Gwaihir Scout's page

If you're not sure what is considered art, any item that says it's "worth X gp" in the text describing the treasure in a room can be sold at full price. This includes things like ornamental weapons.

[nitpick]It's sanatorium, not sanitarium. One's for treating chronic diseases, the other's for convalescence.[/nitpick]

I'd suggest having Grump arrive after the PCs have left for the sanatorium. Then you can have the option of having someone chase after the PCs with the information or wait until they get back to town. If you time it right, you might be able to get them to reach the farm as evening arrives...

In the town of Sandpoint there is an inn called the Rusty Dragon, named for the large rusty dragon decoration on the roof. When I described this in a game, my brother, very new to RPGs and basically playing himself, had his character climb up on the roof and poke it with a sword to make sure it wasn't alive.

His belief in the Law of Conservation of Detail served him well later in the campaign, so we just made paranoia part of his character.

I ran this at a con Saturday with a couple of inexperienced players. Overall good scenario, but I had to be pretty generous with what they could do in the darkness. They got fairly creative, so I just went with it and let them figure out where their targets were perhaps a little more than I should have. Most notably, they threw handfuls of coins around to try to wake up victims of a sleep spell.

The ability to bribe the otyugh was great, since I doubt this group would have been ready for the 15' reach. Very memorable, but I was the one waving my arms like tentacles so I'm probably biased.

The fight with the rangers ended on the first move. The groups had come to an understanding and were about to let each other pass when the jinkin put on her display. The heavens oracle won initiative and the rangers tasted the rainbow. The jinkin really didn't like that, but couldn't hit anything, got backed into a corner, and died from an AoO while trying to dimension door.

The fights with the plants went well. The wizard player used his burning hands on the curtain of fungus, so I just let him have the kill on the fire-immune electricity hazard from 4-5 and he also hit one of the xtabays behind it. Everyone who was hit with the pollen failed their save, the alchemist had nice grouping for his bombs and woke people up with splash damage. Fun fight overall that did a little damage to the group, mostly from the alchemist.

The ooze fight was great, although the second jinkin couldn't hit anything either. The monk stepped on the ooze, then backed up before he took any more damage and the alchemist annihilated it with the alkali flask. The second jinkin escaped.

Then comes the final fight. It started out great. The rogue had a readied action and decapitated the centipede the instant it appeared. Then darkness fell. In a room filled with pseudo-caltrops.

Anyway, the fight took over ten rounds. Ten kind of boring rounds for characters who were asleep in the darkness and couldn't be found or reached to be woken. Other than that fight, it was a fun little dungeon crawl.

The way I've been interpreting it is that trample only provokes because it involves movement out of threatened squares. So only one AoO.

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Dimension Door trumps spell combat. Your turn ends after you cast the spell, period.

Get the Dimensional Agility feat, and then you can attack after casting the spell.

If your players aren't already familiar with Varisia, have them read the original RotR player's guide. It has a much better introduction to the region than the anniversary edition's.

After thinking it over, I'm going to let him have the bite attack. You can see the original thread for the reasoning behind giving him the magus levels, and that hasn't changed.

Yeah, the plan was not to make him less dangerous. It looks like my choices are between bumping up a level to get BAB +6/+1 and 2nd level spells, or ignoring the rules and giving him at least one of the natural attacks. Or I could just use the original stat block. Thanks for the help.

I recently made an adjustment to a BBEG from Runelords (found here if you're interested) to give him magus levels. Normally, he has a weapon (with only one attack), a claw, and a bite.

I'm not entirely sure what happens to the claw attack when using spell combat. I know the magus is supposed to keep one hand free for casting, but the question is whether making the attack with the claw means you can't also cast the spell. Extrapolating from the rule for shield attacks losing the shield's AC, it seems like it's either the spell or the attack.

As for the bite, I'm pretty sure he keeps that even if he doesn't keep the claw.

This would also be useful to know for when a magus morphs into a form with claw attacks.

I would say the barrel would slide into the pit immediately, but I could see an argument for a delay until, say, the start of the next round.

If the barrel was bolted to a section of the floor (why?) that is affected by a pit spell, it is no longer bolted to anything and would fall. On the other hand, ropes that secure barrels tend to be fastened to walls. You may want to roll a die to see if the barrel slips free in that case.

When running her against six PCs I gave her the simple fiendish template, which gives her some DR, SR, energy resistance, and a lesser version of smite good. Worked out pretty well.

