6.21.2012

E9M1: MUTINY ON THE HELLSTRIDER




Humiliation: A creature rolling a natural 1 on an attack roll is knocked prone immediately after the attack. Being knocked prone by Humiliation cannot be negated in any way.

Respawn                     Terrain Power
At-Will - teleportation
Trigger: You start your turn dying, dead or begin your first turn of the encounter.
Effect (No Action): If you are dying, you die. You regain all hit points and healing surges, refresh all encounter powers and power points, remove all conditions, and teleport to an unoccupied square of your choosing.



Lava Lake: The Hellstrider sails through a lava sea in the Elemental Chaos where the planes of fire and earth meet. Any creature that falls into the sea is instantly killed. Flying creatures are not immune to the lava's intense heat. Any creature flying or floating above the lava lake takes 15 fire damage for moving into, starting their turn in, or ending their turn in a lava square.




The Ship:  The Hellstrider sits 15 feet (3 squares) above the surface of the lake. Although the ship does have low rails around all decks, they are not enough to stop something from sliding off; they grant no bonus to being moved off the ship.


Wheel: You can turn the ship’s wheel to force a sharp turn, causing everything on deck to tumble.




Turn the Wheel                     Terrain Power
Standard Action                    Personal
Effect: You push all other creatures on the ship up to 1d4 squares away from either the port or starboard rail. You must push all creatures the same number of squares and the same direction.
Special: Flying creatures are moved the same number of squares in the opposite direction as the deck suddenly moves out from under them.

Crow's Nest: The crow's nest sits 20 ft. above the deck. Rigging around the mast is easy to climb (Athletics DC 5). Creatures that are subject to forced movement while climbing the rigging must make a saving throw or be moved off and fall. Creatures that are subject to damage or a prone effect while climbing must make a DC 10 Athletics check or fall.
The Crow’s Nest grants cover from attacks on the main deck (but not from the forecastle or sterncastle decks). Creatures adjacent to the mast or inside the sterncastle cabin cannot attack the Crow’s Nest.
Crow’s Nest: Standing on the crow's nest gives you command of the lava in the lake, allowing you to call geysers of molten rock out of the environment. While in the Crow’s Nest, you may make a Lava Burst attack

r Lava Burst                            Terrain Power
At-Will + fire
Standard Action    
                      Ranged 20

Target: One creature or square you can see
Attack: +6 vs. Reflex
Hit: 4d12 fire damage and ongoing 10 fire damage (save ends).
Effect: Creatures in squares adjacent to the target take 5 fire damage


r Arcane Ballista                    Terrain Power
At-Will + force
Requirement:
You must be in the forecastle.
 Standard Action                    Ranged 100

Target: One creature or square you can see Attack: +8 vs. AC
Hit: 4d6 force damage and the target is knocked prone.
Effect: Creatures in squares adjacent to the target take 5 thunder damage, and must make a saving throw or fall prone.



Pirate’s Plunder: The treasure chests found in the captain’s quarters contain powerful magic items and boons. At the Dungeon Master's option, magic items may be plundered from other maps (ex. E1M1) and added to the treasure pile.
Boons are retained even if you die. Once they are used, they are returned to the bottom of the treasure pile.



Plunder                                       Terrain Power
Requirement: You must be adjacent to the treasure chest.
Minor Action (1/turn)
Effect: Draw a card and gain a magic item from the Pirate’s Plunder Deck. Unless described otherwise on the card, all magic items are 5 lb. objects that do not require free hands to use.
Special: Dead dungeoneers immediately drop any unused magic items (but not boons) on the square where they died.





Boon of the Hellstrider         Pirate’s Plunder
Magical Tattoo - Boon - Consumable
Benefit: The next time you teleport or respawn, you may choose which teleport square you appear in.

Captain's Blessing                 Pirate’s Plunder
Magical Tattoo - Boon - Consumable
Benefit: When you Turn the Wheel, you may choose one of the following:
-          Exclude up to 2 creatures from the push.
-          Roll 2d4 to determine the distance of the push and use either result.

Mutineer's Curse                  Pirate’s Plunder
Magical Tattoo - Boon - Consumable
Trigger: A creature appears in a teleport square or Respawns.
Effect (Immediate Reaction): The triggering creature is restrained until the start of its next turn.

Fire Scorpion Bracers                       Pirate’s Plunder
Encounter + poison
Trigger: You are hit with an attack

Effect (Immediate Interrupt): Gain Temporary Hit Points equal to your healing surge value and deal 5 poison damage to your attacker.
Special: This power Recharges when you die


Cape of Immolation             Pirate’s Plunder
Absorb Flames                   Magic Item Power
At-Will
Trigger: You are hit with an attack that includes the Fire keyword
Effect (No Action): You take no damage from the triggering attack and the Cape of Immolation gains one charge.
Imbue Flame                   Magic Item Power

At-Will + fire
Trigger: The Cape of Immolation has at least one charge and you make an attack

Effect (Free Action): You expend a charge and the triggering attack deals an extra 10 fire damage on a hit.

16 comments:

  1. Nice. I like this a lot. A few quick things:

    Typically, rails give a +5 bonus to saving throws to avoid being pushed off of a ledge. Does the same apply here?

    What's the sunburst wheel thing in the middle of the main deck?

    Climbing is typically half your speed, correct? So climbing to the crows nest would require an effective 8 squares of movement?

