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I'd interpret "small" as something like a torch, not a section of burning building.
Well, yes. That's why this is a question. :)
I'd probably let them use it put out the outer edge of the fire.
How many squares and what defines the 'outer edge'?
I'd say that the Gust of Wind might inhibit the expansion of the fire into the affected squares for that round, but it itself wouldn't put out any portion of the massive conflagration. A clever PC might be able to delay the spread into the room if they were in the right position on round 1 or 2, or push away the smoke and flames concealing the mephit for a round. Or provide a channel of fresh air for PCs or NPCs who might be choking on smoke in the later rounds.
The counterpoint to this is that Gust of Wind is literally the only spell I could find (at least at 1st level) that says it puts out fires at all. Hydraulic Push certainly doesn't for example, which sort of implies Gust of Wind is better at putting out fires than Hydraulic Push...and Hydraulic Push is stated in the description of the Hazard to put out one square.
I'd give some small benefit to reward that player for having that utility prepared and deploying it strategically, but not enough to completely subvert the design of the encounter.
In practice, it being a line means that it will probably put out two squares of fire. I mean, maybe more on later rounds, but the bigger the fire is (and if it hits three or four, the fire's gotten pretty big) the less helpful it's gonna be.
I'm not at all sure 'puts out two squares' is 'subverting the encounter design', that's still only half what a bucket of water does, and probably one PC's whole turn, since he'll have to move and cast, as well as an expensive resource. I mean, I am a little worried it's too generous hence the question, but definitely not 'subverts the encounter' worried.
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I was thinking about the trope of the super hero using wind to clear a temporary path within the inferno of a burning building.
As a player, I would love to have Gust of Wind clear the path within its area for its duration : no smoke and fire on the line while it lasts. And once the duration is up, the fire rushes back to fill the path. Unless the character casts the spell again on their next turn to sustain the cleared path.
I do not know how much this would affect the encounter, but I love the visuals.
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I had a PC cast gust of wind in one of my games. It prevented the fire from spreading in the direction of the caster for the duration of the spell. But I didn't run the evacuation exactly as written: in my game, there was a group of kids on a raised stage that had to be rescued (made more sense than adults sitting around in a burning room waiting to be told to leave) so it kept the flames away from the stage while the party was getting the kids down off of it.
So I'm curious, how much, if any, of the fire in the first encounter do people think that would put out? My initial inclination would be to say 'everything it hits' (it's a 60 foot line), but I'm curious about other people's opinions.
I would be very generous with the PCs using this spell and have it extinguish the fire in every square it hits. When I ran the game the party had a hell of a time, with half evacuating civilians and half fighting the mephit. The fire went completely untouched for many rounds and ended up burning half the town hall down. The PCs only felt sort of heroic afterwards.
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I'd interpret "small" as something like a torch, not a section of burning building.Well, yes. That's why this is a question. :)
I understand why it's a question. You asked how much people thought it would affect. I was stating my interpretation of the size fire I think the spell would affect.
I'd probably let them use it put out the outer edge of the fire.How many squares and what defines the 'outer edge'?
By that I mean anything on the perimeter of the fire, where I'd think the fire hasn't completely consumed the square (and hence not spread to an adjoining square). So if they cast directly toward/into the fire, they'd extinguish 1 square. If the fire was 3 x 8 squares, and they positioned themselves to direct the line down the edge (i.e., where there were 8 burning squares on one side of that line and 8 non-burning squares on the other side of the line), I'd allow it to extinguish all 8 squares.
There's also something to be said for Fumarole's response to be generous. My group delayed fighting the fire and then could not get it under control.
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I understand why it's a question. You asked how much people thought it would affect. I was stating my interpretation of the size fire I think the spell would affect.
Fair enough, just trying to clarify my own thoughts on the matter.
By that I mean anything on the perimeter of the fire, where I'd think the fire hasn't completely consumed the square (and hence not spread to an adjoining square). So if they cast directly toward/into the fire, they'd extinguish 1 square. If the fire was 3 x 8 squares, and they positioned themselves to direct the line down the edge (i.e., where there were 8 burning squares on one side of that line and 8 non-burning squares on the other side of the line), I'd allow it to extinguish all 8 squares.
