Darkjoy's page

im gonna put cauldron in the realms because the group im gonna dm for likes Faerun best.

Toril uses a different cozmoligy than greyhawk, not the great wheel from the DMG, so where should i put Carceri in the realms cozmol?

If I am not mistaken the forgotten realsm also uses the great wheel, so your set to go.

To give the wizard spawn a little more flavor and potency, perhaps it could be given the Spellstitched template from Complete Arcane?

hmm, but how would it gain that template? Based upon the MM2 which also had this template a spellcaster could scribe the spells onto an undead, or an undead spellcaster could scribe spells onto itself, but how would the spawn (former wizard) gain the spells while it was locked up? and it is not smart enough to scribe spells onto itself (int 6?)

Sorry, but no.

The beauty of magic missile is that if you can see a target, you can kill it (as long as it's not an object).

All the above are just ways to undermine a perfect PC strategy, you don't hurt a PC when he thinks of something, you should encourage it.

furthermore, in my opinion the correct use of magic missile in combination with a spawn of kyuss is ofcourse blasting the spawn again and again with your magic missile. preferably from a distance.

Just this sunday my sorcerer was standing atop a mausoleum, dodging worms (dm threw poorly) blasting the spawn again and again with magic missiles and a few crossbow bolts. yup that ac 11 isn't helping the spawn, the fast heal 5 however is helping it.

Hormel wrote:

in regards to magic missle doing damage to charactors the worm is on, in the spell descrip it says the missle can only strike one creature.

What QBert said already. The worm will get annihilated by a tiny fraction of the d4+1 damage, so where does the rest of it go? Or from another viewpoint: the worm gets smeared into paste by a fraction of the force used by the missile, so the rest of it crashes on through to the arm underneath.

Magic missile doesn't in any way or form crashes through a destroyed target and hurt a pc. It just destroys / hurts the target and that is it.

attacking worms with magic missile: only if the spellcaster could see the worms would I allow them to target the worms. And in near dark that would be a tough spot check.

Kill them! Kiilll theemmmm!

If I remember the map correctly they are sleeping just 20 feet away from some monsters......without even a door between them.

Yeah, you really should kill them or at least one of them just to point out the sheer stupidity of it all.

Well actually, I remember seeing a post by one of the editors imploring us to send them low level adventures.....

Mmmm, your cubes sure look tidy to me. The clean office policy is firmly in place I gather ;>

mmmm, come to think of it, this is good, no submissions slipping through the cracks ;>

Anyway The player wants to know if he could make an hide and move silently check after combat has begun. Presuming these work can he use the ninja sneak attack again?

So far I haev ruled that if he can manage to actually hide and move silently after a combat has begun then I figure he could sneak attack again - though there is no indication that the enemy would actually be technically without his Dex bonus anymore (its the middle of combat after all). What are other DMs doing?

hmmm, if you follow the rules I think I would rule that:

if your are hidden and your target doesn't know that you are there (being in combat is irrelevant), you deny your target his dex bonus against you and thus you could sneak attack.

This assumes that the ninja was not yet involved in the combat.

the hide skill says:
If people are observing you, even casually, you can’t hide. You can run around a corner or behind cover so that you’re out of sight and then hide, but the others then know at least where you went.

If your observers are momentarily distracted (such as by a Bluff check; see below), though, you can attempt to hide. While the others turn their attention from you, you can attempt a Hide check if you can get to a hiding place of some kind. (As a general guideline, the hiding place has to be within 1 foot per rank you have in Hide.) This check, however, is made at a -10 penalty because you have to move fast.

so after taking another look at your post:
if combat has begun and your ninja somehow managed with the -10 hide penalty to hide yet again from his target I would allow him to sneak attack his target again.

No he wanted his sneak attacks... just one per round. It's not that crazy, ya know. Think about it. If I sucker punch you, would you stand there for six seconds and let me sucker punch you four more times? Or, maybe if I use BOTH hands! OH! Then I could sucker punch you over and over again! ALL IN SIX SECONDS!

aha, the old realism vs game problem. If your player doesn't want it that's cool with me, really it is, really.

But for the sake of realism, if I was sucker punched it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that the sucker punch would "stun" me enough to get a few extra attacks in.

But as I said before, if your player wanted it, well by all means let him have it.

Your rogue didn't want his sneak attacks???

What was his motivation again?

Yes it is true, rogues are killers.

