Bacchreus's page

Well this is my attempt with apologies to George RR. Hope to see some other versions and opinions.

Storm clouds gather on the Storval, and now my watch begins.
It shall not end until my death.
I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children.
I shall repent my past transgressions.
I shall live and die on my ranging.
I am the arrow in the darkness.
I am the scouter of the wilderness.
I am the fire that burns the unclean, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards Magnimar.
I pledge my life and honour to the Black Arrows, for this day and all those that follow.

I just finished the battle for farshore at the end of TOD tonight. It was an epic fight and I used a hybrid of Battlesystem and Trafalgar rules to run the large scale stuff. Took 5 three hour sessions and ended awesomely with the baddies winning thanks to a last minute betrayal by one of the pc's who has stranded a large chunk of the party on a desert island by teleport. During the battle I had 700 pirates and used the following 2 statblocks for most of the basic guys. They are PFRPG and I also have conversions for all the main players.

Pirates (560) CR1/2
XP 200
Human warrior 2
CE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses Perception +1
Defense
AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 16 (+3 armor, +1 shield)
hp 15 (2d10+4)
Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +0; +2 vs. enchantment and mindaffecting
effects
Offense
Speed 20 ft.
Melee short sword +4 (1d6+1/19–20)
Ranged shortbow +2 (1d6/×3)
Statistics
Str 13, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 10
Base Atk +2; CMB +3 (+5 to escape grapples); CMD 13
Feats Free Spirit (see below), Weapon Focus (short sword)
Skills Craft (sculpture) +4, Diplomacy +1, Intimidate +4,
Perception +1, Profession (cook) +3
Languages Common
Gear Studded Leather, light wooden shield, shortbow with 20
arrows, short sword
Special Abilities
Feats These pirates have the Free Spirit feat, which gives a
+2 bonus on saves against enchantment and mind-affecting
effects, and +2 on Escape Artist checks and to CMB to
escape a grapple or bindings (see Pathfinder Chronicles
Campaign Setting 129).

Veteran Pirates (100) CR 2
XP 600
Human fighter 1/rogue 2
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +6; Senses Perception +10
Defense
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 32 (4 HD; 1d10+2d8+12)
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +1; +1 vs. fear
Defensive Abilities bravery +1, evasion
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk Heavy Flail +6 (1d10+3/19–20)
Ranged mwk dart +5 (1d4+2)
Special Attacks sneak attack +1d6
Statistics
Str 15, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Alertness, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Heavy Flail)
Skills Acrobatics +7, Disguise +3, Intimidate +6, Knowledge
(piracy) +2, Perception +10, Profession (sailor) +5, Sense
Motive +10, Sleight of Hand +6, Stealth +8
Languages Common,
SQ rogue talent (combat trick), trapfinding +1
Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds;
Other Gear masterwork chain shirt, darts (5), masterwork Heavy Flail

For the first battle I was still using 3.5 but there's no reason why you couldn't make the standard pirates the first one and just run slipknot pete as is but his CR will drop to 7. -1 for being 3.5 and -1 for PF CR is equal to character level -1 unless they are equipped as a PC (which he isn't)

I only saw this thread about two weeks ago and decided to include the games in my 4e ROTRL campaign I started on monday.

My players had an absolute ball with all the games. They were so much fun that one of my players girlfriend who was watching at the time joined into the dragon races as the ringer and the chase the pig game.

During the dragon races, one player noticed the side betting and also took a piece of that action to no avail. Another player decided he wasn't good enough at it so spent his time playing musical instruments to distract other characters (thus giving -2 on skill checks) and finally one character got so frustrated with his dragon that he sneakily slipped a dagger between its ribs and tried to pretend it was sleeping. Of course he got caught out, was banned and had to pay 5gp for a replacement. So in summary I managed to get an act of greed, envy and wrath from 1 simple game, love it.

Then the chase the pig game turned into a brawl as I allowed grabbing the pig to be a minor action so everyone started charging, bull rushing, tripping etc each other in their efforts to get the pig. I also decided that the grease would keep allowing the pig to slip out of the catchers hands and shift 2 squares till enough had been wiped off to keep hold of it (essentially after 4 successfull attempts). I also said the pen was extremely muddy with obstacles and anything faster than a move required a skill check. The aforementioned girlfriend had great fun knocking over her boyfriend in the mud repeatedly.

These light hearted moments contrasted perfectly with the flashback scenes I also played, with the party going back to the night chopper was chased down and unmasked. I had one characters background be the intended 25th victim till Casp Avertin saved him with his life. The rest of the players then took on the roles of a young Belor Hemlock, Das Korvut, Nisk Tander and Ezakien Tobyn to chase chopper back to the isle, overcoming his guard dogs before finding the results. I'd also started the flashback with the character and his younger brother admiring the comatose form of Nualia before Ezakien chased him off only to have chopper set upon them in his alley with the obvious results. (All these ideas also came from these fantastic forums, I just had to stitch it together, oh and the 4e conversion, thats also courtesy of these forums via Scott Betts excellent work)

So after all that long winded explanation Delthos I can't thank you enough for giving me so much stuff to work with and contribute to the most memorable introduction to a campaign my group has had in my 28 years of D&D.