One Shot Game Night: The Great Escape

One shot game nights, we all have them every once and a while. The gang will call you up and say they want to play some d&d and you have nothing prepared, you can run a LFR game, you can do a delve, or you can do something unique and fun.

The Great Escape is the idea behind a one shot game night idea that you can easily throw together at last minute. Ideally a one shot game nights should include 2-3 combat encounters and 1 skill challenge i will do my best to outline what each should be but let you to actually build it out yourself. The great escape is an adventure scenario for 1st level characters with a twist.

The players can start off as slaves in a drow camp, be in a prison trying to break out, or even have no memory of how they got where they are. The twist here will be a unique rule where players cannot use daily powers at all, the idea is they have been put to work and are using the last of their energy to escape, for experienced players take out half of the healing surges and start them off bloodied. At the start of each encounter they all have to make a saving throw, those who pass get to use encounter powers, those who fail cannot.

It may not seem entirely fair to do something like this, but that's the point of the escape is to be more challenging then normal

Common encounters that work in this scenario

• Sneak away from camp
• Climb the cavern/cliff
• encounter with the guards
• 'random' wilderness encounter

Sneaking away from camp

This can be a simple skill challenge that's heavy RP, include multiple tasks like gathering some makeshift weapons, distracting the guards, and include a chase seen where the guards are chasing them, If they fail the last part knock off two healing surges.

Climb the Cavern/Cliff

This is another easy skill challenge that can be tossed into any game, you can depict that during their escape they have to get past a cavern or cliff. Simple healing surge that should weaken then even more

Encounter with the guards

You don't want to flood your game with these otherwise whats the point right. I would include no more than two, one inside the location and one that is outside. Ranged combatants can slaughter the party, be sure to include at least one or two to give them trouble.

'Random' wilderness encounter

its not so random but its an encounter that's not connected with the core storyline, have a elite spider or something that the players have stumbled into.

Remember

Being a one shot game players have little interest in money or xp rewards, be sure to reward good role playing with successes or action points to help encourage it even more. Instead of XP get some mini chocolate bars or ice cream, something the players like to have anyway and award these at the end of the encounters instead of the xp or gold.

I don't recommend running this in the exact order I've listed here, I've just listed encounter ideas you can use. Stick to whatever order you want, and add more.

The whole experience will be challenging for the players and will be talked about for a while. The group that i play with runs this scenario once every few years its always a fun challenge that is rewarding by itself.

Post any encounter ideas you have that fit with an escape scenario.

Well keep an eye out for more one shot game night ideas, and until next time

The Problem with Solo Monsters And the Solution

The idea behind solo monsters in d&d is not new to 4th edition, there have always been creatures that have been considered extremely tough that the entire party needs to tackle together as a team. Dragons are the classic example.

However my group is now 12th level and faced many solo monsters over the past year and each solo monster have let me down. My expectations for them could have been set to high but the point of a solo monster is that its supposed to take up the same resources as 5 regular monsters and i don't think that's the case.

Solo Creatures lack turns, lets face it they go once you roll badly well too bad. Solo creatures need more turns, drop two action points to have a second initiative and watch as the new creature gives your players a run for their money.

One monster comes to mind that I've seen to be as solid as a solo and that's the Ettin, the Ettin has a double actions power that lets its have and go on two separate initiatives. The party (being old school gamers we are) were expecting this, but were still un-prepare for the devastation it brought.

Solo creatures need to have a multiple turn setup in order to keep up with the

party in its attacks or have attacks that attack the entire party at once. Keep this in mind when looking at solo monsters or looking to build them for your game.

First lets take probably one of the shittiest solo monsters in 4th edition to date, yes the Fen Hydra. The fen hydra is crappy because of its hit points, sure it can attack up to four people at the same time, but its stuck with still one move and can easily be handled by a group of adventures.

With a little mutation from the Ettin we have a devastating monster with 100 less hit points. This creature will be more fun for the players because it will be more challenging, and now it continues to have its four attacks and four initiatives, some might say this is too tough but i think by this level the party has way too many utilities to deal with just 1 creature and lock it down for ranged attacks

Keep the following in mind when designing or using a solo

• Can it do something unexpected
• Can it deal with healing surges
• Does it have multiple actions
• Consider giving it a 3rd action point, this will throw the players off

Blogs have been slow due to work and pregnant wife, they should pickup a bit more in the next few weeks, so until next time keep your dice on the table.

