@The Eel: You can just ignore XPs and level up characters when you feel they should be leveled up. Also with the Lodge, you could strip Rokhar of one level of cleric and give him a level of Rogue. That lessens his threat due to the Channel Energy attack and spells (give him a potion of invisibility to compensate) so he's not as big a threat to players.
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My players will be storming the final floor of the tower in our next session and I'm quietly thinking the encounters through over and over so that I can do my best for them. This does mean however that I'm coming up with a few ideas that I think may be going over the top, so I want to run them past some neutral sources. i.e. you.
The main one is this; Radosek will be flying, and has a 15' cone attack. Assuming he judges his height right he should be able to fire that cone straight downwards, hitting the square directly beneath him, four squares the level below, and NINE squares on ground level. Which may well be enough to target the whole party.
Do people thnk this is too advantageous? What with the elements (assuming he can cast a spell with a one round casting time successfully), that damn wand, and the statue it's already a pretty tough encounter.
My party did the first floor of the tower tonight. The death toll: 7 guards, 4 "Radosek's Elite" (beefed up guards), Yana, Bordegga. The Water Elemental (now named Burbles) is recovering in the bottom of the pool, and the one surviving guard is heading for the hills.
The party wreaked this havoc, then went back to Nadya in town for some rest. At this point, they've murdered their way through about 25 guards or so, and I'm sick of those guys anyway.
What would Radosek do to repopulate the first floor of his fortress? Of course, I could have some patrols return or something - maybe fey this time. Does he have any power or available agents to send out after the PCs, or do you think he would just clean up and try to bar the doors?
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He could certainly send ravens to someone,just who is really dependent on how you've been pitching the game. There's always fey if you're sick of the guards; atomie have a constant speak with animals, if you need a logical explanation of how the ravens passed on the information, and they could easily be part of a mixed group for variation.
I also wonder what Radosek should do with two empty floors and resting PC's.
My group (with Rolf in place of Nadya now) went through the first two floors of the tower in our last session. They made so much noise and hubbub and drew so much attention to themselves (mostly by staring into the mirrors and making faces and taunting the unseen masters behind them) that they more or less kited every single guard to them. It turned into a massive brawl in the main chamber of the first floor, which they only just survived after three party members were knocked cold.
The same thing happened on the second floor - they caused such a commotion that there was no feasible way for me to NOT have the other hostiles (mobile hostiles, that is) hear what was going on and show up after a few rounds of combat. So they had another slugfest with the atomies, the spriggan, the Captain, and Mierul all at once. After surviving that (again, just barely and seemingly against the odds), the animated ice statues were a piece of cake.
Maybe Radosek just gives the lower floors up as a lost cause and hunkers down on the top floors? He could try his hand at a few mundane boobytraps to slow down the intruders. Radosek's hope would be that if he can hold out up there long enough, relief will arrive in the form of the returning patrols/more fey creatures who can reclaim the first floor and trap the PC's between levels.
Animate Dead. Just assume there's a couple scrolls of that lying around.
Don't forget: the AP is a guideline. You may modify it to your heart's content.
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Given Animate Dead isn't on the witch spell list Radosek would need two seperate UMD checks, 25 to "operate" the scroll, and 28 to fake the wisdom requirement. Given he's only got +6 (of a +7 maximum given his charisma), hand-waving that one may be a little unfair.
Maybe he's got a personal bodyguard, something stealthyl, that he could send down to take them out?
Lesser Animate Dead is a level 3 Wizard spell. Thus it's the Intelligence requirement, not Wisdom.
Animate Dead. Just assume there's a couple scrolls of that lying around.
Don't forget: the AP is a guideline. You may modify it to your heart's content.
We haven't forgotten that. :) We're just wondering how to modify it.
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My two cents...
My two cents...
** spoiler omitted **
Where was this wickedly delicious idea a month ago?