There's also something to be said for Fumarole's response to be generous. My group delayed fighting the fire and then could not get it under control.
This also seems fair enough. Though I'm not sure it's a real limitation in a lot of ways, since I'd expect him to use it early before the fire has a real 'interior' to hit.
Maybe I'll go with this version.
Question about the BIG fight of the last chapter.
I did not run that encounter, but I would have had her engage in the fight. Probably by summoning an Illusory Creature, then using Invisibility to get a good flanking position--or possibly saving Invisibility in case she needs to retreat. She is not a highly effective combatant, but she is another pool of hit points and the Illusory Creature absorbing a hit (and possibly some missses) from Ralldar is valuable.
FYI this is a GM reference thread, so spoiler tags aren't needed, though the thoughtful consideration is appreciated.
For the encounter with Ralldar, my players were in big trouble a round or two in after he cast enlarge on himself. I had Renali appear at the south entrance (they had taken the north tunnel and hadn't encounter her yet) and shout a warning to the party that they couldn't win this fight. Ralldar became enraged at her interference and concentrated on her. I thought the party would flee at this point, but no, they stayed in the fight. Luckily for them Ralldar failed a save versus Renali's color spray (bumped up to a save because of the incapacitation trait) and the resulting dazzled condition made him miss all his next attacks (which were likely to finish off the group's fighter). The party got several good blows in (including one crit) and this brought Ralldar down to his fleeing trigger, and he was soon finished off (by Renali's bite attack no less).
In the end a combo of Renali's distraction, a failed save and some good rolls won the party the day, though they did learn a lesson about disrespecting a creature they though to be weak at first sight.
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Hi everybody, here is my fix to AoA
first of all have a read to this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/comments/coqcwm/hacking_hellknight_hi ll_book_1_of_age_of_ashes/ because there are a LOT of plot hole you can fix from there (the thread is closed so i cannot comment there)
this is MY thread on reddit with some valuable comments coming:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/comments/j9zhwv/fixing_age_of_ashes_h ellknight_hill/
I adopted a bunch of ideas from the linked thread and went on from there:
- breachill is a city full of magic, legacy from Lamond
- There is a group of young adventures (the regulars from the post, which I called "sons of Lamond")
- Voz and Calmont are allies (he is sort of a minion). Calmont shares with Voz the will to found a guild. He doesn't know Voz is just manipulating him and plans to betray him when needed
Alak came in Breachill two nights before the Call. He meeted with the Sons of Lamond in the Pickled Ear, where they insisted in going to the Citadel with him. Thonira Axebane, daughter of Rorsk and Jorella Axebane was with them as a groupie and has an infatuation for Alak. Roxie Denn overheared the conversation and sold it to Voz, who is already paying her for silence about the secret passage. Voz and Calmont ambush the group in the Citadel. Voz uses sleep on Alak and kills the sons of lamond to avoid them ruining her plans and turns them to undead. Alak awakes and Calmont runs away (Alak can recognize him). Voz was very careful to avoid being seen. Recognizing Thonira as a valuable person she plans to ask for ransom
At the call of heroes there are two petitions: the one from Warbal and a second from Jorella Axebane about her daughter. PCs will follow the track either searching in Thonira's room where they find a secret diary (prepared an handout) and/or asking Roxie who tells they meeted a person wearing a simbol of Asmodeus (Alak become suspected to be the villain).
The fire is an idea of Voz to stop Heroes from coming to investigate in the Citadel. She gave the parchment to Calmont to avoid being recognized and went inside to have an alibi. After the resolution of the fire, when the guards accuse Calmont, Voz decides to betray him: she apologize for having such a trouble in his shop, she confess about the stolen parchment and gave a magic object to help the heroes
In the Citadel Alak meet the PCs and they realize he is innocent (he is almonst an Hellknight after all). He points on Calmont and is happy to go with them for revenge. PCs find Thonira tied up in the secret area A12 with a proof of a ransom letter (they become friends with Tuskhead and this will be helpful in reconstructing the Citadel)
When the PCs find Calmont he tells them about Alseta's ring but he cannot tell more. Voz was following, black dressed, hooded and with heavy clothes to appear larger in build, she prepared with spider climb and she cast an acid arrow to Calmont's throat. After that she quicly runs down the battlement and disappear in the forest (unlikely PCs will make better at 1st level and after two consecutive fights)
the rest of the story is the same of the book except that Roxie confess her guilt when PCs discover the tunnel and she is imprisoned for complicity (PCs can take over the tavern if they want)
I will be happy to hear your feedback to further improve the story!
