Check for Insanity / Roll for Madness

[Pendants of Tor-Logos]

Pathfinder RPG

Achaerbas, the chaotic wizard, returns do the capital to make a claim for the throne, exhibiting a show of force to support his intent. The PCs drive him away, and go to the imprisoned devil Kyros Vidar to try to discover the location of the captives. Meanwhile, with the death of the Agatarkion V, the kingdom is left without rulership. Can the PCs’ suggestion of a joint theocracy be the solution?

Barion (rogue), Bellerophon (paladin), Thorkron (cleric/wizard/mystic theurge)

When you spend a four hour session roleplaying:

- a chaotic-insane all powerful wizard riding a tsunami, followed by elder water elementals that carry ships on their shoulders;

- a chaotic-insane former PC cleric, devoted to the god of madness, unwilling to commune with his god because "the dice told him so";

- an arrogant commander that hates one of the PCs so much that he refuses to act with minimal logic, because the PC took his favorite toy;

- an imprisoned erinyes hit by a Geas that tries in every way to refuse to speak, twisting, growling, biting his tongue, and so on.

You know two things:

1st: You must schedule an appointment with a  psychiatrist to check your sanity.

2nd: You're having a great time playing D&D!

I'm risking becoming a more efficient kingslayer than Jaime Lannister, since I've already killed two kings in the present campaign (as DM).

The all-mighty-crazy-magician returns to the city riding a tsunami, followed by a mythological gargantuan sea monster (Charybdis), and two elder water elementals carrying ships over their shoulders. He starts speaking to the populace, announcing that he has blood bonds to the former kings. Now try to imagine doing this epic speech with the three PCs trying to hit him while charging on a pegasus, with a magical spear, throwing all sort of spells against him, or trying to backstab him with daggers containing Touch of Idiocy!!!!

If the PCs seem edgy... maybe it's the DM's fault given the amount of EVERYTHING AND THEN SOME MORE that seems to hit them simultaneously. Never a dull day in the kingdom!

Following that encounter we had another one that made us laugh to tears, but at the same time made me hate even more the spell system of D&D (3.5/Pathfinder for reference).

So, a lot of important people have been disappearing, captured by devils, and taken to an unknown place. One of the devils (an erinyes) was captured, and the PCs decided to question him. He proposed a deal: he was willing to share the information if he was freed from captivity and given some land to claim as his own where he would be left in peace. The players wrinkled their noses, twisted in the chair, and grumbled, and for some reason did not embrace this generous offering from the DM (I wonder why...).

That's when high level magic enters play. The mage/cleric/mystic theurge/generic-guy-that-makes-the-DM-curse-every-spell-in-the-game, which is for some reason the most hated man in the kingdom (and beyond it), provokes an intense debate around the possibilities of the Geas spell. While I believe the spell to work only in the way that you can order a specific ACTION to be performed by the target, the bastard twisted the phrasing of the spell defending that "ordering the guy to tell us all that he knows is an action".

Since I am a very generous DM (and the campaign is nearing its end), I decided to give him a free pass.

Nonetheless, I made them fight for every answer, using all possible evasive actions, from speaking Infernal, to mumbling and gabbling, even having the devil rip its tongue so that he couldn't speak. When they presented him with a map and said "point where they are being held", I just couldn't stop laughing and had the devil bite his fingers off!!!!!

Eventually they discovered everything needed to get to the desired location, but I couldn't help but regret that the impact of high level magic is such in the game, that it shuts down roleplay. Why use diplomacy, negotiation, intimidation, or search for info in any "roleplayesque" way, when you can simply use spells that pinpoint the location of what you want to find? Or supply divine answers that solve any doubt?

Session Chronicle and Epilogue (Portuguese): link

Death and Rebirth

[Pendants of Tor-Logos]

Pathfinder RPG

Following the deaths of Bellerophon and Taurus, the combat continues in order to kill Agnes, the succubus, carrying the child of Taurus McKymera whose birth will breach the Planes and allow an army of demons to enter Chimaera Island. After the combat, the Archangel Efialtes brings the paladin back to life. But the heroes of Agatarkion's Kingdom are now faced with the forced exodus from the lands of the Great Druid...

