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*Below is another bit of fiction about Suriel, my elf invoker/wizard/bladesinger, from Erik Scott de Bie's 4e Forgotten Realms campaign.*



“The gods are fallible.”

Suriel’s mind was a storm of thoughts and feelings, but like lightning flashing in the tempest, this thought kept returning to her over and over.

She barely noticed as her feet scuffed along the stone passageways of the underdark. The air was stale and acrid, but she didn’t care. The darkness was only broken by the dim glow of the magical disc floating behind her, but she walked on blindly, barely looking where she was going. She walked slowly, steadily, waiting for the right chamber or alcove to present itself to her. She didn’t know what she was looking for in the darkness, only that it was

...

[spoiler=THARN, Level 21 Drow Fey Pact Hexblade]

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
THARN, level 21
Drow, Warlock (Hexblade), Legendary Hexblade, Destined Scion
Pact: Fey Pact
Epic Heroism Option: Charisma
Epic Heroism Option: Dexterity
Darkfire Option: Darkfire Charisma
Arcane Agent (+2 to Stealth)
Theme: Bregan D'aerthe Spy

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 11, CON 15, DEX 26, INT 12, WIS 12, CHA 26

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 9, CON 13, DEX 16, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 16


AC: 34 Fort: 32 Ref: 38 Will: 38
HP: 127 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 31

TRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +23, Arcana +16, Bluff +25, Insight +16, Perception +16, Stealth +27

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Athletics +10, Diplomacy +18, Dungeoneering +11, Endurance +12, Heal +11, History +11, Intimidate +20, Nature +11, Religion +11,

...

So what's your favorite D&D race to date? and your least favorite?

Mine:

Fave: Tieflings are great in my opinion, not for their bonuses, but for their ability to roleplay. Nothing beats playing the outcast half-demon with horns IMHO.

Leastfave: I DM'd a session once where one of the players was a Fire Jovian. +14 Strength, +2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, -2 Dexterity. No real social penalty either. described as being "small by giant standards" yet they're still large class. He never missed an attack because of the strength bonus too. He one-hit-killed 12 kobolds at level 1. I got so sick of it, a kobold actually ended up getting the jump on him, and knocked him out with a club-blow to the head (yup, that was a crit.)

How about you? 

I knew that Evermeet was scheduled for audio book release today, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that several more are now available.  Tangled Webs and Wildwalker, books 2 and 3 of the Starlight & Shadows trilogy are out today. (Not sure what the story is with book 1, Daughter of the Drow, but I'm looking into it...)  So is my short story collection, The Best of the Realms Book III.

Today's Forgotten Realms releases also include two anthologies to which I've contributed:  Realms of Infamy and Realms of the Arcane.  These anthologies are a great way to sample a variety of writing styles and topics, and well as to revisit recurring characters.  

I'm delighted to see the backlist returning in audio format. ...

I am getting right to the meat and potatoes because I know a lot of you don't want to waste time reading my campaign backround and all that jazz. Here is the jist. I am a new DM. Running a campaign with four experienced players. It is evil. Four sessions in. They are all drow in Menzoberranzan. Only one of them is female (menzoberrenzan is a matriarchy). Have gotten lots of great feedback from them so far. I love playing this game. Especially being a DM.
  Now, here are my questions. First, last session they came back from a long journey, got back to the city. They are still in tier breche, just about to graduate. Two of the players made their own house, Xe'larrezz'et'sauj (I know right, cant even say it). They are the first two sons of their matron mother. Now, I dont know how much...

*Below is another bit of fiction about Suriel, my elf invoker, from Erik Scott de Bie's 4e Forgotten Realms campaign. We have just completed the second installment of the tomb of horros and Suriel has discovered that she is more than she every imagined*

Rocks fell from the ceiling of the crypt, smashing the few remnants of the necromantic ritual structure that had itself just fallen to pieces, crashing down to the wet stone floor. The black necrotic sludge that dripped from every surface of this place splashed drops of decay onto the hand of the drow woman laying there, but was barely visible against the ebony hue of her skin. She stared at her hand even as the sludge withered it. A man nearby yelled something, but she could only gaze in astonishment.

Her skin and hair had changed. She...

It was my goal to get to the table early this week.......fail. I was actually 3 or 4 minutes late. After dropping my wife and daughter off at the ice rink I had only three minutes to make a 7 minute drive. 

So I arrive at the table. and two things are different; One: We have a new face at the table and 2: We are missing one of our players from last week. The new player was using a premade Drow Rogue. Yay more Damage. But the player that is absent was our Drow Cleric boo less healing.

So we have around the table, The DM, Mr Knowitall, Me, The Couple, and the New Guy.
The adventure starts off with the DM making sure we all had level up to 2nd level. Then we start with the handing out of our house goals. For those who don't know what these are, they are little things that you can do to win...

Well week two was a whirlwind of "we almost died"

after our first week, we returned to our small little table at the game shop. Myself, the DM and four other gamers. our group when last we left had just been sealed in a cave full of Svirfniblin. 

So we sit down get out our mini's place them on the designated space and start the session.
being a Hunter I set myself as far in the back as I could.
after a brief DM intro we all make our Initiative rolls. My roll lands me in about the middle of the action.
Our Dwarf slave is the first to attack. He sets up a charge attack and does a little bit of damage but soon get overwhelmed and falls to a failed save. but not before taxing our Paladin for as much healing as she could offer him.

Soon the rest of the party followed suit. either running in ...

[spoiler=SUSPIRIA D'RISI]
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
SUSPIRIA D'RISI, level 5
Drow, Ardent
Build: Impetuous Ardent
Unseelie Agent Starting Feature Option: Longsword
Ardent Mantle Option: Mantle of Impulsiveness
Unseelie Agent (Stealth class skill)
Theme: Unseelie Agent

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 8, CON 13, DEX 18, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 20

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 8, CON 13, DEX 15, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 17


AC: 20 Fort: 16 Ref: 20 Will: 20
HP: 45 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 11

TRAINED SKILLS
Heal +7, Insight +7, Intimidate +14, Stealth +15

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +7, Arcana +2, Athletics +1, Bluff +7, Diplomacy +7, Dungeoneering +2, Endurance +3, History +2, Nature +2, Perception +2, Religion +2, Streetwise +7, Thievery +6

POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic ...