Based upon their idea and your report for how well it worked, I am going to handle things the way you suggest.
Thanks for the tip!
It helps that my group have no arcane caster, so they're over a barrel when it comes to identifying treasure.
Given that the only other wizards they know of:-
Khellek tried to bushwhack them in the hills, and could have killed them all, if it weren't for the ghost of Alastor taking action.
Another wizard, they're convinced is a necrophiliac. ("He keeps an animated head next to the bed? Ewwww!")
There might be a Mystic Theurge at the Cult of the Green Lady, but no-one wants to visit them and put up with a sermon on Suloise racial superiority (though they're not averse to threatening Filge that they'll hand him over to them, to get him to talk. Heh.)
So, Allustan's looking very trustworthy right now...
My group approached Allustan with the treasures from the Cairn, having no PC who could identify them.
A PC had already recognised the statue relating to the Rod of [spoiler alert], and they had taken rubbings of the runes, so I had no reservations about revealing the identity of the entombed.
I had him lay it on thick that this was a major find, which should not be revealed to the locals, especially Khellek & Co, who they had already fought (and driven off! - long story).
He offered to act as their agent, and trade their finds for them, far away from town. They agreed, since they knew they were in a race with the Seekers, to breach the True Tomb. I imagine they will continue with this arrangement, since he has now completed his end of the deal by delivering their first commisioned items.
Below is an excerpt from some tween-sessions e-mail with a player who missed the meeting with Allustan. If you can reinforce the need for speed and secrecy, they may not leave town.
Allustan offered to act as agent for the party, and trade any unwanted treasures far from Diamond Lake, via his contacts in the Free City. This was agreed by all, once he added that he could also arrange for more appropriate items to be commisioned at the same time.
While the divine characters discussed which wands they wished to order, using the proceeds, you were able to engage Allustan privately, and ask about the symbol on the rings. (This is a personal agenda; the PC has a childhood deja-vu...Dun Dun DUH!)
His face was grave, as he told you it was the symbol of an organisation called the Seekers, who consider themselves archaeologists and historians, but are viewed by many serious scolars as little more than tomb-robbers. When you told him you had seen the same symbol on Khellek's hand, he replied he already knew, and did not trust their motives, so had arranged for them to be mis-directed to the Stirgenest Cairn, which was (apparently) his usual approach to cairn-seekers he did not like.
“Their founders were ancient Suloise, descendants of the survivors of the Great Migration through the Pass of Slerotin, who hoped to unearth and preserve the secrets of their pre-cataclysmic empire. Though, since then, they have become much less selective in their investigations.
These people have no respect for the treasures they unearth, nor the uses to which they are put.
Power is the only object, or the money they can raise, from selling to the highest bidder, whoever that may be.”
“If this ‘Whispering Cairn’ is indeed as important as I suspect, then news of its discovery cannot be allowed to spread.
I would have sent you down the stirges’ nest, as well, had I been aware you were searching the area. I’m now glad I didn’t; though you look a ruffian, and I don’t know the dwarf-girl, I am aware of your other two companions, and trust that this information will stay in safe hands.”
“I would advise you not to tackle this group if you can avoid it. These three do not strike me as particularly high-ranking members, but they will have friends in high places.
Their leaders are sown through all levels of society, and I can vouch that they once had the ear of the Duke of Urnst. <DM note: the country immediately to the east of Greyhawk> Many an unfortunate has met their end on a forced errand from the Great Seer, after a trumped-up charge. And some of the most powerful mages in the Flanaess have died by their hand, or in attempts to foil them…”<his voice tails off, as if reminiscing>
The eight-pointed star symbol of the Seekers is based upon the eight-pointed star figure found in area 1 of "Maure Castle" (Dungeon #112). The chief antagonist of that adventure, Eli Tomorast, is one of the most powerful members of the order, far superior to Khellek. You can learn more about the symbol by reading the backstory of that adventure. As to what all of it has to do with the Seekers, well, that is the subject of a lengthy manuscript by one Gary Holian that shall some day soon show up in Dragon.
