A rogue, a fighter, and a bard... [Archive] - Wizards Community

A rogue, a fighter, and a bard... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Haml337
02-18-06, 12:34 PM Now, I have a general plotline set out for the next couple of sessions. It even takes place in a reasonable-sized city. My worry is that said adventures will become excessively lethal without standard access to magical healing.

All three are at first level. No one has the funds to purchase potions, let alone drop coins in the box of the local temple.

(There IS no local temple in this town, actually. When the village opted to have a necromancer defend the city's borders with those who had already died in combat... Churches got mad and left the city in protest. Clerics found are only passing through, and don't stay long at all if they know the city's rep.)

The party had a monk, but for reasons in real life, he had to drop from the game. I'm wondering if I should keep said monk on as an NPC party member or just "retire" said character so I, as a DM, don't have to deal with it...
Daergal_the_Black
02-18-06, 01:08 PM Well, the bard potentially has access to some healing spells. Perhaps you need to drop a Wand of Cure Light Wounds into the treasure at some early point, as the bard can use that freely (without a UMD check, because CLW is on his spell list). Just take the first encounter that has more than 750 gp worth of loot and substitute the wand in place of that much of it.

Alternately, create a new encounter that has that as the treasure. If the character's are first level, then such an encounter might be a tough one (as 750 gold wand is more than 25% of the wealth you'd expect te whole party to gain by 2nd level), but in the end the game is about having fun...and dying because no one wanted to be a cleric is not much fun.

You can do the same with healing potions, of course, and probably squeeze those in more often given how inexpensive they are, but it may seem odd is dozens of healing positions pop up in various hoards, whereas the one wand will likely serve your needs for a while.

Alternately, and rather than bringing the monk back, create an NPC cleric to travel with the group.
bassist33333
02-18-06, 01:15 PM Well, it's ultimately your decision. I think a Rogue, a Fighter, and a Bard cover all of what you really need. You have a sneaky guy/trap disarmer, a frontline fighter, and a spellcaster, so a Monk wouldn't be entirely necessary. But, like I said, whatever you feel like doing. If you do choose to make it an NPC, don't make it like you are another PC, though. You have to be careful with that. If the DM becomes a PC and just beefs up his uber-PC, it makes it no fun for the rest of the group who has to sit back and watch their DM take out his own monsters.
Haml337
02-18-06, 01:47 PM The problem is: I don't know what I feel like doing.

I'm trying my best to work with RAW... and encounters and traps and everything else with a number, stat or DC seems to be balanced towards having something to band aid those times when you just don't quite make the DC.

It's very possible there might be a CLW wand out there, if the PCs play their cards right. Like bribing the "BBEG" to let him continue his business, since it honestly benefits the town, he gets left alone, they get a wand he has lying around from his adventuring days. Seems plausible.

Any salves/bandages/kits that might heal the same or speed up healing time? Something alchemical? No, it's not potion of instant HP regen... But it might be more available to PCs as an option.

I think half my problem is I'm used to games that require extended healing times as part of the story. Even running at half-HP doesn't bother me as a player. Call of Cthulhu and Shadowrun are staple games for me. I'm trying to wrok around that mindset for D&D, to give my players a fair shake... But I came here for advice, because I fear my apathy to leathality could hurt my PCs.
Milandros
02-18-06, 04:26 PM I had a similar issue in the first session of my current campaign. One of the PCs intended to multiclass as a cleric from the basic character concept, but until she gained here second level the party would be without magical healing.

I created a minor encounter that the PCs easily handled and had two potions of Cure Light Wounds as part of the loot. This gave the PCs the emergency buffer they needed in case of near disaster. After that, they just had to be careful. I added an additional potion or two into a later treasure.

