DM_aka_Dudemeister's page

The ability to curse somewhat like a hexblade i feel is essential to the witch. What's a witch without cussing?

I think there needs to be more options for the following niches -

Trapfinding: What makes the rogue so special that they are the only ones who can see and disarm traps. I figure anyone with Perception and Disable Device should be able to do that job.

Healing: While this works fine as a cleric specialty (particularly if they are devoted to gods of healing), sometimes nobody wants to play a healing character devoted to a deity. Other classes that should be able to fulfill the role - Wizards (Necromancers) (shock!), Witches, Psions (Ardents).

The High Road/Low Road.

The PCs need to split into two groups to advance one group takes the high road, the other takes the low road. The two groups can see and communicate with each other by yelling.
PCs will set of traps/devices of the other group, the PCs will have a limited amount of time to get through to the next room.

For example:
The Low Road party steps into the first area of the low road. (Fighter and Wizard)
The High Road party then steps into the first area of the high road. (Cleric and Rogue)

Suddenly the walls begin closing in on the low road. The fighter uses his mighty strength to hold back the walls while the wizard approaches the door - it is made of steel with a large round knob. A riddle written in Draconic reads:
"The door was unlocked, but an hour before
one minute to die, one hour to live."

The answer is the wizard must declare that he's going to open the door by turning the handle counter-clockwise. The "one minute to die" refers to how long the walls will take to close in enough to crush the characters to death. Characters can hold the wall back by making a DC 20 str check, halting the wall's progress for 1 round.

Once the wizard figures this out and turns the handle it opens the door ahead on the high road, but also triggers the High Road trap. The nature of this trap is up to you...

I suggest reading "The Seven Ancient Wonders" and "Six Sacred Stones" by Mathew Reilly, there's some great trap ideas in there.

Free?

Very awesomesauce.

I want to play a cleric of Jeff god of Biscuits, does his portfolio include cookies and other baked treats?

The idea of virtues and vices specific to various gods would be handy, but part of the fun of Golarion's gods is that multiple sects interpret their god's word differently. A Lawful Neutral god has at least four interpretations of his word: LG, LN, N and LE.

I think step one is being proud of your game. There's still a stigma attached to telling people you play dungeons and dragons (or equivalent). Own it. You are in on the secret, that role-playing is the most fun you can have with your pants on. When someone asks you what hobbies you have proudly tell them you're a role-player that you spend your free time writing fantasy adventures and play-acting\improvising. I've found that the thing that stops people from trying is the mistaken belief they won't be "good" at it. Let them try out a game (either by letting them join your regular group or running a game specifically for new players). I guarantee you'll have a fairly high retention rate. If you're a proud gamer then people will respond to that. I've introduced most of my friends to rpgs but in the last 12 months - 6 (22, 19, 19, 22, 22, 18)

If you thought the boxed set was a pain in the butt then you're really going to think my idea is crazy:

"The Campaign In A Box" - A series of linked adventures, character folios, fold out maps, PFRPG Core, Every Paper Mini you'd need and a set of dice. In short everything you'd need to run a campaign from 1 to done. Insane? Likely. Expensive? Probably. Awesome? Definitely.

Other than that though...

PFRPG - Deluxe Character Sheets

An Isle of Adventure - Essentially a combined adventure/setting book with everything a DM needs to let his PCs run free in a sandbox (Isle of Dread style) rather than completely fleshed out adventures but a series of interesting set pieces that a GM could flesh out.

Too much meat on her bones. She'd never make it as a model.

I'm doing the same thing, but throwing in Manifest from Ghostwalk calling the entire region "The Phantom Isles" and calling it Ghost Sails. The manifest zone extends over the whole region of the Phantom Isles.
Why do I tell you this?

So that I can have Pirates, Ninjas, Dinosaurs, Zombies and GHOSTS! The PCs are going to discover an army of warforged because all it needs is Robots!

*silent wind of doom whoosh*?

Base classes I'd like to see:

1) Witch - A spellcaster capable of creative cursing (and I don't mean swearing) would be really fun to play (and super nifty to use as a villain - how else would you build Baba Yaga after all).

2) Warlock - I don't think much needs to be changed about this class, perhaps some flavour expansion.

3) Jester - I'm aware this is mostly a bard of a different flavour, but it was my favourite class from Dragon Era.