I think it's best to assume the eyes do emit light - the trap is connected to the light of the lanterns below, after all, and it's important that the PCs are able to get the clue that might enable them to deactivate the trap.
Considering the rainbow theme, I think it's in theme for the trap to radiate light of its own.
I also think it's important for the PCs to see the lights, so the DM can enjoy the terror on their little faces!
Callum wrote:
Even if the tunnel was pitch dark when the trap activated, I think that anyone in the passage would be subject to the paralysis effect, as it's based on hold person, not hypnotic pattern. This would also mean they'd get a new saving throw each turn, if needed.
I can't remember if this is written in the stat-block of the trap, but I granted a save each round.
The scout PC in my game failed his save vs the paralysis, but snapped out of it while being expelled from the tunnel. He'd roped himself to the chain bracket, so (un)fortunately, though knocking himself out, he didn't give himself enough rope to kill himself.
I did rule that the rest of the party, stood below, were covered in the contents of his stomach, the mouldy skeleton, and its backpack of adventuring gear (including a full score of iron spikes, which I had generously added).
Ouch!
I ruled that Allustan's interest in the Cairns was very protective. He would love to find Icosiol's Tomb, but for his own curiosity, rather than profit. Digging too obviously could lead evil tomb-robbers to the area, and there may be treasures that should not fall into the wrong hands, especially if he is correct about the interred being one of the Wandering Dukes.
As such, he vets all treasure-seekers who come to town, and foils their searches, if he deems them unworthy. In this case, he arranged for the Greyhawk City Trio to be given the location of the Stirgenest Cairn, to discourage them from coming back. (And I had the Stirgenest Cairn still be occupied, by some of its namesake beasts).
The PCs have come back to town, after fighting Khellek and Co, and gone to Allustan for advice about the runes. He has decided they are trustworthy, and admitted diverting the other group (who blame the PCs for this). He has agreed to act as their sponsor, selling their finds far outside town, to keep the cairn secret, and supplying them with items they need from his contacts in Greyhawk City (instant link for future scenarios...).
1. The Seekers - You throw them in during the first adventure. However, little is known for the DM. I would like to ask if you could take a dragon article and flesh them out for me. I am using them in my own world (of my creation). I made them part of a 4 nation conspiracy to seek artifacts of the past for their own evil ends. However, I would love to have more of your folks take on them.
There are hints scattered around Dungeon/Dragon/Living Greyhawk Gazetteer about this organisation, including some very high-level members
Spoiler:
like Eli Tomorast, from Maure Castle, and IIRC Rary himself?,
but going back to the 1st-Edition sources, I can't spot a link.
Is this organisation one that Erik made up during the Living Greyhawk/Dungeon years, then retroactively backlinked? Or are there any earlier articles out there with further information?
I know I can make things up, and am willing to do so, but if there is material out there, I'd rather use it, so as not to invalidate other adventures.
The group is enjoying the first chapter, and appreciating the grognard references so far. I was e-mailed an advert from 1983 with a certain trio of tomb-robbers on it (LOL), and if I could prove a link between them and some of the game's infamous Rogues' Gallery, then that would be the icing on the cake.
I ruled that Allustan's interest in the Cairns was very protective. He would love to find Icosiol's Tomb, but for his own curiosity, rather than profit. Digging too obviously could lead evil tomb-robbers to the area, and there may be treasures that should not fall into the wrong hands, especially if he is correct about the interred being one of the Wandering Dukes.
As such, he vets all treasure-seekers who come to town, and foils their searches, if he deems them unworthy. In this case, he arranged for the Greyhawk City Trio to be given the location of the Stirgenest Cairn, to discourage them from coming back. (And I had the Stirgenest Cairn still be occupied, by some of its namesake beasts).
I had planned that he would attempt the same ruse if the PCs came to him, first, with no reputation behind them.
