raidou's page

The problem with the golf bag of weapons is that it creates further power-creep for the casters. The physical damage fighters have to SPEND MONEY, BOATLOADS OF MONEY to get weapons that work in these scenarios: +2 silver sword, +2 adamantine sword, +2 good/lawful/chaotic, etc. (total cost: 40 grand for 5 backup items, that could have been used on the weapon you use every day.) These items will be used only against opponent specifically vulnerable to that weapon type; against everyone else it's their main weapon. Meanwhile, the casters are spending that money on wands of every energy type, which they can use effectively against everyone not immune. The latter is much more flexible and a better use of resources than the former.

I think that this scenario does not manifest in actual play. Fighters do a lot of damage. They are not missing out on the ability to dish out the hurt. If they happen to have the right weapon to punch through DR, that's fantastic. If not, well, that's an enemy who sticks around 4-5 rounds longer.

My experience, is that fighter-types spend money on the same stuff as everybody else: The big six. (weapon, armor, deflection, natural armor, stat boosts, resistance). Everything after that is a "nice to have" but not essential.

Spellcasters have their own obstacles to overcome in terms of dealing damage. They have to beat SR, Energy Resistance, and a Saving Throw. If you start allowing splatbook spells like the Orbs as written, to overcome two of those three obstacles (SR and Save), then yes you are power creeping. But that's a spell design/splatbook problem, and not one inherent to the core DR rules.

D'oh!

I was looking at the PH. Pay me no mind.

Rangers do not need to meet the prerequisites for:

- Two-Weapon Fighting
- Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
- Greater Two-Weapon Fighting

However, the Two-Weapon Defense feat is not called out in either the feat description or the ranger class writeup as having a similar exception. Basically the class that needs it most may not qualify for it because of multi-ability-dependency.

Feel free to comment, I have offered my suggested change below.

TWO-WEAPON DEFENSE (GENERAL)
Prerequisites: Two-Weapon Fighting.

Benefit: When wielding a double weapon or two weapons (not including natural weapons or unarmed strikes), you gain a +1 shield bonus to your AC. If you have the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feat, this shield bonus increases to +2. If you have the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feat, this shield bonus increases to +3.

When you are fighting defensively or using the total defense action, this shield bonus increases to +2. (+4 if you have the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feat, or +6 of you have the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feat).

Special: A fighter may select Two-Weapon Defense as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Changes From the Original:
Prerequisites: minimum DEX removed. If you can TWFight, you can TWDef. Opens this feat to Rangers who may not meet the ability Prereq.

Benefit: Combines the Improved/Greater versions of Two-Weapon Defense (Complete Warrior) into one feat. Makes this feat a worthwhile addition to a two-weapon fighter's arsenal, as opposed having to spend three feats to get a tiny benefit.

I think there's a common house rule that tons of people already use, that each + of an enchanted weapon overcomes five points of DR/Magic. I've been using that in my high-level game and it's worked perfectly. I keep all other forms of DR completely by-the-book.

If I had an idea of what goal was being achieved by allowing magic weapons to overcome material DR, I'd be in a better position to comment.

One additional point, is that the +2 damage bonus for having a weapon with both the magic and the material to overcome DR is a little too fiddly for my tastes. It's one of those bonuses that players (from a non-metagame POV) should not be able to know, and will thus not use consistently. And it's one of those things that the DM, assembling a host of Werewolves for battle, is not going to remember what weapons the PC's have, their materials, and their exact pluses.

- Backwards-Compatibility is achieved.
- Races are interesting and balanced.
- Poison and Disease changes are genius.
- CMB is a very clean system
- Sorcerer bloodlines are quite good.
- I'm very happy with the ranger.
- The whole fact that the user community has access to the ongoing design. That all by itself is worthy of praise.
- giving people who want to play lower-magic, slower advancement, etc. the tools to do so.

Seriously, Jason and crew are doing right by me. I'm thrilled to be ABLE to offer input.

Suggestion: Monk's quivering palm should deplete the Monk's ki by a significant amount, and that amount should remain depleted until the kill-effect is activated. Please get rid of "x per week" restrictions, they are devilishly hard to keep track of and so end up in the "never used ability" pile.

Is there really a balance need for "virtual feats" that get lost if the Ranger wears meaningful armor? If the ranger wants to blow a feat on heavier armor, or multiclass to get the proficiency, so be it. That's a resource spent to accomplish something. The heavier armor, with its ACP, slower movement, etc will hamper the Ranger's skills anyway... why this extra burden?

The flavor is already there in the starting armor proficiencies. Let's get rid of this annoying artifact.

Classic Giants Revisited:

1)Cloud Giant
2)Cyclopes
3)Ettin
4)Fire Giant
5)Frost Giant
6)Ogre Magi
7)Storm Giant
8)Titans
9)Dire Animals
10)???

Yup, I'm with you on the Dire Animals. Having Giants and their pets in a single source would be completely worthwhile. Plus, it would probably be the only chance we'd get for a writeup on animals of any kind.

If I were re-envisioning giants, I'd do it like this.

1.) Titans
2.) Storm Giants
3.) Cloud Giants
4.) Fire Giants
5.) Frost Giants
6.) Stone Giants
7.) Hill Giants
8.) The Outcasts...
As we've seen in Paizo Ogres, Giant-class creatures are prone to various deformities. Whatever the cause, some deformities are common enough to be classified:
a.) Ettin: a giant born with multiple heads. (Hill-Giant ettins are the most common type, followed by Trolls.)
b.) Athach: a giant born with multiple limbs
c.) Fomorian: a giant with grotesque disfigurements.
d.) Cyclops: a giant born with a single enlarged eye and the gift/curse of prophecy.
Anyway, my thought would be to turn these into templates or simple add-ons to other base giant types.

9.) Giants' Pets: Dire Animals (Bears, Boars, Wolves, Ligers, perhaps even include Roc here. Good idea, cappadocius)
10.) Giant-Kin: Firbolg (fey giant), Voadkyn (forest giant), Verbeeg (perhaps a suitable PC race, sort of a "goliath" for Pathfinder.

Just food for thought. That pagecount might be pretty high.

-eric

FAE

• Dragons have already had a fairly comprehensive article, and a module concerning their ancestral graveyard. I'm not saying that a dragon compendium shouldn't ever be done, but that there's enough to tide GMs over for now. I appeal to getting the most bases covered before narrowing on one focus too tightly.
• Dragons serve a certain level range, whereas Fae could apply to a broad spectrum of different levels in terms of PC challenges
• There's a lot of unanswered questions and ways to explore the campaign setting by featuring the Fae. There's the First World. Sanos Woods. The really dire and terrible Fae, as described in the book found in Ironbriar's Office in PF#2
• It compliments Darkmoon Vale and some pre-existing modules, allowing people to stitch together their own sandbox campaigns that feature the Fae prominantly.

