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Organized Play Member. 704 posts (4,567 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 14 aliases.




Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

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Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

Landing spot for the discussion thread!


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Hi! Paizo's impending release of the revised and expanded Curse of the Crimson Throne seems like a great opportunity to dive into one of the few early APs that I've never tried to run. So let this be my call for players! I'm looking for 4 or 5 citizens of Korvosa willing to risk the ultimate sacrifice in order to help stabilize and restore order to our troubled city.

The revised AP is not downloadable for me yet, so we have a bit of waiting to do before I have all the new material, but there's no time like the present to start the character creation and selection process. I will very likely tailor the start of the adventure to fit the backgrounds of the group, and encourage players to link their character backgrounds together wherever they have the urge and see the opportunity.

There is already a website for the game with maps including the home for the current battlemap when that becomes needed. Players who are accepted into the game will be given a login linked to an email address. I do this because I want to feel free to share the excellent artwork that comes with the product (as I would at the table), without worrying about infringing on Paizo's IP rights.

Character submissions should be created with the locale in mind - in this case the city of Korvosa. This means that most people are human and are of Chelish, Varisian or Shoanti descent. Korvosa is a racially-charged atmosphere with upcoming tensions that will strain ties between the city's citizens like nothing in living memory, so choose wisely. I'm certainly not saying that you are confined to these ethnicities, I'm just saying that characters of other backgrounds will stick out.

This AP is largely urban in nature, with some significant dungeon-crawl stretches. Druids and nature-lovers beware, there may be limited chances to shine in the city.

I've put some information from the campaign home page on my profile home page on house rules and whatnot. I will generally post in the evening, east coast US timezone. I will try to keep up at least once-a-night pace as much as real life allows.

Successful player applications for this game will have the following:

- 1st level character built on 25 point buy system (Heroes are supposed to be heroic).
- Maximum starting gold for your class, duly apportioned among possessions.
- Character built from sources: Core Rulebook, Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Advanced Class Guide.
- A thought-out character background sympathetic with the fate of the city.
- An interesting physical description
- Nonevil Alignment
- Two Traits selected from standard sources. New campaign traits are promised with the revised AP, so more to come on that as details become available.


Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

Very little cloud and a freshing breeze three points off the cape brought the Baron's Bounty into the crowded inner roads of Magnimar's harbor to a gentle kiss against the deep water quay. She was aptly named, for in addition to her cargo of imports from Cheliax and beyond she brought five long looked-for passengers from the distant island-city of Absalom. These five and all of their belongings were scooped up and loaded directly onto a stage-and-four which trundled them up the long climb to Summit, past the government buildings and monuments of the capital district, almost to the gates at the southern extremity of the city. There, just inside the city wall and nominally within the noble 'Alabaster' district stands the Heidmarch mansion, newest chapter house of the Pathfinder Society.

The new guests of the manor were well-received by Sheila and Canayven Heidmarch themselves. The steward of the house appointed four of them capital rooms at Velora Manor, a large multi-roomed house not far removed from the Heidmarch's sprawling manse. The fifth of their number, their nominal leader Shevala Iorae was hustled off to a room and cloistered there for hours along with the Heidmarchs and several other agents called in for the occasion. Dinner was served for the guests of Velora Manor, along with explanations that a meeting would be called in the morning, everything explained, and a plan put together. Something was happening. The society was gathering itself, marshaling its strength to take action. A quest was afoot.

The morning brought a summons. The Heidmarch estate, grand library, two hours before noon.

---

Across the city, in a dark, muddy little hell-hole known as the Underbridge the morning was passing with less splendor. There's not much that can be said to unsay stuff you blurt out when you're charmed. And so the giant Shoanti warrior sat mute atop a no-longer struggling Natalya Vancaskerkin - criminal overlord mastermind that was not. Natalya was a contact gone dead for the Society, and the Heidmarch's - specifically Sheila - had assigned a fresh group of recruits to the job of tracking her down and recovering whatever information she'd gone to ground with. That led the group from clue to clue to here, to a rundown warehouse with rotted floors and open connections to the sewers. To a dirty brawl with goblins that throw bags of shit and glass, and a mad-woman spouting fevered dream-ravings of taking over the city. And in the end the crazy b!%!! had to be beaten senseless before she would stop struggling and surrender to the overwhelming force the recruits brought to bear. And all of it for a broken piece of metal, a sharp little curiosity that the party wizard had to literally pry from Natalya's hand - she'd actually cut herself on it.

And now sucking the blood from that cut was the only thing occasionally interrupting the barrage of curses raining down about the Shoanti's ears and overdeveloped shoulders. The curses lasted through the argument over turning the whole scene over to the guard - the guard! Past towering rage at the inherent stupidity at declaring oneself Queen of a pool of dung. On beyond the discovery of nothing - no treasure, no clues, not a single Thassilonean rune to decipher. Well into the abject waste of talent that this entire investigation had been. The tirade continued through the gathering of items and bound prisoner and exit from the warehouse, the district, and up the broad avenue back to the Heidmarch's estate. It was the kind of tirade that made people look away, embarrassed for the poor soul being passed under the harrow. No one said a word about Natalya's inert form, draped casually over his shoulder.

