Gallows of madness help

[cmastah]

So...the demon bile....if it's ingested, I see how to treat it, but does it do anything if merely touched?

For the traps in the first adventure, should I prompt a perception check or should I let them choose to search? Some of these locations are so innocuous it's unlikely the players would choose to search themselves (though then again it would keep them on their toes if they weren't prompted).

Also when the fight against Gellion is over, it says 'IF the apprentices are still alive'. Is this up to DM fiat or is there something that is calculated/rolled over the duration of the fight?

[GeraintElberion]

The demon bile only has a touch effect if you wallow in it (like the goblins in part two).

If they don't search for the trap on the door to Gellion's home then they get struck when they open the door. Unless they have an ability that grants passive trap-spotting.

I think there's some text about the hookfly draining apprentices if the PCs ignore it.

[cmastah]

Thanks, will be running this adventure tomorrow. That last fight looks to be brutal (especially with less than the expected four players).

[GeraintElberion]

Everything else is such a cakewalk, and you get so many bottler treats from the encounter at Gellion's house, that it needs to be tough.

The investigation is fun, my PCs needed a lot of clues before they went for Gellion.

[WizardlyBlood]

Just looked this up. For reference, creatures exposed to (but that have not ingested, so this applies to the goblins in Pt. 2) the Demon's Bile often grow in size or gain the 'fiendish' template. Fiendish means they go up by 1 CR, gain Darkvision, higher Spell Resistance, and the Smite Good ability.

[WizardlyBlood]

I'm wondering if there is a save DC for the touch effect in case my PCs touch it.

[GeraintElberion]

Gallows of Madness wrote:

Demon’s Bile

The demon’s bile created by the vermlek’s activities in Marcuccio Bravoni’s warehouse is a unique Abyssal substance that can act as an ingested disease as well as a special environmental hazard, depending on the circumstance. The following details describe the demon’s bile hazard and disease, respectively.

Demon’s bile is biological in nature, and if left in an open area unchecked, even a small amount of it can begin growing until, in 1d4 months, the substance takes up a 10-foot-by-10-foot area of filth. Demon’s bile that covers an area of that size or larger then begins growing in earnest, expanding at a rate of about 5 feet per day. Demon’s bile attracts vermin, and those that wallow in it (as well as some other creatures exposed to it) often grow in size, gain the fiendish template, or both. Additionally, demon’s bile that covers a 10-foot-by-10-foot area or greater has a 50% chance to spew forth fiendish vermin every 1d4
days. Any good-aligned damage, damage from cold iron weapons, or positive energy damage applied to any 5-foot square of bile destroys it. A successful DC 12 Knowledge (nature or planes) check reveals the nature of demon’s bile and its details, including its potential for growth and the ways to destroy it. Ildris Ruvarra, the priest of Erastil, is also familiar with demon's bile and its details.

Additionally, anyone who ingests demon’s bile is exposed to the following disease.
DEMON’S BILE
Type disease, ingested; Save Fortitude DC 18
Onset 1d4 days; Frequency 1/day
Effect 1 Wisdom damage, gain 1 Strength, shift one
alignment step toward chaotic evil, see below; Cure 2 consecutive saves
Special In addition to suffering the effects above, creatures under the effects of the demon’s bile disease hear a constant buzzing in their heads that, along with their shifting alignment, prompts them to undertake tasks that most would consider madness. This madness manifests in different ways for each creature, but it often involves delusions.

In Gellion’s case, the madness caused by demon’s bile has convinced him that the demon’s bile is glorious and that it needs human blood to continue its growth.
GMs are encouraged to be creative when applying this disease’s effects to PCs and NPCs. In all cases, the demon’s bile should come across as the will of the Abyss made manifest.

My bold for emphasis.

Simple exposure does not corrupt (unless you swallow some).

To be corrupted you must wallow in the stuff, as the vermin do, and the goblins in part two.

Also, the most important element of the fiendish template at low levels is the fire and cold resistance, especially for swarms.
Fiendish Template

[WizardlyBlood]

Okay. thanks for the clarification. It's my first game as GM, trying to get my ducks in a row. The Fiendish template was a little confusing too.

