A Playthrough with the Randomized NPC Recruit Roll.

franco

After offering a thread concerning my suggestion for a Randomized NPC Recruit Roll, I thought it would be interesting to describe a game actually based on this rule. Actually, so far it has turned out very different from anything I've ever done before or would have imagined.

I rolled up a gnome Illusionist (perhaps inspired to start with a race and class I had never played before). His name is Svirbilin. I also used a randomized roll up method that I also had described in a thread earlier:

Randomized Stat Roll: Essentially, I choose the very first roll above 81 (at least as good as some NPCs), where my selected primary and secondary abilities for the class are at least 12. Then stats can be distributed, up to 3 points deducted from any ability and up to 3 points added to any ability. In this way , you are likely to get a mage with an INT of 15 to 18, or you might get a fighter with a STR of 15 to 18, and a DEX of 15 to 18. Other stats may be improved or diminished by up to 3 if you have the points.

So Svirblin ended up with STR 13, DEX 16, CON 16, INT 17, WIS 10, CHA 9 and he chose Blindness, Shield and Sleep spells and specialized in quarterstaff but also bought darts. His HP's are 6.



He got through the two battles with assassins in Candlekeep. The Blindness spell really helped. He was wounded in the first battle. So he kept everyone waiting and rested at the inn to get back HP's and the spell.

After he left Candlekeep with Gorion, his mentor was assassinated by a powerful party and Svirblin was forced to flee. Next morning he met Imoen. She wanted to join him, but he was afraid of endangering her to the assassins. He thought it over......

Random NPC Recruit Roll: Essentially, to recruit an NPC you have to roll above 10 on a 1D20.
Modifiers to Roll: 1) Charname Charisma 13-14 (+1), 15-16 (+2), 17-18 (+3). 2) Same Alignment (+1),
3) Opposite Alignments (-1) 4) Special story line Characters: Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid (+1).
Also, Failure of the recruit roll means that the NPC will no longer be available in the game.

So, to recruit Imoen, Svirbilin had to roll above 8 on 1D20. 13 was a success.

So Svirbiln and Imoen proceeded North on the road to the FAI, where Gorion had urged him to go. They met a couple of surly looking guys, but Svirbilin thought he might like to travel with them for awhile for the sake of safety. Because of their nefarious look (alignment), the Recruit Roll for either NPC would be above 11.

For Montaron, 7 , he confessed he was healing from a bad wound, and would have to rest for some time at the FAI. For Xzar, roll 16. He enthusiastically said that he would join and hoped that they would all go investigate the Nashkel mines after the FAI.

They proceeded to the Family Arm Inn and were suddenly accosted on the stairway by an assassin. Quick spells,
blindness from Svirbilin and Larloch's Drain from Xzar disrupted his spells and he succumbed to Imoen and even Montaron (Monty was still able to fight for his rear end even though we were bringing him directly to a place where he would retire from adventuring).

Inside FAI, they went up to the third floor, and looked about. Then they left Monty there in a comfortable room, returned to the main floor and removed him from the party. Then they approached an interesting couple who appeared to be the two Gorion had asked him to seek out. Based on the random recruit roll, Svirbilin would have to roll above 8 to recruit Khalid, or 9 to recruit Jaheira. Jaheira, 6, oh she was not well recently and couldn't travel. Khalid, 14, said eagerly that he would join us, and appeared somewhat relieved he'd be free for awhile.

So, they deposited Jaheira in one of the cottages just outside the FAI, and walked outside and removed her from the party. They travelled on the trail outside the FAI and defeated several groups of Hobgoblins picking up the ring they were requested to seek, some experience and equipment. Magic from the two mages wasn't needed (probably because the hobgoblins approached only one or two at a time) while all four part members used ranged weapons.

At this point, the party was Imoen (thief), Khalid (fighter), Charname (Illusionist), Xzar (Necromancer). Clearly, the party thought it needed someone who could cost divine spells, but so far everything had gone fine. They went to the temple at FAI and loaded up on Healing potions just in case.

