PnP RP: An adventure logFollow

Kirby: If it bugs ya with me spamming up(one or two posts a week plus any discussion) your journal with this, lemme know and I'll move it over to mine.

To alleviate my boredom, I thought I would share with you all a bit of my current campaign. Details of the PCs, the NPCs, BBEGs, planned plot points/twists, etc. Then, as an ongoing thing, I'll post observations I make about the players as they happen in a more or less weekly recap.

The Setting
Valor's Triumph, a city of good. This mountain city was the site of a battle almost 300 years prior between the forces of good led by dragonrider Rilien Argentus and the forces of evil led by the black dragon Ebongale, who sought to destabilize the world in order to facilitate the return of the god of destruction, Rovagug.


The PCs
Gribbletoo the Mystic Theurge: A gnome druid of the god of weather Gozreh who entered into an apprenticeship to Archimedes, traveling summoner extraordinaire. He seeks to master both arcane and divine magic(through prestige classing) as well as alchemy and stage magic. On his adventure thus far, he has acquired a magical scythe created by Gozreh that gives him the power of lightning, and a modular ring that gives him bonuses to his eidolon, Mort. Has an almost obsession with pancakes.

Obrek the Half-Orc Paladin: Raised as an orphan by the Temple of Iomedae, he joined the clergy at a fairly young age. A member of the Silver Legion, a multi-faith organization of paladins, clerics and other holy warriors and protege of Lord Falric, Scion of Iomedae(more on him later) after saving the other warrior's life by taking up the Will of Iomedae(the Scion's magical artifact sword) against a demon, avoiding a TPK. Noble and loyal, but also prone to trying to use detect evil on any NPCs he's suspicious of, which is half of them, because he's paranoid. Became a paladin at the recommendation of Lord Falric.

The GMPCs
--In an effort to avoid allowing any one GMPC to steal spotlight while also having one to help keep the party from being ultra-vulnerable to SoD and SoS effects, I'm using a rotating cast of secondary party members. They'll have less access to equipment and no access to artifacts, to keep them behind the PCs in power despite the fact that they're all pure classes while the PCs are suboptimal Prestige multi-classes. Each will play a role in the overall story, through either connections, plot induced stupidity(generally off-screen) or by the nature of their dark secret, which most will have.

Samantha Maxwell: A half elven paladin of Ragathiel(a fiery Empyreal Lord) and fellow member of the Silver Legion, she's quick to anger. She's also Falric's cousin andSpoiler is aware of the prophecy regarding him. Because of this knowledge, she's really conflicted about Obrek.

Lem Hilltopple: Gribbletoo's halfling bard roommate and the son of a wealthy wand maker and a caravan owner, he really looks up to the PCs. A lot. Like Seymour from Burn Notice. SpoilerHe's also a weapon smuggler.

Biggs and Wedge: Bumbling and cowardly town guards who admittedly overlook minor crimes by the thieves' guild in exchange for intel on bigger ones, such as murders and whatnot. Since they always adventure in a pair, they're fighters with about half the class bonuses missing. Also, SpoilerWedge's brother is the leader of the thieves' guild.

Veil: A mysterious sorceress who looks a lot like Holo(the wise wolf), this "Aasimar" claims to have been ordered to aid the PCs in seeking out and stopping the Necromancer(one of the BBEGs) by the Archmage of the Grand Academy. She's actually working on her own initiative. SpoilerThat's because she's actually Velandrathal Argentus, daughter of Rilien Argentus, more or less king of the city.

Magnus Merediel: This is a man of no secrets. He's a Devil in human form(his class based on Obrek's planned PrC) who opposes the true villain. He's just there to see if the PCs will work with evil to take down greater evil. He may not even end up being a party member depending on how it goes.

BBEGs
The Necromancer: Pretty straightforward, or so it seems. Trying to raise the dead for an army to kill the population of the city to fuel an even greater army. SpoilerHe plans to use the army to take on the true villian, because he's the only one who sees it coming. SpoilerHe's also the former apprentice of Archimedes, though no one knows the necromancer's true identity. As such he hates Gribbletoo. He was orphaned by the orc raid that led to the conception of Obrek.

