but Bearkiller proved unexpectedly useful in that round.

NPCs in 13th Age generally use monster-type stats, no more detail than that. I agree with that, it makes less of a job for the GM, and ensures the PCs out-perform them.

So far in HHE, your NPC followers haven't been hugely effective. Almador and Heilbutt main use has been as meat shields, which isn't nothing, but is a far cry from a fully featured PC.

Bearkiller's He Who Sicks Balls ability forced the dragonspawn to use basic attacks only. That meant their acid spray wouldn't inflict ongoing damage, making it an unattractive option since using it in melee would provoke an opportunity attack. He Who Sicks Balls is a situational ability then, but in this situation it might have averted catastrophe.

We got to see a sorcerer breath weapon finally. Thanks Gypsy!

The cool thing about these, is now that it's cast, Tindarien can recharge it on the fly. At the start of every turn, he rolls 1d20 to recharge vs 16. On a success, he can use the breath weapon again.

Also, I have to check back to see if Zoltan's ever been hit by an attack to AC. Iirc the dragon didn't even land a hit on him. Unrivalled tankiness.

D's shadow walk was a success and gives him Momentum, enabling more of his abilities. He also got in a big hit, 24 damage, only exceeded in this round by Seyja's 30 damage. (She does tend to take a lot of damage in return though.)

Jex's Song of Heroes doesn't seem very potent at first, when it's just a +1, but as the Escalation Die increases it becomes a net +2 in the 2nd round, +3 in the next, which them seem quite substantial.

In D&D 3rd Ed, I'd bemoan having a bard in the party because they underperformed mechanically, but 13th Age has converted me. I'd like to see what they've done with Monk class (it's in a sourcebook).

I don't envy Weston's choice. If he stays with the bow, he can keep moving around the walls of the cavern and shooting at MW, or he can join the others in one round of dedicated movement to close for melee.

That dedicated round of movement will take the others across the ice, DC 20.

Don't worry, if you fail, you won't fall to your doom or flounder. We fail forwards remember, so I'll just make things a little tougher for you later.

What are the odds on Seyja being able to hit with her fire bomb from this range? If not good, how much closer does she need to get to have a good chance of hitting the wyrm?

Ooh, good point! You'd need to spend a round closing, then throw it. But you definitely want to distract MW some how, 1., so he doesn't kill Nestaron, and 2., so he doesn't stand too close that you can't use the fire bomb.

Some ploy perhaps. Probably best to role-play it.

How far is it from Nestaron now?

MW can move and attack Nestaron on his next turn. He has a ranged attack, those ice spears, so you might be able to convince him to attack one of you instead.

So to verify. Shadow walk could be done again. But what about distance moved? Dragon is very far, Distances are Very far, far, nearby...? IE can't Shadow Walk from here to there... but move a zone and toss a blade?

So, we know the ranges are defined as 'Nearby' or 'Far Away' in 13th Age, but you could further define them as:

• Nearby. One move action away.
• Far Away. Two move actions away.

In this situation, that results in one round of dedicated movement to get to Nearby range with MW.

So how do we determine who can make ranged attacks at what range?

Well first of all, spells and other abilities will have range defined in their description, like Chaos Bolt.

Ranged weapons? Here's the extract from the rules regarding them.



So from this we can see that D and Seyja will have to spend their next turn in a double move, before they can employ their dagger and fire bomb.

What might've led to confusion here is that MW started out Far Away, and is still Far Away, even though the PCs have been advancing. This is because MW has also moved to maintain that two move range (and close in on Nestaron).

Thanks. That helps. I was confused.

OK, so we're running a bit behind. Work madness has meant GM activities mostly occurring over the weekend, and with March looking even busier, including more meetings in Scandinavia, free weekends will also be at a premium.

However, I'm making HHE my top priority and clearing mid-week evening activities so I can focus on GMing us back on track. So we should actually see a speeding up, as opposed to a slowing down! That's the plan anyway.