---

The grand library of the Heidmarch estate is a multi-story open affair with branches on two stories leading to reading nooks. The collection of books and specimens collected there is certainly the most complete private collection of knowledge to be found outside the empire. The members of the conclave arrive separately, ordering drinks from attendant staff and finding comfortable places to sit. Shevala Iorae, raven-haired reknowned Varisian Pathfinder and mentor these past ship-board weeks to the new arrivals from Absalom, fidgets with a presentation board that's been erected for presentation. She unrolls and tacks two maps to the board as others arrive and take their places. Koriah is a red-headed Pathfinder of local origin. Archisa is the curator to Magnimar's Museum of the Ages, a well-respected and influential member of the Society. Finally there is Canayven and Sheila Heidmarch. Sheila enters the room aglow and its apparent that this kind of gathering is her preferred element. She takes in the gathering, noting with a passing frown the recruits that have not yet made it back from their investigation, then kicks off the affair with a meaningful clearing of the throat.

"Friends and members of the Society, thank you all for making what for some of you was a rather long and tedious trip to our little home on the frontier.." She gestures around the library. "I welcome you to the planning stages of a quest to recover the newly discovered Thassilonean library at Jorgenfist!" She lets the idea of this quest filter its way around the room, taking in the reactions of each of the assembled members. "The library, as most of you know, was discovered by the vanquishers of Karzoug..." her speech trails off as a member of her staff enters by a side door and gestures for her attention. There's some commotion in the room beyond, raised voices...

"I'm sorry - let me just attend to this," she says, plainly put-out by the interruption. "Shevala, please proceed...

Valai:
The artifact in your hand is the most powerful item you've ever seen. Nothing you've ever actually held has registered such a powerful magical aura. You have no idea what it is, but it has inflicted a curse of pride upon you, such that the mere thought of someone telling you what to do makes you nauseous - like even more than normal. You've come back to the Heidmarch manor to turn over Natalya to your benefactor for questioning, but now that you stand before her, in the doorway to her library filled with books she probably has never read, you're filled with the urge to bury the sharp piece of garbage into her forehead.


Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

Hi folks. First off I want to stress that GM Dak's thread is NOT required reading for the other players. I have an idea of how to merge this story together and get it chugging in the right direction with this mix of characters. That starts with getting the character backstories in line with the description in the AP guide. Nothing actually changes about the story hook for the new characters. You're still invited to appear at the Heidmarch estate, the Pathfinder's Society's most recently opened chapter house.

I think Valai and Rommin need to level up - go ahead and do that.

What questions from the recruit thread did I fail to answer? The new characters still get 150 gp (which is a stretch given the druid's background - I think you have an acorn... :)


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Anyone interested in starting a Shards of Sin game?

I'm looking for 4 or 5 character applications for a play-by-post Shattered Star campaign. I've been out of online games for

awhile and am missing the unique pace of the format. I'll probably throw together a google site or something for hosting combat maps and relevant images.

Character Creation Guidelines:

Point buy: 20 - heroes are supposed to be standout individuals
Races: Core races only.
Classes: Core. APG. Ultimate Magic/Combat considered.
Alignment: no evil
Traits: 2 - One campaign, one adventure.
HP: max 1st level.
Starting gold: 150gp


Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

Here's our discussion thread. Let's start talking about character advancement and integration into the campaign. Gameplay questions, inventory, etc can go here.

The Campaign site is here.


Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

This is the game thread for our Children of the Void game. This is a continuation of Luke's Shadow in the Sky Thread.


The Second Darkness PbP campaign I'm running is about to bridge from chapter 1 to chapter 2 and I'm looking for a couple new players to step in at 4th level and join the fun. The expectation is that you would check the post at least once a day (that's about what I can manage), posting whenever appropriate.

The gameplay for chapter 1 may be found here.

Anyone interested in joining should post a character concept here. I'll close the request after 1 week, review the submissions and pick two. The current players for chapter 2 are...

Lia, female Half-elf Rogue
Brenin, male Human Ranger
Rees, female Tiefling Witch


Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

Nightfall on the streets of Riddleport's Waterfront District. The early summer sky is one of those last shades of blue before true darkness. The season hasn't really gotten its legs yet in this part of the world and sundown still brings a small spring chill. Wisps of mist off the nearby river drift around the knees of the leaning tenements and shops, fogging windows and wetting street cobbles. Up and down the streets of the city the gaslamps spit and spark to life. Maybe one of every three still function in this part of town. The others merely sizzle occasionally or cast a light so soft that only the glass is illuminated, creating little glowing bubbles of light in a dark and dangerous sea.

The fact is that the streets of Riddleport get more lethal when the sun goes down. What would pass for crime in most cities occurs in broad daylight here. The flavor of the crimes, the severity of the penalties and the potential for gain all increase when alley shadows creep into the streets. Simple panhandlers gather their belongings and scuttle off to whatever places they deem 'safe'. Their replacements are cutpurses, thugs and working women. Sailors from the vessels in port wander the streets of the city in packs for protection, well aware that stragglers are often found bobbing in the harbor at first light.

This night the gangs of sailors, the thugs and even a few of the whores have congregated in the waterfront for a rebirth of sorts. One of the landmarks of the city, the Gold Goblin Gambling Hall is reopening its doors after a deep renovation. The filth and decay of the old management has been swept into the sea. New management is opening the hall with a grand gambling tournament the likes of which have not been seen since the old glory days of the Goblin. "Cheat the Devil and Take His Gold" is what the man calls it, but the grand prize is actually 10,000 shining pieces of silver against an entry fee of only 10. Most sailors in this town will take those odds as often as they can afford them. Compound the normal enthusiastic crowd of chance-takers with the extra folks gathering in town to observe the mysterious shadow in the sky and you have the makings of a mob.

