Well, first day of The Tears of the Blessed.
Whole session in Glastenhall, and the PC...
They learn about Clay Golems and their vulnerabilities. They learn stuff about phoenixes and lammassus, and also learn history about the Order of St Macharius. They learn about St Angelo the Devil Hunter, and with a very high knowledge roll (41!!) they learn about the three fires and how it seems they have something in common with the ability of the order to produce spellcasters. They decide to sequester a random low level member of the order, and torture him until he explain the whole process.
Later they go to the graveyard to take an 80 years old corpse for Iris. Doing it, they enter in an open mausoleum, which leads to the undercity and catacombs of Vestromo Family. There they learn that the rumours of vampires is true. After some diplomatic affairs, they go back to home, knowing that they might have a chance to get an ally. In the Library, they study about Gaius Vestromo, and learn how the vampiric family was (almost) destroyed time ago by St Angelo. They decide to tell the vampire they are going to go to Valtaerne, and the vampire tells them he can help with a few spawns, if they bring him back The Chalice of Aurelius Vestromo, (which I made an Onyx Chalice as well), which are in the Vault of St Angelo. One of the PC say that he thinks it is a bit unbalanced so much risk for a few spawns, and another one ask if the Prince can make them Vampires. Several PC seem interested, and after I told him what it takes (I'll allow a retrain for the 5 feats, as the process of transformation is shocking and can lead to them losing some abilities). I also mention that they should think carefully about it, as being undead has it's own advantages, but it's own disadvantages too. Specially in an Adventure where the enemies are celestial and good paladins that can smite evil the hell out of them. They seem interested, but want to think about it.
They also get the reward from the Iris ring (as they couldn't agree what to ask, they finally ask for the gold). They also learn about the "haunted" manor, and how it has a secret door that goes to the darklands, used by drows to kidnap and assassin (I changed duergars for Drows, as one of the PC is a half-drow). But they decide that entering the Darklands is a big journey and they don't want to do it, so it seems like they'll pass on the Drows for now.
They learn stuff about Infernal Contracts and Contract Devils, and they learn that the intention of Dessiter is to be able to scry them. They have also noticed they are being scried, and Dessiter tell them that Adrastus scry them through the crown. They are shocked. Some people don't care (they trust Adrastus 100%), some others think there's something wrong here. They finally sign the contract, and decide to take some devils with them. Most of them choose a Bone Devil, except one who get a Warhound, and another who take Erinye. (I'll remove the bone devils in the Mirror later to avoid too much clutch of cohorts)
Nearly with the time to go to Westkirk, they learn about an adventurer group who is going to try to kill a Medusa. They follow them, and when they attack the Medusa, they kill the adventurers and face it. She tries to petrify the Antipaladin (the one who got close), but he survive. He looks into the medusa eyes, and tell her that if she does it again, she won't survive. And then Intimidate the hell out of her (with a 48 roll in intimidate... and natural 20), and Command her to advert eyes. Then the high bluff summoner (30 in bluff and 31 in diplomacy before any die is rolled) compliment her and her beauty (on a side note, one of the players said that if the medusa was so hot as Mike Clarke drawing, then everybody is inmune to his gaze. No male is going to look at her eyes, while he has such a cleavage :P). They tried to convince her to leave the temple. Although the book says that she only accedes after being beated and humiliated, I thought a incredibly high Intimidation roll and some nice Roleplaying should have the same effect. Specially when they also killed the other adventurers.
Then they went to Westkirk, where they learned the army they had to use. 250 bugbears, plus another batallion, which depends which general they bring with them:
1) 200 bugbear barbarians +50 trolls, if they take Headtaker.
2) 200 bugbear rangers, +50 bugbears cavalry in direwolves, if they take Nightmane.
3) 200 bugbear rogues, +50 bugbear shamans if they take Crowfather (an NPC I made up)
4) 200 bugbear fighters, +50 elite bugbears in heavy armor if they take Raiju the Exile.
They can get only one of the generals (I like to make them to take options)
And then we stop the session, leaving the assault for the next sunday
BTW, a VERY interesting stuff about the contract
However, another one found a bigger loophole. And a loophole that does not require really that Naburus removes the Cardinal Status.
