evilash's page

I have recently started to experience a problem with my subscriber PDFs. When I download them, some of them have a "washed" look, and the background look a bit off. I first experienced this issue with the NPCs & Treasure PDF for Hungry Storm, and when I personalized it again and downloaded it the PDF looked OK again, which tells me that this issue probably have something to do with the software used in that process. When I downloaded Forest of Spirits all of the PDFs had this look.

EDIT: By the way, I only seem to have this issue with my Jade Regent PDFs, and not with other Paizo PDFs.

The entry for the Spellcaster in the caravan rules states the following:

Spellcasters are versatile characters who can fill one of several job roles in a caravan, choosing from entertainer, guard, guide, healer, or scout, regardless of whether they meet the job's requirement. Bonuses granted by spellcasters stack with those granted by any other job, but as with all jobs, any spellcasters in excess of five do not provide additional bonuses.

The highlighted part says that spellcasters grants a bonus, but I can't find any entry stating what that bonus is.

When reading the Pathfinder Guide to Witches and it's corresponding discussion I see that the general opinion seems to be that you can use hexes while under the effect of miserable pity. I assume that this includes attack hexes, in which case I don't quite understand why. Miserable pity states that the spell functions like sanctuary, which in turn says that "[t]he subject cannot attack without breaking the spell but may use nonattack spells or otherwise act". To me this seems to imply that attack hexes, like evil eye, would break the spell. Am I missing something here?

I just received my Berstiary 2 in the mail, and when leafing through it I unfortunately noticed that page 19/20 has a straight rip in it from the bottom of the page almost all the way to the top. The rip follows the edge of the page, and where it stops you can see a small crease in the paper the rest of the way to the top of the page.

I've made a DM map of Stolen Lands using the free version of Hexographer. The map includes ALL the encounter locations in Stolen Lands, where I've included the chapter number in with the encounter letter. One thing I've changed in the map from Paizo's version is that I've placed all the rivers on the borders of hexes instead of inside them. The reason for this is that I think this works better together with the exploration rules, since you don't have to handle partially explored hexes.

Included below are links to PNG, PDF, and HXM versions of the map. HXM is the format used by Hexographer, so that you can edit the map yourself. Enjoy :)

EDIT: A few notes about the nonstandard elements on the map. The font used is Georgia, font size 20 for encounter locations, 60 for regions, and 80 for country names. The texts have a black border of 1,5. The rivers have a width of 2. The symbols generally have a size of 20%, although some, like towns and cities, have a size up to 40%. I activated the freeform placement option for the symbols.

It was stated back in this thread that paper minis would be made for Kingmaker. So far, however, only two sets of paper minis have been published. Will any of the other ever see the light of day?

Hi!

I received a mail a couple of days ago saying that this order was shipping. However, the mail also stated that Kingmaker #6 wasn't included in the shipment. Any word on when this part of the order is shipping?

Thanks,

Ash

Hi,

This order was supposed to ship last week, but for some reason unknown to me the transaction was declined by my card company. The issue was however resolved and I got a mail last week that the order was reprocessed successfully and would ship as soon as possible. Since that was about a week ago and the order is still pending I would just like to know if there's still some issue that needs to be resolved, if the order is about to be shipped, or if evil gremlins have nicked the packing slip and you are currently in the process of hunting them down ;)

Thanks,

Ash

This question has been posted previously but have not received an official answer, so I post it again.

The abjurer's Protective Ward ability have the following wording in the PRD and the Core Book:

"As a standard action, you can create a 10-foot-radius field of protective magic centered on you that lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Intelligence modifier. All allies in this area (including you) receive a +1 deflection bonus to their AC for 1 round. This bonus increases by +1 for every five wizard levels you possess. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier."

As you can see the bold parts seem to contradict each other, so I would like an official answer which wording is the correct one?

Thanks :)

Since I wanted to receive the Bestiary as quickly as possible, I changed my Combined subscription shipping option from Ship with Adventure Path to Never hold anything. Just as I was changing the option I got an email stating that an order was shipping shortly, which I attributed to my changed shipping option. The problem though, is that Seeker of Secrets is included in this order, and it seems it is now holding the entire order. So my question is, would it be possible to split this order, so the Bestiary and Book of the Damned ship immediately, and then ship Seeker of Secrets separately when it arrives? Or is Seeker of Secrets expected to ship within the imminent future?

