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...Of course, if you utterly loathe your players and want to be pelted with solid objects, swap out a 9th-level spell for Mage's Disjunction and drop THAT on the players the moment they enter. I would call that an utterly vicious, "I love TPKs" move, but wow, it might well have killed my group outright. Would've at least made them hate me and never ask me to GM again, I'm sure...
So... Mage's Disjunction is a spell that should never be used by NPC's? Is it a misuse of "irony" to point out the odd juxtaposition of lamenting the ease with which your players trashed Karzoug (however cleverly planned and effectively executed) while swearing off a spell that would have leveled the playing field?
Not to get too preachy or high horse, but confronting high level wizards like Karzoug should scare the living crap out of any character regardless of level because they can stop time, grant their own wishes and destroy all your magic.
Player 1: "Wait. Why are we messing with this guy again? He is going to seriously F us up."
Player 2: "Because he's going to create an army of magic-wielding giants, conquer and crush most of this continent, enslave everyone we've ever known along with all of their descendants and rebuild an Empire of Transcendent Evil."
Player 1: "Oh, yeah. Still, we are seriously F'd"
If you wanted to be Mr. Nice DM you could have Karzoug throw Disjunction at them through his images so they could plan for it in the "final assualt." ;)
Of course it's easy for me to talk smack - my players haven't finished Book 1.
Well, one thing I *didn't* do was change the spell lists of the casters. Some of them are downright odd, but I kept them as-written.
So Disjunction isn't on his list. I had to figure they didn't put it on there because of playtesting or balance or something. They go so far as to provide you a round-by-round list of exactly what he DOES cast.
So having to trust in the people who wrote the AP, I didn't meddle with his spell list.
"If you don't know why something is missing, it's not a great idea to throw it in at the last minute."
Yeah, I was thinking that if Karzoug were really a tactical genius, he'd do Mage's Disjunction first round while all his allies delay and then do a post-Disjunction nuke with their spells and spell-like abilities, and the whole party takes 50d6 in the first round while running for their lives. Plus a lucky few would get an extra 12d8. In theory you might kill half the party before the fight even starts...
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Hmmm... it's a fun thought experiment, at least. I commented on it to the paladin's player, and she pointed out that all they'd need is for their Winged Boots to make the saves -- the paladin, bard, and barbarian all have stupid-high Reflex saves, so another 24d6 from Meteor Swarm would be unlikely to drop them (especially if Ayruzi Healed the bard), leading to the same "teleport and you're one-rounded" situation as before. Aura of Justice + barbarian = ugly.
I'll have to go read the, "How did your fights with Karzoug go?" thread for other ideas...
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I made a number of changes to Turtleback Ferry and Hook Moutain.
I removed the bridges across the Skull River. At the lower bridge site on the area map is now a turtle-back ferry run by two Shoanti brothers. A huge rope hawser extends across the river to allow the brothers to pull their boats across. They also row passengers across Claybottom Lake to Pendak and to Bitter Hollow (if desired).
There are numerous trails along the southern slopes of Hook Mountain. Trails extend from Bitter Hollow to the ferry landing and from the ferry landing to Fort Rannick and Skull’s Crossing. There is also a large track from the Kreeg Clanhold down to Coal Lake, around the north shore of the lake and a bit upstream to a ford, and through the foothills of the Iron Peaks – enabling Barl to transport weapons and armor to Jorgenfist. The Graul farm is now back in the weeds quite a ways and it is several miles from where Kibb encounters the party to the farm (rather than right off the ferry landing).
The Grauls got some beefing up and additions to their numbers. (They still barely proved to be more than a speed bump to my party!) If I had to do it again I would get Mammy out of the house so she has some room to fly (maneuver). Having her stuck in the back room was less than optimal even with Hucker coming to rescue her. She has The Kardosian Codex among her treasure (we’ll have to see if the party ever figures out what that is). I also gave her all sorts of necromantic toys – which the party will probably sell. Given the size of the party I killed off all the Black Arrows (I don’t need the extra NPCs) except for Tsuto who is kind of a scrub compared to the party – but he can provide them information about what is happening at the Fort.
Overall I’m giving each of the BBEG’s a unique magic item in addition to what they have listed. Mammy had a specialized necromantic runestaff (adapted from 3.5e). Lucrecia has a mirror (mostly for divination and enchantments – but keyed to Sihedron amulets). Barl has a rune-ring (works like a runestaff, but is a ring).
