Lord.Sorasen
2011-01-02, 11:33 PM
Alright guys, I need some real help. Below I will provide a lot of information. Hopefully enough.
My dilemna: I have no clue what to do with the party. I would rather they not be simply walking and fighting forever, but I'm just not sure what to give them without railroading (too much. I figure if the tracks are wide enough it would probably be fine.) Our first session actually went by really well, but honestly I don't know why. The party went from place to place, killed some things, eventually killed an owlbear (to my complete surprise) and that was that. While everyone had fun this time, I feel like next time this won't pass (more on this below.) Now, allow me to get into specifics...
The thrill of battle: I have seen lots of fun encounters for higher level units, but among the lower levels.. Not so much. The party ended up fighting: 2 goblin warrior 1s (as in the monster manual); A constrictor snake (As in the monster manual); A medium monstrous crab (Stormwrack); a party consisting of a goblin warrior 2, 3 goblin warrior 1s, and a fossa (it's a jungle campaign, the fossa was actually just a dog with a different name); and finally an owlbear and a phantom fungus (the fact that they won this encounter was incredible; I gave it to them for fun, saying if it killed them we'd just go ahead and retcon it out.) The party's actual characters are listed below. Anyway, these battles seemed to drain the party like they should have, but it was coincidence. I expected a much larger party (see below.) One thing I'd like to do is find some encounters that will allow the party to do some of their more interesting tricks... I don't mean encounters to beat the party but rather encounters to make the most of the party.
The Quest: I just learned I have no idea how to do this bit. The previous idea, which I told the party, is like this: The bishop of the sun Monastary (tiny little church dedicated to Pelor) has been cursed fighting a fiend, and as there are no clerics capable of healing him at the temple (I did no research as to find an ingame method, honestly. It's all just fluff) he has been sent to the mainland, and now the monastary is left less defended.. Essentially they hired mercanaries to defend them, and had them of unusual backgrounds so that people wouldn't know they were under the church. Maybe it's silly. They weren't too fond of it. I can retcon this however it needs to be done. Beyond this, I need a lot of help. I don't really understand how to run an actual dungeon, or set up a side quest. Both would be nice to know.
The party: Only 3 people actually showed up to the game this time (not including myself). Their characters were:
Eormenhild
Stats wise she's a level 2 human paladin with no intention of multiclassing. I am considering giving her the Saint template if her power becomes less than those around her, as I am aware it is terribly unbalanced. Celestial Mount and Hands of the Healer apply to her character either way. As of now she just strikes people with her sword. She has taken the silvery Smite as well as Mounted combat feats. Story Wise, she is a young commoner girl who's parents were killed when she was very young. Theoretically it was bandits who did it, but if I want she and I can make the actual killers whoever we want. Running away, she found the church of Pelor, which allowed her to stay as a servant before witnessing her unusual powers (paladin calling) and training her to fight against evil. She is still only around 16 (younger than the actual player) and because of her sheltered church life is very naive about good and evil (too much stock in her ability to recognize evil, perhaps too much faith that good will prevail).
Albeurn Gorguts
Stats wise he's a level 1 Half-Ogre templated Neanderthal Psychic Warrior (god that's a mouthful). I have told him his race is called "Primeival Ogre" but he calls himself a half-ogre regardless. Part of the party's flaw is that they go by the book's fluff over my fluff generally, though not on purpose. He basically smashes things with a big cold iron club. Currently he has prevenom weapon, but this is only because he lacks the power points to get his true goal: Expansion. He has no idea what he wants past getting really big, but with his 4 int, he's unlikely to get access to many prestige classes. Fluff wise... I told him ahead of time there'd be some level of baggage for being a psychic warrior. In my campaign setting, psionics are very foreign, and refered to by the Vasharan mentioned below as the first powers, which is the only way to achieve power separate from the Gods (as apposed to magic, essentially). He seems to have forgotten this, so I guess I'll make one more attempt at reminding him. The other problem is that he wants to be a cartographer. The issue here is that he chose to be a character with 4 intelligence before telling me this. Theoretically wisdom is a crucial stat to picking up information (listen, spot, search) but a cartographer without knowledge (geography) seems a bit far fetched. With that said we still have a lot of room to work. He tends to be responsive.
