Post/Author/DateTime	Post
kartax 06-27-04, 08:17 PM	My second session of Dming and here are my "noob questions": 1. When in the monster desciption is written i.e. 2 claws, tail, bite...does that mean that it can use ALL those attacks in one turn? Skeletons with 2 claws can roll two attacks, right? 2. Flight. Low level adventurers - how to deal with a baby dragon or any monster with flight? They can just attack with projectile weapons or spells i suppose? Assuming that a flying creature isnt so dumb and hovers in front of that longbow - is there any movement that you have to calculate in? If the dragon does a dive attack, will he dive attack and fly away or is it reachable for melee weapons after the initial attack? 3. Lets say i have 2 players only and no thief - how to deal with traps that are near lethal (falling to a pit where a monster waits at the bottom)? 4. Scenario: A hole with a rope. Adventurers are on top, ready to climb down. On the bottom waiting in rubble two rats. - To climb down the adventurers have to put shield and sword away. So when they hop down at the bottom and are surprised, the will have to take the shield and sword back out of the backpack? I mean being flatfooted and wasting time for reovering weapons is lethal for level 1 players, right? - Can they hold a torch in their hands climbing? 5. They are in the middle of a dungeon and want to go to town. Do i say "Ok, you walked 2 days and now you are back in town....". Thats stupid. Like an instand town teleport. Unrealistic. Any other way? 6. Death - having players who really dont want to start again, is it ok to "replay" a fight where one of the chars died...in the beginning at least where DM and players are still green? 7. How to adjust "sunless citadel" to 2 chars? Lower the CR or have them play one, two of those "mini adventures" by wizards to level before starting with SC? 8. Joking players. My players are cracking jokes while "roleplaying" or burst out laughing. Or tend, while camping, instead of saying "i remove my armor..." etc, to say "the usual as every night". What to do? Rewards wont work i guess... Sounds like a terrible beginning? Well we have the motivation at least...we just need a hint or two to get our noses bloody :)
DrMorganes 06-27-04, 09:15 PM	1. When in the monster desciption is written i.e. 2 claws, tail, bite...does that mean that it can use ALL those attacks in one turn? Skeletons with 2 claws can roll two attacks, right? >>If the critter in question is using the Full Attack action, yes. Partial actions (such as during a surprise round) equal a single attack. 2. Flight. Low level adventurers - how to deal with a baby dragon or any monster with flight? They can just attack with projectile weapons or spells i suppose? Assuming that a flying creature isnt so dumb and hovers in front of that longbow - is there any movement that you have to calculate in? If the dragon does a dive attack, will he dive attack and fly away or is it reachable for melee weapons after the initial attack? >>This is one of the things which makes dragons and other flying creatures such a pain. They're out of normal melee range most of the time, so only ranged weapons, ranged spells, or (occasionally) reach weapons need apply. During a dive or flyby situation, the creature essentially moves, attacks, then moves on the same action. Unless a PC readies an action (which requires the player stating something along the lines of "I ready an action to attack on the next flyby"), attacks with normal melee weapons are pretty much out of the question. 3. Lets say i have 2 players only and no thief - how to deal with traps that are near lethal (falling to a pit where a monster waits at the bottom)? >>Welcome to the wonderful world of traps :D There's a reason people invest the coin in implementing them... All characters get Spot checks to detect the trap. Since Spot is a cross-class skill for most classes, their chances to notice the trap before stumbling into it will potentially be somewhat less than a thief. 4. Scenario: A hole with a rope. Adventurers are on top, ready to climb down. On the bottom waiting in rubble two rats. - To climb down the adventurers have to put shield and sword away. So when they hop down at the bottom and are surprised, the will have to take the shield and sword back out of the backpack? I mean being flatfooted and wasting time for reovering weapons is lethal for level 1 players, right? >>Depends on the size of the items in question. I'd allow the player to keep a buckler equipped with no penalty, or a small shield with a -2 to the Climb check. Alternately they could hold a light weapon on the way down with a -2 to the Climb check. NOT both, however. Keep in mind as well that one typically keeps weapons in a sheath on a belt. Larger shields may be slung across the back. The Quick Draw feat would allow an instant re-equip. Without it, re-equipping is a move-equivalent action. Don't forget to allow Spot checks to notice the rats... - Can they hold a torch in their hands climbing? >>See above. Keep in mind that this is my opinion. I'm not sure if there is an existing rule to cover it. 5. They are in the middle of a dungeon and want to go to town. Do i say "Ok, you walked 2 days and now you are back in town....". Thats stupid. Like an instand town teleport. Unrealistic. Any other way? >>Depends on how you want to handle things. If the dungeon is clear of potential encounters, there is nothing wrong with a little cut-scene action. You'll notice that it happens in novels and movies all the time. It's not that the party gets an instant teleport - quite the opposite, really. Time still passes, two days' rations are consumed, two days' worth of healing may take place, etc. You're simply glossing over the boring bits where nothing happens. 