OK, can't go in or out. So if you're outside the tower and attempt to teleport into the top floor - does your teleportation just fail and you remain where you are? Or do you find yourself 100 feet up in the air, just outside the tower's upper floor?
As I read/assume it, teleportation fails and nothing happens.
OK, can't go in or out. So if you're outside the tower and attempt to teleport into the top floor - does your teleportation just fail and you remain where you are? Or do you find yourself 100 feet up in the air, just outside the tower's upper floor?
It just fails.
A DM's Familiar dataset is now available for The Final Wish. It can be downloaded here.
DM's Familiar is a program you use at the gaming table to run your combat's faster and smoother, easily look up rules, and keep your game organized. The dataset contains the OGC creatures from the adventure so that you don't have to do any data entry!
Would it be inappropriately cruel for a lava tentacle to pull a PC into the lava lake rather than just bludgeoning and burning?
20d6 sounds more fun than 3d6+4. :D
I am completely missing the scale for Xotanis Grave. Help?
Rob confirmed here that the map scale is 10 ft. per square.
Is anything stopping Jhavhul from using Change Size on himself to become Gargantuan?
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Is anything stopping Jhavhul from using Change Size on himself to become Gargantuan?
I was wondering the same thing the other day and I came to the conclusion that the only thing stopping him is the DM's whim. He's intelligent enough to recognize if it would be to his benefit to enlarge instead of trying to shrink an opponent. Also, it occurred to me that if the dominated Fire Giants aren't dealt with before encountering Jhavhul, it is completely within reason for him to force them to wish to restore him to full health, depending on how evil you want to be as a DM. I plan to roll 1d4-1 when my players encounter him to see if he has managed to use his wishes for the day. Considering the PCs are the most dangerous threat to his plans he's faced up to this point, it's safe to say he'd be willing to delay his final transformation for a day if it meant killing the troublemakers.
He can cast Quickened Change Size 2/day, so there's nothing stopping him doing both, but it's not like a 15th lvl melee character will fail that DC 16 Fort save, unless on a natural 1.
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I was reading through Serpent's Skull and in the final chapter:
and that seemed truly epic to me. So, I was thinking, why not let Jhavhul merge with Xotani? They fight him, he dies and when he sinks in to the lava, Xotani absorbs him. Then I'd give PCs a few rounds to recuperate after which, Xotani bursts forth and we go again. Of course, he's CR 20 and he'll need some nerfing and PCs will need some boosting (I'd make them lvl 16 before the final fight).
The reason I'm doing this is because I think that Xotani as a boss has a more epic feel than just a huge efreet... Him being a Spawn of Rovagug and all that, and through talks with my PCs it seems to me they're more afraid of him than of Jhavhul. So, I think it would give them a bigger sense of success if they beat Jhavhul as Xotani.
Thoughts?
I've been circling around the idea of creating a seventh chapter in the Legacy of Fire AP for my group, where the heroes must find a way to permanently dispose of the Firebleeder once and for all. I have years to come with it at the rate my group is progressing, however, and so far I've just come up with a handful of notions:
1. Part Seven "begins" shortly after the heroes have defeated Jhavhul and left the House of the Beast. As the sun sets, Pale Mountain erupts, and the reborn Xotani claws its way free amid a fountain of flame and lava, a terrifying sight visible all the way from Kelmarane. The (fully rested and likely 15th-level) PCs must battle the Firebleeder on the slopes of Pale Mountain -- and are almost assuredly vaporized in a few rounds.
2. The heroes wake up! Xotani was just a dream! I don't plan on ever making my PCs actually face the murder machine that is Xotani (I think his CR 20 rating is a severe underestimation), but I certainly do want them to directly experience why Xotani is such a horror. If the PCs get together, they realize that everyone who fought Jhavhul that fateful day (and survived to share notes now) had the same dream last night. Not a dream -- a vision.
