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I get that it's about 300 miles south of the Sun Temple Colony (book 1, page 6). The only reference to the failed Sun Temple Colony is on pp. 42 and 203 and of the ISWG-- neither of which give helpful instructions beyond being west of the gate of Aroden and in the Arcadian Ocean. Does anyone have anything more specific? 
While we will likely do most of the discussion on Discord, if you want to have something pinned here for all time, throw it here.
Last night, we started playing Ruins of Azlant and quickly ran into what will inevitably be a key communication issue for the duration of the campaign: Can humanoid races speak Aquan clearly and be understood underwater? Clearly, if a creature has the aquatic type, it's a non-issue; of course they can speak Aquan underwater clearly. So water elementals, merfolk, faceless stalkers, and aboleths all speaking the same language works. The thing is, water elementals, merfolk, faceless stalkers, and aboleths don't have anything like the same biology, so it's hard to make the case that there is something special to their form that enables clear and intelligible underwater speech. Their varied biologies suggest that the intelligibility of Aquan underwater is a property of the language itself, not a feature of the subtype of the creatures speaking it. That said, it's fantasy and real world biology in Pathfinder is slippery slope toward fun killing. I thought for a second that it might be more about those creatures' ability to breathe underwater, inherent to all creatures with the aquatic subtype. The thing is, that ability does not determine whether a character can speak underwater. From Aquatic Adventures: "While various spells have different effects underwater, the most fundamental hindrance to spellcasting, at least at low levels, is the fact that a creature holding its breath must succeed at a concentration check (DC = 15 + spell level) to cast a spell at all, whether or not the spell has a verbal component. If the spell has a verbal component, expelling the air needed to incant the spell reduces the creature’s remaining number of rounds of breath by 3 (which stacks with the reduction from performing a standard or full-round action; see the Drowning section of Underwater Hazards and Features on page 47), and a creature can’t fnish the spell if it doesn’t have enough breath left. Spells that have verbal components and casting times of swift or immediate actions instead decrease the caster’s remaining number of rounds of breath by 1." So a PC can speak clearly enough to cast spells underwater. And there is no biological limitation on a character's ability to speak Aquan. Aquan is the language that aquatic creatures use to communicate underwater, so much so that it is the ONLY language spoken by water elementals. Therefore, I ruled that speech in Aquan was free underwater, and by its very nature could be clearly heard and understood. I plan to charge rounds of breath (as per the spellcasting/bardic performance rules) if PCs get too chatty, but this is the only ruling that made sense to me. For balance reasons (and real world sense), though, I think it makes sense that humans shouldn't be able to speak any language clearly or to make out clear speech underwater without the ability to breathe water. I told my players I may retcon my decision, and I was wondering what the boards think.
I had this painting commissioned of the battle in the deep dungeon of the Choking Tower. When I returned to PnP role-playing games, I resolved to do something like this whenever my players' PCs reached level 10, since most of the time the only thing to commemorate our adventures together are the stories we share and, if we're diligent with our paperwork, our character sheets. So far I have this and one for Kingmaker. The artist's name is Nick Silva. I figured you guys might enjoy it.
If a PC is wearing armor with the delving enchantment and fighting someone else with the delving enchantment, do they fight as normal? Do they use underwater rules? If a PC in that same armor fights, say, an earth elemental or other creature who just goes through the earth, I assume the PC would accrue whatever penalties are appropriate above while said naturally burrowing elemental creature is able to attack normally. What do you all think?
One of the players in my Iron Gods campaign asked me how I would adjudicate the spell warp metal when it came to robots. I am happy with my ruling and content to run with it, but I wanted to subject it to the scrutiny of other players before I charged in. First, warp metal is a 4th level spell. That means it's the same level as, say phantasmal killer. Using that as a my guide, I decided there are five possible outcomes.
Can I get some feedback on this adjudication? Also, how would you guys handle the spell being cast on someone wearing a suit of plate mail? Would it be appropriate to lower the affected character's AC and deal damage? Thanks so much. Oh, and in an effort to hedge possible rules nitpicking, I am aware that the spell stipulates that it affects objects and that robots are, from a rules standpoint, creatures. To that objection, I urge you to check out the stats for many of the higher CR robots in Pathfinder (e.g. the myrmidon robot, CR 11); they all have hardness, a trait usually reserved for objects. When it comes to robots, the rules seem to deliberately treat them as objects and creatures, so I believe-- and will act accordingly in my game-- that spells like warp metal do apply to them.
Psychic Battery is a Psi-Tech discovery for the psychic class that is meant to be used alongside technological items using the system outlined in the Technology Guide. Psi-tech discoveries are taken in the place of phrenic amplifications, which are effectively metamagic feats applied to psychic spells. Here is the text from the discovery: "Psychic Battery (Su): You can expend an unused spell slot or a number of points from your phrenic pool as a swift action to power a technological device you are touching. Each spell level expended in this way grants the device 1 charge, and every 2 points from your phrenic pool spent grant 1 charge. Any charges unused at the end of the round are lost, and any charges used by the device that round that aren't provided by you must come from the device's own power reserves. You cannot use this ability to power timeworn technology. You can power only devices that use charges. You must be at least 7th level to select this discovery." I cannot see why this ability isn't just garbage. I love the idea a lot, and it seems perfect for the psychic character my player is rolling up to replace his now-dead magus in our Iron Gods campaign, but since the charges are lost that round, it seems way, way underpowered. It's not nothing to sacrifice a spell slot, and it also means the character will never sacrifice more than a 2nd level spell over the duration of his adventuring career. Moreover, how would the character use this? Why? Psychics don't wear armor. Psychics are unlikely to be using the technological weapons littered around Iron Gods except as a last resort, and most of the technological gear isn't suited for this because you're not likely to be needing a swift action charge buff RIGHT NOW. Obviously it's possible that the ability is just underpowered, but can someone tell me why my reading is wrong? If it turns out to be as bad as I think, I am going to boost the duration of the charges gained to equal the psychic level of PC and to allow the psychic to make a caster level check agains the Craft DC required to make the item in order to charge timeworn items. I've read the entire AP through twice, and with that in mind, even the short duration buff seems unnecessary, but I want to keep in the spirit of the original ability while enhancing it enough to be an attractive option for the PC in my campaign. I'd love people's feedback.
