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Name: Hale
Race: Human
Class: Fighter 12
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: The Nobleman's Stitch
Catalyst: The Traitor
Hale is the first down the stairs where she is surrounded by the three enslaved spawn. Christopher and Quinley quickly join her only to discover that Radvir has hidden himself above the stairwell spider climbed. After a long drawn out brawl Radvir manages to get Hale into a flank and then hits her with all three attacks (one of which is a crit). He literally tears her to pieces with his scarf (17 -> -83).
The party reincarnated her into a halfling.
Name: Quinley (NPC)
Race: Dhampir
Class: Fighter 3 / Rogue 6
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: The Nobleman's Stitch
Catalyst: Warehouse Guards
While Christopher was able to drag Fabia away the Dhampir (who was the brother of the alchemist) was buried in a deluge of coup de grace from the Nabassu and ghouls until he was finally killed.
He was reincarnated as a goblin.
Tybid, its almost like our groups are running at the same pace. My PCs next encounter is the one you just ran. We won't be running it until the beginning of September unfortunately due to me switch-gaming with the other DM (he runs Kingmaker) and vacations in August. Still, I like reading about how other players fare against certain encounters before I run them.
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I actually used the original version with 1 extra point of AC from a more powerful chain shirt. When I read the Tetori variant I was really worried that he would stomp my PC's to death.
It turns out I was probably right. From ignoring chances to heal after the fight upstairs to immediately blundering into the room with the mimics with the party split the Nobleman's Stitch turned out to be a painful road bump for them.
If it weren't for the Raven's Head firing scorching rays and the paladin unloading on him Radvir would have snuck away and used his hat of disguise to jump the party later. They probably wouldn't have been able to handle that.
Radvir only lasted three or four rounds in total but he did a lot of damage in that time.
On that note, with the exception of the party paladin, my group is not optimized at all. I could imagine a pretty optimized party or even a buffed or fully healed party would need the monk variant to be challenged.
Name: Thomas
Race: Human
Class: Cleric 9
Adventure: Wake of the Watcher
Location: Tunnels Beneath Undiomede House
Catalyst: Schizophrenia and charm monster
The party sorcerer, Waivir, was suffering from Schizophrenia and earlier had used charm monster on Sanus. Sanus and Waivir had fled from the Colour Out of Space, while Thomas and swordsage, Akuum, stayed trying to fight it. Waivir became convinced that Akuum and Thomas were just imaginary and proceeded to convince the confused Sanus as well. When Thomas fled the Colour a few moments later, Waivir claimed he was an illusion and Sanus attacked him, critically hitting the weakened and frail Thomas, killing him.
Name: Sanus Ravelyan
Race: Human
Class: Fighter 6/Duelist 4
Adventure: Wake of the Watcher
Location: Undiomede House
Catalyst: Stubbornness and delusion
Akuum defeated the Colour Out of Space and then spent a long time exploring the room and examining the metal box. Meanwhile, Sanus and Waivir rested until Akuum woke them up. Waivir didn't remember telling Sanus to kill Thomas and blamed it on Sanus' own insanity (Multiple Personalities). Sanus and Waivir carried the (unconscious) Coloured Woman upstairs and went to bury Thomas. Akuum decided he would attempt to separate the metal box from the ground.
Waivir and Sanus dug a grave for Thomas, but got into an arguement over whether or not to bury his bag of holding (which contained much of the party loot) with him. This resulted in a fight, where Waivir almost died and was forced to flee back to Akuum. Waivir explained that Sanus had clearly gone mad, as he attack Waivir and had already killed Thomas. Akuum agreed he was a threat to them and to the mission of stopping the Whispering Way and went to spy on Sanus.
Sanus buried Thomas and the bag before going to tend to the Coloured Woman. He eventually fell asleep waiting for Akuum and Waivir, while Akuum watched him. Akuum snuck up and assassinated Sanus in his sleep.
that is dark Ben, awesome!
Name: Evan
Race: aasimar
Class: Fighter 1/ Sorcerer 4
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Bridge between the Gatehouse and the Manse at Schloss Caromarc
Catalyst: Making a spell fail check he would have been better off failing.
The Gory Details: For some reason this player really wanted to be a fully armored caster. He cast burning hands while wearing a suit of full plate and made the roll to avoid spell failure. However since he was wearing full plate the flames shot from his finger tips into his gauntlets and filled his plate mail with fire roasting him inside it. The party did not grieve his loss.
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Oh comon, that was trolling. If real worl logic was being used, dozens of spells would kill the party when they were cast just from AoE backlash.
Oh comon, that was trolling. If real worl logic was being used, dozens of spells would kill the party when they were cast just from AoE backlash.
