Screeching Fiddle Aura moderate evocation; CL 4th
Slot none; Price 9,380 gp; Weight 3 lbs.
Description
This ill-kept, battered fiddle emits an ear-piercing screech when played, causing fragile materials nearby to shudder with sympathetic vibrations. For up to 10 rounds per day, the fiddle can be played as a standard action, targeting up to 5 cubic feet of any material. These rounds do not need to be consecutive. The hardness of the material in the targeted area is reduced by 5 for as long as the fiddle is played. Magical or attended objects receive a Will save to negate the effect (DC14). If the wielder of the screeching fiddle has 10 or more ranks in Perform (String instruments), the hardness is reduced by 10 instead. Snapping any of the fiddle's four strings is a standard action that emits a sound burst directed by the wielder (DC 14). If all four of the fiddle's strings are snapped, the screeching fiddle loses all enchantment and becomes a mundane instrument with the broken condition.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, shatter, sound burst; Cost 4,690 gp
EDIT FROM THE JUDGES: Please read this information about playtesting these encounters. We've also added hyperlinks from the encounter's short stat blocks to the full stat blocks in the PRD so you have the information you need to run the encounter.
Fort Walmor, The Slavers’ End
==========
Fort Walmor was a small depot for traders and treasure hunters travelling Sargava and the Mwangi Expanse. Situated at the eastern edge of the Laughing Jungle on the Lower Korir River, the fort was founded by the Rivermen's Guild to provide a much needed outpost for supplying ships and explorers headed further into the wilderness and moving goods back downriver to Port Freedom. The fort's manager, Bryon Hawthe, took a share of every bit of wealth that travelled through his warehouses and still sent enough trade to his masters to keep them happy with his methods. Treasures plundered from deep in the Expanse provided ample income, but the fort's most lucrative source of wealth for Fort Walmor was the slave trade.
The slaver barge Merrow's Scowl docked at Fort Walmor with a hold full of human cargo and strange plunder from the tribal homes of its captives. The captain of the ship, Pollus Loire, was particularly entranced by a strange and eerie idol in the shape of a demonic ape. The night the Merrow's Scowl arrived marked a violent and brutal slave revolt. The slave pits emptied, liberated slaves boiled out the docked ships. Guards retaliated with savage force. Every living soul in Fort Walmor fell upon one another, slaves turning on slaves when the last of their oppressors was slain, fuelled by ancient tribal enmities. When the sun rose the next day, Fort Walmor housed only the dead. Worse, the stones and timber of the fortress -- already permeated with the pain, anger, and sorrow of a slave camp -- came to house the concentrated rage and vengeful fury of the last fateful night of its inhabitants. The first unwary travelers that attempted to dock all met with terrible, violent ends. Fort Walmor is known locally as The Slavers’ End and is widely regarded as a cursed place, haunted by the souls of angry dead.
The strange idol brought into the fort by Captain Pollus was a minor artifact, called the ire of Angazhan. Though only marginally intelligent, the cursed artifact attempts to influence the emotions of living creatures around it, driving them to acts of brutal savagery. The idol rests in the former garrison, where the intelligent undead that stalk the ground pay strange homage to the artifact that engineered their fall and rebirth.
Several groups are currently contracting adventurers and explorers to investigate the fate of Fort Walmor. Chief among them is the Rivermen’s Guild, hoping to reclaim treasures languishing in Bryon Hawthe’s warehouses first and foremost and perhaps re-establish Fort Walmor as another crucial outpost in their river operations.
Traveling upriver to The Slavers’ End is difficult, but not impossible, and offers the best protection from heat dangers. Characters that risk the overland route will have to contend with the dense terrain of the Laughing Jungle and the risks the greater than 90°F daytime temperatures cause. For additional information, refer to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook Overland Movement (pg. 171), Forest Terrain (pg. 425), and Heat Dangers (pg. 444).