Bassically, he said "if no longer being Cardinal Adrastus Thorn, High priest of Asmodeus in Talingare, renders the contract invalid, then the contract is already invalid. Because he is not named Adrastus Thorn, his name is Samuel Havelyn."
I think he got it in the nail.
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This is the Asmodean spell book that some wizard is selling in my game:
Lvl 1: Blood Money, cause fear, chill touch, Infernal Healing, restore corpse
Lvl 2: Blood Transcription, Skin Send, darkness, false life, resist energy,
Lvl 3: Blood Biography, Vampiric Touch, Death Wine, magic circle against evil, Vision of Hell
Lvl 4: Greater Infernal Healing, Summon Accurser, Phantasmal Killer, Boneshatter, dimensional anchor, Lesser Planar Binding
Lvl 5: Summon Infernal Host, Nightmare, Magic Jar, contact other plane
Lvl 6: Planar Binding, Create Undead
The book gives +2 to Charisma Rolls for planar bindings if you memorize at least three spells from the book, as the preparation ritual focus (like per Ultimate Magic preconstructed spellbooks)
The book cost roughly 5000-6000g, comparing it to other preconstructed spellbooks, but owner of the book, a gnome wizard, is asking 10.000 for it, because it is black market stuff. The PC can buy it, or take it by force. The book is inside the Wizard's tower, which is protected by an invisible stalker, an Ice Golem, and the wizard himself (a 10th level wizard), as well as some Alarm, and magic traps. I'm trying to lure the party necromancer to do the mission on himself, with the help of his newly recived hell minion and some zombies
That's a great list, Gustavio_Iglesias. I especially like seeing summon accuser; those pudgy little horrors make some of the best spies.
Another great idea for an Asmodean spell book is the recent Gothic Grimoires Book Five: To Serve A Prince Undying from Legendary Games, available here on Paizo. Plenty of nifty stuff for would-be dark lords and their enforcers, including new inquisitions, how to become a LE antipaladin (they even reference the archetype from book 5 of WotW), feats, evil monk vows, drugs to peddle to the masses/use to control your flunkies, and guidelines on how to use torture (via the Heal skill) to weaken your captured enemies. It's got a spell called ruthless beating, what more do you want?
Has somebody spelled out the contract with Dessiter?
I did, but in spanish. I'm not confident I could transatlánticos it properly to English :/
Try. ;) I will have to translate it in german neverthless.
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Ok, that's mine:
That XXXX is interested in the lifelong service of a servant of the Nine Hells
That they understand the Infernal Law, which forbids to bind a denizen of the underworld to a less worthy being, acknowledging that the servant couldn't have a higher rank than the worth of the own soul.
That among those servants valids for his own, XXXX choose the service of.
That Dessiter of the Phistophiles is empowered to bind for a lifelong contract an infernal being through this legal compact.
That Dessiter of the Phistophiles wishes to see fulfiled a mission, which has a comparable hardship to the reward asked.
That XXX thinks himself as worthy of this labor.
That said mission consists in quelching permanently the three fires known as The Flames of Valtaerne, in Valtaerne Valley in the kindgom of Talingarde, over whom there is a divine intervention of the divine being known as Mitra, and to finish with the existance of the celestial agent Ara Mazra, real and only lord of the Hospitaliarian Order of St Macarius
Being in complete agreement of the above, both parts AGREE:
That Dessiter of the Phistophilus binds permantently a (Whatever devil is choosen, Nessian Warhound by default) to XXXX
That XXX has the mission to quelch the above mentioned Flames of Valtaerne
That the term to do so is until the end of the next winter after the sign of this contract.
That if XXX does note succeed in the mission, the Binding would be undone
That all responsability and owe of XXX with this contract finish in the moment the mission is fulfilled.
That the contract is completely valid in what is about the responsability and owe of Dessiter of the Phistophilus, to the end of the binding of (the devil), which will finish with the pernament death of XXX or (the devil)
The last clause is important for dessiter
I also mention my players that every single word has a * on it, and there is a long clause explaining every word.
