JBarca
2014-04-08, 12:41 PM
Greetings, all.
So my group and I are in the process of creating a style of competitive DnD. We call it an ODD, or Opposed Dungeon Delve.
The process is essentially a single player vs a party. The idea is that in normal play, the DM has unlimited resources with which to challenge the party. In an ODD, the DM has limited resources with which to kill the party.
The rules are as follows, as far as we've figured thus far.
One player selects the level of play (we've stuck around 8th level so far). Both he and the players have that many class levels, but the "DM" also gets the full 5 levels of the Dungeon Lord PrC (Dungeonscape). This PrC is granted regardless of Prereqs being met, and its abilities are based off of the player's choice of mental stats (not merely Int).
The DL gets full WBL for his character level (including DL), but at least half of this wealth must go into the creation of a dungeon. The dungeon is shaped in any way the player chooses, but must be within a 100x100 block (with an addition 30x30 block above or below for a "last stand" type of battle) of stone. Hallways, rooms, floors, and torches if desired are all free of charge. The DL spends his gold on traps, poisons, equipping his followers, etc.
While the DLs Leadership score is based off of his total level, his Cohort's level is based off of the DL's class levels (not including his Dungeon Lord levels). The Cohort gets NPC WBL, and is built/equipped by the DL. We typically say that the followers need to be "thematic" or, at least, consistent (they're grunts, not hyper-OP'd Tier 1s using trickiness to kill the party solo). For instance, in the ODD I ran, all of my 1st levels were Kobold Sorcs (nothing special, just tossed a few Magic Missiles and Greases to use resources), my 2nds were human Clerics, 4th/5ths Half-orc Barbarians, 6th was a Halfling Rogue.
The DL chooses the level, Pointbuy, and other important creation rules (HP determination, flaws, traits, etc). He can request that the players stick to noncheese, of course. Both sides keep everything else a secret: the DL has no knowledge of the party's composition, and vice versa, excepting that, prior to creation, the DL informs the part what Tier his character will be and what Tier his PrC will be (if any, not including DL).
Once within the dungeon, the game functions as normal. The DL is aware of everything within the Dungeon through his clairvoyance at will ability (for simplicity's sake, it is simply assumed to be always active over the entire dungeon). He may act accordingly. The followers within the dungeon are expected to act "normally," but can be ordered into other rooms, other attack patterns, etc by the DL.
It is a competitive game, but we also rely heavily on fair play (we just expect that the DL won't have direct control over the minions without speaking or invent traps on the fly).
The main problem we've had so far is the utilization of "hired" or "trained" monsters: we have no way of implementing things that aren't followers of Cohorts (I played a Dread Necromancer and spent a lot of my starting wealth on having hordes of Destruction Retribution zombies and skeletons).
I think that's it. What are y'all's thoughts? We rather enjoy the idea of it, but it is, as we like to say, "DnD Chess," more a thinking game than an RPG. We have a soft ban on Reserve Feats, as it gives the party a huge leg up (Reserve Summon Elemental meant no surprises for the party), and things that require DM decisions are a bit... odd.
Any suggestions on how to further improve upon this? Any ideas on how we might implement hired or trained monsters outside of Undead, Constructs, and followers?
Thanks for your time!
So my group and I are in the process of creating a style of competitive DnD. We call it an ODD, or Opposed Dungeon Delve.
The process is essentially a single player vs a party. The idea is that in normal play, the DM has unlimited resources with which to challenge the party. In an ODD, the DM has limited resources with which to kill the party.
The rules are as follows, as far as we've figured thus far.
One player selects the level of play (we've stuck around 8th level so far). Both he and the players have that many class levels, but the "DM" also gets the full 5 levels of the Dungeon Lord PrC (Dungeonscape). This PrC is granted regardless of Prereqs being met, and its abilities are based off of the player's choice of mental stats (not merely Int).
The DL gets full WBL for his character level (including DL), but at least half of this wealth must go into the creation of a dungeon. The dungeon is shaped in any way the player chooses, but must be within a 100x100 block (with an addition 30x30 block above or below for a "last stand" type of battle) of stone. Hallways, rooms, floors, and torches if desired are all free of charge. The DL spends his gold on traps, poisons, equipping his followers, etc.
While the DLs Leadership score is based off of his total level, his Cohort's level is based off of the DL's class levels (not including his Dungeon Lord levels). The Cohort gets NPC WBL, and is built/equipped by the DL. We typically say that the followers need to be "thematic" or, at least, consistent (they're grunts, not hyper-OP'd Tier 1s using trickiness to kill the party solo). For instance, in the ODD I ran, all of my 1st levels were Kobold Sorcs (nothing special, just tossed a few Magic Missiles and Greases to use resources), my 2nds were human Clerics, 4th/5ths Half-orc Barbarians, 6th was a Halfling Rogue.
The DL chooses the level, Pointbuy, and other important creation rules (HP determination, flaws, traits, etc). He can request that the players stick to noncheese, of course. Both sides keep everything else a secret: the DL has no knowledge of the party's composition, and vice versa, excepting that, prior to creation, the DL informs the part what Tier his character will be and what Tier his PrC will be (if any, not including DL).
Once within the dungeon, the game functions as normal. The DL is aware of everything within the Dungeon through his clairvoyance at will ability (for simplicity's sake, it is simply assumed to be always active over the entire dungeon). He may act accordingly. The followers within the dungeon are expected to act "normally," but can be ordered into other rooms, other attack patterns, etc by the DL.
It is a competitive game, but we also rely heavily on fair play (we just expect that the DL won't have direct control over the minions without speaking or invent traps on the fly).
The main problem we've had so far is the utilization of "hired" or "trained" monsters: we have no way of implementing things that aren't followers of Cohorts (I played a Dread Necromancer and spent a lot of my starting wealth on having hordes of Destruction Retribution zombies and skeletons).
I think that's it. What are y'all's thoughts? We rather enjoy the idea of it, but it is, as we like to say, "DnD Chess," more a thinking game than an RPG. We have a soft ban on Reserve Feats, as it gives the party a huge leg up (Reserve Summon Elemental meant no surprises for the party), and things that require DM decisions are a bit... odd.
Any suggestions on how to further improve upon this? Any ideas on how we might implement hired or trained monsters outside of Undead, Constructs, and followers?
Thanks for your time!