thinking of mermaids now. I have just seen Pirates of the Caribbean 4
Didn't see the movie yet. However ...
... maybe the following can help:
Dungeon Issue # - Title - Description
040 - Draven Deeps' Menace, The - Koalinth raid local shipping, causing trouble for the city’s economy. The Prince’s arch-mage has prepared a magical explosive which will destroy the caves of the monsters if placed close enough. Unfortunately, no one knows about the sea-elves who also live “close enough”. Infiltrate and deliver the “nuke”.
048 - Oracle at Sumbar, The - Help “Aunt Marla” pay off a tremendous debt by visiting the Oracle and learning the location of a lost pirate treasure.
066 - Sunken Shadow, The - Help a Pirate-hunting paladin recover pirate treasure, only to discover that he has fallen under a curse from the slain Pirate-queen and his First Mate and best friend whom he murdered over her artifact.
070 - Maze of the Morkoth, The - A psionic dwarven archeologist is attempting to steal the powers of a morkoth. The monster is enraged, but also curious, and sends it minions to kidnap the leaders of local undersea communities to learn who is mentally assaulting it.
078 - Peer Amid the Waters - Travel through an underwater portal into a flooded (Egyptian) crypt and rescue the lost daughters of a nixie queen.
079 - Akriloth, The - Recover a powerful merfolk artifact from the temple of a ruined city. Evade undead and unknown enemies to bring back the “Akriloth”, with whose powers over undead the merfolk can reclaim their lost city from the forces of “The Ravager”.
092 - Razing of Redshore, The - Savage storms and elemental attacks are destroying Redshore. Find the cause of the destruction, learn how it is tied to a cult of assassins that supposedly doesn’t exist, a secret cult of druids, and an artifact for creating demi-gods hidden away by the gods millenia ago.
099 - Fish Story - Locathah have invaded the docks and mill of a small lakeside town, but have attacked no further. Good diplomacy might learn why they have abandoned their home in a long-flooded human village, leading onto the trail of an obsessed ghost, a dead wizard and a bound lonely elemental.
113 - Practical Magic - A magic-item crafter has gone missing in Marsember, and the clues point to her boyfriend, an aquatic elf. Lately, he’s the thrall of a merfolk vampire, but might point you to the real kidnapper, a mysterious necromancer who is animating a workforce of “expert zombies” to do mundane labor. He needs the help of the crafter, but this is not really a rescue, as she wants his secrets for herself.
125 - Seekers of the Silver Forge - Githyanki heretics escaped the lich-queen by shifting their entire city to the bottom of the ocean, but their civilization was ultimately corrupted and destroyed by necromantic forces. Now a silver forge is becoming tainted and affecting all sea life around it as the lone, surviving necromancer builds his power.
107 - Dead Man’s Quest - A friendly but obnoxious pirate ghost needs help recovering a gem he promised to deliver to the Pirate God. Steal it back from the sahuagin raiders who sank his ship, deliver it to Freeport, and then recover it once more from cultists.
Note that Akriloth contains merfolk, while the others can be readily adapted, as can anything with "aquatic elves" or some similar race, particularly if you're aiming for "not nice mermaids".
Dead Man's Quest is listed out-of-order because it is in Polyhedron. I'm uncertain if that's Polyhedron #107 or Polyhedron in Dungeon #107, but I strongly suspect the latter.
That's really not how the samurai fought historically. Yes, they had bows and horses, but they were not fast moving skirmishers. That makes them fight like the Mongols, and they didn't.
Sorry, Bluenose, but you're entirely incorrect.
This has been discussed extensively on several of these threads, but the evolution of "samurai" through several eras changed our modern perceptions of them dramatically.
The modern notion of "Bushido" is really a Tokugawa outgrowth of the peaceful era of 1600+. Prior to that, the "samurai code" was Kyu-ba-no-michi ... literally "The Way of the Horse and Bow".
Samurai did "fight like the Mongols". In fact they were influenced and inspired to do so by the Mongols themselves as they imported Chinese culture, and moreover following the Mongol invasions of Japan by Kublai Khan in the 13th century. The art of mounted archery called Yabusame evolved directly out of the experiences of the Japanese fighting the Mongols and copying their technique.
Personally, I think the best route would be giving the Samurai Class a choice of "Combat Styles" much like a Ranger. This would allow the mounted-samurai or ground-samurai to fit both historical archetypes within a single class and end such debates in a single stroke.
This list is not comprehensive, but is simply a search for "hag" in the Description and Cool NPCs fields of my database (plus one that I remembered). There are probably more, which I'll add if I remember or stumble across them. Also, it only covers issues 31-150.
Some Hag Adventures:
Issue - Title - Description
054 - Dark Thane Macbeth - MacBeth retold with Grey Elves, Drow and Hags.
063 - Beauty Corrupt - Follow clues to the lair of three Sea Hags and marine ogre minions. Defeat them and restore the voice of a sirene and the sanity of a local diplomat.
075 - Non-Prophet Organization - A tinkerer begins having prophetic visions after the disappearance of his beloved. Is he receiving warnings from beyond the grave, or is some foul creature(s) merely laying an intricate plan to dupe the villagers.
104 - Demonskar Legacy, The - 4th installment of the Cauldron adventure path. A paladin has been tricked by hags working with a demon to turn Cauldron towards a war with neighboring Redgorge. Stop a riot, meet with the leaders of a secret faction, track the paladin into a jungle, through a monster lair and into the artifact mirror-maze of a lost civilization.
107 - Mellorn Hospitality - Every seven years the Mellorn Elves open their woodland borders to host Festival of Life, which is also a great trading opportunity. However, the festival merely cloaks the cyclic hunting of a night hag. Acting as caravan escorts, guard a merchant and put an end to the night hag and her minions, and possibly close the portal through which she appears for good.
119 - Tomb of Aknar Ratalla - Survive the traps of a modest tomb to find an angel and devil together guarding an outsider-bane major artifact sword once possessed by a tribal chieftain intent on wiping out religions. Now a half-fiend drives a band of gnolls and yugoloths to the tomb to recover the sword, so the party must defend the tomb they just entered lest the fell weapon fall into evil hands once more.
122 - Root of Evil - A Green Hag druid has made an agreement with Abyssal fiends to plant a seed on the Prime Material Plane which grows at a lightning rate, spewing demons and destroying cities.
129 - Twisted Run, The - A Chosen of Malar gathers a force of “blacktooth” lycanthropes, insane and poison-infected were-creatures capable of almost instantaneously passing along their affliction, and overtaken a dwarven outpost. Destroy the pack before their attacks spread to more populated regions and unleash an epidemic of lycanthropy.
OK ... you've called me out. I was surprised initially by the OP, until I saw this was an alias ;-)
Levels would help, but since this is a One-shot I guess it's not that important.
Source - Number - Title - Adv. Total Party Levels - Description
Black Dragon:
Dungeon - 073 - Eye of Myrkul - 56 - Mere of Dead Men Finale: Enter Temple of Myrkul risen from the swamp and recover unholy artifacts to ransom the lives of Sir Justin and knights captured by a (twin) dragon(s). Beware Cult of the Dragon, secret motives, and all other backstabbers.
Dungeon - 126 - Encounter at Blackwall Keep - 20 - Age of Worms: The party seeks information from a sage at Blackwall Keep, but arrive to find it besieged by lizardfolk, themselves pawns of a black dragon cultist of Kyuss. After breaking the siege and destroying a clutch of worm-tainted eggs, the party must tangle with a keep denizen turned into a Spawn of Kyuss.
Module - DL-1 - Dragons of Despair - 38 - Re-enact the Tale of the Lance. Discover the Lost City of the Ancients, and enter the lair of the first Dragon seen in over 1,000 years.
Mind Flayers:
Dungeon – 081 - Divisions of the Mind – 50 - A beholder has stumbled upon a mysterious floating crystal palace. Luring adventurers into its lair, it bargains with them to investigate the lair of a Ulitharid (Greater Illithid) with a severe case of Multiple Personality Disorder who hates mind flayers.
Dungeon – 094 - Spiral of Manzessine – 44 - While traveling through the Underdark, a cave-in seals the main passage, and the only way around is through a mind-flayer prison for their most dangerous criminals.
Dungeon - 125 - Seneschals and Majordomos - - Campaign Workbook: Subordinates and assistants for any ruler ... El Viddenvelp, male Illithid - the Paragon
Module - RQ-2 - Thoughts of Darkness - - Invade the fortress domain of an Illithid Metapsionicist (20th Level) and learn of his secret experiments to cross-breed mind flayers and vampires.
Module - SJA-2n - Skull & Crossbows - Outpost, The - - Starfaring Races: An Illithid wishes passage to an “Outpost” to conduct archeological research. Of course, the crew has concerns about becoming the passenger’s food supply ...
Dark Creeper/Staler, Kenku:
Caveat ... I'm not much into the Dark Creeper/Stalker thing, so I didn't tend to note them as much in my database, and instead had to search Kenku ...
Dungeon – 120 - Forsaken Arch – 28 - The Shoalbury community of pearl divers is turning into a ghost-town as bandits have raided their last four shipments. A cult of kenku worshipping the demon-lord Pazuzu is responsible, tipped off by a traitor among the divers. Track the bandits to their lair and wipe them out within the natural stone arch in the surf.
Dungeon – 138 - Weaver, The – 40 - A kenku sought to sell a rare and deadly spider, but was himself slain. Now its eggs threaten to unleash a plague of lethal vermin into the city.
Githyanki:
Dragon - 067 - Fedifensor - -Raid a Githyanki fortress to recover a stolen sword.
Dungeon - 043 - Into the Silver Realm - 60 - A red dragon is plaguing the Northlands. But this turns out to be no simple dragon-slaying when the dragon’s lair is actually a Githyanki garrison which includes a permanent portal to a fortress in the Astral Plane.
Dungeon - 092 - Interlopers of Ruun-Khazai - 52 - A hundred year-old psychic storm has wound down, revealing a Githyanki outpost thought lost. Both Githyanki and Githzerai raiders seek to claim it, but Ruun-Khazai’s former master hasn’t left and is preparing a special reception for them. Avoid becoming caught in the cross-fire and becoming fuel for the next psychic storm the master is brewing to protect his domain.
Dungeon - 095 - Yu’thiol Mansecho - 10 - A Githyanki spy wanders the planes, searching out powerful characters and eliminating potential threats to the Lich Queen.
Dungeon - 100 - Old Embers Never Die - 48 - Two part adventure. In Part 1, a dragon-cult of powerful kobolds has animated the skeleton of a slain red dragon in their lair. In Part 2, that same dragon has been cloned by a githyanki wizard, and must be found and slain in his new lair.
