I'm planning to have PCs start at 7th level, level up twice in each book and once after the final resolution.
I'm trying to un-railroad this AP and reduce the dependence on NPC actions and information.
Looking for more ideas and a critique of the below.
Thank you in advance to those who post here
Shadow in the Sky:
1) Riddleport is THE city of choice for retired adventurers and is ruled by a shadowy government (inspired by the L5R Kolat) and an army of secret police. Saul and the other crimelords are high level and not to be taken lightly.
2) Instead of wererats, the PCs will be ambushed by drow. Drow are the bad guys and will be elite warriors. The PCs still get tipped off about the ambush by a rogue Winter Council agent, but he'll likely be killed by other Winter Council agents in a book or two.
3) Saul's mysterious ally will be a fiendish drow. Abraxus rewards his faithful with power. The battle with her will likely severely damage or destroy the Gold Goblin. She does not keep a journal and the PCs will have to do some investigating to figure out there was regular contact with the Devil's Elbow drow.
4) The meteor will obliterate Devil's Elbow and the resulting natural disasters literally decimate Riddleport. Hopefully the PC's evac'd or sought shelter when they found out what was coming...
Children of the Void:
1) Investigating the shattered remains of Riddleport (or hunting for sky metal) reveals nasty aliens (homebrewed beasts modeled on the old slivers from a certain CCG) and a collection of drow researching them.
2) Clegg Zincher is working with the drow, but is also trying to smuggle aliens to contacts around Golarion in order to use them as shock troops to create a new empire for himself.
3) The PCs need to stop the rapid spread of aliens, save what survivors they can, stop Zincher's megalomaniac plans, and deal with the deadly drow (and find their tunnel).
The Armageddon Echo:
1) Pretty much as written so far
Endless Night:
1) PCs aren't given a 'look like drow' spell.
2) PCs can wage war on the city, trade mercenary services for information, or infiltrate a drow house for this book.
3) PCs don't learn that drow are transformed elves.
4) Eventually the city either mostly unites against the PCs or is destabilized enough by their presence to descend into open warfare. This is when the PCs should be retreating.
5) There is no gate to Kyonin. PCs can find their own way there.
A Memory of Darkness:
1) Pretty much as written so far
Descent into Midnight:
1) Allevrah has been 'promoted' by Abraxus to form of a demon lieutenant and commands a legion of lesser demons, fiendish drow, regular drow, and lesser beasts. Of course, an avatar of Abraxus may show up too...
Seems like you have it planned out pretty solid
What do you want? more ideas or what?
Hmmm. It's an interesting idea. I'm currently running Second Darkness, just finished Children of the Void, and am happy to offer my views.
Firstly, I understand that some people have complained about SD being railroaded, but I have to say I'm not feeling it. So far my players haven't mentioned anything to me (and trust me, they're quite vocal). It's honestly a mater of presentation. Let's face it. As GM's we all know that, to a degree, there is only so much free reign a player can have. No mater what anyone says a plot must be somewhat 'railroading', otherwise it degrades into chaos. And while fun for a bit, it detracts from the story. Now, with that said and out of the way, lets get on to your plot.
The Shadow in the Sky part looks good, but be careful about showing your had too soon. Part of the reason no one knows about the drow are their rarity and skill at avoiding detection. A lone agent is much easier to hide than a drow hit squad. Still, it's a solid idea. Plus I like the lack of journal. I had it in my game, but also made the players investigate Saul's ledgers and ask about town until the found out about Devils Elbow.
Children of the Void seems like it's gonna have to go thru a massive overhaul for your game. I have to say the tumbling tower is one of my all time favorite games as a GM. Sadly you'll have to do some work to make it a challenge for 9th level characters. Also the Akata's are fun enemies. You may also want to think about adding Hit Dice and keeping them in. Their Spell Resistance reinforces the importance of Spell Penetration. Plus they have a bite that turns people into space zombies! How awesome is that! Oh, and you may also miss out on the haunting, desolate feel of Devils Elbow.