EDIT: Using this for my Shackled Hut game if they cannot kill Lorgrivich in the same day. What stats would you use? Boreal template or is there an actual write up?
Taking inspiration from earlier in the module, I think I'll have an atomie or two return from their patrol with a polar bear, asking Radosek if they can keep it. Radosek's answer is "Of course! Put it in the courtyard."
I'll ramp up the days with creative encounters from the random encounter chart. If they take more than a day or two to clear out the next few levels, then we can bring in the mephits and ice gargoyles.
Thanks everybody!
My players have finished with the first floor. They have been smashing mirrors left and right. But the key thing is that they knocked off the ice dragons head. Now I don't believe it needs the head to be animated but I figured that I would drop it's hp a bit and it won't be able to use any bite attacks. I don't believe it would be blind as you can animate things without heads, if they had knocked the heqd off after I would say it's blind. Any thoughts on this? I might add some other foes to the fight too as the players are quite high power to ensure that it's a proper epic fight.
They knocked off the head. But who's to say Radosek can't just pour some water on the stump, reattach the head (or use a Mend spell several times), and then animate it so it can bite again?
Alternatively, he could just put the head on one of the claws, so it's running around like the Headless Horseman only holding its head in one claw, and let it bite people that way! (It would be most amusing!)
So, I'm running Snows of Summer, and my players just cleared out Rokhar's Raiders... Except... They let a bunch of people go.
Short version: They captured one of the bandits on the trail, color sprayed three of them in the lodge, never saw Ten-Penny (because they came through the back), reduced one of the sick ones to zero HP, and another sick one to two HP, and ultimately captured Rokhar.
When they attacked the lodge, they left the prisoner outside. The three color-sprayed ones crawled out the front door when the blindness wore off and stole the horses. The one at zero HP and the other sick one brought down to two HP went into the sick room while the PCs were fighting the frozen skeletons, and the PCs just left them in there while they went upstairs to search where Rokhar came from.
Upstairs, they interogated Rokhar, telling him, "If you don't jerk us around, we'll let you go." He told them about the cellar, and... they let him go. They also let Vrixx go.
So, at the end of the session there are 6 unnamed bandits that got away, Ten-Penny got away, and Rokhar got away (unequipped except for his unholy symbol). Now what?
Thuv
Rokhar may come back to haunt them by joining with Ted. The others should just flee.
That said, Rokhar is without any equipment in the middle of a snowstorm. Be sure to start rolling for hypothermia. He might freeze to death fairly quickly after all.
Ahhh...I hadn't thought of him freezing to death.
I was thinking of having him join with Teb, but the PCs let the imprisoned sprite go, so he has already told Teb of Rokhar's betrayal.
The players have decided we need a rogue, and are thinking of hiring one... I was thinking it might be funny to have them hire Ten-Penny, "There's a half-orc that just walked into town...she seems unsavory. Might be just the type you're looking for..." and then let them all run into Rokhar later. Just for some comedic relief. The PC's didn't meet Ten-Penny, and although they heard her name, they don't know what she looks like, etc..
I think their faces would be funny when they realized that they hired one of the bandits.
Thuv
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I think it would be fun to re-use Ten-Penny. She met an unfortunate end in my campaign.
Also, while the PCs may have stripped Rohkar of his fancy cloak, keep in mind he is a cleric. When he gets a chance to prepare spells (probably at dusk or midnight), he's preparing the heck out of Endure Elements. I agree that he's the only one of the bunch that should come back to haunt the PCs if he survives.
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The question is: will he survive to that point?
Well, the more I think about it, the more I think he will. Why? Because the PCs looted the lodge, got Argentea, and went straight back to town. I.e. They left the doors wide open, fire still burning in the hearth, pile of dead bandits in the floor. Seems likely to me that Rokhar wouldn't have anywhere to go, and would just go back to the lodge, strip the bandits for what he could find, animate some, and consider himself back in business!
