wraithstrike's page

Manzorian tries to make a trade with the PC's later in the story. I beleive he wants the a part of the Rod of Law(7 parts). The PC's will most likely want actual money instead allowing everyone to choose a powerful magic item because if they combine their money they can probably buy something better, and the rest of the money can just go into the party pot.
We are not even close to that point in the story, but that is how the group thinks. If they want the money I would be giving them less than if they accepted a 40,000 gold magic item. The problem is I don't know what a fair amount of gold would be. I don't want to cheat them, but they are creative, and giving them to much money would definitely be a problem later.

The Black Bard wrote:

www.therpgenius.net

Its quite small, the poster map is four 11x8 in size, and really just gives you details of the stable and main tower. Its a shame the map wasn't included in the magazine at smaller size, for those who loose it or buy secondhand or PDF.

Yeah, it's ridiculously tiny. When I ran the module, I put two Megamats side by side instead and drew out the entire surrounding landscape -- all 68" x 48" of it. My players had a blast with the huge layout to battle in, which helped substantially as I'd upped the number and quality of foes they were fighting as well.

It is ridiculously tiny. I am no longer disappointed I did not order a 2nd magazine now. He will not leave the gate unless he deems it absolutely necessary. Instead of 4 EL 5's and 2 EL 6's; I will have 1 EL 7 guardian creature at the front door and 5 EL 5's. The one EL 7 will be the guardian creature if the PC's attempt to come in through the front door. If the EL'7 realizes it is about to lose the fight against the PC's it will call for help and then try to smash the door/gate of the castle, or at least weaken it so the lizardfolk can get in easier.

The board ate my first post so I will put in a much shorter version. For Blackwall Keep(Chapter 3)a poster-map is supposed to come with the magazine. What are the dimensions of the battlefield on the map?

There is also a website that has player created resources for AoW, SCAP, and STAP. I always forget to bookmark it. Can someone point me to it?

Here is the situation:
As we all know pdfs are no longer available, and I have yet again received a magazine without a poster-map. I don't have time to track down another one, and hope it arrives in time. Does anyone know the dimensions in feet of the postermap(outside area). I will also make my own version of the first floor of the keep. I am trying to remain as true to the game as possible. How much space generally speaking is between the patrol teams?

That is all.

PS: I am now smart enough to read ahead so I don't run into anymore supply issues. Skimming over adventures is not good.

I think the Magic-mart should depend on whether you run a world that has many adventurers, and the PC's just happen to be a cut above the rest, at least until they die, or if people running off, and battling monsters is almost unheard of, and considered by many to be a good sign of being insane. If they are common then it makes sense that there should be people who cater to them, but if not, it shouldn't be hard to get magic items.

3.5

Dwarf Barbarian

Is that the 6 inch figure that would be close to "huge" D&D figure size? I found(online) a bigger 11 inch model, but I can't find them in any nearby stores.

I tried to find it(online), but I couldn't. Is it big enough to represent a huge figure?

I have seen a few custom-made minis, but I have a -50 on my "anything artistic" check. :(

What miniature have you used or would you suggest using for Kyuss?

Wraithstrike, in an attempt to address the recent halt in PDF sales by WoTC, has apparently reached Mr. Leeds and is going to speak with him in the future about that very topic. As I understand it, he's taking suggestions from the community in an attempt to redress this issue.

So, I was thinking this would be a good opportunity to address what you'd like to see from WoTC, in regards to how it has handled the PDF issue, as well as other recent, community perceived, "Blunders."

For what it's worth, this isn't an attempt to jump-start the edition wars or to pour hate on WoTC. Constructive suggestions, however, are welcome.

So, if you were talking with Mr.Leeds, what would you be suggesting?

I am not talking to Mr.Leeds directly. Someone from Enworld is. The link I posted is a way to give your thoughts to Enworld so they can be passed to Mr.Leeds. Sorry if I was not clear, and I would have responded sooner had I known anyone was thinking I had any direct contact with Mr.Leeds.

PS: I stand corrected. It was may have been another website that got the ball rolling.

Now Mr.Leeds want to listen to the us or so he says.

click me

How can they track illegal downloads? It seems like it would be incredibly difficult to get an accruate number.

