RotRL Obituaries


Rise of the Runelords

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Third time running this campaign, this time as AE. My first casualty has never come this quickly in this campaign!

Name: Haringroth aka. "Hagron"
Class/Level: Half-orc fighter 6
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Coup de graced by Justice Ironbriar @ 7 Sawmill
Story:
Heroes got themselves in their biggest fight yet, walking inside the sawmill pretending to be potential customers, demanding to see the whole building. After some sneak scouting, other PC saw Nualia and Tsuto at the top level of the mill. They were on their way out when they noticed that workers below a level and on the same level were trying to corner them. They tun to top level and got themselves fighting 10 cultists, Tsuto and Nualia.

When Nualia fell, Ironbriar joined in. After summoning the lemurs he casted hold person on Hagron and after others destroyed the lemur next to him, Ironbriar (still invisible) moved next to Hagron and slashed his throat, killing him outright.

After selling all the masks the cultists' had, they had enough money to raise Haringroth back to life.


Ironbriar´s invisibility should have ended after casting Hold Person, or it was a new casting before the coup de grace?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Name: Fo'ciss Da'carr
Class/Level: Human (Shoanti) Inquisitor of Abadar 9/Fighter 1/Rogue 1
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Hurek (or possibly Durek)

Story: As the Sandpoint Five Minus One Plus Two (it's been a weird few weeks) advanced down the halls of Jorgenfist towards the library, they noticed the holes in the walls behind the furs. Just as their druid started looking into one, one of the troll warriors stabbed at him with his ranseur. Their initial assault was brutal, dropping the druid and severely injuring Octavius, the party wizard. They dropped the one to the north, but Fo'ciss realized someone had to engage the one to the south. He rushed around the corner, and severely injured the troll. However, Durek (or possibly Hurek) was deadlier, tearing the inquisitor open with teeth and claws. He was barely dropped below negative Con after the second full round of attacks, so if I'd rolled slightly less on any of them, he'd still be alive.

Fortunately, Octavius was able to teleport back to Kaer Maga and see to it that Fo'ciss was raised from the dead. All in all, it only delayed things about half an hour of real time.


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I'm currently running my first game using pathfinder, and my first Dungeons and Dragons campaign that lasted more than a few sessions in over six or seven years. I think this is perhaps the third time I've killed a player character that I remember, two of those where while running a vampire mini-larp, so in many ways this a momentous occasion and I was surprised it took this long.

Name of PC: Somar
Class/Level: Lawful Neutral Fetchling Evoker 6
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Pride and a critical hit from Xanesha

Story:
Our party ranges between five and seven players depending on the week, and had been stomping their way through the chapters with some fairly excellent decisions (and me being too kind on hit points and accidentally giving too many attribute points), as well as some solid teamwork.
The party consists of:
Valmi, a Half-Drow Varisian Rogue (CN) who grew up on the streets of magnimar and has perhaps the saddest back-story in the party with aims of becoming a Pathfinder, she obviously ended up as Aldrens target and has been freaking out, especially when she saw him *alive* when sneaking around the manor.
Mardra, A Tiefling Ninja (LE) from Riddleport, who learned from an early age that killing was a good way to get money and caught the attention of a local gang boss who enjoys animating his dead enemies as zombie trophies, taught by the gangs enforcer "Shrike". She adventures primarily as a side from her day job of being an Assassin, as well as to keep her former gang of orphans fed and homed. The player mucked up their accent early on, and instead of speaking like a pirate came off as Irish, they kept on with this.
Aborgail, A Tiefling Cleric (CG) of Caden Caliean, also from Riddleport, who was sent away by her Chelaxian family so as not to embarrass them politically. She began as a clerk, but too up her husbands clerical mantle when he was murdered by street thugs. She takes it as her duty to redeem some of the more evil members of the party and keep the others sane.
Calandrel, An Elven Bloodrager (CG) from Kyonin with Celestial Bloodline, who grew up in the lap of luxury and decided to run away from home to adventure rather than be forced to marry a woman he didn't love.
Andronius, an Aasimar Summoner (NE) who grew up in Korvosa and was banished from his strict, suffocating and heavily Lawful/Good family for diverging from them morally. Andronius like the Rogue and Ninja fell in with the Sczarni, having made a bond with a Daemon he calls Hector (which looks like the horned demon in Heroes of Might and Magic V) who he summoned to give him motivation to never fail or die, otherwise it'll eat his soul. Hector is played as being surprisingly astute and loveable, kind of like a deeper voiced stitch or detritus, with the disturbing tendency to eat corpses and spend its idle time picking its nose. Andronius originally intended to form a criminal and drug dealing empire but after encounter Nualia decided to dedicate his fortunes to making an academy for planetouched children to give them more grounding and direction in life. Andronius is strangely loveable as an individual, serving as the face with impeccable dress since and is currently dating a Scarnetti.
Then we have Fane, an Ustlavic Human Fighter (LN), who spent his early life serving in a mercenary company after being banished from the local Earls guard for giving the mans son a well deserved kicking as a teen. Fane is the solid, sensible rock at the centre of the party who actually attempts to make people stick to tactics, infinitely frustrated by the bickering of his fellows as well as adding a sense of much normalcy. Fane has a particular hatred for anything that does strength or Constitution damage, lets just say the shadows in Thistletop left an impression.

And then there is Somar. The grounds loveable idiot savant Alchemist who retrained into a Wizard, Somar has only recently arrived from the plane of shadows and because of accidentally visiting the Nine Hells is terrified that he is doomed to go there despite all evidence to the contrary. Somar has little understanding for other peoples cultures, gets words mixed up, misunderstands simple statements, likes explosions more than is healthy for a man (he once carried five or six grenades on a bandoleer into the bank/Cathedral of Abadar and was surprised when they asked him to leave), has an addiction to drugs that will calm his nerves, despite being somewhere in the region of twenty speaks and acts like an old man. Somar is seeking immortality. It is theorised that Somar might be a little autistic and we love him for it.

In todays session after being stuck full of bolts at the Sevens Sawmill (the players bumped into the cultists coming out of the building, ruining both factions plans), capturing Ironbriar and handing four surviving cultists with him over to the authorities and earning support from the Order of the Nail to assist them in luring away and dealing with the Scarecrow the party proceeded into Xaneshas lair with limited threat buffed up to the gills. Xanesha ambushed them by cutting them off from the stairs, attacking Somar from behind with her first round. Luckily Mardra was hanging back and therefore cut off Xaneshas escape further down the stairs. After taking some impressive damage, Somar decided to close in beyond Xaneshas spear range and hit her with a vampiric touch, earning some wisdom drain (from his already painfully low wisdom of 8) in the process. He was then rapidly supported by the party, however, due to space limitations only so many of them could fight Xanesha at once.

Somar decided then facing the very real possibility of becoming a vegetable and sitting on 9 hp and 15 temporary hp, to tumble out of her reach and prepare to throw a spell, risking the wroth of her spear. With an impressive dexterity score and good acrobatics, he almost succeeded. But today luck was not on his side. Xanesha struck true with her attack of opportunity, and, proceeded to earn a critical threat dealing an impressive 49 damage to the frail fetchling. Impaling him straight through his already strained heart, the odd gangly man was no more.

