To give some background, the party consists of an oracle who spammed it against a wendigo's howl fear effect, essentially negating the effect.
So, I will chalk this up to perhaps being one of those cases where, yeah, the party has a character who happens to be well tuned for this specific kind of case, and shouldn't be punished for it.
Thanks again for the helpful and thoughtful comments.
Thanks for for the very clear responses. I do understand the works based on RAW at this point.
Is it just me, or are those not extremely powerful effects for first level spells: The ability to completely negate the fear effect without a chance of failure.
Compared to other works which require opposed rolls or which automatically work but are much higher level.
Do the provisions of these spells which suppress ongoing fear effects automatically work against any fear effect, no matter the source / level / power? For example, the frightful presence of an Ancient Red Dragon or a Fear spell (level 4) cast by a 20th level wizard. There is also a will save for these spells, which I am not clear about.
We recently finished this story arc and had some great results.
Spoiler:
Brawl Dar, nearly killed in the Briarstone Asylum, is succuming to ghoul corruption (see Pathfinder Horror for details. I highly recommend considering these rules - more than any other feature of Horror including the expanded fear or sanity rules). I spoke with the player and he said "Sure, no problem. I eat the flesh." And thus, throughout all of our Thrushmoor adventure, pieces of vanguished foes would go missing - an arm here, a leg there. It was quite a mystery and the other players were a bit wigged out. They didn't tie it to the foul smell constantly coming from Brawl Dar.
Daridela will come back as a Fungal Pilgrim archetype druid (missing her left arm - see the paragraph above for more details). I figured that she's a Sentinal. Her goal is to keep Xhamen Dor asleep, and as such she could be an ally or an adversay with a common enemy aka Lowls (see book 5 - What Grows Within, page 64, for more details).
Luna, the half elf Slayer, had a great talk with Lysie Brilt, the goggly eyed half Skum fish-smoker. After the party cleared out Fort Hailcourse, Lysie tearfully admitted that she let the Skum into town by leaving the sewere grates unlocked. She was so lonely, she explained. Luna told her "Look, you know, that was a s%@@ty thing to do. I used to be a be a s%!@ty person too, but I'm not anymore. Just don't be a s!@&ty person."
Due to the lack of healers in town who trusted the party, they went out into the swamp to meet with the Grimzelda, the "beautiful Varisian fortune teller". You know, the one who hangs out at The Stain (oh yeah, they loooved The Stain). Brawl Dar ended up spending the night with her. Romance.
Mrs. Lowls I played up as a lonely but demanding matron. One of the characters was her caretaker / experimenter during his service with Lowls and she had a special love / hate relationship with him.
Melissen - don't waste the opportunity for a great character and intrigue by just sticking her in the basement waiting for the PCs to come kill her. I had Melissen meet the characters in town and speak to them, and she seemed relieved that they didn't remember her (they figured that they must have been real a$*&~*#s to her). Melissen used Daelene and Asa as proxies, and invited them all to dinner (along with Mica and Prewyn Noddar) to dinner at the manor. They were served by grunting Kuru in servants outfits, and had a nice discussion about blasphemous plays and other decadent topics. It ended up with most of the party succumbing to a knock out drug and waking up in the basement. They explored a little then fled in terror with the Keeper of the Yellow sign and the Mangaagalin (however the heck you say it) chasing after them (they were also terrified of the topiaries, which never did attack but did move around a lot). In any case, they eventually figured out that Melissen was the real head of the cult, but some intrigue such as this can add a lot.
In the fight with Melissen, the Byakhee gutted the wizard, and the rogue and the slayer were paralyzed by hold person, and the fighter just couldn't do enough as Melissen blasted them from above with negative channels. It was, for all intents and purposes, a TPK, fair and square. I told the players that as everything went dark, they heard the alien piping of the two Elder Things (Yohrea and Zelgre, as they happen to be named), who blasted her with a lighting gun that they had fashioned (i.e. deus ex machina). They woke up later, bruised and battered, with their confabulation plates missing (the elder things stole them), and Melissen burned to a crisp. They brought the wizard's body to the Zelgre and Yohrea and the aliens said that they would see what they could do, which was to save the wizard's brain and put it in a jar, with a microphone and speaker. They had a great conversation with him when they came back to check on him.
TLDR: Thank you. Daridela is an interesting character. Use corruptions. The Great Old Ones were, are, and will be.
