Return to the tomb of horrors, season 2.

[Senevri]

Hi. My RtToH campaign has reached the point where the players will be crossing over to the City That Sleeps. The game uses some parts of Pathfinder, (such as CMB/CMD, but also MiC, ToB and whatnot.

Currently reading through the book again, I think I've grokked the first Tower.

I whipped up this variant of the Moilian Zombie, what do you think of this as a solo opponent for four to five non-innovative, not-very-optimizing players of level 17?
 - Ray-focused sorcerer
 - LA 1 Drow WB/Wiz/Jade Phoenix Mage
 - Dwarf 2h Fighter
 - LA 1 Minotaur Barbarian

I'm giving them the option of rebuilding characters, or changing them, though.

[spoiler]
Moilian Zombie cr 18
Undead Humanoid
LE M humanoid
Init +2; Senses perception 0 (darkvision 60)
Aura 30ft dc 21 heat-drain aura 8hp. On hit heat drain shield 4pts.
Languages Moilian
 
AC 33, touch 12 , flat-footed 31 (+19 ice +2 natural + 2 dexterity)
HP 300 (25 HD) - heals ? fire damage,  Fast Heal 10
Immune immunity to poison; cold, fire, undead immunities
Resist and SR -
Fort 20, Ref 16, Will 20
 
Speed 30 slowed; (no move action, partial charge)
Melee +21 Slam 2d6 + 43, // Cone 20ft. 2d6+30 dc 25 reflex, quicken 3/day
Base Atk 14; CMB 21, CMD 33
 
Abilities Str 24, Dex 14 , Con -, Int -, Wis 10 , Cha 16
SQ Heat-drain aura, fast heal
[/spoiler]

It'll be faced indoors in a cramped location.

[Senevri]

My working document, mostly for monster stats

I pretty much worked backwards from the Bestiary average stats, if I wanted entirely precise, I probably could by a combination of innate magic item powers, feats, class levels etc. but mostly I just put in the stuff I feel is appropriate.

[woodenbandman]

why are non-innovative, non-optimized players running tomb of horrors?

[Senevri]

why are non-innovative, non-optimized players running tomb of horrors?

Blame the DM. ( me. )

I must admit, the Tomb itself wasn't that much fun for the PCs, so I intend to cater to them more on the second season ( The city that waits and so forth. )
The parts preceding the Tomb were much more interesting than the tomb itself.

[Senevri]

DM Boons:

Everyone gets equipment upgradeable through Plot:

 - The sorcerer wants a gauntlet, so I'm basing something off Prime32:s stuff.
 -- some Ranged Weapon stuff to rays, gauntlet/bracer/shield/rod-type enhancements, and maybe some megamanning from 'eating' enemies.
 -- Fluff: an ancient artifact created by a dead god, probably. sort of a tough - organic material, not unlike veined rock, or dark wood, with dark spheres (which lit up as new powers are gained. ). Think something like a cross between Tony Stark's gauntlet in the iron man movie, Nero's Devil Arm in DMC4 and the visual look from somewhere between Witchblade and ZEUS from Prototype. If the character wishes to take it off, it turns translucent and sinks into the arm, leaving a dark tattoo-like crawl behind. ( which keeps climbing upwards the arm as power increases ) Otherwise, it can only be removed by plot... Would something like that sound interesting?
 - He changed his mind, now he's okay with a Gun. T_T. Still Prime32:s stuff...
 -- Fighter/Archer as a base? Something like Teana's gun...

- The Dwarf gets what is essentially a powered armor.
-- Think, essentially, of a piloted Dwarven Ancestor. Basing the cost off Polymorph and Stone Golem. DR 10, AC of stone plate +2 natural, large size, and a jump/balance bonus.
-- Escaflowne + WH40K + Rinden Emerald Knight + Evangelion type deal. Upgrades: Anything that goes into an armor, physical movement skills, maybe some more which fit the fluff of being inside a golem/elemental, such as environmental immunities and SR.
-- Fluff: Magnyr Vultheim's masterpiece, utilizing a specially crafted Stoneplate and some of the very same ore used by Moradin in creation of the Dwarf race. Thus, the interiors are essentially a proto-dwarf without soul or personality. Using a blood contract, a pilot can be bonded with the armor, effectively BECOMING a golem. As a downside, any damage is mutual, though. Also, since the pilot needs to be able to "meld" into the interior, which is essentially filled with metal-veined rock, a small earth elemental had to be included, to make the rock malleable to the pilot. Of course, it's impossible for anyone but a dwarf to use this type of an armor... As the armor and pilot get used to each other, the pilot learns to utilize the armor's powers more effectively.

-- The la 1 drow jade phoenix is fine, and already has a legacy weapon, but I'm setting him off to Eternal Hero epic destiny starting at level 18, since it's fluff meshes perfectly with Jade Phoenix Mage. I think I could also allow him to learn new maneuvers instead of spells on level-up (wb/wiz base).

