Way of the Wicked—Book #4: Of Dragons and Princesses (PFRPG) PDF

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BECOME A MASTER OF DRAGONS!

The king of Talingarde must die! Your dread master commands you to carry out this errand of blood. Do you have what it takes to assassinate the king of the most noble, virtuous realm in all the world? Are you ready to seek out the most wicked and powerful of dragons and treat with him to destroy the king’s only heir—the fair princess Bellinda?

Welcome to the fourth chapter of the critically acclaimed, Ennie-nominated “Way of the Wicked” adventure path!

Inside you’ll find:

  • "Of Dragons and Princesses,” an adventure compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game designed for 13th-level villains by Gary McBride
  • Full color art and maps by Michael Clarke
  • A gazetteer of the noble city of Matharyn, capital of Talingarde
  • Rules for playing vampire and lich PCs
  • Everything you need to run a city sacking sandbox
  • And More!

Sack a city! Terrorize a nation! Kill a king! Ride a dragon into a battle! All of this you must do if you are to walk the Way of the Wicked.

Who wants to be a hero, when it’s so much more fun to be the bad guy?

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Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

FRM1004E


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4.00/5 (based on 7 ratings)

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Filler, Filler, Interesting Climax.

2/5

This book is filler. It's not *terrible* filler mechanically, but a good two thirds of it could be replaced by just about anything and be just as relevant to the plot.

Seriously, I don't have too much to say about it, positive or negative. There are two...

- Black dragons are notoriously anti-social, hating all intelligent life, even other black dragons. Why does saving his son allow the PCs an audience with a black wyrm?
- The king should be well aware of his daughter's power, since hit dice is a real, calculable thing in the world of Pathfinder. She's a sorcerer 19, three levels higher than he is; anything that threatens her isn't going to be meaningfully impacted by his presence.

Again, subtracted 1 star from my actual score due to the whole 'fraud' thing.


Fraud

1/5

I would love to give this product a higher rating but it has been written by a fraudster, Gary McBride, who tricked 315 people into giving him $40,000 through Kickstarter and refused to communicate with them for 4 years now. Despite multiple appeals from backers he has backed over 520 other kickstarters since then, logging in every week though seemingly unable to respond to his backers products. Shame on Paizo for selling the products of a con man and allowing him to continue profiting from rpg fans.

For details of the swindle and Gary McBride’s backing record see https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/730004812/throne-of-night-a-pathfinder -rpg-adventure-path/comments


Holy Guacamole

5/5

You're only half-way through and your group of terrors are already 13th level? Oh myyyy.

This chapter fully expects your villains to use the mighty magics and killing power at their disposal. Lacking access to 6th and 7th level cleric/wizard spells could severely hurt your ability to wreak havoc and unleash further mayhem.

One of the pleasant surprises during the later chapters of the Way of the Wicked is how long circle of death and similar spells remain viable offensive spells, which is a first in my experience with published 3e/3.5/Pathfinder campaigns.


Of Dragons and Princesses Review

5/5

Warning: Potential spoilers. Written from a GM's perspective. I ran this for 6 PCs.

This installment of Way of the Wicked was a pleasant surprise for me. After running through three great books, I shouldn't have been surprised when this one turned out to be a blast. However, on paper there were a few things that worried me about this book.

My first concern was the first act of the book. It is a sandbox style sacking of the city of Daveryn that is quite long and seemed like it would risk being stagnant. I still do believe that this is potential weak spot in the campaign. However, this weakness was easily navigated by cherry picking the sections that I thought would be interesting to my players and having Fire-Axe bring them up to the players. The rest of the events, I just held in reserve in case my players decided to explore. Personally, I ran the Duelist Academy event, because we had a Swashbuckler who loves challenging people to duels, the Baroness's encounter, because she is the cousin of one of the PCs and I merged the prison and the rebellion into one encounter, because I knew my PCs would love the opportunity to recruit prisoners and Ifran had useful information. I also ran the Duke's encounter via minion quest. All of these events seemed enjoyable for my players.

My second concern for this game was that the story seemed very reliant on the players making specific choices. I feared that players would decide not to bother with Chargammon or try to kill the princess. However, I did not face any issues with this. Thorn's plan offered enough intrigue for my players and Dessiter was a useful tool for persuading the players out of inadvisable plans, like trying to take Thorn out immediately.

In addition to the above areas, there were some other really great parts of this book. Eiramanthus in particular turned out to be a great boss battle. Spells like Mislead and Reverse Gravity made for a memorable and cinematic feel, while his melee prowess and anti-magic field had a reasonably optimized party of six fearing for their lives. The battle was so good that the happiest player at the table was the one who died, because she thought her death was epic.

The characters continue to be excellent. Chargammon was appropriately terrifying. Jeratheon is a fun addition. His dysfunctional relationship with his father opens up a lot of interesting RP opportunities that I think will continue to pay off after Chargammon's death. Also, even though Dessiter was introduced in the last book, I feel obliged to acknowledge him again, because he is such an excellent character. Every time he says something I can tell my players aren't sure whether to laugh, buy him a drink or punch him in the face.

Overall, this whole adventure path continues to be excellent and I have yet to find a good reason not to recommend it.


5/5

I've reviewed this book over on RPGGeek.com.


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Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Oh, just want to point out that the necromancer might need adjusting. His point buy doesn't quite seem seem right compared to the others. Also, yes, the cleric and anti-paladin are brothers, hence their last names being the same.

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

And here's Changes I made to WotW--Book 4, part 3.

Scarab Sages

Hey Kevin,
Just to let you know, I'm starting to run Book 4, and I've been mining your 'Changes' blog.

Some very nice ideas in there. Thank you for posting them.

John

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
W. John Hare wrote:

Hey Kevin,

Just to let you know, I'm starting to run Book 4, and I've been mining your 'Changes' blog.

Some very nice ideas in there. Thank you for posting them.

John

Welcome. And thanks for supporting the blog. Makes me know that it's worth it.

I'll be posting more this weekend. Got a few side quests first, and then it's time to take on the king.

Scarab Sages

I've recently rebooted my Way of the Wicked.
Basically I hand-waved the last bit of Book 3 (it was over a year since we played), and then just did the final days of the Vale (ie Tiadora showing up, the King's Army, and what did the villains decide to do with their troops).

In the end they took the cohorts and named NPCs they still had left and about a quarter of their remaining minions. The left the rest of the minions and the bugbears to 'hold off the army, until we unleash our secret weapon on them'. Sadly they bought it and died. :)

Then the PCs met with the Fire-Axe. Then as they were getting ready to head out into the sacked town to do stuff, I handed out the pregens for Minion Quest 2. It worked out quite nicely, and they managed to get Grumblejack a new sword and presented their masters with the Duke.

My players had a blast (although there was some grumbling that they didn't get to use their characters).

