So, I'm planning on running a new group of PCs through the Carrion Crown adventure path. I noticed in the first adventure, The Haunting of Harrowstone, there is an abundance of haunts in the prison. As far as I know, haunts can only be damaged by positive energy.
Obvious applications for overcoming these challenges, therefore, would rely on a cleric capable of channeling positive energy, and possibly using spells like cure light wounds.
However, my party has no cleric, so I've been looking into alternative ways they could deal with these threats. Holy water comes to mind, as the bless water spell used to create it specifically mentions using positive energy to purify the water, and holy water itself has specific rules for using it against incorporeal undead (thematically, in my opinion, haunts would be similar enough to justify this).
Could the same rules also apply to, say, a cure light wounds potion? What about a wand of cure light wounds? In the case of the wand, since the spell has a range of touch, would you have to make a touch attack, or would the wand-like nature allow you to use the spell at range?
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Casting a spell from a wand functions the exact same as casting it from memory. It simply replaces the verbal, somatic and material components of the spell, but keeps the same attributes including range. So, if it's a touch spell, the spell still enters the caster's hand and has to be delivered.
So, Cure Light Wounds from a wand is still delivered via touch just like the actual spell, which can be used against incorporeal creatures, and most haunts.
Holy Water, Cure Light Wounds, and the Disrupt Undead cantrip can do it. They could also do the special stuff required to remove the haunt, but yeah, most of those are overly complicated b@+@+$@#.
Personally, I hated the Haunting of Harrowstone--it's just frustrating for characters who can't use positive energy, and so far (we're now doing the Trial of the Beast), there have just been way too many incorporeal enemies for this to be very fun for non-Clerics/Paladins/Oracles of Life.
Awesome. Thank you for the clarification on these subjects. It'll help with the game a lot.
Another thing I wanted to ask other GMs who have run this adventure before: did you have to throw in some side quests in order to help the players gain trust points? I've tried running through this adventure before, but it didn't last long due to group infighting. One problem that constantly kept coming up though was that the players always seemed to fall short of the important Diplomacy (and other) skill checks needed to gain Trust points, so they always seemed to fall behind in that category. If you have thrown in some additional ways to gain trust, what have you done? I'm looking for some inspiration.
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I didn't do extra side quests, but I simply gave more opportunities to earn Trust Points.
The easiest way I did it was allow some of our combat-heavy, non-skill focused characters to help out around town. While most went off to research, I allowed our Fighter to do random work for people in Ravengro, such as the local church needed assistance in moving some caskets, or an elderly woman needed help painting her home. I still played up the paranoia and general distrust of the town, but by doing this, allowed him to earn a Trust Point for the party that day.
It helped everyone feel that they were contributing.
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Haunts: I recommend being flexible with the mechanics. If the characters come up with a plausible approach to dealing with them, let it be at least partially effective. You can increase the number of haunt-appropriate consumables if need be.
Trust: Before starting, I told the players that the adventure has a mechanic for gaining the trust of the populace. I asked whether it would be more fun for this to be open, earning trust points like xp, or for me to handle it "behind the screen". They were unanimous in preference of the latter. Then I had Kendra play up the idea that the townsfolk were essentially good people, but had become distrustful and reserved as a mysterious malaise settles across the region. The PCs then split their in-town efforts between research and earning trust.
My players just finished this adventure and loved it. I played the haunts exactly as is, and they had a fine time figuring them out and blasting through them. They continually came up with imaginative ideas that taxed my creativity and got them through serious problems.
In short, don't panic, it's a great adventure.
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Here's a sidequest that went over well with my group, and allowed them to earn some trust:
Benjan's deputies...
... are refusing to help, so he asks the PCs. See, the past two times the tax collectors from the capital swung through to collect, the Vander family (Wren, Brae, Ceela, and Gurdy) pled hardship and were covered out of the Ravengro community chest. It's time for the Vanders to pay up, and that's why, Benjan thinks, no one has seen the Vanders in town for days. Benjan's usual deputies aren't willing to be seen as strong-arming a farm family. Benjan dispenses nets, saps, and manacles to PCs willing to help.
Actually, Father Charlatan has been visiting the family members in dreams. He has convinced them that they are chosen, and to prepare for his coming by fortifying their house and gathering all their valuables. The Vanders (except for the child Gurdy) fight the PCs, calling them jealous usurpers, demanding that they are "Father's chosen." Scrawled sayings like "Father is coming" are everywhere.
I've ran two groups thru this adventure. The haunts were played as is and neither group had too much problems with them. Several things to keep in mind is most of the haunts do not have to be defeated, since they are bound to locations. The haunts are on timers, and alot of them do not do actual damage. There is alot of holy water given along with 6 haunt siphons before the group encounters the haunts.
When we went through we had the advantage of some PC who had positive energy abilities, but we defeated most of the haunts by completing the quest-things to release them.
Dooooooooot.
I'll add, my group went through without a cleric or paladin or other character that could channel. The wizard (necromancer) was really useful, though.
Worrying about a divine-caster-less party going against haunts is the same as worrying about a fighter-type-less party fighting a big stompy or a rogue-less party doing a highly trapped dungeon crawl. You don't gimp the monsters or traps just because the characters aren't specifically designed to handle it. Likewise, don't make the haunts easier than they should be.
If they didn't plan their party dynamic, one or more of them are going to die and can bring in a cleric or similar more effective character.
That said, if you think it will seriously hamper the fun your players will have, then do what you feel is best. You are the DM and this is your home game. However, if you're going to make the haunts easier to beat, lower the CR severely (half or more).
Well my party had an oracle and the monk eventually went monk/cleric...but then both players decided to change characters at the end of the adventure, so the party now has no divine casters at all. Yes, I did point this out to them (shrugs). Now their line-up consists of:
Barbarian
Cavalier (changed from an oracle)
Magus
Ranger
Sorcerer (undead bloodline)
Wizard (necromancer)
I guess the ranger can use a wand of CLW, but will they think of that?
