The 3.5 Red Hand Of Doom Handbook for DMs [Major spoilers!] - WIP, PEACH!

[endur]

oh yes, the best part of Red Hand of Doom in Sterich ... the possibility of involvement with the Giant armies in Geoff and/or the Drow from the Vault of the Drow. You can have them as ambassadors/side quests, or a continuation of the campaign.

[Elder_Basilisk]

I love Anna Meyer's maps.

I've spent a long time thinking about the problem of how to shoehorn Red Hand of Doom into Sterich. I agree 100% that it is a good fit, the only question is exactly how.

In the past, I've been considering using Istivin (Capital of Sterich) as Brindol. I don't know much about the other towns of Sterich, Bova, etc. The Oestral Abyss is not too far from Mittelberg.

It's great to get a little feedback. I'm enjoying thinking about this and planning out the campaign, but it's good to see some other people interested.

There doesn't seem to be much info on any of the towns in Sterich other than Istivin. I looked for info on Mittelberg and Bova on a number of Greyhawk sites and came up blank. All of the specific information on cities, counties, dwarf holds, etc in these posts either came from Anna's map or I made it up. (The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer stated that five different clan holds failed to send representatives to the court in Istivin after the liberation--I'm dealing with three of those in this writeup; I presume the other two are in the southern Crystalmists of the Jotuns).

I chose Bova over Istivin because the size is right--Bova is the same size icon as Brindol would be on Anna's map and Istivin is 50% larger than Brindol. Istivin presumably plays host to the Marchioness' standing army which is probably 2/3 the size of the Red Hand horde and finally, the Marchioness' withdrawn and possibly controlled character would not mesh too well with Lord Jaarmath's bold and involved style. (I haven't read through the Dungeon adventure arc but it definitely seemed to be setting up the drow as manipulating her and possibly behind the disappearance of the Marquis). Canon NPCs in Istivin are also somewhat higher level (The Marchioness is listed as Sor 13 which is a pretty big step up from the Brindol NPCs who mostly fall in levels 7-9 at the high end. As written, she might reasonably be expected to counter the ghost-lord by herself). Finally, the distance from any candidate for Drellin's Ferry and Istivin is I think a bit long. I think to use Istivin in the role of Brindol, you would really need to beef up the horde--double all the numbers, for example for it to be a credible threat to Istivin.

I'm not saying that Istivin couldn't work as Brindol, but I think it would be more work than either Bova or Mittelberg. Bova and Mittelberg could both work but I chose Bova for the reasons listed in the early post.

[Red Rubber Band]

Running RHoD as is for 2 fairly new to 3.5 people. According to the handbook this is a bad idea. Currently throwing around ideas as to how to combat this. So far I have:

• Run a DMPC (with player's permission) that is effectively a heal/buff bot
• Gestalt - main problem is that this will confuse the sh*t out of one of them who is newer than new at this type of thing
• Start them at 6/7
• Give them more money's or a custom item that grows with them
• Get them to run 2 characters at once - once again a problem with confusing this sh*t out of one of the players.

It's looking like being a mix of some of these.

Also, one of them wants to play a Dwarven Defender, which I believe complicates things a bit more unless they are playing some kind of trip fighter.

Any ideas?

[TheCrowing1432]

> Run in equestria.


HOW DO YOU RUN DND IN EQUESTRIA?

I WANT TO KNOW.

IS THERE A GUIDEBOOK OR SOMETHING?

[Elder_Basilisk]

Running RHoD as is for 2 fairly new to 3.5 people. According to the handbook this is a bad idea. Currently throwing around ideas as to how to combat this. So far I have:

• Run a DMPC (with player's permission) that is effectively a heal/buff bot
• Gestalt - main problem is that this will confuse the sh*t out of one of them who is newer than new at this type of thing
• Start them at 6/7
• Give them more money's or a custom item that grows with them
• Get them to run 2 characters at once - once again a problem with confusing this sh*t out of one of the players.

It's looking like being a mix of some of these.

Also, one of them wants to play a Dwarven Defender, which I believe complicates things a bit more unless they are playing some kind of trip fighter.

Any ideas?

You'll run into a few problems here:
1. Action economy. With two characters, the monsters will have far more actions than the PCs and they may not be able to overcome that.
2. Unfilled roles. With two characters, the PCs will be unable to cover the basic four roles (fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue). Granted, they may not need all those roles (rogue is arguably disposable and especially in 3.5, a cleric can fill the fighter role quite admirably), but there are still things the adventure will expect them to be able to do that they won't be able to do.
3. Inexperience. They probably won't optimize their character construction or their choices to the amount the module assumes.

Gestalt would address problem 2: unfilled roles, but wouldn't do anything about problem 1: action economy. Gestalt is also more complex than standard play, so problem 3 would make it a more difficult solution.

For problem 1, I would suggest allowing the NPCs to take a more active role in the adventure. Captain Soranna or Brother Derny might go with the PCs to scout the ruins of Vraath keep and Jorr might take on a fighting role. But when chapter 1 is done, they would have other responsibilities. Teyani might accompany the party to show them to the roadblock and Killiar Arrowswift or Trellara Nightshadow might join the PCs in attacking Rhest. Emphasize that they don't need to be on their own, but that the other people in the game world have skills and may join them from time to time. If they want to take people along throughout the adventure, let them take the leadership feat.

That also partially solves problem two. But only partially. I would encourage the players to pick multi-role characters--a fighting cleric or an abjurant champion fighter/wizard for example. That would help with the roles. You might also consider implementing some Pathfinder classes--the Pathfinder Magus and Paladin, for example are more effective multi-role characters than the 3.5 Paladin and Magus is simpler than a 3.5 fighter/wizard. Since pathfinder classes are more powerful than 3.5 classes (in general), that would also help cover the inexperience part.

For problem 3, I think I'd give the PCs an extra level and see how it plays out. That should give them a bit more cushion for inexperience and a changing, shorthanded party.

[Antariuk]

Hey guys,

Sorry about the delay with my PF conversion, but since my draft was (still is) riddled with errors I'm busy revising stuff and it might take me an additional week or two. I'm hurrying.

Running RHoD as is for 2 fairly new to 3.5 people. According to the handbook this is a bad idea. Currently throwing around ideas as to how to combat this. So far I have:

• Run a DMPC (with player's permission) that is effectively a heal/buff bot
• Gestalt - main problem is that this will confuse the sh*t out of one of them who is newer than new at this type of thing
• Start them at 6/7
• Give them more money's or a custom item that grows with them
• Get them to run 2 characters at once - once again a problem with confusing this sh*t out of one of the players.

It's looking like being a mix of some of these.

Also, one of them wants to play a Dwarven Defender, which I believe complicates things a bit more unless they are playing some kind of trip fighter.

Any ideas?

What Elder_Basilisk said, but I really wouldn't recommend gestalt for new players, and "active" NPCs are an easy way to bandaid some of the problems but it puts an additional burden on you as the GM, which might not be what you're looking for either. What I'd suggest as a variant is to make PCs - at least one of them - who can be a party of their own if needed. My 3.5 knowledge has become rusty, but Pathfinder really has several classes by now who fulfill this requirement: Druid (not surprising here, probably the most complicated), Summoner (very strong, not very complicated), or Hunter (a bit fiddly because of the increased tactical depth, but not much) for example. These classes give back a bit of the action economy pie to the players, which is really important since pumping up their level/point-buy budget/magic item allowance only helps so far. I like the idea of leveling magic items though, but please do not ever EVER use the Weapons of Legacy rules for that.

Also, consider being very lenient with powerful races and templates. If the players really field just one character each, go nuts. One of them wants be be a werewolf? Sure let him be, and forget about the Level Adjustment (at least within the LA+1 and LA+2 range).

[Red Rubber Band]

Thanks for the replies
After talking it out with the players we've agreed on a solution.

The more experienced player will play 2 characters. He's pretty good with RPGs, and has had more experience with 3.5 than I have with D20 systems as a whole.
With 3 characters they'll start at a level higher. One of the characters is a Druid, so that enables Natural Spell!
They're also quite happy with having an NPC "guide" of sorts to help them out to begin with and, depending on how they go, being replaced by different NPCs throughout the campaign.
As far as worry about lack of optimisation, I've offered my help when it comes to building their characters and it seems the PCs are coming together nicely! Definitely not the most OP characters, but much better than my first couple of attempts
The only thing I'm worried about is ranged. They have a Druid, but the other 2 are a TWF Rogue and a Barbarian. To round it off treasure they find (and NPCs) will cover their weaknesses and UMD will be their friend.

[broodax]

I'd love any input on the most recent situation in my game (linked in my sig). The party infiltrated and got a bunch of information from the lizardfolk near Rhest. They got magic'd up to approach underwater. They learned that the dragon hunts for a few hours at a time, and they even said that it'd be great if they made their way in when the dragon was gone. But they inexplicably decided to just head in without waiting to see if the dragon was there or would leave... After approaching underwater, the dragon opened on them with a breath (blindsense in water that only allows vision to 30' max is very strong... By the by, I think I'd change this in hindsight, normal Murky water allows vision to something like d8x10 or something to that effect, not d6x5) and is now rallying the entire ruins to defend themselves...

I am not sure the party has a way to live through this, especially because they did not immediately turn and run. Granted that could have been a bad choice as well, as the dragon may have been able to pick them off before they reached safety. But now they'll be in the worst possible position, the dragon able to breath every time it's off cooldown while the giants, then the hobgoblins, and finally the lizardfolk attack them in waves, essentially. Perhaps they'll be able to defeat the things quickly enough to heal and re-position in between.

So, if anyone has advice on how to help them (without a total Deus Ex Machina), or just wants to watch things go wrong, please take a look.

[Elder_Basilisk]

I'd love any input on the most recent situation in my game (linked in my sig). The party infiltrated and got a bunch of information from the lizardfolk near Rhest. They got magic'd up to approach underwater. They learned that the dragon hunts for a few hours at a time, and they even said that it'd be great if they made their way in when the dragon was gone. But they inexplicably decided to just head in without waiting to see if the dragon was there or would leave... After approaching underwater, the dragon opened on them with a breath (blindsense in water that only allows vision to 30' max is very strong... By the by, I think I'd change this in hindsight, normal Murky water allows vision to something like d8x10 or something to that effect, not d6x5) and is now rallying the entire ruins to defend themselves...

I am not sure the party has a way to live through this, especially because they did not immediately turn and run. Granted that could have been a bad choice as well, as the dragon may have been able to pick them off before they reached safety. But now they'll be in the worst possible position, the dragon able to breath every time it's off cooldown while the giants, then the hobgoblins, and finally the lizardfolk attack them in waves, essentially. Perhaps they'll be able to defeat the things quickly enough to heal and re-position in between.

So, if anyone has advice on how to help them (without a total Deus Ex Machina), or just wants to watch things go wrong, please take a look.