I think I'm going to have Ten-Penny discovered by some hunters and brought back to town (to keep her from freezing to death), then let the PCs hire her for their rogue. When they get back to the lodge, looking to cross the bridge...Rokhar will be waiting.
Actually, one of the players wanted to invite Rokhar to join the party too... Do you think he would? Knowing that Knotten, et. al., knows he betrayed them? Or would he "join," then look for the first opportunity to betray them? From a certain perspective, adventurers do "murder" a LOT of people/creatures!
Thuv
What's the time difference between Taldor and Irrisen? The Portal takes the party a good way west as well as north.
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Two hours ahead of Taldor.
My question. When I looked up the giant weasel stats, it only has 9 hit points?
Thanks.
Snows of Summer, page 82 lists the stats for the weasel, with a maximum of 34hp (4 hit dice). Page 28 lists it as currently 28, themes to it's fight with the trapper. Where are you seeing 9? In a bestiary?
Yes in bestiary.
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The two hours bit was a joke, I'm not aware that there are times zones on golarion!
They may not have a system for measuring it, but Golarion is a globe much like the Earth. There would be a difference in time of day for traveling so far east.
Travelling on foot you probably wouldn't notice it, but the Pathfinder Society has dealt with portals in the past, so the fact that moving east or west changes the time of day would not be new to them.
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Reading other threads on Golarion's geography, the scales are a little bit variable (ie they didn't actually plot the maps on a globe and take the world's curvature into account), but the best guess places Irrisen 30-35° west of Taldor, which does actually translate to about 2 hours.
If you want to follow that line of thought further, travelling north during summer will increase the number of hours of daylight there are in each day, due to the axial tilt that creates the seasons.
That's a good point, though Taldor is already in the northern hemisphere (and afaik it's not been established that Golarion has exactly the same axial tilt as Earth, just similar). At a rough stab, that would translate into another hour or two? My party should be travelling through the portal shortly after dusk, unless they camp and wait til morning. Either way the effect should be noticeable.
(Unless Granny's eternal winter somehow overrides things.)
As GM, I'd say the artificial winter magically affects temperatures in a limited area (as well as any "auras" etc that affect how welcome it is to certain types of fey), it doesn't change the orbital mechanics of the world. It might affect the brightness of the daylight, but not its timing.
One of my players has a physics degree, and another is a geophysical engineer (it's her job to make sure roads and train tracks don't collapse in bad weather). So while they may not see all the workings, I'm sure they'll appreciate the details. :)
Here's an odd Rules question concerning the moss troll Teb Knotten: He's written into the module attacking with a boar spear. However, the environmental rules state that you can only see five feet away. Seeing Teb is a large-size monster, he has a reach of 10 feet (or 15 with his claws). While natural attacks CAN attack within the minimum range, seeing he's got the spear in his claws, would he be able to attack using the Spear? After all, the Spear is not only in his hands... but also sizes itself for whoever uses it (which means it's a Large-size weapon in Teb's claws).
So how can Teb attack with the spear? He can't see the enemy until they're within the minimum reach for the weapon for him.
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There is definitely a discrepancy in the text. Teb's description mentions "outside the area of the winter portal, however, the heavy falling snow affect's Teb's vision…"
I would say (and I'm close to running this myself) that the immediate area around the portal would act as an eye of the storm - the portal itself spewing arctic energies high into the air, but the 15 feet surrounding it effectively clear of falling snow - it would actually be snowing upward in the area.
This way Teb gets a chance to use his spear if the party engages him at the portal itself, while if he is lured away or goes to Hommelstaub's aid, he leaves the spear on his back and uses his claws and teeth.
One thing I'm going to do (after having struggled through a combat in a Fog Cloud spell) is have the storm basically be wind gusts. Three rounds of "heavy snow and blowing" where visibility is 5 feet... and then two rounds of light snow as the gust dies down (thus regular visibility). It would benefit BOTH sides as otherwise the Sprites can't find their way around either.
