Name: Zed
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Sorcerer 6
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: The Dark Depository
Catalyst: Researching too greedily, and too deep.
The party made it to the second section of the Dark Depository despite some struggling (Zed spent the entire fight with the Death Hounds panicked and trying in vain to climb back up the ramp to the center of the entrance area). They made some excellent research checks, and Zed did the best of all, so he was the lucky one to find the Scrolls of Inquiry that they were looking for. He was less lucky when he tried to make his save against the Slay Living trap embedded in said scrolls, and dropped dead on the spot.
The party managed to scrape together the funds for a Raise Dead and Restoration, so Zed was able to resume adventuring with only a couple of days wasted.
Name: Deka Itro
Race: Tiefling
Classes/levels: Occultist 6
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: Underneath the Shiny Bauble
Catalyst: Strangled by an undead
Cut to "Empty Graves," and as the party are making their way out of Shardizad's lair, Velriana struck them, taking advantage of their distraction at having successfully negotiated with the dragon for the piece of the Elegaic Compass.
The first round of combat had rogue facing off with Velriana, although Velriana's baleful shriek sent her running. And then Velriana saw Deka.
One charge action later, Velriana had her hands around the Tiefling Occultist's throat. And while the rest of the party beat on her rapidly, Velriana's CMB was so much higher than Deka's CMD (she literally could only fail to maintain the grab by rolling a one) that Deka quickly succumbed. 1d8+7+4 plus 1d6+7+4 each round she maintained the grapple was just brutal.)
And that is the story of how I murdered my 12-year-old daughter's character in three rounds while the rest of the party just basically watched. (The Hunter couldn't make a to-hit roll to save her life, or to save Deka's as the case may be, and the Paladin who could only move 40' a round was 60' away when the fight started, so she didn't get there in time - and the Rogue was cowering in fear for 4 rounds from the baleful shriek.
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Name: Imdar Ivibuk
Race: Human (vudran)
Classes/levels: Paladin (Undead Scourge) 2
Adventure: The Half-Dead City
Location: The House of Akhentepi
Catalyst: Heshsharu
The Gory Details:
The party were split due to player schedules, and half of them were in town while the other half (Paladin, Summoner+Eidolon, Oracle) went on ahead to the House of Pentheru. It was MEANT to just be a scouting mission, check it out and leave the serious stuff for a larger group, that was the justification for it, but after killing the death dog and three skeletons, the party stumbled into the inner courtyard where Heshsharu was. She put up an amiable facade, claiming to be the spirit of the house and inviting them to look at her garden, but Imdar (the human Paladin) used Detect Evil and got a moderate signature, so was wary; Toffi suggested it might be some kind of spirit possessing a statue; and Heshsharu didn't hear the important parts of the conversation but thought it was rude to talk about someone in their presence. As I had them roll perception and see the lavish murals, their curiosity got the better of them, and Imdar and Powerslave (the Eidolon) wandered closer. She asked them about the current ruler, and other details of modern Osirion, but Imdar (with a bluff roll of 5) didn't seem enthusiastic about staying, and let slip that she was getting an evil vibe from Heshsharu. Heshsharu thought that was pretty judgemental...and activated her aura of sleep, putting Imdar and Toffi (the catfolk Summoner) to sleep, which meant the Eidolon went bye-bye, leaving Sedjawet (the human Oracle) alone.
This is a level 2 party in a campaign with a fairly lethal reputation, so rather than coup-de-grace-ing and beating the s#~# out of the Oracle, I had Heshsharu instead offer them to simply leave if they would bring more people to admire her garden (to have fun toying with them), which Sedjawet bluffed her way into accepting, as she woke Toffi and Imdar. Toffi, panicked and without her Eidolon, took off running and used her climb speed to simply vault over the ten foot wall around the estate, running and never looking back. The player's rationale was perfectly understandable, we all agreed – it's what the character would do, with the information available, with her sudden vulnerability, and nobody blames her for what happened next. The CHARACTER might be getting an earful later, but the player is fine.
