Hey, everyone. Pretty soon my group will be beginning the battles in the Champion's Belt, and I just wanted to make sure I'm doing everything right. I've got one question- just how are you supposed to run the first battle in the Champion's Games?
The battle is supposed to be four warbands in a free-for-all Battle Royale. This is cool and everything, but considering the PCs are one of the four groups, is the DM supposed to run all of the others? I mean, should I roll for every attack that every single member of every other team makes? If so, that, in my mind, leads to the PCs getting their turns, then the DM takes half an hour to run all of the enemies (most of which won't even be attacking the PCs, so it's not like they'll even see any of the progress). Or is there some sort of formula to just gloss over the other teams, saying, "this team takes X damage to each of them, and uses up resources Y and Z"? I mean, I don't see this as something I can't do on my own, but all I see is this one battle taking forever and bogging down the game for everyone but me (and causing me all sorts of ridiculous bookkeeping, keeping track of the attack bonuses, ACs, and Hit Points of 15 people all attacking each other).
Any advice? What did you do with this encounter?
Any advice? What did you do with this encounter?
The first thing I did that made things easier was to have each group roll a single initiative. Then each group could maneuver and attack as a single unit. This made it a lot easier to run - you're tracking four groups' turns rather than 16 or 20 individual init counts.
Secondly, pay attention to the goals/tactics of the various groups. Arcane Auriga and Badlands Revenge should square off against each other immediately. If your PCs are smart (as mine were), they let those two go at it for a while and put their focus on the last group (name escapes me). Since all of Arcane Auriga's attacks are identical with the exception of the leader's higher bonus, I had them set their bows against the Badland's charge and just keep stepping back and firing. Roll a fist full of d20s and you're good.
Finally, give some thought to the initial group placements. I had each group start at the point of a square ~100 feet square in the middle of the arena. Auriga and Badlands were at adjoining corners, so they went straight after each other. This gave the PCs even more reason to focus on the third team and clean up the mess later.
All told, it did take some work to run it all and there were some pauses in between PC actions. Give them some good descritions of what's going on and it'll keep their interest.
Further, I made a few modifications to the later battles. My PCs ended up discovering and wiping out Bozal and ulgurstasta on the second (break) day. It just about killed them too, but now they've been able to focus on the arena battles, which means they're completely buffed when they go in. So I added a third member to Pitch Blade, bumping that battle up a bit and making it more interesting. Also, I had all the participants start out in a circle about 50' in diameter and interwove the group members (PC1 - Pitch Blade 1 - PC2 - Pitch Blade 2, etc.). That made it interesting since the PCs could start out clumped together and leveraging each other's abilities.
Then for the third battle, I increased the froghemoth by 8HD. That nearly resulted in a TPK! Lots of fun though, and the PCs are awed by the XP total for it.
the way i plan on doing this is not to make any rolls except those that effect the characters. compare the teams before hand and decide who you would like to see win between them and have that happen as long as the pcs dont intervene. you should know by the beginning of the battle which groups are allied with the pcs (if any) so its a good bet that they wont be attacked by them.if u roll every attck that doesnt directly effect he PCs then this will slow down to a crawl and be very uninteresting. better to describe the fighting going on around them and taking a few hp off of targets later on in the fight to suggest the fighting they have been in. maybe someone who has run CB can help more.
Bit of a mad idea, not sure how it'll work but you could allocate members of each team to be played by the players until certain events happen which require the DM to take back control.
Providing your players are good role-players they won't make suicidal/out of character decisions for the (N)PCs.
You could also roll all the side battles in advance (before the session), like a round by round breakdown. then you'll know that in round 1 something happends, then round 2 something else, etc.
They you can describe the side battle while you dealing with the PC one. You should know in advance (like the previous poster said) who the "bad guys" are so it shouldn't be too complicated to do this.
Just a tought.
cheers,
ET
The only problem with that approach depends upon how well you know your party. If you can predict which group they'll go for first, you can fight out the rest of the battle beforehand. If not (and my party falls into this category!) then you may have to wing it.
Fortunately my lot are about to face the Faceless One, so I don't have to worry about this yet!
Yeah, my DM put a lot of work into this battle. Then we *killed* everyone.
Still have fond memories of that session.
One of my players is playing a half-drow, so I'm seriously thinking about having the elves fire on her first. Hopefully they'll ally themselves with one of the teams beforehand to take the sting off.