They can't. Software companies that get pirated more than WoTC, and are better at technical issues can't do it, so I am sure WoTC can't. They can try to gauge an estimate, but so can I, however I would not bet money that my estimation, if I had one, or WotCs' "tracking" was even close to the real number, whatever it may be.

wraithstrike wrote:

They just discovered the pirating according to the early response, but they can track it. <-----Makes not sense.

They didn't just discover piracy. They have known about piracy for as long as any of us have. They just recently noticed a significant spike in pirating of their products that coincided with the release of the PHB2, because they've been tracking it.

That answer makes perfect sense.

I know they already knew about it, but when they first addressed it they made it sound like piracy of their products was a new discovery, and then they try to say they can track it.

From the WoTC boards-->Unfortunately, due to recent findings of illegal copying and online distribution (piracy) of our products, Wizards of the Coast has decided to cease the sales of online PDFs.

Link

wraithstrike wrote:

In case anyone cares here is an interview from the WoTC president. He is not saying a lot, and there are a few obvious lies to those that are not wearing blinders.

click me

Other than the corporate-speak answer to question 9, which answers in there do you think contained these obvious lies?

2. Is online piracy a continuing annoyance for Wizards, a substantial concern, or something between the two? Are there estimates of lost sales figures that you can share?

The piracy became a substantial concern when we saw thousands of copies of our recently released Player’s Handbook 2 being downloaded illegally within hours of its release. We cannot share sales figures, but I can tell you that we conservatively estimate the ratio of illicit downloads to legally purchased copies was 10:1.

A quick clarification from WotC regarding the answer to Question 2, above:

The 10:1 ratio that Greg references is for PDFs only – it has nothing to do with the physical books. For every one PDF purchased legally, there were at least 10 downloaded illegally. And yes, we can track it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
They just discovered the pirating according to the early response, but they can track it. <-----Makes not sense. If I was so behind the times that I just caught onto a scheme that is years old I am sure I would also be to behind the times to track it when it was designed not to be tracked.

So either they already knew about it, and for some reason just decided to use the information now(most likely answer), or they just discovered it and have little/no ways of tracking it. If the second option were true and there that behind the time they would probably have been out of business a long time ago.

PS: 3rd edit

In case anyone cares here is an interview from the WoTC president. He is not saying a lot, and there are a few obvious lies to those that are not wearing blinders.

click me

wraithstrike wrote:

It was a blast to play, but sadly this party was TPK'd much later on (I think it was in the module after The Champion's Games). Running an evil group was fun, but be prepared for a much more complicated campaign (depending how evil thier actions are) and altering some story/NPC elements. My players would probably be more of a neutral or lawful evil. Basically greedy and self-serving, but not killing without reason so they can avoid attention. I need a reason for them to...

Hey Wraithstrike

I am currently running the AOW campaign with a bunch of LE characters - self-serving, greedy, as you said. The campaign started when they were all marooned near Diamond Lake, and the first few adventures I had the same problem you have currently - I had pay them to do anything.

But with the AOW starting to bloom, somewhere along the lines they realized with all their self serving antics it won't matter if the world doesn't exist. Each of them is now dead set on stopping the AOW from occurring. Still a little self serving but non-the-less I don't have to pay them anymore. Actually I didn't really need to do that every since they got to the free city and agents of the Ebon Triad attempted to frame and kill them. You may have to appeal to their greed at first, or whatever gets them going - you are the DM so hopefully you know the players, then show them that they won't be able to enjoy themselves if the world ends. Hopefully they'll get the hint.

Hope that helps ...

They ended up not being evil. We just had our first session this weekend.

I don't know if the discussion on the PF version or the 3.5 version, but the 3.5 version does of protection from evil does block 3.5's version of confusion. If the PF version is being discussed you may disregard this post.

So far I have tried playing this with just #1. On a result of "attack an ally" or "attack yourself" the affected target gets another Will save since this is an enchantment effect that is against the creature's nature. However, since the creature is confused at the time, they suffer a -2 penalty to the roll. So far it seems fairly balanced.

Has anyone else tried altering the Confusion spell at all?

I have been hit by it, and it is annoying but I would not call it overpowered. Standing in a huddle is just an overall bad tactic. If it had not been a confusion spell it could have been an empowered twinned fireball. As far as the DC, most high level monsters have ridiculous saves so they don't have to worry about it. Your DM may just be having bad dice days or it could be the enemies he is using.

