Christopher Dudley RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 |
OK, I read through this thing a few times, and I gotta ask...
Has anyone actually TALKED to it? I mean, I know it has the clues that are supposed to help the party, but a very difficult diplomacy roll is required to get her talking.
I know my group. If this thing starts screaming, that's going to last exactly one second before they smash it into a pulpy stain on the floor. They're sure as heck not going to carry it around if it lapses into screaming every few minutes.
So what's the hardness/hp of a devil head? I have a feeling it'll matter.
Scharlata |
..., that's going to last exactly one second...
Don't bother. If your party is that hack-and-slashy ( :o) ) than they deserve going the tough way in Delvehaven.
Let the poor devil's head smash like a ripe melon, let them see a painting in Delvehaven of Khazrae's head and Dargentu Vheed and enjoy the PC's moaning when they realize that they could have had help.
Christopher Dudley RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 |
Christopher Dudley wrote:..., that's going to last exactly one second...Don't bother. If your party is that hack-and-slashy ( :o) ) than they deserve going the tough way in Delvehaven.
Well, they're not exactly H&S; they enjoy puzzles and actually attempt negotiation far more than some parties I've seen... but this! There's no indication it's even capable of reason, let alone giving info, without a Diplomacy check DC30!!!. THIRTY!! A 5th level PC with a 20CHA and Skill Focus and max ranks in Diplomacy can make that only about a third of the time. And no one in my group has a 20 CHA and Skill Focus Diplomacy.
Given that level of difficulty, attempts to soothe it will more than likely be met with more screaming, which will send the message that there's no talking to the thing, not that they need to try again.
I mean, if I opened a box and a screaming head popped out, my first instinct would be to start screaming, too, and my second would be to kill the hell out of it.
Let the poor devil's head smash like a ripe melon, let them see a painting in Delvehaven of Khazrae's head and Dargentu Vheed and enjoy the PC's moaning when they realize that they could have had help.
As rigged as the encounter is, I like this outcome better anyway.
Scharlata |
Well, they're not exactly H&S; ... a Diplomacy check DC30!!!
As rigged as the encounter is, I like this outcome better anyway.
Sorry, I didn't want to suggest that your party isn't capable of reasoning.
My group has opened the Crux just at the end of last session and it amused me to look at the player's faces as I started to verbally injure their characters. The halfling bard/rogue did spontaneously the "right thing". His welcoming phrase was: "If you don't shut up your filthy mouth I'll close the Crux immediately!". Silence from Khazrae. Remember that any threat to lock her away will result in an automatic success in intimidating her.
I am very exited what will come up tomorrow in the sequel session of our CoT group.
Christopher Dudley RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 |
My group has opened the Crux just at the end of last session and it amused me to look at the player's faces as I started to verbally injure their characters. The halfling bard/rogue did spontaneously the "right thing". His welcoming phrase was: "If you don't shut up your filthy mouth I'll close the Crux immediately!". Silence from Khazrae. Remember that any threat to lock her away will result in an automatic success in intimidating her.
As it turned out, that's exactly what they did.
Scharlata |
As it turned out, that's exactly what they did.
OK. ;)
My group intended to reason with her, first to no avail but after they aided themselves and buffed the skill check attempt with a domain power's effect they got themselves a couple of minutes of information out of her.
Besides, I puzzled myself together a little list of "verbal injuries" from the www. At first, my players made disgusted faces hearing them but then they were amused by them. We'll see how far their capability of enduring those filthy words will get them.
Deidre Tiriel |
My players first tried threatening (even though they are a diplomacy-oriented group) and that worked instantly.
They're keeping her in the shrine of Aroden. One player (manager of a theatre) stuck her head on top of a headless maniquin and added wings - trying to make her feel better. I was amused. I've let Arael try to talk with her & he learned that lesser restoration works to "wake" her up from a comatose state. They've decided to not wake her up until they know more about Delvehaven and will probably take her there.
Mikaze |
Just read about this. I'm a bit torn now that I'm not going to be playing this since we switched to Kingmaker, but eh, good gaming either way!
Has anyone actually TALKED to it? I mean, I know it has the clues that are supposed to help the party, but a very difficult diplomacy roll is required to get her talking.
I know my group. If this thing starts screaming, that's going to last exactly one second before they smash it into a pulpy stain on the floor. They're sure as heck not going to carry it around if it lapses into screaming every few minutes.
So what's the hardness/hp of a devil head? I have a feeling it'll matter.
Be sure to play up the pathetic helplessness of the poor fiend. Have her cursing wildly but make it obvious that even though she's a devil, she's also a very distraught woman who has been through hell(ahem). It should be obvious she's harmless. Play on the party's empathy, drum up some pity for her.
Even a paladin can get away with keeping her around. After all, she's easily held prisoner, and destroying the head would just send her back to Hell, possibly restored, possibly not. She's hated in Hell, and she certainly has no friends on Golarion. The party's all she's got!