The Merrow's Scowl (CR 4 or 7)
==========
The interior of the Merrow's Scowl is dim and rank with the sickly-sweet smell of rot. Foodstuffs piled high against the walls of the ship have long since spoiled and become fertilizer for strange and unpleasant looking molds and fungi. The bottom of the ship has dissolved into the damp, silty mud of the Lower Korir River. Your first steps into the hold cause you to sink into muck; this provides the mixed blessing of allowing you to walk upright, but impedes your movements at the same time. Four support struts hang tenuously from the crossbeams above, connected by a corroded metal shaft that runs through them, anchored to the stern and aft. Rusted manacles hang from the rod, dangling into the muddy riverbank. Wedged awkwardly into the stern is a crumbling makeshift altar.
The eerie sound of drumming emitted by the haunt is easily audible outside the wreck of the slaver barge and characters that enter hold easily identify the altar as the source of the sound. Characters that approach the altar see a ghostly after image of the demonic ape idol that once adorned it, the ire of Angazahn. The image winks out as soon as the haunt triggers and does not reappear. The altar was constructed by Captain Pollus shortly after the idol began to have an influence on him. He hid it carefully among the tightly packed goods and visited it under the guise of surveying their supplies and the condition of the slaves.
Treat the mud that holds the remains of the Merrow's Scowl as shallow bog (Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 427). The mud has sifted inside the ship and holds it fast against the surprisingly mild currents of the river. The support struts provide a +2 bonus to Armor Class and a +1 to Reflex saves to creatures fighting across them on a diagonal. The hull of the ship is deteriorating quickly in the humid climate of the Laughing Jungle; halve the structural hit points and DR of the wood for any attempts to break it.
Creatures: Two of the three undead in the wreck of lie in wait beneath the mud near the entrance, while the third hides closer to the haunt's proximity. The creatures bury themselves completely, granting themselves total concealment. When the shrieks and screams that accompany the haunt's activation fill the hold, the creatures rise and attack. The bloody skeletons attack the nearest PC, regardless of which PC the Savage Madness haunt targets with its murderous command. The juju zombies flank and kill those that appear unaffected by the haunt's confusion effect. Both the bloody skeletons and juju zombies defend themselves if unearthed or assaulted before the haunt has been triggered.
Both versions of the Savage Madness haunt manifest by filling the hold of the ship with the howls and shrieks of a bloody melee. Creatures affected by the haunt see their allies as Mwangi tribesmen with exaggerated demonic features or slavers garbed in infernal armor and wielding flaming whips. If no creature is in the haunt's proximity and the haunt has not yet been neutralized, the sounds of battle cease and the drums resume.
Low Tier (CR 4):
Savage Madness (CR 2)LINK
XP 600
CE persistent haunt (5ft. by 10ft. area in front of the makeshift altar)
Caster Level 2nd
Notice: Perception DC 15 (The sound of rhythmic tribal drumming, emanating from the altar)
hp 9; Trigger proximity; Reset 1 week
Effect When this haunt is triggered, the sound of brutal, bloody battle erupts from the altar, punctuated by shrieks and maddened ululations. Creatures affected by the haunt suddenly perceive allies as howling demonic savages or infernal oppressors. A single creature in the haunt's area is targeted by a murderous command spell (save DC 11).
Destruction The altar must be exposed to the noonday sun and anointed with holy water.
Bloody Skeletons (3) CR 2LINK
Skeleton
XP 200 each
AC 18 (+4 armor, +2 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 6 each (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 250, 251)
Melee scimitar +2 (1d6+2), claw -3 (1d4+1) or 2 claws +2 (1d4+2)
Gear chain shirt, scimitar
High Tier (CR 7):
Savage Madness (CR 5)LINK
XP 1600
CE persistent haunt (10ft. by 10ft. area in front of the makeshift altar)
Caster Level 5th
Notice: Perception DC 15 (The sound of rhythmic tribal drumming, emanating from the altar)
hp 22; Trigger proximity; Reset 1 week
Effect When this haunt is triggered, the sound of brutal, bloody battle erupts from the altar, punctuated by shrieks and maddened ululations. Creatures affected by the haunt suddenly perceive allies as howling demonic savages or infernal oppressors. All creatures in the haunt's proximity are targeted by a confusion spell (save DC 16).
