Turin the Mad's page

Thanks everyone! Of course, some spells obviously hit everything in their area (like Fireball), but some player and I were always arguing about wether his Entangle/Black Tentacles hit him or not and I had nothing to reply to ''but it's stupid if my own spell affects me''. I have to admit, it is a bit dumb that Black Tentacles summoned by a wizard can attack that same wizard... ever saw a wizard getting attacked by his own summons in a serious situation?

If you pooch your focal point / critter arrival point, and get eaten ... oops.

The same goes for the wizard or other caster that flicks a fireball down range ... and eats it because he was careless enough to deliver the spell's bead through the brawny back of his buddy Thrud the Barbarian ... oops.

An interesting campaign Sir Dungeon, most interesting. I look forward to seeing a massive campaign journal thread unfold over the next year or three. :)

Today we saw the second confirmed player character death ... at the business end of their vampiric torch-bearer.

PRPG Vampires are deliciously tough customers, as demonstrated by the equivalent of an Advanced Fighter 5 Vampire that they tangled with.

Miraculously, only one player character got themselves energy drained to death - Da Pimp's aspiring Arcane Trickster ate three slam attacks too many and died, destined to spawn the following night at midnight as a full-fledged vampire.

Fortunately, they located the condemned shrine's super-secret stash and dug up a lone surviving scroll of resurrection incorporating the 10,000 gp value of diamond dust necessary to affect the spell.

After driving Vampire Max off, tracking him down, staking him and then zapping the repentant torch-bearer with the aforementioned scroll (barely succeeding on the necessary caster level check), the torch bearer once more is among the living. A single charge from their precious wand of restoration looted from the Asmodean Knot - and, given a lack of any other information, presumed to have included the material component necessary to remove permanent negative levels - reducing that wand's charge count to 6.

Although good fortune saw fit to exclude the three major NPCs from being in the condemned cathedral, eight of the eleven 'future player characters/cohorts' fell prey to death by blood drain courtesy of the newly spawned Vampire Max.

Combined with the release of the Cavalier and Oracle base classes, to encourage play testing - although sadly with no takers - I permitted the PCs to "retrain" at this point. This includes 'retraining' ol' Max.

Our Heroes will enter Chapter 3 of the Council of Thieves at 6th level.

I post Vampire Max's stat block for the enjoyment of all:

Vampire Maximilian

Advanced Fighter 5 Vampire (male human)

CR 7 (3,200 xp)

Neutral Evil Male Medium Undead (Augmented Human)

Initiative: +11

Hit Points: 77 plus 77 temporary; fast healing 5, DR 10/magic and silver

Ability Scores: 26 STR, 24 DEX, -- CON, 22 INT, 22 WIS, 25 CHA

Senses: Darkvision 60’; Perception +21, Sense Motive +21

Feint DC: 31

Speed: 30 feet, climb 20 feet, fly in gaseous form 20 feet (perfect maneuverability); Stealth +20

Defenses

AC: 26 or 29 w/ shield (touch AC +8 natural armor +3 heavy shield)
flat-footed AC: 18 or 21

Touch AC: 18 (10 +1 dodge +7 DEX)
flat-footed touch AC: 10

Saving Throws:

• Fortitude +11
• Reflex +10
• Will +9, +13 vs. channel energy

Resist Cold 10, Electricity 10, Channel Resistance +4

Immune undead traits

Base Attack: +5

• Melee AB: +13
• slam +13 (1d4+8 plus energy drain)
• slam power attack +11 (1d4+12 plus energy drain)
• battleaxe +15 (1d8+11/x3 or 1d8+15/x3 two-handed)
• battleaxe power attack +13 (1d8+15/x3 two-handed)
• +1 mithral battleaxe power attack +14 (1d8+16/x3 or 1d8+22/x3 two-handed)
• CMB +13
• +17 sunder with axes
• +16 sunder using +1 mithral battleaxe power attack
• Ranged AB: +12
• CMD: 31, 34 vs. disarm and sunder attempts against his axes

SQ: Change Shape, Gaseous Form, ignite/quench torch (Sp) [At Will, as part of readying a torch], Shield Training 1 (variant on Armor Training: check penalty reduced by 1 & shield bonus improved by 1), Weapon Training 1 (axes), Trait: human and elven blood (Max - when he was alive - has barely enough elven blood to qualify as an elf for good and for ill, such as favored enemy bonuses and the Arcane Archer prestige class.)

SA (Su): Blood Drain, Children of the Night (1/day), Create Spawn, Dominate (Will DC 19), Energy Drain (DC 19)

Feats: Shields Proficiency, Proficiency with all Simple and Martial Weapons, Improve Natural Armor x2, Endurance, Die Hard, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness, Caught Off-Guard, Throw Anything, Quick Draw, Weapon Focus - Battleaxe, Power Attack, Weapon Specialization - Battleaxe, Improved Sunder

Skills: Climb +24, Disable Device +11, Escape Artist +12, Fly +15 in gaseous form / +11 in bat form, Heal +15, Knowledge (dungeoneering) & (engineering) +15, Linguistics +10, Perception +21, Profession (porter) +10, Sense Motive +21, Stealth +20, Survival +14, Use Magic Device +16

"RAW" remove the two Knowledge skills.

Languages: Aklo, Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Infernal, Sylvan, Undercommon, Varisian

Gear: explorer's outfit, wayfinder, masterwork heavy wooden shield (hardness 5, 20 hp), +1 mithral battleaxe (hardness 17, 30 hp)

I remember a time over 20 years ago when I had a character that was transmogrified into a mobile version of green slime - this was back in 1e days.

That thief/green slime eventually ended up administering a "green slime enima" to the Archmage when he went to "do biological business" in his own keep.

It seems even nature's call is rarely avoided by such phenomenally powerful beings.

Note to self: find a way to to need to take a potty break when becoming immortal.

Sunday 22nd November 2009 should see the conclusion of the "homebrewed" material in between Cot #2 and #3.