Well, we would be happy to see things 'take off', we understand if you need to keep RL going <wink>

Thanks Mike. Work, ultimately, has to take second place to more important things in life. That's how I roll anyway.

The sly thing about work is that it sneaks up on you, and before you know it, you're over-committed while the rest of your life erodes away.

So expect a better post-rate from here on out!

I wouldn't know ... I am retired now <gd&r lmao>

But I agree that if you are not having =some= fun, you are doing something (probably many) thing(s) wrong <wink>

Resolving two rounds in the next post, to account for the double move not being hugely entertaining from a storytelling perspective.

I can tell you though, this is going to be a very close and nasty fight to the death. It might be crucial to get Zoltan in MW's face so he can tank some damage. It worked wonders in the first fight against the dragon. (Thank goodness you cut through the dragonspawn as quickly as you did!)

Well, he is running after it so doing his best to catch it.

Fair warning, we are still in combat. (This is the part I've been worrying about!)

Yeah, but weston doesn't realize that yet <wink>

OK, so it's back!

For the turns in Round 3 where a PC couldn't attack (no targets), I found some other constructive action. Weston and D rallied, regaining some HP. Seyja convinced the GM, that surely if she held her action she could do something about the acid spray. So I gave her a +2 advantage bonus to her save.

So no more ongoing acid damage for anyone to worry about.

The dragon's next phase is pretty terrifying for PCs that are already worn down. A couple of things I'll point out now.

1. It rolls 3d20 for each attack, picks the best, so its crit chance is high and it does 11 base damage.

2. Once per battle, it can completely negate an attack. (I'll probably choose the first attack that does over 20 hp.)

Now's the time to give it everything you've got because this dragon is bringing the pain! Zeim, Zoltan can only Bastion on another PC, so Bearkiller and Almador are exempt.

Good luck guys.

I assume you will want a recovery roll this round for Breath of the White. Rolled it. Failed.

Damn! Well, there's always Scorching Ray. At least you have more chance of critting the blizzard dragon with fire attacks.

Zeim, yes, the chances of rolling three 1-5s are slim, so it's unlikely Curse of Chaos will trigger.

I've resolved the remainder of Round 5 and it didn't go brilliantly for the PCs. Haven't resolved the dragon's next turn yet (in the next round), so it might not be too bad if it rolls poorly too.

So, in the notes for previous round you can see that damage was generally underwhelming. (In six rolls, the dragon hasn't rolled a crit either, so that's a relief.)

Jex's battle cry didn't trigger and he missed, but Fusillade still did 9 miss damage! I'd hate to see what it does he hits!!

Zoltan's Smite Evil might not have done any damage per se, but it did provoke the dragon into using its negate attack ability. It can't do that again, so the Smite Evil wasn't wasted. I didn't use Bastion on Seyja, because I figured either on 1 hp or 7, it would still take a second hit to drop her.

I opted for Sure Cut for D, deciding that guaranteed damage was best. Sure Cut does better miss damage than normal, but he didn't miss so it wasn't needed. His racial power, Cruel didn;t trigger either, which was a shame because it deals 10 ongoing damage at 2nd level!

Weston's Power Attack underperformed on damage, but the roll did trigger Carve An opening finally (first time?). This widens his crit range to 19-20, so that's a positive development. He actually missed his first attack, but triggered the rune's effect, allowing him to reroll one missed attack.

Seyja missed with the fire bomb but I owing to the awesome A-Team preparation of the night before, I imposed dazed condition on MW (-4 to attack).

Tindarien gets another recharge roll on the Breath of the White, or can try Scorching Ray.

Neil - didn't see an answer to my question on Zoltan's Racial Power. Does the dragon need to roll 1-5 on all 3 of it's dice?

Answered in the post above my prev, Zeim, but yes, it does, so slim chance of triggerng Curse of Chaos against it unfortunately. You did so well against the dragonspawn and its second form, I don't think there's likely to be a TPK here, but a couple of dying PCs and even a fatality is possible if it crits.

