New...ish GM


Advice

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OK! So I am almost completely new to tabletop RPG. My brother and a friend wanted to start playing and i said i would GM for them. I wanted to get advice on running the game, comments on my campaign this far, and to see if there is like an online play-through tutorial. Thanks in advance.

First off, My brother is a Half-orc barbarian, the first friend is a Elf Sorcerer, we got another friend to play who is a Gnome Druid, And my sister is playing now and she is a half-elf Rogue. everyone is level 3 at the moment except the half-elf rogue. The half-orc needs just a bit more EXP to get to 4. We have been playing for about 2 months now. (1 day a week) I made the first dungeon long enough for them to level up at the end so they wouldn't feel bored and could start playing their characters.

Their last session they each got 800 exp. The barbarian has a +2 Greataxe. (Was through a random roll) Monsters don't seem to cause them problems really and i have to pick on the barbarian a lot just because he is the only one that can really survive attacks. Not sure if I am doing decent on running the games or not. Advice and comment? thanks


For all your Pathfinder Roleplaying needs, newblet GM, look no further than here!

Edit: Not fair, those extra paragraphs weren't there earlier!


First: Welcome to you and your friends.

Second, kudo's for taking the hit and dm'ing.

Can always send mobs after the others, they have to learn to dodge too. Feel free to smudge rolls if you have to, is partly why dm's often roll hidden while everyone else rolls in the open.

Can pull out different spells from npcs, too.

The most important thing is to have fun, and make sure your players are having fun.

There often needs to be a feel for danger, and if the others are feeling invincible, you can always lay them out, not necc kill them.

Generally, unless you feel a little sadistic, try not to kill characters unless they being stupid. The Sorcerer being a "barbarian trap finder" would fit.

Also: never be sure what the players will do. Be prepared if they decide to go on a tangent, instead, or find a way to break an encounter. Not all abilities do damage, either.

Again, Welcome, have fun, enjoy.
-Cody

Liberty's Edge

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Are your players happy and enjoying the game? Talk with each of them to see what they like/dislike. Do they prefer lots of combat? any particular themes? Puzzles? Political and/or social intrigue? Find a way for each group member to shine by using his/her character's special skills/abilities. Let each member find a way to make his/her own character memorable and special. Ask each group member what they would like to see their character accomplish. The fact that your group is meeting regularly and has grown is a positive sign that you are doing well. Let us know,in a few months, how things have progressed.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

The Alexandrian is a good collection of wisdom. Some of it is quite advanced, so take it at your own pace.

To start with, Don't Prep Plots and follow the Three Clue Rule.


Thanks for the quick posts. and thanks for the advice. I already have the Beginner box, but being new to all this it can be kind of confusing.

I used the Blackfang lair for their first session. The first week they all died because a group of Goblins and their king didn't like them cus they failed their Diplomacy check. The second week they still failed the check but they beat the group. They were using the Valeros and Ezren premades then, The dragon creamed Valeros because he couldn't hit it with the sword. But Ezren was casting Magic missile. The dragon flew off eventually. They wanted to use different classes so the way i worked it into the story was that Ezren and Valeros killed the Goblin King so the goblin race wanted revenge.

They died in Sandpoint protecting the village and the Mayor asked a Barbarian and a sorcerer for help. Their new characters. In return the mayor gave them all the gear the fallen heroes had.

I'm having to make my story because i can't afford to buy a path or whatever. Plus i want to try and make their story actually revolve around their character backstory.

The problem i'm running into is that they can't really think for themselves and i am having to offer suggestions on what they "might" can do.


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Alright, looks like your characters need some structure. THe answer is simple: play a mercenary campaign.

Make them mercenaries for hire with their captain (an npc) who accepts missions and leads them into battle. Make them part of an advanced unit or something if you don't want them to be accompanied by NPC mercenaries. Their orders are given out by the captain in detail, and they go carry them out, wash rinse repeat.


http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ <-- another useful site
A spell caster, is definitely one of those complex characters.
Barbarian... eh... get pissed, swing... kill goblin, keep swinging...

