Warning: Spoilers and such.
For reference, there are no players involved in this playtest; it is being conducted on an entirely theoretical basis. This allows me to go back and look at might-have-beens, but means that the party lacks the concentrated sneakiness of an actual group of players.
So. Originally, I was playing around with the system to see what kinds of characters I could devise and how they would work under the new rules as opposed to the old ones. But then I figured that since I was effectively creating an adventuring party, I might as well give them a test run. Something reasonably high-level, but unrelated to anything I'm currently playing in. This took a bit of head-scratching, as I favoured the interconnected feel of the adventure paths for this as opposed to a linked series of one-offs. And then it hit me - Why not run the poor unsuspecting souls through the giant deathtrap that is Maure Castle? Fun times ahoy!
The Party (at least until some or all of them get killed off):
Brun, LG Half-Orc Paladin 12 of Torag. Quite serious about his duties, thankfully including the need for a sense of proportion in all things. He is nevertheless a strictly business type whilst on the job, and could perhaps stand to loosen up a bit.
Cerene, NG Elf Cleric 12 of Erastil with the Animal and Community domains. Generally summons a lion with her domain ability. Cheerful, outgoing, and always happy to donate her time to a good cause.
Kelne, N Human Sorcerer 7/Fighter 5, with the Destined bloodline and Leadership feat. Loosely based on an established character of mine, he's rather a grouch, and is gloomily convinced that the entire affair will end badly. He may well be right.
Varlak, N Tiefling Rogue 12, currently gainfully employed, but with something of a chequered past. Does his best to hide his heritage, difficult as it is.
Gloria, N Dwarf Barbarian 10 (cohort). As a trollslayer, Gloria seeks a magnificent death in battle, and is convinced that hanging around with Kelne is the best way to achieve this. Much to his annoyance.
In all, a fairly standard party of four (arcanist, cleric, rogue and tank), bulked out to 6 by a cohort and what is effectively an animal companion. I figured I'd include one multiclass character, to see whether he was able to pull his weight compared to the specialists.
I'll be holding the characters to the slow experience chart, because I'm mean. Also because this ought to be a good way to compensate for any increased power thanks to the new rules.
Part 1: The Great Hall.
Having been provided with a certain door-opening artifact by their employer, the characters are able to enter the Great Hall without difficulty and start poking around. It isn't long before the clanking of plate armour alerts the bodaks in their lair to the approach of meddling adventurers. They sneak up on the party while Kelne is explaining just why area 7 is a trap. Thankfully, Varlak hears them coming and alerts the others.
Fight 1: Gaze attacks! DC15 Fort or die!
(In practice, I've altered the bodaks, bringing them in line with the new death effect rules. So they deal 90 damage (taking their caster level as equal to their HD) to anyone who fails a save, and 3d6+9 on a successful save. The full damage is still sufficient to kill Cerene outright, and would reduce Kelne or Varlak to negatives. One shudders to imagine the consequences for a party of lower level facing a bodak unprepared.)
With Varlak delaying, Brun shrugs off the disturbing gaze of the first foe round the corner and goes on the offensive. With a natural 1 to hit, he should be thankful I'm not using the critical fumbles deck (36 damage to Brun total, thanks to two passed saves).
Kelne likewise passes his save (albeit by a narrower margin; 22 damage), moves up and rolls a natural 20. Pity undead are immune to crits. Still, with a cold iron weapon, there's no damage reduction to worry about. 15 damage (out of 60).
The second bodak skips the directed gaze attack and deals Kelne 8 damage. Little more than an annoyance at this level; the directed gaze attacks are far scarier. Note to self - no physical attacks in future.
With no room in the front rank, Gloria is reduced to grinding her teeth (22 damage from gaze).
Enter the cleric. Recognising the foul undead for what they are, Cerene warns the others not to look them in the eyes on quite literal pain of death and coolly waits for the entire pack to get within range before breaking out the positive energy channeling. This involves a couple more saves for the front-liners, which they make handily (18 damage to both Brun and Kelne, 19 to Cerene). Cerene's summoned lion is not so lucky, and is rather thoroughly dead.
Thanks to a phylactery of positive chanelling, we're looking at a basic 8d6 damage. Of the pack, only one fails its save (31 damage, 15 to the rest, 31 points of badly needed healing). Varlak, meanwhile, has an idea (he averted his gaze).
Varlak: Kill the lights!
Kelne: Are you mad?!
Varlak: Kill. The. Lights.
Round one hence ends with both casters canceling their light spells. As everybody except the elf and the human has darkvision, this is not the disaster it might seem. No more gaze attacks to worry about. To date, the characters have been lucky in this department, making quite a few saves. Still, given they've taken damage nevertheless, a single failed save would probably spell death for the character in question.
The fleeing bodak draws an AoO from Brun, which is negated by damage reduction.
Brun steps into the gap left by the fleeing bodak and, following Cerene's example, cuts loose with the positive energy. 7d6 this time, again due to a phylactery. It's interesting that despite being a paladin, Brun's only dealing 1d6 less turning damage, though a lower save DC means it's less likely to be fully effective. Again, only one failed save (28 damage/healing, 14 to the rest). What is it with this d20 and saving throws? Characters are now back at or close to full HP.