This is when things got personal for the party. I have to say the character reactions where absolutely beautiful, Fane ever practical soldiered on with the aid of vengeful fury, Caladrel pressed the advantage unaware that Somar was dead and allowed Madra to strike the killing blow at which point Fane promptly hacked Xanesha to pieces (thats becoming a thing with him since The House). At this point Aborgail attempted to administer first aid to the fallen wizard, only to sadly announce that it was too late, this news was too much for the already strained Valmi, who broke and ran, blaming herself for his death believing that because she turned down the Nightscales offer of recruitment many years ago that Norgorber must have taken it personally, and seen to exacting vengeance through his servants.

Mardras comment "Well, dibs on his stuff" which earned a prompt backhand from the saddened elf. After assisting the hellknights with finishing off the flesh-golem, Fane gently wrapped Somar in his cloak and carried the broken wizard to the church of Abadar. This lead to some rather excellent roleplaying shifting between Somar in the afterlife believing himself in an illusion, then panicking as he journeyed to the boneyard, switching between the characters discussing matters with the attending priest and using speak with dead.
Valmi, in some excellent roleplaying, when she returned two days later after some drinking and sleepless nights, refused to believe Somar was alive, thinking it some kind of trick or another shapeshifter.
Somar is now paranoid that his body has been changed or replaced. He swears he didn't have that mole before.

All in all, an excellent session.


Name of PC: Waagh Naag
Class/Level: Half-orc Ranger 1/Titan Fighter 5
Adventure: The Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Love of a horse named Ox

The Story:
When the party first laid eyes on the half-orc, locked in a cold cell within Habe's Sanitorium, they realized he wasn't raving nor looney- not even loud and angry, only sad. His former companions, all of them Giant Slayers by trade, had been drugged by Habe and had been taken as horrid experimental guinea pigs in some bizarre ritualistic research. Now he awaited his turn to be tortured and eventually killed. The party was hesitant to release, him, but when they did, he was quick to exact his revenge on the inhabitants of Habe's Sanitarium, and without him they may not have made it out of that place alive. Thus Waagh proved himself an invaluable member of their troupe.

Sure, he drank too much and had no shame when it came to women, but in battle, no one else could down multiple foes in a single strike as blades of grass fall to the sickle. Perhaps it was his fearlessness and strength. Perhaps it was his magical great axe, taken from the cold hands of a fallen giant. Whatever his secret, it saved them from death at the hands of Justice Ironbriar and Xenesha both.

After Lord Mayor Grobaras hired the team of "Star Seekers" to check up on the Black Arrows at Fort Rannick, Waagh was most eager to allow his pack animals some much needed exercise. He loved those beasts. They made it to Sandpoint, reveling in the glory of their most recent adventures. Everything was free, all but the spot next to Ameiko in bed.

From Sandpoint to Wartle, along the well traversed Varisian caravan route through the Hinterlands. They traveled for a day, a cold snap brought along goosebumps. A short encounter with a traveling ranger warned of Trolls along the route. "Never ye worry, though. Me an' me sons have driven 'em off... Oh yer headed to Turtleback Ferry? Send word of the pleasure barge once ye've seen it. I've only heard good things."

"Pleasure barge? Speak no more! We haven't any time to lose!"

As their legs wore and night fell, they made camp in a well used area. A traditional Varisian camp. They tied up the horses, stoked the fire, and got an early night's rest; all but Waagh.

Before his eyes became too heavy, he heard something. Then saw something in a nearby copse of trees. "TROLLS!" He bellowed, waking the rest of them. The trolls pounced at the alarm, one going after Waagh, the other biting down hard on Ox, Waagh's beloved horse.

The party, unarmored and unprepared, took up weapons quickly against the trolls, fighting them with fire and sword. It was an uphill battle. As they concentrated efforts around Waagh, the other troll broke Ox' jaw and dragged it off into the cover of the trees.

Once the bullwark troll was slain, they lit the other with alchemists fire, sending him running off into the night a limp horse lying in his wake. Yet there were two more lurking, waiting for an opportunity to strike. They both lept at the half-orc, now badly injured and worried for his mount. "If the big one falls," they said, "the rest will crumble."

So they fought, toe to toe, blow for blow. The cleric healed, the bard sang, the dwarf fired bolt after bolt, the goblin cohort ran around waving a flaming stick, shrieking and laughing in the heat of excitement.

It was then that it happened; Waagh Naag rolled a one swung his axe too hard, too predictably. It rounded back and struck him in the side, cleaving him in two. He is no more.

*edit for grammar and punctuation


Demonknight wrote:
Ironbriar´s invisibility should have ended after casting Hold Person, or it was a new casting before the coup de grace?

Totally missed that part of the invisibility that targeting spells breaks it off. Well, you learn something new every day, even though I have been playing this game since 2009.

Thanks for pointing this out.


Blue_Hill wrote:
Demonknight wrote:
Ironbriar´s invisibility should have ended after casting Hold Person, or it was a new casting before the coup de grace?

Totally missed that part of the invisibility that targeting spells breaks it off. Well, you learn something new every day, even though I have been playing this game since 2009.

Thanks for pointing this out.

No problem, i returned to the screen after a hiatus of several years, and you wouldn´t believe what i forgot sometimes!


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Name: Jerak
Class/Level: Human rogue 6
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders/The Misgivings
Catalyst: Burning down the house

Story: So my party, in a completionist attempt decided to really investigate ALL the rooms and end the threat originating from this house once and for all.
Their thoroughness led them to trigger and experience ALL the haunts and I had three players affected by Vorel's phage, two by ghoul fever and all were suffering from paranoia concerning what else the house might have in store for them...
By the end of their forray they were running lowly-low on resources and the cleric was constantly complaining about how he really-really needed to rest. As they didn't find a way to defeat the carrion storms outside (or were too scared to try it in the shape they were in), they decided to rest inside the building--a GM's wet dream coming true!
Too bad all succeeded at their will save and nothing spectacular happened. In the morning they began discussing what "fueled" the house's malignity and came to the (right) conclusion that they spiral down in the room where they took down Aldern must be the source.
Since they found the +1 pick axe went for the mundane approach and began chopping away at the spiral. Well, Vorel didn't agree with that and the first party member to try (our h-o ranger) was affected by a dominate monster (I had them roll a d5 for the possible reactions written in that section of RotRL AE) which had him jumping down what others on these forums dubbed the toilet of doom outside Aldern's room. He survived and was pulled up again which prompted them to start the next attempt: fire! The inquisitor threw a bomb and was affected by confusion but was restrained quickly enough before he could cause much of it. And on the went: this time the rogue stepping forward. He went for the pick axe again, only to be affected by phantasmal killer. He failed both saves and died on the spot.
The good folks of Sandpoint had him raised two days later and he is now very much indebted to the church of Desna.

Ruyan.

Liberty's Edge

Rannick was a complete screwup for my players. They made it, but took quite a few casualties in the process.