3. In fact, ten years and a year have passed since the defeat of Jhavhul. (I want the vast time jump for dual reasons: To mirror the time jump that followed Howl of the Carrion King, and to reinforce that The Final Wish was indeed the climax of Legacy of Fire, and this is an epilogue.)
4. The intervening years haven't been dull, but they've been mostly quiet. What little survived of the Carrion Tribes immediately splintered back into disparate, warring packs. Kelmarane has long since rebuilt and is stronger than ever, not having faced any united opposition from the Brazen Peaks in a decade.
5. The PCs are still, presumably, the knight protectors of Kelmarane, but I'll give them story award options (again mirroring the choices made at the end of HotCK) to reflect how they've spent the last 11 years.
6. The night of the vision was, in fact, the 11th anniversary of Jhavhul's defeat precisely. A tremor is felt that night, and the following morning, wisps of smoke can be seen rising from Pale Mountain.
7. The heroes return to Xotani's Grave. Trapped by his own anti-genie magics, Jhavhul's spirit has been reduced to a twisted edimmu, but he's no longer a threat, just a reminder of past glories. I'm thinking that some new group has attempted to slip in and revive Xotani, a plan years in the making and ill-fated from the start. This group could be a reassembled cult of Rovagug, a cabal of divs, daemons sent by the Horseman of War, or anything, really (in my own campaign, the group may actually be survivors of the Kulldis pack, led by the spiteful children of a gnoll PC -- long story). The scenario needs to be exceptionally fluid at the start, since the PCs could have left the House of the Beast in any sort of state post-The Final Wish. Anything from simply ignoring it to destroying it to moving in! At any rate, "part one" of this final adventure ends with the PCs wiping out the intruding baddies but confirming that Xotani's nigh-invincible corpse is slowly, over the course of a few months at most, knitting itself back together. It's only a matter of time before Xotani lives again!
8. Permanently destroying Xotani still remains beyond the reach of the PCs, so they must once again turn to the courts of genies to find allies and power... and that's as far as I've thought it through, really. Intend to send the PCs back to the City of Brass to win the aid of the Grand Sultan of the Efreet, and was thinking that the adventure should take the PCs to 18th level or so.
I don't know if my players will want to continue playing beyond the end of The Final Wish, but I have a few ideas about where to take them if they do.
I intend to push the PCs toward the continuation that takes them to the Elemental Plane of Water to permanently destroy the Firebleeder by drowning its heart in the deepest, darkest, coldest part of the plane.
The Captain of the Sunset Ship, who disappeared with the emkrah back in The Jackal's Price, will steal the heart to use as the primary ingredient in a ritual to mutate the emkrah into a new Firebleeder.
I haven't yet figured out why the captain wants to do this yet, but the reason should be suitably inscrutable.
Perhaps he could be working for Ahriman? The more I ponder, the more I'm inclined to make the final faction some sort coalition of divs and daemons, with the PCs confronting them on Abaddon. The divs want to use Xotani to wipe out the genies of northern Garund; the daemons (under the Horseman of War) are just hoping to build another army of wizards and warriors to go battle the Firebleeder (and die horribly).
At CR 22, Ahriman might make for an interesting and obtainable final Big Bad.
20d6 is 70 dmg on average. It will either reduce the damage of Protection from Fire by 70 or deal 40 dmg to those with Resist Energy. It's good both ways.
20d6 is 70 dmg on average. It will either reduce the damage of Protection from Fire by 70 or deal 40 dmg to those with Resist Energy. It's good both ways.
Except the rules for Lava states "immunity or resistance to fire serves as an immunity to lava or magma".
I personally feel that has to be a typo, and resistance would serve as a resistance rather than as an immunity, but those are the printed rules.
20d6 is 70 dmg on average. It will either reduce the damage of Protection from Fire by 70 or deal 40 dmg to those with Resist Energy. It's good both ways.Except the rules for Lava states "immunity or resistance to fire serves as an immunity to lava or magma".
I personally feel that has to be a typo, and resistance would serve as a resistance rather than as an immunity, but those are the printed rules.