The village of Turtleback Ferry is surrounded by a wooden palisade. The school is now part of the Church of Abadar (rather than Erastil). The Bottom’s Up is little more than a rough shack and the Turtle’s Parlor owes its existence to the Paradise.
The encounter aboard the still floating (and operating) Queen of Paradise is pretty extensive. I beefed up Lucrecia a bit (as the party will be well rested when they encounter her) and gave her three faceless stalker assassins and several trained venomous snake swarms. She has some “enforcers” aboard the Queen, but I don’t imagine they will involve themselves much.
I typically have six characters at the table – so a number of the encounters have been beefed up. Fort Rannick is no exception. All the Kreeg ogres got a make-over as did the “scrub” ogres. I added a couple of “named” Kreeg Ogres: Kegal Kreeg (Advance Ogre Barbarian 5) in the Barracks, Unzgarm Ghostface (Advanced Ogre Adept 5) in the Chapel with Jaagrath, and Mossback Kreeg (Advanced Ogre Druid 4) in the Tribunal. Lorgus Fenker is a Dread Spectre Ranger (Skirmisher) 5/Rogue 4 who has a special hatred for one of the PC’s. As Lucrecia is down on her boat at Turtleback Ferry, area B36 (the Cells) is now occupied by a Hill Giant Ghast.
The ogre demotion crew at Skull’s Crossing are now led by a stone giant engineer-mason.
The party’s goal at Skull’s Crossing will now be to limit the water flow by shutting the now open floodgates. Rather than the whole pit fiend mechanism there is a now a malfunctioning “life-spark” construct. After all the fighting that goes on in the Chapter I want to give them a chance to do some RP – and Lever Guy who has been rusting here for 10000 years seems like a good option.
Prior to dealing with Myriana the party will get to play with a witchfire and some will-o’-the-wisps.
Barl brought some of his buddies to Hook Mountain. The front door is watched by Agronil Iceaxe, a stone giant ranger, and Blackclaw (advance lion). Nosrel Isgrim, the smith (Cyclops oracle 7) oversees the crafting of weapons and armor at the forge in the Clanhold (D6). Guarding Barl is Moantar Stonefury (Stone Giant Barbarian 4) and another beefed up stone giant (yet to be determined). Lamatar is now a Winterspawn and each of the hags (D7) is getting a make-over.
CJ
Just as an FYI, the flood was caused because of the sudden release of water from the initial break in the dam. This is why there is a surge of flood water, and then it recedes. It was in essence a flash flood.
This is why opening the floodgates is needed. It will cause water to rise again... but will reduce pressure on the dam and in turn reduce the threat of the dam breaking entirely and flooding the entire region (and killing over a thousand people in the various riverside communities).
Just as an FYI, the flood was caused because of the sudden release of water from the initial break in the dam. This is why there is a surge of flood water, and then it recedes. It was in essence a flash flood.
This is why opening the floodgates is needed. It will cause water to rise again... but will reduce pressure on the dam and in turn reduce the threat of the dam breaking entirely and flooding the entire region (and killing over a thousand people in the various riverside communities).
So the floodgates are currently closed, yes?
The Deep is filling and more pressure is being exerted on the dam.
But the ogres have created a spillway -- which will function the same way the floodgates do. When the water reaches a certain level it will flow over the spillway created by the ogres.
If you open the floodgates, the water will not reach the spillway and flow out of the bottom of the dam instead. Yes, this will reduce the pressure on the dam. But the spillway is doing that anyway isn't it?
You could argue that the spillway is insufficient to provide adequate relief of pressure. Which is fine.
The whole flash flood thing should be a non-issue. In the past the water of the Deep would reach X level (or pressure or whatever) and the pit fiends would open the flood gates. Whoosh! The Skull River and Claybottom Lake would flood. Every year. That is how floodgates work. In fact I would venture that the flow caused by the floodgates would be much stronger than that caused by the ogre spillway (given that the floodgates have more pressure behind them than the top of the dam).
CJ
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Just as an FYI, the flood was caused because of the sudden release of water from the initial break in the dam. This is why there is a surge of flood water, and then it recedes. It was in essence a flash flood.
This is why opening the floodgates is needed. It will cause water to rise again... but will reduce pressure on the dam and in turn reduce the threat of the dam breaking entirely and flooding the entire region (and killing over a thousand people in the various riverside communities).
So the floodgates are currently closed, yes?
The Deep is filling and more pressure is being exerted on the dam.
