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Yeah, these are pretty similiar. I also found the dwarf NPCs, but the really interesting (and theme matching) ones are all like DC 16+

To explain what an dark iron dwarf is: Its basicly a dwarf with black skin. They are kinda enslaved by the firelord Ragnaros and living in the blackrockdeeps, which is a big mountain surrounded by basicly burned lands. The mountain itself is full of lava and also some dragons like Nelfarius are living there etc. The Dwarfes are just one piece of the whole, but that doesn't matter to much for this campaign. But the most notable thing is still their black/ash-grey skin + their preferation for Fire. For example: This is how you can imagine one of them basicly Dark iron dwarf.
Wich is kinda similiar to an Azer, but not exactly.

So, one of our players will missing the next 6 sessions so we decided to play a little campaign in between.

We decided to play a little adventure in warcraft, because why not. Especially we decided to play the storyline about Onyxia. As some of you might know, one essential quest is to rescue Marshall Reginald Winsor from the prisons in blackrockdeep. So I have to create some dark iron dwarves.

I thought I can probably use some monsters from the compendium and just change them a little and indeed I found some useable... But these are DC 16 and I just told my group to create Level 10 Characters. That could be a little bit strong.

Does anybody has an idea, how to change the stats, so the fights becomes balanced again? Or maybe have some statblocks on hand already?

Would be awesome. :) Thanks in advance.

Yeah, thats what I meant with the feat that allows sneak attack on flanked enemys. I know its third party, but its there. :D Aslong its in the reference document my dm is fine with it. Also shes fine with homebrew feats, if its well explained etc. So it should be fine. :)

Thank you btw for the compliments. :) I try my best. ^^'

Yes, it means firearm... Sorry, english isn't really my native so sometimes it gets a little bit weird. ^^

Maybe I have to clearify some things.

my character is basicly a gunslinger except for I have 8 Skillpoints and also that sneak attack... My dm decided like this because firearms aren't really viable, but she wanted me to play it too because she thought that could be a cool idea. So basicly I have a multiclass without a multiclass... Weird homebrew, but this is how it is. ^^

We're on a ship taking hostages so we really aren't able to go somewhere and I don't know if the first book of the module even let us leave the boat on any point... So its not really possible to buy more guns etc... My dm just told me "These are ships with cannons 'n stuff... Don't bother about black powder here, lol" so yeah... ammo shouldn't be that expensive for me, but I can't craft new guns out of nowhere so atm I'm stuck with my musket and my rapier.
Btw, that also means, that I'm not enable to enchant my weapons or something like that. I can only work with my feats. :/

Advanced Weapons are forbidden... In fact I'm probably the only one in the whole campaign who has a fireweapon at all... So, still stuck with my musket here. ^^'

As I said, I picked the class just because it was matching with the campaign kinda and I thought that would be cool from a narrative point of view. I knew before, that my class is very weak, but my DM is very fair about that. So we homebrew alot. For example I'm allowed to repair my weapon just due to a roll for craft (gunsmith) for DC 10... Since the basestat is also Dex I don't have to care about that one anymore. So there is just the problem left, that I do almost no damage at all at higher levels and while I don't have to be the most brutal damage dealer out there, I just don't want to be useless, so I'm completly fine, when I can manage to get average damage atleast. :)

That is really a great post and I will ask my gm about it. Thank you Mathmuse.

Yes, I see where the Problem with this class combination is, but as I said... We play more for an narrative point of view and we mostly don't care about numbers too much... Just if someone becomes complete useless, we have to do something so thats why I'm here. We homebrew alot and I'm about to convince my dm that I can modify my weapon (We like to use Craft skills. ^^) so I can reduce reload time a little bit. I'm already at a move action... When I get it faster, it becomes a free action and then I get my multi attacks and everything is fine.

