Jade Regent Obituaries Page (Obvious Spoilers)


Jade Regent

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Character Name: Gochin Tajima - Samurai of the Jade Throne (Tien Human Two-Handed Fighter 1, No Daichi and Katana), and Tristan "Doesn't Have A Last Name" (Half-Elf Ranger 1)
Catalyst: The Swarms of Skitterfoot
Reason: As presented, Skitterfoot whips the snot out of the PCs. Maybe because my party always failed their Cause Fear saves, but of 3 PCs, one ran away, the second pulled his alchemists fire and dropped it, rolling a 1, and was down the next round, the other went in to save him, and went down too. When the girl came back and dragged them out of the doorway, Skitterfoot let them go.

Character Name: Full Party Wipe
Catalyst: Tsutamu the Ronin Skeletal Champion
Reason: Round 1: Critical Hit against the cavalier. Round 2: Critical Hit against the fighter. Round 3: Cleave against the fighter takes both fighter and ranger to -HP. Tsutamu took 13 damage.

Had Tsutamu stabilize them and drag them away from his precious treasure, but they came back the next day and almost wiped again. I had to give them the quest reward early, let them level, and then come back and get him at Level 2.

These characters really can't fight CR 2 and 3s at level one!

(20 point buy)


Purplefixer wrote:
(20 point buy)

Really!? Erg. That's what I'm giving my players and I thought I was being generous. What was the total party composition?


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Yay! First blood! And to think that Jade Regent just started.
starts to sharpen knives, scalpels and other instruments for dissection of freshly dead heroes


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Purplefixer wrote:

Character Name: Full Party Wipe

Catalyst: Tsutamu the Ronin Skeletal Champion
Reason: Round 1: Critical Hit against the cavalier. Round 2: Critical Hit against the fighter. Round 3: Cleave against the fighter takes both fighter and ranger to -HP. Tsutamu took 13 damage.

Well, there's only a 2% chance of rolling two critical threats with two of Tsutamu's attacks in a row--let alone confirming both of them--so statistically that's just plain bad luck for the PCs!


I was also reviewing the level guide at the beginning of the AP and it says the PCs should be "well into" level 2 by the time they finish this part, which to me suggests they should be level 2 when they start that particular fight. Could they have skipped some stuff and/or not had some random encounters?


SnowHeart wrote:
I was also reviewing the level guide at the beginning of the AP and it says the PCs should be "well into" level 2 by the time they finish this part, which to me suggests they should be level 2 when they start that particular fight. Could they have skipped some stuff and/or not had some random encounters?

True, few players remember how fragile their PCs are at low levels, because the most memorable deaths occur at the later levels "save or die", "eaten by Tarasque", "wished into hell", "deck of Many miseries", and so on.

Honestly, the closest I've managed to come to a party "wipe" was when four L2s stormed into Thistletop screaming at each other - the monsters organized, let the PCs have the stairwell landing and then hit them from both sides. IN SPITE OF THIS, the characters triumphed (PF Alpha "basic four classes" versus 3.5 Thistletop). Moral: Things really are tilted in the PCs favor, which makes the players reckless.

But back to the main point, the largest leaps in power are at the lower levels, not counting "loot leaps", like when the fighters find their first +1 weapons. By level 5, the players have stabilized their tactics, and have a general sense of when to break out their shiny specialness.


Yeah. Party is an Honor Guard Cavalier, a Two Handed Fighter "Samurai", and a Skirmisher Guide Ranger.

3 characters, all martial, 20 point buy. They never had even a SINGLE random encounter! Their levels will quickly surpass the recommendation for the module, balancing out, but this first level was hard (hence the free raising), and they managed to never encounter the faceless stalker, or the soggy river monster.

I gave them the quest bonus after their first fight with Tsutamu, to boost them to L2.

I used FOUR different D20s to roll up those threats and confirms, too! The Force was not with them.


Well, I can't say I'm surprised; actually I'm surprised that they somehow managed to heal up and be back the next day, but their defeat wasn't surprising. Three martial characters is well off the norm; no arcane casting, no divine casting, no healing at all - that just screams problems to me.


Purplefixer wrote:

[SNIP]

3 characters, all martial
[SNIP]

Hey, guys, my 4 INT gives me a great idea! Let's tackle the undead without a clerical type at all. Who needs magic or healing or trapfinding? Wheel up the admantium door-smasher and let's get sum XP!

But seriously, I give kudos to your group for being willing to attempt something off the normal kilter.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Name: Craster Sorn
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Inquisitor of Calestra 1
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy/We be Goblins
Location: Kaijitsu Star
Catalyst: Trying to be the tank
The Gory Details: having already run two of my four players through We Be Goblins on free game day, and them having failed to take out Vorka, I'd re-jiggered things so the gang found Scribbleface's map (or a copy) at Licktoad Village once they'd cleared it out (the session before - they'd nearly had a tpk there too, but pulled through). Following it to the Kijitsu Star they saw evidence of the prior PC goblin's exploits, before tumbling in on Vorka & her companion first thing after dispatching on of her dogs. Craster & the party Druid fell to poor positioning and setting off AoO from Lord Licktongue, which gave Vorka enough time to hop back and hit them with a summoned swarm of Rats. Technically the Druid would have died too, but had 2 Hero points to spend to survive.

