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I wondered if anyone had played in a game where the PCs had permanent symbols (e.g. pain, fear, persuasion) inscribed on their shields, armour, etc? If so, were these powerful effects, or not worth the money?

I wondered if anyone had played in a game where the PCs had permanent symbols (e.g. pain, fear, persuasion) inscribed on their shields, armour, etc? If so, were these powerful effects, or not worth the money/XP?

I was wondering if anyone had attempted to use Pathfinder's different character advancement rates to deal with the much-discussed linear fighter, quadratic wizard issue? (This approach would hark back to earlier versions of the D&D rules, of course.) If so, did it work out?

Can anyone give me some suggested tactics for the corrupted ghaele eldarin and sword archons in TSoLS? The eladrin has a massive list of spells and SLAs, and there's basically no guidance as to what they will do (apart from one line about the archons releasing the wormswarms)...

Thank you!

The 12th-level barbarian in my group has plumped for the Leadership feat, and would like a bard as his cohort. Now, I've never played (or even NPC'd) a 3.5 bard, and examples are hard to find, so I'd really appreciate your help. The only constraints are that he must be human (or half-elven at a push), chaotic good or neutral, and 10th level, ideally using core rules only. The party of four has all the main roles, though the rogue has dipped into fighter, and the arcane caster is a sorcerer/warlock.

I think the player wants to get a smattering of spellcasting, as well as someone to sing songs about how great he is! I was considering giving the bard cohort a few levels of fighter, so as not to dump too many spells into the mix at first, and to make him a more likely follower for the barbarian. Any suggestions you have are most welcome!

Can a warlock use flee the scene and path of shadow on others? Many other invocations only affect the warlock, but they usually specifically state this. These two have no such specification, and the spells they are based on (dimension door and shadow walk) have multiple targets. However, the descriptions of both invocations have additional elements that suggest they are warlock-only (with flee the scene you leave behind a major image of yourself, and with path of shadow you regain hit points every hour you use the ability).

Does anyone know of any adventures set wholly or partially on the plane of shadow? I'm looking for some ideas to steal for my 3.5 group who will probably shortly be making a trip there, so I need some fleshed-out encounter and location ideas, not just generic information about the plane. Thanks in advance!

If a PC uses scrying to see a creature, does that give enough information to then use find the path to travel to the creature's location?

So, when the PCs arrive in Diamond Lake and discover that Allustan is missing, with a black dragon after him, their immediate response is to prepare scrying and teleport in order to find him and go to help him. Now, I don't like stopping the players from using their characters' abilities, but it seems a shame that they'll miss out all the fun of returning to the whispering cairn and discovering the active portal, not to mention all the earlier parts of Icosiol's tomb (I'm pretty sure they'll teleport out again). Of course, the spells may fail (about 50/50 for scrying, assuming Allustan is allowed to make his normal save, but only 6% for teleport after that), but even so, they may just wait a day and try again. There's nothing in the adventure that suggests ways of handling this approach, yet it seems that it would be a fairly standard one for PCs of this level. So I'd like your opinions on this, if you'd be so kind.

Should I decide that something about Icosiol's tomb or the tempest globe prevents scrying from working?

If not, should Allustan receive his normal save against scrying?

Finally, do you have any other suggestions as to how to handle this situation?

Please could you put the character levels up front on the blurb for the Pathfinder Society Scenarios, like you do for the Modules, so that they can be seen when browsing. Thanks!

Now, I love the Pathfinder Adventure Paths, and the Pathfinder Modules are cool, too. But don't you think there's a market for a monthly (or bi-monthly) magazine with three or four shorter adventures for differing levels of play? Many of these could be written by freelancers or newcomers (giving another way of discovering new talent, in addition to RPG Superstar). I'm sure Paizo has the skills and experience necessary to produce such a publication, and I know that I'd subscribe from issue #1! Perhaps it could be called Paths Magazine?

The web spell tells you a lot about how it interacts with creatures and with fire, but not much else. So what happens when a wizard catches some foes in a web, and then she and her allies cast other spells at the trapped creatures? How does the "many-layered mass of strong, sticky strands" affect the later spells? Let's take for granted that we correctly apply the effects of cover and entanglement, where appropriate.

Presumably the web doesn't block line of effect, unless there's 20 feet of it between you and your target, which would give it total cover. So you can fire magic missiles at trapped creatures.

