Chef's Slaad's page

We still need volunteers. Most of our volunteers are signing up for Tier 2, which means we have Tier 1 volunteer slots still available. We'd love to have you GM for us, DeadDM!

Are you looking for volunteers for Gencon UK? because, you know, if you want some tier 1 DMs for that...

Can you avoid all these taxes and fees through UPS or DHL?

Usually not. I had a nasty experience when someone sent us a wedding gift through DHL. We ended up having to pick up the package and pay almost as much VAT and handling charge as the product was worth.

It may be worth a try, though. I cannot imagine they charge 150 DK for something like that.

I have no experience running this adventure, and simply got bored of reading through it after a while.

It is a long adventure and it certainly has it's moments. Im'n not sure it's worth the 50 or so bucks it goes for on Ebay.

It all depends on what you're looking for. It is certainly a classic, but I believe there are better modules out there.

It sounds as if it would be cheaper for you to buy the pathfinder books from a local game store and have it shipped to you (even a game store that is outside Denmark but inside the EU). Depending on how important it is for you to get the PDFs, you could get those seperately through Paizo.

Living in the Netherlands, I can think of at least one game store that would be glad to have your business.

Bummer your postal system is so outdated :)

I would be interested in seeing this list. It must be a truely awsome thing to behold.

you allready have the choice of going to the first or last post (and therefore the first and last page) what is the added value of being able to immediately jump to the pages between those two?

You got rid of the hex grid?

Excellent!.

Unfortunately, I will now have to reorder all of my olf flip mats :)

Hi Cowjuicer,

Jeremy has done an excelent job of fielding your questions. I've just strated this campaign after a 4 year shackled city AP. I'll add some input of my own.

1. How easy is it to DM this?

It's pretty straighforward, as long as you keep the story on track. Your players will want to leave the AP's sugested course occasionally. You'll have to decide if that's OK, and how much work you want to put into getting them back into the AP.

2. Will I be required to make many adaptations?

From what I can see, no. But we'll find out soon enough.

Here are the characters, all starting at level one:
Human Scout
Human Dragonfire Adept
(race undetermined) either a Wu Jen or a Warmage, probably Warmage

The main problem is the lank of a real "tank" to take damage and be a frontline fighter. The scout plans to do more ranged combat than melee. Player 2 plans to spam his breath weapon and cast a lot. Player 3 is unpredictable, so I'm not sure what his combat style is going to be like.

I think I might have to stick in a Fighter (for tanking) or a Cleric (fairly good fighter and useful for buffs/healing) DMPC, but I would like to avoid that if possible. The players are not opposed to it, but they feel they would rather go it with their characters alone.

Thank you for your input.

The AP was designed with the 4 roles in mind. I think a party without healing or a tank will find some chalenges too tough to overcome. You should try to find a way to incorporate all roles. Perhaps multiclassing or using the gestalt rules offers a solution.

anyway, good luck!

Just found this thread Paul.

Good luck. My thoughts are with you, your wife and your child. Hang in there and think happy thoughts. It's the best medicine.

I've got a pitchfork and some torches. Anyone up for storming Paizo HQ with me?

I'll bring Pizza

Heard it helps :)

Hi Reaperman,

I haven't heard anyone from Paizo object to printing the PDFs. In fact I believe the pdf versions are meant to be printable (they even supply printer friendly versions). So you're cool there.

However, some copy shops take issue with printing PDF and e-books. Your best bet is to ask your local copy shop what their policy is in regards to printing from PDFs.

I like this. Here are some ideas I had building off what you've written here.

Let's make the mechanics for brewing potions using alchemy as similar to those using the traditional method. That means:

spells with a personal range and up to level 3 can be turned into a potion. Spells over level 3 cannot.

Material cost for the potion is 25 x caster level x spell level, using the lowest value for any class. A sorceror and wizard would both spend 150 gp for a potion of bull's strength. Anyone can create a potion of cure light wounds for 25 gp in material components.

