If I Designed an RPG

Wizards of the Coast recently announced that they're going to start working on the next edition of D&D.  Already my head is buzzing with things I'd like to see.  I started writing this blog as a list of things I want out of 5e, but my mind sort of wandered off in another direction.  About a year ago I posted a blog on what I would consider "The Perfect Game", though some of my opinions have changed since then.  I thought I'd follow up on that post, and babble about the directions I would take if I were to design an RPG of my own.

Disclaimers: Few of the ideas in this blog are really original; I steal a little bit from here and a little bit from there.  With my limited experience with RPGs, even the ideas I think are original are probably old hat by now.  I'm not an expert on the math that goes into RPGs, so some of this might sound like a seven-year-old explaining how we could fix the economy by printing more money.  I'm usually more into story than fighting, so balance isn't going to be my priority.  While this is all stuff I'd like to see in an RPG, it's not necessarily stuff I actually want to see in Dungeons & Dragons.  Some of my ideas might contradict each other.  This is not a game I'm actually going to create, as I really don't have the time or talent to design an RPG from scratch.  Caution, this post may contain traces of nuts. Do not taunt Happy Fun Blog.

Well, anyway, that's enough caveat.  On with the brainstorming!

Classes
By my count, D&D 4e currently has 26 classes, with 115 builds for those classes.  I think this is totally unnecessary.  Instead of creating 115 builds for us, they should just give us the instructions for creating unlimited builds ourselves.  But of course, that would mean selling fewer books.

For my game, I don't think I'd actually name the classes, but instead have "packages" based on the combat roles: Defender, Striker, Controller, Leader.  I might break it up a little further, such as dividing "Leader" into "Buffer" and "Healer", or "Striker" into "Ranged Striker" and "Melee Striker".  I'd also have a "Versatile" package for those jack-of-all-trades types.  But I wouldn't give the classes actual names.  Let the players decide how to define themselves.

I don't want to make things so complicated as to require build points, but I would like at least some versatility in character creation.  Everyone picks a major package and a minor package at first level.  The major packages will define your combat role, contribute to your hit points, determine Weapon/Armor proficiencies, and grant class features.  The minor packages would give additional bonuses or features that either compliment the major package, or give the character unrelated skills to make him more versatile.  So the major package might include Sneak Attack or the ability to cast Arcane Spells, while the minor package might include First Strike or Ritual Casting.

Races
My RPG would be all about the races.  Borrowing a core mechanic from Gamma World, all my races would be "half" races.  This means everyone would pick two races for their character.  Now, this does not mean everyone would be half-breeds.  Most characters would still end up being full-blooded, but from a mechanical standpoint a full-blood Dwarf would actually be "Half Dwarf, half Dwarf."

It would work a bit like D&D 4e's hybrid classes, in that you would pick some stuff from each race.  Each race would have two stat bonuses to chose from, two skill bonuses to choose from, two special abilities to choose from, two encounter powers to choose from, and so on.  For example:

Lets say you want to make a half Elf, half Dragonborn.  Suppose the elf gets a bonus to DEX or WIS, and the Dragonborn gets a bonus to STR or CHA.  You choose the Elf's DEX and the Dragonborn's CHA.  We'll say the Elf has a bonus to Stealth or Arcana, and the Dragonborn has a bonus to Athletics or Intimidate.  You pick the Elf's bonus to Stealth and the Dragonborn's bonus to Athletics.  Maybe you'll take the Elf's ability to shift in rough terrain, but not the Elf's ability to meditate instead of sleep.  Perhaps you take the Dragonborn's breath weapon, but not his Dragonfear power.

But if instead you decide to just make a full-blown Elf, then you don't have to make the tough choices.  Take both stat bonuses, both skill bonuses, both abilities, both encounter powers, and so on.  And that's what most people would do, if only to fit the fluff.  While any combination of races would be mechanically possible, the cross-breeding restrictions would come from the campaign settings.  Each setting guide would include a list of which races are most common, and which combinations are possible in that universe.  Even in homebrew settings, if a DM doesn't like the idea of a half-Goliath/half-Halfing, then he can provide a list of allowed combinations.  LFR would have a list of allowed race combinations for tournament play.  Even if your home game made you roll your race randomly, the list would still be something like 1-19 = full races, 20 = mixed race (roll again twice on chart).

So no, I'm not actually trying to encourage a lot of weird half-races.  I just want them to be easier to create when they're needed.  The point is that instructions for crossing every race would be mechanically possible right from the core rulebook, so you don't have to dig out a lot of splatbooks when the party's Gnome impregnates a Human NPC.  And if you want a really wacky one-shot, have everybody roll both halves randomly. 

But I'd go even further.  All sentient humanoid races in the game would be playable, right out of the Monster Manual.  So you wouldn't be limited to Halfling/Humans or Gnome/Elves; you could also play a Lizardfolk/Orc or a Goblin/Kobold, assuming your DM and the campaign setting allow it.  Granted, a lot of creatures in the monster manual aren't balanced for PC play, but I'd design the base "playable race" stats first, and then add "monster packages" to them to make them usable as enemies.  Kind of like how D&D 4e gives you instructions for designing your own monsters, but the Monster Manual is basically a collection of creatures made using those rules.

Anyway, I really want race to be an important part of defining your character.  Too many RPGs seem to focus on Class, as if someone's occupation defines everything they do in life.  I swear, most of my friends have no idea what I do for a living.  They don't call me "Matt the Banker", and I don't want my character to be simply known as "Dalia the Ardent".  Meanwhile, there's a lot of interesting fluff in each race's cultural background, stuff that seems to get forgotten once the dice start rolling.  So with that in mind, in my RPG I'd like as many features to come from race as they do from class.  It starts with each character having two encounter powers (one from each race if a mixed), but I'd like them to continue getting more features at future levels.  For example, at odd-numbered levels they'd get something from their race, and at even levels they'd get something from their class. 

Hit Points and Healing
This is a rough one for me.  I hate slow healing, so I can't go with the older versions of D&D.  Whether your campaign's about combat or exploration, I think it's important that characters be able to get back to it as soon as possible.  The idea of roleplaying six weeks of bed rest while your broken arm heals just isn't exciting to me.

On the other hand, healing shouldn't be too easy, either.  Gamma World allows you to get all your hit points back after a short rest, which fits the light-hearted, whimsical nature of the Gamma World universe.  But D&D is generally a more serious game, and players shouldn't have unrestricted access to free healing.

D&D 4e seems like a good compromise.  You can heal during short rests, but not forever.  Still, the "healing surge" system has always felt a little clunky to me.  The idea that healing spells and potions won't work at all if you're out of surges kind of irked me.  I understand why the system was necessary - if you can heal by resting, there needs to be some way to restrict you from having unlimited healing - but I'm still not a fan.

Dragon Age has an interesting solution.  It lets you regain some hit points from a short rest, but only once after each combat, so you can't just keep taking short rests until full.  You can also make heal checks on each other for a few hit points, after which the recipient can't benefit from heal checks again until after the next time he takes damage.  So it's got the easy healing, with restrictions, without having a complicated "surges" system.  But it's still not what I'd do.

Also, the (pre-Saga) Star Wars d20 RPG has a neat system involving Vitality/Wounds.  It's not exactly what I'm looking for, but I like the concept enough to steal from it a little.

Personally, I think I would separate hit points into two nearly equal numbers: Stamina and Health.  So if a character would normally 40 hit points, in my system she might have 18 Stamina and 22 Health.  Much like temporary hit points, damage would come off of Stamina first.  These are the hits that you manage to deflect, punches you just shrug off, scrapes that cause temporary pain but no damage, and blows that knock the wind out of you without actually harming you.  Once your Stamina is gone, that represents you having a harder time deflecting hits.  When you take the first hit that actually damages your Health, that's when you're considered Bloodied.  These are the attacks that actually break the skin: the cuts, bruises, burns, sprains, and sometimes even mental scars.

After battle, our hero takes a short rest, and gets all her Stamina back.  She does not, however, get any Health back.  She can get small amount of health back through an extended rest (say, 1 point per level plus her CON mod, but never less than 1 per night even if CON is her dump stat).  A successful heal check (once per day) can increase that number a little bit.  And of course there's always magical healing.  But even if she can't get healed, as long as she has at least one Health point, she can keep adventuring on Stamina alone.  Maybe it's not realistic for this fighter with broken bones and major lacerations to be battling on pep alone, but realism's relative in D&D.