Dungeon - 100 - Lich-Queen’s Beloved, The - 72 - Attack and slay the githyanki lich-queen. She’s a 25th level wizard lich in her own home in a city of 100,000 bloodthirsty githyanki.
Dungeon - 116 - Death of Lashimire - 48 - A psion cast out of his secret order plots revenge, but has betrayed his githyanki allies while plotting with sahuaghin. Now a githyanki strike team plans to kill him for the theft of a silver sword as the PCs visit his remote, island home, possibly with similar intentions. Throw in necromantic traps and sahuaghin allies for loads of fun ...
Dungeon - 125 - Seekers of the Silver Forge - 60 - Githyanki heretics escaped the lich-queen by shifting their entire city to the bottom of the ocean, but their civilization was ultimately corrupted and destroyed by necromantic forces. Now a silver forge is becoming tainted and affecting all sea life around it as the lone, surviving necromancer builds his power.
Polyhedron - 100 - Knights of the Witch Queen - - Play D&D as a Githyanki Kinght, serving the Lich-Queen.
Marilith:
Dungeon - 060 - Nemesis - 60 - An investigation into the disappearance of a tiefling turns ugly when the trail leads from Sigil into the Abyss and becomes embroiled in the power struggles of the marilith and one demon’s quest for revenge.
Urban Mysteries:
Dragon - 111 - Death of an Arch-Mage - 36 - As members of the local police force, PCs investigate the murder of an arch-mage, who is the former mayor of their city, the morning after he holds a dinner party for the current mayor and two other dignitaries.
Dungeon - 036 - Asflag's Unintentional Emporium - 30 - The wizard Asflag has gone missing and presumed dead (given the strange explosion and death cries from his tower a fortnight before). Now his “pets” have begun to escape their confinement and plague the city. Serve the Duke as “Special Constables” and enter the home of the dead wizard to end the menace.
Dungeon - 039 - Legerdemain - 22 - Opening Night for a new play approaches at the Legerdemain, and the owner is afraid of trouble. The lead actress threatens to quit, the lead actor is going senile, the director is in seedy sections of town making inexplicable changes to the staging. Is it coincidence, or tampering of an outside malcontent?
Dungeon - 044 - Hand of Al-Djamal, The - 50 - An exhibit of Ylari artifacts on display in Glantri is closed due to the deaths of two guards at the museum. Is there a curse on the treasure? A Ylari madman shouted warnings even up to the point of his blooding death after losing his hand for trying to “liberate” the treasures of his homeland.
Dungeon - 046 - Goblin Fever - 20 - Chaos has broken out in the city of Waen Fawr as an epidemic of Goblin Fever plagues the city. As citizens are gripped by desperation, fear and madness, try to find the ingredients to brew a cure before the death toll rises and villainous opportunists run amuck.
Dungeon - 047 - Assassin Within, The - 20 - An assassin is stalking the household of Hakim ibn Rashad, Professor of Natural Philosophy. Protect the professor and his family while uncovering the mystery of who would want him killed.
Dungeon - 053 - Spellbook Masquerade - 04 - An old book-seller has accidentally shipped a Tome of Lich Creation to an evil, but influential local sorceress. Tonight she is hosting a Masquerade Ball, and the merchant needs someone to go in his place and recover the tome.
Dungeon - 055 - Umbra - 36 - An extra-planar tale of fiends, prophesies, and a custody battle between a warrior and a succubus over their alu-fiend daughter. Long and involving many scenarios, this adventure could easily be sectioned in several mini-adventures.
Dungeon - 059 - Wedding Day - 10 - Two merchant families are about to be joined in marriage, and an ex-boyfriend is jealous. He is also rogue and former wizard’s apprentice, so trouble is to be expected. Comic relief adventure.
Dungeon - 061 - Jigsaw - 30 - A Frankenstein tale of an engaged scientist and her jealous creation.
Dungeon - 062 - Rat Trap, The - 50 - Things have turned ugly in the city of Carn Perrin as “Gobbling Jack” breaks the “understanding” between the citizenry, Thieve’s Guild and police. Solve the vicious murders and robberies that leave gnawed victims in their wake and return the city to peace.
Dungeon - 068 - Artist’s Loving Touch, The - 08 - An elderly sculptor is using Gloves of Petrification and were-rat kidnappers to turn innocent victims into new masterpieces.
Dungeon - 068 - Trouble with In-Laws, The - 08 - A locket found in an old monster layer leads adventurers onto the trail of a kidnapping gone awry.
Dungeon - 072 - No Stone Unturned - 20 - Investigation the sudden appearance of zombies on city streets. A blackmailed undertaker, and underground excavation by zombie miners, a tribe of frightened mongrelmen terrorized by a family of trolls, and agents of an evil society questing for magic all figure in to a plot with interesting twists.
Dungeon - 081 - Race Against Time, A - 10 - Seven “Fire Crystals” are hidden in the city of Red Fern and will explode in three hours unless the riddle/clues can be solved. Good city map for a campaign, but not exactly a “rural duchy”.
Dungeon - 088 - Thirds of Purloined Vellum - 4 - A merchant has arrived with a precious cargo and priceless contracts, but his assistant and contracts have gone missing, and someone is trying to have him murdered. Find the missing contracts and solve the mysterious crimes.
Dungeon - 088 - Seventh Arm, The - 28 - A trader in antiquities has arrived in town to acquire an amulet once belonging to the evil sorcerer who enslaved the town 70 years before. Follow a lost band of adventurers to the wizard’s old tower, investigate its ruins, overcome its current inhabitants and solve the mystery of the amulet.
Dungeon - 095 - Porphyry House Horror - 40 - In the pirate city Scuttlecove, a secret cult of yuan-ti worshiping Demogorgon established a fancy brothel using polymorphed monsters to create perfect partners, destroying all of the competition. With their monopolistic control, they plan an orgy for “special clients” that is really a planned sacrifice and opportunity to introduce a drug which will turn the residents of the city into half-fiends. A wizard drug dealer and a half-fiend Thrall of Graz’zt provide potential “allies” to investigate the cult.
Dungeon - 096 - Pandemonium in the Veins - 20 - The gladiators of “The Veins” are mysteriously dying off. Go undercover to learn the dark secret of a mad alchemist bent on revenge, an illicit drug scandal and the deluded ravings and imaginings of a dead gladiator whose spirit has not yet passed on.
Dungeon - 113 - Practical Magic - 36 - A magic-item crafter has gone missing in Marsember, and the clues point to her boyfriend, an aquatic elf. Lately, he’s the thrall of a merfolk vampire, but might point you to the real kidnapper, a mysterious necromancer who is animating a workforce of “expert zombies” to do mundane labor. He needs the help of the crafter, but this is not really a rescue, as she wants his secrets for herself.
Dungeon - 114 - Mad God’s Key - 4 - Burglars ransacking a locksmith shop were tipped off by a friend who stole a magic key. Track the robber to the docks and give chase, to learn that he is the hired-hand of a gang of thieves lately afflicted by disease. A priest wanted the key as payment for healing them, but he’s really a worshiper of Nerull, and cursed them in the first place. Masquerading as a priest of Boccob he’s stolen an unlockable book from the library and plans to use the key to discover its dark secrets.
Dungeon - 115 - Steel Shadows - 28 - Warforged are being murdered and their bodies carved apart (with pieces removed). Local Warforged suspect humans, while humans speak of ghosts. Investigate the mystery and reveal the twisted sanity of a seemingly mild-mannered warforged trying to construct a perfect and pure member of its race (not crafted by human hands) and the powerful nobleman seemingly behind the experiment.
Dungeon - 117 - Touch of the Abyss - 44 - Campaign Arc - Istivin, City of Shadows: As the city above goes mad, infiltrate the “Deeper Dungeons” beneath Krelont Keep and discover that the Marchioness has imprisoned her mad husband, lest the city learn of his condition and crumble. But the Marquis has been chosen by the dark Malgoth to serve as its Voice, and will not let him go.
Dungeon - 121 - Styes, The - 36-Investigating the serial killings of the Lantern Man leads to a mad cult in the derelict district known as the Styes. Herein a rogue aboleth manipulates the cultists and dominates a man to perform the murders, keeping the local population in fear and feeding the emotions to a kraken it is nurturing.
Dungeon - 129 - Murder in Oakbridge - 20 - A distraught woman who lost her husband and child years before when an animal act went out of control at the circus has spent years hunting and murdering members of the disbanded troupe. Now she has only one neighborhood left in which to finish her task.
Dungeon - 133 - Chimes at Midnight - 20 - A master detective in Sharn believes he has been overlooked for credit, and engineers the escape of several dangerous criminals in a plot for revenge. Too bad they leave so many clues and a trail right to him.
Dungeon - 141 - Swords of Dragonslake - 48 - Seeking to avenge the death of her family in an arson fire that destroyed their theater home over a decade earlier, a young woman returns to her home city with the unreleased masterpieces of a murdered playwright and manipulates the literati while raising up an obscure plagiarist as her puppet and taking key roles in his latest play that allow her a chance for revenge on opening night against the nobleman who originally ordered the burning of her family’s theater.
Module - FROA1 - Ninja Wars - - Many political intrigues and mysteries presented as plot hooks and mini-adventures in this module.
PDF Download - - Tinderbox - 4 - Bonus Adventure on CD (Dn #87): A dangerous arson has escaped from prison in the wood-framed garrison town of Powderkeg, and the Burgomaster’s advisor fears he has revenge on his mind. Foil the villains plots and save the town from being reduced to ash.
The argument that you cannot flank a creature which is underfoot makes sense here.
If you say so, you can just as easily come up with an explanation of why flanking would be allowed. Having to dodge around to avoid being squished should provide a bonus to an ally
I have to agree with Gray and Squirrel on this.
However, I suggest using an example that is more R/L accessible than a "big hairy spider", and that would be the archetypal Tiny creature ... a normal, domestic house cat.
If a friend and I are both holding swords and standing on opposite sides of a house cat and the cat is trying to keep an eye on both of us at the same time, then clearly we are flanking it and both gain a bonus.
However, once the cat attacks me with its Reach 0', it is effectively right-on-top-of-me. This means that to hit it my buddy is basically also swinging at me! So maybe he technically gets a bonus to hit the cat, but he sure better take his time and effectively take a penalty (i.e. "called shot") to avoid hitting me.
Basically, as I see it any potential flanking bonus is canceled out by the presence of the "ally" ... call it a circumstance penalty, called shot penalty or soft-cover.
