CaroRose's page

What we have going on:

Rise of the Runelords Book 2: (me as GM) 3 players, all shorties (Halfling Slayer, Gnome Bard/Summoner, and Dwarf Oracle). They've done a pretty good job of staying away from this storyline, and my fiance has only played to about the point we are now so from here on out it's a surprise.

Legacy of Fire Book 3: (Friend as GM) Having 3 GMs in our 'core' group makes for quite the variety! I'm playing an Elven Arcane Archer (Wizard/Fighter), we have a pair of human Rogues (one part fighter the other urban barbarian), a Half-Orc Barbarian/Fighter, and a Human Bard/Oracle.

Way of the Wicked Book 3: (Fiance as GM) This one is quite fun if you haven't picked it up yet. It's not every campaign you get to play a vampiress Antipaladin/Ninja! We're on a bit of a hiatus though due to the 4th player.

We have/had two 'core four' games that we played when others were unavailable, but now we're on Runelords so we're just doing that one. They were a Mage game, but in the Harry Dresden world, and a Mythic Kobolds game to test the mythic rules. I don't think we'll get back into our Rifts game... more likely if the fiance gets the hankering for something 'space-like' he'll pull out his Star Wars books.

Then we have another friend who is very into 'realism' games and has us playing Warhammer characters, which we hate, but we're somehow surviving. It's honestly amazing none of us have died and run out of fate points yet.

Nobody'sHome! I can't read your Wrath of the Righteous campaign log!!!! We want to play that here eventually, and I wanna play in it vs run it so....no spoilers! That, and we've got other games to complete before we're allowed to start any new ones....so it could be a while.

One of my players is good friends with the Sheriff, so it wouldn't be too weird for him to approach them as a favor while he and his men make sure the rest of he town is safe from gobs, but I will still have Vosk approach while the sheriff is thanking the PCs so it looks like they were just convenient to deputize vs "my men are afraid of dead things". Then Hemlock will go elsewhere while Vosk accompanies them to the cemetery.

I haven't mentioned he's a follower of Sarenrae, cuz the book plays him up as a creepy feller who maintains a graveyard (hence creepy). I plan on playing him up a bit "redneck" then when the skeletons attack he whips out his holy symbol and tells them "varmints" to go back to being ded like they's suppos'd teh!

Wish me luck on playing it up right that they get a kick out of it vs a "what the heck is the gm on?" type response. ;-)

You got TWO of them to post! The internet is won!

There are other 'dungeons' but the majority of them to date (we're mid Chapter 5 now) are fairly small, so you could likely drop them in a session and be able to swap out crew members.

I'm about to start this game up and try and make it mythic, and the largest change I will probably be making is to make Ameiko 14 years old - she is the adopted daughter of Koya (who runs the Rusty Dragon instead of her) and Sandru is like a brother to her, which means there's a lot of hate between him and Tsuto (who is alive and well and I plan to feature as a recurring villain). I just figure that as written, it's going to be far too easy for her to steal the show from the PCs. I believe that escorting a child empress across the top of the world to reclaim a birthright also has more of a mythic feel to it. She's going to be a 1st level summoner, with her eidelon being a kami guardian of the Ametutsu family, but she won't actually acquire it until the PCs open the warding box (at which point they are anointed as scions of the family and imbued with mythic power). She's going to lag about 3 or 4 levels behind the PCs at all times as well.

martinaj, I love this idea! I wish the Mythic stuff would have been out when I ran this campaign. I did something on my own, giving the Scions special powers and whatnot throughout the campaign. They basically powered up each time they defeated a major Oni villain, so whenever Suishen got an ability they got another "gift" as well.

I also like the child empress idea a lot. If you don't do that, I strongly suggest having someone play Ameiko as a PC, or make one of your PCs the heir instead. I think things would have been gone much smoother that way.

Of course, your post is month's old, so you're probably past this point by now...

I had 3 PCs, Gestalt, with two Cohorts, also gestalt, and Majenko as an NPC.

I made Ileosa a level 20 Court Bard/ Destined Sorceress, with a ridiculous stat block to challenge my group. We have slightly modified meta magic rules, but she had a bunch, as well as access to Time Stop.

I had her utilize a projected image and deemed she could cast from within the blood pool due to the attunement process. This left them ferreting around with a gaggle of fake queens and Mavrokeras, who they hadn't encountered in the castle and came here. The wraiths went for the paladin, but he was wearing the scarab.

We got in at least 6 rounds and had at least two hero point usages to avoid certain death before they used a Wish from the deck of many things to change the table on Ileosa. Then she had to face them more directly, still gave it her all, then ignanimously got cleaved by the sword.

All in all that build was pretty hardy. Get rid of aristocrat. Gestalt her. Make her stats better than the players'. She is omniscient in the Sunken Queen so buff the crap out of her. Spam the minions. It's worth giving them a tough last run.

