Harlequin 1998 :
First of all, this is what you get for marrying an illusionist!
1.) Veil is a sixth level spell and Improved Invisibility is a 4th level
spell. Since it is of higher level I don't see an issue with it mimicking
a lower level spell.
2.) I agree that she should not get the size modifier. She has not changed
size, so it's not harder to hit her. If anything, it should be easier to
hit her, since anyone trying to make contact with the fly will almost
always hit her in the process. From the point of view of the attacker,
however, it will seem like he is hitting the fly more often then he would
expect.
3.) Every time a creature interacts with an illusion, it has a chance to
disbelieve. As the DM, you can and should use circumstance bonuses as
necessary. No bonus for the first round the creature is attacked. +1 for
each round of attack after that. Also, I would rule that once a creature
makes a save, he can see all of the recipients of the spell as they truly
are, not just his attacker. Finally, once the attacked creature has
successfully disbelieved, he can attempt to warn his comrades, entitling
them to saves (perhaps with a penalty). As far as the ranged attacks go,
they have the same chance to disbelieve if they are in earshot, but
otherwise they wouldn't know what was going on.
Another heinous use of powers: This could be classified as rampant
munchkinism or clever tactics. If you're not happy with the way a rule
works (i.e. Wild Shaping) feel free to change it. But be prepared to
justify the change. Don't just change it because the players outwitted
you.
It seems that this party needs more challenging challenges. Also, don't
forget to modify the EL of an encounter for circumstances. In the example
you gave, the enemies were obviously unprepared for the party. Therefore,
the EL should have been lowered accordingly (and considering how easy you
say they took out the bad guys, I'd guess it'd be an EL of maybe 8 or 9 -
they wouldn't get very much experience for it.) Remember that a party
should use up about 20% of it's resources for an encounter with an EL
equal to the average party level.
More juking: There seems to be a general misunderstanding as to what
prestige classes are used for. Prestige classes are supposed to be
campaign specific, rare, and difficult to achieve. Just because a
character has the prerequisites for a prestige class doesn't mean that he
can take levels in it. It has to fit with the story and the campaign. And
why are there four archer prestige classes in your campaign? That seems a
little excessive. You should limit the number of prestige classes and you
may want to prohibit characters from taking multiple prestige classes. A
prestige class should represent a certain amount of dedication and
definitely should come about as a role-playing effect (as opposed to a
roll-playing effect).
Xenie:
> 1. Acts effectively as an invisibility spell until you're
close
> enough to see the flies, which has to be point blank almost.
Yes well that's what illusions are for. If she disguised herself
as a tree in a forest
the invisibility effect would be the same. Just treat it like
a normal save versus
illusion to see flies instead of the party.
> 2. Gives her a disgusting size modifier (I do not give her
the
> modifier, but she insists she should get it)
Illusions do no grant any bonuses other than the miss chance.
It says that specifically
in the spell IIRC. What you make the illusion of doesn't matter
one bit.
> 3. If there are numerous enemies and the flies only attack
one > creature, "interacting
with it", then only IT gets the save while > the other comrades
stand around not realizing why their buddy is growing bloody
slashes all over himself
I would say that the buddies guess what's going on with a modest
intelligence roll, but
unless they make the save versus the illusion they still won't
be able to see that party so
they'll get the 50% miss chance from being completely hidden.
BTW I work by groups, so if you attack one person in a group
you are interacting with the group so they all get saves.
I would put the players on the receiving end of this combo and
see who they want the rules to work. Have someone disguised
as a beetle come up and attack on of the party members (the
mage preferably). Then tell the rest of the group they can't
make their saves until the creature attacks them. I bet that
they will want the rule changed then.
> Another heinous usage of powers: Improved invisibility and
fly on a Druid/Shifter who has taken troll form. Let me just
say this about it: They may have miscalculated when
allowing Wild Shaping to specifically grant extraordinary abilities
(unlike Polymorph and
Metamorphosis which does not.
Well yes if you get the right people with the right combos it
can be deadly. That's good
teamwork and good thinking on their part. Put monsters in small
spaces so this tactic won't work, or again, use the same tactic
on the party.
> An archer with four different Prestige Classes. FOUR. That
seems > ridiculous to me. How do you justify that?
Well that's the way archers work, which I've heard other people
complain about as well. This is the fault of the DM who didn't
say "no you can't have that". Other than that there's nothing
to be done about it.
