... and I would like to ask for some Bard build advice. First, some background.
********** POTENTIAL SPOILERS IN THREAD ***********
One of our former members played a Bard and since his departure I have been considering making this PC a villain (or in this case, villain's assistant), because, well, it seems the right thing to do. Having never played a Bard myself and having never DM'ed one before, I would like to call on the collective experiences out there to help me make what is essentially a Cohort for the end scenario of ToD. Maybe even bring him back at Gaping Maw.
So, what am I looking for? A 9-10th level NPC, primarily Bard, but if there are any PrCs or good ways to make use of Multi-classing, I am game. The build should include Feats, skills, and some ideas for appropriate magic items that define the direction of the NPC.
His goal? To Support Vanthus and his allies at the end of ToD. To be an effective support character.
My plan so far? Straight Bard classes but looking at Arcane Archer to round out combat skills, looking at specific buff spells to make VV a more formidable foe. Haste is probably on the spell list and Spell Compendium is in play. Will likely use Archery as primary attack style to keep from getting slaughtered too early by the party's main line fighter types.
I know this sounds like I am asking every one else to do the work but all I am looking for are some ideas on how to make this build interesting. Things you may have done or DM'ed in the past.
Thanks for any advice.
Cheers!
The best thing a bard has is bardic music. Once you get to double-digit levels, that becomes pretty powerful. Make sure to have Lingering Song. Then load up on control spells - a simple grease can work wonders. A bard has a hard time ever doing damage tough - a wand of cacaphonic burst might give a little bit of help there, but basically bards are support.
I like the Dirge Singer PRC, I think that was in Libris Mortis?
also, Dragon mag, I forget the issue, but they had an alternate bard who gave penalties to his enemies instead of bonuses to his friends. I can't remember the name of it now.
anyway, I had a villain a couple years ago that was a Vampire Nymph Bard Dirge Singer (this was a gestalt game), she was totally wicked, instead of trying to kill the party she would seduce them and make them her vampire slaves.
one of my all time favorite villains.
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bard 10
feats:
Extra Music
Melodic Casting
Song of the Heart
Lingering Song
whatever else you want to add in there
stats go into charisma, con, int, in that order
(Melodic Casting is from Complete Mage, Song of the Heart from the Eberron Campaign Setting)
consider Lyric Thaumaturge, but at this level, straight bard is pretty bad-arse
+4/+4 to all allies hit/damage, +5 if you use a masterwork drum
possibly also inspire greatness for 3 bonus HD and more to hit/dmg bonuses
haste, as you noted, is gonna be your primary spell to cast.
this gives every ally an additional attack, boost to speed, ac, and +4-7 on each attack, with a similar boost to damage.
also, grease, silence, slow, and similar spells are quite nice for assistance.
have fun, rock out with the uberbard!
-the hamster
The best thing a bard has is bardic music. Once you get to double-digit levels, that becomes pretty powerful. Make sure to have Lingering Song. Then load up on control spells - a simple grease can work wonders. A bard has a hard time ever doing damage tough - a wand of cacaphonic burst might give a little bit of help there, but basically bards are support.
Bardic song - Inspire Courage gets extremely powerful if you do it right
Use the Feat "Music of the Heart" from EBCS, it increases the netto yield of the spell by +1 (attack, damage, saves ).
Always use it with "Insprirational Boost" (CM, 1st level bard), adding another +1.
there is a neck item in the MIC which does the same, adding +1/+1/+1 as a swift action 3/day, stacking with the other boni. The option of taking "words of creation" (from BoED) is rather broken, and should be unavailable due to alignment-conflicts
At 8th level you are already looking at +4/+4 (or +5/+5 with the neck item ) to attack and damage of everyone allied to you with hearing range. Now, with "power attack" and a two-handed weapon this easily translates into +0/+12.... Bards not doing damage is melee ? I don't think so..... add some str item/buff/potion, perhaps rage or a luck/circumstance bonus to attack and damage... and voila... mayhem with a soundtrack.