Name: Aramis
Class/Level: Warpriest/8
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre/Retaking Rannick
Catalyst: Jaagrath Kreeg

Story: Aramis and our Ranger took the route to the dungeons, whereupon he was immediately charmed by Lucretia. She ran, our Ranger ran, Aramis followed. Meanwhile, EVERYBODY else was doing a frontal assault (and handling the ogres rather successfully). Deciding to play Jaagrath as a bit smarter, I had him storm out into the courtyard alongside Hookmaw and Silas (whom I considered the most iconic of the bunch). Aramis engaged in melee with Jaagrath (after shaking off the Charm), and ended up eating a crit from his Hook, bringing him down to about -50.

Since my players were quite taken with Razmus, the player will be playing as him next session.

Name: Kyros La'Deun
Class/Level: Wizard/5 Fighter/1 EK/2
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre/Retaking Rannick
Catalyst: Jaagrath

Story: Kyros attempted to save Aramis' life, and ate an attack of opportunity, followed by Jaagrath's second attack. Upon learning that Jaagrath had Power Attack, I used it against him. Kyros died. As he was a backup PC (we started out with only three players), I'd been looking for a way to get rid of him, and this worked as well as any other method.

Name: Vale Temros
Class/Level: Whatever the heck Vale was.
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre/Retaking Rannick
Catalyst: Jaagrath some more.

Story: After being brought into the negatives, our Cleric channeled and brought Vale of to 15. Reading that Vale had little concern for his own safety, I had him charge Jaagrath. You can guess how that turned out.

Name: Orik Vancaskerkin
Class/Level: Fighter/7 (Aramis' cohort)
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre/Retaking Rannick
Catalyst: Jaagrath again.

Story: Orik took a beating from Jaagrath and Hookmaw, and subsequently retreated. After finishing off Aramis, Kyros, and Vale, Jaagrath killed our lovable down-on-his-luck mercenary with a perpetually shifting accent.

Kaven also died via trampling.


I'm sure that Kaven deserved it! :)

Liberty's Edge

Yeah. They figured him as the shifty one, so they stuck him with the large assault group.

Grand Lodge

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Name(s): Obidiah Blackwood, Doyle Henshaw
Class/Level: Universalist Wizard 17, Alchemist (Grenadier) 17
Adventure: Spires of Xin Shalast
Catalyst: Karzoug, the Claimer (Wail of the Banshee)

Story:
So I suppose this can effectively be my 'Hey My Group Finished' post. I guess it's fitting that it's in the obituary thread. I did kill a large number of characters (whether through people having to use their hero points or just outright).

The group was deep in the throes of the fight with big K. I had used an alternate version of the fight hinted at by Mark Seifter in his 'Ask Me' thread and had at this point done considerable damage to the party.

I severely nerfed the fighter/cavalier by mazing her griffon mount and thoroughly infuriated the group by having Karzoug bounce from set piece to set piece using magic jar and project image (scroll).

In the end they had gained control of one of the Storm Giants, killed the Rune Giant, and were fighting off the last Storm Giant as they surrounded Karzoug, his back up against a wall of force. In one more round they were set to win and I wanted to go out with a bang.

The result of the Wail wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be. Killing Obidiah (again) and Doyle's twin form duplicate were undoubtedly less than fun for the wizard's player.

In the end of course, the fighter/cavalier destroyed the ancient wizard ending the campaign.

The group let the sole remaining storm giant live giving me a good excuse to tell them that he had been the main villain of Giantslayer, which I'm running for another group.

Now we are moving on to Skull and Shackles and I get to go haunt their obituaries thread.

Till we meet again RotRL.


Name of PC: Valeria Vanessa Valdemar
Class/Level: Swashbuckler/7
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha

Story::
On top of the Clocktower, everyone was focused on the illusionarry critter flying down from above when Xanesha appeared and stabbed our poor flatfooted hero in the back, then she won initiative and stabbed her three more times for good measure. Chose not to be resurrected and came back as her own cousin.

Name of PC: Bear
Class/Level: Bear Druid/8
Adventure: Interlude between Skinsaw and Hook Mountain. Played the Waking Rune
Catalyst: The Runelord

Story::
Not much to it. They had done decently well up until this point, but once the fight in the final chamber began it bogged down. They did not manage to kill everyone before he arrived. One of his first moves was horrid wilting. Poor Bear wound up as a shriveled husk of fur. Also chose not to be resurrected as Bear was at home with his new land filled with honey.

Name of PC: Fernus Stonecall
Class/Level: Sorcerer 6/Arcane Savant 2
Adventure:
Catalyst:

Story::
Not much to it. They had done decently well up until this point, but once the fight in the final chamber began it bogged down. They did not manage to kill everyone before he arrived. One of his first moves was horrid wilting. Poor Fernus, like Bear above wound up a withered husk on the ground. Unlike Bear he chose to come back and finish what he had started.

Grand Lodge

Name of PC: Prancing Rabbit
Class/Level: Human Barbarian 9th
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre – Grazuul’s Domain
Catalyst: Grazuul
Story: (Back Story) The party took a little side quest in search of some Dwarven Plate Mail. They tracked down a dwarf with a suit that went in to a frost giant shrine and never returned. While exploring the shrine they found an alter to Kostchtchie. Prancing Rabbit decided that desecrating the alter would be a good idea. Unfortunately it was a special alter in which frost giants make offerings to Kostchtchie and receive boons. Kostchtchie was watching. Prancing Rabbit gained the enmity of Kostchtchie.

I had made Grazuul a little tougher as the party is more than capable of hitting way above their weight class. I also added a couple more scrags to the room.

The party had dispatched everything in the upper part of Skulls Crossing easily and descended the stairs. In the Grazuul’s Domain they entered into combat with the two scrags. Prancing Rabbit proved formidable (dispatching a scrag easily) and Grazuul and the remaining scrag tag teamed him. Grazuul hit Prancing Rabbit with a devastating power attack/vital strike/improved vital strike for some immense damage as the other scrag did some more with two claw attacks that hit followed by a rend. As the battle continued the cleric was unable to keep Prancing Rabbit healed. Prancing rabbit went down and the cleric healed him to consciousness again. Grazuul, decided to end him and struck with his attacks, killing Rabbit, driving him into the negatives so far the cleric was unable to save him with breath of life spell.

Enter Kostchtchie who has been keeping an eye on Prancing Rabbit, snatched his soul away. The party was unable to reach Prancing Rabbit to raise him. Kostchtchie is enjoying his new slave.


Name of PC: Thomar (again)
Class/Level: Cleric 13
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst: Arkrhyst, a.k.a. Freezemaw
Story: Poor Thomar met his end once again, this time at the hands of Arkrhyst. Not much to this story -- Arkrhyst is nasty out in the open air. He used his invisibility to get close enough to use his Blizzard SLA, killing visibility, then on the next round he swooped in and grabbed Thomar. While the other PCs struggled to spot Arkrhyst through the blizzard, he happily chomped away on Thomar. While Thomar struggled in the jaws of the dragon, he put up a bit of a fight even using his channel energy to stave off death for a bit longer, but ultimately died when Arkrhyst dropped him onto the sharp, craggy rocks of Rimeskull. Poor Thomar can't catch a break.

Silver Crusade

Name of PC: Relyn
Class/Level: Flame Oracle 13
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Mokmurian
Story: Mokmurian is smart enough to target the healer early and often once he knows who that is. All it took was a single Disintegrate spell to take Relyn from full HP to dust.

