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Personally, I think that the final battles in HMM is a little bleh, or at least not as good as the rest of the adventure. Particularly, Lamatar bayden has some really B@!#@in artwork but is statted up as a mundane wight. I realze that this is probably due to HMM's editing and contraction. It's a crowded adventure, with lots of crazy stuff happening. But, nonetheless, I feel that cool artwork deserves a cool battle, and so I therefore knocked together a creepy cold advanced wight that hides in a fogbank, slowly saps your strength and throws snowballs at you, then leaps out to eat your soul. I used spells from the Spell Compendium, the Spellstitched Template from Complete Arcane, and the Lifesense Feat from Libris Mortis, which makes the whole strategy fit together. Lamatar can see the life of living creatures, and uses it to track their location even through the Fog Cloud. I think. Maybe it doesnt quite work RAW, concealment and line of sight is nearly as bad as grappling and AoOs. and it's obviously not OGL. But I think it's a neat idea
Lamatar Bayden
Advanced Spellstitched Wight
CE Medium Undead
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft, Lifesight 30 ft; Listen +17, Spot +17
Defense
AC 21, touch 11, flat-footed 20
(+1 dex, +6 natural, +4 armor)
hp 84 (12d12+12) DR 5/Silver and Magic
SR 13
Immune Undead, Cold
Aura corona of cold
Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +12
Offense
Spd 30 ft
Melee claw +10 (1d4+4+1d6 cold plus Energy Drain)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Spell Like Abilities
2/day-Mage Armor (already cast), Fog Cloud, Snowblall Storm (5d6 cold, 10 ft radius Burst, DC 15 ref half), Grease (DC 14)
1/day-Summon Monster IV, Orb of Cold (+7, 12d6, DC 17 fort or be blinded for 1 round), Curse of Impending Blades, Mass (-2 on all opponent's ACs, no save), corona of cold (10 ft radius from you, 1d12 each round to all creatures in area, DC 16 fort neg, -2 to str & dex)
Tactics
During Combat
Lamatar keeps Mage Armor always active. At the begginning of the fight, he drops a Fog Cloud on the battlefeild, then hides within the chill mist, using his lifesense to keep track of his foes. he casts corona of cold and a quickened Snowball storm, then Curse of Impending Blades and another Snowball Storm. Then, he drops a summoned wolverene on the partys rear, before finally moving into melee. He attempts to stay within sight on only one or two opponents at a time, melting into the fog if he thinks he might be pinned down and casting grease to slow down the party. From saftey, he casts Orb of Cold, then continues to harry the party until defeated.
Morale
Lamatar, as a souless puppet of fell powers, fights to the death
Statistics
Str 18, Dex 12, Con -, Int 11, Wis 15, Cha 16
Base Atk +6/+1; Grp +10
Feats Improved Initiative, Improved Toughness, Quicken Spell-like Ability (snowball storm), Lifesight, Blindfight
Skills Hide +16, Listen +17, Move Silently +24, Spot +17
Languages Common
SQ UndeadTraits,Turn resistance +2
Special Abilities: Energy Drain DC 19
Neat! I was just thinking the same thing, that the artwork was too cool for the encounter as written. I'll probably use this when I get to that point in HMM.
I am thinking that might up the EL of the encounter a bit.
I turned him into some kind of CR 8 wight from some supplemental sourcebook (can't remember name, picture had gross tendrils coming out of chest)-will check when I get home from work-but I like your version too!
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32
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I turned him into some kind of CR 8 wight from some supplemental sourcebook (can't remember name, picture had gross tendrils coming out of chest)-will check when I get home from work-but I like your version too!
I was looking at that exact monster last night -- Book of Vile Darkness, the vile wight. Not to be confused with the slaughter wight which, IIRC, is CR 9 or so.
Jodah,
Thank you for sharing!
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Yes!
Bayden was too vanilla, and now he's a full banana split! I will use this version, adjusting accordingly when my players get to him.
Made any other changes to the adventure(s)?
well, I sleightly increased the power of the ghouls in Skinsaw. They were fine as-is, but advancing them by 1 hd makes them slightly more dangerous, maintaining the traditional "toughness" of undead. I mean, seriously, for shambling corpses that cant be killed by stabbing them in the lungs, undead dont have much HP, and their BAB sucks. You have to give them tons of HD to be dangerous.
Obviously, unnecessary stat blocks are a bad thing in a published adventure, and the encounters are fine as-is, but I like my players to sweat just a little, and ghouls are easy to advance.