This means we have potions that cost either 25 gp (1st level) 150 gp (2nd level) or 375gp (3rd level). We can use the rules for crafting time to determine the time it takes to brew these potions. The check result*check DC = progress in sp for that week. The duration should be anywhere from a few days for a 1st level potion to a few weeks for the 3rd level potions.

the material cost assumes the alchemist has a fully stocked lab. Gathering (or buying) components for the potion is assumed to be part of the brewing process and doesn't need to be played out. At least not allways. If the alchemist have the ingredients he needs this either impacts the DC or the cost (Im'n not sure how yet).

let's make using exotic components something of an optional rule. A +2 bonus to the check for using dragon's blood etc.

What do you think?

Interesting.

I would see it as something taht is used instead of creating magical potions, rather than besides it.

In this system potion brewing would be a craft check rather than an item creation feat. I like it. How would you set the craft DCs for the potions? Would it be something like 15 + potion caster level, or would it work differently?

The fact that customer service is at the TOP of the list rather than the bottom is a GOOD thing. (How many other web stores do you know that are organised that way?)
It is unfortunate that it lists many cancellation requests. I think the best fix is to create an option on the store or on the my account page where subscribers can cancel their orders.

That's the TRUTH

btw Nick - email sent :)

not only does it have a double sided map (cauldron before and after the events of 13 cages, there is also a map booklet included in the original.

For Pete's Sake I apologized for saying Nazi, get over it and let it go already!

Why do people put so much emphasis on word choice? It's rather ridiculous.

First you come in screaming and cussing that the entire pathfinder RPG is flawed because 2 skills don't work the way you would like them to.

Those replying react to your tone. Apparently, it's the only way to be heard

Now, you are upset people aren't responding to the substance of your message. how about that.

Tell you what Aaron, Why don't you post on several of the other threads dedicated to those things you don't like about the alpha playtest, and we'll let this one slide into the oblivion that is the archives.

<edit.>

I see that is what you did. Thanks.

<edit again>

Never mind.
<shakes head>

To begin with, the task of converting is a bit more difficult that I had envisioned. Because of my desire to try to stick to the letter of the rules as much as possible without violating the spirit, I have run into a number of conundrums, particularly with skills.

I'm not entirely clear on your objective. Do you want to give the creatures a power boost on par with 3.p or do you want to keep the statistics as similar as possible? I'm assuming the prior and am basing the rest of my post on that assumption. If my assumtion is wrong, where do you want the extra power to go?

First of all, there are a fair number of low intelligence monsters whose only skills previously were Listen and Spot and they split their limited skill points between the two. Now that the two are combined, I am left with two options: a) try to keep the new Perception modifier similar to the previous Listen/Spot modifier and find new uses for the skill points or b) simply combine those ranks into Perception, resulting in a higher modifier.

It seems the biggest problem in Drakthar's way is the animals and monstrous creatures. Have you considered maxing their perception skill and then putting the remaining skill points in stealth? It makes sense for most predatory (ambush) animals and makes sense for most prey too. Not being seen or heard is an oft used survival strategy after all.

Next, for most monsters with class levels, I have been left with a preponderance of extra skill points. In the cases of rogues, I usually look to place the extra skill points into classic rogue skills like Stealth, Climb, Use Magic Device, etc., but the choice is not as easy for classes like the ranger.

I would go with perception and stealth, then put ranks in one or more physical skills (swim, athletics etc) for the martial classes or knowledges and concentration for the more cerebral classes. YMMV

I have also noticed quite a few creatures get more hit points. All humans do because of the Favored Class rule. And since many NPCs are written with iconic roles in mind (i.e. dwarf fighters, goblin rogues) a fair number of demi-human and humanoid NPCs are gaining bonus hit points as well. Not to mention where I figure Toughness is warranted as a replacement for Alertness.

The rules make calculating the new hitpoins fairly easy, though. 1 hp per level / HD with favored classes and another hp per level for toughness.

Is the hitpoint bump a problem?

