With Friends Like These...

Gygax's The Village of Hommlet is widely regarded as one of the greatest intro adventures for D&D and for good reason. It is the template for thousands of adventures that followed, with its manageable "home base", down-the-road dungeon, and campaign-starter plot. One of the great things that doesn't get mentioned a lot is how it introduces several NPCs that are there just to befriend, then betray the players. This kind of diabolical double-crossing is highly effective when not overused, and can give campaigns a real cinematic quality, with a-ha moments and unexpected reveals. Here are a couple of other ways I have used friends and former allies against the PCs.

RISE OF THE MEATSHIELDS

It is not surprising that the 1e DMG spends so much time discussing the morale and treatment of henchmen and hirelings. After all, the term "meatshield" isn't exactly loving, and it reveals a long history of shoddy treatment.  How much abuse are they supposed to take? How many of their friends do they need to see die before they have mutiny on their minds? A well timed revolt can prove a disastrous reminder to the PCs that their actions have consequences. Henchmen can hold grudges just as easy as the villains of a campaign. This won't be appropriate for some tables, but if you have a group of players that flippantly churn through henchmen like butter, it could be a fun twist. They know the patterns and weaknesses of the PCs, and as the song says they "work hard for the money so you better treat [them] right". Their family members may also have revenge on their minds for lost loved ones; this can even allow for long-term plotting against PCs over years of game time.

I KNEW I RECOGNIZED THAT GUY

Undead are the gift that keeps on giving, especially when they kill PCs. PCs killed by undead will often rise again as undead themselves. Some very memorable encounters have happened in my games over the years when the party encounters a fallen comrade. This doesn't have to be driven solely as a combat challenge; you can play up the drama of seeing an old friend literally falling apart, or depending on the tone of your campaign, it could even be milked for comedy. Never let a dead PC go to waste.

Have you ever done anything similar in your games?

Let's Clear Up A Few 4e Myths

Howdy. I had a few disparate blog ideas running thru the head, and I realized they all could be used to dispel a few 4e myths, so I have combined them together. First off, don't get me wrong, 4e isn't perfect and I don't claim it to be. Readers of this blog know that I constantly tinker with 4e to make it something I like more. That's sort of the essence of D&D after all: making the game your own. But I am undoubtedly a huge fan of 4e. Anyway, here are some common 4e myths and my response:





"It is difficult to convert old modules to 4e"

I don't now who started this one, but it simply isn't true. I've mentioned before that I drop Skill Challenges from my games. One of the reasons for this is that, on its own, the 4e skill system is very smooth, intuitive, and covers pretty much anything that comes up (and if something else comes up, you can roll with Ability Checks). Anyway, in my experience the 4e skill system works like a charm in updated adventures. I updated Ravenloft (I6) for 4e. There are all kinds of roleplay moments, exploration, etc where skills came up. I just rolled with it if the players wanted to use one, or called for a check if it was really needed. So there is really no conversion necessary for an old modules' out-of-combat material. It can be handled on the fly quite easily.

The monster conversion is where the real challenges would appear to begin. Now, I am not going to say converting monsters from 1e to 4e is as easy as 1e to B/X or 2e, because it isn't. But 4e does have a strength that those games lack: 4e monsters have specific formulas to work from. This can help DMs determine difficulty fairly accurately, but more importantly, it is very easy to make 4e monsters.

Confronted with the need to convert a monster in an old module, the first step I would encourage is to see if there is a 4e version within your party's level range. If so, check the source and see if it is post MM3. If it isn't, try these tips to upgrade old crappy monsters on the fly. If the monster isn't in your party's range, it is fairly straightforward to adjust. The design remains the same, you just plug in different numbers. Make sure you are using the DMG errata though.

If you can't find the monster in a 4e source, or if you don't like what 4e did the monster, build your own. This doesn't have to be laborious. Use this guide to make quick 4e monsters. Try to distill the essence of the original monster and keep it simple.



The last step is to make sure the adventure doesn't run like a sloggy mess. There are several ways to do this. You could drop the wandering monsters from an adventure and just run the prepared encounters, or you could drop a lot of planned encounters and instead just use the wandering monster tables. Or you could drop a little of both. This isn't just in response to 4e combat length (more on that below); the fact is, some old modules feel like a grind to begin with. You should also use Morale and Reaction Tables. If you are using an old module that has Morale scores, just port them over. Otherwise you can check my 4e Morale rules. Ok, so that leads us to the next myth.

