Keep on the Borderlands Ketchup 6

Sorry for not posting in two days we haven't had as much time to play.

We last left our heroes in a room full of angry Orcs.
The Battle was long and the party grew weak. Alehandro was knocked unconscious for a while and the party was able to over come the Orcs in the end.

The party decided to press on past the eating hall to the top of the dungeon.
We arrived at an intersection and found a locked door. Jakothia tried to bang his way into it, but after five unsuccessful shoves the thief Ellock got it open!

Inside they found an assortment of weapons and supplies which at this moment I can't recall, but regular loot. We discovered a crossbow and some bolts, 2 axes, and 4 swords.

We continued down the left hall, and came to a door. Sir Jakothia rolled to peak in and rolled a 1 the door slammed open and combat started.

Inside was the Orc Chief with his two mates engage us in combat the round goes and

Alehandro deals enough damage to scare off the chief.

We kill the two others and search the room. I find a hidden room and we discover 2 spears, 2 suits of chainmail. Sir Jakothia and the rest of the party search for another door and find the middle room hidden by the revolving wall.

They find a hidden room with no other doors. Inside a few barrels and a chest and a large table in the middle.  Sir Jakothia searches the barrels and finds some old stagnant water, but he notices some bags behind them.

As he does this a Giant Centipede jumps out and latches onto Jakothias arm. Though is unable to penetrate his plate mail.  He flails his arms trying to get it away and Ellock kills it with his trusty daggers.

Ellock decides to check the bag's and notices the other Centipede and stabs it thoroughly.
Inside they find a small wealth of money.

Alehandro points out the chest and they find a small supply of weapons.
We all search the room for another door, the Orc leader must of been somewhere.
We find it and peak through an notice a long hallway.

The party continues on and about 50 feet further there is a door to our right.
Jakothia opens it and a guard sounds for alarm and engages combat.
Two other Orcs show up in the hallway and fight Alehandro and the Cleric.

The Guard is not worry for Sir Jakothia, and we get rid of the other two.

As we enter the room the Orc Chief wields his Axe and hits Jakothia for 2.
Ellock and the Cleric don't hit.
Two rounds pass and Alehandro rolls a 20! Double damage, and then another round another 20!
The Orc Chief is dead.

The Orc Chief has a expensive looking Silver and gold jewled belt. With a gold armlet and an axe.
They take the belt and armlet.
There's a chest in the room with some money and a rope. Alehandro takes the rope. and The rest of the party devides the gold.

That's where we ended and I will continue next time.

We are planning on getting some Reaper Bones mini's and paint them. so I won't have to rely on the Heroscape figurines all the time.

Keep on the Borderlands Ketchup 5

Due to the limited time we had today I won't be covering much today.

So the next day our adventurers decide to return to the keep.

Jakothia spends his time at the church.

We all rest up.

Ellock Sells the owl bear pelt, and Jakothia is able to sell the jeweled goblet for a heft sum of 1250 he bartered with the trader till he gave in.

The party decides to return to the caves.

And enters Cave B the Orc lair to the top right.

They enter and Notice one of the skulls ( an orc skull) out of place, then in a blink it's back.

Sir Jakothia decides to TAKE the skull.

With this the guards to the right room are alerted, but they are easily dispatched!

Our party takes the electrum and moves on to the Hall.

The large dining room is completely empty, but far ahead are orcs in the next room.

The Party ventures forth to face the O

rcs and are surprised by their numbers

17 ORCS!  Without a moment to spare out session ends.

Nasty brutes!

Sir jakothia had a medical appointment so we were unable to do more as he arrived late.

Keep on the Borderlands Ketchup 4

Hey everyone time for another day of adventure.

Last time we left our adventurers
Sir Jakothia had leveled up and now has 19 Hp.
Oh and we obtained a valuable Goblet.

The new map we are using see below for side 2.

We were in cave G "the Shunned Cavern".

The party decided to look around and we run into some nasty rats that were quickly slain.

Next they came across the sleeping Owl Bear and were able to sneak up on it deal a fair amount of damage and then kill it with surprising ease

If not for the cleric taking most of the damage.

They searched the room and discovered the Scroll of Protection from undead.

They decided to leave and went to one of the other Caverns. Cave A The Kobold lair.

