Castlevania Campaign Setup

[Slayer Lord]

A friend of mine has been thinking about getting into roleplaying again, and has decided that he wants to design his first campaign world. He's a big Castlevania fan, and wants to figure out how to translate that into Pathfinder. As he's the only one within our circle of friends who knows much about the Castlevania franchise, there's not a lot I or our group's other roleplayers can do to help him out, so I thought that I could get some advice for him here.

Things we're looking for:
- Good PF source books
- Monster modifications. (For instance, flying gorgon heads. I'm thinking weakened vargouilles, he thinks modified gargoyles)
- Things to consult 3.5 splatbooks/Ravenloft for
- Which of the games would make the best/easiest transition
- How to replicate the Vampire slaying whip. Being the franchise's signature weapon and all, probably wouldn't hurt if it was a little OP.
- And, of course, any advice for creating Count D himself. I suspect taking the Ravenloft route and starting with Count Strahd would be the easiest, but I'm interested in what sort of goodies Pathfinder would offer the king of vampires.

Any and all help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[grarrrg]

First off, either make Whips a Martial weapon, or give a handful of classes proficiency with them. Currently only the Bard, and a Cavalier Archetype get prof. to start.

Second, reflavor the Pain Taster PrC. It's got a Whip Focus, but is kinda very dark.

Leave the Whip Mastery feats as-is (maybe remove the Weapon Focus pre-req), because Whips can be quite an awesome weapon with them, but if you give them for free then a lot of other weapons seem/become worthless.

[Vortenger]

The Whip-Knife (or Chain-Knife, something like that) in the A&EG would probably be exactly what your looking for.

There's a skill trick meant to simulate swinging around on a whip in C.Sc. probably a good investment for a 'Belmont'-type character.

Bards begin with whip proficiency at no charge.

Some magical whips in 3.5 are incredible, Lethe's Lash being the first that leaps to mind, if there are no Pathfinder equivalents you may wish to port some forward. As to actual PF whips, I'll leave that to those better versed in the systems equipment.

Thats all I can offer for my 2 cp.

[RedMage125]

I've planned something similar myself.

As has been mentioned, a whip-dagger is probably a good bet for Vampire Killer as a base weapon. I would suggest looking into the book Weapons of Legacy for ideas about how a character has a single weapon that increases in power with him, instead of finding new weapons.

Vargouilles are perfect for the "flying medusa heads". Although I would re-do the "kiss" as a bite that gradually (and temporarily) petrifies a target.

Appropriate monsters need to be taken into account, including, but not limited to, the "classic" 5 monsters:
Half-fiend Dire Bat - MM1
(Greater) Medusa - PF
Mummy - MM1
Flesh Golem - MM1
"Death" Entropic Reaper - Libris Mortis

The Man Himself should be a unique vampire, although if you're going off the original Castlevania storyline and not Lords of Shadow, I suggest making him a Sorcerer or Wizard. Strahd is a nice model for this.

The problem you run into with a "Castlevania" story arc, is that there's so much focus on whichever party member is the Belmont Clan descendant. It can make the other players feel like secondary characters. I suggest looking to other games that featured non-Belmont characters for inspiration for other party members.

Grant DaNasty - a very rogue-like character who helped Trevor Belmont in Castlevania 3. Later story claification states that he was a "freedom fighter" who opposed the tyrannical ule that Dracula was imposing on Wallachia. Quite obviously a Rogue.

Sypha Belnades (rhymes with eye-fa) - A natural witch and trained vampire hunter who assisted Trevor Belmont and later married him. Works best as a spellcaster, either arcane or divine (especially cloistered cleric or archivist for divine).

Adrian Farenheits Tepes "Alucard" - A dhampir (half-vampire), the son of Dracula and a mortal woman named Lisa. Alucard assisted Trevor Belmont and later opposed his Richter Belmont's attempt to resurrect Dracula when the latter was possessed by the Dark Priest, Shaft. Alucard is a quintessential gish-type character. The half-vampire race was featured in a Dragon Magazine (I think it was #336, could be wrong), and many other such things have been homebrewed all over the internet.

Maria Renard - A young girl and a vampire hunter who can call upon "celestial beasts" for offense and defense. Maria works as druid, or a summoner-type character.

Hector - A "devil forger" formerly in the employ of Dracula. He could wield a variety of weapons as well as summon his own created minions to fight the agents of Evil. Works as a summoner, a skill monkey type, or, even better, an artificer.