Consider using a drum as your instrument, unfortunately this blocks your hands, but on the other hand, you may stay invisible and buff everyone around. Consider a bard flying above the battlefield, invisible and drumming up the pirates into a maelstrom of frenzied plunderers....
Look at harmonizing weapons (same effect as Lingering Song Feat ), which maintain your music for 10 rounds after you stop singing.
As for class combos, ranger and barbarian combine pretty well with the bard, as does the Warblade (from BoNS) with a focus on the White Raven style. Especially the speed bonus and rage from the barbarian can turn your bard into a veritable chanting combat monster, although this style may not combine too well with Vanthus. In any case, they add much desired weapon proficiencies, BA and save boni to Fort etc. Keep them limited to one or two levels though.
If you consider casting while maintaining your supportive music, pick "Melodic Casting" from Complete Mage, which allows casting while maintaing one's music. Combines sweetly with the Lyric Thaumaturgist class, whcich lets you add wizard/sorcerer spells to the bard's magical arsenal, plus adding extra slots per day.
Generally, do not invest too heavily into combat oriented feats, since basically the bard supports others, even while capable of doing serious damage himself.
some further ideas ( I had breakfast with my brother who actually plays a bard atm)
"Doomspeaker" feat from Champions of Ruin (for the FR setting). Spend bardic music to give opponent a -10 penalty (to everything !) next round because he "knows" his final moment has come.... Oh the roleplaying opportunities..
If the bard survives until later in the campaign be sure to add the "requiem" feat to the build, so he can boost undead too.
Take a spiked chain for reach and use it two-handed to employ powerattack. Yeah, a bit cheesy, but let's have players get a taste of their own medicine
Or take "improved unarmed combat" plus an "amulet of mighty fists" and kick about while your are playing the drum. Too bad you cannot power attack with a natural weapon since it is considerd "light"
A flying /levitating bard might consider taking "power throw" and "brutal throw", and have him hurl deadly javelins from above (or just big stones....)
"Elation" (BoED, 2nd Bard ) is a nice buff akin to prayer, adding a +2 morale (!) boost to STR and DEX, as well as +5' speed to all allies with 80'. Sure beats Haste which only affect one ally/level
"Curse of Impending Blades, Mass" is nice, if you can get your hands on a "metamagic rod of widen spell, lesser". 40' radius debuff.... in that case
Oh for added defense, have your bard perform from behind or inside a cloud of fog or similar, to make taking him out with missile or targeting him with spells impossible/bothersome.
Bard using a bank of combined Solid Fog and Stinking Cloud (wearing a necklace of adaptation and using Freedom of Movement if necessary) is a brutally effective defense unless a caster generates a large enough area of 31+ mph winds... or a sufficiently capable dispel magic. Bards usually have Use Magic Device, so ANY combination of spells is theoretically possible.
If the little buddy survives to when V is no longer among the living, not only do you want requiem (mentioned by vikingson), you want him to have the Craft Contingent Spell [Item Creation] feat to go with it. 'Hang', oh, say 12 or so big bad buff spells on V, then have 3 to 6 HARM spells that he can trigger to repair his damage while whooping PC butt...
At the higher end of things, to play up the drum / percussion instrument angle, said bard could envelope himself with higher-duration buff spells, extended shorter duration buff spells and enjoy total concealment within a bank of solid fog/stinking cloud that is at the core of an electricity-substituted sonic-admixtured Incendiary Cloud - "Born of the Three Thunders" is a fun feat for this, and fits that particular 'theme' nicely.
"Within the bank of roiling thundercloud the boom of thunder and flash of lightning roil and echoe to the perfectly-timed beat of some infernal drum from within its depths." Better still if the cloud covers a large enough area to hose the heroes while the antagonists within are (via Energy Immunity or some other effect) impervious. Granted, with Freedom of Movement the Solid Fog is not so much of an issue - but line of sight is, which the antagonists would acquire the necessary method(s) to ignore that particular hindrance - and preferably fire targeted high-CL Greater Dispel Magics on top of everything else...
