I'll try and get a more detailed description later unless someone (like DJCherryPie!) beats me to it.
So... it's roughly three months later, and no one cares that I never did this, right? I didn't really disappoint anyone, did I? Sorry guys. I forgot! IF anyone still needs it, I can look it up, but unless you do, I'll probably not.
A more detailed description of what? If it's written in the module you only need to point there if you have more information on the midnight spores from somewhere here on the boards, please do tell. It will be a while until my players get to part 4 but I'd still be interested.
Well Now! Update on how things went for us... We are just about half way into the Vault of the Body Thief. They faced the Gorilla King... and let me say WOW!
HUGE credit to my players first off cause they MADE Azmyth play along and there for ran the GK as normal not as an all out Monkey war.....
The feast went well
Azmyth - Nora - refused to eat or sit on the slaves
Gary - Aziz - ate most, made his saves
Charlie - Finn - ate it all, had EXTRA sour wine, failed one save was almost immediately fixed by the vindicator Nora
Merry - Ate some, made his saves....
the thing they had hardest time eating was the Ice chilled Vegepygmy since they are allies.
I was concerned with the first test because the highest STR in my party was an 18 I wanted them to have a chance of winning.
I will note I was terrified when I realized what GK could do in a single power attack crit WITH A 15 ON THE DIE!!! Roll bad/good and in 1 hit you could have players deaf with up to 132 dmg and 12 of that is Bleed.... UM OUCH!
For the test of strength when the asked to examine the bundle and asked if it could be weakened i made him mace a Disable devices and a slight of hand both rolls were high so I dropped the DC to 20. all the buffs in the world and they made a roll of 19.... oh wait I forgot to add my guidance 20.... PASS
Story telling was EASY once you see they can also use Bluff, Diplomacy, or Charisma... they even took the WIDELY hated bard and didn't need him. Bluff was the key there. We Just happen to have a guy playing "Finn" who is modeled after Sawyer from Lost, so "telling stories" come natural to him.... PASS
The final test was now for fun and slaves.....
I didn't mind killing one of them so no holding back.... until I rolled a 6 initiative. Aziz got a crit on his first hit ... crit card... SEVERED SPINE! Huge damage (including bane) and my Dex dropped to 6... my turn and I rolled ... like a monkey... miss miss..... 1 more hit the King was at 50 HP and surrendered.
That's when I had to pull the GM card
"No Aziz you cant kill him or I'll need to look at changing your alignment"
All in all it was fun! I think its why this part is so looked forward to. It is break in the norm. It is a party of sorts, it is PURE FUN! So I say run it that way. Have fun be flexible and with good roll play this part can't go wrong.
BTW his Derhii scouts can be much more brutal with their aerial charges than many things in this book Just ask Finn... so far I'm outright killing a PC per session in this book. Be sure your players know how to die with a smile!
I can post info on each vault soon if you are all interested
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By the way I have started sorting and posting some photos and have made a file for my Serpent's Skull game. the only thing in it so far is the dry erase drawings I did for the GK feast but I should have more soon.
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By the way I have started sorting and posting some photos and have made a file for my Serpent's Skull game. the only thing in it so far is the dry erase drawings I did for the GK feast but I should have more soon.
Great work Cherry. I am interest in how your group dealt with the vaults. I love to read how other gms and players are doing in this AP.
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The First Vault -
My PCs had made a deal of sorts with the Kech they first encountered when arriving. They saw these Kech as a new tribe and therefore subject to slaughter... they did not seem to be a difficult fight for them.
The Sabosan are a FANTASTIC mob and tie into the theme of the APs monsters VERY well in both the earlier and later books. But fighting in a vault robs them of some of their best abilities so I recommend tossing them in as a random encounter as well. These would have been tougher if not for all the lantern archons that got summoned.
my players liked the salt crystals and later used them to fight the slug..... Sadly the slug was bit of an after thought. If the PCs circle around and find the vaults other stuff there is little reason for them to fight the slug and sadly that is just what my party did. It is also hard to justify cornered slug surrounded by salt tossers having much of a chance.
The Secret chamber was Great fun. They got to learn a little about the spores and discover entering the vaults are not there only exposure risk. I added a few more Pharasma ties here. They were well liked. The 2 new insane party members did not appreciate this room as much.
I should note I chose to use ALL insanities and later I will post the fun I had with that. most have become Phobic rather than paranoid. I believe I made 3 of the 5 (2PCs and an NPC)insane this vault.
The collapsed chamber was a bit of a disappointment turns out NO PLAYER saw the benefit of destroying old ant mounds.... cant realy blame them... who sees an ant mound and says hmmmm bet there's treasure... and no digging = no perception check? I say give em the perception that gives them a reason to dig.
They saw the stone golem coming a mile away and it did give them fight but not the surprise you would hope for.
