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As I mentioned in the obits thread, Het's a beast. I'm not opposed to his inclusion, only that he came so early in the path. As a result, a party of five 1st level PCs, weakened from his undead minions, fell to him. Since this is so early in the path, and I had a bunch of kickass character backgrounds, I didn't want to force them to make new PCs.
So, here's my plan. Since Hetuath's undead status was forced upon him by Zyphus, I think he's wanting to do whatever he can to end it. He's hoping that sacrificing these souls to the Grim Harvestman will free him from his monotonous existence. This got me to thinking - what exactly does a sacrifice to the god of accidental death look like? I figure it's something along the lines of the ways the characters in movies like Saw or Final Destination die - convoluted death traps.
There's another dimension to this, of course, and that Hetuath is likely insane by now. Setting aside the whole "sentient mind trapped in a rotting corpse" fun, he's been stuck inside the habitat module for several thousand years, and only recently has anything unusual happened. He's got to be nuts. I think he would have an unnatural fear of leaving the habitat module. Moreover, as much as he loathes his condition, it's the only thing he knows any longer, and he's afraid of what the next step after he's released from undeath will be. So while he wants to be free, he's also horribly afraid of what the fulfillment of that wish will bring. So, the death traps are escapable, a fact I'm sure my players will appreciate.
So, the real thing I'm planning here is what to do with the players. I think my current plan is to stick them in one of the disused caves in the habitat module and build some quick traps for them to escape from, sans their equipment for a trap or two. I want them to feel like they've bought their freedom, not that I'm "letting them live." As I come up with death traps, I'll post them here - I'd encourage anyone with thoughts to do so as well. My limitations:
1. The trap must be something that Hetuath could reasonably build in a day's time.
2. The trap must be something that Hetuath could reasonably build given the equipment he has and the equipment that the PCs bring with them.
3. It should be more interesting that "surprise - arrow trap!", and hopefully give some insight into the alien mind that built it.
Another good reason for the traps to be escapable, that you can give your PCs with a knowledge(religion) check: if Zyphus is the god of accidental death, the traps have to be escapable, or they aren't accidents, they're just murder. There has to be a chance to get away or the sacrifice doesn't count.
Edit: What I mean is "I locked you in an airtight box with no food or water and then you died" is murder. "I put you in an airtight box with no food or water and you were too dumb to find the interior latch" is an accident.
You could justify an elaborate series of deathtraps as something he has run himself through before, hoping his death will be permanent, but he keeps being rejuvenated.
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Heh, probably should have put spoilers on that. My bad.
The way the XP breaks down, they didn't get enough XP to hit level 2 until they reactivated the module. That pretty much means that Hetuath is pissed at the intruders and comes investigating.
As for the day time limit, the reason behind that is that one PC got away, and is putting together a posse to go save the group. My plan is to have that group encounter Hetuath again, kill him (hopefully), and then encounter the rest of the party, who just escaped from the kasatha caverns.
My current plan is that they wake up in the caverns, stripped to their skivvies. They have strange alien writings scrawled on their flesh in their blood. They then have to escape. I plan on the PCs turning a corner and seeing their gear ahead of them, and a robot head peeking another corner. Their gear is placed just beyond a covered pit trap, and if they charge after it, they'll probably fall in.
I thought about using the advanced ghelarn as well, and that will probably be the final encounter for them. I'm sure the barbarian will appreciate being able to beat something up after an hour or so of traps.
I just want to say it, the adventure assumes that PCs will return and rest before going into the habitat module, it also assumes that players will be 2nd level when they are in the habitat module and i added the xp and the PCs should have enough for leveling up when they clear the caves.
@Misroi
I understand how your 5 PCs might not have reached level 2 after clearing the caves (because xp are splitted 5 ways and you didn't add enough enemies/encounters to make for the difference), i am not faulting you here, you added what you thought was appropriate but maybe you should consider eschewing xp entirely and, instead, have them level up when the adventure tells you to. That way you can avoid such a situation in the future, because really hetuah is an encounter for 2nd level PCs, it's CR doesn't tell you so but the statblock does.
My group just encountered Hetuath at level 1 and killed him, no deaths, though one guy came VERY close.
Most of the damage done to Hetuath was from the same guy (Orc Barbarian with 22 strength), and the only reason he lived was due to some dedicated healing on the Oracle's part. Hetuath did attack the tiger and warpriest one turn each, but then started to focus on his efforts on the Barbarian. Nearly killed him from a crit one time, dropping the Orc to -10 hp (he has 14 Con). The Barbarian, in return, finished Hetuath off.
I have 5 players, but besides the Barbarian, only the tiger did any damage (And it only did 1 due to DR). Hetuath is really a dangerous foe. The best way to take him out would be to grapple him lol.
