You cause ammunition, including shuriken, to exude radiant energy. Creatures that take penalties in bright light take these penalties for 1 round after being struck by such ammunition. Undead and creatures harmed by sunlight take an additional 1d6 points of damage from such projectiles. This extra damage and half of any other damage you deal with an affected projectile results directly from radiant energy and is not subject to damage resistance.
Obviously, the extra damage only applies to undead and creatures harmed by sunlight. However, does the "ignores damage resistance" portion also apply only to such creatures, or would you be able to use it to punch through the DR of opponents unaffected by sunlight -- say, demons, or golems?
For purposes of a resist energy spell, would an entire necklace of missiles detonating at once be considered one large block of fire damage (i.e., all the dice of damage being rolled together, and resistance only then being subtracted from the total) or many smaller blocks (each missile being considered a separate source of damage, and thus possibly being more resistable)?
In my campaign, one of the clerics has the Thought domain and therefore has been regularly been preparing seek thoughts. The PC is using this on a ship at sea with the claimed question of "do you mean harm to me or any of my companions?" -- thus, basically, the player is trying to word it as a method of detecting nearby enemies.
I think that interpretation is ridiculous. The APG phrases the spell as "you may scan for either the answer to a simple question (such as "Where is the hidden lair of the wererats?" or for information on a general topic (such as the beliefs of an evil cult)", and goes on to say that you can engage people in normal conversation with the spell up to try to bring up leading questions about topics of interest.
To me, this very specifically means you don't get free looks into questions of "are you an enemy?" You have to actually talk to said target to try to bring their thoughts around to the topic you'd like to discern their true thoughts on.
One of the players in my campaign is playing a rogue. Despite the book definition of Stealth indicating that:
PF Core Rulebook wrote:
You can move up to half your normal speed and use Stealth at no penalty. When moving at a speed greater than half but less than your normal speed, you take a -5 penalty. It's impossible to use Stealth while attacking, running, or charging.
He claims that he can take a move action at half speed while using Stealth, then take another move action at half speed in place of his standard action, thus effectively moving at his full speed without penalty.
For my next campaign, however far down the line that may be, I want to put together some house rules which make hit points less of a yes/no thing. That is, that getting hurt and losing hit points means a character/opponent/NPC can take penalties before they actually go unconscious.
Additionally, I want to work in that taking critical hits adds wounding penalties, making them even more nasty.
I'm basing this along lines similar to what I remember about wound penalties in Shadowrun. What I'd like to say is that each "wound" would impose a cumulative -1 penalty to attack, CMB, AC, and possibly concentration checks, as well as a 5' loss movement per wound. (After all, it should be harder to sprint forward and lunge forcefully at the enemy while dodging a counterattack when you've got an arrowhead grinding against your hipbone.)
In theory, this ratio of wounding would be based off of both Constitution and character level/hit dice. A character with higher Constitution or level should be able to fight longer, with fewer penalties. Additionally, while classes with smaller hit dice will be unconscious, classes with larger hit dice will be able to continue fighting -- even though it will be at substantial penalties.
All averages and maxes below aren't counting favored class hit point bonuses. All penalties are calculated as one wound being suffered for each (1/2 CON plus level) hit points taken. (And by that I mean the actual CON score, not the CON bonus.)
5th level fighter (20 CON, so 5d10+25 hp)
(average 52.5 hp, max 75)
-1 at 15 hp taken
-2 at 30 hp
-3 at 45 hp
-4 at 60 hp
-5 at 75 hp
10th level fighter (24 CON, so 10d10+70 hp)
(average 125, max 170)
-1 at 22 hp taken
-2 at 44 hp
-3 at 66 hp
-4 at 88 hp
-5 at 110 hp
-6 at 132 hp
-7 at 154 hp
5th lvl rogue (14 CON, so 5d8+10 hp)
(average 32.5, max 50)
-1 at 12 hp taken
-2 at 24 hp
-3 at 36 hp
-4 at 48 hp
10th lvl rogue (16 CON, so 10d8+30 hp)
(average 75, max 110)
-1 at 18 hp taken
-2 at 36 hp
-3 at 54 hp
-4 at 72 hp
-5 at 90 hp
-6 at 108 hp
5th lvl wizard (12 CON, so 5d6+5 hp)
(average 22.5, max 35)
-1 at 11 hp taken
-2 at 22 hp
-3 at 33 hp
5th lvl wizard (16 CON, so 5d6+15 hp)
(average 32.5, max 45)
-1 at 13 hp taken
-2 at 26 hp
-3 at 39 hp
10th lvl wizard (16 CON, so 10d6+30 hp)
(average 65 hp, max 90)
-1 at 18 hp taken
-2 at 36 hp
-3 at 54 hp
-4 at 72 hp
10th lvl wizard (20 CON, so 10d6+50 hp) (in deference to CoDzilla's high-CON caster builds)
(average 85 hp, max 110)
-1 at 20 hp taken
-2 at 40 hp
-3 at 60 hp
-4 at 80 hp
-5 at 100 hp
Additionally, I was thinking that any critical hit would inflict a number of "wound points" equal to its crit multiplier. Although hit point damage could be healed by your standard curative spells, wounds should be tougher to heal above and beyond just healing the hit point damage.
I'm going to be running Sea Wyvern's Wake in a month or so, and started reading through the adventure in more detail to get a good grasp of what's to go on there. One minor detail I noticed, though, is that with the advent of unlimited cantrips/orizons in Pathfinder a single cleric or druid eclipses the need to stop for fresh water at various towns and forts. Unlimited create water, after all, means that any divine caster can top of the ships' stores within a minute.
As many of the events seem to hinge upon stopping at the mouths of freshwater rivers to replenish stores, what alternative reason for stopping might work? "Running out of food" doesn't seem feasible -- why would the expedition have set forth without rations enough to feed the crew and passengers for the full four-month journey?
Any ideas? I could, I suppose, bypass both the flotsam ooze and river-hydra encounters, but that'll put the PCs a bit behind the XP curve for the adventure path. Moreover, it lessens the feeling of "limited resources, away from civilization" as well.
I've occasionally come across mentions of parties being captured and having to escape. Aside from instances of surrendering to legal authorities, I've never had a party I was DM'ing for be willing to accept that -- they always seem to want to fight to the death.
Short of an opponent intentionally choosing nonlethal damage (which seems likely to result in said opponent's death, unless the party is massively outnumbered), how would you go about accomplishing that? An overabundance of drow sleep venom? Chain-metamagic'd deep slumber? *grin*
With recent discussions of caster power within Pathfinder, I found myself contemplating ways to somewhat downplay their power without completely nerfing them. Anyways, a thought from older editions came to me.
I seem to recall, waaaay back in I think 1st edition, that casting a spell required a certain number of "segments" -- and that as initiative counted down, a caster began a spell when his or her initiative came up, but didn't finish said spell until the casting time had been satisfied.
This meant that a caster who rolled high on initiative could almost certainly get off a low-level spell, but that a higher-level spell ran the risk of being interrupted as opponents went "Oh crap, a caster!" and directed hostilities towards them as said opponents' initiative counts came up.