But the ogres have created a spillway -- which will function the same way the floodgates do. When the water reaches a certain level it will flow over the spillway created by the ogres.
If you open the floodgates, the water will not reach the spillway and flow out of the bottom of the dam instead. Yes, this will reduce the pressure on the dam. But the spillway is doing that anyway isn't it?
You could argue that the spillway is insufficient to provide adequate relief of pressure. Which is fine.
The whole flash flood thing should be a non-issue. In the past the water of the Deep would reach X level (or pressure or whatever) and the pit fiends would open the flood gates. Whoosh! The Skull River and Claybottom Lake would flood. Every year. That is how floodgates work. In fact I would venture that the flow caused by the floodgates would be much stronger than that caused by the ogre spillway (given that the floodgates have more pressure behind them than the top of the dam).
CJ
I'll agree that the flash flood is a little dubious, not huge, but a little dubious. But I can see how in previous years it'd have flooded as well.
Regardless, the ogre created spill way means the dam is gone regardless of what the PC's do. They wrecked the structural integrity of the dam so it's only a matter of time before it goes. That water is pouring through means it is going MUCH sooner rather than later.
So in retrospect, I'd have the PC's find some what to encounter the ogres there before it's structural integrity is compromised.
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In Foxglove mansion, to help the party feel better about walking around eating 'traps', I made a small jigsaw puzzle and wrote one of the family flashbacks on each piece, in chronological order. Whoever got clobbered by a haunt received a piece. (I used foam-core for the pieces - cutting them out was horrible but they connected decently. Heavy cardboard is probably smarter.)
As soon as the second piece came out, they understood and got pumped about combing the house - and when it was over I offered them an XP bonus if they could use the completed puzzle to explain the Foxglove tragedy to me. (They pretty much did.)
Nobody, on the Karzoug fight, I'm wondering if there's a reason he doesn't use Mirror Image against heavy Melee? I found at lower levels it slows the fight considerably and I'm worried I may run into the same situation you did.
Mirror Image is an illusion spell, and thus forbidden to Karzoug.
I think it boils down to what Latrecis and I were discussing in another thread: If you're inexperienced at running high-level casters (as am I), then they're going to get whupped badly by teleporting melee characters.
Putting in a Dimension Lock on the arrival platform once they're in (as I suggested) or having Karzoug swap out Prismatic Wall for Prismatic Sphere and then having him englobe the melee fighters during one of his Time Stop rounds (as Latrecis suggested) seem like the best choices.
Also, either start him in the air, or get him in the air instantly. Having him arrogantly sitting on his throne (as he is in the AE) makes for nice drama, but puts him one bad Initiative roll away from major pain.
Wonder if he can use a Wand of Mirror Image, though he may consider that beneath him as illusions are... an inferior magic.
Makes sense. I'll have to look over this again when we get there... probably next year D:
Wonder if he can use a Wand of Mirror Image, though he may consider that beneath him as illusions are... an inferior magic.
I was thinking EXACTLY along those lines -- losing both Displacement and Mirror Image sets Karzoug up for a major pounding, but I just don't see him eschewing the Illusion school and then saying, "Oh, whoops! My two best defensive spells are in that school! Better buy some wands!"
Just doesn't seem very Karzoug-like...
Wonder if he can use a Wand of Mirror Image, though he may consider that beneath him as illusions are... an inferior magic.I was thinking EXACTLY along those lines -- losing both Displacement and Mirror Image sets Karzoug up for a major pounding, but I just don't see him eschewing the Illusion school and then saying, "Oh, whoops! My two best defensive spells are in that school! Better buy some wands!"
Just doesn't seem very Karzoug-like...
Hmmm. He has to use "Use Magic Device" to do that. And he has +26 in that skill... Hard to imagine what other purpose ranks in that skill would serve beyond using items from his prohibited schools. Of course he doesn't have any items in his gear list that seem to call for it either.
Related note: his glaive has an illusion effect as one of its lesser powers (major image.) You could swap that out for mirror image or displacement (displacement is even the same level as major image.) How that glaive - fashioned explicitly for the Runelord of Greed got access to illusion magic may be a discussion for another day.
Thassilonian specialists don't get to choose their prohibited schools. Instead, their chosen school chooses the prohibited schools for them.
So it may have been a case of Karzoug thinking: "I want to master Transmutation, despite the costs. Too bad that that I will have to give up Enchantment and Illusion, but that's what UMD and wands are for."
