Derek Poppink's page

Near-TPK in a side adventure (Mad God's Key)

The 3rd-level party of five wiped out the ghouls and the corpse rat swarm. They decided to rest in the entry chamber and were attacked by Veltargo and an ogre zombie at night.

The dead:
Elrinan, female elf Brd2/Ftr1
Thaelin, female human Paladin of Freedom3
Lesabas, male human Clr3 of Wee Jas
Khaine, male human Rog1/Warlock2

The survivor:
Eskaan, male human Wiz3 (expeditiously retreated)

The players created an entirely new party who will be special agents of the church of Pelor, come to reinforce poor Kristof.

The replacements (no names yet):
Githzerai Mnk1
Aasimar Pal2
Human Mnk2 (with the first level of the half-celestial template progression)
Pixie2/Rog1
Human Bar3

That means each merchant will buy up to 3000gp worth of stuff right? (I don't have access to the DMG right now) Is there a period of time in which they will start buying more?

Where else could they go to sell stuff? Redgorge has very low resources. Skie's seems to operate on its own economy though.

That means merchants will buy and sell individual items worth up to 3000gp (no +2 swords are available), and the town as a whole will not buy or sell more than 600,000gp in a short period of time (selling 255 +1 swords will glut the market). So it's okay for Skie to buy and sell multiple magic items each worth less than 3000gp, as long as she doesn't sell 200 of them.

I am looking for web enhancements for the following adventures from Dungeon magazines but don't know where to find them. Issues 102/104/107/109/111/113/114/115/116. So if anyone knows please inform me. Thanks Ellen

I'm not sure if all of those have web enhancements, but you will find all Dungeon web enhancements here:

http://paizo.com/paizo/news/dungeon

(Beware empty spaces. Paizo's message boards tend to add them to URLs without warning.)

One other possibility that could cause a problem for a headstrong party is this...What if they capture and interrogate one of the assassins, which happened in my game, find out they were sent by Ike Iverson, and then go straight to the Temple for a fight? A party with access to a lot of healing magic, or one that got lucky in the fight with the assassins, could be capable of dealing with both threats in the same day. If this were the case, wouldn't Ike's spellcasting be reduced since he had cast a dozen or so spells on the assassins? His prepared spells don't take into account all the spells that he cast on the assassins, nor is there a note in his tactics describing that possibility. My group almost ran into this problem, but decided to rest for a day before going on to the Temple. They talked it over though, and were on the verge of doing just that. Lucky them. Or lucky me, it depends on how you look at it.

Wow, that's great feedback. I certainly wouldn't have anticipated that from reading the adventure (even twice). I'm a long way from Soul Pillars, but I'll prepare for that possibility (particularly if my party stays as headstrong as they are now).

Life's Bazaar took quite a twist in my campaign. The party found the elevator to the Malachite Fortress quite quickly (while still 1st level). Despite being mauled by the Stone Spike and Xukasus, they escaped back up the elevator. They poked around in Jzadirune a little more (until hitting 2nd level), then returned and slew the two guardians.

Pressing on into the fortress they slew the guards in the Forge and then headed right into Kazmojen's chambers. Things looked really bad, but Vhalantru's appearance gave them a breather and a lucky color spray took out Prickles. Kazmojen still knocked down two party members before seeking reinforcements.

At this point the party was its own worst enemy. The mage and rogue wanted to take the kids and run. The paladin and the bard wanted to stay and fight. One group would spike a door and the other group would remove the spike. Kazmojen ran to the Guard Barracks, the Main Hall, and the Main Barracks in turn and ordered the hobgoblins in to the fray. The mage and the rogue got away with the kids. The paladin, bard, and cleric were all captured alive.

The mage and rogue were smart. They got help (volunteer and paid) from several parties in the city (Alex Tercival, Skylar Krewis, the Stormblades). Ike Iverson was even willing to help, as the party cleric is a cleric of Wee Jas. They prepared to storm the Fortress the next day.

