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So I wanna do a western themed AP between running Shackled City and Shattered Star. Inspired by Deadwood and the milieu of westerns out there. Here is what I have so far: The locale is pretty much uncontrolled lands, it is claimed by the LG psionic nation to the west but generally left alone. The psionic nation only concerns itself with the Golem Train which runs through the region and connects it to the gnome nation on the east.My campaign setting is currently on the brink of a renaissance with the psionic nation and steampink gnome nation rising in influence over the arcane nations. The major villains are the demonic hordes (which is mainly being used in shack city), the rising Sinister Empire (which will be the focus o Shattered Star) and the declining Tiger Empire (LE mix of Rome and Nazi Germany) but I am open to other villain ideas for use in this. Book 1 starts in a small town a week or so off from the railroad, goblins rob the bank and the PCs form a posse to hunt them down, finding out they were stealing the gold to feed a giant worm in a cave complex. Inside the complex they find crystals, crystals that are valuable to the psionic nation. Book 2 is basically a gold rush but for crystals and brings conflict between the new settlers and the native catfolk tribe. Book 3 will focus on the trsin Book 4 will focus on thr gnome nation. I have no clue for books 5 & 6, and more importantly no overreaching plot to tie everything together. Odd because normally that is the easier part for me. Any thoughts?
I am making a swashbuckler rogue for Skull and Shackles and trying to decide between going two cutlasses (-4/-4) or one cutlass with dervish dance, improved feint and vital strike. The party has someone for me to flank with, but shipboard melee may make positioning tough. I am also going pure rogue before anyone suggests duelit. I dont think giving up the sneak attack dice and advanced talents for duelist abilities is worth it.
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What kind of action is it to activate the cleric strength domain power "Might of the Gods"?
James Jacobs recently posted in Shattered Star that Sabine is assumed to take the throne. Who rules in your games after Ileosa? Our group discovered through legend lore that one of the orphans we rescued in book 1 was the illegitimate son of the King. My character and Trinia had adopted them all so we now have King Oliver with the two of us serving as Regents.
Prerequisites: Lunge, Acrobatics 1 rank. Benefit: As a standard action, you can use the Lunge feat to increase the reach of your melee attacks by 5 feet until the end of your turn, without suffering a penalty to your AC. You cannot use this feat if you carry a medium or heavy load. Normal: You take a -2 penalty to your AC until your next turn when making a lunge attack. This makes little to no sense. You can't make attacks if you use your standard action to increase your range. It won't even help with AoOs since it ends at the end of your turn.
I miss the monthly modules. I just wanna get a thread going for people to voice their opinions on either monthly modules or upping the line to 64 page "double feature" modules (each containing 2 32 page modules). I think it'd be easier to get off the shelves in stores as a double feature since people might not be interested in one of them, but interested enough in the other.
So I've never been a fan of the changes to the Polymorph stuff. In general you can get the same stuff through enlarge person or other smaller buffs at lower spell slots. The abilities that are worth transforming for don't come until waay later (seriously no Pounce in the first wild shape?) Anyway, I'm playing a melee build transmutation gnoll wizard in Legacy of Fire and am about to get 5th level spells. Looking at Ultimate Magic, Monstrous Physique III looks worth casting to become Huge. Bestiary 1 and 2 have no huge monstrous humanoids, hell none of the monstrous humanoids in either book have any abilities that you can get that are worth transforming for with the exception of Witchwyrd for the extra two limbs. Anyone know any other good things to turn into or a better way to boost myself up with 5th level spells?
Basic idea of this thread is to come up with an AP idea and then loosely describe each of the 6 books. Here's mine as an example. Theme: War/Crusades/Demons Location: Mendev/Worldwound Book 1: Boot Camp and the first battle. Players spend their first level going through a boot camp and then are immediately thrust onto the front lines against a demonic push. Using Full Metal Jacket as a theme much like RotR3 used Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Book 2: This chapter would focus on the Low Templars and corruption in the army Book 3: In this book the PCs are put into command of a unit to go behind the lines where they discover the seeds of a greater threat Book 4 The players are court martialed on trumped up charges and have to make their case to the leaders of the Crusade while a demonic cult works against them. Book 5 The biggest battle yet as the PCs must command the bulk of the army to take the area needed so they can enter the Abyss Book 6 The players must travel into the Abyss to destroy a powerful demonic general on his home plane before he can enter Golarion
I'm planning for an upcoming battle between seven 15th level pcs vs 1 level 19 illusionist and I don't want him ganked. The biggest problem I'm thinking will be number of actions. I have an idea for an advanced form of mirror image that creates duplicates perhaps 1 duplicate per 4 caster levels (his cl for illusions will be 20). These duplicates will be able to take actions normally though use the same spells as though they were the caster. I've already tried summons against them but they have a few dispel magics prepared. Obviously a 9th level spell, and it being the last fight of the campaign not worried about players learning it. Any other suggestions or ways to work this?
