Skudge's page

I think using the pearl on Vanthus is a great idea. I would make some of the PCs fight the off the tide--not enough to take them out of the game, but make them helpless for a few rounds to build he tensions (just in case an 8-front fight is not tense enough :) The avatar of demogorgon is going to be pretty tough on top of the whole seige thing. And your two heads idea is a good way to go as well.

Thanks. One of the things I want to do with this ending is make it feel like the final resolution for the players so they see it as the real campaign end. This means pulling out all the stops and also showing in some way that their efforts will stop the Savage Tide. To do this I'm thinking that Vanthus will announce that he is not at Farshore merely to put down the upstart settlement, but to return to the Isle of Dread and transform it into Demogorgon's portal from his realm. To this end he bears not just any ST pearl, which were only tests, but the true second black pearl which will complete the islands transformation started so long ago. Vanthus could then bloody and activate the true black pearl causing the mutation of himself and activating the mutation effect of a lesser pearl. Announcing that all he needs to do is shatter the black pearl to complete the island’s transformation.

This retains the modules original threat of Vanthus of shattering the pearl and amps up the potential danger for the campaign end. It requires a bit of villainous monologing but I think it’s workable. Thoughts?

Does anyone have specific recommendations for template changes to Vanthus as an avatar?

It may work better for the original module's history if there was a way to move the final battle with Vanthus from Farshore to the central plateau. Ideas for doing so?

ttfn
Skudge

My ST campaign is coming to a quick end due to real life related issues. The final session is the Crimson Fleet's attack on Farshore. While this is a good break point for the campaign, the players are aware that there is much more to the ST that they are missing out on. I am looking for ideas on how to incorporate some of the flavor of the campaign's grand finale with Demogorgon into the Crimson Fleet's attack.

One thought I had was for Vanthus to make his appearance in a less mutated form (i.e. drop the lemorian template) and to have him purposely use the shadow pearl to mutate himself into an avatar of Demogorgon. Complete with a second head that is still evil but is sympathetic to his sister. As to the savage tide effect of the pearl, since it is primarily being used to mutate Vanthus the broader mutation of Farshore could be reduced.

Do you have any thoughts on this change or ideas for the mutation of Vanthus?
What about other later story or encounter elements that could be incorporated to the Crimson Fleet attack?
Are there things from the CF attack that could be dropped or altered?

ttfn
Skudge

My players had a good time with the gladitorial contest held by the Church of Kord. Running a series of playoff contests between adventures allowed me to develop a competition between the party and the Jade Ravens. The competetion culminated at the end of the Wormfall Festival after TBG with a three way king of the hill battle royale on the Burning Pyramid of Death between the Jade Ravens, the party, and the current champion of Kord - Thraag the Ogre. Good times for all, except for the Jade Ravens and Thraag who were defeated after a brutal battle.

If I was to do this again I would have had Lavinia sponsor the Jade Ravens and introduced Avner to sponser the party.

Joining in on the quickly expanding thread. Having played Living Greyhawk and while I love the concept and played in some fun adventures, over all I have been disappointed in the level of bookkeeping and number of dungeon based adventures I have played in. So often the adventures are just elaborate games of Whack-A-Mole with an XP award.

To address the bookeepping problem I suggest eliminating it for the most part. Each adventure should identify the APL needed to play and the GP value for any equipment the character can bring to the table. Now the good part that makes Paizo some money. Expand on the Item Cards by adding a GP value and game play descriptor to the cards. A player can only bring to the table an equipment deck with a value no greater than the adventure GP value. Paizo gets to sell cards and can even sell starter decks for new players to get their character equiped and boster decks for players that want to purchase magic items at higher levels. This also allows for adventures that have 'specialty' cards to be awarded that are self limiting because they would have an established GP value and need to become part of the players deck in order to use it. With some minor tweaking rules for magic item creation can be put in place. For example, a character with an item creation feat can halve the value for a limited number of item cards in their deck that the feat applys to(this also involves dumping the XP rules for item creation). Players only need dice, their character sheet, and the character deck to play. (The added bonus of players trading and swaping item cards creates another level of player involvement).

Now with Paizo making a couple of bucks on item cards, they might be able to aford to provide some editorial oversight on the adventures to assure that they live up to Paizo's high standards.

O.K. the name. IMO, Pathfinder:Evolution is beyond lame and reminds me of movies, comic books, and worse, plus it does nothing to elicit a feel for Pathfinder. I suggest an alternative name
Pathfinder>Compass
Or something along this vein that draws attention to what Pathfinder is.

ttfn
Skudge

*Sigh* as I settle into an overused chair in the Losers Lounge with a good stiff drink to contemplate my folly. After a time and being slowly emboldened by gently clinking ice cubes as they melt away I offer this unsuccessful entry:

I have a group of young players that have become quite attached to Kora since she has been providing some logistic support and the occasional bit of advice. She also made gummy worms for the Wormfall festival which the characters had requested.

Having Drevoraz kill Kora was a plot twist that would have destroyed any chance of negotiating with him and would also have ruined the diplomatic connection made with Harliss. Given the nature of how the party handled the mansion Drevoraz and the cleric confronted the party from the top of the stairs to the third floor. The cleric had the still living Kora at spear point. A rather tense negotiation ensued. Resulting in the cleric seeing the negotiations going badly (the party had the note and earing from Harliss), he stabbed and critted Kora. Tossing her down the stairs bought him a little time to summon a monster as they checked on her. Drevoraz was able to secure the note and earing and leave.

With this plot change the hunt for the EVIL cleric on the third floor was a memorable search and fight for the players. Who remain angry at Vanthus, rather than Harliss, for having brought about the death of a favorite NPC. The players are planning on scraping together what they can to get Kora raised.

Yes, I to would like a copy of the charts. Well done!

travisgl@hickorytech.net

ttfn
Gary

Mando,

I would be interested in all the current NPC stat blocks. As well as future stat blocks. Thank you for your efforts with this.

ttfn
Skudge
travisgl@hickorytech.net