But there are several such discrepancies in this. For instance, it's constantly snowing, but a trail that is days old is still visible? (I got around that by having Rokhar "recruited" by the party to bring them to the Winter Portal - he manipulated them by telling them "you'll never find it without me.") If I were to guess... I'd say that Paizo enjoyed the ideas for using winter weather but didn't fully think out some of the elements.
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considering Seattle gets an average of 12 inches of snow per YEAR, they might not have as much experience with snow as those of us that get 12 inches of snow in a week (last week in fact we got 15 inches:)
still a great adventure even with weather discrepancies:)
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The boar spear isn't a reach weapon; Teb can skewer people who get up in his grill just fine.
Though his spear specifically grows to match its wearer's size, so it should be doing 2d6 in his hands instead of the 1d8 in the stat block.
As guardian of the portal, I've given him the invincible template. I originally thought about giving him the savage template, but an offensive boost would've been a bit much.
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For the weather, I saw someone post an idea of having the snow and winds gust and blow with variable strength, which I think is pretty cool. So, at the top of each round, I rolled 1d4 x 5 as the visibility for that round, to simulate gusts of wind and snow resulting in visibility getting worse then better.
My party had 6 PCs and a DMPC, so, with 7 characters, I decided that Teb should be a Mythic Moss Troll. The fight started with the sprites and Homelstaub, then Teb heard it and showed up. The party still pretty much tore him up. They had heard about the troll from their prisoner, Rokhar, and so came prepared with a bunch of alchemist's fire. It was a good battle, but they dealt with a mythic Teb without losing anyone.
Okay, have a question - the Cloak of the Yeti gives a +1 natural armor bonus. Is this actually supposed to be a natural armor enhancement bonus, like Barkskin or the Amulet of Natural Armor, or is it an actual natural armor and it would stack with those (and not stack with existing natural armor, like the changeling's)?
Okay, have a question - the Cloak of the Yeti gives a +1 natural armor bonus. Is this actually supposed to be a natural armor enhancement bonus, like Barkskin or the Amulet of Natural Armor, or is it an actual natural armor and it would stack with those (and not stack with existing natural armor, like the changeling's)?
It uses barkskin as a requirement, so I would say that it works in the same fashion (so, an enhancement to natural armor that would not stack with a casting of barkskin). YMMV, however.
My players invaded the Pale Tower during our game yesterday. They had killed the guards in town and took their gear and pretended to be them. I had the one in Volan's gear do a bluff check, and he got an OK roll, so I had the guards open the gate. But, then they recognized them and sounded the alarm. The troll rolled out of one of the little dog shacks and attacked... The troll was BAD. It nearly took down a couple of the characters (6 PCs, all 3rd level with 1 mythic tier).
The guards are pretty wimpy, even after making them 1st level fighters instead of just warriors. I may have to add a few "elites" like someone else did. I like keeping most of them 1st level, but I think I'll add a unit of 5 or 6 second level NPCs that would be an elite squad.
Question? How is the party supposed to get into the tower proper? I assume the big gate doors are barred from the inside? I didn't see anything in the module about how to break them down, if it's at all possible for a small party. So, are they supposed to get in through the sally doors? I had one of the 3 guards run to one of the doors and open it with a key, trying to get through it and shouting a warning, but he got caught by one of the PCs and killed. The PC closed the door and locked it with the key... Kind of a weird response. I assume the people inside the tower will have the means to open it from the inside. And also to probably bar it.
We ended the night right after the troll and remaining guard were killed. I'll be keeping the party in initiative.
My plan is to figure out (a) who would have heard the guard shouting, (b) how long it will take them to respond with some gearing up and some running to check what's going on, and (c) then deciding what they'd do to bar the doors.
Any insight?
The other interesting thing that happened is that the party tried to talk the villagers of Waldsby to travel to the winter portal and leave Irrisen. They were worried about the town being wiped out after they killed the guardsmen and assaulted the Pale Tower. They were talking to the cleric of Pharasma about it, really trying to sell the idea of going to a place of summer.
