Wow, it has been a couple of years since I've really posted much on the boards but I figured I wanted to get some writing practice in and might as well start a couple of Journals. This one I am running the Mummy's Mask Adventure Path so tons of spoilers. My player's I trust to stay out till after we have completed the campaign.
Just to set things up allow me to introduce you to Team ZORA:
Boaz a True Neutral Oread Warpriest of Pharasma with the Inquisitive Archaeologist campaign trait. Boaz is a native of the city of Wati and the designated party leader/speaker.
Zomo a Chaotic Good Garundi Cryptbreak Alchemist with the Blood of Pharaohs campaign trait. Zomo is a fellow worshipper of Pharasma and is also a native to the city of Wati.
Fatima a Neutral Good Catfolk Two-Handed Fighter (eventually Living Monolith) with the Devotee of the Old Gods campaign trait. Fatima also is a native of Wati but unlike the others her prayers go to Sekhmet.
and
Samar a Lawful Neutral Ancient-Born Dhampir Qinggong Hungry Ghost Monk with the Undead Crusader campaign trait. Unlike the others Samar is originally from Ustalav though he has resided in the city of Wati for over 20 years. Like Boaz and Zomo, Samar is a follower of Pharasma.
Unknown to half the group Samar is actually a convicted murderer and is seeking his redemption by devoting himself to the church of Pharasma. Boaz is Samar's jailer and he has authorization from the high priestess to execute Samar should he prove dangerous to innocents or the city.
The first game session was rather short and a good chunk of time was spent finishing up character creation and deciding on a name for the adventuring party. The opening ceremony went off smoothly and the party was relatively quiet and respectful during the assignment proceedings. The party was eager to get started first thing in the morning and as soon as they were allowed to they left for their assign tomb.
The Tomb of Akhentepi:
The morning started off peaceful enough. The journey to the tomb was uneventful in the early hours after dawn. Team ZORA inspected their site and while they noticed that the mortar seals had been broken away from the doors they brushed it off as the passage of time. A couple of hours of digging allowed them to clear enough space for them to try and pry the doors open. Unfortunately no one thought to get a crowbar, as the group was discussing who should run back to town and buy one, Samar tried his hand at opening the door with his bare hands. Miraculously the doors swung out enough for the others to finish pulling them open.
Once inside the tomb things began relatively uneventfully. A ghost scorpion managed to slip past the party and attempted to sting Boaz, but was unable to pierce his armor. The party quickly squished the large bug and moved inside the tomb proper. Not wanting more bugs or worse to sneak up on them from behind they decided to roll the interior door shut behind them.
Disappointment that the tomb may have already been looted began to set in as they found the ancient body of a thief after tying their rope together and climbing down a hole in the floor. Hoping the thief operated alone and thus died before getting to loot the tomb they moved on. The hallway beyond nearly proved their undoing as a dart trap continued to pepper the team, eventually dropping both Boaz and Zomo before everyone cleared the hallway. After some application of a healing potion and charges from Boaz’s healing wand the party was ready to move on.
The game session ended with the exploration of a couple more mostly empty rooms and a quick fight with more bugs that proved to be no real threat to a party of heavily armed and armored adventurers. Unfortunately there has been no real treasure found yet (though they seem to have a knack to go the opposite direction of any of the rooms with the treasure in them…).
The summoner was great with a small party. Some fights were very close but the party managed to squeak by in the end with the aid of the summoner. My only problem with the class is the clutter effect from his massive number of summoned creatures. In the final fight of the adventure the Eidolon was thankfully absent as it had been reduced to negatives in a previous fight and the summoner dismissed him, hoping to summon him at full hp the next day. Still, he summoned three Celestial Riding Dogs on three consequative rounds against Greypelt (Worg Warrior 2). A CR 3 was taken out by smiting celestial puppies while the rest of the party struggled to hit (low rolls) a wounded wolf that was blocking their access to Greypelt. Except for the final encounter when the summoner unleashed all his remaining summons combat flowed like normal. Our summoner player had all his stats for his typical summon puppies and his eidolon with his character sheet so there was no book flipping which was nice. In the next playtest I am going to limit the spell-like summoning. (You cannot use this ability again until your previous summon(s) is dismissed or destroyed.)
