Yesterday I made a post about this that got shunted into Suggestions/Homebrew/Whatever for some reason, never to see the light of day again, so this time I'll keep it short and sweet.
I need advice/ideas on how to challenge a low-level party that has to climb the tallest mountain(s) in the world (infested with rocs) and then travel through a forest full of über-dire wolves. I don't want to TPK them, but challenge them with these foes (and possibly some abberations) - preferably in a way that doesn't need to lead to combat. Puzzles of some sort would be nice, and ideas of how to make the trip fun and memorable.
Suggestions on aberrations to use are also welcome.
Some facts:
- The PCs will start at lvl.1 having to climb the mountain and go through the forest
- They will have no wizards, rogues or paladins, but possibly oracles or summoners.
- The PCs are flavored as Neanderthals, with Neanderthal equipment
I second the skill challenges. Also for puzzles:
When the party summits/begins entering the woods they find stones, strange and ancient with markings they don't recognize. These stones can be used to
- call/dismiss the wolves or the aberrations
- present riddles or challenges in the form of puzzles
- the party has to align 3 of them a certain way for a ghostly message
- the stone speaks a riddle then waits for an answer threatening pain for a missed answer or a boon for a right one
- a massive storm is brewing and the stones can help keep them safe if they can appease the spirits trapped within
Plus there's tons of low level hazards in a forest you could build challenges around: bogs containing brown mold, natural but feral animals that the party could use handle animal to deal with like using diplomacy on humanoids, or even plant poisons or boons they could find to either hinder or ease their journey.
Incidentally, why are they undertaking this quest?
Thanks for the Skill Challenge link! I'll definitely be looking into that. The stones are an interesting idea and might foreshadow something else that's going to happen pretty well, so thanks for that, too. :) But what are boons?
Incidentally, why are they undertaking this quest?
There was an evil omen: one of the two moons left its normal path and eclipsed the sun for a week, and the shamans had prophetic dreams leading the them to believe that all life on the world was in danger. They gathered their most promising clan members (the PCs) to discover what had angered the spirits so much, and one of the clans mentioned having seen something strange to the north, which is essentially the group's only lead. To find out exactly where to go, they climb the tallest mountain to see what the lone clan member had seen, which turns out to be a pillar of rising smoke at the edge of the horizon. The easiest way to get there is to leave the mountains and travel through the woods.
I hate to reveal too much about what's actually going on in case someone on the boards might like to play, but alternate ideas for what could lead them on the trail are welcome, too.
Skill challenges. If you have access to Curse of the Crimson Throne there is a really cool free-running chase through the city, the mechanic of that chase would be awesome for a run for your life from vicious wolves in the forest seen. Basically rather than map out a chase there were 25 cards each card had two different move options, climbing, escape artist through a hole, jumping a barrier, spotting a short cut and various skills related to moving through the environment. Based on your sucess in you could move up one card or skip a a card or two. It was really cool. It would easily be adapted to the forest environment.
Skill challenges. If you have access to Curse of the Crimson Throne there is a really cool free-running chase through the city, the mechanic of that chase would be awesome for a run for your life from vicious wolves in the forest seen. Basically rather than map out a chase there were 25 cards each card had two different move options, climbing, escape artist through a hole, jumping a barrier, spotting a short cut and various skills related to moving through the environment. Based on your sucess in you could move up one card or skip a a card or two. It was really cool. It would easily be adapted to the forest environment.
That's excellent - I know my gaming club has the CotCT books. Thanks! (I tried running a similar sort of chase with rules I found on the net... not so successful. But I bet Paizo has worked out better rules.)
Boons are an idea normally associated with NPCs. Essentially it's something cool the NPC might bestow on the party by virtue of their skill or knowledge. Examples might be a ranger teaching them a trick granting a +2 on Survival checks for a days travel or a cleric using a ritualized version of a Bless spell to grant +1 vs fear for an hour
Angry territorial mountain goats (one of the main food sources for the rocs) who try to bull-rush the players while they are on a dangerously steep slope.