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Also using the comics, I presented the NPCs with a choice when they were on their way to Thistletop. Earlier in the campaign, they had captured Gresgurt (the goblin in the closet) because the Asmodean cleric in the party wanted to "break him" and make him his servant. Well, they had also taken Tsuto alive and thrown him in the same cell as Gresgurt. Tsuto broke free early that morning when he killed the little goblin, broke his arm and splintered the bone so as to function as a crude lockpick. He killed the guard and began making his way to Thistletop. When the guard shift came and it was discovered what happened, the PCs were notified. They had horses, Tsuto didn't, so the idea was to catch Tsuto before he got to Thistletop to warn everyone. Before they left, Mayor Deverin presented the PCs with more distressing news. Shalelu Andosana's hawk (who I had restat'd to have an animal companion instead of the hunter's bond with companions) arrived that morning with a torn piece of Shalelu's clothing. There was a crude, finger-painted drawing of a map in blood from Sandpoint to Shank's Wood, a small forested area in between Sandpoint and Thistletop. Apparently during a fight with Bruthazmus, the bugbear got the upper hand on Shalelu during one of their many fights, but before he could finish her off, they were interrupted by one of Shank's Wood's more notable occupants, a faceless stalker. Bruthazmus turned tail, and the faceless stalker took Shalelu back to his den and tied her to his "hugging tree," where he likes to let his food "age" a bit and drink from them slowly. The encounter that takes place in his lair is detailed in one of the Pathfinder comics (#2 I think? I can't remember). The PCs basically have a choice at this point. Either ignore the map and stop Tsuto before he can warn Thistletop, or detour into Shank's Woods and save Shalelu Andosana. They chose the latter, found her nearly-drained body, took her back to Sandpoint for recovery, then headed for Thistletop. At this point an extra day had passed, and so Tsuto had recovered some hit points from rest, had warned the entirety of Thistletop who were now on high alert to expect visitors, and had holed up in the room with Lyrie Akenja (who had no problem with the company, since she's in love with him), mainly because his ring of deflection +1 had been looted off his body in his first fight and he wanted some mage armor castage should the PCs show up (I also felt this made the Lyrie Akenja fight even better, since as a lone wizard she gets slammed pretty quickly normally and doesn't have a chance to put up much of a fight).
Just as an FYI, the flood was caused because of the sudden release of water from the initial break in the dam. This is why there is a surge of flood water, and then it recedes. It was in essence a flash flood.
This is why opening the floodgates is needed. It will cause water to rise again... but will reduce pressure on the dam and in turn reduce the threat of the dam breaking entirely and flooding the entire region (and killing over a thousand people in the various riverside communities).
So the floodgates are currently closed, yes?
The Deep is filling and more pressure is being exerted on the dam.
But the ogres have created a spillway -- which will function the same way the floodgates do. When the water reaches a certain level it will flow over the spillway created by the ogres.
If you open the floodgates, the water will not reach the spillway and flow out of the bottom of the dam instead. Yes, this will reduce the pressure on the dam. But the spillway is doing that anyway isn't it?
You could argue that the spillway is insufficient to provide adequate relief of pressure. Which is fine.
The whole flash flood thing should be a non-issue. In the past the water of the Deep would reach X level (or pressure or whatever) and the pit fiends would open the flood gates. Whoosh! The Skull River and Claybottom Lake would flood. Every year. That is how floodgates work. In fact I would venture that the flow caused by the floodgates would be much stronger than that caused by the ogre spillway (given that the floodgates have more pressure behind them than the top of the dam).
CJ
The Spillway does indeed do the same thing as the floodgates, but it wasn't designed for that purpose. It's 'craftsmanship' is the result of haphazard smashing on the part of the ogres, and the actual purpose of it is the deliberate destruction of the dam.
...It's probably a lot more likely to break apart and result in a huge hole that ruins everything than the floodgates are, since the floodgates are actually meant to let the water out in controlled amounts, and the spillway is meant to break the dam and release too much water at once.
Also do recall this: Thassilonian architecture has this... disturbing ability to resist damage and even repair itself in some situations. While the dam has been damaged, opening the floodgates would relieve the pressure and allow the dam's magic to start repairing itself once more. Recovering some of the lost pieces and putting them back (and maybe a few Make Whole spells to boot) would probably lessen the damage further. So the only real threat to the dam is the large amount of water caused by all the rains the Hags had summoned. Reduce that pressure? Then there's no immediate threat.
