One thing I've just noticed that seems as though the AP contradicts itself.
Ravenscraeg on Alert (on page 32) says that of the 8 thugs from area C7, two move to area C6 to support Jorgan, and the other six move to area C8. However under Development in area C3 it states that surviving thugs from areas C7 and C11, as well as reinforcements move out here if the PCs leave and come back.
According to this the C7 thugs are supposed to be in two places at once. I'm guessing the fact that they were said to move to C6 and C8 was overlooked, and that the Ravenscraeg on Alert way is probably what I should run, rather than the C3 development way, which would have my players returning to find 20 thugs waiting for them on the landing after only one day away. It seems like a bit much.
Should the thugs hurling rocks from the landing only be from the reinforcements and the surviving C11 ones, with the C7 ones inside as detailed under Ravenscraeg on Alert? That seems to me like a more reasonable approach than having almost more thugs than the landing can hold flinging rocks down at the PCs.
Nobody? I had to run it by my best guess, and I suppose it went okay, but I'd still appreciate feedback on how Ravenscraeg's forces are actually meant to be set up when on alert. Especially those thugs.
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According to this the C7 thugs are supposed to be in two places at once. I'm guessing the fact that they were said to move to C6 and C8 was overlooked, and that the Ravenscraeg on Alert way is probably what I should run, rather than the C3 development way, which would have my players returning to find 20 thugs waiting for them on the landing after only one day away. It seems like a bit much.
In my opinion this is exactly the way it's supposed to be - when the PCs penetrate Ravenscraegs defences and the alarm is raised all defenders on the Cliff Level act as outlined in "Ravenscreag on alert" then moving to C3 to guard the area for the PCs return in case they retreat. Having them wait in their rooms kicking one's heels would not only be grossly negligent from their leaders but plain stupid.
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One thing I've just noticed that seems as though the AP contradicts itself.
Ravenscraeg on Alert (on page 32) says that of the 8 thugs from area C7, two move to area C6 to support Jorgan, and the other six move to area C8. However under Development in area C3 it states that surviving thugs from areas C7 and C11, as well as reinforcements move out here if the PCs leave and come back.
According to this the C7 thugs are supposed to be in two places at once. I'm guessing the fact that they were said to move to C6 and C8 was overlooked, and that the Ravenscraeg on Alert way is probably what I should run, rather than the C3 development way, which would have my players returning to find 20 thugs waiting for them on the landing after only one day away. It seems like a bit much.
Should the thugs hurling rocks from the landing only be from the reinforcements and the surviving C11 ones, with the C7 ones inside as detailed under Ravenscraeg on Alert? That seems to me like a more reasonable approach than having almost more thugs than the landing can hold flinging rocks down at the PCs.
The "Ravenscraeg on Alert" sidebar details the movement of forces within the fortress once they have been alerted to the PCs' presence inside Ravenscraeg. If the PCs then leave Ravenscraeg, the thugs and other reinforcements gather at area C3, as described in that section, to keep the PCs from reentering the fortress.
Ah okay, I had them move to on alert positions when the PCs returned for their second attempt at assaulting the fortress, and kind of combined the two to decide where everyone was positioned. Fortunately they summoned elementals that tore through much of the (substantial) thug and ninja defences as the PCs were making their way up. By the time Jorgan had emerged to cleared out most of the elementals, almost all of the thugs and ninjas had been killed. So the fight against Jorgan was a somewhat even one.
Snip.
Any thoughts or comments?
My group considered doing that on their third trip into the fortress, but at that point had already caught on to the pattern of reinforcements coming each morning, and opted not to get themselves sandwiched between enemies in both directions.
