Hey guys, first time running Shackled City. The adventure beings Thursday...well character creation anyways.
I am reading through chapter 1, where it talks about the striders and I am a bit confused. Now it says, "If the PCs face an imminent demise fighting the forces of evil, the half-elves come to their aid... [They] will offer to accompany the heros on the remainder of their mission...The half-elves don's stick around when the adventure is over." -pp 40
Now I understand that Striders have means to help the PC's when they are in need of it, however, at which point do they help the PC's? Should the PC's ask for the Stiders to accompany them on an adventure? Or should the striders follow along the adventurers in secrete, and when they see the PC's in trouble, jump in and help, but if that was the case why do the Striders follow them in the chance they might need help, if they have other business to attend too?
The striders are used to help the pc's when they are waaay overmatched or when timely intervention could make or break the game.
The group I am playing in has so far lost a party member on every chapter. Not every session but every chapter and the ore 4 are needed to survive. Also I have found you have a better chance of survival if your party cleric rebukes/commands not turn/destroy. Thats just a personal opinion though. I am playing a cleric of wee jas in mine and having a ball doing it. I know something isn't right in my church but can't figure out what. Oh well time to wait and see.
The striders are there to help point the PC's in the right direction, give pc theives another option rather than the last laugh be on hand maybe ONCE when a party member s at -8 or -9 and no one else can get to them. If no one is a cauldron native they can also provide helpful hints if no one took any ranks in knowledge local, "oh yea you get the best prices over at skies treasures" or "the drunken morcoth has decent and affordable accomidations" etc.
hope this helps.
Ah, thank you for your response. I do appreshate your help indeed.
What I think I am going to do is have the striders help the PCs when they need help, however! the PCs will have to find a way to encounter the striders in ways that I think up of, and they will be only on rare occasions, since the striders are rouges after all and are note easy found. They may even have to do a few things for the striders to gain respect, and thus increasing their opportunity to become one later on. Once they have been given a telepathic bond with the stiders, they wont have to look hard to find them, but as we all know Meerthan is very testy, so they will be warned not to abuse their power.
I mostly had the Striders do "you investigate X and we'll investigate Y and we'll compare notes" and then feed the PCs information (backstory, foreshadowing, etc.) that way. For instance, they introduced themselves as trying to track down Korvan Winterstrike based on rumours that he had joined a demonic cult of some kind, so that set up some of the random bad guys in "Strike on Shatterhorn".
But I also had Fario and Fellian help them in some fights where it made sense.
Sorry for the late reply.
When I was playing in SCAP, my group had an urban druid. She got in good with the Striders and as a benefit they gave her a magic ring. If we were ever in over our heads, she could use the ring to summon them to our side and they would appear after X rounds I believe.
Granted that's a bit more "down the road" for you but I thought it was a neat idea.
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My players, the half elf ranger in particular, became good friends with them during the flood festival. If you look on the RPGenius stuff there is an event called the Necrocant ambush, so when Meerthan approached them to help them out, they were more than willing...it is more the other way around in my campaign..the PC's seem to be helping others ( the Striders (pathfinder society in my game) and the Blades)) out of jams...
We are currently in Chapter 1 (just about finished with Jzadirune), and I've had a hard time working in the Striders. My initial thought was that they would be kept in reserve to help with the bigger beasties in Jzadirune, but I've been finding in converting to Pathfinder that the encounters have been waaaay too easy. I'm also playing with a fairly experienced group of gamers (all in our 30's, been playing since we were kids), so they don't make many mistakes.
Initially, they spotted the Striders on their way to Keygan's, but the two were able to hide in a crowded street and they gave up pursuit after a few rounds. Since then, the party one time doubled back on their trail in Jzadirune, and on a perception of 28 in checking for tracks I gave them a bit of a trail to follow. Now they know someone is following them, but they think it's the LL.
I think I may have found my first out, though. The players seem to have been ignoring the warnings about the Vanishing, and as such have tried out about every magic item they've found. A couple secret saving throws gave them a few luck breaks, but now 3 out of the 5 PCs are infected with the vanishing (though only 1 has had the incubation day and is aware of it). They are still pushing on, and had an over-the-table discussion amongst themselves about how Charisma damage doesn't kill you when you reach 0. I'm thinking when the first character is down to single digits, I'll have the Striders come in and recommend they head back to the church to seek treatment, lest their folly be fatal.
Thank guys. I had figured out how I am going to interact with the strider's. The Shackled City book states that the player(s) will find themselves having an encounter with them if they look for information about them. Indeed 1 player has done so, and have reported to the two striders on two occasions so far. I am planning on intruducing the striders with the rest of the group if the party becoming captured and needs to be rescued.