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I stuck this in advice because the rule question I have is a minor one and I feel that the advice I need is a bit more pressing. Sorry moderators if this has to get shifted over to the rules thread.
With that said, hello everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday season and I want to type a big ‘thanks’ in advance for any advice and comments to come.
So let’s dive right into the more pressing issue: I need help with location, mini-dungeons, and event ideas! I am running a homebrew campaign that is mostly exploration based that uses the Kingmaker hex idea as well as the Landmark, Standard, and Hidden locations idea but without kingdom building. My players will be able to clear ‘the fog of war’ so to speak. As they explore hexes, the hex will become ‘unshaded’ and they will be able to see the terrain on the ‘world map’ (I should state now that the world map will just be a huge map I created in Illustrator and Photoshop and the hexes will just be layers that I delete as they explore). As the players explore, the area unravels. Simple enough right?
I need ideas for the minor location events similar to those that can be found throughout the Kingmaker AP. Without spoiling too much, I am referring to the Landmark, Standard and Hidden locations that can be unearthed by exploring the hexes. I am struggling to come up with ideas for these minor landmarks, whether it be encounters, mini dungeons or puzzles.
Since my PCs will be 1-2 level when they begin the exploration portion of the game, I am looking for some minor events that can be used as puzzles and minor quests to gain xp. The random encounters for the explored area are a bit high, so I do need them to gain XP from a secondary source (exploration).
The setting: PCs are exploring a region of land to the north of the kingdom called “the Cathills” for the ridiculous amount of mountain lions. This land is filled with orcs, goblins and a ton of fey oriented creatures but little in the terms of playable characters save Gnomes. The deeper they go, the increasingly savage it gets. I guess, in a sense, it resembles The Stolen Lands however mostly hills and colder temperature. My PCs: I have a paladin, a ranger, a bard, and a druid. Religion in my game is important, but I have my own homebrew non alignment oriented gods. All of the PCs worship one goddess while most of the creatures in the Cathills worship a different god. The potential for the paladin to do some crusading is already obvious.
I am GMing for a buddy and his two kids, a 13 year old boy and a 10 year old girl. Paladin and Druid are both 13 and 10 years old respectively. This is their first time playing pen and paper and it’s safe to say I rocked their socks with the first adventure. We played for 12 straight hours and the kids did not want to stop. Now, I noticed that with children, they do not know much about character classes to role play properly, so I have seen their ‘true colors’ so to speak. The son is obsessed with saving his butt and finding gold as well as thinks the entire adventure can be played like a World of Warcraft quest line. Now, this is not very paladin like so I do not know how to approach this subject at all. The daughter, the druid, plays her character strong CG, but doesn’t get the whole, protect and preserve nature. I need additional advice from the dads in this community for when it come to GMing for children. Ideas to have them except and RP their characters, and keeping them entertained.
Now for my rule question: The above druid has a Big Cat animal companion. I am a bit confused on how the attacks work. I know this is a newb question but I have no prior 3.5 experience. For one, the cat has a bite and 2 claws. Does this mean the cat can make a full attack? If so what is the bite and claws attack bonus (are the claws considered secondary weapons?)? I might be over thinking this but does 2 claws mean the cat is able to attack with a bite, claw, claw? Or do 2 claws basically mean 1 attack with the cats 2 claws?
The first game I quickly house ruled and began allowing the cat a full attack similar to how a PC would get if it had Two-Weapon Fighting but did not penalize the claws. Also, each claw was a separate dice rolls so she rolled 3 for a full attack. I told the group that I will be coming back with an update on the rules so she is prepared for some changes.
So thanks again for things to come.
First i suggest re-reading the Animal companion ruls. that said the Tiger gets 1 attack if it moves. If it does not move it gets all attacks at its highest base attack, it does not use the Two weapon fighting rules.
Cat, Big (Lion, Tiger)
Starting Statistics: Size Medium; Speed 40 ft.; AC +1 natural armor; Attack bite (1d6), 2 claws (1d4); Ability Scores Str 13, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 10; Special Attacks rake (1d4); Special Qualities low-light vision, scent.
