I made some changes to the final section. For one, I moved the Shrike Worms into the mist around the asylum. Which is good that I planned that, because as the party was moving through the mist TO the asylum, one of the party asked "Wait, weren't there horrible things in this mist?" Yes, yes there were.
The party actually really enjoyed moving through the asylum as it existed before they altered it. When they realized the state it was in they commented "We can fix all our past mistakes! Don't help the doppelgangers! Don't heal the enemy. DON'T TRUST THE DOG!" They also joked that the weird eye, which they found as loot in the first book and the party witch STILL had, would transform into the final boss.
Next I reskinned the Bythos Archon to being The Tatterman. Renamed its abilities to something Tatterman appropriate, but didn't actually change them at all. The group seemed to like facing it down. After he was defeated, he collapsed into a mist that started to enter their sleeping alternate selves. The party slayer immediately went to wake himself up, and then the party got to witness themselves starting their adventure.
At the tower I had moved the Brairstone Witch down to the second level, and moved the level 14 cleric to the top with Lowls. Then I changed the cleric into Weiralei, the Denizen of Leng that has been plaguing the party, though kept her a level 14 cleric. I figured it would be more thematic for the last fight to include someone they knew rather than a witch they'd never really interacted with.
I though they'd fight the witch-lich and the cultist rogues as they went up the tower. They did not.
As soon as I finished the initial box text for the tower, the group decided to just fly up to the roof ><. Just in case this happened, I prepared two hand outs. One that showed the entire map that the party would see as they flew. The other was that map superimposed over a complete Yellow Sign. I was thrilled that as I showed the group the first handout followed by the second the group witch said "Hey, that kinda looks like a... DAMMIT!" The witch and the bard then proceeded to miserably fail their saves.
So the group lands of the roof, I read the description, show them the enemies, start playing "The Final Countdown" on the Roll20 music player, and the fight starts. The party witch blasts her own party with Storm Bolts, and the Bard starts buffing the bad guys. The Cleric gets the dominate off the Witch, and the Slayer shoots the bard down. Then Lowls finished the bard off (and I send the bard a handout with the Seeded Creature template and tell her she gets up in 6 rounds.) A few rounds later, the cultist rogues and the Briarstone Witch join the party.
It was really touch and go, and a few more party members almost died, their cleric barely keeping everyone up. But at the end the party prevailed! And the bard stood up just as the fight ended. She used her insanely high bard bluff to convince the party that it was totally her Vampire Corruption that was the reason she wasn't dead.
Then they summoned some angels to hand over the Necronomicon, which surprised me, since the party witch had already fallen to Chaotic Evil through her Accused Corruption and I thought there was no way she'd give that book up. But it was actually her idea, she didn't trust herself with it.
So the party Interplanetary Teleported back to Golarion and went their separate ways. The cleric sold off all his gear and built a temple to Shelyn in Thrushmoor where he stayed for the rest of his life. The Fighter went home to his 3 wives and 9 kids in Absolam. The changeling witch went to hunt down and kill her mother, then fell to her corruption and became a hag herself. The bard eventually became the new host for Xhamen-Dor. And the Slayer, possessed by the ghost of Upianshe, dedicated the rest of his life to hunting down and slaying the bard.
It was a wild ride and a great adventure! Much appreciating to the writers and to other people on this board for great ideas in running it! Everyone had a blast! Though as exhausting as running campaigns can be leaves me glad its over, I'm also sad that it's over.
I stole the idea as well, though I never told my players. Just mentioned the slightest hint of vinegar in the temple of the missing cleric, and once they found the penanggalen and the manananggal they made that conclusion.
A little background information on this one. The cleric in the party I GM for is a horn dog. If it is female, or a particularly good looking dude, he hits on it. ANYTHING. Humans, non-humans, gnolls, ash giants, a ghost, a night hag, an otyugh, ANYTHING. He makes a serious effort to have sex damn near constantly.
So in book 6, Black Stars Beckon, he finally meets a beautiful woman who seems to be receptive to his efforts. She is naked in a bathtub, covered in bubbles, beckoning to join her with a huge smile. In a Carcosa Nexus with the decadence influence. He isn't even trying to fight it, and heads right over to her.
She, of course, is an undead Sayona Antipaladin. With a +7 initiative modifier, two claws and a bite attack, plus bleed and paralysis, Smite Good, and blood drain.
