D&D 4e Game Play Live Stream - Keep on the Shadowfell (A3 Kobold Lair - inside)

Last time, the party took on the kobolds that were guarding the lair. Despite some challenges with the minions, and perhaps poor strategy from the rogue, the party survived and is ready to enter the lair and finish off these pests.
I am not going to super-realism here, so the party will be fully rested with full health and access to all their powers.
This will be an open demo as I share everything I would do as the DM and the community helps me make decisions. I am not exactly sure how this will play out, but we will give it a try. And along the way we will talk about whatever other 4e (or D&D in general) topics come up.
I will be using the pre-generated Quick Start characters from Keep on the Shadowfell. You can get this module for FREE from DriveThruRPG... www.drivethrur...
You can also grab my customized versions of these characters from my website... oldegreybeards...
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[@Trenell83]

I would like to take a moment to appreciate the 4e art for the classes are fan-freaking-tastic. Also the Warlord looks like he's come on coach let me in there! Lol. I would say that after Monster Manuel 3 and onwards the Hit points or monster are just about right.

[@tigriscallidus4477]

Monster Manual 3 actually did not change monster HP as much as people often claim. For level 1-10 HP is exactly the same. And the most extreme change is for level 30 solo where the HP are decreased by roughly 20%

[@mattdahm4289]

Thanks Greybeard!

[@nathanstruble2177]

Appreciate the 4E love! I hope the Renaissance continues!

[@ZaWyvern]

Regarding the question about hit points I'd say if you're looking for hard mode do 1/2 HP to start for heroes and always for monsters. A dragonshield can one shot a PC with their encounter power. Also the toughness feat becomes very hard to pass up for frontline fighters. Damage bonuses are double effectiveness as well. Normal mode is safe, but then your powers don't feel as impactful. I think the sweet spot is about 75% starting HP for heroes and all monsters. It takes the training wheels off but doesn't throw you in the deep end either. So a paladin could have 22HP instead of 30 for example. Enough to feel in danger from some of the monsters they'll come across but not 15HP danger. And our paladin who is doing say an avearge of 18 damage with a righteous smite probably won't put down a dragonshield in one shot so the action economy doesn't too quickly swing in the PCs' favor. Then the bonus HP from the righteous smite will probably come more into effect than 1/2 HP, because the enemies aren't going down like dominoes. Long story short. I'm in favor of reduced HP. Aim for 75% for best effect. :D Also too bad you're not using Divine Power. The at-wills for Paladin can both be used during the charge as a basixc attack. One of them straight up replaces your basic attack so works for opportunity attacks as well.

[@oldegreybeard]

I appreciate the advice. I was originally wanting to stick to the rules as published at the time, but I think some tweaks might be a good idea. :-) Thanks

[@durrem]

Remember to use your defender abilities to control who gets attacked. If you used Divine challenge against Iron Tooth he would either have to attack an AC20 or take a -2 and some damage if he still has wants to attack someone more squishy. Just wanted to remind you of these abilities because I don't think you used them once. I really liked your flanking with the rogue and you eventually smashed the minions with the controller's AOE 😊

[@oldegreybeard]

Yeah. I used Divine Challenge a couple times at the end but mostly kept forgetting. Also kept forgetting Tharian's +3 to healing. Thankfully the chat kept me honest on that. The challenges of running 5 characters at the same time. 😀 Thanks

[@durrem]

haha yeah, I posted before getting to the very end.@@oldegreybeard

[@wojciechburakowski4164]

Thank you Greybeard, it was fun to watch. I recently bought 4e books,and I am trying to learn it. Your videos help a lot. Question about rules. Are you sure that paladin can use Lay on hands on himself?

[@oldegreybeard]

I am glad the videos help. As for Lay on Hands, it is open to interpretation. Usually if it just says "one creature", like Lay on Hands, then that includes yourself. If it only meant other creatures, then it would say, "one ally". Now the Cleric's Healing Word says "you or one ally" and Cure Wounds says " you or one creature", implying that it must explicitly say "you" if you can use it on yourself. TL;DR I interpret "one creature" to include yourself, but other DMs might interpret differently. Thanks.

[@seanhardner5842]

This was a good encounter. Tough but not impossible. Had Greybeard just been running everything without chat this would have been 2 hours which may seem long but this is like 2 encounters with the second wave coming in. There are over 1000 xp of monsters. For five player level 1 encounter should be 500xp. Those take about an hour. I’ve played D&D since 1982 & a normal play session has always taken all day. So if you don’t like fantasy combat with characters you created that takes a long time to play out then 4e probably not for you. But try AD&D and try finishing Against the Giants in 1 game session. Thanks Greybeard.

[@oldegreybeard]

Thanks Sean. It definitely takes longer when am running all the characters and allowing for input from the chat. And it was the boss battle for this quest so naturally more involved. I appreciate all your input during the encounter.