Note: I’ve been running a solo campaign for a single character for some time on the Mythweaver message board to try out new Mythweaver ideas and continue to test the game. This is an outgrowth of that…

Upon reflection, I’ve decided that instead of continuing the solo adventure of Teothas Moonharper, it would be in the best interests of the game to instead go with a slightly more labor-intensive but complete analysis of the game at higher levels. Teothas as a level 4 solo character limits the scale of the game I can look at- he only has a few combat options, and he uses the same ones every encounter. That’s not really a knock on the game or on the character- it’s a solo character of relatively low level; he can only do a few things well, and some of them aren’t combat-related! Therefore, I’ve decided instead to bump up the levels some, and expand the group to see several classes in action. Following my own advice from MWAJ #3, I’m going to create a group of characters and drop them into the middle of something. I’ll be developing the story, the map, and the encounters as I go- so you’ll get new monster stats pretty regularly through this as well. I intend to ‘show my work’, meaning that I’ll explain all of the calculations I used to put things together, citing page numbers and editions where applicable.

If you are relatively new to Mythweaver and want to follow along, feel free to download the free Mythweaver Adventure Journal #0 that gives an overview of the game. http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=57265&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=733

I’m posting this on both the Mythweaver message boards, on the Forge and on RPG.net- hey, if I’m going to do all this work, I may as well get some mileage out of it!

First thoughts-

To really test the legs of the game, I need to have a decent-sized adventuring group. I’ve decided on four characters, since this gives a good number of characters to work with (with a wide range of abilities), but also keeps the total paperwork if not to a minimum, at least manageable. As such, I need these characters to be pretty balanced and well-rounded. I want to include as many abilities as I can from the game, meaning that I want several magic talents, arms talents, and all skills represented among the four characters. Here are my ideas…

A myrmidon. This character gets the most arms talents, allowing me to try out several things. There will only be room for one skill, so this character will focus on athletics. I want the character to be tough and a true tank, so I’ll have him be an ork (that, and I’ve never played an ork before). His name will be Scab. By the by, orks get good starting physical traits and a racial bonus to armor rating.

A defender. This character will focus on defense (well, duh) and protection. His talents will be primarily armor (for shields and shield signature moves), light magic (for healing), maybe a little wilding (if there is room for this magic) and nature skill talent (so that someone has it). His name will be Macheon, and he’ll be human (most flexibility; bonus to hero point rolls).

A hunter. This character will focus on missile weapons and stealth (and maybe nature… it depends on whether this fits better with her or Macheon). I guess this is the closest to trying to model a D+D 4E striker type for Mythweaver. Her name will be Tashya, and she’ll be a shadow elf (excellent starting stats in DEX and INT; bonus to initiative; best night vision).

A delver. This character is an upgrade and re-working of Teothas Moonharper from my previous play test. He’s primarily a bard type, so he needs arcanum and psionics magic, influence, lore and burglary talents. I’ll see if all of this fits, but some may have to be shared with Tashya. I’ll keep him as a half elf (flexibility, also how I’ve had the character already- don’t want to change him too much).

I’ve decided to start all of these characters at level 10. This is entry level to ‘master’ rank, indicating that these characters should be pretty capable- in fact, they should be more than capable! According to page 65 of the core rules, when you start characters at higher level, you also award starting gold equal to the number of hero points. A level 10 character would be built on a minimum of 550 hero points, but I’ll start my characters with 600, putting them all partway to level 11, and with a pool of hero points to use as needed. Therefore, each also has 600 gold to purchase equipment. But, we’ll get to that…

Let’s look at talent distribution first… (note that armor, melee and missile are granted to all characters at apprentice rank for free).

As a level 10 myrmidon, Scab has the following talent distribution: arms (6); skills (2); bonus (2). I’ll distribute these to maximize bonuses and provide the most variety: armor (expert @ 2 points, since this allows a bonus of up to +10- his current level); melee (expert @ 2 points, same reasons); quick strike (1 point for quicker attacks); sundering (1 point; for an AOE attack); two weapons (1 point; for extra attack option against multiple smaller foes- used one of two bonus points). The only skills talent is athletics (expert @ 3 points- using the 2 skill points and 1 bonus point). His talents are armor (expert); melee (expert); quick strike; sundering; two weapons; athletics (expert).

As a level 10 defender, Macheon has the following talent distribution: arms (3); magic (3); skills (2); bonus (2). I’ll use one of the bonus talents in arms so that he ends up with armor (expert @ 2 points) and melee (expert @ 2 points). For magic, Macheon will put all 3 talent points into light (expert) and will put one of the bonus points into taking quick spell (1 point). I’d like to take wilding, but he’ll be much better off being more powerful and quicker with the light spells than in trying to diversify- he’s a defender after all, not a pure caster. He’ll spend the 2 skill talent points on nature (adept). I see these characters doing mostly dungeon delves, so I’m not sure how wise the expenditure on nature is, but I also want as many abilities represented as possible. I’ll keep this in mind when designing encounters, and try to work in some nature skill checks along the way. While it seems that having comparable talent Macheon will be a comparable fighter to Scab, the quick strike, other advanced talents, and differential in attributes will probably put a decent gulf between them, and I think that Scab will be clearly superior in pure combat. Time will tell. His talents are armor (expert); melee (expert); light magic (expert); quick spell; nature (adept).

As a level 10 hunter, Tashya has the following talent distribution: arms (4); skills (4); bonus (2). She is primarily a damage dealer and less concerned with absorbing damage. Therefore, she will take missile weapons (expert @ 2 points) and quick strike (1 point) as arms talents. I have another point left, and several options for it. She could take some armor so that she’s not completely vulnerable, which may not be a bad idea. However, she’s all about dealing damage, so I’ll have her take poison (1 point) with her remaining arms talent. For skills, she definitely needs stealth (expert @ 3 points). This leaves her with 1 skill point, and 2 bonus points that remain unspent. Conceptually, I can see her hunting down and trailing foes, and her abilities are more in line with that than Macheon’s, whose nature talent will not align as well with his likely lower INT. Therefore, I use the three remaining points to give Tashya nature (expert @ 3 points).

I decide now that Macheon can take a different skill, and so I swap out nature (adept) for influence (adept), making him the default leader for the group. I want to remember that when I distribute trait points…

As a level 10 delver, Teothas has the following talent distribution: arms (2); magic (3); skills (3); bonus (2). I’m torn with arms talents. I don’t see him walking around in heavy armor, nor do I see him wielding a melee weapon very effectively. In the end, I decide that protection makes more sense than offense (since that will come from spells), but I also know that avoiding being hit is going to be important, and a quarterstaff allows you to parry, so I go with armor (adept @ 1 point) and melee (adept @ 1 point). For magic, Teo is primarily an arcane caster, so I take arcanum (expert @3) and use one bonus point to get quick spell (1 point). This leaves 4 points for skills, which I’m not exactly pleased about, since there are several skills I want for him. In the end, I divvy these up evenly between burglary (adept @ 2 points) and lore (adept @ 2 points). He will be able to offset the lacking burglary with his arcanum magic (which allows for some burglary-like abilities) and his lower lore will be offset by high REA and the likelihood that I keep REA as his preferred trait.

In summary:

- Scab; Myrmidon 10; armor (expert); melee (expert); quick strike; sundering; two weapons; athletics (expert)
- Macheon; Defender 10; armor (expert); melee (expert); light magic (expert); quick spell; influence (adept)
- Tashya; Hunter 10; missile (expert); poison; quick strike; nature (expert); stealth (expert)
- Teothas; Delver 10; armor (adept); melee (adept); arcanum (expert); quick spell; burglary (adept); lore (adept)

Assigning Traits:

Since they are level 10, each character will be built on 35 trait points total. Here’s how I decide to spend points:

Scab starts with the following traits (for ork + myrmidon):
DEX 3; MGT 4; PWS 6; STA 5; ASP -1; INT 3; REA 2; WIL 2

He has 11 points to spend. In order of importance, he needs PWS (for combat); MGT (for damage); STA and DEX. He needs 1 point of ASP (so he can get healed) and I’d like to buffer his WIL a bit so he can resist WIL-based attacks better. His final stats are:

DEX 4; MGT 6; PWS 9; STA 7; ASP 0; INT 3; REA 2; WIL 4

Macheon starts with the following traits (for human + defender; putting mental points in ASP and WIL)
DEX 2; MGT 2; PWS 3; STA 3; ASP 1; INT 2; REA 2; WIL 3 

He has 17 points to distribute (since humans have a larger pool of discretionary points). He needs DEX, PWS, STA, ASP and WIL if he’s going to cut it. I’d like some MGT and INT too, but those are of lesser importance. The DEX will serve him better than INT in the long run, and will help with initiative. I end up with:

DEX 5; MGT 3; PWS 6; STA 6; ASP 6; INT 2; REA 2; WIL 5 

Tashya starts with the following traits (for shadow elf + hunter)
DEX 6; MGT 2; PWS 3; STA 3; ASP -1; INT 6; REA 3; WIL 2

She has 11 points to spend. She is all about DEX and INT, but needs to buy out of negative ASP so that she can receive the benefits of healing light magic. It’s an easy distribution. She’s all about striking first and often. If she’s getting attacked, she’s going to fold. That’s the basic concept, so no need to shore up STA or WIL.

DEX 11; MGT 2; PWS 3; STA 3; ASP 0; INT 11; REA 3; WIL 2

Teothas starts with the following traits (for half elf + delver; took +1 each to INT, REA, WIL)
DEX 5; MGT 3; PWS 2; STA 3; ASP 0; INT 4; REA 3; WIL 4

He has 11 points to spend. He is going to try to avoid being in combat, but a better PWS will help both with burglary and with not getting hit in combat- or at least taking fewer crits! Tashya has the whole INT detection thing covered, so Teo can put more points into DEX to avoid missile weapons. He needs REA as his primary trait for most things, so he’s definitely capping that out (maximum for his race, class, level is 9 as per page 17 of the core rules)

DEX 7; MGT 3; PWS 4; STA 3; ASP 0; INT 4; REA 9; WIL 5

Favored Trait

Each character gets one favored trait, allowed to make rolls for this trait at the next die up (D16 in this case).

- Scab takes PWS
- Macheon takes ASP
- Tashya takes DEX
- Teothas takes REA

Perks

Finally, each character gets a perk (page 13 of the core rules)

- Scab takes speed. He needs to be able to close for melee quickly, since he has no ranged attack at all.
- Macheon takes toughness. He needs to stay vertical, since he is the healer for the group, and may end up taking much of the damage for the group (between taunting foes and using his shield to defend others).
- Tashya takes improved range (so that she maximizes her striker role)
- Teothas takes magic ward (to minimize the effectiveness of enemy casters and magic on him).

Next up, the heroes purchase their gear!

Finalizing Characters

Before going on, let’s review who we have so far (re-organized in alphabetical order by character name).

Macheon, Human Defender 10
DEX 5; MGT 3; PWS 6; STA 6; ASP 6; INT 2; REA 2; WIL 5 
Talents armor (expert); melee (expert); light magic (expert); quick spell; influence (adept)
Fav. Trait ASP

Scab, Ork Myrmidon 10
DEX 4; MGT 6; PWS 9; STA 7; ASP 0; INT 3; REA 2; WIL 4
Talents Armor (expert); melee (expert); quick strike; sundering; two weapons; athletics (expert)
Fav. Trait PWS

Tashya, Shadow Elf Hunter 10
DEX 11; MGT 2; PWS 3; STA 3; ASP 0; INT 11; REA 3; WIL 2
Talents Missile (expert); poison; quick strike; nature (expert); stealth (expert)
Fav. Trait DEX

Teothas, Half Elf Delver 10
DEX 7; MGT 3; PWS 4; STA 3; ASP 0; INT 4; REA 9; WIL 5
Talents Arcanum (expert); psionics (apprentice); quick spell; burglary (adept); lore (expert) * (see bel0w)
Fav. Trait REA

I re-consider Scab, and decide that I don’t need the bump in STA, and I’d rather have the MGT points. If he’s really going to be all damage dealer and not soaking damage (in theory), then he should be pimping out his damage stat. I move 2 points back from STA to MGT, making his STA 5 and his MGT 8.

