Adam500's page

I would like to cancel my subscription to Paizo Adventure Paths.

Thank You.

... Words about spells ...

I agree with you about Stricken Heart, not having it before now was an oversight (like Fly) and I'm gonna do what I can to fix that.

Mindshock is to enable free constant healing from Sarenrae's fighting style in bigger fights. 2d6+4/round with Fey Foundling.

I didn't think about the wands. Spiritualist has 1/day See Invis (for 10min) as an SLA, but I dont think thats enough by itself, a wand might be enough to cover the party though.

I definitely need to fix my flying situation sooner rather than later.

Our party is big on raw and as a psychic caster paralyzed isnt a big deal to me. Dazed and Frightened still present problems though. The remove fear wand was to let me deal with fear outside my own spellcasting.

I like Possession too, but I dont see myself casting it enough to justify a spell known, hence it being on the list for spell latices.

Id forgotten Telekinetic Charge was on my list. I'll add it to my considerations.

Hey everyone, still playing Giantslayer with my group (about to go into the tomb in book 4) and after the tragic death of my dwarven warpriest I threw together a phantom blade spiritualist rather quickly to keep playing with the group. The rest of the group consists of a Shield Bash Fighter, Martial Occultist, Cleric, and Ranger.

So quickly, in fact, that I may have made a couple of errors in spell selection.

We just hit level 12 and its caused me to take another look at my spell list and consider my options. For each spell level I'm trying to decide a few things:

1) What spells I already know are worth keeping vs trading out at appropriate levels (next time is lvl 14) or retraining.

2) What spells I'm considering are worth adding to my spells known either through normal leveling, or retraining.

3) What spells I have access to that should be put on a spell lattice, or taken as a wand.

The only feat I have right now that affects any of my spells is fey foundling (I'm a scimitar-wielding sarenite with the divine fighting technique).

Current wands: CL3 Cure light wounds, bless weapon, remove fear

Knacks: detect magic, read magic, mage hand, open/close, light, touch of fatigue

1st: burst of adrenaline, burst of insight, chill touch, cure light wounds, protection from evil, inflict light wounds

2nd: mindshock, cure moderate wounds, false life, invisibility, resist energy
Under consideration: stricken heart, lesser restoration, see invisibility, spiritual weapon, surmount affliction

3rd: displacement, heroism, haste, vampiric touch
Under consideration: slow, invisibility purge, dispel magic, bestow curse, force punch, fly, cure serious wounds, sands of time (this is always a busy spell level, and hard to pick for. A big oversight so far is that I didn't pick fly yet)

4th: freedom of movement, dimension door, etheric shards, shadow conjuration
Under consideration: shadowform, cure critical wounds, death ward

I don't have 5th or 6th level spells yet but here are the planned lists for consideration:

5th: breath of life, plane shift, shadow evocation, withdraw affliction
6th: greater dispel magic, getaway, harm

Planned spell lattices: true Seeing (6th), possession (4th)

The campaign should end around 17th level. Any help curating my spell list a little is appreciated.

Slings take a move action to load unless you spend a couple of feats. They're not good enough to spend a weapon focus feat on, even for a little more damage. A bow does a d8 damage natively if you want that.

Huh, missed that. Only came up in two fights really (and in one I wasn't very mobile anyway), but better we know that now.

I think later on I'm gonna be using Artifice Domain's second power with a +1 sharding dagger in order to turn whatever hammer I'm wielding into a thrown weapon (or do other temporarily useful modification not covered by Sacred weapon, that'll probably just be the most common).

I've actually moved away from Cleave. Campaign has currently reached level 4 and I think I have a build I'm mostly happy with.

Traits - Giant-Blooded, Fate's Favored
Warpirest (of Torag) 17
1 - Steel Soul, Weapon Focus (Warhammer), Patient Strikes*
3 - Bodyguard, Dwarven Hatred Style
5 - Step Up
6 - Dwarven Seething
7 - Blessed Hammer
9 - Disruptive, Dwarven Fury
11 - Improved Critical
12 - Spellbreaker
13 - Shatterspell
15 - Teleport Tactician, Following Step
17 - Step Up and Strike
Weapon of Choice: Warhammer (Currently wielding Agrimmosh)

Currently sword/boarding with my warhammer. Though I could drop the shield for damage if needed.
On second blush I don't know how I feel about Dwarven Hatred/Seething/Fury. If anyone has any suggestions for better feats I'm open to retraining the opening style (it was useful in the first book though).

In ranged encounters I find myself using a sling. Would weapon focus sling just to get sacred weapon damage be worth it?

It appears to be legal. (Calling the warhammer a two-handed weapon is a bit grey. It is two-handed for you, but it is normally in the one-handed category. The Weapon Trick feat isn't particularly explicit, so I'd probably OK it, but check with your GM.)

He has seen the build and gave the okay, I was really wondering if we were off on our read of it.

Regarding all the other points that have been made:

Using Warhammers was the big thing that was non-negotiable about this build. My GM asked for someone to use them as a weapon since the campaign apparently throws a LOT of magic warhammers at you down the line (including some artifacts) and he didn't want the party to feel it was missing out.

