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So I'm in an unusual situation. I have one group that has started CotCT, and now a second group, that has members from the first, wants to play SS. What changes would you make to remove any CotCT spoilers? I'm reading through things now, and it seems all the issues are in book 2, the grey maidens. Would it be enough to just change then to some other mercenary group? Any suggestions? The true location of S doesnt seem like an issue to me. Is there anything else I am missing?
Forever GM that would love to play pretty much any AP, 1st or 2nd ed.
How has everyone handled letting your players level during this module when they are really intended to not take a long rest once it starts?
So something isnt making sense to me about the Sun Diver. The Vestrani paid Lu to build it, and presumably havent made back their investment after one trip. But then she goes into debt at the casino, though arguably is already in debt from the ship.
I could use some rough ideas. So I had the other thread where my group nearly wiped on Jalusann.
Option 1: They go right back, and wreck her easily. They had killed all of her special people, and her reinforcements would probably be more CR 1/2-1 troops, which are nothing and would just be a chore. (And part of my parties complaint that the huge difficulty jump came out of nowhere) Option 2: She has requested special reinforcements (from the general, or she just had them elsewhere) so its more of a challenge. Makes for a more epic fight, but lots of extra work on my end. Not even sure what enemies to add, and I'd run the risk of overshooting the mark and making it too hard. Option 3: Come up with a scenario where Jalusann has left, to rejoin the main forces and show up later in the campaign. But then I need a decent reason that the data would have been left behind. I kinda feel like Option 3 is the most interesting all around, *IF* there is a good reason for the data to be left behind for the party to find. Its also less work for me in the short term =) Any ideas? Mainly for options 2 and 3?
Well.... That went terribly. Spoiler: I mostly went with your second suggestion. The turret went off multiple times. I had it kill one of the sulis. Then they threw a few grenades down the hall to destroy the turret. I was praying they would run away. Nope. Way too stubborn, I should have known. At this point, they decided to exit the north door, and loop around to be behind the turret, not thinking the explosions destroyed it. They quickly shifted, moving the north turret to face down the left hallway, where the mercs and suli headed. After a round or so, the turret was gone, the mercs and suli were dead, while the boss and her cohort had gone through the room they slept in, sneaking up behind them. I thought maybe I could scare them, with the hall cleared, they had an easy path to the vehicles they already reprogramed and could use to escape easily. Jalusann appears behind them with a supercharged rifle, blasting two of them for nearly 30 each (5 players btw). They were full , and this wiped out their stamina. Shock and awe hopefully. Nope. They also did not learn the lesson to not stand in a line. I'll admit I was getting a bit flustered. I didn't want it to go this way, but didn't see a way out that wouldn't feel like I handed it to them. They also had some pretty bad rolls when it mattered. What I went with eventually, was having Charrel completely loose it at finally being in combat. She basically had a psychotic break, and since Jalusann saw the group as no threat at all, pretty much told them to gtfo. Before this happened, I still managed to crit two with the rifle, knocking one unconscious with the burn, knocked another unconscious that would not get out the the way of her getting to Charrel, and when she was tending to Charrel and ignoring them, the vanguard ran in to keep fighting. He has a f!!& ton of health still, so didn't feel bad attacking back... Crit with the solar brand... Our vesk is now without a hand. At this point things were breaking down, even out of character I was basically asking them how the hell do I convince them to run away? They do as Jalusann tends to Charrel. Stopped there obviously. As for why I want to avoid a TPK... Not sure we are ready to handle it to be honest. I think at least some of my players would be upset. Im still not the best at coming up with ideas so bringing in a new set of characters could be tough (Though actually thinking about this situation, would be super easy) I know the threat of death is important, but no one really enjoyed tonight. It was kind of frustrating for everyone. Jalusann being so much harder than everything before this didn't help. Not to mention, fantasy ground loves having me roll 20s and them roll 1s. That just... sucked.
Thanks for the ideas, I will certainly use some combination of these. I appreciate it.