Will our heroes succumb to the temptation of vampiric wiles and domination, or will Our Heroes prevail, resisting the temptations of the dark side of life?

Will our heroes resist the temptation to succumb to the power of blood and the night? Will Our Heroes vanquish that which lurks in the night?

Will Out Heroes succumb to Evil and Wickedness bringing the wrath of the gawds they betray?

Or will Our Heroes redeem the recently fallen soul of their beloved torch-bearer?

Only Sunday will tell the tale - stay tuned for the gruesome details!

said some cool stuff about a group of players motivated by the desire for blood-splattered revenge

no deaths? for reals? aw....

i know full well the power of the critting scythe in the hands of that critter. cost me a perfectly good wolf, mind you.

and i understand Mama Kreeg and her boys are coming 'round later on. can't wait to see their workups, or the obits.

-t

And there is of course a very special surprise waiting for them on top of Hook Mountain that was not in the original script. ^_^ And no, that will not be Xanesha.

Yes, sadly, I had a spell of GM insanity this past Sunday and rescinded what should have been a one-shot-kill. >:(

That.

Is.

AWESOME.

And that is one nasty bugger. +80? Good lord.

I didn't include his AC, for example, as it remains unchanged.

The Scarecrow CR 8 (4,800 xp)

These are the changes and pertinent information "Pathfinderizing" the infamous monster, tweaked to suit my tastes. I also attempted to play him along the lines of the Frankenstein Monster from the movie 'Van Helsing'. Sadly for The Scarecrow, this did not elicit much sympathy from the players.

Chaotic Evil Large Construct

Perception +10
Stealth +13, "take 20" check of 33

Hit Points: 79 (49 averaged from 9d10 construct hit dice +30 bonus hp from size)
Note that The Scarecrow attempts to flee when reduced to 20 or fewer hit points. Xanesha has her charms, but he's not willing to die for them.

Fortitude +3, Reflex +4, Will +4 (+2 vs. mind-affecting)

25 STR, 13 DEX, -- CON, 12 INT, 13 WIS, 10 CHA

Intimidate DC: 18

Feint DC: 20

Base Attack +9/+4

Melee AB +15/+10
* +1 large scythe +17/+12 (2d6+11/19-20, x4 = 8d6+44)
** +1 large scythe power attack +14/+9 (2d6+20/19-20, x4 = 8d6+80)
* 2 slams +15 (2d8+7)

Ranged AB +9/+4

CMB +17/+12
CMD 28

DR 5/adamantine

The Scarecrow's immunity to magic and construct traits are a bit different than the norm for a golem. He is not slowed by cold and fire. He is still healed 1 for 3 by electricity. He has no immunity to mind-affecting abilities and spells - and suffers a further -2 penalty on Will saves against such effects. Against Intimidate checks he does not gain the benefit of being larger than a creature attempting to intimidate him.

Feats: Martial Weapon Proficiency (scythe), Simple Weapons Proficiency, Weapon Focus (scythe), Stealthy, Power Attack, Improved Critical (scythe)

Skills: Climb +16, Knowledge (local) +10, Perception +10, Profession (porter) +10, Stealth +13

In a "RAW" campaign, remove his Knowledge and Profession skills.

Gear: Large cloak of elvenkind, Large +1 scythe (hardness 7, 30 hit points)

*****

The Scarecrow is an excellent example of a foe that punishes meta-game player tactics. One player, for example, was rambling on about tagging him with cold and fire to slow him down -- which needless to say did not work as hoped. Another was convinced that mind-affecting abilities wouldn't work on him. No one attempted to use a mind-affecting ability until just before he was dispatched, when the Eldritch Knight fired off a Dazzling Display - and demoralized The Scarecrow for the last two rounds of his existence.

It seems that Chapter 2 of Rise of the Runelords is gauged for a 7th level group instead of a 5th level one.

Our Heroes, at the end of a long week after liberating the Chelish Crux from the Asmodean Knot - and departing by way of the 'escape hatch' doors found just outside of the final room - have not seen the torchbearer Maximilian in a few days.

Bored, four of the player characters you know, the ones who attended ;) arrive at Maximilian's humble house in the poor section of town. This section of Westcrown, like so much of the city, is rarely patrolled by the dottori during broad daylight, let alone as close to dusk as it is when the characters arrive.

They notice that the neighborhood is usually quiet. Most of them notice that the nearest house's front door sways eerily to and fro, creaking on its hinges in the breeze coming off of the river. The cleric catches the stink of day-old blood and gore, both from the neighbor's house ... and from Max's.

Eager to see what the problem is, Zin Sern bounds forward and plants a booted foot squarely on the front door, busting the door open and sending the chair wedged against it to keep it closed.

The interior is a slaughterhouse. Dismembered and decapitated corpses are strewn around the perimeter of the one-room cottage - many of whom the cloistered cleric recognizes as people from this very neighborhood. Furniture is knocked over and mostly up against the wall as most of the center of the floor has been hacked out and nailed up over the windows. When they close the door they can tell that every crevice and nook of walls, windows, door and even the roof has been tarred, sending the interior into pitch blackness.

Using a sunrod, they also note that the "group" handy haversack as well as Max's pair of belt pouches have been left behind, hidden beneath an upturned table. On the wall in drying blood a message:

Xanesha at the old clock tower

A note, sealed with a blob of wax and bearing Jade's name is found sticking out of Max's pouches.

"As I lay dying here my thoughts are of you. I do not know what is wrong ... *smudged out words* ... take these items and avenge me!

Find a brother torch-bearer...

Moments later, they hear the pounding of a young man's feet and winded breath as small fists batter the door. Opening the door, little Morosino stands gasping, face flushed with exertion, trembling with fatigue.

"The man! The man with the mirror eyes! It's horrible! At the sanctuary!"

