Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
I'm lightly working on an encounter for one of my groups wherein it struck me as appropriate to use a cavalier. I've statted things out and I'm happy with the challenge he will present to the party. That's all fine.
What occurred to me is that I absolutely wouldn't be surprised if someone in the party manages to capture the cavalier's mount once he's vanquished. Given it's an animal - and a domesticated one at that - I can just see our druid taking the time to Handle Animal this beast into cooperation over time. Problem is... the darned horse has 12 HD, and is independently bad-ass.
I've never had this problem before because with familiars they revert to their prior, "useless" selves. Druids' animal companions tend to be unusual animals which aren't normally easily domesticated so I don't need to worry about the part barbarian adopting a wolf or alligator or whatever.
What I'm thinking The Answer is... is to treat the horse as treasure. If they capture it and convince it to work with/for them, that's great, but it has value. What I don't really get is what value I should assign. I just don't relish the idea that without the cavalier around the horse will wither and revert to Bestiary horse stats.
I'm inviting suggestions on other ways to view the likely outcome, and discussion of what the price of various mounts should be. In this case, it's a 15th-level cavalier.
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
In one of my groups we have an animal companion which is a wolf. Since it only has one natural attack (bite), once it reaches an appropriate level it gets an iterative attack in place of Multiattack. Thing is, the wolf gets trip.
The way I see it, there are two possibilities. The CMB for trip is linked to the functional BAB used in each attack, or the CMB is static.
Example... let's assume the wolf has +10/+5 for its attack routine and a CMB of +8.
Option #1. Wolf attacks at +10 and trips at +8 then attacks at +5 and trips at +3.
Option #2. Wolf attacks at +10 and trips at +8 then attacks at +5 and trips at +8.
The numbers are completely artificial in this example, but demonstrate my point... does the CMB for a secondary attack's use of trip suffer the same -5 that the attack itself does?
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
My player group is just about to start the final book of CoT and for once our campaign hasn't imploded. They're interested in continuing with existing characters and situations.
The characters:
Eezo - aasimar paladin of Sarenrae. He's an AC monster, falcata-wielding evil-smiting good guy. Not a stick-in-the-mud paladin by any means.
Sibyl - tiefling cleric of Malani. She's a generic cleric but is heavy of bluffing and messing with opponents' minds. She's also got Leadership, followers, and a cohort (listed below).
Wick Tinder - gnome witch. Ultimately is played as a coward who somehow sticks around long enough to slumber hex every BBEG encounter into a non-issue.
Fingers - half-elf rogue. Flank, sneak-attack, rinse, repeat. He's also the guy who coup-de-graces everything the gnome puts to sleep.
The hooks:
Eezo has family in Westcrown. His sister is Bluehood, one of his brothers is a hellknight of middling rank, and his family is minor nobility.
Sibyl has her cohort Pasha (half-giant psychic-warrior ex-slave). She has liberated and used attonement on the half-dozen tieflings from the Nessian Spiral and has them operating a re-opened Vizio's Tavern (which is now The Infernal Duke and has a fiendish theme including items liberated from the Spiral). She has Calseinica Nimmis as a when-the-DM-remembers girlfriend, and has befriended a few dottari. She is easily the most liked of the group. Also, she has been volunteering at a hospice in town all this time, which has been a recurring element.
Wick was raised within the Church of Asmodeus but "escaped" some time ago. He has just been approached by the Church who have expressed that they wish to endorse the Children of Westcrown over the Council of Thieves - at the behest of Aspexia Whatsername (leader of the Chellish Church of Asmodeus). Basically, some clerics have turned traitor and are siding with the Council. Wick is titled "inquisitor" and is mandated to smite down heretical clerics whenever and wherever he encounters them. In return, the loyalist clerics manage a friendly working relationship with the group they feel will likely come out victorious.
Fingers... is a half-elf. Who hits things.
The request:
The only thing I've got for a direction is that Sibyl would likely want to pry Westcrown out of Chelliax entirely. I'm thinking of taking the group physically to Egorian to pursue this. Any ideas, nuggets of inspiration, or outright plot suggestions are what I'm asking for. I don't need details but rather simply directions and options I might otherwise not see. So what I'm looking for is along the lines of "assassinate the empress" or "there's a dragon underneath Egorian and it's going to eat the whole city unless the party stops it". Neither of which I think I'll be using. <Grin>
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
Well.