Now blind, Kelne takes a couple of swipes at the last known position of 'his' bodak, more to distract it than anything, and takes a 5-foot step back. Having missed abysmally, he promptly gets hit by a critical when the bodak follows him. (Brun, incidentally, is grinding his teeth at investing in adamantine rather than cold iron). This all sounds more frightening than it is, as the bodak only deals 4 damage with its crit. The horror.
Said bodak is promptly set upon by Gloria with her cold iron greataxe. The combination of rage and overhand chop deals 24 damage, not quite enough to finish it off.
Thankfully, Cerene does not need to see to channel positive energy. The heavily wounded bodak fails its save and is annihilated, and one more runs (29 damage, 14 to the remaining two). Brun inflicts a whole 1 damage with his AoO. I foreseee some form of cold iron backup weapon in his future.
The remaining bodaks decide that this whole fighting in the dark thing is a losing game and withdraw. Gloria is having none of that, and gives chase.
Brun: Give me that sword!
As the casters bring up the lights again, they find themselves looking at the receding backs of their colleagues. Kelne regards the adamantine warhammer in his hand with annoyance.
Cerene: I'm sure he'll give it back...
Since bodaks aren't all that fast, even when fleeing, they're soon caught and cut to pieces with cold iron, with the lone survivor found cowering in their lair soon afterwards.
Analysis:
End result: Two turn attempts, one big cat expended by Cerene, one turn attempt by Brun, 4 rage points by Gloria. Although the party took significant damage, it was all fixed up by the end of the fight thanks to positive energy chaneling.
Despite the altered death effects, the risk of sudden death remained very real. There was certainly some middle ground between the bodaks killing people with a mere glance and being completely ineffective, making for a more interesting fight, I feel.
Of course, once the lights went out, it was all over for the poor old bodaks. 1d6+1 damage on a successful (and unlikely) hit is not something to inspire fear.
Lessons learned by the party: 1) Get the paladin a cold iron weapon. 2) In future, Gloria goes in the front rank.
Edited: Soon after completing the initial encounter, I found a thread discussing the changes to DR. Not entirely sure about them, but they certainly would have made Brun's attacks more effective, and the extra +2 damage for the +2 cold iron weapons definitely would have dropped a bodak earlier. It also means there would be no borrowing of Kelne's sword by Brun. Alas for the loss of humour.
So they are. I would have sworn I read something to the contrary under the gaze attack entry, but clearly that's just my mind playing tricks on me. Oh well, I'll chalk that up to a misreading of the rules and move on.
Having finished off the bodaks with lives intact (following an extra spent turning attempt to compensate somewhat for my mangling of the rules), the party pushes on, soon finding themselves in a room with four doors and four suspicious burning candles. The characters barely have time to start examining the frescoes before three of the candles go out, resulting in armed fighters stepping out of the doors they're painted on and attacking.
Fight 2: Against the Paintings
In this case, I opted not to revise the stats of the fighters in line with the alpha, beyond adding +1 to hit and damage and +2 to AC, as they're 5 levels down on the party, and hence doomed in any case. I've also decided to drop the action-by-action descriptions.
The element of surprise and a haste effect allow the fighters to dish out some damage early on, a lucky crit hitting Varlak in particular for 38 damage. Varlak and Brun quickly gang up on one fighter, laying him low with sneak attack and vital strike respectively. The remaining two fighters are dealt with by the end of round two, though some further damage is taken. This is mostly patched up by positive energy from Cerene, though a couple of charges from a wand of CLW are spent on Varlak for good measure.
The final candle is then snuffed out and the last of the four paintings dealt with on general principle.
Notes: Once the element of surprise was gone, the fighters died pretty quickly, helped on their way by the effects of Cerene's aura of prayer. Had three of the candles not extinguished themselves simultaneously, this room would have been little more than an annoyance.
There follows a period of exploration and looting.
Brun: Must you refer to it as looting?
Varlak: Sorry, make that the redistribution of wealth away from an unworthy cause.
This soon brings the party into contact with Arley the Weaver, who can't resist trying his usual tricks, having heard the characters poking about. An excellent bluff check on his part means that despite three characters investing ranks in sense motive, they buy his story of being but a humble weaver and enchanter of magic items, enslaved to the service of one Eli Tomorast. Arley goes on to explain that he has been confined here for some time, and knows little of his master's plans, nor of the deeper levels of the complex.
He then suggests an exchange of magic items, as it is primarily the challenge of crafting such that motivates him, rather than the having, and the works of others might provide him with fresh inspiration. At this point, Brun smells a rat, something in Arley's demeanour tipping him off. He decides to cast zone of truth, just to be sure Arley is on the level. As he isn't, he shrugs and kicks off a fight.
Fight 3: The Weaver (Ogre mage sorcerer 8)
I've made a few modifications to Arley, counting his bloodline as arcane and adding the appropriate abilities, plus a few extra feats.
Arley opens on the surprise round with cone of cold, managing to catch everybody with it in the confined quarters, but dealing out fairly minimal damage thanks to some good saving throws. He is promptly counterattacked, though the number of people who can get at him is limited by the doorway he's using as a chokepoint. Varlak, in an impressive display of acrobatics, manages to get past him and promptly lands a sneak attack. Thanks to spell rsistance and regeneration, he's still in reasonable shape, but as the odds are five against one, he opts to use invisibility to flee the scene. Kelne counters with see invisibility and gives chase, but once Arley's out in the open, his ability to fly makes keeping up impossible. Arley will next be seen in the company of some other threat, making for a more difficult encounter. Brun uses a turning attempt to fix the party up.