But what about using a spiritual weapon against a foe 15 feet into the web? Does the web hamper the attack in any way? "Attacking a creature in a web won’t cause you to become entangled", but I take that to refer to a character standing outside the web. The spiritual weapon would have to move through the sticky strands, yet it's only the entangled creature that gets a penalty to its attack rolls and Dexterity (and probably wouldn't even get the cover bonus to its AC, as the spiritual weapon isn't more than 5 feet away from it).

To go a stage further, what about the Spell Compendium spells manyjaws and vortex of teeth? These both create force objects that fly through the air and attack foes - targeted for manyjaws, and area for vortex of teeth. Can these spell effects fly through a web with impunity, biting the creatures trapped within? Would the whirling maelstrom of the vortex damage the webbed creatures each round, while not damaging the web or being hampered by it in any way?

Your thoughts would be appreciated!

In The Champion's Belt, does anyone have a suggestion as to why Bozal Zahol has two scrolls of ethereal jaunt in his chest? The other items I can understand, both as things that would be useful to a cleric of Kyuss, and that might come in handy for the PCs later on. But ethereal jaunt seems out of character for Zahol, and precisely the sort of dungeon-busting magic you don't want your PCs to get hold of too early in their careers.

Has anyone found these scrolls problematic, or helpful?

Does anyone have (or know of) a list of all the NPCs (friends or foes) that show up again later in the path? Ideally, it would list all the adventures each character appears in.

Back in the day, the Pazio blog used to be a source of beautiful art that I could use as wallpaper on my computer. But no more! Nowadays, we only get small images that aren't suitable for use as wallpaper. Is this a deliberate policy change, or might I one day be able to see Steve Prescott's stunning cover art for "Mother of Flies" gracing my screen in all its glory?

Is there a feat or magic item that lets a cleric use his Wisdom modifier for his turn undead ability rather than his Charisma modifier? I have a low-charisma dwarven cleric who's now regretting that choice, but doesn't want to give up the roleplaying enjoyment it's generated!

On of my PCs has expressed an interest in investing a few thousand gps in a house of ill repute in a large city. Now, I've really got no idea as to what sort of money this would cost, or what returns might be expected. Does anyone have any advice, or pointers to helpful resources? Thanks in advance!

The d20 SRD section on When Spell Resistance Applies says:-

Effect Spells

Most effect spells summon or create something and are not subject to spell resistance. Sometimes, however, spell resistance applies to effect spells, usually to those that act upon a creature more or less directly, such as web.

But the web spell itself says that it doesn't allow spell resistance!

Is this just a case of a bad example being chosen, or am I misunderstanding something?

What is the function, in play terms, of the secondary entrance into Zyrxog's "Cathedral of the Mind" (from the room with the viewing pool)? Everything else seems to be set up for the party to come in through the main entrance, and most of them won't be able to enter the room from the secondary entrance (as the balcony is 45' up). They can't catch Zyrxog unaware, as the stone brain will have warned of their approach. So why is the encounter laid out this way?

Hi! With the current parlous state of the pound sterling, it's now costing me around $7 more per volume to have the Pathfinder Adventure Paths shipped to me in the UK by you guys than it would to buy them in my FLGS. (It used to only cost a little more, but I was happy to pay that in order to be a Charter Subscriber.) Would it be possible to hold the the volumes for a while, at least until sterling recovers a little? Alternatively, how about holding the next issue back for a month, and sending two together - would that save on shipping?

Thanks for your help and advice!

This may be a really dumb question, but how do you handle attacks on worms of Kyuss, rules-wise? When a worm has been transferred to a target's body, it "is a Fine vermin with AC 10 and 1 hit point. During this time, the worm can be killed by normal damage or the touch of silver." But how do you deal that damage? A magic missile is fine, but you're surely not going to whack your friend's neck with your greataxe in order to kill a worm that's crawling on him? Do you grapple the worm?! In either case, what difference does it make that the worm's on your friend (or on you), rather than just crawling along on the ground?

I'd like to hear how other people have handled this, and whether or not it worked.

I've noticed that there haven't been any new Pathfinder desktops in the Paizo Blog since #6 - is that going to be the last one? I hope not, as I love them! I like that they use the full cover picture, and have the Pathfinder logo in the corner. It was great being able to change my desktop image regularly, too...

