ithuriel's page

I would like to cancel both AP subs.

Thank you.

"We got a little trouble over at the Blakros Museum again," Venture-Captain Adril Hestram growled when you first entered the trophy hall in the Grand Lodge earlier this afternoon and gestured for you to walk with him. Between sheets of muscle and the layer of blubber he's packed on since retirement from field duty Hestram is a truly massive man with a wiry beard. The smell of booze on him makes it clear he's already several cups in by early afternoon. No surprise considering booze and arm wrestling top his favorite pastimes and he had never been shy about trying to rope his students into one the other or both. Hestram heads up exploration of the ancient siege towers and fortresses surrounding Absalom from ages past. Typically he runs new recruits through several towers cleared and set up as tests of skill for trainees so most if not all of you have trained with him in the past.

"The museum's curator, Nigel Aldain, came to me this morning asking for help. Apparently, a wayward daughter of his illustrious patrons, the Blakros family, has disappeared, along with a few of the museum's watchmen who went looking for her. The Society has helped him in the past, and he wants us to find her, before he loses his job, or worse. Now Nigel's an old friend, and a former Pathfinder, but this kind of missing person case isn't really our bailiwick and he knows it. Normally I'd tell him to find the district guard and leave the Society out of it."

Hestram stops in front of a preserved hydra sleek in shades of blue and green, posed as if ready to strike and laughs, "Matter of fact that is exactly what I told him, but then he made me an offer that was too good to pass up. Not only will he allow the Society access to the Blakros Museum's extensive and very private library, but apparently this same missing daughter just returned to Absalom with a pack full of ancient relics collected throughout Osirion and northern Garund. And Nigel promised the Society first pick of any of those pieces that catch our fancy. I don't need to tell you what those kinds of things might be worth, so it looks like you're heading to the Blakros Museum tonight as soon as they close."

"The missing daughter is named Imrizade Blakros— half-Osirian herself and a pretty successful adventurer and fortune hunter by all accounts. She just arrived in Absalom out of the blue a few days ago, after a couple of years' worth of tomb-raiding in the Osirian deserts, and carrying an odd metal cylinder covered in hieroglyphs, like nothing Nigel has ever seen before. Nigel says she went straight to the basement of the museum to do some research in the family's library, muttering something about 'whispers in the dark' and 'old tapestries,' or something.

"Well- he didn't hear from her for a couple of days, which isn't unusual when someone is deep into their research in the archives, but he got worried when strange noises started coming from the basement. He sent a watchman down there to investigate, and when he didn't return, Nigel sent a few more. That was last night, and they haven’t come back up either." Hestram fixes you all with a serious stare, but soon enough breaks into a gap toothed smile and shakes his head, "Say what you will about Nigel, the man never was one to stick his neck out as a Pathfinder, but he's kept his head sitting there plenty of years longer than many a field agent I've known. Heh- I'm willing to bet that he hasn't said a word to the Blackros family about any of this or first pick of the artifacts certainly wouldn't be on the table."

"The museum closes at sunset. You got a little time to pick up some gear if you need something specific but then I want you over there and Nigel will hustle you in. Find out what happened to Imrizade Blakros and the watchmen. He wants them alive, of course, especially the Blakros woman, but the Society is more interested in what she brought back with her. I've got a hunch it wasn’t just grave goods and pretty jewelry. Whatever she found, the Society wants it, or at the very least some information about it."

Our ooc thread. I'll check over characters here.

I'm putting together a PFS one shot for Voice in the Void, a season 1 Pathfinder Society scenario. It will be an official PFS game so all characters will need to be legal PFS characters. This game will take about two months (roughly) from beginning to end and we are looking for people who can make a commitment to stick it out to the end. Once we complete the scenario I will fill out the GM portion of chronicle sheets, scan them and email them to you.

This is a tier 1-7 scenario and will be run at either subtier 1-2 or 3-4 depending how the rest of the table fills out.

Currently we have:

1) Jake Hargrove, fighter 2
2) Marchello Aria, inquisitor 1
3) Mordecai Shrykeson, oracle of life 2
4)
5)
6)

First three to sign on are in and round out this table at six players.
This game will begin Thursday, the 16th.

EDIT: changed oracle type.