The Gold Goblin itself is one of the larger buildings in the district. The main floor sits under a distinctive bronze dome, now green with years of weathering. The curving facade of the building is lined with wide reinforced windows that fill the square outside with light. At the appointed hour a pair of muscled guards, bare to the waist and covered in swirling tattoos, take their place at the main entrance. The doors are opened and the gathered crowd is allowed to meander into the casino.

Brenin:
You've followed the course of the Velashu River down to the town of Riddleport at the advice of village augurs and borderland mystics. The entrails, the clouds, the swirling leaves - they all agree. This town is the focus of the blot phenomenon. And you've been given a name: Agatha Kraune. A ranger near Lurkwood was the first to name her, but others have echoed it.

Once in town, a local scamp named Renfro put you in contact with the Harrower. She lives in an old manor outside of town. By all accounts she is the genuine article - a witch with the means to read true portents. Renfro seemed genuinely alarmed at the prospect of leading you to the woman. Then the boy brings late word to you of a plan change - you are to meet at the Gold Goblin Gambling Hall at some gambling tournament. You're to watch for a golden feather. The bearer of this symbol is the woman you seek.

Isegrim & Trystan:
I've marked a couple of locations for you guys on the Riddleport map. The Publican House, the flat that Trystan rents and the inn that Isegrim currently lives in (the Shady Lady). Trystan, you will undoubtedly have some local knowledge here. If you're cool, we'll assume that you share whatever info comes out of those rolls with Isegrim so you guys can share a spoiler.

Lia:
You have finally broken ranks for good with your louse of a father and his little gang of petty thieves and con-artists. When the gendarmes evicted his little gang from their hidey-hole in the rotgut district, you took advantage of the chaos to slip away. He and his goons are undoubtedly on the lookout for you, so you have lain low for the past couple of days in a flophouse on the outskirts of the Leeward district. Now the washed-out criminal known as Saul Vankaskerkin has resurfaced and is opening the old Gold Goblin Gambling Hall. There's no doubt that the man needs folks with your skill and savvy if he's going to preserve his other hand from Zincher's chopping block. His natural animosity towards Riddleport's master of games aligns with your own, making him a natural ally. Now if you can just find a way to turn his head enough to hire you on, perhaps you can start to build a life for yourself that does not involve checking every shadow for the ghosts of your past.

Rees:
Everyone wants to know what the damned Blot is. An omen to bet on blacks rather than reds? A sign of the coming armageddon? The Age of Lost Omens has begun. The signs are obscured by a blot of another sort, so says your mother. But that will not stop fools from asking the questions and paying the price. Unfortunately, many people have more questions than common sense. These doe-eyed innocents have no chance of reckoning the price before its time to pay.

Such is the case with this young uplander who currently seeks an appointment with your mother, the infamous seer Agatha Kraune. Your mother will ensorcle, murder and butcher this young stranger for parts. His stripped bones will dance for her pleasure unless someone warns him. You have run her errands and listened at her knee for an entire childhood and the startling conclusion that must be drawn from it all is that you, despite your mother's careful instruction, despite the taint that runs through your veins, are not evil. At least you strive not to be. Your conscience will not allow you to stand by and watch this latest butchery unfold. Rebellion against your mother is a daunting road, but it is the only one you can see that does not end in the pits of Hell.

Your rebellion starts tonight. You have intercepted the young man's dispatches and have duped him into meeting you at the gambling tournament at the Gold Goblin. He's to watch for a gold feather, which you wear as an amulet around your neck. You're not sure where this rebellion will lead, but you are certain that returning to your mother's home after tonight would be unwise. She will undoubtedly mistake this as your need to sow wild oats or some such nonsense. She does not understand the war in your heart. If she ever fought such an internal battle, she lost it long ago; well before cleaving to whatever fiend sired you.

Each of you should describe how and when your character enters the scene. Please do this behind a spoiler tag. Spellcasters should post their daily selections and weapons should be specified. We'll stay behind spoilers until the party comes together.

Also, everyone should roll skill checks as follows. If you do not have a rank in the relevant knowledge skill, the highest total you can get is 10.

knowledge(local) for information on the blot.
knowledge(nature) for information on the blot.
knowledge(arcana) for information on the blot.
knowledge(local) for some backstory on the Gold Goblin Gambling Hall.


Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

*tap* *tap*

Is this thing on... ?

Ok. Excellent. We're back in the saddle again and starting a new play-by-post campaign. This is the out-of-character thread for Luke's 'Shadow in the Sky'. So far I have three players:

Pam - human rogue
Chris - human ranger
Melissa - unidentified something

I'll try to recruit two more players off the boards here very shortly. With the holidays coming up I expect to have some time to finish a big custom map of the starting locale for this adventure - Riddleport. There will be an early urban focus to the campaign - but there will also be lots of outdoor and dungeon-crawl components as well. The starting location is a seedy town run by pirates and crimelords, so some character types will be harder than others to run credibly (I'm looking at you, Paladin & Monk). There is a Player's Guide to this campaign that I have PDF and hard-copy versions of. There will also be a campaign website (site redesign underway) where I will host illustrations, maps, and some informative pages about locations in the campaign. The site will be behind a secure sign-on for players only (so I can use art from the campaign materials without pissing off the good folks here at Paizo).

