I'm about to start up an AoW campaign again after having abandoned the last one just before the Labyrinth of Vecna. However, two of the players from that group are going to be in this new one, too. They are excellent people, and will have no trouble separating their metagame knowledge from their character knowledge and not ruining the experience for the rest of the new players. Plus, I plan on changing a bit of the plot around to keep them guessing.
What I want to do is rework the Whispering Cairn so that it's a new experience for these two and they don't get bored. I don't have time to completely rework the first adventure or substitute another one and link it to the rest of the AoW. Plus I like the adventure, and some of the two repeat players have interwoven their backgrounds with the WC already (which is a much better hook than the one written in the magazine).
Anyway, (sorry for rambling so much so far) I'm taking out most or all of the normal encounters and am going to plant a cleric of Nerull in the tomb somewhere. What I need is an interesting set of lackeys to accomany him- if I use zombies/skeletons, Filge's fight will just seem like a repeat, which I don't want (I will be running it with only a few modifications). I thought about fiendish wolves or snakes or scorpions, but those are all CR 1, and I don't think the party will be able to handle them and the priest (level 2).
I have the MM 2, 3, Fiend Folio, Libris Mortis, Manual of the Planes, Book of Vile Darkness, and Draconomicon at my disposal to scrounge. Anyone have some suggestions for some rarely-used fiendish/undead creatures that are below CR that would make for an interesting fight with the CR 2 cleric of Nerull?
Want to really surprise them?
Use the compressed undead from Phantasm.
They look like messed up midgets, have most of the stats of kabolds, but they are undead.
You can use Kabold figures too.
On the other hand, fiends make evil Mephits.
How about one of each element?
My favorite trap is the ghoul in the box.
A halfling ghoul that jumps out of a small place and gets a surprise attack.
You could put one in the dresser.
I might change several areas with fight encounters to trap encounters, some traps encouters to fight encounters, and don't forget the evil clerics lipstick and kukri weilding hafling harem. They aught never for get that. One other idea is to start your two "experienced" players a level higher than the rest of the group. this lends believability and lengthens the amount of time between rests, and ALLOWS you the luxury of slighty tougher encounters.
Goth Guru, I'm afraid I don't have Phantasm, nor do I use figurines, but the ghoul in the box would be funny, if nothing else. Oh, and mephits are CR 3 each- even one would be stronger than the priest.
Kirwyn, I'm not sure if even I get the lipstick-wearing, kukri-wielding halfling harem....
Here' a little more background. The cleric, Jericul, came to the tomb looking to claim the treasures of the True Tomb for himself, but he hasn't yet figured out how to get past the Face. So, he has the Lurking Strangler (I'm leaving that one in) scour the tomb, looking at the runes, then coming back to him and reforming them for his master using its own body. Of course, the party will never know this.
Anyway, Jericul wants to try and decipher the writing to find out if there's a way around the trap. He has no ranks in Decipher Script and doesn't speak Auran, so he's got no chance, but that's not enough to keep him from trying. He will have several undead (a whopping 2 HD worth) under his control.
I would like to leave the lacedon in the shower room, maybe the insane water elemental, too, as well as the brown mold and the sleeping earth elemental. Everything else before the Face I'd like to strip out and replace, somehow, with the priest.
Perhaps I could put him in the Lair of the Architect, the bedroom, as he'd appreciate the chill given to the room by the brown mold and wouldn't have yet noticed the earth elemental. So, I'd like to replace the wolves in the entry tunnel with something else (maybe just make them fiendish? I'd like a more complete overhaul, though). A trap wouldn't do well, since things actually pass through that area.
I'd take out the stone block and gas trap in the Lair of the Architect, since Jericul would have found a way around it, one way or the other, already. Now that I think about it a bit more, the part concerning the Workers' section of the dungeon would be hard to retool to include the priest somehow, since everything's been trapped down there for at least a few years, and Jericul hasn't been around that long. I'd still like suggestions on how to change it so that it's interesting for the recurring players.
Jericul will cast a scroll of Snactuary when combat starts, then Shield of Faith and Divine Favor, then break the Sanctuary with cause fear if someone has proven themselves to be good in melee, or bane if no one really stands out, then move to attack with his scythe (his feats are combat casting and martial proficiency (scythe)). He has a pearl of power, so he can recast fear or bane if he uses both and needs another, and he has the death domain, but otherwise he fights to the death.
What I need in this encounter is a fractional-CR, damage-soaking foe or two to block the party from the priest while he buffs himself so they don't just automatically surround him and attack as soon as Sanctuary is over. I'd like to have more than one, just creatures serving delaying actions so the cleric has time to prep and then maybe flank if things go his way.