I had Shaylis Vinder replace her sister as the us intended victim of the Alderney ghastly in chapter 2. One of my players had developed a relationship with her and her death was the best way to really hook them into the mystery. I also played out all of the haunts in the Foxglove manor before allowing for a save from the PCs as it helped to build the mystery and the tragedy of the family.
The biggest change I've made so far is with Turtleback Ferry. My party died after rescuing Fort Rannick. They had reached TF after the flash flood and had fended off Black Magga but not before the paladin died under her blows. I gave the party the option to return to Magnimar to have him resurrected (1 month in-game time) and also told them the locals suggested that they instead travel to the Whitewillow to seek the aid of a nymph (Myriana) who had helped them before. Lastly, I presented them with a rumour of a coven of witches living somewhere in the nearby mountains... Of course they sought out the witches. They found their way to the Clanhold and we're smote upon the peak by an onslaught of ogres. It should be noted that the grapple-build monk killed 8 ogres on his own before he was felled by Barl's magic missiles and a lucky AoO.
So I broke the dam, flooded Turtleback Ferry and had the PCs res'd as servants to the hags. I had Lamatar lead them to Whitewillow where they fought Myriana and then agreed to help her restore Lamatar. That freed them from the Hags and they returned to finish the Clanhold.
We're now 1/2 way through the raid at the start of chapter 4 and I'm regretting not having altered it. My party is literally and figuratively flying through the raid and has dealt decisively with each ogre group that's arisen. Our next session begins with them reaching the Old Light at the same time as Teraktinus and his two giants.
Remember that prismatic sphere has a ten foot cast range
Right, but Karzoug is flying and has Time Stop, so he should be able to move in, drop it, and get back away from them during one of his Time Stops.
I like that. It sounds like a cool idea! Though I will admit, forcing my players to go through hip-deep water (or deeper for the halfling cleric) while facing Black Magga also has its charms... ;)
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At the end of Book 2, I played out the banquet for the heroes. I grabbed the Magnimar book and threw in the heads of the Pathfinders in the area, the Derexhis (reading Blood of the City really made me excited to add them), the Aspis Consortium agent, and my fighter really took the time to shmooze, surprised me a lot.
The group Ninja is a childhood friend of Ameiko and courting her, and she is trying to get the glassworks up and running again, so she happened to be in town trying to negotiate with the guilds. He had a nice opportunity to spend some time with her, and then saw her again at the banquet.
After the banquet, the fighter had been talking about Hellknights, and I had just gotten the Inner Sea NPC Codex. The fighter was a merc from Riddleport who left after destroying someone's ferry, so they hired the Hellknights to bring him in. It was a good way to get them on the road to Turtleback Ferry and Fort Rannick.
He decided to swear vengeance on the Hellknights of the Nail, so I fully restatted the knight as Paralictor Minerva Pax, LG Fighter 5/Hellknight 7, and a thorn in his side for session to come. When he finally beats her in a duel, I'll have him knock off her helmet and reveal her booming masculine voice was created by her oversized Plate.
The next time she shows up in going to be next session with a small unit of Hellknights and Armigers under her command at Fort Rannick. The Ninja is trying to free Kaven on moral grounds (he's held off the execution twice) and will have a chance to see the hellknight scouting party before they arrive the next day. If he finds them, he'll be in a difficult spot trying to explain what he was doing.
In "Local Heroes" I added two zombies to the crypt and had sheriff Belor Hemlock and Father Zantus help defeat them. That way they weren't standing around doing nothing while the players fight.
The two Zombies turned the fight into about CR 2 roughly but with Zantus and Hemlock (both L4) my APL was 3 so it's about the same as a CR 1/2 encounter without them. It was resolved fairly quickly.
I gave Hemlock mostly skill and defense abilities so he wouldn't upstage the characters, and wouldn't be in much danger of getting seriously hurt. Zantus was unarmored (not prepared for a fight) so he stood back and cast buffs and healing.
It worked fairly well.
Peet
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Oh, definitely consider increasing the sizes of many rooms. Later in the AP you encounter multiple casters (Mamma Graul and Lucretia come to mind) who start off in extremely small rooms.
For me it was even worse: The party was trying to be stealthy by keeping their paladin Silenced on entering new rooms, so I typically ended up with a caster going one-on-two with a paladin and a THW barbarian. "Eeew" doesn't even come close to the carnage...
