Kang's page

Have a failed save inflict the 21 acid damage (or whatever variable damage of the creature) rather than state 'armour auto-destroyed'. There's far too many variables to make that assumption (special materials, acid resistance, magic bonus). That way, anyone wearing heavier armour, magic armour, or special materials (such as adamantine) gets the benefit, though it still takes serious damage, and won't last forever.

Thanks for the input, ie. for voting for my alternative A in essence, and for your reasons for choosing that option.

One major point that struck me, is that the guy who was grappled possibly should have had his Reflex save seriously cramped (you may have allowed for this, I don't know).

Doesn't grappling reduce your effective Dex to 3?

Nope. The rules simply state you lose your Dex bonus to AC vs opponents who you aren't grappling. No effect on your Dex bonus in general, therefore your Reflex save is unaffected. Even if it was just "lose your dex bonus" as opposed to "lose your dex bonus to AC", there's still be the "against opponents you aren't grappling" caveat to get around.

Also, shouldn't successive grapples by the ooze have flung him to the ground and pinned him, which would prevent him succeeding at any Reflex saves at all?

I had the black pudding just keep making grapple checks to constrict; I could have made checks to pin his victim, but didn't bother. It wasn't trying to keep him from speaking or any of the other stuff you can do when pinning an opponent. There's no requirement that a grappling monster try to pin its victim. Furthermore, being pinned wouldn't render one unable to make reflex saves; it just gives an additional -4 to AC.

Thirdly, don't oozes all have the Engulf ability or similar(don't have my MM to hand)? If so, this covers exactly the point you brought up; namely, that it hits, it gets a free grapple, and it if it wins that, it covers you (slurp, slurp!).

(I had to do a little more research on this one to make sure I hadn't missed something...) Nope. Nothing in the Black Pudding description or the Ooze Traits entry to that effect, though this particular Ooze has Improved Grab and Constrict, which I chose to describe to the players as the grappled PC being slowly engulfed a little more with each successful grapple roll the ooze made.

Also, you mentioned Raising the dead guy, to wear his shiny undamaged armour; doesn't being killed by acid make Raising slightly problematical?

Well, he had only just died when they finally killed the Black Pudding that ate him. They managed to drag his corpse out of the goopey remains. Then they washed the acid off him in the surrounding sewer water (after putting their periapt of health on him to keep the filth fever at bay, of course). I ruled there was enough of a corpse left to get him raised; bad enough that a PC died & thousands of GP in magic armor were destroyed - in a randomly rolled wandering monster encounter, no less - without also denying them the option to bring back their dead friend. Letting him cheat death also works well with some other extensive character background stuff for that particular PC - he's been trying to beat his 'family curse' all campaign now, and this is the first chance I've had to play that up for him in any way (other than having his ever-worried Aunt Fanny NPC continually nag him to quit adventuring before the curse takes him, which is frankly getting old). Coming back from the dead seems to fit that bill - back from the dead? Poof! Family curse broken, huzzah. They're in a major metropolis and just exposed a conspiracy that is bound to have affected at least one major religion that would be grateful, so I don't see any reason they wouldn't be able to get him raised. Other than just to be mean, anyhow.

Thanks again for the input (and for making me review some important rules!)

Anyone else have any thoughts on variants A vs B from my last post, vs just using the RAW as much as possible in this situation?

Kang

So taking RezDave's awesomely rules-based reply* along with the various other posts clarifying the effects of various errata, etc., I should not ever be dealing 21-hardness HP to anyone's worn armor; just having them roll save vs. utter destruction of said armor for each hit or successful grapple/constrict by the BP? The +2 full plate should have been destroyed on a single hit (even though the wearer avoided the grapple) due to that low save roll, but the guy who was grappled and made all 3 saves has pristine armor once they carve his melted corpse out of the dead pudding? I can live with that, I guess. Though I have a full-plate wearing cleric whose player will not be thrilled - the guy whose PC died will probably be happier, since his magic armor is in perfect condition awaiting his Raise Dead session. Sick but true. Let me know if I've misinterpeted any of these posts, please.