She crits.
Twice.
She didn't kill him outright, but came real close. Luckily the rest of the party heard his strangled cry before the paralysis took complete hold, and saved him as he stood there paralyzed for the maximum time.
The cleric survived, but has since, finally, realized that he should be listening to the brain in his head and not the one in his pants.
In case anyone was curious, the players dealt with this last session. As expected, they wanted to sell it. I had them meet up with an extremely shady, creepy individual who expressed an interest in buying the Graveknight, who gave them an offer of 20,000 gold from which to begin negotiating. Instead of bargaining, the fighter just said 'SOLD!', handed over the regenerating corpse in armor, and went to go buy some diamonds big enough to use as spell components.
Maybe sending the lowest WIS and INT character to the market wasn't the parties best move, but none of them wanted to touch the armor.
Immediately after the sale the party will be enacting an occult ritual which will transport them from Golarion to a planet in another galaxy. So they aren't really going to be around to deal with the repercussions of their actions. So all advice involving repercussions are pretty much moot.
They'll be back eventually, but only if they manage to kill a god.
the graveknight can escape kill and raise the entire planet and then teleport the planet to that which the party is on and wage war on them :)
Yeah sure, maybe. But the question isn't 'What will happen if the party sells a graveknight,' it's 'How much money do you think a party could get for selling a graveknight.'
Immediately after the sale the party will be enacting an occult ritual which will transport them from Golarion to a planet in another galaxy. So they aren't really going to be around to deal with the repercussions of their actions. So all advice involving repercussions are pretty much moot.
They'll be back eventually, but only if they manage to kill a god.
None of the characters who I think would be on board with the sale are classes where their alignment matters. If they were divine classes, most of them probably would have lost class abilities loooong since. Especially Slayer "Come on guys, let's hear the Heresy Devil out" McArcher, and Fireball "Halfway through reading the actual Necronomicon" Witchington.
Though good points on the inherent danger of it possibly making it less valuable than just the value of its magical armor. And while the party does have contacts and access to a major trading hub, they don't have time to go adventuring around to find a buyer, since they do have a world ending apocolyse looming that they need to take care of as soon as possible.
My Skull and Shackles group successfully "adopted" two parrots, one tidepool dragon, three will-o-wisps, a malenti sahaugin, and a cluster of cannibal bleachlings. Sadly we couldn't get the aboleth to join us, though he was talked around into at least a non-hostile associate.
Pretty much anything we encountered that had an INT score we attempted to recruit with a "Have you ever considered piracy?"
Well, you can keep leveling as a Gingerbread witch and still be good, just because you get Cook People doesn't mean you have to use it. Just having the ability isn't an evil act, using it is.
It will just be there, waiting, tempting you with delicious cookies.
For cook people is says right in the hex: "Using this hex or knowingly eating its food is an evil act"
So if you take Gingerbread Witch and are NG, then you are effectively losing your 10th level hex, since you can't use it. Unless you want to turn evil. It's definitely an archetype that was designed to be used on an evil character, or at the very least a neutral one.
Haven't you heard the saying, "Come to the dark side, we have cookies."
Because the Fighter dropped the NPC before the Slayer dropped the assassin (his vorpal sword went snicker-snack), and with the NPC dead, there was no more deal to break.
The player has also read through the adventure path books and uses that knowledge to meta-game at critical points that are supposed to challenge the group, but otherwise largely stays out of the RP.
But that line right there? No. Now this may change group by group, but the second I found out a player had read an AP I was going to run, that player could no longer participate in that AP (which might lead to running a different AP instead/whole bunch of other possible solutions). Regardless, that player CAN NOT participate in that AP anymore, full stop.
It definitely changes group by group, but more importantly player by player. I have a player in my game that has read the AP, but not once has he metagamed with any of that knowledge, even when it would be extremely advantageous to do so. But it takes a mature player and a dedicated roleplayer to pull that off, and the guy the OP is having trouble with isn't either of those. From his actions is obvious he doesn't even want RP, he just wants to win, regardless if it ruins the game for everyone else.
Did the poisoner confess to the poisoning?
Id the alchemist and his son with you and able to identify the poisoner?
The poisoner is threatening murder?
