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Threads
Has anyone continued with the hooks at the end of this AP? If so, what did you do, and how far did you go? One of my groups is nearing the end of this one, and I'm debating on writing up additional adventures for them IF they survive. If you have plot outlines or villain stats please share them as well.
I've read a few comments about swapping out feats. Is there anything in the rules stating that feats can be traded out as a PC gains levels? I can't seem to locate anything to support this being possible. I'd like to swap out some poor feat choices for a fighter, but we're trying to stick to RAW as much as possible.
I've always had sprites and half-giants as PC races in my homebrew. However, I've always tweaked with the stats, and for a while I used the races from Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed as a 3.5 substitute. In the past, we added ECL or used the racial levels from AU. However, with Pathfinder, I'd like my Sprites to be tiny flying beings from level 1, and I'd like my Half-Giants to be 9 to 10 ft tall humanoids with Reach. Here's my stab at making them a PC race and PF compatable, and I'd love some feedback. Do these seem too out of line? Would they really upset the powerlevels in a game? Sprites Sprite Racial Traits
Half Giants Half-Giant Racial Traits
I've been lucky in that I have one group that is half-way through this AP, and another that is about to start soon. For the 2nd group, I've decided that I'd like to expand upon things a bit, and maybe use a slow XP progession. However, it has been a while since I've written up monsters with PC stats. Following is Hakkur, the leader of the Three Jaw Tribe. I didn't have stats for a Flind so I just used the stats for a gnoll/barbarian. Does anyone see any major glaring errors? Hakkur CR6
Special
We finished RotRL last weekend. Thanks Paizo for putting together a great AP. The Ending Spoiler:
The heroes were having a rough time with the Pinnacle of Avarice. They were soundly repelled after the first assault. They then tried a different route. While flying, the PCs used Passwall spells to access the tower's interior. They waited several days before attempting this, and eluded forces hunting them in the lower city. When they chose a random section of the tower to infiltrate, they happened to choose the Reliquary. While two of the invisible and flying heroes evaded the harridans, the cleric moved to the mysterious looking crystal and attempted to smash it. The tactic caught Karzoug (and the DM) off guard as the Runelord had little warning of the hero's new assault. The heroes won the intitiative and the fight in quick yet satisfying finale.
I believe I know that answers to these questions, but thought I'd confirm how others may have ruled on these. Holy Aura - If an evil creature attacks the warded creature, the attacker is blinded. Does the attacker have to make a save for each successful attack? Or one save per round? I ruled that is was per attack. Storm of Vengeance - This summons a huge storm cloud. I ruled that this spell needs to be cast outdoors to work. I just couldn't picture it in a typical dungeon with 15ft high ceilings.
This trait gives a +2 to Initiative checks. Does this stack with Improved Initiative? I allowed this to stack in my SD game knowing that the rogue who took it would basically win most initiative rolls. It really didn't seem like a problem in the game, but I wanted to see how others have ruled on it.
We played through Fortress of the Stone Giants recently, and the raid on Sandpoint didn’t go very well for the PCs. The PCs essentially spent too much time with the first 3 giants. Then they ignored Longtooth as they felt the giants were a bigger priority. Then the giants and dire bears nearly created a TPK. By the time the group rallied much of the battle was over (about round 16). They managed to kill several giants before the end of the battle. However, by the time the fight was over 21 citizens had died, 11 had been captured, and Longtooth flew away untouched. The cathedral and the theatre were burned down along with half the town. The PCs did do the right thing and went after the kidnapped citizens. However, they did not leave right away. Instead they went to Magnimar to make sure they had enough supplies, and then headed to Jorgenfist. At the end of the chapter, the PCs did rescue most of the kidnapped people. A few had been sacrificed immediately by Mokmurian. In the next game, they will be returning to Sandpoint with the rescued victims. However, I’m wondering what reactions or consequences I should have for the group. On one hand, the people of Sandpoint can’t really hold the PCs accountable for the massacre. The heroes did try their best. However, I do want to show some impact that the raid has on the populace and town itself. I imagine that many people will abandon town altogether and relocate to Magnimar. I may leave most of the town’s buildings burnt and abandoned. It may be a little depressing, but it is a good opportunity for the PCs to step in and help people out. I’m guessing that the group may just pick up the clues to get to Runeforge and then never come back. Anyone want to share ideas on other consequences or effects I may be missing?
We finished off Hook Mountain Massacre last weekend and here are some of my comments from the session. I’m DMing and the characters have been rebuilt to reflect Beta rules as much as we can. The players really wanted to stick with some PrCs that they had planned on using. Hopefully, this will reflect how this works with backwards compatibility. I’m running the AP as is. The party is 10th level. They are a bit above the XP curve for the AP as there are only 3 PCs. The party consists of:
General Impressions = Favored Enemy: The ranger’s primary Favored Enemy is giants.
