sozin's page

those are some tough constraints. 3.5/PF combat is generally regarded as pretty laborious (but fun!), and running a party of 9 people in 2 hours means that you'll probably only get 1-2 combats done per session. make sure you make the combats challenging because if it is "all over" in the first round, and your last two people in the initiative count don't get a chance to go, it is going to be a lot of thumb twittling for them...

there's a good gnome stew article 5 Ways to deal with a too large party.

age of worms collected would be great ( I don't think its available for purchase anywhere -- just old Dungeon Magazines, right?).

the complete-ist in me would purchase hardbound APs, even though I have the softbounds already. Maybe wait a couple of years, let all of the errata trickle through, then publish 100 single edition gold leafed author signed hardbounds for $150 a pop. watch the paizo-addicts fall all over themselves in a mad rush to thrust their money into your hands.

Where can I find information on proteans? I can't seem to find stats for these guys anywhere online.

Thanks!

the 4th Legacy of Fire AP "The End of Eternity" has extensive information about these interesting creatures. the pdf is also purchasable.

...not to mention being just a really great adventure.

I'd buy hardcover APs.

makes sense. I've decided instead of simply black highwaymen disguises to instead go with ... regidottari disguises :-) should sow confusion and hopefully set the HKs and dottari against each other.

Hmm, I'm about to run this session, and I have to admit that I'm a little worried about the no-one-@#$@#'s-with-the-hellknights-and-gets-away-with-it reaction.

that said, I want the PCs to have another early encounter with the HKs, because it preps them as Bad Guys in their minds.

perhaps the PCs can just go disguised (masks, black outfits over their armor, etc) to prevent identification? and if one of the HKs -does- get killed, it'll up the paranoia factor of the campaign (ie with the HKs putting out wanted posters all over town).

Dragon Age. RPG of the year 2009.

the blade runner soundtrack is legendary.

nice analysis (and image) v-p. puts a lot of things together for me.

Awesome information, thank you!

My take-away is that the House of Thrune isn't doing a bang up job managing the administrivia of the country. In one of the APs (can't recall which one) it states that Westrcrown is the biggest shipping port in the country -- that's got to be a lot of cheddar that's being nibbled on by certain ... roguish mice. (is anyone other than me using Scasi Bolvona, durotas of the condotarri, as a corrupt extension of the CoT?) even if its a backwater, it must be a lucrative one, and the fact that house thrune doesn't have a cadre of Inquisitors investigating port crime indicates that they don't have their act completely together. (or simply don't care to.)

just curious -- do they call themselves the council of thieves? in a culture that is so law-abiding as westcrown/cheliax, it seems like kind of a slap in the face to the establishment to pick a name that is so obviously counter-culture.

one thing that I haven't formally seen in the AP (so far) that I'm constructing on my own, is the mafia-style org chart (example) of the CoT, and who the power players are in each "family". how often do they meet? where do they meet? when they meet, is it all of the bosses? all of the bosses and their underbosses? how are decisions made? What is the title of the Head Boss? etc etc. Filling out these details will offer that sort of crime-grit feel that makes this AP so unique.

Wraithstrike, Radiant Assault, Vortex of Teeth, Evards Menacing Tentacles, the Bite of the Werebeast line, Rhino's Rush and Lion's Charge. Did I mention Wraithstrike?

Hey all, about to do CoT, and wanted to make sure that I understand the governmental structure correctly in Westcrown / Cheliax, and how these groups can play into CoT AP.

As I see it, there are five main sources of power in Westcrown.

The Mayor's office: responsible for fostering order via the dottari, maintenance of city infrastructure, and taxation. The Mayor is appointed by the Chelish Queen.

The Order of the Rack: The House Thrune's private, out of band enforcer group, separate from both mundane police force/local law enforcement and imperial law enforcement. Reports directly into House Thrune. Are given complete leeway by the Queen to to whatever the @#$^$ they want within the borders of Cheliax, provided that they obey the Measure, the Chain, and the Disciplines.

The Church of Asmodeus : the legal system of the country, responsible for the laws of Cheliax (the Asmodean Disciplines). Broken out into two main branches: the Inquisitors, the secret police of Cheliax, who create and development informants throughout the country, and the Prelates, or judges, usually clerics of Asmodeus, responsible for making judgements on criminal and civil cases.

The Nobility: Although they have no formal place in the government system, their members do "populate the bureaucracy and fill out vacancies in the Church" (Cheliax, 7).

The Council of Thieves: Shadowy, mythical bunch of rogues, pulling the purse strings and coffers behind the scenes.

And now, some questions.

1) Are any of my statements above incorrect?

