So my players' adventuring group Til She Grows A Beard fought and defeated a god this past weekend. It actually was not the one sided bloodbath that I thought it would be but it took alot of work on my part to keep my precious deity from being absolutely crushed. Here are my tips for Kyuss (and AoW in general) All this is 3.5
1. The Sphere of Annihaltion was not that big of a deal. At first I was worried about this artifact but Kyuss is amply prepared to deal with this. He is capable of casting gate on it which more than likely cancels it. (best result for him would be the planar tear result as he is dimensionally locked ala Manzorian/Tenser) Also he is more than capable of opposing control checks, especially after gating in something that can make opposing disarm checks on a talisman of the sphere wielder (which is usally a wizard with a horrible check). I went with Nightwalkers for this. Nightwalker/Blackguards actually.
2. If you let your players use something other than the PHB, you use it too! This is where most of my work came from. Nearly every encounter that I ran in the whole AP was completely retooled. The AP can not assume that every player has access to any sourcebook, so every encounter would be trounced by splatbook wielders. If you want to be a "pick up and play" DM, be prepared to say no to pretty much anything and everything.
3. At high levels, not everything is explained well. This is kind of Nit-Picky, but its a pretty big nit to me. Miracle allows you to Restore all your fallen allies to life. Oh yeah? all of them? ever? with no level loss? as Raise Dead? as True Resurrection? I dont know. Also, the Bead of Summoning from a Greater Strand of Prayer Beads allows you to summon an extraplanar ally of your diety. Hunh. As Gate? Summon monster? In short, be prepared to come up with answers on the fly. (BTW, I went with as Raise Dead, but massed and without material components, and as Summon Monster 9)
4. Lastly, and especially if you followed #3 above, do not be afraid to go over the top with your encounters. Seriously. Even if you think an encounter can not be defeated, your players will probably find a way. This may not work with every group, but my group was not afraid to run away and come back with a new strategy.
Also,
5. Kyuss should know every tactic that the PCs use. All those kyuss worshippers that the pcs have been fighting have been Kyuss' familiars. So most definitely make sure that Kyuss has access to spells that fit his flavor but arent easily blocked by common pc tactics. (Death Ward, anyone?)
I also want to add that this AP was a blast and Ive enjoyed running it (3 years and 2 weeks!). It was a great learning experience, and I am greatly anticipating applying what I've learned to Savage Tide in a few months. (I need a break.) Also, This was my groups last dance with the 3.5 rules and I think its a fitting send-off that they basically won DnD by killing a god and retiring and all. Pathfinder, Here we come. Finally, one of the highlights of the last session was collaborating with each player and telling the story of what each character does in their retirement.
So after 3+ years, 21 character levels, and many many character deaths, Age of Worms, I salute you!
That's awesome. I'm currently running AoW in Pathfinder and we are just about done Champion's Belt, so we have a ways to go.
But the group is having a good time so far, and I look forward to the final showdown with a real god, and with tackling the 20+ level range :P
Oooooh the end fight against Kyuss... sweet memories of two party wizards dishing out time stop, three maws of chaos (SC) each, and quickened something the first round, doing almost enough damage to kill the poor guy before he could act.
3.5 on high levels is acutely toxic. Add the splat books and it becomes toxic on speed. And our DM had to triple Kyuss' hp to make him last even a short while.
I cant believe they want to give 20th level parties a free full round against him. I won't be doing that for my group. If they don't kill certain minions off he might not even be alone when they get there.
Congratulations on the completion of your game!
I cant believe they want to give 20th level parties a free full round against him. I won't be doing that for my group. If they don't kill certain minions off he might not even be alone when they get there.
This was one of my greatest fears, along with the SoA. I didnt truly give them the free round, I made it a full round action for kyuss to escape his prison, so he still was able to cast a quickened spell. And dont forget that as written, The group more than likely has 2 whole rounds to kill kyuss. If you do nothing else to change this encounter, get rid of that and retrain his spells. (unless you like having 90% of a deity's spells stopped by a simple death ward spell)
Thanks for the tips White Knife! I predict that it will take me a little over 3 years as well to finish. Congrats to you and your group on the accomplishment!
I have been modifying encounters all the way through as I allow my characters to use splatbooks.
I am just about to begin the Champions Belt module next game using 3.5 rules. It should be interesting as my characters just killed Theldrick (I had him partnered with the Zyrxog instead of having the Drow thralls) but allowed Zyrxog to escape!
ooooh my group hated Zyrxog! he was one of the top three most hated villians in the whole campaign. Congrats on having such a good recurring villian! Btw, other two most hated were Darl Quethos and the doppleganger who infiltrated the party.
