Customizing Carrion Crown


Carrion Crown


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I’m adapting the Carrion Crown adventure path for my party of five players. My plan is to add enough encounters to each section to boost the players’ XP and wealth up to expected levels. I don’t want these to be wandering monsters, or more of what’s already in the adventure path; instead, I want them to be directly related to the players’ backgrounds--chances to fufill their ambitions, or their pasts catching up with them.

Here’s my crew:

Character descriptions:
A Life Oracle (Seer) from a nomadic Varisian clan. He’s a fortuneteller who casts the harrow and is haunted by the ghost of his grandmother, who passed the family’s harrow deck down to him. Before becoming an Oracle, he was the Professor’s carriage driver.

A Sczarni Rogue who obtained occult works for Professor Lorrimor through dodgy methods.

A Wizard (Necromancer) who was the Professor’s apprentice when Kendra was just a girl. They had a falling out; the Professor thought he was too interested in the dark arts they were learning to defeat.

A Dwarven Inquisitor (Infiltrator). He’s been trained by the Pharasman Inquisition to track down the nests of Urgathoan cultists believed to riddle Ustalav; part of his training was a course with the Professor. He’s the only nonhuman in the group.

An Alchemist (Chiurgon) whose wife died giving birth to a dhampir daughter shortly after being attacked by a vampire. He’s been searching for a cure for her condition; he corresponded extensively with the Professor.

If any of them have stumbled across this thread, I ask that they please read no further.

I’d like to ask you messageboard folks for your opinions of the changes I’m making to the adventure path and the additions I’m making to my PC’s backgrounds. I’d also really like to hear any ideas you have for encounters I can use to bring their backgrounds into the main plot.

The greatest change I’ve made to the plot is to the character of Adrissant, whom I’ve given the ambition to usurp the Whispering Tyrant.

Adrissant in my game:
He has contrived a formula for a Carrion Crown elixir that will make the body of a decendant of Tar-Baphon similar enough to the Whispering Tyrant’s own carcass that the lich’s own phylactery won’t be able to tell the difference. Since, in my Goralion, Tar-Baphon’s imprisonment is the result of his phylactery being stuck in a failure mode--it continually rebuilds his body, which is continually destroyed by the shard of Arden’s shield--drinking the elixir atop Gallowspire should result in the phylactery transferring the lich’s spirit to this new body.

Adrissant has convinced the Whispering Way to help him towards his goal, explaining to the Grey Friar that they could abduct a distant decendant (Galdan) of the Whispering Tyrant and allow the lich to seize his body for himself. But Adrissant has a secret--he is also a descendant of Tar-Baphon, and to his way of thinking, the Whispering Tyrant’s deserving heir. He believes, in his arrogance, that he can subsume Tar-Baphon’s spirit into his own, and take the lich’s powers for himself. He admits to himself that perhaps his acendancy isn’t guaranteed, but he believes the risk well worth taking.

The endgame, then, will be the players rushing to Gallowspire while Adrissant and Tar-Baphon fight for control. The transfer of the lich’s vast power will take many days, and Adrissant will be wracked with agony the whole time, his incredible force of will only letting him cling to himself by the most tenuous of grips as the Whispering Tyrant’s power mounts inside him. The party will hear their battle of wills via the Tyrant’s Whisper haunts that batter them on their way to the tower. Presumably they will reach the top of Gallowspire before the transfer can be completed, and will need to defeat the unstable, incomplete lich and destroy it to prevent Tar-Baphon from escaping his prison.

Why the change? It simply fits my narrative instincts better. I’ll make other aesthetic adjustments to each section along the way. As examples, here’s a number of changes I’ve made to the Haunting of Harrrowstone to make it feel more internally consistent to me.

Harrowstone in my game:
I’ve made Father Grimburrow a fanatical Penitent, one of the Pharasmans who believes suffering in life is rewarded at Pharasma’s final judgement, as this helps me explain why he’s never attempted to exorcise the obviously haunted prison: He believes it’s Ravengro’s appointed lot to suffer the curse of Harrowstone. To make him somewhat sympathetic despite his horrid fatalism, I’ve made him a fantastic midwife. The people of Ravengro haven’t lost a mother or child in birth since he arrived forty years ago, which means he’s well-loved.

There’s an old legend in Ravengro that “Harrowstone was built to hold the dead as well as the living,” which the old folks use to mean that the town is safe even though the ruins are haunted. This legend comes from the precautions the superstitious and wary Ustalavic government took with the corpses of executed prisoners to prevent their unquiet souls from returning, such as burying them upside down and nailed into coffins with a oaken stake through their hearts. Another such precaution was the badge of the warden, which incorporated a gem empowered to compel the spirits of the dead--this was the “harrow-stone” that gave the prison its name.

The dead in the Restlands do not rise, as the cemetary is consecrated to Pharasma. Dead folks not buried there will definitely be a problem, however. This includes a drowned couple whose boat capsized in a storm that blew out of Virlych after the Professor’s death, some moldering Varisians murdered by brigands, River (the town’s dog mascot), and others.

The prolific family that runs the general store are halflings in my game. I use them to highlight the xenophobia and racism of the Ravengro farmers. There’s a town-and-country conflict that’s been brewing for many years, with the shopkeepers and tradesmen being more tolerant of outsiders than the completely clannish and insular farmers. Old Gibbs, once a soldier of Ustalav’s border guard, is the farmers’ ringleader.

Zokar was witness to Vrood and his fellow necromancers as they passed through town, the one who alerted the Professor to their activities. He pickpocketed a spell component pouch off one of them and showed it to Lorrimor. The contents convinced the Professor he was dealing with the Whispering Way, but unfortunately also made him think they were too low level to be a threat--Zokar had lifted an apprentice’s pouch, with no components for high-level spells. The apprentice necromancer didn’t mention its disappearance, fearing Vrood’s reaction, and instead replaced it at the Furled Scroll. Alendru, willing to sell necromancy supplies to such a shady character, comes across a rather shady character himself, a bit of a red herring for the players as they look for the Whispering Way.

Vrood killed the Professor with Circle of Death. A perfect circle of dead vegetation surrounds the spot where he fell, a fact overlooked when his body was recovered, since the plants had not been dead long enough to change color. This could alert the players to Vrood’s power level and gives them a clue on how to prepare for their eventual encounter.

Adrissant, one of the Professor’s correspondents, did not come to the funeral, but sent his condolences to Kendra along with a diplomatic if too hasty offer to buy his entire research library. Several PCs are familiar with Adrissant’s reputation as a wealthy book collector with arcane interests.

