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Thread: 2 questions (3.5)
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2010-06-06, 09:16 AM (ISO 8601)
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2 questions (3.5)
1.I am DM-ing a 3.5 campaign, players are lvl 2 and one of them had a near death expirince (-8 hp) before recuperating. I would really like to give him something, like a bonus and a penalty at a same time, appropraite for lvl 2 character in relation to this exerience. Any good ideas?
2.How does a BBEG boost the overall birth ratio of monsters? Say BBEG wants the swarms of goblins, gnolls, orcs, ogres and similar to overrun the land. How could one (game-mechanics wise or by means of pure logic) pull this off?
much tnxAdventurers, by definition, aren't really sane
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2010-06-06, 09:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: 2 questions (3.5)
I believe the usual explanation for this one is that the swarms were already there, the BBEG just united them and got them to overrun the land instead of killing each other all the time.
1,000,000 orcs staying in the mountains and squabbling with each other over local territory? No one even notices except a thin layer of settlements nearby.
1,000,000 orcs in a single united army coming out of the mountains with common purpose? Nations tremble at the news.Last edited by Douglas; 2010-06-06 at 09:41 AM.
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2010-06-06, 09:42 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: 2 questions (3.5)
1: Scars are a badass way of saying "I almost died, but I got this. Chicks dig scars." However, why would you want to penalize them for surviving?
2: If the BBEG is a Wizard/Sorcerer capable of casting 9th level spells, have them cast Genesis and give it the Flowing Time trait where 1 day on the Prime equals ~1 year on the created plane. Wait ten days, you'll have a pretty beefy army of goblinoids.Last edited by RelentlessImp; 2010-06-06 at 09:44 AM.
Now if you don't mind, I am somewhat preoccupied telling the laws of physics to shut up and sit down.
I cast irresistable phantasmal killer as a 4th level spell. No save, just die.
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2010-06-06, 09:46 AM (ISO 8601)
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2010-06-06, 09:49 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
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- Hiding and fleeing.
Re: 2 questions (3.5)
This is true. Most of the monstrous races (goblinoids and orcs for the most part) have very short lives and reproduction cycles. This means that they would quickly become a force to be reckoned with if they stopped the infighting and risk-taking. A powerful enough leader can organise them into a formidable force, ordered to keep the troops working together and using more effective tactics, solving two issues that commonly cause the huge death:birth ratio usually found in such creatures. I could always be wrong, but that's the way I remember it.
On your first question: flaws are generally considered to be very powerful for characters because a player will probably choose something that doesn't hinder them much, but they would seem to be appropriate in this case.
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2010-06-06, 09:53 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: 2 questions (3.5)
Near-death's something player characters face on a daily basis. The term "revolving door afterlife" pretty much applies to any adventurer ever (except a Xanatos Wizard), and if you keep penalizing them for near-death experiences or dying, pretty soon you'll have so many penalties on them that they'll be next to worthless.
Still, if you want a bonus and a penalty: give them 3d6 HP that last for a week to a month or so due to the high anybody would get after surviving; but make it also a hindrance, say, -1 to attacks and damage from the euphoria constantly welling in them.Now if you don't mind, I am somewhat preoccupied telling the laws of physics to shut up and sit down.
I cast irresistable phantasmal killer as a 4th level spell. No save, just die.
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2010-06-06, 02:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: 2 questions (3.5)
For your first question, I'd keep the adjustments minor and temporary (as near-death and even death experiences are a fact of life for PCs) -- but something to add a little bit of flavor/impact isn't a terrible idea at all.
Perhaps the character is a little extra *aware* of everything and appreciates being alive just a bit more (minor + to Spot, Listen, initiative) but also has a highly-reasonable gut-based fear of whatever nearly killed him the last time (automatically shaken in combat against the same kind of creatures).
Once the character has successfully (especially personally) vanquished some number of these foes, then the fear could fade; around the same time, the bonuses could fade as the character gets over the near-death experience and returns to normal.