Also at this point, I’ve been thinking over these characters and the campaign I’m about to begin, and I’m feeling dissatisfied with the delver class. The defender was the answer to the fighter/caster, where the defender has just enough skills talents to not totally suck at skills. The delver pushes this in the other direction, where the skills are better, but arms talents take the hit. The problem with arms talents is that if you have just enough to not totally suck at it, you need quite a bit. Teothas can conceivably have pretty good armor, and that’s nice and all, but it doesn’t really fit with my mental concept of the bard type character. The fundamental problem comes down to attacking- each character is going to end up with one basic attack type that he or she does well. If it’s going to be a physical attack, then that’s where the points go. If it’s magic, then it’s magic. The problem I have with the delver is that the arms points end up being wasted by the everyman approach to the class. The defender doesn’t suffer the same issue, because its two primary talents generally work together better.

Therefore, I’m going to house rule (and play test) an alternate build for the delver- modeled off of the hunter. All I’m going to do is take the hunter’s talent progression and use its arms progression for the delver’s magic progression. This still gives bonus talent ranks to round out with arms talents (for better armor or a cooler weapon) at the player’s option, but makes the base character more fundamentally strong. This means that as of level 10, Teothas has a talent breakdown of magic (4), skills (4), bonus (2). I’ll go with the 50/50 split on bonus talents and take an extra magic talent and an extra skill talent with those points. This allows me to swap out the arms talents for apprentice of psionics (making him a more versatile caster overall) and for expert in lore (making him more the librarian type I’ve seen him as). I’m much happier with this build, and it still doesn’t feel like a pure caster because of the variety and depth of skills.

Next Step: Gear

Before I can do anything else, I have to purchase gear for the characters. Each has 600 gold to spend. I house rule that none may begin with magic items other than enchanted armor and weapons; I expect that they’ll find enough things quickly enough to offset what they don’t have initially.

Each character purchases the following (page 14 of the core rules), costing 10 gold even:
• Backpack @ 5 silver
• Belt Pouches (2) @ 4 silver (2 s each)
• Cloak, Good @ 1 gold
• Clothing, Good @ 2 gold
• Flint and Steel @ 3 silver
• Grappling Hook @ 1 gold
• Lantern Oil (Vial) @ 1 silver
• Mirror @ 1 gold
• 100’ of Good Rope @ 2 gold
• 20 Torches @ 2 silver
• Provisions, Good @ 1 gold
• Water Skin @ 3 silver

This leaves each character with 590 gold to spend, although I’d like for each to have a little change left for anything that comes up.

Macheon Purchases:
Chain Mail Armor +10 (200 gold)
Shield +6/+4 (125 gold)
Broad Sword +10/+1 (200 gold)
Light Crossbow +3/+3 (24 gold)
Remaining Purse: 41 gold

Scab Purchases:
Chain Mail Armor +10 (200 gold)
Shield +6 (25 gold)
Broad Sword +10/+1 (200 gold)
2 Hand Axes +5/+4 (150 gold; 75 gold each)
Remaining Purse: 15 gold

Tashya Purchases:
Leather Armor +3/+3 (48 gold)
Long Bow +10/+4 (500 gold)
Dagger +3/+3 (24 gold)
2 Quivers (1 gold; 5 silver each)
100 Arrows (1 gold)
1 vial of tarantula venom (10 gold)
Remaining Purse: 6 gold

Teothas Purchases:
Leather Armor +3/+3 (48 gold)
Quarterstaff +3/+3 (24 gold)
Greater Tool Kit (10 gold)
A Golden Flute (50 gold- cause he has it to spend!)
Remaining Purse: 458 gold (we know who the party will go to for a loan!) I think about having him buy more venom for Tashya, but decide that he wouldn’t do that… yet. I’ll keep it in mind, though.

Before working out final stats, we should determine who will be receiving buffs from spells.

• Macheon has 40 points of health to distribute. He’ll give each character 10 points of bonus health.
• Teothas has 40 points of magic warding to distribute. He’ll give each character 10 points of magic warding.
• Teothas has 3 points of bonuses against mental attacks to distribute among his peers. He will give the entire +3 to Macheon, since Macheon will be drawing fire (or at least endeavoring to) for everyone. Macheon gets +3 to all magic resist rolls.

Rather than rolling health, each character will take the average health by level that is granted to beasts (page 80 of the core rules). There are two reasons for this: 1) it keeps any character from being artificially inflated/deflated based on better/worse rolling; 2) it keeps combat from being health attrition as much as possible. If each character has max health, that really undermines the whole effort here to play test the game as written.

The last thing I need to do is decide on signature moves and spells. I’m tempted to keep this very simple, but that doesn’t help with play testing or showing off the system! So, instead, I break it up like this:

Macheon takes weaken defenses, since this has high utility and sets the target up for others better. He also gets a spontaneous spell for his expert rank in light magic:

Macheon’s Radiant Restoration (DT 8 Light Spell)
This spell fills the unit the caster is in (+4) with holy energy restoring +4 health to all good and neutral creatures, and dealing this as damage to all evil creatures in the same unit (+4).

Scab takes focused strike (since it’s the pure damage move)

Tashya takes impede reaction, since this will slow attacks down, and give her more time to get additional attacks in.

Teothas creates a signature spell for his expert rank in arcanum. This is the spell he’ll have:

Teothas’ Arcane Burst (DT 10 Arcane Spell)
This burst of arcane energy fills 1 unit with arcane energy (+4) up to 6 units away (+2) dealing +4 damage to all creatures in the area of effect (+4).

Final Character Sheets (note: These are also posted at www.splinteredrealm.com as a pdf that will be constantly updated with current character stats).

Macheon Mistrunner, Human Defender 10 (D12)
DEX 5; MGT 3; PWS 6; STA 6
ASP 6; INT 2; REA 2; WIL 5 
Armor 10; Health 104 (114); Initiative +5; Move 10
Talents: armor (expert); melee (expert); light magic (expert); quick spell; influence (adept)
Attacks: Long sword +10/+1 (D12+6 attack; D12+14 damage; delay 13)
Crossbow +3/+3 (+6 total damage; delay 10; range 4)
Baseline spell: word of light (D16+6 attack; D12+10 damage; delay 6; range 5)
Abilities: Favored Trait (ASP); toughness (+RM to STA resist rolls); +RM to hero point rolls
Gear: Chain mail armor +10; shield +6/+4; backpack; belt pouches (2); cloak, good; clothing, good;
flint and steel; grappling hook; lantern oil (vial); mirror; 100’ of good rope; 20 torches;
provisions, good; water skin; 41 gold
Other: 10 points of magic warding; +3 to all mental resist rolls; 50 hero points
Sig. Moves: Weaken defenses (+4 to all physical attacks against target for 4 rounds; usable once per turn);
Macheon’s Radiant Restoration (DT 8; fills the unit the caster is in with holy energy restoring +4
health to all good and neutral creatures, and dealing this as damage to all evil creatures in the same
unit: D16+6 action; D12+4 result; delay 6)

Scab , Ork Myrmidon 10 (D12)
DEX 4; MGT 8; PWS 9; STA 5
ASP 0; INT 3; REA 2; WIL 4
Armor 14; Health 94 (104); Initiative +4; Move 6
Talents: Armor (expert); melee (expert); quick strike; sundering; two weapons; athletics (expert)
Attacks: Broad sword +10/+1 (D16+9 attack; D12 +19 damage; delay 8)
Hand axe +5/+4 (+15 total damage; delay 11; range 6)
Abilities: Favored Trait (PWS); night vision 6; +RM to armor; speed
Gear: Chain mail armor +10; shield +6; backpack; belt pouches (2); cloak, good; clothing, good;
flint and steel; grappling hook; lantern oil (vial); mirror; 100’ of good rope; 20 torches;
provisions, good; water skin; 15 gold
Other: 10 points of magic warding; 50 hero points
Sig. Move: Focused strike (+12 damage to one attack per turn)

Tashya Tabithian, Shadow Elf Hunter 10 (D12)
DEX 11; MGT 2; PWS 3; STA 3
ASP 0; INT 11; REA 3; WIL 2
Armor 6; Health 74 (84); Initiative +14; Move 10
Talents: Missile (expert); poison; quick strike; nature (expert); stealth (expert)
Attacks: Long bow +10/+4 (D16+11 attack; D12 +14 damage; delay 5; range 9)
Dagger +3/+3 (+8 total damage; delay 6)
Abilities: Favored Trait (DEX); night vision 6; +RM to initiative; improved range (+RM)
Gear: Leather armor +3/+3; 2 quivers; 100 arrows; 1 vial of tarantula venom; backpack; belt pouches (2);
cloak, good; clothing, good; flint and steel; grappling hook; lantern oil (vial); mirror;
100’ of good rope; 20 torches; provisions, good; water skin; 6 gold
Other: 10 points of magic warding; 50 hero points
Sig. Move: Impede reaction (+4 to all action delays for 4 rounds; usable once per turn)

Teothas Moonharper, Half Elf Delver 10 (D12)
DEX 7; MGT 3; PWS 4; STA 3
ASP 0; INT 4; REA 9; WIL 5
Armor 6; Health 74 (84); Initiative +11; Move 10
Talents: Arcanum (expert); psionics (apprentice); quick spell; burglary (adept); lore (expert) * (see bel0w)
Attacks: Baseline spell: arcane dart (D16+9 attack; D12+10 damage; delay 6; range 5)
Quarterstaff +3/+3 (+9 total damage; delay 10; 4 parry points per round)
Abilities: Favored Trait (REA); night vision 3; +RM to initiative; magic warding (+RM)
Gear: Leather armor +3/+3; greater tool kit; backpack; belt pouches (2); cloak, good; clothing, good;
flint and steel; grappling hook; lantern oil (vial); mirror; 100’ of good rope; 20 torches;
provisions, good; water skin; golden flute (50 gold value); 458 gold
Other: 14 points of magic warding; 50 hero points
Sig. Moves: Teothas’ Arcane Burst (DT 10; this burst of arcane energy fills 1 unit with arcane energy up to 6 units
away dealing +4 damage to all creatures in the area of effect: D16+9 action; D12+4 damage; delay 6).

We’re ready to play!
Next up, the first encounter.

Encounter One: The Living Gate

For the first encounter of Mount Brim (which I'm envisioning as a sort of super-dungeon of wacky craziness- a temple of elemental evil on crack, if you would- note that internal consistency is not a driving design consideration here), I want to set the tone for the whole. A first encounter should really do that. I've decided that the master of Mount Brim is some form of elemental overlord (not sure if it's one element or all of them- maybe a giant? A triad of elemental giants? Still working on that), so elements and elementals will probably be a recurring theme here, although I don't by any stretch want to limit the options for things to include. Time will tell.

At first, I thought about a setup encounter on the path up to the mountain. I picture a natural rocky bridge/pathway/superstructure that winds its way up to the mountain over rivers of lava, bottomless drop offs, crevices emitting putrid fog and bubbling pools of tar. Any number of random creatures could emerge from these, but I decide this is better off setting tone and establishing setting than in actually providing an encounter challenge. I play with this for a bit, and decide on the following introductory description.

