6 - Ghost King’s Rage

[willfromamerica]

This is a spoiler-filled resource thread for the sixth volume of the Blood Lords AP, Ghost King’s Rage by Jessica Catalan.

[willfromamerica]

(I forgot to add “GM Reference” to the thread title, if anyone reading this has the power to edit that)

[StarlingSweeter]

So something I've noticed for any GMs who eventually get to this module is that several traps have misprinted stealth DCs/modifiers and I believe got accidentally inflated. For example the Avian Rage trap on pg 11 has a stealth bonus of +45 which means the DC to find it would be a DC 55 check which is way above even an Extreme DC for a trap of that level. I believe the author meant a DC 45 check to spot so a +35 modifier which is much more in line with hazard building rules.

This repeats with the unstable fiendcage on page 50 which has a +48 or 58DC to spot. And the Keystone trap on page 52 which has a whopping +51 or 61DC to spot. Even a rogue with fully invested 20 WIS and legendary perception cannot physically spot any of these traps.

Keep an eye out when running and drop the modifiers and DCs by 10.

[Perpdepog]

I've been seeing that same discrepancy in a few other published sources as well. Book of the Dead does it as well, I believe, in case the module has any references to their published hazards or anyone feels like tossing some in.

Actually it might have been Dark Archive.

[Darrell Impey UK]

I was a little confused that some traps had a higher DC if the character was Legendary skill level than they do if they are Master.

[willfromamerica]

Can someone help me understand what exactly Kemnebi's motivations are? All I can grasp is that he thinks he grand plan will allow him to overthrow the government and grant him ultimate power over Geb somehow (I'm not sure how he expects that to work either). But who is he as a person? Why is this his plan? I'm trying to present him as a character that isn't totally one-dimensional.

[NECR0G1ANT]

Kemnebi and Balji are pretty much non-characters. Between that major problem, the hazards being wrong, the Boneyard being under-utilized, and the technical problem with the PDF, this book is the weakest of the Blood Lords AP.

My take on Kemnebi is that he, like the players, is an ambitious Blood Lord. Unlike the players, he's had to play second fiddle to Geb, an absentee monarch, then passed over by Geb in favor of Arazni, an outsider who never the best interest of Geb at heart and later abandoned her post. Then Geb returned, still prioritizing his rivalry with Nex above the good of the nation. Kemnebi has legitimate grievances and interesting commonalities with the PCs.

I'm dropping that bit about having a dead wife and child. I suppose that part of his plan was rallying the other Blood Lords against Geb through sabatoge or by destroying Geb's throne somehow. The details of what would've happened are irrelevant once the PCs foil the Grand Reanimation.

[Laclale♪]

Question here: What if your excised word was used in person's name?

[YesDaddy]

I changed Balji to a high-ranking Irori priest in ancient Osirion (or even an Irori god servant like Tristian in KM2E) who ruled the land together with Governor Khmet Khanrah. After the Ghost King killed Khmet Khanrah, Balji was still against Geb's invasion of Osirion in today's Field of Maidens. Kemnebi, one of Geb's men, plotted against, killed, and ate him by pretending to surrender to Balji and receive his enlightenment.

Balji is so powerful that he still lives in Kemnebi's forehead and changes the vampire's mind. Kemnebi was evil, cunning and power-hungry at first, but Balji not only made him wiser and more patient, he also made him hate Geb - since Geb destroyed Balji's country.

This explains Kemnebi's motive for betrayal with his foolish plot of poison - the purpose of the plot is not to attack Geb's neighbors then raise an army of undead at all, but to turn all of Geb's trade allies into enemies. Finally, after Balji/Kemnebi successfully makes the neighboring countries think that the plot of poison is the will of the Ghost King, Geb himself will be identified as a Garund version of Tar-Baphon. As Geb will most likely be destroyed during the subsequent crusade, the ghosts of Khmet Khanrah and Balji, who have occupied Kemnebi, will be able to reclaim their lands.

[25speedforseaweedleshy]

final boss of ap are often only meet the player once at the end

make them just a stranger in a room

replace the thing seldeg suppose to do with kemnebi give player a chance to talk

and introduce balji much early with some ancient monk item players might find

maybe show player fragment of kemnebi memory of wild aggressive monster before absorb balji and calm patient monster kemnebi become

[dharkus]

i looked through, after noticing that so many encounters were trivial and added them up, there's 23 trivial, 15 low, 8.5 moderate, 1.5 severe, 0 extreme - so... very nearly the majority - 48 enc, 23 of em trivial!! approx 48% of em!! - that's gotta be the easiest bk 6 yet - i know some are pretty much designed to combine, but still other bk 6s had way harder stuff! FotRP has a 280xp enc, AoE has a 220, a 200 and a 180 all in the final bk - other APs have had enc that pretty much will always combine, making em way over 160xp enc, but still doable due to PCs being so high lvl!
the enc are pretty overwhelmingly made up of lower lvl enemies too, which will make it seem very easy too

[dharkus]

anyway, onto my question (which i doubt will be answered, this forum isn't that active!)
the poison in Peridantia says, "A creature within Peridantia is exposed to soul mist" - does this mean that they're re-exposed immediately if they remove it via success or resist it to start with, or magic?
also, they need to make masses of survival checks in the same place, with lvl 20 DC, not bad so far for a lvl 20 party, except that, along with nature, survival is specifically not recommended in the player's guide, and i think none of my players consequently has above trained in it (and no item bonuses), which makes that a very hard check! lvl 20 trained, assuming like 5 wis, is +27, so they need a 13, CF on a 1-3, CS on 20 only, so they'll get 12 pts eventually, cause they're more likely to succeed than crit fail, but it'll req quite a few checks, maybe like 30! that's gonna feel pretty bad i think! no alternate skills are suggested at all, seems it's gotta be survival...! also every time they fail or CF, which is 60% chance... they get a trivial haunt... they're lvl 20, each haunt is a simple lvl 18 hazard! (technically a lvl 20 complex hazard would be trivial, so these are way below trivial!)

[StarlingSweeter]

I also noticed the amount of trivial and low encounters in this book. To be honest, I kind of dig it. After playing through book after book it would really suck to get beat out by something way strong at the end (not to mention that at this point the BBEG has already been foiled). I think I love this book the most because you can really ham up just how g!~@&~n terrifying the party is at this point, travel through Geb and ruthlessly stomping out adversaries and upstarts. Big power fantasy, encourage the players to use thoes incapacitation spells, effects, and abilities.

As for Perdantia...yeah its not the most clear. Especially that stupid survival check. Y know that ability you probably only used once or twice in the start? Yeah I hope you invested in it major. Since the twisting turns of Perdentia is a magical effect I would allow players to use Religion or Occultism or heck even Perception at a higher DC.

As for the Soul Mist...yeah I think RAW you are constantly exposed to it. If you save or get rid of it, it buys you 1 minute until the onset sets in again. Hope your table enjoys repeat checks :-). As for a houserule to make it less imminently frustrating... you could probably allow them to be immune for an hour (the maximum duration of the affliction) as the mist is still affecting them they are just immune to the effects thanks to their save/magic. Not RAW but could be a better alternative then rolling every minute.

[CWeststrate]

Anyone have suggestions on rewards for collecting all optional components for Geb in Chapter 2? Other than character appropriate magic items and wealth... Potentially a boon in some capacity, on par with some diety boons? Or am I missing the reward other than 80 additional exp.