For example, where says "three* Flame* of Valtaerne*" there is a
*three is the number affter two and before four
*flame is the burning gas in a combustion
*Valtaerne is the Valley in the mountains near the town of Sanctum, in the country of Talingarde, in the world of (Golarion or whatever world you use), which is the 227th prime material world in the Astral river (or some other short of magical coordenates that clearly identify Valtaerne)
And so on, with EVERY word in the contract. :)
Que XXX está interesado en el servicio por una vida de un sirviente de los nueve infiernos.
Que reconociendo la ley infernal que prohíbe atar a un habitante del inframundo a un ser de menor valía, reconoce que este ser no puede tener un rango superior al valor del alma propia.
Que de entre aquellos sirvientes disponibles, XXX opta por un (____)
Que Dessiter de los Phistophiles está facultado para vincular de por vida a un ser infernal, vía este contrato.
Que Dessiter de los Phistophilus desea ver cumplido una labor de dificultad comparable a la recompensa pedida.
Que XXX se reconoce capaz para realizar esa labor.
Que dicha labor consiste en apagar de manera permanente los tres fuegos conocidos como Las Llamas de Valtaerne, en el valle de Valtaerne en el reino de Talingarde, sobre los que reside una intervención divina del ser celestial conocido en Talingarde como Mitra, y acabar con la vida del agente celestial Azura Mathra, verdadero y único jefe de la Orden Hospitalaria de San Macarías.
Habiendo llegado a un acuerdo completo sobre lo anterior, las partes ACUERDAN:
Que Dessiter de Phistophilus otorga en este momento el vínculo permanente de un (_______) a XXX
Que XXX tiene la misión de apagar las anteriormente citadas Llamas de Valtaerne.
Que tiene de plazo para ello hasta el fin del siguiente invierno tras la firma del presente contrato
Que de no lograr XXX dicha misión, el vínculo sobre la criatura infernal anteriormente citada quedaría anulado.
Que toda responsabilidad y deber de XXX para con este contrato queda finalizado en el momento en el que cumpla su misión.
Que el contrato seguirá plenamente efectivo en lo que respecta a las responsabilidades y deberes de Dessiter de los Phistophilus, hasta el fin del ciclo de servicio de la criatura (____), servicio que finalizará con la muerte permanente de XXX o de (____)
Making the phoenix leave is such a cool event :)
Even if the PC pay such a big price for it (the eggs are worth a lot of gold)
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The deal that for the blood of a living angel to feast on, he will make them a true vampire. To get his help, you have to promise to get the chalice. If you bring him an angel to feed on, he'll make you a vampire.
Oh right, that. None of my player's really want that so I doubt it'll be something for them to really consider that much. Still though, it's a good reminder.
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Your players wanting to have their characters do something during the winter months? How about looking for the Lost Angarsian Mine in Book 1? This adventure is AD&D, but can easily be adapted into Pathfinder. As well, they'll be the perfect level to take on a level 15 wizard by the end.
It's a great way to give them a bit of an XP boost. Especially considering what's coming up in Book 4 through 6.
Well, it's a good adition
:)
I don't track XP (just level up them at the proper time), and I think I preffer to have them under leveled, as they are more than the average party and I don't want them to walk over the e counters, but it might be a good sidequest if they aren't focused by then. When book IV starts, they'll have to do a lot of things in a row under preassure, so this might me a nice cha ge of pace, who nows.
Thanks :)
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Well, it's a good adition
:)I don't track XP (just level up them at the proper time), and I think I preffer to have them under leveled, as they are more than the average party and I don't want them to walk over the e counters, but it might be a good sidequest if they aren't focused by then. When book IV starts, they'll have to do a lot of things in a row under preassure, so this might me a nice cha ge of pace, who nows.
Thanks :)
No prob.
I've been keeping track of the xp, but I too have only been leveling them up when they are supposed to be. I'm even using the Slow progression instead of Medium because they've been getting rather efficient at the game. They're by no means a powerful party. More like they're just luck with the dice. Last session nearly killed them with the tritons, but that's because the dice was against them that time.
I decided I'd have to optimize the encounters after they one-shot Argossarian, which was advertissed as a "tough encounter".
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I decided I'd have to optimize the encounters after they one-shot Argossarian, which was advertissed as a "tough encounter".