In all, it seems the power curve is being boosted all around. My biggest concern is the rising bonuses in Perception making it harder for the PCs to sneak around. I have already heard enough complaints about the "fact" that "every monster in the MM has Listen and Spot as class skills." This was mitigated in 3.5 by the fact that monsters with low Intelligence scores could only max one or the other, but were usually written as having their points split between the two. Now it is a different game. I am left with the decision of whether to keep them split by putting points in a brand new skill (and potentially creating a new role for the monster) or making the monster more perceptive than before.

I think the power curve boost is deliberate. Most classes published in splatbooks of late are better than the core classes, barring a few. The adjustments levels the playing field and make the core classes interesting choices once more.

Slogan: "All your votes are belong to us!"

ROFLAMO

Ive looked through my dungeon magazines and cant find much data on the Crimson Fleet besides a rough outline ( they are a evil consortium of piratey demons ... ) Is there more information on them somewhere that im Missing?

The Scuttlecove backdrop has some more info on them, but that is all I was able to find too.

If anyone else has more information on the crimson fleet, I would be much obliged.

A simple solution would be to keep including arrows (or other marks) to indicate the correct placement, but make them less obvious.

that works for me.

Maybe something in the terrain color?

Skill Simplification? This is NOT 3.5!!!!!!

5 exclemation marks. A sure sign of a truely insane mind

IT Systems Analyst. Basically, my job is to analyze business processes for an extremely well-funded company, build a business case for process change and/or automation, assemble the project team, and build it.

I didn't turn out to worship the devil, although I'm very happily "living in sin" with an extremely hot girl. I'm okay with that.

Didn't you hear?

Working for corporate america is the new devil worship.

Even worse that D&D is what I hear :)

Hi Rich,

first of all welcome.

Could you help us help you by posting some information on your system? What operation system and what type of pdf reader are you using? Have you downloaded the regular or the printer friendly version?

I'm pretty sure the most recent version of Acrobat Reader (8) works fine with the alpha documents. They work for me anyway. Try that first.

Another cause I can think of is system memory. If you're using an older system it might have trouble rendering a document the size of the alpha playtest. Try the printer friendly version if you haven't allready. It should render better.

David Wickham wrote:

Is the act of hiring an assassin legal in any of the areas of the world presented in the gazetteer?

Or any where else?

I'm not sure there are, actually. Part of the problem is that an assassination is, by definition, the murder of an important person for political or religious reasons. And since "laws" are put into place by the same people who are often assassination targets, it's unusual and rare and sort of self-defeating for there to be areas where hiring assassins is legal.

There are certainly countries where hiring assassins is common. I'd say Cheliax is a good nomination here, as is Galt or any other nation in a state of upheaval. But countries where it's legal to hire assassins? That's a tougher call. I'm pretty sure, in any event, we haven't set aside any specific country in which we've expressly said hiring assassins is legal, in any case.

I like Terry Pratchett's take on the Guild of Assassins. Assassination is a gentleman's persuit. Etiquette and manners are as much tools of the trade as stilleto blades and poison. Assassination is legal, but limited by a strict code of conduct. An assassin can only kill another being when a contract is out (set by the guildmaster). The target deserves a fair chance, and killing bystanders is considered extremely bad form. That makes most assasination attempts close and personal. Illegal assasins (those who do not follow the guild rules or are not members of the guild) are hunted down by guild members without remorse.

The net effect is that usual targets of assissination are actually safer. They know what to expect from assassins and can prepare. If someone plays foul, he'll have the city watch AND the assassins guild to deal with. Which would you be more affraid of?

I'm not saying this should be the way things are run on Golarion, but still. It might fit... somewhere.

Now i´m preparing the Valanthru encounter and don´t really know how to handle the doors. (There is no rogue in the team)

I posted some tips in this thread.

Maybe there is something you can use

My tomato plants I panted about 10 days ago are shooting out of the ground so fast it amazes me.

But, their leaves have started to get holes in them. I am assuming it is an insect eating holes in the leaves, but I don’t know what to do about this.