Partly, I have found that to be something GM's have to learn is opening up the world, and guiding players to different ideas, goals, hooks. I have used a random npc running through the woods as a Deus Ex Machina, or a hook to get players to the next area.

Maybe spend a little time delving deeper into the world on your own time, possibly talking with your players about their options ahead of time, or if nothing else, [insert quest giver here] giving them 2 points that need help.

Most important thing... TP... err... Having fun!~

Maybe at some point ill get back to dm'ing online.


Here is my story up to now. The Mayor says that the Goblins have overtaken a town and are using it as a base to attack Sandpoint. Before they get in a Fairy talks to them and says her water elemental friend was captured. (I know elementals are kind of mindless but i figured its a water fairy so they lived together.) They enter the castle find out that the goblin leader (unnamed till later) hired some troglodytes to capture and steal the essence of the elementals. The adventurers have to set them all free or end the curse on them to get through an illusion wall. In end htey find the leader of the Goblins is a Doppelganger that has taken the form of the mayor.
They kill her and go back to town and explain.
The towns people give the adventurer's a letter saying to bring a special Gem the players got in the first session to a swamp to the north.

The swamp has been cursed by a witch who casts all these illusions on the players as they make their way through the swamp. giant snake that disappears when it attacks, Roots that grab them, and an illusion that looks like the Barbarians final boss. (Dark orc that killed his girlfriend when he was younger). He beats the Dark orc to find out it is an illusion and the druid is talking to a tree that was cursed. The tree tells them the witch has cursed the swamp and they have to kill her to end its suffering.
They beat her, blah blah blah.

Last week they see a wanted sign for a werewolf, and they hear rumors about a woman screaming for someone to help her.
They ended up going to the woman who has had her child abducted by a cult leader. She tells them that her friend might know more.
they talk to the girl's friend (her boyfriend) and find out the cult leader was a religious leader of a church the girl wanted to join. The guy knows where the girl was taken and takes them there.
They make their way through a cave fighting monsters, at the end they find a rabbit whole. The gnome druid climbs into it and talks to the rabbit. The rabbit gives them info on how to better fight her. (basically just a tip that touch attacks seem to work better on her) He also finds out the rabbit is enchanted so that if it willingly sacrifices itself it can revive a fallen player. (just incase)

They fight the cleric, kill her and the kidnapped girl starts to stir from the magical slumber the cleric put her under.
she begins to grow thick hair all over her. The players realize it's the werewolf and do a perception to notice the cleric had a silver dagger.
They kill the werewolf before she awakens all the way.

Last night.
The New mayor( other was killed by doppelganger) thanks them for all the help they have given them and gives them info on a special tournament. They have to travel through a forest. (5 kobolds attack them) to a bridge that has Tengu. Barbarian did a nature check and noticed they look like crows. Druid did a nature check and remembered crows tend to like shiny things and are proud creatures. (he remembers talking to crows when he was learning to be a druid)
The tengu won't let them pass unless they give them "Shinies" They each give 50 gold in shiny things and the tengu let them pass.(mainly did this because it feels like they have too much money.. Barbarian has almost 7k gold.)
The Tengu tell them about a creature across the bridge that eats rust.

Across the bridge a Rust monster jumps out and watches the barbarian (he has the most metal and i was also trying to get him to lose the +2 Great axe because he was killing things REALLY fast it felt like.) They throw a spear to it and they realize the head is made of stone. The Barbarian takes out a dragon bane longsword and waves it above his head. The rust monster charges at him and touches the sword with his antenna. Barbarian throws the sword off to the side and they run for it.

FINALLY they make it to a portal that will take them to the tournament. It is being held at a place called the Castle of the stars (Completely black except for its enchanted walls that capture the light of the stars)
The old man leads them in and says the tournament will start in 1 week.

Sound Good so far? I'll future parts after i hear some comments


Hmm... getting tired... Anyway:
Barbarians kill things fast. Is what they do. Thinking those were powerful illusions, to not get disbeliefs, and other than the sword/axe, what other metal does the barb have...

other than that... Rough place you've found... nice werewolf trap.


