need some input for the next session; a specific monk build and help un-fubaring my mistake.

[LuxuriantOak]

WARNING: IF YOU PLAY DARKER DAYS, GO READ SOMETHING ELSE!
-now that’s taken care of, this is going to be a long post so bear with me.

Backstory: in my homebrew pathfinder game the players are currently following a plot thread that I’v based largely on the skinsaw murders AP. Throughout the last sessions they have been picking up clues and inadvertedly gotten in the cults crosshairs. Last game they decided to pursue this new mystery and went to the old mill they found out that this Foxglove character owned, where one murder victim was found last year. While there they fought a monstrosity made out of body parts and almost perished, but won out by the skin of their teeth.

:

so, I threw a CR7 flesh golem at a 4-man part of Lvl4 characters … I honestly didn’t think it would be that dangerous to them, just a bit challenging. They have after all fought bad odds before without much problems. But that damage reduction of 5 coupled with the fact that everybody in the group except the paladin decided to leave their tactical hat at home that evening meant that after the fight was over there were 2 unconscious characters and both the “tanks” had lost over half hp

After talking things over with Captain Hemlock and securing the carcass for study the group head back towards town, and their base in the smithy Outcast Arms. Before they reach their haven a mysterious fog seeps into the streets an alleys around them and from the fog a veiled, dark-clad figure carrying a quarterstaff flanked by masked and serious looking men with crossbows step towards them. That was where we stopped last session.

Now … this encounter is unrelated to the Carver Killings (as they are called in my game) but is part of 2 sideplots that I have ready. First, some secrets and lore: in my game elves have the same role as outsiders in a more traditional game, there was a great war some centuries ago and after that there were no more elves, why might be found out later in the game but is irrelevant now. What is important to note is that one of my players is playing a half-elf ranger (people treat them the same ways standard campaigns treat tieflings) and unknown to him the veiled staff-weilder is his twin. This has been foreshadowed in harrow readings and the player has expressed an interest in knowing about his heritage.

The Twin is in the employ of a powerful figure the characters know nothing about, said figure actively seeks out magic-users and kills them off, this is one of the reasons the lands low-magic: he is making sure he has monopoly. The reason these people are attacking the party now is because the bard(magician) in the party has gotten powerful enough to get noticed, and they’re here to exterminate him.

:

my intent with this encounter was to introduce the twin in a dramatic way: shadowy figures attack and in the fight he becomes unmasked, both brother become shocked, he escapes and will later return as a recurring antagonist.

A large part of this npc is also that he is a twisted version of the pc, and wil most likely go mad upon realizing he is not the only one. He has always belived and been told by his master that the reason he is alone is because he is different. But when he meets his counterpart who has managed to integrate into society better than him, he goes mad with envy and rage.

The twin starts out as a monk (or something similar) and wil later loose his monk levels and become more of an bloodthirsty warrior (rogue/ranger/fighter or something like that).

You still her? Thank you for reading all that, I’m sorry for the length.

Here are my problems:

1.) Last session I screwed up, and because of it the group is damaged and low on resources, lower than I planned. Should I start next session with giving everybody full hit points? Give back some spells to the bard? Or some similar repair to even out the playing field? I am also considering gimping my opponents slightly: the henchmen will be just the normal 1/2CR bandit from the npc list. But the twin will be equal or better than the group in levels. At least one of my players get very passive and afraid of losing his character if he has taken more than half damage. On the other hand I've played almost everything so far as neutral dm: "if you f#+% up or get some unlucky rolls, the chips fall where they land" so in a small part I'm afraid of "compromising my integrety" but FUN trumps rules always so it's not a big worry, I just want to make sure I'm fair.

2.) The Twins Build: so ok I'll admit it outright, this guy is meant to get away from the party, it smells like trains and rails but sometimes that's what is needed. what I want him to do is to impress them with his use of dirty tricks or fancy maneuvers (my way of telling/reminding the group that there are options in combat they are ignoring) and I’d really like him not to fold in 2 after a round of combat. gear and style wise he carries a staff (that might be defending as well, I’m on the fence there) that allows him to cast obscuring mist and I’ve (arbitrarily) given him the power to see through fog without problems. His appearance is based on the dancing lady in the music video for “rolling in the deep” by adele.

TL;DR: Should I heal or otherwise “fix” the party to give them a fighting chance? Could someone help me with a showy monk build that will disorient and knock the players on their asses?

Thanks for any input.

-LO

[Bandw2]

see if you can warp the plot to be more foreshadowy and less life threatening. or have you mentioned these guys looked and were going on the attack.

possibly the guy can figure out about his twin here, but not reveal it and later tare off his mask and challenge the twin in the next encounter.

[Mangemite]

Is simply saying "They haven't spotted you yet" an option? Could you let them yell "The spell triggered, so they must be close, boss!" or something? That way, the party has a chance to evade a battle they can't win. Sure, it's messy and weird, but forcing the party to basically cheat would lead to a worse experience, I believe. Nothing worse than dying in a pointless, unavoidable battle or, even worse, have the enemy beat you and then leave after a taunt.

