JollyDoc's Shackled City-NPC's Only

[JollyDoc]

3. The players hated that their physical attacks/spells could only affect the mob as a unit for reasons that you mentioned.

However, on the plus side, this aspect soothed the PC's conscience somewhat, since they weren't actually killing townsfolk so much as dispersing the mob.

 

[LordVyreth]

Well, the mob I planned on using was actually the byproduct of an undead-producing monster, so hacking apart zombies will not have the moral problems or the slight reassurance of "dispersing" a mob versus individual kills that the civilian mobs did. Did anyone here every play Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? If not, I'll explain what the creature I'm talking about it. I made the Granfaloon from that game into a high CR monster, and I plan on creating a new version with new special powers, the Epic-level abomination features, and thus a much, much higher CR. However, the old CR 16 Granfaloon I've been using so far lacks the offensive edge to really challenge the party until after its shield has been removed, at which point the creature is nearly gone anyway. Thus, I've been trying to figure out a way to make the storms of zombies that it generates into a threat, and while the mob subtype looks like the answer, some of the problems with the way it's handled need to be resolved before I could use it.

 

[LordVyreth]

Hmm, was that a little too focussed on my monster and campaign for this topic? Or maybe a little too obscure? I'm not sure how many D&D gamers are also video gamers, so I suppose I might have gotten off track there.

At any rate, I am curious about how the mob would work when the morality of killing the mob itself is irrelevant (like the zombie mob of my example.) Plus, since I have heard you've had some dissatisfaction with the end result, do you have any suggestions on how to "fix" the subtype?

 

[JollyDoc]

Ok loyal readers, I need your advice. The Bright Axes are rapidly approaching the conclusion of our tale...the grand climax with Adimarchus himself. The problem is this: I've just been re-reading Adimarchus' stats, and I discovered that he can cast Blasphemy once per day as a 30th level caster. This means that he will instantly kill any non-good creature who is under 21st level within a 40 foot radius of himself. As our party now stands, that would leave Grimm to fight him...that's it. Input?

 

[Mortepierre]

Replace it by Unholy Blight at will. No less lethal over time but at least it won't kill everyone (but Grimm) at once

 

[PrimeAvatar]

Ok loyal readers, I need your advice. The Bright Axes are rapidly approaching the conclusion of our tale...the grand climax with Adimarchus himself. The problem is this: I've just been re-reading Adimarchus' stats, and I discovered that he can cast Blasphemy once per day as a 30th level caster. This means that he will instantly kill any non-good creature who is under 21st level within a 40 foot radius of himself. As our party now stands, that would leave Grimm to fight him...that's it. Input?

JollyDoc,

I'm a loyal reader of your Story Hour (just ran through the whole thing in a week!) and I have to say that you are doing a stand-up job! I don't know the exact composition of the party at this point, but here are a couple of suggestions that might be helpful to your dilemma:

Make party understand that as a Demon Prince/Powerful Evil Outsider, Adimarchus WILL be able to cast Blasphemy. This will allow them to prepare with spells like 1) Spell Resistance, 2) Greater Spell Immunity, or even 3)Silence. I think the designers (in a lot of the Shackled City modules) have failed to fully incorporate the new and improved changes to Blasphemy.

 

[Hammerhead]

Maybe a Quickened Unholy Blight? Because I hope that some demon prince has better things to be doing than hitting the heroes with 5d8 points of damage on his action.

 

[PrimeAvatar]

Maybe a Quickened Unholy Blight?

This is one good option as I agree that standard Unholy Blight at will is kind of weak. Another option is to replace Blasphemy with another 7th level spell from the Book of Vile Darkness. I happen to have it here, so here are some possibilities:

7th level spells

BESTOW GREATER CURSE [Transumtation]
Touch, Permanent, Will Negates, One ability score is reduced to 1

WRETCHED BLIGHT [Evocation, Evil]
Medium range (20 ft burst), Fort Partial, 1d8/level (non-evil only) [15d8 max] + 1d4 rounds of stun [Successful Fort save reduces damage by half and negates stunning]

RAPTURE OF RAPTURE [Conjuration, Corrupt]
Touch (can touch up to 1 living creature/level in consecutive rounds), Fort Half, 6d6 damage, 1 rnd stun, 1d6/rnd until healing spell is cast


Wretched Blight 1/day seems about right. Grimm won't be affected but it should stun a good percentage of the party and put them in some serious hurt.

 

[JollyDoc]

WRETCHED BLIGHT [Evocation, Evil]
Medium range (20 ft burst), Fort Partial, 1d8/level (non-evil only) [15d8 max] + 1d4 rounds of stun [Successful Fort save reduces damage by half and negates stunning]



Wretched Blight 1/day seems about right. Grimm won't be affected but it should stun a good percentage of the party and put them in some serious hurt.

Thanks for the input everyone, and thanks for your encouraging words PA! I actually like the idea of Wretched Blight 1/day alot! Adimarchus can already cast Unholy Blight, but as Hammerhead pointed out, it is very underpowered compared to Blasphemy. Adimarchus can meat out enough hurt without his added in spell-like abilities, but I think the WB option is more humane on the whole. Thanks again!

 

[SolidSnake]

Official Ruling

Sorry to barge in at the end of the discussion, but I found this on paizo's messageboard. Apparently James Jacobs (Dungeon mag Editor) thought of the same problem and has offered the following as advice:

So then. As written in the last adventure in the Adventure Path series, "Asylum," Adimarchus's spell-like abilities function at caster level 30. This is too high.

Reduce Adimarchus's caster level for his spell-like abilities down to 20; this brings him back in line with all of the other demon lords detailed in Book of Vile Darkness, and prevents him from going berserk with spells like blasphemy (which, at caster level 30, instantly kills parties of 20th level or lower with no save).

I heartilly apologize to any parties who may have been crushed into an early dirt nap by an overly inflated demon prince's caster level.

Hope it can be of some use to you!