7th-Level Advancement: Size Large; AC +2 natural armor; Attack bite (1d8), 2 claws (1d6); Ability Scores Str +8, Dex –2, Con +4; Special Attacks grab, pounce, rake (1d6).
See how at level 7 it gets an ability called pounce? this lets it charge and get a full attack.
You offer no help. I already understand all of this for the most part. Post somewhere else
You offer no help. I already understand all of this for the most part. Post somewhere else
Your comment was unnecessarily rude for someone who was trying to help.
You are right, I apologize. But posting the animal companion stat block and telling me to re read the rules is not help.
But his last line was helpful towards your question.
As for the kids, good luck. It will be hard to teach children the finer arts of role play, it may be better to let them play them as they wish and gradually lead them to what their characters should be.
Paladin: put in opportunities for him to do paladin things (helping people without reward, etc), reward him when he makes the right decision, punish him when he does not.
Druid: Same advice as for the paladin.
Animal Companion: 2 claws means 2 attacks, all animal companion attacks are primary, until 7th level it can move and make one attack (bite or 1 claw), or not move and make a full attack.
Okay that helps. I have been doing it right this entire time. I guess I kept re-reading the rules and it got to the point where I was misinterpreting things.
I am a pedagogue and a childcare consultant, so this should be up my alley.
First the rules questions: Most cats full attack with claw, claw, bite, yes. If they pounce, they get to attack with claw, claw, bite, rake. They do not get more attacks from higher base attack bonus.
When playing with children, you need to keep things interesting, yet simple enough to allow them to grasp things. Get a feel for their personality before pushing them. Kids tend to have a strong sense of fairness and rules, and as long as you teach them the rules and frameworks of the game in a manner they understand, things should be OK, and often show exceptional ability in coping with adversity.
But, be aware that they will likely also spot the inherent discrepancies in power in the game. They will notice if someone is unfairly powerful compared to others, and will not easily understand why one is allowed to do something another is not. It is often very important that things are "fair".
But still, make sure they feel like they are different, that each has their own thing that makes them unique. I know this might seem contradictory, but since these are siblings, they often feel more of a need to be able to be special in their own way. This might well be covered by making them different classes.
As for the "how to roleplay their classes"; do not expect them to grasp the fluff before grasping the basics. The paladin seems to be a victim of MMOs, which trivializes RP in all forms. To counter this, set up encounters where he is rewarded for good behavior. Like let them find a hurt traveler and have him use Lay on Hands, and reward it. Do not get hung up in punishing "wrong" behavior, as it may turn him away from the game altogether. Same with the druid. Let her find a wounded animal, and have her heal it. Reward. And most important of all: Reward teamwork. Kinda Pavlovian, but it works.
Anything else, feel free to ask.
To Sunbeam: Keep on the Borderlands looks awesome! Thanks for pointing that out! I did not know that existed. Now I just have to find some of the material so I can get a feel for it...
To Kamelguru: Thanks for the advice. This is very helpful as well. Some knee jerk questions. When you state
“But, be aware that they will likely also spot the inherent discrepancies in power in the game. They will notice if someone is unfairly powerful compared to others, and will not easily understand why one is allowed to do something another is not. It is often very important that things are "fair".”
Does this mean I am discouraged from using powerful enemies? Is it not a good idea to have stronger NPCs that can’t be taken out by just brute force?
As for the minor rewards example, that actually gave me some plot hook ideas. Another question I have is how to encourage teamwork especially with siblings.
To Sunbeam: Keep on the Borderlands looks awesome! Thanks for pointing that out! I did not know that existed. Now I just have to find some of the material so I can get a feel for it...
To Kamelguru: Thanks for the advice. This is very helpful as well. Some knee jerk questions. When you state
“But, be aware that they will likely also spot the inherent discrepancies in power in the game. They will notice if someone is unfairly powerful compared to others, and will not easily understand why one is allowed to do something another is not. It is often very important that things are "fair".”