The Trio were introduced in my first session, having raised hell through the bars of Diamond Lake, Auric having challenged many people to a wrestling contest, trashing the Feral Dog, and brawling with Kullen, the regulars, the militia and the Garrison troops. I changed Auric to be a Grappling specialist with a huge ego (think of a WWE star), partly to make it less likely that lethal combat would start, and also to justify how he could be 'Champion of the Games' at such relatively low level (obviously he won his belt in a minority-interest gladiator event).
I started the PCs in the Spinning Giant, and had injured Garrison troops come in for medical aid. Auric followed after, and bellowed for anyone who was man enough to take him on. This nearly started a lethal combat with the sergeant, but the PC paladin calmed everyone down, and agreed to vouch for Auric's behaviour, if he agreed to have one quiet drink. This got them chatting to Auric, who bragged about his strength, and wanted everyone to feel his greased firm body. (This was a parody of a local gamer we all know, who's always been a little too eager to strip to his pants and demonstrate his 'martial arts').
Tirra and Khellek were far less drunk, and far more cautious, interrupting him and changing the subject if asked what they were doing in town.
Needless to say, the PCs just had to follow them to find out what they were after, and the Scout found they were collecting supplies for cairn-exploring.
Since I gave half the PCs prior knowledge of 'a cairn that only the dwarf-children knew', they decided to go straight there without consulting Allustan.
After their first trip, they returned to town. They had found the Seeker rings, which they remembered from Khellek's hand, so needed to find out if they had been out of town.
Khellek was found playing dragonchess, and the Scout pretended to be interested. Unfortunately, his interest did not fool them, and Tirra decided to investigate him in return. They had been to the Stirgenest Cairn, suffered bites, and were now convinced that this detour had been set up by the PCs, especially as I set up the Scout's background as the son of an ex-Seeker, who betrayed his allies. After finding out his true name, Tirra recognised this, and the family resemblance, and from then on, they were followed to the hills.
The PCs shook off the tail, but they managed to narrow down the general area, and met up with their former colleague, Uluvant (I added an extra ghoul, since the first one went down prematurely, the Scout finishing it off with a feat he hadn't yet bought <rolls eyes>), who had snuck out behind the PCs, through the collapsed shaft.
After ascertaining the location of the cairn, they realised they needed more clues to reach the true tomb, and laid in wait at the old mine-shack...(continued HERE...)
I decided to re-add a critter to the statue room (after removing papa bug), in this case ** spoiler omitted **
Yeah, I noticed that in your pbp.
That got me thinking I'd missed something, and scurrying back to the scenario to check.
I took out the ongoing effect of
Spoiler:
the fatigue room, making it a power of the statue instead, which ended when it was destroyed,
since otherwise it didn't make sense to me.
As written, the room fails to act in its stated purpose, since
Spoiler:
it would have been impossible for the workers to get rested.
Hence it only makes sense as a hostile trap, placed after the work was complete.
Plus, I find running sessions filled with nothing but traps pointless, since my PCs won't make mistakes unless they're under time pressure, or under attack.
Snorter, I think what you did with ** spoiler omitted ** was not too harsh. In fact, it’s even allowable by the RAW and suggested in the adventure text!
Indeed it is. I knew about the option to douse a lantern, and was looking forward to it, but then they decided to stick the top of the everburning torch in their hooded lantern (the green lantern being hung in its alcove), and I couldn't remember if these needed oxygen.
However, the creature description specifically states it can destroy magical fire, with a dispel check, so I made the roll and succeeded. No one minded, since they had that save.
One of my players is playing a LE cleric of Hextor/ordained champion. Sent to Diamond Lake on a mission to kill or capture a heretic... As a player, he especially enjoyed the second adventure...
I suspect one of my players will enjoy the second chapter, but for the opposite reason!
--Encounters to be wary of and possibly water down: acid beetles and mad slasher coming out of the collapsed elevator, the "face" trap, the final battle with the wind warriors.
