Playtesting My Murder Penguins ...
Playtesting my murder penguins versus the Fab Four in a frozen ambush!
One of the reasons I love running prewritten adventures in a robust system like Pathfinder Second Edition is because I trust the developers who built these game mechanics and sketched out these encounters. They know what they’re doing, more or less.
And the math generally checks out: throw a Level 10 raja rakshasa against a party of four Level 8 adventurers, add a random number generator aka dice, and I can expect my monster to give the heroes a moderate challenge. The players might sweat for a round or two, especially when I … er, I mean the rakshasa … blasts off its Disturbing Vision telepathic wave attack. But eventually they’ll make some clever choices and benefit from some good luck and gain the upper hand.
But what happens when a relative noob like me builds a monster? How do I know I haven’t accidentally broken the math and murdered my players before a single die is rolled?
The answer is playtesting: pitting your creation against pregenerated heroes in a mock combat. And it just so happens I did build a couple of monsters, for this year’s RPG Superstar competition run by the good folks over at Roll for Combat.
In fact, hundreds of aspiring Pathfinder writers submitted brand new Second Edition creatures befitting this year’s “Strange and Unusual” theme, including my Bathtub Ooze and Emperor Shark Penguin which both recently advanced past the public judging round and are now finalists!
Now, I think these are both cool and flavorful monsters with clever backstories, but do they work? Can my math hold up to playtesting? Let’s find out.
The Adventuring Party
John (human rogue 3)
Paul (human wizard 3)
George (human fighter 3)
Ringo (human cleric 3)
The Enemies
Mario, Jaromir, and Sid (emperor shark penguins)
Our four heroes have been wandering the long and winding road through a forbidding winter landscape, pursuing glorious treasure in the form of … something. Navigating the frozen shores of a saltwater bay in their traditional marching order, the fab four are unaware of danger lurking in the water: a trio of sadistic emperor shark penguins hiding beneath the waves, who spy an opportunity to slake their thirst for barbarity and blood.
Using the Building Encounters rules in Chapter 10 of the Core Rulebook, I’m pitting three murder penguins against the party, each of which contributes 30 XP to the budget for this encounter. At 90 XP, this is slightly tougher than an 80 XP Moderate encounter, but shy of a 120 XP Severe encounter.
Basically, I’m hoping my murder penguins can blitz the heroes in the first round of combat, unleash shock-and-awe and perhaps knock one of the PCs unconscious in round two, but ultimately succumb to the heroes’ attacks in round three or four. A big initial scare, followed by a chance for the heroes to assert their superiority.
To run the tactical combat, I’ll be using this lovely “On Thin Ice” map by Dice Grimorium deployed on the mobile-friendly virtual tabletop app Tableplop. And I’ll be rolling real dice: the “Iron Gods” AP set by Polish dicemaker Q Workshop, pictured above on the wet sand of Crissy Field in San Francisco. This is a test, so no fudging!
ROUND ONE
The penguins roll Stealth for Initiative … but Mario and Jaromir are clumsy in their eagerness to hit the ice, and George notices them. “Get back!” he shouts, drawing his sword and a shield, which he raises. However, nobody spied sneaky Sid who uses his signature monster ability Haul Out to Swim to shore, Climb out of the water, and Stride twice on his belly, popping up right next to John! Sid’s still got an action left which he uses to bite at John, ripping into the smart one for 6 points of piercing damage and causing John to begin bleeding. Ruh roh.
Paul, the squishy wizard, heeds George’s warning and casts Shield then hobbles away from danger using his trusty walking staff, which he hurls at Sid using Hand of the Apprentice. Miss! It’s John’s turn, but he Delays so Ringo can “Help!” which the cleric obliges by moving into a flank and casting a Bless spell. John is in a mood after being bitten, so he’ll tell the penguin to sod off with a Demoralize check (fails; the penguin doesn’t speak Scouse), then he’ll Quick Draw a rapier to stab at flat-footed Sid and Quick Draw a dagger for a second agile swipe. Both hit, and with sneak attack damage included that’s 13 piercing on the rapier and 10 slashing on the dagger! Don’t mess with rogues, man. However, John takes 3 points of bleed damage, which he doesn’t manage to staunch on the flat check versus persistent.