Quickly hustling Morosino inside, they are quick to distribute the massive pile of loot in Max's pouches, send Morosino running before sunset to a safe (ish) place to stay and set off to the dilapidated clock tower near the towering ruins of a bridge that no longer spans the river. The characters have decided to avenge what they believe to be Maximilian's untimely demise, despite the lack of a corpse or part of one they know to be his. The sanctuary of the Disciples of Starfall, they determine, can wait.

They found a king's ransom in items in Max's pouches, my attempt to level the playing field between the characters and the clock tower inhabitants. A jar with 5 doses of stone salve, 8 potions of CSW @ CL 10, 8 elixers of extended divine power @ CL 10, 2 scrolls of dispel magic x4 @ CL 8. Little did I know that would not be really sufficient...

As the sun is setting Our Heroes arrive at the foot of the massive clock tower, its face stuck at 3 o' clock. Wasting little time, they pry open the doors, get the flavor text and two of the four beat The Scarecrow's 33 Stealth check.

Combat ensues with the sentient flesh golem. Three characters slather on stone salve - the paladin, the monk and Jade's fighter/sorceress - in the beginning round of the fight. The Scarecrow charges, whiffing the monk with his enchanted scythe.

Things took a grim turn for the worst when The Scarecrow's wicked scythe lashes out and disembowels the paladin. My first attack roll against the paladin are nat-20 confirming with a nat-20. At that point I belatedly realize that any time I crit with this monster against this group, the damage bonus of +80 with a Large scythe is instant-death. I failed my Will save and caved into the group's heated complaints, swapping the scythe's crit range from 19-20/x4 to 17-20/x2, retaining the base damage of 3d6+20 with Power Attack. Basically using a greatsword in scythe form. Entrails spilling onto the floor, the Paladin of Iomedae collapses.

Several rounds of furious combat ensue, the paladin's smite and several confirmed critical hits - after the cleric was wise enough to break out the wand of cure critical wounds - by said paladin combined with the aspiring eldritch knight's golembane scarab finally brought the behemoth low. They shut the doors of the clock tower as the last rays of sunlight fade over the horizon.

Wisely, they hole up in the larger of the collapsed offices and the cultist cloistered cleric replenishes his depleted spells before setting off up the stairs towards the top of the tower. They did handily note the spacing required to advance up safely, and off they go, eager to take advantage of the remaining hour from the stone salve.

Looming overhead, four massive bronze bells sit. As they approach to within 100' of the top of the tower, two humanoid forms can be seen as they hear the snapping of ropes and wood - a bell breaks free!

Smashing its way through stairs, railings, dust bunnies the size of mules and who knows what other detrius the bell clips the cultist, nearly tearing him from the stair. Barely succeeding on his Reflex saving throw, he hangs on for dear life with a broken shoulder. Once the other characters pull him back from the edge of death 100 feet below, he drinks one of the precious cure serious wounds potions and groans in pain as the shattered bones reknit and restore his arm anew.

The faceless stalkers, poorly named to me, but sufficient to provide them the few dregs of xp they will need before entering Chapter 3 lurk in the top of the bell tower. They offer little threat to the characters, feebly swiping at them. The pair end up dying as they attempt to escape down the bell ropes, attacks of opportunity making them unconscious and the 200 foot fall splattering them all over the floor below.

Xanesha, hovering outside, waits for the characters to be on the scaffolding ascending to the roof before making her presence felt - in the form of a pair of zorching rays (electricity damage versions of scorching ray) tagging both the monk and the paladin. Catching onto the severity of the situation - by way of a minimum caster level 7th opponent of Large size and serpentine persuasion floating in the air before them - ineffectual ranged weapon attacks ensue, along with much cursing when they realize that her AC is very ... very high.

Over the course of the first two rounds most of the characters are at half or fewer hit points as a result of Xanesha's zorching rays, the first dispel magic thrown by the party removes her haste. The second is the more crucial - it had a one in five chance of removing her fly spell, and Jade rolled the right number, sending the lamia matriarch plummetting to the ground to the tune of 69 points of falling damage.

In what I think is a mistake, they called for a saving throw vs. massive trauma for her. I pointed out that they are going to implement it for them too, which they were fine with. I did not roll quite that low.

On her next action, as the characters down "Power Juice" - the elixirs of extended divine power - and cure serious wounds potions, Xanesha dimension doors back to the top interior floor of the clock tower. Thinking the wicked creature would have to ascend back to the roof the old-fashioned way, Jade jumps off along the side of the clock tower by way of her ring of feather falling, descending 60 feet. Jade manages to catch herself back onto the side of the tower and start climbing back up.

Zin Sern moves to block her, followed by the paladin and the paladin's second smite evil declaration. During the three rounds that Jade takes to ascend the clock tower's outside, both the characters and Xanesha whiff mightily. With the 'power juice', smite evil and a prayer from the cleric - who used both of his prayers during this fight - the paladin found she could hit the critter on a natural 10 or better. Needless to say, the paladin's d20 got hot and crits started flying.

Over the course of the clock tower, the paladin delivered six confirmed critical hits while smiting evil. She almost single-handedly dispatched the Scarecrow, took a faceless stalker from full hit points to near-death in a single blow [without smite evil] and delivered either three or four such critical hits to Xanesha herself.

This same paladin nearly died twice, once by The Scarecrow, and the second at the business end of Xanesha's spear, both from critical hits. My players have to come to despise my "Cthulhu" dice, just as I despise Da Fighter's blue d20. This same d20 does not do well for him - but it does very well for any one he lends it to.

Very near to the end of game time sadly, Xanesha steps back after getting a bleeding wound from Zin Sern, makes her concentration check handily and dimension doors to safety.

I 'borrowed' the end scene from Pathfinder #2 for this part of the interlude. And I now have a nasty villain to use post-CoT as well, should the fancy still remain next year...

Commentary from my campaign thusfar:

Bastards of Erebus

Chapter 1, early on, hands out four potions of cure light wounds per player character. That's a sizeable chunk of the gp expected for 2nd level right there.

