A long time ago someone posted a timeline for the tides of dread pirate attack. It basically catagorized the entire attack in sequential order. Anyone know where to find it? I looked in the archives and can't find it. help?
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Search on "farshore attack timeline"
If I ever run this, I'm not sure I'll have the launches take so long to get to shore. I only want the PC's to spend maybe 2 or 3 rounds trying to hinder them reaching shore before the golems explode out of the water and the pirates follow close behind. Otherwise, the pacing of the fight would seem off I think.
I would expect the PC's would spend 8-10 rounds clearing the golems first, then after a pirate marks the PC's and they get fireballed, they might go after a group of pirates (to get marked and be fireballed again), then go after the yuan-ti (where the halfbloods hide, charge out from behind rigging and grapple with their acid dripping) and maybe a couple more ships before they see the vrocks fly to shore. As the PC's reach the vrocks, they summon more to go after the crowds as they begin their dance. I've playtested 4 PC's trying to take down a vrock within 3 rounds, and if it has mirror images up, that ain't gonna happen in many circumstances, so I won't give them mirror images until one gets taken down. After the PC's finish off those vrocks and Livinia arrives to help, Vanthus makes his entrance.
Of course, what I'd like to see happen and what the players do are usually different. Some parties actually split up with some helping the archers on palisades, others commanding ground forces, etc.
I suspect I'm going to be a total jerk and have an NPC spellchucker use control weather to raise a massive fog bank to cover the approach of the Crimson Fleet to Farshore. Of course, that is keyed on my vague impression of that element of the Tide having PCs incapable of casting control weather in response.
In any case, such a fog bank would greatly facilitate the main elements of the attack on Farshore coming into play. After all, no scripted text survives contact with my player characters...
I suspect I'm going to be a total jerk and have an NPC spellchucker use control weather to raise a massive fog bank to cover the approach of the Crimson Fleet to Farshore. Of course, that is keyed on my vague impression of that element of the Tide having PCs incapable of casting control weather in response.
In any case, such a fog bank would greatly facilitate the main elements of the attack on Farshore coming into play. After all, no scripted text survives contact with my player characters...
Turin, I really like that idea. The fog billowing in and the sounds of sails rippling, rigging creaking, and orders being shouted in some fiendish, gravelly voice from within the fog would create some great suspense as the players wait for the attack.
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Steve, if you don't mind, a quick question:
As one of the authors of ToD, what did you envision the rest of Farshore doing against all the 150 pirates that rush ashore while the PC's fight off the tougher stuff? If the PC's manage to recruit the phanatons and Olmans, it would stand to reason that the pirates would be very busy against all the defenses. But without recruiting them, Farshore can still survive the onslaught by the VP's accumulated - I'm just not sure how that actually happens with so very few militia. Palisades and buildings can serve as defenses, but having so very few battle-capable colonists makes victory hard to imagine at that point.
Turin, I really like that idea. The fog billowing in and the sounds of sails rippling, rigging creaking, and orders being shouted in some fiendish, gravelly voice from within the fog would create some great suspense as the players wait for the attack.I suspect I'm going to be a total jerk and have an NPC spellchucker use control weather to raise a massive fog bank to cover the approach of the Crimson Fleet to Farshore. Of course, that is keyed on my vague impression of that element of the Tide having PCs incapable of casting control weather in response.
In any case, such a fog bank would greatly facilitate the main elements of the attack on Farshore coming into play. After all, no scripted text survives contact with my player characters...
Thank you Steve, coming from a contributor that is an added bonus to the compliment.
Add in something along the lines of a series of heavy footsteps sloshing ashore ... muted yet in-stereo bass vulture-like screeches ... then all Heck breaking loose as the caster dismisses the fog and the Crimson Fleet looms suddenly into view!
I found this one of the tougher encounters to run, but also one of the most fun. There is a lot of build up to it, and a lot of how it goes down will depend on the actions of the party members.
When I ran it I had the pirates attack at night, so they would have cover of darkness and not be spotted too early. I also sent the Vrocks in early to take out some watch towers the PCs had constructed and generally start wreaking havoc to sew chaos among the defenders and give the launches time to approach. The flesh golems came out of the water around the same time the launches started arriving, and the yuan ti started covering them with his wand of fireballs.
