Tangent: Playing Revenants in Pathfinder

This is the first of what I hope will be a series of posts containing advice for integrating 4th Edition races into the Pathfinder universe. While I personally have never encountered a problem with accommodating a player who wants to try out a race that isn't outlined in the campaign guide, I understand that others might have players who want to understand more about where they came from, and who would rather not work out the details of their race's background themselves.

My strongest advice when faced with a player who wants to try a new race out is to let the player decide what that race's place in Golarion ought to be. Not only does this save you, the DM, the effort of coming up with yet another history, but it invests the player even further in his character. Of course, this assumes the player is willing to write the history of his character's race. Not everyone is up to that challenge. If that turns out to be the case, don't penalize the player by preventing him from playing the character he wants to play. Either come up with a history yourself, or hand-wave it and run with the assumption that the character is just another odd creature in a world populated by odd creatures. Over time, as the game plays out, the race's backstory will begin to naturally develop as the character becomes more fleshed-out.

If you take the above approach, you don't really need any of the advice that follows. Your game's world doesn't exist beyond your own table, so if it works for your group then you're doing just fine. If you're hunting for inspiration or aren't too concerned about tailoring a race's history to your particular campaign, considering some of the suggestions that follow.

Revenants are a new, D&D Insider exclusive player character race. In the core D&D 4th Edition mythology, they are servants of the Raven Queen, reincarnated into a half-living embodiment of her will. They have vague memories and flashbacks from their previous lives, but they owe their current existence to divine intervention, and have a new purpose.

Revenants in Pathfinder are undead created when a humanoid is murdered and an undying need for revenge remains. They are animated to enact this vengeance, and ceaselessly pursue their killer until they are destroyed or the one who wronged them is dead.

The question that needs to be resolved is how these two similar but distinct conceptions of revenants can be reconciled with one another to create a version well-suited as a player character race. I'll be outlining some suggestions on how to accomplish this.

First, it's clear that simply taking the Pathfinder revenant mythology and applying it to the revenant 4th Edition race will not produce a suitable PC. Not only are revenants incredibly single-minded (and thus ill-suited to working with a party unless the party also happens to be single-minded in its pursuit of the revenant's killer), but they cease to exist once their only goal has been accomplished. The revenant entry in The Skinsaw Murders includes advice on revenant PCs, but it's clear that the advice in question is intended to apply to a PC who would be extremely limited in action and involvement in the campaign.

Here are a couple ideas (select one of the following, or combine bits and pieces of different choices to create your own envisioning of revenants):

• Revenants work as explained in The Skinsaw Murders...usually. Occasionally, Calistria sees fit to allow a particularly motivated revenant to continue its unlife past the death of its quarry. In such a case, the revenant's existence before its murderer's death is a kind of initiation into its new place in the universe. Following its killer's death, the revenant undergoes a final transformation into a half-living being. Though it still has a drive for vengeance and ties to its former life, its purpose can be much more diffuse - perhaps targeting a religion, kingdom or other organization rather than a specific individual. Within the framework of Rise of the Runelords, for instance, a PC revenant might find itself driven to pursue the larger forces at work in the campaign if those forces had a hand in manipulating the PC's killer to commit its crimes. These PCs might not understand why they continue to exist, or even who they are destined to hunt, but such creatures are driven by curiousity to discover these things.
  
• PC revenants are not the same creatures as the revenant monster outlined in The Skinsaw Murders. Though many mistake them for the same (due to the confused nature of rumors surrounding revenants, and their superficial similarities), they are distinct, fundamentally different sorts of undead. While true revenants (the revenant monster) are revenge-loving hunters, the revenant race has a (mostly) free will. If you use this suggestion, revenant PCs work almost exactly as explained in the Playing Revenants D&D Insider article, except where you will need to substitute certain campaign-specific information (the Raven Queen doesn't have a hand in Pathfinder's revenants, for instance). Including Pharasma in your revenant's background has a lot of potential story material to work with; though she opposes undead, revenants represent a grey area between life and unlife - the creation of a revenant is equal parts death, birth, and animation. Their potential as tools of fate and prophecy might entice her to create one occasionally to maintain the proper order of things.

