gideonpepys
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
Character development - fluff and crunch
Some time ago I realised how hopelessly underwhelming 4E magic items could be, to the extent that almost any item you give to characters that are not wholly locked into their build (items listed as gold or light blue on optimization forums) will be greeted with an airy sniff by the player and either forgotten about or sold.
Zeitgeist sidestepped some of these issues by simply enabling players to buy what they want straight from the RHC, and also by introducing some key and quite cool new items, with the only issue being that, because they aren’t ‘canon’ players can’t easily add them to their character sheets. Also, the process of handing them in to the RHC and buying them back later (when they can afford them) means that often they get forgotten about.
For paragon tier, I’m planning to reduce the players’ stipends to nominal amounts that cover expenses only. Why? Because I want them to enjoy treasure-hunting again, once they are out of Risur and globe-trotting. I also figured that the way the D&D economy works, even a major nation like Risur might struggle to pay the wages of six to seven 20th level characters.
To make this decision less random, towards the end of our most recent buffer adventure, I tied the funding of the RHC to Benedict Pemberton. A huge amount of the organisation’s funds derive from Pemberton Industries. Although Harkover Lee has gone out of his way to ensure that Pemberton derives no direct influence from his largesse, it does mean that when he withdraws funding and transfers his base of operations to Ber, the RHC will no longer have the means to pay out tens of thousands of gold pieces in stipends (and it will all be the players’ fault).
Tied to all of this was my decision to increase – yes, increase – character power (or at least, broaden character choice) throughout the campaign. Initially, we were moving from early epic tier back to first level, and I didn’t want the players to feel straight-jacketed by that change. I also wanted to have some way to influence their development myself, so I introduced DM bonuses at level 1. I have also been awarding boons of various kinds to players as they develop, the most important of which came at level 10 (with another at level 11). At level 10, the players receive a substantial improvement in the form of training (which cost their entire stipend); at level 11, they will gain an additional at-will (for the same cost). Which means I don’t have to bother with items for a while, but also means that the benefits accrued to each character are more about what they can do, less about what they can carry.
I also asked the players to weave any major changes into their character stories and downtime.
Here are the boons for each character:
Korrigan – At level 1 he gained the unrelenting mountain stance, and a bonus to diplomacy. The power gave him a more ‘steadfast’ feel during combat; the latter enabled him to function as a true ‘leader’ even though he lacked charisma. At level 10 he trained to gain both the battlefront leader and combat leader warlord features. He also became a multiclass paladin as a result of his intense study of the book on Triegenes (though his ‘conversion’ is more philosophical than spiritual). Throughout his development he has earned additional genasi manifestations as he comes into contact with other elements. While the default is earthshock, he is able to switch to swiftcurrent or cindersoul.
Uru – At level 1 he had the riverborn ritualist bonus feat (and eventually was able to perform all nature rituals). I enjoy rituals, and wanted to encourage their use by the players most likely to do so. At level 10 he gained the mark of shadow feat for free as a result of the incident on Cauldron Hill. He has also opened up the Fading One series of boons. Uru also has the most eclectic mix of items in the group, including a lot of stuff he invents himself, or with interesting stories attached: technologist’s goggles; tad-pole (a rod of shrivelled penises belonging to his victims which serves as a ki focus); hoodoo mask; grim candle; dragontooth groghorn; hat of hats; ‘Winken, Blinken & Nod’ (three ghost children who serve as mage hands). He can also make clockwork bombs.
Matunaaga – At level 1 Matunaaga had both the githzerai and githyanki racial powers, and a theme developed by his player and me. He also had the ability to meditate and access the racial memory of his people, granting him the use of a skill for 24 hours. At level 10, he used this racial memory, and his own martial prowess to study at the Battalion and earn the martial scientist theme. (His bespoke theme was cool, but little more than a collection of interesting abilities in comparison with the other Zeitgeist-specific themes which see ‘action’ in every adventure.) His close study of the Palimpsest item has opened up a series of benefits which can be accessed only as his Wisdom improves, and will enable me to offer him benefits as he levels up. All of these will have to be ‘bought’. (The Palimpsest demands and ascetic lifestyle, so he ‘buys’ improvements by not claiming his stipend.) The first of these is mercurial mind; the second is access to both the rrathmal and storvakal paragon paths.