Phew!! [Topples to the floor]

Elegant prose, Neil, but Seyja's a little chilly at the moment.

OK yes, so there's no rush to heal per se. Battle is over. You now have a Quick Rest, so Jex and Seyja are automatically stabilised and everyone must use recoveries to heal to above half hit points.

If this requires burning recoveries you don't have, you take a -1 attack and defence penalty for each. Think of it as fatigue.

Most healing, including healing potions doesn't bypass the above rule. Some very potent magic healing gives you a free recovery (Cure Wounds), or allows you to use someone elses (Lay On Hands).

D and Tindarien have healing potions they can use, best used on Jex and Seyja. Zoltan still has one Lay On Hands remaining, perhaps best used on Seyja also, that will leave him one recovery for himself, which should be sufficient to get him back over 20 hp without incurring a penalty.

If you're all happy with that, we'll say it's so, I'll roll recovery dice for everyone, and you guys and concentrate on role-playing and searching, etc.

What sort of shape is nestaron in? He might need a bit of help too <g>

Nestaron's been converted into an NPC, so he'll get a few dice of hit points back during a Quick Rest. Like Almador and Bearkiller, he isn't a fully featured PC anymore, and will likely have to leave the party to convalesce at the later time.

Nice punch line. Hadn't expected to have to worry about burning to death in an ice cave.

Hehe. Yeah, I thought it was a fun twist! And hey, D still has a resistance to fire potion to use.

LOL. Nice.

I'm so sorry guys, I read that as if we had a question each. No way would he have leapt in to steal that one opportunity. I suppose it is too late to change it now? Maybe Tindarien made the same mistake?

It's alright. Play it as the character's mistake. Zoltan didn't have a question anyway.

yep. sometimes our mistakes make the most interesting play <wink>

It works for me. D has too many.

At least you didn't mishear and ask the ghosts to repeat what they'd said. That would've been hilarious. Probably worth it.

<heh heh heh> you are a =baaaaadddd mmaaaannnn= neil <g>

If only I had thought of it!

Not a problem, Gypsy... Seyja would have come up with a question about the Orc Lord, but she is not quick witted with words and it would have taken her too much time to formulate the question.

Anyway, apologies! Thanks for being so nice about it. I did like Neil's suggestion though

Can a feather fall be used to get down quickly and safely, or will it take too long? And is it a cast on anyone or just self.

Interestingly, Feather Fall spell arrests your fall, allowing you to glide to the ground in a round or two. So I guess you fall like normal, then a magical parachute effect triggers at minimum safe height.

It would work well in this situation.

Until 3rd level, Feather Fall can only be cast on self.

Peeps, I rather unexpectedly find myself at a health spa this weekend, so not much webwork going on. Lot of walking and swimming though!

Oh ... sure. I can just imagine what a 'trial' that will be <chuckle>

Have to take care of yourself sometime. Have fun!

I'm back! Not sure how healthy that health spa weekend was. Seemed to involve a lot of eating too, and I spent so long in spas my face feels like it's gonna fall off. Skin looks terrible!

I guess that's how they sell you all these ridiculously expensive facial treatments.

<heh heh heh> Boy that doesn't sound at all like how the folks in the commercials describe it <weg>

OK, you've gained a few things from the dragon encounter.

D has gained knowledge of the whereabouts of Moonshadow (in Trahice), one of the figures in his neath death vision. Add this to the dragon referring to D's "lost farthings", i.e., lost fourths. There were four figures in his vision, Baronessa, Moonshadow, and a dwarf with a sleeve tattoo.

Together with the night encounter, Jex may have noticed that the dragon never tried to bite him. This could have something to do with his being eaten once before by the Blue, which to a discerning dragon might make Jex either dragon vomit or dragon poo. No wonder the dragon didn't want it in his mouth.

