Two thistletop questions, favored terrain and assault from the sea

[ohako]

Hey folks,

Two questions about Thistletop

1. What is Thistletop's favored terrain/terrains? I'm inclined to say forest for the outer area, water for the howling hole, forest/water for the stockade (I'm not giving 'urban' to anything goblins build themselves), and underground for the lower level. Does that sound about right?

2. Let's say my players want to assault Thistletop from the sea. How would they do it?

I'm guessing two rowboats. (I have 6 players). It's 4 hours by boat (given it's 6 miles in the description, and rowboats move at 1.5 mph). Maybe force an endurance check against a rower, or fatigue sets in. DC 12 Survival (or Profession (sailor)) to navigate there (no need to navigate through brambles, really). They can dock safely in the Howling Hole (which does them no good, because the whatsit, the bunyip attacks them, although 1 Burdcruncher goblin gets tossed down the hole if the bunyip yells), or they can dock badly next to Thistletop itself. The Climb check up the cliff is noted in the text (either up the hole or up the cliff). I'll give them their first assault for free (sleepy goblin lookouts), but any further attempts might well be spotted.

Oh, there we go: you can dock at Thistletop itself, but it's a DC 12 Profession (sailor) check to dock your boat safely, or it gets smashed. That sounds plausible.

Any particular things to note when fighting (I'm guessing shooting arrows) from a rowboat on choppy seas? Maybe an extra -2 hit/AC, something like that, unless you pass a DC, I dunno, 14 Acrobatics check. How many hit points does a rowboat have?

I'm sure more than one party has gone up the cliff. Any other suggestions?

[Dathus Tomar]

Not quite sure on some of these myself, but!

1) You could argue Forest for the first level, since it's built on the forest floor, but I would honestly say "Urban" since it's supposed to be a tribal city-ish-thing. That would be more your discretion, but the others sound right.

2)You could also have them carry the boats part way through, and at the beginning of the forest they veer off to the north and hit the water, then start from there after a survival check or two, depending on their knowledge of the region. Maybe a DC 12-15 check? Yes, I'd say two rowboats for them, assuming one manning the oars, one steering, one navigating in each.

If the seas are rough, I'd go with a penalty IF they are standing up. If not, then no penalty. Assuming they're bracing themselves in the boat. Makes up for them being "flat footed".

Rowboat hit points would be the same as wood, and however thick you want it. There are stats for HP/Hardness of items/objects in the Core Rulebook somewhere. Can't think of it off the top of my head. Haphazardly I'll say AC 10, HP 8, Hardness 1? Like I said, Core has it.

[ohako]

Eh, so, my party decided to go through the woods. I wasn't trying to scare them off of the sea route, honest!

Hilariously, one of the PCs bought a riding dog, and Gogmurt managed to cast charm animal on it. It didn't last (one of the goblin dogs tried to bite it, and it passed its new save), but fun times anyway.

Now Gogmurt got down to 3 hit points, and since animal messenger has a casting time of 1 minute (he didn't cast it ahead of time, because the PCs stumbled into the dog kennel, not the Birdcrunchers), he's now tree shaped behind the hidden scout post.

hehehe....

[Gregg Helmberger]

It's moot now, but my players bought a swan boat and had two warrior types spider climb up the side with ropes. It worked well...until they reached the top and ran into four goblins and their mounts playing with a seagull! Still it was a very, very successful assault, albeit a bit touch and go at times.

However, when they went down a couple of levels and ran into Nualia, the fun times stopped...

[Haladir]

Re: assault from the sea...

My players didn't opt for it, but I had plans for what to do if the PCs decided to attack by sea.

I ruled that Thistletop was covered with lots of thick vines, many of which hung down to not-too-far above the water level. PCs could use the vines to climb up (DC 15 Climb check). I also would give them a DC20 Perception check to notice the cave opening that leads to the Tentamort lair on the dungeon level.

Of course, the vines would be mostly thorny and/or poison ivy, necessitating a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid some damage and/or a nasty rash. Oh, and then they would have to deal with the tentamort while hanging from poison ivy vines...

They ended up taking the "frontal assault" approach.