I always forget that Lunge is a feat, otherwise it would have been in the build somewhere already... Not sure if its legal to retrain a lvl1 feat into it though, can't you only retrain into feats that were legal to take at the time? (ie. If I couldn't take it at lvl1 I can't retrain a lvl 1 feat into it). Not looking at the the retrain rules atm but will investigate that on my own later. Its a good option.

Warpriest isn't 100% required for this character (its based on a PFS character I once played who was an inquisitor), and I didn't realize the Warpriest couldn't increase size til lvl 13. Any other suggestions for fixes to this are appreciated. Its a little late to not be a divine caster (the rest of the party is set).

Also looking over the proposed feat progression Belafon posted: My weapon trick requires Improved Vital Strike. The earliest I can have it was the lvl 13 spot in my original build - unless I can squeeze Improved vital in earlier.

Starting Giantslayer with my group very soon and I came up with something of an a-typical build. I want to both make sure my assumptions are correct (and the build is legal) and also ask for any suggestions to improve both it and my play experience with it.

Dwarf
Traits - Giant-Blooded, Fate's Favored
Warpriest (of Torag) 17 (Protection, Artifice)
1 - Steel Soul, Weapon Focus (Warhammer), Patient Strikes (Sacrifice minor Artifice power)
3 - Power Attack, Cleave
5 - Goblin Cleaver
6 - Vital Strike
7 - Orc Hewer
9 - Great Cleave, Quicken Blessing (Protection)
11 - Improved Critical
12 - Improved Vital Strike
13 - Weapon Trick Cleaving Smash
15 - Cleave Through, Cleaving Finish
17 - feat
Weapon of Choice: Large Warhammer

While it takes a LONG time to come online (due to requiring Improved Vital Strike) the idea is that using an oversized Warhammer (ergo requiring 2 hands) I can using the 2h Weapon Trick cleaving smash to apply Vital Strike to cleave attacks. This trick comes online for the last 5 levels of the campaign and I'm okay with that.

Early play is basically a standard power attack build with an oversized Warhammer. Plus picking up the dwarven cleave support to lead up to the main event.

Not sure what to take as my 17th level feat. And I'm open to suggestions on how to move things around to improve the character.

Adam500 wrote:

So I'll be starting this shortly with a 6 person group, and am worried about having the opposite problem - encounters being trounced by action economy.

Anyone with tips on adjusting encounters in my direction would be welcome as well. I think adding 10 more (5 per extra player) civilians to rescue to the fire encounter might be sufficient there? Not sure if I should also buff the mephit (probably not).

Pathfinder Second Edition is designed to scale up with additional players. Check out the Character Adjustment and Different Party Sizes entries on page 489 if you haven't already. It might help.

Thank you i wasnt sure where that was!

So I'll be starting this shortly with a 6 person group, and am worried about having the opposite problem - encounters being trounced by action economy.

Anyone with tips on adjusting encounters in my direction would be welcome as well. I think adding 10 more (5 per extra player) civilians to rescue to the fire encounter might be sufficient there? Not sure if I should also buff the mephit (probably not).

Hmm interesting build, makes me wonder if it can be made into a reach build but looks pretty tight. Of course it isn't allowed in PFS...sigh

I'm curious why you would try to make this a reach build? Nothing wrong with the idea, but I'm still only level 3 and want to explore my options.

First, thanks for your suggestions, there is some good material here I will address below. I want to apologize for taking so long to get back to this thread (its been a hectic two weeks).

Given you might want to go first to get some Luck/dice effects off, maybe grab Improved Initiative? Divine Interference Might be useful but unsure if you'll have the needed spells to burn. Split Hex is also pretty handy BUT it's Witch only. Given the fact Shaman is part Witch, talk to your GM about what you can actually qualify for.

Final bit is Flexible Hex which lets you as a Swift action swap your Wandering Spirit. This is great as you can swap into some Benefit of Wisdom to use WIS instead of INT, and then swap back to Arcane Enlightenment to relearn/pick your wizard spells.

I may take improved Initiative as a filler feat if I wind up with one not doing anything else. Divine Interference is also an interesting pick. Flexible Hex/Spirit Talker/Ritual Hex all occupy the same 'more hex choices/day' area, and while all are good, I may not have the feats for all of them and channel feats.

I quite like this concept. If you can reliably make the DCs then I suggest looking into the Ritual Hex feat. It gives you some more flexibility with your hexes; letting you utilise some of the more niche options or 'try before you buy'. In theory if you didn't take Witch Hex - Protective Luck it would allow the 'Witch Hex' hex to be an available option for Ritual Hex thus allowing you to pick a different temporary witch hex each day.

Ritual Hex can have a 100% uptime by level 13 if I did my math correctly, so I'll stick it in the build there. Rotating Witch hex would have been nice... maybe I could retrain? However Protective Luck is a very thematic bit of this build so ditching it may not be an option.