I've got an odd problem in that my choice for the Skinsaw Man's target had to leave the game during Thistletop. So, I had to pick my target without any good foreshadowing. I've decided to adjust the Skinsaw Man to copy his target's class (magus) to make the envy (no female PCs) more obvious. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mind checking my conversion or offer suggestions.

To adjust, the BAB and HD stay the same, but good saves go from Ref to Fort and Will. He gets (8-2)x3=18 fewer skill ranks. Acrobatics and Stealth are no longer class skills and gets dropped by 3. Slight of hand is no longer a class skill and probably has no ranks put into it. A bonus of +16 with a +6 DEX means 7 ranks, leaving 11 to get rid of. I can get rid of climb, that's another 7 done. Funny, I just realized he has no ranks in swim. Anyway, Ride is the next most obvious one to go, that's 5 ranks, meaning I'm 1 over. Spellcraft is a required skill to write spells in your book, so that's where it'll go for a total of +8. Convenient!

Now for class abilities. Good-bye sneak attack, evasion, trapfinding, trap sense, and the rogue talent. This means he loses Weapon Finesse, which he needs, so I have to get rid of another feat. I'll pick Persuasive, even though it's cheating a little since it was probably his first feat. Diplomacy and Intimidate go down by 2. I replace the abilities with arcane pool (5 points), spell combat, spellstrike, a magus arcana, and—of course—spells. For the arcana, Close Range looks good so he can deliver Ray of Enfeeblement with spellstrike. Other suggestions are appreciated; also for the spell selection.

Now, since I have six PCs, I'm adjusting his HP to max and adding 50% more wealth in gear. I'm also going to add a pair of plain ghast buddies. I should also mention that we're using hero points, and I haven't decided if he'll be getting any yet. Total wealth is just under 12,000 gp, so we'll add around 6000 gp. This is easiest done by making the war razor human bane, which will affect all but two of my PCs. But let's try a more diversified approach (besides, his arcane pool bumps the weapon up to +2 already). I try not to add any new items much more expensive than the enemy already has. A Sihedron medallion seems nice, but it makes it harder to pick other items and false life is unnecessary with my potion plans. I'm not even sure false life works with undead. I want gloves of elvenkind, but they're too expensive. I'll go for a cloak of resistance +2, amulet of natural armor +1, and add a potion of blur and ablative barrier. Since undead are immune to nonlethal damage, ablative barrier effectively gives 20 free hit points, unless the paladin is the only one who hits. His spellbook should get the total close enough.

I thought about adding another level of magus for BAB +6/+1 and 2nd-level spells, but decided it was going too far. The magus is already going to be dropping, probably the druid as well. Anyway, thanks for any help you can give.

My group's ranger walked right into it, despite the description. The group got a portcullis lifted with a lucky Strength check after only one round of having bits sliced off.

Can I Upgrade a Named Magic Item?

Named magic items—including specific armor and specific weapons—are not upgradeable. Non-magic specific armor and specific weapons may be upgraded normally. Magic armor and weapons may be upgraded to named versions if they are the same basic material and shape as, and meet but do not exceed the enhancement bonuses of the named versions. Wondrous items whose names include a +X value (such as bracers of armor, headband of vast intelligence, amulet of might fists, etc.) may also be upgraded following the rules for upgrading magical items on page 19 of the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play.

I have a player who wants to buy the Sihedron Medallion from the first chapter of Runelords.

If I'm reading the quoted part right, he can't upgrade the resistance bonus since the item's name doesn't include "+1," correct?

This will be tough. The dagger Erylium carries in the catacombs is the only thing close to a pile of money they'll get before Thistletop (it's worth 10,302 gp), so they'll be in big trouble. You really should encourage them to go to the catacombs. Have some sinspawn come out of the dungeon and attack the town so your players feel they need to deal with the catacombs now.

If they're determined to head to Thistletop, they'll need help. Ameiko can do some healing, so you might want to have her go along. She can easily become a full-time party member. Think about having Shalelu accompany them too, since they're underleveled and have no cash. This can lead into stealing the party's spotlight, though. They really ought to go to the catacombs first.

Relying strictly on their own funds, yes, potions of cure light wounds should be readily available from the clerics. A few freebies from gratitude for saving the cathedral are a good idea. A wand of CLW would be available, but they'll need somebody who can use it to go along with them.

If you look at the stat block for Sandpoint, anything under 1,300 gp has a 75% chance of being available, plus a few more expensive things that you determine. Your group needs the help, so make sure they can get what they want, even if they have to wait for it.

