Charon's GPS's page

I'm always amused at the prospect of using philosophical debates about game alignments. :V

Using paladins as an example is kind of hard, as though the conduct is somewhat absolutist, some DM/Players may look at it different lights. (Myself, I don't nitpick alignments, unless they are grossly at odds).

- Thou shall not turn the game into thine personal fantasy...at the detriment of the other players.

- "I'm playing in character" is a valid response so many times to explain thine a$%hattery.

- Thou cannot tell me "Yes, I can kill a god because splatbook #456b said so."

One more questions: does Spontaneous Healing stack with the Fast Healing one gets from their familiar?

I believe only the familiar gets the fast healing, so no, unless I am missing something.

More Linnorms sounds delicious. Glad to see demodands, as I've wanted to run Shackled City at sometime during my life, and thier inclusion would be welcome!

Though I may still run with the idea of them being from Carceri (in my home game) and have it be as a demi-plane, rather than its own plane.

Actually, my players insisted that I roll their Fort saves in secret, concerning afflictions like poison or disease. Why? Because then its "Oh crap...was I poisoned?", instead of "Yep. I rolled a 18...pretty sure that beats a small monstrous spider's DC."

If you seriously don't trust your DM/GM...then why are you playing with them?

One of my cousins is named Loki :V

I prefer archetypes (easier to implement) to base classes, though I honestly would not like to see either too overdone. I want to see cavaliers, rangers and barbarians get some loving in Ultimate Combat.

Some people may want to see the warlock returned...

I guess I'll just have to cast wish again. :P

I don't mind PrC's...just when there is a <hyperbole>billion</hyperbole> of them. I prefer them to be more for flavor...and prestigious, like being a part of an organization, like Hellknights.

For people who don't have it yet, what are you looking forward to?

For people who do have it, what are your favorite things so far?

Archetypes - the sea witch interested me in particular (the one in WotC's Stormwrack functions better as a NPC character), as does some of the druid ones, and them bringing back wu jens with metal/wood options for wizards.

If the summoner sends his eidolon after you while he remains safely somewhere else, you get XP for the summoner. If you think about it, the summoner was the one you actually "defeated". The summoner sent his eidolon after you for a purpose, and you've thwarted said purpose. That's the definition of defeat.

I'd think It'd be better if half of the experience for defeating the eidolon and not the summoner, at least until they defeat the summoner. Summoners can still use their summon monster spell-like ability.

Edit: though I suppose I'd just wait until the PC's beat the summoner, as the eidolon is severly crippled by loss of hp, depending on how far the eidolon was sent from the summoner.

For the eidolon...I would say not, IMO. The eidolon is directly part of the summoner's class abilities, kind of like a extraplanar animal companion or (just like) a paladin's mount.

As for creating undead...I could say either or, but I'd go with it as not quite being part of the character's CR. Though it can depend on how long it has been since the undead were created, or if they're even being controlled.

Interested to see what the witch archetypes are going to be like - are they just new hexes, or different class features too?

Definitely interested in the sea witch - I like the prestige class from Stormwrack of the same name, but that one seemed too limited for anything but a NPC.

The inquisitor exorcist sounds cool as well >:)

No problem!

An all-dhampir party and no one wants run an oracle of Bones? Insane (if that's the case).

Concerning the haunts, I'd give any creature a 50% chance (without making a stealth check) to avoid activating a haunt as long as they're undead or possess negative-energy affinity. And should they try stealthing past, let them. They've got a connection to the Grave; let them use it. That's how I'd look at it.

Nope; one is going to be a paladin. Two of the other players are going for human, so it's not a horrible idea anymore.

I'll keep the haunt activation in mind, though.

Why did the WW bother going to the effort of controlling the Beast and mucking up the Count’s home, when- given they have a wizard of at least 11th level- they could have got the Seasage item easily without all that effort?

To cover their tracks; the Beast is a scapegoat, a red herring, if you will. The WW has been around for a while and is known, albeit mysterious organization. The Beast has a reputation as being a mindless marauder of Lepidstadt - having the Beast break in, and then be captured, allows the group to slip away whilst people are being bothered with the Beast. And seeing as practically everyone does just that, I'd say it worked.

I think it's intended that the (majority of) PCs fight the AP with the Beast, correct?

It'd kinda be a lame deus ex machina to just have the Beast "show up and save the day", so I'd imagine things would work faster if the PC's joined in.