Without knowing the specifics of your party, it's hard to give advice on how to avoid killing them all. From my perspective, I'm not sure you should want to avoid killing them all (or at least a lot of them). Planning clever approaches is part of the fun of D&D/Pathfinder. However, there is no significance to planning a clever approach that makes things easier if planning a dumb approach doesn't make things harder. It seems to me that the party has just triggered a situation where they get to find out if they have actual choice (which can make things harder as well as easier) or merely the illusion of choice complete with soft, padded rocks and safety helmets to keep you from getting hurt if you screw up.

That said, here are some things that you can do:
1. The water is not necessarily equally murky in every area and in every direction. You could decide that 30 foot visibility was only for the area the PCs happened to be in and start rolling the 1d8x10 feet for visibility as soon as the party moves. (I'm not sure this will help a lot--the PCs are still in the dragon's element until they get themselves onto the surface and will still not be able to see to the edge of the dragon's blindsight range, so they will still be in roughly the same situation: in combat with an enemy who is presumably much more maneuverable than them, much more effective at range, with a significantly longer detection range, and who has no reason to close to melee range. The only ways that they can change that tactical situation is to actually get into the dragon's lair thus giving the dragon a reason to close to melee range in order to prevent them from looting his hoard and giving them cover against long distance breath weapon attacks, or to dimension door/teleport to solid ground thus forcing the dragon to either emerge into the open or abandon the attack. If they have a dedicated archer or two, that would be a much better tactical situation for them).

2. Consider the NPCs' response from a perspective of limited information. You know that the PC party is the only threat. Regiatrix doesn't know that. Nurglenakt doesn't know that. And neither does Saarvith. They only know that Reggie detected a threat approaching his lair from underwater, has engaged that threat, and is in a commanding tactical position due to his ability to attack from beyond detection range.
They have the situation well in hand if it doesn't change. Reggie can breath from out of range (even if he only hits one PC at a time at extreme range) until all the PCs are dead. They are unlikely to have the ability to catch him. As addressed before, they need to change the situation.
From the NPCs' perspective, there are several dangers:
A. The PCs could enter the dragon's lair and force a fight that is more to their advantage. Rather than swarming the PCs' current position, it makes more sense to reinforce the dragon's lair in order to guard against this possibility. The fight may be more to their advantage against Reggie alone, but not if the enemy heavy hitters have set up an ambush for them in there.
B. The PCs could be a distraction (possibly even an illusion), distracting them from the approach of other forces. In this case, it also makes sense for them to reinforce the areas that need protecting rather than swarm the PCs' current position.
C. The PCs could surface in an area other than the lair and hole up. This is less dangerous than them getting into the lair. Mitigating the risk calls for the commanders to recall most of any vulnerable units so that if the PCs dimension door to the bell tower (for example), they only kill one or two hobgoblin scouts rather than eliminating 10% (or more) of their forces. However, by holding their forces in reserve around their most critical points, the NPCs gain the ability to instantly besiege the party in whatever ruined building they emerge into.
D. The PCs could retreat. Reggie is sufficient to harass/kill them the whole way if they do that under the water. If they make it out of the water or use dimension door to break contact, they can do that.
E. One of the rivals (Saarvith/Nurglenakt) could take advantage of the opportunity to shiv the other; they will make sure not to expose themselves in the response. This is another argument for them holding their main forces in reserve--to ward against treachery from within.

Assuming that the PCs do manage to somehow break contact and make it to land, then the smart response for the Red Hand would be to send the lizardmen to scout out and find them, then swarm them. The lizardfolk are expendable and are not part of Saarvith or Nurglenakt's power base. If the lizardfolk alone can eliminate them, then the Red Hand people can be retained in reserve to guard against an attack on their base of operations. However, if the PCs have demonstrated that they have the competence/ability to resist a mass lizardfolk attack, they might need to be more aggressive. (Making it back to shore with no casualties would probably demonstrate that. Water breathing in the approach demonstrates minimum 3rd level spell ability; extricating themselves from a bad tactical situation without losses would demonstrate competence and toughness. Losing significant power, however, would indicate that they are on their last legs and the lizardfolk may be sufficient to finish them). The options for increased attacking are as follows:
a. having Reggie assist the attack alone--probably maintaining concealment and cover underwater and assisting only with breath weapons at long range. If he needs to do more than that, then the Red Hand needs to commit more resources to the fight.
b. having Reggie and Saarvith assist the lizardfolk attack from the air. Again, maintaining range and using only archery+breath weapons. If they need to do more than that, they need more resources--plus, why should they expose themselves if Nurglenakt isn't exposing his forces?
C. having pretty much the whole group land and chase them down. This probably calls for some kind of invisibility sphere type effect in order to disguise the approach. Otherwise, the PCs might be able to outdistance the ogres and hobgoblins, etc and make it back to the town hall with only Saarvith and Reggie and the razorfiends able to overtake them.

--EDIT--
I looked at your thread. It looks like your party is very melee heavy without much ranged capability and is at least partly deciding to swim for the boardwalk around the town hall and being the assault. It didn't look like Reggie put too much hurt on them before they were discovered, so it sounds like they're essentially just fighting the encounter as written--except that all the Red Hand forces will get to respond. I'd say that they just get to fight it out except that Reggie might swim up to the last guy remaining underwater and try to claw/claw bite the dude to death. One on one against a non-freedom of movement foe underwater, I'm sure he'd like those odds. And if someone goes back to help Reggie's victim, Reggie can easily withdraw to disengage and then charge back if one of them surfaces again. Splitting the party into underwater/above water is great for Reggie.

The lizardfolk have to get out of their huts, get into their boats, and make it to the town hall before anything can happen with them. The big fight will probably be all over but the shouting when they turn up but if any of the Red Hand leaders are around to command them (maybe because they run away), they should be able to force the party to beat a fighting retreat all the way to Starsong Hill--possibly without even having time to loot the buildings and get the phylactery.

[broodax]

Really excellent thoughts, thank you. I think I agree that they have a lot of options, they are just all bad ones at this point, that lead to varying degrees of facing the entire chapter worth of enemies in one extended encounter.

I already took what I think is a page from your book in having Reggie simply breath once then circle, sounding the alarm. He isn't sending everyone into the water after them, and he didn't stick around to melee one of them to death because he's being cautious and trying to protect the lair, not just kill as many PCs as he can. I do think he will head back into the water and try to hit them from behind as you suggest, though - I'd already had something like that in mind.

[shizukanashi]

So I finally read through this entire thread (though I do admit to skimming a few posts). I am running RHoD in Pathfinder again. I am actually using these forums this time. I loved your Chapter 1 PDF, Antariuk. It will save me some time, and I look forward to the next one.

So I allowed my players to use anything from the Pathfinder SRD in building their characters. There was a lot of interest in Psionics, Akashic magic, and Path of War (Pathfinders ToB). The party I ended up with is sort of a strange one:

Monk 2/soulknife 3
Vizier 5
Aegis 2/Soulknife 3
Warlord 5
Psion 5

The party is pretty optimized, but lacks a true skill monkey, and while the Vizer can be a potent healer (with magic items) and an arcanist, the party also lacks both these roles (though the psion and the vizer make pretty good blasters) I know I am in store for a hard time building encounters that match them due to the strange combination of excellent optimization but the lack of traditional party roles.

I will be using Antariuk's PDF and the initial guide Saintheart put up, but I want to include some more complex pathfinder builds, especially those that use some of the same sources as my PC's.

Initially I made up some cavalier Worg riders (with Monsterous Mount, to get some mean Worgs), but they just don't feel right. I think I will stick with the rangers in Antariuk's PDF, though I may bump them a level. I did build up a pretty sweet Bladebearer with Path of War, that I am proud of. Uth-Lar did not get the chance to show off my build, due to some sharp shooting from the Parties Warlord, but I am hoping to use the Bladebearer later (specifically I am hoping to use Uth-Lar later, as he is currently a prisoner in Drellin's Ferry and will be freed when the Horde comes through.)

Anyway:

Spoiler: Bladebearer.

Show

*Note: stats reflect the bladebearer in Battle Dragon Stance, which is practically default as the other two are not as good.*

Hobgoblin Warlord 5 CR 4
LE M humanoid(Goblinoid)
Init: +6 Senses: Darkvision 60ft, Perception +9
Defense
AC: 17, touch 13, FF 14 (+3 Armor, +3 Dex, +1 shield)
HP: 49(5d10+17)
Fort: +7 Ref: +4 Will: +2
Offense
Speed: 30
Melee: 2 +1 shortswords +11 (2d6+6/19-20) and +1 shortswords +11 (2d6+6/19-20)
Manuevers Readied: Leaping Dragon, Offensive Roll, Swift Claw, Sweeping Tail, Sun Dips Low, Fangs Strike Low
Stances Known: Inner Sphere Stance, Outer Sphere Stance, Battle Dragon Stance
Gambits: Acrobatic, Sweeping, Unbreakable
Statistics
STR 16 DEX 16 CON 15 INT 8 WIS 10 CHA 12
Base Att: +5 CMB +9 CMD 22
Feats: Toughness, Two-weapon fighting, weapon focus (short sword), Two Weapon Defense, Outflank
Skills: Acrobatics +11, Climb +11, Perception +9, Stealth +8
Languages: Common, Goblin
SQ: Tactical Presence, Warleader, Tactical Flanker
Gear
2 +1 short swords, mwk studded leather

[Elder_Basilisk]

More info for the Greyhawk (Sterich) conversion.

Refer to the maps in the previous post for context
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/shows...&postcount=927

Knowledge Skills and adapted information:

Common Knowledge:

Spoiler

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Drellin’s Ferry is the westernmost outpost of human civilization in the Elsir Valley. Like most towns, it owes much of such wealth as it has to agriculture, however, the Witchwood to the west is the only significant source of lumber in Sterich and woodsmen have begun to harvest logs for sale in Bova. Before the war, a dwarf-made bridge spanned the Elsir river, and facilitated trade with the clanholds to the west but it was destroyed in the fighting. Now, woodsmen cross over the river on the ferry that gives the town its name and the dwarf road to the west has fallen into disrepair. Only in the last year have any dwarves come from the clanholds—and then only from the Coalhewer clan. No word or trade has come from the Redsteel or Silvermount clans. The Dawn Way (the road leading to Bova and from there to Istvin) is largely unpaved but is well maintained.

Drellin’s Ferry is the fief of Baron Norro Wiston, a bookish and thoughtful young man who never-the-less acquitted himself well on the field of battle during the war of liberation. Norro Wiston has taken a great interest in the economic development of the barony and along with Iormel, spearheaded the effort to establish a trade in Witchwood lumber. Militarily, he commands a small warband (around thirty armsmen) under the command of a giant northern barbarian named Soren Amroth (Soranna in the original RHOD) who he met during his brief exile. The baron places a great emphasis on militia training and regularly calls out portions of the militia to assist his armsmen with bandits, goblins, or monsters.