Dennis Jensen:
Okay I'll back the you don't get a size modifier for an illusion.
And yes if the players want to use Veil as an Improved Invisibility
spell (whether they look like
flies or are simply invisible makes little difference) let them.
However, use the
Invisibility modifiers
but reduce the penalty by 1 or 5% since they are at least
partially visible as flies.
Oh and I'm sorry if I couldn't see what was hurting my friend
in a fantasy world the first thing I'd think was a they were
being attacked by invisible opponents. I mean in a fantasy world
invisibility may be uncommon but it is not unheard of.
As to believing or disbelieving Illusions kind of depends on
how you run Illusions.
Personally I took the Phantasm aspect and put into the Enchantment
category since both
are defined as mind affecting
magic and my Illusions are just that illusions.
However, since illusions can not hurt you directly they can
not be disbelieved. They simply create a false sensory element
that doesn't generally adhere to the normal physical laws. For
instance, a Light spell casts no shadows and is not brighter
at its source than outer radius furthermore it does not extend
beyond its range. Thus its an illusory light that even if you
disbelieve it, it is still there. Okay enough about my opinion
on illusions and if your using the disbelieving aspect then
I'd go with
Harlequin's thoughts on that.
As for the Wild Shape
saw that one coming...
and already redefined it... you can take only "normal" animal
shapes. To me anything beyond that distorts the intent of the
ability making it something unkind to nature people. I am sorry
a Troll is a monster and you can not get it by doing a Summon
Nature's Ally and I would even be careful with allowing all
Nature Ally like creatures
as well.
>> An archer with four different Prestige Classes. >> FOUR.
That seems ridiculous to me.
No seeming to it... it is ridiculous but in all fairness it
is allowable via the rules. Just remember prestige classes,
regardless of the base class or the prestige class, are an extremely
bad idea as they are put forth. They promote munkinism even
more than the multi-classing crap that they have. I mean you
get so much for taking a "new" class (whether prestige or normal)
that its just simply good mechanics to do so and to heck with
good roleplaying and character concepts. I saw this at a glance
when I looked at
3E and it was one of the first things I changed.
Just remember that in every group you are going to get players
who want to beat the rules rather than create good character
concepts. Its up to you as a GM to reign this in unless of course
you like running "Monty Hall" adventures with Munchkin
characters.
Array
50:
This is why I love being the Dm. Here is a a good solution to
the problem.
Dispel magic is a nice low level spell. Cast it on a sword or
a helmet for the Royal guards. Any Mage
of real power will see the problems this can solve. And dragons
always know this spell.
Of course, flies love the smell of certain sweets, so if a set
of flies are ignoring it, it should be noticed.
Mind you, this is just off the top of my head, I have had Players
beg me to go back to how I was playing BEFORE they had there"great"
idea. Solves some of my player
control issuies when they fear you.
Skell
DMCobb #37:
An archer
with four different Prestige Classes.
> >> FOUR. That seems ridiculous to me.
> >> No seeming to it... it is ridiculous but in all
fairness it is allowable via the rules. Just remember
prestige classes, regardless of the base class or the
prestige class, are an extremely bad idea as they are
put forth. They promote munkinism even more than the
multi-classing crap that they have. I mean you get so
much for taking a "new" class (whether prestige or
normal) that its just simply good mechanics to do so
and to heck with good roleplaying and character
concepts. I saw this at a glance when I looked at 3E
and it was one of the first things I changed.
Just remember that in every group you are going to get
players who want to beat the rules rather than create
good character concepts. Its up to you as a GM to
reign this in unless of course you like running Monty
Hall adventures with Munchkin characters.
This is one of the reasons I won't switch to 3E. I don't want
to waste
energy "reigning in" munchkins. And I may have the biggest,
baddest,
fattest, worst munchkin of them all over here!
Xenzie:
>
Okay as for a mid-campaign issue perhaps you might
> restrict the number of classes and prestige classes to
> a characters Intelligence modifier this way in order
> to have 4 prestige classes the character would have to
> have an 18 Intelligence. The reason being is he'd
> have to remember everything in order to get the
> bonuses and specializing or multi-classing requires a
> lot of memory use.
I like this idea a lot, but depending on the group of players
it
might be something that you need to put in place before the
game
starts. "But if I had known that I wouldn't have taken this
first
PrC... or the third *whine*."