Thoughts: Well, the alarm is officially raised. Although there wasn't much chance of Arley doing significant damage to the party on his own, he's quite difficult to kill. I imagine he'll make a fine hit and run foe over the course of the group's exploration.
Not wanting to hang around somewhere Arley's likely to direct reinforcements, the characters stuff the contents of the rooms in
a bag of holding for later examination (including several cursed items) and move on. After exploring and looting the next three rooms, the characters' path takes them south past the draperies and into view of numerous interesting things, including a particularly suspicious looking trio of statues on a raised dais.
Kelne: Trap.
Gloria: Aye, but we're goin' tae spring this one.
Cerene: What? Why?
Gloria: 'Cause it'll be a fight tae remember.
Knowing the futility of trying to dissuade Gloria from a potentially deadly fight, the rest of the party falls in behind her, breaking out various buffs. Kelne successfully identifies the topmost statue as a variant on the classic iron golem design (natural 20 on knowledge arcana), warning that magic will be ineffective and suggesting the use of adamantine weapons.
Fight 4: The Terrible Iron Golem
At CR 16, this fight is billed as epic by the chart, so it ought to be interesting. With DR 15/-, things could get nasty, but the survivors can always retreat.
Despite being invisible, Varlak still kicks things off when he gets up onto the dais to examine the dagger in one of the other statues' hands. Although he is presented with a formidable weapon to use against the golem, it is now on the move. Cerene nails it with an adamantine arrow as it rises to no effect, then Gloria predictably charges but misses.
The golem's counterstrike is, well, nasty. Three hits and a crit with its sword, and one hit from the whip. 97 damage out of 151 total (while raging), but she passes all her fort saves (thanks to her boosted con). Since Brun has the adamantine weapon, Kelne lets him go first, a shout from Varlak prompting him to claim the other statue's longsword.
Brun has invoked his divine bond to gain a speed effect, and charges in to help Gloria, landing a hit on the golem, only to find that its damage reduction is universal. Without the speed to get close enough to deliver a cure spell, Cerene is reduced to trying to patch Gloria up by chanelling positive energy. Gloria pushes her rage to new heights, using powerful blow and overhand chop to dish out 21 damage after DR. The fight is not going well.
Still focusing on its original target, the golem uses another full attack, this time inflicting 65 damage but still failing to inflict
any status effects. Then it breathes fire on her. Although she passes her save, this still puts Gloria on -9. And, since unconsciousness ends the rage, she is now dead.
Having gotten a bit of crucial extra movement from his boots of haste, Kelne slaps the golem with a shocking grasp, slowing it. Brun makes use of vital striking, his speed weapon and power attack to... miss entirely, as it turns out.
Varlak hits the golem in the other flank, his own new dagger dealing 24 damage thanks to sneak attack. Cerene uses breath of life on Gloria, putting her on 15 hp. The morality of bringing a trollslayer back from a heroic death in battle is not something she considers.
Presented with three targets, the golem decides to pick on Varlak, to the tune of 28 damage, 5 con damage and petrification. Fort saves are not Varlak's strength. Incensed by this, the others step up their efforts, but they're doing nothing more than gradually wearing it down, and when Kelne is petrified a couple of rounds later, Cerene and Brun decide it's time to call the retreat. Retreat, unfortunately, is not in Gloria's vocabulary, and she fights to the bitter death.
Thoughts: Had it not been for that untyped damage reduction, I think they could have taken the golem. Between an adamantine weapon and a +3 golembane weapon, that would have been an extra 15 damage per hit, which is not to be sneezed at. As it is, the survivors are just going to have to devise a plan and dip into their savings for some gear and a bit of hired muscle to pull off a rescue.
Quite a few abilities new to the alpha were flying about in this fight, notably rage, the divine weapon and the Aura of Prayer. Each helped out a fair bit in the fight, but ultimately, the party was still outclassed. It didn't help that they thought they knew what they were getting into (okay, it's a big iron golem, we can deal with it), but really didn't.
They still had a fair number of abilities left for the day too, though healing was beginning to run a little low, so they could conceivably have kept going if they'd won (were it not for the minor detail of preparing the appropriate spell to de-petrify Varlak).
Current experience count: 9600
Loot: Carpets, tapestries and a couple of weapons (all currently petrified)
Excerpted from the journal of Cerene Inelle
Moonday, 5 Abadius
Returned today to Magnimar in disgrace in the company of Brun. Though neither of us wished to abandon the others to that dreadful place, we had little choice in the matter unless we wished to share their fate. It is our intent to gather a rescue party as soon as we may and return. Alas, this will no doubt entail another encounter with that dreadful iron golem. The fell creature's footsteps echoed behind us all the way to the exit; I can only conclude that Gloria found the heroic death she sought. While she has sought such a fate since long before we met, I find it impossible to be happy for her. I can only regret that she has departed this world, and hope that in death her sins have been atoned for.