I thought, well, some of the townspeople would definitely be for that. Some wouldn't. I thought about a third (the most downtrodden) would jump at the idea, a third wouldn't be interested (the business owners), and a third would be on the fence. They got a group together the next day to go, realizing that it would be a bit of a rush, since they were hoping to close the winter portal at the Pale Tower.
We didn't work out the details of who would go and who wouldn't. Any ideas on this development?
The other interesting thing that happened is that the party tried to talk the villagers of Waldsby to travel to the winter portal and leave Irrisen. They were worried about the town being wiped out after they killed the guardsmen and assaulted the Pale Tower. They were talking to the cleric of Pharasma about it, really trying to sell the idea of going to a place of summer.
I thought, well, some of the townspeople would definitely be for that. Some wouldn't. I thought about a third (the most downtrodden) would jump at the idea, a third wouldn't be interested (the business owners), and a third would be on the fence. They got a group together the next day to go, realizing that it would be a bit of a rush, since they were hoping to close the winter portal at the Pale Tower.
We didn't work out the details of who would go and who wouldn't. Any ideas on this development?
I imagine the Jadwiga would bring their fist down on Waldsby. Nadya can point that out to anyone who is on the fence, and when they make their exodus and close the portal they will feel like good heroes. And then when you make mention of Waldsby being destroyed by a warband sent from Hoarwood, but the Jadwiga found that most of the residents have fled and are attempting to track them down, the players might feel a lot more like... better heroes.
I'd bring up Waldsby's destruction later on in Shackled Hut, right after the party meets up with Solveig.
For me, the inner doors were not barred in any way. In fact, all of the doors of the Pale Tower were like Star Trek doors, where all you had to do was touch an adjacent ice pad to open them. That gave it a cool, otherworldly feel.
My party successfully infiltrated the Pale Tower (notwithstanding a "misunderstanding" with the hungry troll) until they talked to the captain inside. The "Elites" accompanying her were 1st level fighters based on the Superstitious Mercenary. For how fast they respond, it mostly depends on how harsh you want to be on your PCs. If the PCs move quickly, they should be able to catch at least some of the remaining guards by surprise.
You make a good point about backlash against the town. My PCs told everybody to get away after they defeated Radosek. A good many people left, but the Pharasman priest stayed, saying he needed to be there to administer to those who could not leave. If his time came as a result, then it was to be. The party admired his fortitude, and told him exactly what they did and what they were going to do in the high likelihood that he is tortured. I'll definitely tell them about the destruction of the town later.
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If the adventure doesn't mention anything about doors being locked or barred, then those doors are not locked or barred, and open normally. The "wall of ice" main gate is the primary barrier that PCs have to get past to get into the Pale Tower; once they're in the courtyard, the door into the tower itself is not meant to be a barrier to entry.
That being said, if the events of your game change the assumed circumstances, you'll need to make changes to the adventure to address those circumstances. If the guards inside the tower bar the door, I would use the stats for a stone door (Core Rulebook 413), since page 43 of the adventure says the ice of the Pale Tower is as strong as stone. The break DC would follow the normal rules for barred doors (CRB 414).
Thanks, Rob.
I guess a wall of ice and a troll are pretty good defenses and the White Witches probably don't have a lot of natural enemies in Irrisen, but I'm going to assume they're paranoid at this time due to the events and that the lower doors are normally closed and barred, and that the upper doors have a simple lock and can be barred by someone behind the door. Whether anyone gets to those doors before the party can get through them is another matter. If the party acts quickly, probably not.
Actually it's a wall of ice that is manned by guards who call out on people approaching. Why bar the interior gate? It could be barred by a guard who heard the fight with the Troll, sure, but not normally.
Then again, it's your game and there is just cause to do it your way.
