trepelano's page

How does this work?

Is the party supposed to actually gain three levels in a matter of hours?

Party starts Foundation of Flame at 15th level, but is supposed to be 16th level for Thirteen Cages, which takes place "hours" after FoF ends (I am assuming its 8 hours later so the party can rest and regain spells).

Thirteen Cages is set against a timer. The party is not supposed to rest or regain resources until the end of the adventure. They are also supposed to be 18th level by the next adventure. Is it really possible to survive enough encounters to level twice without resting or regaining resources?

I consider myself pretty relaxed about leveling - I allow members to gain a level after a night's rest - but it would appear that they are supposed to "ding" a la Everquest.

How have other DMs handled this?

I am looking to join a group in the Birmingham area that plays on a wweek night. I have experience with D&D, and a bit of Call of Cthulhu, Deadlands, Paranoia, and Vampire.

I can be contacted at d30something@ptmalone.com

For the most part I am in agreement with the idea of the NPC level progression as presented in the book - the player characters should rise above the NPCs so having the NPCs trail the player characters by a level makes sense.

However there are two exceptions, IMO.

The first and most obvious (to me) is Jenya. Of all the NPCs that have level progression, she sticks out as the one character that doesn't actually do any adventuring. For this reason, it seems to me that her level progression seems a bit too fast. I plan to have her gain one level for each 2 levels the player characters gain - beginning immediately. This means that she will actually stay higher level than the party for a bit longer, reaching 9th level at the same time as the party and then trailing further and further behind them. She will be 14th level by the last chapter.

The other exception is a bit less obvious and that is the Stormblades. I agree with the sentiment that the player characters should outshine the Stormblades, but the fact that those NPCs all have a level of aristocrat already puts them behind the party in power. I want the NPCs to remain credible competition to the party, so I will make their levels match the party's. Even still, they are technically one CR lower than the party members due to having a level in an NPC class.

An opinions on any of this?

I am running this campaign with the suggested 6 players (plus an occasional 7th) and the Stormblades seem a bit underwhelming when stacked against the PCs.

I am thinking this NPC party would do well to have additional members to match the player's party size.

The question is, what would be good additions to the Stormblades - not just from a party balance perspective, but also from a personality mix perspective.

I am sure everyone here has their own take on what other characters would be good additions, so I will start by posting my own ideas.

First off, I don't think adding another bard or ranger would be a good idea. Other classes that seem obviously ill-suited for the group (for personality reasons) are barbarian, druid, and paladin.

The party seems to be lacking in the arcane magic department, but I don't think a full-blown wizard would be a good fit with the current group dynamic. It's not easy to explain, but the Stormblades just don't seem to be the right group for a wizard, especially at higher levels.

A cleric (other than Zachary) might work. Maybe a Wizard/Cleric multiclassed (Wee Jas?). Could go the Mystic Theurge route, I suppose - but this might still be a bad fit for the party's personalities.

A second fighter - tank-style would be a great asset. I am concerned, however,that it would take something away from Cora.

I am keen on a sorcerer, perhaps slightly multiclassed. I kind of like a sorcerer/rogue combo which could be quite different than Todd's rogue character. Maybe a bit of arcane trickster or shadowdancer at higher levels?

At first I thought monk would be a bad fit, but the more I think about it, the more I like this option. Obviously, this character would need a personality that goes along with the rest of the group (LN), but I can see this happening. I imagine a rather narcissistic overachiever who strives for physical and mental "perfection".

Of course, I suppose I could get funky and use a psionic class - but I havne't really considered adding that set of rules to the game.

I would love to hear what others think about adding extra members to the Stormblades - and what they think would make for good members to the group.