Spoiler:
I think this saved their butts to a degree, but I also think the Player was wishing he had not multi-classed at this point. The PC could have used the 3rd Bonus that would have been attained by a 10th level ranger. Channel Energy: This also saved this group’s collective behinds. I kept having the feeling that I could have a TPK on my hands with nearly every fight. Fighting Capabilities: Since the group has fewer members, the players sought to obtain some balance for the missing roles. They also came up with some very good reasons to follow these paths in story. However, the group suffers in that it’s damage output just is not there. Buff Spells: Thank you for making Bull’s Strength and similar spells a fixed modifier. The simplified version of Enlarge was also appreciated. Specific Encounters:
Spoiler:
When I mentioned near TPKs earlier, it may help to add some reference for those who have DM’d this.
1.Black Magga nearly killed everyone and that was the first encounter of the session. One PC was in negative number, and the other two were close. The bladesinger just scaped out 4pts of damage to bring her to the 80hps needed to make her morale falter 2.Skull’s Crossing also presented a problem. I chalk this up to poor rolls, but during the fights the trolls hit the group hard. Again, some Channel Energy usage was the only thing ha allowed the group to continue 3.Barl Breakbones almost punched their tickets too. The ranger took him on in melee. The bladesinger flew around and was rather ineffectual, and the cleric was take out as he tried to close with Barl (AOO). If Barl had not missed a couple times against the ranger, it would have been done. . Now there are a few factors that may complicate this a little. 1) The adventure may be a little tough. 2) The PCs are sitting on a lot of wealth and have not had the opportunity to buy additional magic items which is partly their own fault. 3) As gamers, we were on our 2nd day of continuous gaming. We were having fun and taking breaks, but fatigue was playing a factor. I’m open to comments, but I hope the next game will go better once the PCs have leveled up, and upgraded their equipment.
I know this is a bit on the low level side, but I thought I’d post some comments from our games last weekend. We converted our Shackled City characters to Pathfinder, but the DM is running the AP as is. In this session we finished the scenario revolving around the Flood Festival. I’m also posting this to see if anyone has comments on whether we are playing the rules correctly. The party consists of 5th level PCs including:
I played the fighter. I tried playing something that we typically do not see at our table; a smart, fast, mobile fighter. The feats I chose were; Improved Initiative, Quick Draw, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Combat Expertise, and Whirlwind Attack. So here are the comments: AC: My AC at this point was 22 without Dodge the bonus, or Combat Expertise. In most fights I didn’t get hit often. Against BBEGs, CE saved my arse. That is until the DM remembered Touch Attacks. Whirlwind Attack: This feat is great if you can set yourself up against multiple mooks. I’m surprised none of my player have ever taken this feat. Maybe it becomes less useful at high levels. However, in this session, I could clear a room of low level guys in 2 rounds with good rolls. Steamroller?: At times, I think the DM was a little frustrated by the lack of damage the fighter took. However, it is hard to say if it is an issue of the character, poor rolls by the DM, or adventure design. The adventure itself seemed to present a lot of easy fights by mooks. However, the boss fights were near TPKs each time. Our typical strategy was also to have the cleric right behind the fighter to keep him on his feet with healing. We finished the session at 7th Level which raises the following questions. 1. AC: Does this AC seem right? The group decided to give some extra wealth to beefing up the fighter. Potentially, I could upgrade to Breastplate +2, and a Shield +2. Combine this with Armor Training +2, Dexterity of 17, and an Amulet of Natural AC +1, I would have an AC 29. Throw in CE and I could be at AC 34 against a single opponent. Does this sound reasonable? 2. Arcane Armor Training: Eventually the Wizard/ Fighter will have access to Quickened Spells. As written, is it feasible to cast a Quickened True Strike and attack in the same round with Power Attack?
