Post/Author/DateTime	Post
dirty_rez 10-22-04, 01:43 PM	can anyone think of any artificer (or cleric, i suppose), specific challenges? i have a small group, and find that one of the characters seems to always stay in the background. i am hoping for just one point in my next session to challenge him specifically. (so far, one of the other characters has been getting alot of glory due to his stealth abilities). he's a human gestalt cleric/artificer 4th level. for the life of me i can't think of any specific (abandoned temple/dungeon.. no people.. a few monsters.. but no sentients still alive) challenges that only he could really overcome. any ideas? something to do with crafting or use magic device? something fun, and interesting?
The White Sorcerer 10-22-04, 01:49 PM	The fiction from the Dragonshard article "And so it begins..." might give you some ideas. The artificer paid no attention. Her eyes were focused on the eldritch machine before her. She could feel negative energy rising from the tangled mass of black steel, as the power of the Endless Night slowly filled the Khyber dragonshards. She had to detach the crystals from the sinister artifact but could she do it without releasing a lethal burst of dark power?
Argonel 10-22-04, 01:54 PM	A magic door where a specific magic tablet is required to open it. The tablet is nearby, but neglect and time have broken it. The artificer is able to use craft wonderous item to repair the broken item at a cost of 1/2 the materials and XP originally required. I would allow them to find appropriate materials nearby and set the original value at about 500 GP (creation cost 250GP, 10XP). This would make the repair cost 125 GP and 5 XP and the XP cost could be paid out of the craft reserve. How does that strike you as a challenge that will let the artificer shine.
Gurv 10-22-04, 02:01 PM	Its hard at low level to come up with a challenge that only a single member of the party can deal with. Usually, the challenges at that level are designed so that there are many ways to deal with them, lest the party fail due to one member's missed check. There is always specialized knowledge. If the arificer has a Knowledge skill that no one else has, you can require that kind of check in order for the party to move on. For example, a door that can only be opened with a Knowledge (engineering) check. Use Magic Device. I assume he is good at that, no? Make challenges, like the door above, open only to creatures of a particular race. Create a challenge that can only be overcome with a particular spell, one that the rest of the party doesn't have. Then the artificer can use his abilities to emulate that spell, either into a scroll or a Spell Storing Item. Last but not least, go over the infusion list and create challenges that can be overcome only by a particular one. One adventure I ran had the players completely trapped in a room (hurt, with undead amassing on the other side of the door). The room was a shrine containing a magical fountain that spewed fire in a awesome display, as well as other decorative features. The group's artificer used Energy Alteration on it, changing it so that it produced acid. It wasn't long before the fountain destroyed itself and a huge hole into the basement was used to escape by the desperate heroes.
dirty_rez 10-22-04, 02:39 PM	thanks guys, i like the acid fountain.. very cool...