I had both Mammy and Lucrecia Dimension Door to different spots as detailed in their tactics. I forgot about Lucrecia though, I ended up playing Kefka's theme from FF6 after they cleared Fort Rannick as she appeared, taunted them, and then vanished to go up to Hook Mountain for later. Since we're all Final Fantasy fans, the faces were classic.
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My group got quite pissed off when Lucretia DDed away from them partway into their fight with her. They got her to 90 hit points and I figured she'd had enough at that point. She'll return, healed up, when it inconveniences them the most. Heh heh heh.
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My Lucretia teleported away, summoned Ogre reinforcements and made the PCs' lives inside the Fort a living hell (they split into two teams to attack from both sides and make it a little easier for me to run - with the various companions, cohorts, familiars and the NPC Black Arrows they had more than enough for two parties) and then, when everything went wrong, almost got away.
If only it hadn't been raining, noone would've noticed her sneaking away under Invisibility...
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In the fight versus Xanesha, I added that she created a Major Image of herself to monologue with the party, laying on her pillow bed. When they attack it, it will disappear, and she'll attack the cleric from invisibility. It'll force them out of their rote tactics, and also give the opportunity
to taunt the PCs, while not giving up her advantage.
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To be honest, it didn't quite make sense for Lucrecia to do that and it wouldn't have changed a thing if she had. The PC Cleric has Door Sight, and makes frequent use of it. Thus she'd spied on Lucrecia through the door and would have seen her cast the illusion.
On the plus side, Door Sight allowed me to totally gross out said cleric and had her wanting to burn the Graul Farmstead to the ground without searching the building first, just to kill everything in it. That was after using Door Sight on the kitchen. Heh heh heh. The roleplaying of that wretched hive of slaughter and stink was absolutely hilarious! ^^
Wonder if he can use a Wand of Mirror Image, though he may consider that beneath him as illusions are... an inferior magic.I was thinking EXACTLY along those lines -- losing both Displacement and Mirror Image sets Karzoug up for a major pounding, but I just don't see him eschewing the Illusion school and then saying, "Oh, whoops! My two best defensive spells are in that school! Better buy some wands!"
Just doesn't seem very Karzoug-like...
Not there yet, but I plan to fidge around this using limited wish during his time stop rounds. By the rules of that spell, I figure he can cast mirror image and displacement, because the magic of the spell does it, not him.
Also on a different note, in the runeforge abjuration halls, the disjunction pulse was permanent in the 3.5 version, but is just minutes based in the AE. Has anyone made it permanent anyway? I was thinking about doing so, but having their items go back to normal if they dunk them in the magic pool. I know it would be super mean, but I'm a little afraid my party is going to steam through most of the book without much challenge, plus it's fun to see them a little angry.
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Wonder if he can use a Wand of Mirror Image, though he may consider that beneath him as illusions are... an inferior magic.I was thinking EXACTLY along those lines -- losing both Displacement and Mirror Image sets Karzoug up for a major pounding, but I just don't see him eschewing the Illusion school and then saying, "Oh, whoops! My two best defensive spells are in that school! Better buy some wands!"
Just doesn't seem very Karzoug-like...
Not there yet, but I plan to fidge around this using limited wish during his time stop rounds. By the rules of that spell, I figure he can cast mirror image and displacement, because the magic of the spell does it, not him.
Also on a different note, in the runeforge abjuration halls, the disjunction pulse was permanent in the 3.5 version, but is just minutes based in the AE. Has anyone made it permanent anyway? I was thinking about doing so, but having their items go back to normal if they dunk them in the magic pool. I know it would be super mean, but I'm a little afraid my party is going to steam through most of the book without much challenge, plus it's fun to see them a little angry.
Considering the my party's entire approach was, "Hmmm... a burning, crackling rod. Let's sit at 60' and analyze it for a while..." I have little sympathy for parties that ignore the danger and head on in.
Detect Magic has a 60' range. Mage's Disjunction has a 40' radius. So you're looking at a party that:
(1) Ignored the obvious "trap" of a sparking rod embedded in the floor.
(2) Didn't bother with their casters' single-most-abused spell.
Make it permanent? Sure! Why not? Seems like parties that just walk up to the thing and poke it a bit ought to be awfully peeved about it, and giving them a way out (the pool) makes it far less of a "petty unpleasant GM" trick.
I like it.
Thanks. My party is much more likely to run in and touch it, or worse, the bard will figure out what it is, and the barbarian will try and break it. Another reason I want to do it is that 2 of my players will have negatives in that hall, and 1 will have the bonus, and I don't want them to just have those for the one fight.