So am I a "soft" GM for only having 2 PC deaths so far, this late in the adventure path? I actually had two other opportunities to kill PCs, but I let them survive by intentionally using weak monster tactics instead of going for the killing blow. In both cases the weaker tactics could be justified given the situations, but the more ruthless tactics made slightly more sense and are probably what I should have done.


Name of PC: Malak
Class/Level: Sorcerer (Celestial) 4
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Nualia
Story: Although Malak sacrificed himself to save the party from Nualia, no one was really sad about it. Malak was an a$%#+#@ who needed to die. End of story.


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Fromper wrote:

Name of PC: Relyn

Class/Level: Flame Oracle 13
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Mokmurian
Story: Mokmurian is smart enough to target the healer early and often once he knows who that is. All it took was a single Disintegrate spell to take Relyn from full HP to dust.

So am I a "soft" GM for only having 2 PC deaths so far, this late in the adventure path? I actually had two other opportunities to kill PCs, but I let them survive by intentionally using weak monster tactics instead of going for the killing blow. In both cases the weaker tactics could be justified given the situations, but the more ruthless tactics made slightly more sense and are probably what I should have done.

Ruthless tactics with superior (optimized) foes would mean a TPK almost in every encounter, specially if you tweak the NPCs. So I don't think you are weak, any GM who wants the campaign to end needs to do this in a way or another. I wouldn't save PCs doing stupid or unnatural things, but not using the strongest option available is a good idea. As an example, in this campaign: Big K. himself could use a quickened Limited Wish to give -7 to saves to someone, then Wishport everybody to the sun, winning the combat nearly instantly. That would make "sense" in a combat simulator, but not in an RPG, where the goal is to build a cinematic fight who looks good and everybody have fun with, not to construct a simulation of how a real fight between a group of heroes and a Runelord would work. That's why Karzaug use his Wishes for other things, that aren't so brutally effective, but make for more interesting fights.

Yesterday my players went to a fight in Magnimar (Golemwork incident adaptation), and the high level wizard there used things like Black Tentacles, stinking clouds, ray of enfeeblements, cloud kills, walls, etc. It was a 2h long fight, with lots of interaction with the scenary (an alchemist Lab with acid sprinkling tubes, tesla-like voltaic arcs, and a flesh golem trying to free himself). I could have made that wizard the typical Evocation wizard with empowered intensified maximized fireballs and whatever, and do 150 hp per round vs my lvl 7 PCs, ensuring a TPK whatever the saves are. But that's not fun. A fight vs a wizard in a wow-like enviroment, with lot of moving stuff, acid pools, nauseating clouds, rimed icestorms, black tentacles, etc, IS fun.
/thread derailing off


Name: Haringroth aka. "Hagron"
Class/Level: Half-orc fighter 13
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Disintegrated by Mokmurian
Story:
So my PCs faced Mokmurian in a epic fight in his quarters and managed to corner him. Mokmurian dimension doored away and PCs followed him, guessing that he was heading to (now dead) lamias. Final battle took place at the crossroads at the northern end of the first level of Jorgenfist dungeons. Hagron charged the giant but only managed to make him more angry and in his rage Mokmurian unleashed the power of disintegrate on Hagron.

Hagron had about 50-50 chance to make the save but he failed. Then I rolled d6s' like a champion and Hagron turned to dust. Other heroes managed to save the day and even bring their friend back to life.


Name of PCs: Idril and Dagmar
Class/Level: Witch 11 and Oracle 11
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: suicidal Fireball attack from Enga the Kobold.
Story: After easily defeating the Redcaps in their catacombe home the party headed towards the tunnel into the fortress- overconfident and utterly unbuffed. Arcane Trickster found the exit gate trapped, and just managed to disarm the ceiling-collapse trap, intended to keep over-inquisitive Redcaps at bay.

Alerting Enga by then shoving open the rusty, squeaky iron gate, she charged at the party. Barbarian met her charge and Sorcerer webbed her retreat. Arcane Trickster made a perception check to see the Necklace of Fireballs but failed the spellcraft check to know what it was, and Sorceror Arcane Sight-ed a conjuration aura from her.

All melee joined and then the witch for reasons known only to herself cast Sleet Storm "I wanted to do A Thing!". Bless her. The Barbarian, Arcane Trickster and Oracle would have taken Enga down in one round but kept missing due to concealment.

Knowing she was eventually going to be toast, Enga decided to go out with a bang. She was no coward and Mokmurian might bring her back. The Sorcerer and Trickster made their spellcraft checks and realised too late what she was doing. The Sorcerer's Dispell failed and ka-boom- 145 damage. Witch took half and Oracle took full, the others made their saves or were too far away (Sorcerer).

The site is about to turn into CSI Jorgenfist with the alerted giants coming to investigate. Sorceror teleported the survivors and sooty remains to Magnimar, leaving behind hard evidence- armour, weapons, etc, of their incursion.

The witch's familiar is pawing at the alter while the Abadarian Clerics attempt to bring them back. The dead's souls are currently feeling the tug and have to decide whether they want to return or not.


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I have to say "Enga the Suicide Bomber" is an incredibly popular choice. (Did it my game, too, when the party had her surrounded and tanglefoot-bombed to the floor.)


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Name of PC: Rag'zor
Class/Level: Half-Orc, Barbarian 4
Adventure: Burnt Offerings, Thistletop
Catalyst: Yeth-Hounds
Story: So Rag'zor was the PC that seeks for a fight in every situation possible. He basically killed everything incredibly fast in the earlier adventure, Goblins, Brutazhmus, Gogmurt, everything went down with ease due to the heavy hits of Rag'zor. This time, though, the party encountered the 2 Yeth-Hounds in the cathedral in Thistletop. Standing in the door as the tank, Rag'zor first failed his Save against the Bay-Attack of the first hounds. He tried to escape as he was panicked, got no chance though. The second hound bit him, scored a hit, AND Rag'zor failed this Save again!
While the rest of the party tried to save him the Yeth-Hounds bit him every single round and every time, Ragzor failed his save. So basically the fearsome Ragzor was a little puppy on the ground getting eaten by Hellhounds.

Name of PC: Sam
Class/Level: Human, Rogue 4
Adventure: Burnt Offerings, Thistletop
Catalyst: Nualia
Story: The party was in a fight with Nualia and Lyrie, they killed Lyrie fast, but then, suddenly, Sam died. Nualia did hit him with her sword and he was just dead, out of nowhere, nobody really expected it, so nothing epic here. Pretty sad, Sam was a cool character.

Name of PC: Ezerios
Class/Level: Half-Elf, Ranger 6
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Aldern Foxglove
Story: I have to say at first, that the party I GM for is not even close to be Minmaxed or something. They are pretty weak actually since this is the first adventure they play in a PnP. Ezerios (hard to pronounce for you i guess, we are german) though was really good. He was a Ranger fighting with his bow and while he wasn't the best in Burnt Offerings, he was the star in Skinsaw Murders.
He was the victim of Alderns obsession, he was the one with the most hitpoints, the one with the highest Attackbonus, the one with the highest damage, the one who f**ked Shayliss, he was huge.
The fight against Aldern really was an epic clash still. I didn't use the goblin ghast because I thought that would be too hard for my party. So Aldern was the only enemy. It was a big fight though, he charged Ezerios, he did hit him with a big crit. Ezerios tried to flee, he just ran out of the room with his Retreat action and got onto the slippery... circle above the water. Aldern chased him, only one of the AoO came through, not hurting him too much. The chase ended with Aldern and Ezerios falling into the water (miserable Acrobatic throws while trying to run over the slippery circlethingy). The rest of the party, almost killed Aldern in the water (9 HP), still, Aldern killed Ezerios in a big epic Grapple fight underwater (dont remember it exactly, but it was definetly underwater). Then Aldern dived down and was never seen again (party didnt chase him, they thought it was suicide - they didnt know that he could breathe underwater (he can, right?)).

