Will the real Rokova please stand up?

[Cohlrox]

Hey, just poking around for any advice or suggestions

My Evil Plans:

for the real living Rokova stats work up that I am working on.

I am using the 2nd part of the Legacy of Fire AP as a standalone addition to my current campaign and wanted to fill out Ghartok's minion retinue with a real live Gnoll Assassin. Similar agenda as the imposter just still alive and not being impersonated.

Any ideas on what class I should use? Maybe class level suggestions? Gear load out? Combat tactics? All ideas and suggestions are welcome.

[Boxhead]

Honestly? I'd leave him as is.

Spoiler:

Let Ghartok have no idea that he's got an ulterior motive he's trying to accomplish. Of course, this only works if the PCs have a mission to accomplish in the House of the Beast, like retrieving the Scroll in the original module.

Alternatively:

Spoiler:

Gnoll Rogue 6 should give a reasonable stealthy assassin type will give the party fits,especially with a few potions or scrolls of invisibilty.

[Dire Mongoose]

Spoiler:

I'd make him level 7, probably -- Gnoll doesn't have half as much in the way of racial goodies as Jann does.

I lean towards Rogue 7 with solid stealth / melee fighting rogue tricks like Positioning Attack, but something like Ranger 7 could be fun and fit pretty well too.

You might want to rework the section with the troglodytes, since the setup/plot around that is dependent on Rokova not being Rokova.

Having run House of the Beast once, my other advice for an alteration might be blocking off some of the entrances from the outside -- when my players were trying to pick which way to go in first, every choice on their list led straight to the Carrion King, and naturally that's exactly what they did. I felt like a lot of the feel and story of the upper levels was lost by bypassing them this way.

[Cohlrox]

More evil plans:

So, I've been considering the Assassin prestige class. Could this make him too deadly because of the death attack? The party would potentially have to face him immediately after Ghartok if they fail to parley with him.

Yes, I am def going to make Ghartok completely unaware of Rokova's betrayal. He is too arrogant to think that any gnoll would dare oppose him. Rokova's agenda being to usurp the Carrion King and become the new king. Lately Rokova has been feeling that Ghartok is too much of a fool to properly lead the gnoll tribes. The trogs could be in on this coup as well, siding with Rokova and actively looking for an opportunity to begin the rebellion. Enter the PC's...

I was also thinking about having the gnoll tribes indeed massing on pale mountain. During the PC's foray Rokova would be actively delaying reinforcements from the gnoll tribes gathering nearby by cutting off communication through the use of lies and the trogs to the outside gnoll tribes, possibly even assassinating a few messengers.

This would add an element of urgency to the mission because eventually the gnolls tribes would descend on the house to find out what is going on. Essentially, the party would be striking deep in enemy territory to cut off the head of the enemy general and avert a full scale gnoll invasion. What-da-ya-think? Too deadly?

Your right Dire Mongoose, I've been reading some other posts about TPK's because the party could skip straight to the Carrion King potentially. Does adding the element of urgency make it too TPK-ish?

Thanks guys for your ideas and suggestions I really do appreciate it.

[Dire Mongoose]

I'm not too worried about TPK-ish, but I did run it with five players and that does take some of that pressure off.

My regret was more that after fighting the CK, my players weren't particularly interested in sweeping the higher levels of the complex clear, and in so doing missed some cool encounters and a lot of the story of what was going on.