What is the DC for the spell, why is it that high, and what types of enemies are you currently fighting?

wraithstrike wrote:

My 30'ish score used the same setup you did. I could probably get to 40 if I tried, but I doubt I could get 45 using a PHB fighter. I don't count defending weapons or fighting on defensive because both of those take away from offense.

Add a +5 animated heavy steel shield (+7 AC) for 49,170 gp, a dusty rose prism ioun stone (+1 AC) for 5,000 gp, and boots of speed (haste adds +1 AC) for 12,000 gp, take Dodge (+1 AC vs. one opponent) as one of your 18 feats (19 if human), and you get an AC of up to 44 or 45 and can still attack with a bow, two-handed melee weapon, etc.

If I wanted to maximize my AC in core, I wouldn't go straight fighter, I'd go dwarf barbarian 2/fighter 8/dwarven defender 10. Even without Defensive Stance, I can get the AC up to 49 (50 with Dodge) with +5 mithral full plate (and still move at 30 ft, to boot; 60 ft with haste). Taking Improved Shield Bash and Two-Weapon Fighting (bumping Dex to 15) and using +5 defending shield spikes can boost the AC to 54 (55 with Dodge) on a full attack (granted, you have to take a -4 on attacks and you can't use a two-handed weapon as your primary). Using a +5 animated light steel shield with +5 defending shield spikes reduces the maximum AC to 48/53 (49/54 with Dodge), but you only take a -2 on attacks.

I will have to see where the gold has been going. I have personally never played past level 15, and have only DM'd up to 16. I thought from all the complaining I see on the boards(not this one) that hitting a character was almost guaranteed.

In no certain order:
Mindflayers
Dragons
Vampires
Phase Spiders-just to annoy new players that have not learned to ready an action
Drow
Dolgaunt

wraithstrike wrote:

A fighter or level 20 monsters will have an AC of about 30, but both a player and a monster will have over 30 to their attack bonus making it a hit, unless a 2 is rolled.

Umm, actually, a level 18-20 fighter will probably have an AC of about 40-45, unless they really concentrate on boosting AC (which can result in an AC of around 50-55, without even going beyond the core rules). +5 mithral breastplate, ring of protection +5, amulet of natural armor +5, and gloves of dexterity +6 (assuming a 14 Dex) give 10 (base) +10 (breastplate) +5 (deflection) +5 (natural armor) +5 (Dex) = 35 AC for 29,200 + 50,000 + 50,000 + 36,000 = 165,200 gp (about 1/3 to 1/5 of the total recommended Wealth by Level). This doesn't include any (animated) shield, defending weapon, class features (i.e., dwarven defender), or other items or buff spells (dusty rose prism ioun stone, haste, etc.) that can boost AC even higher.

However, AC does reach a hard limit, while attack bonuses do not. This is one of the issues with the creature advancement rules that will hopefully be addressed in PFRPG.

My 30'ish score used the same setup you did. I could probably get to 40 if I tried, but I doubt I could get 45 using a PHB fighter. I don't count defending weapons or fighting on defensive because both of those take away from offense.

One thing I've noticed about 3.5 is that it doesn't really handle scaling monsters very well. In Library of Last Resort (may have the name wrong), there are several monsters that have been advanced many hit dice. The biggest problem with this is that BAB scales up so quickly that it makes for auto hits on every roll except ones. I'm coming around to the POV that HD/BAB could be boosted slightly, and any increase beyond that would come from doubling/tripling HPs.

The one other area I've noticed that 3.5 is a pain is in the sheer number of buffs available. I'm really starting to hate Dispel Magic. It's bad for the PCs (too much math to recalc) and even worse for the DM (too many monsters buffed). The higher level you get, the worse it seems to be.

AC starts to fall behind quickly at higher levels. Piazo's fighter does a good job of making it not look so bad. Even comparing PC to other humanoids makes them easy to hit. The monsters have the same issue. A fighter or level 20 monsters will have an AC of about 30, but both a player and a monster will have over 30 to their attack bonus making it a hit, unless a 2 is rolled. Most modules have either the buffed or unbuffed version. If they have one version I will write the other stats down so I don't have to do it on the fly. As a player I normally write my buffed stats in parenthesis or one a separate piece of paper.

I have never had a TPK, but I have come close. When I get to sit at the table as a player I have always been smart enough to run away, reassess the situation, and come back later. If my players can't do the same I should feel no pity for them. There may be situations where they can't run, but those are rare.
This does not mean I won't fudge dice, but the players should not know you are saving them, and you should only save them from bad dice days, IMHO. If the party has tactics issues dying is a good teacher.