Witch thoughts:
First, wow, bad luck meant this witch went down fast! 2 seperate encounters the witch wound up in the negatives in 1 round. He even had Toughness and a 14 Constitution so 11 hp! No slouch, just bad luck. Anyway he had a fox familiar. According to the Module Hallow's Last Hope, the firefoot fennec uses the same stats as a small dog so that's what we used for his familiar. As the DM and player I felt my familiar was too vulnerable. I would have felt safer if it had more hps. For my next playtest I may try it with the Familiar having the same hp as the Witch and see how that is balanced. There were some questions that arose from my playing the witch though that we weren't too sure on. For my Hex I chose Evil Eye, which is AWESOME, as it allowed the witch to do something magical without being too powerful. It felt more powerful than a cantrip but not as good as a 1st-level spell which I think is perfect for it since it can be used at will. However, can it be used against Mindless creatures? There was a cauldron construct in the adventure and with nothing else I could do I had the witch use Evil Eye on it. I figure since it didn't say in the description of Evil Eye that its mind-affecting it would work. It didn't really feel overpowered for me to give the construct a -2 to attacks for 8 rounds so I don't see a problem with allowing it to work on mindless creatures. Also, I was wondering if you could use Evil Eye multiple times on a target so it can eventually over 3 rounds have a -2 to attacks, AC and Saves or if you use it a second time it changes the thing penalized and resets the duration?
Overall the classes don't seem too bad at 1st-level. Next we plan to have Vigil DM us in Seven Swords of Sin and playtest 7th-8th level. Finally I will run us in Blood of Dragonscar to give us an idea of play at 15th level. I'm sure at least Vigil will post his thoughts on the summoner later.
It is a dark time in the galaxy. The evil Galactic Empire has spread from the Deep Core to the Outer Rim, and everywhere the Empire’s tyranny can be felt. Fleeing from the oppression of the Emperor’s minions, agents of Senator Bail Organa have run to a remote space station above Brentaal. Known to be a vocal opponent of the Empire, Organa may be the last hope of freedom in the galaxy. In the hopes of stopping these dissidents before they can
reach the Senator, the Empire has alerted its forces on Sel Zonn Station, where the struggle for liberty rages on, and the first sparks of rebellion have begun to burn. . . .
Pan down to:
Seemingly motionless among a sea of starships and satellites above the twinkling world of Brentaal, Sel Zonn Station grows larger in your view every second. A central pylon forms the bulk of the station’s mass, and three landing platforms leading to docking bays extend from the central section, equidistant from one another and jutting out into space. The dorsal side of the station features a disc shaped secondary structure, on top of which blinking lights indicate
the presence of a landing platform reserved for wealthy patrons.
The Promenade is filled with the bustle of revelry and commerce. Spilling out of the gambling halls are the sounds of victory and the moans of defeat, while the music of local bands issues from the cantinas. Only a handful of citizens mill about in the main areas of the Promenade, a few gazing out the massive windows at the planet Brentaal hovering below. Businesspeople hawk their wares to the passersby, and a couple Imperial stormtroopers make their way down the main avenue of the Promenade on their usual patrol at a leisurely pace.
Perception checks please.
Perception DC 10+:
Spoiler:
You notice two men loitering on the Promenade who do not appear to be part of the larger crowd. Each seems to be scanning the crowd closely as though looking for someone, though they pay no attention to you.
Perception DC 15+:
Spoiler:
You also notice despite wearing normal traveling clothes, each man is carrying a hold-out blaster tucked into his jacket, and both men are wearing identical garments.
Perception DC 20+:
Spoiler:
You notice that both of the men seem to be whispering to themselves, obviously speaking into hidden comlinks.
Okay here will be the OOC Discussion for the first adventure. Each adventure I'll be making a new game thread and ooc thread. Please feel free to put suggestions/opinions on the game as we go. This is my first pbp and I welcome all the help you can give. For the first adventure I'm assuming everyone is in the Promenade for one reason or another as the adventure starts.
28 point buy (23 point buy for droids, custom droid models only, no replica droids.)
Books Allowed: Core Rules, Clone Wars Campaign Guide, Force Unleashed Campaign Guide, Starships of the Galaxy
Max Starting Wealth for your class
Equipment:
All equipment with military or illegal rating is unavailable for purchase at character creation, with the following exceptions: heavy blaster pistol and hold-out blaster pistol. You must pay the additional license fee for any available equipment that has a restriction rating (see page 118 of the core rulebook). At 1st level, you need not make any skill checks to obtain an available item with a restriction rating; simply pay the additional license fee, and the item's all yours.
Destiny: Only Destruction, Discovery, and Rescue are available.
Races Allowed
Core Book Races:
Humans
Bothans
Cereans
Duros
Ithorians
Kel Dor
Mon Calamari
Quarren
Rodians
Sullustans
Trandoshans
Twi'leks
Zabrak
All of the major classes are allowed as are all non-darkside PrC when the PCs reach high enough level.
