Pugwampis rule. They're in the top 5 of my favourite critters now.
My players really hate me now, and have threatened violence if I ever use them again.
They also think they should be CR 3, or maybe 25.
I think I'll invent a really overpowered PrC but require the killing of at least a dozen pugwampis as a prerequisite.
I can give that PrC everything. Literally. No one will ever use it.
And *that* is what I call a great monster. :)
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Ha ha ha!
Anyone call on the cactus? Anyone fall off the rafters in the church?
Stories, stories, man!
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-
HATE. PUGWAMPIS.
When we ran into the first one it was an absolute clown show, and we were the ones wearing the big shoes. As soon as people started taking cacti to the face everyone but me and the rogue stepped out and just shouted for us "to get in there, you're good, we got your back."
Lying liars who lie.
It turned into a mad scrabble in the sand to catch this rabid devil chihuahua thing and keep the goat from strangling himself.
Also, bastard broke my khopesh! My character wept.
The rogue and I wound up being a bit tighter after that though, considering HE DIDN'T BAIL, THANKS GUYS. >:(
But I kid. The rogue eventually put a lucky knife throw in the pug's head, and we made our way out with an unconcious goat.
We all let out a collective sigh of relief that that was over with.
Then we went to the monastery.
The pugwampis in that kitchen or whatever it was were a pain, especially since we had a running fight with some other stuff the next room over. Once things seemed to be getting under control in the other room, the ranger and I charged into the kitchen, nearly tripping over all that crap on the floor and breaking our necks, with the cleric hurling fire bolts from the back. After a practical reenactment of the kitchen fight scene from Gremlins, we were finally done with them. By that time we were getting pretty pissed off in-character.
Then we made our way to the chapel.
The rogue and ranger started to go for the rafters. They made it up the ladder, scrapping with the pugs on that platform, but didn't make their way further out. The wizard, cleric, and ranger got lucky, very lucky. They managed to bring down this bone chandelier thing that a number of the pugs, including the apparent leader, were taunting us from. There were only a few of them sniping us from above now. The ranger leapt to the floor(landed hard, naturally), and joined our attempt to take down the leader.
Our long, drawn out attempt to take down the leader.
The rogue fell to negative hitpoints up on the ladder too. The cleric had to rush up the ladder to bring him back up, and then she had to rush back to help with the fight on the ground.
Our wounds were wearing us down now. We had the chieftain surrounded, but we could not hit the damn thing. The ranger, wizard and I kept getting knocked to 0 hp and below, and the poor cleric was constantly running around to keep us all on our feet.
We could not hit the thing. And then the leader broke my khopesh. Again. I nutted up and lunged for him. And SOMEHOW managed to grapple him.
Everyone yelled "choke him out!". They didn't have to say it twice.
You're all familiar with the iconic image of Homer choking Bart. Yeah, it was pretty much that.
The pug snipers eventually put me down, breaking the grapple. The cleric got me back up. The choking began again.
This repeated THREE TIMES until all the snipers were dead and the leader finally expired.
I spiked that little bastard like a football and had to excuse myself and take a time out while the rest of the party went over the bodies.
The sad thing is, I play a NG fighter, and was actually thinking about taking him towards LG paladinhood for Sarenrae. After that...I'm sorely tempted to go barbarian...
We still have to clear out the basement. At this point I think cleansing the site with fire and just waiting a day or two might be acceptable in Sarenrae's eyes.
Ha ha ha!
Anyone call on the cactus? Anyone fall off the rafters in the church?
Stories, stories, man!
I HATE THEM! My wife ran the game and had me pissed the whole time. LOL. I think she enjoyed it too much.
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This is the best thread ever.
There was no way you didn't have a trollface.jpg going when you created those damned things.
I'M GETTING ANGRY JUST THINKING BACK ON IT SFLPWJEPGJWEO
>:(, just >:(.
It has quickly become a running gag to promise pugwampis in the next session of whichever game one of us is running the next weekend. It's always followed by a promise of punching the responsible GM in the junk.
~laughter~
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Our first encounter with pugwampis starts about here, some very funny goings on with that cactus...
My last session ended with "And then you look up, and observe that the rafters are crawling with pugwampis! Aaaaand we're out of time tonight, we'll pick it up here next week."
Assorted looks of horror on the PC's faces. *glee*
Ha ha ha!
Anyone call on the cactus? Anyone fall off the rafters in the church?
Stories, stories, man!
