I never understood the fast vs slow keelhauling damage rules. Seems to imply slow does not hurt as much but the dice don't agree. For instance, take the Wormwood example:
Fast = 6d6 = 6-36 damage, so min 6 hp, ave 21 hp damage.
Slow = 12d3 = 12-36 damage, so min 12 hp, ave 24 hp damage.
Conclusion: Slow hurts more. I don't think that was the intention.
**Unless**, and here I am not sure, the Ref save DC for the slow keelhaul is significantly easier than the fast one. That would make sense. Or an easier swim check. Or *something*.
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Are the PC's supposed to loot the bodies of the fallen sailors on the Man's Promise? My group just finished off 11 sailors and the officer and are now wondering what to do with the loot. One wants to take all the gear (Weapons and armor) while another just wants to take the money and the choice bits off the officer. I'm thinking that the first choice might be a little difficult to get away with. Where are they going to stow 11 suits of armor and such?
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If you want to make it realistic, all of that belongs to the captain. Harrigan could claim it all. My players didn't take it, even the obviously magical pike, for fear of reprisal. If they are caught looting, it could be considered stealing from the captain.
Is there any significance to the red X's on the Bonewrack Isle map? (Area C3, C4, C5)
Is there any significance to the red X's on the Bonewrack Isle map? (Area C3, C4, C5)
I just assumed it was to indicate what 1/5 mile square the encounter was located in.
That's what I thought, kind of like "X" marks the spot thing, but I wasn't sure.
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On Skull & Shackles - The Wormwood Mutiny page 35 it says that "The Skeleton Crew of Man's Promise includes Mr. Plugg, Master Scourge, Owlbear Hartshorn, all of the surviving members of Wormwood's original crew of sailors, as well as the PCs, Ambrose Kroop (...), Conchobhar Shortstone, Rosie Cusswell abd Sandara Quinn"
It does not say anything about Crimson Cog. It was just an error or he is deliberated staying on Wormwood?
Probably it was an oversight because he doesn't appear in the AP again as written.
You can pretty well move who you want aboard the Man's Promise with the possible exception of the officers. I accidentally had Kipper and Patch Patchsalt also join the Man's Promise. But I shouldn't have because
But even that's not insurmountable.
Sorry, saw your post a tad late - will translate it from my native language, then mail it.I would be delighted to see that, deathbydice, if you would be so kind as to share the character briefing.
Bummer for picking a Chelian, but what is a GM gonna do?
Whoof. This is roughly a year old, but I'll ask anyway; if you still have this, I would absolutely love to see/use it myself...
On Skull & Shackles - The Wormwood Mutiny page 35 it says that "The Skeleton Crew of Man's Promise includes Mr. Plugg, Master Scourge, Owlbear Hartshorn, all of the surviving members of Wormwood's original crew of sailors, as well as the PCs, Ambrose Kroop (...), Conchobhar Shortstone, Rosie Cusswell abd Sandara Quinn"
Bear with me, as I've not quite read up to the Man's Promise section.. but wouldn't that be pretty much ALL of the Wormwood, minus the Captain and a couple of officers? How would they even man the Wormwood after that? Doesn't feel like a 'skeleton crew' as much as a "let's all switch ships".
Most of the Man's Promise crew joined the Wormwood. As GM, I decided to explain this by saying they were mostly slaves and liked the idea of becoming slightly more free pirates.
Harrigan keeps seven of the officers on the Wormwood as well as the captured Rahadmoumis. If Harrigan pressgangs just three Rahadoumis, he has enough for a skeleton crew of ten, so it's believable.
No, it's twenty to be able to sail the ship without penalty. It's ten to be able to sail it with a penalty. But if it makes you happy, just say he pressganged enough Rahadoumis to make it twenty. Who cares?
Another way to explain it is if his Sorcerer Pippy Longstocking or whatever her name is knows the spell Skeleton Crew
My group is currently in room D6 of Riptide Cove. The rogue detected the trap there, but I can't find anything on how it works. There's a disable DC, so something can be done to stop it from triggering, but with how it's set up, I can't see a simple trip wire working. Anyone have any ideas?
My group is currently in room D6 of Riptide Cove. The rogue detected the trap there, but I can't find anything on how it works. There's a disable DC, so something can be done to stop it from triggering, but with how it's set up, I can't see a simple trip wire working. Anyone have any ideas?
do you mean, like how to visualize the trap or describe how it works?