I've also started looking at more channeling-based feats like the Bless Equipment line. I also want to pick up a Blessed Keepsake (8000gp neck-slot item) for free alignment channel since we just fought our first Rakshasa and I suspect they might be a *thing*.

Meet Strides-Besides-Death and his Eagle (reflavored Owl) familiar for the Curse of the Crimson Throne game my group just started.

Its been a while since I've played anything but an Arcane caster, and I loved a build snippet I found on reddit for this class, but am having trouble fleshing it out to a full build. The idea is to build up a large pool of channel (Restoration Spirit+Channel Luck) with buff riders, and support with those and hexes.

I'm already level 2 (though we haven't played a session at 2 yet so I can still change my hex choice) and need some feat options and maybe a better hex progression? I have a strong Luck theme going, but not sure the character will be effective all the way to 17 (though hes a full caster, so hes probably fine). Wandering Spirit will be Lore most of the time for Wizard spells Hex. Using Half-Orc FCB to get cleric spells (picking up Ant Haul at 3 to mitigate poor strength).

Build is below, any advice is welcome.

Shaman (Serendipity) 17
Half-Orc (FCB: HP or Cleric Spell) (Sacred tatoo)
Str 8, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 17, Cha 14
Traits: Fate's Favored, Missing Sibling
1 - Endurance (racial bonus), Defiant Luck {Restoration Spirit}
3 - Selective Channeling
5 - Fateful Channel (worships Pharasma)
7 - Quick Channel
9 - Extra Hex (Spirit Magic)
11 - Spirit Talker
13 - FEAT
15 - FEAT
17 - FEAT

Hexes
2 - Witch Hex - Protective Luck
4 - Chant
8 - Channel Luck
10 - Tweak the Odds
12 - Fortune
16 - Hex

So the only posts that show up on a google search about this topic are from 2015 or older. By RAW the Bolt Ace cannot make touch attack deadly aims with a crossbow, because the line allowing Gunslingers to do so is part of the firearm rules.

I've searched the FAQ and errata and found nothing about this. Did the dev team ever respond to this little issue?

I've played in this adventure and run it as a GM now, and I have to say that Blindheim fight is problematic. While odds are that someone will pass the save... the relatively high DC at that level makes the chance that you have a TPK there pretty high. Glad to hear your group (barely) made it.

So we just had a near-TPK in our online run of the Emerald Spire super-dungeon, and after my Gunslinger died I've decided to have a bit of fun and try out the Arcanist class from the new ACG. After seeing the Blockbuster Wizard guide I've decided I really want to give a Blockbuster Arcanist a try and have set out to figure out how to make it work.

Arcansit (Admixture School Savant)
Elf 8/17/10/19/12/14

Traits
Magical Lineage (Fireball), Reactionary (+2 Init)

1. Arcanist - Spell Focus (Evocation)
2. Arcanist -
3. Arcanist - Intensified Spell
4. Arcanist -
5. Arcanist - Spell Specialization, Exploit?
6. Arcanist -
7. Arcanist - Greater Spell Focus
8. Arcanist -
9. Arcanist - Empower Spell, Exploit?
10. Arcanist -
11. Arcanist - Dazing Spell, Exploit?
12. Arcanist -
13. Arcanist - Quicken Spell, Exploit?
14. Arcanist -
15. Arcanist - Spell Perfection, Exploit?
16. Arcanist -
17. Arcanist - Spell Penetration, Exploit?
18. Arcanist -
19. Arcanist - Greater Spell Pen, Exploit?
20. Arcanist -

Possible Exploits: Potent Magic, Metamagic Knowledge (Bonus Feats), Bloodline Developement?, Dimensional Slide, Familiar, Quick Study, See Magic

So far looks good to me, my main problem is deciding what Exploits to take and when. So suggestions on Exploit placement would be appreciated. I'm coming back into the game at lvl 3 so I have some time to think about it as well.

Main gimmick will be Intensified Burning Hands until I reach 5-6th level.

That was unfortunately just how his hp turned out.

Hes no longer 30 HD but rather 25. Even with Mythic bonuses to hp, and max hp he still was bound to lose some of his original 660hp in the conversion.

Maybe I could use a mythic ability to give him some kind of divine health hp boost? Even the mythic book itself says he should have far more hp than he does.

So I did a bit of work on a Mythic'd version of Kyuss, statblock below is missing most of his feats, and mythic abilities, plus his pair of artifacts. It is though in the ballpark of what I was looking at... I'm just not sure if this would be too much for a party of 20th level characters (Even assuming they knock a couple mythic ranks off him like Divine ranks were removed in 3.5).