Thanks to everyone for posting the notes, commments, and material. I'm just starting this part of the campaign.
The PCs failed miserably in their first attempt at the Dreamlands excursion ritual, so we left our last session with a cliffhanger as they fight the animate dream. Fortunately for Skywin and her crew, they performed the ritual on a raft being dragged behind the Sellin Starling. Skywin insisted on this due to the terrible smell exuding from one of the characters, who is suffering from ghoul corruption.
I highly recomment reviewing the rules for corruptions from Pathfinder Horror. Giving a corruption to a character is a great alternative to death - it is a real consequence and gives a good, in game reason why the death is avoided. Especially in this campaign where continuity of characters from the beginning is important.
In my campaign, Daridela (the druid from early in the Thrushmoor Terror) returned as a fungal pilgram archetype druid. She's not an adversary, she's not an ally. She's a "Sentinal" (as described on page 64 of book five - What Grows Within). Sentinals worship Xamen-Dor out of terror, and want to keep it sleeping. So, her goal is to stop Lowls, but she's at this point out of her mind, as it has been replaced by mushrooms. She shows up, speaks ominously about "The Inmost Blot" and insisting that "The Sleeper must not awaken", then fights with the PCs a bit and runs away. Good times.
Overall, I have altered the main course of the campaign a bit. A major theme hinted at in Lovecraft's writing is that the Great Old Ones exist outside of time - the past, present, and future are all visible. "The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them."
Spoiler:
In this regard, the characters in my campaign are at the center of a paradoxical time loop. They have been and are being told (by cultists, the keeper of the yellow sign, and most recently Werelai) that they are marked, and that they appear to have done it themselves.
They are also starting to get hints that they are the only thing preventing Golarion from being consumed by Carcossa. This is because as it turns out, they travelled / will travel from the future to the past and did indeed mark themselves. They have / will have damned themselves but have protects Golarion from the inevitability of being consumed - they have a created a paradoxical time loop. If the loop is broken, time moves forward and the world will, eventually get consumed.
At the end of the campaign, when they travel back in time, rather than merely wake themselves, the characters will have the chance to mark themselves, as they have been and will be told many many times they have / will do.
If the players choose not to do it, fine. They will discover that they are no longer marked, freeing themselves from the inevitable doom and defilement of being marked by Hastur. It will, however, mean doom for the world. I look forward to seeing how this plays out in the end and I think it will make a great ending for the campaign.
I suggest the following to inspire you:
Dreams in the Witch House and Call of Cthulhu by Lovecraft
Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut
The Courtyard by Alan Moore (re the dangers of knowledge of the Great Old Ones)
Neonomicon by Alan Moore (re the timelessness of the Great Old Ones)
Flatland by Edwin Abbot
So, I'm nearing the end of this book, and now have an even bigger problem...my players are clever and experienced, and are fixated on getting their dream loot back to the real world. They are dreaming up all sorts of ways to smuggle it out, including, but not limited to, killing a party member (and carrying the body to the Dreamlands, and raising him there, giving him all the dream gear, and he then uses a purchased planshift scroll to get out with it all), using a portable hole (since it's a separate extradimensional space), and a couple of even crazier ideas. Clearly, if they do manage this, it will totally mess up their wealth on hand for the rest of the campaign. But, on the other hand, I don't want to just stomp all over their creativity.
Anybody have an alternative suggestion?
Interesting dilemma. If my players insisted on doing this, I would probably give them plenty of warning along the lines of "dream stuff belongs in the dreaming". If they persisted, I'd let them bring the stuff out, power through a few non-key encounters (to let them revel in their cleverness). Then I would start adding the advanced nightmare Lord template to every adversary they met, having swarms of gloomwings planting larva in people all around them, and throwing armies of tattermen and animate dreams at them until they took the stuff back where it belonged. (The idea being that they broke the world's physics and now the dreamworld is one again seeping into the real world. Have you read "The Mist"?)
Honestly, while I can appreciate the creativity, I'm not impressed by these kinds of shenanigans. Ultimately, players need to respect that one of the key aspects of the game is balance.
You're the gamemaster. Don't let your players jerk your chain.
I was reading this adventure earlier when I came across this section on page 37 regarding the interaction between the two nobles and the PCs:
** spoiler omitted **
My question is Daelene is going to pull that trick off exactly how? Daelene does not have any means of accomplishing that trick - anyone in the room will automatically notice her spellcasting. While only a successful Spellcraft check would identify the exact spell she cast, she cannot hide the fact that she cast a spell (or is in the process of casting a spell), as per the FAQ on identifying spells (see here!).