My group is currently in room D6 of Riptide Cove. The rogue detected the trap there, but I can't find anything on how it works. There's a disable DC, so something can be done to stop it from triggering, but with how it's set up, I can't see a simple trip wire working. Anyone have any ideas?do you mean, like how to visualize the trap or describe how it works?
How it would work mostly, specifically how it would be triggered. Location makes me think a pressure pad, but grindylows don't seem proficient enough to be able to pull off a trap like that, and since it would be under water, it'd be easy enough to just not trigger it if that were the case.
How it would work mostly, specifically how it would be triggered. Location makes me think a pressure pad, but grindylows don't seem proficient enough to be able to pull off a trap like that, and since it would be under water, it'd be easy enough to just not trigger it if that were the case.My group is currently in room D6 of Riptide Cove. The rogue detected the trap there, but I can't find anything on how it works. There's a disable DC, so something can be done to stop it from triggering, but with how it's set up, I can't see a simple trip wire working. Anyone have any ideas?do you mean, like how to visualize the trap or describe how it works?
Keep in mind the description of the room:
"Seaweed fronds sway gently in the current in this broad cave."
In terms of a trigger effect, a trip wire or hook-catch hidden amidst the seaweed would most likely trigger the grille above to fall, pinning any beneath it to the floor who are encompassed in the squares the trap covers
How it would work mostly, specifically how it would be triggered. Location makes me think a pressure pad, but grindylows don't seem proficient enough to be able to pull off a trap like that, and since it would be under water, it'd be easy enough to just not trigger it if that were the case.My group is currently in room D6 of Riptide Cove. The rogue detected the trap there, but I can't find anything on how it works. There's a disable DC, so something can be done to stop it from triggering, but with how it's set up, I can't see a simple trip wire working. Anyone have any ideas?do you mean, like how to visualize the trap or describe how it works?Keep in mind the description of the room:
"Seaweed fronds sway gently in the current in this broad cave."
In terms of a trigger effect, a trip wire or hook-catch hidden amidst the seaweed would most likely trigger the grille above to fall, pinning any beneath it to the floor who are encompassed in the squares the trap covers
Thanks, that'll work.
I started the adventure with a small crew of two so I NPC'd some missing roles to fill it all out. Now I have five folks keen to join so it's going to be a chance for plugg and scourge on the mans promise cull them out. Any ideas of workplace health and safety opportunities for their demise?
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I started the adventure with a small crew of two so I NPC'd some missing roles to fill it all out. Now I have five folks keen to join so it's going to be a chance for plugg and scourge on the mans promise cull them out. Any ideas of workplace health and safety opportunities for their demise?
They fail hard on their assigned daily tasks, and also try to stealth away their rum rations. Should add up to a lot of whipping. Once unconscious, IIRC, nonlethal damage becomes lethal.
Or, overnight gambling, someone drank too much, kills someone. Or, lost a bunch of money gambling, went to steal it back, stealing=keelhauling.
You could show off Plugg's magic cutlass by having him hydrolic push a hated NPC overboard, Lightminder. Harrigan's not here to stop Plugg and Scourge from killing people they don't like, and even if he were, Plugg has gotten away with worse in his 11-month rise to first mate.
I'm running to attack on Man's Promise on Sunday and have been doing each session with flashbacks to each character's backstory and highlighting parallel stories happening outside their ship that will eventually all come together. This time I'm thinking of switching it up and doing Plugg's flashbacks. Anyone have suggestions for horrible actions of his past to highlight?
The personalities of Plugg and Scourge are very similar on RAW. Plugg is basically a "stronger" Scourge.
I changed Plugg's personality a bit in my game. He is not a sadist bully who just cares about humiliating people. This is Scourge. My Plugg is more like a very severe disciplinator. He believe that discipline is everything and he makes everything to insure it on his crew.
Making a high-school metaphor, Scourge is that senior-year-student that preys upon freshman to still theirs food, meanwhile Plugg is that old-school teacher that will punish students if they forget to do homework.
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I think if you're going to have a group full of Charisma based characters, you should let them have what they built the group to do. They're not going to rock the combat encounters, at least let them have the diplo encounters.
Remember, there's only a limited number of days, and each one gets only two ship actions per person. And there's other ship actions than just Influence to do as well. If you start limiting them to only one step per check, it will quickly become very difficult to turn the whole crew to their side. And a Cha-built group -- pretty much the best case scenario for the mutiny -- should be able to turn pretty much everyone that is turnable at all.