I put three goblin babies in the nursery. My players adopted them, two of them were sent to Turandrok Academy and the third was raised by Madame Mvashti.
Here are two of them:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B639etwo9mNJcU56TmE5RnZYNjQ/edit?usp=shari ng
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B639etwo9mNJRnZlSm5fTmZFNVU/edit?usp=shari ng
The sheets are Spanish, our mother tongue.
I completely rebuilt the Aldern Fight because there was absolutely no possibility of Aldern lasting more than 2 rounds vs my party.
*I rebuilt both Aldern and Iesha into undead faceless stalkers but Aldern gained the "undead lord" trait, granting him a desecrate aura. Aldern started the fight with an attack to his face by Iesha but drank a potion of greater invisibility.
*Put several low level undead in the encounter like ghouls, juju zombies, crawling hands and zombies.
*Changed the fungus on the wall and reworked it so that Vorel's fungus would constantly animate undead every round during the fight but the undead would spend their first round animating before they could take an action.
The fight lasted about 5 or 6 rounds with the lower level minions being one rounded and the druid sitting a flaming sphere on top of vorel's fungus stopping it from raising undead.
Aldern managed to drop the tank and do some serious damage to the wizard but was eventually dropped by a combination of area attacks and the wizard having the foresight to keep a "see invisible spell" up his sleeve.
I also completely reworked his treasure because I thought it was way too much money for the total encounter, changing it to a total 12k pool of items I knew the party would actually make use of. Additionally I put in the deed to the manor in a safe with Aldern so the party got really invested in owning some property.
^can't seem to edit my above post...
I completely removed the Sanatorium section because I couldn't vaguely see any value in it. At this point parties are at least level 5 and having fightin singular CR 1 or 2 encounters is ridiculous. Further more it offers no real story advancement or any interesting design.
My part was pretty rich so throwing easy cash at them was a bad idea all round.
~
I added an encounter with the Brothers of Seven sending operatives to the Foxglove manor to collect rats to foreshadow Xanesha and Justice.
Also I reworked the Walking Scarecrows to have less but tougher ghouls but the Cleric obliterated them with his 3d6 channels.
I love the haunted house section but for the life of me can't work out why the Skinsaw Murders is so ridiculously under powered.
^can't seem to edit my above post...
I completely removed the Sanatorium section because I couldn't vaguely see any value in it. At this point parties are at least level 5 and having fightin singular CR 1 or 2 encounters is ridiculous. Further more it offers no real story advancement or any interesting design.
My part was pretty rich so throwing easy cash at them was a bad idea all round.
~
I added an encounter with the Brothers of Seven sending operatives to the Foxglove manor to collect rats to foreshadow Xanesha and Justice.
Also I reworked the Walking Scarecrows to have less but tougher ghouls but the Cleric obliterated them with his 3d6 channels.
I love the haunted house section but for the life of me can't work out why the Skinsaw Murders is so ridiculously under powered.
I've been pondering the same thing but I don't think it's actually underpowered. Rather the haunts and particularly the ghouls are "swingy" - they can be really easy or really dangerous without a lot of middle ground. If I had to do it over, I'd add more ghouls to the farmlands - my group encountered them in too few numbers - 2 or 3 at most simultaneously and they're not really a challenge then. Lower numbers let the party put the dwarven fighter and his kickbutt AC out front - the ghouls needed a 20 to hit him.
And if you let Iesha tangle with Aldern, that fight drops in difficulty too. It's a great story element but the combat can be anti-climatic.
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Right now I'm reflavouring the Hook Mountain Massacre.
My players seemed really eager to go into a big city and the chance to open up the rich depth of Magnimar seemed criminal to only do a fraction of a chapter in.
When they discover the Truth behind Justice Ironbriar they'll get work from another Justice and instead of travelling to the Hook Mountains the PCs will be directed to the Hells beneath the pediment building.
If you don't know about the Hells, there's a massive jail system underneath Magnimar and each lower level houses increasingly more evil criminals. As you go lower into the levels the hotter it gets due to poor ventilation, referencing the layers of Hell in religion.
The lowest 3 levels exploded into riot and because they were impossible to reverse, the government of Magnimar decide to just seal the criminals (and all others) to their expected doom.
Unfortunately it's said that the criminals are not truly contained and are somehow escaping into Magnimar again.
So my reflavour is having many different specialist killers, including the Graul family housed in the lower levels, the Black Arrows being guards and the PCs are tasked with clearing out the Hells.