So if you're good, you'll get through most fights without actually losing much Health.  Sure, you'll lose all your Stamina, but just a couple of Health points, and next battle you'll have all your Stamina back.  After about three battles, your Health might be low enough to actually cause you concern, and that's when you start thinking about finding a place to camp.

Now, an obvious problem: if magic still works the way it does in 4e, it's too easy to get Health back.  The party Cleric will just use both his Healing Words, rest 10 minutes to get them back, wash, rinse, repeat until the party is healed.  So if I used Encounter Powers in my game, I'd have to nix any that involve healing.  Instead, most Encounter Powers would just restore Stamina to keep characters standing during battle, but actual Health-restoring powers would be more along the lines of "x times per day".  I'd also have to keep Health potions on the rare side, with most stores selling Stamina potions instead.

Your maximum hit points would come from both race and class.  I'm thinking your race would give you Health (since it's innate durability), and your class would give you Stamina (since it gives you the training to avoid injury).

Magic
Maybe I play too many video games, but I like "magic points" (or mana) better than encounter powers or "x spells per level per day" systems.  But I also don't want characters to ever completely run out of spells.  So every magic user would have one basic "Magic Missile" type spell that requires no mana.  Or maybe it only costs 1 mana point, and magic users would regenerate 1 mana per round.  In any event, they'd never have to buy a crossbow like they did in older editions.

Of course, to be compatible with my Hit Point system (above), there would still be some spells that only work a certain number of times per day.  Perhaps Wizard-types would use a mana system, while Cleric-types would be on a "spells per day" system.

Rather than bog down the book with 1000 spells, I think I'd just list a few, along with instructions for designing your own.  For example, in a normal RPG book, the Druid and the Wizard might have a similar "burst 1 in 10" spell.  Why list it twice?  Sure, the Wizard's might have ongoing fire damage, and the the Druid's might create a zone of vines that hold you in place, but you could could choose the after-effect yourself while designing the spell.  Different after-effects would affect how much mana it costs to cast, and whether the spell is even castable at your level.  Same goes for damage dice, range, burst size, whether it affects all creatures or enemies-only, and so on.  You would design these spells each level as you learn them, and you would supply your own fluff.  Later I would release a splat book full of nothing but pre-designed spells, but it wouldn't be required reading.

Stats
I'm really undecided on this one.  I prefer fluff to crunch, and I favor simplicity.  I want someone to be able to roll up a character in five minutes, even if they've never played before.  So I don't really need the whole 10=0, 12=1, 14=2 thing.  I know existing players have been used to the system for years, but whenever I try explaining it to new players, their eyes glaze right over.  Some people get confused on when to use their full stat, and when to just use the mod.  Several 4e newbies have reported using their CON mod instead of their full CON when figuring up their starting hit points, with disastrous results.  Are both really necessary?  If I'm generally only going to use the Stat Modifier, then I'm happy just letting that be the stat.  So instead of having stats like 14, 17, 20, etc, my stats would be more like 2, 3, 5.  I think.

On the other hand, I like how some of D&D's stats are so easy to quantify.  Multiply your STR by 10, and you have the maximum pounds your character can lift.  Multiply your INT stat by 10, and it's roughly equivalent to real life IQ points (100 being average, most PCs being well above average).  And as I understand it, for games that use a d20, having most of the numbers in the game start at 10 helps with the math.  But do I even want to use a d20?  If I'm really going for simplicity, I might want to use a d6 system - everybody's got d6's in the house somewhere.  No, forget that, I really like 20-sided dice.

And on yet another hand, I'm not sure I even want body-related stats like that.  I wouldn't be totally against combining all your stats, skills, defenses, etc into one basic list.  So instead of STR, CON, etc, you'd have "Melee Fighting", "Magic Defense", and so on mixed in with skills like Athletics and Bluff.  ...nah, that's too messy.

And how do I want to arrive at these stats?  I'm rather partial to the Gamma World method - just assigning 18 to your primary stat, 16 to your secondary (20 if both are the same), and rolling the rest.  But I'd have to think on that for how to translate that into my system.  Note that rest of this blog post pretty much assumes I'm going with standard D&D stats.  But I'm not set on it.

Weapons
I'd go the Gamma World route:  Instead of listing 1000 weapons, I'd just have a few weapon templates.  If you want to call your sword a katana or a club or even a stop sign, that's up to you.  But we only need one or two listings for each weapon die.  But once again, I'm probably losing money on potential book sales.

Feats
I like the feat system they used in some of the Star Wars games.  Rather than feats having other feats as prerequisites, each feat just has three levels.  So instead of having "Ambidexterity", "Two Weapon Fighting", and "Improved Two Weapon Fighting", you'd just have "Two Weapon Fighting" I, II, and III.

Powers / Special Attacks
While I appreciate the way D&D 4e finally gave fighters more things to do besides basic attacks, I really don't think each class needs 20 pages of powers.  Instead, I'd make a generic list of things all characters can do as they attack, such as push someone 1 square or knock them prone.  But some characters would be better at performing these than others (in other words, some will be DEX-based, others will be STR-based, etc).

Skills
If I did decide to go with a traditional skill list, I don't think I'd need a super-large list of specific skills on the character sheet.  I'd probably just give you bonuses based on your related stats, and a few blanks where you can write in specific talents.  I'd like the player to have some amount of leeway to come up with their own skill names, based on previous occupations or hobbies.  So what if the Player's Handbook doesn't list shoe repair as a skill?

Death and Dying
I'm not big on death in RPGs, but I know I'm in the minority there, so I'd have a couple of optional methods.  Personally I like the way they do it in the Final Fantasy video games - if a hero falls in battle, they are K.O.'d.  As long as one character outlives the final monster, then everyone else is brought up to 1 hit point after the fight.  They only die if the entire party is defeated.  And even then, only if the villain wants them dead.  Capturing them might take the plot in new interesting directions.

When I DM, and one of the characters dies, I typically ask the player, "Do you want him to be dead, and roll up a new character?  Or do you want me to find a way for him to live?"  I'm creative, so I can find ways for them to live, maybe even ways that will make them wish they had died.  A lot of times the player will actually pick death because it's more dramatic, and because they want to try a different class.  To me it's more about trying to make the most interesting story, than it is about trying to get the best die rolls.  If you want to make it more limited, you could reward players with "Get Out Of Death Free" cards for good roleplay.  Or you could offer to bring a character back if the player will write a short story about their experience in the afterlife, and why their god allowed them to return.  Because, you know, people love homework.

Anyway, since most people prefer a more hardcore game, I'm forced to consider more popular death systems.  I don't like 4e's "3 saving throw" system, it just leaves too much to random fate.  It means that no matter how tough you are, everyone will die within (on average) six rounds of hitting 0.  I think I'd prefer a bleeding system, where you lose some hit points per round until you die at negative bloodied value.  That way people with more hit points take longer to die, which makes sense to me.  Though I might not mind the "3 saving throw" idea if you get a bonus to that throw equal to your CON mod; that way people with higher CON are still harder to kill.

Pets, Familiars, and Mounts
4e has several independent systems for how to deal with animal companions, and not a one of them makes a damn bit of sense.  Depending on whether your animal is a Beast Companion, or a summon, or a familiar, or whatever, the animal has a different set of rules for its actions.  For example, a summoned Golden Lion allows has you spend your Minor actions to order it to use its Standard/Move/Minor actions.  A Beast Ranger's companion shares his Move actions, but not his Standard, and they can only attack simultaneously if a power allows them to do so.

In my RPG, if you have an animal companion, then you run it as a second character.  I know it's not fair that some people to get to run two characters.  I know it takes more time to go around the table.  But you know what else takes a lot of time?  Re-explaining 4e's animal companion system every frikkin time it's the Beast Ranger's turn (believe me, I've been there).  Sometimes it's better just to have simpler rules, even if they aren't 100% balanced.

Time Resources
I like 4e's Standard/Move/Minor.  One thing I would change, though:  In my RPG, drinking a potion is a minor action, period.  No "1 minor to draw, 1 minor to quaff."  No "I'll draw a potion on this turn, so I can drink it on my next turn."  I don't care if you keep it in your backpack, your boot, or your underwear.  When you say, "I drink a potion", then that's a minor.  If that's too much for your suspension of disbelief (and yet you have no problem believing in trolls), then we'll re-fluff it so they aren't in your backpack.  Maybe in my universe, potions are made in pill form, which people attach to their wristbands for easy popping.  But however the fluff describes it, it's a single minor action.

Micro-Managing
I'm not a fan.  The options for micro-management will be there for the groups that want it, but there will lots of "outs" for those who don't like that sort of thing.

