Having recently procured "The World's Largest Dungeon" (
not easy these days), I am pretty damn determined to use it with you folks in
#VERPG and I am quite certain that you will enjoy it. At the very least, you'll be able to kill your lazy Saturdays for a while.
*rolls 1d20*
I GOT A FOUR!
*cough*
Apparently according to the table enclosed within the book, the "reason" for hosting such a campaign/dungeon-crawl is "Punishment" Interesting... I wonder why *cough*
I hope to start this campaign Saturday, and getting your level one characters in by then (Friday preferably) would be much appreciated. Only one of five PCs (on average) survive this encounter, so be sure to put careful thought into how you want your character to develop as well when composing those first level stats. (Do leave room open for adaptation though, never know if you might be making a mistake and realize later.) Be sure to collaborate with your fellow PCs in spreading out roles that may be essential. If you have three rogues, you probably can handle most traps and locks, but skipping over a cleric or someone to take a few hits might lead to an early failure of your little band of adventurers.
As a general "help" here are some suggestions on the most useful skills taken from the book itself:
Balance, Concentration (if you're a spellcaster), Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Disable Device (easily the most important skill), Heal, hide, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Open Locks(the second most important skill), Search, Speak Language (Undercommon, Goblin, Draconic, and Celestial are good to start), Spellcraft, Spot, Survival, Swim (depending on how you choose routes), Tumble, and Use Rope.
The following are also suggested: Craft (for repairing damaged weapons and armor), handle animal, sense motive, use magic device.
Skills of little use in this dungeon include: Disguise, Forgery, Gather Information, Perform (Unless you are a bard), Profession, Ride, and Sleight of Hand. It is highly suggested you avoid those skills as to spend them where they can be of more use.
For the Core Classes, here are general roles they play in dungeons, feel free to be creative!
Barbarian - Your purpose in the dungeon is to fight, plain and simple. With your fast movement and melee prowess, you can reach trouble before it can get to your comrades. In close quarters where tactical movement is important, Combat Reflexes can be advantageous. If you set up a blocking position in a ten-foot-wide hallway, no enemy can pass you easily. As always, Power Attack and Cleave are your friends. Your uncanny dodge and trap sense abilities help you avoid surprise dangers, and damage reduction lets you endure more blows than most. Consequently, a party stuck without a rogue (or similar character) might depend upon you to take care of traps - simply because you'll get hurt less if you fail. When the party is faced with obstacles, your high Strength allows you to move aside heavy objects, break down doors, and so forth. You can use Power Attack to help bust through inanimate objects more quickly. If you need an extra edge to accomplish such a task (especially if you are in a hurry), it might even be worth expending a use of your Rage to get the job done.
Bard - You are the expert at solving peculiar problems. Bardic Knowledge give you information about the dungeon's purpose or origin as a whole, the secret answer to an ancient riddle, or the name and powers of a magic item. If the party gets stuck, give Bardic Knowledge a try. The legend lore can supplement this ability. Your bardic knowledge has many useful functions, so you shouldn't waste it on situations that aren't truly dangerous. Don't underestimate the inspires crucial skill checks, especially Disable Device and Climb, when poor rolls can mean serious trouble. For your spell selections, focus on utility spells and those that mislead opponents. Light, know direction, animate rope, detect secret doors, gaseous form, dimension door, freedom of movement, shadow walk, and find the path make navigation and movement smooth. Illusion spells, even simple ones such as ghost sound, can trick enemies who are unaware of your presence. Even your cantrips have a wide utility: Detect magic can sort the treasure hold, mage hand can grab a set of keys from a hook or drop a rock on a trap's trigger plate, mending can fix a damaged coil of rope, and open/close can crack a door or trapped chest from a safe distance. Don't skimp on your cure spells - you'll need them.
Cleric - In the dungeon, as elsewhere, your main function is to heal and protect. Your healing spells make you one of the most essential members of a dungeoneering party. Your defensive spells also keep your party out of danger. Putting ranks in the Heal skill can improve your ability to salve your companions' wounds, as can the Sacred Healing and Sacred Purification feats from Player's Handbook II. And of course, you are the party's bastion against undead attack. Choose domains that play to your strengths (such as Healing and Protection) or that overcome dungeon difficulties. The Travel domain can negate obstacles, and the Stun Domain give you some extra offensive magic and more power to face undead-infested dungeons. You are also a competent melee combatantwho can support the fighter or barbarian of your party. You may instead choose to reinforce this role, enhancing your fighting ability with combat focused feats such as Weapon Focus or Divine Armor.