Kendra fears her father was killed for having anaphexic knowledge. That’s a legend among the academics of Ustalav, that learning the wrong things can be fatal. Which is true enough, but not in his case.

Some of these changes were made to resonate with my players’ backgrounds, as I describe below.

PC background secrets:

The Oracle’s family harrow deck carries a curse related to the failure of prophecy, symbolized by a phantom 53rd card--count the cards face-down and there are 53, count them face-up and there are 52. The 53rd card is the Dead God, and it expresses meaninglessness and futility. Should it ever be drawn in a reading, the results would be catastrophic. His grandmother’s spirit lingers to prevent this from happening; should he ever circumvent her guardianship--perhaps by using the harrowstone badge on her--he could invite disaster.

The Rogue has the blood of King’s Wolves in his veins. He’s not a werewolf himself, but the kinship he feels towards them could try his loyalties, especially once he is offered a chance to join their number. The elders of his Sczarni troupe are aware of the connection, and have profited from doing the werewolves’ bidding. The King’s Wolves have an admirable purpose, the destruction of the Whispering Tyrant, but their methods can be needlessly cruel and savage.

The Inquisitor’s superiors are hunting for the cause behind the disappearance of so many of Ustalav’s academics, suspecting the Church of Urgathoa. In truth, there are several organizations that target scholars in Ustalav: the Whispering Way recruits promising necromancers and enslaves useful ones as undead thralls; the Anaphexia murder those who learn forbidden knowledge and steal their secrets; Conte Tirac abducts gifted alchemists and others who might aid his search for his cure for vampirism, and so on.

The Alchemist’s wife was targeted by Conte Tirac. Disappointed by persistent failure of the alchemists in his thrall, the vampire conte decided to try a new tactic. He assaulted the pregnant wife of a brilliant young Alchemist, causing her death and the birth of a dhamphir child. Hiding his partonage, he has guided him into a search for her cure.

The Necromancer’s name was passed on to several of the Professor’s long-time academic correspondents, asking them to watch over him, or more to the point, watch out for him. A number of arcanists and Pharasman have therefore heard of him as a potential black necromancer. Most of these correspondents are exactly the trustworthy champions of light that the professor thought they were. A few are agents of the dark powers he set himself against.

That’s rather a lot of information to dump on you folks, I know. Thanks for browsing through it. If you have any helpful suggestions or creative ideas, please share them.


I also ran with five players, and we're currently halfway through book 3. I wrote up a review about the encounters and changes I made for 5 players a bit ago.
Here's the thread for Harrowstone and here is my thread for Trial of the Beast. Hope some of that helps


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I gave up XP halfway thought book 2. Its really much easier to just level them.


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Fantastic customizations all around. I'm 2/3 through Wake, and am kicking myself that I didn't reinforce more narratives as you have from the outset.

One thing I did have the foresight to do is include a reoccurring villain figure from very nearly the outset. A Halfling Ninja/Illusionist (specialized in disguises) apprentice to Auren Vrood, "gifted" by the WW into undeath as a JuJu zombie. "Vrood's Child" has made appearances as follows;

Spoiler:

I started in book 1 with him sneakily stealing up all the Whispering Way related books in the Lorrimor household (while living in the attic and listening in on all their conversations), and the first glance of them they had was as he rode hellbent out of town with all the books (he'd also deathgagged Kendra, should be an interesting twist for later, i had her move to Caliphas after book 1). The Next event for the Halfling was en route to Ascanor Lodge, where he ambushed them with a Mohrg infested Zokar (the party's favorite NPC in Ravengro, really driving up the emotional stakes and grimdark here). They pounded my villain hard, and yet he escaped. Next event was At Ascanor itself, right as the wolf spirit pounced, once again ramping up the tension and driving home his presence. Lastly he made an appearance at the climactic battle with Vrood, where he effectively garnered the hate of at least 4/6 of my group due to the all consuming hatred they have for him by this point. Once again, he gets pounded and yet escapes, only this time with Vrood dead setting up his inevitable return and the iconic payoff phrase...

"You killed my master..." *queue cheesy martial arts flick sound*

I level him up to match the group at each stage, so he doesn't get totally gibbed, and has the chance to do what he's built to do, escape and return later to further annoy. He's not deadly, but he did give the group something tangible to hate about the Whispering Way, since they're not particularly not adroit at investigation games, and I wanted the name Vrood to stand out early and often.

As it comes to XP and all that, I like to use the larger group size as an opportunity to flex my design chops, and to break up some of the themes of each book. If I don't design a slightly off path area with neat creepy monsters, I'll simply add something Big And Scary to each major or poignent encounter spot (Like a Bloody Flaming Hill Giant Skeleton with a Greatclub) and occasionally max the HP of a fun monster, to preserve it into round 3. My Players aren't real good at investigations, but they murder up baddies real fast.

Good luck with your campaign!

Sovereign Court

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Love your secret backgrounds.

about AA:
Why not have him show up to the funeral himself? In my campaign I didn't get privy to AA right away. I got lucky and a player joined to make my group about half way through Harrowstone. I had AA arrive with the new PC. Gave his condolences and was more than willing to help out.

AA ended up having to proceed on to Lepistadt for business. After the PCs finished Harrowstone they headed to Lepistadt with Kendra. Once there AA offered Kendra a scholarship at Caliphas university. She left with him.

Later on when the PCs got to Ascanor lodge they freaked out about the invites. They thought something bad happened to AA and Kendra. Oh man you should have seen their faces when they defeated Vrood. "Wait this letter is signed by......oh S!@#"

For fun once the PCs arrived in Caliphas I had Kendra replaced by a waxed golem. Wow what a fun monster! Speaking of cool monsters I like you don't care much for random encounters. I replaced the centipedes in the tomb in the Ravengro cemetery with the floating beheaded in the bestiary in book 1. I made up a special one for each PC. Everybody had a blast.

Some XP advice you can take or leave. I don't like using XP so I'm all about the advancement track. I have 5 PCs at 20 pt buy. I have been keeping them about 1 level behind the track and its been a perfect ride so far. Another thing to note is that my players are a bit optimized hence the level behind.

Hope you have Fun!


Stay Calm and Carrion, that is some good stuff.

Huh. Is Grimburrow going to be pissed if the PCs lay Harrowstone to rest?

I had Adivion interect with the party at both Book 2 and Book 5, and I took out the references to AA in book 3 (Vrood forged an invitation by Count Caromarc to the Lodge, and then Vrood's note at the end was signed by Lucimar), to help with blindsiding the party with Adivion's betrayal at the end of Book 5.


Rakshaka wrote:
I wrote up a review about the encounters and changes I made for 5 players ...Hope some of that helps

I’ll have a look. Thanks.

