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Anyone know why the Mother of Flies is only a cr 14 with 14 levels of sorcerer and the green hag racial template? I feel like I’m missing something.

I "usually" have more monsters than I need especially with the template options. But interesting NPC builds take time and I tend to run urban campaigns where they come up quite often. I can never get enough of those although I do like building them myself but quite often I don't have the time during prep.

Voted in the poll and interested in the results.

Don't forget about terrain and the ways your NPC's can alter it.
Jump on a table +1 for high ground
Throw downs caltrops before your PC's enter a room since there was a large number of them and he NPC's heard them coming
Entangle, Stone Call and Illusionary Terrain.
Use bottle necks like hallways and narrow passages to your advantage and limit the number of PC's that can engage from one direction.
Surprise rounds! (for you of course)

Thanks for the replies. I am "stuck" with it. Part of the randomness our GM likes to have in character creation.

I like the idea of See invisibility and Shield which are both spells I picked and are personal so could be useful to some of the other party members.

I'll loan it to our Shaman. I'll use it to bribe my way into the group. She could use both spells.

I would go easy on them if I realize I made a mistake partway through an encounter. I once knocked down a large water elemental to medium hp and adjusted the CR accordingly for XP when I realized that the corner I backed the PC's into gave them no chance to escape and conditions where I could simply pick them off one at a time.

For me dice rolls are a different matter and part of the game. The failure due to chance is no different than a PC winning a high CR encounter with a SoS spell.

So my slayer in a Reign of Winter campaign bit the dust and because he got cocky about being unkillable after the party cleric raised him the last time he died, Torag has refused to raise him again.

As a consequence I have a level 13 fey/elemental crossblooded sorcerer coming into the campaign. With how are GM does starting equipment for new characters at these levels, he has a minor ring of spell storing. My GM thinks this is a good fit for my spell caster but I don't see it.

What could I possibly use this for except to put spell into it and hand it out to party members each day so they could use it. I understand it's a few levels of spells I could put into it for the next day if I don't use all my spells but that seems like fairly limited use. I have a fair number of spell slots and don't think I'll be running out on a regular basis.

I do have the option of selling for half price but am wondering if there are other options to make this more useful for a spontaneous caster. Buying scrolls and putting them into the ring? Seems kinda costly and redundant although it does save on action economy.

Any advice is welcome. Sell? Use for extra slots? Something else?

Would a ghost's

Corrupting Touch (Su)
All ghosts gain this incorporeal touch attack. By passing part of its incorporeal body through a foe’s body as a standard action, the ghost inflicts a number of d6s equal to its CR in damage. This damage is not negative energy—it manifests in the form of physical wounds and aches from supernatural aging. Creatures immune to magical aging are immune to this damage, but otherwise the damage bypasses all forms of damage reduction. A Fortitude save halves the damage inflicted.

affect a devil at all. I'm guessing not since devils don't age but I couldn't find an actual source to confirm this.

So what would Eccardian do if he managed to gain control of Westcrown and Aberian fled? What kind of policies would he enact as new mayor if he was allowed to rule by Abrogail?

I see a large tax increase (to help repair some of the damage from his devil army0 that would never quite be enough as it always seemed to find its way to dad's (Mammon's) coffers. Maybe upping the rate of excruciations in an attempt to prevent another rebellion/sedition by would be heroes.

Similarly trying to use the Order of the Rack to reinterpret the events surrounding the former Mayor's rule and subsequent removal of office by a "man of the people." (This one is probably beyond the scope of office)

I had campaign come to an end before the end of book 6 (completed four books but switch the order of Infernal Syndrome and Mother of Flies). So while my players ended the shadow curse Eccardian was left to enact his plan of control of the city. I am now planning picking up a campaign in Westcrown 10 years later (after the Glorious Reclamation) and was wondering if Eccardian managed to survive (went into hiding is my thought) and get reinstated after the Rebellion was put down, what would Westcrown look like?

You might consider picking up the first volume of Tyrant's Grasp, then, for more inspiration or info, since this adventure kinda uses the exact same hook.

I also considered myself ninja'd on the idea and suggestion taken!!

All sorts of strange things (and thus, interesting potential story or adventure plots) can happen when things start tinkering/meddling with the River of Souls. In a case like this, where someone opens a portal that diverts souls elsewhere... having them all turn into ghosts or wraiths or some brand new type of undead might happen. Or the souls might turn into haunts. Or they might just vanish in blasts of positive energy. Or they might be forced to reincarnate, either into newborn babies or into fully grown bodies, with their memories of their past lives fully intact.

That's just a few potential ideas. We specifically don't nail all these possibilities down in print BECAUSE we want to give you and us room to come up with new story ideas like these.