The beetles are a PITA, and will have been the death of a good number of PCs, especially if their players are inexperienced, or just don't 'get' that weapons don't work. If you run the encounter as "Roll to hit, ...no, roll, ...no, roll, ...no...", then a lot of players will just keep on whacking, thinking they 'just didn't roll high enough to hit'.
I would advise DMs to be very generous in their descriptions during combat, and give clues that "Yes, you smash several beetles, but they are only a fraction of the total mass", and "You stick the torch into the swarm, the beetles scuttle away from you to avoid the flame, but you singe some of their wings...", or even "The paladin falls to the floor, overcome by the stinging venom, dropping his torch. The beetles swarm over him, avoiding the flaming brand...nope? No takers?...I said, avoiding the flaming brand,...f+~!ing hell, will someone pick up that bastard torch!"
I had the slasher appear after the swarm, not at the same time. I couldn't see a reason why the swarm would not attack it, so had it pop out of its nest after they had gone.
This allowed the battered party to retreat up the stairs, just as the slasher's legs started to hook over the lip of the hole, and prompted them to leg it back to the shack asap.
When Flycatcher kidnapped the elven beguiler with the creature of darkness trait and brought him back to the Plane of Shadows, the elf was surprised to find out that he felt more at home in the Plane of Shadows than anywhere else. I then gave him a 'shadow template' which gave him new powers such as the ability to turn into a shadow or shadow jump. Overall, I love the idea of background traits and have been quite pleased with the result.
One of my players has asked to take the 2 Shadowborn racial levels from Dragon 322, and I'm willing to give it a try.
Fayne wrote:
Fayne was brought up in a happy household, albeit one that has a dark secret from both sides of the parents.
Fayne's mother (Lyriel) was pregnant with twins, but only Fayne made it - the other child, a girl, was stillborn. She hid that from her husband out of a desire to spare him the pain. She holds that secret to this day.
Fayne's father (Faran) had a brief adventuring career that ended with a catastrophic encounter with creatures from the plane of shadows. His only option was to bargain with them for his life to return to his expectant wife. The details over who was to blame in that encounter (did Faran steal something from those creatures? Were the shadowy beings an evil cabal?) were lost after he died, but his legacy passed over to his son.
Fayne knows his father's death was connected to the shadow plane, but knows no more (at least consciously). He is seeking out clues based on the tales his father told about his exploits. These have led him to Diamond Lake (rightly or wrongly) and now at the end of the line, with no money or support, he has been forced into a relationship with the garrison based there. He likes the work, but is mindful that this is fleeting, and his true calling awaits.
Fayne represents himself as a dark and selfish person, but has a need to belong, to have companionship, and to have a home. The act he puts on is to protect himself from the same fate of his father (if no-one cares for him then no-one will mourn his passing). He misses his family (another daughter, Ralyr was born a year after him) and wants to return. But his need to avenge his father's death outweighs these things.
Currently, Fayne is at a loose end, and needs money and experience to continue. He plays the long game, knowing that opportunity will present itself when the time is right.
I've decided his father was one of the Seekers, and betrayed the group at some point, to save his skin. He also signed a pact with shadow-fiends, offering them the soul of his still-gestating first-born, not realising they were twins. Since he never knew of the other child (being out of town during the birth), he was scared witless of Fayne, and took every excuse to avoid him, believing him to be tainted, and destined to murder him.
Thus, Fayne has dimly recognised the Seeker symbol, but not what it represents. This also means that Tirra (who knew his father) has a sense of deja vu, when she's spied on him, and she will be using all her wiles on the Garrison troops, to unearth his true name (rather than the fake one he told Khellek).
Much melodrama awaits...
I agree with toning down the ability mods.
I don't know why people assume that NPCs would be built using a bunch of 10s and 11s, the standard array, or even the elite array.
They should match whatever system your PCs used, especially when discussing people who had what it takes to become high-level characters.
I assume the above would reduce the Smenk-Knight by 2 points per ability, as well?
There were some worried faces during the 2 fights, and shocked gasps of 'How do we get out of this?'.