MYTHIC KYUSS

CR 34 MR 10
Huge Worm that Walks (Human) Cleric 7/Sorceror 8/Mystic Theurge 10 (+4 CR)
Huge Vermin (Augmented, Mythic)
Senses: Darkvision 60ft, Blindsight 30ft
Languages: Common, +2

AC (Insight +WIS, +10 Natural Armor); DR 15/-; Fast Healing 29
HD: 8+6d8+18d6+150+80 = 394
Immune: Disease, Paralysis, Poison, Sleep effects
Aura: Evil
Spd 30ft

Melee Atk + (Slam 1d8)
CMB (+4 grapple); CMD +4

Cleric Spells per day 4/4+1/4+1/4+1/4+1/4+1/4+1/3+1/2+1/1+1
Domains: Evil, Death

Sorceror Spells per day 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/5/3
Bloodline: Arcane

SA: Discorporate, Squirming Embrace, Channel Energy 4d6, Mythic Power (10/day, Surge +1d12)
SQ: Worm that Walks Traits, spontaneous cast (inflict), Combined Spells (5th), Spell Synthesis
Mythic Abilities: Dual Initiative, Mythic Magic 3/day, 9

Feat: Bonus, Diehard, 10, Eschew Materials, Spell Focus, 5 Mythic
Skills: Bluff 11, Diplomacy 10, Know Arcana 28, Know Religion 28, Know planes 10,
Perception 26, Spellcraft 28, Sense Motive 21, Stealth 8

STR 24 DEX 14 CON 22 INT 14 WIS 22 CHA 21

Its fear of making him overpowered when compared to a party of pathfinder adventurers at 20th that makes me hesitate to do the write-up to that extent (nevermind that I still can't deduce how his ability scores were originally decided on).

I personally have little to no experience with pathfinder, and if I run this campaign with the ruleset it will be my first real foray into it (excepting an aborted campaign).

I'm potentially looking at running this AP in pathfinder, and as such I started playing around with stating up the big bad Kyuss. Looking at his stats in Dungeon he was a whopping CR 34 encounter at full power (assuming a Divine Rank is a flat +1 CR like Deities and Demigods says), and rather than port the rules for Divine Ranks over to PFRPG I decided to try making him mythic instead. I also don't want to port over any PrCs so True Necro is out.

Right now looking at...

Mythic Rank 9 Giant (x2) Worm that Walks Cleric 17/Sorceror 8

Since Mythic ranks add +1/2 rank to CR this comes out to the same CR 34 while keeping Kyuss' abilities in the same ballpark.

Don't have a full statblock yet, its a monster and its late in the evening, but if I finish one I'll post it.

Thanks for this list, I'm going to have to reconsider my positions on plastics. No one seems to have the minis I want in sufficient quantities (as far as minis I need groups of go) so I'm going to need to figure out what to do there.

Anyone know any really good sites to buy minis from?

Robert Hradek wrote:

maybe even the Kalashtar Bodyguard.

I particularly like this one.

Not sure I agree with Storm Silverhand being unfeminine, though that picture from the WotC site isn't the best.

I'll consider the Kalashtar model, and if I can get it I'll use the reaper model. Next time I post it will be with Adv #2's mini list.

Been playing Dragon Age Origins for the last few weeks and just learned Morrigan's origin and Flemeth,s plans for her daughter.

Is it me or did anyone else think that Morrigan/Flemeth story sounds allot like Iggwilv/Baba Yaga history from ST?

For example both Baba Yaga/Flemeth are both ancient Witch Women with a rich history and habit of causing destruction. Both have had numerous daughters (btw was does happen to Baba Yaga's daughters after their 100 year rule in Glorian?)and of course both Iggwilv/Morrigan are smoking brunettes witch women(if you like pixel characters)full of themseveles.

BTW - Love DA this is not a shot at the game.

Since Baba Yaga is actually a character from Slavic folklore, Id chalk this up to similar inspiration for the characters.

Back to the topic of minis (the 3D boat is out of the prototype phase and in production):

What do you guys think of using Storm Silverhand probabaly repainted a little, as Lavinia? I's also probably remove the wand.

Usually there is only one crow's nest on any ship, usually on the tallest mast. Though all of the pictures of the wyvern have it on the middle mast, but strangely between the bottom and top sails...

Ahh, the picture of the wyvern in the dungeon before the savage tide even started (#138) has it with a crows nest on the first and second mast, below the top sail.

A suggestion for a shortcut for a 3-d wyvern is to get the Pirateology ship model. It is exactly the correct lenght, but 1" too thin. Close enough though, and it looks really amazing for the price.

Thanks for pointing out that picture in #138! Its exactly what I was looking for, just didn't remember it being there.

Also on the subject of the 3D terrain of the Wyvern, I'm not sure how tall to make the masts, or how many/where to put the crows nest(s). I can make out 1 nest in the pictures Ive seen in the adventures, but that dosn't help much.

EDIT: Specifically the picture in Dragon 350's Savage Tiding.

There is also a second picture, of it damaged, in Dragon 353.

An update: Ive picked out okay looking minis for most of the first adveture. I don't mind metals but I'll stick as close to plastics as I can.

Sollar Vark - Vampire Hunter 11/60 Unhallowed

Thugs (7) - Human Crossbowman 5/60 Dragoneye
or - Human Rabble 27/40 Legendary Evils (Not sure which of these two to use, thoughts?)