Dark Archive

15 point buy, hero points, no hp kickers; 5 pcs.

name: Jack
Race: Human
class/level: Barbarian 1
adv: Brinewall Legacy
Location: Brinestump Caverns
House rules: If hp is negative, healing spells heal from 0 (4e style).
Catalyst: Charging Tsutamu atop his ward.

Had Tsutamu ready an action to attack anyone who enters range. Players initially tried pelting him from afar (rolling horribly). Jack rushes and triggers the action, Tsutamu rolls a 20 and an 18 to confirm it, dropping the barbarian. Jack is healed in the same round, but two turns later 20 and 19'd again, outright killing the character. Many crits plus cleave led to good times.

Technically not a kill, Jack used 2 HPs to not die.

Would have been a party wipe. Maybe a bit harder because I forgot to use challenge (thus lowering his AC for everyone else).

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

4d6 drop the lowest, three sets to choose from character creation.

Total Party Wipe (4 PCs -- Oracle of Life, Gunslinger, Monk (martial artist), Fighter) also to Tsutamu. A wakazashi crit took down the martial artist monk after he had charged Tsumatu, and then the skeletal champion preceded to take down the other three PCs piecemeal starting with the healer.

I will probably start the next batch of PCs at lvl 2, hired by the principal NPCs to find out what happened to the previous party (two took younger sibling..to Shae and Ameiko).


Strictly speaking, this isn't an obit but it came so close to a TPK I felt it was an honorable mention. Party consists of:

Human Gunslinger
Human Zen Archer Monk
Half-Elf Kensai Magus
Halfling Flame Oracle

All level 1, 20-point buy, limited to two traits but given maximum starting wealth.

Location: Chief Gutwad's Throne Room

Party has just finished clearing most of the village and the oracle uses most of his remaining spells to heal up the party. Party can't break down the doors into the throne room, so the Gunslinger mounts his horse and has it break down the door. Gutwad and one of the goblins had a readied action to fire their bows at the first PC to appear. Both hit, 12 points of damage, Gunslinger drops. Kensai charges in, kills one of the goblins wielding a dog-slicer.

Next round Gutwad unloads some of his special arrows into the horse, dropping it, while the party and other goblins exchange injuries. Kensai drops the second goblin wielding a dog-slicer, and party is damaging Gutwad because he's taking Attacks of Opportunity to fire his bow. But, it's paying off for Gutwad. The Kensai drops, then the Zen Archer.

It's down to the Flame Oracle, outnumbered two-to-one. He can't seem to succeed on a touch attack against Gutwad, who is horribly injured but thinks he can pull it off. The last goblin is about to flank the oracle when, with his last Touch of Flame, he hits Gutwad and drops the Chief, then, mirroring the goblins, uses his move action to do a Dance (Perform)... and the last goblin goes running from the throne room, into the Marsh, likely to be eaten by the Soggy River Monster. This one was literally down to the next successful attack. It was a great moment, and I was so happy for my players when they broke into cheers. But... so very close. I wager they'll be more careful in the Caverns.


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I've been trying to decide if I wanted to post this here or in an "almost-bituary" thread. I'll take SnowHeart's lead and do it here. :)

Name: Cinocard
Race: Gnome
Classes/levels: Sorcerer 2
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy
Location: A random bridge on the Old Fish Trail
Catalyst: Trying to jump a tiny gap

Name: CJ
Race: Human/Half-Orc/Thing
Classes/levels: Fighter 2
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy
Location: A random bridge on the Old Fish Trail
Catalyst: Trying to save the gnome

The party is making its way to Licktoad Village and decided to take the Old Fish Trail. On a last second whim, I decided that since the trail isn't used by fishermen anymore and goblins aren't exactly worried about upkeep, the bridges have fallen into disrepair. Thus, one of the bridges had a few planks missing. Nothing too bad, just a 4 or 5 foot gap. A few athletics rolls and flavor for the swamp, nothing more right?

Wrong.

The other characters, all medium-sized, make the jump easily. Cincocard, however, basically walks right off the edge. Being an unarmored person in a group of heavily armored individuals, you'd think he'd be the one best suited for taking an impromptu swim. No. He immediately sinks and starts to drown. (The poor player is cursed to never roll higher than a 4 when it comes to save or die a horribly embarrassing death.)

In comes CJ; seeing the gnome sink below the water, he jumps in ... and immediately sinks like a stone. (Then starts 5 minutes of bickering whether or not a fighter is trained enough to swim perfectly fine in his own armor with references to loading Olympic swimmers down with 30 pounds of lead.) The rest of the party stands there refusing to join in on the chaos figuring that natural selection, or the whim of the dice, is best to decide fate.* Fortunately, they both manage to struggle their way back onto the bridge, Cinocard spending way too much time underwater going the wrong direction.