I expect the pace to be something similar to the Rise of the Runelords campaign that I ran, which was basically one or two posts a day with bursts of more frequent posts occasionally. I can really only post on nights and weekends. As a word of warning to prospective players, none of us are rules lawyers and there will be screw ups and rules questions throughout. That's what this thread will be for (along with general BS n'stuff).

For rules we will be using the Pathfinder ruleset. I am ok with the use of the playtest classes if anyone wants to try them, but if you do then you agree now to convert them to their final incarnations once the Advanced Player's Guide comes out. I run on the honor system as well - there's no need to use Invisible Castle or anything unless you want to. We'll run with a 20 pt purchase system for abilities. Characters are expected to be heroic! And I will try to kill you. :)

Also, I'd prefer players who do not know the plot of the adventure or the adventure path. Therefore please stay clear of the messageboards area on the Second Darkness adventure path while the thread is going.

The Exchange

Male Simian druid 12, poo-slinger 3, gator fan 3

The grapevine says we may be losing Eberk. Melissa, let me know if you want to drop out. If so that is completely cool. This is definitely not a replacement for the table game, which we have absolutely no chance of reviving right now.

Either way, there's no need to kamikaze the dwarf. I'll NPC him to an organic finish somewhere along the lines if need be.

If Melissa is dropping, what's the opinion of the others in the group? Are you interested in continuing? Do you want to go one with three, or are you interested in making an open call and seeing if someone on the intertubes wants to join?

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My apologies if this shows up twice. I think the boards ate my first attempt.

My daughter wants to order Bella Sara cards from your site. Is there a way to get the cards to ship with my next Pathfinder adventure to save on shipping?

Thanks,

Luke

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Just a little concerned here. I received my Pathfinder 11 with no problems, but I was surprised to find that the Guide to Darkmoon Vale was not packaged with it, though it shows on my order history as having shipped the same day. Were they just shipped separately, or did I *sniff* get skipped?

Thanks,
Luke

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Gary,

A Pathfinder RPG SRD would be an awesome addition to your website. Is this something in your plans?

-Luke

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No, not the Wake Forest variety...

When will we see stats for the other deacons? I saw a mention that more information on fiends in general would appear in the Campaign Setting, but what about stats for the other lower orders?

IMO the leukodaemon was absolutely awesome. The illustration was fantastic!

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Maybe this has already been stated/asked somewhere, but have we been reading a little prelude to Crimson Throne in the form of Eando's tale? I thought there was a connection between the phage from PF#2 and the 2nd AP. Do the boxes contain the disease, or are they long lost bones of the dragon in the PF#6 preview? My guess is dragon bones, but I'm curious to see what others think.

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Does anyone know if a 3rd level version of the iconics (Valeros, Kyra, Merisiel, Seoni) have been printed up in the abbreviated character sheet form found at the back of the GMMs and Pathfinders? I'm using these with my kids and they've gotten used to the format. I have 1st, 2nd, and 4th-8th, but no 3rd. At this point I'd probably buy a GMM just to get these sheets.


Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

It’s the first day of autumn, and a light breeze off the gulf has blown away the remnants of last night’s rain. Today is a perfect day for a festival, and a festival is exactly what the town of Sandpoint is going to have. Most of the town’s citizenry is gathered in a cobbled plaza that is headed by the impressive façade of the town’s church. Before the doors of the beautiful stone structure is a wooden podium that is to be used for the speeches that will soon kick off the festival.

Pennants and streamers dress up the rooftops and faces of the surrounding shops, most of which are open for business. The doors of the White Deer Inn up the road stand open and a steady column of smoke from the house’s kitchens trails up into the sky. The smell of the roasts the inn is providing for the community feast mingles in the breeze with a dozen other savory smells coming from merchant’s tents and vending carts. The plaza is filled with a milling crowd and a babble of voices – locals, travelers, farmers in town for the day with their families, and merchants both local and exotic. Music can be heard from a dozen sources around the square and up the street in the direction of the inn.

Make a Knowledge (Religion) DC 12 or Knowledge(local) DC 8 check to read the following spoiler.

Spoiler:

In the traditional Varisian calendar, the equinox is always marked by the Swallowtail festival. It focuses on the myth of the goddess Desna’s creation.

Knowledge (local) DC 10 – use the same roll if you used local above for this one.

Spoiler:

The festival this year is special because it marks the opening of the town’s newly constructed cathedral. The previous structure and many of the surrounding buildings here were torched five years ago in a fire that claimed many lives. This festival is also a remembrance for that tragedy.

Each of you should please post a spoiler for me that states where you are and what you are doing as the festival commences..


Tale of Days Current Battlemap City Map

This will be the discussion thread for a Play-by-post attempt at the Rise of the Runelords AP. We're starting with 5 characters, and we'll be working through character creation and backgrounds here before starting to post in an actual Pbp thread. I think we have:

Dwarf Fighter
Shoanti Druid
Elven Ranger
Some kind of Rogue (rumor has it this might be a half-orc)
And Pam, who hasn't decided anything yet.

I think the first thing we want to do here is to have each of you create a Paizo account if you do not already have one, and then to create an alias for your character. Once that is done, you can navigate to your alias's profile page by accessing the "My Account" link at the top of the page, selecting your alias from among the aliases appearing in the box, and clicking the link to create a profile. This will allow you to enter the particulars for your character. If we keep those up to date, I won't have to constantly ask for bonuses and whatnot.

So...you five know who you are. Complete these steps and lets start talking (posting?) about why you've come to the fair sea-side town of Sandpoint!

