Category: 4e DnD

Litko 4E Condition Counters

A few weeks ago I posted a bit on using some conditional counters of my own making. I liked getting away from just a color coded method of using markers and use something that also had writing on them. The ones I made were functional, but I really wanted something a bit sturdier.

I decided to go ahead and invest in conditional counters from Litko. They have a pretty good set for marking most basic conditions. With that I picked up a player set to indicate marked, curses, and other bonuses. I went a bit further and also picked up a blast and plasma set to indicate other zone effect powers.

They are sturdy plastic about 3 mm thick, with text etched into the surface. The 4E condition markers are a double sided set. I like the beefy colored plastic and can throw them around without worrying about the tokens getting bent out of shape. The wording is clearly marked and I like the color scheme. The markers look like they would stack well under an official WotC mini.

I really like this product. With normal wear and tear I think they would last for years. They have a good selection in their sets. All of which I think are reasonably priced for their value. I also think it would be a great gift for the D&D guy that has just about everything. Be sure to check em out.

(Personal Note: Ordering things through international mail can always be tricky. Sure enough my first attempt at getting some markers resulted in being lost in the mail. After contacting Litko by email explaining my situation, they turned around and send out a replacement order at no charge. Great service, from a great company.)

Skill challenge scenarios: Poisoned! (part two)

In the last post I described a skill challenge where the group was poisoned in an inn. They had to work quickly to find an antidote not only for themselves, but also for the other patrons.

Round 1: The paladin thought it best to use his skills in healing to try and determine what type of poison would have this effect. As he helped the sick patrons, he also carefully tried to evaluate each person and find the likely toxin. The rogue in the group tried to determine if she could find any trace of the poison near the barrel using perception. The cleric in the group also decided to help the sick utilizing his healing skill. Everyone rolled and all earned successes. Both the cleric and paladin had managed to deduce a common group of poisons that would inflict these symptoms. The rogue managed to spot a few small dark smears on the barrel’s side. Carefully, she gathered up a sample of the thick viscous resin.

Tally after round 1: 3 successes, 0 failures

Round 2: Armed with the knowledge of the type of poison (and a sample), they sought off to try and find an antidote. The rogue quickly set about asking key people she felt would know one trained in the apothecary arts. Earlier in the day, she had heard some commoners speaking of the skills of one particular apothecary, with talents exceeding even the priests at the local temple (successful roll). Several minutes later, with a few quick turns through the alleys and some banging on doors, they managed to get to the right location. Both the paladin and cleric had offered their skills in healing to aid the elderly apothecary, make easier having a sample of the dreadful toxin (one skill check made at a +2). With their deft hands and combined abilities, by daylight they were able to concoct enough antidote to help all that were afflicted by the poison (both had successful rolls).

Tally after round 2: 6 successes, 0 failures. Skill challenge successful for a complete victory.

I liked the quick thinking of the party’s rogue in trying to get a sample of the poison. I decided there to allow a bonus to a future healing check made by the others, just as if she had sucessfuly aided another. I also held my breath a bit in the second round. If one player had decided to simply aid in a healing check, the group would have secured a partial victory (and a potential hollow one at that). Fortunately, they decided to press through and each make a check.

Skill challenge scenarios: Poisoned! (part one)

The group has earned the ire of a local underworld boss. Not one to be sparse with cruelty, he’s decided not only to take care of the adventurers but also send a clear message to any merchants and commoners in the town. If you support these type of heroes, you’ll be punished. He has arranged one of his stealthy assassins to slip into the inn where the players are resting and poison a keg of popular ale.

Skill challenge goal: Find a cure for the poison.

The Setup: The group of players are resting comfortably for the night at an inn, famed for its amber brown ale. The quiet evening is shattered as a serving maiden steps into the kitchen and screams. The players jump into action to see the cook unconscious in the floor and a window ajar. Rousing the cook, he will claim someone crept into the kitchen and sapped him. 

Why would someone do such a thing? The answer comes as the adventurers and patrons are suddenly wracked with pain (losing a healing surge). A large barrel of ale appears to have had the lid pried open, its tap protrudes on the other side of the wall into the adjoining room. Clearly someone has put something into the ale that everyone drank. If it is poison, can there be an antidote?