Some of the things I might do to a group that slept in the fortress are:
a) Exactly what my players suspected might happen. The next morning they're attacked from both directions. Enemies coming up from the dungeon levels on one side, and the arriving thug and ninja reinforcements on the other side. Bonus for you if they slept on one of the days that tengu and monk reinforcements come as well, or even a troll or two. Fighting two trolls in the main hall of the fortress would be interesting, and rather different than fighting trolls in the cramped dungeon.
b) Jorgan gets reinforcements. Okay, so you say you're running Jorgan as scared of going down into the dungeon levels, but what about the other direction? It sounds like Wodes is still alive. Nothing like raven swarms, summoned air elementals, and an awakened raven druid with the physical power of a wearbear backing them up. Wodes and Jorgan go well together in a fight, each providing something that can be exploited against the other (Jorgan's lack of magic, and Wodes' lack of muscle respectively). They would also certainly have all pre-battle spells cast beforehand too (no chance of surprising them) and might even wait for the reinforcements to arrive, to further bolster their numbers and give some additional physical backup beyond just Jorgan.
c) Reinforcements arrive... Before they're ready. Whether I'd throw this one at them depends on the party, and the situation, but you could have the Frozen Shadows reinforcements show up before the casters have readied/refreshed their daily spells. Sure everyone gained some HP from resting, but they'll be fighting with only what's left of yesterday's magic. Of course they should definitely be allowed to finish spell prep after the fight is done. Doing something like this would be a nice opportunity for melee characters to shine if the casters have been getting the spotlight lately.
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Last session, my players freed Lute Haggersly (the merchant). Lute was a big foreshadow on my part. I had them run into Lute back on the road near Brinestump Marsh. He agreed to travel with them north just as long as they're aware that his final destination was Kalsgard due to the fact that he had just been elected into the Rimerunner's Guild board of shareholders.
I played him up as a morbidly obese merchant of "finer taste" that had a penchant for "pretty young things"...especially boys as the parties' young ranger found out through traveling with him. He was friendly enough but had his gluttonous and lustful habits clearly rule his life.
When the PCs got to Brinewall, Lute commandeered one of the caravan wagons leaving monetary compensation in it's place. His intention was to make for Kalsgard and NOT wait around for these "glory-seeking adventurers".
Now the PCs are in Kalsgard. They try to locate Lute....he is after all a merchant contact that they have. Sadly, they cannot find him. No one can find him. Fast forward to Ravenscraeg.
They find Lute in his cell as written--a starved, strechmark-ridden shell of his former self. Even my player who plays the male ranger (victim of many sexual passes by the corpulent merchant) felt horrible for Lute.
I felt the need to share this because, well, you know. Foreshadow.....GOOOOD.
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Nice one, William!! I'll use it on my adventure just as you described. I'm sure it will make a big impression on my players, too. This is the stuff that makes gamemastering worth.
Man, I wish I could come up with cool stuff like that sometimes :s Great story William, thanks for sharing.
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Had our second session of book 2 last week. The group elected to avoid traveling with the Avril's Hammer and selling it in Kalsgard, and instead opted to sell it where they already were - Losthome. Do they gain any NP or how much do people recommend for this? I was thinging of have the same amount of NP but it may take a while for this word to get back to Kalsgard, and thus a sudden escalation of NP maybe 2 or 3 days after they arrive. They also went to the farm on day 2, with no information about Ulf. And still wiped the floor with the baddies.
Your "delayed NP" idea sounds as though it'd be suitable for the sale of Avril's Hammer.
As for the second part, not sure if you're just telling of what's happened or if you're asking what to do about Ulf now. Assuming the latter, I'd have his sister approach them, having seen them heading out towards the farm, ask if they found Ulf, mention that he's an experienced guide on the northern routes. Should give them enough incentive to track him down. And you can simply have her direct them to the funeral boat rather than have someone at the farm do it (simply make it so that the "he'll soon be joining Snorri Stone-eye" comment was said to her when she got thrown off the farm, rather than to the PCs, raising her suspicions and giving her enough knowledge to point them to their next target).
If I recall correctly the party lasts through the night, and a second group of party-goers arrives halfway though.
What I would do: Simply change all the original combatants and the farm to be drunk, asleep, or both, but otherwise using their stats as-written and then double their number with the second group varying between drunk and sober.
The PCs will likely get beaten up, but that's life. If they lose, they get thrown out, perhaps learn of the funeral boat in the process (just deliver the "Ulf will be joining Snorri Stone-eye line when they get thrown out), and Asvig and Helva might be used as recurring villains.
