Order of the Amber Die. Organized Play Member. 285 posts (301 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 1 Organized Play character. 1 alias.
I love these character builds, very flavourful, using all those obscure tasty feats and traits. Thanks, guys for sharing! its really inspiring indeed
Thanks TS, ask and you shall receive! Yeah, we try to use feats we haven't played with before to keep things fresh, which also allows us to explore the continual stream of new source material. Plus, as you probably already know, a teamwork feat is mandatory.
We use campaign traits for the same reasons, and brainstorm as to which of those traits best serves the iconics, as well as the potential applications for synergy with the rest of the group. As far as the secondary traits go, we try to tie them in with the campaign traits, as well as embed them with the archetypes, if any. For example, Valeros was matched with the Athletic campaign trait to supplement the aquanaut archetype, but he would make better use of that if also he had Acrobatics as a class skill. Hence, we paired Athletic with the Reckless combat trait to accomplish that, but also because the flavor text fit Valeros perfectly!
The NPCs have been invaluable in this AP so far. Starting with Anya, who died saving the group, and Oorka who supported us with a ton of healing before she, too, was killed in action. Since joining us, Koloshkora has received several honorable mentions, including being granted "Seaspike" by the ghost of Wavewalker. Our newest ally in Neiran was also a key to our success, both in and out of combat, although his condescension for humans is starting to grate on some of us in the group. *Ahem.* So if we could add Aoinse to the roster too that would be amazing! Although Merisiel can NEVER be replaced, there is now an extra seat in the Apparatus of the Crab, which Aoinse helped repair, so it's hers if she wants it.
I think this AP has the brightest, most gorgeous colors of all you ever played.
Kudos to the gamemaster and all the fine folks making the props.
I would love to know which toy was used for the colossal crab and what base was used.
Also where can i get the gorgeous flip-mats?
Whoever had the idea to use music from aquasonic also deserves much praise - i didn't know there was a band playing underwater!
It's things like these that make you guys from Order of the Amber Die the role-playing world-champignons in my opinion!
Best wishes to all of you from Germany! :-)
Thanks for the kind words Marco, the crab was purchased at a shop at the Jersey Shore by our GM and the colossal base is actually a series of thin 6" magnets stacked together. The maps were created from a series of digital images, then remastered, printed, and put together by members of the Order.
If you're interested in hearing more about what our GM has to say about this module, we did an interview just beforehand with Roll 4 Initiative so check that out!
Hey, thanks Yakman, glad you liked it! Everyone at the table spent a lot of time and effort - with our lighting in particular - to really capture the underwater feel, so it's good to hear that it paid off!
If you haven't been following our marathons on Twitter, the details about how City in the Deep went down will be available on our next Paizo Blog.
Stay tuned!
I'm looking to get a new AP to run and considering a few options[this being one of them], my concern with this AP is that you're going to be underwater a decent amount of time. What's been people's experience with AP's underwater gameplay/overall gameplay?
Hey Mista, we're currently half way through Ruins of Azlant and there are definitely a lot of things to consider for underwater encounters. For starters, it's important that you have a good way of managing depth for 3D combat. (See our method here from the Paizo Blog.) However, if you don't have anything like that to use those you could keep track of depth along with the initiative of each combatant, or have each player track their own individually. Visually, things can get tricky when you have several characters/monsters occupying the same square at different depths, which opens up a lot more ways for flanking and makes it more complicated to withdraw if things go badly, but as long as you have some method of making that clear for everyone to see you’ll be fine.
As far as underwater rules go, definitely keep Aquatic Adventures handy, especially when it comes to buoyancy, which has come into play many times for us already. The buoyancy spell was created prior to the states of buoyancy rules, but we played it as "swiftly rising" when we were underwater. The secondary benefit of water walk is even more useful for surfacing quickly in a bind, so players might want to utilize that as well. As far as current and running water are concerned, we haven't had to deal with that too much as of yet - although we expect to very soon - and the globe of tranquil water spell Ezren recently learned should help with that. Also at higher levels, freedom of movement is a must. Just be very careful if your group relies heavily on spells/magic items to function underwater, because a single dispel magic has the potential to turn the tide against you.
Communication underwater was also be an issue for us in the beginning, so those of us who already didn't speak it spent a rank in Linguistics and learned the Aquan language to mitigate that. Although it doesn’t say specifically that it works that way, it’s safe to say that since the language is predominantly spoken by aquatic creatures that it functions underwater.
You should also take steps to track breathing, unless you can breathe underwater, either naturally or with spells/magic items. Even with the Aquatic Spell metamagic feat, spellcasting still takes a lot of effort so casters with average Constitution scores may find themselves making a break for the surface a lot quicker with the new rules.
Fortunately, our group has found a significant amount of magic items placed throughout Ruins of Azlant to really help the PCs with underwater exploration and survival, plus there are probably a few more that we missed along the way, so we've been very grateful for those since most of those items have been too expensive for us to purchase.
Our GM mentioned there were also a few options built in to this AP where you could downplay the underwater rules if your group didn’t want to focus so much on that aspect of the game. But if you do use them, I hope this has been helpful, and if you have any more questions feel free to ask us any time!
This looks like a great time! I love the work y'all put into each of these marathons!
See some of you at PaizoCon in less than a week!
Thanks Adam! And a big thanks to Mikko Kallio for writing such an exciting adventure. The time limit kept us on our toes. If we didn't have so much experience fighting aboleth from way back in the 90s (playing the Night Below boxed set), we'd still be down there...
Hello all! Next up is our favorite iconic wizard. The old man made it through an adventure without falling down for once, plus he managed to learn a few new tricks!
Check him out:
EZREN
Male human wizard (sword binder) 10
NG Medium humanoid (human)
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 11 (+1 deflection)
hp 70 (10d6+30)
Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +8
Resist electricity 5
Melee+1 longsword +6 (1d8+1/19-20) or dagger +5 (1d4/19-20)
Ranged mwk light crossbow +6 (1d8/19-20) or dagger +5 (1d4/19-20)
Special Attacks sword of the mage 14/day (50 ft.)
Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 10th; concentration +16)
5th—(3/day) arc lightning (DC 21), aquatic ball lightning (DC 20), globe of tranquil water
4th—(4/day) ball lightning (DC 20), aquatic lightning bolt (DC 19), shout (DC 20), tail current
3rd—(4/day) aqueous orb (DC 19), lightning bolt (DC 19), water breathing (2)
2nd—(6/day) buoyancy, aquatic magic missile (2), slipstream (2), splinter spell resistance
1st—(6/day) hydraulic push (2), mage armor, ray of enfeeblement (DC 17), shocking grasp (2)
0 (at will)—detect magic, light, mage hand, read magic
I have to say that even though a sandbox-style adventure has its perks, it also comes with some serious risks. We randomly chose to walk into the hardest encounter on the island first, where we were probably supposed to be at least one level higher, and got a terrible trashing by a chuul. (After the marathon, Adam told us he used the option to tone it down, so I can only imagine how much worse that could've been.) Anyway, we barely survived our retreat, only to accidentally go to the second-hardest encounter the very next day and almost got killed by a HUGE crab! We screwed up the information gathering though, and it wasn't until later that we found the Pathfinder notes that may have been able to guide us somehow, but we had a really hard time just getting to that point. Best of luck to anyone who has the same thing happen, you'll need it!
Yes, Berselius, her loss was a terrible tragedy. Five hammerhead sharks was already a tough fight, but throwing the feeder in the depths into the fray made things so much worse. First, it spooked us when it taunted us in Infernal, then it tore into us with multiple bite attacks with bonus bleed damage. With attack and damage rolls each in high 20s we didn't really stand a chance, so if Anya hadn't bravely held it at bay it would've been TPK! She will be missed, for sure.
I have to say that one of the things I appreciated the most about this adventure wasn't the encounters or problem-solving, but the roleplaying. Going in, I anticipated the challenges of underwater combat and the dangers of exploring uncharted territory, but what I didn't expect was the various conflicts between the colonists.
My favorite moment, personally, was after we cleared Talmandor's Bounty and the colonists moved in. Two influential members were arguing over who should claim one of the larger buildings in the palisade and things got out of hand rather quickly. Playing Ezren, I didn't think there was much I could do about this so I stayed out of it while Merisiel tried distracting one of them with some shameless flirting, although her Bluff attempt failed to pay off. Then Valeros tried to step in physically, but worried that injuring one of them might only make things worse, I said (in an irritated Sean Connery accent) "If the two of you don't shut up and find a way to resolve this like gentlemen, I'll burn this place to the ground." At this point I leveled my wand of flaming sphere at the building, and our GM called for an Intimidate check. I gulped since the old wizard has a 9 Charisma and no ranks in Intimidate, but luckily I rolled super high and got them both to stand down until Kyra ended the conflict with a nice Diplomacy check. Anyway, I don't know where that came from--the intense roleplaying must've brought it out of me, which, like most dramatic scenes, starts with good writing!
Much obliged, Elorebaen! Speaking of rocks, our GM and a few others were bold enough to climb a few of them on a nearby bluff, then one of us even meandered out onto a jetty to take in the scenery. All nine of us were running around out there at one point, and despite being so cold we'd definitely do it all over again. Expect some videos of us at the beach house soon!
Thank you for your support, and with everyone's continued encouragement we'll look for another place to play on-location during this AP--likely somewhere even more extreme next time!
At least one of my guys doesn't seem to understand why I do as much work as I do to prepare. To him, it should be no problem to simply scale battles for additional characters that decide they want to play. His point of comparison is "fight of the week" style gaming, which tends to be about building a couple big encounters geared toward the party you have. There's no real long-term story, and you don't have to concern yourself with any related elements. Furthermore, an 8-hour session in an AP can easily be a dozen encounters (not all involving battles) that need at least some prior consideration. The GM needs to know tactics, dialogue, and even a certain notion of how to perform an NPC's actions.
Hey Taks, I hear you there. In my opinion, the only way your player will fully understand what you go through is if he GMed an Adventure Path to completion. After I GMed for the first time, not only did I gain an immense respect for the work that goes into preparation, but I also improved as a player. Being on the opposite side of the screen gives you a different perspective of the game, what it takes to run it (even just combat), and sometimes players need to experience it to truly understand it.
Why is the wizard only 3rd level, but the rogue is 4th?
Hey Taks! That's because I sat out the submerged cave excursion. I was out of resources at that point, and even my mage armor spell had expired. I viewed Ezren as more of a liability than an asset, so I stayed out of it. Granted, I'm regretting not gaining the experience, but I still think I made the right decision for the group.
Greetings all! We recently wrapped up the first module of Ruins of Azlant, and our documentation should be up on the Paizo Blog very soon. In the meantime, we're going to release the updated stat blocks of our iconics every day this week, starting with Ezren:
EZREN
Old human wizard (sword binder) 3
NG Medium humanoid (human)
AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10
hp 19 (3d6+9)
Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +4
Melee longsword +1 (1d8/19-20) or dagger +1 (1d4/19-20)
Ranged light crossbow +1 (1d8/19-20) or dagger +1 (1d4/19-20)
Special Attacks sword of the mage +6 (1d8+1/19-20, 30 ft.)
Wizard spells prepared (CL 3rd; concentration +7)
2nd—(2/day) force sword, slipstream
1st—(3/day) hydraulic push, mage armor, shocking grasp
0 (at will)—detect magic, mage hand, message, read magic
- The sword binder's Sword of the Mage ability evoked some dramatic reactions from around the table as his longsword flew from his hand to slash at an enemy before returning to his grasp. Although he didn't actually hit with it as often as everyone would've liked, there were two natural 20s rolled with the new Azlant die--both of which resulted in confirmed critical hits that brought down each foe!
- Ezren went 4 for 4 in succeeding with the hydraulic push spell, but not how you would think: Although one was used against an enemy, the other three were used to save an ally in danger, such as being flanked by several enemies or prone and about to be hit with multiple attacks. This goes to show you that (in the right hands) certain offensive spells can also have defensive applications.
