RollPlay -- D&D Campaign Show - Page 72

actively trying to sneak around for sneak attacks after getting mocked for not knowing how to play her class's battle mechanics, avoiding even the possibility of getting a dead ferret (even if Neal says it wouldn't happen, we were still robbed of the anticipation it might), suggesting they go back to Wizard Commander Riker's house for the glasses.

The Estavon story arc ending was very anticlimactic. The final boss was the mastermind behind multiple towns being raided by monsters. He was responsible for unleashing goblins, ogres and the hill giant. Hundreds if not thousands were killed and/or raped, many with their homes and lifestyles burned to ashes. All done for the purpose of furthering his own political agenda. The party was jumping through hoops, unknowingly cleaning up the mess as best they could for weeks. As the man responsible for such heinous actions, I expected a grander final battle. Instead what we got was a handful of rent-a-guards that were one shot by Vincent or two shot by other party members. Did the party even take any damage that fight? Not only that, Estavon gets ganked by his own son. All in all, it was kind of pathetic. It kind of felt like Mass Effect 3 all over again. I would have expected the FINAL BADASS BOSS fight to have been more like the Commander Riker fight, which brings me to the next episode.

The first few hours of Episode 15 were quite honestly pretty dull. The players had no direction, almost forced to follow up on the whole Riker thing for lack of something better to do. They seemed to have zero interest, not invested at all, and were merely playing along with what Neal had outlined. The Riker fight started off pretty epic and was hella exciting. Very reminiscent of the Lord Feng escape, where they are once again on the brink of a full on wipe. That is how the battles should be, not one sided slaughterfests. It should be a battle of survival, where a mistake can cost them their lives. Or a smart move could change the tide. That move with Bregor trying to push Riker onto the tentacle was a brilliant move or would have been if it worked. Unfortunately, the way the fight "ended" left a bad taste. "Give me the sword or I am going to kill you!". Then Riker proceeds to not do anything for 3 rounds straight?!? WTF?!? And in the end, he's like, "I'm just kidding!" and flees? Seriously?

He had 3 players one hit from death...yet retreats. Wizards are typically weak physically, so it would not be surprising to discover he did not have much HP remaining. But in the D&D world, Wizards have access to a crap ton of defensive spells to balance out this inherent weakness. Mirror Image, Blur, Shield, Mage Armor, Protection from Arrows, Stoneskin, Globe of Invulnerability, etc. It would stand to reason he would have at least SOME other defensive spell besides Levitate and Improved Invisibility (assuming it was the 4th level version since he spoke and the invis didn't break). My point is that he could have cast a spell that protected himself and then recommenced his attack. He cast a total of 4 or maybe it was 5 spells: Levitate, Summon Monster (not sure which level, 2 or 3?), Evard's Black Tentacles, and Improved Invisibility...surely he has more spells than that memorized. Hell he could have cast a Level 1 Magic Missile and split off one missile each weakened player and potentially 1 shot 3 players. Bregor would have been the only remaining threat once he finished off the others. Keep in mind this was likely an ambush set by the Wizard, who should have EASILY pre-prepared his defensive spells before engaging the party.

The Riker encounter is not yet concluded, so he may be planning to ambush them again at a different point...but I can't shake the feeling that Neal is pulling yet another "Fake yet not Fake" roll. On several occasions monsters could have gotten in a finishing blow on a low health player, instead switching targets at the last minute to someone with more HP, usually to Bregor. I can understand why the DM does that, but it's kind of lame. The first thing that pops to mind is when the Hill Giant had Vincent down to almost no health...but then switches to attacking Bregor, despite Vincent being the one who is actually hurting him. This feels like just another one of those situations where the DM is no longer being neutral and instead actively but more importantly obviously and blatantly allowing the players to live. This is where fake rolls is actual better. "Vincent is one hit away from death, Cliffton attacks Vincent but misses!" (while the DM is secretly grinning that he actually rolled a natural 20). Resulting in the players and viewers being kept on edge as Vincent keeps narrowly avoids death time and time again. It maintains the sense that the players are mortal and can die, yet keeps things suspenseful. This ambiance is ruined when it becomes too apparent that the DM is being forgiving on purpose. If the player TAUNTED the mob off a player close to death, that would be believable at least, instead of a monster having a sudden change of heart finishing off a player.

Some positives to balance out the negatives:
The highlights of the episode for me was when the gnome pickpocketed Tudagub and he didn't even realize it LOL! I bet ya the gnome was playing possum when he got kicked off. On such a low "successful" opposing Str check roll, seemed very likely the gnome tricked him. Really looking forward to what JP is going to do next as a followup. Also want to see if Abigael gets the hang of backstabbing. It was good to see her at least try to use this attack for the first time. In AD&D 2nd Edition, that is by far a rogues most damaging attack. Would like to see Neal allow her Backstab attempts if she can hit a humanoid target from behind anytime, rather than only being able to initiate the attack from full stealth mode. Bregor had some really good rollplay moments too. Good and very convincing dialogue. The whole magic hat thing is pure win. Vincent seemed like he was struggling to stay awake the first few hours from boredom and ended up being extremely frustrated from encountering a target he couldn't hit, which was made exponentially worse cuz he was stunned for the 4 rounds puking. I have to admit, it was entertaining in a slightly twisted way. Was also kinda hoping the minotaur would get some more play time, seemed like it could lead to an interesting side story.

I thought of going for the glasses because it is actually the first thing that popped in my head when Ryan saw them at the wizard's house and then when he told our characters about it... And then when the wizard was invisible ofc I made the connection that we'd be seeing him with the glasses, I just didn't randomly yell it because it was pointless at the time. Also, I always think of what Abigael would do and obviously if she heard of loot she will obsess over it (so I always take note of potential loot). I haven't even seen a mention of the glasses in chat.