Thats some good info, I think I have decided to go straight Bard and to concentrate on the buffing spells and abilities. The +3 or +4 buffs should make VV a better challenge. Definitely a Harmonizing weapon, the Feat are gonna limited so I'll have to make some decisions.
So what's the benefit of the Drum, aside from the obvious masterwork bonus.
Any other good ideas?
Cheers!
A bard would be great support for Vanthus. The inspire courage bonuses work very nicely for a 2WF like Vanthus.
One thing to note is that if you're planning on the bard casting haste you could swap out Vanthus' Boots of Speed for something else, since they won't stack.
You might consider having him take Vexing Flanker and Adaptive Flanker (from PHBII) as that will help him aid Vanthus even more in combat.
I wholeheartedly recommend Song of the Heart, from the Eberron campaign sourcebook and Inspiritational Boost, from Complete Adventurer or Spell Compendium. I know someone already mentioned those, I'm just seconding that. In our games we houseruled Inspiritional Boost to be 2nd level instead of 1st. It's just an awesome spell.
Don't recall if anyone mentioned this, but Arcane Strike is a great feat for bards. He could get in there and provide some real bonuses for V as well as doing nice damage himself.
Ok, Bard is starting to come together. I am considering the Reach spell feat, if I can find it again. That should allow remote healing and buffing of VV.
Are there any feats that extend the RANGE of Bardic Music?
Cheers!
drum special effect rules are from Complete Adventurer, p. 124. A bardic performance with drums increases the bonus to weapon damage rolls by "1". there is a foreshortening with the time the music keeps affecting the recipients though - you might want to decide how that interacts with "Lingering Song"
As for range - bardic Music is "hearing range", so simply sing or perform louder (another nice reason for drums.... thinking japanese Kodo Drums here ).
As far as I know there is no range on bardic music except who can hear you, so I don't know of any effects the specifically increase the range. But it seems like anything that increase's the bard's voice's volume or the listener's hearing would increase it.
As far as I know there is no range on bardic music except who can hear you, so I don't know of any effects the specifically increase the range. But it seems like anything that increase's the bard's voice's volume or the listener's hearing would increase it.
Cool, I think I saw a spell that makes a bards singing louder. I think it was in Song and Silence. Don't have it here but I will reexamine it and post more.
Another spell of interest I found, Percussion, basically provides accompaniment to the Bard. I imagine a flying, invisible Bard, playing drums to inspire courage all about the battlefield and when detected, cast Percussion and move on to another spot to continue drumming. Of course, Subsonics and the feat that allows actions while using bardic music will really keep the party busy and the bard safe.
Cheers!
You might also give the bard the blindness/deafness spell. Blinding the PCs oftentimes is just as good as killing them. Don't deafen them, though. It's just not as good as blinding.
Another spell of interest I found, Percussion, basically provides accompaniment to the Bard. I imagine a flying, invisible Bard, playing drums to inspire courage all about the battlefield and when detected, cast Percussion and move on to another spot to continue drumming. Of course, Subsonics and the feat that allows actions while using bardic music will really keep the party busy and the bard safe.
I would rule out the maintenance of the drum-performance through use of the "percussion" spell - it provides background accompaniment for the main performance (much like a showband) and does not replace it or carry the tune on its own.
The bard's own performance on the drums is what powers the "song of courage" and the boost from the instrument (which is balanced, metagame-wise, through the shortened lingering effects ).Then again, with a flying and possibly subsonically active bard, probably invisible to boot, where is the immediate danger ? Unless you tell the players or mention him accidentally, they will probably never know there is a bard enhancing the troops.
Though in all honesty, subsonic inspiration of courage and fervour, especially with drums, is utterly cheesy and appears frankly absurd.
Perhaps one of the reasons why we (as a house rule) limited subsonics to suggestion and fascinate effects, but not extending it to outright battlefield buffing.
After all, what is making your blood churn and your temper rise if you actually do hear ...... nothing ? One of the places were the rules allow outright absurd results.
just my 2 cents
Another spell of interest I found, Percussion, basically provides accompaniment to the Bard. I imagine a flying, invisible Bard, playing drums to inspire courage all about the battlefield and when detected, cast Percussion and move on to another spot to continue drumming. Of course, Subsonics and the feat that allows actions while using bardic music will really keep the party busy and the bard safe.