Rhagodessa (3) - Mad Slasher 54/60 Aberrations I feel like this needs some conversion work, maybe attach a head and paint accordingly, but what head? Wolf? EDIT: I could also use deathjump spiders as the base, but I digress.

Iron Cobra (1) - Iron Cobra 36/60 Abberations
Pirate Zombies (3-9) - Gravetouched Ghoul 53/60 Unhallowed
Huecuva Cleric (1) - Repainted Cleric of Lathander 1/60 Archfiends

Lotus Dragon Thieves (6) - Defiant Rake 43/60 Dugeons of Dread
-should I get more of these just in case? How many more?

Human Illusionist (1) - Wand Expert 27/60 Angelfire
Worg (1) - Worg 80/80 Harbringer
Prisoner (1) - Prisoner 40/60 Night Below
Crocodile (1) - Monitor Lizard 29/60 Underdark
Kobold (1) - Kobold Miner 38/60 Underdark - will probably clip the pick
Bugbear Zombie (1) - Blood Ghost Berserker 44/60
Crested Felldrake (1) - Crested Felldrake 19/80 Harbringer
Rowyn Kellani (1) - Voice of Battle 25/60 Deathnell - this mini actually fits really well I think, maybe needs minor work

Lavinia Vanderboren (1) - I'm looking through the various metal mini suggestions now and will pick from there probably.

Small Monstrous Crabs (5) -
Ixitxachitl Scouts (6) -

For these two, I'll see what I can dig up at Wall Mart or a dollar store or wherever as people have suggested.

In other news I've started building a 3D miniture-scale model of the Sea Wyvern. For the prow, I'm going to get a plastic Wyvern mini and attach it to the ship (after painting it gold or something). Trying to decide if the sculpt from Aberrations or Dungeons of Dread would be better for this.

Once I get the final descisions for minis for TinH out of the way I'll move on to BWG. Should be easier I think.

Warning Spoilers Below.

Alright, so my current AoW game is nearing the home stretch. I want to go all-out for Savage Tides as my next campaign (I'm gathering the music, building a 3D Sea Wyvern, and probably will costruct other set pieces).

Something that has always irked me a bit is that despite my massive collection of minis I'm always doing something like: "This Large mini is a dragon, I know it dosn't look like it. Pretend" So I've decided to crack my wallet open and buy proper minis for the enemies and allies of this campaign.

To that end I'm going to start compiling a list of characters in need of minitures and what minis I plan to use. I'm posting this here, because honestly its a lot of work and I could do with some help. I'm not perfect and I could either miss a better mold of a mini (using primarily D&D skirmish minis, but I'm not adverse to metal either) or I had trouble finding a mini at all.

With that here is my first post, the miniature list for There is no Honor

Lavinia Vanderboren- not required, but will be useful as the campaign progresses
Soller Vark- human armed with a light crossbow and rapier
7 Thugs- human armed with a light crossbow and rapier
3 Rhagodessa - I don't think these were ever made, so I'll need to do conversion
Iron Cobra - Iron Cobra 36/60 Aberrations
3 Ravenous Zombie Pirates - Largest group size encountered, need to pick a good zombie sculpt
1 Huecuva Cleric - still looking
5 small monstrous crabs - still looking
6 Rogues - Defiant Rake? 43/60 Dungeons of Dread humans with hand crossbows/rapier, Lotus Dragons, largest group size encoutered
1 Human Illusionist - Human wizard armed with a sickle?
1 Worg - need to find good sculpt
1 Prisoner - The Lotus Dragon guy tricking the PCs
1 Crocodile - need to find good sculpt
6 Ixitxachitl Scouts - Not sure about these. Suggestions?
Churtle - Everyone's favorite Kobold, need good sculpt
1 Bugbear Zombie - looking
1 Crested Felldrake - 19/80 harbringer wouldn't mind an alternative, looks a little ugly to me
Rowyn Kellani - need to find good sculpt

Orthos wrote:

I intentionally omitted that, I thought it was supposed to be DM-only. I didn't tell the monks in my party about it when they were looking for a place to train and meditate. (And sleep, being VoP they couldn't stay in the inn with the rest of the party. :P)

That's why I put it in a spoiler block. Players should know better.

My assumption is that DM's are the primary audience of this forum, and (for my players anyway) this place is verboten to players. Any player that reads a spoiler block deserves whatever level of the Abyss spoiler-block-reading-players are doomed for. XD

My second assumption (boy I am full of those today) is that the OP is the DM and, not unlike myself, he is trying to help a player flesh out his character.

But I have been wrong before...

I can understand your assumptions, I am a player in this campaign but I usually fall into the role of DM assistant for this particular group. So knowing in this case is better since it speeds up the flow of information to the DM :-p

In case anyone is curious the character I'm working on is a level 1 Factotum. Hes hit some hard times and become very down on his own luck, forcing him to take shelter at the monastery (doing chores etc in exchange). This is of course, an rp excuse to take levels of Monk as level 2 and 3.

