Correct; use 4d6 for a Large chainsaw.
Not that I'm suggesting we add too much reality in our favorite fantasy RPG but I sometimes use large chainsaws at work and 4d6 just doesn't seem nearly enough!
Well, the things you're using the Large chainsaws on aren't moving around trying to kill you, so you're always getting a coup de grace on them. How's 8d6 for you?
you haven't chopped very many trees down have you:) they are absolutely trying to kill you! and trust me, they move plenty!
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I love it how this adventure feels just like it's set in Borderlands' Pandora.
Creative Director
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Correct; use 4d6 for a Large chainsaw.Not that I'm suggesting we add too much reality in our favorite fantasy RPG but I sometimes use large chainsaws at work and 4d6 just doesn't seem nearly enough!
You're forgetting your significant Strength bonus, I bet!
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After running Aldronard's Grave, my players insist that I share what they all agreed was somehow their favorite encounter of the entire campaign so far: talking to the Smilers in the watchtower upon first approaching the fort. When I first read the description, I got a straight up Monty Python vibe from the scenario, and couldn't help running it with a little hint of that flavor. It was definitely fun trying to decide how characters with no lips would sound. The situation was rendered even more entertaining when the Smilers rolled a one on their bluff check. Delightfully, one of the players actually transcribed the entire thing as we were doing it apparently, so here you are.
Upon approaching the keep, the party noticed two armored guards above.
"Oi there! You'll do well to turn around."
Aziza: "Why?"
"Fort's been struck by a plague!"
Aziza: "By plague?"
"Plague!"
Novem: "A flag?"
"A PLAGUE."
Aziza: "Can you spell it for us?"
"AN ILLNESS HAS STRUCK THIS KEEP. WE'RE BURNING BODIES, BUT WE DON'T KNOW THAT IT'S CONTAINED. CONTINUE UP RIVER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE EXPOSED."
Aziza: "He does speak sense."
Alcyone: "We should probably go inside."
Sanvil: "Are you in a hurry to catch the plague?"
Novem: "If there is a plague, we should help these people."
Kyontha: "How are we gonna do that?"
Novem: "If we can fight aliens and robots and a spaceship—"
Kyontha: "Might as well magically cure the entire fort."
Silka: [to the guards] "Why are you still here?"
"WE'RE STATIONED HERE. WE'RE SERVANTS OF SARENRAE. [a beat] BUT WE'RE A BIT SHORT ON HEALING SPELLS WHAT WITH THE PLAGUE AND ALL."
Novem: "If you're defenders of Saranrae, then show us your holy symbols!"
They vanish and then return to hold up some holy symbols that we recognize as symbols of Saranrae.
"RIGHT HERE."
Novem: "Aren't you supposed to keep those close at hand?"
"WE DIDN'T WANT THEM TO GET INFECTED, SO WE KEPT THEM LOCKED UP."
Novem: "Are you insinuating metal can get infected?"
"BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY."
Novem: "You can't say better safe than sorry when you're standing in a plague zone!"
"WELL WE JUST DID."
Silka: "Who the f!%% are you really?"
They disappear into the keep for a moment, then reappear about thirty seconds later.
"... ALL RIGHT, WE'LL LET YOU IN." [snickers]
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Needless to say, their plan to ambush the PCs inside failed miserably. Having the paladins explain the story of the fort, and the ghost that haunts it was enough of a catalyst for them to make a plan to put the spirit to rest, and they immediately jumped to disguising one of the PCs as Justinia. I think they were legitimately surprised that their plan worked so well.
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ARE YOU SUGGESTIN SARENRAE MIGRATES?
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Funny you should mention that, Greyfire - I've been thinking about how I'll run the Smilers and their impediment myself. Part of the problem is that the outset of their deception ("There's a plague here!") requires you to have lips. Plague starts with P, and P is a bilabial stop. It's the same impediment that the Ventriloquist from Batman must deal with - he ends up pronouncing Bs as Gs ("I'll get you, Gatman!!!"). I'm currently thinking that they'll pronounce the word "klague," eventually moving to a different word.
Klague was my original idea too...but tlague might work too.
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Klague was my original idea too...but tlague might work too.
I kinda thought they would sound like a cross between the joker, and the sloth from ice age.
Klague was my original idea too...but tlague might work too.I kinda thought they would sound like a cross between the joker, and the sloth from ice age.
i'm using this one:)
I don't think its technically a settlement, its not listed as such in the Inner Sea World Guide's stat block for the nation of Numeria (the block at the beginning that lists capitol, religions, etc) my guess is they didn't make one.
They can still buy/sell from the traders.
They can still buy/sell from the traders.
Which traders?
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The traders that must exist in this place. None are detailed, but there has to be people that just go about their jobs paying protection to one of the gangs, keeping Scrapwall as independent as possible. We could probably work something up unofficially on the boards. Any idea how many people live there?