I would rule out the maintenance of the drum-performance through use of the "percussion" spell - it provides background accompaniment for the main performance (much like a showband) and does not replace it or carry the tune on its own.
I never intended Percussion to do anything of the sort! My plan is to use that particular spell as a grand deception. By placing them at different locations around the battlefield the Bard hopes to mislead the heroes, distracting them, making them spend resources in a vain attempt to quash him. Think of it as some small revenge, making them look foolish and they tried to make him feel...
The bard's own performance on the drums is what powers the "song of courage" and the boost from the instrument (which is balanced, metagame-wise, through the shortened lingering effects ).
Then again, with a flying and possibly subsonically active bard, probably invisible to boot, where is the immediate danger ? Unless you tell the players or mention him accidentally, they will probably never know there is a bard enhancing the troops.
Since this Bard will be able to inspire courage 9-10 times during this battle, Subsonics is not even necessary really. Play drums to Inspire, cast Percussion to mimic the *sound* of the drum if not the effect, allow effect to linger and move on to a safer location, restart the Inspire beat, rinse... repeat... as necessary.
Though in all honesty, subsonic inspiration of courage and fervour, especially with drums, is utterly cheesy and appears frankly absurd.Perhaps one of the reasons why we (as a house rule) limited subsonics to suggestion and fascinate effects, but not extending it to outright battlefield buffing.
After all, what is making your blood churn and your temper rise if you actually do hear ...... nothing ? One of the places were the rules allow outright absurd results.just my 2 cents
On the surface, I agree with you on this. But suppose the intent of Subsonics is the creation of sympathetic vibrations in the 'listeners', sort of the way a dog whistle works, or the way you can feel certain low frequency wavelengths, tho inaudible to human ears.
I don't see that as unreasonable.
In either case, Subsonics or no, the tactic is achieveable. Perhaps it wouold be better to use a different feat than Subsonics to aid in some other fashion.
I like Mad Turin's prose on the grand entrance of the assault force arriving to the beat of a drum.
Cheers!
Also, did anyone else notice that Farshore is very nearly surrounded by cliffs? The bard's going to be able to Inspire a great many allies with those acoustics!
My new favorite spell for this encounter is Creaking Cacophony, a 40' radius spread of sound so loud that spell casters within must make Concentration checks
Lesser widening rod makes that an 80' radius. That should take up the entire battlemap.
Cheers!
Here is the first cut at the NPC, spoiler tagged for size.
Vanthus' Little Buddy CR 10
Half-Elf Bard 10
CE Medium humanoid
Init +4; Senses Listen +13, Spot +0
Languages Common, Abyssal, Elven, Olman, Sylvan
AC 29 or 31 w/buckler, touch 14, flat-footed 25 or 27 (DEX +4, barkskin +4, ring of protection +3, mithril breastplate +3, darkwood buckler +1)
hp 76 (10d6+30 HD)
Fort +6, Ref +11, Will +6;
Spd 30 ft.
Melee +14/+9 harmonizing rapier +3 (1d6+5; 18-20);
w/inspire courage +18/+13 harmonizing rapier +3 (1d6+10; 18-20)
Base Atk +7/+2; Grp +9
Atk Options
Special Actions countersong, fascinate, bardic music (inspire courage [as Bard 15] +4/+5; inspire competence; inspire greatness;), suggestion
Combat Gear lesser metamagic rod (widen spell), potion of flying (4), harmonizing rapier +3, cloak of charisma +4,
Spells Prepared (CL 10th, +7(+9) touch, +9(+11) ranged touch, 6/4/4/4/2)
4th (0+1) freedom of movement, cure critical wounds (4d8+10)
3rd (2+1) mass curse of impending blades, creaking cacophony, haste, phantom steed
2nd (3+1) invisibility, rage, fortissimo, silence (DC 18)
1st (3+2) inspirational boost, grease, silent image (DC 17), hideous laughter (DC 17)
o (3+2) flare, resistance, percussion, message, prestidigitation, light
Abilities Str 10(14), Dex 14(18), Con 12(16), Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 18(22)
SQ bardic knowledge
Feats Song of the Heart, Melodic Casting, Lingering Music, Weapon Finesse
Skills Balance +11, Bluff +11, Concentration +16, Diplomacy +10, Escape Artist +16, Hide +13, Listen +13, Move Silently +13, Perform(Percussion) +18, Perform(Sing) +15, Tumble +17, Use Magic Device +19, Spellcraft +7;
Possessions combat gear, vest of legends, masterwork drum, potion of bulls strength, potion of cats grace, greater invisibility scroll, amulet of health +4
Comments welcome
Cheers!