Ohh yes. The pretty boy rogue took a tumble off that little cliff - but he was in luck, that cactus broke his fall. :D
I don't think anyone fell off the rafters, but they missed the little buggers so often it wasn't even funny (not to them....)
And one of them used his shatter ability to destroy the alchemist's masterwork sickle.
It was generally failing a lot of checks (avoiding damage in the cactus fields, attacks, saves against shatter......) that made my players really hate the little adorables.
And their leader was one of the toughest fights that group ever had. Consider that with almost no damage output!
I'll have a straggler return to the monastery next session and see if I can get any players to snap :)
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My last session ended with "And then you look up, and observe that the rafters are crawling with pugwampis! Aaaaand we're out of time tonight, we'll pick it up here next week."Assorted looks of horror on the PC's faces. *glee*
Wow, I can't think of a better cliffhanger!
I can't wait to run LoF for my group. Probably won't start for a few months though.
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Mikaze, I feel your pain, yet at the same time I can't help but be amused by the tale. ;)
So I guess now is a bad time to tell you that the BBEG of the campaign is a CR18 Colossal Pugwampi, huh?
Just kidding! ;)
I'm glad I was the DM for this adventure, because I might also have flipped out if I had been forced to deal with those annoying critters as a player.
Mikaze, I feel your pain, yet at the same time I can't help but be amused by the tale. ;)
So I guess now is a bad time to tell you that the BBEG of the campaign is a CR18 Colossal Pugwampi, huh?
Just kidding! ;)
I'm glad I was the DM for this adventure, because I might also have flipped out if I had been forced to deal with those annoying critters as a player.
Well, *I* know how to spice up the final encounter if it should prove too easy.
I'm going to be running Legacy of Fire sometime in the near future. I can not wait to see my players' reactions to these little bastards. I will definitely be tossing one or two into any encounter that seems to be going to easy.
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One thing I forgot:
The rogue behind me still got clipped pretty bad, and the cleric popped off a positive energy burst since we were all wounded anyway. This also healed the baboon, which was then screaming in my face.
I had to beat a pugwampi to death with a live baboon. I beat a small creature to death with a poor, panicked animal. I hope you're proud of yourself Mr. Erik Mona. >:(
I'm never gonna make it to paladin in that campaign now...
I run a D&D class at a summer camp, and last summer I ran Legacy of Fire for a group of ninth, and tenth graders. The parth was: Halfling rogue, Human Barbarian , Human cleric, Elven sorcerer, and Human Paladin. These kids had taken my class for a couple of summers , so they were experienced gamers. They hated the Pugs , but all was fine till they got to the great hall in the temple. First mistake was letting several of the pugs escape while in the ruined church, so the ones in the great hall had time to get ready. The one change that I made was that I gave the pugs several flasks of Alchemist's fire in a box sitting up in the rafters. I play my Pugwampis like the gremlins from the 80's movie, tiny giggling terrors with a taste for destruction and mayhem. Well when the rogue poked her head in the door , she failed her stealth check (how unlucky!) and caught flaming death in the face. The party tried throwing grappling hooks into the rafters to either climb up the ropes, or pull down the whole roof. Unfortunately the pugs kept shattering the hooks, leading to some very funny Roadrunner/Coyote moments. Finally the(healed)rogue managed to get to the rafters and began meleeing the pugs. Due to her small size she was the only one who could get up there without risking a beam shattering under her. Those who could were using missle weapons (until they too were shattered) however the rogue was duking it out for 3 back to back sittings. It took all of the groups brains, spells, and healing potions. but at the end of three sessions they TRULY hated Pugwampis as much , if not more than the gnolls did. It was one of the funniest, most violent, messiest encounters I have ever run as a Dungeon Master. My hat is off to the pathfinder staff for such a wonderfully hated creature.
