Vrylakos
First Post
So, this Saturday, despite delays, the campaign ENDS. Here's all the various bits I'm trying to weave into the ending. I need some advice...
So, five 14th level PCs. Cleric, Bard, Rogue/Psion, Fighter-Duellist type, Psychic Warrior.
The cleric's god has told him in dreams to carry the Obsidian Needle to the top of the Serpent's Teeth mountains for unknown reasons.
The Forces of Evil have taken possession of this mountain, funneling armies and creating fortifications: all they know from prophecy and divination is that the next Rising of the Beneath (a primordial intelligence darkness that consumes places, memories, and magic) will be thwarted here.
The cleric is going to head to the top of the mountain, aided by the armies of the local Overking. There, he will use the Obsidian Needle to slay a goddess (the goddess of healing, his original deity, before he turned to worship both she and her brother the god of war and protection; she recently excommunicated him, so that he could serve this dire purpose), and her blazing heart will turn back the rising.
Standing in his way:
The forces of Evil surround a monastery built within the mountain. The monastery itself is illuminated by a dragon's heart floating near the ceilng of its cavern.
A half-fiend doppleganger cleric: Level 12? 13? 14?: the party's BIG Nemesis. They hate this guy. He has become a half-fiend by making a deal with the duellist's devil tainted blood. Downside: due to the devil's contract binding the duellist, the devils must protect him. If the dopplecleric attacks the duellist, he's made the contract null and void, thus freeing the duellist from his devilish curse.
Stregoi: A 17th level wizard. He's got a bunch of 6th level of so minions on flying carpets. He's just a big gun, not so much a target of ire/closure like the dopplecleric.
A marilith: Why? Because they joke about facing one and I've got a kickass figure for one.
So, how can I make it challenging? What tactics can I use? I dread high level stuff because there's so much to keep in mind. Like, what should the cleric be packing? How can I make this memorable?
One wrinkle I threw in:
A psionic intelligent necklace of dubious character bonded to a party member has managed to resurrect the psychic warrior via 'astral surgery'.
The party found in the prison of the Forces of Evil a body that looked just like the PsyWarrior.
The necklace, due to the deal made with the party member to resurrect the psywarrior, is allowed to use the party member's body at night. It disappears and at least once his possessed body was found in the middle of a Very Bad Place Far Away, doing shady things.
Possible use for this thread: The psychic necklace has been making backup bodies for some of the big bads... perhaps a cadre of dopplegangers clerics?
OR: another thread - I ran a game for my 11 year old daughter and the players. They played teenage children of the current party. Each got to choose who their parent was. The cattle-stealing villain of the piece was revealed to be the child of the perhaps overly-sexed bardbarian and THE DOPPLEGANGER CLERIC!
Hm, with deception I can make this work... Perhaps dopplebody #2 is sent to make this future game come true!
Ok... Gosh... lots of work to do, but I wanted some sort of support from the best GM's in the world...
Vrylakos
So, five 14th level PCs. Cleric, Bard, Rogue/Psion, Fighter-Duellist type, Psychic Warrior.
The cleric's god has told him in dreams to carry the Obsidian Needle to the top of the Serpent's Teeth mountains for unknown reasons.
The Forces of Evil have taken possession of this mountain, funneling armies and creating fortifications: all they know from prophecy and divination is that the next Rising of the Beneath (a primordial intelligence darkness that consumes places, memories, and magic) will be thwarted here.
The cleric is going to head to the top of the mountain, aided by the armies of the local Overking. There, he will use the Obsidian Needle to slay a goddess (the goddess of healing, his original deity, before he turned to worship both she and her brother the god of war and protection; she recently excommunicated him, so that he could serve this dire purpose), and her blazing heart will turn back the rising.
Standing in his way:
The forces of Evil surround a monastery built within the mountain. The monastery itself is illuminated by a dragon's heart floating near the ceilng of its cavern.
A half-fiend doppleganger cleric: Level 12? 13? 14?: the party's BIG Nemesis. They hate this guy. He has become a half-fiend by making a deal with the duellist's devil tainted blood. Downside: due to the devil's contract binding the duellist, the devils must protect him. If the dopplecleric attacks the duellist, he's made the contract null and void, thus freeing the duellist from his devilish curse.
Stregoi: A 17th level wizard. He's got a bunch of 6th level of so minions on flying carpets. He's just a big gun, not so much a target of ire/closure like the dopplecleric.
A marilith: Why? Because they joke about facing one and I've got a kickass figure for one.
So, how can I make it challenging? What tactics can I use? I dread high level stuff because there's so much to keep in mind. Like, what should the cleric be packing? How can I make this memorable?
One wrinkle I threw in:
A psionic intelligent necklace of dubious character bonded to a party member has managed to resurrect the psychic warrior via 'astral surgery'.
The party found in the prison of the Forces of Evil a body that looked just like the PsyWarrior.
The necklace, due to the deal made with the party member to resurrect the psywarrior, is allowed to use the party member's body at night. It disappears and at least once his possessed body was found in the middle of a Very Bad Place Far Away, doing shady things.
Possible use for this thread: The psychic necklace has been making backup bodies for some of the big bads... perhaps a cadre of dopplegangers clerics?
OR: another thread - I ran a game for my 11 year old daughter and the players. They played teenage children of the current party. Each got to choose who their parent was. The cattle-stealing villain of the piece was revealed to be the child of the perhaps overly-sexed bardbarian and THE DOPPLEGANGER CLERIC!
Hm, with deception I can make this work... Perhaps dopplebody #2 is sent to make this future game come true!
Ok... Gosh... lots of work to do, but I wanted some sort of support from the best GM's in the world...
Vrylakos