Here is the first cut at the NPC, spoiler tagged for size.
Vanthus' Little Buddy CR 10
** spoiler omitted **Comments welcome
Cheers!
OK, as for the critique :
First off, this guys has massive case of overload on magical gear. The suggested wealth level for an NPC at 10th is 16000gp worth of gear. Perhaps double that for an important (usually a major villain etc) bad guy. Which would be around 32k.....
Let's have a look at your build..... here we have a mithril BP (10k), ring of protection +3 (18k ), hamonizing rapier (32k or 22k depnding upon your take on the enchanmnet ), vest of legends (12k+ ?), widen metamagic rod -lesser (14k), Amulet of Health +4 (16k), Cloak of Charisma +4 ( 16k ).... with the disposables, that is roughly 120000gp of equipment, and this guy only plays second fiddle to VV ?
Besides, just ask yourself if you want 120k of extra loot - that is 33% more loot, and all of it magical, than even Emraag the Glutton will provide, at CR 16 ! And that thing is considered to be a major menace to which even the Crimson Fleet bows and rather pays the bribe - to float around in your campaign if they actually catch this little guy.
IMHO, this is simply an overdose of GM love for a cherished NPC - never a good thing.... YMMV, but you asked for a critique
Besides, NONE of this is needed for his primary job of supporting Vanthus and making him a tougher fight for the PCs ! Actually this guy might really be the more important target to take out for the PCs, given his effect on the battle, their shared history and (notthat the players should know ) the wealth to be gained from him.
For one, give him the "medal of valour" (MIC ) instead of the "vest of legend" for the basically the same effect at 1/10th the cost.... then provide him with a mithril BP+1, a mask of flying (from MoF) , a wand of eagle's splendour and the lesser metamagic rod, add the buckler and perhaps a +1 harmonising rapier and you stay within suggested NPC wealth limits and he is as capable of doing his job.
Add more layered defenses with potions of mirror image, blur, a lesser mm-rod of extension (for invisibility if needed ) if you feel generous. Displacement lasts shorter, as does blink but potions of these might just be handy. Add a hat of Disguise to make him change appearances to get lost in the turmoil of battle if the players spot him.
Give him a few potions of cure serious wounds, and/or perhaps a wand of cure moderate or cure serious to help out VV - after all, he can fly right to the side of Vanthus, heal him while invisible and be off again without the player ever being certain he was around !
Remember, this guy is not only boosting Vanthus, but each and every pirate within hearing range (which is a considerable distance ) - and depending on your take, also the golems, the vrocks etc etc etc.... each and everyone of these gets +4/+5 to hit and damage on each of his attacks, making them far more likely to hit and somewhatmore deadly upon doing so.... modified by feat usage.
If each individual combat was rolled out, this would turn the pirate attack into a wave of carnage with the defenders of Farshore being turned into so much minced meat.
As for feats, replace Weapon Finesse (he should support, not steal the glory from VV ) with Combat Expertise to enable him to stay out of combat and/or unharmed if threatened, or Doomspeaker for more climatic moments.
Change his race to human (what is the point of an half-elf with this concept anyways, except perhaps for story-telling considerations ? But you intend to make him that ex-PC, right ?), and get an extra feat instead . If you want more HP, pick "Improved Toughness"... or extra bardic music... or whatever...
