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A healing serum can reattach a leg, regrow a leg or some other traumatic damage? I don't think I implied it could "reattach" a leg. However, her leg was still attached when the characters arrived. Yes, her leg was mangled badly and the bone was exposed, but it was still attached. Perhaps, it was so badly damaged, a healing serum could not heal it. I just wanted to clarify what I meant.
Don't bother looking for answers, the military side of this adventure makes 0 sense. I doubt Paizo spend much thought on it. Unfortunately it appears this is the case. So many things are happening that make zero sense. Last night's game, the characters were heading to Reos City. The convoy gets attacked by one single lonely Swarm fleetfury. A massive slow moving convoy would be easy pickings. Why one fleetfury? Why not a half dozen, make the convoy lose half of it's vehicles. Maybe the fleetfury was just a scout. When they arrive at Reos City, my players can see ships coming and going. They want to leave. They could care less about Commander Najiri's rescue mission. It took veiled threats from the Commander, as well as the characters demanding some sort of compensation before they were willing go. The adventure assumes the characters will get a nights rest. But there is this massive hurry to get the priest to safety. One minute Commander Najiri is saying, "Any questions before you move out, soldiers?" the next Lt. Gorham is waking the PC's at dawn to bring them to a vehicle to begin their mission. Well... My players left immediately, they didn't wait until morning. There is a real sense of urgency to get off this planet. For the adventure to assume they would rest up before heading out just seems weird to me. The unchained gang encounter... They saw the picture of the inmate, immediately figured it out (Some were saying it was an Ambush) and didn't stop to help them. In fact they shot at them as they drove past, then they kept on going. I have a feeling I am going to have to modify the rest of this adventure for it to make sense.
I'm curious why Commander Najiri had her leg cut off when a Healing Serum could have healed her wounds. Are there in game mechanics that back up the reason why her leg was removed or was it just for the story? My players also wondered why the SDF bothered blowing up the bridge when the Swarm could have just as easily flown across the river. I get that the Dredgers can't fly, but they brought enough ships with them, that I don't see this being an issue. Plus the Vorphoma can fly across.
I read that Suskillon's aerial and orbital defenses were smashed, yet 6 months after the invasion began, Spacedock Prime-1 is attacked and crashes. Why was this or any Space Docks spared by the Swarm? Did the Swarm attack with a smaller army initially? Is this new attack the arrival of reinforcements?
Thank you for the advice everyone. I think I may run a "back at the Sea Wyvern" scenario with them playing NPCs, then award them experience based on how well they played out the scene. Thanks for the interesting idea, I wouldn't have ever considered that. At least this way I can keep things as they are in that chapter, without adding a bunch of extra encounters or side adventures.
My players have reached the Sargasso. They spent a few hours trying to figure out what was going on. The Druid in the group took a flight form and flew around to get a better idea of the Landscape. The other players tried a few different things to get the boat free. They explored the Rage, found the journal and ran as fast as they could from the 3 Assassin vines inside the boat. Eventually they all came together, and shared what they had discovered and tried to come up with a plan. Their plan? get to the heart of blackness as quickly as possible. They set out. It started to get dark. I prepared to run the Vine Horror encounters - and then the wizard cast Rope Trick. With a single spell, they slept safely avoiding the encounters. Yes, he had to cast it a second time (and he had a second one prepared). I used the down time before he recast it to attack them with one wave of Vine Horrors but that was it. So now what? What would you DM's do? I am going to have the Sea Wyvern attacked - and some passengers will go missing. But what can I do about my players? I don't want to force encounters on them, but at the same time they've just avoided quite a bit of experience.
I have stated out a version of him for those who want to use him. I don't know how much the real Jajirlok would differ, but I imagine he'd be close to this. JAJIRLOK CR 4
I think it's a neat idea. Perhaps he could give them a treasure map - that leads to a small side adventure, or are you looking to reward them with an artifact? or some other type of reward?
Same thing for our campaign. First death, and yet another point for Ripclaw PC: Lintrishi, Human Female Hexblade 3Adventure: "The Bullywug Gambit" Location: The caves of Kraken's Cove Catalyst: A critical hit from Ripclaw the Savage Deinonychus The group of 5 characters was walking through the cavern, with Lintrishi covering the rear. She failed her listen check vs. Ripclaws move silent and he managed to sneak up and bite her in the buttocks. Combat started, a few rounds later and a two critical hits, she was laying dead on the ground at -18 hp.