During the night the slavers decided to release the cleric of Wee Jas by escorting him up to Keygan's shop and turning him loose (without explaining why, although I decided they were contacted by Ike). The slavers also nabbed Keygan and ransacked his shop. When the rescuers arrived the next day they discovered that Kazmojen and crew had abandoned the fortress, leaving the two other PCs and most of the townsfolk behind (they took the cook & Keygan with them and finished torturing Coryston Pike to death before leaving).

I know I let the party off very easy, but now they have several mysteries to resolve. My assumption is that the party cleric of Wee Jas has the Carcerian sign (the backstory he wrote plays perfectly into that idea), and that Kazmojen got word from Ike that the slavers' cover was blown. Ike may also have paid a ransom for the PCs (they are from noble families, and he might be able to use that against them in the future).

Now the group is cleaning out the rest of Jzadirune while I try to bait them with the Mad God's Key (altered as mentioned in another thread here). Kazmojen may return once the heat has died down. The party is interested in purchasing Keygan's shop, which reverted to city property. The Stormblades are taking a lot of credit for helping rescue the townsfolk.

Any other ideas about how I might twist this outcome? I made a lot of snap decisions so the players of captured PCs could rejoin the game as quickly as possible (I didn't want to spend a long time GMing one group of prisoners and one group of free PCs, and they had no intention of "recruiting" other second level characters to join the rescue attempt). In retrospect I could have had them roleplay the rescuers (Alex, guardsmen, Stormblades, but I think it is better to keep those NPCs somewhat mysterious).

I'd buy it for many of the reasons listed above, and I do already own every adventure (bought several as back issues).

I find it an extreme hinderance not to be able to edit my post after some time. I want to correct a mistake in the errata... and I am not able to... the three stooges have an attack bonus of +3 with their short sword.

I completely agree. I think you can edit your post for up to an hour, but not longer.

I definitely did away with Gottrod, replacing it with just a simple band of ogres and an ogre mage that made for a fun fight.

Could be a good way to introduce the Blue Duke or his flunkies...

It's sort of the supervillain-of-the-week thing. Really, I wouldn't have had such a problem with it if they had all been linked in some way that was obvious to the players. I mean, the Ebon Triad is this cult at the beginning...but then they're not mentioned anywhere else. Now, if the Ebon Triad had been members of a group called the Cagewrights, for example, it might have been better. Or if they'd been members of the Last Laugh. The slavers in Life's Bazaar weren't so bad because it's the intro adventure. But I want each adventure to really contribute to the players' understanding of the overall plot, and the villains are an...

This puts me in mind of City of Heroes, where you fight a gang of villains for several levels, only to learn that they are being manipulated by a tougher group of crooks, which you fight for several levels before learning that they are just tools of another band of evildoers. Against the Giants worked the same way, right?

It's probably better to limit a specific adventrue to 1-3 unique villains and give them some screen time, rather than have 13 villains and have their stat blocks take up all the available room in the issue.

Yey! I like the way you're thinking.

As for the undetectable alignment issue: If your player chose a different favoured enemy (say oozes), and they had an undetectable alignment cast on themselves, would Nemisis be affected? It’s still an ooze right? The same should go for evil outsiders.

I assume Nemesis would still apply. Favored enemy (evil outsiders) implies that the person is familiar with the evil outsider races, not the circumstances of particular individuals. It would apply even to a redeemed devil, but wouldn't apply to a fallen deva.

Try this thread:

http://paizo.com/dungeon/messageboards/adventurePath/sideQuests

A better option for folks who don't mind doing the painting is Reaper's Dark Stalkers and Dark Creepers:

http://www.reapermini.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=2214&cat =0&page=1
http://www.reapermini.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=2467&cat =0&page=1

I'm not sure if the dark creeper has cloven feet, but they look great from cloak up.

For a minute I thought the link was bad, then I remembered that Paizo's boards put random spaces in URLs. Took it out, and it showed up fine.

Wow, excellent list Derek!!