But it is assumed that at 20th level the rogue is trying to hurt Bob the evil gnome who has an incredible AC => like 30, 35 or higher which gives him a good (mediocre?) chance to live through the ordeal of 6 sneak attacks.

make bob the gnome a vampire and there is no problem ;>

In my campaign we use the "75 points" system. Which means you have 75 points to divide between the 6 abilities, thus you could have the str 13 dex 13 con 13 int 12 wis 12 chr 12 character or something else, like 15,15,15,10,10,10. Basicly the pc's are elite "elite" because the elite score amounts to 73 points. (15+14+13+12+10+8=73)

We've been doing this for years and it works beautifully.
I think it's a 2nd edition leftover ;>

I've got a question regarding the stats: how do first level warriors gain 16 hp?

Bah, the other thread is far more awesome and will continue to live on!!!! Muhahahahaha*cough*hahaha

check out the last few words on page 29 of the overload:

"Future conversion appendices will appear in the Online Supplements for the issues in which new adventures appear, as well as in updated versions of this file, which will be uploaded to paizo.com as the Age of Worms Adventure Path progresses and as time allows."

Guess this thread is here to stay :>

Bwhaahahaa (a good DM always practices his evil laugh)

Erik,

It seems I wasn’t premature, merely clairvoyant.

Thus I am reapplying my pat on the back.

‘Slap’

PS: Are the Paizo servers burning yet?

Ah, now if it'd download faster than 0.8kbps, I'd be able to say whether or not I appreciate the Overload.

I'm down to 1,72kbps, argh down to 1,69kbps now.

9% percent left, cross-atlantic cable don't fail me now!

BAM!

Install a few extra servers, please.

download speed / suspense is killing me.

Indeed.

--Erik

OK,

I am retracting my pat on the back.

your loss!

OK,

still a little premature but I want to create it anyway:

Overload appreciation thread

Thanks for the overload!

(and now the other thread can die a well deserved death)

Sometimes combat drags on and on, but lately I have really been challenging my group by given them encounter levels at +4/+5 above the recommended level.

12 rounds of combat took us 2-3 hours! that's just insane, but still I only noticed it when it was done, time sure flies when you are having fun.

But still combat takes up a huge chunk of game time

A quick google suggests it's NWN only.

Yeah I saw that too.

On one particular forum it stated that the spells deals 1d6 damage per missile and a mage gets 1 missile/level. I believe the spell is 4th level so you could create it yourself.

Just require a ranged touch attack and slap a medium range on the spell and you are set. But ofcourse now you have to call it Darkjoy's missile storm.

Hey thanks guys! Of course, there's no mage in the party! I've completely forgotten about ray of frost. What level is the spell?

It's a cantrip => 0 level spell.

yup when the mages let loose those puppies well...well you know they are almost out of spells and the trouble is about to hit the fan.

2) that people are just too used to the far-fetched unbelieveable characters that have become a staple of the magazines.

Creatures without context are unbelieveable, with context as Koldoon so eloquently pointed out a whole lot can be believed.

As DM's our business is the suspension of disbelief.

Maps are "eye candy". It's nice to show your players how it really looks like but ...... content is far more important! without content all you have is a pretty piece of paper and your players probably want more than that.

I draw my own maps, they may not be pretty but they get the point across and while I draw them I imagine how the environment looks and feels. This is stuff I can tell my players.

Good maps are nice to have but are not essential. Besides you just can't use the same map over and over again.

Darkjoy wrote:

On another note: I get the distinct impression that adventure queries are evaluated more often (every 3-4 months) than the campaign workbook articles, is this true?

Bump?

Dungeon doesn't need EVIl adventures.

I believe that evil adventures are just too player / campaign specific to be published in Dungeon. On the other hand there are general "good" adventures that any player can enjoy.

And if a players wants to be evil, he should try his hand at DM-ing.

I would allow it and would as well try to make him feel VERY BAD about what he's done.

Mmmm, BAD huh. The problem with undead is that creating them is an EVIL act. Creating a few skeletons and zombies won't put you on the fast track to hell or the abyss but creating anything beyond that certainly will => Spawn of Kyuss seem to fall in the highway to hell category!

So your true necromancer could do it, but really shouldn't. (this isn't going to stop him/her ofcourse) Enter a victim of the SoK disgruntled family and friends ;>

I came up with this idea, but feel that it might be a little broken and don’t really want to press my luck. I want to cast silence on a tangle foot bag and throw it at spell casters. Bag explodes all over PC spell casters and is now covered in a silent goop. Is there anything in the RAW that would prevent my npc’s from doing this? Is it good form for me to pull this stunt on my players?

Yup, the spell says you can cast it on a object (the bag) so this could work. If the bag is then attached to a spellcaster the effect will move around.

This is extremely good form, this shows them that you can have fun with the rules. It's just as valid as the fire trap on small containers that you can hurl at your opponents ;>

Go for it, but expect your players to come up with their own little surprises the next time you play ;>

Bocklin wrote:

God! This thing is coming out today and I can't wait for it. Not only because of the content, but also because it will probably mean that this thread will slowly die...