At best, all she can do is use Bluff to lie about what spell she used - "Oh, it was just a minor cantrip to chill the wine a bit more. Hah, all of those months of hideously expensive private tutoring and what do I have to show for it to dear old Mum and Dad, who were hoping their only daughter would one day be a mighty wizard? How amazing, I can chill wine. Truly, an astounding feat for the ages, don't you think?"
CB
Not sure if someone else answered this, but this shouldn't be an issue because Daelene is a sorceror of the psychic bloodline. "Your sorcerer spells and spell-like abilities count as psychic instead of arcane. You use thought and emotion components instead of verbal and somatic components when casting your spells."
thought and emotion components :
Emotion Components: Emotion components represent a particular emotional state required to cast the spell. A psychic spellcaster marshals her desire in order to focus and release the spell's energy. It is impossible to cast a spell with an emotion component while the spellcaster is under the influence of a non-harmless effect with the emotion or fear descriptors. Even if the effect's emotion matches the necessary emotion to cast the psychic spell, the spellcaster is not in control of her own desires and animal impulses, which is a necessary part of providing an emotion component.
Thought Components: Thought components represent mental constructs necessary for the spell's function, such as picturing a wolf in vivid detail—down to the saliva dripping from its jaws—in order to cast beast shape to transform into a wolf. Thought components are so mentally demanding that they make interruptions and distractions extremely challenging. The DC for any concentration check for a spell with a thought component increases by 10. A psychic spellcaster casting a spell with a thought component can take a move action before beginning to cast the spell to center herself; she can then use the normal DC instead of the increased DC.
When Melisenn makes her "though you bear his mark" speech, it's a reference to the fact that the PC's are marked by Hastur, and that is what gives them immunity to the Xhamen Dor mind infection? Or is it Nyarlethotep, (illustrated by them appearing to 'help' the ghouls in the next book?)"
Or is it a reference to them being Lowls's servants? or just something meant to be mysterious/ominous?
I think they've been spiritually marked with the yellow sign. Any servant of Hastur can see that they've been marked, the Keeper of the Yellow sign can see they're marked, they can activate the star stelae, etc.
I don't think that the yellow sign is a statis "thing" for example the squiggly line sign as drawn in the book. I think that is a "manifestation" of the yellow sign, just as the yellow flames on the Briarstone Asylum cultists were yellow signs (I had some good lols when the fighter of my group tried to go back to the chaple with yellow flame on his forehead).
I think the denoument of the campaign will be a quest to rid themselves of the yellow sign.
How to get my players interested in entering Fort Hailcourse, as all clues are screaming Iris Hill to them.
Although doing it in the opposite order might make sense, I feel they will be inclined to jump on Lowls trail asap and the added 'dungeon' becomes somewhat lackluster after dealing with the cultist leadership.
I plan on making Fort Hailcourse a matter of urgency. I've played up that there's dozens of people missing every night. There's cultists jumping out of walls kidnapping people, and the PCs will confront the Skum coming from the lake to the sewer system (leading to the fort). Lenk Marris is being set up as potentially leadership for the town (in contrast to the corrupt Noddars). He'll be kidnapped as well. Clues that the kidnapped victims are at the Fort should create that sense of urgency.
Regarding the Keeper of the Yellow sign, on the Entropic Drain entry, it reads :
A keeper’s use of its energy draining
ability can result in a surge of entropy that consumes
its body and disrupts life all around it. Every time the
keeper’s entropic drain attack results in a creature’s
death, the keeper must succeed at a DC 17 Fortitude
saving throw or be destroyed. If the keeper is destroyed,
all sentient beings in a 15-foot radius around the
keeper gain a negative level (Fortitude DC 17 negates).
If any negative level bestowed by a keeper becomes
permanent, the victim must succeed at a DC 17 Will
saving throw or die after 1 hour of delirium. The save DCs
are Charisma-based.
So does this mean that if the player fails the fortitude save after 24 hours (and the negative level becomes permanent) that they must also save or die?? (from the delirium??)
Or is this only in the case of the drain, killing a creature, and then the keeper exploding from failing his own save (and thereby giving the negative level to everyone in the radius??)