Sorry for the english, Im german :D


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Ezerios' demise sounds epic indeed!

And it's not so much that AF can breathe underwater, but more that he doesn't need to breathe at all (being undead). So yeah, it sounds like he got away after killing the target of his obsession. Any plans for him later? :)


Hm, I don't know yet. They are currently in Magnimar, visited the Townhouse and did some random political stuff.

I dont know if it would be too logical for Aldern to return to Xanesha, would it? He kinda failed his mission, AND he got caught. Right now, I am curious how Aldern would react to this.
He could infiltrate Sandpoint continuing with the murders, or he could remain a pawn of Ironbriar/Xanesha or he could do something completly different, since his target of obsession is dead. Hr... Dont know.


Daniel Kre wrote:

Hm, I don't know yet. They are currently in Magnimar, visited the Townhouse and did some random political stuff.

I dont know if it would be too logical for Aldern to return to Xanesha, would it? He kinda failed his mission, AND he got caught. Right now, I am curious how Aldern would react to this.
He could infiltrate Sandpoint continuing with the murders, or he could remain a pawn of Ironbriar/Xanesha or he could do something completly different, since his target of obsession is dead. Hr... Dont know.

Spoiler:

Aldern didn't really have a mission other than to sacrifice greedy people for Karzoug's rising. And the pc's didn't stop it, they merely interrupted it. So in my view, he keeps doing it. The AP indicates that Aldern will eventually become the Skinsaw Man (AE p. 106). This seems as good a time as any. And Xanesha's letter is clear direction. He keeps sacrificing victims from the list he's memorized. So he might continue to kill residents of Sandpoint while the pc's are away. Or if he's run out of targets he returns to Xanesha for more. Either way he continues to be Xanesha's pawn. His obsession was merely a sidebar to his real or primary goals.


Oh yeah, fine, I will do something cool with it. ^.^


My first two dead PCs in the whole campaign...

Name of PC: Norkain
Class/Level: Dwarven Fighter 6/Priest 1
Adventure: Hook Mointain Massacre
Catalyst: Lamatar Bayden

The already injured dwarf tried to take advantage of his Darkvision to close up to Lamatar (an invisbly scouting gnome sorcerer saw him earlier), but Lamatars monstrously high initiative saw to the dwarf taking a full round of attacks while flat-footed, including one critical hit. The dwarf was dead almost before he knew what hit him.

Name of PC: Dragni
Class/Level: Gnome Sorcerer 7
Adventure: Hook Maintain Massacre
Catalyst: Black Magga

The party saw Black Magga rise from the flood and confronted her. The gnome flew up in the air, and when several party members either fled or went temporarily insane, he was a target for her physical attack. Basically, she flung him into the next building, and he dropped down dead.

Both characters were reincarnated by the three hags from Hook Mountain, whom the party visited last in exploring the caves. The three reasoned that they were severly outclassed, and with Barl and Lucrecia both dead already, they saw no reason to fight the PCs, instead hiding themselves in illusions and offering their services in exchange for their lives.

My party visited hook mountain immediately after attacking Rannick, so I had the order changed.

The dwarf came back as a lizard man, and the gnome as a half-orc. Well, I guess in Magnimar that can be corrected again.


Name of NPC: Johan Ma'Cloud
Class/Level: Unbreakable Fighter 11 level
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors - Iron Cages of Lust
Catalyst: His fate.
Story: Party is in runeforge now. Went today to see what's in lust wing. Of course, the 24 charisma summoner is chosen by Delhvaine to spend some time with her. He tries to weasel his way out, but poor choice of words almost gets him tied on the bed and raped by succubus. Escapes by transposition with his eidolon (who is then summoned away from succubus because she manages to pin him). Therefore, the battle begins. First time Johan dies from constant attacks by two flanking alu-demons. Second time he is killed again by them. Third time in retaliation from confused magus cohort, Shalelu, who he hit while being confused himself. Forth, and last time for today session, he was killed by Delhvaine. She dominated him and sucked his life with vampiric touch.
Four deaths in row in one session. He died more times today than in all previous games. All four times is saved using Tenacious Survivior Feat and healing from his witch-buddy.

Other death worth mentioning - Shalelu. Two times. First in Fort Rannick, while leading NPC party (black arrows survivors) she was chopped in half by ogre leader. Reincarnated back as vanara. Second time - was snatched by Freezmaw and crushed to death in his mouth. This time she got resurrection.


Corrected by player - Shalelu died 3 times. Between Rannick and Freezmaw she was killed by a mammoth in Jorgenfist. Got reincarnation then, and now is kitsune.


Name of NPC: Yolanda
Class/Level: Witch 13/Rogue 1
Adventure: Spires of Xin Xalast
Catalyst: Really bad timing...just, the worst
Story: After the party had just trekked up the mountain to retrieve the bones of the dead dwarf's dead brother, the party found the body in the snow and approached cautiously. A sudden roar caught everyone off guard and Yolanda panics, using her ability to fly at will to flee - taking a blast of cold from some nearby mist as she leaves. After being ambushed by and killing off a ghost, a huge Ice Wurm stalks out of the mist and engages the party. Rook (party cleric) casts buffs and gets in position to attack while the party engages. Yolanda finally recovers from her fear and teleports back.

Yolanda manages to identify the beast with a knowledge check, and learns that it explodes when defeated. But she can't act until her next turn. No problem right? The party has barely scratched this thing. Rook winds up with his Dwarven Longaxe and crits the Wurm Twice and lands another solid blow just for good measure (dealing over 250 damage). The dragon explodes, catching Yolanda who fails her save and dies immediately (and is then saved by the Cleric who has Breath of Life written in ink on his spellsheet because this keeps happening).


Stebehil wrote:

My first two dead PCs in the whole campaign...

Name of PC: Norkain
Class/Level: Dwarven Fighter 6/Priest 1
Adventure: Hook Mointain Massacre
Catalyst: Lamatar Bayden

Name of PC: Dragni
Class/Level: Gnome Sorcerer 7
Adventure: Hook Maintain Massacre
Catalyst: Black Magga

My party visited hook mountain immediately after attacking Rannick, so I had the order changed.

Even so, they seem a bit ... under-level for that part of the AP. Shouldn't they be at least L 9 after re-taking Fort Rannick?


Name: Haringroth aka. "Hagron"
Class/Level: Half-orc fighter 14
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst: Twice: phantasmal killer and Azaven's touch
Story: Bad luck and more bad luck

*Sigh*, I can't keep Hagron alive even if I try! He failed his Will and Fort save against Vraxeri's phantasmal killer against all odds and died . I let him to come back to life with heal scroll the party had after they retreated because of this death.