I just know that my buddy better not be taking a full-on swing if that cat's running around between my legs or has jumped up on me to try and scratch my face.
The D&D game has always basically taken the Human life-span and stretched or compressed it for the purposes of other species. Thus, each race spends about 20% of their lives in each Age Category, regardless of their longevity. Personally, I strongly disagree with this approach.
I completely re-wrote the Age Tables for my game. All Races now mature at roughly the same rate. Assuming 18 as physically and culturally "adult" for humans, one sees half-elves reach this stage at about 19, elves at 20 and dwarves at 21. Half-orcs are 16 and orcs 14 when they reach a similar point.
I then changed the "curve" of each race's progression through the age categories. Humans still spend ~20% of their lives in each category, and thus represent the base-line. I have elves "plateau" in the middle of their lives, lengthening primarily their ratio of "middle-age" years. When they decline through Venerable, they do so relatively rapidly compared to their overall life-span.
In my world, Humans spend 17 years as Adults, or 19% of their lives. Elves are only Adults for 14% of their lives, but their longer lives mean this covers a span of 35 years. Since most Adventuring occurs during the Adult years, this means elves generally have twice as many years of potential adventuring as humans, though their over-all life-span is about 3x as long.
As they approach Middle Age, both humans and elves tend to retire from adventuring as they take penalties to their physical stats. Hopefully they have been financially successful, and can put their gains in social/mental stats to good use as sages or mentors based upon their experience. Whereas humans spend another ~20% of their lives in this category, for elves "middle-age" is quite literal, for it represents 50% of their lives, though it is shifted about 5% forward from the actual center. Elves spend another ~25% of their lives in the Old range, compared to the steady human 20%, but whereas humans linger through a final 20% of their life-span in the decrepit Venerable stage until reaching their maximum age, elves fade much more quickly in their final years, which represent less than 5% of their lifespan.
For the sake of comparison, dwarves spend 43% of their lives in their highly-productive Adult years, then a steady 17% in each additional age category. Thus, whereas humans only have 40% of their lives in the "productive" Adult and Middle-Age years, elves and dwarves have 60%+ of their lifespan in this range. This accounts for the great lore, productivity and achievements of these races.
On the other hand, as other posters have brought up, one must consider the issues of biology, fertility and reproduction. If elves and dwarves work like humans then we should be overwhelmed by them, but humans remain the dominant and most populous race. Thus, they obviously don't.
Whereas lower animals tend to mature quickly and then "stretch" their breeding Adult lives, higher animals with longer lifespans generally have elongated youth and nurture their young. However, this pattern doesn't hold for the D&D races as I've developed them. Instead, I simply went with biology, genetics and fertility (or lack thereof).
Basically, the reason the world isn't overrun by elflings is that elves are not a particularly fertile race. Though they have significantly more years of "fertility", their conception rate is much lower than humans, and thus they tend to produce a stable rather than a growing population.
The situation is different with dwarves. Although their conception rate is also somewhat lower than humans, the primary issue is genetic. Whereas human gender-typing is bi-chromosomal, in dwarves it is poly-chromosomal. Basically, dwarven conceptions result in a male:female ratio of about 4:1, so the "breeding population" is actually a much smaller subset of the "general population" than in the case of humans, again balancing growth-rate against longevity.
So that is how I chose to address the problem. I just don't like the "elves spend 10 years in diapers" approach.
being a wizard's maid is better than being a barmaid or third daughter of a dirt farmer
Wizards don't hire maids. In fact, they don't hire any servants.
Instead, they get people coming to them for training and only need to provide food and a bed. These people are called "apprentices".
Furthermore, a well know Wizards might even be able to have wealthy families pay them for the "honor" of taking on a scion as an apprentice.
Finally, high-level Wizards may have an entire hierarchy of "apprentices" at a variety of levels (some are aka "cohorts") who support themselves and do tasks (from sweeping floors to scribing scrolls to enchanting items to researching legends of the master's next adventuring site) in return for training, access to spells or whatever else the master is offering.
R.
P.S. Plus, there's obviously unseen servant (or servant horde if your DM allows it).
It really depends upon how deep you want to get into details and economics. Either go with the basic numbers and hand-wave the details, or get more into the details but then work up with specific numbers.
As mentioned by Helic, the cost table assumes the character is leading an adventuring life on the road, taking rooms at Inns each night and eating most meals in a tavern. For maintaining a "Household", I've generally cut those numbers in half, with the exception of "Poor" (which was 2gp in the DMG) since it (previously) assumed living at the subsistence level of farming/gardening/hunting with few meals purchased.
After making this cut in expenses, I add back in all household staff, since this is entirely variable based upon the desires of the PC. For NPCs, you would just go with the straight numbers, but PCs might want to live large but support little staff, or live more frugally but hire more of the "little people" (or fund their own mini-militia???).
I disagree with Helic that family is free. His example is flawed, because it assumes that the person spends all their disposable income in both cases, and because it doesn't not account that the fact that the "single" man leads a higher CoL lifestyle than the "family" man. It does not account for leading a frugal lifestyle in both cases nor having declining savings, nor for the option of a wife who provides income (work or inheritance/dowery) or many other factors. Also, a noble might choose to support himself at one level and maintain his high lifestyle but not afford the same comforts to his dependents.
I'd price families somewhat like magic item properties ... 100% for the first, 75% for the second and 50% for each additional "similar". Thus 100% for the noble, 75% for the wife and 50% for each child. Alternately, from a historical perspective, this might be 100% for the nobleman, 75% for the first wife/son/daughter and 50% for each additional wife/son/daughter due to economies of scale.
I don't really agree with HOHM's math for pricing NPCs, particularly the assumption that everyone is armed. That table is basically to be used for "adventuring" NPC and not "everyone else", which is what household staff are. No maidservant "is likely to be handy with a Dagger" ... when confronted by a threat they will scream in hysterical terror and either freeze on the spot or flee in stark terror ... whichever is more inconvenient for the person attempting to aid/help/rescue them. Hiring a combatant-staff will be significantly more expensive (at least 1-2sp/day per person). Whether or not to pay the staff above the minimums is an individual option. Note that "pay" is actually cost, not necessarily what goes in their pocket. They might make no more money than the staff at the next manor over, but are more expensive to maintain because you dress them in uniforms to impress the neighbors upon their visits.
Furthermore, the "Total GP Value" probably represents many years of savings if not some amount of inherited gear, and should not be replaceable with a single year's income. A "common" maid earns 7sp/week so there's no need to pay a "high-class" one more than double that (note that we're talking basic "invisible/behind-the-scenes" maid, not a valet/chambermaid who will be expected to have some social graces to interact with family and guests).
As for Experts, they will still probably be on a "work-for-hire" basis, but a smith will need a forge and a carpenter will need a workshop and so forth. Those kinds of expenses will be front-end costs to the supporting Master/Mistress-of-the-House. When I've calculated such costs, I front-end the entire cost and then add up-keep for each workspace at 10% of the total value ... basically, everything wears out and needs to be entirely replaced each 10 years or so (not that this might be material costs for day-to-day household maintenance, and not just buying hammers, saws and anvils).
Actually, I was talking about adventurers partying in a tavern. That's not combat ... not initially, anyway.
DM_Blake wrote:
I'm talking about a guy standing in the middle of a field, without an enemy in sight
A farmer is hoeing his cornfield. When doing so, he takes small, controlled strokes with his hoe rather than long broad ones. It takes him a little longer to hoe the entire field in this manner, but he knows burrowing monsters live beneath the ground and he wants to be ready if one should strike.
He is Hoeing Defensively.
DM_Blake wrote:
I'm talking about a guy walking down an empty corridor in a dungeon
Sure, the castle corridor looked empty, but Bragga knew that secret doors could be located anywhere. The Baron was not an ally of his master, and he knew assassins could be waiting for him around any corridor or behind any tapestry. He kept his hand near the hilt of his sword ... it wasn't yet drawn as he wouldn't go that far to breach etiquette within the castle ... rather than setting it swing freely and naturally as he walked, but with his off-hand he held the scabbard and gently loosened the blade in its sheath. Was the page guiding him down the halls to suddenly turn on him or assassins spring from the walls he'd be ready. His sword would fly from his hip in a flash. Granted, his first blow would not be enough to fell any opponent, but that was not his goal. He only needed to keep them from hitting him long enough to decide whether to fight or flee back to his lord waiting in the courtyard. Maintaining such a guard slowed his progress and it was clear that the page was in no small amount frustrated that they were not reaching their destination more rapidly. Perhaps some scullery maid awaited him back in the kitchens. Bragga didn't care.
And so, he continue to Walk Defensively down the empty hall.
DM_Blake wrote:
I'm talking about a guy shopping for apples in a town marketplace, Fighting Defensively, just in case some unseen...
Scipio was hungry, so he decided to swing by the market on his way home for the day. Lucius should have nice apples at his stall this time of year. He was surprised to see that the fruit-dealer was absent this evening. Surprised and alarmed, for replacing him was Lucius's cousin Octavio. The senator had only met him once by chance, but he knew the man by reputation. Octavio was reputed to be an enforcer for the city's Thieves' Guild, which only recently the Senate had begun passing legislation to dismantle. Furthermore, Octavio had lost a brother last month in a duel to Scipio's cousin so he might have a personal vendetta against him.
But the senator had already started approaching the fruit-stand before he'd noticed the man, and in his bright toga several bystanders were already aware of his presence and watching him. These commoners know who he was just as well as they knew the identity of Octavio, and at was clear that, if nothing else, a civic drama was about to unfold. Were he to pass by the stall word would sweep the city by sundown that the senators feared the thieves and their legislation would be undermined. Were he to call for guards, his own honor would be humiliated and worthless, while if he struck the first blow against Octavio, even in pre-emptive self-defense, then the streets would fill with citizens decrying "Senatorial Tyranny". No, he could not strike the first blow but merely defend himself when attacked. He shifted his dagger beneath his toga to make it more accessible. At least as a young aristocrat he had been properly trained in the arts of war.