Spoilers for book 2 Spoiler: So my party has made a not great decision. They are trying to stay the night in the lower level of the Eos Athletics Club in book 2. The mechanic and quartermaster are dead, but the boss and the room full of troops are still there, plus they didn't explore the tunnels much at all so its easy to get reinforcements, as it is known they are there due to noise and the cameras. I let them turn the sentry turret trap into 2 turrets they can reposition. One is aimed at the tunnel in the top left room (E2). One is in the narrow hallway pointed east (E5). They are trying to sleep in the locked room (E3), which has really good locks, but the boss has a key. They are beat up, getting low on RP, and totally out of spells. The boss is too smart I feel to let them rest. The turrets will take some of them out, but realistically will just end up being a warning that they are likely to be attacked soon. The boss will request reinforcements, turrets get overwhelmed, and they are surrounded in a room with no way out. Yeah, they made a bad call, and probably need to suffer from it. It's easy to say this was absolutely a TPK decision. Im still trying to come up with a scenario where they have a chance to get out of there and it doesn't feel like I brought out the kid gloves. My best idea so far is to have the basic guys to investigate and trigger the turrets a couple times, and then have them regroup for a bit to plan and get reinforcements, hoping the party uses that chance to escape. If they dont take that chance though, I dont see much of a way out. Thoughts?
I was curious how loot has played out for everyone as is. With the 10% sell price and the built in rewards, did everyone's groups manage ok, or did you need to supplement or increase the sell %
I'm confused a bit about the constant psychic feelings in Asanatown. How long have they been going on? As long as anyone can remember it seems? Since the source seems to be the Anassanois trying to send a warning, have they been trying to send this warning for decades? Has Khaim's plan been ongoing for that long?
I am looking to run this AP for my group, but I wanted to get some input on how hard it would be to incorporate some changes. I have not yet purchased the books so its hard for me to find these details, and would like to know before I decide on this AP and purchase everything. 1) I know my group is interested in building and upgrading their own ship. I'm hoping the special ship that gets acquired to fly into the sun can be changed to upgrades that could be installed on their ship, or something similar to that. Would it be that simple or is there a bunch of tie ins to the ship specifically that I will need to alter? 2) I'm expecting my group to really enjoy space combat. How much is there as written? Are there good opportunities to add more space combats? 3) I'm familiar with how Dead Suns ends, and that is amazingly epic. Any thoughts on how difficult it would be to work in a similar climax here? Thanks for any insights you can give.
I'm a bit confused about how the seedborne corruption should work on npcs. My group is travelling with a cohort and Kaklatath, and they are about to camp in the city. So if these two fail the will and fort save, are they waking up seeded and trying to attack the group? I dont see any rules about how quick the progression is.
That would be really awesome Hubaris. Thank you very much for everything! Davor, that is why I want to change the mechanics so madnesses can be healed much more quickly, with a heal check every day instead of weekly. Also making them apply more evenly and consistently. If they end up being a pain, I'll just drop them. I also posted this on reddit and for the Improvised weapon ideas it was suggested to just give everyone Catch Off-Guard for free, which is probably what I will do.
Hubaris, you are awesome. I'm absolutely using some of your ideas.
