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Author Topic: Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: COBRA!!!  (Read 933892 times)

SOLDIER First

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1935 on: March 26, 2016, 02:32:05 pm »

Investigation is (to my knowledge) looking for evidence of... something, as opposed to just looking for something.
Which makes no sense, but.. I guess it's DM's choice?
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GiglameshDespair

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1936 on: March 26, 2016, 02:57:18 pm »

I'd say investigate is also being able to translate what you see into meaningful information.
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highmax28

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1937 on: March 26, 2016, 05:25:33 pm »

My DM is using investigation checks instead of perception checks to look through piles of stuff for anything useful. I thought that was a perception check?
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just shot him with a balistic arrow, i think he will get stuned from that >.>

"Guardian" and Sigfriend Of Necrothreat
Jee wilikers, I think Highmax is near invulnerable, must have been dunked in the river styx like achilles was.
Just make sure he wears a boot.

SOLDIER First

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1938 on: March 26, 2016, 05:28:53 pm »

Apparently, Investigation is indeed detective-style evidence gathering. Your DM probably got confused by the undescriptive name.
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Dorsidwarf

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1939 on: March 26, 2016, 06:12:32 pm »

Yeah, Perception tells you that there's a smudge on the wall.

Investigation tells you that the smudge is identical to the smudge at the last crime scene and that for the smudge to have been left the smudger would have had to stand in a certain spot and that you should look there for bootprints.
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Jimmy

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1940 on: March 26, 2016, 06:31:52 pm »

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sounds like everyone had fun. You're all playing to your class stereotypes, but that's not a bad thing. If there's one thing I'd recommend it's that you try to encourage team cooperation rather than antagonize everyone else. Friendly ribbing is fine, but when players are constantly spending the game at each other's throats, it quickly leads to the party splitting. For example, the bard might make a big show of pretending to be the nobleman cleric's herald, announcing his arrival before he enters the room, singing his praises in song whenever he uses bardic music, and informing any attractive young women looking to gain the hand of a nobleman that he's responsible for testing the quality of any prospective brides in the bedroom. I typically try to foster the feeling in any game I play that it's the players vs. the DM, not other players.

The other thing I hope doesn't end up happening is that the goblin you've recruited ends up becoming a Mary-Sue DMNPC. Having an NPC in the party is a great way for the DM to introduce story hooks and give out relevant information when needed, but they should never replace the role of a PC character. It sounds like the DM intends to turn this goblin into a cohort with PC class levels. It would be far better to have it take an NPC class such as Warrior if such a thing exists yet in this system.
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highmax28

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1941 on: March 26, 2016, 07:17:57 pm »

So far, it's a standard goblin boss.


And it's mostly in good fun, and I don't try to argue too much, but we do fuck with each other. I know my wizard is supposed to be arrogant, but I know these are real people, and this is a party we have to deal with. So far, it's been a case of "crap, NOW I'm involved" which is slowly becoming "ok, we work pretty well together"

My only gripe is me and the bard rolled a nat 1 on the hit die on level up
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just shot him with a balistic arrow, i think he will get stuned from that >.>

"Guardian" and Sigfriend Of Necrothreat
Jee wilikers, I think Highmax is near invulnerable, must have been dunked in the river styx like achilles was.
Just make sure he wears a boot.

Kadzar

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1942 on: March 26, 2016, 08:06:34 pm »

(if you're a fighter, you're a walking weapon shop. Also, if you're an archer you wear leather)
Okay, you're going to have to explain what you mean by these. For the first one, I'm guessing you're saying fighters can use any weapon pretty well (though fighting-style tends to make people focus on a specific type in my experience). And nothing about playing any archer-build restricts you to wearing leather, except maybe if you're a pure rogue.
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Rolan7

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1943 on: March 26, 2016, 08:42:19 pm »

I want to try running a pathfinder game with my real life friends. I have all the pdfs from that humble bundle, but there's an issue in the way of 'How the fuck do I get them to my friend's house in a room without a computer and without me or my friends owning a laptop'

Anyone got any ideas? Printing's a little out of the picture, given the absurd size of the 'books' (Wish to God I could have got them in book form instead, but I guess that would have been expensive), and with the number/size of the files I'm not convinced we have enough room on our ipad.
I don't know very much about *Apple* mobile devices, but I'm seeing indications that you could use a cheap SD card.  Though you might need a USB SD card reader, it wasn't obvious.
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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1944 on: March 26, 2016, 09:49:31 pm »

Okay, another help request post!

I'm designing a quest chain, CR should be for party in the level 5-8 range. Premise is that they find an entrance to a multi-level labyrinth.

I'd love to hear some ideas from other people here about fun features, traps, encounters or other nifty stuff. Basically, I can look up level appropriate monsters or traps and put them in the maze, but that doesn't really make the whole thing very interesting as when there's a story behind the encounter.

Here's my ideas so far:

Entrance to labyrinth is a hedge maze. Inspiration image below:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I've got no current ideas for why the party would want to go into this maze yet, aside from the usual adventure hook fare. Either there's a magical MacGuffin somewhere inside the party wants, or some important NPC got lost inside. A few better ideas would be welcome.

Entrance is guarded, possibly by minotaur with indifferent attitude per diplomacy rules, with this NPC used to provide dialogue or warnings as appropriate if the party does not initiate combat, subject to diplomacy or intimidate.

Possibility exists for party with access to level 3 spells to have means of flight to bypass aboveground portion of maze completely, so either plan for this or have either incentive not to do so or reward for accomplishing this section without flight. Ideas here would be good. Possibility also exists for the party to simply cut a path through the maze, so having some form of discouragement to do so would be welcome.

Upper hedge maze can be populated with a variety of creatures such as animated objects or awakened plants, or even possibly fey creatures depending on the theme.

Large manor house/miniature castle at far end of maze could offer a few different options. Immediate thought is for it to be haunted, thus offering the possibility of undead leaking into the maze at night. Other options include some form of fey enchantment over the noble's household trapping them inside.

Lower labyrinth could be accessed through a variety of means, for example slay the four guardians, swim through the well at the maze centre, etc.

Anyone else have any thoughts?
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SOLDIER First

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1945 on: March 26, 2016, 09:58:37 pm »

I don't have any ideas for anything else (except possibly having the entire dungeon be devoid of enemies, save the occasional floor mimic, just to fuck with them), but you could have the Magic MacGuffin be guarded by a [insert nigh-impossible-to-beat neutral creature] that gets mad at the party if they bypass the upper maze. Those who take the easy path are not worthy, after all.
But you might want to supplement with other loot if you do that, since they won't be happy about being screwed out of loot even if they don't deserve it.
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Jimmy

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1946 on: March 26, 2016, 10:34:17 pm »

Typically I try to have a quest chain with encounters starting 1 CR lower than the party level, building up to 1-2 CR higher for the final encounter. Then I include an additional 'danger room' encounter that can only be accessed after the main quest is complete and/or requires backtracking or considerable effort to reach, which is 3+ CRs higher than the party, with the explicit warning given to the PCs that this is extremely dangerous to attempt but also contains a very big optional bonus reward. They can choose to attempt it while underleveled, come back later to try when they're stronger, or skip it completely.

I think I've got an idea for the BBEG. A Blackwood Satyr has interrupted a noble's party and kidnapped several attractive women, descending into the labyrinth and placing them under his thrall. His spell-like abilities should give plenty of mechanical support to his actions, and provides a means for the group to rescue a grateful noble and get a hefty reward and NPC contact.
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Flying Dice

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1947 on: March 26, 2016, 11:49:34 pm »

Hm. If you can justify it with whatever you have planned to fill out the complement of living enemies, it might be interesting to do something not entirely unlike what SB suggested. Make the maze and manor more of a passive threat. Fill both with illusions designed to string the party out and lead them around fruitlessly. Work a subtle pattern into the illusions which, if they bother to investigate more closely, will give them hints on how to reach the center. Make the manor much the same, but with pit/magic traps that eject people who fall into them back out into the maze. Have at most a few weak enemies in the maze and upper levels of the manor.

Basically, that gives a reward for cleverness: if they traverse the maze honestly and thoughtfully, they'll be able to short-cut to the labyrinth without having to deal with the manor. The use of spirit-flavored undead is a good thought, that would mix well with the unease of a maze and manor full of annoying but not incredibly dangerous traps. If they fly over to the manor, make sure the hedges are high enough that they need to descend all the way from a high tower. If they do a Nanoha Bypass on the maze, they still have to enter the manor and find the main entrance to the labyrinth.

In other words, every reasonable approach, if done well, will result in an appropriate "reward" (in the sense of bypassing segments of the maze/manor component).

Once they're in the labyrinth, switch over to a more combat-oriented approach with challenging monsters and more dangerous traps.

As an additional bit of bonus fun, doing the maze and manor as that sort of mind-twisting haunted house bullshit means that the party gets to have fun (if you go with that hook) escorting the people they're there to rescue out of the maze. If you like, you can set things up so that the higher-tier encounter can be released if they're too destructive or poke their noses into it despite the warnings, turning it into a race to get the rescuees out. For flavor, maybe make it a much more powerful undead bound to a crypt beneath the manor, which explains why it doesn't keep chasing beyond the maze. That also leaves plenty of room for more plot hooks to flow out of if and when they come back to deal with it.
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highmax28

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1948 on: March 27, 2016, 12:35:34 am »

You could start the quest by saying there's a disturbingly high amounts of magic emanating from the manor, and when approached from the sky, something tries to keep you away. The hedges are 30ft high with bramble in between them. They also take a long time to burn through due to how thick they are and the fact they are enchanted with abjuration spells that are dispelled once everything in the upper maze is killed.

The entrance guardian is a robed figure, with impossible to see facial features, who warns them about going in, and if they try to fly over with him there, he will cause a gravity-like ability where he forces them onto the ground before they reach the maze. He will say something is hidden under the manor and is sealed, and the party cannot turn back if they plan to go in and go too far. If the party still wishes to go in, he will test them in two ways: Mind and Body. He will ask two riddles, followed by a third one that involves him asking if the party will kill something knowing that what they were doing was their job. If the party answers yes or no, he will accept the answer. He will test their body by fighting the party, but don't give him an HP amount. Make him cause nothing but attacks that deal non-lethal damage (don't tell them its non-lethal) and knock out the party members one by one until half of the party is knocked out or until they retreat. If they retreat, he will heal the fallen and tell them to leave if they do not strengthen their resolve. If he defeats most of the party, he will let them in as he believes that they can stop whatever is inside due to their resolve alone.

I would say have the maze on the upper part be filled with fey creatures that can pass through the walls of the maze without problem, and that they are able to be reasoned with as long as the party doesn't kill any of them, but they will attack, as they are guardians of the lower caves. They are trying to keep something in, and because its been a long while, the fey creatures actually forgot whats inside; they just know its bad. If reasoned with, or if they're genocided, they will either give/have on them a page with a riddle. This riddle will solve a puzzle that will discern certain patterns in the lower maze that have secrets, shortcuts, or alternate pathways (some riddle that pertains to a certain carving that can be interacted with by doing what is listed in the riddle, like rubbing blood on it, touching it with silver, etc.). The fey will also have ranged attacks/spells/abilities that can attack those who fly. There are also a few places in the maze for those inside the maze who will spot indents in the floors which hold loot from defeated enemies. The fey don't care if it is taken, but will bargain for the location of its whereabouts. These spots can not be found flying as they are small details and the hedges are 30ft high as said before.

The manor has a basement that is locked with two arcane locks that require keys to open them. The door is solid adamantine with magical wards to make it nigh indestructible, with an inscription that reads that a powerful enemy, known only as the Fallen One in the writings, is locked under there and that opening the gate is the bad idea. Those with detect magic can see the magic that was radiating the place is coming out of the basement, and seems to be oozing out of the keyholes and cracks on the door.

Navigating the house plays around a lot of traps that you wouldn't find in a regular house, with the house's goal is ultimately prevent you from getting the keys. The first key is in the master bedroom and the second key is in the kitchen. I don't know if you'll have to edit this, but the house is riddled with ghosts, specters and other ethereal/incorporeal undead. The one guarding the kitchen key is a poltergeist that throws knives, cleavers, pots and pans at the players, and the one guarding the key in the bedroom sits at a poker/card table and demands that in order to get the key, you must play his game (your choice). The players can fight him, but expect that he will be harder. The Gambler (as I will call him) will gamble the players for their souls in a game of your choice, but not at once; he will offer them the key in six pieces, and their souls will be split into two pieces per player (or more or less for both, depending on how merciful or cruel you feel). The players do not lose their souls, even if they lose their chips until the last chip is taken. They can opt out at any time and return, but the chips will remain on whatever they have. If he holds the full part of one persons soul when they opt out, they lose their soul, but it can be won back. The party loses if everyone loses their soul. There will be ample artwork loot here, and the ghosts and such that wander the mansion were people who were trying to get into the lower labyrinth, save for the poltergeist who was a spirit conjured to protect the key and the gambler who is the former owner of the manor before the labyrinths were built (the gambler will explain this is talked to while playing his game who is happy to explain. He will not say anything about the labyrinths or what dwells in them, as he truly does not know. he will not even acknowledge the door down either).