What if instead of DR 5/magic, I removed that and gave them Fast Healing 3. Is that equal? In my game I wanted to give each character a Legendary Weapon (instead of the 1000 gold that each character is rewarded at the end of the first adventure)This means that my characters would have +1 magic weapons. They would easily bypass the DR of the savage creatures, making them less of a threat. What do you think of the substitute? Too strong? Too weak? Just right?
I've stated out Jajirlok for those who wish to use him in The Bullywug Gambit. JAJIRLOK (CR 4)
You said they let the thief go. Wouldn't he immediately go and alert the guild to be on watch at the entrance whose location he gave away? Normally he would have, but they watched him as he walked off. However now that they have descended into the guildhall he will run off to warn the guild. I imagine the players will have an easy first few minutes until the gears start grinding. These players also let Vark and most of his crew get away. I kinda can't wait until the players see the familiar faces of those they let run away. Hopefully they will learn... if not I guess I get to re-use NPC's :)
The current Dragon Magazine Issue 351 has her Journal and a map of the Isle of Dread. I'd recommend getting it if you want the players to have something to read. Lots of info in it!
I have some observations and comments. Please correct me if I did this wrong... My players (5 of them) made it to area P3. They decided to wade out into the tunnels trying to find a way out. I had them roll balance or strength checks to keep from falling in. The Knight failed his roll, and failed his Reflex save and landed squarely on the urchins. However he did make his Fortitude saves. The players decided they were going to walk real slow and carefully. So I decided if they only moved 10 feet a round they didn't need to make checks. (Should they have?) Then they got to the deep pool near area P4. Three characters failed their swim checks and for three rounds could not get their heads above water. I won't bore anyone with the details, but after many many many swim checks the characters made it to area P4. The players looked a bit annoyed. Once in area P4, I noticed their is a secret door to area P5 - however there is no Search DC for that door printed in the magazine. I checked three times. So I allowed them to find the secret room. After they gathered the treasure (they left the copper and silver behind because it would weight too much) they started to look for a way out. The Swashbuckler took a rope tied it to the door, took his sunrod and dove into the pool - it didn't take him long to find a tunnel. He explored the tunnel to make sure it led out and then came back to the characters to explain what they needed to do. More Swim Checks. I cringed inside - as I awaited their swim checks. It took about 6 swim checks for each character - to make it to the top. (Should I have done less or more?) I forgot to mention - their is a druid in the party, she had an Orangutan for an animal companion. I had her roll a single Handle Animal check to get it to follow her (I wondered though would an animal follow a character under water?) It failed quite a few swim checks and panicked. However - in order to keep the game moving forward I allowed it to eventually get out and reach the open waters to the harbor above. They rested for a day, then decided to check out the Taxidermist . Here is how that went down - the Wizard found a place to sit in the courtyard and pretended to read a book, the Druid paced back and forth in front of the Taxidermist and kept talking about how she'd like to burn the place down (under her breath), the Hexblade went behind the taxidermist and walked around until she found a back door, the Knight and Swashbuckler went inside and looked around the first room and then started to explore the hallway when they were discovered and forced back into the lobby. Eventually things got ugly. Nemien went invisible, then made it seem as if the creatures were coming to life (the players fell for that and actually started to attack them). When they realized the animals weren't alive, Nemien made it seem as if he was escaping out the front door. They fell for that, and the druid and Swashbuckler ran out the door but couldn't find him. The Swashbuckler ran down an alley hoping to find him but what he found was two Lotus Dragon Thieves climbing up the walls. One on each side. (I allowed him to catch them in preparation for the ambush) A third thief confronted him demanding to know what he was doing, but he ran away from the thief. In short - their information gathering suddenly was getting out of control. The thieves began to open fire (in broad daylight - perhaps they wouldn't have done this). They of course were missing. After a few tense moments one thief was hit squarely in the head with a stone (from a sling) and fell off the roof. The second thief on the roof ran off, the third ran and jumped into the well. My players being smart - thought that the well was a trap and instead of chasing him, left and went to hide out at a tavern to discuss things. After several hours go by they decide to talk to Lady Vanderboren. She isn't able to provide much info about the Lotus Dragons, but she is concerned that her brother may be working with them. She ask that they bring him back (alive if they can, but if not, to be merciful when killing him). So they set off that evening... and head back to the Sunrise district. They are convinced that the well is a way out and a way in to the thieves guild. They set up post all around and wait. No one ever leaves the well, and no one ever enters it. However by luck (I was feeling nice) I allowed a thief to leave one of the abandoned buildings near the well. They captured him, interrogated him, and then let him go. (Such nice people - always letting the bad guys get away - they will learn). With the new found knowledge of one of the secret entrances they all headed down into the depths of the guildhall. Since they waited for so many hours to infiltrate it, I assumed that the guild had relaxed its guard (not to much) but enough that it wasn't on high alert... (perhaps a medium alert) :) Would the guild be on alert still (roughly 8 hours later) after the encounter with the characters earlier that morning?