He might hazard a guess that the secret dwarven-gnomish mine was set up by alchemists. They appeared to be mining pyrite, aka Alchemist's Gold. It looked like the oil shale was detritus/waste product, and piled rather than being shipped from the mine. Eternal Alchemists? The mine was abandoned around 100 years ago, the Eternal Alchemists disappeared from records around 300 years ago. Last night Tindarien had discovered a symbol on the bronze key, suggesting further clues could be found in the dwarf fortress of Anvil.

Tindarien has gained knowledge of his parents' past. Something ties them, his birth, or his family so inextricably to the ruins of Trahice, that the dragon called him "Son of Trahice".

Weston and Zoltan have discovered the fate of Edwardias Pendry, aka Sir Edward the Red, and have his surcoat as proof of death. Red Ed tried to the pilfer from the dragon's hoard while it slept. The evidence suggests that he had already loaded several bags of treasure on his horse, and was returning for more, when the dragon awoke and killed him.

Whether Red Ed was after a specific treasure, it isn't known. He might have intended to slay the dragon, but upon seeing that he'd risk losing the hoard, decided to secure it first before tackling the dragon.

D had found some papers belong to the knight's fiercest rival, Renn, amongst the dragon-rider wreckage. They might contain further clues. Either way, Weston and Zoltan can report in to the Order of Averness to complete their mission. They might also mention how Red Ed had dishonoured a chief's daughter and stolen the tribe's sacred treasure for the Queen of Vorspring to further his goals.

Sergeant Almador also gave the dragon fang stuck in his leg to Weston, and the party collected two vials of chilled Primeval dragon's blood.

Finally, having greatly impressed Bearkiller, he has declared you a halfling-friend and given the party his bearclaw necklace. This is a magic item.

Bearclaw Necklace (Recharge 11+). +1 to saves when you have 10 or fewer hit points. When you hit with a melee attack while staggered, gain 10 temp hit points. Quirk: Swaggers even when overmatched.

Going by your track records, of who makes melee attacks whilst staggered, this item would most suit Seyja or D, possibly Seyja more as her Rage attacks are very likely to hit.

So, who wants what? I'll include the Dragonhead Torc you found in the mine.

• Bearclaw Necklace (Seyja)
• Vial of dragon blood (D?)
• Vial of dragon blood (Zoltan?)
• Dragon fang (Weston)
• Dragonhead Torc (Tindarien)

Well ... Almador had given the tooth to Weston. Unless someone really wanted it, he would keep the 'honored gift'.

Seyja would welcome the Bearclaw Necklace.

I've also edited the official 13th Age map to show some of the places we've added in the course of playing HHE.

<Shows map>

D had been open to keeping the Torc or giving it up to the high elf. So up to Gypsy. If giving it up. I would like to write it in character. If not... Then I can write it up another way.

Is there any value to the Dragon Blood, other than to sell it to an Alchemist and get some cash?

The dragon blood can be considered a valuable trade item, aye.

As Tindarien said, he would put in a claim for the torc.

Ok. Then I guess I will handle that ic.

I might also have completed a glossary for HHE. Let me know if you spot anything missing.

I 'stumbled' across it the other day ... it is =AWESOME=!!

Yeah I was reading it today. Very cool.

Neil - are we continuing on to a new adventure? Wanted to know before I answer for Zoltan.

I hadn't planned to, but want to point us in the right direction in case we do continue.

As players, you actually have a choice of where your characters go next.

Trahice. D and Tindarien are drawn to the ruins in the Oldwall Mountains, far to the north, in search of clues about the Aurenaur e Du, and the halfling Moonshadow.

Anvil. Jex is drawn to the dwarf fortress by the clues on the Eternal Alchemists' key.

Anvil is sort of on the way to Trahice. See map.

Weston and Zoltan should report back to the Order of Averness, though Captain Achelus in Rosencliff might suffice.

Meanwhile, they all have to stay one step ahead of the Iron Skull, who's hunting Seyja.

And that's assuming another story branch doesn't develop as we enter the final chapter of HHE.

(We will play out arriving back in Rosencliff, so we have a while yet.)

That would be so cool! Love these characters!

I second Gypsy's comment. Enjoying the game immensely.