While preparing Into the Maw I discovered a problem with Orgosh's stat block that doesn't seem to be addressed elsewhere:

I must say that I like the new art for the different player races. And from what I can see it's

I just noticed that the issue with art copied from the Pathfinder PDFs getting black background now seems to be fixed. Many thanks for that, good work!

As a counterpart to this thread...

1. I don't have it yet.
2. I still don't have it yet.
3. Where the heck is it?

They say that Pathfinder #14 is delayed due to a surprise customs inspection, but I think I know the real reason. What do we Paizo junkies do when we can't get our regular Paizo fix? We stroll around the store and order stuff, naturally. I myself have ordered most of the Map Packs (link provided for YOUR convenience), which I think we can all agree is undisputed proof of this. So this "delay" is just an evil way the Paizoneans have thought up to part us from even more of our money... just so you know. Now continue with your shopping.

I'm now a pathetic full-blown Paizoholic. I have been a subscriber to the AP, Chronicles, and Companion for as long as they have been available, but I have managed to resist the lure of the Modules simply because I don't need them. However, now the need for the Paizo fix has become too great, and to make matters worse they also enticed you with the "Superscriber" tag, so I finally succumbed. Please help...

I just want to thank the artists and Paizo staff for the wonderful artwork they are spoiling us with. I recently started to make counters using the artwork that I printed on cardstock using a color laser printer and it has really enhanced our games.

I've made an example from the creature artwork published on the blog, and I hope it's OK that I link to it here.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks, and keep up the good work :)

Would it be possible to get a Pathfinder Companion volume with the iconics compiled after they have all been published? What I would like to see in such a volume is their complete backstories, statblocks and equipment at selected levels and so on.

Pretty please with sugar on top?

... are buzzing at the moment is an understatement. If you post something and then look away for two minutes it's at least half a page down.

I'm currently looking over the PRPG Alpha rules and I must say that I'm liking a lot of what I'm seeing. However, there's one thing that I think is sorely missing, and that is an overhaul of the sorcerer. Of all the classes in the 3.5 rules set that class was the one in most need to get pimped. I mean, the sorcerer class is the only one that doesn't lose ANYTHING when taking a PrC, as long as the PrC has full caster progression.

The following is a list of the issues I hope you will address in the sorcerer class in later releases of the rules:

* Skill Points per Level: The current skill points per level is a joke. The only reason sorcerer receives 2 + Int mod per level is because the wizard does. The problem though, is that the wizard usually has a high Int and receives extra skill points because of that. The sorcerers skill points per level should be upped to at least 4 + Int mod.

* Class Skills: Why isn't Knowledge (planes) a class skill for sorcerer?

* Class Abilities and Bonus Feats: The wizard in PRPG gets all kind of cool abilities in addition to the bonus feats it already had. What does the sorcerer get? A familiar! Oh, wait... the wizard gets that as well. The solution would be to give the sorcerer class abilities as well. In my game I give the sorcerer bonus feats on the same levels as the wizard, only they have to be the different heritage feats published in different books.

These are a few suggestions that I hope you take into consideration when looking at the sorcerer for future releases of PRPG. I'm sure there will be others in this thread as well.

Pathfinder #5 & #6 shipped Jan 29 and hasn't arrived yet. RotRL Map Folio (ordder #889165) shipped Feb 26 and arrived last thursday. Now I'm aware that the order isn't officially missing until thursday 20th, so I don't expect any replacements to be shipped just yet, but I thought I'd give you a heads up (just in case any of the issues are running low in stock). I'll post here again on the 20th if the order hasn't turned up by then, or before if is has.

I must say that I really like the covers for the first two volumes of Curse of the Crimson Throne, especially the one for Seven Days to the Grave. Any chance of seeing the full picture for that one in a blog entry?

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, here's some links:
Edge of Anarchy cover
Seven Days to the Grave cover

I'm about to start Asylum with my gaming group. After I'm done with the Shackled City AP, I plan on starting up a Savage Tide campaign with the same group.