Just one of the many dangers of being a caster. Lol.
glad i'm not in his group, we would have disagreements:)
Lol casters are touchy. In my defense his character was being written out due to the player having to leave the group due to changing work shifts so we came up with a way to kill him off on the fly.
Oh comon, that was trolling. If real worl logic was being used, dozens of spells would kill the party when they were cast just from AoE backlash.Just one of the many dangers of being a caster. Lol.It would really hose pretty much every caster who wears a pair of gloves for any reason. There goes a pretty nifty magic item slot.
Or any magus, eldritch knight, bard, skald, cleric, bloodrager or some ranger/paladins since fullplate isn't the only armor that conceivably has gloves.
This could be how fingerless gloves came to be invented ;).
Name: Patrin Comla
Race: Human
Class: Ranger 10
Adventure: Wake of the Watcher
Location: Mi-Go Laboratory Dome
Catalyst: The Dark Young
Name: Akuum Nightwind
Race: Slyph
Class: Swordsage 7/ Master of Nine 3
Adventure: Wake of the Watcher
Location: Mi-Go Laboratory Dome
Catalyst: The Dark Young
Unfortunately for Akuum (and Patrin) Loric failed to cast the needed healing spells (bad concentration checks to cast defensively) to heal save Akuum from death. Loric would have succumbed to the Dark Young as well, had Waivir not made it back in time to finish the Dark Young off and send Shub-Niggurath back from which she came.
The Dark Young was brought to 1 hp before it killed Patrin and Akuum. The bipolar and psychotic(hasn't kicked in yet) Loric and still schizophrenic Waivir plan to resurrect their companions once they escape the Skum Tunnels. If they do, they'll find that Patrin has amnesia and Akuum a form of OCD. Hopefully, they can make it to Caliphas and receive treatment for their minds (via a heal at the Church of Pharasma) before they end up at the Havenguard Lunatic Asylum or worse!
Wake of the Watcher is awesome.
Wow, I had no idea the later adventures were so lethal. Aside from picking up Great Fortitude and Iron Will, do you have any suggestions as to what the PC's in my group can do to prevent their deaths?
Wow, I had no idea the later adventures were so lethal. Aside from picking up Great Fortitude and Iron Will, do you have any suggestions as to what the PC's in my group can do to prevent their deaths?
Take a close gander at the common 1st and 2nd level abjurations. Make use of them liberally.
Party mileage will vary.
The Dark Young's only CR 11 or 12; actually seeing it manage to kill 10th level PCs is a 4-on-1 fight is kind of marvelous.
I have a fairly balanced party.
Cleric, Fighter, Rogue/Wizard/Arcane Trickster, Sorcerer. All have been taking Great Fortitude and Iron Will as feats, even the Cleric.
We just finished Trial of the Beast, and so far the only difficulty was the Promethean at the end of Trial of the Beast; it nearly killed two party members. The rest was a piece of cake.
Any suggestions you guys have to help them survive will be much appreciated. The Fighter and the Sorcerer are both newbies and could use the help!
I have a fairly balanced party.
Cleric, Fighter, Rogue/Wizard/Arcane Trickster, Sorcerer. All have been taking Great Fortitude and Iron Will as feats, even the Cleric.We just finished Trial of the Beast, and so far the only difficulty was the Promethean at the end of Trial of the Beast; it nearly killed two party members. The rest was a piece of cake.
Any suggestions you guys have to help them survive will be much appreciated. The Fighter and the Sorcerer are both newbies and could use the help!
Best to create a separate thread for this. :)
Why? I figure you guys are the experts, having seen all those deaths, and what I want to know won't take long.
Name: Rhistel Tarnruth
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Ranger 3
Adventure: Haunting of Harrowstone
Location: The Nevermore
Catalyst: The Splatter Man
The Gory Details: Rhistel was the only one hurting the Splatter Man (with +1 ghost touch arrows), and after half the group falling unconscious, he got instantly killed by a Corrupting Touch.
Name: Grim Calandra
Race: Half-elf
Classes/levels: Bard 3
Adventure: Haunting of Harrowstone
Location: The Nevermore
Catalyst: The Splatter Man
The Gory Details: He tried to help Rhistel and provoked an attack of opportunity from the Splatter Man, and got instantly killed. The Paladin, now back conscious (was previously healed by Grim), fled from Harrowstone with the Fighter who could not help much during the fight.
Later that day, during the night, the Splatter Man finally destroyed Vesoriana's ghost, and... well, you know the rest. A sad day for the people of Ravengro.
