A re-cap (for the new thread page) of the Cast of Characters:
Zin Serrn (Da Monk), Monk 7 (Irori), bearer of Molly Missy (until such time as Da Pimp's Paladin returns to the table).
Torsin, Paladin 7 (Iomedae), bearer of Draggy the Toy Dragon.
Jade, Fighter 1 / Sorcerer 6 (Elemental Water), no declared Gawd, bearer of Fluff-Gugg the Freddy Krueger Bear - complete with fedora, dirty green and red sweater and vicious retractable claws.
Ineptus, Cultist (Cloistered Cleric) 7, Repose + Rune, bearer of Mr. Straw.
Da Pimp, Paladin 7 (Shelyn), potential bearer of Molly Missy.
Max, Martial Artist 7, master of improvised weapons and lobbing torches, bearer of the Mwangi fetish doll.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I do wonder where the visitors from the previous pages have wandered off to ...
Still lurking Turin.
Very interested in seeing how those toys play out.
-t
What I have in mind is along the lines of a 'Pact-binding' between character and doll, along the lines of the Pact Stone Pyramid if they are successful in ridding Westcrown of the Shadow Critter Menace and putting Bisby's long-disturbed spirit to his long-overdue audience with Pharasma. Take the doll, apply advanced simple template, add class levels until cohort total level is reached (for those with Leadership).
For now, the dolls are not an asset - indeed, they snuggle in their bearer's haversacks and use them for total cover as a general rule, coming out when encamped or at home.
I liked what happened with the dolls though in your game...
I've seen your zealous industriousness in making the PFCS better for its next incarnation, Sir Charles. Kudos!
The dolls seem a Moment of Prescience on my end. I think that the adorable little things have enormous potential within the circumstances of CoT to do something 'other than the norm'. These opportunities do not arise often, especially one closely integrated to the campaign as the dolls are.
I think in hindsight I would use a similar mechanism in the various APs prior to CoT.
Age of Worms: The worm-chowing scene in Filge's laboratory, acquire symbiote that gives goodies to survive long enough to get squished by Kyuss.
Savage Tide: Olman "tiki dolls" or figurines, acquired from various critters. Olangru (when he is violently returned to the Abyss, or failing that from the rubble of the Demogolem). From the bowels of the named gibbering mouther in Tamoachan. The slaad that hops out of Father whatshisface. The savage super-raptor. The bat-Gawd's shrine on the Isle of Dread.
Rise of the Runelords: Acquiring Thassilonian "positive" runes.
Curse of the Crimson Throne: 'Harrowmarks', based upon the readings throughout the first chapters, culminating with the passage through Cindermaw.
Second Darkness: Not sure about this one, as I did not really care for it over much. I would guess at something initially acquired at the Avalanche Tower, culminating during the 'Shadowgeddon' in Kyonin-Past.
Legacy of Fire: Expanded 'moldspeaker' stuff for the entire party.
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Have you created any nasty, named-type baddies, for the later adventures yet? I merely glanced through the last adventure, and am currently through more than half of Infernal Syndrome.
Any tactics for Liebdaga other than what's written out? I was planning on giving him 1/day quicken fireball. Let's him "Focus" on the first round, after blasting everyone for like ... no ... damage ><
Then ripping loose with a full attack.
Even that cage is rather nasty. If I hit with the chains on either the Wizard or Sorcerer, I can squish em dead. 1d8+8x2 x3. +6d6 fire all told. I'm not sure if that's a "fun" way to open combat or not. Evil me leans towards yes, do em both, but good me says only attack the stupid high-ac lizard paladin.
I expect to finish the Nessian Spiral this Sunday. Whether or not they go past that depends. They have a tendency to slow down a LOT around locks, puzzles, and the like. Having the clues written on the doors will never occur to them.
-t
Have you created any nasty, named-type baddies, for the later adventures yet? I merely glanced through the last adventure, and am currently through more than half of Infernal Syndrome.
Any tactics for Liebdaga other than what's written out? I was planning on giving him 1/day quicken fireball. Let's him "Focus" on the first round, after blasting everyone for like ... no ... damage ><
Then ripping loose with a full attack.
Even that cage is rather nasty. If I hit with the chains on either the Wizard or Sorcerer, I can squish em dead. 1d8+8x2 x3. +6d6 fire all told. I'm not sure if that's a "fun" way to open combat or not. Evil me leans towards yes, do em both, but good me says only attack the stupid high-ac lizard paladin.
I expect to finish the Nessian Spiral this Sunday. Whether or not they go past that depends. They have a tendency to slow down a LOT around locks, puzzles, and the like. Having the clues written on the doors will never occur to them.
-t
I've been largely running CoT as written, although the overload on leeches - or, in some cases, said leeches' rather brain dead choices of where to sleep - leads to "automatic death" of the baddies.
They're just getting started on the place though, and have the Morrowfall in the hands of Zin Serrn. Great for the characters, bad for me, as that means the highest speed/mobility and highest AC character is the one that can position amidst a gaggle of critters ... and obliterate them.
