Griffyn Maddocks's page

1. I had the BBEG be the one who sends the carriage to get the players to start off the game, have him at the funeral leaving in that same carriage, and also have him be in Lepidstadt during the trial and talk to the players about how impressed he was with their efforts (after day 1). He then gave each of them a fine horse to use. Of course the saddles have a rune in them so that he can scry them easily. After that, I had him fade into the background and just interact with the letters. However, I only signed the letters with one A. The players were sure that A was Vroon until they found a letter on his body. :)

2. Didn't use insanity, but I may look into it as they just completed Carrion Hill and are off to book 4. I may foreshadow the start of using insanity based on horrid dreams after defeating the BBEG from Carrion Hill.

3. I agree with Kalindlara.

As an aside, I made Kendra blind. This made her much more sympathetic to the players and I used it as the reason why Lorrimar put the players in his will. She is actually an Oracle but only came into her power after the prison became unguarded. The spirits of the dead guards come to her after Lorrimar's death and granted her some ability to speak with spirits. Clouded Vision curse and Lore mystery. She sees through the eyes of spirits around her and they tell her things.

This enabled me to play up the weirdness. At one point I had her talking to the players and mid-sentence shout QUELL THE FIVE! and then complete her sentence without any memory of the incident. When the party was looking over some looted potions (early loot), I had her enter the room, stop, and ask if there were potions on the table. When they said yes guardedly, she asked if one was a Cure Light Wounds? (She identified it for them). It really played up the creep factor.

Also, her knowing things that she shouldn't is the reason why the BBEG decided that she needed to be under "protection" and brought her to Caliphas under the auspices of learning more about her condition. She is going to be the sacrifice for the end game. I may use the reason as given or I might link it to her spirit talking ability.

4. I did the fountain and it was okay. I linked the villain to the 4th book, but the party was confused with the diversion. I also used Fiddler's Lament. I changed the Piper to a Fiddler. This worked very well because of the Piper encounter in the prison. When they heard the ghostly fiddle start the first time, they panicked and ran. :)

5. I think that it was mentioned in a thread somewhere. I had the carriage meet the players at a village and during the ride I explained the countryside to them. Once they go the feel of the setting, I had them attacked by stirges. When they found them in the prison, they got concerned.

If they do not deliver all of the books, then they will forfeit their 100pp each.

"... I have also willed to each of you a sum of one hundred platinum coins. For safekeeping, I have left these funds with Embreth Daramid, one of my most trusted friends in Lepidstadt—she has been instructed to issue this payment upon the safe delivery of the borrowed tomes..."

Also, the professor is known to the players so his having these types of books should not be a surprise to any of them even if they personally find it distasteful.

I had him show up at the funeral and be introduced as an ex-apprentice of the professor. At the end of their stay in Ravengro, he sent one of his personal carriages to convey the characters and Kendra to Lepidstadt.

During book two he gave the characters horses so that they had "no impediments during the trial", but in reality the saddles are the focal point of divination spells.

I am using the letters idea linked above, but I sign the letters with only "A". At first they were sure it was Auren Vrood, but when they found another letter on his body they discovered to their dismay that they were wrong. They will find another letter on the assassin in the following book.

I like the idea that someone presented with having a Feather Token: Bird deliver some of the letters. The 300gp cost is chump-change for him.

In addition, I made Kendra blind to give the characters more of a reason to help her out. I also made her a budding Oracle who can communicate with spirits. When the spirits were released from the prison, her power started to kick in. The BBEG saw this as a threat and whisked her away to Caliphas after book 2 so that Kendra "could learn more about her condition". I am going to make her the sacrifice in the final chapter.

Too often players are given the name and/or face of their nemesis. I am enjoying the mystery of how I am running this. It is driving my players mad that there is someone who is watching them and they have no idea who it could be.

I always assumed that there were multiple *nasty* spells guarding the statue. Deadly for anyone except for a creature who is almost completely immune to magic.

Also, it is possible that the statue was inert until it was reconsecrated, brought within range of an altar and/or believers, etc.

As long as the trouble is coming from Vorkstag, you should be okay. Keep in mind that AV needed the beast, so framing him would be counterproductive.

Also, having Kendra as a PC will definitely drive the story forward as she should be motivated to track down the responsible party(ies).

You can always adjust her level or even her class as it suits you. There's no plot reason for her class that I saw. I modified her to make more of a sympathetic draw for the players and to provide a potential replacement. I made her a blind Oracle just coming into her powers along with spirit sight as a result of recent events.

As an NPC, I will use her instead of the kidnap victim in book 5/6.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out. Now I think that it'll be a fun and memorable encounter for the players. I'm really glad that I reached out for help.

I just wanted to report that my players got to the final battle in our last session and it worked out very well. I let the player running the Bondslave run The Beast and had the AP focus on killing his brother first. So as I was calling out the damage inflicted on The Beast, the players were very uneasy.

It was over in just a few rounds. The Paladin activated the Goat of Terror and attacked with the +5 Longsword. She hit three times in two rounds, confirmed a critical twice, and then rolled near max damage. Add to that The Beast with his Power Attack...

So, thanks again for the help. It was truly a memorable fight.

For reference, the five PCs were hasted, one was a druid in tiger form, the wizard had six augmented lantern archons (mobile laser batteries that ignore DR and hit touch-ac) and the inquisitor liked fire spells... and everyone was getting the bard's song. It went somewhat quickly.

With the low touch AC of the AP (8), the Lantern Archons would be enough on their own. With no other buffs, that's 9-10d6 per round!

Yeah, I'd say the Beast's job here is to bring a (supposedly) superpowered monster down to a more APL appropriate challenge, not to just solve the fight for the PCs.

When you add in Power Attack, it ends up pretty even between The Beast and the AP. The players tip it well in The Beast's favor and most player groups would not be able to handle the AP on their own. It works out really well.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out. Now I think that it'll be a fun and memorable encounter for the players. I'm really glad that I reached out for help.

What im doing is a d2 plus one days so it make it happen sooner and still keeping Veriseranna as Splattermans Target so that makes things go alot faster but still keeps them at a pace that the players can do things

I'm definitely going to keep her as the target. I hadn't fully considered the ramifications of changing that. I might do the same as you, or I might keep the original randomness (1d4+1 days) and use a shorter name for the Warden's wife. Both bring down the overall time limit, I'm just not sure 1d2+1 would do with the tracking down of Gibs. Once I plot out the other town encounters, it should be evident as to which one will work better. And I can also just change things on the fly as it suits me. :)

and this is a DM thread so you dont need to spoiler things

Thanks. Reading the thread I wasn't sure so I opted for the tags on my first post. I'd rather be told that they weren't needed than spoil something for someone.

-Griffyn

I will be starting this AP soon and here are the changes that I intend to make. I would love to hear opinions on these changes.

The party will consist of a Paladin, a Sorcerer, a Cleric, a Rogue, and an Inquisitor (races, gods, etc. to be finalized soon).