But a fight with Octavio at the fruit-stand would not be a duel of honor, it would be an assassination. A knife in his back from accomplices from behind, or even a stab from a poison-ring worn by the merchant ostensibly offering him a piece of fruit to examine. Scipio knew the tricks, and he would be ready for them. His key to survival was not so much about quickly felling his attackers as it was making certain that their initial attacks did not wound him. Reaching the stall he kept a smile planted firmly on his face for all the public to see. The thug stepped back to give him room, but it might be a ploy and the senator refused to drop his guard. He examined only the apples closest to him, keeping his hand near his dagger and out of Octavio's reach at the rear of the bin where, unfortunately, the best fruit appeared to be. His elbows, too, he kept close by his sides. Should Octavio make a move he probably couldn't stab him while maintaining such a posture, but his arms would better protect his sides from accomplices leaping from the crowd and allow him a stalling elbow into the gut of anyone approaching from behind. The strike wouldn't break any ribs, but it might take a man's wind for a moment and that moment could be Scipio's life.
And so he continued to play the role of the good, brave and civically confident senator for the benefit of the crowd as inwardly he Shopped Defensively for his Apples.
DM_Blake wrote:
Completely the opposite of what you keep replying back to me.
On the contrary, these are exactly the situations I keep Replying back to you. They are matters of personality. Different personalities might approach these situations differently, but these three guys decided to be "defensive" in their posture, rather than "neutral" or "offensive".
So, are they Non-Combat enough for you?
Note the variety of scenarios:
• No threat visible and any threat unlikely but possible.
• No threat visible but threat possible if unlikely.
• Threat visible and highly possible but not currently engaged in combat.
In all cases, these "defensive" actions are being taken outside of initiative actions and combat. In all cases, I'd allow the character in question to "Act Defensively" in combat. The key, being, of course, that they need to make a Perception check to notice the actual attack coming to react appropriately. Otherwise they're flat-footed.
I finally found the post I was looking for: 9-25-09
James Jacobs wrote:
Weapon Finesse ... would only apply when you're attempting a combat maneuver with that weapon.
SNIP
You wouldn't get this bonus to things like overrun, bull rush, or grapple that don't use a weapon attack.
Since one generally grapples with one's hands or other "light natural weapon", I'd argue that Finesse does apply then, particularly if you have already invested in Improved Grapple or Improved Unarmed.
You can't tell me that wrestlers, grapplers, aikido-ka and judo-ka lack finesse. Those arts are much more about finesse and dexterity than raw strength. That the point of all the training (represented as Feat slot expenditure IG).
Mosaic wrote:
What maneuvers would you use a finesse weapon for - disarm and sunder? Are there any finessable trip weapons?
Any weapon for Disarm. In my experience, a disarm technique is more about dexterity and finesse than strength, anyway, whether you're using a sword or your bare hands. Speed, technique and timing count, and you generally play off your opponent's tendency to over-commit. Strength is a non-issue to a properly executed disarm.
For Trip, definitely a spear, quarterstaff or any pole-arm. Same open-handed. Again, it's all about technique and leverage, not strength.
"Cover" and "concealment" are terms stolen from military usage.
Concealment blocks vision, or the ability to view a target. It provides a miss-chance and will benefit a Hide check. However, it does not necessarily block a projectile (or any other form of attack) and can be entirely insubstantial.
A bush or a tapestry or a smokescreen (or morning fog) all equally provide concealment.
Cover is hard protection that blocks a projectile (or other form of attack). In game-terms, it provides an AC bonus. However, it does not necessarily block vision.
A brick wall (even one of those lattice-like decorative ones) or a boulder or a tree all equally provide cover.
Note that, in military terms, a brick wall provides both cover and concealment, but in game terms that wall only provides cover and a Hide check circumstance bonus.
Also, a thick sheet of plexiglass can provide cover without providing concealment in military terms. The gaming corollary again differs slightly, where a variety of force-effects ... whether sci-fi force-shields or D&D Abjurations ... can alternately provide either a cover bonus to AC or a shield bonus (or rarely an armor bonus).
Although, Caineach says that concealment is "soft" this is only generally and not necessarily the case. An Conjuration spell that manifests as a thousand highly-polished adamantine mirrors whirling about the caster and causing reflections that make her difficult to pinpoint might also, because of their hardness, also provide a "hard" AC benefit. In this case the theoretical flying mirrors spell might offer a shield-bonus to AC as well as partial concealment resulting in a 20% miss-chance.
Perhaps a better analogy might be some sort of distorting force-shield (such as the one represented in the 1984 movie Dune). Such a shield would provide not only concealment in the manner of a blur spell since you can't clearly see and pinpoint the target, but would also provide an AC bonus, probably here in the form of an armor-bonus akin to a mage armor spell.
Im playing a pirate campaign and would like any pirate type adventures
out of the Dungeon Magazines
I just did a search for "pirate" as well as anything with a seaside, marine or sub-marine setting and came up with 62 good candidates. However, I'm pretty busy and don't have time to format the list so for the time being here are some links to prior threads on the subject:
Follow that link to more links into threads that you might find helpful. My list of adventures is post #6 in the "Sea-based Adventures" thread.
When I have time I'll beef up the list a little with some other stuff.
Murkmoldiev wrote:
I would like to run a game in the Plane of Faerie
No linkage, so here's a list of stuff that might work or could be adapted:
Faerie Adventures:
Dungeon Issue # - Title - Advised Total Party Levels - Description
034 - Euphoria Horrors – 08 - The cries of a distraught child ring through the woods as he searches for his lost play-companion “Drake”. The search for his missing friend leads to a tribe of tasloi who have become addicted to the Euphoria Gas breath-weapon of Drake, the faerie dragon.
042 - Legacy of the Liosalfar – 04 - The Miller has gone missing in the deep forest. Search for him, and stumble upon a gateway to a Fey Realm.
049 - Two for the Road - 09 max - Traveling from town to town, you purchase a camp-wagon. You are long gone before learning that it is “haunted”.
054 - Witch's Fiddle, The – 13 - A band of Faerie musician has been attacked by a “witch” who stole the fiddle of one of the satyrs. Recover the instrument and bring the thief to justice, but remember that ever story has many sides and never judge a book by its cover.
058 - Bad Batch of Brownies, A – 02 - Druid solo adventure: The Brownies of the Apple Wood are suddenly causing no end of havoc. A comic-relief adventure featuring well-intentioned brownies, a well of many worlds, and a recent visitor to the brownie’s grove who rides a “hog” with a “chick” on the back and hates the “lid” that the law makes him wear.
073 - Faerie Wood – 10 - Along a deserted road a gnomish artist sells master-carvings of wooden faeries, sprites, and other woodland creatures. Beware of purchasing one, however, for the living faeries of the wood are enraged by the “artist’s” methods which involve a magic wand.
132 - Wingclipper’s Revenge – 16 - After a satyr’s revels result in the death of a mortal girl, her ranger brother swears to eliminate the fey presence in the woods. They fey desperately try to fight back, attacking any non-fey in or around the wood. Unravel the mystery and bring justice to the affair.
The following list seemed appropriate to the Shadowrun crowd based upon hits on "assass" ... "infil" ... "spy / spies" ... and ... "murder"
Note that most of these will require some adaptation. Many deal with the after-effects of assassination or preventing/countering assassination. Obviously, you could turn the tables and have the PCs play the "bad guy" role as the assassins, even making them "good" and the target someone "evil". Several Critical Threats and NPCs are thrown in as well for fun.
Also, note that most of the Dungeon APs or Story Arcs, or for that matter any adventure with an "evil cult" or "secret society", could be adapted for the purposes of becoming an infiltration scenario. I once ran the Slave Lords A-Series in this manner.
Spoiler:
Dungeon Issue - Title - Advised Total Levels - Description
032 - Ghost Dance - 30 - The Rover nomads need the aid of outsiders when one of their tribes succumbs to an evil force and begins murdering their fellows. Investigate the strange behavior, free the people from the infiltration of an evil priest from the Horned Society, and undo the affects of his alignment-reversal magic.
036 - Granite Mountain Prison - 25-The leader of the opposition to the tyrannical Theocracy of Interlaken has been arrested and sent to the “inescapable” Granite Mountain Prison. Rescue him soon before the resistance crumbles and any hope of overcoming the oppression of the High Council fades.
040 - Draven Deeps' Menace, The - 26 - Koalinth raid local shipping, causing trouble for the city’s economy. The Prince’s arch-mage has prepared a magical explosive which will destroy the caves of the monsters if placed close enough. Unfortunately, no one knows about the sea-elves who also live “close enough”. Infiltrate and deliver the “nuke”.
045 - Artist's Errand, An - 35-A family heirloom necklace of a reigar has been taken as a “souvenir” by an ex-lover and she wants it back. Of course, some things she’s not telling, like the fact that the necklace is a powerful talisman. Other things she doesn’t know, like the fact that her former lover is a disguised spy from a space-faring Drow nation.
047 - Assassin Within, The - 20 - An assassin is stalking the household of Hakim ibn Rashad, Professor of Natural Philosophy. Protect the professor and his family while uncovering the mystery of who would want him killed.
057 - Cure a Kingdom, To - 45-Plague has struck the kingdom, brought by the dark hand of a god of disease. His followers have made their demands, but are known to cultivate a plant that will cure the disease. Infiltrate their temple and recover the ingredient, but be aware that the plague is only one move in a larger game of chess.
065 - Unkindness of Ravens - 19-Investigate a series of murders, leading to an undead sorcerer-scarecrow who is assassinating the wereraven protectors of the manor.
066 - Operation Manta Ray - 40 - Infiltrate a Pirate City, survive a run through the pirates test dungeon, and then contact and extract a deep-cover naval operative.
075 - Into the Nest of Vipers - 09 - A town is dying from a poison that resists magical healing. The evil “Viper” brigands are throught responsible.
083 - Alterations - 4 - What should be a simple package pick-up in the slums of New Greyhawk turns into a mystery of death when the location turns out to be inhabited by undead. The geneticist and the necromancer you were to meet are both missing, but instead there is a strange, insane mutated “millexium mouther”.
088 - Thirds of Purloined Vellum - 04 - A merchant has arrived with a precious cargo and priceless contracts, but his assistant and contracts have gone missing, and someone is trying to have him murdered. Find the missing contracts and solve the mysterious crimes.
089 - Rivers of Blood - 16 - A powerful chieftain has been assassinated, and now a rival clan threatens to destroy his people. Help the chieftain’s strong wife bring her people through a haunted swamp to safety and allies in a larger town, but be wary of traitors in addition to marauders and monsters.
099 - Phyx - 54 - A choker trained by the drow as an assassin has gone renegade, and now partners with a Gray Render to defend a section of the Underdark while building a loose band of followers under his protection.
100 - Hungash - 28 - Hobgoblin Wiz9 - An assassin who likes to use fly spells and hover invisibly above targets before dropping fireballs onto them.
105 - Racing the Snake - 24 - Impersonate a merchant heiress and act as decoys to draw off an assassin until she can reach safety and marriage in a neighboring city. A series of encounters in a chasm “short-cut”.