Yup and yup!! <g>

And since Weston's 'mission' was to keep Zoltan out of trouble, he would assume that he needs to continue with that 'assignment' ... until such time as he is explicitly relieved of that 'task'. So what ever Zoltan decides to pursue next, he will continue on <g>

I've also enjoyed the game greatly. Thank you for bearing with me and sharing your creativity! I've learned a lot about 13th Age, but the key point I've taken away is that it's intended to revolve around the gaming group, and grow from the player characters.

It's a very satisfying way of running the game, and I think the glossary shows how much material it can generate without much effort at all.

HHE still has some fun scenes to play out so it's not over yet, either way. The PCs certainly have some decisions to make!

I came in in the middle, and that's sometimes tough. I had a blast and just wish I had more time to craft a better summation. Unfortunately, that takes something I don't have much of for the next few weeks: time.

But thanks. What a wonderful experience! So, if you're asking for a vote, my hand shoots up quickly when you ask "who wants to keep playing?"

Hey Nep, I think you were a great addition to the game ... even if you were a little 'late to the table' <chuckle> Glad you are gonna continue on with us <g>

Absolutely! I love playing bards. Sadly, I personally don't have any talent myself. I wish I could play guitar like Jimi Hendrix and had a voice like Robert Plant, but I can't and don't.

I feel your pain Nep.

I've always wanted to play the flamenco guitar myself. Stubby fingers don't really suit me to any instrument though. Great for poking people in the eye though, I guess, so you have to take the rough with the smooth!

How's Easter going for everyone? I've been largely afk, visiting friends, but am at home today and tomorrow and intend to spend some time pushing HHE towards conclusion.

Here are some talking points that might be pertinent:

The Aurenaur is a ring, carved from the White's horn after it was slain by the Wizard King. It was made by elven necromancers, possibly the Aurenaur e Du, the cabal that Tindarien's parents belonged to. The ring was later given to Weston's parents by the Grandmaster of the Order of Averness, a secret society dedicated to the Great Gold Wyrm. What does wearing the ring do? What should Weston do with it now?

Tindarien's past has some connection to the ruins of an ancient spa town in the Oldwall Mountains, called Trahice.

The key that Jex found, marked with the symbol of the Eternal Alchemists, points to the dwarf fortress of Anvil, where they might find a second clue.

D appears to be somehow connected to the Baronessa, a tribal halfling called Moonshadow, and a dwarf with a hippalectryon tattoo. Moonshadow's last known destination was Trahice.

Land travel is most risky, especially since Seyja knows the Iron Skull's band of orcs are still out there. Lermoriach's was just a scouting party.

What is your next move? Travelling by land, Anvil is en route to Trahice. Travelling by sea is far safer, and far far quicker, but Anvil would not be en route.

<Dragon Empire map>

I'm aiming to wrap us up by the end of the weekend, amigos, so make your last posts count.

[ooc: Sorry about the past couple of weeks. Sadly, I free up for the first time this Sunday ]

no worries

Yep, time waits for no-one as they say, and you can only do what you have time to do.

Meanwhile, we've reached the conclusion of our short adventure. Apologies, we are a little over schedule, but I hope you'll agree it's been great fun.

Classic, fantasy role-playing fun, yes, but also a twist of newness and modernity from 13th Age.

I've learned a lot more about the game, and have to say it's been a genuine pleasure. For creating a living campaign, I don't think I've ever come across a game quite like it. And it was so easy to GM combat and prepare encounters, that alone sold me on it. I'm not lazy I'm just - I'm just short on time OK!

As always, gaming with you guys has been a joy, and this time around I feel it's wholeheartedly your story, which is very interesting indeed.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to you and all the players.

Well I have to say it has affirmed my desire to play more 13th Age! Excellent! And thanks to Neil who gave this game a real epic feel from start to finish! The last posts you wrote Neil were inspired. I can almost believe the characters are continuing on without us!