You can find additional materials from The Azlant Odyssey in our Dropbox.
I loved Merisiels interview quip about being unchained ;)
Thanks DerNils, glad you picked up on that! I was originally going to end the scene with her just escaping with the map, but even though it was borderline "breaking the fourth wall," I couldn't help but throw that in there!
That's awesome, actually. If I were a player, that's probably what I'd do. Actually, I spend quite a bit of time building characters even as the GM, both for investigative purposes and fillers (GM PCs).
Nice, Taks--that's similar to what I do. Whenever a player companion book comes out I usually don't have the time to sit down and read it cover-to-cover, especially at the rate Paizo releases them. Instead, I just flip right to the archetype sections and flesh out a few characters, moving onto feats and traits next, then spells and magic items. Before I know it, I have a couple stat blocks embedded in the settings the books provide and are ready to go at a moment's notice. Even if they never get implemented as a PC/NPC somewhere, it's still a useful exercise and I end up investigating the new material in the process.
P.S. If I were a Pathfinder character I'd be a bard, so I guess we're both arcane casters at heart!
As you may have guessed by my new portrait, I'll be playing Ezren the iconic wizard in The Azlant Odyssey. As we've always done in our previous projects, I tried to come up with a version that stays true to the iconic background while also adapting to the qualities of the Adventure Path. I read all of the Pathfinder comic books, the Ruins of Azlant Player's Guide, and several entries in the PathfinderWiki to come up with an appropriate character build that was the right fit for Ezren. The sword binder archetype from Arcane Anthology originated from followers of Aroden who have operated in many cities, including Absalom. Since Ezren hails from there, our version of him has the wizard studying with the sword binders in his later years, before joining this expedition. It’s a relatively rare archetype that I believe is appropriate to both Ezren and relevant to Ruins of Azlant, so I’m looking forward to seeing if my instincts are correct. Here’s the final draft of the stat block:
EZREN
Old human wizard (sword binder) 1
NG Medium humanoid (human)
AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10
hp 9 (1d6+3)
Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +3
(For updated versions of Ezren's stat blocks as the campaign progresses, check in with our Dropbox.)
Data Tracking:
-Successful uses of Stabbing Spells trait to bypass SR
-Successful uses of Sword of the Mage ability
-Number of spells cast underwater
To enhance immersion and help bring Ezren to life at the table I'll be attempting a Sean Connery accent for 300+ hours, and his soundtrack song will be Into the Unknown by Starset, which I feel captures his sense of mysticism and hopefulness about the expedition.
Additionally, similar to the scripted excerpts that I wrote for the Strange Aeons Experiment, we thought it would be fun to script a few short scenes with the iconics to enrich their placement in the Adventure Path. The player's guide mentioned that the characters "were put though numerous interviews and screenings to select the best individuals," and there's been some chatter on the Azlant threads about developing the interview process for characters joining the expedition, so we’ve taken the liberty of expanding on that and will be providing a glimpse of some of those initial meetings in official screenwriting format. The script for each iconic and their interview will be included with each character release in the upcoming weeks, and can also be found in our Dropbox. Here's the script for Ezren: Interview with a Wizard
GM's Commentary: Aerick has the highest number of both modules completed and session hours logged of any player in the history of the Order. This wealth of experience, combined with his skills in developing and embedding character builds for a particular setting or theme, are a couple of the prominent reasons he earned the role of Player Captain. Most notably for The Azlant Odyssey, Aerick is the only player on the roster who also played in each of our last three projects: The Strange Aeons Experiment, The Giantslayer Endeavor, and The Emerald Spire Project. His idea of a great weekend is one spent among racks of sourcebooks, engrossed in statting up characters for future campaigns. Following more than one mid-marathon TPK, he's had to deliver a new party’s stat blocks (in official Pathfinder format) on the fly, which contributed to our running jest: “Aerick doesn’t build characters, he builds parties.” --Adam Smith, GM
Sorry guys, something got cut off at the beginning of the last post, here's the entire message...
Reveal:
Our party has selected its teamwork feat for The Azlant Odyssey:
Lookout
Source: APG
Here in the Order we remain of the firm belief that teamwork feats are among the strongest feats in the game, with often their only drawback being that one must convince their companions to take the feat as well. If players are aware of this, then it should be a simple matter of putting aside individualism and adjusting their personal builds to accommodate a larger gain. Our employment of the Shake It Off feat was critical to the success of The Strange Aeons Experiment, as was our use of the Escape Route and Swing About feats to reach the final battle of the The Giantslayer Endeavor. We tracked data to show the effectiveness of the teamwork feats in our last two projects, and for The Azlant Odyssey, we'll be tracking the number of surprise actions granted throughout the entire Adventure Path.
Each player will select the feat at 1st level, and we look forward to sharing our results!
Here in the Order we remain of the firm belief that teamwork feats are among the strongest feats in the game, with often their only drawback being that one must convince their companions to take the feat as well. If players are aware of this, then it should be a simple matter of putting aside individualism and adjusting their personal builds to accommodate a larger gain. Our employment of the Shake It Off feat was critical to the success of The Strange Aeons Experiment, as was our use of the Escape Route and Swing About feats to reach the final battle of the The Giantslayer Endeavor. We tracked data to show the effectiveness of the teamwork feats in our last two projects, and for The Azlant Odyssey, we'll be tracking the number of surprise actions granted throughout the entire Adventure Path.
Each player will select the feat at 1st level, and we look forward to sharing our results!
Oooh, 15-point builds. That'll make it a bit tougher than what you did for Giantslayer.
I really wanted to run this one, but I prefer to wait for all supporting material to be released first, including pawns, which pushes RoA out to May. This wouldn't be a problem except that I'll be ready for the next campaign beginning in December or January and my Sunday guys are itching for more wilderness (we have one session left for Anvil of Fire in Giantslayer).
Glad you’ll get a chance to follow along, Taks! Unfortunately, rolling ability scores for Giantslayer (higher than average) didn’t make it much easier, and that one ended in a TPK. It was interesting how our 15-point builds in Strange Aeons were enough to go all the way.
