Advancement

Having just had my players achieve 5th level, I am re-examining their current series of adventures and where I am taking them with the plot that I’ve originally developed. On the one hand, I’ve realized that I am stringing out this plot more than I should have; and then considering some of the plot hooks I’ve realized I’m not doing enough to move the plot forward.

Having recently picked up the “Dungeon Master’s Guide 2″ and reading through some of the artifacts presented, I realized that I need to take a new approach with the artifact they are searching for, the Cauldron of Ongurr. In the DMG2, WotC presents the 4th Edition version of the “Rod of Seven Parts”. My original plot for the current campaign deals with an ancient artifact that was split into seven parts in times past and ancient… For those that follow Eberron, this was during the Age of Monsters and the Daelkyr Wars, some 10,000 years before the current age.

As a DM, I always wanted my artifact to have special powers. Looking at the “Rod of Seven Parts”, I see something that falls along the lines of what I was looking for in my original design notes for the Cauldron. I only need to change a couple of design elements, and of course the background story of the artifact.

I’m working on the next several series of encounters and am seriously considering to continue challenge the group with ranged combat. I’ve run several encounters using a simple group of gnoll minions (using a 20hp ”house rule” for these minions), and several higher powered brutes and solos to make a very engaging encounter for the party. The next couple of encounters will probably focus around a similar set of base creatures, only because it fits in with my storyline.

Next up in my encounters is uncovering the artifact, a new “side quest” for the portion of the party that split off and a new set of adventurers. As the party split up to accomodate a couple of new PCs (see my post on the D&D Avengers earlier this year for more) I will begin them at 4th level versus the current party’s 5th level. I clearly stated to the players this is more so that I can run them through “Seekers of the Ashen Crown” as the current party will more than likely attain 6th level  before the end of their current story arc.

One thing with a monthly game versus a weekly game has been their XP advancement. We have had a little over 20 games and they are just now achieving 5th level.

Now that we have advanced to 5th level, the original story arc for the campaign has changed and been made a sort of backdrop more so than a story. I’ve been able to meld in most of the back story in to the setting but want to work in more of the “Underdark” elements from my first draft.

The recent game saw some more green skins and gnolls thrown at the party and they’ve found a new resection for gnoll archers and the spell Stinking Cloud. The two encounters I had planned worked well, though the encounter with the Cambion Stalwart did not go as well as I’d hoped. I am going to need a better “mini-boss” for the next session.

Also this last game session, I made an impromptu house rule for my minions. I was tired of having them drop after a single hit from my players, so in order to counter this, I’m making them “two-hit” monsters. On average, my players are doing between 7 and 12 points of damage. In order to make the minions “two-hit” monsters I gave them 20 hit points each, up from the 1 hit point.