You can run. But you cannot hide! About DMing, ideas?...Münster guys: STAY OUT!!!

[Dr. NRG]

I know that in high-level campaigns I have played/run, having the players divested of all their gear would be a pretty harsh blow. Do the players have plans to try to get their equipment back? Do you find that they are significantly less effective without their stuff?

NRG

 

[Dark Dragon]

I know that in high-level campaigns I have played/run, having the players divested of all their gear would be a pretty harsh blow. Do the players have plans to try to get their equipment back? Do you find that they are significantly less effective without their stuff?

NRG

I did expect some laments from the players, but surprisingly, no one complained. The player of the ranger regarded the loss of the items a good idea, actually

The group has lost some effectiveness, especially the damage output in melee fights has lowered. With the bodyguard dead and the ranger stripped off his holy corrosive mighty shortbow +2 (he uses now a mighty shortbow designed for Str 12...), only the monk and the tempest are good in melee combat.
Well, the ranger should become more familiar as a first-line warrior as well.

For spell support, the alienist is almost as effective as he was before. He needed only the candle from the prison to summon monsters. For most of his spells he does not need spell components.

The eldritch knight easily took the role as a fighter, but he hopes to organise a spell book somehow somewhere soon

The hathran had not the time to ask for new equipment (she could have because of her status as an othlor) and she was not sure if there are spies within the sisterhood. She has become careful, because the attack on her in Immilmar went all to well. Her idea is to keep a low profile to find out who was behind the attack.

So, why do none of the shadow masters have the Telflammar shadowlord prestige class? Don't like it?

Hm, yes, it would fit at least for Ajuntis, but at the moment, I don't have much time for planning everything in detail. The PrC is not worked in into HeroForge, a nice program I use to build NPCs quickly...

 

[Dark Dragon]

Here are the stats of the hathran (my PC), almost no equipment at the moment....

Jasmina Larad

Female Human (Rashemi), Clr 4 / Sor 3 / Hth 10 (using FRCS 3.0 rules!) / MyT 2; CR 19;
Medium Humanoid (Human); grey eyes, long black hair, size 1m65, weight 110 pds., age 21.
HD 4d8+8 + 15d4+30; hp 103;

Init +6; Spd 30 ft/x4;
AC 13 (+2 dex, +1 dodge), touch 13, flat-footed 10;

Base Atk/Grapple: +10/+9;
Full Atk +9/+4: Light Mace (1d6-1, x2) OR +12: Light Crossbow (1d8, 19-20, x2, 80 ft.) OR +9/+4: Whip (1d3-1*, x2, reach 15 ft.);

SA: Turn Undead (5/d), Fear (Su, 3/d, Will DC 16 neg), Greater Quickened Command (Su, 1/d, Will DC 17 neg.), Spells;

SQ: Place Magic (only in Rashemen), Circle Leader, Initiate of Mystra, Aura, Cohort;

AL NG;
Patron Deity: Mystra;
Domains: Illusion, Spell;

Saves: Fort +14, Ref +7, Will +21;

Str 8 (-1), Dex 14 (+2), Con 14 (+2), Int 12 (+1), Wis 19 (+4), Cha 14 (+2); 32 point-buy

Skills (trained only): Bluff +9, Concentration +19, Craft (Painting) +3, Diplomacy +7, Disguise +5, Handle Animal +5, Heal +12, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (Arcana) +8, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +3, Knowledge (Rashemen) +4, Knowledge (Nature) +3, Knowledge (the planes) +5, Knowledge (Religion) +8, Listen +5, Profession (Herbalist) +5, Ride +4, Sense Motive +6, Spellcraft +18, Spot +5, Survival +7, Swim +0, Tumble +7, Speak Common, Rashemi, Mulhorandi (Thay), Draconic, Elven, Undercommon.

Feats: Dodge, Improved Initiative, Ethran, Initiate of Mystra, Sacred Healing, Silent Spell, Quicken Spell, Spell Penetration, Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Whip (B)

Spell Points:
Divine: 348 + 236 (domain spells only), max. level: 8 (max. CL 16)
Arcane: 40, max. level: 3 (max. CL 5)

