My PCs have decided to sneak into Scarnetti Manor and spy on them. Any good maps in other modules I could adapt for the encounter?Anybody have anything good on this?
Also, has anybody considered the jailor's one-sentence backstory as a sidequest when they start moving to the turtleback ferry area? I saw that his kids are owned by slavers in Kaer Magan. Anybody have any ideas for that either?
Also, yeah, I feel like helping Vachedi save his kids needs to be an option, even if it just involves putting a price tag on buying their freedom.
Also, yeah, I feel like helping Vachedi save his kids needs to be an option, even if it just involves putting a price tag on buying their freedom.
Also, has anybody considered the jailor's one-sentence backstory as a sidequest when they start moving to the turtleback ferry area? I saw that his kids are owned by slavers in Kaer Magan. Anybody have any ideas for that either?
I made a side quest for that: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2i3wa&page=31?Community-Created-Stuff#1543
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
For reasons I won't get into I think some of the stuff related to Lamashtu may not be a good fit for my group given some recent personal events. I was thinking of swapping her out for another deity to avoid major rewrites. Rovagug seems like a good choice since Wrath, destruction, and disaster are his focuses and they fit well with other elements in this chapter.
That said is there anything major that I would need to change with this? The main thing I can think of is swapping out the yeth hounds for maybe something more thematic to him and maybe Malfeshnekor. Nualia I just swap out her Ferocity domain for Destruction (basically the exact same 1st level power).
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Smart choice for your group.
In order to keep the lore consistent between Bakrakhan and today's Lost Coast, I'd recommend altering the shrines the party encounters (and Nualia) to be devoted to Shax or Orcus. Orcus has (very weak) ties to the very end of the campaign in Xin-Shalast, while Shax might require less tweaking to Nualia's motivations and personality, albeit making her less sympathetic.
The reason I suggest a Demon Lord, beyond lore consistency, is that the party will be up against demons and demon-worshippers for much of the game, especially the cult of Lamashtu, and you'll have to put in less work to justify those than a cult of Rovagug (who the Thassilonians did not worship, and modern lamia do not). Depending on what topics are OK for your party, Sifkesh (lord of botched suicides and madness) might also mesh well.
A final possibility, specifically for the sake of maintaining the connection to the demon-worshipping lamia encountered later in the campaign, is to pick a supposed sire figure (perhaps Baphomet or Socothbenoth) for these lamia who is included in their ancestral worship, who might also seek to twist Nualia to their own ends. You're already changing her backstory, so giving her a '''fatherly''' demon lord might work for you.
Lastly, if you'd like to play up Alaznist's connections to Yamasoth (the qlippoth lord) and completely separate Nualia from the lamia encountered later, Nualia could be attempting to use fleshwarping techniques developed by Alaznist in order to rid herself of her 'celestial taint,' and Malfeshnekor could instead be an imprisoned Qlippoth who was an an advisor, rather than a lieutenant, in Alaznist's forces.
Hope some of this helps.
Regarding Malfeshnekor. He cannot move out of the room, but can he attack (bite/claws) people standing just outside the door? I know he can cast spells on people beyond the threshold so I was wondering if he could do this as well as long as he doesn't leave the room.
I don't think you will find a clear ruling on this.
My suggestion would be that he can not... but he would sure try. He would be throwing himself against the barrier and trying desperately to get through it.
This would give clever PCs some time to act and understand what is going on. Of course, he is intelligent and as soon as they started using that to his advantage would hide and/or go invisible.
This is what happened in my game. We just finished the full campaign on Friday night and one of the post game questions was what happened to him? (He was used in the background of a newly introduced character in chapter three who slew him with an adventuring party... that player was not sharing about his background.)
I’m preparing to run Rise of the Runelords on roll20. And as I do so, I’m kind of playing it by myself to test things, get used to the abilities, anticipate player options, and problems, etc.
So, in my play, Tsuto fled. Did someone use the chase rules to create a chase after him? Inside the tunnels would be kind of boring, but I think a larger scale chase could do it.
Also, Tsuto with his +11 Perception is the only one who can pass the DC 28 perception check to find the coin slots the open the Portal of Greed to Malfeshnekor (Nualia with +5 is almost there, so with some spells and help she could do it. It also came to my attention that Detect Secret Doors could solve it, but I hate that spell).
In case my player let Tsuto run, I’m considering letting him try to find and open the portal. Maybe doing one check per day. So I’m think I’ll create a kind of calendar of Nualia freeing the barghest that is contingent on what the players do.
Once open, give some time to Lyrie figure the only hope of releasing it is some high powered dispel well beyond their hope of casting, which would translate into a rod of cancelation. The best answers for it would be look for it in a bigger city like Magnimar, Riddleport, or Maybe going farther like Kaer Maga or korvosa. But at Magnimar Nualia has friends. The answer for their problems would be a rod of cancelation, which is beyond their buying capacity. So they need money.
Going back to my play test, Gogmurt and the briar made the characters flee. With Thistletop alerted of the attack, Nualia immediately sent Bruthazmus and some dog riding commandos chase the injured characters but they failed ending with one commando dead and the others returning empty handed.
At this point, after Tsuto’s run and the attack at Thistletop, Nualia figures she has been discovered. So, given Malfeshnekor’s situation and her quest to free it, it is dangerous to leave him unprotected to go to Magnimar or other place to find a rod of cancelation. Another problem is the lack of money.
So, one alternative would be for her to try to go after the characters to kill them, take their stuff and sell. Another possibility, maybe complementary, would be to borrow some money from the Skinsaw people.
I’d like some ideas for attacks on the PCs, considering a generic group of characters. Only Orik and Lyrie can get inside Sandpoint in daylight without problems. But attacking inside the town might be complicated. Ambushing them outside might be better, but they would have their guard up. A full fight between the two groups could be cool. Maybe attacking the Rusty Dragon at night with the hound scaring people away, and having Orik and Lyrie already inside having rented a room for the night?
Also I’m planning to postpone chapter two in week or months in-game tems. I’ll do it to give more down time to the player and to make the campaign not feel too rushed. I would find it odd to have a level one wizard turn into a level 17th wizard in a 6 months period. Besides the reason for foxglove to be at sandpoint at the beginning and have not killed his wife yet (or maybe even married) will I run into any problem?
Any thoughts, critiques, ideas? Also any ideas for a reward if Nualia gets to sacrifice Ameiko? I thought that maybe a part of the half-fiend template.
Also, do you think I should consider the doors in thistletop having keyholes to spy through?
|
Some of the doors are locked and Ripnugget has the keys so I would I assume so.
My players killed Malfeshnekor and almost lost the monk to his full attacks. Luckily, the cleric was on range for a channel energy and that put him back up.
The group captured Tsuto in the Glassworks because he was sleeping (+10 DC) and the door was closed (+5) as everyone else came into the hallway. His Acrobatics roll weren't high enough to cross through their squares and he never made it out of the room.
They are taking him to Magnimar for trial but wanted him to change his way and hoped to make a case for him because he is only 19, practically still "a minor" by half-elf standards. I set up Ironbriar to take the case. And now that I realized that Ironbriar is the only other male elf in the AP, I hinted that he might be Tsuto's biological father...