I've got a half-elf rogue "Fingers", an aasimar paladin of Sarenrae "Eezo", a tiefling cleric of Maliki "Sibyl", and a gnome witch "Wick".
They've done pretty well overall, and last night they got to the final room of the Nessian Spiral. They backed off, disabled the cooling towers, and buffed up for a final showdown.
The cage annoyed them. Nobody had adamantine weapons, so nobody could bypass its hardness. There wasn't much in the line of direct damage spells either, so it took quite a while to whittle the thing down. All the while it really didn't do much to the party, who have great AC.
Finally the cage was destroyed and Liebdaga popped out. The players were bummed out that the Huge Balor mini I had sitting on my desk wasn't used. Oh well.
What to say. Rogue and paladin flanked, paladin smited. The witch used enervation on the poor Devil, adding two more negative levels. Liebdaga fireballed as written, not realizing that mass resist energy fire was up. The party ignored his fireball. More rogue-flanking-two-weapon-fighting-sneak-attacking-mithral-and-good-+2-quar terstaffing and more smiting. Liebdaga spent his next round getting focused. The witch used his slumber hex. DC18. Liebdaga rolled a 5. +11 on Will saves. Okay. Nappy devil.
The paladin coup-de-graced Liebdaga to -33. B'bye.
No second life, no breath of life, just gone.
The PCs shrugged and went topside.
Edit: just to be clear, the PCs were undamaged. And three of them were 7th level, with the fourth at 8th with a negative level (previous death). All I can say is... wow, paladins.
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
Had an amusing struggle of a session last night that's worth relating. My players (aasimar paladin, tiefling cleric, half-elf rogue, gnome witch) have been plowing their way through the Nessian Spiral, getting deeper and deeper and deeper.
Well.
Last night they made it into area F29 - Hall of Toil. The resident Behir spotted them and issued it's command. "Drop your weapons, pick up those tools and start mining."
Nervous tension
I called for a set of Will saves for the suggestion, mass.
The paladin rolled... a 1.
The cleric rolled... a 1.
The rogue rolled... a 1.
The witch succeeded.
Jaw drop
Okay, um, hmmm. Roll for initiative, please.
The witch produced... 6.
The Behir produced... 7.
Deep sigh
The Behir moved up, took an attack at the witch and missed. The witch took a 5ft, located a wand of invisibility and used it. The Behir, being not terribly bright sniffed around and (not having scent) failed a Perception check. It spent the next couple rounds looking around, trying to figure out what was going on.
We dropped out of per-round and the witch located a wand of break enchantment and failed to meet the CL four times. He then ran away and I called the session so I could do research and think.
Punchline
We packed up our stuff. We discussed things in general. Then the players remembered that the paladin had magic circle against evil up. Um. Immunity. Hello. Since the Spiral was built by The Thrice Damned House, I figure they're evil casters, and since the suggestion, mass was actually part of the environment (the Neutral Behir just activates it), the immunity should have taken place.
Given the nature of the encounter, we'll be re-running it next time.
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
Well, after a six month hiatus (caused by the Sixfold Trial as it happens), we picked things up and replaced three characters. I don't intend this post as a continuation of my previous thread... I'll pick up there separately.
Instead, this is a general commentary about the first half of this module.
My (now) two players each had two characters to run. They did this well, and distinctly. No complaints. I enjoyed running the rehearsals and the play, and my new player enjoyed both as well.
My older player... the tactical, smart player... not so much. So here's the critique as it applies to players who aren't looking for beer & peanuts gaming.
1} The justification for playing along and participating in the play is weak. Really weak. Read Ghontosovos' text. This is one long shot after another. Maybe the PCs can get into a play that maybe they can survive that maybe will result in an invitation to the mayor's house that maybe will allow them to prowl around and maybe find the keys to Delvehaven that maybe has something to do with Westcrown's trouble. Ugh.
2} The consensus is: skill challenges... suck. Why? Because they're just dice rolls. The dress rehearsal and the play itself consist of a lot of these. Roll a d20 until you get a certain result. Rinse, repeat.
The key problem is that this doesn't allow the player to think or invent solutions. They know they need to make such-and-such a saving throw and such-and-such a skill DC. It's diceturbation.
3} Many of the trials are "solo". This reduces the opportunity for innovation to nearly zero. While a fluke is burrowing in Larazon, Tybain "can't" do anything to help him. This removes a layer of complexity from the game: the party mechanic.
