RHoD Chapter 3 - The Ghostlord

RHoD Masterpost

The Ghostlord

Today we're going through Chapter 3: The Ghostlord! It's a pretty straightforward conversion structurally, but there are a lot of stat blocks we'll need to adapt and not a lot of space for treasure unless the PCs fight the Ghostlord, which is very likely to go poorly for them.

Here is the Chapter 3 Conversion doc!

I also wrote up the conversation with the Ghostlord using the WIP MCDM Negotiation rules. You're obviously welcome to just run it as written, but I think this makes it a bit more robust!

Creatures

Wyrmlord Ulwai Stormcaller (lv. 8). The spells, rough stats, and gear are more or less the same as from the book, but I added a few bard and kineticist abilities to help capture the flavor. This makes her highly mobile for a spellcaster, and able to help her allies move quickly as well, but her defenses aren't that high (other than reflex) so she's still pretty fragile if the party can pin her down!

Doom Fist Monks (lv. 6). Straightforward Monks, whose MO is to grapple and flurry to their hearts content with an occasional Demoralize thrown in! And lots of movement, of course. They've got Dragon Stance (it's too thematic not to), Flurry of Maneuvers, Crushing Grab, and Dancing Leaf to be able to leap out of the Lion's mouth if needed. I originally gave them Dragon's Roar, but that seemed too similar to the Ghost Lions so I left off. I personally like Dragon Stance over the Dragon Chain in the book, but we kept that same grappling flavor. They've also got Drakeheart Mutagens which I think is fun - they're pretty hard to hit once they've drunk those, but pretty easy to hit beforehand, so surprise is a potentially pretty big favor.

Ghost Lion Brute (lv. 6). Pretty simple conversion - a cat pounce attack, fang and (agile) claw attacks, and an AoE fear effect! Plus your standard incorporeal ghostie goodies.

Ghost Dire Lion (lv. 8). Like the Brute, but replacing the Bloodcurdling Roar with a Basilisk-like gaze (but just sickened and damage instead of full petrification) and Draining Touch on the Lion's bite attack. Also I hate the name, "Dire Lion Ghost" would be much better haha but we'll keep it the same to match the module.

Lesser Bonedrinkers. These little buggers have a pretty simple play loop - tentacle attack at range, grab if they hit, bonedrink if they grab! And possible claw attacks if they miss at any point. They won't be subtle or tactical, they'll just seek to feed!

In terms of other stat blocks, the Doom Hand Cleric returns from Chapter 1 (I'm treating the two of them as 1 level 5 creature for encounter building purposes), Varanthian the Behir gets the elite template, and the Grey Ooze becomes an Elite Black Pudding (still a trivial encounter).

Random encounters in the dungeon should probably be Ghost Lions. For the ones outside, PCs might face Varanthian, wandering undead, or local wildlife (lions and lil sphinxes).

Treasure

We've got to be very careful here, because we don't want the players to have to fight the Lich. Therefore, we're going to put as much treasure as we can in encounters that they should fight. So, all of the permanent items and consumables that the PCs are expected to get at this level should be on the Red Hand agents (including Varanthian). Most of the permanent items are on the Wyrmlord - if she escapes somehow, you'll probably want to have folks in Brindol make up the difference in gifts. I only counted one of the Monks Drakeheart Elixirs in the treasure, because they will likely drink one at the start of fights, or the Tiamat statue/portraits, because they're pretty heavy. To recover those, they'd probably need to kill the ghostlord and come back with a cart (for the statue at least, portraits could work with a bag of holding but that would be slow and risky).

If the PCs negotiate particularly well with the Ghostlord, they'll be slightly ahead of the curve thanks to his gift (at Influence 5, see below), and if they rob him they will be way ahead of the curve!! This will likely mess with negotiations, however, making Chapter 4 much more difficult even if they aren't immediately killed by the Ghostlord, so I'm okay with this. And if they somehow negotiate successfully and also steal from him without messing that up, they probably had a sick ass plan and some lucky rolls, so more power to 'em.

As per usual, feel free to swap out treasure - for example, maybe Ulwai has a tricksters mandolin or some other instrument instead of the staff of air (or in addition, for a party of 5, and she switches), to further play up bard shennanigans!

Negotiating with the Ghostlord

You're welcome to run the Ghostlord conversation as written, but if you want slightly more structured conversation, here's a sample writeup based on the current version of the MCDM negotiation rules! (I'm a Patron, they're still tentative/subject to change.)

I've briefly talked about this before, but here's how this works. The Ghostlord's Interest starts at 1, and his Patience also starts at 1. When the PCs first encounter him, he will demand they explain themselves! If their first Argument succeeds (or crits), his Patience increases to 2, and the conversation continues. Otherwise, see the Interest tiers below.

Arguments that play to his Motivations (see below) automatically succeed, and offering his Soul Cage (Phylactery) back if they have it automatically Critically Succeeds for +2 interest! If a Check is required, the DC is probably 25 for a solid argument, or 27/30 for worse arguments.