*There's something about this group and bridges. In Rise of the Runelords, a character got yanked off a bridge by a monster. The entire party, save CJ, jumped down off said bridge to save her. Instead, they all ... Every. Single. One. Crashed down onto her. One going so far as to hitting her upside the head with a mace in the fall.


Name: Ghost
Race: Quadruped Eidolon
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy
Location: Warden's Shack
Catalyst: Volorog

Somehow, the entire party fails their bluff and perception checks, despite the bluff only getting a 13. I have six players in my game, so I gave him the advanced template, and every character has Power Attack as a combat option rather than it being a feat.

Volrath wins initiative, goes in the surprise round, and charges the Eidolon, the closest character to him, with a full power attack. Natural 20, then a natural 19 to confirm.

2d4+2d6+14 damage, against an Eidolon at 1st level. Poof. The party about soiled themselves.


My obituary actually isn't any of the PC's but what I thought was a good idea ended up getting the crap kicked out of it by the PC's.

We had been playing another low level game before switching over to Jade Regent, knowing that I was dealing with a group who'd just been through several character reboots and wanting to avoid that again as half the table is new, I let them transfer their 2nd level characters over to the new game. I figured that the first few encounters would be a cake walk and then we'd get into riskier territory.

I loved the idea of the Soggy River Monster, a creature of unknown origin in the swamp causing havoc and creeping everyone out seemed like and awesome idea and after catching a couple of glimpses of it the PC's were sufficiently worried. When the time came though, the PC's dropped it in a single round.

In order to keep the "Swamps are Dangerous" feel I decided that the black dragon on the island off the coast had a young dragon that she'd just kicked out of the nest and this young Dragon (CR 7 by the way) had taken up temporary residence in the ship wreck of the Kaijitsu Star.

The very first descision made by the PC's at the start of the next game was to check out the Shipwrecks, starting with my young dragons home. As they approached, subtle clues were missed and they had no idea what was coming. As a DM, nothing is more satisfying than that look of temporary panic on a PC's face when you drop a mini like a black dragon out on the table.

My intent was for them to run, realizing that they were well over matched and it almost happened until one of the PC's looked up and said "Hey, I think we got this". I well underestimated the brass my PC's apparently have. The battle begins and I drop the screen, telling them that they're characters are well aware of how risky this is and that for this battle, all rolls will be in the open. Again I thought, here's where they back peddle back into the tree line, but no... the Cavalier steps out and Challenges Dragon.

Then things went entirely differently. ALL saves vs. the breath weapon were made, I couldn't roll above a 10 with 6 attacks, three or four crits made their way through my precious Young Dragons hide and after an hour and a half, the dragon lay at the feet of the triumphant PC's. I stood stunned. The party was badly wounded, and all Hero Points were used, but 4 2nd level PC's killed my dragon, and were smiling at me.

Putting down the monster manual, I threw up my hands, and clapped. "You've defeated my dragon, the swamp holds no terror for you brave allies."

Funnily enough, they had more trouble with the Licktoads ;)

Now a moment of silence for a DM's attempt to build tension. Hahaha, rest in peace young dragon, we barely knew yee.

~Aahzlan


Name: Ghost
Race: Quadruped Eidolon
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy
Location: Licktoad Village
Catalyst: Conservation of Resources.

After the initial wave of 12 goblins hit the party (They dealt with the first 4, I upped the number in each due to the amount of members), our plucky Eidolon, Ghost, had taken a total of 2 damage, leaving 5 HP. The summoner opted to hold back on healing, reasoning Ghost would be fine for the rest of the day and he may need that magic fang later. Fast forward to the Gutwad fight, where Ghost was performing heroically and distracting the warrior goblins. Then one of them rolled a natural 20. Roll to confirm, an 18. The damage rolled for the attack was exactly 5. As Ghost is an eidolon...

This marks two 'deaths' for the plucky extraplanar wolf, and the rest of the party got out with several bumps and bruises as well (The halfling's mount left the battle at 0 HP due to an animal bane arrow from the chief. The rest of the party got lucky, and ended with more than 0 HP.)

Advancing Gutwad made the encounter quite interesting, as a 24 AC is hard to hit at level 1.


Name: Sparky
Race:Pet Lion Construct
Adventure: The Hungry Storm
Location: Bearleg lake hunters encampment
Catalyst: playing decoy

The party barbarian and his new pet construct (created by the groups would be artificer wizard) run ahead of the caravan to investigate the encampment and encounter the witch fire living in the hut hunting for passersby, they fall for the ruse and go inside to wait for the rest of the party the witch fire decided to take out one of the most powerful party members by herself to even the odds the barbarian manages to finally deduce the fake and starts a fight and orders the construct to attack. After being zapped a couple of times by the wisps the barbarian retreats but not before the construct gets zapped by two witch fire bolts (one a confirmed crit) and explodes in a glorious fireball. The witchfire then proceeds to almost party wipe the party bringing everyone down to one hit = dead before she gets killed by an NPC intervention from Spivey.