My players got lucky. The Swashbuckler AC 17, and the Hexblade AC 15 both went into the Hold and killed it. It tried to attack the Swashbuckler but it missed with all of its attacks except for one pedipalp (which doesn't do any damage). It then failed its free Grapple check. (I was rolling horrible). Two rounds later, and before it could act on it's second round, it was dead. Just goes to show that no matter how deadly a fight can be... it all comes down to a die roll. Your players may get lucky like mine did. Then again they may get chewed up pretty bad.
Last week I starting DMing There is No Honor. I have four characters down in the smugglers tunnels of Parrot Island. Next week I'll pick up where we left off, but this time a 5th character (Wizard) is joining. My first thought was to have the players find him in one of the Prison Cells in the Lotus Dragon Guildhall... but that would mean he'd have to sit there for an hour or two doing nothing. My second thought was to have them find him hiding in the smugglers tunnels but I can't seem to find a reason why he'd be down there alone. Now when I started this game I made it clear that Kora was expecting 5 PC's to show up. However only 4 showed up (the 5th player couldn't make it)... and after awhile the dinner began without the 5th PC. So... how do I add this 5th PC? What is the most fun way to do it?
Well, we played this past Saturday. The fight on the Blue Nixie went ok, however the Hexblade was at -2 at one point (mainly because I got a critical hit from a crossbow). Pretty much though the group went through the entire encounter including fighting the Rhagodessa without any problems. The Iron Cobra fight did prove troublesome for them. It seemed that the Knight was the only one who could do any damage to it. The fight lasted for about 8 rounds, with the Knight and Swashbuckler both getting poisoned. On Parrot Island - the Ravenous Zombie Pirates proved to be a bit too much, and at one point the Hexblade and Swashbuckler were both laying on the ground in the negatives, with the cleric trying to turn undead and heal, while the Knight did his best to fight them back. So far they've managed to kill 7 of the zombies... a few remain. It went better then I expected, but it was still a bit tough. When our fifth character joins it should go a bit easier I hope.
I did try to talk one fighter into going the rogue route... but I think I pushed him farther away from it. Oh well... I guess they will learn the hard way. I have a 5th player who will be joining but I have no idea what he'll choose to play. I'll have to laugh if he plays a fighter-type as well. I had thought about playing a DMPC... but from what I've read here and other boards it seems that most hate them. I guess that is where a Cohort could come in handy later on... For now I guess I'll let them sleep in the bed they've made and try to make the best of it. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I'll know tomorrow. :)
I am going to be running this for my group this weekend. Right now we have 4 players, 3 of them are fighter types (swashbuckler, etc) and one is a cleric. I imagine Gather Information checks will probably be missed quite often, and it's going to suck if there are traps to overcome later on... (and forget about using Open Lock) :P Anyone else have a group with no rogues or arcane casters? What has your experience been?
