rick's as-yet-untitled campaign: please critique!

[rrwoods]

So I have a game that's going to do a character creation session in a week. I have varying ideas about what folks in my game want to play.

I'm looking to get advice/feedback on the campaign idea and the adventure, but I'm also not sure where to put it. In addition, if it's something that folks would be interested in reading, once the game actually starts I'd like to do a campaign journal of sorts from the DM's seat. Is the 3.5 section a fine place to put this kind of stuff or should I be posting elsewhere?

EDIT: changed the title of the thread (again, because i don't think the second title is attention grabbing).

As I say in the longer posts: I'm a completely new DM looking for feedback. Would you enjoy this game idea? If you were running it, how would you run it? Even comments of personal taste are welcome; since I haven't DMd anything before I don't have a style (yet) when it comes to adventure or campaign design.

[Nibbens]

So I have a game that's going to do a character creation session in a week. I have varying ideas about what folks in my game want to play.

I'm looking to get advice/feedback on the campaign idea and the adventure, but I'm also not sure where to put it. In addition, if it's something that folks would be interested in reading, once the game actually starts I'd like to do a campaign journal of sorts from the DM's seat. Is the 3.5 section a fine place to put this kind of stuff or should I be posting elsewhere?

I post mine here and no one seems to tell me "no" so I guess this place is as good as any. lol. Mine is in my description if you need an example of one could be done. (Could, not should. lol)

Also, there's a large campaign Journal compilation done by Kol, so you can always request to be added to his list. Here's the Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?392323-Campaign-logs-archive-Story-time!).

What advice did you need?

[rrwoods]

Looks like a decent number of those journals get posted to this forum, so I suppose this is the place!

Once I assemble my notes I'll probably throw them in this thread. I'm not looking for any advice in particular, really. I'm a first-time DM though, so I'm looking for people with more experience to poke through it and go "this particular thing is harder to execute than you might think", or "this doesn't work out in practice the way it looks on paper", or just other general comes-from-experience stuff that is useful for a new DM to have.

[Âmesang]

I've attempted to keep a campaign journal, 'though it's in desperate need of rewriting; I want to put it in my character's first-person viewpoint, and a number of the dates were originally written in Tolkien's "Steward's Reckoning" calendar — which now have to be converted to GREYHAWK'S® "Common Year" calendar (fortunately I can line things up via the seasons).

If I can get everything done I'd then want to make a pseudo-Anglo-Saxon version utilizing letters like Þ ("thorn"), Đ ("eth"), Ƿ ("wynn"), ſ ("long s"), and Ȝ ("yogh" — I still don't know how to pronounce it :smalltongue:), as well as the number 7 in the Constantia font as a substitute for the Tironian et (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tironian_notes). This also means writing it with as little punctuation as possible, essentially replacing periods with bullets (•) and tabs with red pilcrows (¶).

…assuming I don't learn actual Anglo-Saxon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English) before then.

[rrwoods]

OK, here we go with post 1 of ?. As I said, I'd love it if you more experienced DMs could look at any of this and tell me anything that makes you wince :-P

The character creation session is going to be this Sunday. The five players have varying levels of experience, most of them little; they also are in varying stages of character conceptualization/creation:

J: Most experienced; is currently DMing a game I'm playing (and he's doing it extremely well). His likely character is a lesser aasimar bard, with an eye toward becoming dragonborn* in the future. Notably he wants to take a back-seat role in at least the first adventure, in order to allow the newer players as much time in the spotlight as possible.
S: Second-most-experienced; knows enough to ask the right questions. Human factotum, looking at quickrazor gimmicks for combat and a skill-monkey role.
D: Little experience, haven't had any discussions about character yet.
A: Little (no?) experience. Wants to play "the lawful good" guy; when I described crusader he seemed pretty excited about playing it.
R: No experience (possibly some with an earlier edition). Wants an "agility-based" character; he seems excited about swordsage.

My philosophy regarding characters is that of The Gospel of Everything Goes. No multiclassing XP penalties, I don't plan on (strictly) enforcing any alignment restrictions, and I'm more than willing to help a player execute a character concept by dipping a zillion classes if that's what best represents their concept. However I'm also looking to show around 2.7 newbies a good time, so excessive multiclassing *may* be overwhelming. I'll have to gauge each player's interests and tendencies individually, which I'm more than prepared to do.

