H1 KotSF .... NPC - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

H1 KotSF .... NPC

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
shin_okada
Aug 05, 2010 14:42:00 Our PCs have entered the keep the last month and will continue exploring the keep this month. I guess they will meet Splug the goblin soon. How have you fellow DMs treated the goblin?

I don't know if my players will try to let him go adventuring with them or not. If they just let him go outside the keep, there will be no problem, both story-wise and game-mechanic-wise.

But If they actually tried to keep him as an extra party member, how shall I solve the situation, by RAW?

Shall I treat him just as an extra handy tool, and ignore, say, when divining experience points?

Or shall I treat him as if he were an extra PC, or rather, a kind of companion character in DMG II?

Or maybe I shall count him as a favorable factor for the party, and subtract his XP (100) from the XP of each encounter, to compensate the fact that he is slightly making each encounter easier for PCs?

As written, he is not as strong as a PC. But his ranged attacks are strong enough to actually increase DPR of the party a little bit. +6 attack bonus and 1d8+2+1d6 damage is, not so bad indeed. And, though he has only 1 healing surge per day, his total hp is better than that of most PCs.
#2
ingestiblebulk
Aug 06, 2010 21:06:30 avoid the problem altogether. have him tell the party that he has other things to do in other places of the world.
#3
Chiba_Monkey
Aug 12, 2010 15:30:52 My players didn't arm him at first, but took his offer to "serve" them when they rescued him literally, and kept him as a slave, using him as a pack mule. The went south for them when he drank all the hobgoblin ale they found in one of the later rooms.

After the events of KotS, I explained to them that slavery is morally wrong, and they offered to pay him to be their porter. Not a whole lot, but enough to make it worthwhile to the lazy goblin.

We ran those characters until level 5. They kept Splug the whole time.
#4
Kreuton
Aug 15, 2010 15:21:21 The way I handled getting rid of Splug was, I had Splug enter into combat with the rest of the party, but always stuck to the back and mainly cowered in fear unless forced to attack. Since he barely ever attacked, I kept the XP as if he wasn't even there. I decided that I didn't want Splug to be a constant part of the party's team outside of this dungeon, but I didn't want to punish the group for keeping him around (ie: having Splug backstab the group or something along those lines).

So what I did was I made it so that if the party could keep Splug alive throughout the entire dungeon, when it came to the final showdown, I used the end boss's Encounter power and targeted Splug instead of the party. It wasn't a huge reward, but it was enough of one so that one member of the group realized that their reward for protecting Splug in battle earlier was the slight leg-up in the final showdown. He said something along the lines of "Well it's a good thing we kept him alive or else that would have been us exploding right now."
#5
mobar2008
Aug 16, 2010 17:34:03
Our PCs have entered the keep the last month and will continue exploring the keep this month. I guess they will meet Splug the goblin soon. How have you fellow DMs treated the goblin?

I don't know if my players will try to let him go adventuring with them or not. If they just let him go outside the keep, there will be no problem, both story-wise and game-mechanic-wise.

But If they actually tried to keep him as an extra party member, how shall I solve the situation, by RAW?

Shall I treat him just as an extra handy tool, and ignore, say, when divining experience points?

Or shall I treat him as if he were an extra PC, or rather, a kind of companion character in DMG II?

Or maybe I shall count him as a favorable factor for the party, and subtract his XP (100) from the XP of each encounter, to compensate the fact that he is slightly making each encounter easier for PCs?

As written, he is not as strong as a PC. But his ranged attacks are strong enough to actually increase DPR of the party a little bit. +6 attack bonus and 1d8+2+1d6 damage is, not so bad indeed. And, though he has only 1 healing surge per day, his total hp is better than that of most PCs.

Splug has become my groups mascot. I treat him as a full PC that gets a full share of xp.

I really played him up as a proud chef that had been locked up because of his insistance on having quality ingrediants. He proved to be a brave ally fighting for his pot roast or some other dish that he never got to make. (seriously if I forgot to shout "For my potroast!" before rolling for him it was inevitably low.)