When I ran this encounter, I recruited the rogue in the group. The Rogue(played by my wife)is the only female in the group. She and an NPC/PC that I run sorta have something going on... but nothing serious. (They are half brother in sister in real life - but she doesn't know that - she's a half drow, he's a half orc) Well... needless to say after all the characters had gone to their rooms (I had them each in their own rooms) I had them roll listen checks. I told those that made their checks that they heard nose coming from the rogues room, it sounded like pounding. Well the characters assumed that the NPC that I run and the rogue were having a "good ole time". But in reality, the rogue was trying to defend herself against three dopplegangers that had snuck into her room. There was a scuffle (the sound the characters heard), and she was knocked out, and replaced. Way too easy. The next night, after the characters had all gone to bed, I set into motion the plans of the "other" doppleganger. He took on the guise of the Paladin's cohort. He then came downstairs and stabbed the tavern owner. Before anyone could react he ran upstairs. Naturally this upset many of the loyal tavern patrons. The doppleganger quickly changed his appearance to that of a merchant. He claimed he saw someone running into the Paladin's room. An angry mob demanded that the cohort explain his actions. Well naturally the cohort had no idea what was going on, and the Paladin wasn't sure if he could trust the cohort at this point. Ultimately at some point (after diplomacy failed) a fight broke out. The other characters opened their doors to see what was going on, even the "replaced" rogue. Eventually the merchant/doppleganger was killed before he could escape. The patrons were shocked when he reverted to natural form. The gnome was saved from bleeding to death and the characters got a free month of free rent at the inn. Sodden Hold was a bit of fun - I purposely had the dopplegangers never attack her, and the characters didn't even notice. Ultimately she appeared in the mirrored room. They were a little shocked to see each of themselves tied to chairs. At this point the rogue positioned herself to take out the mage in the group, however he he unknowingly foiled her plan when he went invisible and moved into the room. A grand melee broke out and ended with both "rogues" declaring that they were the true one. Eventually they discovered who the real rogue was and untied her and took care of the imposter.
Good idea's guys. Some of them are pretty twisted! :) Please keep them coming! As for my players... I will be starting them off in the Crystal Mountains in an a small unknown village (I basically made it up). Allustan lived, and fled there. Here Allustan plans to create a group of heroes who will help him undo what his Last Apprentice could not stop. The characters have never even seen a spawn of Kyuss, or the other worm-filled undead creations. Their little walled village has kept them unawares of what is going on in the world. If it weren't for Allustan arriving and sharing what he knows, this village would not have a clue as to what is happening. Ultimately they will have to face what is going on. I am thinking of bringing worm filled snow or rain to this village, while the players our out on an errand. When they return they will have no home, and the people they once knew will now be spawn of Kyuss. This will force them to flee, and will help create an atmosphere of chaos and doom. I am not sure ultimately how they could stop the Age of Worms. One thing for sure is they have a daunting task before them. I would like for them to do this without too much help from the gods - however some help in the form of visions may happen. How do I undo the Age of Worms is my big question... are the players required to gather powerful artifacts spaning multiple planes? Are there other machines like the Unlife Vortex (found in issue 135) that need to be destroyed? With many lives being lost, and some priest most likely taking their own lives (and even instructing their fellow worshipers to do the same) I imagine it would take quite a toll on the other deities.
I have a group of players that are interesting in playing in a world where the Age of Worms actually happens. Obviously this means that some heroes failed and that certain individuals (Kyuss among them) are still alive, and some pretty terrifying events unfold. Let's assume that Dragotha was never killed... and a few other important NPCs. What type of events would characters expect to see? What should the world be like? More importantly how can the Age of Worms be stopped from continuing? How would you do it if you were setting up this campaign? Assume the characters will be low level (5 or lower). In my mind, I imagine their would be roaming armies of undead, led by powerful cleric's of Kyuss. We know that the sky rains worms in certain parts of the world (most likely over populated area's). Would Dragotha return to his role as a general on the battlefield? I plan to use the various "Kyuss" undead that Dungeon supplied us. I don't have much experience with epic play - obviously this would turn epic near the end. Some other questions that need answered, what nameless power helped Kyuss grow in strength, and how can "it" be stopped?
I don't think he's talking about Auric. He's saying his players may want to recruit the Trolls for the champions games (as teammates). Larry, While it might be fun having the Trolls show up to help the players, and maybe even seek revenge... It could give the players too much of a boost in power, I think. Also, how do they plan on finding these Trolls again? It would require a bit of time going out into the wild and checking all those caves. Plus while their checking the caves, they could get overwhelmed by other trolls in the area. The games are scheduled to start within a week or two once HoHR starts. That doesn't leave them much time to spare. If your players did manage to find and recruit these Trolls, how much would they pay them? What's to stop Raknian from paying them more to turn on the players? What's to stop the Trolls from turning on the characters in their desperate time of need? Trolls are generally evil and cannot be trusted. I would try to discourage them from recruiting the Trolls. Victory will seem that much sweeter if they do it on their own.