It just seems a little too harsh for the guy who failed one save, or maybe a touch too lenient for the guy who succeeded on 3... What do people think about these alternatives:

A) having the plate armor take 21-hardness damage (rather than be destroyed no matter how many hit points it has) for the failed save on a single hit where the bp's improved grab failed to get a hold, while the guy who was grappled for 3 full rounds but made all his saves has undamaged armor in the end as per RAW

or

B)The plate is destroyed upon the failed save as per RAW. The guy who got grappled made all 3 saves so his is not destroyed, but use the unattended objects damage of 21-hardness per full round of contact.

Neither alternative fully uses the RAW, but either seems possibly more reasonable - it's just real hard to visualize the guy who was half-covered in acidic goo for several rounds avoiding his armor taking any damage at all while the guy whose armor just got touched for a moment has his utterly destroyed. IMO common sense implies that either the full plate should be damaged but not necessarily completely destroyed, or the grappled guy's mithral shirt should at least get somewhat damaged. But game balance can certainly trump common sense on occasion (perhaps even in general), right?

If anyone thinks either of these 2 alternatives would work OK, please state which, and why. If you like the RAW better, please give reasons. Maybe I'm just too much of a softie, after all.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, BTW!

Kang

*rules-based replies being awesome because, of course, I can refer any player who complains to take it up with WotC instead of giving me a hard time! :o)

...One moment.

You've got 5 minutes.

Just kidding, though I might not get to check before Tuesday for anything that comes in later than that - got really slow dial-up at home and a long weekend starting in what is now actually 4 minutes...

I agree it is confusing. And yes, I will check back on Tuesday... it won't be too late to be helpful until next Thursday evening anyhow. :o)

What a world, what a world!
I'm actually assuming whoever wrote up the blackpudding for 3.5e had something in mind that made sense. I agree DM gets final say - just trying to figure out what the authors expected me to say, if you know what I mean.

I consider myself to be my most trustworthy ally, personally.

Ok ... from the PHB Glossary p.304 ally: A creature friendly to you. In most cases references to "allies" includes yourself.

Thanks for the rules quote! You just saved me from going on a rant about how can anyone possibly use people's ability to be their own enemies as support for claim that they can't just as easily be their own allies...

Kang

What's the deal with a Black Pudding's acid ability? At first it says one hit and a failed save immediately destroys armor and makes it useless, later it says it deals 21 hit points damage to metal objects, and only after 1 full round of contact. Does the latter ever apply to armor that's worn by the pudding's enemies?

If you get grappled/constricted by it and your armor makes its save, does it take the 21 points of damage if you're still grappled after a round, or does that just refer to steel doors you try to hide behind, etc.? If the latter, does the armor take any acid damage at all in this situation?

Last night in The Hall of Harsh Reflections (AoW AP - possible (but only 4% of 8% per hour in the sewers likely) spoilers ahead, beware) the party was searching the sewers for Zyrxog's lair and I rolled the black pudding as an encounter. One guy in newly-enhanced +2 full plate got hit once and his armor failed the save. Immediately destroyed? Meanwhile, another guy in a +1 mithral shirt got grappled and constricted to death over several rounds. Armor made its save every time - no damage? 21 points of damage to it for each full round grappled? Just not getting how his armor could possibly be in better shape after they pulled his corpse out of the dead pudding than the stronger armor of the guy who just got hit once and avoided getting grappled altogether. Can someone who knows what they're doing walk me through this scenario, round by round, the way it is supposed to work? Please?

Very much appreciated!

Kang

On a more positive note, they did option the George R.R. Martin series of fantasy books for a series.

Oh. My. God.