The Devil Traitor: A female traitor to Devilkind who has joined the ranks of Demons, she's trying to gather the reagents of a spell to raise the ultimate villain of the campaign: SpoilerThe Black Dragon Ebongale. Plot Twist: SpoilerShe kills Falric.

The True Villain: SpoilerThe Black Dragon who led an army against the army of good 300 years ago. His victory will lead to tearing a hole in the world and connecting it to the Abyss, giving demons a second front to invade from.

NPCs of a notable sort
Lord Falric Wildantor: Holy paladin and Scion of Iomedae(goddess of righteous valor, justice and honor). While his deeds are legendary, most relevant to the story at hand is the time he led an expedition against a demon stronghold that had been constructed deep in the mountains. He took a number of paladins and a pair of young clerics with him to slay the threat. Unfortunately, the party was nearly wiped out by the nascent demon lord commanding the garrison. Only a single member of the party remained standing, and only by right of his half orcish ferocity. This member, a young cleric named Obrek, grabbed the closest weapon, Falric's legendary blade known as the Will of Iomedae and struck at the demon, slaying it. SpoilerAs a young man, Falric encountered a prophet who foretold that his death would come while returning the favor to one who saved his life.

Archimedes, traveling summoner extraordinaire: A master of magic and former adventurer, this quirky gentleman believes that his apprentices should learn by action instead of books. As such, he has been working behind the scenes to ensure that his "former" apprentice, Gribbletoo, is constantly put in the path of danger, which he feels will best train the gnome to become a great summoner. This is made much easier because Spoilerhe's also the Archmage of the Grand Academy. His sink or swim style of training has backfired before, Spoilercontributing to the insanity of the Necromancer. He's also fond of stage performance, and as such all his apprentices are encouraged to dabble in forms of performance. He was also onceSpoiler a member of Falric's old adventuring band.

Daven Battleheart: A dwarven paladin and commander of the Silver Legion. He was a paladin initiate alongside Falric. Once they became full fledged members of their orders, they began adventuring together, along with several others.

Rilien Argentus: Hero of the great battle and founder of Valor's Triumph, this champion of justice is an ever-present entity in the city. The truth of the matter is that it was not Rilien who led the army of good, but his silver dragon companion, Apotheosis. It is also true Spoilerthat Rilien died during the final battle with Ebongale. As he lay dying, he begged Apotheosis to fulfill his dream of a city where members of all good faiths could come together in peace to champion the causes of good. So it was that Apotheosis took on the form of his fallen friend and assumed his identity, so that all credit would go to Rilien. He fell in love with one of the celestials who often visit the city and in time their daughter was born.

Velandrathal Argentus: Daughter of Rilien ArgentusSpoiler(Apotheosis) and a Vulpinal Agathion, she is a strong believer in protecting the weak. Her lineage has manifested itself in a half-elf aasimar appearance, or so it would seem. Since her mother's death at the hands of a demonic assassin, her father takes great strides to protect her, forbidding her from leaving her home's grounds without an escort. SpoilerThis has left the girl feeling a bit like a caged bird, causing her to sneak out to seek adventure in her true humanoid form, going by the moniker Veil.

A Twisting of Fate
In addition to the three factions(The Good, The Undead and The Demons), there is a fourth organization manipulating things behind the scenes. Mothmen, mysterious agents of fate, are responsible for much that is happening with the first two factions. Because of a death over a thousand years ago, the hero who would have defeated the demons was never born(his ancestor was killed in a war with the fey, which will be further explored in my next campaign). In order to set fate's course right, they have done all of the following in order to ensure that someone would rise that could take on Ebongale.