Name: Davor
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Fighter 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Feldgrau Town Square
Catalyst: Eugenie and Vicenith(Using variant build from GM Reference thread)
The Gory Details: After the Sorcerer cleared out the Skeletons with a well placed Fireball, Davor ran in to finish off the two clerics while the Inquisitor moved to back him up. One Round after failing a saving throw against a casting of Ghoul Touch from Vicenith, Eugenie took the opening to Coup de Grace with her Scythe and kill Davor. The two Clerics were quickly defeated afterwards by the rest of the party.
Name: Milo
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Sorcerer 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Feldgrau Tower
Catalyst: Auron Vrood
The Gory Details: The three remaining party members(Sorcerer, Inquisitor, and Oracle) stormed the tower after the Fighter's death. They quickly dispatched the Skeletal Archers on the second floor and began searching for Vrood who they knew to be there somewhere. The Inquisitor used Invisibility Purge and was lucky to reveal Vrood before he could rise above the effect of the spell. However, Vrood dropped Circle of Death right after which Milo unfortunately was unable to resist. Figuring retreat was no longer an option, the Inquisitor and the Oracle were able to dispel many of Vrood's defenses and take him down for good.
Name: Ultimus
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 2
Adventure: Haunting of Harrowstone
Location: Harrowstone Top Floor
Catalyst: Piper of Illmarsh/Father Charlatan
The Gory Details: Ultimus was haunted by Father Charlatan. During the fight against The Piper of Illmarsh the Father knocked him out ad left him an open target for the stirges while the party tried desperately to deal with the Piper, a being they thought was a ghost, not a haunt.
Name: Daniel
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Cleric 2
Adventure: Haunting of Harrowsone
Location: Harrowstone Top Floor
Catalyst: Piper of Illmarsh
The Gory Details: The party spent too long trying to deal with the Piper through conventional means. None of their attacks had any effect. When Daniel and Malto were short on hitpoints they decided to flee, only for Daniel to be trapped by the Piper once again and sucked dry.
Name: Ricros
Race: Dwarf
Classes/Levels: Fighter 3
Adventure: Haunting of Harrowstone
Location: Harrowstone Basement
Catalyst: Slaughter Man
The Gory Details: Ricros took several magic missiles to the chest, dropping in the first round of combat. He remained unconscious throughout. At one point, the party wizard, Malto took Ricros' only healing potion and drank it himself rather than feed it to the fighter. Shortly after, the Slaughter Man popped out of a wall next to Ricros and used his corrupting touch to finish the job, gloating as he did.
Name: Petrokalous
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Inquistor 4
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Road to Lepidstadt
Catalyst: Orcs
The Gory Details: After meeting the Crooked Kin, the party decided to travel with them. On the road to Lepidstadt they encountered a small war party of Orcs from Belkzen. Rather than forming up with the Kin and the rest of the party, Petrokalous decided to charge the Orcs, got surrounded, knocked out, and Coup de Graced. The rest of the party was unable to do enough damage to take the Orcs out of commission before they finished. 1 other near party death and 3 Kin near deaths from that encounter.
Name: Alyara
Race: Catfolk
Classes/Levels: Rogue 4
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: River between Morast and the Burial Island
Catalyst: Old Red Maw
The Gory Details: I used a named urban legend of a crocodile as the one that attacked the Beast while he was fleeing from the mob at Morast. On their way back to Morast, the party encountered it. One of their coracles was eaten forcing Malto and Alyara to jump. Alyara ended up on the other coracle, Malto ended up in the water. Alyara tried jumping on the crocodile to save Malto's life, fell off, and became the new target of the crocodile. A bite and a tailslap later, and she's floating in the water, dead. Was later reincarnated as a Hobgoblin. Still alive.
Name: Nisha
Race: Tiefling
Classes/Levels: Slayer 5
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Hergstag
Catalyst: Attic Whisperers
The Gory Details: I used Rakshaka's rewrite of the Hergstag section of the module. Nisha ran off on her own after getting into a fight with Malto, Alyara, and Virian. She was ambushed near one of the corn fields by two Attic Whisperers after stepping into a bear trap. She was put to sleep and then coup de graced.
Name: Virian
Race: Aasimar
Classes/Levels: Oracle 2/Wizard 3
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Vorkstag and Grine's Chymical Works
Catalyst: Grine
The Gory Details: During the fight, Vorkstag had managed to get through the defensive lines, putting himself next to Malto, Virian, and Alyara. Malto almost pushes him into a vat of acid with hydraulic push, Alyara deals a decent amount of damage, and Virian steps up to heal Alyara. Vorkstag whacks Virian with the poisoned mace and he fails each of his fortitude saves, slowly withering away as combat drags on. When combat ends there's still 3 ounds left on the poison and he is no long physically capable of passing the save. Malto runs back to the groups cart to bring antitoxins, only to find that Virian has expired by the time he returns.
