Zellara as (actual) ghost

[Douglas Muir 406]

In the adventure-as-written, she's more like a useful plot device than an actual NPC. She can cast some modest Illusions, do harrowings, and... that's about it.

If you stat her out as a full NPC ghost... well, she becomes an NPC. That actually seems suboptimal, because at low levels she'll probably be higher level than the PCs, while at high levels she'll go back to being pretty useless except as a plot device. (You could let her level up with the PCs but then you have to keep track of it.)

But there should be a middle way. Let her be a ghost, but one who can manifest only in certain particular circumstances, and one who can only use combat or spellcasting abilities for a round or two. Even at higher levels, having an NPC pop out unexpectedly can be handy.

So if Zellara is an NPC, what is she? A Harrower, right? But that's a PrC that you can't start until 6th level -- so if we go this route, we have to keep her under wraps for a while, since she'd totally overshadow low level PCs.

Wizard or sorceror? A wizard needs a spellbook, which is a PITA for a ghost. (Unless you say that her Harrow deck is her book.) Sorceror requires another level... oh, well. Say a sorceror. Sorceror 6 / Harrower 1 plus the Ghost template gives you a CR 8 character.

We need to tweak her some way out of the normal template. Keep that special illusion power thingie that she's got, take something else away. Allow her to manifest as a ghost only 3x/day, and with a 50% chance of disappearing at the end of any round in which she casts a spell or uses a ghost power. She's bound to the Harrow deck; if she's reduced to 0 hp somehow, she reforms there the following day. Like that.

Thoughts?

Doug M.

[Stewart Perkins]

I think she'd be Bard if anything, which needs no book. Add in the ghost weakness X-bound and basically if she goes too far from her Harrow deck she starts to dissolve as she's pulled back. Honestly I like her being a plot device and personality bundle myself. She can cast a few minor spells as needed but that's pretty much it, she should never do anything major but be just enough of a nudge to help the pcs win.

[chavamana]

I would probably just make her a Harrower (with bard/sorcerer casting)... but I don't have a problem ignoring prereqs for some npcs.

[Olwen]

That's a pretty big spoiler is the title, isn't it?

[Douglas Muir 406]

Well, if by "spoiler" you mean it hints at something that you're going to find out anyway by the end of the very first episode of the very first adventure of an AP that came out several years ago -- then I suppose so, yes.

In other news, Bilbo's ring doesn't just turn you invisible, Ben Kenobi is more than just a crazy old hermit, and Inara really likes Captain Mal.

Doug M.

[Shadowborn]

Yes, but what about people new to Pathfinder? They will not have played in the AP before. You're giving away a major plot point in the title of your post. Just because you've seen and done it all before doesn't mean everyone has.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Shadowborn wrote:

Yes, but what about people new to Pathfinder?

If you're new to Pathfinder, you'll have no idea who Zellara is. But if you've played even /one single session/ of CotCT, you'll know the whole story.

You kinda have to work to make this a spoiler.

Doug M.

[Shadowborn]

My players in CotCT had zero idea, right up to the point where

Spoiler:

they find her head at Lamm's.

They loved it. Extreme creepfest, and one of the early high points of the adventure path.

I'm just saying that people who are just coming to the game and haven't played this AP before might not want the possibility of having that moment taken away from them. My 2cp put in, and I'll say no more.

[Douglas Muir 406]

I see what you're saying. I guess my point is that it's only a spoiler for (1) players, who (2) haven't run through that AP yet, but (3) are going to do so in the fairly near future. That seems like it would be a pretty small group -- but I suppose not a nonexistent one.

Doug M.

[Wyrd_Wik]

For my two cp Zellara is actually best as a helpful plot device rather than a full blown NPC. The party developed a strong relationship to Zellara as they often conferred with her and I could see that when

Spoiler:

she was taken by Scarwall there was a strong motivation to rescue her

She is a bit tricky in that I didn't want to her to tell the PCs what to do so I often framed her advice in made up traditional stories of Varisia that did not necessarily point one way or the other. The Harrowing of course is a great device in of itself. Bascially, she's an intelligent magic item.

One of my concerns with making her an NPC is that in many of the adventures the PCs will be working with other allies as is. It'll be a lot of work for the DM to handle.

Either way hope you and your group have fun with the AP, it was one of the best campaigns I've ever ran.