Okay, I'm having trouble finding another thread, hoping you guys can help out here... I've got a couple of new people wanting to join my game (still in Book One, about to hit Day 8), and as my group right now consists of only three PCs, fresh faces are a good thing.
The problem is, how do I go about getting new crew mates on board, in the middle of the sea? As noted, I know I've seen a thread about this, but I'm catching hell trying to locate it now.
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@bathik: I agree with Samy. Let them have their fun with their silver tongues. It will create tension between them and the officers, especially Plugg, who has a serious narcissism/envy thing going on. In Plugg's backstory, he has had nothing but trouble trying to get accepted into Harrigan's "inner circle" and has few, if any friends. This means he's experienced a lot of rejection and would be absolutely boiling inside about it. When he notices the PCs making easy allies with the rest of the crew, he will bring the pain with a vengeance.
@Draven: This issue is easy enough to solve without having to stretch the story. It's only day 8. The PCs don't know everyone on the crew yet, so your new party members can simply 'come to life' from the ranks of the existing crew. A new PCs character can go from "Anonymous Swab #7" to [insert PC name here] without much fuss.
A believable explanation: "I saw what Scourge did to you when you spoke up, so I kept to myself."
Okay, I'm having trouble finding another thread, hoping you guys can help out here... I've got a couple of new people wanting to join my game (still in Book One, about to hit Day 8), and as my group right now consists of only three PCs, fresh faces are a good thing.
The problem is, how do I go about getting new crew mates on board, in the middle of the sea? As noted, I know I've seen a thread about this, but I'm catching hell trying to locate it now.
Another solution to this would be to have the ship come by either a flyspeck of an island where the new PC's have been marooned or a ship that lost too many of its crew members due to *insert tragedy here* and have currently been stranded at sea, without enough crew members to sail the ship. Both of which offer good opportunity to build plot hooks from. Even coming across a lifeboat with a few guys in it would work.
New Crew members could also be picked up from the Man's Promise if you wait a couple days. Or you could make one of the NPC's a PC.
Seaweed on Grindylow cave is listed as 5-8 ft thick on the cavern floor on page 47. Now is it on the cavern floor and when the high tide comes in does it floats to the top of the water line or does it stay on the bottom?
From my read of it, it looks like the seaweed remains attached to the floor at high tide.
This also means that the party going in at high tide and swimming along the surface would let them avoid the hook traps - at the cost of greatly hampering their general mobility and combat capability.
I'm GMing a Skulls&Shackles at the moment and wonder if any GM so far took the time to apply all this rum rations, lashing for not doing the work and so on to the NPC pirates too.
And on day 21 the jumping onto the other ship and the volleys of crossbow bolts and the sharks in the water and the fighting against at least an equal - but rather double the number of Rahadoumi Sailors - than there are pirates.
Because I assume by the time the battle ends after 11 rounds - every single one of these standard pirates will be dead. They have miserable AC, mediocre skills, only 11HP (in theory - with the rum they are around 0) and no one to heal them to fight this uphill battle.
What's your take on this?
I don't recommend to use the rum as written. In my campaign it simply applied 1 con damage and if you rested the whole night it went away (but not if you took any night action). The officers use it to keep the crew calm, not to kill it.
But it shouldn't influence the boarding too much either way, as there is no reason for most of the crew to get into danger. Harrigan can easily defeat the entire ship alone. The PCs are used to make sure nobody escapes using the boats, but the rest of the crew can stay relatively save unless they want to impress their officers.
I have two questions:
1. If a PC wants to craft whilst on the Wormwood or the Man's Promise, can they (and if so for how many hours a day)?
2. For weather after the Wormwood (and besides the storm on the Man's Promise), what would you guys use? The Shackles are tropical, but I don't think the temperate or desert weather generators are appropriate
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As the duties in the Wormwood are quite time absorbing I'd allow PCs to craft like they had made half a day of work (thus, worth of 1/4 of progress) by giving up all ship actions that can be made after the working time. As the trip is quite long, even that limited crafting time could be a big advantage.
I remember there were weather conditions explained on the third book, but I cannot remember of they were only related to storms. I don't know if there are more appropriate weather generators for tropical seas (I.didn't use them).
