I'm reading through this adventure and have some questions.
1. How many cultists are in the temple of Hextor room #3. I'm guessing 9 by the CR and EL.
2. Many of the numbers are off when referencing the different rooms. In room #5, it mentions cultists and guards from area 2 and 3. should this be 3 and 4, or will the skeletons in 2 retreat back to 5 to open the door. In 5 it also mentions that when the retreating guards pass 4 they open the door. I'm pretty sure that the 4 mentioned here should be 5. Additionally, in area 7 it mentions the guards in area 5. There are no guards in area 5. Should this be 6 instead? This problem continues in the Temple Organization sidebar.
3. The commoner cultists are listed as having daggers and longspears. By the DMG a Commoner is only proficient in 1 simple weapon. So which do they take the penalty in?
4. in area 9…It seems strange that something like a pearl of power, something that any of the three priests in the temple of Hextor could use would be locked up in a vault. Can each priest use the pearl once each day? Or can it only give one caster, one spell, back per day. The CSRD isn’t clear. I could see the two priests in area 8 getting this item. Then Kendra using it to cast a second ‘Protection from Good’ on Garras, then Garras using it to cast and extra ‘Bless’ on Kendra if the time allowed. Or Garras using it first and Kendra then taking it for that extra ‘Bane’ or ‘Fear’.
...How are people playing Pearls of Power in their games?
ASEO out
>How are people playing Pearls of Power in their games?
I rule that their magic only works once per day, period. Not once per day for each person who picks it up.
I wish I could answer questions about the Temple, but alas I STILL haven't received my #125...
I'm reading through this adventure and have some questions.
1. How many cultists are in the temple of Hextor room #3. I'm guessing 9 by the CR and EL.
I think the number of cultists should be 8, because in room 2, which is the same EL as room 3, there are 8 skeletons, which are CR 1/3, just like the commoners.
I'm reading through this adventure and have some questions.
1. How many cultists are in the temple of Hextor room #3. I'm guessing 9 by the CR and EL.
This one was discussed in a couple of other threads. It takes 7-9 CR 1/3 creatures to account for the EL; James Jacobs suggested 8 cultists.
Here's another editing error that I noticed. All of the priests of Hextor are equipped with shields and heavy flails. Heavy flails are two-handed weapons. However, the damage listed for the flails is 1d8, so it may just be a typo that they are HEAVY flails.
A bit of a bump here...
Still have the question about the commoner's weapons and the pearl in the vault.
Also, I've noticed several instances in adventures where a villain will have a magical item that they could (should and would) use, but it is just left sitting in their treasure hoard. Is this an effort to reward players properly, yet not overly increase the power of the "I'm only here to fight you to the death" villains?
A question about the temple area:
Vecna built the main chamber and the one that has the maze. (I guess that I don't really understand the reason for having built a maze) When the Grimlocks arrived, they added their wing. (why was a door added to this cavernous wing? Just to make things pretty? The Grimlocks definitely are not ones to need a door) Did Vecna build the Hextorites wing?
Since the players won’t know what is behind each door, the DM may rearrange the map so that the factions are fought in a particular order.
What are peoples’ thoughts on which order the cults should be combated in to get the most climatic effect out of the encounters?
If the PCs wipe out a cult and then retreat, or camp in that cult’s area, what are the chances that members of the other cults know something is amiss… beyond the missing tieflings in the cathedral chamber, and maybe some blood left over from their elimination?
What happens if the party wipes out one cult and then heads back to town. Will the other cults even know? Will they care? Will they fortify their wing and wait for the party to return? Will they take the fight to the party in town?
Do the cult leaders meet each Tuesday at midnight for tea and treachery or something?
ASEO out
A bit of a bump here...
Still have the question about the commoner's weapons and the pearl in the vault.
Also, I've noticed several instances in adventures where a villain will have a magical item that they could (should and would) use, but it is just left sitting in their treasure hoard. Is this an effort to reward players properly, yet not overly increase the power of the "I'm only here to fight you to the death" villains?