The bone spirit shaman is going to be tempted by Mordiggian and the ghoul corruption. I will probably just need to adjust the ghoul abilities, because most are useless to a caster so not very tempting... Maybe pull some from the lich corruption? My investigator will be tempted by nyarlathotep, but I'm not sure what corruption to use. The bloodrager will get Shub-Niggurath, but I think I will actually use hive with some minor adjustments. I think the manifestations are very fitting My loner swashbuckler will get the shadowbound corruption, just havent decided on an old one. I'll have to look up the one you mentioned. And the sorcerer is I am leaning towards the other magic power you mentioned, Yog-Sothoth. I think it fits quite well as its an aasimar so the whole half breed thing that i see tied to Yog. Not sure what corruption to offer though. And I want it to be different than the investigator with Nyarle
So I'm about to start running SA in just under 2 weeks, and I have a bunch of ideas I want to try that I wanted to get some opinions on. Some background: I'm running a group of mostly PF newbies but with solid gaming backgrounds and letting them throw in the kitchen sink. They are running 25 point buy and 4/5 of them are hybrid classes. I'm guessing they will struggle a little at the start but before long I will be beefing up encounters, which I am comfortable with. Sanity So first, I want to use the sanity rules, but I don't like how long it takes for them to heal, and how quickly they can stack up on low threshold characters. I think I will use the fugue state and their experience from their previous employer, to say they are quicker to heal. But I'd also think it could be fun to have them on the brink of insanity constantly. Given a single nights rest in a very safe area, like the chapel in the Asylum, I want to give them the cure check. I figure even with a good save and restorations, any madness will still last a couple days. This also lets the game progress without frequently stopping for a month to cure everyone's sanity. What I could use some help with, is still making sure low threshold characters aren't constantly going mental. Luckily I don't have anyone dumping all mental stats, but I could still have 1 guy with a threshold of 1. Any thoughts how off it would be to have madness require sanity damage exceeding he threshold? So at least 2 damage to trigger. I think that would make a huge difference for the one character, but then the ones with a threshold of 4 now need 5 to go mad, and it will be ages before anything happens. I had also considered instead of a threshold, since I will also let them heal quicker, trigger a madness every cumulative 20-25% of max sanity damage they take. So if someone had 32 sanity, after taking 8 total damage, they get a madness, even if it was 1 at a time. If they are below half when it happens, that would trigger a greater. So everyone would semi-regularly go mad, and then heal, and greater madnesses should be rare. Anyone see any glaring issues? Corruption So I really want to incorporate this. I'm going to take each player, and tie 1-2 old gods to them, matching their drives and desires. If anyone dies, I would take them aside right away, and they would get a visit from their old one offering great power that would hopefully be very tempting to them. They could instantly come back to life tainted, no one else knowing what happened. I figure I could also find a number of other ways to tempt them with power that just saving from death. Anyway, I just came up with this idea today, so I'm thought I'd request some help to tie the old gods to the different corruption types. I don't really have the time to make my own. Deep one is obvious. Aboleth could be used for a couple.Plagued, etc. Anyone more familiar with the mythos able to lend a hand? I mainly wanted to share the idea and any suggestions you all have would just be a bonus. Improvised weapons My last big idea I think is hilarious. I don't want my group finding all their starter gear right away. Mechanically, they get their gear, but flavor-wise... The investigator finds a pair of trowels for daggers. The bloodrager, a sharp shovel or a long pipe. A jagged piece of metal with a cloth "handle" for the swashbuckler. Pot lids for shields, etc. Mechanically, I will let them be just like the weapons they want, but visually... the survivors will see this group of crazy people who don't know who they are with a bunch of improvised weapons running around. In the personal effects storage room later, I'm going to give them their "old" gear, masterwork weapons of their preferred type and things such as that. I'm just having trouble coming up with good stand ins for some items, especially crossbows. I know its a bit goofy, but I think it will be memorable and fun. If anyone has good ideas for improvised versions of basic weapons and armor, I'm all ears! If you actually read all of that, Thank You!
Thanks for all of the help with this. I'm sticking with battle, trip build. Quick question to make sure I'm understanding correctly. The titanic armor enchant, will that let me trip huge creatures as medium size, and gargantuan when enlarged? If so, awesome. Titanic mithral plate here I come!
Corvino - The buffs and utility are the main interest since I know my DCs won't be the best (still not bad though, high powered campaign). Thanks for the displacement idea, I'd totally missed that one. Wasum - I don't really want to dip and lose spell progression, though that is a good idea. I'm also having the DM set up some of the backstory for the character (mainly deity and where they are from) to fit them into the story better. It is a crazy campaign dealing with gods a lot so having an oracle be relevant seemed like a fun idea. So me may not follow a god that would allow a LG paladin. The trip idea is great and I am almost certainly going to do that. I'm not a huge fan of eldritch heritage and I doubt it would get approved. Divine interference already got disapproved, he enjoys his crits.