The Fen Hydra is of course copyright by WotC

Minion Mondays: Interrupting Cow

Well this is the last of my Minion Mondays articles, so i thought i would end it with something funny. The reason i am ending the Minion Mondays is really because of two different reasons. The first one is that over the last two weeks it seems that activity on the RPG Bloggers network has increased so much seems almost as a issue of quantity over quality. I'm not making any comments about anyone else's blogs I'm simply saying with all the blog posts i have found little that interested me. I want to ensure i am producing stuff that people find useful.

The second reason has to do with the release of Adventure Tools; now everyone and their mother is going to be releasing monsters on their blogs and again i want to have some resemblance of originality in this ocean of blogs that exist.

On with the Show

The interrupting cow was an idea of course based on the joke. At first most players won't realize its a monster as you just put them out in a field with other cows, and perhaps a few goblins (maybe that's the quest stop the goblins from stealing cows). Anyway the key power is Moo, its an immediate interrupt at will, burst 1. When an adjacent creature makes an attack the cow rolls +9 vs reflex; if the cow hits then it cancels the targets attack.

DM's should not run it as an attack, but simply state "when you go to attack the cow lets out a startling loud moo, causing you to lose your attack" the players will either treat these cows as part of the terrain, or get angry and kill them. Either way once all normal monsters are defeated the encounter should end.

As you can see the creature was created with the Wizards of the Coast Adventure Tools. Feed back in the comments is always appreciated.

Until next time, keep your dice on the table.

Quest Rewards for Minor Quests

Quest rewards are a great method to help the players feel a part of the game and add more interaction with NPC. The idea behind the quest reward is a special card that has some kind of in game effect. Similar to RPGA Reward cards, but more akin to LFR Quest Reward cards but with a purpose.

There are two types of reward cards you can create for your players, Reusable and One Shots.

Reusable cards have an effect that can only be used under specific conditions or once a day.

One shot reward cards are just that, its a NPC owes the PC a favor and once the favor is called in that's where it ends.

Here are some examples you can use in your game

Word on the Street

A local merchant is having some trouble with a local corrupt guard. Once the PC's resolve the issue award them with the [Word on the Street] reward card

Daily: While in city X you gain a +2 bonus to streetwise rolls

The idea behind this reward is simple, the merchant will always be thankful to the players for what they have done, and has no problem sharing some rumors he might have heard on the street

Innkeepers Son

A group of children were recently kidnapped by goblins for some dark plan, the innkeeper heard about the adventures and asked them to help save his son. If the PC's do the innkeeper will have a greater reward for the party.

Property: While in city X you have access to a meal and a room. +2 temporarily hp from a good nights rest at the start of the day

Again he greater the risk the greater the reward. To the Innkeeper the PC's will always be known and always be welcome.

A Clerical Friend

a cleric asked the party for some help in dealing with undead that was hunting him. Upon slaying the undead the cleric offers to cast a ritual (of equal or lower tier). The PC's might not need this now, but you never know. This is a one time use card, it might turn into something else later on but for now its a one time quest reward

Well i hope this got you thinking about quest rewards, and possibly even more quest ideas. Just remember by offering this to the players they feel more rewarded and your not unbalancing the system by giving them too much gold or too many magic items.

Until next time keep your dice on the table

Minion Mondays: Cackling Fiend

The Cackling Fiend is a feirce minion that can add chaos and confusion to any battlefield. The idea behind the cackling fiend was rather simple. I wanted a disposable creature who could reshape the battle field and also basicaly be a plague carrier. Its Echoing laughter affects all those around it and is a carrier of the Cackle Fever

The Cackling Fiend is a basic run of the mill minion, however it also has a bite attack to help pass on the Cackle Fever (Page 49, DMG). When the creature dies it performes its corpse burst which basicaly creates a zone covering 9 squares on the field. Any creature who moves through the zone or starts its turn in the zone is subject to an attack from the zone.

This allows the Cackling Fiend to continue to try and pass the disease long after its dead.

The aura might be too much, but at paragon a -1 isn't that much. It might be worh droping just to be easier for DM's to use.