Yeah, Bucaneertactics are kinda cool, but we got one already. He don't use a gun tho (I'm the only one) but having 2 guys who do always the same is boring, so I wanted to differ a little bit. I knew, that my class will be worse, as I choosed it, but as I said, I choosed it for style reasons. ^^

Its hard to convince my dm that I enchant my weapon or that I can cast magic all of a sudden. That would make no sense at all from a narrative point of view, but hey... Its a pirate campaign... There should be enough black powder I guess and my DM even wanted me to play that class, after I told her about... She said, that I can find other ways to get black powder so I'm cool about the "expensive" part atleast for now. But in my opinion it should be atleast cost-effective. Being the class who needs all his money for bullets, while being the less dmg in the group is kinda unfair so thats why I try bypass problems. ^^

I love the feint idea tbh... Maybe I can convince my dm in a homebrew feat, that allows me to fast shot, or feint or something, that let me ignore DEX on AC. That would be a great idea.

Yeah, Gang up feat. I remember (I just know the german names, but that should be the right one ^^) That basicly lets me use sneak attacks even when I'm technically not in stealth mode... We have 3 Melees so that shouldn't be a problem... Yes in the first Round I kinda have to wait, but I think thats okay. I don't have to shred the encounter in the first round. ^^' So I have time for positioning etc

Yeah, but sneak attack isn't really sneak attack tbh... I mean... For example... I can use sneak attacks, when the enemy is flanked and that is the easiest mechanic in game, since you just need 2 players to surround the enemys... And there is also a feat, that allows you to use flanking attacks with range attacks. I don't remember the name, but I have it in my bookmarks. So you basicly need 2 melees who surround the enemy, so that you can use flanking and there you have sneak attack each round.

I think sneakattack just works once... But thats kinda a definition thing... Muskets are freaking loud, I agree. But just because you hear it, doesn't mean that you exactly know where it came from... But thats something to discuss with my dm. ^^ But honestly I don't even worry about the sneak attacks that much.

I believe you, that if they have enough ammo (money) they can shred encounters in the early levels, but I think with level 11~ most classes get their 3rd attack alread while I'm still stuck with 1... So I don't know, but wouldn't that make me a bit useless?

So atleast I kinda get free repairs... My DM allowed me to repair it in an move-action with craft:gunsmith DC 10... And it needs DEX as a base stat... So... I basicly spend 2 points on it and already have 10 points in gunsmith... Shes cool with it, so free repair I guess.

But yeah... I don't know. The Class is cool for first levels because I could potentially oneshot most of the enemys we're coming along, which is kinda op tbh... But when other characters start to get their 2nd or 3rd attack per round, I'm still stuck with 1 shot each 2 rounds... So I was thinking if maybe a crit build is viable here?

So we started a new campaign and i decided to play as a Sniper (Rogue Archetype) in this campaign. My DM allowed me to combine it with the gunslinger a little bit, so that my sniper class extends to fireweapons aswell and I also get the gunsmith feat. aswell as a musket.

So... At first this was a bit of a style thing. Because this is a pirate campaign and Idk... I thought that would be suitable class for that setting. But the more I read about, the more weak it looks to me... I need around 11 GP per shot, a failure just damages my weapon, so I have to repair it regularly, I have to reload constantly for 1 full round (1 standart action with fast loading feat) and it does 1d10/x4 damage. Which sounds pretty high and atleast for low level it kinda is, but due to the definition of how fireweapons work, I don't get extra attacks in higher levels so even with level 20, I'm stuck with 1 shot per round.

Is it just me, or does that make that class very weak? and what to do, to make it a little bit more viable?

So... I didn't replied for some days, because I had 2 days of session. I think my group is on a good way now... They Progressed so fast through the story this time... They experienced more of the world, than in the last 20 sessions combined. And thats not even a joke. Here is what I did.

So, I kinda just took the safezone of my players because I insulted them of a murder, as I said previously. So they were kinda forced to leave the city for now. Ofc the murder insulting is a big mistake by the guards and they will notice that soon, but at the moment, their safezone is a no-no-zone...

