Temporary Hit Points Podcast?

Temporary Hit Points is going to be turning into a podcast/blog that deals with the Actual Play of our current home group, following the exploits of the PCs attempting to thwart the cult of the Dawn Titans who are trying to resurrect the eponymous titans.

We will also feature a little DM discussion on some of the tips and tricks that we use in our game to make the play experience better.  I have never claimed to be an expert, but I think that I have a few good ideas.

A few ideas that we will be exploring:

• Dungeon Delves (previewed as Delving Deep on The Power Source Podcast)
• Fantastic Terrain
• Wondrous Items
• PC Builds
• Story Progression
• Reviews of Products

I hope to have an episode or two up before Origins 2010, which I will be attending.

Finally, any questions, comments, or concerns can be put up on the site here, or emailed directly to me at temporaryhitpoints@gmail.com

Ten Characters

I am going to be writing some Dungeon Delves using Masterplan.  In fact, at the time of writing this, I have not only written two Delves, but I have recorded and submitted segments for a podcast and sent them to Jared at The Power Source, one of the many (many) podcasts that I listen to.

Granted, Jared did a very smart thing: he held a contest.  He is giving away a Player's Handbook 3, a copy of The Jester, and a copy of The Explorer, both of which are classes that he came up with.  The entry: a segment for his show.  Curse you, Jared, for making me actually record and possibly get me started in podcasting!

Anyway, as I was starting to say; I am going to be writing some Dungeon Delves.  These will be of various levels, and will be tailored to parties of 5 PCs, and can be inserted into a variety of campaigns.  I am doing this not only to get my own creativity flowing, but to hopefully share some fun games that other DMs can pick up at a moment's notice if they haven't had time to get their game prepared for the week, or if they are going to run a one-off game for a new group.

To this end, I want to create a pool of ten characters that can be chosen and used for any of these Delves.  These characters will span all of the PC roles, and if the DM decides to have a one-off, can just print off five of these PCs at the appropriate level and head out to the game.

Are there any suggestions for a must-have PC?  I have a tentative list in my head, and I plan on taking a class or two in a fairly unlikely direction.  For instance, instead of an elven archer ranger, I plan on doing something with a dwarf for my ranger build.  More on that later...

My Thoughts on Succubi

No sir, I don't like 'em.

More to the point, this is in reflection of Justin's encounters.  The first encounter was a good setup, and fit well for the story, but it was kind of a cakewalk.  I was actually disappointed that I didn't have to use any of my cool encounter powers, because dealing more damage wouldn't have made a difference.

The second encounter was set up well.  Before the first encounter began, I was in a market square, and ended up moving around the battlemap to help some trapped shopkeepers.  This set the stage for the second encounter, where I assumed that it was a "protect the townsfolk" mission from the Infernal Armor Animi (Animuses?) and the Spinagon.  Little did I know that they were actually Succubi playing the part of townsfolk.  After a hard fought battle, I was down to one Succubi, who, unbeknownst to me, only had one hit point remaining.  She kept dominating my people, and they weren't able to target her with an attack while dominated.  I decided to take the metagaming out of it, and roleplay it a little, so I tried to shake it off, and Justin let me try that.  Eventually, all 4 of my characters were dominated, and the Succubi was leading them off to her domain, where they would be hers.  Justin took pity on me and had a shopkeeper that I rescued come up with a bow and shoot.  Rolled a 19.  He got a little smile on his face and said, "An arrow erupts from the base of the Succubus' throat and she looks down in disbelief at it, and falls down on to the cobblestone road, and breathes her last."  Then the fog in our minds lifted, and the shopkeeper tells us where they have been coming from -- the fallen tower.

I will let Justin talk about the third encounter first before I get to it, but this was the first TPK of the three encounters we had.  Sheesh, it's like it was a competition or something.

Oops, yeah that wasn't supposed to happen ...

Ok, so first thing is first ... sorry. After a bit of reflection I have decided that killing your entire party, um twice, was a bit harsh. On an up note, I did learn a couple things.
First off, when designing an encounter for a specific party, make sure you look for areas that your PC's may be weak in and try not to exploit it.
Second, don't use a monster that you think is cool because it can eat one of the PC's on its turn.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
The first encounter was more of a setup for the story than a challenge for Dave's party. I had the party in a random town checking out the marketplace when the lone wizard's tower, a mile or so away, basically exploded raining down fire and signifying round one.
As the town square emptied of people, a crew of 16 Legion Devil Grunts approached, broke ranks and attacked. While sixteen creatures look a bit scary walking up to the party, the fear quickly dissipated when Dave discovered that they were all minions. One well placed huge fireball took care of pretty much all of them. At this point we made a couple of jokes about how he is going to breeze through all three encounters.
We were horribly wrong. Cue Slapchop remix. Cause it is awesome.
The second encounter began fairly typically. A couple of monsters posing as injured humans lure the party in then change into horrible, um monsters. The monsters were as listed:

• 1 Spined Devil (Spinagon)- Very cool monster that can fly and fling spines(like people think porcupines can but actually can't) that catch fire and can give ongoing poison damage.
  
• 4 Infernal Armor Animus- Basically Hp bucket minions that give Hp to other monsters as they die. Pretty much useless unless you protect them like your virginity.
  
• 2 Succubusses? Succubi?- TPK machines. Yep I said it, Succubi are TPK MACHINES!!!!
  

This post is running on a bit so I'll stop for now, more soon.
In the meantime, put a Succubus in an encounter and let her do her thing. Then let me know what happened.