Anyone want to share what their plans are for using Miniatures when running the town battle? :-)
-DM Jeff
I just broke out the trusty Big Box of Pawns, plus dice. The key to making the battle work was a really good control sheet for all the NPCs, plus copious notes in play. The PCs split up wildly and I had to know where everyone was all the time. We ended with this truly bizarre "retrograde" where the PCs, who don't fly, had to get to Scarnetti Manor fast. Wren, with _haste_, had already headed over there, but when she realized there were too many giants she ran back, passing the somewhat spread-out PCs on the road and casting _haste_ on each one. (She's a sorceress, and has lots of _haste_ to spare.) So they got more and more spread out, and arrived at the last fight one by one.... It wasn't easy to bookkeep.
I'd have killed for a gridded version of the Sandpoint map! I didn't have the chance to make one (my graphics skills are really limited). If you've got an easy way to put a grid on that map I would totally recommend doing so. "How far is it from here to there?" came up all the time.
There's a writeup of my experiences with this battle in another thread somewhere. It played very well for us.
Mary
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32
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I went ahead and tried to compile all the questions into one post. Any mistakes made are mine and mine alone. My opinion and answers are in italics.
1| The pregenerated characters are stated at level 7.
Answer: This is incorrect. They are all level 10, it is just they are mistyped to be level 7.
2| There is at least one minor error in the stats, actually. Kyra's ranged touch should be +6, not +4.
A 7th level cleric's BAB is +7, her Dex 8 makes it +6.
Answer: +6 as a range touch attack is correct.
3| The Black Monk's tactics state that he trips opponents and, on his attack of opportunity when they rise, he trips them again. Not a valid tactic; you can't trip someone rising from prone with an AoO (although you do get the +4 to hit them).
Answer: Correct. However, it is more of a color thing than the designer/writer trying to take advantage of the system. You can do one of several things if it bothers you:
a) Change the feat "Ability Focus (Breath of Death)" (reducing the save DC to 18) to the "Knock Down" (or bend the rules and give the Black Monk "Knock Down" for free). The Black Monk's tactics will be as stated in the text, but every time he does more than 10 points of damage (which is every round he hits something since he does 1d10+10 points of damage with a single hit), he can trip them and knock them down.
b) Have the Black Monk save his stunning attacks for when someone who he has tripped starts to get up. He then stuns them and they stay down until they recover.
c) Houserule: You can indeed trip (or use any other of those "special" attack actions) on your AoO, but only if you have the Improved (in this case:Trip) feat. It's worked for my group in discouraging this tactic, since no-one wants to spend a feat for it.
YMMV and Mr. Jacobs et al. may have other suggestions.
4| On pg. 79 it states that a Deathweb is a gargantuan creature. Yet, you somehow pack three of them in the River Caves in area A4 on page 23, where it gives the scale as one square equaling 5 feet... As soon as the party observes the entrance to the caves they're going to be running into Deathwebs that are too busy figuring out their own massive game of Twister to be any real threat..
Should there be a change in scale where one square is 10 feet and not 5 feet?
Answer(s):
Wolfgang Baur says: You are correct, though, that three won't fit. I'd say your suggestion to bump the scale to 10' squares will mostly resolve things.
James Jacobs says: Actually... they might actually fit after all. Remember that deathwebs have climb speeds. They can cling to walls or webs all over the place in area A4. The entrances to the area DID end up being too narrow, alas, but they're undead so they don't really NEED to be able to get out of their cave.
The simplest solution is, of course, to just change the scale on that map to 1 square = 10 feet. That's what I'd do.
5| Here's a small issue unless I'm reading something wrong. The caves under Jorgenfist are described as being 20' tall in passages with room heights up to 40'. Then B11 is described as having a ceiling 50' high. But the pit (A9) is only described as being 60' deep, and the cavern entrance is only half-way down the pit wall. So for consistency's sake you might want to increase the depth of the pit to 120-160'. This would place the level of the caverns at 60-80' and leave plenty of room for really tall chambers in the complex.
Answer: ??
