Tonight’s test only took about 20 minutes and showed me a few gaps in the system, and an imbalance in combat.
Perfect Hunter
Meet Hadyn, daughter of fishers and trained by a hunter in the way of the bow. At the tavern she heard a song about the deadly Coral Serpent of Cruel Strangulation, and set out to find this relic. Just as a fight broke out, she found a secret door and slipped out of the tavern unharmed.
Hadyn then worked to earn some rich foods, wrangled a wild gilasaur to ride, and bumped into an old friend named River to be her guide.
As Hadyn and River left the city, they crossed the old plague cemetery, which triggered Hadyn’s phobia of disease. There they spotted a rampaging nobleman with the plague, armed with a sword. Hadyn swiftly felled him with her bow, and collected a vial of poison.
Out in the wilds, Hadyn and River took shelter from the heat in an old shipwreck, where they discovered a starving vampire hiding from the sun. But again, Hadyn killed her foe with a few swift arrows.
Then they arrived at the tower where the Coral Serpent was kept. The only entrance was a magma tunnel guarded by two short mercenaries with bone daggers. Hadyn began shooting arrows, but a little merc killed River! The mercs cornered Hadyn, but she managed to kill one and wound the other, who fled from his post. She headed inside.
As she crept through the huge echoing halls of the tower, a spotted panther attacked Hadyn. This time it only took a single arrow to send the enemy running for its life.
But the sounds of battle drew the villain to her, and Hadyn met the dire Vampire Alchemist! The undead countess attacked with grotesque blood magics, but Hadyn led her on a running battle, firing arrow after arrow! After an exhausting chase, the countess fell dead with seven arrows in her heart. Hadyn claimed the Coral Serpent and headed home.
The journey back to the city took a full year, but she suffered no injuries, and arrived to discover that while the Coral Serpent had no powerful enchantments, it was a valuable trinket. She fenced it for a small fortune and spent the rest of the season carousing at the tavern. Huzzah!
Design notes
This adventurer rolled +2 in two traits, and made phenomenal Action rolls, so she cake-walked most of the fights. Never took a single injury. To balance that out, I increased the number of baddies for a bunch of encounters, and made sure that ranged fighters could take more injuries. I also added more features to the Adventure Sheet. Progress!