And the portal room....
Before this be sure to ask how they search rooms do they dust off walls? how do they dust them off to see the old art? Do they use there hands? Is it with a touch spell? Cause if so -BABAM TOASTED WIZARD-
a source of some dispute for one of my players since I killed him here for the 2nd time... (first was the rakshasa) couldn't resist the opportunity to make them a little more specific about how they "search rooms" and I did toss in an extra "big enough" diamond at the flooded vault to make up for it.
This trap is a KILLER 18D6 to everyone in the room..... lets hope your wizard or bard or whoever does your knowledge checks has evasion. Mine did not... and only 33 HP... with a 10 CON....
He was made to convert to a follower of Desna in exchange for a raise dead from our holy vindicator of Desna. He got his butterfly tramp stamp and was back among the living. But he was no longer Phobic of gloves.
Oh I also Only gave them 3 vault locations the other 3 required more info ....unknown glyphs they needed to decipher. As I do the other vaults I'll explain how I let the others become known. This controlled the pace where they went and how much I needed prepped.
I gave them The flooded Vault, The Impenetrable Redoubt of Khalid-Shah and the Vault of Silence.
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For the insanity effect of the spores I chose to use all insanities because I knew my players could handle it and have fun. PLEASE NOTE I DID NOT ALTER THE DC FROM THAT OF A STANDARD SPORE ENCOUNTER ONLY THE EFFECT.
Some of these can be QUITE brutal and would NOT recommend some for new players or GMs. The other downside of this was onset times.... some are quite long. I ruled if a player died (-con not just -hp)the insanity was gone too. They have "cured" the wizard twice and the rouge once this way before I had any fun...
I made cards to track DCs to add some fun and make the PCs responsible for their crazy. With the first bout of paranoia in book 3 and the reaction it caused I knew I would be the target of some player frustration so I turned it back on them and made it a mini game all in their hands.
I made 5 cards per insanity (10 for mania/phobia) each with their % range and "CONGRATULATIONS" on one side and the insanities details on the other including a space to write their current DC and onset day but I'll get to onset in a moment.
I gave out 4 cards to each player to write "things they may encounter" on them. After I tossed out specific people and things like "halfling wacky weed" I gave them all new cards and clearer instructions resulting in a better list like Spoons, Magical Cloaks, and Bread. these became the objects of Phobia or Mania.
For multiple personalities I made a deck per PC and 1 NPC each had 4 personalities they could randomly select. For this one I gave them info on the personality likes, dislikes, age, race, religion, gender and to make the bitter pill go down easy.... a class or racial perk!
for onset I didn't want them to know what day it may be coming and if i rolled the die.... well its not all in their hands is it... thats where drawing straws came in. I rolled for onset and added the corresponding day to the random card the player would pull when contracting the insanity. these were done in a letter not a number order 1=A 2=B 3=C and so on. then they drew straws that were also lettered until they got the matching letter and were affected.
So here's how it goes down
Encounter spores
players would roll their save
if affected roll a % to select your insanity (2nd even/odd roll for Mania/Phobia)
draw a card for your insanity
if it has an onset draw a straw each day tell you draw the one with the matching letter.
TA DA YOUR CRAZY!
The Flooded Vault-
I had fun with this one mostly cause the were terrified to go in the water. Once they realized the havoc the spores can cause the vaults were taken much more seriously. Being dark and incapable of water breathing didn't help. They eventually took care of both issues but not tell after the Megapiranha had a little snack. They dealt with these by trying to fly down or clinging to the vines going down the shaft of the sinkhole and doing ranged attacks but blood was already in the water.
I had 2 of the Gray nisps come out but after a few good hits I had them pull back and made my PCs fight them in the heavy silt area. The vision obstruction made this a much more interesting fight.
I also added a 2nd save in this area. It made sense to me because the silt is full of spores. Though my players were also for the most part doing FAR too well on their insanity saves. This vault is very small and I think it needs that little extra to make it memorable.
I was also amused when they found the ring of swimming before the Megapiranha attack. Most of them had difficulty swimming. The wizard was trying to identify the ring while on the sink hole ledge. He couldn't see or hear his party in the water so he had no idea there was the Nisp fight underway. He spent most of the combat trying to identify the ring only to stop after more than a few rounds when he was informed of the ongoing battle. The ring was still unidentified and PCs too scared to put it on tell they knew what it did exactly.
Who needs a paranoia insanity when your players are already convinced your gonna curse them at any moment with every treasure
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My group had a similar experience in the first vault. They fought the slug on their way out and completely saw through the stone golem. I was afraid I was going to have to make it come to life before they started to beat it down.
In the portal room, the rogue stated that he wanted to study the portal mural more. He actually said that he wanted to feel it and all the other paintings. I made the fire 20d6 instead of 18 (why not?) and the rogue made his save so he took no damage even though he was the one who set off the trap.
