Serinbaal the Lands of Torment ("Dark Sun" Homebrew Pathfinder 1e)

Game Master Sebecloki

1 CR = 1/1 gestalt of a base class or 1/1 of a PrC or +1 CR template(capped at +3CR per template. No limit to the amount of templates taken).

2 CR = 1 mythic tier.

I was waiting on you to post the monster attacks -- the Shoommammoth will attack Hamza, as will the ogres.

EDIT: I'll update when I get home from work, I have to go in just a second.

Sorry, I didn't realize I was supposed to attack for the monsters.

Not that it's that big of a deal, but any particular reason all 3 are attacking Hamza? I'm pretty sure others are in range/reach.

no one else replied yet on whether they're visible --

I meant I was waiting for your reply on distance, not that I wanted you to roll for the monsters

I’m visible... about 40’ away.. 30’ in the air

If Hamza doesn't survive this attack don't worry, he's not down and out -- the tomb is going to resurrect him as a soul-sucking shadow creature and we'll continue play in his altered state.

If Hamza doesn't survive this attack don't worry, he's not down and out -- the tomb is going to resurrect him as a soul-sucking shadow creature and we'll continue play in his altered state.

Hahahaha, Hamza is quite well capable of surviving. A moment, if you will.

Are wounds just your stat modifier x8? Ie, if Hamza's Cha was +6, his wounds would be 48?

Or do wounds include class health as well, and multiply all of that x8?

Rokan is ethereal.

Has anyone heard from Amunet recently? I know Hayato said they were having IRL issues at work or something. I'm sorry to see her go if she's no longer able to play, she was a great character.

As far as I can count we have Hamza, Rokan, Miqeo, Cae, Tyren, and Jimbli still playing.

Has anyone heard from Amunet recently? I know Hayato said they were having IRL issues at work or something. I'm sorry to see her go if she's no longer able to play, she was a great character.

As far as I can count we have Hamza, Rokan, Miqeo, Cae, Tyren, and Jimbli still playing.

Managed to message Hayato on Discord. They've been slammed with work, and their whole family has been sick. They hope to post this weekend. We're going to chat over at some point, to help catch them up.

Would y'all like me to simply condense my attacks down to however many my BaB would have, with their damage etc. simply spread across however many attacks?
I imagine it would be an even spread.
So if I have 18 attacks, and BaB gives me 3, 6 attacks would equal 1 roll. Or maybe just rebuild so I can put more 'Cone' type effects, rather than having tons of individual attacks?

EDIT: Also, I am concealed in mist. And SADIE would be happy to push back anything entering into the grease pit--I.E., they'd lose 10ft. of movement, roll to slip, then get pushed back however much she can push them back.

whatever is good for you is good for me. I don't actually read all the attack rolls and such, just the flavor text.

Hi folks, just an FYI that I'll be out of town on a camping trip and unable to post this coming weekend, Sat. 2/8-Sun. 2/9. I will be able to resume posting in the evening on Sunday (US/Pacific time).

Posting to all my games:

Everyone in my games -- I want to raise a conversation -- I've noticed a real slow down in posts. Is this too many games to be having going on simultaneously? Should we put some on hold for now, and pick a couple to focus on?

I've had a rather busy last several days, and the rest of my week will be the same. Had my real life game Mon & Tues, and then a lot of my free time as been spent working on a project for my uncle's company.

That said, I'm good with the number of games I'm in, but I wonder if you are as well. You're currently running 3, with a 4th in recruitment and a 5th in limbo.

This game is definitely bogged down by this combat, but you already knew that. I'm still not sure why you decided to send this second wave of enemies at us, after we all agreed the first one was also too much, but here we are.

Are you still having fun running these games, pace aside?

I honestly thought the characters were going to find a magical means just to plug up the entrance and move on to the convocation chamber to discuss matters with one of the leaders -- I didn't realize this was going to descend into another combat so quickly.

I'd honestly like to get back to some more role-playing and worldbuilding. I'm most interested in this game (1st priority), the mongol one, and Numenera if I had to pick.

yeah seems like we might be lacking in the AoE/CC department. Basically all my stuff is negated by Will saves, and my DC can only get so high. When they have >+50 to their saves, nothing i can do.

i understand a lot of HD gives you great saves, and that this is a high power game. I'm not salty about it, just saying that there is nothing more i can do besides stop all the little guys and let the others physically fight the big guys.

I honestly thought the characters were going to find a magical means just to plug up the entrance and move on to the convocation chamber to discuss matters with one of the leaders -- I didn't realize this was going to descend into another combat so quickly.

