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I'd say you're overreacting, but your wife's reaction is nearly identical to how I was feeling about Pathfinder after our Carrion Crown fiasco... up until NobodysWife cast Mad Monkeys on the BBEG and they actually managed to steal his cape!
Hilarity ensued...
I can see how anyone who doesn't know our group might easily think I'm overreacting, but Peni has said -- calmly, with no hysterics -- that she will never play the game again, and in such situations her word is as the laws of the Medes and the Persians, which altereth not.
We have a slightly larger group that we play boardgames with, but our RPG group is just us four, and has been for well over a decade (D&D, Harn, HERO System, Pathfinder.) Letting my wife quit the group, shrugging and replacing her with someone new at the table, isn't going to happen.
She's not the only one frustrated by the game. One other player (who had also GM'd Serpent's Skull for us) had stated his intention to never run another AP, and that he would need a very long break -- years -- before even playing Pathfinder again...and when that happened, it shouldn't be in an AP, either.
As far as mad monkeys goes, I feel confident that no hilarity could be expected in whatever remained of the Carrion Crown story.
All of this being true, does it make sense for me to continue buying more product month after month? Or to let a couple hundred Paizo books gather dust on the shelves, knowing most will never be used again?
Best cool for a bit and then decide how to dispose of the books. Selling on Ebay or donating to the library are options.
Oh, nothing's going out the door tomorrow. If I'm good at anything, it's procrastinating.
I'm not currently set up as an Ebay seller. Seems like a lot of work, especially figuring out shipping costs. I've sold stuff to Noble Knight Games before.
I emailed Paizo Customer Service earlier and asked them to cancel all my subscription lines except (ironically) the AP; having bought 5 parts of Hell's Vengeance, I might as well get the last book. I'm a big Lovecraft fan, so I might even stick it out for Strange Aeons, but after that...
I was a Charter Subscriber stretching from Rise of the Runelords all the way to...whatever immediately preceded Iron Gods. I don't care for high tech mixing with my high fantasy, so I suspended my AP subscription to bypass it, and lost the Charter Subscriber status. Since then I think I've only skipped a Codex or two.
I am a Collector (Accumulator archetype) of a number of thins and I don't like breaking up sets or letting go of them. This is going to seriously bum me out.
That sucks to hear, Damon. I'm having the opposite problem where my PCs are rolling through everything with the greatest of ease. They cleared the entirety of the courtyard and upper floor of Renchurch in one go with little attrition, effectively using blanket immunity spells(mainly Death Ward and Freedom of Movement) to make most of the monsters incapable of hurting them, then using buffs like Good Hope and bardic music so that even if they do have to roll a saving throw, they need to only not roll a 1. I just finished the following encounter:
Nathalazzar and his two golems. While the whole team was ready with held actions to launch ranged attacks at the first person to enter, the resulting 80 points of damage did little with shield other splitting the damage between its target (scythe wielding paladin fighter) and the juiced up Oracle of life, who proceeded to Cure Critical him for most of the damage. Meanwhile, the Magus moved up, dropping a grease spell between the two golems, making them easily fall prone with little chance to regain their footing. The bard used bardic performance to juice up everyone's attack and damage while also healing the oracle of the split damage she had just taken.
Next round, the fighter and Dhampir close, dealing 90% of one of the Golem's health in damage. The golems get really lucky, hitting four times from prone on the fighter, which due to stoneskin and shield other score minimal damage. Nathalazar unloads on the fighter, knocking him prone with a force bomb and hitting again with acid. The fighter has about 25% of his health remaining, but is quickly brought to about 66% with channeled positive energy and cure spells.
Attacking from prone, the fighter still easily dispatches one golem and critically hits the second, reducing it to 5% of its health. Its quickly finishing off by the magus. Nathalzar tries to hit the in-cover oracle and misses twice (bad rolling). He is then flanked by the magus and fighter, who switch to magical bludgeoning weapons as they close while the oracle unloads a searing light on him for about 40 damage. Unable to escape the flank due to the fighter's Stand Still feat (and some other close quarter feat that keeps them from withdrawing), Nathalzzar dispatches a last ditch detonate, but its too late; the pair reduce him to dust in seconds.