Destruction The altar must be exposed to the noonday sun and anointed with holy water.
Juju Zombies (3) CR 5LINK
Zombie
XP 1600
AC 22 (+4 armor, +4 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural)
hp 15 each (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 271)
Gear mwk chain shirt, mwk short sword
Development: The loud clamor the haunt produces when triggered acts as an alarm for the more intelligent undead dwelling within the fort. Alerted creatures prepare for the arrival of interlopers. If the sounds of the haunt persist for a minute or more, even intermittently, undead shamble from the fort to investigate, starting with the creatures currently inhabiting the slave pit (3).
A huge, faintly luminous flower supported by four spindly legs clicks cautiously foward, fluids roiling visibly inside its tightly closed, membranous petals. Twin tendrils of knotted vines, protruding from its stem, coax an unstable looking sphere of sap from its underside.
Pyrebloom CR 7 XP 3,200
N Large plant
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +13
----- Defense ----- AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+6 natural, Dex +3, -1 size)
hp 95 (10d8+50)
Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +5
Defensive Abilities plant traits; Immune fire
----- Offense ----- Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 vines +11 (1d6+4 plus grab)
Ranged bomb +11 (3d6+5 fire)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Sap Bomb 10/day (3d6+5 fire, DC17), Noxious Vapour (DC20), Volatile Demise (10d6 fire, DC22)
----- Statistics ----- Str 18, Dex 16, Con 21, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +7; CMB +11 (+15 grapple); CMD 24
Feats Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Ability Focus (Volatile Demise), Weapon Focus (bomb)
Skills Perception +13, Stealth +12
Languages Common, Goblin (cannot speak)
----- Ecology ----- Environment warm forests or plains
Organization solitary
Treasure standard
----- Special Abilities ----- Sap Bomb (Su) Pyreblooms can excrete and hurl sticky globules of the unstable fluids contained in its blossom. These sap bombs function identically to the bomb class feature of the alchemist class, with the exception that bonus damage, bombs per day, and save DCs are Constitution-based rather than Intelligence-based. A pyrebloom has an effective alchemist class level equal to half its HD for the purposes of determining damage and bombs per day.
Noxious Vapour (Su) A pyrebloom can spend two daily uses of its Sap Bomb ability to spray a noxious vapour in a 15 ft. radius, centred on itself. Creatures in the area of effect must pass a DC 20 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds. The noxious vapour dissipates immediately after use. This is a poison effect. The DC is Constitution-based.
Volatile Demise (Su) The volatile chemicals contained in the pyrebloom's blossom burst free when the creature is slain. The unstable fluids ignite when exposed to air, creating a 20 foot burst of flame that does 10d6 fire damage. Creatures caught in the blast can make a DC22 Reflex save for half damage. The DC is Constitution-based.
Pyreblooms resembles a squat, uprooted flower with thin, translucent petals wrapped tightly around a core of glowing, agitated fluids. A small bulbous protrusion, hanging beneath the flower and thick with dangling roots, comprises most of the plant's sensory organs. A full grown pyrebloom is typically 7-9 ft. tall and weighs 3200 lbs.
Pyreblooms are the result of the experiments of alchemists in the nation of Nex. The hope was to create a biological factory for useful chemical reagents and the result exceeded expectations. When pyreblooms proved too clever to be contained, their creators attempted to dispose of them, with explosive results. The detonations sent seeds leagues from the alchemist labs that spawned them. The pyreblooms that grew in the wild have scattered to the depths of the Mwangi Expanse, Geb, and The Mana Wastes. Adventurous alchemists hoping to succeed where their peers in Nex failed have had seeds imported to other parts of the Inner Sea, often with disastrous results.
A pyrebloom feeds by sinking its roots into the ashes and carbonized remains of burnt plants, animals, and the occasional humanoid. Because of their indiscriminate burning and feeding habits, pyreblooms occasionally attract small tribes of goblin followers. The goblins bring sustenance for the creature and revel in its blazing wake.
