DarthCyberWolf
2016-07-06, 01:45 PM
So I have started to run a 3.5 Red Hand of Doom campaign. While I’m no stranger to D&D or the 3.5 rules, this is my first time being the DM. :smalleek: Luckily for me; there is the very helpful RHoD Handbook here on this forum that has really helped me out. In fact I'll fully admit that most of what I've done is straight from said handbook. I’ve also enjoyed reading the other campaign journals around here, which of course gave me the idea for this one. Now usually I share my thoughts and ideas with my gaming buddies. However, since said buddies are the players in this game, I can’t exactly tell them about what they will be going against now can I? So maybe I’ll get some ideas from you guys and/or you enjoy reading about the (mis)adventures of another group of suckers players.
This adventure takes place on the world of Greyhawk, within the March of Sterich.
I have six players total, 3 male and 3 female. Varying amounts of prior gaming experience, but even the least experienced has played in a Pathfinder campaign (and I think is still in it). First session was for character generation and standard meet & greet. What we found out was that every player here has been, or still is, a member of the SCA. I expect to hear many corrections on what the historical accuracy would be… :smallsigh:
To start, I gave them 32-point buy with the condition that no stat can be below 10, before racial adjustment. Following that, I and my big mouth started throwing out build ideas. The result is a fairly optimized party, in my opinion. With six players, I anticipate that I’ll have to change some stats on the enemy here and there. I don’t want every fight to be a lethal encounter, just enough to add some flavor. More than stat adjustments, I would prefer an enemy just being smart (if their mental scores allow), playing to their strengths, or using the terrain to their advantage. If anyone has ideas, that’d be grand.
Human Crusader 5 – uses a halberd with Shorten Grip and Combat Reflexes. His first foray into Tome of Battle and already he loves it. Decent charisma and social skills, both in-game and out; is the party “leader” (at least, he thinks he is).
Gnome Beguiler 5 – pretending to be a sorcerer with Gloves of Starry Sky and Obtain Familiar. She’s still learning the Beguiler spells and when to use what, but has already proven effective (Glitterdust spam if nothing else). I’m thinking of allowing her to go into Mindbender and taking Mindsight next level, if just to see how it goes.
Gray Elf Rogue 3/Swashbuckler 2 – Going Daring Outlaw, TWF with elven lightblade/thinblade. Going for the elven noble duelist thing, talks with a lisp. So far he’s fairly impatient and is overestimating his elven/roguish Constitution, if you know what I mean.
High Elf Cloistered Cleric 1/Bard 4 – Knowledge Devotion, Song of the Heart, and archery stuff with Elf Domain. The knowledge-monkey of the party, she really just likes playing an elven archer. I never made any mention of Dragonfire Inspiration. They don’t know about it and I’m trying to keep it that way…
Human Cleric of Pelor 5 – Augment Healing, going to Radiant Servant. Purposely going for the most standard Cleric™ he can get. Not skimping on the divine support side at all though.
Human Swordsage 5 – Shadow Blade, EWP: Spiked Chain, going for a ninja/dervish feel. She’s new to 3.5 but has played Pathfinder. Is the record-keeper of the party; writing down names, places, and things (all the nouns).
I gave each player a note card with a secret that their character knew; each one related to a different section of the campaign in some form or fashion. For some, it’s a useless bit of knowledge until it becomes relevant down the line. For others, it’s a reason to go to this area, using their “main quest” as just an excuse to join the party.
The Crusader has the full background information of Vraath Keep as the original group to own it is distantly related to his back-story.
The Gnome is on the hunt for “Lady Dagger”, a character who I wanted to have a slightly larger part in annoying the adventurers. I figured “who better to hunt down a disguised serial killer than a Beguiler?”
The RogueBuckler actually has the password to the door in Act 5! The only thing is, all he knows is that he has a password. Not to what door (and he doesn’t know the password is in another language).
The Bard was sent to this region by the Elven Loremasters™ to get in contact with a hidden group of elves that have not been in contact for some time…
The Cleric was sent by the church to investigate a possible vision from the clergy about “a bloody hand, a fiendish army sweeping over all, and the Five Sorrows”.
The Swordsage also has a prophecy she found, about “blah blah, when the Wyrmlords rise, blah blah, the Soul of the Preserver will be turned against the land, blah blah, the Five Sorrows will sweep over all.”
(Okay, so I made up a bunch of nonsense and I can’t remember all of it, sue me.)