I would simply sit everyone down and say something along the
lines
of, "Ok I know I said that you could take any PrC from this
list but
I wasn't expecting so much interest in them. I think that there
should
be some sort of limiting factor on PrCs. "
Then let the players and you agree on something you can all
live
with. Then you can come up with something more fleshed out or
strict
for the next campaign without system shocking them with drastic
changes.
Thrandorian:
I
play 1st Edition............................................Thank
God For Small Favors!!
Array 50:
The cheapest and most effective way to deal with this kind of problem is one I use all
the time. Forget what you have, what would they have had back then? Holes cut into
common materials. Chunks of bark can make a convincing cover and backing for it. But
make sure you take care to preserve it. Yarn is a cheap material that was common in the
olden days for bindings. The pages can be anything from common paper to cardboard.
While neither is really an accurate example of what they had, it looks good.
If you don't want to go through that much trouble, then cut the covers off an old binder.
The cardboard inside is sturdy and takes colors well. A bit of glue and some natural
materials like leaves and twigs make it look more old fashioned.
Jeff
(DM of Clan Huack):
After you print your pages, make some tea. Pour the tea into
a container large enough for the paper,
like a lasagna baking glass thingy, then soak the paper in the
tea, I don't remember how long
it takes for the tea to imbed, an hour should do, test it out
and see how long works best for you.
The end result will leave you with a paper that has an ancient
feel and look about it, not to mention
the aroma of tea. We used this idea in jr. high to make civil
war money for a class project.
WNDRWLF:
Use
construction paper, fold or cut in half so it is the size of
a paper back book. Punch three holes down one side and use twine
or yarn ( twine would make it look more authentic) To bind the
pages together. To stiffen it up a bit you can use cardboard
as covers front and back.
SCA
Bard:
You
could try some bookbinding as described on this page: http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/
book/ There are certainly steps you could skip to make things
easier - I doubt you care if all of the edges of the pages line
up perfectly, for instance. Heck, it would probably look cooler
if they didn't. You can cover the cardboard covers (or your
photo albums if you'd rather just use a 3-hole punch) with whatever
you think looks cool - some scraps of upholstery fabric (try
the remnants section of a fabric store), some light leather
or suede, or even aluminum foil for a "bound in silver" look.
I'd
guess that rubber cement would be good at attaching it. I'd
also *highly* recommend
trying a small sample project before using all your parchment
paper. I've never had a craft project turn out right the first
time.
Starlight Storyteller:
A challenge
rating (CR) is a measure of how tough the creature is to defeat.
(Theoretically, it is supposed to tell you what level a party
of 4 characters should need to be to defeat one of those creatures.
A party of lower-level characters will have a tougher time or
be unsuccessful. A party of 4 higher-level characters should
find it not as challenging.) You do use CR when determining
how much XP you give out for a creature.
The amount
of XP a creature of a certain CR is worth varies depending on
the average party level. (Thus, a party of 10th-level characters
killing a goblin will receive nothing, while a party of 1st-level
adventurers will receive a substantial amount because it was
actually a challenge for them.) In order to figure out how much
XP to give for a creature, you will need a DMG. The Monster
Manual alone does not have anything that can be used to hand
out XP in 3rd ed.
Once you
have Monster Manual and DMG in front of you, you have to take
several steps:
1. Find out what your average party level is. If everyone is
the same level, this is easy. Four 4th-level characters have
a "party level" of 4. If everyone has different levels, take
the average. (That is, add all their levels together and divide
by the number of characters that went into the calculation.)
2. Find
your party's level on the Experience Points Awards chart. (This
is on P. 166 of the DMG.) Party level is listed down the left
side of this chart.
3. Find
the CR of the creature your party just defeated. Monster CRs
are listed across the top of the chart. 4. Find the point where
the row of your party's level intersects the column for the
CR of the creature.
The intersection
is the number of XP you should give. This XP should be split
among the party...that's not the amount you give to each individual.
Divide it equally among them. (If the intersection of that row
and column has a "*", the party does not get any XP for it because
either the creature was so far beneath them that it did not
present a challenge or it was so much more powerful that the
fact that they defeated it was either pure luck or a mistake
on the DM's part.) (If you have more than one creature in an
encounter, find out how much one of the creatures would be worth,
then multiply it by the number of creatures before dividing
it out to the players.)