They thought the situations worse than they actually were, convincing themselves that the construct and elemental had DR, when they didn't.
I got thanked as I left, which was encouraging.
Maybe that had something to do with telling them they'd levelled up?
They were each about 150xp short, but I hadn't given any RPxp yet, and I feel they've done well so far.
I've had no rules disputes, no sulking, no table flipping, despite making some calls that maybe weren't RAW.
In the fatigue trap room, I told two of them that they felt tired, and the stone slabs looked really comfy, expecting a chorus of "Yeah, right!", but they both went "OK", and hopped on! I was so surprised, I had to tell them they weren't under any compulsion, but they didn't care. "We've walked an hour cross country with full packs and been bitten half to death by bugs. We do want a sit down".
Maybe I've found that holy grail of the stressed DM-a mature group?
The paladin's player has constantly ignored his ooc knowledge of the scenario, and been beaten to unconciousness several times. He also mediated in a dispute between the town soldiers and Auric's band, preventing a bar-brawl, and kick-starting the others into following them to find what the trio were doing in town.
The scout is being pro-active at following Khellek (while Tirra follows him, heh, heh...), and cracking the cairn. He's wanting to take shadowborn racial levels, and has left gaps in his backstory for me to fill in, to justify his heritage kicking in. So I'll get plenty of chances to screw with his head. And he's writing a campaign journal.
The Dwarf Fighter is played by a relatively new player (wife of the paladin), who's still a bit unsure of the rules. This makes her cautious about making decisions, but I've noticed a huge improvement in the last few weeks, especially in the area of accepting DM decisions. Maybe not being married to the DM makes it easier to share control?
The Dwarf cleric of St Cuthbert is run by a quiet player, and is still a bit of a cypher, since the player has been absent half the time, due to getting married. He's been NPCed, run by a temp player, or by committee. However, on the weeks he has been present, he has come out of his shell, and got into the role.
I gave the dwarves a version of the background Mothman gave Brashen and Bowls, so he wants to clear the cairn before Khellek and co dig up any embarrassing bodies. He also has a grudge against Dourstone for allowing his congregation to be exposed to mine-gas (actually the fumes from opening the Well of the Ebon Aspect). This is a bit of foreshadowing I put in so I wasn't relying on Filge & Smenk to get the PCs into chapter 2.
Overall, I think they probably deserve an xp top-up to level up, but only after they've slept on it, which gives me most of the day to toy with them. Who knows what could happen between elevenses and dawn?
<chuckle>
My players just overtook Mothman's pbp last night, taking a dip in the water, and nearly resulting in a TPK.
I may have been harsh by
Spoiler:
allowing the elemental to extinguish the everburning torch, whose light had been placed inside a lantern.
It's still a 'flame' despite not giving off heat, so the elemental followed them to the centre of the room, opened the catch on the lantern, and drenched it, before merry hell broke loose.
Plenty of Spot checks for the two swimmers, but since it was effectively invisible in the water, the chances were virtually nil.
The panicked swimmers tugged on their ropes to be dragged to safety, but were intercepted by
Spoiler:
the ghoul, who was waiting by the bottom of the stairs. I allowed him to avoid the ire of the elemental, since he was not alive, and could sit motionless for hours as an 'object'...
He didn't last long, being backstabbed by one of the rope-holders (the Scout), who dove in to investigate the 'blockage'.
And having so many martial characters with great Con, no-one succumbed to the poison or disease, though he delayed their escape long enough to make it matter.
The fight ended up spilling up the stairs, with everyone being severely wounded at some point, three being KO'd, two of them underwater. Some very hard decisions had to be made, to fight, cure someone or keep dragging sunken bodies up the steps.
Definitely one of the most white-knuckle combats I've run. I was crapping bricks by the end, never mind the players!
Glad to see you Kay!
I toyed with the idea of sending you a Facebook message to tell you about this thread, but I kept getting sidetracked.
How's your Little Green Patch?
