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First Post
Here's the setup: my group of six adventurers are going to an adventurer's fair / conference (kind of like a Gencon for adventurers).
They've won a qualifier tournament that gives them free entry into the big tournament. What I need is help on a couple different things:
- are there any other spells or magic items I need to ban? I want to allow them the standard buff spells. The tier they are in is level 4-8, but any spells or items in general that you think are problematic I'd like to just ban.
- is there anything obviously exploitable? If my players come up with sound tactics, good for them. I don't want them to come up with something that is abusive though. And if they come up with something that lots of people can use to get a perfect score, then I need to redesign the challenge.
- Assuming the campaign goes on, they'll be back next year too. Are there any other cool contests you can think of to use?
- I'm looking for neat trivia questions. They can be any type of question, as long as a skill can be applied to it. I'm especially looking for questions which use non knowledge: [whatever] based questions. For example, a trivia question could be "What is the name of the knot originally used to fasten a boat to a ship but replaced by the shipman's knot?" and you could make a rope use DC check to figure out the answer. Or something that combines two or more, like "Who was the famous escape artist who managed to escape out of the Tallo prison 250 years ago, and whose methods are still unknown today?" You could answer this question with either an escape artist check or a knowledge: history check.
They aren't at the con yet, so I have some wiggle room. They know about this stuff, but it's all secondhand information. So if I need to change anything, there is still time.
Here's the info of what I have so far:
The big tournament is 5 events, each taking place on a day (so they can get spells back each day).
Each year the events of the convention are different (though they've recycled a couple from years past). The only one that remains the same each year is the trivia contest. The grand prize is [tbd]. The winners of each individual event, who don't win the grand prize, also receive a minor reward [tbd].
You may only have 100,000 gold worth of treasure with you during the competition, and you may not use anything expendible. You may not share magic items during a single event. You may rearrange magic items between events. Nor do you have to use all magic items during all events, as long as the total value doesn't exceed 100,000 gold.
For each contest you will be scanned to make sure you don't have any spells on you before starting. Before each event you will be given up to 2 minutes to cast whatever spells you want.
All scores are normalized to have equal weight. The winner will be the team that has the highest aggregate score.
The following spells and items are banned: any fly or floating items, invisibility of any type (a complete list is available at the tournament).
Test of (Magical) Power:
In the middle of an arena is an obelisk which absorbs magical energy. You may place yourself anywhere in the arena. Each round from a spot close to the obelisk emerge 3 automotons. They are AC18 and have 20hp and move fast. They attack 2/round for 1d10+4 in subdual damage. Each automoton will attack the nearest player; however, only two automotons will attack any player (they will find another target if a player already has 2 on it) unless no other players are available, in which case they will all mob a player. The obelisk has no energy resistance and will automatically fail any saving throw. It is AC5 to hit.
Scoring: Points are scored for doing magical (arcane or divine, but not stuff like slashing damage from a magic weapon) damage to the obelisk. One damage equals 1 point. This includes anything from fireball (which will still have a 20' radius spread) to inflict moderate wounds. If a spell has both a physical type of damage and a magical type of damage, only the magical type will count.
Test of Accuracy
Each person will choose an AC to attempt to hit a target 100' away at. You will get 5 attempts at the target; 3 must hit to be valid. If you succeed you can attempt the next higher AC with 3 out of 5 shots. You get 3 AC attempts total.
For example, if you choose to hit AC 16, then you must hit AC 16 three out of 5 times. You may then try at AC 17 to hit three out of 5 times, and if you succeed, you may try AC 18. You will not get a higher score than 18 since your first attempt was at 16.
Scoring: The fourth highest score + (.5 * The third highest score) is totalled. For example, if your results were 23,23,22,20,18,15 your score would be 20 + 22*.5 = 31.
Test of Balance
The party will attempt to ride a large log down a hill together. There is a DC check every 5 feet which is (DC5+ the number of feet). So at 15' the check is DC20. Players can use either strength or balance to make the DC check.
Checks are made in order from front to back. Each player can choose "Aid the person in front", "Aid the person in back," or "Aid myself."