We have an ongoing PFS pbp group in need of some new blood. We need someone who can play the tier 1-5 scenarios, preferably close to the center of that spread so the group stays near each other in levels.

We are looking for any class able to mix it up in melee to correct our current party imbalance. We run at a medium posting pace so a scenario takes about two months to complete and your PC is locked in to the pbp for its duration meaning you won't be able to play it elsewhere. Ideally we would like someone who was willing to dedicate a PC to adventuring as part of this team, but a short term commitment is fine as well as long as you can stick it out to complete the scenario you sign on for.

Current group:
Sorcerer (elemental fire) 3
Sorcerer (fey) 3
Cleric 1 / Fighter 1
New PC (undecided class, will level in real time games to catch up)

Our next scenario is Among the Dead and we plan to play Among the Gods once everyone has made level 3. The City of Strangers double is on the docket for future scenarios as well.

We are looking for one or possibly two recruits at the moment.

They work really well as a group of trailblazers for your primary rival group. In our case the PCs are with the PFS so the Hands of Slaughter are the advance group for the Aspis Expedition. They can harass the PCs from afar as a recurring group of antagonists to play up the rivalry a little more.

Curious if anyone has done anything interesting with them.

This came up the other day and we rolled with it, but I was wondering afterward if the way I did so is actually possible.

The situation:
Medium sized flying attacker with grab and fly by attack swoops in and makes a claw attack vs a gnome. Free grab attempt is successful, it has a str of 17 and the gnome weighs about 30-40 pounds so I let it continue flying with him for the remainder of its movement for that turn.

Looking back now I think maybe it cannot move him at all until a second round is spent maintaining the grapple to achieve the "move" condition of grapple.

Flyby Attack

This creature can make an attack before and after it moves while flying.

Prerequisite: Fly speed.

Benefit: When flying, the creature can take a move action and another standard action at any point during the move. The creature cannot take a second move action during a round when it makes a flyby attack.

Normal: Without this feat, the creature takes a standard action either before or after its move.

Once you are grappling an opponent, a successful check allows you to continue grappling the foe, and also allows you to perform one of the following actions (as part of the standard action spent to maintain the grapple).

Move: You can move both yourself and your target up to half your speed. At the end of your movement, you can place your target in any square adjacent to you. If you attempt to place your foe in a hazardous location, such as in a wall of fire or over a pit, the target receives a free attempt to break your grapple with a +4 bonus.

I think I've more or less proposed and answered my own question while writing this post, but I'll go ahead and see if anyone has more thoughts on the matter especially regarding flying with the other creature in case I've missed anything else.

Let's say you were running a certain AP with an abundance of poisonous plants and creatures spread throughout. Now let's say your group has both an alchemist and a witch with the cauldron hex and an extremely high alchemy score at first level.

I understand how the crafting rules work as far as time/cost required to take supplies and transform them into the kind of poison you can apply to a weapon, however as the AP goes along they are going to be fighting and killing things which provide a great source of raw material to work with.

My questions are these-

1) In this situation would you require a roll to "harvest" the poison sack/gland successfully from the corpse of a snake or some other creature? If so what would that roll be and how would you set the DC? The witch PC has a scorpion familiar, which should allow him to milk the stinger for free access to a very low DC raw material.

2) Assuming raw materials have been acquired, how many doses can conceivably be manufactured from a medium creature? A large creature? A small creature?

3) If the gland is acquired successfully would you consider the material to have a "date of expiration" as they are of course going to rot and breakdown? Would you allow them an alchemy roll to preserve it indefinitely and if so what DC seems fair?

I should also say I don't have any issues about the moral dilemmas of poison in a game. As they are going to be on the receiving end of it fairly often, turn about is fair play and will probably be pretty satisfying for them. As far as I'm concerned it is simply a tool, but (like any other tool) one that I don't want to get out of hand. At this point in the game crafting poison takes an impossible amount of downtime for a group of 1st level PCs, but at some point they may have crazy high scores that allow them to manufacture doses quickly enough to take advantage of. I'd like to be prepared for when that happens (and they are already at 1st level trying to harvest poison sacks from snakes etc).