The two humans tried to follow suit, hoping that the thing wasn't following. As they climbed the wall, it materialised from the ground, and passed THROUGH the wall, at which point Toffi's played OOC quietly says “oh s&~%,” and Sedjawet realised it was not a spirit at all but an earth elemental, specifically a Sandman, and they realised it was out of their league. Rather than risk walking along the wall to safety, the two decided to risk taking it on without Toffi, Sedjawet climbing down to engage and Imdar leaping for a vertical charge attack. Sedjawet was soon brought down, but managed to stabilise herself, her fate to be determined. Meanwhile, Imdar and Heshshara get into a slugging match, and it was genuinely close, bringing the Sandman down to 8hp. If they'd gone into it fresh, with Lay on Hands and Smite Evil, she could probably have taken it. But Imdar finally goes down, and can't stabilise because feats and traits, and was already fighting at 0hp. Her last words, as she tried to land a hit with her flail, were “I won't let you hurt her, I love her!” And then she was downed.
Now that would [I]normally{/I] be a sad way to end your first character of the game, at a level too low to reasonably expect to afford a resurrection, but, like the other Dms in my group, I offer a one-time freebie rez, but there are...conditions attached. Mostly story flavour, but possibly something tangible.
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Oh boy, I've got 3 to add to this wall. 2 are my own, one from another player in the group. This first is the longest tale of the 3.
Name: Zilmoran Narthropple
Race: Gnome
Class/Level: Rogue (Relic Raider) 2
Adventure: The Half-Dead City
Location: The House of Pentheru, 2nd floor
Catalyst: Failure to Notice Traps (and poor GM adjudication).
The Gory Details:
First, he made the mistake of walking into the slave quarters despite the obvious skeletal bodies. After rolling an incredibly low initiative while all skeletons rolled high, he was immediately surrounded and clawed to unconsciousness. The Cleric and Life Oracle made quick work of everything.
Second, he was the only one of 5 to fall afoul of the Confusion haunt in the foyer. It took 5 rounds of babbling and flailing for the party to grapple Zil and extricate him from the room.
Third, he fell afoul to the vargouilles while ascending the stairs. The others managed to fend them off, sending one fleeing. We pressed on.
Finally, the trapped chest in the room with Imanesh. Zil failed to notice the crossbow rigged on the inside. The crossbow landed a critical hit and Zil failed his save against the Black Adder Venom. GM ruled that due to the crit, the venom did 1d4 Con damage instead of the normal 1d2 Con damage. 6 failed saves and exactly 12 damage later, and Zil was dead and the party retreating in the face of the Doru.
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Name: Buck (played by a friend)
Race: Warforged Homebrew
Class/Level: Gunslinger (Mysterious Stranger) 2
Adventure: The Half-Dead City
Location:The House of Pentheru, 2nd floor
Catalyst: Stubbornness
The Gory Details
Both Buck and Qida had begun feeling the effects of the Wisdom poison from Imanesh, and neither would leave until the other fled. This went on for half a minute before Qida finally left the room. Buck turned to follow, but by then the poison rendered him comatose.
Imanesh proceeded with his plans and placed the Dead Man's Headband upon Buck's brow before ripping out Buck's throat with a Coup de Grace.
The party had to dispose of the newly animated Beheaded Buck when they returned to finish the job.
Name: Averina Siannodel
Race: Elf
Class/Level: Magus (Eldritch Archer) 3
Adventure: The Half-Dead City
Location: The Sanctum of the Erudite Eye
Catalyst: Not paying attention
The Gory Details
Name: Kriyana ba-Sekhmet
Race: Human
Class/Level: Cleric of Sekhmet 2
Adventure: The Half-Dead City [PF2 conversion]
Location: The House of Pentheru, 2nd floor
Catalyst: Pressing on beyond sense, poor rolls, no-one realising the danger
The Gory Details
They found the headless corpse and figured out vargouilles were present, but got confused about fiendish ancestry and cold iron. So when the first vargouille appeared, they started burning through their cold iron arrows and bolts. Imanish took advantage of the confusion to "persuade" the dwarf barbarian to go wake up the other vargouille.