Knowing my party, and what they can do/absolutely can't do, I am afraid for them when they do that encounter. The oracle's essentially useless, the wizard is fire-based only, the two rogues have terrible "to hit", the cleric's built solidly as just a healer... only the anti-paladin and Grumblejack will be able to do anything. The ranger would have done well, but she's no longer playing.
I decided I'd have to optimize the encounters after they one-shot Argossarian, which was advertissed as a "tough encounter".Knowing my party, and what they can do/absolutely can't do, I am afraid for them when they do that encounter. The oracle's essentially useless, the wizard is fire-based only, the two rogues have terrible "to hit", the cleric's built solidly as just a healer... only the anti-paladin and Grumblejack will be able to do anything. The ranger would have done well, but she's no longer playing.
Whats wrong about the fire using wizard? It´s the perfect weapon against a silver dragon!?
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Whats wrong about the fire using wizard? It´s the perfect weapon against a silver dragon!?
Yeah, but not the phoenix. It's fine for now, but eventually as the game progresses we're seeing more and more things resistant to fire. Not all that surprising though considering Asmodeus has the fire domain, and it's probably assumed that you're going to have a pyromancer, flame oracle, and fire domain cleric in the party.
Throw in a rod (or two) of Metamagic, Elemental: Cold.
I wouldn't give them an Elemental rod of cold. What I would do, is to make sure they learn about the phoenix beforehand (there are a lot of ways they could do so. Asking pilgrims, asking Barnabus, going to the library). Then make sure they learn and know the phoenix is completelly inmune to fire. They have a month to buy things and prepare, before going to Valtaerne. They can (and should) prepare acordingly.
If the wizards does not care about the Phoenix being inmune, then the DM shouldn't care either.
@Gary and other GM´s:
My players like to do some reconnaissance about the vale. Things they surely wan´t to know (but didn´t find any answers in the module):
1. Where are the armies protecting the vale stationed? The priests and archons in the temple sure. But where are the knights, archers and dwarves stationed? The map shows no chapter houses or other defensible buildings.
2. how many forces are stationed? I know there are the Knights of Alerion, Archers, Dwarven Forces, the Serene Order, the Blessed Knight order with their Griffons and the priests of Mitra. But nothing about numbers. I don´t think the quantities given in the AP are the defending force - it seems only the part who is battling the PC´s.
3. Siege enginges. What siege engines does the Vale have? And how many? One player wants to use his minions especially to disrupt them and to cut supply lines etc (makes more sense for a thief guild oriented oranisation)
4. One player plays a fallen Paladin. Can I expect that he knows the general layout of the vale? I told him EVERY paladin has to make the pilgrimage to the vale before becomming a paladin. So he was already there. What infos would you give him?
Patrick: I made a military campment right after the two bridges. There is where most of the guard lives, including knights.
I made the dwarves and archers (elven archers in my game) to detach there too. Monks and clerics come from the several churches and monasteries in Sanctum.
I made the stationing army to be around 500 watchmen, 100 holy warriors, 100 knights, 100 elves, 100 dwarves, 100 monks, for about 1000 troops, non counting clerics or celestial beings.
About Siege engines, I'd put couple catapults in the campment too. They aren't important in the battle, other than the lonely random stone that can fall into one of the players. Remember than his minions, thieve or not, would be detected by the Watchers unless they are shielded against detect evil.
In my game, there was a paladin too. He was actually serving in Valtaerne by background, so I gave him info about the Watchers, the Watchtower, 4 "living statues" that are supposed to fight for the guard if needed, although he hasn't seen them moving, ever (Valtaerne has not been attacked in decades), the average number of troops both in the Watchtower and Sanctum, the existance of auxiliar elven archers and a dwarven century, and that the Knights of Saint Angelo have nearly 100 heavy knights there.
He knows that there are three proofs that most pilgrims take, including climbing to a Phoenix mountain, a laberynth, and then a Cathedral only for the Anointed. I told him that he did not make the proofs, because he was too impatient to do them, and he was told to wait. That was one of the reasons he was starting to feel corruption, and why he challenged someone to duel (it was a mook duel to first blood against Artius Fidelis' son, but he cheated and killed the guy, so he was sent to Brandescar). Most of this info can be learned through Barnabus Thrane, asking pilgrims, or kidnapping a member of St Macharius (which my PC also did anyways), but it helps the players to feel like having a background is useful, which I like.
Hope it helps
Okey, today we have a crunchy report :)
They then decided which general they took help from the 4 options Sakkaroth gave them.
1) Nightmane, with 200 extra ranger bugbear and 50 scouts in dire wolf
2) Headtaker, with 200 extra barbarian bugbear and 50 trolls
3) Crowfather, with 200 extra rogue bugbear and 50 shaman bugbear
4) Raiju, with 200 extra fighter bugbears and 50 elite bugbear in heavy armor.
They took nightmane, after a bit of debate, because of the extra infiltration, higher mobility and extra ranged weapons.
They proceed to move to Valtaerne, without many problems. After a quick battle plan, with help from Nightmane, they decided to take the roof of the Watchtower by assault with the PC and a bit of Help from a few followers (I decided that every follower NOT with the PC, gave a +1 VP, because of the general help in the fight. Those with the PC did not provide extra VP, but were available for the fights. Some people took a few NPC with them, like the Nightmare, two Bone devils and a Erinye. Grumblejack, Franz Mott, Izivel, the golem, plus a Nessian Warhound, was with the rest of the army, leading them.
They assaulted the watchtower from afar. They cast Silence from 400+ feet, to make the Gong unusable, and in the same round, they assaulted the roof. Several people went there through Dimensional door, and the devils used Teleport. With a hasted flying nightmare and flying hasted eidolon, the paladin and summoner used a x4 move to get into the vicinity, able to act in the next round.
The fight was short. They cast a wall of ice in form of dome around the Bell, proceed to obliterate the 4 soldiers in the roof, and then took down the lammassu (which made a little damage in the process,and communicated telepatically with Artius, which gave a few orders and made a horn sound) Then the Antipaladin disguised himself as Artius Fidelis, and went down one level, urging the troops to go to the roof ASAP, even without donning full armor, to "shoot from there". Those that went were slaughtered mercilesly by the creatures above, but Artius appeared in the floor. A quick "he's an impostor" by the Antipaladin leaded to a charisma contest, but most fighters were able to pierce the disguise (a DC 11 illusion once you have a reason to roll). A quick duel was in place, with Artius (upgraded stats by me, 12th level two handed archetype fighter) making a very big crit agianst the PC, before he was smashed and commanded (with Cornugon Smash+Aura of Obedience combo and Conductive weapon + Command Cruelty) to kneel, and drop the weapon. In the next round, the Antipaladin mercilessly cut his throat (he wasn't really helpless, but he was only 10hp left or so, and it was a cute scene so I let him to Coup de Grace anyway :) )
The tower was completely under control shortly. I made the golems to be four advanced clay golems, but not very useful anyways. The PC, coming from above, went to the side guardrooms, and with a Golembane Scarab and a Inquisitor archer, the golems died from the arrow slits without a chance to use their dreaded Cursed Wounds. Then the army entered the watchtower, and they proceed to go to the first bridge.
A quick wedge in V formation from Knights of Saint Angelo arrived, but the PC faced them. I upgraded the knights to be 5th level cavaliers, and sir Dalidan to be a 10th level cavaliers. All of them had Cavalry Formation and Sir dalidan gave them Coordinated charge, so all of them could charge as an inmediate action when Sir Dalidan charged, and then charge again in their turn. With Sprited charge and Challenge, that was a potential few hundreds damage right there (with +16 attack charging, counting the bonuses from several cavalier stuff). However, the PC used a shield wall of Bloody Skeleton with Tower Shields to absorb the first charges, and to drag them into combat. A few more managed to charge through the line of skeletons, piercing several Mirror Images from the Magus, and damaging a few bone devils and such. The Wizard cast Cloud Kill, which completelly obliterated the 10 level 5 cavaliers in close Cavalry formation (a few survived, but their horses died). The Paladin took down Sir Dalidan the brave, and the knights were quickly dispatched by the army once their leaders went down.
They were then attacked by a volley arrow, and found one hundred archers shooting them from +250' in a sloop hill (difficult terrain to run uphil). They sent the vampires in gaseus form to destroy the ranks, while they assaulted the 11th level fighter weapon master/wizard conjurer/arcane archer eleven lord and his retinue of 5th level archer fighters. Some teleports, flying mounts, and haste, combined with no one in medium or heavy armor, made the uphill fast, and only a few more arrows shot before the whole archer line was taken down by a combination of undead fast zombie cyclops, bone devils, charging paladins in nightmares, and flying eidolons. The arcane archer, which had +23/+23/+23/+18 (and two arrows in the first shot), and enough damage to take down an elephant, rolled incredibly low. He did a bit of damage to the Antipaladin, and then the whole 10 archer retinue and himself were taken down.
The PC continued to press, using Wands of Infernal Healing in the meanwhile, and chugging a few healing potions.
They saw a dwarven century, made of 6th level Tower Shield Fighters, which were fighting doing a testudo (shield wall feat), using their tower shield for heavy cover. Arrows weren't very useful there, and with heavy cover, the fireballs weren't very useful anyways. HAving extra bonus vs goblinoids, being impervious to arrows, and hardly damaged by most minions, the PC decided to take down the dwarven leader (a fighter 7/stalwart defender 4) plus his two lvl 8 Brides of Father mountain and his 10 retinue fighters, in testudo formation. However, Testudo formation showed to be a poor defense against Create Spiked Pit and Wall of Fire. The retinue, included the clerics, went down incredibly fast (they went REALLY down. Like 50' down to a huge pit with spikes). The Leader managed to do 50 hp to the Magus before he died.
Then the Brother Nicodemus, a Tetori Monk with the Snappling Turtle style, and 8 monks of the ARchon style appeared. The charging eidolon almost took him down, but he managed to grapple him when the eidolon failed one attack. With the monks using Archon Style to absorb attacks, and making "aid another" maneuvers to give bonus to the already heavily buffed monk (with mage armor, shield, bull streght, bear's endurance, heroism and other potions), the monk was able to grapple, pin and using Stunning Pin, to Jawbreak and Bonebreak the eidolon, breaking one bone for 5 STR points. However, the monks did not last long enough, despite their AC 27. The erinye was blasting them with Unholy Blight (Which, being Will save, did not allow them to use evasion), and they finally went down, with the Brother Nicodemus trying to break another bonus when he died (with orc ferocity) without success.
After that, they watched how their army destroyed most of the defending watch, but when they approached the bridge, three heavy armored flying figures landed into the bridge, Ironman style. Then they formed a shield wall there and we finished the session in an appropiated break point.
Wow. Long report. A lot of battle there :)
I think I'll have to fudge tactics next week :/
The shield archons aren't very difficult. They'll face 3, (because they are 6 players) and I made them Advanced (si.pke advance template) because they are more optimized than the average party.
Then they face the aassimars. I gave them lvl 7 to have Death from above feat, and changed their celestial griffin by celestial pegasi (I want to emphasize the Barca vs Darius confrontation, only barca uses griffin, and Darius use pegasi). With the correct calculation (the one in the book are wrong), that's 3d8+33 per attack while smiting, not counting possible bonus from other spells or divine bond. With eagle's splendor and divine favor up (instead of weaksauce sun metal), they are doing 3d8+45 with a +22 to hit when charging from above. 9 of those, with flyby attack, are kinda decent shocktroopers.
But then comes the strong fight. The clerics. Being my players 6, I'd raise the number of enemies to 6 too. I change the righteous might for puritying fires of mitra in the form of flame strike. And there comes the problem. 6 clerics multiplyied by 9d6 mean 54d6, or 180+hp. That's half the party dead in the first round.
The clerics have a bad initiative, that might be the only saving point for the PC. Other tha that, it seems like some of the players are going to be heavily charred...
Book Three is also back in stock! Also, all old back orders should be in the process of being fulfilled! Thanks for everyone's patience and thanks for supporting "Way of the Wicked".
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
To the worthy Master Malueg:
Great work there, but if you really want to go the recycling route with your enemies I'd
Besides, how often do you get to create a Zombie Storm Giant?
For those that use Hero Lab and are running or playing in Way of the Wicked I have good news as Book 3 has been inputted in HL by the community. These are 100% free to download and use.
The packages are broken up into into two pieces. One is for GM's that has both the player equipment and the DM monsters and a Player pack that has just the stuff that Players need.
If you have not setup the Powered by HL feature for the Community start with this Setup Post.
For GMs you need to install the Community Bestiary which requires a bunch of the Official Packages to load. But once installed you have access to all the Player content and to all the monsters and encounters for Book 1, Book 2 and Book3. You can download the portfolios and the encounter .por files from d20pfsrd. The files are AP(FMG) - Way of the Wicked PART1.zip and AP(FMG) - Way of the Wicked PART2.zip.
For Players you need to install the Community Player Pack which requires nothing more then the base HL license and contains the traits, gear, and magic items for Book 1, 2 & 3. The latest version provides a new Antipaladin archetype that allows one to play a LE or NE Antipladin instead of CE as is mentioned in book 1.
And there we go.
Today, a battle intensive session.
With extra armor from the advanced template (and adjusting a minor error in the statblock to count for shield focus), they were quite tough. They posed some threat too, with the extra +2 to hit and damage from Advanced Template and Divine power up from the begining, they were doing like +21/+21/+16 with 1d8+13, which is decent damage. I killed a couple zombie cyclops, but the use of Dimensional anchor forbid them to use Transposition succesfullly.
Inmediately, they faced 9 lvl 7 paladin aasimars, with celestial pegasus, which had flyby attack and sprited charge, plus death from above feat (+5 when charging from above). They did some damage to the Paladin (3d8+40 or so), and they Crit another zombie cyclop, which was obliterated by the impact. However, quick succession of attacks from spells and bows, and the pegasus died fast, with some paladins falling to the river and drowing, and other falling to the ground to be slaughtered.
Once again, without any rest, a number of clerics and infantry come. There were 6 clerics, and I traded Righteous Might for Flame strike, so they were able to do +54d6 with 6x Flamestrike, an impressive amount of damage. Not that it matter, as they have low innitiative, and they couldn't do much. Befor they acted, they were surrounded by walls of ice and wall of fire, blocking LOS and LOE. They dispelled the wall of fire, though they needed 6 attempts (!). They died shortly after that.
The PC took care of the prisioners, jailing them. One of them forced the Reeve to acept that his wife lay with all the PC to save the women and children (which is an utter lie). After some torturing, the PC went to the Phoenix mountain, using the zombified corpses of the celestial pegasi as mounts (which I find very evil, actually). Once there, they were surprised by The Flame That Sings (with a very high stealth skill, that's easy) The Peri started the combat with a flame wall in the surprising round, and some pyrotechnics to full the room with smoke (which she is immune to). After a few fireball and flame strike (using to her adventage the ability to fly, while the rest of flying magic is forbiden), she engaged in melee, in form of Whirlwhild. With a very high armor (34 with the advanced template, plus -4 DEX and -2 to hit for those captured by the whirlwind), the fight wasn't easy. However the Dimensional anchor was again very useful as it forbid her to use Flame Jump(to heal). The Greater Invisibility of the rogue made her really high armor much more easy to target, and she finally went down.
Has somebody an idea for a cool sidequest to convince the duergar to join the pc´s forces? My players are short of xp and I dislike the solution in the adventure (just a single roll of diplomacy if I remember).
- maybe the duergar are not united - the king died shortly and the ruling council must first find his only son (missing in the underdark)
- maybe the duergar want the PC first to reclaim their ancient mithral mine (the one mentioned in book one and six if I remember correctly)
Or have you adventures from the dungeon magazine (short best played in one session!) you could recommend.
Has somebody an idea for a cool sidequest to convince the duergar to join the pc´s forces? My players are short of xp and I dislike the solution in the adventure (just a single roll of diplomacy if I remember)...
The official resolution may not be what you think it is.
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I have to side with SnowHeart on this one. At least somewhat. It's not overly worth it to do a side quest for them, but if you're really wanting to, and don't mind doing a little conversion work for 2E and using both 3pp and official Paizo, as well as converting 3E converted to Pathfinder with the Creature Catalog for a lot of the monsters already in it, then my suggestion for the mining expedition was this. It's literally going into a mithral mine and getting it back for "dwarves". The part of "Enter the Party" is exactly what you're looking for.