"Stachemaster"
Stats wise, he's a hadozee scout/druid sort of thing. He's taken the druid alternate class feature which trades wild shape for favored enemy, monk speed, and monk AC. He plans to focus on ranged combat, using his high speed and entangle spell to keep out of enemy range. Role playing wise.. We actually have a bit done. He's a hadozee, treated as a monster in his home by humans. He taught himself how to hunt, but unlike a ranger, who learns by fighting the wilderness (generally), he learned by using the wilderness to hunt mankind. In exchange he has a distrust of humans and a somewhat reclusive nature, though he would never hurt innocents and does not blame mankind as a whole (chaotic good Alignment, I let the alignment req for druids slide.) His name "stachemaster" is a joke based on his choice of giving his character a mustache, but it's in no way going to stay his name. He's looking for something of a title right now "the _____" sort of thing. Note that he has "Craft: Pelt", and favored enemy: Human, which he intends to use to creep out other members, mostly (manpelt).
Next time around we have 3 more people coming. They are:
Cecil
Stats wise, she's a vanara Beguiler 1. She has very high int and charisma, and in turn is not much in terms of physical statistics (her incredibly low strength of 6 is sort of expected, but her con isn't too awesome either. Her dex is ok.) She has extend spell as a feat. As a character she lies. She pretends to be able to predict the future, using her beguiler illusions to trick people into thinking she can do so. All in all, more bluff less sneak, I suppose.
Still Not Named
A Warforged Dragonfire Adept 1. She has the adamantine armor feat as well as a heavy wooden shield, so she will not be using invocations in combat, but will instead use her fire breath to serve as a heavy tank unit. Fluff wise, unsure. Originally she wanted to be someone created as an act of revenge. The idea would be that warforged killed a man's people, so he made his own warforged so that he could make it suffer and get revenge on the species. This is slightly ruined because she was unaware all warforged (and not just her character) had souls, but maybe we'll make it work with some edits here and there. She plans to have been trained directly by an aspect of Bahamut (and we plan to allow her to take fivefold breath of tiamut if she ever gets to that level, renaming it fivefold breath of bahamut, given it's clearly much better.)
Unnamed character 2
Has not decided. Still a wildcard. I'm uncertain as to what this party might need: seems pretty complete to me. Perhaps a bard or a healer or something?
A Vanara Beguiler 1. She hasn't much in the way of physical ability, but her Int is 19 and her charisma is 16. She plans to focus on the illusion side of things. A warforged Dragonfire Adept 1. This one is sort of weird, in that she's taken adamantine body and a heavy wooden shield, thus ruining her chances of in combat invocations, choosing instead to focus on tanking with fire breath. The last one is a wild card. She hasn't decided yet. But anything's possible. If anyone has a suggestion for her I will pass it on. Tomb of Battle is banned because I don't really like it (it's not about weeaboo fighting or whatever, but rather that I feel it's harder to roleplay right. I don't like the "hit them to activate special ability" aspect of it at all, and I just don't think it's needed. I know this is weird coming from a guy who uses both BoED and psionics, but whatever.)
I marked in red new things that changed after first session, and crossed out things that changed. We earned literally 1700 exp somehow.. I think I'm doing it wrong. I figured I would input it into this thing, and then just give the highest number. But maybe it's a bit much.
My current plans: I don't really have too much for next session, even if it might be tomorrow. I think it might be a partial session again, with a slightly modified batch of characters. Is this a problem? I don't really think so, but maybe. It might be nice to give individuals the spotlight (via smaller groups) before dealing with the more complicated aspects of 6 people).
It has been suggested that I make the "church" a falsity, something more evil masked as a church. The issue here is that the paladin in the party in fact comes from this church. I am thinking it has been changing behind the scenes: perhaps she was unaware. I was thinking this might upset her, as it would change her character (though naivety is one of her key traits) and give her the feeling that she has no control over her own character. To this end, I am considering talking to her about the change. Would this be ok?
I have a major villain planned out from the beginning. A "Vasharan" (technically human with the half-fiend template - The idea of "human but worse" didn't appeal to me. Also, I made his species' lifespan infinite (but incapable of being revived if killed) and essentially made him the last: the last for a long time. He's an erudite who plans to essentially rebuild the world, rather than killing the Gods. In reality, all I kept was "first people, Gods killed them all." He has empathy for those around him though none of his people do (this allowed him to be undetected by detect evil, and therefor spared), and feels the Gods to be evil for never giving his people the right to choose (giving them an "always evil" alignment). Essentially, the plan was for him to attack the church. If it's an evil church, however, maybe he still can: and perhaps he might even aid the party. He, after all, would not consort with devils even if he is many ways one. This introduction I feel might work even better than having him introduced as a villain: the betrayal might properly display the villain's feelings for the Gods back on the party. Thoughts?