It was still a near thing. Both vargouilles were soon dispatched (using most of the cold iron), but not before the barbarian was down. Without his big hits, Imanish's physical resistance was causing trouble. Kriyana finally went down to a critical hit (putting her straight to Dying 2); sensing they were close to winning, the other two went for the doru div again, thinking there would be time to see to Kriyana safely once it was dealt with. Kriyana however could only critically fail her recovery check and that was the end of her.
The next arrow took Imanish too close to death and it fled, leaving the others to rue their choices.
Name: Imdar Ivibuk
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Paladin 3
Adventure: Half-Dead City
Location: Pentheru Estate
Catalyst: Imanish and the centipede
The Gory Details:
Honestly, I've been losing confidence with how tough this book has been. The party composition is irregular because peoples' schedules don't allow regular showing up, and the enemies and traps have been unexpectedly tough or at least it feels that way. Is this normal, or just bad luck?
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Name: Sekhmet (named for the god whose bloodline flows distantly in her veins)
Race: Half Orc
Classes/levels: Bloodrager 1
Name: Sarema
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Alchemist 1 (Crypt Breaker + Trap Breaker)
Name: Akhen
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cleric 1 (Pharasma, Healing + Repose Domains)
Adventure: The Half Dead City
Location: Tomb of Penrethu - False Burial Chambber
Catalyst: Malfunctioning Deathtrap proved surprisingly effective!
Survivor (singular): Sunja, level 1 Diviner Wizard.
The Gory Details:
Short version? One member split off, them all spread out, and two of them already rather wounded, plus some bad luck meant it did not go well for them.
After that, they were all very paranoid of traps, sending their trap-finding Alchemist forwards to check things, sending their Bloodrager to open doors. Took a bit more damage from the Giant Solifugid and the Sandling, did enough healing to get people back on their feet, but several were still quite dented.
In the False Burial Chamber, the Bloodrager opened the door and went in, the alchemist went up to the sarcophagus to check it for traps, whilst the cleric lurked at the door, and the Wizard further back.
So when it turned out the trap trigger was stepping onto the raised area at all, not the sarcophagus itself, the shock trap was enough to immediately drop the Alchemist, as the doors slammed shut, the Bloodrager stayed inside, the Cleric dashed inside... but the Wizard was too far back, and trapped outside. With the only light spell, meaning the Cleric couldn't see whilst the Sarcophagus animated and leapt into combat
As the water rose, the unconsious Alchemist started having to make rolls not to suffocate from inhaling water. The Bloodrager could not roll for toffee, and kept on missing the sarcophagus. The Cleric lit a torch so he could see... just in time to be grappled, fail to escape, and then swallowed by the Sarcophagus. Because of the aforementioned dentedness, the 'chew' it got as it swallowed him dropped his hitpoints negative.
The Bloodrager lasted a while and did some damage, but when she ran out of Bloodrage rounds, the Fatigue penalty plus continuing poor rolls against something with Hardness meant she couldn't drop it before it dropped her. At which point she's rolling not to drownn too...
This was about 6 rounds into the combat - about when the Alchemist failed the roll not to drown. So, drowned Alchemist, drowning Bloodrager, and suffocating Cleric. We could've tried to work out their chance of still being alive after 14 rounds of increasing DC checks when the doors unlocked, but given when the Wizard saw the bodies, saw the still-active sarcophagus... he not unreasonably turned and ran, it was rather academic. Technically the Sarcophagus should've pursued him, and he should've faced the Ghost Scorpion on the way out, but having not been able to find a way to fudge it to save lives earlier, I cheerfully had the sarcophagus stay in its room and the scorpion be a treat for the new returning party.
And now that Wizard is looking for said new party to help him finish exploring the tomb. Hope they'll have better luck!