Kayluss, Aldred, & Fog

Wadi

Sekhemre

Alie

Continuation of the PFS pbp series for Alie, Kayluss, Sekhemre, Wadi, Fog, & Aldred.

If you guys bought anything significant let me know here. I'll be starting The Bloodcove Disguise tomorrow.

Andoran, Almas

On one of the first warm days of spring Venture Captain Brackett has assembled a new team in one of the planning rooms of the lodge that was once the Grand Cathedral of Aroden. He gestures to seats around a central table and calls the meeting to order. Patches of colored light cast by the stained glass windows illuminate the table and Brackett at its head.

"Alright boys," the hawk faced man nods to Alie, "and lady- an opportunity has just presented itself and I need to assemble a team and get them up to Falcon's Hollow as soon as possible. Little sparrow showed up yesterday and started following me all over town." He snorts and shakes his head, "Took half the day before I realized it had a tiny little note wrapped around its leg. Faerie queens. Can't expect 'em to do anything the normal way."

"Don't know if any of you would have heard of Syntira- nymph Queen of Darkmoon Wood up north? That's the woods around Falcon's Hollow. Well- according to her note the fey up there have been hit by plague and its sweeping through their woods wiping out her Court. They are desperate for some help to find a cure. I'm not gonna lie- humanitarian aid is not really our business here, but there are a couple of things in play that might make this worth our while."

"As fey go, Syntira seems decent enough. For a long time now she has been working to improve relations between her Court and the settlers at Falcon's Hollow. That has more or less been a one sided affair. The Lumber Consortium would just as soon see the fey dead. Easier to log it out that way. Bunch of short sided fools if you ask me. They don't have the sense to realize Syntira is the only thing keeping the fey of the Darkmoon Vale in check. I don't know if its true, but I've heard a faerie queen can't die from something like disease, but it could leave her changed- twisted. We can't afford to have that happen. The majority of the lumber here in Almas comes from Darkmoon Vale. Keeping things under control will be worth a certain amount of favor trading here in town. Besides that- I think we all know how hard it is to earn anything approaching trust among the fey. This could be our chance to cultivate a powerful ally and learn about some of the most elusive beings here in Andoran. Their magical nature... the First World they claim to have come from... there are possibilities to break new ground here."

"I spoke with Telfyr, our librarian here, and he thinks the disease may originate from a cursed relic known as Isandrea's Basin that has been rumored to be hidden deep in Darkmoon Wood. If this theory proves accurate, I want you to obtain the basin and bring it to me for study. If it really is the basin, this thing has lain dormant for decades. I imagine an external force must have figured out how to harness the artifact's power. If so, it is probably under heavy guard. Be prepared."

"One Lumber Consortium logging camp in particular has been particularly... aggressive" he says the word with distaste, "toward the resident fey over the last year. Both Syntira and I believe this would be the place to start your investigation." He slides a folded map and a set of tickets across the table towards you. "This map ought to get you to the cutyard and we're sending you by riverboat this time. They'll drop you right in Falcon's Hollow. Don't expect too much there. This is a company settlement. Not enough people and those who are there are too poor to afford the kind of gear professionals might want. Stock up here in Almas, but the boat leaves at dawn tomorrow. The disease sounds like it's spreading fast. We need to stop this before it gets out of hand or we don't have any leverage or favors left to call in and the assignment is a bust. Get in, identify the disease, find Syntira and aid her any way you can. Got it?"

Almas, Andoran

The private conference room in the society lodge of Almas had probably once been a study for a priest of Aroden back when the Cathedral was still a holy site. Now maps and charts dominate the walls and the shelves are stacked with bound surveys of the geographical features and creatures of Andoran. An autumn chill seeps in through the stained glass window dominating one wall and Venture-Captain Brackett rubbed his hands together for warmth as the librarian began laying out a small wooden box and a map on the table in the center of the conference room. Although Brackett was normally brash and outgoing, the hatchet-faced veteran’s face wore an expression of guarded concern this evening. "I need to get a team into the Aspodell Mountains between Cheliax and Andoran as soon as possible. A dwarven prospector, Torvic, has a team up there searching for the hidden halls of his ancestor, Barek Triongger, a legendary craftsman from a lost empire. Torvic's been obsessed with finding this place for decades and it isn't his first expedition. Normally we'd leave him to his wandering, but this time we think he's onto something and we want in."

