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View Full Version : First Time DM help (SoonerDJ stay out)



gallagher
2010-03-14, 09:19 PM
hello playground

i was hoping for some fresh DM advice. i have been creating my own campaign, and i was hoping for some ideas on where to put certain... mcguffins

i will be having my players find a series of ancient chapels with some sort of alter, of which they need to make a significant sacrifice in order to gain some sort of divine/arcane reward.

first of all, i figure that i am trying to nerf casting a bit, by making them be a bit less sad. i told them that if they want to be an arcane caster, to go no higher than sorc. they need to make a fortitude save (equal to their spell save DC) or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. i want there to be some sort of nonlethal damage, too, as a part of the strain on their body. any ideas on that are welcome.

and now to the chapels. i was planning on putting the major one inside a paladin keep, one being protected by a series of dwarves deep inside a mine, who have been interbreeding so long that they are all crazy, one is being protected deep in the amazon (the map is similar to both american continents), one i wanted to be sky-related, so i was thinking high up in the mountains, and one deep under the ocean, and one will be a slightly modified tomb of horrors. i was hoping for a seventh one, so if any have an idea for the other one it would be much appreciated.

anyway, is there any advice for a new DM as far as keeping things fun, yet challenging? i was hoping for some strange things to throw at them that they would not quite know how to handle them perfectly. i figure i am throwing the tarrasque at them close to the end (the party will be taken from level 4 to level 20 and beyond, if possible)

also, i will not start this in a tavern. i am going for a more fun approach of a gladiator tournament, and they will be fighting eachother at the end if all goes to plan (party of four)

Hunter Noventa
2010-03-14, 11:27 PM
That casting nerf is pretty hardcore, I've personally never seen casters be that powerful in an actual game. Have you ever had problems with casters serious enough that you need a nerf like that? just because every time people talk about wizards or clerics they seem all powerful it's far from meaning that they are every time, there's practical optimization and theoretical optimization. but that aside, you're probably better off limiting spell and feat selection rather than targeting their weakest save every time they use their class's abilities. it might be powerful, but they literally have nothing else useful to do, especially at low levels.

gallagher
2010-03-15, 11:02 AM
Well, it is supposed to be hard to gain... What if I made it half the save DC of their spell, since their will save progresses twice as fast as their fort?

gallagher
2010-03-15, 06:28 PM
Well, it is supposed to be hard to gain... What if I made it half the save DC of their spell, since their will save progresses twice as fast as their fort?

any ideas on how i can make this more reasonable?

SensFan
2010-03-15, 06:45 PM
any ideas on how i can make this more reasonable?
You missed the point, I think. It's unreasonable to expect an arcane caster to have anything to do but cast spells, really, so why are you making them save to avoid being literally useless every time they use their sole class ability?

If you want to nerf casters, remove the Polymorph line (including Alter Self) and any other spells you find too broken, and leave it at that. If you're removnig the option of being a Wizard, I suspect you won't even need to do that much tinkering to stop Sorcerors from being broken.

gallagher
2010-03-15, 08:40 PM
i was more going for a reasonable way to represent the physical strain it takes on the body to cast spells. i guess i didnt explain that part well enough

in the world, which i have been personally building for some time now, arcane magic is severely watched, and when used offensively it is punished harshly by an oversealous paladin king (big surprise, i know) that is why there are no wizards. i want something that represents an actual strain on the body from channeling the arcane power through your body.

what if i made it 1 point of nonlethal damage per spell level?