Complicating our rescue plans is the fact that, as a fellow arcanist, our employer entrusted Kelne with the key to the lower regions of Maure Castle. Based upon my impression of him, he is unlikely to grant us another, even if he has one to give. We must therefore determine another means of entry.
Toilday, 6 Abadius
Met this day with the secretary of the Archmagus. It seems our employer is occupied by other concerns at this time, and hence unable to so much as meet with us. The secretary was not unsympathetic to our plight however, and was able to point us in the direction of possible aid in the form of a rather mercenary wizard named Riggs.
Riggs at least agreed to meet with us and heard us out, questioning us as to the nature of the construct we faced. He deemed the rescue achievable, but named a rather astronomical price for his services. We were able to bargain him down somewhat, the inducement of first pick of the items acquired to date proving most helpful. Nevertheless, by the time we have purchased the 'golembane scarabs' he recommends, along with scrolls to negate the petrified condition of our friends, our funds will be low indeed.
Wealday, 7 Abadius
We are prepared, it seems. Having acquired a few personal items from Varlak's lodgings, Riggs was able to scry on his current location, and is now familiarising himself with the site in order to teleport us there. The golem, it seems, has returned to its throne, and we must face it once more. We shall have the aid of both Riggs and his bodyguard in doing so, and I am hopeful of success.
Still focusing on its original target, the golem uses another full attack, this time inflicting 65 damage but still failing to inflict
any status effects. Then it breathes fire on her. Although she passes her save, this still puts Gloria on -9. And, since unconsciousness ends the rage, she is now dead.
Unconsciousness ends the rage? Are you sure? I looked this up a while back, and didn't see anything that came out this way. It also makes the barbarian very much suicidal. Not that it isn't already, but this reading is just too harsh.
Actually, rage giving a Con increase instead of temporary hp is one of the things that really ought to change with Pathfinder.
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Unconsciousness ends the rage? Are you sure? I looked this up a while back, and didn't see anything that came out this way. It also makes the barbarian very much suicidal. Not that it isn't already, but this reading is just too harsh.
The sage answered this question in one of the last issues of Dragon, actually, though I can't remember which one. Unconsciousness does not end rage, it turns out, which is good, because as Chris points out, if barbarians lose the effects of their rage as soon as they hit -1, they automatically die if they go negative after fifth level. The Rules Compendium probably addresses this issue, also, but I'm not sure. In any case, the sage has spoken.
One advantage of not having an actual group - I get to make the pedantic, often rather unfair rulings without risk of upsetting anybody. I tend to figure rage requires a certain degree of focus, and unconscious people are not noted for their focus.
The fact that I was unaware of the official ruling on the subject raises an interesting thought. Since the rules are being updated (and in places rewritten) in any case, perhaps it's worth going through and making sure that the various FAQs that have arisen over the course of 3.5 are clearly addressed within the rules themselves. I have no doubt that new and different queries will arise, but at least the old ones can be dealt with.
It's worth noting that should Gloria's hypothetical controlling player make the mistake of dropping out of rage while under 10 HP (or should she run out of rage points), she likewise drops dead. That instant -20 to HP (and it only grows with subsequent levels and greater rage effects) can be quite nasty.
Now there's a horrible thought. It is theoretically possible to kill a barbarian with the Suggestion 'Calm down'. I wonder if that counts as an 'obviously harmful act'. Probably. Definitely too mean to use on players in any case. Besides, at that point, there are any number of things which would kill on a hit.
This is a fun read, thanks Chris.
Augmented by Riggs (CN Male Halfling wizard 12) and Jil (LN Female Halfling monk 12), the party teleport back into the depths of Maure Castle. Only to find that the place is definitely not as they remember it. Instead of the Terrible Iron Golem standing before them, a very impressive four-armed statue can be seen. The characters have little time to contemplate this however, as the guardians of this mysterious temple attack.
Fight 5: Genestealers!
A botched teleport check gave me the perfect excuse to try out the monster creation rules. After all, where's the fun in saying 'oh, you're off target. Try again'? And what better test than the conversion of an iconic creature from a completely unrelated game system? Therefore, the poor souls are now up against four genestealers and a magus (represented as a 12th level bard, generated using the NPC rules).
Genestealer CR 10
LE Medium Aberration
Init: +6 Senses darkvision 60ft.; Perception +17
Defence
AC 27, touch 16, flat-footed 21
(+6 Dex, +11 natural)
HP 90 (12d8+36)
Fort +9, Ref +12, Will +10
Offence
Spd 60 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +18 (1d8+5) and 2 claws +16 (1d6+2)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5ft.
Special Attacks Rend, Infect
Statistics
Str 20, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 8
Base Atk +12; CMB +18
Feats Improved Grapple, Multiattack, Improved Natural Attack (claw), Power Attack, Lightning Reflexes
Skills Perception +17, Stealth +21, Climb +20, Acrobatics +21
Languages Brood Telepathy 100 ft.
Special Abilities
Infect (Ex) A genestealer may choose to infect a pinned or helpless target with the cult virus (Disease, DC 19 Fort, various effects but 'enslavement' is the big one).
Rend (Ex) If a genestealer hits with both of its primary claw attacks, it latches onto its oppenent's body and tears the flesh. This attack automatically deals an additional 2d8+10 points of damage.