Jasmina is a quite fragile person with a strong personality (some would say with tendencies towards arrogance). As typical for a hathran, she sees her position in a group as a leader and doesn't like to be pushed or commanded around. If treated with respect, she is a very polite person and accepts proposals to solve a problem more easily. Jasmina regards her most important duties as to serve Mystra and Rashemen first (and she would abandon the party if Rashemen needs her help). She is a bit wary about strangers, like the ranger of the party who comes from the lands of Chult (whom she dislikes because he tries to avoid a melee fight which a 'tough man' should happily join to show his prowess, and because he sometimes tries to give Jasmina orders). Jasmina has a deep respect for the monk of the party and calls the tempest a good, but a bit childish friend. The hot-headed dwarf she accepted more easily than the ranger because the dwarf at least respects Jasmina and sometimes thanks her for her healing powers. The alienist is simply insane and a hopeless case... She protects her bodyguard (and vice-versa) first and sometimes asks for 'close protection' during night... Jasmina likes strong alcoholic beaverages but avoids to become drunk.
Jasmina was born in Immilmar as the second child of the hathran Marlina and the ranger Trakius. Her brother is the wizard Ano Larad (see my epic campaign of the SADES), who refused to be trained as an Old One and thus was forced to be exiled from Rashemen by his mother. Jasmina developed a strong hate versus the Red Wizards during her imprisonment, she was tortured for weeks. Thanks to her strong will, she didn't surrender. But she wouldn't speak about what has happened in Thay. Now she controls her anger until she has found the Red Wizard that caught her...

 

[Dark Dragon]

Next sunday will be the next session. I'm not 100% sure about what to do next. There are some options:

1) The party is now united, but still partially weakened. The group's plan is to seek asylum in the cloister where the monk was trained. There, the party wants to recover, get some spells and assistance in getting infos about the enemy (something like it was portaied in Batman Begins). The leader of the cloister however has not every party member in a good remembrance: especially the alienist did not behave very well during an earlier visit.
The cloister is situated in a remote place in northern Thesk. Some 40 people live there. But even the leader is only a CR 14 NPC...
Hm, defending the cloister against a stronger foe would be a nice setting, but would most likely end in the destruction of the cloister and its inhabitants. Plus: I'd need foes being strong enough to withstand the alienist's summoned monsters (which are tough!) for a while AND the rest of the party should also be able to fight the attackers. Using the Green Dragon as an attacker would result in an aerial combat vs. the alienist's rocs, leaving the rest of the party watching :\ I have a map of the cloister and a few stats of its inhabitants.
The party plans to go to the cloister via wind walk.

2) The hunters and the Green Dragon attack the party at the shore of Lake Murthil. Without time to prepare and poor equipment, the adventurers will either retreat quickly (into the lake? hmm...) or be dead, except for the tempest.
Well, retreating into the lake would save the group, but I'm not sure if one of the player would get the idea. Letting the hathran pointing it out would look like a rail-roaded plot... :\
Teleportation is not available to the group at the moment.

3) The Green Dragon offers a deal: The party hands the tempest over to the hunters and the rest of the group is allowed to leave freely. It is not unlikely that the tempest, the ranger and the dwarf would agree to that (they are opportunists and/or would save the group in (case of the tempest)). The monk wouldn't perhaps accept it, he is LN. The hathran would do to buy some time to get better equipment and track the foes via the tempest (scrying, sending, et al.). The alienist...I don't know, he is CG, but sometimes he'd fight even against all odds.
Especially Ajuntis would oppose such a deal, fearing that the group may hunt his Shadow Thiefs and himself later... OTOH, he might try to kill the party later...

The problem with this option is that the group is splitted and thus more difficult to DM. I could hand the hathran over to the player of the tempest to keep the player busy...


Ideas? Other options?

 

[Dark Dragon]

Ok, here it goes on...I have a bit more time now, but had to improvise the yesterday session somewhat.

The party was making a plan about what to do next. Instead of going to the cloister, they decided to go to Ashanath (an unclaimed area north of Two Stars, where some Thayan farmers herd cattle and horses). There, they would search those Thayans who may have worked together with the Shadow Masters (the party has no clue where to search those guys and who exactly those guys are, the dwarf proposed to destroy all farms in Ashanath ).

The dwarf knows a wizard in Phsant quite well and asked the hathran to cast a sending to arrange a secret meeting (to get some spells). While the hathran was casting the spell, the Green Dragon appeared (improved invisible and buffed). Due to the magic chain around his neck, he was forced to fulfill the Aspect of Tiamat's orders. He attacked the hathran first, because she was casting a spell and could be a dangerous foe. He grabbed her and kept a distance to the party (ca. 30 ft. in the air).
The alienist cast a quickened Glitterdust to mark the dragon, then summoned a monster (SM IX), the rest of the party behaved quite non-agressive. In round two, a roc appeared and unsuccessfully attacked the dragon. The rest of the party still tried to talk to the dragon or readied some weapons. The dragon attacked both the hathran and the roc. The hathran tried to escape via Word of Recall but she failed her concentration check (I rolled a 2...). In the third round, the dragon used his breath weapon. The alienist was at 19 hp (due to Con 3) before the attack and luckily dropped to -9 hp because of his acid resistance 10. Then the rest of the party hastily tried to save the alienist. The ranger cast a cure spell, and the alienist was concious again. The monk tried to jump on the dragon's back (see OotS ) and he made it! The hathran tried another Word of Recall, but again I rolled too low for concentration (now a 3!).
Next round, the alienist tried another SM IX, but now the dragon hammered him with Magic Missiles, rendering the alienist unconcious again...And again the ranger saved the alienist's life...The monk tried to get to the chain around the dragon's neck. He made all balance checks necessary but failed a tumble check. The dragon used his tail slap as an AoO and swept him away. Almost dead, the hathran cast a Holy Word when the dragon was about to finish her off...it was her last word. She and the dragon vanished in a blinding light. The party didn't know what exactly has happened since the spell normally wouldn't affect such a powerful creature. The adventurers know that the hathran is most likely dead.

