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View Full Version : A little help with an archery competition? (3.5)



Delivery Ninja
2009-10-10, 02:42 AM
Um, let's see, how to start off... Well, this is my first post on these forums, so hello, I guess.

I'm kind of a new DM, and while I've been doing pretty well in running my campaign so far, I've gotten to a point where I'm not quite certain what to do next. It's a Kobold campaign, the party has just reached level 6, and I only have two players. The first is a Scout/Ranger build using Swift Hunter, taking mostly Scout levels because he wants the class features, while the second is a straight-classed Druid with a Dire Badger animal companion, Natural Bond and Natural Spell. The second player is more experienced and a better optimizer than the first one, but he's been holding back a little because he hasn't wanted to overshadow the other player.

Also travelling with them are two NPCs, a third level Spellscale Dragonfire Inspiration Bard who I hadn't been expecting them to bring over to their side when I first introduced him and a sixth level Halfling Factotum with a Wild Cohort riding dog who I definitely was expecting them to work with.

The current plot hook the party's following is one that's taken them on a bit of a journey. Thanks to orders from some higher-ups in the mining outpost they call home, they've been ordered to participate in an Elven-sponsored archery/hunting competition that was initially thought up by a sect of Elven Druids when they realized that Elven civilization had driven away all the natural predators from the forest they lived in. So far, they've taken on an evil fire cult in a big city in order to put out a magical fire that was blocking their way, and then they spent a little time hunting trolls in order to get themselves a boat to take them upriver to where the competition is being held.

The thing is, I'm not really sure where to go from here. They took long enough on the troll-hunt that they'll end up just barely arriving in time for the competition if nothing goes wrong during the trip upriver, and I really don't have much in the way of ideas for the competition.

I was thinking that at some point in time during the competition, they'd wind up meeting their anti-party: a Gnome Cleric to counter the Druid, and a Gnome Rogue/Swashbuckler with the Daring Outlaw feat to counter the Swift Hunter. I was also thinking that I'd introduce a little more of the overarching campaign plot here, which basically involves a Red dragon and a Gold dragon using various different groups in the area to wage a secret war against one another. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to work these two things in, either.

So, yes, I could use any suggestions you have. I'm comfortable enough with the mechanical aspect of the game that I've allowed in all books that everyone in the group has access to, and I've already used plenty of them, myself. Aside from what's available on the SRD, I've got Complete Arcane, Complete Divine, Complete Warrior, Player's Handbook 2, Dungeonscape, Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, Magic of Incarnum, Races of the Dragon, the Eberron Campaign Setting and City of Stormreach. One of my players owns Complete Adventurer and Weapons of Legacy, while the other has Lords of Madness and the Book of Vile Darkness. Anything listed above not covered in those books was found online.

I think that's all the relevant information... Thanks in advance for the help.

Gelondil
2009-10-10, 06:56 AM
Honestly, at this point, unless you have some more information for the background ideas to throw out, there are just too many options...

I'd say you have a perfect place right now to hook the characters into a pre-made module, you can set your own background on the burner to simmer, and substitute in some of your own background geography in place of the module's - maybe then some new ideas may be spawned.