Even then it would be dangerous, though. Now that my players killed him, they JUST earned enough experience to hit level 2 and they've finally ran out of resources.
They're surrounded by super-science, you could have someone resurrect them via unknowable super-science to do their bidding, until the players throw off the shackles of servitude.
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My group is currently in the process of getting curb-stomped by his, but we took a break for a week in the middle of the fight. During that tie I've run some homebrew subplots for the characters who aren't 2nd level, retroactively leveling them up. Hopefully this will make a difference. Of course, I half want them not to reactivate anything, just to see their expressions when they realize that they need to fight him AGAIN.
My group is currently in the process of getting curb-stomped by his, but we took a break for a week in the middle of the fight. During that tie I've run some homebrew subplots for the characters who aren't 2nd level, retroactively leveling them up. Hopefully this will make a difference. Of course, I half want them not to reactivate anything, just to see their expressions when they realize that they need to fight him AGAIN.
Knowledge checks to know how to get rid of him?
My group is currently in the process of getting curb-stomped by his, but we took a break for a week in the middle of the fight. During that tie I've run some homebrew subplots for the characters who aren't 2nd level, retroactively leveling them up. Hopefully this will make a difference. Of course, I half want them not to reactivate anything, just to see their expressions when they realize that they need to fight him AGAIN.Knowledge checks to know how to get rid of him?
Probably going to happen. But I wouldn't count on them succeeding
Probably going to happen. But I wouldn't count on them succeedingMy group is currently in the process of getting curb-stomped by his, but we took a break for a week in the middle of the fight. During that tie I've run some homebrew subplots for the characters who aren't 2nd level, retroactively leveling them up. Hopefully this will make a difference. Of course, I half want them not to reactivate anything, just to see their expressions when they realize that they need to fight him AGAIN.Knowledge checks to know how to get rid of him?
My point exactly, even if they reactivate the place, it might take a while for them to know how to get rid of the undeads.
Alternatively, they themselves could be "undeadified", spending 2 or 3 hours' play time figuring out how to dip themselves into the right vat of flesh-repairing/T-virus nanites.
At this low level range, it's as much the puzzling out of things as anything else. Steal stuff from zombie and SAW movies, make it descriptively horrific. If they're nanite-zombies, they get torn asunder only to "reknit" into their undead shambling selves.
When a PC is "reknit" 3, 7, 10 or 666 times, they're goners for sure (how many should remain a mystery, other than a vague feeling of malaise). Basically, tick off 2 "phantom CON" each time a PC gets horribly killed and involuntarily respawns from the wrong vat of nanoglop.
Suggested traps - pillage from other APs, change flavor text, add in circumstance bonuses to the disable DCs based on the trap's 'theme'.
Examples: SAW movies. You're describing things so that the player gets overexcited, resulting in a full jawbone removal. Head-clamp trap thingie. Hands have to go into mutilation tube to grab key to unlock DC 40 manacles before the timer expires and drops the PC into a buzzsaw. Final chamber is a 'rest chamber' that he flips a switch/button at the moment they refresh.
1 chamber per PC plus a "group chamber" to get to the "right vat". So each character gets a horrible recurring demise [until your awesome backstoried characters piece together the clues the BBEG plucked from their brains].
Rest chamber, again pillaging backstories, "connects the dots" between them, hopefully hinting at horrible things to come. Cooperative trap in classic SAW style - if they pooch it, maim them, there are rules for hands, feet, arms and legs being lopped off online, use them. Let them keep trying until they run out of appendages. THEN kill 'em by dehydration or the dietary urges of [insert local critter] kicks in...
Turin the Mad, I like the way that you think! We could very well be GM-brothers!
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My 1st group had some difficult dispatching him, but then again, i gave him short swords in every hand so he was more difficult. They had 2 spell casters and 2 melee. I believe the ranger starting whacking him with the CLW wand since it was touch.
Second group had bigger issues but one of their characters had a decent AC and was able to absorb the damage and attacks for a period of time before going down. More or less, they weren't even using slashing weapons.
Both survived.
As for what to do, if they have not fought the Advanced Ghelarn in the northern caves, have him tie them up there like appetizers. When they awake, the creature has just oozed its way over to them. Have some sharp rocks around allowing them a round to cut their binds (move to find, standard to do so). I'd slow the Ghelarn's speed since it's a tight passage for a jaws like-effect (you hear an oozing sound..). By 3 rounds it should be within its 15ft reach of them, and at least a few of them should have cut their binds by then. An escape artist or raw dex check could be used to use that sharp rock on their binds. Your decision.
Enter stage left a new adventuring group! It happens, it's no big deal, or fudge some rolls.