Speaking of traps, I added the philospher's stone trap that is in the back of the book to one of the halls. The PC's figured it out pretty quick and were cautious. The rogue moved ahead to the firse alcove and wound up pushing a statue out of the way, so everyone saw what would happen. The barbarian went up and the rogue went far enough to set off the trap. The rogue and barbarian hid in an alcove, but the witch and alchemist said that they would wait at the top of the stairs as the ball wouldn't roll that far. I had to lie and say that I drew it wrong, that the entry platform was a little lower than the one the stone was on. I guess I could have made the chemical power push the ball a the way up.
Anyway, the witch summoned an earth elemental to try to stop it, but the ball obliterated it since it got to do double damage. Then it bounced off the witch and alchemist, stopping in the middle of the hall.
The PC's found the secret lab a bit of a let down since the rogue failed his will save against the spores along with the witch failing again. They felt that there should have been more in there. They nailed the linguistics check so I pretty much read the adventure background to them. They do not value information as much as +10 swords and rods of 'cast as many spells at one time as you like.'
I will say that the group was so beat up that they literally ran through the last room of ketches rather than fight them. I had the ketches on the shelf in the room just take potshots at the PC's as they ran by. This group never runs away from anything, ever.
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The paranoia states that the effected player cannot willingly accept aid from another player without making a save. Does this include buffs like bless, haste, etc...?
Type insanity; Save Will DC 17
Onset 2d6 days
Effect –4 penalty on Will saves and Charisma-based skill checks; cannot receive benefit from or attempt the Aid Another action; cannot willingly accept aid (including healing) from another creature unless he makes a Will save against his insanity's DC
Description
The paranoid character is convinced that the world and all that dwell within it are out to get him. Paranoid characters are typically argumentative or introverted.
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The paranoia states that the effected player cannot willingly accept aid from another player without making a save. Does this include buffs like bless, haste, etc...?
** spoiler omitted **
Yes, buffs are a benefit, so the paranoia applies. A character must make the Will save to willingly receive the aid, but even if it fails, the caster can still cast the spell on the character. In this case, the paranoid character is unwilling, and so must make a save against the spell's normal save DC, even for a beneficial spell.
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My group is having a difficult time dealing with the paranoia. As of now, two of the for PC's are paraniod. One of those is the healer. The players predict that it will only be a matter of time before the rest of the party is crazy and no one wants to help anyone. They are all upset at this, and feel there is no hope other than going back to camp after they have taken significant damage, resting for days, then trying it again, further exposing themselves to more spore infestations.
They really see no other way around this and generally see the madness as something that is just going to bog the game down. Have any of your other players experienced similar things? If so, what did you do with regards to healing damage, and negative attitudes?
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Well the healer getting hit is a tough one. But he can still help himself and then can help the others.
My PCs have been keeping the spores under control with liberal doses of Restorations. At caster level 10-11, that takes the inital paranoia to a save DC of 7 or 6. That should make it MUCH easier for them to work together and make the saves they need (even with a -4 to all WIL saves).
Now this was starting to get expensive at 100 gp a casting, so they've started hitting up their factions for help. Some of them have built up considerable PA with their factions and are using those points for some castings now.
Bottom Line: No significant problems with the insanity. Keeping it under control with Restorations.
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Jenner, how do you get around the fact that the people can't willingly accept aid if they are paranoid? That is the problem we have run into. Those who are insane cannot take the resotrations whether they are spells or potions from other players. One of the paranoid players has even gone so far as to say that not only are they not going to accept aid from others, but they are not going to give aid to those who would willingly accept it. That sounds what an extremely paranoid person would do to me.
If they were truly paranoid, I would even argue that they wouldn't trust their faction either, and would not spend their faction points for services, as the faction is most likely out to get them.
This is all on top of the fact that the magic fountain can only be used once per year. At first I was thinking that once the PC's found this thing that they could just come back to that vault to heal up once they became insane again, but they can't. In fact, since the portal is in a vault infested with the spores, every time they use the portal to go there or come back to camp, they have to make a will save against the madness. Or maybe there is something written in the other books that says the spores lose their effectiveness, but I haven't read it if it is in there.
Given all of this, to really play out the insanity and the lack of cures, could potentially add harmful effects to the players and NPC's for the rest of the AP. I understand having to bend the rules, but I really do not like changing the adventure all around just because something is uncomfortable, but it seems like I am going to eventually have to ignore the spores, and or the one year limit on the fount. Tell me I am missing something.
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Well remember there's a save each time you are offered aid. Make it and you overcome your paranoia long enough to accept the aid. And even if you FAIL it, your allies can still cast the spell, you just have to make a save to resist the effects since you're not a willing target.
