Roy Greenhilt

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I converted every monster, dungeon and NPC years ago when I ran my PCs through it. You can find them all over at https://www.electric-rain.net/category/iron-gods/

Feel free to use/not use, modify to your hearts content!

I have been using more refined versions of the various monsters every since (like the guardsmen) and have updated versions of many on world anvil.

UNITY has become a staple of my home-brew setting - the original Iron Goddess was destroyed (at least as far as my PCs know) but an uncorrupted backup was rebooted on Luna and she is known as UNITY the Golden. In fact a PC in my campaign is playing a cleric dedicated to her and I have a 5e domain as well over there.

In my game my PCs obliterated silver mount using a nuke. The moon that The Golden controls (LN goddess) is one gigantic space stations. It's the mega dungeon of my campaign world, and to this day my PCs visit it to "raid" it for loot. In fact, they are there right now trying to find the "Church of Iron Flesh" (cybernetics lab).

Feel free to ping me if you need more help/info.


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I like that intro, and as a fan of Samurai Jack I think I'll use it.


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Thanks for the info. I’ve mapped something out now so it all takes place in fantasy Asia. Dropping book 2 and 3 entirely (though stealing Katiyani as the ice/wind Yai of the five storms) and adding Phoenix tournament (to get Suishen), Frozen Wind (where they will have a showdown with the wind Yai) and Winding Way (to show the gods involvement).

I’ll plant hooks for all of these with my PCs.

Will share details once I am actually DMing it.


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Any chance the maps could be reshared? All the links are broken. Thank you.


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So, I am running a mini-campaign for my kids and my wife. The kids wanted a combat heavy game so I grabbed the 4e adventure Revenge of the Giants and started converting it as I wanted to play something like Against the Giants. One of the optional quests is to retrieve skymetal to create some special artifact weapons. In the adventure, all the skymetal is gone so the characters go back in time and steal it from a wizard.

Since in my AP the adventurers (literally) nuked Silver Mount and it no longer exists, this gave me the idea to have that wizard be Furkas Xoud while he was still with the Technic League. Not only did this give the players a kick as they played through the Iron Gods AP and so knew who he was it let me revisit the setting and create some updated gearsmen and other tech gear.

They eventually faced the living Xoud but instead of fighting him they talked him into providing the skymetal they needed but also to trade future knowledge for some technological weapons. Not only did he find out that there is an evil intelligence in Silver Mount but that his future self-found out about it from an android called Casandalee (they did not reveal that the hunt killed him). Nicely setting him up for the AP.

Was a fun little side trek for me and the players. I always like doing campaign callback when I can to see that the players actions actually do change things in the continuity of my world.


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Final chapter done - the Divinity Drive.


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So we finished the campaign last night. It took us 18 months to get through and here is my opinion of the whole thing as the DM.

I bit off more than I could chew taking this Pathfinder game and converting it to 5e. Though I did do it in the end and I did enjoy the conversion it was very time consuming.

I felt the adventure path was too long. In retrospect I would have completely cut out The Choking Tower and perhaps even Starfall component and just have them commando run the Divinity Drive. The reason I would do this is because the Divinity Drive is a giant dungeon crawl which are very time consuming and probably not the best fit for my group to put at the end of an 18 month long campaign (thats a personal preference). For my group it would have been better to bring the mega-dungeon forward as soon as possible.

The Scar of the Spider was the best adventure IMO. I ran it as a hex-crawl and it was great.

Not all my players had buy-in. One of my players didn't like the crossing of the streams and so spent the entire campaign not taking anything seriously and doing silly things. I didn't do what I normally do with my campaigns which is sit down before hand and say "this is the idea, I need everyones buy-in or we find a different idea".

There was too much technology. My players got lost with it all and after the 1st adventure I started removing tech treasure. This is another personal preference, not a slight against the adventure. In retrospect I would have doen the following:


  • Made the tech incomprehensible - more like magic items.
  • Made the language incompressible - add more mystery.
  • Removed charges and just have tech items deplete on 1/fumble or similar.

Having said that I think this is a FINE inheritor to the original Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Good job Paizo people :)

Would love to see you guys churn out 5e content (Pathfinder 2.0?)


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captain yesterday wrote:
I would ignore the robot limitation for her honestly, otherwise she just kind of gets forgotten.

I ended up doing this. The characters ingratiated themselves with the King, the cleric of Thor said could he approach the throne to bless the Black Sovereign, the black Sovereign not thinking particularly straight (was going through withdraw from the drug induced stupor and I assumed was an Aesir man) said yes. Cleric casts heal curing him, throne room is thrown into chaos. During the fight Ghartone turns up with two battleguards who cover the entire combat area in rockets and grenades. My party is on the ropes. They pull out Casandalee who takes over one of the battleguards and then punches out the other battleguard in a Real Steel moment. Casandalee now has a robot body :)


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My players are going to go wild if they find this.


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I replaced Dweller-in-Dark places with a mind-flayer, gave him four shadow-flayer bodyguards and also had a Thoon Hulk and two Thoon Soldiers. Worked perfectly. i kept the other creatures like the neh-thalga but there are so many of them its easy to swap them out for flayers or similar.

Speaking of Dweller-In-Dark-Places the module as written has a potential fail condition. M11 has a teleport that only works for a yah-thelgaa but the yah-thelgaa will teleport away if reduced to low hit-points. Though if a rogue is available you have the option of tricking the teleporter.

So I had Dweller teleport away and then the party panicked thinking they needed his hand to activate the teleporter (no realising I had changed it to any flayer). They don't have a rogue either. They ended up triggering a divine intervention special ability that only had a 11% chance of working - the cleric rolled a 1. Thor teleported Dweller back in a crash of thunderbolts.

(this is 5e if your thinking what the heck I am talking about).


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Codanous wrote:

That is not to say there wasn't some really good things about it, I loved the Aurora and Dusklight and the Inquisitor of Desna is mooning over Longdreamer. The Warden fight was a blast and my players greatly enjoyed fighting such a tough robot.

I think the tower is very dense in terms of fights and the like. Its more like a giant side adventure/dungeon crawl. I tried updating it a bit but even with the update I found it dragged for me and the players. They were happy to be traveling across Numeria again.


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Hi Dudemeister, I like your ideas. One of the encounters I threw against my APC driving PCs was a T-Rex who attacked the vehicle. The characters were so scared the dinosaur would scratch the APC (I have a very expensive repair cost attached) they stopped, the melee characters exited and they engaged the dinosaur to keep away while the spellcasters/ranged characters stood atop the APC as it circled firing from the roof.


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I let my characters use their engineering skill to salvage one cypher from a destroyed robot (or group of bots) using a DC 15 check. Cypher are one use technological items I copied from the Numenera RPG. I just roll on the random tables and convert them to D&D on the fly.

Adds more value to the skill and the cyphers are too valuable as adventuring tools for the group to sell off.