Dark Archive

15 point buy, hero points, no hp kickers; 5 pcs.

name: Bill
Race: Human
class/level: Bard 6 (Arcane Duelist)
adv: Night of Frozen Shadows
Location: Ravenscraig, the tower c21ish
House rules: If hp is negative, healing spells heal from 0 (4e style).
Catalyst: Large Air elemental + whirlwind + open windows

Okay so I have this thing where if we have all 5 players present, I play a bit harder. Raven can't get off a summon nature's ally inside, so it flies up the ladder and outside where, after losing the summon nature ally III scroll, it uses the summon nature's ally V scroll.

Rogue/alchemist chases. I summon a large air elemental and immediately go whirlwind. Rogue s++@s pants, but makes the saves. In pursuit of the raven, the party broke some of those windows, elemental goes in and uses that 100 ft fly speed to whirlwind everyone (we decided I coukld only do it once per character per turn, in hindsight I would rule once per character per move action.)everyone does really well on thier saves. I get the barbarian Jack(up above posted about the near death). Bill gets dropped 140 to the ground below the tower/cliffs, lives through the fall because of rage, has 3 hp left and the clock ticking.

a second run through the party with whirlwind and everyone saves

a third and I've got the bard. Dropped and kersplat, uses 2 hero points to not die, so the barbarian is waiting beside him eyeing, angrily, at the cure light wounds wand he carries (bard is our only healer fyi).

So yea, Bill technically dies real bad, bad hero pointed to not.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Technically both deaths came from rejiggering Thistletop from RotR as a side adventure, and both characters died one after the other in successive sessions, so to avoid spoilers for THAT campaign path I'm stuffing the play-by-plays behind spoiler-tags for those concerned about such things.

Name: the Traveler
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Figher 2
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy/Burnt Offerings
Location: Thistletop
Catalyst: Mobbed by Goblins and Goblin Dogs
The Gory Details:

Spoiler:
Having single-handedly survived falling 80' into the surf to swim into a nearby cave to, again, single-handedly kill the Bunyip, Traveler was pretty confidant when he showed up late to the party, tucking himself around the corner of the door while everyone else scooted onto the fortress roof to fill the Goblin Dogs in the courtyard full of arrows and daggers. Sadly the half-dozen Goblins/Goblin Dogs playing whack-a-segul on the other side of the wall overheard their bark/squeeks and came barriling around the side in search of the trouble, stumbling into him. While the 4 Goblins in the towers were busy keeping the rest of the PCs on the roof occupied (including chucking pickles in random directions), Traveler found himself in a bad situation going worse when the dozen opponents he had to himself went up half again as the 6 or so Goblins from inside finally made their way out through the front as well. Thanks to the Diehard feat and luck he managed to hold out long enough for the rest of the gang to deal with the enemy above and join him to kill the enemy bellow, but he just couldn't keep up, surrounded as he was, and took one nasty shot that killed him outright right near the end.

Name: Hobbs
Race: Half-fiend (using Advanced Racial Guide beta)
Classes/levels: Oracle 1
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy/Burnt Offerings
Location: Thistletop Dungeon, level 1
Catalyst: One-shotted in the surprise round in the Temple.
The Gory Details:

Spoiler:
Hobbs joined up as a disillusioned turncoat, splitting with the bad-guys once he met our heroes as they were heading downstairs and he was attempting to leave. Giving them some much-needed exposition as t what was going on, he helped them in their hunt, killing just about everyone/thing they ran into, up until they wandered into the Temple of Lamashtu, which he new little about (his information was about as good as Oriks' as to what was what). None of them spotted the two Yith Hounds floating above as they entered the Temple, so were at a loss when one howled and another dove in to bite. Two PCs failed their saves miserably and fled (or hid in a corner cowering), leaving him and Shalelu to fend them off, and he couldn't take one bite, dropping in the surprise round, only to bleed to death a few rounds later as Shalelu was too busy fighting for her life (even the JR level 6 version had some trouble here) and the other PCs fled or incapacitated with fright.

The Exchange

yeah, Tsutamu the Ronin Skeletal Champion really is billy bada$$ for the group I'm running. The paladin smited him but missed, so the samuari then challenged the paladin, scored a crit, and got withing 1 point of killing him (took him from 11 hp to -11!) also got the party's ninja down to 1 hp next round. but they all survived and section one is in the books. now, on to brinewall!


Full party TPK on the Witchfire in The Hungry Storm. That thing is nasty, especially when it succeeds on the Will O' Wisp summon. 8d6 fire damage, and 12d6 fire damage if the will save is failed. 50 ft. perfect fly, and a ranged attack that's basically the same as it's melee (though not touch, it's still a significant bonus to hit).