There is also little if no backstory (ok, this is probably provided through the ex-PC connection ) and reason why this guy is not actually in charge of the invasion fleet instead of Vanthus, since he definitely has the powers and means to sway the crews, his fellow pirates, the Yuan-Ti delegation and almost everyone else in the bargain into granting him comand instead of that upstart VV. So if he could take the POWER, why doesn't he but stays subservient ?
Vikingson:
I believe that Hired Sword stated in his opening post that this character was a former PC, whom he wanted to bring back as a sidekick to a villain as a twist for the players, which may have 'locked in' some of the choices for gear and feats.
Gear can be replaced and reasoned/explained away - after all he might have to have bribed his way into the CF. In addition, none of this stuff has actually dropped in the regular STAP in the first 4 adventures (which makes it unlikely to be in his possession mandatorily ), and some of it is of higher quality and prize than even the stuff the major villains use (such as a rapier enchanted to effectively +4... even Vanthus only has a +3 sword ) which sort of counteracts the point of him being the sidekick.... I mean, does Robin have cooler equipment than batman ? I didn't think so.
And, NONE of it is necessary. Except for perhaps the medal of valour and the MW drums (worth about 2k altogether, the both of them ) , this guy could do his job naked and/or with help of some potions and the right spell picks.
As for feats.... rebuild options exist (PHB II, even if they IMHO sugg major ) and the guy would have had to drop out of the campaign before the SWW to meet up with vanthus and join the CF, possibly even before BWG, that is definitely before reaching level 6 and the third feat, leaving a whole bunch of opportunities for development open.
I loved your story about the bugbear with the antimagic torque by the way; was the torque the one with 10 rounds duration once/day listed in the FR Underdark book?
based on the FR item, but relic-ish in nature, created by an Erythnul-lookalike diety of carnage through brute strength. The bugbear in question was one of his "chosen few" ( the PCs knew he was imprtant, but not quite that exalted ) , being gifted with the torque, which triggered upon the wearer going into rage, with an increasingly difficult Will-DC (to be made by the wearer) to activate on successive rages.
OK, as for the critique :First off, this guys has massive case of overload on magical gear. The suggested wealth level for an NPC at 10th is 16000gp worth of gear. Perhaps double that for an important (usually a major villain etc) bad guy. Which would be around 32k.....
Let's have a look at your build..... here we have a mithril BP (10k), ring of protection +3 (18k ), hamonizing rapier (32k or 22k depnding upon your take on the enchanmnet ), vest of legends (12k+ ?), widen metamagic rod -lesser (14k), Amulet of Health +4 (16k), Cloak of Charisma +4 ( 16k ).... with the disposables, that is roughly 120000gp of equipment, and this guy only plays second fiddle to VV ?
Besides, just ask yourself if you want 120k of extra loot - that is 33% more loot, and all of it magical, than even Emraag the Glutton will provide, at CR 16 ! And that thing is considered to be a major menace to which even the Crimson Fleet bows and rather pays the bribe - to float around in your campaign if they actually catch this little guy.
IMHO, this is simply an overdose of GM love for a cherished NPC - never a good thing.... YMMV, but you asked for a critiqueBesides, NONE of this is needed for his primary job of supporting Vanthus and making him a tougher fight for the PCs ! Actually this guy might really be the more important target to take out for the PCs, given his effect on the battle, their shared history and (notthat the players should know ) the wealth to be gained from him.
For one, give him the "medal of valour" (MIC ) instead of the "vest of legend" for the basically the same effect at 1/10th the cost.... then provide him with a mithril BP+1, a mask of flying (from MoF) , a wand of eagle's splendour and the lesser metamagic rod, add the buckler and perhaps a +1 harmonising rapier and you stay within suggested NPC wealth limits...
Yeah, definitely went overboard on some of that gear, I had already started trimming stuff out. Replacing items with potions and completely removing the armor and weapon's, since I am instead going to have him remain hidden on the battlefield and to flee should things, as they inevitably do, turn on the tide.