Still learning so i don't know everything. But the barbarian had the sword, the greataxe, and i think he had another weapon, some pitons in his equipment, and metal spikes attached to his armor. as opposed to The rogue had a rapier and 6 throwing daggers. the druid had a hookhammer, and the sorcerer didn't have any metal.

What is disbelief?
And after reading on here a bit i guess the barbarian isn't doing too much damage,

As for last sentence could you explain what ya mean?


Oh... Didn't know about the disbelief. They did get saving throws for the roots and the boss. the snake they didn't. Just because it was mainly there to try and freak the barbarian out. (Not easy to do since they don't really roleplay yet.) They each got an attack against it and when the snake jumped at them it disappeared.

As for the roots. I made it so they would entangle. They got a save from that, Then each turn they got a save. After two turns the roots disappear.

And as for the Orc boss... It was a bit complicated. The barbarian was put to sleep by the cursed tree expelling gas. The illusion part was the witch controlling his dream and made it so he fought the Dark Orc. After he either beat the orc or the orc killed the barbarian he wakes up because the druid cured the tree.


the trap... well, the random girl they were saving, if i read correctly, started going lycanthrope.

Illusions are very powerful, potentially more so than anything else. But... the downside...
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic#TOC-Illusion

certain illusions are possible to see through.Granted, the sorc is more likely to than the barbarian... which could be amusing.


Was well done, for RP'ing it and reasonings. A DM has full control of the game.


For this week I'm introducing a kind of PVP training scenario. They have been entered into the tournament and some new groups have arrived. The newest group asks if they want to have a sparring match. Not expecting them to win but if they do they will get some nice gear. It will be a 4v4 thing. I'll have to control the enemies still but whatever.
It's mainly a training week. I want to show them all the interesting stuff they can do. Like Bull rushing, Charge, Counterspell. Anyone know what they would need to roll to see if they can do a flip over someone? like a rogue flipping over to do a sneakattack? just trying to make it more interesting. OR Like jumping to a wall and pushing off to add extra power to an attack.

Next week I want to get them into a maze with traps and puzzles. Make it so they have to make it through to advance to the next round.
Then they will need to maybe do a covert operation and steal something from a fortress when they finish the maze piece.

How does that sound? Any Advice? Tips? comment away! :)


So this week I'm making them go through a maze. When they get through it they will come to a circle with 5 doorways. One is closed off by a gate. The other 4 lead to special event type things for each character.
Traps and locked doors for the rogue, Riddles that involve using nature magic to get through, riddles that need either lightning or ice spells to get through and then a path for the barbarian to smash though.

At the end of each there will be a special item that gives each a special skill/ability that aligns with their god or goddess (except the barbarian since he didnt choose one.) Like the Rogue worships the goddess of love so Her item will give her a spell like ability that works the same way as charm person. The Druid Worships Pan so not sure yet... and The sorcerer Worships a Goddess that controls Blizzards and Lightning.

After they collect Each item the chest rises a little and they can hear a click. After all 4 they can hear a large iron door sliding. When they start to head through a minotaur will come charging through. followed by a couple of Goblins.

How does that sound?


Pan = a confusion effect from music or euphoria gas? Maybe borrow a bardic performance or the fey sorcerer ability to give folks the giggles?

Also I like the idea of the maze, especially the way there's something tied to each character. There's an unwritten rule a lot of GMs like to use about dungeons: never halt all progress with something like a trap or riddle. These types of obstacles generally take time for the party to get through so they slow the pace down. If you stop all party movement with something like this either prep alternate pathways or plan something else for the party to make them adreneline-pumping.

You might have a riddle that, as they take time to solve the air is being sucked out leading to escalating conditions like Sickened to Nauseated; maybe while the rogue is picking a lock the walls animate with small earth elementals - in fact maybe if you can time it you can grapple one of the monsters and use a tunnel it's made to squeeze into the next room?

Whatever, it all sounds fun. I'm kinda jealous; it looks like you're all having a real blast!