Does this mean I am discouraged from using powerful enemies? Is it not a good idea to have stronger NPCs that can’t be taken out by just brute force?As for the minor rewards example, that actually gave me some plot hook ideas. Another question I have is how to encourage teamwork especially with siblings.
I was more thinking that the classes are poorly balanced in terms of dealing damage and being cool on their own, and kids appreciate fairness more than "game balance". This might not seem like such a problem here though, as they picked two classes that are rather good, and one will not overshadow the other too much.
Strong enemies might be an excellent way to have them learn teamwork and come up with ideas. Tell their dad that you are sending a boss their way, and have him play up the importance of teamwork; make up a more elaborate encounter, such as a magical monster that can only be hurt when flanked ("you need to hit it's weak spot on it's back" or something). Or more elaborate; can only hurt in sunlight, where one has to tear down the curtains in the keep, and the paladin needs to hit it while the other is making sure the light hits it. It may be scary, but that much more rewarding when they win. Fudge a few rolls if your dice are being evil. No need to go too hard on them.
A few exploration ideas off the top of my head:
An old fort that has been captured by kobolds - an angry ghost lurks within, waiting for his home to be freed from the invaders.
Giant spiders in a forest (I know it's mostly hills, but hey- this one is a classic). Can they slay the big, evil Mommy Spider?
An ancient, haunted mansion/castle - ghosts and skeletons wander around, waiting to be freed from their curse.
A thorn maze in the midst of the woods (possibly combine with the giant spiders). Can they find their way through?
A wizard's tower with no doors - just magical portals that lead to different rooms... each connected to a different elemental plane!
When GMing for children be patient and use a system of rewards and penalties to help govern their characters behavior. Because they are children, you should make this predominately a system of rewards and only give penalties in extreme cases and even then only after warning them of what the repercussions of an action will be and why.
For repercussions consider temporarily reducing spell casting ability or removing special abilities for a while. Perhaps consider giving the character a temporary negative energy level that will go away after a time. If problems persist you might warn that the negative energy level could be permanent requiring some for of atonement if they do something really bad or if they get to many temporary negative energy levels in a fairly short period of time.
In any case, as I mentioned above, when dealing with children try to give them a fair amount of leeway and focus on rewards, something like this should only be used if they do something that they really should not do and even then you should warn them about it beforehand giving them a chance to change their mind and do something else.
For a reward, experience is obviously the most common but there’s nothing wrong with coming up with coming up with other possible benefits. For example, you could allow the druid to cast a spell and empower or extend it for free or allow the paladin to use a particularly powerful smite evil. With benefits like these I’d make it clear that it a one time benefit and will go away even if not used after a set period of time, anywhere from a day to a week. While experience is good, kids in particular tend to like the flavor and more obvious benefits of rewards that directly impact game play.
As for ideas for encounters, low levels can be a bit limiting unfortunately but there are several good ideas above, also once they get 2nd or 3rd level you rapidly get more creatures that can be potentially used to provide fun challenges. The back of the bestiary has an appendix that has monsters by CR, page 318-319. Look up some of the creatures and read them over while thinking about what kind of encounter you could build around them.
One specific idea I like is having them run into an area that is blighted with dead trees and grass. Upon looking around they could run into some zombies or animals that look like they are horribly misshapen. Later the group may run into a similar area with humanoid zombies that are similarly misshapen and whose attacks may have a disease or be poisonous.
I’ll skip to the end and leave the rest for you to fill out if you so choose. An evil cleric or necromancer is experimenting with animate dead trying to make more powerful and varied undead. At first the characters may run into merely some of his creations. Later they may find a place where he camped or holed up for a while doing research and perhaps find notes or some of his old research.
Eventually, when they are strong enough they could find his “home base”, a cave, tower, or even just a hut, and have to fight him. Given that he should be 5th level or higher I’d wait till the group was a least 3rd level before letting them find him, especially since he is likely going to have undead with him at the time, but the things he creates could be found periodically as the group travels around.
Anyway hope this is helpful, good luck on your game and on bringing in another generation of gamers :)