Background for the DM : I bent the rules a bit here for story flavour. Since it was clear that the hathran wouldn't make it to escape, she tried to save her friends even if it would cost her life. She silently prayed to Mystra to help her friends and she offered her life for that. Jasmina instantly learned that the dragon is a fiendish creature. So she hoped that a Holy Word may sent the dragon to that plane where a part of his blood comes from. So it happened: Mystra raised Jasmina's CL so that the spell could affect the dragon, but the hathran is now dead, her body gone.
I plan to let her reappear as a telthor later as an ally for her friends, but I have to work out the details.

Hastily the party gathered the stuff, the alienist summoned some phantom steeds and the group headed east, still sticking to the plan of attacking the Thayan farms in Ashanth *sigh*

The adventurers camped in the prairie during the night, but were attacked by a group of displacer beasts led by a pack lord. It was a bloody battle, due to tactical errors, the tempest, the monk and the dwarf nearly got killed. The alienist summoned some dire bears who easily handled the displacer beasts or at least blocked them.

The players had the idea to follow the track of the beasts. Maybe the monsters lived in a cave and some of their victims left useful items behind... The track led back to Lake Murthil, into a hill area north of the lake. There, the party found a cave with the remnants of earlier victims of the displacer beasts. A few weapons (a +1 great sword and non-magical weapons), a leather armor (+1 wild), bracers of armor (+2), an amulet (natural armor +1), a belt (str +2), a backpack, worn boots, 3 rings (2x protection +1, 1 resist fire 10), coins and gems were the treasure.

Not far from the cave, the party noticed some smoke rising into the sky. They checked the area and found out that the smoke comes from a fire place within a small castle. The monk and the ranger were made invisible and had a closer look. The castle was inhabited by a bunch of hobgoblin warriors and some human slaves.
The two scouts returned and plans for an assault were made. Two children surprised the party amidst the discussion. The kids told about the hobgoblins that took command some weeks ago and enslaved the humans that lived in the castle before. About 20 hobgoblins (all war 5, plus the leader, a TWF fighter 10) are within the castle.
The monk proposed to use one of his tattoos to take the form of one of the kids to get into the castle. The hobgoblins sent the kids to collect berries and hunt rabbits. The plan was accepted, the rest of the party was made invisible, and everybody went into position.

The monk bluffed the guard at the gate. The gate was opened and the battle began. The alienist summoned two girallons, the ranger shot the hobgoblins on the wall (but he was very low on arrows!), the dwarf cleared another part on the wall (and happily used the newly found great sword), the monk and the tempest cleared the gate.
Then the party splitted: the tempest and one girallon attacked the castle house, the monk climbed the castle tower and attacked the hobgoblin archer there, and the rest focused on the two small entrances of the castle tower, were most of the resistance was put up. The dwarf tried to force his way into the tower but was knocked out after a short fight with the hobgoblin leader and three of his servants. As the entrance into the tower was quite narrow and the hobgoblins had put up a good defensive line within the tower, no one was able to assist the dwarf. When the dwarf went down, one hobgoblin aimed his crossbow at the unconcious dwarf and ordered the party to leave the castle. The alienist cast a silent still telekinesis and tried to disarm the hobgoblin (I told the player that, if the attempt fails, the hobgoblin most likely will kill the dwarf). It worked and after the second girallon was sent into the tower and the monk has made his way downstairs, the last opposition was crushed quickly...

Now the adventurers can equip themselves better and have a little stronghold for recover. A big problem is the alienist's low Con (I ruled that it is a drain effect due to his special power), so he needs a cleric to get cured. The green dragon will return soon.

 

[Dark Dragon]

House Rules

Maybe of interest: the house rules...

Bigest change was made on the magic system. We don't use the slot system anymore, but developed a point-based spell system.

The spells are still sorted into levels, but the caster can choose the caster level of the spell, e.g., a wizard 10 casting a fireball could opt to use a CL 5, thus dealing 5d6 damage. But that also lowers the range of the spell and the chance of overcoming SR...

