pixies and trouble

[Gilladian]

I have two weeks to write an adventure for a one-shot session that will be about 4 hours long. The PCs will be a group of 3-5 pixies with various class levels (effective level around 5-6, probably). I doubt they'll be standard pixies, as I haven't decided what I want them to be able to do, but they'll fly at least a bit, and be about 6" tall, and each will have some innate pixie-ish ability or two.

The general idea is that they live in a tree behind a wizard's house/tower/whatever. The wizard hasn't been seen in a few days, and then the wizard's cat familiar comes to the pixies and says something to the effect of "My master went into his lab 3 days ago and hasn't come out. I can't "hear" him and I'm scared. Since I have no hands, I need help. Come on."

Since the wizard has helped the pixie community in the past, they should buy in to a rescue mission. What I need to come up with is challenges for the pixies. What happened to the wizard? What do the pixies need to do to rescue him?

Playing fast and loose with the rules is fine - I want a fun, high action plot with lots of chances for roleplay and a bit of goofiness. This group is a mixed bunch skill-wise (1 newbie, 1 hasn't played in years, 1 kinda knows the rules but doesn't play often, and at least 1 very experienced player) but we're all eager to have a fun lighthearted game.

So throw me some ideas!

 

[Stormrunner]

Play up the size differences.

Open Locks, for example, is quite a different skill for a 6" pixie than for a 6' human. For the human, it involves sensitive manipulation of small tools while being unable to see exactly what you're doing. The pixie, OTOH, can easily see into the mechanism and even thrust an entire arm or two in - but holding up the tumblers could be a bit of a strain (1 ounce of weight for a pixie = approx. 100 lbs of weight for a human), and turning the cylinder definitely requires a Strength check, with the assistance of one or two other pixies.

If they steal the BBEG's wand, it'll take at least two of them to carry it (like humans carrying a 12'-long, 6" thick log), and they'll have to work as a team to aim it (which could be difficult for chaotic, flighty pixies).

Give them a few sleep and memory loss arrows - but only a few, or they'll be leaving a swath of "Duh, wha' happen'?" behind them. If there are eight guards and they only have six arrows, they have to improvise...

The sleep-arrowed jailer has a big ring of keys on his belt - but such a ring is heavy, far too heavy to carry and still be able to fly. Dragging it along the ground produces loud jangling which threatens to wake the jailer. They'll have to take just one key off the ring - but which one? (Smart pixies will fly back and examine the lock, then return to the ring and find the key whose pattern matches the lock tumblers...)

Since it's a one-shot, and you're customizing the pixies anyway so you don't have to stick to Monster Manual canon, consider "changing the scale". Give them all standard D&D ability scores - but explain that when it says "STR 10" on the character sheet, that's average strength for a pixie! Scale everything else up appropriately. Human commoner? Hill giant stats. Housecat? Lion stats. And so on.

 

[Gilladian]

Stormrunner,
You hit it exactly on the head. I had started leaning that way and I'll take it all the way that direction.

What I've planned so far is that after getting their stuff together (acorn cap helmets and rose-thorn daggers, rapiers made from large darning needles, etc...) they venture into the back yard. I plan on a snake from under the woodpile ambushing them.

Once in the house (through the cat door) they run afoul of the unseen servant sweeping the floor (clounds of dust, getting swept, etc...) and must go through the kitchen, bedchamber and up stairs to the wizard's lab. They have to get through the door (while avoiding such tempting distractions as a locked box under the bed, the "big china chair" in the bathroom, and the fascinating crystal mobile), either by picking the lock or finding a way through under the door (or by flying around to a window!).

They then have to fight a "smoke mephit" or maybe two in the lab. It'll be their scale, so not too much of a fight. The wizard is unconscious, covered in blue sparkly stuff. He's somehow had a spell go awry and needs to have another spellcaster come check him out and rescue him (probably dispel magic, which I took away from the pixies along with invisibility.)

They'll have to go 3 miles into the village to get the Village Witch to come to his rescue. Along the way many other challenges will be faced - angry honey bees perhaps, and having to resist getting drunk on fermenting berries (have you ever seen birds get drunk on rotting fruit?), possibly an attempted capture by humans (of drunk pixies!) and lastly the village witch dislikes pixies because they've harrassed her in the past, so she sets her dog on them (or at least doesn't call it off until there's been a serious fight). The dog will be the ultimate battle.

I really like the image of the pixies with the wand, so I'll try to fit that in somehow...

Once they get the witch to listen, the adventure is essentially over. But the wizard may give them rewards for their aid - knitting needle lances? Enchanted needle rapiers? Unbreakable bowstrings? I can think of lots of neat rewards.

Thanks again!

 

[smootrk]

This sounds like a really fun concept to play in.

As a thought for your pc's, give them a choice of pixie-ish types to play, rather than simply applying classes to them. You don't need to stick to pure D&D conceptions of them... making them all approximately the same size and power level.

Pixie - standard gish (duskblade type)
Sprite - ranger modeled
Leprecahn - roguish (beguiler maybe?)
Grig - warrior type

just a few to get you thinking.

 

[Gilladian]

Unfortunately, I'm getting short of time. The game is the 30th and while I have the adventure roughed out clearly enough in my head, the pcs are now becoming the challenge.

Anyone who wants to design me a pixie-like creature of roughly L5 equivalent (only requirement is that they have neither invisibility nor dispel magic) is welcome to do so.

I'll work on my own and post them for comparison. Here's what I had in mind for the first one:

Pixie Rogue L3 Name: Gender:
Description:

Hit Dice:3d6 (12 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 15 ft. (3 squares), fly 60 ft. (good) (12 squares)

Armor Class: 15 ( +4 Dex, +1 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 11
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/0
Attack: Rapier +2 melee (1d6/19–20) or longbow +6 ranged (1d6/x3)

Space/Reach: 1 ft./1 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, special arrows
Special Qualities: low-light vision
Spell-like abilities: dancing lights, minor image, entangle
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +9, Will +5

Abilities: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 11, Int 16, Wis 13, Cha 16
Skills: Bluff +7, Concentration +4, Craft (traps and snares) +4, Disable Device +11, Escape Artist +11, Gather Information: +4, Hide +11, Listen +11, Move Silently +11, Ride +8, Search +12, Sense Motive +6, Spot +8, Swim +4

Feats: Dodge, Weapon Finesse (rapier)

Class Abilities: Sneak attack 2d6, Evasion, Trap Sense, Trapfinding +1

I suspect the skills are no-where close to accurate, but I hate trying to figure them out, and they're okay for a one-shot.

I'm working on a fighter now, but I'd love to see a few other options designed on other fey if anyone wants to go to the effort.