Co8 New Content: Hickory Branch

I love Hickory Branch, but I do have a question regarding some of the enemies you fight. Lately, what I've been doing is going thu the fight one after the other, yada yada yada, etc, etc, and then going straight to Hungous and beating him when he's a bit outnumbered and only has a few of his baddies with him, then going outside and being accosted by the rest.
With that in mind, I was wondering if you guys had any intention of making some of the lower end chars, like the Orc Lieutenant and Boonthag, stand out more in some way. I always thought that for whatever reason, the Orc Lieutenant should have a Masterwork or +1 Falchion rather than a normal one, and Boonthag should have a masterwork weapon as well.
But really, do those characters have stats different from normal enemies you would face? Like is Boonthag more badass than a normal bugbear leader or just a standard bugbear leader with improved health (if that)?

 

If that's the general plan, then definitely so sir.

 

I still think that the balance would be better if NC bacame a stand-alone module rather than being back-loaded, but iirc you don't like that idea *shrug*. Most of the non-verbo content would need a lot of reworking to make it challenging for lv10+ parties.

 

Hi Gaear
I just had a wild (crazy, probably stupid but what the heck :shrug: ) idea. IF you could get the files (or persuade a certain not-so-shining person to complete his Mod), what about tacking Hickory Branch, the Arena of Heroes and Verbobonc onto the end of KoTB ? Right now, KoTB only takes you up to 6th Level or so, so adding Hickory Branch, Verbobonc, and the Arena of Heroes (in their current form) would be a perfect fit with no modifications to either mod (other than completing KoTB) necessary.
The Royal Canadian

 

Hi
Just a few more crazy ideas.
1.) Assuming you do decide to go with a KoTB ---> AOH ----> HB ---> Verbobonc progression, you could always drop Welkwood Bog (of course you would have to alter the initial dialogues with Brother Smyth and Reston) somewhere near the Keep.
2.) Another easy ( ?? ) add-on to KoTB would be the Cave of Ogres from Vanilla (except in this case the PC's are asked to clear the cave out by the authorities in the Keep.
3.) Would it be possible to add the Moathouse (more or less "As Is" ) to KoTB ??

In my opinion (and I freely admit it is just my opinion, and probably a bad idea to boot) adding these 3 areas to KoTB (assuming KoTB can be completed) would probably provide enough adventuring around the Keep to get a party of 5 PC's up to 7th or 8th Level before sending them on towards Verbobonc.
The Royal Canadian

 

Hi Gaear
I only mentioned it as a possibility because (level balance-wise) HB, and Verbo as they are now fit perfectly with KoTB. Meaning no offense, but I don't remember seeing Verbobonc, Hickory Branch, Welkwood Bog or Emridy Meadows as fully detailed adventuring areas in the the original PnP module, and the only one that was included in Vanilla was Emridy Meadows. I grant you, coming up with a plausible reason why a group that had successfully cleaned out the area around the Keep (which is in the Yeomanry of the World of Grayhawk) would travel halfway across the continent to the Viscounty of Verbobonc is a bit of a stretch. I should also point out that the various hextorite adventures tie in very nicely with KoTB, where there is a hextorite plot already in play.
The Royal Canadian

 

^My guess would be that reconciling the vastly differing mechanics between the two mods would be no less of an ordeal than any of the other options. KoTB added a lot of stuff that isn't present in Co8 TOEE, and it plays quite differently in general. Coming up with a plausible plot/pretext is probably a lesser worry.

I guess it all comes down to figuring out whether it's more difficult to create fresh content to fill the gaps, or update existing content to a higher level. Probably a big piece of work either way.

 

Hi Gaear
If I sounded a little pushy in my last post, I apologize, I just wanted to make sure that the idea wasn't dismissed out of hand. You are right that Ted had incorporated some new features into KoTB, I didn't realize that he had sort of "copywrited" them. I freely confess,
that there are times when I wish that the "Control Animal Follower" function that he had devised could somehow be incorporated into ToEE.
I agree that it is easier to modify something that already exists than it is to create something new. I am beginning to wonder if that is why Ted abandoned KoTB, he had created a pretty good adventure for character Levels 1 -6, but what was he going to do for Levels 7 - 12 or so ?? At any rate keep up the excellent work !!
The Royal Canadian

 

What are Lord Hungous' actual stats?
He seems to wield a weapon that's way too badass to just have base level barbarian armor as his sole armor.
I would think maybe Barbarian armor +1, or something a bit harder at least, simply because his underlings wear troll bone armor and troll armor, and even the lowest scum underlings have a chain shirt and masterwork small studded leather (which shouldn't fit my 6'8" female half orc rogue but does I might add). Maybe give him some sort of custom barbarian armor with a different skin.
Also, for assassins on the level (at least one half-orc assassin), do they have any special skills or stats as assassins or are they just high level rogues specialized with combat in mind?