Little rule gem we never noticed before in our group, p562 of the core rulebook says weapons with Weapon Enhancement Bonus Equivalent can overcome certain DR types. +3 overcomes cold iron/silver, +4 adamantaine and +5 alignment based. Does a +1 Keen Flaming Longsword overcome cold iron/silver DR? Or is it only a +3 Longsword
Me and my DM weren't really impressed with the weapon adept monk archetype. I came up with some adjustments and he wants me to put it here for comment before oking it. -add short sword to list of weapons that can be used in a flurry and with perfect strike - remove improved unarmed combat and damage increases for unarmed Option 1 - apply damage increases to weapon that is chosen for weapon focus Option 2 - add +1d6 sneak attack for levels monk damage would increase Option 3 - add +1d6 sneak attack at levels 4 8 12 16 20 Which option seems best, any alternative options you can suggest? Edit: monk also loses ki strike magic and lawful
I was looking for an adventure to run tomorrow night and looking through Dungeon Index saw Last Stand at Outpost 3. Sounded like a neat adventure as psionics play a big role in my homebrew world, and that it would be fun for a playtest of the Gunslinger class. Swiped my friend's copy of the magazine and dear god this adventure is awesome. Not just the adventure/story itself, but the quality and layout (which may be editing as much as the author of course) is fantastic. So...I vote you steal him back from wherever he went and get him to do a module or something. Maybe an Alkenstar one =p
It seems lately the modules have been getting a bit trite and dull. They used to be fun and experimental. Bloodsworn Vale, Carnival of Tears, Tower of the Last Baron were all fantastic. Since the switch to pathfinder (or perhaps sooner when the codes were dropped) they don't seem as good. Looking at the upcoming list isn't promising either. The next one that looks interesting isn't until Jan 2012 =/ Am I alone in this?
I am making a summoner for serpents skull and basically want a big insect that will start as a caterpillar and then get flight later. I was going to use sting but it just seems worthles. It doesn't do anything bite doesn't do better (and for free). Before I ask my dm to just call my eidolon's bite a sting attack is there something I am missing that makes sting better than I think?
So I have a player who constantly uses Fireball and puts it at a point in the air so it will hit the heads of enemies and avoid more party members. I find this incredibly annoying to try and work out on the battlemat. I could put the boot down and just say no, but it would probably cause me just as much of a headache. Any suggestions?
We are playing through Legacy of Fire and have both an Alchemist and a Warlock. The Warlock feels he is gimped compared to the Alchemist because the Alchemist is able to add his intelligence modifier to damage and has a splash radius. The other argument is that the Alchemist is limited to a certain number of bombs per day (13 at 5th level with his build) whereas the Warlock is not. The Warlock wants to add his Cha mod to damage. Other opinions are needed!
So I got Witchwar Legacy and started to flip through it excited to see a high level modules. Disappointment hit early though at the 'adventure hooks' section, and I haven't looked much past it (so if there's good stuff further in that overrides this please let me know!) The idea that 17th level characters are 'freelancers' or going to be hired to do essentially a 'fetch the macguffin' quest bugged the hell out of me. I always envision someone post 15th level to a be a big shot and the closer you get to 20 the bigger the celebrity your character should be at that point. The kind of stuff you have to take on to get the XP to get that high pretty much guarantees it. The APs do this pretty well where your fame rises, in fact the progression goes pretty fast as far as fame (especially in CotCT or CoT). This module sounds like it's just going to be a 5th level adventure scaled up in CR, though I'll admit I haven't read the whole thing.
I have been told by my players to post this for the opinions of others. I felt that the RotRL game was very weak as an adventure path, the six individual tales never really tied together into a whole story and a lot of elements were just kind of thrown in by authors either at the behest of Paizo or to be cool, without contributing to the plot. My game had a TON of rewrites, so here is the breakdown. Do not read if you are planning on being a player in RotRL. Also note, that the game was played (and should always be played) with 7 players, or X players plus cohorts equaling a total of 7. Burnt Offerings:
This book probably had the least changes, but it is where I really kicked off the storyline so I'm going to give you a basic overview of the storyline here.
