Wilderland/Dwarf Magic Question

[Arthur Fisher]

My group is coming up on the adventure Crossing the Celduin.
Our Dwarf has the Spells of Opening and Shutting spells from he Broken Spell Quality. I suspect he will use this on the gates of the town.

Should this grant him an additional bonus die like mending the gate does?
Should it take the Troll additional rounds to knock the gate down?
How many rounds should it take The Gibbet King to negate the Dwarf magic with his own spells to raise the gate?

[Angelalex242]

Trolls are strong, but so is magic. Just double the rounds it takes the troll to get through unaided.

The Gibbet King? Have him make Lore rolls. If he fails, it takes him a whole day due to misidentifying the spell. If he botches with a GRune, he can't get by at all and needs a new plan. On a normal success, he gets through in 10 rounds, on a great success, 5, on an extraordinary success, he blows through the spell in one round.

Your dwarf will feel awesome unless the King gets lucky.

[Falenthal]

Great situation for an epic showdown!

Without very precise details on mechanics or numbers, those are the ideas I'd try to introduce in the adventure:

1) Regarding the troll and the gate.
I'd make possible for the troll to break the gate (after all it isn't opening the lock, it's breaking the grid out of the hinges), but of course the gate should have the resistence increased. That would buy more time for the archers and spearmen to kill the troll before he manages to break the door.

2) If the troll doesn't manage to break through, then the Gibbet King would appear once night falls and I'd run a "contest of wills" against the dwarf to represent dispelling the spell. Remember here when Gandalf shuts the door in Moria with a spell, until the Balrog comes and breaks it. Or when the Witch-king destroys Minas Tirith's doors before Gandalf.
I don't know exactly how I'd run the "contest of wills", but it should probably be a series of opposed tests (p.148 Revised Book), against the Wisdom of the Dwarf. The Gibbet King could roll Custom: he could begin a series of Chants (Shadow version of Song ) to dispel the Dwarf's magic. After a number of successes (based on some Dwarf's score?), the spell breaks. Meanwhile, the other characters can attack the Gibbet King from behind the defense of the tower and the grid.
If you want to elaborate more in this mechanic, I'd say that the Gibbet King could spend 1 Hate point to roll an additional Success die per turn. The Dwarf could do the same spending 1 point of Hope.

[Arthur Fisher]

Good suggestions.

To give you an idea of the layout, we'll be playing the Crossing the Celduin adventure from p. 108 of Tales of the Wilderland.
On p. 128, the adventure notes that if the players can repair the tollgate, they will get an additional Success die.
I was thinking of adding 1 more die on top of that for the Dwarf's magic.
Do we think I should add more or less or keep it at 1? Or should I do something else entirely to represent the fact that your run-of-the-mill goblins don't have a snowball's chance in Mt. Doom of opening that thing themselves?
If so, what?

As for the Troll, p. 130 notes that he needs to accumulate 3 successful hits to knock down the gate, or 5 if the gate has been repaired.
Angela suggested I double that to 10!
Do we think that's too much or too little or just right? Or should there be something else?

The Gibbet King attacks on the second night with an entire army behind him. The day after that, King Bard's cavalry arrives. So having the Gibbet King need a whole day to undo the spell isn't going to be feasible. It should probably be measured in rounds.
Normally, the Gibbet King just shows up, waves his hand and the portcullis starts lifting magically while a wave of orcs pour through.
Based on Falenthal's suggestion, I'm thinking of having it take him (Dwarf's Wisdom) number of rounds and points of Hate to dismantle the spell; all the while the other players will be attacking or having cunning plans.
If the Dwarf wants to run back to the gate and reinforce his spell, he can spend a point of Hope to do so and make a Craft roll. For every success, it takes the Gibbet King another point of Hate and another round to dispel it.
Do we think this is too generous or too stingy or just right?

I appreciate all your feedback. It always makes for a more interesting game.

[Majestic]

Doubling it to 10 might be too much, but giving it an additional 1-3 (beyond the 5) should still be a significant improvement.

I think Falenthal's recommendation is just right.