Castlevania II: Dracula's Curse (OOC)

[J-H]

The encounter rolls this time produced an unusually high density. Let's see what you spot.
Chloe (1d20+3)[21]
Cassandra (1d20+3)[16]
Vidrik (1d20+6)[19]
Mustafa (1d20+3)[5]
Sabian (1d20+3)[17]

[J-H]

Init
Sabian (1d20+2)[15]
Cassandra (1d20+3)[21]
Mustafar (1d20+3)[9]
Vidrik (1d20+2)[7]
Chloe (1d20+2)[18]
Ws (1d20+2)[10]
DWs (1d20+2)[20]

[dangelo]

(1d20+6)[20] dex save against Sacred Flame

[Dr.Samurai]

Messed up my attack roll. Rolling 1st attack roll --> (1d20+6)[14]

[J-H]

**Perception mods**
Chloe (1d20+3)[19]
Cassandra (1d20+3)[8]
Vidrik (1d20+6)[19]
Mustafa (1d20+3)[21]
Sabian (1d20+3)[18]

[J-H]

Sabian (1d20+2)[19]
Cassandra (1d20+3)[11]
Mustafar (1d20+0)[10] 1 exh
Vidrik (1d20+3)[12]
Chloe (1d20+2)[10]
Evens (1d20+3)[7]
Odds (1d20+3)[17]

[Bobthewizard]

Doesn't look like it matters here but Vidrik's initiative went to +4.

[J-H]

Updated, thanks.

What did everyone think of Holmwood Tower?

[Bobthewizard]

I liked it. It was scary but mostly manageable. I liked that parts of it were easier with some good tactics (you did the right thing by just calling the zombies in the hall part), but some of it we just had a bad situation that we had to make the best of. That was a good balance. I also liked the gargoyles flying away and showing up at the end so we kept thinking about them, but they didn't overshadow everything.

[Infernally Clay]

The cramped corridors and all the zombies pouring in was a great touch, as was the persistent threat of the gargoyles, but I'd have moved the skeletons from the ground to the top floor to make the final battle a bit more intense.

If you're worried a wight and two skeletons are too much for a third level party after all those zombies, you could add a short side quest that suggests the gargoyles are enchanted sentries for the tower and there's a command word (found in the captain's quarters perhaps) that makes the gargoyles recognise you as friend not foe and they could help against the enemies in the tower. You might want to give the gargoyles reduced hit points if you do that, though, to reflect that they've been fighting the zombies and skeletons long before you arrived.

For the sake of tension and atmosphere, the ground floor doesn't really need enemies as much as it needs visual clues. Perhaps the entrance to the tower could have been torn open and there could be evidence of attempts to repel the attacking force, such as barricades, fallen skeletons and dead guards. Make it a real horror movie moment, showing these people fought and died but took a lot of enemies with them.

I assume the intention was that the wight had killed everyone in the tower and raised them as zombies under its control, so evidence of that would really add a lot to the tower as a whole. Perhaps all of the zombies could be described as wearing the same armour, indicating they were the soldiers stationed here and they all fell in the attack.

[Amnestic]

I thought it was solid enough, I liked the gargoyles. Animated Armour might be a bit much - could consider having it be "slightly rusted" to drop its AC a point or two since we're otherwise hitting only 1/4 of the time, which made it feel a bit sloggish, but hard to tell if that was because we were already lower on resources that we might've had if we hadn't been getting crit so hard earlier in the day.

[Bobthewizard]

reroll bad coding (1d20+10)[25]

[Dr.Samurai]

The tower was good. Like the atmosphere, and narrow winding hallway on each floor. I agree the gargoyles were a good touch, as most people would expect the monster to engage and stand and fight, where as hit and run with breath attack can be added to any of the encounters to add difficulty. Gave the party an opportunity to take matters into their own hands and go after the gargoyles, which appeared to have impacted the final encounter for the better.

I'm no fan of animated armors but given our depleted resources we were still able to prevail so I think it's okay. All in all I think the tower was interesting and provided atmosphere; we knew something was up as soon as we entered, and it informed the way we slowly progressed the whole time. The zombies having to smash the doors down also added to that.

[J-H]

This should be a bit more exciting and satisfying, because danger is more interesting.
**Initiative**
Sabian (1d20+2)[22]
Cassandra (1d20+3)[10]
Mustafar (1d20+0)[17] 1 exh (1d20+0)[19]
Vidrik (1d20+4)[24]
Chloe (1d20+2)[15]

**Perception mods**
Chloe (1d20+3)[22]
Cassandra (1d20+3)[20]
Vidrik (1d20+6)[21]
Mustafa (1d20+3)[20]
Sabian (1d20+3)[18]

[J-H]

Wow, everybody hears them coming.
Forgot enemy init.

Evens (1d20+1)[18]
Odds (1d20+1)[20]

[J-H]

Perception
Cassandra (1d20+3)[18]
Titus (1d20+3)[17]
Sabian (1d20+3)[5]

Stealth
(1d20+3)[9]
(1d20+3)[20]
(1d20+3)[19]
(1d20+3)[9]
(1d20+3)[22]
(1d20+3)[8]
may not use all of these

Initiative
Sabian (1d20+2)[21]
Cassandra (1d20+3)[7]
Titus (1d20+2)[9]
A (1d20+1)[17]
B (1d20+1)[13]

[J-H]

Perception
Chloe (1d20+3)[5] DV
Cassandra (1d20+3)[7] DV
Titus (1d20+3)[4] DV
Mustafa (1d20+3)[5] (1d20+3)[12] 1 exh
Sabian (1d20+3)[22] DV