| Viconus |
One of my druid players has control water, which can create a whirlpool effect with a diameter of 80 feet, and basically lasts 80 minutes. He can also cast it twice, basically encompassing the entire mouth.
It's unclear that this does any more than give the entire ship caught in it a dizzying experience - says creatures are unable to leave.
I want to reward the players for coming up with this but also want some of the ships to make it. A few options are
a) Have flying Yuan Ti's cast dispel magic
b) Have a separate invasion from the east
c) having some sort of mass concealment
d) Having the vrocs attack first - though I have 7 players (covid, nothing else to do), and the druid could easily cast whirlpool while the rest deal with the vrocs. Maybe summon more vrocs?
The druid could also charm dinosaurs, but I'm a little confused about how this would work without him chronically casting charm spells. If there are more than a few, couldn't even vegetarian dinosaurs do a lot of damage with just a couple of failed handle animal or charm animal spells?
| NPC Dave |
Wow, seven players AND they figured out they can use magic to strike the fleet before it even reaches Farshore's bay. My players figured that out too.
First thing, you are going to need more pirate ships...raise the fleet attacking to seven ships. Maybe eight. Or you can have a lemorian pirate captain who is a master of illusions, I have included a stat block for one I created that was published in Threshold Magazine #4.
If you go with an illusion master of some sort they can try sending an illusory ship in first to see if that fools the druid...if it doesn't the druid can tie up a couple of pirate ships and then have the remaining ships land on the coastline in one or two groups and proceed to a land attack, which will let the charmed dinosaurs wreak more havoc but your additional pirate forces can still give Farshore a threat with the remainder that reaches the colony.
And you are going to need more vrocks, Vanthus and the vrocks can reveal themselves early if the PCs use flight to inflict damage on the ships before they even get close to Farshore.
NE Medium Outsider CR 11 Lemorian Baldandar illusionist 3
Init +9, Listen +10, Spot +10
AC 20, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+5 Dex, +5 Natural Armor)
hp 56 (6d8+6+3d4+3)
Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +7
Spd 40ft
Attack: 1 claw +10 (1d8+2)
Full attack: 2 claws +10 (1d8+2) and Bite +8 (1d6+2 + poison) and Tail Sting +8 (1d6+2 + poison)
BAB +5, Grp +7
Str 15, Dex 21, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 20
Atk Options: Smite Good 1/day(+9 damage)
Combat Gear: Wand of Lightning(CL 6th) (9 charges), Wand of Magic Missile(CL 3rd) (12 charges), 2 potions of cure serious wounds
SQ: Immune to poison, Resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10, Spell Resistance 19, DR 5/magic
Spells Prepared: (CL 3rd, +6 touch, +9 ranged touch) 2nd - mirror image, scorching ray 1st - charm person(DC 15), color spray(DC 15), shocking grasp 0 - dancing lights, daze(DC 14), ghost sound, message, resistance
Spell-Like Abilities: (CL 15th) At will - fly, invisibility 1/day - confusion(DC 19), magic jar(DC 20), polymorph Spell-Like Abilities: (CL 9th) 3/day - charm monster(DC 19), command(DC 16) 1/day - dominate person(DC 20), fear(DC 19), suggestion(DC 18)
Feats: Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Scribe Scroll, Weapon Finesse
Skills: Bluff +11, Concentration +17, Diplomacy +11, Disguise +23, Escape Artist +10, Hide +15, Intimidate +12, Knowledge(arcana) +13, Listen +10, Profession(sailor) +14, Sense Motive +10, Spellcraft +18(+20 for illusions), Spot +10, Survival +7, Use Rope +5(+7 for bindings)
Illusion(Ex): At will and as a standard action, a baldandar can duplicate the effects of the Veil, Mirage Arcana, and Persistent Image spells. The illusions last as long as the baldandar concentrates, and for ten minutes after it stops concentrating. In all other respects, these effects are treated as if cast by a 15th level sorcerer
Poison(Ex): Any creature bitten by a baldandar must make a fortitude save vs DC 14 (Con based) or fall unconscious for 10-40 minutes. If hit by its poisonous stinger a target must make a DC 15 Fort save or suffer the Wisdom damage explained in the adventure under the Lemorian entry.
And here is another entry for a third pirate captain that is not lemorian which was published in Threshold #19...
Male human fighter 10/dreadlord* 2 CE Medium humanoid
Init +4; Senses: Listen +3, Spot +3
Languages: Thyatian(Common), Atruaghin(Tiger and Turtle dialects)
AC 22 , touch 14, flat-footed 18; Dodge
hp 130 (12d10 +24) (12 HD);
Fort +12, Ref +7, Will +8,
Spd 20 ft
Melee: Here are three different styles for Tenoch fighting in melee, he prefers to use Combat Expertise, as this allows him to benefit from Riposte and counterattack
when someone misses him in melee.
1)Using 2 points of power attack, no combat expertise +3 voulge +20 (1d10+16/19-20x3) or +3 voulge +20/+15/+10 (1d10+16/1920x3)
2)Going full defensive, no power attack, using Combat Expertise to raise AC to 27, touch 19, flat-footed 23 +3 voulge +17 (1d10+12/19-20x3) or +3 voulge +17/+12/+7 (1d10+12/19-20x3)
3) Mix style, 1 point of power attack, 3 points of Combat Expertise to raise AC to 25, touch 17, flat-footed 21 +3 voulge +18 (1d10+14/19-20x3) or +3 voulge +18/+13/+8 (1d10+14/19-20x3)
BAB +12; Grp +17
Atk Options: Braced for Charge, Combat Expertise/Riposte, Great Cleave, Power Attack)
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 14
Feats: (14, including 8** fighter bonus feats) Braced for Charge7, Combat Expertise, Cleave, Dodge, Great Cleave, Weapon Focus(voulge), Improved Critical, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Power Attack, Riposte8, Shorten Grip, Weapon Focus (voulge), Weapon Specialization (voulge),
Skills: Command10 +15, Intimidate +16, Knowledge(Religion) +5, Profession(Sailor) +7, Swim +10
Possessions: masterwork chitin armor11(ACP -2), masterwork voulge, oil of greater magic weapon +3(x2) (will use one before combat), potion of cure critical wounds(x2), potion of barkskin +4 (will use before combat), potion of invisibility, Jade Amulet worth 400 gp
*The dreadlord prestige class can be found in Fields of Blood : Book of War by Eden Odyssey. With two levels in dreadlord, Tenoch gains the Brutal Discipline ability and a fighter bonus feat.
Brutal Discipline: All allied units with line of sight to dreadlord add +2 to their Command checks. A unit the dreadlord leads adds +4 to their Command checks.
**As a favored disciple of Atzanteotl(or another evil Oman deity), Tenoch gains one additional fighter bonus feat he would not otherwise qualify for.
| NPC Dave |
Ok, 8th level I am not sure...my players were 10th level so just add 1-2 vrocks at most...especially if you add some ships. It depends on how hard your PCs can hit them. The adventure as written gives very little chance for the vrocks to complete a dance of ruin so you want to make sure there is little chance for three vrocks to do the dance with the rest holding off the PCs.