Originally published in issue 9 of 'The Scene Unseen' newsletter.
In my two-year Pathfinder campaign I made a lot of mistakes, but also had some unexpected successes.
The runaway success in my campaign was the character who ended up being the main villain, Lucretia. In the Adventure Path I was following, she was only a minor stumbling block on the way to bigger and better baddies, but she caught the attention of the party like nobody else had. Something about her grabbed their attention. What exactly was it? She managed to escape them during their first battle, but she was not the first villain to do that. There was an aboleth (a giant psychic fish monster) who escaped them on multiple occasions, but the level of animosity the players had towards him was far less than against Lucretia.
There was a point, earlier than their first meeting with Lucretia, in which I realised I had given the players too much treasure. A large part of that was to do with them coming up with a plan to sell a house in Sea Gate, the deed to which they had found. In a locked chest. After killing the owners. Who were, to be fair, rather evil. The AP didn't actually account for this possibility, and in hindsight, instead of letting them successfully sell it for a lot of gold, I should have had the city guard show up and chastise them for trying to con the good people of Sea Gate, and have them narrowly escape some prison time.
At any rate, things had gotten to the point that if villains were going to survive more than a single round against my player, they had to be a much higher level than them. But that put their damage output to dangerous levels. Whichever side got off a full attack first was going to straight up kill the other side. Which is not a great point to be at. So I had to somehow eliminate my player's most valuable items, to bring them back into line with where they should be. Someone suggested making them fight rust monsters, but I thought they were a bit too random, I wouldn't have much control over which items they destroyed.
Enter Lucretia. What if she had been plotting this whole time, planting cursed items in various places, including on her underlings that they had already killed, so that by the time she had to fight them, she could cause chaos by messing with the groups items? She was my fix for a trap that new GMs fall into, that of giving the players all the stuff they want. (At least, I hope it's not just me.)
The group fought Lucretia in a fort that had been taken over by giants. Despite her ambushing them just after they killed the leader of the giants, they still almost killed her. The only reason she survived was due to her messing with their stuff. The paladin's favourite weapon was a light-infused greathammer that dazzled anything it struck. Now it flared with light everytime he used it, temporarily blinding him and causing him to miss. The goblin's dexterity-boosting shirt (in my defense this was an actual item from the campaign, whoever thought this was balanced should be shot) entangled him, and had to be ripped in two for him to escape. Thr cleric's trident dealt extra damage...by drawing on the cleric's life force, injuring him every time he used it, not good for a squishy merfolk. And the sorcerer's fear-protecting ring started amplifying his fears instead of removing them. Only the cavalier escaped unscathed, mostly because he was a miser that refused to spend his gold on anything except mithral armour and weapons.
Then she realised she had 2 hit points left, summoned a wall of water, and ran away.
Lucretia had escaped and outwitted the group (barely) in their first major battle, which was bad enough, but she also permanently harmed and traumatised them by taking away their stuff. It's amazing how players can get attached to imaginary stuff. Strangely, though, the cavlier was just as bent on finding her and eliminating her, despite her not doing anything to him directly, and over the course of the campaign, reminded the rest of the group that they still had to deal with her. When I asked him why he was so keen on stopping her, he replied that it was due to her sister dropping a cathedral bell on him earlier in the campaign - despite the fact that Lucrecia had nothing to do with it.
So what is the point of all this? If you want your players to care about a villain, you have to make them somehow invested in bringing her (or him) down. Having them permanently harm the characters in some way worked for my group, but. But just as much, your players need to buy into the narrative (even if thier thinking is a little flawed, as in the case of the cavalier). You can have the best villain, but for some reason your players don't care. If this is the case, you may have to let go of your villain, despite how much you like them, and look to see if there is another enemy that is better suited to the group.
Showing posts with label Magic Campaign Setting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magic Campaign Setting. Show all posts
Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Tuesday, 6 February 2018
Dungeoneering: The Death Lord
Originally published in issue 4 of 'The Scene Unseen' newsletter.
