| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
then cast charm person from the other side of the wall.
I just would like to point out that telepathy does not let you ignore line of sight requeriment for charm person. The doru div still needed line of sight for his targets.
And being a vocal/somatic spell, being in the same room they should be allowed a perception check to detect him. Same when he casted suggestion, the spell isnt silent and should be allowed a perception check if you are anywhere near the target. A spellcaster should also be allowed a spellcraft check to identify what is being cast, even if they cannot see the caster (but applying the invisible penalties to this check).
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/charm-person
At first I was thinking, "I can see how it could be interpreted, but nowhere described as line of sight," but after thinking more on it, it IS a targeted spell to a person, and to target an individual, you really SHOULD have line of sight, so even if not specifically saying so, it should.
Another thing I did not do that I should have (looking it over again), is the opposed CHA rolls to convince him do something he would not normally do - it was charm and suggest not dominate. So yea, learning. Still, we retconned, they are all back as if the Div never did anything.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
It's kind of troubling that so many deaths reported in this thread are related to gm's adding to or changing the encounters. Be vewy vewy caweful with that!
True, true.
But GMing is a practiced skill. You get better by doing, so it is excellent when GMs and Players give each other some grace. Pathfinder is a complex game with a lot of moving parts. I think a retcon rather than a complete reroll is a great idea.
Plus, you get to have fun imagining a worst case situation!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It's kind of troubling that so many deaths reported in this thread are related to gm's adding to or changing the encounters. Be vewy vewy caweful with that!True, true.
But GMing is a practiced skill. You get better by doing, so it is excellent when GMs and Players give each other some grace. Pathfinder is a complex game with a lot of moving parts. I think a retcon rather than a complete reroll is a great idea.
Plus, you get to have fun imagining a worst case situation!
Who among the players knows that the bad guy in question doesn't have a ring of x-ray vision or an analogous ability? ;)
Nightmares (retcons) are wonderful to make even seasoned players take another look at things. <grin>
Who among the players knows that the bad guy in question doesn't have a ring of x-ray vision
That would be fine, if he had fingers. :P
Who among the players knows that the bad guy in question doesn't have a ring of x-ray visionThat would be fine, if he had fingers. :P
tattoo :P
Name: Trevion
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Rogue/3rd
Adventure: Half Dead City
Location: Erudite Eye (Area D13)
Catalyst: Failing Knowledge check to realize the Graven Guardian may have a trigger that can neutralize it / Party not thinking to obtain emblems of Nethys.
The Gory Details: Graven Guardian casts Haste and beats the Rogue to a bloody pulp. Remaining party goes back to get some holy symbols and returns.
Name: Samuel
Race: Aasimer
Classes/levels: Paladin/3rd
Adventure: Half Dead City
Location: Erudite Eye (Area D19)
Catalyst: Bad tactics & bad dice.
The Gory Details: PC's were well aware to expect The Scorched Hand somewhere in the building, they noticed the Alarm spell triggering as they went down one of the hallways, giving The Hand two rounds to prepare the battlefield. The PC's retreated w/o trying to open the gate after Velriana gave them a warning to leave or die, so spells that The Hand had cast with a duration expired. They failed an opposed Stealth to come around the other direction, and there was time enough to cast Bull's Strength on Idorii and Grease to force PC's into open areas. Charging into melee against Idorii's combat prowess combined with the Scorching Ray Wand of Velriana doomed the Paladin.
The PC's ultimately prevailed, killing all but Azaz, who is now a prisoner. They have finished exploration of the Erudite Eye and they have the scroll with the warning about the Mask, but failed to read the hieroglyphics, so have not realized yet that it IS a Mask and that it is missing and someone RECENTLY took it. I guess Azaz will connect those dots for them.
The PC's ultimately prevailed, killing all but Azaz, who is now a prisoner. They have finished exploration of the Erudite Eye and they have the scroll with the warning about the Mask, but failed to read the hieroglyphics, so have not realized yet that it IS a Mask and that it is missing and someone RECENTLY took it. I guess Azaz will connect those dots for them.
Good plan, sounds like it is going well.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Name: Drew Wasabi (the third time)
Race: Lizardfolk
Class/Levels: Investigator 15
Location: Hakotep's Pyramid, the Water Crypt
Catalyst: Failed Disable Device Check
The Gory Details:
Book 6 Spoilage:
He did make his will save, and the doesn't have to breath oracle went in and retrieved him (and later broke the enchantment). So he did get better.
