So, my players just encountered good ol' Whalebone Pilk yesterday. After he said hello on the 3rd night by ramming and grappling one of their two ships, they boarded his ship, fought a rather long battle against zombies, then finally killed Pilk without taking out his Bell. Oddly enough, despite Pilk standing in the back ringing his bell every round, they didn't decide to try and destroy it, even though they thought the bell was the source of his ungodly steal life ability that they feared horribly after their captain nearly took a long, long nap from it.
However, they didn't just kill Pilk. They took his only, if rotten, ear (As seen in his picture), then the Undine Rogue (who is the Captain), stayed on board the ship as it sunk so he could destroy this "Creepy Ass" collection of 670 Skulls Pilk had. They then figured, as a ghost ship, he'd come back, so they pinned a note in waterproof materials to Pilk's corpse basically telling him "You messed with the wrong crew." Then they crushed his skull into fine powder.
Needless to say, when Pilk returns in 1d3 weeks, he's going to be pissed. He spent 80 years amassing that collection to pay off his debt-curse, and since he knows the name of the person who destroyed it, he's going to be back with a vengeance. So heres the idea:
Pilk returns as something bigger and nastier. I don't know what yet, but something partially incorporeal sounds nice.. maybe something headless even, since he lost his head. His crew will no longer be Brine Zombies, since many were destroyed, but instead be something worse.
He will hunt the sea actively, taking out a new ship every 3 days, mainly aiming at pirate ships. When he eventually does find the players, he will haunt them for 6 nights before attacking.
On the first night, he'll leave a single pirate ship for them to find. This ship is undamaged, completely empty of everything, having no bodies, no bloodstains, or even damage. All that will be on it will be a single fleshless skull nailed to the Mainmast.
On the second night, he'll leave them a second pirate ship, similar to the first, but filled with fresh, headless, fatless bodies in the lower deck, along with another fleshless skull nailed to the Mainmast. This one will have a ear tied to it.
On the third night, he'll leave them a third ship, complete with everything like the first two, but this one will have the captain's headless, fatless body laying under its skeleton with a note attached, saying something witty.
From there he does his usual 3 bits of haunting, until he attacks. This time however, he's much more aggressive and dangerous.
Now, I need from you guys - what should I make him? What should I make his crew? I want to challenge a higher-level group of players, so it should be far more dangerous than the original version of Pilk. I'm thinking level 9-10 is when they'll encounter him again.
No quite sure how that would have happened as it states in his stat block that If “destroyed,” Pilk (and his gear) dissolve into mist. So there should have been nothing left to defile and no skull to crush.
But nevermind its you're game and its no biggie.
Revenge seems good, change the ship maybe, make it tougher, add haunts?
Is for Pilk that would give you an ideal opertunity to use some of the info in Isle of Shackles. Make him a Duppy maybe or Drauger undead ghost pirate?
I like the ideas though :)
Yeah that was a "Woopsy" moment on my part, as I missed that bit of info lol.
Anyhoo, I'm definitely going to make it tougher, perhaps even give him some cannons he's salvaged from ships he's massacred. I do want there to be an actual ship-to-ship battle until the players realize they need to board it and either take out Pilk (again) or the bell.
In the last battle, they had two ships - one was rammed by Pilk's as he appeared 60ft off the port bow and got basically a surprise attack on them, then their other ship unanchored, went around and rammed his ship (18d8 damage looks like alot, but against a ship with ~1600 hp its really not)
So this time I'm probably going to make his ship have some more powerful things.. maybe make his great whaling ballista magical, give him a full compliment of cannons, and perhaps some enhancements to his ship. However, when they take him down, the ship will begin to immediately deterioriate along with all of its equipment (cannons included), so nothing will be salvagable this time, except for the infamy for taking out not only a legend, but also taking down a legend that was seriously pissed off at them.
For Pilk himself, I played around with the idea of a Dullahan (Headless Horseman), minus the horse, but I may instead make him an Advanced Revenant Fighter, aimed at taking revenge upon the ship's captain, Captain Ghoulbeard, who not only smashed his head, but destroyed his skulls that he needed. Perhaps even merge Breath Taker and Revenant.. making it so the Revenant can use the Steal Breath ability, or whatever it's called.
They already called this a very cliched fight last session.. time to twist it and make them fear the memory of Whalebone Pilk!
Alrighty Lads! After taking a break from this campaign to do a friend's campaign as well as a Dark Crusade Campaign, I be back!
And I believe I've finished re-building Whalebone Pilk for round two!