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Name: Siel
Race: Elven
Classes/levels: Wizard (Water Focus) 13
Adventure: Shadows of Gallowspire
Location: The Belfry (Renchurch Cathedral)
Catalyst: Unholy Blight / Barbed Devil
The Whispers soon started throwing them around and so they ignored the belfry in favor of running into the cathedral. They were soon set upon by the ghouls and their daemon master. Although they suffered some wounds they came through alive.
The alchemist and his cohort (brother) succumbed to the whispers haunt at the altar and became obsessed with eating rotten meat from the table. While the party had their troubles with trying to stop their two comrades the wizard, still mystified with how to stop the haunt in the entrance returned there by himself.
The enemy hammer whispers haunt then picked him up and threw him into the belfry and into the bell which set off the Tolling Bell haunt. This put him in negatives.
The group started rushing back to help him but in the meantime the devil leaped down and attempted a coup de grace. Wizard turns in his cards to avoid that damage.
As the group arrives the devil casts unholy blight on everyone present catching the wizard in the AOE. Despite passing his save this knocks him to -21.
The rogue runs up and tosses a breath of life scroll to the paladin. Instead of using it he decides to shoot the devil (alignment knock. 1 more and he will need to atone). The wizard dies and is reincarnated into... an elf.
Rather than have the effect trigger that makes them have to fight his haunt and leave the cathedral all together I am going to give him a save to avoid shifting to Neutral Evil after Reincarnation.
Name: Xanben
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Monk 6
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Last Tower of Schloss Caromac
Catalyst: The Guardian of the Tower
The Gory Details: The Flesh Golem went into berserk mode and attacked the nearest foe with all attacks. Xanben stepped in to take the attacks in place of the healer. Four hits with the claws (one of them a confirmed critical hit) later, he was down to -16 HP, so we spared his mutilated corpse the rend damage... It was heroic, but bloody.
...while the party tried desperately to deal with the Piper, a being they thought was a ghost, not a haunt.
Ouch. I hope they were allowed a knowledge (religion) roll.
only for Daniel to be trapped by the Piper once again and sucked dry.
“Once again” makes it sound like he was held by the Piper more than once in the fight. The Piper can only target an individual with his hold person once a day.
Ricros took several magic missiles to the chest, dropping in the first round of combat. He remained unconscious throughout. At one point, the party wizard, Malto took Ricros' only healing potion and drank it himself rather than feed it to the fighter. Shortly after, the Slaughter Man popped out of a wall next to Ricros and used his corrupting touch to finish the job, gloating as he did.
Yeah, the Splatter Man is pretty deadly if you ignore his written tactics (spread out missiles, only use touch after spells exhausted) and just have him focus people down.
Sounds like your group enjoys a more lethal game than most groups. How are things proceeding?
Name of PC: Ka'kutah Manneh
Race: Halfling
Class/Level: Gunslinger 3
Adventure: The Haunting of Harrowstone
Catalyst: The ghost of Professor Hean Feramin (aka The Splatter Man)
Story: Ka'kutah knew that without a magic weapon he couldn't hurt the ghost, so he took the ghost shackles (from Legendary Games' adventure path plug-in) and tried to put them on the undead. He was killed by the attack of opportunity.
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Name of PCLocust
Race Halfling
Class/LevelRogue 3
Adventure The Haunting of Harrowstone
CatalystThe Mourning Maiden and the Splatter Man
Details
Name of PC: Miri Vishki
Race: Varisian human
Class/Level: fighter 1/sorcerer (fire) 2
Adventure: The Trial of the Beast
Catalyst: The falchion of an orc sergeant
Story: After having just left Ravngro, the group decided that the road they wanted to take to Tamrivena (the next stop on their way to Lepidstadt) was right along the Bleakwall, possibly with an overnight stop in the ruins of Castle Andachi. A squad of orcs (lifted directly from the Monster Codex, so thank-you to Paizo for that) was already there. The PCs moved rapidly, but they were overtaken by the squad in two waves (since they're still only level 3 and the entire squad all at once would have been a TPK). The sorcerer, a ray specialist, was quite effective against the first half of the squad but was then out of position when the second half arrived and was struck down by the sergeant's falchion.
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Name of (N)PC: Quinley
Race: Goblin (Reincarnated from Dhampir)
Class/Level: fighter 3/rogue 7
Adventure: Shadows of Gallowspire
Catalyst: Greater Shadows
Story: The group had just finished a rather harrowing fight with the stone golems and totenmaskes in the catacombs of Renchurch when they continued on to the south.
The alchemist (who is Quinley's brother) noted the circle of dead men in the room. At a weakened state of a 4 wisdom the alchemist decided to be safe rather than sorry and hack the bodies to pieces. Anton noted that the bodies had no shadows too late and the monsters swept out of the walls to attack the group.