A wand of CLW is quite a powerful item, and very valuable at low level. A couple of otions can be used by any PC, are expendable, and not so valuable.
Mandarbgrim
02-18-06, 04:33 PM The Wand doesn't have to be completely full of charges. You can also make it a Wand of Lesser Vigor or similiar such..which makes it better for between combat healing, but less useful during combat. Scrolls also work. Or an NPC cleric. Or you could allow the players to play Gestault characters so that one of them can pick up a full divine class.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Haml337 02-18-06, 12:34 PM	Now, I have a general plotline set out for the next couple of sessions. It even takes place in a reasonable-sized city. My worry is that said adventures will become excessively lethal without standard access to magical healing. All three are at first level. No one has the funds to purchase potions, let alone drop coins in the box of the local temple. (There IS no local temple in this town, actually. When the village opted to have a necromancer defend the city's borders with those who had already died in combat... Churches got mad and left the city in protest. Clerics found are only passing through, and don't stay long at all if they know the city's rep.) The party had a monk, but for reasons in real life, he had to drop from the game. I'm wondering if I should keep said monk on as an NPC party member or just "retire" said character so I, as a DM, don't have to deal with it...
Daergal_the_Black 02-18-06, 01:08 PM	Well, the bard potentially has access to some healing spells. Perhaps you need to drop a Wand of Cure Light Wounds into the treasure at some early point, as the bard can use that freely (without a UMD check, because CLW is on his spell list). Just take the first encounter that has more than 750 gp worth of loot and substitute the wand in place of that much of it. Alternately, create a new encounter that has that as the treasure. If the character's are first level, then such an encounter might be a tough one (as 750 gold wand is more than 25% of the wealth you'd expect te whole party to gain by 2nd level), but in the end the game is about having fun...and dying because no one wanted to be a cleric is not much fun. You can do the same with healing potions, of course, and probably squeeze those in more often given how inexpensive they are, but it may seem odd is dozens of healing positions pop up in various hoards, whereas the one wand will likely serve your needs for a while. Alternately, and rather than bringing the monk back, create an NPC cleric to travel with the group.
bassist33333 02-18-06, 01:15 PM	Well, it's ultimately your decision. I think a Rogue, a Fighter, and a Bard cover all of what you really need. You have a sneaky guy/trap disarmer, a frontline fighter, and a spellcaster, so a Monk wouldn't be entirely necessary. But, like I said, whatever you feel like doing. If you do choose to make it an NPC, don't make it like you are another PC, though. You have to be careful with that. If the DM becomes a PC and just beefs up his uber-PC, it makes it no fun for the rest of the group who has to sit back and watch their DM take out his own monsters.
Haml337 02-18-06, 01:47 PM	The problem is: I don't know what I feel like doing. I'm trying my best to work with RAW... and encounters and traps and everything else with a number, stat or DC seems to be balanced towards having something to band aid those times when you just don't quite make the DC. It's very possible there might be a CLW wand out there, if the PCs play their cards right. Like bribing the "BBEG" to let him continue his business, since it honestly benefits the town, he gets left alone, they get a wand he has lying around from his adventuring days. Seems plausible. Any salves/bandages/kits that might heal the same or speed up healing time? Something alchemical? No, it's not potion of instant HP regen... But it might be more available to PCs as an option. I think half my problem is I'm used to games that require extended healing times as part of the story. Even running at half-HP doesn't bother me as a player. Call of Cthulhu and Shadowrun are staple games for me. I'm trying to wrok around that mindset for D&D, to give my players a fair shake... But I came here for advice, because I fear my apathy to leathality could hurt my PCs.
Milandros 02-18-06, 04:26 PM	I had a similar issue in the first session of my current campaign. One of the PCs intended to multiclass as a cleric from the basic character concept, but until she gained here second level the party would be without magical healing. I created a minor encounter that the PCs easily handled and had two potions of Cure Light Wounds as part of the loot. This gave the PCs the emergency buffer they needed in case of near disaster. After that, they just had to be careful. I added an additional potion or two into a later treasure. A wand of CLW is quite a powerful item, and very valuable at low level. A couple of otions can be used by any PC, are expendable, and not so valuable.
Mandarbgrim 02-18-06, 04:33 PM	The Wand doesn't have to be completely full of charges. You can also make it a Wand of Lesser Vigor or similiar such..which makes it better for between combat healing, but less useful during combat. Scrolls also work. Or an NPC cleric. Or you could allow the players to play Gestault characters so that one of them can pick up a full divine class.