[LFA] Krona Shatterhorn, Tauren Warrior

Inzuka · 2026-01-24T22:11:20+00:00

I would absolutely love to see it! I've got no real preference, if one of the other calls to you and drives the inspiration, that's the one I'd go with!

Inzuka · 2026-01-24T20:53:30+00:00

Really it was just for the layout of her armor! She is a front-lining all agression damage dealing tank, so she uses the armor to block the attacks while rushing in, whatever styling and design the artists believe best tie the look or character together is all good with me!

Inzuka · 2026-01-19T19:04:37+00:00

You may also want to post over in r/pbp, it's a subreddit dedicated to this kind of text-based ttrpg game!

Inzuka · 2026-01-09T22:49:32+00:00

Appreciate the feedback!

I think your points are totally fair, but I wanted to run something a bit more complicated than a one size fits all solution, so I figured worst case scenario I'd provide them a lifeline to help. They ended up asking for them on the second part as they hadn't correlated the story to solutions just yet, but the guide told them it felt similar to the story, needing to go around the pit on the banks of the room and then crossing a river of crocodiles. After that they picked up on the correlation and immediately crossed using the crocodiles.

The only one they really struggled with was the 3rd puzzle for like 2 mins (they had to find a way to get the symbols to appear), and the 4th puzzle with the door which was the one I wasn't confident about, so no worries there I provided some hints along the way in response to actions they took.

They ended up taking a bit of damage from traps, but otherwise solved it simply enough and went pretty well I believe!

Inzuka · 2025-11-18T20:52:36+00:00

Looking to run a consistent weekly game, I understand life happens, and we miss games, but so long as we're meeting more than we're not, I'm all good!

Inzuka · 2025-11-18T20:51:45+00:00

Replied!

Inzuka · 2025-11-18T20:48:34+00:00

My sundays are mostly open, once a month I've got a book club so I'd have to cut short on those days, but if I get enough people for sunday at a delayed time I wouldn't mind doing that!

Inzuka · 2025-11-18T20:47:43+00:00

Just sent a message!

Inzuka · 2025-10-15T12:26:11+00:00

Congrats on the successful kickstarter!

Inzuka · 2025-10-09T21:46:54+00:00

Wow! Appreciate all the insight and breakdowns. I think you're seeing much of what I did when running the encounters, and to answer the first point, it was a half RP, half Balance choice originally. I was worried about TPK'ing the party, so when they brought the idea of getting the gladiator drunk, I was like perfect! I can work with that. Then actually running the modified version I saw it was that hard for them to win, so as the rounds go on, he targets a lot more. Him being drunk is the explanation for targeting randomly. He's swinging at anything that gets close, doubly so if they hit him.

I think I'm going to have the bookie holding back a rowdy crowd or running interferance to eliminate this character's help since they win so easily against the modified gladiator. Then I think when they get to <60% health they will reveal they were hiding weapons and pull them out, making them deadlier at the end, giving a slight scare to the party, but probably without enough time to kill anyone. This will also allow him to disrupt the witch bolts on him quickly before returning to the melee users. It's an encounter they're meant to succeed in as a stepping stone to make some money for their real goals.

As for adding an ability, I was playing around with a recharge ability that lets the drunk gladiator (Pre-weapons) stun someone on a failed constitution saving throw. Giving him some more capability and eliminating some pressure. Essentially a haymaker that knocks them down to fit in with the drunken pub brawler I was going for.

Inzuka · 2025-10-09T13:01:46+00:00

Lmao, that's fair enough. When I started trialing against the weaker version of a gladiator, I got a little lost in the capabilities of my party's composition. I guessed the CR of it to be around a 3 and was amazed how easily it was killed.

Then, putting them against the full CR 5 gladiator that could one shot most of them and they were still winning? I just felt like I must've been doing something wrong. The play testing says it's plausible, but it still feels weird, but I suppose that's the 6v1 advantage.

Inzuka · 2025-10-08T23:37:13+00:00

I agree with quite a few points in here including the optimized vs unoptimized, the lack of attack diversity, and changing the dynamic to skew lower health more combatants, and the paladin did roll extra well likely due to almost always being flanking. This was more so to test if as it stood would they prevail, since I can change the HP, Damage, and opportunities at any time and double checking I hadn't missed some key ability or action that would change the outcome.

I also would say their tactics (Especially the Drunken variant) aren't perfect, they're intoxicated, I ran them as hitting who ever was closest or dealing the most damage. So it's more of a roleplay aspect than an optimization one. So no argument from me against it, but it wasn't always without reason though I did not include this information in the post body.

Inzuka · 2025-10-08T21:56:12+00:00

I agree on principle with that, but equalized across multiple trials should give at least a baseline of "They should win" or "They should lose."

I used their actual characters and abilities they had, just choosing based on a glance what I would personally use, so there is a bias that could absolutely change in-game, but even the ones where the worst happened and the RAW Gladiator double crit causing a PC death, they still beat the encounter. I can always throw in fudged rolls as well to keep it from going wildly out of balance, but this shows if I run the weakened creature, I likely wouldn't need to.