Please let me know what you think about this minion in the comments.

Until next time keep your dice on the table.

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Ideas from LFR, Building a Campaign

Over the years I've wasted countless hours building grand campaign worlds that really don't seem to matter at all. Recently i started playing Living Forgotten Realms and have so far really loved it. As a DM I've learned a lot from running it.

I wanted to focus now on using what I've learned from LFR and build a campaign world that is easy to maintain, doesn't take a lot of time to use, highly explorable, and highly reusable.

Map
To start, get out a sheet graph paper, this will become your world map and your notes for building your new game world

Background
It all starts with background, what better place to look than the DDI Character Builder. If you take a look at the General Backgrounds you will see around 5 main backgrounds based on geography. Divide your graph paper up into 5 main sections, and label the different areas, Desert, Forest, Mountains, Urban, and Wetlands. Put a large lake, or 3 medium sized lakes somewhere, and add an ocean.

Races
Now again using the DDI Character builder pick at least 10 dominate races, and roll 1d6 and 1d4 for each, saving the results. the d6 is the square size on the map, and the d4 is the number of cities (+1 for a capital) Assign each race a numerical value between 2-11 and roll a d12 on the actual graph paper.

Borders
Where the d12 lands, create a border for that race. For example say you assigned humans to 4, your d6 was a 3 and your d4 was a 1. where ever your d12 landed pick a center square and go out in all directions by 3 (the value of your d6), label the borders as the human zone, place your capital, and place one city, and one capital.

Borders should have at least two squares of space between each other, so adjust your landing area as needed. Repeat the process until you have at least one border in each of the 5 different zones. Borders can overlap zones, and you can have multiple borders in the same zone.

Natural 1
Where the d12 lands, add some sort of natural or mystical item, examples are a mystical lake, a set of caves, a giant pit under the earth, a vocalno, anything you want.

Natural 12
Where the d12 lands, add some sort of evil base, goblin camp, ancient dungeon, dragon cave.

1&12's will make great global locations for your players, as these places do not care about borders.

Roads
Once your done building your world, which can take maybe an hour, draw in some rough roads from the different capitals and your done. Go over in pen making sure you can see the details, the border names etc. Photo copy so your players can have a world map, it doesn't need to be detailed what you have will give them a rough idea of the world and where each adventure is taking place.

Fleshing out the world
Now that you have a general idea of what the world looks like its time to flesh it out a bit.
In your friendly neighborhood text file editing program, create a list of all borders, under each border put any natural locations that came up, capitals and cities.

Write two paragraphs about each border, describing the people. Add a third paragraph if their is any hostilities to any other borders. Don't forget to include what races are associated with this area, the type of government, and any backgrounds associated with this area as well.

Write one paragraph about each sub location of the boarder including natural locations, cities and capitals. If you start running out of ideas, ask your players to tackle an area. Some players will be excited at the idea of playing in a world they helped build.

Now your campaign is done, you have all the details you need to start playing. You do not need anything more. You could write down a few rumors for each city but that's just going to take time and you can waste creative juices that you don't need to use just yet.

Adventure Design
If you have some more time, start putting together your adventures. I recommend doing it similar to how WotC does LFR. Create an adventure per border that spans a few levels. Your adventures don't need to focus on any of the cities in a zone either, it could be a smaller town not on the map, or old set of ruins also not on the map, this part you can make up if the players ask, have them flesh out the world map even further.

In any case, i would like to thank Planet-Thirteen.com for the inspiration behind the map building. If you have not tried how to host a dungeon i recommend reading it. And as well i would like to thank WotC/RGPA for their ongoing work with Living Forgotten Realms

I hope everyone enjoyed this article, please share any campaigns you've created using this method, i would like to see what you came up with.

Until next time, keep your dice on the table.

Minion Mondays: Goblin Clown

I got this idea of a golbin from whatching rodeo clowns. Their job is to protect the cowboys from any harm by running in the way of the bull. Sounds pretty dangerous if you ask me. It would make sense to me that goblins would have something similar.

Without further adiew i present the Goblin Clown

Dressed in strange and colorfol clothing ment to distract you this goblin caries no weapons, only two wooden shields painted with bulls eyes. Perhaps for target pratics or perhaps to get your attention. The Goblin Clown will hold its initative and go on any initaive where a stirker or brute is moving in. The Goblin Clown will attack the same target in hopes that his big friend cna finish the job before the clown is finished.

