New Spells and Abilities

One of the things that happened at the end of the Maze of the Minotaur was that our PC's (Player Characters) each received a new ability. They have been so incredibly excited about their new powers that they've been asking me non-stop for over a week how they work exactly and when they can use them. I figured if they were this excited, maybe some other players would enjoy similar upgrades in your games. So this is how I plan on implementing them.

Our Master Archer gained the ability to blend into any environment if he hasn't already been seen. Basically, he will have "super stealth" that will make him nearly invisible to all but the most perceptive enemies. Mechanically, instead of starting with 1 die and gaining a die to his stealth check pool for each thing that helps him, he will always start with 5 dice and remove 1 for each thing that would hinder perfect camouflage (like bright sunlight in an open field or a very perceptive foe). He will also always succeed with a 3 or higher. Once he does something to attract attention, he loses his camouflage. Also, if his pet bear follows him and fails a standard stealth check, he will lose his camouflage.

Our Life Mage has gained the ability to heal at range. I will probably also give her some sort of protective shield or extra defense so that she isn't left completely vulnerable while playing a mostly supportive role (she's the youngest and will probably need a little extra help as the encounters begin to become increasingly more difficult). The only limit I plan to impose on this ability is that the target must be within eyesight and a main PC (no pets except her own).

The Nature Mage gained the spell, Polymorph, which allows him to transform into an animal for a time. Each animal form will have its own set of stats and abilities. For example, if he morphs into a bear, he will have 3 HP, 3 melee dice, 1 armor die, and have the Barging Attack Special Action. If he is KO'd in animal form or the spell reaches its time limit, the mage will revert back to the same state he was in when he cast the spell (if he had 2 HP when he cast the spell, he has 2 HP after it's done, no matter how many HP he had left in animal form). Clearly, this has the potential to become very overpowered very quickly. I'm imposing several limitations on the spell to balance this. First, he has to choose 6 animals ahead of time that will be available for him to morph into. He can only change out which animals are in those 6 when he can rest for a full day. Additionally, there are 4 size classifications for all the animals (small, medium, large, huge) with a max of 2 from any given size allowed to be in the 6. A max of 2 of the 6 can be magical or mythical creatures (dragon, griffin, etc.). Finally, Polymorph may only be cast twice per encounter with each animal limited to one use until he can get a short rest. A short rest replenishes the availability of all 6 animals, but if there isn't time for resting, any used animals remain unavailable for the next encounter.

The Elemental Mage gained the spell, Living Elemental, which allows him to transform into one of 4 elemental creatures: fire, water, earth, and air. The elemental forms can pass through their own element for a short distance. They also have stronger element based attacks. Otherwise, the spell is mechanically identical to Polymorph.

I haven't had the opportunity to see these in use yet. I'm sure situations will arise that I did not anticipate  that will force me to improvise better balances. I will check back in with how things work out in game once they get used to using them. If you guys have incorporated anything like these, let me know how they worked for you

A little "Down Time" between sessions

We won't be able to play for the next few weeks due to weddings, soccer tournaments, etc. We will probably spend a little time in Bayhaven, and my oldest boy has written a space adventure that he wants to GM for us. Mostly, though, I'm using this "down time" to prep the next several adventure paths our wandering band of vertically challenged heroes may choose to explore next. I've been trying to somewhat faithfully recreate the ruined keep and ambush dungeon from the Glade of the Unicorn adventure. Here's what I've come up with so far (I still need to cut out the crumbling second floor for the keep).

The ruined keep without the second floor. 

The arrow slits and doors can be seen here.

The "secret" rubble entrance in the back.

The entrance from the keep above is in the larger area in the bottom left.

The kids' characters are beginning to become quite powerful, so I'm planning on completely swarming them with goblins. There are 4-6 each archers, jabbers, stabbers, and shaman. They've been given a few new abilities that I know they are going to want to try as well.

That's the other thing I've been doing. Two of them gained the ability to transform into other things, and so I've been working out the details for those abilities. Once I figure them out, I'll post them for you.

I'm also going through all the rooms and traps from the Maze of the Minotaur for you guys. I'll post those as soon as I get them organized into a coherent list.

The Minotaur's Labyrinth 2

Whew! We've finally made it to the Minotaur's Lair. That was a rough one on them. They made it through, though. And it only took about 18 hours over 6 or 7 sessions!

I keep finding it amazing how much these four kids are willing to pour themselves into these characters. I keep presenting them with obstacle after obstacle with less and less information up front, and they keep figuring out more creative ways to conquer them. Of course, it's also fun to watch them work for an hour to try and figure out increasingly elaborate ways through a trap only to have the youngest one of them beat it in one sentence. They needed to cross a room that was a magic trap and filled with gas whenever any magic entered or was formed in the room. If they would've used any magic or brought anything with magic currently at work within it (like their enchanted gems that they were using for light), the room immediately filled with a yellow haze that would do 1 damage to them immediately and 1 poison damage on the following turn. They didn't want to leave the gems behind, though. So two of them entered the room and explored it without any magic ... or light ... while the other two stayed behind with the gems. Leaving their comrades behind, one almost was eaten by a giant, magically enhanced Venus Flytrap, one became Hulk-ified for a few minutes, and both ended up stuck in a dimensional portal in a trapped chest. They were rescued by one of the other two. After all that and still no success in getting the gems across the room without taking damage, the last one of them (the youngest) simply said, "can I just throw these things across the room?"

Yep.

I chuckled at the other three for a moment ... then made them roll a dexterity check to not get hit with the gems. Heehee.

Finally, they found the Minotaur at the top of a sloped corridor that had a trough running down the center and had a trap door in the ceiling near the top (I bet you can figure out what was above the trap door ... they haven't seen Indiana Jones yet ...).

They now have two pieces of the artifact that they need to assemble. The Minotaur also gave them scrolls that let them choose between two spells to help them on their journey. I've never seen 8-11 year-olds so conflicted. You would have thought I had asked them if they wanted to save the cute puppy or the cuddly bunny from the hungry lion. It was awesome.

They are so excited about their characters and trying out their new abilities that they acted out at least half a dozen scenarios on their way to bed. I am excited to see the ways they come up with to use their new abilities.

I'll list all the traps, the rooms in which they found them, the treasure rooms, the monsters, and the location of the lair in another post. They didn't explore the maze in its entirety, but they will have that option if they want to do that next session. I'm pretty sure they missed about 7 rooms.

Our four intrepid adventurers rise from the Maze of the Minotaur weary but determined. The elemental mage has become so infused with the elemental magic that he has gained the ability to become a living elemental being. The master archer has honed his tracking and stealth skills to the point where he can blend in to any surroundings (basically, disguise + camouflage). The life mage has learned to manipulate the life energies of her fellow adventurers at a distance and can now heal at range. The nature mage found himself at one with the wildlife around him and gained the ability to polymorph into any creature. May these new abilities prove beneficial on their journey to bring Zimarim the Grimm down.