Aid the person in front or back: for each 2 you make the DC by, you may add +1 circumstance bonus to the person in front or in back of you.
Aid myself: Give yourself a +2 concentration bonus to your check.
Roll all players from front to back to determine adjusted rolls. Then resolve any falls. Anyone who still fails to meet the DC check falls before that check (ie a DC failure for feet 15 means the player falls off before feet 15). A random die roll (d4+1) will determine at what foot marker he falls off. So for example failing at feet 15 means the person actually fell off at d4 + 1 + 10.
If a person falls, the person in back of them must make a second DC check (at the same number or DC20, whichever is lower) to avoid falling off. Players who fall can attempt a DC20 Tumble check to avoid potentially knocking a teammate off. If this person falls, he falls after the foot marker (again d4 +1 +foot marker), but the person after them must immediately make a check to avoid falling off.
Scoring: the foot marker where the 3rd person falls is the score for the team. In other words, 4 people must be on for scoring to continue.
Test of Teamwork and Speed
Players will be placed in the middle of a large arena with a few (tall) walls. Once the event starts, 25 targets will pop within the next 2 minutes. Each round is divided into 25 increments (500 increments total in the 2 minutes) which correspond to your initiative rolls. If anyone is lucky enough to get higher than 25, that player seems to move so quick that they get extra increments as long as they don't hold their action. Each target will spawn at a set increment, at a random location, and remain for a set number of increments (determined by 6d8+4 for blue, 10 increments for red).
20 of the targets, outlined in blue, are ac10 hp5, and may appear anywhere within the arena.
5 of targets, outlined in red, are ac15, hp15, and appear within a 30 foot radius of the center of the arena, and only last for 10 increments.
Scoring: blue targets are worth 1 point, red targets are worth 2 points.
Test of Knowledge
This is the only test which is repeated each year, though the questions and categories are always different. Questions consist of 35 "easy" questions (DC24 in respective knowledge check, or actual knowledge if you've been paying attention to the lore), and 15 "hard" questions (DC 29 check).
Scoring: each question answered correctly is worth 1 point.
Thanks for reading this far! And thanks in advance for any help!
They've won a qualifier tournament that gives them free entry into the big tournament. What I need is help on a couple different things:
- are there any other spells or magic items I need to ban? I want to allow them the standard buff spells. The tier they are in is level 4-8, but any spells or items in general that you think are problematic I'd like to just ban.
- is there anything obviously exploitable? If my players come up with sound tactics, good for them. I don't want them to come up with something that is abusive though. And if they come up with something that lots of people can use to get a perfect score, then I need to redesign the challenge.
- Assuming the campaign goes on, they'll be back next year too. Are there any other cool contests you can think of to use?
- I'm looking for neat trivia questions. They can be any type of question, as long as a skill can be applied to it. I'm especially looking for questions which use non knowledge: [whatever] based questions. For example, a trivia question could be "What is the name of the knot originally used to fasten a boat to a ship but replaced by the shipman's knot?" and you could make a rope use DC check to figure out the answer. Or something that combines two or more, like "Who was the famous escape artist who managed to escape out of the Tallo prison 250 years ago, and whose methods are still unknown today?" You could answer this question with either an escape artist check or a knowledge: history check.
They aren't at the con yet, so I have some wiggle room. They know about this stuff, but it's all secondhand information. So if I need to change anything, there is still time.
Here's the info of what I have so far:
The big tournament is 5 events, each taking place on a day (so they can get spells back each day).
Each year the events of the convention are different (though they've recycled a couple from years past). The only one that remains the same each year is the trivia contest. The grand prize is [tbd]. The winners of each individual event, who don't win the grand prize, also receive a minor reward [tbd].
You may only have 100,000 gold worth of treasure with you during the competition, and you may not use anything expendible. You may not share magic items during a single event. You may rearrange magic items between events. Nor do you have to use all magic items during all events, as long as the total value doesn't exceed 100,000 gold.
For each contest you will be scanned to make sure you don't have any spells on you before starting. Before each event you will be given up to 2 minutes to cast whatever spells you want.
All scores are normalized to have equal weight. The winner will be the team that has the highest aggregate score.