A simple way to adjudicate this might be to have any spell take one "segment" / initiative count to cast per spell level. Spells which display a casting time of one swift action or one immediate action could be cast whenever, and would always go off on the caster's rolled initiative count.
A caster could take a move action before starting to cast the chosen spell, or after he/she finished casting. This would, of course, involve complications on the initiative count though.
Invisible creatures usually get to treat their opponents as flat-footed, unless said opponents have uncanny dodge. Are opponents treated any differently than normal -- i.e., are they considered "flat-footed" or lose DEX bonus unless they have uncanny dodge -- for purposes of making Reflex saves against spells cast by invisible casters?
Given that spiritual weapon does pretty much the same thing, but better, for clerics one spell level lower, why on earth is twilight weapon level 3? Seriously, 1d4, no damage bonus, can't flank/sneak attack on its own, and doesn't attack its target unless you actually attack it again? Why is this thing higher than 2nd level?
This conundrum actually came up in my most recent session. A 4th level druid tossed a flaming sphere at the party, who was was hidden in a fog cloud, and the 4th level cleric tried to use create water to put out the sphere.
Now, although flaming sphere's description does say "it can be extinguished by any means that would put out a normal fire of its size", I was leery of allowing a zero-level at-will as-many-times-per-day-as-you'd-like spell to instantly nix a 2nd level spell -- and that's putting aside the fact that it's a 5'-diameter mass of flame.
So, I temporized. I treated it as though the cleric were attempting a dispel check -- d20 plus caster level, against a DC of 11 plus the druid's level. In the end it didn't matter, as the party maneuvered around the sphere and whacked the druid, but I'm curious as to how else people might've handled this situation.
I'm in the process of converting WotC's 3.5 update of Tomb of Horrors to Pathfinder, and wanted to brainstorm my thoughts with others. Players of mine, read no further, for spoilers lie below!
Here are the changes and thoughts that I have in mind, starting more or less from the beginning of the module:
* Make the central (correct) entry corridor also concealed by a double door (locked, naturally, at DC30 or so) at around the same depth as the other two false entrances. This should induce a touch of paranoia in the players who actually have some concept of what they should be looking for -- and even moreso if anyone's already tripped one of the traps in the false entry corridors.
* Also lock the "collapsing ceiling" false entry, so that PCs can't merely tie a rope to the end and yank it from a presumably safe distance. They still can, mind you, they'll just have to have the rogue unlock said door first. At which point the rogue will most likely say, hey, it's unlocked, why don't we go <KERSPLAT>.
* Swapping the damages on the two false entry corridors. The seal-off-corridor-and-crush-with-descending-ceiling entry becomes 16d6 after 4 rounds of "OMG the ceiling's coming down!", and the collapsing-roof entry becomes 12d6 instant. However, I'm treating it like an avalanche (PF 429) -- the primary "bury zone (the 20' nearest the door) take 12d6 damage (save for half), and are automatically buried; those in the "slide zone" (10' further out) take 5d6 (Reflex save for half, and only buried if they fail the save). If buried, a PC is effectively pinned and can take only verbal or mental actions -- and getting out on his own requires a DC 30 Escape Artist check per 5 feet. Digging buried characters out takes 10 player-minutes per 5' square, and buried characters take 1d6 nonlethal damage per minute. Per PF 429, if a buried character falls unconscious, he must make a DC 15 CON check or take 1d6 lethal damage each minute thereafter until freed or dead.
* Also, I'm extending the pressure plate to within 5' of the "false" doors in rooms 2, for reasons which will be elaborated on below (see my change to the door-corridors off of room 8).
* In the spiked-pit traps: replacing the generic Fort DC23 CON poison with wyvern venom. However, the twist is that the poison DC (and duration) goes up depending on the number of spikes that actually do damage to the PC that falls into the pit as though having been affected by multiple doses (PF 558). The base for wyvern poison is Fort DC17, 1d4 CON 1/round for 6 rounds, 2 saves required -- but as the PC who falls in risks being hit by 2d4 spikes, that goes up. 2 spikes means Fort DC19 for 9 rounds, 5 spikes (average for 2d4) means Fort DC25 for 18 rounds, and 8 spikes means Fort DC31 for 31 rounds. (Probably enough to kill even the doughtiest of clumsy thieves,.)
Aside from that, rooms 1 through 7 are unchanged (though, as I have Libris Mortis, I am including all the little "additional" bits the 3.5 version recommends.
* In room 8, the only change I'm making to the mutant four-armed gargoyle is removing Great Cleave and giving it Greater Bull Rush. As the pit in front of the entryway pretty much has to be triggered to get at the fresco-door, if the gargoyle can bull rush or awesome-blow any party members back into the pit (and thus, the poisoned spikes), Gygax's lethality shall be preserved. *wicked grin*
* In the secret-door corridor off room 8, the mundane arrows are to be replaced with acid arrows (which have only a 1 round duration, but also strike at only ranged touch +8 rather than ranged +15). Screw monks and their automatic-avoid-normal-ranged-attack Deflect Arrows feat -- no deflecting acid and taking no damage to go through the corridor in my version. This place is designed to suck resources dry.
* In the normal-door corridor, the doors are locked with consecutively harder locks (DC20, DC25, DC30, DC35). The final door conceals an archway of mist. If a PC passes through the mist, they are teleported (with all their gear) to a 10' x 10' room which exits, via a one-way door, into the door end of room #2 -- right next to where the pressure plate triggering the descending ceiling starts (I extend the pressure plate to within 5' of the doors, as noted above). Same Reflex save when the plate is hit and the ceiling starts to descend as normal, but I plan to ask "what are you doing?" if the Reflex save is successful. How many players will dash forward to try and beat the closing corridor, and how many will just try to turn back and go through the now-solid stone wall behind them? Additionally, if the party hasn't dug out that entry way, the fortunate PC who actually made the Reflex DC and jumped for the closing corridor still needs to dig himself out -- a process that takes around 30 minutes of digging for one person alone to create a crawlspace.
Given that an intellect devourer inhabits an already-dead creature's body, just how many hit points does a host body have? The stat block for the Body Thief ability says "Damage done to a host body does not harm the intellect devourer, and if the host body is slain the intellect devourer emerges and is dazed for 1 round."
So, just how tough is the host body? As many hit points as the original, pre-death host before any injuries? As many as the intellect devourer normally?
Moreover, do any of the devourer's special defenses translate to the host, making it more resistant to spells, energy damage, or physical injury than normal?
If someone is bullrushing an opponent into a trap/pit which the someone knows is there, would said opponent get a normal Reflex save to avoid it? I'm plotting to run the updated Tomb of Horrors soon, and the whole bit with the gargoyle and the pit seems ripe for using just this tactic -- particularly as the gargoyle has Improved Bull Rush and Awesome Blow already.
Would the Reflex save be modified if the bullrush-ee was unaware of the trap? That is, if the opponent knew that to push the target back 10' would put said target in mortal danger, would the Reflex save (if any) be at a penalty?
The cleric in my current campaign asked a question or two about healing kits. Basically, they boiled down to "can you take 20 on a Heal check", so as to treat deadly wounds automatically? Currently, it's listed as expending two uses from a healer's kit to perform the task.