Spoiler

• Ensured the success of the raid on a village that led to the Necromancer, Simon, being orphaned. The orphanage is where Archimedes took him on as an apprentice.
• Ensured the success of the raid on a village that led to Obrek being conceived.
• Helped Obrek's mother escape the orc camp and encouraging her to leave the child with the Temple of Iomedae.
• Revealed to Simon the course fate was on, telling him what he needed to do to avert it. This caused Simon's Start of Darkness.
• Revealed to Falric that his destined death had been postponed and that he would die returning the favor to the man who would save his life.
• Moved a single stone which later lodged in the hoof of Archimedes' horse, causing him to make camp early and discover Gribbletoo that evening.
• Revealed the exact time the Necromancer would need to strike to slay Falric, who would stop his plans to save the world.
• Helped a single member of Falric's squad survive, so that the players would learn that it was Simon who slew Falric.

And perhaps more, but that's all I have right now.

Edited, Apr 26th 2012 6:27am by Poldaran

Edited, Apr 26th 2012 6:28am by Poldaran

Edited, Jun 25th 2012 2:25am by Poldaran

Sounds good. So here's my realizations from this week.

Despite the fact that one of my players has lobbied for some increased alchemical stuff(including alchemical pancakes), he really rarely uses them. Even when I crafted a boss-like encounter for them that for once could not be solved by pure brute force, nor by the paladin Smiting evil. Instead of using his tanglefoot bag/sunrod + tindertwig/smokestick combination that I allowed, they once again went for brute force despite the fact that two successful bites from the giant tarantula would kill the paladin. Said combo would have made it a lot harder for the spider to hit them while retaining their ability to hit it. But nope, they just threw heavy attacks at it until they managed to slay it while barely surviving by sheer luck. /sigh

Also, they've come to suspect that the Archmage of the Grand Academy, a flighty man they know only as Jughead(Falric's nickname for the man, stemming from a time SpoilerArchimedes got his head stuck in a jar), is involved in whatever plot the demons are hatching. I'm thinking I should encourage that thought just so it's really funny when they try to confront him about it.

I'm starting to wonder if this is going to be like when they play video games. You see, my roommates get frustrated fairly easily. When they're playing some games you'll hear a lot of cursing in the house. One of them, however, seems to seek out things that challenge him in that way, despite the fact that he still gets quite pissed while playing.

I'm really hoping that's not the case because I'm not so sure I'll enjoy running games for them in that state.

I've never had to fudge dice, they just seem to forget all the good rolls and remember the bad ones.

It's somewhat understandable why 3 missed attacks would frustrate them.

1. A player has far less to do than you. HE might spend about 1/7 of the time actually doing anything in combat, so when he whiffs he really feels it.

2. Missing just never feels good.

3. Missing feels even worse in D&D because it takes away control from the players. This is something I've never liked about D&D and if you ever play one of my campaigns you'll find monsters have considerably less defense and considerably more hp to balance it out. A monster with 1 defense and 20 hp doesn't fight like a monster with 1 hp and 20 defense, even if they average the same number of hits to kill. It's hard to balance monsters with high defense because based on dice roles they could either get unlucky and be a pushover or become an unstoppable party wiping machine. Additionally player attacks often do more than just damage, they also have utility. This takes away strategy because your tactical abilities just flat out don't work.

Can I use brownies? Fudge makes my teeth hurt.

1)He's a good friend outside the game, so I can't help but take it personal if that's the case.

2)Yeah, probably. Though I'll need to see your medical license before I can take said orders. Shouldn't be too hard to get, since I'm pretty sure I can perform legal marriage ceremonies thanks to 5 minutes on the internet once.

Players responded positively to my adventure this weekend. It was more than just "flimsy pretext -> dungeon", so it was a bit different to run. I did learn some things:

-When designing a chase encounter for my players, I really ought to look at their skills before I design the options for progressing through the stages of the chase. Otherwise one player will have put no skill points into anything remotely useful for getting through any of the cards.
-Also, the villain should get a two card lead instead of a single card lead, otherwise the chase ends on card 3.
-Also also, when using a stock NPC to run from the party, make sure that he has skills that might be at least sort of relevant.
-The PCs are capable of using logic. Which turned my planned "poison gas attack" while the PCs were inside the warehouse into a "PCs find everyone at the warehouse dead".
-Our paladin can only roll 18+ when making will/fort saves. EvenEspecially when the DC of the save only required him to roll a 2. This will lead to the paladin taking an extra victory lap when rushing into a warehouse to open the building's vents.
-If you establish a character as lacking common sense, the PCs are fairly likely to willingly accept the obvious "character was duped into doing something illegal" explanation. While it was straightforward in this current path, it will likely prove to be a useful tool in deception for a later one. Either way, they will likely punch the **** out of a halfling for being so stupid.

