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Coplantor
2010-07-12, 12:56 PM
Well, as an experiment, a group of friends and I decided to try a commoners party. To make it even more intresting, we rolled stats in order, part serious campaign, part joke, the plot is... promising and the characters and entertaining.

So, crunchwise, we have a physically competent smart guy who decided to go unnarmed style.

An above average intelligence yet not quite the genius the above character is but with a very good charisma score, though his lack of physical strength is his most serious drawback.

And a big, strong, very very dumb (as in, intelligence score 4 dumb) yet very insightful murderous care bear.

This three guys are brothers, who sworn revenge on the kobolds that razed their village and are on a quest to find and kill said kobolds.

So far, all they managed to do was get down the mountains they live, fight a group of dire rats and sell the skins of the dead animals. One of them contracted a disease from the rats, though it wont hit him for another two days.

So, I was wondering, do you guys can think of good and intresting challenges for them to face during this trip of self discovery and vengance?

Thanks in advance

Skeletor
2010-07-12, 12:59 PM
nothing like trying to get a sick person from point a to b. Your three guys are in a village said person gets sick the villagers freak out (plague scare) and kick the 3 out of town, standing there a few hundred yards of the gates they meet a traveling tinker and he tells them of a healer that lives in some god damn remote place.

So your 2 healthy guys must get to said place with the sick character before he keels over.

Coplantor
2010-07-12, 01:08 PM
Haven't thought about it that way. Nice.
Also, they are quite scarce of resources, so the trip might prove even more dangerous since none has ranks in the survival skill.

But I dont want to kill them, no no, there's a story to be told here. But the harded, the better. :smallbiggrin:

gallagher
2010-07-12, 01:10 PM
give them opportunities for farmers along the way, just an example, where if they help bail hay for a day they get dinner and can sleep in a building.

as a challenging encounter, have them face a couple of cats

Rin_Hunter
2010-07-12, 01:11 PM
My initial thought from just the title was: "Oh, no! A tax hike! The PCs get involved in a protest turned riot that takes them through the courts due to unlawful behavior!"

How was I to know that they had already started? :smalltongue:

Skeletor
2010-07-12, 01:11 PM
give them opportunities for farmers along the way, just an example, where if they help bail hay for a day they get dinner and can sleep in a building.

as a challenging encounter, have them face a couple of cats

You encounter a wild tabby cat.

Morph Bark
2010-07-12, 01:13 PM
If you didn't know of it yet, this thread (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19558998/Commoner_Campaign) might offer some inspiration, although the encounters might need some extra spice since you have three commoners here.

Yuki Akuma
2010-07-12, 01:15 PM
Are they "heroic" Commoners (that is, max HP at first level) or normal Commoners (rolled HP at first level)?

Coplantor
2010-07-12, 01:17 PM
If you didn't know of it yet, this thread (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19558998/Commoner_Campaign) might offer some inspiration, although the encounters might need some extra spice since you have three commoners here.

Sweet mother of coincidences! :smalleek:
I also did the "Oh yeah, this skin... I can buy it for Xsp" thing! My players refused and found a guy who offered them much more though :smallbiggrin:

Also, I was planning on having a party of adventurers to hire them to hold the torches and backpacks dring a dungeoncrawl :smalltongue:
And if they stayed too much in the same city, a noble would force-recruit them into the army.

@^:Max Hp at first level and also we use the fighter feat progression as normal feat progression, though we might cap level advancement at 6 and then make the optional E6 continued through gestalt but they can only take another NPC class.

Morph Bark
2010-07-12, 01:22 PM
Heh.

At any rate, while they start with a level in Commoner, I presume that given the right circumstances rolling about, they can take levels in other (NPC) base classes, right?

Perhaps you should also try to use a bit more of the OD&D idea of "rulings instead of rules". That way it will require more thinking of the players and less dice-rolling, and they can do a little more stuff, like trapfinding, or the occassional martial asskickery if they plan it well ("I try to leap off the wall with my dagger as I aim to land on top of the burglar and stab him in the arm" granting a bonus to attack if he succeeds on a Jump check for instance).

Coplantor
2010-07-12, 01:31 PM
Originally, the plan was that if they had enough money, time and a good mentor, they might get class abilities from PC classes through training while still taking commoner levels.

It's still a possibility, though I wouldnt know how much would different abilities be worth.

So we might as well, once they reach lvl 6, start taking levels on a different NPC class as if they were going gestalt. They will never get more than 6HD, but they would be getting new abilities.

Maybe after going throuh that second NPC class they might get a tier 5 or 4 PC class.

balistafreak
2010-07-12, 05:35 PM
You encounter a wild tabby cat.

It leaps from roof to roof, pelting you with orbs of acid, aided and abetted by a second glowing, flying being that also shoots you with orbs of light.

Incarnum Housecats ftw. :smallbiggrin:

Fax Celestis
2010-07-12, 05:40 PM
I got one.

"Earn a living wage".

Caphi
2010-07-12, 05:44 PM
I got one.

"Earn a living wage".

Make profession check.
Calculate net profit/debt.
Fast forward one week.
GOTO 10.

