Welcome

[kenada]

Background
Scales of War is an adventure path currently being published in Dungeon.* It takes place in the default setting where the civilized parts of the world are points of light in the darkness. Most of the world is untamed and dangerous, which means there’s probably treasure out there needing rescued.

The PCs find themselves in the town of Brindol in the Elsir Vale (map) along the Elsir River. 10 years ago, Brindol was the focal point of a conflict with a massive hobgoblin horde. The enemy forces inflicted heavy damage on Brindol and the surrounding region, but the town has begun to recover. However, rumor has it that hobgoblins have begun harassing  the outlying areas of Brindol again.

The PCs have just arrived in Brindol. Why are they there? If anyone knows, they do.

Character Creation
Characters are standard 1^st level adventurers created with the point buy system per the Player’s Handbook. They may choose any class, race, power, feat, and so on from the available materials list. Characters may choose backgrounds per the Player’s Handbook 2, but please write a few lines about yourself to help explain why you have what you have.

Available Materials

• Player’s Handbook
• Player’s Handbook 2
• Arcane Power
• Divine Power
• Martial Power
• Primal Power
• Adventurer’s Vault
• Adventurer’s Vault 2
• “Characters of War” from Dragon #366

Links

• Scales of War campaign settings file for the D&DI Character Builder (obsolete)
• All characters are kept in the D&D folder on my MobileMe public share.

Experience Points
Experience points should be tracked individually. While all present characters receive a share of the experience points when the party kills monsters or when the party completes quests (a.k.a. ‘story XP’), they may also receive individual targeted experience rewards (e.g. for their own minor quests [see below], or other reasons to be determined later).

Players who are absent from a session will not receive experience points unless they notify me in advance so that we can decide on what you will be doing during your absence, which may entail a ‘mini-adventure’ of sorts. The amount of experience received will be determined by the following scale (barring extenuating circumstances): 1 day = 10%, 2 days = 40%, 3 days = 70%, 4 days = 100%.

Personal Minor Quest
Personal minor quests are things that people do as part of roleplaying their character, and are not explicitly declared by the player as such, but they are instead determined at my discretion. This reward is equivalent to an at-level minion to keep it from being “too good”. For example, a level 1 character who saved a group of captive kobolds from being some hobgoblins’ dinner would receive 25XP.

Houserules
Houserules and rule clarifications shoudl be discussed in this thread.

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*If you happen to be a D&D Insider subscriber, it might be prudent to avoid spoiling things for yourself by reading the adventure there. If you do, please don’t spoil things for the other players.

[kenada]

I believe I forgot to include the background stuff from Dragon #366 in the campaign settings file. I'll upload a fixed version later today.

[Atreys]

The name "Scales of War" scratches my head.  Did the war already happen?  Is there a war coming that everyone is dreading?  Should characters be familiar with what Scales of War means as an idea, or is just a name of the module outside of the game that we shouldn't use to build a character concept around?

[BobChuck]

well, given what I know of WotC's other (3.5) adventure paths, and the offical name of this one, I gather the following:

1) There is War. By this, I mean: war happens, it is present in some way throughout the adventure path, and the PCs repeatedly do things that influence this war. War would not be in the name if it wasn't significant. This does NOT mean the PCs fight on an actual battlefield surrounded by 500 friendly NPCs and 5000 enemy NPCs, just that the PCs will repeatedly participate in significant and meaningful ways.

2) There are dragons. "Scales" can mean multiple things, and the word was not chosen lightly. If this was a 3.5 thing, I would be less sure of the dragons, as there were lots of scaly-non dragon groups. But in 4th, Dragons are tied in with too many scaly things, and there's too few scaly things without dragon ties to really pull an adventure path together. Plus, it's Dungeons and DRAGONS; there be Dragons in this path.

3) Something is "in the balance". The word "scale" is definately a significant choice, and was picked for its multiple meanings. Something has been placed on a (literal or metaphorical) scale, and is being judged. The PCs will uncover this and have a hand in how it turns out.

I don't know exactly what's gonna happen; I haven't read it, nor do I intend to. But the general feel is surprisingly easy to guess.

[kenada]

The name "Scales of War" scratches my head.  Did the war already happen?

There was a war 10 years ago, and this region was a focal point in that conflict. How much your character has of that conflict depends on his History skill.

Is there a war coming that everyone is dreading?

Not that you know of.

Should characters be familiar with what Scales of War means as an idea, or is just a name of the module outside of the game that we shouldn't use to build a character concept around?

It's the name of the adventure path, but I think it will have some relevance later.

[kenada]

I’ve uploaded an updated campaign settings file.

[kenada]

I updated the opening post with a bit more information and a link to a map of the region. I would expect any adventurer to be reasonably familiar with the area (though not necessarily every nook and cranny). I also added a link to the Character Builder demo. It can make characters between levels 1–3, so it may be helpful to have your character pre-made when you come.

[Measure Zero]

I updated the opening post with a bit more information and a link to a map of the region. I would expect any adventurer to be reasonably familiar with the area (though not necessarily every nook and cranny). I also added a link to the Character Builder demo. It can make characters between levels 1–3, so it may be helpful to have your character pre-made when you come.

There's a small issue with the sample character builder in that it doesn't allow for options from the Arcane Power or Divine Power books.

[kenada]

Yeah, it appears that it’s not updated as frequently as the full version, which sucks. I’ve updated the opening post to remove the link since a Character Builder without all the content is not very useful.

[Measure Zero]

It's still fine for martial classes, at least.

[Measure Zero]

Oh, it also doesn't include the double/triple-power backgrounds from the Scales of War thing.  Some of them are kind of silly, like using dexterity ("your highest stat") to calculate base hp, and many of them add a new skill (or multiples) to a character's class list and give a +1-3 bonus to it (for standard backgrounds, you get an "or" instead).

[Measure Zero]

By the way, where would be a good spot to add in a dragon-run training camp/monastery devoted to Bahamut?

[kenada]

The Wyvernwatch Mountains to the south of Brindol seems like it would be a good place to put it. The name is thematically appropriate for Bahamut. The only settlement in that area is the dwarven settlement of Hammerfist Holds, which would be a good source of supplies if the training-camp/monastery is not self-sufficient.

There is a Shrine of Bahamut in Brindol, but it has no permanent clergy. Perhaps, as part of their training, followers of Bahamut are sent to spend some time at the Shrine there?

[kenada]

I added a note about experience points. This is something I've been thinking about for a while. I didn't like the group XP system we were using before because it took away individual XP rewards as a way for me to reward player actions.

Edit: And yes, it does punish people for missing sessions. It’s not fair to me or anyone else who had set aside time to play or spent time preparing to have the game pushed back because of cancelations. I do appreciate it when people give me advance notice, which is why I’m providing a way of gaining some of that missed XP by playing out what one’s character is doing in the meantime.

[BobChuck]

I have minor problem with that note. Namely, absences cannot always be avoided.

If someone just doesn't show up, or posts/calls Saturday morning saying they can't come, they should not get XP (unless it's a good old fashioned emergency - if your mom is in the hospital, you should not have to worry about letting us know you will not be there).

On the other hand, if some has to leave town, and know they have to leave town in advance, lets the group know in advance, takes steps to deliver character sheet/file, etc, that person should not be denied gold and XP. It's easier for everyone - character is still there, GM does not have to come up with reason character left and then came back suddenly, does not have to re-adjust encounters, and does not have to worry about long term discrepancies in levels.

I just don't like the idea of punishing people who cannot come, especially when it creates more work for the GM.