Introducing a new PC while in Runeforge

[masterslate]

My PCs just finished the Abjurant Halls and during the boss fight in the Ravenous Crypts, a PC was killed. The player will be rolling a witch, but I'm extremely unsure how to actually introduce this PC to the party due to where they are. I believe they're heading into The Vault of Greed next, so I thought the new PC could be a goldfish, but then I realized that a) they might not even realize it; b) might get TPK'd with only 3-4 players (see side note below). I could try to steer them towards a different hallway if someone has a better idea for a way to intro a new PC in Runeforge.

Also, the party has no way (currently) to escape Runeforge, so I couldn't even "strongly suggest" to them to leave Runeforge.

Side note: my group was 8 players, so I intentionally kept them several levels behind the AP guidelines, but the party size has shrunk to 4 consistent players and 2 occasional. The witch is a consistent player.

[Kalshane]

The goldfish are the "built-in" method for bringing in a new character.

Another option could be someone in the Iron Cages of Lust (though a much more-recent resident than Mr. Mutt so they can still leave the wing).

If they haven't completely cleared the Crypts, maybe there was a survivor from Azraven's experiments that wasn't quite dead yet.

[Gilotto Davanar]

I think that the opportunity to play a new character in Runeforge is just a nice change of standard character creation. A few ideas.

1 – The players realize that a valuable member of their group has been lost. As there is no way back to search for a replacement, they decide to call in some (temporary ) help. Using planar ally or planar binding, the called creature is actually the new player who plays an outsider (your choice) witch, who helps them in their quest against Karzoug.

2 – The players cast create undead on remains of the dead player. The new undead creature in infused by the Runeforge to be independent and changes into a ghoul or other undead creature that the new player plays as a witch.

3 - The new PC is a researcher/scientist/ of a wing opposed to greed that is in runeforge for a long time. He sees the need to stop Karzoug and joins the party. This way your player has some nice information about the wings, creatures and difficulties.

[CorvusMask]

Ye, goldfish are easiest way to get new player characters in runeforge. Note that goldfish's polymorph gets automatically dispelled if all the golems are destroyed and golems have link to each other, so once one of them fight pcs, all of them go for pcs. Golems aren't that tough by themselves and mr crazy metal wizard takes few rounds prepping before he can do after pcs.

[SheepishEidolon]

The witch could have scried on the party for a while, noticed how they entered the Runeforge and followed them.

[Latrecis]

SheepishEidolon wrote:

The witch could have scried on the party for a while, noticed how they entered the Runeforge and followed them.

This is a pretty good point - did the pc's take out Freezemaw and the earth elementals? If so, getting into Runeforge is really pretty simple.

The OP didn't say - what kind of character does the player want? Another witch? Hard to argue a solitary fighter could manage the statues/key but a caster of one sort or another could do it without too much difficulty.

It's not much of a leap (though there's no information about it in the AP) to presuppose Karzoug has/had other agents in Varisia beyond Xanesha/Lucretia/Mokmurian. Other groups/characters may be following their own path to Runeforge seeking to thwart the rising Runelord including other hints about how to get there outside the Scribbler. Even if you wanted the Scribbler to be the only way, once the pc's figure it out and actually go there, finding it would then be possible via methods like Commune or Contact Other Plane.

[Hythlodeus]

Latrecis wrote:

It's not much of a leap (though there's no information about it in the AP) to presuppose Karzoug has/had other agents in Varisia beyond Xanesha/Lucretia/Mokmurian.

The Skinsaw Murders pg. 48 wrote:

While other matriarchs went to places as diverse as Riddleport,

Janderhoff, Korvosa, and the orc strongholds of Belkzen,
Xanesha ended up in Magnimar

The AE changed that to

Quote:

While her sister Lucrecia journeyed into Central Varisia [...]

[John Mechalas]

SheepishEidolon wrote:

The witch could have scried on the party for a while, noticed how they entered the Runeforge and followed them.

This is actually how our group did it. We had a player that had to leave the game a couple of books earlier, but wanted to come back. We had just entered RuneForge, and the arrangement with the GM was that he had tracked us down, and literally followed us in.

I think this approach is much better than the goldfish.

Latrecis wrote:

Other groups/characters may be following their own path to Runeforge seeking to thwart the rising Runelord including other hints about how to get there outside the Scribbler.

We had this happen, too. One of our PC's died, and the player rolled up a new character instead of opting for a resurrection. The new character was the only survivor of a failed raid on the sawmill in Magnimar.

[masterslate]

I went with the following suggestion from
Gilotto Davanar

Gilotto Davanar wrote:

The new PC is a researcher/scientist/ of a wing opposed to greed that is in runeforge for a long time. He sees the need to stop Karzoug and joins the party. This way your player has some nice information about the wings, creatures and difficulties.

And made her a goldfish in the vault of greed. She went to explore the other vaults for things to research after not having seen a Runelord return in over 6000+ years. In the vault of greed she turned into a goldfish with her animal companion and has been stuck there ever since.

She's not playing as a witch in game, more of an ancient Azlanti researcher, but for advancement purposes, using the witch class.

Thanks for all your suggestions!