Notes: I've kept the genestealer on the simple side, and it comes out pretty close to the values given on table 12-6, with attack and damage on the high side. As it should be for a close combat monster like the genestealer. HP is actually a bit low, which ought to make up for any excessive damage-dealing capability. About the only major departure from the guidelines I decided on was full BAB progression, rather than the 3/4 which is standard for aberrations.
The Stealers win initiative. Now there are four words you never, ever want to hear. Being equal opportunity monsters, they charge one foe each. Thankfully, we're not looking at full attacks here, so damage is manageable. Perhaps too manageable. The magus kicks off a dirge of doom.
Riggs promptly uses his invisibility field school power (illusionist) and gets out of the way, beginning the old invisible sniper routine and hitting the magus with a lightning bolt. Brun misses with both his attacks, as does Cerene, though her lion hits. Jil uses the old flurry of blows routine to land three hits on her opponent, to the tune of 41 damage. The one genestealer that didn't win initiative goes after the lion.
In the second round, the genestealers' full attacks come into play. Brun is struck by all four attacks, including a crit. Between these and the rend, he takes 44 damage. Cerene takes three attacks and 40 damage. Not being such a tank, she feels it more. The magus, not wanting to get into a fight with an invisible caster, cuts the music and turns loose glitterdust, directing one of the Stealers to deal with the mage.
Riggs, now visible, steps up his efforts to kill the magus, casting scorching ray and leaving him in a bad way. Brun deals a bit of damage, which is promptly patched up by Cerene chanelling positive energy. Only able to exclude three targets, she picks the more heavily wounded enemies. Jil tries to finish off her existing foe, but only lands one hit this time. Following its orders, a stealer slips away from the group (acrobatics is a wonderful skill) and grapples Riggs.
At this point, the Stealers decide to focus their efforts on the cleric, so that they won't simply have all their efforts undone each round. Thankfully, this requires some repositioning, so only one full attack. Unfortunately, this is still sufficient to put her on 1 hp. Clearly Cerene needs a Con booster. The magus, not yet ready to quit the field, patches himself up a bit.
Riggs, desperate to escape his assailant, turns loose a phantasmal killer, but the genestealer narrowly disbelieves it. Brun casts shield other on Cerene, who spontaneously cures critical wounds, backing up to get some space. Jil steps into the gap, spending a ki point for an extra strike in her flurry routine and going after the wounded heavily wounded Stealer. Some very lucky rolls later, it's finally down. Unsurprisingly, Riggs is now pinned.
Cerene isn't out of the woods yet, one of the stealers managing to use its 5-foot step to get at her. Thankfully, shield other keeps her alive. The other, frustrated, attacks Brun, narrowly missing on all attacks, thanks to aura of prayer. The magus tries to charm Brun, only to run up against paladin immunity.
Brun faces off against one Stealer, inflicting two hits and a good deal of damage, while Jil goes after the one dragging Riggs off into the shadows, inflicting damage but failing to stun it. Cerene uses another CSW, not wanting to heal any of their foes with channeling.
From here on, the tide turns a bit, the group managing to fix up damage faster than the Stealers can inflict it and dishing out a bit of their own. The magus, deciding that the cult is better served if he stays alive, dimension doors away to summon reinforcements. Jil resorts to another ki augmented flurry to free Riggs, forcing the Stealer to release him or die clinging to him. One Stealer, annoyed by the lion providing flank attacks, annihilates it in a flurry of claws. But in the end, the party is triumphant and teleports away ahead of the skittering of oncoming reinforcements. Riggs is sure he knows what he did wrong this time.
Thoughts: Genestealers are indeed nasty, though I suspect the group would have done better had they had a chance to buff up first, rather than being thrown in the deep end. Shield other definitely proved pivotal, allowing the cleric to remain standing and healing, rather than falling over under repeated attacks. In the damage stakes, Jil routinely outclassed Brun, with more attacks per round, dealing only a little less
damage each. This would definitely have been a good occasion for Brun to use his divine bond, but there was never a free moment to use it.
The lion really isn't doing much. It's good for the occasional flank, but the moment anything decides to kill it, it's dead.
After this epic encounter, the rematch with the iron golem is something of an anticlimax. After buffing, the group stand off and pepper it with arrows, a viable strategy thanks to the golembane scarabs, closing to melee only to deliver the finishing blows. Their allies are soon restored and, since it's been a long day for all concerned, they fort up in a conveniently located bolthole.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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Yes Golembane scarabs make much of Maure Castle very easy to deal with. I ran a party through the top two levels before they disbanded and the varius Orb spells really killed the Golem. I'd really love to run it agian sometime, especially the lower levels... Kerzit and Eli Tomorast await!!!
Excerpt from the journal of Cerene Inelle
Oathday, 8 Abadius
Victory is ours. Though I could grow to truly dislike this place. Our little side-trip was a harrowing experience indeed, and I found the strange aberrations we encountered most disturbing. Unfortunately, we have no idea where that temple is located, save that it must be somewhere in the same general region as Maure Castle. Investigation will have to wait until the conclusion of our present business in any case.
