So I'm getting ready to start my local group of gamers through Season 4; we're starting Suits of the Mists tonight. Over the weekend, there was plenty of chatter in our online group on what kinds of characters people were planning to bring to the game. As I reviewed that chatter, though, I was dismayed; one player was bringing a dual-wielding fighter, another a rogue. It seemed nearly everybody was gunning to gring a big-damage munchkin character to the adventure.
The admins have done a great deal to present Adventurers League as an environment where you don't need to min-max to have an enjoyable time in an adventure, so I wondered why so many of my players, most of whom are AL veterans by now, felt the need to optimize damage, especially when Suits seemed, on first reading anyway, to be an investigation adventure, not a combat adventure. So I asked, "Hope someone is planning to bring a character with some skills to the table!"
The response I received was telling: "Why should we, when the modules take care of that for us?" It seemed like a weird response, until I took another look at the adventure. While it's certainly true that the central question of Suits of the Mists is "why did the Gur do the things they did?", it's also true that each chapter presents itself in such a way that the overarching question isn't really all that significant to what is likely to happen at the table.
Episode 1
[sblock]The party is pursuing Hricu, who stole Aya Glenmiir's wand of fire. The party must defeat two sets of monsters to reach Hricu, who then simply agrees to return to the inn. There is no story XP award for doing this, as there is no skill check or other requirement -- the party cannot fail.[/sblock]
Episode 2
[sblock]The party is pursuing Rilynin, who stole a box of gems to trade to an unscrupulous merchant in exchange for some holy water. The party must defeat the merchant's guards, then survive a swarm of blights. If they do so, Rilynin simply agrees to return to the inn. Again there is no XP award for this, since the party cannot fail.[/sblock]
Episode 3
[sblock]The party is pursuing Kehkim, who stole weapons to bring to a local orc outpost. He was captured by the orcs and put into a cage, which the party must open to free him. Despite this, there is no XP award for freeing Kehkim, who, as with the others, agrees to return to the inn once free, as the only way the party can fail is if they simply choose not to employ all the means at their disposal to open the cage. Meanwhile, it's suggested that the party might face an orog, if it is strong enough.[/sblock]
Episode 4
[sblock]The party is pursuing Ozzcar in order to determine how he cursed the cook's assistant. They find him in the company of Jeny Greenteeth, whom the party is not expected to fight; instead, Jeny sends them on an errand to fight some elk. If freed from Jeny's company, Ozzcar also simply agrees to return to the inn, no questions asked, no XP awarded.[/sblock]
Episode 5
[sblock]The party finally meets the mysterious Sybil, but instead of having to persuade her to reveal what is behind the strange behavior of her family, she instead insists that the PCs rescue a heretofore unknown boy, who is wandering about in the mist outside the inn. The party engages in two combats, then Sybil makes a mysterious pronouncement and the party ends up in Barovia. Only here is there an XP award for rescuing the object of the adventure, but even this is tied to combat, as the party must defeat the mist zombies who are dragging the boy off to some unknown fate.[/sblock]
So, out of 5 episodes in this ostensible investigation adventure, exactly zero of them require the party to do any actual investigating; all five of them are basically short combats that then reward the PCs with a plot-button that resolves any non-combat questions without fuss or muss. If the party succeeds at the combats, they can't fail the adventure. In that sense, why wouldn't a party decide to focus on doing lots of damage in combat, since that's the most effective way of getting through the adventure?
Disappointed that the adventure focuses so much on combat at the expense of investigationand role-playing, I re-read the episodes to identify what I might do as a DM to de-emphasize combat and make investigation a significant component of the adventure.
Episode 1
[sblock]The adventure notes that the energy from the wand of fire protects Hricu from the stirges. However, I am considering adding a mechanic where, if a fire stirge is killed by non-fire damage, the essense of the fire stirge is drawn into Hricu, in much the same way that the original energy from the wand of fire was drawn into him. Unfortunately Hricu is not in a state to control that much energy, and the energy of the first stirge notably injures the boy. If the party insists on fighting the stirges rather than using the energy within Hricu to defeat the stirges, the boy dies when he absorbs a second fire stirge's essence.