It is a consensus that that is a typo...or rather that some text got left out: "immunity or resistance to fire serves as an immunity OR RESISTANCE to lava or magma"
At least at the table I play at immunity to fire gives immunity to lava while resistance to fire gives resistance to lava. It only makes sense that way.
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20d6 is 70 dmg on average. It will either reduce the damage of Protection from Fire by 70 or deal 40 dmg to those with Resist Energy. It's good both ways.Except the rules for Lava states "immunity or resistance to fire serves as an immunity to lava or magma".
I personally feel that has to be a typo, and resistance would serve as a resistance rather than as an immunity, but those are the printed rules.
It is a consensus that that is a typo...or rather that some text got left out: "immunity or resistance to fire serves as an immunity OR RESISTANCE to lava or magma"
At least at the table I play at immunity to fire gives immunity to lava while resistance to fire gives resistance to lava. It only makes sense that way.
it does have the feel that its an omission. it was an omission/flaw that was present in 3.5, and the text probably didn't get analyzed. i think only rules lawyers are aware of it ( aka my whole group ). I consider immunity or resistance a valid interpretation =) ( and that certainly fixes it... HINT HINT Game Developers looking for Errata!!! )
My players hit on the idea of using Nefeshti's wishes to counteract Jhavhul's wishes. That is to say, they would burn her wishes to wish that Jhavhul not be reborn in Xotani to try to keep his thousand-wish count stalled.
This seems kind of anticlimatic (it removes the time pressure) and contrary to the spirit of the adventure (high fantasy slinging wishes around) but I can't think of a good reason this wouldn't work other than "because I say so." Am I missing something?
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At this point one wish (or even three) will not stop Jhavhul from achieving his end. IIRC my players suggested something like this and Nefeshti replied with "If it were that easy I would have done it already."
Have Nefeshti advise that the wish magic Jhavhul is using is too powerful for her to overcome, after all he has cast 997 wishes to get to this point. At best Nefeshti's wish will simply not work, at worst it could cause a tremendous backlash. Trying to stop this with wish magic could be like pouring petrol on a fire in an attempt to put it out. Nefeshti knows this and will refuse the request.
I forget where, but the module specifically comments on this. The explanation is something along the lines of "Jhavhul knows far more about wishcraft than Nefeshti, and she knows it. His wishes are worded more strongly than she could think up." The tone is akin to a legal situation where the defense knows the law is on their side, but that the other lawyer is so good as using the legal code that it's pointless to try and argue the case.
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even written in 3.5 jhavhul's stats are a bit wonky.
42 str gives a +16 str.
he wields a scimitar , which by the damage dice, would have to be a huge scimitar. even a +3 huge adamantine scimitar, in one hand would be +19 damage, +21 with his specialization. ...
but he's charted as 2d6+31...
even wielding it in two hands ( which doesn't explain being able to make a slam attack in his full attack block.... ), that would be +29, two points short of the +31. I figure they put the specialization in twice by accident, or downgraded it from +5 to +3 at some point.
... hmmh. unless they're already counting in the 10 point power attack from 3.5? he'd normally be a +38 to hit in melee, +42 with a +3 scimitar considering his weapon focus. then his damage would be 2d6+31... but his bonus to hit would be off, and it wouldn't be good to list that as his base statistics and then say he attacks with a 10 point power attack in hi stats...
not to mention his saves which look weird.
s'all a bit wonky.
just had to convert him for my home game as they're finally reaching him ( i gave him a bit of a bump because i have a HUGE group by the time we reached him. converted him to a Pathfinder outsider, and made him Fighter 5 ).
One of the things that I find...odd...about the final encounter is that it is listed as EL16. The previous APs all had ELs of 20/21. I am thinking about upping the EL a bit by adding a few targets in the manner of
3 Efreeti Janissaries (elite bodyguards)
9 Erinyes (harem)
8 Janni Captain (thugs)
That puts it more at a EL 20. But, this seems a bit much to me unless the party has quite a number of followers/NPCs with them.