There are some nasty tactics that the PCs can use to beat on the pirates that you should be ready for. For instance my party had a dwarf cleric of Procan, and he and the fighter used a combination of fly magic, water breathing, freedom of movement and an adamantine Shimo Koa to zip around beneath the hulls of the ships and pound big gaping holes in them. There wasn't a lot the Crimson Fleet could do to defend against this. It was only when they got to the ship with the Yuan Ti on it that they ran into trouble. (My campaign journal details this pretty thoroughly see, "Canuk runs Savage Tide")
Of course in my game the pearl ended up detonating at the end, which proved to be quite an interesting turn of events, but a bit of a disappointment for the PCs as they had done a lot of planning and overall a great job of fighting of the Fleet.
Steve, if you don't mind, a quick question:
As one of the authors of ToD, what did you envision the rest of Farshore doing against all the 150 pirates that rush ashore while the PC's fight off the tougher stuff? If the PC's manage to recruit the phanatons and Olmans, it would stand to reason that the pirates would be very busy against all the defenses. But without recruiting them, Farshore can still survive the onslaught by the VP's accumulated - I'm just not sure how that actually happens with so very few militia. Palisades and buildings can serve as defenses, but having so very few battle-capable colonists makes victory hard to imagine at that point.
My own plan was to give the PCs a bunch of leadership options and put them in charge of several different strategic areas in command of their respective troops. One was an artillery tower, the other was a spot on the docks, and another was leading the reserves inside the colony. Another option was coming around behind the fleet with the Hellfish, so a PC could captain the ship with another contingent of colonists/marines.
The idea was to give each PC a chance to be the general of his own army and call the shots. Of course, you would have to cycle around to each group, but the payoff would be quite fun for you and your players.
If the PCs have managed to acquire enough VPs already prior to the battle that victory is assured, this fight becomes kind of a cinematic event with a short bit of actual combat you have the PCs take part in. Something gritty, but one that they should win.
The idea of this whole adventure is to provide a pivotal point in which the PCs kind of come into their own. They are meant to shine as the leaders that they have been building up to be. By the end of the adventure they should have at least a ship of their own, the admiration and grattitude of an entire colony, and a lot of loot. It's the transformation from aspiring heroes to the honest-to-goodness real deal with all of the great stories of heroics to back it up. They could easily retire with glory at this point and have no shame. It's not accident that this is the middle point of the adventure. Some groups could call it quits here and move on to a new campaign while others will move on to even greater things.
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Thanks for your answer.
With only a couple dozen militia available, though, it still becomes a question of exactly how 150 pirates will be driven off. Livinia, the Jade Ravens and other NPC's in town can certainly handle their share, but I don't think that's enough. I'd just hate to be in a position where the players ask, "What do you mean we won? We were busy fighting golems, yuan-ti and vrocks, and you're saying 150 pirates were chased off by the others? How?" Without phanatons and Olmans in the fight, I wouldn't know what to tell them. "Uh, I don't know, all the boarded up houses and a few people shooting down from palisades frustrated them."
That's ok. I assume most parties will recruit at least one of the island tribes, and that will be plenty. Otherwise, I could reason that with the advance warning of the invasion, the colonists got to work making loads of alchemist's fire and drove the pirates back with it. Seeing the PC's kill the larger stuff breaks their morale.
I guess what makes me raise the question is that the VP list only allows for 3 defeats of pirates, and doesn't mention how defeating more of them affects the fight, so I assumed the plan was to let the tribes and colonists handle the bulk of the pirates while the PC's defeat the more dangerous opponents.
Ahhhh. I see what you're saying, Pygon. I didn't really get you the first time, I guess. Well, you can use the the Jade Ravens to think up some good tactics and maybe some simple siege engines if the players don't. You can also do the same thing with Lord Meravanchi. He's pretty experienced as well. He could probably whip up the locals to come up with a few good tricks.