If Hricu returns in a later season 4 module, I expect to roll one of the curses from the ALDMG to represent the Dark Powers agreeing to return Hricu to life. This will prevent a continuity error if the party kills Hricu, but his role is still needed elsewhere.[/sblock]
Episode 2
[sblock]Instead of immediately attacking the PCs, the blights use whatever surprise they gain in their attack to surround Rilynin, seemingly defending him from the PCs. This convinces Rilynin that what he was attempting to do was the right thing, or at least that there is something deeper in the mists that wishes to communicate with him. Rilynin will need to be persuaded to return to the inn, with the party suffering disadvantage on this check if they killed any of Churly's guards or if they attack the blights, which suggests to Rilynin that the PCs are more bloodthirsty than the blights. If the party convinces Rilynin that they mean to help, Rilynin finds that he is able to send the blights after Churly's guards, avoiding the combat. The party gains the XP they would have gotten in the blight combat as non-combat XP for convincing Rilynin to return to the inn.[/sblock]
Episode 3
[sblock]This one is easiest -- increase the size of the encounter at the orc camp by adjusting the number of orcs upward both from that encounter's suggestion and the suggestion from the previous goblin encounter, adding as many as necessary to convince the party that simply attacking the orc encampment would be a Bad Idea. Instead, their goal is to free Kehkim without rousing the guard. If they succeed, they gain XP for doing so equal to the combat XP they would have gotten for fighting the combat as written in the module. If they alert the guards, but have befriended Esselios, the raven dive-bombs the camp, drawing off most of the 'bonus orcs and goblins' in a wild raven chase, leaving the party to fight the battle nearly as-written in the module. If the party ignores both Esselios and the Gur's plight, they fight an overwhelming battle.[/sblock]
Episode 4
[sblock]The first and most obvious change is to have a character who is trained in Medicine recognize that the cook's assistant is drugged, not cursed. A DC 10 check would be sufficient to recognize this, with a DC 20 check allowing the character to identify a possible remedy. However, if the party can get the information on precisely what drug Ozzcar used on the assistant, there will be no danger of side-effects due to a mis-diagnosis, so the party may still need to pursue Ozzcar.
Instead of simply ordering the party to slaughter some elk, Jeny has a specific request -- she needs the still-beating heart from a living elk. She asks if the party has the ability to 'charm the savage beast'; if they don't she provides a scroll. In either case, she also provides a ritual that must be performed while the elk is still alive and conscious; party members who cannot participate in the ritual can help to restrain the elk via grappling or other non-lethal methods while the ritual is completed. It is clear to anyone trained in Religion that the ritual is evil.
If the party simply cannot abide performing the ritual, Jeny will still consider releasing Ozzcar if the party placates or otherwise bribes her. She even offers to accept lesser tasks in exchange (rolled randomly from the list of activities in the ALDMG that can be done in place of downtime to convince her to cast spells on the party's behalf). If the party succeeds in rescuing Ozzcar from Jeny (he has no difficulty agreeing to return to the inn once safely out of the hag's clutches), they gain XP equivalent to what they would have received fighting the elk.[/sblock]
It's hard to know how to adjust Episode 5, since the actual reason for the Gur to have behaved the way they do isn't revealed in the adventure, unless it's simply the arrival of the mists, which the party can't prevent or otherwise affect anyway. Still, I think the above changes make the adventure much more suitable for a party that isn't combat-optimized, and that gives them good reason to believe they made the right choice by not optimizing for combat.