I also allowed the players to re-jig their characters. All 25pt buy (we had some who used the Focus & Foible). Allowed them to equip up to the WBL table.

I do like Kevin's idea of 'Signing the Pact' gives a tangible bonus. I'll have to decide how I want to incorporate that, so it gives the 'new PCs' a reason to sign on the dotted line.

Grand Lodge

W. John Hare wrote:
I do like Kevin's idea of 'Signing the Pact' gives a tangible bonus. I'll have to decide how I want to incorporate that, so it gives the 'new PCs' a reason to sign on the dotted line.

The easiest way to do it is to give them the Devil's Pact feat. I didn't think about it until later when the PCs met the contract devil for the first time.

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Here's Changes I made to WotW--Book 4, part 4.

I've got some wicked insomnia going on right now so I decided to write this all out, minus some stat block formatting that I'll do at a later point in time (hate that Tumblr doesn't keep formats and you have to re-apply them individually), as I've got two back-to-back doctor appointments, and physio, all in just a few hours from now. I'll be lucky to get two hours. >_<

Scarab Sages

I'm actually thinking of giving them the Infernal Pact from the book EVIL from AEG.
And then I'll probably give them a few bonus feats along the way that have Infernal Pact as a pre-req.

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
W. John Hare wrote:

I'm actually thinking of giving them the Infernal Pact from the book EVIL from AEG.

And then I'll probably give them a few bonus feats along the way that have Infernal Pact as a pre-req.

I had actually considered giving them the Evil Brand feat from Book of Vile Darkness. Thought it'd be fun to have them keep the runic F brand, and it give them a bonus. The main reason I bring it up is if not everyone is evil, the Infernal Pact does an automatic alignment shift. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not all players want to go that route. Two of mine aren't (N and LN). Devil's Pact and Evil Brand have no such alignment shift.

Oh, and I updated my last entry. It's a little more coherent than what I wrote half-asleep while fighting off insomnia at 3 AM.

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Here's Changes I made to WotW--Book 4, part 5. More minor problems that should have been dealt with, but no editor so they got missed. Also, advancing HD issues.

It's getting scary just how important having Hero Lab is. I'm way to broke for that kind of thing. I do it all by hand, which Gary definitely did back then. Not sure about now, but probably the same deal. The one downside to my write-ups is I suggest stuff that people probably don't have access to, and for the most aren't available for free online (ie d20pfsrd). I'll have to borrow my player's lap top some time and use his Hero Lab program. Get him to show me how it works.

Just going to have to keep slugging it out for now. Unlike previous books, Book 4 is looking to be a bit more of a chore to deal with. I know Book 5's not going to be any better as I recently went through it again.

Grand Lodge

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Here's Changes I made to WotW--Book 4, part 6, and it's also the last entry for Book 4.

You'll notice at the end I mention John Hare's name, and a link back to this forum thread. Made sure to give him top billing for his contribution of his TWF fighter king build instead of what we got. Be sure to thank him for his hard work.


I use Herolab extensively to create and track both the pc's and npc's and it is useful (even more useful for in combat tracking of buff's etc).
However one thing I have noticed looking at your idea's for changing npc's is that you are considering a slightly wider range of sources than I would. Part of that is that I don't use much 3rd party stuff but another part I think is that I tend to only add what is already in Hero Labs


A couple of things
1)Apparently AP 100 has full rules on turning groups of npc's into troops although I have not got my copy yet.
2) When redesigning all these fighters you may want to wait until you have access to the Weapon masters handbook, that does a lot with the weapon training ability and I will probably be waiting on rewriting the king at least until I have it in Hero Labs

Grand Lodge

Truth be told, I've supported a lot of 3PP Kickstarters over the years, and managed to get a lot of free pdfs for my participation in them. Being a 3PP writer myself, with two books out now, I support the 3PP industry as much as I can. If it helps them, it helps me. I also did a whole lot of 3.5 gaming so I tend to go back to the basics. Considering this is a 3PP adventure path, it seems rather fitting. Sometimes Paizo's products doesn't have all of the answers. I also don't have Hero Lab so I don't have to worry about what I can and can't put on characters and creatures.
As well, as the title suggests on the blog, they're "my changes" to the AP. Just ideas that worked for me that I thought I would share with others. Now that a few sites have been shut down, that I had originally linked to for templates and whatnot, I may have to copy and paste the templates I use into the entries. At least until d20pfsrd puts them up.

One of my PFS players has Hero Lab, and has been recreating a lot of the stuff that's only in PFS and in 3PP as custom add-ons. I'm getting him to show me sometime how to use the program so I can make my entries a little more accurate.

I have the Weapon Master's Handbook, and have only sifted through it quickly. I didn't see anything in there that really stood out to me. At least not for the NPCs. However, I think I may have seen something that could work for Grumblejack, but that's neither here nor there.

Scarab Sages

kevin_video wrote:

Here's Changes I made to WotW--Book 4, part 6, and it's also the last entry for Book 4.

You'll notice at the end I mention John Hare's name, and a link back to this forum thread. Made sure to give him top billing for his contribution of his TWF fighter king build instead of what we got. Be sure to thank him for his hard work.

Woot Kudos! :)

I enjoyed building the King. I find with my group, that since we run 5-6 players, that I have to kick things up a notch to keep it challenging, and memorable encounters.

That said, I also do it all manually. :)

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I said before that my last entry here would be the end of Book 4. Turns out I lied only because I completely forgot I had one added tidbit of information left that Gary had shared, and decided to share it with everyone else. Changes I made to WotW--Book 4, part 7, except they aren't my changes. Rather, they're Gary's revised ending to Book 4 depending on the success of the PCs. I don't quite remember the context, but you'll at least get the gist.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

My first draft of the king , he has PC wealth and the sword if the family heirloom effectivly a bane weapon against followers of Asmodeus and Holy.
He has taken advantage of 2 of the Advanced weapons trainings from Weapon masters handbook
giving him his bravery bonus to will saves and the weapon damage of a warpriest of the same level on his longsword

His bodyguards will share the teamwork feats with him

The King:

King Markadian V called the Brave CR 15
XP 51,200
Male human fighter 16
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +6; Senses Perception +0
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 36, touch 16, flat-footed 34 (+11 armor, +3 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 luck, +3 natural, +6 shield)
hp 204 (16d10+112)
Fort +18, Ref +10 (+4 bonus vs. area of effect attacks), Will +12 (+4 vs. fear); Gain a sacred bonus vs. spells and abilities of evil foes, equal to number of adjacent allies with Lastwall Phalanx, +4 morale vs. fear (+6 with some abilities)
Defensive Abilities fortification 50%
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee gauntlet (from armor) +23/+18/+13/+8 (1d3+7) or
. . heavy shield bash +23/+18/+13/+8 (1d4+7) or
. . the darian blade +29/+24/+19/+14 (2d6+14/17-20 plus 2d6 vs. evil plus 2d6 vs. Asmodeus) or
. . unarmed strike +23/+18/+13/+8 (1d3+7 nonlethal)
Ranged +2 adaptive composite longbow +20/+15/+10/+5 (1d8+9/×3)
Special Attacks weapon training (heavy blades +3)
--------------------
Tactics
--------------------
During Combat In almost all situations, the king uses his combat expertise to increase his armor class. He can even use his shield to defelect ranged touch attacks (ray shield). He knows that spellcasters are often his greatest foes, so he tries to close with them so he can disrupt their spells and lay them low with an avalanche of blows. In the tight spaces of the sanctuary, they cannot fly away from him, so he uses this to his full advantage.
Morale He has been summoned here because he believes his daughter's life is in mortal danger. He will gladly give his life to save hers. He fights to the death for the life and honor of his daughter.
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 24, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 14, Wis 11, Cha 14
Base Atk +16; CMB +27; CMD 43
Feats Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Covering Shield, Disruptive, Greater Shield Focus, Greater Shield Specialization[APG], Improved Critical (longsword), Improved Initiative, Improved Shield Bash, Lastwall Phalanx, Outflank[APG], Power Attack, Shield Focus, Shield Specialization[APG], Shield Wall[APG], Toughness, Weapon Focus (longsword), Weapon Specialization (longsword)
Skills Bluff +18 (+22 to conceal - Custom / magic weapon - vs. members of religions other than Asmodeus), Climb +17, Diplomacy +18, Disguise +2 (+6 to conceal - Custom / magic weapon - vs. members of religions other than Asmodeus), Intimidate +9, Knowledge (history) +12, Knowledge (local) +12, Knowledge (nobility) +12, Linguistics +4, Ride +16, Sense Motive +16, Swim +17
Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven
SQ armor training 4
Combat Gear jingasa of the fortunate soldier[UE], potion of cure serious wounds (3); Other Gear +2 fortification (moderate) rallying righteous mithral full plate, +2 heavy steel shield, +2 adaptive composite longbow, the darian blade, arrows (20), amulet of natural armor +3, belt of physical perfection +4, cloak of resistance +3, ring of freedom of movement, ring of protection +3
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Combat Expertise +/-5 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Combat Reflexes (3 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Covering Shield Add your shield's base bonus to reflex saves vs. area of effect attacks.
Disruptive +4 DC to cast defensively for those you threaten.
Fortification 50% You have a chance to negate critical hits on attacks.
Greater Shield Specialization (Heavy Shield, 1/day) +2 AC vs. critical confirmations, negate 1 critical/day.
Improved Shield Bash You still get your shield bonus while using Shield Bash.
Jingasa of the fortunate soldier (1/day) Activate to negate a critical hit or sneak attack as an immediate action.
Lastwall Phalanx Bonus equal to adjacent allies with this feat to AC and saves vs. attacks & abilities of evil foes.
Outflank Increase flank bonus by +2 if flanking ally has same feat. If you crit, ally gets an AoO.
Power Attack -5/+10 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Ring of freedom of movement This gold ring allows the wearer to act as if continually under the effect of a freedom of movement spell.

Construction
Requirements: Forge Ring, freedom of movement; Cost 20,000 gp
Shield Focus +1 Shield AC
Shield Specialization (Heavy Shield) You have mastered the use of one type of shield.

Prerequisites: Proficiency with selected shield, Shield Focus, fighter level 4th.

Benefit: Choose one type of shield (buckler, light, heavy, or tower shield). With the selected shie
Shield Wall +2 to shield bonus if adj ally with same feat has a tower/heavy shield or +1 for smaller shields.
Weapon Training (Blades, Heavy) +3 (Ex) +3 Attack, Damage, CMB, CMD with Heavy Blades
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Additional Details
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Notes - Prayer, Bull's Strength, and Holy Aura enabled on Adjust Tab (from Brother Quintus)
Questions - King's hps are wrong: 10, 15x5.5=82, 16x+4=64, Toughness=16, and favoured class bonus? This would equal 188 if he took all hps in favoured class. Adjusted on Personal Tab
- skills under bought
- skills seem strange for a King. Too much Climb and Swim. No Knowledge skills. No Ride or Handle Animal. No Perception?
- longbow bonus to hit is wrong
- Bull's Str will only add +2 more since it won't stack with the belt, so Str can only go to 18
- Touch AC is wrong

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Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.

Grand Lodge

That's a pretty intense build. I'd like to see the Darian blade broken down more.


The Sword is a +2 Heretical Holy Longsword, intelligent weapon INT 14, WIS 16 CHA 14 cast crusaders edge1/day.
I see this being the weapon wield by Markadian I the Victor and every king since

My players are normally murderously deadly and in a prepared ambush I expect the king and his men will need a lot of boost to cause any issues. Then again I won't really mind if they pull off a good ambush after lots of effort and preparation to see the king dead fast

Grand Lodge

JohnHawkins wrote:

The Sword is a +2 Heretical Holy Longsword, intelligent weapon INT 14, WIS 16 CHA 14 cast crusaders edge1/day.

I see this being the weapon wield by Markadian I the Victor and every king since

My players are normally murderously deadly and in a prepared ambush I expect the king and his men will need a lot of boost to cause any issues. Then again I won't really mind if they pull off a good ambush after lots of effort and preparation to see the king dead fast

What book is heretical from? That sounds like an amazing ability that needs to be added to a lot of weapons. Especially Solomon's.


Heretical is from 'Quests and Campaigns'
Heretical

Grand Lodge

JohnHawkins wrote:

Heretical is from 'Quests and Campaigns'

Heretical

Wow. I somehow completely missed that. Maybe I spelled it wrong on the Ctrl+F search as nothing came up. Cool property. Will definitely have to remember that.


I am expecting my players to start getting Heretical weapons for use against Mithran's soon


Word of recall can bring a max of 7 people assuming an 18th level caster so any improvements from this will be making people better rather than adding more minions. In particular I suspect I will make sure I have communal protection from energy against fire , acid, cold and electricity up in the hope of surviving the hail of spells which will welcome these guys

These guys I gave npc level wealth too, boosted them to level 11 and most importantly gave them the Honour guard Archetype and gave them the Order of the Guard not the Order of the Dragon. this makes them much better bodyguards . I think I may still have to boost them a bit but I am months away from seeing what my pc's look like for this fight

Honour Guard:

Knights of the King's Guard (4) CR 10
XP 9,600
Male human cavalier (honor guard) 11 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 32, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 37)
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +5; Senses Perception +14
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 27, touch 12, flat-footed 26 (+10 armor, +1 deflection, +1 Dex, +1 natural, +4 shield)
hp 98 (11d10+33)
Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +6; Gain a sacred bonus vs. spells and abilities of evil foes, equal to number of adjacent allies with Lastwall Phalanx
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +1 battleaxe +16/+11/+6 (1d8+4/×3) or
. . gauntlet (from armor) +14/+9/+4 (1d3+3) or
. . unarmed strike +14/+9/+4 (1d3+3 nonlethal)
Ranged throwing axe +12 (1d6+3)
Special Attacks banner +3, challenge 4/day (+11 damage, +0 AC while between target and ward), greater tactician 3/day (Lastwall Phalanx or Outflank, swift action, 8 rds), warding charge
--------------------
Tactics
--------------------
During Combat These knights would rather be following the king in a valiant cavalry charge. But since they must fight in these cramped quarters, they still do their best, charging into the fray. They use their battleaxes to hew through both the enemy or any door that may be keeping the king from his daughter.
Morale These knights fight to the death to defend the king.
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 16, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +11; CMB +14; CMD 26
Feats Bodyguard[APG], Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lastwall Phalanx, Lightning Reflexes, Mounted Combat, Outflank[APG], Power Attack, Shield Focus, Shield Wall[APG], Weapon Focus (battleaxe)
Skills Acrobatics -5 (-9 to jump), Handle Animal +16, Intimidate +16, Perception +14 (+17 in selected terrain), Ride +9, Sense Motive +14, Stealth -5 (-2 in selected terrain), Survival +11 (+14 in selected terrain)
Languages Common
SQ close at hand, expert trainer +5, intercept, mount, order of the guard, prepared for the journey, sworn defense
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds; Other Gear +1 full plate, +1 heavy steel shield, +1 battleaxe, throwing axe (4), amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Animal Companion Link (Ex) You have a link with your Animal Companion.
Banner +3/+2 (Ex) Allies who can see your banner gain +3 save vs. fear & +2 to hit while charging.
Bodyguard Use an AoO to use aid another to improve an ally's AC.
Close at Hand (Ex) If ward is possessed by enemies you gain a status or locate object on your ward. Movement +10 when moving towards ward.
Expert Trainer +5 (Ex) +5 to train mounts, reduced training time option.
Greater Tactician (Lastwall Phalanx or Outflank, 8 rds, 3/day) (Ex) Grant the use of your teamwork feats to all allies in 30 ft.
Guard's Challenge +11 (4/day) (Ex) +11 to damage target, -2 AC vs. others when used, +0 morale bonus to AC as long as you are between your ward and target.
Intercept Increase AC bonus granted to ally from aid another by +1.
Lastwall Phalanx Bonus equal to adjacent allies with this feat to AC and saves vs. attacks & abilities of evil foes.
Mounted Combat (1/round) Once per round you can attempt to negate a hit to your mount in combat.
Outflank Increase flank bonus by +2 if flanking ally has same feat. If you crit, ally gets an AoO.
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Prepared for the Journey +3 (-Choose-) Bonus to Initiative, Know (geo), Percep, Stealth, and Survival in selected terrain.
Shield Focus +1 Shield AC
Shield Wall +2 to shield bonus if adj ally with same feat has a tower/heavy shield or +1 for smaller shields.
Sworn Defense (Ex) Select a ward during a challange, sacrificing AC to grant bonus to ward's AC.
Warding Charge (Ex) As immediate action, move and attack foe that attacks ward.
--------------------
Additional Details
--------------------
Notes - Standard Fantasy 15 point buy
Questions - abilities under bought by one
- skills are just not right
- HPs are wrong, adjusted on Personal Tab
- throwing Axe to hit is wrong, use Str which is better than Dex

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The Inquisitor. Very few changes here, most important one was giving him Greater share judgement so the king can share his active judgements which will be nice.
As in all cases I switched banded mail for full plate and in the inquisitors case assumed he uses magic vestment and greater magic weapon all the time , allowing him more other gear (his weapons and armour are actually masterwork)

Inquisitor:

Father Dorian DeMascas, Inquisitor of Mitra CR 14
XP 38,400
Male human inquisitor of Mitra the Shining Lord 15 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 38)
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +9; Senses Perception +26
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 26, touch 12, flat-footed 25 (+10 armor, +1 deflection, +1 Dex, +1 natural, +3 shield)
hp 97 (15d8+30)
Fort +11, Ref +7, Will +14; Gain a sacred bonus vs. spells and abilities of evil foes, equal to number of adjacent allies with Lastwall Phalanx
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +3 longsword +17/+12/+7 (1d8+5/17-20) or
. . gauntlet (from armor) +13/+8/+3 (1d3+2) or
. . unarmed strike +13/+8/+3 (1d3+2 nonlethal)
Ranged javelin +12 (1d6+2)
Special Attacks exploit weakness, greater bane (15 rounds/day), judgment 5/day (2 simultaneous)
Inquisitor Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th; concentration +19)
. . At will—detect alignment, discern lies (15 rounds/day)
Inquisitor Spells Known (CL 15th; concentration +19)
. . 5th (3/day)—flame strike (DC 19), greater lend judgment[UM] (DC 19), righteous might, true seeing
. . 4th (5/day)—cure critical wounds, divine power, freedom of movement, holy smite (DC 18)
. . 3rd (6/day)—dispel magic, magic circle against evil, magic vestment, greater magic weapon, searing light
. . 2nd (6/day)—aid, align weapon, knock, resist energy, silence (DC 16), tongues
. . 1st (6/day)—bless, comprehend languages, cure light wounds, protection from evil, sanctuary (DC 15), true strike
. . 0 (at will)—acid splash, create water, detect magic, light, read magic, stabilize
. . Domain Spellkiller inquisition
--------------------
Tactics
--------------------
During Combat The inquisitor casts true seeing (15 minute duration) and righteous might (1 round duration) just before stepping through the teleportation circle. Thus he arrives as a large sized warrior of justice who uses his judgements and spells to terrifying effect.
He prefers to engage the enemy directly with his longsword. Even though a potent spellcaster, he relishes punishing the wicked with swift sword strokes.
Morale This fanatical servant of Mitra views himself as the kings personal bodyguard. He will die to defend King Markadian or to follow his commands.
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 14
Base Atk +11.25; CMB +13; CMD 25
Feats Alertness, Combat Casting, Coordinated Defense[APG], Disruptive, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Improved Critical (longsword), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Lastwall Phalanx, Outflank[APG], Shield Wall[APG], Shielded Caster[APG], Toughness, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Skills Acrobatics -5 (-9 to jump), Diplomacy +20, Intimidate +27, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (religion) +18, Perception +26, Sense Motive +33, Spellcraft +18, Survival +22
Languages Common
SQ monster lore +4, solo tactics, spellkiller, stern gaze +7, track +7
Combat Gear potion of cure serious wounds; Other Gear +1 full plate, +1 heavy steel shield, +3 longsword, javelin (4), amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, headband of inspired wisdom +2, inquisitor's bastion vambraces[UE], ring of protection +1
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Coordinated Defense +2 to CMD if adj ally with same feat. More if foe is larger.
Detect Alignment (At will) (Sp) Detect chaos, evil, good, or law at will.
Discern Lies (15 rounds/day) (Sp) Discern Lies at will
Disruptive +4 DC to cast defensively for those you threaten.
Exploit Weakness (Ex) With a crit, ignore DR, suppress Regen, and take advantage of vulnerability.
Greater Bane (+2 / 4d6, 15 rounds/day) (Su) Make the weapon you are holding a bane weapon.
Inquisitor Domain (Spellkiller Inquisition) Deities: Any (with GM approval).