One of the best traps yet.
I should probably list a few of our deaths here, as quite a few already happened.
Name: Oberon
Race: Sylph
Class/Levels: Magus 6
Location: Temple of Pharasma
Catalyst: Provoked the wrong Vanth
The Gory Details:
The vanth took the bait, showed up and striked him twice, a critical hit and a regular hit later, the magus was 1 negative hit point from dying, one failed fortitude save later and he was walking the steps of the Boneyard of Pharasma, accompanied by Qasin (the nosoi psychopomp).
Name: Amethista (first time)
Race: Aasimar
Class/Levels: Oracle 5
Location: The Shiny Bauble (underground)
Catalyst: Some angry shop keeper
The Gory Details:
The magus was buffing the group outside of view of the dragon, and the ranger did another full round on her, bringing her to under 20 health, she used her abilities to flee, while the group carried the bodies of the two fallen characters back to the Church of Pharasma, one of them already dead.
Name: Amethista (second time)
Race: Aasimar
Class/Levels: Oracle 6
Location: Necropolis's Acrid Street
Catalyst: Group retreated and left her alone against three Graven Guardians
The Gory Details:
Name: Hogart (first time)
Race: Human
Class/Levels: Barbarian 6
Location: Necropolis's Streets
Catalyst: Giant Black Widow Poison stacked multiple times.
The Gory Details:
The ant finished the last spider.
Yes, book two was a little cruel on my players. But they only had to pay for two restorations (2.000 gp), the church of pharasma helped them with resurrections.
Name: Hogart (second time)
Race: Human
Class/Levels: Barbarian 7
Location: Nameless Isle of Tephy
Catalyst: Going into negatives while enraged.
The Gory Details:
The group used divination spells to find the location of the cultists in Tephu, and decided to take the fight to them.
They tried to sneak into the Nameless Isle, but got spotted by the flying sphynx. By the time they got into the cultist camp, they had prepared a quick ambush, being spread around the camp under the bushes or inside their tents. The ranger successfully sneaked around inside the camp, but failed his perception check to notice the ambush. When the rest of the group walked in, they got attacked with crossbow bolts.
They had to fight six cultists (they hadnt killed any of them so far), their leader, and Meret-Hetef, who survived the previous encounter because they hid inside a fog spell and she couldnt fight them, and the hieracosphynx.
The encounter was brutal, and they did a lot of mistakes on the combat (no haste cast even thought it was prepared, group split too far from each other, TERRIBLE attack rolls).
The group managed to kill four of the cultists and the hiercosphynx (friendly fire by a lightning bolt from the cultist leader). Almost the entire group died, but the Magus hid inside a fog spell and healed them with potions. Meret and the leader left, as they couldnt see or sense the mask that was inside their bag of holding (dimensional pocket, cant detect magic there) and thought they left it somewhere else safer and left to search for it while ordering the last two cultists to finish the Magus (the last man standing).
They recovered and took down the two cultists, but was too late to save the barbarian (who died at -30 health).
Yes, there was no way this encounter was anything even close to CR 7. But they decided to go after the cultists and didnt check how many of them were there. So i used everything the book listed and being the cultists forces. The two leaders didnt act until two rounds later, as they spent their time casting buffs on themselves, and the hieracosphynx only joined the combat on the third round aswell, it actually didnt do much damage, but bothered people a lot as they were scared of him (the players, not the characters).
|
|
Name: Robearto
Race: Human
Class/Levels: Rng 6 / Ftr 1 / Sentinel 9
Location: Fire Crypt, Control Pyramid Room
Catalyst: Paralytics
The Gory Details:
He got better though. The oracle cast Breath of Life when her turn came up, and he crawled to safety.
|
I had my first PC death last night. It was classic. New players, their first campaign. Suggested title: "In which the players learn to Never Split The Party."
Name: Brunhilde
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Cleric 7 (reach build with longspear)
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: The Sepulcher of the Servant
Catalyst: Paralysis + Coup de Grace
The Gory Details: The party has successfully cleared the first level of the Sepulcher without being detected. They rest overnight in one of the libraries. In the morning, they head downstairs.
