7 AND OUT! Wed night PD variant static group

[Mindos]

I, Warpot, err, Waterpot, have now died. Twice. I blamed the healer first, of course, but in the end I looked squarely into the mirror. And down, and to the left, yes, at you Teapot, my little wolf pet. The distracting *ding* of your zerging death clearly distracted me.

Luckily, several other people died, so it really was a party. Important life lesson pro-tip: Just because you have an uber speed stacking ability from the druid tree, doesnt mean its a good idea to zerg ahead. Also, monster champion wizards can cast several feet thru walls. That is all.

As we're getting into some more difficult stuff, I am having more and more fun. A true dungeoun crawl!

I'll leave more details for others to post. Happy new year all!

[Thoom]

you get a bonus to saves vs death if you are banking exp -Danesi

[Postumus]

NAME	CLASS	RACE	LEVEL	DEATH COUNT
Hagoh	Bard	Human	5	0
Vorstaag	Rogue	Warforged	5	1 The Kobolds' New Ringleader
Danesi	Cleric	Human	5	0
Edweenna	Wizard	Half-Elf	5	1 Where There's Smoke...
Warpot	Druid	Wolf (Warforged)	5	0
Vartoff	Barbarian	Dwarf	5	0

(updated with Vorstaag's death in KNR while he was soloing a few weeks back trying to catch up to the group).

Completed the following quests on elite: The Old Archives - The Crypt of Gerard Dryden- Setting the Wards: The Lower Cathedral - Setting the Wards: The Patriarchs' Crypt- Endgame: The Archbishop's Fate-The Cloven Jaw Scourge: Blockade - The Cloven Jaw Scourge: The Caverns of Shaagh • Freshen the Air


So far Belladonna's rapid fire crossbow and Edweenna's sonic blasts have really been beating up our enemies at long range. The tandem has been so effective that by the time our melees can close with the enemy, it usually only takes one or two swings to finish off whatever is left standing. This has gone a long way to prevent incoming damage as most DDO players know usually the most effective way to stay alive is kill the enemy as fast as possible.


But we quickly discovered a new 6-step tactic that was even more effective against the undead infesting the catacombs:


1- see a bunch of undead
2- hurl enraged dwarf barbarian at undead
3- drag Danesi the Doorsitter to the group of mobs
4- Danesi blasts remaining undead to dust with her turns
5- rinse
6- repeat


We cruised to easy completions for entire catacombs chain. Hagoh was fortunate enough to find some chainmail with deathblock, and he was given a Dagger of Inquisition as an end reward.


After the catacombs, we began the Shan-to-Kor chain. We completed the first two quests, then opted to run Freshen the Air on elite. None of the quests were very difficult for us, but Freshen the Air did require us to play with our heads on a swivel.


Hagoh made liberal use of his bow in that last quest trying to take out the casters and throwers from range, but despite a couple of close calls with MELF's acid arrow, we were able to complete without any deaths and with plenty of time remaining on the clock.

Afterwards everyone took level 6.

[Postumus]

NAME	CLASS	RACE	LEVEL	DEATH COUNT
Hagoh	Bard	Human	6	1 Come Out and Slay
Vorstaag	Rogue	Warforged	6	3 The Kobolds' New Ringleader - Come Out and Slay - The Depths of Despair
Danesi	Cleric	Human	6	0
Edweenna	Wizard	Half-Elf	6	2 Where There's Smoke... - Come Out and Slay
Waterpot	Druid	Wolf (Warforged)	6	2 Come Out and Slay

Completed the following quests on elite: Stand Your Ground - Dirty Laundry - The Stormreaver Fresco - The Bookbinder Rescue - Repossession - Come Out and Slay - The Halls of Shan-to-Kor - The Depths of Despair


One of the reasons I wanted to run 7 and Out! was because after playing typical PD I found that a simple mistake could send one or two players back to the drawing board to re-roll. I wanted to the group to be able to learn from its mistakes but keep progressing without someone re-rolling every few weeks, yet still have that sense of danger that PD provides.


I also wanted players not to have to worry about rolling up the 'optimal' self-sufficient PD character, but to build a fun character they would enjoy playing (reminiscent of table top)


Finally I wasn't sure how much champions would impact our play. In general I don't find champions aren't that big of a deal, and they hadn't been much trouble... until last week.


We decided to run the Sharn Syndicate chain in the hopes of getting some better trapping loot before returning to complete Shan-to-Kor. The Sharn quests are not very challenging unless the group has a weak trapper. Fortunately Vorstaag knows his business and easily detected and dismantled every trap in the chain. Things were going extremely well until the final quest: Come Out and Slay.