Windspirit wrote:
I gave up XP halfway thought book 2. Its really much easier to just level them.

I may reach that point eventually. Right now I’m using the need to add extra encounters as an opportunity to emphasize their backgrounds.

Gruffling wrote:
Fantastic customizations all around. I'm 2/3 through Wake, and am kicking myself that I didn't reinforce more narratives as you have from the outset.

Thanks! I bet your recurring villain kept your players interested. I hope to do the same by making their backgrounds connect to each other and to the machinations of the campaign’s big bads, just as you had him foreshadow Vrood.

Pan wrote:
Love your secret backgrounds.

Thanks!

Pan wrote:
Why not have (AA) show up to the funeral himself?

My players are pretty proactive mystery solvers. I suspected that after the Whispering Way was discovered to be involved in the Professor’s death, they might have chased after the mysterious guest who skipped town after the funeral to find out if he was one of the necromancers.

Having AA show up with a new player later on was a clever move on your part.

Pan wrote:
Speaking of cool monsters I like you don't care much for random encounters. I replaced the centipedes in the tomb in the Ravengro cemetery with the floating beheaded in the bestiary in book 1. I made up a special one for each PC. Everybody had a blast.

I do wish I had thought to replace the centipedes with something less random, though I probably wouldn’t have had undead guarding a tomb in a Pharasman cemetary. A guardian animate object set by the Shining Crusade that the Professor bypassed with an obscure password would have worked. Something with hardeness less than 10! A spear, perhaps.

Zhangar wrote:
Stay Calm and Carrion, that is some good stuff.

Thanks!

Zhangar wrote:
Is Grimburrow going to be pissed if the PCs lay Harrowstone to rest?

I expect Grimburrow will take a successful exorcism as evidence that he was right all along... the Lady of Graves delivered the town thanks to his patience.

Zhangar wrote:
I had Adivion interect with the party at both Book 2 and Book 5, and I took out the references to AA in book 3 (Vrood forged an invitation by Count Caromarc to the Lodge, and then Vrood's note at the end was signed by Lucimar), to help with blindsiding the party with Adivion's betrayal at the end of Book 5.

My plan to foreshadow AA in Leipstadt is to have one of the players challenged by a member of the Dueling Society there, and to have the winner awarded a place on their wall of champions next to...AA, who I plan to restore to being to a rapier-wielding Magus of repute. I might even have him available to sneer at them and flatten them in a duel if they challenge him.


@Stay Calm and Carrion- Love the Harrowstone stuff, especially Father Grimburrow, might yoink this if I run the AP.

Nice stuff Pan and Gruffling too, might have to yoink these too.

Sovereign Court

yoink away :)

Trial o'beast:
My PCs did well on some evidence but not so great on others. I had Vork and grine get suspicious of these outsiders and decide to get proactive. They tried to get to the sanctuary before the PCs but got there just after the PCs did. They sick'd their hound golem on the PCs to test them out. When the PCs handled the golem they split.

To try another route to derail the trial vork kidnapped barrister Gaple. The PCs had to go searching for him. They decided to check out the chemical works. Hmm hound golem out front somethings fishy here. PCs decide to break in the place through the roof.

Fight ensues. The PCs drive grine inside the works and are fighting him. Halfling bard decides to check out another room during the fight. Finds Gaple bound and gagged on the bed. Releases him and orders him to get out. PCs topple Grine. No sign of Vorkstag though. PCs find skinned body in the closet....oh s!@#.

Grine admitted everything in favor of clemency. Mob justice decided otherwise for poor grine. Vorkstag fled to Caliphas swearing revenge on the PCs. He met his end finally when PCs managed to make their way there. His ambush was not clever enough!

This is a fun book!


My players are starting the Trial of the Beast. This week’s session had them entering Lepidstadt. I’m pretty excited about the Trial, and have continued to customize the adventure path to suit my group.

Between-Adventure Encounters:
The extra encounters I gave them between adventures went okay, but were a little too dangerous for my players. In particular, a fight with three Quicklings intent on stealing whatever the party had locked in a oaken chest (the Professor’s books, as it happened) very nearly killed two of the party. I had mixed success bringing my players’ character backgrounds into the game.

The Oracle has multiclassed into Ranger, with an eye towards becoming a Horizon Walker. One of the between-encounters was aimed at giving him a chance to visit a Desnan holy site, helping him qualify for the prestige class, and emphasizing his Oracele curse (haunted). However, the party breezed through the area without visiting it.

The Rogue was killed under Harrowstone. He was replaced with a Ranger, the laconic descendant of one of the noble families of Canterwall that were kicked out of power when the county became a palatinate. One of the between-encounters gave him the chance to track down a group of orcish raiders, establishing that he inherited his family’s sense of duty, though nothing else.

The Fighter’s player had to leave the game--new baby in the house--and was replaced by a new player who’s running a Changeling Witch with a healing patron. One of the between-encounters had her bump into an evil Changeling Druid, foreshadowing the schemes of her relations, powerful hags they’ll meet later on.

The Wizard, Alchemist, and Inquisitor will have lots of extra spotlight in Lepidstadt, as their backgrounds tie in to the University and the Church there, so I didn’t direct any of the between-game encounters at their backgrounds.

They befriended the Crooked Kin and seemed to genuinely like the characters. I’m looking for ways to have the carneys reenter the plot, such as offering a potential refuge for the nonhostile Mongrelmen or even the Beast. Also, I’ve decided the shapeshifterbane dagger will work against Vorstag, totenmaskes and other plot-relevant shapeshifters.

Investigation changes:

I nudged the players into taking rooms above the Brazen Skull. They’ve met members of the famous Lepidstadt dueling society, befriending some and antagonizing others. The Ranger has been challenged to a duel. However, my main purpose in introducing the dueling society is to foreshadow Adrissant, whose portrait looms in the Brazen Skull--he’s the only undefeated champion. I’ve also given them dueling society contact, a dissipated but good-natured magus of ex-noble birth, who can give them background on the county/palintate revolution and how it relates to Count Caromac, foreshadowing the noblist plot in book 3. He’ll also snark about how putting a construct on trial for murder makes about as much sense as putting a boot on trial.

Since the investigation for the trial hinges on little details, I’m trying to balance nudging the party towards the answers without making them feel like I’m spoon-feeding them. I try to do that through dramatic staging (the courthouse guards spitefully keep the Beast shackled in darkness, but he scrapes childish nature scenes in the walls using darkvision, which could help the players interpret their findings at Morast) or, failing that, through description (the Beast is covered with old scars, but mostly on his lower body).