Right off the bat Alehandro and Sir Jakothia get swept up by a pit trap. Though Ellock our Dwarven Thief is able to disarm it by finding a hidden mechanism to open it.

Due to the trap triggering the Kobolds are alarmed, they can't hit us though due to the pit.

The Cleric gets some rope out of his bag and we get hauled back up.

Jakothia finds some wood near the entrance a makes a bridge and engages the rowdy kobolds.

We kill about 6 of them and the last two run away towards their master. 

We discuss where to go and we follow the kobolds.

We get to a intersection go to either keep going east or north.

We keep going East and discover a room full of Kobolds 17 to be exact!

(I got rid of the female and children due to the issue of this.) So we take them by surprise as they are all panicking and mow most of them down. (The bell is about to ring so we have to wrap it up)

The Cleric says "Enough!" and fires a red orb and blasts the room of kobolds with fire!

Sir Jakothia and Ellock don't know what to make of it.

They decide to camp out and later that night and Jakothia has a dream.

His patron Talos is unpleased by his lack of service to the church and decides that he will be warned

Sir Jakothia is nerfed now and everyone is happy. From now on though when he's at the keep he will pay 10 gold to the church each visit.

That was about it I wasn't too hot today, but it was mostly combat oriented. When we have time to talk to npcs without the meat grinder that we are.

I really need suggestions other then the ending I don't have to much major story elements planned beyond minor npc encounters that the book describes or apply to my story.

The other part of the map!

The Nerfing of Sir Jakothia

GROWING AND LEARNING! 

You know our Paladin.
 Things have gotten a little out of hand.

So I'm making this with some new knowledge from R.F.I. DM-Chad!

http://rfipodcast.com/show/

They're a great podcast! Take these words as advice for you're game too. I really needed some of these things cleared up for me. Thank you Chad!

 Colin, I’ll try and answer some of your questions.* First, regarding the multiple attacks of fighters, keep in mind that fighters level 1-6 get only 1 attack per round. Now that said, when fighting a creature or NPC of less then 1 hit dice (i.e. something with a hit dice of less then a d8) then that fighter regardless of his/her own level is
entitled to as many attacks as he/she has levels. Thus a 2nd level fighter can attack a kobold twice per round. But when facing an orc, the same 2nd level fighter gets only 1 attack per round as orcs are 1 hit dice creatures (they roll a d8 for hit points).

*As for the paladin being over-powered, there are rules built into the system to keep them under control. First, paladins are not fighters and as such are not entitled to percentile strength. Many GMs allow them (and rangers) to have extraordinary strength as they are a fighter sub-class but strict interpretation of the PH will reveal that only fighters (not fighter sub-classes) get to add in a percentile for an 18 strength. This means that max bonus on your paladin’s to-hit and damage based on strength caps at +1 to-hit and +2 on damage. And also keep in mind that paladins cannot specialize in weapons. So barring a magical sword’s bonus to-hit bonus, they should never get more then a +1

to-hit bonus. Now if the paladin has a Holy Avenger (which is not likely at 3rd level) they do get to do an addition +10 damage to chaotic evil foes.

Along the same lines, the paladin has no choice when it comes to obeying the strictures of their religion. They either do and remain paladins in good standing, or they blow it off and become fighters. So whether or not your Player’s fighter needs to regularly attend church comes down to whether that is a stricture of his religion. And that most likely is up to you as the GM to determine since it is your world.

At the very least though, I would expect a paladin to pay their respects to those temples and shrines dedicated to their deity as they come across them in their adventuring (not to mention that they must obviously visit such places once a month to tithe). To do so without a good reason or only when it’s convenient would be both an insult to their diety as well as a chaotic act (as their would be no real planning or discipline of regularity involved, and that means they would no longer be a paladin).

The same chain of thought can be applied to the issue of tithing. They either do it as required or become be stripped of their paladin-hood and become a fighter. I wouldn't withdraw said tithe for your player, that’s the player’s responsibility. But you can give him/her an IC nudge via a sign from their deity; perhaps he stumbles across a rather loud burning bush or the next time he sleeps he gets a nastygram from his diety’s avatar saying pay up or ship out.

