The Gentleman Gamer: Pathfinder Campaign - Part Three

[MisterWeed]

And did they create their allies as well? or did you do it with them/alone?

[clackclickbang]

@MisterWeed Some of them created all of their allies others created only some.

[MisterWeed]

Do your players know who their enemy is? very good idea btw.!

[clackclickbang]

@MisterWeed Nope, not at all.

[ElMalificus]

A cult of a blind Aboleth!!!!

[clackclickbang]

@ElMalificus Well we went for a big mushroom...

[muffinbucketman]

what's this "false" creature you mention?

[clackclickbang]

@muffinbucketman Phalse is a character from the Forgotten Realms novel, Azure Bonds. He appears to be a charming halfling with a smile a little too wide for his face. He's actually a fiend from Carceri in the guise of said halfling.

[murphysborounderdark]

Thumbs up for 4e hate

[clackclickbang]

@murphysborounderdark Not hate! Disdain.

[cwilla321]

Sorry for the late response upgrading my computer. So the Deathshead has these clerics brought to her so she can utilize them in a ritual to open a portal to a plane in which a dead god lies. Her plan is to have her forces remove the god's head and place her's on top of it, granting her godhood. How's that for an idea? These clerics are familiar with various rituals that when performed right act as keys to this gods grave, and she uses them to fight the monsters that live within the gods corpse.

[clackclickbang]

@cwilla321 Well see, that would work perfectly well as a campaign in its own right, but I'm having the Unseeing Eye group as more of a subplot than the overall story.

I'm contemplating having a Deathshead with a mushroom growing out the top of its head though.

[cwilla321]

Sorry about the errors I'm a little tired and of course there is always something that needs doing. I looked it up Deathshead is in the Tome of Magic and evidently its also an oracle. Again it could make for a good leader or at least a boss leading up to it. Think about it, the severed undead head of a giantess lumbering towards you via almost tentacle like hair. Also again I like your updates they're really fun and incite full. I will consider introducing enemies and allies but I'm not sure.

[cwilla321]

If memory serves there was a monster that was basically the severed zombie head of a giant. I think it was called a Deathshead. I believe it was in the Tome of Magic, and one of its defining features was it was more than intelligent enough to become the epicenter of worship for a community of varying sizes regardless of alignment. It could make for a could leader of your little cult. Anyways I due enjoy your updates maybe I'll try the enemies and allies on my players.

[clackclickbang]

@cwilla321 I remember the giant head! It's up there with the Mushroom King as the cause of the Unseeing Eye cult. What reason would the Deathshead have for mind-controlling clerics and having them travel to his underground domain?

[peri2502]

...heads in competing with the established powers, but that way you would have a tool for rendering assistance to your players when you feel they need it, as well as giving them a motivation to go to places you want them to go with the simple pretense that one of the young vigilantees got into trouble and now need help before their family finds out.

[clackclickbang]

@peri2502 I don't want to give too many alternatives to the Shadow Thieves at this stage, as I plan on incorporating them into the plot a lot more later. Stay tuned! And thank you for the wonderful ideas. I'm still going to use a the group of bored nobles idea though for another part of the adventure..

[peri2502]

...his bloodthirsty nature and could also explain some of his unusual powers, as he might be more aware and attuned to his heritage and thus able to tap into the innate powers of his heritage. Another suggestion: Instead of using an established group like the Shadow Thieves, how about giving the players an alternative? You could establish a mysterious group of night-stalkers that turn out to be bored but idealistic young nobles playing vigilantees. Of course, they would be in over their...

[peri2502]

How about making the leader of the unseeing eye a truly old elven Druid who was blinded, driven insane and irrational by his visions, and alienated from the real world because he is 800+ years old and is now caught in a perverted and eccentric reality of his own? His intentions may actually be noble at the core, but through the reality he lives in, they became perverted into something truly nasty. As for the character Montaron, you could make him a Bhaal spawn as well. This would account for...

[clackclickbang]

@peri2502 Hmm.. I like the idea of a truly monstrous monster being in charge of the cult. Right now the giant's head and the mushroom king are winning out.

As for Montaron being a Bhaalspawn? That there is a superb idea. He could take on the Sarevok role from the first game.

[peri2502]

@clackclickbang The Mushroom King sounds fun. Certainly not your standard type of cult leading monster. The problem with choosing a Mykonid is, that they are basicaly plant creatures and as such would have truly alien an different motivations and goals from more relatable creatures. You would might need to establish a good reason why such a creature would choose humans and other surface creatures to interact with as far as a cult goes. Here is a different suggestion: Do you remember...

[clackclickbang]

@peri2502 Oh I imagine it would be alien. The mushroom, gigantic and mouldering, sits in the centre of a great chamber. From its cap hang tendrils of sinew and fibre, attached to the heads of the controlled clerics. The mushroom is trying to siphon their divine power somehow, through its roots and tendrils. To attack it will actually control the suspended clerics through their brains, making them swing their weapons as they hang a few feet over the ground.

[peri2502]

@clackclickbang ...the floating, talking skull from the Planescape Torment game? How about choosing a gigantic, ancient dragon skull as your cult leader? It could be related to the Cult of the Dragon, which is already established in the Forgotten Realms lore. Or instead of the giant head, how about an enormous cyclops skull? It would also fit with the name "unseeing eye" since cyclops only have one. :) Besides, most players seem to be more familiar in dealing with giants than cyclops anyway.

