PDA

View Full Version : Red Hand of Doom Ozyranndion Alternative Loot Suggestions



Swiftest
2010-06-14, 06:56 PM
Greetings Playgrounders,

I am currently running the Red Hand of Doom for a group of 5 level 6 PCs. They have just defeated the Skull Gorge Bridge encounter complete with slaying the green dragon Ozyranndion (they have ridiculous ranged burst damage, got him with ranged volleys as he tried to flee at low health). The party is made up of:

- A full orc fighter4/barbarian2 (whirling frenzy) monkey gripping a large greatsword. Hits stuff. Going Frenzied Berserker. Died in battle with the dragon. The player intends to reroll.
- A Fighter 1 evocation sorceror 5 going Spellsword/Eldritch Knight (favorite spell currently scorching ray)
- A Fighter 5 Dervish 1 -- hits stuff, tumbles, some skills.
- A Halfling Fighter/Paladin/Halfling Outrider mounted on a riding dog who charges things with a lance for decent damage. His dog died in the combat. The player is frustrated that his mounts have been dying and that the charging mechanic is sometimes hard to implement effectively (flying enemies, difficult terrain, etc) and is probably going to reroll soon if I allow him to do so.
- A bow fighter going homebrewed (mix of 3.0 and 3.5 versions) Order of the Bow Initiate. Big arrow damage. Also died in the fight. Probably will not be resurrected (player wants a new character).

As you can see the party is not very optimized at all except in pure physical damage and things are in flux for them character-wise, though they all very much enjoy the campaign. Not one full caster. Very little healing (wands are their best friends). Despite my advice they lack even the most rudimentary knowledges and most skills although this is slowly being rectified as they level. It is likely that 1-2 of those who reroll will do so in order to meet the parties' need for a divine caster and a skillmonkey.

The battle was *very* hard for them (ecl 10 plus I would add another 1 to it based on circumstances) and I want to reward them appropriately, but not too much. I need to decide what treasure to award them for the battle. The books allowed in this campaign are Core + SRD + Complete Warrior.

So far in the campaign I have been taking the writers' advice and tailoring found/looted items to match what the party would want to find since they won't necessarily have time to buy/craft their own custom stuff. They recently found a +1 Frost Scimitar (dervish took) in Vraath Keep, a set of gauntlets of ogre power (barbarian took, also in Vraath Keep), a small Mithral Breastplate (halfling outrider obv -- from the hydra at the ford) along with several +1 armor items, rings of protection, and such.

The dragon was listed as having bracers of armor +3 (9000 gp value) and an amulet of health (4000 gp value). I am thinking of altering this to include a metamagic rod of lesser empower (the sorcerer is a bit underpowered at the moment) and then gloves of dexterity (or perhaps of ogre power) rather than the amulet of health. This is all in addition to the miscellaneous +1 armor items, masterwork weapons, potions, and gold that the hobgoblins had.

tl;dr: Is the above loot appropriate to give to them at this point in the campaign? It's equal in gold piece value to what was already there and the party is a little underpowered at the moment -- I think they could use the help. It occurs to me that the rod of lesser empower might be a bit too overtly for the sorcerer, but I think that's ok as they'll learn they can all expect to find what they want *eventually* and someone's lucky day has to come first. Also, two characters died and will probably not be resurrected, so the loot at large needs to be useful to the living. Thoughts? What sort of loot would you provide to a party of this sort? They have multiple wands of CLW so healing isn't an issue at the moment.

KillianHawkeye
2010-06-14, 07:00 PM
Did they get the Staff of Life?

Swiftest
2010-06-14, 07:02 PM
They did. They have been fairly careful about searching and taking 10-20 and aiding one another since they're aware they have low individual search checks.

Runestar
2010-06-14, 07:07 PM
Doesn't the staff of life come much later?

Check out the MIC, it has a lot of relatively cheap gear, so everyone in the party should be able to get something. Maybe this link can help you locate eq suitable for your PC.

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19568998/MIC_items_by_function

Swiftest
2010-06-14, 07:11 PM
Ah no, the Staff of Life is found in Vraath keep and is put there deliberately early on to give the party a free 'mulligan' or sorts in the event that they make a tragic mistake and get in over their head before they gain access to resurrection magic. For this reason it could be said that their WBL is too high at the moment, but the campaign deliberately creates this situation as the fights can be difficult for unoptimized or unwise parties.

MIC is unfortunately not an available source as I am keeping it to just Core + SRD + Complete Warrior to minimize my headaches as a DM. A lot of the players don't have too much D&D experience (1-3 campaigns each for most, one guy is in his first in 3.X) and are still learning. I want to avoid overwhelming or confusing them.

Really what I'm looking to know is do you guys think the loot I intend to have the dragon possess (lesser metamagic rod of empower, gloves of dex or str) is an appropriate and fair reward, or whether I should make it less/more/different loot given the parties situation, level of optimization, and place in the campaign.