Question: the entry for encountering the Father Charlatan haunt states that the spectral con artist singles out the last PC exiting his cell, or one that touched/read his journal. Did the journal get cut out? Can't seem to find it mentioned elsewhere.

Totally disagree with Deidre. Follow your instinct and limit the number of them. Your players may gripe, but they will gripe more when the adventure is rolling them all. Then they will complain about you recommending Dhampires to them.

Yes, this is mainly what I am worried about. One or two would be ok to make things interesting (also means more cure for the other players :P ), but all four would make the game become agonizing.

Let them play dhampirs. They should have a neutral cleric who channels and spontaneously casts negative energy.

Also, read up on the heal skill.

None expressed interest playing a cleric. And not having magical healing will slow the game down a lot.

Not sure if my PC's are going to go this route after all, but after letting them know about dhampirs....they all want to play one each. Initially, I was for it...until I read the adventure I remembered something:

Dhampir are like undead in terms of healing, and a lot of items are potions of cure and the like. Yeah, I'm sure I could just replace them with potions of inflict, but I don't think it makes sense in game/story terms (there were once living people in the ruins and they'd benefit from healing potions, and also I don't see clerics of Pharasma making a bunch of undead-healing potions).

I'm probably going to tell them only one, maybe two, dhampirs - just to save everyone a headache in terms of healing thier characters - but I want to see what other people think.

For motivation, I suppose the quick answer is that Lorrimor summoned you via his will, and that your character knows him in some manner or other.

However, I don't think this alone is good enough for having your Inquisitor in the game. Is your inquisitor more of a monster-slayer? Perhaps he heard of weird happenings around the county of Canterwall, or walking dead, necromancers, and people that need saving. Or is your inquisitor more of a zealous, church-enemy hunter?

Pharasama is a good choice, is her worship is prevalent in Ustalav, and you can ask your DM about the church (as its detailed a bit more in the second adventure path). In short, Pharasma despise the undead and the creation thereof, as it denies the souls true judgement in the afterlife.

You could base your inquisitor off Van Helsing from the 2003 movie - someone destroying enemies of the church for religious/personal salvation; perhaps your character sinned against his/her religion, and became a inquisitor for penance.

Hope this helps. :)

Ok; I want to run the AP for a group, though I have a question about how the spelling of Varrisanna's name works.

Thanks ^^

They also ride giant ferrets/weasels ^^

You could make a less underpowered kobold type - -2 to Strength, and a +2 to a mental score. You could say they are a kobold paragon, only born in every 10th clutch.

I see; just wanted to know is Str still warranted two penalties (which I see as b/s, unless one is playing a melee character, and really isnt that bad).

The PC warlock that is overpowered and laden with magic items (that he ganked with "detect magic" and Bluff in the first place), yet stays the hells away from combat (invisibly preferred) until almost everyone is dying :B

Hmmm...did it only have to be story-wise?

Ok. how about; the elf that is always snooty toward the other races and constantly talks about how old s/he is in comparison (yet is the same PC/NPC level equivilent).

Sorry if this came up in posts past, but how does Pathfinder handle racial bonuses/penalties by stats? Are they stingy in upping Strength at the cost of 2 penalties?

Is this in the Core book, am I'm just missing it?

Here's a few that I cooked up (I assume you're using Greyhawk);

Shalbal:
A 24-HD paeliryon (Fiend Folio, though Fiendish Codex II has a CR 18, updated version), Shalbal once conspired to overthrow Dispater, but was foiled by the wily Lilis, the latter's consort.
Though Dispater wanted to immediately execute the traitorous baatezu, Lilis had a more interesting punishment in mind (Shalbal's plan involved fabricating evidence that Lilis was using Dispater's spy network against him, and then take her place to get closer to Dispater): incarceration on Carceri's prison of Skullrot. Seeing more justice in trapping Shalbal for all eternity amongst maddened demons and outcast angels rather than releasing her to oblivion, the Iron Duke readily agreed.
Now driven mad in its prison, Shalbal has come under the delusion that it had become “Supreme Overlord” of Dis, but was imprisoned by its treacherous lieutenants. The devil raves about how it will deliver unholy wrath unto it's subjects one moment, and then calmly inviting a random passerby to tea and a friendly game of croquet the next. From time to time, Lilis will visit Shalbal, and extract information out of the hapless prisoner, thereby deepeing its madness.