My friends-
I truly feel your PC pain in your descriptions of the Cactus Patch misadventures. Having lived in the lovely Sonoran Desert of the Great State of Arizona, I didn't even need pugwampis to have my share of unfortunate enounters BUT I just wanted to say what a bad, bad person Mr. Mona is for designing that encounter. I'll share a few actual common names of this wonderful flora just to make my point (or spine in the case of cactus). We gots: Shin Dagger, Spanish Bayonet (Kelshite Blade?), Prickly Pear, Jumping Cactus (not actually mobile, but you would swear it was when you find a sausage link sized segment wih 2 inch spines suddenly embedded where it wasn't a moment before; truly the pugwampi of the plant world), Staghorn cactus, Teddy Bear cactus (appears covered in golden fuzz, but don't cuddle it), Cat's Claw (aka wait-a-minute bush) and of course Crucifixion Thorn!
all these names should be properly spoken in the company of a good half-dozen adjectives that i won't spell out in mixed company. As I said Mr. Mona is a bery, bery bad man!
note: i can't wait to run this encounter in slo-mo 3-d : )
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My party's fight with the pugs went a grueling twelve rounds, because the PC's ACs and the pugwampi's unluck aura made it so that almost nobody could hit anybody. (Almost nobody? Er, whatever.)
The only really comedic moment occurred after the druid set the nest on fire with flaming sphere, causing all the pugs to come scurrying out onto the rafters. Mokknokk charged the pally (kicking his own guys out of his way, of course, onto the floor). After a couple passes the pally got irritated with Mokknokk's high AC (and relatively high HP) and invoked his Holy Smite. At this point the pally had switched to his backup mace because the pugwampis had broken his scimitar. So he hauls back and Holy Smites the mace down on Mokknokk's head, smashing the King right through the rafter beam and down onto the floor below (the pally was standing on the edge of the choir loft). He peers over the edge to check the damage, and sees Mokknokk get up, shake it off, and start engaging the other PCs on the floor below.
The wiz had a potion of levitation and was hover-blasting through the fight with his crossbow and ray of frost. Eventually he figured out how the unluck aura was working (Spellcraft roll), and by this point all the pugs had been driven down to the floor of the chapel. So he levitates up to 25' above the floor (outside the unluck aura) and starts plinking the pugwampis with his ray.
I can see them as being fun with the right group but mine weren't that group, instead of enhancing and bettering the game with a little frustration they had the potential to ruin the fun of the session. It was about half and half in the end with two of my players coming away from that session in a foul mood and the other two quite happy they were able to slaughter the annoying pests. One even threatened to leave, suffice to say I nixed their shatter ability and ignored the normal fumble rules I typically had in effect, no need for adding insult to injury.
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Pugwampis still haunt me from our LoF game back in May; I can't believe I fizzled on such a low SR on every single spell negative reroll or no. We took our frustrations out on zombies that evening. On the other hand, my gnome sorceror added a new name to his extensive collection ("Goatmaster") and honestly we got a lot of amusement out of the frustration.
Well,
My players are going to despise me for it, but in a few hours they're going to experience some more pugwampi hell.
Things went pretty well last night. Fortunately for the players, the sorcerer managed to flank the gnoll with the hook and torched his stock of bladeball ammunition full of eager pugwampi. Still, enough carnage was wrought by the two shots the gnoll did get off. The players got out of it with lots of damage, but no casualties.
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Pugwampi's... the single greatest critter for part 1 of Legacy of Fire. My players never did get em all, and from time to time experience the aura's of the little guys!
Hilarity ensues every time.
To be a real bugger, you could have one of em stow away in the pack of one of the adventurers to add a little "FUN" to the next few parts of the adventure path!
Not that I would have done that... oh no... not at all! ;) ;D ;P
Bwahahahahahahahahaha
My players hate the Pugwampis as well - but not in the good way. Three PCs went to get the goat and two of them ended up high in the negatives. The fighter has lost his longsword. The multiple die rolls seem to be an annoyance to them. They're not enjoying my comedic explanations of the bad luck. In the Chapel one player was so annoyed by them that he sat out the combat sitting in the nave rather than deal with it.
I'm sure it depends on the group. My group has some players that definitely lose enjoyment when things get too difficult.
So Erik I'm getting ready to start a new game group and run Legacy of Fire and I have a question...
Why are gnolls immune to the Unluck effect? That seemed strange to me. Yeah, I get that the pugwampis would be annoying to gnolls even if they were immune, but I like the idea that they love the gnolls and they make the gnolls unlucky too. That is even more hillarious. But that's not how the power works.
What's going on with that design idea? Or is it a typo?
Creative Director
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I mentioned this in the other thread, but in order to avoid duplication confusion...
Gnolls being immune is kinda just a fun little irony.
Actually, now that I've thought about this a little more, the fact that pugwampis and gnolls are immune to the effect suggests that there IS some sort of mystic link between the two races... maybe the pugwampis are on to something and gnolls really ARE their gods? If I was a gnoll, I'd hate them just for that!
