So how did people handle the actual apothecary fight? Maybe I missed something. My PCs arrived using the password, then got taken to the waiting room. I had her meet with them, getting a 38 bluff to convince her they were associates of Giles. I rolled a 2 on sense motive. Then they all attacked her, using hold person on her and I instantly killing both guards I had in the room. She failed her will save repeatedly, and her escape artist check. I gave it to them at that point. They'll torture her after the new year.
Did anyone else have PCS not sneak in, but go in through the door?
My PCs didn't get the password, so the whole thing ended up going very badly for them. Zarskia ended up escaping.
My PCs didn't get the password, so the whole thing ended up going very badly for them. Zarskia ended up escaping.
Same. My pcs tried to finesse their way I using a witch's sleep hex on the initial guards. But with a gunslinger in the group the first real fight in the hallway alerted everyone. Zarskia was flying and invisible when they cracked her room. The cleric lost a leg to one of her bombs and she escaped.
This one really turned on how sneaky the players are. Sometimes it's easy.
is there no monetary award for winning the race?
As winners of the Free Captains' Regatta, the PCs receive the regatta's rich prize purse - with 16 entrants, including themselves, the purse totals 8,000 gp.
Thanks. Somehow missed that.
When my party gets back together, they will be pretty close to finishing this book. The Regatta makes sense for the most part, but I don't understand what is said about the "Lightning Storm" event just before the end of the race:
As the PCs head out of the Eye of Abendego, an unnatural
electrical squall strikes and a corona of baleful green
lightning limns their ship’s mainmast. A successful DC
19 Knowledge (planes) check identifies the dangerous
nature of the glowing nimbus.
Creature: The PCs have 3 rounds to act before the energy
coalesces into a lightning elemental. The elemental
remains near the top of the mast, using Flyby Attack
to attack those on deck. It focuses its attacks on those
creatures wearing metal armor or wielding metal weapons,
using its spark leap ability to knock them overboard. The
elemental fights until destroyed.
What can the PCs even do to act before the energy becomes a lightning elemental? By the way it's written, it sounds like the thing isn't fully there for three rounds, and therefore would be unaffected by anything that attacks it. How have other GM's handled this event?
A dismissal spell may also work during this time but just having 3 rounds to prepare is a huge benefit to a party with multiple casters
Hmm... Okay, thanks. That makes sense. We don't have heavy casters in this party, but buffs, placement, and other preparation will do. Thanks, Matt and John.
Protection/Resist Energy spells against lightning would be a good start for preperation
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It is probably a really bad idea, they will be attacking a succesful business under the protection of the Hurricane king, he will have no real choice but to exterminate such upstarts.
If they want to eradicate slavery in the shackles then persuade them they will need to achieve positions of power first, like say the title of Hurricane king. Even then they will face serious opposition
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So I have seen similar discussions previously in the thread about the Free Captain's Regatta but I'm a little unclear on the whole thing so I thought I would shoot my fellow DM's a clarification message.
So far I have figured that the race lasts 2 days despite the fact that the storm might hinder movement. That means that the ship will arrive at Area M on the morning of the 3rd day.
My question is since the ship is literally right on the edge of a hurricane... do I fill the entire time of the second day with non stop weather conditions?
So far I have 8 hours of tropical depression, followed by a tornado, followed by six hours of tropical depression, followed by another tornado and I'm moving on from there.
Another question is: According to the rules the pilot of the ship can roll profession sailor and reduce the results with his check (since he can cast read weather). Should doing that lower their race score? The pilot of their ship has a +35 profession sailor and in many cases that would drop the rolls I made into the 'Normal Weather' category.
Does that even seem logical on the fringe of a hurricane? I'm thinking of just allowing him to try and avoid waterspouts with it.
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Another question is: According to the rules the pilot of the ship can roll profession sailor and reduce the results with his check (since he can cast read weather). Should doing that lower their race score? The pilot of their ship has a +35 profession sailor and in many cases that would drop the rolls I made into the 'Normal Weather' category.
