A Newb in Kaag aka Meat for the Grinder

I’ve griped for a few books now, that the Lone Wolf Grand Master and Magnakai books are not in fact playable as a new character, despite their claims. It’s simply impossible to pick a number that balances +18 in bonuses vs +0 bonuses, when the whole combat table has a range of +11 to -11. But, let’s prove it by playing Lone Wolf 14, The Captives of Kaag.

Methodology:

• I’ll ignore death and just keep a running total of my endurance, even below 0.
• I’ll do-over any instant-death paragraphs.
• I’ll give myself 9s for both stats: 34 endurance and 29 combat.
• I’ll give myself 5 skills, pretending that I survived book 13.
• I’ll pick Weaponskill (+5) and Psi-Surge (+4)
• I’ll pick Psi-Screen and Huntmastery because a lot of psychic attacks came up last time, and Huntmastery seems to be the go-to skill for dexterity, climbing, etc.
• I’ll pick Nexus as my fifth, since that came up a few times in the form of heat / cold / acid traps.

Total combat strength is 44 = 34 + 5 surge + 5 weaponskill

First encounter is a vordak and some giaks, and some really unlucky rolls where I get wrecked (21). That’s half of my health in my first encounter, with giaks for goodness’ sake.

I evade some death knights, make my way to the keep at the center of town, hijack a kraan to get in, and make my way down some stairs. In the meantime I’ve lost only 3 endurance from miscellaneous exertions (18).

I sneak down a hall, and into a purple room where I meet…

Second encounter: Two xagash, with a CS of 52 and 60 endurance. 52 to my 44 is a -8 on the table.

The fight takes quite a while, and in the end Lone Wolf was at -52 endurance, a loss of 70 points. That’s two whole lifetimes, and well more than even Deliverance could have handled. And that’s just on my 2nd fight with some random monsters, not even The Big Boss.

Play 2

Vordak dings me for 7 (32). I fall down a pit (28), then hide in a crypt where I’m attacked by a Liganim (21). I get to rest and recover a generous 2 points (23). I climb the kraan feeding platform and get scratched up (21) but make it into the keep.

I make my way downstairs, but pick a different path. I happen upon a hallway that is being used as an over, glowing red rocks and all. I expect that Nexus can handle it, but then again let’s not walk into an oven.

I find an enormous black door, guarded by two wispy figures I recognize as nadziranim. They detect me, and a fight ensues. One of them gets itself killed by knocking down a pillar, but the other has a CS of 46 to my 43. By the time I defeat the nadziran, I’m at -2 endurance… and that’s only because I had Psi-Screen so didn’t take 2 points on each of the 7 rounds (14 more!).

Keep in mind… I won on my first play

Now, to contrast with all of this… on my previous playthrough (which I didn’t write up) I used my veteran character with the Sommerswerd and ongoing healing. I made it though CoK on my first playthrough, albeit barely and only because Banedon won the big boss battle for me. But still… that’s exactly my point. The +8 sword and ongoing healing are necessary for these books to be even remotely winnable.