In my system, money is weightless and denomination doesn't matter.  Coins are made out of some extremely light metal, and merchants have no qualms about making change for people.  Or maybe everybody is just issued a magic debit card at birth.  Maybe it's not even a "card" so much as your account is tied to a magical tattoo, so the DMs aren't tempted to target the party's treasure.  (No offense, DMs, and I know getting robbed is valid drama... but if you didn't want the party to have so much gold, maybe you shouldn't have placed that big treasure chest in that last dungeon.)

All characters will be issued a solar-rechargeable magic sunrod.  It is a minor action to activate, and clips to your clothing so you don't have to hold it.  As long as you keep it clipped to the outside of your clothing for a couple of hours each day, it will shine for 8 continuous hours in the dark.  However, some dungeons might be filled with magical darkness, limiting the sunrod's functionality.

If you have the skill to use a bow, then you have the skill to retrieve and repair your arrows after battle.  Ditto for bolts and sling bullets.  You also have the skill to make your own ammo from materials found in the forest.  This process does not need to be roleplayed or even mentioned, since it is an assumed hobby your character does during his downtime.  Any ranged weapon +1 or higher has unlimited magical ammo.

It is assumed that characters do odd jobs between actual quests, earning them enough money to break even on rent, food, and other necessities of life.  It is also assumed that all characters know how to live in the world they were born in.  That means they know how to find food when they can't buy it, either through hunting or foraging.  My campaign settings will be full of fruit-bearing trees and edible lichens.  Unless you're specifically in a storyline where starvation is supposed to be risk, eating simply doesn't need to be mentioned.

Miniatures
I love miniatures, and I always want to use them.  But I don't want the game to require them.  So all the bursts and blasts and other effects are going to have to be a little less complicated than they are in 4e.  But I have played 4e without miniatures, and while the action felt a little less precise, it still worked.  Granted, it was a low-combat campaign and we were playing simple classes.  My goal would be to make my RPG just simple enough to work well without minis, but most people would still use them.

Balance and Errata
A lot of RPGs use the "Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards" method:  Magic users suck at low levels, and rock at high levels.  Meanwhile, Fighters just progress steadily, and gradually become less interesting as time goes on.  D&D 4e made every possible effort to balance all the classes, attempting to make all of them equally useful (some critics say equally boring) at all levels.  They went on to release errata every five minutes, nerfing any possible advantage one class might have as soon as said advantage was discovered.

I'm all for some balance.  I don't want anyone to feel useless or fragile at any level.  But I don't want to obsess about it either.  If someone discovers a trick that makes their Striker do more damage, I'm going to accept the fact that "doing more damage" is a Striker's frikkin' job, and get on with my life.  (Unless, of course, the trick is so unbalancing that the game is no longer challenging... but that hasn't been the case for most of 4e's errata.)  Some people play for the story.  Balance and errata aren't an issue for them.  Other people pick a system apart looking for advantageous builds.  They're going to find a way to  build nuclear characters no matter how much errata you release.  I say, let the min/maxers have their fun.  Once they crack the system, they'll move on to something else, leaving this game for those who enjoy it for less munchkiny reasons.

Character Builder
There would definitely be a character builder.  This builder would be a available for multiple platforms, including phone apps.  The builder would not be free, as it would make buying the books obsolete.  However, you would get a download code for the builder when you buy the Player's Handbook.  When you buy other future splatbooks, you would get more download codes that update the builder with the content from that book.

Character Sheets
I want the character sheets to be relatively short.  My biggest problem with 4e's character sheets is that you have to keep going back and forth to different pages.  All your important stats are on the front page, but to use your powers (which you will, every turn) you have flip until you find the right power card page.  Plus, they waste some room by showing their math.  By this, I mean instead of just saying "AC: 20", it also shows the numbers that add up to AC (10+1/2 Level+Armor+Ability+Class+Feat+Enhancement+Misc).  It's good to have those numbers on hand in case there's a dispute, and it helps someone figure out the numbers initially, but there's no reason it needs to be hogging up space on the front page.

When I play 4e, I tend to make my own character "cheat sheets" on a spreadsheet.  These sheets have all my character's most important information on them: stats, skills, hit points, power summaries, and so on.  But not the math that got me there.  I still keep the full character sheet handy in case I need to see how I arrived at these numbers, but I rarely have to look at anything besides my one-page spreadsheet.  It's not easy to fit everything on one page, especially if the character has a lot of complicated spells.  And it gets harder and harder as the character gains levels.

Sample 4e Cheat Sheet (click to enlarge)

 So one reason I would want my RPG to be as simple as possible, is so that everything can be summarized on one page.  Remember, this is the 21st century - these sheets have to look good on an iPhone.

Conclusion
That's about all I can come up with for now.  I don't think this would be the perfect RPG by any means, and I don't think it would have universal appeal.  It's just a lot of ideas for a game I would be interested in playing.  While it's fun to speculate about what the next D&D will be like, the game described above probably ain't it.

Unlikely Heroes: Curing Lycanthropy the Easy Way

Game Date: 1/7/2012
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Dalia Lockwood (Matt): Human Ardent
Durp the Oblivious (Cliff): Half-Elf Bard
Keyanna (Chere): Half-Elf Sorcerer
Marrick (Greg): Dwarf Knight
Starr (Star): Eladrin Paladin
Teddi the StirgeSlayer (Ted):  Dwarf Warlock

The Session:
Last session got interrupted mid-battle, so today we started right in the middle of the action.  We still faced one stirge (attached to Teddi's face), some vines (we thought we could just get away from them and be okay, but they turned out to be ambulatory), and Jevra (our teenage ward turned werewolf).  Things looked pretty bleak for a while, but we finally turned it around.  Teddi got sick of his face hugging foe, so he pulverized the stirge with a Daily power.  Then we concentrated on Jevra, and continued hacking away at her even after she was down, just to make sure she didn't regenerate.  Once we were all free to concentrate on the vines, it didn't take long to finish them off.

This would be a good time to say some kind words in memory of Jevra... but most of our party didn't really know her that well.  The characters who knew her best are all gone now, with Durp being the only long-term party member.  Being a bard, perhaps he could write a touching eulogy once we get back to town.  But for now, we're in a race to find some Druid artifacts before a rival party gets them.

Now that we weren't in danger, we could look around the area more thoroughly.  Last session Marrick found a breastplate.  A closer examination revealed it to be Astral Fire Armor, one of the five Druid items we were sent to find.  That still leaves us a wand, a vial, a staff, and a codex.  We did find a ring, and finally got to study the inscriptions on the stone monoliths.  The writings gave us clues as to where to look for the other artifacts. 

After looking at the inscriptions, we decided to head East.  We considered taking an extended rest before setting out, because we'd used a lot of Dailies, and some of our party members were low on surges.  But time was also an issue here, so we put it off for one more fight.  We marched East for a while, eventually picking up some tracks that might have been our rivals.  The tracks ended in some foliage near the mouth of a cave.  We entered the cave.

The cave split off in a couple of different directions.  As we began to discuss which way to explore first, Teddi wandered off.  Not the slightest bit concerned about his lack of a light source, our mad priest just felt his way along the walls until he entered a large, pitch black chamber.  There he was attacked by a mutant bear and three large bats.  The rest of the party heard the ruckus and came to his aid.

After the battle, we found a chest.  Inside was a wand-shaped depression.  Could it be the wand on our Druid list?  If so, where is it?  Did the rival party get here first and take it?  We took an extended rest in the cave, then headed back to the grove.  Following the clue from another inscription, we headed Southeast.

As we neared our destination, we heard a thumping sound.  Then we reached a large hollow tree.  High up on the tree, there was rod-like object attached to the tree by a rope.  The thumping sound came from the rod hitting the tree as it swayed in the breeze.  Teddie managed to break the rope with an Eldritch blast, but this attracted some enemies.  We now faced three stirges and a large beetle.

The beetle came from inside the tree, and Marrick made sure to keep him there.  Soon our party was split in two:  Our three melee fighters fought the beetle inside the tree, while our three ranged characters fought the stirges outside.  Once the fight was over, we investigated the object Teddi had knocked off the tree.  It was a large leg bone.  Inside the bone was a scroll containing three rituals.  This was the codex on our list.  Two down, three to go.

And that's where we ended the session.