Anyway I'm essentially looking for any DMing advice at all. I really want to make this campaign go well: the groups is currently very excited and I'd like to keep it this way.
My dilemna: I have no clue what to do with the party. I would rather they not be simply walking and fighting forever, but I'm just not sure what to give them without railroading (too much. I figure if the tracks are wide enough it would probably be fine.) Our first session actually went by really well, but honestly I don't know why. The party went from place to place, killed some things, eventually killed an owlbear (to my complete surprise) and that was that. While everyone had fun this time, I feel like next time this won't pass (more on this below.) Now, allow me to get into specifics...
The thrill of battle: I have seen lots of fun encounters for higher level units, but among the lower levels.. Not so much. The party ended up fighting: 2 goblin warrior 1s (as in the monster manual); A constrictor snake (As in the monster manual); A medium monstrous crab (Stormwrack); a party consisting of a goblin warrior 2, 3 goblin warrior 1s, and a fossa (it's a jungle campaign, the fossa was actually just a dog with a different name); and finally an owlbear and a phantom fungus (the fact that they won this encounter was incredible; I gave it to them for fun, saying if it killed them we'd just go ahead and retcon it out.) The party's actual characters are listed below. Anyway, these battles seemed to drain the party like they should have, but it was coincidence. I expected a much larger party (see below.) One thing I'd like to do is find some encounters that will allow the party to do some of their more interesting tricks... I don't mean encounters to beat the party but rather encounters to make the most of the party.
The Quest: I just learned I have no idea how to do this bit. The previous idea, which I told the party, is like this: The bishop of the sun Monastary (tiny little church dedicated to Pelor) has been cursed fighting a fiend, and as there are no clerics capable of healing him at the temple (I did no research as to find an ingame method, honestly. It's all just fluff) he has been sent to the mainland, and now the monastary is left less defended.. Essentially they hired mercanaries to defend them, and had them of unusual backgrounds so that people wouldn't know they were under the church. Maybe it's silly. They weren't too fond of it. I can retcon this however it needs to be done. Beyond this, I need a lot of help. I don't really understand how to run an actual dungeon, or set up a side quest. Both would be nice to know.
The party: Only 3 people actually showed up to the game this time (not including myself). Their characters were:
Eormenhild
Stats wise she's a level 2 human paladin with no intention of multiclassing. I am considering giving her the Saint template if her power becomes less than those around her, as I am aware it is terribly unbalanced. Celestial Mount and Hands of the Healer apply to her character either way. As of now she just strikes people with her sword. She has taken the silvery Smite as well as Mounted combat feats. Story Wise, she is a young commoner girl who's parents were killed when she was very young. Theoretically it was bandits who did it, but if I want she and I can make the actual killers whoever we want. Running away, she found the church of Pelor, which allowed her to stay as a servant before witnessing her unusual powers (paladin calling) and training her to fight against evil. She is still only around 16 (younger than the actual player) and because of her sheltered church life is very naive about good and evil (too much stock in her ability to recognize evil, perhaps too much faith that good will prevail).
Albeurn Gorguts
Stats wise he's a level 1 Half-Ogre templated Neanderthal Psychic Warrior (god that's a mouthful). I have told him his race is called "Primeival Ogre" but he calls himself a half-ogre regardless. Part of the party's flaw is that they go by the book's fluff over my fluff generally, though not on purpose. He basically smashes things with a big cold iron club. Currently he has prevenom weapon, but this is only because he lacks the power points to get his true goal: Expansion. He has no idea what he wants past getting really big, but with his 4 int, he's unlikely to get access to many prestige classes. Fluff wise... I told him ahead of time there'd be some level of baggage for being a psychic warrior. In my campaign setting, psionics are very foreign, and refered to by the Vasharan mentioned below as the first powers, which is the only way to achieve power separate from the Gods (as apposed to magic, essentially). He seems to have forgotten this, so I guess I'll make one more attempt at reminding him. The other problem is that he wants to be a cartographer. The issue here is that he chose to be a character with 4 intelligence before telling me this. Theoretically wisdom is a crucial stat to picking up information (listen, spot, search) but a cartographer without knowledge (geography) seems a bit far fetched. With that said we still have a lot of room to work. He tends to be responsive.
