Allen Cohn's page

The description of the witchgates in J6 says "The PCs can shut the entire network down, or they can attempt a DC 30 Use Magic Device check to permit specific exceptions to the network while keeping it active, such as to allow Arazni and the PCs to teleport but denying this ability to the Whispering Tyrant and his forces."

I think this creates two problems:

1. Tar-Baphon *must* be able to teleport during the battle at the end of the book with Arazni. Otherwise he'll be (temporarily) destroyed during that battle. This would contradict the necessary plot point that he gets away.

2. It seems odd to me that the check is a UMD. My party has a high-level wizard. He has no ranks in UMD because wizards don't usually need it to operate magical contraptions. It seems to me that he should have at least as good a chance to operate the network with his crazy-high Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana).

The mention of Divine Favor and Blessed Fist raises a question in my mind:

They both have a component of S. I see that when using the Fervor swift action feature that does not apply.

But Divine Favor has a Range of personal and Blessed Fist has a Range of touch.

Casting a spell and applying it via touching are two different things. So it might be that a warpriest does need a hand free to touch himself after casting Blessed Fist (no free hand needed).

Thoughts?

Thanks, Allen

I just noticed that the umbral dragon's hoard includes a called cold iron spear.

But the description of "called" says, "effects that block teleportation prevent the return of a called weapon."

So it's possible that if anyone tries to use the weapon's summon ability it will be redirected to a Witchgate anchor point.

Now, the description of Witchgates on p. 75 says "shorter-range teleportation effects such as dimension door are unaffected." And the called return function has a maximum range 100'.

But still I find it an interesting conflict.

Another question:

How are the PCs expected to get from Naderi's Bastion to Castle Fanum?

That's a bit of a journey.

I didn't see anything in the text about that.

Or how did your PCs make the journey?

Thanks,
Allen

Well, no. Her plan IS to destroy him, just not in the way she's saying.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. As far as I can tell her plan is to goad him into using Radiant Fire on her.

I don't see anything in the text that she expects Tar-Baphon will be stupid enough to catch himself in that effect.

Allen

Just starting this book.

How do the PCs *not* detect that Arazni is lying to them in the initial meeting? She only has Bluff +12.

Arazni says, "I am the one person on two continents who possesses both the power to destroy Tar-Baphon and a burning desire to do so."

But Arazni knows that she can't actually destroy him...and that's not even her actual plan.

Thanks,
Allen

I have one "flavor" idea that others might like: I noticed that the PCs spend lots of time in various Radiant Fire blast zones (Rosler's Coffer, Virlych, and Hammer Rock).

So whenever they spend time in one I'm making them periodically roll low Fort saves to see if they've contracted either a cancerous tumor (for the effect of the positive energy radiation) or a patch of necrotic flesh (for the effects of the negative energy radiation).

It's easily curable, such as with remove disease. But I just want to creep them out.

Allen

Just finished this book. The Haunting Dark proved too much for my players. I think they could have taken it if they had been more aggressive. But who knows.

So they just used teleport via their wizard and Dondon Daradun to ferry survivors out to Caliphas over many days. I thought that was a decent creative solution.

The Haunting Dark's finger of death is very dangerous to the PCs at this level... [I forgot that the PCs have SR vs. it because of the obols and had to retcon that encounter...don't make my mistake!]

Allen

Is it just me or is this module too top heavy with magic loot?

I think the same.

This is pure conjecture...but when this AP was being written most of the Paizo people were deep in the development of PF2. So I suspect that this AP got substandard editing, including matching loot to level.

I'm finding errors in game mechanics, plot holes, etc. all over the place!

Allen

I have also started working on the maps for the last book if people are still looking for maps from the later adventure arc.

Yes, please!

Allen

In the interactive maps, the Fallowdeep map, the secret doors around F5, F6, F7 are on the base layer of the map. But they should be on the tags layer. So there's no simple way to hide them from the PCs.

