First Post!
I still have an estimated two sessions of play before my adventuring party is victorious over the Malgoth (hopefully!) I have been very excited in the number of alternative directions the side stories may hold for the adventurers and have even added a few of my own to the wrinkle, so when I am done running and the next DM picks up the campaign and runs with it, the sky is the limit. I have one question to pose to you all as I would like to reward the players richly for their success.
What type of rewards should I give each individual player as a gift from Istivin? I have considered the following:
Lower Nobility Title
A Keep and a limited amount of surrounding terrain, such as Velikar's Keep - (but shouldn't one person inherit this land?)
A significantly powerful magical item useful to a PC
A city-wide holiday and perhaps statues to honor the PCs
Cash
Honorary acceptance into elite/prestigious circles
My party consists of:
Dwarven cleric of Moradin
Dwarven kensai, brother to Dwarven cleric
Elven wizard/cleric or Correlon Lorethian
Human fighter/rouge
Human rouge/ranger
What thoughts and ideas might you have?
P.S. - I find that in the right situations, Sulissa and Belgos might be the most challenging (and murderous) encounters in the third installment, given their abilities and intelligence. I think I will have to scale back reality a little and (Sulissa and Belgos would prefer subterfuge) turn the encounter into a straight fight that might help the PCs chance of survival.
You asked for it...
Some of this depends on the PCs background and if you are playing in GH (lets assume you are).
Being that the adventure arc takes place in Sterich, A land of weak political structure, I would think that the granting of titles while sounding nice, should inevitably prove worthless, or actually attract rivals. The same as grants of land or a keep. There are so many pretenders striving for just those things that I think that type of reward would just enter the party into the current fray...something that could be a springboard for future adventures.
Some things to consider… The party most likely killed the lawful ruler of Istivin in the first adventure, and there may be a portion of the population that doesn't understand the circumstances surrounding that "assassination".
I think that the statues and holiday might be interesting, but the statues, while commissioned should never be finished, or placed where they are out of view by political entities resentful of the party's fame/influence/success.
The membership into elite/prestigious societies would probably make the most sense, but even that would be warped by the unstable fledgling political nature of the liberated Sterich. There are probably not many current known societies of this sort. The party individuals are more likely to be taken by different political/military/pretender groups to be exploited by that group for that group's own goals. Sure this patronage could have some benefits for the PCs, but should in the end prove to be what it is...exploitation of the PCs. Not that you can't have fun with this...individual PCs could find themselves patroned by opposing factions.
I think in Sterich the most realistic result of a highly successful and public victory would be a crown of adoring fans. I think I'd offer up Henchmen, cohorts and minions to the PCs.
Player background is something to consider as well. Are the PCs from Sterich? Either way, do they want to stay there?
if the PCs are in from the area, they can use their fame to become one of the contenders (legit or not) for what ever power they want to try for. The truth of it is that I GH Sterich, a victory like this will make the party many enemies from those who see the heroes as rivals. The more they are visibly given, the more the pretender nobles will hate then, and the legit nobles will see them as usurpers.
It all depends where you want your campaign to go. If it stays in Sterich and you want to play with political intrigue, then by all means give them titles, land, loyal followers, and bitterly jealous enemies. If you want to play the next cool adventure that takes place half way around the world. Go with the holiday and statues that will never be completed (but the PC never have to know this), and let the adventurers head off into the sunset and never look back.
As for additional treasure…They should have made a good haul in the course of the adventures, and nobody in Sterich is going to give away something that would be of value to 13th-15th level characters, The need that sort of stuff to maintain their own power bases. Now, A PC might be given something that has value to a rival of the giver with the giver’s belief that the PC will be leaving the area, taking the item with them, thus denying the item to the rival, and allowing the giver to no longer have to worry about getting caught with the item. This could spur future adventures as the true owner of the item tracks the PC down.
ASEO out
You might want to find out what they want first. Suprises are ok, but they usually end up backfiring on me as often as not.I imagine you want your players to be just as excited about their reward as you are, I would.
I hope revisiting issue 119 doesn't bother you all, but I wanted to post how the climax vs. the Malgoth ended.
The party of 4 PCs (2 x Lvl 12, 1 x Lvl 13, 1 x Lvl 14) made quick work of the advanced Mohrg (fight lasted 2 rounds; not enough time for the cold fog to materialize, nor the stautes to animate), and then I gave the PCs two rounds to prepare for Malgoth's formation.
After initiative was dropped, it didn't take long for the PCs to realize that they were severly outclassed. I even took it easy on them with the Spell-Like abilities I could have used (Energy Drain three times per day? Thats a Ninth Level spell! Domination?!? I didn't even go there!) Fortunately, the cleric Plane Shifted the party to safety before anyone was outright killed.
As I read the Malgoth, CR 16, I remember first thinking he would be easy to deal with. But as I took a closer look at him (Incorporeal AND DR 15/Good), I realized that he could give higher CR Tanarri a good fight.
Are my PC's under-powered? Have any of you had a near TPK on your hands during this adventure designed for 4 12th level characters? As you can see from my earlier post, I had a different ending in mind. The PCs are going to return for a rematch with Malgoth and to deal with Derkashan, but what has happened to Istivin during the three days that the PCs have been gone? Any thoughts?