In another thread, it appears that many people think characters get too few skill points in 3.5e. I'm considering giving out some more skill points in my Age of Worms campaign, and am interested to hear other people's opinions. If you agree, and have made an adjustment in your game, please post your house rule here, along with your experiences of using it. If you don't agree, please say so (particularly if you've played in a game using more skill points and disliked it). Thanks!

Noooooooooooooooooooo! Silas, how could you do this to me, after all we've been through together? Sobs uncontrollably.

Emag, drow librarian, was dissatisfied. For almost fifty years he'd painstakingly

I'm running The Three Faces of Evil at the moment, and have found quite a few errors in it. Looking through the archives, this seems to have been quite a common problem, but I haven't come across a thread with a compilation of corrections in it, so I'm starting one. Hopefully this will act as a resource for other DMs, and I encourage you all to contribute. Also, please feel free to correct my corrections - I'm sure I'll have made some errors, too!

Where are the windows located on the upper floors of the old observatory in Diamond Lake? They're not shown on the map (and the little picture can't be trusted, as it doesn't match the map).

How high are the windows above the roof of the side building? And how far above the floor of the room(s) inside? What might the climb DCs be for getting up on to the roof, and then to the windows and down into the room?

Can the windows be shuttered from the inside? How about the telescope slit? If so, presumably Filge would close the shutters at night?

Sorry for all the questions, but thanks in advance for your help!

In the otherwise excellent adventure The Sea Wyvern's Wake, I was surprised to find that there were so many discrepancies between the Tamoachan Ruins and the Hidden Shrine originally revealed in the 1st-edition module C1. These include:

- The direction shown as North on the SWW map is East in C1.

- In SWW, room 1 describes "the ziggurat above" and "passageways that once led further into the ziggurat's depths", yet this room was in the middle of the pyramid-temple in C1, while the room numbered 4 in SWW was in the corner. Most of the pyramid-temple would had to have collapsed to expose this chamber.

- Many of the rooms are different sizes.

- The passage from room 1 to room 3 was originally a 4-foot wide circular tube that sloped downwards, but no mention is made of this, or any subsequent alteration.

- The wall that used to stand between rooms 3 and 4 has been completely removed, along with the pillared porch and steps just inside room 4; and a new flight of steps constructed where the porch once was.

All-in-all, it appears that an extensive remodelling program was undertaken on these ruins!

For me, the "Return to Lost Tamoachan" was a disappointing miss in an adventure otherwise full of hits.

I have a dwarven cleric in my group with a low charisma, and I'm worried that this is going to hamper him as the AoW progresses by reducing the effectiveness of his turning. Can anyone suggest a way of overcoming this handicap, perhaps through feat selection or an alternative class feature? Thanks!

What are the additional properties of Zosiel's diadem that become clear as the AoW progresses? I haven't read the full AP yet, and I'm thinking of modifying this item - so I'd like to know, without having to speed-read every remaining adventure! Thanks in advance.

In the Whispering Cairn, when all the coloured lanterns are lit, the stone filling the face's mouth disappears, allowing access to the next room. So what would happen if one or more of the lanterns burned out while the whole party was on the far side of the face? Would the stone re-appear, trapping the whole party there forever, with no way of escaping?

Like many other people (it seems), I decided to use Chris Wissel's development of the ruined mine office as an introductory set of encounters for the Whispering Cairn. Chris's original thread has now moved off into the Archives, though, and was (by his own admission) "whipped up pretty quick." I tidied up his creation, incorporating some of the text from the Wormfood article in Dragon #333, and would like to present that here for other DMs to make use of.

I'm worried that use of the Dragon text might involve some copyright issues, and would welcome anyone's feedback on this. I'm putting the material in a separate post, so a moderator can delete it, if necessary (and hopefully tell me how I can re-present it without infringing copyright). To make it clear, this material was originated by Jason Buhlman and Chris Wissel - I just edited it. Oh, and I bumped up Ugloop's hit points a bit!

As an aside, it's good to see that Chris has graduated to the pages of Dungeon, with "Wingclipper's Revenge" in #132. Congratulations!

I'm just about to start running the Age of Worms, and I remembered that there was quite a bit of discussion on these boards about various tweaks and corrections to the Whispering Cairn adventure. Are these summarised anywhere? I'm not sure I'll be able to find them all by searching...

Thanks for your help in advance!