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My underleveled group took on Binox tonight. They entered the battle injured and with resources missing (spells in particular). They are a party of four level 8 characters vs a CR 12 Binox. I was thinking he was going to chew them up. First round the sorceress pulls out Xoud's spellbook and casts rebuke technology. Binox fails the save which means he is essentially paralysed for 8 rounds (though he gets a save every round). They managed to chew through him in one round.

Players continue to surprise me. My favourite adventure so far.


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In my home brew world I have three main types of ethnic human groups - the Solomanii, Zhodanii and Vilanii who are collectively called humanitii.

But I digress!


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Thanks Om. Will pass on compliment to my daughter :)


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Hi all, my 11 year old started making a comic about her adventures in the Numeria. I thought it was good enough to share. First panel is up and I'll publish the rest as the days go by. She has done out to the Gremlin Cave section of Fires of Creation at the moment so about 20 pages.


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Just had a session and my group entered the tower tonight. I decided to add little things called oddities to the game. An idea I stole from Numenera. Basically technological items that seem to have no purpose or their original purpose was lost. But I didn't explain this to the players, I just added them.

So from the hill giants they got an aerosol can that sprays sparkling paint that hangs in the air. They played with it for a while and then said "it must have SOME purpose, we just haven't figured it out yet" before moving on.

The next item was even better. I place the following oddity in the servant washroom of the tower - A device that emits a projection of a human face that changes expression depending on what direction it is facing. Basically it has a smiley face if pointed north, angry west, sad south and normal west. And at the in-between points its a mix of the two faces. My players are using this to determine which rooms to enter in the tower assuming its some kind of emotional compass.

Its great ;)


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This actually maybe more appropriate under Kingmaker but I'll post here first.

My players want to do kingdom building with Scrapwall as their initial starting hex. Numeria seems ripe for this type of play as its so chaotic. It's essentially one huge bandit kingdom outside of Starfall. Which isn't much better either.

After reading the Ultimate Campaign rules on this I put together some info for my players including a hex map. But I wanted to know if any DMs who have run Kingmaker or anyone doing the same thing in Numeria would care to chip in.

At the moment I am working on filling out the hexes around Scrapwall with interesting things and putting together some events. I am also slowly reading through Kimgmaker just for reference/inspiration and ideas.

My players have basically said that why enter Starfall covertly when they can just take out the League with an army. Which is fine - more than one way to skin a cat. But it kind of changes the AP dramatically if they do that. Though the biggest impact is on the last two adventures more than anything else.


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Thanks Joe. I am still of two minds but I am going to run it as written for now. My players spoke with Sahasho and don't seem at all fussed by pushing on to TCT. Sometimes I can't guess what's going on in their heads! They "complain" about the most innocuous things at one point then when I think they won't be happy with something they either don't notice or love it.

Players!


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I feel this AP has a distinct lack of mutations. Problem solved!


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My group met Illaris last night and I put together a chase scene for them instead of her just getting away. Feel free to steal.


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Nice read. Following along now.


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Here is some info I used to introduce Iadenveigh. Since the area is filled with mutants I retroactively (with my player) decided that her mutant sorceress is a native of Iadenveigh.


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Hi Robert, I "stole" your repair and mounting ideas. Thank you :)

My group made good use of the vehicle again today. They rammed the barn at the Winery side quest and used it as a mobile platform while raining down death on the demons. The Rhino was quite happy since it was fulfilling its purpose - destroy the Emperor's enemies. My players were a bit befuddled as they approached the barn and the Rhino's machine spirit announced that it detected warp entities and started playing choir music from its laud hailers (speakers).

I am basically revealing different abilities of the vehicle as appropriate.


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Solomani wrote:
Ivan Rûski wrote:
Rhino Transport linkified (you accidentally put a space in the address, by the way).

Players got this tonight... and then the Thomas the Tank Engine jokes didn't stop. They then used it to travel to Chesed and told it to kill anyone trying to access it as they had to park it outside (too big for the streets). When they came back they found two dead technic league hirelings who had tried to robojack.

They then drove it to the Knock on Wood Winery as part of a geas quest from the high priestess of the lawgiver (she traded a resurrection spell for them to take care of the demon problem). When they arrived at the winery they found it looked empty. To be sure they drove the rhino through the centre of the place and demolished what was left of the wooden structure.

In retrospect I should have given them a flying carpet instead! Less shenanigans!


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Acolyte of Mushu wrote:
Misroi wrote:
So, how intolerant towards androids is Iadenveigh? They already eschew tech, how would they feel about a synthetic person? Would they shun them, giving them a wide berth like the Varisians? Or would they treat the android like they would a robot?
I would like to know as well. I've asked a similar question before, also about how Starfall would react to androids and aliens.

I've warned my players synthetics are not welcome so don't try and enter. Once they are out with Redfang, who is more tolerant, thats OK. Androids camp outside.

captain yesterday wrote:
Solomani wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
I'd thought other than missing a few places everything else was where it should, my apologies for coming across as rude, I was going more for flippant,
No problem, I thought I mis-read something big time. Still not sure where 3 locations are though. Would be good if the map-maker/module writer could let us know.

I think i got it figured out Solomani:-)

Vineyards number 2 in the written gazetteer are the rows of plants on the north east side of the Brow.

Playgrounds number 9, is the partial circle directly west almost of number 1 on the map, looks like its seen better days from above.

Bell Tower is in the middle of the dense neighborhood right inside the south gate, its got an upside down U shape with a big tower in the middle.

i'll be shocked and very, very sad if i'm wrong:-)

Danke! I ended up guessing for those last three but will double check against your suggestions and update if that seems "more correct".

My players headed to Chesed tonight to get a resurrection done but they didn't have the money so the Lawgiver's High Priestess sent them to deal with a bandit issue (the Winery side mission basically updated to 5e).

Anyway, in 5e you normally can't buy/sell magic items beyond potions of healing but decided to allow Chesed to buy/sell common/uncommon magic items as its by far the biggest city in Nimmeria and a trade city. I also threw in some deity specific magic items. Some are just converted over from the Golarion campaign world, some are custom jobs from my own campaign deities. Feel free to use them!

I also ran the Cathedral of the Lightbringer has a huge bureaucracy which worked out much better than I though in terms of entertainment value.


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Very good! I think Bladerunner soundtrack could also fit into this theme nicely. Going to make a playlist just for Iron Gods based off this.


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Since I have finished Fires of Creation now and almost done Lords of Rust I thought I'd share my 5e conversions and non-5e changes/ideas as well as a game log. I only did a little tinkering in Fires of Creation. A lot more "new" (tinkered) stuff for Lords of Rust.


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Decided to turn Hellion into a Boss Fight. Thematically inspired by raid bosses in games like WoW and mechanically by Angry DM's template. Though I feel 5e solves many of these issues a 3 stage boss fight when a solo monster is involved I think is inherently more satisfying for the players.

