I'm seriously considering re-mapping the Stag Lord's Keep.
I think the official map is kind of cramped. Especially for an archer BBEG. I'm thinking of throwing in a big gallery, with a narrow ladder/bridge leading to the Stag Lord's area. The bridge would be over a pit with the owlbear in it. I want to include the 3 big goons too. Probably with the rogue teamed up with some thugs (for flanky goodness), the pal/bar off to the side near some useful equipment (ropes, grappling hooks, poles, etc.), where he can come in, fight, betray, join the PCs, etc. I think I want put the big dummy near the main entrance, and throw in some oubliettes for him to throw PCs into (I re-built him to be a Bludgeoner/Enforcer/Intimidating Prowess-type with a greatclub).
I also re-built the Stag Lord to be a ranger 3/rogue 6 (sniper), CR 7 with his drunkeness. The PCs are pretty competent, and get 3 Hero Points per session.
I'm also giving the major NPCs a Hero Point or 2, I think.
My PCs are 4th level already: A cavalier/fighter, a rogue/witch, an archer cleric, and an archer ranger.
Does this sound like a good idea?
I did notice this myself, especially if the PCs manage to get Staggy in his bedroom (like mine did) and not give him a chance to come out and attack them before they get further in. So yeah, probably not a bad idea.
Let us see the new map when you finish it, if you do it =)
OK.
No pressure.
:-P
I did notice this myself, especially if the PCs manage to get Staggy in his bedroom (like mine did) and not give him a chance to come out and attack them before they get further in.
Mine did the same, leading to Staggy having to fight in melee while unprepared and drunk. Mind you, they worked for the victory, replacing the liquor shipment with a stronger version to keep him in bed, and being lucky enough to attract Akiros' attention before any of the other bandits could get suspicious.
I did find that I had to swap rooms round even in that case, because otherwise there was nowhere Akiros could leave them without somebody else getting a good look at them.
Mine tricked Staggy into accepting the one female party member as an "offering" along with the booze. And having emptied one of the kegs and Mikmek - later their Royal Assassin - hiding inside with her gear.
Mine tricked Staggy into accepting the one female party member as an "offering" along with the booze.
Which was the problem my lot had with passing as bandits - they were a party of five with only one male, and only two humans.
I also made the castle much larger and admittedly added more people to fit in it. That said, I had completely rebuilt the Stag Lord to be pretty dangerous and the fight was a rough one. Luckily the PCs were able to poison him and he took a large amount of Constitution damage.
I gave made the Stag Lord rogue 6 (sniper)/ranger 3 with PBS, II, Rapid Shot, Precise Shot, Many Shot, Weapon Focus longbow, Endurance, Diehard, Intimidating Prowess.
The pally/barb has Iron Will and Spring Focus.
The rogue has Weap Fin, Dodge, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, II.
The dumb fighter has Power Attack, Bludgeoner, Enforcer, Skill Focus Intimidate, Weapon Focus great club, and Intimidating Prowess.
An ADVANCED owlbear in a pit.
When you beat the stag lord here is a possibility
designed as my new castle from the fort ruins
Two owlbears in a pit. The druid is trying to get them to lay eggs. (He really should have checked the secondary sexual characteristics first...)
Yeah, maybe 2 owlbears are better than 1....
** spoiler omitted **
Damn, what level are your players? That'll be a rough fight, even with the drunken condition.
Normally the Stag Lord is supposed to be borderline insensate from alcohol by the time the PCs come across him, but we, well... We were getting a little frustrated poking around every single hex on the map looking for his camp, that we got this terrific idea to spread the nastiest, vilest rumors about him and his guys an effort to draw him out of hiding.
By the time we finally DID find his camp, he was off the hooch and looking to put these young upstarts who kept running their mouths about him in their place...
20 point buy level 4s, with 3 per session uses of Hero Points. A cavalier/fighter, a rogue/witch, an archer ranger, an archer cleric.
They're pretty good at what they do, and what they do isn't very nice.
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The first time I ran this the PCs were able to sneak in and coup de grace the Staglord.
The second time, he killed two PCs with his bow and had plenty of room to move about and make kill shots. I suggest that if you do end up keeping the fort's map, you have him make his way with a couple of the bandits to the second floor where he has better cover, the PCs have only one route to reach him, and he has a very open space to take his shots from. If you have a few bandits slow down the PCs in their fight to get to him he has plenty of opportunity to use his abilities and his bow.
20 point buy level 4s, with 3 per session uses of Hero Points. A cavalier/fighter, a rogue/witch, an archer ranger, an archer cleric.
They're pretty good at what they do, and what they do isn't very nice.
Ah fair enough. When I threw my party at this, they were level three and no hero points. So that looks about right.
Yeah, they're a pretty tough party.
So, I mapped it all out. I made it a pretty symmetrical 4 tower keep, with one of the towers being bigger than the others. The NE tower has collapsed into rubble. There is a raised gallery with lots of columns for the Stag Lord to snipe from. A rickety bridge crosses a pit filled with owlbears leading up to that gallery. The western gallery leading there has lots of rubble, a collapsed column to hide behind, and a chasm to leap. The eastern gallery has pretty much totally collapsed, but there are some shattered columns to leap frog across there.
Auchs's toys are going to act as improvised caltrops. He is designed to knock out the PCs, and then drag them into a cell that leads into the owlbear pit.
Dovan and some flank-worthy thugs are in the big tower, along with a fireplace, some stairs leading up to their quarters, and some big tables for fight on/hiding under/flipping for cover.
Akiros has claimed the smaller lower tower that leads to the western gallery. He keeps the mundane equipment against the wall of that gallery, under some tents.
The Stag Lord has the upper, un-ruined tower as his lair. A trapdoor below leads to the Decrepit Druid, the treasure, and a secret passage into the owlbear pit (it's a pretty big pit!).
It's also designed to have "reinforcements" come down from the towers if the main goons are too easy. Or shoot into the main central area that is open to the sky, where the owlbear pit is.
Finished Chapter 1! The fight was good. Only 1 PC got negative, but a lot were close. The cleric couldn't make it, but we had an inquisitor sub for him.
And the Inquisitor's player will be GMing chapter 2, so I get to run a PC!!!!! Yay!!!!
Going with a dwarf barbarian 1/magus 3.