They can encounter Asvig and Helva again on the way there, having been coerced by Kimandatsu into keeping the PCs from reaching Ravescraeg (with a challenge-appropriate number of warriors accompanying them of course). Might even be more satusfying for the PCs to get the win against them later on after the PCs have already been beaten up by them the first time.
Question about Suishen: Further powers unlock as you kill oni's of the Five Storms. There are a lot of upcoming oni enemies, beginning with Forest of Spirits, is every one of them to be counted as belonging to the Five Storms? Suishens further powers would unlock pretty quickly, then. Which could be the intent or maybe it couldn't. I'd appreciate a clarification.
On a related topic, is it really intended for the caravan to get unlimited Protection from Energy ( Cold )? Suishens first unlocked power is just that and it seems it would completely trivialize any cold weather problems during the long period the caravan is on the Crown of the World. Is this intentional?
On a related topic, is it really intended for the caravan to get unlimited Protection from Energy ( Cold )? Suishens first unlocked power is just that and it seems it would completely trivialize any cold weather problems during the long period the caravan is on the Crown of the World. Is this intentional?
I've have a slightly different interpretation.
I usually go with weapons apply their benefits only to the wielder. So in this case, the protection from energy, at will, means that Suisen is only able to use it on it's wielder.
Suishen will inform it's wielder that it can cast protection from cold on it's wielder, and no, it does not consent to be passed around like some cheap trinket. Also you may want to have it set up that when a new wielder learns it's powers, the links to the old wielder are gone.
Even if you decide that Suishen can cast the protection from cold (once it has been unlocked) to others, Suishen is an intelligent weapon that controls it's powers. Even if Suishen can be talked into using it on others (I would make it a difficult diplomacy check and even then, only in emergencies), I can't see it providing protection from cold to the draft animals.
I may have missed something (likely). But I can't see any reference to the Yama King that the monks' cells at Ravenscraeg have shrines to. A Knowledge (religion) check is allowed, but I can't find him in the Dragon Empires book either...
On a related topic, is it really intended for the caravan to get unlimited Protection from Energy ( Cold )? Suishens first unlocked power is just that and it seems it would completely trivialize any cold weather problems during the long period the caravan is on the Crown of the World. Is this intentional?I've have a slightly different interpretation.
I usually go with weapons apply their benefits only to the wielder. So in this case, the protection from energy, at will, means that Suisen is only able to use it on it's wielder.
Suishen will inform it's wielder that it can cast protection from cold on it's wielder, and no, it does not consent to be passed around like some cheap trinket. Also you may want to have it set up that when a new wielder learns it's powers, the links to the old wielder are gone.
Even if you decide that Suishen can cast the protection from cold (once it has been unlocked) to others, Suishen is an intelligent weapon that controls it's powers. Even if Suishen can be talked into using it on others (I would make it a difficult diplomacy check and even then, only in emergencies), I can't see it providing protection from cold to the draft animals.
Hm, not seeing it, to be honest. Suishen would want to make sure that the Amatatsu scions get back to Minkai. If that necesitates casting its unlimited Protection from Cold power on horses, I'd think it would do so. It has a pretty practical personality, from what I read in its description.
Again, clarification on this issue ( and the first one I raised ) from a dev would be highly appreciated.
I may have missed something (likely). But I can't see any reference to the Yama King that the monks' cells at Ravenscraeg have shrines to. A Knowledge (religion) check is allowed, but I can't find him in the Dragon Empires book either...
Well from my quick google translate attempt, putting Yama through from Japanese to English I got the following two results:
1: Judgement seat of Yama.
2: Yama, judge of the afterlife.
Oddly enough, that sounds like Pharasma. Though I think any relation is unlikely.
I may have missed something (likely). But I can't see any reference to the Yama King that the monks' cells at Ravenscraeg have shrines to. A Knowledge (religion) check is allowed, but I can't find him in the Dragon Empires book either...Well from my quick google translate attempt, putting Yama through from Japanese to English I got the following two results:
1: Judgement seat of Yama.
2: Yama, judge of the afterlife.Oddly enough, that sounds like Pharasma. Though I think any relation is unlikely.
So I'm not actually missing something in the AP? Phew!
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Has anybody worked up a Hero Lab *.por for Goti Runecaster and/or Raven Swarm?
