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zimmerwald1915 wrote:
If anything, the character's instransigence is an opportunity for Sorshen to do the thing which the passage of time has largely rendered impossible (and in my eyes renders her all but irredeemable): make amends and restitution to one of her victims.

That could be interesting, but probably not something demanded by her Oath or her devotion to Lissala. Another issue is she is a fanatical servant of First King Xin - she is currently very sad about having to oppose Xin's mad ghost in the finale of Shattered Star - and Xin has reason to hate Sorshen as one of the leading Runelords who assassinated him. That apart from the PC's resentment at being used as a battery for 11,000 years.

I could imagine the PC ending up working with Sorshen against even worse Runelords like Zutha, who IMC is free at full power and ruling Belkzen, about to conquer Lastwall with his orc and undead legions. I think that could be cool, but certainly not something I would force on the PC. The PCs already rejected overtures from Runelord Krune, who is likewise free and ruling Kaer Maga as his new capital.


zimmerwald1915 wrote:
magnuskn wrote:
Oh, good, then she gets to have a personal storyline where she probably falls from grace due to her feelings of personal revenge getting the better of her despite Sorshen genuinely trying for redemption.
The character has a legitimate grievance against Sorshen, alignment notwithstanding. If anything, the character's instransigence is an opportunity for Sorshen to do the thing which the passage of time has largely rendered impossible (and in my eyes renders her all but irredeemable): make amends and restitution to one of her victims.

Not sure what 'genuinely trying for redemption' here means - in Return Sorshen has decided that CN is more practical than CE for establishing a lasting rule. It's not exactly "I feel really bad about everything I did", which might imply a shift to a Good alignment, just a minor shift away from Evil.

The PC is a Lawful Good Paladin of LN Lissala - the original early Thassilon era Lissala, rather than the LE modern version. The game is 5e so Paladins don't have Alignment restrictions, but need to adhere to their Oath. She is Oath of Devotion and could certainly serve LN Lissala while opposing CN Sorshen without breaking her Oath, although I can imagine her not opposing Sorshen either. I'm not railroading either way. All the PCs are level 20 with Epic Boons. When I stat Sorshen for 5e she'll be at most Challenge 30, which is the highest in the game (Tiamat is Challenge 30) and could certainly be potentially defeated, that's pretty hardcoded into the system.


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My PC group includes an 11,000+ year old Azlanti paladin buried by Sorshen beneath the Sunken Queen. I don't think she will think much of Sorshen's protestations "You have to like me, I'm CN now!"

We're currently on Book 6 of Shattered Star, and have played most of Runelords too (not Runeforge or Book 6, so Karzoug still alive). I'm looking forward to using parts of Return of the Runelords in my campaign but I expect it'll turn out very different from canon.


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Crimson Throne - King Eodred Arabasti of Korvosa is sick. His young wife Ileosa is pretty, but not well regarded.

Shattered Star - The Pathfinders are establishing a Lodge in Magnimar under Venture Captain Sheila Heidmarch.


Hi - I find the best way to stop this kind of metagaming is to have a Sage or the PC's own researches tell the PCs and the players "You have 3 weeks until the Eye of Terror Opens" (or similar) - set a deadline and stick to it. If they fail, they fail.


EileenProphetofIstus wrote:
What I was trying to get at is how you as a DM incorporate both the NPC stat block and the character class as NPCs.

I've never built a 5e NPC as a PC, they're a bit too persnickety for my liking. I build all my 5e NPCs similar to those in the MM, so they often have abilities taken from PHB PC classes but they're always different and almost always simpler than PHB PCs. I find the PHB does work well as a buffet of options to choose from when creating an NPC, but I don't want (eg) every Druid NPC to have a powerful Wildshape ability, or every Barbarian to take half damage while raging.


Kalindlara wrote:
From my experiences with Kingmaker, the only way to do random encounters is to not grant xp for them. Otherwise, the party goes wildly over the expected level.

Giving 10% of listed XP would fit with 1e AD&D type norms. Players would still avoid random encounters. You could give the bulk of XP for goal-based achievements equivalent to 1e's XP-for-GP.


The Goat Lord wrote:


3: Distant Worlds sci-fi. Explorations of the Dark Tapestry, battles against the Dominion of the Black and space monsters. Yum!

