Creative Director
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First of all: is Irontusk stats correct? He´s a 2 lvl Bbn with a Jump check at 12. I don´t know how it´s possible, perhpas I´ve missed something?
(At lvl 1 he should have 4 skill points invested in the Jump skill, adding one more at second, and that would give him 5 ranks in Jump. With his Str.at 17 he have a +3 modifier wich would give him a total of 8. Correct?
Since Irontusk has a speed of 40 ft., he gets a +4 bonus on Jump checks (see Player's Handbook, page 77).
Since the adventure states that "Irontusk´s Jump check is high enough that he automatically makes jumps of 5 ft or less."
And that leads me to another question: what are the DC for Jump checks in this area? The DC for Climb checks, Swim checks etc are listed, but not the DC for Jump checks. Or have I missed something?
The DC for Jump checks are also in the Player's Handbook on page 77. For long jumps, if the character has a 20 foot running start, the DC for a jump equals the distannce of the jump. Thus, to make a 10-foot-jump, you need to make a DC 10 Jump check. If you don't have a running start, the DC is doubled.
If we assume that we start the encounter at D2 ( wich I find horrible rail-roady btw - why couldn´t the players just as likely search for Irontusk from the other two roads that leads to Barge End?
If the PCs follow the directions to Irontusk's location, tehy'll end up at area D2; it's not railroading. The PCs are perfectly free to approach the area from a different road, or even to spread out and approach from multiple angles. This is a pretty solid tactic for catching Irontusk, but you should let the PCs figure it out on their own. If they don't say anything about trying to spread out or take other routes, they end up at area D2.
If we assume that Irontusk goes first and with a speed of 40 ft/round in light armor and he doesn´t need to make any Jump checks and taking a double move I just can´t see how the party ever could catch up with him.
It'll be tough for a party to catch Irontusk, no doubt. Especailly if the majority of the party is slow. Which is why the PCs need to play to their strengths in this combat. If they're not fast enough to catch him by following, they should try to get ahead of him by taking shortcuts (this requires more dangerous jumps or a fast swim speed, of course). Spells that can help a lot in this encounter include jump, expeditious retreat, and longstrider.
Of course, the PCs can also try to use ranged attacks or spells to take him down. You don't need to run and jump to catch Irontooth if you hit him with enough arrows, magic missiles, or a handy grease spell.
If he does get away though, the adventure's not over. The PCs can use DC 20 Gather Information checks to track down where Irontusk might go to hide out. In this case, what they encounter at Irontusk's new hideout is up to you.
Funnily enough I ran this chase a few weeks ago as part of a new Styes campaign,
It was very tricky for the PCs to catch him but that made for an exciting chase, in the end a single character caught him by leaping from the end of the last pier onto his boat. I thought the whole section ran really well and the players had a lot of fun (especially the ones who ended up in the water as I had a few Dire Rats in the fray).
Rich
Agreed, that chase scene was not-so-great part of otherwise entertaining adventure (I've played it once and run it once).
So far the best/only method has been to drop Irontusk with ranged weapons or spells but actual swashbuckling jumping-from-boat-to-another has definitely been missing.
Game which I ran he was called to come closer with Command spell which called him to a boat full of nets and of course he didn't make a save and got entangled...he became much more co-operative then :)
Returning to Irontusk and his stats I just want to know why the damage from his club is 1d6+4 and not 1d6+3? with a STR of 17 and a +3 modifier it should be 1d6+3. But since that is wrong I´m putting on my silly hat and ask why?
He uses the club two-handed, so he gets 1.5 his strength. In D&D math 1.5 x 3 = 4.
So what happened after that? Did the party fight him to death or did the party negotiate with him? Did you have to bribe him? If he survived, what did you do to him afterwards? Hand him over to the guards?
After Irontusk was caught in the nets it was pretty obvious to him that he couldn't escape whole...so the group could negotiate the matter with him (I think some money also sweetened the deal). After that the group left him in peace (they weren't that big fans of guards either and the thing Irontusk had done was pretty much below notice in their moral scale...)
BTW, I think there was a minor error in irontusk character which was pointed out in later issue letter column...he has one feat too much (cannot remember which one was suggested to be dropped).
I've run it twice now, once with the Fiance's group-of-four, and once with the two new players (and Fiance filling in the gap) who are heading to join up with my Shackled City adventure path folks.
The first time, it didn't go so incredibly well for the Human Monk, Half-Elf Sorcerer, Elf Cleric and Human Rogue - though they did catch him a few steps from his boat, the monk spent most of the time swimming, the Sorcerer gave up and pelted him with magic missiles - rolling so many 1s I could have cried for him, and it was the Rogue that managed to catch him. The Elf didn't even try (medium armor and shield = no swim). Irontusk flew along his path, skipped through all the bad spots, and left the Monk and Rogue to flail in the aftermath (the spider got them, the chickens got them, they fell through a boat's bottom, you name it, it went wrong).
The second time, it went very well. The Half-Elf Sorceress in the new group rolled quite a few 4s for her version of the Magic Missile Solution, the Human Fighter stood and watched (again, medium armor and shield), but the Rogue had maxed out his Jump and Tumble and managed to stay out of the water and as such, landed on an already badly hurt Irontusk, who passed out when his rage ended.
So, as in many parts of D&D, it seems it was more about dice-rolls than anything else.
Was it a murderous elf wizard, or was it Memorex the doppelganger wizard? Only time, the DM, and the elf's player know for sure.
Another option is to just let things play out as they will. Sometimes interesting things can develop... and sometimes they don't, but at least your players will get it out of their system and perhaps gain some understanding on how you will adjudicate such matters in the future.
;)
GGG