So it looks like my party might end up throwing in with KZ.
He just spoke to them through Mockmurian, and made the case that the current world is about to fall apart, and needs to be united to stand before the coming of the other Runelords.
The party seems to be seriously considering his proposal. Some of this might be because I had them visit Riddleport, and had a subplot involving infernal influence in Magnamar.
I'm not sure they'll take him up on it yet, but three of my four members seem to be leaning that way. The party is all various flavors of neutral, BTW.
I'm wondering what I should do. The party's caster heavy, and could run as KZ's special commandos for a while
I suppose I could run some quests that require increasing moral flexibility, and lean on the chaotic folks as they help form a tyranny.
Or just switch gears and let them try to take over Varisia. And later deal with the whole Leng issue...
I'm not a fan. Well, I'm also a contrarian, and it's hard to tell where one begins and the other ends...
From what I can see, there is basically one build that is head-and-shoulders ahead of all the others - shocking grasp. True, you can go STR or DEX, but in the end that's just so much better than any other possibilities.
Then the tactics of that build suffer from the same lack of diverse effective options. Nine out of ten rounds of battle, you have one awesome choice as to what to do (cast and hit with dat grasp), and then some other seriously not as good ones.
Of course, what isn't to my taste is clearly to other people's, as mounted paladins and archers have the same paucity of choice issues, and they don't suffer from a lack of fans. I will note, however, that unlike those builds the entire magus class suffers from this problem (which I acknowledge may only be a problem to me).
To be fair, I've never played a magus or even built one; I've only watched them played.
The player seems pretty bought into his fall, which is cool. I also like the bleeding fingernails.
Maybe there's a bidding war that occurs. Representatives from unsavory faiths are trying to recruit him with gifts and argumentation, much to the party's confusion.
As to Pharasma, well, I'd say at least no spells. Between the untimely death of one of her servants and the turning away from her tenets, this guy ain't a cleric of her no more. Sure, he can repent, and greater sins have been forgiven, but till that occurs, it's hard seeing any divine powers being wasted on a heretic.
That being said, smiting or a herald seems a bit much for one dude, even if a local high priest. Unless she sees he has a great fate in store for him. Then she can join the recruitment bidding war. What would the party think when a friar of Pharasma comes up and says he's seen the cleric in his dreams, and that the cleric must repent and return to Pharasma.
As for the church itself, well, I think they may take a less sanguine view of their more powerful members being killed. No powerful institution can stand by as it's leaders are killed. And in D&D, where churches have militant arm, we're not talking about just going to the police and then mourning about it.
In this case, there is no reason party would be not targeted, at least till they sort the whole thing out. We'd be talking not only about inquisitors and the like, but also powerful planar beings.
In the end, the important thing is to hook this chapter into the others. After such a sudden change of character, a period of free fall is certainly in order, but some kind of new long-term plot hook is needed, since he's lost both his family and his faith.
I'd say give him some time to make a decision re: new allegiance, and then have whomever he throws in with provide something new to focus on.
Perhaps the possibility of returning his family to him, or of wiping out his memory of them, or simulating them for him somehow.
So I just finished off my two year long RotRL game. And while they did defeat Mr. Karzoug, well, Xin Shalast has become something of a large infiltration of the plane Leng...
Now we are off to play Kingmaker for a year or so, but my players are interested in some kind of sequel or even continuation, so I thought it might be entertaining to brainstorm a bit.
More details of how this ending occurred:
spoiler:
I thought it would be brilliant if, right before the final battle, the party was forced to briefly work with Karzoug to fight against a superior force.
The obvious candidate was Leng. So I filled the final module with weird, sinister signs like Denizens of Leng performing weird rituals and experimenting on skulks, with a feeling of unease, and periodic infiltrations of Hounds of Tindalos. The Cleric was already researching Leng, it was not hard for the party to put 2 and 2 together.
After fighting various Leng-ish guardians, the party made it to Karzoug, who was struggling to control his spell to bring his armies forward in time. The Cleric made his Knowledge:Planes check to realize that the spell had been subverted to bring a city of Leng to Xin Shalast instead.
Karzoug said 'There will be a reckoning Heroes, but if you wish to wrest the world from my grasp, you will need to save it first!'
....And the party proceeded to beat on Karzoug, even as I provided increasingly dire signs about this rapidly expanding spherical affront to reality. Finally, the mage-slayer paladin tried to close the portal, only to roll like 3 1's in a row on his spellcraft check. I really did not have much choice but to have the threatened dire eventuality come to pass.
I consider this somewhat my fault. Never underestimate PC's tunnel vision.
But there was still fun to be had. On the barren mountains of Leng, the players had a nice and epic fight with KZ (Wish -> Blasphemy is fun. As is Timestop and 5 prismatic spheres around each character.)
Once the party overwhelmed Karzoug with a critical disintegrate spell, that is where we left things.
And the current, kinda screwed up party:
spoiler:
All Level 16
LG Human Fighter 12/Paladin 4 - crit fisherman, and quite a high AC when smiting. Built with all the mage-slayer feats. Also has boots that let him Dimension Door 3/day. Also has a level warforged 14 Cleric cohort.
CN Human Sorcerer 16, dragon bloodline. An amnesiac former Lieutenant of Wrath, he's now got 2 parts of the Tome of Gluttony, and is well on his way to attaining the lich template. Has 2 flesh golems disguised as 'porters.'
NG Dwarf Lion Shaman 16, possessed by the transmutation portion of the Runelord of Wrath, which he can call on to help, but which has a cost. He's currently all veiny, healing magic still works but is is painful and animals hate him.
CN Elf Rogue 6, Arcane Trixter 10. After being trapped in the Pride section of the Runeforge for 10,000 years thinking he was a peacock, I suppose he has a lot less catching up to do than he thought. Quite pragmatic, except for being an arcane trixter
LG Human Cleric 16 of Serenrae. Focused on the redemption aspect of the faith, this former traveling friar has attracted the attentions of the Queen of Thorn and Shadow, a high-level Winter Court Fey charged with punishing Winter Fey who break the rules. He was planning on trapping himself and Karzoug in Leng, and had a spell for it, but that proved inapplicable. Rather broken up about the whole thing, he's now on a quest to destroy the Sword of Greed. The Queen has gifted him with a former Glabrezu trapped in the form of a magic lamp and ensorcled to do his bidding.
And finally, other interesting ways the plot has deviated from the norm:
spoiler:
Magnamar has been destroyed twice. Once by a deal with Karzoug to "get rid of Chellexian influence," (heh), and once by a filed Chellexian pacifying action. The remaining population has formed a subterrranian mageocracy.
The Sandpoint Devil was killed by the Chellexian invasion force.
A bunch of Chellexians are still at large, having melted away after their initial assault on Magnamar failed.
Sandpoint has been turned into a fortress to fight the Chellexians, giants, and what-have-you.
A Former PC warlock now runs Fort Rannik.
A former PC bard has recently been driven from his position as the local Sczarni Godfather.
I gave Leng a decidedly Far-Realm backstory or being part of the Prime Materal that was pinched off to prevent a Far-Realm incursion long ago, and which now is a demiplane adjacent to the Far Realm, but which wants to return.
So. Much fodder, I'd say. But now you have 5 PCs rich with newly won artifacts, in varying states of sanity, in the middle of a desolate hostile dimension which is currently in the Prime Material and expanding...