Does that even seem logical on the fringe of a hurricane? I'm thinking of just allowing him to try and avoid waterspouts with it.
I wouldn't allow the result to drop all the way to Normal Weather, simply because they are on the edge of a magical hurricane.
When I ran the race, I reduced weather events to a couple per day for two reasons, both related to maintaining tension at the table.
First, my players elected Sandara as the Captain*. She was the one with the excellent Profession (sailor), and watching an NPC make tons of skill checks is boring.
Second, there are checks involved in all of the race events. Adding weather checks at the default frequency would have meant a whole lot of rolls each day. No matter who's rolling the dice, it's hard to keep players excited if they're rolling way too many skill checks.
*They made Sandara the Captain in order to prevent inter-party squabbling over authority, and to avoid the "Kirk problem" (Why is the Captain always risking his life on away missions? Shouldn't he stay at the helm?).
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Some changes I made to the Regatta:
I revised the system of checks and encounters in each stage and I think that it worked pretty well.
In each stage, I set a different wind intensity with accompanying penalties, somewhat based on the Wind Effects table in CRB.
I split it into seven stages:
Stage 1&2 (Race Start, Silted Shrouds) were "Severe Winds" -4 to ranged attacks, -4 to Fly skill
Stage 3&4 (Raker Shoals, Iris's Splinters) were "Wind Storm" -6 to ranged attacks, -8 to Fly skill, -5 to Sailing checks
Stages 5 (Into the Storm) was "Hurricane" ranged attacks only within 30', -12 to Fly skill, -10 to Sailing checks
Stage 6 (Sharkskin Reef/Pinnacle Atoll) was "Wind Storm"
Stage 7 (The Home Stretch) was "Severe Winds"
The minimum DC (pre-adjustment or penalty for weather and hazards) of any racing check was about 30 at my table. Some started at DC45.
They're sailing into a freakin' hurricane. It's supposed to be hard.
I made sure that their ship took a lot of damage and that they had to replace sails several times to keep the tension high.
I scaled up the DC and changed the flavor for most of the tasks listed in the AP, which helped make it a more believable set of challenges for a group with huge Profession: Sailor bonuses.
If the PCs accomplished certain tasks at appropriate times (provide aerial reconnaissance, make a huge Survival check, other creative working-together accomplishments) I gave them circumstance bonuses on their Sailing checks.
I took some time to revise the Stormbound Hazards table to be more convincing and to provide more practical penalties to Sailing checks.
I also made them fight off an Advanced Dire Angustiden Shark near the end of the race.
It almost ate their ship.
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Sure!
Since the regatta makes many of the Stormbound Hazard results moot, I modified both the ranges and the results.
For example, I eliminated "Dragged Anchor" because it simply doesn't apply in the Regatta, and I modified "Slippery Deck" to incapacitate on a failure for one Sailing Check; so no Aid Another, no casting spells, no steering the ship, etc.
I eliminated the "Pooped" result because it would have washed everyone overboard and ... maybe one of the PCs would be able to survive being adrift in a hurricane after their ship sinks. IMO, percentile dice should not risk a TPK.
According to the AP, a Hurricane adds +15 to all hazard rolls. I boosted this to +25 because they were sailing into the Hurricane and I wanted it to be more difficult.
25-40: Slippery Deck: All crew make DC20 Acrobatics or fall prone and get tangled in loose gear; you may not participate in the next Sailing Check
41-59: Violent Swell: All crew make DC20 Reflex or fall prone and are nearly washed overboard. You may not participate in the next Sailing Check as you clamber back aboard.
60-69: Jammed Rudder: -15 on the first Sailing Check in this area as your crew directs their attention to freeing the rudder.
