Hierophantasm's page

I would agree with the above posts, except for one thing. A long time ago when the issue first came out, I posted some similar questions. I seem to recall someone said something to the effect of that they had intended the Rhagodessa to be able to use improved grab on medium creatures as well, and that it didn't get into the stat block by mistake. It is true that improved grab generally only works on creatures one size smaller, but there are some exceptions which are noted in their individual stat blocks.

Ah, here, check out this thread here

Thanks for the link! That clears up the rhagodessa's improved grab, at least. I'm still unsure about the nature of the free bite after a grab, in conjunction with a full attack, however. I'm not opposed to going one way or the other, or with ruling as a DM that it can make that second bite. (My players balked at the sound of a creature making two bites in a round aboard the Blue Nixie, but that encounter went soundly, albeit challengingly.) Still, with the possibility of them fighting three in the Lotus Dragon's Guildhall, I would like to make sure if and when I TPK (here's hoping!) my PCs, that I don't do so by stretching the rules.

(Pardon my bloodthirst, but after AoW, and not a single player losing a single character, I wanna at least serve up one funerary encounter. And low-level gameplay seems like the most accessible means for me.)

While I feel the fight with Dragotha would have been a sufficient challenge for most groups, the fight with Kyuss becomes ridiculously easy for a group as written, IMO. I suggest the following:

Make the fighting Alhaster and sealing the Unlife Vortex the only tangible means to make combating Kyuss a possibility. That is, with all of the magnificent artifacts at the PCs disposal--the sphere of annihilation, most notably--I believe Kyuss should be run as statted, if despair has been fought and the Unlife Vortex sealed. Sure, theoretically he's a CR 30-ish creature--with divine abilities, no less--but he's one against an average of four--likely epic--characters. Even with his all-encompassing immunities, he will be overwhelmed by a reasonably prepared party, and fast.

Another reason to make Kyuss tough-as-nails is that your players know that this is the end of the campaign. They are pulling out all the stops, using all those hoarded fate points (SoLS), artifacts, gate spells, wishes, and much more. A prayer bead of karma can give a divine caster the edge to gate in a solar with no questions asked, for instance, and with Dragotha's hoard (talismans of Zagy), Manzorian's scrolls, and--if recovered from Buldumech--Lashonna's ring of three wishes nets the party up to nine free wishes!

Even better, one of Kyuss' biggest strengths (negative energy/death spells) can easily be shut down with the simple death ward spell, and its many applications/variations. While I appreciate the verisimilitude of Kyuss' spell selection, any PC worth his salt is going into this fight with death ward up. I wouldn't hose the PCs on this, but you may need to compensate.

One thing I gave Kyuss to give him more staying power was an equivalent of Unholy Toughness...though I allowed him to keep his Constitution bonus to hit points, too. All together, this gives him a massive 1140hp. You may also want to let him keep his insight bonus to AC, though this makes even touch/ray spells practically impossible to hit him (unless True Strike/Rod of Seven Parts bonus is applied, and even then, it's unlikely). Also, consider letting him emerge from his prison without having to waste a round to do so...this hurts him big time! Combined with his already massive saves (I wouldn't up these, as they are already really high) should give you several rounds to look back fondly on as the climax of a great campaign.

The Rhagodessa is a rather potent creature introduced in the first adventure of the Savage Tide (There Is No Honor). But I do have a few questions I was hoping someone could answer for me regarding how they play.

The first being how their full attacks function in conjunction with their pedipalps. The description for their improved grab says that if they hit with a pedipalp attack, they can attempt to start a grapple as a free action...and can make a bite attack as a free action, with a +4 bonus. My questions arise from here.

First, can they use their improved grab against creatures of medium size (or larger, theoretically) with their pedipalps, or are they too subject to the restriction that it can only be used on a smaller creature? (I believe this restriction comes from the improved grab description in the Monster Manual.) In a way, this question can apply to the ravenous zombie pirates to follow in this adventure, and their improved grab (bite).

Second, if they make a full attack action, hit with a pedipalp, follow it with a successful grapple, and then bite attack, can they continue with their full attack action? Is their full attack action canceled by starting a grapple? If not, does this mean that it can make up to three bite attacks a round with a full action, provided that each pedipalp hits, and that by winning the grapple check for improved grab, it is allowed to make a bite attack as a free action?