6| The description of what Teraktinus' group does during the attack on Sandpoint is...interesting. The flavor text describes them as reaching into windows and pulling out citizens. The strategy text describes them as standing on the far side of the river and throwing stones. Their arms are not *that* long.... This looks like an editing slip, but it's a good idea to figure out what they are actually doing before they do it.
Answer: ??
7| I had a lot of trouble with each round of rock throwing killing d3 people; one wouldn't let a PC do that with a weapon attack of comparable damage.... So I had them wade across and fight instead.
Answer: ??
8| The dragon must be "running" in the air to get to all the points he's supposed to reach by the time he's supposed to reach them. He only flies 300' in a double move otherwise (losing 150' every time he breathes or lands) and Sandpoint is fairly big.
Answer: ??
9| First, the stats for the Redcap seem to have a few errors, all related to its attack with the scythe. The attack bonus is +11, but as written, it should only be +9. [+3 from 6 HD of fey, +4 Str, +1 weapon focus, +1 size]. Similarly, the kick should be +3 [+3 from 6 HD of fey, +4 Str, +1 size, -5 secondary attack]. This can be partially corrected by giving them a masterwork scythe, making their attacks +10 MW Scythe, and +3 kick. Also, the damage for the scythe attack is too low. It's printed as 2d4+8, but should be 2d4+10 [+6 for Str times 1 1/2 for a two handed weapon, +4 for Red Cap ability]. Finally, the crit range for the scythe is not listed, so it should read 2d4+10/x4.
Answer: ??
10| Lokansir is described in the stat block as a jotunblood hill giant. There's no mention for the source of this template, nor it's MM page.
Answer: The Jotunblood Giant Template is from Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary.
11| Teraktinus uses a normal pick heavy pick (d8 damage, pages 12 and 13). Galenmir, the general, uses one as well (page 32). Is there a reason the giants are not using large weapons with increased damage?
Actually, a medium heavy pick does 1d6, so if you increase the size to large, 1d8 is correct. Picks do very little damage to "make up" for their x4 crits.
Answer: My reading and calculations say that this is correct. They are using Large weapons
12| Clockwork Librarian, are the hps wrong. Constructs have d10 hit dice not d12, but a clockwork is only suppose to replace the racial hit dice with d10s not the class hit dice (8 levels of expert for the librarian). I think the hit points should be 8d6+20 = 48 hp (or 50 hp if max at 1st level). Am I right?
Answer: In the long run I don't think it matters. Just say that that is the way the clockwork librarian is, it isn't like he will be come a long-running NPC or PC. And if, by chance, he does, start giving him normal hit dice from there.
13| The page with the Librarian says he offers +5 to K: History checks; the Appendix says +10. The +5 bonus is repeated in Sins of the Saviors, so I would take that as the intended bonus.
Answer: Its assumed that the bonus is +5
14| Conna's AC is not modified for her large size.
Answer: Her AC should be AC 28, touch 13, flat-footed 26 (-1 size, +4 armor, +2 deflection, +2 Dexterity, +11 natural)
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Hi. I had a couple observations and one bit of tweaking I wanted comment on.
1) For Enga Keckvia, kobold "ratcatcher," it says in the During Combat notes that she fights with her back to a wall to minimize flankers. Of course, since she has Improved Uncanny Dodge, she doesn't really need to worry about being flanked, so I would ignore this bit of advice.
2) In the notes for the Library level, it states that there is no illumination in the rooms unless noted. The runeslave giant, however, doesn't have darkvision. Is he really sitting there in the dark? With an Intelligence of 2, I suppose it's possible, but it seems a little unlikely. I don't really expect a response on this one, since it's obviously nitpicking. I figured I'd just note it for other GMs, so you're not caught by the players' complaints down the line.
3) I think The Headless Lord's attack modifier is wrong. If I calculate correctly it should be +15/+10 and +15. It seems not to be taking into account the -2 for fighting with two weapons. Has this been intentionally left out?
