Thank you. I'd love to continue but I will be starting graduate school in two weeks. No time for fun and games. :(
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This is great Brodyz. I am wondering, however, did you ever update Crove? I'd love to see his completed stat block. I plan on inserting Carrion Hill in the same place you do so this has been great!
Name: Alois Taber
The Gory Details:: ]As the group was leaving for a midnight meeting with Madame Ivanja they heard screams and pounding coming from the other side of the lodge. Not thinking much of it (for some reason?) The alchemist went off to the Madame's tower while Alois and the other party member went to investigate.
Seeing the spider Alois charged in with his sword(s) raised. The spider retaliated "spearing" him with one it's legs as he ran in for 32 damage. The spider's turn was next and it's fangs pierced straight through him for 32 damage. Afterwards the remaining group member lured it outside and fought a running battle before it retreated into the lodge and nearly killed the others. This was the second to last of my original characters - the others have all died terribly in Trial of the Beast (see previous posts). The last survivor is fearfully awaiting his own demise. [
Please cancel my Pathfinder Battles Case subscription. I'll be living off student loans in graduate school, making this subscription untenable to continue. This is purely for my own financial reasons, I thoroughly enjoyed the first set put out! Thanks!
I made him a Clone Master Alchemist - I have the stats somewhere if someone wants them. I can post them here.
I have had four character deaths in two books thus far. As I established Judge Daramid as a strong patron for the party in Trial of the Beast, she had the party resurrected in a secretive ritual performed by the Order of the Palatine Eye. Twice. It helped that one of the people that died (twice) was her beloved assistant and protege.
I love it and I might use it in place of my encounter I had planned. The one I have planned involves the group passing through a Dorzhanev hamlet along the Silent Path, near dusk. The group would be urged to hurry on by the villagers but if they stay they'd have to deal with taciturn and rude behavior. I wasn't going to have it become a combat encounter (the previous night they were just ambushed by red-furred werewolves - Random encounter) and they captured one of them in the resulting melee. Sidenote: The group is terrified that one or more of them may have contracting lycanthropy. I've been rolling their checks for that in secret. It really increased their paranoia - time will tell (with the full moon a week and a half away) if their fears bear dark fruit.
This is a perfectly twisted and delightful turn of events. I might steal this too! Thanks Erik.
Penderecki is also a good choice as some of his pieces have choral elements.
My PCs would have definitely died were it not for the Beast. As it was, I played the Promethean stupid enough that it wouldn't kill them all in 4 rounds giving them time for the Beast to arrive to help save the day. Even then, the Beast was a round from being destroyed when they finally struck the Promethean down. I have several well-optimized characters so the Promethean really isn't a joke unless (as my group would have done had the weather not been dangerous) they go get the Beast first and then pile on behind it.
Frankly it does not make sense tactically for Brevoy to open another front in the middle of war between it's two halves. Adding unnecessary enemies is one of the primary reasons Germany lost WWII so badly - though that actually proves that sometimes tactical mistakes are made (which goes towards supporting your idea). However, a civil war has got to add an even larger complication. Not only are you at war, you can't even be certain of the loyalty of the majority of your people. Brevoy seems (to me)Game of Thrones-esque where every party is out to further their own agendas and they can/will do anything to reach their goals. If I was leading Brevoy's southern half I would be extremely worried about starting a war that will require forces be deployed south instead of north. Now I realize that's not even close to answers and ideas like you wanted so I do apologize for that. I'm sure your players will enjoy the fighting though :) Your players' armies are formidable to be sure. I doubt that Brevoy has armies of bound elementals, mage killers, or undead so overwhelming numerical superiority (led by powerful Swordlords whose martial mastery is almost beyond belief) is key. Too bad undead armies all too often seem to reinforce themselves ;)
Very nice :) I was using a random weather table (and that got me a blizzard while the group is in Schloss Caromarc. That's going to really complicate their final battle).