6. Death - having players who really dont want to start again, is it ok to "replay" a fight where one of the chars died...in the beginning at least where DM and players are still green? >>I wouldn't. Death has to be a real possibility or the dramatic tension is lost. Consider your favorite computer RPG: If you can save your game before an encounter, you pull out all the stops and see what happens because you know you can simply restore and replay if things go badly for you. In a tabletop game, this sort of "do over" harms suspension of disbelief and encourages meta-game thinking. Both are bad. If you're concerned about death this early, better to fudge a roll or two and let the PCs barely overcome. One or more may be down and dying, but not dead yet ;) 7. How to adjust "sunless citadel" to 2 chars? Lower the CR or have them play one, two of those "mini adventures" by wizards to level before starting with SC? >>You'll either need to adjust the CR of each encounter by half or more, level up before hand, or toss in an NPC or two to round out the party. This last option has a whole other range of issues to go with it, so I'd recommend one of the first two. 8. Joking players. My players are cracking jokes while "roleplaying" or burst out laughing. Or tend, while camping, instead of saying "i remove my armor..." etc, to say "the usual as every night". What to do? Rewards wont work i guess... >>A certain amount of "we make the usual preparations" is OK, as long as the players have a written definition of the usual preparations. Enforcing the written bit helps eliminate arguments should you spring a surprise nighttime encounter on them - which you should occasionally to keep them on their toes. One of the best ways to handle out of character chatter is to simply rule that everything the players say is what their characters say. You then have the NPCs react accordingly. At best, the characters will quickly earn a reputation for being insane. At worst, they're likely to insult a powerful NPC and find themselves imprisoned or worse. Sounds like a terrible beginning? Well we have the motivation at least...we just need a hint or two to get our noses bloody >>Sounds good so far!
GSHamster 06-27-04, 09:19 PM	1. Yes. However, they have to use the "Full Attack" action, which is a full round action, and thus can't move (except for 5'). If the monster moves more than 5', it can only use one attack (its primary attack). The description should list the attack bonus for each of the different attacks. 2. Generally, flight attacks are more or less the same as regular movement (creature needs to move next to opponent and then attacks). If the creature has a Fly-By attack, the opponent needs to "ready a melee attack" for when the creature reaches him. If he doesn't ready the melee attack, the creature will probably hit him and then fly out of range. 3. Don't use these traps, or make them less lethal. (i.e. perhaps there is no monster at the bottom of the pit). 4a. It's a move-equivalent action to draw the sword (and another to ready the shield). So a character can still draw the sword and make one attack in the same round (but doesn't get the benefit of the shield until he readies it). What would probably happen is this: a. Character should get some kind of check (Spot or Listen) to notice rats. b. Character reaches bottom. c. If Character didn't notice rats, you have a surprise round: Rats attack flat-footed character with no shield bonus. d. Both sides roll initiative e. If rats win, they attack attack flat-footed character with no shield bonus. f. Character can: i) ready sword and attack rat; OR ii) ready sword and shield. So in the worst case scenario (fail Spot/Listen check and initiative), the rats get 2 flatfooted attacks. This isn't that bad. 4b. If the characters just rappel down the side, they could probably hold a torch. It would be much harder climbing up.
Mythmere 06-27-04, 09:23 PM	Dr. Morganes, that's an excellent post. I'd add - read the descriptions of monster feats in the monster manual that have to do with flying, and you'll get a quick idea of what goes on when a flying creature swoops in to attack. Normally they're hanging for a moment (1 round) until they take another move to rise up again. The fly by attack allows them to swoop, attack, and rise again. A certain amount of kidding around at the table is normal. You've got to decide what's an acceptable level, but as long as the players settle in and concentrate when there's something happening game-wise and only interrupt you occasionally with a wisecrack, it's at a good level.