Here's how it would look...
DM: Cleric, you notice the fighter getting twitchy again and he's accusing you of trying to control his mind with your magic.
Cleric: Again? Looks like another restoration. Fighter! I need to restore your sanity.
Fighter: <rolls saving throw> With the -4 WIL saves for being paranoid I got a 15.
DM: Save starts at a 17 so you don't want to accept the cleric's accursed help.
Cleric: Fine, cast the spell anyway.
Fighter: <rolls saving throw> 15 again.
Cleric: Not high enough. Restoration is 4th level so you need a 19 to save against the spell.
DM: Despite trying to fight back against the cleric's magic, the spell goes off and the fighter feels his sanity returning. The cleric is 10th level so that takes your insanity DC from 17 down to 7.
Again, it makes it a little more difficult when EVERYONE is insane but the healer can still take care of himself. In fact you can argue that with the paranoia, he ONLY wants to help himself. Once he's cured, he can always go back to the faction and ask a few of them to tackle his mates and hold 'em down so he can Restoration them too.
Just remember if your players start getting antsy for a little PvP and want to smack on each other, the spores make them paranoid, but not necessarily violent. It took an extended period of exposure to the spores in the vaults (and water) before the citizens of Saventh-Yhi started going truly crazy and violently fighting each other. So if the healer is trying to restore someone even though they don't want the help, it doesn't mean they're necessarily going to immediately attack. They'll be angry as all heck, sure, but you don't HAVE to push them to the point of violence.
Just my 2cp.
Okra.King, one thing I did was make the font usable once per year per creature plus one additional time per month (so a single creature could use the font one additional time each month. This doesn't negate the problems entirely, but if they're spending so much time healing up, that's one way to help out.
Further, Jenner is right: the spores don't push them to violence, they simply distrust everyone and are angry with them.
Nullpunkt, sorry - I had some problems with the computer and forgot!
So... three (or four, depending on your accounting) months later...
Unfortunately, if I recall correctly, even full-body protection doesn't help, as the AP has explained it (as apparently its microscopic or something) and all things that would normally prevent similar maladies don't prohibit the midnight spores (as not only is it on-contact, it's neither a poison nor disease), although such things as a breathing cloth, protective suits, and magical spells are noted as giving bonuses, as everything is written. I'll try and get a more detailed description later unless someone (like DJCherryPie!) beats me to it.
So:
The spores themselves are microscopic and only visible in large concentrations, and even then appear as nothing more than fine black dust. This black residue pervades the vaults, growing in the cracks, seams, and crevices in the walls, floors, and ceiling, and invisibly permeating the very air of the vaults. If a creature enters one of the vaults, even into only a single room, it is unavoidably exposed to the midnight spores. Once the PCs realize the danger, they find that the spores are omnipresent throughout the vaults and cannot possibly be eradicated, cleansed, or avoided. Only a miracle or wish spell can kill the spores, but each casting only removes the spores from one vault.
The midnight spores themselves are psychotropic extraplanar substance of unknown origin. They are not a poison or a disease, and immunity to such provides no protection, nor can magic that neutralizes such remove the effects of the spores. The spores can be absorbed through the skin as well as inhaled so simply holding one's breath provides no protection from exposure. However, the particular strain of midnight spores cultivated by Urschlar is very specific in its spores' effects - the spores only affect living humanoid creatures. The spores are harmless to all other life forms.
The midnight spores cause paranoia in those exposed to them. When a creature first enters one of the vaults, it is exposed to the spores and must make an immediate DC 17 Will save or begin suffering paranoia. The insanity inflicted by the spores is especially virulent, and takes effect immediately.
Each time a creature enters a vault - regardless of how long it remains within - it is exposed again to the spores. If an individual leaves a vault and reenters, that creature is considered to have been exposed again, regardless of how long or short of a time has passed. Likewise, certain areas of the vaults contain higher concentration of spores and count as new exposures - these are detailed in the text. Each exposure requires a new DC 17 Will save. Those who are not yet afflicted begin suffering from paranoia as soon as they fail a save. If a creature already suffering from paranoia is exposed again, it must make a new DC 17 Will save of the current DC of its paranoia is increased by +5 (see Curing Paranoia below). If the PCs take any sort of precautions against contact with the spores (such as wearing a necklace of adaptation, wrapping scarves over their noses and mouths, and so on), they gain a +2 circumstance bonus on saving throws against exposure to the spores.
A character suffering from paranoia is convinced that the world and all that dwell within it are out to get her. Paranoid characters are typically argumentative or introverted. The individual takes a -4 penalty on Will saves and Charisma-based skill checks, cannot receive benefit from or attempt the Aid Another action, and cannot willingly accept aid (including healing) from another creature unless she makes a Will save against the insanity's current DC (which starts at 17). If you wish to have the spores afflict a creature with other insanities beyond paranoia, pages 250-251 of the Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide contain rules and a table for several different insanities and their effects.
