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So, my PCs have finished the first test of the Smoking Eye, and are moving to the second test. Just curious if anyone has had the same observations as me.
1) There are a lot of wandering monsters here! At 8% per hour, and with 2-3 days travel between tests, there's a good chance to run into things. Did anyone else find this?
2) At least on the open plains, most of these encounters are happening at 100+ feet, so they're reasonably easy for the PCs. No problem there, but I'm curious if people found it the same for them.
3) They started out really trusting of Karphus (especially when he handed out two scrolls of plane shift and helped out with haste in the first encounter), but now they are *really* suspicious of him, especially because he's excited they are going to the next part of the Test. How did the other DMs out there deal with the growing distrust, leading up to his betrayal of the PCs at the Third Test?
My party is currently on their way to the first part of the test.
1) There are a lot of wandering monsters here! At 8% per hour, and with 2-3 days travel between tests, there's a good chance to run into things. Did anyone else find this?
Yeah, I had to cap the encounters at 1/day.
2) At least on the open plains, most of these encounters are happening at 100+ feet, so they're reasonably easy for the PCs. No problem there, but I'm curious if people found it the same for them.
Remember that most demons they encounter have greater teleport, so they can teleport right smack into the middle of the party.
3) They started out really trusting of Karphus (especially when he handed out two scrolls of plane shift and helped out with haste in the first encounter), but now they are *really* suspicious of him, especially because he's excited they are going to the next part of the Test. How did the other DMs out there deal with the growing distrust, leading up to his betrayal of the PCs at the Third Test?
My party is really distrustful of him from the start, but went along anyway. They are keeping their eyes on him though. I'm not sure I will have him betray the party in the end yet though.
Depending on how well organized and tough the party seems you might have Kaurophon take a wait-and-see attitude at the end. Remember he has bided his time thus far and could easily be the power behind the throne for a while, study the effects of the smoking eye and then take Occipitus for himself later. The Smoking Eye template, as I recall does not grant immortality....
I found the constant rolling of encounters for the three or four weeks my party was there a bit tiresome. Might I suggest pulling out an old Planescape book and making a few of the encounters a little beefer on scale perhaps with a Side Trek. This concentrates the random encounters and makes the place seem more desolate, otherwise it gets to be one big featureless (if disgusting) room with wandering monsters. My players nicknamed it "Hell's Armpit."
Ideas I used to liven it up:
Size Matters - Remember Occipitus is roughly the size of Michigan you could have dozens of scatter encounter sites and still have the place look empty for days at a time in between.
Demonic Ghost Town - Think Deadlands. Bar fights with Babaus. Poker with Dretch.
Give the Fiendish Centaurs some Culture - I figure they have a nomatic tribal culture (akin to Native Americans - but viscious). Occipitus' new ruler will have to be diplomatic in how he handles them.
Mix up the Encounters a Bit - Some monsters just want to share the campfire. This also goes along way toward finding acceptance for Kaurophon. Give your NPC (even the random ones) some personality. The slaad ecounters come to mind.
Build an Encounter Site in the Celestial Ruins - I had an archeological dig going on over the top of a dungeon. Perhaps the ghostly after-image of clashing celestial soldiers and inferal demons pops into focus every now and then. I figure the place looked a bit like how one might imagine Ancient Hollywood Rome after an earthquake.
There's more, but I can't remember it. In short though you could relocate the campaign to Occipitus and still make 20th level.
Hope that helps,
GGG
Great Green,
Fantastic ideas! Here I am sitting with the entire 2e collection of planescapes books sitting on my shelf (I am a fan I must admit!) and it never occurred to me to consult them directly.
Thanks for the inspiration.