Bova is the largest town of Bova County and is ruled by Count Jaarmath Bova, one of the heroes of the war. Under his rule, the town has grown rapidly and the Count was able to repair the walls of his old family estate and expand them to defend his growing capital.

Count Bova’s military forces are led by Captain Lars Ulverth are called the Lion Guard. The elite of his forces are known as the Lions of Bova and each of them is said to be able to take on an ogre single-handedly.

The Temple Law. By the Marquis’ decree, all temples throughout the March of Sterich are required to charge at least the standard spellcasting service cost for magical aid (though there are exceptions for faithful and contributing members of those temples).

Knowledge: Local

Spoiler

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Drellin’s Ferry: As the town of Drellin’s ferry has grown in the last year, Baron Wiston appointed a town council to aid in the administration. The town council consists of Kellin Shadowbanks the halfling proprietor of the Old Bridge Inn, Delros Zann, a former mercenary who fought in the war of liberation and now owns the town’s livery stable, and Iormel, a merchant and financier of the largest lumber camp in the Witchwood.

Other prominent citizens include: Brother Derny, the head of the clergy of Pelor in the western portion of the county, Sertieren the wise, the head of the town’s extended halfling clan and the only wizard worth mentioning in thirty miles, and Soren Amroth, the captain of Baron Wiston’s soldiers and town constable.

The Blackfens.The eastern shore of lake Rhestin is hard to define because the lake gradually gives way to a vast wetland known as the blackfens. They tend to be marsh rather than swamp—a treeless maze of open water, reeds, and wet, grassy flats. Isolated hummocks or islets are covered with dense brush or trees.

Clanholds. Before the war, two the dwarf road through the witchwood led to three dwarven clanholds: the Coalhewer clanhold, the Redsteel clanhold and the Silvermount clanhold. Neither clanhold has contacted the humans of Sterich since the war. The Coalhewer clan opened their gates for the first time in the last year and their small expedition down the dwarf road came as a surprise to the inhabitants of Drellin’s Ferry. A fourth group of dwarves, owing allegiance to the Hammerfist clan are scattered throughout the hills and mountains south of Bova and west of Kalibac. The oldest Hammerfist holds are on the western face of the mountain and are under the lordship of Count Osric of Crystalmist county, however, since the war of liberation, the Hammerfist clan has created two new clanholds in the northern portion of the hills and their Thanes owe allegiance to Bova county.

The Crystalmists are the highest peaks in the Flanaess. Giants, ogres, orcs, goblins, and other monsters dwell amidst the range’s summits and valleys. Dwarves mine precious metals and jewels from their heart to trade with humans on both sides of the mountains.

Dauth is a sleepy hamlet of about 200 people on the border of Bova and Crystalmist counties. It is noted for its halfling population and the Tired Giant, an inn and taphouse under the proprietorship of Galadan Ryethresher.

Elsircross is a village situated on the Dawn Way between Bova and Marthton. Baron Hargil Trask runs his manor in a thuggish and dictatorial fashion, but so far has kept his depredations within bounds—his subjects endure him and his clan and Count Bova has not had occasion to depose him. He has ambitions to expand his realms—possibly by marrying one of his swaggering sons to Celiira Nesten of Talar and possibly by force.

The Haunted Vale is a maze of broken hills. Foul undead roam its heights by night and hide from the sun beneath the briars in its twisted ravines by day. Those who remember Sterich before the invasion say that it was fit for habitation before King Galmoor drove men from the land, but now only the constant vigilance of the Knights of the Vale keeps its horrors from assaulting the unwary in Bova and Crystalmist counties.

Hillwatch Keep is the closest occupied settlement to the haunted vale and is commanded by Master Caedmon of the Knights of the Vale (a branch of the Heironean Knights Victorious). While the keep is technically a fief of Bova county, and the Master of the Knights Victorious holds the rights of a Baron of Sterich, in practice, it operates independently with support from both Bova and Crystalmist counties. The Knights keep watch on the haunted vale and are supported by herdsmen serfs who were pardoned of minor crimes in return for working the fields of the keep.

Marthton is small town situated strategically in the Istvin gap along the dawn way. In the nearby hills lie a number of barrows and stone circles of a long vanished folk. It is governed by Baron Erethal Rethrew

Nimon Gap. This tiny hamlet grew around a fortified inn and waystation situated at a strategic point where the dawn way passes beside the foothills of the Crystalmist mountains. The people of the hamlet grow apples, pears, and chestnuts in orchards sheltered on the hills’ lower slopes. Nimon gap is the fief of baron Alaric Nimon but his manor is actually several miles from the inn and hamlet.

Prosser is a village located between Bova and Hillwatch keep. It owes allegiance to the master of Hillwatch Keep but its day to day affairs are governed by a council of elders.

Red Rock. Red Rock is a rough and tumble mining town where the baron and several companies work rich veins of copper ore while serving as a trading post for trappers. A clan of dwarves operates one of the mines and there are also a number of half-orcs in the town—other people clear out when they wind up in the same tavern by accident.

Talar. A small town situated between Nimon Gap and Bova, is nominally governed by Lady Celiira Nesten, a spirited young woman who was the only heir of the late Baron Nesten. Her rule is tempered by the town council which grew used to power during her father’s long decline.

Terrelton: situated about halfway between Drellin’s Ferry and Nimon Gap, Terrelton is ruled by regency Council, set up after the untimely demise of baron Ultan whose son Paedrig is only six years old. It is a rough and dirty town centered around several tanneries and has a reputation as a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Recently, a priestess of St. Cuthbert, Leille has established a chapel in the town through the intervention of some unknown political patron and her activities led to the outlawry of Thomas Kaal, formerly of the regency council for trafficking with bandits. Thomas is rumored to have fled the county two steps ahead of the hangman’s noose.

Witchcross is a large village to the east of the Rhestflow. The local baron is said to make no decision without consulting the Keepers of the Eth—a mysterious but apparently benign circle of priests. Though far from the northern mountains, the people keep an attentive watch on dangers from the Blackfens and Elnore County.

The Witchwood. Generally held to be haunted by the restless spirits of the ancient humans who once dwelled here, and known to still hold scattered bands of goblins and hobgoblins, the Witchwood is a lush, wet woodland interspersed with swampy stretches.

Outside the County:
Elnore County:
Strake Terrace commands the pass into Elnore County and is the current home of Ryce Fitzbova and the Ebon Hawks who are ostensibly employed by Count Tondhere to reinforce Baron Strake against potential threats from the Starkmounds. Ecgtheow is baron of Strake Terrace.

Crystalmist County
Kalibac is the seat of Crystalmist County and home to the venerable Count Osric, who is married to Count Bova’s aunt.

Istvin
The capital city appears to be cursed or haunted. When the army of liberation reached Istvin, they found it unharmed and empty with no sign of the giants and humanoids who had reportedly occupied it since its capture. Since then, everything in the city has seemed just a little bit off. People rarely go outside at night and when they do, they rush from house to house with drawn weapons. Some are never seen again.
The Marquis Querchard disappeared four years ago and the Marquessa has been ruling in his place with the Council of Barons. She is reclusive, rarely appearing in public. Last year, the iconic statues on the temple of Pelor cracked and fell, crushing several children—a misfortune that many have taken as an omen.

The Temple Law. Shortly after the war of liberation was completed, at the urging of the temple of Zilchus, the Marquis enacted a law that required any temple, as a condition of its establishment to charge a set minimum price for magical services and to remit a portion of that to the local baron and to the Marquis. The influence of the churches of Pelor and Heironeous was able to carve out two exceptions: no temple is required to charge money to faithful worshippers who have regularly contributed to the upkeep of the temple. Additionally, itinerant priests who are not tied to any physical shrine or temple are not required to charge for their spellcasting though they are also not permitted to advertise their services.

Knowledge: Nobility

Spoiler

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Relationships:
Local:
Baron Wiston was a young man when the March was overrun the first time and lost his father and family to King Galmoor’s horde. He salvaged enough of his family’s wealth and saved enough of his vassals to field a small company under Count Bova’s banner during the war of liberation. He is unmarried and has no heir but, and like many barons, is currently courting the Lady Celiira Nesten. As a ruler, he has proven to be a deft administrator but leaves most of the military matters to Soren. He was friendly with the late baron Ultan of Terrelton but has been at odds with the regency council since its formation.

Iormel is a wealthy merchant and moneylender who helped Baron Wiston obtain rights to the lumber of the Witchwood from Count Bova. He is a recent immigrant to Sterich, arriving from the Gran March a few years after the war of liberation and has a reputation as a miser and a skinflint, but is ambitious and can be charming when he needs to be. He is currently rumored to be negotiating with Baron Alaric Nimon to set up a sawmill at Nimon Gap. He is hoping to marry his daughter, Isolde to Baron Wiston. He also has three sons and hopes that one will be up to the challenge of managing his business interests.

In the County
Count Jaarmath Bova is a paragon of nobility. He is kind and generous and his rule has proved to be reasonably just and wise enabling his county to prosper even if he has proven inclined to skirt the law on occasion and has sometimes failed to heed the admonition that hard cases make bad law. In the war and on the tournament field, he has demonstrated extraordinary skill at arms and is thought to be the most dangerous swordsman in the county. In his most famous battle shortly after the war of liberation, he drove a black dragon to flight. He is also noted for his piety and support—primarily of the church of Pelor though he has also granted lands and rights to the church of Heironeous.

His wife, Corvina Bova passed away in a mysterious hunting accident two years ago, leaving behind a two year old daughter Cyneburga Bova. Being thus without a male heir, his barons have urged him to marry soon and many noble houses seek an alliance with him though rumors suggest a foolish love-match with the Priestess of Pelor, Tredora Goldenbrow.

Captain Lars Ulverth was a commoner from the Duchy of Urnst. In the year after Jaarmath Bova fled his family estates before the invading army, he obtained a commission in the army of Geoff. He found a capable lieutenant in Lars and invited him to be his second when King Skotti organized the army of liberation. Jaarmath his since been elevated to Count Bova and Lars has remained with his friend. He is also a widower and reputedly still mourns his wife though his position and fame would likely enable him to marry into nobility. In tournaments, he has been one of very few men to ever best Hargil Trask or to challenge Jaarmath Bova’s skill with a blade.

Baron Hargil Trask is probably the most skilled warrior of all of Count Bova’s vassals and while he and his seven sons are mostly swaggering, dictatorial braggarts, few have had opportunity to question their martial skill twice. His martial ability enabled him to press a perhaps dubious claim to the barony of Elsircross and has enabled him to get away with his actions thus far.

Immerstal the Red. The self-styled greatest wizard in the county, Imerstal is a noted alchemist, sought after tutor, scholar, and wealthy businessman.

Ryce Fitzbova. The half-brother of Count Jaarmath Bova, Ryce has a dark reputation. During the wars, he led a large warband of skirmishers named the Ebon Hawks and proved his skill in battle, however his habit of taking liberties wherever he could get away with it caught up with him two years ago and the Count banished him from Bova county. He and his mercenary warband now reside in Strake Terrace in Elnore county.