I was expecting there to be a level of death in my game - when I ran Reign of Winter the whole way through over a couple of years, alll bar one of my players lost something like 3-5 characters over those 17 levels, and the last died once (also a 'stay at the back' wizard, who also survived a 'everyone else dies' encounter, albeit at a higher level and by not making that particular game).
But I wasn't expecting a Most-of-Party-Kill quite so early. Looking at it, it's a CR4 encounter, so it is 'the tough one'. And they went in with half the party at or under half health, their paranoid/staying back split the party, and they had a fair bit of bad luck.
So, it is what it is.
But I wasn't expecting a Most-of-Party-Kill quite so early. Looking at it, it's a CR4 encounter, so it is 'the tough one'. And they went in with half the party at or under half health, their paranoid/staying back split the party, and they had a fair bit of bad luck.
I took one look at the trap and decided the animated sarcophagus and the water trap was enough, and my party STILL almost couldn't take it. Again, one party member was stuck outside and the rest struggled to deal with it. The only thing that saved them was me deciding it didn't make sense for a construct caller's eidolon to need to breathe, so it got swallowed and bludgeoned it apart over maybe ten minutes while the rest of the party nervously peered down from the shaft after breaking their way out. I can't imagine what would have happened if I hadn't decided the lightning trap was faulty, everything else still nearly wiped them.
I don't mind having stakes and losing characters, but a.) I like to be invested in characters and level 1 is not enough time, and b.) doing it at levels 1-3 feels more than a bit unfair.
But I wasn't expecting a Most-of-Party-Kill quite so early. Looking at it, it's a CR4 encounter, so it is 'the tough one'. And they went in with half the party at or under half health, their paranoid/staying back split the party, and they had a fair bit of bad luck.I took one look at the trap and decided the animated sarcophagus and the water trap was enough, and my party STILL almost couldn't take it. Again, one party member was stuck outside and the rest struggled to deal with it. The only thing that saved them was me deciding it didn't make sense for a construct caller's eidolon to need to breathe, so it got swallowed and bludgeoned it apart over maybe ten minutes while the rest of the party nervously peered down from the shaft after breaking their way out. I can't imagine what would have happened if I hadn't decided the lightning trap was faulty, everything else still nearly wiped them.
I don't mind having stakes and losing characters, but a.) I like to be invested in characters and level 1 is not enough time, and b.) doing it at levels 1-3 feels more than a bit unfair.
Eh, I'm a mean enough GM and it was enough their fault that I'm not too worried about it. It sets the tone for the rest of the campaign - I don't expect many other MPK/TPKs, but I do expect a fair number of deaths.
They saw the big impressive chamber with obvious tomb and statues and other decorations, but didn't stop to fix the fact that a couple of party members were on roughly half health (which is even more of an issue at 1 hit die) and whilst I can understand the "It'll be the sarcophagus that's trapped' perspective that resulted in the trapfinder wandering up to it and triggering by stepping on the dais.
And then the party being so strung out that the cleric couldn't get the healer up (and didn't prioritise doing so), that the wizard was locked out of the room (leaving the human cleric with no light, as well as one less person to fight). And so forth.
There was also a chunk of bad luck on their part, and it is an unusually nasty early encounter... but I'm okay with that. There was some initial unhappiness, but I think most of that was at specific edges - annoyance at the death combined with someone finding suffocation rules unreasonable, plus communication being that bit harder over voice-chat.
People have rolled with it, made new characters, and in the next session come back, defeated the sarcophagus, and found the true tomb, defeated the cobra. They seem happy enough, just that bit more wary.
Name: Belgamson
Race: Gnome
Classes/levels: Fighter 3rd
Adventure: The Half Dead City
Location:The Sanctum of The Erudite Eye
Catalyst: Rolling badly in combat
The Gory Details:
The party was fighting the skeletal Champion of Nethys. As is often the case our dice were cold and particularly Belgamson.
Eventually the opponent roll a crit. He (it) had a X3 weapon and high pluses to damage. Belgamson did not survive. He was buried in Wati, his home town.