Finally, does the +4 bonus that the rhagodessa gains for making a bite attack following a successful grapple help to negate the -4 penalty that usually follows making an attack in a grapple, or do the rhagodessas somehow supercede this penalty? (Penalty to hit with natural weapon listed under Grapple in PHB.)

Again, I absolutely love these original creatures--especially considering they are vermin, and always useful--that help to represent the brutal spirit of the Savage Tide Adventure Path. If anyone could help me (and others) to clear up these questions, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Scuttlecove is wonderful--I can't freakin' wait to kill all my players as Cold Captain Wyther--but I agree that it is a pity that it seems set up for only one adventure. Two seems right, as I've been able to get a lot of mileage out of every backdrop in AoW, and Sasserine and Farshore seemed to be indicative of encompassing at least two adventures each.

What I am tempted to do is jump ahead a bit, and run a horror-themed one-shot in Scuttlecove, that will drive the sheer evil of that place home. Perhaps something involving the Dire Hunger Monks? Nothing quite makes my players cringe like cannibalism.

Or, if the fates favor me, I'll be able to scrounge up a copy of Dungeon #95, with Porphyry House Horror in it. Tell me, is this available as a download from the site?

When I ran AoW, certain NPCs that seemed to have a resonance, I kept up with and leveled. (A personal favorite was an acolyte of Vecna, turned cleric of Wee Jas, later turned into the new head priest of the temple to St. Cuthbert in Diamond Lake). In some ways, I did it for my own amusement, as their stats were rarely of significance, but it affords the opportunity for more social PCs to invite an old pal/acquaintance/former enemy into a sidequest/dungeon with them. I'd say three or so meaningful ones are worth the effort, but even the most fastidious DMs might feel like their spending too much time fleshing out any more NPCs than that, stat-wise that is.

I liked Skald, too, and would likely do the same with him. But it's all those villainous NPCs hinted at in the Sasserine backdrop and Savage Tide Player's Handbook (primarily devoted to Sasserine, anyway) that I'm eager to use. Errix Vorn has already reared his terrifying visage--in homage to Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man from Phantasm...boy!

...the dwarf's a barbarian...

I would've guessed fighter, but that's what I get for envisioning every dwarf barbarian as wearing a viking helmet, and carrying a greatclub. I like how the new illustrations are breaking old stereotypes.

Now, on topic...

I love the Jade Ravens! My players are already attributing characteristics to them that make them counterpoints/simulacra to their own characters. My PCs are a human knife-thrower (like Zan), an aventi druidess (a bit like Kaskus), a piratey warlock (almost close to Liamae), a half-orc crusader (okay, nothing like Tolin, but I'm making Tolin a warblade for the effect), and a human artificer--who could ally with any of them, for sure. Gee, I should've made up one more Jade Raven. Could've been an old character from a previous campaign. One of my favorite things to do.

BTW, love what happens to Kaskus in Scuttlecove! Can't wait to see the looks on my players' faces. (Poor guy.)

This was a combat option called Refocus. It was a v.3.0 mechanic. It is no longer part of the game in v.3.5. You can Ready or Delay in the current game system. However, none of them have a built in "go at the start of the round" element. If you delay, you simply announce when you are going in the round, however, it cannot interrupt someone else's action. You would need to ready an action to do that. Either one of these can accomplish the same thing, which is why Refocus was probably dropped.

Thanks for highlighting this. I was pretty sure that this was the case. I actually made a point of reiterating exactly this at the start of our newest campaign, so that there would be no confusion about how readying or delaying actions were handled.

However, can anyone suggest a means to keep a specific running count of who goes before whom when multiple targets have readied to act on one character's initiative? As it changes the readying character's initiative to the initiative of the target, how does one differentiate between characters in following rounds as to who goes first? (My instinct is to go with whichever readying character has the highest initiative count.)

Don't forget about death ward, which can really shut down much of Kyuss' power spells. You'll probably see that, as well.

Kyuss got kinda pwned in my campaign. I should say that after twelve adventures of build-up, and a heavy knowledge and understanding of what Kyuss stood for, they were ready, artifacts or not. So I made a few compromises.

I gave Kyuss serious hit points. I gave him 1340, to be specific, chalking up 480 to a Kyuss-specific kind of "unholy toughness", and then another 200 for kicks, not that it really mattered. Truth is, I also followed the directions for the fight, partially to the word.