At this point, the chapter’s librarian Wystorn Telfyr opens the small wooden case and produces several tattered scrolls and a gleaming, strangely phosphorescent pearl. “We recently acquired these from a vagabond who goes by the name Beggar." Wystorn traces one finger down a scroll looks up excited as he turns it around to face you, "These scrolls describe the Gallery of Wonders built by Barek Triongger during the death throes of the dwarven Empire of Tar Khadurrm.”

Picking up the strangely-glowing pearl, the librarian continues, “Now... This odd variety of pearl is only found in the deepest of the Darklands’ seas far below the surface of Golarion. While not especially valuable individually, a cache of these would be a rare find. From what little records survive we know that Barek did work with rare items like this. According to my divinations, he designed this one as a key. If this opens anything that the legendary Master Triongger thought was worth locking, well that would be information that the dwarves of Emperor's Peak would trade dearly for."

Venture-Captain Brackett took over. "It's fairly obvious that Beggar stole the scrolls and pearl. He denied it up and down, but a wandering scholar of dwarven history he is not. He has his uses though. Looking through these documents and comparing them to Pathfinder Chronicles on the matter, it’s clear that Torvic is close this time." Brackett cocked a thumb toward Telfyr. "Our librarian was able to sift through Beggar's memories and thoughts enough to get a good idea as to where and how Beggar really acquired these items. Since then he's been working out a ritual to track down where Torvic has made it to by now." Brackett passes a crisp new map across the table with a location in the Aspodell mountains marked in red. "I want you to find him and make an alliance with him. You have his scrolls and the pearl. He may need them to find the Gallery in the end or just want them back as heirloom property. I leave it in your hands. If he refuses, track him to the Gallery anyways. Help him from afar if need be, just make sure he succeeds. As long as we get the location at a minimum, we have some leverage with the dwarves of Emperor's Peak. I don't know if any of you have worked together in the past, but I hear good things from the Grand Lodge in Absalom and that none of you are currently on assignment. So I hope you've enjoyed your stay with us, but now comes the price of our hospitality." Brackett breaks into his more characteristic grin and laughs aloud, "I suggest you get a nice warm meal and enjoy your beds tonight. It is going to be a long trek and I can feel the fall rains coming on any day now."

It is early evening, just a little after dark. You all can jump in from here, with introductions, questions, etc.

1) Evan Whitefield, Kayluss - Fighter 1
2) Ramarren, Khedon - Wizard 1 (Conjurer)
3) Eric Swanson, Wadi Ahk'kolon, Sorcerer 1 (Elemental)
4) Gerald, Alie Saechell - Sorcerer 1 (Fey)
5) Luke Parry, Sekhemre of Karnak - Alchemist 1
6) RedAssassin, Dakram Kasail - Rogue 1

Alt
1) Jelloarm, Samyiel Nesticar - Rogue 1

Heavy on the arcane, no cleric, all first game characters. Never know what you are going to get at a PFS table :)

****
When a thief arrives at the Pathfinder Lodge in Almas bearing stolen artifacts and writings pointing the way to a lost dwarven gallery, you are sent into the rugged Aspodell Mountains to find the famed dwarven explorer last known to be searching for the gallery as well as the gallery itself.
****

So... this is going to be a Pathfinder Society game in pbp format. That means characters will need to be PFS legal. If you are interested, but don't already have a PFS character it isn't complicated. Basically you need a 20 point-buy character. You can get the full details in the guide to organized play.

I'm looking for 6 players. Because these scenarios are designed to be playable at different tiers of difficulty we will need six players who are close enough in level to play together. This particular scenario could be played at levels 1-2, or 3-4, or 6-7. Once we have four people signed on who are interested in one of those tiers that will be the official level this table plays at.

This game is a short scenario by design, but being pbp will probably run around 3-4 months at a rough guess. If your character is in the middle of a play-by-post they won't be eligible to sit in on other tables- so you may want to make a new one or use a secondary character if you are someone who is playing at cons or local meet-ups.

Once the scenario is finished, I will fill out and scan the chronicle sheets as pdfs, then email them.

Okay now... who wants to find that lost Dwarven Gallery?