Mount Brim has long stood on the southern horizon, daring you to approach its mist-shrouded peak. For years, mercenaries and less-reliable travelers have claimed sojourns to the mount, returning with intricate treasures, enigmatic weapons and unbelievable tales. Now, you have decided to plum the depths of the mountain's fortress yourself, to learn of the secrets that lie within, and possibly to recover some of its ancient baubles for your own.

The path leading to the mountain quickly casts off all vegetation and life, and even the prints of the smallest creatures disappear completely more than 5 miles from the mountain's base. All living things know to evade Mount Brim, yet you have let curiosity or greed overcome your natural instincts for survival to meet this challenge. The road quickly narrows to a thin rocky trail that sometimes becomes a bridge or narrow walkway; sometimes level for hundreds of yards before sharply turning, dropping or setting rough and uneven stairs before you. You pass over rivers of lava and bubbling pits of tar, beyond drop offs into bottomless gulfs and through thick, acrid mists. Throughout, you know fell beasts from the deep watch with interest. You wonder what wagers these creatures must be making on your chances, and look about you at your companions. Are you ready for what this mountain will throw at you?

At last, you emerge at the base of the mountain, its spires looming above you, its great iron gate before you.

The master or masters of Mount Brim would clearly want the main gate defended, although this presents some design problems:

1- This is the first encounter, so it cannot be the toughest. However, any smart leader is going to put his strongest force at the entrance. If the goal is protection, the protection would be the best you can spare.

2- If the goal is to sift the 'worthy' from the 'unworthy' or 'friend' from 'foe', the entrance would need some method by which to determine that.

3- If the goal is to sort visitors (sort of like a Harry Potter sorting hat) into what direction to go, the gate would have to include some test or way to determine the right direction.

I decide that the gate itself is a sentient construct. An iron guardian is a level 20 creature, and probably leads to total party wipe if directly confronted, although by modifying it somewhat, and providing a challenge for each character to overcome, I make the gate a reasonable protective device, but also a plot hook at the same time. So, what can it do?

The first option is a skill challenge. I can have the gate test each character to prove his worth by setting up a challenge to use a skill. I want to combine this with role playing as much as possible.

How it works:

The gate will give each character a category to choose from (linked to a skill) the gate will ask a question.

The player will come up with an answer (this becomes part of the game's shared truth. If the roll determines this was correct, it is now true for the world- see below)

If any member of the group gets an answer right, the gate will allow the whole group through. For each additional correct answer, the heroes earn 1 hero point. The Mythweaver may give a bonus of up to +4 to the roll for an answer that is especially creative, or for a response that is in-character or appropriate.

All challenge questions are DT 20. All questions are linked to REA for purposes of this challenge. Use the base rating for REA, and add the bonus from the skill talent rank.

For example:

• Athletics: How long does it typically take a torn Arginic Tendon to heal?
• Burglary: What type of dwarven lock system is the most difficult to pick?
• Influence: How many spoons would you need to create a traditional Cavarian table setting?
• Lore: What is the name of the first cousin of the current Highlord of Beldin Mere?
• Nature: Which tree is most likely to thrive at altitudes of greater than 20,000 feet?
• Stealth: Which direction is best to sneak up on a sleeping troll from unnoticed, and why?
• Note: the player answers first (with what his character believes the answer to be), receives the bonus and rolls. For example, for the athletics question, here are some possible answers (with appropriate bonuses):

+0 A few weeks.
+1 Typically, up to three weeks, although some may take as long as seven.
+2 After the Battle of Twin Skies, mine took about five weeks to heal. I'm pretty quick to heal, so I'd suspect the average would be 6-8 weeks.
+3 Well, since only Wood Trolls have Arginic Tendons, and they have remarkable regenerative powers, the typical Arginic Tendon, even when fully torn and separated from the upper bone cap, would take no more than five minutes to completely heal.
+4 Do you mean the left or the right one? The left one is notoriously slower to heal, and could take as long as a year, while the right tends to heal more quickly due to better circulation, and can actually fully recover in as little as 3 months.
Any answer can be right, as long as it sounds convincing! You may want to write down correct answers, as these should become part of the shared lore of your campaign world- and potentially the source of ongoing jokes. (You KNOW you'll have to put a room full of sleeping trolls in at some point later, just to see how the players adapt to the situation they've painted themselves into).

For the encounter, as the heroes approach the gate, the gate will speak to them (I'm thinking Darth Vader voice for this- as deep and hissy as you can fake). It will ask each to name his skill, and will ask the challenge question. If you have more heroes with the same skill (for example, three heroes who all focus on stealth), have a few extra questions ready to go- you can make up pretty much anything, as long as it's evocative of setting and appropriate to the skill.

If the heroes fail all questions, the gate will not let them pass (although if it gets down to the last hero, you may want to encourage the expenditure of a hero point to get past this). If they attack the gate, it has the stats for an iron titan (page 85 of the core rules), and attacks with huge ball/chain combinations that have a reach of 3 units (instead of fist attacks). For good measure, the gate is also an expert of elemental lightning, and will throw lightning if all heroes move outside of its melee range. The doors change and morph as needed, so that they will come to life and ‘defend’ themselves from enemy attacks. Be warned: fighting these doors is a very, very bad idea for a group of level 10 heroes.

In Play (Teothas’ Journal):

We made our way along with barren and foreboding road to a pair of massive iron doors affixed to the side of the mountain. I used some of my simple arcane magic to detect the presence of magic, and Macheon did the same to detect malignant forces. While I determined that the gates contained powerful enchantments, Macheon was confident that these were not of an innately evil nature. We proceeded towards the gate with considerable care, and the gate itself addressed us as we were within its shadow.

Each of the heroes chooses a question, and proposes an answer. Here’s how it plays out (since I’m soloing the majority of this, I asked my wife to answer in character to the questions, and here are her responses):

• Macheon takes the influence question. He answers, “Four,” with some hesitation.
• Scab takes the athletics question. He answers with a laugh, “Depends on how much black dragon blood you drink.”
• Tashya takes the stealth question. She answers with confidence, “down wind so he can’t smell you, duh.”
• Teothas takes the lore question. He answers, after a pause, “Low-Lord Jack O’ Lantern”

The Mythweaver awards the following bonuses: +0 to Macheon, +2 to Scab, +3 to Tashya and +1 to Teothas.

• Macheon rolls 4 on the D12 +2 REA +6 adept influence = 12. This is a failed attempt. Macheon could spend a hero point, but doesn’t like his chances, and takes the missed attempt.
• Scab rolls 1 on the D12. This is a botch, an automatic failure.
• Tashya rolls 3 on the D12 +3 RE +10 expert stealth +3 bonus =19 on the roll. She reserves the right to spend a hero point if Teothas fails, and the Mythweaver tells her she can still do that after his roll (since she’s only one short of making it).
• Teothas rolls a natural 16 on the D16 (REA is his favored trait) +9 REA +10 expert lore +1 role-play bonus = 36! He succeeds magnificently.

The gate emits a chuckle, “Very clever. Yes, the young nephew appeared at last All Hollow’s Ball in the costume of Low-Lord Jack O’Lantern, and therefore this would be an acceptable answer… and demonstrates the skill in question. You may enter.”

The heroes move through the gate, into a great hall beyond. No hero points are awarded, although at least they don’t have to meet a painful end at the front doors of the fortress!

Analysis:

It’s somewhat unfulfilling that the skill test was very difficult for some characters while Teothas was guaranteed success unless he botched. However, this test was linked to REA by virtue of the question format, and Teothas is built for exactly this situation- it’s his moment to shine. I don’t mind that he was able to easily handle a task that others failed at. If the challenge had been to force the gate open, I wouldn’t have been too upset to find that Tashya and Teo failed miserably- they’re not built that way.

I’ve also established a bit of a paradox for myself to work through. Why would the master of the keep want smart people and/or experienced adventurers in? It may almost have worked better (logically) to allow only those who failed to enter- this would have ensured that his/its servants had something fun to play with to keep from getting bored, and that the things he let in were no true threat to his/its power. I’m going to keep it as is, since it’s completely counter-intuitive to set up failure as the way to overcome a challenge, especially at the main gates.

I like this idea of boredom and attracting adventurers from outside to keep from boredom. I’ve got some more ideas on this as a core design element for the fortress, but I think I’ll keep stewing on those until a later post…

Encounter Two: 99 Gnolls

Okay, so the most generic of encounters is against a group of humanoids. “You come into a room and ten goblins are sitting there playing cards” or some such. It’s a trope that I’ve fallen into a few times, and have been guilty of overusing in my own designs. Every dungeon I create ends up with a room full of humanoids for the heroes to rip through. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since this can give them a chance to show off some of their toys for areas of effect and attacks against multiple targets that they don’t get to use against a dragon.

For the second encounter, I want a few things built in here:

• This area has to imply huge dungeon complex. I want the heroes to know after this that they’re not going to go right to the big bad and take him on. This thing is a mega-dungeon.
• There have to be several choices here. The room has more than one exit. This allows things to sneak up behind them later on (if I so choose), and also creates a network of passages for other heroes to have already explored (and some that have not yet been delved at all). If the main passage has six side passages, it’s quite possible that one or two have never been ventured down (and I already see one of these filled with webs, down which the gnolls feed carcasses to stave off the monstrous spider within- we’ll get there soon enough).

I’ve got a few visuals/mechanics things running through my head for this scene:
• First of all, since I don’t have a good battle mat yet (still working on that) and I’m just getting my LEGOs together to be my heroic party, I’m jury rigging some of the elements- so I decide to use a chess board as the foundation for the room. I’m not going to do anything with different colors meaning different things (specifically) or with movement as chess pieces (you need to take the king), although I like this as a design element to mess with the players’ heads. They immediately start thinking about ‘taking out the king’ as soon as you roll out a chess board as a gaming tool. In this case, not so much. There’s no central ‘king’.
• Second, I also found my LOTR Risk game the other day, and it has tons of great pieces for minis. I can scatter these all over the board if I’m so inclined- and I am so inclined.
• Third, I have not played as much as I like with rules for en masse attacks, and this becomes the perfect opportunity to do just that.
• Fourth, I like the sheer volume of fighting 99 of something. I want this to be a greater encounter, and a true challenge. All of the heroes have a big pile of hero points at the ready, so they can spend like water as needed. The core rules give the guidelines that a greater encounter for a group of 4 level 10 characters would be 6-9 beasts of level 10, 11-14 beasts of level 6, and 15+ beasts of level 3. I think 99 qualifies as 15+… the heroes always have the choice to run, and I can set things up that running becomes a viable option all the way until the bitter end. Plus, I like the alliteration. 99 gnolls it is.

I check the rules for en masse attacks (core rules page 57) and note a few things:
• Melee attacks are limited to 6 attackers on any one target of the same size.
• The total bonus from en masse attacks is limited to the total bonus to attack (+6 for normal gnolls- how convenient! I really didn’t plan that).
• En masse attacks only happen once per round. This makes book keeping a bit easier.

I count out some pieces and come up with:
• 80 normal gnolls (page 97), represented by 6 gnolls = 1 red goblin.
• 6 gnoll champions (page 110), represented by 1 champion = 1 black troll.
• 6 gnoll shaman (page 110), represented by 1 shaman = 1 red troll
• 6 gnoll scouts (page 110), represented by 1 black horseman = 1 scout

This gives me fifteen teams of 6 gnolls each (80), plus 18 elite gnolls (+1) for a total of 98 gnolls. I say that they leave one up the passage (where the heroes enter) on guard duty, brining me to the magic 99. That’s pretty good.

For combat, the six normal gnolls will attack en masse; gnoll champions will attack en masse against the most physically imposing target; gnoll scouts will attack en masse (coordinating attacks all working together against casters at +8); gnoll shaman will provide support and area of effects, working independently based on the needs of the group (and employing the most reasonable strategy at the moment- they’re the only ones who will change tactics during the fight- all others will focus and attack until dead).

