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Is anyone doing anything differently with Helgarval? I feel that there could be some foreshadowing that I'm missing out on that might be in a future installment.
James J. and crew... What were your thoughts putting this entity within this chapter of the story? I just need a little more info so I can decide whether or not to keep it in the story or change it somehow to better fit my players.
Thank you!
seems there will be quite a few lil semi-familliars.. helm, sword, bonsai.
seems there will be quite a few lil semi-familliars.. helm, sword, bonsai.
Helgarval has come in handy for the players in my game several times past when he shows up. I've been treating him the same as Spivey from Brinewall as an optional NPC party member that the PCs can request to come along with them.
Oddly enough I have a fellow playing a Bladebound Magus who apparently has a knack for acquiring intelligent gear with mixed religious purposes. Currently he has his sword (intelligent black blade with (purpose destroy undead specifically servants of Uragotha, I portrayed this as the blade's spirt working for Pharasma) using Helgarval(Note Servant of Desna) as head gear 99% of the time. He was also the one who picked up the cursed statue of pazuzu lucky for him he was uncursed soon after that. Also his particular deity of choice is Nethys. Most of the other PCs think he's got Multiple personality disorder especially if he fails his will roll to resist the swords influence.
So I've been wondering something ever since I ran into Helgarval on my read through of Night of Frozen Shadows. So a cassisian angel's default form is that of a helmet... but their listed size is Small, which feels more than a little too big. I mean, that would be the equivalent of someone wearing a kobold or a goblin as casual headwear.
So, uh, how do you guys handle this? Do you resize cassisians to Tiny, like most familiars? Smaller? Do you just leave them as really big helmets? Or do you just roll with them being about the size of a helmet narratively, but mechanically being the same as a Small size creature?
Wrong comparison. 8lb Eagles are Small, as well. Its amazing what a 7ft wingspan will do to a creature's size, even if their actual body(helm) is fairly compact.
Ah. Gotcha. That's what I get for looking at one end of the scale and not the other. Someone wearing a big bird on their head doesn't sound out of the question at all... Especially when you consider the wingspan, which can change the perception of size quite a bit depending on whether it's folded along the body or not. Thanks!
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I'm no developer, but it is extremely doubtful. No other NPC has been given more than a passing mention in a later volume. There might be some benefit to having him around in the final battle (per a statement by James Jacobs on NPCs influencing it), but there is no way it will be vital to either the plot or the mechanics.
They have said this is done intentionally, so that they don't interfere with how a given GM play a character. For example, a GM might mention that Shalelu hates coconuts, only to find that months later in volume 6 a major plot point is based on her undying love for them. More realistically, an NPC might be dead, have left, or otherwise have a conflict that makes it difficult for them to perform their role in the plot.
Additionally, the adventures are written concurrently. The writers only have an outline of what happened in previous volumes to work on, since the texts themselves don't exist yet. When it gets to editing things can be worked together, but important actions by the numerous NPCs in this AP aren't one of them.
As for Helgarval's reason for being in the story, it is to have a convenient info-dump in case the PCs are having trouble figuring out what to do next. He is a more memorable version of a diary that explicitly details evil plans, or a treasure map with a giant red X. If your players don't have trouble figuring out what to do during that part of the AP, or you are willing to create an alternate source for this information, you can feel free to cut him with substantial confidence.
Is anyone doing anything differently with Helgarval? I feel that there could be some foreshadowing that I'm missing out on that might be in a future installment.
Personal opinion follows:
I found "Night of Frozen Shadows" to be the weakest of the Adventure Path by far. Even as I accept that it must take place within a structured AP I have huge problems with the horribly railroaded plot, the most efficient way to minimize Notoriety Points gained in game is to conduct wholesale murder against everyone (except in that guild, there it's bad!), the totally linear final dungeon requires you to find 2 (TWO!) secret doors or else the whole thing grinds to a halt, and, when it looks like there are no hooks left to follow and we're at an impasse in our investigation... an angel-that-looks-like-a-viking-helm that we just HAPPENED to pick up in the prior scene decides to give us answers.
Umm... no.
It is unfortunate because I like the AP and there are hints of a good episode underneath all this railroad plot and NPC stupidity. However, I will be rejigging this adventure for my game and Helgarval is definitely one of the things that will be jettisoned with extreme prejudice.
How will the PCs find out about the Rimerunners Guild without the Helmet-Angel-of-Plot-Dumping you ask?
By examining the treasure they found on the ship. Found engraved on a bejeweled drinking horn: "To big bad Viking. Thanks for putting in a good word for me with the Rimerunners Guild."
Divination magic.
Asking around. "Oh, yeah, I heard he was really close to the Rimerunners Guild a few years back. I think they bought up all his stuff once he got all ill and such."
"*Hic!* Yeah... let me tell you about my bestest buddy... *hic* we just burned him, true Northman funeral... in a boat! I worked for him *hic* years ago. Did a lot of stuff for that Guild... Rhyme Rippers... no wait... that's not right... *hic*... Run Rimers? Time Tunners? Rimerunners! Yeah that was it! *hic* me and him and that Guild... we go wayyyyy back. Let me tell you about this time..."
In other words, my characters will have to interact with the adventure to find the clues. They will be there when they look, but they will not just drop out of the sky and land on their heads.
Also, as others have mentioned, named NPCs that can join the caravan are so peripheral to the actual adventure itself that ignoring them do not change the unfolding adventure one bit.
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Is anyone doing anything differently with Helgarval? I feel that there could be some foreshadowing that I'm missing out on that might be in a future installment.
James J. and crew... What were your thoughts putting this entity within this chapter of the story? I just need a little more info so I can decide whether or not to keep it in the story or change it somehow to better fit my players.
Thank you!
Helgarval does not reappear in later installments of the AP. As others have said, we don't provide additional roles for most NPCs, because there's no way of knowing how any given party will react to (or even meet) a particular. Obvious exceptions, such as Ameiko and company, are pointed out as characters that will have recurring roles.
So do whatever you like with Helgarval. It's your campaign, and nothing later on will contradict how you handle the Ulfen helm in your game.