Thanks James! That is exactly what I wanted to hear, I just didn't want to break any established continuity. Looks like my next campaign is starting in the Boneyard after my PC's have already died... with a second lease on life so to speak.

I'm pretty sure there's a line in Planar Adventurers that souls who have not yet been judged aren't petitioners yet, and don't have a body that spells or physical things can interact with. Only special abilities on soul hunting monsters or probably psychopomps can do anything to them.

I believe you are correct. However I was wondering what would happen if someone died, was shuffling forward in line with all the other souls as they made their way through the Boneyard and say a Gate opened up beside them (say a wizard was travelling there using a gate spell) and then one or more of those souls wandered through the gate back to the material plane before it closed.

Would they appear as spirits? Ghosts possibly (although from my reading that doesn't seem to fit) or is there another template or creature this would fall under?

Sorry if this has been asked and answered and I also feel like this may have been mentioned in one of the books but I was unable to find it in my re-skimming of of the AP.

But what would happen if Barzillai’s heart was stolen from the soul anchor before he died? Would it prevent the transformation? Kill him?

The former would be my inclination while the latter seems unlikely but does anyone else have any thoughts?

So while researching through Planar Adventures and such I wondered what would happen to a person's soul if they had died, were standing inline waiting to be judged and then found a way to be teleported or travel back to the material plane without reuniting with their original body?

Determined travelers who overcome the Boneyard’s systems for preventing accidental egress can also traverse the length of the Spire itself, a massive rock face riddled with yawning archways that lead into spiraling tunnels and staircases.

So what exactly besides maybe the Psychopomps are the systems for preventing accidental egress? And is this a work around to having someone returned back to "life" without the traditional raise dead or resurrection? And what happens to the persons original body if this was to work?

My players got to Gristledown before Scarnvious but couldn’t convince Korvus to abandoned the camp (poor diplomacy roll) but he did offer to accept the refugees from their temporary camp into his own. Needless to say by the time they got back to combine the two camps, Svarvinious had been there.

It worked out well because my players saw the loggers as stronger allies to add to the group and realized the reason Korvus didn’t leave was because they bombed their diplomacy roll and not because I railroaded the encounter.

They liked Korvus too so the fact that they missed saving them by 2 days made them even more pissed at the hobgoblins.

So I'm a couple sessions in with my group who just came across Gristledown as the first clue that the Legion finally followed them across the river after they destroyed the bridge. I was preparing to start dropping hints of the pursuit of the refugee but noticed a minor nitpick.

In the Centaur encounter I noticed that the note he carries is supposedly in Common and no one in the trog lair can read it. Or converse with any of the emissaries that Scarvinious sends out to make contact for that matter, making negotiations tough.

Is this a hand wave or an oversight on Scarvinious' part or needs to be adjusted? And if so did anybody else account for this?

I've decided to attempt a rebuild of Eccardian more specific to my campaign and vision of him as the BBEG. My campaign is probably 75/25 split between roleplay and combat so I was trying to reflect that. We are just about to finish Book 1 and Eccardian (and Vassindio for that matter) are about to make their first on screen appearances before the start of the next book.

While I really like Raynulf's idea of a mesmerist I know nothing of the class and feel like I would botch the build even worse than this might be. I'm going for a Kilgrave from Netflix's Jessica Jones feel if anyone has seen that. Anyways any critique/suggestions will not be taken personally but be greatly appreciated. I haven't GM'd in 20+ years and am still trying to get back into it but this build kind of specific to my PC's group. (Summoner, Rogue, Fighter Cleric, Fighter)

Wish I had read this two months ago...

My party has currently JOINED UP with Ilnerik and Ecarrdian, so I'm in real uncharted territory, watching the PCs turn to Evil.

Ecarrdian was successful in releasing Liebdaga and doing a deal with him to stage a public dual in which Ecarrdian "banished" the devil and saved the city. So right now the Golden Scion is on top of the world, and the PCs actually WANT him to succeed and stick it to the man.

So... I might be leaning on your wisdom here to chart the way ahead.

Honestly that sounds awesome. I like it when things go sideways. It makes me feel like I'm playing along with my players instead of just telling my players the story. IMHO We should all just write a novel if that's what we are trying to do.

Also you could readjust things with Chammady in that she finds out about and doesn't like the contract that Eccardian signed. This could turn her into an enemy of Eccardian quicker, a rival for control of the council as her birthright, and possibly more sympathetic and an ally of your PC's. Lots of possibilities in it degenerating into gang warfare between the loyalists and the rebels and Chammady maybe offering the PC's a better deal in securing positions of power within the city and council if the PC's help her instead of Eccardian.