For the Kuo-Toa that are named maybe you can get away with other serpent looking amphibious/reptilian figs. Like troglodyte zombie (harbinger), lizardfolk (harbinger), lizardfolk rogue (giants), or Sahuagin Ranger (aberrations) At least they are all green.

Thank you. I like your idea regarding the named Kuo-Toa.

I finished lists for Demonskar and Smoking Eye, but adding them to this thread would seem like spamming at this point, as there is no way to edit the posts after an hour or so. Once I get through all eleven adventures I'd like to make a prioritized list of minis (like the fire giants and red dragons) to aquire.

And minis for Zenith Trajectory:

Chapter 1

Fiendish Umber Hulk - Umber Hulk or Hook Horror
Half-orc City Watch (4) - Half-orc Fighters
Beppo - Human Commoner
Mergala - Dark Moon Monk
MTA Agents (2) - Nebbin

Chapter 2

Celeste - ??
Davked - ??

Chapter 3

Wilderness Encounters with D&D Minis - Bulette, Hill Giant, 1d4+2 Bugbears or Bugbear Footpads, 1d3+1

Ogres or Ogre Ravagers, 1d3 Displacer Beasts, 1d3 Griffons, Wyvern, Troll or Ice Troll
Other Wilderness Random Encounters - Stone Giant, Ogre Mage, 1d3 Giant Eagles
Crazy Jared - Sage
Gotrrod - Large Red Dragon
Seven-Headed Cryohydra - ??
Underdark Encounters with D&D Minis - Behir, Drider, 1d3+1 Minotaurs, Gauth, 1d3 Gargoyles, 1d3+1 Ghasts,

1d3+1 Gricks, 1d3+1 Bugbears or Bugbear Footpads, 1d4+2 Drow (various), 1d3 Ogres or Ogre Ravagers, Troll

or Ice Troll
Other Underdark Encounters - 1d3+1 Centipede Swarms, 1d3+1 Derros (Duergar?), Ettin, 1d4+1 Shadows

(Cursed Spirits or Wraiths?), 1d4+2 Giant Bombardier Beetles, 1d4+4 Dire Bats

Chapter 4

Aabhaca - Kuo-Toa
Kuo-Toa Soldiers (4) - Kuo-Toa
Kuo-Toa Whips (4) - Kuo-Toa
White-Eye - Human Brigand (until he reveals his lycanthropy) and Wererat
Cherrit - Halfling Veteran (until he reveals his spellcasting) and Halfling Wizard
Aushanna - Erinyes
Mangh-Michto - Kuo-Toa
Duergar Slave - Duergar
Garekk - Mummy
Hlanamm the Spearmaster - Kuo-Toa
Wraith - Wraith
Fingerling Pools - ??
Dhorlot the Dragon Father - Large Black Dragon
Violet Fungus - Myconid Guards
Saagogoi - Kuo-Toa
Zenith Splintershield - Dwarven Defender or various dwarves (they all look pretty similar)

Here's a question. Do you think it is better to have all the Kuo-Toa look alike (and keep the party guessing), or repaint the named Kuo-Toa and the whips?

Minis for Flood Season (again a compilation of ideas):

Lucky Monkey

Deinonychus (2) - Destrachans
Male + Female Fighters (4) - Various
Male + Female Alleybashers (2) - Various
Hill Baboons (5) - Taers
Tongueater - Mountain Orc or Longtooth Barbarian
Shensen Tesseril - Champion of Eilistraee or Drow Wizard

Kopru Ruins

Skulvyn - Sahuagin or Deep Spawn (Mage Knight)
Kopru - Half-Illithin Lizardman or Crested Felldrake
Mud Slaad - Bullywug Thug
Male + Female Fighters (6) - Various
Male + Female Alleybashers (4) - Various
Skaven - Halfling Wizard
Medium Air Elemental - Medium Air Elemental
Small Monstrous Spiders (6) - Mad Slashers
Medium-Size Monstrous Spiders (4) - Mad Slashers
Large Monstrous Spiders (2) - Large Monstrous Spiders
Ettercaps (3) - Ettercaps
Harpoon Spider - Large Monstrous Spider
Triel - Cleric of Bane or Frenzied Berserker
Bloodbloater Ooze Swarm - Gibbering Mouther or Ochre Jelly
Gargantuan Tyrannosaurus Skeleton - Huge Fiendish Tyrannosaurus?
Large Monstrous Spider Zombies (6)
Spawn of Kyuss (2) - Ghasts
Medium Zombies (8) - Zombies
Tarkilar - Gnoll Skeleton
Gutterrut - Quasit