Against Azaven he took finger of death to face and barely survived and got some healing. He tried to retreat but Azaven managed to touch him with his AoO and made enough damage to kill him again.. And again heal scroll brought him back (as if it had breath of life-kind of function).

Party has no real healer or anyone who can cast raise dead so to keep game interesting, I had to let some rules slip by but I still count these as deaths.


Bellona wrote:
Stebehil wrote:

My first two dead PCs in the whole campaign...

Name of PC: Norkain
Class/Level: Dwarven Fighter 6/Priest 1
Adventure: Hook Mointain Massacre
Catalyst: Lamatar Bayden

Name of PC: Dragni
Class/Level: Gnome Sorcerer 7
Adventure: Hook Maintain Massacre
Catalyst: Black Magga

My party visited hook mountain immediately after attacking Rannick, so I had the order changed.

Even so, they seem a bit ... under-level for that part of the AP. Shouldn't they be at least L 9 after re-taking Fort Rannick?

Well, I have 5 to 6 PCs and most of the PCs have really good attributes, as we rolled dice at character creation. One of the rolled PC would be a 48-point buy... So far, they steamrolled more or less through chapter 1 and 2, getting into trouble in chapter 3 - slightly. Retaking Rannick was one long fight, albeit with the support of the Black Arrows and Shalelu, but still. So far, it worked out pretty nicely with lower levels. I have to watch out for the Sandpoint Siege, and think of advancing them one level now, and one in between, or early after the fight starts. I guess the siege with level 8 only might be too tough, even for them.


Name: Dunbor
Race: Human
Class/ Level: Gunslinger (Siege Gunner) 2
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Waiting in the Chapel of Lamashtu all night before clearing out the dungeon.

The Gory Details:

The party had made a beeline to the chapel of Lamashtu and the Minor Runewell in the catacombs of Wrath, They cleared out all of the sinspawn but couldn't deal with the Erylium before she disappeared from their sight. After she left, they turned their attention to the Runewell and spent their time trying to destroy it after the monk had pieced together what the artifact could do. They sent the Warpriest in to indulge himself in a few rage fits before he finally used up all the points and then got a few buckets of holy water from the surface to have the kineticist boil for the next 24 hours.

Of course in this time, they kept themselves barricaded in the the small chapel to rest for the night only to be greeted in the morning by Erylium, 11 Zombies, Koruvus, and 2 Sinspawn pounding on the door. After a few rounds of the attackers trying to knock down the door. the door finally came open and the chapel broke out into all out chaos.

Given that no one among them had a slashing weapon, and the kineticist constantly being under threat of death by zombie and mutant goblin alike. The fight was looking very bad for everyone. Eventually the zombies began to surround the party nearly boxing them into the room. Most of them managed to escape, A particularly powerful full attack and following coup de grace, proved deadly to the gunslinger Dunbor and the party was forced to leave without him.

The party decided not to go back down there instead continuing onto Thistletop instead of heading back. Erylium fled the complex and will be meeting them at Thistletop though her zombies and sinspawn won't be following her. Dunbor has been replaced by Nariin the Nagaji Two-Hand Fighter.

Silver Crusade

Fromper wrote:

Name of PC: Relyn

Class/Level: Flame Oracle 13
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Mokmurian
Story: Mokmurian is smart enough to target the healer early and often once he knows who that is. All it took was a single Disintegrate spell to take Relyn from full HP to dust.

So am I a "soft" GM for only having 2 PC deaths so far, this late in the adventure path? I actually had two other opportunities to kill PCs, but I let them survive by intentionally using weak monster tactics instead of going for the killing blow. In both cases the weaker tactics could be justified given the situations, but the more ruthless tactics made slightly more sense and are probably what I should have done.

So funny story... Relyn started out as human. Since all they had left was dust, he didn't qualify for Raise Dead, but they did have Mokmurian's scroll of Limited Wish. So they used that to copy a Reincarnate spell.

He came back as a halfling, who looks like the old Relyn, but much shorter, and with hairier feet. And for a casting focused oracle, boosting dex while losing str doesn't hurt, so he actually came out pretty good on that deal.


I have (usually) five PCs (the cleric was missing this evening), with around 30 point-buy (we roll stats) so I used the improved versions for the cultist which can be found here in the forums, added two, and I made the boss an inquisitor.

Name: Grunsh
Class/Level: Ranger 7

Name: Trisdan
Class/Level: Cleric of Sarenrae 7

Name: Hypheliax
Class/Level: Inquisitor of Asmodeus 7

Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: An inquisitor at the 7's Sawmill

The fight took us three sessions to complete; here are
The gory details:Their first attempt to enter the sawmill on Kyver's Islet disguised as customers failed, so the group came back during the night. While exploring the loading bay, they were surprised by two "mill workers" hauling an unconscious third person between them back to the mill (a drunk gambler abducted for sacrifice). The "mill workers" questioned the PCs why they broke into the mill and accused them of trespassing, threatening to call the city watch/militia. A fight ensued with one "mill worker" escaping by jumping into the river; he was later killed in a dirty street fight (NPC rogue 4 vs PC rogue 7 is just not fair *sniff*).
The other "mill worker" called for help and fled. The PCs advanced cautiously, fearing encountering the giant which must lair here!
They sneaked upstairs and found the robes of the cultists and gathered enough information to estimate that around ten to twelve people were present.
The next wave of "mill workers" arrived which were killed, too, but not before calling for further reinforcements. Having bested the second floor, I decided to have the remaining enemies don their robes and masks.
Next, they heard a fight break out on the top floor and a man bruised, cut and in dishevelled clothing tumbled down the stairs frantically shouting for help. When the PC rogue tried to bind/grapple him, he got all panicky and tried to escape, finally succeeding when jumping down the inner shaft next to the staircase (what a dextrous commoner!).

They finally arrived at the top floor and encountered the cult leader (invisible), and three more cultists (one hidden via stealth).
The cult leader joined the fight by casting summon monster I (3 lemures--boy, do these devils suck) and moving into a flanking position. The lemures and other cultists were dispatched again rather quickly and only the leader remained. Using most of his abilities (I forgot his prayer and the +1 profane bonus to damage from his mask the whole fight) he began wracking havoc. Two rounds later with two confusions affecting the fighter and the ranger the odds turned against the group of PCs. First to go down was the rogue (later healed by the PC inquisitor, followed by the ranger which was critted beyond double constitution by the confused fighter, who later also killed the cleric. Meanwhile the cult leader healed himself up again and killed the PC inquisitor before leaving but not before setting the place on fire.

The fighter is eaten away by remorse and self-doubt (which will trigger his dip into cleric next time they level up).
The rogue is just happy he made it this time out alive (and is still in debts to the church of Desna for resurrecting him the last time).

We will have some downtime and continue the AP.

Ruyan.


Name of PC (ish): Savah Bevaniky
Class/Level: Fighter/Rogue 5
Adventure: Fortress of the stone giants
Catalyst: Going toe to toe with a dire bear

First off, for the Sandpoint Raid I handed out leveled up NPCs for the party to play, and they planned tactics etc based on what they had. 10 rounds into the raid, and this is the first dead NPC "hero".