Shanoa - Part of the mysterious "Order of Ecclesia", Shanoa draws power from glyphs on her body. May work as a unique interpretation of an Incarnum user.

Cornell - A werewolf who has gained some measure of control over his Beast Curse. Cornell works best if using a werewolf template or Savage Progression-Werewolf. No further ideas on that one.

Eric Lecarde - Wielder of the Alucard Spear, and friend to the Morris family (distant relations of the Belmonts), Eric was entrusted with the Alucard Spear at a young age. Eric is a skilled fighter, with some small ability to perform magical rituals. Eric works well as any "martial" class like Fighter, or any ToB class that can use polearms (the spear resembles a glaive more than an actual spear).

Soma Cruz - A young boy born with the dormant sou of Dracula within him, Soma can access many powers by channeling and harnessing that power. He would work well as a warlock or sorcerer.

Other Vampire Hunters - Either by blood relation to the Belmont Clan or by alliance, other individuals have been vampire hunters in the series. Notably Nathan Graves, Reinhart Schneider, Maxim Kischine, Albus, and Henry Oldrey. Some of them have obvious class parallels (like Henry being a paladin), while others are more unusual. Factotum works as a class for some of the more "gish" type characters, such as Nathan Graves.

Obviously, to make your own Castlevania game, you'd need to abandon a slavish imitation of the storylines from the games, and in order to make a full party work, you'd need to draw inspiration from these characters, rather than imitate them directly (as many come from WILDLY different time periods).

My suggestion would be to have each party member make a character modelled after one of the archetypes embodies by these characters. The player whose character is the Belmont Clan descendant is obviously going to have more "spotlight time" as far as story goes, but be careful not to make the rest of the party feel like his cohorts. There's plenty of lore and story to create satisfying plot developments for all of them.

One possibility could be the Portrait of Ruin-style element of the "Belmont" party member not being a full-blooded member of the clan, and needing to face the "spirit of the whip" to prove his worth and unlock the whip's full potential.

Hunter of the Dead prestige Class could work well for many members of this party, and the mild spellcasting ability of that PrC could well be enough "gish" for some of the party members.

Other monsters that could/should be included:
Stone Golem/Earth Elemental
Other Lycanthropes
Succubus
Another powerful Vampire in service to Dracula (i.e. Olrox, Joachim, or Camilla)
Animated Objects
Demons of any CR
Fish-men (Kuo-toa, Locathah, or even re-skinned Lizardfolk or Troglodytes)
Swarms of bats, ravens, or bugs
Giant Spiders or Scorpions
Oozes
Corrupted Plant monsters (especially for a Garden or Conservatory area)
Corrupted Animals (wolves, bats, birds, and die versions thereof)
Aquatic creatures (for moat guardians and/or catacomb waterways)
Griffon/Hippogriff (possibly with a template such as half-fiend attached)
Just about any undead work, especially variant skeletons and zombies. But take a look at Spawn of Kyuss for a really nasty corporeal undead. And on that note, the Age of Worms Adventure Path in Dungeon Magazine had some great monster variants (Favored Spawn of Kyuss Template, Wormcaller, Overworm, Kyuss Knight), as well as the Urgulstasta from the Fiend Folio (a Gargantuan, undead-spewing caterpillar), which works great as a "boss". Not to mention a Boneyard from Libris Mortis, or the always-popular Dracolich.

Since Castlevania takes place entirely inside one castle (or castle complex) that the heroes don't usually escape from, safe areas for resting may be a problem. One suggestion would be a large amount of chapels throughout the area. Despite an aversion to all things holy, Dracula's home almost always included more than a few religious locales. Perhaps a subconscious desire for redemption?

And on that note, the acquisition of more items, from magical ones to more mundane things (holy water, amunition, etc). The Librarian from Symphony of the Night works well, but I have a better solution, which you are free to borrow/abscond with. After all, the Librarian only helped Alucard because he knew him, and promise of money.

