Rhenny
Adventurer
I'm starting a new set of playtests that will have players quickly level through PCs beginning with 1st level but hopefully getting them to 10+ in only 4 or 5 sessions. Overall, I want them to let me know how leveling up influences their play experience. As usual, we played online using RPGTO.
Saturday night was our first session. I planned a quick adventure and let my players play whatever they wanted to play. We ended up with the following:
1) Elifar the Elven Ranger (Brute Hunter)
2) Rynlore the Human Nature Paladin
3) Jaden the Human Greataxe Fighter
We were able to do a good bit of roleplaying, a little exploration and 5 combat encounters all in about 3 1/2 hours (which includes chat time in the beginning of the game)
The game went well. Everyone felt good about what he could do in game. I did however try to twist/change some of the monsters to make it easier for me to challenge the party more.
****
The game started as the PCs arrived in Winterhaven. They spoke with the guards and gained access to the walled town. Then they went to Wrafton’s Inn and saw Bartho, a burley middle aged man, cleaning classes tidying up the bar. Rynlore spoke with him and convinced Bartho to get the owner so that Rynlore could audition to perform nights in the inn for tips and a room. The owner, Salvana Wrafton, a tall, thin, yet muscular women in her late 20s, met with Rynlore and let him play for her. She liked the Paladin’s lute playing, and decided to give him a chance to play tonight. She let the party take one room upstairs so the adventurers felt as if they at least had a place to stay, if only for a night or two. As Rynlore was performing for Salvana, Elifar and Jaden left the Inn to see if they could find leads on any jobs. Shortly after they exited the Inn, they heard a commotion at the front gates of Winterhaven. Investigating the incident, they saw a bloody and beaten town warden nearly collapsed in the arms of the gate guards. He was wailing that the Grand Shop’s apprentice and he were attacked by goblins not 30 minutes West of Winterhaven. The goblins took the wagon and the apprentice, but the warden was able to escape. Elifar and Jaden expressed interest and the warden asked them to try to save the apprentice. The call to adventure spurred them on, so they went back to the inn to drag Rynlore with them.
The adventurer’s left Winterhaven and proceeded west. When they got to a bend in the road about 30 minutes from town, Elifar saw the abandoned and ravaged wagon through a grassy, rocky area. Elifar scouting ahead surprised a hiding goblin and killed it easily. Then, as the rest of the party came closer to the ranger’s position, they were attacked by 3 goblins and a shield using goblin. Since the Ranger was closest, he took a lot of attacks and got hurt pretty badly, but the group prevailed. Rynlore killed 1 of the buggers, and Jaden hacked into a number of goblins, ultimately killing 3.
After checking the dead bodies and recovering some copper pieces, the Ranger tracked the rest of the goblins to a small camp. He tried to sneak up to the forested area where he saw the tracks and the blood trail of a slaughtered horse, but he snapped a number of twigs and made a bit of noise. This alerted the goblins and they began rustling within the forest area. Quickly, Rynlore and Jaden took positions in front of Elifar and waited to see if any goblins would meet them in battle. Lo and behold, one of the creatures charged out. He could not see Elifar or Rynlore who were behind some cover, but he could see Jaden, but the goblin’s mace attack was unsuccessful. Then, a few other goblins moved toward the group, one carrying a staff and chanting an arcane spell. The goblin witchdoctor’s hands fired forth a sheet of flames, which enveloped both Rynlore and Jaden, who caught fire and fell to the ground dying. Luckily Elifar was beyond the blast, so he remained standing and was able to cast a healing spell on the Paladin. When the Paladin got up, he was able to cast healing on the Fighter, and the adventurers kept up their attacks against the goblins. Elifar did some nasty damage to the witchdoctor, but he could not finish it off so the witchdoctor had another chance to cast his spells. This time, the witchdoctor tried to fear the party, but none of the brave members of the group faltered. At this point, Rynlore called upon Wraith of Nature to injure a number of the goblins so that Jaden could kill a number of them with his greataxe wide arc and cleave. The adventurers fought bravely and won the day. Then they found the apprentice, untied him, tended to his wounds and escorted him back to Winterhaven.
(Under the hood: In these encounters, I gave some goblins a shield and "Interposing Shield" ability. I also created a witchdoctor who could cast 1st level spells. Here I learned that giving monsters PC class abilities makes them really dangerous. Perhaps burning hands itself is too powerful as written. The encounter with the witchdoctor, a leader, 3 goblins and 1 shield goblin could have easily knocked the PCs out, but the PCs prevailed using nearly all of their spells and powers which included a number of Cure Wounds from the Ranger and the Paladin. The Paladin also used his Channel Divinity Nature's Wrath. The fighter cut and slashed using greataxe with wide-arc and cleave.)