I'm definitely jonesing for a Space Opera AP - I'd run it in 5e D&D, but conversion doesn't seem to be a problem (my 5e Shattered Star conversion campaign is going great). I'd like a bit of a Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers feel in amongst the Eldritch Horror, so plenty of friendly-ish NPC factions, lots of "GORDON'S ALIVE?!!" - "VALEROS IS ALIVE?!!" I guess. :D


S'mon wrote:
My Curse of the Crimson Throne game took 34 sessions each of 4-5 hours playing time. At 5-6 hours/session, 30 sessions seems a good estimate.

However Shattered Star 1: Shards of Sin took 11 3-hour sessions, ca 33 hours play time for one book!


My Curse of the Crimson Throne game took 34 sessions each of 4-5 hours playing time. At 5-6 hours/session, 30 sessions seems a good estimate.


I found running Shattered Star #1 in 5e easy & smooth; the only major issue was when it was some obscure PF monster with no stats & I had no idea what it was supposed to do. Just going by the listed CR seems easiest way to make sure from-scratch stats work out, but usually I can take something from the MM, eg Reefclaw = giant scorpion with no poison sting; carrion golem = flesh golem.

However running Shards of Sin in 3-hour sessions took us 11 sessions! Running all of Crimson Throne in PF took 34 sessions, the early books were 4 sessions each. Not sure 5e runs any faster than PF.


Skull & Shackles seems like the AP that would run best in a pulp-level RPG like Savage Worlds, d6 System etc.


I'm about to start a campaign combining two APs (Runelords + Shattered Star), which could be several years of fortnightly play. The reason I don't think it will feel too long is that by combining APs it becomes an open campaign with genuine choice in what the players do.

The big problem I found running Crimson Throne was length + linearity; the feeling of PCs being shuffled along through the AP from one waypoint to the next. To combat this I think genuine sandboxy openness is vital, the players feeling that they don't have to do X and the campaign will still continue.


Ask the GM - eg I'm setting it starting in late 4710, a couple years earlier than publication date since I'm running it coterminous with Rise of the Runelords, but 2 years after Curse of the Crimson Throne.


They're too long for me, about 50% too long I think. 4 books instead of 6 would be much better, and for PF probably levels 1-10 instead of 1-15 as the default - few as written have the scope to accommodate levels 11+ properly. 4 books covering levels 1-3, 4-6, 7-8 and 9-10 would be ideal for a typical AP designed to be played in a year.


Matthew Kelsey wrote:
As I mentioned over here, I've also had it serve as a sort of neutral ground in my campaign, particularly since I decided that the giant hexagon wards against divinations - so it's a good place for plotters.

Yep, I did that too - did we just make it up, or is it official somewhere? :)

Factions - on their first visit my PCs got in with the Duskwardens and helped them deal with a Gray Render in the prison levels, then took out a renegade Zon-Kuthonite dark naga in the Undercity that had been using cloakers etc to raid the Dusklight Path. This time they're meeting the Pharasma clerics at the Godsmouth Ossuary getting a PC raised, and one has been invited to dinner with the Freemen - he has a rep as a 'people's champion' back in Korvosa.


Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

I agree with pretty much everything Knick says above. I don't think there's a compelling need to meet Eodred's Korvosa, but you do need to make sure the PCs are rooted in the city before they set out to save it.

My experience with Book 3 was identical -- there's all sorts of good stuff in there, but as written, it's a mess. The DM is left doing a lot of spadework, and the Arkonas' palace in particular can be lethal if the DM is playing with gloves off.

(Book 2, let's note, is pretty close to perfect. Up until then, it was hands down the single best module Paizo had produced, and it's probably still in the top five. It requires very little effort to make this a creepy, challenging, and truly memorable experience.)

Book 4, Knick nails it -- it's a fantastic sourcebook for the Shoanti and the Cinderlands. As an adventure, it's a kind of annoying railroad where you march from quest to quest collecting plot tickets. There are some cool bits -- the initiation ritual, the Havero, aving to jump into a giant worm's throat at the end. But a lot of PCs will chafe at the unfortunately obvious railroadiness of it all.

Many, many people have already pointed out that Cinnabar is an NPC with a cool backstory that eats up a page of text and *impacts the plot in no way whatsoever*. Something should be done about that. Have her show up earlier on, at least. Also, spend more time with the Shoanti, because the Shoanti are interesting.

Doug M.

This was my experience exactly - Book 3, the Arkona mansion would have been a TPK in Pathfinder if my PCs had fought them, although luckily they had no reason to do so and it was clear from Vimanda that facing Glorio would be suicide.