I’ve elaborated on the “small, religious farming community” of Hergstag, making it a failed utopian community of Shelyn worshippers. Led by an elven priestess, the village fell apart when she lost her half-elven daughter Ellsa, and subsequently her faith. This Elder will be a surprise witness for the prosecution, making the scene revolving around the Beast's weeping/laughing more personal.

I’m fleshing out Vorkstag and Grine. Grine is an agent of the Anaphexia, who are in contact with a clan of Norgrober-worshipping dark stalkers and dark creepers who live in the caverns beneath the Monestary of the Veil. That’s how Vorkstag and Grines obtain the oddest of Darklands specimens to sell; most of the profits from that sideline are channeled to the Anaphexia. His profitable business in cadavers with his partner Vorkstag is his own project.

I’m going to have Vorkstag show up in various guises throughout the investigation. He’ll be in the audience the first day of the trial disguised as a respectable citizen, expecting to see the Beast take the fall for his crimes in Morast, but will see the PCs defend him. He will then approach them disguised as the scholar Katarina Vilt, the merchant Bolgo Znojmo, and the courtesan Olga Slovech, trying to distract, discourage and undermine them. I’m really, really hoping to get one of them in bed with Olga for maximum effect when they eventually find the cabinet of skins.

Castle and Whispering Way changes:

The greatest change I’ve made to this adventure is reworking the Whispering Way’s schedule and motivations. In my game, Count Caromac’s castle was Auren Vrood’s first stop. Adrissant needed a alchemist of Caromac’s calibre to reverse-engineer the Carrion Crown formula from Tar-Baphon’s cryptic poem and other notes. Trying to hire or simply asking the count was out of the question--secrecy was paramount--so Vrood brought a notorious scholar from the Whispering Way, a totenmaske archivist bard who could combine the Borrow Skill spell and its Fleshdrink ability to steal Caromac’s immense knowledge. (Kudos to Raskshasa for this idea.) The totenmaske sealed the count’s mouth before locking him in the misery idol in the room with the Aberrent Promethean, which is not berzerk enough to attack its master, but cannot tell him and the totenmaske apart.

Stealing the count’s knowledge a cannibalistic nibble at a time, the totenmaske figured out the components of of the Carrion Crown. Vrood set out to pick them up, Ravengro being his first stop. While he was there, one of his adepts secretly sold a flesh golem manual stolen from Castle Caromac; the players might connect the dots there, as it is bound in gorilion hide, and its missing book plate left an impression identical to the book plate in the Beast’s lost book of poetry.

Meanwhile, the totenmaske lived in Castle Caromac, working on a biography of the count. The totenmaske calls itself The Viviographer, having effaced any other name with the passage of centuries. A nightmare given flesh by Geir, the Whispering Tyrant’s head researcher in ages past, the Viviographer delights in peeling back the superficialities of historical figures and writing what their lives were really like, from a perspective only it can acheive. It obtained details of the count’s life from his constructs, his servants and contacts, and his library, occasionally supplemented by interrogation and magic. Along the way, it discovered such secrets as the origin of the Beast, the operation of the Bondslave Thrall, and the security on the Lepidstadt Museum’s vault--a lightning trap designed by the count. This permitted it to accomplish Adrissant’s second goal in the area, the theft of the Seasage Effigy. Vrood returned to pick up the Effigy; the totenmaske stayed to finish its biography and another personal project--stitching together the remains of the count’s servants into a flesh golem. By the time the players make their appearance, the count has lost most of his legs to the totenmaske’s gnawings, and most of his mind to despair. If they rescue him, the count will get packed off to Havenguard sanitarium while his noblist friends and supporters offer the PCs a mighty sum of gold for helping him and to support their efforts to track down the necromancers who assaulted him.

Miscellaneous minor tweaks: As he left for the second time, Auren Vrood killed a solicitor and his personal guard who were headed to Castle Caromac, using Circle of Death; this left the signature perfect circle of dead vegetation that the players should remember from Harrowstone, once again hinting at his power level and forewarning them about that spell. When the trial concludes, the totenmaske again seizes control of the Beast with the Bondslave Thrall, forces him to Castle Caromac, and puts him into a catatonic state; the characters will have to get to the device to free their friend and defeat the Promethean. The totenmaske (as Caromac, of course) hired the trolls to bring it more bodies for its golem; they did, but it hasn’t payed them, so they’re considering storming the castle. The totenmaske knows there should be a flesh golem manual somewhere, and wants it. If the characters put it on the market, it will end up in its hands; if they reveal it indiscreetly, it will attempt to trick it from them.


i'm going for more of a harry potter feel this fall for my daughter and her friends. AA's father will be a retired teacher and AA will be with him at the funeral and might drop him in at a few other points as an ally of sorts, that will make his big reveal at the end all the more Gasp inducing:) should be fun:) and yes i will require everyone have to start as a spell casting class of some sort (arcane or divine, makes no difference) i might even have AA be a professor of Magi study, this will also allow me to try out the academy rules fro Inner Sea Magic.

Sovereign Court

spoiler:
"I’m really, really hoping to get one of them in bed with Olga for maximum effect when they eventually find the cabinet of skins."

Oh thats devious! Vorkstag is such a fun villain!


I'm trying to figure out how to NOT disappoint my players, at the moment. I think I've overdone it with the buildup

Spoiler:

- they're convinced (and extremely excited about) that the final confrontation in Gallowspire is going to be with Tar-Baphon himself.

I'm just really concerned that they're going to fight Adrissant, and then rub their hands together thinking: "Right! Now for the Whispering Tyrant!"

I've dropped the hint that Tar-Baphon is basically the Vecna of Golarion, and that he's at borderline deity levels of power, but that just makes them more excited - especially now that the Mythic rules are out.

I'm not sure where to go from there: having them delve into the Gallowspire caverns and confront Tar-Baphon is a possibility, I guess, but it means 1) discounting a lot of lore (like getting past the Great Seal without breaking the three lesser seals, for example) and 2) ending an epic, nation-spanning campaign with a dungeon crawl.

The only other option I can see is have Adrissant be completely consumed when he discovers he IS a descendent of Tar-Baphon, and have them face the Whispering Tyrant instead of Adrissant atop Gallowspire. But it kind of leaves cold all the build up with Adrissant (who they currently view as a friend and ally...when he is finally revealed as their nemesis, I know they'll desperately want to take him down).

They are only about halfway through Broken Moon at the moment, so there's still plenty of time, but I'm at a bit of a loss...

Does anyone have any suggestions for this?