I reduced his divine rank to 0, as the PCs successfully fought off despair and destroyed the Unlife Vortex. I only kept him in the monolith for one round, as two would have definitely made it too rough. In retrospect, if your party consistently has a habit of doing massive damage early on, I'd forego that first round in his prison, as well, especially if your party brings the sphere of annihilation. (Note: I learned in that fight that a gate spell will not automatically shut a sphere. Poor Kyuss learned it too when he tried.)

I also let him keep his insight bonus to AC. This made it very hard (practically impossible) for anyone but our spellsword to hit him, even with touch spells, but that worked out fine for my party. (The spellsword, with all his crazy bonuses, was well past Kyuss' AC anyway).

I also, in a rather tongue-in-cheek way, gave him immunity to imprisonment (as the spell), as that spell, theoretically, might end the fight right there...unlikely, but possible.

Prior to the fight, they all buffed, but they also used a wish each (there are plenty to grab from in this adventure) to simulate a night's rest, thus being able to recover spells. It seems like a lot, but I figured it wasn't, as they timeline they had was closer to a week, and I played it up like Alhaster would be destroyed that night from the start. So, whereas they could have easily gone to Magepoint, slept, and returned, they opted to press on; and in that heroic spirit to save Alhaster, I figured it was fair.

In truth, our party (a diviner, bard, spellsword, and cleric, for short), had a great deal of resources to beat Kyuss. I still think he would be a challenging foe for most, so consider that before giving them a foe you know they cannot beat. Try to force them to use that sphere of annihilation, and the Hand of Vecna if they have it. They should automatically be using the 6th and 7th Rod parts, and someone should have Icosiol's Circlet on (perfect for overcoming Kyuss' DR).

Ultimately, Kyuss will probably be a memorable fight. It should be hard, but fair. If your PCs press on from the bottom of the spire to the top, they're in for a few tough fights to boot. Lashonna is amazing, and is nigh impossible to hit, especially for a dragon. And Maralee...whoa! Getting into melee with this monster is just asking for her to drop you, at least. Still, one of my brave PCs did just this, and the fight was truly unforgettable. Have fun with the Spire! It's a magnificent conclusion to the Age of Worms.

A "royal rumble" would hearken back to the Champion's Games. A wee bit chaotic, but it could be fun. Still, I think Krathanos was a great fight, so I'd try for that, too.

Or, maybe they could all fight Krathanos. He's a high EL, so it's not unreasonable. (I'm surprised Darl couldn't beat him, myself.) Either way, doing either should result in a fun fight that makes Darl and company more interesting, at least.

I wish I could've done Darl justice. Unfortunately, one MDJ, and he and his allies had all their buffs removed. (Note: if you have your PCs at level 17, and the wizard gets the initiative, with MDJ, it's a big difference in the EL. This is primarily because Darl relies on a great deal of buffs for himself.)

That aside, if I could go back, here's how his tactics would've broken down:

[Should have the following buffs active: foresight, greater spell immunity (your choice, and don't be gentle...meta-game a little here), spell turning, protection from spells, heroes feast, freedom of movement, protection from energy (as per PC-favored element); also consider true seeing, bears endurance, owls wisdom, stoneskin (from wand), tongues (why not), and spell resistance]

Also note: Darl and his allies should try to fight the PCs on terrain that favors their mobility. I recommend just after an encounter with one of the trials (but not Krathanos, as that might be too mean), and preferably not near Harrowdroth's lair, as the Disciples of Darkness seem to be at a disadvantage amongst the thickets below, in my experience.

1st Round: repulsion and quickened death ward
2nd Round: quickened silence (swap out for quickened cure mod) on a Sinfire Twin (a good idea) or spell resistance if not active or greater dispel magic and quickened cure if needed
3rd Round: implosion or mass heal and quickened cure if needed
4th Round: continue implosion, unless most allies dead or at 40-50hp, then quickened plane shift

He's actually not that complex, but you have to do some extra math ahead of time to consider what all those buff spells will do to his stat block (some are factored in, however). Though the EL is pretty high, consider giving him another ally. Krekie, if she lives, is an appropriate choice, but many people opt to give Darl a gated ally. For this, pit fiend is probably the most appropriate and popular, but other good choices include the chronotyrn (Fiend Folio), or my choice, a molydeus (Fiendish Codex 1: Hordes of the Abyss).

The later adventures might very well take less time to run, but the reason, it seems, is that it is because the later adventures might very well be "stat block heavy." That is, because of the meatier stat blocks for creatures, the adventures might very well be shorter. (Without giving away any spoilers, the BBEG in Age of Worms had a whopping three-page stat block.)