After rescuing a captive and returning to town, we did a bunch of roleplaying. Rynlore played his lute in the bar, and brought in a nice crowd. Salvana was pleased and gave him a wink and a thumbs up. Elifar and Jaden overheard a man talking about a map and a great find. They started to speak with the man and found out that his name was Edgar Scrope, and archeologist. He said he couldn’t read the map yet, but it could help him find the resting place of Sayer Valdam, a leader of this region over 200 years ago. The adventurers asked if Edgar needed protection or help, and Edgar said he would call on the trio when he needed them. After a night in the bar, the adventurers went to their room and slept only to be awakened early the next morning to the Edgar’s shouts in the next room. “Someone stole my map.” The adventurers rushed into the next room and found that Edgar needed help. The Ranger immediately found tracks that a humanoid thief must have made, leaving the Inn and going into the sewers. The party followed.
In the sewers, the party fought a carrion crawler. They found a locked door in a steal grate. Jaden borrowed Rynlore’s crowbar and smashed the lock so that they could open the door. Just then, a bunch of rats and dire rats swarmed at them. After a few rats got through the door, Elifar slammed it shut keeping the dire rats on the other side. After cleaning up the rats, the group continued to follow the thieves’ tracks until they encountered two wererats. After they tried for 2 or 3 rounds to whittle away at the two wererats, they finally decided that they would try to get them bunched up enough so that the Paladin could use his area spell on them. If they didn't both die, the party was prepared to run. As the spell took effect, one of the two wererats died, so the adventurers used the opportunity (and the rough terrain that the spell made around the remaining wererat) to make their escape.
(Under the hood: This was another monster test. There are no wererats in the D&DNext Bestiary, so I went to town. I made the wererats duel wield short swords just like the Ranger, and I gave them resistance to normal weapons, and also added the caveat that if they were struck down by a non-magical, non-silvered weapon, they would still have 1 hit point. Thus, they could only be killed by silver weapons, magic weapons or magic. This was a really tough fight especially because the Paladin only had 1 more area of effect spell (entangle) and the wererats were not close enough together to get them both in the blast at first. When the Ranger realized that they were wererats, I told them that they could not kill them with normal weapons. This prompted them to make a plan.
In this encounter, I wanted to see how the party would respond to the immunity-like feature of the wererats. On the one hand, I like that the players decided to run, and they came up with a plan to attempt to bring down the wererats. On the other hand, they were kind of upset that they now needed to buy/pay for silvering for their weapons. Well...there are a few more places in the sewers they didn't explore, and if they do explore they may find a silver weapon, but that will have to happen next session. Of course, I had expected that they might go in other directions in the sewers, but because the ranger and the fighter could find the tracks, they beat a direct path toward the thieves' lair.)
The PCs made it back to town and were able to nurse themselves back to health. They earned enough XP to gain a level, so now they are level 2, a little more prepared to get their revenge on the wererats, and attempt to recover the map. They are quite scared that there may be a number of them further in the sewers, so they are now discussing if they should try to get some silvered arrows.
Other comments by players:
They felt pretty vulnerable with only 12 hp, and when I rolled pretty well in some combats, they got hurt pretty badly. One player wants more hit points at 1st level. One player likes the feeling of being vulnerable, and the other is indifferent.
Everyone agreed that when monsters get to use the same spells as PCs it is very dangerous. Burning hands may be too strong.
One player felt that "needing magic or silvered weapon" to kill a creature was a road block rather than a challenge. I'm not sure about this. For werecreatures I kind of like the idea that they should be able to keep living if they are not killed by magic or silver, but the experience has definitely made me think more about using immunities on monsters. Before tonight I didn't think too much about it. I could use an immune monster whenever and I felt that once the players realized that they could not harm it, they would have to figure out another way to deal with the situation. Now, I'm much less likely to use such creatures. There has to be other ways for monsters to be challenging without using immunities.
All three liked the feel of their characters. The Paladin was able to have the minstrel background, and he got a chance to perform at the Inn to earn them free board and 10 gp to boot. The inn-keeper was especially generous this night because she realized that the Paladin's performance brought in more customers. The Ranger liked how he could scout and track, and use his bow and dual wield short swords. He felt very effective. The fighter felt like a greataxe fighter, but he also liked using Warning Shout to protect his comrades.