The Heroes:
• Macheon is represented by the yellow shield.
• Scab is represented by the yellow rider.
• Tashya is represented by the yellow elfin archer.
• Teothas is represented by the yellow eagle.

About the Chamber (and my cheap play aides)

[img]http://www.splinteredrealm.com/Gnoll%20Battle%20Layout.JPG[/img]

• Each square represents one unit. The entire chamber is 80’ square with a 50’ arched ceiling.
• Each of the dark squares on the east and west represents a ramp up to an exit passageway. That means there are eight secondary exits from this hall.
• The north wall has a huge ramp leading out to double doors (leading to the main passage- and this will beyond the ability of the heroes to penetrate for some time).
• Each of the rooks represents a stone column supporting the roof.
• The LOTR card represents a large central fire pit.

In Play (Teothas’ Journal)

We moved carefully up the entry hallway, a rough-cut passageway hewn into the rock. Little care had been taken to make this entrance as grand or impressive as one might expect, and the bare rock created a distinct sense of isolation. We could hear considerable conversation several hundred feet down the passageway, and could make out a figure huddled in the shadows between us and the chamber beyond. We discussed the possibility of making contact with this creature, and decided parlay may be our best option.

Macheon travels up the passage, and gets within 3 units of the single gnoll guard, who raises a spear in warning, “Who are you?” (the gnoll speaks the trade tongue).

Macheon answers, “A visitor. What can you tell me of this place, fair guardian?” (Macheon attempts to use influence. He sets the DT at 11 to resist this. The MW rolls for the gnoll and gets 6 on the die, for a total resist (+ WIL 4) of 10. The gnoll is taken in- or wisely frightened. The gnoll answers, “I guard this passage. Stay here; I will bring my master to parlay with you.”

He turns to leave. Macheon decides that letting this creature speak with his boss is going to ruin their chance, and signals to the team to take it out. The MW rules that each gets a free ranged action, in order of initiative bonus. Tashya acts first, rolling 4 on the die +11 for a result of 15. The gnoll does not roll resist, and his base DEX is 6. This is a critical success. She rolls 6 on the damage die, +14 damage is 20 points; this is doubled to 40 points. The gnoll’s armor absorbs 3 points, but the other 37 go against his health of 31. She drops him in one shot, and he quietly slumps to the floor.

Tashya decides to stealth ahead and scout out the area, to see exactly what they are up against. Her stealth DT is 21, making it virtually impossible for the gnolls within to notice her. She is able to get a look at the chamber (without any gnolls rolling) and reports back with a layout of the room and the size of the force.

They will enter through the south wall. The heroes decide to have Tashya move into the chamber first and take a strategic position in the southwest corner, prepared to use surprise and cover. The other three will move into the doorway and greet the residents of the chamber.

Tashya does this again with no roll required, since it’s an automatic success unless the gnolls had hero points (which they don’t). I don’t have a problem with this… she is level 10, and stealth is one of her main things. They are level 5. She should be able to stealth around them unnoticed, especially in a loud, huge chamber like this. 

At the doorway, Macheon loudly clears his throat, “Good morning! We’d like to issue a challenge… our champion verses yours, to the death. If ours wins, you allow us safe passage. If yours wins, we leave.” The DT of his influence roll is still 11, and a representative gnoll shaman rolls 6 on the die +4 WIL for a resist of 10. He takes the challenge.

The gnoll accepts the challenge, and sends forward one of the champions to take on Scab. Scab says that he wants to go through a series of verbal attacks before to try to bait the gnolls into moving closer, so that they are packed more tightly for AOE attacks. The MW rules that he makes three contested WIL rolls against a representative gnoll, and each time he will move the pieces in further towards the middle. For the first roll, Scab rolls 4 on the die +4 WIL for a result of 8, while the gnoll rolls 4 on the die +4 for a result of 8. Ties go to the defender, so for the first of the three challenges, the gnolls stand pat, unsure of what to make of these strangers. For the second call, Scab rolls 9 on the die (+4 = 13) against the gnoll’s roll of 6 (+4 = 10). This is a success, and all gnolls move in closer by one unit. For the third, Scab makes a big presentation of how he is going to disembowel their champion, and the MW awards +2 to his final roll. He rolls 11 on the die, +2 bonus +4 WIL is a result of 17. The gnoll rolls 5 on the die +4 WIL is a result of 9. This is a success, but not a crit, so the gnolls move in one more step. Satisfied that they have done what they can to prepare, Scab draws his two axes and prepares to square off against the champion. Scab has moved forward 2 units into the room, and the champion has moved into the same unit he is in.

Initiative.  Scab rolls 5 on the die +4 for 9 initiative with his primary axe; he will act at 9 and 2 with the first axe. He rolls 10 on the die +4 for 14 initiative with his secondary axe; he will act at 14 and 7 with the second axe. (side note: I realize that I made an error on his character sheet- the correct delay for the axes should be 7, not 11, due to his quick strike). The gnoll rolls 1 for initiative, +6 is 7. He will act once at 7 with his short spear.

• At 14, Scab rolls with his secondary axe (D12) and gets 10+9, or 19 on the attack (he shifts down one die with his off hand, but this offsets his +1 shift from favored trait). The gnoll rolls 9 to resist. This is a crit. On his first strike, Scab catches the gnoll being a bit too aggressive, and slices him across the neck. Scab rolls D10 for damage, getting 5+15=20 damage, doubled to 40 from the crit. This is reduced to 35 by its armor, so the gnoll champion drops to 22 health from 57.
• At 9, Scab lines up his primary axe to go for the kill. He rolls 6 on the attack, +9 for a total attack of 15. The gnoll rolls 3 on the die +8 to resist, getting 11. This is a normal hit. Scab rolls 4 on the die +15 for damage, dealing 19 points. Less the armor of 5, the gnoll takes 14 damage, leaving it at 8 health, and badly wounded from two deep axe cuts.
• The gnoll champion finally acts at 7 (his initiative bonus is better than Scab’s, so he acts first on the simultaneous result of 9), and gets 3 on the die, +8 PWS and spends his 2 hero points, getting a total attack of 13. Scab rolls to evade this, getting 3 on the die + his PWS of 9, for a total resist of 12. The gnoll barely hits, thanks to his use of hero points. He rolls for damage and gets 2 on the die +8 for a total of 10 points. Scab’s armor of 14 absorbs all of this, as the spear glances off of his shoulder guard.
• At 7, Scab swings his axe again at the gnoll’s neck, rolling 6+9=15 against the gnoll’s resist of 2+8=10. This is a normal hit, and Scab deals 10+15=25 damage, less the armor of 5 is 20 points. The gnoll drops to his knees, his jugular severed, and blood splurting all over the place before he collapses at Scab’s feet.
• At 2, Scab decides not to wait and see if they will actually let his friends pass- he is an ork after all- and delays until 1, making it look like he’s going to hold off, but then he throws his axe primary axe at the nearest shaman. The MW rules that the Shaman gets to make a contested INT roll against Scab to see if he notices this and may roll a resist. Scab rolls 6+3=9 against the shaman’s roll of 2+5=7. The shaman is distracted by the bloody mess of his former champion, and doesn’t realize until it’s too late that a hand axe is winging at his face. Scab rolls 12+9=21 on the attack, and the gnoll’s static resist is 6. This is a critical hit. Scab rolls 6+15=21 damage, doubled to 42. The gnoll’s armor absorbs 3 of this, but the remaining 39 points are sufficient to one-shot the shammy (at 31 health), who crumples to the floor in a heap.

96 gnolls to go. It’s on. 

Teothas’ Journal:

We had successfully completed a tricky political maneuver that could allow us to avoid conflict and pass the tribe of gnolls guarding the entrance completely. However, in his over-enthusiasm, Scab had killed their leader with a single axe throw, and now their legion emitted a unified cry of anger and rage as they prepared to rip us limb-from-limb.

A few things:
• From here on, I’ll be using some shorthand for dice results: Roll on the die + normal modifiers + situational/magical bonuses (if applicable).
• Unless otherwise noted, the gnolls here will use static resists- no dice are rolled, but each gnoll is given a static rating based on trait + ½ level die (core rules page 62).

It’s initiative for round 1.
• Macheon prepares to cast a spell, and rolls 5+5=10.
• Scab changes to his sword and rolls 7+4=11. He acts at 11 and 3.
• Tashya prepares to fire her bow and rolls 10+14=24. She acts at 24/19/14/9/4.
• Teothas prepares to cast his signature spell twice before moving to his baseline (wanting to save one spontaneous spell as a backup for emergencies), and rolls 10+11=21. He acts at 21/15/9/3.
• The gnoll champions act en masse at 10, moving into melee range.
• The gnoll scouts act en masse at 12 with bows.
• The gnoll shaman act at 10, casting spells.
• The normal gnolls act en masse at 10 with bows.