Well currently through Judge Daramid. She knew the Judge and she knew that the PCs were going to Lepidstadt to see her. So her initial letter (and the only one sent so far)was actually sent to the Judge's address. The Judge had the letter forwarded to the inn the PCs are staying at: The Brazen Skull (Rule of Fear source book). Like I said, the Judge has played a much larger patron role in my game than as originally written (partially because I ran Feast of Ravenmoor with her as the contact and the party also likes her no-nonsense, stern contenance and attitude). They are in Schloss Caromarc right now and as of now the player has only responded to the letter (not gotten another reply - I will be keeping the letter writing as realistic as possible in time frame as possible). One thing I am doing is slowing down the events in the path. It makes me a little insane to imagine players going from 1 to 16 in a handful of months so I've been adding downtime for crafting and other threads (Feast of Ravenmoor, probably Carrion Hill) The player is invested in continuing his contacts with Kendra and so my hope is that with the extra downtime he will either write her when he gets a chance or establish a place she can contact him at. Like I said, I'm still just starting this letter writing chain. I'm trying to make sure that characters met in various of the books don't stay one shots but continue to guide and influence the story and provide additional background. Oh god. This became a giant post. I'm done now.
In my game Kendra Lorrimor was convinced by Adivon Adrissant to come stay with him in Caliphas to get away from "all this messy business" and allow her to get back on her feet. She has retained the only original character as a pen pal and I've got plans for her letters to become increasing concerned as she develops a curiousity for Adivon(And I realize it's Adivion - I just like Adivon better.) and begins to grow worried about the things he's gotten into. I've taken the ideas of a few on the boards and written scripts involving the two (and scripts involving Judge Daramid who has played a much larger role in ToTB than as written.). I have yet to show the group the Kendra scripts. When I do (after things are revealed) I hope they'll showcase Kendra's growing realization and fear of the madman she's living with. He's charming and kind to her but over time (as the party continues foiling his plans) he begins to grow slightly unhinged becoming controlling and angry. But he's always had no patience for incompetence. In my game Petros was Adivon's mentor as a youth.
I imagine that they'd be removing a hand for theft. Ustalav's justiciary doesn't seem keen on "community service". :)
I would recommend that if they help out during the events that the townsfolk are more thankful than they may otherwise be. More like, "Maybe you aren't so bad after all. Thanks for saving me!" One little side adventure I had in there was the disappearance of a neighbor girl of Kendra's, named Sarah, whose family runs the farm that Gibs rents his shack from. My characters were interested in tracking down the missing girl and questioned gibs (allowing him more jerkish face time). I gave them clues indicating that she had been kidnapped (a small smear of blood on the stable door - where she disappeared from while helping put the animals away), sign of a struggle. They found her locked in an empty wine cask in Gib's shack's crawlspace/cellar. The other wine casks were filled with blood. Gibs was under compulsion to ignore her pleas, as if they didn't exist. They tracked her down by raiding Gibs' shack and finding her. Gibs ran off, but his compulsion continued to fill out the name and he was caught. Though he proclaimed his innocence. Having one or two named characters or families (The Ellis family, Ms. Ellis, Sarah's mother, Father Grimburrow, and the Sheriff) on the party's side (even if the rest of the town is anxious and avoids them) can help the party feel more like they have a place in town.
Those two bridges are real deathtraps. :D They didn't stand a chance. I am glad I forgot there are two reflex saves (and then corrected myself) or else it would have been 3 characters. This group is not used to traps (in my homebrew games I rarely do dungeon crawls) but they started to learn to keep an eye out in the Chymical works. As it is the deaths give me an opportunity to: Spoiler: Introduce the new characters as initiates of the Palatine Eye who have been following the group, evaluating them for membership, since the Palatine Eye ressurected two of their previous characters (other obituary post). The party still only knows that the Judge is part of a "powerful, secret organization" and the members they met with hid their faces and warned them never to speak of their assistance. Though the Judge later hinted that the Order would require their debts to be paid (one way or another) some day soon.
The two characters are disappointed their characters have died (and unable to afford raise dead) but excited about the Palatine Eye.
I didn't know that was different until halfway through HoH...
Name: Tavi
The Gory Details: The party had a terrible time fighting the Trolls. It's a long story. The party took care of the Golem hound by shooting at it from the towers and then went across. They failed to spot the hidden bell and proceeded to pick the lock of the door, failing their attempt to look for traps. The air elemental triggered and won initiative and in subsequent rounds it swept those it could off the edge of the bridge where they smashed into the raging water and skewered against the rocks beneath the falls.