* I'm modifying the fluff of dragonborn as follows: Instead of being a dragonborn "of Bahamut", each potential dragonborn has a "patron" dragon who they've met and sworn some sort of loyalty to. When both the dragon and the candidate are ready, the candidate can undergo the ritual as described in Races of the Dragon (same rules: 100 gp, 24 hours, etc). Point is that the character has this patron they report to in some form or another, even before they are actually dragonborn (if they aren't already dragonborn at character creation time).

===

I sent the following to the group around a week and a half ago:



Rick's Rambles


I'll go over all this stuff during session 0, but I want folks to be able to form questions in the mean time. To that end, this document discusses philosophies that I'd like to have shape the way we play D&D.


On first things being first: As I say in my house rules document, none of this is set in stone. D&D is a collaborative experience. I will have the *final* say on any given ruling/character option/world element/whatever, but that final say will follow a conversation between all of us. I can't stress enough that I value communication most highly in this experience. If the players and the DM are talking to one another about issues, this will be a more fun experience for everyone!


On the character creation process: Character creation, more than any other portion of this campaign, is going to be a conversation, for a number of reasons.
(1) It's more fun when everyone's on the same page -- if we have wildly disparate power levels (the god-wizard solving encounters by snapping his fingers while the unoptimized fighter is still drawing his weapon) it's no fun for anyone. I don't expect everyone to play identical characters (that's no fun either) so there's bound to be some power discrepancy, and that's okay. But let's try and get it to a reasonable level -- by talking with each other.
(2) There are quite a few options in D&D 3.5 that look really sweet on paper but turn out to be boring to play. The best way to start making your character is NOT to start with a class (or any mechanical choice at all), but with a CONCEPT. Then we choose options that help execute that concept (which may or may not be classes!), and then we fit the pieces together into a living breathing character. Different strokes for different folks, of course, but for those of you that are new at this, I encourage the conversation to go in generally this direction.
(3) Mistakes happen! (I'll be going over this idea in my last section here but character creation is especially notable.) I will allow players to reconsider options that aren't performing as well as they'd hoped, as well as to retroactively consider options they weren't aware existed in the first place. The point of this is to take as much stress as possible out of making your character. That said, please don't abuse this: If you're aware that a particular option doesn't scale well with level, I'll be less lenient about letting you swap it out when it starts underperforming later on (especially if it was performing quite well when you originally chose it).
(4) I strongly encourage you to consider future options now. D&D has a very wide range of character options, especially at later levels, and many of them come with requirements in the form of options chosen at earlier levels. You don't have to build your character to level 20 right at the start, but just a little foresight goes a very long way. This particular piece of character creation can be stressful for folks, but again: This is a conversation. I have a decent amount of system mastery on D&D 3.5 -- use it! I won't intentionally steer you wrong, and if I do so inadvertently, see point (3).


On alignments: At character creation time, I strongly encourage you to choose your alignment LAST. I don't just mean "after all mechanical choices are made" -- I mean "after ALL choices, including choices about personality and demeanor". Your personality dictates your alignment, NOT the other way around.


On the roleplaying of mental scores: I do not consider your chosen mental ability scores to be a straitjacket. You are free to roleplay your character as you see fit in this regard (but see next section). That said, if you are looking for guidance, what follows is my general outline as to how the three mental scores could affect how you play your character. In case it wasn't clear enough: Feel free to ignore this!
* Intelligence vs. Wisdom. The easiest way to know the difference is this: Wisdom is about perception. Notice that Spot, Listen, and Survival are keyed to Wisdom, while Search and the Knowledge skills are keyed to intelligence. You should not feel as though your character "wouldn't notice" a thing that you (as a player) notice if they are low intelligence and high wisdom -- they might not know what it means, but they are still wise enough to perceive it. Conversely, a high intelligence low wisdom character might not notice things the very wise character does, but when those things are pointed out, the very intelligent character is more likely to piece things together into relevant information (and if the player isn't making the connection, the I'll likely throw the player a bone in the form of an intelligence check or relevant skill check).
* Charisma. This feeds heavily into the next section, but bears saying twice. Charisma is the score that measures your ability to project your personality with desirable effects. Charismatic characters know how to get their way; Diplomacy, Bluff, and Intimidate are Charisma-keyed skills. Uncharismatic characters aren't as good at knowing how to get their way, but that can manifest itself in a number of ways. Rudeness or brashness is one of them, but please don't take that as a license to be a **** to other *players* at the table.