Granted Powers: You gain the Disruptive feat as a bonus feat (even if you do not meet the prerequisites).
Inquisitor's bastion vambraces Judgment of Protection also applies it's bonus to checks made to cast defensively.
Lastwall Phalanx Bonus equal to adjacent allies with this feat to AC and saves vs. attacks & abilities of evil foes.
Monster Lore +4 (Ex) +4 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknessess of creatures.
Outflank Increase flank bonus by +2 if flanking ally has same feat. If you crit, ally gets an AoO.
Second Judgment (5/day) (Su) Variable bonuses increase as the combat continues.
Shield Wall +2 to shield bonus if adj ally with same feat has a tower/heavy shield or +1 for smaller shields.
Shielded Caster +4 to concentration if adj ally has same feat, more if they have a shield. Halve Conc DC increases.
Solo Tactics (Ex) Count Teamwork feats as if your allies had the same ones.
Spellkiller (+2 Sacred, DC 21) After defeating enemy, gain +2 sacred bonus to AC for 15 minutes. End the effect when hitting an arcane spellcaster to stagger your opponent.
Track +7 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.
--------------------
Additional Details
--------------------
Note - Built on Standard Fantasy 15 point buy
- Righteous Might enabled on Adjust tab
- Prayer and Holy Aura enabled on Adjust tab (from Brother Quintus)
- Longsword Mitra's favored weapon. Added proficiency with longsword.
Questions - HPs wrong again, should be 101. And thats with no favoured class bonus to HPs. Adjusted on Personal Tab

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Finally the chaplain. A few tweaks to his gear and spell list he has less offensive spells but much more healing and buffing many of which will be cast before arriving so boosting the knights and the King a lot

chaplain:

Brother Quintus of Austea CR 14
XP 38,400
Male human cleric of Mitra the Shining Lord 15
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +7
Aura aura of heroism, nimbus of light (30 ft., 15 rounds/day)
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 26, touch 11, flat-footed 25 (+11 armor, +1 Dex, +4 shield)
hp 127 (15d8+60)
Fort +13, Ref +8, Will +18
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +2 longsword +16/+11/+6 (1d8+5/19-20) or
. . gauntlet (from armor) +14/+9/+4 (1d3+3) or
. . unarmed strike +14/+9/+4 (1d3+3 nonlethal)
Ranged mwk light crossbow +13 (1d8/19-20)
Special Attacks channel positive energy 5/day (DC 23, 8d6 [+15 vs. undead]), sun's blessing
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th; concentration +22)
. . 10/day—touch of glory (+15)
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 15th; concentration +22)
. . 8th—holy aura[D], stormbolts[APG] (DC 25)
. . 7th—reach heal (2), holy sword[D], resurrection
. . 6th—mass bear's endurance, mass bull's strength, greater dispel magic, heal, greater heroism[D]
. . 5th—breath of life (DC 22), extended communal protection from energy[UC], fickle winds[UM], flame strike[D] (DC 22), righteous might, sanctify weapons
. . 4th—death ward, freedom of movement, holy smite[D] (DC 21), communal protection from energy[UC] (3)
. . 3rd—archon's aura[UM] (DC 20), dispel magic, heroism[D], magic vestment (2), prayer, wrathful mantle[APG] (DC 20)
. . 2nd—aid, bless weapon[D], bull's strength, inheritor's smite, shield other, spear of purity[UM] (DC 19), web shelter[UM]
. . 1st—bless, detect evil, divine favor, shield of faith[D], shield of faith (3)
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, light, read magic, stabilize
. . D Domain spell; Domains Glory (Heroism subdomain), Sun
--------------------
Tactics
--------------------
During Combat Brother Quintus' primary mission in any combat is to keep the king alive and empowered. Just before they teleport here, Quintus casts archon's aura, prayer, and holy aura on the entire party and bull's strength on the king. Holy aura still has 13 rounds left and prayer has 12 rounds remaining as the band arives in the anctum. Archon's aura and bull's strangth will last for roughly fifteen more minutes.
When battle begins, he uses his more powerful spells to destroy enemies only if it appears the king is in no immediate danger. If the king is magically afflicted, he uses greater dispel magic to end the effect. If the king's significantly wounded, he heals his liege. If the king dies, he immediately resurrects him. He will do everything he can to make sure the king survives.
Morale A religious fanatic and life-long supporter of the House of Darius, Brother Quintus will gladly die to defend the king or princess.
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 24, Cha 14
Base Atk +11.25; CMB +14; CMD 25
Feats Extend Spell, Greater Spell Penetration, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Improved Channel, Lunging Spell Touch[ACG], Reach Spell[APG], Selective Channeling, Spell Penetration, Toughness
Skills Acrobatics -5 (-9 to jump), Heal +25, Knowledge (religion) +18, Spellcraft +18
Languages Common
Combat Gear healer's kit; Other Gear +2 full plate, +2 heavy steel shield, +2 longsword, crossbow bolts (10), mwk light crossbow, cloak of resistance +2, headband of inspired wisdom +4, silver holy symbol of Mitra, diamond (for resurrecting king or princess) (worth 10,000 gp)
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Aura of Heroism (15 rounds/day) (Su) 30'r aura grants Heroism
Cleric Channel Positive Energy 8d6 (5/day, DC 23) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
Cleric Domain (Heroism)
Cleric Domain (Sun) Granted Powers: You see truth in the pure and burning light of the sun, and can call upon its blessing or wrath to work great deeds.
Extend Spell Spell duration lasts twice as normal. +1 Level.
Lunging Spell Touch Take -2 to AC to increase reach for touch spells by 5'.
Nimbus of Light (30 ft., 15 rounds/day) (Su) As a standard action, 30 ft. aura of daylight deals 15 dam to undead each rd and dispels [Darkness] spells.
Reach Spell You can cast a spell with a range of touch, close, or medium as one range category higher.
Selective Channeling Exclude targets from the area of your Channel Energy.
Sun's Blessing (Su) +15 to channel damage vs. undead and they don't get channel resistance.
Touch of Glory +15 (10/day) (Sp) Grant +15 to a CHA-based skill or ability check.
--------------------
Additional Details
--------------------
Non Core Ultimate Magic
- Spear of Purity
- Archon's Aura
Advanced Player's Guide
- Wrathful Mantle
- Stormbolts
Notes - Built on Epic fantasy 25 point buy
- Longsword Mitra's favored weapon. Added proficiency with longsword.
- Prayer and Holy Aura enabled on Adjust Tab (from himself)
Questions - Under spent on point buy
- HPs wrong again, should be 131. Adjusted on Personal Tab
- Ref save is wrong in module

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Grand Lodge

The inquisitor doesn't seem to have the right CMD number, and the cleric is +1 CR for his 25 point buy. I like the idea of the honor guard archetype.