4) Do the Zombie Hill Giants really have 24 HD? I don't think the number of hp is unreasonable, but I see this scenario playing out such that the party cleric turns undead, likely turning The Headless Lord (who only has 12 HD and +4 turn resistance), and leaving his minions totally unfazed. To make matters worse, the cleric has Improved Turning, so he will flat-out destroy the cool monster, and the party will then have to slog through the minions. I have no problem with PCs being able to use their cool powers and 1-shotting a bad guy (that's why they have the powers, after all), but this encounter seems like it's set for anticlimax. Any way to fix this without nerfing the zombies too much?
O
Question about LOKANSIR I have seen this template in one of my books but i cant remember where? and it also says he has fast heal in his tackics but its not written up so how much is it?
Lokansir's template is from Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary
It's compilation question nr. 10 one post above yours =D
10| Lokansir is described in the stat block as a jotunblood hill giant. There's no mention for the source of this template, nor it's MM page.
Answer: The Jotunblood Giant Template is from Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary.
Question about LOKANSIR I have seen this template in one of my books but i cant remember where? and it also says he has fast heal in his tackics but its not written up so how much is it?
In the description of his special abilities, it notes that Lokansir has fast healing 1 when he is melded with the earth.
o
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A note to others regarding Jorgenfist:
I missed out on this opportunity but thought I'd throw it out there for others. Personally, I wasn't overwhelmed by this adventure, as I am not one for the dungeon-slog with lots of unrelated creatures standing around waiting for the PCs to show up and kick their butts. (dislcaimer: I understand, however, that there is a place for this adventure in D&D and do not fault anyone for the writing of FotSG). One way to spice this adventure up would be to focus on the kidnapped Sandpoint citizens and turn the scenario into an exciting rescue attempt. If your players are at all wise, they will use some divination/scouting maneuvers to get the lay of the land before "storming the castle." Give them an opportunity to see one of the townsfolk undergo the Sihedron ritual and then be ritually sacrificed and thrown into the pit. Make it clear that the other townsfolk will suffer the same fate, and soon! Now, the PCs have a time limit and a specific goal, rather than the very vague "prevent the giant army's invasion." Reduce or eliminate most of the non-giant encounters above ground, as they will just slow things down as the PCs are trying to infiltrate the fortress (the river caves are valuable here). Keep Longtooth in the mix, though, if he survived the raid on Sandpoint, as his recurrence will be fun. Ideally, the PCs should interrupt a sacrifice-in-progress (Shayliss is ideal if she has developed a relationship with a PC). Mokmurian should make a token effort, but if the PCs put up an resistance, he orders his guards to attack (including Galenmir) and dimension doors to his room on the Library level, taking his hostage, of course. Now the PCs have to battle their way through the caverns to fight Mokmurian and save the damsel. You will want to remove many (most) of the encounters down there, though, so the party doesn't need to stop and rest, which obviously won't work. You might leave Conna as a useful ally but you can afford to make her a bit less trustworthy, since the PCs will be in a hurry and will need to make some choose the lesser of two evils. Also, make it clear that the giant troops aren't allowed inside Jorgenfist, so the PCs aren't worried that the whole army is going to come marching in after them while they are attempting the rescue. At the end of the day, the PCs save the citizens and have a much more action-packed adventure!
I wish I had thought of this before I was half-way through the dungeon. Alas.
O
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Spoilers
Hypothetically what would happen to Longtooth if he was hit by a wingbind spell, from the spell compendium, while diving towards the cathedral to strafe it with his firey breath? Before he goes into the dive, he is at 100’ of altitude and flying at 150. When he goes into his dive, he will be flying at a rate of 300 and diving at a 45 digree angle.
What would happen to the dragon?
Would he slam head first into the cliff below the Cathedral? If that were to happen how much damage would he take? I am assuming the 10d6 falling damage from a 100’ height. Would there be any more d6’s of damage from the dragons sudden change of acceleration from 300 to 0 as he slams into the cliff face? What do you all think?
Thanks.
The Curse of the Crimsom Throne links have changed, so I'm updating these as well.
