RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32. Goblin Squad Member. RPG Superstar 6 Season Star Voter, 7 Season Star Voter, 8 Season Star Voter, 9 Season Star Voter. Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps Subscriber. Organized Play Member. 25 posts. No reviews. No lists. 1 wishlist. 26 Organized Play characters.
And while I have my own game on Friday night, I'll stop by afterward if you're still going to check out the morlamaw party!
It'd be great if Kate (of all people!) could play.
Crystal and John; do you have plans Monday afternoon? Kate previously said she's be open then, and that'd virtually eliminate any scheduling conflicts with others - except for people with return flights Monday afternoon.
Yeah sadly we do have one of those pesky Monday Afternoon flights. Friday really is the best time for us. I suspect we can get enough people to make it work, with apologies to those who can't make it.
This sounds pretty amazing. I'd also be willing to run if Shaudius wants to play, that way people could get in multiple author editions with this crew! I won't be available till Friday evening though.
Wow! I threw #1-12 out there simply because it was repeatable and would have the highest chance a player's Morlamaw hadn't played it yet, this is totally unexpected and awesome!
Besides pre/post-con games on Warhorn, there'll be a board we can put up extra events for Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. There's been some talk of "pre-mustering" online.
Lets get it nailed down so we can arrange our schedules around it. Since you're arriving Friday night, would Sunday afternoon or Monday afternoon post-con work better for you?
I'm arriving Friday day, Friday night would be best for me, since I'm fairly busy the rest of the con.
This sounds pretty amazing. I'd also be willing to run if Shaudius wants to play, that way people could get in multiple author editions with this crew! I won't be available till Friday evening though.
So I'm always a fan of repeatables because they are something everyone can play, and because of the changed biomes and aliens in this one, it seems like it could still be fun to play even after a playthrough or two. I'm really looking forward to running this one AND playing through it.
I do have one little question though. In area B1, it makes mention of crossing a hazardous bridge while the local storm is going strong. It says you need an acrobatics check, and then mentions checks to avoid taking damage every turn. So do you need to only make one check to avoid falling? Where do you make it? After the halfway point? When you are almost done? I only ask because you need to be in rounds to calculate how long it takes to cross the bridge Some players might be slower (Dwarves and heavy armor) or faster (Operatives) and players might pause to do things like heal another player or provide aid another. Just a little confused is all.
I'm so glad you're excited for multiple playthroughs, and I'd love to hear the combinations that come up. For the bridge, the intent was to make the check once you entered any space on the bridge (just after leaving the central dome structure), and continue on any round you start on a bridge space. Once you start a turn on a square in the NE dome structure you can stop making acrobatics checks. The acrobatics check would be in addition to the save against damage from the storm. Hope that helps!
Mirror Universe Estra CR 4 XP 800
Human Spiritualist (fractured mind) Level 4
CE Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +3
----- Defense ----- AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, -1 Dex, +1 deflection)
hp 31 (4d8+8)
Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +8
----- Offense ----- Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +3 (1d4), sap +3 (1d6)
Ranged mwk sling +4 (1d4)
Spiritualist Spells Known (CL 4th; concentration +8)
2nd-(2/day)- disfiguring touch(DC16), jealous rage (DC16), life pact
1st (4/day)—compel hostility, discern next of kin(DC 15) obscuring mist, psychic readingunseen servant
0 (at will)—bleed(DC14),daze(DC 14), detect psychic significance, grave words, guidance, telekinetic projectile ----- Tactics ----- Before Combat Estra tries to enter combat by deceiving her opponent into thinking she is harmless, or has important information for them. She uses any information she can glean to lure them into a position for “Honaire” to surprise them.
During Combat Estra hates and targets, young characters first, or any pair she feels might be a couple. Her favorite tactic is to pit couples against each other using jealous rage, or attacking youthful characters with disfiguring touch. If she has an advantage she tries to use her wand of steal years on the youngest looking opponent to regain some of her lost youth even if it’s only for a little while.