Come out and Slay is one of those quests that when run at level can be easy but every once in a while can go horribly wrong. One of our previous PD groups wiped in that quest. We've lost numerous characters over the years in that quest so I've grown not to take it as a quick win for PD groups. But the new champions really ratcheted up the difficulty level for us.


At first things went well. We infiltrated the manor, cleared out the main halls killing all the ruffians, footpads, and bandits comprising the Quick Foot gang. At one point Waterpot, in wolf form, went into a blood moon frenzy and ran ahead chomping the bandits to bits until he bit off a little more than he could chew. DING!


We had a little trouble with the bandits around the shrine outside, but we raised Water and continued onward, albeit with more trepidation. After opening the portcullis, climbing up to the second level while clearing bandit archers, we assembled against the wall on either side of the opening that lead to the roof tops. There was a caster champion blasting lightning bolts, but we were safe behind the wall. Until the champion cast enervate... THROUGH the wall!


Suddenly Hagoh dropped 2 levels and a good chunk of hit points! We flanked the caster and took him out as quickly as possible, but not before he got a few more zaps in. We assembled at the second wall on the roof tops, peeked around the corner and... ZOIKS! Another champion caster winding up! We ducked back behind the wall but he tagged Edweenna who collapsed up on a ledge on the other side of the doorway.


Hagoh rushed past the opening to the other side to try to get near enough the ledge to cure Ed, but because she was on the ledge Hagoh couldn't target her. He'd been hit running past the doorway, and was still woozy from losing two levels. He had a choice, should he leave Ed lying on the ground bleeding and jump down to the ground to recoup and recover? Or should he try to jump up to the ledge Ed was lying on and revive her? They had partial cover behind the wall, but he'd have to do it quickly.


Hagoh leaped up to the ledge, but his hands couldn't find enough purchase to pull himself up and he fell back down. Down into the cloud of acid rain that the obscured Champion Dos had slung around the corner like a boomerang. Ding! The cloud drifted over the unconscious Edweenna. Ding! As everything went to black, Hagoh thought he heard the sound of a Warforged roaring in pain...


Hagoh came to at the same shrine where he had earlier helped revive Waterpot. He was not the only one. Everyone but Danesi had been killed! We all took a few moments to recover at the shrine before venturing back up on to the rooftops. There were a few grumbles to the effect of how convenient it was that Danesi had survived the encounter without so much as a scratch, but everyone else had been killed.


Hagoh: You know if you were actually with the rest of us we could benefit from your healing aura also.

Danesi: If you weren't around the corner I could actually target you with a healing spell.

Hagoh: If you actually stuck with the rest of the group, I wouldn't be around a corner!


And so it went back and forth until Vorstaag coughed up chunky glob of oil while clearing his throat and spat it on the ground.


Hagoh: Gross!

Vorstaag: Fleshies! Less whining, more fighting. You can continue your slap fight once we finish off the Quick Foot gang!

Hagoh: I guess he's got a point... but that was just nasty Vorstaag!

Danesi: Wow that's the most words I've heard him speak since Korthos!


And back to the rooftops we went and finished off the remaining bandits.


Afterwards we cruised through Shan-to-Kor and ended the night in the Depths of Despair, where, unfortunately, Vorstaag had another mishap. At the moment I can't remember how he died, but I'm sure it was embarrassing. All of us were ready to take level 7 except Ed, so we agreed to wait to level until after we completed the Depths chain so we could level together.

[Thoom]

As long as you know that the Healing Aura is at level 12, Healing Burst I got at level 6. The ability to heal doesn't make me jump into acid rain when all I hear is DING DING DING DING DING

Danesi, keeping doors safe since level 1

[Postumus]

As long as you know that the Healing Aura is at level 12, Healing Burst I got at level 6.

pffft, never let facts detract from a good story.

[Mindos]

pffft, never let facts detract from a good story.

Once upon a time, there was a Warforged! And he wanted to understand nature, and the seasons, and what it meant to be alive! So he became a druid, and he loved shapechanging.
So one day, in a deep dark dungeon, he was in his wolf form, with his summoned wolf companion, Teapot, and a summoned young razor cat! And along they went, happily ever after...that is until one of the three of them (teapot) touched the ground!
But this was not just any ground! It was special ground, the type of ground that grinds you and all around you into ground beef. Perhaps Teapot had to piddle, perhaps when the party is jumping/running across the staunches the hires/summons should NOT take the shortest distance and trigger *The Trap of Doom". Say it with me, Hindo's DOOOmm,, wiat what?

Once again, the blame lies squarely upon me, the noble player, the true ex machina, The duece. Because I felt like number two after killing a party member. Sorry!