"Stachemaster"
Stats wise, he's a hadozee scout/druid sort of thing. He's taken the druid alternate class feature which trades wild shape for favored enemy, monk speed, and monk AC. He plans to focus on ranged combat, using his high speed and entangle spell to keep out of enemy range. Role playing wise.. We actually have a bit done. He's a hadozee, treated as a monster in his home by humans. He taught himself how to hunt, but unlike a ranger, who learns by fighting the wilderness (generally), he learned by using the wilderness to hunt mankind. In exchange he has a distrust of humans and a somewhat reclusive nature, though he would never hurt innocents and does not blame mankind as a whole (chaotic good Alignment, I let the alignment req for druids slide.) His name "stachemaster" is a joke based on his choice of giving his character a mustache, but it's in no way going to stay his name. He's looking for something of a title right now "the _____" sort of thing. Note that he has "Craft: Pelt", and favored enemy: Human, which he intends to use to creep out other members, mostly (manpelt).
Next time around we have 3 more people coming. They are:
Cecil
Stats wise, she's a vanara Beguiler 1. She has very high int and charisma, and in turn is not much in terms of physical statistics (her incredibly low strength of 6 is sort of expected, but her con isn't too awesome either. Her dex is ok.) She has extend spell as a feat. As a character she lies. She pretends to be able to predict the future, using her beguiler illusions to trick people into thinking she can do so. All in all, more bluff less sneak, I suppose.
Still Not Named
A Warforged Dragonfire Adept 1. She has the adamantine armor feat as well as a heavy wooden shield, so she will not be using invocations in combat, but will instead use her fire breath to serve as a heavy tank unit. Fluff wise, unsure. Originally she wanted to be someone created as an act of revenge. The idea would be that warforged killed a man's people, so he made his own warforged so that he could make it suffer and get revenge on the species. This is slightly ruined because she was unaware all warforged (and not just her character) had souls, but maybe we'll make it work with some edits here and there. She plans to have been trained directly by an aspect of Bahamut (and we plan to allow her to take fivefold breath of tiamut if she ever gets to that level, renaming it fivefold breath of bahamut, given it's clearly much better.)
Unnamed character 2
Has not decided. Still a wildcard. I'm uncertain as to what this party might need: seems pretty complete to me. Perhaps a bard or a healer or something?
A Vanara Beguiler 1. She hasn't much in the way of physical ability, but her Int is 19 and her charisma is 16. She plans to focus on the illusion side of things. A warforged Dragonfire Adept 1. This one is sort of weird, in that she's taken adamantine body and a heavy wooden shield, thus ruining her chances of in combat invocations, choosing instead to focus on tanking with fire breath. The last one is a wild card. She hasn't decided yet. But anything's possible. If anyone has a suggestion for her I will pass it on. Tomb of Battle is banned because I don't really like it (it's not about weeaboo fighting or whatever, but rather that I feel it's harder to roleplay right. I don't like the "hit them to activate special ability" aspect of it at all, and I just don't think it's needed. I know this is weird coming from a guy who uses both BoED and psionics, but whatever.)
I marked in red new things that changed after first session, and crossed out things that changed. We earned literally 1700 exp somehow.. I think I'm doing it wrong. I figured I would input it into this thing, and then just give the highest number. But maybe it's a bit much.
My current plans: I don't really have too much for next session, even if it might be tomorrow. I think it might be a partial session again, with a slightly modified batch of characters. Is this a problem? I don't really think so, but maybe. It might be nice to give individuals the spotlight (via smaller groups) before dealing with the more complicated aspects of 6 people).
It has been suggested that I make the "church" a falsity, something more evil masked as a church. The issue here is that the paladin in the party in fact comes from this church. I am thinking it has been changing behind the scenes: perhaps she was unaware. I was thinking this might upset her, as it would change her character (though naivety is one of her key traits) and give her the feeling that she has no control over her own character. To this end, I am considering talking to her about the change. Would this be ok?
I have a major villain planned out from the beginning. A "Vasharan" (technically human with the half-fiend template - The idea of "human but worse" didn't appeal to me. Also, I made his species' lifespan infinite (but incapable of being revived if killed) and essentially made him the last: the last for a long time. He's an erudite who plans to essentially rebuild the world, rather than killing the Gods. In reality, all I kept was "first people, Gods killed them all." He has empathy for those around him though none of his people do (this allowed him to be undetected by detect evil, and therefor spared), and feels the Gods to be evil for never giving his people the right to choose (giving them an "always evil" alignment). Essentially, the plan was for him to attack the church. If it's an evil church, however, maybe he still can: and perhaps he might even aid the party. He, after all, would not consort with devils even if he is many ways one. This introduction I feel might work even better than having him introduced as a villain: the betrayal might properly display the villain's feelings for the Gods back on the party. Thoughts?
Anyway I'm essentially looking for any DMing advice at all. I really want to make this campaign go well: the groups is currently very excited and I'd like to keep it this way.