Atrocious's page

If I were to stat them up in Pathfinder, which I won't, I'd probably set them at CR 10 or thereabouts.

Didn't you stat them up already?

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/hive/

Yes, I get that the vin-number has been filed off, but it's obvious what they are.

From Wikipedia:

A planetary system is a set of gravitationally bound non-stellar objects in orbit around a star or star system. Generally speaking, systems with one or more planets constitute a planetary system, although such systems may also consist of bodies such as dwarf planets, asteroids, natural satellites, meteoroids, comets, planetesimals[1][2] and circumstellar disks. The Sun together with its planetary system, which includes Earth, is known as the Solar System.[3][4] The term exoplanetary system is sometimes used in reference to other planetary systems.

So another star system would be for example the Alpha Centari system. Any star with planets around it would be a planetary system likewise named after its star.

As said above Sol is another name for the Sun. Which are both names for our star. Hence forth the Solar System. So there is only one Sun and by extention only one Solar System.

At least that is my understanding of it.

You are correct. Other "solar systems" with planets orbiting a star are called planetary systems, not solar systems.

The reason I don't like this AP is because after having D&D as a hobby for the better part of two decades, this AP is just so boring. Giants can be interesting adversaries, but this AP doesn't do anything new or interesting with them, the villain is also really uninteresting. It's just book after book of working your way up the color-coded food chain of giant kin.

An entire campaign built mostly around a single type of adversary isn't a very good idea in my opinion. It would probably have been better if they'd done a module about giants, rather than an entire AP.

5. Nex - Yes we want it, but it would have to be a grand epic ride of exhausting levels to try and do.

What?! Blasphemy! Nex is the place I've wanted to see an AP set in for ages, especially if it revolves heavily around Nex himself, and not just being set in his nation.

Bag of Kittens

Price 100 gp
Weight 8 lbs.
As a standard action, you can open a bag of kittens to let out the cute little bundles of joy. All creatures within a 60 foot radius must make a DC 30 Will save or be unable to take any violent action for as long as the kittens remain cute and adorable. Any character who DOES take a violent action immediately functions as an enemy for all other creatures in the area, and if that violent action was perpetrated on the kittens, all creatures gain a +10 bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls and checks made to overcome spell resistance against the perpetrator of the violent action. A creature who takes violent action against a kitten who is killed is judged immediately by Pharasma and cannot be restored to life. As a move action, a person can pet an adjacent kitten to receive a +6 morale bonus to all saving throws.

Does my severe allergy to cats make me immune or more susceptible to this item?

** spoiler omitted **

I'm here for the lore. It's so cool!

Unrelated: I wonder if the Androffans (or the 'Droffans, I guess?) actually made any Kaiju as well? Being a land of super-science, it seems rife for exactly that kind of thing.

They seem more like the types who would build Jaegers to fight kaiju.

Don't kill the babies, you are a paladin after all and believe in redemption. Capture them instead and turn them over to the authorities so they can pay off their debt to society in prison.

Hags aren't know for being particularly religious, but some do follow her yes. The majority of religious hags likely revere Mestama, the demon lord of witches, hags and vengeful widows.

http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Mestama

Atrocious wrote:

Fergie wrote:

Atrocious wrote:

You don't actually think police are less likely to shoot an armed/violent white criminal than they are a black one do you?

I absolutely, positively, 100% think the police are statistically more likely to shoot a black person then a white person, given the same set of circumstances. Maybe it is different in other areas, but that seems to be the case where I live. For example, in my county, there was a wealth white guy in a wealthy area who SHOT AT POLICE WITH AN AK-47 - he left uninjured. Compare that with the black vet who was killed by police - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Kenneth_Chamberlain,_Sr.

I fully encourage you test that theory by grabbing a gun and threatening some police officers then. Have fun.

worked well enough for the guy in ferries county.

I'm not sure what case you're referring to.

Regardless I'm not interested.

You people may dismiss my posts are trolling if you prefer, but don't get upset with me when I point out that the most likely outcome will happen most of the time. Yes, you can probably find cases of white people not getting shot when they should have and black people getting shot when they shouldn't. This is what is known as anecdotal evidence.