Moth, my meat-players have nearly caught up with your pbp (just ventured down the hole in the green tunnel, and fought the queen bug). It has been amusing to see how different groups approach the same situations with different levels of success.
Just recently started Age of Worms, and the party have encountered the lovely surprises in the green and blue tunnels.
One player (DMDemon) was our DM for Shackled City, and has admitted to having read some of the AOW episodes several years ago, but he hasn't so far acted on any ooc knowledge. He is playing a Pathfinder-style Paladin, with Int 6, and has managed to take a beating from both swarms so far.
As he was carried out of the cairn first time (awake but in negative hp), we joked that at least he was doing better than Abelard!
And if your pal is fleeing at top speed, due to the Spawn's fear effect, you have to keep pace with him, you only get one attack, and I'd add his Dex and Dodge bonuses to the worm's AC...<cackle>
So long as chromatic dragons remain unthreatened by the Age of Worms, I would think that Tiamat wouldn't bother to get herself involved. She probably sees herself above this sort of thing. She might, on a whim, go out and destroy Dragotha if she has nothing else to do one particular day...
Oh Noes! We need six earthly children, to be brought hither, via a cursed amusement park ride!
Well, we had our first session last night, and I think it went well.
The party now consists of;
(Lee) Malachai Templeton - Human Paladin (Pathfinder-style). Squire to Melinde, at the Garrison chapel.
(John) Alarack - Dwarf Cleric of St. Cuthbert, one of two assistants to Jierian Wierus.
(Cheryl) Tegan - Dwarf Fighter (female), bodyguard and assistant to Bitris Ruthek, of the Greysmere Covenant.
(Matt) Fayn - Human Rogue, acting as wilderness scout for Merris Sandover, of the Garrison.
Some of the PCs were still being altered or updated up to a few minutes before we started. One player flip-flopped on his class, one changed race at the last minute, and I got my first look at them all just prior to running.
This had made it difficult to set PC-specific backgrounds or plot-threads for them all, so some of it was done on the move. In the end, I gave them all the same handouts for Diamond Lake, on the basis that by the time the players had read them, their PCs would have met and swapped this info. And it saves me from having to remember who has met which NPC, entered which tavern, etc.
I had the two humans from the Garrison know of each other, but still require a proper introduction, since their jobs did not cross.
Since it was still up in the air who was going to be local, and who was passing through, I hadn't decided who would have prior knowledge of the 'first objective'. Now the first session is over, I've decided to give this to the two dwarves, and set the historical events back a few decades. This helps explain how it's no longer common knowledge. I have taken a leaf from Mothman's pbp, and assumed they have both blocked the memory of the place after a youthful tragedy, so I have no need to mention it until the subject of cairn-robbing is mentioned (which it was, in the closing minutes of the session).
It means I have to write something before next week to fudge a reunion between the two dwarves. Their inability to recognise each other immediately can be explained by the fact that one went off to Greysmere, and the other dropped out of traditional Dwarf society to follow a human god. They only swapped names in the closing minutes of the session, after Fayn repeated what he had overheard the Free City Seekers discussing.
This is the opposite pair I had intended to be the youthful tomb-seekers, but Cheryl and John are relatively new players who need encouragement, and the other two are long-term players, who are good enough to try making their own plot-hooks. The two humans seem already motivated to spy on Khellek & co, out of a belief they are doing something illegal, or to pay them back for being arrogant blowhards.
Now your doing it wrong. If my 1st level fighter kills an orc the orc is worth 150 XP (300/2=150). There is no CR+2, your thinking of EL (there is an EL+2 for doubling the number of monsters).
Creatures worth less then 1 CR are worth whatever fraction their CR is in terms of XP. So:
for 1st level characters:
CR 1 = 300 XP
CR 1/2 = 150 XP
CR 1/3 = 100 XP
CR 1/4 = 75 XP
I agree with you. That's how I'd do it, as suggested by the DMG. I'm suggesting his program may not be recognising this difference at the low-end.