In any case, I'd keep the effect relatively short-lived. You don't want to make "I got knocked into negative hit points" necessarily a defining part of this character's life; one or two game sessions (depending how long/often you play) should be plenty.
Also keep in mind if you are going to do something like this for near-death experiences, what will you do the first time a PC actually dies and is raised?
For your second question I concur that the easiest thing is just to have the BBEG simply unify the squabbling hordes of evil grunts that presumably already exist. If you want/need a slightly more exotic twist, you could always just have the BBEG open a gate/portal/etc to another plane of existence where such creatures already dominate.Last edited by tiercel; 2010-06-06 at 02:20 PM.
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2010-06-06, 02:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: 2 questions (3.5)
1. triggerable bonus/penalty. Say an Orc is what nearly killed her. Whenever she encounters and orc she has to roll a d 20. 1-5 she's terrified and looses the first round of combat to composing herself. 15-20 she's pissed and feels the need to make the orcs extra dead. . . +1 on attack and damage against orcs for this combat. after a while and as she experiences more, she can gorw out of this. . . or not. . . your choice really
2. Unite the squabbeling masses into one force with a single cause. A unified army is alot scaryier than a bunch of arguing villages.Last edited by ShadowsGrnEyes; 2010-06-06 at 02:38 PM.
RAMS > RAI > RAW
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2010-06-06, 02:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2005
Re: 2 questions (3.5)
Why? In order to reflect the psychological impact on the character? While various rules in various games, including D&D, automate various things about characters' feelings, players come to the table with these rules in mind, and should generally be prepared to operate within them. E.g. if the rules decree that your character will react to certain situations with fear, it's unreasonable to expect to play him as fearless.
Having the GM decree how your character responds to something, with no justification but Rule 0, is something else again. Generally speaking, it's the players' job to decide how their characters respond to events. This is largely what the players are there for. So if the GM fiats a particular reaction, that's usually stepping on the players' toes. And it's hard to see how to decide on an appropriate bonus and appropriate penalty without deciding how the PC reacts.
Of course, you could ask the player how the character reacts, and then base stat modifications on that. But there's no need to. Roleplaying is often sufficient to represent the impact of a character's state of mind on her actions. The sort of life-changing event that you're talking about seems more likely to change what a character chooses to do with her capabilities than what she's good and bad at. And since tabletop RPG characters aren't scripted automatons, but rather controlled by players and GMs capable of taking into account numerous psychological factors that have no mechanical representation, there's no need to give all psychological factors mechanical representation. Not even all really important psychological factors. That doesn't even strike me as a feasible task.
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2010-06-06, 02:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2006
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Re: 2 questions (3.5)
I wouldn't do anything without checking with your player, but one possibility is scarring. They now have a noticeable facial scar - this gives a +2 untyped bonus to Intimidate and a -2 penalty to Diplomacy. Depending on the player and your intent, this can fade (the scar mostly heals) or be permanent.
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2010-06-06, 02:37 PM (ISO 8601)
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- PA these days
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Re: 2 questions (3.5)
Instead of going mechanical, I'd go fluff.
Give her a vision, at death's door, of someone she knew who died, or an important NPC who kicked it, giving her some cryptic message.
Now, this could help her...or if misinterpreted, could be seen as justification for actions that are terribly consequential.Life is a gamble, roll the dice. If your life is like cards, rig the deck.
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2010-06-06, 02:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: 2 questions (3.5)
Yeah. Rather harsh of you as DM to penalize her for nearly dying. If you do this every time, pretty soon they'll just be staying in their room all the time, beause it just that much safer then risking their necks to be heroes when they get punished for doing so. It's like the God's are saying Bad Adventurer! BAD! No gaining levels to challenge me!"
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2010-06-06, 02:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: 2 questions (3.5)
For #2, there's always the warcraft method. Open a portal to a plane where they exist and let them stream through to this dimension.
Either the BBEG can cast Gate and will do so repeatedly, or they have some plot device McGuffin artifact that allows them to do it.