Fae
Fae
Fae

Watcher, what specifically would you include in this book, ideally? I'm working on the assumption that this product line is about long-existing monsters that are in need of a fresh coat of paint.

I'd envision a Fey book that looks something like this:

1.) Group "shy, reclusive, temptress" sorts of fey into one "family." Keep the individual creatures separate but relate them somehow... Nymph, Dryad, Nereid, Sirine fit into this category.
2.) Satyr, cause you've gotta have something that was crerated to play havoc with the "shy, reclusive, temptress" fey.
3.) Trickster Fey, like Nixies, Pixies, Brownies, etc. would be the best place to go wild with the "amoral mischief" we've seen in Pathfinder Fey so far.
4.) Merge Merfolk/Tritons. The fey kingdom beneath the sea.
5.) Harpy, though a Monstous Humanoid, fits a fey theme pretty well.
6.) Hags, also fey in their outlook, perhaps designed specifically to do horrible things to those who would seek out the fey.
7.) Will-O-Wisp
8.) ...
9.) .....
10.) ..............

I can't figure where to go from here, especially from an "update the old" perspective. Sure we can create new fey as Paizo has done to date, but that seems to be a different kind of supplement. I'm interested in what you'd include in the book you're describing.

-eric

Watcher wrote:

David Jackson 60 wrote:

dragons!

FAE!

VERMIN!

OOZES!!!

I want you to breathe new life into the true monsters of myth and legend. We've seen books on undead. Aberrations are too weird and most of the good ones are closed content. Dragons are seriously played out. Give them a few years and then come back to them with new ideas. You just covered humanoids. Nobody has tackled Magical/Monstrous Beasts yet.

I propose the following ten "beasts of legend" need some scrutiny, a slight facelift, and some interesting tales to fit them into Golarion's own mythic landscape.

Chimera
Griffon
Manticore
Sphinx
Naga (yes I know it's technically an aberration)
Kraken
Cockatrice
Hydra
Phoenix
Basilisk

-eric

@ ckafrica: One of my goals was to replace the idea of "there is a best armor type" with "there is a best armor type for my particular DEX score, movement, and in-character needs. They're not perfect. For example, I'm a bit stumped on the banded/splint armors and I'm not 100% satisfied with the end result. You're basically wearing a barrel, so it would be harder to constrict/crush under that kind of protection, but does that warrant someone actually specializing in it? Not really sure yet. But in terms of other armor types... let's say your sneaky character wants to conceal the fact that he's wearing armor. Then Chain Shirt's for you. Barbarians who want movement will go with Hide Shirt while those who want ferocity will wo with regular Hide. There are certain Plate armors that let you move better, versus those that absorb more damage. My basic point is I want armor choice to be more meaningful. In past games, that "perfect armor" in my groups used to always be "mithril breastplate."

@ golem101: We'd need to have a system by which all character classes improve their weapon and armor skills. Granting various rates of "armor training" to all classes is the easiest way to do this with fighters getting the most improvement slots. If I were running the show, I'd combine armor and weapon training slots and have the player choose whether they want to improve offense or defense. My home game did this based on the proficiency rates in 2E.

@ Aubry: Playtesting took the following format: The armor groups were set as I've outlined and so reduced access to some armor types for some classes from the start. 2E's weapon proficiency advancement formed the base for how often a class got access to extra training. If a character spent a second proficiency on the armor type, they got an AC boost, a max DEX improvement, and a special ability. A second proficiency mastered the armor and got another ability.

Prior to writing this down, I had only actually playtested with the Hide, flex-mail and light armor groups. I extrapolated the rest. I made armor enhancements as expensive as weapon enhancements to compensate for the added power. I did not notice any particularly glaring problems but I'm just one DM and it's my idea so there's innate bias toward my group and playstyle.

Thanks for your comments!

This is going to be a long post. If weapon vs. armor type tables make you want to gouge your eyes out, you may want to self-medicate before continuing.

I've drawn up a collection of house-rules I've been toying with for some time... tweaked them, standardized them, and actually placed the result in written form. I don't expect anything here to be seriously considered, but I do hope that it's food for thought and that there are some worthwhile concepts to take-away.

Here are my arguments:

[1] Armors are mis-categorized to some degree. Light, Medium and Heavy armor are not descriptive enough in determining how well a specific type of armor gets used by a certain class.
[2] The Armor Training class ability of fighters is weighted toward heavy armors and does much less for the fighter who wants to specialize in light armor types (or no armor, for that matter.) Half of the benefit is lessening the ACP. In light armors this is negligible.
[3] Armor itself offers little other than another + to armor bonus, at some point in the game. The type of armor stops being an interesting CHOICE fairly early for most characters.

My solutions to these issues are as follows:

[1] Re-categorize armor by type. Give character classes an assortement of "set" armor proficiencies at character creation and allow them to spend training on obtaining better levels of proficiency (or proficiency in other armors). Fighters would have the most armor training of any of the core classes. My suggested categories are:

• No Armor
  
• Light Flexible Armor
  
• Hybrid Leathers (bandit armor)
  
• Hide Armors
  
• Flexible Mail Armor
  
• Hybrid Mail Armor
  
• Plate Armor.

  [2] Make the results of "armor training" dependent on the type of armor chosen, rather than a flat modification across armor types.

  [3] Identify key points about armor that could improve with better training
  

• armor bonus
  
• max DEX
  
• armor check penalty
  
• spell failure (*)
  
• speed reduction
  
• effective weight (**)
  
• time needed to don armor/remove armor
  
• special properties

  * spell failure is accounted for through the class features (or feat choices) of spellcasting classes who may want to wear armor.
  ** encumbrance schmencumbrance. Nobody plays this way.

  [4] Create 4 levels of proficiency for each broad armor type. Each "armor training" step gets you one level of proficiency across the armor type (all plate armors, or all flexible mail armors, for example)

  [5] make armor choice really about choosing the best type of armor for the character you want to play.
  

Here is my first-pass at creating unique effects for armors at each level of proficiency. The meat of this essay, if you will. If you're still with me, I hope you enjoy. Final note: many of the basic armor bonuses and/or max DEX numbers do not exactly match the PHB values. This is deliberate.