4) Marshall - A squad leader capable of inspiring his troops to greatness, it had a cool class ability and all the flavour you needed to play a natural leader.

5) Scout - Mobile warrior very cool, and very fun to play, definitely needs Pathfinderising.

6) Urban Ranger/Urban Druid - Great variants that needed some tweaks.

Be aware these are in no particular order.

Its a great name for a pirate city, and that cryptic arch is just pure nifty. So could someone please list me the books I'd need to get as complete a picture of Riddleport as I can while I scour the internet for other piratey goodness?

I just converted a group of RPG virgins myself by cannibalising a bunch of 1st Level adventures.
Hmm, Disney Princesses, Orlando Bloom and Pretty Pictures.

Start off with a one-shot that has very straightforward characters.

Human Fighter - Square-jawed prince (7th son) trying to be more than just a pampered dandy (unlike his brothers). (Johnny) Prince Gallant
Half-Elf Rogue - Swashbuckling pirate princess trying to make it on her own. (Ann) Esmeralda Dread
Elf Cleric - Last priestess of a moon goddess in hiding from the bad guys who wrecked her temple. (Lisa) Belle Silverleaf
Human Wizard - Apprentice sea witch trying to be good against her evil step-mother's wishes. (Sara) Ariel Shellesea.

1st adventure should have very clear goals.

The Treasure of Skull Island -

The adventure begins aboard a ship headed for nearby skull island, where it is rumoured a massive treasure hoard lies. The PCs are there for different reasons.
Prince Gallant - Wants to get the treasure to prove himself.
Esmerelda Dread - Wants the treasure to buy her first ship and hire a crew.
Belle Silverleaf - Wants to find the lost holy symbol of her goddess so she can open a new temple.
Ariel Shellesea - Wants to find a book that the treasure holds detailing the history of her grandmother who was rumoured to be a good witch.

On the ship is a group of rival adventurers (the BAD GUYS) lead by none-other than Duke Von Badinoff. The PCs will kick off the adventure by racing to the shore of Skull Island (Str Checks or profession Sailor). Once they hit the shore of the island goblin cannibals will run out of the jungle and attack the PCs. Badinoff will leave the PCs to their fate running away like a big chicken. Once the PCs have defeated the goblins they'll notice the bright and shiny jewelry the goblins wear as well as a simple map showing the location of "Shiny Cave". The PCs will travel to shiny cave which is filled with goblins, fiendish pirate traps and some zombie-pirates. Once they leave the cave they'll come face to face with Badinoff who has managed to gain the goblins trust (by feeding his rival adventurers to them). The PCs will have their big showdown and if the dice rolls go well return to the ship having completed their goals.

And if all goes according to plan you'll have a great new band of D&D players ready to create their own characters for a converted Savage Tide Campaign. ^_^

Oh addendum - Chimp Slaughter. Tell me how killing goblins is justifiably good by comparing them to chimps again?

You got my opinion right there Watchman.

I'm very excited about the prospect of this AP, I've wanted to run something with this theme for a long time.

I'll say this. The paladin in question definitely didn't commit a neutral act.

Today I had the privilege of running D&D for a group of players who have never played the game before. It was a great experience, but I thought the most interesting thing was that it was a Frankenventure.
What's that?

It's an adventure composed almost entirely of encounters and dungeons cribbed from pre-made adventures and stitched together into a cohesive story.

So I thought I'd start a thread that would celebrate people's most successful Frankenventures. I'll begin shall I?

Frankenventure Name: Hollow's Whispered Offering
Adventure Elements: Adventure hook and Droskar's Crucible from "Hollow's Last Hope", Opening encounter from "AP1: Burnt Offerings", final encounter "AoW Whispering Cairn" Filge's Observatory.
Stitching: The PCs are brought together when they all visit the local temple at the same time in the hopes of getting cured of a coughing illness they've caught. Waiting outside the temple with a group of the sick the PCs band together to fight of a band of Goblins ("Goblin Assault" from Burnt Offerings). During the assault the goblins burn up the cure sitting in a nearby caravan. The PCs are tasked with retrieving iron cap mushrooms for a replacement cure. Brief investigation later leads them to a nearby inn where they talk with a Dwarven historian who tells them of a possible location for the iron cap mushrooms a place called Droskar's Crucible.
The PCs encounter a zombified goblin "shaman". In the "shaman's" pocket is a note saying: "I have a gift for you. Come see me. -Filge"
The PCs then play through Droskar's Crucible. On returning to Falcon's Hollow the PCs then give the cleric the required ingredients. The next morning when they return for their cure the cleric informs them that the bodies of those who have succumbed to the Blackscour Taint had been stolen. After some investigation the PCs are led to the nearby observatory where they encounter Filge preparing the corpses for a full blown Blackscour Zombie invasion of the town.
Filge is a powerful character, I made him the disgraced son of the village cleric. His big plan was to waste the village's divine magic fighting back the blackscour taint, until they would be defenseless against a zombie invasion. He's dead.