I would recommend DC 15 or 20 Perception checks (modified by range) at the highest to note the plaques on the doors. They are after all in plain sight.
I will have to re-tool the mini-onions a bit to suit my tastes. Hand crossbows are a massive waste of money for NPCs in my opinion. Alchemical items now, are another matter, especially tanglefoot bags.
My revisions are only general, but will ramp up things to make them more worthwhile to be bothered with playing out.
(A) Getting into the Spiral itself will require dispatching a retooled Aberten and his 8 mooks as a coordinated tactical unit.
(B) Crosoal herself will attempt to gut the Lord Mayor, using the quartet of critters from E10 to distract the party. I am giving serious consideration to replacing the critters with something else of the same CR, although I doubt that it will be worth the effort for the purpose of granting Crosoal her vengeance upon the Lord Mayor's person. Say ... by way of a scroll of summon nature's ally III...
(C) Entering the spiral my intent is to cut the mook squads (areas F1 and F7 respectively) down to pairs and add the Advanced Simple template to Jezeltrix and Avahzi. The mooks exist for the sole purpose of raising an alarm and (slightly) delaying the party, if possible.
(D) The mephits are going to be removed - Dargentu Vheed will receive the Advanced Simple template as a result.
(E) The banquet and theater encounters seem entertaining - although the 'left over XP' from removing the mephits is insufficient to do anything with Apurva, they DO permit adding the Advanced Simple template to the SPFRs in F28.
(F) F29 has one of my personal favorite critters, so it gets the Advanced Simple template just because. That and I fully expect that they will bypass F30's critter without any problem.
(G) Signatory Vaccha is going to be fairly dangerous for my group unless they somehow manage to keep the Lord Mayor alive the entire time. ^_^ I do hope they get him fragged.
(H) The cage's attack bonus is rather low against the characters that will matter unless the wizard/sorcerer types are stupid about where they go, especially if they are going in fully prepared and ready to rumble (which they should be). If not ... kill zem, kill zem all. It's not like the thing is subtle, and they should have solid fire resistance / protection up by this point (or have been burned to cinders several times over). At this late juncture, I would not be surprised to see them sporting stoneskin as well. If I am correct and your arcanists' preparations are as to be reasonably expected (ignore fire, DR 10/adamantine), they can almost ignore the cage, taking all of - on average - 2 or 3 points per chain and the same for the grab/constrict. This latter is the real threat to them - although again, a dimension door solves the problem instantly for them.
With having presumably earned at least 8th level by the time they get to the end of things - and more likely 9th if my math is right - the Twin is in big trouble - largely due to action economy.
By the time a group reaches him, they are likely to be able to hit his AC reliably even if he is not staggered. Frankly, I expect that most groups will mop the floor with him. Your suggestion of a 1/day quickened fireball is a good one, although the SEVERE watering down of the vanilla pit fiend stat block is perhaps a bit too far.
I will have to really crunch some numbers on the Twin to determine if the as-written stat block is a legitimate CR 12 or not. At the moment, I am of the opinion that Twinny is a bit overly squishy - I will note an alternative stat block (or just modifications to the existing one) depending upon how the actual game play develops. If they're in really bad shape when they get to him, the existing block may be sufficient. If they are not, an alternative block will be in order. This should not be an easy encounter for any group - even one that breezes through the entirety of the Spiral before getting to the end. :) We must adjust accordingly.
As far as your group dealing with The Twin ... I intend to replace at-will greater scrying with at-will blasphemy, albeit at the much lower save DC listed for the former ability. Unless the group has been severely enervated by some means, the paltry caster level he has in his weakened state will be insufficient to do very much to them - especially since they are likely to succeed on the saving throws. This will level the playing field quite a bit, trading the 1 round he loses to focus his thoughts for the 1 round of inaction the characters eat from the swap-out. This gives you a full-round action to shred some one. ^_^
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you are right on the money with regards to the Gnome Pair's spell selection. Not sure if they have stoneskin or not yet, but they do both sport fire resist (sorc=draconic, so all the time)
their actual AC's and Init scores are the weakness there, i hope.
on more careful consideration, if i can get the chance to whack/whack/whack/constrict x3, i am going for it.
Also, the SLA switcheroo you suggested is a good one. That should put them on roughly even footing as far as inactive vs. active rounds.
given their track record, i expect the big purple snakey dude and little miss stoner to be the biggest threat...and i already know quite well how to make a Sorc very very annoying.
Will make a concerted effort to get the details in my CJ - have been slacking much too much lately. stupid real life getting in the way of fantasy gaming....:)
-t
you are right on the money with regards to the Gnome Pair's spell selection. Not sure if they have stoneskin or not yet, but they do both sport fire resist (sorc=draconic, so all the time)
their actual AC's and Init scores are the weakness there, i hope.
on more careful consideration, if i can get the chance to whack/whack/whack/constrict x3, i am going for it.