Then hold a very quick trial. Like 10-15 minutes. Establish guilt, other party members around to be jury, and when she'd found guilty, sentence her to death. Then it's not murder, it's justice.
For the aquatic part: a water container. Also, octopus can survive a certain amount of time out of water (depending on the specie, from 10 minutes to a full day). I will be ruling it as holding its breath.
In a desert?
In a desert so dry and harsh that it's not even fully mapped?
I'm not so much concerned about it holding it's breath as I am about it shriveling up like the worlds most unappetizing raisin.
Personally I think having the party being weirder than the things it faces takes a bit away from the whole Lovecraftian aspect of the AP, but if you don't care much about that and want a more lighthearted campaign, then you do you, and have fun with it.
Grievance: I want to waste the last half hour at work playing with sound effects in Roll20 for the game I GM, but one of my players is actually in the game working on their macros so I can't, because if they heard the sound effects they might get a clue as to what horrifying death awaits them.
My husband tells a lot of excellent stories about times he's GMed. My favorite is when the group he was GMing for had a paladin whose player wasn't the sharpest bulb.
On one occasion the party was under attack by a bunch of skeletons. An absolute hoard of them. Survival is iffy at best. The paladin had a ring of three wishes with one wish left. He gets the bright idea to use the ring to defeat the skeletons. So as the skeletons close in he hefts the ring high and says,
I never gave my players any hint that there was a third stela. I did however, give them access to the Thrushmoor map.
They determined, with no prompting, that the distance from Stela A to Stela B was exactly the same as the distance from Stela A to Iris Hill and from Stela B to Iris Hill, which led them to conclusions that A: there was a third stela and B: it was located at Iris Hill.
They also determined there may be something of interest in the center of town at the location where the triangulated lined from the three stela meet, which led them to a very nice pregnant villager who was confused as to why these strangers were knocking on her door. As this was after they had explored the Fort, they expressed some suspicion that she's been laying with fish-monsters.
Hey guys, I have one question. If my players will discover early how to use a Star Stelae, they could teleport inside Iris Hill, if I understood correctly!?
No, for two reasons. First, no two Star Stelae are within range of each other, and secondly, the PCs likely aren't aware of the one under Iris Hill.
But wait, the section on Star Stelae says you can travel within 200 feet of other Star Stelae:
Quote:
By touching one of the Star Stelae, a user can create a temporary portal on a wall within 200 feet of the stone. The user can then travel to another wall within 200 feet of one of the other two Star Stelae as if via dimension door.
My players grabbed one of the unholy symbols of Hastur, which I presume counted as a Yellow Sign to allow them to understand the Stelae, and made the assumption that there was a third Stelae, based on the shape of the town and the fact that there weren't cultist bases that they could find near the other two stelae.
Was that the wrong call?
I play on Roll 20, which means everyone in the game can draw on the map. It took less than five minutes after finding the locations of the other two Star Stela for them to have trigonometried out that there was another stela under Iris Hill.
Our group had an air kineticist and my god was he effective.
One thing you could do to avoid the face roll is to take a wisdom based class, like a ranger or something, and pump your Profession Sailor up. Then whenever someone wants you to do diplomatic stuff, tell them you're just here to pilot the ship.
I mean, you can have both high Charisma skills and a profession sailor at insane levels, but don't tell the rest of your party that.
When I played Skull and Shackles we got our hands on a couple of Wayfinders when two fellows on a ship we took had them.
But when we sold off the plunder in the nearest town, a place called 'Bloodcove', the merchant there we were ransoming the fellows to offered to pay us twice the going rate for the Wayfinders, so we sold them off.
I have played through all of Skull and Shackles as a Sea Singer bard (All hail the Hurricane King!), and while my GM didn't limit full casters, I was the only arcane caster my crew had. Bard is massively useful, Sea Singer especially if your GM will let you take a Tidepool Dragon improved familiar.
However, you did say that you weren't the most verbally articulate person and had some problems with Charisma based skills as a rogue. If you play a bard, you will most likely end up as a the Captain of a ship, which involves a LOT of talking. If your party also includes a swashbuckler, gunslinger, or Paladin (in Skulls and Shackles not likely), then you can avoid it, but otherwise the bard is the go-to face character. Skull and Shackles has a LOT of talking, so if you don't want to have to come up with what your characters says to people, then it may not be the best choice.