I have been dreaming of A Song of Ice and Fire becoming an HBO series someday - who else could do it justice? Too long for a single movie; too detailed a world to allow even a series of movies to dumb-down for us. Way too deviant for regular network TV... But a series of HBO episodes, each based on, say, a chapter from a POV character? That is the way to go, and HBO's the only one right now capable of even coming close to pulling it off the way it needs to be done. I can't wait. At the very least, even if it never airs, they'd better buy the rights to it so nobody else can butcher it...

Reports have it that there will be one more (and only one more) season of the Wire (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/22/071022fa_fact_talbot?current Page=1 - a great article!). I agree with everyone else who's mentioned it so far - simply outstanding. I think it might be my favorite series. Ever. Loved the clip of the creator's original memo when he pitched season 1 to HBO:
"It is a significant victory for HBO to counter program alternative, inaccessible worlds against standard network fare. But it would, I will argue, be a more profound victory for HBO to take the essence of network fare and smartly turn it on its head, so that no one who sees HBO’s take on the culture of crime and crime fighting can watch anything like “C.S.I.” or “N.Y.P.D. Blue” or “Law & Order” again without knowing that every punch was pulled on those shows. For HBO to step toe-to-toe with NBC or ABC and create a cop show that seizes the highest qualitative ground through realism, good writing, and a more brutal assessment of police, police work, and the drug culture—this may not be the beginning of the end for network dramas as the industry standard, but it is certainly the end of the beginning for HBO."

I was going to mention Rome and Deadwood as my other 2 faves as well, but I'd just be repeating everyone else. Looks like I came to the right thread! I watched all of John from Cincinnatti, and while it was nice to see some familiar faces from Deadwood, I don't think I'll miss it as much. It did have some great quirky characters though... But I don't really need more than one series where for every explanation there are 2 new mysteries, and Lost got there first. I just wish there was something decent to fit that 9PM Sunday slot right now though...

Oh yeah, and I'm really liking Dexter too (featuring Wild Bill from Deadwood as the FBI guy on Dex's case this season), though that's a Showtime series IIRC. Whatever - it's my Sunday night reason to turn off the phone right now. Just wish there wasn't that long gap between Curb Your Enthusiasm and it, but I just can't get into that new HBO thing, whatever it's called - some sorta relationship drama, if the ads are any indication. Meh.

'Conchords - sweet! A friend of mine is a musician of New Zealandish descent, so it's extra funny for our gang.

Just loving the HBO series. The only thing better than HBO is HBO in HD. No other company will produce something that you have to watch every episode 3 times over to fully appreciate the way they do, and I mean that as a very good thing.

Let's just hope this writer's strike doesn't end up ruining everything for us, eh? Those guys deserve every penny they're asking for, the current glut of network reality trash notwithstanding.

Kang

PS. Sorry about the overexcited rambling. Someone said George R.R. Martin and HBO in the same context... I'm sure you'll understand.

Another Ottawa subscriber here. (I wonder if I know you, Rambling Scribe...?)

I emailed Paizo customer service as soon as I got 359 to let them know I had no poster or 358. Within 2 days I got an email saying the problem is "universal" among Canadian subscriptions and not to worry because they'd reship ASAP.

Still waiting, but confident they'll make good as they always have in the past.

PS. Checked the link in Cosmo's last post; sent them another email despite having already received a reply, this time with the subject line Cos specifies in the linked thread. It wasn't clear whether people who've already emailed should do this or not, so I did it anyhow to be on the safe side.

Hope everyone gets their missing stuff!

Kang

OK, I just sent a(nother) email as you have emphasized. This time with the subject line you specified so as not to get left behind for having emailed too early on to have seen these instructions. Sorry if my multiple emails cause any confusion, but your own repetition lacks any clarifying instruction for those who've already emailed with different subject lines. For the sake of anyone who emailed but doesn't check the boards, I hope they don't get sent to the back of the line!