The gp value comes from sellable loot - the armor and weapons on the Armigers alone does pretty well in "picking up the slack" on loot. Combined with the stash (more potions) and anything else you care to throw in during the schlepp through the sewers and getting them gear (or the funds to buy gear) sufficient for 2nd level is easy.

XP wise, I didn't really see a problem for my group until after the ambush and before hitting the Bastards themselves. Whitechin and a easy-KO group of brigands (one or two sleep spells and/or color sprays solves the latter encounter handily, earns a Fame Point and a storyline award if memory serves) was plenty to pop them to the necessary point.

The loot from the special encounters and the BoE themselves should also be more than enough to get them where they need to be for The Sixfold Trial.

The Sixfold Trial

Depending upon how quickly you want to conclude the play - for my group, it was intended to complete the play in one session - I would suggest a pre-game e-mail or equivalent containing the flavor text and establishing the group's preferred method of infiltrating the Lord-Mayor's manor. If they do not wish to go with the play itself, they can certainly infiltrate the manor on the night of the grand ball celebrating the (barely) successful performance of the play. Electing to infiltrate the manor on any other night is a Bad Idea, one that the NPCs will certainly point out to them. For one, the Lord-Mayor tends to send away his guard detail on nights such as the one to celebrate the play ...

Until then, you have at least a week of game time to fill in (and provide the player characters xp and items), so you can play up with any angles that the players' interests provide you to work with. As far as pre-generated material to shoehorn into this role, I cannot help you there, as my group absolutely loved the play.

Once in the manor and in the Knot itself, the greatest threat to the characters is the "deadline". They should have just enough time to 'sweep and clear' the place with one nine hour stretch in the middle to rest and regain spells. A clever group can accomplish this without the rest break.

XP is the greatest potential issue at medium advancement for a group of five or more. The presumption seems to be that the GM is awarding the same experience per-character to groups of four and five. For larger groups, the "APL" approach is necessary, counting the group as 1 level higher per 2 player characters above 4 that are present. This in turn tells you how many critters to toss at them to provide the necessary xp to get them where they need to be.

In the aftermath of The Sixfold Trial, since I do not award xp the same to a group of five as to a group of four, my group just barely hit 5th level on the number after all the story award xp is tallied. Since the indication is that they need to be half-way to 6th level before starting Chapter 3, I had to home-brew the necessary "xp award".

Too bad that every Klingon born has a 15% chance of dieing due to "acts-of-Kirk."

Sunday Our Heroes get to tangle with a Wiscrani PRPG version of the conclusion of Pathfinder #2 "The Skinsaw Murders", courtesy of the infamous Richard Pett.

Naturally, this has been given a touch of "the Turin Treatment" in the hopes of much player character death, dismemberment and mayhem.

They're too high level for it. I'll just get new ones.

The magical properties of layered armor would not work, much like wearing more than two magical rings. At best the outermost armor layer's magical properties would be what is in operation.

Given the encumbrance of body armor, I would rather think it is quite unappealing to entertain...

The other options above are excellent.

And a thanks to you for the prompt service. :)

Turin the Mad wrote:

It seems that Chapter 3 calls for player characters to be half-way to 6th level prior to starting in.

^_^ Which means yours truly gets a crack at a first home-brew "side quest" between Chapters 2 and 3 under the "still has the new game book smell" rules of PRPG.

Aaahhh, the possibilities...

Partially adapt Pathfinder #2 if you don't ever intend to run the Runelords Path? (Which would of course continue with the 'Pett' flavour from where it has just left off, and certainly offers opportunities for urban mayhem, but I'm not sure if the resultant deaths should properly be counted as Council of Thieves or Rise of the Runelords demises...)

PS
You hopefully have email...

However, that is a most excellent suggestion Sir Charles. After all, Westcrown is rife in certain areas with long-abandoned homes ...

Oh well, perhaps the party can take down White Chin while #27 is getting shipped out. What should White Chin be? A Wererat or a Bargest, its a toss up for me. Thoughts?

It seems that Chapter 3 calls for player characters to be half-way to 6th level prior to starting in.

^_^ Which means yours truly gets a crack at a first home-brew "side quest" between Chapters 2 and 3 under the "still has the new game book smell" rules of PRPG.

Aaahhh, the possibilities...

I need mah fix to frag some player characters...

Please cancel my Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Pathfinder Chronicles and Pathfinder Companion subscriptions.

Thanks for the wonderful products in these lines up to now!

Regards,

Turin the Mad

I don't really use the CJ section to tell a story per se. I do like stat blocks mixed in with my CJs, since it gives readers an idea of what comes up, house rules that have to be made to accommodate game play, adjusting situations to specific characters and the like.

With CoT, since it is being run "in the present" - and my group has concluded Chapter 2 already - I am considering homebrewing some "sidebar" material to torment my player characters, "seed drop" future-planned antagonists and the like.

Such materials are often 'harvested' from the other campaign journals, whether by myself or others. For example, Paizo's CEO has apparently thoroughly mined board-posted material for her home Rise of the Runelords campaign.

In any case, the suggestion for moving to the CJ section is just that - a suggestion. Keep in mind that Certain Someone(s) may elect to move it for you is all. :)

This Monday will be our last ST session. We ended last session with Demogorgon barreling into the room through the portal. We've been playing weekly (missing occasionally during summer and holidays) since August of 2006. WOW! It's been a...

Awesome. :)

Name: Ineptus
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cloistered Cleric 4
Adventure: The Sixfold Trial
Location: B25 'The Crux Sanctum'
Catalyst: Outcast King's full round attack
The Gory Details: Having a few minutes before been taunted by the mouthy cleric, The Outcast King - benefiting from (non-scripted) potions of spider climb and invisibility, prosecuted a full-round attack with both swords, bite and tentacles. The total damage dealt was enough to outright kill the cleric, not counting the tentacles' constriction damage...

The Sixfold Trial - Part Three

The Asmodean Knot - Part Two

Our Heroes peek in at the Big Ball of Animated Chains in area B12 and decide that hacking apart hardness 10 steel chain is perhaps not the wisest of options.