Some groups have recruited Lyrie. The guy in charge of the Turandarok Academy is a wizard; you could bring him out of retirement. You could also make Brodert Quink a wizard and serve as both caster and Exposition Man. Or just invent someone.

Don't point them towards haunt siphons yourself. A lot of the story of the house is hidden in the haunts, and they need to actually interact with the characters. If they use haunt siphons, they will miss out on story.

Protection from Evil will work much better. It protects them from the compulsions for a brief amount of time, but they can still experience the haunts and get the clues the haunts will give them.

If I may butt in with my own question: Since Disruptive only works while you still have attacks of opportunity available, is it worth it to take Combat Reflexes? I'm using a longsword and shield with a 14 Dex, so it's not exactly a build where you would normally take the feat.

Three players is a lot easier than two, though. I'd recommend having Ameiko and Shalelu join your team. Have each of the players play one, if they don't mind running two characters. Use hero points, they're a big buffer.

Do you get a bonus if you're a gunslinger using a lasso?

That seems kind of low considering according to UE a lb of cold iron cost 50 GP and a long sword is 4 lb. So you get 200 GP worth of cold iron for 30GP? Something is wrong here. Also is the question as to the availabilty of it. It is supposed to be a rare metal, meaning not widely available.

The little I know of metallurgy tells me you'd want to make a sword out of an alloy of cold iron and...something (steel's already iron, not sure how that works), not pure cold iron.

I'll tell you what happened to my group in case it helps you get some ideas.

My players levitated to the top of the tower. Caught me totally off guard. Fortunately, Levitate's a slow way to get there. So, the ranger goes up and faces off against the stalkers by himself. One of the stalkers hits one of the bells in an obvious signal pattern.

Down below, the oracle's only got the bard a quarter of the way up when the Scarecrow comes barging outside. She activates her wings of flame and slowly works both herself and the bard up while the bard wobbles around firing arrows at the golem. They didn't try to slow it with fire despite finding out about that with their knowledge checks, oddly.

The golem tries to climb up after them. He falls once, so the next time he tries I cheat and say he takes 10 when he normally can't and needs an 11 to make progress. I really wanted to set up what came next.

Back up top, the oracle helps the ranger finish off the surviving stalkers. The bard waits for the golem to get close to the top and greases the wall. Splat goes the Scarecrow.

But he didn't take enough damage to die. The ranger has spotted the weakened rope on the trapped bell, and hustles down the stairs to get the golem to chase him inside. Golem goes beserk and does so, the oracle burns through the rope and the bell gets dropped.

Unfortunately, I rolled badly for the bell and it missed the golem, so the ranger finished it off with arrows as it was climbing up after him.

Meanwhile Xanesha has been watching and realizes that the oracle is both the healer and the major magical threat, while the ranger should get the mask of the medusa.

About the scrolls, fly is only a third level spell. I don't think they'd have much trouble finding them in a large city like Magnimar. They can get spellcasting all the way to 8th level.

I think it makes a nice buffer. I was able to coup de grace a Held PC in the middle of combat without fear of playing too deadly because I knew he had hero points. It still took him down to -1, so it made quite a difference for the fight.

I'm only one new GM, but I've a got a knee-jerk reaction against allowing a player to take the form of anything that wasn't actually humanoid type with this spell. It's too much like getting the other polymorph spells included for free, and they're not supposed to stack. I'm not sure I would allow you to change humanoid subtype, either, since Alter Self does that. Maybe with the higher levels of Undead Anatomy. I need to flip through the undead sections of the bestiaries and see what's there without templates.

Gwaihir Scout wrote:

Also trying to figure out why a magus would want to use polymorphing for more than situational things.

Undead anatomy and Monstrous Physique grant substantial stat bonuses that stacks with most gear. Weapons and armor remain with both of these spells. The forms can cast with no special requirements.

When you cast a polymorph spell that changes you into a creature of the animal, dragon, elemental, magical beast, plant, or vermin type, all of your gear melds into your body.

OK, that's where I was getting confused. I thought all polymorphing melded your gear into your form.

Polymorph spells cannot be used to assume the form of a creature with a template or an advanced version of a creature.

Since nothing in Undead Anatomy explicitly contradicts this, I think I'll stick with creatures that are given full stats in the bestiaries. Maybe once I've gotten used to it I'll look at others.

A better question is whether the rest of the party is OK with someone who regularly turns into a skeleton.

"Did you hear about the church that caught on fire?"

"Holy smoke!"