My initial reaction would be "no" -- after all, taking 20 assumes that you will fail many times before succeeding. In my mind that would mean you accidentally leaned too hard on the cracked ribs, stitched up a crusted wound incorrectly and had to tear the stitches out, and so forth. Moreover, if you fail many times before you succeed, you should clearly be expending far more than two uses from a healer's kit.
So, can one take 20 on a Heal check, or no?
And regardless of whether or not your check to treat deadly wounds succeeds, does it use up supplies from a healing kit?
Having just begun my Savage Tide campaign, I'm prepping details for the next several adventures. I was reading through Sea Wyvern's Wake and noticed something, well, odd.
The Sea Wyvern is heavily laden and trundling along at about 1.5 mph in a fair wind (normal speed 3 mph, but decreased because it's so heavily laden, per James Jacobs in this thread. The math for distance travelled and time taken up to around encounter C matches that speed precisely -- distance from the flotsam ooze encounter to Tamoachan is 500 miles, travelled in 14 days, for example (an average speed of 35 miles per sailing day).
Then, though, there's the Tamoachan to Brotherhood Blockade leg. On the map, C to D appears to be a much shorter distance than B to C. But under distance, the encounter states it's 500 miles from Tamoachan -- a distance which is to take 4 days. Averaging that out, it's 125 miles per day -- almost three times the previous average.
The 500-mile distance has to be a typo of some sort, right? Looking at the total distance from Sasserine, from encounter C to encounter D it only increases by 150 miles. That distance matches up with the 4-day sailing time, too.
( In preparation for the PF Savage Tide campaign I hope to be running in the near future (following the ideas laid out in this post), here's a bit of backstory. Players in my campaign, stay out of this thread! )
Spoiler:
Rowyn Kellani is thirteen the day she first sees the intricacies of the Scarlet Brotherhood’s plots with her own eyes.
The wind is wafting a multilayered aroma over the hills of Sasserine’s Noble District that evening – saltwater, spice, the sweet pungent smell of opium smoke, the perfumes of the other theatergoers, a handful of other scents that she can’t quite put her finger on – and the sun is just sinking behind the western peaks.
“Do you like it, so far?”
Rowyn turns away from the glimmer of the setting sun to answer. “Mostly, Mama. Although I must say that, for a play supposed to be about love, Orfeo’s approach to saving Euridice seems at best a bit coldhearted.”
“Oh, truly?” Her mother’s tone is arch. “Then you haven’t quite grasped the underlying message yet.”
Rowyn lets a smile sneak onto her face. “And what message might that b—”
“Alresian!” Nearby conversation stutters to a halt at the shout, and theatergoers back away hurriedly. A man stands in the courtyard’s entry arch with a rapier naked in his hand, his face bright with fury.
By the steps to the grand hall, another man turns, scarlet cloak falling away from his empty hands. “Rameau.” The man by the door tilts his head, examines the other with a penetrating stare. “Whatever is the matter?”
Rameau takes a step forward, lifting his blade, and the theatergoers between the two hastily clear away. “You know full well, you bastard. I want my money back.”
Alresian frowns and narrows his blue eyes. “And you know just as I do that no commercial venture is guaranteed. Our joint venture suffered an unfortunate setback. We lost just as much as you did, you know. Give it a bit more time, though, and perhaps—”
“There is no more time, damn you!” The sword trembles in Rameau’s hand, and he takes another step before visibly holding himself back. “I mortgaged all my properties just to give you and yours the necessary funds, and now the creditors clamor at my door. So you will give me my money back, or by Abadar I will kill you where you stand!”
Rowyn cannot tear her eyes from the spectacle, but she manages to whisper, “Mama – the Watch. Should we not—”
Her mother hisses a quiet negation at her, placing a restraining hand on her elbow. “Hsst, child. Nothing we can do will change this. Witness.”
The man Rameau calls Alresian spreads his hands in a shrug. “Rameau, there simply isn’t anything I may do to help you. At least, not now. But if you only give this matter some more time, I feel certain that —”
Rameau charges with a roar, lunging forward to impale Alresian, and even Rowyn’s quick eyes can barely make out what follows.
– the point of the sword lashing forward in a furious arc, glittering in the light of the fading day –
– Alresian’s empty hand coming up in a smooth, incredibly fast arc, turning the flat of the blade away as he twists his body out of the path of the blow –
– Rameau thrown off-balance at the sudden lack of expected resistance, and Alresian seizing his wrist in an odd grip –
– Alresian stepping inside Rameau’s guard, with a step and a twist of his hips, and Rameau’s momentum suddenly flips him upside-down and –
– the sudden wet crackle as Rameau slams into the steps of the opera house head and neck first, his wrist still trapped in Alresian’s grip –
– the strangely familiar face of the boy at the top of the steps, peering out from the shadows of the opera house, half his features veiled in shadow and the rest twisted with emotions so dark and primal she can’t put words to them –
– the shocked gasps of the theatergoers, and time speeds up again as they draw back a more than respectful distance from Alresian.
Rowyn feels her mother’s grip on her elbow, realizes her entire body is fraught with tension. Hears her mother’s voice, quiet and sure, in her ear. “Alresian is of the Brotherhood. And that is the least of what they do to those who disagree with their methods. See. Remember.” Her mother’s hand slips from her arm, and she steps around in front of Rowyn. “I will explain later, when we are less... public.”
Rowyn sees, and remembers, even if she doesn’t yet understand. She is thirteen, and has many lessons left to learn.
( The boy at the top of the opera house stairs is the younger version of one of my PCs, who has some very nasty background and feelings against the Scarlet Brotherhood already. )
I'm due to start up my Savage Tide campaign, using Pathfinder, in a little over a month. I've got five players, and I've worked with two of them -- the swashbuckler and the rogue -- to create backgrounds which are distinctly anti-Scarlet Brotherhood. (The swashbuckler is the last surviving scion of a noble family the Brotherhood purged when they assassinated all those Sea Prince nobles (the description of the Scarlet Embassy specifically says it was built on the burned ruins of a former noble family); the rogue is a half-elven bastard of Keltar Islaran's now-mysterously-deceased fist wife. In this background, that action -- and the fact that the bastard child was hanging around as perpetual reminder of Keltar getting cuckolded -- is what helped to turn Keltar towards being a full-blown agent of the Brotherhood. Enough so that he helped them with supplies and transportation when they performed their purge, and so his position as Harbormaster was elevated. Between that and Keltar's pre-Brotherhood-purge remarriage to a woman of pure Sueloise blood, the young bastard half-elf has had to deal with a lot of anti-demihuman prejudice from a very young age, and even from his own family.)
Anyways. I had an odd idea for the end of There Is No Honor, when it mentions that Rowyn will try to recruit the adventurers. What if she claims that the actions she took -- assassinating Keltar, trying to seize control of the Sasserine underworld and shipping concerns, etc. -- was all done to stand off the potential influence of a Scarlet Brotherhood takeover? She couldn't act openly, she'd say, because the Brotherhood has a great many capable soldiers and wizards, but indirectly... surreptitiously... sure, why not? My thinking is that this argument will very much connect with both the swashbuckler and the rogue, and possibly some of the others.