The Red Bastards Alignment: CE
Headquarters: Bastard's Bastion in the Valley of Fire, Brevoy
Leader: The Red Prince
Structure: Military Hierachy
Scope: National
Resources: Varying amounts of liquid assets depending on recent successes, manors and holds in south-eastern Brevoy, fortress in the Valley of Fire
The Red Bastards are composed of disenfranchised nobles and the unacknowledged bastards of Brevoy's nobility. They are led by a charismatic, mysterious man who styles himself as The Red Prince. The Red Prince claims to be a bastard scion of the vanished House Rogarvia, spared the calamity that claimed his bloodline. Though ostensibly a mercenary company, The Red Bastards draw a great deal of their income through extortion, banditry, and outright theft. Townships and villages that refuse to pay their exorbitant protection fees are found burnt to the ground by what appears to be dragonfire, contributing to rumours that the Red Prince may be Choral reborn.
Structure and Leadership
The Red Prince steadfastly maintains the mystery surrounding his true identity, using rumours of his origins to encourage fear and adoration in his followers. Commands from the Red Prince are disseminated by his lieutenants, Alora, Rykul, and Gerrard, all humans with similar claims of noble lineage with little evidence. Abandoned villas, hunting lodges, and keeps left in the wake of House Rogarvia’s sudden disappearance shelter the nomadic mercenary company. The Red Bastards maintain a static stronghold in the Valley of Fire called Bastard's Bastion and use rumours of the haunted valley to keep interlopers at bay.
Goals
The Red Bastards seek to encourage the already widespread fracturing of alliances that pervade Brevoy’s political landscape. Acts of banditry and sabotage are designed to look like the acts of rival Houses. Noble progeny with no true claim to their families’ dynasties hope to profit from the chaos a civil war brings. The Red Prince has aspirations to repeat the conquests of his supposed ancestor and unite Brevoy once more under his own banner. Above all, the Red Bastards seek personal profit and never pass up an opportunity to capitalize on a situation.
Public Perception
The Red Bastards are distrusted by the populace and nobility alike, but their ruthlessness in completing contracts has increased their appeal as a necessary evil. Noble houses hoping to keep a dangerous weapon out of the hands of rivals keep the mercenaries on contract for as long as their coffers can hold them.
Flask of Liquid Sunlight Aura moderate evocation; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 10,800 gp; Weight 1 lbs.
Description
This gilded container is shaped like a scarab beetle, with a radiant gold liquid sloshing about in its crystalline thorax. So long as the flask contains some liquid, it casts light as a torch. If the bottle is unstoppered and its entire contents flung in an arc overhead, the liquid ignites and sheds bright light in a 60ft radius. The radiant liquid affects creatures susceptible to light as if it were natural sunlight and lasts for ten minutes. Alternatively, the liquid can be used on a weapon. If the entire contents of the flask are used to coat a weapon, the weapon sheds light as the daylight spell and deals an extra 2d6 damage against undead. Against undead susceptible to natural light (such as vampires), this damage increases to 2d8. Only one end of a double weapon can receive the benefits of the flask of liquid sunlight. The light and bonuses to the weapon wear off after ten minutes. So long as the flask of liquid sunlight is exposed to natural light for one hour, it refills with the radiant gold liquid the next morning at dawn.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, daylight and searing light; Cost 5,400 gp
Folks are free to treat my advice and rulings and help on these boards as "unofficial" or "optional" or even "untrustworthy" if they want, and I try not to let that bother me... but I've seen that attitude pop up enough on these boards that I generally don't answer rules-based questions on the rules forums.
And since I'm one of the most active Paizo employees on these boards, that means that folks have more or less "scared off" what could be a pretty handy resource for them to resolve questions and conflicts in their own game. Which is kind of sad. So... hopefully folks take my previous post in the way it was intended: as helpful advice and a look behind the philosophy of my own game design and interpretations of the rules.
This makes me very sad :'(
To the OP, I'm not really sure what else you can ask for at this point. As far as I can tell you represent a small minority of people who might find the wording of the alchemist as a gamestopper. A quick search of the forums did not turn up a great number of similar threads, as is normally the case with ambiguous or unclear rules. James designed the class. He's given his opinion on the matter. A number of players stepped in well before and drew from their experience some very persuasive arguments, backed by legitimate interpretation of the rules.