You are right, Armageddon Echo is great and needs little change. I would maybe suggest going a little more epic for the final fight.
I'm not certain where you're coming from with Endless Night. I honestly feel that it's one of the most interesting stories I've ever read. And it places players in a position where everything can't be solved with violence. It's kinda like this adventure paths version of RotRL's Skinsaw Murders. Beyond that it also shows how truly demented and evil the dark elves are.
You may need to do some work with a Memory of Darkness. Keeping higher level players of escaping 'Paradise' may be much harder. And who knows if one of them with have permanent True Seeing by that point.
Your plans for Descent into Midnight seem good, but might I suggest just giving Allevrah the Hald-Fiend template? That way all of the drow killing weapons (Elf Bane and such) the party has picked up for the final fight aren't worthless.
So there you have it. Hope that was what you were looking for. Good luck!
Thanks I made some legendary akatas and didn't realixe they had SR so back to hero lab
I agree with valcrist I think void and the drow spells are two high lights
pirates drow and aliens all in the same adventure
the chance to be a drow and be on the other side just to see why we hate drow
I eoild keep both these
Valcrist, thank you very much for the ideas and cautions.
I'll give the drow either mundane or magical disguises for the ambush and make sure they haul away their fallen. Player's will hopefully be left with a hint, but no solid proof.
I expect Children of the Void to be fairly similar to the original: instead of a haunting, desolate island, you have a haunting, desolate island with the flooded ruins of a metropolis on it. instead of a few tough Akata, you have a few weak slivers that turn into a horde of very tough slivers as more show up.
I'll have to consider a few more spells for the tumbling tower, but not many. In my group, I'm one of the few spellcasters, and about the only one that tries to use spells creatively. I expect there to maybe be one full divine caster and one partial arcane caster (bard, alchemist, or summoner). If there's a real issue here, it could always roll down hill over and Anti-Magic Field... perhaps when it smashes through the prison.
The slivers, in case you're unaware of them, are a race of hive-minded insectoids that take on the characteristics of specialized strains in their proximity. So, if there's a special sliver that has a poisonous bite, all the other slivers near him have that same poisonous bite. If there's a larger, more muscled one, all the slivers have a poisonous bite and get bigger. So, with a few special ones and a few mundane ones you can make a horde of real beasts. They still turn people into space zombies too. I like the idea of the players needing to identify which slivers are special and deciding which special ones need to die first in order to make the fight manageable.
And as complicated as it sounds, I've already started setting up a spreadsheet to track the stats of the slivers depending on which ones are still alive.
There are ones to enhance AC, Stats, to hit, damage, speed, increase size, icrease HD, gain wings, gain SR, etc.
More epic final fight for Echo, check and thank you!
For Endless Night, I'm not opposed to the PC's getting the 'look like drow' spell, just opposed to giving it to them without prompting. The second they mention getting some hats of disguise, permanent alter self, or the like they'll be offered the research the a dead elf wizard had been working on prior to the seige. A complex skill check (one of the only things we've stolen from 4e) later will net them the aforementioned spell. Regardless, I have to plan on what happens if the group doesn't want to sneak around or gets tired of sneaking around. I think they can still be hired on as outsiders, so long as they aren't elven and get to witness the horrible nature of the drow. The 'war' option is really a poor idea, but one I wouldn't be too suprised if it was chosen. So, I'll plan now how they DON'T get slaughtered
For Paradise, I'll increase the DC's of the spells as if cast by a competent PC, turn the stone golems into iron golems, and perhaps even try to steal someone's spellbook or holy symbol if needs be. Permanent True Sight isn't a real worry. I've yet to see anyone in this group try to permanancy anything past a first level spell.
Even if I make Allevrah a full demon, I'll be sure to retain her drow status for the bane weapons and such.