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Random stat error I came across going through this:
Renali should speak Mwangi in addition to Anadi and Common, because it makes no sense if she doesn't, but more importantly because she's directly specified to be able to translate for the PCs in Cult of Cinders (which makes it an error rather than merely an oversight). Her speaking Elven would also make sense, though it's not as clear cut. This is very minor, but seems worth noting.
So, in a strange turn of events, my players ended up disliking Alak (they still have more chances to interact with him, but first impressions weren't great) but absolutely love Yoletcha (I used Captain Morgan's idea of the flag that says 'Fort Yoletcha'). I had a lot of plans for how to include Alak in future books, but am absolutely stumped on how to include Yoletcha.
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I think that, like the Bumblebrashers, Yoletcha is probably best left as background color going forward. If they make friends with her she'll live in the Citadel and hang out, maybe be an available trainer for Athletics or Stealth, but I wouldn't have her go on adventures with them.
Oh yeah, absolutely not going on adventures. I hadn't thought of her as a trainer, though!
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Oh yeah, absolutely not going on adventures. I hadn't thought of her as a trainer, though!
Having a bugbear train you in wrestling or sneaking has some solid thematic legs to it, and the actual Skill bonuses of trainers are pretty arbitrary, so it works mechanically.
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Body Slam has the one-action symbol, so it only takes one action. During that one action, the grauladon rolls "a single Athletics check and compares the result to the Fortitude DC of each target." So, yeah, I read it as one d20 is rolled, and if the result +10 beats the Fort DC of any adjacent creature, that creature is Tripped.
I believe Trip doesn't require an attack roll for anyone, just an Athletics skill check. Usually, it's one check (and action) per target, though, and vs. Reflex.
Now, if you want to attack with the tail and do damage, that would be a separate action as listed above the Body Slam line. You don't get to do damage and trip as the same action.
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Yeah that how i read it, but i had a player say it should be an attack roll first. I didn't play it like that, but wanted other peoples thoughts, as I'm sure this will come up again during the AP.
Creature specific actions do exactly what they say they do. This often provides creatures with action economy advantages, which is very intentional on the part of the people who write the monsters.
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This may have been brought up before, but didn't see it in my search. Looking at Renali's stat block, I'm wondering how she has moved around much in these caves which are supposed to be pitch black as I read the AP. She doesn't have darkvision or low-light vision, and neither do the Anadi in their true form as noted later in the toolbox. Not even a light spell in her innate spells. Was this an oversight or has she just stumbled around occasionally lighting a torch here or there?
I've heard a rumor that the Anadi are going to be a playable ancestry, curious how this will be addressed.
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This may have been brought up before, but didn't see it in my search. Looking at Renali's stat block, I'm wondering how she has moved around much in these caves which are supposed to be pitch black as I read the AP. She doesn't have darkvision or low-light vision, and neither do the Anadi in their true form as noted later in the toolbox. Not even a light spell in her innate spells. Was this an oversight or has she just stumbled around occasionally lighting a torch here or there?
I've heard a rumor that the Anadi are going to be a playable ancestry, curious how this will be addressed.
The fact that Anadi, and so Renali, don't have darkvision seems like an oversight on behalf of the writers considering they have her living in a lightless environment. They never really provide much info about the Anadi spiderform tho and I just worked under the assumption that maybe they gain websense or darkvision while in that form which would allow her to live easier in the darkness. Renali's entry does mention that she's been using spiderform for hunting to survive and avoid confronting the hunting spiders nearby.