These were a bit of a work in progress and it looks like I did something odd with the clerics stats. I would probably reduce them a bit before play. I also tend to pay no attention to CR beyond a vague look so it is what Herolab selected and I think that is just based on class.
Inquisitor CMD 25
10 + 11 bab +2 str+1 dex +1 deflection

Having looked at their fully buffed stats, I may end up toning them down a bit the teamwork feats do impressive things to the Kings AC

Scarab Sages

Hey Kevin,
Changing the Baroness into a Noble (Freeport) makes an interesting choice. It seems she gets a pile of bonus feats and such. I'm trying to keep her mostly towards staying out of combat, the Aura of Nobility feat (Freeport) is a cool approach. And while slightly out of step I'm going to give my version Improved Unarmed Strike and Snake Style ~ with the huge Sense Motive she is going to have that might prevent a death blow.

However I don't think she was a 15point buy.
Either magical effects are included (the greater age resistance & the headband) or they aren't included... either way her numbers when I crunch them don't seem to add up when I add in 3 stat increases (4th, 8th, 12th) and the Human stat bonus (I'm assuming +2 Cha).

When I crunched the numbers I get either a 10 point buy or an 11 point buy.

Or maybe I have a math error.
Anyway, I'll try and post my version of the Baroness after X-mas. By making her a Noble, if the party is missing a PC she could quite easily be adapted to fit in.

Cheers
John

Grand Lodge

W. John Hare wrote:

Hey Kevin,

Changing the Baroness into a Noble (Freeport) makes an interesting choice. It seems she gets a pile of bonus feats and such. I'm trying to keep her mostly towards staying out of combat, the Aura of Nobility feat (Freeport) is a cool approach. And while slightly out of step I'm going to give my version Improved Unarmed Strike and Snake Style ~ with the huge Sense Motive she is going to have that might prevent a death blow.

However I don't think she was a 15point buy.
Either magical effects are included (the greater age resistance & the headband) or they aren't included... either way her numbers when I crunch them don't seem to add up when I add in 3 stat increases (4th, 8th, 12th) and the Human stat bonus (I'm assuming +2 Cha).

When I crunched the numbers I get either a 10 point buy or an 11 point buy.

Or maybe I have a math error.
Anyway, I'll try and post my version of the Baroness after X-mas. By making her a Noble, if the party is missing a PC she could quite easily be adapted to fit in.

Cheers
John

If you do really piss poor optimization, which Gary has done previous, it's possible. It's beyond impractical. However, if you play with it, you can make it fit 7 pt buy, but 5 is the standard for NPC class stats. But you're right. That makes no sense. I'll revise my statement accordingly.

I honestly believe that all of the NPCs with aristocrat should have the noble class instead. Unless it really doesn't matter because it's only 1 or 2 HD.

Look forward to your revised version.


Just where is this 'noble' class, and how good is it?

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Eric Hinkle wrote:
Just where is this 'noble' class, and how good is it?

It's here on the Paizo site, and if you've ever seen the Noble class from Dragonlance, it's not unlike that. That said, you could always convert the 3.5 Dragonlance noble over. It's not the greatest class in the world, but it definitely has its moments. For starters, you have bard HD, saves, skill points, and BAB. As for abilities, besides various versions of "inspire", it gives you Leadership at 1st level.

Scarab Sages

The Baroness:

Baroness Vanya of Veryn
Female Human middle-aged Noble 12; Alignment LE, Med. Humanoid
Init: +5; Senses: Perception +23
Defense
AC: 11, touch 11, FF 11 (+1 Dex); 1/Rd Sense Motive roll for AC (Snake Style) (1d20+35)
HP: 57 (12d8)
Fort: +6, Ref +11, Will +12; Immune: Disease
Offense
Speed: 30’
Melee: MW Dagger +9/+4 (1d4-1, 19-20, x2)
Ranged: MW Dagger +11/+6 (1d4-1, 19-20, x2)
Tactics
During Combat: The Baroness avoids combat at all costs, letting her men handle such brute activities. If forced to fight she flees. If cornered, she surrenders. If given no other choice, she fights.
Morale: If reduced to ½ HP, she surrenders and begs for her life. The Baroness is not proud and will do what it takes to stay alive.
Stats
Str 7 [8], Dex 11 [12], Con 9 [10], Int 14, Wis 16 [18], Cha 20 [22]
BAB: +9/+4; CMB: +8; CMD 22
Racial: Focused Study (Skill Focus at Lvl 1 & 8, replaces bonus human feat
Class: Area of Expertise [Scholarly Training: Novice] & [Diplomatic Training: Savant]; Influence (11pts), Power Base (Leadership & Sense Motive), Inspire (6/day)
Feats: Alertness, Cosmopolitan, Defensive Combat Training, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Leadership, Persuasive, Skill Focus (Diplomacy & Sense Motive), Snake Style
Noble Feats: Aura of Nobility, Razor Tongue, Rallying Cry
Skills: Acrobatics +11, Appraise +10, Bluff +21, Diplomacy +31, Handle Animal +14, Intimidate +25, Know (History) +13, Know (Nobility) +13, Know (Religion) +13, Linguistics +7, Perception +23, Perform (Dance) +17, Perform (Piano) +17, Perform (Sing) +17, Ride +9, Sense Motive +35,
Languages: Common, Draconic, Elven, Infernal, +2 Cosmopolitan, +3 Diplo-Training Novice, +2 Linguistics
Gear: MW Dagger, Brooch of Shielding, Cloak of Resist +2, Elixir of Truth, Elixir of Vision, Figurine of Wondrous Power (Silver Raven), Headband of Mental Prowess (+2 Wis/Cha), Signet Ring of House Veryn (500gp)


That took much longer than I thought. The Noble class has lots of fiddly bits. Note, I haven't finished off her list of languages as she has 7 bonus ones.
And while I gave her the Leadership feat, I don't plan on giving her a cohort for the encounter, I'll just hand wave it that he perished during the initial or subsequent fighting.
The feats Aura of Nobility, Razor Tongue and Rallying Cry are all out of the Freeport - The City of Adventure Book.
Aura of Nobility - basically a sanctuary effect for 4 rds.
Razor Tongue - Intimidate effect, but staggers rather than shaken condition.
Rallying Cry - Morale bonus to saves to allies equal to your Cha Mod (for the next save).