Idk my brother (the Barbarian) isnt really trying to learn and he gets irratated easily... I just introduced them to using items to help with things. Gave the a Immovable rod last week that i showed can be used to make the sorcerer so he is out of range of melee. Really trying to make the game interesting. we all new to the game so is hard to put in things like what you said.


Sorry about that. Keeping it simple...are there any video games you guys like? If so, you could model some items and challenges after those. When I was a kid (thousands of years ago before even the internet!) there was a game on the movie Tron - the first magic items I ever earned were a baton that turned into a light cycle and a disc that could fly (I could ride it) and it broke any substance.

At the end of the adventure I needed the cycle to zip past some lightning-fast chomper walls and once inside the dragon's lair it was wearing an artifact on its neck that had to get broken. Man, I'm old.

Anyway, my suggestion would be to play to what your players find familiar. If my other post was too complex then keep it simple by all means. Since you're handing out powers keyed to each player, maybe the barbarian could use a power even though he has no patron. Give him a primal force of the universe like war or battle, and give him a skill that boosts some aspect of his character that isn't JUST attacking.

Has he ever smashed a door or been known to break stuff? How about just giving him Improved Sunder for free, or +4 damage to all sunder attempts? IDK, just spitballing.

Still sorry to throw out a frustrating post before.


Nah was good advice. Thanks :) :) I KNOW WHAT I CAN GIVE THE SORCERER!!!! He loves Minecraft lol so ill just give him a diamond pickaxe lol
The Barbarian isn't really creative and the one time he did smash something open he broke a potion inside. so he hasnt done that lately. He likes to try and do executioner moves though. Trying to chop peoples heads. only thing. He kills things really easily. I made 3 npc players to try and challenge them and he killed the fighter in 2 hits...
Its hard to challenge them without there being a strong chance of killing them...

The Rogue im not really sure. I was planning on giving her a locket since her main story is finding a mate to accept her character. She was told by her goddess that he would be wearing an emerald necklace.

Gotta make this weeks adventure by thursday so only have tomorrow to work on it...


By the way. If they entered this tournament there is nothing that says they HAVE to win right? I made it so they cant actually die in the tournament. they just kinda get sucked out when they should have died.

Just thinking


Nothing says they have to win. That said if they don't they may feel cheated, so pay attention to the players' reactions. If they go sour/salty b/cause they didn't win and you genuinely feel bad for them, maybe drop clues that the whole thing was rigged - there may still be a guy behind all this they can get some payback on.

As for the barbarian; what are his rage powers? He's 1/2 orc so maybe something that adds some orcish flare to his character - the power to exude orc sweat for example.

Orc Sweat (Su)

Orcs never sweat in battle unless they choose to; such is their overconfidence in their power. But when they do they exude a powerful fear toxin, affecting all before them. When in effect Orc Sweat adds a +2 bonus to all Intimidate checks. This power can be used 1/day plus the PCs Con bonus.

I don't know; it just popped in my head. The point is just cause all he does is run around killing, that doesn't mean it has to be the only thing he does. If you force another power on him that's kind of cool he may find a way to use it; if only to just make his murder sprees that much more awesome.


:) Making them fight a swarm of rats, an ogre and a minotaur. Not all at once but still... I think this week is gonna be fun :)


Won't be back on till after. I'll say how it went. Wish me Luck :) And thanks for the help :)


Good luck GGM! Sounds like an excellent bunch of encounters on deck; can't wait to hear how it went.


They liked the riddles i set up for them, the barbarian almost died to a Minotaur cus he got cocky and said he wanted to fight it alone, they all actually freaked out when i sprung a poison gas trap on em and they were in a locked room. And they now hate rat swarms :) I think it was a good session. I was going to put what the riddles were but my computer apparently deleted the file....

Fleet of foot and quick of hands. Watchful eyes or a quick demise. Success in the sands and a chest at the end will be. One locked door. Allies are the key.
From memory. This was the rogues riddle and the one they had hardest time with. Was making it so there were swarms of rats running at them as poison gas filled the room. Rogue got the lock before the rats got to them though.