Morale Estra is a coward who is desperate to cling to any life she has remaining. When reduced to half her hit points, she tries to beg and plead for her life using any knowledge she has gained about her opponent to appease them.
----- Statistics ----- Str 10, Dex 8, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha18
Base Atk +3; CMB +3 (+3 BAB); CMD13
Feats Emotional Conduit, Spiritualist’s Call (Strength) Sycophant.
Skills Bluff +10 (+11 to fool others), diplomacy +8, Linguistics +8, Sense motive +10, Spellcraft+ 8, Use magic devise +11
Traits Erratic Malefactor, Trustworthy
Languages Azlanti, Common, Gnome, Halfling, Skald, Varisian
Combat Gearscroll of faerie fire, scroll of ghostbane dirge, wand of youthful appearance (15 charges), wand of steal years (5 charges), acid; Other Gear+1 studded leather armor, dagger, mwk sling with 50 bullets, sap, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, censer, flint and steel, incense (10 sticks), magnetized paper (7 sheets), torches (2), trail rations (5 days), waterskin 19gp, 5sp
----- Special Abilities ----- Automatic Writing Once per week, Estra may scribble on paper for 1 hour, then attempt a DC 20 Linguistics check to determine if a specific action will benefit her, harm her, or both. There is a 60% chance her reading is accurate, plus 5% for every point by which she exceeds the Linguistics check’s DC (to a maximum of 90%). This increases by 5% if she uses a sheet of her magnetized paper.
Bonded Manifestation (Su) (7 rds/day)
While Honaire is within Estra’s mind, as a swift action she can grant herself either a +4 shield bonus to AC or concealment against ranged attacks. She may use this ability for up to 7 rounds per day.
Bonded Senses (Su) (4rds/day)
As a standard action, Estra can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch with Honaire’s senses for up to 4 rounds per day.
Etheric tether (Su)
Estra can sacrifice any number of hit points to prevent the same amount of damage to Honaire, but only if an attack would send him back to the Astral Plane. Honaire can travel up to 50 feet away from Estra. If he travels farther, she must succeed a concentration check (DC = 10 + 1 per 10 feet between them) as a full-round action each round or Honaire transports to the Ethereal Plane and cannot return for 24 hours. If Honaire is outside Estra’s line of effect for longer than 4 rounds, he returns to the Ethereal Plane.
Phantom (Ex/Sp/Su)
Estra’s dedication phantom, Honaire, may dwell inside her mind, or manifest fully as an incorporeal or ectoplasmic creature with a 1-minute ritual. When Honaire manifests as ectoplasmic creature, he may interact with the material world and gains DR 5/ slashing. When he manifests as an incorporeal creature, he gains the incorporeal ability (making him immune to physical attacks, and reducing damage from magical attacks by half) and can attack incorporeal creatures, but cannot affect material creatures.
Shared Consciousness (Su)
When Honaire isn’t manifested, Estra gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against mind-affecting effects, +2 bonus on Will saves, and a +3 bonus on Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks. Once per day, she may reroll a failed saving throw against a mind-affecting effect, but doing so removes her other shared consciousness bonuses for the spell’s durations.
Spiritual Interference (Su)
Whenever Estra is adjacent to ectoplasmic Honaire, she gains a+2 shield bonus to AC and a +2 bonus on saving throws. Whenever she is within 30 feet of incorporeal Honaire she gains a +2 bonus to saving throws against mind-affecting effects instead.
Phantom (Ex/Sp/Su) Estra’s phantom is a manifestation of her own trauma but has taken the appearance of Honaire with the following statistics:
“Honaire”
CE Medium outside (phantom)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +6
DEFENSE AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 deflection, +2 Dex)
hp 22 (3d10+6)
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +3
OFFENSE Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 slams +5 (1d6+2)
Special Attack magic attacks
STATISTICS Str 12 (— in incorporeal form) Dex 15, Con 13, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +4 (ectoplasmic), +3 (incorporeal); CMD 16 (ectoplasmic), 15 (incorporeal)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Toughness
Skills Appraise +4 Bluff +10, Disguise +4, Intimidate +8, Perception +6, Sense Motive +6, Stealth +8
SQ deliver touch spells, jealous combatant, link, share spells
SPECIAL ABILITIES Deliver Touch Spells Honaire can make touch attacks to deliver any touch-range spells Estra casts while within 30 feet.