Bocklin

Mmmm...can't wait until this thread dies.

Oh yeah, Overload will be nice too!

My printer is already warming up....

This thread needs to die......slowly......but I guess it will have a hollywood ending => the thread dies and then is brought back to life by someone who wants to rave about the wonderful content.

DON'T!

Start a new thread!

I have 2 games, one where I am the DM and another where I play. They both happen on Sundays and start at noon, they typically last 6 hours and sometimes go into serious overtime => 8 hours.
On average I have two games per month, which is fine because DM prep time takes a whole lot of time ;>

There is ofcourse some socializing but we still get 90% gametime in I think.

Yep. I do the same thing and my players usually tend to do a proper summary (edit: one, always the same, does the summary and the others nodd along with faces that try to show that they remember something).

But then, once the game start, they're waiting for me to deliver them the next cargo of info, without really trying to take initiative...

My fear is when the clever players choose to play a barbarian with low Int (I know that he is going to RP it well). In the end it means that the only player with the brain to make the plot go gurther is going to switch it off in order to RP his barbarian... The other (lazy/distracted) players, playing the "intelligent" characters, are then left to themselves, not knowing what to do.

It happened to me a couple of years back and I hope that I will never have to live through this again! ;-)

Bocklin

So true, I recognize your predicament ;>

It is usually only one player, but I also point out particular actions made by players to get them into the narrative. Be like Colombo, ask questions.

All the barbarians I've played had at least INT 12 ;>
I cannot / will not play stupid characters

Alec Austin wrote:

Jeremy Walker is the guy who picks out the CW's, and from what I can tell, he has a folderful of manuscripts on his computer which he digs into whenever he needs to fill out the content for a new issue or two. I suspect that these manuscripts have already been through a slush-culling process, and I couldn't tell you how often Jeremy trawls the slush, as these things tend to vary wildly depending on an editor's workload.

To put it another way, I've never had a CW article explicitly *rejected* yet, even though several of the ones I've submitted (like the 'Intelligent Magic Items' Cast article) are unlikely to ever see print.

Alec -

I also get this feeling. I think Jeremy probably holds on to anything he might possibly be able to use, since Campaign Workbooks and Critical Threats represent monthly features for which they are often in need of material.

Intelligent Magic Items for a cast article eh? I like that. Wish I'd thought of it first.

- Ashavan

Alec, I think I recall your name attached to articles in #118 and #119. (Those articles actually served as a reference/starting point for my articles)

So the new strategy is: write more and better articles that will end up inside Jeremy's computer.

The back-up strategy is more insidious.....

Intelligent Magic Items => Yeah, that is good stuff, I hope it will work for you.

On another note: I get the distinct impression that adventure queries are evaluated more often (every 3-4 months) than the campaign workbook articles, is this true?

I am not sure if I found the right balance, but I really wish that my players would show more initiative...

Bocklin

Sounds familiar, Monte Cook did an article about the flow of information in #124 but finding the balance is essential.

The problem is that the DM always knows everything and the players .... well the players don't seem to remember everything.

To solve this I usually start the session by letting them tell me what has happened in the previous session and why and I correct them when needed. This doesn't take a whole lot of time and it gets everyone on the same page.

I also maintain the campaign logbook online so I can deeplink to previous events which led to the current events. My hope is that they'll notice that everything is connected, actions have consequences but to date they have failed to connect the vampire spawn to the vampire ;> (I feel a TPK coming up next session)

But there is nothing wrong with making them work for it....it is ultimately more satisfying for you and for them.

Fraust wrote:

Am I smoking superglue or is her lip pierced?

No superglue. Her lip is indeed pierced.

Hmmmm, a "flaky" goth girl that is sporting a lip-piercing. Demon-boy never mentioned THAT. But then again, Demon-boy wouldn't know "normal" when it hit him, he's RED for $^#%$ sake ;>

Medieval is OUT, medi-evil is IN

Sounds like the mud-men from 1st and 2nd Ed,

I vaguely remember reading about them, or one of my previous characters killed them.

Don't you find it disturbing that every new creature is treated with the following statement upon detection: "I haven't killed you before."

No wonder they hate us so much! LOL

Special Attacks: I'm open for suggestions

Hmmm, what about an engulf attack? Anyone hit by the engulf attack must take a will save vs DC 20 or they curl up in fetal position and cry for their mothers.

This will change the level adjustment ofcourse.

Introducing the restroom:

Restroom, this marvel of magical engineering removes the need for toilets in your dungeon.
requirements: create wondrous item, disintegration, caster level 12. cost: 10000gp.