Short version:
* the spores are too small to see except in heavy concentrations (where they look like black dust) and in the vaults, they permeate the air, water, and fill all the cracks (exception: in area F4 they are really gigantic)
* the spores are mind-altering extraplanar microscopic substance, not a poison or disease (and is also not a [mind-affecting] affect) so those immunities and removing those effects don't help; they are breathed and absorbed through the skin, but they only affect living humanoids
* you are exposed each and every time you enter a vault or enter specially noted "high concentration" areas; each exposure could cause insanity and repeated exposures can make your insanity worse
* upon exposure, you must make an immediate DC 17 Will or contract paranoia (or another insanity, if the GM wishes). Further exposures increase the DC by +5 each time.
* regardless of the precaution (whether it's a necklace of adaptation or a simple scarf around neck and face) you gain a +2 bonus to the saves against exposure (but not subsequent saves against insanity, see below).
* paranoia means a -4 to Will saves and Charisma-based skill checks, and must make a will save against the current DC (taking the penalty above) or they can't receive Aid Another, and can't willingly accept aid (including magical healing).
Recovering naturally from an insanity such as paranoia is a lengthy process - once per week, an afflicted character may make a will save against the insanity's current DC. Paranoia starts with a DC of 17, but subsequent exposures to the midnight spores can increase this DC as described above. If the character succeeds on this save, the insanity's DC is reduced by a number of points equal to the character's Charisma bonus (minimum of 1). The character continues to suffer the full effects of the insanity until its DC is reduced to 0, at which point the character is cured and the insanity vanishes completely.
Lesser restoration has no effect on insanity, but restoration reduces the current DC of one insanity currently affecting a target by an amount equal to the caster's level. Greater restoration, heal, limited wish, miracle, or wish immediately cures a target of all insanity. In addition, the waters of the Argental Font in area D5 will also cure a character of all insanity.
Short Version (recovery):
* make a will save once per week (DC = current insanity DC)
* success reduces the DC by an amount equal to CHA-modifier (minimum 1)
* once the DC is reduced to 0 the character is cured completely, but not before then
* restoration reduces the DC of one insanity by an amount equal to the caster level
* Greater restoration, heal, limited wish, miracle, or wish and the Argental Font immediately cures a creature of all insanity.
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Jenner, and Tactics,
Thanks for your advice. The paranoia insanity is one that could go down many paths with regards to how the PC's want to play it. My guys aren't keen on the role playing, so what I wound up doing was allowing them to have the will save for the heal. If they made it then they could attempt another save for another heal until they fail. If they failed, then they could not accept any aid from that character for the rest of the day. I did not let them cast the spell anyway due to the fact that I don't feel they would play out the results, only accept the healing if they pass and ask for more.
This is all a moot point anyway, because all of the party went insane in the session last night, and no one trusts anyone any more either to aid or be aided.
My group's main problem is that there is no cleric. The healer is an alchemist, so no free restorations. Given that, plus the fact that they almost have to rest a week between fights means that they are in and out of the same vault multiple times increasing their exposure. Some of the PC's have failed their save so many times, that they would have to roll a natural 20 to beat the DC. Also, the witch's primary build has been around buffing the other characters, so the paranoia will not allow her to do that.
As bad as all this sounds, I like them being nerfed as I allowed them to build super players at the begining of this path, and have had to buff up all the monsters as a result. All these problems actually bring them down to a more managable level.
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I have another question for anyone:
What did you guys do about the initial vault being seeded with spores after this adventure is over? If the PC's are using the portal to go back and forth between the cities, then they will be repeatedly exposed to the madness spores (two per trip).
It is a fun part of this book, but I am thinking that it would get old having to worry about all of that in future books?
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My group almost finished the mud vault last night. I say almost, because they had a lot of trouble with the mud elemental.
I changed the order of the monsters around and had the PC's fight the mud elemental before Kahlid-Shah. As I noted above, my guys are super heros, and I figured the mud man would soften them up before they hit the boss. Soften them up he did.
The two main melee fighters (barbarian & rogue) approached him, but with his high to hit bonus and damage modifier, he never missed and quickly wore down the PC's. The room being covered in mud also allowed him to move 5 feet back and denied the PC's a free 5 foot step granting the mud ele an attack of opportunity. Not only that, but it was only a matter of time before the rogue and barb. failed two fort saves and were encased in hardened mud.
The witch and alchemist did have to use some spells and arrows to whittle him down, his DR made the arrows almost worthless though. I thought it was the best fight the PC's had in a while. They definately had to spend a week or two in camp to heal up after this one.
