RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Greetings!
My group has just crossed the hump and are now starting on A History of Ashes. I'm preparing to run the adventure for them, and I'm wondering if I'm missing some encounters with the Cinderlander. Aside from his stat block at the beginning and a brief bit of foreshadowing on Page 31, I don't see him used anywhere except in the final big battle at the end.
My questions are twofold:
To the Paizo folks, was there material for the Cinderlander that was cut for space and/or time? What sort of role did he play, if any, aside from showing up at the end?
To all the other denizens of the messageborads, do you have any cool ideas for ways to work the Cinderlander into a more prominent position in the adventure?
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
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from what i can tell, his primary role is to get Cinnabar across the desert in one piece.
he's the guide / ranged threat for the mantis team, more than anything else.
if you wanted, you could have him snipe and fade a couple times on the trek across the cinderlands, although i prefer the "skull with crossbow bolts through the eyes" as described in the adventure.
-t
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I have considered using him here and there, but I just don't want to "waste" his services to early. I have had my party spot a number of his calling cards, the skulls with crossbow bolts. They, unfortunately, didn't roll wonderfully on the Knowledge checks about them and only got his name and a tiny bit on him. I figure he guides the Mantis squad that attacks in the Acropolis. I will have him leave a couple of fresh heads near the exit. (I'll have him snipe a couple of the Sklar-Quah that accompanied Krojun).
That being said, I don't see him as much of a solo encounter. So I'll have my party see signs of his activity but probably won't encounter him until the end of the Module.
Creative Director
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To the Paizo folks, was there material for the Cinderlander that was cut for space and/or time? What sort of role did he play, if any, aside from showing up at the end?
The Cinderlander does spend most of his time with the bad guys, but he's also a "loose cannon" you can use as you wish to mix things up or even to get the PCs back on track if they stray from their goals. There wasn't much cut from his role in the adventure—he pretty much does only show up at the end, but his presence should be foreshadowed throughout the adventure so that the PCs know he's out there and have heard some rumors about him before they encounter him.
My party actually met him in Kaer Maga before entering the Cinderlands, which helped to foreshadow him immensely.
You see, he was the uncle of two of the party members. Mad Uncle Istvan, the Cinderlander. His wife and child had been killed by Shoanti when he lived down in the swamp, and so he'd snapped and started hunting them like animals. He was the only thing capable of scaring either of the Istvan twins, one of whom would serve up an eviction notice to a pit fiend if it didn't pay property taxes and the other one of whom was literally immune to fear. So when he drunkenly said hello to his beloved niece and nephew in a dingy tavern, they were both flabbergasted and nervous, and he told them that he was just about to retire, but had one job left to do. The client said she was meeting him in a few days.
They didn't ask.
That was a mistake.
And, of course, when he saw that his family members had actually joined a Shoanti tribe... well, there was no turning back at that point. He actually won against Krojun Eats-What-He-Kills before the PCs got to him, and made life very, very difficult for them before getting taken down.
Once he was taken care of, he was turned over to Shoanti justice, which decreed that he should be given the same chance as the rest of the Istvans to join the Sklar-Quah. By being fed to Cindermaw and seeing if he could escape alive. After his hands had been cut off.
I have got one question, because my group will "meet" Cindermaw. I well understand if they use spells like teleport, dimension door or major image when the sorcerer is "eaten" by Cindermaw is a good way to be trusted by the truthspeaker, but I don't understand the way to manage if the fighter wants to be eaten by Cindermaw and wants to cut his way out with is sword. How can I manage that? Does he have to make 100 of damages of something else?
Thanks!
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I have got one question, because my group will "meet" Cindermaw. I well understand if they use spells like teleport, dimension door or major image when the sorcerer is "eaten" by Cindermaw is a good way to be trusted by the truthspeaker, but I don't understand the way to manage if the fighter wants to be eaten by Cindermaw and wants to cut his way out with is sword. How can I manage that? Does he have to make 100 of damages of something else?
Thanks!
According to the swallow whole entry in the d20 SRD, he needs to deal a certain amount of damage with a light slashing or piercing weapon (e.g. a dagger, short sword, starknife, etc.) to the inside of the creature. According to the purple worm entry (Cindermaw is a type of Purple Worm), the AC of the gizzard is 17, and the fighter needs to deal 25 points of damage to cut his way out.
Alternately, he can try to use Escape Artist to climb back out of the creature's gullet.
As long as he is inside the worm, he will take 2d8+12 crushing damage, 8 acid damage, and 1d6 fire damage each round.
Does that make sense?
THANKS A LOT Tamago!!!!!
Only 25 points of damage... LOL!!
THANKS!!!
A cool idea that I do with my group is that I write a little fiction to go with the adventures, like a little 'behind the scenes' thing. My group's always been good about not mixing the information (what the player knows vs. what the character knows) so when I do it, it works out well. They'll appreciate the villain a little more if it's not their first time encountering it in their mind, even if it's the first time on paper.
Thread Resurrection:
I'm still a ways away from running A History of Ashes (currently DMing Edge of Anarchy) but I thought I'd put this out there to see what people thought:
I think I might replace the Cinderlander with an undead Marcus Endrin (either Juju Zombie or Wight template) who is being used by Cinnabar to track the PCs through the Cinderlands.
As this thread points out, the Cinderlander only really shows up at the end, so it shouldn't be too hard a substitution and it may provide some further fuel for the PCs to despise Ileosa even more.
The Cinderlander is cool, but the reason that I don't want to use him is that a previous Dark Sun campaign that I DM'ed featured this semi-legendary/notorious vigilante who was renowned for hunting and killing slavers.