Slightly Greater Ghoul
CE Medium Undead
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60-ft; Listen +2, Spot +8
Languages Common
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 19 (3 HD)
Immune Undead
Fort +1, Ref+4 Will+5
Speed 30-ft
Melee Bite +4 melee (1d6+2 plus paralysis) and 2 claws +1 (1d4+1 plus paralysis)
Base Atk +1; Grp +3
Abilities Str 14, Dex 16, Con -, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 15
SA Ghoul Fever, paralysis
SQ Undead Traits, Darkvision 60 ft, +2 turn resistance
Feats Multiattack, Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Balance +7, Climb +5, Hide +8, Jump +7, Move Silently +8, Spot +8
Ghoul Fever (su) Disease-bite, Fort DC 13, inc 1 day, 1d3 con and 1d3 dex
Paralysis (ex) DC 13 Fort, Paralysis for 1d4+1 rounds
I would also gave the cultists an additional level of rogue, to give them an actual attack bonus, more HP, and evasion. I meant to run them like this, but I forgot the printout at the session, so I ran them by the book. The party snuck in via the roof at night, found them clustered performing a ritual, and the CE necromancer fireballed them all. Ironbriar didnt even get to take an action, and the survivors fled downstairs, but were taken out by the duskblade, who could cast Expeditious retreat. the whole place was lit on fire, but escape was easy with a caster-heavy party, and they dragged out ironbriar, and had already raided his room. I didnt even get a chance to have them flip out their straight razors. I was going to use "stuck in the middle with you" for battle music.
Skinsaw Cultist
Male Human Cleric 1/Rogue 2
CE Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +6; Senses Listen +2, Spot +6
Languages Common
AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+2 armor, +2 dex, +2 sheild of Faith)
hp 19 (2d6+1d8+3)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +4
Speed 30-ft
Melee mwk war razor +4 (1d4+2/18-20)
Base Atk +1; Grp +2
Special Attacks Death Touch 1/day (1d6), Sneak Attack +1d6
Spells prepared (CL 1st:
1st- Command (DC 13), Sheild of Faith (already cast), Cause Fear (DC 13)
0-Virtue, Mending (2) Inflict Spells
Abilities Str 12, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8
SQ Turn Undead, Evasion
Feats Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse, Martial Weapon (razor)
Skills Balance +7, Climb +6, Hide +7, Know (local) +5, Know (rel) +1, Listen +3 (+5 masked), Move Silently +7, Search +5 (+7 masked), Sleight of Hand +7, Spot +7 (+9 masked), Tumble +7
Leather Armor, MWK war Razor, Skinsaw Mask, 20 gp
I turned him into some kind of CR 8 wight from some supplemental sourcebook (can't remember name, picture had gross tendrils coming out of chest)-will check when I get home from work-but I like your version too!I was looking at that exact monster last night -- Book of Vile Darkness, the vile wight. Not to be confused with the slaughter wight which, IIRC, is CR 9 or so.
you're right, thanks!!! :) now i have to decide if i want to keep him as that or not...
I think the one thing we agree on is the picture is way too bad-a$$, and the background too compelling, to be a standard wight for a lv 9ish party...
Creative Director
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I agree that the picture deserved more of a unique stat block, but the adventure itself simply didn't have the room to support a full stat block AND art for the guy. It was either cut the Lamatar plot out of the adventure entirely, run him with no art and a unique stat block, or run him as a more standard monster with art. None of the three is a perfect choice, but I still feel that preserving the art was the best of the three; it's easy enough for a GM to replace a standard stat block with a cool unique monster, after all. A lot easier for most GMs than creating an illustration of him.
I agree that the picture deserved more of a unique stat block, but the adventure itself simply didn't have the room to support a full stat block AND art for the guy. It was either cut the Lamatar plot out of the adventure entirely, run him with no art and a unique stat block, or run him as a more standard monster with art. None of the three is a perfect choice, but I still feel that preserving the art was the best of the three; it's easy enough for a GM to replace a standard stat block with a cool unique monster, after all. A lot easier for most GMs than creating an illustration of him.
James, of those options, i think you made the best choice....actually, i quite had fun flipping through books looking for what to replace him with, it was like shopping...'oooh, he looks cool....no wait, he looks even better!' :P
I think I'd like to figure out what his stat block was before he died, and then just apply the wight template to him. Jakardros is ranger8, so maybe his boss was ranger10?
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James, it's fine. You said yourself that you had to edit down HMM, and some things got lost. It's still a very good, atmospheric adventure, with lots of great setpeices. A ancient dam, a captured castle, a creepy farmhouse, a giant pleisosaur/squid...it's like playing Half-Life 2, but with trolls and ogres instead of aliens and combine soldiers. I'm glad you kept the Lamatar plot, and gave us the evocative artwork.
I dont think that Dread Wight would work for Lamatar. I had a breif try. He's a ranger, and I would guess he was one of those kingly, shortsword/longsword guys with a hawk animal companion and massive mobility. Somehow, the dread wight doesnt seem to add much to that build. Besides, it's mentioned that there is nothng left of his old personality. Plus, it creates a nice counterpoint to aldern, who maintained parts of his old identity, while Lamatar really IS dead, and there's nothing left but his twisted body. He should be some sort of Wight-like undead, prefferably cold-themed.
I dont think that Dread Wight would work for Lamatar. I had a breif try. . . He should be some sort of Wight-like undead, prefferably cold-themed.
The Advanced Bestiary has a template for a regular wight instead of a dread wight, and I thought that might work. Any thoughts, Jodah?
See, that's why i like the vile wight from BOVD...can't remember him too well, but as i was skimming it i remember thinking it would fit him nicely...
Jodah,
Thanks for the stat block. I used it last session and it made for a fun, challenging combat, more so than Barl himself. (Barl died very quickly due to a lucky crit by a hippogriff riding lancer)
:)
Frostburn has some good cold-themed undead like the winterspawn, which given Lamatar's kick-arse look, might be in order.