I was wondering if everyone had this kind of problem with this guy. I can't imagine having to fight him after the boss, and having to do that with a normally powered party.
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I also wanted to know if any of you have incorporated any of the death traps into the vaults listed in the back of this book, and if so how did it go and do you have any suggestions for running them?
I have used the Pendulous Staircase and Philosopher's Stone thus far and they have been very memorable encounters, causing the PC's to think outside the box a little.
As I noted above, the in the Philosopher's Stone trap, the PC's really didn't push each other out in the hall, but tried to stop the ball with a stone elemental which failed. I did not did not do the staircase right as I forgot to roll a reflex save for the PC's every round only when they broke another stair (it was about 1am at that point) so the stairs didn't fall. The PC's did get smacked around a lot though. In the end, the PC's did cut the chain at the top of the main shaft causing the whole thing to come down. They will use a rope next time.
I am going to try to use all of these traps in the halls and caves, though I may need to adjust the save DC's for some of them as my PC's are at a higher level than what is suggested.
Kudos to Gareth Hanrahan for these traps. They are very well written and provide some different play as opposed to fighting or diplomacy.
I have another question for anyone:
What did you guys do about the initial vault being seeded with spores after this adventure is over? If the PC's are using the portal to go back and forth between the cities, then they will be repeatedly exposed to the madness spores (two per trip).
It is a fun part of this book, but I am thinking that it would get old having to worry about all of that in future books?
Actually, it might be too late, but I had them come up with two things to help:
1) Khalid-Shah: I actually had a character negotiate him to death (with promise of resurrection/reincarnation) with the hope that he'd get fixed later. One reincarnation later, we have a nice, happy djinni who's ready to grant three wishes (but who specifies the can't be anything too greedy, or else). BAM, that's three vaults. Sorry I can't be more help with the fighting: Khalid just kind of tamed his pet for the PCs after that.2) I arranged for them to find a Ring of Ifreet Calling (made by me, similar to a ring of Djinni Calling, but with an Ifreet). The Ifreet was pretty ticked at being stuck in the ring, having resided there since before the madness broke out, and, with careful negotiations - and a few dropped hints from me -, he was persuaded to help "cleanse" his old home a bit (so that's three more vaults), after which he was free (for which he was pretty happy - planning on using him later in the Legacy of Fire campaign as a potential ally in the City of Brass). The ring itself was a plot device/MacGuffin that they located in original the Boggard Chieftan's hut (that now contains the oracle/demon - and which the Hezrou wanted which is one reason he would have stuck around, if he hadn't have been destroyed); because the Chieftan was so terrible, the wishes were used to bind the Hezrou, and the last he made was an attempt to become a lich, but the ifreet twisted the wish and he was thrown into the Abyss instead.
I figured that with six out of seven done with, the last one was up to them (though they wanted some spores anyway for their own purposes, so that worked out).
As far as the traps, I actually put all of them (and a good deal more) in Savith's tomb, but that doesn't really help you.
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I wound up having the pirates all pool their money and buy the PC's a wish spell which they promptly used to rid the first vault of spores after it was cleaned out. THe PC's have been mad at all the factions and allies claiming that they do not help them at all and that the PCs are the ones shouldering the load. So then the pirates did that, you could feel a deep feeling of frustration at the uslesness of what had been done. A wish spell wasted on a vault that had already been cleared.
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I wanted to also note that my PC's had a VERY difficult time with Gbala. Their main problem is that they do not have a cleric and no one else who can specifically damage undead.
Fortuately the party went through E7 and was able to detect and disarm the trap, but that meant that they did not clear out the rawbones first. When Gbala saw them he ordered the unseen rawbones to surround the party. It was all down hill from there. Gbala apparently was designed specifically to destroy this party. The fact that he was a 12th level rogue negated the party rogue's sneak attack, and his elemental resistances significantly reduced the alchemist's bombs. However, his most damaging ability was his two levels of energy drain. With her low AC, the barbarian was repeatedly reduced.
With all of that, the PC's almost had him dead before the rawbones and their 20' nausiating auras showed up. In their weakened state, all the PC's failed at least one fort save from them, and were sickened. The 30' come vomit attack was just a spit in the eye to the embattled party.
Once the PC's realized that what had happened and decided to retreat, they couldn't do more than a move action and were all cut down.
My players were so mad, that we all vowed not to play with energy drain again. I also had to create an alternate universe verson, where right before the PC's gave up, they got over their sickness, the rawbones smelled better, and Gbala lost the energy drain ability.
Just started this adventure tonight.
PCs entered the first vault. The kechs and the sabosans were just walking bags of exp. They killed the giant slug before it managed to move. By the time they reached the Stone Golem, they were still pretty fresh on spells and only the NPC cohort Oracle of the Bard was paranoid. But they were certain that the Stone Golem was a Stone Golem, so even when they opened the door they were ready for the thing to attack them.