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Leaving alone Scrapwall's economics for a moment, I just wanted to say that my players came up with a good spin on laying Aldronard's spirit to rest. None of them wanted to risk angering the spirit by disguising themselves as Justinia or her father, and their arguments got them nowhere. (Both androids were thoroughly frustrated that the ghost refused to listen to the logic behind their arguments, in fact.) So, instead of dressing someone up, the party's rogue decided to look through the records, and "happened" to find a letter from Justinia's father dated two years after the first. In it, he forgives Aldronard and apologizes for his words, asking him to come back to the farmstead and be the son-in-law he never had. I asked him to make a Linguistics check to forge the document, and rolled decent. The check wasn't to fool the ghost - as per his writeup, he desperately wants to be forgiven, so all they need to do is show it to him. It was for anyone else who doubted the veracity of it. As it so happened, the paladin commander beat the check to notice the forgery, but didn't say anything about it at the time. (He did say that he was actually the worst person to go present the letter, though, as the ghost has attacked Sarenrite clergy in the past.)
Once the ghost was laid to rest, though, he did approach the rogue before they left for Scrapwall. "You know, I could have sworn the paper the letter was written wasn't all that aged, especially not to the point of the Second Crusade."
"Well," the rogue responded. "It must have been a miracle by the goddess herself."
"Indeed," the paladin said, nodding. "I'm not certain if I approve of this trickery, but clearly, Sarenrae doesn't share my concern."
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Back onto Scraponomics: since the theme for this book is Mad Max's biker gangs, Scrapwall is the descendant of Bartertown. As a result, money isn't used to purchase stuff there. If you want to find something, you need to make a Diplomacy check to track down someone that has it and is willing to give it up. For most magical items, it's a DC 20. (Medium and major items have already been looted from Scrapwall long ago.) Tech is harder - the DC is equal to the check to create/identify. They won't take cash though. If you want the item, you need to give them equipment equal to the GP cost. My hard and fast rule is it needs to be no more than 3000 gp, as that's half the cost of the most expensive item detailed by one of the gang members in the book.
Actually, there doesn't have to be traders. The people of Scrapwall are not a society as much as they are a collection of raider tribes. They get what they need by taking things, not by buying things.
That's what i understood as well, that's why i told my players at the end of book 1 that they should stock up on everything they want/need since they won't be able to sell or buy anything for the duration of book 2.
This got me thinking, is this an assumption from the writter in book 2, because that way i can understand the way he wrote the encounters (kinda weak for the expected party level) and with that fact lies my last hope that the encounters in this book won't be a complete walk in the park.
@Misroi
Very good, very good indeed.
Do i not get something or is Marrow's stats wrong?
It seems that she is given the normal channel negative energy (from the tactics section and as a listing as a special attack), but necromancer wizards get a "virtual" channel energy that can only use to power the feat they chose (either turn undead or command undead).
So what I'm confused about is: where exactly is Hellion located? The book says the processors in the excavator are too small to house him, so I'd imagine that the arachnid robot wouldn't be able to house even a fraction of his consciousness either. So why is he so bothered when the PCs destroy the excavator's processors?
so I'd imagine that the arachnid robot wouldn't be able to house even a fraction of his consciousness either.
Where do you get that?
so I'd imagine that the arachnid robot wouldn't be able to house even a fraction of his consciousness either.Where do you get that?
IDK, he's a literally divine Artificial Intelligence? Seems pretty major.
so I'd imagine that the arachnid robot wouldn't be able to house even a fraction of his consciousness either.Where do you get that?
If the computing systems of a colossal, industrial-grade vehicle could not house a self-aware AI, I doubt the much smaller frame of an arachnid robot could do so. Unless the robot was specially made to house an entire consciousness or something.
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If the computing systems of a colossal, industrial-grade vehicle could not house a self-aware AI, I doubt the much smaller frame of an arachnid robot could do so. Unless the robot was specially made to house an entire consciousness or something.so I'd imagine that the arachnid robot wouldn't be able to house even a fraction of his consciousness either.Where do you get that?
They both can. and the arachnid is specially designed to house him.
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Construction equipment, due to the extreme conditions it is used and the need for frequent maintenance is, by design usually simple, of course you probably don't want to ask someone from Seattle how Bertha is working out....
I forgot that the chassis was actually designed by Unity. Huh.
What are the approximate numbers for each of the gangs? I gotta assume there are more Smilers and/or Steel Hawks than the ones explicitly placed in encounters. And then how many individuals are there in Scrap Wall that aren't part of any gang.
My group just finished Fires of Creation. Having the final encounter in the reactor room was DEFINITELY better than having Meyanda hunt down the relay. I just had her collector robot use the time spying on them from high in the sky "Umm.. Is that a robot way, way up there?". Now that we're ready to take off for Scrapwall and Aldronard's Grave I was struck with an idea. How could I work it to have Aldronard's ghost recognize our android character? Basically, the android was involved in the whol sad story in some way and then underwent renewal. That way he could legitimately forgive Aldronard, AND its a way to teach him about the concept of renewal. IN fact I'm trying to find ways to insert past lives of the android throughout the AP. WHat I would abso-effing-lutely LOVE, is to recreate that moment in Firefly in which they find a statue of Jayne Cobb and accompanying legend and are just... flabbergasted.