One of my players is playing a half-drow, so I'm seriously thinking about having the elves fire on her first. Hopefully they'll ally themselves with one of the teams beforehand to take the sting off.
Yep, those archers can deal out the damage pretty quick if they focus.
I also had each team roll initiative using the highest initiative modifier.
My players made a deal with Badlands, but didn't talk with the other two teams. Since the Janni is such a "ladies' man" I had him join up with the archers, who (according to the adventure) wanted to take out Badlands first.
So as they ganged up on Badlands, the PCs took on the archers by going toe-to-toe, taking away their ranged advantage. Badlands went down quick, but the PCs took out everyone else a few rounds after the archers went down.
It was a quick, down and dirty fight.
As for rolls, I grabbed enough d20s and rolled for the whole team at once. It wasn't all that hard or time consuming, and the players were able to watch and go "..ooh, three crits on the Badlands... that sucks to be them."
It was a fun night.
I just rolled initiative for everyone and jumped in to run the whole combat. And it went just fine.
Part of what made it all go "fine" was that the PCs had done a terrible job trying to negotiate with the other teams before the battle. One PC had truly offended Arcane Auriga with lewd advances during the free dinner, and they made no effort to approach anyone else about forming an alliance. Apparently these clowns don't watch survivor. Anyway, that meant that all three teams faced off against the PCs first, which made everything the NPC gladiators did interesting.
Anyway, I should preface this by saying that the group was 6 PCs, mostly 9th level (a few 8s in the mix) so they were roughly at the right APL for the fight.
The battle opened with a barrage from the three elven archers, who nearly killed the party member that had been so rude to them, hitting him 6 out of 6 times. So they started off on their heels Then they were charged by the melee types from the other two teams, and things got hectic quickly.
There would have been one party death without a very timely Delay Death spell (target can't be killed by hit point damage). The others managed to survive, thanks to some pretty canny control of the battlefield. The same hero cleric that saved the party tank with the delay death spell took the elves out of the early rounds of the fight with a Wind wall spell. Once the elves saw that, and saw that the all of the badlands revenge team was inside the wall fighting the PCs EXCEPT for the nasty druid leader, they turned on the druid and managed to kill him -- which both saved the PCs from the elves for a few rounds and kept them from having to deal with the druid. So it wasn't ALL the other three teams against the PCs, but it looked like that at first.
Anyway, they defeated the mercenaries, when the elves came through the wind wall they managed to make short work of them, and forced the surrender of the jinn. It was a lot of fun -- a scary, confusing tough fight with a lot of close calls, but they made it -- in a couple of cases thanks to those swift action spells like close wounds that can really make a difference when the chips are down.
-j
We had that first battle just yesterday. It was a pretty fast run :)
I let the PCs roll for init individually and rolled once for each other team using their best mod (which brings the Jannis group to init 30). I rolled all NPCs but had decided hteir tactics beforehand.
Because the PCs broaght 7 (including a paladin mount) into the arena, the odds were very much at their favor.
Beside it was the elf sister intention to pepper the Badlands, they were attacked using vicious ride-by-attacks by Jannis team in the first round (killing one elf and badly wound another). In the same round the PCs disables the Badland Druid using a charge attack and a lucky punch plus one of the gnolls using magic.
Round 2: Elfs fights Janni but the two mercenaries decided to ride-charge one or two PCs because they use the momentum of their horses speed. The PCs bard effectivly disabled one rider using magic but recieved a critical spririted charge slash with 40 points which nearly killed him. Meanwhile the rest of the badlands team was dispatched easily. janni killed another elf.
Round 3: Janni killed the third elf leaving only the elf-leader. The PCs killed the second rider and started to use range attacks and magic against Janni and elf.
In the beginning of round 4, both, Janni and elf deided to surrender.
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my PCs allied with janni.... the elves got one shot off tward the gnolls, and the PCs were taking down the druid, when all three horsemen charged the elves, janni and the first merc both criticaled the lead elf, while the other merc criticaled one of the other ones... all in all that battle the PCs got 5 critical misses and 1 critical hit, the elves got 2 critical hits, jannis band got 7 critical hits and the gnoll team was out befor they even got to attack
In our game the Janni and The Elves teamed up
But our Dragon Disciple that had cast enlarge self went over and killed all the elves in two turn mostly on there turn through cleaves and at attacks of opertunity
The other two groups were wasted pretty quick too I think the entire combat laster under 5 rounds
We are kinda mean SOBs
My group loves combat, so I played out the whole thing. I tried to organize it a bit by rolling initiatives ahead of time and making a chart to track actions and spell durations, etc. Worked pretty well, and the group had a ball.