Allen

Hi, Yakman,

Thank you for your thoughtful reply to my post. It is at least reassuring that others found some aspects of this AP perplexing.

I'm starting to brainstorm changes that make the endgame scheme work better for me. I will study what you did carefully.

Best,
Allen

I know that the whole business with the obols and the Radiant Fire is just a big McGuffin to set up a scene in which the PCs get to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Cool.

But even given that, I, for one, am finding the story logic of this endgame confusing, convoluted, and internally inconsistent.

I have questions. And while I’m sure our collective creativity could rationalize answers to all of them, it’s OK if some of the answers are, “Yup, that doesn’t make sense.”

1) Why does Radiant Fire sever the link between Arazni and her phylactery (Book 4, p. 4, “Arazni realized that whatever Tar-Baphon’s weapon was, it had the power to disrupt the ties between her and her phylactery….”), but not the link between Tar-Baphon and his phylactery?

2) Similarly, Arazni was exposed to Radiant Fire when Roslar’s Coffer was destroyed. So why didn’t that sever her link to phylactery?

3) Maybe the answer is that Radiant Fire needs to be “bolstered by her own rituals” (Book 4, p. 4). But if that’s the case, why don’t the PCs spend all their efforts to figure out how to do this bolstering so that they can do it to Tar-Baphon?

4) Book 5, p. 8 says that the obols are “living kumaru.” But if the death of Aroden caused the death of the kumaru tree, why didn’t it also cause the deaths of the splinters of kumaru wood in the PCs (i.e., the obols)?

5) Why does Book 5 keep talking about reactivating the Veins of Creation? Aroden’s death killed the kumaru tree, not the Veins of Creation.

6) Doesn’t the Tree of the Thousand Eyes still exist? If so, why not use it to fix the kumaru tree? The kumaru tree came from the Tree of the Thousand Eyes in the first place.

7) Before Aroden died, did the magic power flowing into the Veins of Creation come from the kumaru tree or from the meteorite fragments in the structure of Tumbaja Mountain? If the latter, then it means the energy flow is Tumbaja Mountain ⇒ kumaru tree ⇒ Veins of Creation. So why didn’t the scientists of Xopatl just find an alternative intermediary between Tumbaja Mountain and the Veins of Creation?

8) In Book 5, why is nothing blue in the Blue Gardens of Tlil (except for one shrub in B6)?

9) In Book 5 on p. 40, “Instead of protecting the PC against such a blast, the obol would be obliterated along with the PC’s body and soul.” Why would the blast obliterate one’s soul?

10) In Book 5, why didn’t the forbiddance in Tumbaja Mountain prevent the recent creation of the planar void in D16?

11) In Book 6, why doesn’t Tar-Baphon teleport away when he initiates Radiant Fire like he did in Book 3? Why would he expose himself to Radiant Fire?

12) In Book 6, as pesky as the PCs are, why would Tar-Baphon use a weapon with a 3-mile radius to kill 4-6 heroes?

Many thanks,
Allen

More about NPCs making choices that work against their own interests...

Why the heck did Gildais tell Killibrandt to leave one piece of the Shattered Shield in place?

Gildais should have taken them all...and then *just before* it was time to blow up Vigil placed one piece in the optimal location to blow up the Great Seal.

Having Killibrandt do it doesn't help Gildais's cause...and just leaves a clue trail in existence, and Gildais should be smart enough to not do that.

(I am going to have Gildais off screen tell Yosiduin just before the start of Part 3 that there's one piece of the Shield still in Vigil. This is the justification that Gildais gives Yosiduin for why the Seal Breakers can stop looking for the Great Seal. And I'm going to have Yosiduin impulsively monolog this to the PCs during their confrontation. Then the PCs can attempt to rush out of the sewers to stop it...and as they're rushing they will feel the sewer walls tremble like an earthquake. They're too late. Moments later they will be overcome with psychic energy via their obols when Tar-Baphon blows up Gallowspire and is actually released. This will force the PCs to have a rest before "A Grim Dawn.")

