Wardens of Heroes Gate

What happens in this scene?

I initially planned on introducing Mo Ka Bu to the party later on, but things being what they are – I took a bunch of left turns and wound up here thinking this may be the perfect time to bring him into the fold. The party wakes outside the forest of Screaka, but Ellrrilka is missing. In her place is a Wood Elf named Mo Ka Bu. He will party on with this group through next cycle and when everyone joins the Wardens Guild, Marlon places him with the Everwelte and puts Brava and Rodan in with the North Tower (I keep changing this… is it The Northern Towers or just The North Tower Shield? Heck… at this point I can make it whatever I want with a little work… or I can save the work and stick with Northern Towers)

Mo Ka Bu is in Tentowns with Hocus. They have been traveling together for the better part of DR1491. They were sharing a ride to Easthaven with several contestants of the Fray Games and like our party, they were sent unexpectedly to meet their deaths at the beak of Screaka. However, it turns out Screaka honors the Elvish race and is even a bit superstitious about doing any harm to any full blooded elf. (Half-elves are a different story apparently)

Go back to the end of last episode and fill things out further. More ice mephits… the entire ampitheater is fogged in this time. They hear a woman screaming (Elrika?) and then others. Give the impression that more victims have been brought to the tree-top temple… then the blackout.

They awake to find Hocus and Mo Ka Bu among their number (Elrika is stll missing – she will return in the Ice Pit Riot fighting Koza – who has a score to settle – and does)

How to run the Skirmish game?

Three Rounds in the Event

You must be standing within the stones when the third horn sounds

It is everyone for themselves – no magic (which is verified after each round)

Three types of opponents – Strength Based, Dexterity Based, and ‘Other’.

Although the event is a chaos of people trying to push and shove and even throw each other outside of the circle, I need a way to represent this with dice.

3 out of 5 conflict wins will win a round

A conflict is a contest roll between a randomly chosen opponent and a PC.

Choose the opponent

PC can roll either Athletics or Acrobatics Check which is contested a roll with selected bonus above. Highest result wins. 3 out of 5 wins the conflict. PC must win 3 conflicts to win a round.

[review]

As its going, it is feeling uninspired… the first rolls I recorded so it could be seen what was happening – but it’s a lot of rolls so I decided to not show them all. How to mix this up? Make it more interesting?

Two ideas strike…

First – the PC can be double-teamed by opponents – especially the large and intimidating ones… opponents can roll with advantage against the PC. How can that table be turned? PCs can join together to gain advantage on rolls too. How to rule when either happens? A simple y/n dice roll?

Second – the ‘Player’ can describe the action. I’ve been meaning to find a spot for this to happen… maybe this is it. I describe the opponent(s), indicate rolling is taking place, announce the winner and allow the PC to describe the action in first person

[]

[Further review]

I’m liking the outcome much better… in fact I might use this 3 our ot 5 approach more often – especially when it’s a brawl or wrestle where weapons and magic have no place. It is fun to have the PC perspective… I need to include that a lot more often going forward

[]

Now… we get to the 3rd round.. My ideas on how to run this have fluctuated… Sephek is using the stones combined with the souls of all the victims he has killed with his ice rune daggers. The stones glow faintly – on close inspection someone might see the rune shapes in the glow. – investigation check? Perception? I still get these confused…

In 5e, Perception covers the basic senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste.

When deciding if a roll should be a Perception or an Investigation roll, it comes down to the difference between observation and deduction. Perception gives a broad picture or discovery found within the scene, while Investigation focuses on interpreting the clues found with Perception checks.

Investigation represents your character’s ability to pay close attention to detail when searching a location, researching a topic, or analyzing a circumstance. 

However, there is one sure way to know if Investigation is more applicable than Perception:

How much time is the character devoting to the search?

Perception works on what characters notice with a glance. Investigation is a targeted search.

So then… an Investigation check will notice the rune designs in the glow – and then the first horn of the 3rd round will sound.

Sephek has just a couple of stones left to charge, and when he does… what happens? I like the idea of Sephek himself becoming the giant monster to fight… (what is the mechanic for that?) but do I want the PCs to actually fight and destroy Sephek himself? If he summons a monster, it will appear in the center of the stones and everyone in the arena will be without their weapons. That actually makes more sense… maybe… Sephek wants to draw the soul of the summoned monster … if so, his plan is to summon in the midst of the event, let the monster destroy as much as possible, and then use his magic rune vortex thingy on it… it may just make him too powerful for the characters to challenge. If so, then Sephek may return at some later time. Maybe… the process of absorbing destroying the beast he summons is overwhelm for him and he collapses. He will look like a hero to the crowd, but Dawndra will know better… that is a fun conflict!

So what is this monster? Not Thrunn… but something from another plane – an ice plane. It seems a Frost Giant is warranted… but what kind? Not one from the local area… There is a Plane of Ice – of course.

Ogtarn

Zertarn

Gartarn

Gentarn

Skentarn

Skenscarn*

Skenscarn is a Frost Giant from the Plane of Ice. He is no ordinary Frost Giant however… he is also a wererazor (Razordon). This form of lycantropy has never been seen in the realms before, and Sephek wants the disease

Yazga

So I decided to bring her into play here – if only to boost the threat for some actual encounter. I gave her, willy-nilly, an intimidation feat and she used it right away against Dawndra. Now I’m trying to decide what mechanic to use. Oh… dah… I already did this with Roonoo’s subclass I think… Agression Tactics…

As a bonus action you can spend 1Ki and Intimidate the target (by performing some daunting martial arts movement or a battle cry etc) – they must Wisdom save on DC saving throw against your Intimidation skill (8 +Prof +Chr). On fail the target becomes “shaken”. A shaken character takes a penalty on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws equal to your Intimidation Skill bonus.