I've checked the Lone Wolf forum and the community repository for Hero Lab at the SRD site. There is some stuff for Advanced Bestiary templates and Tome of Horrors, but neither of these specifically.
BTW, I've worked up *.por files for Kalsgard and for Ravenscraeg. I'm more than happy to share, with a couple of caveats:
(1) I use some house rules, so unless you want to use the same house rules and want me to include my *.user file, you'll need to make some adjustments, and,
(2) I make changes to suit my large and powerful group, so most of the individual NPCs and monsters aren't strictly by-the-book even aside from house rules. (For instance, I changed Jorgan the Axe to Jorgan the Bruin and made him a natural weapon ranger. Surely I'm not the only NoFS GM who is sick of axes? *Everybody* has a freakin' axe!)
If you'd like the *.por files, feel free to email: jeff dot wilder at yahoo dot com
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Question about Suishen: Further powers unlock as you kill oni's of the Five Storms. There are a lot of upcoming oni enemies, beginning with Forest of Spirits, is every one of them to be counted as belonging to the Five Storms? Suishens further powers would unlock pretty quickly, then. Which could be the intent or maybe it couldn't. I'd appreciate a clarification.
Every single oni in the AP is not an oni of the Five Storms. The oni that can unlock Suishen's powers are the "boss" oni in the AP - Kimandatsu, Munasukaru, and the like. The exact definition was intentionally left vague so the GM could control how fast Suishen powers up.
On a related topic, is it really intended for the caravan to get unlimited Protection from Energy ( Cold )? Suishens first unlocked power is just that and it seems it would completely trivialize any cold weather problems during the long period the caravan is on the Crown of the World. Is this intentional?
Yes, it is. Note that the rules for arctic temperatures on page 65 in Pathfinder #51 say that as long as someone is with the caravan, it is assumed they can avoid the cold's ill effects. Suishen's power (and similar magic) is designed to be used when the characters leave the caravan.
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I may have missed something (likely). But I can't see any reference to the Yama King that the monks' cells at Ravenscraeg have shrines to. A Knowledge (religion) check is allowed, but I can't find him in the Dragon Empires book either...
That should be Yaezhing, the same as the shrine in area C8.
On a related topic, is it really intended for the caravan to get unlimited Protection from Energy ( Cold )? Suishens first unlocked power is just that and it seems it would completely trivialize any cold weather problems during the long period the caravan is on the Crown of the World. Is this intentional?I've have a slightly different interpretation.
I usually go with weapons apply their benefits only to the wielder. So in this case, the protection from energy, at will, means that Suisen is only able to use it on it's wielder.
Suishen will inform it's wielder that it can cast protection from cold on it's wielder, and no, it does not consent to be passed around like some cheap trinket. Also you may want to have it set up that when a new wielder learns it's powers, the links to the old wielder are gone.
Even if you decide that Suishen can cast the protection from cold (once it has been unlocked) to others, Suishen is an intelligent weapon that controls it's powers. Even if Suishen can be talked into using it on others (I would make it a difficult diplomacy check and even then, only in emergencies), I can't see it providing protection from cold to the draft animals.
Hm, not seeing it, to be honest. Suishen would want to make sure that the Amatatsu scions get back to Minkai. If that necesitates casting its unlimited Protection from Cold power on horses, I'd think it would do so. It has a pretty practical personality, from what I read in its description.
Again, clarification on this issue ( and the first one I raised ) from a dev would be highly appreciated.
Isn't Suishen NG?
"A neutral good character does the best
that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others."
Agreed, Magnuskn. I really don't see why Suishen, whose entire existence is beholden to the PCs, would refuse to help. Well-- if they were evil, sure.
Many thanks for the clarifications, Rob. :) I'll work something out in regards to Suishen for my upcoming groups... I don't want the last power unlocking only with the Jade Regent, but also not too fast a level-up.
And good to know about the Protection from Cold, too. :)
I may have missed something (likely). But I can't see any reference to the Yama King that the monks' cells at Ravenscraeg have shrines to. A Knowledge (religion) check is allowed, but I can't find him in the Dragon Empires book either...That should be Yaezhing, the same as the shrine in area C8.
Thank you!
