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1 year ago ::
Feb 26, 2012 - 11:24AM
#11
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That would be extremely less interesting than the SPEC50 story award indicates
If you'd like a serious answer: Story Award SPEC50 itself tells you
Spoiler:
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Treat this as though you have already been rescued but you have no memory of how it happened. The details of your rescue are explained in the paired Core Special adventures SPEC4-1Cerulean Dreams (Heroic tier) and SPEC4-2 The Writhing Obelisk (Paragon tier). So the character with SPEC50 is still playable, he just (unfortunately) won't ever be able to experience or remember the details of how he got out of Xxiphu. That is: he can't play SPEC4-1 (because he is Paragon tier already) and he can't play SPEC4-2 (because the story award specifically prohibits that).
However, to again quote from SPEC50,
Spoiler:
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You as a player can still play SPEC4-2, but you may not use this character. [...] If and when you do play SPEC4-2, the character you play it with can be the character who rescues this character, or you may ask another player who has played SPEC4-2 to rescue your character. In story terms, the assumption is that all PCs who were captured at the end of SPEC3-3 are freed as part of SPEC4-1 and SPEC4-2. How that happens is up to you ( SpacyRicochet) to decide, because you can't directly play either of those adventures with this particular character.
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1 year ago ::
Feb 27, 2012 - 1:28AM
#12
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Date Joined:
Mar 13, 2008
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I narrated my character into both SPEC4-1 and SPEC4-2, so I'm happy either way.
I'm just a bit dissappointed that even though he heroically sacrificed himself, he didn't get any closure. This means, he got flushed out of any interesting meta-org rewards in SPEC3-3 and SPEC4-1 or SPEC4-2 didn't do anything for him either, despite his sacrifice in earlier trials. For example, I would still think the Order of the Cerulean Sign (Selsharra is a glorious bastard, btw) would still be very happy with him, regardless of playing.
Heroic Dungeon Master
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1 year ago ::
Feb 27, 2012 - 7:39AM
#13
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Date Joined:
Mar 28, 2001
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I liked playing the adventure with my character who got imprisoned in SPEC3-3.
Just would have liked...
Spoiler:
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to keep that aquatic condition...
or perhaps earn back one of the rewards we missed in SPEC3-3.
Deep Speech is also cool though ... just not something that gets used much.
Gomez
+1. Liked the mod a lot, but totally agree with Gomez.
Also one more thing with imprisoned in SPEC3-3 relating to this
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I think the 'roll a 1' ought to have been a daily option where you turn it over on a 1 instead of an encounter option - hand them out to the PCs affected by this. Stunned(Save ends) if you don't have Superior Will is nasty if it turns up for more than one encounter...it didn't for me, but it easily could have. Or on that 1, reroll the attack, but Stunned(save ends) afterwards, or something similar.
+2!
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I really enjoyed the mod but our group (really unoptimized) totally got trapped in the bottleneck. DMs, pay attention to J.R.'s plee!
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http://twitter.com/#!/combatadvantage
http://www.combatadvantage.com
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1 year ago ::
Feb 28, 2012 - 1:41AM
#14
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Date Joined:
May 11, 2005
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For example, I would still think the Order of the Cerulean Sign (Selsharra is a glorious bastard, btw) would still be very happy with him, regardless of playing.
In an older version of the adventure, Story Award SPEC51 said that having SPEC50 counted as a favor with the Cerulean Sign - but that is now removed.
In that same version, it was impossible to get SPEC52 that grants access to the Order. Or was that changed?
It feels wrong: if I sacrifice myself so others can be saved from abolethic horrors, I get less favors with the Cerulean Order than if I don't, plus I miss out on several boons (which are granted for saving people... but appearently not if you did so at the cost of your own health and sanity). My extra reward is a languague that is likely not going to be of much use (unless the role of languagues in adventures is going to change drastically).
Now, I know that SPEC50 has effects in future adventures, which can be kinda cool. And I do feel a sacrifice should be a sacrifice and it is fine if you loose a bit on it.
But I sort of feel peeved that neither Selune nor the Cerulean Order seem to appreciate that I spent several months being tortured after doing their jobs for them. They didn't even come to save me ... I just was lucky to hitch a ride with a reluctant party when they came to save that fool Cadwy...
(Ok that may have been because my rescue party actually knows my character, but that is besides the point. 'Oh my god, it's her' is not something you generally like to hear when people enter your prison cel).
Anyway, in short, I feel SPEC50 should count grant membership in the Cerulean Order (like SPEC52).
Gomez
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1 year ago ::
Feb 28, 2012 - 3:33AM
#15
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Date Joined:
Aug 17, 2007
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Gomez> Sam should just be happy my halfling lost the coin toss or she would still be there  But I agree, I would think the Cerulean Order would be very interested in the perspective of one captured. Let alone one obviously willing to sacrifice themselves. Can never have enough of those...
To DME, or not to DME: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous powergaming, Or to take arms against a sea of Munchkins, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;No more;
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1 year ago ::
Feb 28, 2012 - 5:27PM
#16
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I see why there is confusion. The adventure's version of the Story Award says: All PCs get SPEC51 regardless of success or failure.
SPEC51 Xxiphu Explorer
[blah blah blah]
This Story Award counts as a favor with the Keepers of the Cerulean Sign (whether or not you are a member). A total of two favors are required to qualify for membership. If you have Story Award SPEC50, then it also counts as a separate favor with the Keepers.
