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Braininthejar2
2016-08-09, 07:17 PM
Hello everyone.

For the last couple of years, I've been DMing a single player campaign based on the Baldur's Gate game series. (spoilers below)

It's been a lot of fun, despite the staggering amount of work required (with the plot so centered around a single person, and well known to most other people I could RP with, it had to be a single player game, but that means coordinating lots of characters in every fight, with the level of complexity increasing with levels) with my player's ever-pragmatic druid finding lots of ways to do things differently.

Now we have reached the Suldanessalar battle, and if the party survives it, they will face the finale of this story arc next. This involves the hell trials, and... I need to tweak them a little - they were great for a computer game, but will not work as designed in a real rpg game.

Those who played Baldur's Gate, know what I'm talking about, and what the problems might be. For thos who don't, a short overview:

After the previous boss fight, in which the heroes prevented the big bad from hacking a holy tree that serves as a faith conduit between the Fearun elves and their gods, the villain was killed, but a link he had with the protagonist (as an essential part of his plan to ur-priest himself into a god, he needed some sort of divine spark to start with - he got it by ripping a piece of soul from the protagonist, who is a child of an evil dead god, left as a backup plan to power his return) dragged them both into the afterlife together.

Now they're both stuck in a pocket realm in hell, preparing for the final battle, while the divine power manifests in them, trying to "decide" the rightful bearer.

For the villain, he gets the standard "final boss" package.

For the hero, she encounteres a door that bars her from the final fight, with a number of stone 'tears' required to open - each tear requires going through some sort of a trial, and depending on her decision, she'd get some sort of permanent bonus from each (a boost to stats, spell resistance, damage reduction, etc.)

In the computer game the tests looked as follows.

PRIDE: a fiend warns the party that there is a terrible creature guarding the tear, but surely such mighty heroes won't have a problem with it - it is a dragon, which they can either kill (bonus: extra XP points) or simply ask for the tear, (bonus: elemental resistances)

FEAR: two paths lead to the tear, one full of beholders, the other filled with a powerful fear aura. The fiend garding the trial offers the hero a cloak made of nymph skins, that will make her immune to fear. (facing the monsters grants damage reduction, taking the cloak gives a constitution bonus, plus she can keep it)

SELFISHNESS: the fiend guarding the tear abducts a party member - the hero can reach the tear through a door of sacrifice (which will eat her a point of dexterity and a couple hit points) or the door of selfishness ( which will kill the trapped companion). The good choice gives spell resistance, while the evil choice gives natural armor. (a popular mod allows the player to simply attack the fiend - I don't remember what the reward is)

GREED: a fiend warns the party of a terrible guardian, and gives them a magic weapon to kill him with. (originally a sword, but the player is a druid, so I'd need some evil summoning-themed staff - any idea?) The guardian is a genie bound to the trial against his will - he can be killed with the weapon, or he can be freed by receiving the weapon instead. (good path gives a bonus to saves, evil path gives some extra HP, and the weapon)

WRATH: one of the previous bosses, the hero's evil brother who was the main boss of the first story arc, appears and goads her to fight him. The fight is inevitable, but depending on the player's reaction it could be a proper team effort, or her going full darkside and ripping him apart with demonic claws. (the good path gives wisdom/charisma, the evil path gives strength)

So, do you guys have any ideas for how to improve this sequence to make it work better with a proper rpg game? (especially fear - there are just too many ways to bypass the problem entirely)

J-H
2016-08-09, 09:02 PM
My favorite computer game of all time!

I am going to assume D&D 3.5 for this. Is the druid a melee character, summoner, BFC, or blaster?

I'm also going to assume that a quarterstaff can be used as a 2-handed weapon (vs the silly double-ended weapon rules). If not, sub in a greatclub.

Greed:
As-is test is good, as long as the Genie gets to make his speech before the druid attacks.

Bone Staff
This +3 quarterstaff is made from the obsidian-colored tibia of a long-dead storm giant vampire lord. It feels unnaturally cold in your hand, but warms when it strikes an enemy.
+3 quarterstaff
+1d6 cold damage on-hit
+1d6 negative energy damage on hit
On-hit, heals the wielder by 3hp; double on a critical
The healing and negative energy effects carry over into a shapechanged form's natural attacks, if the wielder is holding it when shifting.
On scoring a critical hit, the wielder is hasted for 3 rounds.