I will continue this account very soon, but need to take a break.

franco

Continuing the Playthrough using the Randomized NPC Recruit Rule for Svirbilin the gnome illusionist with low Charisma.

The party made one quick sojourn in the area north of FAI, They met a gallant looking man named Ajantis,
but he said he was waiting for a friend (missed another recruit roll). As they wandered back on the road to the east, suddenly a huge monster came out of the earth. One look told us this might be a bit much at this early stage (level 1) and they hightailed it back south vowing to return.

The party had one close call south of FAI as they defeated a wolf, although Khalid was wounded. Since FAI was still so close, they doubled back to rest so they wouldn't have to use a healing potion. On starting south again they found an ogre they were seeking concerning a belt he had stolen. The Blindness spell worked on him fine, and ranged weapons brought him down.

The trip down to Beregost was mostly uneventful. They stayed at the Burning Wizard overnight and found a magic weapon that no one seems able to wield yet. On travelling outside suddenly a wisp of a young girl showed up trying to escape a group of red wizards. Even a male gnome can't resist protecting a young damsel, so the party saved her. She seemed eager to join the party but Svirbiline had to think about it. A roll above 9 would help her come aboard. 16, she jumped with glee.

Suddenly they realized. The party had three mages. An illusionist, a wild mage and a necromancer. This player had never experienced such a thing before. AND I CERTAINLY NEVER PLANNED IT THIS WAY.

Later they decided not to go with Kagain (the roll was too low at 7. He needed above 11). While they occupied him, Imoen cleared out some of his stock. Too bad no one else will ever get that attractive looking ornamental helm he was wearing.

Agreeing with Garrick that they would help his mistress Silke for a fee, they soon found she was attempting to trick them into killing her enemies. When she became enraged and started to cast a spell the air was suddenly lit up with lights as blindness, magic missile and Larloch's drain descended on her at he same time. She went down immediately. The party didn't speak with Garrick afterwards. They went to Thunderhammer Smithy to equip themselves. This time they could afford some +1 arrows, +1 bullets and +1 darts to beef themselves up.

After resting, they decided to go to the Red Sheaf Tavern. Another assassin. Again the air was full of blindness, magic missile and Larloch's drain and another opponent hit the dust immediately. I personally had never experienced these encounters ending so fast or without any mishaps.

The party is now probably going to be in search of a divine caster, but things are thus far going fine. Eventually, if they don't find a cleric they might ask Xzar to dual as one. But right now, the Thief, Fighter, and the 3 amigos Illusionist, Wild Mage and Necromancer are sweeping the place.

Happy to say, I've never experienced this combination before.

franco

Where they are now in Beregost....

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franco

Playing the Randomized NPC Recruit Rule, thus far
my Charname has failed to recruit........

Montaron, Jaheira, Ajantis and Kagain,

and in the future they cannot be recruited by this PC.

He has succeeded in recruiting.....
Imoen, Xzar, Khalid and Neera.

There is definitely an increase in uncertainty in the game since you cannot pre plan a party from the beginning. This decreases the amount of meta gaming, and definitely increases the challenge. Also, you start to experience combinations of NPCs that you haven't in the past.

During future games, the recruitments might go very differently, so it increases the playability. Under some unluckier circumstances, your party may only one, two or three members for awhile, and it may be unbalanced in ways that you will have to compensate for.

I'm having good fun with this and have a greater sense of anticipation at each encounter.

Sojourner

I have one question - how did you manage to leave Jaheira behind and take Khalid, since one will quit the party if you fire the other, unless the other is dead? Or did you force kill the missing partner (Xzar and Montaron are like this too).