And that's all you can really ask for. People have given you a response, to the best of their abilities. You have to take those responses and put them together with the written rules and try and come to a consensus that allows the game to continue in a way that's still fun for everyone.
Remaining intractable when presented with well-reasoned, cited, and informed arguments is what's 'scaring off' a lot of people that used to post very helpful information. People are less inclined to be helpful when presented with inflexible viewpoints.
I'm sorry you didn't find the answers you were looking for. I'm sorry you felt attacked when defending your viewpoint. Hopefully you can find a way to resolve this issue to your satisfaction. I don't believe you'll find that solution here.
You'll probably want to be an Oracle or Cleric with some form of speak with dead, and spells that will protect you from the undead (Protection from Evil, Hide from Undead, Hold Undead) without directly harming them. You may want to help ghosts, but some ghosts may not be onboard with that and you'll need to guard yourself against possession and protect against the possibility of mindless undead just trying to take a bite of your delicious brains.
Cleric with the Repose domain, or Oracle with the Ancestors mystery would fit.
An alternative could be an inquisitor with the Repose domain (or the associated Ancestors subdomain). I could see that being a pretty neat concept, but mechanically it has fewer tools for protecting against undead or communicating with them and more tools for just killing them.
So, on average, an 8th level druid with nothing but a holy amulet of mighty fists (or flaming/shocking, corrosive/frost, whatever) could deal more than half the total hit points a CR8 might possess in a single round by expending a use of a 3/daily ability and using an amulet that amounts to almost 2/3rds of your WBL (20,000/33,000gp).
In order to execute this attack, the druid needs a straight line through a corridor at least 15ft tall and 25ft long for a minimum of 10ft of unobstructed terrain, 15ft across (3x2 square area) to charge through. The position of allies, position of enemies not being charged, difficult terrain, and other factors limit the ability of a huge creature to charge and gain the benefits of pounce. But, under those conditions, and without factoring in feats or the remaining 13,000gp worth of equipment, the druid can deal a hefty amount of damage, likely in excess of a fighter with similar restrictions.
Amulet of Mighty Fists
Aura faint evocation; CL 5th
Slot neck; Price 5,000 gp (+1), 20,000 gp (+2), 45,000 gp (+3), 80,000 gp (+4), 125,000 gp (+5); Weight —
Those are the prices I quoted yes. You also stated that a +1 flaming longsword would be 4,000gp. That's the crafting price. The purchase price is 8,000gp.
Taason the Black wrote:
A +5 amulet of mighty fist equals a +6 weapon since the amulet does not require the initial +1 investment to add effects. So it is equal to the 128k +6 item you spoke of. In addition, it applies to BOTH claws where the +6 longsword applies to one hand so significantly more damage.
I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that a +5 weapon is +6 because it doesn't have a +1. A +6 weapon is 72,000gp as well, 56,000gp cheaper than the item I quoted. With 56,000gp I could buy another +5 weapon and a wondrous item with the change. 72,000gp is still significantly cheaper than a +5 amulet, even if I do choose to agree with the assumption of +5 = +6.
Taason the Black wrote:
Please give me one build that does 90 DPR on average to a generic opponent without the use of feats nor magic items said one at 10k. Keep in mind, said druid is doing this without any other spells or magic items except for a +2 amulet of natural attacks. We arent talking about ranger favored enemies.
Show me the math that proves the druid can put out 90 DPR. My math is showing 60~DPR against a CR8 opponent, given 14 Strength, an amulet of mighty fists +2, and 8th level wild shape. Also, that's a bit of an unfair rubric. A DPR build without feats or equipment is a poor point of comparison. Also, the druid has a 20,000gp item, so giving me a 10,000gp item seems a tad unfair.
Also, that's the nature of the druid class to be able to put out signficant wildshape damage, not the amulet of mighty fists. Does equipping a monk with an amulet of mighty fists make them unbalanced? What about an unarmed fighter, natural weapon ranger, or beast totem barbarian? It sounds more like you take issue with the class using the item, not the item.