Unless more adventures take the time to develop alternative 'win conditions' that don't require victory in combat, I think all the advice and exhortation to avoid building min-maxed characters will simply fall on deaf ears, as it'll be obvious that, while the campaign says it doesn't want to be overrun with munchkin characters, the design of the adventures are such that the more munchkin you are, the easier a time you'll have, so why not optimize?
--
Pauper
The admins have done a great deal to present Adventurers League as an environment where you don't need to min-max to have an enjoyable time in an adventure, so I wondered why so many of my players, most of whom are AL veterans by now, felt the need to optimize damage, especially when Suits seemed, on first reading anyway, to be an investigation adventure, not a combat adventure. So I asked, "Hope someone is planning to bring a character with some skills to the table!"
The response I received was telling: "Why should we, when the modules take care of that for us?" It seemed like a weird response, until I took another look at the adventure. While it's certainly true that the central question of Suits of the Mists is "why did the Gur do the things they did?", it's also true that each chapter presents itself in such a way that the overarching question isn't really all that significant to what is likely to happen at the table.
Episode 1
[sblock]The party is pursuing Hricu, who stole Aya Glenmiir's wand of fire. The party must defeat two sets of monsters to reach Hricu, who then simply agrees to return to the inn. There is no story XP award for doing this, as there is no skill check or other requirement -- the party cannot fail.[/sblock]
Episode 2
[sblock]The party is pursuing Rilynin, who stole a box of gems to trade to an unscrupulous merchant in exchange for some holy water. The party must defeat the merchant's guards, then survive a swarm of blights. If they do so, Rilynin simply agrees to return to the inn. Again there is no XP award for this, since the party cannot fail.[/sblock]
Episode 3
[sblock]The party is pursuing Kehkim, who stole weapons to bring to a local orc outpost. He was captured by the orcs and put into a cage, which the party must open to free him. Despite this, there is no XP award for freeing Kehkim, who, as with the others, agrees to return to the inn once free, as the only way the party can fail is if they simply choose not to employ all the means at their disposal to open the cage. Meanwhile, it's suggested that the party might face an orog, if it is strong enough.[/sblock]
Episode 4
[sblock]The party is pursuing Ozzcar in order to determine how he cursed the cook's assistant. They find him in the company of Jeny Greenteeth, whom the party is not expected to fight; instead, Jeny sends them on an errand to fight some elk. If freed from Jeny's company, Ozzcar also simply agrees to return to the inn, no questions asked, no XP awarded.[/sblock]
Episode 5
[sblock]The party finally meets the mysterious Sybil, but instead of having to persuade her to reveal what is behind the strange behavior of her family, she instead insists that the PCs rescue a heretofore unknown boy, who is wandering about in the mist outside the inn. The party engages in two combats, then Sybil makes a mysterious pronouncement and the party ends up in Barovia. Only here is there an XP award for rescuing the object of the adventure, but even this is tied to combat, as the party must defeat the mist zombies who are dragging the boy off to some unknown fate.[/sblock]
So, out of 5 episodes in this ostensible investigation adventure, exactly zero of them require the party to do any actual investigating; all five of them are basically short combats that then reward the PCs with a plot-button that resolves any non-combat questions without fuss or muss. If the party succeeds at the combats, they can't fail the adventure. In that sense, why wouldn't a party decide to focus on doing lots of damage in combat, since that's the most effective way of getting through the adventure?
Disappointed that the adventure focuses so much on combat at the expense of investigationand role-playing, I re-read the episodes to identify what I might do as a DM to de-emphasize combat and make investigation a significant component of the adventure.
Episode 1
[sblock]The adventure notes that the energy from the wand of fire protects Hricu from the stirges. However, I am considering adding a mechanic where, if a fire stirge is killed by non-fire damage, the essense of the fire stirge is drawn into Hricu, in much the same way that the original energy from the wand of fire was drawn into him. Unfortunately Hricu is not in a state to control that much energy, and the energy of the first stirge notably injures the boy. If the party insists on fighting the stirges rather than using the energy within Hricu to defeat the stirges, the boy dies when he absorbs a second fire stirge's essence.
