Red Hand of Doom - Villans.

[Sidekick]

Okay so as per usual this thread will discus aspects of the Red Hand of Doom adventure. If you're a player in this adventure then don't read any further.

SPOILERS ALERT



















I'm about to start DMing the Red Hand of Doom for a new group (6-7 players) but the problem is one of hte players has used the web enhancement for the adventur in his campagn as a DM. Thus he is very familiar with the villans.

So I'm looking at rejiggin the wyrmlords into other classes as well as mixing up some of the encounters and I'm looking for advice and opinions. I'm hardly a NPC/villan building machine so I'm turing to you my Enworld heroes for advice and guidance.

Here's what I've got so far.

Wyrmlord Koth: I've made him a warlock6 rather than a sorcerer.

Wyrmlord Saarvith: Saarvith is now a ranger1/dragon shaman6. I've done that to explicitly show the bond between Saarvith and Regy as well as put in a more mechanically challenging opponent. He's still got rapid shot and the longbow.

Wyrmlord Ulawai Stormcaller: Here's where I need some help. I'm not sold on the whole bard thing - which while very Eberron is a bit too Dhakanni for my liking. So I'm mulling over the idea of making Ulawai a Beguiler. But of coures that nixes Stormcaller.

Wyrmlord Kharn: Warblade. I'm changing some of the bladebearers to fighter2/warblade2's who were personally trained by Kharn himself.

So I'm mainly looking for advice/opinions about

a) Ulawai - Beguiler or no? And also other appropriate Prestge Classes to replace Stormcaller.

b) Kharn - should I have him as a Warblade and if so what would be a good prestige class?


Thanks a lot in advance for all the great ideas I know I'll get.

Sidekick

 

[EricNoah]

a) Ulawai - Beguiler or no? And also other appropriate Prestge Classes to replace Stormcaller.

b) Kharn - should I have him as a Warblade and if so what would be a good prestige class?

I did the same thing with Ulawai -- used the beguiler NPC statted up in PHBII actually. I didn't worry about her name. She only lived a few rounds.

Kharn turned out to be a bit of a creampuff -- I think his spell list needs some re-working. My guys made mincemeat of him. I don't know anything about warblades so I can't help you out there.

 

[SeRiAlExPeRiMeNtS]

Okay so as per usual this thread will discus aspects of the Red Hand of Doom adventure. If you're a player in this adventure then don't read any further.

SPOILERS ALERT



















I'm about to start DMing the Red Hand of Doom for a new group (6-7 players) but the problem is one of hte players has used the web enhancement for the adventur in his campagn as a DM. Thus he is very familiar with the villans.

So I'm looking at rejiggin the wyrmlords into other classes as well as mixing up some of the encounters and I'm looking for advice and opinions. I'm hardly a NPC/villan building machine so I'm turing to you my Enworld heroes for advice and guidance.

Here's what I've got so far.

Wyrmlord Koth: I've made him a warlock6 rather than a sorcerer.

Wyrmlord Saarvith: Saarvith is now a ranger1/dragon shaman6. I've done that to explicitly show the bond between Saarvith and Regy as well as put in a more mechanically challenging opponent. He's still got rapid shot and the longbow.

Wyrmlord Ulawai Stormcaller: Here's where I need some help. I'm not sold on the whole bard thing - which while very Eberron is a bit too Dhakanni for my liking. So I'm mulling over the idea of making Ulawai a Beguiler. But of coures that nixes Stormcaller.

Wyrmlord Kharn: Warblade. I'm changing some of the bladebearers to fighter2/warblade2's who were personally trained by Kharn himself.

So I'm mainly looking for advice/opinions about

a) Ulawai - Beguiler or no? And also other appropriate Prestge Classes to replace Stormcaller.

b) Kharn - should I have him as a Warblade and if so what would be a good prestige class?


Thanks a lot in advance for all the great ideas I know I'll get.

Sidekick

I've done the same thing, not because my players read the npcs stats but beacause I like to change the npcs from adventures like that..
I leave Wyrmlord Koth as a sorcerer and Wyrmlord Saarvith as a ranger, but you idea is good actualy.