70-72: Torn Sail: -1/3 speed until repaired with a DC 30 Profession: Sailor Check
73-78: Debris in the water: -5 to all Sailing Checks in this area
79-82: Man Overboard: Starting with the closest PC to the stern, make DC20 Reflex saves until one falls over: -1 to your Race Score as you come about to recover them.
83-85: Sprung a Leak: your ship gains the broken condition until repaired; PCs working on the repair cannot participate in Sailing Checks (duration was GM call based on their creativity)
86-91: Driving Rain: -10 to Sailing Checks in this location
92-94: Lightning Strike: 60% chance it hits the ship, 40% chance it hits the PC that is at the highest point on the ship. 4d6 electricity damage; DC18 Reflex for half.
95-97: Broken Mast: -1/3 speed, pierces hull if not cut away in 2d6 rounds; PCs who work on this may not participate in Sailing Checks
98-99: Broached: ship is blown over for 1d4 rounds (ship will right itself on its own). All PCs make DC20 Reflex saves each round or fall overboard
100+: Roll twice
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The super-shark was more of a hazard than a combat:
I played it up like the movie Jaws did, having the shark bump the bottom of the boat and roll near the side of the ship. I said that it's dorsal fin came up over the gunwale, which is pretty dang big. Then it did the classic "Jaws attack" with the 10' high dorsal fin up out of the water.
My daughter has an 18" stuffed animal shark that I borrowed to represent the beast attacking their ship ("The Maiden" cardstock model ship).
It was pretty funny.
The goal of the encounter was to not let it damage the ship enough to sink it, which would have been very, very bad. Of course, I decided that Sharkskin Reef is absolutely teeming with big hungry sharks that circled around in a frenzy near the Angustiden, waiting for scraps.
Swimming wasn't really an option. One PC debated trying to use Sanctuary to protect him from the regular sharks while he swam around and attacked super-shark in an effort to try and 'draw him off' the ship. I had him roll Knowledge:Nature and Perception and explained that there were at least 100 Large sharks and countless smaller ones circling around. A few of them were bound to make the Will save.
The shark rammed the ship, stopping it dead in the water and promptly chomped down on the bow. By my calculations, an Advanced Dire Angustiden does 4d6+16 18-20/x2 with grab(+41 CMB), which gives it a free Sunder at +39 (vs. the ship's pitiful CMD). That Sunder immediately does an additional 4d6+16. So each round, it was doing 8d6+32 to the ship. I described splintering timber and shredded rigging, horrible and sickening crunching sounds as the structure took tremendous damage.
I set up some 'pain thresholds' where super-shark would change tactics after a certain amount of damage. It's an animal, so it just wants an easy meal; sharks have a natural intuition about how much a given meal is worth expending energy and getting hurt for. If hurt badly enough, it would swim off.
Super-shark started with 400HP
At 300HP, it dove below for a couple of rounds and then rammed the ship from beneath, ripping a hole in the hull. It started attacking again from there.
The NPC ship's carpenter frantically tried to barricade bulkheads to stave off the water rushing in but solemnly allowed two of the PCs to pass, nailing the bulkhead shut behind them.
The two brave PCs who chose to hold their breath and fight the shark in the flooded compartment were pretty freaked out. Luckily for them, they were not noticed by the shark (nictitating membranes cover a shark's eyes when they attack, blinding them temporarily, so I had the PCs roll DC20 Reflex checks each time the super-shark bit down to see if they would be caught by its enormous bite while it attacked the ship) They were able to do another 100HP of damage in two rounds which was enough to make the super-shark swim off to find an easier meal.
After that, they limped to the final stage, where they were attacked by the Wormwood.
(Someone posted an idea about having Peppery Longfarthing summon an Invisible Stalker and give it a Feather Token: Anchor to use on the PCs ship. I stole that one and it worked beautifully. The PCs hate Harrigan with a passion now.)
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Giant does not descibe its size (there is no giant size), but its template. Because of the giant template it is actually medium sized, but the aboleth did some magic to make it appear even bigger.