I think a cool hook for a character who's unsure of why they're in Roslar's Coffer would be for them to be a courier delivering a package with an unassuming shard inside to someone in the town. Maybe Lady Grive, or someone else. The viability of this idea might hinge on book 2, however.

I want to thank you for this utterly brilliant idea!

One of my players came up with a backstory (completely unprompted by me) that his PC was a courier all over Last Wall. And the reason his PC was in Rosler's Coffer was to deliver a package. With as much poker face as I could manage, I said that was "OK." Bwahahahaha!

I even offered to make up the name of the last person who hired the PC. I pretended to pick a random name: Kilibrandt Erstwhile (who is actually a key NPC in Book 3). Of course the player wrote it down...but forgot about it.

Tick tock. 7 months pass. And during last game session...when we're in Book 3... the PCs read a note with Kilibrandt's name mentioned. I send that player a secret message saying he's heard that name before...

Then Kilibrandt tries to assassinate them from a rooftop. I send him another secret message that he's *seen* that gnome before...

Then they interrogate Kilibrandt. Kilibrandt tells him that he delivered the bomb that destroyed Roslar's Coffer. Finally a harsh light goes off in his head....

His PC claims he was an innocent patsy. But the player was shaken.

Priceless!!!

There is fancy +3 armor in room B4. Officer’s Quarters that obviously belongs to Doeswen Aubry. I wonder if the author intended for the PCs to keep them...even though they will rescue her later from room E5. The Barn.

My PCs just cleared out B4. I am wondering if they will they try to keep or sell the armor (and coins and gems)?

(And I think that if they try to sell the armor there is a very good chance it will be recognized as belonging to her. I mean, there is no mass manufacturing in this world. I imagine that it would be easy for a reputable dealer to track the provenance of a set of fancy +3 armor decorated with the flag of Lastwall.)

Allen

I found the choices of the Six Wise Crows incredibly unwise:

* Why the heck did a group of thieves use their real names with Ranton two years ago during the initial con?!
* Why did Kilibrandt even mention Gildais's name to Ranton two years ago? That was unnecessary.
* Why in the present do they keep wearing crow uniforms and/or masks in public? They're thieves, not soldiers or guards.

Gildais makes unwise choices, too: why did he use his real name with the Six Wise Crows? How did that help him?

Metagaming, I know these unwise choices are all to make it easier for the players/PCs to solve these mysteries.

But this chapter could use another round of editing in which the NPCs' choices better support their own best interests...and then add some new clever clue trail for the PCs that lets them feel even more clever for finding it.

Allen

it is more than a little annoying that the Shield is not described in the text of the AP. I spent like 10 minutes describing it, saying it had powerful magic, etc., and then found it in the Inner Sea World guide which mentions that it's just wood. How hard would it have been to describe the shield's present state in the AP itself?

Thank you for this post. Knowing that the pieces are just wood makes it more plausible (in my mind) that Bruna could make a passable copy of it.

Concerning the maps for "Doeswen's Exile"/Northgate Road Way Station, be sure to rotate them 180 degrees.

In their current orientation the barracks, steps to the tower, etc. are all on the north side of the gate.

But this way station is meant to protect against orc, etc. coming from the north.

So the gate should be on the north side and the barracks, tower steps, etc. safely behind the gate on the gate's south side.

Allen

Note that at the very end when the PCs encounter Arazni, they will likely be wearing the deathwatch eyes they looted from the researchers. Thus they will instantly know she is undead, even if they don't know who she is.

This knowledge will motivate most parties to fight immediately rather than talk.

Allen

Yakman wrote:

A nice fella on reddit redid the maps for the first four books and his dropbox is here

These maps are in a format .webp. That format is new to me. How do I get those into Roll20? Do I convert to another format?

And I looked at one and it was unusably dark. Was I just activating it incorrectly?

