Reverb Gamers 2012 - #16, 17

REVERB GAMERS 2012, #16: "Who was the most memorable foe you've ever come up against in a game? How did you beat him/her/it? Or did you?" - Reverb Gamers

I'd have to say that this is a toss up between Ashardalon and Tyranthraxus.  Both are definetly BBEGs of epic proportions and we had to go through some epic quests to gain the tools (and levels) needed to defeat them.  With Ashardalon, the thing that made his demise the most memorable was that Rob sacrificed his most beloved character, Raven, in order to defeat him.  I've talked about this game before, but suffice it to say, Raven was an evil Arch-wizard who was on the path of redemption.  She had been swayed from her path many times but she always found her way back.  In the very end, when she was in the grips of the evil dragon, she chose to break her magical staff and the resulting backlash destroyed him (I think in 3.5, there were tables that you would role randomly on for destroying magic items.  I'm not sure if Pathfinder has those because we haven't come across destruction of a magic item yet.)  Raven finally reached her atonement through her willing self-sacrifice and ended up saving the Forgotten Realms.

The thing about Tyranthraxus that was so fun was that my little halfling rogue, Blackberry, gained 8 levels from draining the Pool of Radiance (leveling up is always fun).  The battle was so freaking hard and I thought that we were going to die many, many times but we were able to work together as a team and we defeated the evil demi-god.  Well, Blackberry and Samsung the dwarf and Upton, the human wizard worked together as a team.  Edrick, our elven paladin kept throwing his weapons and falling asleep and getting eaten.  He was no help at all. I really liked this campaign because I've read all of the books in The Finder's Stone Trilogy and it was really fun to add my own chapter to the story (it's supposed to take place after the books).

REVERB GAMERS 2012, #17: What was the best reward you've ever gotten in a game? What made it so great? How much do you need tangible rewards (loot, leveling, etc.) to enjoy a game

My halfling, Blackberry, gaining 8 levels for draining the Pool of Radiance was pretty damn sweet.  It made her 18th level and they were all in rogue so she had some pretty kick ass abilities.  Playing a high level character is always a lot of fun.  In the game that I'm currently playing, my character just took a level in witch and she gained a pretty awesome familiar.  It's a little lizard creature (can't remember the actual name but I'm calling him Chompy) and through it my character gains DR 5/electricity, +2d8 to any spell that has electricity, & +2 to stealth.

Once, I was playing a character that I thought was a human wizard but it came out during the game that she was actually a fey creature.  Randy, the DM, took a facet of my back story (she was the only dark-headed girl in a family of all boys with blonde hair) and said that my character was actually the result of a liaison my mother had with a fey.  I got to change my stats and add some cool abilities to my character.

I like the rewards that the DM thinks to personalize towards each player, like my witch's familiar or allowing me to play a fairy creature.  I like the little touch of whimsy that my DM's create because it keeps me invested in the story and it helps to draw me in.  Finding magic items is always a cool thing but when the DM adds a little something extra to it because they know you will appreciate it makes it much more exciting!