Also, the SLA switcheroo you suggested is a good one. That should put them on roughly even footing as far as inactive vs. active rounds.
given their track record, i expect the big purple snakey dude and little miss stoner to be the biggest threat...and i already know quite well how to make a Sorc very very annoying.
Will make a concerted effort to get the details in my CJ - have been slacking much too much lately. stupid real life getting in the way of fantasy gaming....:)
-t
Shakes his fist at the Real Life Monster.
This past Sunday 7th March saw Our Heroes continue with The Infernal Syndrome.
Not being a really big fan of the 'as written' material, I made some slight modifications to this chapter of the Council of Thieves.
As Our Heroes clambered over the Hunk o' Building, skirting around yet another Pillar o' Hellfire, the mook thieves on watch spotted them ... at the same time that most of the PCs saw the two mooks on watch.
They went balls to the wall, Zin Serrn leading the way into the open end of the rear of Aberian's Folly that still stood on the periphery of the blast crater.
Whilst the eight thieves valiantly attempted to saturate Zin Serrn with numerous tanglefoot bags and a net, the five rounds' preparative spell casting by the hobbit sorcerer spelled their doom. Jade had two flaming spheres in play, one in the hallway leading into the building and another outside near the door into the "lobby" leading into the hobbit's demesne. The hobbit entered the battle under the benefit of freedom of movement, stoneskin, darkvision, shield, blur and see invisibility.
Majordomo Crosael also made her preparations as the thieves started to get their lunches handed to them, using an invisiblity sphere to 'cloak' a total of 8 stirges summoned via a pair of scrolls of extended summon nature's ally III, backed up by a prayer.
As Our Heroes are mopping up the thieves - administering amputation of the left hand, cauterized by flaming sphere, Max and Torsin are close to the hobbit's demesne. They open the door and Max is lit up with a 3-level enervation by the hobbit, who flies out the window. Crosael, having maneuvered above a nearby roof with stirges hanging from her, spies the manacled and bound Lord Mayor on Max's back.
"Your Honor, consider this my resignation!"
The eight stirges alight upon His Honor and slurped him down to a 4 CON - and the accompanying maximum of 14 hit points, decloaking as they start filling with the now-screaming Lord Mayor's vital fluids. Crosael is inspiring courage in her little swamp super-skeeters.
Our Heroes direct Max to toss the Lord Mayor into the flaming sphere still burning adjacent to him. Doing so, Jade rolls box-cars (maximum damage), killing the poor bastich in a fiery demise. As the slobberknocker unfolds, the hobbit tags Max with a second enervation, this one dealing 4 more negative levels, slaying him outright.
While the rest of the party maneuvers into position and starts attempting to deal with the aforementioned hobbit sorcerer, The Cultist uses the orange breath of life scroll looted from Delvehaven to restore Max to the living for the second time. Max would have died a third time from the first cone of cold - out of 3 - that the hobbit would produce during the subsequent five or six rounds that passed before Zin Serrn finally grapped him and wrung his neck. Retooling the hobbit to a pure 10th level Sorcerer was an excellent move, helping to drive home that they are now in some Serious Challenge range.
Max, having been effectively reminded of the adventurers' adage (Never Seperate from Da Boss), has a rather noteworthy dislike of hobbits. The psychopathic, carnivorous hobbits he "dealt" with in the Mwangi Expanse many years ago have not helped his opinion of them much either ...
He has also earned the pertinent Achievement Feat (the one that requires a character to have been slain and returned to life magically).
Due to the (effectively permanent) death of the Lord Mayor, Our Heroes lose 5 Fame Points each, reducing them from 10 to 5.
Our Heroes diplomatically interact with Crosael, who assisted Our Heroes with a couple of dispel magics on the hobbit, as they were so courteous as to provide His Honor for her to kill - and then assured he is not returning from the Boneyard any time soon.
Crosael gives them what information she can. The group's last corpse candle was used to attempt to garner information from the thoroughly incinerated remains of the Lord Mayor. Among other valuable bits of information they realized that they were a little too quick to bind him up and drag him along - the copy of the contract that he had was incinerated along with his earthly remains. They know that a "Signatory Vaccha" somewhere within the Spiral may have something more to do with that particular document.
After resting up, Our Heroes bypass the glyph and lock, descending into area F1. The two thieves on watch are beaten on initiative, but they have chocked the doors open after hearing the carnage that went on upstairs - to little avail as one flees towards area F4 while the other goes into F7 and sounds the alarm.
All in all, they handle the two cerberi pooches, four mook thieves rather soundly. Poor Avazhi is struck before she can do anything by a blindness spell that her +10 saving throw bonus failed her against. As the characters mopped up (lopping off another set of hands, five so far, four of whom have - barely - survived receiving 'Chelaxian justice'), she slowed them down with a wall of stone, then making her way down the hallway through F12 only to die horribly in F13...