I'd honestly like to get back to some more role-playing and worldbuilding. I'm most interested in this game (1st priority), the mongol one, and Numenera if I had to pick.

Yeah, we aren't actually all that powerful when it comes to accessing spells/powers/etc. At best, we get access to 5th level spells. Especially in this game, with arcane magic outlawed, which is where a lot of that type of magic comes from.

As for which games I would prefer, it would be this one(1st priority), Rise and Numenera.

I have been trying desperately to play all the way through RotRL since PF was released during the alpha. I've probably been in close to a dozen games & recruitments, including a RL one. The real life one got the furthest, getting to I believe somewhere to the middle or so of book 2.

I absolutely love the lore of Thassilon/Runelords, which is why I made Aleister a rune using mage.

Thus, I would be rather bummed out if you dropped or put that game on hold, but obviously I can't force ya to keep running it if you're not enjoying yourself.

I'm willing to keep running it, but it's been like pulling teeth getting anyone to post recently -- I feel like we may need to recruit soon as I'm not even sure who's still around.

i check this game at least daily monday thru friday and usually check on the weekends.

bottom line, i'm not going to post if the game hasn't progressed. waiting on one person for more than 48 hrs is not good.

i cant tell you how to run your game, but if it were me, i'd check a game i'm running. if the person whose turn to post hasnt posted, i'd make a post telling them it is their turn. the next time i get to that game if they havent posted, they're skipped and can pop in and post their turn sometime later, but if they miss an entire turn completely, sucks to be them because that is probably somewhere around a week's worth of time.

if one person isnt posting, and its their turn, and everyone is waiting on them to post, and theyre not posting, then yeah the game will absolutely halt, and when halted long enough, people stop checking. that's what usually happens on these boards.

i hope you dont take that aggressively, i'm not mad. i'm busy as hell in real life, but i have time to check the boards, so i dont harbor a lot of sympathy for folks.

as for preference, i don't particularly care in any direction. at the rate of posting i've seen since i joined, i probably wouldn't notice much of a difference until the campaign was actually marked inactive and fell off my campaigns page.

EDIT
I see Jan 30 is the last IC post in RotRL. 2 PCs and an NPC are talking there. With each participant taking an entire day to post and accounting for the absolute worst timing in doing so, there should have been one entire round of NPC-PC-PC posts, if not two entire rounds.

I think we need to make a change -- in other games I've seen everyone make up a spoiler with a bot action round preprepared. I want everyone to do that for all these games so we can keep things moving.

Right now, as far as I know for this game we're on ROUND 2. As I indicated, I thought you were just going to make a magic barrier, so I'm hoping we can not make this a long drawn out combat.

yeah my barrier stopped the dudes with save mods below 50. now its up to everyone else hah

I think that I have some REALLY great material to share coming up, so I'd really like to move on.

Alright, so we're back to the top of the round, aka Hamza's turn?

If that's the case, I need to point out something rather important:

He now has Mythic HOP Improved Initiative, which does the following.

Partial actions do not exist in Pathfinder, however I'm friends with Owen KC Stephens on Facebook, so I asked him what they were.

They actually refer to something all the way back in 3rd edition(not even 3.5). A partial action is both a standard action **and** a move action.

Hamza's initiative is 52, meaning he gets two partial actions. So since we're in between rounds, he'll be taking one of them now, to help boost his combat effectiveness.

yeah, you can go ahead and go

for the remainder of combat, Miqeo will be doing the same thing. his other abilities cannot (quite literally cannot) touch the ones that got through his illusion so he will just maintain it to keep the little ones back and damaging them each turn until they die.

sounds good, let's finish this quickly -- doesn't Hamza still have the 24 assassins? Let's bust that out and keep going.

I have a map of the ruins of Kalidnay and material I've been waiting over a year to share including the following sites:

The Nicephorus House Compound, constructed in ancient temple complex, where Cae will encounter the dark fate which has seized his beloved.

The Spire of the Great Mother -- the kilometer tall spire which looms over the very center of the vast ruin where the malevolent intelligence of Kalid-Ma has opened the doors to other dimensions.

The Scarabhold -- former residence of the High Templar Ahmun-Ahnpur, now the erstwhile demesne travelers; the sentinel which watches the 'gates of the night' -- a set of three immense mazeworks located in the courtyard of the great keep which connect with the Womb of Midnight, the very uttermost depths of the ruins where the obsidian orbs which drive the sleeping city congregate.