[Postumus]

NAME	CLASS	RACE	LEVEL	DEATH COUNT
Hagoh	Bard	Human	7	1 Come Out and Slay
Danesi	Cleric	Human	7	0
Edweenna	Wizard	Half-Elf	7	3 Where There's Smoke... , Come Out and Slay, The Depths of Doom
Waterpot	Druid	Wolf (Warforged)	7	3 Come Out and Slay (X2), The Depths of Doom
Vartoff	Barbarian	Dwarf	7	0

Completed the following quests on elite: The Depths of Darkness• The Depths of Discord • The Depths of Doom • First Strike - The Hobgoblins' Captives - Yarkuch's War-plans - Whisperdoom's Spawn - The Deadly Package: The Stronghold Key - The Deadly Package: Agent of the Darguul - Doom of the Witch-doctor: The Way to Zulkash - Doom of the Witch-doctor: Zulkash, Herald of Woe


Our rogue, Vorstaag, was absent (probably off pilfering the townhomes of the Coinlords), but we thought we'd be able to finish the Depths chain without him.


We were able to avoid or navigate through the few traps in the Depths chain without any trouble until we got to the Depths of Doom. The second blade trap between the two pillars caught Waterpot and Edweena. We suspect one of the pets may have set it off since Hagoh and Danesi made it through unscathed. Vartoff also got hit, but he made his saving throw and came out alive albeit with a slightly shorter beard.


We completed the Depths chain and decided to head to Tangleroot to face a rogue Hobgoblin chieftain who had been raiding that region because:

1 - Who doesn't enjoy killing Hobgoblins?

2- How many traps could there be? They're Hobgoblins!


We were correct thinking it would be fun to ravage a Hobgoblin stronghold, but there were more traps than we expected. Though the traps still weren't a barrier to completing the quests until Yarkuch's War-plans.


We were unable, and (yes I'll admit it) just a bit afraid, to navigate past the trap gauntlet between us and the last tactician holding the troop roster. Even though Vartoff thought we should just suck it up, run through the traps and take our chances, cooler heads prevailed when we pointed out that he had almost DOUBLE the hit points of every other party member.


Edweenna suggested we try to go around to the other side of the cliff and try to cast spells or range the tactician from below. Hagoh, Danesi, and Edweenna cast spells and threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Hobgoblins on the ledge above us, but despite killing the Hobgoblin casters, the tactician was not interested in coming down to fight us. Finally, some shrapnel or a ricocheted arrow hit the tactician in the head and got so enraged that he charged down through the traps to get to us. The traps cut him and his bodyguards to shreds, and we casually retrieved the troop roster from his corpse.


Hagoh: Smarter, not harder, eh buddy?


Vartoff: Wut?


Hagoh: (sigh) NM.




We weren't able to get the last chest, but we did complete the quest.


To destroy the spider eggs in Whisperdoom's Spawn we summoned some creatures, Hagoh cast invisibility on everyone, and then Vartoff and Waterpot ran around destroying the eggs while the spiders attacked our summons. And while we didn't loot the chest, we were able to get in, destroy the eggs, and get out quickly and easily.


The remaining quests weren't much trouble and we defeated Yulkash, the Hobgoblin shaman with ease.

[Thoom]

Ran the 4 Necro 1 quests, and not the 5th yet. Ran the first 2 of Sorrowdusk. Leveled up to 8.

No one died, not Vorstaag, not Vartoff, not Waterpot, not Edweena, and certainly not Danesi.
Hagoh has some catching up to do, DING!

-Danesi, keeping doors safe since level 1

[Postumus]

NAME	CLASS	RACE	LEVEL	DEATH COUNT
Vorstaag	Rogue	Warforged	8	3 The Kobolds' New Ringleader - Come Out and Slay - The Depths of Despair
Danesi	Cleric	Human	8	0
Edweenna	Wizard	Half-Elf	7	3 Where There's Smoke... , Come Out and Slay, The Depths of Doom
Waterpot	Druid	Wolf (Warforged)	8	3 Come Out and Slay (X2), The Depths of Doom
Vartoff	Barbarian	Dwarf	8	0

Completed the following quests on elite: Tomb of the Burning Heart • Tomb of the Crimson Heart • Tomb of the Immortal Heart • Tomb of the Sanguine Heart • The Iron Mines: Freeing Achka • The Iron Mines: Justice for Grust


Hagoh was absent but he completed the Tangleroot explorer area which gave him enough XP to take eighth level. Since I missed last Thursday, and since I doubt Hagoh's "adventures" mapping out Tangleroot would make for compelling reading, I thought I would list out his gear instead so anyone who is curious can see what kinds of items we are working with at level 8.

