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After a long hiatus we started up the Bullywug Gambit last night. I thought I would post about some of the more interesting things that happened with my group, as well as some things about the adventure that I noticed.
Since they never found the silver dagger below parrot island, their solution to Veldimar Krund was... interesting. They ended up grappling him, tieing him up, and tossing him into a tidal pool. So now that they're 3rd level, the party necromancer went back and liberally applied Command Undead.
This is going to be great fun story-wise. They now have a minion to dress in eyepatches and tricorn hats and so on. I'm having a great time roleplaying the guy too. I've given him a raspy whisper, and he is always wanting to kill things and be generally nasty. Should be fun when they make him give them healing for the first time. Negative Energy is healing, right?
Unfortunately, I think there are some problems with this situation balance wise. They essentially have an invincible attack sponge (DR 10/silver). While he is totally ineffective in combat, he does absorb attacks nicely. Took a full pounce from Ripclaw without a scratch. I think it will probably work its way out soon though as they level up and he remains the same. I'm also not sure just how willing he should be to go along with the necromancer's orders. I don't want to be mean about it, but I don't want to let the player get away with anything he wants to. (i.e. using the huecuva as a scout.) Any suggestions here?
On to the recap.
So the party makes it near the cove and are suitably weirded out by all the mutant savagery. I had great fun describing it, and gave a few players shivers. The monkeys were fabulous, chittering and skittering about, biting things as their heads exploded. I realized that the DR 5/magic was going to suck for my party (2 rogue/swashbucklers, necromancer, psion, and monk). They'll get over it, but it is very frustrating for them. As is the "immune to mind affecting" that continues to plague the psion (telepath).
The necromancer and one of the rogues contract savage fever, and now they're very worried about it, as the black rash and sores and bony protrusions are spreading. Veldimar's observation "What happened to you boss? I like it. You look good".
They make it to the cove and shenanigans ensue getting down to the beach. The psion tries to get out of the way of the Slippery Eel, fails his balance check, fails his reflex save, goes tumbling into the shallow water below, and the walkway falls in burning ruins onto his head. Not a happy player.
The huecuva ends up swan diving into the cove, sinks to the bottom, then climbs up the Sea Wyvern's anchor chain, hand over hand. The rest of the party is in love with the ship and really liked the description. We have a few sailors in the group, so this was fun. They searched the ship, but found nothing useful. The sea charts needed to get out of the cove are not aboard. I'm glad I did this, as they are a bunch of cowards and I pretty much have to force them to not run away all the time.
I ended up sprinkling the beach with slaughtered Black Shield Company mercs to tighten up the story in case the PCs get too curious.
The monk kept grappling and pinning the savage pirates, and the others poked at them. This was fun, as when they exploded, the whole party got splashed. This happened multiple times. Silly players.
Now to Ripclaw. He's nasty. Which I knew, but I didn't realize how much. A rogue ended up moving through the room invisibly, then pushed some silks away. At this point, ripclaw, who had been stalking her foot steps, pounced. I gave her a reflex save to get out of the way (she was invisible after all), and he crashed past her into the wall. the whole party starts fleeing at this point, out onto the beach. Ripclaw charges out of his room, zips forward and tackles Veldimar Krund, doing NO damage on 4 hits. Stupid DR 10. The rogue drops invisibility to get a sneak attack off and crits (players love the crit deck!). This just pisses Ripclaw off and after absorbing a rounds worth of attacks he turns and mauls her. I do 25 damage, but pull my punch and only do 23, so she drops to -9. That is a NASTY dinosaur. Luckily the rest manage to finish it off before the next round. (and I spare her unconscious body the acid damage too). I know, I'm too generous. But I think it's much more important that the players feel that death is always present, and that they could die if they screw up, than actually kill them arbitrarily with a random monster.
By this time the monk has the savage fever as well. And he only has 6 Int to start, so it could be rough. They are scared to death of the things biting them. It's great! I really like the flavor of this adventure so far and the evocativeness of it when describing scenes to the PCs.
I'm 2 weeks away from beginning the Savage Tide adventure path and these lower-level reads are a godsend. Keep 'em coming so I can roughly gauge what my PC's are in for.
This is awsome. how come Ripclaw could deal 25 to the pc, but not get over 10 on the heucuva? I think ALL bullywugs carry silver though, or at least they would in my STAP. how often does the heucuva need to save to resist the command? I think having it in the party is going to unbalance things, but if it gets washed overboard while you are out to see, whose to worry? just to cps.
If Ripclaw focuses on a low-AC PC in the first round of combat, it can get very ugly. His attack bonuses aren't huge, but he has so many attacks and can dish out so much damage that he can be pretty lethal. DR10 would do the job though!
As for in Vanderboren Manor, remember that the bullywug cleric (can't remember the name) can rebuke/command undead - and will, if give half a chance! PCs might not be feeling so confident when they have to fight Veldimar again as well as Drevoraz and the rest.
Let the cleric use his highest-level Summon to summon a dretch - or two, if you get lucky on the bullywug special ability roll. The Stinking Clouds they can dish out are unlikely to bother Drevoraz given his Fort save, plus the side-switched Veldimar is completely immune to the effect and can wreak havok unmolested!
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This is awsome. how come Ripclaw could deal 25 to the pc, but not get over 10 on the heucuva? I think ALL bullywugs carry silver though, or at least they would in my STAP. how often does the heucuva need to save to resist the command? I think having it in the party is going to unbalance things, but if it gets washed overboard while you are out to see, whose to worry? just to cps.
Ripclaw gets 5 attacks on a pounce. Each deals less than 10 damage, but added up they are a lot.
The huecuva would get a save every CL days. so 3 or 4 right now. However, once commanded, he can just be ordered to not resist any spells cast on him. But don't worry, I'll get rid of him soon enough.
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As for in Vanderboren Manor, remember that the bullywug cleric (can't remember the name) can rebuke/command undead - and will, if give half a chance! PCs might not be feeling so confident when they have to fight Veldimar again as well as Drevoraz and the rest.
Let the cleric use his highest-level Summon to summon a dretch - or two, if you get lucky on the bullywug special ability roll. The Stinking Clouds they can dish out are unlikely to bother Drevoraz given his Fort save, plus the side-switched Veldimar is completely immune to the effect and can wreak havok unmolested!
This suggestion is made of win! Awesome. Though I don't know how far I will take the Bullywug tactics. The party is, shall we say, unoptimized. And without a cleric of their own. I don't want to totally screw them. But definitely rebuking!