Saturday night was our first session. I planned a quick adventure and let my players play whatever they wanted to play. We ended up with the following:
1) Elifar the Elven Ranger (Brute Hunter)
2) Rynlore the Human Nature Paladin
3) Jaden the Human Greataxe Fighter
We were able to do a good bit of roleplaying, a little exploration and 5 combat encounters all in about 3 1/2 hours (which includes chat time in the beginning of the game)
The game went well. Everyone felt good about what he could do in game. I did however try to twist/change some of the monsters to make it easier for me to challenge the party more.
****
The game started as the PCs arrived in Winterhaven. They spoke with the guards and gained access to the walled town. Then they went to Wrafton’s Inn and saw Bartho, a burley middle aged man, cleaning classes tidying up the bar. Rynlore spoke with him and convinced Bartho to get the owner so that Rynlore could audition to perform nights in the inn for tips and a room. The owner, Salvana Wrafton, a tall, thin, yet muscular women in her late 20s, met with Rynlore and let him play for her. She liked the Paladin’s lute playing, and decided to give him a chance to play tonight. She let the party take one room upstairs so the adventurers felt as if they at least had a place to stay, if only for a night or two. As Rynlore was performing for Salvana, Elifar and Jaden left the Inn to see if they could find leads on any jobs. Shortly after they exited the Inn, they heard a commotion at the front gates of Winterhaven. Investigating the incident, they saw a bloody and beaten town warden nearly collapsed in the arms of the gate guards. He was wailing that the Grand Shop’s apprentice and he were attacked by goblins not 30 minutes West of Winterhaven. The goblins took the wagon and the apprentice, but the warden was able to escape. Elifar and Jaden expressed interest and the warden asked them to try to save the apprentice. The call to adventure spurred them on, so they went back to the inn to drag Rynlore with them.
The adventurer’s left Winterhaven and proceeded west. When they got to a bend in the road about 30 minutes from town, Elifar saw the abandoned and ravaged wagon through a grassy, rocky area. Elifar scouting ahead surprised a hiding goblin and killed it easily. Then, as the rest of the party came closer to the ranger’s position, they were attacked by 3 goblins and a shield using goblin. Since the Ranger was closest, he took a lot of attacks and got hurt pretty badly, but the group prevailed. Rynlore killed 1 of the buggers, and Jaden hacked into a number of goblins, ultimately killing 3.
After checking the dead bodies and recovering some copper pieces, the Ranger tracked the rest of the goblins to a small camp. He tried to sneak up to the forested area where he saw the tracks and the blood trail of a slaughtered horse, but he snapped a number of twigs and made a bit of noise. This alerted the goblins and they began rustling within the forest area. Quickly, Rynlore and Jaden took positions in front of Elifar and waited to see if any goblins would meet them in battle. Lo and behold, one of the creatures charged out. He could not see Elifar or Rynlore who were behind some cover, but he could see Jaden, but the goblin’s mace attack was unsuccessful. Then, a few other goblins moved toward the group, one carrying a staff and chanting an arcane spell. The goblin witchdoctor’s hands fired forth a sheet of flames, which enveloped both Rynlore and Jaden, who caught fire and fell to the ground dying. Luckily Elifar was beyond the blast, so he remained standing and was able to cast a healing spell on the Paladin. When the Paladin got up, he was able to cast healing on the Fighter, and the adventurers kept up their attacks against the goblins. Elifar did some nasty damage to the witchdoctor, but he could not finish it off so the witchdoctor had another chance to cast his spells. This time, the witchdoctor tried to fear the party, but none of the brave members of the group faltered. At this point, Rynlore called upon Wraith of Nature to injure a number of the goblins so that Jaden could kill a number of them with his greataxe wide arc and cleave. The adventurers fought bravely and won the day. Then they found the apprentice, untied him, tended to his wounds and escorted him back to Winterhaven.
(Under the hood: In these encounters, I gave some goblins a shield and "Interposing Shield" ability. I also created a witchdoctor who could cast 1st level spells. Here I learned that giving monsters PC class abilities makes them really dangerous. Perhaps burning hands itself is too powerful as written. The encounter with the witchdoctor, a leader, 3 goblins and 1 shield goblin could have easily knocked the PCs out, but the PCs prevailed using nearly all of their spells and powers which included a number of Cure Wounds from the Ranger and the Paladin. The Paladin also used his Channel Divinity Nature's Wrath. The fighter cut and slashed using greataxe with wide-arc and cleave.)