Thanks,

Kang

Anyone else dismayed to find no giant poster in 359 (not to mention 358 still hasn't arrived)? The cover says there is one...

Just curious about how "lucky" I really am - I'm confident my email to paizo customer service will have a speedy turnaround, as they've always been great about making this sort of thing right ASAP.

Can't wait to read it, but I will anyhow (until 358 shows up and gets read).

Anyhow, hearty thanks to all the folks at Paizo who did such a great job with the mags!

Heh, when my group's party got nearly TPK'ed - most were only knocked out; but the fire-cleric died, had a close encounter with his fire-god's agent (Gendinom, from a Wormfood article) who intercepted his soul in the afterlife and agreed to bring him back to life in exchange for a unique creature to throw into his furnace, to be delivered at some sooner-rather-than-later date in a ritual which (coincidentally?) cost the same as a Raise Dead spell - after blundering into the Hextorite 'kill-room', I did some fast thinking between sessions and had them all wake up in a cell I had added to the map near the boss's rooms (never thought of using Beast's room - great idea). With them was a spy the hextorites had previously discovered and captured, who turned out to be a fanatical assassin from Hextor's 'secret police', who had been tasked with infiltrating this blasphemous sect and wiping them off the face of Oerth for their unspeakable heresy. He had been discovered while playing the part of one of the lowly cultists, and was being kept for a sacrifice in some upcoming ritual (ie. awakening the aspect). As was the party. Together, they managed to overpower a guard and escape the cell. The assassin took the guard's uniform, pulled his hood up to hide his face, and used it as a disguise to get close to the boss and managed to hit him with a death attack while he was preoccupied with the escaping PC's - the lost XP and gory glory for offing him was the price the party paid for needing help. Once they'd mopped up the remaining Ebon Hextorites, the assassin went off on his way and hasn't been seen since. They've been much more careful about blundering headlong into kill-rooms ever since, and the fire-priest had a between-sessions mini solo-trek to the circle of standing stones at the Bronzewood Lodge, where he carried the Ebon Aspect's body, at the bidding of a fireside vision, to deliver it to Gendinom (gated in by a Bronzewood elder who also had a vision) for cremation. A tough but random attack from a wolf pack on the way there earned him back some of the XP he lost for dying, and almost cost him his delicious horse to boot.

All in all, though it may seem like I went a little easy on them (especially on the cleric, what with the Raise Dead on IOU while imprisoned with all of his allies), I think these were some of the more memorable sessions so far in the campaign for my players (I suppose Mr. Mearls probably deserves some of the credit for that, having written this excellent adventure and all... :) ) IMO, well worth the small amount of DM-fudgery it required; I think it's the only time I've ever really succeeded in making the gods of D&D feel like something special and important, beyond whatever time of day the party cleric prepares his spells, of course... And all this came up spontaneously, from what would otherwise have been a campaign-ending disaster! Can't guarantee it'd fly in anyone else's campaign, though; YMMV. Some players and DM's I know would scoff at my handling of the situation and tell me I should have let them all die instead of mollycoddling them. To me though, as a DM, it was great - saved my campaign from certain doom, got to introduce a new NPC (Balgon the Eunuch - the assassin); got to make use of Wormfood and related super-powerful extraplanar ally; got to pimp-slap the whole party, so to speak, and make the players sweat for a week wondering what would become of their characters; even managed to find a use for the Bronzewood Lodge! Got to DM a solo adventure too. To me, that's a lot of firsts and high points for just one or 2 sessions.

So you see, don't despair - it might seem like a total disaster right now... but if you use your imagination, you never know; it might just turn into one of the high points of your whole campaign. It did for me.

Good luck!