I added a bit more to the OP. Considering the fact that SpoilerSimon(the Necromancer was orphaned by the same raid where Obrek's mother was kidnapped and impregnated...there needs to be the twist that they're half brothers, right?

Huh, that sounds interesting. I wish our DM put as much thought into things, lol.

So, this week produced what was likely one of the funniest moments we've had in a game, though I suspect it might have been a "you had to be there" moment, so I apologize if it doesn't end up very funny in text.

The party joins up with Falric, Samantha, Veil, Rocktooth Spoilerin case I've never mentioned him, he's a Warrior 1/Cavalier 7 GMPC that the party "rescued" during the very first adventure who joined the Silver Legion in the last adventure and a number of random level ~5 paladins to go after the discovered enemy hideout. One of the goblin shinymen, on eagle back, scouts out the mountain passes and discovers that the fortress is actually three separate structures, accessible via different mountain passes. Falric suggests splitting the party in order to hit all three at once. He scans for evil with his sword and determines the strength of the evil auras down each pass. The party splits into three groups. Falric, Veil and the 5th level paladins head down the pass with the greatest evil aura. Obrek, Gribbletoo and Samantha head down the middle path, where the evil is still powerful, but less ridiculous than the other. Finally, TikalSpoilerGribbletoo's Sylph Alchemist cohort, AgniraeSpoilerObrek's Ifrit Elemental(Fire) Sorcerer/Archer and RocktoothSpoileralong with his trusty wolf mount, Growl head off down the path with very little evil power detected.

This adventure focuses on the path taken by the cohorts and the goblin. They arrive at the entrance to a small keep and find it guarded by a number of half-fiend orcs. With a little perception, they notice an unguarded path around the main entrance and find a small hole in the wall, just large enough to sneak through. Agnirae's stealth is damn near non-existent(his only bonus is his decent dex score), so they opt to distract the guards with an illusion and sneak by with the distraction. Works out fine and they get inside.

Inside, they spot the tripwire for a trap. They figure out that it's a noise making trap and carefully disable it, allowing them to avoid alerting the guards outside to their presence. The room has two doors leading deeper in. They check both and find an armory and a pantry. Both lead to other rooms. Now, I should probably tell you that both Agnirae and Rocktooth have negative bonuses to their Wisdom and no ranks in perception. Tikal has a wisdom bonus of zero and two ranks in perception, for a total bonus of +5. She barely makes the DC15 check to hear voices in the room next to the armory. Agnirae rolls a 1, resulting in a -1 on his roll to hear voices coming from the room next to the pantry, so they don't know about the folks in the kitchen.

They head through the barracks(the room next to the armory) and open up with a surprise attack on the enemy, 6 more half-fiend orcs. As always happens, fights I think are supposed to be really easy end up not being so easy. They manage to pull through, but the expenditure of resources is higher than expected and Rocktooth is nearly brought down. I make a mental note to reduce the number of these guys in the kitchen if they search there as well.

After the fight, they patch up using their wands of CLW, They then head to the next area, a large courtyard. They find a number of grotesque statues. I have them make several knowledge checks as well as a perception check. As expected, they failed the perception check(DC28) to notice the "gargoyle", but are able to recognize most of the creatures the statues depict. Agnirae decides to launch a fireball into the center of the courtyard because the party suspects there's some kind of medusa/basilisk type creature hiding among the statues, likely because I gave them a knowledge check to see if the statues remind them of any stories they've heard. Tikal passed it, so she ends up donning her blackened goggles to protect against gazes. The fireball hits the living gargoyle statue and combat begins.

