Shadowfell NPC : Spoiler Alert

[Shin Okada]

Our PCs have entered the keep the last month and will continue exploring the keep this month. I guess they will meet Splug the goblin soon. How have you fellow DMs treated the goblin?

I don't know if my players will try to let him go adventuring with them or not. If they just let him go outside the keep, there will be no problem, both story-wise and game-mechanic-wise.

But If they actually tried to keep him as an extra party member, how shall I solve the situation, by RAW?

Shall I treat him just as an extra handy tool, and ignore, say, when divining experience points?

Or shall I treat him as if he were an extra PC, or rather, a kind of companion character in DMG II?

Or maybe I shall count him as a favorable factor for the party, and subtract his XP (100) from the XP of each encounter, to compensate the fact that he is slightly making each encounter easier for PCs?

As written, he is not as strong as a PC. But his ranged attacks are strong enough to actually increase DPR of the party a little bit. +6 attack bonus and 1d8+2+1d6 damage is, not so bad indeed. And, though he has only 1 healing surge per day, his total hp is better than that of most PCs.

 

[Crazy_Dragon]

Our PCs have entered the keep the last month and will continue exploring the keep this month. I guess they will meet Splug the goblin soon. How have you fellow DMs treated the goblin?

I don't know if my players will try to let him go adventuring with them or not. If they just let him go outside the keep, there will be no problem, both story-wise and game-mechanic-wise.

But If they actually tried to keep him as an extra party member, how shall I solve the situation, by RAW?

Shall I treat him just as an extra handy tool, and ignore, say, when divining experience points?

Or shall I treat him as if he were an extra PC, or rather, a kind of companion character in DMG II?

Or maybe I shall count him as a favorable factor for the party, and subtract his XP (100) from the XP of each encounter, to compensate the fact that he is slightly making each encounter easier for PCs?

As written, he is not as strong as a PC. But his ranged attacks are strong enough to actually increase DPR of the party a little bit. +6 attack bonus and 1d8+2+1d6 damage is, not so bad indeed. And, though he has only 1 healing surge per day, his total hp is better than that of most PCs.

In my game our leader managed to keep ratcheting up Splug's disposition (killing all the people who hurt him, freeing the goblin excavators and giving him one whole gold) and now he attacks with a crossbow from the leader's backpack and is going to level as a rogue, leveling is via DM fiat, but I think xp wise counting him as half a player is best so players get a respectable bonus (he is more like 0.75 of a PC). I think you should make a slider so the more Splug becomes genuinely their friend he gets closer to full power, giving them a reason to bond with him like as a side quest.

 

[Mapache]

I heavily modified Keep on the Shadowfell for my game, but the PCs did adopt the one surviving goblin from Balgron's gang, and I used the name Splurg for him (half-remembering the rescuable prisoner I didn't use). Since goblins are Dex/Cha, I built him as a sort of Rogue/Warlord NPC Companion, with a reasonable contribution to damage, some help with positioning, and a heal when needed. He's a heck of a lot fun to roleplay, with great comedy moments such as both him and the Fighter getting hit with a Save Ends effect, the fighter failing his roll, and Splurg making his with a cry of "It not so bad! Shake it off!"

Splurg, Goblin Warrior
Level 4 Skirmisher/Leader
Small natural humanoid
Initiative +6 Senses: Perception +2; low-light vision
HP 40; Bloodied 20
AC 19; Fortitude 15; Reflex 19; Will 17
Speed 6

m "I stab you good!" (Goblin Blade) (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+11 vs AC; 1d6 + 6 damage
r "Ha! You think you out of reach!" (Throwing Knife) (standard; at-will) • Weapon
Ranged 5/10; +11 vs AC; 1d4 + 6 damage
C "You not hurt so bad! Get 'em!" (standard; encounter)
One ally within 5 squares may spend a healing surge and make a basic attack.
"Only fool take eyes off me!"
Splurg deals an extra 1d6 damage against any target he has combat advantage against.
"Burn!" • Fire
Splurg scores a critical hit on a roll of a 19-20. When he scores a critical hit, he deals ongoing 5 fire damage to the target of his attack.
"We trade spots!"
When shifting, Splurg can move into a space occupied by an ally. The ally shifts into Splurg’s previous space as a free action.
"You miss me!" (immediate reaction, when missed by a melee attack; at-will)
Splurg shifts 1 square.

Alignment Unaligned Languages Common, Goblin, Giant
Skills Stealth +11, Thievery +11, Acrobatics +11, Bluff +11, Streetwise +11
Str 8 (+1) Dex 18 (+6) Wis 11 (+2)
Con 13 (+3) Int 10 (+2) Cha 18 (+6)
Equipment Leather Armor, Short Sword, Dagger x5

The Burn! power is because his mini is holding a torch. He's the second from the left of this batch of Goblin Pyros by Reaper:

 

[Nyronus]

In our KotS game, we never rescued Splug. Instead we rescued a kobold named Patsy. My Warforged Paladin proceeded to convert Patsy to Capitalism and convinced him to unite the Kobold tribes as a mercenary force to protect instead of to pillage. It would also give him access to all of the bacon and beer he could ever want.

He showed up towards the climax of heroic tier, having united most of the Goblinoid races into a well funded and powerful army, perhaps the most powerful army in the immediate area, mostly with the promise of stable living and bacon and beer.