They actually won very easily by being very smart, if not particularly brave. The elven wizard in the party made some excellent diplomacy rolls and brokered a deal with the elven lady archers to not fight against each other until the other groups were eliminated. They also cast haste and a bunch of other buff spells on themselves beforehands, but disguised that fact by advancing very slowly and cautiously together higher initiatives held action until the lower guys went) into the arena, avoiding combat with anyone for the first couple of rounds. Then when one of the mercenaries strayed too close (not knowing they were magically enhanced, he thought he was far enough away that he could reach them with his next action, but they couldn't reach him), they burst into full speed and three of them jumped him at the same time, slicing and dicing him into small, bite-sized pieces in a single round. This enraged the jann, who had appealed to them for a "good, clean fight" and asked that they try to avoid killing his men, if possible, before the match. He threw chivalry to the winds, dismounted, went invisible, and snuck up and really nailed their party cleric from behind, causing them their only anxious moment of the fight. In the meantime, the archers had filled the druid and his gnolls (and the other mercenary) with arrows clearing the field for the final confrontation. My party also used the wind wall gambit to frustrate the archers first volley, and by the time they were able to outflank the wall and bring their bows to bear, the party's hasted fighters were right on their toes. The end wasn't pretty.
The crowd gave them a mix of boos (from those who believed in fair play) and cheers (from those who appreciated their rock-solid tactics) after their victory, but they were on to the next round.
Like Brian's group above, my players brokered a deal with Arcane Auriga to hold off on fighting until the other teams were down.
To keep things simple, I had "whole team" initiative, and for the players just went around the table; it ran very smooth, no complaints.
My players won in just 4 rounds! The Sapphire Squad was taken out in round 1 with a combination of arrows from Arcane Auriga and an ice storm/fireball combo from the party's war mage and sorceror. Badlands revenge lasted a bit longer, and round 3 saw the elven archers turn on my party, realizing it wouldn't be longer. A nasty summoned celestial tiger and more fireballs put an end to them, and our barbarian/bard went toe to toe, rage to rage with the crocodile form of the Badlands druid. The archers almost took out the party's magic users, but in the end, my players were the only team left standing.
The fight itself took about an hour or so to run, but I really played up the pre-fight build up - the trash talk down in the Coenoby, the roar of the crowd, the feel of the earth shaking as the masses stomped their feet, the introduction by the arena judge. After every action by the players, I would give crowd reaction; the players ate that up. By the end of the fight, I had all my players shouting and cheering at the table. When that happens, you know you've done a good job as DM. Of course the crowd went wild and started chanting their name ("Mangus' Mighty Mace", after their paladin leader).
Becase of the speed and swiftness of their victory, they gained instant fame, and will no longer be anonymous dungeon crawlers. Also, I'm having to buff up Pitch Blade for their next fight, just to give them a challenge. Pitch Blade has a new pet - the owlbear from the Whispering Cairn adventure. The players had captured it and her cub, and sold them to the Emporium. The Emporium promptly sold the momma owlbear to the Free City arena, where Raknian has had her magically "enhanced"...insert wicked DM grin here :)
In end, the player's played pretty honorably. My players didn't kill unnecessarily, and the people who died in the arena (the Badlands Revenge druid, the mercs from Sapphire Sqad, and 1 elven archer) really died to over kill, going below negative 10 in one swoop. Anyone who surrendered got away safely. In the end, our party's elf who had brokered the deal with the elven archers gave them money to get their comrade raised (!!!!) - you can bet he'll get extra xp for that bit of roleplaying, and that the whole party will benefit later on down the road, they will be returning as allies somewhere for sure.
We actually did this battle a couple weeks ago- but I've been without internet access, so I haven't been able to post it.
The party won- quite easily, I may add. Mainly because they planned ahead, and they're a bit more powerful than average characters. (But that's intentional.)
I ran the entire combat, running each team on their own initiative (and as it was only fair, I let the players all go on the same initiative, and plan out their attacks each turn, as that's what all of the other teams would be doing). They planned out each turn, and because of their bluffing at the Free Dinner, they had disguised themselves as a weak and orderless team, so the others more or less ignored them as a threat until it was too late. I have to say, it went a lot better than I thought it would.
