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I created a somewhat higher res version of the old Precipice Quarter, but if you read the text in the first AP book, it seems as tho the Fairground map IS the new Precipice Quarter.

And if you compare shore line features, it does somewhat fit, especially with the wall on the East.

In another thread, James (I think it was anyway) discussed how the scale presented in the book was distorted. He suggested that it might be twice as large as it really should be, so the festival should only take about 1/4 of the entire quarter. All this being said, if you would please share your old Precipice Quarter image, I would be greatly appreciative!

Not sure if anyone in here takes requests (or if that's how we should use this thread), but I am about to start this adventure and would love to have a decent-resolution map of just the Precipice Quarter so that I could show my roll20 group roughly where they are/the route of their beat.

I have found a lot of maps of Absalom, but none that are high resolution enough to not be blurry/distorted looking when zoomed. If someone has such a map and I just couldn't find it, that would be awesome too!

Very creative, thanks for the read :D

Assuming you were referring to my post, thank you, buddy, and you are welcome!

It goes without saying that anyone running this adventure is free to (beg,) steal or borrow anything I post!

So, after much preparation and a couple of play-day cancellations, I finally ran my first session of this AP. I as well have performed some rewrites:

1. The amount of time in which the precursory events take place has been shortened. The first and only smoke signal arises on the morning of the Call of Heroes. Calmont sees this and decides he has to take quick action to make sure no heroes investigate. Little does he know, there would be no intervention from the town, but better safe than sorry, right? My introduction:

The Five Kings Mountains span the eastern horizon, an army of monoliths standing timeless and resolute against an iridescent sky. As the sun rises, shafts of golden light slip through the gaps between the mountains’ peaks and cascade to the valley below, bringing an ethereal glow to the shroud of fog that resides there. For most, the view would be hard to ignore. However, even in a small town and at such an early hour, there are those with more pressing matters to tend to...

A lone figure hurries through a dark and empty street. Small in stature, its presence is dwarfed by the buildings surrounding it, which loom over it much like the mountains to the east. But it’s not the east that seems to concern it... The figure stops in its tracks, beholding a different sight, one much more unusual for a resident of these parts. Rising above the hills to the north of town, a plume of dark red smoke streaks like blood across that same beautiful morning sky. From beneath its cloak, the figure releases a short growl. Without another moment of hesitation, it bounds off again, scampering forward with purpose.

2. Extended character introductions are a staple of my 1st sessions. I used this opportunity to go ahead and introduce some characters from the town. In particular, Voz was in the very first player character scene, presented to a book-interested PC as a fairly non-chalant bookseller, though I subtley had her try to talk him into leaving her shop. No one seemed to think twice about it, mwahahaha. Roxie Denn was also shown, and Jorell Blacktusk (PC works at the Archives, and is also the son of Greta Gardania, the Council President).

3. The town is presented as odd. I explicitly told the outsiders and the more skeptical locals that the cult of personality around Lamond Breachton feels a bit strange. However, when they heard the story of how the town came to be, they didn't seem to think much off about it. And when all the townsfolk were super polite and friendly with them, they sort of forgot about it entirely.

4. Warbal is not a character just yet. Yet she DID light the signal fire, hoping that someone would come. Her and her alone. Rather than have a goblin ambassador to a town in a nation that only in the recent past was overrun by rampaging goblins, I'm going to ease into this. Perhaps this is one of the first examples of goblins becoming accepted in society, as presented in 2E. The Bumblebrashers will be a docile tribe, they just will not be initially integrated into Breachill.

5. As stated in #1, the issue at Hellknight Hill is not presented in the meeting. Rather, Quentino Posandi from the Council presents that a shipment of stones and metals disappeared on the road. He is hoping to hire adventurers to investigate. Another pre-made group of adventurers (The Singing Blades) is present at the Call for Heroes, however. More experienced, they win the Council's decision for the investigation of the missing shipment. They leave before the meeting is over, prior to the fire occuring. This will ultimately tie into Chapter 4 and Guardian's Way, when the PCs find the shipment was stolen by the mercenaries hiding there. They will also find the corpses of the Singing Blades... ;)

6. The guards rush in when the fire mephit attacks, the door is closed and barred behind them. Calmont isn't such a bumbling fool that he gets himself seen. In fact, he's a stealthy little fellow who thinks pretty quick on his feet.

Due to the extended character intros, the sessions ended right after the fire was put out, which resulted in only one NPC death -- one of the guards. Instead of going right to the Citadel, the PCs are going to have to get leads (do some Gather Information!), in which they will get another look at Reliant Book Company (using someone else in this thread's idea that the shop is closing down for a loss prevention inventory due to Calmont's treachery), they will meet Alak Stagram, and they will learn that a small figure was seen rushing out of town to Hellknight Hill. I'm hoping to make them think that this is a goblin that set the fire, then I'm going to thwart their racism (or ancestrism?) and present the goblins as the good guys!

I have more that I could share, including character motivations/the precursory events leading up to the signal fire, but this already pretty long. If anyone has any questions, let me know! I will post a follow if people are interested in hearing how it goes down!