Our Heroes are 8th level now:
Zin Serrn, Monk 8th, LG (intelligent Major Ring of Fire Resistance 'pwns' him, forcing alignment change)
Jade, Fighter 1/Sorcerer 7 (her last sorcerer level before finally entering Eldritch Knight ...)
Torsin, Paladin 6/Diviner 2 (specialist Wizard)
Da Pimp, Paladin 7/ ? (player absent)
The Cultist, Cloistered Cleric 8
Max, Martial Artist 8
They still possess their respective dolls. Molly still messes with Zin Serrn's hair. Draggy chews on Torsin's boots. Fluff-Glugg wears Jade's hat when she's not looking. Mr. Straw plays with the Cultist's book and noodles. Mistah Mwangi ... well, he's Mistah Mwangi...
And some one observes from above ...
Hobbit o' Doom stat block forthcoming, i'd hope.
My poor medusa went blind herself, and I have a really bad trend of rolling 1's on BBEG saves. The DC 24 Phantasmal Killers keep coming at me...perhaps it's time to turn it around?
-t
Absolutely. I seem to vaguely recall at one time that there was a way to rebound a phantasmal killer...
Absolutely. I seem to vaguely recall at one time that there was a way to rebound a phantasmal killer...Hobbit o' Doom stat block forthcoming, i'd hope.
My poor medusa went blind herself, and I have a really bad trend of rolling 1's on BBEG saves. The DC 24 Phantasmal Killers keep coming at me...perhaps it's time to turn it around?
-t
Helm of Telepathy in 1st ed. IIRC allowed you to return to a phantasmal killer sender =p.
Really enjoying the story btw.
CR 9
Male Hobbit Sorcerer 10 (Destined)
NE Small Humanoid (hobbit)
Initiative: +3
Senses: Perception +6; darkvision, see invisibility
Speed: 20'; Acrobatics +5, Climb +1, Fly +12, Stealth +9; fly 60' (good)
AC: 23 (incorporeal touch +3 armor); flat-footed 19
Incorporeal Touch AC: 20 (+4 shield spell); flat-footed 16
Touch AC: 16 (10 +1 size +3 Dex +1 dodge +1 deflection); flat-footed touch AC: 12
Hit Points: 78 (10d6 [38] +20 Con +10 Toughness +10 Favored Class)
SAVES:
- Fort +6 (base 3 +2 Con +1 racial)
- Reflex +7 (base 3 +3 Dex +1 racial)
- Will +7 / +9 vs. fear (base 7 -1 Wis +1/+3 racial)
DEFENSES:
- Fated (Su) +2 luck bonus to AC and on saves during surprise rounds & when he is unaware of an attack
- immune to magic missiles (shield spell)
- 20% concealment (blur spell)
- protection from electricity 120 points (spell)
- protection from fire 120 points (spell)
- freedom of movement
- stoneskin DR 10/adamantine @ 100 points' damage absorption
Base Attack +5
- Melee AB +5 | +1 punching dagger +6 (1d3+1 / x3); arcane strike = (1d3+4 / x3)
- CMB +3
- Ranged AB +9 | thrown mwk dagger +10 (1d3-1 / 19-20); arcane strike = (1d3+2 / 19-20)
- CMD 18 (10 +5 base atk -1 Str +3 Dex -1 size +1 dodge +1 deflection); flat-footed CMD 14
Ability Scores: 8 Str (-1) | 16 Dex (+3) | 14 Con (+2) | 12 Int (+1) | 8 Wis (-1) | 18 Cha (+4)
Languages: Common, Elven and Hobbit
Feats: Arcane Armor Training, Arcane Strike, Combat Casting, Dodge, Eschew Materials (B), Light Armor Proficiency, Toughness, Simple Weapons Proficiency (class)
Skills:
- Bluff +12 (5 ranks +3 trained +4 Cha)
- Fly +12 (5 ranks +3 trained +1 size +3 Dex)
- Knowledge (history) +9 (5 ranks +3 trained +1 Int)
- Knowledge (local) +6 (5 ranks +1 Int)
- Spellcraft +9 (5 ranks +3 trained +1 Int)
Spontaneous Arcane Spells: CL 10th, concentration +14 (+18 to cast defensively), DC 14 +SL
- Cantrips: arcane mark, dancing lights, detect magic, light, ghost sound, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation, read magic
- 1st Level (5 remaining): alarm, comprehend languages, identify, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, shield
- 2nd Level (4 remaining): blur, darkvision, glitterdust, scorching ray, see invisibility
- 3rd level (4 remaining): dispel magic, fly, haste, protection from energy
- 4th level (4 remaining): enervation, freedom of movement, stoneskin
- 5th level (3/day): cone of cold
SQ: bloodline arcana, It Was Meant to Be (1/day reroll) (Su)
Gear:
- +1 Small leather armor
- +1 ring of protection
- +1 Small punching dagger
- wand of invisibility (18c)
- wand of empowered magic missile (CL 5)
- 3 mwk Small daggers
- spell component pouch w/ 1 remaining 'dose' of M component for stoneskin
- A Harrow Deck, marked, no significant value
Hello dear citizens, I hope you all are having a nice day.
