Pimp my NPCs - Age of Worms: Labyrinth of Vecna

[Ghostfoot]

Hi

I'm currently running the Three Faces of Evil adventure from Age of Worms. The campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms and the party is near Daggerford, all according to the suggested FR conversion notes.

They're about to go up against the boss for the adventure and I'd like to tweak the NPC stats a bit to make the encounter more fun, especially since so much great material has come out after this adventure was written.

I want to know if anyone has any great ideas for making the NPC builds better (more interesting, challenging and memorable), I guess mainly around feat selection. All WotC sources are fine but no homebrew. The party is relatively powerful - there are 5 PC's and a bit of gestalt happening.

Here's the basic info for the boss and his minions, appropriately spoilered as as to avoid ruining anyone's game:

The boss - The Faceless One

Originally written as a human Wizard 6 I intend to boost him by 1 level. Thinking simply Wizard 7 but open to other suggestions. As written he is intended as a summoner/ blaster type and he worships Myrkul the (ironically deceased) former god of death.

Feats: Alertness (with familiar), Brew Potion, Combat Casting, Improved init, Scribe Scroll, Dodge, Spell Focus (Evo)
Main spells: Summon monster 3, lightning bolt, flaming sphere

The minions - Acolytes

Again human wizards of Myrkul they are written as Wizard 2 I will boost them to Wizard 3.

Feats: Alertness (with familiar); Combat Casting, Improved init, Scribe Scroll, + 1 extra
Main spells: Burning hands, color spray, scrolls of scorching ray & web

For what it's worth the party consists of:

Human Cloistered Cleric 3/ Human paragon 1// Wizard 1
Half-Elf Paladin 4// Sorcerer 1
Azurin Druid 3/ Totemist 1// Totemist 1
Spellscale Sorcerer 4// Marshal 1
Whisper Gnome Rogue 4// Fighter 1

Thanks
GF

[RedMage125]

I loved that module!

I ran it a few years ago, and I know the wizard seems weak and all, but remember something:
The party has just traversed an entire labyrinth (getting sneak attacked by kenku rogues the whole way) to get to him.

And the Faceless One isn't even the BBEG, there's still the you-know-what at the very end.

Now, you seem to be using some kind of weird gestalt, which may alter the dynamic of your game. My players were around level 4, and the BBEG at the end was a good stopping point, because they were out of resources at the time. If I had boosted the guys at the end of the maze, the BBEG would have killed them.

Your Mileage may vary, and you know your players better than I do. Then again, you have 5 of them, too, in an adventure that calls for 4...

I guess go for it? Just be wary about making such changes unless its needed.

How well did they do against the other 2 cultists? Mine did average against Hextorites, but wiped the cave floor with Grallack and his peons.

[fishyfishyfishy]

Optimizing an NPC conjurer/blaster wizard 7? Easy.

Make him a Wizard 3/Master Specialist 4. Trade the familiar away for Abrupt Jaunt acf and drop the item creation feats for more useful stuff like Augment Summoning and Cloudy Conjuration. Scribe Scroll you can trade away via martial wizard acf and get Improved Initiative, or any other fighter bonus feat he qualifies for that you think is useful.

Have him memorize spells like Glitterdust and Web to shut down the PCs while his Summon Monster 4 creature beats them to death. Keep in mind that Minor School Esoterica from level 4 of master specialist grants it some extra HP. If you're feeling particularly mean you can prepare Black Tentacles, but that's possibly too much. A good alternative is Orb of Fire for single target damage.

[Ghostfoot]

I loved that module!

I ran it a few years ago, and I know the wizard seems weak and all, but remember something:
The party has just traversed an entire labyrinth (getting sneak attacked by kenku rogues the whole way) to get to him.

And the Faceless One isn't even the BBEG, there's still the you-know-what at the very end.

Now, you seem to be using some kind of weird gestalt, which may alter the dynamic of your game. My players were around level 4, and the BBEG at the end was a good stopping point, because they were out of resources at the time. If I had boosted the guys at the end of the maze, the BBEG would have killed them.

Your Mileage may vary, and you know your players better than I do. Then again, you have 5 of them, too, in an adventure that calls for 4...

I guess go for it? Just be wary about making such changes unless its needed.

How well did they do against the other 2 cultists? Mine did average against Hextorites, but wiped the cave floor with Grallack and his peons.

Thanks for the tips. I completely take your point about boosting the bad guys a tad too far. AoW has a reputation for PC annihilation that I always keep in the back of my mind. I guess what I have been enjoying is aiming for a tense and challenging game but not the hated TPK.