On the other hand, they might not be so much longer, as they are less experience-rewarding. If you look at the experience tables in the DMG, the first few levels see a whopping amount of experience coming the PCs way. (1st level's gone before you know it.) At higher levels, the experience doesn't seem to come as easy. Also, higher CR challenges are less common than in low level play, comparatively. So, leveling becomes less common.

Bearing those in mind, you can probably expect any given adventure to take the same number of sessions, but with less leveling at higher levels.

If you go the cleric route, another pair of prestige classes to eye would be the Sacred Purifier out of Libris Mortis (if lots of Extra Turning and positive energy damage is your thing) or the Wormhunter prestige class out of Dragon #338. I should mention that the Wormhunter (while it sounds spoilerish to mention it, I don't think it is) is a very flexible prestige class for any class, but primarily works best for the classes found in the PHB.

As for the Radiant Servant of Pelor being too powerful for this campaign, I disagree. Rather, I feel it would be most appropriate, amongst the many others listed. Though it tends to cater to metagaming, if you want to experience that "life versus undeath" kind of conflict, how much more appropriate could you get?

Never mind the armor wearing and Wis-based arcane DCs (which are great in themselves), but he'll also be able to spontaneously swap arcane or divine spells for cure spells, AND be able to use both arcane or divine spells with the Arcane Strike feat, too.

That is a neat trick with swapping out divine spells for arcane strike! Arcane Strike became a endgame favorite for our resident spellsword/eldritch knight in AoW. He would quickened dimension door into melee, and go hasted full-attack double legacy weapon crazy with arcane strike. It was something!

Considering you're going to have such amazing spell versatility, you may want to look at going into melee. A cleric can give him/herself a surprising amount of buffing with things like divine power and (even the toned-down) righteous might, not to mention the (also toned down) divine favor. My own NPC cleric went this route in AoW, and often quickened divine favor, and later divine power, while extending shield of faith and nightshield (Spell Comp). With this, you get the offensive capability of a fighter, and all that spellcasting of a wizard or cleric. I'm jealous! Good job with the build!

It's possible that there's something deep in their monastery that's pulling the strings, or maybe even in the unexplored dungeons under the Scuttlecove Palace, I suppose...

How does a Greater Dusk Giant (Heroes of Horror) with levels of monk and the Snatch and Swallow feat (Draconomicon) tickle ya?

I've ran AoW, and Alhaster was particularly loathed by my players, especially the public executions. But with Scuttlecove, and its open debauchery, who knows? They may prefer the "protective" vigilance of the Blessed Angels over the cannibalistic Order of Dire Hunger, for starters.

Brent, you have my deepest sympathies. I have a brother, too, and we both play D&D. For what it's worth, your story helps to put that relationship into perspective. God be with you and yours in this time.

And yes. This is possibly the best thread title ever.

Thanks! But you're not off the hook with that pin-up calendar that easy!

Orcus? Cheescake? That's just wrong...

The only time "Orcus" and "cheesecake" would be found in the same sentence would be if he was shoving another slice of triple fudge caramel ripple down his Abyssal gullet, the fat bastard. That's why he's "Prince of the Undead", and not "Prince of the Unfed".

Wow, this is a good question I overlooked myself. Thank you for asking it, and thanks cthulhu_waits for the answer, before I made the same mistake.

I've found the whole problem with having enough minis of the appropriate type rather frustrating myself.

Same here. While I loved the last two adventures, I had to improvise with several encounters calling for many gargantuan or colossal figures. *growl* Fortunately, these were not overwhelmingly crucial tactical encounters, so no harm/no foul.

That's an unfortunate combo of errors. Raams are undead, and they should not have a Constituition score.

I just took it that they were giants, with undead traits. A nasty foe if there ever was one, thus the desire to appease them by not busting into their guarded vault.

My players teleported directly to the Citadel of Weeping Dragons. Theoretically, that would have put them far beyond all the other stuff leading up to that fight. I decided to teach them a lesson for their lack of stealth, and ambush them with Vermirox and a pair of invisible blues with metabreath feats.

Still, they got inside, and chatted it up with Kagro, even managing to negotiate their way out of fighting Bram (not easy at all, with a half-black dragonwrought kobold in the party). However, they knew they needed the other key, and thus were led back to the Rift Crawler's lair, and into an ambush by Necrozyte. On their way out, and to the Citadel, again, it was Xyzanth.