"Combat was fast in old editions, never approaching 4e length"

This is simply not true. It is true that classic edition combat COULD be quicker, but it wasn't always. I know this because I DM and play old editions. At even moderate levels, old edition spellcasters could have a ton of choices, and adjudicating their effects was often not a cut and dried proposition. A typical PC's percentage chance to hit was often lower, so there are more misses. There were also huge throngs of monsters in old adventures, like all the time. I am reminded of one of my faves, Descent Into the Depth of the Earth, which was a combo module of D1-D2. There are like 20 Drow here, 40 Kuo-Toa there, 30 Troglodytes here. Heck, even in the Village of Hommlet, you will have 16 or more enemy combatants!

Now I KNOW combat can drag in 4e. I have tried to provide some tips and ideas to help with that. Simplifying monsters, using groups of the same monsters, using Morale, lowering hit points-all of this helps. But it is simply disingenuous to act like old combat couldn't take a while, especially when casters had some actual spells to cast. This has also been true of my experience with 5e so far. We had a two hour combat last week and we just hit level 2. Combat often takes an hour or more at level 1. I am not saying it isn't fun, or that this is too long, I am just saying that combat length can drag in multiple editions; it isn't only a 4e phenomenon.

"It is harder to houserule 4e than other editions"

I am tempted just to say "read my blog" as a response to this one, because there are dozens of houserule examples on here, but just to expound on it a bit, 4e is no different from any other edition of D&D. You can houserule it and make it your own with ease. The difference between 4e and classic editions is that the mechanics in 4e are "on display". The math is predictable and easy to grasp. This is already sort of covered above with monsters. This makes houseruling and homebrewing very easy. Since you have clear expectations for damage, defenses, DCs, etc at all levels, it becomes very easy to slide the scale towards "easy" or "hard". See Fourthcore. I have tweaked monster design, traps, disease, combat, and on and on, and I have only scratched the surface of the possibilities. 4e does not deviate from D&D's proud history of homebrewing and houseruling, it embraces it as much as any other edition.

That's all I have for you today. As always, I welcome comments! Take it easy!

Maniacal Giant Vulture Friday!

Hello again. I thought I would share a new beastie from my upcoming zine, the Giant Vulture.

The Giant Vulture has been a hoot in playtesting. These scavengers circle overhead, dive-bomb the weakest member(s) of the party, repeatedly peck them, then fly away out of melee reach. As the ongoing damage builds, they enter into a frenzied state of blood lust.

Though these have been challenging monsters for some groups, they have fairly weak Morale scores; if one of them is killed the others likely flee...and then patiently wait, hoping that there will be a carcass or two lying around when they return.

The full "fluff" will appear in the finished magazine. I hope you enjoy it!

THE GIANT VULTURE!

Tips for Simplified 4e Monster Creation

Hello all. This post compiles several ideas that I have shared over the last year regarding monster creation for 4e. Using these methods has made designing monsters a far more pleasurable experience for me, so I thought I would combine the basic ideas into a single post in the hope that it helps others.

You only need a few pieces of paper to make monsters for all levels of 4e play. You need the updated DMG monster errata (page 7 of this document).  You need a copy of the updated DCs; you can get this in the Rules Compendium, DM Kit, or free here. You need a list of experience point values broken down for monster type and level, which you can find in the DMG, DM Kit, RC, etc. Finally, you will want to use a few tables and formulas from this blog that are easy to memorize, or can be jotted down on a sheet of paper.

Start with a monster level in mind. Lets just make it simple and say we are making a Level 3 monster. Most 4e DMs can probably put together a monsters defenses and attack bonuses without looking, but if you need to, use the DMG errata. Ignore specialized roles, and go with the basics. AC is level+14 (17); NADs are 12+level (15). Attack bonus vs AC is level+5 (+8), vs NADs is level+3 (+6). Damage expressions are right there on the sheet, but hold off for a second.

Next, we completely ignore characteristic scores and derive the skill and initiative bonuses from the DC list. We look at the moderate and hard DCs of a monster's level; the level 3 moderate and hard DCs are 13 and 21. Subtract 10 from these to get 3 and 11. The monster's trained skill modifier is +11, untrained modifier is +3. Do not add half their level to these. Adjudicate skill use on the fly; for example, if it is a sneaky monster that lives in dark caves, perhaps it is "trained" in Stealth. If the monster is a dexterous, quick type, its initiative mod is +11. If typical, its mod is +3.

Use the 4e Forever unified hit point formula. (Level x 8) +20 is the formula for a Standard monster's hit points. Multiply the total times 2 for Elites and Savages, or times 4 for Solos. Minions of course have one HP. It is super easy to memorize this, and you do not have to fiddle with multiple formulas.

Add the XP total to the monster statistics if you award XP, or if you calculate your encounter difficulty levels from it.

