Working on a bad guy - Necromancer

[Greenfield]

I like the Wee Jas idea.

I've looked at the DMG and PHB for notes on the deity and I don't see where it says anything about how Undead are created, and which ones are okay and which ones aren't. Can you reference your source for that? (Not challenging, just trying to get better informed.)

The patron deity for Necromancers is a good match for this.

The first time the party dealt with this area was when their Cleric received a vision from Kord (his deity) regarding a follower from that valley that had a problem. They knew his name and that he needed help, but that was all.

The follower, a smith, had had his village raided by bandits. Hostages had been taken. He specifically didn't want the Necromancer involved, didn't want their "Dark Lord" to give his village any special attention.

This put the PCs in something of a dilemma: The usual "Kick butt and take names" approach wouldn't work.

Custom requires that when knights or nobles of one realm enter another lord's territory, they notify him/her and perhaps "pay their respects". More or less an assurance that soldiers from a foreign realm aren't invading, or demanding rights over the lord's subjects that he hasn't approved.

Most of the party has received knighthoods for their work and services, so their presence, without that formal notification, bordered on an act of war. If they ended up in conflict with the lord or his/her guards, the "borders on" part of that goes away. It's a real mess, politically speaking.

The bandits were well within their capacity to deal with, but harder to do while keeping a low profile.

This time around I envision a direct meeting between the Necromancer lord and the PCs, particularly the Paladin of Freedom.

Necromancer: So, do you plan my death? And what then? When the monstrous tribes that border this valley learn that there is no protector here, what happens to the people? Or were you planning to simply steal my throne?

If the PC issues a formal challenge, the Necromancer will accept, then have his champion show up for the fight: A sitting ruler has this right, since he/she can't leave their office empty. And however noble the Knight may be, he isn't an actal titled noble, he isn't the equal to the lord in rank. Even issuing that challenge bends or breaks a lot of the rules of knighthood.

Quite the knotty problem for our heroes I think.

 

[Grogg of the North]

In the last campaign my wife ran, we started in a land that was run by a Wee Jas theocracy. The question came up if you could have a paladin of Wee Jas. Being the nerd that I am, I started devouring any information I could find on Wee Jas. The line about her being okay with willing undead was found on wikipedia and I've seen it on various forums. Though I can't find a book and page number!

I imagine the Kord follower and the necromancer immediately butting heads. Especially since this is a situation where they can't just smash things to get the desired result. I imagine your party will split on the Law/Chaos axis, too. Assuming the PCs challenge or threaten the necromancer, are there any allies he call upon? Any way to get the word out that these "knights" are just murderers and thieves and not to be trusted?

 

[Greenfield]

The fun part is that, in theory, the Necromancer could be Lawful Good. (One point off of Lawful Neutral on a single axis). But even I'm not that twisted, yet.

As for allies: No, he really doesn't have any. His valley is isolated, at least a week's travel from other settled, civilized lands, and that's when the weather is good. We tend to parallel the seasons, so it's early February there, and winter is in full swing. Even the part getting there is going to be a rough trip.

Besides, being the Necromancer lord is a lonely job. As I mentioned, his claim and title are recognized by most kingdoms, but nobody actually likes him. He has some trade agreements, but no allies.

Still, he has the ability to call up substantial resources, for short periods of time. Sword fodder is easy to come by. An undead raid on a neighboring Orc or Bugbear village can garner him plenty of troops.

I don't see him as having huge financial resources. Economically his region is on the weak side of self sufficient. If it wasn't for the magical gear of the occasional party of "saviors" who come looking for his head, he'd probably end up on the short side of the trade balance. But every now and then somebody shows up to shut him down, and afterwards he can sell off their gear and use the profits to buy stocks of food and other goods to help his people make it through the hard times.

Ironically, they do save the place, after a fashion.

So I'll start by designing a bandit chief. Big muscle, good Dex, with mental dump stats. Then I'll graft my Necromancer onto him via Magic Jar. So they'll meet the quite robust Dark Lord, well muscled if a bit pale.

Since his Court Seer is an old adventuring companion (and another ghost), he'll have a similar hybrid build, though more of a Dex focused build than the Lord. I think I'll make him a Sorcerer. Also fairly high level.

Castle guard are at least half Human and mortal (someone has to go deal with things during the daylight hours).

Now, who (or should I say what) is in his dungeons? Bandits or monsters captured and legitimately sentenced to serve as snack food for some of the other residents of the castle. A fate like that would be a great deterrent against raids and crime. Order must be maintained, after all.

Thinking about both finance and food, I'm thinking they can raise horses in the valley. They can supply blood, Strength and Con when needed, and being a 2 hit dice creature they can even spare the occasional temporary level loss to single-level drainers like Wights.

The undead prefer food with actual souls, but when the boss says "No making any children without my permission", you have to settle for what you can get.

I'm wondering, are there specs on a Dire Horse? Something big and tough enough to survive this?

I'm seeing his public hall, where he holds open court once a week, as being something designed to deceive. It appears to be sunlit, with light coming in through high placed stained glass windows. In reality those windows are backed by closed, dark corridors. Mindless undead carrying Daylight items are stationed there, ordered to move slightly throughout the day so the "sun" is always entering at the correct angle, to simulate real sunlight.

A setting like that would throw visitors for a loop. They might even think that their host was weaker and vulnerable when in that hall.

I find I'm liking this guy more and more. Maybe too much. Am I overthinking this place?