Would I be correct in saying that at present (final playtest rules, pre-publishing of the APG) the cavalier mounts list for PFS is restricted to:

Medium Character: Horse or Camel

Small Character: Wolf or Pony

Small Character of 4th Level or higher: Wolf, Pony, Dog, Boar

?

Mount (Ex): A cavalier gains the service of a loyal

and trusty steed to carry him into battle. This mount
functions as a druid’s animal companion, using the
cavalier’s level as his effective druid level. The creature
must be one that he is capable of riding and is suitable as
a mount. A Medium cavalier can select a camel or a horse.
A Small cavalier can select a pony or wolf, but can also
select a boar or a dog if he is at least 4th level. The GM
might approve other animals as suitable mounts.

Being organized play I'm working under the assumption that GM's have no leniency in allowing other mounts outside of maybe home games.

Let's say you use the Intimidate skill to demoralize an opponent and successfully make them shaken. Then the next round you use it again on the same opponent.

Is that opponent now frightened since you have imposed a shaken status on someone who already has it, thus moving them up the chain of fear conditions? Or is this meant to be a non-stackable use? If anyone knows of a solid rules reference here I would appreciate it.

I added a subscription to the AP on Thursday, but have yet to get a confirmation mail or anything. The order is pending. Wondering when it would go through?

Also the first issue available with the sub was 11 so I went with that. Will I receive 11, 12, & 13 this month catching me up with the path or will I remain perpetually 2 issues behind? I'd prefer to be in sync with the current issues.

Thanks,
-d

I saw a thread about this on enworld where someone is fishing for interest in starting a Living Pathfinder campaign and I thought someone over here might be up for the challenge.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=223027

The "Living ______" setup is something like a shared world pbp. Multiple dms running their own storylines (usually single adventures- not AP's and the like). When you finish one your character can group up with a different crew and take the next job (& dm) that comes along. I suppose it's sort of like rpga-lite, because to keep things balanced there has to be a general agreement on awards, what source books are kosher and all that. Typically a few people end up as sort of overseers and vote or put up an open vote on what will be allowed. You can look at the Living Eberron and Living Enworld boards to get the idea.

Anyways- there's the link if that sounds appealing to anyone.

3rd of Zarantyr (Mid-winter in a winter-less city)
The Stores (Warehouse District - Lower Dura)

The midday heat in the depths of Sharn is overbearing despite the fact that this is what passes for winter in the south of Breland. Even in the absence of direct sunlight, heavy air thick with humidity and the stench of urban life has a way of settling on the lower wards. With any breeze blocked by the massive tower foundations, it doesn’t take long before a layer of sweat leaves your clothes clinging uncomfortably. But the tower block should be up ahead…

Halfling teamsters and their reptilian beasts of burden dominate the flow of street traffic in the district, though laborers of all races contribute to the flow of goods to and from the city. Not everyone can afford the more heavily patrolled or Kundarak guaranteed riverside warehouse towers of Precarious and so The Stores thrives in its own way as the constant procession of wagons, carts, and dollies attest. Noticing your approach, a halfling overseer in a white undershirt and loose black pants tied tight around the ankles breaks off from a trio milling about in the shade of a tower’s loading dock and waves you over. In the undershirt he manages to show off both tattoos and an impressive collection of scars… undeniably a record of his work history from a life spent on and around the docks of Sharn. The twin knives strapped to his belt and his hard appraising eye tell a bit more.

“You’ll be the Watchtower then? I’m Varlin. Other guy’s already up there…” The supervisor waves you into the tower loading dock and turns to lead as he talks, “Temple of the Host hired this guy.” He smirks and opens the lift gate before continuing, “But we’ve hired the six of you- and we expect results. Whoever this psycho is it’s time he learned that there are consequences for running wild in someone else’s territory. We like to keep things tidy.” Varlin slams the gate closed and the lift rises smoothly once he pulls a long lever embedded in the floor. “Deal stands as discussed; daily rate for the lot of you, three thousand bonus you bring this creep to us- alive. Dead…” he shrugs, “fifteen hundred. Watch got no time to find lunatics, then we got no inclination to see to if they know how to dole out proper justice.” The lift glides to a stop and Varlin grabs the gate grunting as he hefts it up.