And then of course, the following exchange occurred:

"Patsy, is that K on your shield for 'Kobold?""
"No. It stand for Kapitalism!"
"But, Patsy, Capitalism is sp-"
"Patsy buy word. It spelled with K now."

Needless to say this one of the group's favorite NPCs.

 

[Crazy_Dragon]

In our KotS game, we never rescued Splug. Instead we rescued a kobold named Patsy. My Warforged Paladin proceeded to convert Patsy to Capitalism and convinced him to unite the Kobold tribes as a mercenary force to protect instead of to pillage. It would also give him access to all of the bacon and beer he could ever want.

He showed up towards the climax of heroic tier, having united most of the Goblinoid races into a well funded and powerful army, perhaps the most powerful army in the immediate area, mostly with the promise of stable living and bacon and beer.

And then of course, the following exchange occurred:

"Patsy, is that K on your shield for 'Kobold?""
"No. It stand for Kapitalism!"
"But, Patsy, Capitalism is sp-"
"Patsy buy word. It spelled with K now."

Needless to say this one of the group's favorite NPCs.

Capitalism FTW! Bourgeoise kobold armies! If Patsy isn't exploiting the kobolds proletariats he's doing it wrong.

 

[Semah G Noj]

In our KotS game, we never rescued Splug. Instead we rescued a kobold named Patsy. My Warforged Paladin proceeded to convert Patsy to Capitalism and convinced him to unite the Kobold tribes as a mercenary force to protect instead of to pillage. It would also give him access to all of the bacon and beer he could ever want.

He showed up towards the climax of heroic tier, having united most of the Goblinoid races into a well funded and powerful army, perhaps the most powerful army in the immediate area, mostly with the promise of stable living and bacon and beer.

And then of course, the following exchange occurred:

"Patsy, is that K on your shield for 'Kobold?""
"No. It stand for Kapitalism!"
"But, Patsy, Capitalism is sp-"
"Patsy buy word. It spelled with K now."

Needless to say this one of the group's favorite NPCs.

It's things like this that make me so thankful that I got into this hobby in the first place. Sure it's fun to roll a 20 when you're pretending to fight a dragon and what not, but the joy of taking random that happens in a game and spontaneously running wild with it can't be measured.

 

[Shin Okada]

Thank you guys for good stories.

Now I am convinced that if my players are to invite Splug (or other monster) into his party, it will not be a good idea to deny that. As a DM, I should rather explore the possibility of future story caused by players' choice.

It is not difficult for me to make him a companion character, by using DMG II rule. But also, I don't want to make encounters too easy because of this additional character, nor want to decrease XPs gaind/encounter.

So, maybe I should just add appropriate number of monsters (usually some goblins or hobgoblins) to each of the encounters. Do you guys think that will work? Will there be any problem (or something I should be careful) when adopting this method?

 

[Zaran]

Our PCs have entered the keep the last month and will continue exploring the keep this month. I guess they will meet Splug the goblin soon. How have you fellow DMs treated the goblin?

I don't know if my players will try to let him go adventuring with them or not. If they just let him go outside the keep, there will be no problem, both story-wise and game-mechanic-wise.

But If they actually tried to keep him as an extra party member, how shall I solve the situation, by RAW?

Shall I treat him just as an extra handy tool, and ignore, say, when divining experience points?

Or shall I treat him as if he were an extra PC, or rather, a kind of companion character in DMG II?

Or maybe I shall count him as a favorable factor for the party, and subtract his XP (100) from the XP of each encounter, to compensate the fact that he is slightly making each encounter easier for PCs?

As written, he is not as strong as a PC. But his ranged attacks are strong enough to actually increase DPR of the party a little bit. +6 attack bonus and 1d8+2+1d6 damage is, not so bad indeed. And, though he has only 1 healing surge per day, his total hp is better than that of most PCs.

I made Splug a ranger npc and later when they found a dire boar he became a beastmaster ranger. Splug was alot of fun for the party. Of course I broke the rules about making a npc as a pc class but I'm as gm I can do that.

 

[DEFCON 1]

So, maybe I should just add appropriate number of monsters (usually some goblins or hobgoblins) to each of the encounters. Do you guys think that will work? Will there be any problem (or something I should be careful) when adopting this method?

That's all you really need to do. If you add Splug as a companion character for the PCs and want to maintain encounter xp balance, then just add a single monster of one or two levels below party level to each encounter or maybe even just a pair of minions at party level (rather than the usual 4). You should be fine.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Another option is to add a bit more damage to a few of the monsters. They're MM1 monsters and have slightly lower damage outputs than is standard now after the last errata, so you have some justification for that.

It all really depends on your group though. If they're having a rough time with the stock encounters then maybe just do nothing. They'll get 15% less XP, but even that isn't going to make a really significant difference in their progress. If you were to just toss in an extra encounter somewhere (the module even has some suggestions such as zombies in the graveyard, etc) it will give them the chance to stay on the curve. At most it might take 2-3 extra encounters during the whole module. You could also create a couple of Splug inspired minor quests (maybe he has a brother, Glug, that needs rescuing or something).

Anyway, there's at least as much variation as the worth of 1 Companion Character between different groups, so I kind of think it all comes out in the wash over the long run.