Chapter 1: Burnt Offerings
Chapter 2: The Skinsaw Murders
Chapter 3: The Hook Mountain Massacre
Chapter 4: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Chapter 5: Sins of the Saviors
Chapter 6: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Creative Director
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I am preparing for my game session this weekend, and came to the Rocs in area A10. The hit points listed in the adventure say that they each have 127 hp. But the SRD entry for Rocs list hp 207 and 18d8+126 for a roc's hit points.
So are the rocs in A10 young ones? :)
Go with the SRD roc stats.
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Anyone want to share what their plans are for using Miniatures when running the town battle? :-)
-DM Jeff
I just broke out the trusty Big Box of Pawns, plus dice. The key to making the battle work was a really good control sheet for all the NPCs, plus copious notes in play. The PCs split up wildly and I had to know where everyone was all the time. We ended with this truly bizarre "retrograde" where the PCs, who don't fly, had to get to Scarnetti Manor fast. Wren, with _haste_, had already headed over there, but when she realized there were too many giants she ran back, passing the somewhat spread-out PCs on the road and casting _haste_ on each one. (She's a sorceress, and has lots of _haste_ to spare.) So they got more and more spread out, and arrived at the last fight one by one.... It wasn't easy to bookkeep.
I'd have killed for a gridded version of the Sandpoint map! I didn't have the chance to make one (my graphics skills are really limited). If you've got an easy way to put a grid on that map I would totally recommend doing so. "How far is it from here to there?" came up all the time.
There's a writeup of my experiences with this battle in another thread somewhere. It played very well for us.
Mary
Mary I am following your advice but I am also using a magnetic white board with magnetic pins to show movement on the big map of Sand point and doing any battles on a normal grid mat. it will be tedious but I think it may work out. I'll let you know after this weekend!
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Anyone want to share what their plans are for using Miniatures when running the town battle? :-)
-DM Jeff
I just broke out the trusty Big Box of Pawns, plus dice. The key to making the battle work was a really good control sheet for all the NPCs, plus copious notes in play. The PCs split up wildly and I had to know where everyone was all the time. We ended with this truly bizarre "retrograde" where the PCs, who don't fly, had to get to Scarnetti Manor fast. Wren, with _haste_, had already headed over there, but when she realized there were too many giants she ran back, passing the somewhat spread-out PCs on the road and casting _haste_ on each one. (She's a sorceress, and has lots of _haste_ to spare.) So they got more and more spread out, and arrived at the last fight one by one.... It wasn't easy to bookkeep.
I'd have killed for a gridded version of the Sandpoint map! I didn't have the chance to make one (my graphics skills are really limited). If you've got an easy way to put a grid on that map I would totally recommend doing so. "How far is it from here to there?" came up all the time.
There's a writeup of my experiences with this battle in another thread somewhere. It played very well for us.
Mary
Well here is my update. The Giants Attack started at 2PM and ended at 7PM. It was long and tedious. I allowed my players to look things up at the begginging of the round so that I could also keep track of what was going on.
The party actually did very well. They killed Teraktinus. (With a well placed Knowledge Local and a Dimension Door taking the fighter and wizard to Him.) They dropped the 8 attackers they needed to and they got Longtooth. They did the last two about the same time. As longtooth sounded the retreat he got cugth up by the fighter and the druid and his Firepelt. (Animal growthed and buffed up the @$$.) The Firepelt actually won a grapple check against Longtooth and the fighter just started to lay into the dragon... I was frustrated.
Well laid plans go to crap... just add adventurers! Le sigh.
Hopefully others can use this thread to clarify questions arising in this adventure. If you happen to see another thread, please link post a link in this one to try and keep things tied together.
Chapter 1: Burnt Offerings
Chapter 2: The Skinsaw Murders
Chapter 3: The Hook Mountain Massacre
Chapter 4: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Chapter 5: Sins of the Saviors
Chapter 6: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Why don't the links work?
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Seems as if the paths have changed. tdewitt274 posted updated links in this (and the other) thread(s). You'll find them some posts above yours.
Maybe it was a good idea if someone with the power to do so could correct the links in post 1 of the respective threads. I know that's a bit of work but those links are very handy if they point to the right direction.