Tile trap goes off and we enter initiative. First round slams the Fighter for some 15 damage and the party freaks out. Druid guesses and drops an obscuring mist to minimize tile attacks (good move, it turns out, since the trap works on clairvoyance) and Archaeologist Bard quick-opens the arcane lock thanks to Clever Explorer. The party hustles out of the room and slams the door behind them. (Little do they know that they've tripped an alarm spell ...)
The party opens the next door to a large room. Large statue of Pharasma, ten curtains spaced around the walls. We remain in initiative and the party, not seeing any immediate threats, splits up as they circle around the room opening curtains. The Ranger and the Archaeologist find a passage off to the necromancer's bedroom and decide to go check it out themselves. Brunhilde, the reach Cleric, finds the other passage, off to the embalming room, and decides to check that out.
So these three things all happen at once: (1) Ranger and Archaeologist find the preserved corpses of the concubines, say "Neat!", and start looting; (2) The Fighter and the Druid, the only ones remaining in the main room, open the southeast curtain to find the Crypt Thing; (3) Brunhilde stumbles onto the Ghast Barbarian in the embalming room.
... uh oh.
The Ghast and the Crypt Thing roll into initiative. (A) Crypt Thing gets the drop on Fighter and Druid and uses Teleporting Burst. Fighter passes, Druid fails and is sent West, into a winding passage far from everyone else. Fighter, who opened the curtain, fails Will save against Crypt Thing's fear aura. (B) Ghast gets the drop on Brunhilde and charges. Brunhilde gets an AOO thanks to Combat Reflexes and knicks the Ghast ... but fails her Fort save against paralysis. I allow my each of my players one reroll per session, and both her first save and her reroll fail.
(1) Archaeologist and Ranger are busy looting and don't hear anything (because the Fighter, the only party member left who could speak, has not acted yet). They keep looting. (2) Druid casts longstrider on himself and moves. He picks correctly and sees the way back to the main room, but is far away. Fighter flees in terror of the Crypt Thing, screaming loudly. (3) Brunhilde channels positive energy to damage the Ghast, about the only thing she can do.
In the next round, Brunhilde's player gets to learn all about the Coup de Grace. 33 damage, DC 43 Fort save ... yup. Ranger and Archaeologist hear the Fighter's screams of terror and come back in to investigate. They take care of the Crypt Thing, and the Fighter and the Druid make it back in time to help clean up the Ghast.
|
Just had the first party death in my game. I gave plenty of warnings... about the only other thing I could have done was have a flashing neon sign outside the room.
Name: Ahkjahti
Race: Catfolk
Class: Rogue 6
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: The Sepulcher of the Servant
Catalyst: Not knowing when to run
The Gory Details:
Convinced he must be behind the plague and failing all knowledge checks to identify what this thing was, the party went in the room after him. With a sigh, he zapped the party's cleric/wizard with a ray of enervation sapping 4 levels. Undeterred, the party charged and the rogue climbed up the pillar to get at the foe.
It was then that the Sceaduinar used Slay Living and the rogue rolled a 1 on her saving throw. 60-some damage later, her lifeless body fell from the pillar and the party fled the chamber.
Name: Dr Josef Goode
Race: Half Elf
Classes/levels: Oracle of Lore
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: The Sepulcher of the Servant
Catalyst: A fusion of Mummies and Coup De Grace.
The group came into the final chamber to fight Nebta-Khufre who is flies up and animates the dead. The group charge the zombies and manage to beat them down really quickly. The Oracle of Lore took a buff of enlarge person from the Sorcerer to help in the fight and that helped at first. The Oracle had a low dex already so took the hit assuming he'll be okay.
Then the Mummies walked into the fray, the Sorcerer fails and is paralysed. Then Nebta-Khufre does Obsidian Glass making the entire area they are in difficult terrain. The mummy that attacked the Oracle is entangled so resorts to attacking him instead of trying to get out.
The Paladin is also stuck in the glass and so has to resort to trying to escape and is unable to help. This is when the Oracle was hit by a ray of exhaustion taking his dex into minuses. Unable to do anything he falls to his knees as the Mummy places both hands on your head and crushes his skull in a Coup de Grace.
Name: Pepe the Songbird
Race: Songbird
Classes/levels: Wizards Familar
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: The Sepulcher of the Servant
Catalyst: Sacrifice to help the party.