Think of the possibilities! Good clerics or paladins actually have a helpless devil that they can try to redeem(after all, it is proven possible to do in Golarion!). My paladin idea for CoT would have been all over that.
That and she could make a great mascot. Or trophy. Or potential love interest.
....
That last one might be a bit much.
Maybe.
Probably.
My players first tried threatening (even though they are a diplomacy-oriented group) and that worked instantly.
They're keeping her in the shrine of Aroden. One player (manager of a theatre) stuck her head on top of a headless maniquin and added wings - trying to make her feel better. I was amused. I've let Arael try to talk with her & he learned that lesser restoration works to "wake" her up from a comatose state. They've decided to not wake her up until they know more about Delvehaven and will probably take her there.
See! That's @#$%ing adorable, right there!
Full Disclosure: I'm a big proponent of the Adopt-A-Monster attitude. Golarion goblins seem to just bring that out in a lot of groups.
Scharlata |
LOL, No, but Google does. I could translate them to English and figure it out from there perhaps?
Heh... I don't think so, because google certainly doesn't know that kind of language (if it is at all).
I've made it easy for myself. I googled for a insult thread in the www (in german). You could do the same for the english language. There a lot of intranslatable words after all.
Viel Glück!
!"&$&/)§$&*''#
Tikael |
I believe that threatening to put the head back in the crux was an automatic success on the diplomacy roll. This is what my party did and they got quite a bit of information from her. They then kept the head in a bag of holding and drug it out at a few specific points (namely gloating over the corpse of the lich shade, once they figured out who it was they figured khazrea would enjoy it.)
James Jacobs Creative Director |
There are rules to restore her (hell, now that's a bunch of high-level spells) are there also somewhere in the adventure path rules on what you get if you manage to do it? Her flavour text suggests that she's a bit more than your standard CR 8 erinyes.
Restoring her to full life is way beyond the scope of the adventure, especially because the spells required are not simple spells to acquire. But if you do... feel free to make her into whatever you want!
My suggestion would be a 10th level rogue.
Navarion |
Restoring her to full life is way beyond the scope of the adventure, especially because the spells required are not simple spells to acquire.
I know, it's just that the head is something I as a player would hold on to because it would be mean to discard it and until I had the ability to restore her she could be useful (Infernal translator, Knowledge (planes) checks etc.)
But if you do... feel free to make her into whatever you want!
My suggestion would be a 10th level rogue.
Thanks, I was thinking about something like rogue/assassin, but at a loss what CR a "prominent erinyes assassin and scourge of a legion of the damned in Dis" whose punishment was chosen by an archdevil would be. :)
I think I'm going to post my version when it's done both as head and as restored erinyes.
James Jacobs Creative Director |
Navarion |
Navarion wrote:It can be anything. It doesn't have to be in the high 20s.Oh, I didn't think high 20s. Not everything has to be epic, I just had no idea what kind of rank "scourge" is. However from my point of view it wouldn't be "anything" but I guess that depends on the individual perception of the Nine Hells. For me the hierarchy there would mean that if you fight for the favour of an archdevil you aren't that many steps beneath him, because otherwise you would have to try to get the favour of one of his lieutenants first. It's a bit like stormtroopers. For the higher-ups they are all faceless expendable troops. It takes something to have Darth Vader remember your name when he chokes you to death. ;-)
I'm done with both version of Khazrae. Feedback is appreciated, especially concerning the head, I'm not really happy with that. :D
Scharlata |
I'm done with both version of Khazrae. Feedback is appreciated, especially concerning the head, I'm not really happy with that. :D
Thanks for your input. Personally, I don't think that "the head's" statistics should be a cause of "unhappiness". I think, I'll use them.
If you'd like to give "Miss K." some special abilities or "somthing to impress good ol' Darth" try a look into Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary's Broken Soul Template (page 34). Perhaps, you are inclined to use the "Agonized Wail" extraordinary ability or the "Baleful Gaze" supernatural ability?
Navarion |
Thanks for your input. Personally, I don't think that "the head's" statistics should be a cause of "unhappiness". I think, I'll use them.
Thanks. :-)
If you'd like to give "Miss K." some special abilities or "somthing to impress good ol' Darth" try a look into Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary's Broken Soul Template (page 34). Perhaps, you are inclined to use the "Agonized Wail" extraordinary ability or the "Baleful Gaze" supernatural ability?
Hmm, are you talking about the head or the restored version? For the head I wouldn't like it that much because she was used as a "noisy but amusing" piece of decoration. The abilities either work on anybody who meets her gaze or hears her and can easily crash any party especially if you consider that she's theoretically still a 19th level character with a pretty high DC.
If you mean the restored version, it could be interesting to add one of those abilities as a reminder of what she's been through, a bit of lasting damage that no magic can undo. That's something I would include as an optional rule. I had a few weird ideas about making rules for redeeming her and for giving her XP in adventures where she is used so she can get a few levels as sorcerer with a selection of spells without somatic components. That's something I would put in there when I get around to write it down. ;-)