Lady Verassa Kaal. In her late thirties and widowed, the lady is the leader of the most prominent merchant house in Bova county. She is rumored to have her fingers in every pie in the county and there is certainly no love lost between the count and her.
Her children: Caelin Kaal (son), Ethelinda Kael (daughter)

Master Caedmon of the Knights of the Vale. Master Caedmon was a common footman in the army of liberation when his unit was ambushed by a goblin shaman and a company of shambling zombies. He prayed to Heironeous to grant him aid and hurled himself into the fray. Afterward, his companions reported him shouting to them in a strange language, surrounded by a celestial radiance that warded off the undeads’ attacks. After the war, he spoke of this to the Knight Chaplain of the Knights Victorious who told him he had been blessed by Heironeous. Master Caedmon took the vows of the knights and, learning of the Haunted Vale, petitioned the Knights to establish a watch there. Seven years later, he has become the master of a new chapter sponsored by the Counts of Bova and Crystalmist.

Outside the County
Count Bova and Count Osric (of Crystalmist county) are allied by marriage since the days Count Bova’s father. They worked together to establish Hillwatch Keep and generally vote the same way on the council of barons.

Count Bova and Count Tondhere (of Elnore county) have disliked each other since the war of liberation, and recent events including Count Bova’s authorization for Baron Wiston’s logging operations and his support for the Count of Steryn in a succession dispute related to the baronies near Hilden’s Grange have further exacerbated the enmity.

Count Tondhere’s hiring of Ryce Fitzbova, the bastard half-brother of Count Jaarmath Bova (and currently the only adult Bova other than Count Jaarmath) is the latest step in the escalating conflict. Most observers believe that the mercenary company is aimed at Bova county rather than potential raiders from the north.

Aragthos is an arrogant and cruel arcanist employed by Count Tondhere (for a reputedly exorbitant sum of money).

Baron Ecgtheow of Strake’s Terrace, on the other hand, is Tondhere’s most important and influential vassal and has long been a friend of Count Bova who saved his life during the war. He also chafes at the presence of Ryce and the Ebon Hawks in his town and there have already been several clashes between his armsmen and Ryce Bova’s mercenaries.

Marchioness Resbin Dren Emondav. Since the disappearance of the Marquis, the Marchioness is the titular ruler of Sterich, but she has become reclusive, rarely emerging in public and then only to announce laws passed by the council of Barons.

Conversion notes: Most of the locations have remained the same, however, there are a number of items that required adaptation:
Government. The Elsir Vale of the RHOD module is a collection of largely independent towns and cities with generally oligarchic or democratic (town councils, etc) governments. Sterich, on the other hand, is a heavily feudal society. In general, this does not require too much adaptation, but in most cases, towns are assigned a liege-lord or a reason that they are being ruled by a council such as the succession of a minor liege lord (which I used in cases where government is supposed to be weak). Note that this change does not exclude a council such as the meeting in Drellin's Ferry, but it does change its purpose and who would need to be persuaded. With Baron Wiston rather than council speaker Wiston, the council becomes advisory rather than authoritative. The module could be used as written if you assume that Baron Wiston relies heavily on the advice of his councilors or you could treat it more as a multi-sided skill contest where various council members try to influence the baron and players can try to influence the various council members or attempt to influence the baron directly.

Other important changes of note: The addition of Hillwatch Keep. Sterich does not have a Thornwaste, so the haunted vale was assigned to fill its role. Since the haunted vale is not a part of Greyhawk canon, I have decided that the Ghostlord will be an ancient ur-flan lich who was newly awakened during the recent invasion of Sterich. As a new player in the region and one closer to civilization, it makes sense that the locals would have put some effort into countering his forces. Thus the addition of Hillwatch Keep. It also provides a good background for Heironean PCs and reinforces some of the Game of Thrones flavor that I am going for in the conversion. (Also, nearly the entire population of Sterich fled or was captured or killed by the hobgoblins. So if you had been a serf, would you have left Keoland where presumably you were no longer tied to the land in order to go back to being a serf in newly liberated Sterich which still has a lot of bandits and humanoids roaming around? Or would you have stayed in Keoland or run away to be a yeoman freeholder in another part of Sterich. And if for some reason you did return to Sterich as a freeholder, would you really stay next to a dangerous, undead-haunted valley by choice or go elsewhere? It's not as though there isn't plenty of land available in more hospitable areas. So the use of what is essentially forced convict labor to support Hillwatch Keep makes sense on its own terms and not just in order to have an organization reminiscent of GRR Martin's Knight's Watch.

Spoiler: Why are the Heironeans OK with this kind of bondage?

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Aren't they Lawful Good? First, Heironeous is Lawful Good, but they don't have to be. Lawful Neutral clerics or oracles are perfectly fine with Heironeous. Secondly, it is entirely possible to see such an arrangement as a merciful commutation of what would otherwise be a harsh judicial sentence. Lawful Good characters like mercy, right? And finally, in a setting like Sterich that is sparsely populated, not especially fertile, and relatively low magic, there are very limited options for judicial punishment. Execution, maiming, banishment, outlawry, corporeal punishment such as lashings, and bondage are all credible punishments. Long term imprisonment (which is the norm for modern western societies in place of those earlier punishments) would be reserved for rare cases such as nobles. They do not have the spare manpower to guard, house, and feed significant numbers of prisoners who do not contribute to their own upkeep--not on pseudo-medieval agricultural yields. When your farm generates enough to feed your eight person family and maybe support two tradesmen in the town (a 75% farmer ratio which is very low by pre-industrial historical standards), you're not going to be very eager to feed a lot of prisoners. Most Lawful codes (whether good or otherwise) would take necessity into account.

Miscellaneous Changes: I changed Soranna to a man (Soren Amroth) and the Celiiri Nestin is no longer mentioned as a ranger. Why? Obviously, they could have been left as written, but I changed them in order to enhance the somewhat alien, historical feel and to further align the setting with the Game of Thronesesque dynastic politics that I am adding to the adaptation. By removing some of the standard contemporary fantasy elements (such as women warriors) in favor of more historical sex roles, this adds to the historical feel of the setting which is necessary in order for the dynastic politics to be credible. After all, marriage alliances, automatic disinheritance of bastards, personal rather than nationally loyal armed forces, etc are not features of the contemporary world but they were features of the medieval and ancient worlds. And making Celiiri Nestin a more traditional medievalesque woman creates another opportunity for dynastic politics in downtime scenarios. The modern, liberated ranger woman would not feel any particular need to marry and if she did, would expect to do so for love. The more traditionally medievalesque woman can more credibly feel the need to marry and to marry for political reasons (she could want to marry for love, but there would be conflict in that decision in a way that a more modern character would not credibly present), thus creating a more credible potential plot. If the society of the world feels ancient, then it is more credible for it to act in an ancient manner. In some ways, it is even better if this is jarring because it drives home the point that people will not act like moderns in Ren Faire costumes. On the other hand, if the setting feels modern, then people are more likely to expect modern behavior. If you don't like those changes and want to use this adaption, it's an easy edit to remove them.

I also removed several "retired high level adventurers" from various inns and towns. Their presence implies a long term peace that is rather inconsistent with Sterich's recent history of being completely conquered and then liberated in the last ten years. Adventurers who came to Sterich during the liberation becames barons or generals not inkeepers. Removing the retired adventurers leaves more room for emphasis on the PCs and various noble/aristocratic forces. If there is such a scene, I want it to be Baron Hargil Trask, Ryce Fitzbova, Ecgethow of Strake's Terrace or the Count Osric of Crystalmist's son/lieutenant to be the ones who the PCs find standing over the dead bodies of a sizable hobgoblin raiding party rather than a bunch of random retired adventurers with no political significance or ambitions.

The Temple Law. Clerics in D&D generally charge for their services, even if they're good aligned and like the players. Why? This is my reason: The Zilchans (who are not good aligned) made them do it.

[endur]

Running RHoD as is for 2 fairly new to 3.5 people. According to the handbook this is a bad idea. Currently throwing around ideas as to how to combat this. So far I have:

<options snipped>[*]Start them at 6/7[*]Give them more money's or a custom item that grows with them

Also, one of them wants to play a Dwarven Defender, which I believe complicates things a bit more unless they are playing some kind of trip fighter.

My comments:

1) I think two players is fine, but you will want to try one of the options above, preferably giving the players either more levels or an extra item. I really like legacy items that grow with characters. However, I prefer not giving the item, but instead having them obtain the item as the result of a quest, etc.

2) A dwarven defender is fine. It is a defensive based fighter PRC that should not complicate things. It is much more simplistic than a trip based fighter ... tripping is more complicated.

3) I note that later in the thread you mention that one of the players is going to run two PCs ... while this can work from a combat perspective, I have found that this is usually a bad option from a role-playing perspective. Very few people can effectively role play a conversation between two PCs they are running.

[endur]

More info for the Greyhawk (Sterich) conversion.

<great stuff snipped>

The Temple Law. Clerics in D&D generally charge for their services, even if they're good aligned and like the players. Why? This is my reason: The Zilchans (who are not good aligned) made them do it.

Great conversion. I liked the idea of conversion with GRRM in mind. I also agree that the former adventurers would be nobles. However, they could be landless nobles who own an inn ... many of the former adventurers may have spent their wealth on refugees or the war effort. Also many retired adventures only know inns, so it is hard to imagine them wanting another life than running the inn.

The Temple Law seems weird to me. I can't imagine any feudal noble deciding the price of a healing spell. I can understand a guild of Mages that set prices for potions ... but I don't think the various religions would cooperate enough to have a common price for a cure spell. My solution is that the churches are taxed to pay for rebuilding the country, and they deal with the taxes by requiring gold for their assistance to adventurers.

Also, are your Hillwatch Knights part of the Knights of the Watch? ... the KOTW are the pre-eminent group of knights in the Sheldomar Valley and led the liberation of Sterich.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/lgpg/20050517a

[Elder_Basilisk]

Great conversion. I liked the idea of conversion with GRRM in mind. I also agree that the former adventurers would be nobles. However, they could be landless nobles who own an inn ... many of the former adventurers may have spent their wealth on refugees or the war effort. Also many retired adventures only know inns, so it is hard to imagine them wanting another life than running the inn.

I guess we have a difference of opinion about whether retired adventurers would frequently want to run inns here. But that may not be as important as it seems. I think the high level retired adventurers are problematic for a few reasons:

1. When did they retire and why Sterich?
A. Sterich was overrun by giants less than 10 years ago and is still a depopulated and rather chaotic location. That's great for adventuring but not so great if you want to retire and leave adventuring behind you. So, adventurers who retired in Sterich probably did their adventuring in Sterich--or at least the last part of their adventuring in Sterich. No one from Greyhawk, Keoland, or the Gran March is going to move to Sterich as a nice, quiet retirement community.