Great game.. and yes, such great characters! It has been a real pleasure for me too.. and with its surprises and twists, entwining the characters, creating bonds.

Definitely one deserving the Hall of Fame.

Thank you all!

Enjoyed it tremendously. Close enough to D&D to be familiar yet enough differences to be unique. Had a great time, as always in one of your games.

BTW, is it Neil or Neal? I never know.

Neil

Definitely fun. Educational in how well 13th Age offers a larger than life feel. Certainly something that I want to do more of. Wonderful group of players and unique characters. Enjoyed ever minute of it. Thanks!

Thanks guys. (Zeim, I answer to pretty much anything, even "Oi")

One thing I wouldn't do again, is use an old Eighties D&D module as a base. That thing was next to useless, and I soon realised why I never used it back in the day. Not TSR's finest work.

Still at least I can say I have used it now. I can't remember how much pocket money it cost me, but finally it paid off!

Also, while we're casting our minds back over HHE, I thought I'd list the great music we linked to.

Sailing into town/The Titan's Elbow
John Dreamer Becoming a Legend

Scouring the wreck for clues/Versus the dragon
Alan Berlin Power of Will

Triumphant return
Future World Music Victory of Life

The End
Axl Rosenburg Into the Wild

And on that note, time for a little treat I was holding back.

I have always been of the opinion that it was more about the GM than the system, but there are some great things in 13th age.

It was a great time ... even if they decided to have that last drink without me <sniff sniff> Hopefully they won't sail with out me too!! That would be just plain rude!!

<chuckle>

Good god man! That will never do. Edited.

For a moment there I thought Almador had succeeded in marrying Weston off to one of his daughters!! At least Weston would have a ring to give her, hey.

So I think I answered most outstanding, pressing questions, but does anyone have anything they're curious about story-wise?

I've updated our glossary with the latest info, so it should be pretty much complete.

While he =might= have considered a dalliance ... <weg>

Well Weston is hoping to get the ring to the designated recipient, but =I= wouldn't mind knowing more about it ... unless there is a chance that there will be a 'follow up' adventure where I shouldn't know that <g>

I think Almador saw Weston as son-in-law material.

The ring is interesting. Almost everything we know about it has been revealed, yet mystery remains.

What do we know for certain?

1. The ring is carved from ivory and cost the lives of Weston's parents. This is his One Unique Thing.
2. The Aurenaur e Du are an elven cabal, dedicated to fighting the undead. Tindarien is the last of them. That's his One Unique Thing.
3. The White was a Primal dragon, slain by the Wizard King over 3000 years ago. Some white dragon breeds (aka tomb dragons) still have powerful death magic, and the White was the most powerful of all. This is in the official 13th Age material.

Fascinatingly, the above only became apparent after I'd decided to use TSR's published adventure, The Haunted Helm, which happened to feature a white dragon.

It was then a matter of weaving a story around it, to bring some of the PCs' elements together and make them integral to the plot.

What else did we find out about the ring?

• It's called the Aurenaur, ancient Elvish that can translate as 'magic circle', 'halo', 'corona', or 'sun fire' (or presumably 'sun's rays' for the less poetically inclined).
• Under moonlight, whilst wearing the ring, Weston was able to see the spirit world.
• The Grandmaster of the Order of Averness gave the Aurenaur to Weston's parents, who operated a fast shipping company, to deliver to a third party. Because of this they died. We haven't determined who that third party was, or how Weston's parents died.
• Elven necromancers carved the ring from the White's horn after it was slain, imbuing the ring with some of its power.
• A dragonblooded wearer of the ring might harness its power, possibly becoming an incarnation of the White. This might have been the intention of the elven necromancers who made it.
• The elven necromancers that made the ring might well have been the Aurenaur e Du. Wielding the White's power over the dead would eliminate the undead menace (as long as whoever wielded it didn't abuse their power).

I think it's fair to say that Tindarien might have discovered his family were involved in some dark, disturbing activities, regardless of how noble their goals.