What system did you use for ability scores in your Giantslayer campaign? Also, best of luck in Shadow of the Storm Tyrant, I’d love to hear about your experience with the final fight.
We’re excited to see how our ability scores hold up in Ruins of Azlant, and we’ll definitely be on this thread to share some of our thoughts on it.
Hey now, you didn't let the PTBC die. I just got super busy with the Order and couldn't sustain it anymore, especially the weeks when our marathons were scheduled. But it was really great while it lasted, and your participation was a big reason it succeeded as long as it did, so thank you!
Hey Rysky, long time! (This is Darkborn from the PTBC)
Although it's right on the heels of Strange Aeons, I'm definitely looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I'll be Ezren for this one, and I'm very much anticipating the challenge of playing an old man! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up a Sean Connery accent for 300+ hours.
How did the encounters with the kudimmu, the larvae of the outer gods, the shrike worms, and the Pallid Mask go?
That's a mixed bag, Ben, some went really well and others not so much.
-The kudimmu we wrecked with horrid wilting and flame strike spells from Feiya and Winter respectively. Then our freedom of movement spells kept us from being grappled and allowed us to finish it off in quick fashion. Given all of the tentacled horrors in this AP, that spell was a key to our success.
-The larvae of the outer gods gave us fits every time we encountered one when we didn't have Erich Zann with us for protection. Another valuable spell, calm emotions , was also crucial to our survival since there were countless creatures that caused confusion, with this being the worst one.
-The shrike worms would've been more challenging if we all didn't have the Shake it Off teamwork feat, which continued to pay dividends for us. Having faced many aberrations prior, we knew they were weak against Fort save abilities so Alahazra put her Aging Touch and Erase from Time revelations to good use. An early siphon might spell from Feiya allowed Erasmus and Quinn to clean up in the later rounds.
-The Pallid Mask, however, was the worst. We saw the actual "yellow sign" and it was horrible, as he proceeded to abuse us to the point where we started abusing ourselves after half our group was dominated and turned on the others. Yet another necessary spell in this campaign, magic circle against evil, continued to be in high demand, but if Queen Cassilda hadn't intervened towards the end of the battle even that wouldn't have saved us!
In the end, all of the encounters had their moments. Some we were prepared for, or were well-suited to win, but we faced TPK in more instances throughout this adventure than we dare to count. Good times!
What a great (and informative) wrap up! Thanks for tackling this endeavor, but more importantly, thanks for taking us all along for the ride!
Looking forward to what y'all do next!
Thank you so much Adam, we can't say enough about the hard work you put into this, as it showed every step of the way. I'm also grateful that I had the chance to play Erasmus, and I'm definitely going to miss him. Yes, it's normal for players to feel this way about their characters after spending years with them, but for us this experience happens in such a concentrated time frame that they're gone before we know it, and it's bittersweet. Anyway, I digress--on to the next adventure! We're definitely excited for our next iconic roster, and we'll do our best to bring them to life as much as we did in Strange Aeons.
Overall, the entire marathon run was a fantastic one. I ended up with a firmer
knowledge of the rules, a better understanding of grid-based tactics, and membership with the best group of gamers I know.
Thanks Savannah! It was a pleasure to have you with us, you definitely brought a unique element to the table with your perspective and your role-playing. It definitely wouldn't have been the same without you.
As far as my personal experience is concerned, hmmm...let me see. So much to say, but let me try to boil it down.
Strange Aeons was absolutely a once in a lifetime experience, and by that I mean – as amazing as it was – I don’t think I could ever play it again because after going through it once it wouldn’t be as intense the second time. Not that this adventure path doesn't have any replay value, which it does (especially with different combinations of characters) but for me this was a mentally and emotionally exhausting ordeal more than another other Pathfinder campaign that I’ve played. This mostly had to do with the blend of Lovecraftian mythos that was equal parts exhilarating and frustrating due to my ignorance of it and the difficulty I had dealing with it, but that was why we called this an experiment, which I believe was successful in that right. All in all, the saying "You can't unring a bell" comes to mind. *wink wink*
In regards to playing the medium Erasmus in this campaign...this particular class definitely exacerbated these feelings. Having to portray multiple personalities made the struggle quite real, especially when it came to additional issues like madness and possession. It was the single most challenging role-playing experience of my career--so much that, as reluctant as I am to admit this, I inadvertently brought some of it back into my real life. For instance, after the first couple of the marathons I went back into work and my co-workers (who weren’t aware of what I was really doing during my days off) asked the customary question, “How was your vacation?” But instead of responding with the usual, “It was great! I did this, that, and the other thing…” I cocked my head, raised an eyebrow, and I believe one time I even responded with, “Harrowing.”
Anyway, although I didn’t return to work refreshed or renewed as normal after a normal vacation, in some ways it did feel like one. I went places I’ve never been, seen things I’ve never even come close to imagining, and did things I never thought I’d ever do in this game. It was unforgettable, and I totally recommend it to all Pathfinder fans regardless of how much or how little they know about Lovecraft. But, if you do – for the love of the gods – please make sure you play a character with a good Will save or you might seriously lose your mind!
Module 5 had (I thought) a really interesting setting. Did that come across in play?
Definitely interesting. But, to me, Neruzavin was more disorienting than anything else. We initially expected a grind against the Seeded throughout the city, but we could barely make our way around; it had an inter-dimensional feel to it, almost like it kept changing around us. Alahazra tried to use chalk to mark the buildings by numbering them and drawing arrows to indicate which direction we turned as we passed through, although unfortunately that didn't seem to help in the slightest. In fact, we ascended high up one of the structures, but when we went through the last door we found ourselves at ground level again! I think it was at that point when we gave up trying to figure out where we were and what was going on, going into survival mode and hoping that we would eventually find our way. Surely not a place I would want to go back to any time soon.
Just started poking around the Dropbox, the script-style excerpts are really cool!
Thanks Andrew! I've had a lot of fun writing them, and in an ideal world I would try to script the entire sessions, but there just aren't that many hours in a day. In fact, I'm about finish the first draft of the script for module 4 in a few hours so hopefully that'll be available to you by this weekend. Then next week I'll be starting the excerpt for module 5! (The treatment is looking REALLY bloody so far, I might have to start putting a rating on these.)