Here is the Boss Fight version in D&D 5e. Though it wouldn't take much at all to convert it back to 3.5e:

https://itsmygamemyrules.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/boss-fight-hellion/

BF Hellion is totally untested. My characters won't face him for a few sessions yet. So use at your own risk. For 5e he looks fine on paper.


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I ended ripping of Planescape Torment a bit and used the Many-As-One in a dream sequence:

Many-As-One

You see a circular chamber, a nest of twigs and bones, with cranium rats perching atop the concentric circles they built. There were thousands of them, and where there lacked seats in this council of vermin the rats piled atop one another, whiskers twitching. Countless eyes glint at you from the darkness, as if they were twin stars shimmering through the night.

Its voice sounds like the cold voice of thousands, echoing through your skull, "WE HAVE BEEN EXPECTING YOU FOR A LONG TIME, BIPED. SPEAK SWIFTLY AND TRUE. YOU ARE IN THE HALLS OF MANY-AS-ONE. YOU WILL NOT LEAVE BUT BY OUR GRACE, AND THAT YOU MUST EARN THROUGH SERVITUDE."

“WE WOULD HAVE YOU SERVE US, AND WE CAN REWARD YOU IN EXCHANGE.”

YOU CAN WALK AMONGST THE MACHINES FREELY WITH THE PROTECTION OF YOUR SCRAPWORTH. WITH THAT SHIELD YOU ARE TO GO TO THE HEART OF THE IRON GODS’ LAIR, SEEK OUT THE HELLION, AND KILL IT. IN THE PROCESS, SOW DISSENT AMONG THE MACHINE MEN AND BREAK THEM APART. WE DO NOT TRUST THOSE WHOSE MINDS WE CANNOT SEE. WE DO NOT TRUST SILENT MYSTERIES. AS FOR REWARD... WE OFFER YOU KNOWLEDGE.

Assuming the PCs agree (they were very iff about the whole thing)

"AND SO OUR COMPACT IS MADE."

Reward: The Many-As-One will grant the boon of a commune spell that can be used whenever the characters like. A cranium rat will need to accompany them if they move beyond Scrapwall before using the boon. Once the boon is completed Many-As-One will relocate to Sigil to escape the enslavement of Ilsensine.


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We had our second session of LoR last Saturday and it went totally differently than I expected. Which, as a DM, I love when characters go off the rails.

First up, the characters were interrogating Hatchet Hands who I played as a little crazy -talking to himself the entire time. I did not expect them to hit the DC required for him to reveal the secret entrance since I had determined (as a 5e game) that I would only reveal that with a combination of creative RPGing and a natural 20. Of course they did both. So they ended up taking the back entrance into Scrapwall, taking out Marrow in a titanic fight which had multiple KOs, and then running the rest of the gang out of the hideout and taking over (naming themselves the Crimson Lotus).

The entire party also decided not to deal with the ghost except the dwarven fighter who decided to try and help the ghost out - alone. As the rest of the party made there way to Scrapwall he stayed behind to wait for nightfall and in he went. I had decided in advance that if any of the two female characters went in I would give them one opportunity to deceive the ghost into thinking they were Justinia.

Unfortunately our dwarf was a male. Fortunately he had just picked up a cursed item along the way to Scrapwall (I ran a mini adventure on the river) of A Belt of Oni (giant) Strength which also changed his gender and ethnicity - he was now a small asian woman. On top of that he made his deception test with a convincing natural 20.

To reward risk taking I awarded him the entire XP for the event solo. So he is now one level ahead of the rest of the party.

Great stuff.


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Just spitballing as I am still in LoR - I was thinking of adding proper technic league archeological team to the choking tower (ala Eli and The Seekers from Maure Castle) and making them more the central bad guys than the ghost. Who will still be there but not so relevant.

This would put the characters head to head with some real League position before Starfall.


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I'll be running it like Bartertown from mad max actually.


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http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rrey?5e-Conversion-Thread

I just finished converting LoR today. It's a lot of work but I enjoy it.


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Ragnarok Rose wrote:

I'll be using the loudspeaker idea as the party explores the open areas of Scrapwall, kind of like how it's used in Mass Effect or Dishonored to tell how things are developing as a result of the party's actions. Should be properly cinematic.

I like that idea too. I was going to have more Paranoia Alpha Complex style announcements. But tracking party progress I am going to steal.

Separate question how are DMs going to present Kargara's journel assuming players kill her? Seems like a big info dump at the end of the adventure. I was thinking of actually rewriting it as a journal and turning it into a handout. This way the players can read it and draw their own conclusions as opposed to me me just handing the the info to them. But that's going to be a bit of work.


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Agree with Captain. My PCs almost came to a deal with Sanvill since he offered to buy them out of all their tech before attacking and they had saved Khonnir and were willing to leave the Torch unlit as the Steel Caves, in particular the science deck, scared the heck out of them.

Also one of my characters has the anti-robot background and another is a LN they both thought it would be fine to deal with the league - evil or not - because they were the legitimate rulers of the land.

But he also wanted the android ranger being played by another character and another player had the "against the league" background and personal story so that became a deal breaker. They ended up killing him. But they almost came to a deal. Kind of surprised me as a DM. Which I love.


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Another question - how did you DMs reveal Khonnir's back story to your players - if at all?

It would seem like something useful for the players to know but it's also something I think he would not readily reveal since it may put him and Val in danger.


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I have a player who loves pressing buttons to see what happens... anyone have suggestions on expanding the button pressing table?

Also, my party has NOT figured out how to put the zombie and skeletons to rest and they refuse to press the golden reset button thinking its something terrible.... they are coming up to their fourth time killing poor old Het and his buddies.

They have contrived lots of ways to stop them from reforming like scattering the bones, netting the bones and putting them in the electrical decontamination zone etc etc. Its amusing of me as the DM to watch :)


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Monster conversion index for Fires of Creation - I didn't list monsters which were played as is unless I modified them somehow:

Malfunctioning Repair Drone: As is but with maximum hit points and an electrical damage shield.

Fire Beetles: 5e MM version.

All the skulks became drow.

Ghelarn: As is but I replaced all the special abilities with 5e powers instead. For example the sticky ground had the same rules as a web effect and so on.

Kasatha Skeletons: I originally converted these to 5e but that made 7 of them too deadly so ran them as is.

Hetuath: Subjected to the PF -> 5e conversion rules.

Boilborn: Replaced by 5e oozes for no other reason than I have kids in the game and I felt it was a bit too disturbing for them.

Cerebric Fungus: Replaced by an "alien Grell". Essentially the 5e Grell with Cereberic Fungus special abilities. Functions in game almost the same.

Medical Drone: Rebuilt from scratch using animated armour as the base monsters. It otherwise functions the same way as written.

Ropefist Thugs: 5e MM version.

