Allen Cohn's page

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

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

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

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

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