Half scary and funny this minion is dangerous.

I appologize for the delay in getting the article out it was a long day. I have a good one for you tomorow thats been saved up for half a week now.

Until next time keep your dice on the table.

Minion Mondays - Orc Defender

I decided to start something new with the blog, Minion Mondays, where every Monday i will attempt to introduce a new minion that you can use in your campaign.

The first minion is the first in a five part series to Orcs, The great baddie everyone loves to kill.

I also wanted to show the versatility behind minions, and how they can be more than just a little bit of damage; and how they can go unnoticed.


Orc Defender Level 5 Minion
Medium natural humanoid XP 50

Initative +1 Senses Perception +1;low-light vision

Defender Aura 1; non minion orcs in the aura have +2 to all defenses

HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.

AC 19; Fortitude 21, Reflex 19, Will 19
Speed 6

[M] Shield Bash (Standard; at-will) * Weapon
+12 vs. AC; 8 damage.

Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common, Giant
Str 18 (+4) Dex 15 (+2) Wis 11 (+0)
Con 13 (+1) Int 12 (+1) Cha 14 (+2)

The Orc Defenders are trained to protect the more valuable warriors, they follow their leaders into battle and often die to protect them. The tactics of the Orc Defender is simple, stand next to the tough guy, and hope no one notices you. They will attack anything within reach, but only after moving to guard. If they cannot make a melee attack, they take a defensive stance.

Orc Defenders only posses a shield and some crude armor they use to protect themselves anyway they can.

How to use the effectively in your game
Try not to bring much notice to them, at first just have them follow another Orc around and not attack, the players will focus on the guy that is dealing more damage.

New Ritual: Spirit Animal

I thought of this ritual from the classic native north American spirit guide or animal guide that follows us on our journey. Ive experienced a few things in my life to accept such this as possible.

The following ritual is similar to speak with nature but has the added benefit of leaving you with a bonus until you rest. Because the ritual commonly performed at night, the DM can allow that the rest that happens shortly after does not count as the first extended rest.

The animals were mostly based off of the wizard familiar.

Spirit Animal
You perform a ritual to find and seek advice from your spirit guide.

Level: 10
Component Cost: 200 gp
Category: divination
Market Price: 1,000 gp
Time; 10 miutes
Key Skill: Nature
Duration: special

You see images you wish to see related to some questions you hold at the completion of the ritual. Your Nature check result determines the number of questions you can ask. The questions can be about your past, your future or something that is related to you.

The questions are answered by your spirit guide, those who participate in the ritual can discover their spirit guide and gain benefits as listed until the next extended rest. Once you have a spirit guide only that animal will appear to you any time you participate in this ritual

Nature Check Result
9 or lower no spirit guides show up, no questions answered
10 to 19 one question
20 to 29 two questions
30 or higher three questions


Animals (2d8)
2 Owl +2 insight and perception
3 Dragon When you spend a healing surge, regain 2 additional hit points per tier
4 Falcon +2 to opportunity attacks
5 Rat +2 stealth and thievery
6 Cat +2 acrobatics, considered trained in acrobatics
7 Snake +2 bluff, shift through difficult terrain
8 Spider +2 climb, +1 saves vs poisons
9 Badger +2 intimidate, +1 per tier to damage rolls while bloodied
10 Toad +2 endurance, +2 healing surge value
11 Weasel +2 acrobatics and bluff
12 Wolf +2 intimidate, +2 damage while flanking
13 Bear +2 endurance, +2 damage while bloodied
14 Deer +2 stealth, +2 acrobatics
15 Bat +2 perception and stealth
16 Fish Shift speed +1, +4 to swim rolls.

Magic Item: Resurrection Gauntlet

Having only recently started watching Torchwood the Dr. Who spin off, i really started getting into it and liking the different story elements it had to offer. In the last month i have seen a few episodes that revolved around these different Gauntlets and i decided to create one for D&D













The Resurrection Gauntlet is a level 10 wondrous item.

I wanted to focus on two powers, one is an encounter power, the other is a daily.

