I thought that the set-up, the mood, was done pretty well. It let me play a little more wary andconcerned and that was fun.<br/><br/>The actual encounter... not much to say beyond I wished that Lydia could of gotten more involved in the battle, but I didn't see pulling Stella's body into the middle of the fight and there wasn't time to check out the building interior, so Lydia was tied to Stella's spot. That was a little different for me as mostencounters has everyone more closed up and I have more freedom of movement.<br/><br/>On the bright side, I finally got to play with that drawback that I've been carrying around for a while and not had the chance to see how it would work in an encounter.<br/><br/>I think of this, like all first encounters as a learning experience on how everyone works and where to place characters in the future for better effect. This was the first time that I've really gotten to play with the improved crit aspects of a weapon that can actually get crits on a semi-regular basisand that was nice for the Inspired Blade archetype and let Lydia keep some panache to play with and after a character sheet boo-boo's, I'm hoping to be able to employ more maneuvers to help out other characters.<br/><br/>Perhaps we should discuss some basic strategy and tactics for future encounters? I know one of us can give buffs up to a certain range, but I forget what that range is and if everyone has to stay within that range? If it's just a 10' radius, that'll bunch everyone up and potentially remove any advantage of movement that Lydia relies on, but if it's wider... we should try to take advantage of it.<br/><br/>Lydia is, as usual, primarily a flanker and my intention is to keep her moving about the battlefield. If anyone has haste, she could be a real terror, but avoiding AOO's means that she's limited to 20' moves in any given round.... I suppose that she could do a 20 ' move, then tumble the last 10'... with Haste, double all of that and an extra attack on top of any riposte that she can do.<br/><br/>Spell wise, she only has Cure Light and Charm Person twice a day. If I had caught something in the alternate racial features, probably could of added more useful stuff, but such is life.<br/><br/>Qustion for those more knowledgable in the subtlies... can you wrap a whip around an object, swing from the whip and strike on the end of the swing? IE: Tarzan grabs a handy vine, swings across the jungle clearing to drive his feet into the side of the evil great-white hunter... only he would have to attach the vine to something in order to swing from it..<br/><br/>I've always wanted to do the swinging from a chandelier thing... lol<br/>