I'm making a new character for my campaign, and I am taking the idea of a reach cleric but using it for an Oracle. I'm hoping to get a little input to see if there are any good ideas i'm missing. Core and APG allowed, anything from other books must get approved. I've gotten ancient lorekeeper and flying blade approved. Paragon surge and divine intervention denied. 11th lvl Half Elf Ancient lorekeeper
curse will be either tongues, deaf, or clouded vision Plan is to wear full plate, and do the reach cleric thing, just a little less mobile. I'll have a bunch of enlarge person potions on hand since I won't have the spell. First I'd like some input on my lorekeeper spell choices. Btw the only arcane caster we have is a bard, so a balance between arcane utility and "reach cleric" buffs is probably good. Shield and mirror image i think are the only ones I'm set on.
Also, if you have any feat ideas. I'll have 6, maybe 7 if I skip my 2 traits, none of which stand out. 4 I know I want are:
I'll probably take quicken metamagic for quick buffing. I don't want sacred summoning (don't need more people on the board) and I don't want to try for eldritch heritage. Maybe stand still or dodge, mobility? Spell expertise? Sunder chain? Extra revelation? I'm open to ideas. And if you have any equipment suggestions past the standard stuff I'm all ears. Thanks!
Well the main order is shipping already so no adding something back in. Oh well. But I definitely want to cancel the remaining order that is just paint. $17+ is too much for 3 colors. How do I get that order cancelled? Thank you
Not a problem, thanks for the help. Though I did not realize that splitting this shipment would cause the price to go up by over $20. I'm sorry to ask this but would it be possible to just add the one item back into the order and wait it out? Or replace it with another? Regardless I would like to cancel the new order that is just the one paint set. I am very sorry for changing my mind on this. I appreciate the help.
Moving that item to a separate order would be great. Thank you very much!
I was hoping I could get an update on the status of my order. It has been pending since the 6th. Thank you so much!
Any thoughts before tomorrow would be very much appreciated!
I'm about to acquire an animal companion for my inquisitor. (1ftr/4inq, + boon companion)
For my build, keep in mind with only 3 PCs, i expect to rarely have flanking unless its only 1-2 enemies. Also the inquisitor is going for intimidate, which I plan to capitalize on. This is why it is a heavy bluff/feint/shatter build. 1:TWF
That is as far as I have planned out. Dazzling display is a small waste but shatter should make up for the "wasted" feat. Does this sound like an effective build for a 3 PC group? It give me many options to get sneak dice with d8s. And should i throw everything into dex and save for bracers? or would the extra +2 from RoW be better spent elsewhere. Thanks!
So I've recently started playing the Reign of Winter AP. It is just me playing 3 characters, inquisitor witch and rogue. (minor spoiler) I just hit the point where I was given +2 to the ability of my choice. So that is making me look into my stat allocation sooner rather than later. I am currently lvl 3 with an 18 dex, so no ability bumps yet. If I pushed everything into dex, I'd end up with 30 dex, a +10 modifier. hat is assuming, +2 from quest, +4 from lvls, and +6 from belt, no books. Clearly I am looking at going past the max dex bonus on most armors. I've asked my DM about the chance of obtaining celestial armor but no choice has been made yet, but it is still only +8. So I guess my question is for anyone who has played a high dex character at higher levels, what would you suggest. Is the +hit and ref save worth enough even if I can only get mith chain or celestial? Should I look at bracers of armor or haramaki? Or should I consider putting some points elsewhere? (knifemaster/scout rogue, focusing on TWF and feint. S 11 D18 C 16 I 13 W 10 C 12 was rolled)
Thanks for the input, I'll definitely look at those tutorials. But I think my point came across wrong. Painting isn't a huge issue. I have a huge lack of time and talent, but I have a housewife that would love to paint so that is covered. The issue is what to buy. I'm all for buying in bulk for discounts, but there seems to be no general bulk packages. All of the Paizo mini sets are focused on single APs, and it seems few of the minis would come up in outer games or campaigns. There is a huge focus on the NPCs. I am looking for a general collection, but I see no place to start. The old Pathfinder Battles—Heroes & Monsters actually seems perfect, but it is now out of print. And I also managed to miss both of the Bones kickstarters, which seem like decent places to start. Though I did see the Bones 1 box on reapers site(much more expensive), so I may start there. So many modules use monsters found in the bestiaries. Why isn't there a mini set based on them? A full mini set of each bestiary I would be all over. It would be an amazing core to fit any situation. Is there anything out there similar to this? Painted or not?