So, ultimately, teleporting or not, they'll find themselves in positions of traveling back and forth, where teleport likely won't be a foolproof way of traveling, and in those gaps, the dragons strike!

[Remember...(as a DM,) if you kill all the players, you win!]--thanks, Dragon Strike!

Has anyone noticed that the Savage Tide Adventure Path is shaping up to contain a significant amount of "cheesecake"?

To explain, Serpents of Scuttlecove just came out, and I'm noticing a continuing trend amongst the female NPCs that they are (mostly) all tough and hot...well, er, vixens! (Thank you, Russ Meyer.)

We have, as a running total:

Lavinia Vanderboren (truly the "goodie two-shoes" of the batch)
Rowyn Kellani (my favorite, and the first fiery femme fatale)
Harliss Javell (brassy, raven-haired, and competent beyond most men)
Tyralandi (half-fiend nymph...nuff said)

That's not even mentioning other "hotties", like Liamae Teslikaria or Amella Venkalie. Also, we're sure to see the seductive succubi queens, like Shami-Amourae and Malcanthet.

So, what's the deal, Paizo? Are we going to see a "Sasserine Swimsuit Spectacular" on your list of releases? ;-)

Personally, I'm especially thrilled with the savage template! I know it's been here for a few months, but I'm just starting the AP tomorrow.

At some point, I'm going to apply the savage template to a half-green dragon barbarian (because monk won't work) and make...The Savage Dragon!

There. My goofball moment of the day.

I absolutely can't wait to use Cold Captain Wyther. What a badazz!! And somehow, I'm not tired of the "Mini-Demogorgon" monsters in the appendices, yet. I love the Orlath, with its 17 attacks! (I wanna give it levels in dervish, pleeeese...)

Anyway, I especially enjoy the very mature setting. Surely, this backdrop will overtake Alhaster (AoW) as the most loathed backdrop amongst my players, for its palpable evil and corruption.

Finally, I especially liked the consistent use of varied yuan-ti, a race that doesn't seem to get much attention outside of Forgotten Realms adventures. Time to constrict...

Unfortnatly, my players have been, up until now, completely uninterested in sidequests. They're more intent on riding the rails than I, as a dm, am interested in putting them.

I know how that can be. Different players--not necessarily PCs--require different motivation. Consider what things push their buttons to action. I'd only pursue the sidequests you think that the players themselves would want to go for.

Let's say that a player is a treasure hoarder, and loves money/gear. If you want him--or the rest of the party, for that matter--to get out and explore more, try having the respective players things "stolen in the night." (This is a bit cliche, I know, and isn't always the best approach, as anyone with an alarm spell will tell you, but for the example...) Maybe the only clue are some scales and a claw at the windowsill. Maybe asking around town if they've seen anything suspicious--to recover their gear--leads them to one of the townsfolk who an avaricious, demon-possessed weredragon (or something...), that leads to combat. The extra experience will help them get over the hump, so that if they express less interest in something later, they don't have to feel the burn for not pursuing something they don't want, anyway.

On the whole, look for those buttons, and push'em when they're not looking.

Wow, I wish I had the opportunity to use so many good ideas as you have at this interval. My PCs were consistently ahead of the curve after Midnight's Muddle, so sidequests were becoming less frequent as a result. Still, don't be afraid to make them work for that extra experience, especially if there are more than four members of the party.

Personally, I'd forego adding any Kyuss worm heavy foes just prior to this adventure, as your PCs are sure to get their fill by the end of it.

We begin the Savage Tide on April 6th, and I'm already proud that they all are willing to skip the premiere night of Grindhouse for my game!

On that note, our five person party consists of:

Zatara--human male warlock: His past shrouded in mystery, even to himself, this victim of amnesia strode out of the ocean, and was taken in as a lover of Rowyn Kellani, after becoming bored with her previous one. Escaping an ultimatum from her, he's got a hot tip to meet up with a batch of adventurers at the Vanderboren Estate. Appears in the rough 'n' dirty, dreadlocks-esque pirate sort, cutlass and all.

Tok--half-orc male crusader (Tome of Battle): Something of an idiot savant, Tok was left as an orphan at the Sunrise District's Church of Pelor. A priest named Father Gelben took him under his wing, and named him Oren. Teased in his upbringing, he commited his studies to dedicated prayer to Pelor. With great strength, he developed martial prowess early in life. The church has also "adopted" another half-orc "sister" of his. He came recommended to Lavinia by the church, as he is at the age to forge his way.