The Dawn of Defiance campaign opens on an unsuspecting space station orbiting the Core World of Brentaal. Sel Zonn Station is little more than a travel and cargo port, just like dozens of others in orbit around the world. However, the station is also home not only to the Empire and its lackeys among the nobility of Brentaal, but also to the beginnings of the first major resistance group—that of your heroes.
I've never run a PbP before but I would like to try and do a Dawn of Defiance game now that all the adventures are available. I'm hoping to find 4 to 6 players who can post at least once per day. Once I get a group of players I'll post my character creation rules for the game on a separate thread.
For those who don't know what the Dawn of Defiance is about:
"Dawn of Defiance is a Star Wars SAGA campaign set in the tumultuos period between Episodes III and IV. It consists of 10 linked adventures. These adventures are designed to take characters from 1st level to 20th level. Along the way, they'll become embroiled in the battle against the newly-formed Galactic Empire and will have the chance to strike decisive blows as they encourage rebellion."
I am looking to start up either a Star Wars SAGA game or a Pathfinder game after the start of the new year. However I seem to be lacking in players currently. I have been gaming for about 14 years now and DMed a number of different games in that time. I am a bit out of practice as a DM for a proper size group as my player base is currently 2. I am looking to find 2 to 4 other players who are hopefully in the area. As of right now we game on Tuesdays during the day. So that would be the ideal day for gaming. However, one other player and I both can modify our availability for almost any day off. (Wednesday day is the only exception at this time.) So if you are interested please let me know and let me know your availability. Once I have a group we can begin discussing what kind of game everyone wants to play. One last thing, our Tuesday player hosts game so if I can't find Tuesday players we will need to talk about places we could meet for game. I know a few public places that shouldn't provide too much distraction around here.
I've been feeling kind of burnt out on DnD, even with all the excitement that is Pathfinder. So I run a game on tuesdays and I plan on starting a new campaign within the next week or two. Now I'm not very good at writing up my own adventures and prefer to run premade adventures so I'm looking for other premade adventures for non-DnD and not having too much luck on my own. Between my friends and I we own the rules for Shadowrun (3rd edition), Rifts, Big Eyes, Small Mouth (2nd edition), Star Wars SAGA (we've already tried Dawn of Defiance and it ended after 7 adventures due to delay in getting the newer adventures.), Star Wars (West End Games), Mage: The Ascension (2nd ed), Werewolf: The Apocalypse (2nd ed), Changeling: The Dreaming (2nd ed), Robotech RPG, and Dragonball Z RPG. If anyone knows of any premade adventures for any of the above systems it would really help me out. I prefer adventures I can buy and download rather than hardcopies as most of those games are older ones and its difficult to find out of print books.
Awesome seeming game. Just downloaded the demo earlier today and it seemed really fun. Tim Schafer (creator of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2, Grimfandango and Psychonauts) is the games creative director and with his past resume I have little doubt this game will be a blast to play and replay.
I think this looks really good. A fun action packed fantasy movie, makes me want to hunt down the old stories by Robert E Howard to read up on the character.
Quick question, did gaze attacks go away in Pathfinder? I was in the middle of working on converting a Shackled City adventure and I realized I wasn't too familiar with gaze attacks or the tactics of people mentioned in the adventure. I didn't see anything in the Bestiary preview or in the PRPG on gaze attacks and avoiding them like I did in 3.5. Was just wondering if we will still see gaze attacks and the rules for avoiding a gaze in the upcoming Bestiary or not. No big rush, I can just use the rules from the d20srd thanks to the backwards compatibility, but I was just curious.
Wow, just wow! Okay, I cannot wait for this movie. Awesome cast and I am a huge fan of werewolves so its nice to see a movie with one in it that actually looks good!
Before District 9 I was really looking forward to this. Now, because of how AWESOME District 9 was, I can't seem to get as excited for this movie. Well, at least it should be entertaining. This is a good year to be a Sci-fi fan at the movies.
Good News Everybody! For those who haven't heard Futurama is getting 26 new episodes from Comedy Central. They begin airing in mid-2010.
For those who can't view the above link spoiler below:
Spoiler:
Comedy Central gives Futurama new future
It's back to Futurama for fans of the animated series.
Taking a page from the Family Guy resurrection guidebook, the cancelled Fox animated comedy is returning with an order from Comedy Central for 26 new episodes to run over two seasons.
Futurama creators Matt Groening and David X Cohen are already working on stories for the new batch of episodes of the sci-fi cartoon, slated to premiere in mid-2010.