However many thousands of years ago the Thassilon empire ruled, they were united by the Emperor Xin, the Runelords fell into their vices however and plotted together to assassinate the Emperor. They put his young son Xin II on the throne as a puppet, and carved out their territories in the empire. Their expansion and evil ways however brought them into conflict with the Shory (the people of the flying cities). The two nations went to war, and although no one really won, both civilizations collapsed due to the Earthfall. Interjected throughout the Adventure Path will be conversations between the Runelords, conducted through magic much like Akatsuki from Naruto or the Forsaken from the Wheel of Time. Each player gets lines for one of the 7 Runelords. Fast forward to today, and the Runewells are starting to activate, the means by which the Runelords sequestered themselves away are finally fading and they look to reach out and conquer the world once more. They need to feed the Runewells with their particular sin energy. Here under Sandpoint we have Alaznist, who has struck a deal with a young woman wanting to get revenge against her hometown. Nualia's story is pretty much the same as the book, with the exception that she went into hiding and left town after giving birth to the Sandpoint Devil. All the events of Book 1 are meant to fill the Runewell of Wrath. I replaced the Barghest with Alaznist herself, in a severely weakened condition. Accompanying the players is a young man named Shane who wishes to be a Pathfinder Chronicler and came to Sandpoint to meet Brodert Quink, he doesn't get involved in combat, but can translate Thassilonian script and has a lot of knowledge on the weaknesses and strengths of various monsters. The Skinsaw Murders:
Here we move from Wrath to Lust. This is definitely the most 'adult' of the games as sex is scarier than violence, and this game combines both. Aldern is not just a murderer, he's a rapist to boot. The game really plays up on the lust aspects. I ditched the sawmill and the clocktower in favor of a Brothrel/Dungeon built over the Runewell of Lust. Xanesha is replaced with Sorshen. The Hook Mountain Massacre:
Sorry Nic, this would have been a fun module, but as a part of the AP it made no sense. The Chainsaw Massacre bit was cool, but was nothing more than a side quest. Fort Rannick was cool but also, didn't advance the plot. I cut this entire book. Instead now, at the advice of Shane, realize these Runelords are rising and they need to put a stop to them, so they set out to find them. They know the Runelords will be at areas focused around their Sin, and when they hear of a massive card tournament on a riverboat...they think they have a lead.
This book pretty much steals from the plot of the movie Maverick. The players need to do a bunch of stuff around Magnimar to try and work up the money to get into the tournament. I used this as an opportunity to do side quests based on the player character backgrounds. It didn't take them a lot of time to get the money though so we focused a lot on the Riverboat. One of the gamblers on the Riverboat, unbeknownst to the players (but knownst to me) is Karzoug. He needs cash to fill the Runewell of Greed.
Whether or not the players win, Karzoug steals their money from them, and rushes it to the Runewell of Greed. The players navigate his trap filled dungeon to kill him and destroy his Runewell. The Crucible of Chaos:
I stuck this in here, because it came out and was cool. The Shory are the enemy of Thassilon, and rather than giving the players a fort, I wanted them to have a flying city! They venture into the Wyvern Mountains after hearing rumors of a lost flying city there. Hoping to get some magic items or knowledge to help them defeat the Runelords. They find the flying city (I replaced most of the encounters in the book, got rid of the flying monkeys and the three wizards, and made the Lizardfolk into Catfolk) and its primary inhabitant, the Runelord of Gluttony. Well, what's left of him, he's gone from being a powerful wizard into being the Shoggoth. The Chaos stone is now the Runewell of Gluttony, and the PCs are aided by Shory ghosts to defeat the monstrous Runelord. The players spend some time repairing the city, resulting in a time skip of a few years, originally 20 years but I think I'll make it 5 in future runnings. Fortress of the Stone Giants:
Here I started keeping more in line with the books, as it started actually connecting to the story! The only differences were I got rid of the Kobold and the Lamias and added in the Runelord of Sloth and his Runewell. He was controlling the Giant army and getting them to do all his work for them. The more slaves he had, the more powerful he could get, he was quite powerful by this time. When the PCs return to Sandpoint they find that the destruction caused by the Giants wasn't the worst of it, the whole town is sinking. They evacuate them to their flying city. Sins of the Saviors:
Pretty much the same, excepting that I replaced Highlady Athroxis with Belimarius, who was responsible for the sinkhole and followed the players in. Up until this point the players have believed they were going after Emperor Xin, here they learn that it was the Runelord of Pride who has gained the most strength and power, conquering the Imperial City. Spires of Xin Shalast:
So we arrive at the final adventure. It's a lot more fun showing up at Xin Shalast in a flying city ala Independence Day than walking through the mountains. Again this is pretty much the same, but there's a twist. The Runelord of Pride is not replacing Karzoug in the adventure. He is replacing Most High Ceoptra. After defeating him, Shane the young wannabe Pathfinder finishes him off and reveals himself to the players as Xin II. He thanks them for helping him kill all of his father's assassins and offers them a deal. They can become the new Runelords and help him begin a new Thassilonian Empire and enslave all of Avistan, or they can die. He is pretty obviously evil at this point, but we see whether or not the players give into their sins or confront Xin II, who uses Karzoug's stats but is a Universalist rather than a Specialist. And that's my DM's Cut of Rise of the Runelords. Maybe one day I'll do Second Darkness seeing as that is the other weak AP.
