1) What levels should the PC's be when the get to Solace in the begining?
2) How would I make it so that the PC's were not forced into making almost the same descions the companions made ( ex. if they didn't flee into Darken Wood how would they know to go to Xak Tsaroth)?
3) What abilities do artifacts like the Staff of Magius and the Blue Crystal Staff have?
4) There are going to be 4 or 5 PC's in my group. They can be whatever they want but I'm going to NPC 3 or 4 of the companions. Which should I NPC? I was thinking Riverwind, Goldmoon, Tasslehoff (just cause I love roleplaying kender and no one has the inclination to do so in my group) The one I'm less sure of is the fourth. Tanis? Raistlin?
Thats probably enough questions for now.
Tas
Tas
The original 1ed chars where all level 3-5, but we decided to convert them all to 3 level 3.5 chars, since 3.5 chars are so much powerfull then the old 1ed chars. And so far so good, only one char has been nocked into negative hitpoints so far ( poor raistlin got 10 hp damage from 2 magic missles ). Also due to the fast XP system of 3.5 they where already level 4 when they entered Xak Tsaroth.
According to the first adventure the following chars must be present either as NPC or PC, Tanis, Goldmoon, Caramon, and Raistlin. It does not mather if Tasselhof, Flint, Sturm etc is present or die during the adventure. In later adventures characters as Gilthanas and Laurana must also be present.
And keeping the players going in the right direction is the DM job, in the adventure they are kinda tunneled to Xak Tsaroth, due to that if they go north or south they keep encountering Dragonmen.
Also stuff as Darkenwood is completly optional, as long as they get to Xak Tsaroth. And since there is almost no treasure make sure you party is of good aligment, or you mind find that the whole epic is going nowhere. Why go to the trouble of going into some ancient city, when you can get some gold coins from Toede when you give him the staff :P
Originally posted by Plexor
The original 1ed chars where all level 3-5, but we decided to convert them all to 3 level 3.5 chars, since 3.5 chars are so much powerfull then the old 1ed chars.
Right, but so are all the monsters, plexor.
Onyx doesn't have 64 hit points any longer, for example.Cheers,
Cam
1) Are you saying that I could just buy the who chronicles adventure? I heard something about that but I thought it was coming out summer 2004.
2) I'm relatively new to D&D so I don't know alot of these abreviations: TSR, DLA
3) Why 'must' Caramon and Raistlin be there? I can see Goldmoon needing the be there to steer the plot and Tanis to head them to Qualinesti but why Caramon and Raistlin.
My party has deceided that they are going to play the actual companions so this won't be a problem as far as I can tell.
Tas
You can buy an pdf version of it online at RPGNow. The 3 books are split up in 3 Volumes.
Dunno why Caramon and Raistlin must be present, but then I only have read part 1 of volume 1 of the adventure, It probaly becomes clearer later, since it consists of 12 parts.
Tas
Originally posted by Plexor
[b]
I would rather DM a weaker Dragon and have a more fun battle then DM a stupid CR 21 I can't fly hit me on the head one.
Tas
I wouldn't award the heroes any XP for defeating her, though. Or rather, I wouldn't give them the XP thery'd get if they had beaten her without the Staff's help.
Cheers,
Cam
Originally posted by Cam Banks
As I said earlier, I had no need to scale her down. All the party needs to do is smack her with the stick. Prior to that, it's my firm belief that she probably has no idea just how much danger she's in, and the heroes really are no threat to her by all appearances. She may breathe on one or two, or something like that, but reducing her to a combat-ready CR equivalent to the PCs is missing the point.
I wouldn't award the heroes any XP for defeating her, though. Or rather, I wouldn't give them the XP thery'd get if they had beaten her without the Staff's help.
Cheers,
Cam
I agree with most of this--Khisanth is meant to be an "impossible" foe, that doesn't realize how powerful the Blue Crystal Staff is.
That's the point. Moral of the story: don't underestimate the wrath of Krynn's gods.
Plus, she can't use regular battle tactics. If you follow the 15th anniversary release (and the books for that matter), it has the PCs fighting Khisanth in her treasure chamber...no flight, constricted space. All her dragon-ish goodness isn't much good there. No wingovers and very little breath weapon.
Now, I wouldn't say don't give them XP. Cleaning out Xak Tsaroth is a big deal as is returning the worship of True Gods to Krynn. Big quest award is due, there.
However, don't give them the full XP for a CR 21 Dragon, just because they wopped it with a pretty stick. The challenge rating is meant to represent a challenge....not a single touch attack with a divine artifact.
Quest XP=good. Monster XP=not so good.
Tas
Plus, most dragons don't have very good Dex score, so beating them in initiative won't be hard.
Couple those with some nice stealth tactics, and you could easily knock of Khisanth without even knowing it.
Originally posted by Platinumwarlock
Couple those with some nice stealth tactics, and you could easily knock of Khisanth without even knowing it.
As I mentioned earlier, my playtests of my DL1 conversion for 3rd edition usually ended up with the heroes killing Onyx with the staff in under 3 rounds, often without any fatalities. Several sessions did end up with one or more heroes dead from dragonbreath, but the fighter characters can usually take at least a couple of hits from her natural weapons.
Cheers,
Cam