So its really medium sized, but seems to be large.
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Giant does not descibe its size (there is no giant size), but its template. Because of the giant template it is actually medium sized, but the aboleth did some magic to make it appear even bigger.
So its really medium sized, but seems to be large.
Thats what I thought as well. The description of the encounter confused me.
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Giant does not descibe its size (there is no giant size), but its template. Because of the giant template it is actually medium sized, but the aboleth did some magic to make it appear even bigger.
So its really medium sized, but seems to be large.
True that it has the "Giant" template, but that would only increase its size to Medium.
The Charda that hangs out at the Brine Banshee looks like it's 16' tall (Huge?).The description on page 30 says that Uthiggmaru the Aboleth cast Veil on it to make it look even bigger and more threatening.
A PC that made their Knowledge: Nature check to identify it would probably be VERY concerned about seeing a Charda this size. It would be like facing off against a 16' tall nightmare badger.
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A PC that made their Knowledge: Nature check to identify it would probably be VERY concerned about seeing a Charda this size. It would be like facing off against a 16' tall nightmare badger.
Oh that is a good point I didn't think about that clue to give to the players.
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Fortunately for me, the Captain of the PCs and Tsadok have some 'history' through the campaign so he was more than willing to go with the game.
The rest of the crew actually starting running a side bet on The Cap'n to try to make some quick cash if it went well and we had a blast... lots of trash talking and banter going about the room.
The Cap'n won with some lucky card pulls that eventually took 'Toothy' to the end with lots of trash talking. Let's just say, when it comes down to any 'hostile' actions in the future, Tsadok is gunning for the Cap'n!
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I saw that this was touched on in past posts, but I'm not sure if the following outcome was ever addressed regarding the Regatta:
The PC's automatically win because that's what must happen in order to have anything to do in the next book. Like others, I'm not a huge fan of this. Instead, I had a thought similar to Shade325. When the PCs' ship exits the Eye of Abendengo, there are 3 other ships in contention, for a total of 4, including the PCs' ship and the Wormwood. Based on their race score, they could be leading the pack, be mixed in the middle, or trailing behind.
The Wormwood is the lead ship of the 3 other contenders. If the PCs' ship is ahead of the Wormwood, it's by no more than 55', which puts them in range of Peppery's scroll of Summon Monster VII (CL 13th). If the Wormwood is in the lead, Barnabas has Peppery sick the Invisible Stalkers on the ship in second place. If this ship is an NPC's ship, the Invisible Stalkers cause enough mayhem to cause the ship to fall behind the other 3 ships (including the PCs'). With this in mind, even in a worse-case scenario of 4th-place, the PCs only have to outmaneuver the remaining ship behind the Wormwood to win, as Barnabas' ship is disqualified.
If the PC's still only come in second place after Barnabas' disqualification, the captain of the winning ship will approach the PCs and offer them a deal - part-ownership of the Isle of Empty Eyes in exchange for their services of clearing it out of any dangers. The crew of this ship are great sailors, and no slouches when it comes to piracy, but they've heard some truly nasty rumors about this island, and the captain sees a real advantage in sending someone else in first.
Now, in this case, the Pirate Lords that come to audit the Isle of Empty Eyes at the end of the book will be auditing the winning crew, and NOT the PCs. Perhaps there's still a way for the PCs to have a chance at gaining a seat on the Pirate Council? Maybe the Rat's sabotage kills enough of the crew to warrant the auditors and/or surviving crew to offer the PCs the opportunity to be weighed in with those still being audited?
At any rate, if this outcome plays out, it can still grind Barnabas Harrigan's gears, as rumors reach him that his old mutineers are working with the winners of the regatta, and then again when he hears that they've somehow managed to finagle their ways into the Pirate Council despite his own machinations - possibly more mutiny against the winners! Sure, he was trying to sabotage the winners as well, but why should THEY keep getting away with it?!