I expected this combat to be a bit more difficult, so naturally they bring him down in two rounds(three if you count the surprise fireball). Still, Rocktooth gets the snot kicked out of him between the attacks and the whole being dropped from 60 feet thing. Just as two more statues begin to come to life, a shadowy figure streaks down from the sky and uses its SLA to mimic the ability of earth elementals to reach into stone, then yanks out the imps that had been possessing the statues and immediately breaks their necks. It then tells them that they must hurry, as the beast deeper within the keep will become a danger to Gribbletoo and Obrek if not taken down before they reach the enemy at the end of their wing. I give them a knowledge check to identify the creature. Tikal passes and recognizes it as a Mothman. Agnirae fails and thinks it's Jacob Crane(the devil guy in the OP here). The being throws something at each of their feet, telling them that these items will be of aid against the next foe.

Now, they don't have detect magic(which we always play as being usable to identify magic items outside of combat without a spellcraft check), so I give them both Spellcraft checks to identify the items they've received. They both fail, so Tikal doesn't know the properties of her new Chakram(+1 Returning) and Agnirae has no idea what the stone with the rune on it does(Runestone of Power(3rd)). So they head into the next room.

They find what appears to be a warehouse filled with crates and barrels. In the room is also a giant floating eyeball(Evil Eye). I give them perception rolls to notice a faint scent. They all fail, though Growl detects it using his Scent ability and begins to whine. Tikal uses her knowledge of Sylvan to ask him about it(we thought that was the language of animals, but I later learned that wasn't exactly right). He tells her that he smells something bad, but cannot truly articulate what he smells. If she had smelled it, she would have gotten an alchemy check to determine exactly what it was, or at least some of its properties since it's a material she's never encountered. But she didn't, so she couldn't. And all the gears had come into place.

The party begins the encounter. Agnirae, with his +13 or so to initiative(Ifrit racial, Imp Init, trait bonus and dex), goes first. This is what the player says. "Agnirae throws the rock at the giant eyeball." I say, "What." He explains that Agni thinks it's likely something used to dispel some kind of magical shield on the enemy so that Tikal's enchanted chakram can hurt it. Obviously, it fails to do anything(he missed with the throw) and then it's Tikal's turn. She throws the chakram at the enemy and discerns no effect from it other than it seeming to hit a bit harder(the +1 part). The eye attacks, using its gaze to confuse Rocktooth. Rocktooth spends his round babbling incoherently. Growl charges and tries to bite the eye.

Next round, Agni uses scorching ray to damage the foe. Does a fair bit of damage. Tikal finds the chakram back in her hand. Puts it away and then throws a pair of explosive bombs. I make a show of tallying the damage(the bombs were rolled at almost max damage) and tell the players that it was enough to bring down the eye, but I also tell them that the adventure concludes here, as this is the point where their adventure with the cohorts will cross over with the adventure with the mains next weekend.

The truth? SpoilerThe barrels were filled with gunpowder. That bomb clipped one of them, setting off a chain reaction of epic proportions.

They ask me how the mothman did the thing with the imps, so I explained to them that it has an ability called "Agent of Fate", allowing it to recreate any spell 5th level or lower once a day and that for dramatic purposes, I gave it use of a monster ability using that. So we decide to go get food. Laughing about Agni's decision all the while.

About halfway there, Tikal's player says that it would be really funny if those crates had contained explosives since he probably just blew up the entire party. I laughed and said, "If I were going to do that to you, I'd probably have taken the time to put in someone nearby to pull the smoking corpses from the rubble and resurrect them. They'd probably just wake up in town a week later."

SpoilerA mothman may recreate the effects of any spell of 5th level or lower once per day as a spell-like ability, but only if doing so steers the flow of fate in its proper course. What the proper flow of fate entails is determined by the GM. Typical uses of this ability include casting major image to coax someone to a portentous location, casting raise dead to return someone with an important fate to life, or using rusting grasp to weaken a structure and cause some necessary calamity.

