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General Tabletop Discussion
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Urban Campaigns and Challenge Rating
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<blockquote data-quote="Caliburn101" data-source="post: 6920364" data-attributes="member: 6802178"><p>With urban encounters, it's context that is key.</p><p></p><p>In most cities you cannot kill people without the local authorities dumping a ton of pain on you before your inevitable stretch on the gallows.</p><p></p><p>In most urban areas, the challenges will be social (albeit at different levels) - from the manoeuvring of the nobility to the cut-throat aspects of guild trade deals to fencing goods in the thieves quarter.</p><p></p><p>Most lethal stuff is done in secret, and the best way to keep it a secret is to ambush and kill fast, then hide the bodies. Have your NPCs use mob tactics and lots of sneak attack bonuses. Use poisons or drugs, seduction and sleeping draughts, kidnapping and having characters chained up in a secret temple in the sewers awaiting their own sacrificial executions...</p><p></p><p>Cities etc. are not dungeons without a lid on them, they are much more complex, and the challenge ratings of opponents must inevitably include the calculations related to traps, ambushes, favourable ground (whose temple are you in and what is their level of political autonomy from the crown?), the ability to call reinforcements (a noble calls for guards) and the need to keep things non-lethal so as not to end up being guillotined by the Duke's magistrate.</p><p></p><p>Also, don't forget that very high level NPCs live in and visit cities and can 'just happen' to be walking by when stuff kicks off. It's easy to modify the parameters of an encounter that has lead to violence etc. with the proximity of others who might decide to get involved when they see what's happening. You wouldn't be able to justify their appearance and involvement in a dungeon, or in the wilderness far from anywhere, but in a city, everyone is in much closer proximity to each other, and anything within reason can come out of the nearest alleyway.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Caliburn101, post: 6920364, member: 6802178"] With urban encounters, it's context that is key. In most cities you cannot kill people without the local authorities dumping a ton of pain on you before your inevitable stretch on the gallows. In most urban areas, the challenges will be social (albeit at different levels) - from the manoeuvring of [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]the nobility to the cut-throat aspects of guild trade deals to fencing goods in the thieves quarter. Most lethal stuff is done in secret, and the best way to keep it a secret is to ambush and kill fast, then hide the bodies. Have your NPCs use mob tactics and lots of sneak attack bonuses. Use poisons or drugs, seduction and sleeping draughts, kidnapping and having characters chained up in a secret temple in the sewers awaiting their own sacrificial executions... Cities etc. are not dungeons without a lid on them, they are much more complex, and the challenge ratings of opponents must inevitably include the calculations related to traps, ambushes, favourable ground (whose temple are you in and what is their level of political autonomy from the crown?), the ability to call reinforcements (a noble calls for guards) and the need to keep things non-lethal so as not to end up being guillotined by the Duke's magistrate. Also, don't forget that very high level NPCs live in and visit cities and can 'just happen' to be walking by when stuff kicks off. It's easy to modify the parameters of an encounter that has lead to violence etc. with the proximity of others who might decide to get involved when they see what's happening. You wouldn't be able to justify their appearance and involvement in a dungeon, or in the wilderness far from anywhere, but in a city, everyone is in much closer proximity to each other, and anything within reason can come out of the nearest alleyway. [/QUOTE]
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