Any suggestions or thoughts on this as a possible outcome to the regatta would be greatly appreciated!
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Maybe the Rat's sabotage kills enough of the crew to warrant the auditors and/or surviving crew to offer the PCs the opportunity to be weighed in with those still being audited?
Or rather the Eel!
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Did anybody else skip Tsadok's second test, "A Friendly Game of Cards", entirely? It was entirely inappropriate for my group -- they would have been bored within the first dice roll.
For those of you who ran it, how did you keep the entire party engaged?
Made sure to tell them it was about cheating. They tried to squeeze the game as much as they could. I still made the player sweat...I made Tsadok quite as cruel as he's written and focused on making his opponent feel inadequate. It translated to reality too, for some reason...did apologise afterwards.
Tsadok died a year later to much, much rejoicing.
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Did anybody else skip Tsadok's second test, "A Friendly Game of Cards", entirely? It was entirely inappropriate for my group -- they would have been bored within the first dice roll.
For those of you who ran it, how did you keep the entire party engaged?
I turned it into a drinking contest.
I wrote up Tsadok as a 14th level Barbarian Drunken Rager with a huge Fort save bonus. PCs were 8th level at this stage of the adventure.
The contest took place outside a tavern in the street, where the bar staff set up a small table and chairs. The barmaid put down trays full of rum shots and pulled a live cobra out of a basket, which she used to expertly 'milk' a drop of venom into each drink.
Players had to match Tsadok shot for shot and could walk away after each round keeping their winnings, but the goal was to impress Tsadok with their drinking prowess.
Each drink consumed required a DC10 Fort save to not drop unconscious (the fate of losers was left to their imaginations) and every drink consumed after the 2nd round gave a cumulative -1 penalty to skills and saves for 1 hour.
The captain anted up the 1000gp entry fee, as did the sailing master. Both were the only crew who believed that they had a reasonable chance to win/not embarrass themselves. Captain (Swashbuckler) used his Charmed Life to survive 10 or more rounds, and the Sailing Master (Shaman) outright cheated with Polypurpose Panacea and lasted 15 until he started to think that Tsadok was getting wise.
Tsadok produced gold and platinum bars between rounds as wagers in order to keep the PCs from quitting too early. Both walked away with more than 10,000gp in winnings, and Tsadok's grudging respect.
Other events I subbed in: Bareknuckle Boxing, Fetch The Strumpet, Dagger Catch, Tell The Tale
I thought creating my own tests ended up being more fun than the stock ones were.
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The Wormwood is the lead ship of the 3 other contenders. If the PCs' ship is ahead of the Wormwood, it's by no more than 55', which puts them in range of Peppery's scroll of Summon Monster VII (CL 13th). If the Wormwood is in the lead, Barnabas has Peppery sick the Invisible Stalkers on the ship in second place. If this ship is an NPC's ship, the Invisible Stalkers cause enough mayhem to cause the ship to fall behind the other 3 ships (including the PCs').
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Any suggestions or thoughts on this as a possible outcome to the regatta would be greatly appreciated!
Someone posted elsewhere that they came up with the idea to have the Invisible Stalkers in this scenario each carry over a Feather Token: Anchor and attach it to the PCs' ship. As I reported above, I stole this for my campaign and it worked beautifully. Did serious damage to their already trashed ship and gave Harrigan the edge he needed to sail into 1st place.
The PCs were enraged and contemplated attacking Harrigan right then and there, but thought better of it given how rules-focused and powerful the Master of Gales was rumored to be. This was a good choice on their part, as the surrounding waters were teeming with large sharks.
I solved it by having the 3rd place finisher arrive a few minutes later and report to the Master of Gales about various infractions/murders/mayhem that the Wormwood crew committed while sailing within the hurricane, producing evidence (a broken piece of the Wormwood's bowsprit embedded in their hull from an illegal ram) to prove the allegations.
