I am starting to run my group through this adventure and am wondering if Rakshasas might be too difficult, specifically their 15 damage reduction plus spell resistance. My group has 5-6 people but is not too optimized: no cleric for align weapon, it's main fighters are a two-weapon ranger, a monk, and sometimes an archer-mage; none of whom are consistently cranking out a lot of damage in one hit. If I convert the Rakshasas to pathfinder rules they have even more hit points.
Anyone have ideas to make this beatable, or am I worrying over nothing?
I think you need to give us an exact party make-up. I had the same concerns with my party, but two damage buffers (a bard and a warlord (Tome of Secrets)) boosted general damage enough to nickel-and-dime them to death, and the party paladin used Smite Evil to render the BBEGs meaningless.
One fighter with a two-handed weapon will blow through that DR like it's not even there. But yes, a two-weapon ranger, a monk, and an archer-mage worries me. No bard? (Versatile Weapon was the other huge help in here.) No buffer? Who's around to help boost the damage output by a couple of points, which is really all it takes?
Ok, they have a gnome bard, gnome druid w/ small cat companion, half-orc wizard, two weapon ranger, monk, and possibly a magus that split his focus between archery and melee. The bard's song will help, but they usually overcome obstacles by picking away lots of little bits of damage at a time. The ranger's favored enemy humans helps a lot in this adventure, he'll probably notice first that the Rakshasa's are not who they seem as he won't be dealing as much damage. When they shapechange will detect magic pick that up? My thought was no since its a natural ability but I could be wrong.
I could drop some piercing and good items into the Emperor's loot, but that feels kind of contrived, and they just got Blackjack's secret stash. Generally they pick spells from the core rulebook; I wasn't familiar with Versatile Weapon.
Honestly, with that party make-up, I think things'll be better than you think. The bard and the druid can boost the fighters, and the monk and the ranger have enough attacks that they should crit every round or two, getting in some damage. The Raksasha don't come in that fast, and once they've killed one or two of them, they're going to want to pool their money and get some kind of piercing good weapon. Just be REALLY careful they don't pick a fight with Balor; he'll wipe the walls with them.
No; I wouldn't allow Detect Magic to pick up their shapechange; otherwise they'd have a lot of trouble blending in in society; every guard in every down would spam Detect Magic on all newcomers to make sure they are what they look like.
Good luck!
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The PCs in my game were spectacularly ill equipped to deal with Rakshasa. (In fairness, some of that was my fault, as they were lower level than they "should" have been at that point.)
The party "fighter" was a tiny (!) multi-classed paladin / ninja who had swapped out smite evil for something else (!) and was literally useless apart from when he could sneak attack - which wasn't very often in this case, for a variety of reasons.
The spellcasters struggled to beat the spell resistance.
If your group does run into difficulties like mine, what I did was play up the rivalry between the two siblings. In my game, neither one wanted to kill the PCs (or even significantly weaken them) as they both hoped to use them against the other one.
Yeah, I am worried more about the 2 siblings than the henchman Rakshasa. My group is feeling cocky coming from 7 days to the Grave, where a similar optional-hard-fight (the nosferatu wizard) was dispatched w/ little problem. I wouldn't mind hard bad guys, but not being able to do any damage whatsoever to a foe quickly leads to player boredom and disengagement in my experience. I'm especially worried about the monk, a class played by a new player that seems frankly underwhelming so far.
NobodysHome, you talk of getting in a crit every round or two to contribute damage, but 1-in-20 odds (granted, with 3-4 attacks a turn) don't seem too conducive to this. Maybe I should've recommended the power attack feat more strongly.
Ultimately, I'll continue to make Glorio a helpful NPC (they parleyed w/ him before going to Scream's house) and he'll shift any blame onto his sister. They have reason to distrust her and hopefully can take her down.. maybe I'll add a good spear to the Emperor's loot so they'll have something that can hurt Rakshasa's.