GEAR:

Charisma +4 mask
Cloven Jaw War Beads
Kneeza's Bauble
Devoted goggles
Charismatic cloak +2 of resistance +2
+1 Skirmish Leather of Axeblock II
Bracers of Performing +5
Ogre Power Belt +3
Ring of Wizardry II
Ring of False Life +10
Featherfalling gloves
Boots of Speed II with empty augment slot


Weapons:

+1 light frost pick of humanoid bane (main weapon)

+2 rapier of draining
+1 heavy mace of ghostbane
Dagger of Inquisition
+2 shock composite long bow

[Thoom]

I was adventuring on the Guild Ship, ran across a rabid Training Dummy. It took me a while to defeat it, but the chest in the Cargo Hold it dropped gave me amazing loot. I think that thing respawns after a few seconds, so you better be careful.

Danesi, keeping doors and Guild Ships safe since level 1

[Postumus]

The question has been raised regarding what happens if a player reaches seven deaths? Does the player get to re-roll a new character of appropriate level?

I'm not opposed to this. The options I see are the following:


1- Player deletes old character and gear then re-rolls a L1 character and solos back to an appropriate level to join the party.


2- Player deletes old character and gear and re-rolls a character within 4 levels of party (could be a problem if player does not have vet 2 or iconics).


3- Entire party re-rolls and starts over at level 1.


4- Player is "out" and party progresses without him.


I think option 1 might be a bit onerous since soloing PD is tough and who really wants to solo 8-10 levels to catch up?


I'm fine with the other three.

[Thoom]

possible favorite of mine is option 3, that way players have a chance to make a new class and we all shuffle the responsibilities around and try new things.

Danesi, just unkillable doorsitting

[Postumus]

possible favorite of mine is option 3, that way players have a chance to make a new class and we all shuffle the responsibilities around and try new things.

Danesi, just unkillable doorsitting

I'm fine with that if that's how everyone else wants to do it.


I already have one PD orphan riding the pine (Flynte), what's one more?

[Mindos]

I'm fine with that if that's how everyone else wants to do it.


I already have one PD orphan riding the pine (Flynte), what's one more?

Wow. I like option 3 as well. It just adds the whole team thing, then pours superglue on it. I think its an awesome idea, if one reachs 7, we all start over. Hard core man, game over!

I know my style has changed a lot since I hit 3 dings. (don't say that outloud at your next party) But I'm still trying to play the aggressive grab agro role that I think my toon should do, like the barbarian. This will really keep us focused on staying together. Oh, but don't you have to logon to do that? (burn....) Just kidding, hope hagoh is ok. We joked you musta been in hospital to miss a session!

Anything we decided to do, I'm cool with. I am having a blast. If we do all re-roll, we should talk out the class splits maybe, although random was fun too.

[Postumus]

Option 3 works for me.

If we go that route, maybe the other party members who didn't hit 7 deaths but still have to retire characters and re-roll new ones should be allowed to inherit/hand down one item from the retired character to the new character?


E.G. Denasi dies for the 7th and last time, but Hagoh and Waterpot have fewer than 7 deaths. The entire group would re-roll new characters Denasi 2, Hagoh 2, and Waterpot 2.


Denasi would be deleted and Denasi 2 would start with nothing; but Hagoh and Waterpot would be able to pass one item down to Hagoh 2 and Waterpot 2 respectively before being deleted.

[Thoom]

All my items are garbage, anything I would keep would be of something that is too high level restricted so it wouldn't matter.

Danesi, doesn't die, even in example senarios

Option 3 works for me.

If we go that route, maybe the other party members who didn't hit 7 deaths but still have to retire characters and re-roll new ones should be allowed to inherit/hand down one item from the retired character to the new character?


E.G. Denasi dies for the 7th and last time, but Hagoh and Waterpot have fewer than 7 deaths. The entire group would re-roll new characters Denasi 2, Hagoh 2, and Waterpot 2.


Denasi would be deleted and Denasi 2 would start with nothing; but Hagoh and Waterpot would be able to pass one item down to Hagoh 2 and Waterpot 2 respectively before being deleted.

[Warhulk]

I like option 3 as well. Maybe it will keep me from blowing up barrels.

[dominp]

If there is a spot open I would be available.
Returning Permadeath player, been gone about 2 years.
Premium player now but will go VIP if I find a static group to run with.

I am in Arizona so I am usually on in the later hours...10pm - 1:00am EST
during the week.

If there is a spot please send PM

[Postumus]

If there is a spot open I would be available.
Returning Permadeath player, been gone about 2 years.
Premium player now but will go VIP if I find a static group to run with.

I am in Arizona so I am usually on in the later hours...10pm - 1:00am EST
during the week.

If there is a spot please send PM

Looks like we still have six for the foreseeable future, but I will definitely shoot you a PM if someone ends up dropping.