Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 pukunui Mar 05, 2015 18:18:34	Greetings, my fellow DMs!   I'm starting a new campaign for my group, starting at 5th level. This is what my players have come up with:   1) Lightfoot halfling wild mage She is also a Chosen of Lathander, for what it's worth. She has the following magic items: a scroll of polymorph and a wand of magic missile   2) Lightfoot halfling fiendish warlock He is the brother of the wild mage. He made a pact with a fiend that disguised it self as a "giant crow", so his imp familiar keeps itself in "crow" (raven) form all the time to keep up the illusion. He has these magic items: a potion of mind reading and a metamorphic hat of disguise   3) Dragonborn totem barbarian He's got green dragon heritage, and his background is actually that of a soldier. When he rages, he's channeling his inner dragon. He has the following magic items: a potion of superior healing and a +1 guardian greatsword   4) Eladrin valor bard She is on the run from an unwanted arranged marriage. She has a potion of fire resistance   5) Half-elf arcane trickster She is a courtesan who dabbles in magic. She's decided she wants to do more with her life, though. She has the following magic items: a chime of opening with 6 uses remaining and a cloak of protection made by a djinn (it looks like it's made out of clouds).     Note: All of the PCs can see in the dark. The wild mage gained 60 ft. darkvision for being a Chosen of Lathander, while her brother the warlock has Voice of the Chain Master and can therefore see through his imp's eyes, gaining the benefit of its devil's sight. Since that would leave the dragonborn as the only one unable to see in the dark - and since I don't really get why dragonkin don't have darkvision - I decided that he did.     So, with all that in mind: If this was your group, what sort of challenges would you throw at them?     Thanks in advance!   Cheers, Jonathan
#2 Archon007 Mar 05, 2015 18:42:18	No idea. What is the campaign you are running? You'll never run a challenging fun encounter if you just put numbers together. What's the premise of everything? Why are the enemies doing what they are doing? What's their goal and approach?
#3 Arthull Mar 05, 2015 19:38:57	I'm new to Dming so not sure what kind of encounters I'd throw at them but I like tieing characters together . The fisrt sesion I'd get the players meeting and role playing that out , with maybe a big encounter at the end.The two halflings have thier ties so that would leave the others .   I'd start with the two halfling out of rations comeing into a town to resupply . Fill in some fluf about the sounds and smells they get when entering the town. There they'd run into the bard sing in the street( the Eladrin  bard)if she's a bard that would do that . If they dont come to the conclution that they should try to get the bard to join them , have one of the halflings notice a thief pick pocket the bard (sleight of hand the can the bard has set out for collceting money from the crowds) .   If the Wild mage goes to the temple of Lathander she notices a Half elf praying or there for some other reson and the wild mage get a strong feeling to go help the Half elf or sees signs that point to the half elf as important . "For a secound you see that the Half Elf has what looks like a halo over her head . As you blink and rub your eye its gone." This could happen some where else or as the wild mage says something about her god , she sees this.   The dragonborn is the hard one for me I'd just throw him in the old faveorite , siting in the tavern looking for work.   After the party has formed , mounted Orc/Goblin/Drow raiders start to ravage the town.       Be easyer if you talk to the players and ask them before hand what thier charaters would be doing in a town around ten in the afternoon or how thier day would go on a day they had nothing going on in a town. And come up with at lest two alterative ways to press them into wanting/needing to join the party.     none of this may aply if you guys have established the party has already been together for some time.
#4 pukunui Mar 05, 2015 19:41:17	Archon007 wrote:
#5 Arthull Mar 05, 2015 20:04:25	I'd go with heavy role playing and lots of skill checks. Like three part skill checks.    Arcane check  : you feel a strange pull in the magic web  Wisdom check : you can sence its comeing from the east  Constitution check : youre able to follow the strange flux to the basment of an old run down inn     As for combat I'd give at lest two clear ways (other than goin head first) of dealing with foes . Even if you think its a clear way to deal with the threat the players still might not see it .  I'd have to run the numbers and see what kind of chalanges to throw at them monster wise . I would think they would be fine with going head on with stuff but with out a cleric they wouls need down time after an encounter.
#6 pukunui Mar 05, 2015 20:13:29	Arthull wrote:
#7 Archon007 Mar 05, 2015 21:00:20	I think you are overthinking and maybe even overstepping you DM duties. I would suggest you write a story and then tell that story and not worry about what they are good at. More importantly, have a session zero and talk to the players about what kind of game you want to run and they want to play in. You will get 1,000 times better feedback from the players than anyone can give you on this forum.    Did the players make characters together or just randomly thrown together? What are they thinking with those characters in a party? How do they know each other? Why are they even adventuring together? All of this and so much more is answered in a Session Zero.    Iserith's Session 0
#8 Arthull Mar 05, 2015 21:15:14	If your runing the party through a cript or a goblin infested cave you do not want them seting up camp after every encounter . It bogs it down and dimenishes the ergency of thier ploy .     So yeah if you dont have a dedicated healer in the party , may want to throw weaker monsters at the party so they can go through two or three encounter without the party wanting to rest . Or give them strict dead lines to get things done or fail the mission .      Also throw a lot of detail in rooms , put some barrels in the room that they find are filled with oil when the check them . they could use them to slow and fall thier enemys when they pour it on the floor or roll at the enemy and blow it up with an eldritch blast . When doin this put more items in the room than one that will help them . That way its feels more like they came up with the idea than you handing it to them . They could even suprise you with useing some of the items you thought were useless to take down thier foes .     I've only DMed a few times but played for years . You may know all this I'm just throwing my two cents in.