The third floor of the warehouse is stacked high with crates dividing the floor into shadowy aisles illuminated by the occasional narrow window. A bobbing light spilling from one of the aisles marks the temple Inquisitive’s position. A pair of legs visible between another must be one of the victims.

The halfling ushers you in, “Here it is. Take a look around, I'll see you when you are finished.”

Background

Kn Local DC 15

The beginning of our ooc thread...

Regarding the 1000 vs 2000 office cost... ask yourselves if you want to be in a middle class district or upper class. Because that's the difference between those two. For example 1000 each gives you a 6000 business fund. That places you in a very nice and spacious business front in a middle class district(where you could each potentially have an office if you want)- or a smaller (shared space) more out of the way office in a much nicer district.

2000 each (for 12,000 total) places you firmly in an upper class district. It won't be the nicest of the nice, but it will be very respectable and in a prominent area. Individual space will be no problem here.

I’m looking to start a mid-level medium-length campaign based around some of the Eberron stories printed in Dungeon. I don’t mind if you’ve read them as long as you are fine with keeping that information separate from your character’s point of view. If you can guess which three part series the thread title refers to then you know where this storyline is going and can decide if you know too much for your own enjoyment. I’ll take the first five people who are interested and willing to commit for at least the first third of the story-arc and are able to post at least every other day. Given the rate of pbp I’m guessing the first third will run around four months or more. When we wrap that up we’ll see where we are and decide where we are going.

So here's the drill:

- Five players
- 32 point buy
- 5th Level
- Max hp, then roll. Take ½ of each HD if you roll below that.
- Standard starting wealth (9000gp), No more than ½ on a single item
- Sources- Core, Complete, PHII, Eberron & by request. No psionics and no Book of 9 Swords. They might be great, but I don’t own them and would need to if I wanted to include them.

The premise for this storyline will be that the characters are the staff of an Inquisitive Agency in Sharn. At least one of you will be the owner of the business, if not all of you. Non-partners will be employees of the owners who round out the staff of the Agency with the exception of your secretary.
- All characters must have at least one link to another character. You’ve been working together for anywhere from a month to years depending on your backstory. Not looking for a band of 5 isolated loners for this one ;)
- For each point of charisma bonus a character has, they get one contact within the city. They represent information, not favors. These can be criminal, mercantile, law enforcement, professions, gangs, (some) dragon marked houses, religions, etc In nearly all cases the contacts will be npc classes (commoners, experts, warriors etc). Some organizations will be off the table, but we’ll just go case by case there. If it is a group that survives based on its closed nature or thrives on secretiveness then it’ll get a no. (Includes House Sivis, Phiarlin, & Thuranni for non members as well as religious cults like the Blood of Vol for example.)
- Player’s will need to name their business and decide how ramshackle or respectable it is. Cost of a business front: Poor (2d4 x 100gp), average (2d4x1000), or upscale (4d8x1000). I suppose only the business partners will want to pay this, but it can be split any way you guys want to do it. No roll for this. You’ll just choose and we’ll place it within the city in a location and state of repair reflecting its cost.
- You also get to pick a standard of living as you'll all be semi permanent citizens of Sharn. Renting: Poor 1d4 gp/month, Average 1d4x10 gp/month, Upscale 2d8x10 gp/month. Buying a place is also an option if you are so inclined.
- The Last War was a huge world changing event stretching on over a century and it’s been less than two years since the end of hostilities. What was your character’s experience of the war?
- Every character should include in their bg at least one person from outside the group of PC be it family, a war buddy, an ex, an old employer, a rival or enemy or what have you. Just an idea that you have a history as an individual and people care if you live or die.

Okay… So anyone like the sound of that?

Anyone else here an English speaking gamer in Athens Greece? That's a long shot I know but what the hell, thought I'd see if anyone was out there.

So I bought the pdf version of D1 flipped through it a few times and went back to look at it today, but I can't open it.

I'm getting this message: (Translated from Greek so the wording might not be the /exact/ windows message in English.)

"The compressed zip folder is not valid or is corrupt."

I had at some point trimmed the name of the folder the pdf comes in and it didn't cause a problem at the time, but it was my first thought. So I dled the product again through the My Account section. Same problem. What's going on here?