[Senevri]

my take on the winterwight:


Winterwight CR 23

820 000XP, 132.000GP
medium humanoid undead[cold]

Init +10; Senses perception 37 (darkvision 120)
Languages Moilian
Aura Cold 2d10 10ft;

Defenses
AC 40 FF 30 T 20 (10 dex 20 natural)
HP 480 (34 HD); DR 10/-; Fast Healing 10; SR 35
Immune immunity to poison;cold, undead immunities, double damage fire
Fort 16, Ref 16, Will 20

Actions
Speed 60; Leap of The Heavens; Acrobatics, Climb +47; Jump +59; teleport 50ft move action;   
Melee +29/+29/+29, 3d8 + 23(19-20/x2) / Skull +24, 2d6+14; Rend 6d8+29,
Vital Strike 12d8+23(19-20/x2)
Raging Mongoose, Pouncing Strike, Stunt, on-hit Blightfire; Fort DC 23 vs.4 permanent con drain + catch fire + contagion (adjacent reflex)
warblade recovery
Base Atk 26; CMB 34, CMD 52

Statistics
Abilities Str 26, Dex 30 , Con -, Int 4, Wis 14 , Cha 14

Feats:
PF PA, imp crit claw, leap of the clouds, raging mongoose, pouncing strike, dodge, mobility, spring attack, combat expertise, whirlwind attack, vital strike line, Sudden Leap, teleport 50ft move action

[Senevri]

First session!
Ran a game using the cheat sheets I wrote for players. 14 dark nagas + Morrow for an easy cr 16 encounter. It was a bit too confusing, but my discipline was lacking a bit. Sorcerer went great invisible and stun ray'd Morrow, most of the nagas attacked the dark elf, whose SR 27 vs. CL 9 was.... powerful.

The Paladin who went NPC, went smite evil on the WHOLE TOWN. If the player doesn't come back, I'm having him go antipaladin-ish, and join Acererak (both are half-fiends, so...)
Otherwise, I'm making him a Paladin Commando Hero - 5d6 precision damage first round of combat and at the end of a charge (1/rd), as well as PF smite evil. No spellcasting or divine bond, instead he gets Hero class's Hero points. Simplified a lot.

Then, the airship with the Exposition Plotdevice party, the powered armor and the magic gun came along. I had the fluff written out, and I pulled out all the cool fluff. For the gun, I made the npcs treat it with extreme reverence and caution, it's fluff includes enticing a willing newborn soul to come reside in the weapon - it's ALIVE!

Also, the divinations reveal, that if the players try to enter the portal, the world as we know it will probably come to an end. However, if they don't, it's a certainty.

I think the NPCs (who are smart adventurers) will try sending a summon through first, which should reveal there's no coming back through the gate. The NPCs will remain as a homebase team, trying to figure out a way of getting the PCs home...

BTW, robe of stars is fun - nowhere does it says it allows you to RETURN to material plane after going to astral.

I'm going with Moil having very limited Astral Links, which are effectively firewalled, so even if they plane shift away, any return trip will end up right at the start...

[Senevri]

Oh, here's a fun fact: Since the players murderized all who scanned as Evil in the Skull City, Acererak won't become a vestige

Also, I'm using Tarn Linnorm stats for the Brine Dragon encounter.

[Senevri]

Okay, wow.

First of all, my habit of going easy on the players is still in full effect. I prodded at them until they figured out they needed cold weather gear there.

Amusing fact: nobody has Knowledge:planes. What they know of Negative Energy Plane is: don't go there, you will die.

So, they went directly for the Tarn Linnorm. The sorcerer went flying & diving with veil of undead and a ring of cold resistance. Ran straight into the Symbol of Dispelling, which shut him down for a while; fortunately for him, he'd just picked Elemental Body, so he went water elemental.

Long story short, the combat... was silly. Tarn Linnorm was strong enough to wipe them out at this point, but... okay.

- Surprise round, the Sorcerer boosts with Assay SR, attacks with a stun ray, and rolls a nat 1
- Round 1, Sorcerer wins init, attacks with a stun ray, rolls ANOTHER natural 1. Tarn Linnorm attacks, dealing around 150 points of damage. 
- Round three, sorcerer rolls a critical hit with the Stun Ray, and the linnorm is stunned for 9 rounds. Oh dear.
Rest? The gish and the mech warrior dpr the thing to death. Death Curse hits the gish, and I'm happy 'til I'm reminded for the whole Jade Phoenix's Emerald Immolation.

I must admit I'm a bit knee-jerky about stun ray right now, but I _think_ I did fail that fort save. Curse my bad memory; but the DC might have been something like 28, and I may have rolled a 2. Stun Ray is a electricity-dependant conjuration.
I'm not sure if Freedom of Movement should have negated Stun or not.