Basically, you want to have stuff going on everywhere, so the PCs don't get the impression they are fighting the battle alone while the colonists are hiding out. Put on a brave face with the colonists. Surprise the PCs with a few of the tricks I mentioned above during the battle and maybe a couple things that help them out in their fights, like a ballista bolt that comes flying out of nowhere to skewer 2 pirates and pin them to a tree or the side of a boat. Canisters of alchemist's fire wrapped in fish nets catapulted into the pirates or their boats should create quite a flash. Stuff like that. These are desperate men and women, but they have some good leaders to inspire them. The thing you'll need to do is use all of these little cinematic side events in accordance with how well the PCs are doing and the VPs they've earned.
Hope that helps. I could probably rant on and on with stuff, but I don't want to provide more than ideas to inspire you with your own.
Thanks for the link Pygon and all the info greer! Good Stuff!
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Another idea occurred to me. Since the colonists are aware of approximately when the attacks will take place, on week 6 or 7 it might be nice to hold come sort of luau to raise spirits and morale. The recruited tribes could attend as well.
It would serve as a good opportunity to roleplay and possibly develop some budding romances - nothing like seeing everyone in a better mood, then look over and noticing someone looking at you, who gets up and walks towards the shoreline, thinking about what might happen in the coming battle...
well, for one, the pirates will not necessarily reach the shore at all - our wizard basically sank four fifths of the fleet or left it burning in the narrow gap at the entrance of Farshore's harbour, with the crews very very busy to save their vessels or getting lifeboats into the water.
Same went for the Olmanic shaman who blasted the lifeboats and burning ships with "Borealis Wind" (absolutely deadly versus sailing ships with full sails up and/or partially aflame.... as for wind effect on large fires, check "californian wildfires"... ) and other long range magics, plus, had sicced a couple of large water elementals to attack the lifeboats...
And as a few straggling survivors scrambled ashore, they were soundly charged by the militia outnumbering them, causing whatever moral they might have had to crumble. Golems etc. quickly fell to the archer and melees patrolling the beach... Wasn't really an interesting fight except for the vrocks (angry) and Vanthus (extremly angry )
Yeah, it was rather a proactive defense, but the less invasion troops one lets come ashore, the less you have to fight hand to hand.And basically, with competent mages, the ToD battle becomes a showcase of just why large scale army battles should by all rights be obsolete in a high-magic environment. If a mage can basically eradicate an entire regiment in battle formation with a 5th level spell...
And the players had basically wanted to go easy on the Farshore millitia, seeing them as little more than cannon-fodder, which they just did not intend to expend. Some Olmani tribesmen readily helped out ( lured by promises of rich material rewards such as the iron weaponry etc. from the attackers, as well as the tools and equipment from the stranded ships - quite priceless to them, since they weren't a metal using society wih us. So these guys did back up duties, sending clouds of arrows (some burning) etc. up into the sky, killed stragglers and protected the settlement itself.
And yes, I had upped the attackers some, with sorcerers etc accompanying every ship, but that does not really prevent the ships from sinking (in a basically hostile environment). Take a lesson from history - hit and sink the invasion fleet before it ever reaches shore ( aka "Mongol invasion of Japan", "Spanish Armada", "German invasion of Norway".... countless examples to learn from )
In a friends campaign, the (less than sterling) cleric summoned demonic sharks with (lesser) planar ally spells, and gave them free hunting of the bay, and claim to all kills with until the next dawn... (they had initially considered charming some aquatic dinosaur for the job )
Since the players in that campaign had also grown a maze of saw-edged coral reefs in the narrows (via some obscure FR spell researched by their halruaan wizard, covered by "hallucinatory terrain "or "mirage arcana" ), the ships basically sank themselves when sailing headlong into those custom-made reefs. They had also charmed wyverns and dino's as "heavy labour" and were using a triceratops as a "Steamroller" along the beach (ridden by a telepathically minded beguiler who for once had a field day..), trampling anyone who dared set foot ashore.... While the wyverns droped iron harpoons festoned with alchemical fire onto the fleet from above...
The spanish Armada's defeat had nothing on this, he claimed.
Basically, the more proactive the players tick, the worse the scenario for the pirates becomes. They roughly know when and where they are being attacked, they can concentrate their resources to counter the most likely forms of attack and they will have high-yield magic at their behest (otherwise, how have they made it so far ?).