Quick question:

Any estimation of how old Greta Gardania might be, or when she worked at Lamond's Laments? It seems to have left this intentionally vague, but I don't want have to backtrack later in case it comes up. I figure it won't, but just want to make sure!

I guess my main issue with all of this right now -- and I'm sure someone has said this already -- is that Skill modifiers scale with your level. I thought part of this updated system was a "number crunch" of sorts (one of the few things I like about 5E), but it seems like in Playtest we will still be getting huge bonuses to rolls -- particularly Skill rolls -- that seem to get bigger for the sake of differentiating between your character's current and previous levels.

If I understand correctly, your Skill modifier is your Proficiency modifier (Proficiency rank bonus/penalty + your level) + Ability Score modifier + any extra things from feats and abilities. So at 1st level, my rogue who might be an expert in Stealth has a maybe +5 or so bonus to that skill. Remember, he is an EXPERT in Stealth. However, a Paladin who is level 7 and UNTRAINED in Stealth -- a skill he probably rarely uses or finds a need for -- will likely have an equal or higher bonus to that same skill. Maybe I'm splitting hairs about the words Untrained, Trained, Expert, Master, and Legendary, but even for the simplest action for a skill that can be performed without a skill feats, it doesn't make sense that an untrained character would be better at performing than a trained or higher character who lacks the same amount of XP.

I think I know where they are coming from: Proficiency Rank represents training, the level component of the Prof. modifier represents experience, and the Ability Score modifier represents talent. Still, getting a +1 EVERY time you level just seems to give huge weight to experience which -- let's not be coy -- mostly shows that you've fought a lot of monsters... And I believe that a level of experience is more or less implied in becoming an expert with something.

I could understand if it was half your level + your rank to make your Proficiency mod, but as it is now, this Skill system is just doing more or less what PF 1st Ed. already does -- simulates numbers getting bigger and bigger. Don't get me wrong, I love PF1 and I am very excited for nearly all of the changes in PF Playtest, but this one is not doing it for me. Maybe I'm reading something wrong, or not looking at it right. If so, please correct me and attempt to change my mind.

About the factions there's only:

Numeria, Land of the Falling Stars, p. 34 wrote:

(...) Prince Rathhorn and Sabline the Traitor, two mighty warriors who fought for dominance in one of Numeria’s many inter-tribal conflicts, (...)

There was no actual battle, as both armies were killed before they could clash with each other. The radiation from the ground is normally low-level, but if the critical mass of life is met, it rises dramatically killing everything on the surface. Technic League would like to investigate it, but they cannot send a large expedition, and gearsmen refuse to go, disobeying the orders.

No one on Golarion knows that, but it is written that below 20 feet of hardened earth shell, in a pool of quicksand-like slurry, lies a part of the spaceship from the Rain of the Stars containing damaged experimental abysium reactor.

I knew about the lack of battle/everyone dying, but everything else is news to me. Thank you very much!

Hey, everyone!

Some characters in my Kingmaker campaign have gone out of book and are doing some things near the Brevoy border with Numeria. I know a bit about the region from reading/hearing stories from Iron Gods campaigns, but as far as I know, my question doesn't really pertain to anything in those books.

In the Sellen Hills to the east of the Sellen River, near the border with Brevoy, is the site of the Battle of Falheart (AR 3441). From what I've gathered, the battle was fought between a Prince Ratthorn (is this pronounced Rath-orn or Rat-thorn?) and Sabline the Traitor. I checked the references for this information, including my Inner Sea World Guide, but there's not much more information than that. Or none that I can find anyway...

Does anyone know anything else about this battle and the factions involved, other than what is in ISWG/on Pathfinder Wiki? For example, were the factions Kellid tribes or other Numerians, or were they Taldans or Iobarians? Not sure if it's anything that's ever been cleared up through other forum threads or statements from the writers.

Thanks!

That is what I thought. And unless anyone has evidence supporting a different answer, thank you for the succinct response! I appreciate it!

Hey, everyone! I apologize in advance if this is not the right place to pose this question, but I figured it might be, as it is more of a general gameplay question rather than one for a specific product...

In any case, in Pathfinder Modules, Adventure Paths, and the like, after the completion of a quest/event/roleplay, there is often a Story Award for the PC party -- an experience reward for completing said quest/event/roleplay. These Story Awards vary in amount of experience, seemingly related to how much of a challenge the event was or how high the stakes were.

For example, in the Daughters of Fury module (great module by the way), which is for characters of 3rd level, the players are awarded 800 XP for speaking with the mayor of the town about their situation/exchanging information about the goings-on, and 1200 XP for getting out of an under-attack tavern.

My questions are this:

1. Is there any exact mathematics that go into generating these numbers, and more importantly...

2. Is this Story Award number for EACH character, or a total that must be divided among the members of the party?

I have done research and cross-checked experience gains in the module with the expected character levels at certain times, as listed in the front of the book, but I can't find any definitive proof either way. I appreciate any answers or help! (Please do not say ditch using experience... My players want to and I want to oblige them.)

Thanks in advance!