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Wow. I'm pretty surprised a party of level 1 PCs managed to kill Plugg and beat Scourge, who're both level 5 if I recall and any other pirates that helped them. Honestly, given that I would have Harrigan kill the rest of the PC conspirators, as would be in keeping with how he'd logically react to someone killing his mate. They're a liability to mutiny and have already cost him too much. Have him make a show of it. That will help the players realize how tough he is and build him up for later. Either way, none of them can live at this point.
Next step, have them roll up new PCs who're all serving aboard the Man's Promise. Play out the ship battle, but let them see it from the opposite side, as it were. Hopefully after having their old PCs stomped by Harrigan, their new ones will be too afraid to take him on during the battle, and you can just give them generic pirates to fight in place of the sailors they'd fight if they were pirates instead.
Once their ship is defeated, have Harrigan press gang them all and keep them aboard the Man's Promise to help Captain Scourge sail it to Port Peril. You can then continue the story as written with Scourge and Patch as the BBEGs.
Regarding the XP, my advice would be to nix the whole thing. Advance your PCs to the levels they're supposed to be when they reach the right point in the story. The front of the book has a chart telling you what level they should be at which points. Just drop XP and follow that. I've done that in my game and have been very happy with the results as it allows us to go on side quests and tangents without screwing up the planned challenge rating progression of the storyline events.
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yeah, easy solution, as shaun says just forego XP in future and level the party up as and when the books say so. Its so much easier that way
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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.
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Surge is the granted power of the Oceans (Water) subdomain.
Surge (Su): As a standard action, you can cause a mighty wave to appear that pushes or pulls a single creature. Make a combat maneuver check against the target, using your cleric level + your Wisdom modifier as your CMB. If successful, you may pull or push the creature as if using the bull rush or drag combat maneuver. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
I've been looking but I'm having trouble finding rules for crew deaths?
I'm wondering how to determine if any crew npc's are killed in the boarding of the mans promise (and also for later with other boarding actions)
Not that I'm trying to get npcs killed, but it would seem unrealistic that no one dies in the boarding, unless directly involved in conflict with the PCs
Has anyone any information or thoughts on this? Thanks
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The rules say not to bother with crew. It's assumed that crew killed are replaced by 'volunteers' from the captured ship.
Personally, I kill off NPC-crew based on how well the PC's did in their main fight. If they slaughtered the enemy captain and officers in 2-3 rounds, they'll lose d4 crewmembers. Longer fights, and I roll d6, d8, etc. If they withdraw, I'll go way higher (they left more then 30 men onboard the Dominator in a later fight).
On the Mans Promise, it's assumed that no named NPC's are killed. In this case, it's important because they have interacted with these NPC's, and their attitude is important. Later on, I would recommend you kill of nameless crewmen as you deem necessary, but save the named ones, those they know and care about, for dramatic moments.
If they have to many allies among the crew, and you think the end-fight will be to easy, the boarding og Mans Promise is a good time to sort it out. Kill off 2 of their allies, and have them replaced by Harrigan-loyal captured crewmen.
My PCs have become very attached to crew members in the first 20 days of the adventure and have made friends with everyone that they were able to.
They split the list up of npc crew and concentrated on who they got. SO nearly every npc is at least friendly to one PC.
Plus with some clever thinking, like creating a diversion with someone going overboard, they then tossed Jaundice Jape over and no one knew since he is a mute.
So there are only 4 hostile npcs besides plugg and scourge. So I know the mans promise crew will make up for that.
I want to try and even the odds using the boarding to kill off some of the friendly npcs, but only if there was an actual way of determining crew deaths during boarding.
I really didn't want to kill them off just to do so. (Especially during later in the path where raiding and boarding ships happens.)
I like the idea of basing npc crew death based around the number of rounds it takes to defeat the captain and officers. I think I'll take a system like that as a good starting point. Thank you, BzAli.
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Im doing something that is working really well. I found a really good way of dealing with this problem.
Basicaly you take the stat blocks of the sailors on both sides (use the wormwood pirate stat block for the players ship) and note the attack bonus of each side.
Each round of combat:
Roll oppossed attack rolls, highest wins the fight. let the players roll for their crew.
There is no damage score just morale points, each side has a morale score which can be boosetd by 1 the captain giving a diplomacy/intimidate check to gear his crew up with a rousing speech. (I also have a crew morale number that goes up or down depending on factors such as good food, rum rations, days out from port, won a ship battle etc). I normally start the NPC ship out at around 3 Morale as a starting point.
The winner of each round gains 1 morale, the loser loses 1 morale, once one side gets to zero they break and surrender.
Players can either aid another to give the crew attack roll a +2 or fight officers/captain or whatever else they do.
Once the fight is over roll 2d6 for the winner and 3d6 for the loser, this is the number of casulties. 10% of the winning side are dead the rest injured, all cassulties on the losing side are dead.