114 - Lassiviren the Dark - Ruthless Assassin - 48 - Assassin and power-behind-throne
115 - Steel Shadows - 28 - Warforged are being murdered and their bodies carved apart (with pieces removed). Local Warforged suspect humans, while humans speak of ghosts. Investigate the mystery and reveal the twisted sanity of a seemingly mild-mannered warforged trying to construct a perfect and pure member of its race (not crafted by human hands) and the powerful nobleman seemingly behind the experiment.
117 - Touch of the Abyss - 44 - Campaign Arc - Istivin, City of Shadows - As the city above goes mad, infiltrate the “Deeper Dungeons” beneath Krelont Keep and discover that the Marchioness has imprisoned her mad husband, lest the city learn of his condition and crumble. But the Marquis has been chosen by the dark Malgoth to serve as its Voice, and will not let him go.
121 - Styes, The - 36 - Investigating the serial killings of the Lantern Man leads to a mad cult in the derelict district known as the Styes. Herein a rogue aboleth manipulates the cultists and dominates a man to perform the murders, keeping the local population in fear and feeding the emotions to a kraken it is nurturing.
127 - Glimmerpane - -Glimmerpane is an “infiltration” mirror of opposition, creating loyal duplicates.
127 - Hall of Harsh Reflections, The - 28 - Age of Worms - Doppelgangers infiltrating Free City politics try to eliminate the PCs.
135 - Chains of Blackmaw - 40 - The son of a wealthy merchant has been framed and imprisoned due to the influence of a powerful criminal syndicate to which his father refused to yield. Infiltrate the prison and save the boy before he is murdered and the rescue him while averting a riot and escape by the villains.
140 - Bullywug Gambit, The - 12 - Savage Tide pt. 2 - Still tracking a missing nobleman for his sister, the infiltrates a hidden pirate cove expecting to find an abducted noble. Instead, they find the entire cavern complex overrun by strangely mutated and savage animals and humanoids. Clearing the complex, they learn that a tribe of bullywugs is on the way to Sasserine to attack the manor of their employer, and must rescue her and her trapped surviving servants before the frogmen kill them all.
146 - Serpents of Scuttlecove - 60 - Savage Tide - Infiltrate the home port of the Crimson Fleet, interact with its competing factions and then attack the home base of the Fleet itself.
147 - Aundarian Job - 20 - The party must infiltrate a bank vault and recover an artifact in the safe deposit of a murdered wizard before a vile cult uses it to release the imprisoned Rajahs of the rakshasa. It is supposed to be an inside job, aided by a blackmailed clerk, but after the party is admitted he begins having second thoughts.
147 - Dread Pagoda of the Inscrutable Ones - 40 - Seeds of Sehan - Infiltrate the Pagoda of the Yak-Folk to learn their connection to Sehan and Green Welcome, then foil their plans to invade and enslave the region.
148 - In the Shadows of Spinecastle - 36 - Goblinoids overran the Bone March years ago, and now only the County of Knurl serves as a haven for humanity. The Count relied upon reports from a deep-cover spy within the capital of Spinecastle to defeat goblinoid patrols and raids, as well as tasking his agent to search for relics lost deep beneath Spinekeep that might help him restore his lands. But reports from his agent has ceased. Infiltrate the city and discover what happened to the missing agent.
150 - Fiend-Sage - 64 - A molydeus demon that has become vizier to an undead lord, researches in his vast libraries and runs a network of spies, agents and informers.
Campaign-infiltration options:
SCAP - Cagewrights
AoW - Triad and other cults
STAP - Pirates or cults
Istivin - Drow agents
Seeds of Sehan - Sehan Cult
This list includes several Campaign Workbook articles that you might find useful, as well as adventures. Most are 3rd Edition in the level range you asked for, and are suitable to an Arabian setting and/or mystery/horror adventure. I tried to eliminate anything too short (except the CWBs, which are 1-2 pages) but did include a few older-Edition or non-4th-to-8th-level adventures that I thought were especially appropriate and adaptable.
Spoiler:
Listings are in the form:
Issue - Title - Advised Total Party Levels - Description
047 - Assassin Within, The - 20 - An assassin is stalking the household of Hakim ibn Rashad, Professor of Natural Philosophy. Protect the professor and his family while uncovering the mystery of who would want him killed.
088 - Thirds of Purloined Vellum - 04 - A merchant has arrived with a precious cargo and priceless contracts, but his assistant and contracts have gone missing, and someone is trying to have him murdered. Find the missing contracts and solve the mysterious crimes.
091 - Challenge of Champions IV - Any - The 4th Annual Challenge of Champions commences with a new set of tricks and trials for the thinking adventurer.
094 - Bloodlines - 28-The Royal Seal is found in a hidden dungeon of a ruined keep belonging to the family of a minor nobleman. He hopes it will prove a connection between his family and the Royal Clan, but everyone he sends to investigates disappears. Eliminate the undead stalking the dungeons and uncover the tale of the hidden prince, dark sorcery and savage murders which took place there centuries before.
096 - Pandemonium in the Veins - 20 - The gladiators of “The Veins” are mysteriously dying off. Go undercover to learn the dark secret of a mad alchemist bent on revenge, an illicit drug scandal and the deluded ravings and imaginings of a dead gladiator whose spirit has not yet passed on.
105 - Racing the Snake - 24 - Impersonate a merchant heiress and act as decoys to draw off an assassin until she can reach safety and marriage in a neighboring city. A series of encounters in a chasm “short-cut”.
106 - Tammeraut’s Fate - 24 - The guardian priest of an island watchpost called up a storm to destroy an oncoming ship full of attackers. Turned undead, the drowned sailors overwhelmed the small garrison and returned to the sea. Years later, the abandoned post was turned into a hermitage, but now that a priest of the same god has joined the hermits the undead rise once more. Survive a night on the island, then journey to the ocean floor to put their ghostly master to rest and seal a vault of slumbering evil.
108 - Challenge of Champions V - Any - The 5th Annual Challenge of Champions commences with a new set of tricks and trials for the thinking adventurer.
114 - Mad God’s Key - 04 - Burglars ransacking a locksmith shop were tipped off by a friend who stole a magic key. Track the robber to the docks and give chase, to learn that he is the hired-hand of a gang of thieves lately afflicted by disease. A priest wanted the key as payment for healing them, but he’s really a worshiper of Nerull, and cursed them in the first place. Masquerading as a priest of Boccob he’s stolen an unlockable book from the library and plans to use the key to discover its dark secrets.
115 - Fences and Dealers - Any - A few artifact and dungeon loot “movers” the PCs might deal with
115 - Fifty Fairs & Markets - Any - Quickie ideas for fairs and markets ... from general to specialized to scams to cover-ups
118 - Alert the Watch - Any - A band of local watch members, which may be the entire force for a small town, or just a single patrol for a great city.
118 - Instant City Shopping - Any - A few handy shops and merchants
118 - Pilgrims on the Road - Any - Generally non-priestly followers of Erythnul, Hextor, Kord, Nerull, Obad-hai, Pelor, St. Cuthbert and Wee Jas.
119 - Enemies at the Gate - Any - Several Campaign Workbook hooks for encounters at the city gates.
120 - Obsidian Eye, The - 16 - An earthquake raises a massive obsidian obelisk in the desert. A cult dedicated to restoring an ancient empire restores this hollow temple while raiding caravans and villages for slaves and treasure to work and fund their efforts.
121 - Employers and Patrons - Any - Several potential employers and patrons of the PCs
121 - Unsung Heroes - Any - All of the “little people” from Apothecary to Wetnurse that help the PCs get normal things done.
123 - Sages & Scholars - Any - A few atypical sources of information
125 - Seneschals and Majordomos - Any - Subordinates and assistants for any ruler
126 - Menagerie, The - 24 - Monsters are running loose at “Gwen’s Relic’s”. A scaled-down “Asflag’s Unintentional Emporium” .
128 - Wet Your Whistle - Any - Four tavern ideas, complete with adventure hooks
128 - Free City, The: Midnight’s Muddle (Backdrop) - 20 - Gazetteer of Midnight’s Muddle, a neighborhood within a city, or core of a town or village. Includes several shops, characters, intrigues, etc.
129 - Murder in Oakbridge - 20 - A distraught woman who lost her husband and child years before when an animal act went out of control at the circus has spent years hunting and murdering members of the disbanded troupe. Now she has only one neighborhood left in which to finish her task.
130 - Behind Bars - Any - 20 “misunderstood” NPCs who might be imprisoned alongside PCs who need to be “sprung”
130 - Have You Heard - Any - 25 mundane rumors and gossip that may or may not lead to low-level adventure.
132 - Down at the Docks - Any - A collection of side-treks & Adventure Hooks set at the Wharf of a large town or city.
132 - To The Games! - Any - Six competitions for Faires, Tournaments and other competitive sports.
138 - Challenge of Champions VI - Any - More challenges.
139 - Sasserine w/Poster Map - Any - A city of traders, adventurers and even a few pirates located in the southern tropics on the edge of wild jungles and savage seas.
140 - Fall of Graymalkin Academy, The - 36 - Various factions vie for control of a magic academy after the assault of one does not go as well as planned. Now all are trapped within by the “failsafe” with dwindling supplies as they simultaneously try to gain control of the main vault and artifacts therein while holding their own ground. Enter the academy to secure the artifacts and rescue any survivors while destroying the invaders.
145 - I Stole What? - Any - 30 items that might be picked from a pocket (or sack).
146 - Scuttlecove: City of Chaos - Any - Pirate city of the Crimson Fleet
149 - Cons and Swindles - Any - A few people the PCs should avoid, or help those who didn’t
149 - War of the Wielded - 20 - Generations ago two competing thieves’ guilds in Sasserine created intelligent weapons to help gain recruits and fight their conflict. Now the long-lost weapons have arisen once more to continue a long-forgotten war.
I usually consider 1 gp = 50 dollars. And generally it works quite fine.
I generally price things in my world at 1sp = $50 for comparison. Remember that an unskilled laborer makes 1sp per day. Figuring that unskilled labor goes for $3-5 most places in the USA (hiring illegals below minimum wage), that means 1sp = $30-50 for a 10-hour work day.
Another option is to set a few benchmarks. If a "common" inn room is 5sp and a night in a Motel 6 by the interstate is $50, then 1sp = $10. By that same math a 2gp "good" inn is like a $200/night hotel. That's definitely in the ballpark.