Instead they head through the door south and explore the "sanitarium" of the Asmodean Knot, finding naught but dessicated corpses littering the floors of the various chambers. Pressing forward into area B20, the disgusting, roiling fluid within the vast chamber dissuades them from pressing further and tangling with a disease-riddled Large Water Elemental, let alone the nausea-inducing fumes that the churning waters would produce in a fight.

Back in the Observatory, they pop the lock on the western wall, open it ... and find themselves staring at a rock wall. Heading back to the north, they take the passageway that winds west into the Knot's Heart.

There they tangle with Sian, using a ring of feather falling to coast down the shaft and feather the paladin twice with two sneak attack-enhanced spider poisoned hand crossbow bolts. Da Pimp got lucky and Sian failed her saving throw to resist his mage handing the bolt case off of her waist belt, although she did perforate Da Monk Zin Sern with a critical hand crossbow bolt hit. Having lost her ammunition, on her next pass down the shaft she glided over to the ledge, intent on stabbity death via shortsword.

In the meantime, Max the torchbearer found out he was still the last "owner of record" of the runecurse found early on. The osyluth pops in and zaps him with a hold person. Ineptus' cloistered cleric begins using his wand of cure light wounds to patch up Torsin's paladin.

As Da Pimp, Zin Sern and Jade grapple, pin, sneak attack and carve up Sian in the one room, Torsin and Ineptus beat on the wall of ice the osyluth cast to isolate his quarry from any allies. A foot thick slab of ice closed off the tunnel.

As a full minute passes, Max wages a running battle with the osyluth, quickly cornering the fiend in a squeezed fit in a narrow stair well from which he enjoyed the benefits of higher ground and a foe squeezed into a space too small for it to normally fit.

Torsin catches up in the aftermath, firing off a channel energy, providing the necessary healing to keep Max alive long enough. The osyluth loses the round it would have needed to complete the runecurse and dismember the torchbearer, isolating itself and its prey from the rest of the party by raising another wall of ice across the chamber behind it.

In what is fast becoming a tradition, the henchman confirmed a fortunate critical hit with his trusty battle axe, dealing a lethal 62 hit points to the bone devil and sending the fiend screaming back to the Nine Pits of Hell.

After looting mightily and liberal applications of cure wand and potions, they work their way through the Knot's Heart. After coming upon the western side of the diseased water elemental's chamber and filching the crude unholy symbol of Asmodeus, they eventually make their way to the Crux Sanctuary. They did figure out the "falling creature" method of getting the Knot to 'spin' its portals, thanks to Sian's ring.

A horrific battle ensued amidst the sickening sludge of the Sanctuary, the Outcast King outright slaying the cleric in a vicious full-round attack, taking the cloistered cleric from full hit points to negative CON in a single round of attacks, without even applying 2d6+10 constriction damage as insult to messy death. At the most desperate moment, Ineptus was slain, Torsin's paladin was 1 hit point from death, Da Monk was similarly 1 hit point from death and Da Pimp was 2 hit points from falling over. Brave deeds of derring do saw attacks of opportunity eaten, bleeding wounds inflicted upon the Outcast King led to the BBEG's death by exanguination and both Da Pimp and Max suffering one and three infernal wounds respectively.

At the end, only Ineptus was deceased, to be reincarnated as a half-orc. I very nearly had a TPK with the Outcast King and his pet lemures running interference.

The campaign is slated to resume in three weeks' time, to address the matter of opening the Chelish Crux, getting paid by the Pathfinder Society's representative for retrieving said Crux, advancing to 5th level and spending 30,000 gp of accumulated loot. The player characters and torchbearer are all 5th level at 15,000 total xp each.

Will Our Heroes venture forth into Delvehaven and die horribly, devoured by Shoggoths and Paragon Stirges? Stay tuned...

Deidre Tiriel wrote:

I waited a while, but started before the second book came out. I started Sept 21st. We only play 4 hours a session (monday nights), so it is taking longer than the weekend APs. One week two of the characters were out with the flu. I'm also a new DM and run the game a little slow.

So I'm not having a problem with the delay, but I would like to read ahead more.

Starting mine on the 1st but im feeling a little cautious as one of my players has suggested an interest in playing a hell knight. With the PRC mentioned as being present in What Lies in Dust and it being 15 levels! im a bit worried about starting it with a character who may not meet the pre-requisites.

Ahh, the fun of doing "leg work" in advance. The group will get to pay a visit to Hook Mountain after Council of Thieves, so estimating an APL of 14 to 15.

Mammy Graul and her brood just got all kinds of nasty...

Council of Thieves: The Sixfold Trial - Episode Two
*
Five weeks have passed since the beginning of the campaign.
*
*
Cast of Characters

All characters achieved 4th level during the dinner party known as the "Cornucopia".

Torsin's Paladin of Iomedae
Ineptus' Cloistered Cleric
Jade's Fighter 1/Sorcerer (Water Elemental bloodline)
Da Fighter's Monk

Maximilian Fighter "bearer of the torch and carrier of loot" (high quality henchman, definitely not a mini-onion)

Da Pimp's Rogue/Wizard (Diviner) was covering the group's rear in absentia, distracting the servants and "participating" in the after-dessert "party". Presuming that the player is in attendance next session his character catches up to the party at that time. Otherwise, said player character will have been 'overwhelmed' in the ... activities.

The Cornucopia

As a result of the stunning success in performing The Six Trials of Larazod, the player characters are invited to attend the Lord-Mayor of Westcrown's notoriously decadent "dinner party". Over the course of six hours, five extravagant meal courses highlighting the pinnacle of Chelaxian fine dining are served. Each course arrives at the top of the hour. During the aftermath of each course, the player characters mingle with the guests and are eventually successful in shmoozing the information out of the various NPCs. These include such notable social figures as the Lord-Mayor himself; the mayor's majordomo Crosael Rasdovain; General Vourne (commander of the Gemcrown Bay Imperial Fleet and sourpuss extraordinaire); Chammady Drovenge (in her borderline scandalous gown and wolf-headed winged serpentine fur); Eirtein Oberigo (noble scum); and Sascar Tilernos (noble scum with a serious weakness for wine).