4} The setting further shackles the player, discouraging problem-solving. Thinking outside the box is normally good. Clever, simple solutions to complicated problems are what PCs are always seeking. Maximum benefit, least risk. The problem is that in the context of a play being performed in front of a live studio audience, the "actors" can't know what they can get away with. What happens to their cause if they break character and do things to save their lives? The player is forced to roll die after die after die, waiting for the x% chance to come up, before their character is dead. They are discouraged from being clever.
The bottom line is that while I enjoyed running the Trial and while I'm sure it's fun for many groups, for the professional "thinkers" out there, it's got some issues.
So. That's the critique. What's the suggestion?
1} In this setting if my group was writing this module, we'd have encouraged the players explore tangential issues in the city. Go mess with the Dotari, for instance. Mess with Whitechin. Let the players pick how they want to mess with the sandbox. Make the challenges HARD. Make it so almost inevitably they'll be captured. They wake up and are presented an option. Death sentence, or become actors. Live and your freedom is yours. They perform the play, they get noticed, they get invited to a party, THEN the idea that "while you're there..." gets sprung by Ghontosovos and Arael.
2} Minimize the skill challenges. They were fine (ritual Perform(act) checks) in the rehearsal. The play itself should be basically devoid of them.
3} This one is hard. But basically, design the trials so no matter what the stressor on the party, all members get to participate in resolving it. Teamwork is a must. Sorry, we couldn't think of specific examples.
4} Establish ground rules. Find a way to let the players know that - for instance - an actor death isn't actually required for the audience to approve. Find a way to let them know that if they do visually exciting things, the audience might still approve.
One last thought: One of the ideas that was stumbled upon late last night was one wherein the PCs have to actually construct the trials themselves. Someone like Rhobal asks them, "what can you DO?" The players are relied upon to propose challenges they could make look dangerous, and might actually BE dangerous, but allow the party to actually overtly use their abilities. This is clearly not something that Paizo can really do since a} it's impossible to quantify how to reward trials you've never seen and b} you can't assume every/any group of players is up to the challenge of Chose Your Own Adventure. Still, it was a thought, and it might be useful to another DM prepping to run this module.
I thoroughly thank Paizo for this experiment. I just felt I owed it to the writers to provide this feedback. "It's great" only goes so far towards future improvements. While I strongly expect a matter/antimatter explosion as a consequence of combining the following two names in one sentence, Misters Pett and Logue... <BLAM!> thank you.
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
First of all, I'm posting this as a sort of open beta of my own. I'm more than happy to accept input.
The goal: this is an interpretation of WotC's Dragon Shaman class. It can be considered Open content as I haven't reproduced any closed content. This is also not a "conversion" in a few ways. I personally think that 3.5 and PFRPG are so similar that the term isn't appropriate. Further, this class is meant to be somewhat different from WotC's version. The core concept of radiating auras remains in place but I've always been bothered by a} the breath weapon and b} the lack of draconic involvement. The breath weapon moves to - get this - the dragon. This class is intended to encourage something relatively unique... have the player think of his character as a fusion of two bodies. My hope is to have the two bodies complement each other such that there is both balance and synergy. Beyond a mere animal companion or familiar, the player should be thinking of how to use his two bodies together to aid the party best.
The two main areas I need serious input on are a} the precise "tithe" (currently 50%) that should be assigned to the hoard feature and b} if the levels at which various dragons become available need tweaking. Those levels are ultimately derived from a couple sources and are deliberately conservative. I expect if adjustment is required, it'll be downward.
Without further ado, I bring you the Dragon Totemist.
DRAGON TOTEMIST
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: D8
Class Skills
The dragon totemist’s class skills are Appraise(Int), Craft(Int), Diplomacy(Cha), Fly(Dex), Knowledge(nature)(Int), Knowledge(arcana)(Int), Perception(Wis), Spellcraft(Int), Use Magic Device(Cha).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier
All of the following are class features of the Dragon Totemist.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
Spoiler:
Dragon totemists are proficient with all simple weapons, and with light and medium armor and shields (except tower shields).
Bonus Languages:
Spoiler:
A dragon totemist knows Draconic at 1st level.