Add Morale and use the Reaction Tables. Trust me, this is going to help a lot of your encounters go from slogs to skirmishes.

The only thing left is the actual power design. We get the updated damage expressions from the same DMG errata page mentioned above. Resist the urge to over-complicate your monsters. Most of the time they will be dead before they can get through some long list of powers. Focus on a single go-to power, possibly one that has multiple-attacks as a single Standard action. If needed, add another ability or two that back up the flavor of the monster, but don't overthink it or overdo it. It is kind of the same thing as designing an entire world before the campaign has even started: unnecessary.

You can likely just make a mental note of any other bits such as Alignment, Languages, Keywords, etc.

And there you have it. Nice and easy 4e monster creation! I will never go back! Once you are comfortable with this, you can make a monster in a matter of seconds. If you liked this post and want to see some ideas on resurrecting your old pre-errata monsters from the MM1, MM2, and other old 4e books, check this out!

4e Forever Playtest!!! Check it out!

***NOTE: THE FIRST ISSUE OF 4E FOREVER IS NOW UP FOR FREE DOWNLOAD**

I am very happy to be able to share with you a short playtest of some material from my upcoming FREE zine, 4e Forever. It includes the new stat block! Please check it out and follow the instructions if you can! You should be able to finish it in one session. Even if you cannot playtest the material, I would still like to hear your thoughts. Oh, and there's a new Savage in there too!

4e Forever Playtest 1





*EDIT 8/9- I made some small edits and have re-upped it. I clarified some rules questions I had received regarding henchman initiative, savages, skills, etc, as well as made a few edits to the stat block to help its readability, something else I had some comments on. Please keep the comments coming! Thanks! 

The Hybrid Stat Block: Special Attacks

Welcome to the final installment of my series on my new hybrid stat block for 4e monsters. This is basically an alternate stat block for 4e that incorporates classic edition statistics, and it will be used in my upcoming zine, 4e Forever. Today we look at the way the stat block presents powers.

I love the clarity of the 4e stat block. I love the way powers are basically coded so that anyone can understand them. On the flip side, I also love the more conversational, narrative tone that classic edition monsters were presented with. It might seem that these two approaches are too incongruous to work together. However, I think they can, given a few considerations.

As readers of my blog have noticed in previews of my monster design, I am all about an "attack routine". I like multi-attacks as a fix to 4e's lack of high-level encounter balance, and I LOVE me some old-school Claw/Claw/Bite action, so it should come as no surprise that my 4e Forever monsters typically have a go-to attack routine consisting of multiple attacks. Simultaneously, I have also previewed and shown how I am working with variable encounter levels, and groups of the same monster. Both of these things make my new monsters very, very, easy for DMs to run, something that I am hoping will help speed up combat (along with Morale). You do not have to worry about multiple sets of statistics and a bunch of little powers here and there, hiding, spread out amongst 3 to 4 different monster types.

Since the monsters are easier to run, and since the DM is only having to look at one, perhaps two, different stat blocks for the entire encounter, I can afford to be slightly more conversational in tone with the powers. In other words, the simplicity of running the monster encounter groups allows for a more relaxed power presentation, without adding any extra prep time or difficulty to the DMs job. Now, I don't mean to make it sound too "loose", because it isn't. When I reveal the stat block later this week, you will see what I mean.

Now let's take a quick trip down memory lane. In 1e monster statistics, you have a couple of listings that I really wanted to include in my new block: Special Attacks, and Special Defenses. I decided to put a monster's primary attack routine under the listing "Attack". This listing also includes a creatures "basic attack", as its basic attack tends to be included in its primary attack routine. I also kept the "Traits" listing, used exactly the same way as it is in late 4e. Then, if needed, there are three other possible listings underneath "Attack". "Special Attacks" is used if a creature has any other attacks besides its primary attack routine and basic attacks; it also can include situational bonuses or tweaks to the primary attack routine. "Special Defenses" is used if a creature has a purely defensive power, i.e. one that does not include an attack. Finally, "Special Movement" is listed if a creature has a special power that is purely movement related.



This ends up looking and feeling very intuitive. I must say, I am quite happy with it. I still am a step or two away from revealing the complete block, however. This is because I am putting together a free playtest of some new material! This PDF will include a copy of the new 4e Forever stat block, along with three new monsters! Some basic rules (Morale, Henchmen), will be provided as well. I am trying to get it done as quickly as possible, and hopefully some of you gamers out there can run the monsters, using the variable encounter ranges, and let me know how it goes. More on this to follow! In the meantime, leave a post and let me know what you think!