It's been a long time since a goblin rogue, a merfolk cleric, a human knight and a dragonblood sorcerer first met, saved the small town of Stoneforge from a band of maurauding goblins, and learned that on Zendikar, everything is always out to kill you. I've been running the Pathfinders of Zendikar campaign for one and a half years now, and as it draws to a close, I find myself thinking of all the unexpected stuff has happened. Where once the continent of Tazeem was an untamed wilderness with only brief descriptions of notable places, a few characters from the card, and just three mentioned gods, it now has a fully fleshed out fortified town, three cities, and many interesting people and places.
It might seem strange to have a non-evil god of death, but Pathfinder had already gone down this route with their own death goddess. Pharasma is true neutral, sends the spirits of the dead off to their eternal reward (or punishment) without bias, and is adamant that dead things should remain dead, viewing undeath as a perversion of the natural order. Her followers hunt down the undead even more fanatically than paladins do. Vaasgoth is similar, but shifted towards the legalistic side, with a focus on enforcing the laws of mortality, and requiring those who walk close to death (like vampires) to act nobly, lawfully and ethically, lest they find this privilege taken away from them.
Vaasgoth ended up being not only the patron of Clan Kalastria, but also of the near-extinct Clan Sorn, a house I created on the spur of the moment to save a player character from death, now a house reborn after the marriage of Dragor Sorn to Tyri Kalastria. Vaasgoth then branched out into other races, being linked to the death-revering (but ultimately useful) Mul Daya elves led by the shaman Mira Sarith. And of course, hovering quietly in the background the whole time was Stoneforge's resident mistrusted ogre, Victor Creed, who turned out to be a rather pleasant and knowledgeable High Inquisitor of Vaasgoth, and eventually granted my players a boon that makes it harder for them to die. (Because I'm so good at killing players I need to give them extra resilience to stop it happening so much.)
And so, like the gods of Terry Prachett's Discworld, Vaasgoth exists because people believe in him. It was a thing that just happened because it needed to, but it turns out, it does have precedence in Magic, as the gods of Theros were revealed to work this way, and there are some hints that Amonkhet operates similarly. It also, usefully, gives me reason to divorce the only lore-mentioned gods - the merfolk deities Emeria, Ula and Cosi - from their origins as warped memories of the Eldazi Titans. They were based on them at first, but now they exist separately.
Vaasgoth's presence has spread rapidly due to in-game events, such as House Sorn and Creed uniting to build a temple in Stoneforge. The town, now heavily fortified after multiple attacks by giants and dragons, already had one to Emeria - meaning that it now has temples to two different lawful gods, an interesting development. One that will probably come up if people visit Stoneforge in my sequel campaign.
There is something to be said for having all of the mythology in place from the beginning. On the other hand, I think it is nice that my players have had a significant effect on the world in a way not directly related to killing a bunch of bad guys. House Sorn would still be a minor footnote in history without their actions, and Creed would not have had to reveal his true nature, making people look at ogres in a new light. The temple to Vaasgoth exists because of them, and their infuence spreads way beyond even this. Should they survive the final battle, they may very well show up as powerful allies (or even enemies) in future campaigns.
It's been a long time since a goblin rogue, a merfolk cleric, a human knight and a dragonblood sorcerer first met, saved the small town of Stoneforge from a band of maurauding goblins, and learned that on Zendikar, everything is always out to kill you. I've been running the Pathfinders of Zendikar campaign for one and a half years now, and as it draws to a close, I find myself thinking of all the unexpected stuff has happened. Where once the continent of Tazeem was an untamed wilderness with only brief descriptions of notable places, a few characters from the card, and just three mentioned gods, it now has a fully fleshed out fortified town, three cities, and many interesting people and places.
At first I was very hesitant to add things to Zendikar that were not estabished lore. But in the case of gods, I had to, as the Pathfinder mechanics for clerics require their existance, and for them to each be tied to various domains and alignments. Needing a lawful neutral god, I created the death god Vaasgoth, and built his identity in a way that facilitated playing a vampire from the non-evil Clan Kalastria. Vampires on Zendikar imitate many aspects of undeath without actually being undead, and can survive perfectly well on the blood of animals, allowing them to choose not to hunt down humans and the other races for nourishment (though many of them do anyway). It was not really necessary, as we later discovered that playing as a vampire is hard on your allies, as your connection to the negative energy of death makes it difficult for healers to heal you. At any rate, Vaasgoth existed as a story hook. He was intended to be misremembered tales about the planeswalker Sorin Markov, and thus, not actually exist. A minor role if there ever was one.