With regard to some of your points: 1) The the value of the magic items, nearly all of them would unusable to or unwanted by the remaining party members and at 50% sell back cost, that 120k quickly turns into 60k. The group is currently at 5 members and they are actively recruiting a sixth so cash needs to be adjusted upwards anyway. They inadvertently bypassed a couple of encounters (to protect the civilians), thereby missing some usable loot, which again means I need to increase it somewhat. They were decidedly unlucky in the Dark Mountain Pass and both meleer's lost their metal armor and are now wearing hand-me-downs and scavenged bits. still, no reason to be OVERLY generous, right?
2) Cherished love for the NPC? no, hardly that. More a case of putting a burr under their saddle. The remaining players think bards are useless, I wanted take this opportunity to make a bard into a worthy adversary, in a role they are better designed for, supporting others.
3) Making the support NPC as/more important than VV: This definitely is not the desired effect. So I must ensure that I focus on buffing and inspiring. Make him a target only if the party realizes the buffs that are in place are due to the drumming.
Thanks for the critique. It was a great help to see another perspective.
Cheers!
Yeah, definitely went overboard on some of that gear, I had already started trimming stuff out. Replacing items with potions and completely...
rings of protection +3 and +3 weaponry being "unwanted" or superfluous at 10th level. I don't know your group but that sounds..... unusual. I know my players licked their fingers to get their grubby hands on VV's longsword +3 (even though their primary fighters were two-hand and Finesse based ). The +3 mithril BP would be highly popular around here as well, especially in swashbuckling campaign
Did your group skip the Zhozilla and Jaguar Temple encounters entirely, t make them that low on adequate protection ? Just wondering, because - just considering PC wealth - the Zhozilla encounter is pretty disruptive. And the +4 mithril BP found there actually drew heartfelt groans of desire from the players.
Just pointing out, that while the STAP may be miselry on handing out wealth to the PCS at times, when it does, it does in spades.
Sorry for the "overdose for a beloved NPC" remark - it may have come over rather differently from what I intended, possibly sightly insulting which was not the intention.
What generally stuck in my craw was more the "generic-nesh" of the magical items, which also has been a major foible for me in the STAP in its entirity (as well as the RotRL-AP).
There is hardly any "memorable" or interesting combo, every NPC seems maxxed out for high AC, a decent weapon and.... hardly anything else. Where is "fun" stuff like "Iron Bands of Billaro", a "cape of the mountebank" or a wand of some not-PHB spell ? Never happens... and the STAP was written when Paizo still enjoyed full access to all of WotC's secondary books (and freely used them when it came to monsters, broken as some of the rules thereby are. But never an item that was not "core" ?
Yes I can remedy that myself (and I do) , but sorry folks, all that creativity on the setup, and then just plain, boring porridge on the loot ? Does someone realize that some "odd" or "remarkable" treasure becomes as much a landmark in a campaign as having just lobbed of Olangru's head ?
jeeeeeez, sorry, but when I saw Rowyn basically carrying identical gear in SWW and TiNH, that wasn't one of my most mirthful moments. And Vanthus's stuff is just... mehhhhh, who cares if his sickle is keen or not, but something more demonic like a writhing tattoo or odd, chitinous protective item carved from the horns of a Balor giving him a bonus to natural armour, or an aura of menace, providing a further -1 to hit in melee would have been ..... notable. Not to mention something more buccaneerish or swahbuckling like some sash with a power akin to the "Quicksilver Boots" from the MIC...
ok, this goes off tangent, sorry for the hijack
Maybe too late, but Rowyn had a feat in her reprotoir that let her make a bardic music check disguised (I think it was a perform: dance vs spot check to notice). Since this bard was once an ally of the party, it might be fun if they did not realize (at least not at first) that he was now working with VV. This was in SWW (which we just started) of course that switches dance from percussion, but nice effect anyway. still sounds like a lot of fun! nice job
Oh yeah invisibility/silence is a good way to hang around the party spell casters. just be sure to use it after the inspire is in effect and you have five rounds to mess with the casters.