|
Hi folks, I am running this mod here on the boards but also for my home group. Obviously the home group is much further along already and this week then wanted to go after Whitechin. I am in the midst of marking student midterms and prepping mid-term progress reports and my game is on Friday night. Since my prep time for the game is limited I was wondering if anyone who has run this side quest already would like to offer up how they ran the encounter and what they did with Whitechin in particular? Any help would be greatly appreciated and save my bacon!
In my game, I replaced the rescue of Arael from the Hellknights with a rescue from Whitechin's lair, an abandoned inn in Rego Cader. The inn was full of goblins, both warriors and rogues, along with a goblin snake and Tarko, a 1st level barbarian. Whitechin was fought alongside an imp. The party was 5 1st level characters. Whitechin's stats are as follows:
Whitechin the Witchy CR 2
XP 600
Male Goblin Witch 3
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60ft, Perception +4
Defense
AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +4 mage armor)
hp 16 (24 with false life, 3d6+6 [plus 8 with false life])
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +2
Offense
Spd 30ft
Melee masterwork club +2 (1d4-1/19-20) or touch +1 (by spell effect)
Ranged ranged touch +5 (by spell effect)
Spells CL 3rd, concentration +9
2nd—false life (already cast), summon monster II
1st—burning hands (DC 13), mage armor (already cast), shocking grasp
0th—acid splash, detect magic, open/close, touch of fatigue (DC 12)
Hexes evil eye (30ft range, -2 to attack, AC, skills, ability checks or saves for 5 rounds, Will DC 13 reduces to 1 round), healing (cure light wounds by touch 1/day/individual)
Statistics
Str 8, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 8, Cha 10
Base Attack +1; CMB -1; CMD 11
Feats Combat Casting, Craft Wondrous Item
Skills Bluff +6, Craft (traps) +8, Knowledge (planes) +8, Perception +4, Ride +7, Spellcraft +8, Stealth +13; Racial Modifiers +4 Ride, +4 Stealth
Gear Witchy hat, masterwork club, eyes of the eagle, familiar (viper named Bitey)
Languages Common, Goblin, Halfling
Spells Known as above, plus cure light wounds, enlarge person, grease, ray of enfeeblement
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I had one of his goblin followers attack one of the Children of Westcrown NPCs while she was training by the sewer grate behind the Safe House. The PCs hear here scream and respond to aid her. They see the a goblin escaping back into the sewers. They were able to follow the goblin back to Whitechin's lair which was a corridor burrowed off of the main sewers. There they found two goblins guarding the end of the corridor which opened up into a larger room beyond. A pit trap was guarding the entrance as well. There was also a secret door the goblins used to get into the corridor. In all there were four goblins and Whitechin, your run-of-the-mill wererat.
|
|
Unfortunately, I already used the Arael rescue but I think I can use the same idea with Jocavo; Children of Westcrown member Gorvio's uncle, the horse trader. He could subsitute for Arael in the first scenario. I can also add the stuff from the second one in lieu of loading the inn up with goblins. My party only has 3 players and not a real heavy hitter amongst them.
Hiya.
I placed Whitechin in the Goodman Games 3.5e adventure #41: The Lost Arrows of Aristemis...with significant changes to the backstory, of course. In it, Whitechin is under the 'spell' of a certain powerful creature at the lower level of this adventure. "She" has tasked Whitechin and his goblins with finding and recovering all the arrows from the surrounding countryside...aka, raiding the nearby farmers, travelers, constant searching, etc. There's more to the backstory, but that's the gist of it. A nice outside-the-city dungeon crawl with a purpose, slightly linked to Westcrown (I placed the Rift 9 hours hard-ride from Westcrown).
I made Whitechin a Barghest who is attempting to organize all the Goblinoids in the ruined section.
|
There is no mention of what happened to a certain coin, consumed by a certain woman. So I had it end up in the sewers of Westcrown, where it was found by a hitherto unknown Goblin Witch named Whitechin.
In the opener, the coin had tried to escape Whitechin (yes, very LOTR) and found itself in the possession of one of the PCs. The PC had a strong vision of a Silver King upon a Silver throne in a palace of cold diamonds (Mammon) and thenceforth had the ability to "feel" the location of precious minerals.
My players are excellent role-players and this particular player went with the concept very readily. He hid the coin from the others and immediately became the greediest member of the party (And he wasn't even the rogue).
Twice now, I have started a session with "roll for initiative" and had Whitechin attack the party to try and get his precious coin back. He once hired a bugbear assassin to attempt a Coup de gras on the sleeping character. It was a deadly encounter, but they all survived (and learned not to sleep in local inns without some precautions). Whitechin now has Mammon's coin and I am sure he will reappear in the future. I intend to make him a very rich, very devote sewer goblin, dedicated to his master Mammon.
BTW, I made the coin similar to a rod of mineral detection, but its power was weak for these low level characters.
If you read the results of the final encounter for the AP (pg. 53) you'll find that this certain coin is, in fact, still in the possession of the woman's son. It remains after, half melted and strange, bearing the leering face of a certain arch-fiend.
Just thought I'd bring that up. I decided to make Whitechin a were-rat who rode into battle on a larger goblin dog.
Both times that I've used Whitechin (once here in a PbP and once in a home game) I've made him a goblin were-rat 3rd level cleric of Lamashtu (Madness and Trickery domains.)
The PC's didn't really like thinking they were fighting a normal bunch of goblins when an invisible (2nd level Trickery domain) Whitechin slinked his way into the middle and did a channel negative energy.
I used this write-up several times. Very nice!
I hope someone reads this thread once in a while because I need help.
My 2nd level group has a ranger, a rogue, a cleric of Nethys and a bard. The problem is: the bard never joins the others in any activity because she's concerned about her career and good name (and the player thinks she's useless in combat at low levels). So I had to adjust the encounter to save Arael (which ended up being too easy) and only two PCs went to face another encounter I made for 4 PCs. Result: ranger dead and I had to cheat to avoid the rogue's death too.
Now I don't know how to build the encounter with Whitechin and his gang.
Should I build it for 4 second level PCs? Should I let Janiven help them? In this case, how could I balance the enc, being J a 3rd level NPC?
Thanks to anyone who will help me.
Could Whitechin be a lvl3 derro necromancer? Or is it too much?
AC 21, touch 16, flat-footed 18 (+1 deflection, +3 Dex, +2 natural, +4 shield, +1 size)
hp 22 (3d8+9)
Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +11
Immune confusion, insanity; SR 15
Weaknesses vulnerability to sunlight
Speed 20 ft.
Melee mwk dagger +7 (1d3/19-20 plus poison)
Special Attacks poison use, sneak attack +1d6
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd; concentration +6)
At will—darkness, ghost sound (DC 14)
6/day—channel negative energy (DC 16), grave touch (touch, shaken for 2/r)
1/day—daze (DC 14), sound burst (DC 16)
Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 3rd; concentration +8; +10 ranged touch)
2nd— shield, spectral hand
1st—cause fear (DC 15), chill touch (DC 15), magic
1st—cause fear (DC 15), magic missile, sleep (DC 14)
0th—detect magic, mage hand, ray of frost, touch of fatigue (DC 14)
Str 10, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 3, Cha 18
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD +17
Feats: Combat Casting, Command Undead, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (Necromancy)
Skills: Bluff +10, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Perception +2, Spellcraft +10, Stealth +13
Languages Common, Aklo, Terran, Undercommon
SQ: madness, arcane bond (ring of protection +1)
Combat Gear: wand of ghoul touch (44 charges), blue whinnis (5 doses; save Fort DC 14, frequency 1/round for 2 rounds, initial effect 1 Con damage, secondary effect unconsciousness for 1d3 hours, cure 1 save); Other Gear: masterwork dagger, robe of bones (human skeleton, goblin zombie, human zombie), ring of protection +1
before meeting him, they will have to defeat 2 goblin dogs(CR3) and 4 goblins of the sewers (CR2)
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Totally let Janiven help if you're concerned about party mortality. Hell, my PCs have taken various members of the Children of Westcrown on pretty much every mission they've done (as a result, Amaya is only a level behind the PCs).
As to the Derro, it looks great! Really sets apart how gross and dangerous the sewers of Westcrown can be. Maybe play up the presence of the Derro's cytillesh fungus growing on the walls, and you could reskin the goblin dogs to resemble a Cassomir Stray.
Thank you Blue Eyed Devil for your answer and for the tips, the fungus is a very good idea I would never think of.
I didn't know the Cassomir Stray, it looks cool but I like the idea of the group affected by the itching rash. Difficult choice!
Your PCs took Amaya with them, really? She's probably the last one I'd pick, looks so delicate and vulnerable...
|
|
Your PCs took Amaya with them, really? She's probably the last one I'd pick, looks so delicate and vulnerable...
She started out as a distraction in Arael's jail break, but she got a level of bard and her inspiration has been invaluable. Also she served as a great acting coach during book 2, and as per Raynulf's suggestion she has started writing plays based on the Children of Westcrown's exploits to drum up a little more fame. She's kind of become the party mascot.
Just for the records, it worked great! Perfectly balanced and my PCs enjoyed it.