What was that you rolled a 20 
and you were charging with a lance!
The dragon EXPLODES!

* As for treasure weight, just think of it this way, pick up a bag of pennies and then ask yourself how many such bags can you carry while walking all day. Factor this into wearing armor and also carrying provisions. You’ll have a good idea real fast why people today use credit cards.:)

***When having extraordinary strength does one roll percentile to hit or a d20? How does it work. So far I use a mix of the two systems and ideas from 3rd,etc

******Sorry, I forgot this one. When one has extraordinary strength (this being either above-average strength that allows bonus’ on to-hit and damage rolls or strength scores over a straight 18, ie an 18/75 str) you roll attacks as usual but factor in the associated bonus to the normal d20 roll to-hit.

So as you see from this Tl;dr.
Kobolds have an incredible chance of death.
Paladins don't have incredible strength.
Also treasure wracks up over a while.



Though what really is going on is I didn't really understand the limitations of the class.
I feel that he could still be successful with a +2(+1 sword from keep but I might make it disappear) or +5/4 vs demons and damage though thankfully I think this might make the game a little tougher.

At the moment

Sir Jakothia has a STR18/97 % so he's the max power super hero, I thought we needed a crutch. Yet I feel in the long run nerfing him will help balance the game out.

Now he will get like said above so he's still powerful, but not a level 2 GOD!

So here's how this will go down.

God: Yo dude why haven't you been helping the church! If you continue to disrespect me you will be stripped of your honor!

SJ:but but

God: No, no buts ZAP! or some sort of vision.

Also if I decide I'll have his +1 sword stolen to go after a lead.

He wakes up still a paladin but less powerful

Keep on the Borderlands Ketchup 3

Starting now this is the current status of our game.

They decide to return to the caves and within an hour they get there. The party explores the other guard room and finds the spears and places them in the wagon. They then enter the Hobgolin commons and Fight.

The hobgolins slain they go down the hall and take a right and discover a locked door.
They break it down a fight the two Hefty Hobgoblins Ellock acquires a armlet and Alehandro finds a whip.

Inside they find two men at arms, a merchant in his wife, an Orc, and a snarling gnoll.
The Gnoll's ramblings are cut short but a quick hogtie by Alehandro. The orc, Ellock, and Alehandro converse.

Making a deal about fighting alongside against the hobgoblins and returning home. The
merchant is weak and one of the clerical followers heals him and he converses with the party and explains how he wound up captured with his wife. Sir Jakothia decides to take them back to the keep with the Cleric and that Ellock and Alehandro could handle the Orc.

The party decides to split up. Things go well and and Jakothia is rewarded by the guild with 100gp, with a price drop in town, and such. The Orc walks along and directs Ellock, and Alehandro to his cave and says his goodbye and disappears into his tribes depths.

Jakothia and The cleric Decide to return and meet up with Ellock and Alehandro.
They return to the keep. The next day the wife rewards Ellock with a New +1 dagger and they go to search the caves once more.

The group discovers a Cave at the end of the valley, Cave G and explore the pool area.

Jakothia notices a glint in the water and as he reaches in 3 slimes plop down and attack.

The party quickly dissolves them. Alehandro decides to reach for the glint in the water.

He swims out a Jewel inlayed Goblet from the depths of the pool

The Gnoll is still there.......