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In part 3, area C2, the stats for the creature's poison differ from Bestiary 3...is the adventure a misprint, or bestiary 3?
The spider eater was put in the adventure before Bestiary 3 came out. It went through slight development going into Bestiary 3, so that is the core version that you should use.
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In part 3, area C2, the stats for the creature's poison differ from Bestiary 3...is the adventure a misprint, or bestiary 3?The spider eater was put in the adventure before Bestiary 3 came out. It went through slight development going into Bestiary 3, so that is the core version that you should use.
that's what I figured. Thanks
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My players and I had a 20 minute discussion about how room D16 in Ravenscraeg was actually laid out in real life and which level the doors attached to. This happened at the end of the night before we started the fight.
With the confusion in the design, I've been asked to build a model of it for next week's get together so that they can get an idea of how it is situated.
A jump in NP would be the appropiate idea, yes. The Frozen Shadows are basically always on the outlook for the seal ( while the Five Storms in Minkai have grown somewhat lax in that regard ).
My group had a guest player who was visiting us come in during their second assault on Ravenscraeg. That made it a 5-person group in my case, rather than 6, but I still increased the difficulty a bit.
Basically I added in some more encounters, this is what I put in:
The river of area C12 got river drakes
-Area D1 got a clockwork soldier guardian
-Each area C5 got an Adherer
-Area C19 had Wodes and his raven swarms replaced (due to incidents involving Ameiko) with a pair of Griffons
-Area C22 had its raven swarms replaced with a Wyvern.
Pretty much all the new monsters were determined to be there due to the influence of Kimandatsu, Goti, Jorgan, or Wodes.
The adherers ended up part of a big battle-royale of the PCs against Jorgan, thugs, raven swarms, and ninja, in the main hall. Fortunately the visiting player handled her druid well, and the party witch pulled off one of her best performances at the table that night. Nobody was killed, though the dwarf crossbow fighter contracted lycanthropy (they cured it though). All the other added monsters were faced individually, and were all decent encounters.
So... has any other GM have the hemlock poison encounter basically just gut the ENTIRE CARAVAN of people (and players)?
The party makes it a deal to have them eat breakfast together (the caravan and the players), and just killed Ameiko, Koya, (Sandru lived with two dex), Walthus Proudstump, 3/4 of the npc hires, and nearly kill two other party members (3 / 3 dex left on them).
With the box being on cooldown for a month, paranoia has hit overdrive. (as well as screaming 'purify food and drink' every time someone gets a biscuit).
A small or medium druid wild shapes into a small or medium creature.
but what about a tiny druid? can Wodes wild shape into a medium sized creature... or is he pretty much limited to cat sized creatures (making wildshape kind of useless for him) either one does not matter to me... but I was thinking of having him shape into a wolverine or bear after running out of spells and joining Goti in melee.
I love using tactics and in my group Wodes knows a lot about the players both because he has been following them for a while and also because he recently watched and somewhat participated in the parties first attempt to storm Ravenscrag.
I have already decided to change Wodes spells to be more effective against the party but am wondering if Wodes will bother with wild shape because I am not sure how it works with him.
wow, that's fairly extreme Pallius. My group never actually made it that high, but I was under the impression that it was a meal targeted directly at the party and major npcs, rather than the entire caravan. I guess if it was a communal meal like you described then I can see that working. That's going to be hard to recover from... With the caravan that devastated however the party should be able to lay low for a while, Kimandatsu might think that they are well and truly routed (especially with Ameiko out of the way) so you've got some wriggle room. The seal can only resurrect scions though and as soon as you pull that out again she'll probably be back on top of the group. Good luck!
blue_the_wolf, well I don't think there are any rules about tiny druids that I'm aware of, I'd say it's pretty much a GM call, if you want him to turn into a bear then go ahead :)
How were they able to keep their NP so low? Just had the poison encounter, and they have yet to gain entry into the Rimerunner's guild building. (Although they did do the farm/boat/shrine)
I'm guessing they didn't sell the longship? (That 1500 gold goes a loooong way)
^ If the PCs don't build up an initial string of NP they can end up being at pretty low number. Most of the biggest NP increases in the adventure occur as a result of NP events.
