Set's page

Ogres trading with Dwarves! Bugbears and black-scaled kobolds as the 'orcs and goblins' of the setting! Points for not giving us the bog-standard race mixes. The land itself, poisoned by it's own mineral riches, is evocative, and that too work for me.

The word 'rust-cicles,' not so much. :)

My biggest criteria for voting was that the setting presented had lots of adventure opportunity, and this one delivered. The diety head on a stick wasn't terribly 'cool' to me, but the idea of a priesthood that feels itself threatened by the loss of it's diety / raison d'etre, and is taking extreme measures to try and remain relevant, is both kind of timely, and creates lots of dramatic potential.

The idea that 'nature is rebelling' against their unnatural acts is also six kinds of cool, and creates what few settings do, a compelling reason for nature-based characters like Druids and Rangers to become deeply involved in a more urban-centric game.

My only quibble would be the name Carnamach. I like the sound of it, but it sounds too close to that Prestige Class, the Suel Arcanamach, for my taste.

This would have benefited, I think, from some crunch, perhaps a pair of regional feats, one to represent fighters against the creatures of the Wound (+saves vs. aberrant attack, bonus to hit them, sort of favored enemy-ish, to represent the training and experience these people have with this constant threat), and another to represent those touched by it's Taint.

Detail on the effects of the Wound on the surrounding area would also be neat. Is some particular bit of local fauna or flora endangered, or even replaced entirely by something from that other plane, like the red plants in War of the Worlds or the alien ecosystem invasion from the Chtorr Wars novels?

Is the government in permanent 'emergency status' because of the unending threat, do they monitor officials with magic to ensure that no insidious corruption or madness has sprouted up, as would seem to be a risk in such an area? Or is it just 'that place way over there,' and a matter of fact part of life, that nobody really bothers to think about (leading to possible corruption, madness and taint lurking underfoot constantly...)?

I write up extensive backgrounds for all of my characters.

Nobody I play with regularly does so, and when I run a game for them, I don't put any demands on them. They just want to roll dice, and that's all good fun as well, although it's deeply frustrating to me when I am in my third session as a player and the GM doesn't know what *race* my character is, because he didn't really care to read the first sentence of my character description...

Still, once I accepted that I was writing the character backgrounds for my own enjoyment, and that the GM would never read it or use any of it, I found my zen place.

I agree with you on this, Grimcleaver. I think a lot of monsters (like Mind Flayers) get 'buffed up' in terms of HD. I understand they're meant to be 'boss monsters' with enough hp that one swing doesn't kill them, [snip]

So Mind Flayers have massive psionic powers? Why not just make them 1HD critters with some psionic-like abilities and Psion as their favoured class?

Or, 1 HD critters who have some *minor* psi-like abilities, and Psion as their favorite class, who are never encountered outside of their communities until they have reached 5th-8th level, or higher, in Psion, as they don't consider themselves 'mature' until they have mastered certain levels of power. Bang, all 'Mind Flayers' end up with high HD by virtue of their high level.

Humanoids with extra HD really really annoy me, and size Small creatures with 4 or 5 HD are just completely out of whack. Even Ogres and Giants could probably get away with just having obscene Con scores and only a few more HD based on their size, with the rest of their HD coming from levels in Barbarian / Fighter / whatever.

Far too many races in the Monster Manual have completely bogus Hit Dice, Armor Classes and / or Attributes for their racial description. Lizardfolk scales are as protective as a steel breastplate? Bugnuts insane Ghouls running around naked eating people have higher Charisma scores than the king of the Dwarves? Eh. Weirdness abounds.

In the decades I've been gaming, I've always loathed systems where the PCs follow one set of rules and the NPCs / Monsters follow a different set of rules. It should be *one game,* and if the designer can't make a monster using the same guidelines he'd use to make a PC, if he has to use all sorts of exceptions with 'racial HD' and 'level adjustments,' then the *system* is flawed.