The overwhelming body of evidence that is statistics doesn't support a police war on black people. I do however accept the notion that black people don't trust the police.

The fact that black people don't trust police is due to them being told their entire lives that they shouldn't, that the system is out to get them. I blame this on race-baiters like Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton and their ilk.

Regardless, I'm done with this thread and further discussion serves no purpose. The justice system has ruled, the evidence supports the police officer. Case closed.

Atrocious wrote:

You need a reality check. Statistically it's far more likely your relatives will be killed by another black person than a police officer.

What purpose does this statement serve? Are you saying that because black-on-black violence exists, we should not concern ourselves with a justice system that gives law enforcement the benefit of the doubt even in lethal cases? This is a lazy and frankly offensive argument. Indeed, no matter the statistics, a civilian should be able to trust a police officer -- whether or not they can trust violent young men of their own race. The tragedy here is that most people of color simply cannot rely on these authorities.

I don't honestly know how this should have been handled. I read the testimony of the officer and the key witness yesterday, and in my estimation it seemed like Mike Brown's behavior was erratic -- but that was no reason for him to die.

But to have a system that won't even indict the officer, that's the thing I'm uncomfortable with. If they're willing to protect a guy when there's this much controversy afoot, I dare not think what they get up to when no one is looking.

That statement was in response to the posters comment that he feared for his relatives being gunned down by police simply for being black. The idea that police can simply go around and gun down black people piecemeal without any justification or reaction is an idiotic fantasy perpetuated by the anti-police crowd you typically find among the left wing.

While it is true that blacks are disproportionately involved in police shootings that has less to do with the fact that they are black, and more to do with the fact that while blacks are a minority, they commit the overwhelming majority of violent crimes. Perpetrating violent crime is typically a good way to get yourself shot by police, regardless of color. You don't actually think police are less likely to shoot an armed/violent white criminal than they are a black one do you? If you do I fully encourage you to test that theory by threatening some police officers with a gun.

Regardless, with blacks committing the majority of violent crime it stands to reason that they do so primarily in their own communities, which leads to the majority of blacks being killed by other blacks as statistics clearly show and not by the mythical renegade KKK police.

Pointing out this flaw in that posters worldview is the purpose my statement served. Or in simpler terms: a reality check.

I forget the name - but the one that is all about setting free the oppressed.

Moses?

Only one word can truly express my delight at this cover... WAAAAAGH!!!

"Atrocious wrote:

I agree with your sentiment Geraint, please don't put hardcovers in the regular subscriptions.

But if they take it out of the subscription, then there would be no way to get the book+pdf bundle :(

I actually started up my Campaign Setting subscription again specifically for this book.

That could absolutely happen. They could do it the same way they did with the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition, make it an optional part of the subscription so that you order it on your own you also get the PDF.

xavier c wrote:

I am scared technology will replace magic in this AP

Don't be.

It augments magic. Magic still plays a key role in the AP.

Like a supercomputer powered AI with Wizard levels?

I hope Rich does a series about the history of Tarquin and his team after OotS is over, the guy is wicked!

I love the blood dripping out of the TV.

Well, it WAS a blood-plasma screen... ;)

/sigh

From Websters, second definition:

Quote:

2. an underlying often ideological plan or program

If you cant see Mr. Spicer (as well as other Paizo staff) is outlining a plan for present and future products, I don't know what to do. And this isn't necessarily bad.

Look, I'm not bashing or hating or anything of the sort. I just feel that this particular character seems stretched thin. And that seems to be because the agenda (as detailed in Mr. Spicer's description of Paizo's intentional plan) was put before the story.

The knee-jerk reaction to attack anyone that says anything even remotely critical of the LBGT community (even when in the best of interest) is as just as divisive as actual hate directed at the community.

How exactly does it "impact" the story? It's just the background of two characters, you could go the entire adventure (in other words "story") without it ever being brought up.

All it does is add some depth to the characters, so again, where is the agenda?

Jessica Price wrote:

I think we addressed the "we don't like that there are LGBT characters in this adventure!" part of the conversation pretty conclusively. We heard the feedback of people who don't like our inclusiveness, and we disagreed with it, and have no plans to expunge LGBT characters from this adventure. There's really not much more to say about it in regards to this specific product.