Just as with Family Guy, whose improbable return was triggered by big DVD sales and solid ratings for the show's reruns on Cartoon Network, the performance of Futurama's repeats on Comedy Central and on DVD was key to its resurrection.
Futurama, which aired on Fox for five seasons - from 1999 to 2003 - centres on Philip Fry (Billy West), a 25-year-old pizza delivery boy who accidentally freezes himself on December 31, 1999, and wakes up 1,000 years later with a fresh start at life and a "diverse" new group of friends including Leela (Katey Sagal), a tough but lovely one-eyed alien, and Bender (John DiMaggio), a robot who possesses human characteristics and flaws.
When the series returns with original episodes in 2010, it will be seven years after the show's last original episode aired on Fox. That's a much longer hiatus than the three years Family Guy spent on the bench before being summoned back by Fox.
All key voice cast members are expected to return for the new episodes, along with the series' core writing team.
So after nearly a year, I've finally managed to convince half my gaming group to give 4th ed a try. I am going to be running them through the Scales of War Adventure Path. I was just wondering if those who've already begun running it had any advice. As for my game details. There are 3 players, 2 strikers and a defender we may get a 4th before the start of our first game session on Tuesday. I am restricting things to the PHB only as I only own the core 3 books. I've already adjusted the wealth and encounters to suit 3 players and I gotta say I LOVE how easy and quick it was to make adjustments to the adventure.
That's right, 17 Again. The plot is predictable and the story has been done to death but believe it or not I found this movie to be HILARIOUS! D&D, Starwars, and Lord of the Ring references all through out the movie. Thomas Lennon was the only reason I gave the movie a shot and I'm glad I did. He was definitely getting the biggest laughs from our group as the geek friend in the movie. I never thought I would recommend this movie but I actually encourage people to give it a shot, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Hello out there in Paizoland! In our LoF game I am one of the players. In the last couple of sessions I have become The Moldspeaker and found the quaterstaff Tempest. Now my question that I seek others opinions on:
My character is currently a Wizard 1/Archivist 2, using Pathfinder Beta rules, we just gained enough xp to level to 4th, and I'm wondering if I should continue down my original planned character progression of becoming a Mystic Theurge or if I should Rebuild(my DM allows us to use the Rebuild/Retrain rules from PHB2) the character to be going for Eldritch Knight? My DM has told me that Tempest will grow in power as I level. I know I am possessed by Vardishal(sp?) a genie general and it seems that since the legends I know of Vardishal suggest he was a great warrior and tactician it might make sense to have my character go for a more warrior/wizard character. Even though I created my character's background to be more obsessed with magic in all its forms I could argue that Vardishal's influence is changing my character's mindset. The rest of our party includes a dwarven cleric(uses guns), human monk, human rogue/fighter(going for Dervish), and human fighter. If I go the Eldritch Knight route I plan on using my Hand of the Apprentice more than going in melee. I am just seeking opinions on what others would do in this situation.
Thought I'd share this with the rest of y'all here in case you hadn't heard.
From DriveThruRPG: To celebrate White Wolf's continuing devotion to PDF products, we'd like to offer all of our fans a one-time 10% discount on their next purchase of any White Wolf PDF titles through DriveThruRPG.com. Simply enter the coupon code wwlovesyou to receive your discount! Also, White Wolf is offering a FREE download of the Exalted Second Edition rulebook! Both offers expire by midnight (EST) on Sunday, April 12th.
Well, stories don't get much worse than this. A 14-year-old boy in China was killed when his chair exploded, sending chunks of metal into his rectum. The bleeding this caused killed him.
The alleged explosion came from the gas cylinder that was in the base of the chair, the part that allowed the user to adjust the seat up and down. The canister gets compressed when you sit on it, but can it actually create enough energy to make the seat cushion explode like that and kill a man? I doubt it, but this is what people are reporting.
In other news, I am working from a beanbag from now on. Sweet merciful crap.
The war over Watchmen between Fox and Warner Bros. is over. The settlement, finalized late Thursday, has Warner Bros. forking over a chunk of change (including old development costs, plus interest) and a portion of the film's theatrical revenues. The L.A. Times reports the cash figure at $1.5 million (though Variety says it could be as much as $10 million), while multiple reports say Warner Bros. might be ceding as much as 8.5 percent of the box office receipts. Fox will also get a piece of future sequels or spin-offs (which are unlikely), but it does not appear that the company will be sharing in revenues generated from DVD sales and licensed merchandise.
