Evil Finnish Chaos Beast's page

Character: Marn Dirtyape - Rogue 13/Fighter 1 and Admiral Jacques LeChiffre - Swashbuckler 5/Fighter 4/Rogue 5
Adventure: City of Broken Idols
Location: Taboo Temple 46
Catalyst: Khala the Two-Headed

The party went in light due to several no-shows. THe only other character they had was a gnome Mystic Theurge. Atacking from the balcony, they managed to pin down the baddies with a Control Winds spell from the Nimbus Bow. Khala Simply teleported into melee range and went to town. Immediately, Captain Lechiffre and Marn were Afraid and Confused. Marn, unfotunately able to act normally for a round, tumbled through Khala to set up the flank, only to realize that he couldn't escape Khala's two-headed gaze. Likewise, he quickly fond out that his ring of invisibility was useless. Without cold-iron weapons, and without their all-important sneak attack, neither could get through Khala's damage reduction.

Captain LeChiffre went down in two rounds of full attacks, even with stoneskin,and the Con drain finished him off. Marn only lasted a round.

Khala and Gregor Cledane, the gnomish mystic theurge played cat-and-mouse amound the temple's pillars for a while (he was reduced, flying, and invisible). During this time he was able to use Close Wounds to bring Marn into positives. Khala dispelled the Control WInds spell, freeing Onatali and the Skulvyns. While Gregor attacked Khala using Assay Spell Resistance and Magic Missile, Marn stood and healed himself using a wand, making himslef the prefect target for Onatali, One failed Fortitude save later he was paralyzed, the next he was coupe de graced. Finally, Gregor managed to teleport away with Marn's body, leaving Captain LeChiffre behind to be Onatali's next meal.

I felt bad about the short-handed encounter, so I had the Church of the Whirling Fury cut them a deal on True Ressurection. This would have been tough with a table full of people. One Greater Dispel Magic on the flying gnome and it would've been a TPK. Oh well, at least I next session I get to watch Captian LeCHiffre fight himself.

PC: Dunk Underwater, Darfellan Cleric 11 of the Whale Mother
Adventure: City of Broken Idols
Location: West Entrance to Taboo Temple
Catalyst: Symbol of Death

Allright y'all. Let's go around the table. Save or die.

Dunk Underwater was revivified by a timely Limited Wish.

PC: Beric Dunderian, Fighter 3/Barbarian 4/Occult Slayer 5
Adventure: City of Broken Idols
Location: Skinwalker Room
Catalyst: The second empowered fireball.

The party assaulted the skinwalkers from the rear. Marn Dirtyape, Hadozee Rogue, snuck up on the first scorceror invisibly using the slippers of spider climbing and trapped it in the hidden head. Beric Dunderian bravely blocked the corridor, slaying hordes of skinwalkers. Unfortunately, the violet fungus poison had taken its toll on him by the time the second sorceror appeared. After absorbing one empowered fireball, he decided to retreat down the corridor, but only moved 20' which left him within the second fireball's radius.

Beric declined to return to the material plane and is enjoying his reward in the Court of Stars. His player is now playing a gnome Cleric/Sorceror/Mystic Theurge who goes around flying, invisible, and reduced.

I'm worried about the disruption items that show up here and there. Vantus has a crappy will save. Is there any mojo that counters this?

PC: Marn Dirtyape, Hadozee Rogue 10/Fighter 1
Adventure: Into the Lightless Depths
Catalyst: Elder Black Pudding

Irgzid the Troglodyte insisted that the party had to move quickly through the noxious-fume-filled chamber. The ever-adventurous Marn activated his ring of invisibility and hustled across the ceiling with his slippers of spider climbing to scout out the carvern. Unfortunately, the ceiling was not high enough to put him out of reach of the gargantuan pudding, nor was his invisibility effective against the creature's blindsight. Slam, acid, grapple, constrict, acid, done.

My players had no problems whatsoever with these puzzles. They also found it cathartic to slay their fellow PCs. Room was enjoyed by all.

Character : Beric Dunderian, Fighter 3, Barbarian 2, Occult Slayer 4
Adventure : Tides of Dread
Location of Death : Farshore
Catalyst : Buffed Vrock

A fully buffed Vrock is nasty. Mirror Image? Heroism? Claw, claw, talon, talon, bite, spore, see ya.

Gwynharwyf honored Beric's rage against Vanthus by sending him back to the Material Plane for one final battle. He was subsequently raised.

After Avner's attempt to "buy" the young Olman girl, the chief demanded he be turned over to the tribe for execution and subsequent zombification. After some tense negotiation, the chief was satisfied with a fair number of lashes. THe taste of real pain changed Avner's attitude considerably. He was still just as much of a jerk, but the threats the party threw his way hd real meaning. Eventually they started feeling sorry for him and trying to reform him (you know Avner, THIS is a prime example of why everybody hates you . . .).