I'm a little worried about how this next adventure's gonna go. Assuming the players don't "outside the box" it enough to foil my plans for them, by the end of the adventure, I intend to have done all of the following:

-Destroy the paladin's +2 Flaming Sword(maybe it was +3)
-Dex damage the party down to being unable to move
-Temporarily strip the paladin of his Smite Evil(and possibly Lay on Hands)
-Kill the paladin's mentor
-Kill and resurrect both of their cohorts
-Have the paladin's goddess go missing(hence the lack of Smite Evil)
-Leave them comatose in a healing ward for a week

Why?

-The missing goddess and potentially a sense of failure at not being strong enough will be the impetus for the next adventure and the prestige class the paladin will take.
-The mentor has to die so that the paladin can take his place.
-The sword needs to go so it can be replaced with this at the end of the next adventure:
SpoilerWill of Iomedae
Fused with the spiritual force of a powerful Astral Deva, this adamantine sword is a living manifestation of Iomedae’s mission for her paladins within Valor’s Triumph. It forms a symbiotic bonding with its wielder, the Scion of Iomedae. It gains power from its wielder while at the same time unlocking his or her potential.
Attributes
Level 11-14: +3 flaming burst
Level 15-19: +4 holy flaming burst
Level 20: +5 evil outsider-bane holy flaming burst

Weapon Abilities
-Heaven’s Ally
Once per day, the Scion of Iomedae may summon a holy ally to his aid through his attunement with heaven. The function of this is similar to certain cleric spells, depending on the Scion’s level. The effect lasts 8 rounds.
Level 11-14: Spiritual Weapon
Level 15-19: Spiritual Ally
Level 20: Spiritual Ally w/ Holy weapon modifier, not subject to resistance.

-Flames of Judgment
Once per day, the Scion of Iomedae may call upon the power of the Will to smite his foes with holy flames. Half the damage is fire damage, but the other half results directly from divine power and is therefore not subject to being reduced by resistance to fire-based attacks. The enemy must be within 20 feet to be targeted.
Level 11-14: A pillar of divine fire deals 4d6 fire damage to a targeted enemy.
Level 15-19: A ray of fire up to 20 feet long scorches enemies in its path for 4d8 fire damage
Level 20: A pillar of divine fire 10ft by 10ft burns targets within its radius for 7d6 damage. Any creature slain by this attack must make a will save, otherwise its sins are burned away and it cannot be resurrected by evil casters.

Unlocked Scion Potential
-Level 11: Divine Agent
The Scion carries both the wrath and the mercy of Iomedae into battle with him. He treats all levels in a divine spell casting class as paladin levels for the purpose of determining both damage of and number of smites per day as well as number(though not effect) of Lay on Hands per day. The Scion must have at least one level in paladin to gain this effect.

-Level 15: Celestial Vanguard
The Scion’s very presence inspires his allies. The scion and all allies within 50 feet of the scion gain a +2 morale bonus to attack rolls. Any attack made against an enemy within 10 feet of the Scion is treated as good-aligned for the purposes of overcoming Damage Reduction. In addition, the scion is immune to Compulsion effects and his allies gain a +4 morale bonus to saves against compulsion.


-Level 20: Heavenly Champion
The Scion has become a living holy representation of Iomedae’s righteousness. Any foe within 30 feet of the Scion takes a –2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves. The Scion also gains a DR 10/Evil
In addition, whenever the Scion lays hands or channels energy to heal an ally, the amount healed is the maximum possible.


I warned the paladin's player a couple weeks back that at some point in the near future, it was gonna seem like I was horribly ******* over his character, but that everything would more or less work out. So hopefully he reacts well.

Edited, Jul 27th 2012 1:38am by Poldaran

Yeah. I figure that if he knows something bad's gonna happen ahead of time(it's all part of his PrC, mostly since he wasn't sure how to justify switching classes from mostly straight paladin), it'll work out.