Quinley's strength was drained in two rounds when he was surrounded by two of the undead creatures. Thankfully the rogue/shadowdancer rushed in and used a breath of life scroll to shift him from death to unconsciousness.
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Name of PC: Exelius
Race: Human
Class/Level: Sorcerer 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Catalyst: The one and only Audren Vrood
The Gory Details:
Not much to say on this one. The party charged into Vrood's room and the paladin saved against his Eyebite. The crawling hands charged the group. One grappled the paladin and got immediatly critted into oblivion by the ranger, the other one got dispatched by the paladin (who ended up next to Vrood). The druid's wolf charged Vrood and managed to trip him.
Vrood cast Greater Invisibility and flew up to the ceiling. The wolf detected him and tried reaching him (to no avail) - the paladin threw his sword and hit Vrood pretty hard.
Vrood was fed up with this s*$% and threw down his circle of death. The group fell silent as I rolled d4 after d4 and asked for saves. The wolf and the ranger made their save, the sorcerer did not.
"Okay, what happens?"
"You're dead."
[A group in silence]
"No, seriously, how much damage?"
"You're dead, mate."
He expended 2 hero points to barely make it, though.
Vrood was killed immediatly afterwards by a lucky guess - the druid killed him with a flame strike.
They were lucky. Vrood did not manage to get out, they rolled two crits (one of which with a bow) and I forgot that eyebite could be used every round as a swift action. He should've opened with circle of death, I guess.
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Name of PC: Hale
Race: Halfling (formerly Human)
Class/Level: Fighter (14)
Adventure: Shadows of Gallowspire
Catalyst: Lucimar the Lich-Wolf
The Gory Details:
Yesterday was a particularly harrowing day for the Riders of the Spiral as they charged deeper into Renchurch in hopes of saving Kendra and stopping a foul ritual. The fight in question involved a room filled with burning skeletons, a massive (on fire) iron fly, and a trio of undead clerics (cenobites). Also lurking in the room, unbeknownst to the group, was their old foe and recurring foil Lucimar, invisible and ready to finally be done with them.
Although they dispatched the flaming skeletons with a cone of cold, they took significant hits from the iron fly before chopping it to bits. The cenobites repeatedly chose to channel instead of casting spells tearing through the low-will save forward fighters over and over.
Hale is knocked to -1 by channels. She is immediately grappled by the wizard's black tentacles and knocked to -12. The paladin rushes in and provides a quick lay on hands to save her. Lucimar, in the next round, casts a cone of cold over her, the paladin, and the alchemist causing Hale to use her 'cards' (hero points) to save herself.
In the next couple of rounds, while Lucimar is dimension dooring away from the black tentacles, the paladin casts litany of escape to put Hale near the entrance so that she can heal away from the battle. Lucimar, dim doors right behind her.
Name of PC: Hale
Race: Halfling (formerly Human)
Class/Level: Fighter (14)
Adventure: Shadows of Gallowspire
Catalyst: Lucimar the Lich-Wolf (Again)
The Gory Details:
After dimension dooring behind Hale, Lucimar is down for a round but on his next action has two targets to cast his next spell on. I roll and give the player the option of high or low and unfortunately the focus of the spell falls on Hale once again.
Lucimar casts Finger of Death on the stalwart fighter, who I was relatively certain was going to make her save. NOPE. Hale, who is at roughly 20hp is hit for a 130 damage and instantly reduced to a withered husk.
The party used one of their scrolls of raise dead to return her to life.
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I’m enjoying your accounts of Gallowspire. My own players are just wrapping up Ashes, so I’m looking forward to using Lucimar on them. I’m actually afraid that if I use him too well it’ll be TPK city.
Lucimar casts Finger of Death on the stalwart fighter...The party used one of their scrolls of raise dead to return her to life.
Hale’s player’s probably freaked out, but she actually got off lightly.
A creature who has been turned into an undead creature or killed by a death effect can't be raised by this spell.
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Name of PC: Si
Race: Elf
Class/Level: Elemental Wizard (water) (15)
Adventure: Shadows of Gallowspire
Catalyst: Phantasmal Killer Barrage
The Gory Details: The group had recently saved Kendra before the grey friar could complete his ritual to prepare her to become the Whispering Tyrant. Retreating to Absalom for buying and selling and exposition they were prepared to head to Gallowspire after 10 days.
Following a feast and party that might be their last they retired to their inn to have a dream where Tar-Baphon visited them at Kendra's house and threatened them etc..
They awoke to find the Animate Dreams attacking the inn. Si got the first initiative and immediately charged down the stairs to find eight animate dreams looking at him. They went next.