Feel free to borrow Bernard the Lich. Bernard was a human wizard, engrossed in the study of history. As he grew older and his time grew short, he felt that delving into darker powers was a worthwhile means to the end of extending his life into immortality to become the ultimate dispassionate historian. He turned himself into a lich, and scrys on the world to record history. He has holed up in the castle because it's so full of dangerous undead which ignore him, and keep most potential enemies at bay. He's powerful enough that Dracula cannot control him, and has agreed to let him reside thee and mind his own business. He possesses a large "stock" of inventory from all the failed hunters and explorers who have died in the castle. He's willing to assist any party of adventurers who don't try and kill him, in exchange for fair trade (read as: DMG/PHB prices for his services). Since he's not meant to be a combat character, consider him to have any spell, arcane or divine, available to him with at least 1 day's notice, and every Item Creation Feat. He watches the party's sojourn through the castle with interest, for they may be the ones to defeat Dracula, which would have ENORMOUS historical implications, so he's not only friendly, but fairly excited to see the party do well. You could even arrange for him to have multiple "portals" throughout the castle that lead to his library/lab. But the party can only leave the library from the ones they have attuned themselves to elsewhere in the castle. For example: The party finds his library on the first floor in the southern wing. He has a portal to the top of the Clock Tower, but while he can use it, the party is not attuned to it. Once they reach the Clock Tower (and defeat the guardian there), they can use that portal to return to the library. From that point on, the party can use that portal both ways.

Obviously, I've given this idea some thought myself. Don't know if I'll ever run it, so please, by all means, take any or all of these ideas that you like.

[RedMage125]

Adrian Farenheits Tepes "Alucard" - A dhampir (half-vampire), the son of Dracula and a mortal woman named Lisa. Alucard assisted Trevor Belmont and later opposed his Richter Belmont's attempt to resurrect Dracula when the latter was possessed by the Dark Priest, Shaft. Alucard is a quintessential gish-type character. The half-vampire race was featured in a Dragon Magazine (I think it was #336, could be wrong), and many other such things have been homebrewed all over the internet.

I was wrong, the issue is Dragon #313. It also includes the half-ghoul, half-zombie, half-ghost, and a race called the deathtouched.

[mishro]

Slayer Lord's friend here.
Thanks for the advice so far.
I've heard that a pathfinder adventure book called carrion crown would have alot of what I want, haven't found it yet though.

I've also had another idea. I want the campaign to be difficult, like old school castlevania, but I also want to be forgiving so I'm thinking of mixing in some dark souls.

After every boss encounter there is a save room. It fully heals you, and it sets a save point. If your party gets wiped, you wind up at the save points and the enemies respawn, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT'S COMING. I was also thinking of having an experience pool, where you only SAVE experience at the save points. Any accumulated after is either lost (but can be recovred) or only half of it is lost and the rest can be recovered.
What do you guys think?

Also, redmage 125, thats a good idea on setting up character ideas for the players. I'm gonna forbid people from using a soma cruz type character because...damn man how would I manage that? That guy would get ridiculous too fast for everybody else.
Also, I may have Alucard show up, but he would be an NPC.

speaking of symphony of the night, I was also thinking of setting up a solo session with the players by utilizing the nightmare sequence.

[Totema]

A suggestion: Build your campaign similarly to Castlevania: Bloodlines (for the Genesis). Your party is a globe trotting band of vampire hunters (who may or may not have blood ties to the Belmonts) that are traveling the world to piece together the mystery of Dracula's return. It gives great opportunities for a wide variety of adventures that you can easily reign in to the main plot.

[mishro]

I was going to have the campaign take place IN the castle. The castle is an ever-changing structure of chaos, I have alot to work with there.

[Aergoth]

Things you're going to want as far as sourcebooks (note a lot of this can be found on the PFSRD)

Classic Horrors Revisited (This covers things like Vampires, Mummies, Zombies, Gargoyles and Werewolves)
Undead Revisited (Covers just about any other kind of iconic undead you might find a need for)
Blood of the Night (Covers Dhampirs and some variant Vampire types, Jiang-Shi, Moroi, Nosferatu...)
Blood of the Moon (As above but for werewolves and the Pathfinder export of Eberron's shifters)
Mythical Monsters Revisited (Chimeras, Medusa [should be called a gorgon] Hydras, the Wendigo, all here)
Dungeoneer's Handbook might be something for your players, it's geared towards the kind of madness you plan on throwing them into.
Reign of Fear (covers Ustalav, the Gothic Europe/Transylvania/Romania kind of area in Pathfinder's default setting, very nice)
Also the Dragonslayer's Handbook and Demon Hunter's handbook may have some nifty stuff burried in there somewhere.

You also want to look at Beheaded on the PFSRD and Phantom Armor.