On the Alchemist: I can't remember when they get the option to take this but Tanglefoot bomb can be very dangerous against incorporeal undead. It's supernatural so it affects them and they have no strength score (to burst out) and no slashing damage (to cut themselves free). I've been fortunate that my alchemist didn't have it during fights with ghosts and spirits. Even now though I can see it is going to be dangerous for big fights ahead. Tanglefoot Bomb replicates Tanglefoot bags but using their bombs (they do damage and then whatever they hit directly has to make a save or be trapped motionless - and everything in their bomb area is entangled).
Using the great ideas in this thread I'm building up Caromarc and his wife. However, instead of a wand of speak with dead I'm going to be setting up the glass bell jar as being partially mechanized with strange knobs and pressurized, fluid-filled tubes. When used correctly, wires send stimulate Ceryse's brain and it answer questions through an audio box that transmits the answers she makes. The guy is a hugely accomplished scientist, why should he necessarily have to rely on wands?
My players burned the spellbook as soon as they found it. The splatterman made the very foundations of Harrowstone shake with his rage but since it took them a few days to reach him he was back at full health.
Ah great, that would have made it a lot more difficult. ;) Our group has barely used crafting in the past and I'd forgotten about that little rule. If I run CC for another group I will be sure to keep that in mind.
My group was completely immune to the Splatterman's Magic Missile barrage thanks to the alchemist providing everyone with shield potions. I don't know whether or not he had snuck a peek but it caused me to rely a lot more on the Corrupting Touch. Though I tried to avoid completely overwhelming them with it. But my group was pretty annoyed how he kept going between walls and into cells to avoid them and then would pop back out.
@SmiloDan One of my players in the Carrion Crown AP is using the Truenamer. We changed the DC for truename to be 15+CR. So far it has given us a nice range. He is powerful and versatile but as he uses his abilities it is much more difficult for him to spam them without considering the need to "reserve" his power. He is only level 5, however, and I realize that it gets more difficult to hit the DCs at higher levels.
You have a lot of interesting ideas. I always assumed that Consumption referred mostly to feeding and paying your soldiers and that any soldiers you gave magic weapons to would be better compensated (to prevent them from running off and selling them.) You sound like you have more experience than I do with the mass combat system and you have some very good ideas/additions.
MartinB: What cartography program did you use to make those maps? They are quite good. That's what I thought. I've got it, though I'm not very good using the program. :)
Name: Samuel Trench and Balrig
This encounter can be *deadly*. Ouch.
MartinB: What cartography program did you use to make those maps? They are quite good.
Although I'd also have the rest of the party looked at in a even more negative light at first since doubtless everyone knew the two men who were savagely killed. They'll also know "these outsiders came in and kill Tom and Eddy". Play it up.
If the other players are just as appalled then I think getting them to act as jailers could be great. However, I would wait those in-game 3 days. Maybe even make it so he's buying his freedom by solving the town's problems. Failure to do so means he goes back to jail or is hung.
@Gbonehead While I am not changing Trial of the Beast in any major way (my players really like the investigation) I thought that inserting the Feast of Ravenmoor would be a good method of getting them working for the Judge. If you are worried about them not having a strong reason to work with the Judge then its a good method to get it. I hope your group gets more into the roleplaying part of it, the atmosphere can be really great if done well.
Please do.
The rules for incorporeal things burning seem bizarre to me. Especially when dealing with alchemists (who sometimes want a more "mundane" flavor for their bombs).
Several characters we started with were switched out. The ones we disposed of are: Channing Tatum: M Human Bard (Archivist), the Professor Jones character. Professor of Archaeology at Lepidstat U(Called Professor Hot-to-Trot by the female characters).