LN Human (probably Suel, just to drive home why they would be willing to train him) Factotum 1

Eventually going to be Factotum 8/Monk2/Trapsmith 1/Swiftblade 9

When the game starts (after our current RHoD campaign ends) I plan to take plenty of notes, so look for me in the Campaign Logs subforum soon.

Adam500 wrote:

Orthos wrote:

There is a monastery in Sasserine. It's located in Cudgel District and called the House of Violets.

Thank you! I missed this on my first read-through of the player's guide.

Be careful...

** spoiler omitted **

Even better! This can create conflict!

There is a monastery in Sasserine. It's located in Cudgel District and called the House of Violets.

Thank you! I missed this on my first read-through of the player's guide.

As the title says I'm working on a character bio for an upcoming Savage Tides game, and Ive hit a small snag.

Unless Ive gone blind, there is not a single Monastery (the type of place a Monk would train at) in all of Sasserine.

Could someone point me at one that Ive overlooked perhaps?

Perhaps one of the local churches/Shrines could double as one, but none of them struck me as Monkish.

So my group of players for my Monday night game are on their way back to Blackwall Keep. They successful negotiated with the Lizardfolk Shaman and dealt with the guardians Ilthane left behind in the egg room.

Now laden with the treasures Ilthane left behind they are carrying one additional unique item.... Ilthane's "Egg".

So I'm looking for ideas on how to handle this, I could simply have a random encounter in the Marsh target the egg (Constrictor Snake?), but I'm wondering if this is sufficiently devious enough.

So, ideas?

The battle at the keep went swiftly. With two groups of Lizard-folk attacking the keep itself while Kushak and Shest with the other four groups attacked the PCs. Fireball from a scroll, a few enlarged combatants. Kushak sounds a retreat before dying. Shest following into the Lizard-afterlife.

So now they find themselves outside the Lizardfolk lair deep in the Mistmarsh (with not much more than a few Spider Ambushes stopping them).
Nightfall is encroaching (its about an hour before they would normally stop traveling) and I determined the Harpies hadn't yet come out.

Next Monday they enter the Twisted Branch lair.

I can't help but feel that due to the experience of some of my players they are walking through this module a bit, but I'm inclined to let them after 3 player deaths on the Ebon Aspect.

Group Makeup (corrected and updated) is as follows:

Human Cleric (pelor) 5 - Only character with no deaths.
Tiefling (lesser) Fighter 4 (TWF)
Human Fighter 5 (Spiked-Chain AoO variety)
Catfolk Ranger 4
Goliath Barb 1/Fighter 2
Elf Rogue/Spellthief (in some combination, he passes himself off IC as a Wizard)

It'll be interesting to see how this group handles (and I handle) HoHR.

I hate to say, but after the party split apart in the whispering Cairn (half going down the hold below the green lantern, the other half going down the elevator below yellow) we mutually agreed there was going to be a TPK, and the campaign ended prematurely.

Another player in the group has been wanting to run Red Hand of Doom, so I'm letting him, and I'm going to try to subtly improve this group's tactics as we play.

Meanwhile I have a second AoW group Ive been running for some more experienced players, currently on Encounter at Blackwall Keep.

Tomorrow I run them through the massive combat that will ensue outside the keep (basically the start of the adventure). Should be interesting.

If anyone is wondering this group (currently) consists of:

Human Cleric (pelor) 5 - Only character with no deaths.
Tiefling (lesser) Fighter 4 (I think fighter. He TWF)
Human Fighter 4 (Spiked-Chain AoO variety)
Catfolk Ranger 3
Goliath Fighter 3 (I think)
Human Wizard or Sorceror 4 (I forgot)

Final Party Makeup

- NG Strongheart Halfling Wizard (Necromancer) 1
- CN Maenad Wilder 1
- NG Human Cleric (Pelor) 1
- NG Half-Orc Ranger 1
- LG Human Paladin (Kord) 1
- C? Wood Elf Barbarian 1 (Not present at first session)
- ?? Human Factotum 1 (Not present at first session)

After the first session I'll open a campaign log and leave this open for discussion.

From a player perspective, I'm okay with 4e. However I'm saving my first attempt at running it for when WotC reproduces Tomb of Horrors (supposedly sometime in 2010).

I've read that Dragotha's spell list in particular could use some tweaking with the spell compendium, hence why I asked if anyone else's should be looked at.

So I was asked to run the Age of Worms by a group of players I DM for. Some of them played some of the early WC encounters, but a TPK ended the campaign and we moved on (in fact, I'm fairly sure we didn't get past the wolves).

They have all grown in their character building skills since then, and to date I know I have the following:

Wood Elf Barbarian 1 (a new player, I designed the character myself)
Whisper Gnome Transmuter 1 (meant to be a buffer/debuffer)
Human Factotum 1 (Skill junkie, and backup everything)
Wilder 1 (My first experience DMing for a psionic character)
and a fifth unknown character.

As you can tell I have a fairly open book policy on my campaigns (I realize this can cause problems with published adventures, more on that in a momment).