Dragonbond (Ex):
Spoiler:
Dragon totemists are chosen by their beloved masters. At 1st level, a supplicant dragon totemist is approached by an elder dragon and entrusted with a sacred task: to be a partner to dragon-kind. An egg is given into the care of the dragon totemist and a bond is struck between the two. This bond carries heavy responsibility yet grants great power. At higher levels that vary by dragon type, if the dragon totemist is found worthy they will be visited once more and they will be re-bound to a wyrmling dragon and the egg they have nurtured will be taken in exchange. This process is repeated at higher levels as the dragon totemist is entrusted with more powerful dragon allies. A dragon totemist must pick a dragon type at 1st level and all subsequent bonded dragons must be of that type. The chosen dragon type must be within one alignment step of the dragon totemist on each alignment axis.
A multiclass dragon totemist adds one half of their levels gained from classes other than dragon totemist to their effective level for purposes of attracting a bonded dragon. A dragon totemist may never be bound to any creature other than his dragon. A dragon totemist with druid levels may never have an animal companion but is permitted to use their Nature Bond to select a domain. Similarly a wizard may not have a familiar but is permitted to use Arcane Bond. In this case, their bonded dragon functions as the object of their bond. While their bonded dragon is within range of the dragon totemist’s aura it is considered in hand to cast spells unimpeded. Creatures summoned temporarily by use of spells do not interfere with the dragonbond. A paladin’s mount cannot be called but they may instead use the divine bond feature to enhance their chosen weapon.
If a bonded dragon (or egg) dies, the dragon totemist immediately acquires two permanent negative levels. These negative levels cannot be removed by restoration or similar magics until the dragon is returned to life by use of a raise dead spell or similar. A dragon returned to life suffers no negative levels as they are borne by the dragon totemist instead.
Table 2 – Dragons acquired by level
Spoiler:
Bronze (LG): 9th – wyrmling, 12th – very young, 17th – young
Silver (LG): 10th – wyrmling, 13th – very young, 17th - young
Gold (LG): 11th – wyrmling, 15th – very young, 19th – young
Brass (CG): 5th – wyrmling, 9th – very young, 13th – young, 16th – juvenile
Copper (CG): 6th – wyrmling, 10th – very young, 14th – young, 15th – juvenile
Blue (LE): 9th – wyrmling, 12th – very young, 16th – young
Green (LE): 9th – wyrmling, 12th – very young, 15th – young, 19th – juvenile
White (CE): 4th – wyrmling, 8th – very young, 11th – young, 16th – juvenile
Black (CE): 6th – wyrmling, 9th – very young, 12th – young, 16th – juvenile
Red (CE): 10th – wyrmling, 14th – very young, 18th – young
Dragon Aura(Su):
Spoiler:
A dragon totemist may share the mystical benefits of his bond with nearby allies. As a swift action, the dragon totemist projects a 30ft radius aura that affects all allies within its area (including the dragon totemist and their dragon). This aura remains in place until it is dismissed as a free action and can be maintained while the dragon totemist is conscious. This aura offers no benefit to anyone while the bonded dragon is beyond the range of this aura. At any time the dragon is within range the aura functions normally.
The bonus granted by this aura starts at +1 and increases by +1 at 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th levels. A 1st-level dragon totemist knows three different aura types of their choice and learns an additional type at odd levels. Normally a dragon totemist may only project a single aura type at once but they may shift to a different type as a swift (mental) action.
Deftness: This aura grants its bonus to all Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, and Swim checks.
Durability: This aura grants DR1/– per point of the dragon totemist’s aura bonus.
Grace: This aura grants its bonus to Escape Artist and Stealth checks.
Health: This aura grants fast healing 1 per point of the dragon totemist’s aura bonus while the affected creature is at or below one half of their normal hit point total.
Influence: This aura grants its bonus to all Bluff and Diplomacy checks.
Might: This aura grants its bonus to all melee damage rolls.
Observation: This aura grants its bonus to all Perception and initiative checks.
Precision: This aura grants its bonus to all attack rolls (including ranged attacks against enemies outside of the aura’s range).
Resistance: This aura grants resistance 5 per point of the dragon totemist’s aura bonus against their dragon’s energy type.
Retaliation: Each time an ally is struck by a natural or non-reach manufactured weapon, their body channels the energy of the dragon totemist’s dragon type. The attacker takes 1 point of damage of that energy type per point of the aura’s bonus.
Slither: This aura grants the ability to squeeze into spaces one half your size without penalty as a move action. Affected creatures may move through a number of squares equal to the aura’s bonus but must end their round in a space appropriate for their size or standard squeezing penalties apply until the start of their next turn.