#9 iserith Mar 05, 2015 21:21:46	What's the premise of the campaign? What sorts of adventures do you expect them to get up to? Any goals established for the characters?
#10 Hibiki54 Mar 05, 2015 21:42:46	It would be very difficult to believe that a Wild Mage is a Chosen of Lathander since a Wild Mage is inheriently chaotic in nature. Lathander is Neutral Good and while his dogma doesn't necessarily believe in complete order, he doesn't believe in bringing about random chaos. He would not choose someone like that to represent him and his dogma. And being a Chosen of Lathander, she would no approve of her brother's path in life, selling his soul to a fiend.
#11 pukunui Mar 06, 2015 3:28:57	Meh. Never mind. I don't think I'm articulating myself very well here.   Hibiki54 wrote:
#12 Barky Mar 06, 2015 4:09:40	Here's something you can try if you're not sure what type of campaign to run: find a published adventure or encounter that you think is cool, modify it to 5E rules/stats, and run that. See how the players react to it. Watch carefully for what interests them and what they find boring. See which type of encounters are cakewalks and which are really tough. Figure out which things trigger their role-playing.Then figure out your campaign.   You may get a burst of inspiration from those few sessions. I've found players can not only set the tone and direction of a campaign, but also inspire the DM to move a campaign in a certain direction.   This was one of my reasons for starting my frst 5E campaign at level 1. First, I hadn't DM'd in a while so I was rusty and wanted to wade in. Second, we all had to get used to the new rule sets. Third, I wanted the players to grow into their PCs, and I wanted the PCs to help set the direction of the campaign once we got rolling.
#13 iserith Mar 06, 2015 6:05:10	pukunui wrote:
#14 Ranthalan Mar 06, 2015 8:40:10	You can also challenge the players and not solely the characters.  For example, if I have a player that has a powerful character and he like to simply use that power to brute force his opponents, every so often, I'll do something to negate that power so the player needs to think of a new approach.  If you haven't played with these players before, this approach will have to wait until you see their play styles.
#15 CCS Mar 06, 2015 11:08:17	Ok, we know the Halfling know each other. What about the others?
#16 BRJN Mar 06, 2015 16:31:52	- Challenge the Bard to a song-duel instead of a sword-duel.  Give that Perform check a reason to be there.  The other fellow will by definition not be dead after the conflict is over, and can come back to try again.  He may bring some muscle to rough up Our Hero (or steal his cool instrument and make him play a generic one) before the contest, if he likes to cheat. - Sirens / harpies and other things that hose you with sound can be counter-spelled by the Bard, I think.  Or the converse: a loud shriek may mess up his / her music. - A building built for giants will be tough for the halflings to get up the stairs or see what's sitting on the tabletop.  OTOH, they can easily hide in a corner nook where nobody ever looks (and is full of dust to prove it). - Asmodeus became a full god by consuming the divine essence of Azuth; if Azuth has returned as an operating deity, then Asmodeus has been dramatically weakened by a similar amount.  The Hells may be in chaos, relatively speaking, as usurpers see their once-in-a-lifetime chance, and various other plots are suddenly moved forward.  That fiendish patron may show up and demand payback NOW for the power he allows his apprentice to enjoy.  No explanation (to he PCs), but he's on the ropes back home and has to shore up his position against a rival. - Crows and Ravens are seen as omen-carriers by some.  That PC might be approached by a superstitious person to help solve a ghost story, a la Scooby-Doo.  Or a la Edgar Allan Poe. - A high-powered mage / sage who wants to learn about and eventually control chaos (is that an oxymoron?) finds the wild sorcerer a good test subject to study / experiment on.  The courtesan will have to do her rogue-work through all the traps &c to get into his tower. - Old lover of the courtesan wants her to help him accomplish some feat.  May be a patron or employer or enemy, based on the favor he wants done. - Barbarian gets an urgent message that the traditions of the clan are in danger and he is needed to help make a decision.  The problem could be invaders or a 'heretic' or an omen that the tribe must move away. - Barbarian gets a message from the Primal Spirits, cryptic of course, that sets him on he move toward a goal.  If you are running Scourge of the Sword Coast, it could be "Southward does your destiny lie.  The deepest water should not dazzle your eye, nor the size of a weapon determine its true worth."  (The main setting is near Daggerford?  Almost a surburb of Waterdeep's economic sphere of influence.) - Don't get them into knock-down-drag-out fights but do give them politics and puzzles to figure out.  I can see the courtesan and the dragonborn playing good cop / bad cop with somebody who could be persuaded to help but doesn't really want to... - Don't forget to have their Donkey give somebody a good kick in the -pun intended- and split, if the party is losing a fight.  This IS a hint.