I didnt see Slivers were replacing Akatas
Slivers could be brutal and set them up for the runes in the last adventure
So im all for helping you out with tell me what you need I know this AP inside and out
Slivers I would start them out as about CR 4 or 5s and then have all the differnt slivers add enhancments to them and make the types slivers much more powerful
I think this is a cool idea
Do you have hero labs it would help alot with these conversions
No Hero Labs, just a spreadsheet and my (good) judgment. I'll post up the sliver stats I came up with when I have access to the computer they're on again. The basic slivers are CR1, 2HD Aberrations based on Negative Energy (in a bizzaro sort of way, and so PC clerics can shine a bit)
Well is there anything else you want from us id be more then happy to help
For 8th level characters I think they should be alittle bit more powerful then Cr 1s
Since a few special slivers would raise the CR of all the slivers present, if I start them too high they'll be too powerful for the players to handle.
So what slivers you going to put in?
Crystalline Sliver add SR
Psionic Sliver some type of damage effect
Winged Sliver Flight
Brood Sliver when you kill one sliver 2 more come out
Sinew/muscle sliver added HP
Ward Sliver ddamage resistance to elemental damage
Heart Sliver gives them all haste
Essence Sliver Regen
The list goes on an on
After the first round of culling the original 77 slivers...
Acidic- Slivers explode when they die
Armor- Increase Natural Armor Bonus
Barbed- Slivers gains a secondary attack: Barbs (1d6)
Battering- Slivers gain a burrow speed
Blade- Slivers increase the damage of their attacks by 1 die step
Bonesplitter- Slivers gain +4 Str
Brood- Slivers implant eggs with their bite attack similar to akata
Cautery- Slivers may sacrifice themselves to deal 1d6 + 1 per HD negative energy damage in a 5' radius (which heals slivers)
Clot- Slivers gain fast healing
Crypt- Slivers may raise other slivers from the dead
Crystalline- Slivers gain SR
Dementia- Slivers may inflict a Confusion effect upon a creature for 1 round
Dormant- Slivers begin to hibernate (similar to the Akata special ability)
Essence- Slivers gain a vampiric touch effect to their bite
Firewake- Slivers gain a bonus to speed and may sacrifice themselves to give other slivers bonus fire damage and fire resistance
Frenetic- Slivers gain a defensive roll, like a rogue
Frenzy- Slivers gain +1d6 Sneak Attack as the Rogue class feature
Fungus- Physical Damage inflicted upon a sliver increases its Constitution score
Fury- Slivers may take an extra standard action every round.
Ghostflame- Slivers gain intelligence and cannot be controlled by a sliver queen
Harmonic- Slivers may use dispel magic with a caster level that increases with the number of slivers present
Heart- Slivers gain +4 to Dex
Hibernation- A sliver with 3HD or more that is killed instead loses some HD and Hibernates
Homing- Slivers may explode to both alert other slivers with a scream and coat creatures with an easily trackable marker
Horned- Slivers gain a primary gore attack
Hunter- Slivers gain scent and favored enemy (any one) as the Ranger class feature
Lymph- Slivers gain DR
Mesmeric- Slivers gain a gaze attack that fascinates creatures
Metallic- False slivers (created by drow and zincher)
Might- Slivers increase by 1 size category
Mindlash- Slivers may issue a psychic scream that inflicts Int damage
Mistform- Slivers may disguise itself as a humanoid or animal
Mnemonic- Slivers may devour other slivers to gain a bonus to Int
Muscle- All slivers gain 1 HD
Necrotic- Slivers may sacrifice themselves to coat whatever they're touching in necrotic acid, dealing acid & negative energy damage to it.
