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I'm looking forward to this, but I have a lore question. Did you (author, developer, etc.) have any particular lore in mind for the grippli tribes? I mean, just stuff as simple as a tribe name and a quick description would be cool for consistency's sake and worldbuilding. I can make my own up, but I always like to get lore from the source(s) when I can. :)
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I don't think they ever defined names of the Grippli tribes. But anyone that played Chalice Part 2 mentioned above will recognize Purpurrup as the Grippli they rescued before and was part of the tribe guarding the temple before it was largely wiped out by cannibal halflings.
And the other tribes came and joined up to help her tribe defend the temple after all of that happened.
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Purpurrup is indeed from Champion's Chalice, Part 2. Mother Bogwynne is also from Scions of the Sky Key, Part 2 and has a portrait there. (Fola Barun makes an appearance in some of the fiction and also has art in Signs in Senghor, since we're talking appearances in other places.)
But yeah, they never give Purpurrup's tribe or the names of any of the tribes other than Mother Bogwynne's Krihirik tribe. When I was running Champion's Chalice 2 it came up and I made something up. I expect the same to happen here, and was hoping to get a little more world-building before I make it up myself. :)
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Is it intended that the players paying out of pocket enables a boon for only exchange members? The boon states “Exchange Only” on the sheet, but the wording in the module itself is different than the other Exchange boon, doesn’t specify the faction in the wording of how it is worded, and seems to not make much sense being limited to faction only.
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Is it intended that the players paying out of pocket enables a boon for only exchange members? The boon states “Exchange Only” on the sheet, but the wording in the module itself is different than the other Exchange boon, doesn’t specify the faction in the wording of how it is worded, and seems to not make much sense being limited to faction only.
Hmm, that's a good question.
Separately, I ended up researching manifestations. They're not quite as haunt-like as I thought. Exceptions in the scenario override the default rules so you don't get the standard opposed Charisma check, but there are a few things to watch out for.
- First, sprinkling holy water in the area delays the manifestation by 1d4 rounds automatically.
- Second, the manifestation explicitly happens one round after a living creature moves into the area. Allow PCs time to move into the room. This is a little different from how haunts work.
- Third, the forceful display of faith includes both presenting your holy symbol and speaking your deity's name aloud, and the action provokes attacks of opportunity.
- Fourth, these displays of faith can only be done once per round as a primary action, but other "characters of faith" may aid another on this charisma check, attempting vs. the typical DC of 10 and providing the usual +2 bonus. Aiding another does not count as your 1/day use.
- Fifth, because manifestations are divine and not undead, only positive or negative energy created by a spell or ability granted by a deity can damage a manifestation. Think of it as deity vs. deity. Positive energy from another source, like a bard casting cure light wounds, doesn't affect the manifestation.
The DC for recognizing a manifestation and learning how to destroy it is DC 15 + CR, so DC 23 in 7-8 and DC 25 in 10-11.
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Is it intended that the players paying out of pocket enables a boon for only exchange members? The boon states “Exchange Only” on the sheet, but the wording in the module itself is different than the other Exchange boon, doesn’t specify the faction in the wording of how it is worded, and seems to not make much sense being limited to faction only.
Since I'll be running the scenario next week, I too would like to know this.
On a completely different note, one year ago I ran the other scenario that had this map in it, and came to the forums for advice about a certain creature. This creature (which is large) was hiding underneath a 8ft tall table in clear view for any PC, and needed to charge them through some stone chairs. After some good advice from others I had managed to keep that combat as much within the rules as possible, while also providing some fun for the players.
With that in mind, on the high tier, how am I going to explain a GARGANTUAN creature underneath the 8ft table which apparently needs a DC 12 perception check to notice? It doesn't even fit underneath the table, let alone the fact it has no way to hide ANYWHERE to warrant any kind of DC.
Organized Play Developer
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Is it intended that the players paying out of pocket enables a boon for only exchange members? The boon states “Exchange Only” on the sheet, but the wording in the module itself is different than the other Exchange boon, doesn’t specify the faction in the wording of how it is worded, and seems to not make much sense being limited to faction only.
Fiend-Keeper is only available to Exchange members, though if another player wants to contribute to the funding without receiving the boon, they may do so. As an aside to that, using direct wealth to fund the gripplis should count as using Exchange backing to help the gripplis for reporting box A.
With that in mind, on the high tier, how am I going to explain a GARGANTUAN creature underneath the 8ft table which apparently needs a DC 12 perception check to notice? It doesn't even fit underneath the table, let alone the fact it has no way to hide ANYWHERE to warrant any kind of DC.
The giant anaconda is specifically noted as squeezing (really coiled up) beneath the 35-foot-long, 10-foot-wide table. The area underneath the table is shadowed, as well as partially obscured by the cyclops-sized chairs, thus the relatively trivial but still present Perception check to notice it.
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- Fourth, these displays of faith can only be done once per round as a primary action, but other "characters of faith" may aid another on this charisma check, attempting vs. the typical DC of 10 and providing the usual +2 bonus. Aiding another does not count as your 1/day use.
Edit: I meant to write "once per day" but wrote "once per round" instead. It should be "per day." Sorry.
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I would explain it as the slight chance that the character would mistake the gargantuan snake as a large pile of debris in the dim light. Darkvision characters don't work with that, but it is reasonable to describe it as seeing the snake but not recognizing it or being distracted by the rest of the room.
Mostly academic, as few PCs are going to fail a DC12 at 10-11.
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I'm in the process of prepping this scenario for next tuesday.
As I read the the Combat tactics of the two anacondas (in low subtier), it reads
During Combat Each cobra strikes at a different foe, preferring
to target enemies that seem weak. They target characters
suffering from the manifestation’s confusion effect or who seem
particularly wounded first. If they kill or disable a creature, they
drag it down the ravine and toward their burrow.
There's no mention of a ravine or burrow anywhere else in the scenario. Thoughts on how to handle this (if should come up)?
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Organized Play Developer
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I'm in the process of prepping this scenario for next tuesday.
As I read the the Combat tactics of the two anacondas (in low subtier), it readsDuring Combat Each cobra strikes at a different foe, preferring
to target enemies that seem weak. They target characters
suffering from the manifestation’s confusion effect or who seem
particularly wounded first. If they kill or disable a creature, they
drag it down the ravine and toward their burrow.There's no mention of a ravine or burrow anywhere else in the scenario. Thoughts on how to handle this (if should come up)?
I'm guessing that something got cut during copyfit that seemed less important than it actually was, but long story short, their burrow is outside the temple, they were scared out by Vanji prospectors digging nearby, and came to rest in the temple. So they'll try and drag PCs out through the temple doors to their burrow which is about a hundred feet away from the temple entrance down a steep incline.
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Ran this over the weekend. It went fine except for the last encounter, which was disappointing due to design and confusing due to how I ran it.
We were all in a massive rush due to venue closing, and a couple players missed an enemy’s brief shifting into Asura (I only dropped a blade barrier and didn’t use any other abilities due to the time constraints); players were quite bemused about the fighters' SR.
If I ran this again I would add some more flavor here. You could make all the fighters look at a specific player as one (probably whoever is wearing the holy symbols of a good-aligned god), and speak in unison about spreading the horrors and desecration of Ghol-gan to the outside world; each possessed Grippli could also join in this dialogue. (I also made sure Purpurrup was the first one to get possessed, since she was the only grippli the players actually knew). This would make it very clear that there's something else going on here, without the need to have them use spell-like abilities.