Pride
Have the questgiver who introduces pride ask the player what he will do. This removes the prompts for "Can I talk to it?" while leaving things open for a character who is willing to negotiate to say "I'll talk to it."
Skip the extra XP in exchange for...hmm, +2 charisma, or +1 BAB? Yes, BAB - may tip the druid over to +16.
The elemental resistances might need to be swapped from %s to resist X 30, which will be a lot more useful most of the time.

Fear
Swap the enemies from Beholders to something less absurdly lethal. I'm not sure what to suggest; what's given the PC trouble in the past?
I would pair the Fear area with difficult terrain, and a non-dispellable poison gas that deals CON damage per round (with a short duration for the damage, maybe 20 rounds, so he doesn't have to spend 2 days sleeping ot off).

Make the cloak a slotless item, or a vest that can be worn over armor - it makes it more valuable - and make it give immunity to ability damage and/or mind blank.

J-H
2016-08-09, 09:09 PM
Wrath
Wrath is good as-is, especially if you boost Sarevok with hefty DR that only a few weapons can penetrate. Make sure the stat bonuses are powerful enough to be relevant. I would also consider giving a bonus Iron Will feat for non-wrath, or a Skill Focus: Intimidate for free for being wrathful.

Selfishness
The mod giving a neutral path gives you 33% resistance to slashing damage.
This one is reasonable as is.

Braininthejar2
2016-08-10, 03:17 AM
Summoner druid. and if she is forced into close combat, she shifts into something big.

Sarevok was a level 16 warblade/crusader last time they saw him. (got swarmed with summoned dire wolves)

As for fear... she's just got shapechange - she can get pretty much any immunity she needs. so we need some sort of a conceptual change here.

Braininthejar2
2016-08-10, 05:31 AM
I'm not sure beholders would be lethal at this level either - due to lack of restraint on my part (and some unexpected recruitment effort from my player) the party has... overgrown a bit.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/braininthejar/Sealia%20group.jpg

J-H
2016-08-10, 07:27 AM
Whoa, I don't recognize all of those.

If the fear/con draining room has a constant dispelling going on at, say, CL18, she can't stay shapeshifted for more than 1-2 rounds before losing it and whatever immunity it brings. Sssso, she can choose, whether to risssk her life or to ssseize the power.

Perhaps have it be one where the rest of the party is locked out?

Braininthejar2
2016-08-10, 08:49 AM
The central one is Sealia, my player's druid character.

You probably recognize Minsc (ranger/barbarian/warblade) Jansen (artificer) Viconia (cleric), Imoen (rogue/sorcerer/unseen seer/arcane trickster) and Aerie (cleric/mage/mystic theurge - the wings were a trivial thing once the party reached mid-teen levels)

The one with the horns is Jaheira - at some point I realised her wisdom would not keep up with her casting requirements, so I had her dip warshaper.

The drow male is Solaufein - my player singled him out for recruitment without any prompting on my part, and then the plot made it more than possible. Since I didn't like the Solaufein mod interpretation of him, I made him a neutral warblade - at the moment he's Viconia's lackey, and as long as he's loyal, Shar protects him from the consequences of abandoning Lolth.

The other elven mage is the most unexpected character - for some reason, my player insisted on saving the crazy Ellesime clone from Irenicus' lab, subduing her, and dragging her out of there. I took the idea and ran with it, having her become more lucid once she had some normal human interaction - the multiple recycling combined with Irenicus' editing scrambled her memories enough that she couldn't give away the plot too early, but she was otherwise capable of normal life - calling herself Amnelath (Oak Three, after some vague memory she had) she began her journey to defining herself as her own person. For Sealia's part, she treats her like an adoptive daughter.
Since I used the opportunity of the campaign to experiments with various builds, I made her
Abjurer/master specialist/Initiate of the sevenfold veil - she's now my main panic button for when I overdo it with the enemies and the battle goes south.

Braininthejar2
2016-08-10, 06:55 PM
The problem with fear trial as it is, is that it relies on creating a demand for an item that the party might bypass in a hundred ways - so either the moral problem is completely bypassed, or I take pains to eliminate every single one of these ways, which isn't really conductive to fun game time.