Jell_Moo 06-27-04, 09:30 PM	Originally posted by kartax My second session of Dming and here are my "noob questions": 1. When in the monster desciption is written i.e. 2 claws, tail, bite...does that mean that it can use ALL those attacks in one turn? Skeletons with 2 claws can roll two attacks, right? In the Monster Manual there are two entries. The first says 'Attack' and will list 1 Attack. The second one says 'Full Attack' and usually will include a few entries. If the monster moves more than 5 feet, or does something fairly time consuming it gets 1 attack using the bonus and damage listed under 'Attack' If the monster is adjacent to a party member or within 5 fett of a party member is can attack multiple times. It uses the attack bonus and damage for each attack listed under 'Full Attack'. 2. Flight. Low level adventurers - how to deal with a baby dragon or any monster with flight? They can just attack with projectile weapons or spells i suppose? Assuming that a flying creature isnt so dumb and hovers in front of that longbow - is there any movement that you have to calculate in? If the dragon does a dive attack, will he dive attack and fly away or is it reachable for melee weapons after the initial attack? Flying enemies are always a challenge for a low level party. Missile weapons, spells and other projectiles are pretty much the only ways to attack a flying opponent. Most flying creatures cannot simply hover in the air, they must make continual moves. That part depends on the creature. If a flying creature is diving towards the party, a player could always use a Delay action to attack a flying creature as it moves by. Dragons are particularly nasty because of their breath weapon. They never actually have to get all that close to the party as they can stay a good distance away, breathe, wait until it recharges, and then do it again. At this point the intelligent party runs and finds cover. 3. Lets say i have 2 players only and no thief - how to deal with traps that are near lethal (falling to a pit where a monster waits at the bottom)? A few solutions. 1) Assign a Rogue NPC. 2) Have one of the players take 1 level of Rogue and then keep taking ranks in Search and Disable Device. 3) DOn't use very lethal traps. 4. Scenario: A hole with a rope. Adventurers are on top, ready to climb down. On the bottom waiting in rubble two rats. - To climb down the adventurers have to put shield and sword away. So when they hop down at the bottom and are surprised, the will have to take the shield and sword back out of the backpack? I mean being flatfooted and wasting time for reovering weapons is lethal for level 1 players, right? - Can they hold a torch in their hands climbing? What I would do is allow the player to climb down with a weapon in his hand if he wants to, but assign a penalty to the Climb check, maybe a -5 or something. If he wanted to, allow him to go down with a dagger in his mouth and make the penalty only -1. Otherwise they would have to re-equip themselves at the bottom. Ordinarily it would be a move action to draw a weapon. Hoever, if they have the Quick Draw feat, they could take out a weapon immediately. 5. They are in the middle of a dungeon and want to go to town. Do i say "Ok, you walked 2 days and now you are back in town....". Thats stupid. Like an instand town teleport. Unrealistic. Any other way? That depends. It's always possible for the DM to fast forward the game a little. If you want you can simply say that nothing eventful happened on the way back to town, and 2 days have passed. Learning when or when not to do this will come with experience. Alternately, you could always play it out. Roll for random encounters, use a planned one, that sort of thing. If you already know that absolutely nothing will happen along the way, it's probably better to simply fast forward a bit rather than play through 2 days of travelling with no remarkable events. 6. Death - having players who really dont want to start again, is it ok to "replay" a fight where one of the chars died...in the beginning at least where DM and players are still green? I personally wouldn't. If you think it may happen in the fight, and you *really* don't want to take out a player, you could fudge a roll. Replaying a fight altogether is a bad idea for continuity. If by some horrible mishap a player does die, you can always include s plot twist that brings him back to life. Learning how to turn a bad situation into a good plot device is the sign of good DMing. 7. How to adjust "sunless citadel" to 2 chars? Lower the CR or have them play one, two of those "mini adventures" by wizards to level before starting with SC? A little tricky. I'm not totally familiar with the module, so I can't say for sure. I would simply tone down the encounters by 25% or so. If the BBEG has 20 hit points, he now has 15. If there are 4 goblins to fight, there are now 3. Keep the XP the same as the module says, but lower the treasure by about 25% as well. These are just rough guidelines. The absolute best way to do this is to readjust the challenges based on the party CR. That is covered in the DMG. 8. Joking players. My players are cracking jokes while "roleplaying" or burst out laughing. Or tend, while camping, instead of saying "i remove my armor..." etc, to say "the usual as every night". What to do? Rewards wont work i guess... I play exactly the same way as they do. I like to crack jokes, and play a little less serious. To me that's a lot of the fun. Maybe they think the same way. You can't really force them to play the game the way you want them to. The reason everybody plays D&D is to have fun, and if that's how they have fun, you shouldn't try to force them to do otherwise.