If his XP calculator is taking 2xCR(0.5) orcs as being EL1, then 4 as double that (so EL3), and 8 as double that (EL5), then throwing those ELs back in as 'effective CR', it will throw the results off.
That sounds great! It'll be a while before they're ready to tackle it, but it's good to know if there's any foreshadowing to insert.
I've got the box set of RoSP, and the pdf of RttToH in my cart. And that nice Mr Vaughn put a veeeery nice statblock in PF11 (no spoilers, but if you've got it, you'll know which one I mean!).
I was going to say (after your initial post) that sounds like a very strong party, but their lack of arcane magic might hurt them at various points. Sounds like they've remedied that to some degree.
War Priest is a prestige class right? So I presume the fighter will need to pick up a level or two in cleric to qualify?
One player had rolled really well (overall), and saw it as the opportunity to play a paladin, but soon realised that, after various essentials were covered, he'd be less intelligent than his mount.
Mystic Theurge, while more complex, has much less M.A.D., so bang up the three mental stats, DEX and CON, and STR can go suck.
The War Priest will become a cleric later; the initial Fighter level is (apparently) for the extra HP and BAB, to qualify earlier. I haven't examined it in detail, so I'm not sure it's been quite thought through, but who am I to argue?
Hey! I never said level-drained! ...to say now I'm asking to be level drained is a bit rich, seeing as it's Umbral creatures who are necromantic.
Oh, Pish Posh. A DM's got to have some fun, too.
Matt Devney, rather naively, wrote:
But just so you know, being under the influence of a Darkness spell would be sufficient.
PPPffffffttttttt. In your dreams.
I'm kidding with the level drain, but only just. The idea is that some trauma will kick-start the bloodline heritage, and allow you to take levels in it, rather than start with a +2LA.
I can do trauma. Oh, yes.
Not the 'naked on a slab with a satsuma in your mouth' trauma, so beloved of Other DMs Who Shall Not Be Named, but trauma nonetheless, especially if I see you on this thread again...*
Matt Devney wrote:
PS: I will not read spoilers on these pages....it will quickly become clear that I don't know anything! :-)
Is INT going to be your dump-stat again?
:)
I will change some things; Lee has admitted he started reading the AP several years ago, before he decided to run SCAP, so a few names might change, a few NPCs might shift allegiances.
*Further to my earlier posts; it appears my party will now consist of an aspiring Mystic Theurge, an aspiring War-Priest, a cleric of St Cuthbert, and a Commoner with the mange, rickets, diahorrhea and congenital syphillis.
Kirth; In another AOW thread, you said you had run a homebrew of 'Rod of Seven Parts' and 'Return to the Tomb of Horrors'.
Were these for 3.5? I was thinking of inserting some old-school references for the benefit of a grognard player, and to offset the chance that any of them have read any chapters of AOW.
The discrepancy probably occurs at the low-CR end of the table, especially for creatures with a CR less than 1. That's where the usual advice of 'double the numbers for +2CR' fails to apply. The room full of commoner initiates springs to mind.
I'd allow any low-level encounters that spill into each other to be treated as one, and creatures of CR less than one to add arithmetically, rather than logarithmically, as suggested by the DMG.
OK; now it appears we have an aspiring Mystic Theurge, a cleric of St Cuthbert, a dwarf Fighter (aspiring War Priest), and a rogue who is happy to get level-drained for story purposes (I'm sure I can manage that).
The combination of the battlemat/floorplans, and the players drawing a map (when the PCs probably would be too busy) mean they have a much greater sense of location than they should, negating the fear and confusion of being lost.
It needs to be asked 'Who's drawing this map?', 'Who's doing the measuring?', 'Who's holding the light source?'.
It sure isn't going to be the dual-scimitar ranger, who sleeps with one eye open, and has both weapons drawn at all times so he can't be jumped, it won't be the greatsword power attack guy, who tucks it under one arm and can't go round corners, and it won't be the cleric with a mace, a shield, a wand and a potion at the ready.
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