Alright, first let me say this, I met up with what may become my main pathfinder group, and we all had a great, and eccentric time. I made a play test of just me going through the encounters with a fighter and a rogue, and it took down every encounter easily, (didn't test blackfang though) so I was worried the encounter might be too easy.
Starting off, one big worry I hit is AC and hitting the enemy. Perhaps I misread or misunderstood something, because it seemed that they couldn't hit, at all. Most monsters had about 13-16 AC.
Using a weapon you specialize in, you get +1 hit, + DEX Mod, +d20 dice roll, right? With their dex, they had about +2 or +3 to their hit, if anything, and were rolling usually 8-12 so rarely actually hit the monsters.
I fudged a few things and let them defeat Blackfang with one death, and let them still act when at negative health until they died. Two thigns i noticed they wanted to do, that I had no idea how to handle. 1, the person dying threw his sword to another player, so I had them roll reflex DC 15 to see if they caught it.
A final thing I noticed they'd try to do was they were oddly diplomatic. In the first goblin encounter, after killing 2, one wanted to have his character come up behind it, grab it by the head, and warn it, his allies are dead, he should RUN. I winged it for a DC10 to see if it runs away, but how should I normal handle this situation?
Another thing, skill checks. When people succeeded climbing up the cliff or swimming and retrieving the chest over the sea, how should I handle experience earn? Is there a rule for it that I missed, or should I just throw them 50, or 100 XP?
Finally, death. One character did die. I don't want it to be the end, so I figured, tell them they can bring his corpse back to Sandpoint, what would be a fair way to deal with the death of the character without making him have to reroll a new character, but applying punishment?
With a melee weapon, the normal bonuses are Base Attack Bonus (BAB), strength modifider, and D20, plus any class bonuses, spell bonuses, weapon enchantments, feats, etc...
BAB + Str mod + d20
Ranged weapons use Dexterity instead of Strength, so
BAB + Dex mod + d20
At first level, an AC of 16 can definitely be tough for some player characters to hit, especially if they aren't optimized.
When you hit 0 hps exactly, you are disabled, and may take a single action in any given round. If they went past 0 hps into negatives, they immediately fall unconscious... so they would be unable to toss any weapons about, or do anything else. Now, if you feel it is right for your table, feel free to allow it, but the rules don't as written.
In the second instance, purely via the written text... After killing the other 2 goblins, the PC that wanted to grab the last goblin by the head etc etc would have;
*approached (move action if needed to move more than 5 ft), and rolled a grapple check (CMB vs CMD)
*That grapple check would provoke an Attack of Opportunity (AoO) if the person trying to grapple did not have the feat Improved Grapple. Pretending he does have that feat, and makes the grapple check ~
*Speaking can be done freely, and in this case either a diplomacy check, or an intimidate check could be rolled if you wanted to use a skill check (look in book for DCs). You would be well within your job as a DM to give an extra bonus (anywhere from a +2 to a +10 would seem appropriate in these sorts of situations) to that check because they did just slaughter its buddies in front of it, though a bonus is never required, all up to you.
*The goblin would react appropriately based on what its mood was immediately prior to the skill roll, and based on the skill roll itself (it may run even if the skill roll failed, because it was already scared enough anyways... though if the roll is made, it is not a great idea to do the opposite very often. Or, if the roll fails, the goblin may continue to struggle and fight)
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Here are a couple definitions pulled directly from the rules... hope they help a bit.
Attack Bonus:
Your attack bonus with a melee weapon is the following:
Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + size modifier
With a ranged weapon, your attack bonus is the following:
Base attack bonus + Dexterity modifier + size modifier + range penalty
Hit Points:
When your hit point total reaches 0, you're disabled. When it reaches –1, you're dying. When it gets to a negative amount equal to your Constitution score, you're dead. See Injury and Death, for more information.
Disabled (0 Hit Points):
When your current hit point total drops to exactly 0, you are disabled.
You gain the staggered condition and can only take a single move or standard action each turn (but not both, nor can you take full-round actions). You can take move actions without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action (or any other strenuous action) you take 1 point of damage after completing the act. Unless your activity increased your hit points, you are now at –1 hit points and dying.
Healing that raises your hit points above 0 makes you fully functional again, just as if you'd never been reduced to 0 or fewer hit points.
You can also become disabled when recovering from dying. In this case, it's a step toward recovery, and you can have fewer than 0 hit points (see Stable Characters and Recovery).
Staggered:
A staggered creature may take a single move action or standard action each round (but not both, nor can he take full-round actions). A staggered creature can still take free, swift and immediate actions. A creature with nonlethal damage exactly equal to its current hit points gains the staggered condition.
Dying (Negative Hit Points):
If your hit point total is negative, but not equal to or greater than your Constitution score, you're dying.
A dying character immediately falls unconscious and can take no actions.
A dying character loses 1 hit point every round. This continues until the character dies or becomes stable.
Oh while at it, few more questions I'd like to ask.
