So, my party has just started the River into Darkness.
They have encountered two capoacinth rogues (lvl 2), which attacked them on the river during the storm. They knocked down the male one and threw him overboard, then slew his girlfriend and threw the corpse into the river too.
So, I decided to have the male gargoile survived. He retrieved the corpse and decided to avenge her death, following the party up the river.
This is going to be an encounter a few weeks later and I want to ramp up his toughness and add some drama. Maybe, take some levels in the new class and give him powerful gear or effects.
I have sketched a few ideas, but would be glad to hear some advice from more experienced GMs!
Nikkok wrote: So, my party has just started the River into Darkness.
They have encountered two capoacinth rogues (lvl 2), which attacked them on the river during the storm. They knocked down the male one and threw him overboard, then slew his girlfriend and threw the corpse into the river too.
So, I decided to have the male gargoile survived. He retrieved the corpse and decided to avenge her death, following the party up the river.
This is going to be an encounter a few weeks later and I want to ramp up his toughness and add some drama. Maybe, take some levels in the new class and give him powerful gear or effects.
I have sketched a few ideas, but would be glad to hear some advice from more experienced GMs!
What's the party make-up? What classes, character level, equipment? How tough do you want the encounter to be? You may want to look at the standard gargoyle variants to see what kind of options are already there. For example, Kapoacinth Hunter is usually a Fighter2. A level of Fighter on top of the Rogue levels wouldn't be unreasonable. But you'll probably want him to have some allies to make the fight challenging.
How smart is the avenger? And how evil?
Perhaps he got an evil cleric to revive his girlfriend, but all the cleric could/would do was reanimate her as undead and order her to follow his commands. And to cut his throat if he seems likely to reveal the cleric's involvement.
I mean, he knows what the party is capable of, to an extent at least. So he's probably not going for a direct confrontation unless he's confident he can win. Maybe an ambush or even an assassination if he can manage it, or striking at them indirectly if he can't.
Maybe a gargoyle rogue and a...gargoyle ghost? Or maybe just a super-awesome magic item powered by the spirit of his fallen love. Add in some mooks that make sense or even a bigger, badder threat they've somehow convinced to take the job. Maybe they work for a criminal organization now, or entered into some kind of arcane contract.
I'm a fan of this template, but this one might work too.
Smallfoot wrote:
What's the party make-up? What classes, character level, equipment? How tough do you want the encounter to be? You may want to look at the standard gargoyle variants to see what kind of options are already there. For example, Kapoacinth Hunter is usually a Fighter2. A level of Fighter on top of the Rogue levels wouldn't be unreasonable. But you'll probably want him to have some allies to make the fight challenging.
The party are three level 4s, half-elf Dex Fighter, human Bloodrager and ratfolk Alchemist. Nothning special in equipment, a few +1 weapons and armor, cloaks for save throws and potions.
Also the ship has a few NPC cremembers, but almost all of them lack the magic weapons to pierce gargoyle's DR.
I was thinking about two possible routes:
1) Kapoacinth just picks a new class level, gathers some allies and goes for revenge.
2) He makes a pact with some dark entity, which helps him survive and grants him some powers to fuel his anger and wreck havoc upon the ones who did him wrong.
The second part works well with the templates above, but they look quite strong. I think, I'll have to wait for PC to gain a couple of levels, otherwise even the wrathful template (CR+1) may massacre them.
I don't know the module or the NPC stats but the typical Kapocinth have an Int of 6 but a Wis of 11. Adding levels of a PC class, you might consider giving the gargoyle levels of a Divine casting class; I'd suggest Cleric. The focus of the creature's spells would be summoning.
2 things: this game is a game, not a work of fiction. If you were outright telling a story, the gargoyle would retreat somewhere, seethe with impotent rage over the death of his beloved, forge that rage in the crucible of revenge and then return into the midst of the PCs like a fury of unbridled hate, nearly defeating the party out of sheer spite.
Since this ISN'T a story, the mechanics of the game suggest that at a certain level (usually around level 8) making a single monster super powerful boils the fight scene down to "who gets initiative?" The monster wins, it's attacks are pumped up super high as are it's defenses, and it survives long enough to start getting full attacks whereupon it obliterates one of the PCs because again, you've pumped its attacks up so high. If the heroes win however, they have 4 sets of nova powers to unleash on the frenzied thing in their midst and THEIR full attacks make mincemeat of the gargoyle.
If the Kapocinth Rogue 2 is fairly isolated and alone in his quest for revenge he could use some added muscle. He could either add several levels, templates or a combo of both but if you pump him too high again, it boils down to initiatives. If, however you tack on lesser threats such as summoned monsters, creatures he's dominating, or just minions he's called in for the fight this is a good way to add extra challenge to the PCs without making the gargoyle a nuclear bomb.
