Combo menu encounter design

[I'm A Banana]

This idea is at the core of how I DM 3e, and it's seeping into 4e now that I've been reluctantly pushed into DMing it, too.

"Ah, I see your character is a Warforged, time for me to think about the place for Warforged in my world...."

 

[justanobody]

Exactly.

So how does that work in regards to designing things in advance? What happens if say the item in question is no longer in possession of the character, or the skill has been retrained. (Wait, can you retrain skills? I haven't gotten to retrain yet.)

 

[Asmor]

So how does that work in regards to designing things in advance? What happens if say the item in question is no longer in possession of the character, or the skill has been retrained. (Wait, can you retrain skills? I haven't gotten to retrain yet.)

Then they need to find a new way to beat the encounter.

If you're making it so that that's the only way, you're doing it wrong.

 

[el-remmen]

I think I have a good example which I will put behind an SBLOCK because it has not come into play in my current campaign, but it is an example of something I am planning on. . .

[SBLOCK]
On of their early adventures the PCs became friends/allies with a tribe of barbarians whose men of age (and their wives) were all off fighting. Because of their aid and friendship with these barbarians, the PCs were given very simple wooden pendants with a jackal's head (the symbol of the tribe).

Some PCs threw it in their pack and forgot about it - at least one wears it and another sought to sell it off when they got back to civilization.

In the adventure coming up they have a very good chance of running into those barbarians from the same tribe who are on the warpath and who were not in their home territory when the party met the rest of the tribe.

Now, if one or more of the party are wearing the sign of their tribe (in the simple wooden style the barbarian warriors recognize) then any negotiations with these barbarians will be a lot more favorable.

But even if none of the PCs are wearing it, if they notice similar pendants on the barbarians, one might think to pull out their own and show it in an effort to make peace.

However, even if this doesn't happen, the PCs can still try to negotiate, or they can even try to fight and kill the barbarians, or flee, or something else I hadn't thought of. . .

But in this case, if one or more of them keep this particular item, showing how they value their relationships with NPCs (despite the near worthlessness in terms of coin of the item itself) they will benefit from it.

So in this case, it is not about a particular ability or magical item, but a particular quality (keeping, collecting, valuing) that will be of help.

[/SBLOCK]

 

[justanobody]

Then they need to find a new way to beat the encounter.

If you're making it so that that's the only way, you're doing it wrong.

So you are just trying to bring "data item" X into play rather than have anything on the character sheet go unused?

 

[Asmor]

So you are just trying to bring "data item" X into play rather than have anything on the character sheet go unused?

I don't quite understand what you're saying.

It's really simple. Find something on a character sheet. Figure out an encounter in which that something is helpful, but not necessary. Profit.

 

[el-remmen]

So you are just trying to bring "data item" X into play rather than have anything on the character sheet go unused?

It's about the player potentially getting to use something her character has/does in a neat and useful way, and that may not get a chance to use very often (or at all, or never though to use) to give the a moment to shine and have fun.

 

[justanobody]

I don't quite understand what you're saying.

It's really simple. Find something on a character sheet. Figure out an encounter in which that something is helpful, but not necessary. Profit.

It's about the player potentially getting to use something her character has/does in a neat and useful way, and that may not get a chance to use very often (or at all, or never though to use) to give the a moment to shine and have fun.

@both:

The only drawback again I see is when the player doesn't use it and you spent that time on it. I can only think of actual player items, because the skils should always be being used, and now more so since there are so few of them really. Like 17.

Well languages may differ.

I am just finding it hard to grasp a concrete example, maybe because of how I DMed/play where anything was possible and trying just about anything yielded some kind of result, and nothing used on the sheet should ever go unused.

Maybe I just use everything so naturally, please end my confusion and give me an example of something that really would not get used that often, that would need encouragement to use and allow a character to shine?

 

[FireLance]

Maybe I just use everything so naturally, please end my confusion and give me an example of something that really would not get used that often, that would need encouragement to use and allow a character to shine?

Read the example written by el-remmen behind the SBLOCK in post #14 of this thread.

 

[justanobody]

Read the example written by el-remmen behind the SBLOCK in post #14 of this thread.

So that is what SBLOCK means. Spoiler text. Reading now. I missed the button on it earlier.

EDIT: ok got it. I thought this was common. Like any "quest item".

To me this is what an artifact is. Not something really a magic item, but some plot device in the form of an item. Like the One Ring.