Sanvill: 5e NPC mage.

Scrapwell Fanatics: Changed to 5e MM orcs and wererats respectively without the lycanthropy.

Gruether: 5e MM version.

Meyanda: Undecided, currently planning just to run her as is but with 5e spells instead.


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Here are the campaign traits in 5e-ish terms:

Against the Technic League: Mechanically your attacks all have advantage (or disadvantage as appropriate) against targets you know are associated with the Technic League.

Local Ties: Mechanically you may choose either proficiency with ePick (As Thieves Tools for purposes of technological devices) or gain the skill Engineering (intelligence).

Nimmerian Archaeologist: No change.

Robot Slayer: Mechanically you gain +1d4 on attack and damage rolls against robots.

Skymetal Smith: No change.

Stargazer: Mechanically you gain a advantage on skill checks to identify alien monsters’ abilities and weaknesses. In addition, you gain double proficiency bonus on Nature (wisdom) checks, and this skill is a class skill for you.


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Hi all,

I am currently running this under 5e and converting as I go. I thought I may share my experiences for anyone else who decides to go down this path. My group has just hit the science deck for context as of this post.

Because 5e is more like 3.5e than any other editions in terms of stats its pretty straightforward to run monsters as written. That was my initial plan but as the monsters start ramping up in power the bounded math of 5e makes running them as is problematic. The biggest reason is players won't be able to hit the mobs by the end of the first adventure reliably.

The other issue I found is the 3.5e mobs don't quite have the HPs of 5e mobs so die very quickly if they are hit.

First thing I did was replace monsters wherever I could with their 5e MM equivalents. I would beef them up or reduce their power as needed. I have six players in my party so generally I didn't need to modify them if they were a CR or 2 above the actual monster.

Failing that I would find base monster in 5e and build off that. For example a zombie for Hetuath. For the truly original monsters/characters I used a conversion document I found an enWorld which was very useful as well. They are simple enough to use them on the fly.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?335778-Attempt-at-Conversion-do c-to-convert-3-5-edition-and-Pathfinder-monsters-to-D-amp-D-Next-on-the-fly


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Espagnoll wrote:

I think I am going to have tons of fun with Hellion.

"Look at you, barbarian, a pa-pa-pathetic adventurer of meat and bone, raging and panting trough my dungeon corridors"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOFZ5fv_pb8

I was going to keep the SHODAN quotes for Unity. Seems more appropriate (though I have not read the last adventure).


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Hi all,
I am planning on running Incursion as a campaign and capping it off with "Lich Queen's Beloved" from dragon 100. I have level 1 to 10 covered. Any suggestions for level 11~18?

One of the things I want to stick in there is a dungeon adventure. Since the group would have been pretty much doing war scenarios until about level 11+ the adventure preceding Lich Queen's Beloved I wanted it to be a dungeon crawl. Preferably something like an ancient tomb with puzzles, traps and guardians.

Think of the dungeon on the shoulders of the titan from god of war I.

Any suggestions welcome.


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I decided to do a lot of fleshing out of Carceri as I found that place a lot more interesting than Shatterhorn. Ill upload the full doc to the RPG Genius site but here are some of things I did. Ive lifted some of the narrative/descriptive text from Shemeska's Planescape Story Hour.

Both the Gigante and Carcerian Spiders are custom mobs from my world.

Carceri
Touchdown: You splash into the first layer of Carceri: Orthry’s the dark moor. The only dry land visible is a jagged mountain in the distance. It is oppressively hot and the swamp surrounds you on all sides. You can barely make out the sky through the roiling, snarled tangle of trees, vines and all manner of grotesque flowering plants. Bloodthorns, corpseblossoms, and even more esoteric varieties of deadly vegetation, they seemed to move and sway like cobras to the piping of a snake charmer, twitching on their own accord like they could smell the approach of bodies, soon to be corpses to feed their poisoned roots.

It should have been dark. After all, the swap trees and vegetation almost blocked out the sky. But the swamp was lit crimson, like it was painted with blood red paint, not from the sky but leaking up hot and sickly from the ground.

At that, you hazard to glance up between the gaps of the overhanging trees, up into the darkness overhead where the scarlet light of the ground grew pale, swallowed up by the void overhead. High in the distance, crimson stars stood against the sackcloth sky like drops of blood against the ebony flesh of Carceri itself. Anything could be up there lurking in the darkness, held aloft on leathery wings or sorcery; anything could be waiting to dart down upon unsuspecting prey.

Wandering Descriptive text I: The air was thick with a stench of rot, a minute drizzle of pollen and sap that hung like a sickly mist, oppressive with the pungent, sharp tang of acid. The swamp around you is alive with the buzzing of bloated insects and fat flys which annoy you to no end.

Wandering Descriptive text II: The swamp was alive, both in the metaphorical sense that its red shrouded depths and hidden places resounded with the suggestive drip of water and the rustle of unseen denizens, and the literal as well. The flora was attracted to the warm bodies that passed through it; blossoms that might open to a sun on Pangaea bloomed and keened towards the scent of passing creatures. Vines decorated with minute and delicate flowers would drift and coil out towards the sounds of footsteps, rows of barbed thorns revealed as they unwrapped, seeking to entrap and devour.

Quicksand: 20’ diameter. DC 8 survival check to spot if walking. Otherwise automatically fail. DC 10 swim check to stay afloat. DC 15 swim check to move 5 feet. Fail by five or more and sink. Can swim back up with a DC 15+1 swim check. Other characters can help by trying to pull them out. DC 15 strength check of the rescuer and a DC 10 STR check for the stuck character. If both checks succeed stuck character moves 5 feet closer. Otherwise make another DC 15 swim check and go under. DMG pg. 89.

Combat modifiers: Maximum spot is 2d8x10’. Could have quicksand. Hedgerows (tangle of stones, solid and thorny bushes). Act as low wall. 15’ to move through. Large ones take whole squares and provide total cover like a wall. 4 squares of movement or a DC 10 climb check for 2 squares.

Planar Effects on Magic: In a realm filled with lies and betrayel, selfless works have no place. Using magic without regard for others is rewarded; trying to help someone else is penalised, requiring a spell key to work or even a concentration check to avoid an unpleasant misfire:

In short, magic used for selfish gain takes effect as though caster were 1 level higher. Spells that benefit others function 2 levels lower – if at all – unless a spell key is used. Spell effects generally manifest in the most hidous way possible. Unless otherwise stated magic functions as normal below with the following exceptions:

• Alteration: These spells always produce the most evil result. If no evil effect is possible, they take a terrible form.
• Conjuration: Creatures summoned by these spells are not bound to serve the caster and may attack if not given a show of good faith or a bribe for their service. There is also a 50% chance that a gehreleth will intercept the summoning and come instead of the called creature.
• Divination: Such spells require spilling a comrade’s blood to form a scrying pool (or use of the own casters blood).
• Elemental: Water spells are enhanced by 1 level. All other spells are reduced by one level. Air spells are unaffected
• Necromancy: Healing spell are half normal effect. Spells that harm inflict 1 additional point of damage per level of the caster. Undead are automatically free-willed and may attack their creator, much as summoned creatures.
Carceri: Encounters

Wandering Gautiere Conmen: You spot a poorly hidden fire up in the distance. Probably the campsite of some unskilled woodsmen – or whatever passes for woodsmen in this place. Assuming the group sneaks up or turns up in some other way they see a group of 6 human (or humanoid) figures gathered around a fire. They seem to be using the fire to cook the remnants of a single large reptile of some kind. Four of the figures have spears, another has a longsowrd. They all have claw like nails and are wrapped from head to foot in rags. Despite the layered clothing they look either very thing or emaciated.