Does anyone know what I should do? Is there an insecticide or something I can use?

Could you describe the holes? Are they at the edges or the middle of the leaves?

Also, where did you plant them? are they in a window box? outside? in a greenhouse? What type of climate are they in?

Usually with veggies I would shy away from using anything but the mildest insecticide, and even those I would only use in case of real pests.

Most bugs find green leaves jummy. if you inspect your plants regularly and remove any bugs by hand you should be fine in a few weeks.

If they're outside you could cover them with special plastic covers you can find in most garden stores. they keep your plants warm so they grow faster and keep bugs and birds out as an added bonus.

Good luck!

Now, if we could just clarify that a Huge spellcasting monster doesn't get Strength and Constitution bonuses when polymorphing into a Large monster (and the such), we'll be good to go.

ouch. I never even considered that one. I should probably work the other way arround too (with dex bonusses) This is getting complicated very fast :(

Many thanks!

I thought it was intended as such, but after many years of being a rules lawyer for a major living campaign, I noticed it might be misread by some.

-Scott

I too read it as being able to only transform into the sizes specified, and not the lesser forms. Thanks for clearing that up.

My party is just finishing up the Bullywug's Gambit and were interested in enjoying the festival. Anyone have some ideas of games, activities or encounters for the festival.

PS: What is Lavinia's age.

Have you taken a look at Delvedeep's Demonscar ball writeup on the Shackled City board? You could mine that for ideas if you like.

Lavina's Age is a few months from 23 whet TinH begins. She should turn 23 before or during SWW

I think the only two things you have to worry about.

1. Figuring out the proper AC/Defenses/Attack bonus/Damage for the level range the players are at. This may be somewhat tricky as if you have characters with different levels of optimization, you might have problems. Be akin to try and set a skill DC for the entire party

I think Monte Cook wrote a dungeoncraft article on the subject a few years ago. There's a pretty simple formula to estimate an appropriate attack bonus and AC for characters depending on their level, which off the top of my head, is somewhere between level * 1.2 and level *1.5, depending on damage reduction (for AC) and secondary damage (of attack bonus)

2. How much your players expect you to follow the monster guidelines. I do know unfortunately some players who feel the DM isn't playing fair if the monster isn't *LEGIT*

What the players don't know won't hurt them, now will it. Bwuhahahah

Seriously, the article says it's an abstraction and a GM tool to build interesting encounters. Just make sure your players understand that and you should be OK.

I decided to add an element into the campaign that would allow them to save the day entirely. My paladin of freedom had Alakast which I made into an intelligent, self-motivated weapon of power. Early in the battle, Alakast told the paladin that it could sense the artifact energies moving through the tree and if the paladin could buy Alakast some time, it could study those energies and then if it was placed into the tree's energies, it could absorb them into itself, effectively destroying everything around the tree, but saving Cauldron. Of course, this would demand that the paladin sacrifice himself and Alakast would be destroyed, but they both decided to do it and the plan worked to perfection in a gut-wrenching climax to the whole campaign (I ended up ending the campaign with Thirteen Cages).

-Lisa

That's a good ending to the campaign. Did you skip Occipitus as well, or did you leave that as an open end?

What are you going to do now the campaing is over? Run a new one or take a break?

I'm wondering how people have handled the Oblivian Doors in Chapter 8. It seems like the puzzle is a bit difficult, and not really clear. There's no real clues to tell the characters what the trick is. Even if they do figure it out, the main caster in the party is a sorc who won't be able to duplicate most of the effects. He's also distinctly lacking in transport, teleport, or really most utility type spells. We have a rogue, but he can't make the 45 necessary to pick it. There's no chance anybody could make the 50 strength to force it.

All I can figure to do is lower the difficulty to pick it down to 40. Then our rogue can make the roll. If anybody else has any good ideas please let me know.

