About to Run Cormyr(TOW) [Archive] - Wizards Community

About to Run Cormyr(TOW) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Alurvelve
08-04-07, 04:38 PM I am about to start my group on this adventure and would like to hear people's comments on it and advise. I do not know what characters they will make yet (will be bringing it up to them tonight). I have 3 people in group and will most likely have them all make 1 character. Knowing them I'll get some type of Ftr from one, scout/ranger/rogue type from another, and a sor from the 3rd one. Of course they could surprise me and do something differant but I doubt it.

My main question atm is will 3 4th level characters be ok for this adventure, or should I make a pc to tag along with them? O would it be better to allow them to start the adventure at 5th level?
Mordayn
08-06-07, 08:57 AM I'm almost finished with the adventure now and have made a few observations during play.

First of all, the adventure is very combat heavy and very deadly, if you have only three players i'd let them start at level 5 and also recommend that you bring along an npc healer to aid with the combat, a bard or cleric would fill the bill.

After the first part of the adventure the pc's have little chance of resupplying and sell their loot, so letting the pc's have a heward's handy haversack or bag of holding would be nice, so that they can carry all the treasures they find back to civilization at the end of the adventure.

I ran this adventure with four 4th level characters, and during the first part one of the characters were killed. later on his new character was killed as well, but he got raised with a scroll they found during the adventure. There has been many near tpk's during this adventure and my player's are hardcore veterans and experts at powerplay.

The problem lies in the constant escalating encounters, many though combats in row requires a lot of healing to pull through.
(Pets and allied npc's may help to offset the lethality a bit.)

The adventure isn't so much fun for social based characters (except for during the first part), and except for sneaking around there isn't much to do for a rogue either since many of the monsters have natural concealment abilities or are otherwise immune to sneak attack. Fighter types and spellcasters will be most useful to the adventure, and at least one healer type is a must. Preferably a fully fledged good aligned cleric. Also any character with the ability to cast curing spells should be given a wand of cure light wounds or better. My pc's found that the Healing belt from the magic item compendium was a nice lifesaver to have (all but one character has one).
Alurvelve
08-07-07, 01:12 AM Ok a question on our characters then. For stats did they use generic point buy, or roll?

My group hates point buy and prefers to roll. We usually roll 4d6 dropping one die of your choice 6 times to get thier stats.
MarkusTay63
08-07-07, 02:09 AM DMPCs are tough to do right, so you might be better off having a 4th-5th lev Clr as a hireling tagging along, and letting one of the players control him.

I have my players roll 3d6 seven times, and keep the best two from each roll, then add six, and finally throw out the worst roll.

That gives you an average stat around 14-15, but I like my PCs tough - they are HEROES after all.

And besides, I'm very sadistic so they need all the help they can get. ;)
Alurvelve
08-07-07, 04:50 AM Yeah when I DM a PC it is always a cleric seeing as none of them ever play one. Depending on what classes they pick I guess is if I make a dmpc to tag along with them or jsut bump them a level.

So how is the adventure so far? Do you find you players being challenged and does the story keep them interested or are you haveing to railroad them into it.
Mordayn
08-07-07, 06:50 AM My players rolled 4d6 and dropped the lowest, they were allowed to do this twice and choose which line to keep, so they have very good stats.

I agree that any npc you choose to tag along with the party shouldn't be played as a dmpc, for my part I have no prblem running an npc without stealing to much of the spotlight, even if he's a member of the group, but you could let a pc run two characters.
Alurvelve
08-07-07, 02:50 PM Every time I end up letting one of them run a pc one of the other characters basically becomes a shadow, no thought love or care into it. So I keep them to haveing one so they value them more.
Alurvelve
08-13-07, 03:06 AM In this adventure or the Shadowdale one does magic get messed with any? Like will they at some point not have access to the weave to casts spells? I'm asking this because I have a girl who always plays a Sor, and I want to aviod a headache if I can.