Quick comment on golems in general. Glitterdust is the bane of any golem. It doesn't target SR so it's not immune to the blindness, and with a very, very low Will save, it's unlikely that they'll pass for a few rounds. The Bard only had a DC 15 Will save, and the stone golem only had a +4 Will, but it spent the entire combat blinded. And that's for a bard with only a mediocre Cha. A conjurer with Spell Focus (Conjuration) by this point might have a DC 19 or DC 20 save for Glitterdust, which would be really tough for a Stone Golem to pass. Meh. Top things off, it doesn't have any bonus to Perception. I'm glad that my party didn't try to argue with me about it swinging blind at them.
Anywho, they make it to the portal room, and the Bard and Sorcerer do a really good job at not approaching the walls. The Fighter, however, takes his mini and places it right next to the trapped wall and specifically says he leans against it. Ha ha ha. I tell them to roll Reflex saves while my Archaeologist Bard with Trapfinding complains about how he can never find anything if I roll the dice. It's true, but I rolled a 3 on a d20. Just a string of bad luck. I do warn them about how dangerous the trap is that they set off, and allow the Sorcerer to make a spellcraft check to identify what's about to happen so he can justify using a quick Hero Point to cast Resist Energy on himself. Two other players use Hero Points to boost their saves, and everyone comes through it, minus the paranoid cohort who only has 40 HP and failed his save. Sad loss, but it was a 25,000 exp loss.
So far this adventure is going a lot smoother than the last one, though I haven't sprung the Sargavan braineaters or whatever yet. They're going to encounter that as they try to get back to camp.
Well, I'm going to eat my words from several weeks ago. Adventure sucks. The party spent last week clearing about 1/3 of Savith's Tomb which I've written up, but took a break this week to try a vault out and give me time to flesh out the last bit of my custom dungeon. The first vault they tried was the one with the terkow in it. They made it in and were ambushed by the spectres. I only used three, but they still killed the party fighter while the rest of the group retreated. The PCs basically said screw this, and went to another vault.
They chose to clear out the Verdant Vault. The thorny lions did a lot of damage. As they're written, it seems as if they do damage every time you attack them, so our two weapon fighting monk decided not to do anything but take a total defense, and the two spellcasters went through a lot of resources taking out what should have been an easy fight.
The problem is basically affects that have no saves. Energy Drain and the thorns. My party already thinks poorly of me for killing off Julliver via a Phantasmal Killer.
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I've got the "duel" with the Gorilla King coming up either tonight or next Thursday. For background, here is my party.
Saakiif - Human Fighter-2/Bard (Dervish Dancer)-9 [optimized, very effective]
Zephora - Human Witch-11 [Optimized pretty well]
Litchin - Elven Rogue-3/Two Weapon Fighter-8 [Definitely not optimized]
Longbeard - Dwarven Separtist Cleric-11 [Blaster (all fireballs, all the time)]
First question: For those GMs who have run this, have you allowed your PCs time to buff? Without buffing I am not sure that either of my melee types could stand up to the GK. If I allow him a few rounds to buff, Saakiif will have Mirror Image, Displacement, and Good Hope up and will probably clean GK's clock. Note that this doesn't require breaking the "no help from allies rule" The Dervish Dancer will put all these buffs up themselves. So, did you allow rounds for buffing?
Second Question: Has anyone thought of having the whole party duel GK? I like to have the whole party involved whenever possible. I know there were some complaints that Fighter-14 didn't seem tough enough for the legendary figure of the Gorilla King. So, in the interest of allowing the whole party to participate, I built the GK with a couple Mythic Tiers using the Mythic Playtest. I figured the Gorilla King is legendary and arose through direct divine intervention, sounds Mythis to me. Looking at his build now (crazy damage, multiple actions, hitting on natural one's), he just might be an exciting (but non-fatal because they can surrender) challenge for the party except...
Third Question: The Gorilla King has an awful Will save. I don't have the book in front of me, but I think it was somewhere around +6. Granted he has Improved Iron will, so he can reroll. Still, the witch is totally going to spank this monkey. Misfortune, Evil Eye, Retribution, Dominate Monster, and don't even get me start on Slumber. My poor Sarcosuchus didn't know what hit him.
[side bar] Actually, the witch's player only uses Slumber except as a last resort because she thinks it's a little cheesy. She saved a player from getting killed by the Sarcosuchus. She tried to save someone from Khallid Sha, but he is immune to Sleep. She also uses it to incapicate Paranoid Characters so that the Cleric can Heal them. [/side bar]
Anyway, the witches DC on Hexes is 22 and that is before the poor GK has is saves evil eyed and is misfortuned.
Yeah I guess the third questions wasn't really a question. I suppose he could probably take the witch out first, no wait, she flies and he has no mobility.