Speak with dead, i think this is a great ritual, and gives the party an option to use it without spending the casting cost, however as a side effect they can never speak to the corps again and it costs them two healing surges

The idea behind the glove from the episode is that it uses the users life force transferring it to the target corps.

The second power is to fully cast raise dead. Again I've designed it so the user has to spend healing surges, and is also affected by the -1 to all death penalty

I may consider making the raise dead power to be consumable, destroying the glove in the process, but i think the item needs some play testing, its not something that would be used often.

I believe an item like this is best used for story lines, and quests.

Example, no one has raise dead and the prince had died. The PCs are quested to retrieve this cursed item from an ancient tomb before the public finds out.

Until next time, keep your dice on the table.

Running a business for 4e Players

I've often said that 4e d&d is about being a hero and i like to show this in my games. One of the things that was popular in 3.5 that was never moved over to 4e was crafting. I'm thankful for this, i felt 3.5 crafting was broken and forced the player to ignore the game for a bit so they could make a few extra coins. Why would a movie star go back to farming, maybe for fun for a bit but they are going to have a lot more work then just themselves.

I see 4e player characters the same as movie stars and rock stars. As the players level up they get more fame. As a replacement to crafting i would like to offer up the idea of business, something that makes a little more sense. A business is something the players can make money off of and still have other people do the work, they improve the business with their ideas and their own fame.

Letting players run their own business gives you the opportunity for new and exciting story arc's that affect the players at a personal level, and allow the players to have a sort of home inside the game world where they can feel comfortable and feel like the heroes they are.

Rule of Thumb
As a rule of thumb i would only allow a player to own one business per tier, and only starting after level 5. The gold they bring in would be tier times level per day.

Formula
The idea behind the formula is that the higher level tier you are the more exotic your business is and can bring in more money, and the level is equivalent to fame. The numer shows how much profit the business makes that the player can dip into, after everything has already been paid for.

Business Ideas
These are just some ideas of business a player can have at each tier, you'll see I've added a section for Investment, the amount of money a player needs to put down in advance. You being the DM might want to offer this as a reward for an adventure, or split a business between a party.

Pub
Invesement: Building, up to the DM for the cost
Teir: 1
Why it works: A pub works great beacuse idealy its in an area the players are known for, and this brings people to the location for a chance to see the player and hear stories of his adventures.

Farm
Invesement: Farm, again up to DM for cost, makes good story
Teir: 1
Why it works: A farm works beacuse it gives the player a home, and is something they can just get farmers to continue doing the work.

Arena
Invesement: Large Building, up to the DM for the cost
Teir: 2
Why it works: Having a fighting area with your name on it can bring a lot of attention, you'll find people wanting to prove themselves, and as a player you can capture monsters and bring them here.

Shipping Company
Invesement: Cost of ship
Teir: 2
Why it works: Having a shipping company works great, beacuse it allows the player to buy and own a ship without having to do much with it or worry about it later on. The player knows he has access to the ship at most times so why not make money on it. Any pirate knows the ship is proected and would have to be crazy to attack your ship.

Moneylending
Invesement: Money set aside up to DM
Teir: 3
Why it works: It works beacuse at epic level you have lots of money, you can setup a small team to run everything for you and slowly make money by helping people help themselves.

Other Ideas
Caravans - who would attack a caravan under your protection
School - Create a school to train ohers trained in your ways
Gang - Why not haves a theives gang, other players need not know

This realy comes down to a situation that lets the players roleplay more with the DM in creating the world around them, and as the DM i encourage you to lessen the gold at lower levels but at higher levels it might not make a diffrence. Or simply make something a group business.

This is Mike signing off from Las Angeles California, until next time keep your dice on the table.

Skill Challenges you and your players will love

I think skill challenges are great, i love the idea behind them but i hate building them. The reason is the book tries hard to really explain what a skill challenge is and it over complicates things. I think that you can create a hole game night around skill challenges and the players will go home loving the game even more. Hopefully i can prove it with this example.

I'm a support tech by day, i believe in KISS. Keep It Simple Solution*. The simpler you keep a skill challenge the better it works.

Paul Smecker: Television. Television is the explanation for this - you see this in bad television. Little assault guys creeping through the vents, coming in through the ceiling - that James Bond shit never happens in real life! Professionals don't do that!

Think of your favorite TV show, your favorite episode even its all a skill challenge and yet you loved it.