Allen

OK. I found a kluge that works for me to "fix" the darkness of the maps:

* Download the .webp files to my local drive.
* Open a file using the free Photos app built into Windows 11.
* Click the Edit button at the top.
* Click the Adjustment button at the top...this should cause a bunch of horizontal sliders to appear on the right.
* Slide as desired to adjust to my liking. Typically this is only sliding both Brightness and Exposure far to the right. (But for some of the maps in Roslar's Coffer I also added a green/yellow tinge to reflect the light filtering by the fettering maw gas dome.)
* Save as a .jpg file. (Photos can read .webp, but not write it. .jpg is fine...but it takes up twice the space as .webp.)
* Start Roll20, launch my game, create a page with the same dimensions as indicted in the map file name. Activate the Map layer.
* Using Windows Explorer drag the .jpg version of the map onto the Roll20 VTT.
* If Roll20 asks whether I want to adjust graphic to fill page or adjust page size, pick the former. Otherwise slide the graphic so that the upper left corner is in the right place. Then drag the lower right corner to expand the graphic to fill the page.
* Back in Explorer delete the huge .jpg file...I don't need it anymore.

I hope this helps others!

Love these maps. I'm getting ready to go to book 2 and I notice that the maps are kind of dark. Am I looking at them wrong? or is this intentional?

Thanks again.

Ron

I was wondering the same thing. Thanks.

Allen

The most prevalent symbol of the Whispering Way to my knowledge (having played Carrion Crown where they feature regularly) is a skull with a gag.

Perfect! Just what I need. Thanks!

I'm rather shocked that the Valthazar keeps a journal (p. 52) when p. 76 says, "One of the strictest mandates of the Whispering Way is that its teachings must not be recorded."

Allen

I need some assistance with Golarion lore, please.

Does the Whispering Way cult have any distinguishing (or even common) marks, symbols, color schemes, items, tattoos, etc.?

During "Eulogy"/"A Town Transformed" I want my PCs to have the pleasure of figuring out that the Whispering Way is behind the destruction...not just be told by Jando or an interrogated cultist.

Thanks.

Also...am I correct that

* at the start of the AP the Whispering Way cult is commonly thought to be inactive?
* by the end of "The Dead Roads" the PCs have not received any hints that the Whispering Way is behind the deaths in Roslar's Coffer? (I didn't spot any.)

Many thanks,
Allen

More questions about the "timeless" trait of the Boneyards:

* Can PCs rememorize spells there?
* If yes, how do they do it without sleeping? Do they just quietly rest while awake for 8 hours?
* Do spell durations run as normal? Or will the mage's Mage Armor last until they get out of the Boneyards?

Thanks.

At the very, very beginning of this Part should the PCs be utterly sleepy or ravenously hungry because they just exited the Boneyards (which are "timeless") at the end of Part 1? Thanks.

Oh, that's just cruel. Ramp up my anticipation and make me wait weeks for book 2.

I think a cool hook for a character who's unsure of why they're in Roslar's Coffer would be for them to be a courier delivering a package with an unassuming shard inside to someone in the town. Maybe Lady Grive, or someone else. The viability of this idea might hinge on book 2, however.

I'm just starting to run this AP. We're doing character planning. Without prompting one of the players proposed that his PC had just arrived in Roslar's Coffer to deliver packages...

Having read this post I was filled with glee...

Allen

A nice fella on reddit redid the maps for the first four books and his dropbox is here

These maps are in a format .webp. That format is new to me. How do I get those into Roll20? Do I convert to another format?

And I looked at one and it was unusably dark. Was I just activating it incorrectly?

Allen

sky.dragonfire wrote:

The Rising Phoenix, you my friend, are a god send. I know I'm a bit late to the campaign, but I'm planning to run Tyrant's Grasp for my play group and I was trying to use the maps from the official Interactive Map PDF that comes with the books and the grids on those is just all kinds of messed up and uneven.

A nice fella on reddit redid the maps for the first four books and his dropbox is here

I second the motion! I'm just starting to run this. I thought I was going crazy with the grids in the book. But you fixed it! Thanks.