• At 24, Tashya fires an arrow at the nearest gnoll shaman (3 units away). She rolls 13+11=24 against the gnoll’s resist of 10. This is a crit. She rolls for damage and gets 5+14=19 damage, doubled to 38 from the crit. The gnoll’s armor absorbs 3, but 35 is greater than his health of 31, and he falls.
• At 21, Teothas drops his first spell on a 1-unit AOE that’s 4 units distant with a fire team of 6 gnolls, a gnoll shammy and a gnoll champion all bunched together. He rolls 9+9=18 on the attack, and all resist with a static 5. This is a critical success. He rolls for damage and gets 3+4=7 damage- WEAK! He spends a hero point to increase this, and gets 11 on the die, for a total damage result of 18. This is doubled to 36. The shaman dies, the 6 members of the fire team die, and the champion is left at 21 health.
• At 19, Tashya decides to thread the needle, and take out the champion that Teothas had just weakened. She rolls 14+11=25 against his resist of 10. This is a critical hit. She rolls 8+14=22 for damage, doubling this to 44. His armor absorbs 5, but the 39 points are far beyond the 21 he had left, and he drops.
• At 15, Teothas casts his second AOE burst, and targets the unit to his left, containing a scout and two fire teams (4 units distant). He rolls 6+9=15 on the action, and the gnolls have a resist of 5. This is another critical success. He rolls 6+4=10 damage. He spends another hero point here, and gets 3 on the die. Yuck. His total damage is 13, doubled to 26. This is enough to injure all of the gnolls in that unit (leaving the normal gnolls at 5 health, and the scout at 27. This creates a small book keeping problem. It’s enough to keep track of gnolls that are up and gnolls that are down (since there are 99 of four different types), but now I have to track health for these as well, since they aren’t all going to be one-shotted. I’ll see how cumbersome this becomes as we continue…
• At 14, Tashya fires her bow at a shaman 5 units away. She rolls 14+9=25 against the resist of 10. This is a critical success. She rolls 7+14=21 damage, doubled to 42. This kills that shaman. She’s feeling more like Legolas every moment… the elfin archer LOTR mini was probably just right for her…
• At 12, the scouts decide that Teothas is the largest threat in terms of AOEs, and they focus their fire on him. There are 6 of them, so they get +6 to both the attack and damage roll acting en masse with a +5 weapon. Their static attack is 4+8+6=18. Teo rolls 12+7 to resist, getting 19! I guess that buying that DEX was worthwhile after all… he deftly maneuvers out of the way of the hail of arrows that rain upon him. If they had hit him, they would have done 11 damage… so not a big deal either way. They’d need to crit to deal some real damage, which they have a small chance to do (he’d have to roll a 1 or 2 on the die to resist against their static attack). They re-load their weapons for next round.
• At 11, Scab takes his attack, a sundering attack. He asks the MW if he can combine his sundering attack with his focused strike. The MW looks up the two abilities, and sees that they are not mutually exclusive by rule… and says that he will allow this. This is huge, since Scab is within 1 unit of 6 normal gnolls, 4 scouts, and the 4 remaining champions. He takes his big swing, rolling a natural 1 on the D16! Oh, the horror! By rule, his attack misses completely, and the focused strike ability is wasted. If he had hit, he had the potential (if he scored a critical hit, which he would have spent a hero point to do) of scoring as much as 86 points of damage to each gnoll in the area… it hurts… it hurtssssss). He would also suffer a half action penalty to his next action this round, but since the sundering attack was his only attack this round, that penalty doesn’t apply here.
• At 10, the shamans get to act. There are only two left, but they have to do something… the first is going to cast fog into the unit that Tashya is in for 2 rounds to slow her down. The fog is cast 5 units away (+2), lasts for 2 rounds (+2), will impose a penalty of +4 (+4) and fill one unit (+4). The DT is 12. The first shaman rolls and gets 6+5=11 on the die, but spends one of his two hero points to get to 12. The unit Tashya is in fills with fog, and she takes a penalty of +4 to her rolls for the next 2 rounds. The second shaman does the same to Teothas and Macheon, attempting to fill their unit with fog of the same type. This shaman rolls 2+5=7. He does not have enough hero points to improve this, so the spell fizzles.
•   At 10, the gnoll champions act en masse. All four are in melee range of Scab, and take jabs at him with their spears. I decide to roll for them, since this is an important attack. They roll 5+8+4=17 with their attack, and Scab rolls 12+9=21 to resist. He beats away their spear jabs with a few swipes of his sword… since it’s not doing anything else this round!
• At 10, Macheon decides to use a spontaneous AOE that is stronger than his signature spell, trying to deal damage to a large number of these creatures. He places the center of the AOE 2 units directly ahead (+1), has a U+1 AOE (+8) and wants to deal +7 damage (+7) for a total DT of 16, the best he can create as an expert. He will spend a hero point on the action (if needed) and on the damage (depending on how this plays out). He rolls for the attack, and gets 8+6=14- the DT for the spell is 16, so this would fail. He spends a hero point to add D12 to this, and gets 6 on the die, for a total action of 20; success. The gnolls all have a static resist of 7, so this crits. He rolls for damage and gets 7+7=14, and spends a hero point to add another D12 to this, getting 7 more, for a total of 21. This is doubled to 42 light damage. He wishes he could spend one more hero point here, since he’s close to finishing them all, but he can’t. The fire team of 6 is wiped out, but the scouts are left at 11 health, and champions are left at 15 health. More bookwork… grumble grumble grumble.
• At 10, the normal gnolls act en masse with bows. Each fire team takes a static attack of 4+6+6=16.
• Tashya has three teams fire at her (taking +4 to resists because the gnolls are firing into fog their shammy friends made- I’m sure they’re grateful! /sarcasm off); Tashya rolls 14+11+4=29 to resist the first team, 1+11+4=15 to resist the second (this is a hit), and 8+11+4=23 to resist the third team (a miss). The team that hits deals 4+3+6=13 damage, less her armor of 6 is 7 damage. She’s at 77 health.
• Teothas has three teams fire at him; against the first team he rolls 9+7=16 to resist (they barely miss); against the second team he rolls 4+7=11 (they hit); against the third team he rolls 3+7=10 (they hit). The two teams that hit each deal 4+3+6=13 damage, less his armor of 6 is 7 points. He takes a total of 14 damage, leaving him at 70 health.
• Macheon has four teams fire at him (although all are out of range, and take +2 to the DT); he rolls 3+5+2=10 to resist the first fire team (they hit), although he spends 6 shield points to block the attack. Against the second team he rolls 9+5+2=16 to resist, and they miss. Against the third team he rolls 11+5+2=18 to resist, and they miss. Against the fourth team he rolls 10+5+2=17 to resist and they miss. He manages to use his shield to stave off the hail of arrows that rains upon him.
• Scab has four teams fire at him (also out of range, taking +1 to the DT). Against the first he rolls 12+4+1=15, so they barely hit. Against the second he rolls 6+4+1=11, so they also hit. Against the third he rolls 12+4+1=15, so he is hit a third time. Against the fourth he rolls 8+4+1=13, so they hit again. However, all of these are normal hits, dealing 13 damage. His armor is 14, so he stands there and absorbs hails of arrows (holding his hand up over his face as arrows converge on him) before looking up smiling at the surrounding gnolls- his armor is completely covered in arrows, but none has penetrated beyond his armor and thick natural hide. He’s taken their best shot and remains unscathed. This can’t be good for group morale…
• At 9, Tashya fires another arrow, this one at a shaman she can barely see through the fog that surrounds her. He will get +4 to his resist roll from the fog. She rolls 15+11=26 against his static resist of 4+6+4=14. This is a normal hit. She spends a hero point to get an additional D12 on the roll, and rolls 10, for a total action of 36, now a crit. She rolls for damage and gets 9+14=25, doubled to 50. She one-shots this shaman as well.
• At 9, Teothas wants to use his final AOE spell. He will spend a few hero points on this to make it count (because after this it will be down to slugging this out one gnoll at a time…) The maximum it can be built on is 16 points as an expert. He has it affect all targets in a U+1 AOE (+8) 4 units distant (+2) and deal +6 damage (+6). He rolls the action and gets 10+9=19 against the static resist of all targets of 5. This is a success, and a crit. He rolls for damage and gets 5+6=11. He spends a hero point to increase the damage, and gets 12 on the die! This increases the base damage to 23, doubled to 46 on the crit. In the area of effect were three gnoll fire teams (a total of 18 gnolls) and a shaman and scout. The fire teams and shaman are killed, while the scout is left at 7 health.
• Because of changes to delays based on use of spontaneous spells, only Tashya has an action left this round, at 4. She uses her final action to step out of the fog so that she can get a better view on what’s happening around her (and remove the penalty she’s been taking from the fog).

It’s the end of the round, and the gnolls have suffered heavy damage. The heroes have killed all 6 shaman, 2 of the champions, and 30 regular gnolls. Another 12 regular gnolls are injured, as are all 6 scouts and the remaining 4 champions. The shamans served as leaders, so it’s definitely time for a morale check. This is a normal WIL roll, based on the DT assigned by the hero group, in this case as master rank characters the static DT is 12. The WIL roll is made as D8+4… unless 8 is rolled on the die, the gnolls will turn and flee. They roll a 6. Mass chaos sets in as the gnolls run off in all directions. The heroes ask if they are able to act as the gnolls flee, and the MW decides to roll initiative, with all gnolls fleeing at 10, and being out of the chamber at the end of the round.

Initiative Results for Round 2:
• Macheon rolls and gets 12+5=17. He will cast baseline spells at 17/11/5.
• Scab rolls and gets 4+4=8. He spends a hero point and rolls 12 on the die, acting at 20! He’s going to use his sundering attack again… or at least try!
• Tashya rolls and gets 11+11=22. She will act at 22/17/12/7/2.
• Teothas rolls and gets 12+11=23. He will cast baseline spells at 23/17/11/5.

• At 23, Teothas casts an arcane dart against a gnoll 2 units away. He rolls 12+9=21 against the resist of 5. This is a critical hit. He rolls 6+10=16 damage, doubled to 32. This kills the gnoll.
• At 22, Tashya fires an arrow at a gnoll 5 units away. She rolls 9+11=20 against a static resist of 10. This is a critical hit. She rolls 6+14=20 for damage, doubled to 40. This kills the gnoll.
• At 20, Scab gets to try his sundering attack one more time… he rolls 3 on the die (hey, at least it’s not a botch) +9=12. He spends a hero point to add +10 on the die, for a total attack of 22. The static resist for the champions is 13, while it’s 10. He will crit against the scouts, but not the champions. He rolls for damage and gets 6+19=25 damage. The champions’ armor absorbs 5, so each suffers 20 points; each champion has 15 health left (and each scout only has 11), so his sundering attack rips through all four remaining champions and all four remaining scouts, slaying them all. He feels better now…
• At 17, Teothas casts an arcane dart at a gnoll 2 units away. He rolls 7+9=16 against a static result of 5. This is a critical hit. He rolls 10+10=20 for damage, doubled to 40, and kills the gnoll instantly.
• At 17, Tashya fires an arrow at a gnoll 5 units away. She rolls 6+11=17 against a static resist of 10. This is a normal hit, and she deals 7+14=21 damage to the gnoll.
• At 17, Macheon gets to act, and decides to use another spontaneous light spell. He will create a spell affecting all targets in a U+1 AOE (+8) 4 units away (+2) and dealing +6 damage (+6). He rolls and gets a natural 1 on the action! D’oh. That’s a delay of -5 to his next action… since his next action was at 5, he’s done like dinner this round.
• At 12, Tashya fires another arrow at the wounded gnoll, and gets 14+11=25 against a static resist of 10. This is a critical success, and automatically kills the gnoll.
• At 12, Teothas casts an arcane dart at one of the two wounded scouts that remains. He rolls 13+9=22 against a static resist of 5, a critical hit. He rolls for damage and gets 1+10=11, doubled to 22. This is sufficient to finish the wounded scout.
• At 7, Tashya fires another arrow at a gnoll, getting 6+11=17 against a static resist of 10. This is a normal hit. She spends a hero point to add +8 to the roll, and this becomes a crit. She rolls for damage and gets 10+14=24, doubled to 48, and one-shots another gnoll.
• At  2, Teothas takes his final action, throwing an arcane dart at the final wounded scout. He rolls 10+9=19 against the target’s static resist of 5. This is a crit. He rolls for damage and gets 10+10=20, doubled to 40 points, and kills the scout.

At the end of two rounds, the heroes have killed:
• All 6 gnoll champions
• All 6 gnoll scouts
• All 6 gnoll shaman
• 35 normal gnolls

The fleeing gnolls include:
• 13 injured gnolls
• 42 uninjured gnolls

Hero Tallies:
• Macheon has suffered no damage, and has spent 2 hero points. He used two of his three spontaneous spells in his primary spell line.
• Scab has suffered no damage, and has spent 2 hero points.
• Tashya has suffered points of damage, and has spent 2 hero points.
• Teothas has suffered points of damage, and has spent 2 hero points. He used all three of his spontaneous spells in his primary spell line.

Rewards:
• Each of the special gnolls carries an average of 5 gold, while each of the normal gnolls carries an average of 3 gold. 18x5=90; 36x3=108; 90+108=198. The MW rules that the heroes recover a total of 200 gold coins from the bodies of the slain gnolls, and each hero takes 50 gold coins.
• Each hero earns 8 hero points from this encounter (a greater encounter +6, RM 2 creatures +2). Since each hero spent 2 hero points during the encounter, each is at +6 on the day, for a total of 56 hero points. They each need 110 to get to level 11, so they have some fighting to do. The Mythweaver would be justified in giving more hero points, arguing that this was by rule a huge number of collective lesser encounters, and could easily double the hero point award… but doesn’t. They’re fine as they are.

Analysis:
• Area of effect attacks are vital to an encounter like this. Sundering is a great equalizer for melee-based characters, since this allows them to deal damage to large groups as casters can with spells.
• The en masse rules help large groups a little bit, but a 7-level differential is too much to overcome. I’d expect that if this had been level 6 creatures (bugbears), that the battle would have gone much different- they have quite a bit more health, would be less likely to be on the receiving end of as many critical hits, and would be able to deal some real damage with en masse attacks (attacking in larger fire teams due to greater bonuses as well). I make a mental note that I want to play test en masse attacks with tougher foes later on… wights, maybe? The wheels start turning…
• Tashya’s investment in improved range seemed rather gimpy when I picked it up for her, but it was a reasonable character choice. In this combat, the majority of her targets were beyond the normal range for her bow, but because of this perk she took no penalty to hit. Her attacks were well beyond the abilities of the gnolls to resist in most cases, but it was still nice to take no penalty for range, and this will come in very handy against stronger foes later on.
• The fight was quick… after literally 3 seconds of ‘real time’, the gnolls had decided that these heroes were more than they could handle. In that three seconds Tashya got off 5 shots, and they started to drop like flies- it didn’t take long for the gnolls to completely freak and run. Although, if I was chilling out and suddenly arrows were dropping on my head, my friends were falling in blasts of arcane energy, and a big ork was swinging his way through my best protectors, I’d run too….