My idea is an adventure that actually REQUIRES the characters to torch the badguy's domicile for a change.

I find that my players usually do that as a matter of course. In fact any plan involving fire is usually referred to as Plan A. I must make all my dungeons almost exclusively from stone, because my players like to smoke out the bad guys and ambush them.

A 3 adventure AP would be kind of nifty. Does anybody else remember those 3 linked Eberron adventures from Dungeon? Something of that calibre would be swish.

I love the 6 adventure APs, but I just can't commit to buying adventures I know I won't get to running. I prefer my D&D games to be mini-series rather than full length seasons.

Will the release date be any different for Australian consumers? Or will we have to wait longer for Pathfindey goodness at our local game store?

Another compelling argument about why Zombies win the sexy wars!

Zombies are always sexy. Has nobody seen the thriller dance!?

See that's where you and I differ in opinion. Proof is the paladin's burden, because without proof he's not eking justice he's just murdering. Even the "law of the jungle" is about indiscriminate killing. A paladin who decides he has the right to decide who lives or dies based on genetics? Sounds like something that presents a threat to the entire community.

In any case killing the goblin without finding proof of misdeeds is only doing half the job. At the very least he's a lazy paladin for not completing an entire investigation before pronouncing judgement. That's the rule of law. One that prevents vigilantism, which is what the paladin in this situation has partaken in.

There was no reason to murder the goblin though. He was not presenting an immediate threat to any citizen of the kingdom.

If it's discovered that the goblin's potions were legally obtained then what happens to the Paladin's class features?

Suddenly a goblin that's trying to make a living, support his innocent children is murdered brutally by a big, pink racist paladin. Hit in the back with an axe. Even on a textual basis, folk that stab folk in the back are never considered honorable.

But like I said, not my game world, and the DM's decision is final.

Zombies have always been sexier than vampires.

'nuff said.

Lying to a goblin to hit him in the back of the head with an axe?

Sounds exactly like he broke the "Act Honourably" tenet of the Paladin code. If I was his DM he'd lose his class features until such time as he could redeem himself.

A paladin has a responsibility to act within the rule of Law and Good equally. Murdering a goblin and taking his stuff without hard evidence that the goblin had committed a crime or an evil deed means he has only fulfilled half of his duty punishment without proving crime.

BUT that said, I'm not the DM, and it's not my game world. If he acted within the bounds of the game world "he IS the law" then there is no conflict. But it's a slippery slope. Having the power to BE the law can justify practically any action.

One of the best encounters I ran the first time I tried a Shackled City game was when I had some of the Hobgoblins in Jzadirune come out of the dungeon and try to assassinate the PCs in one of their homes. The brawl spilled out into the street and the Warforged Artificer accidentally set the roof on fire trying to take down some snipers.
The city watch arrived a couple of rounds later and attempted to arrest him for using a fire spell within city limits.
It was at this point I realised that I loved the Cauldron City setting over the AP itself.

Thanks for the great suggestions everybody, and yes I must run the Demonskar Ball! I'll keep people posted.

I might start the campaign in Red Gorge, run Hollow's Last Hope (replacing Falcon's Hollow with Red Gorge). After that have the characters move in to Cauldron.

Anybody have any answers as to how I can tie Hollow's Last Hope with the SCAP?

I agree, which is why I would like to make the Gnome magic at will rather than 1/day each. It seems more flavourful that they just have these natural abilities that they have constant access to.

Bookmarked.

It's a nice trick, but it's not any more broken than someone throwing a thunderstone down a hallway, or even just tossing their torch.

I like Gnome Magic, and the gnomes being described as Fey-related.

I'm trying to determine whether it would be unbalanced for Gnomes to be capable of casting their magic at will rather than a limited number of times per day.

I don't think there's anything particularly unbalanced about it, does it tread on the spell-caster's toes?