B. If the adventurers who retired in Sterich were probably already in Sterich, you ask how many adventurers in Sterich would have been ready to retire. Since almost the entire population of Sterich fled or was enslaved 9-10 years ago, you can limit the pool to people who retired 5-7 years ago. Probably 4-5 years ago on the Crystalmist frontier. If they were already retired when Sterich was liberated, they probably died or stayed wherever they settled as refugees. Adventurers generally don't have really strong ties to the land and, the prospect of fighting in the liberation and rebuilding wouldn't be attractive to people who want to and are ready to leave the life behind them.

C. Of those adventurers who fit the shrinking category of candidates, Sterich being Sterich where titles of nobility were a dime a dozen before the war and where titles and land are now even more readily available, a lot of them would be able to leverage their success (especially during the war of liberation) into lands and titles. A successful adventurer who wanted to become a baron or baronet could do so. (In my conversion, this is exactly how Hargil Trask became a baron). Even if they didn't want that, there are plenty of nobles who would like a court wizard (Argathos probably followed that route), captain of the guard, master of arms, or champion, and the local temples seem like the natural place for clerics to land. Roguish types are more flexible but the rebuilding Sterich would have broken up existing power structures enough for clever and able rogues to start a crime syndicate or legitimate business. (But rogues also have the skillset to be barons, etc as well).

D. So now we're left with a group of adventurers who fought in the war of liberation, retired after it, but weren't interested in rulership, being a guard captain/master at arms, clergy, court wizard or "businessman."

E. For my part, I don't think there's anything left after we got through D. But if there is, (and this is where our disagreement arrives), why would they be interested in running an inn. How many bed and breakfast owners do you know who used to work for Blackwater? Is hotel management a common career track for retired navy seals and army rangers? Adventurers may frequent bars and inns but that doesn't mean that they want to run one or have the skillset for it. I would see them being more inclined to start farms, ranches, weaponsmithies, trading companies, martial academies, wizard schools, etc.

Independent of those concerns, there is a question of narrative impact. High level adventurers operating independently of the political power structure and without an obvious stake in the political game reduce the impact of that game. If you want to emphasize the game of thrones, to some degree, the players should feel the pressure to take sides and should feel like everyone is on one side or another--no one of consequence sits out entirely. But if you have a group of retired level 8-10 adventurers sitting on the sidelines in an inn, sitting out the game, not taking sides, and finding allies who are not a part of the game seems like a much more credible possibility. Also, in the Red Hand of Doom, even with age penalties, that group of adventurers could make more of a difference than the PCs (at least prior to the siege of Brindol/Bova--at that point, the PCs should be a bit better once age penalties are considered) if they chose to and presumably their skills are known, so I would expect people to have asked them to fight in defense of their home. Since my conversion has Tyrgarun going to the pass where they live in order to prevent or delay any reinforcements from Istivin, it would be easy enough to say, "Tyrgarun eats them all--narrative problems solved" but I think not having the problem at all is better.

Now running the adventure in the default Elsir Vale of the RHOD as published, I'd probably overlook it--retired adventurers running inns is after all at timeworn adventuring trope, but if I'm converting the adventure, I'm going to retire the trope in favor of something more credible.

The Temple Law seems weird to me. I can't imagine any feudal noble deciding the price of a healing spell. I can understand a guild of Mages that set prices for potions ... but I don't think the various religions would cooperate enough to have a common price for a cure spell. My solution is that the churches are taxed to pay for rebuilding the country, and they deal with the taxes by requiring gold for their assistance to adventurers.

It was actually very common for medieval governments to set minimum prices for goods and services, grant monopolies, etc. Nurenburg was governed by a city council rather than a noble, but had set prices for just about everything and banned new technologies that would disrupt the economy (they banned a new method of pin production that made them much cheaper and easier to manufacture). Sumptuary laws were another example of medieval and early modern attempts at economic intervention. "The peasants and merchants are spending too much money on clothes and weddings, some of them are going bankrupt to keep up with the Joneses; let's prohibit them from wearing expensive fancy clothing and limit the amount of money they can spend on weddings." (At least that was the official justification for such laws in early modern Germany--and the Doppelhander Landsknecht exemption to sumptuary laws was based on the principal, "eh, they're going to die soon anyway, let them have their fun." Hence "Max (the emperor) said we could.")

My inclination would be to suggest that the minimum prices were actually determined by the church of Zilchus and prominent local wizards (or guilds) who then convinced the Marquis to give them force of law (probably in return for generous terms on a loan--rebuilding a March doesn't fund itself after all--and neither do a Marquis' vices). Thus it is an example of politics and competition among religions rather than cooperation between them. The Zilchans pressed for the law (possibly with assistance from the temple of Wee Jas) and bribed the Marquis and members of the Council of Barons in order to get it. They won. The Pelorites and Heironeans opposed the law. They lost. But they did manage to convince the marquis to put an exception for official members of the temple and for itinerant priests in. (And the exceptions worked because the Zilchans see temple membership as paying for services on an installment plan and trying to enforce the temple law against itinerant (especially adventuring) clerics and wizards would be impossible).

But the Pelorites and Heironeans use those loopholes extensively. For Pelorites, they typically use the membership exemption. The cost of temple membership in their temple is up to them and they give membership to poor congregants for very low donations. The Heironeans make more use of the itinerant exemption. When a Heironean priest or paladin goes on a quest or pilgrimage, he officially leaves the temple and has no fixed abode and is thus not covered under the temple law. (When he returns, he formally places himself back under the authority of the establishment in order to demonstrate compliance with the law). Since quests, pilgrimages, and crusades are what Heironeans do, they largely evade the law that way.

Also, are your Hillwatch Knights part of the Knights of the Watch? ... the KOTW are the pre-eminent group of knights in the Sheldomar Valley and led the liberation of Sterich.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/lgpg/20050517a

That would probably be a good idea. Honestly I didn't think of it but I might just steal it. It would be a small edit. My initial idea was that it is basically the local temple of Heironeous. My thought was that, the Zilchan "church" is organized and operates like a multinational corporation, the Pelorite church is organized more or less like the Roman Catholic Church, and the Heironeans are organized like the Knights Templar and therefore Heironean clergy=brother knight. So, Heironeans don't have "churches" or "cathedrals", they have chapterhouses and fortresses.

How would you adjust the lore I posted in order to make the Hillwatch Knights a part of the Knights of the Watch? And is the pseudo masonic character of the Knights of the Watch consistent with the mystic (Heironean Oracle of Battle with tongues curse if you read between the lines) character I've assigned to Master Caedmon?

[endur]

That would probably be a good idea. Honestly I didn't think of it but I might just steal it. It would be a small edit. My initial idea was that it is basically the local temple of Heironeous. My thought was that, the Zilchan "church" is organized and operates like a multinational corporation, the Pelorite church is organized more or less like the Roman Catholic Church, and the Heironeans are organized like the Knights Templar and therefore Heironean clergy=brother knight. So, Heironeans don't have "churches" or "cathedrals", they have chapterhouses and fortresses.

How would you adjust the lore I posted in order to make the Hillwatch Knights a part of the Knights of the Watch? And is the pseudo masonic character of the Knights of the Watch consistent with the mystic (Heironean Oracle of Battle with tongues curse if you read between the lines) character I've assigned to Master Caedmon?

I would probably just say "The Hillwatch Knights are a branch of the KOTW." I've have the Hillwatch Knights wear tabards of KOTW. If was really motivated, I'd make up KOTW titles for the prominent Hilllwatch characters, like All Seeing Griffin Master Caedmon. But nobody ever pays attention to KOTW titles unless they are playing a KOTW player character.

Heironeous is the primary God worshipped by KOTW characters, so there shouldn't be a large flavor difference.

The only other in-game impact, is that the Hillwatch Knights might send a request for reinforcements to the Gran March or Keoland (but the KOTW may be too committed elsewhere to send reinforcements).

[Elder_Basilisk]

I would probably just say "The Hillwatch Knights are a branch of the KOTW." I've have the Hillwatch Knights wear tabards of KOTW. If was really motivated, I'd make up KOTW titles for the prominent Hilllwatch characters, like All Seeing Griffin Master Caedmon. But nobody ever pays attention to KOTW titles unless they are playing a KOTW player character.

Heironeous is the primary God worshipped by KOTW characters, so there shouldn't be a large flavor difference.

The only other in-game impact, is that the Hillwatch Knights might send a request for reinforcements to the Gran March or Keoland (but the KOTW may be too committed elsewhere to send reinforcements).

I don't think I'd have to worry about any request for assistance impacting the storyline. Once the Red Hand menace is apparent, they move too quickly for reinforcements to arrive from the Gran March or Keoland even if they requested assistance via a sending and the reinforcements set out that day. Lack of reinforcements from Kalibac (they replace the Shining Axes), Istivin (politics + Tyrgarun holding the pass), and Strake Terrace (politics) needs to be explained. But the Knights of the Watch in Gran March or Keoland can't save Bova; they can only hope to help contain the problem if the PCs fail--Or maybe provide a high level replacement PC for the final chapter if someone kicks the bucket during the siege and can't/doesn't want to be raised.

As for the Hillwatch Knights themselves, I plan to have them be overrun by the Ghostlord if the PCs don't kill or buy him off. (I was thinking of having a one session or a half-session interlude where the players play pre-gen knights and squires and try to sell their lives as dearly as possible. That would serve to foreshadow the ghostlord's presence at the battle of Bova and increase the tension). If the PCs do go to treat with the ghostlord, they will encounter the Hillwatch Knights on the way and probably stay at the keep for one night on the way there and back.

[Kanthalion]

So, we just finished the Ghostlord tonight. It was awesome! I played the reformed angle, but they were so spooked that he might up and change his mind that the party left without ever finding the treasure room. They got the sending from Sellyria and are riding hard for Brindol. They should arrive the day before the Horde. I decided now would be a good time to throw The Not-So-Sick Spy at them. My problem is, they bought her story: Hook, line, and sinker. In fact they decided to make her the new face character in their party (my bard decided some job offer in San Francisco was more important than staying in Denver to be the party talker.)

Unless I've missed it, I haven't seen much talk about what people have done with her in that situation. Any ideas or suggestions would be great. The book isn't very helpful.

[Elder_Basilisk]

So, we just finished the Ghostlord tonight. It was awesome! I played the reformed angle, but they were so spooked that he might up and change his mind that the party left without ever finding the treasure room. They got the sending from Sellyria and are riding hard for Brindol. They should arrive the day before the Horde. I decided now would be a good time to throw The Not-So-Sick Spy at them. My problem is, they bought her story: Hook, line, and sinker. In fact they decided to make her the new face character in their party (my bard decided some job offer in San Francisco was more important than staying in Denver to be the party talker.)

Unless I've missed it, I haven't seen much talk about what people have done with her in that situation. Any ideas or suggestions would be great. The book isn't very helpful.