You're absolutely right that the monk isn't going to be able to do much of anything; maybe instead of a good spear a good-aligned piercing weapon a monk would use? A good punching dagger? And I was speaking of the group as a whole getting a crit every round or two, not any particular individual.
If you have their character sheets, you could try running a mock battle yourself when they're not around to see how things go. It takes a couple of hours, but it does let you know whether they're in over their heads...
You might have to fudge a little, or have these Rakshasa be a little weaker because they haven't been eating the right Rakshasa kibble since their move to Korvosa. You could have the players not fight them at all, and have them be evil in the background, clicking their claws together while they watch the heroes run through their maze.
If you don't want to give the players access to an item to overcome the DR, then I suggest, instead, give them access to a buff that would help.
The spell Blood Rage from Orcs of Golarion could really help your party. Cast it on someone like the Ranger or Monk, and then the party can do something like attack the buffed character a few times. The spell culminates in a +10 increase in Strength which is a minimum of +5 to hit and damage. If the buffed character opts to two-hand his weapon, it's even better.
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Something you need to remind your Ranger of is even though he focused on two-weapon fighting, that doesn't prohibit him from two-handing one of his weapons. I don't know what he's using for weapons, but one of them is likely to be able to wield in two-hands which will give him 1.5x his strength mod. If he has an 18 strength, instead of +4 to damage, he gets +6. Not much, but every bit helps when it comes to DR.
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Other things to keep in mind is stuff like Combat Maneuvers. I have no idea if your group uses them, but I'd advise they do. I made a thread a while back on Monk Tactics, that you might want to show to your Monk character. Be warned, if he isn't very familiar with the Paizo forums and the Monk threads, I would read through it yourself, and just print off or send bits you like in an email. The first post in that thread goes into detail on how a Monk can help deal with difficult opponents by stacking penalties from Combat Maneuvers.
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The last thing I'm going to mention, is consumable items. You don't NEED to introduce a Good aligned weapon, you just need to drop in a couple potions of Bless Weapon. They are dirt cheap at 50 gp a pop, so you can drop them in a couple treasure hoards (like with the Emporer) and the players can then use the potions to help against the Rakshasha.
Thanks for the advice all, I never thought of bless weapon potions or oil. Part of me is tempted to just run it straight with no changes and see how they handle it.. but I'm somewhat of a softy at heart and may give them an out.
I'll let you know how it turns out; last time we played the monk had a chance to shine during blood-pig and the bard dressed as Blackjack to gave a rousing speech denouncing the Emperor who they managed to grapple and tie up. Next time we play they're taking the ex-emperor to the Arkona household, where Balor will be very pleased with them. I'll have to have him really toy with the man and think of some cruel torture, but it will probably take place 'off-screen' so that the players aren't too tempted to attack him. At this point they just see him as a decadent noble w/ some thieves guild ties.
Hey all, thanks for the advice a few months back. I have another question and figured I'd bump this thread rather than make a new one. (BTW I ran the rakshasa's as written; they killed one but never uncovered Glorio, now I have a potential ally against the queen who's Evil might have to be ignored)
I'm running my group through sidequests to get them up to 12th level for Skeletons of Scarwall. Has anyone ran that adventure and just ignored Laori and Sial? Obviously I'd have to change the one door only they can open, but I hate running DMPC's and my group often has 5-6 characters already, including a very powerful magus (imp. invis. and clustered shot are both really good). I'm tempted to just downplay the Zon-kuthon stuff and have them brave the castle alone, without a cleric. Other than missing some potential roleplay opportunities, think this idea will work out?
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Hey all, thanks for the advice a few months back. I have another question and figured I'd bump this thread rather than make a new one. (BTW I ran the rakshasa's as written; they killed one but never uncovered Glorio, now I have a potential ally against the queen who's Evil might have to be ignored)
I'm running my group through sidequests to get them up to 12th level for Skeletons of Scarwall. Has anyone ran that adventure and just ignored Laori and Sial? Obviously I'd have to change the one door only they can open, but I hate running DMPC's and my group often has 5-6 characters already, including a very powerful magus (imp. invis. and clustered shot are both really good). I'm tempted to just downplay the Zon-kuthon stuff and have them brave the castle alone, without a cleric. Other than missing some potential roleplay opportunities, think this idea will work out?