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Almagest wrote:
Full party TPK on the Witchfire in The Hungry Storm. That thing is nasty, especially when it succeeds on the Will O' Wisp summon. 8d6 fire damage, and 12d6 fire damage if the will save is failed. 50 ft. perfect fly, and a ranged attack that's basically the same as it's melee (though not touch, it's still a significant bonus to hit).

Sorry to hear Almagest. Can we get a break down of your party and what went wrong?


Almagest wrote:
Full party TPK on the Witchfire in The Hungry Storm. That thing is nasty, especially when it succeeds on the Will O' Wisp summon. 8d6 fire damage, and 12d6 fire damage if the will save is failed. 50 ft. perfect fly, and a ranged attack that's basically the same as it's melee (though not touch, it's still a significant bonus to hit).

Don't forget incorporeal and if the Witchfire hits if the save isn't made the victim gains the effect of farie fire so even turning invisible won't help. My group came within a hair of a party wipe and might have had I not allowed the NPCs to intervene. I will maintain my stance that, that particular encounter is NOT CR 9.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Name: Kel'an'ein
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Ninja 3
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy
Location: Brinewall Castle
Catalyst: During an ambush by the Harpy Oracle Zaiobe and the Cleric of Pazuzu Nevakali
The Gory Details:
Having assisted Zaiobe in taking down Kikonu the PCs were not surprised when she turned on them, a brief battle occurred and both sides retreated. Much later as the PCs returned to Brinewall Castle, after resting in the village, they walked into an ambush by Zaiobe and the Cleric of Pazuzu Nevakali. Nevakali was tossing spells from the arrow slits of the room above the main entrance of the castle itself so the party’s Cavalier and Wizard rushed in, racing up stairs to confront Nevakali.

At this stage Zaiobe had been slain and an injured Kel'an'ein used a grapple hook to climb from the gate house to the arrow slit. Kell, as he was known by the other PCs, arrived just in time to be hit by a Negative Energy Channel, this put him into negative hit points and he fell to the ground taking more damage. The next round Nevakali used Negative Energy Channel and with its huge 30ft radius range, Kell was caught in the effect and slain.

The real quicker was finding the Amatatsu Seal and having the rest of the party and Shelalu be made into scions and now have the ability to be resurrected once per month. As Kell was laid out on a table upstairs, he was not so blessed.


Reebo Kesh wrote:
Sorry to hear Almagest. Can we get a break down of your party and what went wrong?

Everyone was level 7 -- Ninja focused on attacking with shortbow, Alchemist focused on bombs, standard some grapple, some punchin' Monk, Druid with large dino animal companion, Evocation(admixture)[acid] Wizard. This is a pretty strong group that only had one casualty so far -- Alchemist died to Omoyani and her poisons, but was reincarnated. Kimandatsu, another CR 9, was difficult but for the most part they dealt with her (opening with the cone of cold was nasty, though).

The encounter started with the PCs becoming separated from the caravan by a couple (normal) traders inviting them to share some food and drink by a fire. The PCs used this opportunity to barter for provisions and find out about the trail ahead. The wizard stayed with the caravan. Witchfire came up, disguised as a trader, and spent some time with them. Eventually, witchfire used pyrotechnics to isolate the caravan from the PCs, and attacked. Wizard used fly to join fight on first round.

This monster really is way too much for a CR 9, and especially for a level+2 encounter. The witchfire bolt is essentially free 25+ damage to one PC every round, and it can just fly around and rain down easy damage with little to be done by the PCs, unless they're geared towards this encounter. Also, the lack of range on the witchfire bolt is a problem -- actually, the bolt is a big problem altogether. I think the touch attack for crazy damage and a very difficult save with big consequences is enough.

I think a Paladin or Cleric would've helped the party immensely. Also, the failure of the knowledge check for this creature was a big reason they all died. They wasted time fighting the wisps, and using fire attacks on the witchfire.


atheral wrote:
Don't forget incorporeal and if the Witchfire hits if the save isn't made the victim gains the effect of farie fire so even turning invisible won't help. My group came within a hair of a party wipe and might have had I not allowed the NPCs to intervene. I will maintain my stance that, that particular encounter is NOT CR 9.

Agreed. Did you level the NPCs? I didn't do that, so they probably would've been useless and just gotten killed in this encounter.


Almagest wrote:
atheral wrote:
Don't forget incorporeal and if the Witchfire hits if the save isn't made the victim gains the effect of farie fire so even turning invisible won't help. My group came within a hair of a party wipe and might have had I not allowed the NPCs to intervene. I will maintain my stance that, that particular encounter is NOT CR 9.
Agreed. Did you level the NPCs? I didn't do that, so they probably would've been useless and just gotten killed in this encounter.

