Dran_Draggore's page

Hi Again,

the AP is coming to an End, and some remarks and Questions from my Side:

My Players have just started taking the Ritual in Westcrown.

Power Level is crazy. My Party is Lvl 15 now, saves in the mid 20s, AC 40+, Attack in the 30s.. Most NPCs have AC mid 20-30, Att in the low 20s or even lower, Save DVs usually around 15-20.
-> Prepare to do a lot of customization here.

On the other Hand, some encounters could go crazy:
Omox Demons: They almost managed to drag the Cleric in the Water and disapper with him. Lucky Cleric had the Archer Fighter helping him and once he needed his boots of escape. Grappled and no way to speak is quite deadly.

Thessene: How can he cast quickened Cold Ice Strike? That would ba a quickened Lvl 6 spell, so a level 10 spell? Holy S***....

The Maps for the encounters in this book are quite bad IMO. Very small maps, no love for details. Quite disappointed by this so far. I used Flip Mats for some more appropriate layout.

Dran

Thanks for all the advice so far!

Somehow part of my original post got lost, so some clarification:

- We play the Paizo APs, no time for customizing encounters. NPCs, maps, general background will not be touched.

- Currently lvl 14 but more of a general issue with NPC difficulty vs monster difficulty.

- We play 1/week, so sot much spare time to customize encounters too much. But I already saw that some quick fixes are possible.

Terrain:
Yes, this is overlooked easily. High ground, flanking, cover, etc.
But the PCs can use this, too. SO I consider this a tie.

Equipment:
OMG. Tanglefoot bag is a killer. My DEX based fighter will hate you for proposing this ;)And it targets flat footed, not REF. Even better..

Buffing
Yes, cheap buffs. Aid, Bless, Divine Favor. On Higer levels Heroism, Blessing of fervor, haste.
Often NPCs do not have access to this stuff, but either adding a low level supporting Cleric or a potion could do the trick.

Flexibility
Oh yes, my BBEG with just a sword in his equipment looked bad when he failed his REF vs Grease. Game over.

Monster vs class NPC
Generally yes, But currently no solution

Building "exotic" chars
I love that, too. There are so many options that are "meh" for PCs as they do not scale beyond a certain level or are redundant in a PC party. But for NPCs there are quite some options. Just consider Vital Strike, a perfect NPC feat on low levels.

Templates
Advanced is my favorite template. Simple to add (quick rules). covers almost everything without changing the flavor of a monster or NPC. And "only" CR+1. Compared to 1 more level in the NPC class (also CR+1), this is quite a difference

Adding mooks
Yes, clear. Solid point.
Changing the balance of action economy, giving target priority conflicts, targeting the weak PCs to distract them from buffing the aprty and forcing the melle guys to focus on protecting the cleric/wizard.

Crowd control
Same as terrain. PCs have access, too. But generally a game changer, as this is also one of the strong options for wizard PCs. Can end a fight in 1 rd. I remember killing a bunch of 6 golems with low level pit spells.

Gear:
Yes, thats what I was looking at.
small but effective items
Big6
Mithtal Buckler +1
...

Dran

Hi everyone,

I am looking for quick "realistic" ways to improve NPCs (monsters are usually OK). Things that are within the rules, and easy to calculate. No (drastic) changes to CR. So no rebuilds, no adding levels or giving extra equipment (PCs will loot that afterwards).

So far i have come up with:

- Changing Feats
Most NPCs in the APs have a horrible selection of feats. This is unfortunately already very time consuming to do.
.Replacing power attack -> My PCs have high armor rating, NPCs cant hit with a regular attak, why bother with PA. ANd I do not want to kill my PCs, which is the only effect PA has on a PC.

- Tweak the gear
Add a +1 mithral buckler to every NPC that could need on. Replace odd gear with big 6 items. Add some potions or other single use items.

Do you have some other ideas or specific gear that is very useful for NPCs.
The obvious:
- Potion of Barkskin (+2 Natural armor, 300 GP)
- Potion of bless weapon (Auto.confirm crit! 50 GP)
- Potion of Stat(The poor NPCs equivalent of Stat Belt/Headband)

Thanks

Dran

Fellof DMs

some note on the AP so far.