Update: Race/Class Build List

I've finally updated my Race/Class Build List to include races/builds from Heroes of the Feywild.  It's basically a list of all the races and class builds in D&D 4e, and which race/build combinations have the best stat synergy.  Wow, 4e has 26 classes now, and 115 builds for those classes.  It also has 32 PC races, plus 11 monster races, making 43 playable races.

Please let me know if you see any mistakes on the list.

Click to Download

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas... now roll initiative.

Seasons greetings to my gaming group, my gamer friends, my blog readers, and anyone else who happens to stumble across this page.  Have a wonderful holiday!

Unlikely Heroes: Game, Interrupted

Game Date: 12/10/2011
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Dalia (Matt): Human Ardent
Durp the Oblivious (Cliff): Half-Elf Bard
Keyanna (Chere): Half-Elf Sorcerer
Marrick (Greg): Dwarf Knight
Teddi (Ted):  Dwarf Warlock

Last Session:
I missed the 12/3/2011 session, and had to have the other players fill me in.  Here is a quick recap of what I missed, courtesy of the other players:

We left town to search for some Druids to cure Jevra.  On our way through the woods, we saw a pack of wolves feeding on a corpse.  We chose not to fight them, and just skirted their way around the pack.   Derp found a magic dagger.  The party then came across another town, and went to the inn.  While there, a ranger accosted Derp, claiming that the dagger belonged to him.  This resulted in a bar fight with the ranger's party.  The brawl went on for a while until the sheriff arrived and broke it up.

During the fight, a valuable shroud was burned.  The shroud belonged to a professor, and the sheriff held both parties responsible.  Also, during the night, the dagger was stolen from the sheriff and our party was not allowed to leave town until we found it.  We eventually found it in a stable, having been stolen by a gnome's familiar.

Since the shroud was priceless, the professor came up with a task for us instead of paying for it.  He wants our party to find some druids and ask them a favor.  He wants to borrow some artifacts from them for scientific purposes.  Since we were looking for druids anyway, it seemed like a fair punishment.  Plus we now have a map, so we're not wandering around the forest aimlessly. Our party also hopes to track down the ranger's party and get a little payback.  Gee, I hope these woods are safe...

Today's Session:
As we were getting to leave the inn, we discovered that we couldn't find Glynnyn.  She appeared to have left town, and we wondered if she left with the ranger's party.  We entered the woods and began tracking the other party's footprints.  After a bit of hiking, we triggered a trap.  Merrick and Keyanna quickly found themselves hanging upside down from a rope.  We then heard some rustling in the woods, and were attacked by a werewolf and four wolves.

The wolves were easy enough, but the werewolf meant business.  It had a nasty burst attack that hurt us a lot.  It took Keyanna a few rounds to get herself free of the trap, and Marrick spent even longer as a Dwarf piñata. Eventually the werewolf tried to flee, but we managed to overtake it and finish it off.  Teddi was bitten during the fight, and has contracted Moon Frenzy.

After the battle, Teddi found a scroll of "Speak with Dead".  We continued to follow our map until we reached a clearing.  We saw a circle of stones, with a mass of moving vines in the middle.  A wolf was being engulfed by the writhing vines.  We considered trying to help the wolf, but having already been attacked by wolves today, we just watched it for a while.  Finally Teddi ran up to help it, got grabbed by the vines, and teleported back to freedom.

There was Elvish writing carved in the stones.  Keyanna translated one passage as:  "Two miles towards the Sun's first fire, the Earth's embrace will steal its ire."  She wanted to read the other side of the stones, but couldn't see enough from her position.  So she climbed a nearby tree and tried to climb out over the stone circle on one of the branches.  It didn't work out like she'd hoped.  On top of one of the monoliths was a suit of plate armor and a panther.  And it turned out the tree was full of stirges.

We were attacked by one large stirge, four stirge suckerlings, the panther, and of course the vines.  Early in the battle, Merrick climbed up onto the monolith to fight the panther.  The vines kept grabbing him and trying to pull him off, but being a dwarf he was able to resist their pulling.  While he faced the panther, the rest of us picked off the suckerling minions.  The big stirge attached itself to Teddi, and he'd already used up his one teleport power.  Jevra ran off and hid between some trees, but then transformed into a werewolf herself.  She came back out and attacked the party in her wolfy form.  Merrick finally killed the panther, but was unable to rejoin the party because the vines still held him in place.

We had to end our session early due to some real-life concerns.

Reminders:
Due to the holiday season, we might not play again for a few weeks, so we'll want to keep a good record of where we left off.

We're still in battle, and the battle isn't going very well.  We've used up a lot of our Encounter powers and Dailies, and most of us are low on hit points.  There are three enemies left: the vines, the large stirge, and Jevra.  None of them are bloodied yet.  The vines aren't much a problem, if Merrick can just get away from them.  The stirge is still stuck to Teddi's face, and is hard to hit because it gets an AC bonus when grabbing something.  Jevra might be our biggest concern.  She hits hard - she hit Dalia twice in one round, taking two-thirds of Dalia's hit points.  Since we've used up most of our healing options, we can't afford to take many more hits from her.  Also, Dalia may have contracted Moon Frenzy.

Initiative Order (As best we remember it):
Marrick
Stirge
Teddi
Vines
Dalia
Jevra
Durp
Keyanna

Unlikely Heroes: Magic Carpet Ride

Game Date: 11/26/2011
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Dalia (Matt): Human Ardent
Durp the Oblivious (Cliff): Half-Elf Bard
Glynnyn (Tamara): Elf Druid
Keyanna (Chere): Half-Elf Sorcerer
Marrick (Greg): Dwarf Knight

The Session:
Last session we barely survived an epic battle with a Beholder and a gaggle of Wights.  This left us in a poor state, and our plan to take an extended rest was foiled by the arrival of several more undead.  We huddled in a side room, while our only escape was blocked by a large number of Kobold Zombies.  We hadn't even managed to get a short rest in, and our party was desperately low on healing surges.  Things looked pretty grim.

Only 16 of 'em?  Bring it on!

Fortunately, they were all minions.  Keyanna took out a good number of them with her blast attacks, and none of us took much damage during the fight.  After our victory, we finally took our well-deserved extended rest in the side crypt, while Payday and his lumberjack cronies guarded the door.  Once we were rested, Marrick climbed up the walls of the Beholder's chamber, through the magical fog, but didn't find anything of interest. 

The next room was full of rubble from old statues, making the entire room difficult terrain.  Marrick and Dalia were the first to enter, and were quickly hit by crossbow bolts.  We suddenly faced a pair of Undead Kobold Marauders, four Zombies, and their leader:  the newly-reanimated Kobold King Merlokrep, whom we had defeated a few sessions ago.  It wasn't easy, but we came out on top.

The final room contained a large sarcophagus made of carved coral, and four bound lumberjack prisoners.  Inside the sarcophagus we found a Mercurial Rod, and a stone tablet inscribed with a strange language.  Inside the Kobold King's skull we found an amber gemstone with floating runes inside.  While holding the gemstone (a "Polyglot Gem"), Keyanna found she was able to read the text on the stone tablet.  It read "Zelfin Cova" in the Azlanti language.

When we got back to town, Kreed finally unlocked our tower for us.  We reunited with Durp in town, even though he was supposed to be out of town with Ranell for a couple of weeks.  (Derp: "I forgot my lute.")  The next morning, we discovered that we'd all contracted Mummy Rot.  On our way to the church to get treated, we heard that several of the lumberjacks from our party had died overnight, including the four we'd rescued.  Apparently we'd brought back a plague, and the Rot was spreading through town.

The cleric at the church was working on a cure, but it would take a few days and require some materials that weren't found in town.  Kreed came to see us again and asked us to go to the town of Olfden for supplies to fight the plague.  (Aren't his own employees good for anything besides cutting down trees?)  Marrick volunteered first, but Kreed hasn't really trusted him since the dwarf threw a hammer at him last session.  Instead, Durp made the trip solo, using a magic carpet borrowed from Kreed.  (Everybody now, "I can show you the world...")

He was gone four days, during which the rest of us had to make heal/endurance checks to stay ahead of the disease.  He did a little shopping while he was there, and traded a Sacrificial Longsword we'd found for a more useful Songblade.  By the time he got back to Falcon's Hollow, the rest of our party had been cured through die rolls.  But the supplies were still needed by the town, so it wasn't a wasted trip.

We then learned about some murders in town.  Three people had died by the docks, and had wounds that might have been made by an animal.  We headed straight for the church, to see if our favorite Teen Wolf Jevra had been involved.  The priestess didn't seem to think Jevra had been getting out, but she did say that Jevra had been a discipline problem ever since she learned about the deaths of Vex and Davor.