The OTHER thing to keep in mind is... will the PCs care? To them the fight was a random or semi-random encounter with some monsters on the river. They won, case closed. Obviously that's not the same perception your revenger has. I say, SHOW the PCs that this battle mattered.
You said the PCs are going to encounter the gargoyle again in a few weeks right? During those weeks perhaps the Kapocinth is following the party, influencing monsters in the area to attack the PCs so he can gauge their strengths and weaknesses. Maybe he's sending them messages too - the minions he dispatches reveal that their master seeks revenge, or even something as subtle as a note scrawled in Terran that explains that his beloved's name was (insert name here).
Finally yes, the lady-love either reanimated or perhaps soul-bound in some way as the Kapocinth desperately tries to find a way to save her is a really cool angle to try and get the PCs to care. Think Batman the Animated Series, Mr Freeze and his beloved Nora: Freeze's motivation wasn't just to get revenge on what was done to him and his lady, it also included trying to SAVE the woman trapped by his own experiments.
If the PCs learn of all this, that they dropped a female Kapocinth to negative HP but she was reanimated as a ghoul now serving her mate's commands while he not only seeks revenge for their cruelty but also hunts for an amulet said to sate the hunger that drives his love's undeath, perhaps might even be part of a cure... now THEY could have an active role in all this. THEY could choose to go after the amulet, find it, and either a. use it to lure their aggressor out so that he and his ghoul bride can be destroyed once and for all or b. work WITH their foe to put right what went horribly wrong and perhaps earn a reluctant ally in their larger campaign.
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Or, Y'know, just tack on 3 levels of Fighter, up it's gear and have another encounter in a couple of weeks that's APL +2 and call it a day.
Mark Hoover 330 wrote: ...this game is a game, not a work of fiction. If you were outright telling a story, the gargoyle would retreat somewhere, seethe with impotent rage over the death of his beloved, forge that rage in the crucible of revenge and then return into the midst of the PCs like a fury of unbridled hate, nearly defeating the party out of sheer spite.
Since this ISN'T a story, the mechanics of the game suggest that at a certain level (usually around level 8) making a single monster super powerful boils the fight scene down to "who gets initiative?" The monster wins, it's attacks are pumped up super high as are it's defenses, and it survives long enough to start getting full attacks whereupon it obliterates one of the PCs because again, you've pumped its attacks up so high. If the heroes win however, they have 4 sets of nova powers to unleash on the frenzied thing in their midst and THEIR full attacks make mincemeat of the gargoyle.
But it's a game AND a story.
Sure, you could just run the encounter as a flat void with both parties aware, roll initiative and blast away. But I don't think that's ever going to be a very dynamic encounter.
The gargoyle knows the party defeated him last time; he's not going to rush in there to get beat down again.
What about an encounter with a sinking ship, injured crewmates, treasure and a vengeful monster? Now it's not just about initiative. It's about priorities and choices.
The idea that the PC's could have a more active and positive role in the adventure is really cool. I'm not sure how believable it would be (it's an evil monster that tried to kill me. Twice now), but it's worth exploring.
Mark Hoover 330 wrote: Finally yes, the lady-love either reanimated or perhaps soul-bound in some way as the Kapocinth desperately tries to find a way to save her is a really cool angle to try and get the PCs to care. Maybe he made a bargain with a powerful wizard to get her back, forcing both of them into slavery, and they only get permission to prosecute their vendetta against the party after several missions, gaining several levels, and the wizard even generously throws in some extra help in the form of a wand or 2 or some potions, or some particular magic items.
Mark Hoover 330 wrote: The OTHER thing to keep in mind is... will the PCs care? Quixote wrote: The gargoyle knows the party defeated him last time; he's not going to rush in there to get beat down again. Maybe the gargoyle comes to the party for help, not seeking vengeance at all, but begging or bargaining for mercy.
Maybe the Gargoyle steals something or kidnaps someone the party cares about, and demands ransom in the form of returning his girlfriend to life. I remember an episode of Superboy when Lex Luthor was missing, and his girlfriend comes to Superboy for help to get him back. She explains, "I did what Lex would do when he needs your help: I kidnapped Lana."
Quixote wrote: What about an encounter with a sinking ship, injured crewmates, treasure and a vengeful monster? Now it's not just about initiative. It's about priorities and choices. Good one, Quixote.
What if the Gargoyle lurks and skulks and waits for the party to say something like, "We sure could use a flying Rogue right about now!" And the Gargoyle steps out of the shadows with an offer.
Maybe the Gargoyle steals something important in the proximity of the party, and the King Questgiver sends the party to retrieve it. And the gargoyle steps up to offer his valuable assistance in exchange for helping get his girlfriend back.
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