So, I wonder if some friendly soul could supply me with the stats for Celeste from issue #149?

As the days go by it's becoming ever more clear that TPFG haven't, and apparently have no intention of, sending out any magazines to the European subscribers. One can only speculate that this has to do with the financial problems the company appear to be suffering.

BUT, what I want to know now is what steps Paizo is preparing to resolve this situation? I know that Gen Con is currently in progress, but even so I would think that it would be in Paizo's own interest to push this issue. I mean, every day that goes by decreases the chance for Paizo to get their money back from TPFG, if such a chance still exists.

I have full confidence that Paizo will make sure that we European subscribers get our magazines, one way or another. But I would hate to see Paizo lose a bundle of money on this affair. TPFG has had every opportunity to honor their contract with Paizo, and all they have to show for it is excuses if even that. Now it's time for Paizo to take the issue to the next level.

I know there's a lot of people (including me) that's waiting for The Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness. The following is from Giant in the Playground:

So, you may have noticed that it's past May 15th, and those of you who have preordered haven't gotten your copies of Start of Darkness. Or that they aren't showing up on store shelves. It's not just you; the printer made a mistake and printed the special "color insert" in black-and-white, so we have to go back and print those pages again. (Don't worry, it's not costing me anything.) Right now, the ETA for the book is June 13th, but as always, don't hold me to that.

Just so you know...

Is it just me, or does the cover of Dungeon #148 look suspiciously like the cover of Dungeon #147 ;)

What is the timeline for the Savage Tide Adventure Path? Both Shackled City and Age of Worms feels quite forced, especially at the end of the campaign. It would be nice with a bit slower pace in this campaign, so that the players have time for item creation and things like that.

My party have finally come to Lords of Oblivion, and after rescuing Fario at the Brass Trumpet they decided to scry upon Adrick Garthûn to get some idea what was going on at House Rhiavadi. Naturally I thought this would be an excellent time to run the ballroom scene. After seeing Thifirane's speech they considered their options, but finally decided to teleport right into the middle of the crowd in the ballroom, buffed up beyond their ears and with spells ready.

The first round was of course a surprise round, so the wizard and cleric got of an empowered fireball (74 points) and an empowered flame strike (75 points) respectively. After that half of the opponents in the room, including Thifirane, was down in the massive negatives. Good initiative on most of the party made sure that after the first ordinary combat round about the only ones left standing was Vervil Ashmantle with his babau bodyguards and Velior Thazo. They went down the next round.

Has anyone else had their party run over this encounter this way?

This might be answered by the scenario, backdrop article, or STPG, but since I've gotten neither yet I ask it here.

According to SCAP the Vanderborens where Cauldron commoners who where granted nobility about half-a-decade before the events in that campaign. They also only had one (adopted) child: Todd Vanderboren.

So, how are the Sasserine Vanderborens related to the Cauldron Vanderborens, if at all? Also, if they are related, how did the Sasserine Vanderborens become nobles, since my impression was that the letter of nobility that the Cauldron Vanderborens purchased only applied to themselves?

Could we perhaps get the image that the cover for issue #113 was based in the online supplement for issue #135? I mean, how cool would it be to present that as a handout to the PCs when Tens^H^H^H^HManzorian uncovers the painting?

Since there's already a lot of discussions about the upcoming AP both on this board and on the AoW board, maybe it's time to create a separate Savage Tide message board?

In my mind the weakest part of SCAP was when Kaurophon entered the campaign. With him being a half-fiend I felt it would be hard for the party to swallow that he was looking for redemption and trust him. I just had an idea of how to solve this dilema without changing too much of how Kaurophon works.

My idea is that instead of Kaurophon coming from some unknown place he's in fact from Occipitus itself. Also, instead of being a human with the half-fiend template he's in fact a new race (that works pretty much the same) that's half-fiend/half-celestial. The logic behind this is that the celestials trapped in Occipitus eventually mated with the fiends there.

In my mind it would be easier to get the PCs to swallow Kaurophon's story with him having at least SOME celestial blood flowing through his veins. Please tell me what you think, and if it's a totally crazy idea (it IS way past my bedtime).

