Hello. This thread relays my first long-term experience as a player. I've been a DM since 1982, and being a player is a welcome change of pace. I have now taken the role of party accountant and party mapper. I'm writing this for the benefit of our DM and the other players in the group. This is mostly an inventory list of our treasure, and a brief summary of each game session. I've forgotten much of the information, so please bear with me. Oh, and I'm naming the campaign after its DM...

The cast of characters:

* Reven Tieg, human 4th-level Dragon Shaman. Big, brawny, and carries a big sword. Has odd magical abilities derived from gold dragons.
* Blimpy, human 4th-level cleric. Serves Pelor. Heals from time to time.
* Horatio Tortilla, human 2nd-level Swashbuckler/2nd-level Artificer. Creates scrolls, fights with two-weapons, and is now painfully dead, though we'll get to that later.
* Hrothgar (my character), human 1st-level Battle Sorceror/2nd-level Human Paragon/1st-level Cloistered Cleric. Big, brawny, and carries a big hammer. Jack-of-all-trades, minor magical spells, and familiars.
* Chubbs, Felix, and Meadows. Hrothgar's three cat familiars, acting as his "battle cats". They're his little buddies, and keep him company.

Last session:

Major problem. We're in the town of Ravenfel, and the place is practically deserted. The only known survivors are holed up in the local inn. We're there with the dwarven lord we rescued, named Rioga. There's another dwarf there, whose name escapes me. We ran into NPC dwarves named, Yeagar, Rygar, Eagar, Ayegar, and more, so I just don't remember who it is. The barkeep is inside the inn (named Larry?, Wink?, Link?, I dunno), and terrified, whining about some "black-skinned creatures" that overran the town. Of course, we get it in our heads that we'll take over the town now that practically everyone's gone.

The doors and windows are barricaded. We hear a voice at the door:

Dull, lifeless voice says, "Link, let me in."

Frantic Innkeeper says, "Wink, is that you?!"

Dull, lifeless voice says, "I came with friends. Let. Me. In."

Uh-oh.

Eventually, we figure out that the crowd of people outside are actually undead. We soon hear a new voice at the door.

New voice says, "Gentlemen, open up. I have a business proposition for you..."

Apparently, we retrieved some magical iron flask when we were cleaning out the dwarven stronghold. He wants it, and we've got it. We converse with this new bozo (through the door) for a while. Horatio goes upstairs, and sees the lifeless crowd of people (undead!), and a dark elf outside the door. The dark elf fits the description of a dark elven necromancer named Zelos.

Eventually, I decide to unboard one of the windows, and turn some of these bastards. When I fail the first time, Blimpy's player keeps telling me (repeatedly) that I can't turn them. They have some "protection magic", yadda, yadda, yadda, whatever. He's new to the game, and I'm not, so he doesn't know what he's talking about. I finally get fed up with being told by him, "you can't", after I fail a turning attempt three times in a row.

Zelos says, "Give it up, kid. You're not gonna turn 'em."

Finally, I get pissed off, rip the barricade off the door, and say, "fuck off, and die!"

So we fight.

We're not using a grid, so we soon proceed to get into an argument over where Zelos's exact positioning is. Everyone assumed Zelos was right at the door. The DM said that he was 15 or 20 feet back behind his undead followers. Of course, if that was true, how the fuck would he hear him without him shouting? Senor Kramer (the DM) never said anything about the dark elf shouting. But whatever. Too bad for us. We suck it up, and we suck it hard.

Senor Kramer proceeds to ask me some advice on some spells. When he shows me what they are (sixth-level spells), I nearly shit a brick. We're really fucked, and can't beat this guy. He's probably 12th-level, and with a dozen-or-so undead zombies out there, we're well on our way to a total-party-rape.

Well, we take the fight outside, and finally defeat his zombies. Half we kill, half we turn. Another dozen zombies were busting their way through the back door of the inn, so Reven Tieg uses his breath weapon to set the inn on fire. Another dozen zombies (slightly burned) rush out, and nearly kill us. Again, half we turn, half we kill. If we hadn't turned half of these creatures, I think we would have been slaughtered.