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So I'm starting Age of Ashes this weekend with 5 players. I have one player who wants to play a retired hellknight, old and out of shape and bitter about some atrocities he engaged in as a Hellknight. This PC will get lured back "into the game" because one of the other players is a cleric of Asmodeus with his sights set on becoming a Hellknight. They came up with this on their own with just the players guide for reference and I want to encourage them. They are interested in the dynamic of someone who maybe regrets being a Hellknight trying to keep another from making the same mistakes while the other is looking to see his young faith challenged by real life events and choices. This is great stuff, but leads to me wondering about changing some things:
1. eliminate Alak entirely
or
2. Make Alak older and a Signifier who is injured someway so he can't help them with clearing the citadel, but should they befriend him he can a. be encouraging to the cleric due to his positive love for the Hellknights and b. be able to actually run the Test so the cleric can become an Armiger during the campaign and they can found their own little Hellknight order outpost as a group together.
Any suggestions/thoughts? Also, do Signifiers also wear the same armor or something else? I know they get masks?
FYI it is signifer, not signifier.
No idea about the armor, but I like the idea of Alak being there to encourage the cleric, presenting a counter to the other PC. There is some good opportunity for roleplaying there. Playing them off one another can put the cleric PC in quite the pickle.
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Hello Happy GM's. What about Voz's wand? The treasure entry for her encounter says "in addition to Voz's gear" you get her journal. She has a bonded +1 dagger. But her picture shows a cool wand as well. Did I miss something in the book about it? Did anyone give their players a cool wand or robes or something?
Hello Happy GM's. What about Voz's wand? The treasure entry for her encounter says "in addition to Voz's gear" you get her journal. She has a bonded +1 dagger. But her picture shows a cool wand as well. Did I miss something in the book about it? Did anyone give their players a cool wand or robes or something?
I didn't but I'm sure a wand of manyfold missiles 1st level wouldn't be out of place.
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Hello Happy GM's. What about Voz's wand? The treasure entry for her encounter says "in addition to Voz's gear" you get her journal. She has a bonded +1 dagger. But her picture shows a cool wand as well. Did I miss something in the book about it? Did anyone give their players a cool wand or robes or something?I didn't but I'm sure a wand of manyfold missiles 1st level wouldn't be out of place.
Unfortunately none of my players can use magic missile. I've got a primal and 2 divines. So what I think I'm doing is making Voz's wand a wand of fear and also giving her a poisoner's staff from Agents of Edgewatch. All the martial oriented players got +1 weapons so far so I need to give my casters some love. So I spent a silly amount of time editing Voz's image to put in the poisoner's staff. :)
I mean it looks goooooood!
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...but then again, you are reading the GM reference thread.
I have weaved my GM Puppet Master strings and created what I hope to be a fantastic end to Book 1 of this adventure path. I wanted to share, get feedback, and show off. Allow me to set the stage:
Two groups of 4 gamers each (yes, 8 players) began (2yrs ago IRL) at the Call for Heroes at the Breachill town hall. I adjusted the fiery encounter for 8 players (2 fire mephits), and in fact, the chaotic mess of that scene was only enhanced by having so many players. The town hall burnt down nonetheless, and the two teams each were sent off on missions. Team A took up the Bumblebrasher/Castle Altarein job (now known as Team Altarein), and the other team got sent a ways up the road to a hamlet called Etran's Folly (this team will now be known as Team Plaguestone) to investigate some missing mercantile goods.
Team Plaguestone (TP) became shanghaied in Etran's Folly when the caravan driver of their transport into town got murdered, and the local sheriff worked his way through the investigation. Ultimately, TP uncovered the villains responsible and saved the hamlet from harm. Unfortunately, they determined that the villains weren't working in solitude, however, and in fact, were planning on harvesting the many souls of the murdered citizens for to power a hideous magic item - the anima battery. The name of the Scarlet Triad was uncovered in the journal of Vilree Eldara, along with a nearby collaborator, curiously enough, within the town of Breachill. The anima battery had been stashed in a ruined cyclopean temple just across the mountains in eastern Druma, and TP departed to uncover it (co-opting PF Scenario #02-03 Catastrophe's Spark). Once obtained, TP discovered one solitary soul within the anima battery already - the mother of Vilree, Silwyth Eldara. In my ample re-writes, Vilree mercy-killed her mother and trapped her soul in the anima battery, more as a means to preserve her existence and occasionally converse with her. Once freed, Silwyth expressed her concern for the plots that Vilree and her collaborators within the Scarlet Triad - including one Voz Lirayne of Breachill - were up to, and spilled the beans about what she was told by her daughter. And so, TP raced back to Breachill to prevent further catastrophe.