OK, I must begin with admitting that I haven't read the whole HC yet, since I just received it yesterday. There was one thing that caught my eye though. It was listed that Vhalantru had a simulacrum suit and that was why he could keep the alternate form for so long. Am I missing something? The wording for the spell simulacrum in the SRD is as follows:

Simulacrum
Illusion (Shadow)
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 7
Components: V, S, M, XP
Casting Time: 12 hours
Range: 0 ft.
Effect: One duplicate creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

XP Cost: 100 XP per HD of the simulacrum to be created (minimum 1,000 XP).

I can't see how an magic item with this spell effect would work the way described in the adventure. On the other hand, I haven't read the whole book from cover to cover yet, so maybe there's another description of this magic item somewhere in there? Maybe the item has nothing at all to do with the spell simulacrum?

OK, I have to admit that I've only skimmed the Whispering Cairn adventure and Diamond Lake backdrop, but one of the things that stood out for me was that there seems to be a LOT of NPCs with levels in PC classes, multiple levels and so on, for a community of Diamond Lake's size. At least if you look at the guidelines for generating towns in the DMG.

This is my attempt to summarize my thoughts when converting the Shackled City campaign to Forgotten Realms.

Location

When deciding where to place Cauldron in the Realms I began by looking at the characteristics for Cauldron and the surrounding region:

1. Cauldron is built in the crater of a dormant volcano.
2. Cauldron is situated in a mountain range.
3. There are jungles with dinosaurs in the area.
4. It rains during the winter.
5. There's a large city/metropolis a couple of days travel from Cauldron.

Given this I decided to place Cauldron in the Alamir Mountains on the border of Calimshan and Lake of Steam. I've also extended the Forest of Mir, so it goes up to the foothills of Alamir Mountain. Shatterhorn, Demonskar, Lucky Monkey, and Redgorge are all located on the Calimshan side of the mountain range.

Pantheon

I converted most of the deities in the Shackled City according to the table on page 9 of FRCS. Accordingly St. Cuthbert became Tyr, Pelor became Lathander, Kord became Tempus, and Wee Jas became Kelemvor. Furthermore, to explain the actions of Ike and Embril, I decided to let them be worshipers of dead death deities of Faerûn who have infiltrated the Temple of Kelemvor with the goal of restoring their patron deities. Embril is a worshipper of Myrkul, and is pursuing the True Necromancer prestige class from Libris Mortis instead of Mystic Theurge, while Ike is a worshipper of Bhaal and running the assassin squads. With both these deities being dead this means that both of them have to have the Servant of the Fallen feat from LEoF to be able to get cleric spells.

Cosmology

As indicated in FRCS and PGtF the planar cosmology of Toril is different from the standard D&D cosmology described in the DMG and MotP. One of the consequences of this is that there’s no Carceri. Since I didn’t want to change the cosmology and add Carceri I had to find some suitable alternative. My first though was the Supreme Throne, since that’s where you find the demodands in this cosmology.

However, after some consideration I decided that the other features of the Supreme Throne made it unsuitable as a replacement for Carceri. Also, I didn’t really like the thought of making the Cagewrights into a Cyric cult. Instead I decided to use the Barrens of Doom and Despair, which shares a lot of the features of Carceri. This also gave me the option of keeping the Cagewrights closer to their original description.

I'm currently running the Zenith Trajectory, and last session ended with the players defeating Gotrrod. My cleric have announced that she will cast a couple of divinations before entering Underdark and Bhal-Hamatugn, and since I'm quite a crappy word-smith myself I need some assistance with the wording for divinations for Pit of the Seven Jaws (which I suspect they will want to divine) and Bhal-Hamatugn. I just need some suggestions to get me started.

This thread relates to The Journal of Misha Thundergrove. Since the player who's playing Misha is reading that thread I'm starting this one where spoiler info about the campaign can be posted. In this thread I will also post some of my thoughts and reflections about their progress and the campaign in general.

This is the Journal of one of my players. I'm running the adventure path in Forgotten Realms, and Cauldron is located in the Alamir Mountains on the border of Calimshan and Lake of Steam.