Another
note on CRS: Sometimes, obviously, you want your party to encounter
more than one creature. You won't always find "a goblin", for
instance. You might find a war band of four goblins. That would
present a bigger challenge than a lone goblin. To find out how
challenging this encounter would be or to discover how many
of a certain creature you can use to make an encounter on par
with your party's capabilities, refer to the Encounter Numbers
chart (page 100 of the DMG).
The top
row represents the number of monsters in the encounter. Find
the number of creatures, then move down that column until you
find the CR of the monsters. Then trace that row to the left,
to get the "Encounter Level". For instance, if you have 3 creatures
that have a CR of 7, you would find "Three" at the top, move
down to "7" under that column, and look to the left to find
out that the Encounter level is "10". So it would be an appropriate
challenge for a 10th-level party. (You can, if you prefer this
method, give out XP for the above encounter...the 3 monsters
with CR 7 each...as one CR 10 monster instead of 3 CR 7 monsters.
The XP will be somewhat different, but it all comes out in the
wash.
As long
as you are consistent, if that is easier for you, then use it.
Giving XP out based on the total value of the creatures instead
of one creature's value multiplied is also the only way you
can give out XP for one hundred goblins, for instance, because
at the point where the PCs could kill 100 of them, one is no
longer a challenge, they would get no XP for it, and 100 times
zero is still zero. Something to consider when deciding to give
out XP based on individual monsters or the value of the entire
encounter.)
Brian
Randsom:
Challenge
rating is exactly what it sounds like, it is a measure of how
challenging a creature is supposed to be. It helps determine
the amount of XP a group gets. To do so, see your DMG, p 166.
Compare your party's level with the CR of the creature on the
chart, and presto, xp for the encounter. (I made it a little
simple, but most of the rules are right there between 165 and
169.
Dennis Jensen:
This question
is actually answered in depth in the Dungeon Masters Guide.
Pages 100 to 103 and Chapter 7 (starting on page 165) cover
just about the whole gambit of what they are about. However,
quoting this material would be a copyright infringement so I
suggest reading these first and then if you have a specific
question about CRs we would be more than happy to address them.
SCA Bard:
I'm not
a 3rd ed player, so take this with a grain of salt. But I think
a challenge rating is supposed to measure how tough an encounter
is. For single monsters, the XP should increase with CR - a
tougher monster is more dangerous but also worth more reward.
But you
can also have a high CR by using many weaker monsters - it is
more dangerous to be attacked by a swarm of kobolds than one
kobold. But the XP for each individual kobold is stil the same.
Array
50:
Toning it down for early levels can be a hard thing to do. Its much
easier to create a grand villain that would kill all in his or her path
and use it right away than try to tone him down for the early playing.
But here are a few tricks I use.
First of all; your final villain, despite what you may see in many
movies and video games; doesn't have to be even aware of the players for
quite a while. After all, he has underlings that take care of many of
his minor projects, and how many of them would be willing to admire to
failure when odds are they will be killed for it? The players may
successful destroy several plains before the final villain even knows
they are there.
Also, in history, people have often been under estimated. Why send in
the best fighter, if a few kobolds will do the trick? The kobolds
failed? must be better than I thought, send in the Ogres. What, the
ogres failed? Ok, The trolls have never failed me before (you can see
how fair that might go)
Also, remember that every creature don't have to fight at there best
all the time. The kobolds can be an easy kill or lethal sob's
depending on how well they fight and how well prepared they are. A
dragon can be a creature of unending terror, or if caught during a bad
moment (everyone has to use the bathroom at times...) could lose allot
before they can recover.
Finally, remember that information is the best control over the
players you have. The more you give them, the better prepared, and
therefor the easier the win will be.
I recall a time that I wanted to give the players a real scare, but
let them win. So I let them know that there was about to be an attack
by wearwolfes. Knowing it almost 2 game hours in advance meant they had
time to prep silver weapons and find a way to treat the wounds to
prevent infection. The battle was still hard, but they won. Had I only
let them know that somebody was going to attack, it would have gone
very differently. So control the information, if they need an advantage,
give them more than the villain has.
WNDRWLF::
I
think this is a very inventive way of keeping track of an ongoing
story line. IF
it is working for you and your players are happy with the result
then why fix what
ain't broke. My campaigns are heavy on the intrigue and I take
many notes on what
everybody does did and is doing. I think the fish bone idea
would work good I might
start using that thanks.