Depending on the spell level, casting a spell costs a certain amount of spell points. Casting a fireball on CL 10 is more exhausting than a fireball on CL 5.

Every caster has a pool of spell energy, e.g., Jasmina has 348 points for her cleric spells (without domain spells). This includes bonus points for her high Wis score. She can use this energy as she sees fit. Casting high level spells depletes her energy pool much faster than casting low level spells, in a diagram (x-axis: CL, y-axis: spell points per spell & CL) you'd see a hyperbolic curve.

After a night's rest or praying, the caster regenerates 75 % of his maximum number of spell points. This ruling should avoid reckless casting, i.e. using all spell points per day.

Domains are handled separately: Per day, the cleric can cast one spell per spell level (one spell at level 1, one at level 2,... quite similar to the slot system), but he can also lower the CL if he wishes, as above. The cleric uses a domain spell energy pool.

The sorcerer has seen some modifications. He has now access to a new spell level at every odd level (as the wizard does) and he has 50 % more base spell energy than the wizard or cleric. However, his spell selection is still strongly limited. The sorcerer can use the feat Quicken Spell normally as any other caster.

The cleric and the sorcerer get 3 skill points per level.

All skills except Speak Language are class skills for all classes.

Only one Sneak Attack is allowed per round.

A PC can't take a second PrC unless he has taken all levels in the first PrC, e.g., Jasmina was allowed only to take levels in Mystic Theurge after she had taken all 10 levels of the Hathran PrC. A PC can add a base class (i.e. all classes with 20 levels) anytime, no restrictions here.

Some spells were modified, especially those with a long duration (like Energy Immunity or Mind Blank) now have a shorter duration (in most cases 10 min/CL) to avoid extensive buffing. Teleportation leaves the character dazed for one round and causes a loud noise and a flash of light. There is no fading effect when Fly or similar spells were dispelled.
Detect Magic does not register illusion spells, it is now line of sight!

Some spells were banned, like Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Overland Flight, Teleport without Error...

There are four spells for bringing back the dead: Raise Dead (now in level 7), True Ressurection, Reincarnate, True Reincarnate.

We use special effects on a confirmed 20 or 1 on an attack roll. With bad luck, a level 20 PC can get killed by a level 1 foe or at least be in serious trouble! This should remind the players that in every fight quickly big problems may show up.

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

This thread makes me wish I lived in Germany so I could at least aspire to be in this game!

Here's a trick I've been longing to try: bad guys send the PCs letters that have explosive runes or symbols of fear/death/insanity/etc scribed on them. It should work at least once before the PCs start having to cast dispel magic before opening all their mail. Great way to deliver shrunk items (such as a raging fire) as well. A good annoyance tactic that will make the PCs use up spell energy that they'd rather save for encounters.

 

[Dark Dragon]

Nice idea, especially if the party visits an ally and then the ally receives the letter (the party is too paranoid to open the letter unchecked) Maybe I could work that in for special NPCs...

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

Another thought, you've mentioned that at least one of the party members has a low sense motive. These Shadow Masters need to use more deception!

Remember that scene in Mission Impossible 2 where Tom Cruise puts a mask of his face on the bad guy's assistant and basically tricks the bad guy into killing his buddy? What if the Shadow Masters did something like that (via polymorph any object, maybe?) to an innocent and tricked the PCs into killing someone who didn't deserve it?

The monk has established a pattern of going off by himself, and the Shadow Masters have already shown themselves capable of taking him captive - what if they did that again, then took an innocent and polymorphed him to look like a Shadow Masters, one of the real Shadow Masters took the form of the Monk, brought him back and says "look what I caught! let's execute him!" and if they do, the fake monk then teleports himself out while the other Shadow Masters have the guards show up and see the PCs standing over the body of an innocent they just murdered. Talk about ruined reputations!

You might have to get the monk to play along a little bit, depending on how good your players are at separating character knowledge from player knowledge.

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

Also, if the bad guys need to flush the PCs out of their buildings, consider having them use dust of dryness: one can absorb 100 gallons of water and becomes a marble that releases the water when broken. They're pretty cheap (850 each), so the bad guys could take a handful of these filled with water and throw them in windows/drop them in chimneys/basically flood the place.

Or they could throw beads of force (3k each) in same windows/chimneys until the PCs realize they're sitting ducks if they stay in one place.

And if the bad guys are trying to make the PCs leave a location, what if they also decided to spread some salve of slipperiness (1k each) on the stairs/walkway leading out of it?

Look into the Trap the Soul spell (especially the second method) in terms of ways for the tempest to be captured alive and brought for ransom. It might be a good way to force the PCs to go on the offensive and recapture that gem before their friend is given away.