I find this helps immensly and adds real flavour to the ship combat as the players crew then fluctuates with each battle rather then stay as a a static number. My palyers love it as do I. It also means that the PC's will need to replenish crew every now and again.
Also my group likes to pick off the crew before boarding with spells and combat so without some kind of fixed way of doing it you never really know how many enemey or friendly crew are left after a combat.
Kipper and Patch absolutely do not go to the Wormwood. They're officers and return later working for Harrigan.
Also, don't assume that hostile crew are intractible. Once Plugg and Scourge are dead during the mutiny, the other hostile pirates should surrender and join the PCs. Unless there is a reason to fight to the death, why wouldn't they? They want to perserve their own skin, not die for a lost cause.
In my game, Narwhal and Fipps Chumlet fought alongside Plugg and Scourge and 3 other pirates and survived. They joined the PCs afterwards.
Also, keep in mind the ship can be sailed with as few as 10 people, just at a penalty. In my game they did have to sail to Rickety Squib's at a penalty and that in and of itself made for a memorable few days.
Yep as Shaun says, 20 crew min to work effectivly, 10 is OK though but it takes longer and the trip will a lot more difficult, any less than that though and there could be trouble (just double the time and make the work twice as hard).
Once they get to Sqibs they can get the replacement crew they need (I would imagine that's why the writers added the rules for gaining extra crew here as they knew most parties would have need of new crew).
Players guide page 9 (below for you as well), crew for sailing ship is 20, half crew 10, any less than that they are in trouble.
Crews
Most ships require a crew. A ship without a full crew complement, but with at least half its crew, takes a –10 penalty on all sailing checks. A ship needs at least half its crew complement in order to be piloted at all. If more than half of a ship’s crew is killed, dazed, stunned, or rendered unconscious, the ship can only take the “uncontrolled” action (see page 13). Crew members can take no action while the ship is in motion except to aid in that ship’s movement. Any crew required to operate siege engines (see page 18) are in addition to those crew needed
to operate the ship.
Maybe a plea of "you need us" will work if the PCs are unlikely to accept surrender. I'd say a DC 5 prof: sailor check would confirm "yeah, they're right".
My players took it upon themselves to let minimum crew dictate the casualties they could allow. After their mutiny, they really wanted to execute Slippery Syl Lonegan and Fipps Chumlett but didn't so that they could still sail away in a limping Man's Promise.
I also erroneously had both Kipper and Patch Patchsalt transfer aboard the Man's Promise. No regrets now that it's happened; they provided needed challenge and played good mixed roles. I'll substitute other names when those NPCs are scheduled to reappear.
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I am interested in fleshing out the list of evening activities to include a larger variety of games of chance, or other amusements.
So in addition to Hog Lob, Arm Wrestling, and Heave I have found traditional pub games "Shut The Box" and "Ship, Captain, and Crew". We could include a pirate talent show on one of the nights, etc.
I do not want to detract from the mission aboard the Wyrmwood, but my play group consists of students (ages 15-17) from our schools gaming club. So I know they enjoy that type of thing. It will also help create organic situations for PCs to interact with crew mates for their evening influence checks.
So, have you added any evening entertainments for the Wyrmwood that you would care to share?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shut_the_Box
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship,_captain,_and_crew
I haven't added anything, but I'll happily add your suggestions.
I ended up going with letting the PCs only influence those that they are working with during the day. No one shirked duties because they were too interested in making sure that their time was more productive.
But at night they got to roam around and meet the other NPCs. Which led to a lot of fun.
So because they were kind of split into group based on jobs, I saw that they were really influencing a small core of npcs each. Some even used a second action to aid a crew member in their work to gain influence.
But because they only had 3-4 npcs to focus on each, at least every npcs is now friendly with on NPC.
But it also means that some are hostile too. Like Shortstone is friends with the female rogue because she helped convince Rosie to fool around with him. He also is hostile to our male wizard because Rosie kissed him after he saved her life in the storm and swore a life debt to to him.
With so many NPCs (near 20 right) being able to be influenced by 4-5 PCs, that is nearly 80-100 different attitudes to keep track off.
So I'm really glad that it naturally worked out to the PCs staying within their jobs for influence.
So Mathius, I suggested it. It at least worked out well for me.
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I thought the attitude was towards the group and not and individual. I can see why it would be that way but it will be easier to just track one attitude.
I tracked attitudes individually, too. A couple of my players requested it.
I didn't track NPC attitudes individually but wish I would've. At the end of the day it doesn't make much of a difference but it would've been more dynamic and not let some PCs rely completely on the efforts of the bard. If I had it to do over, I'd track it individually.
I also tracked individually, on purpose in spite of the implication in the adventure that it was by group. I just kept an Excel spreadsheet. As was the case with Lady Irithyl, my NPCs liked some PCs while being indifferent/unfriendly/hostile to others. I'm glad I did it that way. The PCs were gathering their own little cliques. When it came time to mutiny, there was an interesting rock/paper/scissor-like cascading domino effect based on the timing of the mutiny and who was aggressed against first.