Yeah, I had another dwarf approach my group after they sold off some silver daggers to the blacksmith and let them know if they wanted USEFUL smithing done, they will take orders. For magic items they went to the High Mart.
In the Strange Aeons AP books, they have general information on all of the Elder Mythos Great Old Ones and Outer Gods etc. And they have detailed entries on different ones in each book. And one thing they seem to have in common, even on the ones that are all statted out with the implication you can fight and even kill them.
They come back. Maybe not soon. Maybe not in the same place. Maybe not even in the same point in time. But they always come back. Every single Great Old One and Outer God has in it's statblock the Immortality special ability, which details the ways, means, and timeline for it coming back. Cthulhu for example comes back in 2d6 rounds, fully healed, ready to go again. Ithaqua comes back in a year. Hastur comes back immediately if you fail DC 40 Will save (because now YOU are Hastur).
Two sessions ago, the party found a puppy dog trapped in a crate by ghouls. It was immediately adopted by one of the party members and named Mr. Wigglebottom. She then spent the next two session loving the dog, protecting the dog, and fearing for the safety of her adorable puppy.
Other party members joked about people needing food in the chapel, and how they would need to eat the dog, constantly. Every time a fight ended, every time rest was mentioned, they talked about eating the dog. Until finally the character who had adopted it stopped all forward progress to deliver an impassioned speech about the dog, how it was the only good and pure thing they could even remember, that the rest of the party should be ashamed of themselves for even joking about destroying something so innocent, and that if need be she would fight the rest of the party to defend her sweet Wigglebottom.
I've just never seen a miniature that really matched my personal vision of what my character looked like, so I generally prefer abstract representations when miniatures are needed.
That's why, in addition to primer and paint, a miniature kit needs knives, drills, files, cutters, glues, putty, and clay.
They may not start looking right, but they will by the time I'm done with them.
So far in the campaign I'm running, I had the characters start out with complete amnesia. They remember absolutely nothing about themselves, not even their names.
This complete lack of backstory has led to the characters developing a lot more organically.
We have a half-orc who is Stan Against Evil in the body of Wolverine. He will without hesitation jump in to help anyone, but will complain the entire time. He is already extremely annoyed with these monsters, this amnesia, and this entire situation, and will not hesitate to speak up about this frustration to anyone within hearing range. Thanks to his less than average stature, especially for a half-orc, the party has named him 'Shorty.'
We have a human woman who doesn't speak up much, but when she does it is with good ideas or useful information. Her mismatched eyes are a bit creepy, but magic seems to come easily to her, and she's obviously as lost as everyone else so the group has bonded with her. Thanks to her vibrant hair color, the party has named her 'Red.'
We have another half-orc who doesn't know much, but knows that silver bird shaped amulet is something he needs. He is kind to a fault, without even a hint of a suspicious nature, but after all in many ways he was just born yesterday. Thanks to some unusually good looks for a half-orc, and the half-orcs distinct awareness of them, the party as named him 'Pretty.'
We have a human male who makes up for it with suspicious in spades. His eyes are always darting around, and he takes nothing at face value. Much like shorty he isn't shy with his opinions, and is quick to point out how things can always get worse. Thanks to his cheerful personality, the group has named him 'Grumpy.'
We have a human woman who is, to put it plainly, a coward. She has spent more than one fight staying as far away from the possibility of injury as possible, and won't hesitate to let the rest of the party stay between her and threats. Due to this habit, the party has named her 'Heidi.'
So we have a half-orc (with racial heritage: halfling) fighter, a changeling witch, a half-orc cleric, a human slayer, and a vishkanya (Subtle Appearance alternate racial trait) bard.
Some of my players haven't read a great deal of Lovecraft, so I gave them a link to a bunch of Lovecraft to read so that they could brush up if they wanted to. I was going to just post links to the stories that contain things I've actually seen show up in the AP so far, but I discovered that there were too many stories for me to list in the quick post I was making for my players. So, both for my amusement and the possibility someone else may want it, here is a list of Lovecraft stories and what from them is in the AP.
At the Mountains of Madness - Elder Things, The Thrushmoore Terror - Shoggoth, The Whisper Out of Time.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath - Gugs, Ghouls, Zoogs and the Enchanted Woods, The Bloodwind, Denizens of Leng, Moon-Beasts - Dreams of The Yellow King - Pretty much everything in Dreams of The Yellow King.