A question about the temple area:
Vecna built the main chamber and the one that has the maze. (I guess that I don't really understand the reason for having built a maze) When the Grimlocks arrived, they added their wing. (why was a door added to this cavernous wing? Just to make things pretty? The Grimlocks definitely are not ones to need a door) Did Vecna build the Hextorites wing?
Since the players won’t know what is behind each door, the DM may rearrange the map so that the factions are fought in a particular order.
What are peoples’ thoughts on which order the cults should be combated in to get the most climatic effect out of the encounters?
If the PCs wipe out a cult and then retreat, or camp in that cult’s area, what are the chances that members of the other cults know something is amiss… beyond the missing tieflings in the cathedral chamber, and maybe some blood left over from their elimination?
What happens if the party wipes out one cult and then heads back to town. Will the other cults even know? Will they care? Will they fortify their wing and wait for the party to return? Will they take the fight to the party in town?
ASEO out
1. I would either replace whatever feat the commoners have with a Weapon Proficiency feat (I don't have 125 yet) or say they have proficiency in longspear since that is probably their principal weapon.
2. The DMG says a pearl of power works once per day. I would say that is regardless of how many times it changes hands.
3. I think I read on these forums that the adventure states that the cults can go weeks without contact with each other. So I would say if the PCs clear out one temple they should have enough time to rest one or two days before the other cults find out. Not enough time to start creating magic items or researching spells, but enough time to rest.
Do the cult leaders meet each Tuesday at midnight for tea and treachery or something?
While you meant this as a joke, I would pick a regular time when they do meet if you want a realistic way of determining whether the other cults know what's up.
I agree with the idea about NPC's having magic items in treasure chests that they don't use. When the party I DM fought the Hextorite priests, I had the femal priest take the wand of Enlarge Person from the treasure chest, and use it to enlarge the half-orc priest.
Excellent questions; I nearly ripped my Dungeon magazine in half trying to figure out how many cultists were ready to die for the glory of Hextor.
Also, this may be a stupid question (I must be overlooking something), but how do the two married Hextor clerics get three Feats each at 2nd level?
Also, supposedly there is a "secret knock" to get into room #2, but the adventure doesn't seem to mention exactly what this "secret knock" is. Is it so secret even the DM isn't supposed to know? Or have I just overlooked it?
I agree with the idea about NPC's having magic items in treasure chests that they don't use. When the party I DM fought the Hextorite priests, I had the femal priest take the wand of Enlarge Person from the treasure chest, and use it to enlarge the half-orc priest.
I hope she was a multiclass wizard or sorcerer, had a lot of ranks in Use Magic Device, or had access to the Strength domain, since they're the only ways a cleric could use a wand of enlarge person.
As for not using magic items in a treasure hoard, why do the priests have to use everything in their hoard? They might have thought the pearl was an ordinary, but expensive pearl or might have known it was magical, but hadn't identified it yet. I've already mentioned why they wouldn't be using the wand.
Creative Director
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Also, supposedly there is a "secret knock" to get into room #2, but the adventure doesn't seem to mention exactly what this "secret knock" is. Is it so secret even the DM isn't supposed to know? Or have I just overlooked it?
The fact that there's a secret knock is the key. It can be anything, from a complex pattern of taps and scratches to a loud hammering of three sets of four knocks. The best part of running adventures is making them your own, so feel free to make the knock anything you'd like.
Also, this may be a stupid question (I must be overlooking something), but how do the two married Hextor clerics get three Feats each at 2nd level?
I'm not getting the issue until Tuesday, but I can hazard an educated guess. If the Hextor priests both have the War domain, then they get Martial Weapon feats for their favored weapons, as well as Weapon Focus.
If those are the feat(s) in question, then that should explain it.
The issue sounds great, by the way. Three different temples with flavor and tactics based on the respective deity... cool.
3. The commoner cultists are listed as having daggers and longspears. By the DMG a Commoner is only proficient in 1 simple weapon. So which do they take the penalty in?