One of my players' PCs has a centipede for a familiar. He claims that it stays in his pocket whenever he's in combat, but I think that is a little silly. I realize the game doesn't explicitly SAY what familiars are doing, but in the case of a witch, when they are the explicit conduit of magical power, isn't it a little silly that the creature would be just sitting in the PC's pocket nibbling on a piece of bread? I feel like it would somehow be making its presence know, even if it's just crawling all over the PC's fingers. Mostly I just want to use the familiar for its balance purpose: a soft underbelly for the eventually omnipotent casters. I don't WANT to screw over my player, but I want taking out his familiar to be an option without resorting to Sleight of Hand or interdimensional Sleight of Hand or whatever. Help?
I added a fun subplot to my Kingmaker campaign involving blighted fey.
It turns out the blight is being caused by a blighted fey (satyr) necromancer who was released from his prison in the plane of Shadow by our favorite crazy nymph. Her idea that if she can't find Briar, this fugitive fey will cause enough destabilization to allow her plan to come to fruition. He wields an artifact, a magical pitcher, that allows him to blight existing fey and reanimate humanoids as plant monsters, as well as to grow the Narlmarches and thus expand the blight. The blighted fey satyr has no idea why he was released from his prison, but since the PCs didn't attend to him over the course of three modules, this is their in-between for Varnhold and the adventures with Drelev and Armag. Since the fugitive fey knows he is part of some kind of power game, he is trying to make alliances with any group who won't stop him from spreading his blight around. In the meantime, he has essentially turned the Narlmarches into his personal poison paradise, and the good+cold iron DR of blighted fey has been a hugely obnoxious (and thus fun for me) obstacle for the PCs, along with the need to resist poison since the entire place is now a toxic environment. Now, the PCs are about to have the final showdown. Honestly, I don't think it's going to go very well because even if they "win," he will almost certainly teleport away. The blight won't end until they destroy his artifact. Now that you have the gist, can any of you think of any additions to this plotline with your preexisting knowledge of Kingmaker? I intended this to be a challenge for around this level, but it has ended up being the de facto Bad Thing That's Happening to the PCs' kingdom, and I want to make sure it doesn't just end with a meek little slugfest.
One of my players has the celestial bloodline for his sorcerer, and from level 1 he has used his Heavenly Fire ability as a means of detecting evil, and I find myself in a bit of a pickle. 1.) I house-ruled that the damage isn't fire because it makes no sense for devils to be immune to his celestial powers. The damage is now "holy" damage. We agreed on this, and in our Golarion that's how it is. 2.) He stopped using the fire as much when the damage picked up. It used to be a flesh wound when he only had 1d4+1 damage. Now his minimum damage will kill a commoner, so he has to be more careful. Truth be told, it's actually pretty cool. He's really grown into this role as the inquisitor for the kingdom (we're playing Kingmaker), and it's pretty badass when he folds his arms and says something like, "If you're who you say you are, submit to my flame. If you are pure of heart, it will actually make you feel better." Awesome, right? Except if I want to do something cool with a rakshasha, succubus, doppelganger, etc., I am out of luck. I'm looking for solutions to this issue outside of the plot. Obviously I can have a heavenly fire blast have dire political ramifications. Obviously I can have the aggrieved evil being have powerful friends, or the good being be insulted at the sorcerer's lack of faith. I CAN do that. But it would be easier to just add a magic item or something. Is there something like the helm of undetectable alignment that would protect the suspect from the sorcerer's blazing inquiry? Is there a feat or spell I'm missing? Thanks.
One of the concepts I've loved seeing in various properties is the idea of objects that are both high-tech and magical, and I was disappointed to find that the only example in the Technology Guide or the various Iron Gods books seems to be the Technic League's coveted null blades. Does anyone have any suggestions or homebrew items like that they've used in their Iron Gods campaigns? Obviously it doesn't have to be confined to Iron Gods-- any world with magic and technology would suffice. I don't own any Shadowrun source material, but I suspect there's something there. If anyone expresses any interest, I'll use this thread to post the items I've been putting together for my own Iron Gods group in order to fill what I perceive as a void in the published material.
I have no idea what a gameplay thread is, but I figured it might be good to start one since this campaign is gaining momentum.
As per subject. NEW PLAYERS WELCOME! Sorry to mods if I screwed up the formatting for this. Mea culpa. I'm looking for 4-5 good folks who want to run amok in Numeria! None of my in-person group likes lasers, so I thought I'd try my luck here. I've been running D&D since 2nd edition was the new hip thing, and I've been running Pathfinder since 2011. I like to think we have a fun and light-hearted time around the table-- or the network node, such as it is. It would be easiest for me to play Saturday afternoons EST, but I can negotiate week day evenings.
The basics:
I've been role-playing across various systems for about 21 years. I'd say I'm about 75%-80% concerned about letting the rules arbitrate events-- otherwise why play a game?-- but I'm mostly interested in telling an awesome story with characters that players really care about going on adventures that everyone's invested in. I'd insist on meeting up at a restaurant or bar or coffee place first to see if our personalities mesh. I really hope we'll get along and forge an awesome group here in Tampa! |