Jealous combatant Each time Honaire hits a creature with a melee attack, for 1 round that creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls made against anyone other than the phantom. This effect does not stack with itself.
Link Estra can direct Honaire as a free action.
Magic Attacks Honaire’s attacks count as magic for overcoming DR.
Share Spells Estra can cast spells with a range of personal on Honaire as if they had a range of touch.
Backstory
Spoiler:
Estra never wanted to commune with spirits: she only wished for others to believe she did, and profit from that belief. Early in her life she fell in with a small gang of faux spiritualists who needed a convincing actress to play the role of their spirit-channeling medium. The group engaged in fraudulent séances targeting grieving mourners, who paid dearly for confirmation of the smooth passing of their loved ones into the hereafter.
The arrival of a handsome knight named Honaire changed all that. Honaire sought some comfort in the loss of his mother, and turned toward the seances of Estra’s troupe. The young knight became smitten with Estra’s quick wit and streetwise charm. Estra, for her part, found the knight’s combination of physical strength and gentle courtesy enchanting, even as his strict code of honor made her regret her own life of lies. When at last she confessed the truth—that she’d never contacted Honaire’s mother at all—she expected him to fly into a rage. Instead, he thanked her for her courage and proposed marriage. Accepting his proposal, Estra left behind the life of a charlatan, and the two spent several happy decades together.
Yet this life, too, came to an abrupt end when the Goblinblood Wars started. Estra begged Honaire not to go, but his honor and duty compelled him. Estra’s fears turned out to be justified when Honaire and his unit were unexpectedly ambushed and slain by a horde of maniacal goblins and their green dragon ally in the Chitterwood.
Wracked by guilt and loss, Estra turned to her old means of supporting herself. Yet during her first performance, for a pretty young widow, Estra’s fake trance became something more. A wispy, greenish vapor coalesced from her mouth, eyes, and nostrils, and a formless shape of jealous rage attacked and killed the young women that had come to her.
Estra had become bitter at having wasted her life following a knight that ran into danger, and her physic couldn’t handle the loss. She became obsessed with reclaiming her lost years, and having another chance to live a life without the pain love causes. This pain manifested into the dark spirit that had killed that had killed the widow for not realizing the opportunity she had at being freed from love’s grip so young. Estra travailed around looking to free other couples from her mistakes either through guile of violence, and trying to find some way to gain her own wasted years back. Eventually Estra focused the spectral form into the appearance of Honaire, which she felt was a fitting sight for young lovers to see before their hope was taken as well.
Sources:
Spoiler:
• Advanced Class Guide - Discern Next of Kin (spell); Ghost Bane dirge (spell)
Life Pact (spell)
• Advanced Player's Guide - Unwilling Shield (spell)
• Agents of Evil - Sycophant (feat)
• Blood of the night- Steal Years (spell)
• Book of the Damned 2: Lords of Chaos / Ultimate
Magic - Disfiguring Touch (spell)
• Inner Sea Races / Inner Sea World Guide - Azlanti
(language); Skald (language); Varisian (language)
• Occult Adventures - Detect Psychic Significance
(spell); Ectoplasmic Snare (spell); Emotional Conduit
(feat); Entrap Spirit (spell); Fractured Mind (archetype);
Grave Words (spell); Magnetized Paper (gear) Psychic Reading (spell);
Spiritualist (class); Spiritualist’s Call (feat); Telekinetic
Projectile (spell)
• Occult Origins - Jealous Rage (spell)
• Ultimate Combat - Compel Hostility (spell)
• Ultimate Magic - Youthful Appearance (spell)
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
1 person marked this as a favorite.