I can't leave a building unless I take the whole party so trying to leave her in a cottage without losing Khalid is impossible, as far as I know.

franco

@Sojourner. It is possible to separate a pair of NPC's using a building. You make sure before you leave the NPC that it is a building that you won't want access to in the near future with the party. You Select just the NPC you want to remove, and you send her/him into the building while the rest of the party remains outside. Select Charname while he/she is outside with the rest of the party, and then go to Character Record and press Reform Party. You can remove the NPC that is in the building, and her partner will stay with the party [as long as you don't enter the building again].

In a larger building like the Family Arms Inn, you can actually do this by sending the NPCs you want to remove to other floors, while the rest of the party remains on the ground floor. I made sure that I had gotten the quests I wanted from the second and third floors of the FAI. Now Montaron is on the third floor of the FAI convalescing from a leg wound, and Jaheira is in one of the cottages on the grounds of the FAI.


Getting a little deeper into this, you can actually visit the building or floor where the NPC is that you had removed (when you eventually want to). But first you have to Reform Party outside the building and
remove the paired NPC. Then the remainder of the part can enter the building, and there will be no problem with the NPC that had been originally removed and you needn't take them back into the party. Then, when the party goes outside again, you can pick up the NPC that your are permitted to have.

Sojourner

@franco

Wow, I've been playing this off and on for 14 years and never knew you could do that! Finally a way to get rid of Dynaheir without having to resort to (virtual) murder!

franco

@Sojourner. I think that's why I find this forum so enjoyable. So many of us play for years and find that we may have missed something along the way. There is plenty of information available here and many of the members are very helpful. Good luck with Dynaheir.

Saradas

Sojourner said:

I have one question - how did you manage to leave Jaheira behind and take Khalid, since one will quit the party if you fire the other, unless the other is dead?

Or you might aswell forget that the protection from petrification scroll you just gave to Jaheira, was instead a cursed scroll of petrification

lunar

Oooh this must have been one of the better ideas I've seen. I will try it. But my party has already been formed, so I retroactively roll for my NPCs.

So, if you roll bad that npc is unavailable forever, but if you roll good, do you have to take the npc or can leave him/her for later if you really need them? (if some npc gets chunky-salsa death, for instance)

Charname-neutral good wild mage, CHA 12, lvl 6, party just killed Tarnesh and now adventuring in sword coast to build up levels for the bandit camp.

NPCs I've interacted with so far:

Imoen-roll of 12, okay so she had passed. She is perma-dead now, anyway. (double chromatic orb sequencer, petrified and shattered, but never forgotten..)
Montaron-17, okay Xzar-9, fail:I've removed both of them long ago, so np. In the future I can recruit Montaron, but Xzar is forever gone.
Jaheira-roll of 6. Agh I need to remove her from my party! Will hurt since she is the only healer.
Khalid-roll of 20. Cool. He stays. Jaheira will go.
Kivan-roll of 20. Excellent. He stays too.
Neera-roll of 15. yay for two wild mages! I've planned to do her quest, anyway!
Dorn-roll of 3. No go. He is rather scary, anyway.
Kagain-roll of 1. Abysmal. Never gonna use.
Garrick-9. Nope. Bye.
Xan-19! Omg. Does this mean I HAVE to have him? I've left him back at the mines since my party was full.
Minsc-Dynaheir-19 and 15. Already done their quests and removed them, though I can recruit them if need be, they are solid allies.
Edwin-11, umm this barely passes, I think, with -1 penalty thanks to evil alignment, but I've rebuffed his offer so he is forever gone.

Now I've lost Imoen (perma-death) and Jaheira (will have to leave the party to contemplate and do her druidic rites) I have to recruit a thief and healer. I can return to Montaron but he is lvl 1, so I would prefer higher level new NPCs. So my recruit rolls to Safana, Coran, Branwen and Viccy will be very important, I think. This feels exciting. :-)

franco

@lunar. I'm really glad you like this Randomized Recruit Rule. When this idea hit me, I thought "Eureka. Here's a way to put a fun challenge into the games, and no two games are likely to be the same".