@damon. In a pinch ask comic stores if they will accept boxes sight unseen. I needed to get rid of 6+boxes and just didn't have the time to sort through and arrange(except to make sure the porn was removed.) So I got store credit. There might of been something valuable in there, but considering that the buggers have to be nigh pristine I wasn't going to comb through price guides. I got several hundred in credit and since I have a small buy list, it lasted me a while.
With 6 PCs plus a cohort and an animal companion, we've got a larger number of creatures that need to be buffed/protected, and every 14-minute death ward cast is one less dismissal, holy smite, communal protection from energy or restoration available that day.
Yes, but for every Death Ward cast, given your specific issues, that is two less Restorations and one less Raise Dead/Resurrection/Reincarnate that needs be cast.
I'd invest in scrolls, rather than wands.
Plus at your level, I see no need to rush. Even 15 minutes is enough to sweep most dungeons of anything living (or unliving) so you can explore at your leisure. Haunts are an issue, but usually relatively easy to bypass.
Seems a bit of an overreaction, especially if you plan to play any other RPG. Most I've played are not as forgiving combat-wise as Pathfinder.
Mutants and Masterminds is good fun though if you want a not-at-all-gritty, modular system. It's pretty easily adapted to any kind of game, and IMO is more fun to play all sorts of games in than most d20 RPGs, even ones like GURPS specifically made to be flavorless.
Try 5th Edition of D&D. Haven't played it but there have been positive reviews.
If you like horror, try Call of Cuthhululululululu(Help! I can't stop spelling it!) using the Gumshoe/Nemesis systems. Plus Delta Green.
Damn, that sucks Damon.
I do get the sense that your GM's made a lot of bad calls (as I really get the sense that he responded to the party obviously struggling with the dungeon by deliberately ramping up the difficulty), and so I'm not surprised that's killing Pathfinder for your group.
(There's also the matter that high-level play is a different beast from low-level play, and it sounds like some adaption issues going on.)
If you have a Friendly Local Gaming Store they should be able to buy your books though.
@Rakshasa: We keep a campaign journal that is decently detailed regarding most encounters. I'll look up that one and see how we handled it. I do remember it wasn't one of the more difficult ones for us.
@MannyGoblin I'll have to ask around at comic shops I don't usually go to. My FLCS and FLGS are the same shop, and they don't carry used comics. I know of Mile High Comics and mycomicshop.com online but as I mentioned, it will be a chore to sort through and grade, so finding a place in town would be much better. If I could be fairly sure they'd take whole boxes, it might be worth it to drive them up to San Marcos (40 miles) or Austin (70 miles) to either of two shops that I know carry used back issues. We've played CoC but not under Gumshoe, and we've played 5E but only as far as the introductory adventure. 5E is certainly one option going forward; we have many of those.
@Sundakan: If you were thinking my wife overreacted by calmly, with no hysterics, refusing to ever play this system again, I strongly disagree. If you think I overreacted by deciding to dump all my Pathfinder material, that's a perfectly reasonable viewpoint (with with I happen to disagree, obviously.) But last night our GM* topped us both by quitting the gaming group he's been part of for 16 years, unsubscribing from the group's messageboard, and declaring he'll have no further contact with us.
*
@Zhangar: My FLGS doesn't carry used gaming material, but there may be other shops in town that do. If not, Noble Knight Games has worked for me before. As far as Pathfinder, mistakes were made on both sides of the screen, and if Ryan made it hard for us in some places, he went out of his way to help us in others. That pendulum seemed to have a wide arc sometimes. (But no, he's not bipolar.)
From what I have heard of Gumshoe, it is set-up to help prevent the 'You must have this skill to continue'. If you need to find information you could.
1.Intimidate the museum guard into letting you in.
2.Use criminal contacts to gain access to an area
3.Use accounting to follow a paper trail to a motel
4.Charm the maids into letting you have a little time to snoop around.
Suggestions are offered. Plus Nemesis/Gumshoe offers options for classic and pulp style play.
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In 16 years of GMing, this has been the deadliest campaign I have ever run. o__o
Name: Mako
Classes/levels: Ranger 1
Adventure: Haunting of Harrowstone
Location: Lakeside by Harrowstone Prison
Catalyst: Flaming skeletons
The Gory Details: Annoyed that the party was wasting so much time gathering info in the town, our ranger (who was brand new to gaming), decided to go up to check things out on his own. He was torn apart by skeletons that climbed out of the lake.
