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Greetings,
I have found a few threads discussing the addition of new characters or the replacement of dead ones, but I didn't really want to hijack another thread, especially not one several years old - people tend to only read the first few posts and missing the timestamp.
Again: TotB spoilers are ahead!
The situation is as follows: My group just reached Schloss Caromarc and killed all the trolls but did not yet manage to enter the building itself. Since it has gotten late they decided to rest and continue their efforts next time.
This was two months ago (RL got in the way) and now we have a new player joining. I have no idea how to bring her in, even shoehorning seems difficult. Now, a fighter, rogue, wizard, sorcerer or anything along those lines could be brought in by "Ah, the Order of the Platinum Eye could send her!", but now - she's a druid. Not really something you see in Ustalav all that often and not something the Platypus Eye would have too many connections with in my opinion.
It also seems unlikely that she's trapped inside the Schloss since everybody else has been killed and/or turned undead.
The only halfway decent idea I have is to retcon her in somehwere, but I'm not sure where. I could just say that she travelled with the Crooked Kin and followed them out of curiousity, but this pretty much forces the character into this role - though it might not be too far off if she decides to be a gnome.
So, can you help me with some suggestions? Order of the Peebrain Eye? Crooked Kin? Maybe something to do with Vorkstag who escaped them and followed them to take revenge? I'd appreciate it!
Greetings,
Blackbot
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The Bag of Trickeds
This bag, when found, typically will appear to contain nothing. If felt into without looking within, a small, warm, vaguely-sensed object is detected. If it is drawn forth, it becomes surrounded by mists, and enlarges and resolves into (The New PC). At this point, the bag will suddenly contain various adventuring equipments as might be expected to be used by (The New PC). These cannot be removed from the bag by others, by any means, short of the death of (The New PC). (The New PC) will be helpless for an hour, disoriented for the next, dazed for an hour after that, and thereafter, normal. If the adventurer's equipments are all removed from the bag, the bag will thereafter show in the gloom at its bottom the sparkle of something metallic and silvery. If the unknown something is reached for, the person reaching becomes the bag's next occupant. If they are drawn forth promptly, their helplessness will be only very brief. Their equipments will be found in the bag, as expected. Occupancy of a Bag of Trickeds for long periods of time often causes profound and lasting amnesia, delusional memories of distant places and events, or combinations thereof. Or not. :)
Playing off the 'interest in what the party is up to and following after them' - if the new player doesn't want to be associated with the Crooked Kin, she could be passing through the woods near Schloss Caromarc, or perhaps lives there. The whole ordeal with the trolls at the gate is certainly enough to draw attention.
Or perhaps she was somehow caught up in the group of cultists that came in (she may not have known who they were - they could have used her as a guide or something to help their ability to get into Schloss Caromarc without alerting Alpon at first, or something to that effect) and was locked into a room or tied up somewhere that the party can rescue (or run into if she escapes on her own). Can help add more urgency that something very wrong is going on or has happened there.
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Thornborn: While I really like the idea (and I do! I think its a great and funny idea) it still feels like "Here is a new PC, deal with it and find a reason she wants to be with you."
wxcougar: I think her living nearby (or just passing by close and being curious enough to stick around for a while) could work. I don't want her to be tied up somewhere in the Schloss because it raises the question where her wolf (or whatever animal companion she chooses) was during this time (though it might have wandered off or was thrown into the river and survived) and of course why she of all people was spared by the cultists.
Certainly would be more work to figure out the why she was spared part. And definitely true for the animal companion - I forgot about considering that part.
I personally like the living/being nearby and curious as to what these people are doing method better. She could have also seen the cultists as well to help give some more tidbits to the party (if you want to go that route of course). Like more descriptions of them or even Auren Vrood. Noticing this could give more reason why she is watching the place - and this new group coming through and fighting would be more approachable than say Whispering Way Cultists.
Hopefully something clicks and works out well for your group! Good luck!
She was hunting the trolls.
They pillaged someplace important to her--the neighboring village, an ally's outpost, a family homestead--and she tracked them across the county to avenge the crime.