Here's the thing, though -- even if Rowyn's not being wholly honest about her motivations, the possibility that she is in favor of Sasserine self-determination (under her and Heldrath Kellani's rule, of course) isn't that far-fetched. Both she and her mother presumably have a wide range of experience and knowledge of other lands and current events; they'd know fairly well that the Scarlet Brotherhood had forcefully annexed more than a few other nations.
To include this in my campaign could be worthwhile, but some small shifts would seem needed. For one thing, if the characters are captured or whatnot, she wouldn't be selling them to the Brotherhood. The Crimson Fleet, maybe, but not the Brotherhood.
And if she does succeed in converting the adventurers to her cause... does that necessarily mean that they'd stop working for Lavinia Vanderboren? After all, Rowyn might well want them to keep doing so, simply as an additional layer of subterfuge between Rowyn, her agents (the PCs), and the Brotherhood. Rowyn might even end up in a "business partnership" with Lavinia, surreptitiously loaning her money stolen from the Vanderboren vaults.
I also found myself wondering just what, well, questionable missions Rowyn might send her new top agents on. Stealing artifacts or magic from an individual Rowyn has denounced as Brotherhood-associated? Sure. Assassination of a Brotherhood agent? Easily possible, and quite plausible if the players were given a chance to aim themselves at the Embassy. The fiery destruction of the Telavanta Dance Academy, a known hideout and training ground for Brotherhood agents (which includes amongst its students the three Sueloise pureblood younger sisters of the rogue)? Oooooo, character morality choices!
If they go with Rowyn as their primary employer, too, the question of how the Brotherhood will be handled in Sasserine has to be answered before the PCs depart the city in Sea Wyvern's Wake. If that's the case, Rowyn would probably end up staying behind in Sasserine to oversee the breadth of her new domain... but her place could easily be taken by a vengeful Scarlet Brotherhood agent looking to sabotage a Rowyn-backed venture.
So I guess my final question is... does this alteration in Rowyn's motivations make sense? Can she be made to believe wholeheartedly in getting rid of the Brotherhood in Sasserine, without losing that cold-hearted evil nature of hers that has served to get her this far?
I was contemplating putting together a one-shot adventure for my players, to help test out the new Pathfinder APG classes. My theoretical BBEG will be a summoner up on a glacier, threatening to collapse a massive glacier on a town unless they render up a particular widget. Anyways, my thought was to use air elementals as the initial (around CR5) opposition.
Given that medium air elementals (CR3) buffed by Augment Summoning will have a STR of 18, is there any mechanism that could realistically portray an elemental or two grappling a single opponent, then lifting them off the ground to drop them from a height? Similarly, could flying beasties (elementals being merely one) snatch someone and carry them away to a lair?
Aside from nice full-on side adventures like Mad God's Key and War of the Wielded, has anyone run some smaller side plots involving the Scarlet Brotherhood in Sasserine?
The one player in the campaign who has so far given me the most background is a scarred, one-eyed swashbuckler, once of a noble family who was loosely allied with the Sea Princes. They were murdered by the Scarlet Brotherhood nearly a decade ago (when the character was a young adolescent) with the uprising against the tyranny of the Sea Princes, and the PC survived only through sheer luck (though the Brotherhood assasin wounded him near unto death, and that's how the PC lost his eye). He survived miraculously and was sheltered and hidden by Heldrath Kellani (who, being a social climber and a slippery political mind, had once considered marrying her young daughter Rowyn to the PC), and now lives a migrant existence hiring out for day work on the docks... watching the comings and goings of merchants and traders, keeping an eye on the Scarlet Brotherhood and noting their actions, and so forth. Moreover, the description of the Brotherhood embassy specifically says that they built the structure "over the site of a noble villa whose members were slaughtered during the final years of the Sea Prince rule" -- perfect setup for a vendetta.
(On a side note, I can hardly wait to do some sociopolitical backplot and lay the foundations for Kellani's reveal to the PC, and of the PC's secret identity as one of the then-despised noble family that allied with the Sea Princes) at the end of TiNH. *evil grin*)
That, plus a half-elf monk PC with an anger problem (custom flaw) (who I'm hoping to angle in the direction of "learned his kung fu from a stolen Brotherhood codex"), suggests a substantial presence of the Brotherhood is well-warranted. Having read up on their Wiki entry, the Brotherhood is pretty much a great villain -- an Aryan-eugenics, slave-driving, expansionistic and militaristic ubermensch villain, at that.
I know that the spellcasting level boost wouldn't apply to various bloodline benefits, like feats and powers, but would a sorcerer who had gone into a Pathfinder PrC get the bonus spells or not? Arguably they could be considered to be "spells known", and so allowable under the limitations of a PrC increase in caster level.
In the very near future (even though I'm not currently running the STAP), I'm going to have a small aquatic adventure for my PCs. They'll have come through a portal into a small archipelago of islands, and on one of the other islands is the exit portal and the key to open it.
Having the PCs get to the other island, among the half-dozen or so islands in the chain, is half the fun. But encounters along the way will no doubt make things interesting as well.
As it turns out, one of the PCs has a robe of many things (which I houseruled to have a non-expended item (such as, for example, a rowboat) usable once per week and able to be put "back on" to the robe; it makes the thing less of a one-shot wonder). One of the patches on there is, in fact, a rowboat/launch (using the Launch stats from Stormwrack) -- which should make their getting from island to island in unfriendly waters a little bit less hazardous.
Naturally, no expedition would be complete without unfriendly natives. In this case, the first thing I'd like to throw at my 9th-10th would be a sahuagin raiding party -- sixteen sahuagin scout-raiders with a raid-leader. Given that the sahuagin would no doubt like to drag the air-breathers down to their own level, the better to claim the advantage, what kind of ruling would you make for them to tip the boat over and sink it?
I've looked in Stormwrack, and though there are rules regarding the damaging of a ship there don't seem to be any specifically relating to what happens if a beastie or beasties just decides to try to turn the thing over. Perhaps opposed grapple checks -- with attacks of opportunity as the PCs try desperately to cut down the sahuagin raiders? The Launch is considered Huge, but what would be used as the base stat for it to avoid being swamped? Profession (sailor), perhaps?
Additionally, if the sahuagin give up on that and just decide to stab at the underside of the Launch with their tridents (possible, given their leader's STR, even with half-damage taken by piercing weapons), what spells might be used to repair the damage as it's being taken? Could mending serve as a stopgap measure, repairing something like 1d4 hull HP per casting? Might make whole wholly repair the boat's hull?
I've been looking through my old issues of Dungeon for potential ideas on little side-quests to throw into the cracks in STAP. I've seen some excellent suggestions as to add-ons to Sea Wyvern's Wake (such as "Tammeraut's Fate", "Last Breaths of Ashenport", "Dragon Hunters", "Last Shrine of Tamoachan", and so forth), but what I'm considering are ways beyond just the start-up of the campaign.
My introductory adventure is probably going to be "Mad God's Key", but I'm looking for link-in adventures beyond that. "War of the Wielded" is definitely on the list as well. However, I was thinking largely of additional swamp/marsh/jungle adventures, often with treasure/tomb maps found in previous sessions, with the possbilities of nautical adventures as well.
In the Spell Compendium, Resurgence is explained thus:
Quote:
Level: Blackguard 1, cleric 1, paladin 1.