The Order or the Nail actually wasn't there strictly to help Korvosa. The Order was only called in occasionally, when they were paid to by the current Monarch to help maintain Law (Law is all they care about, oh and more Law, no matter the morality). Ileosa called them in to help quell the riots and keep order during the plague, but afterward they lost so many of their own, much like the Sable Company and Korvosan Guard, that they simply went back to Citadel Vraid to lick their wounds. That and Ileosa wasn't coughing up any more cash from her coffers for them to stay, because she had her own order of Grey Maidens now handling things. That's about all I put into it. They were really more of an afterthought in my campaign.

The doctors were definitely alchemists in my campaign, but I made the maidens Spellbreaker Inquisitors (with Ileosa as their 'diety') and multiclassed in Armor Master Fighter. Makes it somewhat ironic since they're all mind-controlled by Ileosa that they fight other casters but are unwholesomely loyal to that evil brat. Keep in mind it isn't Law the Maidens favor, its an utter devotion to their Queen via charm magic and geas. Anyone read the short web-story on paizo Shattered Steel? Its about a maiden post-AP, gives an interesting depth to them.

Also, the Grey Maidens living in the castle are all fully controlled by Ileosa (read evil murderesses), and the ones in Longacre building are actually 'rejects' who were too headstrong to be made into loyal guardswomen and whom Sabina convinced Ileosa should be imprisoned vs executed. They aren't true maidens. Doesn't mean they aren't a little messed up, or disfigured, but they owe their lives and loyalty to Sabina. There's more on this dynamic in Chapter 6.

I believe the way most monsters in the APs work now is if they are in Bestiary 1-3, they will mention the monster name and what book it can be found in, including page #s. If it is in a companion/3rd party book (like Tome of Horrors) they will print the entire stat block in the AP so you don't have to go searching for it. Or if it is a special, or has class levels, the whole stat block will be included.

But if the srd has all the monsters listed, then yes you could just have the AP, the Core book, and the srd and be golden.

I however am one of those completionists like NobodysHome and have pretty much every Paizo book published thus far. Gaming is an addiction, and I readily admit it.

I actually laid out a flight path ahead of time, with alternate routes and at least two ways to get past each obstacle. I will see if I can attach it, but its in Visio....maybe I can make it just a word doc and copy/paste. Knowing what the shingles looked like, I don't think I added any garden parties, but we did have a pseudodragon nest and a choker attack that was interesting. Our Paladin did have a hard time of it though.

..of course my group caught her fairly easily, but oh well.

Yeah, mentioning the sunken ship at all in the beginning was a huge mistake in my campaign. For those who haven't gotten there yet, DON'T MENTION IT! It's a huge hook that drives the PCs straight there before they're ready. They actually mention making sure the PCs can't reach it until you're ready for them.

I had Cressidia tell them she needed more solid evidence before she could act on what they had. That or have the other side quests come up quickly, needing more immediate attention than investigating the temple.

I also had the Mirukovas as old friends of one of the PCs, and her 'future' cohort went with him and was subsequently kidnapped. In order to get use of him, they had to go find him! (I'm so mean, but it worked out just about right since they were 7th about that time, and gave them a sense of personal involvement in figuring the whole thing out).

I saw one GM show up after they'd found Serithtial and he stole it from them. Though that may be a huge de-rail.

I'd say his main goal is to depose the Queen and place himself there. He may tell them to keep their mouths shut about his "harboring rakshasa spawn" kerfuffle so he can more smoothly transition to being King.

That is, if he doesn't already have a plan to eliminate the party, making it look like the 'heroes' died valiantly while eliminating the threat of the Queen. Perhaps his 'favor' is to accompany them to the Sunken Queen? Then backstab them during the final dragout? Utilize the everdawn pool himself vs summoning a Great Wyrm Blue you-know-who?

We had a discussion of what would make a cheery bad guy even creepier, and the whole idea that everyone goes running and the cheery bad 'girl' is standing there alone saying, "But I made brownies!" came up. I decided when we got to the Way of the Wicked campaign, my PC would definitely like baking sweets for the party, and i decided to add it to Laori as well to try it out.

Also, it fits with the adage "Come to the Dark Side, we have Cookies!"

Laori is just so excited to see her 'friends' again, she wants to do nice things for them. She's going to likely keep the bone meal out of the first batch at least.

I think it is ok for a player to have a discussion away from the table with the DM in order to orchestrate something with his character without the other PCs knowing. This has happened at our gaming table before, and it has usually worked out ok. Then again the PC in question wasn't killing an NPC we were attached to. If this happens, I would expect the group to handle it in character.

That being said, and having read both threads now, I would recommend that if you haven't yet, to sit down with your player and talk it over. If you really don't want his idea to happen, drop a clue or three as to why her continued presence is vital in a way his character would understand, and how eliminating her currently would have severe negative consequences to their overall goal. Or, reward his vigilance with clues as to how he can use her to defeat the bbeg. Make her usefulness outweigh her liability.