Getting the ball rolling, the party is on the road through the Vale heading to Vraath Keep. They received a general map of the area and a mission to seek out the sealed vault of the keep. They were given this quest by some small upstart group that seeks to unite adventurers together for missions like this. They’re called the “Pathfinder Society” or something like that. No one thinks they will really amount to anything of course… :smallwink:
Half the party has mounts at this time because they bought them with their starting cash. Last session they were asking me if they should bother with mounts or not and I wouldn’t answer them (those that did buy mounts will probably be glad for them later!) The Crusader is on a heavy warhorse, the RogueBuckler on a light riding (that he “found”), and the Gnome on a riding dog.
Most of the party spotted the ambush a long ways away thanks to some fancy Spot rolls. A quick charm from the Beguiler had one of the Hobgoblins standing up and politely informing them that they were being robbed and if they could hand over all their treasure because “boss said so”. Queue arrows turning the hob into a pincushion and we’re rolling initiative.
My changes to this encounter:
Hobgoblin ambushers had their feat swapped for Improved Initiative (didn’t do them any good when I rolled a 3).
Hobgoblin reinforcements all had Phalanx Fighting (was cool, but didn’t save them all from getting blinded by Glitterdust).
Hellhounds had the Draconic Template added, with Multiattack and Lingering Breath feats. (These guys were very cool, though the party failed the knowledge check and didn’t find out about the template).
Hobgoblin Bladebearer I swapped the Fighter levels for Warblade levels. (Seemed like more of a threat, but still went down quickly).
When combat started, the RogueBuckler got impatient with the Crusader (who was sniping from his horse with a bow) and so he ran his horse straight down the path into the middle of the bunch. Oh, and he failed the spot check on the Hellhound that was hiding 10 ft. from where he ended his turn. The hound responded by catching him on fire with Clinging Breath (Rogue failed a reflex save?). The Crusader charged in and started healing the Rogue up with a few applications of Martial Spirit. While the Bard, Cleric, and Swordsage proceeded to mop up the last few ambushers, the reinforcements came in. The Beguiler was a bit trigger-happy with her Magic Missile and had run out of those, but a Glitterdust blinded half the Hobgoblin phalanx fighters (a second application got the other half and just barely missed the invisible hobCleric). The Bladebearer got on top of the RogueBuckler and pulled out a full-attack, surprised the heck out of the party since they’re all unfamiliar with ToB maneuvers. But they all focused fire on him and dropped him, mainly from the RogueBuckler getting a full-attack with flanking. Add a few more rounds of them hunting down the invisible hobCleric and they cleared the encounter. They took no prisoners, looted everything, and gave a burial to the dead farmers and merchants they found.
All in all, I liked the way the fight went for my very first one to DM. No one important died (as the Hobgoblin souls wimper in the corner) and the players got a feel for their characters, which is good since they’re starting at 5th level rather than 1st.
This adventure takes place on the world of Greyhawk, within the March of Sterich.
I have six players total, 3 male and 3 female. Varying amounts of prior gaming experience, but even the least experienced has played in a Pathfinder campaign (and I think is still in it). First session was for character generation and standard meet & greet. What we found out was that every player here has been, or still is, a member of the SCA. I expect to hear many corrections on what the historical accuracy would be… :smallsigh:
To start, I gave them 32-point buy with the condition that no stat can be below 10, before racial adjustment. Following that, I and my big mouth started throwing out build ideas. The result is a fairly optimized party, in my opinion. With six players, I anticipate that I’ll have to change some stats on the enemy here and there. I don’t want every fight to be a lethal encounter, just enough to add some flavor. More than stat adjustments, I would prefer an enemy just being smart (if their mental scores allow), playing to their strengths, or using the terrain to their advantage. If anyone has ideas, that’d be grand.
Human Crusader 5 – uses a halberd with Shorten Grip and Combat Reflexes. His first foray into Tome of Battle and already he loves it. Decent charisma and social skills, both in-game and out; is the party “leader” (at least, he thinks he is).
Gnome Beguiler 5 – pretending to be a sorcerer with Gloves of Starry Sky and Obtain Familiar. She’s still learning the Beguiler spells and when to use what, but has already proven effective (Glitterdust spam if nothing else). I’m thinking of allowing her to go into Mindbender and taking Mindsight next level, if just to see how it goes.
Gray Elf Rogue 3/Swashbuckler 2 – Going Daring Outlaw, TWF with elven lightblade/thinblade. Going for the elven noble duelist thing, talks with a lisp. So far he’s fairly impatient and is overestimating his elven/roguish Constitution, if you know what I mean.