Skill Challenge Rating: 2, moderate DC.
  • Complete Success (6 successes) – The players manage to find an antidote for the poison. They are able to revive the patrons that were also injured. As a plot point, they also discover that the poison was very unique, concocted from a root extract not found in this region. 
  • Partial Success (4-5 successes) – The players manage to find an antidote for the poison. Yet, the process is slow and tedious. Several patrons have succumbed to the poison and died. This brings some negative light to the adventurers presence in town.
  • Failure (3 failures before either success condition is reached) – Each player is inflicted with the filth fever disease (MM pg 180). Many of the patrons have died. The inn has lost popularity, and the inn keeper will likely have to close down. Most of the people in town will react very coldly to the group, seeing them as the cause to much of the ordeal. The local noble might even pressure city guards to ‘assist’ the characters in moving on to the next village.

Primary skills: Healing (+1 to rolls) as the players will likely be able to recognize the symptoms and find a way to circumvent the effects of the toxins, possibly even create an antidote.

Secondary skills: Nature (+1 to rolls, cannot be assisted), granting players the ability to deduce what type of root or plant would cause such a thing. Knowing the toxin source would help immensely in rapidly finding an antidote.

In the next post, we’ll see how this played out (DUN DUN DUN….)

Combat manager sheet

So on the D&D boards, some people have been asking for low tech solutions to running their game. In particular one guy was adamant about not having a laptop at the table. I can totally understand. Sometimes I find having a laptop a little distracting, and being a frequent recipient of Murphy’s Law, I’m always worried about some last minute technical glitch that will hinder my game.

A while back I found a pretty good one page initiative tracker sheet (for the life of my I can’t find the link, so if someone can track it down gimme a shout out and I’ll link to this post). I liked it had all the pertinent defenses. It also had several spaces for recharging powers, if the target was marked, and a way to keep track of different combat conditions.

However, some things I didn’t like. I wanted a full box space to keep track of a creatures HP. I also wanted sufficient space to write in a monster/character name. So I modified mine a bit. I also kept an additional field to keep all the marked and combat conditions separate. So I whipped up my own version for keeping track of stuff.

So far it’s worked pretty well for me. I enter party information in the first few lines and then photocopy them. I then would have a few encounters prepped by adding monster on the other lines. Sometimes I’d squeeze a few encounters worth if I could, but usually had a separate sheet for each fight.

I’ve sort of moved to using applications for my 4E fights. I still keep a few sheets handy in case my computer suddenly gets fried. I think this is a definite must have if I also travel to a friend’s place to run a game sans laptop. For running a game with strictly stuff from my backpack, I like using this sheet a lot.

[Edit: Thankfully someone was able to find a link to the PDF I was looking for. Thanks!}

Expeditions of Amazing Adventure: The Cabalistic Clay of Domneran Canyon

To the south a thin section of land serves as an oasis to the harsh desert regions that surround it. A small range of mountains hold the Domneran river that winds its way down towards the flat plains. This river feeds a narrow stretch of land able to serve as an agricultural base. Enough so that a few cities have been able to establish themselves, feeding their people with simple crops and diligent fishermen that trawl the river for fish and soft shell crustaceans. Many of these cities have also been able to serve as a central trade stop between far empires and kingdoms separated by the great dessert, further bolstering these simple economies.

Far up to the river source, deep within the mountains, lies a narrow canyon which the Domneran river springs forth. The canyon (which is known for the river it contains) holds high cliffs etched through deep stone of the surrounding mountains. Legends tell that the mountains were formed when colossal giants fell in a great battle against the gods. Their flesh seeped into the ground, and their bones served as scaffolding for the mountains that arose.

These giant corpses imparted magic buried within the very core of the mountains. It is only over centuries as a river cut deep into the mountains, forming the Domneran canyon, has this magic been able to seep out of the stone. Far within the coiling canyon are pools of water, bubbling with mystical energy. The clay taken from these pools are rumored to be infused with arcane power. Some claim such power has medicinal properties, while others state the clay holds chaotic magical forces so potent they can bend iron.