Zelos acts smug, talks shit, and proceeds to saunter off into the woods. Of course, we're not having any of that, because we're stupid. Horatio Tortilla rushes the necromancer, but before he can reach him, gets killed by a single spell. Of course, the DM slightly realizes that he might have overdone it a bit, so he declares that Haratio is only "mostly dead".

Horatio's player rightly gets irate, declaring that the spell Zelos used (which we identified via Spellcraft) allows a save for half damage. Oops. Reboot that, and start again. Of course, we redo the encounter, and Zelos bitch-slaps us, and Horatio really gets killed.

During the fight, the DM screws up, and we're forced to redo something again. Incidentally, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm picking on Senor Kramer (our DM), because he actually does a good job. 3.5 has a learning curve, and is not always easy to DM. But, mistakes were made. Of course, things soon become even more interesting...

I've been delving into the Incantation rules in Unearthed Arcana, and created a couple incantations, after Reven Tieg and Horatio Tortilla got killed in the dwarven stronghold, and had to be resurrected by "magical well water". Basically, Reven was the first character to get killed, so Reven's player (out of game) bribed the DM with turkey pie.

I wrote up some (potentially dangerous) incantations so that the DM wouldn't  do that. Oh, well. This is the second time Horatio died, and my first incantation failed. When we got to the second incantation, I said:

"Look, guys...incantations aren't spells. They require real preparation, so let's try to revive Horatio next week."

The guys aren't having it. They're all like:

"Now!! Now! Revive him now! Come on; it's late. We gotta go."

Fuck. At the time, it was late, I was tired, and not thinking straight. Hindsight tells me that I should have said:

"No. This is dangerous, and I'm not gonna do it now. You can wait until next week."

But against my better judgement, I relented. I'm going to ask the DM for a "reboot", and have the second incantation not have happened, because if I don't, we'll have a total-party-kill. I can think of ways to prepare for an incantation like this, and there was simply no preparation.

Next week, Horatio's player will likely be using a warforged character. That's good, as we can really use a tank in the party.

Here are the incantations I wrote up. Please take note that these require serious editing, and I don't consider them a final draft. Enjoy.

HROTHGAR'S SPIRIT SUMMONING
Conjuration (Healing)
Effective Level: 9th
Skill Check: Knowledge (arcana) DC 23, 4 successes, Knowledge (religion) DC 23, 3 successes, Diplomacy DC 23, 2 successes
Failure: Attack
Components: V,S,M,SC,B
Casting Time: 90 minutes
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: Dead creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

This incantation restores life to a deceased creature. You can raise a creature that has been dead for up to ten years per caster level. In addition, the subject's soul must be free and willing to return. If the subject's soul is unwilling to return, this incantation does not work; so therefore, a subject that wishes to return receives no saving throw. Take note that the incantation is even capable of bringing back creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased's time and place of birth and death is the most common method).

Upon completion of the incantation, the creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no loss of level (or Constitution points) or prepared spells.

You can revive someone killed by a death effect or someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. This incantation can also resurrect elementals or outsiders, though it cannot resurrect constructs or undead creatures.

Even Hrothgar's Spirit Summoning  cannot restore life to a creature that has died of old age.

To cast Hrothgar's Spirit Summoning, the caster must inscribe sixty-three mystic symbols upon an altar, then begin the chants and supplications required for the incantation.

Failure: If any of the casters fail two consecutive skill checks, an angry undead creature is summoned, and manifests upon an altar intended for the deceased creature. The arrival of any undead has no effect on the body (if any) of the subject. The type of undead summoned is based on the level of the deceased, as shown on the table below.

Deceased Subject            Undead Summoned
15th or lower                       Shadow
16th-17th                             Wraith
18th-19th                             Spectre
20th or higher                     Devourer

Material Component: Alchemical concoctions worth 500 gp.

Backlash: At the conclusion of the incantation, the caster and the secondary casters become exhausted.

Extra Casters: One to ten required; they chant choruses and supplications to various spirits and/or deities throughout the incantation.