For some reason I was under the impression Quinn had permadied in book 1 or 2, but clearly that isn't the case! How many times has he shuffled briefly off the coil this campaign?
Yes, Quinn was killed in modules 1 and 2, then two more times in module 5, but not permanently since we were able to recover his body. We've had to expend a total of 28K in diamond dust for raise dead and restoration spells just for Quinn. But we've all had our fair share of deaths so that's normal.
The latest stat block for Erasmus at the end of module 5 is now available in our dropbox for your viewing.
Note that these doesn't include his negative levels, or whatever is going on with him and the other spirit he's been having "issues" with. (I have no idea what's going on, so if you do--no spoilers please!)
Hello all! Last weekend we took a break in the middle of Marathon 5 to do an interview with our friends from Nerd Podcast Radio. Please listen to the non-spoiler portion and/or the spoiler portion at your discretion.
Highlights from What Grows Within coming soon to the Paizo Blog!
Great stuff! Love the visual aids too. How did the players like the extra work in the physical maps and aids?
We love it, of course! That's one of the things that makes marathons special, because our GM has the time to put in maximum effort. Adam's maps are the best we've seen, especially with the 3D pieces added to them, and the complete 3D setup to flesh out the city encounters have been tons of fun to play on. Then there's the artwork and other images on the 70" that definitely help put things into perspective for us. (You'll see plenty of shots including those aids in the post-marathon photos on our Facebook.) Also, the players - even those not currently playing in the project - try to pitch in however they can in for the "showcase" elements, as long as they won't give away any spoilers. It all goes a long way to providing total immersion.
We kept hearing creepy whispers and a strange bell throughout the adventure. We've gotten so used to the unexplainable in this Adventure Path, that we just wrote them off as more Lovecraftian enigmas that will be revealed in time.
Hmmm...has your party had any harrowing battles against some incorporal undead by any chance in the previous AP? ^_~
Hi Berselius! I think I know where you're going...but please clarify for our readers! ;)
The stat block for Erasmus at the end of module 4 is now available in our Dropbox!
P.S. Now, before you raise your eyebrows about a MEDIUM taking the Power Attack feat, if you've been following along with our reports you know that our group has a lot of healing and plays defense very well, but we've been having a lot trouble with offense--especially against creatures with DR and fast healing. With the attack penalty more than mitigated by the Champion spirit bonus, I can honestly say that the extra damage (especially with a keen weapon) made a very big difference in every encounter.
Semi-Spoiler:
There's a great piece of artwork in The Whisper Out of Time that displays Erasmus in a way that makes it totally believable that he has Power Attack!
I am in the planning stages right now, but will likely have a party of 4 experienced players. I wanted to see how every felt about that party size for this AP and if you went with 15 or 20 point buy? Do you think it was too easy at 20 PB, too hard at 15?
We're playing the iconics with a 15-point build, and it's been challenging, but we're not necessarily under-powered. We've also made up a little ground by choosing the Dual Talent alt racial trait and taking the Shake It Off teamwork feat, which (thanks to data tracking) has made the difference in making 45 successful saving throws against 37 different effects thus far.
As for the standard PCs in the group, sometimes modules give you the opportunity to recruit an NPC, which we definitely did early on in Strange Aeons. We developed a strong relationship with Winter Klaczka, and she's still with us going into module four. At times it's even been rough with an extra character in the group, but having a single-classed cleric has definitely made situations more manageable along the way.
Erasmus's stat block(s) are ready and uploaded to our Dropbox for the end of Dreams of the Yellow King!
How was the experience of being a Medium in the Dreamlands? Did you stick with Champion spirits, or rely on more of a variety?
Erasmus channeled the champion spirit the entire time. Well, except for when he had the cognitive block madness and couldn't use any of his abilities. Aside from that, he focused on Nissa because he couldn't really channel anyone else when they were on the river. Favored locations were hard to come by, and we were reluctant to stay at port too long in Razmiran or Galt, only to have Erasmus exhibit some variety. Although that's not a complaint because the champion spirit is always good to have, and was definitely helpful in the Dreamlands. Since you couldn't really die there, it seemed like some of the encounters were extra difficult, and we still "died" many times even with the champion spirit active. The multiple attacks, including haste, was extremely useful after we found the vorpal sword though, which I will miss VERY much!
This makes me curious: what are you and your players picking up from / about the Lovecraft mythos by osmosis? Are you thinking "Okay, I see the appeal of this -- I'd like to sit down and read some of his stuff afterwards?" Or is it more "once a philosopher, twice a pervert?"
Regarding the Lovecraft mythos, it’s hard to believe that people came up with these things a hundred years ago (it seems WAY ahead of its time) because I can’t imagine anything else that could’ve be out there back them that’s even remotely as horrific. I’m definitely curious about where all this came from, so after The Strange Aeons Experiment is over I’m going to look and see what I’ve been missing out on, but for now I prefer it to be a mystery to me.
As the player captain, it’s been stressful having to deal with a lot of events and encounters that have me at a disadvantage for not knowing anything about Lovecraft, but as challenging as that it is, it’s also part of the fun. It’s one thing to be facing TPK against an army of giants, but I’ve been there before and know how to handle that kind of pressure. However, the Lovecraft mythos has me at a great disadvantage. From what I’ve heard about CoC, if you meddle in things you don’t understand, you either run screaming, lose your mind, and/or you die--that pretty much sums up Strange Aeons, at least the way I’ve seen it through Erasmus’s eyes. At the midpoint of this module, he was devoured by the formless spawn and woke up with a greater madness that took away his ability to communicate. Losing his class abilities was rough, but what was just as bad was not being able to lend my voice to the others when we were reacting to a lot of the crazy things we were going through. When someone would look to me for advice, but all I could do in-game was pantomime as much as I was able to, play the best that I could without having access to any of his abilities, and hoped that we’d survive, if only to experience everything else this AP has to offer.