The Gautiere are willing to talk if pressed and will point to the craggy mountain in the distance if asked about the Bastion of Lost Hope. They have just come from there as part of a trade convoy for their tribe and were heading back to the portal when they were attacked by a Vaath which they brought down and now eating as dinner. They are willing to sell the party a totally useless map to the Bastion for 50gp. If the map is used to teleport to the bastion go to the “Hamburger Hill” encounter.
The Gautiere are willing to trade with the characters if they can. They can sell them useless maps that lead nowhere, “pure” drinking water tainted by the Styx (DC 15 save or forget the last 24 hours) for 25gp a cask, a ferrous sled which travels extermely slowly and eventually stop working altogether for 1000gp or a boat to navigate the various rivers that will sink on first use for 150gp. The Gautiere are very sincere and problems with their “aid” rarely surface until long after they have left the party behind. They can also sell the following spell keys at exorbident prices. These keys actually work, but since it’s the plane of betrayal they’re quite likely not to work or have the expected result. As well, the form of a given spell key may change unpredictably, making old ones worthless:

• Alteration: Lead necklace wrapped about the wrist (250gp)
• Conjuration/Summoning: A fist-sized lodestone sphere (200gp)
• Divination: No spell key.
• Necromancy: Carved thighbone of a farastu ghereleth (500gp)

Clerics that worship the Unknown God do not require power/spell keys. There holy symbol innately acts as the key required. These clerics are unaffected by the traitorous nature of the plane.

Choices: If the party head in the direction of the mountain on foot or flight they have two choices – to head through a jungle like area or through a serene looking grassland. Unless they just teleport… in which case jump to “Hamburger Hill”.
Jungle: Slowly, over the next hour the ground grows firmer, the moor receds back, and you look out onto a sea of entangled jungle and thick underbrush.

Encounter I: Black Mist. A black mist engulfs you as you venture through the jungle. At first you just assumed it was part of the ecosystem. But the mist seems to follow you slowly getting thicker. Give characters a chance to do something. The intelligent mist can be driven away by fire, rain or a wind affect. The mist engulfs you entirely and the contact reveals this mist is almost intelligent and it hungers for memories – as it begins feasting on yours. Each character must make a DC 19 will save. Failure means they forget one random feat or 1d6 spells for 1 day. The black mist is a manifestation of the Styx tributaries which feed the fetid moors. The mist dissipates after its “attack”

Encounter II: Vaath stalking. As grass but from ambush.

Grassland: Slowly, over the next hour the ground grows firmer, the moor receded back, and you looked out onto a sea of razor edged grass. Twenty feet high, nothing could be seen lurking under the surface as the flora swayed in the breeze with an otherwise almost tranquil quality. The swaying grass was tall as trees.
The razorgrass sea was calm. Pensive. Down below came soft growls, snarls and erratic barks. They were talking, thinking, planning.

• Encounter 1: Vaath stalking. The Vaath will try and bring their prey down using their tongue like appendage. Flight would allow the party to avoid them easily enough. There was a sudden flurry of noise from below and something shot up through the scarlet tinted grass. Like a cross between a reptile and an insect, it snarled and cackled madly as its legs extended and it leapt towards you. The razorgrass below you erupts into a chaos of snarls and cackling howls. Two more of the beasts burst through the top of the veldt and snapped at their intended prey with long proboscis type tongues,

• Encounter 2: A war-machine is separated from a blood war contingent of Demogorgon and thinks the party is easy meat. See “Misplaced Warmachine”

Vaath stalking: A horrible amalgamation of insect and reptile, this thing has a long body covered in dark scales. A hard, thorny brown carapace protects its head. Long, white teeth drip thick saliva. Narrow, slitted eyes peek out from its spike-covered head-shell. A long, snaky tendril extends from a small cavity above its mouth, ending in a small, sphincter like mouth of its own.

1 Vaath per party member.

Misplaced Warmachine: In the distance you can hear the sound of a machine like stomping and gears of steam spinning and moving. You can see the tall grass being mowed down by whatever mechanical monstrosity was causing the noise. Give characters a chance to do or say something. Something jerked above the level of the grass. A white and purple head and tip of a wing it seemed. There was a scream of gearwork and the swath of trodden grass shifting and changed direction. Whatever it was, it had seen them. At a hundread feet: When it grew to within a few hundred feet and two creatures, escorts or handlers, Vrocks, flew up over the grass and into the open air. The two of them squawked angrily, spittle flying from their swollen tongues and jagged beaks as they screamed out curses and commands in Abyssal.

Retriever: A gargantuan spider of flesh and steel, hellfire and rage moulded into physical form, the thing rose up over the surface of the razorgrass sea and fixed its six eyes on the targets it had been commanded to obliterate. Eyes of jelly and crystal, living and mechanical at once, they narrowed, focused, and burned with light and fury as the construct rattled with the sound and fury of furnaces and capacitors.

Attack routine: A bolt of lightning from one eye alone cut across the sky with a thunderclap that sent a wave through the grass with its force. A second eye let loose a horizontal column of liquid flame, igniting a swath of the grass and incinerating the path before it. A third eye spat a line of blistering, boiling acid through the sky.

Retriever (advanced to 30 hd)+ 2x Vrocks

Carceri: Other encounters

Fetid Wind: The almost constant breeze of this orb picks up and quickly turns into a gale in matter of minutes. Nothing you haven’t experienced before – if it wasn’t for the fact that these winds seemed to be laced with Styx waters and other fetid compost from the swap… The wind blows for 2d4 hours. Non-natives must make a DC 20 Fort save or become nauseated during the storm and for as many hours as the storm last later.

Fortuitous Find: Something sparkles from the muck of the swamp and catches your eyes. Characters find a finely crafted Ring of Regeneration. However the item is cursed. After wearing the item for 24 hours the wearer becomes possessive and obsessed with the item and will not give it up for any reason. However the ring will randomly teleport in to the possession of other party members or become “lost” and then turn up later. The owner immediately notices when it’s gone. If it has teleported to another party member the original owner is filled with rage and must make a DC 21 WILL save or fly in to a murderous rage attacking his fellow party member until the ring is given back, the party member is dead or the owner passes the save. If the item has teleported away entirely the owner must make a similar save or suffer a -2 to penalty to Wisdom until the ring is recovered or he makes his save. A remove curse spell will lift the rings effects.

