The Banewarrens

Banewarrens Anomalies

feeds@yuku.com (Baba Luga69) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:03:16 GMT

I noticed while doing some prepwork that Rinner Silverfind (who "hates magic") has invested cross-class ranks to get Spellcraft +2.

Notice any other oddities? Post 'em here.

Pick A Job for Tavan Zith

feeds@yuku.com (Baba Luga69) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:01:24 GMT

Anyone else notice that Tavan Zith has Craft +9 and Profession +13? So...what career sounds good for a formerly Lawful Evil dark elf monk?

Edit: on further reflection I gave him Craft (calligraphy) and Profession (scribe). I have this image of him in some dark shrine transcribing dark litanies and vile sonnets.

Altering the manor story for more believability

feeds@yuku.com (Knowe Remorse) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:14:13 GMT

One thing as I read the BW module that doesnt make a lot of sense to me is the whole Pactlord/Kalerecent/Manor story.

The PC's are supposed to intercept the drow-monk avatar of chaos and make the link that he comes from the manor. In this same platform, the paladin Kalerecent also finds out about the manor, and investigates, uncovers the Pactlords and closes the door, sealing some of them inside.

I was thinking of making a few changes, as I really dislike the idea of...

Help with Banewarrens story: What do the players know?

feeds@yuku.com (Knowe Remorse) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:17:49 GMT

Ok, I just kicked off my banewarrens part of my Ptolus campaign last week, and I am looking for some suggestions on how to reveal information to the players about the banewarrens in a believable and fluent manner.

I brought the players up from level 1, where they learned about Ptolus by going through several of the smaller stories in chapter 33. (Rescued Phon Quartermain, got frustrated with the dead end of who was trying to kill her. Ended up in the warrens and pissed off the...

Alignment question in response to opening events of banewarrens

feeds@yuku.com (Knowe Remorse) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:46:00 GMT

Ok, I've been running a Ptolus game for a while and just shifted the party to my long anticipated running of the Banewarrens, but the opening events of the modules have me thrown for a slight quandry.

One of my PC's died in our last session and he came in with a gun toting LN cleric of the iron god (technology). Anyway, during the opening, the drow sparked off his series of chaotic events and on the first exchange, the flaming half-orc came out looking for help, but was...

What will the Vladaams do if the party rob them blind?

feeds@yuku.com (Me) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:26:43 GMT

Any ideas for revenge when the PCs have broken into the Vladaam mansion to retrieve the key, but don't stop there and go on to clean out the strongroom.

Has this happened to anyone else ? And how did you handle it ?

Thanks,
Martin.

The Betrayed and bags of holding.

feeds@yuku.com (Togg19) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:56:31 GMT

hey all, So the party I'm DMing for has just managed to finish off the Betrayed, and found its reliquary... but despite the hints of defaced temples, broken holy symbols and a general hatred of religion; the party didn't know what to do with the reliquary and broken holy symbols. (they are currently looking for a coffin as per a vampire) But to make it more interesting, they scooped up the reliquary and holy symbols and stuffed it all into a bag of holding. So my question is can the...

Geristronomos and sealed doors.

feeds@yuku.com (Cazgal) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:00:05 GMT

My party are just in the Outer Valuts and have almost dispatched GT2. A long story but Navanna is currently "resting" having been resurrected after a run in with the Pactlords (a meeting the PCs intervened).

This will leave them in the Outer Valuts, which has not as yet been breached. The plug is still down.

The question being - will Geristronomos tell them the mechanism for opening the plug ? If he does and they get past it ... how will they open the next...

Banewarrens only partially

feeds@yuku.com (SeanKhan) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:43:43 GMT

[Includes some spoilers, so GM's/completed players only]

Hiya everyone,
I've GM'd BW introduction to players although they are currently moving to intercept the Final Ritual of NOD. I'm not at my best with ready written adventures and I'd like to skip (at least most of) the actual banewarrens parts of the adventure, but still use some like encounters with the Pactlords. I haven't read whole booklet yet and I'd really like to skip most dungeon parts....

Banewarrens 4e

feeds@yuku.com (Infiniti2000) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:03:58 GMT

So, has anyone worked out a plan to use the Banewarrens in a 4e environment? Despite all my work on these boards regarding the Banewarrens, I never got the chance to DM it. Now that we're in 4e (and I refuse to go back to 3.x) I'm still planning on using it . . . somehow. Can you think of any gotchyas beyond what someone mentioned about the raison d'etre?