I'd like to echo Monica's and Neil's comments. Whatever the critiques are of the top four pitches, you all did a fanatic job in the contests, and have worked hard to get where you are, so don't let a few bad eggs get you down. For certain posters making comments, you aren't fooling anyone by making posts from accounts that have no vote history, and no comment history except to disparage certain contestants. We see you for what you are and you aren't influencing opinions, you are simply diminishing the competition. Whoever you are trying to help, you simply take away from the taxing effort they put in to make it this far.
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
Visually, this map is stunning and I’m drawn into wanting to know more about it. I wish there was more of a tie to Golarion, or someplace specific. While it’s open to a lot of adventure scenarios, I wish there was some more guidance to inspire some encounters. Very nice overall, good luck in the contest!
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
I like how this can be used as a garden map for a variety of places, like a noble estate or a different temple. Then after that, I love the ties to Golarion, using a very interesting minor god that inspires a lot of ideas like Neil and Liz have already mentioned. You did a great job at picking a location and environment that encapsulates the bitter-sweet aesthetic of Naderi. The haunts are great in that their location immediately tells you what was going on, but leaves it open to lot of adventure hooks. Fantastic job! I hope this gets to actually be a flip map, I would love to have it!
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
Thank you all so much for the critiques and comments. I know it's a bit late but I figured I'd clear up a few points about this map before the next round starts.
Yes the key was way too big, sorry about that. My original plan was to have a section that showed a side view of the town to clarify the depth of the water and show the building a little better, and that you could go into different levels of them. While this would have helped answer some of the criticism I received I wasn't pleased with how the drawing came out and felt it made it too confusing. I was more worried about being clear, so I felt it would be best to drop it. Regarding the lack of detail I had originally put in corals and many more wrecked buildings, but as more and more advice came up about being clear for cartographers I thought they would distract from the overall map, and should just be "background" pieces the cartographer would add. I certainly regret now playing it safe so I hope that my fellow competitors who have moved on can at least take a lesson from this to go all out, and not worry about internet advice.
I actually did plan out the whole town first and had a clear lay out of which building where washed away and which ones survived and why, so I'm disappointed that that didn't come through in the map. The location was actually supposed to be in Taldor along the Jagged Saw. Part of my inspiration was Venice after it had sunk, and that seemed the perfect place to put a treacherous forgotten port town. That's why the Lighthouse and Temple to Aroden where my main features. While ultimately I should have stuck with some of my initial ideas I do feel that this round was the most unclear in terms of requirements I have ever seen in RPG Superstar, so I hope if it's used in the future that can be fixed up a bit.
This has been a wonderful experience though and I'm glad to have made it this far, and I'm very grateful for all the support I have gotten. Hopefully I'll be back again, and I have some great monsters already made for it!
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
Andrew Marlowe wrote:
The Superstars should all have their maps in now and the judges are busy making their initial comments for Tuesday's next big reveal... In the meantime tell us about your favorite RPG Map.
One of my recent favorites was the city of Cauldron. Sure we all knew how that was going to end from the start but that was half the fun.
Cauldron is my favorite as well, it was so cool. I also have a fondness for the Ruins of Undermountain maps as it was the first major published adventure I ran. We also use the Christopher West ship maps more than any other in my Star Wars game. I also just got the full set of the space station that I have been dying to fit in somewhere.
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
Jacob W. Michaels wrote:
Jacob Kellogg wrote:
John Laffan wrote:
Submitted! Now I can relax!
lol noob ;)
Jacob's right. Take a day off to relax, catch your breath, pay your bills, kiss your spouse and spawn ... and then start working on your monsters.
Even if you want to wait until you see the final rules, now's a good time to catch up on what's worked and what hasn't in past contests and -- if you haven't made a monster before -- practice. Make a couple monsters at different CRs, and maybe you'll get lucky and the one you like best will fit with the rules (or can be repurposed for another project).
