So I ran the first session of the Shattered Star last night. The session ended after the party recovered the Shard of Pride, and Sheila Heidmarch activated the shard with a scarlet-and-blue ioun stone.
My question is, does the bearer of the shard gain both the full benefit of the ioun stone (+2 Int and Knowledge-history)and the full benefit of the activated shard (+2 saves vs illusion and +2 to all skill checks).
It is pretty powerful to get both. It essentially gives a +2 to all skills but a +3 to all Int-based skills (due to the Int boost). In addition to the skill boost, they will also receive the additional skill points from the Int boost.
I have no problem with allowing it if that is how the author intended it. I just want to make sure I am reading it right.
Thanks!
Yes - they get ALL the benefits (the stone and the shard).
It may seem powerful, but this AP ramps in difficulty. They'll need whatever advantages they can get.
I'm running this AP now (my group is almost done with book 4) and it's been fun to run and fairly challenging. Enjoy.
The int bonus from the ioun stone does not provide extra skills points per say. It's treated as that extra skill point automatically going into Knowledge History.
The bonus is powerful, but I've never heard of a +2 bonus to a skill breaking anything.
What the others said, keep in mind that (due to recent FAQ), the ioun stone should give an extra language as well, i recommend thassilonian since the party is going to need it (somewhat).