This test needs to be modified in such a way that the player's strength is not relevant to the problem - and that means either dramatically changing the premise, or replacing the test altogether.

J-H
2016-08-10, 09:55 PM
Druids only have prepared spells, unless they rest. If she's separated from the rest of the party, she's got fewer options.


CHARNAME blacks out for a moment as she goes down the stairs. She awakens, alone, with her only weapon a non-magical quarterstaff (the same as the druid challenge; I can't figure out how to take her magic items without it being weird). Another creature confronts her.

"You fear, child of Bhaal. That is not in question. How you choose to deal with your fear, Child of Bhaal, is the question. Through this door are several of the deadliest creatures you have faced, ones that have proven able to kill or mortally wound you or your...minions.

If you face them alone, you will probably die, or at least be greatly weakened before what is to come. You could fail, and die; you could get those you care about in your weak heart killed, and release the one you chase to wreak his havoc on the Material Plane again.

You hold some small power here. Say the word, and three powerful mortal warriors will have their spirits taken from the Prime Material Plane; they will appear in flesh, body, and spirit here, equipped and ready to guard you through the battle in the next room."

Of course, the three summoned warriors will be permanently killed by being pulled off the Prime and into the trials, since they aren't truly linked to her...and maybe they'll be paladins, or maybe just random warriors. Does she fear risk enough to pay the price, or will she use her power to assuage her fear in a way that leaves others bearing the cost?

Not sure what should be in the next room; beholders (antimagic), vampires (level drain), hakeashar (spell slots lost), and similar are a good pick.

Demidos
2016-08-10, 10:36 PM
Dread Witch? can bypass fear immunity. Give the player the objective of, say, grabbing a magic amulet from the center of the room, and only allow a single person to enter. Inside, there is a selective antimagic field that doesn't apply to the dread witch. The player now has to beat the dread witch without allies, summons, buffs, or most of her gear -- actually one of the few terrifying things that can happen to a high level caster.

You could alter this in several ways -- make it a maze where the character is being hunted by something or various somethings with fear auras. Even something like Howlers (CR 3) are far more deadly if the caster is deprived of magic, and with their quills that stack penalties, it could be terrifying. Especially if the howlers are just the lead-up to the real monster hunting the PC -- i'd make it an old and tricky Bebilith which is missing a few legs, which I would DM fiat to lower its grapple and movespeed. The idea isnt that the PC can be permanently trapped, but as time goes by and the penalties accrue, each time the PC gets caught in a web, stuck with another quill, or slowed in sand, bones, or other difficult terrain, it is a little more desperate. Perhaps even give the player a holy symbol that scares off the howlers...but attracts the Bebility. This version probably wouldn't require the dread witch.

Heh...started as a straightforward fight against a dread witch, and ended up suggesting a horror themed dash through a demon-infested maze. XD

Braininthejar2
2016-08-11, 05:20 AM
J-H: not perfect, but a good staring point to brainstorm further.

It seems a bit too similar to the test of selfishness. Plus, we'd need some kind of enemy that is a threat to a high level druid, where paladins would make a difference - she doesn't need to rest, just wait till she can pray again (they didn't for vampires - with the number of sun-themed spells she's packing, she was death incarnate at Bohdi's lair - there were half a dozen paladins with her, and they weren't really able to contribute, even as meat shields)

I'd need to pull some shenanigans to prevent her from bypassing the test (wildshaping into elemental to use earthglide, or shapechanging into a beholder to make her own tunnel )

Demidos: the point of the exercise is a moral choice - do you fear the trial enough to commit evil for your safety.

J-H
2016-08-11, 07:05 AM
The pocket plane is created by magic, and is made of Magic Abyssal Rock that you can't earthglide through. It's the equivalent of an airplane flying at 35,000', complete with thin skin. Earthglide puts you outside, and disintegrate shoots a hole in the pressure door.

Braininthejar2
2016-08-11, 07:10 AM
True. I don't want to overdo it though, for reasons previously explained.

J-H
2016-08-11, 11:25 AM
Yes, but you're in a pocket plane in the Abyss. It's not like you're standing on the crust of a planet where normal rules apply.

Furthermore, this is a test created by CHARNAME's own soul. If she's testing herself, won't she know how to force herself to take the test?

Or you could just make it a dead magic zone.