If I recall correctly, one of the rooms in the complex belongs to Thirfane. This is where she goes to lie low if the party don't defeat her in the party at house Riavadi.

you could plant some clues to the doors working in thirfane's room. A map detailing some (or all) of the spells needed to activate the door. You could also hide some scrolls in her room. Thirfane could be curious about the rest of the complex, and wished to explore while Vhalantru was away. Perhaps she distrusts Vhalantru (paranoia is a beautifull thing after all) or is looking for a specific object or piece of information.
If you want to make it especially easy for the PCs to reach Rhiavadi's room make sure the route there is clear. The door to the central shaft could be wedged open (to allow the flamewardens a way out) while the door to Thirfane's room could have been broken or disabled (or you could let the rogue shine a bit).
The trick is not to give all the doors away, but leave a few unknown so the PCs still have a bit of figuring out to do.

Is there an interplanar hub ala Sigil or the City of Brass?

I would love to hear more about something like this. I'm also a bit frightened... Just hope its not going to be a Sigil knockoff.

I'm pretty happy with the skill list. However, I would love to see this change implemented

I don't have high hopes though.

I like your idea Mosaic. It would make charisma a much more important stat, and it makes more sense flavor wise.

2) Backwards Compatibility and Monsters - Progressions wouldn't change but a DM would have to subtract the Wisdom modifier from the Will save number in the stat block and add the Charisma modifier instead. Ability scores are usually included in the stat block so it would be a bit of a recalculation, but not much.

This is where I see a problem, though. This is a pretty big impact. Although the math involved is very compley, it means the GM has to change every statblock in an adventure. I think that really hurts backwards compatibility.

This seems to me something that would fit perfectly as an optional rule, but I would rather not see it in the core rules.

The Wyvern made the Kessel Run (Sasserine to Kessel Island) in less than twelve parsecs?

that ol' heap oh junk?

I mean... yeah :)

The directions in the sidebar are "Be sure to give them a powerful description of the ship."

I don't know jack about ships, powerful or otherwise. I actually had to go look up the definitions of docked and moored to figure out what was going on in 'There is no Honor'. How have various DMs described the ship in addition to what the adventure already lays out for you?

In preparing for this AP, I've been looking at the pirates of the Caribbean movies. They're a wealth of information if you want to give your game a certain atmosphere. Think of Tortuga as a sort of Scuttlecove, The Black pearl as a stand-in for the sea Wyvern and Jack Sparrow as a male version of Harlys Jarvell.

If you want to describe the sea wyvern, use the image from those movies. Or alternatively, compare it to a classic sport scar. sleek lines, built for speed, appearing to be ready to tear away even though it lays anchored in the bay.

If you have the opportunity, work tales of the wyvern and her exploits into your story early. Have merchants tell how the ship appeared out of nowhere and raced towards them, sails billowing, catching up in no time. Or tell who the ship made the voyage from Sasserine to <insert other important port name here> in record time, and that it is still the fasted ship ever to be built (an exaggeration perhaps, but a good one).

I recently re-read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The situation in the book regarding Alistor Moody sounds perfect for yout game. If your player wants to play along that is.

I would ask the player if he wants to play a doppleganger traitor for a while. His PC would be captured and held by the cagewrights while they introduce a mole into the group. The in-game explenation is that the cagewrights (or Vhalantru) is impressed and wary of the PCs and wants to keep a closer eye on them. If something is amis, the doppleganger can step in and remedy the situation, perhaps even helping the cagewrights plot along.

The original PC is kept alive to provide details about the pcs their abilities and a mirand of other information the doppleganger can't remember. The doppleganger would have to keep the PC secure and within reach in order for this plot to succeed. The added bonus is that if the PCs discover the doppleganger, they have easy acces to the original PC.

Hi everyone,

After having a blast with the shackled city AP, I'm getting ready to run my party through Savage Tide. I would like to kick the game off with a bang.

In TinH every character should have done something that makes him or her stand out. Rather than just accept a story from the players, I would like to run each PC through the encounter. In one of the threads on these boards someone suggested tying in Malcanthet to the PCs back story. After all, they came to her attention early on, and she created this elaborate plot. She's only going to do that if she's aware of the PCs and is reasonably confident they will make it to the gaping maw. Another possible hook is to link the PCs to the lotus dragons in some way (like in Edge of Anarchy). They were wronged by the lotus dragons (or perhaps Vanthus himself) and now have an opportunity to get even.
Has anyone else done something similar? I would love to hear about it.