Kang

Oh, and as for your group, Kang, I say make the new guy the doppleganger. Though I must say, I can't believe you're posting this information when there's even a chance your players might read it. ;)

Well, there's only one guy who's even remotely likely to visit the Paizo site, and even then I doubt he'd check the boards at all, much less this one since he'll know he ought not to (They've been warned about that before - they opted to RP the interaction with that Diamond Lake trapper guy to haggle over selling the owlbear chick when I had given them the option to just skim over it between sessions, then one of them complained that from what he'd seen here, the guy had low-balled them... Duh, what, like he's going to offer them full price when they clearly have no idea what the little guy's worth? Not likely, nor is it my fault if they've neglected Appraise and Diplomacy... IIRC I gave them a minor XP story award for taking that option and to make up for getting shafted a bit on the owlish loot they should have had coming to them, but for some reason they didn't complain about that not being specified in the module). And even if he does, he'll probably recognize my screen name, since it's my PC in our other campaign, who looks just about exactly as 'Krusk'y as my avatar, and know he should stay away from this thread. And do so. If that fails, IIRC I put a warning at the top of my OP to chase them off before they ruin any surprises for themselves. So they're not any more likely to stumble across spoilers for my campaign than they are to find spoilers for the AoW in general by coming here. Really, I wouldn't want them reading this forum at all, regardless of whether I post or not. Since I can't pre-emptively delete the entire AoW forum, what the heck - might as well let 'er rip, eh?

Anyhow, as for making the new guy the impostor, it's a possibility, but he'll probably be the first one they suspect anyhow, since they barely know him. That, and the fact that his semi-retired lizardfolk PC was so central to the last adventure lead me to believe someone else would be a better choice. For one thing, there's more shock value in having a long-trusted companion turn on you than a near-total stranger. For another, Racklin (the spider-monk dude) really hasn't had much of a chance to bask in the spotlight (other than in combats where he doesn't roll 6 or more consecutive natural 1's, which happens - just for him, mind you - at least once monthly in our weekly sessions, as do multiple consecutive natural 20's) so far in the campaign.

But I do want them all to be suspects - really just looking for some subtle false clues I can quietly drop now and again along the way, seemingly implicating them. Maybe I'll have Rain Barrel man snap out of his trance long enough to point at one of them and go into a rant about how he is not who he seems to be. Completely untrue, but the PC's won't know that. Besides, the guy's clearly at least half-crazy already, so just because his prophecy has a certain amount of truth in it doesn't mean everything he says should be 100% accurate... That's half the point of even having crazed street prophets, am I right? Maybe I'll use that one on Zanster, since he's had that weird near death experience I mentioned above, which could be what RB man is actually referring to. Somehow. Maybe... Then if I can get Racklin to split away from the part for a few hours at some point (hearing about the Champ's Belt tournament coming up will hopefully remind him of that guy who offered to train him a few adventures back, before we ran the Whispering Cairn; maybe he'll decide to finally drop in on the guy, leaving him having been out of the others' sight for long enough to be replaced. I suspect I'm going to have to improvise these false clues, but I'd still greatly appreciate any suggestions.

Tyrecian: In retrospect, what did your DM do to try and get your party to notice what was going on, and why do you think it didn't work? Maybe I can learn from his failed attempts. Not that the adventure won't work fine even if they don't already suspect each other or anything; I just think it'll be a little more fun during that one scene where they walk into a room and find all of... themselves... tied to chairs if they do, is all. Oh and by the way, does your DM know you're reading this? ;o)

Thanks for the replies; hopefully they won't be the last...

I'm really looking forward to running this one. I've got all kinds of ideas for bringing in NPC's they met when they were in Greyhawk early in the campaign in ways that tie into the AoW AP. I'd offer more details about that, but it's off-topic plus now I'm all paranoid my players will read this...

Kang

PS. Sorry; and yes, I do realize I can be a bit longwinded. For me, this is actually keeping things short. This is just what is left of what I had origianlly drafted after 4 or more 'preview' clicks, each followed by much self-derisive tongue-clicking and text removal...

If you play Zanster, Olidon, KoKo, or Racklin, or if you ever have, then you have already read too much. Please turn back now, and forget you ever saw this thread.