It might seem strange to have a non-evil god of death, but Pathfinder had already gone down this route with their own death goddess. Pharasma is true neutral, sends the spirits of the dead off to their eternal reward (or punishment) without bias, and is adamant that dead things should remain dead, viewing undeath as a perversion of the natural order. Her followers hunt down the undead even more fanatically than paladins do. Vaasgoth is similar, but shifted towards the legalistic side, with a focus on enforcing the laws of mortality, and requiring those who walk close to death (like vampires) to act nobly, lawfully and ethically, lest they find this privilege taken away from them.
Vaasgoth ended up being not only the patron of Clan Kalastria, but also of the near-extinct Clan Sorn, a house I created on the spur of the moment to save a player character from death, now a house reborn after the marriage of Dragor Sorn to Tyri Kalastria. Vaasgoth then branched out into other races, being linked to the death-revering (but ultimately useful) Mul Daya elves led by the shaman Mira Sarith. And of course, hovering quietly in the background the whole time was Stoneforge's resident mistrusted ogre, Victor Creed, who turned out to be a rather pleasant and knowledgeable High Inquisitor of Vaasgoth, and eventually granted my players a boon that makes it harder for them to die. (Because I'm so good at killing players I need to give them extra resilience to stop it happening so much.)
And so, like the gods of Terry Prachett's Discworld, Vaasgoth exists because people believe in him. It was a thing that just happened because it needed to, but it turns out, it does have precedence in Magic, as the gods of Theros were revealed to work this way, and there are some hints that Amonkhet operates similarly. It also, usefully, gives me reason to divorce the only lore-mentioned gods - the merfolk deities Emeria, Ula and Cosi - from their origins as warped memories of the Eldazi Titans. They were based on them at first, but now they exist separately.
Vaasgoth's presence has spread rapidly due to in-game events, such as House Sorn and Creed uniting to build a temple in Stoneforge. The town, now heavily fortified after multiple attacks by giants and dragons, already had one to Emeria - meaning that it now has temples to two different lawful gods, an interesting development. One that will probably come up if people visit Stoneforge in my sequel campaign.
There is something to be said for having all of the mythology in place from the beginning. On the other hand, I think it is nice that my players have had a significant effect on the world in a way not directly related to killing a bunch of bad guys. House Sorn would still be a minor footnote in history without their actions, and Creed would not have had to reveal his true nature, making people look at ogres in a new light. The temple to Vaasgoth exists because of them, and their infuence spreads way beyond even this. Should they survive the final battle, they may very well show up as powerful allies (or even enemies) in future campaigns.
Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Finding the Path: Artifacts of Great Power
While Pathfinder has a lot of guides to creating customised magic items, from mixing and matching weapon special abilities, to the rules for building intelligent items, sometimes you want something that just doesn't have any rules similar to what you actually want. And as cool as the Janus Trident and the Angelheart Vial are, they are not the first things that spring to mind when thinking about artifacts from Magic: the Gathering.
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| Illustration by Wayne Reynolds |
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
Finding the Path: Zendikar's Origins
Zendikar is one of Magic's oldest planes, with the first Eldrazi invasion taking place just over a thousand years before the birth of Urza on the plane of Dominaria (an event generally used as year 0 in Magic chronology). However, Zendikar's great age is retroactive, as the plane was first referred to in The Purifying Fire, a novel only published in 2009.
While we know how far back the history goes, we know relatively little about that history. We know that the first Eldrazi invasion took place 6000 years before the present day. The Eldrazi are a mysterious extraplanar race, based partly on HP Lovecraft's Cthulu, that devour entire planes of existence by consuming the mana in the land, leaving behind nothing but lifeless wastes. The most dangerous of them are the three Eldrazi titans - the all-consuming Ulamog, the reality-warping Kozilek and the nigh-invincible time-bending Emrakul.
While we know how far back the history goes, we know relatively little about that history. We know that the first Eldrazi invasion took place 6000 years before the present day. The Eldrazi are a mysterious extraplanar race, based partly on HP Lovecraft's Cthulu, that devour entire planes of existence by consuming the mana in the land, leaving behind nothing but lifeless wastes. The most dangerous of them are the three Eldrazi titans - the all-consuming Ulamog, the reality-warping Kozilek and the nigh-invincible time-bending Emrakul.