The most important foreshadowing in the beginning is for Aldern Foxglove to focus on someone for his obsession in Chapter 2.

If I was in your position, I would focus on studying the first two parts of the chapter to make sure the opening scenes run smoothly and that the town is a vibrant, interesting place for the PCs to want to stick around.

This is even more important than Foxglove.

I haven't had to deal much with polymorphing until now. My luck's run out, though, as I've been sent this question by one of my players. He's playing a magus. We're currently at level 2.

I know it's a bit early since I won't gain access to the spell until 7th level, but wanted to get your thoughts and maybe give you a chance to think on it/research it before it come sup.

Polymorth spells normally do not allow the use of templates as detailed in the magic section of the core rulebook. Undead Anatomy, though, seems to allow such as it specifically mentions skeletons and zombies in the description. In your game are you going to rule that templates are ok, specifically like skeleton, zombie, vampire, burning skeleton, etc? The spell itself limits what abilities you gain from the creature you turn into.

If you do not have the ability to use templates you would never be able to have a creature that had fiery aura, fiery death, DR/10 magic and silver, or DR/15 bludgeon and magic. Those items there, specifically, are why I think the spell was intended to use templates.

Again, just wanted to get your thoughts as I do plan to use Undead Anatomy and Monstrous Physique as my primary go-to spells.

Along that line, could you also tell me how you are going to rule what creatures I would be able to use? Is it going to be just creatures have have faced, any creature I want, is there a skill I should take to give me broader knowledge, or what you got in mind?

Also, how do you want to handle different forms as far as stats go? If I go beast shape I lose all my armor/weapons and gain the natural weapons of the creature. I do not really plan to use beast shape, though, but with a creature like a gargoyle I'd still have claws, bite, and gore. It might be easiest for me to do up a list of all the creatures I know I want to turn into a create sheets for them all? Your call, that could get a bit cuttering on the launch screen I think.

To reiterate, no rush as this is not going to become a consideration for me until level 7 (assuming no one else is also interested in doing the same).

That bit at the end of the penultimate paragraph is partly explained by us using a virtual tabletop.

Any suggestions on how to work this out? It's still somewhat Greek to me at this point. I don't get the part about templates, I thought you had to pick specific creatures from the bestiary to change into. I was thinking of allowing him to change into any creature he would know about by taking 10 on a knowledge check; this would mean that taking 20 to research the creature gives him enough info to safely transform.

Also trying to figure out why a magus would want to use polymorphing for more than situational things.

Not necessarily... as this is an Oracle.

She will be worshiping Lamashtu, as she believes she is blessed with gifts from the Mother of Monsters, and helped her survive the Worldwound.

OK, I guess I was reading this differently than intended. Being insane should be sufficient, then. Just never ask yourself the question of where your powers really come from.

What Karg said. That sounds delightfully insane (if you like that sort of thing) for the first part, but quite a bit later you'll have some real difficulties. If you were a paladin, it would be one of those crappy situations where you fall no matter what you do. Being insane is your best defense against the situation, and it'll still probably get you whatever a demon's version of smiting is.

The wind and motion are both ongoing and affecting the caster simultaneously, though. I don't see where the rules say that each circumstance requires a different check. I agree that receiving damage prompts a separate check without the environment penalties.

Side note: If you tend to be on storm-tossed ships frequently, check out the Uncanny Concentration feat.

Circumstance penalties or bonuses generally stack. I would add the two together.

Aha. Thanks.

Using Frostbite, in subsequent rounds does the magus actually get to use Spellstrike's extra attack as if he had just cast a spell again, or does it simply mean his normal attacks through the next rounds continue to deliver the spell?

I'm guessing casting another spell of any sort disrupts the remaining "duration" of Frostbite.

I think your GM is either crazy or is planning on majorly changing certain things to accommodate you.

In general, Lamashtu is going to be very unpopular around Sandpoint.

I treat them the same way I do spells. When the party stops to get spells back, magic items get their uses back too. Limited to once per day, of course. It may not be technically accurate but it's far easier to administrate.

If the party is attacked in the middle of the night, any spell slots that get used during the attack do not get returned the next morning, as the caster has not had sufficient rest. If the party waits around for the casters to get eight hours rest after the attack, then they do get all their spells back. The same goes for magic item uses.

Go plane-hopping until you find Carmen Sandiego and ask her to do it.

The maps for the first two chapters of RotR are quite cramped and he'll get very little chance to use Enlarge Person effectively without also blocking his allies from the fight. I don't remember exactly when it opens up.