Sounds like the pirates need a little additional Dispel Magic? It's not going to counter the high-level casters in the party, but might let a ship or two get through alive?
Sounds like the pirates need a little additional Dispel Magic? It's not going to counter the high-level casters in the party, but might let a ship or two get through alive?
pretty hard to dispel instantaneous spell effects still in effect (like the underwater reefs ) or a "long" range spell cast from cover or a fast moving human sized target...
Fireball at 10th level has a range of 800' ( 270 meters).. that is approximately about three football fields. Try making out the somatic compornent of a spell or even the verbal one before a glowing missile comes streaking right at you (that is, if you have a Dispel Magic readied for that precise moment and opponent ).
Calamus, our mage also has the "mobile casting" feat, allowing him to fire off spells in mid-movement, so basically he did popping up attacks behind the rocky ridge on Farshore's northwest side, shot a "fire and forget" fireball and disappered into cover.... (yeah, too many wargames on his part, I guess ) .
Something that might protect a fleet is casting "hallow" on one of the ships adding protection from elements "fire" to it.. . but it seems to be a bit excessive and deeply out of charcter for the Crimson Fleet to make their ships "sacred ground". Plus this still leaving them helpless against indirect spells, like "Control Weather", "Hallucinatory terrain" - someone suggested simply "moving" the habour entrance a few hundred feet to the south and having the attackers run straight for the rocks on the south breakwater instead of the channel, but they skipped on that as too uncontrolable - or "Boreal Wind" (yeah, you might be immune to cold, but you are still getting hit with gale force winds on a ship with sails set for a light breeze.... rip, tear and/or capsize...).
Aquatic monsters or simply physically dropped nastities are unaffected by Dispel Magic either, even if the caster can draw line of sight to them (concealment underwater is pretty good, with 10' depth basically ruining any LoS except in very clear waters )
IMHO, with DnD based warfare, whoever strikes first at the correct target, wins. They did, and won.
The best tactic for the Crimson Fleet might be to hide their approach and obscure their ships, but that is akin to hiding elephants on a level field... major illusions involved, and rather easily defeated as well (my players contacted some dolphins and bribed them into providing a seaward patrol... now, let illusion deal with sonar and smart aquatic mammals.
basically; I have no regrets for the way the characters trampled the pirates. theyx planned carefully and with much creativity , executed their plabn beautifully and there were still some dramatic and memorable moments with the Vrocks and Vanthus.
I mean, the pirates are not supposed to win this if the PCs act smartly, right ?
And of course, you can always have a ship or two come through as a GM fiat..
The above mentioned concerns regarding spellcasters sinking the fleet before they get near the shore was a big concern for me. Which is why I changed the pirates tactics.
First I had Vanthus in possesion of a lock of Lavinia's hair and I made the Yuan Ti a wizard. I put scrying in his spell book, so the fleet had been scrying on Lavinia for some time before the attack and had some knowledge of the defenses that had been made.
This is the reason I sent in the Vrocks first. If the Vrocks go in and start setting fire and randomly attacking defenders and then quickly teleporting away they can cause a great deal of chaos among the defenders and pull the PC's attention away from the harbour.
Have the fleet sail in at night. The defenders won't know exactly when they are coming, and the fleet pirates and captains are all vetran sailors, so they should be able to handle navigating the waters in the dark. The ships drift into the harbour shortly after the Vrocks begin their campaign of terror. While the characters and defenders are busy trying to deal with this havok the pirates start deploying their launches.
This was pretty effective in my campaign. Though the PCs still used their magic to sink many ships, but by this time the launches had been deployed and the golems and pirates were hitting the docks.
The fight went very well in the end. The vrocks hit them hard early and caused them to expend a lot of their resources. The fight with the Yuan Ti wizards proved tough. The flesh golems and the pirates hit the docks soon after and this uses up more of their resources, so by the time they go up against Vanthus they were pretty close to being depletted (though Vanthus made a bad save roll and was creamed by a glitterdust spell early in the fight, which really hurt his performance).