I'm probably missing something really obvious but...If the skeleton crew takes the Man's Promise to Port Peril and sells it, how are they getting back onto the Wormwood?
I'm probably missing something really obvious but...If the skeleton crew takes the Man's Promise to Port Peril and sells it, how are they getting back onto the Wormwood?
Well, that's all but irrelevant since the AP wholly assumes they don't make it to Port Peril (between the storm, and Plugg's plans, the GM would basically need to force it to happen for some unknown reason). However, if I were forced to come up with an explanation, I'd say the full plan Harrigan gave Plugg was to return to Port Peril and sell the ship, then hang out there for a week or so while they wait for the Wormwood to catch up (possibly targeting some fresh new press-gangees while they wait). Meanwhile - and if you haven't read the full AP yet, you wouldn't know this detail - Harrigan swings by his hideout on Gannet Island to drop off supplies, let the dog out, water the plants, etc. and then returns to Port Peril to pick up his loyal crew and have himself another press gang.
Honestly, it's not a great plan, considering how small his crew is. You'd be justified in scratching your head over it if you were on such a crew.
I've not yet begun it myself, but a fellow GM I'm friends with claims his group is 2 levels ahead of where they're supposed to be at the end of book 1, despite missing a significant number of XP opportunities along the way. He also said that he's added nothing to the adventure, running it exactly as-written.
I'm inclined to believe he's made mistakes in XP calculations.
My group had some incomplete encounters on the island (a group of three was a tad weak at the time), and they skipped close to half the grindylow caves first time around. They had to go back and complete those encounters to make level three, and it wasn't by much.
I'd say your report is accurate for the available XP. Skip too much and you'll need some remedial adventuring to pop 3rd before Book Two.
Andrew <:-{}
I think it's worse than you are making it sound. By your own admission you have a roleplay centric group, and yet you had to condense the 20 days to 12. And even then, I think asking even a roleplaying group to spend 6 sessions essentially near-powerless victims of tedious lashings will stretch their patience to the limits. 10 sessions definitely would.
As for the swarms, lets be clear here. Swarms have always been one of the more broken parts of Pathfinder/3.5 rules, and placing these in a scenario where there is no clear way of combatting them is beyond 'deadly', its malpractice by the adventure designer. As mentioned, without a very specific type of PC in the party, this is a near certain TPK, especially in the scenario where the party is attacked by the ankheg at the same time as the swarm.
Finally, the overuse of monsters with improved grab and high-damage output means that you are likely taking multiple PCs out of each fight, not only threatening a lot of deaths but also being constantly frustrating.
Not even mentioned is that the group supposedly only has 48 hours to get through the island the only fresh water source is miles from the coast.
A more creative selection of opponents on the Island (no flying creatures? how about some goblin primatives?) would have presented challenges to different character types without making it a cakewalk.
My party is a veteran group of 5 members and is on 25 point buy and if I hadn't removed the swarms and fudged in a few cases they would have been wiped out. I question if this was ever successfully play tested without many player deaths as written now.
Actually, it is possible in the context of the module to handle the swarm creatures. There are vials of acid and alchemist's fire available for purchase in the Wormwood's "store" from Grok. It requires some initiative from the players, but those that make the purchase are rewarded for it.
For players that didn't take that option, there is always the option of using smoke to drive away the botfly swarms.
Andrew
I'm additionally thinking that the Queen will just have the captured NPCs in a gibbett suspended from the ceiling and I may drop the lacedons in that room entirely. The Queen, the Whale and possibly the devilfish all in there together seem like enough.
I'm also planning on propmting the PCs to make an intelligence or nature knowledge check to determine that it'll be to their advantage to attack the Cauldron at low tide.
Anyway, so far, we're having a great time.
By the time my group got through to this encounter I had decided to drop the lacedons as well. Besides, why does her "baby" need competition for the giant chum pool of food? ;-)
Low tide was an easy decision considering the amount of swimming. You could have players make Intelligence checks or Profession: Sailor checks to figure that out.
Our group ended up with a really weird and quirky resolution for this encounter. The Whale won initiative somehow and went first. He swam to the cave entrance to attack the PCs there, blocking them from getting inside. He also blocked Momma and the devilfish (who fled here wounded) from attacking them. So the PCs focused heavily on Baby and he was out by the start of round 2. In the meantime Momma cut the rope, dropping the hostages into the stew.