roguebfl 06-27-04, 09:42 PM	Originally posted by kartax 5. They are in the middle of a dungeon and want to go to town. Do i say "Ok, you walked 2 days and now you are back in town....". Thats stupid. Like an instand town teleport. Unrealistic. Any other way? 6. Death - having players who really dont want to start again, is it ok to "replay" a fight where one of the chars died...in the beginning at least where DM and players are still green? sound like you and.or your players are coming from a CRPG back group, IF you wish to keep that feel there is a D20 Diablo II Book out there with rouse for 'Save game' 'town portal'
Bloodtide_the_Red 06-27-04, 10:07 PM	........So when they hop down at the bottom and are surprised, the will have to take the shield and sword back out of the backpack? I mean being flatfooted and wasting time for reovering weapons is lethal for level 1 players, right? - Can they hold a torch in their hands climbing? Burried in the PH is this rule.....'you can draw a weapon or ready a sheild, if you have a BaB of +1 or more, and combine this action with a regular move. BT
Sarta 06-28-04, 04:46 AM	Originally posted by Bloodtide_the_Red Burried in the PH is this rule.....'you can draw a weapon or ready a sheild, if you have a BaB of +1 or more, and combine this action with a regular move. This means that a character experienced with fighting (one with +1 BAB) can draw their sword while actually moving (not performing any of the other move equivalent actions). If in that situation with my cleric, my typical response is to draw my shield and go on total defense until next round when I can draw my weapon and attack. In this way, I get an extra +4 to AC on the first round and can attack next round (which is significantly better than drawing both weapon and shield and not being able to attack until the next round). Sarta
kartax 06-28-04, 04:56 AM	First: Thank you so much for the help. This forum and the users are a treasure! Another question: In official modules there is a wealth of information for the DM like in a cave where a dead Umberhulk lies is written for the DM: "The old Umberhulk laying, here for many days, has been slain by a younger Umberhulk somewhere deeper because he wanted to steal some food....the older one tried over and over to steal some food from the younger one being not powerful anymore..." etc. It adds very much to the atmosphere...but for me as DM only, since i cant tell this to the players. I am sure that a skill exists (wilderness lore???) with which they can reveal such information, but most of the time they will miss MUCH of the great details. Thats a pity i think! Or they miss secret doors with whole subplots...i nearly die when this happens since they miss so much and dont know it... The other one is...i read "City of the spider queen" and since i am not ready for this monster i was overwhelmed...how many times do you have to read through the whole adventure to be nearly ready for all of this? So many small info and sideplots, extra rules and storylines to pay attention to...how do you handle that??? Study it for a months before playing or just "jump in"?
MinusInnocence 06-28-04, 05:38 AM	You can award Wilderness Lore (called Survival in 3.5) checks to allow players to discern what happened to a particular creature by examining its corpse. For humanoid creatures you might consider substituting Heal for Survival, or allowing a +2 bonus to Survival checks if the player has 5 ranks in the other skill. Good thinking! As for players missing out on some great plot development because they didn't go a certain way... well, when you become more experienced you will learn to adjust your campaign notes to allow them to come across that same encounter later on, simply in a different light. Let's say you had a villain in one adventure and he was very well developed - a complete history with full details about his friends, foes, family life, etc. The players win initiative and ambush him, killing him in a single round: before he can share all of this information! Well, no need to waste all of your hard work. If you really want to make the contribution to the campaign, you can rewrite a little of it and include it somewhere else in the game world - maybe the characters find a letter revealing the same information, or maybe another NPC's background should change to reflect the other information. On the topic of superadventures: there were several like City of the Spider Queen and Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil for 2E, too. What comes to mind most readily are Night Below and Return to the Tomb of Horrors. To effectively run these mini-campaigns (Night Below was designed to take characters from 1st to 16th level), you should spend a few months working your way through the material... familiarizing yourself with the bits you enjoy and giving yourself enough time to swap in extra stuff for the things you hate about the quest. A lot of modules like this come with special handouts you can give to the players: like an authentic-looking copy of one of the maps only the DM would usually see, albeit obviously drawn by hand and so somewhat inaccurate. You have to be able to pinpoint where to give these clues, because their misuse can really make or break a campaign. A lot of the questions you asked had to do with simple rules clarifications - you'll learn more about that as you go along. But more importantly, you'll learn more about the non-rules issues: particularly things like when to gloss over unimportant details between adventures. You can read the core books cover to cover eight times each, but there is just no substitute for experience. Good luck, and welcome to the world behind the Screen.
