My Campaign [wall of text]

[Bjarkmundur]

My level 3 group is about to finish their first adventure. I've asked them all to write up their character goals, to prepare for the next part of the campaign. I haven't received their answers yet.

Right now the Sorcerer King seems like an OK guy. He united the kingdoms, stopped the war and prevented a lot of bad things happening. I should probably flesh him out a little bit, to make him a better villain.

He is also way too powerful for the group to handle right away. I have to find another way for them to get closer to their goal.

Why is the Sorcerer King evil?

What can my group do next?

Is there a module that I can transition to, from this point of the story?

I'm thinking of making Sunless Citadel be the Ruins of the Second Kingdom. There perhaps lies the weapon of Alexander's father, dubbed the Mage Slayer.

Disclaimer: My ADD is killing me, I'll come back later and make this whole post easier to read :)

Setting

Mage Wars: When war magic was discovered it changed everything. The small skirmishes and rivalries between cities and rulers escalated to an all out war that plagued the entire continent. It was no longer the Kings and rulers that fought the war, it was their mages.
The land is now riddled with unexplainable magical phenomenons, lost cities, and desolate battlefields. The Mage battles of the war didn't just affect the land, they changed it.

The Sorcerer King: Eventually one mage was left standing, a Sorcerer, who managed to destroy the rulers and headmages of all the four kingdom, and united them under his rule as as The Sorcerer King.

The Anti-magic Law: After the war the King established an all out ban on war magic. This pleased the people of the continent, but also ensured that no man would ever gain enough power to oppose him. As his guards swept the land, burning and destroying every Scroll, script and magical item, high magic was slowly but sure eradicated.

Mage Colleges: With high magic eradicated the established a new mage Collage in his capital. This way he could monitor all use of magic, and its most powerful users. The collages focused more on academics, but also tought its student the basics of magic, and instilled a deep rooted fear of war magic.

Characters
Alexander is the son of the King of the Second Kingdom, who's magical bloodline makes him a great threat to the Sorcerer King. His father was killed in the Mage Wars, and Alexander was forced into exile. Now, many years later, he has sworn an oath to overthrow the Sorcerer King and take his place.

Guy
A spellcaster with a thirst for knowledge. He found Alexander and told him of his heritage and magical bloodline. Guy would like nothing more than have the anti-magic laws lifted, so he is determined to help Alexander claim the throne.

Beldroth
A young elf who had an accident involving a magical phenomenon from the Mage Wars. Her essence now imbued with terrible magic. She immediately left her fair Elven City, knowing that if she loses control of her power she will be executed by the King's Laws. She is now travelling with Guy, who is teaching her to control her powers. Her return home lies both on her ability to control her powers, or the removal of the anti magic laws.

Liliadrin
Orphaned as a result of the Mage Wars, this young human had nothing left but a baby brother. When her brother got sick she sought help from a wandering wizard. The wizard had no intent of saving her brother, and used him in one of is necromantic experiments instead.
.....
Liliadrin has bought power from varius sources to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.



Story so far

When going over his latest black market haul of old manuscripts, hoping to learn a spell or two, he came across an old drawing of the castle. This old drawing shows and entire section of the castle that is not on any other, more modern, blueprint. He gathers a team to infiltrate the castle and explore this hidden underground section of the castle.
It turns out to be and alternate way into the the Sorcerer King's private study. On his desk is an old map, which leads the way to a powerful artifact called the Forever Stone.
The group now goes on an adventure to retrieve the stone, hoping to keep it out of the Sorcerer King's Hands.
The Sorcerer King soon realises he's been robbed, will most likely send someone to intercept our heroes.

[KorvinStarmast]

You campaign seems a perfect setting for a player character warlock. Magic is generally illegal, or tightly controlled. A PC reaches out to a powerful supernatural being and gets access to pact magic.

Is one of your players a warlock?

[Bjarkmundur]

You campaign seems a perfect setting for a player character warlock. Magic is generally illegal, or tightly controlled. A PC reaches out to a powerful supernatural being and gets access to pact magic.

Is one of your players a warlock?

Two of them ;)

Guy is a Warlock
Beldroth is technically a sorcerer, but she picked the warlock class.

I'm really scared of making my own campaign, so any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[malachi]

As my quote in the other thread:

Based on the other thread, you're the GM and are worried that your party won't be strong enough.

You could always make a McGuffin artifact of some sort to weaken him (either the PCs disable the thing he draws power from, or find something that will weaken him when he's near) to whatever CR ends up being appropriate for the climax of your game.

Alternately, give him a goal that he's pursuing more closely than the PCs (maybe trying to complete a ritual at a certain time to allow him to start conquering the outer planes) and while he is engaging in that ritual he is unable to use his actual spells (but can use whatever cool magical ability you want to give him that relates to the ritual or whatever).