All I wanted was lunch and a nap! Thank you for the great advise. A day away from the boards and with my wife has certainly gotten me ready for monster making!
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Monica Marlowe wrote:
Feros wrote:
Monica Marlowe wrote:
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
John Laffan wrote:
For the name of the place, can it include descriptions? (Kind of like The Inner Sea World Guide) For example can I call it Kent, Ice Fortress in the Crown of the world, or Bree, Cheese store with hidden slave market?
Thanks so much!
For the title of your map, you get eight words. So if you want to map out "Kent, Ice Fortress in the Crown of the world" you need to find a way to say that in 8 words rather than 9. "Bree, Cheese store with hidden slave market" is fine, since it's 7.
Great, now I have to rethink this whole cheese market thing.
Slave girls and cheese. What's not to love? ;)
Tots going in my Round 4 entry. I'm planning my encounter now!
Does that mean the encounter will have 50 shades of gruyere?
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
Brian Fruzen wrote:
First off, I will agree that the mechanics of the lava flow should be redefined. I intentionally avoided doing so for fear that introducing new lava mechanics would land me in the territory of trying to fix existing rules of the game, which I know is frowned upon. Owen's suggestion of calling it "lavalike" would have let me attach some clearer rules, but then I worried it would lose the I get to play with lava? excitement from the player's perspective.
I know it's a little wonky, but I up-voted this item every time I saw it exactly for the I get to play with lava? excitement, so from that point of view I suppose it was a good thing to keep.
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
I actually loved this item. I was hoping to see a few unique guns, and this was my favorite. It's a bit simple, but I like that it fits it's theme nicely and had a great description. I also prefer items that fit different environments, giving them a feel of different cultures making different items for their own reasons, as opposed to ubiquitous magic items being everywhere.
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
John Laffan wrote:
For the name of the place, can it include descriptions? (Kind of like The Inner Sea World Guide) For example can I call it Kent, Ice Fortress in the Crown of the world, or Bree, Cheese store with hidden slave market?
Thanks so much!
For the title of your map, you get eight words. So if you want to map out "Kent, Ice Fortress in the Crown of the world" you need to find a way to say that in 8 words rather than 9. "Bree, Cheese store with hidden slave market" is fine, since it's 7.
Thank you! Yeah the first is a bad example, I was trying to be too clever....I'll move the Fortress of Solitude to the shorter named nation of Galt!
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
Hello Everyone, and congratulations to all my fellow competitors!
I'm John and I started gaming when I was 7 with Palladium's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, and then Heroes Unlimited and from there quickly moved on to D&D and everything else I could find. I spent a lot of time in the hospital when I was younger so RPGs really helped to fill a lot of the boredom of long recovery times. Now I love to run them, and am running several APs, and live action games with the NYC LARP Troupe and local conventions.
I'm also excited over all the educators we have this year. I'm a Speech Language Pathologist, and also work in a school settings. I've worked for several schools but mostly a school for inner city special needs students in NY, where I started them playing Pathfinder, and PFS, which my students loved. Sadly the school recently closed do to budget cuts, but that at least has given me some time for this!
I've been entering RPG superstar for a few years now, and I'm glad I've been able to develop over the years to make it into the top 32. I'm still giddy over the fact that I'm in this year! Sorry for the late into post, but I've been working on this map, I don't know where the rest of you found time to post!
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
For the name of the place, can it include descriptions? (Kind of like The Inner Sea World Guide) For example can I call it Kent, Ice Fortress in the Crown of the world, or Bree, Cheese store with hidden slave market?
John Laffan
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mozenrath6
Thank you all so much for the votes, critical feedback and the amazing chance to continue on. I was very excited this year with the change up from wondrous items, and became enamored with the idea of making a staff not a SiaC, but still having it feel like a staff. Once I came up with the name, a lot of it fell into place. I'll be much more careful with my formatting in the future, and thanks again for this incredible opportunity.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
