Hjorimir
Adventurer
Mily was the first one to round the corner. Her breath was ragged and her lungs burned. “The Temple!” she called to the others. She bound across the cracked stone floor as quickly as her halfling feet could carry her and threw her shoulder into the gigantic stone doors. They didn’t budge.
Vynkael was the next to follow. The paladin met Mily at the door and threw his pauldron against it. He grunted as his feet scraped against the floor. The door moved…slightly.
Nazzur, the tiefling they called the Cindertooth, stood at the chamber’s entrance as mystic bolts flew from his fingers into the darkness behind them. “They’re still coming!” he called over his shoulder. “Get that door open!”
“We can’t!” the thief squealed.
The wizard Qormandr and Holy Yndroh, were next. The wizard, bleeding from a gash in the side of his head, leaned heavily upon the cleric. Yndroh held a bandage to his friend’s wound, “I am sorry, my reserves are spent.”
Qormandr nodded, “Our only hope is the sanctity of the temple. Their numbers are limitless.”
The elf, Orothon, and mighty Northman, Jormunrek, came last. The ghouls followed. The barbarian took the head off one of the ghouls with a swing of his greataxe.
“Jormunrek, help us!” Mily screamed.
“They’ll flood the room!” he growled back.
Yndroh released the wizard and stepped into the breach, held up the symbol of his goddess. “Back! I am the earthly instrument of Ael on High and I call up her grace to send you back from whence you came!”
Most of the ghouls recoiled, others did not. “Go!” Orothon said, “I am immune.”
The barbarian’s massive stride quickly brought him to the temple gates. Reaching over the top of the halfling he pushed upon the door, which was slowly opening inch by agonizing inch. They could see beyond the doors now, but they were not yet wide enough to slip beyond.
Behind, the others were holding their own against the ghouls…then the ghasts arrived. “Orothon!” Nazzur cried as the ranger went stiff. Seeing this, Jormunrek left the door and rushed back to the fight. The door started to close again.
“It’s too heavy!” Vynkael grunted as his feet once again scraped against the floor. “I cannot hold it!”
Then a large, glowing blue hand appeared on the door and it started to swing open once again. It was the wizard Qormandr and a spell from the book of archmage Bigby.
[Excuse me while I ramble.]
So, how to handle this kind of scenario. The PHB has rules for Working Together: Group Checks, but that’s not exactly what I’m looking for. This is a simple pass/fail and would be resolved in a single round of an encounter.
My first thought was to assign a weight value to the temple gates. Say, 2500 pounds. Then each round, each character pushing on the door would contribute their push value (STR x 30) against the 2500. Once that was overcome, they could slip past the doors. Fighting them is the weight of the door. Maybe it “regenerates” 500 pounds per round. While I think this is a fine enough approach, there is a hole there I don’t like. There’s no minimum Strength required to move the door. I think we’ve all been there when the strong fighter fails a DC 18 STR check to open a door to only have the STR 8 wizard succeed and claim he’s the stronger of the two. Shenanigans, says I!
So, instead of this first approach, each character rolls their STR modifier in d6 trying to do enough “Strength Damage” to overcome the temple gates. At the same time, the gates regenerate each round to represent swinging back shut. This means that unless you have at least a 12 Strength, you’re not tall enough to ride this rollercoaster. You could further raise the bar by applying a modifier to the Strength Damage (-1 die would mean only 14+ Strength characters need apply). Keeping in mind a d6 will average 3.5, give the challenge a value to overcome and – possibly – how much it “heals” each round.
So, maybe the door has 100 “health” and regenerates 10 per round. The paladin with his 18 STR is averaging 14 points per round. The barbarian with his 20 STR is averaging 17.5 a round. Together, that’s 31.5 a round. Subtract the 10 points of regeneration and that’s 21.5 a round. Five-ish rounds to get the gates open. That’s what I’m talking about.
What if we’re talking about a Totem Warrior barbarian with Aspect of the Beast (Bear)? Well, we’re not resolving this as a Strength check (so Advantage doesn’t make sense). However, I think the doubling of carrying capacity would suggest double the Strength Damage. So, take the 4d6 and increase to 8d6. This brings the barbarian’s contribution up to 35 (on average).
Is Strength a skill? It sure could be. Replace Strength bonus in d6 with Athletics bonus in d6. Think organically with this. Mily is weak, but clever use of her Immovable Rod could eliminate some or all of the gate’s regeneration.
I think you could take this an apply to all kinds of things that take “work” to complete. Such tasks could be played out over long periods of time. Some quick ideas…
[Cut to the chase already.]
So, I think this needs to be boiled down into a rules framework for DMs to utilize. Basically, a Task would have the following attributes:
Anyway, I figured I’d toss this out into the wilds to see what you all think of it. I know it needs refinement, but I’m happy with the general idea. Not sure I like "worklist" and "regeneration." Maybe something like "contributors" and "detractors." Terminology needs work here. Damage/Healing? Hrmm...
Vynkael was the next to follow. The paladin met Mily at the door and threw his pauldron against it. He grunted as his feet scraped against the floor. The door moved…slightly.
Nazzur, the tiefling they called the Cindertooth, stood at the chamber’s entrance as mystic bolts flew from his fingers into the darkness behind them. “They’re still coming!” he called over his shoulder. “Get that door open!”
“We can’t!” the thief squealed.