All eight of them used their phantasmal killer on him. By virtue of a card he got six of them to burn their valuable ability before dropping dead. The party bested the Animate Dreams in a VERY tough battle.
They reincarnated him (and I used an alternate reincarnation table) to make him a female grippli.
Between this game and my RotRL it's starting to feel like I kill a character every week.
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Name of PC: Azrin Nemarosa
Race: Human
Class/Level: Cleric of Pharasma 5
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Catalyst: Ghasts.
The Gory Details: Alas, our dear player has atrocious luck when it comes to passing saves against Paralysis effects (this was the same one who fell afoul of the Piper and his skeletons), as he was Paralyzed and summarily killed by Ghasts while investigating the Sanctuary. He managed to save everyone in the group from that fate, however, by softening all of them up with a Channel.
He was replaced by Jones Shei'Lac, a Half-Elf Investigator as the player had grown tired of being the Channelbot.
Name of PC: Ezekiel Andervalst
Race: Tiefling
Class/Level: Barbarian 6
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Catalyst: The Front Door
The Gory Details: This party has been exceptionally lax in checking for traps. Up to now, it hadn't been a problem, as most traps merely damage you. Unfortunately for Ezekiel, this one summoned a Huge Air Elemental on a bridge 200 feet above the water's surface. As you might imagine, a creature whose signature ability is "Turn into a tornado and carry people off" is dangerous in this scenario. He was slammed, picked up bodily, and dropped to the river below, where he perished and his body was washed away in the rapids to be eaten by Ghouls in the swamp below. He managed to make his final mark, however, in tossing his Earthbreaker into the back of the creature's head as he fell, and doing enough damage that the Investigator and Oracle were able to slay it just before they met the same fate.
He was replaced by Samuel Sledge, a Brawler, as his body was unrecoverable.
Name of PC: Bulldozer "The Unchained"
Race: Duergar
Class/Level: Aegis 6
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Catalyst: Summon Monster traps are mean.
The Gory Details: Bulldozer was sent to scout a rickety bridge to see if it was safe to stand on, as he was the only party member able to fly. The bridge itself was safe enough. The Erinyes it summoned was not. It pumped him full of arrows before he was able to do much against it, and when he died he plummeted from the sky, rejoining Ezekiel somewhere downstream I'm sure.
He was not replaced (the player had lost interest in playing Pathfinder, having a weak grasp of the rules and not too interested in learning more. This was a well-timed way to get rid of his character, as it may have happened either way.)
Now if only he'd update Fallout PnP some time.
Name: Loric Darkflow
Race: Undine
Class: Oracle 12
Adventure: Ashes at Dawn
Location: Nobleman's Stitch
Catalyst: Coffin Mimics
Name: Waivir Ashenface
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Sorcerer 6/Dragon Disciple 6
Adventure: Ashes at Dawn
Location: Nobleman's Stitch
Catalyst: Coffin Mimics
**DRAWS BREATH**
Name: Sathrael + Zanroar
Race: Humans
Classes/levels: Wizard 1 / Sorcerer 1
Adventure: Haunting of Harrowstone
Location: Harrowstone Manor
Catalyst: Both players wanted to reroll!
The Gory Details: Both had sneaked into Harrowstone by their own on day one. After a grueling encounter with a rat swarm and the animated scythe (which I fudged so hard for them), both players (who are newcomers to PF) decided to reroll.
SO! For the next session, I had the rest of the players find their disemboweled bodies on the Harrowstone Memorial, and the letter 'V' spelled with their blood and entrails...
Name: Fuzzy McBushytail
Race: Kitsune
Classes/levels: Moon Oracle 3
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Lepidstadt
Catalyst: The mob
The Gory Details: So I created a couple new characters for this adventure. I had Lucean Galdana be old and have him mysteriously die. His daughter, a grimacing and stern aristocrat, would take his stead in the adventure (because I thought we needed more female characters). There was also a new character who was a Goblin moblord. He was an ally of the players, and served as their black market connection and as a foreigner to Ustalav that gave them some setting information. The moblord had planned to assassinate Galdana, so Fuzzy McBushytail here found out and went to Galdana's manor to rat out the Goblin. I rolled to see who would approach Fuzzy in the manor... (created some minor NPCs JUST for this roll), and he got the one NPC who was the Goblin's mole in the mansion. Fuzzy was double-crossed and, when given the choice between death and submission, chose to take his own life.
Name: Markus Caromarc
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Hungry Ghost Monk 5
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Schloss Caromarc
Catalyst: Was Monk, charged onto the frontline against the trolls
The Gory Details: Markus Caromarc was in a quest to confront his estranged father, Alpon Caromarc, who had become aloof and negligent after the death of his second wife (the one he kept in the vat). This wonderful arc came to an unexpected closure when he ran forward towards the trolls, who were in battle formation, and was swiftly and unceremoniously beat to a pulp.