Gehreleth Patrol: As SCHC

Insect Swarm: The fetid swamps are filled with stinging insects and gnats which annoy you to no end. So you are taken somewhat by surprise when the annoyance slowly builds into a swarm of stinging and biting bugs. There is at least one plague per character.

As Locust Swarm

Sunday Drive: Use this encounter near Skullrot or just to spice things up. A rakshasa out for a ride decides to play with the party.

Gigante: A great ebon skinned giant standing at least 15 feet high stalks the way up ahead. He has a spear the size of a tower and wears the skin of the largest tiger you have ever seen as a headdress and cape. Otherwise he wears only a loincloth made of crude leather and animal furs. This is one of the 100 gigantes. They hate the Olympians and their minions and they live to destroy them. They are allied with the Titans. They are a melancholic race and are generally only roused to anger if they suspect one of the characters serves the Greek pantheon in any way. Use the statistic for the Blackstone Gigant FF pg. 21 without the construct traits. Alternatively you can apply the Epic level Paragon template to a giant (see below).

Risinus enjoys playing riddle games. If the mood strikes him he may use a riddle to provoke a fight or spare the party. Two examples include:

The beginning of eternity
The end of time and space
The beginning of every end,
And the end of every place.
Answer: E

No sooner spoken than broken
Answer: Silence

Risinus: CR25; Huge Giant (Elemental, Gigante); HD 19d8+114 plus 228 (Giant); hp: 657; Init +2; Spd 105, Swim 75;
AC: 58 (Flatfooted:49 Touch:34);
Atk +51 base melee, +39 base ranged;
+58 (4d6+48, Greatspear); +39 (2d8+31, boulder);
SA: Spell-like Abilities Call Lightning 15 1 Chain Lightning 15 1 Control Weather 20 2 Levitate 20 2 ;
SQ: Rock Catching (Ex), Freedom of Movement (Su), Water Breathing (Ex); RF: Skills and Feats: EHD calculated as if large creature, Ignore weight penalties for gear when swimming;
Resistance: Fire/Cold 10, DR: 20/Epic, SR: 23, Fast Healing 20.
AL: CN;
SV Fort +29, Ref +26, Will +26;
STR 54, DEX 29, CON 38, INT 31, WIS 31, CHA 30.

Skills: Climb +32, Concentration +32, Jump +36, Perform +27, Spot +28.
Feats: Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Power Attack, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Sunder, Awesome Blow, Blowhard
Possessions: Greatspear, legendary dire-tiger headdress (+5 AC)

Risinus is the grand sire of many storm giants. However his time in Carceri has drained much of his care-free spirit.

Spell-Like Abilities: Once per day Risinus can call lightning as a 30th-level druid and use chain lighting as a 30th-level sorcerer. Twice per day a Risinus can control weather as a 35th-level druid and levitate as a 35th-level sorcerer. Save DC is 25 + spell level.

Freedom of Movement (Su): Storm giants continuously have freedom of movement as the spell.

Water Breathing (Ex): Storm giants can breathe underwater indefinitely and can freely use their spell-like abilities while submerged.

Rock Catching (Ex): Risinus can catch Small, Medium-size, or Large rocks (or projectiles of similar shape). Once per round, a giant that would normally be hit by a rock can make a Reflex save to catch it as a free action. The DC is 15 for a
Small rock, 20 for a Medium-size one, and 25 for a Large one. (If the projectile has a magical bonus to attack, the DC increases by that amount.) The giant must be ready for and aware of the attack.

Curse of the Gigante (Ex): All Gigantes have an extraordinary power with an equivalent drawback. Risinus can add +1d8 of damage per round up to a maximum of 5d8 while in contact with the ground (that is standing up not prone). If he losses contact for whatever reason, even momentarily, his next and subsequent attack damage are halved until he regains contact.

Shambling Mountain: As you move across an area particularly thick with undergrowth and hedgerows an earthquake strikes almost knocking to you off your feet. Shortly after there is another short shockwave. At this point characters with survival can make a DC 20 check to determine that something is terribly wrong and that’s not an earthquake. Then without warning are are lifted and flung of your feet as the land beneath you rapidly rises. This wasn’t an earthquake – it was a monster being awakened by your footsteps from its torpor! Characters who failed the survival check are thrown prone and surprised. Those that make the save are not surprised and can make a DC 25 Reflex check or DC 16 tumble check to land on their feet. The colossal monstrosity before you looks like heaps of rotting vegetation but you can make out a vaguely humanoid shape to its 25’ height.

Shambling Mound (advanced to 24 HD)

Molydeus Commissar (EL 19): An old acquaintance revisits the party. The Molydeus is fairly stealthy and will definetly try to surpise the party if it can. This is the same “recruiter” they encountered in Occipitis (Planes a funny place, eh?) which tried to shim-sham them into the very battle occurring on Carceri at the moment (see the “hamburger hill” encounter).

From behind you, you hear a siblant voice say “Well, well, well. Looks like our recruits had a change of heart and want to fight anyway!” as you turn around you see gigantic figure standing some 12 feet tall and wielding a massive great axe carved with jagged runes and a glittering red ruby set into the base of its shaft. The fiend has crimson skin, clawed hands, and the head of a leering hyena with silver eyes and great slavering fangs. A writhing snake protrudes from the side of its neck, coiling and hissing menacingly. The wolf head responds by saying “Their last donation didn’t go very far did it? Time for them to walk the walk. No one likes war financers anyway”. The snake laughs as if that’s the funniest thing it’s ever heard. The snake then says “Sso, ready to make another donation or do you want to join up with the greatesst tanarric horde ever created and win glory and so fourth for the Abysss!”

This encounter is purely setup as payback for the party. They still have the option to negotiate their way out (2k gp each in money or items will get the molydeus of their back as will information about baatezi movements or tanar’ri deserters).

Zuthnagoti, MOLYDEUS CR 19

Hamburger Hill: This is particularly good encounter for those random teleporting types who tend to say “We teleport 1000 miles that way” like my players love doing. Or if a miss-chance is rolled up. Could also be used as the spot a gate spell deposits the characters when they first arrive. As the normal feeling of a teleport (the biting cold, the blackness and so fourth) takes hold and the murk of the moor disappears you can hear the clamour of war a split second before your new environs phases in to view and slowly takes shape. As you appear a top a hill and seemed to have dropped right into the middle of a battle of some kind. Baatezu and tanar’ri are sprawled before you as far as the eye can see. As the chaotic tanar’ri horde smashes like a wave into the ordered spear lines of the baatezu - the smells, sights and sounds of battle are almost overwhelming. Around you a dumbfounded squad of a trio of hamatula or barbed devils, who are finishing off a contingent of fiendish hill giants and planting their standard to claim the hill for the glory of the Nine Hells when you pop into existence in the middle of them…after spending days taking the hill they are NOT amused by your arrival. The baatezu assume the party is a tanar’ri counter-attack and set upon the party immediately. They have fought for days to take this hill and refuse to give it up without a fight. The other tanar’ri and baatezu assume the same thing. Every wave of baatezu destroyed provokes a cheer from the tanar’ri forces. However the waves never stop and become increasingly more difficult until the party escapes or are destroyed.