I ran this combat last night. First, the roster; my group, the Keys of Twilight, consist of:
- Gogen, a human ex-samurai
- Marzena, a human sorcerer/dragon disciple *
- Arakis, a drow cleric/fighter
- Baldar, an elf evoker
- Thersis, a human rogue/shadowdancer
- Motechi, a dwarf cleric
* This is the same Marzena from the Blackwall Keep section; she's the samurai's cohort.
During the Free Dinner, the party downplayed their abilities; Thersis's Bluff skill was good enough to drop the party's rank to 1. (Gogen used this to place a massive bet on his own group, which is why he's an EX-samurai.) The morning before the fight, Thersis also managed to bluff Arcane Auriga into targeting Badlands Revenge, and Gogen convinced Sapphire Squad to go after the archers.
The four teams went onto the field, getting introduced and cheered on. When the Keys came on, there wasn't much cheering; most of the crowd thought they'd be pushovers. A few rounds of trading buff spells and potions, and they were off.
All four of the elven archers fired at the druid and his lackeys, scoring several hits. Thersis (invisible, thanks to a potion), moved toward the druid and ended up getting an AoO when one of the gnolls charged his teammates.
Then Baldar threw an empowered fireball at Sapphire Squad. In one step, everyone on that team was dead, save the janni. I put on my best look of betrayal at that move.
Said janni went invisible, determined to get some revenge. This was immediately countered by Motechi summoning a celestial griffon, and -- a lucky guess -- placing it adjacent to the invisible janni. Thanks to its scent ability, it was able to guess his location, but failed to hit.
Motechi followed this up by casting wall of stone, completely blocking off the archers with a 20-foot-high wall.
The druid started flinging balls of flame (but missed), while the gnolls went after the rogue. By this time, Arakis charged into the fray.
The rogue backed off, pulling out a bear from his bag of tricks, giving the gnolls more to worry about. Arakis scored two critical hits (getting the 25% "crowd goes wild" each time), and Baldar teleported himself and the samurai next to the druid.
It only took a couple more rounds for these guys to finish off the druid. The janni didn't last much longer; Marzena managed to guess his location, thanks to the griffon, and pelted him with empowered magic missiles until he dropped.
With the battle dying down, the dwarf made an impressive Intimidate check, and got the archers to agree to surrender.
All told, the fight took about 6 rounds -- less than a minute -- and resulted in two teams dead, one team unhurt but defeated, and only one member of the winners injured. Everyone's rethinking their opinions of them now. Heh.
My group's team, The Untouchables, won the Games in just 4 rounds. Each group rolled one initiative and acted as a unit. My group went first, thoroughly trouncing Sapphire Squad in the first round. Cleaver, the warforged fighter finished off Korush and one of the mercs after a well-thrown fireball from Dresden, the half-elf wizard softened them up. Cleaver then raged due to using a certain cursed sword from HoHR. After some confusion, and after the whole of Arcane Auriga fell to his blade, he dropped it and used his back-up greatsword. The rest of the team tore through Badlands Revenge with little trouble. The only near casualty was Darius the half-elf cleric/exorcist of the Silver Flame, who was dropped to 18 by Joren and Scriminaduro. Joren even raged and shifted into croc form, but didn't get to attack in that form once. The gnolls outlived Joren and the badger and fought to the death.
I had each of my PCs play as themselves and another group. I wrote out the stats beforehand, kept one team for myself (I believe Sapphire Squad) and we dove into the big fight. As written, the PCs don't become immediate targets for everyone, but I made it clear that I expected them to play appropriately. I thought it went well, because it's no fun to watch the DM roll dice to himself for ten minutes at a time.
If you use music in your campaign, there's a tune on the Midnight Syndicate D&D album called "Beasts of the Wizard" that I think will be great for the beginning of the competition. Give it a listen if you have it.
If you use music in your campaign, there's a tune on the Midnight Syndicate D&D album called "Beasts of the Wizard" that I think will be great for the beginning of the competition. Give it a listen if you have it.
I use a laptop as a DM aid. My twist on the Champion Games was to drag my stereo into the dining room and plug the output from the laptop into the input of the stereo. Then I blared a looping sound file of a crowd cheering. It was awesome! I also had several trumpet "fanfares" that would announce the games and the victories, etc. Oh yeah, I also had a "booing" crowd sound for when something happened that displeased the crowd.
This little extra work made the Champion's Belt one of the best mods of the adventure path so far.