The subject of a resurgence spell can make a second attempt to tsave against an ongiong spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability, such as dominate person. If the subject of resurgence is affected by more than one ongiong magical effect, the subject chooses one of them to retry the save against. If the subject succeeds on the saving throw on the second attempt, the effect ends immediately. Resurgence never restores hit points or ability score damage, but it does eliminate any conditions such as shaken fatigued, or nauseated that were caused by a spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability.
If a spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability doesn't allow a save (such as power word stun) then resurgence won't help the subject recover.
As written, Resurgence could technically be used to break petrification effects (as from a gorgon, for example) that normally need something like Break Enchantment or Stone to Flesh. Doesn't this seem somewhat unbalanced, to undercut 5th and 6th level spells with a 1st level spell which will (eventually) be able to counteract an otherwise major and permanent effect?
In my current campaign, I just ran an encounter where the characters had an option to face a test of body (a bare-knuckles wrestling contest against a grappling-optimized efreet) or a test of mind (a riddle-game, where if the PCs were able to stump the efreet he'd give them a major clue to an obstacle they needed to pass). The goliath lost in the wrestling contest, unfortunately, so instead the bard had a chance to shine.
The way I played it, I had to answer the riddle that the bard's player came up with. We ruled it reasonable that, being a bard, his bardic knowledge granted him impressive know-how of various things (riddles among them). I guessed his first riddle correctly, but he pretty much nailed me with the second one ("He who makes it, buys it not; he who buys it, needs it not; he who needs it, sees it not." Answer: "A coffin.") -- the player had Googled some riddles, which seemed reasonable given that the character would absolutely have extensive knowledge that the player didn't.
It was straight out roleplaying (with some Google-fu), rather than roll-playing, but I'm wondering if you worthies could think of a way to represent intelligent opponents riddling each other that didn't come down to a player-vs-DM Google-fu skirmish. *grin*
I've been fairly impressed, reading over the Pathfinder beta release, and definitely plan to get a copy when it's released. I'd like the next campaign I run to be Savage Tide. Does anyone have any stories to relate regarding running the Savage Tide AP with Pathfinder?
As a DM, I think I may have backed myself into a bit of a corner with regards to stats and equipment within the Age of Worms. Over the first four segments of the AP, and with a side-jaunt into Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, my party has become quite well-equipped. Most of them have some form of magical armor (I threw in a Crimson Coat of Ilpharzz as loot towards the end of Hall of Harsh Reflections) and a ring of protection (+1 or +2), and a few have amulets of natural armor as well. This, combined with decent DEX's, shields, and various spells (magic circle against evil, typically) and feats (Shield Specialization, Combat Expertise, etc.) means that they are often able to maintain ACs in the high 20's/low 30's in the face of opposition.
(This includes the goliath spiked-chain fighter, who often gets an enlarge person boost from the wizard -- thus having somewhere in the realm of +20 to hit, dealing 3d6 + lots of damage -- so using Combat Expertise for 2 - 5 doesn't tremendously impact his ability to utterly demolish most opponents. And that's not even coming near the whole "I trip you forever" schtick.)
This results in the various mooks being pretty much completely unable to hit the PCs at all. Which means no threat from them, and only the lieutenants and bosses (who I have to pump or buff up to be around +20 attack to come close to touching) have a chance to injure the party... but do so typically with scads of damage from high-STR attacks.
That leads to players bemoaning that they get hit "too often", which makes them look for ways to increase their AC, which makes me redesign villains who actually have a chance of hitting their ACs..... GAAAAAAAAH.
Honestly, I'm kind of looking forward to the possibility of removing some of their gear in Champions' Belt, via gladiator sundering, black-pudding dissolving, or froghemoth-swallowing. A little something to even the playing field, because I suspect I may have given out a bit too much in the way of decent loot.
Any suggestions? Or are the opposition mooks destined to flail about uselessly as the PCs scythe through them like wheat?
Within my campaign, I am DMing for six characters played by PCs with solid tactical instincts. Aside from a few close calls, they have done exceptionally well against everything I've thrown against them. There have been very few fatalities.
I was, therefore, considering increasing Zyrxog's effective level just a little bit -- specifically, using the Fleshwarper PrC from Lords of Madness. That particularly seemed to fit, given Zyrxog's created minions. Anyways, I was going to make him a sorcerer 7/fleshwarper 2, giving him an effective caster level of 8.
Additionally, his "elder secret" or whatever it's called was going to be the "Secret of the Destrachan", which makes the being who grafts it immune to all sonic damage.
With my PCs rapidly approaching the final confrontation with Zyrxog (they're in the outer caverns now, but haven't passed the naga), do you think this makes him a little too heavily powered? Particularly given the numerous reports of TPKs against Zyrxog to begin with?
My players are perhaps two-thirds of the way through the Sodden Hold in Hall of Harsh Reflections, having gotten through the water room, taken out the apprentice doppelgangers, and cut their way through the duplicates in the octagonal mirror room (though the PC duplicate, properly upgunned by me, gave them some trouble). They found the secret door in the octagonal room and, thinking that's the only way forward, have decided to rest inside the dungeon. They're going to spike the doors to the octagonal room, taking refuge in the map room -- which, notably, they did not find the secret door in.
Naturally, there's no way I can see Telakin just sitting back and allowing them to rest up. What tactics do you think he might embrace to give them one hell of a night? Right now, I'm leaning towards the idea of distracting the PCs with ghost sound to make them think someone's trying to come through the doors to the corridor, then leading a sortie with the maze-guards through the secret door. Slow and confusion should help stretch the resources of the half-healed party while the guards do their best to chop down unprepared PCs, right?
I'm in the process of preparing my opposition for Champion's Belt. Right now, I'm just at the beginning of HoHR, but I always like to work out details at least one adventure path segment ahead of where I am. (Cuts down on last minute panic. *grin* )
As I took a look at my party (six PCs, used to working together and with good tactics, accompanied by a cohort or two) and then a look at Bozal the Kyuss cleric, I realized that short of some astonishing dice luck Bozal was going to get steamrollered by my players. The answer, I decided, was to bump him up by a mere two levels -- but make him categorically a much tougher customer.
I preface the following stats by saying that my campaign follows a foundation of giving out feats at odd levels rather than every three levels, and I give all my NPCs and beasties three-quarters of maximum HP rather than just average. (I also bumped his stats a little, and accounted for attribute increases at levels 4, 8, and 12.)
Gear: +1 mithril light fortification breastplate, +2 animated light shield, +1 unholy club, pearl of power (5th), potion of cure serious, brooch of shielding (35), wand of inflict mod, periapt of WIS +4, scrolls (symbol of spell loss, restoration, heal), string of prayer beads.
Spell-like abilities (1/day): darkness, teleport, summon monster V (fiendish summons only), unholy blight (Will DC 22)
Invocations:
* Least: Entropic Warding, Spiderwalk, Baleful Utterance (Fort DC 16)
* Lesser: Voracious Dispelling (d20+10 for dispel check vs. 11 plus their caster level), with 1 pt dmg for each spell lvl dispelled), Flee the Scene, Eldritch Chain
* Greater: Chilling Tentacles
Spells (6/7+1/6+1/6+1/4+1/4+1/3+1):
0th: cure minor, resistance, detect poison, detect magic, read magic, guidance.