When I played through the game, we ran into her earlier, also fell for the story and invited her to join the party. She seduced my character (admittedly easy because he coupled Captain Kirk's approach to relationships with a wisdom penalty) and set the party up for the barghest assassins and set us up in a few other encounters we didn't realize. The cleric eventually figured it out but we weren't all on the same page so there were some long term trust issues after he killed her in her sleep (CDG with a searing light spell) and she didn't turn into the spider-woman like he thought she would.

At your stage of the adventure, she probably doesn't have time to set the party up for the assassins, but would welcome the chance to subtly undermine the defense of Brindol in the meeting (she might think that Lord Jaarmath's idea of a cavalry skirmish outside the city (assuming you go with the non-idiotic version of the outside the city engagement) is a great idea and play up the aspects of it that could be a good idea (the Red Hand cavalry is much weaker than Brindol's, so they could harrass and slow their deployment). If she's the face, she might be able to get the party's telepathic link too. During the siege is when she would really strike. If she could find a reason to slip away from the party during the giant attack (if she has the telepathic link, she could pretend that she got a message and is going away to reinforce somewhere else since the party has that encounter in hand), opening the city gate is probably the most useful thing she could do for the Red Hand. Then she could show up in the final encounter or the streets of blood. (If running the siege as written).

[Kanthalion]

Good suggestions. I like them all. Especially her going and opening the gate.

[Seruvius]

Currently running RHOD for some Uni friends and hits Handbook has been a great resource, but then I'm shure you've been told that enough already.

One of my party is playing a Female Bard called Lexxi Cockfight who basically looks like a Kiss fangirl. After Meeting Warklegnaw and managing to destroy Skull Gorge Bridge with a summoned Thoqqua, he decided to be a Bard IRL and composed a pretty sweet poem while waiting for his turns in the combat. Though I would share them here =)

Spoiler: The Ballad of Old Warklegnaw - Lexxi Cockfight. Contains Profanity

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Old Warklegnaw, my one-eyed friend
He guards The Witchwood until his end
Still the proud king of the Twist-Tusk Tribe
With power more mighty than I could ever describe

In glory days he would raid Vraath Keep
Chaos and destuction he did reap
But Amery Vraath is a loathsome guy
Snuck in at night and took Wark's eye

Nothing could stop you though, Warklegnaw
You took up arms and went back to war
And the mighty prevailed, let it be said
Because you still live, and that ****er's dead

Spoiler: The Fall of Skull Gorge Bridge - Lexxi Cockfight

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Twas goblin guarded, patrolled by hell’s hound
The only pass over the deep scar in the ground
A mighty green dragon sat atop of the tower
With breath of acid as its fearsome power

But a sneaky druid, covered in feather
He had a plan that was really quite clever
Perch on a tower, no heads would turn
As he sneakily summoned a fiery worm

The dragon was fought off by the Luminous Order
Her green scales no match against those who fought her
The hound was less lucky, could not run away
Only the dragon lived to see a new day

Another hound rushed from the other side
But the bridge gave way, so that puppy died
The hideous goblins were stopped for the day
But those craft ****s will find a new way

[Saintheart]

Hey guys, long time no see!

I've had a long hiatus for reasons I won't get into, but I thought I'd contribute at least some of my thoughts and outcomes on the last elements of the Battle of Brindol and on the Fane of Tiamat.

(1) Firstly, I think I'm fairly concrete in my opinion now that a party with fifth-level spells, either from the Mage or Cleric list, are very difficult to control in the Battle of Brindol if they're savvy or have a good idea of which spells are the most effective out of that selection. In my case, Confusion spells and Polymorph were the serious undoing of a couple of encounters: the party barbarian was turned into a treant and the party beatstick cleric turned into a Cave Troll, which rendered encounters a lot less challenging than I'd thought. Combine that with Dispel Magic, Overland Flight, and so on and it wasn't much of a challenge to win the battle. I'd heartily recommend people keep the starting levels of the campaign lower, at character level fifth if possible and avoid sixth if you can. With fifth level magic, the ability to seriously influence the battle starts to get a bit overwhelming, and that comes online at about level 9 and 10.

(2) That said, I did manage to get a couple of scares for a couple of spellcasters. This I did via by turning an element of the Streets of Blood to include a wave of hobgoblin duskblades (i.e. hobgoblins built as Duskblades, not the MM V version) who focused on ranged throwing, and who hurled a combination of tanglefoot bags (which shuts down uberchargers because you can't charge or run) and a slightly-modded version of the harpoon from Stormwrack. This is a nasty weapon that does as much damage being pulled out as in, and it does evil stuff against flying characters.

(3) I'd like to think the climax of the campaign was still effective: my players wound up fighting the last battle against Wyrmlord Kharn at the gates of Brindol themselves. I'd upgunned him pretty seriously as a DMM tank with the Death Knight template applied, but he suffered very badly from a total lack of spellcasting support. I think that will be a recommendation I put into the handbook in future -- that he seriously needs at least one fellow spellcaster in there to offset the pinging of half a hundred spells at him by the party's arcanists and clerics.

(4) Due to campaign fatigue and sheer strength of magical options, I started losing players by the end of the game. Understandable given it had been going for the better part of 5 years in PbP. A confession: I got overfrustrated at one point and invoked Rule Zero to keep the party cleric knocked down at one point, which I think annoyed a lot of people and which didn't help, but I'd just gotten frustrated as a DM with spending hours and hours of time dreaming up the best creatures I could come up with only to have them disposed of with a raised eyebrow and a flick of the fingers. In hindsight I should've really just let the issue go and remembered the players seemed to still be having fun.

(5) Either way, the Fane of Tiamat became noneventful mainly due to the combination of Scrying and Teleport. See, the thing about the Fane is that it's wholly unprotected against teleport spells. So if the party wants to shortcut past all the monsters of the Fane and get to Azarr Kul -- who is, or should be, an individual that they know and therefore a valid target of the spell -- they can viably do so by literal scry-and-die tactics. Provided the party gets appropriate rewards and resources, I'm actually not all that fussed by this approach in hindsight: the Fane remains a bit of a weird postscript to the Battle of Brindol, and the main thing the Fane seems to do is fill in, just a little, the backstory to Azarr Kul and why he was doing all this to begin with. I can't really tell you much mechanically about how the game would've worked out because, again, campaign fatigue had set in. We freeformed our way through the last encounter. I'd thrown in a Cornugon and Legion Devils, and this was the model I had originally scheduled for him:

Spoiler

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15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
Racials: +2 DEX, +2 CON (hobgoblin)
Char Level increases: +1 to two stats at each fourth level reached
Darkvision 60 feet

STR 12 (+1)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 8 (-1)
WIS 17 (+3)
CHA 15 (+2)

Half-dragon
Lowlight vision 60 feet
Immunity sleep, paralysis
Immune electricity
+8 STR, +2 CON, +2 INT, +2 CHA
+4 to Natural Armor
Racial HD rise by 1 category
Type dragon
Gains Claw, bite attacks: 1d6 bite damage, 1d4 claw damage (Full attack if unarmed: claw, claw bite; if armed, weapon, bite, claw)
Breath weapon 6d8 (DC 10+5+CON mod Reflex save for half)

STR 20 (+5)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 18 (+4)
INT 10 (+0)
WIS 17 (+3)
CHA 17 (+3)

Cleric 11

Size: Large
Type: Dragon
Stats: STR 30 (+10) DEX 22 (+6) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 23 (+6) CHA 21 (+5)

HD/hitpoints: 11d10+CON = 3x10 + 8x10 + 5x11 = 165/165 (Temp hitpoints: 11)
Speed: 30 feet (60 feet with wings, average maneuverability)
AC: 10 +6 [DEX] +4 [Natural Armor] +5 [Dragonskin] -1 [Vulnerable] -1 [Size] +3 [deflection] +8 [Armoured loincloth] +3 [Magic Vestment to loincloth] +1 [Monk AC bonus] = 38
Space/Reach: 10 x 10 / 10 feet
Initiative: +6
BAB: +11/+6/+1
Attack: Melee: +11 + 10 -1 size +3 luck = +23/+18/+13
Ranged: +11 +6 -1 +3 = +19/+14/+9
Melee Damage: 3d6 [unarmed] +10 [STR] +3 luck +2d6 vs good = 3d6+13 +2d6 [good]
Special Attacks:
-- Claw, bite attacks: 1d8 bite damage, 1d6 claw damage (Full attack if unarmed: claw, claw bite; if armed, weapon, bite, claw)
-- Breath weapon 6d8 (DC 10+5+CON mod Reflex save for half) 60 foot line, lightning


Special Qualities:
--Immune electricity, sleep, paralysis, blinding, dazzling
--Darkvision and lowlight vision 60 feet
--DR 3/good
--Energy Resistance 20 (electricity)

TU attempts: 3 + CHA mod = 8.

Saves:
FORT: +7 +5 [CON] +2 +3 [luck] = 27
REF +3 +6 [REF] +2 +3 [luck] = 24
WILL +7 +6 [WIS] +2 resistance bonus +3 [luck] = 28


Feats:
1 (Starting Character feat: Craft Magic Item) (Flaw feat – Vulnerable, -1 to AC: Wand Mastery , i.e. +2 to DC, +2 to ECL of spell) (Flaw feat – Murky Eyed, roll miss chance on concealment twice: Arcane Schooling – PGtF, can activate spell trigger items as if had 1 level in Wizard.)
2 (Level feat: Maximise Spell)
3
4 (Level feat: Twin Spell) (+1 to 2 stats - done)
5
6 (Level feat: Energy Substitution [electricity])
7
8 (Level feat Reckless Wand Wielder, i.e. +2 to CL of a wand’s spell for an extra charge from the Wand) (+1 to two stats - done)
9
10 (Level feat: Zen Archery)
11


Gear: (228,000 gp)
- Wand of Orb of Acid (10,500 gp or so)
- Metamagic Wandgrip (6,000) – apply any 1 metamagic feat you know to a spell from a wand, 3 times per day.
- Rod of Many Wands (27,000 gp): contains 3 x Orb of Fire Wands (Energy Substituted to Electricity.) (3 x 10,500 gp)
- Gloves of Storing (10,000 gp)
- Monk’s Belt combined with Belt of Battle (30,000 gp): AC and unarmed damage of 5th level monk, i.e. 1d8 unarmed strike damage (2d6 at Large size – 3d6 from Improved Natural Attack) and +1 Monk AC bonus
- Periapt of Wisdom +6 (32,000 gp)
- Loincloth of +8 Armor (15,000 gp) – per p.234, MIC. Counts as the body slot.
- Fanged Ring (Dragon Magic) – Gains Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Natural Attack (Unarmed Strike) feat. If critical hit with unarmed strike, deal 1 point of CON damage. (10,000)
- Necklace of Natural Weapons – Unholy enhancement, i.e. does +2d6 damage vs. good alignment and bypasses DR/good. i.e. Fists are now unholy.