I'm interested in collecting minis, but it seems really daunting. Every set seems very specific in the minis it contains. Not surprising since it is based on APs, but there seems to be no option to begin collecting a general purpose collection of minis. The AP sets have some things that are useful outside the AP, but so many are very specific. They really need some mini sets that are based on the Bestiaries I think. It would be much more well rounded. Does anyone have any suggestions on starting a mini collection? Should I just suck it up and start buying a case of each set as I have the money?
So I think a 2-handed Inq with feather domain is definite at this point. Would spellbreaker be a good archetype for RoW? Or should I keep monster lore? I think I'm going to pass on the alchemist. Probably going to take a summoner, not sure if synthesist or not (being Iron Man appeals to me). So just need to nail down a third. Ignoring my favored class list (since i'm already choosing 2 from it), what would be a good third? What role is going to be lacking the most? Is there a particular class that would be great flavor for RoW? I see a few have mentioned witch, are they really good. I've honestly not looked at them much. For some reason they just never caught my eye. Am I missing out? Thanks everyone for all of the help!
That sounds like a pretty good idea. I think that is probably what I will do. Question about the feather domain though, it just adds the fly skill and increased fly speed right? It doesn't actually give me access to the spell and would have to come from elsewhere correct? Anyone have alchemist build recommendations?
Yeah, I'm thinking the same right now. Alchemist, inquisitor, then either witch or summoner (leaning towards summoner just to get another set of actions, or maybe a druid). The third class would be mostly straight forward, but the alch/inq have tons of build options and archetypes. What would you all suggest? Should I be a 2-hander inq? or tank or archer? Would sin eater be good for some extra healing and rp fun with speak with undead? Or would spellbreaker be better. For the alchemist, would a Mr. Hyde build be better than a bomb focus? Vivisectionist? (not many PCs to set up flanks) Thanks for the help!
So I'm about to play in a "solo" campaign of RoW. Newer DM so I don't want her to have to modify encounters much. I want her to be able to run it as is for the most part. I dont want to run more than 3 people if possible. Pets are fine, its more of trying to distinguish personalities. I have plenty of experience with the system and can min/max well, but I have no experience with small group play, so not sure what will synergize well. So I'm looking for a good setup that can survive. I have heard that RoW is quite difficult for a standard group, so I know my group needs to be decent. My only real request is I dont want a group built around using the fire vulnerability of everything in the AP (which I hear is a lot). I just think that would get boring having the same fallback every time. Having some fire is fine though... just don't want like a special pyro caster or something. I have not had a chance to play with, but am very interested in rogues, alchemists, bards, inquisitors, oracles, and summoners. If any of those would work well to 3 man RoW, great. If not, there's always next game!
Thanks for the help everyone. At the moment I am waiting to hear back from my GM on whether some things are approved or not before I can finalize my plan. Our group is far from optimized, no full on casters, all partial. I'm not really trying to make sure all of our bases are covered, just trying to make a fun character. And being the negotiator isnt really my style. For interesting character reasons, I'm hoping to either take Oath Against Fiends so I have a built in dimensional anchor, Or Oath of Vengeance with Using the 3rd or 4th level of unsanctioned knowledge to get dim. anchor. I view my guy as more of a vindicator or templar. As dark a paladin can get and still be LG. Again I know this isn't optimized, but for skills i think I am getting perception, sense motive, and knowledge planes and religion. I want to know about my evil enemies and tell when someone is lying to me. Some levels I will probably even spend a skill point in linguistics to make sure I know infernal, abyssal, and a few others. I guess at the moment I could use some insight on what you all would consider superior stat-wise. Assuming Int13, and WIS7, i see the following options (these include my +2 str) STR 17
STR 18
STR 17
STR 18
Of course there is a few more options. I'm leaning towards the first, but I'm also thinking would 18 STR be better than a chance at 16 CHA? The CHA abilities are nice, but take a 14, add in a +4 or +6 headband, and is an extra point worth losing hp, or AC, or hit and damage? I dunno. Or should I go Dex 10? or even 9 and have STR 18
I'm rambling at this point, I apologize. I'm playing D&D/Pathfinder for the first time in a few years so I'm just excited and I love thinking about this stuff.