If you include revenants in your Rise of the Runelords 4th Edition campaign, here are a couple ideas for potential backgrounds:

• The PC was one of Chopper's victims during the Late Unpleasantness. After Chopper killed himself, the PC discovered that his purpose lay elsewhere - his true enemy is the unseen influence of powerful forces that drove Stoot to his madness. The PC might be the infamous "ghost of Chopper" who supposedly haunts Chopper's Isle.
• Pharasma, acting on foreknowledge of Mokmurian's actions and the deaths that would result from his bringing about Karzoug's return, brought the PC into being in order to ensure that the runelord's ultimate fate is realized. Each time the PC spies the Sihedron rune, an inkling of purpose or guidance tickles the back of his thoughts.
  

Burnt Offerings Conversion PDF v0.5

I missed the Runewell of Wrath skill challenge when I went through the first time and updated the skill challenges to the stat block format. It is now fixed and slightly revised. I also changed Malfeshnekor to be more in-line with the Barghest presentation in the Monster Manual 2.

Burnt Offerings Conversion v0.5

C16 (Infernal Engines)

This is now the location of a critical skill challenge. Turtleback Ferry's survival hinges upon the party's ability to get the dam operating properly once more.

As in the original adventure, Avaxial is too weak to pose a threat. If the party decides to slay him, they do so without difficulty.

Skill Challenge: Powering Skull's Crossing

Setup: The process that operates the dam operates very similarly to a skill challenge now. Like some rituals, its use requires a supply of healing surges. If more power is needed than the creatures in the circle provide, it saps their life energy, weakening and potentially killing them. The mortal danger involved in participating in the ritual is more severe than it was in the original adventure - instead of simply losing a level, the PC could be killed outright. Their own investigations and Avaxial can provide some insight into how to operate the dam with some degree of protection, though.

Stat block:


Apologies for the compressed nature of the skill challenge stat block. Blogger doesn't like images that long. It'll look just fine when I release the compiled conversion document.

C13 - C15 (Observation Pool)

Grazuul is a solo threat. My scrag design is merely a re-tooled troll incorporating some close powers stolen from another creature. Take heavy advantage of the water - if things look particularly bad for Grazuul, consider having him leap into the water to spend some time regenerating. He has the advantage over the party in an aquatic environment. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Grazuul

Total: 2,500 xp (Level 10 Encounter)

If he does manage to put an enemy to sleep, he is better off not spending a standard action attempting a coup de grace. A sleeping PC (ideally the party's defender) is best left alone so that Grazuul can go after some of the easier targets hanging back.

Treasure parcels 2 and 4 from level 10 can be found in these areas, whether on Grazuul, underwater, or in one of the side rooms.

Stat block:

The Skinsaw Murders Conversion PDF v0.1

Apologies for my tardiness in posting the last week's update. I'll publish those posts as soon as I'm able. In the meanwhile, I've put together all of the material from my conversion of The Skinsaw Murders into another compiled PDF like the one posted here for Burnt Offerings. It's a first draft, of course, but take a look at it anyway and let me know if you find anything that needs to be changed.

The Skinsaw Murders Conversion v0.1

C7 - C12 (Skull's Watch)

The trolls have bunkered down within Skull's Watch. They leap into battle as soon as someone enters the room. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• 1 Troll Witch (see Dragon #366)
  
• 1 Spitting Troll (see Dungeon #161)
  
• 2 Trolls
• 2 Cave Trolls (see Dungeon #157)
  

Total: 2,600 xp (Level 10 Encounter)

The trolls are a versatile bunch, and they know their strengths. They keep as close as possible to each other in order to maintain their regeneration while under attack. If someone begins consistently using fire or acid attacks, the trolls unite their efforts to bring that character down.

You should consider increasing the size of area C7 to provide more room for the fight to play out in. Making the room a couple squares wider and longer ought to do the trick just fine.

Area C9 contains the following treasure: the cracked emerald worth 400 gold pieces, the behir comb worth 900 gold pieces (both together treasure parcels 9 and 10 from level 10), and treasure parcel 3 from level 10.