Curious as to how other DM's handled the fact that much of the treasure in FotSG is of size large or bigger? I cant imagine there is much of a market for these items any where in Varisia. One possibility I thought of was a "blackmarket" merchant who resells to other giant clans on the plateau and else where.
Just curious as to other opinions.
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The description of what Teraktinus' group does during the attack on Sand Point is...interesting. The flavor text describes them as reaching into windows and pulling out citizens. The strategy text describes them as standing on the far side of the river and throwing stones. Their arms are not *that* long.... This looks like an editing slip, but it's a good idea to figure out what they are actually doing before they do it.
I had a lot of trouble with each round of rock throwing killing d3 people; one wouldn't let a PC do that with a weapon attack of comparable damage.... So I had them wade across and fight instead.
The dragon must be "running" in the air to get to all the points he's supposed to reach by the time he's supposed to reach them. He only flies 300' in a double move otherwise (losing 150' every time he breathes or lands) and Sandpoint is fairly big.
On the other hand, I have to say that I thought this fight would run poorly, and to my (and my player's) surprise it was a great fight-- exciting, lots of tactics, ups and downs, and not impossibly hard to adjucate. I was pleasantly surprised.
Mary
This fight actually went quite well for us. We fought some giants in the streets, saving a few townsfolk from being bagged, then - and I have no idea why or how this happened, because we NEVER do this - we split up. The Ranger (who is maxed out for fighting giants) and I (Wizard - Universalist but focused on Evocation - PRPG Alpha 3 rules) chased after the named Giant (forget his name) while our priest of Irori ran down to the docks to try to stop the dragon from eating most of the customers of the tavern. After the fight with the named giant, the Ranger is at 9 HP. The Cleric has moved behind the dragon and is punching him (that's what the cleric decided to use for a weapon... fists), so I teleport myself and the Ranger right down to the tavern. The ranger charges (with 9HP!) the dragon, dealing it a mighty blow, the cleric whacks it a couple more times, and it tries to get away. The ranger quickly whips out his bow, aims, and fires. Nice roll means that the dragons last few HP crash to the ground with its corpse. We've now emptied out its lair (no more details there for the sake of spoilers :).
Anyway, to the point of your message... yah, the dragon had to have some kind of warp nacelle up its butt for getting around Sandpoint.
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Curious as to how other DM's handled the fact that much of the treasure in FotSG is of size large or bigger? I cant imagine there is much of a market for these items any where in Varisia. One possibility I thought of was a "blackmarket" merchant who resells to other giant clans on the plateau and else where.
Just curious as to other opinions.
That's something that players are also wondering. It seems rather cruel to be putting in some pretty cool weapons that are totally unuseable by any of the characters (except the headless lord's axes, which turn out to be not all that great anyway) and are near valueless when it comes to selling them.
Enlarge can be made permanent via a Permanency spell.
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As can shrink item.
Players come across a lot of mis-sized stuff in RotRL (tiny daggers, giant swords...) I'm toying with the idea that you can choose how small you make an object with Shrink Item so that the players can resize big stuff with Shrink Item and Permanency. If they're desperate I'll let them research an Expand Item spell too.
Limited Wish could probably handle shrinking a sword too.
Here's an interesting question.
If an item that is under the effect of a permanent shrink or enlarge item spell encounters an anti-magic field, does it revert to its original size?
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Creative Director
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Here's an interesting question.
If an item that is under the effect of a permanent shrink or enlarge item spell encounters an anti-magic field, does it revert to its original size?
It does. Permanent durations indicate the magic is permanently affecting the target; therefore, when that target goes into an anti magic zone, that permanent magic is suppressed and the item/target reverts to normal.
Instantaneous durations affect the target only once, and whatever changes the instantaneous effect has on the target results in a non-magical change that cannot be affected by anti-magic... since the magic that made the change was instantaneous, it's no longer there to be affected after it does its thing.
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As can shrink item.
Non-magical items only, though.
