JollyDoc's Shackled City-NPC's Only

[JollyDoc]

OK, JollyDoc, now gimme the dirt.

What did your PCs guess or their players know and how did you handle it?

Well, they had pretty much figured out that Vhalantru was rotten ever since the riot in front of city hall. The situation with him adopting Terrym, coupled with the fact that Terrym was taken away from them by a beholder, only strenghthened that position. Still, none of them actually figured out HE was the beholder until after they encountered him in Oblivion. I didn't discourage their suspicions of him, but neither confirmed or denied anything either.

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

Well, they had pretty much figured out that Vhalantru was rotten ever since the riot in front of city hall. The situation with him adopting Terrym, coupled with the fact that Terrym was taken away from them by a beholder, only strenghthened that position. Still, none of them actually figured out HE was the beholder until after they encountered him in Oblivion. I didn't discourage their suspicions of him, but neither confirmed or denied anything either.

It's a nice trick in the story - and all the references like "Orbious" or the hero "statues" make it really obvious looking back. Have the stone-to-fleshed any old heros?

 

[JollyDoc]

It's a nice trick in the story - and all the references like "Orbious" or the hero "statues" make it really obvious looking back. Have the stone-to-fleshed any old heros?

They strongly considered it, because they reasoned out that they weren't "true" statues. They were also starting to put two and two together at this point. Even more so when they saw the lay out of Oblivion. They didn't have the ability to undue the enchantment on the statues, and then the events of Foundation in Flames took place and they kind of lost their chance.

 

[Hammerhead]

The guy's name is Vhalantru and there's some doubt that he's evil? I mean, the only thing more obvious would be a black goatee and a diabolical laugh.

 

[JollyDoc]

The guy's name is Vhalantru and there's some doubt that he's evil? I mean, the only thing more obvious would be a black goatee and a diabolical laugh.

And his first name is Orbius...not exactly elven, is it?

 

[LordVyreth]

Hey, here's a question about how Foundation of Flame was handled. Specifically, how did the battles with the mobs go? I wanted to try using the subtype in my game for one of my homebrewed monsters, but the subtype as written seemed horribly unbalanced to me. Did you play them as written, and if so, did it seem especially easy or hard for the party to handle them? If you want, you can also add your opinions to my thread in the D&D Rules forum about this very subject.

 

[gfunk]

. . . but the subtype as written seemed horribly unbalanced to me. Did you play them as written, and if so, did it seem especially easy or hard for the party to handle them?

It seemed like a cool idea but it did not work well in our game. The swarm mechanic was silly for several reasons:

1. It is not possible to stop the "swarm" in an intelligent manner (e.g. simply charming the swarm's leader(s) and convincing them to stop the others).

2. It becomes difficult to apply mercy on the swarm when they grapple you and then start inflicting lethal damage.

3. The saving throws of the swarm are ridiculously high.

4. The fast healing aspect of the swarm seems kind of cool, but is unbelievably stupid in play. I think they describe it as "more people joining in the mob."

Personally I didn't like it at all and I think virtually all of us agree.

 

[JollyDoc]

Gfunk's points are on target. The party tried to be non-lethal, first with a diplomacy check, with a roll of natural 20, which still failed, then with a wall of fire to stop them (they ran right thru), then with a web spell (also failed), then with subdual damage, then finally right into lethal. The DC check was 35 for Diplomacy, with a -10 penalty for being in combat (DC 45) or -20 if lethal damage inflicted (DC 45). Their Will save was +25, which made charming all but impossible. I think most parties would have had to resort to lethal to survive this encounter.

 

[LordVyreth]

How did it seem when lethal means were used? Considering the adventure had them at a CR 9 each, did it seem to match the difficulty? What about the logistics? Were the players okay with how it worked, or were they annoyed that their physical attacks only affected the mob itself, not individuals in the mob, and that swarms of essentially commoners, albeit ones with exceptionally high ability scores, were not instantly incinerated by fireballs and the like?

 

[gfunk]

1. It really sucked when lethal means were used because the players are a force of weal in Cauldron. They have no wish to kill innocents, even if they are a part of crazed mob.

2. CR 9 wasn't too bad. The mobs basically function as giants with an inability to fly or throw boulders, albeit with outstanding saves. The only problem was that the players were pretty depleted towards the end, making this encounter much tougher than it should have been.

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