One more interesting side note: When making the GK mythic I was able to give him an ability that will make his demonstration of breaking the sticks pretty much automatic, which solves the problem up thread that he isn't strong enough to reliable make a DC25 strength check. Mythic Angahzan has a +28 on this check. If I go mythic, I'll have him break a much bigger bundle of sticks than he asks the PC, because he is a braggart.
I added a level 13 Charu-Ka Shaman to the Gorilla King's retinue then allowed each side to have one minute to buff.
With the group I have the buffed version of their meat grinder was more than a match for the Gorilla King so I had him 'cheat' with the shaman using shield other as one of the buffs. The Shaman had to heal himself a couple of times to avoid death.
I use paper-mini style tokens for monsters so I made a goodly number to impress upon the party just how big the Gorilla King's retinue was. They won the duel and realized what had been going on with the shield other but held back on payback because they were intimidated by the sheer number of opponents. I'm not sure that the would have held back if they didn't have a visible indication of how many opponents they would have.
heh, last night the gorilla king took 80 points of damage to the face during the third round, bypassing his "surrenders below 50" stage and going straight to the death phase.
I made the party fight about ten ape dudes who were trying to loot him during the chaos that ensued- so the banquet rapidly turned into protect the lewt.
WOW. Just...wow. Now that is a twist to your game.
I changed it and made it the Gorrila Prince who was reluctantly sent to the city to take it. I rolled pathetically for the first few rounds of the fight my group started to think something was up that he was throwing the fight and so I just ran with that. Made it that the Prince didn't want to be there and would rather be back home. He lost, then learned he was banished for his failure, the group took pity on him and now he's an ally that has a residence in the city for him and his handful of supporters.
It's been a long time since anyone's talked about this book, it seems. Well never fear, Shimnimnim's here to give it a look!
The Gorilla King
- Someone mentioned that the Gorilla King should be stronger, given his legendary status. I agree with this wholeheartedly. Therefor, I'm replacing his battle with that of a champion, like so many others have. Luckily for me, I have this guy still ready. Grugonoth survived my last game and escaped, and as such I'll level him up and let the party go at him. It doesn't quite seem right to have this section of the game be one on one, if only because it will maybe take longer than is fun.
- I took Endo Kline out of the campaign. I didn't like that it took away the discovery aspect of the story. So I'm allowing the PCs to figure things out on their own. Luckily for me, I've got a bard super scholar, a follower of a somewhat cult-like vision of Old-Mage Jatembe, and a huge city and 7 vaults to fill with clues
- Clearly the location of the First Vault is pretty important because it contains the entrance to Ilmurea. But I feel like the other vault locations aren't as big a deal! I realized recently I can move the location of the other vaults without saying anything or losing anything, really.
Any idea why Illaghri's poison "only" damages d6 int pr round, while a normal corpsespinner takes 2d6 (according to tome of horrors).
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Well, we've finally played Night of the Hissing Dead encounter and have started exploring the vaults. Three of the characters are suffering from madness (one PC and his cohort are paranoid, the oracle already has two other personalties from his MPD).
I might be doing it wrong, but I didn't have an onset time, but simply had them roll saves after being in the vault for a while. Did you use the normal onset time? I mean, they can complete the entire part 4 in that time..
The First Vault has a little "murdering hobo" over it. The PCs simply attack and wipe out a tribe of keches that live there? For those group who tries not to be murderous hobos, the GM should let the characters use diplomacy and negotiations to relocate the ketches instead.
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I am having trouble with one specific element of Vaults of Madness. Can someone explain to me why Urschlar built a vault containing a portal to Ilmurea and left it active?
they had an active garrison down there and were keeping the Serpentfolk from coming back looking for the head
they had an active garrison down there and were keeping the Serpentfolk from coming back looking for the head
So did the portal exist before Urschlar built the vault and he just decided to connect one of his vaults to it?
i think the vaults were there before him, he just co-opted them for his own nedds, i don't have the books anymore so i can't say with absolute certainty, but thats how i remember it at least:)
i think the vaults were there before him, he just co-opted them for his own nedds, i don't have the books anymore so i can't say with absolute certainty, but thats how i remember it at least:)
I just looked this up:
The city heeded Urschlar’s warnings and gave him free reign in the preparations for the city’s survival. First he ordered the excavation of deep vaults beneath the city’s seven districts, where the populace and their most valued possessions could be safely sequestered when disaster came.)
beats me then:) i might look up the individual entry of the portal vault to see if it sheds any light on the matter.
if the players try to bring it up have a monkey ninja that blows a handful of midnight spore in there face and runs away:)
or tell them it was made by pixie dust and unicorn droppings:D
as my dad used to tell me "if there's a plot hole fill it with shit, no one will wanna look to closely that way"