While they were outside of the city, I showed them, what consequences their failures had... Like... The village that was burned down, the forest that is literally dieing, the dead NPCs (I described that more brutal than neccessary probably) And they were in shock. They didn't know, that this situation was so important and some of them regret, that they didn't do anything... The Rogue even said, that he basicly played his role so his character regrets kinda nothing, but he wished, that he did something there... That was the part, where I end the punishing part, because they all got it... Now comes the rewarding part and that was basicly our session today (which just ended some hours ago)

So my group found the current hideout of my BBEG... Alot of Zombies, ghoules, Skelletons etc around. They knew they had no chance to fight it. But my group figured, that maybe it could be a cool idea if someone just sneaked in to gather some informations... Of course my rogue noped the f!$~ out, but my group convinced him, that this could be really important, so he did eventually. He did some Stealth and also Climb checks (which he couldn't even fail tbh. ^^ He doesn't know, but he had a Stealthbonus of +15 so he would pass anything anyway.) and yes... He got some very valuable informations... next targets for the BBEG for example. He also found a magical item. Thanks Mathmuse to you btw... he found an Item you recommended. He found this: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/c-d/cape-of-effulgent-e scape/

So... My group knows what to do next and the coward in the group got rewarded big time, after a big risk. So... The character itself is probably still coward, but should be a pretty good feeling now, because that worked so well for him. Also... If cowardness still kicks in... I added that confidence skill that Pizza Lord suggested to the cloak... It kinda made sense to me so I thought that is a pretty cool idea. Maybe I'll need that someday. :)

So for now, problems seems fixed. Thanks for all your suggestions, they definetly helped alot. :)

Edit: I will just use the confidence skill, if cowardness takes overhand again... its cool to play a little bit scared, but half a year of a paralyzed group is a bit too much for my taste. I will safe that, when the group is really in need again. But I think they learned now, that its way more cool to take a risk... So next session they can play a big siege which they are already very excited about. Thats a way cooler Story to tell than "Yeah, we drank beer for around 20-30 Sessions" for sure. ;)

Okay, when you still don't believe me... i told you, that one of my players run a module about pirates. And its with the exact same group. The player who runs it, is the same who always want to go out on adventure in my game. She is really the softest DM I've ever whitnessed. She literally can't kill a PC.

The Player who plays the rogue in my game is there too. he plays a corsair (archetype) in that game. Even though is character is way more confident, than the halfling in my campaign, she (the dm) asked me, if I could help her, because the Players are too scared. So its really the exact same Problem. And that campaign isn't even about fighting. Its about finding friends and relationships. But she told me, that they have to sneak around the ship, find their inventory back etc, but the players are always too scared, so she run into a big problem now, because there is a day in the book, where everything could get a little bit critical there, if they don't do anything.

I watched some of the charactersheets of the enemys and one of the "strong ones" has just like AC 9, 20 HP and an attack +2 (1d4)... So thats really not that strong... So I just rolled up a character to join the campaign. He is a Sniper Level 2. They stole my musket, so I don't have any weapons on me, 16 Health (They adapted the max health rule over there) and a Str bonus of just +1... Atleast my AC is 14 (18 DEX)

So... First day and we have to do a show fight. 1v1... I got chosen against this very strong dude who is titled "unbeaten"... Guess what? I beat him and got 100g for it. I got my hero-moment just because I volunteered for the fight, which even was a safe encounter because it was non-lethal damage (fist fight). So I told the other players, that everything is fine. They should just gather some confidence and do something and soon, they have their heroic moments too... And that Corsair dude is way stronger than my character... Guess what? 2-3 Sessions later, they still didn't do anything.

Sidenote: if he wanted to play an intrigue... We have feedback talks like every 2-3 Sessions. I always ask them, what they are planning to do and what they want... if he wants an intrigue campaign, he just should say it... Thats why I'm asking in the first place.

You guys really think this is a matter of difficult, but I can almost guarantee you its not.

