Every good DM enjoys dreaming up new campaigns, adventures and encounters. With this in mind I descended upon GenCon with the intent of attending the D&D Adventure Builder’s Workshop. I wanted to hear how the pros built encounters, how they designed their traps and what inspired their campaigns. I must say I wasn’t disappointed and while I didn’t get exactly what I was looking for, what I did get was that much better.
Author: Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
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GenCon Awaits
After 9 grueling hours in the car with Ameron we’ve arrived in Indy. Our badges are in hand and the slaying of monsters awaits. Over the course of the best four days in gaming Ameron and I will have periodic updates about the events and sights that make up GenCon. Over the week our plan is to play some LFR games, check out the Dark Sun Arena’s and of course the Open Championship. We’ve teamed up with half of the C Team, last years winners. Last night we me up, handed out the character assignments and worked out our some strategy. Keep your swords or wands crossed for us.
GenCon promises to be a week of great fun, chance encounters and little sleep. We’ll post as many updates and images about the events as we’re able. For now I need to get what sleep I can, the life of an adventurer is uncertain and you never know when you’ll get your next extended rest.
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Strikers are flashy and deadly, cunning and dangerous and every adventuring party needs one. Strikers are the damage dealers of 4e D&D and most parties have at least two of them. Ideally, one striker attacks from range and the other melee. The striker’s ability to dish out a lot of damage keeps combat moving at a good pace and protects the party from burning through too many healing surges and other resources. In short, combat ends sooner when there are strikers on hand. But what happens when an adventuring party doesn’t have representation from this essential role?
This is the fourth article in our series on adventuring with non-standard adventuring parties. Be sure to read the installments on parties without a leader, defender or controller. Our final installment focuses on the absence of the striker in the adventuring party and the adjustments that need to be made by the remaining party members to survive.
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Wimwick’s Newbie Plans For GenCon
The best four days in gaming begin next week. This will be my first trip to GenCon and I’m looking forward to the experience. I’ve heard all about it from Ameron and of course I’ve read about it through various other blogs. Still there is an aura of mystique that surrounds the event and I’m eager to arrive and investigate everything that GenCon and Indianapolis has to offer.
With that thought in mind I’ve put together a list of the top things I’d like to accomplish while at GenCon this year.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide recommends that an adventuring party be comprised of five adventurers with all four roles being covered. Of course there are going to be instances where only three of four roles are represented in an adventuring party. Maybe you’re playing in a public game, like and LFR adventure, and none of the players brought a PC to fill one of the roles. Or maybe none of the players in your group enjoy playing a particular role.
Some would argue that the controller is not an essential role. Of the four roles most players feel the controller is easily the most dispensable. About a year ago we ran a poll asking which role a party could do without. The controller won that dubious honour hands down. While the early heroic tier might support this viewpoint, it quickly becomes evident that controllers are indispensable by the time a party hits the middle of the paragon tier. Controllers are more than capable of carrying a party forward to victory. The fact is you want a controller in your party.
But what happens when this vital member of any adventuring party is missing?
Delving through dungeons with a non-standard party is an invitation to failure in most instances. What happens when the most stereotypical member of the adventuring party is missing? Defenders represent the key trait that all adventurer’s need, toughness. Defenders are the embodiment of nobility, honour, duty and physical perfection. Legend and fiction are full of characters that embody the spirit of the defender: Lancelot, Conan, Elric and Beowulf all fit the description. Warrior’s any adventurer would want by their side.
What happens to an adventuring party when this key element is missing? What happens when the tank, the individual who absorbs all the damage, is missing? What adjustments does a party need to make to ensure it can successfully navigate the challenges that face it?
Recent events in the Dungeon’s Master home game have resulted in a sub-optimal adventuring party make-up. What do I mean by sub-optimal? One of the four roles is missing. In our case we are blindly adventuring without the benefit of a leader to keep us healed and buffed up.
The subject of playing in an unbalanced party is one we have covered before. However, over the next few weeks we will take a deeper look at what it means to adventure when one of the four roles is missing. Today our focus is on the absence of the leader.
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The Problem With Assisting
Cruven – I use Arcana to investigate the origins of the portal in order to learn how we might vanquish the elder evil that has attacked the realm.
DM – Will anyone assist Cruven? The DC to assist is 17.
Dox – 29. I assist.
Jacinth – 25. I assist.
Luk – 17. I assist.
Josey – 18. I assist
Cruven – Ok, with four assists that’s +8 to my roll. My base is a 17, so I’m rolling on a 25. Here goes…
DM – Don’t bother. The DC is only 23 so with the assists you can’t fail this check.
How often has this happened at your gaming table? Assisting is a great way to help a PC out with a check that they might not make on their own. It’s a potentially game breaking mechanic if a PC is already highly proficient at a given skill. As the DM, how do you prevent reckless assist roles?
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Dark Sun Is Deadly
Expect your PCs to die if you are playing a campaign set in Dark Sun. Dark Sun is a deadly campaign setting and death is par for the course.
“This rule reflects the fact that daily life on Athas is much harsher than it is in other AD&D realms, forcing characters to mature more quickly if they are to survive.” – AD&D 2e Dark Sun Rules Book
The rule in question is the one which states that characters start at level 3 in the AD&D version of Dark Sun. With the changes in the game since this edition, especially the fact that in 4e level 1 characters are a lot tougher than their previous counterparts, this rule is no longer needed.
Knowing when to heal during combat is an under appreciated ability in Dungeons & Dragons. Too many players think that their characters are invincible, able to take whatever the DM throws their way. This refusal by the players to accept the reality of the situation can be detrimental, not only to their PC, but also to the rest of the party. Refusing to heal in favour of a combat action is a calculated risk that every player is forced to make. The question is what is the right decisions to make? While hindsight is always 20/20 we’d like to think we are making the right choices for our PCs.