I did, I keep them a level or two below the PCs. But the killer thing is here, My group is NPC happy they have gone out of their way to recruit all possible traveling companions. They have Sandru, Koya, Shalalu, Amiko, Spivey, Kelda, Helgavarl, Ulf, and the winter wolf they rescued from the dungeon. ( I know I spelled half those wrong but eh, dont really care at the moment) That much firepower and still only Koya or Spivey would be a help in that encounter. As it was they needed only Spivey to be able to do mass heals so that the wizard and oracle could concentrate on attack instead of defense. They also had a construct lion that the wizard had made but look a few posts up this tread to see what happened to it.


atheral wrote:
I did, I keep them a level or two below the PCs. But the killer thing is here, My group is NPC happy they have gone out of their way to recruit all possible traveling companions. They have Sandru, Koya, Shalalu, Amiko, Spivey, Kelda, Helgavarl, Ulf, and the winter wolf they rescued from the dungeon. ( I know I spelled half those wrong but eh, dont really care at the moment) That much firepower and still only Koya or Spivey would be a help in that encounter. As it was they needed only Spivey to be able to do mass heals so that the wizard and oracle could concentrate on attack instead of defense. They also had a construct lion that the wizard had made but look a few posts up this tread to see what happened to it.

I didn't want to throw the balance of the campaign off by leveling the NPCs and including them in battles, but it makes sense to have them be a level or two behind, so they can at least help out in dire situations. I'll also be able to bring them along if someone needs to miss a session.

My players don't know how to interact with NPCs, other than to obtain rewards for doing something, so none of the available NPCs were even bothered with. I doubt they'd bother with the four existing NPCs if there wasn't an occasional XP reward for doing so.

We're restarting the AP after the witchfire encounter, with a new group of characters. I think I'll level the four NPCs a bit and try to include them in the action a bit more, as I mentioned above, and see how that goes.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Almagest wrote:
atheral wrote:
We're restarting the AP after the witchfire encounter, with a new group of characters. I think I'll level the four NPCs a bit and try to include them in the action a bit more, as I mentioned above, and see how that goes.

Almagest how do you plan on introducing a new group? Will they not be scions? I take it the 4 NPCs are still alive?


name: The Soggy River Monster
Race: Creepy thing that follows the PC's through the swamp.
class/level: CR 2
adv: The Brinewall Legacy
Location: Crossing a bridge in the swamp
Catalyst: The party fighter tempts fate.

:

The party comes to one of the bridges after having saved Walthus from a terrible, faceless fate. Having already played the first part of the adventure before we started over due to schedule difficulties, when I ask my players to make perception checks, they meta-game, with several hopping down into the river to look for hiding goblins or leeches. There had been no encounter rolled. How ever, the fighter charges across the bridge, brandishing his swords and shouting out challenges to all that is evil. I inform him as the DM that he hears a branch snap, off to his right, thinking this is a good chance to give a sighting of the pale soggy one. He completely ignores the branch, not even looking that direction, still shouting out challenges. The rest of the party is on the other-side of the bridge, and so I have the monster jump him. The tiefling inquisitor charges forward, and feints at the monster, who has just taken a sizable 12 hit point chunk out of the fighter. The Inquisitor rolls a natural 20, with over a +10 modifier to bluff. The soggy river monster is house ruled to have over reached so far as to fall on its ass.
Fighters turn. He takes 12 hp away from the monster with a critical short-sword attack, stabbing it's arm clean through.
Paladins Turn. The Holy warrior of Shelyn, in his loving manner, urges his camel into a charge and smiting critical hits the creepy thing thats been following him around. With a lance. 56 damage. The party doesn't even know what happened to some of the pieces of soggy river monster from the resulting blow.


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Reebo Kesh wrote:
Almagest how do you plan on introducing a new group? Will they not be scions? I take it the 4 NPCs are still alive?

By waving my special DM wand and retconning the whole thing. They'll continue from right after the Witchfire fight. They'll all be scions with a relationship score with one NPC of their choosing (the one they take the trait for) equal to the score of their original NPC. I'm thinking I might also allow them a relationship of the opposite type, with one other NPC, equal to 1/2 of the main score. I'd like to see them interact with the NPCs more, since they really haven't done that much so far.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Almagest wrote:
Reebo Kesh wrote:
Almagest how do you plan on introducing a new group? Will they not be scions? I take it the 4 NPCs are still alive?
By waving my special DM wand and retconning the whole thing. They'll continue from right after the Witchfire fight. They'll all be scions with a relationship score with one NPC of their choosing (the one they take the trait for) equal to the score of their original NPC. I'm thinking I might also allow them a relationship of the opposite type, with one other NPC, equal to 1/2 of the main score. I'd like to see them interact with the NPCs more, since they really haven't done that much so far.

So silly question, is the Amatastu Seal's "special" power not an option? Ok it would take several months to do the whole party but doesn't volume 3 have a "flexiable" timeline?


Reebo Kesh wrote:
So silly question, is the Amatastu Seal's "special" power not an option? Ok it would take several months to do the whole party but doesn't volume 3 have a "flexiable" timeline?

Yeah, it would just take way too long, and presumably the witchfire decimated the caravan after killing the PCs.