Do *not* let them run through Scarwall without some form of divine caster that can patch them up. Undead tend to be the king of penalties, via level drain, ability drain/penalties, curses, diseases, poisons etc.
Pretty much right after actually setting foot in the door, they face an allip vortex that forces everyone to make a DC 25 will save or suffer 2d6 Wisdom damage. That is a potentially crippling effect that the players face just by stepping in the door.
Then they face a Dread Wraith in the form of Madraivus' tortured soul. Sure, he's not too difficult to kill, but 1d8 Con drain is nothing to sneeze at.
My group walked into this room, and they had a Paladin who was saying blessings over the dead bodies in the room with the corpse orgy. Some of the others were looking around the next room (with the allip vortex and Mandraivus) when the vortex activated. The Mandraivus jumped up and hit the Wizard/Cleric/Mystic Theurge and drained him of 7 con (of his 12 con) and he booked it out of there. He hit Trinia (NPC) for 6 con before the Paladin managed to get in there and kill him.
In total, in that room, there was 18 Wisdom damage across 4 characters, and 13 con drain from 2 characters. They'd only stepped in the door and had to retreat because of 1 encounter. Luckily they had a Divine Caster in the form of the Mystic Theurge (plus Laori) who managed to mostly patch them up over night, and then finished the group off in the morning, but they ended up going into Scarwall the next day with some of their resources depleted already.
You've got lots of level draining potential in Scarwall, with TONS of ability drain/damage in the form of wraiths, dread wraiths, and other random encounters. The Danse Macabre is an amazing creature that is extremely deadly as it's Dance of Death could really ruin a party with some bad saves. Or the Bishop in the chapel. This guy NEEDS a Cleric to be casting Death Ward or you're facing party deaths with him.
While one could theoretically run a party through Scarwall without a healer, it requires more luck than skill to get them all out alive. Keep in mind, any creature that dies while inside Scarwall, can't be resurrected until the curse of Scarwall is broken. If the party doesn't have a healer, and they have ability damage/drain, then they have to wait 1 day per point damaged for it to be restored, while Ability Drain can only be restored through magical healing.
Yeah, just don't let them go into Scarwall without some healing support.
I have to reiterate Tels' warnings (Hi! Tels! Long time no see!): Without someone who can cast Death Ward and at least Lesser Restoration, Scarwall will chew up your PCs and spit them out. There's at least one room that will require Restoration, but it's been so long I can't remember how many more.
My other "regret" is that Laori is *SO* fun to play! She really was the highlight of "Escape from Old Korvosa", and the PCs had a LOT of fun interacting with her in Scarwall, and comparing her reactions to theirs. There's also the final tower, where without Laori or Sial the party is in for a really nasty fight.
I could take or leave Sial, but I just couldn't run Scarwall without my Laori!
Nice seeing you again!
Sial comes off as the typical 'Evil for the sake of being Evil' bad guy. He's more stuck up than elves from Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance, and he's just generally unlikeable. Conversely, Laori is the cheerleader of death and torture. Sure, she's evil, but she's so infectiously happy about being evil it's really hard to not like her. She's like that adorable little evil kid, you know he's bad, but you can't help but thinking she's adorable. Plus, unlike Sial, Laori came about more from suffering, than just being an evl douchebag. Laori is a forlorn Elf, meaning she was an elf raised by humans. By the time she even reached adult hood (by elven standards) the people that originally raised her were dead, and so too were their children (more than likely), and the grandchildren of those people are nearing death, while the great grandchildren are old an infirm, only the great, great grandchildren are still young enough for her to really hang out with, and the great, great, great grandchildren are of adventuring age. She basically grew up watching everyone she knew and loved, die, before she was even a teenager (by elven standards). I really think the module was written so that PCs would choose Laori over Sial.