Something a little more reasonable for smaller parties might be just to add 4 Fire Giants or 4 Noble Salamanders. This would up the EL to a 19.5 but would be appropriate for a smaller party of 4 I think. Especially since the party would be sure to have abilities geared to fighting Cold Vulnerable enemies.
My players are thinking about just going in one of the windows of the Brazen Tower and starting near the top. I can't see any reason why that wouldn't work. Anyone thought about or dealt with this?
Similarly, they've considered blasting their way in via disintegrate and similar spells. Such a spell easily does enough damage to overcome hardness 20. Seems a might easy for a "major artifact", but I can't see what's stopping them. Any ideas?
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My players are thinking about just going in one of the windows of the Brazen Tower and starting near the top. I can't see any reason why that wouldn't work. Anyone thought about or dealt with this?
Similarly, they've considered blasting their way in via disintegrate and similar spells. Such a spell easily does enough damage to overcome hardness 20. Seems a might easy for a "major artifact", but I can't see what's stopping them. Any ideas?
Note that there aren't actual windows in the tower. Areas B10 and B12 have arrow slits, but they're too narrow for a normal character to pass through. Area B13 doesn't actually have windows; the walls are transparent on the inside to function as windows, but they're of the same construction as the rest of the tower, which appears as brass from the outside. Finally, the arches in B14 are blocked by walls of force.
As for disintegrate and other spells, the tower does get a save. As an artifact, its caster level is at least 20, giving it a +12 save bonus. So even if it's hit with disintegrate, it can still save, taking only 5d6 points of damage, which may not get through its hardness. Alternatively, you could simply say that as a major artifact, it has specific requirements needed to destroy it - as a result, spells like disintegrate simply don't work on it.
All that being said, the PCs are high level at this point, and a lot of things that would be barriers to lower-level characters are easily overcome by higher-level characters. If your characters want to blast through, possibly destroying the tower in the process, you can let them. It might also result in having to face many of the tower's denizens at one time, but when you start blowing holes in artifacts, those inside are probably going to notice!
Thanks, Rob. Good ideas.
Now I just need to figure out how to handle the PC's facing the Clockwork General, Davashuum and some elder fire elementals all at once...
The PCs are very keen to get at Jhavul, and though it was a significant fight, they handled Narrgok and the temple with comparative ease (meaning only one of them died). I think they are feeling kinda cocky now that the end is in sight. I'm hoping Davashuum will be a real eye-opener for them.
Getting ready to run the retaking of Kelmarane here, and there's a couple of points I'm confused on:
1. Exactly how many Janni Captains are in the postern gate? The text says six, then three, then 5.
2. How many rolls does each PC make for the massive battle setpiece? I assume 4, right?
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Getting ready to run the retaking of Kelmarane here, and there's a couple of points I'm confused on:
1. Exactly how many Janni Captains are in the postern gate? The text says six, then three, then 5.
2. How many rolls does each PC make for the massive battle setpiece? I assume 4, right?
1. I had five, three in the tower with the Efreet and two on the balcony.
2. I had the PCs make four rolls.
-jeremy
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So I rewrote Davashuum completely, because I wasn't really happy with the old 3.5 version of him. I also have three half orcs, two of which who do a million damage, so I wanted to try something different.
I wanted to see if the Flowing Monk would give him a fighting chance against the two burly half orcs, and surprisingly, it did, it took them right out of the fight. Unfortunately, the archer, even only hitting once or twice a round finished him off, though it was cool to see him redirect the orcs attacks into each other. That was a lot of damage that was taken. I ran out of feats, so I couldn't use Deflect Arrows, I'm still kind of bummed by that, I think it would have been more challenging.