Swiftness: This aura grants a +5 enhancement bonus to all movement types per two points of aura bonus, rounded down (min. 1).
Hoard:
Spoiler:
As part of the dragon totemist’s pact with his bonded dragon, one half of their wealth must be dedicated to their dragon. A dragon totemist collects treasure as any other character would, but at each opportunity to divide this up, one half of their portion must be gifted to their dragon. The dragon totemist may spend this amount on items for the dragon to wear and use or the amount may remain in the form of coin, gems, or other valuables.
For instance, a dragon totemist may earn 4,000gp during a particular adventure. They are permitted to spend 2,000gp on themselves however they wish. The remaining amount could be simply carried in a bag in the form of precious pearls. The dragon totemist could instead purchase a ring of protection +1 for his bonded dragon.
In any case, this wealth belongs to the bonded dragon and is kept by the dragon when it departs. In the case of a dragon totemist being entrusted with a new (and older) bonded dragon, this dragon comes without any material wealth. The dragon certainly has a hoard established elsewhere but it is the dragon totemist’s duty to help the dragon grow its wealth. A dragon totemist may not spend his dragon’s wealth for any other purpose but the direct benefit of the dragon. In the event of needing to purchase materials and service to raise a dead dragon, the dragon totemist must fund this through his own means, not the dragon’s hoard. Further, any treasure gained while the dragon remains dead must still be split.
A dragon will never lend its wealth or equipment though it may be willing to barter and trade equipment and items of appropriate value. Thus the example dragon above may release its ring of protection +1 along with 6,000gp of its material wealth in return for a ring of protection +2.
A dragon totemist responsible for a dragon egg will often spend a portion of its wealth on increasingly safe containers for it. Boxes crafted from precious metals, bespeckled with jewels and lined with fine silks are sometimes found amongst elder dragon hoards, tangible evidence this dragon was once bonded to a human while it was most vulnerable.
Dragonblooded (Ex):
Spoiler:
At 2nd level the influence of the bonded dragon’s egg has started to alter the dragon totemist’s very nature. For purposes of qualifying for feats and other abilities the dragon totemist is treated as having the dragonblooded subtype. A dragon totemist may also now take Draconic feats.
Draconic Resistance (Ex):
Spoiler:
Starting at 4rd level, a dragon totemist gains resistance 5 to his dragon’s energy type. The bonus granted by this feature increases by 5 at every four additional levels to a maximum of 20 at 16th level. This bonus stacks with that granted by the dragon totemist’s aura (if any).
Skin of the Reptile:
Spoiler:
At 6th level a dragon totemist gains proficiency with heavy armor crafted from dragonhide as long as this armor is made from the hide of a dragon of a different type than his bonded dragon.
Greater Aura:
Spoiler:
At 8th level a dragon totemist gains access to more powerful auras. They may learn and project these auras in the same manner as their other auras.
Community: This aura allows allied creatures to communicate telepathically amongst themselves. The bonded dragon may not use this ability to communicate with anyone other than the dragon totemist.
Defense: This aura grants a dodge bonus to AC equal to one half of the dragon totemist’s aura bonus, rounded down (min. 1).
Energy: This aura grants its bonus to all melee or ranged weapon damage rolls. This bonus damage is of the energy type appropriate to the dragon totemist’s dragon. This damage may be in addition to the untyped damage bonus from the might aura if that aura is also being projected (melee weapons only).
Flexibility: This aura grants its bonus to Dexterity saving throws.
Intuition: This aura grants allied creatures a blindsense ability that is limited to the area encompassed by the aura.
Resolve: This aura grants its bonus to all Will saves. Double this bonus for saving throws against draconic frightful presence.
Stamina: This aura grants its bonus to all Fortitude saves.
Extended Aura:
Spoiler:
At 9th level, the dragon aura a dragon totemist projects now extends to 45ft. At 18th level this increases again to a total of 60ft. This increase in range also allows their bonded dragon more room to move.
Least Dragonform(Sp):
Spoiler:
At 11th level a dragon totemist may use form of the dragon I once per day as the spell. Their caster level is considered to be equal to their number of dragon totemist levels.
Dragonform (Sp):
Spoiler:
At 13th level a dragon totemist may use form of the dragon II once per day as the spell. Their caster level is considered to be equal to their number of dragon totemist levels. The dragon totemist is still able to use their less powerful dragonform.