Name: Verno Q'ugokam
Race: Orc
Classes/levels: Barbarian 3
Adventure: Haunting of Harrowstone
Location: Inside Harrowstone prison near the oubliette
Catalyst: Gurtis Vortch
The Gory Details: While Verno barely survived the fight with the skeletal champion, its death throes killed him and his brother was forced to bury him (although he has kept some of his bones and sworn to bring him back - one way or another).
Name: Khali
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Rogue 4
Adventure: The Midnight Mirror (added in between books 1&2)
Location: Inside the Midnight Mirror
Catalyst:
Name: Elstrum Covenscar
Race: Half-elf
Classes/levels: Wizard 4
Adventure: The Midnight Mirror
Location: Inside the Midnight Mirror
Catalyst:
Name: Stryfe
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Rogue 3
Adventure: The Midnight Mirror (added in between books 1&2)
Location: Inside the Midnight Mirror
Catalyst:
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Oh! I wasn't sure this obituaries thread was still active.
We started this campaign last year and it's been a blast so far! Just started Book 6 but here's the deaths so far...
Name: Amalica
Race: Changeling
Classes/Levels: Rogue 7
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Shudderwood
Catalyst: Primal barbarians
The Gory Details:
Name: Sax'kirin
Race: Half-elf (Osirian)
Classes/Levels: Cleric 8 (Sarenrae)
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Feldgrau
Catalyst: Whispering Way cultists
The Gory Details:
Name: Hermadur
Race: Half-orc (Ustalav)
Classes/Levels: Inquisitor 11 (Iomedae)
Adventure: Ashes at Dawn
Location: Nobleman's Stitch tailor shop
Catalyst: Mimic rogues
The Gory Details:
That's all so far but this Adventure Path has been a lot of fun to run so far!
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Name: Cuthrig Durnmire
Classes/levels: Warpriest 5
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Vorkstag and Grime, Chymic Works
Catalyst: Flesh Golem Hound
The Gory Details: Having had the gate opened for him by his ranger friend Storm, Cuthrig bravely bounded forth and faced the hulking and hideous Flesh Golem Hound. With the power of divine favor he inflicted some significant damage, which caused the hound to focus on him reducing him to 0 hit points with some nasty bites. Cuthrig then chose to use a fervour to heal himself but only healed a few hit points, which left him in a very bad position when the hound tried to finish him off. 22 points of damage to Cuthrig on 3 HP gave us a dead Dwarf and my first player kill. R.I.P Cuthrig
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Character Name: Frang OnDood
Class/Level: Bloodrager 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: The Feldgrau Mill
Catalyst: Ambush
The Gory Details:
Frang perceived there was something upstairs, and after the group goaded him up the ladder, he was on the receiving end of 3/4 readied attacks, including a 50ish hp crit from Adimarus. He fell back down the ladder, dead as a door nail. The party avenged him after killing Adimarus and brokering a truce with the surviving Jezeldens.
Name: Maria Valentina and Mildred Wayfinder
Classes/levels: Human Samurai 6, Halfling Alchemist 6
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Schloss Caromarc
Catalyst: The Promethean
The Gory Details:
So, unlike some other people that wiped to this boss, we had the Beast (we call him "Mister Beast") with us when we started. We had left him outside the castle with the Crooked Kin (we convinced the circus to take him on after he was acquitted and needed to get out of town) because we were afraid of something happening and him getting mind controlled. But we went back and got him up on top of the tower before we started up the lightning machine.
For reference, our party makeup was the aforementioned samurai and alchemist, plus a shaman (me) and a magus. The magus was basically useless this fight.
Now, in retrospect, having the alchemist control Mister Beast when he was perfectly willing to fight for us anyway was a mistake, because she wasn't throwing bombs earlier. This meant the only people doing damage were Mister Beast and Maria. Maria, was in fact, doing more damage than Mister Beast, and got the ire of a full attack, bringing her down to 7 hp. That was when she got grappled. Now, Esme (shaman) and Millie were already grappled and down to half health, so with Maria grappled as well we were not in a good spot. Maria couldn't full attack. Millie threw a bomb.
She did min damage. Leaving the Promethean with 2 hp. Right before his turn. Where he did 25 damage to all of us. Maria was just dead, Millie was at exactly -10 (with 10 con), and Esme was at -3.