These 'race hatred' things are kind of an artefact of earlier times and don't necessarily make a lick of sense in many campaigns. (For instance, how many Eberron Gnomes have ever seen a Kobold, let alone trained to kill them since childhood?)

They are far too situational, IMO, and straightjacket races into specific cultural mindsets that don't necessarily have anything to do with any specific game-world. (Has any Krynnish or Athasian Dwarf ever even heard of an Orc?) As something to be added as a feat or racial *option* for specific settings or campaigns, sure, but as a generic racial ability *that all members of that race have,* bonuses against certain species, or proficiency in specific weapons, is, IMO, an idea whose time is long past.

Unfortunately, the most effective bards tend to require a lot of book-hopping and / or multi-classing.

Here's one example of book-hopping to beef up a particular sort of Bard, one based on (ab)using the inspiration aspect of Bardic Song.

1) The Eberron Campaign Setting has a nice feat (Song of the Heart? I'm away from book atm.) that increases the bonuses granted from Inspiration.

2) Dragonfire SomethingorOther (Channeling? Assault?) is a feat from Dragon Magic that allows a bard to convert the pluses from Inspiration to extra dice of damage (fire damage for most, although it may very for Bards descended from other dragon types). It requires being dragontouched as a prerequisite, however, limiting it to Dragonborn or Spellscales, or those who have purchased yet another feat to gain the Dragontouched type.

3) The Spell Compendium has a spell called Inspirational Boost that increases the effects of Inspiration.

4) Certain mundane musical instruments from Complete Adventurer or Scoundrel (I don't recall which) switch bonuses around, and may allow a bard's Inspiration to be more or less specifically useful.

Combining these features, a 4th level Bard, expending one of his Bardic Song uses and casting Inspirational Boost (a swift action) could begin the round granting his allies either a +3 to their rolls, or, using the Dragonfire feat, +3d6 fire damage to all melee attacks! The use of mundane instruments from Complete ThiefyStuff to modify this yet further is dubious, but not specifically against any rules.

Combined with a group that has a few melee types, or a dual-wielder who gets a bunch of attacks, this can rack up into a *huge* amount of extra damage, and the effects continue for several rounds after you stop singing / performing, allowing you to also go in and mix it up with your own weapons and / or spells, and not just sit back and 'cheerlead.'

Picking up Extra Music or Extended Music also makes sense, if designing a Bard based around Inspiration.

EDIT: I just noticed that Ithuriel, above, made a thorough list of these, and many other options.

If allowed to use 3rd party options, the S&S Players Guide to Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers has an interesting take on the Barbarian / Bard 'warchanter' concept. (Ragebringer, I think it's called.)

My personal favorite Bard wasn't a 'bard' at all, in the sense of a wandering chaotic dragon-blooded musician. He was a nobleman, who used knowledge of tactics and rousing speeches to rally his allies, had been trained in swordplay and who had traded spontaneous spellcasting for wizardly spellcasting (less spells / day, more spells known, spellbook required, still a significantly smaller and shorter list than a 'full' spellcaster would have access to). He had no idea how to sing or play an instrument, and was quite lawful, but otherwise filled the same niche and had the same mechanical abilities (although his spell selection was far less sound / sonic / song / music related, and more appropriate to a noble's son who had been tutored in history, heraldry and rulership, with some dabbling in the arcane arts and martial swordplay).

What've you done that's made your player's skin crawl? What morbid and creepifying items, spells, monsters and anything else have you come up with? What paragons of terror have haunted your PCs?

I ran a Scarred Lands campaign that had a fair amount of creepy stuff (the party was based out of Hollowfaust, a city run by a council of necromancers, with undead as the 'town guards').