The ones still in the game or replacing the others are: Goroma: CN (now CG) F Half-orc Cleric/Fighter of Gorum. Goroma started out extremely suspicious of everyone's intentions and more willing to start a fight than talk it out. She has a soft spot for the helpless and is the one character who has been donating her money to help children get education. She refuses to enter any temple of a rival god and disdains all other Gods. Richtor: CG M Human Inquisitor of Iomedae (but being converted slowly to Desna). From Andoran, Richtor has a keen sense of right and wrong and a taste for adventure and dare devilry. Balriegh: CN M Tiefling Alchemist (Grenadier): Scarred and grotesquely disfigured, Balriegh fled Cheliax and surgically removed outward signs of his planar heritage. He is straight forward and pragmatic, preferring to deal with problems via intimidation or (even better) explosives. He runs Balriegh's Brews in the Chemist's Corner of Lepidstadt. Samuel: LG M Human Truenamer (3.5): The scion of a Andoran political dynasty. Samuel found himself in Ustalav in an attempt to make his own way. He has a strong sense of justice and a keen, insightful mind and works for Judge Daramid as an assistant and problem-solver. Alois: M Human Inquisitor/Rogue of Pharasma: Unfortunately this character has missed a lot of sessions. Not much to say about him yet. Tavi: LN M Oread Monk from Tian Xie: Tavi is travelling and exploring and gets caught up in the adventure after leaving his acrobatics act with the Crooked Kin to adventure with the party. He is disciplined and constantly training.
Thanks, I wasn't even considering it. Unfortunately I can't edit it now :( Or the forums thought I wasn't logged in even though it showed me logged in. Fixed.
Feast Finale: The Blightspawn was a beast. Although I believe if it was presented as written it would have been a lot easier.
I have a large group (max 6 people) and I gave them level 4 so they were effectively about 2 levels ahead in group power. My group is also very experienced and effective. Unfortunately for me two things happened to make the blightspawn a huge threat (and as written its nasty). 1) They used ALL of their spells and other per day abilities on all the encounters ahead of time AND decided to investigate the "River Wolf" and got into a fight with that AND instead of resting a full 8 hours they spent the time until the early morning investigating the town. 2) We ended the game the first session with them nearing the final fight with the Mayor and when we started the second session we only had 4 characters. 4 characters with no spells or bombs left. Frankly I was just glad not to kill any of them but they actually did really well fending it off and the battle ended up in a stalemate with the blightspawn seeking easier prey after it reached 1/4 HP after a 6 hour battle lasting 22 or so rounds (including the fight with the Mayor). Seriously if Mr. Hodge sees this: That battle got stretched forever (in a good way I thought!) as the mayor took shelter in the corn to heal, shouted at his followers to help him and did everything in his power to hurt them before finally succumbing. It was a battle that requires a lot of tactics if they don't blitz the Mayor in a few rounds :) Good job! The fight melted into the corn fields where a game of cat and mouse took place. The group hated the corn so much that when the blightspawn was born I described how as it wrenched itself from the gore that was once the Mayor's body the cornfields began wilting around it so they could move around a little more easily. All that corn did make our Inquisitor with the Travel domain feel really useful though. But I digress, I think the Blightspawn's appearance will allow them a feeling of triumph as they tackle it again (though maybe it will get away, who knows). I'm looking forward to it >=)
So I actually just finished the Ravenmoor portion and it went over pretty well. I think I may have to let the Carrion Hill go for now though, it's too far away and I do want to keep the main story line rolling. How it went: I introduced the plot through Judge Daramid because it felt a bit weak for a woman of her obvious intelligence to rely on untested individuals for something "important" like defending the beast. After all, killing ghosts doesn't mean you are investigators. The group arrived into a unworked up Lepidstadt and got to explore the city some (which is so flavorful that I wanted to showcase it some more) before they finally turned in their books. They met the Judge and a new PC who was the Judge's assistant and she asked them if they were interested in more work. She explained the tax collector situation and while the party was confused as to why she was paying them so much gold (per the module) to track him down they basically chalked it down to "She's wealthy, respected, and focused on trying to keep the county together given the disfunction of the local council. Edit: She explained the situation as: "I recently found out about a missing tax collector, the guards and the Council don't seem interested in finding him, I've done my own research (give details on his past, etc.) and I want you to determine if he ran off with the money so I can alert the other authorities of our neighboring counties to be on the look out. It worked really well. I situated Ravenmoor on the edge of the Dipplemere and ran the module as is. Now the group has a history with the Judge and it felt natural that when the Beast was captured a week later she would trust them to investigate for her. Note: One thing that one of my players mentioned was that there wasn't the same "gothic feel" to the adventure, that it felt different than Harrowstone. But IMO that was A) me not gothicizing it and B) the party knowing it was a module I was inserting (though nothing else). It was a really good scenario though. Unfortunately the blightspawn survived and flew into the swamp. Maybe instead of a Manticore I'll have the blightspawn hiding on the graveyard island near Morast.