I got the large-scale battle out of my system, so it’s time to get the other big trope out of the way so I can start challenging myself to get a little more clever… the ‘dragon’s lair’. Granted, this doesn’t have to be a ‘dragon’, just a big serpent thing that bites and has a breath weapon! Oh, I guess that would be a dragon!

Here are my problems with designing dragon encounters:
1. The dragon should win! This is the biggest problem. This creature has lived for hundreds (if not thousands) of years, able to stave off the efforts of dozens (if not hundreds) of professional adventurers who have tried to slay it and steal its stuff. The heroes cannot just waltz in and take it out, can they? It’s a conundrum.
2. The dragon is smart and/or manipulative enough not to be sitting in a room waiting for the heroes to march in. It would have some form of defense, wouldn’t it?
3. What does it do with all that treasure? I’m not satisfied with ‘dragons like pretty things’ as an explanation.
4. I’ve been fixated on the undead dragon idea since I first purchased White Plume Mountain and saw that undead dragon lair marked on the map. I wanted to go THERE!

I’ve had this idea in my head (of all places) for about two years for a massive hall of bones that comes to life and attacks the heroes, becoming more powerful each round. I don’t want to necessarily use it up here (I mean, it’s a whole HALL OF ANIMATED BONES! It smells of awesome), but I can see this encounter coming together already. Here’s what I decide:

• It’s not a dragon- it’s a hydra. It died. It’s trying to come back to life, but that’s hard, you know? (Plus, this gives me a chance to really test out and/or house rule some good mechanics for many-headed monsters.)
• It’s dwelling in this massive pit, filled with slime and goo and all sorts of nastiness. This is the refuse pit for the gnolls and the other inhabitants of the first part of the dungeon, but it’s also where the occasional adventurer and/or prisoner gets tossed, and therefore the creature has quite the collection of cool things.
• The pit has a narrow staircase winding down into it. The entire pit is only 20’ across (a 4-unit square, for those keeping track of game terms), and is filled 15’ deep with slime (so it can completely submerge itself if so inclined, but it can also extend its head up to 2 units (about 20’) beyond the depth of the slime.

Back Story

As this place was being excavated, a hydra was brought in to help with some of the heavy lifting (five heads would be convenient for moving big rocks, I’d assume). It was controlled by an evil wizard (who’s maybe still alive- let’s leave the plot hook dangling), but it died in a cave in (I’m thinking rancor pit in ‘Return of the Jedi’ here a bit). The caster was very sad (or as close as you get to sad when you are evil to the core) and tried to bring the hydra back using powerful darkness magic, but was unsuccessful. At last, they threw the thing into the big pit they were using to throw away all of their refuse. Little did they know that the wizard’s magic had worked, it was just working veeerrrrryyyy sllllooooowwwwwwlllly. It’s taken hundreds of years, but the hydra has almost put itself back together again (at least its skeleton), infused with darkness energy. It’s dwelling in the muck, devouring energy from the living and using that to restore itself. That’s pretty necromantic. And gross. Me like!

It needs to devour another 10-15 living creatures, and it will be up and at ‘em again. The hero group would be a good start.

It’s LEGO time!

I picked up a small LEGO Castle set the other day to get my ‘Scab’ mini-figure, so now I’m ready to go. I don’t have anything good to represent the skeletal hydra (stuff that’s out there is not worth the investment for this quick encounter), so I use a piece of the Batman swamp set- oooh, scary! The heroes are (from left to right) Macheon, Scab, Tashya and Teothas. This is a considerable upgrade from the LOTR game pieces I was using…

[img]http://www.splinteredrealm.com/Hydra%20Pit.JPG[/img]
Some stats for this chamber:

• The entire thing is 60’ deep (45’ open, 15’ covered in muck), and filled with unnatural (magical) darkness. The heroes will need a light source, and even then light will be limited.
• The stairs are only 3’ wide, so single file it is. The stairs will require a climbing roll (level die + DEX + athletics) every 3 units (once before they can make a check to discover the hydra in the muck) to keep their balance on the stairs. The DT for this roll is 10, so it shouldn’t be too bad for them.
• The muck is 15’ deep, so falling in it deals no damage, but it will give the target all sorts of troubles. These include 1) the hydra gets a free surprise attack on anyone falling into the muck before it’s raised its ugly head; 2) the muck acts like quicksand, pulling the heroes into its grip. Basically, all action DTs increase +3 every round as you sink deeper and deeper. Anyone in the muck has to make a STA roll (starting at DT 10 and escalating +1 every round) to keep from getting sucked under completely. Failure means that the hero automatically drowns after a number of additional rounds equal to his or her STA (this stuff is a lot different than water, obviously, and lends itself to a modification of existing drowning rules on page 51 of the core rules).
• To make the encounter a little more fun, I’m going to put an object in the muck. At the very center of the pool is a 5’ wide round, wooden platform. This is tethered to the roof (about 80’ overhead) by a huge chain… Actually, there would be a winch system here, but it’s locked down right now. Any creature standing on this platform will get +3 to all actions against the hydra (from basically being right on top of it) and forces the hydra to take +3 to all action DTs against the creature(s) on the platform. However, any creature on the platform must make a DEX + athletics roll (DT 12) at the beginning of every round to stay standing on the platform. Failure indicates that the target loses all combat actions that round, and must make a MGT + athletics roll (DT 12) to stay on the platform. If that roll is also failed, the hero slides off into the muck.
• Any hero knocked unconscious will automatically fall into the slime, unless another hero intervenes to prevent it.
• The hydra has recovered three heads, and a fourth is on the way. The three heads are fully-functioning, while the fourth is only up to the jawbone… this last head it will use like a big spiked chain, swinging it at heroes and trying to dislodge them from the stairs. Here are the stats I work up for this guy. I want him tougher than base level 15, but not quite a legendary creature. I decide that he’s level 17, which should pose a pretty considerable challenge for the heroes. I also decide that his time in the pit (seething in darkness energy that slowly pulls him back together) has imbued him with a darkness breath weapon. All three heads get this breath weapon, but each may only use it once per turn. For all three, it is a stream of darkness energy, and it’s only usable once per turn (so each head will get to breathe once this combat… maybe). I name him Ylluks, because it’s ‘skully’ backwards. Hey, you try to be this clever and see what happens! For those of you following along with the monster rules, I decide that the bludgeon head is his ‘main’ attack form, and the other heads are secondary (so lose the die). This thing is pretty hard core… its breath weapon will mean pretty much instant death if any of the heroes fails his resist. That may be a little over the top… we’ll see. As a level 17 monster, it’s built on 76 quality points.

Ylluks, the Undead Hydra
Huge Undead 17 (D16)
DEX 9; MGT 13; PWS 10; STA 10
ASP -5; INT 11; REA 0 (+5); WIL 9
Armor 10; Health 300; Initiative +11; Move 10
Talents: Stealth (expert DT 21)
Attacks: Normal bite attack (x3) (+28 total damage; delay 12; use D12 for attack/damage)
Greater bludgeoning attack (+33 total damage; delay 12)
Abilities: Normal armor; bonus attack; lesser breath weapon x3 (see below); lesser full magic warding
Treasure: Greater

Ylluks is able to use its breath weapon three times per turn, once for each head. This breath weapon is a stream of darkness energy filling a line 1 unit wide and 5 units long. All targets in the AOE must roll ASP (DT 12) or suffer 100 damage (half damage if resist roll is successful). The hydra negates the first 10 points of magical damage it sustains from any attack.

For every 75 points of damage Ylluks suffers (300/4), one of its heads ceases to function. The heroes may elect which head is incapacitated in this way, as each 75-point threshold is reached.

As I scan it quickly, this thing is pretty B.A… I’m not feeling good about the heroes’ chances, and decide right away to have Teo hang on to a spontaneous arcanum spell. With some decent rolling and hero point expenditures, he can always teleport them out of this mess, if needed. This may be a way to practice the fine art of running away, and living to fight another day.

Teothas’ Journal

We spent several hours checking through the main hall, eventually confident that the gnolls had fled and would not return any time soon. We resolved to watch our backs, since any path we took now meant that we could be approached from behind, since we had no idea what lay down most of these paths. The northernmost doors proved both impassible and likely the most important. They were warded with powerful magic that we could not bypass, and Tashya quickly determined that its locking mechanism was not native to our realm, nor was it something that could be bypassed by normal means. We had to assume that we would eventually find some way around it, and set about to explore the other passageways. We determined to work in a clockwise order around the great hall, moving first to the southwest corner, and clearing one passageway at a time.

The first path leads only 10’ into thick darkness before suddenly dropping off. The heroes drop a few stones, hearing them ‘splat’ against something semi-solid below. They determine it may be a sand of some kind or thick liquid. Teothas attempts to use his intellect to determine the depth (based on how long the stone takes to fall), and the Mythweaver allows him to roll REA (DT 12) to figure this out. He rolls 11+9=20. This is a solid success, and the Mythweaver tells him that the depth seems about 50’ from their current location.

Macheon decides to use light magic to illuminate the space below. He will fill a U+1 AOE (+8) 5 units away (+2) with light for 4 turns (+4), giving them sufficient time to explore the passage if so inclined… The total spell is DT 14. Macheon rolls 3+6=9. This is a failure. He has two more chances this turn. On the second attempt, he rolls 4+6=10. Still not successful. He thinks the third time must be the charm, and tries again, getting 3 again; 3+6=9, another failure. The Mythweaver determines that Macheon will not be able to stave off the darkness of this passage with his magic, and that there is an unnatural power here consuming the light. Macheon warns the rest of the group of this. Tashya volunteers to scout ahead, check for traps, and report back. The group agrees to let her do so.

Tashya uses stealth and moves into the chamber, traveling very carefully along the narrow staircase. She descends 30’, and has to make a DEX + athletics roll (DT 10). She rolls a natural 1! In her efforts to be stealthy, she slides off the edge and into the pit. Oh, man. This could be bad. The Mythweaver rules that the hydra takes a bite action on her, snapping its jaws at her leg. The hydra (which will make all rolls here instead of taking the static dice results) rolls 3+10=13 to bite. Tashya doesn’t get to roll, and takes her static resist of 3. This is a critical success for the bite. The hydra deals 10+28=38 damage, doubled to 76! Tashya’s armor absorbs 6 of this, meaning that she takes 70 points of damage. She is down to 14 health, and almost out of the fight before it even begins.

It’s initiative for round one. The heroes are nearly 50’ over the beast, and can only hear the sounds from the bottom of the passage, but know it’s bad.

• Macheon rolls 2+5=7. He will act once this round at 7.
• Scab rolls 12+4=16. He’s not sure what he’s doing yet… but he’s thinking about jumping into the pit.
• Tashya rolls 5+14=19 for initiative. She’s trying to get out of this mess.
• Teothas rolls 8+11=19 for initiative. He spends a hero point to go earlier, and gets +7, for a total of 26.
• The hydra rolls 13+11=24 with its blunt attack; it rolls 6+11=17 with its three secondary heads.