Name: Crash Palaverous
Race: tiefling, male
Classes/levels: antiquarian investigator 4/rogue 5
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: Chisisek's Tomb
Catalyst: Always check that cool statues are not actually Stone Golems holding still before walking into their rooms.
The Gory Details: Was at full HP. Got hit twice, one was a crit, and insta-died. Brains everywhere.
Crash's absence gave us space in the party to add a tracker from the Thriae hive. My GM generously homebrewed a playable Thriae race and Zizzi the Ranger is now a member of the party.
Name: Ammon Al-Mukhalas
Race: Human, Male
Classes/levels: Fighter 1, Sanctified slayer inquisitor 4.
Adventure: Book 2.
Location: Darkling hallways.
Catalyst: Surprise complete 180 of recurring foe's combat capacities, no rolled knowledge checks, rushing in too quickly to seize a momentary advantage and protect the party.
Velrianna revenant, was killed by Ammon at the end of book 1 due to an accidental crit (the plan was to capture her). We laid an ambush in the tunnels and won initiative. Figuring she was still a caster and I had sneak attack and was the tank, I attempted to charge her in the first round to try and run interference.
Well... I got the hit in, but then it was revealed that she was now a melee beast (and had lost all her magical powers). Four above average rolls and the additional +4 'hatred bonus' to hit from him killing her previously, Ammon took 56 damage which was 4 above what was needed to kill him. It was described as a heart-rip mortal combat fatality, so pretty brutal indeed! On the upside, this ended the fight as it turned her to dust upon getting revenge. Technically a double KO? :)
Always roll knowledge checks and ask for dangerous abilities, kids!
Post-Death: Had a beautiful burial ceremony in his hometown. The party medium might channel him soon to be her champion spirit, so he might linger in the party despite being dead!
Name: Entire Party
Race: Tiefling x 2, Human, Dwarf, Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Bard, Rogue, Fighter, Wizard, Druid, all Level 3
Adventure: Half-Dead City
Catalyst: Graven Guardian of Nethys.
The Gory Details:
Failure to identify what the statue is so no attempts to bypass him with Nethys symbols; so he just woke up and started ripping into the party one by one. The party had already been struggling through the adventure so a reset seemed a good idea anyhow. Amusingly, the new party were all Nethys worshippers.
All characters from this point on were reincarnated after dying. I run a no-Raise Dead, Reincarnate only house-rule to make death more interesting. This adventure path has really put a strain on that rule!
Name: Jemima
Race: Oread (F)
Class/Level: Warpriest, Level 9
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Catalyst: Grabbed, sawed and then caught in the explosion of a Clockwork Golem
The Gory Details:
Poor Jemima was in the wrong place, valiantly up front, too slow to avoid being picked up by a Golem who then proceeded to open her up like a tin can, and then was destroyed thus causing an explosion that would catch Jemima in its wake. Jemima would get visions of being at Nethys's side for a time, before being brought back to life as a Gathlain (F).
Name: Tarn + Safia
Race: Human (M) + Sylph (F)
Class/Level: Brawler + Sorceress, Level 11
Adventure: Secrets of the Sphinx
Catalyst: Imagining you're being crushed by a Sphinx head.
The Gory Details:
This gave the party a serious case of parnaoia afterwards, when they triggered an ancient trap that left one third of the dead and another believing they had been crushed under the sphinx's head. The party had to go in complete retreat before trying again. (and Tarn and Safia were reincarnated, as a Half-Elf (F) and Gnoll (F) respectively. Safia would later be blessed with Succubi wings. Don't make wishes in funny Sphinxes.
Name: Woody
Race: Half-Orc (M)
Class/Level: Barbarian, LEvel 12
Adventure: Secrets of the Sphinx
Catalyst: Heqet (Chain Lightning iirc)
The Gory Details:
Next, making the players believe that zombie lord clerics are just hiding behind every wall! Heqet got Woody with Harm first, then blasted everyone with Chain Lightning afterwards. Woody came back as a Dwarf (M)
Name: Safia
Race: Gnoll (F)
Class/Level: Sorceress, Level 12
Adventure: Secrets of the Sphinx
Catalyst: Banshee Wail.