1b. If a attack roll is of 1 on the d20, how should I handle this? They way I temp handled it, crit misses either met a recoil, or hit an ally it'd logically hit if it missed. Then said ally would get a reflex save, but if fail, receive only half damage (minimum 1). is there a actual rule to this?
2b. Before Blackfang, the party decided to take a nap on the stoney ground. Normally they'd recover 1HP per level, per 8 hours rest. I fudged it and decided to let them get 2hp for resting for 4 hours but had them eat rations. How's sleeping on stone any different from sleeping on rolled up beds or the straw mats on the beginning? (Our wizard lit the straw mats all on fire so they couldn't sleep there, and had no bedrolls.)
A 1 on a d20 for attacks is an automatic miss. There are supplemental rules for "fumbles" from 3rd party card decks and such, but until you are more comfortable with the core rules i would just call it an automatic miss and move on.
If they roll a natural 20, it is an automatic hit, and also threatens a critical hit, which has to be confirmed through another d20 roll. Some weapons have larger critical threat ranges, but only a natural 20 is a automatic hit, anything else will miss if the total roll is still lower than the AC they are attacking.
Rules for sleeping are a bit on the light side as to penalties for not having what you need. Just make up some very small inconveniences and move on (slept on hard rock? cramped neck for 1 hour after waking up, -1 to diplomacy rolls because they are grumpy, or just something a bit flavorful that doesn't really have a big impact)
Added in some definitions after you responded again, check first post for those rules quotes
Thanks a lot, the session gave me a lot of questions and situations I had little idea how to react to, but to great fun. 1's begin "critical misses" was actually requested by the group , and I have to say, did add a lot of fun when players would accidentally hit, or almost hit each other.
I think I might of forgotten to add base attack bonus, I'll be sure to check it out. Wouldnt effect rolls of 1-10's that they kept getting much, but it'd be an improvement.
*approached (move action if needed to move more than 5 ft), and rolled a grapple check (CMB vs CMD)
*That grapple check would provoke an Attack of Opportunity (AoO) if the person trying to grapple did not have the feat Improved Grapple. Pretending he does have that feat, and makes the grapple check ~
Normally true, but there is no grapple, CMB, CMD or attacks of opportunity in the beginner box.
I'd have them make an attack roll, perhaps with their base attack bonus + STR mod vs. the goblin's touch AC to grab them, then have an opposed STR check each round for the goblin to get away (+4 to the player.) It's simplified, but would achieve the same thing.
Thanks a lot, the session gave me a lot of questions and situations I had little idea how to react to, but to great fun. 1's begin "critical misses" was actually requested by the group , and I have to say, did add a lot of fun when players would accidentally hit, or almost hit each other.
If your group enjoyed this sort of thing, I strongly recommend picking up something lie the critical fumble deck. Basically if you critically miss (roll a natural 1) you draw a card from the deck and it explains the effect, with different effects listed for different kinds of attacks.
Quote:
I think I might of forgotten to add base attack bonus, I'll be sure to check it out. Wouldnt effect rolls of 1-10's that they kept getting much, but it'd be an improvement.
Double check feats as well, the ranged attacks use dex, melee attacks use strength, unless the character has a feat called weapon finesse then the character may use dex to hit for melee too.
Mmmh... I think you have handle your session really well :)
You have avoided the mistake to check your book at every new situation. It's really bad for the immersion, rule on the moment are the best thing to do, make a note and look in the book later...
Try to not hinder too much your player creativity because of the rules... In my games if a player wants to throw his sword in a last heroic gesture I will allow it, it's good for the dramatic tension ;)
And I would have ruled exactly the same as yo, a reflex save from the character who wants to take the weapon, though I may have added an attack roll from the dying character (with the splash weapon rule so against an AC 5) to hit the right square... ;)
For the Goblin I would have ruled an Intimidation check against the Psychology of the Gob with a +4/+6 bonus on the intimidate roll because Goblin are not known for their courage :p
And this kind of action add to the roleplay too, with the goblin running while shrieking, it's a lot of fun around the table if you mimic it :D
As said an AC 16 at first level can be a little tough, but a martial character will have a +4/+5 (16/18 STR+ 1 Bab) to touch so a 11 on a d20 will be enough to touch, it's about a 50% chance to hit... Not bad... Throw in a masterwork weapon (+1 to touch), some good feat (weapon focus +1 to touch), some profession capacity (ranger favored enemy) and the 16 AC is not that big an issue... :)
Now if your players are very unlucky... Well there's two schools here, the "fudger DM" and the "legit DM". Usually I'm more a fudger DM, especially on the firs level of play where the randomness of the game can't be avoided by the capacity of the class and the choice of diverse feat.