Since none of their magic really provides combat advantages I'm not seeing an issue.

Just wondering...

Hey all,

I've owned Shackled City for years, and a couple of years ago attempted to run a game set in Eberron, which for better or worse failed. Still I always loved the setting of the city in a volcano and wanted to run a more streamlined version of the Adventure Path.

The reason for this is threefold -

1) New Players - I've recently found a group of players completely new to D&D (or Pathfinder for that matter) and I thought giving them a truly 'fantastic' experience in the Shackled City would be a great way to get them hooked on the game. The Adventure Path is notoriously difficult, and the first adventure alone is very arduous, I don't want to discourage my players who have never even played Baldur's Gate from learning the game by giving them a campaign that requires deep and intimate knowledge of the rules to complete.

2) Confusing Plot - I've read the Shackled City adventure path a number of times and ultimately it leaves me confused and I'm the DM privvy to *all* the information. Valantru wants to control the city, but he ends up allying with the very people who are going to destroy the city, to free Adimarcus who went mad and is trapped in another dimension because they had some bad dreams? I can't help but feel that the PCs actions aren't really driving any of this story whatsoever. I can't think of a reason why anyone would care if Adimarcus got free, and while hell on Earth is a terrible thing ultimately that plot left me feeling a little cold. So I'm going to try to simplify the plot by focusing on the themes I enjoyed most about this adventure path.

3) Pathfinderizing and Setting - Since I'm going to be using Pathfinder for these players I'm still going to have to do some conversion work. So since I'm writing anyway I might as well do as much as possible.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

What I need from you.

What do you think the most iconic moments of the SCAP are?
Right now I have the following:

Chapter 1 (Life's Bazaar)
Opening Scene - The PCs are brought together when they stop the mugging of a Priest.
Fun Traps in old Gnome town - The occasional trap spicing up combat to highlight the dynamic nature of combat. One fight in an elevator was particularly interesting.
The Slave Bazaar - Kazmojen trying to sell the kids into slavery and being stopped by the PCs was a great Big Damn Hero moment.

Chapter 2 (Drakthar's Way)
Nothing of particular note as interesting. Although perhaps using bits and pieces from Rise of the Rune Lords Burnt Offerings might be fun.

Chapter 3 (Flood Season)
Werebaboon! This has to be one of the most fun villain ideas ever.
Shensen Teseril - Sexy NPC fun!
Fighting the Flood - the moment where the waters recede is another Big Damn Hero moment.

Chapter 4 (Zenith Trajectory)
Umberhulk Smash! - Big monster causing chaos in town. Gold!
Fight a Dragon! - The PCs get an opportunity to face one of the most iconic creatures in the game. The only problem is that it feels too much like a random encounter. Dragon fighting should be a climax not a mid-point.
The Pit of Seven Jaws. That's right, not long after fighting a Dragon, the PCs are pitted against a hydra on a very precarious stair-case. This could be a great fight but with a dragon already fought it gets somewhat overshadowed.
Fingerlings - creepy, weird and fun!
Dhorlot - Another dragon, but this one is a big chicken and flies off.
Zenith - Prophecies of doom.

Chapter 5 (Demonskar Legacy)
Tax Riot - Very great moment for an Urban campaign.
Fire in the Night - Racial tensions boiling over, again v. cool.
Rage of Nabtharon - A demon murdering a paladin is a very great moment.

Chapter 6 (Test of the Smoking Eye)
Dimensional Travel - Entering a strange new hell 'tainted' by good, very nifty.
Kaurophon - from ally to enemy in the blink of an eye.
Gaining the Smoking Eye Template - The ability to rule another dimension is kind of cool.

Chapter 7 (Secrets of the Soul Pillars)
Spellweaver Coffins - Creepy + Interesting
Dracoliche - Fighting dragons is fun!

Chapter 8 (Lords of Oblivion)
Fight with Valantru

Chapter 9 (Foundation of Flame)
The whole thing!

Chapter 10 (Thirteen Cages)
-

Chapter 11 (Strike on Shatterhorn)
-

Chapter 12 (Asylum)
Final Fight with Adimarcus.

Perhaps ending the campaign with Foundation of Flame might be the way to go? Or changing the ultimate goal from defeating Adimarcus to defeating Valantru?

Anyway what do people think. Have I missed any iconic moments that are important to the game?