The 'Wandering Monsters' chart include 1d6 Greater Shadows on a roll of 76-80 and 1 Dread Wraith plus 1d8 wraiths on a roll of 81 - 85. Plus you have Mithrodar, Mandraivus, the Danse Macabre, the Bishop, Belshallam, Malatrothe, Nihil, and Ildervolk are all capable of inflicting penalties of one sort or another on the PCs. Those are just the 'Lords of Scarwall' though, and doesn't incorporate every enemy that is within the castle. In the above, you've got ability damage, ability drain, level drain, poisons, diseases, and conditions.
Without a Cleric (or someone who can heal them), party running through Scarwall is most likely going to die and/or spend significant amounts of money/time traveling back and forth to temples to heal themselves.
I’ve only read skeletons, but there’s a lot of story that revolves around having the Zon-Kuthonites with you. If I remember correctly, to pass some areas you need both good and evil characters. I would take them, even if they’re just tag alongs. It might even be creepier that way.
Imo I think they’re also needed as foil, to perhaps explain the story of Scarwall and what happened here. (Scarwall is very devoid of story imo, or at least story that the PCs will know).
Imo Laori and Sial wouldn’t be into protecting the PCs via Death Ward (they’re into pain and think others should feel it) but they might be into curing it (so they can feel more in the future, lol). The Zon-Kuthonites are sick twisted bastards imo. Read the entry on Zon-Kuthon and the Joymaking! *Shudder*
There was recently entire thread based on this discussion if you want to read it.
I’ve only read skeletons, but there’s a lot of story that revolves around having the Zon-Kuthonites with you. If I remember correctly, to pass some areas you need both good and evil characters. I would take them, even if they’re just tag alongs. It might even be creepier that way.
Imo I think they’re also needed as foil, to perhaps explain the story of Scarwall and what happened here. (Scarwall is very devoid of story imo, or at least story that the PCs will know).
Imo Laori and Sial wouldn’t be into protecting the PCs via Death Ward (they’re into pain and think others should feel it) but they might be into curing it (so they can feel more in the future, lol). The Zon-Kuthonites are sick twisted bastards imo. Read the entry on Zon-Kuthon and the Joymaking! *Shudder*
There was recently entire thread based on this discussion if you want to read it.
While the Kuthonites might be interested in pain, it's unlikely they're interested in inflicting pain at the expense of the missions success or the party's lives. Keep in mind, the Kuthonites need the party just as much as the party needs the Kuthonites. The Ally (A.K.A. Laori) becomes helpful and friendly to the party, suggesting they pool their resources inside Scarwall. The Ally is going to actively try and help the party, because helping the party, helps the Ally, while the Enemy becomes unhelpful at best, hostile at worst.
I would say the Ally would be willing to prepare spells like Death Watch, while the Enemy would be unwilling, or even charge for his services.
I hate to be "Mr. Tels is Right", but that seems to be my lot today.
"Death Ward" doesn't prevent pain -- it prevents the potential failure of a mission deemed so crucial to Zon Kuthon that the church sent not one but TWO high-level divine casters to ensure its success.
I like Lawful Evil for exactly that reason: You can have Lawful Good and Lawful Evil party members travel together; the Lawful Good member just has to get the Lawful Evil member to agree to "rules of behavior", and the Lawful Evil member has to decide whether those rules are worth agreeing to to further his/her cause. I *loved* my party's paladin's interactions with Laori. He was convinced he could redeem her, and she loved tormenting him psychologically and hurting herself because he wouldn't let her hurt others. But they'd both agreed to the terms, and he hadn't thought to include *her* among the people she couldn't torment...
Every GM I know loved Laori. Don't dismiss her too quickly...
