Could some of you Paizo people (sounds like an insult, but it isn't :P) give me and other potential writers more information about what you are looking for in Critical Threats and other Campaign Workbook articles? I'm thinking of submitting a good NPC, and was wondering if you just take NPCs that can be foes of the PCs.
Thanks.
WaterdhavianFlapjack
Creative Director
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I'll do the 2nd first.
Campaign Workbook: Look through issues of Dungeon since #114 for "holes". Things that you think should have been covered but haven't yet been covered. Another tip: While you're gaming, or preparing for a game, and you find yourself doing something that seems more like work than play... that's something we can use. Campaign Workbook articles should do the work for the DM so he can have more fun playing the game.
Critical Threats: The best way to catch our attention with a critical threat is to propose an NPC that makes a great villain in a movie or novel. We're talking appearance and history and personality here. Think of archetypes for villains in movies and novels, and then do up a character that fills that role. Think of a villain from your own campaign that your players really loved to hate (not necessarilly the ones you enjoyed playing).
The best way to get your critical threat rejected (or worse: Mocked) is to get too weird. We like to see templates and prestige classes used, but only when they're there to support a villain's history, appearance, or personality. And only in moderation. As a general rule, once a villain has more than 2-3 character classes (including prestige classes) we lose interest. It's worse for templates. Once you apply a template to your critical threat... stop there. If you've seen a particular type of villan overused in the magazine, that's also an indication of something to stay away from.
Thanks, both of you. One last question: What level of NPCs are you looking for in Crit Threats, or does it matter? Are you looking for low-level NPCs just like you're looking for low-level adventures? Should the NPC just be high enough to allow it to have some cool abilities that fits it's backstory?
Thanks again.
WaterdhavianFlapjack
Does anyone have a comprehensive list of Critical Threats that have already appeared? Even the basic theme would be nice so I know I'm not duplicating one that's already been done.
I think the first one was a drider with some dragon hatchlings (Sexy Saddie?). I know recently there has been a dragon hunter, the dancing half orc barbarian and Glimmerpane.
Has anyone done something like a defrocked priest/con man for instance?
The best critical threat I've seen in a while is the most recent in Dungeon #127: an intelligent mirror of opposition. The initial idea seemed weird to me, but by the end of the article several ideas for how I could use the thing, even make it part of a major campaign arc, were swirling around in my head. I thought it was very well written. Give me ideas. The standards - liches and archmages and fallen paladins and such - I can come up with just fine on my own.
Thanks. Glimmerpane began as a villain in one of my own campaigns so believe me, it can really train wreck a group of PCs :) The best part of the adventure came when the PCs realized that the mirror they had smashed was a normal mirror and the "master villain" they had defeated was just another duplicated thrall, giving Glimmerpane time to escape in the confusion. They kept looking over their shoulders of the rest of the campaign waiting for Glimmerpane to take another crack at them (pardon the pun :) ).
I got really, really, good at the cryptic smile whenever anyone betrayed them...
Paranoia, the DMs best friend :)
Would you ever take an epic critical threat? My players are trying to hunt the big baddie down but little do they know...
Would you ever take an epic critical threat? My players are trying to hunt the big baddie down but little do they know...
Have you looked here?
http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fc/20050921a
Would you ever take an epic critical threat? My players are trying to hunt the big baddie down but little do they know...
I'm not part of the staff (obviously), so take my answer with a grain of salt. I think anything is possible - Hal proved that this month with an intelligent magic weapon being presented. Being interesting is far more important than what level, or race, or alignment, or whatever.
Now, that said, making an Epic threat presents some challenges. First, the stat block is really going to chew up your word count, leaving you very little room to effectively describe the NPC. Along with just having a bunch of levels - and therefore requiring a lot of space - you'll also have to describe all their epic stuff, since you can only assume readers have the 3 core books.
I'm personally working on a 10th level critical threat at the moment (I'm hoping to be done revising today - I have to cut 50 or so words out). Even at 10th level, I found the stat block really limited the number of words I had to work with to describe the character and breath life into him. I think if I advanced this character to just 20th level, I'd need the entire 1200 or so words just for the stat block.
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Creative Director
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Epic critical threats certainly aren't out. There's a section in the DMG that talks about epic characters, so if you use the rules presented in that section we don't even need to reprint anything. The stat block WILL be longer the higher level you go, though, if only because higher level characters have more feats and more magic items. If the submitted critical threat is:
1: Interesting and cool
and
2: Is 1250 words long
it's all good. Epic, psionic, ninja, incarnum, Red Steel legacy inheritor, whatever.
Does anyone have a comprehensive list of Critical Threats that have already appeared? Even the basic theme would be nice so I know I'm not duplicating one that's already been done.
I'll second that motion. It would be really annoying to come up with a great idea, send it in, and have it being in one of the Dungeons I don't have. BTW, kudos on Glimmerpane. Very evil!!
Mwahahaha! And, good idea on the con man. I promise I won't steal it. :0 (no, really.)WaterdhavianFlapjack
"Epic, psionic, ninja, incarnum, Red Steel legacy inheritor, whatever."
"Red Steel legacy inheritor"?
Seriously? Even though Mystara and its associated realms (Red Steel, Hollow World) is an unsupported campaign world? Man, it would be so cool to see someone write up a critical threat like that. (If only the need to define and explain the Red Curse wouldn't take up a hefty chunk of word count...)
...(If only the need to define and explain the Red Curse wouldn't take up a hefty chunk of word count...)
Didn't they define that in Dragon 315, the campaign classics issue?
WaterdhavianFlapjack
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Creative Director
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"Epic, psionic, ninja, incarnum, Red Steel legacy inheritor, whatever.""Red Steel legacy inheritor"?
Seriously? Even though Mystara and its associated realms (Red Steel, Hollow World) is an unsupported campaign world? Man, it would be so cool to see someone write up a critical threat like that. (If only the need to define and explain the Red Curse wouldn't take up a hefty chunk of word count...)
I'm not saying getting a Red Steel critical threat in the magazine would be easy... but that setting is said to have fans who work on Dungeon...
I'm not saying getting a Red Steel critical threat in the magazine would be easy... but that setting is said to have fans who work on Dungeon...
Hmmmmm... Inside info. Seems promising.
WaterdhavianFlapjack
where do i send any critical threats to?