Expanding the Quaan

feeds@yuku.com (Rags) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:52:31 GMT

First Encounter, Arrival Point:
So, last week my game group, after only a few hours of preparation, decided to take the Portal at St. Thessinia into the Quaan. The previous session they forced Heth Neferul and Ephitas to flee through it after a dramatic rooftop battle. Unbeknownst to the party, both villains were slain on the other side by the repeated fireballs sent through the portal by the groups Sorcerer. When the group arrived on the other side they were surprised...

Danar's Cubic Gate

feeds@yuku.com (Mike Walterich) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:31:58 GMT

This is an artifact I created to continue the adventure after the Banewarrens. The PCs find this on one of the last of the Pactlords at the end of the adventure.

I just wanted to share it with ya'll. I thought it was a nifty idea. (I have shifted some of the basic Ptolus canon to fit my campaign world, some of that is reflected here but I try to keep it to a minimum)

This was the last magic item he created before he turned evil. It was actually a copy of the cubic gate...

Kick off

feeds@yuku.com (Althedor) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:02:41 GMT

Hello all,

I was wondering if I might tap the collective wisdom of all you folks that have already run this wonderful adventure. I am one of those DMs that is using the BW as a substitute for the Crater Ridge Mines of the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. My approach is a little different in that I had my party enter the mines, have a good fight, explore around a little to get the general gist, then return to Ptolus and report their findings to the Powers That Be. Doing so...

We finished

feeds@yuku.com (RichGreen) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:49:46 GMT

Hi,

I forgot to post here when we actually finished the campaign but we did and it was great fun!

Session logs here

Cheers

Richard

Dread Osyluths

feeds@yuku.com (Baba Luga69) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:57:38 GMT

I was reading the Big Book and came across that passage that suggested that Raguel's fiendish followers were descendants of Hell's original inhabitants and weren't necessarily like their forbears. It got me to thinking. DMs running the Banewarrens are often daunted that 3.5 osyluths are CR 9 badasses capable of wiping up the floors with the hapless PCs.

But why use the 3.5 version? The dread osyluths don't need to be like their more evolved descendants. Using the 3.0...

The Black Manor

feeds@yuku.com (Mike Walterich) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:18:25 GMT

I had this really sweet idea and I just wanted to share it with everyone. What do you think?

My group never actually went into the Black Manor. They found Heth outside and took him back to Ptolus alive. Now they are nearing the end of the Banewarrens and I'm planning on continuing the adventure with a deeper exploration of The Quaan. I have devised a unique dungeon crawl, made out of the Black Manor. I haven't really filled in all the details yet, but I have a few encounters...

Protal at St Thessina

feeds@yuku.com (Rags) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:03:42 GMT

Last night Heth Neferul and Ephitas were forced to use the portal and escape to the Quaan.
The party's CN Sorcerer followed up their retreat with two consecutive fireballs. I allowed them to pass through to the arrival point in the Quaan.
Both villains would have survived the damage of the first blast, but if they were not already out of the blast radius of the second, they would be toast.

Would you allow this?

If not, why? (I'd love to here your take on...

The Sealed Door and the key

feeds@yuku.com (Cazgal) — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:41:15 GMT

Can someone help me clear up the issue of the Sealed Door and the BW key ...

The hag gets into the BW using a wish. Door is closed by Kalerscent. No one else can enter.

(In my game) Navanna gets and keeps hold of the Hand of Danar giving her access to the BW.

The PLofQ (GQ Team 2) then need to get access - again using a wish ..... ??

How do the PCs then gain access to the BW to follow up the others who have entered ...

Must admit I am starting...

Game about to Restart

feeds@yuku.com (Cazgal) — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:25:44 GMT

After a 6 months off it is time to restart my Ptolus campaign. Hurrah !

In the last session my players completed NoD, defeated Wuntad and stopped the Final Ritual.

They had also managed to get past Chapter Four of BW (I was running NoD and BW concurrently as suggested by Monte and so halted before starting C5 (The Outer Valuts) just after "Nicalon" helps the PCs steal the key from the Vladaam Estate - in my game he vanished with it and the PCs have no idea...

Diplomacy and the Pactlords of the Quaan

feeds@yuku.com (lostdrewid) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:15:36 GMT

Started a thread about this in the rules forum but I wanted to be more specific. The point in question was when the bard in our party tried a rushed Diplomacy check [so -10 to his roll] to make the Grailquest Team I not attack when the party noticed their attempted ambush. Is there anything legal I can do as DM to say, no, sorry, the Pactlords are not willing to be swayed by the words of a mere human, or must I trod on the rules in order to have a story that makes any sense? "Oh sure,...