Delvers to Go party of five

[restlessgriffin]

Originally Posted by johndallman

All the lists in this thread include Sir Yvor Gryffyn. Is this for his protective abilities, his strong defence as well as offence, or just because armoured fighters are traditional?

He's got good offensive and defensive capabilities. He's got both Combat Refexes and High Pain Threshold to keep him from being surprised and keeps him fighting effectively. He's got good sword skills, a good strength, good Shield skill, a decent DX, and HT and HP enough to avoid getting easily knocked out of a fight easily. He's also good at protecting other PCs with Sacrificial Block and Parry not to mention Shield Wall Training. He also has good equipment.

Read his Design Notes. He's a Knight to build a party around.

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Anthony

It's a bit overly focused; there aren't a lot of problems you can solve with four thugs that can't be solved with three thugs.

One thing that you get from having four thugs: you can lose a thug and still solve problems that require three thugs.

Anecdote from a recent play session:

After the first disastrous attempt at entering Merle's lair (in which everybody except Zamboni, nee Zombani, took catastrophic damage from the Evil Runes and the party had to retreat back into the cellar to rest and heal for several hours)--

After that, Zamboni buffed Sir Yvor, Grukuk, and Llandor with Shield and Armor while Miriam buffed them them all with Magic Resistance III after putting Flaming Weapons on Sir Yvor and Grukuk's weapons. This time they made it through the Evil Runes without taking any damage--a twelve-point swing really makes a difference in a Quick Contest! They entered the room where the Peshkali lurked.

Llandor stayed at the back in the corridor and waited for a clear shot.

Grukuk smashed the Peshkali's skull in, twice, for 10 points of damage and then 10 more points of damage. The wreckage of the peshkali's skull continued to grin ghoulishly at her, and the whirling arms did not abate their frenzy.

Sir Yvor's flaming blade struck off one of the Peshkali's arms, and would have struck off another had the Peshkali's scimitar not intercepted the blow.

The peshkali then pressed the attack, striking with deceptive speed for Grukuk's arms (-7 to attack, 11+ required). Grukuk parried once, dodged and retreated once, blocked successfully once, was protected by Sir Yvor once... and then the Peshkali struck past both Grukuk's and Sir Yvor's guard, for 3d6 (12) + 3 points of cutting damage. Grukuk's armor and Armor blocked 3 points of damage, but the remaining 18 points of injury struck Grukuk's arm clean off her body, and her flaming morningstar fell to the ground with a clatter.

Grukuk stared in disbelief at her arm, lying on the ground, and then turned back to the peshkali with fury in her eyes. "I was using that!" she screamed and turned to begin hammering the peshkali with her shield.

At this point the Peshkali was moderately wounded and half of the party's firepower was out of action. Not a good trend.

I thought the scene was going to end in three deaths, but fortunately Sir Yvor had a bright idea. Seeing that the creature still relied upon vision despite its lack of vitals: "Llandor!" he cried, "blind it!" Over the next two rounds Llandor put out its eyes, and Yvor lasted long enough against its whirling scimitars to gradually cut it to pieces. (It would have charged Llandor after the first arrow put out one eye, but it was at half move and half Dodge by then and didn't have the option.)

Grukuk picked up her arm and retreated back to the cellar. I think the other players are likely to press onward (and luckily Grukuk and Miriam are played by the same player, so she's not out of the game).

Anyway, if they'd had four thugs instead of three the scenario wouldn't have been so dicey just because Grukuk got neutralized. (Her shield bashes wound up accomplishing nothing, except from the character-building angle of showing that Grukuk doesn't quit.)

Of course, on the other hand if they'd had four thugs instead of two clerics (Zamboni and Miriam), there would have been no one to heal Miriam when first the evil runes knocked her almost-unconscious, and then tripping over a rock in the passage back to the cellar finished the job. :-P