Loving the blightspawn death. :)
I'm jealous and sad. My players forgot about it during all the chaos with the prison. They handed it over to the Judge without even thinking about it.
They'll need to use Knock. The key wasn't mentioned in the book and part of the challenge of getting that "hint" about the Palatine Eye is that its a high DC.
This seems as good a place as any to say that though I really like the idea behind the Chymic works, the design of it is truly terrible when taken as a "real building" and not just a set piece. I'll be running that encounter in a week or two and it seems just... bizarrely set up. Unless I'm missing something I guess.
Cool stuff Thanks for sharing your interesting campaign. :) It's always fun to read.
Damon, if you could send that to me as well. I plan on running RoTR when it is re-released in 2012. spoiler: aerinthinker@gmail.com
Off the topic but I wanted to thank you, James, for being so active on the forums providing us with tidbits of knowledge. This level of activity is one of the reasons I'm happy to be a supporter of Pathfinder. Also, I look forward to more Numeria information!
Yea, that's my thought as well. However, I wanted to be sure I wasn't short changing my monsters. I know my players won't be shorting themselves ;) Thanks for the response.
Hi folks, I'm DMing Feast of Ravenmoor. The module is built for level 3 but I have a group of level 4 characters and I'm trying to boost the module accordingly. So to the subject: The module includes an Aranea that I am adding a sorcerer level to. I know that sorcerer levels stack with the Aranea as it casts as a sorcerer but do they then get retroactive bloodline powers once I add the class level? (Araneas do not get blood line powers). Much appreciated
As I mentioned in another thread I am inserting the Feast of Ravenmoor into the game to give the party some cool down before the race continues and I'm downplaying some of the timing for Trial of the Beast so that the party can get to explore a very interesting location (Lepidstadt) before being dragged off. The party returns from Ravengro (and splits up, some returning to their work at the Lepidstadt University and others continuing on) and returns the Manual of the Palatine Eye to Judge Daramid. Using some of the background information from the Rule of Fear (about how dysfunctional the Vieland Council is) I'm portraying her as a canny old woman who is sick of how poorly the county is being run and, as someone who has amassed a personal fortune, who is willing to work around the system to get things done. Needing useful assistants and having heard about the events at Ravengro, she asks them to search for a missing tax collector (The Feast of Ravenmoor)and has already already collected a lot of background on the man. She is concerned he has absconded with the tax money but wants to be certain before she alerts County and regional authorities. The group heads to Ravenmoor and I will run things there exactly as written in the module (Location: the village is in the Dipplemere). Their success with this mission is what then prompts her to hire them to assist the defense.
LOL. Coup de grace? Full round action. Line up the axe (you aren't threatened so why not) and coup de grace. Axes have a higher crit modifier too I believe.
With my game, after HoH about half the group wanted to change their characters. One of them, an Oread, I introduced with the Crooked Kin (he was travelling withthem for mutual protection). The other two were introduced by Judge Daramid. One of them is her assistant who assists her in her daily work as a forthright judge, including scheduling her meetings, etc. I used the blurb in the Rule of Fear about the inability of the Palatinate Council to be very effective. So she also uses him as a more direct means of keeping things running efficiently and he has a lot of leeway in that regard, so long as he stays within the spirit of the law. The final player who changed his character wanted a character with a darker past. He is playing an alchemist dealing on both sides of legality. He was arrested for selling illicit materials, she voided his sentence provided that he work for her as an informant and operative in a similar (though less trusted) capacity as the other character. Keep in mind that I am running the Feast of Ravenmoor before running Trial of the Beast (as is) to allow the party to get a feel for Lepidstadt and not have the story feel *quite* as frenetic and less "you arrive in town and everything immediately goes straight to hell". The judge sends them to find the missing tax collector (replacing the npc in Feast of Ravenmoor) and their work on this mission is what makes her decide to help her with the Beast. Long story short: Between HoH and ToTB I think introducing them from the Judge is the best way to handle new characters. |