If that is what you think myself (and most of the similar posts I've read) are talking about, you need to go back and re-read them. I've not asked to have LGBT characters expunged. I didn't said we don't like LGBT characters.

And since Paizo staff continues to post on the subject and people want to talk about it, there does seem to be more to be said.

Jessica Price wrote:

If you want to talk about Paizo's stance toward orientation inclusiveness, we've linked to the appropriate thread several times. Here it is again.

I don't want to talk about Paizo's stance toward inclusiveness. I wan't to talk about how this product seems to put out an agenda. That is relevant to this product, the storytelling and the interested players.

Jessica Price wrote:

We did. I linked it above. Go there.

Thanks for the link. Interesting enough, I could not find where you linked that in this thread with any search. When and if I am interested in talking about homosexuality in Golarion, I will go there.

Agenda, what agenda? As far as I can tell the agenda of this volume is to introduce the plot of WotR and make the characters mythic.

Including gay characters doesn't make for a gay agenda any more than including demons in the volume makes for a satanic agenda (and people have made that assertion before as well).

Ten new classes? That sounds excessive, I've hoped that we would avoid the class overload of 3.5.

Don't we already have some of these classes already?

War Priest, a cleric fighter hybrid, isn't that what the Paladin is? Can we at least call it a Crusader or something, War Priest sounds so bland.

And Slayer, isn't that an Assassin? Then the Hunter, a Druid/Ranger hybrid? Isn't the Ranger already a Fighter/Druid hybrid? What do we get? Less fighting skill and better spellcasting, or more focus on the animal companion? And again with the bland names...

This seems excessive, like they are trying to fill a niche that doesn't need filling.

I hope more promising information will be revealed.

Yikes! I can picture how fighting her would go...

Okay guys, roll for initiative. Actually, don't bother. Baba Yaga goes first, aaaaaaand you're all dead. Good effort.

Now hiring!
High level wizards (13th+) for demeaning menial labor.

Must know simulacrum spell. Must be self sacrificing. Must not have personal ambition.

Contact King Kingingson for interview

They already dealt with "cure disease" bonanza in Pathfinder #8, where a plague is ripping through a large city. Even if every spellcaster in that town capable of it prepared every available slot with cure disease and cast it for free, the plague would still spread faster than they could cure it.

As for the Staff of Wishes, even if a GM was going to allow such a ridiculous item to exist, it would still cost almost the entire net worth of a 20th level PC to make one. I assume the staff you are referring to is the one that would cost 766,300gp to craft.
A 20th level NPC would only have about 159,000gp to spend, nowhere near enough.
But it would pay for itself in two months you say, so the PC could buy back all his stuff then. Sure, but let's just hope no one powerful comes to steal that staff of munchkin while his stuff is all gone, without his gear a 20th level PC is severely depowered.

Then maybe a kingdom could pay for it, surely a kingdom has the ability to pay for 766,300gp for a staff of wishful thinking. Let's put that in a real world perspective. One pound of gold is worth 50gp, so 766,300gp would be 15,326 pounds of gold. Assuming the going rate of gold is currently 1250$ per ounce of gold, and one pound is sixteen ounces. That would mean a staff of idiocy would cost 306,520,000$. Doesn't sound like a lot? If you have a population of three hundred million like the US, it's pretty affordable. However, extrapolating from real world population levels, three hundred million is likely closer to the whole world's population, not a single nation. So that three hundred million in modern money is going to put a lot higher stress on a nation than you would expect.

Say a city state metropolis of 25,000 people were to pay for this (and most of those 25,000 people are likely untrained laborers who make 1sp per day). It would cost around 12,000$ per person in that city to make the jokestaff. Sorry people of the city, we can't afford to pay for sanitation, city guards, fire protection, the military, public works or anything really this year, because we're making a single magic item that will be awesome. Sound realistic? Even large nations of a million or more citizens would have difficulty paying for it. "Hey Qadira, it's Taldor here. Please don't invade this year, we've dismissed our whole military to be able to pay for one magic item".

