Comments on: D&D Encounters Dark Sun Character Builder Files

By: D&D Encounters Dark Sun Character Skill Cards — Dungeon's Master

D&D Encounters Dark Sun Character Skill Cards — Dungeon's Master — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:49:58 +0000

[...] problems with the pre-generated characters this seemed to me to be an easy one to fix. Using the character builder files we already created, and faking the other two in order to get accurate skill cards, I’ve put [...]

By: Incredible Vehicle · More Dark Sun characters

Incredible Vehicle · More Dark Sun characters — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:06:20 +0000

[...] there are those from the D&D Encounters series. The folks over at Dungeon’s Master have posted a PDF containing all six [...]

By: Raddu

Raddu — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:04:06 +0000

The other Dark Sun characters that you got Paul are for the Bloodsand arena adventure that will b released this Saturday as part of Free RPG Day.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:22:35 +0000

When I was downloading forms and characters for this Wednesday’s event, I have character sheets for Kindrok (Goliath Gladiator), Morg (Mul Barbarian), Pak’Cha (Thri-Keen Shaman), Suldin (Human Wizard), Ulieth (Elf Battlemind), Vinara (Human Sorcerer-King Pact Warlock).

Does anyone know where I got these from? They have the 4th Edition stat blocks for Dark Sun and add different character choices. I think I had got them from a WotC event page.

By: Reno

Reno — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:25:28 +0000

I had to fudge a bit, while still maintaining good enemy tactics. I’m not sure which was worse, the 4d6 hits, or the Inciter’s ability to thrice have everyone with 5 squares of him shift and make a free attack. I took the bonuses to damage away from the Ragers, and knocked the Darters’ ranged attack to a 1d6 (a blowgun dart that does 1d10? Do they come with a tripod and laser sight?), and the Inciter did Incite Frenzy when he became bloodied, but not Incite Fury (I still did 19 damage to Yuka with the two Ragers). Even with handicapped enemies, the encounter was still very challenging; 3/4 of the team had to spend their second wind, they ate one of the healing fruits, and were all bloodied but one at the end of the encounter.

Out of Shikirr, Barcan, Yuka, and Jarvix (gonna insist they take Phye next time, she’s the only one that can heal >.<), Shikirr was by far the most powerful (Thri-Keen Claws is one of the nicest racials I've seen), followed by Barcan and Jarvix, who tore through the Darters easily with their at-wills.

By: Lahrs

Lahrs — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:11:54 +0000

More SPOILERS for non-DM’s.

@ Wimwick
I definitely want a challenge for my group, but when the first battle has two creatures that can hit 4d6 + 4 a total of six times during the encounter, and both of which start close to the PC’s, I think that is a bit much. A fresh set of reinforcements, with similar attack abilities arrives every five rounds.

I have never run Dark Sun before, so I honestly may be overreacting, but in general, I see a TPK without DM interference. We play Wednesday, so I will have a much better judgement then. I do like that the overall difficult seems to be higher than Halaster’s Apprentice though, and I am looking forward to this season.

By: Wimwick

Wimwick — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:35:48 +0000

@ Lahrs
I’m not DMing the event, in fact I work Wednesday nights so I can’t even particpate. One thing to remember with tweaking the encounters is that Dark Sun is a tougher world than others, so the encounters may seem harder. However, each of the PCs has an extra encounter power made available through the theme system. This may or may not help to balance things out. Time will tell.

By: Ameron

Ameron — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:17:16 +0000

@Reno
Players can use their character from D&D Encounters Season One in LFR games. Since the first season of D&D Encounters was in Forgotten Realms and the second season is in Dark Sun you have to use the new characters provided.

If this was a home game you could do whatever you want, but since it’s an RPGA sanctioned event they’re pretty sticky about stuff like that. After all they want everyone to have the same shared experience.

By: Reno

Reno — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:04:43 +0000

I was under the impression that my players could keep the same characters through the various seasons, in fact I’m pretty sure I read that in the Organizer’s notes. If that weren’t the case, why would WotC bother to have them level their characters to 2nd at the end of Halaster’s Apprentice? I have some players who put real effort into creating their characters, and I’m not about to tell them they have to start all over again with more crappy plastic cards full of errors, with none of the items or gold they earned during the last three months. Not to mention that I went to the trouble of giving them real character sheets and sleeved power cards. (Belial was such a bs character, impossible to recreate in CB until 2nd level, when you could take the Hybrid Talent feat to get Darkspiral Aura).

No, they’ll fall through a dandy temporal vortex and wind up on a strange new world (amazing how often that happens), and can either die in the process and pick one of the pregens, or endure the trip and find adventure waiting on the other side.

Many thanks for the .dnd4e files, they’ll be tremendously helpful!

By: Lahrs

Lahrs — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:01:53 +0000

I am changing a few things in both the PC’s and the adventure. First, I am lowering damage for a few of the monsters powers, as some are ridiculously out of proportion for a level one battle. This is continued for the next few encounters. I love the idea of tension they are building, but there is a difference between tension and an outright TPK.

Second, I am going to expand on the introduction text, as I feel what is currently written does not convey the information the PC’s need to have to be successful.

Lastly, I am going to use the updated stats for Infernal Wrath and Throw and Stab.

After playing through D&D Encounters 1 and looking at Encounters 2, I believe it is imperative the DM steps in and fixes glaring problems.

I also plan on throwing in one more low level magic item, probably a level 2, so all six party members will have a magic item by the end of the adventure.

[SPOILER]
Are you going to let your players know they cannot use an extended rest until after the 5th encounter? It would seem brutal not to, and I plan on doing it. I am curious how other DM’s are going to handle it.