So the Oracle has been killed and the magic casters are slowly coming out of Paralyses. Faced with an enemy that won't accept a surrender they ponder their options. The group turns to the Wizard with the psychopomp summing scroll and demand he uses it. Needing to roll to make it pass he fails but only by a small amount. Seeing the situation the Wizards familiar charges himself with magical ability and sacrifices his life to power the spell. Summoning the mighty Vanth Ajin Ra Baqa (I know this isn't how it works but it seemed more cinematic to make it that way) who descended into the room in an explosion of raven feathers. From then on the fight turned in their favour and they won the day.
After this the Oracle who had become acquainted with Sharizard the dragon offered to bring them back. She used magic unknown to bring Pepe back as a Crystaline Psedudragon (The player wanted an Improved familiar) who brought the Dr back to life. In my game everybody gets one. If they are so inclined.
|
|
Name: Drew Wasabi (the forth time)
Race: Lizardfolk
Class/Levels: Investigator 17
Location: Hakotep's Pyramid, Hakotep's Inner Sanctum
Catalyst: Looting while Adventuring
The Gory Details:
The fight against the Guardians is going OK, with Drew getting hit once, and two trumpet blasts, knocking about 1/2 of his presently low HP away (He's a low CON guy with round to half hp rolls. PLUS, Ain-Mekh managed to hit concealment d100's twice on him, knocking off 2 of that low CON). The buffed over 50 AC oracle has the upper hand, though, and manages to keep the attention of the Guardians while the melee's toss their returning / doubling weapons at the constructs. Round 4 and the guardians are dead and the group is recouping, when the Fighter notices an ooze creeping up the corridor.
Glad to use his Dungeoneering skill for the first monster ID of the entire AP for him, his character proceeds to crap his pants as this monster is the only thing unkillable by the strong melee brute Fighter. Its a legendary monster his family warned him about, so he trucks it, urging the party to flee as well. AOO provocations then start, as the Sentinel fails his acrobatics check miserably, provoking 3 times. Luckily, the Ooze hit sub-10 on all 3 rolls. But wait! Combat reflexes has him with 1 AOO left. Drew, the unacrobatic investigator, tries fleeing and gets got! The resulting 94hp of damage was enough to drop him well into the negatives (-60ish), pulverizing, shocking and freezing him.
Two castings of Destruction then a Firestorm later, and the ooze was dead. But poor Drew met the death again.
Next week, we'll roll on the almighty table of Reincarnation for the looming showdown with the remaining Pyramid denizens.
Name: Giaus
Race: Aasimer
Classes/levels: Paladin (Archer) / 6th
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: Sepulcher of the Servant
Catalyst: Trading the Death Watch Scroll for a Cure Blindness Scroll/not having a Cleric in the party.
The Gory Details:
Earlier on in one of the libraries, one of the PC's was blinded by the undead head. The party had no way to cure/restore the PC. Instead of going back to get a cure, they continued. In the other library they found the Death Watch Scroll, after some hemming and hawing, I gave them the option of meta-trading it for a Cure Blindness. They took it.
The PC's encountered Sekuer, identified it as a powerful evil outsider from the Negative Plane that can drain levels, and warily attempted to dialog. The creature engaged in talk, flew down to the miniature map, motioning and talking about how the undead will cover the city, and he cannot wait for the entertainment it will bring. He mentioned that soon enough, more intelligent undead will be created to lead the hordes, "Perhaps even from your own corpses, eh?"
That was enough for the Archer Paladin, who sunk a smited-arrow into him. The Paladin/Summoner PC tried to charge and attack, only to be stopped by the anti-life shield, the sceaduinar flew to another spot in the room and hit the archer with an Enervation for three negative levels. The Archer continued his smite-arrows, and was hit yet again with Enervation for four negative levels... killing him.
The sword and board Paladin (yes, we have THREE PALADINS in the group) smited with his bow as well, less effective but causing enough to warrant triggering the Greater Teleport as Sekuer got out of dodge.
Name: Luminita
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Rouge 1
Adventure: HalfDead City
Location: hall trap
Catalyst: Being tossed over the pressure plate.