Terrain: The hill has three steeply sloped sides and a 30-foot-high cliff face on one side of the hill. The slopes lead up to a 30’ radius domelike summit. The tanar’ri have gone to a lot of trouble to place blessed and silvered green-steel spikes around the base of hill which should bypass most baatezu damage reduction. Which is one of the reasons they send in mostly mercenary forces at first. The spikes act as a fraise making charges or attacks from below more perilous.

Fraise: May move at half-speed with out ill effect. Any fast risks impalement each round. 1d4 spikes attack each round with a +10 attack modifier dealing 1d8 (x3) damage.

Tactics: The three remaining barbed devils attack immediately. They should not really present a problem for the characters. After they are downed the players have a short breathing space before the next wave hits as the baatezi respond to the new “tanar’ri” threat. The Tanar’ric horde is one mostly composed of Grazzt’s forces while the Baatezi Brigade is that of Bel’s.

• x Hamatula (EL ?): There is one Hamatula per character. They attempt to hold person, produce flame and then rend the characters.
• 5 half-fiend Ogre Brutes (EL 12): The ogres swoop down from above on the characters. They open with unholy blight then rage and have smite good active (just in case). Stat block reflect this. If any hamatula survives they also drop darkness on the characters. These half-fiends are the spawn of Whip-lash.
• 4 Hill Giant Brute Mercenaries (EL 13): The brutes pelt the characters with boulders from 100’ away.
• 10 troll hunters (EL 18): The Sisterhood of Spite, a local troll tribe from the nearby swamp has been pressed ganged into service. The all female troop charges through the fraise heedless of the damage.
• 2 Fire giant soldiers and 10 barbazu (EL 15): They move cautiously through the fraise. The barbazu have produce flame active and fly into a battle frenzy as soon as they get close.
• Strike Team (EL 15): 1x gelugon, 2 x osyluth, 8 x barbazu: This group teleports directly into the midst of the party.
• 1 Cornagon (EL 20): Eventually one of the command staff will seek out the characters – a cornagon named Whip-lash. He already has his buffs up and will open with spell like abilities from 100’.

The Bastion of Last Hope
OUTSIDE: Bastion squats far back in the mountains of Othrys. It's made of black, igneous rock that seems to soak up the reddish glow of Carceri. Though the tower doesn't reflect the red, the light lends the Bastion an aura of brooding menace. From certain angles, the Bastion resembles nothing so m u g as a huge, squatting toad. The only visible entrance is through the toad's mouth, and its low-set eyes serve as the watch posts for the guards.

INSIDE: Inside, the decor's black, dank, and dark. Precious little light shines within these walls, because it seems the Anarchists don't really want any shed over their plans and their identities. Most people wandering about, in particular all of the vendors, wear masks of one type or another – some straightforward half masks, other more elaborate party masks including carnival animals like dragons, birds and so fourth. Seems only the visitors are not wearing masks. Though there are white robed figures wandering about, monks of some type perhaps, whose faces are fully uncovered.

Can purchase most goods at double the listed price up to 40,000 gp limit.

Ferrous Sled: This is the preferred method of travel among those who cant provide their own power. It’s a sled a body can stretch out on, guiding it by body weight and the rails in front. The sled never touches ground; its made of a lodestone specifically tailored to a layer, an so it repels itself against the ground. All a cutter needs to do is jump on and push off: gravity does the rest. Holds 500 pounds of person and equipment, measuring 6 feet long and 3 feet wide.

2000gp

Information: After making a DC 20 Gather Information check and spending 2kgp they locate someone who has a lead on a source of information. A brawny tiefling named jinx with many blades at his belt says he will contact them within 24 hours with the information they need – for a fee.

Within the next 24 hours a passer-by surprtiously pushes a note into one of the party members hands. The note reads “Come to the Drunken Berk at midnight”.

The bar is a rowdy tavern relatively easily located in the labyrinthine like tunnels of the Bastion. Jinx is easy to spot sitting at a large side-table by himself. Once you are seated he orders everyone a drink. Then says “Kimfu is the blood you need. She knows all sorts of esoteric information like what you are after. Unfortunately getting that kind of information ruffled the Hardheads feathers – she was thrown into Blackmaw just yesterday. At least it’s not the Vault – no one comes back from that place. However I think we can help each other out. Kimfu is one of the Anarchists best operatives. Blackmaw is located on Carceri. Not far from here in fact. If you can bust her out of prison the information we have on Adimarchus is yours. Deal?”

What is Blackmaw? “See the hardheads – that is the Harmonium – tried rehabilitating prisoners on Archon. They thought sticking all the chaotic berks on that good plane would naturally make them right thinking. Didn’t work. They had so many chaotic, crazy and evil berks up there that the layer shifted to Mechanus. Its very bad when you are responsible for such a calamity. They have been looking for another layer to claim back for a while now. One of the targets is Carceri. One of their rehabilitation pens is Blackmaw. Run by a monastic branch of the Harmanium simply known as the Sentinels”.

Jinx is more than happy to put the Anarchists resources at the disposal of the party. He can arrange to have them imprisoned. From that point it’s up to them on how they get themselves and Kimfu out. But there are two points they need to bear in mind – the only way out of Blackmaw is to become a Sentinel or death. No one is ever released from there. Two in her colourful carer she has offended not just the law-lovers of Sigils but other powerful groups – including the Shadow Thieves. An assassin’s guild based out of Sigil. Rumour has it they run their operation out of Blackmaw. It’s only a matter of time before they off Kimfu…

Leads on to Chains of Blackmaw.

Chains of Blackmaw
Changes to Blackmaw: Each cell has to magical wards – one is a sigils of static (which prevents prisoners from communicating non-verbally, CL 9) and another is a sigils of suppression (which prevents spellcasting as a Globe of Invulnerability, CL 11). Finally all prisoners have a tattoo of dimensional lock (CL 15) placed on them to prevent any kind of magical movement like plane shift and teleport. The tattoo is placed on the left shoulder blade and looks like a pair of shackles.

Inhabitants are a bit more esoteric than those listed in the module. Includes more planar races. However humans are still make up the majority of the inmates. Use Dungeon #130.

