Carrion Crown and Dhampir party

[Charon's GPS]

Not sure if my PC's are going to go this route after all, but after letting them know about dhampirs....they all want to play one each. Initially, I was for it...until I read the adventure I remembered something:

Dhampir are like undead in terms of healing, and a lot of items are potions of cure and the like. Yeah, I'm sure I could just replace them with potions of inflict, but I don't think it makes sense in game/story terms (there were once living people in the ruins and they'd benefit from healing potions, and also I don't see clerics of Pharasma making a bunch of undead-healing potions).

I'm probably going to tell them only one, maybe two, dhampirs - just to save everyone a headache in terms of healing thier characters - but I want to see what other people think.

[Deidre Tiriel]

Let them play dhampirs. They should have a neutral cleric who channels and spontaneously casts negative energy.

Also, read up on the heal skill.

[tlc_web tlc_web]

Totally disagree with Deidre. Follow your instinct and limit the number of them. Your players may gripe, but they will gripe more when the adventure is rolling them all. Then they will complain about you recommending Dhampires to them.

I have started playing a Harrowstone and I have a Dhampire in our game.

*Spoilers Ahead*

Our Dhampire is playing a cleric who channels positive energy. As a consquence she can not benefit from her own healing. And all the magic items we are finding at the start of the adventure are healing items that she can not use. As a consqunce she is the first one to have to stop for the evening.

You might argue that she could channel negative energy, but the thing about that is Harrowstone is THICK with haunts. Some are near impossible to undo and the only way to get past them is temporarily nuetralize them. That means we need positive energy channeling. Plus if she could channel negative that means the only benefit would be that she can heal herself, not the party.

Finally at our last game we found that mundane healing on our cleric was far from ideal. This module is on a SERIOUS timetable, pausing to let someone who was seriously hurt heal themselves mundanely is probably a recipe for disaster.

Because of all the Haunts, a Dhampire party is going to find itself seriously struggling with all the Haunts.

The good news is that I think a Dhampire will have a much easier time in the future modules. But ironically being dhampires have an harder time again "undead places" than the typical PC.

[Charon's GPS]

tlc_web tlc_web wrote:

Totally disagree with Deidre. Follow your instinct and limit the number of them. Your players may gripe, but they will gripe more when the adventure is rolling them all. Then they will complain about you recommending Dhampires to them.

Yes, this is mainly what I am worried about. One or two would be ok to make things interesting (also means more cure for the other players :P ), but all four would make the game become agonizing.

Deidre Tiriel wrote:

Let them play dhampirs. They should have a neutral cleric who channels and spontaneously casts negative energy.

Also, read up on the heal skill.

None expressed interest playing a cleric. And not having magical healing will slow the game down a lot.

[Necromancer]

An all-dhampir party and no one wants run an oracle of Bones? Insane (if that's the case).

Concerning the haunts, I'd give any creature a 50% chance (without making a stealth check) to avoid activating a haunt as long as they're undead or possess negative-energy affinity. And should they try stealthing past, let them. They've got a connection to the Grave; let them use it. That's how I'd look at it.

Unless the players picked dhampirs specifically because of their N-E affinity and have no interests in necromancy, then I'd deny them.

[Charon's GPS]

Necromancer wrote:

An all-dhampir party and no one wants run an oracle of Bones? Insane (if that's the case).

Concerning the haunts, I'd give any creature a 50% chance (without making a stealth check) to avoid activating a haunt as long as they're undead or possess negative-energy affinity. And should they try stealthing past, let them. They've got a connection to the Grave; let them use it. That's how I'd look at it.

Nope; one is going to be a paladin. Two of the other players are going for human, so it's not a horrible idea anymore.

I'll keep the haunt activation in mind, though.

[Deidre Tiriel]

I did say they basically needed a negative channeling cleric. Since no one is even willing to play a regular cleric and memorize inflict spells, then don't allow more than one or two.

[Quandary]

Yeah, I don`t get TLC`s `critique` of Deirdre`s advice...
A SPLIT party really has the most issues with healing, since they need `opposing` sources of it.

Assuming they are ALL Dhampirs and there is no `split` issue, it`s just how you want to fill their healing needs... Paladin Lay on Hands is out, and other `secondary Healing` options don`t usually have Inflict as well... So you`re stuck with needing a Cleric or Oracle. For Oracle, I would consider MODIFYING Oracle of Bones so that Undead Servitude works like Life Mystery`s Channel (but Negative Energy), or modify Life Mystery itself to be more Negative Energy orientated (i.e., Anti-Life). If they are Channeling Negative Energy, the way to deal with Undead is taking the Command Undead Feat to deal with Haunts, etc... (or just let them take Turn Undead as the fast-track to the `Run Away!` command). Between those options, it seems more than do-able.

[brreitz]

We just started Carrion Crown, and we've got both a Dhampir and a neg energy cleric. So far, things have worked out alright. I had also planning on introducing a magic item from Gods and Magic, the Pallid Crystal:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items-non-core# TOC-Crystal-Pallid

The religious restriction can be broken with a ritual costing 500 gp. Granted, it doesn't work on channels, but it does allow the dhampir to be healed by spontanious cure spells and cure items (potions, scrolls, wands).

It also has some neat ties to Urgotha, who has neat ties to the Whispering Way. I'll probably introduce it as something willed to the dhampire by Professor Lorrimor as "a possible aid to his unique condition."