Druid - Like the cleric, your purpose in the dungeon is to heal and support. Your nature-based abilities that depend on vegetation or being outdoors won't help here, so focus on healing and enhancement spells such as barkskin, bull's strength, and greater magic fang (which works either on yourself in wildshape or on your animal companion). Spells that facilitate dungeon movement are worthwhile, including spider climb, warp wood, air walk, control water, and freedom of movement, and offensive spells such as call lightening can be powerful even in close quarters underground. At low levels, bypassing obstacles can be difficult. You can command an animal companion to perform a trick that will assist you. For example, a badger could burrow under a door, an eagle could carry a grappling hook to a high ledge, or a monkey could crawl through a narrow passage and lift a latch. By taking wildshape, especially the elemental forms available to you at higher levels, you can navigate unusual terrain yourself and overcome obstacles the others cannot. Make sure to select the Natural Spell feat so you can use your magic while in wild shape. (NOTE: If you play a Druid, please let me know so we can replace some abilities to make some more balance, as you will be underground for quite a while.)
Fighter - Your role in the dungeon is to fight strategically, protecting the weaker members of the party by holding off enemies. Ranged attacks are certainly possible in larger chambers, but your greatest strength is holding the line in melee. Focus feats that enhance melee combat in tight spaces where movement is limited, such as Combat Reflexes, Cleave and Great Cleave, or Whirlwind Attack. Setting up tactical "pinch points" as mentioned in the Barbarian's entry above, will let you deliver more pain than usual. The Vexing Flanker feat makes a flanking position even more deadly against enemies. If you're worried about being caught in the dark, Blind-Fight can be useful. Your Strength-based skills (Climb and Jump) are vital in the dungeon, allowing you to cross or exploit obstructing terrain. Unless you specialize in light armor and Dex-based combat, you'll need maximum ranks to make up for your armor check penalty. Aside from these considerations, your function isn't much different from that in other situations. A blade is a blade in the dungeon or the wilderness.
Monk - You are the party member most likely to bypass dungeon obstacals, and you provide combat support. Your varied class skills, substantial skill points, and lack of reliance on armor make you ideally suited to focus on on essential dungeoneering skills. Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Tumble skill are all good choices; depending on your ability scores, either dominate in one area or select a balanced array. In combat, use your great mobility to set up flanking positions for other characters (especially the rogue). The Tumble skill can protect you from Attacks of Opportunity and allow you to move about the battlefield safely. The Acrobatic Strike feat makes tumbling even more worthwhile. For your bonus feats, Combat Reflexes and Improved Trip are useful selections: knock foes prone, then slam them as they try to rise or crawl away. Your other class features have a broad utility in the dungeon, especially slow fall and immunity to disease and poison. At higher levels, the abundant step ability lets you bypass most obstacles with ease.
Paladin - Your purpose in the dungeon is to fight and guard against evil. The typical dungeon is full of wicked creatures and magic. Your detect evil and smite evil abilities are more likely to come into play in a dungeon more than elsewhere. Take advantage of detect evil whenever possible to prevent surprise and give the advantage to you instead of your adversities. Use your smite cautiously - don't waste it on a weaker being if you suspect greater evil lies ahead. Lay on hands provides all important healing and gives clerics a chance to use offensive or support spells. If you encounter undead that are particularly hard to hit, using lay on hands as a touch attack can more effectively damage them and conserve your party's resources. Divine health protects you from diseases that can debilitate a party. When facing creatures or environmental hazards that can cause disease, stay in front to protect your companions. Your ability to use remove disease at 6th level lets you do even more. For your spell selection, guage the party's overall capacity to deal with damage, disease, and other ill effects. If they can easily handle those problems, pick spells that grant combat bonuses, such as bless, bull's strength, prayer, and holy sword. If not, cure and restoration spells, delay poison, shield other, remove curse, and neutralize poison might be better choices. (NOTE: When you reach fifth level, you will not gain a mount as they are generally not well suited to dungeons. In its stead, another ability will be presented, more details will be presented as you approach that level.)