My group of 4 of level 5 with max health and overpowered magical items usually encounters very easy enemys. The last encounter for example were 3 CR2 Creatures. And I edit almost every monster... Like... replacing weapons and nerf AC and avg. damage.

The really hard encounters (like bossencounters) will be tested by me first. I run a testfight for myself, where I try to beat them and look how it feels. So my fights are really not hard... I don't even use traps... like... At all... i just had 1 so far and that one wasn't even lethal. I really can't agree, that difficulty is the thing here and as I said already... I talk to them alot and they trust me. We talked about character deaths and I said clearly, thats not my intention to kill anyone on purpose here. But for example... 2 of my characters are the main Problem...

1. Half-Vampire Sorcerer... He is very old, so he gets an extra -2 CON so he got an -4 overall + the fact, that he just spends 7 Points (minimum) in Con, so he have a 3 Con in general... Because of that he started the campaign with 2 Healthpoints... I calculated a bit and noticed, that every hit I get on him could accidently kill him. So in the progress of the campaign, he got a Buff by some sort of higher power, which atleast removed his "old" Debuff. Also I added the 100% rule... Now with Level 5 he has atleast around 15-20 points, which is still low, but not that dangerous for me anymore.

2. halfling rouge... I like this Player and I like his Character. He is really talented in playing his Role, but he wrote his character as a coward basicly, so he plays as one... While the sorcerer is still okay with leaving the city, the rouge is clearly not. He is the main reason, why nobody leaves the city. He just says all the time, that his character is a coward and don't want to go out in the wilderness etc... Its a common case of "Its what my character would do" and he expects me to come up with reasons for him to leave the city, which he will (almost guaranteed) ignore anyway.

Sorry Mathmuse, your post just appeared, as I wrote mine.

My group is Level 5 at the moment, so they've got atleast some levels so far. ^^ Because they killed that cult, they've got a bit money so far... I know its a little bit overkill, but I really wanted to reward the players for atleast doing something. ^^ So they hold a networth of around 30.000 GP + 3 Custom Made magical weapons. So money shouldn't be a problem I guess... ^^'

The festival is a good idea, but not for that explicit town, I was talking about, because that one got conquered already... But I managed to get my players out of town and I hope a little bit, that they could kill the skelettons there... ^^' But yeah... Rebuild the city, build a palisade + festival is a great Idea... I will try that for sure. Atleast they have something to do then. :)

I really don't think, that my challenges are too hard. My hints are mostly straight forward, encounters are very weak most of the time and my group won alot of fights already... In fact, they won every fight so far, even that where they aren't supposed to. I usually don't fudge rolls except in encounters, where I did my math bad and it turns out way harder than expected. But my Players never found out so far.

This "Railroad" "imprison" and "force them into the fight" was a one timer in a year and lasted for just about 2 Sessions. That is usually not my style, but I try figure out, what they want me to do.

I talk to them very often. Asking for feedback. Ask them what they like and what they want to adventure etc... "Idk, you're the dm"
So I really don't know what to do here.

I have to decline, that I like complex storylines. ^^ That stuff is exhausting sometimes and I also have fun, when they're just in the tavern, drinking and just helps my NPC (Arthur - barkeeper) to pull some chests around. Thats perfectly fine for me. But my Group wants to explore a little more... Then I try to give them more and then they're scared.

They said once, that they don't have a healer in the group (halfling rouge, half-elf battlemage, half-vampire sorcerer, (homebrewed) draconian ranger) so I gave them some homebrewed Healpotions which heals 15 hitpoints flat.

I really don't know anymore. We even talked about character death etc and I tried to explain to them, that I would never try to kill a PC on purpose... And I never did. I give them no reason at all to not trust me, really. :/ And I think atleast 3/4 of my players would say, that they trust me, or already did... But still they're too scared. I really don't know what to do tbh.