On not being an *******: As *players* let's please please all get along. This will be more fun for everyone if that's the case. As *characters*, it's an entirely different story, of course -- but if it becomes evident that a fellow player is putting that line in a different place, let's figure out the discrepancy and improve the experience. I expect that there will be (possibly several) low-CHA characters; I expect at least one pair of characters to have very different alignments on at least one axis. Those things create interesting PC interactions that make the game rich and deep; D&D wouldn't be what it is without those things. But let's keep those interactions in-game, okay? Okay.


On wealth and magic items: Players can roughly assume that I will stick roughly closely to wealth-by-level. Most of you probably don't know what that means (yet), but that's okay; essentially, you're going to get Cool Stuff at what should be an Acceptable Rate. Given that the players are going to want to play different characters, we'll invariably have a power discrepancy in the party. You guys are free to do what you want in this area, but I very mildly encourage a slightly larger share of the party wealth to go to the weaker characters.


On smooth combat encounters: Combat takes a while. No denying that. However, everyone can help smooth things out by thinking about what you're going to be doing while it's not your turn. There won't be timers or any other stress-inducing elements rushing you -- not a fan of those at all -- but please, while at the table, be engaged with the game (and preferably not twitter/telegram/whatever-else-is-on-your-phone). If there's something that requires your attention immediately, I'd rather you focus solely on that thing until you can focus on the game again; we can take a break if it's necessary.


On the rolling of skill checks: You are free to ask for skill checks when you feel they are called for. At times I will prompt you to make skill checks, but at other times I will roll them for you in secret. Sometimes I may do the same for saving throws.


On mistakes: Remember guys, we are here to have fun. Mistakes *will* happen. We will correct them as best we can and move on, no hard feelings of any sort. Gameplay mistakes, rules mistakes, misunderstandings, whatever -- these things happen. Our characters may not be human, but we still are!

[rrwoods]

The first "chapter" of adventures I want to center around the Lost, from Magic of Incarnum.

The way I interpret the Lost as presented in MoI is this: If a wisp of stray incarnum strikes an individual just as they are experiencing an intense negative emotion, the incarnum intensifies that emotion until it completely defines that individual, and they become Lost to that emotion, gaining the Lost template.

In my world, just before the players "gain control of" their characters, a group of dusklings for some reason opened a portal to this plane from their native one and a bunch (all?) of them moved here. Their native plane is teeming with incarnum naturally, and incarnum-subtype creatures can't be turned to Lost the same way other creatures can; thus, they've never seen this before. When the Portal Event happens, incarnum floods into this world and quickly begins spreading. Lost start popping up everywhere, especially in the part of the world closer to the portal.

The players won't have heard of incarnum at all before this (*possibly* barring D's character). The first adventure will be a violent introduction to the Lost, and will set the stage for a sequence of adventures centered around looking for a way to reverse the process and possibly prevent it from happening.

Here's what I have as far as notes for the first adventure:

SESSION 01
The Festival.

Hook: For one reason or another, each of the players is in the town of Aldebran where a festival is occurring. Nomadic characters may be there simply to see the sights and enjoy the festival. Highbrow characters may be there explicitly to purchase some of the art pieces for which the festival is famous. Shadier characters might enjoy the pickpocketing opportunities that a dense crowd affords. Wanderers may simply be passing through. Regardless, each of the players has chosen to be at the festival.

Synopsis: The Portal Event has happened, just far enough into the past that the town of Aldebran is struck by the wave of incarnum just as the player characters begin their first day at Aldebran’s Festival of The Arts. Several Lost are created as the incarnum initially disperses itself through the Festival grounds and through town itself; how the players choose to handle the Lost is up to them. Many of the Lost created are bound to Wrath, meaning that combat is likely the only way out; the players could wait out the Fury of Wrath that engulfs them initially if they are so inclined. For the others, it’s possible the players will try bringing them to a local healer to see what they can do, or something else entirely. (You never know with open-ended RPG players!)

After a couple combat encounters and (hopefully) some conversations with a few of the locals, the players should have just enough information to pique their interest for the next session. This chapter of the campaign focuses on the players (hopefully) looking for a way to “cure” the Lost affliction; this adventure in particular sets up the existence of the Lost, and scatters tidbits of information depending on who the players interact with.

The Lost: From Magic of Incarnum with basically no modifications. The chapter of the campaign that this adventure opens will be about the players finding a way to reverse the transformation, and possibly also figuring out how to prevent it from occurring entirely.