Rumdoom – started off able to make alchemist fire, which was reskinned as highly flammable dwarven booze. He also had to roll on a random table to see how badly his alcoholism was affecting him each day. (These benefits lapsed when he was ‘reborn’.) A relationship with Heward Sechim saw his alchemical abilities improve, but to simplify matters, we’ve now decided that he can make grenades instead (some knowledge of basic munitions having been picked up during the Yerasol campaign). Rumdoom has recently become a multiclass runepriest. The boon for him is that he can use the rune of mending power once per encounter.
Leon – was granted multiclass shaman at level 1. This enabled him to take mending spirit at first level, and serve as back-up healer when Korrigan is absent. (Obviously, with both Leon and Rumdoom providing healing support, the full unit can be a little overpowered in this regard, but more often than not, one or more of them is missing. If and when all of them are present, it doesn’t take much to up the ante of an encounter.) Leon was a martial sholar from the outset, but working towards membership of the vekeshi mystics. I used this to open up the vekeshi story-lines which are some of the most important in the AP. At level 10, he has finally earned full membership (and thus the associated theme benefits), while also being granted access to fonts of power reserved for members of the Unseen Court: this will see him become an Unseen Warlock at level 11 (reskinned Evermeet Warlock).
Malthusius – was a full-blown spirit medium who, early in his current incarnation, had also been a skyseer (studying alongside a young Nevard Sechim). This meant that the skyseer story elements could feature in our adventures, and granted Malthusius the first level theme benefits. His interest in the path of the skyseer has been reawakened by recent events, and so it is that at tenth level Malthusius earned the benefits of the full theme. Malthusius has a couple of boons from earlier in the campaign. As his ability to access prior lives improved, he gained linguist as a free feat, and also multiclass paladin and multiclass monk (one previous incarnation being the godhand who helped clear Cauldron Hill of witches). At level 10 he took traveller’s insight, granting him a bonus to insight for every language he has – taking his passive insight up to a whopping 36. I’m now concerned that Roland Stanfield’s bluff of +31 (passive 41) might be in danger of being breached!
Some time ago I realised how hopelessly underwhelming 4E magic items could be, to the extent that almost any item you give to characters that are not wholly locked into their build (items listed as gold or light blue on optimization forums) will be greeted with an airy sniff by the player and either forgotten about or sold.
Zeitgeist sidestepped some of these issues by simply enabling players to buy what they want straight from the RHC, and also by introducing some key and quite cool new items, with the only issue being that, because they aren’t ‘canon’ players can’t easily add them to their character sheets. Also, the process of handing them in to the RHC and buying them back later (when they can afford them) means that often they get forgotten about.
For paragon tier, I’m planning to reduce the players’ stipends to nominal amounts that cover expenses only. Why? Because I want them to enjoy treasure-hunting again, once they are out of Risur and globe-trotting. I also figured that the way the D&D economy works, even a major nation like Risur might struggle to pay the wages of six to seven 20th level characters.
To make this decision less random, towards the end of our most recent buffer adventure, I tied the funding of the RHC to Benedict Pemberton. A huge amount of the organisation’s funds derive from Pemberton Industries. Although Harkover Lee has gone out of his way to ensure that Pemberton derives no direct influence from his largesse, it does mean that when he withdraws funding and transfers his base of operations to Ber, the RHC will no longer have the means to pay out tens of thousands of gold pieces in stipends (and it will all be the players’ fault).
Tied to all of this was my decision to increase – yes, increase – character power (or at least, broaden character choice) throughout the campaign. Initially, we were moving from early epic tier back to first level, and I didn’t want the players to feel straight-jacketed by that change. I also wanted to have some way to influence their development myself, so I introduced DM bonuses at level 1. I have also been awarding boons of various kinds to players as they develop, the most important of which came at level 10 (with another at level 11). At level 10, the players receive a substantial improvement in the form of training (which cost their entire stipend); at level 11, they will gain an additional at-will (for the same cost). Which means I don’t have to bother with items for a while, but also means that the benefits accrued to each character are more about what they can do, less about what they can carry.
I also asked the players to weave any major changes into their character stories and downtime.