The Master of Gales immediately disqualified the Wormwood crew and awarded victory to the 2nd place PCs. They were pleased with the outcome, but they still had that "2nd place is the 1st loser" bad taste in their mouths when it was all said and done.
To avoid giving the PCs an opportunity to fight their old nemeses, Peppery cast Submerge Ship and Major Image to conceal their hasty departure.
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I'm always, always a fan of introducing drinking contests into a session!
I turned it into a drinking contest.
I wrote up Tsadok as a 14th level Barbarian Drunken Rager with a huge Fort save bonus. PCs were 8th level at this stage of the adventure.
The contest took place outside a tavern in the street, where the bar staff set up a small table and chairs. The barmaid put down trays full of rum shots and pulled a live cobra out of a basket, which she used to expertly 'milk' a drop of venom into each drink.
Players had to match Tsadok shot for shot and could walk away after each round keeping their winnings, but the goal was to impress Tsadok with their drinking prowess.
Each drink consumed required a DC10 Fort save to not drop unconscious (the fate of losers was left to their imaginations) and every drink consumed after the 2nd round gave a cumulative -1 penalty to skills and saves for 1 hour.The captain anted up the 1000gp entry fee, as did the sailing master. Both were the only crew who believed that they had a reasonable chance to win/not embarrass themselves. Captain (Swashbuckler) used his Charmed Life to survive 10 or more rounds, and the Sailing Master (Shaman) outright cheated with Polypurpose Panacea and lasted 15 until he started to think that Tsadok was getting wise.
Tsadok produced gold and platinum bars between rounds as wagers in order to keep the PCs from quitting too early. Both walked away with more than 10,000gp in winnings, and Tsadok's grudging respect.
Other events I subbed in: Bareknuckle Boxing, Fetch The Strumpet, Dagger Catch, Tell The Tale
I thought creating my own tests ended up being more fun than the stock ones were.
I'm coming to the Brineshee Banshee section of the adventure and realizing the party is gong to have some serious troubles going underwater. I'm not sure how much I should help them. Granted, in a pirate campaign, they might have wanted to give thought to underwater possibilities - and they do have plenty of water breathing and they'll be able to deal with the cold - but Freedom of Movement is 4th level. They don't have a whole lot of 4th level spells at 7th level. Dealing with the combat penalties is one thing, but the pressure damage might keep them from being able to go down to the stern section.
I suppose they can sail back to port and spend some gold on scrolls? But I might have Doc Fitch pull a scroll or two out of his carry-on bag.
Did anyone else have trouble with this?
Going through the sahuagin lair at Mancatcher Cove (which we just finished) was a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. Four PCs, one was an undine with normal movement in water. The other three had to make DC 10 Swim checks every time they wanted to move in combat situations or potential danger (I handwaved rolls for basic getting around because the water is still in the complex). Sandara Quinn set them up with water breathing spells, supplemented by scrolls (Scribe Scroll, good choice for this NPC!). So the PCs were not hosed, but had to work a bit harder than normal against foes without these hindrances. They still tore through the lair for the most part. I replaced some generic sahuagin with ones with some class levels and that didn't make much difference.
Anyhow, your situation later in the series is in deeper water with more challenges (stronger currents, pressure, more cold). But a lot of that depends what the PCs do to plan for it.
After the partial underwater lair of the grindylows and the near-total immersion at Mancatcher Cove, some of us decided to take some initiative with the treasure dump we got at the end of Raiders of the Fever Sea. The locathah's gift of the helm of underwater action was quickly snatched up by our halfling, who was sick of being stuck with a movement rate of 10 while underwater. The freebooter spent virtually all of his haul to get a lovely new cloak of the manta ray for future use. I expect the bard captain will do something similar. The undine is fine as is.
Again, I'd say the key is for the players to be proactive in planning for underwater adventuring in a pirate-based AP. I mean, did they think they were done holding their breath after Part 2? ;-)
I would consider Making Giles a Bolt Ace.