2) Is Cheliax a theocracy, defined as (Wikipedia) "[a] form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler, or in a higher sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided." While Asmodeus isn't the supreme ruler of Cheliax -- Queen Abrogial the Second is -- she certainly can be seen to be "divinely guided." Or is it instead an absolute monarchy, "[W]here the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, thus wielding political power over the sovereign state and its subject peoples"?

3) Are the dottari part of local municipal government, or are they part of the Church of Asmodeus? In the CoT AP 1 it clearly states that the Mayor "controls the Dottari" (pg 50), but in Cheliax : Empire of Devils it lumps the dottari between the Inquisitors and the Prelates (pg 5).

4) Speaking of the prelates, what is the formal name of this branch of the Church? They are not formally named in the Cheliax : Empire of Devils book, so I've taken to calling them the Prelates, after Alaster Wolfstongue, Senior Prelate of Kintargo, and scourge of the Devil's Perch (pg 5).

5) Does the Church have an official place of power (courthouse) in Westcrown? In AP 1, I cannot find one listed. If not, where do criminal and civil trials take place in Westcrown, and who administers them (i.e., does the Mayor's Office appointment judges in Westcrown)? It would appear natural for Thrune to make sure that the Church had plenty of influence -- both Inquisitors in secret, and Prelates in public -- in the city. "The Church controls access to the Queen ... its clergy staff various portions of government bureaucracy, control the courts, and help to create the laws that come before the queen for her approval" (Cheliax, 7).

6) Speaking of Inquisitors, it appears that the Inquisitors have zero AP presence in the CoT AP. Did I miss a reference somewhere? I'm guessing there are some really interesting places where an agent could be inserted (as a sleeper agent in the Council rooting out the true nature of crime in the city, or someone investigating the Children of Westcrown, or someone keeping tabs on the Mayor, etc).

7) Does anyone else see a heavily Italian influence in this AP? Westcrown itself is a city of canals, and feels quite Venecian or Roman; a lawful evil/theocratic/noble government running things -- almost as if the Catholic Church (a potentially LE organization in real life -- flamebait, sorry); a shadowy, mafia-like criminal group in the background pulling strings; the names of things themselves sounds Italian -- the "Condottari", the "Regidottari", names like "Parego", "Vira", etc. Designers, was this intentional?

Thanks in advance!

took my 10% holiday discount and applied it to a big campaign coin purchase!

so, I'm not sure how useful or gimmicky these coins are going to be. I've been using paper money for a while now, and my players originally thought it was cool, and eventually got bored of using the money and asked me if they could just keep track of things "old school" (pen and paper) style.

these coins won't be able to replace paper money as a comprehensive money source, because it would be too expensive to purchase enough coins to keep up with actual in-game currency. (Although I'm sure that paizo would love it if I were to put in a 10k purchase for coins :-)

So here are some ways I'm thinking about using these coins:

- for tasty role playing bits. want to give a copper to that beggar? you have one. need to bribe the town guard with a gp? no problem. think a little platinum bling will encourage that hot barmaid to warm your bed at the inn? go for it.

- for tracking total wealth. this will basically mean potentially investing in a lot of 100 pp platinum pieces. and this could be expensive too: $11.99 for 640 platinum pieces ~= $12 USD for 6,400 gold pieces =~ 1 USD to 533.33 gold piece conversion rate. for a 4 player party, when they hit 10th level (62,000 gps per person -- PG 399), I'll have to spend 116 dollars per person, or $465 USD, to track total wealth using platinum pieces. not exactly cost prohibitive. thus, either 1) paizo issues a 1000 platinum piece coin, or 2) paizo makes available the separate purchase of 100 platinum piece coins, or 3) I abandon the entire idea and only use the coins for RP fluff.

- to make a tiny bed of coins for one of my miniature dragons :-)

how are others planning on using these coins?

I played Avlis for years and enjoyed hell out of it.

Congrats Josh and Nob on finishing the book! Picking up a copy.

Linkified and located here.

save columns need editing (they are all "Save", instead of fort, ref, will)

Jonathan Foer's eye opening book _Eating Animals_ is definitely worth reading: http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Animals-Jonathan-Safran-Foer/dp/0316069906

I have created a google docs spreadsheet that has these rumors incorporated, as well as most of the rumors laid out in the AP's 1-3. There are multiple rumor tabs: Westcrown, Crime, Nobles, The Night Scourge, and Hellknights.

However, before I post the URL, would prefer for paizo staff to say "go for it" (I don't want to post some of their content without permission).

cheers

the Atomic Array guys did a meaty podcast on this topic.

http://atomicarray.com/fantasy-craft-aa032

The Only Sheet ( http://www.theonlysheet.com/ ) is fantastic. It's Excel based, mature, and has native Pathfinder support.