1st: inflict light wounds(D) (Will DC18), prot from good, sanctuary (Will DC 18), divine favor, command (Will DC 18) (x2), doom (Will DC 19).
2nd: death knell(D) (Will DC 21), wave of grief (SpC236, Will DC 20), spiritual weapon (atk +16/+11, 1d8+4), resist energy (sonic?/30), infernal wound (Heal DC 20), hold person (Will DC 19), cure moderate.
3rd: contagion(D) (Fort DC 22), unholy storm, invisibility purge, speak with dead, summon monster III, clutch of Orcus (Fort DC 22), energy vortex (fire or acid, 1d8+12, doubled if normal taken, Ref DC 20 for ½).
4th: death ward(D), wrack (Fort DC 23), cure critical, poison (Fort DC 23 or 1d10/1d10 CON), divine power.
5th: slay living(D) (Fort DC 23/dead or 3d6 dmg), summon monster V, spell resistance (SR24), flame strike (12d6, Ref DC 22 for ½), triadspell (clutch of Orcus).
6th: harm(D) (Will DC 24 for ½), antilife shell, summon monster VI, blade barrier (Ref DC 23 for ½).
Basic tactics remain the same as mentioned in Dungeon -- as soon as he gets the word that the PCs are near, he puts up antilife shell, spell resistance, death ward, invisibility purge, resist energy (probably for sonic), and protection from good. He also relies largely on
substantial quantities of summoned monsters for massed offense, which (with Augment Summoning) are much tougher than they might normally be.
Once he has at least a protective cadre of summoned creatures out, though, is when he really starts to go to town. He casts Clutch of Orcus (Fort DC 22) on a target who doesn't look like a big dumb fighter, maintaining it with Swift Concentration while he pushes his other attacks. Spiritual weapon can also be used to harass the rear ranks of the party.
If the PCs are bunched up, or if a large portion of them are, he blocks them off with a summoned monster or two and drops a Chilling Tentacles invocation on them. If they try to get away, he drops more Tentacles or summoned monsters behind them in a pincer attack. If they try to use one of the narrow corridors as a chokepoint, he drops blade barrier down the length of it and makes them take 12d6 each round for the privilege of a defensive position. He'll use Voracious Dispelling to target any obviously buffed spellcaster. He casts waves of grief (from the Spell Compendium) to debuff the party before they can get through his walls of summoned beasties.
If his anti-life shell is dropped (or if a martial adept or mage-type teleports through it, he'll use touch-range spells like harm, slay living, or energy vortex (gladly taking elemental damage on his near-immunity to fire and acid in order to double the damage to 2d8+24).
If they press him too hard, or try to retreat behind his or their own battlefield control spells (chilling tentacles or blade barrier, for example), he moves about with Flee the Scene (either to recover and heal, or to pursue the party from an unexpected angle of attack).
And all the while, he hammers weak-looking targets with 6d6 of eldritch blast against touch AC.
Considering it'll be a party of six 10th-level characters, plus a cohort or two, do you think that's a fair near-boss challenge? Or will it be too horrendous of a trial for them to get through? My suspicion is that they will blow through most of the undead guardians like chaff (that's the benefit of having a Radiant Servant of Pelor along), so I want to make sure they get a damn good challenge.
I made the decision, back when my campaign was getting started, that I wanted to play around with many of the more esoteric rulesets in 3.5 -- not only the full complement of Complete sourcebooks, but also the Book of Nine Swords. It's been a learning experience, particularly since I have some talented and inventive players.
The other side of this, of course, is that I get to use those same rules for my monsters and NPCs. The party crusader of Heironeous has a tendency to walk straight through most of the opposition. With him wearing a rededicated Theldrick's full plate +1, the Faceless One's heavy shield of blinding, heavy shield specialization, and another boost or two -- not to mention often downing a shield of faith potion before major battles -- his AC often can approach 30 (more if he fights defensively).
I decided to make Shukak a hell of a tough fight for the party.
First, let me note that Ilthane's brood (both pureblood dragons and half-dragons) are a noticeable presence in my AoW campaign -- the part has run across three of Ilthane's half-dragon children so far. (They unexpectedly killed the first one -- a half-dragon kobold -- in my introductory adventure, so I decided that the kobold-kin were going to declare blood feud and go after the party as soon as they actually left Diamond Lake.)
Second, a quick note -- in my campaign, characters gain new feats every odd level rather than every third level. It's a minor increase in advancement but it eventually adds up.
Spoiler:
Shukak, the Lizard King
Medium humanoid (dragon). (Half-black dragon lizardfolk, fighter 2/warblade 5 (CR 10).)
Hit Dice: 2d8 + 2d10 + 5d12 + 45.
Initiative: +7
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 28 (+6 armor, +3 DEX, +9 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 25. (AC is 26 when in Punishing Stance, -5 when using Heedless Charge for Power Attack-5.)
Base Attack/Grapple: +7 / +15
Attack: two-handed +1 returning trident +17 melee (1d8+13)
Full Attack: two-handed +1 returning trident +17/+12 melee (1d8+13/1d8+13) OR 2 claws +15 melee (1d4+8/1d4+8) and bite +13 melee (1d6+4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: acid breath weapon, warblade maneuvers
Special Qualities: immunity to acid, immunity to sleep/paralysis, darkvision 60', low-light vision
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +9, Will +5
Abilities: Str 24 (26), Dex 16, Con 20, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 12.
Skills: balance +9, concentration +13, jump +22, swim +15, martial lore +6, diplomacy +5, intimidate +9, tumble +11
Feats: Multiattack, WF (trident), Improved Initiative, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Leap Attack, Adaptive Style, Shock Trooper
Maneuvers: Moment of Perfect Mind, Charging Minotaur, Disarming Strike, Bonecrusher, Iron Heart Surge, Bonesplitter
Stances: Punishing Stance, Pearl of Black Doubt
Gear: +1 adamantine breastplate, +1 returning trident, gauntlets of ogre power, brooch of shielding, cloak of resistance +2, potions of bear's endurance (2), cure moderate wounds (3), blur.
I borrowed more than a few ideas from the storyboards here, and had him interrogating Marzena when the PCs came to brace him in his throne room. She got killed in the "surprise round" (mostly for cinematic effect), and then the combat was on.
Seeing the crusader and the very noticeable armored cleric of Pelor in the front row, Shukak went for the cleric first. His Leaping, Heedless Charge, Punishing Stance, Power-Attack-for-5, had it struck home, would've done 1d8 + 1d6 + 13 (two-handed STR) + 15 (extra Leap Attack damage) -- averaging 36 dmg and putting a major crimp in the party plans. Fortunately for the party, the crusader threw up a Shield Block maneuver and deflected the blow by just 1 (!!!) on the attack roll. What followed was a brutal, up-in-your-grill melee, with the crusader and the party swordsage and Shukak dishing out massive amounts of damage. The party finally managed to down him in round 5, with heavy fire support from the warmage taking off a huge chunk of his HP, but not before he had the party crusader on the edge of death (at zero hit points, with 10 points of damage in his delayed damage pool waiting to kill him at the end of his turn).