In the meantime, Team Altarein (TA) tackled the Bumblebrasher problem. In my re-writes, Voz had recruited not only Yoletcha, but also Alak Stagram as collaborators alongside the hopeless halfling Calmont. Regardless, Team Altarein succeeded in clearing out the ground floor of Citadel Altarein, followed by the dungeons. The remainder of the book has played out largely as written, but inside The Reliant Book Company, the team has just recently found a personnel list within Voz's personal quarters (where her cache of scrolls has been hidden), detailing all those she's recruited, including the Bloody Blades.
And so now we come to the climax of the book. The remainder of the Cinderclaw forces are pushing out through the Goblinblood Caves. They've made contact and allied themselves with Ralldar, the crazed barghest. Voz and her Bloody Blades are launching a full-on offensive to penetrate deeper past Guardian's Way to their target: Alseta's Ring. Unfortunately, neither of the two myopic villainous parties recognises that they're all on the same side of the war! Enter the reunited eight-person PC party (four 3rd level; four 4th level) to the pitched three-way battle. I've adapted the Goblinblood Caves further by making a much larger central cavern (D1-D3 on the map minus the central stony bits) as Battleground Omega.
The carnage ensues this coming weekend. I've reserved two gaming sessions for this battle royale. I'll let y'all know how it goes down.
Okay, gonna run this soon. I'm kinda worried about the opening fight, and the fact that my PCs might spread themselves thin across both (all three?) tasks (putting out the fire, fighting the Mephit, rescueing people). I have four PCs, so it'll look like this, in an ideal situation:
PCs spend all their actions freeing and directing people. That's four people per turn. After turn 4, they've got enough people going for a bucket line. After turn 3 if all the councilmembers help as well. They can then form a bucket brigade starting from turn 4. That's still three rounds where the fire can run unimpeded.
The two guards can help rescue people as well or focus on the Mephit, which helps as well (with some luck, the bucket brigade can start a round earlier). So, at the earliest, round 3 to start a bucket line. With some bad luck, round 4 or 5, with two more rounds for the people to actually start pumping. All the while, the PCs are just spending all their actions standing still and directing the townsfolk, or fruitlessly fighting the fire. Maybe I need to see it in action, but I think this is a feel-bad situation for the players. Any insight or advice?
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My PCs defeated the mephits (I had six players) first, with a couple getting people out. Then they focused on rescuing people, although a couple started trying to deal with the fire.
The fire can rage out of control pretty quickly. I'd at least emphasize to them how quickly the fire is spreading. My players biggest complaint was that the spread seemed unrealistic; I think they're not very familiar with real-world fires.
Okay, gonna run this soon. I'm kinda worried about the opening fight, and the fact that my PCs might spread themselves thin across both (all three?) tasks (putting out the fire, fighting the Mephit, rescueing people). I have four PCs, so it'll look like this, in an ideal situation:
PCs spend all their actions freeing and directing people. That's four people per turn. After turn 4, they've got enough people going for a bucket line. After turn 3 if all the councilmembers help as well. They can then form a bucket brigade starting from turn 4. That's still three rounds where the fire can run unimpeded.
The two guards can help rescue people as well or focus on the Mephit, which helps as well (with some luck, the bucket brigade can start a round earlier). So, at the earliest, round 3 to start a bucket line. With some bad luck, round 4 or 5, with two more rounds for the people to actually start pumping. All the while, the PCs are just spending all their actions standing still and directing the townsfolk, or fruitlessly fighting the fire. Maybe I need to see it in action, but I think this is a feel-bad situation for the players. Any insight or advice?