Beyond the Wall of Sleep - Zandalus, In Search of Sanity.
The Doom that Came to Sarnath - Sarnath and the doom that comes to it, Dreams of The Yellow King.
Celephaïs - Celephais, Dreams of The Yellow King.
The Nameless City - Abdul Alhazred The Mad Poet and the Necronomicron, Dreams of The Yellow King.
The Music of Erich Zann - Viol found by the furnace, In Search of Sanity.
Pickman's Model - Leng Ghouls, Dreams of The Yellow King.
The Dunwich Horror - Spawn of Yog-Sothoth, The Whisper Out of Time.
The Shadow Over Innsmouth - Skum, The Thrushmoore Terror.
The Dreams in the Witch House - Ratlings, In Search of Sanity - Elder Things, The Thrushmoore Terror.
The Shadow Out of Time - Yithians and flying polyps, throughout the AP.
Those are all the definite references, though there are many more throughout other Lovecraft stories, such as more references to the Necronomicron and the Mad Poet, references to Shub-Niggurath, possibly the origins of Xhamen-Dor, plus more asylums than you can shake a stick at.
Then there are the Lovecraftian stories that weren't written by Lovecraft himself, but by his friends and contemporaries:
The King in Yellow (Robert W. Chambers)- Carcosa, In Search of Sanity and The Thrushmoore Terror, The Yellow Sign and Keeper of the Yellow Sign, The Thrushmoore Terror, and Hastur, throughout the AP.
The Shambler from the Stars (Robert Bloch) - Star Vampire, The Thrushmoore Terror.
The Hounds of Tindalos (Frank Belknap Long) - Hounds of Tindalos, The Thrushmoore Terror and The Whisper Out of Time.
So obviously, Strange Aeons is Lovecraftian as %$&*. But I'm pretty sure I missed some! Anyone else know of where some of the things we see in this AP come from?
Also as a way to drop hints, I edited Losandro's journal page (pages, now) to talk more about other patients and give clues.
Spoilered for length:
Spoiler:
Wealday: It has been nearly seven months since the Lieklan brothers were brought to us after they witnessed the deaths of their parents, and still the authorities have yet to locate any other relatives who can care for the boys. While I applaud their foresight in bringing the obviously traumatized children to us for treatment, what will we do once they recover? Their doctors inform me that Brenton is nearly recovered completely already, though Debis still suffers from the regular night terrors that only the shadow lantern his parents gave him can quell.
Oathday: Another unexpected call from Count Lowls. These have become so common and Lowls’s focus is so singular that they no longer leave me apprehensive. He requested to see me after his visit with Zandalus, though. He claims to have a theoretical solution for the poor man’s condition. I don’t know what the count and my prized patient have been discussing _and Lowls again refused to share_ but I doubt that lordly amateur psychologist has truly hit upon anything of worth. Regardless, I’d be a fool not to humor my liege.
Fireday: Mr. Cerznalo has again suffered a setback in the struggle against his anorexia. There seems to be some component of his condition that hinders treatment that none of our doctors nor Mr. Cerznalo can quite pinpoint. Regardless, the fanciful stories he tells inspired by his dreams of serene forests, silver-voiced dryads, and proud unicorns are something that patients and staff alike enjoy.
Starday: Lowls’s ”solution” was not at all what I expected. I have no clue where he turned it up, but on his most recent visit he brought along a copy of Valhadis’s The Chain of Nights, a near-legendary collection of psycho-arcane studies and treatments focused on dreaming. While I abhor arcane tampering, if there’s a permanent solution to Zandalus’s nightmares, it could be here. Lowls allowed me to study the text for the duration of his visit, but staunchly refused to leave it in my possession.
Sunday: I had to remind a few of our nurses today about the importance of watching what they say around our impressionable patients. While using the phrase “so her heart doesn’t explode” may be innocent metaphor to us, to an old woman suffering from dementia it became far more terrifying. Mrs. Freeling is now convinced that missing a single dose of her medication will literally have that effect! While she was able to be superficially calmed, I fear what long term effects those careless words could have on her fragile psyche.