For anyone else, OK, here's the deal. HoHR is written in such a way that by the end of the adventure, it comes to light that one of the PC's has been replaced by a doppelganger at some point in the adventure, or at least that there may be an impostor in their midst, and that there really hasn't been much reason for any of the other PC's to suspect which one it might be, since the one who gets replaced continues to act normally, use their regular character sheet, etc. Sure, there's the scene in the Crooked House where one of the doppelgangers tries to frame a PC for attempted murder, and if things go really wrong for the party at that point, the rest of the PC's might think that guy getting framed has something wrong with him. But chances are they'll prove their innocence before it comes to that. But I'm hoping to throw in a few little red herrings so that when it comes to light that one (or more than one, for all they'll know) of them may not be who he seems, they'll start suspecting each other and have at least a few chaotic rounds where they have no idea who to trust. I'll give you a little background on the PC's and the ideas I've come up with so far. I'm hoping for a few good suggestions so that each PC will have at least one reason why the others might doubt them.

The PC's:

- Zanster Tormilko, human fire-worshipping cleric. His player wanted to roll up a priest of Kossuth but since that is a FR deity and we're playing in Greyhawk, he doesn't have access to any official dogma or holy texts or even a name for his religion and just prays at/to the campfire, and sees visions therein when he's not scouring the nearest library for clues to his unusual source of divine power. Died in 3FoE in the Hextorite "kill room" when the rest of the party was just knocked out and imprisoned for later sacrifice. Woke up to find his soul facing Gendinom the Furnace Master (from a Wormfood article) on the plane of fire, acting as his deity's agent. Gendinom, knowing his master had plans for Zanster, offered to restore him to life in exchange for a promise to pay him back later with some unique creature or treasure to burn up in the fires of his forge. The party staged a jail-break with a little help from an assassin working fro the Hextorite secret police who'd been caught trying to infiltrate Theldrick's band of heretics. Zanster paid back Gendinom's favor after receiving a vision asking him to bring the body of the Ebon Aspect to the ring of standing stones at the Bronzewood Lodge, where an elder nature priest who'd also received visions from Gendinom cast the needed spells (requiring components available for the same cost as a raise dead spell, oddly enough, before anyone accuses me of being overly generous to my players) to bring the elder elemental to Oerth so Zanster could walk across a bed of hot coals to deliver the aspect's body personally.

- Olidon Rifter, human rogue. His player, having not previously provided one, agreed to accept the surname Rifter so as to tie-in to a Dungeon adventure I ran before AoW was released, where the party had to fight their way through a troglodyte warren to recover the corpse of his uncle Kai Rifter to bring it back for a decent burial. Wish I could remember the name of the adventure, sorry. Suffice it to say that his player missed almost every session of that adventure due to work pressures. Go figure. Anyhow, Olidon was raised by his Aunt, who believes their family to be cursed because all their men wind up getting killed while off adventuring. She is definitely not pleased that he has taken up with this band of neer-do-wells (who have inadvertently inherited the name of Kai's old band, the Last Men Standing, to her dismay), but he sort of took off on her without leaving any word when the party went to Diamond Lake to meet Allustan, so she's no doubt given him up for dead by now. Incidentally, they came to Diamond Lake to meet Allustan at the suggestion of Iquander, the head librarian of the Greyhawk Library, who thought the mage might be able to shed some light on Zanster's mysterious god and possibly figure out the significance of the missing pages from the evil book stolen by cultists of Vecna and recovered by the PC's in their first adventure, the Mad God's Key. It will eventually turn out to have been some blasphemous chapter about the unthinkable Ebon Triad, no doubt...