So do the people of Golarion understand the concept of character classes? I have two scenarios to present. A Legacy of Fire character is a Sorcerer with the Fire Elemental bloodline. He was raised as a merchant's son and if anything leans more towards fighter/rogue. Then some pugwampis get near him and he starts setting things on fire unintentionally. This fire gets more and more powerful and he starts to figure out how to direct it and make things explode. Would NPCs and other PCs automatically know he's a Sorcerer? Would he know that's what he is? A Kingmaker character is an Inquisitor of Norgorber. She focuses on the secrets aspect of her god and doesn't go about announcing her faith. She walks around in medium armor with a halberd and can cast divine spells. She disguises her own faith, but doesn't want to act as a priest of another faith. Would she be able to get away with just saying she's a fighter who has picked up some spells? Or would NPCs/PCs expect or know her to be a Paladin or Cleric and be shocked when she can't channel energy for example.
So I've finally had a chance to sit down and read through Seekers of Secrets and as much as I love a lot of it (especially the breakdown nation by nation of Pathfinder activities). The concept of "Pathfinder Bootcamp" akin to the military or Jordan's Aes Sedai really bugs me. It just seems to go totally against the flavor of the Pathfinders and doesn't seem to mesh with what's been established by Crypt of the Everflame or even 3.5 era books. I would think (and in my games this is how it will be) that the method of joining would be more akin to say, the Elks. You are sponsored by an existing member (someone who either accompanied you on a treasure hunt or heard about a find of yours) and then perhaps given an initiation test by the local Venture Captain. Even in the Field Commissions section it suggests that they send people back to Absalom to spend some time as an initiate even if it isn't as much as someone who goes there on their own. Just didn't click right with me and I wanted to put that out there.
This belongs in the Kingmaker forum, but there isn't one yet. So I'm posting it here! I want to see lots of opportunity for mounted combat in Kingmaker. We haven't gotten a whole lot out of any of the other APs, this seems like a great place. Especially since you are introducing the Cavalier now. Please let's see some heavy focus towards outdoor areas and the like over dungeons.
It's been stated that Alkenstar and Numeria (and possibly others) will never get expanded upon; that they were only put in there so Golarion could encompass every type of D&D game. But why bother? If I want to play a game where Alkenstar would feature prominently, I'd have to pretty much make up the whole of the country, and if I'm doing that why not just make up a whole setting around it? Not trying to just make a dig at you guys, but I really wanna see more stuff in places like Alkenstar and not just have them pushed aside because a couple of you don't like guns.
I'd like to see a more organized and regular system for the 'minipaths' that have popped up over the last two years. Right now we have Falcon's Hollow series, Entombed with the Pharaohs series, Last Baron series and I think one more that is escaping my memory. I love having the minipaths, but I'd like to see them be a bit more regular. I propose once or twice a year a 3-part miniseries that could expand on things not big enough (or maybe popular enough) for a full adventure path but something the fans are still clamoring for. Examples would be:
just as a few examples. What do others think?
We have just finalized our group for our first session tomorrow. I don't have all the names in front of me but we have a Human Spirit Binder (from Secrets of Pact Magic)
We've decided that Tartini's "The Devil's Trill" will be the theme song for the game =p
I was wondering how Cheliax might view Pact Magic. (Using Secrets of Pact Magic) I have a character concept for CoT - basically a middle child in a lesser noble family who was sent to a school of wizardry. Unfortunately for him, he has no arcane talents whatsoever, and despite his hard work studying and efforts he could not cast even simple cantrips. In steps a mysterious benefactor who teaches him pact magic (possibly a sympathetic professor). Using pact magic he binds Forash and summons a lesser sky devil to pass his final exam. Thus instead of turning into a 1st level wizard, he became a 1st level Spirit Binder. Unsure how to recommend to the DM how Cheliax might view it if it was ever found out, I think I'd like it to be something he'd have to keep hidden from the authorities as it'd be more interesting but can't find the justification for why Cheliax/Church of Asmodeus would disallow pact magic. Thoughts/Suggestions?
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