Greater skin of the reptile:
Spoiler:
At 14th level a dragon totemist may treat armor crafted from dragonhide as one size category for purposes of movement penalties. They may also treat the armor check penalty of such armor as one lower and the maximum dexterity bonus as one higher than normal.
Greater Dragonform (Sp):
Spoiler:
At 15th level a dragon totemist may use form of the dragon III once per day as the spell. Their caster level is considered to be equal to their number of dragon totemist levels. The dragon totemist is still able to use their less powerful dragonforms.
Twin Aura:
Spoiler:
At 16th level a dragon totemist may project two simultaneous auras. Only one of these auras can be of the greater aura type. The dragon totemist may only change one type at once as a swift action. Changing the second projected aura type in the same round as the first requires spending a standard action as well as the swift action. Both or either aura type may be dismissed as a free action but adding an aura type consumes actions in the same manner as changing does. A dragon totemist is not required to project two types of aura at once.
For example, if a dragon totemist falls unconscious both of their aura types cease. Once restored to consciousness, the dragon totemist must consume two actions (one swift and one standard) to resume projecting two aura types.
Draconic Immunity (Ex):
Spoiler:
Starting at 19th level, a dragon totemist gains immunity to the energy type of their bonded dragon. In addition they are immune to the frightful presence of other dragons, sleep, and paralysis.
Union (Sp):
Spoiler:
At 20th level a dragon totemist may use any of their dragonform spell-like-abilities at will. The duration of these abilities last as long as the dragon totemist maintains an aura but caster level is still equal to their number of dragon totemist levels.
FEATS
REACHING AURA [Draconic]
Your dragon aura has additional range
Prerequisite: Dragon aura, dragon totemist 5th
Benefit: Your aura projects an additional 5 feat. This extension stacks with the extended aura feature. You may select this feat more than once.
DRAGON DEVOTEE [Draconic]
While acquiring other talents, you are careful to remain dedicated to your draconic partnership.
Prerequisite: Dragonbond
Benefit: You may treat your effective level as four higher for purposes of determining your bonded dragon, up to your total class levels. This benefits multiclass dragon totemists.
DRACONIC DABBLER [Draconic]
Impatience has its rewards
Prerequisite: Dragon totemist 4th
Benefit: You are entrusted with a pseudodragon cohort. This cohort in all ways acts as would a full-blooded dragon including functioning as your focus for aura projection. You must provide the pseudodragon a hoard as you would a full-blooded dragon. This early companion departs when you gain access to a full-blooded dragon. As an additional benefit, you gain access to your full-blooded dragon companions one level earlier than if you did not take this feat.
EXTRA AURA TYPE [Draconic]
You are learning from your bonded dragon faster than expected.
Prerequisite: Dragon aura
Benefit: You know one additional aura type. You may take this feat more than once.
EARLY TRANSFORMATION [Draconic]
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Prerequisite: Dragon totemist 9th
Benefit: You gain access to your dragonform abilities two levels earlier than usual.
EXTRA TRANFORMATION [Draconic]
Power is addictive.
Prerequisite: Dragonform ability.
Benefit: You may use one of your dragonform spell-like abilities one extra time per day. If you have access to more than one dragonform ability you may choose which one to apply this extra use on at the time of casting.
SPOILED ROTTEN [Draconic]
Some dragons simply refuse to leave all their flashy toys at home. You attract these high-maintenance creatures.
Prerequisite: Dragonbond
Benefit: When a new dragon bonds with you, they arrive wearing or carrying wealth equal to 1,000gp per dragon totemist level you possess. This amount usually exists in the form of magical equipment. This gear is considered part of the dragon’s hoard and does not reduce your responsibility to provide it a healthy income.
TAKE ONE FOR THE TEAM [Draconic]
The depth of your devotion reaches deeper than imagined by outsiders.
Prerequisite: Dragonbond
Benefit: When your bonded dragon is required to make a saving throw, you may use your bonus in its place. Doing so may grant your dragon an improved likelihood of success but at a cost – the effect requiring a saving throw is transferred to you immediately, without a saving throw. Immunity and resistances apply as usual to effects you assume on behalf of your dragon. You must choose to activate this feat before rolling for the saving throw.
For example if you and your dragon are subjected to a fireball spell you are both required to make a saving throw to take half damage. You may use your Reflex saving throw bonus in place of your dragon’s. If this save succeeds, the dragon takes half damage from the fireball. Regardless of success or failure you take full damage from the fireball (in addition to result from your own save).