- the Encounters seem to drop to lame in book 5 as my party has picked up human bane weapons and pushed their AC to mid 30s. Make sure to balance this well in your group and dont hesitate to modify the encounters accordingly.

- The Fountain of St Ilnea is quite strange. The whole dungeon is covered in Fog, but the enemies have no vision in Fog. The site is protected from all forms of teleportation, but the NPC tactics described include teleportation. I will rule this such, that forbiddance only prevents evil creatures from teleporting. And maybe handout some fogcutting lenses. Hit and run could be quite efficient, as the forbiddance can trigger several times.

- Barleybridge: The Crows are way too weak. Attack bonus of 14-18 for primary fighters (without buffs, ok.). We ara talking AC 35 PCs, so anything but a 20 will miss. A swashbuckler that relies on crits? Good lck rolling two 20s in a row. I had to modify this encounter to make it worthwile.

- The ghost dragon encounter seems over the top if you play it as written in the book. Vital Strike will be a tPK in many cases. BTW, where did you let this encounter take place? As written in the book, I think my players will return to egorin for the ritual, so the ghost will apper in the imperial palace next to Abrogail et al.?

Hi fellow DMs,

I am soon starting Part4 of the AP and would like to get some inspiration from you.

My idea is to let the Players start in Egorian as "nobodies". Their Patron Fex is dead, they have no network in Egorian, etc.

Before Sethic or Vasvion take notice of the chars, they have to do some extra work to make themselves known.
Ideas so far:

- Participate in a Pit fight
- Smaller parties/events to make contacts and apply some social skills
- Support an investigation by the Inquisition

My group is a Withch, a Barbarian, a Fighter(Archer) and a Cleric of Asmodeus. Maybe you have some more ideas what could be a challenge for each char to achieve?

Thanks in advace.

Daniel

I was happy when my group reached level 3+, as this AP is full of potential TPKs.
My progress so far:
Book 1: Almost had 1 TPK
Book 2: 1 TPK
Book 3: Almost 1 dead char, and they dodged two of the most deadly fights so far

On the other hand, experienced players go through most fights in the AP like a hot knive through butter..

Starting at Lvl 3 sounds reasonable if the players have the patience to wait till book 2 for the first time levelling up.

Daniel

I allowed my group to skip the encounters before Fort Arego, although I though about how well-known they might already be.
As I had a TPK just before storming Valor´s Fastness, it didn´t feel right to have the GR know them.
But in general, I like the idea to make the froup well-known villains that are feared and hunted by the GR.

New Questions:
- in the Dungeons of Fort Arego, there are many large creatures in small rooms. Any comments on how those fights turned out when you played them? I fear this might lead to very static encounters and loss of flavor (eg hellcats have pounce, but the room is to small to use it).

- The Funnel: How did you run this? I am thinking of the Petitioners giving aid another, although they are not really cooperating. without aid another this will just be a time-wasting slaughter of 25 CR1 enemies.

- Is there any devil able to give darkness or even greater darkness? Most devils have see in darkness, but cannot make good use of ot in the dungeons.

Daniel

OK, my fears were not relevant. My group is now at the gates of Fort Arego and they have not yet made up their minds on how to proceed with Fex.

The group now has all ritual components and they bluffed their way around the Glorious reclamation at Fort Arego so far.
There is literally no one in Fort Arego that can look beyond an undetectable alignment. Quite an interesting way to get around some of the encounters.

@KujakuDM: Thanks for your idea!

Hi fellow DMs,

I am mid-way in the AP Book 3 and fear that there will be some strugles ahead:

My group has just intercepted Fex´s message from Visperthul and they are now discussing what to do. I guess the message was way too obvious.

How can I keep them from quitting their quest and trying to directly kill fex? Why should they continue to collect unicorn horns and outsider hearts?

I also assume they will not interrupt the battle at fort arego and let Viona and the Devils just fight and watch them kill each other. Why should they intervene at all?

Any advice?

Regards!

Daniel

TPK
Jarlan, Tiefling Rogue
Adolphus, Human Wizard
Torquemada, Tiefling Warpriest

Adventure: Wrath of Thrune
Catalyst: Taking the wrong entry into Valor´s Fastness

RIP, or better: may your souls rot in agony for failing house thrune.

Anyone know if their will be follow-up scenarios like the Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts published, or are anymore Gloomspire adventures not going to happen?

Yes, this one: