More NPC scrutiny.
I left the inquisitor group mostly be, just noted some buffs and feat effects. I would not give Thomas the Penitent any better gear, he is a criminal paying for his crimes, not a free adventurer.
I followed kevin_videos advice and gave Banner Verdant some gear.
I don't see any outright errors on the Banner but some choices are odd. Why does the druid have Point blank shot and Precise shot but only a spear to use them with? I changed them to Wild speech and Wild Vigor. Not that great but make more sense.
I changed some spell selections around and wrote down the effects of their buff spells. They have their 10 min and hour per level buffs up as soon as they get in the place.
I wrote down some stats for Brunhild in two wild shape forms and had Fineas zap her with mage armor to keep her AC up.
Understandably not all the effects of NPCs feats are not written up. I added things like Vethias attack routine with rapid shot+many shot. With gravity bow up she deals a lot of damage (4d6+4/2d6+2/2d6+2). She has poor favored enemy choices but I don't think I'll bother changing them.
Pm sent Doug.
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My group and Grumblejack ran into Jurak the Elder. Bluff failed so init was rolled. Grumble swung his sword, hit! I started singing "I'm, a Grumblejack and I'm okay, I drink all night and kill all day! ".
My players cleared out the Horn and advanced to seventh level. Soon they will start building their organisation. I was thinking of giving them a variant of Vile Leadership feat and require they lead their organisation as a Council. I would give them Leadership score of highest PC lvl+combined charisma bonus, ie. about 14-15 at the moment, thus they can attract about 20 followers plus the boggards. That seems quite a small number.
The organisation rules in the book say nothing about the number of people in the organisation. I remember Gary saying something like 5 minions per action. With combined levels and charisma they hit 10 actions a week easily. So about fifty minions. Plus boggards. This seems more sensible. How many followers can they plausibly recruit from Farholde? 100? 200? More? More minions would not affect the amount of actions, but they may want extra guards, servants etc.
How much money the minions require per week for basic upkeep?
What equipment should the thugs from Drownington and orphans arrive with? Probably clubs and daggers, maybe leather armor? The soldiers from Sir Bonder should probably be better equipped. Scalemail, longsword + shield probably.
So fellow GMs, how many minions (in addition to the boggards) do you think is reasonable amount for the PCs to recruit and how much should it cost per week/month?
The description of C-15 A says: These crystals could be used to aid in the
repair of the Alchemical Golem (see room 1-18 below).
I don't see anything in 1-18 that refers to these crystals. Is this a forgotten detail or am I missing something?
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The description of C-15 A says: These crystals could be used to aid in the
repair of the Alchemical Golem (see room 1-18 below).
I don't see anything in 1-18 that refers to these crystals. Is this a forgotten detail or am I missing something?
Chalk it up to a forgotten detail. I had the crystals be glass-like for the reservoir.
I found some prices in Ultimate equipment. A trained hireling costs 3 sp per day and untrained 1 sp per day. I would say hirelings meant for guard duty should be considered trained, so at least 3 sp/day.
Is somewhere some guidelines on prices of furnishing the rooms? Like how much should it cost to buy stuff for a 10 person barracks, 2 person bedroom and so forth. There is something in Ultimate campaign but the prices seem really steep. 400 gp for a room with bunks for 10 people and it takes 24 days to build one.
I could of course just eyeball the whole deal, like 10 gp table or bed, solid iron door 200 gp, wooden door 15 gp and so forth.
Hmm, have to look through my old 1st ed Ad&d material and Dragon magazines. They used to write all kinds of detailed stuff those days.
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Suddenly I'm not sure I have understood the organization rules correctly. If the PCs form a council how do I calculate the number of actions they have per week? Is it levels(4*7)+combined charisma(2+3+3+1) = 30 thus giving them 10 actions per week. OR is it calculated for each character individually and then the actions are totaled. This would give them only 2 actions per week since only two characters have CHA +3 giving them score of 10 and 1 action per week. The former sounds like they get too much and the latter that they get too few actions.
Old One Eye managed to rip one of the PCs to shreds. Well nearly. Pounce attack, one crit, all hits. Over 70 points of damage and the inquisitor was KO'd. Unfortunately they managed to swarm him and prevented him from escaping. Grumblejack wanted to keep it as a pet since all the PC's had pets of their own.
For the group action rolls I worked it out for each individual pc and then totaled the result. However as 4 of my pc's had charisma 18+ they got a lot of actions either way.
Old One Eye it all depends of id he manages a good pounce full attack , IIRC my players took him down with a spell and kept him as a pet
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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My One-Eye got a good hit in on one pc then almost killed in one round. I had him escape via Transport Via Plants (can't remember if he actually had this in the module) so they had to track him down.
Second time, in his lair and wounded, he had the scouting thief grappled when the rest arrived. The cleric landed a Moonlust spell and they surrounded him while he stared at the moon. Simultaneous actions and that was that.
They thought it was a druid who got "stuck" in animal form, after a discussion. Grumblejack made him into a (smelly) rug for his den.
Poor Argossarian, he fought valiantly but did not manage to kill a single bad guy. Instead, he is going to join them as a zombie >_<
The inquisitor was nearly killed, again. Almost everyone saved against the paralytic gas. Should have used his cold breath instead :(
I tried to thin the ranks of NPCs the party is toting around, but only managed to destroy a few skeletons and two Hell hounds.
We completed this book tonight. Interesting fights with the penultimate being with about 30 combatants. Boggards led by Zikomo, the gorgimera and a 'survivor' party comprised of 4 people who had managed to escape the Horn earlier, Traya, Hassan, Thomas the Penitent and Brunhild. They all assaulted the Horn at the same time, boggards attacking the forces on 3rd floor followed shortly by the adventurers and the gorgimera assaulting the Sanctum. Though fight, with Hexor being banished by Traya using a scroll of Dismissal. Some undead vassals destroyed and lots of hit point damage. Too bad the villains destroyed the wraiths early in the adventure.
The Sons attacked the next day and destroyed the dragon zombie quickly. They wounded many villains gravely and destroyed some minions like the rest of hell hounds and a zombie moon dog. Erik the Falconer was gravely wounded and after Meinhard died he decided that this is enough. Havelyn and the priest were in good condition but Erik teleported them out regardless.
The villains then completed the ritual. Vetra Kali was asked to not kill them or theirs. So he killed Halthus, who was *his*. He gladly gave the Tears, and howled in rage when they told him to return to Abaddon and never come back to this world. The mountain collapsed, the villains escaped through the balcony using fly and Snapleaf tokens. Artephius simply jumped down and survived the 20d6 falling damage!
I tweaked the Sons a lot and they used five rounds of buffing before attacking. The villains did not use the stones at the time and were not alerted to the Mitran spells being cast. Tough fight with the antipaladin, Artephius and the mage nearly killed, zombie Argossarian and Vexor killed and many badly hurt.
This was a very fun adventure to GM. I loved handing out pictures of the adventurers assaulting the Horn and all those letters and journal entries. Seeing the PCs scamper around building the defense of the Horn was great. Have to say that WotW is the most fun I have had as a GM in a long time.
So it's been a bit since I DM'd this part of the ap, about a year or so now. The one thing I found extremely lacking is the clarity of DCs for the organization actions.
It might be because I am a GM that loves to have rules to follow vs making stuff up as I go. I almost feel like the DC should be chosen as you say what you want to do, and then each DC has an outcome reflecting that.
Like, lets say you chose grave robbing it's always 2d6 or 4d6 as a result. I feel like this should be based on the DC or at least how many graves they want to pillage.
Players: I want grumble jack and a couple boggards to go grave robbing in farholde.
GM: Ok how many bodies do you expect to dig up in a week? Give me a range
Players: How about 7-10 bodies?
GM: Looking at notes I would be like:
8 1d6+1
12 2d6+2
16 3d6+3
20 4d6+4
25 5d6+5
And on a natural 20, move up to the next difficulty level. On dc 25, add an extra 2d6 instead.
Suddenly I'm not sure I have understood the organization rules correctly. If the PCs form a council how do I calculate the number of actions they have per week? Is it levels(4*7)+combined charisma(2+3+3+1) = 30 thus giving them 10 actions per week. OR is it calculated for each character individually and then the actions are totaled. This would give them only 2 actions per week since only two characters have CHA +3 giving them score of 10 and 1 action per week. The former sounds like they get too much and the latter that they get too few actions.
If they are a council, simply pool the actions. Everyone must agree, or the action is lost It says so in the book.
I meant that how should I calculate the amount of actions they have?
If they are level 7 and have charisma bonuses of +2, +3, +1 and +3.
So first PC gets 0 actions, second gets 1 action, third gets 0 actions and fourth gets 1 action. All together they get 2 minion actions a week. OR should it be that they get 3 actions from their combined score of level + the sum of their charisma modifiers? The difference is not much, granted.
In hindsight I think it would have been better for the story if Thorn rescues the paladin rather than have Erik teleport them out. I made the Sons a tad too tough, Richard managed to bring the antipaladin from full health to about 2 hp left in one full round attack if I remember correctly.
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In hindsight I think it would have been better for the story if Thorn rescues the paladin rather than have Erik teleport them out. I made the Sons a tad too tough, Richard managed to bring the antipaladin from full health to about 2 hp left in one full round attack if I remember correctly.
Without inside knowledge of who the paladin was, Thorn wouldn't have done anything outside of seeing yet another Mitra worshipper kick the bucket.
Yes, but Thorn did know, it says in the book that if the players kill Richard, Thorn will teleport the corpse out and raise him. Though how exactly he would do it I have no idea, except using Miracle.
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Question:
Did anyone ever do a 5e conversion for this?
Doug M.
Not a complete conversion, but many people online have done at least Book 1. Here's one example.
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That's a great find. While I was looking for a conversion, I came across a not so nice reddit post about the AP in general, which I posted on Book 6. The main thing I wanted people to be aware of was all the errors for the monsters and NPCs so that they can adjust their own campaigns accordingly. I didn't realize it was quite that bad. I knew it wasn't great as over the years I had emails Gary with my own corrections for the later books, but seeing it all laid out like that... Wow.
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A question about the dragon.
Normally when you transform with polymorph, your equipment melds into your new shape. But for Argossian, the dragon form is his base one.Does it mean that while he's running through the narrower parts of the horn, he's butt naked and reduced to punching things? That's a way less challenging battle.
(also likely to get the spiral clogged with a solid block of meat, if the party kills him there and he reverts to his base shape)
If you choose to have him naked and bits hanging out, that's your call. Usually the transformation adds basic clothes. But, no, there's no armor.
Could always have the party kill him and his dragon corpse potentially crush them. I've experience that kind of game before (colossal red dragon archmage).
Argossarian is a CR 13 young adult silver dragon who has no wealth on him whatsoever because his horde is somewhere else entirely. As such, my suggestion would be to have "some" of that 11,600 gold the PCs normally wouldn't be able to access, as something he can make use of. He has no armor, but has access to 1st and 2nd level spells. My suggestions would be for him to wear a ring of spell knowledge with mage armor in it, and page of spell knowledge for shield of faith. That's 2500 gp and gives +6 AC for two 1st level spell slots. As for change shape, it's any animal of humanoid. Lizardfolk are humanoids with two claws and a bite. Could turn into one of those, or even a sasquatch for slams. Could always have another page of spell knowledge for a 2nd level spell that'd cost 4k gp, and pick your favourite. I'd probably go bull's strength of bear's endurance, but resist energy is good for those fire-based spells. Whatever you add, just make sure the PCs can only access a minimal amount of it, if anything.
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Argossarian is a CR 13 young adult silver dragon who has no wealth on him whatsoever because his horde is somewhere else entirely. As such, my suggestion would be to have "some" of that 11,600 gold the PCs normally wouldn't be able to access,Problem is, that would also buff his dragon form, and the party, while experienced in rpg, is new to Pathfinder. I don't know how good they will be at fighting by the end of the module.
It just occured to me.
The party is very unlikely to figure it out or want to use it, but Grumblejack's backstory technically qualifies him for the first sacrifice.
You accidentally quoted things too many times.
It would buff the dragon in his original form, but it's honestly only something you'd give him if he needed it in his humanoid form. That said, this might get Ezra to help because a dragon is difficult to take on, and an undead can only do so much. It's just assumed that the dragon is in its original form always. You could also make a custom item that reduces his size to Medium so he can get around. Make it a monster version of reduce person. It's a 3PP spell, if you're okay using it. Wouldn't be that much of a stretch that ancient beasts like dragons would have access to "ancient" magic.
If your group figures it out, and decides to sacrifice Grumblejack for the ritual, they wouldn't be the first to do that.
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Came up with a side-quest idea - the boggard tribe had fallen on hard times under Kumanda's leadership, and is seen as weak by other boggards.
In order to allow Zikomo to start recruiting new tribe members, they need a show of strength - killing a marsh giant that the other local tribe worships would be great, but that requires a day-long expedition into the swamp.
That's pretty good. In Book 7, you're tasked with getting a hydra for the cave. That could also be a show of strength instead of using minions.
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- The party arrives in Farholde on New Year, but no description mentions snow, and the picture of the Horn is green. Is it an oversight, or is the Western side of the island so much warmer? (the Boggard caves get a pass for having geothermal activity)
It is most likely an oversight (there are many such) but I explained that the western part of the island is much warmer due to warm sea currents and the sheltering mountains having quite a bit of volcanic activity.
How does one get "blood" from an elemental that is living lightning? Does it leave behind lightning balls that you need to immediately catch into a glass jar or something?
Blood, I think is not a good word to use, essence or similar would be better. I told the players that the elemental left behind "essence" that they then collected. Using lightning rods is a good idea, I would rule that it works. Any metal wire should be good enough for the job I think. They could also use a spell like Planar Binding to call an elemental and kill it.
Should there be some gear to be found from the remains of the 4th knot?
Yes, there should be something. No one has been in the Horn since. I would have them have some masterwork weapons and armor, a few potions, maybe a couple of alchemical items. Some money and normal adventuring gear. Aidan Kaels corpse should have some minor magical items, +1 weapon and armor and such. For some reason it is not said where the 4th knot or Kael was killed. I would place them somewhere on the first or second floor. The adventure claims that Kael "fled to upper reaches" but there is no direct route between the floors.
weapon that "counts as flail" which means he can trip with it.
You can trip with any weapon, the trip weapon quality just means you can let go of the weapon to avoid being tripped yourself if you fail the attempt badly enough. It also lets you add the weapons bonuses to drag and reposition maneuvers.
If a creature with reach and no Improved Trip or similar ability uses trip maneuver on a creature that does not have reach, there is no attack of opportunity. So yes, you will be out of reach.
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(also likely to get the spiral clogged with a solid block of meat, if the party kills him there and he reverts to his base shape)
[tangent] That happened in a game, long ago. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, IIRC. A dragon had used a magic ring to shrink itself so that it could fly into the tunnels and do strafing runs with its breath weapon, and the cleric delayed his action and cast dispel magic when he made his next run, which turned him into a meat-tube... [/tangent]
But as for the base question, a custom spell that dragons can cast that creates (dragonhide, natch) armor and a (dragonbone) weapon for them to use when they transform into a human(oid) form could be funky. Toss it on an item, even, so that the dragon doesn't even have to cast it.
Since it only works for dragons, it's basically just money to a party, unless one of them happens *to be a dragon* and can use it...
I am slightly regretting giving the vampire template to a PC. Letting them play dragons? *shudder*