Spells: CL 11 and 23 WIS: At-will/7+1/6+1/5+1/4+1/3+1/2+1
Fiery Vision (6), Eyes of the Oracle (6)
Flame Strike (5), Surge of Fortune (5), Righteous Wrath of the Faithful (5)
Touch of the Blackened Soul (4) (Dragon Magic)
Grace (3), Dispel Magic (3), multiple
Hand of Divinity (2), Darkbolt (2)
Guiding Light (1), Resurgence (1)

(I also had been intending to give him a super potion to power him up quickly - more about that below - but that potion would have had the following in it:)

The Super Potion:
Recitation: +3 luck bonuses to saves of all allies.
Divine Power: BAB rises to CL 11, +6 enhancement bonus to STR, 11 temp HP
Righteous Might: Size goes to Large, +4 size bonus to STR, +2 size bonus to CON, +2 enhancement bonus to natural armor (doesn’t stack), DR 3/good, Size/Reach goes to 10 x 10, -1 size mod to AC, attack bonus, damage category goes up by 1.
Freedom of Movement: freedom of movement!
Protection from Good: +2 deflection bonus to AC (see Shield of Faith), +2 resistance bonus on saves.
Divine Favour: +3 luck bonus on attack, weapon damage rolls.
Shield of Faith: +3 deflection bonus to AC
Vision of the Omniscient Eye: Immune blinding, dazzling.
Eagles Splendour: +4 to CHA
Divine Agility: +10 to Dexterity
Magic Vestment: +3 enhancement bonus to clothing AC.
Dragonskin (Draconomicon): gives +5 enhancement bonus to natural armor. Blue scale, Energy Resistance 20 to electricity.

Obviously there's some house rules influencing that build, and I'd more or less thrown out gold piece limits by this stage since it was the end of the campaign and Kul was the leader of a major army. This build I had in mind to try and make interesting by making him a wand wielder focused on different forms of elemental damage, and be largely unarmed (his "loincloth +8" ... don't laugh ... being his basic armour.) so the party is confronted with a real nutcase, a real shamanistic sort of a guy.

That said, as with Kharn, Azarr Kul lacks some serious spellcasting support, and I can only shake my head at James and Rich's blithe assertion that Kul's Antilife Shell should give Kharn plenty of time to cast lots of self-buffs and get ready to fight. That's what the superpotion was meant to do -- basically get Kul to buff up in one round and last more than a round or two. Instead of erinyes I did have in mind to put in five powered-down, lower-level copies of Kul focusing on an elemental theme of magic so they could each deal out an occasional readied Dispel Magic against the party's casters. As said I didn't have a chance to run this against a party as such, but there you have it.

Still, I can legitimately say I did finish out RHOD. Finally.

For the future
I've been looking at the thread on and off, and I can see there's a hell of a lot of material that should go into the handbook at the front of the thread, but there is a subject I did want to bring up with those of you still watching the thread. Namely: is it getting high time to produce a new, expanded handbook, or should we continue to try and shoehorn bits and pieces in? I don't know if the character limits to posts still remain (the Ghostlord section of the handbook is bumping right up against it at the moment) but how do you guys see a bigger handbook? In particular, how do we see a bigger handbook that remains accessible for people so they don't have to read something the size of RHOD in order to run RHOD? Any thoughts?

[Saintheart]

Just logging some long-needed changes here: Antariuk's map and site are now referred to in the front of the thread, where they definitely belong; added some discussion on Ulwai; linked and added Elder_Basilisk's excellent discussion on running RHOD in Greyhawk; added (finally) some alternatives for Varanthian as a dragon; added a restatting Khul section, which is perforce brief thanks to my not getting to actually run the encounter per se. This is a lot more complete than it was.

[Antariuk]

Thank you Saintheart

Sorry for being so late with a reply, I don't even have a good excuse other than that I simply forgot (but I'm on it). Oh well.
Regarding your points and questions about RHoD and this handbook:

(1) This is probably even more true in Pathfinder. As many people know the power ceiling isn't as high but the room is considerarbly wider than before and a crafty party has a wide range of special abilities that can render any kind of encounter null and void or cause some other kind of headache for the GM. Maybe we should lay out some general advise regarding the most common PC class abilities and spells that might influence the battle?

(2) Yay for tanglefoot bags!

(3) I think this something that differs wildly in each game since some players might have exhausted their characters pretty much when Kharn arrives and some additional spellcasting might just be total overkill. But for veteran players this sounds like a sound idea.

(4) Been there, it's not pretty but sadly it's part of the trials of being GM.

(5) That was my assessment (and that of many others in this thread) as well. I mean, you don't even have to try at that point to dig up exotic spells, standard divination crap from the PHB (or CRB with Pathfinder) should yield all kinds of answers for inquiring PCs at that level.

Future: good question... this handbook is well established with links in all major RPG messageboards and who knows how many blogs and websites, so updating it would probably be the most effective medium-term solution. Long-term I think a completely new handbook thread might not be a bad idea but sifting through the massive amounts of useful advise and ideas in here is no small task.

[Talesin]

Just want to echo the praise for this handbook and those that have contributed to it. It's been a real help for the 2-3 sessions my group has played so far and I plan on keeping up to date with it as I move through the rest of the game as and when we get a chance to play. I'm playing it in pathfinder and i'll try and update on what i've changed as I go through it.

Apologies for the wall of text, I got a bit carried away.

My party, all started at level 4 and have just hit 6 after the first roadblock but they won't level again for a while:

• Half Orc Barbarian 6 - He hits hard, really hard, but he is very fragile and the cleric spends most of the fight saving his bacon. The most experienced player I have, though he's barely played a year. Get's quite frustrated at the 'ranged' type encounters as he likes just destroying things with his axe.
• Elven Fighter 6 - He was previously a trip fighter wielding a shield but decided to drop the shield and mainly go for damage. Totally new to the game but he's currently the 'tank' in terms of having the highest AC and hit points, barbarian rolled awfully for hit points. He does a surprisingly large amount of damage when power attacking with the fighter feats + weapon training.
• Human Ranger 6 - Her favoured enemy is Hobbos and as such she absolutely powers through the regulars. Sniped 3 of the 4 guards off the Skull Bridge towers in about as many rounds but then struggled against Regi. Again a totally new player to the game but she's got the hang of full attacking and using her pet cat (based on her real life pet so she's worried about it dying) to protect her.
• Dwarven Cleric 6 - He loves playing the support role so he's primarily a healer for the group despite us urging him to try and be a bit more offensive in combat. The only caster for the group, primarily uses Doom, Spiritual Weapon and Bless while healing. Totally new player to the game.
• Halfling Rogue 6 - Easily my favourite character out of the bunch as the player is a huge risk taker. He's got his acrobatics up to insane levels and spends his time tumbling around combat. Even jumped between two towers on Skull Bridge (on the same side of the ravine) because he said it would look 'badass and intimidate the defenders'. Again a new player to the game.

Campaign Hook

The previous campaign had a white dragon as the final boss so I dropped a note in the dragon's treasure haul to fly up north to meet Wyrmlord Koth at Vraath Keep where he would get his payment and could then meet up with the Horde. I liked how this played out as I was able to get that 'fifth' dragon in and also allow the party to get a reason to go to the keep, both money and killing the pesky dragon!

Even better, for me anyway, was that the dragon escaped the fight with the party so he will be showing up at some point to harass the PCs later on in the campaign!

First Encounter

They steamrolled the first encounter dropping most of the Hobbos in the trees very quickly. The Hellhounds were useless despite getting a breath off. The cleric went invisible and escaped so I allowed him to go report back to Koth so he knew about these new adventurers.

I was using this as a test encounter. They were coming in at 4, though leveled up before they got to Koth due to being close to leveling from the previous campaign (which was the first D&D game ever for 4 of them). Having 5 players I knew I needed to buff the encounters up but with them all, apart from 1, being new players I wasn't sure how much. Turns out they'll need a few more minions to soak up attacks or the fun 'leader' types are going to go down in a round or two.

Drellin's Ferry

The encounters here went fine and they hadn't really had many conversations with NPCs before (the previous campaign was a slog up the mountain so not many opportunities here) so was able to try and get them to make friends with Wiston and Soranna. I told them about Jorr and they marched off to meet him the next day.

Jorr

I played Jorr just as the handbook advised, a very "Get off my Lawn!" kind of guy and they loved it. They spent a fair time arguing with him while trying to get his help, he wasn't trying to be helpful of course, and they finally mentioned Hobgoblins around the time they were talking about killing him so I had him latch on to the fact he'd seen some of them in 'his' woods and he'd help them get rid of them.

Vraath Keep

I didn't change too much here except I put another hobbo in the barracks and changed Koth into a blaster as the party tends to just pile in to a small area and haven't really experienced enemies using AOE spells against them. The manticore sat on top of the keep walls and was watching for a turn or two before the ranger decided to start volleying arrows at him. I had him fire a few spike bursts at them before he saw one of them slay Koth and then he flew away.

Overall it was a great fight as the minotaur went toe to toe with the barbarian while the hobbos held up the rest of the party. The Cleric had to blow his channel energies healing some of the hobbos in order to keep the Barbarian up in the fighter. (In pathfinder channel energy is an AOE heal/damage to undead spell but you can't choose who not to affect until you have the correct feats, which the cleric didn't at this time).

Koth almost dropped the Rogue and Ranger with a well placed fireball during the fight and it really shook the party up realising that they're not just fighting "sh**** old goblins anymore" (their words, not mine :P). They found the haul under the keep that I changed to a +1 frost dagger for the Rogue who was quite down on damage. There's a few other bits I handed out but I can't remember off hand what it was.

They loved getting the map that Koth had drawn on. A lot of speculation was done there from how long they were into the game "It says day 5 at Drellins.. we've been going for 3.. I wonder.." and what all of the words meant "Saarvith... never heard of it.."

Old Warklegnaw

Again I was a little worried they'd just go in there and kill him so I had Jorr interject a bit saying he knew of the old giant but he allowed him to stay in 'his' forest because he kept himself to himself. They had a good talk with him and were really concerned that he was sick (cleric rolled high on his heal check) but that they couldn't do anything to save him. They offered him the gauntlet, was really happy they put two and two together there, so he agreed to help them out

Skull Gorge Bridge

The Rogue snuck up to the bridge, insane stealth roll with lousy perception checks from both Hobbos and the Hell Hound (restatted to a Dire Wolf with a breath weapon), allowed him to get on to the tower and sneak attack one of the look-outs before the alarm went up.

The Ranger dropped the Hobbo on the second tower and the Barbarian (curse his fast movement) charged and killed the Hell Hound in a single round before dropped the other dog the next round. They really need to be buffed up in pathfinder as my group just do far far too much damage.

The Hobgoblins didn't provide much threat, a well timed Sound Burst (or some aoe sonic spell) stopped most of the reinforcements in their tracks and they were mainly just a speed bump in their inevitable taking of the bridge. Well if Ozzy hadn't stepped in (I didn't change him at all at this point).