REAGENT OF LIFE-GIVING
Conjuration (Healing)
Effective Level:  7th
Skill Check: Knowledge (arcana) DC 21, 2 successes, Craft (alchemy) DC 21, 4 successes, Heal DC 21, 1 success
Failure: Attack
Components: V,S,M,(SC),B
Casting Time: 7 hours
Range: Touch
Target: Dead creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

The Reagent of Life-Giving restores life to a deceased creature. You can raise a creature that has been dead for no longer than one day per caster level. Additionally, the subject's soul must be free and willing to return. If the subject's soul is not willing to return, the incantation does not work; therefore, a subject that wishes to return receives no saving throw.

Returning from the realms of the dead is an ordeal. A raised creature has a number of hit points equal to its current Hit Dice, and suffers the effects of exhaustion. Otherwise, ability score damage is fully restored. Also, normal poison and normal disease are cured in the process of raising the subject, though magical diseases and curses are not undone. While the spell closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage of most kinds, the body of the creature to be raised must be whole. Otherwise, missing parts are still missing when the creature is brought back to life. The subject of the incantation suffers no loss of level (or Constitution points) or prepared spells. None of the dead creature's equipment or possessions are affected in any way by this incantation.

A creature who has been turned into an undead creature or killed by a death effect cannot be raised by this spell. Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead creatures cannot be raised. The spell also cannot bring back a creature that has died of old age.

The Reagent of Life-Giving takes the form of three smoke-filled potions of one color each: blue, green, and red. Individually, they do nothing, but when applied together, they have the potential to restore life. These potions are inert until applied to a largely intact corpse. It is then that the caster attempts his skill checks. The caster temporarily supplies the subject with just a spark of his own vitality, thus rendering  himself exhausted, immediately after the Reagent of Life-Giving is applied.

While the casting time of this incantation takes seven hours, it only requires one round for each skill check once the reagent is complete. Once the process of Life-Giving has begun, for every round of interruption, the DC of all subsequent skill checks to complete the casting increases by 1.

Failure: If any of the casters fail two consecutive skill checks, the subject's body instantly transforms into a malevolent undead creature that seeks to slay everyone in its vicinity. The type of undead created is based on the level of the deceased, as shown on the table below.

Deceased Subject          Undead Created
11th or lower                     Ghoul
12th-14th                           Ghast
15th-17th                           Mummy
18th or higher                   Mohrg

Material Component: Alchemical concoctions worth 500 gp.

Backlash: After applying the Reagent of Life-Giving, the caster is exhausted.

Extra Casters: None required; though one to five extra casters are allowed.

Okay. Next up, we have the Party Inventory List. It contains the group treasure. A few things might be missing, as we have not been keeping perfect records, but it should suffice. Take a look.

                      INVENTORY

ITEM.....................................................................VALUE

* Quarterstaff (masterwork)..........................................600 gp
* 905 gp
* Maul (1 large hammer)
* Longswords (4)..........................................................15 gp each                                                                    
* 1,348 gp
* Familiars (3)............................................................-300 gp
* Mercenary................................................................-10 gp
* Oil, 1 Pint Flask............................................................1 sp
* Rations, Trail (4 weeks).................................................5 sp/day (14 gp)
* Crowbar......................................................................2 gp
* Lantern, Hooded...........................................................7 gp
* Flask, Empty (Water).....................................................3 cp
* 150 gp
* Frog Eye Socket gems (2)............................................600 gp each
* Potions of Cure Light Wounds (5)....................................50 gp each
* Horses, Light (4)..........................................................75 gp each
* Donkey........................................................................8 gp
* Saddlebags (5)..............................................................5 gp each
* Saddles, Riding (5)........................................................10 gp each
* 240 gp
* Greataxes (6)...............................................................20 gp each
* Morningstar...................................................................8 gp
* 500 gp
* Caltrops (100)................................................................1 gp each
* Oil, 1 Pint Flask (10)........................................................1 sp each
* Torches (50)..................................................................1 cp each
* 60 gp
* 40 gp
* Carts (2)......................................................................15 gp each
* Feed, Horses (4 weeks)....................................................5 cp/day (14 sp)
* Feed, Cats (2 weeks).......................................................5 sp/day (7 sp)
* Bit and Bridle (5)..............................................................2 gp each
* Topaz Gems (4)..............................................................25 gp each
* 20 gp
* 50 gp
* 35 gp
* Topaz Gems (2)..............................................................25 gp each
* 40 gp
* 40 gp
* Topaz Gems (4)..............................................................25 gp each
* Potion (unidentified)
* Gold Signet Ring (returned to the dwarves)
* Crossbow Bolts (6)
* Battleaxe (unidentified)
* Dwarven Scale Armor (returned to the dwarves)
* Dwarven Light Crossbow (returned to the dwarves)
* Bloody Dwarven Scale Armor (returned to the dwarves)
* Dwarven Shield (returned to the dwarves)
* Curious Iron Key (unidentified)
* Goblinoid Studded Leather Armor (unidentified)
* Golden Chalice (returned to the altar room? I forget.)
* Papyrus Scroll, protection From Fire...................................375 gp
* Dwarven Maul (big warhammer, addressed "to Master Sergeant", returned to dwarves)
* Old-Looking Greatsword (unidentified)
* Silver Necklace...............................................................150 gp
* Flask (clear)
* Cloak (unidentified, but magical; dark gray with silver trim)
* Crossbow Bolts (2 cases of 10 each)
* 54 gp
* 300 gp
* Flask (formerly Potion of Haste, now empty)
* 500 gp
* Pouch filled with sapphires (4)...........................................200 gp each
* Scroll (Cure Moderate Wounds)
* Iron Flask (unidentified)
* Greataxe
* 75 gp
* Displacer Beast Carcass
* Anvil
* Tools
* Forge Hammers (3)
* Raw Stock