Another tribe with access to technologies unknown to the players' own tribe - even something simple like ropes.
Boons are an idea normally associated with NPCs. Essentially it's something cool the NPC might bestow on the party by virtue of their skill or knowledge. Examples might be a ranger teaching them a trick granting a +2 on Survival checks for a days travel or a cleric using a ritualized version of a Bless spell to grant +1 vs fear for an hour
Interesting. Ah, I found something about it in the prd. The only problem I can see with it is that once they leave the mountains and go deep into the forest, they'll be going where there are no people. But that's a worry for a later adventure - for the first one, it should work really well, thanks.
Angry territorial mountain goats (one of the main food sources for the rocs) who try to bull-rush the players while they are on a dangerously steep slope.
Another tribe with access to technologies unknown to the players' own tribe - even something simple like ropes.
I love the goat idea! As for the techs, I figured that I'd wait to introduce new ones 'til they run into the Cro-Magnon, since all the known tribes are working together to send the PCs out, but I like the idea of some simple things like ropes being new and interesting to the Neanderthals. Sounds like a boon that could be bestowed, or rather a favor.
I've read a little about skill challenges on the net now, and there seems to be a lot of people who think they're not fun. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to make a fun skill challenge in an online game (pbem)? I tend to roll all the dice for the players to keep things moving, so maybe they just aren't appropriate for a pbem?
Note: It's possible that some of the unhappy people were playing 4e; I have no idea if their skill challenges differ from the ones in CotCT.
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Ive used skill challenges, and related things my fair share, Ive found my players get into them more when you describe the challenge in as much a heroic or gritty way as possible, at least with my group but that's the sort of story my pc's like to think their in.
Rather then "insert ability check's here to avoid hazard A or accomplish task B" just spice itup so that skills success seems like a heroic act.
Like...
"Overhead you hear the ominous sound of cracking rocks, your gaze follows upward to see a hail of razor edged stones hurtling downward! You twist roughly and kick at the stoney rock face hurling yourself out of the way of the rocky onslaught, hands gripping the rope until your knuckles turn white praying the falling rocks don't knock the pitons free"
Witch amounts to a perception roll to notice the falling rocks, Acrobatics to get out of the way and climb to maintain your hold on the ropes.
One question I've always had about skill challenges in PF: do you present it to EACH player individually or is it communal. Ex: the PCs come to a thicket broken up by a series of small bogs. Moss covered rocks and fallen logs litter the landscape, just above the water line, hinting at the possibility of a crossing.
Now, in this challenge I'd had it s/up like a 4e version where one PC makes a perception or knowledge nature to figure a path, then another rolled acrobatics, a third rolled climb, and so on but they didn't get into it since this seemed unrealistic ("how can one guy's acrobatics roll get the clumsy cleric in chainmail across the bog?") and I didn't want to make EVERYONE have to pass ALL the rolls.
How does the mechanic work in PF for multiple characters?
One question I've always had about skill challenges in PF: do you present it to EACH player individually or is it communal. Ex: the PCs come to a thicket broken up by a series of small bogs. Moss covered rocks and fallen logs litter the landscape, just above the water line, hinting at the possibility of a crossing.
Now, in this challenge I'd had it s/up like a 4e version where one PC makes a perception or knowledge nature to figure a path, then another rolled acrobatics, a third rolled climb, and so on but they didn't get into it since this seemed unrealistic ("how can one guy's acrobatics roll get the clumsy cleric in chainmail across the bog?") and I didn't want to make EVERYONE have to pass ALL the rolls.
How does the mechanic work in PF for multiple characters?
I don't know how I'd handle it in a face-to-face game, but in a pbem I'd probably let the perception/knowledge check be made by any one of the PCs, but require acrobatics/climb checks for each of them, maybe with a bonus for Aid Another? Still a bit fuzzy on how the challenges work, but at least in my pbem rolling for everyone isn't a problem, since I have so much time to answer.
The more I look at skill challenges, the more I think they aren't going to be fun in a pbem where I roll the dice for the group. Does anyone have any advice regarding this, or alternative ideas?