We also have three other players--more mechanically oriented--who did not supply me with a back story, so much as their character concepts. They are:

human male fighter: specializes in knives/knife throwing
human male artificer: crafting junkie
(human? male?) druid: pursuing Master of Many Forms prestige class

Looking forward the the chaos come friday!

I voted formians (so much for a secret ballot), because I never get tired of a good bug hunt. One of the very first adventures I ran was with a bunch of hivebrood (D&D Mystara) and ogres, and even a dusanu. I long await the day of revisiting that gem, exploding underground caves and loin-cloth barbarians, et al.

Loathe as I am to admit it, I'm still recovering from the vampiric onslaught in Vampires of Waterdeep...awesome, but vampires still have their place on the list.

If I could make a request, I'm less than savvy about kenku, and it might be personal. But after Three Faces of Evil, Weavers, and a mean one in Library of Last Resort, I think they deserve a nomination. Maybe fire giants, too. (And yet, I can't get enough lizardmen...go figure. Never thought I'd be able to say that sentence in context.)

Gummy worms on the battlemat sounds like a good idea to me. When do you ever get a chance to do that?

I'd love to see an Adventure Path that featured worms as the antagonist! ;-)

I generally use a "reroll if its in, at most, the lower 25%," kinda rule. That is, classes with d4s for hp can reroll on a 1, and barbarians can reroll on a 1, 2, or 3. d8s can reroll with a 1 or 2 as well. However, classes with d6s only get to reroll on a 1, and d10s on a 1 or 2. It means that those low rolls won't bite you on the bum, and still takes the classes hit dice into consideration.

A lot of great ones in AoW (where I got my resurrection at the DM's seat), what with Midnight's Muddle (in Free City of Greyhawk), the Demiplane of Last Resort, and more. But my all-time published favorite is Alhaster (before and after). Zeech is such a jerk, and the city is so wholly dominated, that my players wanted to rise to heroics after a few brief descriptions of the place. Definitely my favorite backdrop and adventure site.

My player actually just sent it to me a few days ago. He's a half-orc crusader of Pelor, grew up in Sunrise, and has significant penalties to Int and Cha--should be a challenge for a crusader, IMO.

Fairly by-the-book backstory, but I'm hoping my player will allow me to suggest a few additions that might add some weight to it, including being an orphan, parents killed by bullywugs, having a sister skilled in trapmaking, being raised on one of the nearby plantations with a generous keeper, believing he saved his loved ones from a wraith-like entity, while suffering from heatstroke in the midst of a hot day at work, hallucinating as he recovered and believing that his arms were made of stone, training with Zelkarune's Horns, then Kera Gosalar in Sunrise, additionally saving her from racist monks from the Scarlet Brotherhood, and so on. Y'know...

I agree about the universal appeal of the Adventure Paths. I can only imagine the level of work that goes into them. I'd love to see more like it, particularly one that doesn't have to wait until all the cards fall in to place to see hardcover publication. Perhaps one published under a subsidary magazine, or Adventure Path Magazine, or something.

If I could go back and do it again, I'd make the thralls Lolth's Stings (Monster Manual IV), instead of fighters, just for panache. See if that interests you.

I've got a player playing a crusader in the upcoming first session. Sure, they are meat shields, capable of healing and attacking simultaneously. I love the book. Though there could be a few more monsters, I understand as it has nine legacy weapons! Still, martial adepts are--mostly--going to feel the burn as ranged attacks become commonplace.

It's like a parable I generally relate to my players. Who's stronger: one archer or four fighters with greatswords. It all depends on the terrain, distance, visibility, etc. If the archer is positioned on top of a plateau, overlooking a chasm that the four fighters are travelling through, then the archer is likely more powerful, considering he could get the ranged advantage more easily, hide more easily, etc. You see the point. The same applies for other ranged combatants. A group of warblades are just asking for fireballs at long-ranged combat.

I've got five players with action points. Too hard? Shoot, I'm giving Soller's men muskets--well, at least one! And that rhagodessa? It's bursting through the deck the moment the fight with Soller ends. Make'em sweat!

At least you're dreaming about STAP. I don't even want to describe some of the weird dreams I had when running Age of Worms, but crawling through a tunnel of worms ranks up there with the worst of them. At least STAP gets foul-mouthed pirate hotties...