Okay. I've edited the list, and though a few details are missing, that's most of it. If I'm missing anything, guys...let me know.

P.S. This is cross-posted over on d20haven, just in case. http://www.d20haven.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=170



Edit: I feel compelled to mention that I did not initially place any images in this thread. This thread started in December of 2008, but it was not until October of 2009 that I added maps and other pics to my posts here. This was done to give a sense of perspective for our campaign. The verbal content of my old posts has remained the same. There will probably be more maps to come.

His name was Horatio Tortolla, not Tortilla or Tortea.

Best let Horatio  just stay dead. Nothing beats a swashbuckling pirate ghost to haunt the party  later.

Anyway, the party in whole should be dead. The party was slightly over matched like a JV football team playing the state champion team thats a few divisions out of their league.

The new guy I am working on to replace him will actually be, lets say a bit more interesting to play. Let's just say he's still being tweaked, and the party needs a true front line attacker.

Oh, the MW Quaterstaff was sold for like 450 gp I think.

Quote from: imurrx;276057His name was Horatio Tortolla, not Tortilla or Tortea.

Best let Horatio  just stay dead. Nothing beats a swashbuckling pirate ghost to haunt the party  later.

Anyway, the party in whole should be dead. The party was slightly over matched like a JV football team playing the state champion team thats a few divisions out of their league.

The new guy I am working on to replace him will actually be, lets say a bit more interesting to play. Let's just say he's still being tweaked, and the party needs a true front line attacker.

Oh, the MW Quaterstaff was sold for like 450 gp I think.

Tortilla, Tortolla, whatever. Dude, we were hideously overmatched. It wasn't until later that Senor Kramer began to realize that.

However, if you decide to create a warforged, then I'll strongly consider multi-classing into Artificer. I'm looking for prestige classes allowing me to increase in my spell-casting and infusion abilities simultaneously. Maybe I can find something good...

What I am making is a Warforged Fighter/Artificer. I was thinking of him taking perhaps up to 4 levels of Fighter and the rest in Artificer until I reach 9-10 levels. Then I would consider a couple of levels of Spellcarved Soldier and/or Warforged Juggernaut.

The Artificer levels would be used to jack up himself and also to repair any damage he has accumulated. The fighter is to beef up his meele skills. Now, depending if I make him a mobile battering ram or a free thinking lawnmower would dictate which PrC I would pick.

One unique angle I was thinking for this guy was to make a great charger/Bulrusher. My question is, how effective would Charging and Bull rushing be? I could have him by 2nd fighter levels able to +12 bulrush charge and successfully hit would result in 4d6+6 points for damage and 8d6+9 by 6th level fighter. The catch is I would need to drive the defender against a solid object with in 5 feet of contact or start to suffer penalties. I just do not know if that would be feasible or to focus on more of a pure hack and slasher.