The Druids room had a locked door with three pictures of plants above it. The riddle told him to find the plant that could save a life pretty much. Made him do Knowledge nature checks on them. and it ended up being the plant i made up earlier called hermetic hibiscus that when eaten heals 1d12

Sorcerer has a goddess that controls ice and lightning so i took something from indiana jones. The invisible path. Made it so the path was only made when he shot a frost spell at it. but started to melt each turn so he had to hurry.

And finally the Barbarians room had a minotaur. The riddle threw them off by saying one can enter but many can succeed. plus he wanted to fight alone. he dropped to 4 health in 2 hits. Only reason he survived was the druid healed him and shaped the handle of the ax so it couldnt be swung.

His item i gave him a glove with wind burst on it. Still mainly combat but now he can play around with things.
The rogue got a locket that allows her to do Charm person once per day.
The Druid got a flute case that lets him do silent image 4 times per day.
and the sorcerer got a glove that lets him do a spell i made up called Hands of Frost 2 times per day. Hands of frost is just burning hands but with frost damage.

Final encounter was against an Ogre that wasnt really a challenge since the druid entangled it away from them and they just shot it up.


Wow, that sounds really awesome! Well done with all this!


Thanks :) I gotta figure out what the second part of the tournament should be now though... I wanted to do a thing where they had to infiltrate somewhere without being caught and steal something but that is a little too 3 dimensional for me right now. Any thoughts on what i could do?


Evil duplicates of themselves? A central theme like all fire or all undead? Perhaps a unique environment like an aerial section of floating cloud islands or a series of membraneous oozes over boiling tar pits?

Do you want another combo of puzzles and encounters or are you looking to change it up? As for the specific mission: now that they've received these special powers, perhaps they were intended to use them for a specific purpose. A dull-witted fire elemental who is drawing power from a series of surrounding flames: a distraction gets him away from the flames momentarily (bard) so that the flames can be blown out (barbarian). This weakens him so that a hand of frost (sorcerer) spell destroys him revealing the summoner within who is then susceptible to a charm spell (rogue). Once the summoner is charmed he will conjure up a being to help w/their next adventure somehow?


I think i will do the Evil duplicates of themselves and say that the champions of the stars cant have a dark side so they must defeat their shadows in combat. sounds legit lol. Sounds kinda fun too lol I'm definatly gonna have fun with it.


Loved reading through this, sounds like everyone is having a lot of fun and keep it going. Heres my favorite bit of advice...

The best GMs I've ever have are remorseless thieves. Steal stuff from your favorite movies, video games, books, animu, etc etc etc. Just change the names and they'll never suspect a thing. Another thing I picked up at some pannel at gencon was to pick your favorite protagonists and make them antagonists.

Oh the evil duplicates thing, I've seen it as a lower level encounter before. When they drop the first duplicate just halve the others HP to make it so its not a 'it might go really sour if they get lucky' fight. But do whatever, just have fun!


Thanks :) Glad i'm doing well enough other people like my ideas :) Not sure what you mean by making my favorite Protagonist and make it an antagonist though.

And I will be holding off on the evil double for the last part. Just so i dont have to make more fake characters, For this next one i think im gonna do a kind of track the bad guy and catch him thing. I found this chase scene maker where you make cards and to get to the next one you have to complete a task like picking a lock or acrobatics check to jump a gap. maybe make it a free for all and they can mess up the other competitors in the tournament.

This will be the next to final round and ill make it so whoever catches the thing will advance to the FINAL round which will be defeating the shadows of their soul pretty much.

REALLY need to find out what i can give them as a reward lol. The main plot line right now is they are trying to find the Orc who killed one of the players girlfriend. Maybe i'll make it so each person can ask One and only One question and i will have to give them the answer.


The chase scene mechanic is a lot of fun. I've used it for the party to chase a bad guy, do a vehicle/mount chase scene, and in one game the party was getting chased overland to a portal. My favorite though and one the players seemed to like was a wall of water.

So the party comes through a secret door into this GIGANTIC columned hall; they're walking in at the top, on the landing of a covered stairwell that winds around the outside of the hall down to the bottom. They can see the main hall below through windows looking out of the stairwell. A hundred feet down the floor of the hall is flooded with sea water with these broken chunks of rubble, detritus and the stubs of columns jutting from the surface of the water.

