So I, as a GM, have a unique opportunity to teach my players some lessons, in game. Let me explain:
My players, completely of their own accord, decided to join the Pathfinders! So I'm going to run them through the Pathfinder Society's "boot camp." To make it a bit more interesting than some skill checks and a few combat encounters, I wanted to use the opportunity to teach my players (who are somewhat new to Tabletop games) some valuable lessons.
Since the Society has 3 teachers (Combat, Magic, and Lore), I figured I could get away with 3 lessons. For the Combat, I'm going to teach them about teamwork using training courses that they can only overcome by working together.
The problem I'm running into is coming up with lessons for the Magic and Lore teachers. So I ask the boards:
What lessons would you want to teach your players?
Potions, wands, and scrolls are more important than memorized spells at the lower levels. That a wizard without attack spells better have some kind of plan. That taking 15 minutes to fill in an empty slot with knock isn't the best idea to keep your GM from dropping encounters on you.
Lore is great for learning about monsters. Also it isn't the be all end all of monster identification. Sometimes a creature looks the same as a weaker variety but you wont know that until you get close and see the "ghoul" paralyze your elven fighter, at which point you figure out it is actually a ghast.
My players are different than your players. Why don't you tell us what kind of players and characters you have? If lessons aren't obvious, what issues are they having besides working together?
Those subjects of magic and lore can cover lots of lessons. For example, lore can cover poison, opponent weaknesses, disease, and how to bypass an encounter. Magic could teach the differences between controlling, blasting, and buffing.
My players are different than your players. Why don't you tell us what kind of players and characters you have? If lessons aren't obvious, what issues are they having besides working together?
You're right. I just didn't want to clog up my intro post. Here are my players:
Players:
Cleric with Luck and Trickery Domain -he says that he feels that he's not contributing to combat, even though his buffs often help a lot.
Druid -tends to play through his animal companion and tries to go into melee often, where he typically gets beaten down.
Gunslinger -barely does damage because he's always shooting into melee or through cover without proper feats, but hardly ever gets hit. Turns nearly every NPC interaction into combat.
Ranger -thinks he's a barbarian and gets away with it because of awesome rolls.
I think one lesson I want to instill is that they should try to interact with the world. Perhaps I can frame it using Lore.
Don't get me wrong, they're good players and we have a lot of fun. I'm not trying to fix "problems" or anything. Just trying to figure out ways to enrich the "boot camp" experience with lessons that the Society would want Pathfinders to know.
The obvious lesson for combat, or for magic, for the cleric, at least, is to have the party go through two fights. The fights should be identical, except that in one of them, the party is buffed, and in the other, the party is not buffed.
Now the vagaries of the dice may overwhelm the buffs, but it gives that feel of the impact of his buffs. Granted, he may be wishing he was contributing directly, rather than indirectly, to combat. Realizing the value of his buffs won't address that, if he wants to be up there smashing the enemy himself.
The gunslinger clearly needs to learn what targets to shoot at, and about not picking fights. The former is a good combat lesson, the latter would fit into lore. Demonstrate this with a mix of:
- The guy the gunslinger picks a fight with easily knocks him down
- The person he picks a fight with has lots of support; say the local guards
- After returning from a situation where he picked a fight, he gets chewed out for having given the society a bad name
The obvious lesson for combat, or for magic, for the cleric, at least, is to have the party go through two fights. The fights should be identical, except that in one of them, the party is buffed, and in the other, the party is not buffed.
Now the vagaries of the dice may overwhelm the buffs, but it gives that feel of the impact of his buffs. Granted, he may be wishing he was contributing directly, rather than indirectly, to combat. Realizing the value of his buffs won't address that, if he wants to be up there smashing the enemy himself.
The gunslinger clearly needs to learn what targets to shoot at, and about not picking fights. The former is a good combat lesson, the latter would fit into lore. Demonstrate this with a mix of:
- The guy the gunslinger picks a fight with easily knocks him down
- The person he picks a fight with has lots of support; say the local guards
- After returning from a situation where he picked a fight, he gets chewed out for having given the society a bad name
I like this idea. Perhaps the Cleric can be taught this during the Magic courses, while I can mix the Gunslinger's lesson into the Combat course (showing that strait-up combat isn't always the answer).
Thanks. Anybody have any more ideas? Maybe general skills, like the Lore classes being focused on problem solving?
Put the group in a situation that appears to be combat based, but make it apparent that the group cannot win through combat. High level opponent, overwhelming odds ext.. Then make one or two ways that they can solve the scenario using their brains rather than their brawn. This can show them that jumping into combat isn't always the right course. This is a lesson that I found rather valuable in the game I'm currently playing, now my group tends to think about things quite a bit before just "going for it".