The golembane scarabs proved most effective against the iron golem, allowing us to whittle it down from a distance. Our comrades seem no worse from their time spent as statues, and to the general surprise of all, I was able to revive Gloria. She says only that she has a task to accomplish, but the mark of Abadar is gone from her forehead, so I can only assume she has attained a measure of forgiveness for her past actions.
We examined our haul this morning, Riggs claiming an ornate and magical cup before departing. In light of later events, I could wish he had remained for a short time; I believe he will be less than satisfied with his selection. I am certainly unhappy with the belt I chose. I can only conclude that Arley has a rather juvenile sense of humour.
While distinctly unsettling, the belt's curse is not actually debilitating, and I cannot in good conscience delay our exploration to prepare a spell to remove it. Thankfully, the others were able to remove their own selections from Arley's little stash of items before their own curses (if any) could manifest.
I enjoy the run-through; please keep it up.
One comment though:
"After this epic encounter, the rematch with the iron golem is something of an anticlimax. After buffing, the group stand off and pepper it with arrows, a viable strategy thanks to the golembane scarabs, closing to melee only to deliver the finishing blows. Their allies are soon restored and, since it's been a long day for all concerned, they fort up in a conveniently located bolthole."
Is there any particular reason Arley and the others didn't have something planned and waiting for your heroes? Or that they didn't move the statues?
And I forget, but shouldn't the golem have deactivated after a day, so why didn't they reactivate their allies first?
~LD
The answer to the majority of your questions is that the characters were petrified on the dais itself. Should anyone step onto the dais to steal the statues, or de-petrify them, the iron golem activates and things rapidly go south. Alternatively, should somebody dispel the petrification as an area effect, the golem activates as soon as the characters are turned back to their normal selves, and more than likely attacks the poor confused souls, possibly killing them and certainly forcing the rescuers into melee combat against it, with all the risks that entails.
Much better to lure it away from the dais and either kill it if possible or lead it on a merry chase while somebody quietly slips back and breaks the enchantment.
As for Arley, he had yet to come up with a plan to steal the statues. His readily available allies are scared stiff of the golem and refuse to have anything to do with it (Tomorast is a busy man and can't be bothered with such trifles). He was, however, watching the fight from among the illusory spectators (safely invisible for good measure), and could have intervened at a pivotal moment. Alas, there were no such moments. But he does know where they holed up for the night, and should they use that bolthole again, they'll find a nasty surprise waiting for them, likely at the end of the adventuring day when they're at their most vulnerable.
Note also that although the denizens of the lower levels are aware of the party, nobody they care about other than Arley has run up against them yet. They're happy to let the defences of the Great Hall deal with the interlopers, unaware that these defences aren't quite up to the task.
Thanks for the explanation.
~LD.
Any updates?
Getting there. At the moment, I'm seeing how far I can push the party before they absolutely have to call it a day. Some observations:
1) Running both the party and the opposition is madness. Madness, I say! Why, I completely forgot about smite evil in the genestealer fight.
2) It can all get rather fiddly at times. Aura of prayer, for instance, gives +/-1 to an awful lot of stuff, and can be invoked or dismissed at will. If playing with a group, I could rely on the players to keep track of a lot of this. Even so, I suspect errors would creep in. I invariably forget to include the -1 to hit etc for Gloria's negative level.
I think cards or tokens would be a good way to keep track of the various effects and conditions in play. I definitely recall using such things on a large scale back in the days of 2nd edition Warhammer 40K. Seems like something that could be bundled with a GM's screen.
As it is, I'm getting along fairly well by listing multiple attack options on character sheets besides the usual full attack and damage. Speeds things up no end, rather than having to constantly recalculate on the fly. It helps that the sheets are all electronic, so I can just add a line here or there as I go. Still, adjusting it all at once on leveling is going to be a bit of an annoyance.
3) Oddly, rage is one of the easiest things to track. I just adjust the points downwards as I go. It's very much a use and forget option, unlike certain spells, which just go on and on...
4) After initial suspicion, I've come to believe in the new DR system. If nothing else, I'm using far less lines on different types of weaponry.
5) I think the summon spells need an overhaul. The poor old lion generally needs an 18+ to hit, though it can be useful for flanking (assuming it doesn't incur AoOs getting into position), and its damage is pretty laughable. Overcoming DR? Forget it. We'll see how the D3 Hound Archons do when I finally break out Summon Monster VI.
6) Kelne doesn't seem to be suffering too badly from multi-classing. He may not deal quite so much damage as others (unless smacking golems with that handy sword), but he has flexibility, and the odd buff spell to improve his abilities with. I do think it may be time for him to start thinking about the eldritch knight prestige class though.
7) Thus far, Cerene is probably the least scary character in combat. On the other hand, she's quite good at patching people up, and I have yet to really cut loose with the buffing spells.
Next up on the agenda, Tomorast's Hold.
Part 2: Tomorast's Hold
As it turns out, Brun is able to get rid of the curse by burning a couple of uses of Lay on Hands, which solves that little difficulty. First on the agenda for the day is laying the smackdown on some wandering gnolls. As it turns out, the gnolls do some smacking of their own, ganging up on Brun with dire flails. Still, they're taken down in the end, a couple of channelings being applied to keep the paladin standing. Several CLW wand charges are spent bringing everyone fully up to strength. Still essential kit for conserving healing, provided you've got a few minutes to use one outside of combat. Loot is gathered and the group set about locating a route deeper into the castle. This is accomplished in the end, the elven secret door sense proving useful in locating the trapdoor without a constant need for declared search checks.
