Devacorian Plans: Kingmaker

[Devacorian]

Hello, everyone! Long-time lurker, first time poster, and I'm planning to run my RL group through the Kingmaker Adventure Path. Like the hundreds of other Kingmaker campaign journals and posts that have been made on this forum and many others, I have a few changes I plan to make for my group. These changes are mostly to hammer the storyline into a better, more sensible shape. That said, if you are one of my players, read no further, for there be spoilers.

I welcome all suggestions, opinions, and comments about this campaign and the changes I'm making to it.


Character Leveling: I will not be awarding XP, but rather giving character levels based on storyline accomplishments. My group has done this to great effect. It serves to deter from XP farming (which I absolutely hate), and keeps PCs solidly in line with where they're supposed to be based on the storyline.

To that end, PCs will begin at level 1, then receive another level at each of the following benchmarks: clearing the Temple of the Elk, completing Sootscale storyline, defeating Kressle, and capturing or killing the Stag Lord. This will see the PCs through to level 5 by the end of the first book.

I will be implementing a random weather generator, as well as tracking food and supplies for this first book. I want to reinforce the wild inhospitability of the Stolen Lands, and forcing my low-level PCs to pay attention to survival as well as combat is one way to overcome the 15-minute adventuring day that Kingmaker seems to unwittingly encourage. Besides, I've always wanted to make use of the survival rules at low levels, including environmental hazards and starvation. :smallamused:


More will be added to this list as needed. Keep an eye out!

[Devacorian]

Book One: The Stolen Lands

Some of the major issues that have been pointed out regarding the Kingmaker AP are relatively small things, but it's the little things my players notice and care about that make the game. Furthermore, I will be upping the difficulty of the campaign a little bit, since my players have proven themselves to be capable in these situations, and Kingmaker's 15-minute adventuring problem is something most GMs have had to constantly struggle against.

One of the common dislikes about Kingmaker is the disjointed feeling regarding Nyrissa's subtle work against the PCs throughout the entire campaign. I can't say I disagree with that; sure, the books have plenty of background info for the DM to read, but the players themselves might not even hear about the mad nymph before the end of the campaign.

I'm addressing that. I'll be attempting to implement original NPCs (or convert existing ones) into spies, lackeys, and servants of Nyrissa all throughout the campaign. There are a few options in Book One that I can use for this.

One option is to use the Stag Lord's father, Nugrah the Decrepit. There are some convoluted ways to implement this, but nothing I've hit upon makes me really like this option. In fact, I really don't like the whole story behind Nugrah, period. The whole thing feels like it was written by a teenager with daddy issues, and I can't really bring myself to believe that a 6th level druid wouldn't be able to muster the power to break free from his son's treatment. Personally, I'm in favor of scrapping Nugrah altogether.

I have a few ideas for NPCs to replace him and also function as Nyrissa's spy. The easiest to implement would be a cleric or druid who acts as an unwanted overseer and emissary to the bandit encampment. This NPC would be several times removed from Nyrissa ("I never saw a face, but I know a name"), likely recruited by another chapter's villain. Anyway, this is one of the first sections that I could use some solid feedback and brainstorming on.

For the most part, the bandits remain unchanged. Bandit mooks remain as CR 1/3 Warriors, and their numbers are typically unchanged. The named bandits and leaders, however, have received some mechanical changes.

Happs Bydon's favored enemy has been changed to human, for obvious reasons.

Kressle has been restatted as a ranged combatant. She lets her bandit mooks engage the PCs in melee while she fires off potshots from cover. If forced to engage in melee, she still has her handaxe (but only one).

Auchs has been reworked into an ogrekin fighter. I absolutely despise the way that character was written — if Fat Majin Buu was one of the leaders of a bandit camp, it'd be Auchs. This way, Auchs is more of a Fezzik to Dovan's Inigo. He's not bright, he's big, and he's freakin' terrifying if you get within arms' reach of him. Which, given his ogrekin added reach, is even more terrifying. All in all, Auchs should feel more like Dovan's leashed monstrosity than a giant baby with a club.

Dovan of Nisrock has been restatted as a ninja. After unleashing both Auchs and the owlbear on the party, he watches from up on the ramparts and lobs acid flasks down at the PCs. If reduced down to 1/3 his max hit points, he flees into the wilderness, using any remaining ki points or tricks he has at his disposal to do so. Honestly, my goal is to make him a recurring villain.

The Stag Lord presents an interesting conundrum. I have restatted him as a Slayer (might as well, since he's a Rogue/Ranger combo anyway). His Stag's Helm is also altered somewhat. In addition to the stats presented in the book, it is also cursed by Nyrissa. A Remove Curse spell can easily remove this addition, but unless it is identified, the curse is not readily apparent. The helm allows Nyrissa to see and hear through the wearer's senses, as the spell Share Senses, a total of 20 minutes a day. The wearer is allowed no Will save against this effect, and is not aware that their senses are being hijacked. To that end, if Nyrissa receives word that the PCs are attacking the Stag Lord's fortress, she activates this ability and watches through the Stag Lord's eyes as the PCs besiege his encampment. If she gets a good look at any of them, she will be able to scry them later and keep careful tabs on them.

[Akal Saris]

It might make more sense to have the Stag Lord himself be a minion of Nyrissa, since Nugreh is kind of a background character. You could also introduce some evil fey in Book 1 or 2 that follow Nyrissa and are trying to hinder the PCs' work or spy on them.

In my campaign (now about to start book 6! Only 4 years later!), I set it up so that there were three powerful beings at war ten thousand of years ago, using that plotline to tie Books 3 and 4 into the Nyrissa plotline:
- Nyrissa, in what is now Pitax
- Vordekai, in what is now the Stolen Lands and Varnhold
- Ilthuliak (Book 6 dragon in Nyrissa's realm), in what is now Fort Drelev

Since the PCs have been active, all 3 have awakened slowly from a long-lasting slumber. The PCs have interacted with Nyrissa through Dream spells as she tried to push them on to attack Vordekai, while Ilthuliak showed up impersonating Drelev's lieutenant. They have also seen a play based on Nyrissa's story that I added to the storyline, put on by one of the NPCs in Book 5 who the PCs rescue from Irovetti. Basically, I think the PCs at this point probably are more concerned about Ilthuliak than Nyrissa, so I plan to have the final module kick off with the PCs learning that Ilthuliak has been defeated and enslaved by Nyrissa, who now feels confident enough to start her grand invasion, cue monsters, etc.

[Coidzor]

I'm inclined to agree with Elricaltovilla (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?412824-A-Kingdom-of-Their-Own-A-Trio-of-Tieflings-Play-Kingmaker/) on the subject that if you wanna do a lot of work on tweaking the AP, you should consider changing it into more of a colonization game, possibly on an archipelago so that Varnhold and the like are relatively close islands or further flung parts of a large island in the vein of something like Cuba.

[Devacorian]

Ooh, I like the idea of introducing the background as a play! Very clever, Akal. As far as having a three-way conflict between Nyrissa, Vordekai, and Ilthuliak, I can totally see that being something I can work with. I was planning to really play up just how much Vordekai hates Nyrissa anyway, so having something like this going on could be really interesting. When you say your players were introduced to Nyrissa through Dream spells, how exactly did you have those encounters going?

Coidzor, I'm not exactly looking to revamp the setting exactly. More just tweak the plot and fix what I see as some minor issues. As far as setting the campaign on an archipelago, I'm not really sure how that would differ from setting it in the River Kingdoms, other than having the flavor of a High Seas Adventure™. I mean, Kingmaker is kinda already about colonization, so I guess I don't follow.