Neras Fust:
An ambitious half-elf vampire rogue 8/assassin 10, Neras attempted to gain great power by using a dread ritual that would allow him to absorb the necromantic energy of all vampires into his, being – using the legendary Sword of Kas as the focus. However, a loose pact between agents of Vecna and the Union of Eclipses (a brotherhood of vampires) saw this plan to failure. Neras was then shunted to Skullrot, lest someone could somehow bring him back if slain (it was believed that the sword of Kas bestowed the rejuvenation special ability of the ghost to Neras).
Through his undead immunities has protected him from the magical insanity that prevails the prison, Neras has not taken to his exile with relish. When not tormeted by Dark Myrakl (usually via quick exposure to sunlight), Neras is left alone in a cage that does not allow sound into it (unless subdued by the warden), and has taken to carrying conversations with himself; he is so used to doing this, that he will lapse even when being spoken to.

Is there a player's handbook for the adventure path? Sort of like what the Savage Tide had?
My PC's would like some material to base their characters on.

Is there a "player's handbook" for their PC's; mainly for the purpose of character creation and the like (similar to what Savage Tide did)?

Shimrath wrote:

Sorry for the delay, but i've had the distinct displeasure of being sick over the Halloween weekend. . .

Rather than emailing all these images to multiple persons, i have submitted the scans to the RPGenius. You should be able to download the compressed folder of images by clicking this link.

If you have any trouble, the files are located at RPGenius - Chapter 0: General Resources. The file is called SCAPMAPBOOK.

just downloaded it. should be all sorts of amazing

perfect...thanks a bunch!

Charon's GPS, if you provide me with an email address, i will happily scan my map booklet and send you the images.

mp5icefire@gmail.com

try this page. Most of the info can be found at the bottom of the page.

...none of the rooms are numbered. How do I know where room 18 is when its not listed on the map?

If you got the hardcover version, there should be an additional booklet with all the maps. If this booklet is missing, you can find most of the maps here.

none of the rooms are numbered...how do I tell which is which?

I used the Dungeon Adventure "Headless" and had it take place in Jarl Khurok's Keep...

Sounds interesting...where can I find this module?

Has anyone used this location as a side adventure?
One of my players invariable goes for the "build a castle [and then take over the world at the end of the campaign]" shtick with about every character. I have decided to allow them to "find" a suitable place for a base outsider of Cauldron; unless they try to dig an entrance back to the Malachite Fortress or Jzaldrine, I thought this abandoned keep might be a cool side quest.

Obviously I'm going to make them work for their base, but I'm having trouble figuing out the currant tenants; so far I decided against frost giants, devils, demons...

I just wanted to see what other people did.

I bought my Shackled City adventure path off of eBay; was there supposed to be maps of all the dungeons?
I noticed Jzaldrine has location numbers, that is why I'm asking.

It mentions that Occipitus was once part of Celestia; but as what?
An 8th layer, or just a chunk of one of the 7 layers?

My concern would be less with allowing splatbooks and more with balance within the party. It's never fun for the other players when one or two PCs consistently outshine everyone elses', and that's something that the DM can't really adjust for.

That's what I've experienced with the player I mentioned before; he uses about 10 books for one character, trying to make "unkillable characters" or "Player-character killers".

True, I'm not going to totally going to kill his power-gaming...I just want to make it somewhat manageable. I dont want to spend a 20 minutes of arguing with him because his lvl 15 character took 5 points of damage, and that wasn't supposed to happen because of [insert random magic item or rule]. If we're going to argue over a rule or ability, I want to be familiar with it. I'm not banning everything - the Complete Series, Libris Mortis, and Draconomicon are in. More may be allowed, pending their requests.

Before asking anyone else whether to censure anything outside of core

He was just suggesting this, as he didnt know if the campaign was mostly core and wanted to prepare me (I'm relatively new to DMing).

Also, one of our group is splat-book crazed; he's a power gamer at best or a munchkin at worst. I'm looking to rein him in a bit.

We facetiously (mostly) suggested doing a core only game, but the player in question stated he would not play if that was the case. As I don't want to lose him, I'm trying to compromise. I dont want to dent our friendship.

I just bought the campaign book and plan on running it in a few months. One person in my group (running the Savage Tide path)recommended not allowing splatbooks (or not to many).

What kind of things should I not allow (as game shattering power gaming)?
So far I've said the 'Complete' series is fine (Scoundrel and Champion pending).