But let's say you through some miracle (and I ain't talking about the spell) manage to make the staff of RAW abuse, and actually start using it. Such blatant abuse of wishes is going to have severe consequences. Pathfinder #24 dedicated an entire article to talking about wishcraft, read it.

Genies know that not all wishes deserve to be made. Reality is like a symphony and some wishes ring like discordant notes. These wishes make demands of the cosmos that were never intended and that are not meant to be, falling outside even the bounds of magic. While such reality-breaking wishes are gradually eroded by time and the innate forces of existence, they can cause great damage while their effects linger, and when cast about wildly and in great number can even degrade the fabric of the planes to terrible effect (see Wishwarps, below).

Rest assured, there will be consequences.

The ending parapgraph on page 63 about how Lenin helped Russia enter a goldden age of freedom is very loaded. Especially considering the fellow that came after him.

I too reacted to this line, but kind of forgot about it after how good the rest of the issue is.

Golden age of freedom? How could you possibly link communism with freedom? Anyway, the Russian revolution ended the same way all revolutions end, in a bloodbath.

I usually have to wait until the end of the week to get my volume, but that wasn't the case. I got it today and I've read through most of it.

I've been anticipating this issue like a giddy schoolgirl since the day I heard about it and I have to say I dreaded the prospect that it wouldn't live up to it's monumental hype. I was similarly excited about the Carrion Crown AP and found it to be a big letdown with an utterly uninspiring final villain.

That said, this issue didn't just meet my expectations, it completely blew me away with how good it is. Brandon Hodge has gone out of his way to write a story that does justice to the Mad Monk's legend and incorporates so many early 20th century references and details that it is just insane. He has managed to pack tons of what has been discussed in this thread into the volume while simultaneously managing to avoid making it feel padded or otherwise existing only to function as fan service.
This could easily have turned into a very stale grind of fighting off endless waves of mustard gas scented Russian soldiers, or a complete clusterf*** of mismatched monsters tossed in for the sake diversity. But Mr. Hodge has been very careful to selectively pick only a very narrow band of monstrous opponents that fit into and accent the Russian mysticism of this issue.

The rest of the issue is also very well written, I particularly liked the article on the Horseman of War. A very apt choice considering the backdrop of the issue.

I truly pity the empty soulless husks that criticized the concept from the first moment it appeared and refused to give it a chance. If you can't appreciate the awesomeness of what this issue is then you have truly hardened your heart and soul to pure joy.

I didn't mean for this post to end up sounding like a review, but there you have it. This is one of the absolute best adventure path issues ever written, and certainly my new favorite.

Wait wait wait wait

Store Blog wrote:

Tesla, trench warfare, and tanks

...Tesla?

TELL ME MORE.

More

Wasent her daughter also a 20th lvl witch? (Thinking Elvanna will be cr 20-21 with pc wealth and/or 25 point buy)

Elvanna's daughter, Princess Cassisoche, is listed as a Witch 8/Winter Witch 10.

CR 21 sounds about right, it would put her right on par with Karzoug.

What interests me more is the fact that we will be going up against all of the previous queens of Irrisen. This is interesting because the ninth queen, Tashanna, is heavily implied to be the very daughter of Baba Yaga that has earned some infamy in another campaign setting. A woman many may know under the name Natasha, Tasha (the creator of a funny spell), Louhi, "the mother of witches", and another probably more familiar name.

Tashanna bound the demon lord Kostchtchie to her service when she tried to resist being deposed as queen of Irrisen. Perhaps an early version of her later work with demons and demon lords. She literally wrote the book on demons, and James Jacobs wrote some issues of an article with the same name back when Paizo published Dragon Magazine.

So, yes, it would appear that Tashanna is none other than the witch of Greyhawk infamy, Iggwilv. It will be very interesting to see what happens with Tashanna in this issue. Perhaps James Jacobs could enlighten us on the issue, whether or not they are the same person.

I've heard rumors that if you speak James Jacobs's name three times he will appear.... wait, oh dear! What have I done!?

I just noticed a little something in the Artifacts & Legends book...

Does that mean we might see the owner of this item statted up somewhere in this adventure path? I'm a sucker for high-level celebrities.

