PDA

View Full Version : Help with a campaign opening.



BlackRabite
2008-02-26, 03:42 PM
I'm starting a new campaign for my group this weekend with a very odd beginning. Basically I'm going to be making 4 somewhat blank character sheets that will belong to un-stated level 0 Kobolds. The players will have to roll the stats (4d6 take highest 3) down the line and take what they roll for that stat no matter what.

The premise is this, they are part of a small Kobold camp/group and some scouts come back reporting an adventuring party that has decided to make camp on the edge of their territory. The party is large but they look badly wounded and the one of them is unconscious and being carried. An impromptu raid is formed and the kobolds spend some time preparing traps around the camp full of badly hurt adventurers that don't appear to be paying enough attention to their surroundings.

First question: What is kobold society like in forgotten realms? Are they small nomad like bands that live in warrens? How organized are they and do they have a society structure of any sort?

Continuing: The large band of kobolds will descend upon the injured party in the night, though the party has spent most of its resources fighting whatever it was that screwed them over so badly they still have enough left in them to kill most of the kobold band (these being roughly level 5-7 adventurers). Pretty much all of the kobolds will die in the assualt save the 4 controlled by my players, I'll find a good way to make this happen barring extreme stupidity. Now, this encounter will catapult the 4 players into "level 1" pretty much, at this point they will choose a class to be and they will get their pick of the adventuring parties gear when they have chosen a class.

Question 2: What is a good makeup for a badly wounded adventuring party and what items could a level 7'ish adventuring party have that could potentially be used by level ones both without pigeon-holing them into a class and without overpowering them. I can ramp up later encounters to fit some level of power via magical items, but what are good magical items that won't overpower them but still allow them a good chance of surviving the highly deadly low levels.

They will pretty much be able to do anything they want at this point but some obvious choices I'll lay out in front of them would be to go back and take leadership of the kobold tribe then go one to conquer and unify other tribes of downtrodden low level monsters into a massive army. Or to jsut leave it all behind and become an adventuring party of kobolds, namely taking advantage of their jumpstart into the world of adventuring via lucky circumstances.

Tweekinator
2008-02-26, 04:11 PM
You could just go with the "standard" Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, and Wizard. I would replace the wizard with a sorceror so they don't get a highlevel spellbook.

Just remember that they won't really be able to use the adventurer's weapons and armor due to size restrictions unless it's a party of gnomes and halflings.

BlackRabite
2008-02-26, 04:45 PM
Its been a standard rule with out group, ever since our first DM told us thats how it worked, that magical items and weapons change size to best suit the bearer. I don't know if thats true at all but thats how he did it and no ones questioned it in the last 3 years.

That aside, I had originally planned to do just that, with the core classes, but since we're straight rolling our scores with no adjusting allowed I wanted to make it as possible as I could to provide for any potential classes.

Tweekinator
2008-02-26, 04:55 PM
Well, the fighter could be a walking armory, thus providing whichever type weapon/shield to suit your group as well as heavy armor, the rogue could provide finessable light weapons, a ranged weapon, and light armor, the cleric could provide some medium/heavy armor, a weapon, maybe a shield, and the sorceror could provide some niftly little items, perhaps ioun stones or rings or something of that sort.

Looking that over, it seems a little tilited towards heavy armor, so you could perhaps replace the fighter with a barbarian who wears wither light or medium armor, to get more of a mix into your group.

It honestly depends on your players' tendancies as to what sort of chracter they enjoy playing. But remember, if they go for something that isn't equipped from the adventurers, they can sell/trade the stuff they won't be using for stuff they will.

BlackRabite
2008-02-26, 05:16 PM
That depends on the first question though. I'm not really well versed on Koboldian society in Forgotten Realms 3.5. Can Kobolds walk into a major or minor city/trading hub and start selling things off with no problems? How is their normal society set up, would they be likely to run off on their own when given the opportunity for adventure or will they go back to a chief or dragon leader for advice/guidance/tribute instead?

AslanCross
2008-02-26, 05:27 PM
As far as I can tell, Kobolds in Faerun are just like the default Kobolds. As long as there is no specific fluff for creatures in a setting, the way they are in the default setting is the way they are in FR.

According to Races of the Dragon, Kobolds live in underground mining communities and establish trade with other races (though they aren't very friendly). These can be very large or moderately-sized. They will always have underground access.

In any case, Forgotten Realms is a very big setting, and the attitudes of humanoids toward kobolds varies widely. Gnomes will probably attack them on sight (and the feeling is mutual), while humans might tolerate them a lot more. (In Neverwinter Nights 2, the kobold merchant Deekin hangs out in central Neverwinter without much molestation, although he doesn't have a permanent place in the market. I think it's also implied that the city guard occasionally runs him around.)



Size And Magic Items

When an article of magic clothing or jewelry is discovered, most of the time size shouldn’t be an issue. Many magic garments are made to be easily adjustable, or they adjust themselves magically to the wearer. Size should not keep characters of various kinds from using magic items.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#sizeAndMagicItems


Yes, size for Magic items does not matter.
Standard WBL points out that the gear of a 7th level PC would amount to 19000 GP, which is really way too much for a 1st level character to use. A 7th-level NPC, however, would only have gear amounting to 7,200 GP, which is a lot saner.

Should they really be at such a high level relative to the PCs? Maybe if they're 4th or 5th level the WBL might be more balanced.

Prometheus
2008-02-26, 07:04 PM
1) I'd have the organizational structure of kobolds conform with whatever you plan on making their quests like rather than based on random fluff. If I were you, I'd make kobolds a widespread, disorganized, and diverse group, so that the players could have the task of uniting the kobolds against their threats (who take advantage of the divisions in the kobold community).

2) The power level in D&D scales rapidly with even a few levels, I'd recommend a lower level part of adventurers. As an alternative, if you don't want to give them as much items, you could have the party have recently run from a rust monster, a ooze, a disenchanter, or bandits. Anything that would have ruined a lot of their stuff. Alternatively, having that much valuable stuff could be a curse in the kobold community, where it is fought over incessantly.

3) Did you read the variant in the DMG for multiclassing a character's first class by splitting in two half levels call aprentices? It might be fun to do that, but give each player only half a level to start, the other half (of the same level) they recieve at level 1.