The thing about benchmarks is to use services, rather than goods. Everything in D&D is hand-made, rather than pre-fabricated or factory-produced, so you really can't compare the costs of goods, only labor-intensive services. If you are looking at the 15gp longsword, you have to compare it to a fighting-quality, traditional method hand-made sword. Yes, you can go down to a Little Tokyo novelty shop and buy a wall-hanger katana set for $39.99, but for a real shinken made by a Japanese smith that is of the quality you'd want to take into battle and depend upon with your life you could easily be looking at $1,200. That means 1gp = ~$100 or, again, 1sp = $10.
skill checks DO NOT automatically succeed or fail when a 20 or 1 is rolled (respectively). The automatic success/failure rule only applies for to hit rolls and saving throws
Best House Rule I ever and always used ...
Natural 20 is treated as a 30;
Natural 1 is treated as a -10;
Apply all other appropriate modifiers as normal;
Determine success or failure normally based on DC/target-number;
The following might prove useful for maps, traps, NPCs or ideas:
Spoiler:
From Dragon Magazine:
081 - Ruins of Andril, The - Every two years the temple/monument of an ancient Egyptian-like culture rises from the desert sands and exposes its secrets for a few days before sinking once more into the sands.
From Dungeon Magazine:
036 - Asflag's Unintentional Emporium - The wizard Asflag has gone missing and presumed dead (given the strange explosion and death cries from his tower a fortnight before). Now his “pets” have begun to escape their confinement and plague the city. Serve the Duke as “Special Constables” and enter the home of the dead wizard to end the menace.
038 - Pandora's Apprentice - When the Mistress is away, the apprentice will play ... especially if she is a young genious able to sneak into the mage’s lab. Unfortunately, a flask of curses and the lure of magic items have become a bad combination for the young lady, who has taken to “liberating” magic items from adventurers.
041 - Deadly Treasure - As his natural life was drawing to an end, the mage Zathis built himself a trap-filled tomb. After his death, letters were dispatched throughout the land daring adventurers to plunder his last abode.
047 - Quelkin's Quandry - The “evil” mage Quelkin has plagued the village of Carthington Cross for years, or so the local gossip goes. Now the distraught wizard begs for help, having been rousted from his manor. Has the villain finally gotten his due, or is he just a misunderstood recluse?
050 - Object of Desire, The - Escort the sultan’s daughter to her wedding in a neighboring emirate. But when she is kidnapped by gargoyles, become entangled in an ancient tale of jealousy, lost love, and madness involving a noble prince turned to a horrible monster, a beautiful princess and an enraged sorcerer.
053 - Clarshh's Sepulchre - An Arcane seeks to hire adventurers to plunder the tomb of an infamous death-cult leader.
053 - Elexa's Endeavor - Brigands have invaded the castle of a templar’s aged uncle while she was away on a crusade. Help her local a mage acquaintance who can help overcome the castle’s magical protections, then overtake the bandits and reclaim the castle before the brigand harm her uncle.
063 - Blood & Fire - Locate the heir of an overthrown emir, tracking him with help from distrustful nomads and rescue him from a Brotherhood of the Flame citadel.
063 - Hunt for a Hierophant - To save a forest from bullywug investation a sleeping druid must be awakened. Defeat an insane, evil Treant to gain a map leading to the druid’s trap-filled resting place.
064 - Bzallin’s Blacksphere - Enter the extra-planar citadel of a lich and recover the key needed to destroy a growing Sphere of Annihilation which threatens to engulf an entire city.
072 - Deep Trouble in Telthin - The city of Telthin is inexplicably flooding, and watery monsters are ravaging the lakeside while the local water-elementalist/Archmage has gone missing. Journey to the archmage’s retreat on the Elemental Plane of Water and free him from captivity and the grasp of a Marid Caliph who invaded his home.
075 - Into the Nest of Vipers - A town is dying from a poison that resists magical healing. The evil “Viper” brigands are thought responsible.
077 - Ex Keraptis Cum Amore - Old-school “S-series” dungeon-crawl could series well with S1, S4, and “Mud-Sorcerer”.
084 - Demonclaw - A paladin and his squire have disappeared while petitioning a reclusive wizard for help against pirates. Now the priests of the order need more powerful adventurers to see what has happened to their emissaries.
088 - Seventh Arm, The - A trader in antiquities has arrived in town to acquire an amulet once belonging to the evil sorcerer who enslaved the town 70 years before. Follow a lost band of adventurers to the wizard’s old tower, investigate its ruins, overcome its current inhabitants and solve the mystery of the amulet.
095 - Jackal’s Redemption, The - As a nearby wizard’s tower begins phasing in and out of the material plane, the wizard himself has been missing for months as red fiendish creatures raid the nearby countryside and kidnap locals. Enter the tower and travel to Gehenna to overturn the plans of the fiend who seduced the wizard and put these events into motion.
107 - Cryomancer’s Icicle Tower - Somewhat routine take on a “wizard’s tower” built in a hanging stalactite.
112 - Maure Castle - Super-sized Adventure - An entire issue dedicated to 4 levels of Maure Castle. 25 years ago Bigby & Mordenkainen entered this dungeon and slew Eli Tormorast. Now he’s resurrected and continuing his search ofr ancient lore and power with new allies and cults in his service. Retrace their steps through new guards and threats and stop his plans once more. Old-school dungeoneering.
116 - Death of Lashimire - A psion cast out of his secret order plots revenge, but has betrayed his githyanki allies while plotting with sahuaghin. Now a githyanki strike team plans to kill him for the theft of a silver sword as the PCs visit his remote, island home, possibly with similar intentions. Throw in necromantic traps and sahuaghin allies for loads of fun ...
117 - Winding Way, The - Investigate the lack of word from the Temple of the Winding Way, now infested by undead after an ancient cache of undead hidden by a long defeated necromancer has been unsealed. Defeat the released undead to cleanse the temple, and survive the trials of the trap-filled Winding Way to end the torment of the now-cursed Abbot himself.
119 - Tomb of Aknar Ratalla - Survive the traps of a modest tomb to find an angel and devil together guarding an outsider-bane major artifact sword once possessed by a tribal chieftain intent on wiping out religions. Now a half-fiend drives a band of gnolls and yugoloths to the tomb to recover the sword, so the party must defend the tomb they just entered lest the fell weapon fall into evil hands once more.
120 - Obsidian Eye, The - An earthquake raises a massive obsidian obelisk in the desert. A cult dedicated to restoring an ancient empire restores this hollow temple while raiding caravans and villages for slaves and treasure to work and fund their efforts.
123 - Crypt of Crimson Stars - Shards of Eberron, pt.1 - A powerful dragonshard, perhaps the largest know, is suspected to be located in the tomb of a mummy. A tribe of halflings guard what they believe to be a holy site.
129 - Gathering of Winds, A - The party returns to Diamond Lake to discover Allustan missing and a dragon rampaging through the area. Defeat the dragon and gain entry back into the Whispering Cairn to follow the trail of Allustan into a newly uncovered section of the tomb and the treasure that await, including a minor artifact.
138 - Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb, The - Tzolo the mud sorcerer has built a fabulous tomb for herself, filled with traps to protect her treasures.
141 - Vlindarian’s Vault - A beholder mage operates an extra-planar “vault” and stores all manner of items for his clients. One of these just happens to be a silver dragon feebleminded and trapped in human form, and her mate wants her returned.
PDF from Dungeon Magazine #87 Pack-in bonus CD-ROM:
087 - Gorgoldand’s Gauntlet (Bonus Adventure on CD) - A treasure map leads to a cave filled with traps, and some pranking squatters.
I have one old 2e adventure that has a brig in it ... but I may have that be a major encounter rather than a ship they actually take.
Alter the details of the deck plans a little, and there's no reason it can't be both.
Here's a few adventures that had good deck plans in them:
Spoiler:
Dungeon 034 - Lady Rose, The
Dungeon 036 - Sea of Sorrow, The
Dungeon 050 - Vaka's Curse, The
Dungeon 052 - Spirits of the Tempest
Dungeon 066 - Sunken Shadow, The
Dungeon 080 - Fortune Favors the Dead
Dungeon 123 - Salvage Operation
Dungeon 139 - Darkmaiden’s Dance - Merchant Caravel - Modest but accurate merchant vessel.
Dungeon 139 - There is No Honor - Savage Tide pt. 1
Dungeon 141 - Sea Wyvern Poster Map - Poster map of a galley for Sea Wyvern’s Wake adventure.
Polyhedron 107 - Dead Man’s Quest
I excluded all of the Spelljammer-related adventures, but a few of the deck-plans are interesting. I ran a story-arc that went to sea in a crashed Hammership. None of the PCs (well, no one in that region of the world, actually) knew what it was, really, but it looked cool and "fantasy". Another party recovered a crashed Nautiloid and were trying to refurbish it for the sea (having no clue what it was doing found in the mountains), cutting off the upper shell and mounting it with out-riggers as a trimaran to keep it stable but we never had enough time to play out the scenario.
075 – Can Seapoint be Saved - A small band of pirates, secretly led by a mage and aided by a dragon turtle, threaten local shipping lanes.
078 – Citadel by the Sea - Investigate an ancient citadel recently reinhabited by orcs.
080 – Barnacus: City in Peril - Uncover a ring of spies selling information to raiders, pirates, and bandits plaguing the local trade routes.
318 – Port Royal - Wickedest City in the World - Not an adventure, but rather an overview / semi-gazetteer of historical Port Royal, Jamaica.
pre-3rd Ed. Dungeon
Spoiler:
034 – Isle of the Abbey - A former island bastion of evil priests has been razed in a costly raid by pirates. Investigate and clear the ruins so that a lighthouse can now occupy the island, but beware of survivors and booby-traps left behind.
034 – Lady Rose, The - Slaver-pirates have been raiding along the coast, but are now making repairs in a port up the coast. Raid their ship and free their captives. But beware, this is no ordinary pirate ship but the flagship of the mighty and highly advanced Navy of Talangran, a here-to-fore unknown empire from across the sea.
035 – Whale, The - Two rival steadings make claim to a beached and dying whale. Negotiate a settlement before violence (and a bloodfeud) erupts. Whether one clan or the other get the whale, if they share it, or if perhaps it is saved and returned to the sea, depends upon your diplomatic skills.
039 – Flowfire - A series of mini-adventures in the Flow (or Wildspace) usable en-route from one adventure to another.
040 – Draven Deeps' Menace, The - Koalinth raid local shipping, causing trouble for the city’s economy. The Prince’s arch-mage has prepared a magical explosive which will destroy the caves of the monsters if placed close enough. Unfortunately, no one knows about the sea-elves who also live “close enough”.