I started a new game for a couple new players, and we had our first game last night. I started the PCs off in Sandpoint, but at a time after Rise of the Rune Lords. I'm using Sandpoint as I like the amount of premade NPCs, but I'm beginning with an altered version of Hallow's Last Hope. I set most of the encounters in Mosswood (The Elder Tree, and The Dwarven Temple). For PCs we have;
The group also recruited a 1st level Valeros from Sandpoint. I played him as an NPC. 1st Encounter
Spoiler:
The Witches Hut: The animated cauldron surprised the group, and as new players, they didn't realize how weak they realy are at this point. The cauldron dropped the faen into negative numbers by the 2nd round. The other wizard got the hint and backed off, using her unlimited Acid Dart. They were especially shocked when the cauldron squeezed through the door to pursue them. This was a tough fight for 3 characters, but they won out. The PCs realized they needed to heal up, and went back to Sandpoint. They also then recruited a ranger to join them and help guide them to the next locations; Harsk, 1st level. 2nd Encounter
Spoiler:
Hobgoblin Trap; This is a scene where a hobgoblin has a fox in a trap in an attempt to lure prey. He is accompanied by two razorcrows. In the surprise round, the faen was hit by an arrow from the hobgoblin. When normal initiative started, the other player did something that only new players can think of. Instead of helping her friend or attacking the hobgoblin, she tried helping the fox out of the trap. Thankfully, her injured friend pulled off a spellcraft check, and cast a Sleep spell. She caught both of the crows, putting them out of the fight. A few rounds later, the human wizard and Harsk put an end to the hobgoblin. 3rd Encounter
Spoiler:
The Elder Tree: The PCs noticed the dead bodies in the tree, but did not notice the tatzlywyrm hiding among the roots of the tree. As the PCs search for the elderwood moss, the tatzlwyrm got a surprise round on the human wizard. Unfortunately, she was dropped to negative points in the 2nd round. A series of misses by Harsk and Valeros also led to them being dropped to negative numbers by the end of the 5th round (a crit dropped Harsk in 1 round). The 6th round found us with one wizard standing 30ft away from the monster, and all of her memorized spells were gone. Luckily, her energy ray hit, sending the creature to 3 hp. It then fled into the underbrush. Comments and Observations : Most of these commenst are not going to be new or earth shattering, but I hope to keep this game going. I'll use this as a place to post more as the campaign evolves. 1st Level School Powers: Without these powers, I think I would have had a TPK in each encounter. Having new players, they especially did not realize this. 1st Level Fighter and Ranger: One player commented that "the boys didn't do a thing", and it was true. I rolled a lot of misses for them, but I think it was just bad luck with the dice. CMB: I did use Grapple rules with the tatzlwyrm, and this was fairly easy to me.
I know I had seen a feat somewhere that allowed a fighter to use a longspear with one hand while using a shield. For some reason I can not find this, and I do not see anything similar in the Beta rules. Am I missing something, or is it just not there? As a side note, one of my home campaigns has a strong Greek-mythos feel to it, and I allowed this for a Spartan warrior type character. I ruled that the feat only worked with the spear, as I did not want to see a two handed sword creep in there.
Since we don't have a spell section yet, I hope it is OK to post thie question here. Does the armor bonus from Mage Armor stack with normal non-magical armor? In many years of DMing, I've haven't had many gish characters so this has not come up. I would think that one could have the bonus but it would not stack with magical enhancements on the armor. For example, a PC with leather armor, and Mage Armor would have an AC of 16 (10 +2 +4). Just thought I'd check as I couldn't really find this addressed.
My group gets together infrequently, but when we do it is a day long event. We played ½ day in The Shackled City where I was a player. Then we gamed the 2nd half in Hook Mountain Massacre where I was the DM. Since we started at 9am and didn’t quit until 3am, I’d say everyone enjoyed the game. For the players, we range from 30 to 42. While most have gamed since high school, only a few keep up with rules and the industry. It was news to two people that a 4th edition was even coming out. First, I’ll comment on the Shackled City game and make another post later for the Hook Mnt chapter. No changes were made to the original adventures. The group consisted of
What I noticed as a player.
Channel Energy: The cleric’s player liked this quite a bit, though he depended on it too much to heal the group. He had been trying to conserve spells, but when we finally ran into undead, he only had a few uses left. That happened to be the BBEG fight and we did end up fleeing and returning later. Grapple: This was much easier. We encountered some darkmantles which of course grappled. The grappling resolutions were very easy to resolve. School and Domain Powers: These were well received too. I played the Wizard / Fighter and I noticed that I never ran out of spells. Telekinetic Fist came in handy a couple times. The cleric’s player also liked the new system. Skills: It took a bit of getting used to with the new combined skills at first. Lot’s of “Where is my bonus to Spot?” However, that was about it. Skill powers seemed appropriate for challenges.
We finished PF#2 this weekend. At the end, the PCs have a collection of Skin Saw masks which together represent quite a bit of wealth if they were to sell them. However, the PCs were very reluctant to sell evil items back into the market. Thus they allied with a temple of Desna and had them destroyed. With a my own homebrews I would have rewarded this behavior with extra XPs. However, with the PF I'm hesistant to do this as I do not want the group to be too high of a level. As it is, they have not missed many oportunities for XP, so the levels are running on the high side anyway. My solution was to increase treasure amounts in other areas to equate to what they would have gained in selling the masks. Has anyone else run into this and come up with other ideas to reward the party? This will also be relevant in future installments as I noticed a few other items that I think the party will destroy rather than sell.
I ran Burnt Offerings this weekend, and just wanted to share some comments. The game was great. My players especially liked some of the back stories around Thistletop. I had to share the stories of the pickle thieves, and what happened when Warchief Ripnugget and Shadowmist met. Those were definately the favorites. We ended the game, with the crypt, and the shadows nearly killed one of the party. Anyway, it was a great game. Thanks Paizo for adding the little stories that helped make the place come alive. On a side note, I DM'd half the day, and played in Shackled City for the other half. The Shackled City is kicking our butts. I don't want to give spoilers on that path, but it really felt like we were just getting by. Then we ended on a TPK. Yikes. |
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