The Gory Details: My daughter, nephew, cousin and his girlfriend, all were playing over the 4th. The parties bad dice rolling continues from the dolls to the Solifugids. At various times the monk and fighter go down, only to be healed up and back into the fight. In the last three rounds the cleric and the rouge go negative but stabilize and the monk and the fighter finally get some good hits to finish off the bugs. The fighter is determined not to bunker up and try to rest in the tomb and once he realizes that he has to get the two wounded members over the trap, has the monk try to hold open the door and while he tries to toss the unconscious rouge over the pressure plate. Fumbles, confirms, putting himself into negatives once the arrows hit. The rouge, hurt again, can't stabilize goes before Pharasma. The monks flees and has to beg one of the other parties to help save his friends.
That's what you get i guess when you bring make-up into a dungeon, rather then a Rogue
Sorry, can't help myself sometimes:-D
Name: Quinn
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Sorcerer (Fire Elemental-Blooded) / 7th
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: Two days ride outside Tephu
Catalyst: Catering to Mumenofrah's whims
The Gory Details:
Needing more time in the library to do further research, the party is agreeable to any of Mumenofrah's fleeting wants; the most recent was her desire for Bulette Strips sauteed in hippo blood sweat. They obtained the hippo sweat through connections in the Medina, and went on The Great Bulette Hunt.
Combat did not last long against six PC's, but the Bulette's pounce & four claw attacks just creamed the Sorcerer in the second round.
Jabba the slu- sorry, "Mumenofrah," was pleased with the PC's results and ordered the haty-a to allow another day's access, much to the haty-a's displeasure.
Name: Quinn
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Sorcerer (Fire Elemental-Blooded) / 8th
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: Just outside the Vault of Hidden Wisdom
Catalyst: Cultist Ambush
The Gory Details:
The PC party had been tailed and hit with Detect Magic many times by the Cultists in Tephu in an effort to locate the Mask, which they are SURE the PC's have. When the PC's found the secret entrance to the Vault, the Cultists set up the ambush outside and waited. Over the course of two days, the PC's gathered all the info they could from the Vault, and were ready to leave. The Cleric cast Divination to see if there was anyone outside waiting for them. 78% chance of success. I rolled 78 (rats!) So they knew, and buffed themselves accordingly. Accepting whatever fate had for them, they went outside the Vault.
After two rounds, the ambush was sprung, Khabekh-Shu and six cultists coordinating attacks. Hit with a Fireball, some Magic Missiles and later in the combat a critical hit from a falchion, Quinn was felled, reduced to -23.
Postscript: Khabekh-Shu escaped with his life, not before being brought down six negative levels by the PC Bard wielding a Wand of Enervation. He will reappear later (full strength of course) at the Tomb of Chisisek to try for some sweet revenge, he has been humiliated.
Name: Alfonse and Bob
Race: Camels
Classes/levels: Umm... zero-level camels?
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: Parched Dunes
Catalyst: Poison
The Gory Details: Four days out on their quest for Chisisek's Tomb, the party bedded down at sunrise (they had been travelling nights) about a days travel away from the "Merchant's Oasis."
Three wyverns target the camels, going for the large meal. One wyvern killed in flight, two camels succumb, one to wounds, one as a result of poison (failed saves, 1d4CON per rd) after the remaining wyverns were dispatched.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Post-script on Quinn from his latest death Aug 20th... Reincarnation into a half-orc.
Name: Nupha
Race: Catfolk
Classes/levels: Oracle 4
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: The Right Hand of Death (Battle with Ajin Ra Baqa)
Catalyst: a x4 critical weapon
To their credit, the dwarf fighter, the catfolk oracle, and even the frail necromancer didn't call for mercy when it could have meant their deaths, instead opting to continue the fight despite the consequences. Unfortunately their geokineticist was effectively disabled by ARB's bestow curse and the occultist and investigator got tangled up with the other psychopomps. The necromancer got put down hard and subsequently Breath of Life'd (but taken out of the fight).
With HP running low on nearly everyone, Nupha decided to stick around to heal the primary damage dealers and caught a scythe critical while in single digit hit points. ARB felt so guilty for taking Nupha's life that he offered the PC's 1 fight where they could call on him to teleport in and aid them, no matter the enemy. It was a good thing too; he was the only difference between a TPK and survival when ReVelriana showed up with a vengeful surviving Senenmerek at her side.
