For the last few weeks I've been running 'Shadow in the Sky' for a party of 6 players. They have just finished the adventure and are currently enjoying some downtime before heading into 'Children of the Void'.
I already heavily tweaked 'Shadow' as the party started the AP as Lvl 5 after some earlier adventures we did introducing them to Pathfinder (and RPGs in general as they are mostly very new to tabletop gaming).
There's two NPC builds I'm looking for some advice on moving ahead. I'll include some spoilered background for each situation.....just in case some of my players are viewing the forums.
1. I've already tweaked a particular NPC enemy the party encountered at the end of 'Shadow' and the encounter ended up in a draw. A couple of the party were knocked out but the NPC was on perilously low health.
Given the party's attitude and desire for some revenge I want to make this NPC a recurring villain and they will have levelled up slightly by the time the party meet them again. I want to give them a henchman/sidekick/fall guy and I'm looking for a possible bodyguard character with a bit of suitable flavour.
Background:
Spoiler:
The NPC is Depora Azrinae who I tweaked from a straight forward Drow fighter to a Fighter(Cavern Fighter)/Magus(Kensai). She was masked and hooded during the fight so as yet the party don't know that there are Drow involved.
For her minion in any future encounter I was considering a possible build for a Drow Pain Taster prestige class, possibly starting with an Anti-Paladin or Inquisitor. However any suggestions for a Drow flavoured divine caster or ranged fighter could be good too (the party haven't had to face a really decent ranged enemy yet)
2. The party may well come into conflict with the head of the local mages as there have been a couple of rather antagonistic social encounters and the players have taken a rather strong dislike to him. I almost never play pure casters so I'd like a little advice on a decent build.
Background:
Spoiler:
One of the other tweaks I've made to the adventure so far is that Depora wasn't only in Riddleport to harvest stone from the Cyphergate or witness the test firing of the Drow weapon from a safe distance. She was also overseeing the infiltration of Riddleport by Drow agents (my players mentioned they liked some intrigue and backstabbing so I felt having the Drow maipulating the political situation in Riddleport to their own ends could add some fun)
As part of this Depora has made a tentative alliance with Elias Tammerhawk the head of the Cyphermages, promising Drow aid in his attempt to become Overlord of Riddleport and possible revelations of Drow knowledge concerning the Cyphergate (Tammerhawk sounds like a pretty nasty piece of work from what's written in the AP so felt it was a logical alliance). Of course neither side trusts the other which will hopefully add to the fun for my players.
Tammerhawk is a Human Diviner and beyond that I'm open to suggestions. He's listed as being 9th level, but I'm considering bumping him to 11th as I doubt any direct conflict will happen till after the party has levelled up a little more.
The players have just hit 6th level and have very decent attributes, the party consists of
How much of the Campaign Setting material do you have available? Inner Sea Magic and Occult Mysteries both have some updates that would be applicable converting the AP from 3.5 --> Pathfinder.
Re: 1
Spoiler:
You might also benefit from the Green Ronin product "Advanced Race Guide: Drow".. this is a 3.5 update of the 3.0 sourcebook "Plot & Poison". The double shortsword used later in the AP came from this material, and Paizo has used other bits. One that might be interesting is instead of a Kensai Magus, make Depora a Dominant and her sidekick(s) (a) Submissive(s).
If you do go the Pain Taster route, the Prestige Class was updated for Pathfinder in Occult Mysteries.
Fleshwarps and the like also got some updates in Inner Sea Magic. The Inner Sea Bestiary (I think) has stats for some of the Fleshwarps that are only mentioned by name in the AP. There is also more in a volume of Wayfinder dedicated to the Darklands.
Re: 2
Spoiler:
There is a Cyphermage Prestige Class in "Inner Sea Magic", and there is the opportunity to write up the Cyphermages as a Magic School using the rules from that book.
Using the Factions (from the "Faction Guide", including the Light Bearers/Shin'Rakorath) is a good way to represent political back-and-forth. The Magic Schools are variants of the Factions, so the rules are similar.
Creating the Winter Council as a new Faction is something I'm considering.
Additionally, Ultimate Campaign has mechanics for the PCs to build their own organization(s).