Savah was made as a crossbow specialist who managed to draw one of the bears away from the group, but then did a full round attack and did not move, getting full attacked into unconciousness and then grappled by a dire bear.


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This wasn't a PC death, but it was so epic I'm going to put it here anyway.

Name of NPC: Longtooth
Class/Level: Male juvenile red dragon
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Glitterdust

The details:

Spoiler:
My PCs had acquired some hippogriff mounts during an interlude between books 3 and 4, and had also managed to uncover some intelligence alerting them to the upcoming assault on Sandpoint. They rushed to Sandpoint and set up defenses. Among these, the party bard asked if she could use Inspire Courage on the whole town by playing the bells in the cathedral tower. I thought that was awesome, so I said yes.

When Longtooth made his appearance, he naturally noticed the bells clanging, and decided to deviate from his scripted plan of attack and assault the cathedral bell tower first. He flew towards it, flaming and roasting the bard pretty well; he ended his turn in mid-air with the bell tower at the edge of his breath weapon's reach.

The bard baled out of the far side of the tower using Feather Fall -- and then the party's arcane trickster vaulted onto her hippogriff, used its motion to get into range of the dragon from behind it, and cast: Glitterdust.

"Okay, fine," I thought. "So we'll have a shiny red dragon."

Then he rolled a nat 1 on his Will save to avoid blindness.

Blinded, confused, Longtooth kept flying in the same direction he had been, and crashed straight through the bell tower. It crumbled around him with a clangor of falling bells. On the far side he failed a Fly check to remain aloft, fell, and plowed a furrow in the cathedral grounds. The 6d6 of falling damage didn't kill him; nor did the extra 1d6 for debris raining down on him. He even survived two hits from the bard's holy flaming shortbow (Batman!).

When the arcane trickster flew her hippogriff in and hit him with an acid arrow, he would have been fine too -- if he'd been able to see. But he was still blind, flat-footed, and the sneak attack dice did for him.

So in the end, really, it was Glitterdust that killed him. The bard and the arcane trickster high-fived each other and later had leather hot-pants made out of his skin.


Name of PC (ish): Hannah Velerin
Class/Level: Cleric 5
Adventure: Fortress of the stone giants
Catalyst:
Another of the villagers stated up to assist in the fight, Hannah held the south bridge for several rounds before falling just as reinforcements arrived.


Name of PC (ish): Daverin Hosk
Class/Level: Ranger 5
Adventure: Fortress of the stone giants
Catalyst: Friendly Fire

Daverin had charged back to the south bridge to engage the giants, arriving just in time to see Hannah be shoved into a sack. After going a few rounds toe to toe with a stone giant, he is eventually knocked off his mount and shoved into a sack.

A couple rounds later the party Magus came by and lobbed a fireball at the giants, killing both Daverin and Hannah.

Name of PC: Gronad
Class/Level: Dwarf Barbarian 2/Oracle 7
Adventure: Fortress of the stone giants
Catalyst: Teraktanus
Technically not a kill, but could have been,
As the dwarf charged the giant, he got caught deep by a pick. He goes toe to toe for a couple rounds, using up his story rerolls to dodge a few near death hits, ending up unconcious before his allies managed to take down Big T.


Name of PC: "Captain" Sargon
Class/Level: Rogue (Pirate Archetype) 7
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha

Name of PC: Ogrimm
Class/Level: Fighter 7
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha and then a tree

Name of PC: Jojo
Class/Level: Monk 7
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha

Name of PC: Jálos
Class/Level: Wizard 6/Summoner 1
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha

Story:

will edit it later. It was a TPK against Xanesha (modified AE).


Name of PC: Feivel
Class/Level: Samsaran Witch 13 lvl
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors - Halls of Wrath.
Catalyst: Barrage of fireballs.
Story: And again, a long story. I decided to cut away the whole Festering Maze and channel its exp in Halls of Wrath denizens. Festering Maze for me in AE had a filler touch and my players aren't the biggest fans of "dungeon cleaning" stuff. In addition, Halls of Wrath, by my opinion, where missing the whole "we have a big army here" thing. With exp from sloth wing it had been fixed, now there were 31 sinspawns and 31 warriors of wrath.
After fight in Iron Cages, Delvaine escaped via teleport to pride wing and prepared its denizens against PCs. In short, they made her run again, but she took Vraxerises head in faint hope to trade its secrets and knowledge (about other uses of Master Teleportation Circle) for entrance in Halls of Wrath. Some of players were annoyed that I did not leave her for last stand with PCs, but why should she stay when there is hope, in her mind, to survive? So Delvaine was granted entrance (with condition that if she lied, she will die). She also informed (with her point of view) Atroxis about PCs. The latter posted at the entrance 15 sinspawns and 15 warriors of wrath with orders to stop intruders, but only if they would try to infiltrate the wing further. No "Attack at will". I didn't want to leave players with only the option of storming the place - some room for diplomacy was left. Moreover, they knew via divinations and other info that halls of wrath are dangerous. Way more dangerous than others.
But what do they do? Of course, take the hard way! They don't even think about trying somehow to deliver ultimatum "Give us succubus or will massacre you!" or other message. They just teleport at a corner of the room with teleportation rings behind Iron Archer. When there are 15 warriors of wrath on irregular patrol from golem to the rings. Being a band of 13 level characters, with cohorts and summons, they, of course, manage to kill the guards in two rounds. While having been bombarded by fireballs (in total of 9 each round) and loosing half of the party. Only summoner had the idea to cast on himself immunity from fire. Others, even knowing what school represents wrath, and having assumptions about spells that are going be cast against them, didn't bother themselves with such thing.
Therefore, witch went down from first barrage of fireballs.

Name of NPC: Johan Ma'Cloud
Class/Level: Unbreakable human-Fighter 11 level
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors - Halls of Wrath
Catalyst: Fireballs!
Story: He died after the second barrage. However, he was brought back after party killed all warriors of wrath. It did not help him much though. He was burned by fireballs to death again, only one round after, when reinforcement came from teleportation circle (party wasted 3 rounds to get people resurrected/healed instead of retreating).
But hey, Johan is resurrected back!

Name of NPC: Nelevetu Voan
Class/Level: Polearm Master dwarf-Fighter 11 level
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors - Halls of Wrath
Catalyst: More Fireballs!
Story: He died as Johan, after second wave of fireballs. Before that, he was killed in Cages of Lust, and his soul trapped for one hour, to get him reincarnated and free to wander beyond that wing of Runeforge.