His first breath hit 3 of them and the Ranger's cat, which would've been 1 shot if she hadn't saved for half. This put the real fear in to the group and when he flew off back to his tower to drink his potion of invisibility they considered retreating. A second breath hit another 4, though the Rogue evasion saved for 0 damage. The cleric had been chucking out healing like no tomorrow for most of this fight and if he hadn't we would've had at least 1 PC death, probably more.

Up to this point the Ranger had been sat on the tower just firing into the battle so I had Ozzy fly in and attack her. A single bite and then full attack later the Ranger was quite injured, which I was happy about as she'd previously had the attitude of "i'm at the back, who's going to attack me? I don't need defenses". Ozzy was quite low at this point so I had him turn and run. The final shot of the fight the Ranger missed and Ozzy got away with 3 hit points. I'm going to bring him back during the Brindol battle.

Cinder Hill

They saw the horde at Cinder Hill and I made sure to hammer home the size of the army here.

Back at Drellin's Ferry

This was quite anticlimactic in my opinion. They were very very adamant from the second they stepped in to town that they had to get out NOW and people needed to come with them. I tried to slow them down a little by informing them that they couldn't authorise the evacuation without a meeting of the town council and one of the members was two days ride away however this was a huge misplay as they lost their temper a little bit with how 'stupid' the people were being.

A quick band aid fix of just calling the meeting the next morning anyway due to the severity of the situation meant they pitched their ideas to the council, who was more or less the people at the previous encounter anyway as they are all there. They advocated for immediate evacuation, which meant they were going to miss out on a lot of the encounters at the Ferry itself but i'll recycle them for later on.

I had to bring the rider in to town soon after the meeting as they were planning on leaving and wouldn't really have had anywhere to go aside from just aimlessly riding from town to town (reinforces what is said in the handbook about needing a good hook to move on). I told them about the blockades to the north and was able to get the rider to take a copy of the map to Brindol, which meant they then stuck around town another day helping people evacuate their homes before riding off north to sort out the blockades.

Blockade

They've only cleared one, and I think i'm going to keep it at that while giving them 2 VP for the encounter as I don't think the second one adds much to the story. I added a Doom Hand Cleric to the palisade in order to buff the encounter up a bit. I also changed the Ogres into Ogre Brutes from the Monster Codex (About half way down on this page).

I replaced their greataxes with greatclubs and didn't have them rage as I was 100% sure i'd drop a PC especially after the Barbarian decided to scale the walls to get on to the roof leaving the other four down the bottom as the Ogres burst through the front gate after finding their javellins ineffective. I also kept all of their gear as the same in the book rather than giving them the gear listed on the Ogre page.

They provided a great fight and the party wisely trapped them in the door so they fought only one at a time. The Ogres dropped the fighter into negatives and cleaving the rogue gave him a very interesting decision of does he stand next to the fighter so he could get the flank with the cat on the other side or does he spread out to not get cleaved? I totally forgot to have a look at the Skullcrusher Ogres but I think they worked out well.

What Next?

The Greenspawn Razorfiend encounter i've buffed slightly. The Razorfiend has pounce but i'm going to limit who he goes for to the higher health members of the group. If he gets a second round of combat, which I can't imagine he will, i've given him Ability Focus for his breath weapon to up the DC. I want to convey that these beasts are meant to be a huge boon to the horde so when they destroy the hatchery they are having an actual effect on the game.

Elves will be kept more or less as written, I think that'll work for my players.

At Rhest i'm going to bump Regi up as suggested and keep him in the air just harassing the players while they deal with the ground troops.

Saarvith i'm in 2 minds about. I was thinking of making him a Plant Domain Druid and then using the reeds in the water to entangle the PCs as they are on the boardwalk, potentially using Ice Storm to make the outside part a real problem for the PCs. He can then wildshape into an ape and grow thorns all over his body(as per the Cleric Plant Domain power) while he melees the PCs.

I've attached an incomplete stat block I threw together last night as a quick idea. Still needs some work but it's an idea to start with. Would also allow him to buff Regi with Barkskin and I quite like the idea of surprising them with the ape being a druid. It does take away from Saarvith's archer character a bit though..

Spoiler: Saarvith Druid 7

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Saarvith
LE Medium Goblin (Humanoid)
Druid 7 Plant Domain
Init +3;
Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision
Languages Common, Goblin
AC 18 (+3 dex, +4 armour, +1 size), Ape 15 (+2 dex, +4 natural, -1 size)
hp 60 (7d8+21);
Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +7
Speed 30 ft.
Melee + 8 Scimitar (1d6+2) or Sling +8 (1d4+3)
Melee (Ape) +13 Bite (1d6+8); 2 Claws +13 (1d6+11) – Wooden Fist
Melee (Ape) Power Attack +11 Bite (1d6+10); 2 Claws +11 (1d6+13)
Base Atk +5
Spells 4 5 4 2 1 +1 domain/level
4th Level: command plants(d), ice storm
3rd Level: plant growth(d), greater magic fang, water breathing
2nd Level: barkskin(d), bull’s strength, heat metal, resist energy, hold animal
1st Level: entangle(d), charm animal, cure light wounds x2, produce flame, magic stone,
0th Level: pick at the time
Abilities Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10 (+4str, -2Dex ape form)
Feats Natural Spell, Power Attack, Toughness, Needs another one
Skills Need to sort these, +4 racial to ride and stealth
Gear Needs adjusting
Abilities: Wooden Fist (Su): As a free action, your hands can become as hard as wood, covered in tiny thorns. While you have wooden fists, your unarmed strikes do not provoke attacks of opportunity, deal lethal damage, and gain a bonus on damage rolls equal to 1/2 your druid level (minimum +1). You can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Bramble Armor (Su): At 6th level, you can cause a host of wooden thorns to burst from your skin as a free action. While bramble armor is in effect, any foe striking you with an unarmed strike or a melee weapon without reach takes 1d6 points of piercing damage + 1 point per two druid levels you possess. You can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to your druid level. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Otherwise I was thinking of going for one of the 'swift hunter' builds listed in the original post.

Thanks again for all the help, i'll update with any more thoughts as we play through the sessions.

[Saintheart]

(1) This is probably even more true in Pathfinder. As many people know the power ceiling isn't as high but the room is considerarbly wider than before and a crafty party has a wide range of special abilities that can render any kind of encounter null and void or cause some other kind of headache for the GM. Maybe we should lay out some general advise regarding the most common PC class abilities and spells that might influence the battle?

Probably the best place for that is the "watch out for these gamebreakers" section early on in the handbook, along with a more general warning that once fifth-level magic comes online there's a distinct jump in PC power levels, enough to render simple melee grinds unchallenging if the players know a few good spells. I'll go and put up a general warning about the latter.

Meanwhile, as to which most common PC class abilities and spells are going to unbalance or twist encounters hard, here's a rough list I had in mind on top of the stuff already listed:

• Any Will-blasting magic with an AoE - Confusion in particular. Same goes for Will or INT-blasting magic with Chain Spell attached to it. For the Streets of Blood encounter this gives the party a lot of time to slow down the flow of opponents since statistically half the strike force is going to start wandering off gibbering, and on the encounter as written the Hand forces are packed in pretty tightly together.
• Polymorph. By the Battle of Brindol, PCs will have around 9 HD. There's a pretty good selection of creatures available there: treants, cave trolls. In my campaign on the Sniper Attack encounter -- and honestly I'm not sure whether to regard this as awesome or not -- the party barbarian was polymorphed into a treant, marched into the square without any fear at all of getting poisoned thanks to immunities, and literally pulled down the coffinmaker's shop around Skather.
• Basically if the party has too many actions (because of having too many PCs) available to counterspell/dispel magic.

Any other suggestions would be handy. :)

[Saintheart]

Double posting again, but I finally managed to pan some of the old WOTC thread for gold and came up with some glorious-looking Dundjinni maps done some years ago for various encounter areas, principally from Chapters One and Two. Skull Gorge Bridge, the hydra encounter, the Roadblock, and maps of Rhest Town Hall and the Bell Tower are now up in the maps section of the handbook, and are well-worth the look if not grabbing. About the only reason they seem to have survived is because the Dundjinni forums are a lot more stable and enduring than WOTC et. al. ever were.

I'll look for a Fane of Tiamat map, but I don't hold out a lot of hope of finding one.

[Antariuk]

Apologies for the wall of text, I got a bit carried away.

The more, the merrier. Always interesting to see how the module works in other games.

Saarvith i'm in 2 minds about. I was thinking of making him a Plant Domain Druid and then using the reeds in the water to entangle the PCs as they are on the boardwalk, potentially using Ice Storm to make the outside part a real problem for the PCs. He can then wildshape into an ape and grow thorns all over his body(as per the Cleric Plant Domain power) while he melees the PCs.

I love the plant druid idea (although this would really reinforce the Evil Druid! meme that 3rd edition has going on... )! Something to control the battlefield while Regiarix is raining down acid and stuff.

Probably the best place for that is the "watch out for these gamebreakers" section early on in the handbook, along with a more general warning that once fifth-level magic comes online there's a distinct jump in PC power levels, enough to render simple melee grinds unchallenging if the players know a few good spells. I'll go and put up a general warning about the latter.

Good idea. Naturally this is a problem directly related to the number of splatbooks allowed, but just listing some of the all-time favorites should help.

Regarding your list of potential gamebrakers, dominate person and feeblemind should be in there. Instant endings for boss fights, the latter one especially for any spellcasters not based on Wisdom (not that RHoD has a lot of enemy spellcasters to begin with). In Pathfinder, some of the potent spells have been slightly nerfed or altered, but it's largely the same cast and the splatbooks add a few new things. One spell a GM should really be looking out for is suffocation from the Advanced Player's Guide (I'm mentioning this because most groups use that book). That is a nasty, nasty debuff able to kill an opponent in two rounds, if he fails his saves: first failed save reduces hp to 0 (yes, really), second failed save in the subsequent round puts the poor guy at -1 hp. The End. Granted, the save is Fortitude but given how ridiculously easy it is to pump up your CL or save DCs in Pathfinder, that's not a real problem.

EDIT: I'd say pulling down the coffinmaker's shop around Skather definitely touches awesome territory. Maybe a bit anticlimactic from your side of the screen, but still... nice!

Double posting again, but I finally managed to pan some of the old WOTC thread for gold and came up with some glorious-looking Dundjinni maps done some years ago for various encounter areas, principally from Chapters One and Two.

Awesome, I was hoping to see those some day.

[Elder_Basilisk]

Does anyone know a good way to format those dundjinni graphics for printing? I've had terrible luck getting the jpgs formatted and sized to print with 1" squares for in-person use.

[Antariuk]

Does anyone know a good way to format those dundjinni graphics for printing? I've had terrible luck getting the jpgs formatted and sized to print with 1" squares for in-person use.

The easiest way is to use graphics software that can display measurements (often called "rulers") and then just scale the image to fit the 1" square measurements. There are hundrets of programs capable of doing that, I for one like Paint.Net because its free and very powerful.

Remember to adjust your printer settings as well, very often people forget that standard settings use borders around images and then the final print doesn't fit.