Memorable city fight encounter? ran it last night!

[jdrakeh]

Hmm. . . the several moving marketplace chases/combats in Indiana Jones movies come to mind. Substitute wagons for cars and you've got a memorable moving combat in the making. You can crank up the cool and tension by having PCs make periodic ride/drive checks (to avoid running down pedestrians) and balance checks for those doing the fighting (resulting in those great action movie moments where they hover just a bit to close to the edge of the moving vehicle for comfort). So, to summarize:

Sword-Wielding Baddies + Frightened Horses Pulling Wagons + Narrow Streets Filled With Pedestrians = Cool

 

[Piratecat]

Hmm. . . the several moving marketplace chases/combats in Indiana Jones movies come to mind. Substitute wagons for cars and you've got a memorable moving combat in the making.

This applies to the bad guys, too -- except they can fly! Perhaps the marketplace has a net roof covered with twinkling magical lights, or something similar.

To make things easier on the PCs, have the marketplace be on two levels, built into the side of a hill. It'll be easier and faster to go down the fountain than up it.

A trained arrowhawk is the way to go; very cool. But grabbing the sword is definitely the weak point in the plan. Options:

1. What spells destroy objects? Who gets saves? Is it possible to destroy the sheath?
2. What spells can move objects? I think a psionic power does this (steal object, maybe?), although it may have been in a Bruce Cordell supplement.
3. Sleight of hand to get it out?
4. Disarm if it's being held?

Have a backup plan if the initial attempt fails. For instance, steal anything else on the PC, and he'll run right into a trap.

 

[RichGreen]

2. What spells can move objects? I think a psionic power does this (steal object, maybe?), although it may have been in a Bruce Cordell supplement.

Found it, from Mindscapes:

Steal Item
Psychokinesis (Constitution)
Level: Psion 3/Psychic Warrior 3
Display: Visual
Manifestation Time: One action
Range: Close (25 feet + 5 feet/two levels)
Target: One unattended or attended weapon/item
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex negates
Power Resistance: No
Power Points: 3
You attempt to steal an attended or unattended weapon or item weighing no more than 50 lbs. If the item is unattended, you succeed automatically and can either place the item
in your possession in the same round, or transfer it to any point you designate within range.
If the item is attended or held, then the creature attending it makes a Reflex save to react quickly enough to keep hold of the item. If the creature fails, the item falls from its grasp. If it fails the save by 4 or more, the item automatically appears in your possession or is transferred to any point you designate in range.

I don't normally use psionics but don't see why this couldn't be converted into a one-use or 3x/day item. The Reflex save is the problem as the PC with the sword has a good one!

So, the PCs are wandering round the streets near the glass & porcelain market. An invisible fire genasi rogue (?) working with the janni casts steal item from nearby, gets the sword and throws it up into the air where it is caught by a diving arrowhawk.

The arrowhawk starts flying towards a group of janni on a high rooftop on the other side of the marketplace. The PCs probably kill the rogue and shoot down the arrowhawk. The arrowhawk is killed easily and drops the sword on top of the huge Cascading Stair fountain.

Cue mad scramble to the fountain: the jann flying (and possibly one of the PCs) but this is made harder by the strings of twinkling lights strung from the buildings that get in the way; the others on foot, plus nearby greedy bystanders who may well get there first. Various stalls full of expensive glassware and ceramics, assorted merchants and customers are in the way.

The fight takes place on the Cascading Stair: the waters of the fountain are oily which makes the steps leading round it very slippery: lots of Balance checks with the likelihood of falling off and on to a stall of beautiful drinking glasses. The sword needs to be retrieved from one or two greedy bystanders and then defended from the janni who have now changed size and are using all kinds of blade magic manuevers.

This is sounding very cool indeed!


Richard

 

[Piratecat]

(Interesting typo; for a 3rd lvl power, the PP should have been 5, not 3.)

You could treat the strands of lights as difficult terrain, using up a certain amount of movement unless the flier stays lower to the ground and doesn't try to cross them. That lets them fly, but they have to maneuver around stalls. The arrowhawk is small enough to fit through, and the strands don't impede spells or arrow-fire.