The book blesses you, for it is the truth of the book that brings meaning to all. So reads the blessed book!
Absolutely. I seem to vaguely recall at one time that there was a way to rebound a phantasmal killer...Hobbit o' Doom stat block forthcoming, i'd hope.
My poor medusa went blind herself, and I have a really bad trend of rolling 1's on BBEG saves. The DC 24 Phantasmal Killers keep coming at me...perhaps it's time to turn it around?
-t
Helm of Telepathy in 1st ed. IIRC allowed you to return to a phantasmal killer sender =p.
Really enjoying the story btw.
Glad you're enjoying the journal so far Sniggevert! And now that you mention the helm in question ... sadly the 3e version failed to retain that property. A shame really ... ^^
Hello dear citizens, I hope you all are having a nice day.
The book blesses you, for it is the truth of the book that brings meaning to all. So reads the blessed book!
So sayeth The Book...
Hobbit o' Doom stat block forthcoming, i'd hope.
My poor medusa went blind herself, and I have a really bad trend of rolling 1's on BBEG saves. The DC 24 Phantasmal Killers keep coming at me...perhaps it's time to turn it around?
-t
I would suggest a spell immunity on the defensive side, and an Illusionist on the offensive side. A lesser globe of invulnerability will completely stop a non-heightened phantasmal killer cold as well.
:)
Sir Turin:
With regard to 10d6=38 hp, I take it you rolled the hit points, as three and a half (average) should round down for the ninth rolled hit die if averages are used? ;)Anyway, good luck with your continuing campaign to make your players' characters' lives at least interesting, even if not shorter.
As the hobbits' hp are unchanged from the module, I do believe my math is correct. That little turd is a tough hombre ... right up until Da Monk latches on with the Cobra Clutch and strangles him to death.
As far as "interesting lives", my players' characters are indeed suitably cursed ... :)
Sir Turin:
With regard to 10d6=38 hp, I take it you rolled the hit points, as three and a half (average) should round down for the ninth rolled hit die if averages are used? ;)Anyway, good luck with your continuing campaign to make your players' characters' lives at least interesting, even if not shorter.
As the hobbits' hp are unchanged from the module, I do believe my math is correct. That little turd is a tough hombre ... right up until Da Monk latches on with the Cobra Clutch and strangles him to death.
As far as "interesting lives", my players' characters are indeed suitably cursed ... :)
Yes... I feared my companion, Torsin, and I would be writing our own books on the other side rather quickly. I quite wisely got out of the line of fire, our should I say Ice, when I know I could not take another blast.
I have become accustom to this body, and saw no reason to let it leave me so quickly.
In just over a week's time, Our Heroes shall endeavor to perservere in the Infernal Syndrome. Will they be slaughtered one by one? Will they, as is more often the case, stomp a mudhole in the baddies arrayed before them?
Or, will they slowly be killed off, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide ...
Sir Turin:
Umm, hadn't your PCs better start getting their fame back up, as it's going to hurt quite a bit later on if they have nothing to work with? (Hmm. I seem to recall some subquests in this module which completion of assists slightly?)
And if the contract went *poof* aren't they on a clock here to shut things down (whether they realise it or not), as per the information pertaining to the contract on page 52 of The Infernal Syndrome?
(Conceivably the Stage 1 encounter might still play out as written if the clock runs down, but the Stage 2 might simply 'give them the laugh' with further brutal consequences for their fame.)Ahh well. Perhaps the PCs will be in less of a hurry to fireball first, ask questions later after this...
I rather hope so - thanks for pointing out the reference points. ^_^ The worse the Fame score, the better the end game...
...I vote Giant Skeletal T-Rex with DR/Adamantine, shadow damage, and a breath weapon.
But then, I like dinosaurs and undead.
Maybe kill them with fire? I hear that sometimes works.
-t
I do not believe that such an enormous pile of bones will fit within the reactor ... er, Nessian Spiral.
However ... I'm sure something can be arranged. Remember the 'raptor? ^_^
I rather hope so - thanks for pointing out the reference points. ^_^ The worse the Fame score, the better the end game...Sir Turin:
Umm, hadn't your PCs better start getting their fame back up, as it's going to hurt quite a bit later on if they have nothing to work with? (Hmm. I seem to recall some subquests in this module which completion of assists slightly?)
And if the contract went *poof* aren't they on a clock here to shut things down (whether they realise it or not), as per the information pertaining to the contract on page 52 of The Infernal Syndrome?
(Conceivably the Stage 1 encounter might still play out as written if the clock runs down, but the Stage 2 might simply 'give them the laugh' with further brutal consequences for their fame.)Ahh well. Perhaps the PCs will be in less of a hurry to fireball first, ask questions later after this...
Oh yeah, this should be ... interesting.
Jade II and Zin Sernn are (currently) suffering from the Cerberus' Jaws curse, in case I forgot to mention that ... important detail.