Thread rez but I am in the middle of largely rewriting the AP for a small group I am running it for and decided to rebuild Eccardian for sure and possibly Chammady if I get inspired.

I like Raynulf’s idea of making Eccardian a mesmerist but am not comfortable with the class to build a memorable and fitting BBEG to cap off 6 books. With that being said I think I can achieve similar results with a enchanter build with some kind of dip into fighter or rogue to add some melee kick.

I’m going for a Kilgrave from Netflix’s Jessica Jones as a comparison. More about psychological warfare than a hack and slash threat. I feel this matches my vision of a Eccardian as a background manipulator.

Ilnerik is certainly a cipher since he is pretty much an end boss to fight the PCs. Since he has the McGuffin there really isn't any other outcome than a boss fight.

Yeah I still see a confrontation with Ilnerik happening but I am going to have him taking up residence in Delvehaven until the PC's show up to clear it out. It will allow me to give him some face time with the PC's but I may have him flee with a hostage in tow and a fight becomes more inevitable. I have reframed the purpose of the Children of Westcrown to take down the Shadowcurse but plan on revealing that as Chammy and Eccardian's plan to eliminate an ally of Vassindio and the present council causing the PC's feeling of betrayal and being used. Hopefully tis will be the big Keyser Soze reveal and the reason to take down the pair.

I can post a Mesmerist version of him this weekend. :-)

Any particular tactics he should focus on?

Are there any archetypes you'd like to see.

Mind control is my primary vision for him. I have a group that has husband and wife characters and if they both make it there I have an idea to have him dominate one to take out the other. He would then leave the survivor to deal with the torture of knowing they killed the love of their life. You know, sick stuff like that. I see him as physically able to fight but he would consider it beneath him and more entertaining and a power trip to make others do it for him. The ultimate sociopath.

Think Killgrave from Netflix Jessica Jones if you have seen that.

And thank you!!

What level were you thinking for him.

Lvl 15ish...I'm a ways out from the final battle but so it might need to be adjusted but since he has 14 levels in the published version I think that's a good place to start.

I’m looking for advice on adjusting Eccardian’s build which seems to have a consensus that it may be a little anti climatic and underwhelming.

I liked a suggestion of making him a mesmerist but admittedly know next to nothing of the class or more importantly how to make an effective build of that class. I like the theme of having him being a more subtle manipulative type character and the mesmerist suggestion also has made me think of an enchanter with a dip into rogue or fighter to add something to a final confrontation.

So my question is would the enchanter be as effective or would it be worth it to wrap my head around the mesmerist? And does anyone have a 15~18 build that would fit and would be willing to share?

Thanks in advance.

With the defeat of the Bastards of Erebus, the PCs have put the name of the Children of Westcrown on the map. With this fame draws attention, both wanted and otherwise; While heroes to many of the people of Crua, the Children of Westcrown draw the attention of criminals, overzealous Hellknights seeking vengeance... And Chammady Drovenge, who approaches the group with a proposition.

The noblewoman claims to have access to information both on the Council of Thieves and about the source of the shadow curse which could prove instrumental in defeating it and liberating Westcrown from the nightly horrors... But needs partners in order to acquire the last pieces of the puzzle, and wants to be sure that the "Children of Westcrown" possess the skill and courage that rumor claims they do before she is willing to commit to an alliance.

I'm getting back into the GM seat after decades off and have been leaning heavily on your write up. I have decided to intro Vassindio, Eccardian and Chammady earlier as well in order to add some drama and intrigue into the campaign. I have Vassindio and Eccardian's introduction covered and was going to intro Chammady at the cornucopia but I really like the idea of her as the contact for the heist.

I had a hard time with Ilnerik choosing the side he does in the published adventure and have decided to switch it up. In my Westcrown he has aligned with the council and has taken up residence in Delvehaven. While he has been left to do as he pleases since the alliance with the council 30+ years earlier, and Vassindio is the age he is, I find it hard to believe that as an ageless power broker in the city he wouldn't simply wait for the power vacuum to occur once Vassindio finally kicks the bucket. I guess the published alliance could work if he thought he could exert control over the council once Vassindio died but that's not how it was presented or how I see Ilnerik's and Vassindio's relationship playing out.

So with that said Ilnerik in my Westcrown is in Vassindio's camp and that puts him as a road block to Chammady's plans. Which makes it perfectly logical to me that she needs access to Delvehaven and some cannon fodder to aid in the removal of some of the council's allies.

I can't tell you how many of your ideas I have "borrowed" and have really leaned heavily on your write up in aiding me to get back in the big chair.