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Not familiar with the mythic rules at all, any concrete advice? Thanks! I will have to read up on what the different abilities do, but I will give it a shot! The characters have actually not been able to level to 17 yet, but I think I will tell them to level. It's the final fight, after all :) They've coming in fully rested and buffed, so I hope it'll be a close fight, but that they are victorious.
Not familiar with the mythic rules at all, any concrete advice? I'm just a little worried that it will be too easy. They've breezed through most of the Sanctum (although they accidentally went the right way at once). They know this is the final fight, so I am guessing they will teleport away and rest up, buff up and get back down there. Both the tank and the DPS have an AC of about 40, so melee combat is mostly futile at this point. I'm thinking of putting up a teleport trap down there (I did so in the Fortress of a Thousand Fangs too), and maybe switching out some of Vyr-Azul's spells to better combat the party.
After 3+ years and 63 sessions, they entered the boss fight last night. We took a break there and will resume play in two weeks. It has been a long ride, but I hope I manage to make the final fight memorable. Any advice for the final fight with Vyr Azul? I'm thinking of having Nazith-Yol be down there, having teleported down when the alarm was set off. I don't see the point of Khestath being down there. All my PCs are flying, so he wouldn't have any chance of reaching them.
Yeah, OK, so I can envision how this works at least. Still, the players don't look too interested in figuring out this puzzle when they have their own way of transport, a method that doesn't involve destroying the base of one of their allies (well, supposed ally). On the other hand, the topside armies might be worried that their return depends on the teleporters surviving..
Thanks! They've just started to look at the spires together with Aveshai now, but they seemed quite stuck. However, they might not need them. With three 16th level teleporters (witch, wizard, cleric), they have calculated that they can ship a little over 100 soldiers down to Ilmurea each day. That's the entire army in 4-5 days! I am inclined to encourage them. The spear method seems overly complicated and I'm not sure if seven ziggurats drilling down into the ground Armageddon style is cool or silly. Also, while the hole is drilled down to Ilmurea, how do they travel from the ceiling of Ilmurea and down to the ground? It's 200 feet.
So they've finally found Aveshai and we're nearing the end of the road here.. Couple of questions, first, it says that the spears can be locked in place by someone with azlanti blood. How..? Is this automatic, or do they need to make a UMD check 35? And can the morlocks possibly count as having azlanti blood? Secondly, I was considering having the Achievement Points go towards how many times the PCs can retreat and rest before the ritual being completed. Is the following too strict: 0 AP - 0 Rest
They'll most likely have between 4 and 7 APs.
Did anyone's game grind to a halt when they characters discovered the serpentfolk in stasis? I'm pretty sure my players will try every conceivable idea for wakening and then killing every single serpentfolk. A Temporal stasis spell can be dispelled by a dispel magic.. It doesn't say explicitly that such a spell can dispel the effect in the Fortress though. I'm pretty sure they have an Ioun stone though. I can see why the encounter is as it is, but the players will have no way of knowing that these will not be awakened until Ydersius is brought back, so they will use every resource they have to kill them before they bring down the armies.
So, the group allied the Morlocks and the Urdefhans in pretty quick manner. I had to give out all the Urdefhan XPs as well in one session just so that they could stand a chance in the Fortress. They never did receive 100 000 xps each before.. Anyway, they simply scried Belkor, teleported in and gutted him. They tried looking for Eando, but teleported back when a patrol encountered them. Rest, rinse and repeat - take out one patrol but realize that the serpentfolk here really kick ass. Rest, rinse and repeat with optimalized spells and boosts. Clears out a couple of guard rooms and some officers.
I mean, they have just been in, what, six rooms, and have already set off the alarms three times. I'm not the biggest fan of this strategy, and feel that intelligent opponents as the serpentfolk should eventually strike back preemptively. Maybe Khavith can scry and teleport back at the characters? Or the succubus may be sent to deal with the characters in some fashion. The characters did also snub the drow assassin. I am thinking of having her stir up some troubles by killing off some urdefhans and framing the PCs. Any other ideas for how the serpentfolk might react to this hit and run tactics? Which will take forever.. and really epitomizes the 15 minute workday I so abhor.
I would use 1) Cave.
This thread is awesome.