After rescuing a captive and returning to town, we did a bunch of roleplaying. Rynlore played his lute in the bar, and brought in a nice crowd. Salvana was pleased and gave him a wink and a thumbs up. Elifar and Jaden overheard a man talking about a map and a great find. They started to speak with the man and found out that his name was Edgar Scrope, and archeologist. He said he couldn’t read the map yet, but it could help him find the resting place of Sayer Valdam, a leader of this region over 200 years ago. The adventurers asked if Edgar needed protection or help, and Edgar said he would call on the trio when he needed them. After a night in the bar, the adventurers went to their room and slept only to be awakened early the next morning to the Edgar’s shouts in the next room. “Someone stole my map.” The adventurers rushed into the next room and found that Edgar needed help. The Ranger immediately found tracks that a humanoid thief must have made, leaving the Inn and going into the sewers. The party followed.
In the sewers, the party fought a carrion crawler. They found a locked door in a steal grate. Jaden borrowed Rynlore’s crowbar and smashed the lock so that they could open the door. Just then, a bunch of rats and dire rats swarmed at them. After a few rats got through the door, Elifar slammed it shut keeping the dire rats on the other side. After cleaning up the rats, the group continued to follow the thieves’ tracks until they encountered two wererats. After they tried for 2 or 3 rounds to whittle away at the two wererats, they finally decided that they would try to get them bunched up enough so that the Paladin could use his area spell on them. If they didn't both die, the party was prepared to run. As the spell took effect, one of the two wererats died, so the adventurers used the opportunity (and the rough terrain that the spell made around the remaining wererat) to make their escape.
(Under the hood: This was another monster test. There are no wererats in the D&DNext Bestiary, so I went to town. I made the wererats duel wield short swords just like the Ranger, and I gave them resistance to normal weapons, and also added the caveat that if they were struck down by a non-magical, non-silvered weapon, they would still have 1 hit point. Thus, they could only be killed by silver weapons, magic weapons or magic. This was a really tough fight especially because the Paladin only had 1 more area of effect spell (entangle) and the wererats were not close enough together to get them both in the blast at first. When the Ranger realized that they were wererats, I told them that they could not kill them with normal weapons. This prompted them to make a plan.
In this encounter, I wanted to see how the party would respond to the immunity-like feature of the wererats. On the one hand, I like that the players decided to run, and they came up with a plan to attempt to bring down the wererats. On the other hand, they were kind of upset that they now needed to buy/pay for silvering for their weapons. Well...there are a few more places in the sewers they didn't explore, and if they do explore they may find a silver weapon, but that will have to happen next session. Of course, I had expected that they might go in other directions in the sewers, but because the ranger and the fighter could find the tracks, they beat a direct path toward the thieves' lair.)
The PCs made it back to town and were able to nurse themselves back to health. They earned enough XP to gain a level, so now they are level 2, a little more prepared to get their revenge on the wererats, and attempt to recover the map. They are quite scared that there may be a number of them further in the sewers, so they are now discussing if they should try to get some silvered arrows.
Other comments by players:
They felt pretty vulnerable with only 12 hp, and when I rolled pretty well in some combats, they got hurt pretty badly. One player wants more hit points at 1st level. One player likes the feeling of being vulnerable, and the other is indifferent.
Everyone agreed that when monsters get to use the same spells as PCs it is very dangerous. Burning hands may be too strong.
One player felt that "needing magic or silvered weapon" to kill a creature was a road block rather than a challenge. I'm not sure about this. For werecreatures I kind of like the idea that they should be able to keep living if they are not killed by magic or silver, but the experience has definitely made me think more about using immunities on monsters. Before tonight I didn't think too much about it. I could use an immune monster whenever and I felt that once the players realized that they could not harm it, they would have to figure out another way to deal with the situation. Now, I'm much less likely to use such creatures. There has to be other ways for monsters to be challenging without using immunities.
All three liked the feel of their characters. The Paladin was able to have the minstrel background, and he got a chance to perform at the Inn to earn them free board and 10 gp to boot. The inn-keeper was especially generous this night because she realized that the Paladin's performance brought in more customers. The Ranger liked how he could scout and track, and use his bow and dual wield short swords. He felt very effective. The fighter felt like a greataxe fighter, but he also liked using Warning Shout to protect his comrades.
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