I suggest he takes the Titan Mauler archetype as it's pretty good considering the enemies later in the AP, and buys the caster Pearls/Runestones of Power for several castings of Enlarge Person per day until he gets the ability himself.

Are Agile weapons allowed? If so, a pure dex-based fighter is possible. I'm playing a Halfling fighter in a Legacy of Fire campaign, wielding a pair of agile +1 kukri. Piranha Strike replaces Power Attack. Halflings get Risky Striker to do additional damage to large+ opponents.

I'm the GM. I don't see what the big deal over agile is (by the time you can afford it, the Strength-based fighters have been getting their STR bonus the whole time and are adding shocking or something so they're still ahead in damage), so he's good there. I didn't know about Piranha Strike, so that's nice, too.

I had been trying to convince Trueshots to go Strength-based, via ranger or something, but these make Dex better than I thought. Worth playing when that's your character idea, anyway. Is there anything else that would help?

Malachi Silverclaw wrote:

In The Complete Warrior from 3.5 there is a feat called Dual Strike, which let you roll a single d20 for both weapons as a standard action.

I would go with this feat too. If I remember correct it says "roll for both attacks and take the lesser result".

I'm the GM in this case. As far as I'm concerned, 3.5 is dead and buried.

I think Flash Attack looks good, though.

I don't know if anyone else has reported Sanctioned AP play yet, but it's currently giving 1 table of credit instead of 2. If that's as intended, then all is well. I don't mind either way, as even any credit at all is a neat boon and more than I expected--just seemed weird for We Be Goblins to give 2 and an AP to give 1, so just making sure it isn't a glitch.

Same thing with me. I haven't run any 3 XP modules before, so I don't know if this is normal.

I've been running with three inexperienced players. Since this is my first AP, I'm not deviating a lot from it as written. I let them have a 25 point buy with hero points but no GMPC backup, they're dividing 4 players worth of XP among the 3 of them, and they've been doing fine. We're about to end book 2 and they've had roughly the same difficulty as a normal group from what I see on the forum.

OK, maybe a little easier since I still tend to forget that bad guys carry potions.

Make sure you apply the squeezing condition. The little monsters are a lot harder to handle when you're hunched over to avoid getting slashed by thorns.

Mike and Mark--any chance you can take the secret stuff out of the description of the sihedron amulet in the first chronicle sheet? It seems like a pretty big spoiler to receive so early in the AP. I know I would be very upset if my players saw that.

Sweet Shelyn! Seconded!

Yes, they receive a Chronicle for it. If you are in the midst of any part of a sanctioned area, then a Chronicle may be awarded to players upon completion.

Thanks. This will be a nice surprise for them.

I am looking forward to seeing those Chronicle sheets... Will we see them today?

They're already linked in the store entry for the AP. Here's Runelords

Very nice. Now, I understand that this can't give retroactive credit (Blast!), but my players are in the middle of Foxglove Manor and will complete it at our next game session (which may be tonight).

So, do they get a chronicle (as if they played a pregen) for this module? Or does it only apply when you're starting the specified areas after this announcement?

Either way, we don't get credit for Burnt Offerings, correct?

You CAN charge during a surprise round. You simply can't run as far. This is a special exception for charge. You can move your speed and attack. This also applies to staggered characters, so zombies can still charge.

If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed) and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. You can't use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action on your turn.

As for the first question, the charging player has just been disarmed, and can't make an AoO without Improved US or spikes or one of those other things. But let's think about the motivation. If you're charging through an enemy's threatened area at a different enemy, you're obviously desperate. Or crazy, but let's go with desperate. Your target is probably the enemy wizard. I doubt you're going to want to stop to deal with the guy you were just ignoring.

I got lucky in that one of my players has a female aasimar, so comparisons to Nualia were inevitably drawn by the townsfolk before they had any idea she was still alive.

It sounds like you're already at Thistletop. At this point, there isn't much exposition you can give unless the PCs interrogate one of Nualia's hirelings.

A lot of this depends on your playstyle. If you do a lot of interactions with NPCs, it's easy enough to deliver information via gossip. "Oh, if only Father WhatsHisFace had lived to see this day." "Yes, and his daughter, she was such a lovely thing, wasn't she?" On the other hand, you may be limited to waiting for your players to decide to ask around for information. You can have fun dropping hints that there's information to be had and seeing how long it takes them to catch on.

This is the curse of APs (at least this one). The GM gets a lot information to help get into the character's mind, but can't always share it with the players. Sorry, I can't give any more specific advice at this point.