They were originally aligned with Pathfinder and Sargava. The remaining Aspis merchants and soldiers were assimilated into this coalition after the Ivo Haigan-incident. The pirates and the mantis are gone. The Tribe of the Sacred Serpent is also an ally and they have met the Muse several times. She's a little nuts in their opinion, but she has aided them on occasion when she has been lucid. As far as I read the Intellect Devourers description, he can simply wait until the Muse sleeps (outsider can sleep, they just don't have to) and burrow into her mind. This is a coup de grace causing 40+ damage, so there is no way other than a natural 20 on her save to survive it. As for the vault situation, they only have the Silent Vault left. Yes, I know they're supposed to deal with the body thief vault last, but when they heard the Gorilla King was coming, they stopped going into vaults and prepared for war. They know where the Silent Vault is, though. In addition, they didn't find the crystals in the Hujurat vault. In the body snatcher vault, the ogre mage monks gave them a proper fight for the money, but it ended in a stale mate as one of the oni was near death. His sibling grabbed the PC witch, threatening to break her neck if they didn't let her brother go. So it ended in a stalemate where the oni backed away. But they're probably itching for revenge too.. so I was thinking of having M'degogg make them a deal (they're not controlled though).
When they've reached the ziggurat where the Muse lives, they spring the trap. A CR 15 M'Degogg, two CR 10 Oni and a CR 8 dominated Ozone should be a really tough encounter for the PCs. Another option though: maybe M'degogg wants to go back to Ilmurea, but finds out that the portal has been destroyed. He finds out via Detect Thoughts (from.. whoever, really) that the PCs are collecting gems. Maybe he needs their help to return to his people so that he can prove to them (his people, that is), that his unorthodox ideas were sound? He can always kill the PCs later... :)
17 days
So my players took on the Maka-Yika last night, and took them out fairly easily. All but M'degogg that is, who feebleminded their cleric, confused the magus and almost killed the dwarven tank. So the witch teleported them to safety. Now what? M'degoggs band is dead and his laboratory was blasted to smithereens (fireballs, flame strikes etc... nothing that injured M'Degogg though). I reckon he's pretty pissed. He probably needs a body to retrieve his stuff before the adventurers do, so I'll have him snatch a hunter or something. Then he starts plotting and healing (he did get down to 80 hits). I was actually thinking of having him take over The Radiant Muse. It's the most powerful body in Saventh-Yhi (bar the PCs) and she's friendly towards them. Add a dominated Ozond and the PCs should get a fairly tough fight on their hands. Other devious suggestions?
I read the mass combat rules and drew up stats for the Seventh Yhi-army, which consists of Pathfinder agents, Sargava fighters and the hunters from the Tribe of Serpents. According to what was in the module, I don't think there were more than 80 or so in the army of the Gorilla King, and when I did some mock mass combats, Seventh Yhi won each time. I doubled the size of the Gorilla Kings army, and impressed upon the players that even though they might win the battle, a bigger battle with Ilmurea is coming. So they never went there, fortunately.
OK, let's turn the question the other way then. Is there any way the players can reach Ilmurea without using the crystals? They completely missed the crystals in the quicksand. I then had them encounter some serpent folk seekers, ruling that they had found the crystals. Guess what? They forgot to search them. They're also getting quite sick of the vaults and their madness, and are considering other ways of getting down there. Is there any other way for the characters to reach Ilmurea? From Darklands, it seems that the closest entrance is quite far away.. I'm probably better off just handwaving it and saying that M'Deggog has two sets of crystals..
My players asked me something the other day. If there is a big army waiting in Ilmurea, why are we sacrificing our lives for fixing the portal that allows them to come through. Good question, really. They are getting really sick of the paranoia and other insanities in the vaults (I have different madnesses for each vault), and are thinking about getting down there any other way. Suggestions? How far is it to a Darklands opening which allows them to get there the "normal" way?
I was just wondering - how is the serpent army supposed to reach the surface? Via the broken portal? Which the PCs are fixing? Why are they fixing it, then?
The groups 11th level sylph magus got pounced in four rounds or something. I don't think he was the best choice though. His idea was Stoneskin to protect and then use Spring Attack (he can fly) to avoid the Gorilla King. The Gorilla King simply readied some attacks and had him at -14 in three hits or something. The best bet would have been the Witch and Slumber actually. The Will save wasn't that high, so she could have slumbered him in round 1. If not, she could have surrendered or teleported away. I do remember reading about someone who DID make it though. My players were to honorable to even buff before the combat.. They did succeed in the strength test and the storytelling test though.
Yeah, the entire adventure is a sandbox, so theoretically, you could have waited until you were a higher level. Still, the military district is one of two district closest to the entrance. My party was pummeled too, but I was being lenient. Some escaped, while others were taken prisoners by the charau-ka. The half-fiend flew away with the paralyzed elven witch (I was going for a King Kong type story). Witches being witches though, as soon as she woke up, she used Slumber on him and escaped. They faced him a little later (probably a level higher or something) when they were better prepared and hadn't fought a district of charau-ka before. It became a lot easier then.