The Hybrid Stat Block: No. Appearing

As I continue experimenting with ideas for a 0e/1e/4e "hybrid" stat block for my upcoming zine, 4e Forever, I thought I would share some of my thought process on its design in a series of blog posts. Today I want to give you a look at how I am bringing the classic statistic "No. Appearing" to 4e.

Before I get too in-depth, I will just say I have no real qualms with the post-MM3 stat block. It works great. It is brilliant design. This isn't a condemnation of it by any stretch, I'm just trying to provide an alternate version that is more in line with the early editions. The overall goals of the new stat block are to inject old-school feel into the presentation, streamline the information for DMs, and to help reinforce "fixes" to some 4e issues, such as encounter speed, level of difficulty, creature action recovery, etc.

Many aspects of 4e design are things of beauty. I love the logic of encounter balance and difficulty. 5 Standard monsters of the same level as a 5 PC party is an encounter of the PCs level. You can, to a closer degree than any other edition I have played, judge encounter difficulty in 4e. Even in the Epic Tier, with all its imbalances, the 4e method is still "closer" than using Hit Dice or Monstermarks (from old White Dwarf mags) ever were. But what if you crave greater randomness in the number of creatures encountered? You can always use Minions for very large monster groups, but Minions are not always the best solution. The problem is compounded by other factors. Many 4e PCs are not "trained" to flee; it just isn't in their vocabulary. Fights turn into slogs. Who even wants to use a random encounter when it is going to take up most of the session? And how can you use a variable amount of monsters and maintain a semblance of balance in the first place?

Well, the most important thing to do is to use Morale. I will not go back over the details here, but I will note that it is a crucial and effective tool to use to control encounter length. By having this variable built in to the game, you can afford to be looser with the number of creatures encountered, as encounters are typically shorter.

The second thing to do is determine monster levels and "No. Appearing". This sort of ties into another point about the monster design in 4e Forever: I am not using roles. Well, I am using Minions, Standards, Elites, Savages, and Solos, but not "Skirmishers", etc. I am trying to simplify encounter groups. Most encounters will be with creatures of the same exact type, i.e. 1d6+1 Giant Vultures. Though there will be some occasional variations, such as more than one type of Giant Ant, by and large you will be looking at the same creature. I hope you give it a chance when you see it. It allows you to really emphasize the flavor of monsters, and it is a lot easier for DMs to run; there aren't a lot of minor, irritating-to-track differences between say, a bunch of Orcs. Since the magazine deals with high Paragon and Epic, which is already taxing due to so many player options, it is a practical fix with old-school flavor, which is exactly what I am going for.

So that is enough philosophy, let's look at some examples of how to integrate variable encounter groups into your 4e game. Start by determining what you would like the average difficulty level of the possible encounters to be. For these examples, I am aiming for an average encounter level of the party's level +1. That is, if I roll and get the average number of possible creatures, it will result in an encounter of the party's level +1. You can easily adjust up or down to different encounter levels. Anyways, in these examples, I will assume a party of level 20 PCs, and I will be looking for an average encounter level of 21. There are two angles I can take to get there. I can start with a possible numerical range of creatures encountered, i.e. "No. Appearing", or I can start with creature level and go from there. Let's look at both ways.

For the first example, we will start from a numerical range of creatures, i.e. "No. Appearing". I decide I want a fairly large number of Standard creatures, 7-12 (1d6+6). The average there is 9.5 creatures, but always round the fractions of the "No. Appearing" average down; so, in this case I round down to 9. Assuming 5 PCs, I am looking at an XP target of 16,000 for a Level 21 encounter. So, I divide the XP amount by the average number of possible creatures (9). I get 1777 XP per monster, or Level 17 monsters. So the average encounter is about "9.5" Level 17 monsters. The potential encounter levels vary from Level 18 (with 7 Level 17 creatures) to close to Level 22 (with 12 Level 17 creatures). It should be clear by looking at this that the larger the static modifier in the "No. Appearing" roll, the more "stable" the range of possible encounter levels. If we instead take 2d8 creatures (9 creatures average), we still end up working with the same level of creature (17), but the encounter level range is from 11 (if they encounter only 2 Level 17 creatures) to 23 (if they encounter all 16 creatures).

