What is the deal with the ending of DCC#48 ("Vale of the Indus")?

[Noumenon]

I am prepping the adventure "Vale of the Indus" from Goodman Games "The Adventure Continues" because it got a good review here. It's been fun to anticipate through the first four boss monsters, but there are two things I don't get about the very last encounter. (Spoilers) One is a typo, and the other is what an encounter with a monk cleric ghoul, monk zombies, and a fickle shield guardian is actually supposed to be about.

The typo goes like this:

The Shield Guardian at the end is supposed to pass between Initiate Baldev and the party on a 1d6 roll, with a 1 always going to Baldev and a 6 always going to the party. (I'm using a token with a six-armed statue of Kali and describing the arms controlled by Baldev as being covered with dirt over the gold.) The text says

For each temple cleansed and curse broken, their chance of controlling the avatar increases by 18% or 1 in 6. If the party {cleansed all four shrines} then they could conceivably control the avatar on a 4-6 on 1d6.

If they each increase by 1 in 6 shouldn't cleansing four shrines give it to them on a 2-6? But it seems like the encounter would be more interesting if the enemy controlled the guardian on a 1-3 instead of just a 1.

I'll post my other thing later, I'm at work.

 

[Storm Raven]

If they each increase by 1 in 6 shouldn't cleansing four shrines give it to them on a 2-6? But it seems like the encounter would be more interesting if the enemy controlled the guardian on a 1-3 instead of just a 1.

Actually 3-6. Four chances out of six are 3, 4, 5, 6.

 

[Noumenon]

Okay now, this is the more interesting bit. I can't tell from the description what kind of battle the author intended the final encounter to be. The boss, Baldev, is a Lv 4 Cleric/Lv 2 monk ghoul. At the beginning of the encounter it says he raises all slain monks as zombies, and at the end he goes downstairs and looks to the shield guardian to save him. His equipment is a cloak of Charisma, a toga of Charisma, and sandals of striding and springing.

I guess the part I don't get is the monk bit. Why would you want Stunning Fist if you have a ghoul's paralysis ability? Why would you want unarmed strike if you can deliver touch spells? Why would a monk/cleric pump their Charisma, instead of their Wisdom?

Pumping Charisma helps the saving throws on the ghouls' ability, and I suppose it would help with checks to control undead. He also has desecrate. That makes me think the zombie monks are supposed to be an important part of the encounter. But the encounter is based in a 30x30 room, and the zombies are outside.

And then there's the shield guardian -- he's supposed to flee to it after he loses only 20 hp. So the zombie encounter must not be that important after all. After that it'll just be him and his monk abilities. I dunno what to do with this guy. I'd like to make him into more of a monk-cleric who can deliver touch spells while striking, or something. But I'm still not sure exactly how the author envisioned him working.

 

[Noumenon]

Actually 3-6. Four chances out of six are 3, 4, 5, 6.

I think that's the chance I'm going to give them. The module says they always control it on a 6 no matter what, but I'll have that apply only if they go straight to the end and don't cleanse any of the shrines (they need to have a chance to control it as a clue to what to do). 3-6 seems like a nice reward without giving them nearly complete control of it.

Regarding the monk thing, one annoying thing is that there's really no reason why there should be dead monks for him to turn into zombies. The module says they attack, but it doesn't say they're corrupted or why they serve Baldev. If they lived there before, I don't know why they didn't protest the shrines being corrupted. Oh well, fighting tons of monks is fun.

 

[Noumenon]

I forgot to mention that there are all kinds of monk weapons hanging on the walls which he is supposed to be grabbing, using, or throwing. With his two monk levels, and when he has a ghoul's paralyzing touch.

I almost wonder if I could find the author of this module's e-mail and ask him why? What was his design goal that he needed those two levels of cleric spells, why use a ghoul as the base and not a human who could have more monk levels, why?

I think I'm going to rebuild him from scratch as a monk/cleric because I just can't figure out how to play him as written.