I think I had to put the issues down when I actually dreamed I was Kyuss, cowl, mace, et al. Bad imagination/subconscious, bad! No get carried way!

On the plus side, I'm sure I'll be having sweet/spicy dreams about Rowyn Kellani, starting in April. ;-)

My gamers and I almost had our first TPK the other night. My brother was DMing in a no-to-low magic/"Conan"-esque style campaign, and we finally confronted our foe. After many encounters with ogres, ettins, and a hag covey, we faced an ogre barbarian with a magic sword and a dread witch/sorcerer (no magic in our hands pretty much, but low for the rest of the enemies, etc.) Well, I and another dropped, while two of the party ran away frightened. It was a grueling match, that factored up to being near an overwhelming encounter. (We like the challenge.) But, it took us closer to a TPK than any other fight I've been in. (It's, in fact, the first time I've ever been dropped--rather, critted, and knocked out of a second story bridge.)
Personally, while I would have been disappointed at not having been able to take this character to his prestige progression, I fully believe that a dead character is best remembered as such--unless magic can/should bring him back. That's part of the thrill of low and mid level gameplay. Death looms. With a TPK, the unexpected really happens. It's more work for a DM to situate the new party into its setting, if at all, but its also fun to spice things up with a new character.
Plus, the threat of a TPK allows for a true sense of accomplishment after a challenging encounter. If it all came down to a numbers game--which it is, really, but anyway--it would be no better than an interactive storytelling game. Fine for some, but I like to roleplay aggressive combat, too.
I'm a bit tired of feeling pampered in D&D as a player, and look forward to the time when my character just doesn't cut the mustard anymore. It's a warning sign that when the doo-doo really hits the fan in a D&D encounter, you'll remember not to open door number two...without checking for traps first.

Well, we just finished Age of Worms, so I can say with relative assurance what the most challenging encounters were.

1: The Ebon Aspect--still the most challenging foe for its level. Hats off to Mike Mearls for the fascinating Aspect, and the most potent challenge in the whole AP.
2: Maralee--though she went under another moniker for my campaign (Awlmont Hog for my players, who are finally allowed on the boards), she/he had not only a vicious gaze attack that threatened to severely debilitate the party, but full attacked our overzealous spellsword, including a critical with the executioner's mace! A real bloodspray encounter.
3: Vermirox and two old, very angry, invisible blue dragons with metabreath crunk--that's whatcha get for teleporting right to the Weeping Citadel's front gate! Perhaps my cheesiest moment, w/heighten, quicken, clinging, and lingering, the crisscross of lighting dropped at least one character, and severely hurt the rest.
4: Four colossal overworms in Lashonna's Dungeon in the Arena of the Worm (?)--wow. They went in with very depleted resources, and I kinda egged them on, too, and these monstrosities appeared and surrounded them. One or two are bad enough, with sick grapple checks and hit points, but four! Our epic timestop/delayed blast fireball-wielding wizard did the majority to them all, blessed with my inability to accuratly draw out the room for lack of space on the dry-erase board, as it managed to grapple at least two characters. The others finished them off fast, even as one was swallowed. Considering that my party lucked out by never actually casting a teleport spell in this dungeon, this is a hard encounter all around.
5: Those Invisible Stalkers (Hall of Harsh Reflections)--attention DMs: show no mercy to players who go unequipped into a dungeon. This is one of those moments where an unprepared PC should get what's coming. Whiffing for rounds, the invisible stalkers brought the progression to a halt, as my players tried to come up with ways to locate the invisible creatures without the aid of magic. (This is not universally true. One player did have see invisibility, and had to resort to guiding the others as to what squares to hit.) Surprisingly, no one fell into the drink, but this encounter begins to highlight the need for standard dungeoneering equipment, including staple potions and scrolls. No more just saving up for that big market modifier magic sword!

Lots of other encounters I thought would be challenging, just weren't. My players hosed Dragotha with a rather clever trick (See "Dragotha--How Much Is Too Much thread for details), and Kyuss was swarmed from the start, even with the 1340hp I gave him! Perhaps in the following AP, I'll keep in mind the BBEGs strengths and weaknesses, and make for more excitingly climactic encounters.

The Red Herrings? ;-)

I've always wanted to do it, but the opportunity has never surfaced for me. Kudos for being able to implement it in a way that you and your players enjoy!