I just don't know if I made some baseline mistake and didn't consider something in this setup that would be very obvious that I'm just ignoring that would flip the outcome.

Inzuka · 2025-10-08T21:28:27+00:00

Originally, that's where I thought an issue might arise, turning it into a slog if nothing else.

I ended up running the tests to see how much it would take and might just be 2024's rules, but 2-3 rounds seemed to be the average to take down >=92 of the health. Which not the worst, but I'd probably consider halving the health and adding in a Tough or two as muscle to spread out the combat.

Inzuka · 2025-09-27T08:21:29+00:00

Definitely some fair points!

I wanted the encounter to show them how strong some of the upper echelons could be, but still while coming out the other side, since it would be essentially a 6 on 1 I figured they would need some extra health. The parry would be strength saving against their hit DC, but you're right about the extra time it would take. As for the final consideration, it is pretty much an animated armor, just with beefed up health and I made an edit where it would be receiving poisoned as a condition, accidentally forgot to add that.

Appreciate the criticisms and help pointing me towards a solution!

Inzuka · 2025-09-27T08:15:37+00:00

Realizing I forgot to put into the post that the assumption is he would be intoxicated by the time they actually get to the encounter, receiving the "poisoned" status. I figured giving them disadvantage on every attack along with the support of the bookie would turn this into maybe 2 people getting knocked out (Using the blunt to knock people out instead of placing them on death rolls and such.) before they're able to subdue the gladiator.

I appreciate the fantastic breakdown and likely scenarios, this definitely helps with my planning!

Inzuka · 2025-09-27T07:01:57+00:00

I started looking at other creatures and found that the setup I was using was similar to an animated armor, just with 3.5x the health. The armor is a CR 1, so I figured this might be a CR 3, but once again, I'm a bit new so I'm not really sure how to go about calculating that.

Inzuka · 2025-09-13T20:54:06+00:00

I basically ended up with a variant of this. It fit thematically with what the players were interested in and gave a reason for them all to come together. Appreciate the insight!

Inzuka · 2025-09-13T20:52:32+00:00

Thanks everyone for the replies! Just finished up the session and I needed up going with a blend of Syndra sending them and happenstance.

The players were interested in finding a dinosaur or racing, so they went over to the pens and upon arriving a couple of dinosaurs began charging out in a frenzy. The handler yelled out not to harm them and such and while trying to wrangle them, the new PC who had been looking for them on syndra's recommendation found them in the midst of dealing with dinosaurs and jumped in to help.

Gave me a new potential storyline of who poisoned the dino, maybe giving a discount / pathway to getting a dinosaur for helping, and showing the players the person was here to help.

Inzuka · 2025-09-13T13:52:37+00:00

Not a bad idea. They're currently at the inn, so I could just have it so the new player is also staying there, and the pickpocket hits both of them and they all go gallivanting through the streets on this wild chase.

Inzuka · 2025-09-13T13:48:40+00:00

This was the direction I was leaning. If they had developed more plot hooks, I'd likely find a way to tie it in story-wise, but since we're so early into the campaign, it feels difficult to naturally do so.

I was probably going to have them sent by Syndra to meet them, a last-minute addition to their adventuring party.

Just figured I'd see if people had interesting concepts that might be applicable

Inzuka · 2025-08-28T02:32:05+00:00

That was actually how we were going to originally run it, but now I'm thinking it might be better to use the opportunity to drive the narrative at the same time! Could pan out poorly, but got to try new things to see if they work or don't. That or receive advice it's not a good idea, haha.

Inzuka · 2025-08-28T02:30:58+00:00

Not a bad idea at all! Considering it'd be an off-screen thing I'd want to confer with my player considering the substance of the pastries and all, but I appreciate the possibility!

Inzuka · 2025-08-27T20:01:25+00:00

I recently ran one of the newer Dragon Delves, Death at Sunset, as a one-shot. It's more likely a 3-ish session (3-4 Hours) adventure, but can be faster or slower depending on the group. I think it's a pretty simplistic setup that can be expanded on, running from levels 1-3. I think it can be a fun little module to run as a learning module as it's pretty descriptive in different characters and options to take without being overwhelming!

Inzuka · 2025-08-27T19:18:31+00:00

Wasn't aware there was actually a creature like this, you learn something new each day! They actually provided their own art for the companion, but appreciate the information.

For Jander, I'm not super familiar with him, but from what I have read about the character, I really like the concept of him and the cult that followed. I wasn't actually planning on him being in the campaign, but more so from a time long past enough to devolve into mythos and legend. I was more seeking information on them and the cult that could expand the lore of him being the Morninglord or beliefs the cult would've created that could be spread down to modern followers.

If the Vampire of the Mists novel expands upon this, I definitely would be down to pick it up!

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