Interestingly, we found ourself wondering about a particular rules quibble. As the cleric of the party was up in initiative after the crusader, it could've been argued that he wasn't able to get to the crusader in time to heal him. However, we ended up deciding that if the crusader chose to delay his action (not ending his turn, and thus not getting hit with the steely resolve delayed damage), he could stand there and basically hold his guts in, dead on his feet, until the end of the round. Luckily, the cleric got in a heal JUST in time.
Nonetheless, it was a fantastic hard-hitting fight, and one that my party won't soon forget.
Yesterday, my PCs made their initial assault on the Hextorite temple. Six PCs went up against a somewhat-increased force, including plenty of mook-cultists, half again as many tieflings, a displacer beast for the Beast, and Garras and Kendra boosted to level 3 (where Garras had been shifted from a fighter/cleric to a crusader). Though their initial incursion went well, the tide turned in the Battle Temple, and the party lost their two frontline fighters in their retreat.
Crunk, the half-orc barbarian/fighter who cut a swath through the Hextorites with Kullen's +1 greataxe, Power Attack and Cleave, fell in the Temple but stabilized as the party fell back. I plan to have him "recover" under the care of the Faceless One, properly charmed of course. Mac, the goliath warblade, fell during the retreat and the party did not have the resources to save him from bleeding out. I plan to have Theldrick cast animate dead on Mac's body, the displacer beast, and the fallen tieflings and cultists to supplement the remaining cultists. This will be also reinforced by Theldrick or Kendra casting desecrate upon the statue of Hextor in the Battle Temple.
I was thinking that Theldrick might make a gift of Kullen's axe and the cloak of resistance taken from Kullen's lieutenant to Grallak Kur, in order to give them motivation to stage a timed (but limited) flank attack from the Erythnul segment when the PCs venture back into the Dark Cathedral to attack the Hextorites again.
I suspect that the distrust between Theldrick and the Faceless One would prevent any serious support from the wizard.
So, what other measures would seem reasonable for Theldrick and his forces to take, since they'll be anticipating the PCs return within at most a couple of days?
Our story begins with eight adventurers, bound together through whimsy and past relationship, setting out into the wilds beyond Diamond Lake. (I've allowed +1 level adjustment races for my campaign, with the understanding that those who take them won't advance to level 2 until they have enough xp for level 3.)
* Parris, gambling warmage posted to the Diamond Lake garrison (human).
* Samson Pryce, cleric of Pelor (human).
* Gomackan ("Mac"), massive warblade (goliath).
* Geert, monastic swordsage and journeyman from the Twilight Monastery (human).
* Scorchthorn, also a swordsage, whose mother once belonged to the Monastery but who was exiled in the wake of the miner attack twenty years ago (human).
* Darthonian ("Dar"), wood elf ranger from the southern regions, working with the garrison.
* Halo, rogue of unusual appearance (aasimar).
* Ioio, bard recently arrived in the less-fair-than-he-was-lead-to-believe town of Diamond Lake (human).
Age of Worms (session 1): The Whispering Cairn, prelude.
There is a tense atmosphere in Diamond Lake these days. Balabar
Smenk, for reasons he hasn't discussed, has apparently put out the
word on-the-quiet to bring in mercenaries and hired muscle from out of
town in dribs and drabs. The other mine managers (apparently fearing
attempts at hostile takeovers) seem to be moving along similar lines.
All this is making the garrison (and, presumably, the Governor-Mayor)
nervous. Individuals you had previously heard of only by reputation
have recently arrived, and there have already been more than a few
brawls and "incidents" that Sheriff Cubbin, paragon of negotiable
honesty that he is, has conveniently swept under the covers.
Other rumors and gossip pale by comparison with that, but nonetheless
there is still talk. The dragonchess tourney is soon to come at
Lazare's Gaming, with a substantial monetary prize to the winner.
Meanwhile, however, the warmage Parris's Uncle Fred had approached him
and a group of his acquaintances with a request -- recover the prize
breeding stock of rams and ewes which had been stolen (sheepnapped?
*grin* ) from his pens just a few days before.
After a brief investigation (and inquiries made to a Lt. Trovost Skunt
of the garrison, who indicated he'd assigned a troublemaker to look
into it and then dismissed the matter from his mind), the party ranger
Dar was able to pick up the trail of the sheep-rustlers. It took
several hours to follow the tracks into the wooded hills beyond
Diamond Lake's polluted shores, but eventually the party discovered a
mussed clearing where it appeared the garrison soldier Skunt had sent
to investigate (Sabus) had been killed and partially dismembered, then
buried.
From that clearing, Dar swiftly followed the tracks to what seemed
to be an long-abandoned mining office. The party spread out upon
approach, with one going round the back to search for other means of
entrance, three scaling the outer courtyard wall, and four (those most
heavily armored) going in through the decrepit front gates. A cowbell
sounded just as the heavies were approaching, clear sign that the
sentry Dar believed he had spotted had put out the alarm, but no-one
was to be seen when the party gained the courtyard. Peering inside
the office's front door, the front entry party could see what looked
like overturned tables inside a darkened main hall, with figures
crouched behind the makeshift barriers. From within a harsh voice
barked out, "You gonna stand out there all day, bigjobs? Come in so
we can kill you and eat you, you tallie c+&!*+*!&&s!"
Gomackan (the massive goliath warblade everyone has nicknamed "Mac"),
stung by the words and certain he could disrupt the defenders' ranks,
charged through the door. A double -tung!- sounded as he hit the
blackened tripwire just inside the door, but by sheerest chance the
pair of crossbows that had been aimed across the threshold both missed
him. Uncaring, he slammed his spiked chain into the main barrier,
knocking the figures behind it sprawling. Unfortunately, said figures
were make of straw and sticks, as it turned out - a decoy!
Up popped a pair of kobolds from the table blocking the stairs,
flinging slingstones at the goliath, and from the balcony above
another half-dozen appeared with missile weapons at the ready --
including Rur-Shok, a half-dragon kobold! Mac took a few hits, but
managed to stay on his feet as Samson, the cleric of Pelor, swiftly
applied a dose of divine healing. The others in the party moved in
behind, loosing crossbows and spells at those above, but for the most
part there was a great deal of whiffing as bolts and stones missed
their targets. A few struck home on both sides, eliciting grunts of
pain but not felling anyone.
As Mac swung his spiked chain and downed one of the kobolds behind the
stairs barricade, a sharp cry from the side of the hall opposite the
stairs drew the party's attention -- four kobold warriors charging in
to flank! They struck with spears, hoping to slay the attackers just
as Rur-Shok cackled with glee and flung down alchemist's fire upon the
cleric of Pelor, spattering most of the party.
Dar cut down the last kobold at the stairs-barricade, leaving the
space open for Mac to move to the base of the stairs, while Parris
sidestepped and let loose a blast of fire from his burning hands,
catching three of the kobolds. One fell beneath the magics, but the
other three pressed their attack as the kobolds above continued to
rain down stones. Samson's extensive training with the garrison
proved to be most fortunate, allowing him to deflect the worst of the
hail of rocks with his shield.
Outside, monastic swordsages Geert and Scorchthorn had scaled the
sides of the building and came in through two different windows. They
listened for opposition beyond the closed doors as things went noisily
mad downstairs.