The wizard in my group took rubbings of the symbols they found, and showed them to Allustan, who then took a few days to research them and later gave them the background on the Wind Dukes.
My players made it to Bozal, and in the process of fighting him, managed to blind him for a round. He was down to 9 hit points (I had given him max hit points) so he lost his nerve and released the Ulgurstasta early. My players currently cannot enter room 28 because Bozal has an anti-life shell on. What should Bozal do? He still has Darkness avialable to him. He still has several spells up, he could cure himself. Then there is the other problem, the Ulgurstasta. Clearly it doesn't see anything to attack. So it should start attacking the ceiling. I am not quite sure how I should handle this. Would Bozal do his best to attack the players? Would he sacrifice himself and allow himself to be eaten by the Ulgurstasta? Would he cast darkness and flee into the secret passages beyond? The Ulgurstasta is pretty straight forward. It will attack the players if it sees them, if not it will do its best to burst out of its room into the Arena above. If that happens I imagine the games may very well be over. What would Raknian do if that happened?
Evening had come on the second day of the champions games. After talking to their Manager (and hearing his sad tale about his missing sister) the players decided to explore a bit. So, the five of them waited until the Coenoby was quiet, and then decided to sneak up to the service level of the Arena Understructure. Well needless to say they were discovered by two guards that were patrolling. They failed horribly at their bluff checks, and ultimately left and went back to their rooms. Half an hour later... They again sneack back up, this time, no guards. Good. The players quietly walk the halls exploring this room or that room. Eventually they end up in the Workshop (area 2). The wizard decides to cast invisibility on the Rogue and have her explore the rest of the area's, and then report back to them. The rest of them were going to wait in area 2. Well the invisible rogue, explores every single room (except the rooms where the guards are). She even explored the wine cellar, and did not find the hidden door. While she was in the wine cellar she decided to pick up two bottles of wine. As she was leaving she noticed a couple of prison cells. She walks over and decides to take a look. She notices that there is a prisoner laying in the corner of his cell in the fetal position. She says a few things to him. However, he does not respond. He is a deaf mute, and can't even hear her. She is also invisible, so he can't see her. She doesn't know he is deaf however, and continues to talk to him. She grows frustrated because he seems to be ignoring her. She opens his cell door, which causes him to look her way, but he continues laying there. She keeps talking, and offers to free him. But, again he can't hear a thing she is saying. Frustrated she places a bottle of wine next to him. His eyes grow big. He figures he is imagining things, but grabs the bottle of wine anyways. She tells him that she is going to leave the door open and he can leave whenever he wishes. She then walks down the hall toward the sleeping animals. In her mind, she believes there is a secret door in the guard room, but she can't get to it because there are guards there. She decides to wake up all of the animals, and let them out of their cages. Now imagine you are a guard. There you are with your friends, and suddenly you hear the loud roar of animals. You run to investigate. The lion is fighting the boars, the leopards are fighting each other, and the deaf mute tramp is walking down the hall with a bottle of wine in his hands. The rogue managed to sneak into the guard barracks but she didn't find any hidden rooms. However, apparently a certain prisoner was beaten badly because he let himself out of his cell, helped himself to some wine, and then in his drunken state let all of the caged animals out.
I love the Adventure Paths. I've been trying to find everything I can on AP 3. I am curious, when did work first start on AP 3? Has Wizards approved it yet? Will AP 3 begin with Dungeon 136 or will it begin a few issues beyond that?
The sphere of annhilation can be used to destroy the sphere that surrounds the Ulgurstasta in area 32 (Champions Belt see the side bar on page 60). But that is not the only way that the sphere can be destroyed... so taking away the artifact wouldn't totally ruin things for them - at least for this part of the adventure.
My group of players removed the 250 pound mirror of True Seeing and teleported with it to Eligos' Estate, at first to see if he would like to purchase it - however, the party is very suspicious of every single living creature in town... dealing with Dopplgegangers can cause paranoia I suppose. :P They want Eligos to stand in front of the mirror - to see if he is a doppleganger. Would someone of his stature be offended? Or simply comply? How should he react?