Did anyone try to move the Argental Font? I mean, if you have to go back into a spore infested vault every time someone needs healing, more might become insane. And, technically, shouldn't someone who just was healed, have to save against insanity on the way out as well?
That's what I've been doing so far as well. Just tell them as soon as they have left the vault. I now have one paranoid PC, one with multiple personalities and two with psychosis..
Did you use the normal onset time for the insanities? I've just had them take effect almost immediately.. Though I realize now this might have been wrong..
Hi! I would also be very interested in the maps, especially the flooded amphitheater. joefixit(at)me.com
My players put it in a Bag of Holding. I'm not really sure what mayhem the weapon can cause while placed there. It seems sort of cheap for the players to avoid the issue though.. anyone else put it in a Bag of Holding? Can the weapon influence other people while inside a BoH?
Yeah, it's not strictly monotheism, but as written, too few gods to cover all the domains, at least if I allow for all the new domains in supplements. The one god idea is interesting. I can see how one god can have created all the races, from humans to orcs to dragons and flumphs. I'm having a harder time envisioning the same god giving spells to both healers of the sick and baby-sacrificing cultists. And I'm not sure how I can keep the multiverse intact with Hell and other planes without allowing for more gods. At least demon princes that can grant spells.
So I am trying my hand at building my own setting, and of course I want to make a few special setting rules. 1) Similar life-spans. No 800-year old elves or 400-year old dwarves. All races have approximately the same life-span as a human. Maybe elves live a little longer on average because they stay outdoors in lush forests and what not, and maybe dwarves live a little shorter because they toil indoor in their mines all day. How will this affect a normal D&D/Pathfinder game? Does it really matter at all? 2) Monotheism. More or less anyway, and I'm sure there have been written articles about this in world design. I'm not looking for 100 % monotheism, but rather more of a religious system akin to what we have today, with a handful of world religions. - Creator god (creator of humans and dwarves)
The game technical side of it is related to domains. With so few gods, I am sure some domains will be left out of the loop. Or do you think it's OK to have the "Creator God" have give access to a lot of domains, meaning that they can have vastly different clerics. Any advice?
Well, we've finally played Night of the Hissing Dead encounter and have started exploring the vaults. Three of the characters are suffering from madness (one PC and his cohort are paranoid, the oracle already has two other personalties from his MPD). I might be doing it wrong, but I didn't have an onset time, but simply had them roll saves after being in the vault for a while. Did you use the normal onset time? I mean, they can complete the entire part 4 in that time.. The First Vault has a little "murdering hobo" over it. The PCs simply attack and wipe out a tribe of keches that live there? For those group who tries not to be murderous hobos, the GM should let the characters use diplomacy and negotiations to relocate the ketches instead.
I am a little confused about the Corpsespinner, and needs to be de-confused before my session tonight. According to the Tome of Horrors, a Corpsespinner's poison inflict 2d6 Int damage and kills the target at 0 Intelligence. It then rises as a Corpsespinner 1 hour later. According to the PFSRD - being reduced to 0 intelligence sends you into a coma. According to the Vaults of Madness (the module where the corpsespinner Illaghri is), the poison inflicts d6 Int damage (not 2d6). When the int damage reaches 0, the victim enters a coma and rises 1 hour later as a Corpsespun. Which parts are correct? And if it's the "Coma for 1 hour -> Corpsespun" method, how can someone in coma be saved? Curing the ability damage?
Any idea why Illaghri's poison "only" damages d6 int pr round, while a normal corpsespinner takes 2d6 (according to tome of horrors).
Thank you. I know of your posts, these are the numbers I am basing my own campaign on, actually. I was just wondering if the numbers were for combatants only, or the total amount of creatures. Now I know :)
Interesting. I have been trying to find some kind of creature/entity who somehow ties into all the elements, but having a powerful creature from each of the elements aid Savith can also fit in. The witch is looking to find out who her patron is though, as she uses powers from all different elements, really. Maybe she instead gets her power from four different patrons. I just came up with an alternative (rather crazy) idea. What if Savith somehow lives on as an entity somewhere, and it is she who gives the witch her powers? It certainly is a good reason for the witch to come to Saventh-Yhi, but I'm not sure what kind of entity Savith should be. A demigod of sorts?