Racklin, the Amazing Spider-Monk. Max ranks in jump, climb, sometimes uses a net, took EWP (whip); basically this guy wanted his character to be Spider-Man. 'Nuff said? Has craftily ignored any hooks I've put out there that were geared toward his character. This guy can be counted on to show up most sessions, but not to get really immersed like the rest of the group. Happy enough just to be able to roll a few dice once a week, from what I can tell. That's fine, don't get me wrong; it's just that I don't have much I can say about what makes him tick or what lose ends he's left behind. Was invited for unarmed combat training at a gym in Greyhawk owned by a guy who trained a few champion's belt winners in the past. This was before they ever went to Diamond Lake, but he didn't ever bother to check it out. Too bad, could possibly have tied in nicely with the next adventure... Maybe it's not too late. Since he hasn't really gotten too involved beyond taking part in combat, I'm thinking maybe he'll be the one to get replaced by a doppelganger in this adventure. Possibly on his way to finally go check out that gym if he chooses to do so...

KoKo, lizardfolk wilder/barbarian. An escaped slave who found himself in the overwhelming metropolis of Greyhawk across a tavern table from a group of hairy mercenary humanoids sharing a pitcher of ale at the Couatl's Quill a few months ago, the same night a certain key was stolen from Theldrat's locksmithy. Spent the whole campaign (without much success) so far trying to take slaves of his own from among the party's defeated victims, since the only real role model he ever had was his old master (before he presumably ate him and escaped, that is). He was, therefore, happy to stay behind in the swamp to be the new king of the Twisted Branch Tribe at the end of Encounter at Blackwall Keep. Gave him Leadership as a bonus feat and Hishka as a sort of cohort, provided he stays on as king (ie. he's out of the game for now, so it really makes no difference, but he will hopefully reappear someday). His player will be bringing a new character to the table when we begin playing HoHR in a few weeks, but I'm not sure what sort of PC he has in mind yet. He mentioned he was thinking of creating some sort of unarmed combat specialist fighter, which sounds almost impossible to play effectively, so is therefore almost certainly what he'll go with (don't ask, you'd have to know the guy to understand. Penchant for playing unplayable PC's and whining about their ineffectiveness)

So, for some of these guys it shouldn't be too hard to make the other PC's wonder about them when they realize one of them might be a phony:

Olidon will probably want to visit his aunt when they get back to Greyhawk. If I can nudge another PC or 2 to accompany him to her house, they can witness her pull the old, "I have no nephew. I used to have one, but he left me here to fend for myself after I gave up my youth trying to raise him right. Probably lying dead in a dungeon somewhere by now, no thanks to you ruffians. This fellow certainly may look a bit like Olidon, but he is no nephew of mine (slams door)". A natural enough reaction for someone who's been treated the way she has, but then later on they'll be like, "wait a minute, didn't Olidon's Aunt Fanny say something about him not really being her nephew? Maybe he's the doppelganger!" At least I hope they'll remember she said that...

KoKo's player's new PC will be the new guy, so he's a prime suspect just waiting to happen.

But what about Zanster and Racklin? Can anyone think of a few little hints I can strategically drop during the course of adventure that will seem like nothing at the time, but will make everyone else paranoid about them once they find out they have a doppelganger in their midst?

I just think if everyone sort of suspects everyone else, it'll make the adventure that much more memorable. So let's get those suggestions rolling, folks! Any ideas you guys post will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Kang

Thanks again... again.

Kang

Wow, who knew my question would rise right to the Associate Editor! (You just don't see that on WotC's boards...)

Thanks, Mr. McArtor. I was hoping for an issue number though. Ie. for the issue the countdown to 3ed started in. Assuming there was nothing 3ed-related printed in Dragon's pages before the countdown. I'll check the back issues page for one around a year before issue 274 with something along the lines of, "Countdown to third edition begins in this issue!" on the cover, but those thumbnails can be a little tricky to read...

Replies from those who aren't high-ranking Paizo exec's also welcome. :o)

Thanks again,

Kang

PS. Would also appreciate a Dungeon issue # for the first issue with 3ed content, if anyone has it handy. (Or even if they're willing to go way out of their way to look it up, for that matter...)