Did you find the denizens of leng to be challenging foes? I was really excited to GM them but the PCs in my group rolled them before I could do anything fun with them. Also, how did the Last Night In Sarnath dream quest go?
We did well against the ones at the caravanserai, but we got wrecked by the ones in the prison. There were three of them hiding behind the murder holes, each with a wand of searing light in hand. In addition to the surprise round, our GM beat us on initiative so they got off six shots with sneak attack before we could do anything. Winter was killed by the first two, then Erasmus and Quinn were near death by the time they were done. With all of us still dealing with madness from other deaths in the Dreamlands, we couldn't risk it so we woke ourselves. It was a good thing we did, because on our second attempt with spell immunity to protect against their wands, after we got our revenge we identified them and found out they were CL 10!
Unfortunately, we had to opt out of the Sarnath quest. Erasmus had just recovered from the cognitive block greater madness, which shut down all his abilities for 20+ hours of play, so after seeing how horrible that was no one wanted to push their luck. We also thought we had enough items for the Mad Poet so we just went for it.
The Yellow King was definitely fun (and a serious hazard to making your buffs last an excursion) but my (and Winter's) favorite NPC was Snoot, the giant shantak that flew us to the moon. Part of me wishes that we had a chance to have more interaction with Mister Wanderlust, and the other part is afraid of what that might have resulted it.
I thought we were going to have to fight this gargantuan beast with wings, and instead you ended up naming it and giving it a drink from the decanter of endless water.
Speaking of Mister Wanderlust, Ron, was the Slender Man some of your inspiration by chance?
I'm glad to see the vorpal weapon get some use, but I was sad to hear about Skywin Freeling's fate. She's just so...so....scrappy! :-)
It was sad to see Skywin go so early, but the NPCs were really well fleshed out and the space left by her death eventually left plenty for the Yellow King to fill with his unique personality. It seemed like Adam enjoyed talking our ears off while we were trying to ask questions, negotiate, plan, or just about anything else we tried to do--the Yellow King was there to offer a few words of advice, then some more words, and then a few more after that. But we'll always wonder how things would've turned out on the Starling if Skywin was with us the whole time.
It's always very hard when someone close to us is lost.
I imagine each of you is dealing with it in his or her own way.
I just purchased today a sihedron metal today, so I think of Mike every time I put it on.
My sincerest condolences.
-- Andy
Thanks Andy, that really means a lot.
Our medallion will have to be passed on to another member, but we'll always think of Mike every time we see it too.
He'll always have a place at our table, and in our hearts.
So Erasmus used more than the Champion spirit this time around?
Yeah, it wasn't as easy finding "places if violence" in Thrushmoor as it was in Briarstone. Also, a being a medium isn't something you want too many people in Ustalav to know; they're understandably apprehensive about anything or anyone that has to do with undead, and channeling spirits is too close for comfort. We did get to hold a seance with Nissa (champion) in more isolated areas we found, but for the most part Erasmus channeled Veldira (hierophant) since we used New Chapel as our safe house. The séance boon was really effective, considering everyone in the group could cast cure spells. Then towards the end, after Alahazra and Quinn were slain, it was pretty cool to have the remainder of the group - Erasmus, Feiya, and Winter - all be able channel positive energy. We weren't dealing a lot of damage, but we were able to heal our way through encounters like I've never seen before. Sometimes the best offense is a good defense!
I was looking at Erasmus, and under the archmage sheet it does not look like it modified your att, st, etc for the archmage spirit.
Do you simply do those mods on the fly? Or is this an error in the program? Or am I reading the stat block wrong?
Thanks
MDC
Are you referring to the influence penalty? If so, I do that on the fly. It's one of the drawbacks of the reanimated medium archetype, but it was totally worth it. Besides, I try to use Spirit Surge as early as I can to get back to normal, so it doesn't come into play very often. Although I did spend a few encounters taking the -4 penalty on attack rolls to deal nonlethal damage after channeling Veldira for the first time, that was rough.
Interesting advancement choices for the PCs as they level up. A fun mix of clearly effective spells/feats/options (e.g. spells like Haste and feats like Weapon Finesse) mixed with what seem to be more flavorful choices (e.g., spells like Create Treasure Map, feats like Psychic Maestro and Fortune Teller, the Feral Speech hex, and so on).
This makes me curious. How much use have you guys been able to get out of the more flavorful options you've chosen? Have you found any of them to be surprising helpful, or surprisingly fun?
For Erasmus, I'm going with as much flavor as possible, making only a few concessions for combat purposes. Spirit Focus (Champion) with Sudden Attack and haste gives him three attacks per round at his highest BAB, but that's where the "power gaming" stops for the most part.
He has a lot going on in his portrait, so I made a majority of his choices based on that. I spent a decent amount of his starting wealth on items from Occult Adventures, like psychometrist's gloves and a talking board, both of which have seen a decent amount of use. The automatic writing and psychometry occult skill unlocks have indeed been surprisingly helpful, and more often thanks to the Psychic Maestro feat, and I expect more similarly inspired abilities to be useful in the future, like the Harrow Deck. Erasmus is holding one in almost every portrait I've come across, but since there was no way I could get him to meet the prerequisites for the Deadly Dealer feat without multiclassing and Harrowed seemed too self-serving, I went with Fortune Teller instead. As creepy as a spell like create treasure map is, I think it's right up his alley, as well as other divination spells. Being able to handle evil spirits is important, but in the more traditional sense of being a "medium" he should also be communicating with benevolent ones for good purposes, so eventually being able to cast divination, legend lore, and true seeing for FREE should be very beneficial, although it's not really about the cost, it's more about being able to cast them whenever he wants without having to worry about the additional components. A lot of players are probably (and rightfully) reluctant to add those to a list of spells known because without the materials they might as well be blank spaces on their character sheets. But, for this campaign particularly, I think using those sorts of spells to "break the 4th wall" and interact directly with the GM will be integral to our success, because - let's face it - we spent a lot of time in the first few adventures not knowing what was going on, and these choices could go a long way to mitigate that in the weeks ahead.