We decided we needed to get Jevra out of town fast.  We didn't want to chance the townsfolk pointing fingers at her, and we weren't so sure we trusted her ourselves.  We'd been planning on taking her to the local Druids soon when we had the time, to see if they could cure her lycanthopy.  Off we go!  Wait, not yet.  We had to postpone our trip for legal reasons.

We'd been waiting for a certain lawyer to come to town, so that we could finalize the legality of our adventuring company.  We didn't want to have to rewrite our tower's lease every time our group's membership changed, so we legally established a name for ourselves.  No longer are we just unlikely heroes, from now on we're officially known as...

(We briefly considered the name "Durp's Bitches".)

We also signed a three year lease on the tower.  We have a remodeling contract for the tower for 10,000 gold (we already have 4 thousand towards that from our dealings with Kreed).  It should take about 8 months for the work on the tower to be completed.  We also decided to go ahead and employ a couple of hirelings to stay in the tower for upkeep and security purposes.  For this, we sought out some of the kids we'd worked with on our previous adventures.

We knew that Hollin's sister Ralla was working as a prostitute, and figured it might not be the best job for a girl her age, so we looked for her first.  We arrived at the brothel, the Rouge Lady, but it wasn't open yet.  Nevertheless, Durp knocked repeatedly on the door.

*knock knock knock* "Hookers."  *knock knock knock* "Hookers."  *knock knock knock* "Hookers."

A window opened up above us, and a couple of annoyed guys dumped a chamber pot on Keyanna's head.  She wasn't thrilled. Merrick and Durp kept knocking, and one of the men upstairs aimed a crossbow at them.  Durp shot him with his own crossbow, and Merrick broke into the brothel through a window.  After Merrick let the rest of the party in, a noseless Half-Orc angrily entered the room and asked us what the hell we were doing here.  It was Kabran Bloodeye, head of thieves guild.

We asked to buy Ralla's contract, which he agreed to do for 300 gold.  Afterwards, we found Ralla and Hollin, and put them to work in the tower.  Now that we'd tied up a bunch of loose ends, we got ready for our trip to find the Druids.   And we'll pick up from there next week.

Unlikely Heroes: I Only Have Eyes For You... And You... And You...

Game Date: 11/19/2011
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Dalia (Matt): Human Ardent
Glynnyn (Tamara): Elf Druid
Keyanna (Chere): Half-Elf Sorcerer
Marrick (Greg): Dwarf Knight

The Session:
Last session we fought a small kobold army in a lumberjack camp, resulting in the deaths of three party members.  As long as the party was going through drastic changes, we decided to switch systems, abandoning Pathfinder and returning to D&D 4e.  We're also trying out the "inherent bonus" system (DMG2 p.138), and keeping magic items to a minimum.

The surviving party members headed back home, devastated by their recent loss.  Upon reaching the city, their first order of business was to take care of their dead.  Since their players were absent, Durp and Ranell volunteered to deliver Davor's body back to his family.  This left Keyanna and Glynnyn to plan the burials of Vex and Adrilar.  They headed for the church to make arrangements.

Meanwhile, Dalia Lockwood arrived in town.  She is a member of the Eagle Knights, on an undercover mission to learn more about Kreed.  Her organization has been suspicious of him for a while, but they haven't successfully gathered any evidence of his misdeeds.  Lately there have been rumors about a group of adventurers who refused to join Kreed's payroll.  Dalia hopes to speak to these heroes and see if they've seen anything that might help her.  Her first few attempts to learn of their whereabouts were fruitless, but eventually she spoke to the right people and learned where to find the party.

A thick-skinned dwarf named Marrick came to town as well.  He is looking for information about the Dwarven Monastery, and has been searching for his lost uncle Glintaxe.  After asking around a bit, he was pointed in the right direction.

At the church, Keyanna had the sad duty of informing Jevra (our young lycanthropic ward) about the deaths of her adoptive parents.  Jevra didn't take it well, but Keyanna promised her that the rest of the party would still take care of her.

Soon, Marrick entered the church and introduced himself.  Keyanna told him what she knew of Glintaxe and the monastery, and Marrick joined the party.  Shortly afterward, Dalia also arrived and introduced herself.  While the adventurers couldn't provide her with any additional evidence against Kreed, they were exactly the kind of group Dalia was looking to join:  people who have done jobs for Kreed without actually aligning themselves with him. Dalia plans to stay with the group for a while, so that she can collect the information she needs.

The party attempted to return to the tower, but found that they were now locked out.  Apparently our contract was in the names of Davor and Snidely, both now deceased.  We spoke to Kreed about the issue, but the meeting did not get off to a good start.  Marrick lost his temper quickly, and tried to attack Kreed.  Keyanna quickly stepped in and prevented the fight from going further.  Once things calmed down, Kreed offered us a deal.  Fulfill our obligations with him - that is, make up for the mission we just botched - and he would alter the contract to cover all the members of our ever-evolving group.  We're not allowed to enter the tower again until the mission is complete.

Reports say zombies have taken some human prisoners at a place called "Cold Marsh".  We left town right away, accompanied by Payday and more of Kreed's men.  We reached our destination, a gargantuan burial mound.  As we started down the stairs into the crypt, we were attacked from behind by a pair of Shadows.  Dalia never managed to hit once this encounter; not a good start to my character. We continued down the stairs and found a room full of fountains, where we defeated three Lesser Water Elementals.

The next room was a large open area with what appeared to be clouds up above us, obscuring the ceiling.  There was a smaller room to our left from which we heard moaning, and we could hear laughter coming from the hallway on the far end of the room.  Marrick was a few steps into the room when a blast hit him from above.  A Beholder floated down out of the clouds. 

The Beholder hovered above us, forty feet in the air, which was frustrating since most of us don't have ranged attacks.  Since she couldn't hit the enemy, Glynnyn decided to explore the adjoining room, which was full of sarcophagi.  She found a magic sword (that's good!), but she also woke the dead (that's bad).

The Beholder finally came down, and we hacked at it with all our might.  As it got closer to death, the battle was joined by a Wraith, three Wights, and two Deathlock Wights.  It was a difficult battle, and we lost a lot of surges.  By the end of the battle, Glynnyn was completely out of surges and low on hit points.

After the fight, our immediate plan was to hole up in the smaller crypt room, and take turns guarding the door so we could take an extended rest.  However, as we moved towards the crypt, we heard some noises approaching from down the hall.  We ended the session on that unsettling note.

Character - Dalia

This is my new character in the "Unlikely Heroes of Darkmoon Vale" campaign.

Full Name:
Dalia Lockwood

Class:
Ardent

Race:
Human

Gender:
Female

Alignment:
Good

Deity:
Sarenrae

Background:
As a teen, Dalia lived a charmed life.  She wasn't from a wealthy or prestigious family, but somehow she was unusually popular with her peers.  Doors were always opened for her, both literally and figuratively.  She never thought much about why, she just figured she deserved it for being pretty.  The idea that she might have some latent mental powers, and that she might be subconsciously influencing people with her mind... well, her thoughts just didn't run that deep.

When she was twenty, she met a soldier named Duncan Cwyburn.  He was an officer of the Eagle Knights, a militia devoted to justice.  She was surprised to find that he was immune to her charms.  What's more, he recognized her psionic abilities for what they were, and convinced her that she could be more than just a pretty face.  She joined the Knights, where she learned to control her psionic abilities, for battle and for defense.  More importantly, they taught her to be a responsible person, instead of a petty socialite.

Dalia has always had a knack for the healing arts, so her primary training is in the field of combat medicine.  Two years have passed since Dalia began her training, and her superiors have decided it's time for her to get some field experience.  Recently stories have begun to spread about a group of busy adventurers in Falcon's Hollow, and their refusal to cooperate with the unscrupulous aristocrat Thuldrin Kreed.  The Knights have been eying Kreed's suspicious dealings for a while, but have neither the evidence nor the legal power to take any action against him.  Perhaps these new adventurers might know something?  Dalia has been sent to check it out.

Personality, Mannerisms, and Appearance:
Dalia has red hair and attractive features.  As a representative of the Eagle Knights, she is the epitome of courtesy and chivalry.  Her psionic-enhanced empathy, combined with her social training, sometimes allows her to gain control of conversations in order to get what she wants.  When insulted, she keeps her temper in check, and responds with the civility one would expect from a knight.  In short, she's nice... until it's time to not be nice.  Once things turn physical, she has no qualms about smashing faces and severing limbs.