The Subaqueous Bazaar -- a subterranean lake whose adjoining caverns host a vast market populated by various species of the underworld -- troglodytes; faceless men (dopplegangers); bugbears; cloakers; white gnomes; the morlock survivors of Kalidnay's populace; Dao from the Great Dismal Delve; Efreeti from the City of Brass; and others...

Will post my actual turn later. I was surprised(literally) just now by my IRL Forgotten Realms game deciding to play an extra session this week. I was right in the middle of making my post, but need to concentrate on my RL game, so I figured I could at least get up the 'partial action' post.

Also, Seb, can Hamza get his partial action that should have occurred at the start of this combat, but I didn't have him take, because I didn't know what teh heck it meant? lol.

sure, I honestly just want to finish this up quickly

Hey Seb, looking over the Shroommammoth's stats, and it says it's regen is overcome by acid, but looking at the Tendriculos' stats, it says their regen is overcome by fire, and they have immunity to acid.

Can you let us know which it is?

Hey Seb, looking over the Shroommammoth's stats, and it says it's regen is overcome by acid, but looking at the Tendriculos' stats, it says their regen is overcome by fire, and they have immunity to acid.

Can you let us know which it is?

Go by whatever the shroomammoth stat block says -- I made it up based on a generator that took an advanced tenrdiculos and added a bunch of templates so the templates might have changed that.

In any case, it's not 'really' a tendriculos, I just needed to find something in the monster manual close to what I imagined to use as a base to make up some appropriate stats. That's how I make up most monster stats for this game -- or I 'kit bash' 2-3 different entries together to make a stat block that reflects what I have in my head.

Thorny Spellwarped Half-Fiend Fiendish Dire Tendriculos (Advanced Hit Dice) CR 162
as well.

I'm getting kind of interested in/fascinated by my own build rules, and I'm thinking about re-purposing one of the dropped characters and rebuilding them as a DM-PC/or cohort NPC, however you want to refer to it.

(1) Is that going to intensely bother anyone and, (2) would anyone like to help me rebuild Rikus the dwarf -- I thought he had some interesting tactics and build options.

HERE is the link if anyone wants to contribute.

UPDATE: I had this page open in a tab for a couple of hours and missed Cae's post :) However, the added thickness probably wouldn't hurt.

Haha, that happens to me often.

Hamza Mīnakshi wrote:

"Well, we originally planned on destroying those reinforcements as a way to leverage ourselves a deal with the mycleiod's masters, in order try and convince them to betray Kchac'Thraa. Now, I am unsure." Hamza admits, annoyed that he was unable to kill their foes.

I'd continue if this didn't threaten to end this campaign. It's literally taking people a week to post actions, and we're not even posting all the actions (the assassins and some of the minions didn't even act last round for no reason in particular as far as I can understand, players are just getting bored and disconnected and not even bothering to attend to these kinds of details). At this rate, we're going to be in the same room for another three months. It's clearly killing the campaign at the current rate, so I have to intervene here to move things along given there doesn't seem to be any hope of faster posting and more efficacious and comprehensive action that will resolve this combat in a decent amount of time without further damaging the campaign.

Well aware of why you did this, but in game, Hamza is still annoyed because of his plan. Though Rokan's suggestion is a good one.

let's move on to the interaction with Shraagroom, I'd like to tie this bit up in another week or so and move on.

Come on everyone, let's try to get the pace back in this game. We have 3,000+ posts, and I don't want this to die a pitiable death. I have tons of ideas for Kelmarane and Kalidnay, including some interesting ways to challenge the characters in combat. I hope I can reasonable promise it will be worth sticking around.

Hey Seb,

I've been considering trying my hand at making a custom a mythic HOPF that would grant special benefits for getting a critical skill check via Skill God. Ie, like rolling a 'natural' 20, for an attack or save.

As it would have different benefits for each and every skill, this is something that would take some time, so I wanna make sure you're okay with it first. It would be available for any PC in your games, not just for me in this one.

Also, if possible, I plan on trying to have Owen Stephens, who I am friends with on FB and who is the author of the HOP books, give his approval. Trying to make this as official as I can. Heck, I might even pay for Endzeitgeist to review it, should it end up good enough.

sounds good

Since it's about to be super important, I wanted to post a little primer(so to speak) on the Diplomacy skill:

The DC for the check is based on the creature's starting attitude(from hostile to helpful) + their Cha modifer. Hostile means you are basically ready to fight, asap. By every 5 you beat the DC, you shift the attitude another step(max 2 steps).

Taking Slavathras as an example, and assuming he has a Cha of 60(which isn't too hard, as Hamza's Dex is 50), that gives him a modifier of 25.