Perhaps you're right, but they are what they are. The religion of Zon-Kuthon is extremely vile (most evil religion by far) and these aren't just cultists, these are the leaders. Laori in particular isn't that focused and this isn't a really focused religion. The mission is focused and important, but in general no. But yeah, you're probably right but then again they're not going to turn themselves into healing batteries for the party either. They shouldn't anyway, but everyone has their own ideas on how NPCs should be played.
I think a lot of people underestimate the evil in Laori. She is in the sickest religion and is one of the most twisted members of that religion. Think about the guy in Game of Thrones that tortured Greyjoy. Yeah, THAT GUY, the guy everyone hated. Now make him into a hot female version. Still should be vile imo.
The alignment system is just a shorthand for general attitudes. I think Lawful in the case of Zon-Kuthonites implies they follow the order of the cult, not necessarily society. Because let's face it, 100% of what they do they're not acting with "honor, trustworthiness, or obedience to authority" (direct definition of the alignment). Seriously, read the entry for Zon-Kuthon in Scarwall, at any opportunity they peel the flesh off your body to hear you scream, just because you are weak.
Personally, I might have fun playing Laori, but I think my players will be creeped out. I think they will like Sial much better and pick him.
In any case OP, I would leave the Zon-Kuthonites in for foil, to get past some sections they can't do alone, to creep the PCs out, and to lend a hand occasionally.
My problem with the way the Kuthonites are portrayed in most of the articles about them... is that they aren't Lawful Evil at all in the articles. They are almost exclusively chaotic evil. Things like mind controlling people to 'volunteer' to be have their flesh torn from their body for the pain and torture orgies the church throws. Or how they seek out and torture any one for any reason at any time.
So I have my own portrayal of the Kuthonites that drastically differs from the Golarion-canon, just like in 'My' Golarion, Lissala is no Lawful Evil, but Lawful Neutral as she was originally written. Or that Undead aren't automatically evil.
Hmmm... sounds like everyone left the clerics in. Probably a good idea as the group doesn't have a cleric of their own for restoration spells, just a druid. More than the players not trusting them, I think I just wanted to leave them out to spare myself the headache of running 2 spellcasters and the adventure at the same time. With a large group this will likely slow the dungeon crawl down a lot...
Oh well, I'll just have to not be lazy and prep their spells well. Maybe they can hang back and let the group do most of the fighting, though that will make them even less trustworthy. I really should've had them meet Sial last adventure, but if they side against him no big deal. Any tips for keeping combat moving w/ this many PC's and DMPC's? I'll probably have to up the enemy count a bit too.
You're right, the religion of Zon-Kuthon is supposed to be LE, but their description seems chaotic to me. The only way I can explain it is that they are disciplined and loyal to their cult. But then again, not really since Laori and Sial are trying to screw each other over during the AP. *Confused*. This is why I don't use alignments.
@Hylozoist: Just have them do nothing in most combats (maybe 1 spell in critical fights?) and throw the odd restoration out of combat. I plan on Sial being more of a buffer caster myself, so he will be helpful and the PCs will still be the stars of the show.
As far as I can tell, Laori is very much so a CoDzilla still Cleric. Buff lots, smash face.
Sial is different, he's got a prestige class from 3.5 that made him more of a Divine Summoner, but, funnily enough, Summon spells do not work in Scarwall because of the Dimensional Lock on the entire castle, so his like entire combat style is negated. He can still buff and fight, but he's not as good at it as his normal style.
One suggestion is that you could have Sial and his little chain devil mistress explore other parts of the castle, or keep him as a 'reserve' unit. Maybe even alternate Laori and Sial each day so the party can see them both in action and you only have to worry about playing one personality type at a time.
For Laori, I'd play her as very aggressive melee cleric, while Sial would tend to stick back and try and play Caster Cleric, but will step up from time to time.
By buffing, I mean Sial will cast spells like: Blessing of Fervor, Bulls Strength, Wrathful Mantle, Weapon of Awe. Not to mention things like Divinations and Augury's. Being useful to the PCs (at least my group) will make him valuable and therefore worth keeping around. And won't be a pain in my butt during combat.