The following spells and items are banned: any fly or floating items, invisibility of any type (a complete list is available at the tournament).
Test of (Magical) Power:
In the middle of an arena is an obelisk which absorbs magical energy. You may place yourself anywhere in the arena. Each round from a spot close to the obelisk emerge 3 automotons. They are AC18 and have 20hp and move fast. They attack 2/round for 1d10+4 in subdual damage. Each automoton will attack the nearest player; however, only two automotons will attack any player (they will find another target if a player already has 2 on it) unless no other players are available, in which case they will all mob a player. The obelisk has no energy resistance and will automatically fail any saving throw. It is AC5 to hit.
Scoring: Points are scored for doing magical (arcane or divine, but not stuff like slashing damage from a magic weapon) damage to the obelisk. One damage equals 1 point. This includes anything from fireball (which will still have a 20' radius spread) to inflict moderate wounds. If a spell has both a physical type of damage and a magical type of damage, only the magical type will count.
Test of Accuracy
Each person will choose an AC to attempt to hit a target 100' away at. You will get 5 attempts at the target; 3 must hit to be valid. If you succeed you can attempt the next higher AC with 3 out of 5 shots. You get 3 AC attempts total.
For example, if you choose to hit AC 16, then you must hit AC 16 three out of 5 times. You may then try at AC 17 to hit three out of 5 times, and if you succeed, you may try AC 18. You will not get a higher score than 18 since your first attempt was at 16.
Scoring: The fourth highest score + (.5 * The third highest score) is totalled. For example, if your results were 23,23,22,20,18,15 your score would be 20 + 22*.5 = 31.
Test of Balance
The party will attempt to ride a large log down a hill together. There is a DC check every 5 feet which is (DC5+ the number of feet). So at 15' the check is DC20. Players can use either strength or balance to make the DC check.
Checks are made in order from front to back. Each player can choose "Aid the person in front", "Aid the person in back," or "Aid myself."
Aid the person in front or back: for each 2 you make the DC by, you may add +1 circumstance bonus to the person in front or in back of you.
Aid myself: Give yourself a +2 concentration bonus to your check.
Roll all players from front to back to determine adjusted rolls. Then resolve any falls. Anyone who still fails to meet the DC check falls before that check (ie a DC failure for feet 15 means the player falls off before feet 15). A random die roll (d4+1) will determine at what foot marker he falls off. So for example failing at feet 15 means the person actually fell off at d4 + 1 + 10.
If a person falls, the person in back of them must make a second DC check (at the same number or DC20, whichever is lower) to avoid falling off. Players who fall can attempt a DC20 Tumble check to avoid potentially knocking a teammate off. If this person falls, he falls after the foot marker (again d4 +1 +foot marker), but the person after them must immediately make a check to avoid falling off.
Scoring: the foot marker where the 3rd person falls is the score for the team. In other words, 4 people must be on for scoring to continue.
Test of Teamwork and Speed
Players will be placed in the middle of a large arena with a few (tall) walls. Once the event starts, 25 targets will pop within the next 2 minutes. Each round is divided into 25 increments (500 increments total in the 2 minutes) which correspond to your initiative rolls. If anyone is lucky enough to get higher than 25, that player seems to move so quick that they get extra increments as long as they don't hold their action. Each target will spawn at a set increment, at a random location, and remain for a set number of increments (determined by 6d8+4 for blue, 10 increments for red).
20 of the targets, outlined in blue, are ac10 hp5, and may appear anywhere within the arena.
5 of targets, outlined in red, are ac15, hp15, and appear within a 30 foot radius of the center of the arena, and only last for 10 increments.
Scoring: blue targets are worth 1 point, red targets are worth 2 points.
Test of Knowledge
This is the only test which is repeated each year, though the questions and categories are always different. Questions consist of 35 "easy" questions (DC24 in respective knowledge check, or actual knowledge if you've been paying attention to the lore), and 15 "hard" questions (DC 29 check).
Scoring: each question answered correctly is worth 1 point.
Thanks for reading this far! And thanks in advance for any help!
Last edited:
