AGoW - questions about Moreto...

[Kang]

When the PC's encounter Moreto in AGoW, the adventure mentions that his 2 mohrgs and summoned undead will try to keep the adventurers at bay while he casts spells at the beginning of combat. But it doesn't say anything about how he summons undead, or what type of undead he can summon. Did I overlook something?

Are true ghouls maybe in the Monster Manual or some other source and I just somehow forgot or never noticed them? No sourcebook is mentioned in his description. If these creatures have been printed in a 3.5 source, reading their entry might explain some of this stuff that's not clearly explained here - I'm assuming the spectral transformation ability that is named in his stat block but never detailed refers to his becoming a spectre upon being killed (described in the Tactics entry without referring to that ability), but perhaps there's more I should know about that before the encounter as well...

While we're at it, I'd be happy to hear about anything other DM's did to spice this enounter up a bit other than what's printed in the adventure. But mostly I'm just curious about the summoned undead.

Thanks to anyone who can clear up some of this stuff,

Kang

[Mewzero_hgc]

Kang wrote:

Are true ghouls maybe in the Monster Manual or some other source and I just somehow forgot or never noticed them? No sourcebook is mentioned in his description. If these creatures have been printed in a 3.5 source, reading their entry might explain some of this stuff that's not clearly explained here - I'm assuming the spectral transformation ability that is named in his stat block but never detailed refers to his becoming a spectre upon being killed (described in the Tactics entry without referring to that ability), but perhaps there's more I should know about that before the encounter as well...

The True Ghoul entry is at the end of the adventure, before the new magic items.

[Mewzero_hgc]

Moreto doesn't have a way to summon undead as he is stated in the adventure, unless you change his spells known or give him a Wand of Summon Undead. So I guess that's a mistake that escaped editing.

I think "A Gathering of Winds" was the adventure I changed the most encounters so far. In the case of Moreto, I used the chance to pair him with some unique undead creatures to surprise my players. I changed his levels to a Beguiler/Prestige Bard/Dirgesinger, and paired him with a Vitreous Drinker(from Monster Manual IV) and two Advanced Evolved Nether Hound Dread Mohrg Chokers(the Evolved template is from Libris Mortis, the Nether Hound template is from Dragon Magazine #322, and the Dread Morgh template is from Advanced Bestiary).

They knew about the presence of the PCs, as the Vitreous Drinker kept scouting the tomb with his Spectral Ravens, trying to find a way to escape without having to deal with Flycatcher(IMC, a Smoke Element Kraken bound to the tomb that believes that the Seal of Law is the key to its freedom, inspired by the smoke monster from Lost). The undead Chokers were like the Lickers from Resident Evil on steroids, and I added the remains of a couple of them through the tomb, that were destroyed in combat, to give the PCs an idea of what was coming.

[Kang]

D'Oh! I just noticed the Appendix entry for True Ghouls at the end, had hoped to get back from break in time to post a, "never mind about that part of my question," but you beat me to it. I did notice there was no mention about summoned undead there though. The rest of what you posted looks pretty interesting & I'm going to have to take a little time to digest all that. Some of the sources you mentioned aren't in my collection, but the ideas look cool anyhow. I am familiar with the evolved undead template - wound up using it on a bunch of the advanced wights I created to fill in the gaps when the PC's had a real mess to deal with (or to escape) at the end of the Champion's Belt adventure...

I also have another thread about this adventure bookmarked, where IIRC some changes to the oculus demon are recommended, and I'll probably seriously consider using some of those changes too - especially the ones suggested by Wolfgang Baur, who wrote the adventure & created the oculus demon! Looks like I have my work cut out for me before the next session. I should have probably worked all this stuff out ages ago...

Thanks for the info & suggested tweaks, & always happy to hear any more ideas that others may have come up with!

Kang

[Mewzero_hgc]

Kang wrote:

I am familiar with the evolved undead template - wound up using it on a bunch of the advanced wights I created to fill in the gaps when the PC's had a real mess to deal with (or to escape) at the end of the Champion's Belt adventure...

I think Tito Leati would be suprised with how many DMs had the Champion's Belt end with a "bad end". The "Wight Apocalipse" scenario was one of the most fun events in the game.

[Jaatu Bronzescale]

Kang wrote:

While we're at it, I'd be happy to hear about anything other DM's did to spice this enounter up a bit other than what's printed in the adventure. But mostly I'm just curious about the summoned undead.

Thanks to anyone who can clear up some of this stuff,

Kang

Our DM rebuilt Moreto as a duskblade and gave him the Arcane Strike feat to dump spells into more damage. channeled vampiric touch made him quite a challenging fight,