Agree, Laori is a CoDzilla, unfortunately they didn't do a great job of optimizing her that way. Still, she might sit back and focus on curing/buffing the PCs as well. Certainly makes sense for Hylo, if that's a concern.
I'm in love with Scarwall, and have had the opportunity to run it twice. The ability drain can get to be a bit rough, which is the main reason to keep healers around. The second group I inflicted SoS upon managed to clear the whole place without resting, but they came really close to calling the no-rest-policy as the ability scores got low. It took an overpowered Arcane Discovery to keep it going. There is a thread on it around here somewhere...
Also, summon spells should work fine because you can freely teleport into the castle--just not OUT. Since there is no spell effect that prevents a summon monster spell from expiring, there should be no difference. For Sial, I ended up building him as a Cleric/Loremaster and just giving him Asyra for free.
The clerics are also very valuable for storytelling. They are the only exposition you have, especially if nobody has knowledge(history). I had Sial as very conservative, and Laori as very aggressive (and kept trying to hang out with the paladin). Either way, they were the GM mouthpiece to the party. I had Laori cheerfully talk about the castle like an art aficionado at a museum she has only heard about--mostly directed at the paladin. Otherwise this place really is a slog--incredibly fun and dangerous slog--but a slog nonetheless.
P.S. on a side note, that Dread Wrath Tels linked is generous. Take whirlwind attack and make a party cower.
I'm in love with Scarwall, and have had the opportunity to run it twice. The ability drain can get to be a bit rough, which is the main reason to keep healers around. The second group I inflicted SoS upon managed to clear the whole place without resting, but they came really close to calling the no-rest-policy as the ability scores got low. It took an overpowered Arcane Discovery to keep it going. There is a thread on it around here somewhere...
Also, summon spells should work fine because you can freely teleport into the castle--just not OUT. Since there is no spell effect that prevents a summon monster spell from expiring, there should be no difference. For Sial, I ended up building him as a Cleric/Loremaster and just giving him Asyra for free.
The clerics are also very valuable for storytelling. They are the only exposition you have, especially if nobody has knowledge(history). I had Sial as very conservative, and Laori as very aggressive (and kept trying to hang out with the paladin). Either way, they were the GM mouthpiece to the party. I had Laori cheerfully talk about the castle like an art aficionado at a museum she has only heard about--mostly directed at the paladin. Otherwise this place really is a slog--incredibly fun and dangerous slog--but a slog nonetheless.
P.S. on a side note, that Dread Wrath Tels linked is generous. Take whirlwind attack and make a party cower.
They have Spring Attack too. Put a Dread Wraith in a wall, and have him spring out, attack, and spring back in. I did something similar with Greater Shadows who have the, in my opinion, much better feat, Fly-by Attack. Fly-by lets you move, take a Standard (as opposed to just attack) and then move again, so Greater Shadows can have a feat swapped out for Vital Strike.
Fly-by Attack + Vital Strike for 2d8 strength damage? During the fight with Captain Castrothane, I increased the number of Greater Shadows to 4, and used the above tactic. Bull rushing Captain, + Strength damaging, vital strike, fly-by attack shadows? Fun encounter. The party managed to down the Captain (whom I changed into a Graveknight), but they didn't destroy his armor (which is required to kill him permanently). After they dropped him, the Shadows started focusing their attacks on individuals and the party freaked, jumped off the parapet, used Feather Fall to land, and then teleported to safety.
I was worried they might have thought the encounter was too difficult, but the party seemed to love it. They said it really has all the makings of a horrifying haunted castle and it is suitably difficult and challenging.
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I'm running my group through sidequests to get them up to 12th level for Skeletons of Scarwall. Has anyone ran that adventure and just ignored Laori and Sial?
My players weren't very interested in either of those two, and their characters didn't trust them an inch (for different reasons - the CG bard was not keen to associate with LE clerics, and the NE wizard doesn't trust anybody on general principles).