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
Well, I failed to sell it. My group has been enjoying the insurgency angle of CoT so far and has come up with some interesting angles that have kept me adapting but tonight things went South.
The problem in a nutshell is that the party's view is that they should be active, not re-active. Volunteering for a play wherein unknown people threaten them in unknown ways in front of an unknown audience is a poor plan. Worse, they might get into a play that they might survive and that might get them invited to the mayor's house and that they might then be able to search the place and might find some clues and keys that might get them into Delvehaven which might help them solve the mystery of the Shadowbeats. Too many "mights".
The party is lukewarm at best about alternate entry to the mayor's home, while some discussion did happen. It looks like CoT#26 is going to be skipped entirely.
Thing is, in the one-off I ran while waiting for this module to arrive, the party bagged themselves a Shadowgarm. Now they think they have an angle on the Shadowbeats and are comfortable that they can at least entertain going up against them head-to-head. The current plan is to start following Shadowbeasts to try and figure out where they're coming from. While I can start unleashing more and more potent shadow creatures, revealing that Shadowgarms are but the least of Westcrown's problems, I've got absolutely zero idea how to tie any of this back into the adventure path's canonical plot.
Maybe it's time to punch out of the AP and go completely solo, but it feels really early. Any suggestions how to curl the edges back in to get somewhere that future plot will intersect with would be appreciated.
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
Well, Saturday was Day #1. A quick word about my current group. There's two of us in our mid/late 30s. We've played with others, but our once/twice-a-week games are now just the two of us. What we usually do is run two campaigns and alternate days. One of us DMs one campaign and the other the other. I'm DMing our CoT campaign. The player runs three PCs, the DM provides a DMPC to round out skill sets.
My player has:
Zharo - human fighter using feats to replicate a soulknife, sort of.
Sibyl - tiefling cleric.
Anansi - elf universalist wizard.
I'm running:
Shiv - human werepanther monk (using Sean K. Reynolds' alternate lycanthrope rules <- neat book!)
I allowed a LA+1 race/template at zero cost except loss of Favoured Class benefits. No extra hit point or skill point per level for anyone taking a LA+1. This together with the enhanced PF base races seemed a reasonable gamble and allows use of the excellent tiefling materials in CoT#25.
Notable events so far:
In about seven hours of game play, we made it through to the point of completing the rescue of Arael.
My player elected to go without light in the sewers for the most part. It ran reasonably well and I used the unstructured rules as provided. The abstracting of the maze worked pretty well.
First encounter: three skeletons. channel positive energy End of first encounter.
Torbles didn't present a credible threat, which is fine. Sibyl used create water above a cluster of them, trying to was them into the open sewer. I assigned a reasonable Reflex save for them to avoid being swept away. Several failed. Zharo used her greatsword to scrape the rest away and again I had to rule on the go, but the Torbles ended up in the drink. No bloodstains, no sign of the player's passing.
I combined a blockage with a hazard. I placed a pile of dead dear in the party's way, with a pair of shriekers on the other side. The party chose to move the pile carefully behind themselves to turn it into obstruction from the armigers. Good thinking. The monk managed to smell the shriekers, giving some advance warning. The mushrooms were taken out without much ado, but one got off a noise. Shortly afterward a goblin patrol showed up to check, and... died badly.
Given the stealthy manner the party had been operating in, I gave them an encounter were they could ambush some armigers. Three of them at an intersection, arguing and lost. One was vaporized in a lucky 14 damage greatsword swing from Zharo, the second was knocked out in the same round by a combination of the Anansi's hand of the apprentice and Shiv's fist. The third got plugged down to 1 hit point by Janiven's longbow as he came in, so he pulled a potion as his standard but couldn't drink it. Shiv got in and pulled a Disarm attempt (the player's idea, not mine) and succeeded. Given the circumstance (1 hit point, two rapidly dispatched competitors, just got his only potion snatched away) the armiger surrendered. He was knocked out, they were stripped and dropped off a few bends and turns away.
The player took great leadership action at the safe-house, offering advice that it might be even more effective to NOT use any visible armbands etc when "working". The general idea included not having something on hand in one's civilian life that could be searched for or planted on one, as well as the idea that the populace might be inspired by an invisible group working for them. Anyone could be one of us!