For purposes of foreshadowing, I had the Keeper wandering around the streets of Thrushmoor, talking to folks asking "have you seen the yellow sign" and staring with its creepy yellow eyes. My players gave it wide berth until the last session, when my new player introduced his paladin character. They came across the Keeper talking with Llewyn (the Keepers are interested in macabre art...). The paladin refused to allow the Keeper to leave the island and stood his ground as the Keeper drained two levels while the rest of the party hacked it to death. I did forget to apply the entropic drain ability...
I want to add one or more Hags to the adventure. I like to use the cover as a teaser, and I also like the picture of Adrianah flying over cultists in front of the Star Stela.
Obviously, Adrianah herself is not an option. But maybe another Hag?
There's a Green Hag nearby, which can be a random encounter. That's an option, but I feel I'd like it more if it is related to the adventure than just a random encounter. Maybe as an ally of Daridela?
The picture of the hag flying over the Star Stela might work well as a Storm Hag, although it is a tough fight at CR7. Being stronger than Melisenn is a bit weird (unless I re-write part of the adventure to make this hag the overseer of Melisenn)
Maybe adding a Sea Hag with the Skums? That could be tied to Thrushmoor hybrids maybe, which could work well with my group, who played Call of Cthulhu and have read Lovecraft.
Adding the three might work as a Coven, which could explain the weather over Thrushmoor. But then they should be fight one by one,
Also, the adventure already packs a lot of combat encounters, so what could I cut?
Mmmm... I have to think about it. Maybe it's not worth the effort just to use the (great) picture in the cover as a teaser
I have Grimzelda hanging around the Stain as a wandering Varisian, trying to lure men out to her "caravan" outside of town. My players aren't taking the bait yet...
While we're on the subject of the Revenant, a Revenant specifically trying to kill a level 4 party member seems extremely deadly. 2 claws +18 for 1d8+11 with an automatic grapple at CMB +21 for another 1d6+7 damage? Holy ouch. That doesn't even factor in that the Revenant has Haste, so that's actually even worse.
Any advice for running this encounter without dropping the PC in question within the first round or two? I don't want to hold back player death, but this seems like a really questionable situation to just kill a PC. As far as it will seem from a player's perspective, a Revenant will run up from nowhere and drop them within a round or 2 (literally in the middle of town!). That feels like a cheap death to me.
One option given is that multiple PCs were involved in the death. That has the disadvantage of giving the thing its profane bonus against all of them. But you could then justify it not going for the kill immediately.
Some other options:
1. The Revenant can't restrain itself and leaps out at the PCs despite their being some distance down the street. While closing, it shrieks first. That potentially gives the PCs two rounds to respond before it makes its first attack, although if they have trouble saving against the shriek things will still be really bad. On approach, have it threaten the target PC, which gives the group a chance to cover him or her and try to intercept the Revenant.
2. Have it wait until the PCs go to the fort, then creep up on them. The odds are good of at least one combat against the fort's inhabitants where the enemies will be between the target PC and the Revenant. Have it enter the fight by attacking the fort defenders, in an attempt to break through to its target. That gives the players a chance to see how deadly this foe is and buys them a little time to respond, plus they may have some buffs already running. On the down side, they may have expended a lot of resources already. But if a zombie, a skum or an Id Ooze lands a few hits on...
My plan is to set it up with some foreshadowing, and the final encounter will come when the characters have reached sixth level.
Luna (the character in my campaign who had a memory of "curb-stomping" poor Klyn Myrick), went to the grave to pay her respects and discovered that something had disturbed it, and that the tombstone had been hurled far from the grave. Luna tracked the footprints where they were lost in a bog.
The next evening, Luna will return to find their room trashed (they are staying at the temple), and other residents will describe Klyn rampaging and describe his speed, strength and single minded focus on Luna.
Three attacks a round, each one with the possibility of causing paralysis.
A lot of parties have been laid low by this. Admittedly, they have to close before they get a full attack... but if they group up on a guy, then it's doubtful more than one will go down unless the group is lucky with Channel Energy.
Also don't forget the Stench ability of the Ghast - area affect, causes a Sickened condition. -2 to hit and damage can hurt.
Also, have the Ghouls attack from Stealth. The only people who get to act are those who make their Perception check to detect the ghouls. This means the Ghouls WILL close, and probably get attacks on flatfooted PCs.