Third, you could just say that he's not a 20-th level spellcaster, but was able to achieve his goals by simply being smarter and more manipulative than his enemies and by being in the right place at the right time - which would allow you to lower his CR to something appropriate for the party.

Fourth, allow the party to find an ally or two (maybe something related to the warlocks' pacts?) that could bear the brunt of the high level spells (this has the risk of making the party feel like glorified side-kicks, though), or have the allies give the PCs some kind of boon that would make them immune to the stuff that's too strong for them.

When you say "war magic", are you basically talking about the offensive spells in the books, or something cooler / stronger / more destructive (which would make all of the spells in the books, such as magic missile or fireball, legal)?

Why is the BBEG evil?
Options:
- After conquering everything, he's started pursuing immortality via lichdom. He is gathering up entire provinces as sacrifices to achieve his goals.
- He wants to kill the gods and take their place.
- He has started absorbing all magic in the land, which has resulted in many people being born without souls / emotions.
- The reason he was able to gain so much power was a pact with several demons/devils/etc, and they have come to collect their debt. If the BBEG dies (or is banished), then the armies of evil would vanish from the land.
- The only reason he is able to maintain unity and peace is by forcefully crushing all resistance. Taxes have been raised to support the standing armies to stop the protests, in a vicious cycle that causes people to protest the raised taxes, and things have gotten so bad that many farmers can't even keep enough crops to feed themselves.


What can my group do next?
Options:
- Unlock the power of the Forever Stone by going on a quest to the far reaches of the world, collecting various things, which would allow them to assemble an artifact that would give them protection against the BBEG's magic.
- Work with the warlock patron to weaken the BBEG enough to take him on / disrupt his plans.
- Create a resistance movement and start taking over territory owned by the BBEG (the PCs being either leaders or tactical strike force of some sort).

Is there a module that I can transition to, from this point of the story?
I don't know anything about the games' modules, so ???.

[Bjarkmundur]

Thank you so much! This gives me a ton to work with :)

I'm still unsure what will happen next, but knowing my villain's plan is going to do a lot for the overarching story.

Knowing that BBEG is up to something in secret really puts a element of mystery into my Campaign. Can't wait to watch my group unfold the truth!

War magic is every single damaging spell.

The only spellcasters left are low level clerics and utility mages from the college. I can imagine old clerics and archmages knowing level 4 spells, and can use them to lend aid against natural disasters and such.

[Bjarkmundur]

Right now we have been avoiding people, based on the fact thst we are close to the capital and using magic. Without a signet ring of the clergy or college, that's a problem.
If I make them a part of a town I can have a commoner bring an adventure hook.


My son got entry into the College, and we were so proud of him. He used to write us every week, but we've had no word from him for six months now. It is not like him. We saved up everything we had, so he could go study. We got a letter from the College saying that he got a scholarship, and we didn't need to pay for the rest of his education. Thst was just before he stopped writing. Please go to the capital and see if he's alright.

My group will be shocked to find that the King is executing anyone with a bloodline, and consuming their powers to further his plan.

Now I just need to solve that problem. How to introduce my PCs to a village.

[Unoriginal]

What statblock are you giving to this Sorcerer King fellow?

[Bjarkmundur]

What statblock are you giving to this Sorcerer King fellow?

I'm not there yet, honestly.
It really depends on the story up to that point. Will we find a way to make him less powerful, what has he been doing up to this point, what level are my PCs etc.
Since I'm just fleshing him out now, if I were to make his stats now I'll almost definitely have to adjust it later.

[Lupine]

I'm not there yet, honestly.
It really depends on the story up to that point. Will we find a way to make him less powerful, what has he been doing up to this point, what level are my PCs etc.
Since I'm just fleshing him out now, if I were to make his stats now I'll almost definitely have to adjust it later.

I might consider making him as if he was a PC of two or three levels above the party, and then giving him a bunch of magic items. As a king, he'd have all the attendants he'd need. As as result, each encounter would be challenging, and he'd stay dynamic in stats, because as the PCs leveled up, so too would he. To make him more difficult to pin down, change out his spells.

[Bjarkmundur]

I might consider making him as if he was a PC of two or three levels above the party, and then giving him a bunch of magic items. As a king, he'd have all the attendants he'd need. As as result, each encounter would be challenging, and he'd stay dynamic in stats, because as the PCs leveled up, so too would he. To make him more difficult to pin down, change out his spells.

Creating a fun combat encounter won't be too difficult, stat wise. (http://blogofholding.com/?p=7338)
My first edition was 4e (https://youtu.be/QoELQ7px9ws) ;)
Besides, I already have some plans (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584970-Magic-Items-vs-a-Sorcerer).

It's just some timeline and storyline issues I have to deal with first.