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Make it Mythic. Broken Moon has a perfect spot for ascension. If you've read it all you know where. Start dropping hints that the lesser seals are also being broken. (In fact in canon one is already in one of the modules though I can't remember which off-hand). While Gallowspire is a dungeon crawl, it's also an awesome mythic dungeon crawl. If you don't have it, buy Dungeons of Golarion, Artifacts & Legends (you may want to give the players the rest of the Shield of Aroden before they go down), and when it comes out Mythic Realms for stats on the Tyrant. It will require a bit of work on your part but could make for an amazing adventure. It's similar to what I'm going to do, albeit my Mythic Ascension is sooner. If you want I can give you some of my notes when I'm done writing them.


I'm 100% with Cori on this one.

I was actually planning something similar myself - I'll post some of my notes when I have the time.


Good points, Cori. Yep, I was planning on making it Mythic at (I think) the same spot you're talking about.

I'll look into the breaking of the seals - I don't remember it, myself, but if it's happened once, I can add some other stuff that includes the breaking of the rest.

Thanks for the suggestion!


Actually...thinking about that, Cori, I'm tempted to go the whole-hog and involve the Shattered Shield of Arnisant being reformed, and have something to do with the resurrection of Aroden...hmmm...thinking, thinking...:)

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Well remember, the reason they haven't reforged the shield is that one piece is stuck in Gallowspire. ;)


Actually...I've kind of got that covered via one of the character's backstory.

Skaarlia is a dhampir inquisitor, the "child" of a vampire noble called Vladimus, who is something of a maverick within the vampire world of Ustalav. We'd already established that he and Serviage hate each other, and that he was linked to Tar-Baphon from some time ago. The player even came up with an undead dragon that he rode - which I've since adopted to replace the end "mini-"boss from Ashes at Dawn.

Importantly, though, I'm thinking of replacing Malyas (sp?), the owner of Castle Kronquist, with Vladimus. Thing is, Vladimus loves to taunt and create despair in his victims - especially Skaarlia. He's already turned several of Skaarlia's friends into vampires, just for the hell of it.

I'm thinking he'd be well-placed to have obtained the last shard of the shield from Gallowspire (I can handwave how he actually physically got ahold of it! :) ) - and he'd LOVE to taunt Skaarlia with it.

Driving it through his heart as a stake would be pretty friggin' awesome, too... :)

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Also, "Hungry Are The Dead" is the module that involves the breaking of one of the lesser seals.


Cori Marie wrote:
Also, "Hungry Are The Dead" is the module that involves the breaking of one of the lesser seals.

Aha! :) Thanks for that. I would never have guessed that one - it's too "removed" from all the epic stuff, and kind of drops in the seal.

"Oh, and by the way? This dinky little 6th level adventure that's a conclusion to our arc set in a lumber town? Yeah...it's going to involve the opening of one of the three things holding Golarion's version of Vecna at bay!"...wow...that escalated quickly! :)

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Right? I was reading through it and went "WAIT WHAT?!"

Grand Lodge

So currently I'm running two separate groups through Carrion Crown.

One group is offline and made up of people met through Reddit and the local gaming store's posting board. The second group is made up of old friends and takes place through google + and the roll20 app.

As mentioned in the Broken Moon GM Reference I am currently having trouble with the offline group and a single character in particular: a paladin optimized for archery and thoroughly min-maxed (please no arguments) who trivializes encounters.

The purpose of my post is to come up with changes of encounters to challenge that character without ruining the game for the other players.

If you are a player in Carrion Crown and hoping not to be spoiled on events in the game click on the spoiler tag at your detriment.

Proposed Changes:

This group is made up of the following:
Human Fighter 7
Human Rogue 5 / Shadowdancer 2
Human Cleric (Evangelist) 7
Half-Orc Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 7
Aasimarr Paladin 7
Tiefling Witch 7

The group is currently just beginning Broken Moon. They have just returned to Ascanor Lodge after their first encounter with the Vallensag werewolves. The next likely encounter is either going to be a hunting trip with Duristan or the Giant Tarantula. Here are my planned encounters to challenge the group:

Duristan's Hunting Trip

In their previous encounter with the Vallensag Duristan, when faced with actual werewolves in numbers, fled in terror thus earning him the ire of the group (especially when they so easily bested them). Upon their return to the Lodge he reveals to them that he was present at a hunting raid of werewolves on his Uncle's estate and is, for all his bravado and eagerness, terrified of werewolves.

He begs the group for a chance to redeem himself with a hunting trip to strike at the pack of werewolves that even the other packs shun, the Jezeldens.

Duristan has found out (somehow) that in their zealotry a small group of Jezeldens have started kidnapping travelers and taking them to a camp to the north. They are starving the prisoners to the point of madness and forcing them to fight each other (in a horrible parody of dog-fighting). The losers are fed to the winners. Inevitably those who resort to cannibalism survive. Occasionally they choose the most bloodthirsty captive and turn him into a werewolf.

The camp is a small palisade fort and at any given time is protected by a Jezelden Slaving Party that includes:

(1) Jezelden Slave Master
fiendish human natural werewolf fighter 4
(As page 55 but optimized completely with a whip for trip attacks. This guy is designed to take down fleeing captives but keeping an archer off his feet consistently will work. Also has dazzling display.)

(1) Jezelden Slave Hunter
fiendish human natural werewolf ranger 4
(archery optimized and specialized and favored enemy humanoid. 10 arrows with a DC 14 sleep poison. Favors spreading out his shots to knock out people for capture.)

(1) Jezelden Sleeper
fiendish human natural werewolf rogue 4
(stealth and non lethal damage optimized for taking captives)

(2) Dire Wolves

As an encounter it's somewhat uninspired but saving the captives, some of whom are bloodthirsty and mad and others who are just terrified and malnourished might make the group feel a bit more heroic.

Changing the Tarantula

In Evil Paul's thread on adding cut-scene like elements to the game he has a post-harrowstone cut-scene where Vrood and two accomplices are actually responsible for the murder of Aleece, the member of the Crooked Kin. I took this and wrote up a small story to be read to the players after they left Ravengro which indicates that they offered Aleece to the Phase Spider so that it would poison the woman to death and they could gather the spirit of someone who had died of poison. I have been looking for a way to add that spirit back into the game and have been considering that the Tarantula might make a good candidate.

Aleece, for her part, is not necessarily evil but has been driven completely insane by her torture and death, and the torment inflicted upon her by the Whispering Way. She is also a victim of the special ability conferred by her state mentioned below.

Before leaving Ascanor, Vrood conferred with 'the villain' about possible pursuers and mentioned in passing that releasing the spider might be fortuitous. One of his followers possessed the spider with the 'Venom Spirit' which is detailed below.