I'm hoping to play her as a very haughty noble, (Aura of Nobility) "You DARE attack me?" with the Snake Style to deny the first person to attack her.
And it could be that one of my players takes her as a PC... casualties have been known to happen. :)


kevin_video wrote:
Eric Hinkle wrote:
Just where is this 'noble' class, and how good is it?
It's here on the Paizo site, and if you've ever seen the Noble class from Dragonlance, it's not unlike that. That said, you could always convert the 3.5 Dragonlance noble over. It's not the greatest class in the world, but it definitely has its moments. For starters, you have bard HD, saves, skill points, and BAB. As for abilities, besides various versions of "inspire", it gives you Leadership at 1st level.

Thanks for that link.

Grand Lodge

W. John Hare wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

That took much longer than I thought. The Noble class has lots of fiddly...

Her cohort could just be the butler. Doesn't have to be a personal bodyguard or anything like that. There's also a variant Leadership feat done by Rogue Genius Games where instead of a cohort and followers, you just get major bonuses for gathering information, as you have "contacts".

Scarab Sages

kevin_video wrote:
W. John Hare wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

That took much longer than I thought. The Noble class has lots of fiddly...
Her cohort could just be the butler. Doesn't have to be a personal bodyguard or anything like that. There's also a variant Leadership feat done by Rogue Genius Games where instead of a cohort and followers, you just get major bonuses for gathering information, as you have "contacts".

My brain was in overdrive last night...

Question - how do the Baroness and her troops heal after the bugbears have been attacking ~ a cleric of Mitra?, not likely with the Baroness leaning towards Asmodeus.
A divine healer of Asmodeus? ~ unlikely as they would probably wind up in Branderscar.

I'm leaning towards the idea of a Chirurgeon with Healing Bombs.

Grand Lodge

W. John Hare wrote:
kevin_video wrote:
W. John Hare wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

That took much longer than I thought. The Noble class has lots of fiddly...
Her cohort could just be the butler. Doesn't have to be a personal bodyguard or anything like that. There's also a variant Leadership feat done by Rogue Genius Games where instead of a cohort and followers, you just get major bonuses for gathering information, as you have "contacts".

My brain was in overdrive last night...

Question - how do the Baroness and her troops heal after the bugbears have been attacking ~ a cleric of Mitra?, not likely with the Baroness leaning towards Asmodeus.
A divine healer of Asmodeus? ~ unlikely as they would probably wind up in Branderscar.

I'm leaning towards the idea of a Chirurgeon with Healing Bombs.

There's also the possibility of an oracle. That said, she's a baroness. She's got some money. Wouldn't take much to get potions and wands. Surely someone would have the UMD skill.

Scarab Sages

kevin_video wrote:


There's also the possibility of an oracle. That said, she's a baroness. She's got some money. Wouldn't take much to get potions and wands. Surely someone would have the UMD skill.

Quite true. And the idea of the Butler made me think of John Wick's Wicked Fantasy and a Haffun Butler... :)

But when I run it, I think I will leave the cohort blank... at least that is my current thought on it.

Grand Lodge

W. John Hare wrote:
kevin_video wrote:


There's also the possibility of an oracle. That said, she's a baroness. She's got some money. Wouldn't take much to get potions and wands. Surely someone would have the UMD skill.

Quite true. And the idea of the Butler made me think of John Wick's Wicked Fantasy and a Haffun Butler... :)

But when I run it, I think I will leave the cohort blank... at least that is my current thought on it.

I'd never heard of the haffun before now, so I went and looked it up. It's peaking my interest, but I think for hers I'll just do the contacts version of the feat. Should she ever take over for a PC, I'll let them have a cohort.

Scarab Sages

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The fun continues in Book 4!

Spoiler:

The PCs start exploring Daveryn. They encounter the Baroness and strike a deal.
The sell some 'fake' diamonds to gullible bugbears.
They stomp the Balleryn School of Dueling into submission.
Maul and Clarion showed up, briefly before fleeing... the PCs do crazy amounts of damage, but they will return!
The captured and tortured the Cardinal.
And they try to take out the wizard's tower...
Since the wizard's tower isn't described, I designed it as a 40' by 40' by 40' block, with the top floor being the residence, and the bottom part having a 30' high ceiling.
The Vampire couldn't get in (no invite), the other PCs break in, and get hit with Black Tentacles (which they dispel), Cloulkill (which they dispel), and Hungry Pit (which 2 members are bullrushed into, which they dispel afterwards).
The invisible stalkers were just plain rude. :)
The PCs lost one cohort and almost two PCs to the beat down the Invisible Stalkers were laying down.
After playing nice, the PCs decided some AoE was in order and the stalkers alas went down from successive fireballs.
The wizard decided that the Duke wasn't worth dying for and teleported away.
Having said that, the fight would have gone way differently, if the Arcane Archer had put up Truesight at the start of combat, instead of trying to cast normal, while standing in the threatened square of two invisible stalkers. :)

Scarab Sages

Dragons!:

My players kept thinking about Markadian's Army and how to deal with it (because leaving it alone with the Cardinal's unknown plans apparently wasn't an option...)
They decided that Chargammon needed to be brought in. So with a copy of the Seer's handwriting, they sent off a forgery indicating that the prisoner should be killed immediately, and then use the hide as a sail on a fools quest to help find an artifact to help the king. The forgery and the bluff for the lies was very well done.
So when they get the quest to ally with the dragon, they were a little nervous, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend was the mantra.
They survived meeting Chargammon, although one character took a breath weapon to the face for being a little insolent. And they got the quest to go and kill the rival.
Looks like there will be no dragon mount for any of the PCs in the future. Oops!

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

So while hanging out with one of my players who regularly plays PFS, he informed me that he had been trouble buying stuff for his monk. After he picked up a couple of books (Dirty Tactics Handbook and Magical Marketplace), he bought his character a few tattoos. This reminded me that there's a tattooed rogue/assassin Book 4 that you can liberate while in Daveryn. I just updated my blog entry to make mention of the tattoos, but also wanted to bring it up here as well. Give the assassin antimagic shackles so he can't make use of them, but once he's free he can make use of them. I also saw that the 3PP book, Way of the Yakuza, also has tattoos. Anyone using the Dreamscarred Press psionics books might also know that there are psionic tattoos (D&D 3.5 had them as well).

Just something to consider.

Oh, and he's missing 5 hp for rogue being his favored class.

Scarab Sages

Well it looks like my Way of the Wicked Campaign has come to an end.
At least for now.

The PCs were on the isle, hunting down the consorts and eventually the copper dragon. Unfortunately TPK-like conditions occurred.
Two PCs killed, two fled (randomly) and one PC was off stage (the player was absent).