The two clerics stayed outside the Castle and provided magical support -a heroe's feast every day, and restoration spells when needed. The wizard has a scarab of protection, howevever, which came in very handy.
It worked out fine for them, but their characters are heavily optimised - even though there are only 2 of them, and they were below the suggested level for the adventure, they didn't find it particularly difficult. (I nerfed the monsters a bit, mainly by not casting blasphemy and the like).
I'm in love with Scarwall, and have had the opportunity to run it twice. The ability drain can get to be a bit rough, which is the main reason to keep healers around. The second group I inflicted SoS upon managed to clear the whole place without resting, but they came really close to calling the no-rest-policy as the ability scores got low. It took an overpowered Arcane Discovery to keep it going. There is a thread on it around here somewhere...
Also, summon spells should work fine because you can freely teleport into the castle--just not OUT. Since there is no spell effect that prevents a summon monster spell from expiring, there should be no difference. For Sial, I ended up building him as a Cleric/Loremaster and just giving him Asyra for free.
The clerics are also very valuable for storytelling. They are the only exposition you have, especially if nobody has knowledge(history). I had Sial as very conservative, and Laori as very aggressive (and kept trying to hang out with the paladin). Either way, they were the GM mouthpiece to the party. I had Laori cheerfully talk about the castle like an art aficionado at a museum she has only heard about--mostly directed at the paladin. Otherwise this place really is a slog--incredibly fun and dangerous slog--but a slog nonetheless.
P.S. on a side note, that Dread Wrath Tels linked is generous. Take whirlwind attack and make a party cower.
They have Spring Attack too. Put a Dread Wraith in a wall, and have him spring out, attack, and spring back in. I did something similar with Greater Shadows who have the, in my opinion, much better feat, Fly-by Attack. Fly-by lets you move, take a Standard (as opposed to just attack) and then move again, so Greater Shadows can have a feat swapped out for Vital Strike.
Fly-by Attack + Vital Strike for 2d8 strength damage? During the fight with Captain Castrothane, I increased the number of Greater Shadows to 4, and used the above tactic. Bull rushing Captain, + Strength damaging, vital...
Very nice. My Castrothane was a Shield Master fighter, which gave the first group I ran it for a considerable challenge... the second group, however, had a gunslinger, so, not as challenging. The look on the rogue's face when he rolled a 31 to hit and missed was still priceless though.
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Also, summon spells should work fine because you can freely teleport into the castle--just not OUT.
When I ran it, I didn't like the idea of summoning Good creatures inside the castle (not an issue for the 2 clerics, of course) so I treated the Unhallow's "Protection from Good on every inhabitant" as effectively being a gigantic Magic Circle vs Good, preventing summoned Good creatures from entering the area.
The party wizard, who is addicted to summoning lantern archons, was not impressed - but it made it all the sweeter for him when they finally defeated enough spirit anchors to end the Unhallow.
Its funny how my generally happy-go-lucky party might well favor Sial over Laori. This is a REALLY good party that basically doesn't kill anything and tries their best to redeem everyone. They also have 2 young and pretty girl PCs (one an elf) who are in a way Laori-like. To them, Laori is a perversion of themselves, while Sial is a distant threat that doesn't really concern them. It will be very interesting to see how it goes.
Its funny how my generally happy-go-lucky party might well favor Sial over Laori. This is a REALLY good party that basically doesn't kill anything and tries their best to redeem everyone. They also have 2 young and pretty girl PCs (one an elf) who are in a way Laori-like. To them, Laori is a perversion of themselves, while Sial is a distant threat that doesn't really concern them. It will be very interesting to see how it goes.
You'd think they'd look at Laori, see her as an opposite and want to redeem their "sister" of sorts. Sial, on the other hand, is old and stuffy, though they might try and 'bring out the goodness in him' or something like that. Possibly turn him into a wise 'father' figure.
And then Sial's eyes close over from the Mark of Zon-Kuthon! Maybe he can advance in Oracle after redemption...