Thanks for answering by the way :)
Gnoll's don't like them but they hate Kingslayers even more...
Incidentally I may also stat up a Pugwampi Transmuter Lich for book 6.
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Ha ha ha!
Anyone call on the cactus? Anyone fall off the rafters in the church?
Stories, stories, man!
Ok, we're playing this AP now and I wanted to share this.
Three man party, all second level to make up for the 2 man deficit with the DM adjusting the encounter for our higher levels, paladin, cleric, and inquisitor/rogue (played by me).The cactus patch, the cries of the goat spurs the paladin (who failed his check and thinks it's the cry of a maiden) to rush full tilt into the patch. Basically the party make sort work of the pugwampi, but it was annoying. No one fell down the onto the cactus, the characters didn't want to get close to the edge for some reason... heh.
The monastery rafters, the party climbed up the stairs with the grapple and see 9 of them with their king in a cheering pow-wow readying for their fight against the group. The king moves up a bit, then my inq/rogue charged, and fell through the rafters... My character made a reflex save to grab onto the rafters... pulling down more sections of the roof including the king and 3 of the pugwampis. My charcter fell down and went unconscious (11 damage on 2d6!) with the king only taking 2 (the others dying from their fall) and about to get up with only one unconscious PC nearby...! The paladin jumped down the rafters to engage the king (and to save my character's butt). The cleric all alone up there takes hordes of arrow attacks to the point she climbed back down and healed up (and also did some healing for the entire group with her channel positive). The pugwampis at this point congregate around the opening yelling for their king to kill the human. Yelling Fight! Fight! They started climbing down and attacking when the cleric joined in the fight since they felt it was unfair, not a proper fight club kind of thing. My character finally went back up and joined in the fight (thank goodness for healing judgement). The party managed to kill some of the pugwampis and the king FINALLY went down.
The fight in the kitchen... My character moved up along with the cleric, managed to take one down with a sneak attack dart and next round I even jumped on the table... and promptly fell on my back on some cutlery and took 6 damage. The joke now is my character is constantly falling. The cleric wimps out and leaves the kitchen, and the paladin is staying outside shooting his arrow. My character had to heal himself before getting up and still taking more cutlery damage.
Overall, my group really enjoyed taking on the pugwampis, it made for interesting/annoying battles. All the more satisfying when we took them down. The group is keeping the king's warhammer, it's the party nutcracker.
My players were horrified when I told them that Gnolls are unaffected by the aura and that it doesn't seem like a bad idea to put one Pugwampi in every gnoll fight just hiding around somewhere... :D
Everybody loves to hate Pugwampis. :D
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My players killed all the pugampis on Sunday. They started the night with the chapel. Thankfully three of them had ranged weapons. The sorc figured out if he cast true strike and then acid splash, he had a really good chance of hitting. of course, his roll of a 1 still caused him to miss :)
Let's see, out of my 6 pc's, 4 of them fell (one intentionally jumped a second time, I'll get to that later) The first three all in the same round. First the weak point in the floor gave way, dropping the pc to 0 hp. the next was the first to step on a rafter, dropping him to 0 hp, the the third jumped up on a rafter as well, dropping him to -1.
I had had Father Z give them all a CLW pot before they left because their only healer is a bard, and I figured they'd need the help. Which was good, because everyone used their potions in the chapel fight. They figured they'd use the ladder to get to the other platforms above. The description didn't mention it was attached to the wall or anything that I saw, so I allowed them to carry it. Of course, I called for STR checks to take it down or put it up, and that caused them to drop it many times. By the time they had gotten the ladder in place on the Norther section, the two pugs there had run across the rafters and were shooting them from the rafters. So down the ladder came, and they moved it to the east platform. By this time there were only one or two of the original 6 pugs, and between the sorc and the rogue (using one of the pugs' tiny bow and arrows) they dropped the pugs to 1 by the time those with the ladder had climbed up. The last pug ran into the tent, and ambushed the bard as he was trying to cut the tenting down.