Books 3 and 4 are turning out quite deadly for our group. The obituaries so far, half-way through Secrets of the Sphinx…
Name: Nekepti Balāt Aššarratum
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Bard 7
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: One of Tephu's bustling markets
Catalyst: Assassins with sneak attacks
The group was not particularly secretive about their search through the city's libraries so the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather made their move and sent assassins after them. They struck in one of Tephu's busy markets as the heroes of Wati were stocking up on well-needed ressources. Before anyone could react, the frail Nekepti was brought down by the numerous stabbings of two assassins. As she lay down on the floor, bleeding to death, one of the assassins sliced her throat before attempting to flee. The vengeance of the group was terrible and not one of the paid killers survived.
Nekepti was later raised from the dead that same day at the temple of Nethys. The assassins only succeeded at stalling them for a day.
Name: Uššannar Haptessu
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Fighter (lore warden) 10/Warpriest of Bes 1
Adventure: Secrets of the Sphinx
Location: The Sightless Sphinx
Catalyst: Two cultists of Areshkagal taking the group by surprise
The group had dealt with the bodaks with great tactics, triggering them one by one and destroying them swiftly. They were getting ready to cautiously proceed further into the Sightless Sphinx, where they had heard some incanting seconds ago. The invisible cultists of Areshkagal attacked before they could get further, though. Swift as the wind, they cut down Uššannar before anyone could react.
Before Uššannar's soul could depart for Pharasma's realm, the group's Oracle, Sharifa bint Hasina Fal'as ad-Dīn, breathed life back into him.
Name: Nekepti Balāt Aššarratum
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Bard 11
Adventure: Secrets of the Sphinx
Location: The Sightless Sphinx
Catalyst: Heqet and destruction
Empowered by the destruction of her bodaks, the undead priest of Areshkagal burst out of her tomb to meet with the heroes of Wati buffed to the gills. Her first move was to cast destruction on the bard, Nekepti, who proceeded to fail her save. Unholy fire consumed her completely and all that remained of her was a small pile of ashes.
Her bodyguard, Uššannar, carefully scooped up what was left of her and the group, beaten down, retreated back to Wati to get her true resurrected.
TPK (sort of...)
Name: Samuel
Race: Aasimir
Classes/levels: Paladin 12th
Adventure: Secrets of the Sphinx
Location: The Sightless Sphinx
Name: Aashan
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cleric of Pharasma 12th
Adventure: Secrets of the Sphinx
Location: The Sightless Sphinx
Name: Iraori
Race: Maftet (NPC who joined the group as a PC)
Classes/levels: Sorcerer 9th
Adventure: Secrets of the Sphinx
Location: The Sightless Sphinx
Catalyst: Going "all in" instead of keeping some out of combat for ranged healing and spell attacks.
The Gory Details:
Having dealt with the Cult of Arshenghal (but not Ninuset himself yet), and having slaughtered all the Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh, but without their Bard (who failed a S/T vs the "Pharaoh's" Prismatic Ray and was now lost on the Plane of Shadow somewhere), the rest of the party stalwartly continued their exploration and decided to assault the Mud Elementals when they arose. The Cleric summoned a (L) Fire Elemental to assist.
Unfortunately, their tactical movement put too many of the PC's at risk for the Eldar Mud Elementals Reach combined with Greater Cleave and many of their buff spells had expired by then... they were quickly knocked about pretty severely, unconscious and then subsequently smothered when they failed to stabilize.
Retcon, as the AP really cannot continue with just a lonely Bard on the Shadow Plane with no ability to return to Golorian on her own.
I'm surprised no one had died from the Sandling in Book 1, Part 1. Our group had 3 out of 4 in the negatives from that thing before the still-standing ranger finally knocked its health down to 4 and it retreated.
Name: Khair
Race: Human (Keleshite)
Classes/levels: Skald 5
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: The Shiny Bauble (underground)
Catalyst:
Name: Wati's Champions (the whole party)
Wali - Human Unchained Rogue 5, Cleric of Nethys 1
Gydeon deLauncey - Dhamphir Empiricist Investigator 5, Inspired Blade Swashbuckler 1
Sarah Bishara - Human Paladin 6 (Temple Guardian) & Pesh Abuser
Nimue - Half Elf Gunslinger 6
Klughig - Half Orc Warpriest of Gorum 6
(also Tepic the packbearer, level 0 hireling)
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: Sepulcher of the Servant - Nebta-Khufre's chamber
Catalyst: Flat out being over powered
- The last 3 characters are NPCs the party recruited and were run by the players but are not at all optimised
- Party turned out to be very under geared - well behind wealth by level between paying for previous raise deads, having to sell items because they didn't take things like exotic weapon proficiency khopesh, negotiating with the Velvet Hand in book 1 instead of murdering them and taking all their stuff.