That's funny, I had MK in brackets before each Mage Knight figure and in my penultimate sentence, but they were stripped by the forums. I'll have to try something else next time.

By the way, Eric and Zoroaster, I liked the recommendations you made.

Alright, compiling ideas from Eric Ludy and zoroaster100 and adding my own, here are miniature possibilities for Life's Bazaar:

Cauldron

Thugs (3) - Human Thugs, City Guard
Ruphus - Cleric of St. Cuthbert
Guard Patrol - City Guard, Soldier of Cormyr
Jil - Drow Rogue, Sharn Cutthroat
Jenya - Cleric of Lathander, Healer
Fellian - Deepshadow Elf, Elf Archer
Fario - Human Wanderer, Elf Ranger
Ghelve - Nebin, Gnome Recruit

Jzadirune

Raggamoffyn/Skulk - Mummy
Yuathyb, Dark Stalker - Valenar Commander
Dark Creepers (2) - Silent Wolf Goblins
Skulks (2) - Ghouls, Medium-size Astral Constructs
Fiendish Dire Rats (3) - Dire Rats
Grell - Grell
Choker - Choker
Dread Guard - Dread Guard
Hobgoblins (2) - Hobgoblin Warriors
Pulverizer Automatons - Warforged Fighter
Small Monstrous Centipedes - Grick
Medium-size Monstrous Spider - Mad Slasher
Small Monstrous Spider (2) - Mad Slasher
Mimic - ??

Malachite Fortress

Stone Spike - Medium-size Earth Elemental
Xukasus [Ogre] - Ogre Ravager, Ogre
Hobgoblins (4) - Hobgoblin Warriors
Zarkad, Hobgoblin Jailer - Half-orc Assassin
Animated Mass of Chains - ??
Lemures (2) - Lemures
Mimic - ??
Fire Beetles - Mad Slashers
Hammerer Automatons (2) - Warforged Fighters
Krylscar Endercott [Female Human Rog/Sor] - Mialee
Coryston Pike [Male Human War] - Human Commoner
Maple [Female Halfling Rog] - Lidda, Lidda Adventurer
Goblins (3) - Goblin Skirmishers
Kazmojen [Male Half-dwarf Half-troll Ftr] - Urthok the Vicious, [MK] Half-Troll Hacker
Prickles [Howler] - Hell Hound
Pyllrak [Durzagon] - Duergar Warrior
Vhalantru - Beholder
Thirifane [Female Human Tra] - Red Wizard

Everything is a D&D Mini unless it has [MK] for Mage Knight. This is an evolving list, so feel free to suggest additional options and edits.

I'm quite interested in this topic as well. My players are a third of the way through Jzadirune, and my D&D Mini collection is small but select (I buy about eight boosters per release and trade for the things I really want).

A few quick thoughts:
1. The umber hulk would be great for Zenith Trajectory, but the D&D umber hulk is among the most popular and expensive. I'd seek a metal version or substitute (perhaps the Hook Horror in Aberrations).
2. I haven't tried getting D&D Minis through EBay, but I have had a lot of success both buying and trading through Maxminis.com's forums. I also recommend Zenako's pricing list (http://maxminis.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12578) as a guideline for trading and purchasing.
3. I'd recommend getting either the Fire Giant or King Snurre from Giants of Legend. Did anyone else notice that named fire giants appear in three episodes of the Adventure Path (Demonskar, Smoking Eye, Thirteen Cages)?

Be back soon...