OK, so when I started this AP, I outlined the synopsis and told everyone that they needed to have a good motivation for finding this lost city. I got "gold and fame" from the rogue, "discoveries of a lifetime" for the Bard-pathfinder etc. The witch said she wanted to find out more about the mysterious patron who she gets her powers from. They've been in Saventh Yhi for a while now (we are towards the end of book 3) and we still haven't touched on it. Any ideas? Her patron is Elements. If I can weave this into the main story, great! If not, I need to adress it at some point.
I have a question about the number of creatures in the various districts. is this the total number of creatures? Or the number of able-bodied creatures that can put up a fight. If it's the first, how much of the tribe should be able to put up a fight? This might be important in a session or two, as I think that the players will try to rally an army against the Red Mantis -> Troglodyte coalition and I'm whipping out the mass combat rules from Ultimate Combat.
Thanks for the help!
So, while we've still a couple of years left to go on the Serpent's Skull adventure path, my long desire to run a sandbox based around a small town is popping back up. I'm thinking of doing this for Sandpoint, naturally. Are there any other sources on Sandpoints besides the Rise of the Runelords anniversary edition, the Jade Regent AP Part One and the Pathfinder Comics? I love the RPG bits in them at least as much as the comic book itself. Is the information in the comic books also accessible in some other way? I buy them through Comixology, but I can't think of a way to transfer the information into another, more suitable app for making role-playing notes.. THanks!
The Leader was a Gnome Bard and the cohort was a trained gorilla that I allowed him to give class levels as a Barbarian when he decided to take Leadership. It made storyline sense and the gorilla needed the levels to survive accompanying the group. At first they were low-level and the gnome needed someone to carry his gear. As they leveled, the gorilla became useless in battle until he gained the levels in Barbarian. They had fought this BBEG before, and he almost killed the main fighter in one round (granted, the fighter fumbled, fell and got blinded due to a critical miss), allowing the BBEG with four attacks to power attack.. anyway, they knew he was dangerous. Maybe "meat shield" was the wrong term, but I feel that he sacrificed himself to let his leader live. And yeah, it's the reputation thing as well. If the Leader has a tendency to bring his cohorts into danger, maybe that is enough? As of now, I don't think it matters much as he will still receive a 5h level cohort due to the max 2 levels below rule, but if more cohorts start falling..
Hmm.. in this case it was a really, really difficult battle,and the party contemplated running away several times. The cohort in question was placed in the forefront of the battle with the BBEG and certainly saved the Leader's life by being his meat shield, so to speak. So, not necessarily poor decision making, but definitely putting him into a dangerous situation. They were not ambushed, but knew fully well this could be a lethal situation.
I have a question regarding the wording of a vital element of the Leadership feat. "Caused the death of a cohort".. My understanding of this is that it is enough that a cohort has been killed while in the company of the PC with the feat. The PC does not have to be at fault for this. Do I interpret this correctly?
OK, so after a couple of hack and slash sessions in Saventh-Yhi, something interesting finally happened. After having run guerilla warfare tactics on the serpentfolk in the Government district, they witnessed a ceremony on the steps of the ziggurat, and decided that the rakshasha could wait for now. Halfway over the bridge, they heard the Radiant Muse playing on her harp (I have made a table of random "happenings" that gives the PCs, slowly but surely, the impression that the city is inhabited by different creatures (e.g. they hear the mokole-mbembe slither in the water, they hear the wings of the night bat beat against the wind, but they cannot see anything in the fog, they spot the humans' camp fire at night, etc). Anyway, the druid decides to shapechange into a hawk and investigate, something the majority of the players agree on. Anyway, they apparently forgot that 5 minutes later (we took a toilet break), and the rest decides to converge on the ziggurat (sans the druid).
I don't want a TPK, so in the spirit of King Kong, the ape demon decides to grab hold of the elven witch and disappear with her. The dwarven fighter, the gnome bard and his gorilla cohort are all captured by charau-ka and hauled away to the fortress. THe rogue and a tiger escapes. So, what now? What can Olujimi want with his captives? What about the demon? Here are my suggestions so far: Grugonoth suffers from the curse, and a -6 dexterity is not great when he wants to kill the Radiant Muse. The witch used some spells and hexes, so he believes she might help him (I don't think she can, but alas..). The witch has to try to manipulate this demon to let her live long enough for her to escape.. could be interesting I think. I am not so sure why Olujimi wants to capture the others. The bard has a gorilla (trained, bought and then cohorted when he reached 7th level). It might be that they are curious why he would want to hang with the hairless ones, and not themselves. Olujimi might be cruel enough to Dominate the Gorilla, and then have him fight his owner in gladiatoral combat. He might also use the PCs in a hostage exchange with his enemies in the Government district, or even use the PCs to attack them.. I don't know. Ideas?