The members of the party are:

• Misha Tundergrove, female human cleric from Rashemen
  
• Heion Lia, male sun elf wizard from Evermeet
  
• Swyth Deribor, male human bard from Waterdeep
  
• Vlada Nightrunner, male human rogue from Amn
  
• Erold Lynn, male human barbarian from Calimshan
  

Journal

I have decided to start a new journal as a result of recent events to record my travels, adventures and findings in the city of Cauldron.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 20
The Weave is strong today. This will be a good day for a good deed in the name of our Mistress. The sky is overcast and rainy, but the wind is pleasant and warm in these southern lands. Rumors of kidnappings in the city are disturbing, and the disappearance of four children lately is an outrage.

Darius, Erold, Heion, Swyth, Vlada and I have agreed to bond together in an adventuring band. Swyth, always quick to come up with clever words named us The Wild Geese. Nobody had any objections, so The Wild Geese we are. We are all young, I am only junior to the elf in age, and there is no telling how old he actually is.

I spent eight hours in the streets preaching the word of our mistress. The people listen well and a couple of them are even interested beyond that. The incompetence of preacher Isaal isn’t to be removed in a tenday however, so I will have work to do for months to come. After a hot meal of sausage and cabbage I headed with the rest of the Wild Geese to the Tipped Tankard for some late night entertainment.

We where interrupted on our way there by shouts for help from an alley which we promptly investigated. There we interrupted three thugs from the Last Laugh thieves' guild who where giving Rufus Laro from the Temple of Tyr a beating. Apparently they had taken a bad interest in Rufus and the temple's investigation of the kidnapped children. We brought him back to the temple and was approached Jenya Urikas the priestess who explained the situation to us. They offered us each a moderate healing potion in advance and a share of 2500 gold pieces if we investigated the reason for the kidnappings and brought the responsible to justice. We promptly accepted. Jenya had invoked the power of an artifact and had been rewarded with a divination concerning the missing children.

And the resulting answer was:

"The locks are key to finding them,
Look beyond the curtain, below the cauldron,
But beware the doors with teeth,
Descend into the Malachite 'hold,
Where precious life is bought with gold
Half a Dwarf binds them, but not for long"

We proceeded to investigate the Lantern Street Orphanage. First we had to make it past headmistress Gretchyn Tashykk, a middle aged Halfling with a foul temper. After talking with her for awhile, we made it past the door. Vlada scrutinized the locks of the doors to the rooms of the missing children while I questioned Gretchyn. He recognized the locks as those made by a local master artisan. We also learned that the city guard had questioned the employees and that two half elves where looking into the mystery for the mayor's account. I donated 10 gold pieces to the orphanage, I will make sure to give her more if I can spare.

The hour was getting late so we would have to wait question the locksmith. Instead we went to the city guard's barracks and talked to the night watch. He gave us a list of the kidnapped victims which would be interesting to cross reference with the locksmith's customer log. When we excited the barracks Vlada told us we where being followed by two half elves, something we chose to disregard for the time being.

After an exhausting day I went to bed at the Morkoth, alone.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 21
The Weave is ever present around me, a comforting thought in such Evil Times. The sky is cloudy and rain trickles down, the wind is little more than a breeze.

The next day we proceeded with investigating some of the homes to see if more of the locksmith's locks where present there. We found little or no such evidence, and moved along to the locksmith's shop. We questioned the locksmith Keygan Ghelve but learned nothing out of the ordinary. Behind the counter he had a curtain behind which he had his stock and display of locks. We where only allowed one at a time back there, and once I was there with him he seemed to hint with his eye movements that all was not well at the top of the stairs. Using my womanly charms I asked to be brought to his private quarters and was rewarded with an assault on my life by a Skulk. The Wild Geese made short work of the Skulk to the inspired singing of Swyth.

The gnome artisan then proceeded to spill his guts, he told a story of his familiar being kidnapped by the Skulks who had made him create skeleton keys for his locks in the city. They where likely responsible for the kidnappings and lived in an old gnome stronghold of which there was an entrance below his shop. He gave us an old map and wished for the return of his familiar Starbrow and warned us of a magical plague that made people vanish.