Now let's look at starting with the monster level as opposed to "No. Appearing". I still want to hit my Level 21 target, but this time I decide on using Level 20 monsters. I take 16,000 (XP budget for a level 21) and divide it by the XP for a single Standard of 20th Level (2800). I get something like 5.7 creatures as our target number for the average number of creatures encountered. Unlike above, where we used the average of the possible "No. Appearing", the number of creatures here is rounded up to the nearest whole number, i.e. 6. So now, knowing what we want the average number of creatures encountered to be (6), we can decide on a "No. Appearing" expression. Let's try a "No. Appearing" of 1d10+1. Yes, this is actually a 6.5 creature average, but just as we did in the first example, we again round fractions of the "No. Appearing" average down; so, this expression gives us our target of 6 creatures. So, putting it all together, the mean (average) encounter is around Level 21 (6 Level 20 creatures, times 2800 XP apiece, divided by 5 PCs=3360, or a Level 21 encounter), while the low end (2 Level 20 creatures) is a Level 14 encounter, and the high end (11 Level 20 creatures) is a tough Level 24 encounter. That is a pretty big swing. I like it!

So that is my system, at least up to this point. I can anticipate providing another statistic that notes the possible encounter level range of a "No. Appearing" roll for monsters for a group of 5 PCs. Something like "Enc Lvl: 9-12; 11 avg". We'll see; I am open to ideas!

If you end up rolling a low number of creatures, hey it was a quick combat. If you roll up a lot, there is still a good chance the encounter will end quickly thanks to Morale (although the PCs may get severely roughed up). Now, if you are wanting to deal with a huge amount of monsters, say 20+, you will likely want to look at using Minions, or combinations of Minions and other monsters. There is a level-imposed limit to the accuracy of PCs and monsters, and if you go too far in either direction then it will become too easy or too hard to hit each other. Anyway, if it all works as planned (and playtesting has been positive), encounter length won't be a waking nightmare anymore. You can also help PCs mitigate some of the swingier difficulty with henchmen, which the magazine assumes are being used.

And that's how I am using "No. Appearing" on the stat block. This is made possible by Morale, adjusting monster levels, and using henchmen. When you put it all together, it is an attempt to use "No. Appearing" to bring old-school flavor to 4e stat block, loosen the balance a bit, and shorten encounter time. I hope I did a good job explaining it! I have tried to rephrase it several times for clarity.

I am interested in thoughts and opinions so please leave a post! I will be back soon with Part 2. I also want to say thanks to Dndblogs for including my site! It is a very cool group of 4e blogs to follow. I check it out daily, so take a look if you have never seen it before.

A Megadungeon? For 4e?!!

When someone mentions a megadungeon and 4e in the same sentence, I think that the first things to come to mind are oil and water. After all, a megadungeon is a massive structure, and in 4e to get through one room sometimes takes an entire session. 4e published 'delves' are usually three rooms, three fights, ta-da magic item bc that is about all you can get to in a sitting. 4e published adventures, especially the early ones, add a thick coating of terrible railroady melodrama to the mix, and you suddenly find yourself far, faaaar away from the way D&D adventures used to feel.

Paradoxically, one of the best things about 4e is how fun combat is as a player. All of the myriad tricks and toys to torment and flat out embarrass a monster. That great feeling when the board lines up to your will and you roll dice for like 20 minutes. Although some schools of thought suggest taking away player options in order to increase game speed, I would argue that those are things to make sure to leave in. I prefer to look at fixes from the DMs side, to see what I can do to increase encounter speed while still keeping it threatening.

My 4e Forever project involves a megadungeon. In preparation for writing it, I have gone back to the classics, near constantly reading some old adventure or another. In the case of my Saturday Gloomwraught campaign, I am running an old classic adventure, Judges Guild's Tegel Manor. This puppy PREDATES AD&D. Not precisely a megadungeon, but 240 rooms strong in the main level nonetheless.

So far, running it has been a tremendous pleasure, and the pace and varying threat level of the encounters is allowing the exploration to flow more naturally from room to room. At 12th level with optimized PCs, we got three combats in, plus at least a solid hour of exploration, in 3 hours. That to me is about perfect pace, and while I can't promise you that a combat will take such and such long, I can give you tips on how to get close to it. I think tinkering with this stuff might help give yourself more versatility in encounter/adventure design. So if you ever want to create a 4e megadungeon or update an old classic, try these tips:

Use Savages
I again want to encourage DMs to try using variations of these in your games. I used two of these in the session. The old adventure has a lot of rooms that are just like 'This room has an old broken sword in it. There is a Black Mold on the bed'. You could spend the rest of your playing days trying to run 4e Solos for all of the random monsters in this thing. Savages allow for the PCs to be threatened without taking all night. By giving the monsters a combination of multi-attacks (including action points), action recovery, automatic damage (auras and otherwise), and other tweaks, they run very clean, and pack a wallop. I thought it was awesome to see that the Middle-Aged DM posted a killer Savage. thats a bad boy; very cool. If you want another example and you never checked out Sorin 'Stinky' Yeate, check it out. You've got to try these, they are like 4e DM crack.