Players come across a lot of mis-sized stuff in RotRL (tiny daggers, giant swords...) I'm toying with the idea that you can choose how small you make an object with Shrink Item so that the players can resize big stuff with Shrink Item and Permanency. If they're desperate I'll let them research an Expand Item spell too.
Limited Wish could probably handle shrinking a sword too.
I guess my issue is that we have the magic items we got when we were third or fourth level (with a few little things coming along here and there otherwise) Our fighter has a +1 longsword, and our ranger has a +1 bastard sword. We just went to 13th level last night after finishing FotSG... and still nothing new. I guess maybe we're supposed to teleport to Magnimar and buy stuff instead of finding it during adventuring?
What Stone Giants are Evil besides the nammed ones?
Page 12 "Mill Pond"
Are the Stone Giants "pulling people through windows" or "Throwing rocks from the easten bank of the river" ?? I know they're big but come on!!
Question for Clarification:
The Shining Child of Thassilon has an (Ex)Aura of Blinding Light. The descriptive text reads: "Creatures within the affected area must make a DC 25 Fortitude save or be blinded."
I take that as meaning that they're non-magically blinded, as opposed to blinded through a Blindness/Deafness spell. But I just want to make sure.
Why does that make a difference? Well, non-magical blindess has to be cured with a specific Remove Blindness/Deafness or higher level magic like a Heal spell.
Whereas Blindness/Deafness can be treated with a Dispel Magic spell (thoroughly researched that too).
The impact comes with what you're typical PC spell load out is going to be, and how well they can survive if they have to switch spells in order to get the appropriate one to fix the situation. (If you couldn't guess, I had 4 out 5 PCs blinded, and the fighter both blind and permanently insane.. with no Remove Blindness/Deafness on anybody's spell lists, and the cleric not high enough to cast Heal.
I'm not saying the design of the Shining Child is wrong or bad. It is what it is, which is the second toughest encounter in the Chapter. I certainly know that my divine casters who switched to the Spontanteous Divine Caster Feat are rethinking their loss of versatility. Ha.
But one could mitigate the Aura's effect so that it reads "... as if effected by a Blindness/Deafness spell.
Otherwise, GMs should just bear this in mind for if or when the PCs encounter a Shining Child.
Another Shining Child nuance.
The Shining Child has two (Su) Supernatural Abilities Burning Touch and Searing Ray. These abilities have some tricky descriptors.
Both of the damage types are 'positive energy' and/or 'light'.
Burning Touch does offer that the damage is fire based, but the same description also says that it can be mitigated by a darkness spell or moving the person in a place without any light souces whatsoever. The damage type is unclear.
Searing Ray quite literally says the damage type is 'positive energy'.
Why might this matter? It comes into play with spells like Resist Energy and Protection from Energy that allow for 5 specific types of energy.. of which positive energy and light are not amoung.
Now you can chalk the damage type up to fire and call it good. Otherwise you have an exotic damage type for which there is no easy defense. I suppose it depends on how difficult and alien you want the Shining Child to be.
Like my previous post, I'm not saying this design is wrong or bad. I wouldn't disrespect a favorite writer/designer of mine that way. However, this is something you want to consider going into the encounter. James might also want to make a note of, if Paizo is going to put the Shining Child in the PFRPG Monster Books 2 or 3...
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Creative Director
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One thing to remember is that dispel magic only works against spells. It can't fix effects that are caused by extraordinary attacks (like the child's aura). Creatures who are blinded by the child's aura of light are blinded permanently. Remove Blindness and heal can fix it, but otherwise it stays forever. That's pretty rough, yeah, but it's a CR 12 creature. It's not supposed to be a pushover, and at CR 12, it's not unreasonable to expect that heal is in the party's capabilities. Or if not, a remove blindness is only a day away if there's a spellcaster who can cast it.
But yeah, it's supposed to be rough.
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Creative Director
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Look at the damage for the searing ray as it appears in the child's Ranged attack on its stat block. It does fire damage, just like its burning touch. Resistance to fire can help. The fact that the continual fire damage can be extinguished by darkness is additional flavor to help give the child and its attacks a weird, alien feel to them, but in the end, it's still fire damage. Resist energy (fire) and protection from energy (fire) will protect against the fire damage element of both attacks, even though the fire itself is triggered by positive energy and weird alien light rather than by dragon breath or torch or matches.