The player characters slink off with Max in tow after keeping their wits about them. Had they failed to do so, serious Wisdom damage would likely have ensued from the "special spices" laced into the food, the potent tobacco products and the very high-quality wine served throughout the night. They infiltrate the northeastern wing of the house, immediately finding the secret treasure stash in A30. They promptly flip the chest onto its side, bash out the bottom, burden Max with over 100 pounds of coin and set the chest back onto its belly. After reconnoitering the rest of the rear ground level rooms (A29-A24), they make their way upstairs to A40. While the player characters were mingling, Max stealthily got away between dinner courses, purloining the really nice wine in A18, swipes the majordomo's stash of cash, the majordomo's map of Aberian's Folly and the stash of goodies in A25 that the player characters themselves missed by 5 or more on their Perception checks...

The PCs swept south through areas A41 - A44, snuck west across A43 into A31 before hitting A34 and taking the stairs up to A45. They do a sweep and clear of A45 - A50, take the stage curtain from A49 to the stairs coming up. After securing the massive sound-baffler in place, they bash the padlock off the door from A45 into A51, rummage in A52 then pop the door into A53 - and enter the infamous Asmodean Knot itself.

At this point they had earned enough XP to advance to 4th level.

The Asmodean Knot, Part One

The characters loot the dead elf's corpse on the floor in B1, making extensive use of the detect magic-and-Spellcraft trick to identify the various magical items: a handy haversack, a pearl of power II, five scrolls (chill touch, command undead, ray of exhaustion, vampiric touch and false life) and the infamous piece of tattered parchment. With a bit of stubbornness, they figured out the trick of the runecurse, succeeded on the money on the preliminary DC 22 Will saving throw to resist the curse's taking hold and leave the parchment behind.

Venturing into B2, they tango with the howler, the monk's stunning fist pretty quickly shutting down the creature. Its DC 12 howl was easily resisted by the entire party, and most of the damage suffered was from the quills. Only the paladin briefly had to suffer the quills before the cleric quickly removed them. They pilfered the 400 gp value book Drowned Jabe and His Miserable Brothers and Sisters from the rack of books on the "fine art" of torture for both entertainment and interrogation.

While B3 "The Tower of Perpetuity" was disorienting, the characters found the room rather taxing. The players enjoyed the Escheresque nature of the room immensely. The players were having a difficult time with the encounter, as the shadows spawned from B4 simply came out of the walls, then - when turned - fled back into B4, returning to attempt to slurp more Strength as they made Will saves to overcome the need to flee induced by being Turned.

The cleric and paladin seem to have come to the conclusion that Turn Undead is only valuable against the animated dead (which is true - and against such undead the feat is invaluable), quickly resorting to channelling positive energy to deal damage to the shadows. The monk, with a combination of ki expenditures to add to his AC along with either fighting defensively or total defense greatly helped in thwarting the potentially lethal touch of the shadows.

As the mirrors spawned in the next pairs of shadows, the flash the mirrors created I ruled outlined the secret door into the room from behind. The characters eventually beat down three out of six shadows before getting that door open and leaving Max to charge in. With a nat-20 sunder on the mirror, I ruled that - as with constructs - one can critical hit objects. With a single Power Attack Sunder, backed by a natural 20 battle axe strike on one of the mirrors, a staggering 3d8+48 points of damage shattered the mirror in a single blow. A "coup de gras" against the second mirror put paid to the two remaining shadows (out of six, four had been brought down by the player characters) and cut off any further influx of Strength-draining monstrosities.

With literal leaps and bounds, the player characters secure passage from the northern B5 Everpit - securing rope across the way to ease their return passage - into B6, the "Halls of Special Guests". A combination of cells and asylum observatories, the area is creepy. One cell was empty, nine occupied by mummified corpses and the tenth by an imprisoned creature waving a glaive around. Cursing its combination of boredom, imprisonment and apparent betrayal by some chowder head by the name of "Dargentu Veed", the Cloistered Cleric briefly interacted with the Bearded Devil. Sadly, the player characters elected to leave the fiend within its cell. Also very sad was their refusal to open the normal view port - having previously figured out the "one way mirror" effect of the observation windows - which would have permitted ...

In any case, after berating the cleric for alerting a fiend to their - or, at least the cleric's - presence in the Knot, the characters press onwards to area B10 "The River of Tears". With a stunning series of 20+ Perception checks, Our Heroes easily notice the trio of lacedons lurking in the churning, murky waters just ahead of them.

With focussed fire they mow down the lacedon ghouls and even poor Drowned Jabe the lacedon ghast in short order. They learned a painful lesson from the last PFS scenario I ran - frag ghasts first! The monk strips and spends some time dredging the floor of the pool, eventually dragging up all the loot to be found. The fighter/sorcerer cleans him off with prestidigitation and they move on to B11 "The Shadow's Throat".

After noting the steepness of the descent, they wisely elect to secure more rope. In this case, easing passage both down and back up in anticipation of returning by this way.

Our Heroes are at the intersection leading towards areas B12 (to the west, their right) and B13 (to the south, their straight ahead) behind a closed door. Should Da Pimp be in attendance, he joins the group at this point in the Asmodean Knot.

Will Our Heroes, now very low in spells after patching up injury and downing a few lesser restoration potions, press on without pause to rest? This is a legitimate concern, as the party at most gives them one nine-hour rest period plus anywhere from 3 to 5 hours' adventuring time in the Knot before late morning. As the session came to a close, in game time it is about 2 a.m., most of the characters' spell resources are depleted and they seem rather torn between getting rest and surviving the travails of the Knot - and being caught exiting the Knot by the Lord-Mayor...

If they pause to rest, that leaves them anywhere from one to three hours' game time before their estimated window of safety starts to close...