The wizard Qormandr and Holy Yndroh, were next. The wizard, bleeding from a gash in the side of his head, leaned heavily upon the cleric. Yndroh held a bandage to his friend’s wound, “I am sorry, my reserves are spent.”
Qormandr nodded, “Our only hope is the sanctity of the temple. Their numbers are limitless.”
The elf, Orothon, and mighty Northman, Jormunrek, came last. The ghouls followed. The barbarian took the head off one of the ghouls with a swing of his greataxe.
“Jormunrek, help us!” Mily screamed.
“They’ll flood the room!” he growled back.
Yndroh released the wizard and stepped into the breach, held up the symbol of his goddess. “Back! I am the earthly instrument of Ael on High and I call up her grace to send you back from whence you came!”
Most of the ghouls recoiled, others did not. “Go!” Orothon said, “I am immune.”
The barbarian’s massive stride quickly brought him to the temple gates. Reaching over the top of the halfling he pushed upon the door, which was slowly opening inch by agonizing inch. They could see beyond the doors now, but they were not yet wide enough to slip beyond.
Behind, the others were holding their own against the ghouls…then the ghasts arrived. “Orothon!” Nazzur cried as the ranger went stiff. Seeing this, Jormunrek left the door and rushed back to the fight. The door started to close again.
“It’s too heavy!” Vynkael grunted as his feet once again scraped against the floor. “I cannot hold it!”
Then a large, glowing blue hand appeared on the door and it started to swing open once again. It was the wizard Qormandr and a spell from the book of archmage Bigby.
[Excuse me while I ramble.]
So, how to handle this kind of scenario. The PHB has rules for Working Together: Group Checks, but that’s not exactly what I’m looking for. This is a simple pass/fail and would be resolved in a single round of an encounter.
My first thought was to assign a weight value to the temple gates. Say, 2500 pounds. Then each round, each character pushing on the door would contribute their push value (STR x 30) against the 2500. Once that was overcome, they could slip past the doors. Fighting them is the weight of the door. Maybe it “regenerates” 500 pounds per round. While I think this is a fine enough approach, there is a hole there I don’t like. There’s no minimum Strength required to move the door. I think we’ve all been there when the strong fighter fails a DC 18 STR check to open a door to only have the STR 8 wizard succeed and claim he’s the stronger of the two. Shenanigans, says I!
So, instead of this first approach, each character rolls their STR modifier in d6 trying to do enough “Strength Damage” to overcome the temple gates. At the same time, the gates regenerate each round to represent swinging back shut. This means that unless you have at least a 12 Strength, you’re not tall enough to ride this rollercoaster. You could further raise the bar by applying a modifier to the Strength Damage (-1 die would mean only 14+ Strength characters need apply). Keeping in mind a d6 will average 3.5, give the challenge a value to overcome and – possibly – how much it “heals” each round.
So, maybe the door has 100 “health” and regenerates 10 per round. The paladin with his 18 STR is averaging 14 points per round. The barbarian with his 20 STR is averaging 17.5 a round. Together, that’s 31.5 a round. Subtract the 10 points of regeneration and that’s 21.5 a round. Five-ish rounds to get the gates open. That’s what I’m talking about.
What if we’re talking about a Totem Warrior barbarian with Aspect of the Beast (Bear)? Well, we’re not resolving this as a Strength check (so Advantage doesn’t make sense). However, I think the doubling of carrying capacity would suggest double the Strength Damage. So, take the 4d6 and increase to 8d6. This brings the barbarian’s contribution up to 35 (on average).
Is Strength a skill? It sure could be. Replace Strength bonus in d6 with Athletics bonus in d6. Think organically with this. Mily is weak, but clever use of her Immovable Rod could eliminate some or all of the gate’s regeneration.
I think you could take this an apply to all kinds of things that take “work” to complete. Such tasks could be played out over long periods of time. Some quick ideas…
- Research (this could be to solve an ancient mystery or maybe unlock a lost spell, etc.)
- Magic Item Creation (harvesting of slain monsters)
- The King’s Favor (deeds/quests completed for the king could tally up “favor”)
- A Crumbling Bridge (character weight is “work” as is the monsters coming from either side…too much work and the bridge breaks, dumping characters into the depths below. Killing a monster doesn’t remove its work; you must push the corpse off the bridge).
- A Trap Room (various activities such as disarm traps, athletics, acrobatics, etc., to overcome the room’s hazards)
- Ritual Casting (how long before the cultists summon forth Orcus? Each round roll religion or arcana work dice, maybe a sacrifice is a big chunk of dice and maybe this builds over time)
- Trying to prevent or start a war (get over a certain threshold and a treaty is signed, fall under a certain threshold and war breaks out)
[Cut to the chase already.]
So, I think this needs to be boiled down into a rules framework for DMs to utilize. Basically, a Task would have the following attributes:
- Description: What is the task (e.g. Open the Temple Gates)
- Threshold (s): What is the total value of work needed to complete the task? You could have multiple thresholds (e.g. a value needed for a small creature to slip through, medium creatures, etc.)
- Worklist: What things can be used to produce work here (skills and attributes are the obvious choices, but I think there is space to be creative here)
- (Possibly) Regeneration: Such as the gates swinging shut, an opposing faction speaks ill of the PCs to the king, etc.
Anyway, I figured I’d toss this out into the wilds to see what you all think of it. I know it needs refinement, but I’m happy with the general idea. Not sure I like "worklist" and "regeneration." Maybe something like "contributors" and "detractors." Terminology needs work here. Damage/Healing? Hrmm...