So you are saying as long as I attack any fiend I see, if I let him teleport away that will be ok? I think that makes sense. I'll have to see what my DM says. Side note... any way to give paladins the ability to banish?
So I'm considering using Oath against Fiends for my paladin. I have however considered a bad situation easily exploited by the enemy. The Oath says "Never suffer an evil outsider to live if it is in your power to destroy it. Banish fiends you cannot kill. Purge the evil from those possessed by fiends" Now anchoring aura gives you an immediate ability to cast dimensional anchor at a fiend trying to teleport away. This costs one of your smites. Now, it seems to me that the oath would force you to use the anchor every time, since you cant let a fiend escape is you are able to stop it. The problem with this i think, is any smart fiend will send a bunch of lower level minions after you asap, to run into your aura and teleport out, and force you to burn all of your smites in a single encounter on low level enemies (As low at CR5 and 6's can teleport at will). Yes, the aura forces a will save to be able to teleport, but it isnt that hard to make. I know that would be a little bit mean by the DM, but I feel it would be how a BBEG would act with a paladin crashing down his door. Is there any way around this? Or am I misinterpreting how things work?
Thanks for the Ideas. It is actually 20 point buy. I had already included the +2 to STR. The group I'm playing with is fairly new, so I'm not trying to optimize too much and overshadow anyone. I dont think the extra +2 human variant would fly so I'm sticking with the normal one. Flavor-wise, If I go Oathbound it will be Vengeance or Fiends. I am actually not trying to be a diplomat or the face of the group, we have a bard for that. My pally has been wronged by evil, and all he cares about is putting an end to it. The traits i'm taking are anatomist and magical knack, +1 to confirm crits and +2 CL. I know the weapon bond is useful, but you only get it for a few fights a day at higher levels. At lower levels, I'm sure I should go a bit further than a +1. And the same goes for DR. Smite evil is amazing, but I doubt I'll have a smite for every DR monster I fight. I'll probably just watch the campaign and see if mithril(silver) or cold iron would be better. And I'm thinking +1 keen and holy. For feats, thank you for pointing out step up not working with 12 dex, that drops 3 right there. Thanks for the insight on furious focus and lunge, hadn't considered those. Fey foundling sounds awesome but I don't think its source is allowed. And while I like improved sunder, i don't want to sunder our loot. And I will definitely have to consider strike back. Thanks both of you. You have given me a lot to think about.
So I'm joining my first Pathfinder game (plenty of 3.5 experience) And I am playing a paladin. Things are limited to PF and we should be playing until at least lvl 15. I have the basics of the build down, but i need some help narrowing down my feats to which will be the best. I know my build isn't "perfect" and that is on purpose. Going for a bit of style. stats are:
So the 13 int is for flavor/build, I'm not changing it. I need that to take Unsanctioned knowledge achieve to get dimensional anchor and other goodies. I liked the ability from Oath against Fiends but I don't want to be forced into the strict code so this is my way around it.(The skill points, using favored class for hp and knowing infernal doesn't hurt) I am using an Oath of Vengeance. I am not trying to overly optimize, but I still want it all to work well together, and a lot of the feats I just have no experience seeing them in action or even anything similar. So, being human, lvl 1-20 build (must be functional throughout since we may not go much past 15), that gives me 11 feats total. The problem is I've found 14 that i think are really good, so I need help with what to cut, and when to take which. The feats i like:
So 3 need to be dropped, and 2 more will be 17 and 19 which may not even be reached, but I would love to hear some opinions. Also let me know if there are any great feats I missed, though I don't know ow they will fit. So far I'm thinking:
But I'm not sure. I don't know which crit feat would be better first. (I took the anatomist trait if that matters) Any help would be greatly appreciated. An extra question, when you have weapon bond, what enchantments do you all tend to buy for your falchion? And do you use a cold iron or adamantine? Do you keep a spare? Just trying to get an idea of a recommended weapon load-out. Thanks in advance, sorry for the long post. |
