From the Bullywug Gambit I've noticed a couple of issues with the Shadow Pearl and the "Savage" template.
First is a minor issue.
In the Bullywug gambit several areas have descriptions of deformed corpses supposedly deformed by the Savage Tide, yet when creatures take on the Savage Template they get the Death Throes (Su) ability, which means when they die they disolve into puddles of acidic goo leaving nothing but a skeleton and their gear. Hence no deformed corpse.
Second is a more major issue. The Savage Tide will probably effect about 2/3rds of the creatures in a 1 mile radius, including all animals (proved by the encounter with the Savage monkeys). In a one mile radius of the Karken Cove just how many animals, including birds, fish, lizards, snakes, are there? Thankfully it doesn't effect vermin or there would be countless savage rats.
Now each one of these creatures can transfer the savage plague with a bite. They can bite even as they die so the sparrow gets eaten by the sparrow hawk but not before it turns it stands a very good change of it turning it savage. It seems to me that it is quickly going to lead to a savage plague that will spread across the globe.
Isn't just the activation of one pearl miles from civilization a problem enough considering the easy of which the template is transferred and the number of possible carriers?
In the Bullywug gambit several areas have descriptions of deformed corpses supposedly deformed by the Savage Tide, yet when creatures take on the Savage Template they get the Death Throes (Su) ability, which means when they die they disolve into puddles of acidic goo leaving nothing but a skeleton and their gear. Hence no deformed corpse.
I originally had this question as well, but I wrote it off as those that had started incubating the disease, yet died before it went full effect.
I originally had this question as well, but I wrote it off as those that had started incubating the disease, yet died before it went full effect.
I was considering altering the save effect so if you failed by 10 the Savage Tide leads to a failed transformation and death, and a deformed corpse.
I believe James Jacobs stated in a thread on this board that the reference to the savage creature's corpses in BG was a mistake.
I had the same thought about the corpses when I ran it. But upon closer inspection, I realized the deformed corpses were victims of physical attacks by the plague-ridden, not victims of the plague.
Creative Director
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The fact that there are deformed corpses left in Bullywug Gambit is an error, an evolutionary remnant from a ponit where the savage creatures didn't dissolve upon death. There should be no deformed bodies for the PCs to gawk over in the adventure.
As for the Savage Tide itself, yes, it would indeed transform the majority of life in the region to monsters. That's why the PCs encounter savage monkeys first. But keep in mind also that it also makes the victims SUPER VIOLENT. Those they encoutner tend to get killed well before they succumb to the disease; a bitten victim has to survive the initial encounter in order to eventually transform into a savage creature; in the case of animals, it'll still take a day to take the Intelligence drain. That's a day for the animal to encounter other savage creatures and be killed. In most cases, an animal isn't going to survive its initial encounter with a savage creature, so you basically have the initial group of savage creatures slowly dying off because they're too insane and sick to function as normal creatures any more. Eventually, they'll turn on themselves and that'll be that: they don't have any real reason to expand out of the initial area. Regular activity (including migration and wide ranging wanderings) are overwritten by the savage code, which is to stay relitively stationary and kill anything that gets too close to you.
This happens in real life too, to an extent. One of the reasons ebola isn't as dangerous as it could be is that it kills its victims so quickly, they don't have time to spread the disease to others. Same thing at Kraken's Cove. That particular section of land is probably going to be messed up for a long time, and eventually it's possible that the sickness could spread out of the area, but for the most part it'll be self contained. Now, if a savage tide were to strike a densely populated area, you'd have a different situation entirely...
are overwritten by the savage code, which is to stay relitively stationary and kill anything that gets too close to you.
Ah that would make a difference, that and them turning on each other once other food sources are gone. That wasn't really made that clear from the Bullywug Gambit adventure, but it would help localise and limit the spread of the disease.