The Gory Details:
140hp of damage is just a bit much, right? Could have easily been a TPK if I hadn't been a bit leniant with some of my NPC movement. Vicious creatures. Safia came back as a Drow (M), still with Succubi wings.
Name: Tarn
Race: Half-Elf (F)
Class/Level: Brawler, Level 12
Adventure: Secrets of the Sphinx
Catalyst: Areshkhesbed
The Gory Details:
Not 100% on the specifics on this one, but I seem to recall this being Areshkhesbed dimension dooring into the chamber after the party had defeated the Forgotten Pharoah. Having witnessed Tarn's handy disabling of the Forgotten Pharoah, Areshkhesbed identified him as a prime target and pounced + raked the poor girl until she was dead. Tarn came back as a Gnome (M); Tarn's player absolutely hates gnomes so this brought about some hilarity from the party.
BONUS!
Name: Urah
Race: Ifrit
Class/Level: Bloodrager, Level 13
Adventure: Slave Trenches of Hakotep
Catalyst: Looking through closets without care and witnessing a symbol of insanity.
The Gory Details:
Urah didn't die, but it was a close shave, as the Shining Children pretty much blinded and scorched the rest of the party. It was only through some lucky rolling that the party are still in one piece, and Urah was sent back to Wati to get his head examined.
Name: Toffi
Race: Amurran
Classes/levels: Summoner 9
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: Southern Parched Dunes
Catalyst: Random encounter
The Gory Details: While exploring the Parched Dunes, the party ran into four Efreeti who managed to use invisibility to get the jump on them. After an extremely tough fight, the adventurers managed to kill two of the Efreeti, one of them Plane Shifting away to survive after being brought to single digits, and the last took its last attack action to outright kill a downed Toffi, the catfolk summoner. The party took her back to Ipeq hoping to get the Sarenites to resurrect her, but her corpse was stolen by their long-running enemies, Velriana Hypaxes' new Scorched Hand. She's now their chief source of information to catch up, both to steal the Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh and for her revenge after her defeat in Wati.
Name: Penygrug Bogota, Suha Temitope
Race: Human, Beast-Brood Tiefling
Classes/levels: Magus 10, Arcanist 10
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: The Tomb of Chisisek
Catalyst: The Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh
The Gory Details: The battle in the valley was a LOT more tough than I expected. The party had already hit level 10, but Jamirah is still an engine of destruction - even the party's goblin sniper Nolla was having trouble seeing her from her sniping spot before a lucky Major Image tricked her into thinking they'd cast Wall of Force which forced her to reposition. On the ground, the desert giant was swiftly dispatched but the two lamias and their cultist backup moved to engage one of the party's magi, Penygrug, and he was quickly downed and slain before a quick Breath of Life spell, delivered at range via Spectral Touch by the oracle Sedjawet, brought him back.
After downing most of the cultists, the two lamias, and the Seps, Jamirah retreated into the pyramid with three heavily injured cultists. The adventurers took the night to recover health and spell slots, but so did Jamirah and the cultists, and when they investigated the pyramid she successfully lured them into triggering the boulder trap. Their ambush was foiled by an invisible servant being the one to open the door, and the room was quickly filled with a stinking cloud, but they managed to break out into the hallway and, with mirror images deflecting hits, haste giving her another attack, and her feat stopping them from leaving her threatened space, she managed to kill the arcanist Suha, stabbing zir through the heart, before Sedjawet managed to bring her back with Breath of Life. As Suha got out of the way, and Sedjawet weathered a full round of attacks before managing to escape, she nearly took down the other magus, Shoshan, with her attacks, before she was finally brought down, and even then the damage from her Troth of the Forgotten Pharaoh feat could have done the job if Shoshan hadn't made the save.
On the bright side, my players loved how tense and emotive it was, and how narrow their win was, and it's probably going to be one of the more memorable fights of the campaign.