Kenku: From Monster Manual III. My vision of the kenku for this campaign is much more N (maybe even CN) than NE; they’re carefree and curious folk who like to travel and collect things. Akin to ravens and their shinies. They are no strangers to picking pockets and pilfering purses to get by, but they aren’t EVIL evil. Less evil and more mischievous. Like a toned-down kender.

The town hasn’t seen many kenku in the past. When the incarnum washes over the town and creates Lost, many confused townsfolk blame the kenkus’ arrival for the occurrences.

What the players know: Essentially, there isn’t a single thing all the players know going into this adventure. The Portal Event is the very reason incarnum exists in this world at all. For most mundane characters, this means they can’t possibly know anything about it until they start seeing its effects in action. There’s definitely a challenge to the storyteller here in the form of how to get information to the players.

The Portal Event will be “felt” by certain creatures. Dragons in particular have an innate feel for the arcane, so the Portal Event might register on their barometer (so to speak) in a way that is new and strange to them. A dragon that has been to the dusklings’ home plane *might* immediately recognize what they are feeling, but more likely than not, no dragon quite knows what it is right when it happens. Other creatures and characters with learned connections to the supernatural might also feel the incarnum wash over the local area in some subtle way.

Assuming [? R’s character] is a swordsage, I have an opportunity to put him in a unique position regarding information. Martial maneuvers are directly referred to as “blade magic” in the Tome; they are explicitly fluffed as having a learned magical/physical connection and swordsages have the most magical feel of the three base initiator classes. Given what incarnum is, it’s not illogical for him to “feel” the Portal Event in somewhat the same way a dragon might, but less pronounced.

[? S’s character] is a teenage factotum who’s been forced to grow up a little too quickly, and has been running for some time with “the wrong crowd” so-to-speak. Echo, a drow, is a close friend to him. I’ll be giving him some information on kenku society and history before the adventure session begins, owing to his likely dealings with some of them during his past. Knowledge of their abilities will be based on Knowledge checks as normal.

[? D]

[? A – Crusader of …? Depending on his god, maybe Arks receives divine tidbits about what’s happening at various times]

[? J’s character]’s player explicitly doesn’t want to be spotlighted in the first session, so it might be wise to deliberately leave him in the dark, even if there’s a sweet way of leaking info through him.

Prologue: As the player characters enter the festival, it is bustling with people. Humans, mostly, as well as a few of the other PHB races – elves, half-elves, dwarves, a gnome or three. Also scattered throughout the festival as attendees only (not as merchants) are about ten kenku.

The merchants are selling all manner of artistry: sculptures, elegant cookware and dining supplies, paintings, and fine jewelry are all represented. Every merchant has a red banner tinged with golden thread displaying a logo of some sort identifying themselves. Different shades of red: some are maroon, some are burgundy; some are deep and rich, some are bright and vibrant. But all red.

Encounter 1 (2 human commoners lost to wrath, 1 orc warrior lost to wrath): The humans are two brothers selling sculptures, and the orc is a potential buyer who was inquiring as to the cost of something. The orc is notably out of place at the festival, and following some snide remark one of the merchants makes, the conversation escalates to a fierce verbal argument at exactly the wrong time. Stray incarnum takes all three of them.

I expect that the first encounter results in all the enemies dead, after they (of course) conveniently focus their Wrath on the PCs. Regardless, the Festival will break up; Lost will have been created in small groups throughout it, and evidence of conflict will be littered throughout the players’ path back to town, in the form of dead Lost and dead merchants.

At some point during the encounter, I’ll find a way to mention the banner over the merchant’s stall; maybe it falls during the fight with the PCs. It will be blue.

After the Festival empties out, there’ll be a few stragglers left: merchants gathering or securing their wares, and the inevitable thief or two looking to see if they can pilfer something. The former will prevent the latter from doing anything, and also be on the lookout in case the PCs get any ideas (possibly resulting in an interesting social encounter if they try). If the PCs look lost (heh), a merchant can direct them toward the town. If the PCs didn’t notice the blue banner before, I’ll roll a secret Spot for the whole group (DC 20 or whoever is highest) to notice that three of the banners are blue.

If a player investigates the banner that turned blue near them, a DC 15 Search check or Wisdom check reveals that it turned blue at the exact moment the fight started. Increase this DC by 1 for each hour that passes.

Encounter 2 (1 human commoner lost to despair, 3 human commoners lost to wrath, 1 kenku warrior): As he PCs enter town, the townsfolk all seem unsure of what to do. Most are wandering aimlessly. The more religious folk are praying and the arcane-inclined are busily turning pages in the library looking for any information they can find, but both of these groups of people will be inside buildings out of immediate sight. Every person the players can see is very obviously hopelessly lost (but most aren’t Lost).

