Vomit_hOUse's page

*also, as there are Devils and not the more primal outsiders, there will be opportunities to talk their way through situations and avoid conflict altogether as they slither their way through Bassilius' castle (chateau? Mansion? Penthouse suite? ..... Playboy Mansion)

the main villain in question is based off the Herald of Hell template (I think a CR15?). He is an ancestor of one of the captured heroes and through a purposefully overwhelming army of Hernesuge demons, the main heroes awoke a few days later in the basement of the Herald's experimentation chamber within his estate. I've created machines using the technology expansion (referred to as "lost technology"), that is currently keeping the heroes restrained via magic and adamantine metal. They have yet to be able to remain conscious for more than a few minutes at a time. It's been made very clear that they are stuck here for the moment. They have not met the Herald (name Bassilius), though through their few moments of clarity and speaking with the goblin who is their caretaker, they have gathered that:

1. Bassilius wants them alive
2. This is the means to some end that they've yet to discover
3. Bassilius rarely visits the estate (relative to mortals at least)

The elevator pitch from those hiring the PC's is they are going on an extraction mission. They don't want to take on the Herald or any possible leutennants he may have lounging about the place. The "B-Squad" is to enter onto Bassilius' estate, disguised as an abandoned mansion outside a small town in a country named Lovak (Eastern Europe, for all intents and purposes, including lore). And while I'd like to have some Slavic and such inspired creatures, once the main heroes are rescued, their story is going to pick up in the mansion; their plot progression hunting Bassilius within the country. I don't want them to get sick of this style of creature, so:

I thought this: Bassilius' estate is actually a harem, and all of the residents are female and beautiful male creatures. This would go against what I think the players are expecting: Devils, demons, etc. It also can extend beyond a vast range of types, and even npc types can appear, and let the players explore every crevice of their weird new characters.

I really want to make this a fun stand-alone dungeon! Even though they will only be playing these 8s for a few sessions, their actions and the information they gain from this will rocket The players into the 3rd act of the campaign after their main heroes are rescued - Bassilius is the first encounter of 5 'main villain' who have plagued the players since the campaign began, 3 years ago.
They will have recon past anything "too powerful".

Hey all! I posted a few months back about help with a Dread class PC and I got the answer I needed within like an hour so I thought I'd extend my information feelers again - as many of you are well beyond me in terms of gameplay knowledge, it seems an odd resource to ignore!
Ok, here goes:
In my campaign, the players main PC's have been captured by one of the established 'main villains' of the world. A month passes without anyone from the outside world hearing from the heroes, so an organization (think of them like the Avengers of this world) have sent a 'rescue team' of characters to save them. I pregenerated 10 base characters for them to choose from and flesh out. The theme of these characters were they are all less-played or little known races. I only supplied the race, and class of the characters. I let the players fill out their stats (15 point buy) and feats. I told them to make their characters broken as they can without destroying their usefulness outside of combat (ex, INT of 2 or CON of 4 to make room for a STR or DEX that is 25 or 26). Out of the 10 characters I made available, these were the ones the players chose:

A Nagaji Sorcerer (Eldritch Scrapper - Rakshasa bloodline)
A Kasatha Swashbuckler
A Wyvaran Inquisitor
A Ratfolk Gulch Gunner

NOW, here's my conundrum: the characters in need of rescue are level 13, while the rescuers are only level 8. I am trying to create a challenging 'dungeon' for them to traverse in order to reach the captured heroes. Does anyone have any suggestions for some fun creature encounters or traps to throw their way? Three of the four players are quite experienced, and the fourth is quickly becoming versed in the ins and outs of the game - so I was leaning towards making a CR10 dungeon.

Thought? Advice?

Thanks!

-VH

Thanks everyone for all the advice.
Like I said, I'm still learning the finer mechanics of the game, and this is all really helpful.

I'll let you know how it all works out!!

VH

Kryzbyn wrote:

D20pfsrd.com wrote:

Aura of Fear (Su)

At 3rd level, a dread radiates a palpably daunting aura that causes all enemies within 10 feet to take a –4 penalty on saving throws against fear effects. Creatures that are normally immune to fear lose that immunity while within 10 feet of a dread with this ability. This ability functions only while the dread remains conscious, not if she is unconscious or dead.

Good catch. I should have figured there was something, since DSP printing something without a means to prevent it's main schtick from being shutdown would be unusual. But ya, Immunity to Mind-affecting also really hurts them, though it is much harder to come by in PF.

Seriously! This changes everything.

Sorry guys! He's an Aasimar Dread class, CN, with the Fear in Flesh archetype. The broken stats I refer to the 15 point buy-in rule for stats. He more or less spent a majority of those points boosting Charisma to 20, giving him a +5 in bonuses (has been fun for RP, but this is ruining combat (see below)
He's supercharged his CHA score, giving him 27 extra power points (He's somewhere around 72 total, which therein lies the rub). Now, because of his archetype, he gains two claw attacks (Claws of the Beast) and a bite (Bite of the Wolf) in lieu of his weapons as he transforms into a 'hideous nightmare beast'. He can pump these to do max damage (6d6/claw, I think?) for a somewhat paltry cost to his massive power points pool.

Does psionic/magic transparency mean they're treated as the same for the sake come mechanics and combat? If so, then yes. If not, please explain! I'm reading up on psionics as much as I can too, but it's more foreign to me than it is to the player.

Now, there is one other catch to all this: he has the shadow twin ability as of level 11 (they're now 13), and should something be shaken or have any type of fear affecting them, it gains its own initiative and move pool.

My biggest problem is I'm trying to find a way to just balance them out so the rest of the group aren't left as benchwarmers.

The rest of the group consists of:
A Half-orc Ranger 9/Druid 4 (NG,with the shared favored enemy bonus class feature), An elf mesmerist 13 (CN -, A human Cleric 13 (NG - character is great healer/wisely uses spells), and possibly a half-elf Magus 13 (we're still unsure if they're joining us). They all do well to work together and attack as a team in combat, but the Dread tends to pump their power points into every attack, and there's rarely an enemy left for anyone to play against.

Sorry if this sounds like rambling, I'm just trying to think of specifics and examples from previous sessions.

Hey there!

I'm running a campaign where I have a character playing the [psionic] class {Dread}. Now, it's a fun class, but the player in question exploits the already slightly-brokenness (word??) of the Dread class, on top of his broken character stats. While it's always fun to have an OP character, he generally overuses his powers to where it has started to affect the fun the other players in he group are having. I've come up with a couple different ways I want to handle this:

1. Create new creature/modify old ones to have the [psionic] subclass so there is a balance of power on the field.

2. He is a demon-hunting fanatic, so I thought perhaps keeping him distracted during combats with demons/devils - this seems contrived and not a solution, just a temporary bandage.

3. Use NPC's as opponents, and introduce a stronger psionics presence in the world of the game.

4. Pit him against a high CR creature without the rest of the group to reinforce the emphasis on team work. I don't want the player to feel bullied, but reminded that it's not a one-man show.

Now, I'm stuck as to which approach I should take in campaigns with the character. I wanted to weigh in here and see if anyone else has some first-hand advice?

I enjoy the class and [psionics] in general, and would just like to find a way to balance out the PC's power so the others have an enjoyable experience.

Thanks!