Moonday: Lowls has made me an offer: his copy of The Chain of Nights. All I must do in return is accept a handful of new patients_former associates of his that have suffered some unprecedented manner of group amnesia. I might accept this as charity on the count’s behalf, but he insists that I keep no record of their committal. The terms make me suspicious, but I can learn more of these curious strangers once they’re in my care. If it means the possibility of a cure for Zandalus and others, I welcome the bargain.
Toilday: The patients I agreed to accept from Lowls have arrived, and are unprecedented indeed. Not only do they all appear to be suffering from a fugue state, but they also exhibit all the signs of anterograde amnesia as well! To have one patient exhibit both conditions would be monumental, but to have an entire group do so I practically unheard of. Luckily Lowls also delivered The Chain of Night as promised, which could yield cures for so many of my patients here.
Wealday: The Chain of Nights is a marvel. It will take years of study to unravel all its possibilities, but already I’ve discovered a process by which chronic dreams might be drawn forth and disposed of like so much psychic gristle. Tomorrow our experiment begins.
I will admit, I am a Monty Haul GM. I manage to rein myself in most of the time, but it is a natural predilection that I have to fight. But I'm going to be running a thing where crazy go nuts flinging out massively overpowered loot makes perfect sense for reasons. I love it!
The problem is, while some classes are easy to smash in the face with magical items that makes them giddy (Paladin? Holy Avenger, done.) others not so much. What do you get the bard that has everything? What does a Brawler dream of? So I need a bit of help coming up with super awesome stuff for each different class. The items need to be worth 40,000-100,000 gold to even come close to matching the items written into the thing I'm running, and the more unique the better.
Isitoq (2), Eyes
Crawling hand (2), Hands
Beheaded or Demilich (1), Head
Shredskin (1), Skin
Skeleton (1 headless), Bones
Tekenu (1), Organs
Ghost or other incorporeal (1), spirit.
and in the right conditions:
Pickled Punk (1), fetus.
You could possibly use the remaining gore to make the worst zombie ever, but you'd probably be better off using it for a Hungry Flesh and some Boilborn oozes.
They probably wouldn't care in the Shackles. They've already got cannibals, openly accessible temples to Norgorber, lycanthropes that make no effort to hide what they are, a Rakshasa Free Captain, and even a Red Dragon that no one opposes. They probably wouldn't even bat an eyelash at few Outer God/Great Old One cults.
Why does he want to be a paladin at all? Is it about the fancy powers? The prestige? Because he doesn't know any alternatives? He might be better off as a warpriest of Calistria or something like that...
If he's having sex with skulls, Urgathoa is probably a better choice.
My players have just started making their characters, but I gave them the rule that to preserve the theme, they are limited to Core races or races that can pass for a Core race.
So Changelings, Skinwalkers, or an Ifrit with the 'Mostly Human' alternate race trait are in, while Tengu, Goblins, and Strix are out.
Because it may be just me, but for this campaign I want the strange otherworldly creatures they face to not be overshadowed by the weirdness of the party.
Players enter the Dreamlands. Players that die in the Dreamlands don't die, they just wake up. I'm not planning to tell my players this until it happens :D
The Dreamlands give out MAJOR magic items like candy. Like, make a DC 2 perception check to find the Vorpal Sword leaning against the wall. Magic Items found in the Dreamlands do not go with them into the waking world, but reappear in their possession next trip into the Dreamlands.
Xhamen Dor is mentioned in The Thrushmor Terror at a few spots, the fact that it is revealed to the player near the end of this one that Lowls is tainted by the Great Old One means it's something you have a chance to hint at.
Some creatures you may want to hint at are Dreamlands natives, such as Denizens of Leng, Moon Beasts, Leng Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghasts, Xoogs, and Leng Spiders. All show up, and some are surprisingly friendly.
The books the players recover from Lowls mansion play a MAJOR role, MAKE SURE your players keep them.
Read the entry on Bokrug in the Elder Mythos section of In Search of Sanity. Replace the phrase "but one thousand years later" with "the day the PCs show up." Foreshadowing that could be fun.
A ship with blood red sails will hunt them. They can not escape it, and it will laugh at them.
They will, at some point, fight reflections of themselves.
Weird other monsters that appear: Bogeyman. Night Hag. Shantak. Gugs. Nightmare Dragon.
