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I'm planning a campaign where the player-characters lived in an isolated community inside an ancient fortress on a plateau, and they're thrust into the adventure when eroded supports in the depths of the plateau (actually an ancient, long-since forgotten, 20+ story tall crypt)give way and a massive sinkhole swallows a festival.

The party consists of the survivors of the fall. There's no way back up, and they'll have to find their way past the various creatures that have made their homes in the crypt between the party and the entrance (their exit).

There's no undead in this crypt. It's a custom setting where necromancy is all but forgotten, so it's a big deal later in the campaign when the dead start rising.

Creatures they encounter will include Rats, a Rat swarm, Fire Beetles, a Giant Black Widow spider, a Rust Monster, and a Gelatinous Cube. The party may try to fight everything, but they also have the options to try to out-wit or out-maneuver these creatures.

There will be a few traps, mostly on the caskets of royals, since these crypts were originally visited, but there were precautions to prevent tomb robbing.

I really like the idea of the party making what they need out of what's there, but so far the only thing I've come up with is the lighting being Lantern Staffs, giving them access to replacement weapons, and to fire-damage.

I also plan for there to be a few unique items in the crypt for them to acquire, that will have large payoffs later if they keep them (such as a Flaming Burst +3 Longsword that deals its fire damage to the wielder every round if the wielder isn't of the correct bloodline, carrying the sword in its sheath would not have a penalty).

Thoughts?

Suggestions?

At the center of the demiplane is a comfortable log house, a grassy clearing, and a large freshwater pond with a short dock and a rowboat tethered to it. Around the clearing sparsely spaced deciduous trees. There are also scattered berry bushes that are always producing berries.

It's permanently a cool, late-summer night, but the ground is dimly lit by glowing flowers, and by stars above. It's positive-energy aligned causing injuries to heal more quickly, and time in the demiplane flows at twice the speed of the material plane. It is a permanent demiplane whose boundaries loop back on itself into an endless forest.

This happens because you're using d20pfsrd, which has to change the names of game material that includes world-specific names. The trait you're looking for is Nightstalls Escapee. ^_^

Thank you! I wasn't aware of the reason for the difference.

Many Thanks! I have it bookmarked now.

Joshua029 wrote:

The Raven Black wrote:

I like the story very much :-)

Still ..

Spells that create Undead are Evil and almost every undead (even intelligent ones) are Evil. It will be incredibly complicated for the Lich to make sure none of its creations, especially intelligent ones, follow its Evil nature. Doubly so since he himself is now Chaotic

Don't undead have the alignment of their creator? Meaning they're evil because an evil person made them? So if a good-aligned person made intelligent undead of a willing recently-deceased good-aligned person, wouldn't the subsequent undead retain its good alignment?

No, undead are evil in Pathfinder, with the occasional exception of ghosts. Sometimes intelligent undead are redeemed, but the transformation process of becoming undead changes your alignment to evil.

Technically there aren't "good" Liches either, but the premise is a unique circumstance where one does exist. In this case, what makes the creation of undead evil? If it is a good-aligned character cramming a willing person's essence back into their own body so they can protect their living loved ones under their own free will, why would their natures automatically become evil?

Is it like the dark side of the Force in Star Wars? Even some Jedi use the dark side as part of a greater understanding of the Force. I think what is actually being done and what it is being used for would have an affect on what alignment of undead is created. If the process doesn't involve any sort of pact with an evil being, and doesn't require a blood sacrifice or some other overtly evil act, and isn't being used to bring harm/destruction to any innocents, why would the spell itself be considered evil.

Chaotic Good Lich King trying to atone, huh? Where have I heard of this one before...?

O_o??

Never seen it (not a Tim Burton fan), and I don't see how this compares to what I proposed.

Please provide USEFUL feedback.

I'm new to GMing, and this is one of the NPCs I've come up with as a potential quest-giver for the party. Please give me feedback regarding your thoughts as a GM or as a player encountering such a character.

His backstory is that he was once Lawful Evil, and used his undead hoards to conquer the continent, training other Necromancers to extend his influence even further. At least this was his trajectory until he tried his hand at a Deck of Many Things, his first draw being Balance.

But before he can attempt to do anything to begin making amends, a band of heroes bursts into his chamber and bind him inside a gem to contain his influence while they go out to search for his phylactery to kill him once and for all.

Without his leadership, the legions of the dead are defeated, and his lieutenants are driven deep into the Underdark, and the surface world returns to a semblance of normalcy.

The heroes never find his phylactory, and he remains bound in the gem for centuries until a young band of adventurers unwittingly stumble across his tower, and they fight their way through the various creatures that have used the stone shell of a building to make their lairs, eventually coming to the top floor, where ultimately the Lich is released, who tries to convince them that he needs them to help undo some of the wrongs he's committed, eventually building up to hunting down the phylacteries of his former Lieutenants so they can be permanently killed.

Additional Question: What if this Lich created new undead, but now they exist to protect the living from his previous creations? I'm imagining a deal being struck (first with remote towns) where they give their dead and dying to him, and he transforms them into intelligent undead, retaining their own minds, and given arms and armor to defend the living forevermore. So whatever towns agree to his bargain will be protected by a gradually growing number of knights in full plate armor from the dangers of the wild.
(the undead are skeletal as to not produce foul odors from decaying flesh, and they're wrapped in linen to provide some padding and make the armor fit properly, and they're in full-plate to hide the fact that they are undead)

The Bardic Magnum Opus: This is a large, leather-bound songbook, with panpipes set into the front cover. Placing one hand on a page or singing one stanza of one of the songs contained causes the pan-pipes to play the rest of the song, causing the related magical affects as if a Bard of the user's character-level were performing it.(Full-Round action)

If a Bard is in possession of the Bardic Magnum Opus, the Bard may cause the book to make one Bardic Performance, while the Bard holding the book makes another simultaneously, with the effects of both Bardic Performances applying.

Regarding the intelligence, The Bard who made it poured so much of his power into the book (along with help from a Sorcerer) that the book began to exhibit a personality that was a duplicate of his own. This usually only manifests when the wielder is asleep with the book in his/her possession, in which case their dreams are interrupted by the Bard, who may be talked to, though he seems more interested in learning about the person holding his book than in giving information.

If an Evil creature holds the book, it reverses the intended effects of songs coaxed out of it, buffing enemies, and harming the evil creature's allies, depending on the song.

(I put it as the prize at the end of a story arc for my first campaign, but the party didn't make it there.)

Spectral Hand, Aboleth's Lung, in the desert.

This should function as Suffocate since the opponent can't breathe air anymore, and isn't benefiting from any air in their lungs. And you can cast this combo long before you gain access to the actual Suffocate spell.

I use an online translator to translate words into obscure languages, and when I find one that I like the sound of, I write it down for later use.