The barbarian cut through the rafters in the east, the fighter joining him, and caused the first section of the tent to fall. They took out the three pugs and Mokk waded into the fight. I had changed the warhammer to a small hand crossbow (for our gnome rogue, since no one could/would have used the warhammer) and treated it as a light crossbow for him. The barbarian had earlier found out that you couldn't walk on the tenting (dropping him to 1 hp which he then decided to rage for the extra 2 hp)... :) So Mokk stood out on the tenting shooting at them. The bard is a whip wielder, and he was able to disarm Mokk twice, while the fighter used his grappling hook to rip the tent flooring near Mokk, finally dropping the second section with Mokk. As the bard, fighter, and sorc ran for the ladder, I talked the barbarian into jumping down and attacking Mokk. Unfortunately, he failed his acrobatics check (bad luck there... hehehe) and instead fell unconscious. Mokk had since hit the bard dropping him unconscious, and one of the rogues dropping him unconscious. The fighter finally closed with the king along with his dog and while the fighter missed, the dog hit and the pugs were done for.
With three unconscious chars they decided to rest in the chapel. I was feeling generous, so I let them stay unmolested. They spent two days resting and healing. The bard brought himself and the human rogue to full health, and everyone else had about 1/2-1/3 their hp's. So, they decided to keep exploring. I had told them of the three archways from the nave, the bard decided on the third one, leading them straight to the kitchen... :D Everyone who entered failed their reflex save, so I told them they got cut on a knife in the very first square (all of them, the same knife.) I told the fighter he could jump up on the counters and avoid the floor... He immediately failed his acrobatics check and fell to the floor, taking enough to drop him unconscious. The bard rushed in (getting cut on the knife) and thought about trying to get the fighter out, but with his str of 8, he'd be stuck with dragging him, and he didn't think that would be wise to drag him out on the kitchen floor... :D The barbarian went in (getting cut by the knife) and was able to make his str check to pick the fighter up and hauled him out the door one-handed (he didn't want to drop his sword) He left the room with 1 hp... They were able to eventually take them out, but not before two more of them ran in (both getting cut by that knife) and then the pugs were killed before they could get to them, so they ran in for nothing... :) having to face getting cut on the way out as well...
By this time, they were all really close to 0 again, with the barb fatigued because of raging and at 1 hp, and the fighter unconscious. So, instead of retreating, they wanted to see what the doorway that had its door intact was... :) That's when they met the baboons. Yeah... Another char dropped from a baboon crit, but they finished them off fairly quickly. They then decided the deanery was a good place to hold up (the bard making good use of the cleaning aspect of Prestidigitation and mending) and they spent a few days there. I was again kind and had one of the mercenaries that the Bard had saved from dying come see if they were still alive and brought fresh potions for them. I had her come back the next day as they had all quickly drank them down before she had left. So, almost fully healed, the group set out, they made quick work of the stirges, found all the secret doors/stairs, and we finished with them getting ready to go downstairs.
And yes, my players thoroughly HATE pugwampis. I told them I'm tempted to give some some pc levels and have them encounter them later... They threatened me bodily harm if I did... :D
My Pugwampis did the following:
In the cactus field:
Made player A stumble face down in the cactus field.
Made player B stumble into the huge cactus near Rombard.
Broke weapon of player A.
In church:
Again broke the weapon of player A.
Made player C fall down the rafters. Twice.
Made player A fall down the rafters.
Broke weapon of player B.
Hurt them solidly.
In kitchen:
Made players A and B to repeatedly fall saves against shards.
Made player C fall down when he tried to jump on the table.
When one pugwampi returned on the third (or fourth) date:
Broke weapon of player B.
Made player C fall down the roof (he was setting up guard there).
All in all, my players hated them (in a good way :D ) and they thought they were under-CRed. :D
How did I never discover this thread?!?! If ever there was a thread in need of being necromanced back, it is this one! All tales of pugwampi might in LoF (and any other adventure or AP), let them be repeated and marvelled at!
Hooray for pugwampis!
:D
Pugwampis rule. They're in the top 5 of my favourite critters now.
My players really hate me now, and have threatened violence if I ever use them again.
They also think they should be CR 3, or maybe 25.
I think I'll invent a really overpowered PrC but require the killing of at least a dozen pugwampis as a prerequisite.
I can give that PrC everything. Literally. No one will ever use it.
And *that* is what I call a great monster. :)
I nearly wanted to rip your throat out the moment I read the post.
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We just started LoF and made finished the church encounter, we all have an equal hatred for the little rat finks. That was one of the longest most brutal fights ever
In book 6 i created a troop of flying gnolls as a way to show Jhavuls reckless use of wishes.
As a special attack these gnolls dropped baskets of pugwumpis.
My level 16 players freaked
In our game, Father Jackal become a Pugwampi-were instead of a Jackal-were. Much violence and hate ensued against him.