Things you won't find a bestiary for until you get the book but are awesome nightmare fuel:
Tarry ooze smarter than half your party that shifts between recognizable forms and could talk to you but won't, because talking to dinner is a waste of time.
Thing that looks like a black severed pig head grew nine legs, red webbed feet, and a spider butt that likes to make corpse slurpies.
Sickly green incorporeal froggish humanoids with empty eye sockets that can ghost touch anything they want and with that touch DOOM.
So you'd say they probably taste worse than jellyfish, GV?
I don't eat seafood so I couldn't say. It creeps me out ;)
A bit more info on the Sellen Article, which a lot of people seem interested in: it starts off with general info about climate and inhabitants, followed by a gazeteer detailing a few regions, ruins, and towns the PCs could come across. Fluff in other words. After that are some crunchy encounters, including
** spoiler omitted **
One important thing to keep in mind about that encounter
Spoiler:
It happens in the Dreamlands, where you find Vorpal Swords just sitting around, friendly ghasts fork over Mantles of Spell Resistance, and gear doesn't transfer over into the real world.
I'm considering adding more super awesome loot to the Dreamlands, just because I know my players won't be able to keep it, but they may enjoy having it in their dreams.
Also if she likes running into fights, you should be helping her build what suits her play style, like a barbarian, fighter, a well made paladin (paladins make great tanks, because they can Lay On Hands themselves in battle!) or melee ranger. Not trying to stuff her into a role that doesn't suit her, like party healer.
Seriously though, she sounds like she'd make a great barbarian.
Is your Paladin a Demon slayer or a Devil slayer? Because those are two different things, and Hellbound, as mentioned above, deals with Devils. Devils, being LE, absolutely HATE Demons, which are CE. So working with Devils and destroying the heck out of Demons are not only not mutually exclusive, but can even be complimentary.
Now, how much does your demon slayer hate demons? How far is he willing to go to hunt demons? What is he willing to sacrifice in order to see demons destroyed? What allies is he willing to stomach for kill demons? What lines is he willing to cross in his oath against demons?
You have a wonderful RP opportunity here for a Paladin with the good intention to fight demons. And we all known what good intentions pave.
At 8th level a Cleric can use 4th level spells. Which means they can use Control Water to flip the ship, and Make Whole/Greater Make Whole to fix it.
They may not be able to fix all of it, like the masts and stuff, but they can definitely get it flipped and jury-rigged enough to limp to land where they can effect full repairs.
I've actually gotten over my initial dislike of PFS after encountering more groups and meeting some nice players there. The VOs I've met are actually some pretty cool folks.
The only thing that still gripes me about it is that they aren't allowed to turn away problem players unless it's repeatedly documented...they have to let them in one of the tables, and that means you might get stuck playing with someone you dealt with before and had a negative experience if the luck of the draw is against you (or leaving if you REALLY don't want to deal with them again).
...and also that "smelling god awful" isn't an excusable problem to boot someone.
This right here is the reason why I have no desire to return to playing PFS. There is a player at my local PFS location whose sexist (and racist and homophobic, but mostly the sexist) behavior made me decide to refuse to sit at a table he's playing at.
Which means if there was only one table and his name was on the signup, I just wouldn't go.
The local Venture Agent was aware of it, and tried to get the guy removed, but as I (and the others who had similar experiences) never actually wrote out documentation the events, campaign leadership wouldn't do anything. Which means that if I wanted him removed I would actually have to purposely play with the guy so that I could document his behavior.
Oddly, there is a second issue. Flavor text of Witch vs. other classes. See Fighter/Cleric/Wizard/Rogue above. Where can witches actually be found? How do you find a bunch of reclusively weird characters who live in covens or are generally considered to be frightening by the peasantry?
I've reviewed this a lot, and unless your PC lives in Irrisen, your chances of finding a witch with a different patron are somewhat lower than the chance that your DM will suddenly give you a +5 item out of the blue. I have no idea how this class is actually supposed to function without the GM socially tweaking the game to suit the player, which shouldn't really happen.
"While many witches are recluses, living on the edge of civilization, some live within society, openly or in hiding."
That is taken directly from the Advanced Players Guide. Some witches live within society, openly. Which means if you want your players to find them, they can find them and be completely within the rules to do so.
Also, if you don't want your players to find them, you can make them not find any. You are the GM, so you can rule it whichever (witch-ever?) way you want.
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