Here is an example of an episode of Star Gate Season 3, Episode 8 – Aired: 8/13/1999 called Demons

SG-1 arrives at a medieval village and frees Mary, a young woman who has been left outside tied to a stake. Simon, friar of the village and Mary's friend, explains that Mary is a sacrifice for the demon that plagues their village. The Canon chose her when he mistook her illness for an evil possession.

When the demon arrives and finds no sacrifice, he promises to destroy the village the next day unless five humans are left for sacrifice. SG-1 recognizes this "demon" and plot to destroy it, but the Canon pronounces SG-1 evil and condemns them to be sacrificed.

SG-1 must convince Simon to go against everything he believes in order to save themselves and rid the village of its demon forever.

Now sure this episode is almost 10 years old now but you know its been around. You can have this simple adventure from a series of skill challenges, the key is create the challenge and let the players use the skills. What they do with the skill is more important then the skill itself, and that should be used to determine if the roll is success or nothing (or if the roll is a failure)

Skill Challenge DC's and Complexity
First let me say ignore the complexity listed in the DMG, ideally because this is an encounter (just not a combat encounter) you want to all players to each have a chance to roll at least twice so they feel they contributed. So number of successes is twice the party size failure is set by you, i would say a quarter of the party size to half.

ie: party 5, successes 10 before 3-5 failures

As for the Difficulty, you can use the charts listed in the DMG, i would say use the tougher values, your players may just surprise you.

Skill Challenge 1: Convince the people of the town that the woman is sick and not possessed
Success:
When the 'demon' shows up the town refuses to give in, thus the demo makes the threat
Failure:
The town is now plotting against the party, this could lead to a combat, or a kidnapping of the woman. the party can easily retrieve her
Skill Challenge 2: Cure the woman of the disease
Success:
The party successfully cures the woman of the disease
Failure:
Wile trying to cure the woman, the party contracts the disease itself
Skill Challenge 3: Convince Simon to help them against a demon
Success:
Simon gives the party a blessing that gives them +2 to hit and damage vs demons until the next extended rest.
Failure:
Simon warns the demon that the party is on the way to slay him in hopes to protect the town, the party grants combat advantage on its first round of combat or the party is surprised
Combat: Fight the Demon
a nice elite fight here would work well, one elite, toss in some minions and your good to go.

That's it your done, you have a interesting adventure that will last one night, and that your players will remember for a long time all because you focused on skill challenges/role playing over combat. You can build an entire campaign based on this idea, and based on TV shows you know and love.

What i hope you've learned about skill challenges

• Trust your instinct not the book
• Give all your players at least two chances to participate
• Use multiple skill challenges in the form of role playing
• End the night with a big bang

Extra tip: After each player makes their roll in the skill challenge, role play it out a bit
, give them a chance to turn a possible failure into a success or add flavor.

Well that's it for me, until next time keep your dice on the table

Why Min/Maxing actually works

Recently Ameron from Dungeonsmaster.com posted 'The Most Powerful Fighter is a Battlerager Fighter' and I personally like the article and like seeing whats possible with characters in any given system.

Well when you actually think about it and put it into context min maxing makes sense.

First the game is designed for you to min maxing, any game any system that sets a requirement, forces you to min/max, to build a better player. 1st edition, wanted to be a magic user, better be a elf, how about paladin well then you better roll good. 2nd edition fighter, yeah 18/00 hmm con 20, yes... 3rd edition (don't get me started) 4th edition, yes there is min maxing.

Second lets think of real life for a second, and not golf. People who train day in and day out on something get really good at it, but by doing so they are not good in other areas. I'm a computer tech, i could not build a house, though i could help if someone told me what to do.

It makes sense

Same with it is a fighter to dish out damage, why would a party accept a fighter that wasn't good at what he does, it just doesn't add up. your a crack team of heroes fighting monsters, each player is one in a thousand. Regular people don't train like you and regular people don't fight monsters

Well min/maxing ruin the game

Anything can ruin the game, its how people chose to role play the game. The beauty of 4e in my opinion is you have so many options, you can easily min/max but in my experience I've found people take the choice they liked or felt was cooler than just min/maxing.

Deadliest Warrior Paragon Path: Shaolin

The Shaolin was one of my favorite warriors so far on Deadliest Warrior, i liked the fact that one weapon seemed to turn the tide for them in battle. Though i am sure that an entire class can be built around the Shaolin i wanted to focus more on a paragon path and keep everything similar to the last post Deadliest Warrior Paragon Path: Spirit of Wallace

I did however create a new weapon and a new feat that i felt the Shaolin needed though.

Now the Shaolin is not a Monk only paragon path, and the key reason is that who knows what is going to come out in PHB3, i know there is a play test of a monk currently out, but i wanted to focus more on strikers.

From Spike TV:

The art of Kung Fu was invented by the Shaolin Monks as a form of meditation and exercise at first, but due to constant attacks by the Chinese army over hundreds of years, developed into one of the deadliest and most famous fighting styles in the world.

Shaolin
Prerequisite: Any Striker

Shaolin Path Features
11th Level - Hook Blade Opening
When you spend an action point to take an extra action you also get a free basic melee attack with Hook Blades
11th Level - Shaolin Dance
You may shift 1 after any attack that hits.
16th Level - Quick to Cut
When you score a critical hit with a dagger, make an additional melee basic attack

Shaolin Exploits
Attack 11 - Link Blades
You link your hook blades together able to reach enemies further away without having to move.
Encounter * Martial, Weapon
Standard Close burst 3
Requirement: You must be using a Hook Blade in each hand
Target: Each enemy in burst
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
Effect: Gain +2 to all defense until the end of your next turn

I actually think this just should be a reach attack, but i think burst works as well, could modify that either Hook Blade or Chain weapon.

Utility 12 - Shaolin Focus
Using your meditative training you get yourself out of trouble and focus on healing
Encounter * Martial
Immediate Reaction Personal
Trigger: You are hit with a critical attack and take damage
Effect: Shift your movement speed and spend a healing surge

The show touched a bit on the monks ability to withstand pain and move in combat, i wanted to combine the two into one ability.

Attack 20 - Distracting Jab
You spin one dagger in your hand to trick your opponent into looking at it and losing track of the real attack.
Daily * Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Requirements: You must be wielding a dagger
Target: One Creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. Reflex
Hit: Target grants combat advantage until the end of your next turn
Secondary Attack: 4[W] + Dexterity modifier damage
Third Attack: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage

I don't know if this was the most devastating attack because on the show the expert just went crazy on the head, but i think it really shows what happens if you get distracted in combat. The attack itself doesn't do much, except grant combat advantage which should help out any striker.

New Weapon
Hook Blades - Military one-handed melee weapon
Cost 15 gp
Damage 1d8
Proficient: +2
Weight: 3lb.
Properties: Versatile, Off-hand, Defensive
Also considered a Dagger

New Feat
Hook Blade Dagger
Hook Blades are now considered to be Daggers for you, Cannot be thrown.

Well that's it for the Shaolin, i hope you enjoyed it, go ahead and leave some comments and tell me what you think about it.

Until next time, keep your dice on the table.

Skill Challenge: Pub Fight

Now a pub fight might not seem like a good idea, mainly because players can just attack and kill anything they want. Well the idea here isn't one of combat, it is one of a pub fight, no ones trying to kill one another its just a angry mob fight. Its a good generic skill challenge that can easily be tweaked to fit your needs.

Primary Skills:
Acrobatics, Athletics, Bluff, Diplomacy, Endurance, Intimidate, Attack

players will often come up with their own ideas, use your judgment and roll with it, each skill can be used uniquely, if the players to say how they are going to use the skill don't reward them a success

Secondary Skills:
Perception, Thievery

Each can be used to help out the party and give a +2 to next rolls. max once per round

Attack
Players can make a basic attack roll (no damage) a successful hit grants the group another success

Doing Nothing
Any player who doesn't do anything takes 5 damage, from inadvertently getting hit in the fight

Targets DC's
The pub fight can ideally only be run in the firs two tiers after that the players powers get to the point where there is no pub fight.

Levels 1-6 DC 18 Complexity 4 (10/5)
Levels 7-12 DC 25 Complexity 3 (8/4)
Levels 13-18 DC 27 Complexity 2 (6/3)

Success
Success means they got out of the fight without being damaged, or being considered responsible for the fight. And the DM can include any other reward that the story or game may require.