Avner was slain in combat with the bar-lgura's. The party subsequently spent their own money to have him raised. He has now done a personality 180 and is a loyal friend of the party, warning them of the machinations of his evil uncle Manthalay.

Character: Beric Dunderian, Barbarian 2/Fighter 4/Occult Slayer 2
Adventure: Here There Be Monsters
Location: Demogorgon's Shrine
Catalyst: Lemorian Golem

Things were going well for Beric and the Where's Vanthis Experience. The fight against the Bar-lguras had been horrible. Their damage reduction rendered the party's weapons mostly ineffectual, and the ape-demon seemed to move about the battlefield at will, dishing out trememdous damage. The cleric and wizard slung spell after spell, and they finally beat down the fiend, recuing Urol and Tavey from being burned alive in the process.

Then the statue roared to life.

The Rogue and Monk tumbled away at once, leaving Beric to be grappled and constricted. The golem's immunity to critical rendered their sneak attacks and precise strikes even less effective, while Beric was unable to escape the stony tentacles round after round. In the end, it wasn't the horrible constriction that killed him, it was the creature's corrupting touch, which sapped away at his very essence.

Most likely, Gwynharywf will send her champion back to the plains to finish his mission.

My official position is meh. I think the DI is cool. The hardest thing about playing DnD has always been finding enough people to play DnD. The point about attracting younger gamers is well made. I think this could have been handled adequately using the 3.5 rule set, but I understand Hasboro's need to make cash for the shareholders. Personally, if I didn't have people to sit around a table and BS with, I wouldn't play DnD.

When I see "streamlined" I read "easier to program" and hence "dumbed down". Maybe I'm wrong, whatever.

For me, the problem with 2nd Ed. wasn't the rule set, which was certainly terribly broken, it was the crappy products featuring poor editing and bad art. Right now a buddy of mine is running the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft and pulling his hair out trying to interpret those stupid 3/4 isometric maps. From what I understand, Demnweb Pits is worse. Maybe this is a temporary glitch because of the impending new edition, or maybe Hasboro is skimping on development in the interest of maximizing shareholder profit.

My biggest fear is that, when huge numbers of us "old cranks" don't run out and convert en masse, Hasboro will pull the OGL. Then the doo-doo will really hit the fan

I don't know if this has been has been covered already, but I have a player in my game has been creating havoc with non-creature-based conjuration spells: Web, Grease, Glitterdust, Stinking Cloud. He's the ultimate in crowd control. At higher levels he'll get Evard's Tentacles, Cloudkill, etc. None of these allow spell resistance, and he's boosted his save DCs through the roof. If you are into the conjuration thing, you might want to check out some of these.

BTW: a couple of Webs can seriously muck up a caravel.

I've always found the paladin class frustrating (especially in a recent Ravenloft campaign where I ended up in a Cloudkill at sixth level becuase a paladin in our party couldn't keep himself from getting lippy with Strahd.) No other class has such a huge benefit for such a subjective penalty. In my experience, paladins in the party have led to one of two situations: 1) paladin wastes a healthy chunck of limited playing time arguing with the DM about whether a particular action is LG, which they player wins because the DM wants the rest of the people sitting around the table to have fun too, or 2) paladin takes over control of the party by default becuase he is LG and won't do anything else. Either way, I think that tying character traits to player behavior is bad news.

That being said, I have strongly discouraged the play of paladins in my STAP because I don't want to have to slaughter the party when someone gets lippy with Iggwilv.

I agree with Kobold Lord. If I was in charge of a criminal enterprise with the resources to send an agent as far away as the Isle of Dread, I would definately have a few agents in a town as big as Sasserine. Couple of Commune spells . . . couple of Legend Lore spells . . . now I'm kidnapping your sister.

Seriously, its tough to jerk around with PCs in-session, especially when you're trying to keep things moving and there's 3-6 people staring at you. But you got to figure that anything the PCs can do, the bad guys can do, plus they got a whole criminal enterprise behind them.

If you've got time between session to plan, I'd seiously consider what havoc the Crimson Fleet could wreak on the PCs home turf. I'll admit, I've never played a character over 13th level, and I've never seen a character played over 15th level, but it seems to me that play at this level is all about maintaining a sense of urgency. Most of the really unbalancing abilities they get from prestige classes, magic items, or whatever are only usable a limited number of times per day. If they get to rest and recharge after every encounter they are invincible. Otherwise . . . ?

Thank's for the input. We're playing tomorrow, so I'll let y'all know how it goes.