SCA Bard:
What
I usually do is ask, "Why are the PCs involved in the climax
of this campaign?" If the climactic battle you envision involves
a lich and his vampire minion, why do the PCs want to kill these
guys? How did they learn about their evil schemes and what goaded
them to foil them? Lich and vampire says undead. How might an
undead menace enter the lives of some low-level adventurers?
Zombies! Graves on the edge of town are being opened and the
corpses walk the night! The characters kill the zombies and
have to track down the necromancer responsible. We want the
necromancer to lead to the lich's grander scheme (a world of
undead!) but not just yet.
You
could take this one step up the "undead ladder" - to a cabal
of necromancers, say - or change ladders. Maybe the lich's minions
are subverting the local nobility, promising them more power
in the new "undead regime." If the PCs go to the authorities
with their findings, they're thrown in jail, have to escape,
and might go trying to find out why. If the jail guards are
low enough level, this is a fine diversion for low-powered PCs.
Now the players can pursue the mystic trail of clues or the
chain of corrupted power. Or both! The longer they're at it,
the more powerful the people involved. The monsters get tougher,
since the more powerful people get the more powerful bodyguards.
Oh and by the way, all the surrounding towns and villages are
*still* having their graveyards plundered and there is a growing
undead army in the Northern Plains.
The
low-level hook is still in operation! Even if the PCs took care
of one lowly necromancer, the lich undoubtedly has dozens working
for him! In this case, you can bring the two "adventure paths"
together near the midpoint or even the climax if you like, perhaps
making the vampire minion an ArchDuke or something. Shortly
after first meeting the minion (possibly as a result), the PCs
should have the idea that they're facing down a lich. Unless
they're uber-powerful characters, this ought to frighten them.
If you *still* need to stall, I love to send them on a quest
for a magic item that will help them defeat their enemy.
It
can be anywhere from atop the highest mountain to deep under
the earth, or even under the sea! It's an excuse to run a totally
different sort of adventure if you want to, with different monsters
and hazards. For this example, I'd go with either the Staff
of Mighty Damage, the Amulet of Invulnerability to Lich Special
Effects, or the Ring That Will Make the Lich a Nice Guy, If
Only You Can Get It On His Finger. The first two are more traditional,
but it's nice to consider a "twist" ending. They go, they come
back, they are hopefully now ready to kick lich butt. They still
have to discover the lich's secret lair, bust past all the guards,
spells, and traps, and then defeat the lich and vampire - and
we're at the climax we wanted in the first place.
So
without all the example-babble: - Start with a low-level menace
that you can plausibly tie back to the Big Bad Guy. - You can
branch the campaign into multiple avenues of investigation to
increase adventure possibilities. - Clues to the identity and
whereabouts of the Big Bad Guy traditionally lead up a hierarchy
of evil that gets tougher and tougher as the PCs go along. -
A quest for a special, powerful item necessary for the climax
makes for a nice change of pace while still being tied to the
overall campaign. - The PCs finally get to the top of the hierarchy
to confront the Big Bad Guy.
Thrandorian:
Adventures
which span game and/or real world time, require a different
approach entirely than do those which are expected to last only
a few months or a single campaign. You may employ the use of
premade modules, then tie them together to form your campaign
world. Or maybe it's all your design. or maybe a combination
of the two.
In
any case, you need to keep your facts straight and avoid being
caught by the players or circumstances with a conflict or inconsistency.
In
order to avoid this and in order to form a more cohesive storyline
and sense of credibility/consistency to your players, you need
to keep records in such a way that you can "Rerun"
your campaign again with another group of players. It sounds
like you have played from start to finish in multiple campaigns
and just need to remember what you did before.
If
that is your intent I suggest keeping notes written right on
the pages of any module you use, arrange any documentation you
may have created (encounter charts,monster stats, room descriptions
etc.) and arrange these by adventure. I use individual folders
for each campaign & usually file these by the name of the
campaign. ("First assault on Tar-Zarum" for instance).
Then
I also keep sheets for every town with just the names and major
motivations of a few NPC's. As many as I have developed or have
been created as a by product of the previous runs-through and
role playing actions of the PC's.
My
other thought is to "reverse engineer" your campaigns
to a certain extent. Have at least an approximate idea about
how things will end, or at least what conditions will exist.
Then work backwards with an outline of small campaigns which
will lead to the conclusion. Making even a few notes to help
you with decisions you may need to make along the way is helpful.
Things will likely change along the way and that is fine. This
just gives you a tool to lean on as you try to make your early
levels fun, challenging and point towards some goal in your
game world.