Use Morale
It is hard to fully embrace random wandering monsters in 4e if each encounter is going to take forever. The story has to go somewhere, and one slog after another is not really a great story. But yet, I want to use random tables. I love random tables. I think they add tons of flavor to an area and you are going to see a slew of them in 4e Forever. But I am not just talking about random encounters. I'm talking about rolling random numbers of creatures as well.

How can you get away with this in 4e where everything is balanced to a specific threat level? You can't use monsters to high or too low or nobody will be able to hit, and if you did use a lot of monsters, it would just be hit point city and take all year. That's where Morale comes in. Morale gives the DM a flavorful way to control combat length and difficulty. And since a low Morale monster will likely flee after just one of their allies is killed, this allows you to use way more of the monsters to begin with, so you can be more 'swingy' with the number of creatures. And if it does get out of hand, the PCs might...and you might have to brace yourself for this...they might actually have to run, for once in their careers. This also really encourages the DM to use many of the same creatures for random encounters, both for ease of running them, but also bc the fact that they may flee so early, discourages you from spending a lot of time on stuff you might not use.

So, in 4e Forever, you will see things like '3d4 Giant Wasps". A wasp gets really pissed and stings like hell, but ultimately it only wants to protect its area. It does not reason or try to follow a party or hold grudges. If seriously injured, it will likely stop fighting. A wasp's morale score might vary between 5-3, so even though 12 seems like a ton of Standard creatures to possibly throw at a party, the odds are really good that the fight will be over quickly. Personally, I love the flexibility it gives me in encounter design. I can have set-piece encounters that are really planned, or I can run more random old-school encounters with large numbers of monsters.

Speaking of fighting large numbers of monsters, give your players some henchmen!
This is going great so far in my group. My henchmen rules are here. Basically, once you hit 8th level you start attracting your own henchmen each level; they are kind of like super-minions. They help allow for a little swinginess in encounter difficulty, add a ton of flavor, and are just fun basically. It was actually a little sad when the first one died-died. Megadungeons are somehow more fun with a huge party.

Use unusual encounter areas
You could talk about this all day, but using both large and small encounter areas can add a lot of old-school goodness to your megadungeon. A lot of the rooms in Tegel Manor are very, very small. The whole party and a monster can not all fit into some of them. While using small-sized rooms exclusively would be a bad thing, it sure is awesome to do from time to time. You can also use several connected rooms to be sort of a 'sector' of the megadungeon.The PCs can enter any of them and attract creatures from all of those rooms. This is a good way to combine monster types as well as stagger how you add monsters into the combat, which is something I love. That 'should've saved the Daily' look on a player's face when the zombies walk in at the end of the second round.



Anybody running any 4e megadungeons out there? Leave a post if so! 

Henchmen and Hirelings in 4e

 **NOTE: THE FINAL HENCHMEN AND HIRELING RULES WITH ERRATA APPEAR IN ISSUE #1 OF 4E FOREVER***

I've been thinking today about henchmen and hirelings in 4e. Although a sort of token effort was taken late in 4e's life to present henchmen and hirelings, I wanted to take it a little further. But how? And why? In 4e, with the toughness of the PCs, you don't necessarily need cannon fodder like the old days. In other editions you automatically attracted followers at higher levels; in 4e there's no mechanism for that. Plus they suffer from 'ritual syndrome', which is where they cost too much money to encourage their use. Furthermore from a DM standpoint the last thing you really need on a 4e table is more HP, what with the proliferation of summons, animal companions, familiars, and everything else. Despite all of these apparent challenges, I think its possible to make it work and be fun in 4e. Here are my ideas. There are some close similarities with retro-games but some tweaks have been made to fit in with how 4e plays.

1. Screw balance. I mean, seriously

Don't get me wrong, I love balance in 4e but sometimes, especially in combat situations, I think you can let it go a bit. Basically the PCs never run in 4e. They have no fear. Rarely will they deliberately avoid combat. Not only that but there are assumptions in the game about monster abilities and powers. So surprise your players. Make them need some help. Amaze them with the large numbers of minis you put down. Leave traps all over the place. Or maybe despite the PCs high Arcana scores, for once they dont know something about an artifact automatically; they have to seek out a Sage that doesn't give out info for free. Let them know there are hirelings to be had and that they might be needed, and if your players are high enough level, have henchmen approach them. More on this below.