Wednesday, 8 June 2016
Finding the Path: Priceless Treasures
Magic: the Gathering has always had powerful items known as artifacts. The MtG world of Zendikar, being partly based on D&D, was supposed to be full of very dangerous locations filled with amazing treasures and items of great power. It even used the tagline "Deadly Perils, Priceless Treasures".
Which meant that, if I was running a campaign on Zendikar, there had to be some really cool, powerful treasures for people.
The first magical item I made as a cool reward was the Trident of Ula, a +1 guided trident, meaning it had a +1 bonus to attack and damage, and used the wielder's wisdom modifier instead of the usual strength modifier. It is somewhat unclear whether guided property is a legitimate Pathfinder rule or not, but, hey, I am the GM, and I can do whatever I want. Yes, it is a rather powerful and expensive weapon to give a low-level character, and generally, giving that to a single character can easily make them outclass the rest of the party, which is bad, as every player should get moments to shine. However, I was giving it to Dhamiran's merfolk cleric, Ler Mimir, who was not really supposed to be stabbing things in close combat. He had to pick his moments, and either use it to counter a charging enemy, or as a way to finish off an enemy already wounded by the other party members. It would be difficult for him to outclass the damage-dealers, and the party seemed to enjoy his trident-stabbing shenanigans anyway. Here is the trident I made:
Janus Trident
Aura: moderate evocation and necromancy
Caster Level: 10th
Slot: Wielded
Price: 18000gp
Description
Few know the truth of the connection between the gods Ula and Ulamog, and virtually none have heard whispers of how Ula takes the dark weapons of Ulamog, and bends them towards the light. The Janus Trident is a +1 conductive guided trident made of gleaming white coral and pink pearl that is inscribed with a faintly glowing symbol of Ula. As a standard action, the wielder can transform it into a +1 vicious guided trident made of chalky grey coral and black pearl inscribed with the symbol of Ulamog. The trident can be transformed back again as a standard action.
Well...that's not quite what I said it was. I may not have been completely honest with my players about some of their items. See, one of the major villains of the campaign, Lucrecia, has been planting cursed items in the path of the heroes, in order to gain an advantage if she is forced to fight them directly. This has included a ring that can bring the wearers fears to life, a hammer that casts daylight at inopportune moments, and the Janus Trident - originally a Trident of Ulamog under an illusion that made it appear to belong to Ula. But something (or Someone) has subverted Lucrecia's plans, and the illusion has somehow become reality.
Though the Janus Trident was something I planned out beforehand, the second item was something I had to throw together quickly when it became apparent that (with Dhamiran temporaily absent for a few weeks due to work) the group needed more healing than a few potions could provide. Originally I planned to give the party a wand of mass cure wounds, however, it turns out that such a thing does not actually exist, due to it being an item that is far too powerful to allow. The only thing that would be able to duplicate such power would be some sort of artifact. Enter one of my favourite cards from Zendikar: the Angelheart Vial.
Initially, the vial, which I had to quickly invent in a couple of days, was just a 10-charge wand of mass cure light wounds. (I limited it to 10 because, it really is an immensely powerful ability for low level characters.) The archangel Iona would appear and gave it to Sir Eleassar without explanation. However, I decided I could do better than that. Due to the fact that Sir Elessar was suffering from rolling really bad will saves against fear, and ended running away from enemies quite a lot, which was bad cause he was supposed to be the groups tank, I decided to make something that boosted his will save, gave me a panic button to press if he still failed, gave the group an extra way to deal with the upcoming enemy ghosts, and tied into his characters backstory, allowing his superiors in the Order of the Reliquary to go 'Well done on obtaining a powerful relic, here, you are promoted to knight-captain.'
I trawled through Ultimate Equipment for the rules about building intelligent items, and constructed a pretty powerful artifact with some powerful abilities and a really cool backstory. Sadly, none of my players have yet tried to work out what exactly the angelheart vial is, and why she seems to be able to cast spells of her own accord. The party has also consistently stymied my attempts to reveal this, by ensuring that Elessar never meets anyone who would recognise what she is, meaning her true nature has remained a secret. So then, here, for the first time, are the full stats and backstory of Numa's Heart:
Numa's Heart
Purpose: To defend the interests of Numa.