So anyway, the whole place has seen better days. The stairwell is cracked and broken in some places, and there's fallen rubble laying about. Leading off the stairwell at various levels of the descent are these balcony galleries, some of which still look like they've got some cool decorative statuary. The the party hears heavy breathing behind them.

Turning they see that on the wall is this huge, monstrous face carved there. The creature's mouth is gaping as if in a howl; there is an opening into the interior of the wall here. One of the party members peered in...and the chase was on.

The mouth-hole opened on a long shaft into a cavernous sea shoal below. A trap causes a wall of water to surge up the narrowing shaft and then erupt out of the face to wash down, along the stairwell. The very first obstacle was a bat swarm that precedes the water and swirls up out of the mouth into the landing for a round. Then the party turned and started running. The water was a couple rounds delayed behind them, to give them a chance to put on some distance since water travels so fast in this game.

Predictably a couple of the party members diverged off into the galleries, which merely acted to slow the water but also stranded their characters from descending all the way down. Along the way there were traps triggered by rivulets of the water running through channels in the walls, crumbling masonry, previously fallen or broken sections, etc.

In all the party had to descend 10 levels, hitting a landing each card they moved to. If they got to the bottom first they found a ledge there that the water could could not reach and therefore they were safe. Since they were low level though I dealt all the damage as non-lethal and they would only really die if they drowned.

In the end I had one guy get stranded on a gallery level and jump into the water below, knocking himself out by doing so; 3 other PCs failed critical obstacles and were picked up by the surge and carried in the rushing water into the flood below (also knocked out); and one guy got to the bottom and onto the ledge in time.

The rogue that made it grabbed the monk with the Stabilizing Touch trait since he figured everyone floating in the drink was dying. The rogue also knew how to use a whip so he used that to snag folks while the monk stabilized and administered a healing potion to the cleric. Finally the cleric did a channel energy and brought the assembled party back online.

When all was said and done they were bruised, waterlogged, and one of their scrolls was ruined, but they were all alive and had a great time getting to the bottom!


Lucky that the rogue was able to save them?

Sovereign Court

GreenGM wrote:


I'm having to make my story because i can't afford to buy a path or whatever. Plus i want to try and make their story actually revolve around their character backstory.

If you do want to check out some published adventures these are all free and from Paizo.

Hollow's Last Hope is excellent, but for an older version of the game. It isn't especially different though, might be fun to convert.

We Be Goblins is great fun for a one-off adventure.

Lantern Lodge

GreenGM wrote:
Before they get in a Fairy talks to them and says her water elemental friend was captured. (I know elementals are kind of mindless but i figured its a water fairy so they lived together.)

Robert Heinlein's "Our Fair City" features a "pet" whirlwind that actually ends up running for mayor, so your idea of a sentient elemental is not so out of place in fantasy.

"The breeze was playful. It knew things. And what it didn't know, it knew where to find!"


what is the usual rule for a player that wont be able to play for a while? She has to take kids to baseball for next month and it falls DIRECTLY on our game time.
Question was meant to be dealing with lvls how do i deal with her? I could leave her hte level she is which will lower the monster strength and still prolly be too strong for her or i can act like she was there the whole time and up her lvl. Only thing with that is that it isn't that fair for other players cus they had to be there to get to how strong they are...


rule? or what we do? is a very different thing.

the rule... no adventure they are essentially sitting at home doing nothing.

what we do varies by gm.

I have had some, especially organized play, that followed that. I have had some give 1/2 xp as they were training. and I have had some go 1 level lower when they return, or kept everyone at the same level.

each has their points.


Side quest through email?

Currently I have a player, his PC is fairly intregal to the next leg of the main plot, that can't make my games for a bit. My other players decided since there's no time crunch on them they are going to resolve some other, unrelated plot hook.

