Hiding DM's page

I've an NPC Necromancer that will be cursing someone to be a vampire under his thrall -- a lieutenant for the PCs to work their way towards before they get to the Necromancer BBEG.

Of course I'll arbitrarily do it how I want to if necessary but I am hoping that somewhere in Pathfinder there is some RAW I could look at (and probably follow).

The spell Create Gr. Undead doesn't have an entry for the Vampire. Bestow Curse seems too low a level for that (when compared to Create Gr Undead. There's nothing in Classic Horrors Revisited or the Bestiary.

Any ideas?

Or, I could just use 3E RAW (but I don't remember -- anybody remember 3E RAW?).

I NEED YOUR GLUE!

A couple new Pathfinders at my LGS have asked me to teach them the rules and start a campaign.

I've got three weeks to prepare the campaign; I generically know what I want to do but really want to hear some "gluey" ideas to help me connect the published stuff I'm using.

I'm taking most encounters from Burnt Offerings, The Skinsaw Murders, Fortress of the Stone Giants and maybe some bits of Hook Mountain Massacre from RotRL and adding Armageddon Echo and the Set Piece from Shadow in the Sky in SD to create a Campaign that really shows off Varisia.

I'm cutting out the "Runelord Rising" and "Drow Starfall" plots and instead using a "Find the Pieces of Artifact X" plot.

Here's my early thinking so far -- I'd love any ideas, especially regarding the "Artifact X" I need to create and thus how the various adventures I'm "borrowing" from can be tied together.

NOTE: *Please do not include any info from CotCT -- I'm avoiding Spoilers!

A} I'll start in Sandpoint with Burnt Offerings: after the goblin menace the PCs will find the Campaign MacGuffin.

B} That will lead them to Riddleport where they will find something in that dilapidated House of Sarenrae that's really the hideout for some bad guys (see AP# 13, Set Piece). Fom there they will gain "some knowledge" -- this is a KEY, critical part of the Campaign -- and they can choose where to go next, from the following:

C} Celwynvian and many of the encounters in The Armageddon Echo. They'll get an Artifact piece here.

D} The Devil's Platter and farmlands presented in The Skinsaw Murders, I'll likey put a greater distance between this geographic feature and Sandpoint. Another piece is here.

E} The Storval Plateau to deal with Mokmurian and such in Fortress of the Stone Giants. Let's kill Mokmorian to get another piece.

F} Maybe some ogrish parts of Hook Mountain Massacre -- I'm not sure if that level of disturbing material will be acceptable for this group, yet.

G} And also I'd like something In Ilsurian and Korvosa. Anything not from CotCT here??? Society Scenarios maybe?

Thanks for any ideas and suggestions.

We're getting together this weekend to learn the basics, run some Orc-N-Pie and make their first PCs. The following week I'm taking those PCs to Absalom where I'm running a one-shot adventure for them, just to get them ready. The following week (most likely) we'll start this campaign.

Okay, I'm looking for a few things for inclusion into a one-shot adventure session in a couple weeks.

Looking for adventures in old TSR mods, Dungeon, Pathfinder or heck, just about anything else with:

Black Dragon
Mind Flayer
Dark Creeper, Dark Stalker (or mooks I can easily change into these, maybe kenku or shadar-kai)
Githyanki
Marilith

And, more importantly,

Urban adventures where PCs have to follow clues, roleplay gather-info scenes and figure out a mystery.

So, one of my Player's favorite character concepts is for a Sorcerer: Air, and he loves to bring in this PC no matter what the campaign or starting level.

We were talking a few days ago and I brought up the fact that whatever the PC build, a DM is suppose to come up with an appropriately challenging CR. I also asked him where he saw his Air Sorcerer at its best.

After thinking a bit he said 21st level and said he'd start making his perfect PC and take it up against my favorite monster (non-dragon) in the book. It just so happens that my favorite BBEG for any campaign is a Balor from the 26th Layer of the Abyss named CHAOS.

.... So, I have my Balor and my mouthy, upstart PC has his 21st level Sorcerer with the Air Bloodline.

Help me kick his Prime Material Butt!

W. E. Ray here, looking for advice while trying to hide from my Players (who can be sneaky little Board lurkers).

I'm getting ready to start a campaign and I have the framework I need but am going nearly blank on an adventure hook with which to begin.

I need it to be a memorable hook, beginning.

The framework of the campaign revolves around Balabar Smenk following clues to a rich tomb he can plunder. The PCs, somehow! get on his trail in Saltmarsh, where the campaign begins, and follow on his trail to Sandpoint, Riddleport, Sasserine, Korvosa and finally Cauldron.

The PCs are benevolent, not mercenary.
The Players know that there will be lots of cross-country travelling; they know the campaign has something to do with a quest or search or bounty, etc.
They begin at 6th level and know each other.

I need the hook in Saltmarsh to intrigue them and really get them to want to follow Smenk. I've considered having Smenk steal something they "just recovered" from the Hool Marshes that he is certain provides him with another clue to the treasure he seeks. But I don't know that I have time to design a brief sortie into a dungeon in the Hool Marshes for the PCs to get some loot (that they'll care enough about) to follow Smenk after he steals a piece of it.

Any thoughts?
"Cold" ideas are very welcome; suggestions from Dungeon or Pathfinder even moreso.