Creating this character:
This character came together pretty much by itself.  I rolled her race and class randomly to get Human Ardent.  Our party has been greatly lacking a healer, so I mostly took healing options when building her.  I picked the "Knight Hospitaler" theme and the "Surgeon" background, after which her combat medic background practically wrote itself.  Going through my miniatures, I only found one that really fit the build, so I based the character's appearance on the mini.

Her name also sort of evolved by itself.  I wasn't really thinking about names while building her, so I kept calling her "Ardent" in my head.  Subconsciously this evolved into "Dale", probably because of Flash Gordon's "Dale Arden".  But I didn't really like the name Dale, so I morphed it into Dalia.

Unlikely Heroes: Kobold Katastrophe

Game Date: 11/12/2011
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Adrilar (Greg): Elf Sorcerer
Davor (Ted): Half-Orc Sorcerer
Glynnyn (Tamara): Elf Druid
Keyanna (Chere): Half-Elf Dragonblood Sorcerer
Nishallivexiania "Vex" Corman (Matt): Half-Elf Monk
Ranell (Michael): Halfling Barbarian

The Session:
Last session left off with us checking out a lumber camp.  When we got there, we were ambushed by a bunch of kobolds.  Adrilar went down, others were wounded, and things looked grim.  We ended the session on that cliffhanger.

So, after dreading this potential TPK for over a month, we started right where we left off.  We faced a large number of enemies, mostly kobolds and kobold zombies.  Ranell briefly considered shooting Vex in the leg and fleeing into the forest.

Adrilar was the first to go.  He got swarmed by kobold zombies, who continued to attack him after he went down.  They didn't leave him alone until they'd eaten his brain.  I'd make a joke about how it must have been a small meal, but I'll refrain out of respect for the dead.

(But I'm still thinking it.)

When the battle first began, Davor had been poking around in a small, two-room shack.  He heard some noises from the shack's other room, so he blocked the door by pushing a desk in front of it.  He then left the shack, and investigated a large shed.  In the shed he encountered a giant beetle, which very quickly killed him.

I think this picture speaks for itself.

Once we killed all the outdoor enemies, we had a brief respite.  We looted Adrilar's healing items and used them to get ourselves back up to full.  The survivors - Glyynyn, Keyanna, Vex, and Ranell - started looking for Davor.  None of us had seen him run into the shed, so we didn't even know he was dead yet.  Ranell and Vex went into the small shack, pushed the desk aside, and fought a few more kobolds and a swarm of bugs.  We'd had bad luck with swarms before, so after a couple of rounds we sealed the room again and went back outside.

Once outside, the giant beetle came scuttling out of the shed.  It was very hard to hit and did copious amounts of damage, but we stood our ground (for some reason).  Keyanna tried to cast Sleep on it, and rolled a crit on her attack roll.  Unfortunately, it turns out there is no attack roll for Sleep in Pathfinder, and Sleep only affects creatures of lower level than the beetle anyway.

The beetle knocked Ranell out and buried him in the ground.  Keyanna spent her next turn pulling Ranell out of the ground so he wouldn't suffocate. Vex was messily killed by the massive insect.  It was Glynnyn who finally delivered the killing blow against the beetle.

The final survivors were Glynnyn, Keyanna, Ranell, and of course Durp (because his player was absent, Durp stayed on the sidelines).  They found a cart and loaded it up with the bodies of their friends.  They decided to head back to town, and ended the session there.

Afterthoughts:
In an earlier blog I compared the pros and cons of Pathfinder and D&D 4e.  One of the bigger issues was combat length.  Part of the reason we switched to Pathfinder was that we were tired of 4e's incredibly long encounters.  Well, this entire session was a single encounter.  To be fair, we started a little late and ended a little early, but it was still a pretty long battle for Pathfinder.  I wonder how it would have played out in 4e.

Reminders:
Our party has just changed so drastically, and some of the players have been getting a little annoyed with Pathfinder.  We've decided to switch back to D&D 4e next session.  We're going to continue with the same storyline, and the surviving party members will be converting their characters to 4e versions.  I rolled my race and class randomly, and I will be playing a Human Ardent.

Also:
For those party members still alive to enjoy it, we now have blueprints for our tower.  It's probably going to cost a good deal more than we have right now, but it's a long-term project.  Pix below:

Miniatures: Exotic Mounts

A while back I posted about some Horse Mount Miniatures from StufferShack.com. It's a great idea: these horse miniatures are offset on their base, giving you room to set your rider mini on the same base.  But why stop at mundane horses?  More recently they've added some Exotic Mounts.  Your minis can now ride panthers, drakes, unicorns, griffons, and more.  So far I've only ordered one of them, the Tourqen Panther.  I plan to order a few more of them when I have some extra money.  These cost a little bit more that the horses, but they probably use harder-to-find minis.  They do have a buy-4-get-1-free deal, so you can save a little money there.

Here's some pics of my panther (click to view larger):

The Tourqen Panther

Panther with Rider

Mounted Party

Module: Death By Chocolate

Overview:
This is a just-for-fun one-shot Halloween/Easter module that doesn't take place in any particular universe or time period. This module's major gimmick is that it uses various types of candy instead of miniatures, and players get to eat what they kill.  It is not designed for any particular setting, though it does mention magic, Half-Orcs, Gnomes, and Half-Elves.  Even so, the story could easily be converted to most settings.

Preparation:
For starters, you'll need to buy some candy. What kind is up to you, though you do want pieces that can fit in 1x1 squares, as well as a few 2x2 sized candies. A variety would would be good, to represent the different kinds of monsters in the module. You might want to check with your players first to see if they have any special likes/dislikes or dietary restrictions. For sanitary reasons, I would use wrapped candies.  Good choices would be Hershey's Kisses, Starburst, Reese's Minis, and Rolos.

My suggested grocery list:
Hershey's Kisses (10) [Chocolate Zombies]
Reese's Miniatures (4) [Lesser Choclan]
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (2) [Choclan]
Reese's Big Cup (1) [Greater Choclan]
Rolos (4) [Carm Hounds]
Starburst (5 total; 4 must be different flavors)  [Fruit Imps]
Chocolate Bunny or other 2x2 chocolate character [Boss]
Ring Pops or Chocolate Coins [Treasure]

The Module:
"For whatever reason, your party has been traveling together for a few months now. You're on the road one night, and it's starting to get late. You're thinking about finding a good place to set up camp, when you see a side road. The road leads downhill into a valley, where you see a tiny town surrounded by farmland. The town wasn't on your map, probably because it's so small. But it looks like a good place to spend the night; better than sleeping in the woods, anyway."

"As you walk down the hill, you pass a sign that says 'Welcome to Hushley. Home of the World Famous Hushley Chocolate Factory.' Anybody want to give me a History check?" (Medium DC) Success: "You actually remember Hushley chocolates from when you were a kid. But you haven't seen them in years; you thought they'd stopped making them." Failure: "You've never heard of Hushley chocolates."

"The road leads straight into downtown, which is basically a single street lined with houses on both sides. Some of the houses double as businesses, with small signs that say things like 'Barber' or 'Blacksmith'. A few have candles flickering in the windows, but the only building that actually looks lively is the inn. The inn is about three houses down on the left. As you look farther down the street, you see that eventually the houses end, and the road starts to go back uphill. Farther up the hill, the road ends at a large mansion. There are no lights on in the mansion, and it looks to be in a state of disrepair. Most of the windows are broken, the shutters have fallen off, and a new paint job couldn't hurt."

Hopefully the PCs will stop at the Inn before checking out the mansion. However, if they head straight for the mansion, have someone stop them. Make up an NPC, possibly one of the patrons from the Inn below. "Hey, you! What are you doing? Don't go in there!" When the PCs ask about the mansion, have the NPC offer to tell them all about it, if they'll come to the inn first. Or just have the NPC tell them the whole story right here.

The Inn:
"All eyes are on you as you enter the inn. You see a bartender, a waitress, and eight patrons, all of whom stop their conversations as you walk through the door. They don't look angry or suspicious, just curious. This town probably doesn't get a lot of visitors."

The Bartender is friendly and offers the PCs a cheap room. The other patrons are eager to meet the out-of-towners, and some offer their various services to try to earn a little money. Eventually the PCs will probably ask about the mansion or the Chocolate Factory. It doesn't matter much who the PCs talk to, they all know the history of the town, and they all love to retell the story. As one patron relates the story, other patrons constantly interrupt with the parts they want to tell. If you want to expand this roleplay portion of the adventure, give each of them unique personalities and their own insights into the events.