• Critical Success The Ghostlord's Interest increases by 2!
• Success The Ghostlord's Interest increases by 1!
• Failure The Ghostlord's Patience decreases by 1 :/
• Critical Failure The Ghostlord's Interest and Patience both decrease by 1 :(

If the Ghostlord's Patience ever hits 0, or his Interest ever hits 5, the conversation is over - use the table below to see the Ghostlord's final offer. The party can also choose to end the conversation early if they're doing well and don't want to risk it. 

• Interest 0 The Ghostlord attacks!
• Interest 1 The Ghostlord demands they leave at once. If they do not, he attacks.
• Interest 2 The Ghostlord demands they leave, but they can take their time as long as they respect his abode. If they've given his Soul Cage back, he will give them one last chance - drive off the Red Hand agents disrespecting his home, bring him the Wyrmlord's Staff and Wand, and his Interest will increase by 1.
• Interest 3 The Ghostlord agrees to break the alliance, but only if they bring him the Wyrmlord's Wand of Thundering Echoes to add to his collection (or theoretically offer a different item in trade that's at least level 8, but that might require a check depending on the item).
• Interest 4 The Ghostlord agrees to break the alliance! Will help attack the Hand forces if not already dealt with.
• Interest 5 As Influence 4, and the Ghostlord gifts them the lion's claw (+1 striking grievous kukri) from his treasury.

If the PCs haven't recovered his Soul Cage, any result of 3+ comes with the added condition that the Party prioritize its return (to the point of possibly sending his armies to the field and then withdrawing them at a dramatic moment if they can get him the Soul Cage in time!)

• Special: Destroying his Soul Cage. If the PCs successfully destroy it (Hardness 9, HP 36), negotiations are over - he immediately attacks! If they only threaten to, however, that will be an Argument like any other (likely with Intimdiation, DC 25 if they have a clear method to do so or 30 if they don't), and won't automatically upset him (unless they fail their check - on a success, he respects their Hard Bargaining).

Motivations: (remember, the first appeal to each of these automatically succeeds, increasing his Interest by 1!)

• Return his Soul Cage (!!). This is his main goal. As such, handing it over increases is Interest by 2 (counting as a Critical Success)! Offering to go recover it still increases Interest by 1, if they don't have it.
• Praise the Ghost Lions. The Ghost Lions are the Ghostlord's prized creations, the last remnants of his once proud culture. To him, there is no creature, living or dead, more beautiful and worthy of adulation.
• Denigrate the Legacy of Rhest. While the Ghostlord is proud that his cultists' sacrifice led pretty directly to the Fall of Rhest, it is a sore spot for him that they are remembered as this Great Culture and his cultists are relegated to useless nomads. Knocking Rhest down a peg will endear the party to him, as he's grown used to people over-valuing it.
• Demonstrate deep knowledge of and interest in Magic. The Ghostlord has been alone for a long time, and appreciates in-depth discussion of magical theory, especially as it pertains to his pet projects. It might even be possible to appeal to this motivation multiple times - once regarding deep magical theory, and once regarding the virtues of necromancy specifically!

Pitfalls: (remember, these automatically decrease both his Interest and Patience by 1!)

• Insult his Undead Domain. Any attempt to argue that his domain would be better in tune with nature, or his lions better off alive, will likely send him into a rage. He had been deeply involved in necromancy before his cultists fell, but the pain of their loss drove him past the point of no return. He will never forgive Rhest for their destruction of his people, and reminds himself of that loss every day to steal his resolve (in Area 77).
• Steal his Treasure. If the Ghostlord learns that the PCs have stolen his paintings from Area 14 or anything from his Treasury (Area 18), he demands them back or else likely attacks! Even if this are returned, he isn't happy.
• The PCs may be able to hide their stolen goods or trick him somehow! But his Perception DC is 30...
• If he notices before the conversation starts, only apply the -1 Interest/Patience after the heroes get a chance to start the conversation. In this case, they'd basically start with 1 patience, and 1-2 interest depending on if their check succeeds or crits.
• Break his Relics. If the PCs do more than superficial damage to the Ghostlord's Shrine of Blight (Area 17) or Lion's Heart (Area 15), the Ghostlord will not be happy! Note: he mostly disregards small amounts of damage, and sees that as a sign of the party's weakness.
• As with "Steal his Treasure", apply the penalties only after their first argument if he knows about it beforehand.
• If the PCs somehow both steal from him and badly damage his relics before speaking with them, they start at an effective -1 influence, which means they basically get one chance to make an argument, period, and unless they also give his Phylactery back they cap out at 0/1 Interest! With the Phylactery, a Success would end them at 2 Interest, and a Crit at 3 Interest.

That's all for this week! Next time, we'll be taking a look at the Victory Points system before jumping into the City of Brindol and Chatper 4!

Addendum - Remixing Victory Points