I'm taking one of my friends FR PC's on a short visit to Athas - and I was wondering what monsters I should/could put in the setting? And what's the encounter rate? Any monster from the MM 1-3 would be nice.
The PC is level 24, but I don't want epic monsters....
- Lord Kellnor
If you have the time or inclination, take a look at Terrors of Athas, which is athas.org's general DS monster manual. Personally, I recommend the squark :D.
Here's a good pic of an Athasian Nightmare Beast. I'd suggest making the Athasian version a bit tougher and having more psionic/defiling powers.
Nightmare Beast
Here's a good pic of an Athasian Nightmare Beast.
Gosh, that's cute. Can I keep him. Pretty please... :P
Where are the PCs from, originally? Abeir-Toril? Krynn? Tellene? Eberron? A home-brewed world? I can give you plenty of adventure ideas, but first I need to know where the PCs are from...
--and don't tell me they're native Athasians, as they would have taken on sorcerer-kings by now NB
Thanks for all the posts, keep em coming! The character is a female rogue22/fighter2 from Aber-Toril, Forgotten Realms.
I don't intend to use psionics, sorry, I haven't got the time to get the lowdown of it, 'cause I'm in the middle of my exams. Anywho, we don't use psionics in our FR campaign...
- Lord Kellnor
--that's like a Dragonlance game without tinker gnomes or kender NB
Thanks for all the posts, keep em coming! The character is a female rogue22/fighter2 from Aber-Toril, Forgotten Realms.
What race is she?
--this and what region she's from are the last things I need to know to help you out NB
She's a human rogue and originally hails from Waterdeep, but our base of power is Cormyr and Sembia (where we run things) :D
- Lord Kellnor
Sorry, might have been a bit unclear about this. Yes, I'm excluding (sp) psionics cause I'm only using the setting and general layout of the Dark Sun campaign for this adventure, which is a short single adventure.
Ah, understood. I'm about two or three months away from running a DS game where an FR character gets permanently transported to Athas....so I understand!
[i]She's a human rogue and originally hails from Waterdeep, but our base of power is Cormyr and Sembia (where we run things)
OK, so she's an epic rogue, who dabbles in fighting. Hmmm. Well, the first thing about Athas such a character needs to realize is that there's no thieves' guilds in the Seven Cities. The Veiled Alliance covers that aspect. A rogue of such power will quickly draw the attention of the VA, and they'll do their damndest to get her into their ranks. Sorcerer-kings the world over will live in fear that this woman will come pay them a visit.
Further questions!
1) What region of Athas will she be visiting?
2) How is she travelling to Athas? Portal? (Faerun is crawling in these things, it seems!) Walking through the Plane of Shadow? Ancient artifact sending them there?
3) What time period in recent Athasian history will she be interacting with? After all, there's the time period before The Verdant Passage, after The Verdant Passage but before The Cerulean Storm, and after the events of The Prism Pentad, when things really got shook up.
--more questions to come NB
I'm a bit lost on all those questions, since I don't have the campaign setting. I wrote a request for some ideas over on the FR boards and they recomended I look into some Athas stuff. But I'm quite the novice when it comes to Athasian lore/history. I just find the setting, the mood and the whole DS idea really wicked for this adventure.
She's coming in via portal/gate.
Kellnor
Hi Nero
Hi, Kellnor!
I'm a bit lost on all those questions, since I don't have the campaign setting. I wrote a request for some ideas over on the FR boards and they recomended I look into some Athas stuff. But I'm quite the novice when it comes to Athasian lore/history. I just find the setting, the mood and the whole DS idea really wicked for this adventure.
Go to this wonderful site here and download as much as you can, to get a really good feel for the setting. Athas is a pretty bleak place, to be honest. Your rogue is in for one hell of a culture shock!
She's coming in via portal/gate.
Kellnor
Alright, one final question, for now: Will this be an urban adventure, or a wilderness adventure?
--this last question determines everything, really NB
Nightmare Beast
You feed that thing Science Diet don't you?