Since the missing player won't be there for that either, I decided to put his Oracle of Time into a trance while communing with his ancestors. Over email he's re-living an event in one of his ancestor's lives so that when all is said and done he's got some relevant info for the main plot AND enough experience to level with the rest of the group.


she doesn't have internet... lol i think i like the half exp thing though.


we didnt have a game this week since one of the players was getting married. Should i or should i not give him a magical ring in the game that does something for getting married. As a gift.


That's a really cute gesture! Maybe a pair of rings that impart permanent Message and Shield Other functions; one for him and one for his character's "special someone" :)


Either that or the ring allows his 'other half' to keep a constant eye on him... Cynical? Me?


To each their own. Me? I love being married, even if she doesn't game. Its nice to come home to a best friend every day.

Besides; cynical would be giving him a battle axe or a flail. Y'know, the old Ball n Chain?


Lol I love that!!! I might have to do that for him lol. Flail

ON TO NEW BUSINESS!!!!
The tournament ends this thursday and i don't really know what to give them... I'm thinking about giving the Barbarian a cloak that allows him to turn into a werewolf once every two weeks. He likes werewolves. Plus seems kinda Epic but not too OP or anything.

Not sure what to give the others though... I mean this tournament only happens like once ever 200 years or so. They will be Formally called the Champions of the Stars! So maybe things to do with the night. (werewolf only comes out at night seems legit.)

Maybe i can give the rogue a cloak that lets her go invisible when she sneaks kinda like the rogue in D&D cartoon. Give it some kind of fault though like if she gets caught while wearing it then its done for the week.

The Druid... not sure....

The Sorcerer... A Book that shows him that his Goddess has more power than the elves thought and allows him to use spells from the necro school. and gives him a spell from it while he has it on his person.
He limited himself to only using Frost and Lightning spells so i'm trying to help him out a bit by changing spells a little so they deal those types and stuff.
If i let him have the Necromancy school it wouldn't mess things up too bad would it?


For the wizard: what about a book that gives him the Elemental Speal metamagic feat for free, but only if he studies the spell using the techniques in the book. The feat allows the wizard to study a spell w/a +1 level increase but then that spell deals either another energy type of damage entirely or it splits the damage; 1/2 the original type and 1/2 the new kind. So he could study Magic Missile as a 2nd level spell but then it deals cold or electrical damage.

Then as time goes on the book might reveal other secrets (new feats, spells etc) that enhance his magic further. Rather than intro a new school of magic which may or may not fit his liking, you're boosting what he's already got.

For the barbarian - what if the cloak just gave him various aspects of the werewolf in different ways? Like a constant power of Scent as long as he's wearing the cloak; as a Move action he can assume the Aspect of the Wolf, getting a bite attack as a primary natural weapon and Lycanthropic Empathy 4/day plus Cha modifier; 1/day he can give himself DR 10/silver.

The thief - instead of a cloak (barbarian already has one) why not go out on a limb; a living doll of Small size that grants her all kinds of little powers when its near her, kind of like a homonculus familiar for a wizard. Hear me out. Every thief turns invisible, but not every one of them has a flanker to provide a sneak attack every round. It also disolves itself into a mistform, granting the thief a Fog Cloud 4 + Cha modifier/day - best thing is since the two have their senses bonded and the creature can sense in the fog, while inside it's mistform the rogue gets Blindsense (CL 5 for the spell). Finally the creature can swirl in a whirlwind around the thief, giving her some kind of air/movement powers (Jump, Fly, whatever).

The druid is a tough one, no doubt. I know I veered WAY off course with the rogue and wizard, sorry. If you're looking for a night/moon kind of thing, what about a Lunar Sickle (play on Lunar Cycle). The sickle can be a weapon, but it also can bestow conditions related to the moon: Confused (makes a person crazy), Frightened, Dazzled, or Fatigued. Then there's also the conjuring of magical darkness, a light effect where the thing glows like moonlight, maybe some kind of Dancing lights, and finally 3/day it can attack through shadow, treating a foe w/in 60' as adjacent.

Just grasping at straws.


OK They finished the tournament. They are letting me have a month to figure out the next part of the story. I gave them each an item and let them ask ONE question that i would give them an answer to.