Last night was my game. We play with a few "variant rules". *Gestalt Characters
My souped up version of Zyrxog had 192 hit points! We had been in combat for a few rounds. It was the third round, and the Wizard/Warmage tosses up an Sudden Empowered Orb of Fire. It hits and does 57 points of damage. This exceeds Zyrxog's Massive Damage Threshold of 55 (25 + 2 x 15 HD), so I roll a Fortitude save. My version of Zyrxog has a +10 Fortitude save. I think to myself, I just need a 5 or higher. I roll a 3. So using the Death and Dying rules, instead of Dying when you fail your Massive Damage Threshold Fortitude save, you immediately drop to 0 Hit Points. This allowed my Cleric/Paladin who had taken the form of a Protector (spell from the Spell Compendium), to finish off the Zyrxog once and for all. Here is where I screwed up. Zyrxog should have had Fire Resistance 20. The black pillar of his provides him with energy resistance fire 20. This means Zyrxog would have only taken 37 points of damage and would NOT have had to make a Fortitude save. The battle was over in 4 rounds. I thought that it went a bit to easy... and after re-reading about Area M13 I see why. Live and Learn I guess...anyone else forget about his Fire Resistance 20?
I run a game with 3 gestalt characters. It doesn't really make your players that powerful over standard characters. They still only have so many hit points, and their AC will be your average AC. Their saves may be a couple points higher, which may make encounters with creatures that depend on abilities with a DC save a little weaker. The only true benefit is that they have a bit more utility to them. Which in all honesty can be a lot of fun. I allowed my players to mix and match any two classes that were found in the Players Handbook and the classes found in the Complete books. I ended up with a Paladin/Cleric, Wizard/Warmage, Rogue/Swashbuckler, Barbarian/Fighter. The first 3 levels are pretty deadly - gestalt or not. I am noticing their power a bit more now that they are level 9. I think that the mind flayer may show them that they aren't invincible when we play on Saturday. We'll see. :) You need to understand though... if you allow gestalt characters you will need to redo nearly every single NPC and monster so that the encounters are the correct challenge for the PC's. NPC's that have at least 2 (or more) levels of a PC class should be Gestalt as well. I boosted most monsters by 1 or 2 Hit Dice, and boosted their DC saves by 1 or 2 points. Granted I did not boost any of the monsters that are CR 1 or lower. I left them as is. You probably should as well, or it could turn out to be an early TPK.
I didn't run this as I had hopped... so it ended up being easier then it probably should have been. The first thing I did was make sure that Telakin had plenty of warning. This meant that there were only 2 invisible dopplegangers wandering around the maze for the first few rounds. Telakin used this time wisely to cast plenty of spells on himself. The second thing I tried to use against the players was the sliding mirror doors. However, the first time it happend the Rogue made her reflex save to jump through to the otherside with the Paladin who triggered it, and then proceeded to find the switch that would lower the door again. She then disabled the trap from going off. Lastly I had the players attacked by an invisible doppleganger on one side, causing them to focus their melee attacks to one front, then I surprised them with another attack in the weaker rear with another invisible doppleganger. That caused some chaos for about 2 rounds... ultimately though they mowed past this entire encounter. What I did not do, was use the dopplegangers ability to confuse the players by taking their shape. I didn't see a point since the doppleganger didn't have the same gear as the PC's.
What I did was get rid of the trapped ladder altogether, and just had a normal sturdy ladder. If you want to keep the trapped ladder, then perhaps the Doppelgangers don't use that entrance and have a secret entrance somewhere else. Or, you could use your example and have them use stacked crates. The players may even resort to stacked crates.
