An issue I have with my group is that they are lead by a character who is excessively prideful and arrogant which effects the group. I want Karzoug to strike bone-chilling fear into the hearts and minds of them. But I'm not sure how to pull it off. They got to the library in Fortress of the Stone Giants, and I read them the little paragraph that was included. It shows how utterly merciless he is, but I want them to 'be afrad, very afraid' to the point where they think they are on a one way quest to glory. I don't need him to be kicking puppies evil, they know he's evil and ruthless. But how should I instill FEAR.
Any suggestions?
The intro to Karzoug's statblock in Pathfinder 6 has both his personal history and a quote addressed to a minion who failed him. Both of which should impress that he is not a nice man.
Are the players confident that they can take him? Maybe you could drop information about how "amped" he is. 30 wishes on his stats.
Maybe let the players get a hold of one embedded ioun stone. After they feel all cool and confident from their snatch-proof ioun stone, let them figure out that Karzoug has dozens of them.
Have the party run into him as he's on his way somewhere else (or something similar). Let them fight him and let him kick their behinds soundly (use the Old School "DM's friend" if you need to - fudge the die rolls in Karzoug's favor). But, since he's on his way somewhere else the Big K can't stick around and kill them. He leaves them lying in the dust moaning and learning the meaning of fear.
I last did this in the AoW AP when the party started getting too confident about Dragotha, and I've used the method several times prior to that. It works like a charm. Nothing breaks your confidence better than knowing that your opponent has already whipped you once without breaking a sweat.
Thank you all, I'll be sure to put advice to good use. :D
Another option,
After they have a really hard fight, that they almost lose, find a way to slip in that the one(s) that they just barely beat, we afraid/easily beaten by big K.
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Is there anyone in the group that acts greedy? Try to have some of Karzoug's goons incapacitate and drag them away to inscribe a greed rune on them. That way, they know that if their character gets killed, there are 'no backsies'... they are consigned to feed Karzoug's power. Even if the character gets rescued before the inscription is complete, they should be get glimpse of how much might be at stake.
An issue I have with my group is that they are lead by a character who is excessively prideful and arrogant which effects the group. I want Karzoug to strike bone-chilling fear into the hearts and minds of them. But I'm not sure how to pull it off. They got to the library in Fortress of the Stone Giants, and I read them the little paragraph that was included. It shows how utterly merciless he is, but I want them to 'be afrad, very afraid' to the point where they think they are on a one way quest to glory. I don't need him to be kicking puppies evil, they know he's evil and ruthless. But how should I instill FEAR.
Any suggestions?
Have you tried killing off the players characters on a regular basis and house ruling resurrection type magic out of existance?
Works at my table.
Oh and it helps if you can get into a habit where your flavour text gets ever more embellished and elaborate the worse your screwing over one of the players. Hence when you kill one you pull out all the stops and really go to town with the flavour text describing how the player died. I learned this trick from KotDT and found that it really works wonders.
Introduce one of his apprentices (a mere shadow of his power) as an enemy (not the final enemy of said quest). Let him mop the floor with the party.
But if Hook Mountain hasn't instilled bone-chilling fear, you're fresh out of luck I fear - unless you didn't emphasize the ogres' preferred forms of entertainment enough. There's nothing like the threat of being raped by a giant to make people take interest in their success.
You say that one of them is prideful and arrogant. You want to break it. Well, just don't be afraid to kill characters. Introduce a couple of very tough, but optional fights. Maybe a sidequest where they hear about some powerful critter with a lot of treasure nearby. Stress that the thing is not to be trifled with. It's not unlikely that the character's pride will make him go against that threat. And then he dies (well, you could give him a single chance to get away, maybe he'll cast off his pride and flee, and that might temper his pride a bit).
Alternately, you could do the tough encounter thing, and let him lose, but don't kill him. Let him be at the villain's mercy - either acquiesce to his demands (and make sure it will be a humiliating experience) or die.
DISCLAIMER: Several of these measures could be considered Rat Bastard Gee-Emism.
Hmm. Hang on: isn't there a possible time-travel device sitting in Xin-Shalast?..... :D
Have them come back from the future to warn themselves earlier in the adventure path...
Even better, put little clues in everywhere you want to build Karzoug up and give them a bit of guidance when they need it. And then, when they get to this device, smart players will realize that they have to use the device to go back in time to leave said clues... or they will cease to exist.
1) Start making heavier use of cursed items, traps and wandering monsters that carry no loot.
They force the players to burn resources (items, magic, etc.) without compensation; my gut tells me that part of their arrogance is fueled by abundant magic items, thus, power.
2) Toughen the encounters and kill a character once in a while - permanently.
Have foes use powerful poisons or other devious tricks that set up "save or die" rolls. Set up ambushes if foes know that the party is coming; have ambushes be lethal to someone, if not several of them. Have an ambush target a single character - what villain wouldn't want to torment a party by having them watch each other die, one by one?
3) Make use of the Heroes & Horror sourcebook's table of "Resurrection Mishaps" if they try to resurrect fallen comrades.
The players feel invulnerable because they think they can beat any foe and even if they die, they still feel safe that their cohorts will simply resurrect them. Remove this safety net by making resurrections not 100% successful.
4) Give foes an escape plan.
Smart foes know when they are outgunned and will usually have some kind of backdoor escape plan; no one will willingly fight to the death in the face of a clearly superior opponent - annoy your group by having the bad guy keep getting away...frustrate them by having them hire assassins to exterminate party members one by one as revenge!
5) Give the party no safe place to relax.
See above. Plan assasination attempts and ambushes when the party is in a civilized area for down time; poison a meal...assassinate when they're asleep and out of their armor...ambush the one person who happens to be on watch...ambush when they are in a shop not expecting a fight...assassinate single people as they split off to do training/business/shopping. Make them fear what lurks around every corner, even in the largest city.
Hope this helps,
M
..assassinate single people as they split off to do training/business/shopping. Make them fear what lurks around every corner, even in the largest city.
Hope this helps,
M
Aaaaaaand cue the Red Mantis assassin!! Having a busmans holiday in Magnimar (or picking up some shopping from the skinsaw men?)
lolI personally think the best answer is Gavgoyles about having them wake up with Sihidron Runes etches magically into their scalp / chest /back /buttock etc.