When she arrives, she discovers the party has already dealt with the troll menace! But wait...something worse threatens! Surely this heroic druid will not shirk from helping.
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I actually had a new character come in at exactly at this point playing a priest of Erastil. I ended up specifying that he was a guard of the Schloss and had left on patrol looking for raiding orcs or trolls in the local region.
Maybe she was a guest of the Count discussing naturalist topics and chose to leave the Schloss for a brief visit to Lepidstadt before returning or left to study the local flora and fauna for a while before coming back to find the place under seige.
I had a few characters join during the castle, because that place is dangerous. One worked at the University and was away when the relic was stolen. He picked up the trail of the PCs and went to the castle.
Another pair of PCs showed up in Lepidstadt looking for Kendra [who went with the PCs to Lepidstadt], after arriving in Ravengro to see the professor, only to hear of his unusual death. They met up with Kendra who directed them to the castle.
And finally, I had an NPC druid that lived in the swamp that found the body of one the PCs who had been lost in the river. She was lonely and reincarnated him. They eventually made their way back to the castle.
Mainly, you need to make the reason the new PC shows up plausible enough that your players (and their characters) won't question it too much. A druid could have lived in the swamp/woods and noticed the activity of the trolls or the cult. She could have been a friend of any of the major NPCs (Kendra, the professor, Judge Daramid, or even Caromarc or the Beast) and made her way to the castle to investigate.
If you wanted her to be captured in the castle, the WW did leave some of the workers trapped in a wall with a wraith(or maybe it was a wight?), could have done something similar with the druid, except she killed the monster left with her.
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Thanks again for all your input, I really appreciate it.
What I'm going to do is this:
The character is a druid travelling through Ustalav. On her travels she reached a small village. While there the village was attacked from unholy creatures out of the forest, some of them animated plants. A few days prior to this a boy who had killed his lover was hung after a short trial and when investigating the old tree she found the body eviscerated and signs of a ritual. The ravens on the tree couldn't help her very much, but described the friendly men who helped them to their meal as always very quiet talking. She concluded that these men (obviously the Whispering Way) were up to no good and followed their trail.
My plan on bringing her in contact with the group will be a guard that managed to flee the massacre at Schloss Caromarc by falling into the river. He survived, but was wounded and lost when the druid found him. She will find him, hear his story and then now where she has to go next when she wants to find the cultists who almost doomed a whole village "by accident".
I am also considering adding a little side quest before they enter the Schloss itself, maybe escorting the wounded guard to the city or something alike. Maybe a random encounter or two. Not for a reason within the story but more because I'm a little bit scared that the next few encounters are going to outright SLAUGHTER them - instead of the usual 5 players there are only 4 present, one of which is the druid who has only two PFS scenarios with a level 1 character under her belt. Throwing the air elemental at 3 players + a newbie might be asking for trouble.
Without waiting for them to ask, give them a Spellcraft roll to recognize that the trap triggered a Summon Monster spell, and therefore that the elemental will disappear after a minute or so--in other words, they don’t need to kill it, just survive it. Also, at the very beginning of the encounter, explain to the newbie that Knowledge rolls can be used to recognize monsters’ abilities and weaknesses--hopefully, this will remind your other players to make rolls on the air elemental.
If your players are taking a beating from its normal attacks, consider having it take a full round action to form a whirlwind. This will give them a moment’s respite, which they should use to run like hell. Getting sucked up by its whirlwind and ejected 200’ above the ground is TPK territory, unless someone has Feather Fall ready.
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I think I will give them the Spellcraft roll, this seems like a good idea. Knowledge Checks are pretty much the first reflex of the group, though I don't think anybody but the bard (who will not be present) has Knowledge: Planes.
I'm not TOO concerned about them dying since all of them still have 2 hero points - if they 'die' they can just pay 2 hero points, get knocked into the water and get washed ashore a few hundred feet down the river.
So yeah, maybe "slaugter" was too strong of a word. I will play nice and everything will work out, especially since the sorcerer just gave his character sheet to the cleric (a rule in my group: If you're not present and name a substitute, he may control your character as if it was his own). So they won't be TOO much at a disadvantage.