My players have just finished Burnt Offerings and are going to be moving on to Skinsaw Murders. I think it's very likely that they may, possibly after a room or two, possibly not even that late, try to just burn down Foxglove Manor. What suggestions do you have for the results of this attempt, and/or the XP impact involved? Thanks!
When they try to burn the place, the supernatural forces there say "Nay!"
Director of Brand Strategy
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My players tried that approach too. Well, one of the players. I had the supernatural effect have something happen each time she tried to burn the place down, as well as something happen, an eerie effect, when she started talking about it.
To add some emphasis to it, she had a lot more of the haunts affect her than normally would have, especially any that had anything to do with fire.
It played well with the "feel" for the place.
The best way to set fire to a place is inside it. Your fire is sheltered from the windy cliffs. And once it catches, it burns exterior and interior walls.
Plus, don't you have a murder of crows or two to deal with?
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Consider that Aldern's mother tried to burn the place down too, and that Vorel's spirit possessed his father to push her to her death out the second story window.I'd rather implement something in keeping with the house's history than saying it just won't burn. At the least, it's part of an issue of keeping the players in the scene versus thinking "does the module just say it won't burn?" Ideas?...
You could design your own haunt which would possess whichever PC tries to burn it down so that they think they're Cyralie. Then another PC should think that they're Traver and attack the pyro with the intent of killing them. I'd make the will save pretty high on this one (meaning the haunt would be a higher CR) since it would represent the manor's survival instinct. If they succeed, the higher CR of these haunts will make up for some of the lost haunts they didn't encounter, and if they fail, the haunts that prevented them from setting it alight fit right in with the history of the house. If they do burn it down, you might have to slip them all the exposition that the haunts provide unless you have players who don't care about these sorts of things. (I figure you might, since they would burn down a house with so many answers contained within.) Best of luck.
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CEO
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My group thought about burning it down, but decided not to because they figured that there was a bunch of good treasure in a rich guy's house, and they didn't want to lose that. Also, I had it pouring rain by the time they made it to Foxglove Manor. I mean pouring. I also described the wood of the house as very wet and anybody who has made a campfire with wet wood knows that it is an uphill battle. So they went through the house normally, however, they plan to come back sometime later in the campaign and burn the place to the ground when the weather is better and they have access to more powerful magical fire spells.
-Lisa
Both the dampness and the supernatural nature of the Manor should preclude burning it down. At most, I would say some scorch marks that eventually dissapear after 24 hours.
If they ask for advice from the Sheriff or someone like that I would suggest that he, or whomever, mention that we are talking about a noble's property.
Not to mention, there could be evidence anywhere in the Manor, at least as far as the PCs know.
Have fun!
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Creative Director
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When we create adventures, we generally assume that players want to go on the adventures, not destroy them. If we have an adventure where you have to board a pirate ship and rescue a captive, we assume the PCs won't just sink the ship, then pay to have the drowned captive resurrected. Likewise, when we present a haunted house, we assume that "burning down the house" isn't something most parties will do.
Of course, there's always exceptions. Even if burning down the house or sinking the ship is a terrible idea since it'd destroy clues, resources, and allies.
In any case, having the PCs arrive at the scene during a rainstorm is a great solution, and not only because it discourages fire. It's a great solution because it REALLY adds to the atmosphere of the adventure.
If your PCs are hellbent on burning the manor down, though, and if they STILL are when they're reminded that arson is a crime or that if they clear the manor it could make for a cool hideout or headquarters, the best solution is...
When I ran it
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When we create adventures, we generally assume that players want to go on the adventures, not destroy them. If we have an adventure where you have to board a pirate ship and rescue a captive, we assume the PCs won't just sink the ship, then pay to have the drowned captive resurrected. Likewise, when we present a haunted house, we assume that "burning down the house" isn't something most parties will do.
Yeah you would think that...until you game with a couple guys in my group. :)
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My players have just finished Burnt Offerings and are going to be moving on to Skinsaw Murders. I think it's very likely that they may, possibly after a room or two, possibly not even that late, try to just burn down Foxglove Manor. What suggestions do you have for the results of this attempt, and/or the XP impact involved? Thanks!
Maybe do a poltergeist effect. Since V tried to be a lich, the house is its "body" so to speak and until the PCs burn his "phlactery" the house will burn and then re-create itself...
The Fire Elemental Idea is bad ass I think there is a corupted elemental template somewhere that I will make sure I have on the elemenetal if they try to burn it down
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Creative Director
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I really like the Fire Elemental idea. Does anyone know if the old Ravenloft "Funeral Pyre Elemental" has been updated to OGL stats?
I know that there's a demonically-infused elemental template that we ran in Dragon; I believe it got put into the Dragon Compendium. Alternatively, there's always Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary, if you have access to it; plenty of templates there that'd work. And if you only have the SRD, you can even just slap the ghost template on the fire elemental and let it loose.
I really like the Fire Elemental idea. Does anyone know if the old Ravenloft "Funeral Pyre Elemental" has been updated to OGL stats?
If you have access to it, the 3.5 version of the Pyre Elemental can be found in Ravenloft: Denizens of Dread, by White Wolf/Arthaus's Sword & Sorcery line. There is also a 3.0 version in their Denizens of Darkness. Both books are out of print now, but still available from various places (e.g., Amazon).
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Heroes of Horror (I think) has a necromental template. You can see it here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20041015b&page=3
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Hehe, I was a player in this particular adventure path. During the process of clearing foxglove manor we had one player die because he decided to grabble the revenant on the second floor >.> After finishing the clearing out of Foxglove manor we resolved to burn the place to the ground however, something prevented anything from taking flame in the manor. We decided at that moment that if we couldn't destroy it with fire instead, we would return at a later date once we had learned the earthquake spell and knock the entire cliffside into the ocean. We did so with a scroll of Earthquake much much much later.