Book 4 is a terrible railroad, my campaign avoided it entirely since IMC the PCs made friends with the Brotherhood of Bones in bk 3, and thus found out Serithtiel's location from them, avoiding the whole Shoanti fandango. Which was ok but made Bk 3 a waste of money, it boiled down to a single lopsided fight where the PCs ambushed pursuing party of Cinnabar/Cinderlander/Gray Maidens, in turn ambushed by a Red Mantis & gargoyles, but cleaning them all out pretty handily.

I think if CotCT is rereleased, Bk 3 needs editing, Bk 4 needs to be changed completely, much more open, and with much stronger hooks, eg the Shoanti could be gathering to sack Harse.


My CoTCT campaign (now on Book 5) has gone quite a lot differently, partly because the PCs have been making good use of Kaer Maga as an obvious resource - a city beyond the control of Ileosa, and handily between Korvosa & Scarwall. They've already had several adventures there on the way out, and have just returned there from Scarwall to get a comrade Raised.

I was wondering if Kaer Maga has come up in other GMs' CotCT games, and if so what sort of stuff did you do there?


Our group for the first two books was Bard/Summoner/Urban Ranger. That worked well, albeit the Summoner class seems inherently overpowered - too easy to use long-duration summonings for all sorts of activities, eg earth elementals to scout out the rooms of dungeons - the Summoner speaks Terran. The Eidolon can climb, fly, fight really well, etc. Bard and Ranger both seem effective but not overpowered.


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The Pathfinder Beginner Box also has some stuff.


I'm running Curse of the Crimson Throne; a chunk of book 2 (AP #8) fell out in play. #1 and #3 have been ok.


My group just got TPK'd by Nualia in the catacombs, having lost one PC to the Thassilonian trap, some terrible die rolls and she carved up the other two with 5 hp left. Also lost Shalelu Andosana to double-turncoat Orik Vankaskerkin, who turned back to Nualia's side when he saw which way the wind was blowing.

Do you think there's any way to continue the campaign with new PCs, or should I scrap it? I'm kinda down at the loss of all the plot threads & NPC relationships from the dead PCs. If I smash up Sandpoint with a goblin invasion that would make Book 2 un-runnable.


Tsailanza wrote:
S'mon wrote:
Longer term romantic-interest characters tend not to be so overtly physical, that goes for the female ones too - eg I think Ameiko Kajitsu catches players' interest more than NPCs who look like Seoni.

I would just like to say that while I understand your point, I think it is unfair to imply that a character like Seoni would be taken less seriously just because she has a more sexualized appearance than Ameiko. Same goes for male characters. Big muscles and a Malibu tan do not automatically make an NPC a shallow, silly creature unworthy of affection that extends beyong a one-night stand, unless the GM chooses to portray them that way.

Hm, I think on average what I said is true. But there are certainly exceptions; eg in my Rise of the Runelords campaign Titus Scarnetti has a sister Alicia, who is a very sexy character indeed, but she's also taken seriously (to the extent that one PC is engaged to marry her), I think because she's also very smart and capable, in her own way. The PC was attracted to her by her brains as well as by her looks and demeanour, and by their similar natures, both being roguish bad boy/bad girl types. IME that's very common - intelligence is probably the most important single attribute.


Kamelguru wrote:


It was mostly a notice of how people perceive strength, both as the stat and in relation to real life comparison. It started with me being irked over ** spoiler omitted **

Considering the ease and speed with which my barely trained self can swing 35lbs kettlebells around, and a good sword is supposedly balanced, that just seemed off. Like how Bruce Lee had to slow down and ease up to let the camera follow and not hurt other actors.

Yeah, it wasn't very impressive. Would have looked more plausible if Clegane had wielded a big axe or somesuch.

On PF, it just sounds as if the 'lift over head' numbers are a bit high relative to the 'carrying capacity' numbers.


I'd say a sunrod would definitely have a smell, probably metallic, but not a particularly strong one. Everburning torches are magic and scentless.


Wiggz wrote:
All of this was in reference to the poster who claimed a friend 'prayed the gay away'. I was implying that if simple prayer was enough to 'cure' him then he MIGHT not have been genetically predisposed in the first place even if he thought he was...

Most likely he was somewhat genetically/inherently disposed that way, but not as much as some other people, who would not have been reorientable. We like hard bright lines, either/or, but that often doesn't fit reality.