The rescue was also completely coordinated by the PCs, without Janiven offering advice at all. Purely a matter of giving enough information. The general idea followed mostly what was in the book, but with four groups. Sibyl went down to a lucky crit in the first round but stabilized with a good save. The woke up after the fight to find the ground littered with prone armiger bodies as well as a couple horses. How? Anansi prepared sleep. And sleep. And sleep. What can I say? Even with the occasional good save (the armigers are at -1 Will) DC15 is going to knock people out.
Here's where it gets fun. The party stripped the armigers and Shanwen and convinced Arael to get back in the carriage. They got the Children to don armiger armor and they rode back to town. In the middle of the Plaza of Flowers, the party "released" Arael, apologizing to him while dropping names found in the letter on Shanwen. They then took off and stashed the carriage, hid the armor and the session ended.
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
In 3.5e someone could have a spell such as protection from evil up that would grant them a deflection bonus to AC against evil creatures. This could be useful to help against grappling and other such actions since there was a melee touch involved. An evil opponent would have to hit a higher touch AC because of these spells, granting the person with the spell an additional protection.
Now the melee touch has been removed, which also removes what protection such spells offered.
Ideas? Should we have protection from evil offer a bonus to CMB against evil creatures, for instance? Opinions?
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
Three months now we've been waiting for answers on how exactly Hand of the Apprentice is intended to work. Three months we've been playtesting whatever we thought was intended, which may or may not be what actually WAS intended. Love to give feedback on the ability, but really, we have no idea if we're using it right.
Obvious questions summarized:
1} can you manifest the hand anywhere within its ability or must be be in your square?
2} how much can it actually move?
3} does it return the item it drew to its sheath, or must you have an empty hand?
4} what is the actual maximum range?
5} what if the caster moves himself away from his HotA?
6} concentration is a standard action and so is attacking, so how can HotA as written actually be used?
Anguish(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Modules, Battles Case Subscriber)
Background: I've adapted SCAP into the Eberron setting. I DM to one player, who plays three gestalt characters. I provide various NPCs to fill missing abilities in. He gave me the backstory of the PCs, and one of them, "Sharrow" was a Kalashtar who wandered out of what was once Cyre, without any of her memories.
Everything was going to plan. I scaled back XP for a bit, and launched a side-jaunt into the Mournland right before Zenith Trajectory. In that side-adventure, Sharrow located Dreadhold, which is a massively famous, top-security, multinational prison. She investigates, and finds live, healthy people inside, all of whom refer to her as "Lord Warden Zharo". She unravels secrets and figures out that she was Lord Warden on the Day of Mourning, and that SHE caused the Mournland accidentally in an attempt to stop an in-progress prison-break. Fine. Dreadhold has been in a 24-hour time-loop for years now and the people who run it still think it's a few years ago and that she's only been gone a couple hours. Well, Sharrow and her friends stop the prison-break and shut down the magical device that caused the Mourning.
Back to Cauldron. We run Zenith Trajectory, meet Zenith himself. The party wizard had /see invisibility/ running, and noticed Zenith's mark. They refuse to hand Zenith over to Vhalantru when he comes knocking, so the Derro does his /teleport/ trick and takes the poor dwarf away.
Unfortunately, that just made the player-characters angry. They go into full-sleuth mode and eventually visit the Lantern Street Orphanage, where they discover Terrem also has an invisible birthmark.
So, the player figure that the bad guys, whoever they are, want people with these birthmarks. They've GOT Zenith and there's not much to do about it. But Terrem... he's easy to get to.
Long story short is that they talked to Jenya about the danger Terrem is in. Jenya agreed to help, and facilitated Sharrow legally adopting Terrem. Jenya went to the Orphanage (which is being watched), isolated Terrem, then Sharrow and the party wizard used /dimension door/ to enter unseen.
"Hi Terrem."
"Can I call you Mom?"
The wizard then cast a scroll of /teleport/ crafted for him by an artificer friend they know. (Caster level 7th, can only take 2 people with him.) Poof. They go... you guessed it... back to Dreadhold.
Sharrow calls in a bit of a favor from the new Lord Warden, who was once her underling. Terrem is left behind to learn the profession of prison-guard. He's to be raised and taught lawful behavior and to value blah blah blah blah good stuff.
Bottom line is that the Cagewrights are now screwed, and have to break into the most secure prison on Khorvaire if they want Terrem back. (Dreadhold is scrying-proof, teleport-proof, and a-bunch-of-other-things-proof.)
Give the player a length of rope, he'll hang the DM every time.
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