The Exchange

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Does anyone know exactly where in Falcon's Hollow Quinn's Carnival is? I'm assuming the entry in 'Crown of the Kobold King' is a plug for the upcoming 'Carnival of Tears', and I'd like to do some foreshadowing during D0 and D1.

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It seems to have fixed itself now. Nevermind.

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I put together a 13 page sea chart set to use as a handout for my players that spans the journey from Sasserine to just west of the point where the Sea Wyvern leaves the mainland and heads south into open sea. On the eastern edge, it just grazes the Pirate Isles. My intention is that it serve as the sea chart that the characters get when they take command of the Sea Wyvern at the end of BWG.

If anyone thinks it would be useful in their campaign, I'd be happy to share it. Drop me a line at lpotter5 <at> tampabay <dot> rr <dot> com and I'll email the PDF your way. Or if you want, just post your email address here.

-Luke

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Last night my group was running madly through some custom catacombs under the shrine of Tamoachan with a wave of skeletons animating in their wake when they stumbled headlong into a mummy. One of the first characters to face it failed the Will save and ended up paralyzed with fright for 3 rounds.

Later in the same round, the NPC bard that led them into this mess comes up behind her, passes his Will save when he sees the mummy, and busts out with Inspire Courage.

Is the paralyzed character entitled to a new Will save? If so, is it immediate, or on her next turn? We took our standard 5 minutes to look collectively for a definitive rule in the core books, and then I generously allowed a new instantaneous Will save at +1 - which she failed.

I vowed to post the question to the excellent community on these boards. Was the ruling correct?

The Exchange

I'm in the process of paiting a new fig for Lavinia that reflects her taking on a few class levels. The fig I have is a rapier wielding beauty with a pistol, wearing a blank tabard.

Here it is

So I'm thinking the family crest should definitely be painted on the tabard. Does anyone have any good ideas of what that should look like?

The Exchange

** SPOILERS **

So the huecuva became undead because he violated the tenants of his faith by turning into a cannibal, right? And there were a couple others among those trapped in the tunnels that did the same thing? So why then are the other undead in the tunnels corporeal (zombies)? Shouldn't they be skeletons made of gnawed bones or shadows or something? It seems like none of them should have any flesh left at all.

Or did I miss something?

I thought about replacing the zombies with a bunch of skeletons, or possibly with a couple of ghouls. Any suggestions?

The Exchange

Rules question: If a character is fighting with two weapons and someone in a threatened square provokes an Attack of Opportunity, does the character use her bonus for fighting with two weapons during that attack, or her bonus with just the primary-hand weapon? I ruled that it was the lower, two-handed bonus, but I also promised to post the question to get a consensus.

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I have a rule interpretation question regarding this item. In an adventure that will remain unmentioned (no spoilers here), my group found this item with a Dispel Magic cast into it. The way I read the description of the item, it would seem that this protects the wearer from an opponent casting Dispel Magic on her. That seemed very straightforward, until an enemy cast Greater Dispel Magic on her.

The PC initially took the position that because they were both Dispel, the enemy's Greater Dispel was countered. I pondered this for a while, then went off on another tangent. When you cast Dispel Magic into this item, does it effectively act as if you were attempting to counterspell with Dispel Magic, thereby granting a chance of countering against any spell?

This conclusion seemed to head off the brewing controversy, so I allowed the ring to work this way. She failed her Dispel Check anyway, the Greater Dispel Magic took affect, and her Stoneskin was stripped. What is the correct interpretation?

The Exchange

My group made it into the Ziggurat this weekend after a couple of sessions battling Bellaxus and his gang in Kuluth Mar. Nezzarin went down like a chump and they entered the main structure. They chose the room with the Swords and the Wormcaller. What ensued was a classic 'doorway' fight between the main room and the library, which ended when the group sorceress (Marzena) blocked the doorway off with a Wall of Force. This isolated a single sword in the room with the party, and they dispatched it. With the time left on the Wall of Force, the party healed and prepared to fight off the remaining Swords. When the Wall came down, the party cleric cast two consecutive blade barriers and Marzena threw a bunch of fireballs to try and coax the Swords to come through the blade barriers. I resolved this situation by opening the door behind them and turning Kelvos and his Archons loose. Things got ugly and mistakes were made.

The cleric was killed by a discorporating dive and Marzena Teleported out with his corpse, and returned just in time to get a harm spell from Kelvos that took her to about -100 hp. The party shadowdancer and fighter both escaped, leaving the corpses of Marzena and a cohort in the main chamber. This left me with a couple of questions to answer, and I'm hoping for some help...

1. Is there anything left of Marzena after being sent to -100 hp land? Does she explode, or melt or something? Is there enough of her left to make a proper spawn of Kyuss for when the party returns, or are they going back in search of a DNA sample for a resurrection spell? And is there a guideline for what she animates as (Spawn or something more powerful)?

2. I ruled that Discorporating Dive was not a death affect, so the rogue was able to use a Raise Dead scroll to bring the cleric back to life. Is that correct?

And boy did I let them off the hook. I forgot that the Blade Barriers should have dropped when the cleric went down, releasing the two remaining Swords and the Wormcaller. And I forgot to dismiss the fighter's Stoneskin when Marzena died. They wiggled out of a TPK for sure. Oh well, there's always next time.

The Exchange

Nevermind.

I see someone else already had the same idea and James weighed in. Time to roll up some new characters...