While the "stealing the sword" is a bit contrived, I think it's probably okay. There's a non-epic feat in the Epic Handbook that lets a crafter apply their entire ability stat bonus to saving throws. Thus, if the crafter of the steal item wand (three more charges - loot for the PCs!) had a 26 int, the reflex save would be 21. You can boost or lower that to whatever you think is appropriate, so long as it keeps the save DC for the remainder of its life.

This sounds fun!

(Also, note that I fixed your CSA account. All working correctly now?)

 

[theemrys]

You could always do something where the PC with the sword is put in a VERY precarious position... one which they're VERY likely to fall... and need both hands to recover. or maybe they manage to do the daring recovery... just in time to be hit by a ring of the ram and fall off the first level onto the net over the lower market... dropping the sword in the process which is then recovered. Or, better yet, the weapon is further along the net, and JUST before they get there, the Monkey familiar of an enemy grabs it and scrambles off... (and of course the monkey would have to have a fezz just to be cool!)

 

[RichGreen]

To make things easier on the PCs, have the marketplace be on two levels, built into the side of a hill. It'll be easier and faster to go down the fountain than up it.

I'm having trouble visualising this. This might be because I've got a one-level market square in my head with a huge fountain in the middle rather than near to the edges. I'm also trying to work out the distances involved.

While the "stealing the sword" is a bit contrived, I think it's probably okay. There's a non-epic feat in the Epic Handbook that lets a crafter apply their entire ability stat bonus to saving throws. Thus, if the crafter of the steal item wand (three more charges - loot for the PCs!) had a 26 int, the reflex save would be 21. You can boost or lower that to whatever you think is appropriate, so long as it keeps the save DC for the remainder of its life.

This sounds fun!

(Also, note that I fixed your CSA account. All working correctly now?)

It does, doesn't it? And thanks for fixing the account!

You could always do something where the PC with the sword is put in a VERY precarious position... one which they're VERY likely to fall... and need both hands to recover. or maybe they manage to do the daring recovery... just in time to be hit by a ring of the ram and fall off the first level onto the net over the lower market... dropping the sword in the process which is then recovered. Or, better yet, the weapon is further along the net, and JUST before they get there, the Monkey familiar of an enemy grabs it and scrambles off... (and of course the monkey would have to have a fezz just to be cool!)

Love the monkey!


Richard

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I'm going to have a go at sketching out a map for this and writing up the encounter based around Piratecat's fountain this weekend. Any more suggestions?

Cheers



Richard

 

[EricNoah]

I ran an adventure I called "The Protection Racket." Basically, three businesses on the same city block in the city of Westgate decided they weren't going to pay off the Night Masks any more. PCs learned that the three businesses would be assaulted simultaneously on a certain night coming soon. They recruited extra NPC muscle, did some info gathering to learn about potential strengths/weaknesses, and then spread themselves out to cover all three locations. Sure enough, three quick waves of attackers (some bent on killing the business owners, others trying to burn down the buildings) came along and the ensuing battle was very, very entertaining. Also one of the hired NPCs turned traitor during the battle. Fun stuff.

 

[Nareau]

All this talk of Indiana Jones, and nobody mentions a whip? I'm envisioning the thieving genasi could be a bard/fighter instead of a rogue.

Give him a whip (+2), Weapon Finesse (+Dex; maybe unnecessary), Invisibility (+2), and Improved Disarm (+4). Assuming the item is "poorly secured" (which I would rule a simple sword in a sheath would be) that's another +4. He's already got +12 +Dex +BAB to his attack roll, and doesn't provoke an AOO. I'm guessing he'll have a much better chance of disarming the rogue than he would with a spell allowing a Reflex save.

Grabbing Items

You can use a disarm action to snatch an item worn by the target. If you want to have the item in your hand, the disarm must be made as an unarmed attack.

If the item is poorly secured or otherwise easy to snatch or cut away the attacker gets a +4 bonus. Unlike on a normal disarm attempt, failing the attempt doesn’t allow the defender to attempt to disarm you. This otherwise functions identically to a disarm attempt, as noted above.

Nareau

 

[Hjorimir]

Silenced, heightened, stilled suggestion on the rogue to give the sword to the nice monkey... just hope the player doesn't roll a 20 on his Will save... hrm better make it a repeating spell. Or Entice Gift might work.