Name: Wildclaw Wolfhead

Race: Duergar

Class: Invulnerable Rager/Martial Artist

Adv: The Hungry Storm

Location: Ul Angorn

Cause Of Death: Answered a challenge to single combat with a 2-headed Oni. Despite having upwards of 100hp and respectable DR, Wildclaw was eviscerated by a full-on attack from creature's double-axe on the 3rd round of combat.

Wildclaw was a borderline sociopath and was disliked by both party-members and NPC's equally. Despite his wicked ways, he died a hero's death and was given a brief, but touching epitaph by the party's ranger/cleric. He was buried in the salt-mines; face-down, so as to prevent him from rising again to terrorize the populace.

Liberty's Edge

Name: Duster Ross

Race: Human

Origin: Pellaos, in our group's homebrew world. Think Wild West meets Australia.

Adventure: The Brinewall Legacy

Location: Brinewall Castle

Cause of Death: Decapus

More Specifically: He marched forward through the crypt, his pistol holstered, after the goddess of death and dreams (read: The decapus's Minor Image spell) offered him her boon for doing so. When we found out the "boon" was "tentacled death," the party gets a-fightin'. Unfortunately, the tentacle + constrict damage pretty much killed Duster. He would have lived had the group's monk/cleric not insisted on taking a second level of monk.

However...: He's cool with it, because he has a new character concept now: Hadji Abobo, a vishkanya summoner/bard.

Sovereign Court

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Name: Variel

Race: Elf

Origin: Some forest in Golarion... where elves grow...

Adventure: The Brinewall Legacy

Location: Brinewall Village... in the woods outside the castle

Cause of Death: Pissed off harpy

More Specifically: The group went along the harpy's plan and agreed to ambush her lover. Along the way this crazy ranger elf decided to shoot her in the back as they were waiting in the woods for the lover to show up. As soon as he shot her, she ducked out of sight in the woods, and her lover, horrified, proceeded to destroy the elf and scatter the party. Dying alone in the woods, the crazy elf stabilized. He woke up moments later to see the harpy tower over him - how nice! the harpy had used some of her healing on him!! However he found himself securely tied up in tight coils of rope. She asked, with a pained look on her face, "Why did you betray me? Why did you shoot me?" The elf replied, "It was an accident!" With a matter-of-fact-ness that chilled all players at the table, the harpy then added, "Well, here's an accident," after which she swung a heavy sword down on his neck, separating the elf's head from his shoulders.


Name: Liothonae Cromvathar
Race: Elf
Class: Urban Druid
Adventure: The Hungry Storm
Location: Iqaliat (Tunuak's Bore)
Cause of Death: Camouflaged Spiked Pit Trap

More Specifically: Although the secret door was checked for traps, they failed to find it. Half the party was promptly dropped 50 feet down onto the jagged floor. The druid was impaled by 4 spikes, resulting in a total of 9d6+20 damage from the trap, taking her instantly to -14 hit points.

This was the first death for the group, and led soon after to the first opening of the Warding Box since Brinewall in order to use the Amatatsu Seal to bring her back. If the Five Storms had any doubts that they were coming, they now know for certain ...

Scarab Sages

@PDK - Now thats what I'm talking about! Well done sir.


Total Party Kill against Kimandatsu. Amethyst, the dwarven druid, Claire Travis, the human magus, Carrick Birch, the halfling paladin, and Tsutomu, the tengu monk all died in a single combat.

The party had bad luck on their initial rolls and didn't land hits for the first few rounds of combat. They also ignored the ninja and tried to focus on Kimandatsu herself (a poor choice of tactics I think) which led to the druid taking multiple sneak attacks and flaming arrows, many of which resulted in unfortunately high rolls for damage. Thus the druid died first.

The magus then failed to save against charm monster, and the paladin succumbed to deep slumber. With the monk now alone against Kimandatsu and her ninja, he got ganged up on and was the second to be killed.

The magus fought back once she was attacked and actually managed to kill the ninja and wake the paladin, and the two did some significant damage to Kimandatsu, forcing her to flee. The oni let Skygni out however, and the winter wolf killed the magus with his breath weapon.

The paladin managed to survive Skygni's assault until the winter wolf fled, but he took a fair bit of damage in the process. Kimandatsu was hurt enough that even one good hit would have been enough to deal with her, but the paladin alone was completely unequipped to deal with a flying enemy that could turn invisible. He was killed by the oni's flaming arrows.

And so the ogre mage pulled through. She came out bloody, beaten, and reduced to her last few hit points, but it was a loss for the heroes.


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Name: Ulghan
Race: Half-orc
Class/level: Fighter 1
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy
Location: Brinestump Caverns
Catalyst: Charging Tsutamu while the rest of the group was still huddling in the tunnel outside of the treasury, and missing completely...

Poor Ulghan had already almost died in the previous room at the hands of the skeletons the party had awakened. We use Plot Twist cards, though, and one of the players played Lost and Found, resulting in her finding a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds amidst the room's debris.