At this point, the grieving, raging momma fled the scene as written (I assumed there was an underwater route out of the caves at the bottom of the Cauldron since it was impossible to get past the PCs without a fight). The wounded devilfish, not wanting to take on the PCs after a thrashing AND seeing the Whale taken out in less than two rounds, followed her out to sea.
Combat over.
The PCs missed her loot, but were able to get a fast and quirky victory!
Oh, and the captives?
As soon as Whale went down and the way was clear, our daring freebooter (a fighter/rogue hybrid from Green Ronin's Freeport: City of Adventure book) did his usual "fookin' stoopid!" thing and dove in after them. Swimming and grabbing them wasn't too hard, but then he stopped to think, "Oh, s%!+e, how do I get us up and OUT of here?"
And then he remembered he had the Steadfast Grapple. Once he broke the surface, he pulled it out of his pack, tossed it towards where the PCs were watching in amazement, and it automatically attached itself to the wall. "A little help, please!" he gasped, and they reeled in both him and the NPCs.
One of those great encounters where the odds looked overwhelming until everything just fell neatly into place.
Andrew <:-{}
There is assumed to be railing on the ship, and I know the bullrush rulee state an enemy can't be pushed through an obstable, but everything that I've read regarding bullrushing off of a ship must assume the rails are insignificant to stopping a bullrush. During the Man's Promise encounter this is even listed as a preferred tactic of the defending sailors. I don't imagine that the AP would suggest doing something that won't work.
In this case, the Rules of Cinematic Expectations should win out. After all, this is not a simulation of actual historical piracy...it's a simulation of pirate fiction in books and film, which stretches "realism" farther.
Andrew <:-{}
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And a ship's railing isn't designed to stop someone from being pushed overboard - if anything, it would help the pusher in the same way someone crouching on their hands and knees behind the victim would.
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Have any of you who have Plugg and/or Scourge show up later as a recurring villain explained how they got off the island? I assume it would be a passing ship seeing the signal fire, or some such. Any thoughts on which one might be the most fun to pick up stranded PCs? Or on how to get the PCs in possession of a ship after they fail to get the Man's Promise?
My group took Plugg and Scourge alive, and left them on the island with nothing but a loincloth and a dagger each. Then they told the rest of the crew that the island was infested with botflies infected with ghoul fever and asked if anyone wanted to join their former commanders instead of joining the crew. They heard the crickets.
Obviously, there's a high chance that the two of them will become a ghast and a ghoul, respectively. They also have enough experience between them to build and navigate a raft. So my plan is for them to come back, more dangerous than before, and seek revenge. I almost included them in the crew of Whalebone Pilk on the Bell, but at the time they would have been too much for the PCs to handle in the listed CR.
Now I'm thinking of having them meet up with the Brinebrood Queen, who fled to the ocean with the devilfish after her son, the Whale, was killed by the PCs. With a mutual foe, I can see them all joining forces to seek revenge. The only thing I haven't figured out is where, when, and with how many minions. It will be sometime after Inkskin's attack on the Rock if anyone has suggestions.
Oh, and the undead pirates have a plan. They're going to press gang a bunch of people by dumping them on Bonewrack Island, where they'll either become ghouls or ghoul food. Once they have enough, they can staff a ship full of pirate ghouls for their pleasure! Most likely with the Brinebrood Queen providing clerical support and assistance.
The funny thing is, the PCs have been warning EVERYONE about the ghoul fever infestation and to give the island a wide berth. Which means it's very likely that there will be no interference as the ghouls build their crew. Gotta love it!
- Andrew <:-{}
How did any PC live when sent to the bilges to fight against two pirates at once, and unarmed at that? I sent my fighter down there, thinking that'd be the best bet for a character living through the encounter, and in three rounds he was stabbed to death because he didn't have any weapons with which to defend himself.
I went through an entire thing where the fighter stabilized and was dragged on deck with -5 HPs, they declared him dead and tossed him overboard, where he was fished out by another PC, but... still.
How is any unarmed character going to face off against two armed NPCs and make it out of the encounter alive? How did this go down in other campaigns?
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I allowed Perception checks for the other PCs to see what was happening and take a "potty break" to go help the PC in the fight.
If the PC in question has Improved Unarmed Fighting, they at least have a fighting chance (pun intended). Thus a Monk or a Brawler would probably manage okay. The NPCs in question aren't that tough even with weapons, and they have no armor.
- Andrew <:-{}