Barion (rogue), Bellerophon (paladin), Thorkron (cleric/wizard/mystic theurge)

The fight with the succubus and Taurus was supposed to be "just a tough fight". The expected outcome would be to have both the succubus and Taurus killed (eventually captured alive, as a courtesy to his cousin, Claudius). But along the way our brave paladin fell, and the succubus was still waiting to be dealt with.

The easy and normal outcome? Kill the succubus.

My players’ outcome? Leave her alive and have her miscarry.

Thorkron’s player called me aside in the middle of the combat and whispered: “Hey, Bestow Curse allows the caster to create his own curse... Can I simply touch the succubus and provoke an immediate abortion?”

I love my players. They always beat me in degrees of evilness.

The campaign is drawing to its conclusion. Will Barion, Bellerophon and Thorkron be able to:

- prevent Queen Hybris' plan to Trap the Soul the 10 most powerful sons of Tyrian Murex;

- guarantee that Thorkron becomes the first mortal to do 8th level arcane magic;

- stop the draconic invasion already underway;

- defeat the powerful dragons Isospora and Ascaris;

- stop the war with the dwarves of Tor-Logos;

- guarantee that the kingdom will have a steady rule after all the recent events;

- define the kingdom's role and relations with all its powerful neighbors;

- survive the gazillion thunderstorms that the DM will still unleash upon them?

Sometimes I wonder if I don't bombard my players with too many plot branches. I have a big phobia to railroading, so I'm continuously opening new paths and possibilities that sprang by each of the PCs' actions

For now, something major has been achieved: the balor Kelsier's intention of entering the realm with a demon army has been stopped. But in doing so, a vengeful succubus has been left on the loose, and who knows what can come out of this...

Session Chronicle and Epilogue (Portuguese): link

2.22 – Woe betide us! Our saint has fallen.

[Pendants of Tor-Logos]

Barion (rogue), Bellerophon (paladin), Thorkron (cleric/wizard/mystic theurge)

Session Highlights

The heroes of Agatarkion's kingdom continue to chase Taurus McKymera in search for the pregnant succubus. During a fight with a pack of vrocks they have a glimpse of the balor, Kelsier, who manages to breach the Planes and strike at Bellerophon with his vorpal whip. The clash with the party’s nemesis (Taurus) finally arrives, with both the paladin and the general dying in the process.

Every good DM hates seeing good characters die. When it happens, there are two possible outcomes:

1) The character stays "dead-dead", and all the story investment done so far goes down the drain, possibly compromising several major plots;

2) The character is resurrected, thus banalizing "death" and therefore damaging what possible suspension of disbelief exists in the setting.

If losing characters at low/mid-level can easily be dealt with, the same isn't valid for high level. All the map of relations established between PC and NPCs goes away, and any replacement PC that enters the story will mostly be an alien to the campaign. It would be like losing the main character of a TV show around season 3 or 4. Playing Pathfinder (or D&D 3.5) at high level (12+) can - and will - easily face you with such a scenario.

And so it came to be with our most beloved Saint Bellerophon, the dracopegasus riding paladin.

I tend to favor roleplay-heavy sessions, having less combat, and saving it for good and interesting scenes. But, when appropriate, it is good to prepare epic fight scenes. That is what I tried to do in Castle McKymera, dragging the fighting along several rooms, with different groups of enemies building up tension until the final moment, where Taurus and the succubus awaited. I used a high level fighter template for Taurus, knowing that he would hit hard, but be an easy target for any control spell cast by Thorkron. Any Hold Person, Feeblemind, Dominate, would rend the fearsome Taurus McKymera useless. That is why I threw a wizard loaded with dispels into the game. Taurus knew Thorkron's power and had previously been targeted by his spells. Therefore, it would be reasonable to have a mage nearby to protect him. As to the succubus, a regular one would be to subpar for the party (currently at level 13), so I pumped her slightly, boosting her spellcasting score a bit with magical items, and other less significant things. I have to say that I'm becoming a master at deception, since none of the players suspected that the good Commander Magnus was indeed the succubus in disguise. I mean, come on! Yes, the balor was originally Magnus' son, but I don't usually turn to such cliché plots!