Ah, good catch. I bow in awe of your superior Pathfinder knowledge.

And I see my pricing was a bit excessive...

Hope this thread doesn't offend anyone, I am simply striving for some degree of authenticity in my games.

So, my group of PC's just rolled into Katapesh and had a look around town, of course the paladin decides to free the slaves, though in a lawful manner, he wants to buy slaves and set them free, fine by me, only problem is I don't know what a slave would fetch. So, is there any official word in any Pathfinder volume on the price of a slave? I haven't been able to find one.

I was thinking of setting the price at 350g for a relatively young untrained slave, I base that on the salary an untrained laborer earns per day multiplied by 10 years, so a purchaser would break even after 10 years which sounds "fair" to me. So 1s per day * 365 days per year * 10 years = 365g, which I round down to 350g. Although slaves need to be fed by their master, so maybe less? Skilled slaves should obviously be worth more. Would there be any price difference between a man and a woman? Children would likely be worth less than adult slaves since they can't work as hard as an adult, but again they "last longer" than adults. What would be a fair price for children?

Anyone care to comment?

That is indeed a cool story; thanks for sharing!

It's worth pointing out, of course, that if Charles Stross gets in a legal battle with WotC over the use of a gray slaadi, and WotC either wins that legal battle for real or by default simply by outspending Charles Stross on legal fees that Charles suffers the ramifications of his choice.

If Paizo did the same, worst case scenario = several dozen good people losing their job.

Paizo has a responsibility to its employees and its owners to NOT put itself in a position where it might come to that, basically.

I say, let WotC keep their precious Slaadi, the Pathfinder proteans are soooo much cooler anyway. They single handedly got me interested in the chaos planes which had been completely ignored in earlier D&D versions.

And JJ, when is the Pathfinder Epic Level Handbook and Pathfinder Psionics Book coming out?

Okay, my group has finally started "Prince of Demons", which means we should be ready to get going on RotRL by early November.

I'm definately placing the campaign in Impiltur. Ilmwatch will take the place of Magnimar, and Sandpoint will be on the coast north of Ilmwatch.

The Runelords will be a remnant of Narfell's ruling inner circle. Since I have no idea how important the Storval rise will be to the campaign I currently plan to just toss the whole thing and just use the "Nar Upland" instead.

The Shoanti Barbarians become the Nar horsemen, and the Varisians become Rashemi (it seems to fit with their "mystic background"). The majority of humans in the area are Chondathan, Damaran, Illuskan and Vaasan.

Using the information about Impilturs most important religions from page 202 of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting I have decided to use the following gods for Sandpoints temple:

Erastil - Chauntea (Because of the large numbers of farmers in the area)
Sarenrae - Ilmater (He is an important god in Impiltur, so he gets to replace Lathander)
Shelyn - Tymora (Sune does not seem to have a very strong presence in the area, but Tymora does. I'll just pray the whole "goddess of beauty" thing isn't important)
Desna - Mystra (mostly because Desna was supposed to be popular in Thassilon. Mystra has been around for millennia after all, it isn't much of a stretch to assume she was worshipped in Narfell)
Abadar - Waukeen (a good fit, plus she is important in Impiltur)
Gozreh - Valkur (I put more emphasis on the water aspect and chose to go with Valkur, he is also important to Impiltur)

Hook Mountain and the Fortress of the Stone Giants will be in the Giantspire mountains. I haven't decided on where to place Xin Shalast yet, but it will probably be in the Great Glacier.

Notes on Burnt Offerings:

Nualia is a worshipper of Eltab. I couldn't really find a god that fit Lamashtu and decided to play up the fact that Lammy used to be a demon. And since Eltab has a lot of history in this part of Faerun it isn't much of a stretch (Eltab was summoned by Nar Demonbinders originally anyway) to assume he has a shrine in the area.

The Kaijitsus are from Kara-Tur and travelled to Impiltur by crossing the Golden Way like many before them.

Sheriff Belor Hemlock is a Mulan from Mulhorand.

Orik Vancaskerkin is an outlaw on the run from the authorities in Mulmaster (Riddleport).