Since I had already input his stats into Hero Lab, I changed it around to give him Gunslinger (Bolt Ace) 8 and Ranger 2. BA 8 because it gives a bonus feat, though I may may go higher because my group is pretty tough). I lost favored terrain (urban), weapon specialization, and one other feat (I chose to ditch Great Fortitude because his Fort save is already very good). He still functions much the same, gets the grit abilities, and has 16 more skill points to play with.
The original build is fine...I love the way the author built an assassin without using levels of rogue or assassin! But since one of my PCs is a bolt ace, I figure I can show her a few tricks with a higher-level version of herself.
Andrew <:-{}
Oh yes...Giles needs Extra Grit unless I give him a Wisdom bonus. 1 grit point isn't a lot to work with.
Andrew <:-(}
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My PCs had their Regatta last night.
I started off the session with the big party atmosphere of all the ships hanging out before the race. Rosie and Conch asked Captain Anitra to marry them and there was a wonderful season-ending wedding as well as a meet-and-greet with the other race captains.
One of my PCs, the lame oracle, approached Harrigan. He tried to dismiss her by reminding her of the first rule aboard his ship - he doesn't want to talk to you.
The druid PC, Mord, has tricked out his character with every feat and trait and magic item he can get to improve his Profession sailor with. He can't really fail the DC 20 or 25 rolls. I made them have Captain Anitra at the helm for the start line and finish line per the race rules of a captain entering with her own ship. She flubbed her first two rolls for a Laredo moment at the start, crashing their ship twice at the gate. It was especially funny because Mord and Anitra had just had a conversation in which she stood up for her own sailing ability when he condescendingly acted superior. During the race he shut his mouth and let her failure do all the chiding that was necessary.
Roger used their farglass to spot the reefs, making that part trivial. Vashti diplomacized Hirgenzosk when they went in - she's amazing at making friends with monsters. She also Billy-Goat-Gruffed the lightning elemental into going after Kelizandri's Favor instead, which I had described as looking like it was made out of metal and gems. That poor ship did not ever make it to the finish line, which they can feel guilty about or not as they like.
By the rules as written, they were well into the overwhelming win category with Mord's ridiculous Profession sailor rolls. So using the tactic of anchor feather tokens instead of having the invisible stalkers attack directly was a nice way to give the Wormwood a shot to slip past them and make things tense. They took a lot of damage from the sudden stop, but no one went unconscious, so it took them a little time to break their own ship to get the anchors off and then use every trick they had to boost their speed and leave Harrigan and his crew in their wake.
Having them meet the other officers and giving them all names and pictures and a little bit of backstory meant the PCs cared more about poor Captin Fark of the Barnacled B@@~% and Caption Hammond of the Sullied Strumpet.
Selissa, the river naga, whom they recruited because that's what they do, was jealous of Rosie and Conch's wedding. She's obsessed with Mord and went to talk to him. He promptly said yes without waiting to hear what she had to say, which resulted in a very confusing conversation for her. She was shocked to discover this meant they were engaged when all she wanted was a party where people pay attention to her and she gets to wear pretty clothes and she wants to have lots of parties like that, not just one.
I'm looking at the encounter with the Dryad's Grave and I noticed there is no picture for Milksop Morton and his air mephit, Xicorax. I know that they can't have artwork for every NPC or there isn't enough room to place it, but he is the captain of the ship (the satyr variant ship sentinel picture could have been in the AP bestiary). Was there every a picture for Milksop?
I'm looking at the encounter with the Dryad's Grave and I noticed there is no picture for Milksop Morton and his air mephit, Xicorax. I know that they can't have artwork for every NPC or there isn't enough room to place it, but he is the captain of the ship (the satyr variant ship sentinel picture could have been in the AP bestiary). Was there every a picture for Milksop?