Unfortunately they will find out the that criminals have been digging tunnels, forging enough weapons for an army and intend to drop Magnimar into the Ocean through the use of Bombs laid throughout the underground of the city.
The assault on Ft Rannick. I mentioned it in another thread, but I'll add it here, too.
There's no reason for any of the "secret" passages or doors in Rannick to remain secret. The text of the AP pretty much lays out the fact that between Jakardros and Vale, the entire layout of the fort is a known factor. They know where the secret tunnels, doors, etc. are, and they know about all the flaws (burning down the new barracks, for example) and possible routes of attack and escape. There is also no reason why they wouldn't share this information with the PCs if the PCs are to help them retake the fort. Then the book goes on to explain that if the PCs ask, they can get the information.
I understand the need for player agency and involvement, but this is absurd. It essentially creates a situation where the PCs run blindly into the fort, only to find out their NPC companions knew about (insert fort secret here) all along, with Vale or Jakardros responding with "You never asked," when questioned. Absurd. On the other hand, I understand the problem with just giving the PCs all the information about the fort up front. This creates a situation where the GM basically has to insist the players press for more information or else find out later their so-called Black Arrow companions are kind of jerks. Big jerks who led them into an ambush despite knowing about several secret passageways.
Next, the entire concept of smoking out the shocker lizards up into the keep is wrong. The only way the lizards can get up into the fort is if the PCs open not one, but two doorways ahead of the lizards. This presents a problem because the lizards are hostile. Now, not only do the PCs spend a day gathering the bitterbark and have to place several fires in the tunnels to smoke the lizards out, they also have to walk past all of these hostile lizards to get them into the fort. Assuming they do so -- instead of just doing the stupid PC thing where they fight every hostile creature (even though they could easily run right past, open the doors and run right past again in two or three rounds -- when every problem looks like a nail, your only option is to be the hammer) -- they stumble upon Lucrecia before they can get to the second door to get the lizards up into the keep.
At this point, smoke is pouring into the keep, lizards are pouring into the keep (if they haven't been killed by the PCs), Lucrecia is fighting the PCs, and they can't see a damn thing once they're in the keep, because guess what? Smoke!
So forget that entire scenario. It's not planned out at all. The best approach is literally the simplest: scale the wall, kill the few ogres outside the keep, burn down the barracks (boom, 10 ogres dead), and raid the keep. Forget the smoke, forget the lizards, forget sneaking in.
When I ran this, the lizards got bottlenecked at the first secret door after my PCs deployed the smoke. The smoke alerted Lucrecia, who ran off (haven't decided yet where she went). They got to the door (I didn't have the lizards attack the PCs because who wants to deal with a combat with 12 lizards who will each die, especially when I know my PCs will fight anything to the death even when that's the stupidest option), opened it up, then the lizards got bottlenecked in Lucrecia's room, pretty much filling it up to the brim. At that point, my PCs couldn't even get past the lizards to open the next door, so the wizard in the party threw a fireball, killing all the lizards in one attack.
Next, they ran upstairs, only to find they couldn't see for **** due to all the smoke they had just pumped into the keep. And then, of course, they had a P(artial)PK, losing two of their members in the process and running away with their tails between their legs, because +1 Ogre Hooks (which are the only redeeming quality of this entire scenario -- thank you for finally striking fear into my PCs hearts).
TL;DR:
If I had to change one thing about the way the approach Ft Rannick is written, I would change everything. Maybe I'm a bit bitter, too, and that's probably my own fault, for not actually considering how awful the 'smoke out the lizards' plan actually is. Especially when it takes almost no effort to climb the wall and kill everything (which is what my PCs are inclined to do anyway).
I guess what I've taken from this is that I shouldn't be afraid to completely change how a scenario is going to play out (I am the GM, after all) if I think the way it's written is dumb or doesn't make sense logistically. Of course, I didn't really consider how poorly thought out that plan was until it was in action and at that point I had no choice to let my PCs follow through with it until the bitter end.
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Yeah, I intentionally underplayed the whole "smoke and lizards" thing, because by the time they're there the party has methods (Invisibility and Silence come to mind) to bypass the lizards without all that smoke. The lizards don't have scent, and even at half speed 30+ seconds of Silence gets the party a LOOOONG way.
I agree; I saw the "smoke 'em out" option, considered it ridiculous, avoided mentioning it to my group, and they found another way past the lizard.
Go figure. Give adventuring parties a challenge, and they'll figure something out on their own...