Details:

The PCs had dealt with all the Oreads and the consort in the building.
They then decided to deal with the grove. They approached, the fairies gave warning about the PCs being evil.
Looking into the grove the PCs saw the Kami & the Treant (aka disguised dragon).
Round 1 the Kami charged in, hit to no effect on the vampire.
The party unloaded on her, didn't drop her in the 1st round, however then it was the 'Treant's turn.
Antimagic Field went up and he moved forward towards the PCs.
Only one PC identified the spell that was cast... and he didn't tell anyone about it.
Round 2, the Kami full attacked to little avail and then she went down.
The antipaladin declared his smite against the dragon and charged... only to realize after the fact the antimagic field suppressed his smite.
The arcane archer informed everyone about the antimagic field and then closed the distance to try and shoot the dragon.
The vampire looked up at the sun and realized that if the dragon got to close the magical shroud protecting him from sunlight would be useless, he started running away.
The warpriest decided valor was overrated and planeshifted away.
Round 3, the antipaladin ran away. The dragon mauled the archer. When the archer tried to flee, the dragon tripped him.
Round 4 the dragon killed the archer and then started chasing folks who were left down.

End result, the vampire and the arcane archer were killed; the warpriest escaped via planeshift; the antipaladin escaped on his nightmare; the sorceress was the one unaccounted for.
It was decided that the dragon would need a new consort... and the sorceress seemed like the next likely choice.

My players had a long discussion after the fact on how the hell do you kill a dragon that has access to antimagic field. They did agree with my logic, why would any dragon who had access to antimagic field not cast it first.
In retrospect, I think they only way the PCs could have realistically taken the dragon was if they managed to act before it, and beat it down before it cast any spells.

I should mention, that a had thought about buffing the dragon up with a template or two. But now I'm glad I didn't. It didn't need any buffing up at all, in fact it might have been too tough. :(

Grand Lodge

W. John Hare wrote:

Well it looks like my Way of the Wicked Campaign has come to an end.

At least for now.

The PCs were on the isle, hunting down the consorts and eventually the copper dragon. Unfortunately TPK-like conditions occurred.
Two PCs killed, two fled (randomly) and one PC was off stage (the player was absent).

** spoiler omitted **...

I'm curious how a supernatural effect like smite got suppressed by antimagic field. I've always found that incredibly stupid. If you have DR and a decent amount of hp you're practically invincible.

Scarab Sages

kevin_video wrote:
I'm curious how a supernatural effect like smite got suppressed by antimagic field. I've always found that incredibly stupid. If you have DR and a decent amount of hp you're practically invincible.

Because the spell indicates supernatural effects are suppressed. [Sorry Kevin, when I typed this out, I thought you were asking a question. After reading your post again, I think you were questioning why the spell suppressed supernatural.]

"An invisible barrier surrounds you and moves with you. The space within this barrier is impervious to most magical effects, including spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities."

Having said that, there apparently is some discussion on the boards as to whether the dragon's DR is Su in origin. If so, then it isn't quite so bad (although during the session I did use the DR). But I can't find a definitive answer that says the Dragon's DR is either Ex or Su.

/shrug.

*Edit'd for politeness.

Grand Lodge

W. John Hare wrote:
kevin_video wrote:
I'm curious how a supernatural effect like smite got suppressed by antimagic field. I've always found that incredibly stupid. If you have DR and a decent amount of hp you're practically invincible.

Because the spell indicates supernatural effects are suppressed. [Sorry Kevin, when I typed this out, I thought you were asking a question. After reading your post again, I think you were questioning why the spell suppressed supernatural.]

"An invisible barrier surrounds you and moves with you. The space within this barrier is impervious to most magical effects, including spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities."

Having said that, there apparently is some discussion on the boards as to whether the dragon's DR is Su in origin. If so, then it isn't quite so bad (although during the session I did use the DR). But I can't find a definitive answer that says the Dragon's DR is either Ex or Su.

/shrug.

*Edit'd for politeness.

Yeah, the question was more rhetorical. I've just always disliked that spell for reasons. You'd think something that defeats magic wouldn't defeat supernatural abilities too.

I'd have kept the DR too. It seems that the DR is considered untyped, unlike fast healing which is supernatural, and natural attacks as extraordinary.

Considering your session, it makes me wonder how other groups took him down in less than two rounds. Maybe because they were inside as opposed to outside where there's sunlight. I remember the graveknight having no trouble at all.

Scarab Sages

kevin_video wrote:


Yeah, the question was more rhetorical. I've just always disliked that spell for reasons. You'd think something that defeats magic wouldn't defeat supernatural abilities too.

I'd have kept the DR too. It seems that the DR is considered untyped, unlike fast healing which is supernatural, and natural attacks as extraordinary.

Considering your session, it makes me wonder how other groups took him down in less than two rounds. Maybe because they were inside as opposed to outside where there's sunlight. I remember the graveknight having no trouble at all.

Yeah, I think the indoor thing would have helped. Also not having the little fairies running away crying 'Evil' would have left the Kami & the Treant probably willing to 'chat' a bit. Then if the PCs dropped the hammer hard and fast, they might have been able to do it (the antipaladin smite good + hasted full attack).

Indoors & alone, again if the PCs talk first then jumped the dragon, the initiative order would be a huge factor. And if they could prevent the dragon from casting (via silence) that would probably be all she wrote.


Wow. Talk about a dirty old man. Old consort isn't even cold and he is hunting down a new toy.

Scarab Sages

MannyGoblin wrote:
Wow. Talk about a dirty old man. Old consort isn't even cold and he is hunting down a new toy.

Well the sorceress is very attractive... :)

Grand Lodge

W. John Hare wrote:
MannyGoblin wrote:
Wow. Talk about a dirty old man. Old consort isn't even cold and he is hunting down a new toy.
Well the sorceress is very attractive... :)

I have to say I'm curious as to how you guys are going to get the characters back in the game. Maybe a few true resurrections, but they come back differently. Or maybe Thorn always had clones of each PC waiting for them as their original self, meaning that the vampire would lose his supernatural abilities. Or maybe a whole new group coming to rescue the sorceress.


W. John Hare wrote:
MannyGoblin wrote:
Wow. Talk about a dirty old man. Old consort isn't even cold and he is hunting down a new toy.
Well the sorceress is very attractive... :)

Still, any allies of the dragon have to be going Dude, put a little effort into the mourning. A nice funeral, burial at least.

That is something that can be exploited, I mean since the dragon is more interested in tail and trophies, any attempt at bringign the sorceress 'around' is tainted and can fail and fail hard.

Scarab Sages

kevin_video wrote:
W. John Hare wrote:
MannyGoblin wrote:
Wow. Talk about a dirty old man. Old consort isn't even cold and he is hunting down a new toy.
Well the sorceress is very attractive... :)
I have to say I'm curious as to how you guys are going to get the characters back in the game. Maybe a few true resurrections, but they come back differently. Or maybe Thorn always had clones of each PC waiting for them as their original self, meaning that the vampire would lose his supernatural abilities. Or maybe a whole new group coming to rescue the sorceress.

We had some discussion after the session and we aren't going to be continuing WotW, so the point is kind of moot.

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