The spear trap prompts more cursing, poison necessitating the use of wands of neutralise poison and lesser restoration. It should be noted that I retroactively add such 'common sense' consumables to the party inventory (and deduct cash) as I go, as to try and work it all out in advance would surely lead to madness. Thankfully, there's a bit of a buffer for such expenses.
The party proceed downstairs, after thoroughly wrecking the trap, and are promptly accosted by a rather large guardian beast. Most annoying.
Fight 7: The Tyrg
The Tyrg's howl promptly stuns Cerene, Varlak and the lion and it goes on to chomp on Brun. Kelne breaks out heroism before moving up to help. A crit in the second round deals 61 damage to Brun, leaving him in bad shape. The Tyrg, meanwhile, still has a rather large reserve of hit points. At this point, lay on hands comes into play. At only 12 points cured though, it's not even enough to keep up with damage inflicted per round. Nor is there any other significant healing to be had, with the cleric still stunned. I therefore decide to allow three uses to be burned for 36 hp healed. Much more useful, and Brun might actually get to do something next round, rather than being locked into a losing cycle.
A combination of touch of destiny, rage, power attack, overhand chop and powerful blow allows Gloria to dish out 47 damage. Not bad. The Tyrg is taken down over the next two rounds, just in time for a squad of seekers to arrive to investigate the racket. Cue a hail of crossbow bolts, to almost zero effect. Although Cerene and Varlak are still stunned, it doesn't really matter; even collectively, the seekers aren't doing nearly as much damage as the Tyrg was, and once four are killed, the other two drop their weapons in surrender. Healing is dispensed, and a zone of truth cast for interrogation. Following this, they are stripped of all gear and directed to the exit, with warnings of dire consequences if they are seen again.
Thoughts: Lay on hands proved quite useful here, but only because I decided the use of multiple charges in a single round was appropriate. Channel positive energy is very useful for fixing up dispersed damage (particularly if you can exclude enemies), but less so if all attacks are being focused on one person, with others unharmed.
Armed with a rough map of the area, the characters head south in search of a way still deeper into the complex. A helpful pool gives a strong directional sense to go by, but failed will checks give the wrong impression. Varlak alone makes his check, but is unable to convince the others to follow his lead. The part is hence led to a room containing another golem, which tries to throw them in the garbage disposal.
Fight 8: The not-so-terrible stone golem
Being on perpetual door-opening duty, Brun is the one grabbed, the golem ignoring the effects of his AoO. The others move in to attack, with little effect. Brun fails to break the grapple, and is dragged towards the far door (the golem incurring AoOs as it does so). More of the same in the following round. At DC 35 to break the grapple, Brun isn't going anywhere. At this point, I do run into a slight conflict, as the adventure states -20 to the grapple check while opening the door, but the alpha rules state -4 if not using both hands. I go with the alpha and Brun remains grappled. One more round till the potential fiery death...
By round 3, the damage is beginning to build. And, critically, the golem rolls a 1 on its grapple check, allowing Brun to slip free. Kelne deals two hits in the following round with his golembane sword, putting the cursed thing down.
Thoughts: The golem definitely had the advantage in the grapple, but didn't have the durability to survive long enough to get more than one shot at dumping somebody in the fire pit. The +3 golembane sword was especially useful here, not only overcoming DR but also providing substantial bonuses to hit and damage. After the Terrible Iron Golem, all others are going to pale by comparison.
Having run into troubles with the directions, the group opts for a more systematic approach to exploring the place, hoping to run across someone who can point them in the direction of the mysterious Eli Tomorast. While this exploration is going on, Arley has been busy. Firstly, he's interrogated the defeated seekers (admittedly through the use of charm spells). Secondly, he's rounded up Serini and her trained tyrgs for a little ambush.
Fight 9: Arley's Ambush
With the party located, a single tyrg is sent in ahead of the others to turn loose its roar. This time, Kelne, Gloria and the lion (no surprise there) are affected. Surprise round over, it bites Kelne before the others counterattack. Unfortunately, the other tyrgs swiftly join it, having lurked just beyond howl range, going after Brun and Varlak. Serini moves to get line of sight and uses manyshot on the (relatively) vulnerable rogue type. Seeing the group is outnumbered, Cerene starts calling in help, in the form of two Hond Archons (Summon monster VI at work). Then Arley makes his appearance, hitting Brun with a pair of scorching rays.
Round 2 sees Varlak bring down the first tyrg, while Brun crits another, knocking off 42 HP in all. Brun is beginning to hurt from all the attacks, but his tanklike build sees Serini's arrows rebound from his armour (thankfully he's not a favoured enemy). Cerene breaks out positive energy and aura of prayer, patching up damage, and the hound archons go to work on the tyrgs. At +8 to hit vs AC 21, they actually stand decent odds of hitting, but miss anyway. Brun is hit by another pair of scorching rays.
Round 3 sees another tyrg down, damage to Brun patched up with a cure critical wounds, and a hit from one of the archons, to the tune of 12 damage.