Let us know how it turns out.

Your group sure does have an awesome time!

I try to stick to a couple or three specific character traits with each NPC, so I don't get overwhelmed trying to keep their personalities straight. Emphasize those. Then, fill in the blanks as I go.

Koya seems to be the most popular NPC for players to interact with. She knows the most about magic, and my players seem to have a constant stream of questions for her, since none of the PCs are primary casters. I play her as a motherly type with a slightly naughty sense of humor - she is a constant flirt, even though everyone is half her age (or less). She also loves to haggle, and her eyes light up when someone is looking to spend money.

My party also has a younger sibling of Ameiko. Her little sister, Kimi, thinks her sister is an overbearing tyrant whose sole purpose in life is to make Kimi miserable, and so I play on that frequently. There is also some good-natured sibling teasing going on, although Ameiko is very protective of her sister (she doesn't want to lose another person close to her). So far, her interactions with her sister have dominated her personality, but her concerns over being the heir to a throne and being responsible for the party are starting to come to the fore. Her love of stories is also a big thing.

I love the ideas with Sandru that I am reading above. So far, Ameiko's younger sister is really the only person pursuing interactions with him (she is hopelessly in love), so his personality is coming out slowly. Mostly he has faded to the background as the lead driver and purveyor. I need to work him to the front a bit more, and picturing him as Han Solo might help me out.

Shalelu has been the challenge. She is quiet and watchful, and even though one of the PCs was raised and trained by her, no one has reached out yet. One of the PCs has a crush, but he is playing it as super shy around her. The PC who is her trainee is one of our more quiet players, and so Shalelu has been solely a background fixture. I'm still trying to get a great example personality for her in my mind that meshes with what I've done so far. Come on, brain! You can do it!

BTW - I am loving this campaign!

I am going to have to agree with your player's use of the term 'epic'. You are an awesome storyteller and really brought their stories to life!

I'm really excited to continue to follow their journey through the campaign!

I think people LIKE playing paladins as Lawful Stupid.

I honestly played one to epic level in Age of Worms. With the Saint template from Book of Exalted Deeds. This was before they'd come out with the Paladin codes for Iomedae, so I actually went through all the trouble to build a paladin code (based on that 2E Paladin Book it IS good) and develop her with my GM. She was a ball to play. AND she wasn't stupid, though she did get bluffed once or twice by the Neutrally Aligned Necromancer/Cleric in the party. "Oh you'll take care of destroying that +1 Unholy sword? That's awesome!" (I rolled a 1 on my sense motive check) Best roleplaying ever was between my paladin and the necromancer, who were actually good friends in-game.

Orion, those would be the GameMastery figure flight stands! Note only two per package due to how they assemble, and they hold circular bases vs square ones.

@ Callous Jack - I know! There were A LOT of dudes at Pilt's palace. It was quite the battle royale too. I think I used every single 'thug' mini in my 'shoebox of doom' (where I keep my paper minis).

@Angelroble - Thank you for the maps of the Vivified Labyrinth!

It was most helpful because you included the Symbols in your mapping. I still had to look up the original map to see what rooms were numbered what, but it was invaluable as my party stumbled their way about.

Unfortunately for me, they rotated once, went as far up as they could go(disabling 3 symbols) then crammed back into wheel 1, rotated again, and went straight for Sivit. Then left the dungeon. All that after finding the hidden walls leading to the torture chamber of course.

@ Gluttony and Peanuts - Yeah, James clarified that on another post (Jade Regent Relationships, I think). I was under the same impression when I read the Player's Guide - that the XP was individual. Definitely confusing.

So I happened to be reading through UC the other day, and stumbled across something that may help you blackbloodtroll, though maybe a little late. It threw me off because its just sitting there in the middle of the feats descriptions.

Table 2.2, page 101.

I think it will answer your question.

I had the head of the Sable Company hanging out with Cressidia early on in book one, and had the PCs overhear that Neolandus was presumed dead in the initial riots and how Marcus was handling it.

Knowing they didn't try to attach the PCs to Marcus very early, I tried to give him little cameos in my story, showing what he was doing to help, having him talk about Neolandus being a stand up guy, that sort of thing. They didn't really role play with him much though so they probably aren't going to be that broken up over the opener for Chapter 3.

If you could, I would maybe give Marcus a little more limelight, have him single-handedly take out a rampaging otyugh or something heroic like that. Build up that Neolandus taught him everything he knows, make the both of them look awesome so future events are more of a shock.

@SmiloDan, at those 'empty' levels as a house rule, we give the PCs each a free Teamwork feat. That way they can develop a real 'team' feel with each other as they adventure together in addition to their individual builds.

...I guess I would also like to see more Gunslinger and Ninja stuff, but as they were in the last book release I figured that was a given that they needed expanding upon.