Name: Rune Darkling
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Arcane Duelist Bard 6
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Schloss Caromarc
Catalyst: Arrow to the face
The Gory Details: Poor Rune had taken some Constitution damage from the poisoned arrow in Caromarc's closet. When fighting the Erinyes and treating a dying companion, he got critical'd for his full HP and past death by an arrow.
Name: Zeref Vonarc
Race: Drow
Classes/levels: Magus 6
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Schloss Caromarc
Catalyst: Yellow mold all over his respiratory system.
The Gory Details: Apparently the party was all about opening the jars with horrible things that Caromarc kept. After opening the yellow mold though, this 10 CON Magus failed EVERY SINGLE Fort save, even with his party's assistance, and became a zen garden.
Name: Ohlm
Race: Kitsune
Classes/levels: Pistolero Gunslinger 7
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Shudderwood
Catalyst: Not negotiating with werewolves.
The Gory Details: Party full-on attacked the werewolf message-bearers at the beginning of the adventure. They howled for support, summoning 1d12 werewolves (this is a 7 man party, I need to make this interesting). Ghetto-critted that roll for 12 werewolves. They didn't want to kill the party though, so after slugging it out they told the party they could leave if they let them take their dead. Ohlm wasn't having any of that and responded to the offer with a bullet. They overpowered the party and brutally mauled the gunslinger. The rest of them stepped down, and had their weapons confiscated.
Name of PC: Miri Magravi
Race: Varisian human
Class/Level: fighter 5
Adventure: The Trial of the Beast
Catalyst: The falchion of an orc sergeant
Story: The trolls at the gatehouse of Schloss Caromarc were too much for Miri M, and she fell to their attacks.
No story, really. They were just overwhelmed.
Name: Brianni Goldheart
Race: Dwarf
Class: Cleric 14
Adventure: Shadows of Gallowspire
Location: Renchurch Catacombs
Catalyst: Revenants
The gory details:
It was unfortunate that the cleric had killed three of the six revenants in this room. They immediately swarmed the cleric and... well, they got their revenge.
The druid casted reincarnate afterwards and the cleric came back as a halfling.
Name: Akuum Nightwind
Race: Sylph
Class: Swordsage 6/Warblade 1/Master of Nine 5
Adventure: Ashes at Dawn
Location: Abbey of Sante-Lymirin
Catalyst: Aisa Dublesse
Aisa hit Akuum with slay living before withdrawing into the fog. Akuum was the first to reengage her. She moved to re-position and triggered an AoO from Akuum. He hit her, triggering the vampiric touch stored in her gown before she unleashed a cone of cold on Akuum (and two party members outside the fog) dropping him to the ground. The healer didn't attempt to find him in the fog. The party found that he was dead after finishing off Aisa.
Name: Sir Tiberius Kane
Race: Human (Varisian)
Class/Level: Paladin of Iomedae 7
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Stairs of the Moon
Catalyst:
Name: Prince Darhrehn
Race: Human (Qadirian)
Class/Level: Fighter 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Tower of Feldgrau
Catalyst:
Name: Bogdan
Race: Human (Varisian)
Class/Level: Wizard 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Tower of Feldgrau
Catalyst:
I've lost track of how many character deaths we've had in this AP. Our Rogue died just outside Caliphas in Book Five, was raised and killed again within a week, so she'd never recovered that second negative level, was raised again, lasted long enough to recover both negative levels and was killed again in our last session. I don't believe those are the only deaths that character has suffered.
In a six-member party (plus a cohort and an animal companion) there is only one character who hasn't been killed once; most of the PCs and the cohort have died and been brought back at least twice. A couple of us, including the above Rogue, are on the frequent dier plan. The Ranger is the only one who has yet to be killed; he's lost three consecutive animal companions.
The last couple of rounds of killing nearly shut down the campaign due to intense frustration. Three sessions ago we were ambushed by two of the villain's henchmen. Two
The session after that we faced
In the most recent session, we were sent to investigate a nearby abbey. We approached the carriage house first and were greeted by an old caretaker, who
This sort of thing is pretty soul-sucking when there's no relief from it, and we're taking this weekend off to decide whether we even want to finish the AP.
Unfortunately, yeah, we had two players rage quit before the end of this campaign.
The sheer number of, "Ha ha! BANG! You're dead!" moments, no matter how careful you *think* you're being, is phenomenal.
One guy quit after the erinyes trap (that killed him), as we didn't have a rogue who could detect magical traps. I died to the good old, "Oh, you're a good person? Die!" ambush. The infamous Circle of Death wiped 2/3 of the party, so the GM had to rule it was "all a dream", which isn't exactly satisfying.