Disappointing for you I'm sure to have them get through the rigging without any splatterin's. :) Congrats to all.

I tip my hat to Sir Pett and Sir Logue for the adventure and play respectively. Excellent work!

Now, to kill them horribly in the ...

Quick n Dirty version: Our Heroes, courtesy of a preemptive e-mail outlining the introductory text, succeeded in performing the Six Trials of Larazod without a fatality. They raked in just over 1,000 gp each for their cut of the house take and are poised to infiltrate the lord-mayor's manor under the guise of the post-performance 'party'.

Phalazar wrote:

Isn't it session 3? ;)

Heh. Cut-and-paste error. yes, that was session 3.

Phalazar wrote:

sometimes I think you go out of your way to get your group captured.

Yeah, sometimes I think my PLAYERS go out of their way to GET captured. I mean, you're storming enemy territory, and a rope dangles from above? Hello? And once one PC has been snagged up, everyone else goes along?

How are they going to avoid a TPK THIS time?!

Oh well. I can always start another Kor Kammor game if this one ends in two weeks...

In BG, it describes many horribly deformed corpses of savage pirates. But they blow up when they die, how do I explain this to my players?

Turin the Mad wrote:

I am sure there are board members with more personal experience in these matters.

There are. I'm one of them.

EDIT: Not to mention... Fighters can fight all day long. Why can't bards perform all day long? I assure you that fighting is exhausting.

Hrm...

kyrt-ryder wrote:

A ring of counterspelling is a ring, in which a wizard casts a spell. If, after that, that specific spell is cast at you, it is automatically counterspelled, aka does not go off.

Note that it has to be a spell that's cast at the wearer, so that generally excludes area effects like Glitterdust, I think.

KnightErrantJR wrote:

One of the reasons I'm concerned about fear effects stacking from a this sort of situation is that in Organized Play, a character could defeat an encounter in two rounds.

I'm not sure how making a group of opponents run away for a few rounds is "defeating an encounter". Intimidate really doesn't last that long.

Performing "all day" is pretty reasonably 'nerfed' so as to not be happening all day. If you've attended a theatrical performance IRL, the actors are usually pretty much spent by the end of the performance. Dancers are often 'toast' within a few minutes depending upon the intensity of the routine.

I would consider it unreasonable to put on a performance for more than perhaps 2 to 3 hours. Putting on one with magical power is certainly within reason to be limited to a few minutes (being as exhausting to do as professional dancing).

I am sure there are board members with more personal experience in these matters.

hogarth wrote:

Armor of etherealness and the obsidian steed figuring of wondrous power are two methods.

Where can I find these magic items? Not near my books right now.

Ok, so I have a rogue/swashbuckler/shadowdancer who is part of an 18th level party. This party will soon be going up against their evil counterparts (also played by us).
The player of the evil fey'ri sorcerer has stated that he doesn't fear my Hide in Plain Sight or my ring of invisibility because he has glitterdust...so now pretty much all my stealth is gone with a *censored* 2nd level spell. True, I could go toe-to-toe with him using my improved feint, surprising riposte and such, but why should I do that when I don't have to?
SO. I would like some help from all you wonderful people here at paizo. The way I figure it if I can become ethereal before I strike then it will still negate my invisibility, but at least the dust won't adhere to my person and make me take a -freakin' 40(!) to my hide check.
How to go ethereal though? Any magic items, feats or class abilities that can help me? Oh, also this is NOT Pathfinder, simply 3.5-3.0. (I'm trying to get the DM to convert, but he does not have the book yet), so no Pathfinder-only feats, spells or abilities will be any help.
Can anyone be of assistance?

Also, do you have access to spell turning? If he targets you directly with it ... oops. spell immunity may or may not work against glitterdust in 3.5 though.

ring of greater counterspelling is also the countermeasure of choice for non spell casters... from Magic Item Compendium.

Hi, I started a new AP subscription this month, but it shows that mys firt volume will be the #3 (AP 27) only release in November. Is it possible to start with the 26th volume?

Seldriss wrote:

"Coup de gras" would mean fat strike (gras = fat) :)

So, something overweight Dwarven Defenders can do as a class ability, then.

Good counterpoints on the size difference penalty and catching my math on Persuasive, many thanks! Getting corrected on my math is an ongoing learning experience for me as a GM. Ironically, when I put together my own stat blocks, I usually catch this kind of thing... :facepalm:

Only the first five feats for a fighter is a pretty small price to pay for being able to Intimidate anything you can *expect* to encounter (that is not immune for other reasons). I did point out that one would be rather foolish to Intimidate the aforementioned foes, with a CR 6+ higher than the example Fighter. The fighter retains Weapon Focus as one of those five feats though, so only the first four are "wasted" on being able to penalize the vast majority of foes one encounters.

The "use skill that takes 1 action" and "use skill that takes 1 round" lines in Actions in Combat, with the demarcation "usually" (as pointed out, 'usually' provoking an attack of opportunity) is an interesting point that my group had not caught in play with either the Beta or PRPG rules thus far. Dazzling Display, since it requires that you are using a weapon with which one has the Weapon Focus feat, is arguably performed while armed and would not provoke an attack of opportunity. I would probably rule - barring errata clarifying this - that the regular use of Intimidate to demoralize would provoke while Dazzling Display does not.

In either case, one of the best uses of the demoralize/Dazzling Display is as foes get to within the outer half of the ability's range of 30 feet - if they're in melee range, the Fighter is best served disemboweling / bashing the brains out / stabbing in the face rather than pulling the booga-booga routine.

One player in my CoT group hasn't bothered spending feats on Skill Focus and Persuasive, and that character's Intimidate bonus at 3rd level is a respectable +10. The only feat she spent was on Dazzling Display (since she wants Weapon Focus for other things besides Dazzling Display), and she loves it.

Again, many thanks!

Can someone point me to the Dramatis Personae and history of the play that the hardcopy says I'm supposed to be able to find?

