Klaus
First Post
This past weekend I introduced my 10-year-old son to D&D by adapting the 4e adventure The Slaying Stone, by Logan Bonner. It's one of my favorites, and I used it in a playtest two years ago. But first, the characters:
- Sparks. Dragonborn (Bronze) Ranger 1 Outlander. My son made up the concept (Aragorn + Boba Fett + Smaug!), and I built him up. I went with a Strength build, so this unusual ranger goes around in scale armor + shield + battleaxe. Favored Enemies are goblins and kobolds (common pests in the mountainous setting we'll be playing in), and Natural Explorer makes him awesome in mountains. He loved lining up his enemies and using his lightning breath on them.
- Gwen, Firre of Cendriane. Half-Elf Druid 1 Noble. My wife wanted to play a character like Queen Tara, from the animated movie "Epic", so I made up a minor noble from the lost Feywild city of Cendriane (she's a half-elf due to an old political marriage between the elves of Cendriane and a human kingdom). Her "scroll of pedigree" is actually her scimitar, which has her lineage etched into the blade. The spells she used the most were Thorn Whip, Entangle, Thunderwave and Cure Wounds.
- Dorn. Human Fighter 1 Urchin. Survivor of the fall of Kiris Dan (the ruined city where The Slaying Stone takes place), who became a soldier of fortune. The player (a friend of ours) is aiming at Battlemaster, so for his human feat I chose Martial Adept, so he can begin getting the hang of maneuvers from level 1. His Second Wind was a literal lifesaver more than once. His "City Secrets" trait allowed the party to navigate Kiris Dan quickly.
Inspired by the adventure cover (by Ralph Horsley), I decided to ramp up the notion that Kiris Dan was a town that relied on magic for its protection. That meant that, in addition to the titular Slaying Stone, there were lots of constructs that ran amok when the city fell. I used a lot of reskinning to create those constructs.
The group navigated the city ruins, with some flavor encounters here and there. I opted to end with them acquiring the Stone, instead of dragging it out with a fight against the hobgoblin leaders.
The encounters (in a 4-hour session) were:
- 4 iron defenders (mastiff);
- 6 awakened shrubs;
- 2 kobolds;
- 1 goblin, 1 crossbow turret (bandit); 2 stonefist defenders (goats);
- 2 rat swarms (both warriors dropped to 0 hp against these! The druid cure the human, who dragged the dragonborn away while the druid used Thunderwave to push the swarms away);
- 1 Adult bronze dragon (roleplaying only).
In the end, I let them level up to 2, thanks to the additional quest XP. The dragonborn went with the Dueling fighting style, and the druid opted for the Circle of the Land (Forest).
- Sparks. Dragonborn (Bronze) Ranger 1 Outlander. My son made up the concept (Aragorn + Boba Fett + Smaug!), and I built him up. I went with a Strength build, so this unusual ranger goes around in scale armor + shield + battleaxe. Favored Enemies are goblins and kobolds (common pests in the mountainous setting we'll be playing in), and Natural Explorer makes him awesome in mountains. He loved lining up his enemies and using his lightning breath on them.
- Gwen, Firre of Cendriane. Half-Elf Druid 1 Noble. My wife wanted to play a character like Queen Tara, from the animated movie "Epic", so I made up a minor noble from the lost Feywild city of Cendriane (she's a half-elf due to an old political marriage between the elves of Cendriane and a human kingdom). Her "scroll of pedigree" is actually her scimitar, which has her lineage etched into the blade. The spells she used the most were Thorn Whip, Entangle, Thunderwave and Cure Wounds.
- Dorn. Human Fighter 1 Urchin. Survivor of the fall of Kiris Dan (the ruined city where The Slaying Stone takes place), who became a soldier of fortune. The player (a friend of ours) is aiming at Battlemaster, so for his human feat I chose Martial Adept, so he can begin getting the hang of maneuvers from level 1. His Second Wind was a literal lifesaver more than once. His "City Secrets" trait allowed the party to navigate Kiris Dan quickly.
Inspired by the adventure cover (by Ralph Horsley), I decided to ramp up the notion that Kiris Dan was a town that relied on magic for its protection. That meant that, in addition to the titular Slaying Stone, there were lots of constructs that ran amok when the city fell. I used a lot of reskinning to create those constructs.
The group navigated the city ruins, with some flavor encounters here and there. I opted to end with them acquiring the Stone, instead of dragging it out with a fight against the hobgoblin leaders.
The encounters (in a 4-hour session) were:
- 4 iron defenders (mastiff);
- 6 awakened shrubs;
- 2 kobolds;
- 1 goblin, 1 crossbow turret (bandit); 2 stonefist defenders (goats);
- 2 rat swarms (both warriors dropped to 0 hp against these! The druid cure the human, who dragged the dragonborn away while the druid used Thunderwave to push the swarms away);
- 1 Adult bronze dragon (roleplaying only).
In the end, I let them level up to 2, thanks to the additional quest XP. The dragonborn went with the Dueling fighting style, and the druid opted for the Circle of the Land (Forest).