• At 26, Teothas uses a spontaneous spell to attempt to teleport Tashya out of the pit. This is not going well so far… he will teleport (+10) 1 target (+0) 6 units away (+2) to stand beside him, a distance of 6 units traveled (+2); DT 14. He rolls 9+9=18. This is a success, and Tashya is instantly teleported to his side. She’s hurt, but alive. Teo will act again on 14.
• At 24, the hydra has to hold its action until someone or something is in melee range. It thinks about dropping back beneath the sludge, but decides it can afford to wait and see what the heroes do.
• At 19, Tashya knocks an arrow and starts firing. She’s wasting no time. She is firing into the dark, and the DT increases +4. She rolls 11+11=22 on the attack, and the hydra rolls 14+9+4=27 to resist. It smacks away the arrow with its writhing head, much to Tashya’s dismay. She acts again at 14/9/4.
• At 17, the three heads get to act. Again, all three delay their actions to see what the heroes do…
• At 16, Scab faces a huge decision. Either the whole group can retreat now and rest up (and make a new strategy), or Slab can throw himself into the jaws of danger (literally), hoping that his friends can keep him healed and teleport him out if needed while he fights this thing. The math is not in his favor right now… but Teo still has a few spontaneous spells left, so he’s got a shot. He asks if he can use his action to leap out to the chain and slide down it into the pit… The Mythweaver allows him to make a DEX + athletics roll (DT 16) to make it happen. He figures this is a good use of hero points if he needs to, and takes the leap. He rolls 10+4+10=24! He shimmies down the chain quickly, ready to act again at 6.  At 10, he’ll be within melee range of the hydra, and then there may be trouble…
• At 14, Tashya holds her action. She can’t get a clear shot off into the darkness, and waits for some light.
• At 14, Teo also holds his action, waiting for Macheon to light the chamber up and give them some clear shots.
• At 10, the hydra acts… since it has held its actions, it takes a bonus of up to its level, based on the number of segments delayed… it held the club head 14 segments, and each of the secondary heads 7 segments… oh, man! Scab is thinking maybe this was a bad idea. With the club head, the hydra rolls 9+10+14=33. Scab rolls to resist and gets 5+9=14. He spends a hero point to try to avoid the crit, and gets 12 on the die, for a total resist of 26. This is now a normal hit. The hydra rolls 8+33=41 damage. Slab’s armor absorbs 14 of this, meaning that he suffers 27 damage, and is now at 77 health. The hydra follows this up with three bites from its other heads as Scab slides by. The first head attacks at 9+10+7=26. Scab rolls 11+9=20 to resist. This bite deals 3+28=31 damage; less Scab’s armor of 14, this is 17 points, leaving him at 60 health. The second head attacks at 2+10+7=19. Scab tries to avoid this one, rolling 6+9=15 to resist. He spends a hero point here to swing out of its way, and gets 4 on the die, for a total resist of 19! Ties go to the defender, and the jaws of the creature rip open his sleeve, but leave him unharmed. The third head attacks at 8+10+7=25, and Scab rolls 3+9=12 to resist. He spends another hero point to prevent the crit, and gets +10, for a total resist of 22. This last one takes a bite out of his foot, and deals 3+28=31 damage, less his armor of 14 is 17 damage. He is now at 43 health. The hydra is done for the round.
• At 7, Macheon finally acts. He casts a concentrated light spell on the club head of the creature. He wants the light to fill one unit (+4) centered on the club head (giving his allies a target to aim at), and last for 1 turn (+0). The creature is still 6 units (+2) from him, so his spell is DT 6.  He rolls 13+5=18 on the action, a critical success. The Mythweaver rules that the creature is temporarily partially blinded, and will suffer a +2 penalty to all actions next round. He’s done for the round.
• At 6, the rest of the team gets to go. Tashya has been holding her action since 14, and so takes +8 to her attack roll. She is going to use her impede reaction style here as well, trying to slow the hydra down. She rolls 7+11+8=26, and the hydra rolls 7+9=16 to resist. She could spend a hero point and have a little better than a 50% chance of upgrading to a critical success. She decides to do this, and spends the hero point, getting 6 on the die… this moves her attack to 32- exactly what she needed to crit! She successfully delays the hydra, increasing his attack delays to 16 for the next 4 rounds. She rolls for damage and gets 9+14=23 damage, doubled to 46. The hydra’s armor absorbs 10 of this, meaning that it takes 36 damage to its club head.
• At 6, Teothas has also been holding his action since 14, and uses his baseline attack spell. He rolls 8+9+8=25, while the hydra rolls 2+5=7 to resist. Teothas scores a crit with his spell, rolling 10+10=20 damage. He spends a hero point to add damage to this, and gets +10 on the roll, for a total base damage of 30, doubled to 60 from the crit. The hydra’s magic warding absorbs 10 points of this, but it suffers 50 points of damage to its club head, meaning that the hydra has suffered a total of 86 damage. Its club head smacks heavily into the thick muck, out of the battle.
• At 6, Scab gets to act, and sees the Hydra swaying and struggling under the weight of his allies’ attacks. He has only one action left this round, and holds it until the end of the round (acting at 1), taking +5 to his attack; he will use his focused strike here, trying to one shot another head. He rolls 16 on the die! 16+9+5=29. The hydra rolls 13+10=23 to resist. Scab can’t possibly crit, although his signature move is successful (since the DT for it was 23+5=28). He rolls 2+19+12=33, less the armor of 10 is 23 points, meaning that the hydra has now suffered 109 damage. That’s a pretty good round, although not enough to finish a second head.

For round 2, it’s initiative.

• Macheon rolls 12+5=17. He will act at 17/11/5
• Scab rolls 8+4=12. He will act at 12/4
• Tashya rolls 5+14=19. She will act at 19/14/9/4
• Teothas rolls 11+11=22. He will act at 22/16/10/4

• The hydra rolls 1+11 for its heads. They will each act 1 time at 12 (or at least the ones left by then…).

Scab has to make a DEX + athletics roll (DT 12) to balance on the platform in the muck. He rolls 8+4+10=22. It’s no problem, and he can fight normally this round.

• At 22, Teothas rolls 11+9=20 against the hydra’s resist of 8+5=13. Teothas rolls for damage and gets 11+10=21. The hydra absorbs 10 of this, suffering 11 damage, so it’s now down to 180 health from 300. At 150, another head drops.
• At 19, Tashya fires an arrow. She rolls 10+11=21 against the hydra’s resist of 16+9=25. She misses.
• At 17, Macheon uses his baseline light spell on Scab, to heal him. He rolls 6+6=12, a normal success. He rolls 9+10=19, and restores 19 health to Scab, who is now at 62 health.
• At 16, Teothas casts another arcane dart. He rolls 3+9=12. The hydra rolls 9+5=14, and resists the spell.
• At 14, Tashya fires another arrow, rolling 15+11=26 against the hydra’s resist of 6+9=15. This is a normal hit, dealing 8+14=22 damage. Less its armor of 10, the hydra suffers 12 damage, leaving it at 168.
• At 12, Scab takes a swipe at one of the three remaining heads that flails about, emerging from the muck. He rolls 5+9=14. The hydra rolls 2+10=12 to resist. Slab actually hits! He rolls for damage and gets 9+19=28 damage; less the armor of 10, this is 18 points, leaving the hydra at exactly 150! One of the three remaining skeletal hydra heads falls into the muck.
• At 12, each of the remaining heads uses its breath weapon; the Mythweaver rules that the +2 action penalty the hydra currently suffers from light does not apply to the breath weapon, since it’s an area attack. One hones in directly on Scab, unleashing a jet of black energy at him. The other rises up out of the muck and targets the heroes at the top of the pit. They are at the very end of its range, but the Mythweaver decides that they are within range, although it can only catch 2 out of the 3 of the heroes up top in its spray. Macheon volunteers to be one (being heroic and all), and says that he steps in front of Tashya so that she is not sprayed. The Mythweaver allows this, meaning that Teothas will be the other. Scab, Macheon and Teothas must all roll ASP to resist, DT 12. Scab and Teo each roll at +4, since they have ASP 0 and take their RM as the base resist roll. Scab rolls 10+4=14; Macheon rolls 3+6=9; Teothas rolls 3+4=7. Scab resists his attack, but Macheon and Teothas both fail. Scab takes 50 points of darkness damage, less his magic warding of 10 points means that he takes 40 damage. He is down to 22 health. Macheon and Teothas each take 100 damage, but magic warding absorbs some of this; Macheon suffers 90 damage, leaving him at 24, and Teothas suffers 86 damage, leaving him at -2! He’s down, but since this is less than his STA of 3, he doesn’t have to roll to see if he’s dead. This just got ugly…
• At 11, Macheon uses his signature spell. He rolls 8+6=14, a normal success. He spends a hero point, and adds +10 to the action, resulting in a critical success. He rolls 10+4=14, doubled to 28 health restored to himself, Tashya and Teothas. He’s now at 52; Tashya is at 42; Teothas is at 26 and back up; he’ll take his next action at 5 (his next action 10-5 from the penalty from recovering from being down).
• At 9, Tashya fires another arrow, 13+11=24. The hydra rolls 15+9=24. Since ties go to the defender, she misses.
• All heroes have one action left this round, and the hydra has none. All will hold their actions to 1 to get maximum bonuses to the attack roll.
• At 5, Teothas holds to 1, taking a +4 bonus to his attack. He throws an arcane dart at the hydra, rolling 15+9+4=28. The hydra rolls 2+5=7. Teo crits, rolling 11+10=22 damage, doubled to 44. The hydra’s magic warding absorbs 10 of this, meaning that it takes 34 damage. It’s now down to 116 health.
• At 5, Macheon holds to 1, taking a +4 bonus to his attack. He rolls a natural 1 with his word of light, and it fizzles, absorbed by the darkness of the passage. He would be penalized a delay to his next action, but this is his final action of the round.
• At 4, Tashya holds to 1, taking a +3 bonus to her attack. She fires an arrow at the beast, rolling 9+11+3=23 against the hydra’s resist of 4+9=13. She spends a hero point to increase her attack roll, and gets +5, for a total attack of 28, a critical success. She rolls for damage and gets 9+14=23, doubled to 46. The creature’s armor absorbs 10 of this, meaning that she deals 36, and drops it to 80 health. The second-last head is wobbling…
• At 4, Scab holds to 1, taking a +3 bonus to his attack. He lines up on the weakened head and rolls 8+9+3=20. The hydra rolls 2+10=12. Scab will spend a hero point here, getting +4, for a total attack of 24- barely a crit… that was almost a wasted hero point. He rolls for damage and gets 9+19=28, doubled to 56. Less the armor of 10, the hydra suffers 46 damage, leaving it at 34 health, and with only one head left in the fight. It would be morale, but the thing is already (un)dead! … so it’s initiative.

Round Three:

• Macheon rolls 10+5=15. He acts at 15/9/3
• Scab rolls 7+4=11. He acts at 11/3
• Tashya rolls 10+14=24. She acts at 24/19/14/9/4
• Teothas rolls 5+11=16. He acts at 16/10/4

• The hydra rolls 2+11=13. It gets only one action due to the ongoing delay from Tashya’s arrow.

• At 24, Tashya fires an arrow, rolling 2+11=13. The hydra rolls 9+9=18 to resist. She misses.
• At 19, she fires another arrow, rolling 13+11=24. The hydra rolls 4+9=13 to resist. Tashya could spend a hero point to go for the crit, but she feels that the heroes now have this battle well in hand, and she takes normal damage. She rolls 6+14=20 damage; less the armor of 10, the hydra takes 10 damage, leaving it at 24 health.
• At 16, Teothas casts an arcane dart, rolling 2+9=11. The hydra rolls 8+5=13 to resist, and the spell pings off of its skeletal maw.
• At 15, Macheon hits it with a word of light. He rolls 12+6=18. The hydra rolls 8+5=13 to resist. This is a normal hit, and Macheon rolls 6+10=16 damage. The creature’s magic warding absorbs 10 of this, dropping it to 18 health. Man, it’s holding on…
• At 14, Tashya tries to finish it. She rolls 4+11=15, but it rolls 8+9=17 to resist. She misses again, probably too excited about being able to claim that she felled an undead hydra to concentrate on the shot properly…
• At 13, the thing takes a bite at Scab. It rolls 8+10=18 against his resist of 6+9=15. It hits. The bite deals 2+28=30 damage. Less Scab’s armor of 14, he suffers 16 damage, leaving him at 6 health! Urk. Kinda forgot about that. Maybe Macheon should have been healing. Oops.
• At 11, Scab spits on his two hands, wiggles his butt, sticks out his tongue, and takes a good swing at the thing, rolling a natural 16! 16+9=25 on the attack. The hydra rolls 5+10=15 to resist. Scab rolls for damage, getting 11+19=30. Less the armor of 10, the hydra suffers 20 damage. This brings it to -2, and drops it.