We will see if The Cultist is able to successfully remove the affliction.
Good times ... good times ...
...I vote Giant Skeletal T-Rex with DR/Adamantine, shadow damage, and a breath weapon.
But then, I like dinosaurs and undead.
Maybe kill them with fire? I hear that sometimes works.
-t
.... That is funny, I fought one of those before. It was in another game entirely, and my character probably was supposed to die.
.... That is funny, I fought one of those before. It was in another game entirely, and my character probably was supposed to die....I vote Giant Skeletal T-Rex with DR/Adamantine, shadow damage, and a breath weapon.
But then, I like dinosaurs and undead.
Maybe kill them with fire? I hear that sometimes works.
-t
It wasn't during the Savage Tide campaign, I know that much. :P
It wasn't during the Savage Tide campaign, I know that much. :P.... That is funny, I fought one of those before. It was in another game entirely, and my character probably was supposed to die....I vote Giant Skeletal T-Rex with DR/Adamantine, shadow damage, and a breath weapon.
But then, I like dinosaurs and undead.
Maybe kill them with fire? I hear that sometimes works.
-t
Actually it was an entirely different system. Palladium Super Heroes game.
At any rate ...
Having taken further time to consider concepts discussed in various threads, combined with the fickle dice of Fate and players prodding, I will be incorporating a Signature Item for each Player Character. This item is something that they already have - until the proper circumstances arise that lead to 'activating' that character's particular item.
They are (in g.p. terms) quite powerful by the normal rules, so I've elected to have them 'scale' to the character, improving in power and abilities after activation as the character gains levels.
At any rate ...
Having taken further time to consider concepts discussed in various threads, combined with the fickle dice of Fate and players prodding, I will be incorporating a Signature Item for each Player Character. This item is something that they already have - until the proper circumstances arise that lead to 'activating' that character's particular item.
They are (in g.p. terms) quite powerful by the normal rules, so I've elected to have them 'scale' to the character, improving in power and abilities after activation as the character gains levels.
Really...? Well that sounds interesting.
I have to wonder if there has been a 3.5 / PRPG-compatable non-spellcasting variant done up for Bards?
I would really like to see a well-done "bard as a prestige class" as well, although I could probably extrapolate one from the 1e PHB. Nasty customer :)
I was pawing through my 1e PHB and DMG tonight and reminiscing most fondly for about 3 1/2 hours. Good times. ^_^
I have to wonder if there has been a 3.5 / PRPG-compatable non-spellcasting variant done up for Bards?
I would really like to see a well-done "bard as a prestige class" as well, although I could probably extrapolate one from the 1e PHB. Nasty customer :)
I was pawing through my 1e PHB and DMG tonight and reminiscing most fondly for about 3 1/2 hours. Good times. ^_^
There is a bard as a PrC in the DnD 3.5 UA.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm#p restigeBard
There is a bard as a PrC in the DnD 3.5 UA.I have to wonder if there has been a 3.5 / PRPG-compatable non-spellcasting variant done up for Bards?
I would really like to see a well-done "bard as a prestige class" as well, although I could probably extrapolate one from the 1e PHB. Nasty customer :)
I was pawing through my 1e PHB and DMG tonight and reminiscing most fondly for about 3 1/2 hours. Good times. ^_^
Yeah, but I wanted the old school style or, preferably, a non-spell-casting Bard variant.
There is a bard as a PrC in the DnD 3.5 UA.I have to wonder if there has been a 3.5 / PRPG-compatable non-spellcasting variant done up for Bards?
I would really like to see a well-done "bard as a prestige class" as well, although I could probably extrapolate one from the 1e PHB. Nasty customer :)
I was pawing through my 1e PHB and DMG tonight and reminiscing most fondly for about 3 1/2 hours. Good times. ^_^
Yeah, but I wanted the old school style or, preferably, a non-spell-casting Bard variant.
Non casting style, I have not seen that one yet. Might be interesting though. I know there is a casterless version of paladin and ranger though.
Wow, we failed.
The devil got out, we just took too long to finish this. I think the biggest problem was that we ran into a spell leech. Things went on too long, and it was too hard to drop. This made us nervous when we went to fight the devil. We knew it was only a few moments behind the last door. I suggested to go around and take out the cooling chamber, we also found a poor twisted celestial fox creature. We decided to rest one more night before the final confrontation. However it got out before we finished rest and ravaged half of the city with a large amount of fire balls, almost one every other second.
We pulled the money we had found and got a miracle scroll, and got lent an ion stone to help me with my caster level. It was only a little better than 50/50 odds to use this scroll. I was going to try and resurrect EVERYONE who had died in the attack. I had never thought I would ever be doing anything like this. It was tough, but with some luck I pulled it off.
We are now using this magical instrument we just found to try and re-build the city, little by little.
, conclusion.
Our Heroes, having rested in F8, proceed into the F10-F11 'tunnel rat' cavern area through the secret door from F7. The paladins attempt to diplomacize with the six nutters sitting at their table. Before said nutters are able to reply, Jade II promptly fireballs the lot, starting the carnage.
