Dwarven Lumberjacks

[Infiniti2000]

My party is currently second level and they'll be encountering some dwarven lumberjacks soon. (Cue "I'm a lumberjack" song with a Scottish accent.) If you're interested in the background of this, let me know, but I don't think it's germane to the question. While it's very much up in the air as to whether combat will break out, I want to be ready for it. Unfortunately, existing dwarves in the MB are all too strong for such an encounter. I'm looking for help/recommendations on how to tone down some existing dwarves or create new ones. Anyone interested in helping stat them up or offer suggestions? I'd rather have several more 1st/2nd level dwarves (possibly some minions) than fewer 4th level ones.

Also, please feel free to chime in if you think that toning down dwarves is a bad idea (flavor wise or whatever reason). Maybe you think it "cheapens" dwarves, but I think it's odd there are lower level elves and not dwarves. Maybe that's why dwarves won the race war!

 

[Benlo]

Do they dual wield nunchucks?

Kidding aside, I think it was Dungeon Master's Guide 2 that had guidelines for boosting or detracting from a monster's level.

My advice would be to just drop their defenses and to-hit a couple of points to be on par with encounters of that level, or just the defenses, and for the dwarves' turns, roll behind the DM screen and "roll badly". Sometimes players aren't as lucky as they think they are, particularly if I need the encounter to be over quicker.

 

[Gruns]

...and that's ok.

When adjusting a certain monster to the level I want it to be, I generally find it much easier to just use an existing monster of the appropriate level and make a minor adjustment or two for flavor. In this case, an Orc Raider works just fine. Replace "Killer's Eye" with the normal Dwarven "Stand your Ground" ability, and you're set. They even use axes, which you would expect from a lumberjack... This is a level 3 monster, so it's still challenging to the level 2 party, and doesn't 'cheapen' Dwarves too much.
Later!
Gruns

 

[Amaroq]

Find one of the "Monster Builder" utilities - I think there's one on D&D Insider, but I've been using "Monster Maker" ... and I kid you not, I started down the same slippery slope and now I pretty much make up my own monsters for every encounter .. my players are actually kinda surprised when they run into an exactly-as-printed monster!

Does keep 'em on their toes, though!

 

[Flipguarder]

Heres what Id do.
If they are meeting 3 or less lumberjacks use Dwarf hammerer, lower attack rolls and defenses by 2 each.
Also think about using some reflavored human berserkers or human guards.

 

[Flipguarder]

Or add this feature to human rabble

"Stand Your Ground
When an eff ect forces a dwarf to move—through a pull , a
push, or a slide—the dwarf moves 1 square less than the eff ect
specifi es. When an attack would knock the dwarf prone, the
dwarf can roll a saving throw to avoid falling prone."

Might also think about raising the damage slightly.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Fwiw, the encounter may become one of trying to use diplomacy to stop the dwarves from cutting down trees. I suck at skill challenges, though, so I'm not sure what I'll do if the players try to get involved in a way not involving combat and not simply requiring some verbal accusations. They may just ignore the dwarves and continue. The dwarves will certainly not pursue the heroes, though.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Well, a skill challenge might not be too hard to come up with. In fact it seems like a pretty good one.

Athletics -> Demonstrate your wood chopping prowess to impress dwarves
Endurance -> Drink dwarves under table to impress dwarves
Acrobatics -> log rolling?
Diplomacy -> pretty obvious
Insight -> can give a hint for other skill uses or unlock another skill
Thievery -> get hold of something that implicates a dwarf for doing something nefarious and casts doubt on their current activities
Streetwise -> talk up a dwarf and learn a useful fact
Perception -> notice something important/odd
History -> impress dwarves with knowledge of dwarven exploits
Nature -> learn/notice something about trees that is useful in your argument
Arcana -> not sure, but probably could come up with something, turn dwarf ale green...
Intimidate -> might work but maybe not a good idea, your call, could be effective
Religion -> something!

Anyway. You get the idea, pretty close to ANY skill could be handy if the task is to get the dwarves to listen and agree with you about something. Make around 7 primary (moderate DC) skills that can gain one success each say or maybe need to be 'unlocked' first by a secondary (dwarves will only talk after heavy drinking, Endurance unlocks Diplomacy). As my quick list shows I THINK almost any of the other skills can work as a secondary that is either a hard DC for one success, gives a bonus on another check, or maybe one of them can erase a failure on a hard check.

Just run it as a social interaction and let the overall attitude of the dwarves show based on how well the PCs roll. It could easily be a complexity 5 challenge as its certainly got enough skills to engage everyone. As the failures mount the dwarves can get more skeptical and vice versa.

If the party leans on the dwarves and fails then it could break out into fighting if you want. Assuming the PCs don't outright attack though it will probably end up being all talk.