Anythoughts?

Considering the warforged's strengths and abilities, I may allow you to start him at 2nd level. Hey! That would mean you could have a whole level in Fighter AND a whole level in Artificer!

Would you just look at that, Senor Tortilla, I'm being so damned generous!

Quote from: imurrx;276133What I am making is a Warforged Fighter/Artificer. I was thinking of him taking perhaps up to 4 levels of Fighter and the rest in Artificer until I reach 9-10 levels. Then I would consider a couple of levels of Spellcarved Soldier and/or Warforged Juggernaut.

The Artificer levels would be used to jack up himself and also to repair any damage he has accumulated. The fighter is to beef up his meele skills. Now, depending if I make him a mobile battering ram or a free thinking lawnmower would dictate which PrC I would pick.

One unique angle I was thinking for this guy was to make a great charger/Bulrusher. My question is, how effective would Charging and Bull rushing be? I could have him by 2nd fighter levels able to +12 bulrush charge and successfully hit would result in 4d6+6 points for damage and 8d6+9 by 6th level fighter. The catch is I would need to drive the defender against a solid object with in 5 feet of contact or start to suffer penalties. I just do not know if that would be feasible or to focus on more of a pure hack and slasher.

Anythoughts?

I don't know. My rules-fu is sorely lacking. I've read those PrCs before though, and they seem pretty decent. You'll want to withstand and dish out a bucketload of damage in melee combat. Maybe I will multi-class into Artificer after all. I was considering it before, but figured I'd wait four or five levels. Either next level or the level after that, I'll take Artificer, so that I can construct items, and provide you with some backup healing.

I know that the Warforged Juggernaut is eventually immune to the effects of potions and regular magical healing, so you need someone capable of casting Repair Light Damage. Maybe I'll just take that as a Sorceror spell instead of leveling up as an Artificer...

I'll have to think about it.

Quote from: MeatLips;276175Considering the warforged's strengths and abilities, I may allow you to start him at 2nd level. Hey! That would mean you could have a whole level in Fighter AND a whole level in Artificer!

Would you just look at that, Senor Tortilla, I'm being so damned generous!

Meatlips! You're online! How's it goin', sunshine? You know...technically, he should start his new character at our level as Warforged have no level adjustments whatsoever. They may seem powerful, but they have tons of penalties as well..

Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;276178Meatlips! You're online! How's it goin', sunshine? You know...technically, he should start his new character at our level as Warforged have no level adjustments whatsoever. They may seem powerful, but they have tons of penalties as well..

I'll think about it... champ. After all, I'm not trying to be condescending* or anything.


*BTW, 'condescending' means 'to talk down to' :-)

Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;276178Meatlips! You're online! How's it goin', sunshine? You know...technically, he should start his new character at our level as Warforged have no level adjustments whatsoever. They may seem powerful, but they have tons of penalties as well..

I'll think about it... champ. After all, I'm not trying to be condescending* or anything.


*BTW, 'condescending' means 'to talk down to' :-)

Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;276178Meatlips! You're online! How's it goin', sunshine? You know...technically, he should start his new character at our level as Warforged have no level adjustments whatsoever. They may seem powerful, but they have tons of penalties as well..

I'll think about it... champ. After all, I'm not trying to be condescending* or anything.


*BTW, 'condescending' means 'to talk down to' :-)

Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;276178Meatlips! You're online! How's it goin', sunshine? You know...technically, he should start his new character at our level as Warforged have no level adjustments whatsoever. They may seem powerful, but they have tons of penalties as well..

I'll think about it... champ. After all, I'm not trying to be condescending* or anything.


*BTW, 'condescending' means 'to talk down to' :-)

The DM speaks and we all shall feel meek and tremble in his all mighty omnipotent power. Because he controls the fate and lives of our characters like setting them up with impossible NPCs that are build to kill.

Oh, that's already has happend few times. My bad.

In fact, next time, do not hold back and kill the whole party and have that guy raise us as undead servants to him instead walking away because the DM realized he was about to commit a total party kill. That would be an interesting role playing challenge. Play intelligent undead characters who want to free of themselves from Zellos (what ever his name is). Now that would have been an intersting twist on everything.