Plague- Slivers contract Void Plague (which creates void zombies)
Poultice- Slivers exude a goo that heals other slivers
Psionic- Slivers may deal 2d12 damage to any target within 100' but also take 3d12 damage
Quick- Slivers double all their movement speeds
Quilled- Slivers can launch quills against a creature within 50' dealing 1d8 + Str damage
Reflex- Slivers gain a +4 racial bonus to Initiative and Reflex saves and gain evasion
Root- Slivers gain a +8 racial bonus to CMD against trip and overrun combat maneuvers
Screeching- Creatures able to hear slivers must make a Will save or suffer a -1 to most d20 rolls
Sedge- Slivers gain a swim speed equal to their land speed and may use stealth while swimming, even if being observed. While submerged, slivers gain fast healing 5
Shadow- Slivers are ethereal
Sidewinder- Slivers gain a +8 racial bonus to stealth and an additional +1 to attack rolls when flanking
Spectral- Slivers ignore 1 point of natural armor or armor and nonmagical weapons have a 5% miss chance
Spined- Any creature striking slivers in melee with natural weapons or without reach takes damage
Spinneret- Slivers can use webs like the eidolon ability
Spitting- Slivers gain a ranged touch attack: Acid spit (1d6 acid, 30' range)
Synapse- Slivers absorb knowledge from creatures they eat
Synchronous- Slivers may reroll one d20 roll per round or force a character targeting them to reroll one.
Talon- Slivers increase their reach by 5'
Toxin- Damage and effects inflicted by Slivers cannot be healed or affected by magic
Two-headed- Slivers gain a second bite attack and count as flanking by themselves
Vampiric- Slivers drain a level with a bite (save to negate)
Victual- slivers may consume another sliver to gain HD
Virulent- Slivers gain a poison to their bite
Ward- Slivers are immune to the first school of magic targeting them for 1 hour
Watcher- Slivers gain Darkvision to 120' and blindsight 30'
Winged- Slivers gain a fly speed
These will be cut probably in half, or at least a good number of them will only make a single appearance.
Also, after working on these slivers, I've punched up a couple formulae that are coming in very handy for deriving CR from XP and vice versa; accurate to about 1%:
XP =290.92*(2.71828^(0.3466*CR))
And the Reverse
CR =(LOG[base 2.71828](XP/290.92))/0.3466
In excel that's:
=290.92*(2.71828^(0.3466*(CR)))
=(LOG((XP/290.92),2.71828))/0.3466
This has allowed me to assign special slivers a CR modifier (in 1/4 CR increments) that affects all slivers and still come up with the right amount of challenge for an encounter. Of course, some abilities stack (each special sliver keeps increasing the CR), and some are static (no matter how many times you gain a burrow speed, the CR only increases once).
Man I think you are going to far you should limit the amount of slivers have a standard sliver and maybe 12 power up slivers even with all these powers they are still like 1 or 2 HD creatures and will be one hit kills for most fighter types
Heh. Wish I could help guys, but I don't play any CCG's. My role-playing and video game addictions eat up most of my money already. ;p
Glad the advise was helpful and I hope you're game goes off well. Keep us updated on how it turns out! But remember, "No plan survives contact with PC's!"
I do plan on whittling down the list considerably. Since each encounter will be planned out it should be easy to pick which slivers I actually need. As a few of the slivers enhance the HD of the others I think they'll be tough enough.
I didnt see any that enhanced HD
Well, it's been almost a year. My group fell apart, played some of the Kingmaker campaign, fell apart again, and may be getting back together again in a few weeks (ah, the military makes life... fun).
I've kept working on the changes, but rather than post a few walls of text, I'd rather stick to what people want to see. Is anyone still interested?
I would like to hear more about it
Im running Memory of Darkness Right now and the paradise chamber was no big thing for them to escape
I take it they made their saves vs. the illusions and both saves vs. the sympathy and then ignored the queen's words and fought the stone golems to get out?
For the level 16 characters I'm expecting, I assume the spells are cast by more specialized wizards (so DC 28+), and the illusions are used to both distract the character's and distort their perception of time. The dimensional lock breaks teleportation, and upgrading the golems to flying Adamantine Golems (winged elf warrior statues) from Bestiary 2 should eliminate the possibility of escape. Additionally, replacing Holy Symbols, Arcane Bonded Objects, Spell Component Pouches, and making spell books useless are all within the realm of possibility for Persistent Image.
So what they did is they dispelled magic the sypathy to shut it off for like 1d4 minutes wall of forced off the wasps and ran like hell out of town