Oh and I forgot to say

Sir Jakothia is now Level 2!

~~~~~~~~
Thats all for now. If any ideas or comments I'd love feedback Thanks!

Keep on the Borderland Ketchup 2

As the night returned to day our adventurers were tired and slept the day away in their new earned rooms. The next few days celebrations and praise were given and a small feast was held at the castellan's hall.  The Paladin was awarded a +1 shield and Decided to buy Plate-mail from the trader( Holmes basic prices I will increase them later, and nerf our paladin one day)

Also a potion of giants strength is bought. The newly bought carriage is used to follow the goblin map back to the caves. They discover the valley and decide to head into cave D the goblin quarters.

The party new to dungeons blunders into a goblin guard room and gets ambushes by ten goblins. BEE-YARK!!! the alarm is sounded and Combat happens. Once half of them are dead the Goblins pull out their trump card the OGRE!

HEY RUBE!

The Goblin throws in some gold and speaks with the ogre pointing at the party quite humorously. 

Rube slams his club down and the goblins flea as Rube engages the party. The first few turns go well and a bit of damage is shared. Rube gets hit by an arrow and is dealt a bit of damage, but it's Sir Jakothia that Finishes rube off as rube goes to hit Ellock he misses and Sir Jakothia upends the Ogre with his sword and Rolls a 18 and kills him.

After the fight Jakothia and co enter the ogres cave and find plenty of gold and other items.

They venture on into the common room and decimate the remaining goblins. The chief is ready for combat as well and attacks them with his two guards. Sir Jakothia is injured but fights on and Ellock and Alehandro deal with the guards as Jakothia finishes off the chief. 

The room is looted and they find the treasure and tapestry and earn quite a bit of experience.

They return to town with their loot and end the day.

The next day they Decide to explore the forrest around and discover the Mad Hermit and his cat Fido. Inside his large castle(Tree) The eat turkey(fish) and he speaks of his kingdoms and gardens.

They decide he is harmless and once they bring up the Caves of Chaos he goes berserk and the party incapacitates him and the puma. 

That's about as far as this part goes see the next part!

~~~~~

More to come and the next post will be the latest chapter in our quest to conquer the caves. Any ideas would help while am a good roleplayer I am having trouble with the plot and tend to lead things to over arching then both over arching and self contained. Though The Caves are a Fun sandbox to explore.

Keep on the Borderlands Ketchup 1

Powered by WebRing.

My current game involves 3 people.
I the DM
 Play a Ranger Half-elf "Alehandro"
The Leader of the party plays a Paladin named: "Sir Jakothia"
The thief of are party is a Dwarf named "Ellock"

Our Adventure began with the 3rd ed adventure "A dark and Stormy Knight"
The first day Jakothia and I played.
Second Ellock joined. It took 3 sessions to beat the Tor(A large tower).

The adventure started with a group of travelers banding together under storm-peace and conquering a undead bugbear undead. Before the battle started a Man in a cloak appeared in front of the alter and vanished as lighting hit the tomb.

The wizard Malacar will return later on in my game.

They find the Storm is over and head back to the carriage under the tor overhang.
The party arrives at the keep and goes to the guild house for work. They're greeted with respect, but not until they help the keep. Some Bounties are on the board.

They decide to investigate the Lizard men and ask around for help, they meet the cleric who joins their party with his disciples.

The party finds the marsh and mound. They fend off the lizard men outside the mound and dispatch the ones inside. Returning to the keep for a reward a new merchant is in town and has a spare cart for sale. Alehandro charms him and trades a gold bar the lizardmen had for the cart.

The lord of the keep takes notice and asks them to investigate rumors of bandits or rogues in the Forrest.  They do and Ellock speaks to some of the thieves with poor results, but convinces them to trade a horse for a rare item he had.  Ellock walks back to the party and Sir Jakothia decides to engage in combat.

The thieves are quickly incapacitated a brought back to the keep. The Lord is exuberant with their deed and holds a gathering for them and gives them rooms to stay in for a month.

While this is all well and good outside the keep an invasion force of goblins is on the move.

The party is awoken with alarms and shouts of "GOBLINS" throughout the keep.
A Goblin war band with a battering ram is trying to invade the keep.
The party rallies. The goblins in front of the gate are trying to bash it down Ellock and Alehandro
Shoot arrows down at the invaders and the Cleric and Sir Jakothia brace the door.

The goblins are lead by a Goblin on a T-Rex like mount hurls a flaming spear to no avail, the leader fed up with the attrition, makes his mount hove the war-machine into the gate. It crumbles. The cleric and Sir Jakothia engages in combat and the goblins numbers dwindle, the leader is now aloft on the war-machine.

Jakothia climbs up and slashes at the Dinosaur, the Goblin Leader tries to fend him off. All the while Alehandro takes aim. He misses once with his bow, the second go A 20! He him hits square in the Goblins temple with his fire arrows and deals double damage and kills the captain. The Dinosaur is on the loose while the others fight it ends up eating one of the Goblins.

Sir Jakothia still on the war-machine daringly jumps off to kill the beast and slices its head off with a single blow. The party is victorious and is given some +1 weapons and discover a map to the caves.

See next post