My other worry is the jade ravens. They seem to be a carbon copy of the rival party in SCAP (the stormblades). I would rather they stand out more. How have others handled this?

I am also curious to what other alterations or add-ons everyone has made to the AP.

Thanks in advance

Vic Wertz wrote:

Mike is correct about his current job. I *think* he's still a co-owner of Isomedia, though.

Isomedia predates Ryan's time in the game industry. It was what gave him the ability to found Five Rings Publishing, which was sold to WotC, which put him in charge of D&D, which put him in charge of me. I don't know whether he still owns part of Iso.

Mike

Ah, I see. Thanks.

Mr Baron wrote:

What's Ryan doing these days? What's he working on?

He's the chief marketing officer of CCP Games, the company that merged with White Wolf. That means that he lives in, of all places, Iceland.

I remember reading somewhere he left the industry and runs an ISP-ish company called ISOmedia. Did he return or is something else going on?

I have always found that static DCs that interact with NPC/Monsters that have no modifier for that creatures ability/Skills/Saves to be a broken concept.

Prime examples are:
Diplomacy
Arobatics(Tumble)
Concentration

another skill that suffers from this problem is theft, although the percetion roll to notice the theft does help a bit.

This is a problem both ways. An NPC or monster with enough skill points in, say, tumble, can automatically pass a group of PCs with no chance of attacks from the PCs.

me to

wagner.marc@gmail.com

Grats! Do you think you'll shift to 4E for Savage Tide?

No, absolutely not. Savage tide was designed with 3rd edition rules and monsters in mind. converting would be a lot of work. I would rather spend that time creating my own expansions and side-treks.

Congratulations.

I love this campaign, and I will certainly have a third go at it... perhaps this time, it will be finished... who knows?

one can hope :)

I'm pretty luckey with my group. We've been playing together for over 12 years now and are very good friends. Our first and longest campaign ended about 3 years ago. We only play about once a month, distance and real life being the biggest obstacles.

1) Do you plan to convert to the new edition of D&D?

2) If Paizo converts its RPG products to 4.0, how will that affect your purchasing patterns for our products?

3) If Paizo does not convert its RPG products to 4.0, how will that affect your purchasing patterns for our products?

1 I'm starting Savage Tide in may. It will probably last me at least 3 years. That means I'm set for the next couple of years. I may buy the core books

2 I've got the PF subscription and will keep it no matter what edition they are in. It's more a matter of collectability than anything else.

3 see 2. It may mean I get several other gamemastery products that are designed specifically for 3.5e, although not the modules or the gazetteers. I'm thinking about things like critical hit decks and combat pads.

We finished our campaign this weekend. It has been one of the longest we have played sofar, lasting over three and a half years. But also very fulfilling, and one my players enjoyed immensely.

I have tweaked some adventures beyond recogntion. And those turned out to be my favorites. I loved the heroes feast in flood season, the invasion of redgorge, the party at house rhiavadi and the many (many) meetings of the council of nobles.

One of the best things, as a GM has been the ability to toss around ideas on this forum. Feedback has been absolutely amazing, and it has been great to see others expand even further on my ideas.

Now, I've got a 3 month break from GMming coming up. That will give me time to prepare for my next campaign: Savage Tide!

Man. Those are both freakin' awesome.

I'm inspired, but I suck at stuff like that.

Mostly, you just need a lot of time heathy. If you find yourself a spare weekend somewhere, you may want to give it a go :)

I have also offered my version of the wreck but so far haven't had any takers. Maybe because it's buried in the other thread or possibly because no one is interested.

Go to The Wreck.

Either way the offer still stands. I really don't have a use for it any longer.

Holy crap. That is one mean papercraft you have there. Top notch work!