This came up in our Beta game but not until higher level. In that case we had a fighter with Dazzling display, persuasive, skill focus intimidate, and intimidating prowess.

With that player he has +32 intimidate (12 ranks, 3 class, 3 focus, 4 persuasive, 7 str, 3 chr). It's not that bad. sure he can intimidate well but it opens him to Attacks opportunity. As well since the effects don't last that long it hasn't really been an issue.

• Mature Adult Red Dragon (DC 39 without buff spells - which at its CL of 9 has a decent chance of having access to Owl's Wisdom, it seems uncommon as a known spell for dragons); CR 18
• Pit Fiend (DC 38 with Iron Will feat, DC 42 with Unholy Aura's resistance bonus) - if the character at 12th level rolls a natural 4 or better, he just affected a CR 20 foe with a fear effect
• Balor (DC 37, DC 41 with the resistance bonus from Unholy Aura)- if the character at 12th level rolls a natural 3 or better, he just affected a CR 20 foe with a fear effect as noted for the Pit Fiend
• Solar Angel (DC 39, 43 with the morale bonus from remove fear, 47 with a resistance bonus from holy aura) - worst case, the 12th level character only needs to roll a natural 9 to have dropped a fear effect on a CR 23 foe.
• Tarrasque (DC 50) - a natural 12 is all that he needs to "scare" the legendary Tarrasque at 12th level, a CR 20 foe.

It is less of a matter of how long the effect lasts - it more matters that (a)they can be stacked atop each other; (b) that they can affect foes well out of proportion to what the character should otherwise even be able to affect with such generally low natural d20 die rolls; and (c) that it can be achieved comparatively easily, with a relatively minimum amount of magical gear.

Of course, making any of these CR 18+ foes even briefly afraid of you is probably not the wisest course of action ...

"Stuck" paying a feat to get better at Intimidate - which is arguably the single most effective fear effect (inducing the shaken condition, which according to page 563 of the PRPG Core Rules is in the Fear category of Special Abilities - and thus subject to the "becoming more fearful" part of that ability) in the game - is no different than being "stuck" paying a feat to use Heavy Armor when you're not a Fighter or Paladin, "stuck" paying an Exotic Weapon Proficiency to feat to use a bastard sword one-handed nor being "stuck" paying a feat as an arcane spell caster to get better at Use Magic Device.

The fact is that there are two feats (Skill Focus and, in the case of Intimidate, Persuasive) that stack with each other to add to provide an additional +5 bonus that increases to a +10 bonus once the 10th skill rank is assigned to the skill is also no different from most of the other skills in the game also having this same potential benefit. Intimidate is, as far as I can tell, the only skill as the PRPG rules are currently written that has its own feat permitting combining two attributes as a bonus to the skill. Assuming a 10 Charisma and an 18 Strength, a first level human fighter selecting Intimidating Prowess as his bonus combat feat starts with a total +14 Intimidate bonus (1 rank +3 trained +2 Persuasive +3 Skill Focus +0 Cha +4 Str). A +14 rolling a 6 on the d20 is enough to affect almost any foe encountered for the next several levels of play for at least one round. By 3rd level said Fighter tacks on Weapon Focus and Dazzling Display, unlocking an "area effect" mass demoralize / fear special ability. A Circlet of Persuasion is pretty cheap (+3 more) and a Headband of Alluring Charisma +2 is not much more AND can be worn along with said Circlet (+1 more) for a +20 Intimidate at - in theory - about 3rd level. At 10th level said Fighter has a staggering +31 Intimidate bonus (10 ranks +3 trained +0 Charisma +4 Strength +6 skill focus +4 Persuasive +3 competence +1 enhancement) that goes up by 2 or 3 more points with a bull's strength and eagle's splendor pair of spells.

On Topic: As far as the rules regarding requiring proficiency with Heavy Armor to use Mithral heavy armor ... well, frankly, house rule as you see fit for your home game. I seriously doubt that PRPG will be officially amended to suit the request to do otherwise.

Personally, I agree with requiring that one is proficient in heavy armor to get the very, very significant benefit of mithral heavy armor. This supposedly onerous requirement is impartial - any one that wants mithral heavy armor and can afford to purchase enough mithral to fashion it (as mithral heavy armor according to PRPG is simply not available "off the shelf") can use it to its full benefit. If not, deal with the -3 check penalty - which by the time you can afford mithral heavy armor you can afford the "buff" spells that counter most of that penalty on attack rolls and move on. The complaints that I am seeing are that mithral used to make it as easy to wear as a lighter armor category. What it does now is make a proficient user able to make the greatest use of the armor, moving at a faster rate of speed [moot for Fighters of 7th level and up who ignore the movement rate reductions for medium and heavy armors], better able to avoid blows as opposed to interposing the armor against blows ad nauseam.

Getting the benefit of a heavy armor's bonus [+8 or +9] to AC while obtaining

• a maximum Dex bonus that is almost as good as any of the medium armor [+2 or +3 max Dex depending on which heavy armor you make out of mithral]
• halving the encumbrance [putting mithral full plate at the same 25 lbs as hide armor]
• massively reducing the arcane spell failure chance [to 20%, equal to hide armor and chain shirts at more than double the unenchanted armor bonus]
• greatly improving the base hardness [hardness 15, 10 greater than the hide armor that is so often comparable and between steel's 10 & adamantine's 20 hardness] to be able to stand up to adamantine weapons' "ignore hardness less than 20" by 9th level
• lastly a -3 check penalty [equal to nonmasterwork hide and masterwork scale mail/breastplate armors])

That's some pretty nice benefits for one feat and no more than 10,500 gp.

Soooo ... what's the news on PaizoCon 09's reports and boons?

Access denied.

What if slaad are a different kind of Protean? Egg-planting, chest-bursting monsters ... they're the "aliens" of D&D! ^_^

Cool, thanks. I didn't think it would be able to be used, but wanted to ask just in case.

What are the 'last two classes' he mentioned? Any idea?