The answer to your question is that the CHA based Random Recruit Roll just determines the NPCs that you can "not" have in the party. If they fail the roll, then those NPCs can't be used for the entire game. The ones that pass the Recruit Roll can be added to your party, but at your discretion. If you decide to remove them from the party, then they need to pass a new Recruit Roll if you want them to reenter the party.

I see that you're already in the middle of a game. For future games, I would suggest that it adds a bit of anticipation if you cast the Recruit Roll just as you are approaching the NPC. This way you won't be sure whether you can recruit him/her until the last moment. Assuming that the Recruit Roll represents a conversation between Charname and the NPC, adds an extra little bit of realism and role playing to the game. But, most of all, do it the way you think you would enjoy it the most.


I'm thinking of starting a thread eventually with a challenge game, where several Randomizing Rules that I've written about on this forum might be combined. I hope you give it a look at that time.

lunar

Umm I meant my party just beat Tranzig, not Tarnesh..anyway, okay I will do the rolling just before talking to the new npc. I just rolled for the npcs I already had in my party. I find 'roll everytime you want to recruit a npc again' approach a bit harsh, since this may limit the party npcs swap-outs somewhat, because if you fail a roll you lose the npc forever.

However, maybe additional bonuses may be applied for the npc you've recruited once, then kicked out, and then you want him back again:the following recruit attempts. Like +1 to roll for every level up the npc had had while he was in party (because the npc grows stronger with the party, he will be more likely to accept an offer again in the future) +1 per magical item npc has except consumables like ammo/potion/scroll, +2 if the npc has an urgent quest, or +2 if you've completed a quest of that npc. (So he is grateful and more inclined to join again) just thoughts. For mages, +1 bonus for a new spell level scroll scribed into their book. (they learn new levels of knowledge) Oh, also maybe -1 penalty for each death/resurrection the npc has suffered.

Example:you've succesfuly recruited Minsc one time, did his quest to save Dynaheir, and he gained two level ups during this adventure. He died once though you raised him. You made him leave the party with the boots of stealth. Later, you come back and want him in the party again. Minsc's new roll will ne adjusted accordingly:+2 since you helped out his quest, +2 for 2 lvls he gained during his time with you, +1 for the magical item he has acquired and -1 for the one death trauma. Resulting a +4 bonus, Minsc will be a lot more eager to join you again...Thoughts?

As it so happens, Xan has died six times during his stay with your party, has gained a level, and has a wand of fire and ring of protection+1 when you kick him out. He has learned dire charm, his first lvl 3 spell during his stay, and emotion spell, a lvl 4 spell even though he can't cast it yet. He has:+1 from level up, +2 from magical items, +2 for learning a lvl3&4 spell for the first time, and -6 for each death he had to suffer:result is -1, Xan is grateful for the power he acquired while with you but too many deaths had made him turn sour about joining you again.

franco

I think you're on a roll.

There's a lot there to think about. You can take part of the suggested method and embellish it. etc. But whichever really works for you is most important..

My first feeling is that there may be a little too much detail in what you are proposing, because game systems tend to work better when they are a bit simplified.

You've already got the main part of the Random Recruit Rule functioning with the single CHA based roll.
The easiest, of course, would be to let them back into the party anytime when they've passed the original roll. Yet, I also really like sort of a streamlined version of what you proposed: +4 for NPCs who have already been in the party and passed the original recruit roll, +1 per non consumable magic items, -1 for every death trauma. Looks good to me.

franco

@lunar. Applying the simpler method I proposed to your examples:

For Minsc, +4 for having been in the party, +1 for the boots of stealth, -1 for the death trauma. Hence he is +4 on the new recruit roll.

For Xan, +4 for having been with the party, +2 for wand of fire and ring of protection, and -6 for six death traumas. Hence, he is 0 (questionable) on the new recruit roll.

It's pretty straightforward.

lunar

I like. I agree simple is better, and more elegant. This way, one may need to leave some magical items with an npc to positiviely affect his future recruit rolls:then again, on a failed roll you lose both the npc and those items too, so it is a kind of gamble. :-)