--------- NO ARMOR --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---

Really Unarmored:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. No modifications.
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. You may add the bonus from a single mental stat as a dodge bonus to AC when wearing no armor. Once chosen, this ability score choice is fixed. Typically a wisdom bonus represents intuitive, martial-arts training, an intelligence bonus represents cleverness in anticipating attacks (swashbuckling) and charisma represents confidence and grace in one's movement (battle-dancers and similar)
[LVL 3] You gain the dodge feat, and you are allowed to take the dodge feat multiple times. The dodge bonuses stack.
[LVL 4] As an immediate action, you may shift your dodge bonus to AC and apply it to a single reflex save. You lose the dodge bonus to AC until your next turn.

Gladiator/Decorative Armor:

Note: Basically I wanted to add a category for things that should not count towards armor, but are fun nonetheless. I call this category "gladiator armor" but it could also be named "armored loincloth" or "chainmail bikini." Go wild. It exactly duplicates the "padded armor" entry below. You don't get any bonus from the "no armor" category while decked out in this fashion.

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +1 armor bonus, Max DEX +8, 5% spell failure, No speed penalty.
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +2 armor bonus, Max DEX +9, Time to don 50%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +2 armor bonus, Max DEX +10. Wear Anything: any bulky item made of cloth, burlap, canvas, etc. can be used as padded armor. Blankets, heavy cloaks, burlap sacks, high-thread-count bath towels, whatever. Standard time needed to don or don hastily.
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +3 armor bonus, NO MAX DEX. Time to don 25%.

---------- LIGHT FLEXIBLE ARMOR ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Leather Armor:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +2 armor bonus, Max DEX +6, 10% spell failure, No speed penalty.
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +3 armor bonus, Max DEX +7, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +3 armor bonus, Max DEX +8, +1 dodge bonus to reflex saves/AC, Time to don 50%
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +4 armor bonus, Max DEX +10, +1 dodge bonus to reflex saves/AC, Time to don 25%

Studded Leather Armor:

ACP Note: a -1 armor check penalty will be negated by creating a masterwork version of this armor. Therefore it does not make sense to grant bonuses toward negating that penalty.

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +3 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, 15% spell failure, No speed penalty.
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +4 armor bonus, Max DEX +6, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +4 armor bonus, Max DEX +7, DR 1 vs. slashing attacks, Time to don 50%
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +5 armor bonus, Max DEX +8, DR 3 vs. slashing attacks, Time to don 25%

Padded Leather Armor:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +1 armor bonus, Max DEX +8, 5% spell failure, No speed penalty.
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +2 armor bonus, Max DEX +9, Time to don 50%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +2 armor bonus, Max DEX +10. Wear Anything: any bulky item made of cloth, burlap, canvas, etc. can be used as padded armor. Blankets, heavy cloaks, burlap sacks, high-thread-count bath towels, whatever. Standard time needed to don or don hastily.
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +3 armor bonus, NO MAX DEX. Time to don 25%.

--------- CHEAP LEATHER HYBRID ARMOR (Bandit Armors) --------------------------------------------------------

A Note on "Bandit Armors"

The net bonus (armor plus maximun dexterity) for these is one or two points lower than other armor types. These are the armors of last resort, used by desperate brigands hiding in the woods. Nobody sets out to make "masterwork" armors of this type. Nobody enchants them. No well-trained fighter would put more than a single extra proficiency into them. If a bandit king reaches a sufficient level to allow for additional armor specialization, one would think he'd have stumbled across a better suit of armor. This rant is a long-winded way of saying I don't feel like creating further specialization abilities for these crappy armor types.

Leather Scale Armor (Based on v3.0 Arms and Equipment Guide)

Description: constructed from scraps of leather, cured and sewn into an overlapping, scale-like pattern. "Masterwork" leather scale is merely the result of high-quality materials... not the result of a master craftsman.

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +2 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, ACP -2, 15% spell failure, No speed penalty.
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +3 armor bonus, Max DEX +6, ACP -1, Time to don 50%

Ring Mail Armor (Based on v3.0 Arms and Equipment Guide)

Description: flexible leather armor into which has been sewn (or riveted) hundreds of metal rings. This is a fast, cheap alternative to the more durable chain armors.

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +3 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, ACP -3, 20% spell failure, No speed penalty.
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +4 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, ACP -2, Time to don 50%

Brigandine Armor (Based on v3.0 Arms and Equipment Guide)

Description: Thin metal strips sewn in between flexible leather layers. Brigandine is the poor man's alternative to heavier mail armors, particularly splint mail.

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +4 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, ACP -3, 20% spell failure, -5 speed penalty (all base speeds)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +5 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, ACP -2, Time to don 75%

--------- HIDE ARMORS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------

Hide Shirt (based on Pathfinder, CotCC Player's Guide)

ACP Note: the -1 armor check penalty will be negated by creating a masterwork version of this armor. Therefore it does not make sense to grant bonuses toward negating that penalty.

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +3 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, 15% spell failure, No speed penalty.
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +4 armor bonus, Max DEX +6, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +4 armor bonus, Max DEX +7, Time to don 50%, Primal Reaction +2 (bonus to initiative checks and to passive perception checks)
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +5 armor bonus, Max DEX +8, Time to don 25%. Once per round you may add your Primal Reaction bonus (+2) to either a Reflex Save or as a dodge bonus to AC against a single Attack of Opportunity.

Hide Armor:

Author's note: Altered some aspects of this armor to bring it in line with other medium armors and make it a more enticing choice for druid or barbarian characters.

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +5 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, ACP -3, 20% spell failure, Speed Penalty -10 (base >30) or -5 (base <30)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +6 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, ACP -2, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, ACP -2, Time to don 50%, Speed Penalty reduced by 5. Heightened Senses (+2 to Active Perception, Sense Motive, Survival: following tracks)
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +8 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, ACP -1, Time to don 25%. Bestial Ferocity (whenever affected by an enhancement bonus to a physical ability score, that bonus is augmented by +2). Speed Penalty Removed entirely.

Scale Armor (New)

Author's note: This armor type is like hide armor, but made of the scales of monstrous creatures. Effectively, it is what should result from a PC who asks the DM... "Dude, can I make armor out of that thing...?" It's a good way to handle dragonhide armor.

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +4 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -3 ACP, 20% spell failure, Speed penalty -5 feet (to all base speeds)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +5 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, -2 ACP, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +6 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, -2 ACP, Time to don 50%, Bestial Resistance (+1 bonus to all saving throws)
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +6, -1 ACP, Time to don 25%. Bestial Resiliency (your existing DR of any type is augmented by 3, or you gain DR 1/- if you have no existing DR.)