Meaning that a hostile(which I do not believe he is) to Hamza diplomacy DC would be 50.

Even if you jack up his Cha to 80, the DC is still only 60, and a 100 Cha would increase the DC to just 70.

I'm hoping Shraagroom's Cha isn't over 100, lol

I'm afraid Tyren and Amunet may both have dropped out. Tyren hasn't posted since Jan 18th in gameplay, and since the February 2nd in discussion. Amunet in much longer.

I think we're down to Miqeo, Hamza, Jimbli, Rokan, and Cae.

Le sigh, we shall forge ahead as we are able.

I've just come to accept that most of my preciously-devised subplots will terminate in nothing because the character associated with them goes 'poof'.

Rokan still has his original quest from the pavilion, lol.

I know, we're going to have to go back and fill that in for the other characters at some point, somehow. The secret the Faalcuun promised to tell you about dark powers in Kelmarane ties in with some of the stuff you've already encountered, but of course none of that has any significance to those (which is everyone beside you now!), who didn't even do that encounter.

How does it feel to be the sole original member of an almost 2 year campaign now (we started in april 2018)?

Funny enough it was starting to feel like Rokan was the loner, with a very different experience. Now that the group is shrinking again, less so.

Just to try to establish where everyone will be happy cutting off the current piece -- my basic view is that the myceloids are going to ally with Hamza's assassins and the reapers against the remaining forces of the wraith. I think we can sort of let that happen off stage and move on to Kalidnay (how much are we going to delay that? It's been over a year now, and I think we need to move beyond this dungeon; I'm still getting a sense of pacing for these things, but I feel we definitely need to 'move scenes'). The result of this is going to be that the yaksas of Alaka set up a new trading post in these tunnels, but that the Reapers also establish a new cult in Kalidnay that they start spreading in opposition to some of the other powers. In the end, not that much changes, but there are some new factions.

Just to try to establish where everyone will be happy cutting off the current piece -- my basic view is that the myceloids are going to ally with Hamza's assassins and the reapers against the remaining forces of the wraith. I think we can sort of let that happen off stage and move on to Kalidnay (how much are we going to delay that? It's been over a year now, and I think we need to move beyond this dungeon; I'm still getting a sense of pacing for these things, but I feel we definitely need to 'move scenes'). The result of this is going to be that the yaksas of Alaka set up a new trading post in these tunnels, but that the Reapers also establish a new cult in Kalidnay that they start spreading in opposition to some of the other powers. In the end, not that much changes, but there are some new factions.

If we skip, and I'm fine with that as long as you give us a cut scene of the battle(nothing that needs to be too big of a post, unless you feel like it, lol), I assume we defeat/destroy Kchac'Thraa along with whatever is in the Door of Doom and the underground lair? Or did you wanna run that combat?

There's also some elven artifacts we need to recover, right?

We should probably earn some sort of story based reward, though unsure about actual leveling, as we just got that boost via the rework. Maybe a mythic rank? Or some other, more specific award? Could even be like a major favor or something that is in story tangible as opposed to PC power increase(though it could be traded for a power boost via RP, I suppose).

I think now would be the appropriate time to begin discussing what each of us, Seb included, wants out of this game. What sort of goals, aspirations, objectives, etc we have for not just our PCs, but the game in general.

Also, I've been speaking to Amunet's player, and they've been kinda swamped IRL. I believe at least some of that has to do with the Coronavirus in Germany, where they are from. I believe they hope to return soon.

However, this would be about the best time to possibly add in a new player, though I strongly suggest we look to somebody from another of Seb's games. Not only would this person not be completely new, but they would also be used to the crazy ass rules and character creation used for these games. Thus, it shouldn't take them nearly as long to build a new PC.

I do not think we necessarily **need** a new player, but we can at least discuss that possibility, again looking to Seb's other games to fill that need. Assuming we all agree to add another PC.

Let's hear what people want to do -- my realization as a pbp DM as that the 'tale often grows in the telling' -- and I have maps for the wraith's lair, but we've been in the kreen mortuaries since last September or something. Considering that even the really long-lasting pbp games are like 9,000 posts, and we're at 3,300, I do think we need to at least consider moving on -- you can't play every action, even the APs have cut scenes, and I feel like we could easily spend the whole campaign in this dungeon if we're not intentional about moving on.

There's stuff like Cae's lost love and stuff I was planning to get to next which I think will be great scenes too.