041 – Mammoth Problems - A Mammoth constructed of ironwood drifts through the Void, inhabited by the animated remains of its former crew, and haunted by four Spiritjam Ogre Magi, plus a fifth who’s life force was preserved.
046 – Floating Rock - The Floating Rock tribe of bugbears are vicious raiders who live on an island that seems to move about the seas, and one never knows where they will be encountered next.
047 – When the Light Goes Out - Something has gone wrong in the lighthouse. The Keeper is unable to fulfill his duties, and now people say it is haunted.
048 – Oracle at Sumbar, The - Help “Aunt Marla” pay off a tremendous debt by visiting the Oracle and learning the location of a lost pirate treasure.
049 – Dark Place, The - As your ship takes shelter from a storm and makes repairs you stumble across a deserted city. Investigate the ghost-town, and recover one of your shipmates from the demon that has taken residence there and driven off the townsfolk.
049 – North of Norbel - A revision of “Can Seapoint be Saved?” Pirates aided by a Dragon Turtle disrupt trade between Seapoint and Norbel.
050 – Back to the Beach - Pilgrims have begun visiting and excavating an old monastery, but now crabmen have invaded and threaten the restoration. Are they just savage beasts with a taste for human flesh, or are they perhaps protecting something themselves? The answer lies in the form of a long-lost treaty with the ancient monks.
050 – Vaka's Curse, The - The Vaka is a ship with a curse. Its passengers suffer nightmares and sickness, and on occasion even death plagues its voyages.
051 – Nbod's Room - After the notorious pirate Captain Nbod disappeared, his room at a local inn has been haunted. Investigate the strange noises that come from the room and find the captain’s “escape hatches” to several exotic locations.
052 – Spirits of the Tempest - Adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, in which Prospero is a exiled wizard.
055 – Sea Wolf, The - Passengers aboard the stern-wheeler “Sea Wolf” are turning up dead. The attacks are savage and bloody, and the killer must be found.
059 – Wreck of the Crimpshrine, The - Ride the famed river-boat Crimpshrine, but beware for this will be its last voyage. Lead the survivors of the sinking across the moors and back to the city. But now several interests desire to fund a salvage operation in the wreck, and only you know where it lies.
063 – Beauty Corrupt - Follow clues to the lair of three Sea Hags and marine ogre minions. Defeat them and restore the voice of a sirene and the sanity of a local diplomat.
063 – Huzza’s Goblin O’War - Overcome a pirate ship captained by a Giant, and crewed by Goblins and Margoyles.
064 – Grotto of the Queen - Sneak into a pirate cove to recover a magical naval warship, only to discover that the pirates have been forewarned.
065 – Flotsam - Defeat a marooned pirate sorcerer and rakshasa who claim to be merchants when rescued.
066 – Operation Manta Ray - Infiltrate a Pirate City, survive a run through the pirates test dungeon, and then contact and extract a deep-cover naval operative.
066 – Sunken Shadow, The - Help a Pirate-hunting paladin recover pirate treasure, only to discover that he has fallen under a curse from the slain Pirate-queen and his First Mate and best friend whom he murdered over her artifact.
070 – Maze of the Morkoth, The - A psionic dwarven archeologist is attempting to steal the powers of a morkoth. The monster is enraged, but also curious, and sends it minions to kidnap the leaders of local undersea communities to learn who is mentally assaulting it.
071 – Wildspawn - Explore a newly discovered island and eliminate the monstrous threat which wiped out the first colonists. However, beware of the fact that the entire island is a Syllix/Aartuk trap. Involves Spelljammer elements and monsters.
072 – Deep Trouble in Telthin - The city of Telthin is inexplicably flooding, and watery monsters are ravaging the lakeside while the local water-elementalist/Archmage has gone missing. Journey to the archmage’s retreat on the Elemental Plane of Water and free him from captivity and the grasp of a Marid Caliph who invaded his home.
074 – Scourge of Scalabar, The - Inspired by Capt. Nemo and 20,000 Leagues, a “metal monster” is sinking ships traveling to the port city of Scalabar. Hunt down and destroy the “beast”.
077 – To Walk Beneath The Waves - “Sea Devils” are raiding a coastal town, and adventurers are needed to put and end to the marauder’s attacks.
078 – Lear the Giant-King - Giants run amuck as their King Lear goes insane and his scheming daughters divide his kingdom. Find the king and return him to his senses before the tempest summoned by the Storm Giant King destroys the lands of humans and giants alike.
078 – Peer Amid the Waters - Travel through an underwater portal into a flooded (Egyptian) crypt and rescue the lost daughters of a nixie queen.
079 – Akriloth, The - Recover a powerful Merfolk artifact from the temple of a ruined city. Evade undead and unknown enemies to bring back the “Akriloth”, with whose powers over undead the merfolk can reclaim their lost city from the forces of “The Ravager”.
080 – Frothing Miscreant - An inventive gnomish retired-adventurer with an inferiority complex has turned to piracy. Track down his lair and bring him to justice, but beware his “cruel inventions”.
3rd Ed. Dungeon
Spoiler:
084 – Demonclaw - A paladin and his squire have disappeared while petitioning a reclusive wizard for help against pirates. Now the priests of the order need more powerful adventurers to see what has happened to their emissaries.
092 – Razing of Redshore, The - Savage storms and elemental attacks are destroying Redshore. Find the cause of the destruction, learn howit is tied to a cult of assassins that supposedly doesn’t exist, a secret cult of druids, and an artifact for creating demi-gods hidden away by the gods millenia ago.
096 – Hollow Threats - A vicious dragon turtle is raiding up and down the coast, attack small villages at dawn with everyone fleeing in panic before it, much to the thanks of the marauding orc clan inside the boat made from a dragon turtle shell and their halfling ally.
099 – Fish Story - Locathah have invaded the docks and mill of a small lakeside town, but have attacked no further. Good diplomacy might learn why they have abandoned their home in a long-flooded human village, leading onto the trail of an obsessed ghost, a dead wizard and a bound lonely elemental.
106 – Tammeraut’s Fate - The guardian priest of an island watchpost called up a storm to destroy an oncoming ship full of attackers. Turned undead, the drowned sailors overwhelmed the small garrison and returned to the sea. Years later, the abandoned post was turned into a hermitage, but now that a priest of the same god has joined the hermits the undead rise once more. Survive a night on the island, then journey to the ocean floor to put their ghostly master to rest and seal a vault of slumbering evil.
111 – Strike on the Rabid Dawn - Cultists of Asmodeus are attempting a ritual aboard a ship that will summon a foul aspect of the Devil Lord into Hardby. Stop them before they finish the ritual.
113 – Practical Magic - A magic-item crafter has gone missing in Marsember, and the clues point to her boyfriend, an aquatic elf. Lately, he’s the thrall of a merfolk vampire, but might point you to the real kidnapper, a mysterious necromancer who is animating a workforce of “expert zombies” to do mundane labor. He needs the help of the crafter, but this is not really a rescue, as she wants his secrets for herself.
116 – Death of Lashimire - A psion cast out of his secret order plots revenge, but has betrayed his githyanki allies while plotting with sahuaghin. Now a githyanki strike team plans to kill him for the theft of a silver sword as the PCs visit his remote, island home, possibly with similar intentions. Throw in necromantic traps and sahuaghin allies for loads of fun ...
120 – Forsaken Arch - The Shoalbury community of pearl divers is turning into a ghost-town as bandits have raided their last four shipments. A cult of kenku worshipping the demon-lord Pazuzu is responsible, tipped off by a traitor among the divers. Track the bandits to their lair and wipe them out within the natural stone arch in the surf.
123 – Salvage Operation - The lost ship of a ruined merchant has been spotted adrift, and he hopes it can be recovered with enough cargo to save his business. However, the boat is currently held by a half-orc druid who worships the deity of crawling poisonous things.
125 – Seekers of the Silver Forge - Githyanki heretics escaped the lich-queen by shifting their entire city to the bottom of the ocean, but their civilization was ultimately corrupted and destroyed by necromantic forces. Now a silver forge is becoming tainted and affecting all sea life around it as the lone, surviving necromancer builds his power.
132 – Down at the Docks - A collection of side-treks & Adventure Hooks set at the Wharf of a large town or city.
134 – 7 Treasure Chests - Seven different and unusual magical chest for storing treasure or other valuables ...
149 – Twisted Night - Viking-type raiders use an insanity and despair-causing bush to take captive slaves.
Old Edition Gazetteers or Modules
Spoiler:
GAZ 04 – Kingdom of Ierendi - Overview of a kingdom composed of ten islands which have become famous as the retirement retreats of successful adventurers, and training ground for the up-and-coming. Includes several adventure hooks and ideas.
X-1 – Isle of Dread - Wide-open exploration of a mysterious island, with opportunities for various types of interactions and roleplaying
Polyhedron (given by Dungeon # in dual-print format)
Spoiler:
107 – Dead Man’s Quest - A friendly but obnoxious pirate ghost needs help recovering a gem he promised to deliver to the Pirate God. Steal it back from the sahuagin raiders who sank his ship, deliver it to Freeport, and then recover it once more from cultists.
109 – Hardby: City of the Scorned - Hardby (or Hard Bay) is still under the thumb of the dying Despotrix and the Gynarchy, though technically the Lords of Greyhawk rule. A port city of much intrigue.
1) I don't use Splatbooks, so BoEF is completely "aside" with regards to my game;
2) My world is "real" and populated with NPCs (and PCs) with all of the normal humanoid desires, motivations, etc.
Some anecdotes:
The Story of the PC who Put Out
Spoiler:
Once had a male Player in the group with a high-CHA female PC that was constantly flirting with the male PCs, toying with and teasing them to get her way. A female Player with a female PC didn't have such a high-CHA, but one male PC did hit on her many times during an adventure, and then during their post-success tavern celebration decided that "I guess I'm drunk enough" and took him up on the offer to "go upstairs". The male Player was flabbergasted (as was his PC) but quickly accepted.
The male Player with the female PC later had his character chastise the other one for "putting out" because if the males were actually getting it form the females in the party the women would loose control of them.
Incidentally, there was no OOC connection between the Players of the PCs who got together IC on only that one occasion.
A Story of a PC Raped by Orcs
Spoiler:
Same female PC made some really foolish choices in the next adventure, got captured by orcs, made more foolish choices in her dealings with her captors and then tried a really foolish escape attempt that failed utterly. The orcs were mad and her character was raped by her jailers as a warning. After being rescued she discovered she was pregnant (determined randomly) and so she decided to visit the local apothecary to "deal with the problem".