KillianHawkeye
2010-06-14, 07:11 PM
Doesn't the staff of life come much later?

IIRC, it's in the secret basement at Vraath Keep. But it's only got 7 charges, so it's suitable for a lowish level party.


@Swiftest: I don't know about changing the Amulet of Health to Gloves of Dexterity. Not everybody needs a high Dex, but everybody can use more hp.

Swiftest
2010-06-14, 07:14 PM
@Swiftest: I don't know about changing the Amulet of Health to Gloves of Dexterity. Not everybody needs a high Dex, but everybody can use more hp.

Point taken. I'll keep that as is then. What about the lesser rod of empower? Too much, just fine, not enough?

KillianHawkeye
2010-06-14, 07:20 PM
What about the lesser rod of empower? Too much, just fine, not enough?

Seems fine if the Sorc needs a boost as you say. It's only 3/day, right?

Runestar
2010-06-14, 07:26 PM
What about scrolls/wands which the sorc can use to buff the entire party, such as haste? Core doesn't really seem to afford a lot of interesting/useful magic items outside of the core6 stat boosters.

Swiftest
2010-06-14, 07:31 PM
Hmm, that could also be a good idea. Perhaps a Wand of Haste with 10 charges or some such.
I'm mulling over the idea of finding a way to help the Halfling Outrider keep his dog alive, as this is the second time it has died and with it dead his class features are effectively useless. I was actually considering something custom and a little crazy: a Figurine of Wonderous Power: Ivory Dog. This would essentially be the same as the Goat of Traveling figurine in the dmg except medium size and it would emulate a riding dog rather than a heavy horse. I would make this item usable for up to 6 hours per day, divided up at the rider's discretion (I can't imagine making it a weekly use item as this is a travel-heavy campaign and he *needs* a mount. I am putting this item's value at around 10-15,000 gp, however (probably more if I followed the crafting rules carefully), which is high. It would reduce headaches and let him have something fun without being terrifically unbalancing (it's a riding dog with animal intelligence and 0 extra perks, how bad can it be?). Thoughts?

AslanCross
2010-06-14, 08:05 PM
It's a shame MIC isn't available, but potions and scrolls for spells the sorc doesn't have might be helpful.

If you have anyone who has the UMD to use it, a Wand of Lesser Vigor has kept my players going from the start. They're now close to the end of the Fane of Tiamat.

(Drat, I forgot Lesser vigor isn't a core spell.)

Eldariel
2010-06-14, 08:10 PM
It's a shame MIC isn't available, but potions and scrolls for spells the sorc doesn't have might be helpful.

If you have anyone who has the UMD to use it, a Wand of Lesser Vigor has kept my players going from the start. They're now close to the end of the Fane of Tiamat.

(Drat, I forgot Lesser vigor isn't a core spell.)

Wand of Cure Light Wounds is slightly less efficient, but works just as well. Also, an offensive Wand of something simple without save (or screw even on save) is generally a good idea; Web, Ray of Enfeeblement, Ray of Exhaustion, Grease, Scorching Ray, something of the sort.

And yeah, few Scrolls are always good; few redundant ones if spells happen to run out, the "Oh ****"-ones and then the few situationals like Knock et co.

Swiftest
2010-06-14, 10:06 PM
Thanks, I'll see to it that they get a few clutch scrolls/potions. It's really too bad that there's only the one sorcerer and that nobody else even has UMD ranks....

ShneekeyTheLost
2010-06-14, 11:32 PM
Allow the Outrider to take something similar to an Animal Companion. Say, blow a feat on it and gain an Animal Companion as per Ranger levels.

Animal Companions get Evasion, which should protect it against area effect blastomancy.

Alternatively, a Collar of Evasion for the dog.

EDIT: You can also combine the Mount with the Special Mount the Paladin gets, combining Halfling Outrider with Paladin levels. This gives him hours/day mount (paladin + outrider, so probably plenty), and it gets Improved Evasion.

lsfreak
2010-06-14, 11:46 PM
Allow the Outrider to take something similar to an Animal Companion. Say, blow a feat on it and gain an Animal Companion as per Ranger levels.


Better option: Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a). Slightly inferior in terms of advancement and no spellsharing compared to a druid, but damn good nonetheless.

ShneekeyTheLost
2010-06-14, 11:51 PM
Better option: Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a). Slightly inferior in terms of advancement and no spellsharing compared to a druid, but damn good nonetheless.

Only the Mount ability in Halfling Outrider explicitly stacks with Paladin for determining Special Mount, and Special Mount starts off with Improved Evasion out of the box, so even on a failed save, he still only takes half.

Saph
2010-06-15, 04:50 AM
I find the Magic Item Compendium is very good for this sort of thing. Have a look through the tables at the back and you can find lots of reasonably priced and very effective items.