I cant believe they want to give 20th level parties a free full round against him. I won't be doing that for my group. If they don't kill certain minions off he might not even be alone when they get there.This was one of my greatest fears, along with the SoA. I didnt truly give them the free round, I made it a full round action for kyuss to escape his prison, so he still was able to cast a quickened spell. And dont forget that as written, The group more than likely has 2 whole rounds to kill kyuss. If you do nothing else to change this encounter, get rid of that and retrain his spells. (unless you like having 90% of a deity's spells stopped by a simple death ward spell)
My reasoning is that if he is that hard I would power him down, but no free rounds. I plan to change Dragotha's spells and his. I won't change Dragotha's too much. I will also/am running it in PF so deathward only gives a +4 IIRC. I am converting Dragotha now. I will do a by the rules modification. The 3.5 draoclich template will be added to the PF lich template to account for a +3 to CR. If after everything is added in he does not match the AoW Dragotha I will use DM Fiat to add some abilities in. I will modify Kyuss last. In some ways Dragotha looks harder than Kyuss. He seems to be all brute force, while Kyuss has a number of different ways to deal with people.
Wow Whiteknife, I'm really impressed, and appreciate the advice, which now rests in my Evernote database of sage DM-ly nuggets for AoW.
Last Saturday our players put the wrap on the Spire of Long Shadows, having made it through in some part by one of the players having rolled a natural 100 in Manzorian's fountain allowing her to have the one-time help of a Solar, which she used to save the party frm certain (un)death. The blog is here if anyone is curious.
But man the game mechanics are getting trickier and trickier. We are playing Pathfinder rules, core rulebook only, which I am hoping will eliminate the splat factor. I am hoping that the change of pace in the Prince of Redhand from the back-to-back dungeon crawl will carry their curiosity through to the end.
Wow Whiteknife, I'm really impressed, and appreciate the advice, which now rests in my Evernote database of sage DM-ly nuggets for AoW.
Last Saturday our players put the wrap on the Spire of Long Shadows, having made it through in some part by one of the players having rolled a natural 100 in Manzorian's fountain allowing her to have the one-time help of a Solar, which she used to save the party frm certain (un)death. The blog is here if anyone is curious.
But man the game mechanics are getting trickier and trickier. We are playing Pathfinder rules, core rulebook only, which I am hoping will eliminate the splat factor. I am hoping that the change of pace in the Prince of Redhand from the back-to-back dungeon crawl will carry their curiosity through to the end.
The visions from SoLS brought curiosity level up a notch, and the LoLS will do it even more I think.
Prince of Redhand is such a great installment in the AP. Not only is it such a huge change of pace in the series, It gives you a chance to have the PCs
My reasoning is that if he is that hard I would power him down, but no free rounds. I plan to change Dragotha's spells and his. I won't change Dragotha's too much. I will also/am running it in PF so deathward only gives a +4 IIRC. I am converting Dragotha now. I will do a by the rules modification. The 3.5 draoclich template will be added to the PF lich template to account for a +3 to CR. If after everything is added in he does not match the AoW Dragotha I will use DM Fiat to add some abilities in. I will modify Kyuss last. In some ways Dragotha looks harder than Kyuss. He seems to be all brute force, while Kyuss has a number of different ways to deal with people.I cant believe they want to give 20th level parties a free full round against him. I won't be doing that for my group. If they don't kill certain minions off he might not even be alone when they get there.This was one of my greatest fears, along with the SoA. I didnt truly give them the free round, I made it a full round action for kyuss to escape his prison, so he still was able to cast a quickened spell. And dont forget that as written, The group more than likely has 2 whole rounds to kill kyuss. If you do nothing else to change this encounter, get rid of that and retrain his spells. (unless you like having 90% of a deity's spells stopped by a simple death ward spell)
Oh yeah, do stay within the rules. Kyuss was about equal to big D in my campaign. Under 3.5, Arcane strike + D's full attack was BRUTAL. I think all I did for him, besides the feat and spell retraining, was to give him 1 level of sorceror to gain access to 9th level spells. (My group had 6 pcs, I should mention too) I also made him use some of the items in his hoard. Especially that sweet metamagic rod that he has.
Worst encounter in my campaign was definitely Thessalar. Spent 4 hours of my time splatting him out and making him challenging to my optimised party only to have him taken out in 1 swift action by a 20th level Radiant Servant of Pelor with quicken turning. Blegh
Worst encounter in my campaign was definitely Thessalar. Spent 4 hours of my time splatting him out and making him challenging to my optimised party only to have him taken out in 1 swift action by a 20th level Radiant Servant of Pelor with quicken turning. Blegh
I know hindsight is 20/20 but there is a spell in the spell compendium(lifeward?)that protects undead from positive energy affects. I would modify it to equal pathfinder's deathward. There is also a spell(graymantle)that can stop healing if the fail is saved. It is a fort save so tag them, and lay the hurt on top. Even if they survive the assault some will be having to dispel magic, and not attacking your bad guys.
Worst encounter in my campaign was definitely Thessalar. Spent 4 hours of my time splatting him out and making him challenging to my optimised party only to have him taken out in 1 swift action by a 20th level Radiant Servant of Pelor with quicken turning. BleghI know hindsight is 20/20 but there is a spell in the spell compendium(lifeward?)that protects undead from positive energy affects. I would modify it to equal pathfinder's deathward. There is also a spell(graymantle)that can stop healing if the fail is saved. It is a fort save so tag them, and lay the hurt on top. Even if they survive the assault some will be having to dispel magic, and not attacking your bad guys.
I saved the lifeward for Big D. Its a cleric spell, so didnt help Thess out at all. And Kyuss laid down some greymantle lovin. ;)