Module Cheating

[Janos Audron]

RAPPAN ATHUK SPOILERS AHEAD!

Kris, Mark, wegwezen!















I'm running Rappan Athuk for my group, so now I'm preparing for the game this weekend and I notice how the designers either don't know the rules or choose to ignore them:

On level 2, there are 6 Skeletons, one with Deeper Darkness. It says that the Skeletons aren't affected by the Darkness...but they are, since they don't have blindsight...

So then I read a litle further and I see the Rakshasa. That encounter is just so wrong:

- The Rakshasa's Illusion ability gets no save (err, works as Veil, so will save DC 20 to resist? Hell, even SR should apply!)

- He can change the appearance (as per Veil) and make the illusion attack (as per Permanent Image), and makes himself bleed and die, and (maybe at the same time) provide gore for the Jackal Weres, but that requires concentration and he doesn't have haste, so where does he get the actions from?

- He becomes invisible and creates an image of the dead character...in one action.

- The saves are wrong: DC 30 to see through the illusion without interaction, DC 26 if interacted with, DC 20 if physical contact, should be DC 20 if interacted with.

- The party never gets Spot vs. Disguise checks...

That's just the obvious stuff...so now I'm in doubt: it's a really cool encounter, but the Rakshasa already has an advantage (his Illusion power), but by ignoring so many rules, this encounter, IMO, isn't fair to the PC's. So, should I just run the encounter because it's cool, or should I adjust it so that it becomes fair?

On a totally unrelated note: How do I stop my players from using Green Slime (which they found on level 1 and transported in vials) to kill every living opponent? They already killed the Dung Monster with it and since it's basically unstoppable they would be crazy not to take it along with them... Since one of the players is a Ghast (and thus immune to Con damage of the Slime) he can put it in the vials without any danger...(compared to that, the two doses of Dust of Choking and Sneezing don't really matter anymore )

 

[Malicene]

Don't know this module, but I always change re-write what don't suit to my views !

 

[diaglo]

On a totally unrelated note: How do I stop my players from using Green Slime (which they found on level 1 and transported in vials) to kill every living opponent?

break a vial or three when they fall or trip or get hit.


green slime still dissolves flesh. i'm how a flesh creature handled this stuff.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Since one of the players is a Ghast (and thus immune to Con damage of the Slime) he can put it in the vials without any danger...

I wouldn't allow that - the green slime destroys objects and so it would damage undead too. You'd have to work out an appropriate way of handling it; the fact that it does 2d6 damage per round to wood or metal seems a good indicator of what it should do to the Ghast.

 

[Urbannen]

Achtung! Rappan Athuk 1 is really horribly designed. It was converted to 3.0 before 3.0 was even published. I ran it a couple of times and
1. it took many hours to get it to be 3.0 compliant, and
2. it was either very boring or killer hard for the players.

The module is not contiguous - that is, it is not possible for the players to get to all the levels by simply going down. The dungeon doesn't make "ecological" sense unless you own all three Rappan Athuk modules.

In order to survive the lower levels (if they actually can find them), the players need to be pretty high level themselves, or have munchkin stats and equipment. This means that the first levels are boring. They can't get enough experience from the first levels to advance sufficiently for the lower levels either.

That said, I still did a lot of work on a correcting the upper level creatures if you want it. The stats, skills, and features of almost all the NPCs in Rappan Athuk were pretty well messed up.

As for your question.
-I made the skeletons not have the deeper darkness spell since they are not immune to darkness. I would still suggest finding a way to advance them for higher level parties.
-I advanced Scramge to a 3rd level sorcerer and gave him mirage arcana and seeming as spells (the sorcerer spellcasting levels stack with his). This makes him have a really high CR. These spells allow him to disguise his room w/o a save and make someone else look like a demon. I also gave him Silent Spell, advanced his Charisma to 18, and gave him Spell Focus (Illusion) and GSF (Illusion). I didn't give him any direct damage spells. In theory with these changes you can recreate the effects given in the module but still be rules compliant. In practice you can never get the DCs of his Illusion spells to be high enough to fool an entire party or to get his seeming spell to always work. Reread the running of illusions - it's tricky! I gave my players too many saves. My plan for the switch with the players was:

Scramge uses an alarm spell to become alerted to intruders.
S. casts mirage arcana to make his room look like a temple to Orcus.
The jackalweres change shape to look like human commoners.
S. makes himself look like an orcish priest and hides in his own mirage arcana spell.
S. casts nondetection on himself.
S. casts persistent image to make the appearance of orcs torturing the disguised jackalweres.
The adventurers enter and fight the orcs. Scramge allows them to win, using his free action Detect Thoughts to learn about the adventurers.
In theory the jackalweres will have a chance to use their sleep gaze. If there is a paladin in the party they will not.
At this point it's unlikely that you could pull off the switch, but it's possible using seeming (which can't be silenced), shapechanging, and silenced suggestion spells.

An alternate plan I had was to have Scramge take on the form of an orcish cleric, advance, cast obscuring mist, then use his seeming spell to make the adventurers think he had summoned a demon. He would then take on the form of the adventurer and use silenced suggestions to make the others attack their disguised teammate.

It's unlikely that you can pull this off, simply because the saves for most of these spells are just so chancy. The room is very small and doesn't allow for much mobility on the part of Scramge. Scramge killed my players (who were not too smart, IMO) by emerging from the mist disguised as the party cleric who was right behind him. He used a suggestion on the party fighter who then proceeded to slaughter the "imposters" with his keen sword. The party could just not get through Scramge's damage resistance and spell immunity, except for the fire damage from one flaming weapon.

Remember that Scramge will never reveal himself to be a rakshasa, thus possibly revealing his vulnerabilities. His Bluff and Disguise skills are very hard to beat. This foe can majorly screw with your players' heads.

Like I said, I did a lot of work converting most of the NPCs to be 3.0 compliant.
If you want, I can send you my work this evening if you give me your e-mail.

 

[BVB]

You should run the module *exactly* as it was written. To do otherwise would be a sin. I'll pray for your safe deliverance through this confusing period...

Seriously, though, just make the changes that will make you comfortable. A sense of being "fair" to your players is obviously important to you, so use your own best judgment. After all, you bought the product; it's yours to do with as you wish.

You know how to do it already: Go through and mark up the pages with your own notes. Blank out this, highlight that, insert something else, change a number here and there, etc. It's not as though they'll ever know, right? And even if one of the playes *did* read ahead, it would serve him right to have a few surprises thrown in.

As for the slime? Well, after you firmly decide to eliminate it as a viable weapon, reveal to the players that it's turning color, starting to smell funny, acting (more) sluggish ... Argh! It wasn't really a standard slime at all! It was contagious with some funky slime disease, and if they don't get rid of it immediately it might infect them in weird, unknown ways, too. It may have already.

Ahhh, so it's not the best scenario ever portrayed in one short paragraph. But the point is that a bit of creativity on your part can turn the slime into an interesting plot device at the same time you eliminate an unbalancing game element.

 

[Frost]

First off, I think Rappan Athuk is one of the best modules out there...

Having said that, it WAS published before the 3.0 Core books were released, so of course there are places where it is at variance with the rules. For good advice/errata, check out the Nercomancer Games forums:

http://pub123.ezboard.com/bnecromancergames

Vastly improved maps are available for download through the main website for NG (www.necromancergames.com), along with an excellent Rappan Athuk wilderness expansion.

As for specific questions in running the dungeon or about the areas, he is welcome to pose them there! We'll welcome them!