Question about Slavers quest

I don't think an intelligence check comes into it - what Gaear has introduced is relativity in role-playing games. You remember Schrodinger's cat? The point is that talking to the slavers converts them from a "Not Slaver" state into a "Slaver" state and you can perform as many intelligence checks as you like before talking to them but THEY STILL WON'T BE SLAVERS

 

In keeping with that same train of thought.

The slavers aren't slavers until we perform an intelligence check to tell if they are.

Personally, I believe the slavers never actually change factions or such, but if you attack without first entering a dialog your party gets flagged as criminals.

I'm just wondering if a skill or stat check could be inserted before the flag is applied.

 

Until you TALK to them they ARE the rescue party

 

as it stands, yes. But should it be? Rangers, Druids, Rogues maybe even barbars should in theory be able to get close enough to scope them out, confirm the id and prep an ambush. Its straight forward common sense... We even got their indentisketches for something to work off. I know it was just for background info/stocking filling, but the point is, in keeping up with the idea of role playing, making that role true to the parameters, in this case ad&d 3.5, as possible. Ok, I can see Gaear's point as well, that even mid level parties can be heavily enhanced by legal means and fitted with Übergear and weapons, but they also have all the latest gear straight out of the evil ne'er do well catalogue, as well as some pretty advanced gangbangers. And its a bit of a cop out to suggest that guys who designed and scripted the quest, did not take into account that with crafting, even at midlevel, some pretty über items can be created. They baddies could have that too. Maybe no one had thought of doing a recce to confirm that they were the guilty party b4, but I doubt it. Lets face it, there are probably a thousand years of pnp d&d worth of experience between all the dedicated Co8 staff and regular players. I'm not suggesting that you Gaear are as old as Gandalf, but you and the rest of cabal have certainly worked some pretty impressive magic with ToEE.

 

I still don't buy it, yes I understand the limitations of crpg progamming and a clever pnp DM is far superior, but if these guys are supposed to be rescuing those children, why are they dragging them around with chains through their earlobes?
I not being argumentative for the hell of it, I'm trying to look at ways to improve further still on a vastly improved gaming experience. Knocking new ideas around is good. Coding in such ideas is probably my worst nightmare

 

I still think it's highly unlikely that a party of say, level 11 adventurers are going to be caught by surprise by a group with a dozen children in tow.

I believe the party would catch wind of the other group and send a scout.

I guess my question is; Is it to difficult to add the option of legally scouting and confirming their ID's, or does it fall into something that your judgement says it would be generally detrimental to the TOEE experience?

Mind you, your judgement in these type of matters has been remarkably sound so far Gaear.

 

I would have to agree with you on that, it's a pebble I don't want to start rolling down the hill.

 

They cant arrest me for killing them, They are all alive and part of my crew :thumbsup:

 

lol!!! HeJason, that is SUCH a cool feat that you managed to pull off there! I don't know how your PC managed to dominate the slave trader priest and sorceress - I would have thought that they would both have pretty damn high Will save bonuses. Thanks for posting that screenshot, HeJason. :thumbsup:

Priceless! :thumbsup: sirchet, have you ever thought of becoming a comedian? (because you should). Some of you long-time Co8 forum members are pretty darn funny! I remember GuardianAngel82, General Ghoul, Gaear and Shiningted being very funny on occasion too.

That will make the encounter for first-time players as mind-blowing and scary as possible. I'm glad that this is how the encounter will be in future releases of the Co8 modpack NC. My only gripes with the Slave Trader scenario as it stands are:

1. I don't know why my party needs to be whisked away from Emridy Meadows after winning the combat against the Slave Traders (unless it is because the player can't escort the surviving children back otherwise) because it is annoying to leave all of the slave traders' awesome loot behind on their corpses, and to have to make the trip back to Emridy Meadows in order to loot their corpses.

2. I wish that the slave traders were repositioned slightly to the southwest of their current positions in order to prevent a game exploit where the player is currently able to move each of his/her characters along the bottom of the map around behind the slave traders in order to get into an unfair position at the start of the encounter with the slave traders (i.e. behind the slave traders so that the player's characters are protecting the children and start the combat right next to the slave trader archer).

 

I got lucky with the priest, he rolled a 1 on his saving throw. I dont remember exactly, but I think that was the only possible way for me to dominate him.

 

Is optimum positioning before initiating dialogue with the slavers really an exploit? Rule one in a hostage rescue is to secure the hostages, surely? Lawful stupid might lead with "I say! You there with the weapons and the tied up children..." but pretty much anyone else with the capability would look to tip the balance in their favour. I'm not quibbling the rescue party ruse because I appreciate that the intention is to set the fight up in a particular way (with the PCs on the back foot and a man down), but limiting the potential counter-measures against the slavers killing the children ultimately means there are fewer ways to succeed. I have a pretty effective counter-measure that's worked well in the past with a magic-focussed party, but my current set-up is very stealth-orientated and sneaking a few protectors in seems to me to be just what they should be doing.