The heroes spend two rounds making sure that the thing doesn’t re-emerge from the muck, and Teothas hits the center of the pool with his signature spell three times just to be sure. The heroes develop a plan to search the pool, sending Scab down on a pair of ropes affixed to the central platform. After 5 rounds in the muck, the three work together to pull the winch and get him out. They make sure he’s breathing, clear his nose and mouth of muck, take whatever he’s found, and repeat the process. They are willing to do this for hours as needed, and Teothas will use arcanum to detect the presence of magical items in the pool. The quickly determine the depth at about 15’, and feel confident they can clear the whole pool in a matter of hours. The Mythweaver decides that they can recover the vast majority of the creature’s treasure in this way, and will roll for a greater treasure normally, as a level 20 monster.

Awards:

Monetary Treasure (Using the treasure rules on the core rules, starting on page 69):
• Roll 16 (DT 4). Find one instance of monetary treasure. Roll 3 x 17 = 51 gold value. Find 510 silver coins (D6 roll of 1: silver coins).
• Roll 9 (DT 6). Find second instance of monetary treasure. Roll 2 x 17 = 34 gold value. Find 2 gemstones: one worth 30 gold, one worth 4 gold (D6 roll of 4: gemstones).
• Roll 12 (DT 8). Find third instance of monetary treasure. Roll 7 x 17 = 119 gold value.  Find jewelry valued at 120 gold (D6 roll of 5: jewelry)
• Roll 19 (DT 10). Find fourth instance of monetary treasure. Roll 12 x 17 = 204. Find 20 mithril coins (D6 roll 3) and 4 gold coins.
• Roll 2 (DT 12). No additional monetary treasure found.

Magical Treasure:
• Roll 16 (DT 6). Find one instance of magical treasure. This is a shield (D10 roll 6). It is level 17 (17 rolled on D20). It’s a +15 shield (the maximum possible). It’s base bonus is +3. the Mythweaver rules that this shield may be used to defend anyone in the same unit as the wielder. The shield gives a pool of 18 total points each round, and the wielder may decide to whom these points are given (as long as the recipient is in the same unit as the shield bearer). This is the Shield of the Stalwart Guardian, one of only 6 such shields given to the royal guard by the Second High King of Cavaria, borne in his service before the Great Reckoning.
• Roll 13 (DT 8). Find second instance of magical treasure. This is a missile weapon (D10 roll 7). It is level 13 (13 rolled on D20). The enchantment bonus is +5 (17 on the die). Wow. It has no imbued property (4 on D6) but does have a special ability (1 on D10). The weapon is cold, dealing +5 cold damage on every hit. Seriously? This weapon is incredible. That’s quite the random treasure roll. Tashya is pretty much set for life here… or at least through level 14. The Mythweaver decides this is the Great Bow of Winter’s Reckoning, a magical bow of great repute, lost for 300 years.
• Roll 15 (DT 10). Find third instance of magical treasure. This is a special item (D10 roll 10). It is level 15 (15 rolled on D20), a paragon special object. It’s a level 10 servant statue… it’s a statue of a stegosaurus, and will come to life as a stegosaurus (core rules page 103) 3 times per day, for 1 turn each time. 
• Roll 7 (DT 12). No additional magical treasure found.

Wow. These are some impressive items. The heroes give the shield to Macheon and the bow to Tashya. The servant statue will be sold to purchase an item for Scab and one for Teo.

The servant statue is traded for two items…
• Scab takes a girdle of lion’s , granting +3 to PWS and +3 to MGT.
• Teothas takes a cloak of arcane mastery, granting +3 to REA and +3 to arcane spell effects.

Lastly, each hero earns 11 hero points (greater encounter 6 +5 RM for the beast defeated). This is offset by how many hero points each character spent (see below)

Analysis:

After three rounds of combat, here are some numbers:
• Macheon suffered a total of 90 points of damage, and spent 1 hero point.
• Scab suffered a total of 117 points of damage, and spent 4 hero points.
• Tashya suffered a total of 70 points of damage, and spent 3 hero points.
• Teothas suffered a total of 86 points of damage, and spent 2 hero points.

Comments:
• I liked the battle. Three rounds feels a bit quick (9 seconds of ‘real time’), but there was a nice variety to strategy, tactics, abilities and choices for the heroes. Athletics played a bigger role here, but in combat it logically would. As much time went into designing the environment as designing the creature, and that was time well spent. This was one of the better ‘dragon fights’ that I’ve run.
• Macheon is not much of a factor in combat (he goes late and deals minimal damage), but his healing is very important, and has impact even at this level. He’s definitely the support character here. He would be pretty weak solo, but between his healing (and now his shield), he’s going to be an important part of the team. Conceptually, I always pictured Macheon up with Scab at the front lines, the other two holding back. This scenario set a new strategy up, and seemed more reasonable. Scab runs up, the other three hang back. Macheon helps to protect the other two from attacks with his shield and heals; the other three deal damage.
• Scab is cool. I like him. I want to see him deal out large amounts of damage. He’s my first ork character, and he’s a winner.
• Tashya’s bow deals quality damage even against tougher foes. That natural 1 kinda sucked, but it sure moved the story along. I like that the randomness of the dice can force things to happen that you would never have expected. I fully thought that she’d do some recon, report back, and they’d go in with a plan- and all be much closer to the hydra once combat started. Putting the bulk of the party at the top of the chamber was a better strategic choice, but not the one I would have made if the dice hadn’t dictated it.
• Teothas’ arcane magic is pretty effective, and teleport is a much better strategic spell than I designed it as. I always envisioned it being used to move the caster, but nothing in the description limits it so. If the heroes are smart and Teo hangs on to some spontaneous spells, they can pretty much escape any situation. Also, this can be used to get Scab (or the whole team) into combat, not just out of it.

A basic flaw in adventure design that I’ve helped to propagate is the static dungeon, where everyone is sitting around waiting for the heroes to show up and attack. This can be dressed up in a number of ways to appear more dynamic, but the final result is usually this- the heroes move about with relative carte blanche. Not so here. They are always being monitored by someone, or something, and the ‘dungeon’ is not going to sit back and take it from them.

I really liked the environment of my last encounter, and I’d like to re-use it, although this time putting the heroes in the role of defense instead of offense. Here are some things I’ve decided:
• The hydra from last time was the favored pet of the chief advisor to the Highlord of Mount Brim. The chief advisor, who we’ve already established used darkness magic to turn the hydra, would not have hesitated to use similar magic on himself to stave off death. Now, he’s a lich, and he has become the first big adversary the heroes will ultimately face. I have a villain! He’s not even the ‘big bad’ (which means that the big bad has to be really big and really bad if he’s going to boss around a lich- the wheel’s keep turning on him or her). I feel a hall of bones in my group’s future…
• The advisor is not up the main passageway, but his lair is up one of the side passages that lead out from the initial great hall (encounter two). He’s got several teams of undead at his disposal (culled from fallen forces of the high lords that he keeps imbuing with immortal power). They’ll be getting to him within a level or two. The heroes are on their way to being able to handle a level 20 foe; they just beat a level 17 creature with basic gear. Once they get some more powerful items and gain a few levels, they will be a force to be reckoned with.

Going back over the history of ‘favorite monsters of all time’, I happen upon one of my top ten favorites, the death knight. Ever since “Fiend Folio” came out in ‘81, I’ve absolutely frakkin LOVED death knights. Man, those things are hard core. So, let’s work up an encounter…

At some point, the heroes are going to discover that a number of bugbears work for his big badness (they’re the next humanoid up the chain, so they’ve got to make an appearance somewhere), and these make a good foundation for the next encounter. A particularly powerful bugbear champion volunteered to be transformed by the lich’s power into an immortal warrior, which I’ll call a ‘skeletal vindicator’, and a number of his fallen brethren were brought back from death in battle to serve as his posse. The main guy will be a bugbear death knight with some unholy items (so that he’s got some great stuff, but which the heroes can’t use because it’s tainted with eeevilllll), and his posse will be a squad of bugbear wights. These wights are slightly stronger and hardier than their ‘normal’ wight relations, so I’ll bump these to level 7 and give them a few more points in physical traits.

Wight Bugbears
Medium Expert Undead 7 (D10)
DEX 8; MGT 7; PWS 7; STA 8
ASP –5; INT 5; REA 1; WIL 6
Armor 6; Health 86; Initiative +8; Move 9
Talents: Stealth (adept DT 14)
Attacks: Normal claw attack +6 (+13 total damage; delay 10)
Abilities: Normal armor; lesser improved move; normal undead drain
Treasure: Normal
On a successful claw attack that deals damage, the wight forces its target to roll ASP (DT 10) or lose 1 dice rank for 1 turn. This effect is cumulative, and the same creature may be affected repeatedly. Those who are drained below D4 by a wight are killed, and will rise the next night as a wight. A spontaneous light spell (DT 10) will reverse this effect. A wight exposed to direct sunlight suffers 6 points of damage per round.

For the Vindicator, he’s getting some unholy items and darkness magic. Once again, this guy looks exceptionally tough for the heroes to face.

Skeletal Vindicator
Medium Paragon Undead 15 (D16)
DEX 8; MGT 8; PWS 12; STA 12
ASP –7; INT 8; REA 7; WIL 9
Armor 20 (b16/p22/s22); Health 256; Initiative +8; Move 10
Talents: Darkness (expert +10); athletics (expert +10); weapon access; quick strike; sundering
Attacks: Enchanted Unholy Great Spiked Flail +15/+5
(+35 total damage; delay 9)
Abilities: Normal breath weapon (see below); lesser full magic warding (10 points)
Gear: Unholy enchanted chain mail armor +10/+3
Treasure: Normal
Once per turn, the vindicator may breathe a cloud of unholy energy filling 4 units in front of the vindicator. All creatures in the area of effect must roll ASP (DT 16) or lose 1 dice rank permanently. This may be reversed with a successful spontaneous light spell (DT 16). 

Note: I’m play testing some rules for armor and weapons, breaking these up by damage types. For the normal wights, I’ll keep the base armor rating, but for the big guy I’ve designated the three attributes of his armor among blunt/piercing/slashing damages. He has a spiked flail because: 1) it is a hybrid weapon that attacks the preferred of blunt or piercing armor; 2) it can get around Macheon’s shield; and 3) I have a LEGO skeleton mini-figure that has a big spiked flail!

Also, I’ve updated the character sheets and posted them on the Mythweaver web site with a few changes:

• I’ve made changes for their new gear (from last adventure)
• I’ve changed Macheon from a defender to a new class to play test- the battlemancer. This class has no inherent skill progression, and has only arms and magic. This makes him better at the two things he does well, and negates his skills (although I’m still going to drop a bonus talent on skills to pick up apprentice of influence so he at least has some social skill if needed).

Battlemancer
Traits: +1 to MGT, PWS, two different mental traits
Arms Progression: 1, 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 19
Magic Progression: 1, 4, 6, 9, 12, 16, 18