Name of NPC: Sapphire
Class/Level: Aasimar - Paladin of Iomedae 10
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre - Harrowing the Hook
Catalyst: Barl Breakbones, Power Attack, and a large sized earthbreaker
Story:

Spoiler:
My party of 6 was facing Barl, Lucrecia, a stone giant, a fast zombie of the executed stone giant, and one of the ogre fighters. The party had used a lot of their resources fighting their way to Barl; notably, all of Sapphire's uses of LoH and all but 1 Smite. This fight was a slog for the whole group, with 3 characters falling (Sapphire got knocked unconscious once by the zombie landing all of its slams in one hasted round) and an Animal Companion almost getting 1-shot from an ogre hook crit.
Sapphire chose to Smite Lucrecia. They took out the 3 mooks and managed to drop Lady L while they had Barl temporarily in an area of Silence. As he got outside the radius, Sapphire made her saves against Barl's spells. But as she kept shooting him with her bow, he finally closed to melee range with her. The Ranger was unconscious, the Sorcerer paralyzed by Ghoul Touch, and the Witch, Bard, and Rogue were throwing everything they had at Barl. Had Sapphire had a Smite for Barl, her AC may have been enough to avoid his blows, but in a hasted full-attack round, his first blow landed solidly, and the second rolled a pitiful amount on the damage dice. However, the power attack and his strength bonus were still enough to drop her to -20 hp
The party will no doubt be bringing her back from the dead as they race through Magnimar to get back to Sandpoint.

Scarab Sages

Name(s): Zander Durriken
Class/Level: Half-orc Earthmaul Fighter 12 (?)
Adventure: Sins of the Savior
Catalyst: Delhavine clones & death by Snu-Snu

Spoiler:

My first perma-death occurred about a month ago. He failed his save when the clones "suggested" he join them in the bedroom. While the rest of the party dealt with two dominated characters (druid and Paladin), Zander happily walked into the bedroom and the clones shut the door. The rest of what occurred is too inappropriate to post here, but needless to say, the PC died with a smile on his face.

Scarab Sages

elcaleeb wrote:


Name of PC: Gronad
Class/Level: Dwarf Barbarian 2/Oracle 7
Adventure: Fortress of the stone giants
Catalyst: Teraktanus
Technically not a kill, but could have been,
As the dwarf charged the giant, he got caught deep by a pick. He goes toe to toe for a couple rounds, using up his story rerolls to dodge a few near death hits, ending up unconcious before his allies managed to take down Big T.

My party was never able to take down Teraktinus. He was captured by forces unknown (read Karzoug) after fleeing Sandpoint after a final siege by the stone giants (my party failed to prevent the stone giant army from forming).

The party will see the price of failure when they get to the gates to Xin-Shalast. Karzoug is very unforgiving.


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Name of NPC: Johan Ma'Cloud
Class/Level: Unbreakable human-Fighter 11 level
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors - Halls of Wrath
Catalyst: Crit and Coup de grace
Story: A game without Johan dying isn't a true RotRL game at our table now. And yes, he died again. Two times. First - crited by Sinspawn Axeman. Second - while helpless (from a condition, if I remember right) his throath was sliced by a Warrior of Wrath.

This is Johan.

Probably I forgot 1-2 of his deaths, so counter is between 9-11 at the moment.


Name of NPC: Xanesha
Class/Level: lamia matriarch Rogue 2 (slightly re-built from AE)
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Technically a pureblade Slayer (but actually the "Lingering Pain" magus arcana plus 5 PCs piling on her)
Story: Despite a promising start against the party (dealing lots of damage with the Impaler of Thorns), the overconfident Xanesha went down due to the combination of imposed conditions (including becoming Shaken by the Barbarian's Intimidating Glare rage power and suffering penalties from the Druid's Tar Ball spell) followed up with a Shocking Grasp spellstrike boosted with the Lingering Pain magus arcana. Suffering a -34 penalty to her concentration check, she was unable to jump off the tower with Feather Fall (her escape plan), and thus was forced to fight to the bitter end. While disappointed that Xanesha was not an Aberration, the pureblade Slayer still managed to knock her into the negatives with a greatsword. The Barbarian promptly performed a coup de grace and then cut off her head (the player didn't realise yet that it basically was a human woman's head, and not something more snakey).

GM post mortem: Lingering Pain is a magus arcana from UC, and it is basically guaranteed death for any spellcaster who relies on concentration checks. I am getting worried about future encounters with spellcasters in this AP ... :(


Bellona wrote:

Name of NPC: Xanesha

Class/Level: lamia matriarch Rogue 2 (slightly re-built from AE)
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Technically a pureblade Slayer (but actually the "Lingering Pain" magus arcana plus 5 PCs piling on her)
Story: Despite a promising start against the party (dealing lots of damage with the Impaler of Thorns), the overconfident Xanesha went down due to the combination of imposed conditions (including becoming Shaken by the Barbarian's Intimidating Glare rage power and suffering penalties from the Druid's Tar Ball spell) followed up with a Shocking Grasp spellstrike boosted with the Lingering Pain magus arcana. Suffering a -34 penalty to her concentration check, she was unable to jump off the tower with Feather Fall (her escape plan), and thus was forced to fight to the bitter end. While disappointed that Xanesha was not an Aberration, the pureblade Slayer still managed to knock her into the negatives with a greatsword. The Barbarian promptly performed a coup de grace and then cut off her head (the player didn't realise yet that it basically was a human woman's head, and not something more snakey).

GM post mortem: Lingering Pain is a magus arcana from UC, and it is basically guaranteed death for any spellcaster who relies on concentration checks. I am getting worried about future encounters with spellcasters in this AP ... :(

Not to make this a rules thread... But why would she need to make a Concentration check to jump off the building and cast featherfall?


PRD wrote:
Lingering Pain (Su): The magus can expend 1 point from his arcane pool as an immediate action after hitting a target with a weapon attack. All damage from that attack (including damage from a spell cast using the spellstrike ability) is considered continuous damage for the purposes of any concentration checks made by the target prior to the beginning of the magus's next turn.

I'll agree I don't know where the -34 came from: The average of 1d4 + 5d6 is only 19, plus a magus' hit which may add what? 21 more, for a total of 40 points of continuous damage?

PRD wrote:
Concentration check table: Continuous damage while casting = 10 + 1/2 damage dealt + spell level

Aha! I'm betting the magus and tar ball hit for a grand total of 44, putting the concentration check DC at 10 + 22 + 2 = the aforementioned 34. With Xanesha's AE edition concentration check of +19 it's not impossible for her to roll, but at least a bit difficult.

Honestly, in such a wizard-heavy campaign, I'd have a strong tendency to ban such an ability outright. I agree with Bellona: It's going to break the AP, especially against the main bad guys.


Oops, I missed the continuous damage and its consequences in my query but... She has a Climb speed - she doesn't need featherfall to go over the side to get to the ground. And she only needs to make to the Magus' next turn for the pain to stop and then she can cast. So if she goes over the side now she can still use featherfall to get to the ground next round.

Again we're off-thread with a rules dialogue but barring the class feature is a bit harsh. Casters should be doing everything to avoid melee range with enemies regardless. This is not the only AP where casters are principle antagonists.

Spoiler:

Karzoug - the top caster in the AP has a Concentration check of 33 so he auto-succeeds on any cast on the defensive check. And the continuing damage has to be at 32 to force him to even roll for a 9th level spell - 10 + 9 (spell level) + 16 = 35 - and he succeeds on a 2 or better.

Now I might make some modifications/clarifications like: Combat Casting bonus applies to these checks and the damage doesn't stack. So if the magus hits twice in the round, once for 25 and once for 22, it's not 47 points of continuous damage but 25. Probably not RAW but seems reasonable. This also should move the Magus up the priority list on targets. "Wait... You have a power that neuters me then I die? Guess who eats disintegrates until he's no longer a threat?"

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