During the course of the melee, she is hit by 3 critical rocks thrown by the aforementioned nutters to the tune of 25 hp. Rather non-plussed by the situation, she stabs one with her sword of wonder ... and finds herself the same size as her doll, Fluff-Gugg.
Our Heroes fairly readily slaughter the nutters (tunnel rats), near the end of which Joriavah laughs, amused at the unexpected turn of events. She dialogs with the characters briefly, even questioning the truthfulness of the paladins' service to a Gawd(ess). The smack down continues, although Joriavah's SR helps thwart some of the beating. She had even managed to dominate Max just before the characters hacked her into giblets.
After properly looting and pillaging (what little there is) and retrieving the Stygian Keyrod, they head north into the stretch of F16 between cooling chambers F19 and F21. As they emerge from the secret door, they see a shambling dead man in tattered black robes up the hallway to their left.
A royal slobberknocker unfolds, as they realize (a) they are confronting the lich shade of Dargento Vheed, former mayor of Westcrown; (b) the ex-mayor's spell leech ability is pretty tough for them to handle; and (c) that he can convert absorbed spell energies into his own uses. Vheed taxed them fairly heavily, the fight see-sawing back and forth until Max, after anointing his 30' mithral chain with an oil of bless weapon and critically smote the menace to the tune of 61 hit points, taking him from 37 to 98 lost hit points in a single blow. It did not take long afterwards to dispatch the former mayor and loot his ring of wizardry I as well as his badge of office.
Our Heroes proceed northerly into cooling towers F21 (wherein poor Max suffered horribly from a scalding steam blast), F22 (wherein the Stygian water elemental was for a pair of blows a true threat, until The Cultists' use of his Repose Domain's 8th level granted power) - looting the lyre of building from F23 and even into F24, shutting down the cooling pools as they went.
Once they figured out that the reflective red metal doors from F24 into F25 were touch-activated, they were very glad that they did not dispel the magic on them. (This would have deactivated the magical opening mechanism, forcing them to use the Mark 1 Lock Pick - a.k.a. Brute Force to open them.)
They handily made the disbelief saving throw to penetrate the illusion of the floating gargoyle attended table, although the gargoyles' discussion - "Virgin Heart or Trollop Heart, Your Thoughts?" - rather determined that an immediate smacking down was necessary. The quartet were rather rapidly smacked down.
At this juncture, they walked through the bogus flaming wall and into F27. Of the eight mirror-murals, #1 had already been shattered, as had the elaborate decoration been destroyed. They enjoyed the looting of mirrored alcoves - since once viewed the mirror vanishes for a day.
At this point they realized that they had left cooling chambers undone, so they went back 'round to F19 and F18, thence back to F12 before taking the northernmost secret passage into F14. Since Jade II had benefited from a 4-round basking in Vheed's surface thoughts, they recognized this room as the cause of Vheed's transformation.
They dealt with the capacitor, then found the secret door from F15 into F6. Once more, Diplomacy Supreme was unleashed, and for a short time Jezeltrix enjoyed peace and calm after realizing that Vheed was en route to answer to Pharasma after so long a delay.
They were horrified at the results of Jezeltrix's attempt to teleport out, however, reappearing 30' away after a few seconds. Unlike when she left, however, she was QMF'ing from additional serious mental trauma, effectively reduced to a semi-comatose state.
Our Heroes elected to button up both secret doors leading into F6 and rest for the night, intent upon returning to F27 the next day. Because of the odd timing of the characters' spell preparation requirements, Our Heroes have to rest basically for half a day at a clip, rather than 'only' 9 hours.
A few hours after bedding down for the night, the complex grows quiet. Unknown to Our Heroes, Leibdaga the Twin marched out of the place, demolishing Signatory Vaccha and the Burning Guardian on his way out. Several other creatures fled in advance of him, not desiring to tangle with an Infernal Duke with decades of pent-up frustrations to let loose.
During the 9 hours or so that passed while the party rested - and for the subsequent 15 hours - an Infernal Duke and a small army of summoned devils of significant power hovered over Aberian's Folly and laid waste to a vast stretch of Westcrown with fire, cold, ice, lighting and the direst of blasphemies before the pit fiend used a long-held wish to return himself and the various summoned mini-onions to the pits of Hell.
Our Heroes, distraught at the carnage that their actions wrought upon their beloved city, made desperate pleas for aid. The Book, through devouring the mineral wealth necessary, oferred a scroll of miracle whilst the covert Pathfinder agent Whatsherface agreed to lend The Cultist an orange prism ioun stone. All in all, a natural 8 or better was required. A natural 14 turned up, acting as a massive scale raise dead upon the innocent victims of the Infernal Duke's wrath. While many remain very deceased (lacking insufficient remains to restore to life), enough returned to life to greatly ameliorate the horrific tragedy. Acting quickly, Zin Serrn's cohort used the lyre of building to renovate the Shrine of Aroden into short-term emergency housing for the refuges. Lest those they spent so much be devoured (or worse) by the Things That Go Bump in the Night that still stalk Westcrown's streets after sunset.