Allen

When calculating the carrying capacity of a horse, shouldn't one use BOTH the quadruped multiplier (X3) and the size change multiplier (X2)? (Probably then the total multiplier would be X4).

Thanks,
Allen

zmanerism wrote:

I have just started the king maker module and have a horse which can be either heavy or light. can any help me out with how much either a heavy or light riding horse can carry before it becomes a medium load or what the medium load max is. much thanks.

SRD says: "Quadrupeds can carry heavier loads than bipeds can. Multiply the values corresponding to the creature's Strength score from Table: Carrying Capacity by the appropriate modifier, as follows: Fine ×1/4, Diminutive ×1/2, Tiny ×3/4, Small ×1, Medium ×1-1/2, Large ×3, Huge ×6, Gargantuan ×12, Colossal ×24."

So horses (large) can carry 3 times what a similar strength human can.

16 str light horse can carry up to 3x76 pounds as a light load.

20 str heavy horse can carry up to 3x133 pounds as a light load.

Medium load is double light load.

We have a Pathfinder group that plays every Saturday afternoon in the Inner Richmond district of San Francisco. Sadly, one of our players had to drop. So now we're looking for 1 more!

We strive to have a balance of spirited role-playing and thrilling battle. We pay fairly careful attention to the rules.

Currently we're playing a homebrew campaign. But we're open to adventure paths and other campaigns in the future.

If that also describes your preferences and if you're interested in joining a weekly game, please be in touch.

Thanks,
Allen

Hello, brain trust!

When moving Dancing Lights, does one need line of effect to either the starting location or the ending location of the move?

Thanks,
Allen

Thank you for your replies!

Allen

Hello, brain trust!

If one has commanded one's animal to Defend *and* one moves, does the animal follow?

If so, then it seems to me that most of the time one would not bother with Heel and just leave the animal in "Defend mode."

And then I also wonder why there's even a Heel trick...except for those situations where one wants to make sure the animal is on it's "best behavior."

Am I missing something?

Many thanks,
Allen

Hi, everyone,

I'm *sure* this has been covered before, but I couldn't find a definitive answer. Thank you for your patience.

How does the weight of, for example, a medium-size suit of chain mail (40 lbs.) change when the medium creature wearing it is under the effects of Reduce Person?

The wording of the spell seems to clearly state all equipment worn is reduced to an eighth of its original weight, i.e., 5 lbs.

But the rules for armor state that small-sized armor weighs half that of medium-sized, i.e., 20 lbs.

Similarly, just to confirm...

* if the character is carrying a hammer, its weight temporarily drops from 2 lbs. to 1/4 lbs.

* if the character is carrying a bag of holding, its weight temporarily drops to 15 lbs./8 = ~2 lbs.

Can anyone point me to official answers...or something very close?

Many thanks,
Allen

Thanks!

Thanks Shar (and Cthulhudrew),

I'm sort of a newb at asking rules questions. Is there a more appropriate way to submit a rules question to Paizo?

Thanks,
Allen

Thank you for this.

Anyone else have an opinion?

Anyone from Paizo?

Allen

The Heart of the Slums Alternate Racial Trait for humans from Advanced Race Guide says, "They gain a +2 racial bonus on Sleight of Hand and Stealth checks, and a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks in urban and underground settings."

Clearly the +4 bonus only applies in urban and underground settings.

But do the +2 bonuses apply in all settings or just in urban and underground settings?

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Allen

StabbittyDoom wrote:

Unless the spell specifically calls itself out as a trap, then it is not a trap and does not act like one with respect to other rules (including perception to notice and the ability to disable them with something other than dispel or antimagic). Alarm is not called out as a trap, therefor you cannot notice it with just a Perception check, nor can you use Disable Device to remove it (even if you are a rogue).

I'm leaning that way Stabbitty. They were pretty conscentious about putting that detect and removal clause everywhere else.

In that same spirit, would a mechanical device that merely rang a bell in a nearby guardroom be considered a trap with respect to Perception and Disable Device?

Allen