C6 (Ogre Demolition Crew)

The exhausted ogres here are simply minions. Their weary state has weakened their resolve to the point where they shouldn't pose more than a passing threat to the party. Make each of their deaths appropriately dramatic, though - send them tumbling over either side of the dam when they die, for instance. Malugus, on the other hand, is itching for a fight. He charges the party eagerly and represents the most significant threat of this encounter. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Malugus Kreeg (Ogre Warhulk)
• 10 Ogre Thugs

Total: 2,700 xp (Level 10 Encounter)

C1 - C5 (Gorger and Chaw's Lair)

Gorger and Chaw now keeps a pet dire bear. It will be difficult for the party to enter this cave without being heard by its occupants, so surprise shouldn't be an issue unless the party is employing special means of entering undetected. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Gorger and Chaw (Ettin Spirit-Talker)
• 1 Dire Bear

Total: 2,600 xp (Level 10 Encounter)

Consider perching the bear just behind the lip of the cliff the party must climb up to enter the cave. Its reach allows it to make opportunity attacks on opponents who pull themselves up onto the ledge. Gorger and Chaw can do the same, if he feels it's safe to engage them in melee. He uses his Spirit Call to send enemies flying off the small cliff, hoping to deal falling damage and forcing them to climb back up in order to continue fighting.

The ettin's treasure consists of the following: six 100 gold piece pearls, the scroll tube worth 300 gold pieces, two ritual books and two ritual scrolls (two 9th level and two 10th level - tailor these to the party, but good suggestions include Detect Treasure, Magic Map, Consult Mystic Sages, Detect Object and Chameleon's Cloak), and 1,000 gold pieces worth of coin. All of this treasure makes up treasure parcels 5 and 7 from level 9, and treasure parcel 7 from level 10.

Skull's Crossing

When the party is asked to go investigate Skull's Crossing, provide them with a major quest to prevent Turtleback Ferry's destruction.

Quest card:

Black Magga Rises

I didn't pull any punches when designing the Mother of Oblivion. She's an epic tier solo monster, with everything that entails. The party should not be capable of beating her. Impress upon the party that the monster is terrifying; make it clear that winning in a straight-up fight is probably impossible. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Black Magga (Mother of Oblivion)

Total: 2,000 xp (Level 10 Encounter, experienced reduced to account for the length combat)

Black Magga has three rounds of actions to spend in combat before making her departure. Her first action after being engaged is to use Breath of Madness. The following round she uses Bloodfury and Agents of Oblivion if enough targets are within range, and on the third round she spends an action point to use bloodfury twice. Until she retreats, she should never move away from the church.

If Black Magga is ever without a PC to attack within her reach, she spends her turn using Bloodfury on a number of those helping the elderly and sick within the church. She thrusts her extradimensional tentacles through the walls of the church and kills four of the people inside. The PCs probably can't see what's happening inside the church, so describe the massacre as a number of sickeningly loud thumps coming from within as Black Magga slams their lifeless bodies against the walls.

Burnt Offerings Conversion PDF v0.3

Another update to the compiled conversion document.

This one fixed a couple of minor discrepencies, changed the column layout slightly so that the document is easier to read, and (the biggest addition) revamped all the skill challenges using the skill challenge stat block format featured in the SRD. Skill challenges should now be easy to understand and run.

A note going forward: posts made to the blog should be considered rough drafts. While every post here goes through a revision process before it even gets published to the blog in the first place, they are far from finalized. The compiled PDF of the adventure conversion should always be considered the most up-to-date source.

This update clears the table of things I wanted to change about the first adventure's conversion. With that template established, I'm going to be moving onto publishing a compiled document of The Skinsaw Murders (as well as proceeding with the conversion of The Hook Mountain Massacre as normal). With luck, the second adventure's conversion should see the light of day before I'm finished with The Hook Mountain Massacre.

Edit: This post is now out of date. I have released another update to the Burnt Offerings PDF because I missed the Meditation Chamber skill challenge when I went through and revised them before putting up the previous update.

Version 0.4 of the Burnt Offerings compiled conversion document can be found here.

Edit 2: This post is now doubly out of date. Version 0.5 of the Burnt Offerings compiled conversion document (found here) is the most recent.