Why have an interior gate if it's not barred? Why have any defenses if they're not going to be used? I guess one could say the door is purely functional, but I'm leaning towards the white witches being in guard and a little paranoid. Radosek knows the black rider was in the area. He knows about the PCs. They spilled their guts about coming through the winter portal (but not about the black rider) to Mierul, and she scurried back to the tower to tell Radosek all about them. (Not that you could have known that.). So Radosek is somewhat on guard. I maybe should have made the bluff check to fool the guards a little harder, but the only character with a beard and able to even slightly imitate Volan has a scrappy bluff check, and the fact that he got a 15 on it was pretty lucky as it was. And the guards rolled a 3 on their sense motive, so I gave it to them.
Hi!
I'm a really new DM, and I have a few questions about the Pale Tower, some of which are probably REALLY basic which will have you shaking your head in despair. If possible though, I would appreciate the support!
I am DMing for a party of three; a Monk, a Rogue and a Druid (all currently lvl 3, nearly 4). They all have no experience of D&D either, except the Rogue who hasn't played in a decade or so. We are all game developers though, and we are familiar with the general mechanics of things. We have had a LOT of fun so far, and I'm excited to have them see the Pale Tower. I am still helping them with mechanics a lot.
1. The Pale Tower seems almost completely impregnable. The Climb DC is huge, you get major damage busting through the door and there are guards on overwatch. I doubt my guys will manage to take a disguise, although perhaps they will. Both Nadya and Hatch are friendly and will be coming with the party. Any ideas on how they could break in?
2. Should the entire duration spent inside the Pale Tower be done as if in combat? Moving turn by turn, very specific distances? It seems that it should...
3. How would they go about going into Stealth during the Pale Tower, between combat, to sneak away from ambushes?
4. How should I physically present the map to them? I have dry erase grid maps, but drawing the whole thing on there seems like it would take a huge amount of time, and I'd love to keep the high amount of detail present.
5. Speaking of the map, it seems super tight in places, specifically the barracks, where there may well be a dozen characters fighting in about two dozen squares, many of which have beds on them. How does movement and combat on a bed work..?
Thanks in advance, and I apologise again for the elementary nature of my questions! :)
Have Nadya suggest disguises.
I'd not do the entire duration in rounds. Only combat. Once they finish combat in a region, assuming that it wasn't heard and resulting in another wave of reinforcements, then they can search the room and do whatever they want.
As for mapping... I personally am using roll20.net for maps. One benefit is that you can "grey out" the areas of the map they've not found. The drawback is that you and your gamers need an internet connection in that case. You could however, print out the map in sections, cut out each bit, and then "reassemble" the "puzzle" of the map as they find each new area.
As for beds and chairs, I consider those to be difficult terrain. So if you have furniture or the like, then going through or over it requires double movement points. Naturally, flying critters like pixies and sprites ignore that type of terrain.
Thanks for the prompt reply!
If disguised, how do you think they would break disguise? They get through the front door and then get jumped by the troll down there, who is backed up by the guards on the wall (who could slide down to join in).
We play together and most of us have iPads during the game, but we are trying to keep it a bit more low tech. I might print out the map in chunks, it's probably worth it for this space.
Now I just wish the damn miniatures would ship so I could use them instead of the cardboard pawns. :)
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For mapping a space like this, I would recommend getting some chart paper and drawing the outer walls of each level ahead of your session. That way you have a framework and can draw things fairly quickly, without giving away any spoilers.
Or if you want to print things out, there is an excellent step-by-step description on how to do that using Gimp and PosteRazor linked here. One small change, in step 6 you need to "export as", not save.
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Hatch knows the layout, so you could just place the maps on the table. I'd only go floor by floor, though.
I use the digital copy of the Reign of Winter maps product, click on the "remove DM notes" button, copy the images into photoshop, scale them up so one square is roughly an inch, and then print them off on the printer at work on 11 x 17 pages and then tape the pages together with clear packing tape. It works pretty well, and you get to use the cool artwork in the book.