I made Wyrmlord Kharn a crusader with many white raven tactics maneuvers, to tell the true all npc fighters were chaged to crusaders or warblades (I realy like th ToB) .

I made Wyrmlord Ulawai Stormcaller simply a warlock 8, with high cha and some social invocations (and the monks that fight along her became sword sages)

 

[Peni Griffin]

You want to customize these guys for your party and to make sense in your campaign. I made all of the warlords duergar, which changes them fundamentally right there. I'm giving Kharn a mount, which can be as mundane as a warhorse or as outrageous as you like with the warbeast template added to, say, a wyvern, rhino, dire mastodon, purple worm, or roc - and changing a lot of equipment to be less boring. Ulwai can still be Stormcaller with a different magic item (and why is it a staff, anyway? My Ulwai has a bardic instrument that'll do the same thing, and I expect my PC bard to be grateful.). Change functions for some of the horde minions and the existing NPCs in the Vale. Mindbenders mounted on wyverns make good scouts; maybe there's a traitor in Brindol; maybe there's a throwaway NPC who can play a breakout role in the campaign if you give him a motivation and a twist. Make Skather a human-appearing undercover operative already in the city, biding his time. Change some tactics - as written, the troops don't use their air support to anything like full capacity - and this should change your players' experience of the campaign drastically.

It's a lot of work, I warn you. But I'm doing it all in 3.0, so you can comfort yourself that it's less work for you than it is for me.

 

[brehobit]

In RHoD I'm using a 32-point buy worg 4th level sword sage with all the abilities (and resitrictions) of Vow of Poverty (including spending 2 feats, but no bonus feats). It was fun when the party realized the worg was the leader, not the goblin cleric on his back. Lots of tripping goodness, and a huge AC of 29.

It was also fun when the worg used it's "breath weapon" (one of the desert storm moves). 30' cone for 2d6+5 damage wasn't overpowering by any means, but was effective in messing with them. The party is 6th level and fairly overpowered (32 point point buy, 1 bonus feat, and very optimized).

Great NPC because of his survivability. I'll level him up later when the party hits 8th level or so.

I _think_ the technical CR is 6 (2 for worg +4 for levels) but the 32-points and the VoP abilities probably put him at CR 8. ECL is 9.


Edit: I chose this baddy because we have a swordsage who is dominating combat AND the players _really_ hate worgs doing all the crazy tripping stuff. Seemed a match made in heaven.

Mark

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I'm going to run this soon and like some of these ideas. If anyone feels like posting their villains here, please go ahead!

Cheers


Richard

 

[Sidekick]

Kharn as a Crusader? Nice idea I might do that instead of Warblade.

I think I will Begiuler'ize Ulawai and like someone suggested keep the stormcalling item.

Other little things I've done.

Koth's Bodyguard is now a bugbear psychic warrior3. Expansions and a mean maul makes him just as much of a heavy hitter as the minotaur, while still being a sufficiently nasty surprise.

I've turned the bladebearer in Rhest into a Knight4.

Peni - Skather I think I'm going to change into a Rogue/Assassin as I don't like Ninja's (I'm an Eberron DM only the Trust and the goblins should have ninjas!).

I am however changing Miha Serani from a lame-out of the book Arenea into a doppleganger scout2/chamelon2. The group will probably come accross her at least 2-3 times before the penny starts to drop - if it ever does.

Also as for NPC changes, as I DM in Eberron obviously there will be some required changes around the religions and the Elves (making them a Valenar off-shoot).

ALso I'm placing a small House Tharashk office in Brindol as I'm making the mountains arounds the vale a newlyfound deposit of eberron dragonshards.

 

[Peni Griffin]

Ninjas don't suit my campaign either and I knew, when I tried out the phrase "ninja with a breath-weapon" out loud, that my players wouldn't go for it. He's now a durzagon assassin.

Go over Miha Serani's skills carefully. It boggles my mind that they didn't give her Gather Information, and once you've made room for that you may find yourself doing a major overhaul. Also, what's the good of a spy who can only communicate once? Instead of a scroll of sending I gave her a wand, and a hawk familiar so she could track troop movements. I'm keeping track of where she is, what news she gets, and how it affects Kharn's deployment decisions.