Failure
Another situation where it is up to the DM. The players can be thrown in jail for the night and unable to get a proper rest. lose a healing surge, owe the bar money for breaking things. Or if the story calls for it, be charged with murder.

This challenge is a quick one to run off, and can works when its tailored for your game.

Until next time, keep your dice on the table

Encounter: City a Flame

A band of evil creatures were hired by a unknown source to lay waste to a local village. The party arrives just in time to save a small section of the town.
Tiles: This encounter uses tiles from DU2





















Large Map Flickr, Picasa

Encounter Level 11

Party Size: 4-5
1 Fire Achon Emberguard (A)
1 Bloodfire Harpy (B)
4 Legion Devil Hellguards (H)
1 Neldrazu (N)
1 Flameshard (F)

Party Size: 6-7
(S) Death Priest of Orcus with Scion of Flame Template

Setup
The party arrives just in time to see the villagers have been trapped in three burning buildings. The Two small buildings each contain 10 people, and the larger building contains 20 people. The characters can start off in any square in the green highlighted area on the map they wish. Each monster here has resist fire 20 even if the book does not state it.

You need to inform the players that for them to rescue people from the building, they need to be standing in at least one square of the building and spend a standard action to save 1d4 people.

When the PCs arrive read:
The heat and smoke fill the air, screams of villagers can be heard in the distance over top of the harpy's burning song.

Tactics
The Hellguards are busy making sure no villager tries to escape, when combat begins two near the Emberguard will attack the same target as the emberguard, while the other two will team up on another armored looking character. The bloodfire Harpy will stay ranged ensuring maximum usage of her aura, and attack to defend herself. The Flameshard is there to burn, it will continue burning the building until something attacks it, then it will attack the first creature that attacked it. Once bloodied the Flameshard will try and get in the largest concentration of players as possible for its big explosion power. The Neldrazu starts off hidden, its job here is just to ensure the task is done and report back to its dark masters. It will wait and try and kidnap a caster or lightly armored player and begin its attacks. If bloodied it will flee.

if the Death Priest of Orcus/Scion of Flame is in the encounter he will stick to his ranged attacks and use his dark blessing trying to get the Hellguard buffed.

Features of the area

Green Area: Players can pick any square in this area to start
Fountain: Now just rubble Destroyed
Small Buildings: Contain 10 villagers
Large Buildings: Contain 20 villagers
Flames: Roll initiative for each building, on the buildings turn, add 1 square of flame to a small building, and two squares of flame to a large building.
Illumination: Depending on the time of day, but due to the fire the players should have no problem seeing anything.


Note for DMs: Don't forget the fire, i have included the stats here which add significant challenge to an 11th level party.

Deadliest Warrior Paragon Path: Spirit of Wallace

Being a fan of the SpikeTV show Deadliest Warrior, i felt that i needed to use this information in d&d in some way. At first i thought about adding some cool powers and abilities that could be gained by taking feet but instead i went the paragon path route.

This first one is based off of the William Wallace battle, and i look forward to comments and reviews, anyway i can modify the build to be balanced.

Spirit of Wallace
Prerequisite: Warlord

Quick Description
The spirit of Wallace is a warrior trained in the history and fighting style of the great William Wallace

Path Features
11th level - Ever Vigilant
When you spend an action point to take an extra action, one of your allies may make a basic melee attack as a free action. Your ally needs to be able to see and hear you to gain this attack

11th level - Inspiring Rest
When you use your Inspiring Word ability, your ally also gains +2 to all defences until the end of your next turn.

16th level - Critical Cleave
When you score a critical hit using a heavy blade, you may make a melee basic attack against an enemy adjacent to your target.

11th level attack: Claymore Cleave
Encounter * Minor
Next at-will attack this turn becomes burst 1 (or increase burst by 1) when using a heavy blade.

12th level utility: Charge the enemy
Daily * Free
Trigger: The first time you become bloodied during an encounter
Effect: Your allies can make a basic charge attack as a free action. They need to be able to see and hear you to gain this attack

20th level attack: Claymore Great Cleave
Daily * Minor
Next encounter attack this turn becomes burst 1 (or increase burst by 1) when using a heavy blade.

That's it for now, i plan on adding more later, and would appreciate feedback.