The Exchange

Will woke to the sound of Ash running her long blade over a whetstone. Jay was huddled in the corner beside her, talking quietly about the likelihood of anything good coming from a trip into the Whispering Cairn.
‘Let’s just go look at the place,’ Ash suggested. ‘We can decide when we get there. Look, you don’t have anything better to do…right? So let’s go take a peek.’
Will caught the thread of the conversation. It was time to pray for strength for the coming day. ‘Combat it is,’ he thought.

The dark arch in question lay in a moist and deeply shaded glen of hardwoods tucked into the shoulder of one of the region’s hills. The dome of the mound was probably once barren, but tall trees had long since ascended the hill, concealing the cairn from the hillside track that ran through this pass. Jay led the party as quietly as possible through the tangled undergrowth of the forest, and to the entrance itself.
A wet wind picked up, filling the air with the sound of the trees rustling. Then lower, a barely perceptible moan that seemed to escape the cavern mouth, rising in time with the wind into the hint of whispered speech.
‘Are we really doing this?’ Jay asked.
‘Let’s see what’s in there,’ Will replied. ‘I’m tired of being poor. How can I ever get anywhere in the church with absolutely no money to my name?’
‘Right,’ Jay said with a sigh.
Ash nodded curtly and began padding toward the door. Jay lit a torch they’d brought along, handed it to Will, and silently eased by Ash and over the threshold. If anything, the moaning breeze seemed a bit louder within the passage, the whispering closer to perceptible words, though not in any language Jay recognized. She tightened her grip on the pommel of her drawn short sword and stalked further down the passage.
Around a corner to the left a wide and shallow alcove opened containing an old rag that might have once been a blanket and a family of roaches who scattered as she nudged the debris. Will moved up with the torch, lighting up the central passage that stabbed further into the hillside.
Jay crept further into the gloomy passage, uncovering another set of alcoves, these slightly deeper than the last. Jay motioned for Will and Ash to explore the alcove to the left while she found a dark shadow to crouch in at the edge of the torch light.
At the end of the alcove, Will and Ash discovered part of a standing oval frame and some shattered pieces of a black glassy substance. They were just able to exchange a couple of whispers when they heard a cry of warning from Jay in the hall. A pair of snarling wolves had crept up to her position from further into the tomb, and were crouched in front of her, hackles raised and obviously working themselves up to attack. Suddenly, a much larger wolf bounded past the two and over the dodging rogue.
Ash hoisted the wooden shield she’d purchased on her way out of town and charged to her friend’s aid. Will brandished the torch like a weapon. The passage was filled with the stench of burnt fur and the animal shrieks of the wolves as they fell, one by one, to blade and flame.
The three of them stood hunched to catch their breaths and examined their scrapes and bruises.
‘Okay. I think that made enough noise to awaken anything that might be wake-able in here. Let’s dispense with the sneaking thing and do this right.’ Ash’s voice was calculated to echo down the dark hall.
Jay took the torch and led the way, searching for signs of traps or ambushes. The other two followed close behind her, weapons ready.
The opposite alcove was completely collapsed. Ash tried to shift a couple of blocks, but only made more fall from the ceiling. They retreated back to the central hall and turned further into the tomb. Soon they came to a wide diamond-shaped gallery with halls running from its four corners. Straight ahead, the passage went down a short flight of steps that was completely choked with cobwebs. Beyond the webbing, an eerie green light flickered.
‘That can’t be good,’ Jay whispered.
To the right, the passage was again collapsed, but this time there was a gap under a slab that seemed to lead beyond the constriction.
Jay wiggled into the musty crawlspace and emerged into a small chamber filled with rubble and bones. She rummaged around and found a metal armband that looked like gold and a decrepit backpack containing a large hanging lamp with panes of deep blue glass. Inside the lamp was a sconce to hold a torch.
Down the passage to the left, they came to a raised dais. Standing on the dais, it was possible to make out just enough of a peeled mural that wrapped around the walls and seemed to portray another chamber. The painting showed seven alcoves, each with a different colored light at its end. The group stared at this for a few moments before turning their attention back to the cobwebs and the green light.
‘If we run into something in here that doesn’t know it’s dead, you get to deal with it.’ Jay said to Will. ‘You’re the one who’s tired of being poor.’
With that, she thrust the torch into the webs and began burning her way down the steps. The light seemed to remain stationary in the room beyond, which helped stiffen Jay’s resolve to continue into the dark tomb. Soon it was apparent that the light was coming from a green flame, flickering weakly on the other side of a huge diamond-shaped chamber with a high domed ceiling. Spaced evenly around the room were seven dark arches, one in each of the other three corners of the room, and four more, one bisecting each of the four sides of the diamond. The green flame flickered beyond the arch opposite the party as they filtered into the chamber. In the center of the room was a raised platform, upon which sat a long stone sarcophagus.
Will whistled quietly. ‘It’s just like the mural we saw back there. Except without the colored lights. Well I suppose there is green.’
‘I gotta know what that is,’ Jay whispered, indicating the green light. She lit another torch that Will pulled out of his back and stalked around the platform. Ash circled the platform with Will, looking for traps or hidden enemies.