roguebfl 06-28-04, 05:42 AM	Originally posted by kartax but for me as DM only, since i cant tell this to the players. I am sure that a skill exists (wilderness lore???) with which they can reveal such information, but most of the time they will miss MUCH of the great details. Thats a pity i think! Well in 3.0 its Wildernes lore, but 3.5 its Survivle will give thats type of stuff ESP if they also have the Track Feat. BUT ther are some Dividation spells that will give that too. Or they miss secret doors with whole subplots...i nearly die when this happens since they miss so much and dont know it... No Elves in the Party? you can alswas 'fudge' the dice rolls so the might get hints to there existance 8) how many times do you have to read through the whole adventure to be nearly ready for all of this? I recomend 3 times, and the last time being no more the 24 hours before you play 8)
Sarta 06-28-04, 08:17 AM	Actually, even more appropriate than survival would be knowledge dungeoneering should any of your party members have that skill. In terms of the details, don't sweat it that your party may not be privy to this level of detail. However, definitely do absorb the stuff that is given to you for use in future adventures you write. Details like where creatures in dungeons find food and water are good to think about when writing an adventure so that things seem more believable. With regard to the secret doors, it can be frustrating when the players miss something cool, but that can happen. You just have to pretend it doesn't exist and move on. For a dungeon like CotSQ, you should read it through once from start to finish. Then you should reread the entire section that they will be dealing with -- probably a few times so that you understand it. You want to feel comfortable with being able to explain what they are seeing and with the tactics the npc's will take so that your side of the fights can be resolved quickly. I find it really helps to copy the stats down onto 4 X 6 cards so that I can quickly access them (and just the process of copying them gives me more time to consider their capabilities and possible tactics). Sarta
TieraStarr 06-28-04, 08:26 AM	kartax: 7. How to adjust "sunless citadel" to 2 chars? Lower the CR or have them play one, two of those "mini adventures" by wizards to level before starting with SC?I would simply allow them to start at level 2. No need to actually play out mini-adventures to get them there. This also helps them survive a bit easier also, which is one of your other concerns. If you do this there are a few options for starting funds for these characters: As per the DMG 900gp, but no more than half (450gp) can be spent on any one item. Treasure Give standard (1st level) starting funds, plus three treasure rolls for each level completed (ie three CR 1 rolls for a first level character). Players should choose before rolling whether they will share their treasure rolls or not. Note: three CR1 treasure rolls will result in approximately 67gp in coin, 14gp in gems, 55gp in art, a 56% chance of at least one item of equipment, and a 14% chance of at least one minor magic item. Poor Give (1st level) starting funds for each level. Thus a 2nd level cleric will get 10d4 x 10gp, and a Rog1/Rgr1 will get 11d4 x 10gp.
PSchirf 06-28-04, 09:03 AM	On #7, I'd recommend the mini-adventure route to get the characters (and players) more experience. In fact, I sprinkle small encounters into the game whereever possible. They can really add to the feel of the game.
FriendoftheDork 06-28-04, 09:17 AM	one little thing, you don't get a spot check to notice traps. if you search for traps, only rogues can find a trap with a DC higher than 20. Still, tough characters usually survives traps at their own CR (see DMG). If you can't get more players there are other options. The PCs can play 2 characters each (not easy to do well), or you could allow gestalt characters, multiclass with all the benefits and none of the disadvantages (as in unearthed arcana). Thus you get best of HP, skill points and base attack bonus and saves. Two such charactes should be able to survive sunless citadel. Just remember that the PCs will advance in levels much more quickly yet still not be as versatile as a group of 4 (yes they can do it all, but not at the same time!)