As for whom the Grandmaster wanted the ring delivered to, although the Order are dedicated to the Great Gold Wyrm, it's deep within the Abyss, fighting the legions of Hell. Sooo, it stands to reason that the Grandmaster might have been trying to deliver it to the Priestess. It was she who cured the zombie plague that ravaged the Empire, so she has demonstrated mastery over the dead. She also seems to be trying to end all war, so she's probably one of the good guys.

Thanks ... all very interesting <g> A shame we won't get to explore these interesting possibilities.

Neil,
Yeah. Thanks. It was very enjoyable and I love playing the character that I played. I agree with the sentiment that it's the DM not the module that makes the game. I am not one to lavish praise liberally, but you deserve it. Just f'n awesome.

Thanks Nep, and I'm very glad you took over Jex! He was very much your character, I think, and a colourful one at that.

It would have been fun to explore Jex's One Unique Thing, and his earlier career as a bandit. Although a One Unique Thing isn't supposed to have a mechanical effect, it was nice to implement quasi-mechanics, like Weston's ring vision and Jex's dragons never bite him.

And of course, Jex's song book is fine work indeed.

Apart from Weston and Tindarien dealing with the Aurenaur, I was intrigued to find out more about D and the Prince of Shadows.

What I like about 13th Age's Icons is that they're people, not gods, and I liked the idea that though there is a Prince of Shadows, he's not running his own outfit any more. Thus the Prince of Shadows is actually, unbeknowest to everyone, the Prince of Shadow's best girl.

Also, what exactly would the ritual to reform the Prince of Shadows entail? How would D get all four Shadow shards to participate? And what would its completion mean for D, Lady Morgen, Moonshadow and the tattooed dwarf? It would be exciting to write the Black into the story.

Talking of Icons reminds me of the Orc Lord. I would love to progress to and write the showdown between Seyja and the Iron Skull! I think it would be classic fantasy. And the first in-game meeting between Seyja and the Orc Lord would be fascinating. I mean, for all the death and destruction he's wrought in pursuit of her, the Orc Lord wants Seyja alive because somewhere in his twisted, monster orc heart, he loves her.

It's like King Kong or Beauty and Beast or something! Could Seyja turn him away from his planned invasion of the Empire? Could she learn to love him?

Icons aren't the only movers and shakers in 13th Age either. Obviously the PCs are, but their related background characters are too. So I wanted to learn more about this Herald that Zoltan prayed to (Herald of what!? Yikes!). And his dad, Yzarra, the Demon Lord of Infernal Device. What's he up to, what's reversed his fortunes in Hell and got the Diabolist trying to assassinate him?

And did anyone pick up on Zoltan and Nestaron having the same mother? Lixiss? Well, that would've led to some nice role-playing moments, I'm sure.

Overall, plenty of material to keep us going, and I concur with Mike that it's a shame we aren't. Ultimately though, everything comes to an end, and we'd be exceeding the remit of HHE to continue.

I need a break anyway. My plan's to plug through all the TV series and video games I've been perpetually halfway through for the past 12 months, then think about running again.

Btw, for anyone who's interested, here's an offsite hosted copy of TSR's Bestiary of Dragons and Giants, linked direct to The Haunted Helm adventure. Have a read and be amazed by how terrible it is.

They don't write 'em like that anymore (thankfully)!

I'll move HHE to the Hall of Fame over the weekend.

I will second the 'praise' heaped on Jex <g>

So for as much fun as I think we =all= had, if you decide to run a new adventure ... with the same characters or with a new crew ... I think you would have a lot of eager volunteers <g>

Thanks for the AWESOME game!!

Both I and Seyja enjoyed the hell out of this game, Neil. Thanks a bunch.

Absolutely. Loved it. Wish to play more.

Understand why it is ending. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

My first ever attempt at playing a barbarian. I tried to play her as unsophisticated but intelligent. Not sure to what extent I succeeded, but I really enjoyed it.

I think she worked out well <g>

I actually missed the same mother thing, Neil. Interesting possibilities.