Well, this thread has changed my mind - I no longer want any female Iconics to have an art update. :)
OTOH I thoroughly agree about banning Bratz dolls, or My Little Hooker dolls as a Simpsons episode once called them.


zagnabbit wrote:


Having a world that is half clvl 1 is not practical for me in my game. City guards are routinely lvl 3 Warriors. Officers may be Fighters even. "Seasoned Veterans" can be level 5 Warriors, the "Elite" units are In the 7-10 range.

Curse of the Crimson Throne #1 has Korvosan Guard as War-2; likewise in Magnimar City of Monuments the Magnimar guard are War-2, as are the Sandpoint regular guard in Rise of the Runelords. So that seems to be the Golarion baseline, although the guard in GMG is War-3 and the soldier is War-1.

You can have a world where half the population are 1st level, 25% 2nd level, and have plenty of 2nd level characters to fill positions such as town guard where one might expect above-average prowess. The adventures tend to have mobs of generic townsfolk and such be War-1, which stats out pretty much identical to Com-2; either 1st or 2nd level is useable as a baseline for demographics.
BTW in 3e DMG 40% of the population are unclassed noncombatants, children etc, and these are officially not part of the listed populations at all; not sure what PF's approach to that is.


Chengar Qordath wrote:
S'mon wrote:
I don't design cohorts - I create NPCs. If the PC has Leadership feat & high enough Leadership they can then attempt to recruit suitable NPCs encountered in-game, eg Trinia Sabor in Crimson Throne.
Assuming it's not a campaign that's heavily scripted, like an Adventure Path, how would respond to a player saying something along the lines of "I'm planning to take leadership at some point in the future: is there a way to include a (not-outlandish thing the player would like as a cohort) in the campaign so that they would be available when I take leadership?"

If I'm running a sandbox, I'd probably tell the player whether thing X existed in the campaign and if so I might let them attempt to find and recruit thing X. Or if thing X was already part of the PC's backstory, then that would probably be fine. All the current cohorts IMCs were created by me though, and I generally much prefer that to PC-created cohorts. For one thing it means I'm confident I know how they think, I have an internal aspect on them.

I'm generally very very wary of allowing full-progression caster cohorts, though, unless they are the same class as the PC.


zagnabbit wrote:


I like Golarion, I like the mental challenge of fantasy world building. I've just come to recognize that every group of PCs I've ever DMed for are virtual DemiGods by 14th level.

Sure; that's why most APs close out at 15th, so the players can enjoy being demigods a little while before retirement. If I'm running a sandbox campaign in my own setting I tend to run it 1st-8th or 1st-10th, with NPC demographics to fit.


zagnabbit wrote:

The reason experienced DMs scale up the city guard, is we've all seen whathappens when the players realize they're unstoppable.

Any GM who's having 10th level PCs taken down by regular city guard patrols (arbitrarily upscaled) is a pretty crappy GM IMO. Of course 10th level PCs can ride roughshod over regular troops, typical goblin lairs, etc. That doesn't mean they are all-powerful, though a 20th level PC party might be (leaving aside Baba Yaga, Treerazor and such Epic threats). I'm running Curse of the Crimson Throne, so I see a lot of Korvosa demographics. The regular City Guard might be 2nd level, but there are crack squads of 5th-7th level guys too, including PC types, who can be deployed if necessary. If that's not enough, well there are the Hellknights of the Nail if you need to call in plenty of 7th-10th level types, there are the Acadamae mages, the Queen's elite Gray Maidens (Fighter-8) and so on.

Golarion has well established level demographics as per ISWG - lots of level 1-5, plenty of 6-10. 11-15 are rare though, and 16-20 are extremely rare. Overall the level spread is well designed to challenge PCs in the typical 1-15 range of most APs.


Dracoknight wrote:


It kind of confuses me what the matter actually is and all i see is just opinions flinged left and right like they were facts.

I think most people are just giving their opinions.


I wouldn't put total population above half a billion sentients (including goblins and Underdark dwellers), and 200-300 million probably more likely. I don't think it's anything like as high as post-industrial-revolution Earth ca the mid twentieth century, which is what 2-3 billion would indicate.

For level demographics; the GMG and Pathfinder APs tend to have 'typical' people be 2nd level NPC class, though 1st level NPC class is common too, for novices, incompetents, green recruits etc. I'd suggest these both be about equally common for the adult population, then halve numbers each level higher. 50% level 1 and halve number each level higher also works.