I intend to start with one PC inheriting the deed to an abandoned mine office. After some roleplay I'm hoping to guide the PCs there (maybe as a hired workforce to renovate) where they will find an old map with text written in Vaati. A Map which clearly shows the location of the Whispering Cairn. Hopefully (although its not required) they will take the text to get translated by Allustan giving them their connection to him. I'm open to suggestions on this, but we start tomorrow so it's not going to change much, I think.

More to the point, I understand the adventure path was built (mostly)SRD only to comply with the OGL. So I'm looking for suggestions on things to change to make it a challenge for a group with a wider book selection. Mainly what, if any changes, should be made to spell lists with the addition of the Spell Compedium?

Given the foes the Radiant Servant faces, I suspect the weaknesses of the PrC are balanced against its strengths. Only if he constantly attains initiative and finds a way to keep his Listen/Spot at maximum will he (theoretically) be unstoppable.

I can see the point and I'm almost convinced to let him go through with taking the prestige class. I reread it (which I had not done in quite a while) and it doesn't seem quite as bad as it had been made out to be.

I apologize for how brief the first post is. My writing has been very lax over the past year or so, but I'm hoping as I post more of this I can improve it gradually.

So this past Monday I completed the campaign I have been running for the past year and a half (Or has it been two? I digress). Picking up a new player we sat down and rolled up characters to start up this great campaign.

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The Players

Zex, Human Archivist 1
- A simple wandering scholar who found his way to Diamond lake part by chance and part by interest in the nearby hills.

Tanessa of the Running Brook, Catfolk Ranger 1
- A nature activist who has come to Diamond Lake to usher change in its economic-political structure with the hope of revitalizing it's ecosystem which once revolved around the now-dead lake. She has met nothing but resistance from the Mine Managers since her arrival. She is not particularly a threat to their regimes but she is a nuisance nonetheless.

Arcturus, Human Fighter 1
- Part adventurer, part unlucky fellow, Arcturus came to Diamond lake like many others in search of work. All in the name of his lord Bahamut.

Skink, Aasimar Druid 1
- Hes just a passing through Kamen.... sorry, Hes just a passing through Druid, really. Remember that. Oh and he has a pet poison-spitting dinosaur that lives in his backpack.

Vrack the Glory Bringer, Human Cleric 1
- A priest of Pelor who came to Diamond lake to proselytize. Whether his efforts will bear fruit for his church in the future in such a dreary town remains to be seen.

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Our story begins simply as the mercenary Arcturus searches Diamond Lake for work. Coming upon a flier detailing a missing girl he immediately began asking questions around town and gathering information. Along the way he picked up a trio of allies from the Feral Dog and a catfolk tracker who had been staying in the Able Carter Coaching Inn.

Following tips from the locals they figured that the girl must have gone to one of the local burial cairns, one where the walls 'spoke'. After consulting the local wizard Allustan they obtained a map to this "Whispering Cairn" on the stipulation that they would recount their explorations of it to him later, and bring back rubbing samples of writing they find there.

Upon arriving at the Cairn the group began exploring the main hall, noticing a collapsed tunnel, a broken transportation device, and the source of the mysterious 'whispers'. Assaulted by a trio of wolves the group swiftly dealt with them through druidic magic before pressing on...

To Be Continued

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So that's where we are after session one. Not at all bad, although its sort of obvious who put the most effort into why their character's are there and what their motivations are.

A something of note, the cleric of Pelor expressed interest in the Radiant Servant prestige class. I told him to pick something else because Ive heard that this prestige class (and Entropomancer) break the campaign open toward the end. Was this a good call? I'm not sure.

Coming up next time, Acid Beetles. Gorram Acid Beetles, oh and traps too. The fight that could make or break the party, what will happen? We'll see.

I am happy to report that Churtle survived her initial encounter with my party in the Lotus Dragon's guildhall. Moreover she has been put in position of chef on board the Sea Wyvern (in anticipation of becoming the Elf Cleric's cohort).

What really threw my group for a loop was when Avner claimed to see Churtle poison the cleric's food (Cleric is only surviving party member from Lotus Dragon Guildhall, thus prime target for Rowyn's disgused self attacks). Of course.... who listens to Avner, ever?

If this is your own campaign setting then general consensus is to use whatever you like best. As for a psudo-official answer, if your Sasserine is set in Greyhawk (which is the default I believe) I know Gold is the Orb, but can't remember the other denominations off hand.

This is great to know. Many thanks from our DM! Original Temple of Elemental Evil (& Village of Hommlet) here we come!

Thats just for starts though, any suggestions on where to continue when we finish it?

Two part question.
Me and my group have decided to start up a second edition campaign for nostalgia's sake and play through as many of the classic modules as progression will allow.

The problem is we have an eye towards several adventures which were designed for 1st Edition.

So my first question is thus: Is it possible to convert modules from 1st to 2nd, how difficult is it generally, and has anyone already done the legwork? If it just isn't feasible we'll figure out what to do from there (likely play 2nd ed modules).