And it explains why dungeons are always full of dust. (byproduct of the disintegration ;>)

OK,

here is a shameless plug for my campaign log.

http://www.geocities.com/daemonslicer/dnd2.htm

Most of the more recent stuff is in Dutch because DM-ing and maintaining the log was to much of an hassle. But the earlier stuff is in English for those who are interested.

ROFL!!!

Would that be an artist's rendition of Erik Mona? :P

http://images.google.nl/images?q=erik%20mona&hl=nl&lr=&sa=N& ;tab=wi

seems accurate, in a very version 1.0 kinda way ;>

Editors probably need the multitasking feat.

For some historic accuracy:

Someone once told me that during the grand feasts held by Louis XIV with it's myriad of courses people just stood up, excused themselves and relieved themselves in a quiet corner / corridor.

I imagine the servants being overjoyed about that but hey, everyone is employed and remember servants are cheap.

If someone can proof me wrong I will be most thankful.

Another line that is far too frequently used in adventures is "They will fight to the death". I miss having a "morale system" to determine when enemies break and run, but intelligent enemies must have a motivation. Throwing away their life is unlikely to be sufficent for them. Perhaps if they're members of a religious order that believe death through battle is glorious, but if they're defending their women and children in the next room, eventually someone might try to arrange a peaceful surrender.

I agree, this is something that should be adressed in the game. Even orcs want to live! Although fights to the death are dramatic, too much drama isn't a good thing. Have your npc's and monster turn tail once in a while...or better yet surrender. This leads to returning NPC's with a grudge and some moral dilemma's.

Stacking templates is FUN! But moderation is key (such a simple truth).

"Erik Mona da Big Cheese wrote:
And no more fairy tales those are as likely to get rejected as non-Eberron(sp?), undead, half-dragon, pirate, borg stories. I mean can't you guys do something original for a change?" ;)

Hmmm, I believe that the vampiric half-dragon pirate sorceress named Alice and her faithful drones will make a well-deserved comeback in 2006. At least if my sources are to be believed ;>

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

How about...ambushes?

You can always use a good ambush.

You could use 1/3 of the page for a little mini-map and the remaing part for the ambush description(s) and various
tactic(s) that the ambusher(s) could use. And you could give suggestions on how to run the ambush at different encounter levels with some suggested creatures and or classes.

pro's:
you've got a little mini-map of mystery (which the players will come to dread ;-> )
the online-supplement could contain the player version of it.

As I said, the player had ducks in real life, and he wants stats on top of keeping the thing as a pet.

Just a note on the campaign. The party sorcerer bought a dog. He has no animal training/handling skills, and I told him the dog would be no good for combat without training it to obey command. He still wanted it.

The party went back into the lair of a bright naga that had kicked their tails earlier. They sent the dog in first, and before it had a chance to run, the naga blasted it, but the PCs then opened fire on it and killed it.

So pets have a bad time of it in the campaign right now . . .

Hmmm, I remember something from my 2ed days that dealt with these kind of antics. Besides giving them the Komoori druid encounter you should remember that some gods like dogs and other pets. After they've sacrificed some more dogs give them an advanced celestial dire-dog as an encounter....with extra fighter levels...yeah that will teach them.

or killer zombie dogs

In response to Dryder - unfortunately, one of the perils of writing for a foreign market is that you tend to be judged against the native speakers. Neither Dungeon nor Dragon makes exceptions for language barriers, so be sure to proofread your query veeeeeeery carefully before you send it in. That said, however, keep working at it - you never know what might happen.

I am also a non-native speaker, so here's to keeping your fingers crossed ;>

Dragon editor Jason Bulmahn claims that he was reading German before he ever learned to read English.

Kudos to him, German was always beyond me.

Already getting to work on this. I've learned that doing this for financial gains is very unwise, so I'm just gonna do this for the fun of it.

I agree, every established author says: "don't quit your dayjob" and it took some of them years to get published. I am actually starting to enjoy the entire writing process and even though it is very likely that my creations will never be printed ... at least my players will enjoy them. (they better...LOL)

On another note: I get the distinct impression that adventure queries are evaluated more often (every 3-4 months) than the campaign workbook articles, is this true?

For the people that are DC inclinded....

Using Craft (trapmaking)...how long would it take to set up a simple tripwire/xbow trap if the xbow simply rested upon a surface (pole, rack, table, etc...)

Not very long at all....but to insure that the enterprising rogue doesn't discover the trap (DC 20). Well that is going to take longer and is harder to pull off I think. Just remember, a typical 1st level expert (you) isn't going to notice the trap until it is too late, far too late.