Question about the moldspeaker:
Oh, and, smurf.
Question about the moldspeaker:
Spoiler:I just finished my second read of the AP and I began thinking of my groups past tendencies and how they may handle different aspects of the encounters. I began fearing for the orderly execution of the battle market encounter since one of my players is a chronic "kill it all instantly" type who claims its part of his roleplay...but that's not what this question is about. In regards to the Moldspeaker, usually when I had some legacy type event happen to a player that I planned on manifesting to its fullest in a much more climatic part of the campaign, they tend to overdue things or die somewhere along the way. If the moldspeaker were to die, should I have the mold on their arm attempt to jump to the first person that tries to handle the body or does the spirit of Vardishal die with the death of it's host? Also, if I should have the mold pass on to a new player, would Tempest also re-manifest itself into the new host's preferred weapon?Oh, and, smurf.
Here's my take ...
Question about the moldspeaker:
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Oh, and, smurf.
Here's my take ...
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That's what I plan on doing! Of course,
the little patch of mold is now much more prominent, and there's a bit of mold on the left cheek as well. We can't have the player thinking the character is now "unkillable" and start being stupid. So I'll have a progressive series of negative consequences every time the wish reanimates the character...
Creative Director
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First of all... like ALL Pathfinder adventures, we do put in locations that punish players who try to run into the front door of a location and shriek "ALL OF YOU MUST DIE!" and then roll for initiative. We try to ease players into the mode of thinking that sometimes, a subtle approach is better, we try to mix up encounters that can be solved with logic, skill checks, combat, role playing, and such so that adventures don't fall into a rut.
That said...
The moldspeaker's role throughout the campaign is to give the GM a convenient source to guide the PCs and to give them hints on the backstory, while Tempest is us experimenting with a "Weapon of Legacy" style item that grows more powerful with a character. Neither of them is REQUIRED to "win" Legacy of Fire, and if no one becomes the moldspeaker (or if the moldspeaker dies) the adventures still work. They'll be a little harder in places, and the PCs might miss some of the back story now and then, but the adventure still works.
If you want to keep the moldspeaker in the group, though, I would certainly have the mold transfer between PCs, perhaps jumping to the first PC who touches the dead moldspeaker. A day or so after he does, he'll notice a patch of mold growing wherever he touched the dead PC and at that time will be the new moldspeaker.
First of all... like ALL Pathfinder adventures, we do put in locations that punish players who try to run into the front door of a location and shriek "ALL OF YOU MUST DIE!" and then roll for initiative. We try to ease players into the mode of thinking that sometimes, a subtle approach is better, we try to mix up encounters that can be solved with logic, skill checks, combat, role playing, and such so that adventures don't fall into a rut.
Oh I completely agree. I wasn't complaining I was just a little apprehensive about that one particular player, especially since this game he plans on playing a character that has an overwhelming hatred of gnolls. I will drop hints to the other players that they should try to control him a bit. :P
That said...
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Creative Director
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About Tempest...
The weapon's not one that should be changing to fit a player's chosen weapon. Rather, the GM should make Tempest into whatever weapon the most likely player to wield it will be. If things time out right that can be the same person who becomes the moldspeaker. The point is, the weapon itself should be one of the links that gets carried through the various adventures. If the PCs want to keep it, then it doesn't matter what KIND of weapon it is, but if it's a weapon no one can use, then chances are good it'll just get sold. If your game's not one where PCs sell magic items a lot, you don't have to worry about it as much.
That said, if you want to go ahead and give Tempest the ability to change shape into whatever weapon its wielder favors, that's fine too.
About Tempest...
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Alrighty then! Thank you, I appreciate the feedback :)
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another suggestion
To go a bit off topic (or maybe on topic, depending on your point of view):
Do not fudge dice for reckless characters. You really should not give them any indication that they're being shielded. If they lose a character, or a dozen characters, over this, it's a tragedy, but not something you should avoid.
If you want to be merciful, don't let them get away with it per se - but let the enemy take them captive.
Be sure to make it sure out of game that you won't pull your punches in those situations, and if someone insists that this is his style, patiently tell him that this means that his style will involve many different characters, and possibly periods of inaction until a good situation comes up for new characters to join.
To go a bit off topic (or maybe on topic, depending on your point of view):
Do not fudge dice for reckless characters. You really should not give them any indication that they're being shielded. If they lose a character, or a dozen characters, over this, it's a tragedy, but not something you should avoid.
If you want to be merciful, don't let them get away with it per se - but let the enemy take them captive.
Be sure to make it sure out of game that you won't pull your punches in those situations, and if someone insists that this is his style, patiently tell him that this means that his style will involve many different characters, and possibly periods of inaction until a good situation comes up for new characters to join.
In my campaign:
Kardswann killed the Moldspeaker with a critical hit in the climactic battle. I don't want to bring back that character from the dead. The player has a shiny new character he likes a lot.
So, if the mold somehow transfers to a new character (someone who visited the old Moldspeaker's grave?), I'm stuck with Tempest as an Elven Curve Blade, a weapon not many people use.
I'm hesitant to just have Tempest change to a longsword or greatsword, because it's supposed to be a legendary weapon. But the PC's seem intent on selling it off (it's just an Elven Curve Blade +1 to them now).
I'd like there to be a Moldspeaker, but I'm not sure its worth the hand-waving necessary.
In my game...
Riffing off some ideas I had seen posted somewhere in the LoF forums, I had decided that the Moldspeaker can't really bleed out -- if she's about to die due to a lack of stablizing, Vardishal can stablize her and sloooowly regenerate her back to consciousness, but each time he does so (so far just once) one of her physical features (e.g. eyes) permanently changes to match Vardishal's in appearance instead of her own.
The player is scared of what's happening there and is now paranoid about being put in that situation, which works for me.
Beyond that, though? If she takes the odd greataxe crit or what have you? We'll roll without a moldspeaker. I think it has some cool bits in the story if you have one but it's really not a must-have and doesn't necessitate odd plot convolutions or handwaving to make it happen.