It is a treacherous journey to the Domneran canyon. The climb is through perilous rock and savage creatures haunt the mountain range. This has kept many from traveling to the canyon, but high demand for the clay that lies on the silty bottom finds a few willing to try.

Some temples are willing to lead pilgrimages to the pools that lie along the canyon path. Such waters are claimed to have restorative powers, but these journeys are hazardous. Especially as gnoll tribes hold claim to much of the canyon for their own foul rituals. A wealthy noble, desperate to find a cure to an aliment might likely secure not only a temple guide, but also an armed group of adventurers, if they were so inclined.

Many wizards are willing to part with gold to obtain a pouch of the magical clay. If a group were willing to take the risk to reach the Domneran canyon, they likely could easily find a buyer for any clay they managed to gather.

Modular dry-erase sections for dungeon tiles

I posted a short while back on me using a whiteboard for my D&D sessions. I generally have the players sketch out a general map on a sheet of paper. When things need miniatures being moved around I then switch to a battlemap. For the most part I like using one, but at times I’ve been having a few problems.

One thing that I’ve stumbled on a few times is dissipating the tension during the beginning of an encounter. When my players kick in the door, I gleefully describe what they see, get the group reaching for dice, all to have that excitement slowly drop down a few pegs while I map out the room. Having everything mapped out before hand on a large white board would be clumsy, as I have to cover up sections and hope nothing gets rubbed off as we are shuffling papers around.

I’m a fan of using dry-erase boards though. I like the freedom of sketching things down directly on the map. Using tiles seem doable, but pretty costly and I just don’t have time to make my own tiles. You also need to have a lot of little bits to dump on the tiles for features and terrain. I could use pre-printed maps too, but I find the page size limiting and again cost creeps in a bit with printing/ink cartridge use.

To get around this, I copied the grid sections out of the DMG and laminated them (using self adhesive sheets). I ended up cutting a few sheets into smaller sections as corridors.

So far this has been a great workaround for me over using tiles, or writing stuff out on a larger board. I can draw a few details if needed, erase and repeat having a reusable surface. Another big bonus is I can also write on the back any section notes or tags I give to the rooms. I can pre-draw an entire dungeon and just plop down the next section in a flash.

Cheap and functional. I’ve liked using these so far. I never managed to pick up past dungeon tile sets. I understand that WotC is releasing a lot of the older sets in a new package deal for 2010. I might pick those up, but for now I think these sheets fit the bill nicely.

Skill challenge ‘rules’ are frameworks.

EarOtisDThere was a general theme I had gotten from the DMG2, don’t take the rules in D&D as gospel. If something doesn’t work in your game, tweak it and have fun. I especially got this impression from the skill challenge section. WotC changed the success/failure ratio (something I think needed to be done to make it a challenge), but made it clear that DMs should feel free to modify skill challenges to make them fun and engaging. At the heart of it, I think WotC finally wanted to get some kind of structure and reward to all those roleplaying and skill aspects of the game, so players didn’t feel like the only way to get XP was from killing monsters.

The recent podcast posted on the D&D experience seminar I think has cemented this idea. Save my game had a seminar that was a great listen. It covered a fair bit on skill challenges. If you are still finding skill challenges a little clunky in your game, or just unsure how to make them more engaging, I highly recommend giving this a listen. Even if you think you’ve gotten a good command of running them, I think it has some helpful tips.

One thing I have had little experience with is running an extended skill challenge. Most of my challenges have been short ones, as I couldn’t quite wrap my head around having one that would go through several rounds of checks. After listening to a few suggestions, I think I’ve definitely gotten some good ideas on how to approach running one. I’m eager to try one for my game and have a good series of scenarios for such a challenge.

They also dole out some good advice on encounter makeup and addressing some tips on handling a game on a time schedule (like for conventions and LFR events). I highly recommend giving this a listen. Some great stuff in this podcast.

Obsidian Portal for your campaign

Keeping everything in your campaign organized can be difficult, especially if you are running a homebrew campaign. One of the bigger challenges is readily having information available for your group. If you’ve got notable NPCs, history and events, or a unique group of deities, having that information readily available to your players can be a chore.