We proceeded down the stairs with caution, for the gnomes would surely have trapped the entrance to Jzadirune, their ancient fortress. Heion found a secret door in the stairs and while investigating it Vlada managed to trigger a trap that made our two barbarians slide down into the next room. He then opened a secret door and met the gaze of two hobgoblins. Our two barbarians seemed dazed by falling down the stairs and responded slowly, but in the end both hobgoblins where brought down by our combined efforts. Darius decided he had enough and wanted to go back to the temple of Tyr and tell them of our findings. We all agreed.

We continued down the stairs and searched for traps, but behind the door to the next room two skulks waited for us. They downed Erold in two swift strikes before fleeing into dug tunnels. After patching him up, we continued into the tunnels but decided to retreat. To secure our backs I closed the door, a mistake I would later regret. Behind an illusory wall we found a magic map on the floor, and discovered that nearly all doors in the gnome fortress carry magic traps in one shape or form. We decided to call it a day as we secured a ram to force the door, the rest of the fortress seemed trapped, full of magic traps and impossible locks.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 22
The weave swirls around me, as if it is trying to tell me something about the gnomes’ plight. I have no idea what the weather is like today, since we are spending the entire day underground.

We pressed on and found that all doors have a letter in the center with a keyhole that Vlada can't bypass. In the end we acquired a ram and opened the door I closed with force, not the most beautiful of efforts but certainly something that would have made Hathor proud. We pressed on and found a skulk hiding in a room and after stabbing Vlada badly, I shot it through the throat with my crossbow.

Then we met a mimic, a curious creature who was nowhere near as aggressive as I have learned in my studies, he told us a lot of what to expect in the gnome fortress. He traded us the gnome's familiar for six rations of food. The Skulks kidnap people from Cauldron and rob their homes, then trade the people to hobgoblins that live in the fortress. They in turn work for the Dark Ones, who trade with a slaver named Kazmojen in the underdark. To save the children and possibly other victims, we must defeat the Skulks, the hobgoblins, the dark ones and possibly even combat Kazmojen to perhaps save the kidnapped children.

We moved on into the Skulks' tunnels and reappeared in the gnome fortress. The gnomes have more or less trapped their entire fortress. We found a monstrous spider and her two children in a room with an illusory pool. Heion demonstrated expert marksmanship by felling the mother spider with a well aimed shot through one of her myriad eyes, while I followed up with felling one of the smaller creatures with a bolt of my own. Heion then finished up the carnage with a second arrow to skewer the final smaller spider.

I must take this moment to commend Swyth and his trumpet, his expert tunes really fills our hearts with courage and turns even the meekest soldier into an expert marksman or seasoned soldier. His trumpet might give away our presence, but with it sounding we have yet to face defeat.

Vlada found another trap as we passed the room with the spiders, a torch handle made the floor tilt beneath Erold's feet and as he slammed into the room below, two Skulks emerged from the shadows. After downing a potion, his temper got the better of him and he pounded the both of them into a pulp. The torch handle had revealed a secret door where we found the corpse of a carrion crawler, stuffed with treasure.

We made our way back through the great hall and into the theater. A play was on permanent display here, most likely a favorite of the gnomes that once lived here. Beneath the stage we encountered a ferocious creature that could elongate its limbs. It grabbed hold of Vlada and almost dragged him down with him, but our combined efforts killed the creature before it could sink its stinking fangs into his flesh. In its lair we found several items of interest and most notably a key with the gnome letter "J" inscribed in the bottom.

We continued to explore the fortress through the tunnels dug by the Skulks, and found our way into the hall of the Gnome king. There a magic mouth spoke to us in riddles.

"If you wish an audience with the king,
Place your finest coin in my mouth."

In an attempt to get to talk to the gnome king, Swyth offered him a silver coin. The mouth proceeded to curse him with clumsiness in short order. I wonder what it will cost us to lift it from his poor soul? We tried with gold and platinum too but in the end we had to leave the mountain king without speaking to him, all he would say was,

"Betrayed we are by our own magic,
One by One, we fade away,
Jzadirune's lost! Oh, how tragic!
We curse the vanishing day."

We then moved into the museum which appeared to have been looted long ago. As the darkness and dust settled around us we explored the last Skulk tunnel in this part of the fortress which took us into the storage area for the theater's gear.