Here's the deal: It's one of my very good friends' birthday in two weeks, and he wants me to run him a Pathfinder game as a gift.
We decided he's going to be a Level 5 Fighter/Level 4 Human Hellknight. Three other players are in, and they are all going to be Level 7 Halfling Wizard slaves of the Hellknight. The idea is that they'll all be specialized in a different magic school, and they have agreed to be lower level so our friend can be more powerful (which he loves).
The game is going to be a one-shot game session anywhere from 8-16 hours.
Sooo....what are you guys' ideas for the adventure? Who should the primary "villain" be? (My friend says he would love to perhaps battle atypical good-aligned monsters.) Where should it be set and what should I have them do?
Villain? One of those do-gooding paladins of Iomedae and celestial allies are trying to get all up in House Thrune's bidness. Harrumph harrumph. Set it on the outskirts of Cheliax, probably close to the Andoren border—good place for a bit of conflict.
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Well, Hellknights are very, very strongly Law-focused. As such, the obvious enemies would be Chaotic. If he wants to battle the forces of Good, that'd mean Chaotic Good, which would be azatas, brass and copper dragons, and the goodly fey. There aren't any azatas that are really the right CR to be a final boss by default, but you could always add class levels to a lillend or slap a weakening template on a ghaele.
Do you think the player would prefer a combat-heavy game or one with a mix of talking and combat? If the latter, a lillend with a couple extra bard levels could be a really nice boss. Maybe she's stirring up rebellion against the rightful (but evil/tyrannical) ruler of a city/region? That'd ping a Hellknight's radar hard.
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The Hellknights of the PC's order have gone on a massive patrol, instigated by sightings of foreign forces near the border.
The lone Hellknight PC has been left behind to defend the keep of his order. All he has is his cabal of arcanists.
From the upper battlements, he sees a superior force that have slipped through the cracks and infiltrated Cheliax. They're heading to his keep, to take the fortress and sever the magical connection his Order has to the Hells (via a conduit or appropriate evil artifact). If they succeed, the Order will be effectively destroyed, and their powers stripped.
Essentially, it's Home Alone, but replace Macauley Culkin with a Hellknight Commander and replace the Wet Bandits with a bunch of good knights, warriors and cavaliers, led by a snotty Paladin.
Against higher numbers, the Hellknight and his arcanists will need to surprise, trap and use ruthless tactics to defend the keep from multiple attacks.
The finale could be the Hellknight versus the Paladin in the heart of the keep with the conduit severely damaged. The arcanists need to repair the conduit while the Hellknight and Pally go toe-to-toe.
Do you think the player would prefer a combat-heavy game or one with a mix of talking and combat?
Knowing him, he will want a mix.
I like the location of the Cheliax-Andoren border. I also really like the "Home Alone" siege-style game idea. We've never done anything like that and I think it sounds much cooler than delving a dungeon. A lillend bard and snotty paladin will make great villains!
I'm thinking right now of a two-part adventure. The first part will be him showing up to an evil ruler's rightful kingdom where the lillend is stirring up rebellion. He'll have to use a combo of social intrigue and combat brutality to find and thwart the members of this resistance. The second part is going to be an all-out attack by the allies of this resistance on the castle, where he'll have to defend something. I love the idea of a final one-on-one clash between him and the paladin (maybe with his arcanists simply buffing him) and I know he will, too.
This all sounds great so far! Any ideas for cool individual encounters, social or otherwise? Maybe ones where his Hellknight powers can shine? Also, I really want to work a dragon into this thing somewhere, but I'm rather unsure how/where to do so.
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Yeah, a paladin will rip a non-antipaladin evil Hell Knight a new one -- unless the paladin is notably lower level, but that's not much of a climactic fight. I don't see any reason that the Hell Knight couldn't be LN, though. In both scenarios, he's upholding the established law and order, and in neither scenario is he really doing anything inherently evil (at least by necessity).
If you want something similar I would go with a chevalier since they tend toward chaotic good.
Great idea. Done. I didn't think about the fact that a paladin would rip a Hellknight apart!
I don't see any reason that the Hell Knight couldn't be LN, though. In both scenarios, he's upholding the established law and order, and in neither scenario is he really doing anything inherently evil (at least by necessity).
My player has decided to go with Lawful Evil because he thinks it will be more fun than Lawful Neutral. He told me that he is so ruthless, he's basically willing to do whatever it takes within the confines of the law to establish order. He treats his allies and superiors with respect and decorum, however. (So the other players can have fun, too.)
I decided the framework of the story is that an ex-Hellknight of the Order of the Gate has been made a lesser baron on the edge of the Cheliax-Andoren border. This baron is old and infirm now, and is slowly losing his holdings to a semi-secret resistance group that has infiltrated basically all of his government and are subverting it. My friend's Hellknight, as an Order of the Scourge member, has been sent in to reestablish order whatever the cost.
Now I'm trying to figure out a way to work a good dragon into the equation without it "stealing the show" so to speak, as I still want the Chevalier to be the final encounter. I just think it would be a cool encounter.
My friend is also asking me if he should be allied to a Chelaxian House, and I don't know anything about the houses in Cheliax (apart from Thrune).
I'm loving these comments so far, though! Keep them coming!
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Well, if the Hellknight follows Asmodeus, why not have the followers of his deity's worst foe appear.
Rovagug's followers could be utterly ruthless, and you could have the chaos versus law conflict. Also, such a foe will go where no paladin or chaotic good foe will go. (Implant bomb might be a something a chaotic evil alchemist foe might be tempted to use on followers or monsters.)