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@JohnnyfiveUnAlive
Aldronard can be swayed by any female party member, the appearance of Justinia is deliberately left vague. That assumes your android PC is female, if not you can always twist the tale to something fitting such as... his best lieutenant left to burn to death in vain and he killing himself in grief (kinda like that scene in event horizon "Ever see a fire in zero-g? ... I watched him burn you know"). You'll need to develop some of the backstory when the PCs ask the captured paladins about this though.
Hmm. The android is male. I might not have to change the story, just include the android's former self. Something like: The android brought the message to him and told him that Justinia died because he was not there to protect her (which is true and logical.) What was left unsaid, because the android assumed that Aldronard understood this, was that what happened was outside of Aldronard's control. He is no more at fault than if she had been struck by lightning and he was not there with a lightning rod to deflect it.
During the actual encounter, Aldronard will recognize the android and call him by another name. He will briefly wail his story and IF the player thinks to say, it was not your fault, then I'll proceed with Aldronard's forgiveness. Otherwise it will be a few rounds of combat, before I allow some sort of check for them to realize this.
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What are the approximate numbers for each of the gangs? I gotta assume there are more Smilers and/or Steel Hawks than the ones explicitly placed in encounters. And then how many individuals are there in Scrap Wall that aren't part of any gang.The module never says, but it does say that there are 'hundreds' of ratfolk and orcs in the lords of rust (add in some androids, humans, chokers, darkslayers, the odd ogre, maybe a wayward halfling).
When I ran the smiler's part of the module, I assumed that there were about 100 individuals affiliated with the smilers, with about a 3 dozen extra smiley smilers (who had modified their faces with soothe) ready for random encounters. I wrote up a couple of extra smiler leaders (a gunslinger, and a smiler orc barbarian with a bite attack) but never got a chance to use them. The one smiler random encounter I did was with a wanna be up and coming orc gang called the red hands. After Marrow had been killed, a few smilers tried to join this orc gang, and the gang leader decided to initiate them. The red hands surrounded the PCs, told them they were in red hand territory, and asked them to pick the weakest of them to fight the initiates. They picked Yule, the android gunslinger, who promptly shot all the initiates dead.
Wow, I really like that idea. The evolving political landscape of Scrapwall. I'm wondering about the Steel Hawks, because I think my PCs are getting ready to lead a gigantic gang war.
Curious, did everyone's group travel overland or did any group got my river? And if by river how did you handle it.
Curious, did everyone's group travel overland or did any group got my river? And if by river how did you handle it.
My group went by river, it took a little longer but it was safer.
Of course i had a pirate ship attack them.
Thanks all. What reference material can I use for this ? For example how long should it take and what should the captain charge?
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I let them take a ferry from Torch down to Hajoth Hakados for free considering they just saved the town of Torch and then in Hajoth Hakados I had them be hired on as muscle to protect the vessel from pirates as it traveled from Hajoth to Chesed. That was my reasoning at least, the Numeria Campaign setting is useful for learning about the land in Numeria and the cities and the barbarian tribes.
Ho Codanus, that sounds reasonable. Thanks!
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N'Wal created this map Numeria Hex Map
Overland journey is 7 Hex's NE, 1 Hex East to reach Aldronard’S Grave.
Each hex is 12 miles corner to corner. Then 1 hex across travel across the River.
Ultimate Campaign has two times for hex travel. one for simply moving through it, the other for exploring it.
To simply travel through
Movement 20 8 hours per plains hex. 12 all others.
movement 30 5 hours per plains hex. 08 all others.
movement 50 3 hours per plains hex. 05 all others.
Where as if the party wants to fully explore a hex.
Movement 20 2 day per plains hex. 4 for mountains, 3 for all others.
Movement 30 1 day per plains hex. 3 for mountains, 2 for all others.
Movement 50 1 day per hex.
Based on N'Wal's map i judge the terrain as Plains (great barren grasslands) (given the choice of plain/hill, forest/desert/swamp, or mountain)
2 days of hard riding could do it. I ruled that flight 60 allowed 1 day of flight there, then one back. My party is Exploring as they go. After 5 days they are halfway there. And the scouts have met the Crusaders, even party Paladin detected the goodness of the Crusaders so they are set up for a nice surprise. :)
Edit: Even setting the land as Hills (Dakota badlands) only adds a day of hard riding. I said it would take 6 days of sailing to get there, none of the party were seamen so they didnt question such a long time and opted to explore.
Yeah, looks like grassland to me.
I thought I saw a Hellion unholy symbol somewhere in Lords of Rust, but I can't find it, am I going mad? Is the icon pictured anywhere?
Thanks!
Also, did anyone use the idea of Hellion making non-sensical announcements randomly while the characters are roaming about town? Seems like something he would do.
Hellion's holy symbol is Meyanda's Spiked Gauntlet.
It's stated on page 56 under Hellion's special ability "Inherited Divinity" that his holy symbol is a mechanical talon and that his favored weapon is the spiked gauntlet. His holy symbol is also depicted on page 36 on the shield of the acolyte of Hellion.