We've sure been enjoying the adventure so far. The party took out the Hextor/ Bane temple as basically one big rolling battle. The bad guys had plenty of time to buff and I had thrown in a couple extra minions, and it turned into a bloodbath with some memorable moments (like the enlarged paladin taking The Beast out with one battleaxe critical hit, which kinda gave them a false sense of superiority in retrospect).

The party has skipped Grallak Kur for now and gone straight into the maze. I agree that it looks a bit simpler challenge,I guess we'll see.

They've just fought through the maze and about to reach the inner temple with the wizards. The labyrinth and the kenku were awesome - while they didn't do much real damage initially they had the party terrified as secret doors kept opening briefly and alchemists fire would sail in from all directions. They all ran off in different directions to chase kenku which led to some flank & sneak fun until they realised what they had fallen for. Good times.

The party seem to be pretty capable overall, which is why I'm having some fun tweaking some of the opponents. The druid is an incarnum-enhanced melee machine, and so are his dogs. He's been kinda unstoppable so far. The sorcerer (blaster), cleric (buff) and rogue (melee) all seem to hold their own. The paladin's probably the least successful as she's trying to tank with a low AC, but the other members seem to cover for her alright.

My expectation is that wizards will get off a summons or two and then the party will walk all over them, maybe with one or two down but no deaths. And as for the real BBEG, if they're hurting I will drop some pretty serious hints beforehand so that they don't walk straight into the final combat at half strength.


Optimizing an NPC conjurer/blaster wizard 7? Easy.

Make him a Wizard 3/Master Specialist 4. Trade the familiar away for Abrupt Jaunt acf and drop the item creation feats for more useful stuff like Augment Summoning and Cloudy Conjuration. Scribe Scroll you can trade away via martial wizard acf and get Improved Initiative, or any other fighter bonus feat he qualifies for that you think is useful.

Have him memorize spells like Glitterdust and Web to shut down the PCs while his Summon Monster 4 creature beats them to death. Keep in mind that Minor School Esoterica from level 4 of master specialist grants it some extra HP. If you're feeling particularly mean you can prepare Black Tentacles, but that's possibly too much. A good alternative is Orb of Fire for single target damage.

Cool thank you. Summons + Web + Orb of Fire looks like the trick.

[RedMage125]

Thanks for the tips. I completely take your point about boosting the bad guys a tad too far. AoW has a reputation for PC annihilation that I always keep in the back of my mind. I guess what I have been enjoying is aiming for a tense and challenging game but not the hated TPK.
It does? Huh, I didn't have that many close TPK calls.


We've sure been enjoying the adventure so far. The party took out the Hextor/ Bane temple as basically one big rolling battle. The bad guys had plenty of time to buff and I had thrown in a couple extra minions, and it turned into a bloodbath with some memorable moments (like the enlarged paladin taking The Beast out with one battleaxe critical hit, which kinda gave them a false sense of superiority in retrospect).
My party uses Enlarge a lot, too! In fact, since it's only 750 gp, they bought a wand of the f-ing spell. Enlraged Barbarian and Enlarged Spiked Chain Fighter make physical combat simpler.


The party has skipped Grallak Kur for now and gone straight into the maze. I agree that it looks a bit simpler challenge,I guess we'll see.
I thought Grallak Kur had the only key to the maze in the Faceless One and Theldrick didn't get along?


They've just fought through the maze and about to reach the inner temple with the wizards. The labyrinth and the kenku were awesome - while they didn't do much real damage initially they had the party terrified as secret doors kept opening briefly and alchemists fire would sail in from all directions. They all ran off in different directions to chase kenku which led to some flank & sneak fun until they realised what they had fallen for. Good times.

My party split up in the maze *rolls eyes*, and I got them with the kenku's mimicry. Which, given that their ability is to "perfectly" imitate other sounds, there was no Sense Motive check for.



The party seem to be pretty capable overall, which is why I'm having some fun tweaking some of the opponents. The druid is an incarnum-enhanced melee machine, and so are his dogs. He's been kinda unstoppable so far. The sorcerer (blaster), cleric (buff) and rogue (melee) all seem to hold their own. The paladin's probably the least successful as she's trying to tank with a low AC, but the other members seem to cover for her alright.

My expectation is that wizards will get off a summons or two and then the party will walk all over them, maybe with one or two down but no deaths. And as for the real BBEG, if they're hurting I will drop some pretty serious hints beforehand so that they don't walk straight into the final combat at half strength.

My players, being enlarged and all, wiped the floor with Grallack. He got off one or two decent attacks and was done. Honestly, the combat where terrain mattered (the ambush on the cave cliff and the bridge) were more challenging.



Cool thank you. Summons + Web + Orb of Fire looks like the trick.
Make sure to summon something that gets webwalking then.