Optional step 5: Replace the entire playgroup with an infinite looping program, then go play a better game.

Stompy
2010-07-12, 06:03 PM
I got one.

"Earn a living wage".

Build houses out of clubs and quarterstaffs; sell for massive profit! (Use chickens as construction materials too if you have that "flaw".)

Back to OP: make them go on the Oregon Trail. :smallsmile:

Skeletor
2010-07-12, 06:05 PM
work on breeding a four legged chicken. :smallwink:

Coplantor
2010-07-12, 06:10 PM
Build houses out of clubs and quarterstaffs; sell for massive profit! (Use chickens as construction materials too if you have that "flaw".)

Back to OP: make them go on the Oregon Trail. :smallsmile:

Oh my god! I´m gonna get rich!
Anyway, any opinion on the Army/assist adventurer idea?

Dracons
2010-07-12, 06:15 PM
Ahh. Brings me back to my days when I ran a commoner game.

Granted, first level was commoner, second level was a mix of commoner/future class, third level was first level in the class they wanted.



Anyway, I loved the idea from book of challenges, and it's easy to do. I'll write my varient of it.


They run into a overturned cart. Many broken items and bottles. Maybe one bottle survived as treasure, or some silver.

They then realized that several small cages are broken. A small gnome has survived, and he proclaims he is an apprentence and needs your help. Several animals that were to be familars in the future at a school have gotten lose, and worst, just moments ago, several of them drank magical potions.

Party has to capture them alive. But the animals took potions. (Make your own. Perhaps one took a potion of rage, (A raging cat!) another a potion of blur (good luck capturing it) A toad with a potion of expeditous retreat hopping at super speed!)

Do a bunch of animals with various potions effects. They don't even have to be real potions, (Perhaps the mix of potions caused them to have various effects that aren't normal). Maybe a ferret took a enlarge potion, and now is much bigger!

super dark33
2010-07-12, 06:17 PM
try a kobold fighter or somthing

Morph Bark
2010-07-12, 06:58 PM
try a kobold fighter or somthing

Only if you mean a kobold Fighter do I agree. If kobolds would be played correctly, they would work in groups, use tons of traps, and only get up close if it was as a surprise attack. In that manner, even mid-level PCs can be scared to death for a bunch of level 1 kobolds and their trapping skills.

Fax Celestis
2010-07-12, 07:07 PM
Make profession check.
Calculate net profit/debt.
Fast forward one week.
GOTO 10.

Optional step 5: Replace the entire playgroup with an infinite looping program, then go play a better game.

Compare the amounts you'll earn from Profession to the cost of room and board.


Check

You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your Profession check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the profession’s daily tasks, how to supervise helpers, and how to handle common problems.
You're earning on average 10gp a week.

5sp per day for meals, so you spend 3.5gp per week on food. 1% of value for rent and/or house payment, so a basic house at 1000gp cost is 10gp a month, or 2.5gp. Heaven forbid you have a big family and need more than three rooms, because the cost jumps to 5000 (and 50gp a month, or 12.5gp a week).

So 6gp of your 10gp is accounted for so far. Toss on another 2.5gp a week to lease the space to run your business. 8.5gp gone.

You're gonna need a horse or donkey, and a cart. A pony's 30gp. Hopefully you can put it on layaway and pay 1gp a week for 30 weeks, or maybe trade down to a donkey for 8gp, just under a whole week's salary. A cart's 15gp. Maybe you can put that on credit too. Oh, and you have to feed your horse, at 2.5sp a week (assuming you just have one and aren't a farmer or something).

Hopefully you don't need to pay tolls for bridges or tax to enter the city. Or tax to pay the government annually. Or need to buy any animals, seed, or laborers.

Coplantor
2010-07-12, 07:13 PM
Yeah, that´s all nice but, remember that the guys are on a quest to avenge their dead relatives

Fax Celestis
2010-07-12, 07:14 PM
Hey, you asked for a challenge suitable for commoners.

Coplantor
2010-07-12, 07:16 PM
Hey, you asked for a challenge suitable for commoners.

Touche :smallbiggrin:

OK, ah, ok, a challenge, suitable for commoners with full hp at level 1 and above average stats (we rolled better than elite array). Some of wich should happen in the cities they visit in their journey and some in the road

Morph Bark
2010-07-12, 07:34 PM
Some other commoners trying to ambush them? The leader could be a level 1 Rogue having harassed his two henchmen into working with him to rob people of money and their possessions. Easy for either on the road or in an alleyway at night.

This could potentially lead them to either get some allies (if they find out the leader pressured the others and take him out before them) or learn some Rogue stuff (by taking the other two out and clubbing the Rogue unconscious and then waiting for him to regain consciousness, after which he will beg and plead and offer knowledge and riches and whatnot).

mabriss lethe
2010-07-12, 08:27 PM
- a twist on getting hired by adventurers.