‘You guys!’ Jay’s whispered call came echoing, amplified, from beyond the green arch. ‘It’s another one of those lamps. And it’s got a long chain.’
Past the arch, the ceiling of the tunnel was maybe fifteen feet off the ground. But at the end of the tunnel, the lamp’s chain stretched up into the darkness to a barely perceptible ceiling, some forty feet above. The chain returned from the heights at an angle and was anchored chest-high on the wall. Ash came over and freed the chain to lower the eerie lantern down to Jay.
The lamp door opened to reveal a torch within. ‘What kind of torch keeps burning in an old tomb?’ Jay asked, as she waived the torch about. ‘It’s not hot. Some kind of illusion, I guess.’
Each of the other arches contained a chain, and four of the remaining six contained a different colored lamp. There was already a lighter shade of blue with the lamp intact. Beneath the blue lamp was a long-desiccated corpse. The blue lamp they’d found must be a darker shade, they figured, and hung the lamp on the chain of the second-to-last arch, which was indeed missing its lamp.
‘All we’re missing is the one that probably should be red,’ Will said. ‘Maybe it’s in the sarcophagus?’
‘Could be,’ said Jay, now finally turning her attention to the platform and the coffin. She lightly sprang up onto the stone table and began going over the thing, looking for a crevice and scanning for signs of danger. ‘Ash, come give me a hand with this thing. The lid’s too heavy. Will, back up. You never know what could happen…’

A bright burst of magical fire, this time the burning kind, flashed out in a wide arc, catching Ash in the midsection with its blast. Jay sprang on top of the sarcophagus lid and avoided the flames, but also caused the lid to slide off the sarcophagus and crash to the floor where it broke.
Jay peaked over the smoldering side and into the coffin as Will healed Ash’s burns.
‘Nothing.’ Jay sighed. ‘There’s nothing in here. You’re still poor, Will.’ Jay sat down heavily beside Ash. ‘You okay? Sorry about that. I guess we should have seen that coming.’
‘Don’t worry about it. Maybe something happens when you light the lamps?’
‘Here’s something curious,’ called Will, standing over the sarcophagus lid. ‘The carvings on this lid look like an arrow. It would have pointed at the orange arch.’
‘Then let’s light that lamp,’ Ash suggested.
Jay placed the illusion torch in the orange lamp and the room was filled with flickering orange light rather than green.
‘Well that was disappointing. I’m checking out the lamps again,’ said Jay. Ash and Will tried to make out what the symbol on the coffin façade’s neck could mean while Jay started snooping around the lamps again.
‘Guys, I think we missed something here,’ Jay called from the blue arch. ‘The ceiling’s higher. I bet dead Fred here fell to his death trying to find out how high the ceiling is.’

‘That doesn’t sound like such a bad idea,’ said Ash, giving Jay a significant look. ‘The climbing part, not the falling to his death part,’ she added.
‘Let’s see if this helps,’ Will said as he picked up a small rock and cast a light spell on it. He began throwing the stone into the air and catching it, higher and higher. ‘It looks like there’s a passage way up there.’
Moments later, the blue lamp was removed and Jay was using the chain to help her climb up the narrow passage, lit stone clenched in her teeth.
‘Okay, I’m up,’ Jay called down. ‘It’s a narrow little tunnel that seems to go a ways. Give me a minute to look around.’
The light from the stone faded at the top and Jay’s voice became a confusion of echoes as she receded down the high passage.
‘There’s marks all over the floor, like something scratched it. Maybe something pushed that guy off the ledge. There must be a trap here somewhere.’ Then a few moments later. ‘Aha! Here we go. It’s a pressure plate, and there’s some kind of screaming face carved into the end of the tunnel.’ She went very quiet then for another few moments, then called down to them again, this time in more of a loud whisper. ‘It has some seams in it. I think it’s a door.’
She appeared at the top of the passage again, glowing stone in hand. ‘You guys grab a bunch of rocks from the rubble up the hall and stick them in a sack. Then tie the sack to this chain and send them up to me. I have an idea to outwit this trap.’

Soon the sack of stones was hoisted up the chute. Jay placed the sack on the far side of the pressure plate, then backed up to the mouth of the passage. ‘Get ready, guys. I may need to come down this chain pretty quick.’
She pulled the rope, and the sack slid onto the pressure plate. Several things happened in quick succession. There was a soft click, as some unseen stone trigger slid into place. The mouth at the end of the tunnel opened, and the eyes sprang to life, alternating a rapid series of colors.
‘Red, yellow, green, blue, purple, violet’ Jay called down repeatedly in a dreamy voice. Ash looked up questioningly at the mouth of the passage above, seeing the weird lights reflect off the opposite wall. Suddenly there was a violent puff of wind that spat out of the mouth, blowing Jay’s hair off her shoulders and startling her from a near trance. A low and building sound of wind racing through passages in the walls suddenly filled Jay’s ears. She began backing towards the long drop behind her.
Then, all at once, a screaming tempest of wind came blowing out of the stone mouth, filling the small passage. Jay slid back over the precipice and was falling. In sheer desperation, she threw out her arms and caught the lamp’s thick chain. For a moment, she hung there trying desperately to resist the terrible strength of the wind blowing down at her. Then something whipped up and stung her on the cheek. It was her rope. The rope she tied to a bag of heavy rocks!
She looked up and in the crazy repeated light pattern, she caught a glimpse of something lumpy and grey coming over the edge. She let go and dropped the rest of the way to the floor, rolling in a tumble at the end to pad the fall. The pain of her landing barely registered, through the insistent need to get away from the passage before the rocks came hurtling down. She dove out of the passage, hit the floor hard, and was blown by the wind across the floor of the chamber and up against the sarcophagus platform.
She huddled there at the base of the sarcophagus until the howling wind finally subsided.
‘Well, did you outwit the trap?’ Ash asked shakily, dusting herself off as she regained her feet.
‘Next time, I’m leaving you in the pit with the dogs,’ Jay answered, rubbing her bruised backside.
‘I can heal that,’ Will said, coming up out of the open sarcophagus and covered in a thick coat of ancient dust.