While we knew Mister Beast would finish him off this round, I was actually crying as we were desperately trying to come up with some way to save Millie, but Bradhiel couldn't pull out a potion, move over to her, and stick it down her throat all in one round.
It was then the GM reminded us we all had Harrow cards, and there were these handy things called keys that gave extra actions. So we quickly pulled up a key and used it (after winding back time) to have Millie throw another bomb, dealing min damage again, but enough to kill the boss thus avoiding the bad timeline where half the party wiped.
Name: Cellaich
Race: Human
Classes/levels: 1 Snoop Rogue/3? Poleiheira Adherent Wizard/5 Arcane Trickster
Adventure: Wake of the Watcher
Location: The Stables
Catalyst: Trying to snoop too hard on Clanartus
The Gory Details: Let's bump this and try to get some of the doom and gloom off the page, huh?
Party went off to the stables to try and track the riders. The bloodrager and kineticist worked at supporting the cart while the oracle cast mending on the wheel - leaving the wizard, Cellaich, to chat up the brave assassin. He got as far as asking his name after they watched the others struggle with the cart before he got a good ol' death attack to the gut. The old man is good at stalling for time!
The kineticist then proceeded to get a crit on an empowered composite blast and oneshot Clanartus, so revenge was sweet. The ghouls went down without much trouble, and they rushed the wizard's corpse to the Pharasmin chapel in Thrushmoor for an emergency raise. So now they're in Illmarsh with a negative level afoot...
Name: Magdrak Freiherr von Munchausen
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Gunslinger 2
Adventure: Haunting of Harrowstone/Fiddler's lament
Location: Ravengro
Catalyst: Dragged behind a horse by an undead horseman
The Gory Details: (optional)
Trying to save the town of Ravengro from a horde of undead, Magdrak faced off against an undead rider wielding a magical rope. The thing managed to capture Magdrak and drag him behind his horse. Magdrak tried to pull out his axe to cut the rope but a bump in the rope loosened his grip and he landed on the axe blade creating a deep bleeding wound. The undead was defeated by the rest of the party, but despite the best efforts of the party's physician they were not able to save the dwarf who died from blood loss.
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Forgive the thread necromancy, but in over a decade of playing this game, I can't recall ever getting to write one of these. Players do die in my games, but typically they find a way to be resurrected, so I don't record them on these threads.
Name: Vikar Geirsson
Race: Human (Ulfen)
Classes/levels: Fighter VMC Bard level 5
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Schloss Caromac
Catalyst: A sketchy rope bridge, a 150 foot drop, gravity, and bad dice rolls
The Gory Details: After being ambushed by rust monsters in the partially exploded alchemical wing, the majority of the party (7 of 8 player characters) rushed to the sketchy looking rope bridge leading further into the schloss abandoning their attempts to defeat the rust monsters. Two other party members failed their checks and saves and end up falling to the bottom of the waterfall 150 feet below. Those two were saved by the wizard's one feather fall spell. Four of the players then retreated to the relative safety of the first manse while the fifth (the wizard) polymorphed into a gargoyle to fly down to the bottom of the waterfall. Poor Vikar, remained behind to fight the beasts, and after dispatching half the rust monsters in single combat (and sacrificing three weapons and his breastplate for his effort), rushed to the bridge to seek to aid his fallen compatriots. Vikar was forward thinking enough to move carefully on the bridge and attempt to wrap the rope guardrails on either side about his forearms (which I ruled granted him advantage on the subsequent acrobatics checks and reflex saves), but alas, not even four rolls were enough to save him. Vikar fell to his demise, seen only in his final moments by those he sought to save.
No one who has attempted to cross that bridge has even made it halfway across so far. We’ll see who can and what happens when they do so next week. Whatever happens, the party did not find or recover Vikar's body, so while this thread may be coming back to life, Vikar most certainly will not be.
Forgive the thread necromancy, but in over a decade of playing this game, I can't recall ever getting to write one of these. Players do die in my games, but typically they find a way to be resurrected, so I don't record them on these threads.
This is a character obituary thread for an AP and there are no time limits on when an AP should be played, therefore it's not possible to accuse anyone of thread necromancy. In other words: you're safe from any blame! :)