--------- FLEXIBLE MAIL ARMOR --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chain Shirt:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +4 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -3 ACP, 20% spell failure
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +5 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, -1 ACP, Time to don 75%, Conceal Armor
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +5 armor bonus, Max DEX +6, -1 ACP, Time to don 50%,
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +6 armor bonus, Max DEX +7, -0 ACP, Time to don 25%, DR 1/- vs. piercing attacks

Chain Mail:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +6 armor bonus, Max DEX +2, -5 ACP, 30% spell failure, Speed Penalty -10 (base >30) or -5 (base <30)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -4 ACP, +2 hours worn before fatigue, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -3 ACP, +4 hours worn before fatigue
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +8 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, -2 ACP, DR 3 vs. piercing attacks, No fatigue from long use, Time to don 50%

Scale Mail:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +5 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -4 ACP, 25% spell failure, Speed penalty -5 feet (to all base speeds)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +6 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -3 ACP, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -3 ACP, Effective Encumbrance 75%, Time to don 50%
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +8 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, -2 ACP, Time to don 25%, No Speed Penalty

--------- HYBRID MAIL ARMORS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Banded Mail Armor:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +2, -6 ACP, 40% spell failure, Speed Penalty -10 (base 30+) or -5 (base <30)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +8 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -5 ACP, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +9 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -5 ACP, DR 1 versus bludgeoning/constricting
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +10 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -4 ACP, DR 3 versus bludgeoning/constricting, Time to don 50%

Splint Mail Armor:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +1, -7 ACP, 40% spell failure, Speed Penalty -10 (base 30+) or -5 (base <30)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +8 armor bonus, Max DEX +2, -6 ACP, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +9 armor bonus, Max DEX +2, -6 ACP, Effective Encumbrance 75%
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +10 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -5 ACP, DR 1 versus bludgeoning/constricting, Time to don 50%

Lamellar Armor:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +6 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -5 ACP, 35% spell failure, Speed Penalty -10 (base 30+) or -5 (base <30)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -4 ACP, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, -3 ACP, Speed Penalty -5 (all speeds)
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +8 armor bonus, Max DEX +6, -2 ACP, Run Action Allowed, Time to don 50%

--------- PLATE ARMORS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------

Plate Armors apply armor check penalties to perception checks due to the heavy helms. Removing the helm will negate the perception penalty but will impose a -2 penalty to armor bonus (-1 for breastplate) until it is worn again. Armor Check Penalty also applies to Fortitude Saves against Heat Dangers.

Breastplate:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +6 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -4 ACP, 30% spell failure, Speed penalty -5 feet (to all base speeds)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -3 ACP, Time to don 75%
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +7 armor bonus, Max DEX +5, -2 ACP, No Speed Penalty, No ACP vs Heat Dangers
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +8 armor bonus, Max DEX +6, -1 ACP, Time to don 50%

Half-Plate Armor (Plate Mail):

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +8 armor bonus, Max DEX +1, -7 ACP, 45% spell failure, Speed Penalty -10 (base >30) or -5 (base <30)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +9 armor bonus, Max DEX +2, -6 ACP, ACP halved against Heat Dangers (-3)
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +10 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -5 ACP, Speed Penalty -5 (all base speeds), Time to don 75%
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +11 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -4 ACP, Run action allowed.

Field-Plate Armor:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +9 armor bonus, Max DEX +1, -7 ACP, 45% spell failure, Speed Penalty -10 (base >30) or -5 (base <30)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +10 armor bonus, Max DEX +2, -6 ACP, ACP halved against Heat Dangers (-3)
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +11 armor bonus, Max DEX +2, -6 ACP, Energy Resistance 3 against instantaneous fire/cold attacks
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +12 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -5 ACP, DR 3/-

Full-Plate Armor:

[LVL 1] Basic Proficiency. +9 armor bonus, Max DEX +2, -6 ACP, 40% spell failure, Speed Penalty -10 (base >30) or -5 (base <30)
[LVL 2] Armor Expertise. +10 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -5 ACP, ACP halved against Heat Dangers (-3)
[LVL 3] Armor Specialization. +11 armor bonus, Max DEX +3, -5 ACP, Speed Penalty -5 (all base speeds), Fire/Cold Resistance 5 (instantaneous attacks only)
[LVL 4] Armor Mastery. +12 armor bonus, Max DEX +4, -4 ACP, DR 5/-

OK, I'll add one.

Clerics should not receive every spell on the cleric spell list. Cleric spell lists should be modular and campaign-customizable. Like sorcerers, they should have the ability to swap out spells that are no longer useful as they advance.

2E's spheres, of course, were not balanced or internally-consistent. So from a game point of view that's a bad direction to go. But the one thing they had going for them was the ability to make clerics of different deities feel and play completely different.

-eric

I'll add some thoughts...

High-Level Barbarians should be able to:
- weild weapons too big for them
- improvise weapons
- hurl boulders like giants
- count as a step larger for CMB purposes
- jump higher, climb faster, and swim longer
- Ignore (or reduce) inconveniences such as hunger, thirst, extreme heat/cold/altitude, underwater pressure...
- improve on the effects of Diehard and Endurance feats
- receive an ability like "Mettle" where he shrugs off partial Fort/Will effects
- Cause damage to things not normally susceptible to damage (force effects, black tentacles, etc.)

... and be able to do all these things from within the safety of an anti-magic field, cast by one of his buddies.

-eric

Are barbarians the only class that is going to feature this particular point system in play? It strikes me as odd to create this unique subsystem that doesn't function like anything else in the game (3x Turn Undead anyone?)

Why not extrapolate on this idea of a point pool further...

- Druids get "wild shape" points. People seemed to LOVE the PHB2 wildshape variants. With a point-pool system, there would be ways to model this system of "partial transformation." Beast Claws: 3 points/round, for example.

- Paladins get "Aura Points." You get a constant "grace" aura but can use points to augment it... Courage Aura, Healing Aura (allows lay on hands while aura is active), Smiting Aura, Curative Aura, etc. This would allow you to roll in some effects of "Divine Feats" into aura-based class skills. I see this as a nice way to customize your paladin powers to specific gods as well.

- Bards get "Inspiration Points" in much the same way, etc.

Just throwing it out there. The more I think about it the less backwards-compatible it seems. But a subsystem only used in one spot also feels a bit strange.