Also...
spoiler:
His 1st-level spells, calm spirits and detect undead, were extremely valuable when we were in proximity of haunts in module one, and in module two I was very thankful that I chose purge spirit as one of his 2nd-level spells!
Huh, interesting that they went all the way to Caliphas instead of checking out Thrushmoor for resurrection services. IIRC the priest of Pharasma there is 9th level, although she has just vanished when the adventure starts. But the PCs (or Winter) wouldn't necessarily know that.
Hey Spatula! Good to see you here again.
We sent Winter in fisrt and learned that the priestess was missing right away. On top of that, some of us felt too paranoid to take the chance of being stopped on the way to the chapel. The theme of the adventure path had us all on edge so we were reluctant to risk entering Thrushmoor with an incomplete roster, especially after we learned we had been "associates" of the Count and were in possession of items like "Red Destiny" that possibly even belonged to him at some point. It's his town, which made it very plausible that he had eyes and ears everywhere just waiting for us to show our faces again. So even though it was a gamble, we decided the best bet was to take care of Quinn first, and Caliphas was our only option. (Also, having another voice at the table to contribute during planning stages was also important, as we don't allow players to join in-game discussions if they're out-of-game for any reason.)
Thanks for putting this out there, it was a lot of fun!
Side Note:
I initially drafted her as a single-classed kineticist, but decided to give her levels in bloodrager so she could gain access to psychic magic to perform the Breach the Veil of Dreams occult ritual, and the shadow trap spell to emulate the effect she used against the "gug" to prevent it from moving. Her bloodrage ability is also helpful in negating her Strength penalty in case she has to resort to melee, and the increase in Constitution makes her telekinetic blast more effective. Plus, that mean face she makes has Hated Target written all over it!
Stat Block:
Eleven (CR 11) XP 12,800
Young female human kineticist (elemental annihilator) 9/bloodrager (id rager) 4
CG Small Humanoid (human)
Init +5; Senses Perception +23
----- Defense ----- AC 25, touch 18, flat-footed 25 (+5 armor, +2 deflection, +5 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 159 (9d8+4d10+87)
Fort +20 Ref +19, Will +12
Defensive Abilities force ward, uncanny dodge, internal buffer, blood sanctuary
----- Offense ----- Speed 40 ft.
Melee+1 small defending armor spikes +11/+6 (1d3-1), +1 small dagger +11/+6 (1d3-1/19-20)
Ranged telekinetic blast +17 (5d6+8/19-20)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks devastating infusion +21 (1d8+18/19-20), elemental overflow, extended range infusion, ever-present threat, blast training +2, metakinesis (maximize spell), foe throw infusion (DC 21), flurry of devastation +19/+19/+14/+9 (1d8+18/19-20), extreme range infusion
Bloodrager Spells Known (CL 4th, concentration +8)
1st–(2/day) phantom blood, shadow trap (DC 15)
----- Tactics ----- Before Combat Eleven casts phantom blood, reads a scroll of blood armor and a scroll of false life, then activates her wand of shield if she has enough time to prepare.
During Combat Eleven uses the extended range and foe throw infusions with a ranged telekinetic blast maximized with metakinesis, and accepts 3 points of burn. In subsequent rounds, she uses flurry of devastation with the deadly aim and rapid shot feats. If an enemy moves to within reach of its melee attacks, she takes a 5-ft step back and casts shadow trap to prevent it from moving, activates her bloodrage ability, selects the enemy as her hated target, then uses flurry of devastation as above.
Morale Eleven retreats from combat when she is at less than half her hit points. However, as long as her allies are in danger she fights to the death.
----- Statistics ----- Str 6, Dex 20, Con 22, Int 10, Wis 12,Cha 18
Base Atk +10; CMB +7;CMD 24
Feats Point-Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (Kinetic Blast), Deadly Aim, Skill Focus (Perception), Recovered Rage, Extra Wild Talent, Rapid Shot, Improved Critical (Kinetic Blast), Weapon Specialization (Kinetic Blast), Iron Will, Improved Iron Will
Skills Knowledge (arcana) +16, Knowledge (planes) +14, Perception +23, Stealth +25
Traits Carefully Hidden, Lucid Dreamer
Languages Common
SQ elemental focus (aether), burn, gather power, bloodrage, atavistic avatar (hatred), fast movement, infusion specialization, atavistic caster, blood casting
Combat Gearwand of shield, scroll of heroism, scroll of blood armor, scroll of delay pain, scroll of false life, scroll of resist energy; Other Gear+1 small defending armor spikes, +2 small glamered studded leather, +1 small dagger, 2 scroll cases, wrist sheath, peasant’s outfit
----- Special Abilities ----- Burn (Ex) Eleven can overexert herself to channel more power than normal, pushing past the limit of what is safe for her body by accepting burn. For each point of burn she accepts, she takes 8 points of nonlethal damage. This damage can’t be healed by any means other than getting a full night’s rest, which removes all burn and associated nonlethal damage. Nonlethal damage from burn can’t be reduced, and if she is incapable of taking nonlethal damage she can’t accept burn. She can accept only 3 points of burn per round. She can’t choose to accept burn if it would put her total number of points of burn higher than 9 (though she can be forced to accept more burn from a source outside her control). If she has accepted burn, she never benefits from abilities that allow her to ignore or alter effects she receives from nonlethal damage.
Kinetic Blast (Sp) Eleven gains the Telekinetic Blast wild talent. As a standard action, she can unleash a kinetic blast at a single target up to a range of 30 feet. She must have at least one hand free to aim the blast. All damage from a kinetic blast is treated as magic for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction. Kinetic blasts count as a type of weapon for the purpose of feats such as Weapon Focus. Even the weakest kinetic blast involves a sizable mass of elemental matter or energy, so kinetic blasts always deal full damage to swarms of any size (though only area blasts deal extra damage to swarms). A readied kinetic blast can be used to counterspell any spell of equal or lower level that shares its descriptor. A kinetic blast that deals energy damage of any type (including force) has the corresponding descriptor.