I do not plan to start them on this until the 3rd part of this adventure is out s that I can read through all 3 of them and see how the story unfolds.
Mordayn
08-16-07, 08:40 AM Warning slight SPOILERS:

Yes the weave gets messed up. Not so much in Cormyr, but in Shadowdale there is lots of stuff happening to the weave. Luckily they have written in a way for the pc's to circumvent this hazard if they play their cards right.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Alurvelve 08-04-07, 04:38 PM	I am about to start my group on this adventure and would like to hear people's comments on it and advise. I do not know what characters they will make yet (will be bringing it up to them tonight). I have 3 people in group and will most likely have them all make 1 character. Knowing them I'll get some type of Ftr from one, scout/ranger/rogue type from another, and a sor from the 3rd one. Of course they could surprise me and do something differant but I doubt it. My main question atm is will 3 4th level characters be ok for this adventure, or should I make a pc to tag along with them? O would it be better to allow them to start the adventure at 5th level?
Mordayn 08-06-07, 08:57 AM	I'm almost finished with the adventure now and have made a few observations during play. First of all, the adventure is very combat heavy and very deadly, if you have only three players i'd let them start at level 5 and also recommend that you bring along an npc healer to aid with the combat, a bard or cleric would fill the bill. After the first part of the adventure the pc's have little chance of resupplying and sell their loot, so letting the pc's have a heward's handy haversack or bag of holding would be nice, so that they can carry all the treasures they find back to civilization at the end of the adventure. I ran this adventure with four 4th level characters, and during the first part one of the characters were killed. later on his new character was killed as well, but he got raised with a scroll they found during the adventure. There has been many near tpk's during this adventure and my player's are hardcore veterans and experts at powerplay. The problem lies in the constant escalating encounters, many though combats in row requires a lot of healing to pull through. (Pets and allied npc's may help to offset the lethality a bit.) The adventure isn't so much fun for social based characters (except for during the first part), and except for sneaking around there isn't much to do for a rogue either since many of the monsters have natural concealment abilities or are otherwise immune to sneak attack. Fighter types and spellcasters will be most useful to the adventure, and at least one healer type is a must. Preferably a fully fledged good aligned cleric. Also any character with the ability to cast curing spells should be given a wand of cure light wounds or better. My pc's found that the Healing belt from the magic item compendium was a nice lifesaver to have (all but one character has one).
Alurvelve 08-07-07, 01:12 AM	Ok a question on our characters then. For stats did they use generic point buy, or roll? My group hates point buy and prefers to roll. We usually roll 4d6 dropping one die of your choice 6 times to get thier stats.
MarkusTay63 08-07-07, 02:09 AM	DMPCs are tough to do right, so you might be better off having a 4th-5th lev Clr as a hireling tagging along, and letting one of the players control him. I have my players roll 3d6 seven times, and keep the best two from each roll, then add six, and finally throw out the worst roll. That gives you an average stat around 14-15, but I like my PCs tough - they are HEROES after all. And besides, I'm very sadistic so they need all the help they can get. ;)
Alurvelve 08-07-07, 04:50 AM	Yeah when I DM a PC it is always a cleric seeing as none of them ever play one. Depending on what classes they pick I guess is if I make a dmpc to tag along with them or jsut bump them a level. So how is the adventure so far? Do you find you players being challenged and does the story keep them interested or are you haveing to railroad them into it.
Mordayn 08-07-07, 06:50 AM	My players rolled 4d6 and dropped the lowest, they were allowed to do this twice and choose which line to keep, so they have very good stats. I agree that any npc you choose to tag along with the party shouldn't be played as a dmpc, for my part I have no prblem running an npc without stealing to much of the spotlight, even if he's a member of the group, but you could let a pc run two characters.
Alurvelve 08-07-07, 02:50 PM	Every time I end up letting one of them run a pc one of the other characters basically becomes a shadow, no thought love or care into it. So I keep them to haveing one so they value them more.
Alurvelve 08-13-07, 03:06 AM	In this adventure or the Shadowdale one does magic get messed with any? Like will they at some point not have access to the weave to casts spells? I'm asking this because I have a girl who always plays a Sor, and I want to aviod a headache if I can. I do not plan to start them on this until the 3rd part of this adventure is out s that I can read through all 3 of them and see how the story unfolds.
Mordayn 08-16-07, 08:40 AM	Warning slight SPOILERS: Yes the weave gets messed up. Not so much in Cormyr, but in Shadowdale there is lots of stuff happening to the weave. Luckily they have written in a way for the pc's to circumvent this hazard if they play their cards right.