The Unhappy Story of the PC who Didn't Put Out a Second Time
Spoiler:
Same female PC later decided that she wasn't so happy with the PC from the tavern some adventures later. Once again they were celebrating and he privately propositioned her. She said "no" and a struggle ensued. He won, and she was raped a second time.
By this time both she and an NPC Ranger (both of then Neutral) had decided the rest of the party was Evil (and they were) and that their lives were perhaps endangered, so they decided to orchestrate an escape together. An Invisible Stalker was summoned and sent to kill them, but they slew it and got away.
The Evil Campaign continued with the female Player taking another PC while her old one "retired" with the Ranger and they eventually settled down and had a family together. The Player was fine with the events that occurred because everything was IC and completely motivated by the circumstances.
Incidentally, this Player was single when she joined the group, never dated or fooled around with any of the male Players, and remained friends with us all for years.
The Story of the Adventuress Who Dreamed of Being a Bride
Spoiler:
Another campaign in the same world saw a female Player with female PC decide in extended downtime that her character was interested in getting married. "Unattractive, moderately successful active adventurer female warrior-types" are not in high demand as brides, so she went to a match-maker and paid a hefty fee to have the city combed for prospective husbands. She and I RPed the process of selecting candidates and then going on pre-arranged and chaperoned dates with them until she had made her selection.
The Story of the PC's Who Needed to Produce Noble Heirs
Spoiler:
Same campaign, years later IC the PCs were rewarded with wardership over several estates, but only until "rightful claimants" appeared to occupy them. The local feudal lord couldn't actually give them to the PCs since there were not nobles (although they were heroes and had been knighted). Two male PCs decided to get married to remedy the problem.
The human PC tracked down in the next larger city a noble family with an old lineage and active involvement in city politics but that was currently impoverished. More importantly, they had a daughter of eligible age. He married her on the condition that she produce a male heir within two years. Fortunately for the family, it only took nine months. When the PC's son was a week old the local Marquis proclaimed him a Baron and deeded him several unoccupied estates within his domain, with the PC named as Regent and Proxy-Baron for his infant son. The noble family was now supported by the PC and everyone was happy. The PC later produced a "back-up heir", but is now hoping for a couple daughters to eventually marry off.
Meanwhile, the dwarven PC found himself in a similar situation regarding estate Wardership, but the local dwarven colonies were matriarchal. As a dwarven hero who had helped liberate several colonies besieged in a recent war he was a desirable mate and found himself pursued by many wealthy or powerful dwarven women. He accepted the advances of one who was a powerful noble and become her seventh husband (that's simultaneous, not sequential) as well as provided her with a son who became his "heir" so far as the human Marquis was concerned (all dwarven traditions aside) and so was granted similar baronies and status as the human PC's son.
The Story of the PC Who Was Put Out to Stud
Spoiler:
A male elven PC who had come from predominantly human lands helped the party save a reclusive Druidic Circle. They had once been wood elves (a few centuries before), but their small numbers meant the nearby human villagers at the edges of their woods were the only available breeding stock, and their population had been genetically diluted into ancestral half-elves. Still, they were culturally still wood elves and viewed themselves that way. For the PC, living with them awakened his "elven spirit" and since the Player was leaving the game for what would become a year-long hiatus it was natural for his ranger PC to remain among the "elven druids".
When the Player returned it had been 5 years IC. We started working up details of that time, and he wrote a version of the story that had him with 3 children. That's a lot for an elf in 5 years. He was not handsome, either, but his pure elven blood made him genetically desirable. We decided that one of the druids decided to accept him as a mate and quickly found herself impregnated. Word spread through the circle and another took him to mate. She too became pregnant, verifying that he was indeed favored with virility by their goddess. He was then effectively put out to stud by the female druids for the remainder of the five-year period until the Player returned OOC to the group after a year-long hiatus and then the Ranger took a break from his "divinely required duties" to adventure with his old companions again.
I need names of modules and sources of adventures for an upcoming Desert Campaign.
In addition to Dark Sun and Al Qadim that have already been mentioned (you might also want to check out The Horde) ...
GAZETTEERS
GAZ 02 - The Emirates of Ylaruam
FR10 - Old Empires
FR13 - Anauroch
DRAGON Magazine
81 - Ruins of Andril, The
DUNGEON Magazine
31 - Telar in Norbia
35 - Year of Priest's Defiance, The
37 - Serpents of the Sands
37 - Their Master's Voice
40 - Khamsa's Folly
51 - Last Oasis, The
54 - Fetch
56 - Grave Circumstances
57 - Rose of Jumlat, The
63 - Blood & Fire
68 - Al-Kandil
69 - Sleep of Ages
74 - Vale of Weeping Widows, The
77 - Ex Keraptis Cum Amore
78 - Peer Amid the Waters
80 - Fortune Favors the Dead
86 - Mysterious Ways
92 - Interlopers of Ruun-Khazai
94 - Nakhti
98 - Into the Bright Desert
98 - Wings, Spikes & Teeth
99 - Quadripartite
100 - Lone Tooth
103 - Denizens of the Bright Desert
105 - Racing the Snake
106 - Beasts of the Scarlet Brotherhood
107 - Test of the Smoking Eye
110 - Dark Sun DM’s Guide
110 - Dark Sun Monsters - Part One
110 - Last Stand at Outpost Three
111 - Dark Sun Monsters - Part Two
116 - Palace of the Twisted King
120 - Obsidian Eye, The
127 - Hive, The
142 - Masque of Dreams
Hey guys, can someone point me to good examples of 'Side Trek' adventures?
Official "Side Treks" (or anything else in the 1-3 page range) seem to have ended about Dn#98, and all that remained thereafter were "Short" (i.e. single-site 5-10 page) adventures. The best you can do after that are Hooks provided in the Campaign Workbook articles.
Here's a 3rd Edition list that I hope helps, though (I have 4 dozen 2nd Ed. ones as well) ...
85 - Flesh to Stone
87 - Shalm's Dark Song
88 - Make it Big
89 - Rage
91 - Rock and a Hard Place
91 - Sloth
92 - Return of the Blessed
93 - Statue Gallery
94 - Excavation
95 - Lust
97 - Blind Man's Bluff
98 - Wings, Spikes & Teeth
Do any of you really use Henchmen and Followers for the characters much?
If not, why not? If so, what are some of the more interesting outcomes or problems that resulted?
I DM my group. At 5th level they were in the mountains rescueing a band of dwarves whose mine was overtaken by a kobold tribe and band of troglodytes led by a drow. During the final battles the drow escaped with a few trogs, and when the PCs emerged they found their mounts and pack-animals slain as a winter storm was blowing in. They spent the winter with the dwarves until the passes opened again with the spring thaw.
Currently 13th level and now with land and estates, the Cleric (the only remaining member of that version of the party) is married to an archeology professor who accompanies the party and helps them research sites, gather rumors and lore before delving, solve riddles and so forth. She also has a 5th level "apprentice" Cleric of her faith, a pair of 1/1 Fighter-Ranger "Sentinels" who keep an eye on their camp as well as a trio of pages, two of them girls from an orphanage for which she has decided to sponsor a type of "work-study" program to help girls too old for the orphanage avoid life on the street (taking some as pages, but sponsoring others as apprentice chambermaids, scullery maids, servant-girls and so forth in addition to the occasional seamstress or other trade).
Her companions in the party include a Specialty Priest with his own 5th level assistant who during combat has been useful remaining invisible with curative wands in hand, as well as 2nd level Ranger and Rogue cohorts who help with his research, but also oversee getting him from site to site and then arrange lodgings in town, gathering rumors and information from locals and so forth.
There is the Fighter/Rogue who has a military commando background. After service in two recent wars he resigned from the army as a Sergeant Major and recruited a small group of similar mustered-out veteran commandos to join him, and so now has a 4/4 sergeant and four 2/2 corporals in his service to not only join in combat but are useful for stake-outs and tailing suspects in urban situations, investigations and so forth.
The Ranger who has been investigating the suspicious disappearance of an NPC and her ties to a coven of witches stumbled into a Rogue opposing the same coven, and took the 6th level spy under his wing due to his own deficit in Charisma skills.
So it is that our PCs have taken assistants, apprentices and cohorts who compliment their skills and occasionally counter-balance their weaknesses. They are quite attached to their cohorts, and are about to resurrect another NPC contact who was infiltrating a cult on their behalf, was discovered by the witches and turned into a wight that the party's Cleric later inadvertantly destroyed when attempting to turn other nearby, more powerful undead.
I know none of our group would do without their cohorts. Furthermore, most of the PCs have gotten married as well, whether for personal or political reasons, and some even have children, or heirs as the case may be, though only the Cleric brings her spouse along adventuring.
The 3.0 DMG has rules for "apprentice-level characters" on p.40, though this information seems to have been removed from 3.5
Alternately, you could make them 1st-level Commoners and then when they earn a pre-determined amount of XP (say, 500) they replace that level of Commoner with a PC level, so that their further advancement isn't peanalized by a "worthless" level. I'd allow them to keep Feat and Skills slots open until they class if desired, though.
I ran a campaign several years ago in which 15-yo PCs had to "journey to the big city" find mentors and character classes after their rural village was destroyed. I used the following home-brew rules:
1) After rolling their stats, the Players were surprised with a temporary -2 Strength and -1 Wisdom if female, and -1 Str/-2 Wis if male;
2) HP was 1d4 + Con bonus;
3) PCs only received their "human bonus" feat (campaign concept had them all human);
4) Skill points totalled (1 + Intel bonus) x4 to a minimum of 4 total. They had to be spent classed as a Commoner;
5) Saves, Base Attack, etc. were all +0;
6) Equipment was whatever they could scrounge, since their village was destroyed.
When the PCs all found mentors after 3 sessions we jumped several years into the future as 1st level PCs who now gathered back together to avenge their lost families. No one received XP for the sessions, but for their 1st PC level they evolved with a few bonuses:
A) Ability age-adjustments were removed;
B) Kept their 1d4 hp, but not the Con bonus;
C) Gained Bonus and Class feats, but if spent the Human feat remained as spent;
D) All "childhood" skill points were gained as a bonus. Mostly these were Crafts like baking, basketweaving, weaving or Perform and other skills that had little adventuring impact, but gave the PCs a lot of initial personality and legitimacy to their backstory;
E) Base Attack & Saves for their new Class;
F) They finally got to spend starting GP for equipment, though nearly every PC kept a "souvenier" from their days in the wild.