One of the modifications I made to the spawn in EaBK was to give them the Necrotic Reserve Feat (Libris Mortis)

Summary: An undead creature is not immediately destroyed when reduced to 0 hit points or lower.

This reinforces their reputation as "unkillable zombies" by allowing them to play dead after reaching 0 hit points and let their fast healing restore them to fighting condition.

It ended up playing great, adding significant dread when the Spawn they "killed" a few rounds ago began to claw at the characters' feet after they'd turned their attention elsewhere.

I like INT bonus to skill points for humanoids and creatures who are expected to have some kind of "society."

For monsters, it stinks. It forces a glut of "racial bonuses" just to keep animals, vermin, magical beasts, etc competetive in their own natural environments. Most of them don't even have "survival" as class skills because to stay matched with PC's they need to dump all available skill points into spot/listen.

There needs to be some kind of "natural cunning" bonus feat for such creatures that allows them to use WIS as a skill modifier. Or something that makes them good at surviving/flourishing in their own habitats.

Thanks for the advice. Indeed I was using the EaBK version of the spawn, with the Dragon Ecologies book nearby just in case. I didn't even realize that the EaBK spawn was any different from the MM2 version.

Excellent session last night with the PC's facing off against one, and then three spawn in tight quarters. Here's how I ended up ruling:

1.) Heal Check. 2 were made successfully, but no worm got close enough to the brain. I like Jeremy's assessment and plan to use that logic (as soon as the brain is reached, they begin rapidly multiplying, making extraction impossible.)

2.) Grappling: I ruled as follows... the initial touch attack will transfer a worm. Once in the grapple, a successful grapple check will transfer 1d4 worms to the victim. This makes escaping the grapple high-priority.

3.) Fear: agreed, new spawn = new fear save. Also, failed save against a spawn still requires a new save if you re-enter the radius after the effect has expired.

Thanks for the advice.

So the heroes are back at Blackwall tonight, and the place is crawling with Spawn (we played the one-shot event with the PC's as Keep soldiers last time.)

I have some questions about Spawn of Kyuss, now that I've run them once already.

1.) The DC20 Heal check to remove a worm. Can that be done every round, up until the point the PC dies and becomes a spawn? Once the thing begins eating INT, I see this as a messy affair...

2.) Creature striking a spawn with natural weapons/unarmed strike, gets infested by 1d4 worms. Can one extrapolate this to also apply if one is grappling a spawn? Or, say... if the spawn grapples one of THEM?

3.) A PC who saved against a spawn's fear aura... is he immune to the fear auras of other spawn as well or just the one he saved against?

Thanks!

Hi Cosmo,

I just began a multi-subscription to several monthly products. I may have picked a bad time of the month to do this, because although I chose to have all products shipped at the same time, once per month, I just received a pending shipment not being bundled with other products:

1 x Almuric (Trade Paperback) (preorder) @ 10.39 = $10.39

Subtotal (1 Item): $10.39
Shipping & Handling: $7.15

Is there a way I can package Almuric with next month's shipments and get on a regular one-package-per-month schedule from there?

Thanks for any info,

-eric

Here are the fiddly bits that I run into when statting up NPC's and monsters.

- synergy bonuses. Can't remember 'em, period.
- skill points based on INT for all creatures. This forces way too many "racial bonuses" and prevents me (sometimes) from creating a beast that would do what it should be able to do.
- "hidden" modifiers like size bonus/penalty for Move Silently (or is it Hide?), the base speed modifier for the Jump skill, and doubling the Armor Check/encumbrance penalty for Swim.
- Armor Check penalty itself is a little fiddly but I am willing to live with it.

[edit] forgot the most important one, and the whole point of my post: The monster with a prestige class is a problem. You have three pools of skills to worry about: base skills from HD, class skills that allow entry into the PrC, and then the PrC class itself. Factor in all the above issues and you're in for a long,painful afternoon.

I think there is value in splitting the schools of magic into their component parts for building class progressions. This necromancer is a prime example where we can have one "white" version utilizing energy, speaking with dead, etc. and a "black" version creating undead servants and desiring lichdom.

The same could be true with conjuration/summoning where you could have a true "alchemist" style conjurer (who creates substances and materials) and a true "summoner" class whose whole life is spent calling things from the beyond.

Same thing with Illusion (phantasm) and Illusion (shadow). There are some opportunities here...

Just some musings.

In my campaign SR is the only thing that keeps my BBEG's alive and fighting against a 6-7 PC party. I understand that it's an issue in parties with less actions per round but it's a needed staple of the game for me. I'm going to state that if you want to be able to use a singular foe, and you have a large party, you NEED to make use of tactics that will cause some of those attacks to miss.

My thoughts:

- The spell "Assay Spell Resistance" from the spell compendium is a godsend. It's a swift action, consumes a resource (4th level spell), affects a single target, and can be dispelled (important). It grants a +10 bonus to overcome SR.

- The "fortify spell" metamagic feat (I think this is correct), you memorize a spell in a higher spell slot. Each spell slot above normal adds +2 to the caster level to overcome SR.

- plenty of ways to boost caster level. domain powers, prestige class levels, ioun stones, beads of karma, magic items I'm forgetting...

- and here's an option I'm making up on the spot: Offer an ability (feat, class ability, whatever) that allows a spellcaster to spend time drawing power into the spell to grant it a [+1 per 3 caster levels] bonus to overcome SR. standard-action spell becomes a full-round, or something like that.

- I think the Spell Resistance spell (cleric 5) needs to be capped at CL20 (SR32) or at SR30 (18th level caster)

These are observations made after spending a couple years DMing a high level group of 6-7 PC's.

-eric

raidou wrote:

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but the hands-down, biggest thing that slows the game down for my group at high levels is Dispel Magic.

Play at a high enough level, and nobody cares any more.

Since dispel magic is maxed at +20, once you're at a caster level of 20 or higher, it's worthless.

Then you're into the horrifying middle ground of Mordenkainen's disjunction, during the period where it can be cast by everyone but your saves aren't good enough to keep all your magic from going bye-bye.

And then you reach the zone where it's an auto dispel magic, but nobody ever loses items because their Will saves are high enough.

Frankly, I remain to be convinced that the +20 cap on dispel magic makes any sense. As a DM, I'd rather throw a dispel magic with a caster level of 30 than a Mordenkainen's disjunction and waste all of the party's magic items.

My current high-level group is ~18th level, with several multiclass spellcasters. So the caster level ranges from 16-24 depending in the spell, whether Bead of Karma is in play, whether someone's using a [good] spell, etc.

