The idea hit me near the end of "Night of Frozen Shadows" and I had a hard time shaking it. The following is a series of events that took place in our JR campaign that smoothed out a few issues and made for an exciting new twist on the AP.
(*Some Spoilers Included*)
So far, Ameiko had fallen into a coma during "The Brinewall Legacy" and had managed to get herself captured the very first time we left her with the caravan in Kalsgard. It got to the point that the characters were muttering to themselves about perhaps leaving Ameiko to her fate and looking for more lucrative adventure than that of Minkai's shaky destiny. (Some friends, huh?) As has been noted in other threads, Ameiko was becoming a liability and we feared she'd never live long enough to see the Jade Throne.
I was playing an elven Blackblade Magus who was making short work of most of the AP's encounters and the GM was questioning the classes balance within the campaign. Although my character was CG, the GM had decided that the blackblade was a LE ancestor that had been imprisoned within the blade due to his malicious hatred towards humans, and he was slowly taking over my character's mind.
It was evident that a change needed to take place to pave the way for the next chapter so I brainstormed with my GM and the results have been a fantastic and memorable addition to our game.
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Thus, my magus (Sindarin) was secretly possessed by his ancestor (Malcor Tahl) and the two of them traded places. Now Sindarin was trapped within his own blade and Malcor Tahl (who just so happens to be a powerful wizard) was free to invoke his plan. A plan that involved forming an alliance with the 5 Storms and betraying the heroes within the halls of Ravenscraeg. In return for his aid, Malcor Tahl wanted the 5 Storms to unleash their power on those human nations and cities that refused to relinquish ancestral elven lands. With the Amatatsu Scions all slain, Malcor Tahl and the 5 Storms could focus on new territories to conquer outside of the realm of Tian Xia.
When the heroes managed to sneak their way into Ravenscraeg, Malcor Tahl betrayed them to the guardians of the keep and fled to meet with Kimandatsu and offer his bid for allegiance (I handed my character sheet over and retired my Magus as a PC.) All hell broke loose and the heroes were attacked on all sides by the sudden assault!
Meanwhile, Ameiko became my new character, and with the help of Ulf and Skygni's frost breath, managed to break the brittle bars of her cell and escape. She met up with the heroes later on and joined them in the fight!
******
As a PC, Ameiko is wielding Suishen and has replaced all of her previous levels with Samurai levels (we already have a rogue and bard). Essentially, Suishen has flooded her mind and body with the groundwork training and edicts of the samurai and continues to mentally train her as the days go by. At first he was physically controlling her body in combat, but Ameiko is slowly learning the way of the warrior through his strict instruction and discipline and he is relinquishing control to her.
With Ameiko as a PC, not only is she less of a liability in the AP, but she now has a real voice and a relevant and progressive hand in claiming the Jade Throne for herself.
Malcor Tahl has become a major recurring villain in the campaign and is racing the heroes to Minkai in hopes of gaining an alliance in exchange for his intimate knowledge of the Scions as well as his assistance in killing them off.
Also, the blackblade (with an audible and communicating Sindarin still inside) was found floating in Kimandatsu's koi pond. Malcor Tahl cast it aside as he does not fight with a blade and had no use for his previous prison. It is now being wielded by a fellow PC named Cadence, Sindarin's half-sister, and there is plenty of great humor and quotes that comes from her wielding her brother in battle!
All in all, for our group, it turned out to be a great twist on the story and for me it become a chance to breath some life into the AP's focus and one of my favorite NPCs in Golarion.
I applaud the creativity of both the player and the DM.
Also, you shall now receive my undying envy over the same facts.
I wish that we had thought of something like this. Just going into book 5, I am now on my 4th(!) character. If this character dies I might have to convince my DM to let me do this..
I can see Sandru, Shalelu, Ulf, and Oxcutter being fun Pcs too!
Awesome! : )
I wish that we had thought of something like this. Just going into book 5, I am now on my 4th(!) character. If this character dies I might have to convince my DM to let me do this..
Is your character not an Amatatsu scion?
As a GM I managed to keep Amiko relevant by NOT letting her get kidnapped, having her use bardic performance to buff the group from off camera any time there was a caravan battle and providing dream sequences when they first opened the amatatsu seal that gave them a fate bound reason to be supporting Ameiko.
this has made her relivent without having to use her in day to day combat.
having said that I think that if I were doing the cameign again or had some reason to throw in new characters I would likely encourage players to play revamped versions of the NPC when ever possible.
I wish that we had thought of something like this. Just going into book 5, I am now on my 4th(!) character. If this character dies I might have to convince my DM to let me do this..Is your character not an Amatatsu scion?
1st character was a scion.. got carried off by some stupid flying creature after getting crit from full-dead by its sonic lance (wasnt happy)
2nd character was boring as all hell, and an oni. had him slain3rd character WAS a scion.. and then got transported to the elemental plane of air (thank you, harrowed deck of many things!)
We currently only have Ameiko and 2 scions! So many character deaths where we have 0 of their posessions..
To avoid Louis Lane Syndrome and to help the my player in his endeavors with Shalelu I had both of them kidnapped and after the crown of the world I had her actually join the group in their adventuring tasks.
It helps that I only have one player.
We're currently playing a low-fantasy sword & blackpowder version of RotR with Savage Worlds. I've already been thinking about the next campaign, and Jade Regent with Ameiko as a PC was one of the first things on my mind. She's going to marry one the characters in our campaign.
I haven't read through JR yet but are there any real reasons within the story why this wouldn't work or you would have to change large portions of it?