Meanwhile, Mac stared up the narrow stairwell at Rur-Shok's grinning
countenance as the kobold sent a barrel-ful of lamp oil rolling down
the stairs towards him. Unable to jump over it in time, he took some
minor damage as the barrel slammed into the base of the stairs and
shattered, filling the stairwell with slick oil. Rur-Shok smiled
wickedly, but before he could fling down his flask of alchemist's fire
Mac called upon the power of the charging minotaur and bull-rushed up
the stairwell, knocking Rur-Shok completely through the wooden wall
behind him. Scorchthorn, who had been lurking right behind the door
of said room, took the opportunity to slash at the prone kobold with
his blades, but was unable to finish him off.
(Interesting side game note: bull rush doesn't actually require a
to-hit roll, which I hadn't realized before. You just move into your
opponent's square and begin a contest of strength. Additionally,
normally a bull rush will not knock a defender prone -- it's just a way
to push him backwards, and you can't push him further than you yourself
go. Cinematically, though, it looked fantastic.)
As Rur-Shok tried to struggle to his feet, Scorchthorn chopped his legs out from under him and Mac sent a length of spiked chain slamming into the kobold's chest. (Criticals rolled by both players, the lucky bastards.) Rur-Shok, who was meant to be a recurring villain, fell ignominiously at their feet.
Down below, much of the party was doing their best to mop up the last
of the kobolds while Samson climbed the stairs. A lucky kobold
spear-thrust took Dar in the vitals, felling him, and the kobold who
did it barked with glee ("I am invincible!") just before a crossbow
bolt took him in the throat ("... or maybe not." *gurgle* ) Mac, up
on the balcony, swiftly moved to crush another pair of kobolds, and
those left above fled from the wrath of these attackers who were
clearly too powerful to defeat.
In the end, Dar was stabilized by judicious medical attention, and the
party made quick work of the guardian monitor lizards Rur-Shok had
left in the records hall. Seven of the eight stolen sheep were
recovered, along with a small treasure trove of miscellaneous items
and an odd map written in Draconic showing directions toward a place
called the Whispering Cairn. The party, feeling bolstered by their
victory, chose to return to the vicinity of Diamond Lake with their swag.
Due to an unexpected wealth of players, it appears that I'll be starting off my new Age of Worms campaign with seven or eight players rather than the anticipated four or five. Anyone have any recommendations for scaling up the Whispering Cairn so that the characters don't steamroller over the existing foes?
Once I get into the later adventures, I can just modify them as per having a higher-level party, but for now I'd like to still provide my players with a reasonable challenge.
I'm hoping to start my Age of Worms campaign soon, but I'd like to help my players emphasize their background by giving them a number of different background skillsets to pick from. Each will have their own benefits and drawbacks, more or less unique to the category into which they fit.
So far, categories I've come up with include Miner, Bronzewood Lodge Member, Gambler, Entertainer, Twilight Lodge Brethren, Mine Manager's Employee, Garrison Soldier, Hired Muscle, and a few other general ones like Acolyte, Craftsman, and Apprentice. Anyways, I could have sworn I'd seen a thread some time back which had something similar. I can't seem to find the link on the current thread listing, but does anyone recall what sorts of bonuses and drawbacks might have been in that thread?
(Example: Hired Muscle. (Requirements: Intimidate 1, Gather Information 1.)
-- You've done your time on the town streets, tracking down debtors and serving as surly bodyguard to the rich and privileged. It hasn't gotten you rich, though, and now you're thinking it might be a good time to strike out for adventure on your own. +2 on Intimidate checks and Gather Information checks, -2 on Diplomacy checks.)
So the other night I was reading through the prestige classes in the Book of Nine Swords and noticed the little addendum after Jade Phoenix Mage -- that the class would easily be adaptable as a cabal of evil mage/warriors, looking to bring back an aspect of the Ebon Phoenix.
Would it be possible to adapt that idea in terms of Kyuss? And if so, how would you do so, and who would you modify to fit the template?
My initial thought was to go with the obvious -- transform the Faceless One from a level 6 wizard into a level 2 swordsage/level 5 wizard. He wouldn't be quite as powerful spellcaster-wise, but he could clearly be an lesser brother of the Ebon Phoenix cabal. Throw in some Shadow Hand maneuvers and stances, maybe shift the fire focus of the Jade Phoenix class into something more sinister and insidious, and <i>voila!</i> instant evil mastermind.
Would this be an intriguing addition to the mythology of the Age of Worms, or would it be overpowered? Who else might be reasonably adapted into the Order of the Ebon Phoenix?
A common difficulty, from what I've seen of various posts, is the trouble that inexperienced and under-equipped parties of 1st level adventurers may have with some of the unforgiving encounters in the Whispering Cairn. Clearly, one way to ameliorate this is to provide some mix of adventure beforehand -- something to give the players' new characters a chance to spread their wings and experiment with the party dynamics before being thrown into the blender.
I was considering adapting an old published adventure to the power-struggle environment of Diamond Lake. Imagine, if you will, an ancient crumbling manor up on a lakeside cliff a few miles from Diamond Lake. For nearly a century, this home has been left to the elements and mercies of scavengers, its ancestral family long since departed or died of old age. Always considered a rather sinister reminder of past indiscretions, due to a certain unsavory reputation of the family in question, the more recent years have given rise to tales of haunting. Strange sounds in the night, and a light seen from a high window whenever fog creeps across the surface of the lake, brought fears and unpleasant images to mind.
The garrison has investigated but found little of import -- years-old remnants of squatters and skells, long departed -- and a garrison soldier's fall through an unstable staircase influenced the abandonment of the garrison's official investigation. But one of the mine managers suspects something is afoot at the old manor-house, something that has to do with wagons moving in the dead of night and mysterious packages delivered to Balabar Smenk's compound at unusual hours.
This mine manager (I was considering Moonmeadow, but almost any will do as long as he or she opposes Smenk) contacts the nascent adventuring party to do some investigating and determine what's really going on. Moreover, if there are unsavory persons operating in or around the manor, and the party should happen to confront and/or remove them, well, the mine manager would be inclined to look favorably upon that...
After all, anything that might inconvenience Smenk is good in the eyes of the party's employer.
Assuming the party investigates well, they'd discover a group of smugglers operating from sea-caves beneath the manor. The smugglers work with a boat bringing unusual supplies across Diamond Lake from a supplier of Smenk's, supplies which are destined to find use in certain lairs deep beneath the city... but of course, the adventurers won't know that yet. Of course, the leader of the smugglers is a Vecna-worshipping illusionist, which may provide clues linking later events together in the PCs' minds.
The adventurers make out with a bit of loot, some minor (probably healing) magic, and a chance to work out tactics together. Ideally, either the smugglers have recently captured an explorer (a possible DMPC) who was searching for the Whispering Cairn -- which is somewhere in the hills nearby -- or killed said explorer. Either way, you have the possibility to introduce a map or hint that points towards the old records in the mining office, and thereby leads them towards the theoretical riches imagined within and a possible way out of Diamond Lake.
The adventure in question? The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.
So, how have other DMs chosen to approach this problem?
Posts