I've been doing a little checking and the only information I've been able to find is that 3rd ed. coverage in Dragon began in issue 274, but I note that the cover of 269 has a bar at the top of the cover reading "3rd Edition Rogues & Skills" - so when did Dragon (and Dungeon, for that matter) really start printing 3rd edition material?

I assume 274 was just the first one to have only 3rd edition material...?

Sorry if this has been asked and aswered here before - my search turned up nothing.

Thanks,

Kang

I sure wish I had any interest whatsoever in running another adventure path, but sadly I do not. One was enough for me; now that I have earned some experience as a DM at all levels of play without having to worry about designing the whole campaign as well as running it, I'm ready to use all my books and Paizo mags to do up my own homebrew. Sadly, Pathfinder appears to offer me nothing in this regard. I can understand why Paizo would go this way what with all the positive feedback from the AP's, even from some groups who've played or are playing through 2 or even all 3 of them so far, but how many groups just want to keep playing prewritten adventure paths again and again ad nauseum? Will the same number of gamers be able to say they've played all 10 AP's down the line? I have my doubts, though no doubt they'll recruit a bunch of new subscribers as us long-time fans slowly lose interest and start spending elsewhere.

I don't blame Paizo - what else can they do? - I mean, other than letting me pick my back issues NOW instead of waiting until publication stops for whatever unknown reason while occasional-reading nonsubscribers who've heard the news buy up all the ones I want with their money that Paizo doesn't already have, that is...

Still can't believe WotC is axing Dragon and Dungeon after 30 years while they've left so many of D&D's other less valuable sacred cows intact. Consider my mind blown by their insane decision. Meanwhile, I'll definitely be buying non-WotC hardcovers to add to my always-rapidly-expanding collection of D&D...er... I mean D20 material from now on. Just seems crazy to throw money at a company that goes out of their way to intentionally kill the best support for their products that exists, right?

end rant, and please for gods' sakes, someone whip out a couple scrolls of Raise Dead for my favorite magazines, willya?

Kang wrote:

PS. Is there some way to...

Of course not! Psychotic Warrior is my real name too!

BTW quoting you it says 'Kang' but on the thread it says <Kang's real name> - weird.

Darn you and your edits anyway!

Yup, figured it out for myself, updated my profile, and had hoped to do the edit to remove the question before anyone discovered I'd inadvertently revealed my secret identity. But you work too fast... Have a heart and edit that out of your post before people realize I'm not really a half-orc, willya? Thx.

Kang

IIRC (though I may be mistaken) they originally appeared in the 3.5 psionics handbook, rather than the minis handbook. Or am I mixing up the order of publication for those 2 volumes?

Anyhow, here are the definitions, copied from www.d20SRD.org:

Swift Actions
A swift action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action. You can perform one swift action per turn without affecting your ability to perform other actions. In that regard, a swift action is like a free action. However, you can perform only a single swift action per turn, regardless of what other actions you take. You can take a swift action any time you would normally be allowed to take a free action. Swift actions usually involve spellcasting or the activation of magic items; many characters (especially those who don't cast spells) never have an opportunity to take a swift action.

Casting a quickened spell is a swift action. In addition, casting any spell with a casting time of 1 swift action is a swift action.

Casting a spell with a casting time of 1 swift action does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Immediate Actions
Much like a swift action, an immediate action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action. However, unlike a swift action, an immediate action can be performed at any time — even if it's not your turn. Casting feather fall is an immediate action, since the spell can be cast at any time.

Using an immediate action on your turn is the same as using a swift action, and counts as your swift action for that turn. You cannot use another immediate action or a swift action until after your next turn if you have used an immediate action when it is not currently your turn (effectively, using an immediate action before your turn is equivalent to using your swift action for the coming turn). You also cannot use an immediate action if you are flat-footed.

Kang