2. Make hirelings cheap but limited

Some cool stuff in 4e doesnt get used. Part of the reason is the cost of some things, such as rituals. Also some flavorful items and rituals can be really situational. Hirelings should cost their level X 20 gold apiece for initial hire. That is cheap enough to be easily affordable. I suggest limiting the number each party member can have. Say no more than 2-3 hirelings apiece on adventures at any given time, unless you specifically want to design around that much activity. If they just need a service somewhere, such as speaking to a Sage, do it as it comes up. PCs cannot hire a hireling above their level to accompany them on an adventure. However, if the pcs need information or some kind of service that does not involve the hireling putting his life to risk, they can utilize one of higher level at the DMs discretion.

3. Make them weak and strong at the same time

Give hirelings 1 HP, just like a minion, but they can be brought back from 0 HP once; if they hit 0 again, even days later, they cannot be raised. Sound too weak? Well hear me out. 

The hireling gets the same to-hit numbers as monsters, as well as defenses. So a level 10 hireling has a +15 to hit AC, +13 to hit NADS. AC 24 FORT 22 REF 22 WILL 22. Each hireling is assigned a theme from 4e by the DM, as well as one trained skill (5+1/2 level check). Give them 1/2 level only on all other skills. I think generic themes (such as "explorer") work really well. Now the hireling has some other talents and flavor, and the mechanics (themes/skills) already exist so its easy to use. 

In addition to the skill and theme, a hireling also has a basic attack that does 1/2 level +4 damage. Hirelings do not level up, and a hireling cannot be found that is higher than 10th level. Once you hit Paragon you likely rely on henchmen only for combat situations. Don't pick too many themes, it is too much to track. Pick 1-4 themes based on the situation. For example, a bunch of outlaws and mercenaries might accompany the PCs on an adventure that has moral abiguity.

4. Assign hireling morale 

Check hireling morale after they have been targeted with an attack the first time in an encounter, or if they are in a position of extreme danger. If they are not attacked, even if the encounter was dangerous, they will stay with the adventurers. As all adventuring is inherently dangerous, a DM should only use an extreme out-of-combat situation to trigger a morale check, such as barely being missed by a falling rock. Hirelings will always attempt to avoid an automatic damage effect.  

Their morale score is 6. roll 2d6 to check morale. If the DM rolls a 7 or above they will quit the party at the first chance. 

It is also suggested that the players pay them some stipend, but it should be low to encourage play. Paying the group of hirelings level times 10 for a completed adventure is fair; most of them will die anyway, and if one or two manage to survive they should be rewarded. The DM can also add or subtract from the morale die rolls based on roleplay if he or she wishes

5. Henchmen are attracted automatically and are not as limited

Henchmen in 4e are attracted to PCs by their deeds and achievements. They are the same mechanically as hirelings except their morale score is 8 and they can be brought back from 0 HP twice. Like hirelings, henchmen check morale after they have been targeted with an attack the first time in an encounter or are in grave danger, BUT henchmen also check morale after dying and being raised. A henchmen will always attempt to avoid an automatic damage effect. 

They also have greater economic requirements. PCs attract a number of henchmen equal to one-fourth of their level (round down) starting upon 8th level and each time they level up after that. The PC cannot have a number of henchmen that exceeds one-fourth of his level at any time unless DM allows it. So for example a PC just hitting 13th level is allowed 3 henchmen. Say the PC later hits level 14, and has 2 henchmen that havent died or deserted him yet. A DM can then allow one more to be drawn to him as he levels up. You might be thinking 'that could end up being a lot', and its true it could seem that way, but just think of the AOEs you can drop on them! But seriously, for one they cost a little more. Surviving henchmen are paid as a group after completing a quest. Level times 20 gold is a good formula for a group of henchmen to be paid in the Heroic Tier. Move to level times 40 starting at 11th level, and level times 100 at Epic Tier. Henchmen in 4e are not limited in level but stay the same level forever.

6. Pitch these ideas to your group, and let them see them in play

Players will initially get into this based primarily on your enthusiasm. If you encourage it, it can become part of your game. You could allow players to control their henchmen and hirelings, put on a one man show, or do a combination of the two. Let them know there are people for hire in the towns. Step up the threat in your games.

That's it. But the big question is why? Why add these things at all? Well it adds old school flavor and role play opportunities, and even for optimizers there is the extra striker damage vibe. In other words, its fun for everybody. You can also be less uptight with game balance.

Here are a couple of quick samples, you can just make these on the fly.

Braddock, Level 14 Henchman

Guardian theme

AC 28 FORT 26 REF 26 WILL 26 MORALE 8

MBA +19 vs AC, 11 damage

Skill-Endurance ( +12)

This dude has a big ol scar down one cheek. Mostly quiet. Cleans his boots like every day.