I'm of a mind to House-Rule MD to work like an uncapped Targeted Dispel Magic (like Chain Dispel from PHB) that also affects items. That's still a lot of paperwork though. Couple levels to go before I care, I suppose.

My group is 95% done with Blackwall Keep....

[SPOILERS, OF COURSE]

They are making their escape from the Twisted Branch tribe. As of last night, they left the Dragon egg sitting right where it was, among the lizardman eggs.

I'm considering what to do with this setup. I mean, the PC's have a treaty signed by the Shaman who may not be around long enough to see any peace between his tribe and the human nation.

That, and he's been curing his fellow tribesmen with worm-infested potions. As leader, he's not looking long for this world. Add to that the very clear implication of a full generation of lizardmen young infested with Ilthane's kyuss worms.

What should I do with this plot setup? Do I just leave it alone as a footnote to the AP? I mean there are a TON of repercussions that can come out of all of this, so I'd like to get some thoughts on what YOU'D do if the PC's just left "The Egg" sitting there.

Best,

-eric

Shem, you're not the only one in this situation. I've had Pathfinder 2-5 shipped to me UPS ground, due to the slowness of the post office, and somehow my account reverted to USPS for Pathfinder #6.

Can someone verify if there was some kind of errant subscriber update done?

Thanks

My group started this in June of 06, and is right in the middle of Encounter at Blackwall keep. We play every other Tuesday, for 3-4 hours per session.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but the hands-down, biggest thing that slows the game down for my group at high levels is Dispel Magic.

Additionally, I've found that the sum total of the following items really starts to grind the game to a halt. Individually, not a problem but taken together they add a lot of pain.

1.) Spell Resistance, especially for area-of-effect spells vs. several opponents.

2.) Concealment rolls of all stripes. (displacement, invisibility, incorporeality, darkness, etc.)

3.) Damage reduction and energy resistence vs. multiple damage types. Example, a creature with DR10/+2 and Fire Resistance 5 being fought by a character with a +1 flaming weapon.

4.) Aerial Combat, keeping track of altitude in addition to position. Figuring out distance of aerial combatants to landbound opponents. I will state for the record that in-combat trigonometry is "not fun."

5.) Immediate Actions, and effects that are "triggered" on someone else's turn. Fire Shield, the various "Holy Aura" type-spells. Contingencies are nice in theory but interruptions of the narrative/game flow have become bad news for me.

raidou wrote:

I wish I could just walk into a Borders or a Barnes and Noble in my area, see them on the shelves, and buy them there.

You can. I've seen The Anubis Murders at both Borders and Barnes & Noble, and City of the Beast should be arriving very soon.

--Erik

This is very good news, I'll have to give a closer look. I browse through my local Borders every week or so and have yet to see them. Is this a recent development (i.e. something that might not have spread to the northeast US retailers yet?)

1. Have you purchased a Planet Stories novel or anthology yet? If so, which one(s)?

Anubis Murders, so far. Picked it up at Gen Con.

2. What author in the Planet Stories line most interests you?

I'm actually treating this as an education in books that I never even knew existed.

3. Please list the following genres in the order you would prefer that we focus on in late 2008 and beyond:

Sword & Sorcery

Lost Worlds Tales
Sword & Planet
Jungle Tales
Horror/Gothic Fantasy
Space Opera
Science Fiction
"Weird" Fiction

4. What can I do to get you to buy more Planet Stories books?

I wish I could just walk into a Borders or a Barnes and Noble in my area, see them on the shelves, and buy them there.

5. If we offer a monthly subscription with, say, a 30% discount off the cover price, would you consider subscribing?

Yes, as long as I could bundle with my Pathfinder subscription to keep shipping costs down.

Given what you know so far, are you planning to:

A) Convert! I am ready for a new D&D.

B) 3.5 or Bust! I'm sticking with the man what brought me.

C) We'll see. Need more information.

D) Other.

I have 2 answers.

First, I run an Age of Worms game, and I'm finishing up TFoE. At the rate we play, I think we'll finish up Dawn of a New Age about the time 5th edition is hitting the shelves. So there's one vote for B.

Second, I'm not super-psyched for 4th, but I am willing to give the designers the benefit of the doubt. I think my group will sit down with 4th edition in the months following its release and take it for a spin. If we don't enjoy it as much as our current 3rd Edition games, we'll stick with 3rd.

It looks like the tail of the gargantuan black dragon might also block a space or two. Which figure do you think blocks more spaces? Thanks. :)

It's interesting. The Black's tail comes out from the base at an angle. I just set some minis around it and at most it would block one square, but really only if you're using a broad/tall/big mini there. You can more easily work with this space.

The Blue, on the other hand, blocks 3 full spaces in front and 2-3 spaces in back (again, depending on character mini size)

They're beautiful-looking dragon minis. I just question a bit of the design decisions for the Blue's in-game use.

Re: maps... I'll have to get back to you. Mine are folded up someplace, not sure exactly where.

actually that's the big flaw with this figure. Its tail and snout extend over the base into adjacent squares. This hurts actual play because it limits where on the board you can place character minis. I've run two combats with this guy and in each one we've played the game of "pretend I'm actually in this square."

So... the follow-up session to the TPK has played out.

Some notes about my campaign:

Cuthbert/Hextor = roughly the same god, with the Ebon Triad folks being a degenerate heretical cult.
Vecna/Wee Jas = roughly the same god, etc.
Erythnul/Fharlanghan(sp?) = same deal.

What this allowed me to do is make Ebon Triad agents easily disguise themselves within local faiths. There are Ebon Triad agents in the Cathedral, the Green Lady cult, and within the Bronzewood Lodge (and thus the garrison). This has created a feeling of deep paranoia and "who can we trust?"

Now, back to the story. They all died. They wanted to play their old characters... mostly.

The half orc priest of (cuthbert/hextor) died last. He was nearly choked to death by chokers when one of the grimlocks above recognized the shape/sound/etc. of Theldrick's Full Plate Armor (which the priest now wore). Thinking they had a major prize on their hands, they drove off the chokers and investigated further. Of course, this was no Theldrick, just some adventurer wearing his armor. Grallak Kur would need to be told.

And so the orc priest was blinded (ewww.) while the Faceless One and Grallak Kur discussed whether any old priest of (cuthbert/hextor) might work for their purposes. Only one way to find out... they set up an elaborate ritual and shoved orc-priest into the pool in the Dark Cathedral, wearing the armor of the High Priest (blasphemous symbols and all.)