You could consider buying the Paizo S&S Paper Minis. There’s one pack for each book, and they include artwork for pretty much every NPC and monster in said book. The artwork isn’t quite as high quality as that found in the books themselves, but I’ve found them to be a great reference for exactly this. I don’t specifically remember if Captain Morton is there for Tempest Rising, but I’d honestly be shocked if he wasn’t. They’re very fairly priced, too.
Actually, I downloaded the Skull & Shackles pawn set (they had Captain Morton in it). Unfortunately there was no pawn for Xicorax, his air mephit, so I also found a paper minis set that had various summoned monsters to use instead. I was hoping that they had done pictures and pawns of the various mephits not shown in the Bestiary.Several adventure paths use these mephits but there are only pawns for fire, ice, mud and water (I think).
In the home stretch of the regatta, Peppery Longfarthing (sorcerer 8) uses a scroll of Summon Monster VII. The book lists this as a DC 14 caster-level check to cast. This is nonsense, as caster-level checks are only ever used to compare the strength of spells against each other and against spell resistance. The rules here would actually call for a DC 33 Use Magic Device check in order to use a scroll for a spell she cannot cast, which she can repeatedly attempt until she succeeds or rolls a natural 1 (in which case she cannot attempt to activate the scroll for 24 horus). The problem with that is: What's her Use Magic Device skill?
I think I'll skip this bit and simply assume she rolled until she succeeded.
It is a fair bit easier to use a scroll for a spell your class can cast, even if you yourself aren’t a high enough level yet. Here is a very intuitive flow chart for all the different variables that can go into it. Peppery needs to make a DC 15 Caster Level check to activate the scroll (no Use Magic Device check required), giving her a 65% chance to activate it. Not a guarantee, but as this isn’t an in-combat action, and is instead the springboard INTO a combat, it’s usually ok to just assume she does it, like you said, but you can take comfort in knowing that it’s not as unbelievable an accomplishment as making a DC 33 skill check at level 8!
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If my players win the race and it is close I plan to go with the adventure path as planned and have them win outright. If my players do okay, but don't win, I will also go with the adventure as planned and have Harrigan get caught cheating.
But if my players lose badly I think I will mix it up. My current thinking...Harrigan wins the race and gets a nice island. Tessa proposes to the party a little know bylaw of the shackles where if you sink a battleship class cheliax ship you also get an island. It is little known because no one had done it. I will then work up an adventure where the players need to take out the officers on the cheliax ship....maybe someone is assassinated and replaced by a hired doppelganger of the party. Maybe another one goes on shore leave. Maybe the players get the ships plans and use dimension door to get on the ship, kill a chelish officer, and get off. Maybe another one can simply be bribed Then, when all the experienced officers are out of the picture it becomes possible for the players to sink this much bigger ship. If successful bonefist reluctantly rewards the players the isle of empty eyes. However knowing the stories and hazards of the isle bonefist knows it is a mixed reward.
It is more work for me but I don't want losing badly to be consequence free. I plan to have each officer have a couple vulnerabilities to give the players a chance to take them out, and a couple ways the players could learn about these vulnerabilities.
I am using a homebrew ship combat system so losing all the good skill checks on a ship is a big setback in ship combat.
Nice idea. Just remember not to mention the Islands name before the race.
I also use a homebrew ship combat system - a mix of ManOwar turning template (using inches) and recalculatede the different siege weapons over to inches as well as ship sailing speeds.
If you win the opposed profession sailor check for the round you get to move last and can take advantage of seeing the other ships move.
Did anyone's group ask how much the bribes were in the ledger found in Roweena Kellet's home? (Step 9, page 19 and 20)
I'm getting ready to run that portion and realized the book doesn't give any information beyond "numerous major pirate lords of the Shackles, each with a large number beside it" and I'm fairly certain my group will ask for at least a rough idea of the amount of gold involved and possibly who's the easiest and hardest to bribe. (I can throw together a list of names, but I have no idea what would be an appropriate bribe.)