I finally went to my FLGS to purchase 125 as I have not yet received my subscription copy. Looking at the cult fanatic stat block, the cultists seem to be a mix between warrior and commoner. They have warrior BAB of +1 but commoner hp and saving throws, yet they have warrior weapon proficiencies. I am going to treat them as commoners, reduce their BAB to +0 and make them nonproficient with dagger, as I believe this is what was intended.
I have a couple questions about locks and doors in the Temple of Hextor.
1) At area 10, it says the door is locked. But there is no door on the map, only a curtain. Are we to assume that this is a cartographic error or is it referring to the doors leading to area 9? I can't imagine Theldrick would not have a door securing his private chamber.
2) The stone key on the table in area 10 "opens the door that leads to the caves of Erythnul." Does this mean all of the doors in area 1 are locked? Or just the one to the Erythnul caves? No door specs are given in area 1. I can't imagine that the grimlocks would be the only cult creative enough to lock their door.
I'm still reading through the adventure so I may come across some answers but I have scoured the sections on the Hextor and Erythnul areas and found nothing about the initial "marble door(way?)s that lead to the areas.
3) Stats are given for doors in the Hextor temple, which include an Open Lock DC. Does this mean all the doors in the temple are locked? If so, why do only the cultists carry skeleton keys and not such important individuals as the clerics? If only the doors that are marked as locked are indeed locked, then they already give the DCs in the area descriptions (areas 5 and 10) and the DC 30 mentioned in the stat block is rendered irrelevant. But I can't imagine every door is locked with a better lock than the one to Theldrick's chamber.
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Creative Director
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1) At area 10, it says the door is locked. But there is no door on the map, only a curtain. Are we to assume that this is a cartographic error or is it referring to the doors leading to area 9? I can't imagine Theldrick would not have a door securing his private chamber.
The curtain should be a door.
2) The stone key on the table in area 10 "opens the door that leads to the caves of Erythnul." Does this mean all of the doors in area 1 are locked? Or just the one to the Erythnul caves? No door specs are given in area 1. I can't imagine that the grimlocks would be the only cult creative enough to lock their door.
Originally. all of the doors in area 1 were locked except for the one leading to area 2. The adventure was originally constructed so that you more or less had to do the three temples in numeric order, but that seemed a bit too restrictive for my tastes so I relaxed this restriction during development. Feel free to have any, none, or all of the area 1 doors locked if you wish.
3) Stats are given for doors in the Hextor temple, which include an Open Lock DC. Does this mean all the doors in the temple are locked? If so, why do only the cultists carry skeleton keys and not such important individuals as the clerics? If only the doors that are marked as locked are indeed locked, then they already give the DCs in the area descriptions (areas 5 and 10) and the DC 30 mentioned in the stat block is rendered irrelevant. But I can't imagine every door is locked with a better lock than the one to Theldrick's chamber.
The lock on the door to Theldrick's chamber should be DC 30. The cultists normally keep all the doors locked to make it tougher for intruders to move around the temple.
Originally. all of the doors in area 1 were locked except for the one leading to area 2. The adventure was originally constructed so that you more or less had to do the three temples in numeric order, but that seemed a bit too restrictive for my tastes so I relaxed this restriction during development. Feel free to have any, none, or all of the area 1 doors locked if you wish.
Thanks. I take it the silver key in Grallak Kur's possession was originally meant to unlock the door to the Vecna temple? What is the rationale behind Kur having key and not Theldrick? Do the Vecnans and Hextorites deal only with the grimlocks and not with each other? Is there a reason for this? I haven't looked through the Vecnan temple yet but so far I can't see how this would make sense. I'd like to leave the doors locked (it seems to make sense that they would all lock their doors) and have the tiefling guards open the door to the Hextorite temple when they attempt to fight off the intruders. I just need justification for the keys the PCs will need to find.
The lock on the door to Theldrick's chamber should be DC 30. The cultists normally keep all the doors locked to make it tougher for intruders to move around the temple.
Does this mean the clerics, Theldrick, etc., should all have skeleton keys? This makes the most sense to me. Not that it matters much, because once the PCs kill one cultist they can take his key and open any door in the temple. I'll exclude area 10, which requires the key on Theldrick's person to open.