My first group barely triggered any events at all, as they were very subtle in their investigation and thorough when it came to eliminating enemies and evidence of their investigation.
My second group came 1 NP away from the Thug Ambush (which would have subsequently triggered every remaining event), as they were fairly loudly blundering around town, asking about suspicious things. They likely would have triggered every event had they not set out for Ravenscraeg at that point.
Yeah basically unless they sell the ship getting NP is actually pretty hard. My group set fire to the boat and pushed it back out into the river, so it sunk long before it got anywhere near Kalsgard. I think they managed to trigger the Fatal Warning one, but by that stage they'd already assaulted Ravenscraeg once so I didn't really bother with it.
Ah I also see how my group garnered as massive amount of NP so quickly. They tend to leave survivors.
Farm: They negotiated a truce after killing Asvig (and about 9 warriors), after they lost their inquisitor and got beat up themselves. +5NP (I think)
Boat: (Now this may be my fault..) but I couldn't really see all four ninja's 'fighting to death' if they are to go back and inform on the party. +4NP
Those two alone are 9NP, along with boat (10NP), triggering encounters which garner more NP, and into the downward spiral of increasing lethality they go!
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Checking the thread out while planning for NotFS, and I was reminded of this tidbit:
Greg mentioned that Kimandatsu is distracted, having "other irons in the fire," and the PCs weren't her main priority. Now, my group has investigated the hell out of Kalsgard and made a bunch of contacts. So, what exactly might K. be up to?
My group met Lute Haggersly before Brinewall, on some business in Varisia. It seems reasonable that he was gathering information on Kim to try and move against her within the guilds. If that's the plan, and it seems as though a political struggle might be the kind of distraction the PCs need, how would that play out? Who would the major players be? How would you hint at it for your group?
I have ideas, but I'm always eager to hear others GMs' thoughts.
Is there a reason the hellwasp swarm (inhabiting the body to function as a zombie), doesn't just slam and break the glass to TPK the party? (In reference to the 'optional' encounter in the laboratory inside Ravenscraeg)
Inhabit (Ex) A hellwasp swarm can enter the body of a helpless
or dead creature by crawling into its mouth and other
orifices. Inhabiting the body requires 1 minute, and the
victim must be Small, Medium, or Large. The swarm can
abandon the body at any time, although doing so takes
a full-round action. Any attack against the host deals
half damage to the hellwasp swarm as well, although the
swarm’s resistances and immunities may negate some or all
of this damage.
If a hellwasp swarm inhabits a dead body, it can restore
animation to the creature and control its movements,
effectively transforming it into a zombie of the appropriate
size for as long as the swarm remains inside. If a hellwasp
swarm inhabits a living victim, it can neutralize the effects
of its own poison and control the victim’s movement and
actions as if using dominate monster on the victim. The
hellwasps quickly consume a living victim, dealing 2d4 points
of Constitution damage per hour they inhabit its body.
A hellwasp-inhabited creature is relatively easy to spot,
since its skin crawls with the forms of the insects inside.
The swarm is intelligent enough to attempt to hide beneath
loose clothing or a large cloak to keep its presence from
being detected. The swarm can attempt a Disguise check
to conceal its inhabitation of a host, taking a –4 penalty if it
inhabits a Small host.
A remove disease or heal spell cast on an inhabited victim
forces the hellwasp swarm to abandon its host.
Bolded for my emphasis.
The creepy factor alone makes the encounter so enjoyable as a GM, as the players quake in their boots. (Whether or not they break the glass). (My party believes it's some sort of super devil, unable to release itself from the magical glass against evil.)
The players had flipped tables and readied actions to bull-rush enemies away from the glass for fear of 'that creepy guy with the buzzing voice and the moving pustules'.
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One of the encounters is giving me a hard time as it seems like it shouldn't be possible. It pertains to stealth and I'm putting it in a spoiler tag because I'm going to get specific. Here is a link to d20pfsrd's section on Stealth for convenience.
Those monsters are essentially hiding behind the fact that the average person doesn't normally pay too much attention to the ceiling of any given room. Presumably (since they're also the infant form of lurking ray monsters) they blend in somewhat with the ceiling as well.