They each asked about their major story lines so that might be coming up.

2 asked about their village which are about to be under attack.
1 asked about his goddess which he found out has secrets he doesnt know about.
and 1 asked about her mate which she found out at about when she will meet him. After defeating a cult inside a dragon lair.

After they completely rap up the personal story lines i wanted to make it so the goddess asks them to defeat a great evil. wanna get them to at least lvl 10 for that and Not sure how to get this all to go. Thinking maybe that The sorcerer will go to a temple that someone gives him a map to find lost journals so he can find out about his goddess.

Gotta put the boss that is looking for that Gem back in too... Kinda forgot about him. maybe ill make him a midway boss.

BTW Idk what is going on but they completely murdered the shadows versions of them selves. The sorcerer 2 shotted his.


What level are they now? Also how fast are you leveling them? This will give an understanding of how far you need to go to get them to level 10.

One outline might be:

1. They finish w/the tournament, head back to town, and are toasted as heroes. They party like rock stars and pass out. In the night BBEG or its minions steal the gem

2. Party needs to find out in some way that the gem is part of a rite that awakens a powerful dragon. This can be accomplished through research, being contacted by a new NPC, finding clues on a side quest, or a combination of all 3

3. At this point the party should be motivated to go after the gem swapper. This might be accomplished by the PCs backstories - there's a village threatened by the evil plans, the bad guy is the dark orc, or whatever

4. The PCs track down the bad guy, adventure ensues, and it turns out this is a heretical thing from the sorcerer's goddess; a offshoot of the faith that worships a darker side of her and the dragon is an emmisary/avatar/prophet whatever of the dark goddess. This leads to the revelations you want to give the sorcerer about her goddess.

5. At the end of this adventure you get to have that classic BBEG moment where they scream "you're too late fools!" Turns out that the gem's already been used, the dragon is coming, but not in the immediate vicinity. The party now has to track down signs and portents of the dragon

6. throw out a couple of side quests that get them loot, levels and the info they need to deal with the dragon. Maybe they beat some minions and find out its vulnerable to fire. Or maybe they rescue a caravan that fled from it into dangerous territory and it turns out one of the people they saved was the object of the dragon's attack since he/she is an expert on it.

7. Finally the party, well armed and informed on the dragon, goes through a final dungeon to infiltrate the thing's lair. They battle it and find the one PCs mate in the process. Finally when its all over they have all this loot and can retire for a few months, maybe even a year and take the time to get themselves ready for epic level gaming.

What kind of dragon is it going to be?


Its gonna be a red dragon. My sister put it in her story on accident lol. And They have to go and save the two villages first.
The gnome's hometown was a mining town. I told him that the mine has dried up they are bleaching faster than ever and that they are about to be attacked by an army of Goblins.
The Barbarian lived in a village that was attacked and they are struggling to fix their village still. They are about ot be attacked but i made it so that there were wards around the army and i couldn't see what it was made of.


The mine is running dry but perhaps there's still "something" of value left below?

The barbarian's village is about to be attacked by the cult maybe?

For long term campaigning figure out who your main villain(s) is(are) and go from there. In the short term, when thinking about the gem, just ask yourself:

1. Who needs the gem?
2. What will they do to get it?
3. What will the gem do once they get it?

You might answer these as:

1. The dark orc, a high priest of the cult
2. Being chaotic evil he'll do anything to get it
3. Use it to awaken the dragon

Or you might go a completely different direction:

1. The water fairy, secretly an Eldest of the First World exiled here
2. She'll use other fey minions, subtrefuge, charm spells and shape changers; she's also friends with water elementals and may use them.
3. The cult has already awakened the dragon; she wants to use the gem to re-awaken her eldest powers to destroy it.

In the above answers you come up with the water fairy having been behind all the movements of the gem this far and before she can get the gem to work for her she's destroyed in some way. Now it falls to the players to follow her final, dying instructions on how to channel the power of the gem against the dragon and end its threat forever. The dragon in the meantime is the catalyst for a coming apocalypse.

How would you answer the questions?

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