A popular item with the group was a Flense Pack, which looked like an empty backpack, and when unfolded, released a swarm of fresh-stripping carrion beetles (Summon Swarm item). It couldn't leave the square in which it was deployed, but was excellent to use to 'get rid of evidence,' or, in one memorable occasion, as a trap. Due to the nature of their home base, any magic items they sought to purchase were crafted by necromancers, and had a macabre feel to them. (Animated Rope? A length of knotted sinew. Armor? Alchemically-strengthened plates of bone. Dust of Disappearance? Ash from the pyre of an unknown man.)

An encounter that made them sweat a bit was one involving some creatures I cobbled together called Blood Naga. They appeared like human-headed vaguely-skeletal Naga, but used the stats of Vargouille (with a dash of constrictor snake), including the ability to spread their infection. Each Blood Naga was created from a Humanoid slain by another Blood Naga, with their head tearing free and their spinal column ripping out of the corpse to become the basis for the new 'Naga.' Several party members were bitten, and got an infection, and ended up marching all the way back to the city to get Remove Disease spells cast, even though the *bite* wasn't how the infection spread (like the Vargouille 'kiss,' the curse / infection required a special attack to spread, and the monsters never got the chance). If I'd just used Vargouille straight out of the book, and skipped the gruesome flavor text, someone would have twigged to it right away, but since these appeared to be all-new creatures, the players had no idea what to expect, or if their heads were going to rip free of their bodies and crawl away in the night...

2)As for orcs, I have always approached them as shamanistic or almost Native American in culture, albeit with a slightly savage and evil twist so they jibe in some ways with the MM and players expectations. I mean they are brutal savages who live amongst the wilderness (not saying Native Americans are) and, to me, it seems easiest to correlate that to some kind of Apache, Iroqouis mindset -- deep respect for the land and its gifts, unrelenting attackers of those who encroach upon their territory.

This idea is interesting, but drag it a few thousands miles southerly in inspiration, and picture the Orcs as being less 'Iroquois' and more 'Aztec.'

Massive military campaigns to provide a stream of daily sacrifices for their bloody faith, which they maintain must be strictly followed, to keep the world from ending (the Far Realms monsters from coming through the gate, the sun from going out, whatever)! Grand structures meant to bring their altars above the tree line, so that the sun-god (or moon-god, whatever) can look down pleased upon their offerings. Violent and athletic sporting events that may end in the death of losing team-members.

It's kind of taking the savage Orcs of the SRD, mixing them with the naturist Orcs of Eberron, and throwing an Aztec twist on them.

Perhaps they build great bonfires to hold back the forces of Shadow, and their Darkvision is part of the Great Rite of Sacrifice they made in the dark days of old, to serve as eternal watchmen in the night, standing strong against those who dwell in Shadow. They consider the other races weak and foolish, for having forgotten the evils in the dark, and for not recognizing that they owe the Orcs for their great sacrifice. The Orcs raid humans, elves, etc. thinking that the only reason the humans, elves, etc. still exist is because of the Orcish mission against the Shadow dwellers, and that the Orcs, as the watchmen and guardians, *deserve* to take the human and elven goods. It is only fitting that the weak 'soft races' toil to produce goods for their defenders in the night!

Does not the ruler pay his guardsmen? So to must the races that hide in their homes from the terrors that walk the night pay tribute to those who stand outside and hold back the darkness!

Of course, it has been centuries, and the Shadow really hasn't shown up much, so the Orcs have gotten used to 'taking their pay,' despite not actually 'guarding' anyone from the Shadow dwellers. Won't it come as a nasty shock to Orc and 'soft race' alike when the Shadow does return, and the Orcs are suddenly in the awkward position of having to put up or shut up, while the races that have been resenting and repelling their incessant raids for centuries suddenly find themselves quietly wishing that there were *more* of them...

I'm new here, so forgive me if this is something that has been asked before and I've missed;

Will Pathfinder be exclusively D&D content, or will there be occasional articles relevant to other game systems?

Erik Mona was part of a group that created an intriguing setting for Mutants & Masterminds that could perhaps be updated and presented as part of the Gamemastery line, for instance.