If Hricu returns in a later season 4 module, I expect to roll one of the curses from the ALDMG to represent the Dark Powers agreeing to return Hricu to life. This will prevent a continuity error if the party kills Hricu, but his role is still needed elsewhere.[/sblock]
Episode 2
[sblock]Instead of immediately attacking the PCs, the blights use whatever surprise they gain in their attack to surround Rilynin, seemingly defending him from the PCs. This convinces Rilynin that what he was attempting to do was the right thing, or at least that there is something deeper in the mists that wishes to communicate with him. Rilynin will need to be persuaded to return to the inn, with the party suffering disadvantage on this check if they killed any of Churly's guards or if they attack the blights, which suggests to Rilynin that the PCs are more bloodthirsty than the blights. If the party convinces Rilynin that they mean to help, Rilynin finds that he is able to send the blights after Churly's guards, avoiding the combat. The party gains the XP they would have gotten in the blight combat as non-combat XP for convincing Rilynin to return to the inn.[/sblock]
Episode 3
[sblock]This one is easiest -- increase the size of the encounter at the orc camp by adjusting the number of orcs upward both from that encounter's suggestion and the suggestion from the previous goblin encounter, adding as many as necessary to convince the party that simply attacking the orc encampment would be a Bad Idea. Instead, their goal is to free Kehkim without rousing the guard. If they succeed, they gain XP for doing so equal to the combat XP they would have gotten for fighting the combat as written in the module. If they alert the guards, but have befriended Esselios, the raven dive-bombs the camp, drawing off most of the 'bonus orcs and goblins' in a wild raven chase, leaving the party to fight the battle nearly as-written in the module. If the party ignores both Esselios and the Gur's plight, they fight an overwhelming battle.[/sblock]
Episode 4
[sblock]The first and most obvious change is to have a character who is trained in Medicine recognize that the cook's assistant is drugged, not cursed. A DC 10 check would be sufficient to recognize this, with a DC 20 check allowing the character to identify a possible remedy. However, if the party can get the information on precisely what drug Ozzcar used on the assistant, there will be no danger of side-effects due to a mis-diagnosis, so the party may still need to pursue Ozzcar.
Instead of simply ordering the party to slaughter some elk, Jeny has a specific request -- she needs the still-beating heart from a living elk. She asks if the party has the ability to 'charm the savage beast'; if they don't she provides a scroll. In either case, she also provides a ritual that must be performed while the elk is still alive and conscious; party members who cannot participate in the ritual can help to restrain the elk via grappling or other non-lethal methods while the ritual is completed. It is clear to anyone trained in Religion that the ritual is evil.
If the party simply cannot abide performing the ritual, Jeny will still consider releasing Ozzcar if the party placates or otherwise bribes her. She even offers to accept lesser tasks in exchange (rolled randomly from the list of activities in the ALDMG that can be done in place of downtime to convince her to cast spells on the party's behalf). If the party succeeds in rescuing Ozzcar from Jeny (he has no difficulty agreeing to return to the inn once safely out of the hag's clutches), they gain XP equivalent to what they would have received fighting the elk.[/sblock]
It's hard to know how to adjust Episode 5, since the actual reason for the Gur to have behaved the way they do isn't revealed in the adventure, unless it's simply the arrival of the mists, which the party can't prevent or otherwise affect anyway. Still, I think the above changes make the adventure much more suitable for a party that isn't combat-optimized, and that gives them good reason to believe they made the right choice by not optimizing for combat.
Unless more adventures take the time to develop alternative 'win conditions' that don't require victory in combat, I think all the advice and exhortation to avoid building min-maxed characters will simply fall on deaf ears, as it'll be obvious that, while the campaign says it doesn't want to be overrun with munchkin characters, the design of the adventures are such that the more munchkin you are, the easier a time you'll have, so why not optimize?
--
Pauper
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