Second part is can anyone recommend adventures to look for? If you suggest an adventure please list is level range (or relative level range if it needs conversion). We have some in mind, but I'm sure we missed a few good ones.

Mazes in general, are difficult to pull off.

Exactly what I was getting at. I thought the Kenku were great its the enviroment that was the problem. Anyone have suggestions without changing the flavor of the encounter too much?

Ive ran the adventure for a couple groups now (never actually finished the whole campaign sadly) and with a new group beginning TWC tomorrow I am beginning to think about the future.

The Kenku Labyrinth has always been one of the low points for me in the adventure. Has anyone come up with a good way to replace it? Id like to keep a similar flavor for the Vecna temple leading up to the final encounters with the faceless one, but Im not sure what to do.

Party of 3+1npc (One player has been sick but when she comes back it'll be 4+1)

Week 2 playing ~10hrs a session, and they've just defeated the Wind Warriors (Albeit barely with GM-given leniency). We've had several near-deaths and one death (mostly the same character) and next week we finish up the true tomb and move on to 3FoE.

Earthday, Planting 13, 597CY

Today the group gathered at the docks looking for pier seven where mistress Lavinia's boat should have been moored. Before I recount our adventure there, a few notes about my companions are in order...

First there is the desert dweller I mentioned previously. Osiris (Baklunish Ranger 1 (Wastes variant)) seems to have a level head, but during dinner the night previous he mentioned visions he had followed to the city of Sasserine. As a man, or rather beast, of magic I find such an account usually holds water and requires attention, but he was very scarce on details. His temper needs to be kept in check.

Next is the wench Andrea (unknown), I know not much about her except she has offered me free room in a nearby inn which is much better than making the hours long trek between districts. Then there is Rikka, the elven lass (Scout 1). I have no clues from whence Lavinia dug her up, but she seems a tad partial to the nearby jungle. She also mentioned something about fighting lizardfolk. Our group's other female is Marea. She seems a bit deft of the hands, but I'll reserve my judgement for any who read this tome untill a more appropriate point. Our group was rounded out by Danteal (Human? Crusader 1) who seems to fancy himself worthy of the dwarven mountain plate he wears. I dare not question him on why, but perhaps another day I will talk to him about it.

When we arrived at pier seven the boat was absent, though it did not take us long to divine where it had gone. Instead of it's proper mooring someone had roped the ship several hundred feet away from the docks. I took to my wings while the others secured a nearby rowboat to go and investigate. When we arrived the men on deck summoned others from down below and began attacking us. The battle went quickly and I dispatched most of the men with a few simple sleep spells. Not even thier leader was a problem. What was more surprising was when they began to burn thier illicit cargo they accidently released some monstrous bug. If I had more information I would write it down, but I don't. We dispatched the bug and then commenced a search of the ship. We eventually found Lavinia's ring as well as the money she had paid to the men to get her ship back. We returned both to her estate and she asked us to set out with her the next day for castle teraknian to claim our payment. I again spent the night at a nearby inn on Andrea's coin.

As promised (though a bit delayed) here is the first entry into my character's chronicle. We have had our second session now, and when I post it I will include the updated stats for Tyr.

Waterday, Planting 12, 597CY

I write this many days after the fact, but I now see the need for such a record in this prolonged venture. I require a reckoning of where this adventure started, and a chronicle of what has been done so that I continue to have perspective on our goals.

It had been months since my return to Sasserine, and while I had done my best to sequester myself in the Witchwarden tower I knew it was inevitable that word of my condition would spread. I must admit that I enjoyed the rumors, but a curious thing occurred with them. They were mixed up with rumors of another man who had come to sasserine. Apparently this fellow, of obvious Baklunish descent and a member of a desert tribe, had traveled to the city for some unknown purpose. The stories of the dragon man and the desert warrior became popular simultaneously and rumors of battles and alliances between us were popular.

I dont know what rumor attracted the attention of Ms. Vanderboren, but when her halfling servant arrived the day before with an RSVP for dinner and a job offer I remembered an old axiom. Never deny a noble what they wish, or pay for it in the end. I arrived at her manor house, and to my surprise among her other dinner guests was the Bakluni man who's stories mingled with mine quaintly named Osiris. After a short encounter with an adventuring band under miss Vanderboren's employ dinner began. Lavinia informed us of the trouble she was having with the harbor workers, and her need of a ring stored on board her parent's ship. We decided to set out the next day.

Excellent back story! Are you also planning to flesh out your fellow players? Or just as interestingly telling the tale entirely from your character's perspective?

This will mostly be Tyr's recounting of the campaign, however Ive invited a few other players to post here as they see fit (all will be new to these messageboards).

Were currently in the middle of TinH on Parrot Island, so I have plenty of material to write on (at least 4days IC) I just have to solve two problems before I do.

1) We have a player that comes and goes during the game session. I have to figure out how to write him in (and/or not write him in... it'll be weird).

2) I need to get with the DM and figure out the time of year/exact day. Which means that during next session my DM gets a lesson on the Greyhawk calender and holidays. Can anyone give me a good link for all the info on this?