Now the parties goal is to gather enough money to allow Splug to open his own tavern. Right now they have him watching some kids that were being taken to a temple to Orcus in the Shadowfell.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 shin_okada Aug 05, 2010 14:42:00	Our PCs have entered the keep the last month and will continue exploring the keep this month. I guess they will meet Splug the goblin soon. How have you fellow DMs treated the goblin? I don't know if my players will try to let him go adventuring with them or not. If they just let him go outside the keep, there will be no problem, both story-wise and game-mechanic-wise. But If they actually tried to keep him as an extra party member, how shall I solve the situation, by RAW? Shall I treat him just as an extra handy tool, and ignore, say, when divining experience points? Or shall I treat him as if he were an extra PC, or rather, a kind of companion character in DMG II? Or maybe I shall count him as a favorable factor for the party, and subtract his XP (100) from the XP of each encounter, to compensate the fact that he is slightly making each encounter easier for PCs? As written, he is not as strong as a PC. But his ranged attacks are strong enough to actually increase DPR of the party a little bit. +6 attack bonus and 1d8+2+1d6 damage is, not so bad indeed. And, though he has only 1 healing surge per day, his total hp is better than that of most PCs.
#2 ingestiblebulk Aug 06, 2010 21:06:30	avoid the problem altogether. have him tell the party that he has other things to do in other places of the world.
#3 Chiba_Monkey Aug 12, 2010 15:30:52	My players didn't arm him at first, but took his offer to "serve" them when they rescued him literally, and kept him as a slave, using him as a pack mule. The went south for them when he drank all the hobgoblin ale they found in one of the later rooms. After the events of KotS, I explained to them that slavery is morally wrong, and they offered to pay him to be their porter. Not a whole lot, but enough to make it worthwhile to the lazy goblin. We ran those characters until level 5. They kept Splug the whole time.
#4 Kreuton Aug 15, 2010 15:21:21	The way I handled getting rid of Splug was, I had Splug enter into combat with the rest of the party, but always stuck to the back and mainly cowered in fear unless forced to attack. Since he barely ever attacked, I kept the XP as if he wasn't even there. I decided that I didn't want Splug to be a constant part of the party's team outside of this dungeon, but I didn't want to punish the group for keeping him around (ie: having Splug backstab the group or something along those lines). So what I did was I made it so that if the party could keep Splug alive throughout the entire dungeon, when it came to the final showdown, I used the end boss's Encounter power and targeted Splug instead of the party. It wasn't a huge reward, but it was enough of one so that one member of the group realized that their reward for protecting Splug in battle earlier was the slight leg-up in the final showdown. He said something along the lines of "Well it's a good thing we kept him alive or else that would have been us exploding right now."
#5 mobar2008 Aug 16, 2010 17:34:03	Our PCs have entered the keep the last month and will continue exploring the keep this month. I guess they will meet Splug the goblin soon. How have you fellow DMs treated the goblin? I don't know if my players will try to let him go adventuring with them or not. If they just let him go outside the keep, there will be no problem, both story-wise and game-mechanic-wise. But If they actually tried to keep him as an extra party member, how shall I solve the situation, by RAW? Shall I treat him just as an extra handy tool, and ignore, say, when divining experience points? Or shall I treat him as if he were an extra PC, or rather, a kind of companion character in DMG II? Or maybe I shall count him as a favorable factor for the party, and subtract his XP (100) from the XP of each encounter, to compensate the fact that he is slightly making each encounter easier for PCs? As written, he is not as strong as a PC. But his ranged attacks are strong enough to actually increase DPR of the party a little bit. +6 attack bonus and 1d8+2+1d6 damage is, not so bad indeed. And, though he has only 1 healing surge per day, his total hp is better than that of most PCs. Splug has become my groups mascot. I treat him as a full PC that gets a full share of xp. I really played him up as a proud chef that had been locked up because of his insistance on having quality ingrediants. He proved to be a brave ally fighting for his pot roast or some other dish that he never got to make. (seriously if I forgot to shout "For my potroast!" before rolling for him it was inevitably low.) Now the parties goal is to gather enough money to allow Splug to open his own tavern. Right now they have him watching some kids that were being taken to a temple to Orcus in the Shadowfell.