-The "adventurers" come into town looking to recruit help wiping out kobolds.
-The pcs agree and they're led to a remote cavern.
-Once there, the adventurers turn on the party, making them walk ahead as human shields to trigger traps and blunt any attacks.
- The odd thing is, there are no kobolds here. some decrepit traps, a skeleton or two.
-All the while the party may notice that one or two of the adventurers doesn't look so good, cold sweats, fever.
-They get to the end of the cavern, There's a crumbling altar and a small bit of loot. The adventurers attack, trying to subdue. (They want sacrifices to reawaken the power of the altar.)
-Two of the three go down easy (they've been poisoned by the third, can barely hit a thing, go down after only a hit or two.)
-The other, however is in perfect health, He's also got a class level or two. (maybe very minor spellcasting, a commoner 2/warlock 1 for instance.)
-The spellcaster doesn't want a fight to the death, and you'll hear him mutter something about "miscalculating the dose" in regards to the henchmen. He'll try to escape, relying on a single potion of expeditious retreat or an appropriate warlock invocation.
-Whether the warlock lives or not is unimportant (except as a possible recurring villain.) Blood *has* been spilled on the altar stones and it summons the attention of a minor devil. He doesn't fight, and will disappear in a puff of brimstone if attacked, but if given a chance to speak, will offer the characters the power to seek the revenge they want....for just a little price.... (Effectively offering the Pact Insidious as detailed in Fiendish Codex II to the players.)

Dracons
2010-07-13, 05:36 AM
OOOH! It could be a imp...

At that level, it's just powerful to really wipe the floor with them.

Hell, have them battle, and have him /hold/ back by not using his poison.


He then can tell them he is fairly weak compared to his masters, who are willing to help them for souls of course.


Now the fun part. If they refuse? Fine. He'll leave them. But he'll let them know, they made powerful enemy today.

He'll spread rumors about them, making their quest even harder. After awhile, maybe they get strong enough to take him out, or maybe he'll get promated from taking any of their potentional allies souls. So as they get stronger, he gets stronger and you can show him coming back in promated forms of devil, becoming stronger and stronger.


They made an intresting enemy that comes around and kicks their butts for fun sometimes, never kills them because he just loves how they always get such willing allies to get souls from.


As for the capturing animals with potion effects, it was just an idea. Granted, you may think it's utter ****, but it is a decent challenge that can be decent for all of them, regardless of what skills they have. (grapple would work, or they'll work in teams to set up pit traps). But as a reward? The appretence can promise them information, or better yet, his master will give them potions too. So they can gain a couple of various potions (Like healing).



I'll shut up now. Most of my ideas usually suck to others anyway.

Lord Loss
2010-07-13, 05:56 AM
OOOH! It could be a imp...

At that level, it's just powerful to really wipe the floor with them.

Hell, have them battle, and have him /hold/ back by not using his poison.


He then can tell them he is fairly weak compared to his masters, who are willing to help them for souls of course.


Now the fun part. If they refuse? Fine. He'll leave them. But he'll let them know, they made powerful enemy today.

He'll spread rumors about them, making their quest even harder. After awhile, maybe they get strong enough to take him out, or maybe he'll get promated from taking any of their potentional allies souls. So as they get stronger, he gets stronger and you can show him coming back in promated forms of devil, becoming stronger and stronger.


They made an intresting enemy that comes around and kicks their butts for fun sometimes, never kills them because he just loves how they always get such willing allies to get souls from.


As for the capturing animals with potion effects, it was just an idea. Granted, you may think it's utter ****, but it is a decent challenge that can be decent for all of them, regardless of what skills they have. (grapple would work, or they'll work in teams to set up pit traps). But as a reward? The appretence can promise them information, or better yet, his master will give them potions too. So they can gain a couple of various potions (Like healing).



I'll shut up now. Most of my ideas usually suck to others anyway.

Actually, I quite like your potions idea. I think i'll use a version of it in my campaign (With amped up creatures)

Coplantor
2010-07-13, 07:10 AM
OOOH! It could be a imp...

At that level, it's just powerful to really wipe the floor with them.

Hell, have them battle, and have him /hold/ back by not using his poison.


He then can tell them he is fairly weak compared to his masters, who are willing to help them for souls of course.


Now the fun part. If they refuse? Fine. He'll leave them. But he'll let them know, they made powerful enemy today.

He'll spread rumors about them, making their quest even harder. After awhile, maybe they get strong enough to take him out, or maybe he'll get promated from taking any of their potentional allies souls. So as they get stronger, he gets stronger and you can show him coming back in promated forms of devil, becoming stronger and stronger.


They made an intresting enemy that comes around and kicks their butts for fun sometimes, never kills them because he just loves how they always get such willing allies to get souls from.


As for the capturing animals with potion effects, it was just an idea. Granted, you may think it's utter ****, but it is a decent challenge that can be decent for all of them, regardless of what skills they have. (grapple would work, or they'll work in teams to set up pit traps). But as a reward? The appretence can promise them information, or better yet, his master will give them potions too. So they can gain a couple of various potions (Like healing).



I'll shut up now. Most of my ideas usually suck to others anyway.

Dude, your ideas rock.
I'm pretty sure I've seen the lost familiars somewhere else... Anyway, the devil/demon that becomes stronger is pretty awesome.