After a minute or so (depending on how interested the players are), a DC 15 Spot check reveals a human Lost 90’ away wandering (20’/rd) toward a tavern (which is 40’ away from the Lost). Assuming it’s spotted, another DC 15 Spot check reveals that several people around him are visibly frightened (they’re shaken, in fact, just by his appearance). He’s on his way to the bar to drown his sorrows. If he makes it there, a short chorus of screams and yelps emerges from it as the patrons inside see his appearance (roll 10 DC 10 Will saves at +0 to determine how many fail their saves).

Inside the bar, a kenku was peacefully trying to order an ale; three humans around him are mocking him and implicating his kind for the events thus far. (“Get outta here, bird boy. Weird things happen when you people are around.”) (“Whadda YOU mean, ‘you people’” jokes from the players in 3… 2…) A fight breaks out, stray incarnum happens, and more Lost are created.

The kenku has a shortbow, and in a coordinated fight he’d probably try to be mobile and stay out of melee reach. However the Lost template has dropped his intelligence to 3, which is just barely above animal. He knows how not to die (and still knows how to use a bow), but combat tactics aren’t the strong suit. The Lost template uses the -6 Int as a drawback, so play the character that way: He’ll turn and fire at the players, but once they’ve closed on him he’ll just drop the bow and try to claw them to death.

If the Lost in the streets makes it into the tavern, and he sees the PCs attack the other Lost, he will attack as well.

As with encounter 1 I expect all the creatures lost to wrath are dead at the end of this, but the one lost to despair is (possibly) a different story. The players might want to find help for him somehow, especially if they manage to prevent him from entering the tavern in the first place. They may try to find a healer, or something else entirely. If they do stop him from entering the tavern, the encounter inside it is delayed. It might be moved to a completely different location, depending on the PCs’ actions after they drop off the Lost.

After the battle in the bar (or wherever it happens), the PCs might offer to help the owner/barkeep clean up. If they do, he offers that the kenku have been in town over a week, yet “this business with people goin’ crazy” started less than an hour ago, and that from what he’s seen they haven’t caused any trouble, supernatural or otherwise. “In fact, they seem to be pretty upstanding folk, if you ask me. A little strange, but who isn’t?” (In reality, there’s a little selection bias here: The kenku that can afford to travel are fairly upstanding, but the ones back home, not so much.)

Interlude: At this point, there’s no more planned combat encounters during the adventuring day. (… If the PCs get into a fight that’s their own fault.) What they do from here is deliberately left open-ended. There isn’t much information to be had, since the town is about as clueless as the players at this point.

They may try the local healers for information. (This might also occur before encounter 2, if they stop the Lost from entering the tavern.) The healer they meet is a lesser aasimar, who informs them that they’ve never seen this before, but they’re working on trying to figure it out. He offers to inform the party if he or anyone at the temple discovers anything useful. (“Where are you staying? I’ll do my best to let you know if we find anything.”)

A psion recluse has used detect hostile intent to determine that even the creatures lost to wrath don’t have any hostile intent. (This probably happened when he saw one that looked mean, used detect hostile intent to try to figure out if it would attack him, thought it wouldn’t, and then it did.) The players meeting up with the psion is essentially a matter of luck/deus-ex. Most likely I’ll introduce him as overhearing a conversation if the players strike one up with a merchant or innkeeper during this interlude.

The players at some point will probably want to do routine selling/shopping (or whatever else these particular adventurers are wont to do). If the players try to talk to a merchant or innkeeper or bartender (or …) about the strange happenings, they will be met with friendly nervous small talk but little of actual value – unless, of course, the aforementioned psion happens to be around. The townsfolk will have all heard his theories and thought them crazy, but he’ll offer to converse with them in more pleasant circumstances if they’re willing.

If they agree to walk-and-talk, he not only offers that he doesn’t think they’re “themselves”, but that he’s encountered one whose saliva had apparently turned to acid.

As mentioned before, there’s no more combat to be had on this adventuring day, so invariably the players will try to sleep in town. If they don’t, encounters 3 and 4 will happen elsewhere [? how and where].

Encounter 3 (3 human commoners lost to hatred, 1 kenku rogue lost to wrath): As the players emerge from their slumber, the ground floor of the tavern has already erupted into a fight among some acid-spitting humans and a kenku lost to wrath. What probably happened was a situation similar to that of encounter 2, except that this time the humans are so convinced that the kenku are the source of all this that they are lost to hatred.