The Giant Tarantula is as normal but CN with an intelligence of 10, the undead descriptor and the following abilities:

Special Abilities
Lament of the Fallen (Su): The Venom Spirit is constantly subjected to images of those who have been lost. In a radius of two hundred feet the spirit can see clear pictures and memories of people who have recently seen or had someone they know die. There is no save for this ability but characters can roll a perception check DC 30 to feel a chill or as if they are being watched.

Poison Drone (Su): As a full round action the Venom Spirit vomits up concentrated venom into a pool. The next round a representation of someone who has died (viewed either personally or through Lament of the Fallen) rises and acts at the direction of the Spirit.

These drones are roughly half the CR of the creature which the Venom Spirit inhabits and exhibit attacks representative of those used in life. Archers fire arrows of pure poison, wizards throw missles of poison energy, warriors weild swords of poison and so on.

(As Ectoplasmic Template but all attacks are touch and instead of horrifying ooze inflict the poison that was used to kill the Venom Spirit in question which in this case is Phase Spider venom. Unarmed attacks also require a DC 14 reflex save to avoid being inflicted with poison.)

The tarantula summons three of these drones when it is freed and then moves out into the grounds to attack the Lodge. In it's madness and rage it just wants to reunite the people there with their loved ones which means killing them.

Interestingly, given it's intelligence score it's possible for the spirit to be reasoned with despite the language barrier. After the spider is dead the spirit of Aleece remains briefly to thank the group and further solidify the melevolence of Vrood and his cronies. My only worry is about layering too much possession into the game back to back with the next encounter.

Valkacis

Going to stay pretty much the same. I may max out it's hit points but the dilemma with this encounter is to kill or not to kill the person possessed so it should still be effective.

Wolves in the Wood
4 Vallensag instead of two.

The Villain
As of now I just plan to replace summon monster III with wind wall, perhaps maxing out hit points.

Pronoas
As normal but all creatures are advanced template.

Skychamber
As normal but add 2 dire wolves.

Highthrone
I'm torn about how to handle this. I read in one of the threads that someone had Cybrisa have natural spell and cast from eagle form up above the party hiding within a fog cloud spell. That might be the best way to go because if I leave her as is the paladin is going to murder her in one round and then the group will just gang up on Mathus to end the fight in less than three rounds of combat.

That's all I can come up with for now. Any notes? Any ideas what I should do? I welcome any kind of advice or suggestions like, "Are you insane that group will kill the entire party!"

Those are always helpful.

*minor edit

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I think your ideas work well Tybid. Also nice to know that the build I'm going to use in Wrath of the Righteous is causing DM headaches ;)

On my own customizations, I finally got through post-it noting my books today with the changes I plan on making (now I just need to actually stat up everything)

Spoiler:
Adivion turned into Magus (Blade-Bound) 18, Champion 6. I'll post his stat block when I have him all equipped out.

I also had a brilliantly cruel idea today as I was starting to write my own 7th book to take on Tar-Baphon. Some people may know that back in Falcon's Hollow the first seal was broken 5 years ago in "Hungry Are The Dead" (which also introduced Lucimar). Now I was planning on breaking all three lesser seals off screen, but then I had the idea tonight of doing this instead.

Between books two and three I'll have the players roll up new characters for "Hungry Are The Dead" and tell them that this happened five years ago. I'll run the module as written and foreshadow Lucimar's involvement in the main plot.

Then between books four and five I'll do the same thing, with the same side characters and the second seal. I'll also involve the Night Harrows from the Rival Guide as a group one step ahead of the secondary PCs and breaking the seals before the PC's can stop them.

The last seal I'll break between books five and six, but with the imparted knowledge that the last seal is broken right as the party is fighting Adivion. It will be nice to have a series of missions the players can't win completely to set up the main plot.


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That’s quite clever!

Ideas for Cori Marie:

Cori Marie wrote:

I was planning on breaking all three lesser seals off screen, but then I had the idea tonight of doing this instead.

Between books two and three I'll have the players roll up new characters for "Hungry Are The Dead" and tell them that this happened five years ago. I'll run the module as written and foreshadow Lucimar's involvement in the main plot.

Then between books four and five I'll do the same thing, with the same side characters and the second seal. I'll also involve the Night Harrows from the Rival Guide as a group one step ahead of the secondary PCs and breaking the seals before the PC's can stop them.

The last seal I'll break between books five and six, but with the imparted knowledge that the last seal is broken right as the party is fighting Adivion. It will be nice to have a series of missions the players can't win completely to set up the main plot.

I would love playing your game!

I do urge you to give the players acheiveable goals in each seal side-adventure, so their failure to protect the seals each time doesn’t ruin morale.

Can I urge a further twist on you? Write the final side-adventure such that after the party has a chance to chalk up a big win, they hit a pretty brutal TPK--a APL + 6 encounter against particularly nasty undead with superior tracking skills and other abilities that make escape extremely unlikely.

Then, back in the main game, make one of your endgame encounters a desperate fight against the heroes from the side-adventure, all now risen as vampires or whatever, still rocking their previous class levels and armaments on top of deadly undead powers and a smattering of minions.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

OH THAT'S DEVIOUS. I LOVE IT. I was going to have the secondary party deliver the Shards of Arnisant's Shield to the primary party, but I think them getting destroyed by a certain Mythic (in my game anyway) Lich-Wolf might be even better.


I'm currently running Carrion Crown for a group of 2, both of which chose to play casters (so they are very squishy)

Spoiler:
]I created an NPC to be a friend to them and also ensure they survive Harrowstone (They just finished the first floor) I've so far run the AP the way is was designed, but I'm always looking for ways to tweak it.

When would be a good time to introduce Adivion Adrissant?

Pretty much any other modifications that are fun or help foreshadow the other books I'm down to hear.

Grand Lodge

AA? During Chapter 1.

If he wasn't at the funeral you can have him visit or at least write a letter to the daughter that she leaves lying around. There are some good letters in the forums from AA if you take the time to search.


So Im starting this either in November or December Im trying to find all the best things to add and take away from the game

Im adding AA early at the funeral Making him Magneto to the Professor

Im also Adding the letters that are on these board.

What are some of the other for sure things people have used?


Something that worked extremely well for my group:

Kendra in my game has a daughter, Katya.

I used her to direct the PCs around town on various errands and keep them focused on investigation and getting settled instead of rushing off before they were prepared.

I've also used Kendra / Katya later in the series to give more personal meaning to some events since my players were able to connect well with the pair.