Ranger - Even in the dungeon, you excel at scouting and also provide combat support. Your Track bonus feat let you find enemies who don't want to be found, so max out your Survival skill to help with the difficult task of tracking creatures over dungeon's stone surfaces. Most of the essential dungeon skills are in your class skill list, so you can become an ideal dungeoneer. Hide and Move Silently provide much needed stealth. When selecting a preferred enemy, try to anticipate creature types that are more prevalent in dungeons, such as aberrations, monsterous humanoids, evil outsiders, undead, or vermin. Dungeoneering need not make archery a bad choice of combat style. Sometimes a situation will simply not leave enough room to move into melee, making archery a powerful alternative even in cramped quarters. Take Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot to nullify the disadvantages posed by small rooms and narrow corridors. As with the druid, if you have an animal companion, select a creature with a special mode of movement, such as badger, eagle, or owl. For your spells, stick with choices that work in a dungeon. Detect snares and pits, jump, pass without trace, freedom of movement, and commune with nature speed travel and facilitate stealth even if you're not outdoors. Barkskin, bear's endurance, and other ability boosters support your party with combat advantages. Remove disease and freedom of movement can deal with setbacks. If your party is short on healing, be sure to prepare plenty of heal spells.
Rogue - Your purpose in the dungeon, quite frankly, is to do everything. You are the skill expert, and the rest of party relies on your expertise. Other characters probably do not have Open Lock, so make sure you have plenty of ranks in those skills. Increase your stealth with Hide and Move Silently, both for setting up sneak attacks and because you'll often be ahead of the party looking for traps - max out your Search skill as well. Balance and Tumble help avoid the (literal) pitfalls of dungeon delving. You are the best character to disarm traps. Your class skills and special abilities let you deal with mos traps easily. Don't forget to purchase a set of thieves' tools (preferably masterwork) and a reaching device to test traps from a distance. In combat, sneak attacks are your specialty. With Tumble you can move through a crowd of creatures to set up flanking opportunities. The Acrobatic Strike and Combat Acrobat feats provide attack bonuses and reduce movement penalties when you are tumbling. Combat Reflexes, Mobility, and Spring Attack all increase your combat options.
Sorcerer - In the dungeon, as elsewhere, you are the blaster. With a limited spell selection, you're better off focusing on damage-dealing spells - especially those that take advantage of confined space - then trying to plan for contingencies. Burning hands, flaming sphere, fireball, lightening bolt, cloudkill, and chain lightening work best when enemies are close together (and prove the point that your party members shouldn't travel in a tight pack). Also consider force and sonic spells, and those that ignore spell resistance (as many conjuration spells do), so you have the best chance of dealing maximum damage to any sort of enemy. A few movement-enhancing spells, such as fly and dimension door, are certainly worth learning. For 0-level spells, light is always good, mage hand and open/close can test for traps, ghost sound can trick sentries, and arcane mark helps you find your way in mazes. Concentration, Knowledge(arcana), and Spellcraft are your most useful class skills. If you have some points left to spend, consider cross-class skills that are useful in the dungeon, especially Spot. When it comes to feats, Combat Casting will keep you from losing spells in sticky situations, and Spell Focus (evocation) improves your offensive capability. Be careful about area spells that can harm your own party members; consider Scult Spell to leave safe spaces when you don't have the opportunity to target your effects perfectly.
Wizard - Your role in the dungeon is to understand and overcome. Decipher Script, Knowledge(arcana), Knowledge(dungeoneering), Knowledge(history), and Spellcraft all give you access to lore others might not have. It's a good idea to coordinate with other arcane casters and Knowledge specialists (especially bards) to avoid needless duplication of expertise. For feats, Combat Casting is always a good choice, and your high number of bonus feats lets you focus on useful metamagic or item creation. Your choice of spells largely depends on what type of dungeon you enter. You should always have some basic combat spells available, such as mage armor, magic missile, and fireball. For the rest, pick utility spells, including illusions to trick guards, ways to escape dangerous situations (such as feather fall), movement enhancers (fly, dimension door), and finders of hidden hazards and benefits (detect secret doors and arcane eye). Dispell magic negates many sorts of hazards. As you proceed through a dungeon, you can adapt your spell selections accordingly. It can be worthwhile to leave a spell slot or two open to allow emergency preparation for a specific situation, and the Alacritous Cogitation feat lets you do it on the fly. You can use Scribe Scroll to prepare utility spells such as knock, detect secret doors, rope trick, and gaseous form ahead of time, leaving space for more offensive power. The XP cost for scribing low-level spells is minimal and the flexibility it allows is well worth the price. Wands of useful low-level spells, such as detect magic, feather fall, and mage armor, are also handy.
There you have it, my suggestions for the dungeoneering expedition in terms of your class. Not only should you look at that, but adventuring equipment will certainly play a role, torches or lanterns are of significant use for obvious reasons, as would be food to nourish yourself. Pack up what you can (be sure to consider all the weights), and grab that backpack (or sack) right before you come to the session.