So, you want level 2 for my warforged? I am fine with that. I am used to being killed anyways. I'll deal with that. I am used to grabbing my ankles anyways by now. Who's bringing the petroleum jelly?

This posting btw is not condescending(which means to talk down to). It's being sarcastic (which means to make fun of).

Guys, I'll probably start leveling in Artificer at either 5th or 6th-level, and then will make sure I get my hands on a Warforged Repair Kit for imurrx's guy.

On an unrelated note, I just choked on a piece of scrambled egg. Not fun.

The next installment begins...

....but not much happened.

We have a hideout, a dungeon in the side of a mountain that we've taken over. It's our new home, and we've dubbed it "the Batcave". So we're redecorating the place, and bring all our inventory from Ravenfel to here. It's slow-going tonight. We start playing almost an hour later than usual, babble incessantly about how to bring back Horatio from the dead. And then, imurrx's new character shows up. He is Kratos, a Warforged seeking to return Horatio to his guild. Well, we're roleplaying this, but imurrx has his guy behave so aggressively and rudely, that we're forced to attack him when the big Metal Man tries to bust down our front door. After a brief conflict, we declare a truce, and produce Horatio's corpse. Horatio's body is cremated, and the next morning, Blimpy and Kratos return to Ravenfel to get an urn, as we don't have one.

Yes, that's dumb. Of course, we all forget that we have empty flasks, and there's no reason that Horatio's remains couldn't have been placed in a pouch, but like I said, we're all having a major brain fart.

During all this, the TV is distracting poor Senor Kramer (also known as Meatlips in this thread), and Reven Tyge's player is getting very impatient. We're not really doing anything.

Blimpy and the Warforged, Kratos are attacked by hobgoblins on their way to Ravenfel, while Reven's player and myself must have been in La-La-Land because we didn't fully understand what they were doing, so we stayed. Eventually, we decided to follow them after I stated, "never split up the party". So we follow, though we're more than an hour behind them. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I don't remember too much after that. Blimpy and Kratos dispatch the hobgoblins, and leave only one alive. This last hobgoblin is returned to "the Batcave" where Reven and Kratos painfully interrogate it. It turns out the hobgoblins were sent by the necromancer, Xelos. Eventually, they wind up killing it.

We soon begin a long, drawn-out discussion about reviving Horatio with an incantation, and after much argument, decide against it....for now.

As we're yapping, we hear voices at our front door. It turns out they're dwarves (Ulfgar and Eegar), and are looking to enlist our aid against the dark elven necromancer, Xelos. So we go.

We meet with the dwarven lord, Rioga, and are outfitted with some masterwork weapons and armor for the battle to come. We did save the guy's life, so I guess he feels some gratitude. While there, the other characters consult with a cleric, but discover the only way our dear, departed friend Horatio can be revived is to go on a quest. There are certain reagents and material components needed for the magic that will bring him back to life, so it looks like we've got our hands full on this one.

So there we go...

That hobgoblin was fearfull of Xellos does not mean he is working for him. I would hedge my bets on  the Goblin King (how original).

You for got the part where my warforged brought in a bucket of water to waterboard the hobgoblin, instead Reven decided to use his breath weapon on him and kill him, which our cleric had to revive him. He though we were to fry him and then douce him with water.

Oh well.

here is the things we should avoid in the future.

• Start on time. this time we started  past 8PM. we usually start an hour earlier.
• we can eat an play. We putz around for 15 minutes for the delivery driver go bring back my Dews.
• rough introduction of my new character (sorry I played im in charachter, what else you excpet for a CHA of 6).
• Interdecorating the mancave for over 10 minutes
• spending 10 minutes debating wether or not we could bring in the wagon through the front entrance to the cave.
• The group not listening to the warforged when saying we need an urn and heading with cleric to town. Thats a two'fer. One we would use a pouch or a vial and second we could have gone together.
• The attack of the hobgoblins was not too long but the questioning of the captive waisted another 10 minutes
• Once we figured out what weapons we were getting from the Dwarves, we spent about 5 minutes debating what weapons

Out of the 4 hours of potential gaming we waisted over two hours on this crap. and yes it was. DM no fault of his. just bad choices on our part.