Gather Power (Su) If Eleven has both hands free she can gather energy as a move action. Gathering power creates an extremely loud, visible display in a 20-foot radius centered on her. Gathering power in this way allows her to reduce the total burn cost of a blast wild talent used in the same round by 1 point. She can instead gather power for 1 full round in order to reduce the total burn cost of a blast wild talent used on her next turn by 2 points (to a minimum of 0 points). If she does so, she can also gather power as a move action during her next turn to reduce the burn cost by a total of 3 points. If she takes damage during or after gathering power and before using the kinetic blast that releases it, she must succeed at a concentration check (DC = 10 + damage taken + effective spell level of her kinetic blast) or lose the energy in a wild surge that forces her to accept a number of points of burn equal to the number of points by which her gathered power would have reduced the burn cost.
Devastating Infusion (Su) Eleven can either shoot her kinetic blast at a target within 30 feet or make a single melee attack as an attack action. For this attack, her base attack bonus from her kineticist levels is equal to her full kineticist level. A devastating infusion always deals 1d8+6 damage regardless of class level or use of composite blasts. When making a melee attack with devastating infusion, she doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity, and if she uses two hands, the attack deals 1d8+9 damage. This is a 1st-level form infusion that costs 0 points of burn and can be used with any physical blast. The damage bonus from elemental overflow doesn’t apply to devastating infusion’s damage rolls.
Elemental Overflow (Ex) Eleven surges with energy whenever she accepts burn, causing her nose to bleed. She receives a bonus on her attack rolls with kinetic blasts equal to the total number of points of burn she currently has, to a maximum bonus of +3. She can suppress the visual effects of elemental overflow by concentrating for 1 full round, but doing so suppresses all of this ability’s other benefits, as well. The next time she uses any wild talent, the visual effects and benefits return instantly. As her body becomes more and more suffused with her element, she begins to gain more powerful benefits. Starting at 6th level, whenever she has at least 3 points of burn, she gains a +2 size bonus to Strength and Constitution.
Bloodrage (Su) Eleven can bloodrage for up to sixteen rounds per day. The total number of rounds of bloodrage per day is renewed after resting for 8 hours, although these hours need not be consecutive. She can enter a bloodrage as a free action. While in a bloodrage, a she gains a +4 morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution, as well as a +2 morale bonus on Will saves. In addition, she takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase to Constitution grants her 2 hit points per Hit Die, but these disappear when the bloodrage ends and are not lost first like temporary hit points. While bloodraging, she cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Intimidate) or any ability that requires patience or concentration. She can end her bloodrage as a free action. When the bloodrage ends, she is fatigued for a number of rounds equal to twice the number of rounds spent in the bloodrage. She cannot enter a new bloodrage while fatigued or exhausted, but can otherwise enter bloodrage multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If she falls unconscious, her bloodrage immediately ends, placing her in peril of death.
Atavistic Avatar (Su) Eleven chooses hatred to focus her core. She gains Skill Focus (Perception) as a bonus feat. When she enters a bloodrage, she gains additional powers as if she were a phantom with the hatred focus. At 4th level, she gains Iron Will as a bonus feat.
Hated Target (Su) Eleven can take a move action to designate one creature within her line of sight as a hated target. She gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls against her hated target. She is so focused on this hated target that she takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls against all other creatures. She can maintain these bonuses against only one target at a time, and these bonuses remain in effect until either the hated opponent is dead or it has been out of her line of sight for at least 1 minute.
Fast Movement (Ex) Eleven is faster than is normal for her race by 10 feet. This benefit applies only when she is wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor, and not carrying a heavy load. Apply this bonus before modifying her speed due to any armor worn or load carried.
Ever-Present Threat (Su) Eleven threatens all foes within her natural reach. If anyone provokes an attack of opportunity from her, she can form her melee devastating infusion and make the attack.
Infusion Specialization (Ex) Whenever Eleven uses one or more infusions with a blast, she reduces the combined burn cost of the infusions by 2. This can’t reduce the total cost of the infusions used below 0.
Blast Training (Ex) Eleven gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls with her devastating infusion.
Metakinesis (Su) Eleven can alter her kinetic blasts as if with metamagic feats by accepting burn. By accepting 1 point of burn, she can empower her kinetic blast as if using Empower Spell.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex) Eleven cannot be caught flat-footed, nor does she lose her Dexterity bonus to AC if the attacker is invisible. She still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized, or if an opponent successfully uses the feint action against her.
Internal Buffer (Su) The elemental forces that course through Eleven allow her to form an internal buffer to store extra energy. The buffer starts empty and doesn’t replenish each day, but she can accept 1 point of burn to add 1 point to the buffer as a full-round action, to a maximum of 1 point. Once she adds points to her buffer, they remain indefinitely until she spends them. When she would otherwise accept burn, she can spend 1 point from her buffer to avoid accepting 1 point of burn. She cannot spend more than 1 point from her buffer in this way for a single wild talent. Points spent from the internal buffer don’t activate elemental overflow or add to its effects. Similarly, this buffer can be used to exceed the limit on the number of points of burn she can accept in a single turn.
Flurry of Devastation (Su) Eleven can make a full attack of devastating infusions against targets within 120 feet as a full-attack action. Each individual attack deals damage as a devastating infusion. This is a 3rd-level form infusion that costs 1 point of burn and can be used with the same blast types as devastating infusion. She can never use metakinesis or substance infusions with flurry of devastation.
Expanded Element (Su) Eleven expands her understanding of her own element, and gains an additional infusion from that element, as appropriate.
Blood Sanctuary (Su) Eleven gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells that she or an ally casts.
Blood Casting (Su) Eleven gains the ability to cast spells even while in a bloodrage. She can also cast these spells defensively and can make concentration checks for these spells while in a bloodrage.
Atavistic Caster Eleven is considered to be a psychic spellcaster for the purposes of prerequisites (such as psychic duels and occult skill unlocks).
beautiful work. hats off. absolutely unbelievable that this was put together in just a few weeks.
Thanks Yakman, we're glad to hear that our time and effort was well spent. With the third part of the adventure on the way, we hope to do just as good a job, if not better, in the next marathon!
Order of the Amber Die