Well after reviewing several posts I just realized that Hierophantasm has already played out the Dragotha scenario, he most likely won't need it. So yeah, that's cool. I'll shoot you an email and we can discuss the specifics.

Aye, 'tis true, but I appreciate the concern. Thanks! While I'm kind of a DIY guy when it comes to gaming props, anyway, (I'm already customizing a mini for Kyuss from a Nightwalker mini,) it sounds like you might have a mini-business opportunity on your hands! Kudos!

Personally, I'm hoping Wizards and Paizo make nice, and offer up expansion sets for their Miniatures game, featuring miniatures featured in the Age of Worms Adventure Path. How cool would that be?

Thanks. I'm gonna have to try a 3D terrain encounter with my players in the near future. Perhaps Kyuss...

Buffing would be recommended. But since Mak'ar put up no fight with my group, I would recommend at least expanding the size of the room he's in, possibly allowing for varying levels of terrain, or other terrain-based obstacles, like a ring of worms. If I had to do it again, I'd make it a 90-foot diameter ring, with a pinnacle in the center, like a fountain, with worms all around it. The cubicle he's in by default is actually kinda embarrasing.

Consider giving him extra allies, in the form of his Kyuss Knight buddies. I added a secret passage connecting his room with that of the three knights. Even better, the Swords of Kyuss are truly vicious with their Invocation of the Worm ability--unless your party's gotten smart and is well prepped with death ward.

Mirror Image is a classic, and it forces PCs to use true seeing (a tactic they'll appreciate in later installments of the AP). Mirror Image (and displacement) give evil spellcasters (particularly liches) a better chance of dealing with potentially lethal one-hit/big damage spells, like disintegrate or bolt of glory. Spell turning is a great way to keep him alive, and probably appropriate, but it's one of those spells that your players are gonna hate--for better or worse. At least if forces them to bust out dispel magic first round, rather than fireballs.

I actually did deliver a TPK in 3FoE. But I do not repent of it. That kind of stuff happens in D&D and it was a great session.

I'm not surprised. I expected to get a TPK in that one, too. IMO, it's the most challenging dungeon in the AP for it's level.

That's quite an amazing likeness! Congrats, and I hope the fight goes memorably.

Say, where do you go to get the tools for making this kind of setup? A hobby shop, or would something like Target have it? I'm already postulating the possibilities of doing something like this for other D&D encounters.

Within the context of the Age of Worms Adventure Path, my favorites have been:

1: Three Faces of Evil
2: Kings of the Rift
3: Dawn of a New Age

As for my players, their general consensus is that their favorites are (I hope I'm accurately speaking for them):

1: The Champion's Belt
2: Kings of the Rift
3: Spire of Long Shadows

As for my least favorite's it would be tough. I've really enjoyed the whole campaign. But if I had to highlight areas where I found my players encountered the most stumbling blocks/baffled expressions/misdirection, I would say:

1: A Gathering of Winds
2: Hall of Harsh Reflections
3: Into Wormcrawl Fissure

Honestly, I'm hoping one of my PCs considers her as a love interest. Really, its as if every one of my players is absolutely adverse to the idea of romance in a D&D game...oh, well. Maybe that Charisma score will get bumped up, and I can describe her like Keira Knightly, a la Pirates of the Carribean. ;-)

Worse comes to worse, maybe they'll like Rowyn more. A tattooed bad girl with a pet dragon. Huzzah!

I grew up on Mystara. More accurately, I didn't know what any other "campaign setting" was. The D&D Rules Cyclopedia addressed Mystara--the Known World, and that weird Hollow World. So, many old faces are coming around again.

I can't tell you the look of joy I had when I saw "Bargle the Infamous" in one of Dungeon's more recent Critical Threats. (He was a major villian in one of my campaigns back then.) Other names I'm seeing come up include Zanzer Tem, and his dungeon with Axel, and others. The Isle of Dread is no exception, making running STAP all that much juicier.

I've reintroduced many names and faces from those halcyon D&D days of yore in my current campaigns, and if we see more "Mystara" material--and I admit, it's getting recognition--its sure to motivate me to at least do a one-shot with it.

Perhaps the Pit of Worms (see aftermath of Dawn of a New Age) leads to a portal to the Wormscape, eh? Urge...for epic adventure...rising...urg. Must...resist...starting STAP soon! Aggh, the pressure! Kyuss worms...eating my brain...and all my free time!