 

[Grogg of the North]

In Monster Manual 2 there is both a Dire Horse and a Legendary Horse.

Depending on how much magic you want to have running around, you could rip off Angel (or maybe it was Buffy?) where the big bad had special glass to let in the windows to let Vampires walk around during the day.

You could also use the Evil Overlord List.

#29 I will dress in bright and cheery colors, and so throw my enemies into confusion.

Personally, if the PCs screw up and don't play nice with the lord, I'd have him be able to convince the other nearby rulers that the PCs are not heroes. Not to the point where the party becomes persona non grata but at least where the town guard is watching them heavily. Upstart peasants should know their place.

 

[Greenfield]

It started off well, if you understand "well" to mean a deep hole in the ground.

The party arrived in Shadowed Valley, after a long, hard trek across the high northern plains in the middle of winter. I rolled for weather effects using the table in the DMG and rolled a series of days where the best was a 72 and the worst was a 97. (High numbers equal harsher weather).

As the finally crested the ridge that borders the valley, they saw an odd scene below: Two mounted soldiers with lances, along with a third rider who appeared to be in charge, were riding down a number of unarmed people at the edge of a small farm community. The riders were wearing matching livery (surcoats with matching crests). The party watched as took one mounted pass at the footmen. One rider missed his target, the second ran his man clean through with the lance.

The Paladin of Freedom charged his horse straight down the hillside, while the others followed the road which took a number of switchbacks to manage the steep incline.

By the time they reached the bottom, two of the footmen were down. The third rider had fired a bolt of flame from his hand, wounding the third unarmored person. That man fled, taking cover near a small shed.

The party Cleric, when he got in range, cast Detect Undead and got an immediate positive. But it takes three rounds to narrow things down so you can tell who. The Paladin of Freedom didn't want to wait. He rode in and blocked the way of the man in charge.

Man in charge orders him aside with a terse explanation: "They've broken their chain. They need to be put down."

Before it was done the Paladin of Freedom had tried to unhorse one of the soldiers and ended up engaging both of them briefly.

By the time the last footman fell it had been revealed that the footmen were undead in some form. The commander started to threat the wounds of his men, including one who had been mauled by one of the Wights. He looked at the Paladin of Freedom and told him, "I'm going to dress these wounds. If you're still here when I'm done I'm going to arrest you."

The Paladin of Freedom, Sir Pax, stayed around, and the leader ordered him to surrender his weapons, he was under arrest. Sir Pax refused. The leader, seeing he was outnumbered and that both of his soldiers were wounded, acknowledged that he couldn't perform an arrest by force, but pressed ahead. He asked who the peopel were and why they were here.

Sir Pax said they were here to free the people from their oppressor. He also gave his name. The officer declared that Sir Pax was declared an outlaw, and that he would be hunted down.

He was finally informed at one point that the party were a Free Company, nd he was shown a copy of their charter. He saw the various royal seals on it and acknowledged that they had the right to bear arms in this land, but that that was not the same as refusing a lawful order to stand clear while the guard performed their duty. He also explained that some Undead, when they spawn, have control over their "children". If the Necromancer controls the first of the line, then he controls, indirectly, all that follow. But id some undead in the chain of command is killed then the children below that are cut loose and out of control. They need to be put down for the safety of the community. The party had almost allowed this party of unconrolled Wights to run loose through this farm community. They would have killed everyone, and then there would be even more Wights to deal with.

After the soldiers left, dragging the remains of the fallen Wights behind them, people began to come out of hiding. Sir Pax had been warned that, if he surrendered then he'd be given a fair trial. If he had to be hunted down his trial would likely be at the tip of a lance.

One of the villagers told the party that the lord held public court on Fridays, and that anyone could appear to make complaint, plead a case or make a request. They suggested that this was the PC's best chance. The villagers also asked the party to leave. They didn't want to be accused of offering aid or shelter to an outlaw. They flatly didn't want any more contact with the lord's men than they had to have. They wanted to be able to honestly say that they had ordered the party to leave, and that they didn't know where they were.

When last seen the party was going to leave the valley and camp in the woods beyond. One PC was going to go to the castle and try to defuse things. Oddly, not the Bard with the good Diplomacy check.

By the book, Wee Jas is big on Law, on maintaining order. Even if those people had been, well, people, soldiers acting in the lord's service had a legal right to kill them, if they found cause. Without regard to Good or Evil, the Law was on the side of the soldiers, not the party.

Next week should be quite the bit of fun.

 

[Grogg of the North]

I look forward to next week's Story Time, then.

Do you think you'll get some good roleplaying out of the PC going to the castle? Or will it just be "I go to the castle. I roll diplomacy."?

 

[Greenfield]

He'll roleplay.

Wee Jas clerics are known for discipline, both in obedience to superiors and for demanding it from others.

The Paladin had Detect Evil available at will, but was too impatient to use it. He's paying the price.

But I'm trying to figure something out: When you use any of the alignment detection spells, a Cleric shows up more strongly. Undead and Outsiders show up even more so. So how would an undead Cleric who is Lawful Neutral with Evil tendencies show up on Detect Evil? A very strong "Meh"?

 

[Grogg of the North]

What I would do is, if the character's alignment is Neutral but he trends towards evil, have them register on Detect Evil but bump it down a strength category. So while he may have a moderate or strong aura if you were using Detect Law, he would only ping as moderate or faint if you detect evil on him.