Yeah, it was sneaky. Alluded to in Interlude 2 when Griefer tells Yzarra that the Diabolist has found his and Lixiss's son. He scoffs and says that Lixiss's son was by another father, and is now a holy man.

Nestaron was a half-elf, with an elven mother too, so I thought it was a good opportunity to tie him to Zoltan.

Exeter, Seyja was a solid character. I think there's a tendency to play barbarians as meatheads, but firstly that's a ridiculous archetype, and secondly, it's not what 13th Age classes are about.

Barbarian cultures are simply those that aren't "civilised" according to a different culture. In the context of the Dragon Empire, that probably just refers to someone either not from the Seven Cities originally, or from a ghetto.

We didn't explore Seyja's tribe in much detail, another thing that would be fun to do. She travelled with northern gypsies, but I imagined her own mountain people were more Slavic.

It's essential to remember that in 13th Age, the PCs are remarkable.

Yes, mechanically they're a 1st-level human barbarian but that does not mean every other 1st-level human barbarian has the same abilities. Even Barbarian Rage, iconic in D&D and associated with the class, in 13th Age it might only be the PC barbarian who has Barbarian Rage. So NPCs witnessing Barbarian Rage, for example, would be greatly impressed.

NPCs and monsters will have dramatically curtailed powers. Just look at Bearkiller, who was a 2nd-level NPC.

In D&D, if he had a class, you'd put him down as a druid or ranger. In 13th Age, Bearkiller is a 2nd-level Bearkiller.

The Backgrounds system allows the player to cut ties with traditional class stereotypes even further.

What if Seyja had Witch 5? That would cast her in a completely different light, even if her abilities stayed the same.

And I find that so strange when we have Conan, the archetype of the barbarian ... and he was nothing like that <sigh>

And I agree about the culture thing. Look at the Native American culture. It was pretty damned sophisticated.

On the one hand, 13th age 'feels' as though there is a lot more 'creative input'. For home play, that can be =awesome=.

The down side would seem to be that it is difficult to take your character around to games run by other GMs because so much of it is 'built together'.

Aye, a reoccuring theme of the Conan stories is that he finds so-called "civilised peoples" barbaric, and he's generally smarter than everyone else too, even age-old deathless wizards.

Tales of 13th Age is an organised play scheme, run in North America, with monthly published adventures for subscribers. Each release includes some preamble for transportable characters, but ultimately it still means the campaign and the PCs are less intrinsically linked, and the whole thing has a more traditional D&D feel.

I prefer my RPGing much more personalised, but then I'm blessedly fortunate in that I don't struggle to find ftf games. England is a small place.

Sounds about right <g> Sadly I have not had a f2f game in several years <sigh>

And England may be smaller than New York State, but has over 53 million people compared to New York's 19 odd million. So yeah, we're practically tripping over each other here. Finding an ftf game is not a problem.

Well for me it is more of a timing problem ... I work Fri, Sat and Sun ... which is opposite of just about everyone else <sigh>

Mike, We're playing FTF this weekend. If you don't mind the 12 hour drive for a six hour game....

I haven't had a ftf game in over 8 years. I moved to the coast of Oregon for the scenery and way of life, only to discover the only local gaming is card based. It never occurred to me that there wouldn't be any. I have considered trying to drive the campaign train, but hard to want to push up hill with life being busy. Oh well one of these days. For now I play here, rpol, and a single hangout style game over Skype with one of my old groups from CA.

Did you miss the part where I have to work Fri, Sat and Sun Nep? <sigh>

Well thank goodness none of us are too busy to have fun. I guess if that ever happens, alarm bells should ring and you should re-evaluate what you're doing in life! After all, life is not a dress rehersal.

And for anyone looking to have more fun, 13th Age digital bundle is on sale on DriuveThruRPG this week.

Tbh, I'd rather have the books, but YMMV.

I love having real books. But I also love having the pdfs. Can't compete with hundreds of books in a small tablet footprint. Especially when you are traveling for reading and or game planning.