Obsidian Portal is a great site to keep all of that organized. It’s a campaign wiki, that allows you to easily edit and maintain your campaign. The functionality is great and I’ve come to make it my primary tool for record keeping in my campaign.

At first, the thought of committing everything in a wiki can be a little daunting. But cut and pasting text, slowly expanding entries, adding tags to pages and NPCS is a breeze. I’ve taken to uploading images of maps instead using of the wiki map section, but the default map section is quite functional. Plus it is accessed through a web browser. No need to be chained down to any specific computer if you need to access (or update) any information.

Another important feature is the campaign log. Once I got into the habit of updating the log, I can now just spend 10-15 minutes after a session to post a quick summary. Since I play every other week (and sometimes just monthly), it has been a boon to my game having the group be able to read up on the last session. If they need more info about an NPC or a location, it is simply a click away to get a little bio or more detail. Now we have a record of what they did 4 months ago, and they can gleam any info off of a particular encounter from the past. For the adventure log alone, I’ve loved what it has done with my campaign.

My initial advice is simply start small with your entries. Use 2-3 sentences for most topics, and slowly expand. In a month or two, you’ll have a fleshed out campaign that is well organized and more importantly, completely referenced. I’m considering allowing my players to keep up on the adventure log. I think it would be interesting to have them record events they think were pertinent. Did I mention that entries can be tagged with DM only sections? That NPCs can have a ‘public’ and a ‘DM only’ entry? Yeah, it is that functional.

Check out Obsidian Portal. It is a fantastic campaign tool. As for my campaign? Feel free to browse the adventures of my group in the world of Terrene. I’m a convert to this great site, be sure to use this tool for your next big campaign.

Thoughts: Eberron Campaign Guide

For the sake of completeness I thought I’d chime in on the Eberron Campaign Guide. I held off picking up the book for a long while as I was currently deep within my current campaign. So I did not want to jump over to Eberron just yet. Additionally I wanted to hold off on shipping overseas, so I waited until I was on holiday to pick it up.

A long while back I posted my thoughts on the player’s guide for the Eberron setting. Overall I liked it and thought it a good buy for people wanting to get into the campaign setting. I’ve currently ported the artificer class over into my home brew campaign as something the players can choose if they so desire. I’ve gotten a lot of milage out of that book. So what about the campaign guide?

If this is your first exposure to the Eberron campaign setting and you wanted to jump into this for your group, buy this book. It has a ton of information and ideas for running this campaign setting. I think the introduction succinctly describes the setting and can allow a DM to easily grasp the overall themes. Additionally, there are a lot of suggestions on the opening campaign theme for your game. Whether you want the intrigue of the dragonmarked houses of delving into the secret war between the nations, to a more epic theme of the dragon prophecy as a high fantasy campaign, to a dungeon crawling jaunt of exploration to fill the player’s coffers with coin and treasure, just about every theme is covered. Enough ideas and information are given to give the DM some means to sketch out a campaign and run the game they want.

Further details are provided on the typical city settings, interaction of the various houses, implementation of magical technology and travel. Sharn is given a bit more detail on typical city life to allow a DM to take pieces and incorporate them into other cities within Eberron. Not to mention finally having some stat blocks on the various wondrous mounts a player can pick up.

This is followed up by more detailed information on different geo-political regions of the world. Each region is given a thumbnail sketch of the people and notable places within. Also a little detail of the other continents beyond Khorvaire is provided.

The book further goes into the various dragonmarked houses, and their role within Khorvaire. It goes over some of the politics and purposes of each house which was nice. The book also covers some more fiendish organizations and global threats. Again, nice to have if the DM does not want to get the players embroiled into the political bickering between dragonmarked houses. The book wraps up with a beginning adventure and some encounter examples.

I’ll pipe in here and say this last section was a disappointment. It always is tricky to put something like this in these books, especially with Eberron as a setting (since your campaign can take on so many different themes). I like the idea of a ‘flashback’ adventure with the initial fall of Cyre and having the players embroiled in it all. Additionally, the follow up encounter is okay, but I love the idea. It follows up on the group, 4 years later in Sharn. All of them are gathered at a ceremony commemorating the day of mourning (each there for some reason or another).