So, if I'm understanding right, if the creature has 5-10 hp, then they will have -10 to fire/cold damage and -5 to good damage?

[GeraintElberion]

WizardlyBlood wrote:

Okay. thanks for the clarification. It's my first game as GM, trying to get my ducks in a row. The Fiendish template was a little confusing too.

So, if I'm understanding right, if the creature has 5-10 hp, then they will have -10 to fire/cold damage and -5 to good damage?

No, it's based upon Hit Dice, not hit points.

Think about how player characters get a new roll of their hit dice each level.

Monsters don't have levels, but Hit Dice are a similar way of measuring the "level" of monsters.

As an example, here are the fiendish goblins from part 2, fully statted up.:

Fiendish Goblin CR 1/3
XP 135
Fiendish goblin warrior 1 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 156, 294)
CE Small humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+2 armor, +2 Dex, +1 shield, +1 size)
hp 6 (1d10+1) <---------------------------They have 1 hit dice (10 sided die) plus 1 bonus hit point.
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +0
Resist cold 5, fire 5; SR 4 <------------------------Their CR is less than 1 so their Spell Reistance is 4 (-1+5).
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dogslicer +1 (1d4-1/19-20)
Ranged shortbow +4 (1d4-1/×3)
Special Attacks smite good <---------------------Once a day, they can add +1 to damage against a single good foe.
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 8, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB -1; CMD 11
Feats Improved Initiative
Skills Ride +9, Stealth +9, Swim +2; Racial Modifiers +4 Ride, +4 Stealth
Languages Goblin
Other Gear leather armor, light wooden shield, arrows (20), dogslicer[ARG], shortbow
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Energy Resistance, Fire (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Smite Good (1/day) (Su) +0 to hit, +1 to damage when used.
Spell Resistance (4) You have Spell Resistance.

[GeraintElberion]

I am currently running this in pbp (play-by-post) if you want to see how it has gone.
Link here

The first part is a mystery.
I strongly subscribe to the Three Clue Rule for RPG mysteries.
Three Clue Rule over at The Alexandrian is always worth a read.

[WizardlyBlood]

Thanks a lot, that clears things up.

[GeraintElberion]

WizardlyBlood wrote:

Okay. thanks for the clarification. It's my first game as GM, trying to get my ducks in a row. The Fiendish template was a little confusing too.

So, if I'm understanding right, if the creature has 5-10 hp, then they will have -10 to fire/cold damage and -5 to good damage?

One thing I forgot to mention.

DR (damage resistance) is different to energy resistance.
It is [amount of damage taken off all attacks]/[attack type that ignores the DR]
So DR 5/good is a creature that takes -5 to all attack damage unless struck by a good-aligned weapon.

[WizardlyBlood]

Another question came up. I have a ranger in the party and am wondering about favored enemies. If the ranger took Outsider (evil) as her favored enemy would that bonus be applied to all the fiendish creatures in the campaign? How does the favored enemy bonus work when a creature could be one type or another (vermin vs. outsider, etc.)?

EDIT: Okay, I think I found an answer: when animals or vermin gain the 'fiendish' template, it changes their type to 'magical beast'.

PS. Thanks for taking the time to give such good, detailed answers to this noob. Reading your pbp has given me a lot of insight and ideas for my campaign. I liked how you had the quasit ambush them at the graveyard instead of on the street.

[GeraintElberion]

Thank you.

The quasit ambush was mainly because they were going in circles a bit and I wanted to refocus them on Gellion, but I think it ended up feeling more related to the investigation that way.

Favoured enemy can be hard with a ranger.

My instincts would be either:
- You're a ranger in Isger? You probably have goblin (which works out okay for this module).
- Be kind and nudge them to take magical beast (good for at least some foes in every part of the module)
- Suggest they take the Scout archetype (replaces favoured enemy with a once/day bonus against chosen foe).

[VampByDay]

Does anyone know when the level ups in this module are roughly supposed to happen? My group tends to not track XP, as you need to adjust it up and down for larger groups. So we just level up when we are 'supposed to.' But here it just says

level up to 2 'during the second adventure' and level three 'by the end of the third adventure'

Anyone have any ideas?