Once the gambler is "defeated" (by either means), the party can take a long rest in his room as it seems safe. The Gambler will offer them rest when they finish his game and come to them if they are low on health in an encounter anywhere inside his house after his game is done as a reminder.

Once both keys are taken, the guardian at the entrance to the maze will appear door and stop the party from advancing. If the party answered that they were not ok with killing someone because they were doing their job and they killed any of the fey or the gambler, he will question the party on that, and will give the party a magical yellow stone. If the party said they were ok with killing something for doing its job, and they killed the fey or the gambler, he will commend them for their honesty but say they are walking down a bad road still, and give them a red stone. If the party said they would be ok with it, but didn't kill any of the fey or the gambler, he asked why they lied to him and give them a blue stone. If the party didn't agree and they killed none of the fey or the gambler, he will commend them for their honesty and their mercy and give them a green stone. He will explain that the stone will help guide them. The stone is magical and gives off light when used. He tells the party they will need that to descend to the deepest parts.

When the party goes into the lower labyrinth, they have several floors to descend. Each floor has a guardian that is not at the stairs, and each one has a stone of differing colors. One is specifically hidden behind one of those secret ways that the riddle talks about, which is the green stone holder who is a dragon of sufficient level but still the most challenging of the four and is on the last floor. The blue stone is held by a devil or demon of sufficient level that is on the second last floor of the lower labyrinth. The yellow stone is on the second floor and is held by a vampire of sufficient level who is easier than the demon/devil. The red stone is on the first floor of the lower labyrinth and held by an elvish spellcaster that is to be the weakest of the three. If the party has the stone of that color, they do not need to fight that boss, but they can still find it and defeat it. The party's actions made the maze easier or harder to deal with.

Once all four stone are recovered, the final floor has an altar that has an inscription telling of this dark one, and the magic radiates from it heavily. Players who use detect magic can actually use this to skip all four floors of the inner labyrinth and go straight for the stairs, as the magic radiates like a miasma from the altar and tries to escape outside. Putting the four stones down lowers another set of stairs, with the walls of the stairs telling of some horrible deeds done by a very powerful being. The guardian will appear one last time at the altar room and he will offer to heal the party as if they had a long rest if they obtained the green stone (otherwise, they will have to go back to the gambler's room). Regardless of the green stone, he will tell the party that this is the last chance to turn back, and if they do, the party can return, but they will have to fight the guardian who has all four stones on him and is a sort of punishment boss for not following through, being almsot as hard as the final boss.

The party makes it down the stairs to the lair of the Dark One, and they find inside a weakend but still powerful (and obviously altered) fallen angel, where he thanks the party for waking him up and then he fights them. I'll leave it up to you to fill in what he does, but make sure he is unable to fly because he is too weak and just woke up.

Assuming the party succeeds, the guardian congratulates the party and disappears as he explains he was there only to allow in someone who was able to defeat the Dark One. He disappears after he opens up a huge loot room inside the Dark One's room which holds several powerful items that were used to lure the fallen angel in here, as well as a lot of gold, gems, and other things. Most importantly, it has an entire blue print of the labyrinth, and tells the party of any secret loot spots they have missed.

Sorry if this might be too long, but this was fun to come up with
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just shot him with a balistic arrow, i think he will get stuned from that >.>

"Guardian" and Sigfriend Of Necrothreat
Jee wilikers, I think Highmax is near invulnerable, must have been dunked in the river styx like achilles was.
Just make sure he wears a boot.

SOLDIER First

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Re: Dungeons & Dragons (and Pathfinder), share your experiences.
« Reply #1949 on: March 27, 2016, 12:47:47 am »

Alternatively, the Fallen One is actually imprisoned by the first generation of fey because their current ruler hated him for whatever reason you come up with. The Fallen One thanks the party for freeing him, explains the situation, and disappears (because the bindings of the room bound his magic too), which possibly allows him to show up in disguise in a later plot. He says all the loot is theirs, etc.

OR, the Fallen One doesn't exist. It was all a trick to keep everyone but the most dedicated adventurers from getting their hands on the treasure, explained helpfully by the guardian.
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