Returned Whalebone Pilk CR 10
Xp 9600
Male Advanced Breath Taker Undead Lord Fighter 2
CE Medium Undead (Aquatic)
Init +11; Senses: Perception +17
Aura: Desecration 20ft Radius
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AC 22 (Touch 16, FF 16)(+2 Armor, +6 Dex, +4 Natural)
Hp: 117 (8d8+2d10+70);
Fort +13, Ref +10, Will +12; Channel Resistance +7
Defensive Abilities: Rejuvenation, DR 10/Magic
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Speed: 20 ft, Swim 50ft
Melee: +1 Seeking Cutlass +14/+9 (1d6+15/18-20x2) or 2 Claws +13/+13 (1d4+14/x2) or Incorporeal Touch +16 (Steal Air)
Ranged: +1 Seeking Harpoon +14 (1d8+15/x3) or Mwk Heavy Ballista +13
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th, Concentration +17)
1/day: Summon Undead (3 Advanced Fast Brine Zombies, 1 minute)
Special Attacks: Steal Air (DC 22 Fort), Command Undead 10/day (DC 22 Will/ Brine Zombie/Breath Taker Only), Create Spawn (1d4 Minutes, Advanced Fast Brine Zombie)
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Str 24, Dex 24, Con --, Int 19, Wis 21, Cha 24
BAB +8/+3, CMB +15, CMD 32
Feats: Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Harpoon), Exotic weapon Proficiency (Heavy Ballista), Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Profession [Sailor]), Power Attack, Deadly Aim, Command Undead
Skills: Climb +16, Intimidate +18, Perception +17, Profession (Sailor) +19, Sense Motive +9, Stealth +18, Swim +21
Languages: Common; Undead Tepathy (100 ft)
SQ:
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Gear: Leather Armor, +1 Seeking Harpoon, +1 Seeking Cutlass
I plan on having the players face him when they're level 8 - even then, he's quite the beast. I've given him two templates and an extra level of Fighter - not to mention, all of his Brine Zombies are now Advanced Fast Brine Zombies (CR 2 each), along with Whalebone having picked up Master Scourge from the ocean floor where the players last left him. (He's going to be an Advanced Fast Brine Zombie Lord Rogue/Fighter)
When the players encounter Pilk 2.0, he'll go with his usual bit of stalking them for 3 days - they'll know who it is and know he's back for revenge. However, on the 3rd night, a thick fog sets in, making combat that much more difficult. First, Pilk (Who can see through the fog) hits their ship with his heavy ballista - then an undecided number of Zombies board the players' ship from the water, with Scourge leading the attack. After they're repelled, Pilk hits them with another ballista bolt, only to ram them immediately afterwards. More zombies will board, until the players can get past them, board the Deathknell, and take out Pilk and his accursed bell.
Pilk has 50 zombies at his disposal and is not afraid to use them, though not all at once. He seeks revenge. He wont' rest until he's either permanently destroyed or he has the captain's skull mounted on his mainmast. The same captain who destroyed his precious skulls.
Whatcha guys think?
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Hm I'm probably going to wait until after the Free Captain's Regatta actually, but before the Island of Empty Eyes. These guys (The zombies) are kinda strong for CR 2's.
Xp 600
NE Medium Undead
Init +3; Senses: Perception +2
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AC 21 (Touch 13, FF 18)(+3 Dex, +8 Natural)
Hp: 30 (4d8+4+8);
Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +6
Immune: Undead Traits; Resist Fire 10
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Speed: 40 ft, Swim 30ft
Melee: 2 Slams +7/+7 (1d6+6/x2)
Special Attack: Quick Strikes
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Str 18, Dex 16, Con --, Int --, Wis 14, Cha 14
BAB +3, CMB +7, CMD 20
Feats: Toughness (B)
Skills: Swim +10
SQ:
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Gear: None
Xp 800
Male Advanced Zombie Lord Brine Zombie Human Fighter (CAD) 2/Rogue (Pirate) 3
NE Medium Undead
Init +10; Senses: Perception +3
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AC 23 (Touch 17, FF 16)(+6 Dex, +6 Natural, +1 Dodge)
Hp: 64 (2d10+3d8+4d8+9+9+3)
Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +8: Channel Resistance +4
DR: 5/Slashing; Immune Undead Traits; Resist 10 fire
Defensive Abilities: Evasion;
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Speed 30 ft, Swim 30ft
Melee: Mwk Whip +15 (1d3+5/x2/15ft Reach/10ft Provoke) or Slam +13 (1d6+7)
SA: Sneak Attack +2d6
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Str 20, Dex 22, Con --, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 12
BAB +7/+1, CMB +12 (+13 Steal, Dirty Trick, Disarm, +15 Disarm with Whip), CMD 28 (29 vs Steal, Dirty Trick, Disarm)
Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whip)(1), Weapon Finesse (F1), Improved Initiative (H), Weapon Focus (Whip)(F2), Whip Mastery (3), Extra Rogue
Talent (5), Toughness (B), Improved Whip Mastery, Dodge
Skills: Acrobatics +15, Bluff +8, Climb +12, Disable Device +11, Intimidate +14, Profession (Sailor) +10, Disguise +8, Sleight of Hand +15,
Stealth +15
Languages: Common
SQ: Swinging Reposition, Dirty Maneuvers, Rogue Crawl
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*Note: I did beef up Scourge earlier in the AP, so thats why his stats are slightly different than original*
Basically, my arguement for them being Advanced is that they're all fueled by the anger, hatred, and need for revenge of Whalebone Pilk. So they're more dangerous.. which means the players created an even worse scourge of the seas. Good job players!
XD
Really like your ideas and NPC reworks here, CP.
My characters haven't reached the first encounter with Pilk yet so I don't know if they'll figure it out first time or not either. If they don't I'll definitely keep this in reserve for Plik's reappearance at a later date.
Mr Scourge definitely needs to make a second appearance: after all the time and effort put into making him hateful to the PCs the man deserves at least one curtain call.;D
I'd thought about having him on the Deathknell from the beginning, but depending on how my group handles the first encounter I may save him for an "advanced" second go-around.
Great work!
Awesome idea dude, like it.
mmmm scourge and plugg coming back...ideas....I might pinch this idea too, seems like a good idea to me to have them both on the deathknell, I may make them as Pilks bodyguards..I need to re-work the ship slighly anyway as this is the last encounter in my game for book 2.
Well, they really hated Scourge, so bringing him back will just allow them to appease their hatred in killing him a second time!
Plus, he got seriously shafted during the mutiny when he tried to swim away and got captured by the Undine Rogue. Scourge was basically the only one on the entire ship that took no damage during the mutiny (He's a coward and I played him like one), yet he got waterboarded until dead.
I noticed a slight error in my previous designs - Advanced Template only gives +2 Natural Armor, yet I was giving them +4. XD
Also, thanks for the input :D and Plugg won't be returning in my game - he's not dead yet. The players have him as a sort of... mutilated mascot.