Now that the mutiny is over, those attitudes still serve as a reflection of each NPC's preference in terms of demeanor and loyalty towards the PCs. I like it.
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Is Captain Plugg bluffing when he says he'll leave without the PCs in forty-eight hours? My gut says no, but I'm not sure how fun being marooned would actually be.
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?
1) Harrigan could come looking for the wayward Plugg and find the PCs on the island. Rinse and repeat with the Boy's Oath or whatever.
2) The PCs could find the Shipwreck in a Bottle (side quest plot hook on inside back cover). They could smash the bottle to release the life-size wreck and grateful survivors. They could then spend a few weeks getting wood and other materials off the island to fix the ship or just a longboat from the ship and sail away.
3) A Chelish ship could come, perhaps looking for the Infernus and finding the PCs instead. But how do they get the ship?
4) Merryl Pegsworthy from Part 2 could find them on his way to Rickety's Squibs. But how do they get the ship?
Good luck!
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I didn't think they'd be allowed in the officers' quarters, particularly since many of them are on deck late at night getting drunk and would need to go between the hammocks of sleeping superiors in order to get back belowdecks. I just put ladders through open hatches and left it at that.
Hello!
I have chosen the S&S campaign to start my GM experience.
I am still quite new to PF rules so I hope you won't mind my questions if they may sound silly sometimes.
Here I come to you because I do not understand why Sandara Quinn has that many spells prepared.
At the starting point of the adventure, she is CL 3, so according to the cleric rules she should have only 2 1st-lvl spells (+1 domain spell).
However she has 3 prepared: command, doom, and inflict light wounds.
Is there something I am missing?
Thank you
Callio
Ok, this might be a VERY dumb question, but I've been looking through the map of the Wormwood and I can't tell how the crew gets from the middle deck to the main deck. Do they just climb the stairs leading from the middle hold into the officers' quarters, and then onto the main deck? Or do the 10 foot wooden grills on the main deck have to be moved, and the crew jumps up and climbs a rope or something the 15 from the middle hold to the main deck?
I just had them go through the officers' quarters. It's a security choke point for the press-ganged scum. No issues there. I had the grills locked, or else the scum could conk out the half-blind Owlbear and make a night raid through the grills.
The mod I made was with A7: Quartermaster and Cook's Cabin. As is, half of the right grill opens into A7 and overlooks the door to A7 which seemed awkward to me. I moved the 10' section of "north" wall down 5' so that Grok and Kroop had shelter from the elements on a rainy day.
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Night Watch
When anchoring at night Plugg posts two guards on deck and a man in the crows nest. He only posts those who are loyal to him as guards and lets them switch out half way through the night but the man in the crow’s nest is always an enemy that he wants to catch sleeping on the job. Scourge will attempt to stealthily climb the up the crow’s nest and catch a man unaware. Who ever is in the crow’s nest has a two chances to to hear him coming and be ready for him with a DC 18 perception check. If he catches you sleeping you will be put on the hot box for 2d6 hours the next day and if you simply fail catch him you will receive 3 lashes for being distracted. To stay away one must spend a ship action to do so and try not to be fatigued. If the sneak action is undertaken you get a +4 to the stealth check but -4 to the perception check.
Nice system.
Maybe add in part 1 of serpent skull as the Island they crash on to? Its pretty wierd, you could add/change a few things on it as well.
the vegepygmie part is weird and might suit along with the cannibals, flying dino's, undead and a pretty good dungeon/ancient temple on it too. Might work well (3 players should be fine just give them a 20 point buy and you shouldn't need to change anything).
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Quick question regarding the player's remaining starting cash:
What did you do with it? Did you leave whatever gold they had left over after buying their equipment on their characters after they get pressgenged? or did you take it along with their equipment?
It seems to me that a gang of cuthroat thieves and pirates would have taken the money and divvied it up amongst themselves, but that also seems rather harsh as the PC's can purchase their equipment back from the Quartermaster or earn more by waging on the various pirate games and how can they do that with no money?
Just trying to get a consensus as what to do when I run this AP.
I had everything taken. They ended up getting it back when the got their equipment.
There are other places on the ship for the PCs to find money/items if they are inventive enough.
Yeah, any leftover coin will be taken. They are being press-ganged by pirates after all. Besides, players should have a big clue when you tell that, during character creation, all equipment should be listed on a separate sheet rather than on their character.
I went a step further and told the players during the process of choosing which adventure path to play that S&S starts with them having had all their stuff taken away from them. I think Marik's right, and that remaining coins just get divvied up among the pirates.
All of my PCs took backgrounds that they were from the Shackles to begin with. They were all raised there. I read over the books and the adventure path at least a month before we started the game. And since nothing in the adventure path would be spoiled by reading the books on the areas I told them they could read them.
They actually read the Isles of the shackles and have read bits of the others as well as Heart of the Jungle.
I told them flat out, your character is from the region, get to know it a little. Otherwise I won't take the time to go over everything for lazy players.