[PnP] Tower of the Dead Party Makeup

[J Hooten]

Alex Koponen wrote:
> Floyd Resler wrote:
>> I am hopefully going to be running a couple of friends through the 
>> Tower of the Dead.  There will be at least four characters. It's been 
>> nearly 15 years since I played Powers & Perils last (way too long!).  
>> So, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what would be a 
>> good mix of characters for the adventure.  I will be making up the 
>> characters in advance.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Floyd
> Having run The Tower of the Dead and seeing a well played mid-level 
> party die (ending a campaign) I suggest that the party have several 
> things:
> A mid-level Natural Magician or really powerful wizard; either 
> everyone competent at fighting or one to two combat monster characters 
> and all front line troops equipped with high AV armor and an enchanted 
> weapon (likely created by the wizard). Certain other items such as 
> NMIs are likely to be useful as well.
>
> The types of characters suggested by Scott are good.
>
> [Background of what happened when I ran the scenario...A royal member 
> of the party had died in Donara due to having a second magical healing 
> in one day...oops. {They forgot to tell the priestess they brought him 
> to about the earlier healing.} Rumor of an item that could resurrect 
> him was followed up and the item tracked down and acquired. However 
> that item had an agenda...the permanent destruction of a certain 
> lich...to which the party agreed. The party DID include a Natural 
> Magician, but he was a new character and not experienced enough 
> (either player or character). The party had several good fighters but 
> not enough AV or healing for them (but through clever playing this did 
> not become a problem) and only one enchanted weapon amongst the 
> fighters. The party was not equipped with enough (well any) competent 
> users of magic. While the adventure CAN be completed just by fighters 
> it does take good players and powerful characters, preferably with 
> some magic. The party that I ran had some good players but bad luck 
> had them encounter and get surprised by the lich in the wrong location 
> nearly nullifying the party's magic and enhancing the magic the lich 
> could cast...nor did the party have a powerful enough fighter to keep 
> the lich from casting spells. Half the party died, the other half was 
> captured and used in the lich's experiments.]
>
>       Alex 
The Lich is a weak opponent due to little magical equipment, thus a well 
equipped group can take him. But he is a powerful mage, so you need good 
magic defenses. Without his spells he is not that hard to take out other 
than preventing his return. The module does include some magic items to 
aid play but it is best not to depend on them. Now the non lich 
opponents are not so bad if you are prepared for the lich but like all 
PnP games, it is easy to get killed by anyone with a little bad luck.

If you can get one character to huge MDV, use him as bait for the 
opponent mages so that abysmal results often. It can cause suicides by 
opponent mages. And yes a natural mage is ideal for that character as 
they get improved MDV to start with.

Natural magic items are incredibly useful if they can be gotten. Even 
the minor ones are quite useful and can be critical.

By the 'rules' a chalcedony and angelica can easily push a high MDV 
character to MDV100 area but there are other combinations that can work

Without a huge MDV character you need much more stealth and some luck.
You cannot afford to let your opponent get the drop on you, ever, in pnp
So someone needs to be good at sensing/detecting etc or an item made to 
do so

Alternate method:
If you know you are going to fight a powerful mage or anything with high 
MDV, there are indirect attacks that make it simpler.
Destruction to explode things nearby so MDV does not apply
Transmutes for various tricky uses
Summons for added distractions with possible useful powers
Look for other spells that do not directly effect the target and your 
mage can at least keep the Lich to busy to fight back well

I have not read the module in quite a few years to verify particulars, 
but I seem to recall a few groups that managed to pull it off.
And yes it was done by starting characters though it is not recommended 
due to lack of quality equipment

Much will depend on the GM and house rules
PnP allows for a starting mage to advance quickly and make useful items
As such the mage (or whatever) can make better weapons or armor or other 
items for the group given enough time
It is one of the best features of PnP though easily abused
A dwarvish runemaster can do some of that even easier
Rules on availability of Natural Magic varies a lot and can be key to 
winning here as many not so rare materials are quite useful.

If you do not use Natural magic much, there are a few monsters that the 
group cannot face
Priests or shamans are also a good choice because they can counter some 
of those where no one else can