I was worried too but the mephit honestly is trivial as hell. It will go down in 2 hits, maybe 1 (first action of that encounter for the party was ranger crit shooting the mephit and one shotting him).
The rules for the fire spread and handling it are a bit... iffy... I just kinda winged it.
My players rescued everyone and killed the mephit, but by then the fire was too large to contain and the building burned down. Subsequent council meetings have been held at Wizard's Grace down the street.
Hey, I was wanting to run Hellknight Hill and was wondering what maps y'all used cause I was hoping to use this AP to sink my teeth into GMing.
The Community Created Content thread has a lot of fine maps.
Hey, I was wanting to run Hellknight Hill and was wondering what maps y'all used cause I was hoping to use this AP to sink my teeth into GMing.The Community Created Content thread has a lot of fine maps.
Linkified for convenience.
I recently started GMing Age of Ashes and just completed the first chapter.
My players are going to sell off the treasure they don't need, and I was wondering if anyone might have tabulated the price of each treasure by chapter. Tried searching online and this forum but with no success. I know, it's not that much work to have them search Archives of Nethys for each item, but if a list is floating around, that's even better.
Thanks!
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I just did my first session with all new RPG players - a family group of my husband, my 11 year old daughter, and a friend - and they didn't quite make it through the fire encounter the first night, but it was a blast. They created a human barbarian, an arctic elf sorcerer with a pet snow leopard (she took the animal wrangler background and will take the animal trainer archetype at level 2), and an elf rogue.
Because they were not only new to PF2e but also to TTRPGs in general, I scaled down the fire expansion to one new square for every three squares of fire (33% expansion compared to 50%), lowered the fire mephit damage to all 1d4s and only 1 persistent damage, and added in an extra round between round 3 and 4. I gave them a NPC/DMPC human cleric of Calistria to bring the party to four and help keep them alive, and I gave the barbarian a lesser healing potion, the rogue a lesser bottled lighting and the sorcerer a lesser frost vial. Finally, I had a single bucket of drinking water set up just outside the townhall door, to give quick access to one bucket and provide a clue as how to fight the fire. I had the wagon/cart merchant even offer a ladle of the water to the rogue as a sort of introduction/kind offer, but she thought it was weird and checked the water for poison, and he wandered off uncomfortably. :D
They had no idea what they were doing and yet things worked out amazingly well. My daughter had randomly created this character (with no nudging from me) that chose the elemental bloodline with water as her element. She managed to put out and control the western door fire and a mephit-created fire all on her own while her pet, Puffadoodle, rescued two children who had been kind to her earlier and took them out of the fire. When the Mephit fire-blasted her for 8 points of damage and one persistent (she only has 12 hp total) and the cleric for 4 and 1 persistent, she critically failed the roll to put out the persistent damage after manipulating her water cantrip to douse herself, used her hero point, and rolled a 20, so I had her cantrip put out persistent fire damage on her and the cleric and gave her another hero point. The rogue almost single-handedly took out the mephit with his bottled lightning, a bow hit and a rapier hit. The barbarian lost two rounds fleeing and encouraging everyone else to flee because the whole town seemed a little stepford-wifey to him with their cheerfulness and adoration of Lord Breachton (good instincts, bro), but then he helped townspeople get out and organized the bucket brigade.
We had to stop early because of my daughter's bedtime on a school night and she was begging for one more round. All but 6 villagers have been rescued, the fire brigade reaches to the dais and buckets start arriving next round, and smoke inhalation doesn't begin until next round. The mephit is dead, and the worst part of the fire is out and it should be completely out in 2-3 rounds.
The players agonized over priority choices, and felt the pressure of figuring out what to do first, and mostly made good choices. They weren't too good at catching hooks (two of them stayed in background at Wizard's Grace where they were supposed to introduce themselves to each other before the meeting; the rogue rebuffed the water-offering merchant, and the barbarian wouldn't even talk to the stonecutter dwarf who wanted to hire him for his shop).
So next time we'll wrap this up, listen to speeches, get rewards and head to the keep. Hopefully they'll keep having fun, and I'll manage the encounters to the right threat level.