:D
Well, I'm dropping her in the wilds/desert, and she'll have to find a way to a settlement (she's looking for her daughter who has been kidnapped by an old nemesis of the party). So I quess she would experience a bit of both, urban and wilds, since I really want to challenge her in some unfamiliar settings.
Where this villain is botched up, I haven't figured out yet though!
- Kel
Hello again Nero
Hello!
Well, I'm dropping her in the wilds/desert, and she'll have to find a way to a settlement (she's looking for her daughter who has been kidnapped by an old nemesis of the party). So I quess she would experience a bit of both, urban and wilds, since I really want to challenge her in some unfamiliar settings.
Put her by the Sea of Silt, and have her run into a community of silt-worshippers. One, the enormity of the Silt Sea plus the burning red sun in the sky ought to have her convinced she's on a Lower Plane, and silt magic ought to further cement this notion. Have the village get raided by gith, led by a thinking defiler gith zombie (the templat for thinking zombies can be found at athas.org). This ought to really drive home the point that she is in an eff'ed up world. Silt magic on one side, gith and their magic on the other...and have the village have a small number of thri-kreen in it, just to stir the pot a bit. :p
Where this villain is botched up, I haven't figured out yet though!
What's the villain, in terms of race, gender, character class(es) and alignment?
--after all, a villainous cleric will be having some small amount of trouble on Athas NB
Dwarves have no hair; elves are tall, lean things; halflings are feral, flesh-eating little buggers, many humans have small mutations (a gill here, and extra finger there, etc), (check out the stuff at athas.org for more info).
She's probably never seen a half-giant, either. There are a lot of differences you can exploit to her disadvantage (stiffling heat, etc...)
As for magic, Abeir-Toril (especially the continent of Faerun) is as about as far as Athas magically as it could possibly get. Arcane magic is feared and reviled, whereas on Faerun it is totally accepted almost everywhere. I can imagine her surprise when she asks the local villagers if any wizards are amongst them...
Divine magic is almost as rare. Templars are abundant, but that's like seven different priesthoods of Bane running seven different cities. She'll likely assume the sorcerer-kings are gods, and tread in fear of them. Clerics are rare and do not organize, and she'll get odd looks whenever she asks a cleric what god he prays to. And druids...well, druids are eco-fanatics, and don't take terribly well to people pestering them!
There are no sorcerers on Athas, only wizards. There are no paladins, either. Metal is rarer than water, and on Athas, water is pretty frickin' rare.
--keep all these things in mind NB
You feed that thing Science Diet don't you?
Strictly Adkins.
Thanx for all the posts, really great stuff!
I've pretty much got the plot fixed by now, allthough I'm having a bit of trouble deciding where the BBEG should have his "lair". Nero asked about the villain, and it's a Paragon Mindflayer, CR 23, one who they beat up back on Faerun and it has now decided to take revenge on them, one at a time. But where could/should such a guy have his lair. Remember, he wants to be found!
- Kellnor
--I made Hamanu a 25th level psychic warrior/17th level defiler/5th level psion NB
). Undertyr is exactly what it sounds like: it exists under Tyr.Tyr was one of the first cities built on land after the waters receded - then a city was built on the ruins - then another city was built on those ruins...you get the picture. Think Athasian Undermountain, and you've got it.
It's doubtful a powerful mindflayer would bunk up with one of the SKs. First off, they'd wonder how he got to Athas and, more importantly, how he plans to leave. That kind of information is something they would pay dearly for. I mean, what SK wouldn't want to make a beer run on the FR?
Tyr is also good because 1) there isn't a Sorcerer King there, 2) detailed maps are available through a Google image search for "Tyr Map."
If you want to stay away from "established" locations, there are several (small and large) mountain ranges on Athas. Some have to have caves. The iron mines of Tyr might be another idea.
This has sparked another idea, but I'll start it on another thread, so as not to intrude. Good luck with the adventure.
--ahhhh, the brain collectors, such wonderful monsters NB