Landon Winkler wrote:


As a GM, part of introducing a romantic interest is describing that NPC in a way that the player (or hopefully their character) finds attractive. In my experience, physical appearance plays a major role in that, particularly in the jump from "friendly NPC" to "romantic NPC."

Oh, sure - and I have had the occasional male 'beefcake' character in my games, eg Prince Konn of the Tigerclaw Uthgardt, played by Dolph Lundgren as 'He-Man' - http://frloudwater.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/2261480-karse.html :) - but he wasn't intended to be a serious romantic interest, just a short term 'engagement'... Longer term romantic-interest characters tend not to be so overtly physical, that goes for the female ones too - eg I think Ameiko Kajitsu catches players' interest more than NPCs who look like Seoni.


wraithstrike wrote:

I always let my players design the cohort. It is one less thing I have to do, and since I am normally a better optimize than most people I play with it is to my advantage to let them make it.

I don't design cohorts - I create NPCs. If the PC has Leadership feat & high enough Leadership they can then attempt to recruit suitable NPCs encountered in-game, eg Trinia Sabor in Crimson Throne.


Ben Parkinson wrote:
Quite a few people seemed interested in this blog post - Go to blog Teaching Changemakers using Kingmaker - where we were discussing the potential of Pathfinder for developing vision, creativity and leadership skills among youngsters in Uganda.

It occurs to me that the main challenge your youngsters are likely to face in future life leadership positions is the balancing of kinship network/extended family demands with their other responsibilities; whereas this is something completely absent in default Golarion - everyone seems to be an American-style individualist with a nuclear family or no family at all. Is it worth including 'family' in Kingmaker as an issue, or would that make things too complicated?


Historically gold was typically worth 10-20 times as much as silver. Not just in medieval times; in classical Greece it was typically a 20-1 ratio, falling to 10-1 during the influx of Persian gold in the later classical era. More recently 'Gold standard' economies, and holding of bank reserves in gold, lead to gold value inflation, which we still have currently.

D&D/PF wages tend to be inflated by comparison to medieval Europe, but not always wildly different from Classical-era; for long periods a silver coin was indeed the standard daily wage of a heavy infantry soldier such as Roman legionary or Greek hoplite. Some prices though are wildly inflated, and could typically be divided by 10 or converted to silver for a more historical feel.


Leadership IME isn't broken if all Cohorts are real NPCs created by the GM, recruited in play, and played as real people - the goblin cohort counts. It's broken if the GM lets the player create an NPC cohort to perfectly compliment their character.


Re the Misgivings, a PC IMC is local, the nephew of Kendra Deverin. I didn't say anything when he met Aldern. On reflection I'm going to do it that only the Varisians know about the haunting rumours or call the old manor that.


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@OP: I would contribute to a male-romantic-interest thread (Sir Jereth Rogare, Hellknight of the Nail, in my Curse of the Crimson Throne game was pretty cool, in a Judge Dredd/Robocop sort of way), only 'beefcake' is the male equivalent of female 'cheesecake', ie it's all about the visuals, and I can't get past the terrible thread title. If you weren't going for that, you should have chosen a better title. Sorry.


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magnuskn wrote:
Do you feel that some of the female iconics as presented in their class entry (i.e. the "iconic" iconic picture) are being objectified?

Eh, no. I think they're all clearly subject of action, not object. I haven't really seen seriously objectifying FRPG artwork since the 3e D&D era with companies like Mongoose and the Avalanche Press book covers. I think Paizo artwork is gratuitously sexy (good for sales) and the costumes often impractical, but it's nothing like '90s Clyde Caldwell stuff, or even Larry Elmore (much as I love Elmore).


(I do sometimes make up gobbledigook when speaking in character in an alien language - more an SF game thing though. Works great in Star Wars.)


Emery1000 wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
S'mon wrote:
Well, I had Ameiko & Lonjiku talk mostly in Tian, so the PCs couldn't understand it amyway. :)
building on what Latrecis says, i'm curious when speaking "Tian" do you speak in an asian culture language or wing it? Tian not being an actual language and all
yea what he said, like do I just sa, "they are speaking in another language" or do I just go to google translate and make something up?

"They are speaking in another language", maybe "It sounds like Minkaian/Tian/cetera". No I didn't make up gobbledigook or type Japanese - it's a text-chat game.


fine_young_misanthrope wrote:


To put that question in perspective, I don't read DC BECAUSE so many events "kind of" happened. I read Dark Horse because whatever happened, Happened! This happened. We can recon the crap out of this latter. But, this really happened to the characters you love

Hm. I don't think Paizo's approach is really aimed at you, no. There is no single canon continuity. At best it may be that the comics will all stick to one comic continuity; you could fix on that and ignore the other stuff. Or likewise with the novels I guess.