Paladins aren't terribly overpowered in Ravenloft. They're not immune to fear if you're using the 3.5e Ravenloft rules. They get the Courage feat (+4 vs Fear saves) for free at first level instead. I think there might be a caveat about being immune to magical fear, but not physical, gut-wrenching, oh-dear-that's-a-long-fall fear. Paladins are also not immune to Horror or Madness. They can't detect evil either (again, per the 3.5e version of the rules), since evil permeates the very matter of the demiplane. They detect Innocence or Chaos. Innocence is an exceptionally rare thing.
The poor paladin in my current Ravenloft game went a little bonkers when he used his Detect ability on the serial killer the party had been hunting and found her to be an Innocent. He's permanently insane now. Well, his primary personality is insane. His other 8 personalities are all pretty stable, after a sense.
I don't see inquisitors being able to shrug off anything any better than a paladin. The Stalwart ability only applies to spells or effects that have a reduced effect on a save. If the inquisitor passes, they suffer no ill effects. If the inquisitor fails, they still suffer the full effects. In terms of Fear, Horror, and Madness, this has no impact. The Will saves for those three effects are universally Save or Something Terrible Happens. So against the abilities of monsters, that's a great passive defense! Against opening a door and discovering a fetid pile of corpses arranged into a smiley face? Not so helpful. Also, good luck getting to level 11 in Ravenloft. Like paladins, inquisitors that make themselves known for being a thorn in the sides of those that do evil tend to draw the attention of evil beings. On a plane that generally rewards acts of evil.
As for the monster identifying skills and advantages to combat an inquisitor has, well, those I find reasonably in flavour for Ravenloft. It reminds me of Van Richten and his followers. I think there was even a prestige class in 3.0/3.5 Ravenloft that built off rangers to become a monster hunter. I think inquisitors fit well in that niche and don't have a serious advantage over a ranger who picks his favoured enemy well. Remember that most of the seminal, iconic monsters in Ravenloft get a power boost. Fiends, lycanthropes, the undead, hags, and all that get some serious boosts simply for being in the demiplane. Also, inquisitors, using paladins as reference, could only detect alignments on the Law-Chaos scale, since Good-Evil are undetectable in Ravenloft.
The big thing to remember is that Ravenloft is a big game of consequences. You can't run it like a regular game and expect the same atmosphere. It's the Demiplane of Dread, for gods' sakes. It eats character sheets like players eat your snacks. Your players need to be fearing for their characters' lives. Being a constant beacon of hope and good is going to bring down some awful comeuppance. Worse, it may bring promises of assistance and support; all of which are tainted with the intent of engineering the downfall of a good man/woman. As a Ravenloft GM, you are working to engineer the downfall of your players. That doesn't mean they can't succeed, it just means they have to work harder and smarter and be willing to make sacrifices. As GM, you are roleplaying the demiplane, and the demiplane is actively against its denizens.
Ring of Force Shield is 8.5k gp, provides a +2 shield bonus to AC. The PRD describes it as "weightless and encumbrance-free" (Link Here). I see no reason why it would impede your ability to swing a weapon with your off-hand. It benefits you by providing an alternative to a deflection bonus for your ring slot, and it functions against incorporeal attacks as it mimics a force effect.
Ring of Protection +2 is 8k gp, provides a +2 deflection bonus to AC. The Ring of Force Shield is more expensive, and deflection counts to your AC against incorporeal and touch attacks, so the benefits of a force shield do not exceed the benefits of the Ring of Protection. In terms of balance, I see no reason to penalize a player for carrying a weightless, encumbrance-free shield, even if they're swinging a weapon with the arm the shield is attached to.
Sure, you can stack the both of them for a whopping +4 to your AC, at the cost of both your ring slots and 16.5k gp. Or you could by a Ring of Protection +4. For 16k gp. I'm still not floored by this. Ring of Force Shield doesn't say it imposes any of the same penalties as a shield. In fact, in explicitly states that it provides the benefits of a heavy shield with none of the weight or encumbrance based penalties. I'm inclined to just let people with full hands get away with their incredibly (read: not especially) overpowered ring.