Pipkins, Level 2 Hireling

Harper Agent theme (Forgotten Realms)

AC 16 FORT 14 REF 14 WILL 14 MORALE 6

RBA, Ranged 10, +5  vs REF, 5 damage

Skill-Stealth (+6)

Pipkins is a little too confident and you wouldn't trust her with the money

I hope ya'll like these ideas. If you have any thoughts about it plz leave a post. If you use these rules let me know how it goes!! You'll see more stuff like this in my upcoming zine 4e Forever

Morale in 4e

*NOTE: THE FINAL MORALE RULES APPEAR IN ISSUE #1 OF 4E FOREVER**


Hello again. So I thought I'd throw some ideas out that are related to combat length in 4e. Lots of people complain about it, but outside of my game I have hardly EVER seen DMs have monsters flee. I mean the thrill is over, the monsters are not going to win, its in the grind stage, and yet the monsters are still there fighting. Other times, you want to get through a good bit of a dungeon or what not and you know that if you have two full combats you won't get there that night. Or you would really like to have wandering monsters but the thought of another combat on top of the ones you have planned makes your eyes glaze over.

Well, some of the old versions of D&D (and many retro-clones) have a morale system. Basically, this is a way besides intimidation and/or DM whim to give creatures a chance to flee. As a DM you basically accept the fact that some encounters might end pretty quickly, but you still retain the control to make some encounters be played through til the end.

Morale can change the way 4e is approached. You can still have your grand, planned-out encounters, but also throw in some random monsters without guaranteeing never ending combat. But how would this work?

The rules are basically identical to those of B/X. Assign a morale score. When the situation calls for a morale check, roll 2d6. If the roll is higher than their morale score, the monsters attempt to flee, surrender, or otherwise end the encounter; if it is equal to or less than the score, they stay and fight. There is no need to roll for 2s and 12s. For Solos and Elites, or if you want a monster to fight to the death, Assign the creature(s) a 12 morale (will never flee) or make them immune to fear. On the flip side, if it is some random monsters that are not very tough, are lower level than the PCs, etc etc,  give them a lower score. Here are the morale scores and how to use them:

12-Will not flee or surrender and/or immune fear, Solos, Elites
9-11-Unlikely to flee
6-8-Average
3-5-Weak willed; flees easily
2-Always surrenders or flees after the first death of an ally

This might appear to be slanted towards having a monster stay in the fight, but notice that you will check morale more than once.

-Roll once when the first monster is killed

-Roll once when half of the monsters have been killed, or less than half remain if you started with an odd amount

If the monsters have not failed a morale roll after this point, they will fight to the death unless intimidated (if possible) or otherwise made to surrender, flee, or what have you by the DM. Minions do not affect morale. When it is time to check morale, only roll once for the entire group of monsters; use the highest morale score of whichever monsters are left.

You may find it helpful to assign a creature variable morale; for example, a pack of bandits start with a morale score of 9, so as long as most of their allies are still alive, they are likely to stay in the fight. Later in the encounter, when half of the bandits are killed, their morale score is lowered to 4 for the second check, and they will likely flee. You could also look at just giving creatures a minor bonus or penalty to their morale score based on the circumstances of the encounter.


Example: Say I have a Solo that is going to fight the PCs. I assign it a 12 morale; there is no situation in which it would ever need to check morale. So, Solos typically don't flee unless the DM wants them to.

Example 2: Say I have 5 orcs and 2 bugbears, none of which are Minions, along with an Elite ogre. I give them all a 7 morale score except the Elite, who has a 12. The PCs fight the monsters and kill a bugbear. Since 1 monster has been killed, I would normally check morale, but as I use the highest remaining monster's morale score (the ogre's 12), there is no point in rolling. The fight continues. Over the next two rounds the PCs finish off the ogre and 2 orcs.1 bugbear and 3 orcs are still standing, half the number that started. I check morale again and get a 9, higher than the remaining monsters' score of 7. The monsters flee.

That's basically it. The DM has the control of which monsters will or will not flee, and Elites and Solos are already pretty much protected from fleeing. Yet it also allows for some encounters to end without turning to a slog. This of course then frees a DM to use larger populations for dungeons, to use wandering monsters, etc etc.

Morale allows the DM to be a bit looser with the number of creatures encountered, balancing the use of large numbers of creatures by assigning them a lower morale score. You can let the monsters hit harder at the beginning of an encounter, and 'get out' before it gets into a slog

You will see more of this in my upcoming zine. This is a way to get some old-school flavor in your game, while still allowing for set-piece planned encounters that 4e does so well. It also will help the game keep flowing and moving forward. This will, in my estimation, dramatically improve many published 4e adventures as well as home games. Please do not feel tied to this if you use it; if you want an encounter to keep going, just keep going.

I'm interested in what you think! Leave a post!