"Fudger DM" mean that I usually lie to the result of the dice I do behind the screen or change the monster characteristic on the fly to adapt it to the current situation. Usually I do that only for the first levels and only in favor of the players, if they are lucky enough to kill the boss in 2 round, good for them, they usually like to be great heroes that kill easily the boss and they usually start to become overconfident until two of them hit the ground on some random goblin encounter the next fight because of their overconfidency :D
So stay like this, rule on the spot then ask here for help, then decide yourself which rules you prefer to apply at your table and don't forget to write it down in order to have consistency in your ruling. Don't hesitate to make your own rule if you and your players think yours are better than in the book. As long as the players and yourself have fun that's a win ;)
For the experience award and the skills check (or anything your player may accomplish) it's not that hard, try to evaluate the difficulty of the task, and give the task a CR, a really easy task will be CR 1/4 or 1/2, an easy task will be CR 1, if climbing this cliff can be easily done by a level 1 character then it's worth the xp of an CR 1/4 or 1/2 encounter, if anyone can do it without problem no xp, if it's difficult for a level 1 (more than 30%-40% chance of falling for example) then it's a level 1 encounter, if it's really difficult (more than 50% chance of falling) give the xp of a CR 2. And xp are for all the players, that way players tend to help each other a lot more than trying to be the first to climb at the top in order to have the xp... ;)
So this way giving xp for unusual things is easy, based on the difficulty of the task you give an encounter level to the it and give xp accordingly to the group... I usually throw in some extra xp if the players come with a good/fun/unusual plan to do the task... :p
Don't hesitate to remember to your players that xp are not for killing monsters, it's from resolving an encounter, by any mean possible, if your players are attacked on the road by a group of thief and one of your player find a way to let the bandit stop the attack just by talking then you give the group full xp for the encounter even if no one has killed no one... ;)
If your player is good enough to convince the bandit to join the party then throw in some more xp... :D
For the dead player, you've handled it well I think, being dead and not having the possibility to play for some time, having to pay 10.000gp for a raise dead spell which give him permanent 2 negative level (or constitution loss if that bring the player under level 1) and having to pay for a restoration in order to have his level/CON loss removed is enough in my book :D
For low level character I usually do that by making the players owe someone (be it the priest who cast the spell or some noble or even some shady guy who comes from nowhere with some money...) and owe this person big time... And sometimes later this person will ask for a favor in return... ;)
Sometime I make a druid cast Reincarnate instead of a cleric with Raise Dead, the change in race can be funny too... :D
For the Crit/Fumble as said the cards are very, very fun, my players love them... ;)
Sleeping on the raw stone I would rule some fatigued condition for some time in the morning... That's usually enough for my players to learn their lesson... ;)
At 1st level, it's generally easier to get AC than attack bonuses. So 1st level fights sometimes end up as a comedy of errors if your players get a bad run of dice. It just happens. You should normally expect 1st level fighters to need 11-13 to hit (non-fighters need a little higher, like 13-15, because they have 0 base attack bonus and usually lower strength), but if your players simply can't roll a number with two digits, well, that's life. The luck should balance out eventually. (Unless they're accidentally using an old d20-shaped d10 instead of an actual d20, which I did for half an adventure once.) Stubs McKenzie has given you the correct calculation though; most characters use Strength in melee, not Dexterity. Weapon Focus adds another +1, but usually only fighters will have that at 1st level; other classes have better things to do with their feats.
Dex adds to AC however, so if you felt the characters' defenses were unexpectedly lower than the monsters', you might have left this out if you made characters rather than using premades.
About character death: it happens. There's a reason high-level adventurers are rare; mostly they don't make it (also they tend to spend a lot of time killing each other off, but that's a different issue). At low levels i.e. anything in the Beginner Box range, buying a raise dead and a restoration (to fix the Con drain) out of party cash is not really going to happen. Your choices at this point boil down to: Option A) he's dead Jim, make a new character. Recommend to the player that they try a different concept to see if they enjoy that even more. Honestly this is the answer I would usually recommend for a character who died in his first adventure. Your player hasn't had that long to get attached to him, and I guess he just wasn't cut out for the adventuring life. Maybe the next guy will do better.
But if you don't want to do this, there's always the Option B) a "friendly" stranger has ordered you brought back and restored out of his own pocket. Congratulations, you are now about 6500 gold pieces in debt to this guy. I betcha he has some "errands" you can run to repay your debt (with interest at 5% per month); they're probably not going to be washing his dishes, mowing his lawn, delivering his groceries, or really anything along these lines. He could get street kids to do that stuff for much less than 6500g. No, he's going to have something... special for you to do. Basically treat this as a quest hook; your "benefactor" sends the PCs out to collect things, but instead of selling (or using!) whatever cool stuff they find, they have to give it to their benefactor instead. If they don't want to, well, he and a couple dozen of his high-level friends will be happy to repossess your hit points. Roleplaying opportunities abound. This is a good way to get a storyline started too, if you're interested in that.
And xp are for all the players, that way players tend to help each other a lot more than trying to be the first to climb at the top in order to have the xp... ;)
Hmm... Interesting idea. Coming from a Hackmaster 4th ed game where each class had their own non-combat 'bonus' XP award, I can't say I'd of thought of this. Thanks!
(Although put the occasional encounter at the top of the climb and there might be fewer scrambles for the top. ;-)