Davashuum CR 16
XP 76800
Genie, Janni Monk (Flowing Monk) 13
LE Medium Outsider (native)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +21
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Defense
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AC 36, touch 30, flat-footed 27 (+5 armor, +4 Dex, +1 natural, +3 deflection, +5 dodge)
hp 161 (6d10+13d8+69)
Fort +16, Ref +17, Will +14; +2 vs. enchantment spells and effects
Defensive Abilities evasion, improved evasion; Resist fire 10; SR 23
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft., flight (20 feet, perfect)
Melee +1 Ki focus, Shock, Thundering Quarterstaff +18/+13/+8 (1d6+8+1d6 electricity/1d6+3/19-20/x2+1d8 sonic+deafened) and
. . Unarmed strike +18/+13/+8 (2d8+7/x2) Flurried, it's +20/+20/+20/+15/+15/+10
Special Attacks flurry of blows +11/+11/+11/+6/+6/+1, ki strike, cold iron/silver, ki strike, lawful, ki strike, magic
Spell-Like Abilities Change Size (2/day) (DC 14), Create Food and Water (1/day), Ethereal Jaunt (for 1 hour) (1/day), Invisibility (self only) (3/day), Plane Shift (willing targets to elemental planes, , Speak with Animals (3/day)
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Statistics
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Str 21, Dex 19, Con 17, Int 13, Wis 18, Cha 13
Base Atk +15; CMB +24 (+26 Disarming, +26 Repositioning, +26 Tripping); CMD 50 (52 vs. Disarm, 52 vs. Reposition, 52 vs. Trip)
Feats Combat Expertise +/-4, Combat Reflexes (5 AoO/round), Dodge, Elusive Redirection, Extra Ki, Improved Critical (Quarterstaff), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Reposition, Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike, Ki Throw, Mobility, Vicious Stomp, Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff)
Skills Acrobatics +26 (+39 to jump), Appraise +10, Craft (weapons) +9, Escape Artist +20, Fly +22, Perception +21, Ride +15, Sense Motive +20, Spellcraft +11, Stealth +21
Languages Aquan, Common; telepathy (100 feet)
SQ abundant step, ac bonus +8, elemental endurance, elusive target, flowing dodge (maximum +4), high jump, ki defense, ki focus, ki pool, maneuver training, redirection (13/day) (dc 20), slow fall 60', thundering (dc 14), unarmed strike (2d8), unbalancing counter (dc 20), wholeness of body
Other Gear +1 Ki focus, Shock, Thundering Quarterstaff, Amulet of mighty fists +2, Bracers of armor +5, Monk's robe, Ring of protection +3, You have no money!
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Special Abilities
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Abundant Step (Su) Use 2 Ki as a move action, to dimension door self.
AC Bonus +8 The Monk adds his Wisdom bonus to AC and CMD, more at higher levels.
Change Size (2/day) (DC 14) (Sp) Twice per day, a janni can magically change a creature's size. This works just like an enlarge person or reduce person spell (the janni chooses when using the ability), except that the ability can work on the janni. A DC 13 Fortitude save negates the
Combat Expertise +/-4 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Combat Reflexes (5 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Damage Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Damage Resistance against Fire attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Elemental Endurance (Ex) Jann can remain on the Planes of Air, Earth, Fire, or Water for up to 48 hours at a time. Failure to return to the Material Plane before that time expires causes a janni to take 1 point of damage per additional hour spent on the elemental plane, unti
Elusive Redirection When you successfully avoid damage, spend 1 ki point to redirect attack back at opponent
Elusive Target (Ex) At 5th level, as an immediate action, a flowing monk may spend 2 points from his ki pool to attempt a Reflex save opposed by an attacker's attack roll to halve damage from that attack. At 11th level and above, the flowing monk suffers no damag
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Flight (20 feet, Perfect) You can fly!
Flowing Dodge (maximum +4) (Ex) At 3rd level, a flowing monk gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC for each enemy adjacent to him, up to a maximum bonus equal to his Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). This ability replaces fast movement.
Flurry of Blows +11/+11/+11/+6/+6/+1 (Ex) Make Flurry of Blows attack as a full rd action.
High Jump (+13/+33 with Ki point) (Ex) +13 to Acrobatics checks made to jump.
Improved Disarm You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when disarming.