I really wish at this point the adventure stopped, and they just gave lots of suggestions on what the DM could do next. Having a lot of options and player hooks would have served the book well. I much rather they spent the following pages expanding another section covered, example encounters.

This is something I really enjoyed out of the book. A few example scenarios and locales were provided. Each detailing some interesting terrain of the encounter, with different suggestions of creatures to fight. Best of all, different levels of encounter groups were provided. I really wished they ported this idea over to most of the follow up encounters for the initial adventure.

Note to WotC, I think this would be a great stand alone product. Having a book of encounters, with suggested groups of monsters covering different levels would be a solid buy. Don’t worry about stringing it together as a series of dungeon delves, just give us example encounters in interesting locations.

The Good – A lot of solid information here. I think there is a lot of material to get a DM up and running an Eberron campaign. Lots of background on political, economic, and racial factions. There is also a bit more information on the ‘typical life’ of people in different geographical regions. This book goes a long way towards filling in details that the player’s book skimmed over.

The Bad – Plenty of material here, but I still wish there was more. I think committing more on the geographic locations would have been nice. Plus it is very centric to one continent, a bit more on the others within Eberron would have been helpful.

Also it’s an interesting idea of kicking off an Eberron campaign by having a flashback adventure, but I think overall the whole adventure falls flat. I wish they spent more pages with material like the last two encounter locations in the book. For me, I would think that type of material would be more applicable and easier for a DM to use over having a complete initial adventure.

The Verdict – If you are new to D&D and want to run an Eberron campaign, this is a great DM buy. It has plenty of information and a enough details on the movers and the shakers of the world. As a big plus it also covers a lot of ground on giving the DM ideas for running a variety of campaign themes.

If, however, you have run an Eberron campaign in the past and (more importantly) have many of the old campaign books, I think you could pass on this. Much of the material is simply background material on the world and its people and places. Much of that would all ready be at your fingertips with the original 3.5 release. I think with that book you could skip much of the material in this new book, and armed with the 4E player’s book be able to run an effective campaign.

While some of the factions, villains, and groups are interesting, I also expect this is a book strictly for DMs that want to run a game in this setting. Not a whole lot of meat in the way of rules here. If you are running a homebrew setting, likely much of this material is more background information rather than stuff you could port directly into your game.

That is my impression of this book in a nutshell. If you’ve run an Eberron campaign before, just be sure to pick up the 4E player’s book. Nothing in this is an absolutely must have, and you can likely make up what you need to fill in any gaps by yourself. If you are a new DM to 4E Eberron though, I’d say this is a must buy.

Toodles for now!

Cutout conditional tokens

I’m all about using physical markers or tokens to keep track of effects in 4E. There is a lot of small things to keep track in combat, with status effects, bonuses to hit or AC, and stuff being bloodied all being thrown around from turn to turn. I have a love of miniatures (or at least some type of marker) for 4E too. So having stuff to physically hold in your hand helps a lot. It’s so much easier to keep track of stuff having something on the board over keeping a list of status effects on paper.

If you look around, a ton of people have their own little tokens or things they use as condition markers. From using stickers on minis, to special bases, to even using used soda bottle rings, just about everyone uses a variety of items for tokens. I’ve used a lot of small colored markers also, but I started leaning towards using something with a written description.

I opted to create a small sheet of conditional markers. After printing them out, I pasted it on thin cardboard (do make em a little beefy), cut them apart, and secured them a little further with some tape. I also have a few tokens to mark off areas of effect. Some powers have zones that are sustained throughout an encounter, so I wanted a few markers for those situations also. So far they are pretty functional and work okay.

However, I’m still wanting something a little more durable and thicker. I’ve recently picked up a neat product that looks like it will fit my needs nicely. I’m waiting to run a session with my group to get their feedback before posting my thoughts. Until then, here is a link to my cutout conditional tokens as a pdf. Hope folks enjoy them.