Help ol' Ashy a bit, will ya? - determining aid for a party

[jmichels]

I'm still cloudy on this churches motivation in all this. So they don't believe the party and don't want to waste their resources on the trying to find out if the party is telling the truth? Hmm, a simple zone of truth and a question and answer session would provide all the proof they need.

Or are they using the PCs to test the badguys in a scouting in force type of thing? They can cast a quick Divination or Commune spells and find out much of the stuff that PCs may die to find out. Is there an enemy of the PCs pretending to be part of the church higherups?

Whatever the case though, the help the PCs would get would probably be minimal at best. It seems the church doesn't believe the PCs for some reason (perhaps the PCs church enemy if one exists is blinding them to the truth) and refuses to use any spells to confirm their story. So they probably won't want to waste men or materiel to directly help the PCs.

So what I would have the church do is Scry (that's pretty much only 100gp) the PCs and check what they are doing and who they are fighting. The church needs to make sure that the PCs waive their Will saves by only Scrying them at certain appointed times though.

 

[DrNilesCrane]

What about an 8th or 9th level NPC cleric sent along with the party to "evaluate" the situation (as well as the party)? The preiest could provide healing support (which the party may need; will free up your Druid to use spells elsewhere). If there are multiple faiths / factions involved, they could all send representatives to evaluate...which could have some interesting role-playing opportunities as they interact with the party and one another. Or the "help" could be a dishonored cleric or someone "on the outs" with the authority who believes the party (or has no choice and is saddled with the assignment): would be a "cheap" resource for the church to send ("Father Thomas has always been a problem...at least this will get him out of our hair for awhile...") and might be the boost the party needs.

 

[Enkhidu]

My suggestion: treat all the PC as if they suddenly (and temporarily) have leadership, sans cohorts. Followers should be a mix of low level adepts and warriors, and maybe the odd cleric commander. Then add all of the followers together, put them under the command of a past-her prime cleric (level 8 or so - on par with the weakest party member), and send the bunch over with orders to support as necessary and report back at earliest opportunity.

This should give you lots of fodder (and didn't you say the baddies had undead? Here's some more negative energy raw material for you), and a handful of possible survivors to drive your next meta-plot point.

 

[Ashy]

Thanks, Enk! How many adepts and warriors, do you suggest? BTW, you are right on target with what I'm thinking.

 

[Enkhidu]

Thanks, Enk! How many adepts and warriors, do you suggest? BTW, you are right on target with what I'm thinking.

I hadn't done the math, but my suggestion is to simply grab the numbers from the Leadership table. Without sitting down and figuring it out PC by PC (and giving a fiat of +2 to everyone's leadership score), I'd figure 20 warriors, 10 adepts, 2 clerics, and 3 fighters (all first level), and a level 2 cleric or paladin as a "sargeant." Then add the 8th level cleric as the crusty leader of the bunch. If you find that a bit less than you think will fit the bill, I'd suggest breaking out the math, as its possible that one or both of the paladins int the group could have a Leadership score of 14+ after modifiers, and I only accounted for about 12 or 13.

 

[Ashy]

That sounds about right - thanks Enk! As usual, you rock!

 

[Thanee]

What you could also do, if you want to "figure in" the pro/con influences in the church.

Once you have figured out some numbers of what the church would be *capable* of sending, roll a d% and apply it as percentage to that number to see, what they are *willing* to spare.

For more average numbers, you could also roll two or three d% and take the average of the rolls.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Conaill]

I'd give them a "politically tainted" cleric as backup. I.e. one who is actually sent by the faction of the church *opposing* what they're doing. His agenda will be to prove to the rest of the church that the situation isn't nearly as dire as the PC's are making it sound, thereby embarrasing the other faction.

Essentially, it's a political compromise between the two factions of the church: one faction insists on lending support to the PC's, the other will only agree to this if they get to send one of *their* guys along. Either way, the church would at the very least want to have an observer present.

It's a mixed blessing for the PC's. Initially the cleric will be quite reluctant to help (he may even see it as a punishment to be sent out with this ragtag band of adventurers) - only lending enough support not to get him in trouble with his faith. Not to mention the fact that his primary orders are likely to be to get himself back alive with information for the church! Once he sees the seriousness of the situation, he can effectively switch to the opposite faction, and lend his *full* support to the party.