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I am now double GMing this adventure path - for my family group weekly as noted above, and for two friends and two of their teens every third Saturday.
My family just finished the crypt/goblin lower level of the citadel, discovered the tunnel back to Breachill, found Voz's note, and will be running into the Bloody Blades next session. They are still having a blast. The gelatinous cube gave them a scare, but having Alak along has really helped even out the encounters. Pib and Zarf tagged along for half a level also, providing a lot of color and mostly hanging back but helping with a few well-timed spells/cantrips. I give the NPCs a penalty to their initiative rolls so the player characters and monsters usually go before them and are in the spotlight. Alak almost died fighting the ghouls in the secret crypt and the players were hugely upset. After they returned to Breachill and he was saying goodbye, the party paid him to stay for another week to help them find Alseta's Ring, so I am hopeful that will get them through the challenging encounters ahead. I do benchmark leveling and let them level up a little earlier than recommended to compensate for their inexperience as players.
The barbarian player is a very good plot analyst and picks up on even subtle clues, the rogue is super cautious in combat but enjoying how much of a skill monkey his character is, and my daughter loves blasting away with her sea surge and hydraulic push - taking out enemies and the decades of accumulated dust. :P
My friend group is finishing up the first level. They are experienced players and doing well. They decided to let Alak go his own way, so it will be interesting to see how the combat encounters go.
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My group killed Pib and Zarf upon meeting them (in one round, before the "mitey dragons" could even act). It was so sudden and viscous the inciting player has roleplayed his character into having an intense hatred of kobolds, where there was no animosity before the encounter. It led to some interesting encounters in book two.
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Will start this AP soonish and prepping it now. This thread is a huge help - big thanks to all of you.
Has anyone had a player playing a Hellknight? I have one and I am thinking of making Alak's story his, at least, that he's searching for the ring of his father, as this is the only item he has left of him, the rest is only memories, so he would love to find his father's ring. Has anyone done this and ran into trouble later on in the campaign?
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I don't think it would have any long term impact. Alak left at the end of book 1 and never played a part in my game again. However, I would say that some encounters can be hard in book 1 and having Alak in a couple encounters definitely helped them (he wasn't with them the entire book, just parts). It worked better than a GM NPC that had a role the entire time.
You could still have Alak show up looking for him (maybe he deserted? maybe they're just concerned?) and he can leave at the end of book 1 to tell the Order that the PC is taking some leave. Or he could decide he's going to rebuild the citadel and re-establish a Hellknight outpost. Pib and Zarf can join up.
While not a Hellknight, the rogue in my party is descended from one. I had her find a family heirloom in a sarcophagus under the keep. It belonged to her uncle. I also had the wights in the crypt not attack her when they noticed her Order of the Nail medallion, which is all she had from her father (who abandoned her shortly after her birth). The medallion opened the sarcophagus wherein the heirloom was found. She didn't interact with Alak much other than learn Diabolic from him. After that the party didn't show much interest in Alak.
A champion in my party is a former member of the Order of the Torrent. That had some interesting connotations for when they entered Kintargo.
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I've done a few re-writes myself to get past some of the plot holes discussed earlier here.
...2. Rather than having Alak a chance encounter; I've made him a key(ish) town NPC. The town; still culturally inclined to procedure and law from old Cheliax rule, refused to hear Warbal's request and told her to wait until the next Call for Heroes in one week's time. After all, how big of a threat could it be that it scares peaceful goblins? However, Alak happened to be in Breachill as a waystop on his travels to Castle Alterein and promised to look into it for Warbal. After all, he was heading there anyway for all the same reasons listed in the book.
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How did you handle the Imp encounter? Are the imps just kinda hanging out there, waiting for someone to corrupt? Or did you skip them?
I'm currently running this book and I'm looking for a reason why Voz never just walked into the Citadel and took the stairs down to look for Alseta's Ring. It seems like she should've found it quite easily.
One potential reason that is a bit far-fetched is that she didn't want to be seen by the goblins that lived there, but the same could be said for when she entered through the crypt. Also, how did she know about the tunnel into the crypt?
Does anyone have an idea or reason for this?