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Well, I had Ameiko & Lonjiku talk mostly in Tian, so the PCs couldn't understand it amyway. :)


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I like the approach of having the comics and audio dramas in different continuities, it's like having different GMs running their own campaigns. :)


zagnabbit wrote:

Seoni is the Most Iconic Iconic ever.

The first images of Valeros and Seoni converted me to Parhfinder. That first Seoni pose is very sexual without being gratuitous. Valeros's pose is sexual too, according to my wife.

Seoni is just one of those people who exudes sexual magnetism, it would not matter if she were dressed like a Ninja, hood and all, she would just convey that. Trying to remove that element of her depiction is just not possible.
I think that after this amount of time and the sheer volume of Seoni art that I'm immune to her "hawtness", but she is still one of the most compelling images in all of the RPG art I've amassed over the years. There may be an element of Cheescake to it, but I would be surprised to read the artists view her as a sexual object. She is just "more" than that.
Her tightly reigned personality, emotional fortitude, obsessive behavior and tremendous personal charisma combine into an enigmatic being. She's beautiful yes but she has been consistently portrayed as being far more than pretty.
She is also exotic, almost a Mythical Creature. No other Varisian looks like her, her skin tone, hair color, eyes and tattoos make her much more than unusual, she is truly unique. So the "she should be dressed more like this...." argument holds no water with me. Varisians stay with their nomadic family groups, Seoni does not. Varisian women are notoriously sensual yet Seoni is not sexually forward. Yet her mode of dress is guaranteed to put her at the center of attention in virtually every situation. She is the long term planner, the schemer, the enigma.
She can cast Endure Elements and Mage Armor every day. So practicality is right out the window.

Let her be who she is.

Amiri, is probably the single best depiction of a barbarian in all of RPG history. She's tough, poor, uncultured and maybe a little mean. The people who want her in armor are forgetting that the iconics don't live in the "Monty Haul" campaigns where every barby has a Mithral Breast Plate at...

Interesting analysis of Seoni - I will use that in future, thanks. :) I agree with you on all the Iconics except Amiri; she's not just a typical Kelid, she's a PC and will have access to wealth, gear etc. An Iconic 3e/PF Barbarian should wear a chain shirt - it's Iconic. :p

(Also I think I'm a bit sick of the whole Britney Spears bare midriff thing, it only looks good on a tiny minority of women and my eyes have suffered quite enough over the years...)
I agree about the Oracle's priestess garb, to me that's a clearly appropriate depiction of a non-armour class (I would probably cover her belly too given the choice, but no big deal); same with the Witch.


One thing - going by Gamemastery Guide and most of the adventures, it seems to me that in Pathfinder a typical person tends to be 2nd level, not 1st level, and they tend to average 7-8 hp, whether that's because they're a Com-2 with Con 10, or a War-1 with Toughness. Most typical soldiers/guards seem to be War-2 with around 13-15 hp. This fits a lot better scaling with typical animal hit points than 3e's 2 hit point Commoner-1s, and supports having the bear trap do the listed damage.

If in your game the typical healthy adult is a Com-1 with 3 hit points then I think this is exactly the sort of thing that should be rescaled to avoid the 'world of cardboard' effect.


I don't have magic item shops IMC, Curse of the Crimson Throne. I have crafting require rare components with limited availability, plus all charges require castings into the charged item - 50 fireball spells for a 50 charge wand of fireballs. I use random rolls for the available magic items, which change monthly - around 20 items for Korvosa, a large city, on Gather Info Diplomacy DCs of 11-30.

This all works fine; signature items that level with the PC (+1 per 3 levels, say) are also fine. The system assumes the PCs have '+' items at higher levels, but doesn't require that they're kitted out with exactly the items they want for a particular build - it's your choice whether charop through item purchase is a part of your game.


Bakaninja wrote:
This being the case, would it make any sense for the PC to have been friends with Nualia?

I don't think Nualia is a very nice person - hence all the murdering... it would make sense to me that Nualia was far too wrapped up in her own 'woe is me, I am too beautiful' thing to think of being friends with another, younger, girl. You could also do it that Tobyn is Chelish, this PC is Varisian and they occupied very different social circles and wouldn't come into contact much; although Nualia did have that Varisian bad-boy...

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