[clackclickbang]

@peri2502 I've used the Cult of the Dragon quite heavily before, so I'll probably veer away from dragon-based monsters for a while. The cyclops skull could work though. Or a cyclops head instead of the Deathshead. A compromise!

[peri2502]

@clackclickbang No need for a compromise. I'm just throwing ideas at you.

If you go with the Mushroom King who has his tentacles in the clerics brain, have those clerics talk. Nothing creeps players out more than someone with tentacles in their brain, blank white eyes, who speak strange things with distorted voices like "this...is...wonderful..."

[rostenoc]

I've always wanted to put a Sharn in a campaign (page 76 Monsters of Faerun 3e). It's something different at least.

[clackclickbang]

@rostenoc Are they the moon creatures?

[rostenoc]

@clackclickbang umm i dont think so the kind of look like aliens from the movie alien.

[clackclickbang]

@rostenoc I'm not familiar with them then, at least not to instantly recall.

[rostenoc]

@clackclickbang wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x­=dnd/dreo/2009march but they do have eyes in the palms of their hands i think. ;)

[rostenoc]

@rostenoc sorry thats a dead link. just google D&D sharn its the first listing

[clackclickbang]

@rostenoc I've now looked them up. An interesting threat, but I'm not sure I'd make them the masterminds behind a plot like this. They'd need to be a part of something of a grander scale, I reckon.

[jwolfe90810]

Gadacro with class levels?or maybe advanced levels? it may not be blind but blinds others and collects eyes.

[clackclickbang]

@jwolfe90810 You may have to enlighten me as to what a Gadacro is...

[tetsubo57]

I saw this word Riatavin & I thought it said Ritalin. :)

I'm telling you, as soon as your players find this channel you are doomed as a GM.

Money in D&D is absurd. Even a silver based system uses far too much metal in weight alone. It can take TONS of precious metals to buy some magic items. We seriously need a better, more logical monetary system in PF. Maybe 1gp = 100sp = 10000cp. Though I couldn't do the math to convert prices to PF coinage.

Aboleth mind controlled thralls. Psionics baby.

[clackclickbang]

@tetsubo57 I wonder which came first..

Ah, they wouldn't watch it even if they knew of it. They have enough of my talking to them for around three hours on a Sunday night!

I agree on the money, which is why I see most fantasy games as having a trading system rather than a gold for items system. With that being the case, the mission set by the Shadow Thieves should be quite tough.

One of our other players did a plot with an aboleth some time ago.. I fancy something different. More thoughts?

[tetsubo57]

@clackclickbang But *someone* has to have, at some point, spent actual money on making things. We need a consistent & logical monetary system.

Brain parasites. Or better yet, a sapient fungus that takes over the minds of it's victims. There is a precedent or such a thing in real life. It affects ants in the Amazon.

[clackclickbang]

@tetsubo57 I like the idea of a myconid colony, led by a hyper-intelligent fungus. It would be very strange, and very very different. It would also give the druid something to do during an underground adventure!

[tetsubo57]

@clackclickbang May your players come to hate me...

[clackclickbang]

@tetsubo57 You and me both. There's a reason Dungeons & Dragons wasn't called Forts & Fungus.

[GAWproductions]

Awesome. Keep this coming, love them.

Envy the players (:

[clackclickbang]

@GAWproductions They seem to be having a good time. It's a very roleplay heavy game, rather than combat and the like. It means they're able to get into their characters very well.

[GAWproductions]

@clackclickbang That's what I prefer. Can't stand a lot of tedious combat, although fun times can be had when in combat (:

[clackclickbang]

@GAWproductions True! Any innovative monster ideas to throw at them?

[GAWproductions]

@clackclickbang Not yet. I will ponder it.

[chingerspy]

Very interesting, thanks for this. Have you done a lot of converting work to run Forgotten Realms in Pathfinder? Or just used the setting material? I'm umming and ahhing over plonking my Pathfinder game somewhere in the Warhammer Old World but it could end up anywhere right now :)

[clackclickbang]

@chingerspy None at all, actually. Well, except for our monk's prestige class; Monk of the Long Death. It needed some tinkering to fit in with Pathfinder, but it's done now.

For the most part I'm just using the Pathfinder rules over the FR setting, and it works fine.

[pridday88]

Fascinating! I like the idea of the characters starting the game with enemies and allies already in the story.

[clackclickbang]

@pridday88 The way I run is mostly about the characters and what their motivations are, so if they have enemies and allies it makes them more fleshed out. Especially given that they're 10th level at the start of the game!

[davidi69]

I like Kytons they have a very Hell Raiser feel to them, Chain Golems and such and can be played with a very Call of Cthulu feel to them.

[clackclickbang]

@davidi69 I like Kytons and Chain Golems. They add a new element of danger to a game. Most players don't expect that kind of enemy.

[davidi69]

@clackclickbang I used a Kyton as a Arch Villian in one of my 3rd Edition campaigns back in the day throwing in a couple of Chain golems as his watch dogs and Shadar-kai as his worshippers. Images of a dark candle lite room filled with corpses hanging from chains and a cold stone floor slick from the blood of man

[clackclickbang]

@davidi69 It warms the cockles of me heart, so it does!