The Gory Details:
Party were frantically looking for their missing packbearer Tepic, teleported away by the crypt thing. (by the roll he'd been sent right into Nebta-Khufre's room)
They had battered the Crypt Thing and in used its last dimension door to shift away to its boss (who had negative channelling available to heal it)
The party figure out how to pass the Graven Guardian in the previous room without a fight. They advance just in time to see their now deceased minion get up as one of the zombies Nebta animates.
Sarah and Wali charge in and channel, doing a lot of damage to the zombies, crypt thing & mummies...and to the party dhamphir.
The only zombie to survive is Tepic's, making his saves thanks to the cloak of resistance the party had given him. He clouts his former boss Wali with Wali's quarterstaff and critically hits.
The mummies and crypt thing start mixing it up with the party members in the room and Nimue is paralysed by fear for 4 rounds.
Nebta-Khufre casts haste. One mummy steps between Gideon & Sarah, gives them each one punch and crits both with a pair of natural 20s.
It all goes downhill from there. Nebta-khufre flies and starts polishing off party members still standing with scorching ray, magic missiles and other damaging spells
Surviving PCs try to retreat into the previous room where the guardian attacks the pursuing undead, but rolls abysmally. A stinking cloud incapacitates Nimue long enough for the last mummy to kill her.
The Church of Phrasma put out a call for new adventurers.
Name: Takany
Race: Human
Class: Magus 6
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: The Sepulcher of the Servant
Catalyst: DM's rolls on fire
The party made it to the model of the city with Sceaduinar sitting up on the spire. No one noticed him and he amusedly watched them carefully look through the model to find the various statues. One person finally saw him but not for what he was. In order to see if it was more treasure, the magus tossed a rock, hitting him square on. Combat ensued. I hit the magus with Enervation for 1 level. The second casting of it was on the paladin. Then, with the magus hitting him hard with spells, Sceaduinar did his last casting of Enervation on the magus again. I rolled a crit and confirmed. Maximum levels rolled... Turns out Enervation can be deadly.
Name: Alana
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Bard/Rogue 11/3
Adventure: Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh
Location: The Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh (B9 Water Crypt)
Catalyst: Party not completely curing and buffing before the encounter.
The Gory Details: Forewarned by the statues in mirror poses as the key to lower the entryway to this crypt, the Ghawwas Div ("Keshenepek") started with a summon and had a Pairaka Div to assist against the party before they arrived. It took 4 rounds for the PC's to get there. The Pairaka Div was in water elemental form, hidden in the pool the Ghawwas Div was swimming in. The party comes in, splits up flying using their Celestial Armor) with the Bard alone on the landing and casting invisibility on herself. After a couple rounds of maneuvering and attacks, the Bard finds herself in sneak attack position and jumps at the chance. The Ghawwas Div turns with a Full Round Attack on her in response for 94hp. She was already not fully healed from the Banshee & Phantom encounter in B4 and succumbs to the darkness...
Postscript - Party Cleric did have Breath of Life memorized for that day, so she is back.
|
|
Name: Shutefnet
Race: Skinwalker
Class: Reincarnated Druid 9
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: Chisisek's Tomb, room that the body was SUPPOSED to be in
Catalyst: Stone Golem
The party was just NOT EQUIPPED to deal with a heavy hitting construct like the stone golem---ranger/magus/arcane archer could not get past DR, mystic theurge didn't have spells without SR, and all-in-all it was not going well. The druid's dweomer cat familiar had died outside the pyramid, and without it, the druid's effectiveness was decreased, and he took way too many hits. He should in theory have reincarnated, but the combination of realizing the combat familiar concept had some inherent difficulties and rolling up a human on the reincarnation table made him decide to build a new character to fill some weaknesses in the party.