All praise paizo support! every time I've had to interact with 'em they've been great.

Character driven solo adventures with pre-generated PCs set in various picturesque Pathfinder Chronicle locales!

- A young rogue/assassin growing up in the dirty dark markets of Katapesh, working up his way up from corpse smuggler in the Dark Stalls, to pesh smuggler in Dogtown, to trusted agent of the Unseen Hand acting as double agent for the Pactmasters and Aspis Consortium... (Kind of a Grand Theft Auto set in Golarion.)

- A werewolf-hunting druid in the Darkmoon Veil hiding a terrible secret (the hunter is also infected with lycanthropy; sort of a Blade daywalker thing.)

- An uplander that's been deep baited and enslaved by duergar (drow?) in the Darklands and engineers a slave rebellion and Escape from NY-esque escape to the surface.

Etc etc.

Desk cal or coffee table book, I'd buy either. But then again, I'm a sucker for everything paizo does.

figure I might as well tour the micro breweries in portland while I'm out there. take a whole week off from the job, bring the wife, maybe convince her to come nerd out with me at the con.

Color me psyched! Can't wait or the con, missed it this year, not going to make the same mistake next year.

I'm up for playing. I live in Lincoln Square / North side. sozinsky at gmail dot com

Question for the staff:

Is there any reason to purchase the pdf if I own all of the RoRL adventure paths on pdf?

Or, to put it another way: is the image pixel density quality of the pdf map folio's images higher resolution than the original pdfs?

(Digital projector DM here who values high resolution jpg/gif/png's. And if you're out there listening, it would be great to get maps _without_ legends or numeric room keys, as photoshopping them out manually is a _major_ pain in the ass.)

I just finished Doctorow's mind-blowing Little Brother . (If you don't like paying for hardcopy, it's download-able for free at Cory's Craphound site.)

It's basically a near-future novel about the Department of Homeland Security going totally nuts and monitoring everything we do, and a group of high school students that fight back against The Man using a variety of technological and sociological techniques.

A scary, eye-opening, "this could happen" piece of near-sci-fi.

What are the circumstances, exactly, that prevent the characters from acting? I could probably come up with better ideas if I knew more.

They put the phylactery into the bow of a plane-hopping funeral barge, which transported them to a different plane. If they destroy the phylactery, they destroy their ability to return to their home plane.

Hello all,

I have a question about lich regeneration.

My party is in a spot where, for various reasons, they can't destroy the lich's phylactery (which they have in their possession). so it is inevitable that the lich reform on them.

The d20 srd is kind of vague about what happens next. "Unless its phylactery is located and destroyed, a lich reappears 1d10 days after its apparent death."

So here are my questions:

1) This is a cleric lich. Will it come back with all of its spells? Will they be the spells it had when it was "killed", or will it get a fresh shot at a new set of spells?
2) Will it be able to cast them (given that it doesn't have its holy symbol?)
3) What happens during the reformation? Does it slowly appear, skeletal-like, until its whole body forms? Does it zing into existence fully formed? Does it just take over, say, a nearby animal skeleton?

I read the goodman games complete lich book, and it seemed to say basically "this is all up to the DM."

Looking forward to your thoughts!

I'm buying/supporting it because:

1) I think Paizo is the True Keeper of the D&D Flame. They love the game, and it shows in the work. I'll buy just about everything Paizo does, simply to support them.
2) I'm starting up a new campaign that's sent completely in the new campaign setting.
3) The adjustments Paizo makes to the core ruleset -- and the feedback they take from the community vis-a-vis those adjustments -- is going to make the 3.5 ruleset better. And I'm happy with the ruleset.

Hey all.

I've been DMing a conversation of the classic 2nd Edition Weiss and Hickman "Desert of Desolation" series.

There is an NPC in this module named Munafik that I'm trying to convert over to 3.5 rules, and I was looking for some input from you guys on how to do it.

Because he has hidden his heart elsewhere, Munafik cannot be damaged or killed by spells or blows. Cutting hits will slice through him with no effect and thrusts will impale him but do no damage for his "heart isn't in it"; he has trapped his soul elsewhere. Spells will effect him as they would any 10th level MU, except that damaging attacks have no effect. For example, a hold person will hold him, but a magic will cause no damage.

Munafik: AC 7; MV 12''; MU 10; hp N/A; #AT 1; D 1d6; AL LE

Here's a description of how he got this way:

Munafik read old and wicked books to prolong his life, but the books turned him undead. Finally he magically placed his heart into a special jar so that we would be protected from all harm.

I don't know of mechanisms in 3.5 ruleset that support this sort of thing. I was thinking of just changing him to be a cleric lich (is such a thing possible? I saw a druid lich recently in the kobold quarterly).

Thanks in advance!