From there, the group (also made up of a human bard, human ninja, and elven wizard) hesitantly began to explore down the tunnel toward the treasury, single file with Ulghan in the lead. Upon reaching the mouth of the small cavern, the group discussed for a while how to approach the situation, obviously weary of the docile skeleton sitting atop the chest. Well, ultimately, Ulghan just charged him. After coming within 10 feat, Tsutamu awakened and Ulghen rolled oh so low...

Tsutuamu subsequently Challenged Ulghan, raised Whispering Shrike, and took him out in one hit. He then looked up at the rest of the party and gave them a "who's next" look. Everyone else held back, cowering in the tunnel, casting protective spells (the ninja was at the back, unable to see what was going on, but basically just wanting to run as he was already at only 2 HP anyway). When nobody approached him, he called them cowards in Tien, once again raised his sword, and cut off the half-orc's head, finishing him for good. He then sat back down on the chest, waiting for the PCs to make their move.

The move they ended up making was to run away...


^^ my orc side got the better of me. Indecision made me anxious. I took action.

Sovereign Court

Matthew Trent wrote:
@PDK - Now thats what I'm talking about! Well done sir.

thank you Ser Trent! my players seem to love the game more since I have fully come to terms with my evil dm role... accept it! don't fight it! :)

Sovereign Court

here's another one:

Last week was the paladin sacrificing himself for the rest of the party. "Let them go!" he pleaded, "Take me and let them go!!!"

The demented bad guy agreed and decided to make the paladin his new "High Advisor" -- by having his goons carefully prune the paladin out of his arms and legs, burn/cauterize the stumps, then mounting him on a ten foot pole scarecrow style right beside his throne.

The paladin survived the procedure and therefore is still in play..... :)

PDK

Sovereign Court

At the end of last week's game they rescued the pally, so here is an actual email I just sent to my players tonight:

Reminder for tomorrow's game:

Stumps can wiggle somatically :)

Also, Rahem is strapped back to back to the fighter (both cannot be flanked anymore - see the all around vision monster ability), they each get +2 to AC from mutual soft cover, the paladin stumps can wield weapons effectively due to the fighter's successful untrained craft "Bran/Hodor sling basket + prosthetics" check. The paladin is also considered a small creature (+1 to AC +1 to hit and +4 to stealth when the ftr pulls a cloak on top of the paladin to look like a hunchback...)
:)

P

PS: the only thing that remains to be determined is if you want me to refer to the combo as "Hodor/Bran" or "Chewbacca/C3PO" for the rest of the campaign... :)


Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

the paladin stumps can wield weapons effectively due to the fighter's successful untrained craft "Bran/Hodor sling basket + prosthetics" check.

Spewed coffee onto monitor after reading this line! Thank you for sharing.


Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

At the end of last week's game they rescued the pally, so here is an actual email I just sent to my players tonight:

Reminder for tomorrow's game:

Stumps can wiggle somatically :)

Also, Rahem is strapped back to back to the fighter (both cannot be flanked anymore - see the all around vision monster ability), they each get +2 to AC from mutual soft cover, the paladin stumps can wield weapons effectively due to the fighter's successful untrained craft "Bran/Hodor sling basket + prosthetics" check. The paladin is also considered a small creature (+1 to AC +1 to hit and +4 to stealth when the ftr pulls a cloak on top of the paladin to look like a hunchback...)
:)

P

PS: the only thing that remains to be determined is if you want me to refer to the combo as "Hodor/Bran" or "Chewbacca/C3PO" for the rest of the campaign... :)

And in my email back to you I said we'd be Master Blaster! We are actually rather badass together. I guess I'm a master of stumpjitsu!

And PDK you forgot the best parts about the Ranger: Preferred enemy human...in a party of humans, throws bear traps at noises in the forest, does not buy arrows so he can save money by getting them off the bad guys or something and of course runs out and many more. He's seriously the best person to play with as he does such crazy stuff it makes for a good time!

And I'll let PDK add the latest obituary to this thread...hint, hint...same player. :)

Sovereign Court

Name: Gus, Rogue 3

Race: Elf

Origin: Some forest in Golarion... where elves grow...

Adventure: The Brinewall Legacy

Location: Brinewall Castle, room T7

Cause of Death: Clubbed like a baby seal while taking a dirt nap on top of the stinky troglodyte table

More Specifically: last trog alive brings Gus to negative five as they both fight it out on top of the large table; DM rolls a d3: 1 is coup de grace, 2 is one baby seal clubbing + move action to run away from the party, 3 is withdraw action. DM rolls 2. Trog successfully clubs the unconscious rogue for 5 damage, bringing him to minus ten.

Sovereign Court

Geeves, Rogue 3 is now replacing Gus, Rogue 3.


I think it was minus 9 but he only had a con of 8 or whatever he died by 1 or 2 points making it all the more insulting. Hilarious!

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