I found making the Beast smart to be a lot easier to manage than him being a childish simpleton. He was dark and morose and when conversation was over, he would just go on and on about the philosophy of being a soulless golem.

The tradeoff was his fatalism over his impending trial. He just didn't care that they might hang him; held to the idea that what the mob wants, the mob gets and what is the purpose in fighting back? To combat wrongful execution with violence simply ensures that the execution isn't actually wrongful, etc.

What this also buys you is a cleaner way to get around the "why should we bother going to the castle?" questions the players will ask after the trial. There's no real reason to go there so you'll need to figure something out and this gives you a lever via invitation by the beast.


Thread Necromancy: What's the part in Broken Moon appropriate for Mythic ascension?

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Spoiler:
At one point the pc's have a chance to reconsecrate a temple of Desna and directly commune with her which provides a direct method of granting them a mythic tier.


My group is well into Broken Moon now. We’ve had some shifts in membership.

Current Party Makeup:

Dwarven Inquisitor of Pharasma -- original party member.
Human Beastmorph Alchemist -- original party member.
Changeling Hedge Witch, Healing Patron -- party member since level 2.
Human Ranger -- party member since level 3
Human Necromancer -- returning party member, gone for most of Trial of the Beast
Human Evoker -- new party member

All are level 7.

They’ve become a very arcane-intensive party, with lots of knowledge and lore. Face skills and exploration skills are covered too, though not as well. Encounters have been spread out enough that unloading their high-level spells at first opportunity has been a winning strategy; we’ll see how things develop at the Stairs of the Moon, which has many closely-placed encounters and no real opportunity to rest.

I’ve continued to adapt the adventure path to suit my tastes and my players’ backgrounds.

Wrapping up the Trial of the Beast:

The most notable change I made to TotB adventure was the addition of Inquisitor Dacia Falx, aka the Skull. My friend who is playing an Inquisitor seemed avid for a organization to report to, so I came up with a rather sinister woman to represent the dark side of Pharasma, who is after all a death god. Falx, called the Skull because a childhood brush with a disease called the withers left her with receeded gums and sparse hair, is the notoriously efficient head of the Pharasman inquisition in Vieland. She took charge of the Beast after the Trial and pressured the party into investigating Schloss Caromarc, basically serving as the stick to Judge Daramid’s carrot.

Another PC I added was Nictu Dramont, aka the Sparrow, one of the nobles displaced by the Palatine revolution in Vieland. The PCs ended up rooming in his immense boarding hall (Sparrowhall) after the Brazen Skull asked them to leave--they had been attracting too much trouble by being high-profile during the trial. The Sparrow is part of a loose confederation plotting to restore noble rule in the Palantinates. He and a cabal of students approached the party’s ranger, himself the last scion of a fallen noble house of Tamravina (now called Canterwall. They worked this connection to get a letter of introduction from the Sparrow to Estavion, one of his co-conspiritors.

Count Caromarc’s mind was broken by the totenmaske who stole his knowledge to rediscover the Carrion Crown formula. He’s being taken to the Havenguard sanitarium in Caliphas, and will play a role in the Ashes at Dawn adventure. Judge Daramid installed a member of the Palantine Eye as warden of Schloss Caromarc, an important fortification on the northern border and river.

Grimes was killed and Vorstag captured. The party’s reaction once the Cabinet of Skins was opened and it was revealed Vorstag had been so many different people who had worked against the party was all I could have hoped for...though I still wish it had successfully seduced a party member as Olga.

Vorstag came up with a way to get revenge on its captors. Sentenced to die in the Punishing Man, it sent a message asking the party alchemist for a face-to-face meeting. There he offered to answer all the party’s questions in return for them smuggling him some blue whinnis poison so he could die without feeling the flames. Taking precautions against treachery, the party agreed. It gave them details of the graverobbers’ many crimes, allowing the party to set many victims’ families’ minds at peace. However, Vorstag’s real goal was simply to meet with the party under shady circumstances, making it clear he was selling them information. Grines, that priest of Norgorber, was a member of the Anaphexia. Now the Anaphexia believes the party knows some of its secrets, and is sending assassination squads after them. The first didn’t really know what it was getting into and failed badly, so the second will merely be a probe to discover the party’s capabilities, and the third will be an assault worthy of the god of murder. They’ll hit just before Wake of the Watcher and in the middle of Ashes Before Dawn.

The Old Faith:

In my game, pre-Ustalavic Kellid religions have been stamped out or driven completely underground, but a vestige of them survives in the distant swamps and hills as the Old Faith. Popular among witches and their ilk, this Chaotic Neutral faith venerates equally the goddesses Desna, Pharasma, and Metsama (the demon patron of hags and witches) as the White Lady, the Grey Lady, and the Black Lady--the poles of light and darkness, and the balance between them. It’s a decentralized faith, emphasizing private and personal rites to celebrate the whole of creation, both good and bad. It’s been a good way to introduce more background about changelings and hags.

The party’s witch met practitioners of this religion while searching for spell tutors, befriending one. Dacia Falx considers them a dangerous Pharasman heresy, and is ramping up persecution of them on various pretexts. The witch stood up for her friend, making an enemy of the Skull in the process.

I can get you a good rate at the Great Northern:

For my own amusement, I’ve dropped a lot of references to Twin Peaks into Broken Moon. The Weaverworm’s enchanting song was Julie Cruise singing “Into the Night”. I use BOB’s gnashing teeth and tossing head when roleplaying the vilackis and his victims. The halfling porter was always pushing coffee on people, and every breakfast was a mountain of pastry. Duristan has Cooper’s boyish enthusiasm, Delgros has Hawk’s quiet intensity, Graydon has Truman’s warm dignity, Corvis has Dick Tremaine’s unwholesome foppishness, Markiza and Ostravoch have a Big Ed/Nadine relationship, and so on. Lots of references to towering pines, to red curtains, to secrets and eavesdropping and illicit romance. Oh, and there’s a mysterious owl spying on them...more on it later. The owl is not what it seems, said Madame Ivanja as she read their cards. I don’t intend to make any of this explicit enough for my players to pick up on it; it’s just a trick to help me maintain a consistant narrative mood for this section of the adventure.