Before I started DM'ing it I could not effectively run two characters, but once I started to run multiple characters as a DM it became easier as a player, so maybe I should have an asterisk beside the running two characters issue if it ever comes up again.

I need at least 3 characters. If one of the players are willing run two character that works for me. I prefer 4-6, and will do run for more than 8. The only reason I would consider 8 is because sometimes people don't have constant schedules, and if someone does not show up I still normally at least have four.

I would like to be able to subscribe to a thread so that when someone replies an email is sent to my account. If this is already possible I do apologize.

It really depends on your players. If they like to write backgrounds for characters you could try to have them write the backgrounds first and work around that. If they don't care about backgrounds then it is easy enough to have all of them in Diamond Lake or 2 in DL and the other two in the big city. Another factor is whether or not any of them are evil. I have noticed that Allustan sends them on quest, but there seems to be no real motivation for them to do the quest, at least not at the beginning. As a good character I might help out, but as neutral or evil I would probably tell Allustan where he could go with the quests. You could use money as a motivation, or you could have them infected with a disease that is somehow tied to Allustan's quest. I have thought about running a pre-adventure if my group goes the evil route, and the disease is what makes them do the quest. At some point, I will have them get rid of the disease, but at the same time they will know the Age of Worms is a very real thing, and they will continue on, not so much to save the world, but to save themselves.
I am probably about to start the adventure within the next two weeks. If your players have a background post it here, and we may be able to find a way to start. If they are from DL maybe one is a miner, another is an apprentice to Allustan, another works for one of the mine managers, and so on.

What levels does this and the other Paizo AP's stop at, assuming the party has four people?

wraithstrike wrote:

I was wandering if anyone of you had any ideas of how to motivate characters in a similar situation.

Hi wraithsrtike

I DM'd a group of evil/CN mercenary-type PCs through AoW a few years back. They started off as slave labour working in the mines for Gelch Tilgast, who requests them out to steal a map to the Wispering Cairn from Dietrik Cicaeda (IMC, the cairn was not common knowledge.) You see, I had Smenk commission Auric, Khellek, and Tirra for the Stirgenest Cairn. Gelch, in an attempt to one-up Smenk, gets the party to retrieve a map to the Whispering Cairn and then wants them to investigate it for him in return for their freedom. I had to flesh out Gelch and Smenk a bit more and really played up the competition/animosity between them. With the PCs stuck in the middle it created some intriguing scenarios: Captain Trolliver Trask and the town guard were looking for the thieves who stole the map from Dietrik, Smenk trying to buy/blackmail the party, Gelch scrambling to rebuild his business while dealing with the unscrupulous PCs, etc. Eventually, the party's greed was enough motivation to get them to the cairn, but not before establishing some enemies and allies in Diamond Lake. I went with a "good vs. evil begets evil" approach rather than a straight forward "good vs. evil" theme. At a later point, the party took it upon themselves to assasinate Jierian Wierus, which not only was a dangerouly fun excursion but also had huge repurcussions that followed the party even to the Free City.

It was a blast to play, but sadly this party was TPK'd much later on (I think it was in the module after The Champion's Games). Running an evil group was fun, but be prepared for a much more complicated campaign (depending how evil thier actions are) and altering some story/NPC elements.

My players would probably be more of a neutral or lawful evil. Basically greedy and self-serving, but not killing without reason so they can avoid attention. I need a reason for them to do the wizard's quest, and care about the age of worms before it becomes apparent that it will affect them.

That is a good idea. I never thought of indenturing some of the PC's

My players may be evil when I run the campaign. It seems that without Allustan offering a reward for favors they may not want to accept the request. The town may be destroyed, but I don't know if the PC's will be inhabitants of the town or not, and even if they were they may be evil enough that they don't care as long as they are safe. The characters don't know it is a potential world-wide event so they really have no motivation to investigate the worms.
I am thinking of running a pre-adventure showing them what the worms can do, and trying to find a personal reason for them to get involved, but I don't really want to.
I was wandering if anyone of you had any ideas of how to motivate characters in a similar situation.

PS:The players know a little about the adventures(no spoilers of course), but their characters need motivation, without it seeming railroadey(not a word).