In round 4, Gloria and the lion recover, a power attack dealing 36 damage and allowing Brun to finish off another tyrg. The survivor turns loose its howl, stunning Cerene, the lion and both archons, then begins to retreat, incurring a couple of AoOs but surviving. Serini and Arley let loose a final volley at Brun, already beginning their own retreat. This drops him to -6, but thanks to orcish ferocity, he remains standing.
Gloria isn't having any of that, and charges, alas missing the retreating tyrg. Kelne follows suit, while Varlak remains behind to make sure nothing leaps at the stunned Cerene while she's vulnerable. Brun burns his remaining uses of lay on hands and follows at a more sedate pace. The tyrg continues to try to retreat, but gets hit by a critical power attack from Gloria's AoO. Yeah, it's dead. This time, the arrows are directed at Gloria (a favoured enemy), all of Serini's hitting home for 72 damage in all (dwarf bane longbow and favoured enemy +4. Ouch). Unfortunately, the pair have miscalculated, and are within charge range of the angry dwarf and human.
Gloria naturally charges, but fails to hit. Serini promptly steps back and rolls out the full attack again. Only three hits this time, thanks to guarded stance, but it's still painful. Kelne goes after Arley, inflicting a crit, while Brun and Varlak try to close the distance. As it turns out, Arley's trap is not yet fully sprung. A full squad of seekers and Serini's animal companion emerge from an overlooked side corridor, flanking the isolated pair and blocking reinforcements. Their attacks are completely ineffective, but they're certainly a worry. Arley switches to his greatsword, and discovers the joys of AoOs. One is negated by displacement, mind you.
I decided at this point to meddle with Gloria's rage powers, as powerful blow is clearly inferior to the combination of surprise accuracy and power attack. One sneaky tactic is to apply the accuracy to the secondary attack, at least against low AC foes, thus giving reasonable odds of two hits. And that's just what happens, 58 damage being dealt to Serini in all. As she only has 52 HP (adjusted for the new d10 hit dice), she's down. Cue dwarven muttering about being able to dish it out but not take it.
Varlak slips past the blocking seekers, breaking out the old sneak attack routine. Brun finishes the target off. Meanwhile, the angry tiger crits Gloria, bringing her down. This leaves Kelne in a rather bad position, but he presses the attack on Arley nonetheless, hoping his comrades will manage to rescue him. The seekers continue to accomplish nothing. Cerene and one of the archons recover from being stunned and move up to help. With Arley failing to hit as well, the tide has definitely turned.
Varlak opens the round by attempting to tumble into a spot to flank Arley from, only to draw an AoO from the ogre-mage. He takes damage, but still gets to complete the move and inflict a critical sneak attack. Which is promptly negated by displacement. Pity Varlak's dispelling attack only works if he inflicts damage. Further beating on the seekers and Arley ensues. Though the seekers do get a bit of their own back. Cerene finally gets into a position to channel positive energy, knitting up the group's wounds. Deciding that it's all over, Arley pulls the invisibility trick again and legs it, leaving the seekers to take the fall.
Gloria is up again, and lays into the tiger. While others go about mopping up the seekers, Kelne and Varlak give chase to Arley, dust of appearance revealing him (and, helpfully, negating displacement). He's definitely hurting now, and uses a withdraw action to dart down another side-corridor. The pair reluctantly abandon the pursuit for the moment, sensibly wary of being caught up in another trap without the others to back them up. Said others finish mopping up the seekers in short order, winding up with three captives this time. Brun patches people up with some positive energy, and potions and those handy clw wands make up the rest. Loot is stuffed in a bag of holding, and the seekers are given the 'you do not want us to see you again' speech.
Thoughts: Well, it's official - 6th level fighters are just speed-bumps to a 12th level party. Good for flanking or screening people, but not in the least bit scary, even when teamed with higher level foes. The tyrgs proved to be quite good in support though. Just that little bit more than the seekers in every department, and certain to neutralise somebody with a howl (though they dare not use the howl when other tyrgs are within 30 feet). If 6th level fighters are speed-bumps, so too are CR 4 hound archons. while they did hit the seekers on occasion, in my opinion their contribution to the fight didn't justify the hassle of keeping track of them.
In all, focused attacks and stunned characters allowed the bad guys to bring Gloria down and almost do the same to Brun. So I daresay this qualifies as a challenging encounter.
Current Experience Count: 41,200
Loot: Tapestries, carpets, several cursed items.
A lot of combat gear.
240 pp.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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6th level fighters are nothing but fodder against even 8th level PC's. My group likewise made short work of them, the Wizard's Red dragon effigy tore through them like a scythe through wheat. I mean at best a 6th level npc fighter will have BAB +6, STR +3, Masterwork weapon +1, and Weapon Focus +1 for an attack bonus of +11, +13 on a charge, flank, or aid. What is your groups average AC? At 12th I'd imagine at least 26ish.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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6th level fighters are nothing but fodder against even 8th level PC's. My group likewise made short work of them, the Wizard's Red dragon effigy tore through them like a scythe through wheat. I mean at best a 6th level npc fighter will have BAB +6, STR +3, Masterwork weapon +1, and Weapon Focus +1 for an attack bonus of +11, +13 on a charge, flank, or aid. What is your groups average AC? At 12th I'd imagine at least 26ish.