Aura: Strong Abjuration
Caster Level: 11th
Slot: Stone
Price: 25000gp
Stats
Alignment: neutral good
Ego: 11
Senses: 30ft
Intelligence 13, Wisdom 14, Charisma 11.
Communication: empathy (Common, Celestial)
Description
The archangel Numa was slain by Emrakul during the fall of the city of Nal-Kashel, but her diamond heart was recovered by Linvala, and Iona fashioned it into the most powerful angelheart vial ever made. Despite her power, Numa's Heart was kept secretly in the Sky-Ruins of Emeria during the second Eldrazi War. For reasons known only to herself, Iona gifted the vial to Sir Elessar of the Reliquary to aide him and his companions in their battle with a demonic barghest. Unlike most intelligent items, Numa's Heart is secretive, and prefers to conceal her true nature, demanding very little of her wearer, only using her spells and voicing her opinion in dire circumstances. Numa's Heart grants the wearer a +1 sacred bonus to their Will save and functions as a wand of mass cure light wounds with 10 charges. She can be used as an abjuration implement by occultists and knights of the Reliquary. In addition, Numa's Heart can cast spells of her own accord.
Spells
11th level divine caster:
3/day - remove fear
1/day - spirit-bound blade
at will - call spirit (purpose only)
Which meant that, if I was running a campaign on Zendikar, there had to be some really cool, powerful treasures for people.
The first magical item I made as a cool reward was the Trident of Ula, a +1 guided trident, meaning it had a +1 bonus to attack and damage, and used the wielder's wisdom modifier instead of the usual strength modifier. It is somewhat unclear whether guided property is a legitimate Pathfinder rule or not, but, hey, I am the GM, and I can do whatever I want. Yes, it is a rather powerful and expensive weapon to give a low-level character, and generally, giving that to a single character can easily make them outclass the rest of the party, which is bad, as every player should get moments to shine. However, I was giving it to Dhamiran's merfolk cleric, Ler Mimir, who was not really supposed to be stabbing things in close combat. He had to pick his moments, and either use it to counter a charging enemy, or as a way to finish off an enemy already wounded by the other party members. It would be difficult for him to outclass the damage-dealers, and the party seemed to enjoy his trident-stabbing shenanigans anyway. Here is the trident I made:
Janus Trident
Aura: moderate evocation and necromancy
Caster Level: 10th
Slot: Wielded
Price: 18000gp
Description
Few know the truth of the connection between the gods Ula and Ulamog, and virtually none have heard whispers of how Ula takes the dark weapons of Ulamog, and bends them towards the light. The Janus Trident is a +1 conductive guided trident made of gleaming white coral and pink pearl that is inscribed with a faintly glowing symbol of Ula. As a standard action, the wielder can transform it into a +1 vicious guided trident made of chalky grey coral and black pearl inscribed with the symbol of Ulamog. The trident can be transformed back again as a standard action.
Well...that's not quite what I said it was. I may not have been completely honest with my players about some of their items. See, one of the major villains of the campaign, Lucrecia, has been planting cursed items in the path of the heroes, in order to gain an advantage if she is forced to fight them directly. This has included a ring that can bring the wearers fears to life, a hammer that casts daylight at inopportune moments, and the Janus Trident - originally a Trident of Ulamog under an illusion that made it appear to belong to Ula. But something (or Someone) has subverted Lucrecia's plans, and the illusion has somehow become reality.
Though the Janus Trident was something I planned out beforehand, the second item was something I had to throw together quickly when it became apparent that (with Dhamiran temporaily absent for a few weeks due to work) the group needed more healing than a few potions could provide. Originally I planned to give the party a wand of mass cure wounds, however, it turns out that such a thing does not actually exist, due to it being an item that is far too powerful to allow. The only thing that would be able to duplicate such power would be some sort of artifact. Enter one of my favourite cards from Zendikar: the Angelheart Vial.