The Story Award itself (in the single-page PDF within the .zip file) doesn't have the bold red part. I will let The Powers That Be know and see if this can be fixed.
The intent is that every PC who plays SPEC4-1 has the opportunity to come out of it with enough favors to join the Keepers of the Cerulean Sign. Either the PC already has SPEC50 (from SPEC3-3) and gets SPEC51, or the PC doesn't already have SPEC50, but gets SPEC51 and is eligible for SPEC52 as long as the PC uses psychic backlash.
= = =
Regarding the link with SPEC3-3, only in the hopefully rare corner case of a PC who played SPEC3-3 and leveled up to Paragon during that adventure is it impossible for the PC to play either of the Xxiphu SPECs. This is an unfortunate case, to be sure. However as gomeztoo said, sometimes the sacrifice you make is just that, a sacrifice.
Bear in mind that there is an entire Paragon tier set of adventures coming later in Year 4 that deal with further missions for the Keepers of the Cerulean Sign. All PCs should have plenty more chances to join that meta-org.
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1 year ago ::
Feb 29, 2012 - 4:52AM
#17
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Date Joined:
Aug 11, 2006
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Greetings...
Sorry for the confusion about Story Award SPEC51. I'm not sure what happened; I generally create the final version of the adventure text listing the Story Awards by copy-pasting the final version of the certificate text, so that they cannot help but be in synch. Obviously I messed that up somehow in this case.
The intent (which I have also added to the LFR home page until I can revise the cert and re-release the adventure) is that a character with SPEC50+SPEC51 should have TWO favors with the Keepers, and this is enough to join the organization. A character who earns SPEC52 gets to join directly as well.
If you only have SPEC50 (or got SPEC51 but not SPEC52, leaving you with one favor), don't worry -- there will be other (old and new) Story Awards added to the list of things that count as favors with the Keepers of the Cerulean Sign. If you've played other adventures in which PCs thwart the goals or actions of the Abolethic Sovereignty or other invaders from the Far Realm, then you can probably guess which ones are already out there.
Talk to you later --
Sean
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M. Sean Molley | sean [at] basementsoftware [dot] com
LFR Global Administrator
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1 year ago ::
Apr 02, 2012 - 9:29AM
#18
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Date Joined:
Jul 29, 2008
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We just ran through this on Saturday. We had two tables - one AL2, one AL6. Our only captive (me) was at the AL6 table. Spoiler:
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- The mutations were great. Fun stuff.
- The first skill challenge and combat made perfect sense, and the mechanic involving the prisoner packs was really rewarding. I'd love to see more like this!
- The second combat, while mechanically entertaining, was a letdown. The AL6 table gave its all to save Sir Rowan and managed to succeed at significant cost. The AL2 table couldn't save him. In the end, the AL2 table ended up much better off, and Sir Rowan was simply raised and restored by the NPCs at the end of the module. Not having some sort of additional reward or advantage in the final encounter for saving the nearly doomed paladin seems wrong - the party is basically rewarded (in saving resources) by allowing the ritual to complete and tactically clearing the room. Compare to encounter 5; rescuing a mind flayer gave both an in-adventure benefit and an adventure reward.
- The mind flayer was cute. The party (reasonably) freaked out a bit at his presence, but gambled that he'd be helpful against his more hated enemies.
- The final encounter was a bear. As has been said, it's far too easy to swarm and block access to the puzzle points. The DM pretty much needs to have the aboleths and suckerlings "play dumb" to allow the party to pass. Similarly, a DM that plays the Aboleth Openers with appropriate intelligence is going to just eat the party - two critters with daze - daze - dominate (effectively) at-will can completely paralyze a party, which means certain failure when combined with all the autodamage. Conditional recharges on those powers (beyond the one already on the dominate power) would have helped quite a bit.
- It seems a shame that the captive PCs didn't get something special here to compensate for the denial of the divine boons from the previous mod. Deep Speech is nice, but it doesn't quite compare to a non-expiring divine boon.
I know it's a SPEC, and thus brutal by definition. Still, forcing the DM to play genius-level enemies as tactical buffoons in order to make the encounter defeatable leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Don't get me wrong - the DMs made sure we had fun, and there were parts of the mod that were absolutely excellent. I'm glad to have played it. I'm just not sure I'd have it in me to play it again. |
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1 year ago ::
Apr 17, 2012 - 9:22PM
#19
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Date Joined:
Feb 28, 2008
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Dang, I caught that corner case, too. S3-3 leveled my warforged out of Heroic, as well.
We should start an anti-Cerulean metaorg...ungrateful meatbags!
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1 year ago ::
Apr 23, 2012 - 6:54AM
#20
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Date Joined:
Jul 26, 2009
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We are preparing to run Spec 4-1 and 4-2 at ComicPalooza next month in Houston. Would appreciate help on two items:
1- There are hints about the last encounter (9th for Spec 4-1 and 5th for Spec 4-2) being a shared encounter for the Heroic and Paragon if we run them together (which we will do twice at ComicPalooza). But there is no actual mechanics other than send half of each table to the other, which makes no sense without an adjustment (You get a Heroic table with half Paragon characters who can overpower everything and a Paragon table that is underpower as half the table will be unable to hit anything).
2- One of the rewards is that players can join the Cerulean Sign, but there is no rules for them as a Meta org even though the adventure refers you there....
Any help is appreciated
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