More Jezelda:

I’ve created a connection between Estavion and Adimarus; the werewolf antipaladin’s natural lycanthropy as much a product of Estavion’s research as Jezelda’s blessings. Adimarus was a deposed noble conspiritor, and Estavion hoped he would climb the werewolf hierarchy under Mordrinacht and win the packs’ support for the counterrevolution, but Adimarus found Jezelda and lost interest in humans as anything but prey. Having the Sparrow foreshadow Estavion’s role as ally to counter-revolutionary nobles gave him more depth, I think, and briefly deflected suspicions that he was working with the Whispering Way. I fleshed out his relationship with Count Beaumont, the last noble ruler of Lozeri, deciding that he and the Count shared an unhealthy fascination with the Shudderwood and with lycanthropy. Though neither wanted the curse, the Count kept a secret shrine to Jezelda in the caverns beneath Ascanor Lodge, where the animal pens are now. When the Count finally went nuts and started feeding peasants to wolves, Estavion was powerless to save him from a revolutionary mob, and instead turned his powers to preserving Ascanor and seeking revenge on his old friend’s revolutionary enemies.

Also, I’ve made it clear that some Primals are polytheistic and worship Jezelda among other gods, and some Broken Ones follow the Old Faith.

The first nemesis:

I’m letting the players use Harrow cards to save themselves from death, with the caveat that meddling with fate this way will unleash a dark force into the world. (Metaphysically, this is Desna cheating destiny to save them, and Pharasma rebalancing the scales. The goddesses both want Tar-Baphon to stay locked away, but they are who they are.) The first such card was used, and the first nemesis unleashed: a dark spirit that takes the form of an owl. It observes the players at a safe distance, then flies to their enemies and warns them of their approach. Until it is dealt with, many opponents will have their spells and strategies rejiggered to be much tougher opponents.

Careful, this is hag country:

We gained and lost a player during Trial of the Beast whose background included losing her parents to trolls. I made the trolls at Schloss Caromarc servants to the same annis hag who directed the ones who killed her parents: Lovely Lil of all the terrors of the Shudderwood, the most amorous. She was once in a coven with Oothi, our witch PC’s mother, and could conceivably provide very useful information. However, she’s pretty mad at the PCs for killing her lover (Grork the troll, from Trial of the Beast) and stealing the Staff of Swarming Insects he was supposed to bring her--her payment from the Whispering Way for putting them in touch with the Dublesses. So when the owl brings her word that the PCs are passing through the Shudderwood, she sends three sadistic troll teens, her daughters by Grork, to ambush and kill them. These three, Hemlock, Henbane and Thornapple, are a nasty encounter, but since it’ll be the only fight in a day the party shouldn’t be completely outclassed. They’ll also have a chance to track them back to their mother’s lair, if they’re in the mood for a real fight.

They burned the church!:

The very same owl that forewarns Lovely Lil also forewarns Auren Vrood, giving him a chance to prepare for the PC’s approach. This is simply an excuse to Schrodinger’s Wizard him, letting him prepare spells that specifically counter the party’s most common tactics.

I’ve added Mirage Arcane to his spellbook. He’ll use it to make the tower he’s staying in look like the charred and smoking wreckage of a Pharasman church that’s been totally burned to the ground, completely uninhabitable. I expect this will eliminate the problem other GMs report, that of players heading straight to the tower and missing all the other encounters in Feldgrau.

I’ve warned them several times now that Vrood likes to use Circle of Death. If they don’t take precautions before they run into him, their deaths will not be on my conscience. Since I’m letting them spend Harrow cards like hero points to prevent death, they can fall back on that if they have to...by the time they bump into him, they should have two cards they can spend. Which will suck for them if they lose three or more to Circle of Death, but they knew the job was dangerous when they took it.

In fact, to make the Circle as deadly as possible, I’m going to try and hit them with Cloudkill and maybe some Enervations first. This is war, children!


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

KCAC, you're ideas have got me totally jazzed about running this AP. I love how interconnected everything is becoming. Makes me envious of your players.


Thanks. I’m lucky to have a core of players who really get into character and are enthusiastic about playing, week after week.

My main suggestion to you is put a lot of effort into fleshing out the NPCs in HoH, connecting their characters to the larger campaign. If you can make Father Grimburrow an interesting and complicated person, both antagonist and ally, you can use him to give the players strong feelings about the power of the Church of Pharasma. If you can give Gibbs some depth by having him be a retired hero of the border guard, you can use that to introduce the cursed land of Virlych to the south. If you make the Piper of Illmarsh a memorable encounter, your players will have a reason to dread going to Illmarsh in Wake of the Watcher, and so on.

I really recommend reading Rule of Fear. It’s informed my campaign and given me lots of material for player backgrounds.


I've ran Carrion Crown before, with like eight chatty people. Had two veteran players, one hot headed try hard who honestly tried his best, and like five guys who wouldn't hush lol.

Trying it again, but I encountered dozens of problems that I've suddenly realized how to fix, so I'm running it again with a new, smaller group. Here are my proposed changes to problems.

The haunts in the back of book one are so cool! But impossible to figure out how to beat. I'm going to make my party members spend 20 minutes on character creation to think of every superstition they know, and buy items for it (Mirrors, garlic, steaks, holy items ect) And offer them knowledge religion checks for solutions.

[/Spoiler At one point in the adventure, Kendra is attacked in her home by a zombie......who could be slain by a group of well prepared kittens.
First I'm gonna' make him CR3.
Role Play Event- Upon the redeath of what's his face, you see the ghastly apparition of the mans soul leave his body, to stand before you. He looks up the stairs toward Kendra standing atop the balcony, with a horror filled look on her face.

The spirit sprints up the stairs toward her, in fright she makes a pug wampy level reflex save and stumbles over the railing, only to find her self caught in a rope which nooses around her neck. Kendra falls taking enough damage to put her unconscious. The party has about five rounds to save her.

Someone in the group will double move up the stairs and grab the rope, next round they'll try to pull her up or cut the rope
(Pllleeaase cut the rope so I can kill her with fall damage)
The instant hands touch the rope, all of the lights in the house go out, and the mans spirit (Now a wraith) will make a surprise round attack against the player holding the rope.]

Adding haunt encounters to like, every room. I'm replacing the fire skeletons with Lacadons, because I LOVE LACADONS! I'm always telling Justin, dude look, water and jungle...Lacadons bro. Always dies because he knew the room had no lacadons in it, dies to Lacadons.

Adding a bunch of Nightmares when the party rests. The book gave one great nightmare but that was it. I've added like six, you know how you go to bed and think about a scary movie and can't fall asleep cuz' your imagination runs wild? I did that on purpose to come up with like ten scary dreams for the party....#ThethingsIdoforfriends]

Adding a few +1 weapons to the prison. Last time my group got to The Lopper and TPK'd cuz' they didn't search the place out properly
(Missed the ghost touch hand axe) Nobody had a +1 weapon. Cleric cast magic stone, and dropped bellow 0 HP. He WON'T cheat so he spent two hours watching the party die instead of meta gaming and saying
"Pick up my stones you fools!"

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