I was thinking about that. From the description in Crimson Tide, I don't think his uncle would shed too many tears if Avner didn't make it, but I'd like to keep him around. My group doesn't do a whole lot of heavy role-play, but Avner's behavior is starting to shake it loose. Here's my scenario:

1. The Olman think he is trying to "buy" the girl. They want him turned over to the tribe for execution and subsequent reanimation "to serve the tribe forever." Sort of a hard-ball poetic justice thing.

2. Avner insists that he only wanted to "rent" her. Really only a difference of duration if you think about it.

3. Lavinia insists that he be judged according to the laws of Sasserine.

The players will want Avner's head, but I doubt they'll go for allowing him to be turned into undead. The diplomacy check will be to convince the chief that Avner will receive appropriate justice at the hands of the party. Then they'll have to decide if they want to cross their employer or not. The best solution for me would be to have him locked away for the rest of the voyage. That way, when the ship sinks, they'll have to decide if they'll risk their lives to save his butt, or if they'll let him go down with the ship. At lest one character is LG, so it'll be a tough call.

Anyway, does anyone know where I can find a quick and dirty reference for typical DnD law?

Yeah, I agree that that is Aver's motivation, and that's certainly the spin he'll put on it. But I know these players. "And the bandits sold the villagers into slavery," is the hook they always bite, no matter how cynical and self-motivated their characters are. They are going to be revolted. Not to mention the reaction of the snoring chief (He Who Sleeps With Sound).

Plus they really want to get rid of Avner. They've tried to get him on the Blue Nixie several times. Lavinia just keeps saying, "That's what I pay YOU for."

In the Sea Wyvern's Wake, when the expedition visits Renkrue, the NPC notes mention Avner causing trouble by attempting to buy an Olman girl. Slavery tends to set my group off, so I'm planning to play this scene up.

Since the Sea Wyvern flies the flag of Sasserine, I assume that her passengers would be subject to Sasserine law. I also assume that, since Sasserine is a NG city, that slavery is illegal. What is an appropriate penalty? What about for "attempted" slavery?

I'm playing Lavinia about as lawful as they come, so it'll be her sense of justice vs. the players' desire to hang Avner from the yardarm.

Add a bunch more Vine Horrors guarding the Thunderer. Make it so they really have to slaughter their way in, and have more NPCs die on the Sea Wyvern since thier heroes weren't there to protect them.

Don't forget about Kaskus Kiel on the Blue Nixie either. Druids can do Lesser Restoration and Bear's Endurance to boost Fortitude saves.

Alternatively, the Crimson Fleet could have more than one base. Maybe only the top dogs know where headquarters is.

I'm beefing them up slightly, too, as my group doesn't like to waste time on combats that don't challenge them. The pirates are going to be fighter/rogues with Improved Bull Rush to help with their boarding action. I'm giving Helvur another level of Rogue and changing his feat selection, and I'm adding one of the creepy Scarlet Brotherhood Monks from issue #143 for flavor.

Adventure: The Horrible Caves of Death Beneath Parrot Island
Characters: Pierre LeChiffre, Human Swashbuckler 1, Josey the Outlaw Whaler, Fighter 1
Catalyst: Hungry Zombies, Everybody uses the rapier!

Taking the bait hook-line-and-sinker, the adventurers were trapped by Vanthus in the dank caves. As they rounded a corner, hungry zombies lurched from the shadows. They attacked, but found that their piercing weapons had little effect on the undead. Pierre tried to hold the left flank. He managed to fend off one with his rapier, but another grabbed him, and before he knew it he was grappled by both zombies and taken down.

Meanwhile Josey and his companion Beric Donderian had managed to slowly stab another zombie into sumbission. Josey turned to help Pierre, and was grappled and eaten as well.

Their sacrifice was not in vain. As the zombies were busy fighting over their corpses, Beric and Ulfgar the dwarven wizard were able to sneak by and make their escape.

The party's hate of Vanthus is strong. Beric was so traumatized by the even that he now screams "Where's Vanthus" before every thrust of his rapier.

I agree. I think my players will enjoy the "Six months ago I was eating out of a garbage can in Sasserine, now the mightiest beings in the multiverse are kissing my . . ." feel of it.

Give 'em a potion of fly.

The zombies just about ate my entire party, which has now officially won the title of "Worst Party Ever"

1st level human fighter - weapon: rapier
1st level human fighter - weapon: harpoon
1st level human swashbuckler - weapon: rapier
1st level dwarven wizard - weapon: quarterstaff

I gimped the zombies by requiring them to make grappling attacks (preventable by attacks of opportunity) before they could deal any bite damage. They still managed to grapple and eat two of the characters. Now everyone carries a scimitar and a morningstar.