And here comes the checking line! Mario and Jaromir launch their blitzkrieg: Jaromir will Haul Out and hit on his chomp for 5 piercing, which triggers the emperor shark penguin’s other signature ability: Deadly Duo, allowing Sid to use his Reaction for another bite. Which just misses (19 vs AC 20). Now it’s Mario’s turn to haul-and-bite, though his flanking is ineffective because John has Deny Advantage. Still, Mario hits for 11 piercing … triggering Jaromir’s Reaction and another bite. Jaromir hits for 6 piercing, triggering Mario’s Reaction. Feeding frenzy! Thankfully for the John fans in the audience, Mario rolls a natural 1 so the rogue yet lives … though he’s down to 2 of 33 hit points. And bleeding …
ROUND TWO
“That escalated quickly,” George mutters with typical understatement. He sees John bleeding out, but knows his job is to take out these foes before they can do any more damage. He’ll Stride up to the wounded Sid and try to connect with a Double Slice, gaining a bonus from Ringo’s blessing. The longsword hits for max damage, and those 12 slashing are enough to put Sid down (the critical shield boss attack is purely gratuitous). Paul casts True Strike and fires an Acid Arrow at Mario: the first roll is a miss but the second is a NATURAL 20 for a whopping 26 points of acid damage plus 1d6 persistent acid. Ringo will Sustain his Bless spell to expand its aura, then cast a two-action Heal to restore to John who’s getting a little help from his friends, regaining 24 of the 31 hit points he lost in Round One.
John, as you can imagine, is particularly pissed, so he’ll Step into the flank with George, stabbing twice with his rapier against flat-footed Jaromir and hoping for that sweet, sweet Sneak Attack damage. Unfortunately, only the second stab hits for just 7 piercing, and now the murder penguins go to town on John again: Jaromir will try to Trip up John, which is a penalty in hockey and also fails here against the reflex-y rogue. Next, a jaws attack followed by a claw swipe. Both miss! Cold dice! Mario doesn’t bother with trickery, biting for 12 piercing … which triggers Jaromir’s Deadly Duo. The linemate connects for 7 piercing, triggering Mario’s Deadly Duo … and now we’ve got a problem.
I’m seeing an issue with my monster statblock: it’s not clear whether the Multiple Attack Penalty should apply to a Strike that Mario is using as a Reaction during his turn. An Attack of Opportunity, like George gets as a fighter, specifies this detail: “This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.” Technically, Mario’s Reaction is also an attack action taken during his turn, so I think the Deadly Duo check takes a penalty for being Mario’s second attack.
John is relieved to hear this, since he’s down to 7 hp remaining … and the Reaction attack misses! Two more claws from Mario, at a -8 penalty because they’re an agile weapon, and one of them actually hits. Unfortunately for the penguins, 1d6+4 damage is only 5 piercing here, once again leaving John at 2 hit points. And still bleeding. Paul’s 1d6 persistent from Acid Arrow does just 2 points of acid damage to Mario, leaving the penguins’ captain at 2 hit points as well. His skin-tight jersey continues to sizzle and sputter …
ROUND THREE
With Sid on permanent Injured Reserve, the party has an uninterrupted initiative block that allows them to Delay their turns optimally. Ringo will cast another Heal on John to restore 27 hit points, then expand the aura of his Bless. Getting better all the time, John will take advantage of the flank to stab at Jaromir, critting on his first attack with the deadly rapier for an ungodly 31 piercing — given Jaromir’s starting total of 30 hp, he’s a penguin shish kebab.
John will Ready a stab at Mario once George can run around to complete another flank, and will take 4 more points of bleed damage, failing the flat check to close up his wound. As George dashes into position, John stabs true against Mario for 10 piercing, taking the final emperor shark penguin down!
Paul, jealous of John for hogging the spotlight, considers casting a full-round Magic Missile against his songwriting partner … but instead he runs in to try to staunch John’s wounds, failing with an 8 on the Assisted Recovery check. Fortunately, Ringo acts first in the subsequent round and succeeds on his Assisted Recovery, ending John’s peril. Here comes the sun! Ringo really is the glue of this adventuring foursome. Most clerics are.
ENCOUNTER OVER
So that’s it. The math held up pretty well, I think. My emperor shark penguins deployed their special abilities to swarm the party and focus fire on one target, using their sharky ancestors’ inherent militancy and cunning to make the party sweat. But by the third round of combat, the heroes gained the upper hand and neutralized the threat.
I do think I need to clarify the Deadly Duo ability and how it interacts with the Multiple Attack Penalty. Hopefully my monster is selected by the RPG Superstar judges for publication in their upcoming “Battlezoo Bestiary: Strange and Unusual” book, which would give me a chance to polish it up real nice.
Don’t let me down, judges. Adventure!