The Inn Staff and Patrons:
William Leaubrau (Bartender) Human, Male. Very friendly and likes to tell stories.
Veruca Leaubrau (Waitress) Human, Female. Daughter of William. A bit lazy and distracted; tends to get drink orders wrong.
Augustus Durtham (Farmer) Human, Male. Doesn't say much, mostly grunts and nods. His sheep have been getting slaughtered lately.
Josephine Fitchpork (Farmer) Human, Female. Factory widow. Since her husband died, has been seeing her farmhand Gene.
Gene Strong (Farm Hand) Half-Orc, Male. Works for Josephine. Big and strong. Not very bright, but good heart.
Violet Lawton (Sheriff) Human, Female. Factory widow. Promoted from deputy after Sheriff Marlow died investigating the factory.
Michael Lennon (Clothier) Human, Male. Factory widower. Very manly (overcompensating), likes to show off his muscles.
Georgina Honeycutt (Barber) Human, Female. Factory widow. Always commenting on other people's hairstyles.
Charles Cook (Chef) Half-Elf, Male. Used to work at Chocolate Factory, had the day off when accident occurred. Always snacking.
Dodo Hushley (Undertaker) Gnome, Female. Niece of Reese Hushley. A bit nuts, but honest.

The History:
"The mansion once belonged to an old Gnome named Reese Hushley the Third. He was born rich, a bit on the eccentric side, and was something of a dabbler. His favorite hobbies were magic, alchemy, and cooking. He was a master dessert chef, who was always inventing new types of candies and chocolate confections. He found ways of using magic to invent new flavors, which were unlike anything anyone had tasted before. He liked to call himself a 'Choclomancer'.  He built a factory in his basement, and he became hugely successful. He employed more than half the town, and his chocolate creations were exported to cities all over this continent."

The Disaster:
"But one day he made a mistake. We're still not exactly sure what happened. He had been talking all week about some new flavor he'd discovered, and how it was going to be he greatest creation. He called it 'Planar Chocolate' and said that some of the ingredients were from another dimension. It's all he would talk about."

"Then the day finally came to start producing it. Nobody knows what went on inside the factory, but just a few seconds after the morning whistle blew, there was a 'BOOM' that shook the whole town. The windows blew out of the mansion, and brown smoke filled the air. A single worker staggered out of the mansion with burns all over his body, but he only could only say a few words before he fell over dead. His last words were, 'Don't go in there, it's loose.' Half the town's population died that day. The sheriff went to check out the wreckage, but something killed him. When we found his body, it was covered with large bite marks... and chocolate."

"That was ten years ago. A few months later, we hired a Wizard to place a binding spell on the grounds, to keep whatever is in there from escaping. In the years since then, a few people have gone into the mansion. Most never returned. The few that made it back told wild stories about monsters in the dark. These days we try not to think about it. Every few months some foolish treasure hunters will pass through town and have a look for themselves, never to be seen again. But now we think the Wizard's barrier is starting to wear off, as we've seen some strange shapes lurking in the darkness lately. Some of the farmers have reported their livestock getting killed. We're starting to fear for our safety."

Tips For Other Settings:
If you run this in a less magical setting (such as Gamma World), change all references to magic into technology.  The binding spell becomes a force field, the Wizard is a scientist, and the magic rings (mentioned under "Possible Questions", below) could be "Personal Disruption Units" or something similar. 

The Treasure:
"There's rumors of a big treasure down there. A few years before the disaster, Mr. Hushley had been talking a lot about alchemy. He claimed to have invented a method of turning sugar into gemstones. He said he owned the world's largest ruby, but he refused to show it to anyone. He said he didn't want his method to get out, because it would ruin the world's economy. Legend has it that Hushley's Ruby still sits in the safe in his office, deep below the mansion."

Possible Questions:
Where is the Wizard who sealed the grounds? "We hired him from out of town, so who knows where he is now."
What was the Wizard's name? "Oh... I think his name was Cadbury."
What have you seen in the dark? "We haven't gotten a good look, but we get the impression of large, dark people, with claws."
Where did you see them? "Usually near the mansion, but some of the farmers say they saw them in their pastures."
Is there a reward for stopping this evil? "This is a poor town, but we'll see what we can get together. And of course you can have whatever treasures you find there."
Once we get into the mansion, how do we find the factory? "There's a service entrance around the back of the mansion."
How will we get past the Wizard's ward? "It's only designed to keep things in, not out."
How will we get back out? "Well, like I said, the spell seems to be weakening, so it shouldn't be a problem. However, the Wizard did give us some rings that allow the wearer to step through the barrier. I'll go find some." Have the Sheriff return to her office to get a ring for each PC.  If the players don't bother to ask, then don't worry about it.

Setting Out:
Once the players decide to go into the factory, they head towards the mansion. It's late by now, unless they spend the night and try the mansion in the morning. At night there is a full moon, causing a low-light environment. It is still low-light in parts of the mansion, from the moonlight coming in the windows. The underground factory will be pitch black no matter what time of day. The descriptions below assume the PCs have some sort of light source.

"At the end of the street, the road goes uphill a bit until it gets to a metal gate. On the other side of the fence, the grass is much higher, since no one has tended to the grounds in years. The fence itself glows slightly from the Wizard's warding spell." (Open gate) "The gate is unlocked, and creaks loudly when you open it. You think you see what used to be a path leading up to the front door. The remnants of a side path go around the back of the house."

If they go through the front door: "The door is unlocked, in fact the door is hanging from one hinge." (Enter) "The place is a mess. There are pieces of charred furniture everywhere. The walls are grey with soot. There is black dust on every surface. You see the remains of a grand staircase in the main hall, but it has collapsed." If they explore the first floor of the mansion, or climb up to the second story, they don't find much of value. Everything was destroyed by the initial blast ten years ago, and has just been rotting since. If they find the bedroom on the second floor, they might uncover a locked fireproof safe containing a small amount of gold. If they explore the kitchen area on the first floor: "This looks like it used to be the kitchen area. You also find a staircase leading down. On the wall next to the stairs, there is a metal sign that reads 'To Factory'."

If they go around back to the service entrance: "You push your way through the tall grass and make your way around the back of the mansion. Eventually you find a door with a sign that reads 'Service Entrance'." (Open it) "The door is unlocked and opens easily. It looks like you are in what was once the kitchen. There are pieces of charred furniture everywhere. The walls are grey with soot. There is black dust on every surface. You see two doorways leading to other rooms of the mansion, and a staircase leading down. On the wall next to the stairs, there is a metal sign that reads 'To Factory'."

Once they go down the stairs to the Factory: "The stairs go down a very long way into the darkness. As you get close to the bottom of the stairs, you hears some noises coming from the room below." (Listen) "You hear some shuffling, some movement. Occasionally you hear a low moan." (Go down stairs) "This appears to be the factory floor. It is a very large room with a high ceiling. To your right you see the remains of several large machines. To your left you see some giant vats, with words like 'chocolate' or 'molasses' painted on them. You see some broken tables in front of you, and at the far end of the room you see a doorway. Suddenly there's a movement to your right."

"You see a slow-moving creature shamble out from behind a candy press. It looks like a walking corpse, still wearing a factory worker uniform. However, this zombie appears to be covered from head to toe in some brown substance. As the zombie turns toward you, you become aware of more moving shapes all around the room. You quickly realize that this room is infested with the creatures."

Encounter 1: Factory Floor
10 Chocolate Zombies (Hershey's Kisses)
1 Choclan (Reese's Peanut Butter Cup)

Don't place the Choclan on the board yet. Roll initiative for all creatures. During the Choclan's first turn, read the following: "Suddenly you hear a loud pounding sound from one of the vats. As you look in that direction, you see one side of the vat deform as something pounds it from the inside. With one final crash, one side of the vat is ripped open. You see a large brown shape standing in the opening. It is large humanoid, probably 13 feet tall. It looks like a statue carved out of chocolate."

As soon as it can, the Choclan will charge the nearest PC.  The first time a player does damage to the Choclan, make a point of mentioning that its insides look like peanut butter.  "As your weapon penetrates the creature's brown outer shell, a lighter brown substance spews from its wounds.  You think you smell peanuts."

After the battle, if they decide to search the bodies, they find a few gold coins in the pockets of the factory workers.  You might want to hand out chocolate coins to represent the gold.

On the North wall next to the door, the PCs will see a map of the factory. There is a hallway to the North which leads past the break room, and into the packaging/shipping department. From the packaging room there is another hallway which leads to Hushley's office.