Name: Brillup
Race: Grippli
Class: Warpriest 10
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: Chisisek's Tomb, treasure room
Catalyst: Clockwork Golem
After a day of rest and a level gained, the party was joined by a newly minted bloodrager/hunter who was designed to be more of a hitter than the reincarnated druid had been. They were able to wear down the rest of the stone golem's hit points fairly easily, so they moved on to the clockwork golem. The bloodrager may have been designed to take hits, but when the grippli did more damage in the first round, he got the grapple. The new party makeup was able to take the clockwork golem, but when he exploded into coggy bits, the grippli failed his reflex save, and the 40 points of damage dropped him down to -14 hp (13 con). The party found an effigy of Anubis which we determined was SPECIAL and would allow him to survive enough days to make it to the end of the play session. The player proceeded to act as though the grippli had no idea his re-death was imminent, but when they got to the front of the Faceless Sphinx, the grippli fell down dead, for realsies this time.
Name: Hazel
Race: Half-elf
Classes/levels: Bard 8
Adventure: Shifting Sands
Location: Outside Tephu
Catalyst: The Forgotten Pharaoh Cult
The party headed out of town and were ambushed by the cult. The first round they were partially surrounded by Khabekh-Shu's Aurora Borealis, funneling the party into two predictable directions. Between damage from the wall, and some crossbows, the cone of cold did our bard in. The party did take her back to town and managed to find someone to cast Raise Dead (by finding a shrine to Shelyn in specific since they weren't exactly on good terms with the church of Nethys there).
I'm the GM and am running Mummy's mask, my party had there first fatalities last session
Name: Lucky & Snikkitch
Race: Human & Ratfolk
Classes/levels: Bard(Archaeologist) 3 & Alchemist(Vivisectionist,Plague Bringer) 3
Adventure: The Half-Dead City
Location: Sanctum of the Erudite Eye Crypt (D12)
Catalyst: Graven Guardian of Nethys
1st round:
Ranged guys let of a volley of arrows/bolts chip it a bit, Lucky uses his whip to trip up the Guardian, Guardian then gets up and hastes its self, Snik throws a bomb dose some damage. Things are still going more or less to plan.
Round 2+:
Gate slams shut and re locks its self, lucky and Snik traped on one side with the Guardian, the ranged guys on the other side (gate is bars, not solid so they can still fire through). Lucky tries to trip again but this time fails so badly he drops his whip, uses his move action to pick up the whip, ranged guys don't do much, ether miss or don't get past its DR. Guardian move in takes a swing at lucky but misses, Snik waits so they can sinc turn order with Lucky and then gets a few sneak atacks in on the guardian while Luck tries and fails to trip again. Not the best situation with the party now split in half but could they could have still gotten through with a bit of luck.
Things just rapidly go down hill from here the Guardian hit with almost every single attack roll from this point on, all the ranged guy can rely do at this point is chip damage on a good damage roll, Lucky gets taken in to crits round 3 but manages to stabilize, Snik lasts until round 5 but after a failed attempt to slip through the bars of the gate is put into crits too and bleeds out. Graven Guardian returns to its pedestal. Lcuky regains conscious just long enough to tell team ranged (who are ,In character, at least distraught over the loss of two of there group one of whom, Lucky, was the group leader) to go a find a few new recruits before the Guardain come back over and shuts lcuky up with a max damage critical killing him out right.
Ouch, tpk on the last boss is a rough but epic way to go out.
No hero points left for a re-roll on the save ? Or at that level any items to provide a re-roll?
Ouch, tpk on the last boss is a rough but epic way to go out.
I think that way was more of a deflating balloon sound. Getting tagged like that on which round? Looks like a good time for a 'Whoops, let us just ignore that' do-over.
TPK vs. last boss isn't bad but if a plane shift or multiple crit attack with vorpal sword wipes most of the party in one go, a rollback isn't unreasonable.
Name: Sife
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Ectoplasmatist Spiritualist level 5
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: Shardizhad's lair
Catalyst: Failed diplomacy rolls to befriend the dragon, followed by a face full of glitterdust.
The Gory Details: Shardizhad stuns the archaeologist with color spray, and takes some heavy initial damage from the stonelord paladin. She repositions herself and then blinds Sife with a glitterdust spell. Weakened and with low AC, Sife is hit hard by Shardizhad's melee attacks before finally succumbing to her breath attack.
It was our first PC loss this campaign, and I feel bad about it as the GM. However, I had mentioned I would not be holding back after they went into the necropolis. No hard feelings, and the player will be rolling up a new character soon. This AP has some pretty deadly encounters, especially in the necropolis at the end of Empty Graves.