New adventure path from ENP

[Jdvn1]

Oriental would be cool. But, what I really want is for vampires to be cool again. It doesn't have to be awakening an ancient evil, but I just want a really cool vampire BBEG.

Also: a good fey-themed AP would be cool.

 

[Jdvn1]

I'm certainly on board with doing things a bit differently. I'm also half on board with dumping or redesigning skill challenges.

While the skill challenge mechanic has problems, I'd prefer the game to use the standard ruleset. Tweaks are okay, but don't go all Pathfinder on us (not that I have anything against Pathfinder, but I don't want to have to learn a new system for an AP).

 

[Blackbrrd]

Yeah it's just -4 for heavy shield + plate. If you're trained in athletics (most fighters are) and have a high Str (most fighters do) you should be around +4 to +5 at first level (16 - 18 str).

Only person I see struggling mightily is the Cha-based paladin with low Str. He could be as low as -4 at first level with 10 str.

I have one of those in my current campaign

(He is getting annoyed by people that are up on ledges and whatnot, but getting real friendly with the wizard that's sliding them outside the cliff edge with surprisingly high efficiency.)

 

[Daern]

treasure request

I would like to request detailed treasure parcels. I know DMs have to really tailor treasure these days but today I was running WotBS with minimal prep and the only hiccup I had was when I ran into "insert a lvl 7 treasure parcel here." I would really appreciate suggestions for treasure, at least monetarily, and really magical stuff too.
This would at worst get me pointed in the right direction for making my own and be able to include more world/campaign specific exotica, and at best be a quick back up for those DMs who find themselves in the hotseat after having suddenly been obliged to pick people up at the airport during the 3 hours they expected to be prepping for the game.
As for the AP in general, I am more impressed by the current one the farther along I go, but off the top of my head I would vote for a "Kingmaker" style series as this is an intriguing but complex campaign conceit that I have always been hesitant to try on my own.
I'd also like to put in a good word for trilogies.
cheers!

 

[renau1g]

I liked how the parcels were done in WOTBS personally as when I look at other published modules (GG ones for example) there reward was a Symbol of Battle +1. Great...except I had no divine PC's so now there's more work to figure out a way to sneak in a level 3 other treasure item that they'll actually use. If you can't know each group composition it's too hard to predict what they'd want (with the notable exception of potions & Iron Armbands of Power (for any melee PC))

 

[Blackbrrd]

Regarding treasure parcels, before I started the first module I found 21 appropriate magic items of the appropriate level and each time I was supposed to give out treasure I selected from that pool. I even printed the magic-item cards so I could literally give the party the items. It worked out really well.

I tried using the wish-lists earlier, but I usually only got requests for the most overpowered stuff. In addition it really lessened the fun when you got an item, because you would be expecting it and maybe even disappointed if you didn't get it on a particular session. Therefore I skipped using the wish-list way. I try to find very useful items, but I might hold back on the most overpowered stuff.

 

[Morrus]

One way I'm probably going to start handling it is to get my players' wish-lists (which I really should have done months ago) and use that as the basis for handing out treasure.

 

[renau1g]

One thing you can do with the "wish-Lists" is talk to your players first, tell them that the items they put on the lists are not guarenteed otherwise you may have sour grapes from them if they don't get the items they asked for. I tell my players that I use the lists as basis for the type of PC they want to play and I try to find appropriate treasure for them. I don't like the "entitlement" feeling that some players have when giving that list, to me it destroys much of the verisimilitude of the game if magically all the items the players could ever want just happen to end up in the troves they stumble upon... I usually go with like a 60%-ish from the wish list and 30% cool items that may be related and finally about 10% items that they'd never chose on their own but may be useful and the group tries to find a way to use them...

 

[OnCider]

One thing that bugs me a little with the current campaign that I'm playing in (Scales of War) is that we seem to be going from level 1 to level 30 in a matter of months (game time). Any ideas of factoring in a way to slow down the levelling of the PCs in the context of their life?

Other than that I really like the ideas being bandied around here. I came across WotBS very late and kind of wish I would be running it now rather than SoW. The "ship as home", steampunk-ish idea is making me think of Firefly.

I loved Firefly.

 

[TrickyUK]

I think that something similar has already been said, but I'd like to see an AP that brings out the best of 4e. WotBS is great - running it at present - but it still feels like a conversion and not a true 4e adventure.

Reading the Core Rules gives all the pointers to creating a great campaign and some of the ideas already mentioned would fit with 4e, but I'd definitely prefer a game that feels like epic Dungeons and Dragons and not some 'twisted to fit' campaign.