If the PCs search the bodies of the zombies, they find a few gold pieces (consider passing out some chocolate coins to the players as rewards).  The Choclan has no treasure.

Encounter 2: Employee Break Room
4 Fruit Imps (Starburst, different colors)

"You're now in a 10 foot wide hallway. To your left you see a door to the break room. You see another door to the break room further down the hallway, also on the left. At the end of the hall, you see a door marked 'Shipping'."

If they decide to peek into the break room door: "You see four small winged creatures sitting around chattering to each other. They look like some type of imp, but each one is a different bright color."

If they decide to burst into the break room:  "As you enter the room, four brightly-colored imps fly into the air and prepare to attack. Roll initiative."

If they decide to walk past the break room, have the party make a medium DC stealth check. If they make the check, they pass by both doors without incident. If any of them fail the stealth check:
"You walk pass the first break room door. Suddenly, the second one bursts open and a brightly-colored imp flies out. Another imp then flies out the first door behind you. You see two other imps hovering in the doorways."

Encounter 3: Packaging Department
1 Choclan (Reese's Cups)
1 Greater Choclan (Reese's Big Cup)
2 Carm Hounds (Rolos)
1 Fruit Imp (Starburst)

This isn't a very important encounter, so if you are running short on time, skip to Encounter 4. However, you still might want to have the PCs pass through this room so they have the opportunity to go through the crates and find some candy. Or hide the candy in the break room instead.

"This room is full of broken crates, and the floor is covered with debris. There is another exit on the right wall. In the center of the room, you see two large brown creatures pacing around and talking to each other in a strange language. They look like the monster that came out of the vat earlier, but one of these is much larger than the other." (If the Choclans see the PCs) "Both of them turn their heads and gesture threateningly. The smaller one makes a loud call, and soon more creatures come running through the other door."

After the encounter, if the PCs examine the crates, they will find some snacks. "The crates are full of chocolate bars and other assorted candies. Most of it has been destroyed, and a lot of the candy has melted. But you do manage to find a few pieces of edible candy."  These things have a shelf life of 30 years, so they are still edible.  Different items will give the PCs different effects.  Possible items:

Hushley's Chocolate Bar - Gives 6 temp hp.
SillyDillyicious Bar - Until the end of the encounter, your speed increases by 2.
GummiGooey Gumdrops - Burst 1 in 10, creates zone of rough terrain that lasts until end of encounter. Creatures that start their turn in the zone are slowed (save ends).
SugarDumbos - You may take one additional Standard action this turn.

Encounter 4: Hushley's Office

1 Caxaodemon (Bunny)
2 Carm Hounds (Rollos)
4 Lesser Choclans (Reese's Minis)

"You enter a small waiting room. There are doors to the right and left marked 'Restrooms', and Hushley's office is straight ahead.  Standing in front of the office door you see three chocolate beings.  They look like the ones you fought earlier, but smaller."  If they stealthily opened the door: "They don't see you yet, but one of them will probably look in your direction soon." If they just opened the door normally: "All eyes turned towards you as you entered, and the room's occupants prepare to attack. Roll initiative."

This fight may or may not make enough noise to attract the creatures in the office.  This could end up being one large encounter or two smaller ones.

Whenever they enter the office: "It appears to be a nice large office. There is a desk in the center of the room, with a bearskin rug in front of it. In the far back corners, there are two large bookshelves.  The one on the left seems to be sticking out from the wall slightly, and you can see a bit of light coming from behind it."

After the battle they might search the room and check out the bookshelves.  The left set of bookshelves has a secret passage behind it.  Since it is partially open, there is no search DC to notice it.  If they go through the secret passage, they find a room containing a large machine with lots of levers, all different colors. Next to the machine is what appears to be a magic portal.  There are two more doors on the back wall.  One of the doors leads to Hushley's private restroom, and the other door leads to a closet.  In the closet they will find the body of Hushley.

The machine has 10 levers, each a different color:  Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Purple, Orange, Pink, Black, White, and Brown.  If players start pulling them randomly, the first lever always does nothing, the second lever zaps them with electricity.

Example: "I'm going to pull the black lever." "You pull the black lever to the 'down' position. Nothing happens." "Now I'm going to pull the blue lever." "You pull the blue lever to the 'down' position. A bolt of lightning shoots at you from the portal." (10 vs Reflex, 1d10 Lightning Damage) "Both levers go back up to the 'up' position."

If they try to touch the magic portal without deactivating it, they will get shocked.  1d10 Lightning damage (no attack roll; they touched it), and they are pushed back 1 square.  It's a one-way portal, so there's no way for the PCs to use it to get to the other dimension.

If they don't open the closet door right away, mention that they see some blood seeping out from under the door.  When they open the closet door, they find the body of Hushley.  In his pockets they will find a key, a small amount of gold coins, and a journal full of notes.

"Looking through Hushley's notes, you find out a little more background, and you're able to fill in the gaps yourself. Hushley discovered a way to access a dimension where the most common elements are sugar and chocolate. What he did not realize is that these elements are also the building blocks of life in that dimension. Hushley's machines were designed to open up small portals and pull ingredients directly from the other dimension. When he started up the factory on the day of the disaster, too much matter came through at once, causing the explosion. This left some portals stuck open, and candy monsters have been coming through ever since. Additionally, some of the extraplanar living chocolate has inhabited the bodies of the factory workers, reanimating them into chocolate zombies."

"His final entry states: 'I've figured out how to reverse the portals! All I have to do is pull the red lever, followed by the green. Unfortunately, I can't make it to the machine. I fear that if I try to leave this closet, they will rip me to shreds. Perhaps if I just wait long enough, I can make a break for it, but some of these creatures don't even sleep. If you find this note, please do not judge me too harshly. All I wanted was to make the world a sweeter place.'"

If the players do a thorough search of the office, they might eventually stumble across a trap door under the bearskin rug.  This leads down some stairs to Hushley's most private vault.  "At the bottom of the stairs, you find yourself in a small empty room.  On the far wall of the room is a large metal door."  If the players didn't find the key on Hushley's body, they will need a moderate Thievery check to pick the lock, or a very high Athletics check to break down the door.  Once the door is open, they find a room with metal walls.  There are a few shelves full of various gems, with a total value of about 1200 gp.  There is also one particularly large ruby that is worth another 1500 by itself.  (Hand out Ring Pops and/or chocolate coins to represent the treasure.)

Beastiary:
The Choclanic Plane is a very harsh environment, and survival is difficult. The most common form of life is a living chocolate-like substance called caxao. Caxao symbiotically bonds with other creatures by covering their entire bodies for life. This gives the caxao the mobility it needs to find food, and gives the host creature a tough outer shell required for protection. Here's a list of the Choclanic creatures used in the module. In parentheses I put what candies I used in the pictures above, but of course you can use whatever you like.

Stat the monsters however you like, based on the level you want the module to be.  The Caxao Corpses should obviously be based on Zombies.  The Choclans are brutes, so base them on big strong things like Orcs, Dwarves, or Golems.  The Carm Hounds are basically Wolves or other animals.  The Sucrademons are Imps, but give each color a different type of magical attack - for example, cherry could be fire, grape could be darkness, etc.  The final Caxaodemon can be pretty much any "boss" creature.  My attempt to stat the encounters is in this file, based on a level 1 Gamma World party. 

Caxao Corpse, aka "Chocolate Zombie" (Hershey's Kisses): These are the bodies of the Hushley factory workers, reanimated after being covered by caxao from the Choclanic Plane.

Choclan (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups): These are humanoid creatures from the Choclanic plane. They are sapient, but easily confused and quick to anger. They come in a wide range of sizes, but even the smaller ones are incredibly strong. Their natural form is a soft peanut-butter-like matter, but their outer shell of caxao is very tough.

Carm Hounds (Rolos): These dog-like creatures are made of a gooey caramel-like substance, held together by a thick outer shell of caxao. They are often kept as pets by Choclans. Carmhounds are vicious hunters, and are very loyal to their masters.

Sucrademon, aka "Fruit Imp" (Starburst): These are small demons from the Choclanic Plane. They rarely bond with caxao, as the bond would limit some of their arcane abilities. Instead they have developed other defenses which allow them to survive. These Imps don't usually get along with Choclans, unless they have a common enemy.

Caxaodemon (Chocolate Bunny): While most Choclanic demons avoid bonding with caxao, occasionally a very powerful demon will find away to do so without sacrificing their magic potency. These rare unions result in very strong beings with a great mastery of spells.