Improved Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead. If you fail you take half damage.
Improved Reposition Reposition at +2, without an attack of opportunity.
Improved Trip You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when tripping.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Ki Defense (Su) A monk can spend 1 point from his ki pool to give himself a +4 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round.
Ki focus Channel ki attacks through weapon.
Ki Pool (Su) You have a ki pool equal to 1/2 your monk level + your Wisdom modifier.
Ki Strike, Cold Iron/Silver (Su) If you have ki remaining, unarmed strikes count as cold iron and silver to overcome DR.
Ki Strike, Lawful (Su) If you have ki remaining, unarmed strikes count as lawful to overcome DR.
Ki Strike, Magic (Su) If you have ki remaining, unarmed strikes count as magic to overcome DR.
Ki Throw Trips can put the target in any square you threaten.
Maneuver Training (Ex) CMB = other BABs + Monk level
Mobility +4 to AC against some attacks of opportunity.
Redirection (13/day) (DC 20) (Ex) At 1st level, as an immediate action, a flowing monk can attempt a reposition or trip combat maneuver against a creature that the flowing monk threatens and that attacks him. If the combat maneuver is successful, the attacker is sickened for 1 round
Slow Fall 60' (Ex) Treat a fall as shorter than normal if within arm's reach of a wall.
Spell Resistance (23) You have Spell Resistance.
Telepathy (100 feet) (Su) Communicate telepathically if the target has a language.
Thundering (DC 14) On a critical hit, foe is permanently deafened (Fort neg).
Unarmed Strike (2d8) The Monk does lethal damage with his unarmed strikes.
Unbalancing Counter (DC 20) (Ex) At 2nd level, a flowing monk's attacks of opportunity render a struck creature flat-footed until the end of the flowing monk's next turn (Reflex DC 10 + 1/2 the monk's level + Wisdom modifier negates). This ability replaces the bonus feat gained at 2
Vicious Stomp When opponent falls prone, it provokes an attack of opportunity from you
Wholeness of Body (13 Hp/use) (Su) Use 2 ki to heal own wounds as a standard action.
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My group just started the Impossible Eye and I'm now doing my prep for the Final Wish. As I read through the module, I keep coming back to one question I can't find an answer for - why should anyone care about Kelmarane?
Why did Jhavhul leave forces in Kelmarane?
I'm late to this party but here is my rationale for this question. Jhavhul knows turning into Xontani will likely result in the conflagration of the mountain, so he has all his flammable non-fire typed allies hang out in Kelmarane where they won't be instantly vaporized when the transformation occurs.
Why does Nefeshti care about Kelmarane?
She is a disgraced djinni noble who has made Garundi her second home for much of her life. She is also a kind of bleeding heart and doesn't want to see anyone suffer because of her failures. Her inability to stop Jhavhul has led to this situation and now she wants to free Kelmarane to get all the innocents out of the potential blast zone should she fail to stop Jhavhul again.
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Here's how I handled Xontani's grave with various changes.
* Teleport Trap over entire area. This brings them back to the beginning where Jhavhul has his greeting. Also, the dispel magic vs fire resistant magics kicks in again.
* All the lava has the black tentacles. This discourages just flying to the end.
* A boat like the one from the chapter 5 is parked straight ahead from the entrance. This protects the PCs from the tentacles in a 20ft radius centered on boat. On each end of boat is a bowl that drives the boat at 10ft per round. The PCs need to add fire to the bowl for it to go. This could be as simple as pouring oil in there and lighting it. This gives the PCs the chance explore and eliminate Jhavhul's backup rather then allowing them to go straight to end. It also coaxes the PCs to take the southern path first before hopping on the boat. The GM should try to get them to go South first so they can pick up allies.
* It already suggested this but Nahrimaf and Rajali are potential allies. Nahrimaf has a bet and doesn't want to lose while Rajali doesn't really want Jhavhul get his wish and leave her. Not that she cares for him, but she'll lose power. Also, if she's going to be dumped either way she may as well aid the PCs to keep every thing from exploding. Nahrimaf should offer the PCs a wish only after they defeat Jhavhul (see defeating Jhavhul). Rajali will actually aid in the fighting of Jhavhul if the PCs need help.