Our Heroes now only have a small window of time to remove the blight of the critters of shadow before the very crowded conditions take a severe toll.
At present, the group is as follows:
- Zin Serrn, Monk 9th (Irori); is the bearer of the Burning Ring
- Dude (aka Da Pimp), Fighter 1 / Paladin 5 (Shelyn) / Sorcerer 1 (Celestial) / Arcane Archer 1 = 8th level; now has Miss Molly; is the bearer of the Singing Bow
- Torsin, Paladin 7 (Iomedae) / Wizard 2 (divination); has Draggy the Dragon; is the bearer of the Sword of Honor, Justice and Valor
- The Cultist, Cleric 9 ; has Mr. Straw; is the bearer of The Book
- Jade II, Fighter 1 / Sorcerer 7 (Elemental Water) / Eldritch Knight 1; has Fluff-Gugg; is the bearer of the Aeromancer's Ring
- Max, 9th level NPC/DMPC; has Mistah Mwangi
...And that is what happens when PCs unluckily on a clock in a Pathfinder adventure tarry and the clock runs down...
Sir Turin:
Were the actions of the PCs and sacrifice of resurces in selfless cause sufficient to salvage something in terms of Fame Points from the situation?
(How stands the tally in other words?)
Ah good question, the answer to which I omitted.
Dude is at 5, the rest are at 3 each. (I awarded 3 Fame Points, although they are in even deeper trouble if they tarry at all in dealing with Chapter 5...)
wow.
just, wow.
can't wait to see what they do now!
-t
ps: Go Twin!
^_^ The Twin appreciates the huzzahs, eager to returning to the Nine Hells and settling long outstanding debts, then plotting gruesome and horrific vengeance upon House Thrune at a point YTBD.
The fun part will be to see their decision process(es) as they come to grips with the logistics of attempting to shelter hundreds of people within the abandoned Chapel of Aroden. Even using the lyre of building - should any one they know even be able to play it worth a spit, which is currently not the case that I know of - they are going to be stressed beyond their current resource capabilities to shelter, sustain and keep healthy that many people.
Their best bet in the short term is to act immediately, the next morning in game time, to strike at the cause of the Critters of Shadow. Fortunately, the AP presents an opportunity to do just that in the beginning of Chapter 5 Mother of Flies...
wow.
just, wow.
can't wait to see what they do now!
-t
ps: Go Twin!
^_^ The Twin appreciates the huzzahs, eager to returning to the Nine Hells and settling long outstanding debts, then plotting gruesome and horrific vengeance upon House Thrune at a point YTBD.
The fun part will be to see their decision process(es) as they come to grips with the logistics of attempting to shelter hundreds of people within the abandoned Chapel of Aroden. Even using the lyre of building - should any one they know even be able to play it worth a spit, which is currently not the case that I know of - they are going to be stressed beyond their current resource capabilities to shelter, sustain and keep healthy that many people.
Their best bet in the short term is to act immediately, the next morning in game time, to strike at the cause of the Critters of Shadow. Fortunately, the AP presents an opportunity to do just that in the beginning of Chapter 5 Mother of Flies...
No Pressure....right its only the beginning of doomsday :)
Maaaan I gots ta get my DM runs some of these AP's because this is some great stuff. All the stuff our group is missing out on....damn.
Maaaan I gots ta get my DM runs some of these AP's because this is some great stuff. All the stuff our group is missing out on....damn.
Belly up and GM them for your group to give Monkamuck a respite. :) As you say, there's some great stuff they're missing out on, and it is a lot easier on the brain to run out of the book than purely from scratch week in and week out. Taking some time away from behind the GM screen does wonders for the "GM batteries" in my experience.
Keep in mind that only Council of Thieves and Kingmaker are written for the Pathfinder rules set. All the previous APs are written for "SRD 3.5", although that is (to varying degrees) easy enough to convert with a stack of index cards and some time. Quite a few Paizonians have already worked through and done the conversion process on several of the APs as well.
I would recommend the older APs in the following order:
Rise of the Runelords
Legacy of Fire
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Second Darkness
If the players are prone to whining about losing items, they're in for some serious poo when they hit RotRL - plenty of critters inclined to Sunder ... and even worse await them.
One thing to bring home to your group is to use a "pure Pathfinder" approach to your campaign. "Wiping the slate clean" is also very helpful to do from time to time. Using say a 20 or 25 point buy instead of trusting them to die rolls for ability scores as a starting point. ^_^
Thanks Turin I'm certainly going to look into this and may even have a chance at it this weekend.
Thanks Turin I'm certainly going to look into this and may even have a chance at it this weekend.
Awesome, I wish you luck!
Keep us all posted please, as we eagerly anticipate many messy demises due to simple pooch ups. ^_^