Here are the boons for each character:
Korrigan – At level 1 he gained the unrelenting mountain stance, and a bonus to diplomacy. The power gave him a more ‘steadfast’ feel during combat; the latter enabled him to function as a true ‘leader’ even though he lacked charisma. At level 10 he trained to gain both the battlefront leader and combat leader warlord features. He also became a multiclass paladin as a result of his intense study of the book on Triegenes (though his ‘conversion’ is more philosophical than spiritual). Throughout his development he has earned additional genasi manifestations as he comes into contact with other elements. While the default is earthshock, he is able to switch to swiftcurrent or cindersoul.
Uru – At level 1 he had the riverborn ritualist bonus feat (and eventually was able to perform all nature rituals). I enjoy rituals, and wanted to encourage their use by the players most likely to do so. At level 10 he gained the mark of shadow feat for free as a result of the incident on Cauldron Hill. He has also opened up the Fading One series of boons. Uru also has the most eclectic mix of items in the group, including a lot of stuff he invents himself, or with interesting stories attached: technologist’s goggles; tad-pole (a rod of shrivelled penises belonging to his victims which serves as a ki focus); hoodoo mask; grim candle; dragontooth groghorn; hat of hats; ‘Winken, Blinken & Nod’ (three ghost children who serve as mage hands). He can also make clockwork bombs.
Matunaaga – At level 1 Matunaaga had both the githzerai and githyanki racial powers, and a theme developed by his player and me. He also had the ability to meditate and access the racial memory of his people, granting him the use of a skill for 24 hours. At level 10, he used this racial memory, and his own martial prowess to study at the Battalion and earn the martial scientist theme. (His bespoke theme was cool, but little more than a collection of interesting abilities in comparison with the other Zeitgeist-specific themes which see ‘action’ in every adventure.) His close study of the Palimpsest item has opened up a series of benefits which can be accessed only as his Wisdom improves, and will enable me to offer him benefits as he levels up. All of these will have to be ‘bought’. (The Palimpsest demands and ascetic lifestyle, so he ‘buys’ improvements by not claiming his stipend.) The first of these is mercurial mind; the second is access to both the rrathmal and storvakal paragon paths.
Rumdoom – started off able to make alchemist fire, which was reskinned as highly flammable dwarven booze. He also had to roll on a random table to see how badly his alcoholism was affecting him each day. (These benefits lapsed when he was ‘reborn’.) A relationship with Heward Sechim saw his alchemical abilities improve, but to simplify matters, we’ve now decided that he can make grenades instead (some knowledge of basic munitions having been picked up during the Yerasol campaign). Rumdoom has recently become a multiclass runepriest. The boon for him is that he can use the rune of mending power once per encounter.
Leon – was granted multiclass shaman at level 1. This enabled him to take mending spirit at first level, and serve as back-up healer when Korrigan is absent. (Obviously, with both Leon and Rumdoom providing healing support, the full unit can be a little overpowered in this regard, but more often than not, one or more of them is missing. If and when all of them are present, it doesn’t take much to up the ante of an encounter.) Leon was a martial sholar from the outset, but working towards membership of the vekeshi mystics. I used this to open up the vekeshi story-lines which are some of the most important in the AP. At level 10, he has finally earned full membership (and thus the associated theme benefits), while also being granted access to fonts of power reserved for members of the Unseen Court: this will see him become an Unseen Warlock at level 11 (reskinned Evermeet Warlock).
Malthusius – was a full-blown spirit medium who, early in his current incarnation, had also been a skyseer (studying alongside a young Nevard Sechim). This meant that the skyseer story elements could feature in our adventures, and granted Malthusius the first level theme benefits. His interest in the path of the skyseer has been reawakened by recent events, and so it is that at tenth level Malthusius earned the benefits of the full theme. Malthusius has a couple of boons from earlier in the campaign. As his ability to access prior lives improved, he gained linguist as a free feat, and also multiclass paladin and multiclass monk (one previous incarnation being the godhand who helped clear Cauldron Hill of witches). At level 10 he took traveller’s insight, granting him a bonus to insight for every language he has – taking his passive insight up to a whopping 36. I’m now concerned that Roland Stanfield’s bluff of +31 (passive 41) might be in danger of being breached!
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