Another option is this. Just change "dwarf" to "duergar". And of course adjust for level.
I also use this opportunity to give them some xp they are lacking at the moment. I tought more about 1 or 2 quick fights. Maybe to liberate a mine section or something. Or to get somehing the duergar want (dwarves)
Are they still operating out of Ghastenhall? What about tossing an inquisitor at them? Turn it into a small adventure while reminding them they're being hunted too and need to be smart?
At the moment not. At the moment they are at castle westkirk and met the fire axe. Now they want to visit the duergar (after recruiting the Ogre mage raiju). Maybe I let them fight some monsters of the horde (the ones who want to kill raiju).
Has anyone a suggestion on a relationship between Breuder (crime boss in ghastenhall) and the Vampire? Do Breuder know of him? Virtually every criminal enterprise can be traced to him. so there must be a connection to Nicolas Breuder.
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At the moment not. At the moment they are at castle westkirk and met the fire axe. Now they want to visit the duergar (after recruiting the Ogre mage raiju). Maybe I let them fight some monsters of the horde (the ones who want to kill raiju).
Has anyone a suggestion on a relationship between Breuder (crime boss in ghastenhall) and the Vampire? Do Breuder know of him? Virtually every criminal enterprise can be traced to him. so there must be a connection to Nicolas Breuder.
We don't have enough dragons in this campaign, so add in An Icy Heart and just adjust it for the level. There's really not too many mountain adventures. Might have to go through some really old Dungeon Magazines. Suggestion would be Dungeon 3 for "The Book With No End".
As for the relationship in the second question, I just had it that Breuder hasn't personally met the vampire, but there is a respect to give someone of that caliber.
Book 3 ended last night.
We prepared something special for the Cathedral of Mitra Made Manifest after defeating Ara Mathra. The Oracle, who is the priest of the party, where preparing for weeks all the material for a Unhallow spell to consecrate to Asmodeus part of the Cathedral temporally... so the LE Paladin and party leader could celebrate his weeding with other PC on the defiled altar, now an Asmodian Altar.
Love is sooooo great wonderful. ^^
The party take precautions to not let the Markadian forces known what was happening on the valley, but is nearly impossible occult all that; a simple Sending spell from some spellcasting is all is needed. An once the army arrives, a little investigation will scream "ASMODEUS", and that the Lord of Hell ha an alliance with the monster's army. That can be a problem with the fake battle on book 6. I'm thinking of changing that part of book 6. What people think of that?
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Yet another session with combat intensive focus.
After some rounds, the phoenix fall. After the resurrection, the players where ready to engage him in full round. However, the phoenix (which I made a Celestial templated phoenix) was able to smite evil the paladin, punching him near death (+20 damage per hit with smite evil). The fight was short after that.
The players went back to sanctum, and rested there a bit, being attacked by a pair of storm giants flying in rocs, and a flock of pegasus. The PC defeated the giants and roc easily, but the pegasi were defeated by a group of infernal griffin (like those in the heraldic of Barca).
The PC then go to the Laberythn, defeating the archons and blinking dogs in unisteresting combats (the PC have way too much forces in this AP. They are right now a group of 6 players, with bone devils, half-fiend ogres, a medusa, hell-hounds, a Bloody Skeleton Storm Giant, and several other stuff. The minions alone can defeat things like the Legion Archons without a sweat). They resolved the three riddles with ease (one of the players solved two of them nearly instantly), and they found and killed the Kirin.
We left the game there, and they have to fight yet versus the Leonal (which I'd give a celestial dire-tiger companion), and then two very heavily modified NPC, an Oracle 14/monk 1 and a Monk (flowing monk) 15/oracle 1, which will be a very fun fight I think.
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@gustavo iglesias -- Those are some nice add-ons. I'm going to mark this and make note of them for myself. In my notes already, I've added Rapture's Remains, from Pathways 21. My story variant on the creature is he's Chargammon's younger brother who was converted. That should give them a bit of a challenge.
Okey, today we have a crunchy report :)
** spoiler omitted **...
can you provide me the enhanced stats?.