* West of the Rajali's crystal cave is a secret passage (so close it off). I also put her secure shelter there to block the way. She doesn't tell them about the secret door and they shouldn't have direct line of sight to it anyway. Use secret door stats from harem area (which I removed).
* Remove secret door at harem. Jhavhul can swim through the lava tube to get there and doesn't need a door.
* Limit vision to 60ft by having the lava produce smoke and noxious (but nonlethal) gases.
* Jhavhul will be invis and stealthed inside the skull and will use his permanent image to speak to the PCs while he prepares. I made the skull look like it came alive to speak to them. It starts off with a roar alerting all his allies to come to his aid and then he taunts them telling them their too late. They should see through the illusion easy enough, but he's still concealed by it and the skull, stealthed and invisible.
* Jhavhul was alerted to them on their arrival, leaves and convinces "someone" to grant his final Wish, but instead of taking the power right away he stipulates it take effect upon his or the PCs defeat. So, win or lose he will transform and get the power of Xotani. Upon the final blow to Jhavhul while at Xotani's grave he gets wrapped up in Xontani's heart. The PCs have 10 rounds to bring the 500hp heart with DR 15/epic, regen 40 (cold), Resist electricity 20, sonic 20; SR 34, down to 0. All AC 23 (6 touch) attacks hit, with no crits, bleed, abil dmg, energy drain, poison (stuff like that). During this time use all the effect from What if Jhavhul wins. Once down to 0 the heart briefly stops beating. It can not go below 0 and regen keeps going. They'll soon realize they need a wish to break the merging to stop Jhavhul (still only have 10 rounds before everything erupts if the merge is not stopped). In my game, the PCs could use wishes only in the presence of Nefeshti, but for the cost of 2 I allowed them to have one as a contingency for whatever they want. Nahrimaf, if not killed or attacked shows up and seeing Jhavhul "defeated" will offer a wish if needed.
Nice stuff! I may borrow some of it. I like the idea of a countdown even after Jhavhul's death.
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I used Xotani as a guide from the pfsrd for the heart, but I'm going to reduce the SR to 26, so the PC spell casters have a 50/50 chance of effecting it with spells. They're 14th level, but get +1 to caster level checks from Spooky buff.
I use MapTool and for Xotani's heart I use this image I cobbled together and tweaked: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kjsdwcxq5bdwnrn/Xotani's%20Heart.png?dl=0
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Here's how I handled Xontani's grave with various changes.
* All the lava has the black tentacles. This discourages just flying to the end.
Hah, I did the early Black Tentacles too, but with pretty much the opposite intention.
I started the "heartbeat Fort Save" thing during their second fight, and had Black Tentacles come in and wreck the genies they were fighting. I also basically erased half of the encounters that the PCs would have seen in the area, so they ended up making a mad dash to the end with only 2 of the possessed Fire Giants standing in their way.
I was a little sad about throwing out a dungeon's worth of prep, but after spending a month pressing on the party about their time limit and ramping up the difficulty, danger, and power level of the campaign as a rise to the climax, I ended the session after the Carrion King almost dreading another dungeon. "This is a huge tense moment, don't bog it down with slow, square-by-square dungeon crawling against a pile of creatures barely relevant to the plot!" And when the scene is so badly paced for your game that even the GM doesn't want to run it, there's no way the players would want to play it.
Which may be a thing for my group and not for others. If you didn't press as hard on the time limit, or advised a more careful and calculated approach, then a dungeon crawl might be fine for your game's pacing. I just know that one of my players, after the game and after I mentioned that I cut the dungeon, said that he was really not looking forward to the dungeon. "Yeah I appreciated that you tossed the dungeon kinda. We're here to stop Jhavhul, just get to it already!" Your mileage may vary.