Be careful though. Paralysis can result in a TPK before you know it. While other GMs love to use Coup de Grace, don't. Have the ghouls drag off people to gnaw on them while they're still alive. More horrifying... and allows for rescues.
I had a similar situation in another campaign. My PCs were "TPKd" and, tester than song, they woke up in a pool filled with corpses. Now they are dealing the ghoul corruption from Pathfinder Horror.
The corruptions are a very good alternate to player death imo.
Now that I'm thinking about the farmstead ghoul encounter, and since it's the next event in my campaign, I need to consider something. The ghoul paralysis is what makes this encounter so dangerous, but my party consists of two half-elves (one a cleric), an elf, and a human paladin. This party make-up essentially renders the ghoul paralysis useless.
Is there something else I should consider to make this encounter more challenging? ...
Consider not making it more challenging. Allow the players to enjoy the immunity. "We're elves! We fear no ghouls!"
My PCs just got to Thrushmoor, and it's been good times with them trying to piece together why they're getting dirty looks from everyone. I've added a bit as follows:
1. Folks in town are initially Unfriendly per the diplomacy skill rolls. They have destroyed the gibbering mouther under Pier 19 (which, given the appearance of proto-shoggoths in Chapter 4, I figure is spme sort of proto-proto-shoggoth), have quelled the angry townsfolk without coming to blows, and now are exploring Daridela's cave. After this general attitudes will shift to Impartial. After three more completed quests, general attitudes will shift to Friendly.
2. I love a mystery, and I love to introduce villains. So, I figure Melisen gets word that they're back and is curious what they remember. She gets Daelene and Asa to "host" the PCs to dinner while she plays servant in the background. This gets my players set up to think that Daelene and Asa are the villains, when in reality... the butler did it. They will have a chance to join the cult of Hastur. At the end of the dinner, if they don't join, Melisenn will sternly tell the PCs that she remembers them, and they should stay away. The intent is that she comes across as a good intentioned servant who doesn't believe they've turned over a new leaf.
3. Similarly, there will be a scene to introduce Degghorbatha and Itsqal-Thoal, in which the PCs interrupt a bunch of the Skum (deep ones in my campaign), including those two, dragging some kidnapped or dead townsfolk into the bay. I will try to include a mono e mono battle between Itsqall Thoaal and our fighter... if the former wins, the deep ones laugh in mockery of the PCs, while if the latter wins many, many deep one minions intervene.
4. The revenant - One of my PCs already had a memory of 'curb stomping' someone. Wrentz will suggest that PC go to the family to make ammends and to the cemetary to pay respects - and the grave will be disturbed. Later, that PCs room will be torn up. I will have the revenant attack later - probably when they are level five, as the fight has the potential to be deadly as discussed earlier in this thread.
In general, I'm really enjoying this adventure path. Previously, there was a TPK fighting Klades and his minions that I mitigated by having the party wake up in the sauna full of bodies. Now the fighter is facing ghoul corruption per the Horror rules (he is forced to consume the flesh of sentient creatures or face consequences).
The rules provide that favored class can't be changed after character creation. I'm asked by my players to relax this rule and let them switch favored class. I'm in favor of allowing players flexibility in their character creation and development, so I am considering allowing switching to an extent.
Essentially, a character could switch favored class once the "new" class exceeds the old class.
So, for example, Griz is a fourth level halfling ranger (favored class ranger) who starts down the path of rogue. At level eight, Griz is a ranger 4/ rogue 4. At level nine, Griz continues as a rogue, and is allowed to switch favored class to rogue, essentially giving him five favored class bonuses.
Can anyone identify a good reason not to allow this as a house rule? (i.e. some way in which it could be abused).
Preparing to do a play-by-post game but this could help any GM. I really like that Zandalus had a patient record, and tried to make records similar for other NPC patients.
Really appreciate the work you put into this. I took your work and ran with it. I ended up with 19 patient profiles in total.
I also made a "flyer" for Briarstone Academy where I explained some of the history and purpose of the place along with a crude map of the asylum.
It's on my obsidian portal, feel free to use what I wrote (and give credit to GM Franti as well!)
http://strangeaeons-19.obsidianportal.com/adventure-log/day-four
Ausiel, the word written in the viol found in area A1b, is an allusion to the HP Lovecraft story The Music of Erich Zann (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Music_of_Erich_Zann).
I'm not sure exactly what to do with this in my campaign ...
