First Game Observations

Last night I ran my group through Black Stones of Kovag-Re, with some modifications (as I detailed in a prior message). Things went very well and I believe everyone had fun. The session was heavy on Role-Playing and so the 10 and 11 year old first time players struggled a little with that, but really got into the game during combat.

Some lessons I learned from the session:

1. Cimmerians with high strength are butchers in combat! My group's two Cimmerians, both 2nd level, literally slaughtered the opposition using two-handed weapons. Even heavily armored opponents could not stand their ground against them.

2. Missile weapons are practically useless against heavily armored opponents. Are they subject to the finesse rules?

3. The multiple attacker rule is great, but hard to adjudicate in larger scale combat. I had a 9 on 16 scenario that got a bit confusing. I probably screwed it up there, but the players were helping me keep track of the bonuses. (it's good to have another GM as a player sometimes, because he can help out in some of those kinds of situations).

4. Conan has a very different and distict feel than does Dungeons and Dragons. My players really enjoyed the difference and were often asking themselves WWCD? (What Would Conan Do). Starting the game in Arenjun on the night that Conan brings down the Tower of the Elephant really helped them get into the spirit of the game and I consider that a work of genius on my part! :)

5. Is a finesse attack able to bypass natural Damage Reduction? If a supernatural monster has a DR of 15, will an especially good strike from a finesse fighter completely bypass it?

Overall, we cannot wait for our second session.
 
For point two, there is the Ranged Finesse feat, which I believe was absent in the original edition but can be found in AE.
 
The Cimmerian in my group, with 18 ST, got himself a Bardiche as soon as he could. He hasn't had a chance to use it yet but I gotta say I'm not looking forward to it! He also has improved unarmed and you can see my thoughts on that in the Two Weapon thread. :shock:
The South Islander Pirate was using a Longspear. I don't have the AE and was using the original rules straight as written for 5 foot step and Attacks of Opp. He also has combat reflexes so when the group were attacked by a group of Hyenas every time one the beasts made a 5 foot step and attacked he was getting an Aoop. Very nasty. He killed more of the animals than the rest of the group put together. :)
When I remembered to apply the multiple attackers rule it wasn't a prob, it was the remembering to use it that I was having trouble with!!
Its great to hear your group getting so into it. There really is a unique feel to the game but it is cofusing one of my players who I have in a normal D20 game as well
I would certainly allow finesse attack to bypass natural armour. I read in an official answer somewhere that it can bypass a barbarians natural armor bonus. The only time I'm not going to let it is when there is some condition to the DR. Say they fight a skeleton with DR 5 slashing&piercing. If the character is using a slashing or piercing weapon then there is no way to finesse past the DR.
I'm also looking forward to getting the reprint of the rules when I can. :D

Aaron
 
Wicked Tinker said:
2. Missile weapons are practically useless against heavily armored opponents. Are they subject to the finesse rules?

No. Though someone mentioned a new feat.

Wicked Tinker said:
5. Is a finesse attack able to bypass natural Damage Reduction? If a supernatural monster has a DR of 15, will an especially good strike from a finesse fighter completely bypass it?

I'd say yeah, sure. Even monsters have eyes, noses, and mouths, right?

I was running a game a few weeks ago when the party on a raft crossing a lake was attacked by a pleisiosaur! The archer in the group let two arrows fly against the fell beast! The first one bounced off the thunder-lizard's tough hide, the second one scored a critical hit, doing more than 20 points even after damage reduction. The only way the monster could fail his death save was to roll a 1. The monster rolled a 1. Dead monster!

We described the arrow as going into the beast's gaping maw and lodging itself in its brain.
 
"..the second one scored a critical hit, doing more than 20 points even after damage reduction. The only way the monster could fail his death save was to roll a 1. The monster rolled a 1. Dead monster!"

Not sure what size class your dinosaur was, but I'm pretty sure that creatures larger than medium size require more than 20 points of damage to recieve massive damage.
 
And don't forget to download the Atlantean Changes, especially for the Ranged Finesse feat (I must say that in my first heavily-rules-modified campaign of DnD, my players could use it for free :) ).


http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpg/detail.php?qsID=279&qsSeries=7
 
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