    Do creatures below have line-of-sight to the crows nest? (particularly important for teleporting and ranged attacks). I'd recommend that only creatures in the Forecastle/Sterncastle have Line of Sight to the Crow's Nest (with partial cover). Similarly, can a creature in the crow's nest be knocked off with forced movement (either by a power or by the ship wheel?)

    Are creatures that are flying or floating above the ground via some other power (I'm specifically thinking of the battlemind) subject to the Turn the Wheel power? Similarly, can a pixie fly above the lava lake?

    Turn the Wheel is a nice power, but since it's non damaging (and the question of whether you can slide creatures off the deck is unclear), I'm not sure it's worth a standard action.

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    1. No, the rails grant no bonus. That was in an earlier draft and somehow got lost along the way. I will clarify rules re: the push when I get the chance, and flying rules as well. With the amount of damage lava burst does, I'm hesitant to grant them total cover to someone on the main deck. I might change it to cover/no cover though.

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    2. Oh, and the sunburst wheel thing is a capstan. Purely decorative like the hatches, but a PC wouldn't be able to stand there.

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  2. Ok, I've clarified the following:
    -No bonus to being slid off the ship from the rails
    -New rule for flying/floating creatures and Spin the Wheel
    -Line of sight/cover for the crow's nest
    -Flying/floating over the lava lake

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  3. Overall, I think this is a great map. It's small, (relatively simple), and super deadly.

    I love the plunder items. Do boons persist after death?

    I'm not crazy about the Forecastle. Both the arcane ballista and lava plume attacks are pretty much insta-kills. The crow's nest is a gambiit to get to, but the forecastle has no such risk.

    Personally, I'd either scale back the arcane ballista or get rid of it entirely.

    Still, overall I think this is a great map and look forward to trying it out!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, under Pirate's Plunder: Special, the rules note that "Boons are retained even if you die. Once they are used, they are returned to the bottom of the treasure pile." So they're a one shot item that you keep until you use them.
      Arcane Ballista is average 25 damage on a hit; it would bring a dungeoneer at full health pretty close to 0, but I don't think it would be an insta-kill. I do see your point about how easy it is to get to though.
      I'm planning on using this map in a live event in a couple of weeks, and I'll see how it plays out. I may be making several changes, based on that event.

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    2. Derp; I suppose I should actually read things before asking...

      As for the Ballista: my only real gripe is that it is as good as the lava plume. Why risk getting to the crow's nest when you can just easily move over to the ballista and blast your enemies?

      I think a large part of the fun of this map would be dungeoneers scurrying up the mast to blast each other with lava plume. I think the presence of the ballista diminishes this aspect somewhat.

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    3. Hmmm... I missed that somehow. I intended for the ballista to do good damage, but not as much as the lava burst. I agree, and will fix when I get the chance. What would you (and everyone else) recommend for damage, considering the rider (collateral damage & prone) and the ease with which a player can get there?
      Also bear in mind that, with the size of the forecastle, if someone Spins the Wheel, you're most likely going overboard.

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    4. IMHO, given how good the rider is (on this particular map), I don't think the ballista really needs to do much damage. I'd say something like 2d10+5 would be plenty.

      It would still be situationally devestating withut being the overwhelmingly attractive choice.

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    5. Ok, cool, I was mulling over 2d6+10 - it's effectively the same damage, just less variability (weighted towards the damage bonus vs. the dice). I'll shoot for 15-ish damage.

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  4. Fixed! Thanks for everyone's input so far.

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  5. I suppose I should have asked these questions before now... but better late than never, right?

    The stairs have no movement penalty, correct? Ie, it takes 4 squares of movement to get from an aft spawn to the wheel? And 5 squares to get from a fore spawn to the ballista?

    Can dungeoneers be tilted off the ship when inside the treasure room? (I'm fairly certain they would be pushed regardless) Can they be targeted by Lava Burst?

    If a physical treasure goes in the lava with a dungeoneer, does it get shuffled back in the deck?

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    Replies
    1. Ooh, and the wacky question. Can a companion activate Lava Burst, or does it have to be a dungeoneer?

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    2. 1). It looks to me visually (and author Benoit can chime in at any point to clarify) that the stairs could be viewed as planks; so I would so they are normal terrain.

      2). Again, visually I would be inclined to think the answer to be no, although definitely room for a clearer ruling. This seems trivial and obvious in a "normal" D&D game, but of course with FTDM things get a little hairier.

      3). If I'm DMing, I rule that items lost in the lava are lost forever; though I would not begrudge another DM ruling differently.

      4). Yes, in fact, bears and other companions can theoretically activate Lava Burst as the terrain power and prereqs do not specifically call out "dungeoneer". I am now going to be thinking about pirate bears all afternoon; SO THANKS FOR THAT, JAMES.

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    3. 1) The stairs up/down to different levels of the ship are meant to be difficult terrain, but ruling them as not is no big deal. (If you've ever been on a ship, you'd realize why they're difficult terrain)
      2)Dungeoneers cannot be pushed off the ship due to the walls, but they would still be pushed. It's up to the DM what happens from being pushed against a wall. Dungeoneers in the "captain's cabin" cannot be targeted by lava burst.
      3)Physical treasure is lost (forever? Up to the DM). However, the Boon, Curse, and Blessing are not physical treasure, and are meant to stay with the dungeoneer until used, then shuffled back into the deck. Pirates are fickle about who they bless.

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  6. Why no Killing Spree? Conscious choice?

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