Thanks! I think Awaken is out of the picture right now (availability more than anything else), but it is definetely something to consider at a later stage.
One of my players bought a trained gorilla to help him carry stuff around (he's a gnome with low strength). Now he just reached 7th level, and he is wondering if he can advance the gorilla and have him as a cohort if he takes the Leadership feat. Is there any rules for this, and in case, where ?
There are powerful magics in place to prevent someone from discovering it by chance. The magic in the spears apparently keeps the residents from wanting to move out of the district... OK.
Anyone done anything about the lack of treasure in Saventh-Yhi? I read somewhere that this could be an issue. Even though it was hyped to be the discovery that could lead the Sargavans into financial independence from the Free Captains, it doesn't have to be that way.. Still, I was thinking that while the various tribes have grabbed what they can of shiny objects and gold, perhaps there are a great deal of lesser objects (everything from art to mundane objects such as utensils) that might fetch a good price from collectors. I was thinking that the PCs could, in a "conquered" area, decide to go scavenging for the day (instead of, let's say, search for clues to the founding, spears etc.). Any day spent searching yields d6 x 100 gp, or twice that with a successful Perception 25 check (anyone can aid). Each district has d10 x 1000 gp in total. Is this too much? My group's deal with the Sargavans and Pathfinders leaves them with only 40 % of the treasure anyway.
1. Actually I seem to remember that in the module there's NO limit to the number of discovery points that can be found in a district. This led to a couple tables where players went into one district, secured/conquered it and just sat there earning their 120 points without moving. Actually, on p. 10 it says something like: "It's probable that the PCs will need to explore several districts as their expedition effectively 'mines' out the clues for each one". But I didn't find any further references to it. I also want to split the clues across all the districts, so that the PCs need to visit more than one, and/or possibly ally with factions (either from the race or from the city itself). I am thinking of having some of the factions ally/explore districts themselves. I am not really sure what the authors intended, but I am not going to have the factions sit in the camp and have the character's do all the work.
True. Also, Maplewood raises an interesting point with fires in the night. If I time the arrival to the morning mist, they might not be able to see much, but I think it would be cool for them to see some the winged creatures or to hear some of the charau-ka and other wildlife. Maybe a combat is taking place on the island (area F) at night? Giving them the impression that it's largely empty at first is a good idea, and then I will sprinkle in impressions that it might not be as uninhabited as they think. Maplewood: I think I will handwave logic when it comes to your question about caster levels. I know that my players are concerned that they won't get a chance to return to a city to re-stock, so I need to build some sort of community there where trade can take place. At least until Teleport becomes available.
So my characters will finally reach Saventh-Yhi next session. Fortunately, I have a couple of weeks' time to prepare, as I realize I need to do some heavy preparation. Hope I can bother you fine folks with some questions. 1: I see references to (both here and in the module) about a max number of clues available in a given district. 20? Where does this number come from? 2: When approacthing the city for the first time, how much of the city's native inhabitants is visible/audible for the characters. With so many creatures in the different districts, I find it unlikely that everyone is really quiet. I would guess the charau-ka from the military district can be heard, as well as some of the flying monsters from the mercantile district.
Back in 2nd Edition, we played through the old Rod of 7 Parts boxed set. In the final encounter with Mishka the Wolf-Spider or something, the character's were totally outmatched and fell like flies. They had assembled the Rod at this point, a weapon their enemies wanted to get their hands on. When the fighter died, one other character used the Resurrection power of the Rod, knowing full well that this would cause the Rod to shatter to 7 distant corners of the world again. Don't get me wrong, they totally died, all of them, but in the end they did thwart the big bads anyway. To me, that was an awesome end, but it wouldn't have been any fun if I had planned it that way.
Or none.. but that would defeat some of the purpose.
Yeah, but assassins need sneak attack to be really effective. Maybe I'm better off going normal assassin and only wielding one sawtooth sabre
Weapon Finesse doesn't apply to Sawtooth Sabres. What's your characters strength? 12. I thought it counted as a light weapon if you had exotic wpn proficiency in it, but I now see that it is only a light weapon for purposes of determining two-weapon fighting bonuses. More or less the same argument that is being discussed now over magic weapons and incorporeality.
OK, so I'm trying to whip up some Red Mantis assassin enemies for my group with HeroLab, but I don't think the stat block is correct. Rogue 5 / Red Mantis Assassin 1
Shouldn't this be more? Base atk +3, Dex +5, Wpn. focus, masterwork should amount to +10, reduced by -2 for two-weapon fighting. What am I missing? And if I am right, why is HeroLab wrong?
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