Whether or not it worked... we will have to see in future games. But the now-dead orc-priest drifted to the bottom of the pool, where gravity and some light currents rolled the body away. About a week and a half later, some fisherman got something big caught in their nets, pulled it up and freaked out. They left the body on Diamond Lake's muddy shore...

For a garrison scout to find about three hours later. (This scout will be a replacement PC if people die again). Garrison scout recognizes the body, in perfectly-fitting armor emblazoned with runes of a blasphemous cult. He and his companions bring the body back to the garrison but are stopped by two deputies who instead bring the body to the Sherriff's Office.

Wackiness ensues. An investigation begins as to whether the orc-priest is actually a cult member. Dourstone feeds this, saying that he killed a bunch of cultists who had snuck into his mine. He returns bits and pieces of the PC's belongings, some holy symbols from the Ebon Triad, etc. He even leads a group of Garrison and Deputies into his mines to the place where "them cultists got what they deserved." Indeed it looks like our heroes perished in a big alchemists' fire explosion. Not much left.

Smenk, hoping to save himself, backs up Dourstone's tale... saying the PC's had butchered his men and blackmailed him to get them into a safe area below town to conduct their "witchcraft and devil-worship." Every scumbag in town falls neatly into place and at the end of the day it looks like the PC's were the evil cult, and the town is once again safe from their foul plans.

Allustan gets a visit from the scout who found the bodies. Allustan knows a little more of the truth of the situation. After divining whether or not the PC's are all dead (affirmative) he set about making arrangements to get to the bottom of this. He got in touch with Amariss (green lady cult) across the lake.

Amariss had been having her own troubles with heretics within her cult and listened to what Allustan had to say. She accepted payment, and brought four apprentices to a "midnight event that will change your lives." One of these apprentices is a new Druid character to replace the party rogue.

At midnight, she uses a wand to Reincarnate the PC's. I story-ruled that the PC's could come back in their original races, since the idea of having to deal with bugbears, kobolds and other silly crap is totally not working for me. But their bodies are new, formed from primal clay, never used and not battle-hardened. Think Keanu Reeves when first becoming free of the matrix.

They now have to take time to get "back in shape" so to speak, as the use of these new bodies is completely alien to them (justifying the level loss). Also, they need to re-equip, gather some coin and their wits, and try to re-enter the mine before the cult (which is now believed to be defunct) completes its dreadful rites.

I am really looking forward to playing this out in our next game, I think everyone got totally on board with the idea and it's plenty dark enough to suit their tastes. Plus we have a couple new character concepts to try out as a result.

Interestingly, I had actually kicked off the second session of this campaign with the boat-chase from "Mad God's Key". I may return to that adventure and use the dungeon portion, since all I hear are good things about that adventure.

Rexx, thanks for that link, I read a lot of good suggestions in those posts. Last night would have been one for rolling behind the screens, except that for the last three years or so all of us have been rolling right out in the open, for all to see. It was bound to go badly one of these days.

I've been watching my players argue back and forth about this on our google-group all day. So far, there's some significant interest in at least SOME of the original characters making it out of those caves, and applying some kind of heavy consequence/penalty for the TPK.

Some other players are already creating new characters. I may end up splitting the difference, and letting those characters with ties to D.L's organizations be used as a kind of blackmail/bargaining chip to preserve the cult's activities. That train of thought needs more work.

I checked out "Within the Circle" and I think a nice goblin adventure might be the way to get back into it... It'll take a lot of work, but I'm already making some connections between the outcast goblin, a couple of Ebon Triad cultists posing as Green Lady worshipers, and a poisoned water supply.

Last night was my birthday. In honor of my birthday, the Dice Gods bestowed upon me one night of peerless, dice-rolling skill. On a d20, I could not roll in single-digits. My d6's never went below 4. It was breathtaking. I should have gone to Vegas...

'cause I wiped out my entire party.

I might post details if anyone's interested, but suffice it to say most of the night was ruled by good luck on my part, and bad luck on the party's. Grimlocks with x3 critical weapons, Chokers attacking a split-up party. Oh, and only a couple PC's had ranged weapons.

The real killer was the terrain in the grimlock caves. If you can't take a 5ft step, those chokers become INSANE with their 10ft reach and improved grab. Trying to escape ALWAYS provokes.

So it went down badly. I flat-out suggested the option of a "do-over" to my group, but it was universally rejected. "sometimes you just have to take the consequenses," they say.

So I'm going to somehow get a new bunch of PC's, all with complicated backstory, contacts and foils in town, and flesh out some more of the Diamond-Lake envoronment I didn't get to the first time around. But I'm here to solicit advice on how to get the plot back on track with a brand new group after a complete party wipe like this.

I think 3FoE may have been a party-killer for a number of DM's. How have you bounced back from this and continued the adventure? What worked? What didn't? I'd really like to hear some anecdotal info about continuing the plotline following a TPK.

Name: Finn Telemnar, Warmage 3
Adventure: 3 Faces of Evil, Battle Temple
Reason: Brutally mauled to death by a summoned fiendish ape.

First PC death of the campaign. After a gruelling 2-day standoff with the forces of the battle temple, the PC's were exhausted, low on resources, beaten and in a bad place. They had barricaded both sets of doors leading further into the temple and were holed up in the den of "Beast"

Theldrick had retreated for healing and to prepare new spells. Both he and the PC's priest awoke at dawn, on opposite sides of the temple, and cried out for their gods or war and battle for grim victory this day. Mere minutes after morning prep had ended, heavy axes wielded in undead fists began to smash through the barricades. Theldrick had animated his own followers.

The zombies proved easily defeated due to restricted movement, but their goal of clearing the barricades was complete. From the dark corridor and the main arena, tattoed guards fired their bows, drawing the PC's to them. Theldrick's second-in-command, a scarred woman priest, assisted from within the arena.

It's the party-killing tactic they bring on themselves. The one repeated over and over, and one that players never seem to learn from (at least not mine, in 10+ years of gaming together). They split up.

Some went down the corridor, after the guard and to engage Theldrick on the balcony. Others hurled themselves into the arena to battle the warriors and priest on ground level. One PC got shot through the throat with an arrow but was stabilized. One PC ran through the back rooms searching for an alternate route to the balcony...

Finn, just a nice guy trying to keep clean. A little addicted to Kalamanthis, kind of a screw-up in terms of the day-to-day Diamond Lake life. He remains in the arena, after the other PC's exit to confront their foes on the balcony. Theldrick completes his spell and a massive beast of corded muscle and flayed skin appears in the only place large enough to contain it. Right next to Finn.

