Good Evening all!
I have a bit of a connundrum in my AoW campaign. One of the player's has chosen to play a Dragon Shaman, which has an aura that deals damage to anyone/thing that damages the character (or allies within 30'). The most obvious problem (of course) is that this pretty much makes the group immune to the effects of the Kyuss worms.
So... any advice on how to handle this? Options that have been ruled out are:
1) Should have never allowed it in the first place.
2) Kill the character off.
well... my version of option 3 -
3) emphasize the horror of being the only ones that are immune, put them in situations where they arrive too late to save those nice NPCs, where their familiy friends mentors die horribly because Mr Shaman was off doing something else and wasn't there to save them. Rule that players are "allies" as far as the aura is concerned, but almost no NPCs make the grade.
if that doesn't put a spin on things for them, have the NPCs notice they are immune and wonder why? Have they made a pact with evil? ... bring on the torches and pitchforks ... or have them lauded as saints and redeemers, but make it hard for them to live up to that ideal...
separate the rest of the party from the Shaman and the see how they like the worms
at one point have them enter an area & use the aura to kill the attacking worms, only to find themselves neck deep in dead Kyuss worms as they pour out of the walls and ceiling, and well up from under their feet
also, this effect will be noted by minions of Kyuss and will attract suitable non-worm opposition, now every other NPC barman and stableboy is converted by the cult and used to slip poison in their beer, lame their horses, and make them mistrustful of any stranger, they're #1 on Team Kyuss' hitlist
later play a variant on the room neck deep in worms, have them encounter the worms, but the worms don't attack & therefore don't die, but they're still slithering and sliming their way up the PCs from toes to beltbuckle to armpits ... chuckle maliciously and say "oh you can kill them, but there are always more ... and they still want you ..."
finally, a couple adventure in have one of the bad guys, Filge or who ever develope a spell or alchemical potion or something than can disrupt the aura for a limited period of time - not enough to ruin the usefulness of the power, but enough to scare the pants off them the first time, and make them cautious ever after ...
and anyway, even if you don't kill the character off, he's gonna have to be the target of any of Kyuss' minions smart enoguh to figure out what is going on ...
anyway, hope that helps
B
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While the above is a bit over the top, it is a viable idea. Just because a given PC is immune/those nearby are immune... It doesn't mean *everything* is immune.
Or you can have a strict definition of who counts as any ally, and keep track of how far away his allies are at any given time. Introduce friendly NPCs that aren't vital to the AP only to have them show up as spawn later on. After a few adventures, the servants of Kyuss are going to take note of the character's immunity, and so he'll be relatively high on their hit list. On the flip side, those who are friendly to the party may demand that he stays close as a bodyguard. The cultists may begin spreading rumors about the party, as well, suggesting reasons why the characters seem immune as their notoriety grows while fighting to stop the Age of Worms.
And why isn't killing off the PC an option? Death happens to the best-prepared of characters. If a PC seems particularly effective, it is logical that the enemy will begin to notice and plan to bring their foe down...
And why isn't killing off the PC an option? Death happens to the best-prepared of characters. If a PC seems particularly effective, it is logical that the enemy will begin to notice and plan to bring their foe down...
Well he does say 'Kill Character off."
To my mind there is a pretty clear distinction between allowing characters to die during the course of an adventure and killing them off. Killing them off pretty much implies that the DM has singled out the character to die for reasons that are not a logical result of what took place during the adventure.
I kill lots of PCs but I never ever 'kill a character off.' That would be a blatant violation of the social contract. This is probably true at any table but maybe its especially true at a table with a killer DM where the players must be certain that their [many] deaths are not due to DM 'cheating' but are on the up and up.
One of the player's has chosen to play a Dragon Shaman, which has an aura that deals damage to anyone/thing that damages the character (or allies within 30'). The most obvious problem (of course) is that this pretty much makes the group immune to the effects of the Kyuss worms.
I played a Dragon Shaman through all of STAP recently, and this problem seems to be an easy fix / house rule.
The energy shield aura, IIRC, says that any creature that strikes you with a natural attack or a non-reach melee weapon takes the damage, not "anything that damages the character". The most obvious and efficient house rule to put the fear of worms back in the game is to rule that because Kyuss worms don't make an attack roll to burrow into someone, the aura won't affect them. Sure, the attacking spawn will take a few points of damage (unless it threw the worm as a ranged attack), but they'll still have to worry about getting the worm off them in time.
Even if you decide to rule in favor of the players and allow the aura to kill off infesting worms, this isn't as game-breaking as you fear. If the Shaman is unconscious, the aura doesn't function. If the allies get farther away than 30', the aura doesn't work (let's hope that shaman makes every fear save...). Hell, if the player has a different aura active, all is well. If he played at all like I did, he'll start with the initiative aura active and then will have to wait until his first activation to switch out -- in which case you have plenty of surprise rounds, ambushes, etc.
And even if your players get lucky and do manage to totally avoid the first few threats of worms from the spawn, etc...
...that will just make the worms hidden in the potions, the ulgurstasa, the swords of Kyuss, and all those nasty invocations that much more horrifying when they reach them. Those guys are practically guaranteed to get a character or two infested, and usually by then a party has had enough practice with the worms to know what to do...
Hope that helps!
I have a dragon shaman cohort in my game. The energy shield has really not been that useful over all.
Yes, as a PC it can make a difference early on, but the worms will no longer be a threat (and will likely not have been a threat for a while)by the time the reach the Spires.
Even using the toned down version of the Invocation of the Worm I managed to drop two cohorts and severly injure the PCs. The printed version would have likely been a TPK.
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And why isn't killing off the PC an option? Death happens to the best-prepared of characters. If a PC seems particularly effective, it is logical that the enemy will begin to notice and plan to bring their foe down...Well he does say 'Kill Character off."
To my mind there is a pretty clear distinction between allowing characters to die during the course of an adventure and killing them off. Killing them off pretty much implies that the DM has singled out the character to die for reasons that are not a logical result of what took place during the adventure.
I kill lots of PCs but I never ever 'kill a character off.' That would be a blatant violation of the social contract. This is probably true at any table but maybe its especially true at a table with a killer DM where the players must be certain that their [many] deaths are not due to DM 'cheating' but are on the up and up.
Your point is taken, with the definition of terminology. As a GM who has run HackMaster, I can appreciate the distinction between 'smackdown' and 'cheap shot'. One must abide by the Rules, else you'll find yourself sitting alone at the table.