I'm getting ready to start a new Pathfinder campaign and I am going to run Legacy of Fire (for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the first adventure is written by my good friend Erik Mona and then other awesome guys get involved in later installments, and they eventually take a detour to Necro's City of Brass).

But I have a question. Sorry if it has been covered elsewhere.

I love the Pugwampis. They are going to annoy my group, I am sure, once I get the group up and running. (Yes I plan well in advance).

Here is my question:

The adventure talks about the gnolls hating the pugs. But then the monster stat block says it does not work on gnolls. Is that a typo? If not, then why would gnolls hate them? I would LOVE to have a group of gnoll worshiping gremlins that gave bad luck to everyone but me. That doesnt make sense to me.

Help, anyone?

Clark

You a group of little freaks that are NOT afraid of you, bug you all day long with hero worship, and have a habit of making annoying strange noises around you, such as at night when you should be stealthily chasing your prey.

Oh, and they steal things from you for "hero" worship.

That enough looks a good reason to me.

why would gnolls hate them?

Answer as a player: because pugwampis embody all that is suck and deserve to die in flames.

Answer as a GM: because encounters involving gnolls working in tandem with pugwampis would result in a TPK quite often.

Answer as a fluff-writer (fluffer?): Pugwampis are annoying toadies that don't possess any of the esteemed gnollish qualities. Plus slaves and other associates tend to have unfortunate accidents when they're around. And they need to die in flames.

Hope that helps. I didn't read the AP all the way through, this is merely conjecture based on what I did read/play.

Zo

I was just surprised to see the "gnolls are immune" entry in the Unluck section of the Pug's writeup. I dont see a reason to make them immune. (I mean, I get why they are annoying).

Yup; it boils completely down to the fact that gnolls hate pugwampis because they're horrifically annoying and pests. Making gnolls immune to the effect is simply a bit of engineered irony. And because it's kinda funny.

The fact that gnolls are immune to the bad luck is what actually makes the pugwampis think gnolls are gods and worthy of worship.

James, it works for me. They must be annoying. Think about it, if gnolls could simply tolerate them they could be the best merchants and warriors in the world/ :) Just bring a horde of pugs with you (as a gnoll) and when bartering your adversary would have to take the lowest of the 2d20 roll, in combat your adversary would have to take the lowest of the 2d20 roll to attack or save or whatever. That is a HUGE advantage.

Maybe it just means gnolls are dumb.

James, it works for me. They must be annoying. Think about it, if gnolls could simply tolerate them they could be the best merchants and warriors in the world/ :) Just bring a horde of pugs with you (as a gnoll) and when bartering your adversary would have to take the lowest of the 2d20 roll, in combat your adversary would have to take the lowest of the 2d20 roll to attack or save or whatever. That is a HUGE advantage.

Maybe it just means gnolls are dumb.

I suspect there's a lot of the latter. Gnolls aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.

I'm getting ready to start a new Pathfinder campaign and I am going to run Legacy of Fire (for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the first adventure is written by my good friend Erik Mona and then other awesome guys get involved in later installments, and they eventually take a detour to Necro's City of Brass).

Hey Clark, glad to hear you're checking out Legacy of Fire! I don't know if you've seen them, but I've been converting all of the books up to Pathfinder RPG rules and they might be useful to you if you're running in that ruleset. The 1st one is the only one I'm not terribly proud of, it was done before the Bestiary came out, but the others should all be well done. :)

Conversions

Karui, thanks, yes I had seen those. Nice work. I intend to use that stuff with a few tweaks perhaps :)

Hey Clark, enjoy LoF. I have had a blast, and I did throw in (1) gnoll fighter 2 in a random encounter with 4 (standard) pugwampis against (5) 3rd level characters.

It was a mess. The cleric and bard used all their spells healing and I had the two rangers in the negs when the group finally won.

I had to try it, and the gnoll fighter was having his way with everyone.

The rationale for gnolls being immune to pugwampi bad luck is the same reason that elves happen to be immune to ghoul paralysis.

Player: "But why would th--"
DM: "They just are! Make another Reflex save."

I rest my case. Ah, the mysteries of life...

Also remember that animals are also immune to the effect so those hyenas and hyenadons are safe.

But then...so are animal companions!

Sic'em Wolfie!