Initially, the vial, which I had to quickly invent in a couple of days, was just a 10-charge wand of mass cure light wounds. (I limited it to 10 because, it really is an immensely powerful ability for low level characters.) The archangel Iona would appear and gave it to Sir Eleassar without explanation. However, I decided I could do better than that. Due to the fact that Sir Elessar was suffering from rolling really bad will saves against fear, and ended running away from enemies quite a lot, which was bad cause he was supposed to be the groups tank, I decided to make something that boosted his will save, gave me a panic button to press if he still failed, gave the group an extra way to deal with the upcoming enemy ghosts, and tied into his characters backstory, allowing his superiors in the Order of the Reliquary to go 'Well done on obtaining a powerful relic, here, you are promoted to knight-captain.'
I trawled through Ultimate Equipment for the rules about building intelligent items, and constructed a pretty powerful artifact with some powerful abilities and a really cool backstory. Sadly, none of my players have yet tried to work out what exactly the angelheart vial is, and why she seems to be able to cast spells of her own accord. The party has also consistently stymied my attempts to reveal this, by ensuring that Elessar never meets anyone who would recognise what she is, meaning her true nature has remained a secret. So then, here, for the first time, are the full stats and backstory of Numa's Heart:
Numa's Heart
Purpose: To defend the interests of Numa.
Aura: Strong Abjuration
Caster Level: 11th
Slot: Stone
Price: 25000gp
Stats
Alignment: neutral good
Ego: 11
Senses: 30ft
Intelligence 13, Wisdom 14, Charisma 11.
Communication: empathy (Common, Celestial)
Description
The archangel Numa was slain by Emrakul during the fall of the city of Nal-Kashel, but her diamond heart was recovered by Linvala, and Iona fashioned it into the most powerful angelheart vial ever made. Despite her power, Numa's Heart was kept secretly in the Sky-Ruins of Emeria during the second Eldrazi War. For reasons known only to herself, Iona gifted the vial to Sir Elessar of the Reliquary to aide him and his companions in their battle with a demonic barghest. Unlike most intelligent items, Numa's Heart is secretive, and prefers to conceal her true nature, demanding very little of her wearer, only using her spells and voicing her opinion in dire circumstances. Numa's Heart grants the wearer a +1 sacred bonus to their Will save and functions as a wand of mass cure light wounds with 10 charges. She can be used as an abjuration implement by occultists and knights of the Reliquary. In addition, Numa's Heart can cast spells of her own accord.
Spells
11th level divine caster:
3/day - remove fear
1/day - spirit-bound blade
at will - call spirit (purpose only)
Sunday, 15 May 2016
Magic & Pathfinder: The Vampires
When I was developing the racial rules for Pathfinders of Zendikar, I had to decide what to do with vampires. They are Zendikar's major black mana race, but straight up Pathfinder vampires are way too powerful to be used by players. Fortunately, there was a possibility - the dhampir race. Dhampir are half-human half-vampires, technically living, but treated as undead for the purposes of healing magic. I had a way to make the dhampir fit - but I had to pull out an old pet theory of mine. But lets go back a few years, to when I first started playing Magic.
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| Illustration by Adi Granov |
Sunday, 8 May 2016
Magic & Pathfinder: The Maftet
Sometimes I get strange ideas in my head that I just can't let go. Case in point: the sphinxborn. It was pretty easy to get the five characteristic races for each of the colours of magic, as four and a half of them already existed in Pathfinder. (If you're counting, it's human, merfolk, vampire, goblin and elf.) But I wanted some sort of representation of the iconic creatures too. (Again, if you're counting, it's angel, sphinx, demon, dragon and hydra.)
For the white and black iconics it's pretty easy, as aasimir (humans with a bit of angel blood) and tieflings (humans with fiendish heritage) both have a storied history in Pathfinder. But the others were much harder. I'm still not sure how to pull off dragon and hydra (or if I should even try), but in preparing a Mul Daya related stuff for this week's Pathfinders of Zendikar I came across something interesting, called a maftet.
For the white and black iconics it's pretty easy, as aasimir (humans with a bit of angel blood) and tieflings (humans with fiendish heritage) both have a storied history in Pathfinder. But the others were much harder. I'm still not sure how to pull off dragon and hydra (or if I should even try), but in preparing a Mul Daya related stuff for this week's Pathfinders of Zendikar I came across something interesting, called a maftet.
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