For the searing ray, I suppose we could have repeated the damage and type of damage in the description under special ability, but stat blocks are always trying to be as succinct as possible; I had figured that keeping the damage and type in its ranged attack line was enough.
Look at the damage for the searing ray as it appears in the child's Ranged attack on its stat block.
Ah, you're right. I see it now.
For the searing ray, I suppose we could have repeated the damage and type of damage in the description under special ability, but stat blocks are always trying to be as succinct as possible; I had figured that keeping the damage and type in its ranged attack line was enough.
I don't know what to tell you. Maybe I'm not that bright, but I missed it. All my focus was on the ability description and I overlooked that notation on the stat block line. Next time I'll look closer at the aforementioned stat block line.
On the other hand, maybe mentioning it in the description would have helped. Don't know. Now I can't tell you if it's just my problem or if it's actually confusing.
As for having Heal I don't really dispute that, and neither do the players. The Cleric would have had it if he hadn't taken one level of Bard. And as I said, they all went heavy into Spontaenous Divine Casting Feats (because to knock Jack Vance is fashionable this year, what with 4E and all). They see the downside to that as well as the updside now.
Oh and thanks BTW. I wasn't trying to convey an attitude.
But seriously, for feedback, I guess I should have seen the fire descriptor on the stat block line, but I didn't. All I saw was the damage, and most of my attention was on the descriptive text. I have no idea if I'm representative of everybody though.
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Creative Director
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No worries! The shining child is in a lot of ways not a typical monster, and its unusual ranged attack is only one of the ways it does something that a lot of other monsters don't. Certainly if it gets picked up for a later Bestiary for reprinting some day, I'll keep your observations in mind for making it less confusing a creature.
Don't know if anyone else could use them but with the final setting having it's special terrain I made cardstock cutout for it. It will take 4 pages to do these pieces. The 6 columns, stairs, and raised room are all here. Hopefully it's not too hard to figure out. I did the stairs in ten foot sections for large base sizes and didn't make the columns 100 feet tall (though you can if you want).
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Don't know if anyone else could use them but with the final setting having it's special terrain I made cardstock cutout for it. It will take 4 pages to do these pieces. The 6 columns, stairs, and raised room are all here. Hopefully it's not too hard to figure out. I did the stairs in ten foot sections for large base sizes and didn't make the columns 100 feet tall (though you can if you want).
Wow. That's great; thank you so much. I can't wait to run this in 3D!
Don't know if anyone else could use them but with the final setting having it's special terrain I made cardstock cutout for it. It will take 4 pages to do these pieces. The 6 columns, stairs, and raised room are all here. Hopefully it's not too hard to figure out. I did the stairs in ten foot sections for large base sizes and didn't make the columns 100 feet tall (though you can if you want).
Coool! Gonna try these tonight!
So, were did people level up the PCs in this adventure? I'm running this without using XP, and would appreciate any info that allows me to level them uip in the most apropriate places.
Just a small point about Energy types. I allow Negative and Positive as energy types for spells like resist energy.
Just a small point about Energy types. I allow Negative and Positive as energy types for spells like resist energy.
That actually jives okay with the position of those inner planes in the old Planescape Cosmology, so I like that.
Question for Clarification:
The Shining Child of Thassilon has an (Ex)Aura of Blinding Light. The descriptive text reads: "Creatures within the affected area must make a DC 25 Fortitude save or be blinded."
I take that as meaning that they're non-magically blinded, as opposed to blinded through a Blindness/Deafness spell. But I just want to make sure.
Why does that make a difference? Well, non-magical blindess has to be cured with a specific Remove Blindness/Deafness or higher level magic like a Heal spell.
Whereas Blindness/Deafness can be treated with a Dispel Magic spell (thoroughly researched that too).