[Fotta]

I like the style and setup and big reveal, but I have a question on it. why does it shock the evil twin? When he loses his mask he'll be revealed, but the good twin is unmasked the whole fight, right? You could just cut the fight if the two twins ever get in melee distance of each other. The evil twin just sees the good one, stops, then runs away and leaves the henchmen to die. That keeps the party from dying and builds more suspense for the actual reveal at a later point.

I guess you could do similar if another party member deals X damage to the monk and his mask automatically falls off. that way he can make the party look bad and learn the value of maneuvers, but they don't have to get him to single digits before he books it.

[Gregory Connolly]

"Evil Twin"
Human Oracle (Waves/Clouded Vision) 1/Weapon Master Monk 6
Str 16 +3
Dex 14 +2
Con 14 +2
Int 7 -2
Wis 16 +3
Cha 12 +1
Init +8
Fort +7
Ref +7
Will +11

Traits: Reactionary, Indomitable Faith
Feats: Improved Initiative, Extra Revelation, Combat Reflexes, Perfect Strike, Dodge, Weapon Focus Quarterstaff, Panther Style, Panther Claw, Weapon Specialization Quarterstaff, Improved Disarm, Panther Parry
Revelations: Fluid Nature, Water Sight
Spells: Create Water, Detect Magic, Guidance, Light, Comprehend Languages, Cure Light Wounds, Obscuring Mist

Gear: I would hand out a cloak of resistance, maybe some AC stuff or a magic weapon, and potions of things like Invisibility, Gaseous Form and Fly to ensure that clean getaway.

This build should work for the character you created. He won't recognize his twin until he gets within 30 ft. He can see through and create mist, no fiat needed. He fights well with the staff and panther style in combination, and can be a true pain with Improved Disarm combined with a 50 ft land speed, the ability to walk on water and potions for more mobility options. Built more for survival and escape while still being enough of a threat in melee to make him risky to ignore.

[LuxuriantOak]

Bandw2, Mangemite, Fotta:
I will definitely take some of your advice, starting the session I'll specify that they mysterious ppl seem to be scouting and conferring with a strange pendant(or something).
then again: the players are on horseback and also have a large cart with the corpse of a flesh golem with them -so there are some limits to their stealth and mobility (but not their speed though if they ditch the wagon, and GC's build has a stupid high speed - hmm: potential surreal chase scene anyone?)

But knowing my players they will probably just charge, on a good day they are sneaky enough to set up an ambush, but backing down or avoiding combat is not something they're good at. I blame video games I guess :)

Rant:

I mean seriously, they are a paladin sword&board, a beefy rogue, a ranged ranger and a socialite magician: 2 melee, 2 ranged/support, easy right? No, almost every fight they all end up in melee, the magician (who has the lowest hp and fort&ref-saves btw) usually ends up taking the lead, and I've had to remind the rogue that flanking might be cool some times. they also forget what they have in their inventory, like a flask of alchemist fire when they're fighting enemies that are weak to fire. last session I had gone over their sheets before the game and I asked the rogue where he had bee hiding that 10ft pole when he was somersaulting and fighting about. not to mention the pile of pots, climbing gear, lanterns, and other knick knacks. he was also carrying avout 4 martial weapons. I had to ask "describe how your character looks like with all that stuff on him"

and the ranger is using a crossbow.

aaanyways ...

Gregory Connolly wrote:

"Evil Twin"

Human Oracle (Waves/Clouded Vision) 1/Weapon Master Monk 6
Str 16 +3
Dex 14 +2
Con 14 +2
Int 7 -2
Wis 16 +3
Cha 12 +1
Init +8
Fort +7
Ref +7
Will +11

Traits: Reactionary, Indomitable Faith
Feats: Improved Initiative, Extra Revelation, Combat Reflexes, Perfect Strike, Dodge, Weapon Focus Quarterstaff, Panther Style, Panther Claw, Weapon Specialization Quarterstaff, Improved Disarm, Panther Parry
Revelations: Fluid Nature, Water Sight
Spells: Create Water, Detect Magic, Guidance, Light, Comprehend Languages, Cure Light Wounds, Obscuring Mist

Gear: I would hand out a cloak of resistance, maybe some AC stuff or a magic weapon, and potions of things like Invisibility, Gaseous Form and Fly to ensure that clean getaway.

This build should work for the character you created. He won't recognize his twin until he gets within 30 ft. He can see through and create mist, no fiat needed. He fights well with the staff and panther style in combination, and can be a true pain with Improved Disarm combined with a 50 ft land speed, the ability to walk on water and potions for more mobility options. Built more for survival and escape while still being enough of a threat in melee to make him risky to ignore.

that's a nice build, I'll use almost all of it, might skip some details (like the panther style) just because I'm not that experienced with monks and I don't want to swamp myself in keeping track of class abilities and features. Thanks for your work! I almost want to try out this build in a game myself one day. -but I won't think about that, because that road leads to DMPC's and a subsequent lynching by peeved players :)

btw: do you have the Attack bonus/dmage/flurry/cmd/cmb/hp stas as well?
0:)
-LO