Does anyone have any suggestions, or is what I'm trying to pull off just about impossible for a fight of this level using existing materials?
The priest's minions could just be orcs. First level orc warriors, straight out of the MM, acting as mercenary bodyguards. For a CR 1/2, they do take quite a bit of damage to bring down, and can dish it out, too.
As for the entryway creature, you could use something low-level and fiendish, like an imp, quasit or vargouille. The priest's pet or minion, sent to the front of the cairn to warn him of intruders. Maybe even a few lemures, if you wanted a more direct fight, like with the wolves.
I'm about to start up an AoW campaign again after having abandoned the last one just before the Labyrinth of Vecna. However, two of the players from that group are going to be in this new one, too. They are excellent people, and will have no trouble separating their metagame knowledge from their character knowledge and not ruining the experience for the rest of the new players. Plus, I plan on changing a bit of the plot around to keep them guessing.
Why did your last attempt fall apart?
I abandoned my last go at AoW because there were players in it there weren't taking it as seriously as I would have liked. They're good players and all, but I didn't want to ruin MY fun with AoW by having them not take it seriously, so I ditched and started a new, lighter-themed campaign with them that's going along very well now.
I know I could just use orcs, but I was really looking for something new. One of the highlights of the AP so far seems to be its continuous stream of new, interesting encounters, and I'd like to keep that sense in tact for my new AoW. Although, I guess it would also make sense to keep to standard creatures to begin with, since every player other than the two recurring ones is completely new to the game, so throwing a few more straight-forward, iconic scenarios at them might not be a bad idea. Thanks!
Why not switch the wolves with some stirges, maybe the explorations of the rival party in the "stirge-nest cairn" caused some of the stirges to relocate. You might also use some myconids and other fungi i.s.o. the insects in the laborers rooms.
Thanks! That's pretty good. I was going to opt for a kaorti infestation (from Fiend Folio), but I think I'll go with the myconids instead. More logical and logistical. The stirges will be easier than the pair of vargouiles I was planning on throwing in to replace the wolves, I think. Good advice.
Sorry Saern (sp?)
I put the lipstick/kukri hafling harem things in one of my games and no one ever forgot about them. Sure the undead fiendish ettin and 12HD elven wright with two weapon fighting and spring attack were cool and they liked them and all but the hafling harem still gets giggles four years later. Going with the idea of a "lighter game" I threw them out there.
For your scene I was thinking Hafling level 1 warriors. Throw 14 into con and they could have 10 hp (using the elite array). This would give you bad guy some one to slow the party down with, a little light humor and with small weapons and no sneak attack they would do relativly little damage. Spice up the dresciption to fit your game.
Your outline so far sounds great, good luck!
Well, the myconids sounded good at first because of the fungus theme- I could fuse that into the over-flowing nutrient trough that the beetles had over run originally very easily. But I want something combative and myconids just aren't.
I thought about the kaorti, and they just made problems, too. If they have a cyst in the tomb, then when the elevator shaft opens, they would sense a breach and be ready for the party when they came down and be very leathal, or if the party rested topside, they'd just take 10 on their climb checks and attack them during their rest. Plus, I should add the pseudonatural template to the ghoul and elemetal in that case, which I don't want to do. If I remove the cyst, that makes little sense for the kaorti to be there.
So, as you can see, retooling the Lair of the Laborers is not going well. I think keeping with a trapped animal motiff is good, but I just want to change it up a bit. Maybe I'll throw in some low CR fiendish creatures or something.
Sorry, Kirwyn, I don't think I'll be using the halfling harem, though I'll keep the idea in mind if I ever just want to freak the party out.
I know what I'll use! I just remembered kythons from BoVD. They seem to fit the idea of the adventure, and go well with the mad slasher. I'll just throw in a few broodlings, maybe a juvenile. That will work great.
Speaking of these guys, I think they'd make for an interesting third AP. Perhaps have them exist as previously unknown creatures that are popping up mysteriously in various places, and the party has to not only fight them, but find out where they're coming from and what their goals are. Somewhat like the Reavers from the Runelords for those of you who have read that series.
While it sounds like you already have reached a solution, here's a few more ideas:
1) Remove the wolves in the entryway, maybe have something else picking over the corpse of one of the wolves.
Then later, have the wolves in zombie or skeletal form, perhaps with the priest of Nerull
2) Put in some spiders, maybe as a replacement for the bombadier beetle or acid beatle swarm.
2) Add a Choker somewhere as an encounter. For even more fun, you could make the Priest of Nerull a Choker or some other non-standard race, although a 2nd lvl Cleric Choker would be a CR 4. Combining Quickness with spell-casting is always fun.