DM´s, lets hear how you did the PC replacement story? I will collaborate with one PC and let him play the evil part with all knowledge about the hideout. We ll play tomorrow and I ll let you know how it worked next week. My wife (who plays a rogue) and I conspired on how to make this work. When all of the characters went to their seperate rooms for the night, I had everyone roll a Listen check. This was to see if they would notice the scuffle between my wifes rogue, and the 3 dopplegangers in her room. She was knocked out and dragged away. Only one heard it and he thought the sounds he was hearing was some couple having some crazy sex in their room. (His thoughts not mine... I never said what the sound was... only that they heard some banging around) The next day - the doppelganger pretended to be the rogue and no one knew the wiser. Through the several encounters with other doppelgangers I purposely had them not attack her, and no one even noticed. When they got to area D15, they were surprised to see themselves tied to chairs. Now I had told my wife ahead of time that they may come to a room with other doppelgangers trying to impersonate the characters. I instructed her, that if the players did not believe the ruse, and if they attacked the doppelganers she was to attack the weakest member in the group. We agreed that the groups mage would make a good target. (Plus he made a huge fuss when the guards were giving them a hard time at the City Gates. He said something to the effect of, "Do you know who we are? We are the saviors of this world!") She was going to say to the mage before sneack attacking him, "Lets see if the saviors of the world bleed?" However, things did not go as planned. The mage, cast Greater Invis on himself before any combat broke out so that he could observe what was happening, and attack if necessary. Needless to say, the rogue had to attack someone else, and it didn't go so well. It was at this time I had her revert back to her character which was still tied to a chair. The whole situation kinda felt anti climatic when it happened. Also, they did something I did not expect. They didn't kill Ixiaxian, no, they tied him to a chair and tried to interrogate him. Well he didn't give them much information, just warned them that they were in over their heads and they should quit while they were still alive. The group, then starts discussing what they should do, so I had Ixiaxian turn into a halfling and slip through the ropes, at which time my wifes rogue ran to attack her, but the mage killed Ixi before my wifes rogue could reach the rogue. My wife felt a little disappointed as she wanted to be the one to kill the one who impersonated her... but she eventually got over it... I think :P
This next question isn't so much as directed at you but at the author of this installment, and the editors at Dungeon. Why is the Mind Blast ability DC so high? Shouldn't it be just DC 20? The Monster Manual 3.5 gives your basic Mind Flayer a Mind Blast with a DC 17. Mind Blast is based on Charisma. Zyrxog's Charisma is 22, which gives him a Charisma bonus of +6. This bonus of +6 is only +3 higher then the Base Mind Flayer. I'm pretty sure Zyrxog's Mind Blast DC is incorrect and should be a 20. (Not that that helps those weak willed characters)
Anyone have ideas of how to make George a nuisance? Use this chart
I live in central Ohio.
Got it yesterday in the mail. Those are Fire Giants. There are tons of giants. Regular Hill Giants, Hill Giants with character classes, 4 big dragons (one is a CR 23), The Mother Worm (a colossal carrion crawler), Fire Giants with character classes, a Gargantuan Gelatinous Cube, a marilith demon, a Frost Giant, and a new monster called RAAM - basically huge undead giant that steels away Strength (the picture for it looks pretty evil) Probably a few things I missed, but I think I got most of it. Gives you idea of what awaits the characters.
The Players handbook is pretty straight forward on what alignments can use what spells. I believe that you must decide ahead of time when making your character, if you are neutral do you lean toward evil? or good? If you lean toward evil then you rebuke undead (not turn), in which case I wouldn't have a problem with the character using the "summon undead" spell. In my campain I don't allow neutral characters to use spells with [Evil]... unless of course they plan on falling to the darkside... at which time they become an NPC.
It was originally put in there, to unlock the door leading to the Labyrinth. However, the powers that be at Dungeon decided that they didn't want to force DM's (or players) to have to run through the dungeon in a certain order. So the text explaining the keys was removed, but not the keys themselves. You can ignore it, or you can say that it unlocks the door to the Laybrinth.
I wanted to make this scene more cinematic - so I added a little stress to the situation. The players were resting in the Faceless Ones lair when they heard a roar and felt the ground shake. Then after some time they could hear stuff being torn apart (like heavy stones being tossed into walls). They made their way out to the dark Cathedral to find the Ebon Aspect standing there waiting for them. Most of the pillars had been destroyed and the elevator was destroyed. However I had the chain dangling about 20 feet above the floor. After a good fight the Ebon aspect took his final blow - as he was falling the Priest who was standing in front of the Ebon aspect saw the its face stretch and twist into that of Theldrik then, Grallak Kur, then the Faceless one before collapsing onto the ground. It was no ordinary collapse... when he hit the ground shook, the walls shook, a massive crack formed at the Ebon aspects body, travelled across the floor, up the wall across the ceiling and then a massive chunk of the ceiling came crashing into the pool of water. The clock was ticking. I gave my players 12 rounds to escape before the entire place collapsed in on itself. They made use of the rope of climbing to reach the chain and then climbed the chain the rest of the way. There were a few times when characters would fall but the priest who was on the bottom made some good uses out of a spell from the Spell Compendium that thrust the priest into the air. (Can't remember it's name) In the end... the Elf and Half Orc were standing up top trying to pull the Wizard and Priest to the top. I added further stress by saying that the bolts that were holding the spool of chain were coming lose. As soon as the Priest stepped out of the elevator shaft the entire chain and spool came lose and fell into the shaft, then the floor started to collapse. Whithin seconds the entire places was collapsing and caving in around them. I had them make 2 Reflex saves (DC 15) to avoid being trapped as walls and ceiling fell around them. I also had them each make 1 Ballance check DC 10 near the exit of the mine. The priest was knocked to the ground, but the wizard came back helped him stand up. Ultimately they made it out alive... but it really got their blood pumping trying to get out of their fast. I heard the wizard player, saying he wished he had taken levitate or fly.