High Elf Cloistered Cleric 1/Bard 4 – Knowledge Devotion, Song of the Heart, and archery stuff with Elf Domain. The knowledge-monkey of the party, she really just likes playing an elven archer. I never made any mention of Dragonfire Inspiration. They don’t know about it and I’m trying to keep it that way…
Human Cleric of Pelor 5 – Augment Healing, going to Radiant Servant. Purposely going for the most standard Cleric™ he can get. Not skimping on the divine support side at all though.
Human Swordsage 5 – Shadow Blade, EWP: Spiked Chain, going for a ninja/dervish feel. She’s new to 3.5 but has played Pathfinder. Is the record-keeper of the party; writing down names, places, and things (all the nouns).
I gave each player a note card with a secret that their character knew; each one related to a different section of the campaign in some form or fashion. For some, it’s a useless bit of knowledge until it becomes relevant down the line. For others, it’s a reason to go to this area, using their “main quest” as just an excuse to join the party.
The Crusader has the full background information of Vraath Keep as the original group to own it is distantly related to his back-story.
The Gnome is on the hunt for “Lady Dagger”, a character who I wanted to have a slightly larger part in annoying the adventurers. I figured “who better to hunt down a disguised serial killer than a Beguiler?”
The RogueBuckler actually has the password to the door in Act 5! The only thing is, all he knows is that he has a password. Not to what door (and he doesn’t know the password is in another language).
The Bard was sent to this region by the Elven Loremasters™ to get in contact with a hidden group of elves that have not been in contact for some time…
The Cleric was sent by the church to investigate a possible vision from the clergy about “a bloody hand, a fiendish army sweeping over all, and the Five Sorrows”.
The Swordsage also has a prophecy she found, about “blah blah, when the Wyrmlords rise, blah blah, the Soul of the Preserver will be turned against the land, blah blah, the Five Sorrows will sweep over all.”
(Okay, so I made up a bunch of nonsense and I can’t remember all of it, sue me.)
Getting the ball rolling, the party is on the road through the Vale heading to Vraath Keep. They received a general map of the area and a mission to seek out the sealed vault of the keep. They were given this quest by some small upstart group that seeks to unite adventurers together for missions like this. They’re called the “Pathfinder Society” or something like that. No one thinks they will really amount to anything of course… :smallwink:
Half the party has mounts at this time because they bought them with their starting cash. Last session they were asking me if they should bother with mounts or not and I wouldn’t answer them (those that did buy mounts will probably be glad for them later!) The Crusader is on a heavy warhorse, the RogueBuckler on a light riding (that he “found”), and the Gnome on a riding dog.
Most of the party spotted the ambush a long ways away thanks to some fancy Spot rolls. A quick charm from the Beguiler had one of the Hobgoblins standing up and politely informing them that they were being robbed and if they could hand over all their treasure because “boss said so”. Queue arrows turning the hob into a pincushion and we’re rolling initiative.
My changes to this encounter:
Hobgoblin ambushers had their feat swapped for Improved Initiative (didn’t do them any good when I rolled a 3).
Hobgoblin reinforcements all had Phalanx Fighting (was cool, but didn’t save them all from getting blinded by Glitterdust).
Hellhounds had the Draconic Template added, with Multiattack and Lingering Breath feats. (These guys were very cool, though the party failed the knowledge check and didn’t find out about the template).
Hobgoblin Bladebearer I swapped the Fighter levels for Warblade levels. (Seemed like more of a threat, but still went down quickly).
When combat started, the RogueBuckler got impatient with the Crusader (who was sniping from his horse with a bow) and so he ran his horse straight down the path into the middle of the bunch. Oh, and he failed the spot check on the Hellhound that was hiding 10 ft. from where he ended his turn. The hound responded by catching him on fire with Clinging Breath (Rogue failed a reflex save?). The Crusader charged in and started healing the Rogue up with a few applications of Martial Spirit. While the Bard, Cleric, and Swordsage proceeded to mop up the last few ambushers, the reinforcements came in. The Beguiler was a bit trigger-happy with her Magic Missile and had run out of those, but a Glitterdust blinded half the Hobgoblin phalanx fighters (a second application got the other half and just barely missed the invisible hobCleric). The Bladebearer got on top of the RogueBuckler and pulled out a full-attack, surprised the heck out of the party since they’re all unfamiliar with ToB maneuvers. But they all focused fire on him and dropped him, mainly from the RogueBuckler getting a full-attack with flanking. Add a few more rounds of them hunting down the invisible hobCleric and they cleared the encounter. They took no prisoners, looted everything, and gave a burial to the dead farmers and merchants they found.
All in all, I liked the way the fight went for my very first one to DM. No one important died (as the Hobgoblin souls wimper in the corner) and the players got a feel for their characters, which is good since they’re starting at 5th level rather than 1st.