I have more ideas for the adaptation of the Legacy of Fire AP -- however, I'm a crowd pleaser and I don't really care, so I'll let you all decide what you want to do for the rest of this campaign. Do you want me to continue with the AP plot line I've been hinting at, or just do pure homebrew, or something else -- I'll even let you decide what genre/type of story you want to play.

Sebecloki wrote:

Just to try to establish where everyone will be happy cutting off the current piece -- my basic view is that the myceloids are going to ally with Hamza's assassins and the reapers against the remaining forces of the wraith. I think we can sort of let that happen off stage and move on to Kalidnay (how much are we going to delay that? It's been over a year now, and I think we need to move beyond this dungeon; I'm still getting a sense of pacing for these things, but I feel we definitely need to 'move scenes'). The result of this is going to be that the yaksas of Alaka set up a new trading post in these tunnels, but that the Reapers also establish a new cult in Kalidnay that they start spreading in opposition to some of the other powers. In the end, not that much changes, but there are some new factions.

If we skip, and I'm fine with that as long as you give us a cut scene of the battle(nothing that needs to be too big of a post, unless you feel like it, lol), I assume we defeat/destroy Kchac'Thraa along with whatever is in the Door of Doom and the underground lair? Or did you wanna run that combat?

There's also some elven artifacts we need to recover, right?

We should probably earn some sort of story based reward, though unsure about actual leveling, as we just got that boost via the rework. Maybe a mythic rank? Or some other, more specific award? Could even be like a major favor or something that is in story tangible as opposed to PC power increase(though it could be traded for a power boost via RP, I suppose).

I think now would be the appropriate time to begin discussing what each of us, Seb included, wants out of this game. What sort of goals, aspirations, objectives, etc we have for not just our PCs, but the game in general.

Also, I've been speaking to Amunet's player, and they've been kinda swamped IRL. I believe at least some of that has to do with the Coronavirus in Germany, where they are from. I believe they hope to return soon.

However, this would be...

I am agreed that a new character should come from the roster of players I the other games if we're adding someone.

I am not completely decided yet on the way forward (and just to clarify, I'm not cutting off the scene in the next post, just laying out that I think we're doing a Star Wars-esque cut screen in the near future). I think my biggest priority at this point has evolved, and I am most interested in the world building aspect, since the alterations I've made to the published Dark Sun setting developed a lot over the course of this campaign, to where it is almost a homebrew world at this point.

I am interested in using this setting in other campaigns and as a world building project of my own, so I would be interested in opportunities to explore more of the world I'm increasingly thinking of calling Serital and/or Serinbaal.

I am still interested in the area I was planning connected with the Legacy of Fire story, which is vaguely like Al-Qadim, and would be on the other side of the Silt Sea. I also have lots of material for Yaramuke, Raam, and Tyre, in addition to Kalidnay. I also had ideas for underdark areas.

I also started playing in a Legacy of Fire game -- I'm doing a far looser adaptation, and I can separate player and character knowledge, but I also wouldn't mind DMing something different than what I'm playing.

Here are some other ideas that are rolling around in my head for your consideration:

- An expedition to Saragaar and the Last Sea to consult the Mind Lords. This might also involve a visit to lost city states.

- An intervention in the war between Gulg and Nibenay.

- A plot line that involves the legacy of the kobolds (the ningishzidda) and their Empire.

- Something in Raam which would involve Dregoth Ascending.

- An adaptation of the Black Spine mega adventure.

I am not completely decided yet on the way forward (and just to clarify, I'm not cutting off the scene in the next post, just laying out that I think we're doing a Star Wars-esque cut screen in the near future). I think my biggest priority at this point has evolved, and I am most interested in the world building aspect, since the alterations I've made to the published Dark Sun setting developed a lot over the course of this campaign, to where it is almost a homebrew world at this point.

I am interested in using this setting in other campaigns and as a world building project of my own, so I would be interested in opportunities to explore more of the world I'm increasingly thinking of calling Serital and/or Serinbaal.

It's interesting though that it still has Dark Sun in it's heart, even with all of the other things added in (the stark brutality and indifference of the setting to the wills of many). I'm not clear if you wanted to keep Athas at the heart, but it could be interesting if you did and wove in a "key divergence" that caused this timeline split. Perhaps, independent of even the nefarious factions we've encountered so far, there is a specific force uniquely aware of this time split and hell-bent on correcting it (but, despite all their rage, they are still just a rat in a homebrew). Just a hand-wavy idea that could provide some additional interesting tension.

I don't have any particular preference on the Legacy of Fire AP aspect, and wouldn't want to impose an artificial or unnatural requirement for it. So, use it or not as it best fits our developing narrative.