Kimfu Manderholm replaces Karl Manderholm. Kimfu happily passes on the information she knows once she is sprung from the prison. “I’m grateful to you berks for springing out of the birdcage. Ill happily tell you everything you want to know about anything I know. Theres more information rattling around my brain-box than drink in a bubber’s soul”. She can tell them that the name of the prison is Skullrot but it is heavily warded and protected from location magic of nearly any kind. A few people know the location – Grazzt for one and the gaolers of course. But the only person likely to tell them where it is exactly resides at the planar touchstone known as Harrowfall. An ex-lieutenant of Adimarchus called Byakala. She was imprisoned here by Adimarchus on the eve of his own imprisonment. Ironic isn’t it?

SKULLROT
Approaching Skullrot: Play out the encounter with the Thunder-beast as described. However give the players an alternate route into Skullrot. Skullrot sits atop a small black mesa with no visible way up – no stairs or such. The characters can climb (which will take hours). Fly directly to the door or search for another way in.

Fly: This is the easiest and safest way. Though try and dissuade them from this course if you feel they need the XP before entering Skullrot. Before arriving at Skullrot mention them spotting a murder of vrocks roaming about. Probably from the tanar’ic horde at Hamburger Hill. Make it large enougth to scare them. If they insist on flying anyway let them spot a cave entrance (see below) or spring the “Sunday Drive” encounter on them as they approach the Skullrot.

Sunday Drive: Turning visible at the last possible moment as it dove screaming out of the void, a green skinned, thin winged beast careened towards the group with a mind-piercing shriek. Seated upon its back in a cushioned saddle sat a richly robed, tiger headed humanoid. Before they could react, the Rakshasa loosed a spell from a wand in one backwards-pawed hand and its Yrthrak mount bellowed a cone of deafening sound.
A tiny flaming bead closed the distance between you and your attacker, growing larger as it speeds towards you before exploding in your midst with a pyroclastic roar.

Kahtry the Rakshasa is visiting from a material world known as Ebberron. He is seeking a titan known as Crius for advice. The odds are if the players don’t kill him Crius will turn him to mush. In either case his arrogance is his undoing. By the time Kahtry attacks he has observed the party for a while and buffs before battle. Both he and his mount have the following buffs active and part of the stat block: Displacement, blur, heroism (mount only), mage armour, shield, bear’s endurance and resistance.

Kahtry the Rakshasa + advanced Yrthak mount
 
Climbing: If the players decide to climb they have a whole days work cut out for them. Multiple DC 25 climb checks will need to be made. The mesa is rough but there are handholds. However it is slippery from the nearly constant rain in this area. Also the Carcerian Spider that lives in the cave will emerge and attack them using its climbing ability to its full advantage. Getting to the base of the mesa will also provoke the Thunderbeast Behometh.

Carcerian Spider: CR 18; Huge (Abberation, outsider) ; HD 15d10+75 (Magical Beast) ; hp 160; Init +6; Spd Climb 20, 40; AC:20 (Flatfooted:20 Touch:10); Atk +20 base melee; +22/+17/+12 (2d6+10, Bite); SA: Smite Good +15 ; SQ: Regeneration 5, Darkvision: 60 ft., Low-light Vision, DR: 10/Magic, SR: 20, Resistance: Fire/Cold/Acid: 10; Immune: Electricity, AL NE;
SV Fort +14, Ref +13, Will +6; STR 25, DEX 20, CON 20, INT 7, WIS 13, CHA 10.
Skills: Climb +25, Jump +11, Move Silently +10.
Feats: Ability Focus, Improved Critical: Bite, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Armour, Improved Natural Attack: Bite, Lightning Reflexes.

This vaguely spider-shaped creature is composed entirely of webs, except for its eight spider like eyes and razor sharp fangs. The webbing the party finds is shed from the creatures body. The Carcerian spider depends on surprise and brute force to bring down prey as it does no have any poison or web capability. When it dies its body instantly decomposes leaving behind 8 50gp onyx gems (eyes) and its monofilament fangs.

Monofilament Fangs (Ex): The fangs of a carcerian spider bypass all armour bonuses and damage reduction. Effectively striking against the touch armour class of prey.

Adhesive (Ex); A carcerian spider is extremely sticky. Failed attacks result in a DC 20 reflex save or the attacker’s weapon is stuck fast to the spider and yanked out of their hand. DC 20 strength check to remove a stuck weapon. However the weapons disappear into the ethereal when the spider phases out.

Split (Ex): Slashing and piercing weapons do no damage to a carcerian spider. Instead the creature splits into two identical spiders, each with half the originals hit points. Once reduced to 10 hp component spiders it can not split any further. Once a prey has been killed the spider will spend a few minutes reforming before devouring its target.

Regeneration (Ex): Fire does normal damage to a carcerian spider. It can also reform from its component parts (or reattach/regrow lost parts) in 3d6 minutes.

Ambush (Ex): Carcerian spiders can phase out into (and back) the ethereal once a day to stalk, surprise and attack foes. It can use this ability as a free action.

Electrical Discharge (Su): Generally a Carcerian spider’s lair is covered with webbing. This web is shed from its body as it moves around its lair. This webbing is extremely conductive to electricity. Once a day as a standard action the spider may generate an electrical discharge affecting everyone in contact with the web as if struck by a lightning bolt of 10d6 damage. The Reflex DC for half damage is 16. Which includes a -3 penalty due to having nowhere to jump to. It can also use the discharge if it is grappled. Otherwise this attack is useless outside its lair.
 
Cave: The caves are a labyrinthine until themselves. The characters will get hopelessly lost quickly. However soon after entering they meet a petitioner named Garrett who is willing to guide them to the top – for a fee. He will pretty much take anything as payment as he plans on betraying them to the Carcerian spider and picking their bones clean. “Follow me and I’ll see you to the top.” He said, gesturing to one of the passages. “Trust me, I know these caves.” He will make helpful comments along the way to ingratiate himself like “Turn right up ahead” and “And watch for the loose rocks. They tend to collect there from the shaft above.”

“Just up this tunnel the rock will start to change colour.” He said. “At that point you’ll only have a short way to go before you reach the top, and we’ll be parting ways.” Soon enough the rock shifted from white, water smoothed limestone to a rougher stone discoloured by the influx of acids and organic compounds from the swamp above. The passage angled up more and more as they progressed, and eventually their guide paused and motioned them on.
“There you go.” He said. “From here it’s a straight shot to the top.”

Ahead in the darkness, their voices bounced off of the walls and carried far ahead of them

The Carcerian Spider: As they continued their climb, they quickly began to notice tatters of thin, gossamer material on the floor of the passage, and strands of gooey rope-like silk on the ceiling and covering smaller side passages.
A soft scuttling sound echoed through the caves, muted by the presence of the webbing. Something was out there, following them, likely hedging them into specific tunnels as they found others blocked by webs.

Carcerian Spider