Saving the School Children

This point in the story is ripe for a skill challenge. A giant turtle-shell ferry trapped up against the side of a building in the middle of a raging flood with children in mortal peril while aquatic beasts threaten to eat everyone is just totally awesome. I included two different creatures to complicate the encounter. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Feymire Crocodile
• Feyborn Constrictor (see Dungeon #157)
  
• Saving the School Children (skill challenge)
  

Total: 2,800 xp (Level 11 Encounter)

The skill challenge will often cause one of the beasts to be marked by the PCs. This is to encourage the party to feel as though they are luring the monsters away from the children as they work to rescue them. This is a good place to encourage unorthodox thinking to solve the skill challenge. Reward creative solutions with automatic successes on the challenge.

Black Magga enters the scene when the skill challenge is complete, or when the monsters in this encounter look like they're about to be slain.

Stat block:

Down Comes the Rain

This portion of the adventure offers a pair of frantic, high-stakes encounters as the population of Turtleback Ferry is put in jeopardy. The first is a race to free the schoolchildren from the tide of the flood and the beasts it carries with it. The second is a futile struggle with Black Magga in an effort to save the church and those within it.

Begin the first encounter when the party attempts to rescue Tillia Henkenson's class of children.

Rannick Reclaimed

With the ogre force driven from the fort, the party can now lay claim to its own substantial plot of defensible land. While you should feel free to make use of as much or as little material from the Keeping the Keep article presented in the original adventure, this conversion will continue with a short side trek into a set of long-forgotten chambers uncovered by a rare earthquake shortly after the party gains stewardship of Fort Rannick. This possibility is touched upon in the "Secret Chamber" entry in the article, but it will here be made substantially more significant. The side trek will contain three encounters, and will both help the party reach the appropriate level of experience for their next adventure and increase their investment in their new holding.

Because this section of the conversion is not tied directly into the plot of the adventure path, you can run it at any point in The Hook Mountain Massacre that feels appropriate. It is assumed that at this point in the adventure path conversion the party has hit level 10. If this is not the case, consider running the side trek before continuing with the main plot. When you want to move forward with the storyline of the adventure, continue with Part Three: Down Comes the Rain.

B37 (Lizard Warrens)

The twelve shocker lizards located here will tear a party of adventurers to pieces if given reason. While they won't bother the group if they simply pass through, a hint of aggressive action can bring the entire warren breathing lightning down their necks.

It is assumed that the party will successfully navigate their way past the lizards without a combat encounter erupting. If, for some reason, combat does occur, feel free to run it as presented below, though the PCs' chances of success are slim. A single bluespawn counterbolt chain can send some characters into the negatives. Award them the full experience value if they succeed. If they simply avoid the lizards entirely, do not give them any experience. They may have the opportunity to deal with the lizards at a later time, however.

I suggest the following encounter for a party of five (overly aggressive) adventurers:

• 6 Bluespawn Stormlizards (see Draconomicon)
  
• 6 Juvenile Behir Thunderlances (see Dungeon #159)
  

Total: 5,000 xp (Level 14 Encounter)

B36 (Lucrecia's Retreat)

Lucrecia has a surprise in store for the party here. Through whatever means (perhaps throwing her weight around in front of Dorella, or utilizing her own innate powers), she has managed to shackle a shadow slime with an arcane ritual. It waits in the dark corners of the prison cells. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Lucrecia, Lamia Matriarch
• Shadow Slime (see Dragon #367)

Total: 3,000 xp (Level 11 Encounter)

When the party arrives, assuming negotiations fail, Lucrecia makes haste to open the door to the cell block, and releases the slime from its imprisonment with an arcane gesture. It eagerly slips into Lucrecia's chamber and douses the burning brazier, plunging the room into darkness (unless the party is carrying its own light source, in which case it puts that out, too). This is just fine with Lucrecia, whose darkvision grants her a pretty significant tactical advantage. The shadow slime puts out light sources as quickly as it can manage, going so far as to ready an action to extinguish a light if it becomes a recurring problem (though if that doesn't work it gives up and just focuses on staying alive).

