Raging Swan just released their newest adventure "Dark Oaks." I'm not going to go into detail on the adventure itself here but definitely check it out on the Paizo store. I'm going to also spoiler most of this in case any "PCs" wander by. After reading through the adventure, I was really grabbed by its backstory. Also, I am in no way affiliated with Raging Swan. This is just something I came up with for fun.
The adventure offers a couple of different adventure hooks for the PCs, one of which is just merely stumbling across the cave. Most of the others are investigatory in nature, such as half hearted raids by the lizards on nearby settlements, a polluted river, things like that. They do the job but I was really digging the idea of the wild, crazy treant running around smashing stuff. So, on that note...
Inspired by the backstory, I wanted to propose another adventure hook. The adventure is designed to get to the "Dark Oaks" rather quickly so this hook adds a little extra time. In this hook, Ssjarlith, again knowing time is short, becomes frustrated with the half hearted raids by her lizardmen minions. She is also hesitant to waste their lives since the tribe is already dwindling in numbers. Even though it almost brought down their downfall last time, Ssjarlith desperately decides to give the crazed treant scheme one last try. She's able to find a young, somewhat wild and reckless (for his kind) treant named Oedum Brightleaf (or whatever you want to call him, I hate coming up with names...) Oedum quickly succumbs to the bark blight's effects and goes mad, attacking loggers, hunters, and settlements as he finds them. Locals remember this happening once before and it begins to dawn on them that something in the marsh must be driving these normally good aligned treants to acts of violence. The PCs are called in to not only put down the mad treant but find the source of the evil plaguing the marsh. This hook sets up Ssjarlith's plans as a little more hostile than the half hearted raids. The PCs can attempt to track Oedum and maybe bait the creature into a trap. They may watch the treant and observe him interacting with members of the Dark Oak tribe. The PCs can try to slay Oedum outright or chase him back to the Dark Oak lair. If the PCs manage to slay Oedum, then the next day use the hook from page 5 of the adventure where the diseased body of a lizarman floats down the river. This should give a clue that the two events may be interconnected and they should start looking for some lizardmen.
For ease, I've spoilered Oedum's stats below. I've tried to follow the Paizo format for a NPC. Please excuse the lack of bold tags as I'm copying it out of my personal word file of variant monsters I'm creating.
Oedum Brightleaf
Young Treant Barbarian CR 7
Male treant barbarian 1
CE Large treant (plant)
Init +2; Senses low light vision; Perception +17
===== Defense =====
AC 21 touch 11, flat-footed 19; (+2 Dex, +12 natural, -2 rage, -1 size)
hp 145 (13 HD, 12d8+84+1d12+7)
Fort +12, Ref +6, Will +10
Immune plant traits DR 10/slashing
Weaknesses vulnerability to fire
===== Offense =====
Spd 40 ft.
Melee 2 slams +19 (1d8+11/19-20) or +1 thundering greatclub 21/16 (2d8+17/19-20+1d8 sonic)
Ranged rock +11 (1d18+11)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks rock throwing (120 ft.), rage (9 rounds/day) trample (1d8+16) DC 27
Base Statistics AC 23, ff 21, HP 126, Fort +10, Will +8 Melee 2 slams +17 (1d8+9/19-20) or +1 thundering greatclub 19/14(2d8+13/19-20+1d8 sonic) Str 29, Dex 14, Con 21, Int 12, Wis 18, Cha 11 CMB 20 CMD 32
===== Statistics =====
Str 33, Dex 14, Con 25, Int 12, Wis 18, Cha 11
Base Atk +10 CMB +22; CMD 34
Feats Alertness, Improved Critical (greatclub) Improved Critical (slam), Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (slam)
Skills Diplomacy +8, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (nature) +10, Perception +17, Sense Motive +10, Stealth -6 (+10 in forests) Survival +8 Racial Modifiers +16 in forests
Languages Common, Sylvan, Treant
SQ double damage against objects, fast movement, treespeech
Treasure +1 thundering greatclub
Design notes
I took a CR 8 treant and applied the "young template" for a -1 CR. Also, taking a note from the actual adventure, I lowered his CR by another -1 due to the fact that he is evil and loses his animate trees ability. So then I added a level of barbarian to show that he was a little "wild" for his kind and give him a little zing. As you can see from his stats which are for when he's raging, he is one tough hombre for a CR 7. But the PCs should know what they are up against and prepare accordingly. Also, when Oedum is raging, he won't be thinking clearly and will be easier to lead into some sort of trap.
Anyways, like I said, I just thought the backstory had a cool idea and I wanted to run with it. I figured if I was going to do the work, I'd might as well post it if anyone else wanted to use it. Oh, don't forget to buy "Dark Oaks." At 4.99 it's cheaper than a "value" meal at McDonald's. Or even a pint at your local pub.
Raging Swan Press
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Raging Swan just released their newest adventure "Dark Oaks." I'm not going to go into detail on the adventure itself here but definitely check it out on the Paizo store. I'm going to also spoiler most of this in case any "PCs" wander by. After reading through the adventure, I was really grabbed by its backstory. Also, I am in no way affiliated with Raging Swan. This is just something I came up with for fun.
** spoiler omitted **...
I really love this hook (and wish I'd thought of it myself). I think it links in really well with the story behind Dark Oak and also nicely foreshadows events in the module itself.
Curses!
Raging Swan just released their newest adventure "Dark Oaks." I'm not going to go into detail on the adventure itself here but definitely check it out on the Paizo store. I'm going to also spoiler most of this in case any "PCs" wander by. After reading through the adventure, I was really grabbed by its backstory. Also, I am in no way affiliated with Raging Swan. This is just something I came up with for fun.
** spoiler omitted **...
I really love this hook (and wish I'd thought of it myself). I think it links in really well with the story behind Dark Oak and also nicely foreshadows events in the module itself.
Curses!
Thanks! I was just riffing off what you guys wrote.
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Raging Swan Press
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Thanks! I was just riffing off what you guys wrote.
I've just made an announcement on my blog about Raging Swan looking for freelancers. You should check it out.
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I've just made an announcement on my blog about Raging Swan looking for freelancers. You should check it out.
Thanks! I was just riffing off what you guys wrote.
I can tell you Raging Swan is wonderful to work with!
Noted. Thanks! I do like wererats and bugbears and ogres aren't too bad. I've been mulling a cool take on Duergar as well since I think they have the potential to be really cool but they are currently underused and underdeveloped for what they are.
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Raging Swan Press
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Noted. Thanks! I do like wererats and bugbears and ogres aren't too bad. I've been mulling a cool take on Duergar as well since I think they have the potential to be really cool but they are currently underused and underdeveloped for what they are.
This year's schedule is full, but I'd be interested at looking at duergar for an early 2012 release.