I'm DMing a high powered campaign. I only have 3 players (and a DM PC). The characters are gestalt with slightly above average ability scores. Every single monster and encounter has been modified by me to be a challenge for my party. When we get to these 2 dwarves, I will have them use the dwarven war axe, it only makes sense. Their hit points and ability scores will get a boost as well. I do find it odd that the author didn't give them dwarven war axes or higher hit points, or even a higher strength score.
I run with 3 players, and I also run an NPC (I play him as an idiot, that way it forces the players to figure stuff out - he's mainly just extra muscle). If you dont want to run an NPC, perhaps you could consider using the Gestalt rules found in Unearthed Arcana. We just finished the Three Faces of Evil last night, and we are having a ton of fun. I know there are others here that are only running with 3 players as well.
I also am running this campaign with 3 players and a DM PC. I didn't have a problem with them resting in 8 hours in the Temple of Hextor, and then later on they rested again for 8 hours in the Grimlock caves. Something to remember is... These 3 factions may be working toward the same goal, but ultimately they could care less about each other. In fact if you read Theldricks journal you can see that Theldrick doesn't even trust the faceless one, and he barely trust Grallak Kur. You don't need to worry about one faction stopping over for a visit. They can go for several days without speaking to one another. I just don't think 8 hours of resting will matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. But ultimately you have to do what makes sense for you and your group. Could you explain why you don't want your group to rest when they are low on hit points and out of spells?
Before he and the pc's leave Diamond Lake (if you're having them take him at all), have him, with the pc's in tow, stop by the town garrison and have him apprise Commander Trask that he'll be out of town. Try to give them the impression that he's trusted by the local garrison. That is assuming they don't have a low opinion of the town's soldiers. I like this idea... I'll have him stop over at the Garrison and basically tell them "I am heading to Blackwall Keep on personal business, do you have any news you wish for me to deliver to them?" Thanks for the idea Tessius.
Yes, there are 8 cultist, as per this post
As for the art: we orderd a LOT of concept art for Age of Worms. The goal was to get in concept art and send it out to our authors to use as inspiration, but our timing was off. In the end, we ended up with a fair amount of cool concept art that we couldn't really use because it came in after the adventures they were for had already been written (and been published, in some cases). For AP3, I doubt we'll be going the concept art route, especially since the art we did get turned out to be so incredible and awesome as it was! How much of this concept art has made it into the magazines? Has any of the art not been show that could possibly be put out on the webpage as a web supplement? I love art. A good picture can speak a thousand words. So far the art has been wonderful as far as creating the right atmosphere.
You can find an owlbear cub (action chart) at this link
I just thought of something pretty evil. What if the Ebon Aspect decided to toss characters into the pool. Causing them to take Dexterity damage, or what if it grabbed one character and jumped into the pool and went under water until the charater died? That Grapple check just got a lot scarier >:) I don't think I could bring myself to do that to my characters... but the look on the characters face would be priceless - if your a rat bastard DM.
In 3FoE it says that the Ebon Aspect takes 10 minutes to gather its strength, and during that time, it destroys the elevator. What happens if the characters decide to leave within seconds of killing the Faceless One. What if they rush out to the Dark Cathedral before the Ebon Aspect has even risen from the pool, or what if they catch him destroying the elevator? Is he weaker if the players fight him during the first 10 minutes? Should it stay in the pool for 10 minutes gathering strength and then emerge? Should I just ignore the 10 minute rule and just assume that each time one of the cultist dies he slowly awakens a bit more and is gathering his strength with each dead cult leader? What did you guys do?
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