I don't mind, "You got crit, you're dead," or, "You got careless, you're dead." But things like, "A random dude in a town you've never heard of uses a surprise round and a high initiative roll to kill you for no apparent reason", or, "Sorry we forgot to mention the BBEG until you're fighting him in Book 6" make this one of my least-favorite APs.
In other words, I feel your pain.
After Feldgrau our GM decided we needed a lot of help, so he planted a staff of life in Auren Vrood's gear. One of our two clerics is using one of her highest level spell slots almost every day because the thing needs to be recharged so often, and even with the staff saving us any number of 5000gp diamonds, we still bought Caliphas' entire stock of diamond dust because we needed so many restorations: two per death per character adds up fast.
We're also spending a lot on soul stimulant @ 300gp per 12-hour dose, with multiple characters in need.
I went back and skimmed through our campaign journals to date. I counted 12 PC deaths, plus a cohort who's died twice and three animal companions lost by our Ranger. At the moment I don't have the information on what level were at for each death, but it started in Feldgrau, with 8th L PCs and a 6th L cohort.
Name: Belros
Race: Human(Ustalav)
--Death 1 of 3--
Class/Level: Wizard 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Feldgrau
Catalyst: Werewolves
Tore him apart.
--Death 2 of 3--
Class/Level: Wizard 10(?)
Adventure: Wake of the Watcher
Location: Skum tunnels beneath Tern Rocks
Catalyst: Combined group of mi-go, dimensional shamblers and skum
Torn apart by mi-go.
--Death 3 of 3--
Class/Level: Wizard 12
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: Restoraton Park, Caliphas
Catalyst: Vampire sorcerers
Enervated and fireballed to death.
Name: Urgan
Race: Half-orc
--Death 1 of 3--
Class/Level: Fighter 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Feldgrau
Catalyst: Werewolves
Tore him apart.
--Death 2 of 3--
Class/Level: Fighter 10(?)
Adventure: Wake of the Watcher
Location: Skum tunnels beneath Tern Rocks
Catalyst: Combined group of mi-go, dimensional shamblers and skum
Melee damamge followed by a one-two punch of a fireball and a cone of cold.
--Death 3 of 3--
Class/Level: Fighter 12
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: Restoraton Park, Caliphas
Catalyst: Vampire sorcerers
Fireballed to death.
Name: Stephanie Neotomi
Race: Ratfolk
--Death 1 of 3--
Class/Level: Rogue 10/Monk 1
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: Esoteric Vaults
Catalyst: devils summoned by trap
Cut to pieces.
--Death 2 of 3--
Class/Level: Rogue 11/Monk 1
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: Restoraton Park, Caliphas
Catalyst: Vampire sorcerers
Fireballed to death.
--Death 3 of 3--
Class/Level: Rogue 11/Monk 1
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: Abbey of Sante-Lymirin
Catalyst: demon
Ripped apart by a glabrezu demon.
Name: Olga Halfswamp
Race: Human (Ustalav)
--Death 1 of 2--
Class/Level: Cleric 9(?)
Adventure: Wake of the Watcher
Location: Thrushmoor
Catalyst: Assassin
Killed by assassin in the livery stable
--Death 2 of 2--
Class/Level: Cleric 12
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: Restoraton Park, Caliphas
Catalyst: Vampire sorcerers
Fireballed to death.
Name: Ember Kindler
Race: Aasimar (Ustalav)
--Death 1 of 1--
Class/Level: Cleric 11
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: Bridge outside Caliphas
Catalyst: Rask + 6 dire ghoul wolves
Chewed up and then crushed by a burning flail
Name: Ingrid Narsius
Race: Human (Ulfen)
--Death 1 of 2--
Class/Level: Sorcerer 6 (NPC cohort)
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Tower of Feldgrau
Catalyst: Clerics accompanying Auren Vrood
Ingrid was negative channeled to death.
--Death 2 of 2--
Class/Level: Sorcerer 10 (NPC cohort)
Adventure: Ashes At Dawn
Location: Restoraton Park, Caliphas
Catalyst: Vampire sorcerers
Ingrid was fireballed to death.
Animal companions:
Brian (badger) killed by circle of death at Feldgrau Tower
Ash (wolf) negative channelled to death an manor house outside Illmarsh
Snow (wolf) chewed up and by Rask and his dire ghoul wolves
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Interesting. In the first time I tried running Carrion Crown, the single cause of PC death was undependable players. PC group kept having people leave and new ones joining. But overall, the group didn't have an character deaths because of the game material, and we had finished book 5 of the 6 book adventure series.
Wonder why? Anyway, I intend to be far harsher this time around, and try to put the PC group through the wringer.