They succeed once lately... They destroyed one of the cults I mentioned before. They fought 2 Bossfights and won. I had to railroad that a bit... Even had to enprison the group for a while, so I can show them, that heres a real danger, that needs to take care off. In the end they succeed in the bossfights (even when I had to force them in there) and in the end the found alot of usefull stuff... Even a magical bow and a magical sword I've written out. Also alot of money etc etc... They know, that it was a great thing, what they've achieved.

But whenever someone mentions that, all I hear is "Yeah, but I got surrounded by monsters that almost killed me" or "Yeah, I also almost died, because I fell off that 12 metres cliff... (but survived it with almost no dmg taken)" etc.

I have one player in the group, who really wants to do all these adventures and even when she almost fall in love with her character and doesn't want it to die, she is still the one force in the group, who always says "Lets do it!" but everyone else holds her back all the time "nah, thats way too dangerous"

I have to extend... I already tried the emotional part. It was a very small village with 23 Villagers written out... The village is poor and illness is a big problem there. They liked a lot of NPCs there. The Mayor, the barkeeper, the hunter or the gatherer lady... They liked them so much and really wanted to help them, but when 5 Skelletons (cr 1/2) attacked the village, they still just ran away, ignoring the fact, that they're 4 Players of level 3... So the whole Village simply got conquered by a few skelletons... That is just one of the scenarios I had to deal with so far.

We all have fun so everything should be fine right?
But everyone is aware and some are sometimes frustrated about that we could have alot of more fun and the group kinda expects that I came up with motivations for them, why they should leave their safezones. My group don't think about finding character motivations for themselves, but expect me to do that + writing plots in a peacefully town, where nothing special at all happens tbh, that are atleast as intense as fighting my warlock BBEG or some of the cults that've build around him.

I was looking for possibilities for a long time now and what I came up with was basicly, that I used a event that happened half a year ago (some weeks ingame time) and decided, that the NPC they had to deal with got murdered and that they're the suspects in that case. With bounty and everything... of course they don't have anything to do with it, but the hints pointing directly to them. That leads them to leave the town for now atleast... I don't want to railroad things, but they ignored all the plothooks and hints so far, but still expect, that I find a way to motivate them to leave the safezone... This is what I came up with... it kinda worked for now, but is that really the way to go?

This is what I've done so far...

1. I gave them max health... Whatever hitdice you have, it rolls max all the time... So basicly my Level 5 Group has ~60 HP each.

2. I gave them a second chance rule... Your character dies? No Problem, he's not death yet... He can be healed after the fight. He gets a penalty of -2 on all physical attributes, till you get healed by a healer. Healing costs alot of money, but if you get healed, all starts from beginning, you have 2 chances again. Just when you die twice without being healed, thats the end.

3. A tried to tell them already, that the evil isn't sleeping. All the quests they failed caused consequences... Not big one so far, but I let them feel, that when they are too scared, that people will die... Not them, but probably NPCs they liked.

4. Of course I talked to them ooc aswell and yes they are very attached their characters... And I love that tbh. I don't want to kill the party aswell because I love to play with that group and I love their characters they came up with. But they are supposed to become the heroes in my world but instead, they choose to become the biggest cowards around. :/

Disclaimer: So I opened a thread a few days ago about some advice for city encounter, but this here is for another group, so if some of you recognize me, don't care about that. ^^

I have a group of 4 Players playing a campaign for over a year now. Its a homebrew campaign in a homebrew world and its their first time playing... So of course tons of mistakes were made. I were never unfair to the party. I never killed them. They were just in the dying status for about 6-7 times I think... Everything is cool... I just let them now, that BBEG is very strong and that they aren't that strong YET... They have to find way to become stronger, or weaken the BBEG. I also let them know, when an area is way to dangerous for them (at the moment).

So I thought, that they will explore the world and looking for clues... And I gave them alot. Theres about 20 open plothooks still. They already failed a ton of quests and they spend 70% of the time in their hometown in a tavern. So I have the problem, that my group is too scared about my world/campaign... And not only I noticed that...