The impact comes with what you're typical PC spell load out is going to be, and how well they can survive if they have to switch spells in order to get the appropriate one to fix the situation. (If you couldn't guess, I had 4 out 5 PCs blinded, and the fighter both blind and permanently insane.. with no Remove Blindness/Deafness on anybody's spell lists, and the cleric not high enough to cast Heal.
Certainly by 10th level or so, a scroll of remove blindness/deafness ought to be in every cleric's backpack, along with a wand of lesser restoration, scroll of remove curse at a high(ish) caster level, and other back-up spells that aren't worth memorizing but *are* worth having at hand for just this type of situation.
Certainly by 10th level or so, a scroll of remove blindness/deafness ought to be in every cleric's backpack, along with a wand of lesser restoration, scroll of remove curse at a high(ish) caster level, and other back-up spells that aren't worth memorizing but *are* worth having at hand for just this type of situation.
Agreed!
But come treasure selling time how do the party split the cash? Do they add one number to the party as a party fund? Do they expect the Cleric to buy that stuff out of his share? Different groups seem to approach this in a variety of ways.
I have a general monster question about the lamia clerics in the Jorgenfist caverns. Do the touches that lamias deliver (that drain Wis) provoke Attacks of Opportunity? Or has anyone considered giving them a save DC. I just think that they could turn very ugly very quickly.
I have a general monster question about the lamia clerics in the Jorgenfist caverns. Do the touches that lamias deliver (that drain Wis) provoke Attacks of Opportunity? Or has anyone considered giving them a save DC. I just think that they could turn very ugly very quickly.
Supernatural abilities don't provoke attacks of opportunity.
It hasn't been that big a problem in my game. Anyone else find this overpowering?
They didn't last long enough for it to become an issue with my group. In addition, by that level, there are plenty of resources available to repair that easily.
Okay, I'll give it a go as written. Thanks for the advice guys!
They didn't last long enough for it to become an issue with my group. In addition, by that level, there are plenty of resources available to repair that easily.Okay, I'll give it a go as written. Thanks for the advice guys!
You guys were right. I didn't really affect the group too badly, and the lamias didn't last too long either. In fact their touch was really the only effective attack versus some of the high AC members of the group.
Another rookie question (in connection with the Skanderig): Do you add magical bonus to armor when determining armor hp? According to DMG the bonus to magic armor is an enhancement bonus, and the PHB says that armor hp is equal to armor bonus x 5. I have a player wearing +5 mithril plate (don't ask...). Would the armor's hp be 40 (8 x 5) or 65 ((8+5) x 5)?
Thank you in advance
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In reference to the giant attack on Sandpoint...
My players had found out that a giant attack was imminent. The cleric communed with Iomedae and found out that they had about 3 days until the attack. With the support of Sherrif Hemlock and Mayor Deverin, they evacuated the town sending them on their way to Magnimar.
Meantime, the players hid in the empty town to observe and follow the giants once they were done. They knew that they'd be looking for something.
Interesting and clever.
after the attack on sandpoint I intend to use the capture of slaves as a big motivator to go after them. What is to stop the characters just catching up with them before they get back to Jorgenfist?
Any ideas to slow down pursuit- make it more of a track them than chase them?
after the attack on sandpoint I intend to use the capture of slaves as a big motivator to go after them. What is to stop the characters just catching up with them before they get back to Jorgenfist?
Any ideas to slow down pursuit- make it more of a track them than chase them?
I distracted my players with the captured prisoner - they took time to interrogate, and gather extra resources.
Another rookie question (in connection with the Skanderig): Do you add magical bonus to armor when determining armor hp? According to DMG the bonus to magic armor is an enhancement bonus, and the PHB says that armor hp is equal to armor bonus x 5. I have a player wearing +5 mithril plate (don't ask...). Would the armor's hp be 40 (8 x 5) or 65 ((8+5) x 5)?
I believe the hp would be 90, as enhancement bonuses add 2 to hardness and 10 to hitpoints (at least for weapons, I think armor as well). So that's (8x5) + (10x5) = 90.
I'm looking for a map of the tunnels where the redcaps are.