Stat block:

B29 - B33 (The Kreeg Leadership)

This is one of the few times in my conversions where I will actually remove a monster from the original adventure's write-up. Encounters in 4th Edition play out much better when they involve a wide tactical area. In an indoor environment, this means creating encounters that span more than one room. This allows you to involve corners, doors, and other interesting features of the map that the players and monsters can take advantage of. To that end, the entire second story of the keep is now a single encounter, and in order to make it within the realm of the party's ability to handle, one ogre needs to be removed. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Jaagrath Kreeg
• Gragavan Kreeg (Ogre Warhulk)
• Dorella Kreeg (Oni Mage)
• Ogre Savage

Total: 4,550 xp (Level 14 Encounter)

Even with only four monsters participating, this may still turn out to be one of the most harrowing encounters the party sees in its adventuring career. It nears the upper bounds of what a fully-charged group of 5 PCs should be able to handle, except that this encounter takes place after the party has slain its way through a fortress full of ogres. Don't be concerned if the encounter takes longer than average - it's worth more than double an encounter of the party's expected level, so it ought to feel like an uphill struggle.

To that end, here are a couple ways of keeping this encounter frightening and heroic without overwhelming your party:

• Make frequent use of Dorella's invisibility. She won't always have access to her powerful recharge-based abilities. Turning invisible uses up her standard action, and because she won't be making stealth checks the party will still have an idea of where she is standing if they want to try and contend with the -5 penalty to attack rolls.
• When Jaagrath appears, have him demand that he be allowed to fight the PCs alone for two or three rounds. After this point, he laughs uproariously and invites the rest of the ogres to join in. Don't make his decision to involve the other ogres look cowardly. It should seem like he's had his fun, but has quickly tired of the sport and now just wants to crush the tiny PCs.
• When Jaagrath is brought down, lower the DC for intimidating bloodied foes into surrender/fleeing by 10 (in other words, an Intimidate check opposed by the target's Will defense).

This latter rule can also be applied to any other ogres the PCs come across following Jaagrath's death, as long as they have proof of his passing (see the original adventure for more information).

You should be diligantly increasing the maneuvering space in tactical encounters, and it's especially important here (and, indeed, throughout the keep). Hallways in the keep as presented in the original adventure are 10 feet wide, which is exactly large enough for a single ogre to get in the way, turning the fight into a static swinging match. Corridors which are 20 feet in width are much better, allowing two ogres to stand and fight side-by-side. Note that this change very clearly favors the monsters. The party won't mind the 10-foot corridors so much, since they can put two melee characters abreast at the front, and are likely packing more ranged characters than there are ogres with strong ranged abilities.

Found amongst Jaagrath and Dorella (and the hidden compartment) are treasure parcels 1, 2 and 3 from level 9. At your option, you can include the Boots of the Mire (found below) here in the place of parcel 3. While normally I reserve converting magic items for those with particular plot significance, the boots are in line with the anticipated power level of the party and may see use in the near future. The map room contains treasure parcel 8 from level 9: the Lurkwood map worth 900 gold pieces, the Viperwall map worth 400 gold pieces, and the smuggler's map worth 100 gold pieces. If you don't want to make the party wait until they return to Magnimar to offload these maps, a well-connected trader passing through Turtleback Ferry might be willing to pick them up for the same price.

Stat blocks:

B21 - B27 (Infirmary and Barracks)

Much like the previous encounter, this one is triggered when either area B23 or B24 is explored. Silas waits within the infirmary, and the bickering ogres in area B24 pause their squabble for long enough to investigate sounds of battle. If the PCs stumble upon area B24 first (and manage to get themselves into a fight here), it takes two full rounds before Silas decides that protecting the keep might be more important than his artwork. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Silas Kreeg (Ogre Warhulk)
• 4 Ogre Savages

Total: 2,600 xp (Level 10 Encounter)

None of the other rooms on the first floor of the keep contain anything of interest.

B18 - B20 (Workroom and Armory)

This encounter begins when the PCs explore either area B18 or B19. Gragavan Kreeg is found "painting" in area B18, and fighting there will bring the three ogres from area B19 running. Likewise, if the ogres in B19 are confronted first, Gragavan hears the sounds of combat and drops his human paintbrush long enough to investigate. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Gragavan Kreeg (Ogre Warhulk)
  
• 3 Ogre Savages

Total: 2,250 xp (Level 9 Encounter)

B11 & B16 (Entrance to Fort Rannick)

By the time the party reaches the keep, they probably no longer need to worry about attracting unwanted ogres from outside, even if they haven't killed all of them. It is unlikely that any ogres who aren't in the keep would notice sounds of struggle coming from inside.

The front entrance door can be thrown open with a DC 14 Strength check.