I have a player who runs a module with the same group sometimes. I don't know the english name, but it should be like "
Under pirates: Mutiny on the Wehrmut" or something like this... I don't want to spoiler anything about that module but long story short... If the players are too scared to do anything, they're pretty much f**ked.

I joined the campaign a bit late, because of time reasons and they we're already on Day 6... Nobody did any progress at all, because they all we're way too scared to do anything. Everybody is too scared, that they character could die... I really want to mention on that point, that in my campaigns only 2 characters died so far and that was totally their own fault. So why are they are so scared? And what can I do to motivate them a little bit? As both: A DM and as a Player?

Yeah, I read the ultimate intrigue and I like some of the ideas... But that is a crazy complex system for beginner dms... I don't know how to realize that. ^^

I never said, that magicians stay neutral. Ofc they fight the government. I just said, that they don't have any interest to rule the city. :)

Holy... That are many good ideas that you've all posted. ^^

I can't answer to all of them, because I would write a big book now, but I've read them all and made some notes already.

I know the chase rules and I never really used them too, but I decided to give them a shot. Its a chase planed already in Session 1 or 2. ^^

I like the idea of Otyughs, Sewer Trolls and other things who lives in the sewers... I just have the problem, that I already planned, that the revolutionaries have their hideout down there, because they start pretty small at the beginning. They will move to a bigger hideout later on, but it will start down there. How do I explain, that the Otyughs etc didn't just attacked them, when they were all down there?

I also thought about the supplies running low... I was thinking about smuggler routes etc maybe? I made the city a seaport on purpose, so maybe I can plan little ship adventures etc... So that we have a different scene for a few sessions. Good idea, or nah?

As I said... I can't answer to all the ideas now, because that would be a big wall of text, but there are alot of great ideas so far. Thank you all! :)

I have to say, that I love the blackmail idea... That is not just some more few encounters... it can lead to a whole quest line if you will. I love that idea. I already thought about a Watch Captain who secretly send such messages, but I like the idea with the opressed magician(s) even more.

I don't know about the magic monsters or elementals in the city, but I already know how that could've happened and the propaganda for the government is just gold... Will definetly consider that.

Thank you! :)

The mercenaries are a great Idea and I will take that into consideration for sure... Also the pardon criminals parts is a great idea. I'm just not sure about the "bribe magicians" part. That would spice up some fights for sure, but the government still don't like magic. Thats the reason why they start to forbid it. They think magicians are dangerous and must be killed.

So the magicians are very peacefully really. They don't even have the urge to rule the city. They just want to study magic. In my world, magic works a bit differently and its really hard to explain... But where the magic academy is build, magic energy is stronger than anywhere else and thats why its build there. But I also thought about making a Plottwist there... Just couldn't think about one yet.

A rival NPC party is a great idea... I will think how to realize that for sure.

So I'm setting up a new campaign for my players. They've done their characters already. I'm writing quests etc... Ofc I use their characterstory to get some cool ideas etc... But I've got a little problem here.

So this campaign is about a civil war... The city "Faycross" is a medium sized city and one of the rare places in my world, that has his own magic academy. But the Government of the city is not being runned by magicians. To be exact... They've changed lately and the new owners of the city doesn't like magic very much... Also they have a very strict rule enforcement... Long story short: There is a little war going on between the Government, the Magicians and some revolutionists, who are against the government for other reasons.

Its planned that my group will join the revolutionists (what they will most likely do, according to their character storys) and yeah... I'm kinda excited about the campaign... My Players are also excited... So everything should be fine, right?... Yeah, thats kinda my problem... While I was creating the NPCs/Encounters I've noticed, that I just have guards to throw at them really... I think that could be a little bit boring over time... I mean... I can play around with terrain and different situations, but even then I'm very limited there... So long story short: Do anyone know some cool Encounters my group can fight too?

PS: Noob dm. Be gentle. ^^'