In the end, Bellerophon had a majestic dismissal, throwing himself in front of a Fireball to save Thorkron's life. But this is not the last we've seen of our glorious hero. He will return, with permission from his god, fulfill his mission, and then enter the afterlife. And that is an inspiring story for a saint.

Let us see how the battle will end (we stopped midsession with both the succubus and the mage alive (although heavily battered). The campaign is lively, vibrant, deadly, and glorious!

Session Chronicle and Epilogue (Portuguese): link

Campaign Highlights “The Pendants of Tor-Logos” – Sessions 11 to 20

Having reached its 20^th session, here are the highlights (sessions 11-20) of our “The Pendants of Tor-Logos” campaign. The original, in Portuguese, is in the campaign website: link

The English version was done with some “fast translation” via Google Translate, therefore its quality may be slightly diminished.

Enjoy!

(click to enlarge)

Session II.21 – Parental Advisory. Explicit Content. May Contain Succubi. (YES, PLEASE!!!)

My players are the luckiest bastards in the world. Why? Well, because they have an awesome DM! And no "perception" check or "sense motive" will tell you otherwise.

Last session made it quite clear that if the baby the succubus is carrying is given birth, everything will drastically change in the campaign. I expected some moral discussion among the players, but I was pretty sure that in the end they would end up killing the demon-mommy and the demon-baby. It would only be a matter of "how" and "when"...

You should never interrupt your nemesis when he's in the middle of "doing the hanky-panky"

Being the succubus resting in McKymera Castle, one of two approaches was to be expected: the party could decide to go through the front door and try to expose the situation (although a highly unlikely scenario, the paladin could insist on doing that), or they could infiltrate the walls via stealth and invisibility.

They could have used scry on the target, placed themselves invisible, and teleport to the location, catching the enemies by surprise. But they are great guys, and they know I hate that kind of thing because it ruins any roleplay attempt.

So, when they announced "we're going to teleport to some small bedchambers inside the castle, not usually occupied"... The Evil Bastard in me knew that something special had to happen!

Taurus McKymera is known to be a boisterous Conan-like guy that enjoys having concubines satiate his XXX desires. Therefore, when Thorkron triggered the teleport, the party surprised Taurus in the middle of… THE HANKY-PANKY TIME!

Yup... nothing beats EPIC as having your nemesis flee along the castle dressed only in his moustache and goatie!

Copycat, copycat, copy-copy-copy, copycat

Like a Magician, a Dungeon Master isn't supposed to reveal his secrets. But, since I'm not getting paid to do this... I'M GONNA TELL YOU EVERYTHING!

Among the enemies I had prepared for the clash with the party was Antares, whose origins are linked to a background idea from one of the players (although with a few twists). I didn't want the battle to be a single scene with the group versus ten thousand stat blocks, so I had no idea when Antares (a lesser demon) would make its premiere. I wanted to stall the group a little bit (to give Taurus enough time to get properly dressed), so I threw the demon I had picked to portray Antares, a Kalavakus, from Pathfinder Bestiary 2. Needless to say that, when you have a fucking PA-LA-DIN in the group, you don't pick the enemies reasonably... YOU GO STRAIGHT FOR THE BIGGEST MUTHAFUCKING MONSTER IN THE BOOK AND MULTIPLY ITS HIT POINTS BY A GAZILLION! AND THEN ADD 25% MORE!

The thrice-damned paladin goes for 240 damage in a single round, and my jaw drops... Ok, think fast: how do you go from complete fail to total awesome in 10 seconds? Well, you keep the demon's head talking after being severed, laughing maniacally, and announcing that "Antares is like the hydra: cut one head and two more appear". And - PUFF! - there you have two more identical copies of the demon walking on air!

Nevermind that... the bastard paladin just goes for another 230+ damage round.

I REALLY am going to banish paladins from play FOREVER!

At least it was an unexpected turn of events, resulting in a good scene, and the name Antares now has an ubber demonic aura around it.

I just need to open the book and choose a CR20 baddie to throw at the paladin next session...

Humm… maybe I’ll prepare two baddies, just in case…

The hunt for the succubus continues next session!

P.S. I REALLY hate paladins...

Session Chronicle and Epilogue (Portuguese): link