I also had the power of the 1000 Wishes break free from Xotani's heart without Jhavhul shaping them, and had Spooky claim their power, turning him into a proper demigod, statted out and usable as a deity in my future campaigns (governing Luck, Fertility, and Vengeance). One of my players already worshiped Spooky as his god, so he appreciated that. I don't think I'd recommend it to other groups though really... :p
Hey, sorry about the thread bump and all, but I have a bit of a question about this one. So, I was reading the module to decide whether or not to run the full path and I noticed something weird about Jhavul that hasn't really been brought up anywhere else. He has both Resist Cold 30 and Vulnerability to Cold; I've seen threads on here asking how Resist/Vulnerability work if the Resist is added by a spell but he has both innately to the same element. How does that work?
Order of operations matters here a bunch here, right? If he were to take a base 35 damage from a Cold attack, then that becomes either 7.5 or 22.5 depending on which one applies first.
You have to pierce the resistance first, then everything after that is multiplied by 1.5. I don't know if it's explicitly listed anywhere, but that's how James Jacobs said to run it with electricity damage on robots that have both hardness and vulnerability to electricity in the Iron Gods path.
You don't have to apologize for bumping a book specific thread! ;)
It's too bad that more aren't keeping this active.
I've always played it how Psuedonym stated it: apply resistance first and then multiply the damage that broke through.
What's happened to the forbiddance that prevented genies from entering the Stone Speakers and Pit of Screaming Ghosts in part 2? I assume that's gone by The Final Wish (as it was also stated to prevent all forms of teleport at the time, or was that too only against genies?) given the suggestion to teleport there.
Did Jhavhul dismiss it? Why?
If Dilix is with the PCs, can she enter The Stone Speakers?
I can't see any mention of the forbiddance in The Final Wish, except that there isn't one on the caves.
I don't have my books at the moment but if not directly stated somewhere I would say that we know Jhavhul is marching a group of slaves around forcing them to use wishes (as well as offering a 1 for 2 deal with select members of his army). So wishing them away seems pretty plausible.
Thanks a lot for sharing, Akumamajin !
My own players are still making their way through Bayt al-Bazan.
I am preparing for the final chapter and have already rebuilt lackluster enemies from scratch :
- Narrgok, the gnoll cleric, is now a 13th-level inquisitor with the "monster tactician" archetype, which means he has a nasty Horned demon pet who can Haste the bad guys. I made Narrgok a specialist of the "dirty trick" maneuver, just for laughs.
[edit : I might throw in a few pugwampis alongside Narrgok, to trigger their PTSD]
- The janni archers in B14 are replaced with 2 corrupted Garudas, each with 5 class levels and its own deadly build, and they share a Battlemind Link thanks to a wish. They can snipe the PCs pretty much anywhere in Kelmarane, forcing them to move carefully and making the village feel like a true war zone.
- Davashuum is an unchained, 13th-level monk with a solid build and the "ki blocker" ki power, allowing him to ruin the day for the PCs (they have a monk, a magus and a swashbuckler !)
- Rajali is an initiate of the sevenfold veil, the PrC from 3.5 that I always wanted to play. I like her story and I don't think the AP does her justice, so I increased her role in the campaign (she is actually the PC swashbuckler's mother). If the PCs can reach out to her cold heart, they might get her to help them against Jhavhul - her powerful defensive abilities could prove invaluable.
- Jhavhul is heavily reworked as a 9th-level kensai (just like Ajumamajin's Davashuum!), with insane (though CR-legal) stats, and the defensive prowess of a true juggernaut (over 350 hp, 48 AC, parry and riposte + smash from the air...).
I will DEFINITELY steal your idea to streamline the liberation of Kelmarane with the mass combat rules! Your idea to represent wish magic with mythic ranks is also very tempting, but I would have to learn the mythic rules, which I do not know. If I have the time, I will steal that idea too!
Please keep us updated ! I'm sure it will be a great source of inspiration for me, since I'm just a book behind your group ! :)