The party doesn't even know he's dead until, minutes later, the only two PC's still walking come down and do a final search. Finn's body lies in a corner, gashed as if from a feral beast.

Finn Telemnar, rest in peace.

my group was 2nd level when facing off against Kullen. I try to keep them at appropriate levels when fighting major foes..

(SPOILERS)

Kullen's Gang....2nd
Filge/Zombies....2nd (burying the bones gets them to 3rd)
Wind Warriors....3rd
Theldrick........3rd
Grimlock BBN.....3rd
Grallak Kur......4th
Faceless One.....4th
Cathedral Beast..4th (but gets them to 5th)

etc.

For me, Age of Worms looked too special to pass up.

I've been running homebrews for years (I'm into the 5th year of my current one) and it runs once a month on Saturdays. But when I saw Wayne Reynolds' colossal green worms on #124's cover, there was absolutely no way I could NOT run this thing.

So an every-other tuesday gaming session was born. It's a completely different experience from my saturday game, and I'm having a ton of fun with it.

My group was practically founded at the Spinning Giant, brought together by a huge bar brawl between the Garrison regulars and the sheriff's deputies. (drawing on a rumor from the overload.)

They've also had a full session of chasing around the Halfling tourists at the Able Carter. (I wanted to use the boat chase from Mad God's Key here but it never quite played out that way.) I think they've met just about all the major personalities even if they don't realize that they've just met a recurring character.

My party's rogue even turned up some documents concerning the Parrin/Gansworth alliance. She sold that info to Balabar Smenk to finance the party's first expedition. It's really a grand stage for starting characters and I'm getting tons of use out of it.

Fellow DM's, how much mileage did you end up getting out of the Diamond Lake article?

My group is three adventures in, and has yet to set foot in the Whispering Cairn, because everybody is entrenched in various D.L. activities, courtesy of the backdrop articles.

It really helps to set a mood, and everyone's having a great time with the material. I'm curious how far off the path other DM's have been willing to go with the town.

Here's mine... although like some posters above I'm only a couple games into it. I'm pretty happy with the site though:

http://sevenrealms.home.comcast.net/calendar/chrono052306.html

One of my players is a monk from the Twilight Monastery. She's part of an escort team for a small caravan of goods into Diamond Lake. They have several saddlebags loaded up with Kalamanthis.

Dragon 334 suggests the AoW Overload has more info on the drug, but neither document has price, effects, etc.

anybody out there got some concrete info?

thanks in advance...

Hi guys,

I have an Age of Worms campaign website for a game I'll be starting up shortly. In addition to the usual stuff (character creation, homebrew specifics, etc) I have a section for "what the characters know" about Diamond Lake.

What is acceptable to use on a fan website?

- Is it OK to use the names and descriptions of the town's locations, people, and goings-on, if all of the above are paraphrased?

- Is it OK to use artwork from the PDF supplements?

- Is it OK to depict locations that are on the big poster map (i.e. scan the central square area and its businesses)

- Is it OK to to display the town's stats (assets, population, and other relevant numbers)

- How about stats for friends and allies found in the "Overload" document.

- Besides copying text, game stats, and other I.P. verbatim, are there less obvious things you'd want people to avoid doing on these websites?

Thanks for your insight.

Tor Libram wrote:

Hormel wrote:

in regards to magic missle doing damage to charactors the worm is on, in the spell descrip it says the missle can only strike one creature.

What QBert said already. The worm will get annihilated by a tiny fraction of the d4+1 damage, so where does the rest of it go? Or from another viewpoint: the worm gets smeared into paste by a fraction of the force used by the missile, so the rest of it crashes on through to the arm underneath.

Magic missile doesn't in any way or form crashes through a destroyed target and hurt a pc. It just destroys / hurts the target and that is it.

attacking worms with magic missile: only if the spellcaster could see the worms would I allow them to target the worms. And in near dark that would be a tough spot check.

I think this is true. Magic Missile isn't going to hit anything other than the target... if the caster can see it. That's the crux of this issue. I'm thinking about it like this:

The worm gets transferred to the host and is begins to burrow through flesh next round. I think it gets a hide check:

- Fine Vermin: +16 hide check.
- "climbing" on host: no dex bonus. (not that we have a dex bonus to use, this just makes it easier.)
- wriggling about but not actually moving: no penalty to hide.

Now, I'd also give a +2 to +4 bonus if the host is wearing bulky armor, robes, or thick clothes. (plenty of grooves and flaps to hide in.)

so the worm gets at LEAST a +16 to hide. To make things simple, let's just say it takes 10 on its check. This sets the spot DC at 26.

That's not an easy spot check for a 6th level mage to make, even if he's an elf with an owl familiar.

When you start adding penalties for darkness, distraction, distance, and so on... I think picking off worms with magic missile this way is pretty fair.

Plus, if the mage is using magic missile against individual worms, he's not using spells on a spawn itself.

raidou wrote:

Have the PC's stumble into the cockatrice lair on the way out of the swamp. (You hinted at their presence with random stone statues, right???) They're a mated pair. They have a pretty big clutch of eggs hidden in the muck.

Set up balance checks to fight in knee-deep water and mud. If the PC's make it through the fight without tripping and breaking the egg (get creative with kyuss-spawnling cockatrices...) then they've earned the right to keep the egg and discover the worms themselves without further harm.

So they go to all the trouble of raiding the lizardfolk, survive the cockatrices and then find that the egg is full of flesh eating, zombie-making monstrosities? Wow, that's a reward! :D

Yeah... :P

The PC's measurement of reward is XP.
The DM's measurement of reward is PC's covered in writhing doom and screaming in terror.

YMMV.

Okay, it's assumed that the egg pops open and the worms crawl out. Well, the halfling in the group did balance checks, flanked with lizard men and pc's to kill the kobolds (they made a truce with Hiska)and didn't damage the egg at all. the adventure says the worms come out when the egg is broken. My pc's have stolen the egg.

So what do you all think?

Have the PC's stumble into the cockatrice lair on the way out of the swamp. (You hinted at their presence with random stone statues, right???) They're a mated pair. They have a pretty big clutch of eggs hidden in the muck.

Set up balance checks to fight in knee-deep water and mud. If the PC's make it through the fight without tripping and breaking the egg (get creative with kyuss-spawnling cockatrices...) then they've earned the right to keep the egg and discover the worms themselves without further harm.