The Exchange

Hello Dungeon!

I recently renewed my subscription and have experienced an error. My 'old' last issue was listed on the website as #137. I added 12 issues, but now my 'new' subscription last issue is listed as #148. And today I received my second copy of issue #136 in the mail. As much as I like the mag, I'd rather have one #149 than 2 #136.

I left the second copy in the plastic. Do you need it back?

Thanks,

Luke Potter

(subscription is under Pam Potter - gift from my wife).

The Exchange

I could have sworn I read somewhere that Rogue/Wizard multi-classers got to apply their sneak attack bonus to their spell damage, but I cannot find the statement anywhere in the rules now. Does anyone know if this is true, and if so, where I might have read it?

Thanks in advance.

The Exchange

So my party stumbles into the Maze of Mirrors and triggers an ambush I laid for them with Telakin and his remaining doppleganger minions. After smoking the dopplegangers and surviving much of what Telakin had to offer in wizard-form, Telakin retreats to his sanctuary to prepare to defend it to the death. The party cinches up their belts, heals up with what divine spells they have left, and promptly looks for a place to sleep! We broke here, but I think they're going to try and use the rooms off the trapped hallway as a campsite.

UGH!

Telakin is not going to sit back for eight hours and wait for death. He's going to shift to barbarian and storm his way out of the Sodden Hold. My thought is that he would find a way to contact Zyrxog, to tell him that he'd 'captured' the targets, call in a couple of his minions that are currently 'on-assignment', and go after the party. I figure Zyrxog might send the same thralls he's supposed to appear with at the end of the Sodden Hold part of the adventure, and probably put in his own guest appearance to start the combat with a psionic blast. Without his appearance, they'll have no idea what they're up against for the second half of the adventure.

My question is this: How do dominated creatures react to such a situation as this? Would Telakin go to Zyrxog, effectively admitting his failure to beat the adventurer's as ordered? Or would it be more in-character for him to just barge into the room where they're camping and try to kill them in barbarian form? He really has no more retainers in the Sodden Hold to help him.

The Exchange

In the first room of the Sodden Hold, how do the Dopplegangers get up to the elevated walkway? The only ladder (by my reading) is the one that's going to collapse if the party tries it.

I suppose I could explain this by saying that they stack crates up in the main room and climb up.

Can a Doppleganger change into something winged and fly up to the walkway? I must have missed something here.

The Exchange

This item is found in the Harpy nest in the Twisted Branch lair. Does anyone know exactly what this does? I've read the entry in the DMG (+3 competence bonus on the wearer’s Charisma-based checks), but I'm not sure what this extends to. Is this just for save checks that are charisma based? Should it apply offensively to the save DC for spells cast by a sorcerer who wears the item? Or is this a straight +3 to charisma? Does it apply to charisma based skill checks?

My gut said to just give a +3 to all defensive saves that were charisma based, but that power doesn't really seem to fit the name of the item.

Thanks in advance for any insight you might lend.

The Exchange

We just finished the egg chamber and I have a question for anyone out there who might be considered a rule lawyer. The cleric in my party dropped a consecrate spell on the black egg after the barbarian whacked it open. After looking over the description of the spell, I ruled that the ongoing infestation of eggs was suspended for the duration of the spell, meaning no more Spawn of Kyuss and no spreading through the eggs temporarily.

As a result, this room wasn't near as challenging as I thought it would be. They helped the lizardfolk collect their eggs (I played it like the tribe was terrified of the returning dragon, and eager to escape their lair), and abandoned those in the area already infested with suspended worms.

Was this the right way to rule this?

As an aside, the look on my neighbor's wife's face when she realized that there was a worm in the bottom of the Bull's Strength potion she chugged was priceless. The cleric had her all healed up 12 hours later, but it was an excellent case of group-willies anyway.

The Exchange

I know you guys are close to getting the Overload out, but I was wondering if you could answer a quick plot question for me. Does Marzena have a role to play in the plot later in the AP? I'm running a three person game that really needs an arcanist NPC, and I'm thinking she might be that NPC. Any insight you could provide would be great, as I'm hoping to recreate her tonight for my campaign.

The Exchange

I had to share this one. The rogue in my party went alone to check out the screaming face tunnel in WC. She rolled great and spotted the pressure plate, so she marked it. That didn't really satisfy her curiosity, though, so she decided to intentionally trigger it to see what it did.
She called down to the rest of the party and had them place a bunch of rubble into a sack, and dragged it up to the tunnel. She then placed the sack between the face and the pressure plate, strung the rope down the hall, and pulled the rope over the plate to trip the trap while standing at the end of the hall, near the drop down to the blue alcove. Knowing how the trap worked, it took a supreme act of willpower not to laugh at the plan and tip off the player that she was screwing up.

The result: The light dazed her as the winds picked up. She came to just in time to make a reflex save and grab the chain as she flew off the edge of the ledge, but was then knocked off the chain by the big sack of rocks that were eventually also blown off the ledge.

Everyone but the rogue laughed long and hard. Nice trap, Erik.