There’s a second opportunity for the players to have the conversation with the bartender/tavern owner mentioned in encounter 2.

The kenku rogue in this encounter has a masterwork tool of Use Magic Device on his person. The form this actually takes will be an orange-colored gem which gives an indicator (maybe it glows) when the person using it is “on the right track” when using a magic device. The gem will be lodged into the kenku’s belt, plain to see, and it will have an insignia carved into it that the players (probably) don’t recognize. The insignia will be one that represents the local weaponsmith/armorsmith, who also has various trinkets and whatsits on his shelves. Hopefully, this leads the players to the merchant, where…

Encounter 4 (1 human commoner lost to misery, 3 kenku warriors lost to wrath, 1 kenku rogue lost to wrath): The commoner lost to misery is sitting in the corner and droning on about how miserable literally everything is. He’s so wracked with misery he won’t get up and attack; unlike the one lost to despair in encounter 2, attacking the other Lost in this encounter won’t move him at all.

Before the kenku were struck by stray incarnum and turned to Lost, they were in an argument with the armorsmith (who was standing behind the counter), which started when he made the accusatory remarks that are quickly becoming more and more typical among the townsfolk. He managed to escape the incarnum, either by luck or by remaining calm. His son did not escape, and is the one lost to misery, which occurred as he watched the kenku transform. (“I don’t know a lick about sharp things; it was always my son who took care of that stuff. I don’t know what I’ll do now.”)

If the players take the weaponsmith to the healers, he has new information for them. Otherwise, if the players have informed the healer as to where they’re staying, they are greeted by him when they return to their inn. “Out of the blue, one of our own was struck by this … affliction? I don’t know what to call it. Anyway, in a panic I tried to calm him with magic and it worked” cliffhanger. If the players ask if he tried this on one of the already-afflicted Lost, the answer is yes, however it only seemed to momentarily bring a fragment of the original mind back to the forefront.

Aftermath: [? J’s character]’s patron is a useful out for information. Dragons have a unique connection to the supernatural, and it’s likely he would “feel” the Portal Event in some way, and possibly learn to see (and shape!) the incarnum that floods in. Rolling (or faking) a Knowledge: the planes check for the patron to learn about the dusklings’ native plane could give the dragon information regarding the Lost and incarnum in general. He would (of course) pass it onto [? J’s character] along with instructions to investigate.

[rrwoods]

And that's it, mostly. I've got a few world-building notes but they're super-scattered. The only other relevant piece of information is how the Lost are cured:


To reverse the transformation and restore the creature's mind fully to its normal state, it must have been affected by six separate calm emotions effects (probably from casting the calm emotions spell), each for 1 continuous minute (10 rounds) or longer, at which point they lose the Lost template. Following that, they must then be affected by a protection from incarnum effect to make the reversal permanent.

Each such minute under calm emotions reverses a portion of the numerical effects of the Lost template, as follows:

====== Int Str Con N.A. Speed
first: +1, -1, -1
second +1, -1, -1, -1
third: +1, -1, -1, .... -5 ft.
fourth +1, -1, -1, -1
fifth: +1, -1, -1
sixth --- remove all adjustments from this table ---

The sixth minute under calm emotions removes the Lost template and all adjustments from the above table, returning their ability scores, natural armor, and speed to what they were before the template was applied. (Note that the fifth casting does, in fact, leave the creature physically weaker than if they didn't have the template at all; at this point, the creature is experiencing such mental distress that it affects their physical state.)

The protection from incarnum effect renders the process complete, and the template loss permanent. When this happens, the incarnum leaves the subject's body in a stark, midnight-blue wisp, visible to anyone looking at the creature who makes a DC 10 Spot check. The wisp dissipates almost immediately.

If the process begins (that is, the first calm emotions effect is applied) but doesn't complete within 24 hours, all progress is wasted and the process must begin anew. If the creature loses the Lost template but not permanently (because no protection from incarnum effect affected it), it will regain the Lost template 24 hours after the process started.

(A protection from incarnum effect affecting a Lost that has not undergone the requisite six calm emotions effects still has its normal effect as described in Magic of Incarnum, but it does not have any of the effects described here.)


===

This is deliberately hard (impossible) for the players to discover during the first adventure; I'm hoping this chapter will span three to five adventures.

[nedz]

Your encounters seem a bit linear, which makes it look like a railroad, but whether it is or not depends upon how it is run.