And so ends months of enormous free publicity for Watchmen, which not so long ago was deemed a marketing-challenged gamble, being that it’s an R-rated, 2 hour-plus superhero epic based on characters nobody knows. But director Zack Snyder's dark opus now enjoys intense Must See buzz thanks to the mainstream media’s intense interest in Fox’s dogged pursuit of justice, not to mention Warner Bros.' decision not resolve the matter until six weeks prior to the movie’s March 6 release, just as billboards and TV ads begin flooding the national mediasphere. Well played, folks. Well played.
Perhaps the most curious aspect of the peace pact was the joint statement issued by both studios: “Warner Bros. acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims, which were asserted prior to the start of principal photography. Fox acknowledges that Warner Bros. acted in good faith in defending against those claims.” This statement is no doubt intended for fanboys and bloggers who've been hating hard on both companies throughout this mess. When the Watchmen legal fight reached the court of public opinion, the noisy-pissy geek pop lobby — already embittered toward Fox for various crimes against comicbookdom (See: Fantastic Four; Daredevil) and for showing little to zero prior interest in making a Watchmen movie itself -- wrongly charged the studio of not pressing its claims sooner in order to get maximum leverage on Warner Bros. Clearly, Fox is hoping that these well-negotiated words attributed to Warner Bros. will publicly exonerate the company for merely doing the right thing. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. -- which got spanked on Christmas Eve by a judge who said Fox "at the very least" had distribution rights to Watchmen -- got Fox to say...something. That deep down, they’re actually good eggs, I guess, even though they made a movie they had no right to make.
Whatever. The movie’s coming out. End of story.
Footnote: This entire case hinged on a contract that Fox had with Watchmen producer Larry Gordon -- a contract which Gordon told the court he couldn't properly recollect. According to the legal papers filed by Fox, Gordon always had the opportunity to buy out Fox’s stake in Watchmen at anytime. It even spelled out the terms: a cash buy out of Fox's previously accrued costs and a smaller percentage of revenues than the one Warner Bros. now has to pay. If only Gordon had remembered to honor his obligation, he could have saved Warner Bros. some money here. Oh, well. Those Warner Bros. are good egg people -- I’m sure they’ll just forgive and forget. Right?
A couple of things on poisons. First from a playing perspective the new system is nice in that I don't have to remember to remake a poison save a minute later for any PC who failed a save. (Our group did all too often forget this second save.) However there are a couple of things I'd like to see.
First, Antidotes. I would like some kind of rule set for antidotes (maybe a line in each poison section about a kind of plant or mineral or whatever {this is a fantasy game after all} that maybe stops said poison without needing to succeed on a Fortitude save. Second I would like to see some different poisons with longer onset durations. (I'm talking a couple of hours to a couple of days.)
I've always thought a fun idea for a low-level intrigue adventure would be to have an important NPC that the PCs need something from getting poisoned at a big social gathering. There are no clerics of high enough level to cast Neutralize Poison who could reach the NPC in time. The PCs have to find who poisoned the NPC in order to find out what poison was used, then the PCs have to search for the antidote. I know right now I could have a Delay Poison used to buy the PCs the time to investigate and have the villian have a potion of Neutralize Poison but it would be nice if I didn't have to depend on that. (I'd rather leave that as a way to extend the time frame of the adventure if they are having trouble finding either the antidote or the assassin.)
Sorry if this doesn't make as much sense as it does in my head...been one of those days where I have trouble communicating my thoughts clearly.
Doh! I thought I chose UPS Ground for the shipping method on this order but when I checked it just now I saw it had USPS shipping. Is it possible to change the shipping method on it to UPS Ground?
Please cancel my Subscriptions please. Also if possible can you please cancel my preorder #954694. Thank you! I hate to cancel but I just sold my minis and I can't use the credit on the Subscriptions.
I just randomly came across this news article and thought it might be interesting to see what others in the Paizo community think about it.
For those who can't view the link...
Spoiler:
FORMER NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens exist.
And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades.
Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'
He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.
Chillingly, he claimed our technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned "we would be been gone by now".
Dr Mitchell, along with with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard, holds the record for the longest ever moon walk, at nine hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission.
"I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real," Dr Mitchell said.
"It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it.
"I've been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a bit."
Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated.
He told the astonished Kerrang! radio host Nick Margerrison: "This is really starting to open up. I think we're headed for real disclosure and some serious organisations are moving in that direction."
Mr Margerrison said: "I thought I'd stumbled on some sort of astronaut humour but he was absolutely serious that aliens are definitely out there and there's no debating it."
Officials from NASA, however, were quick to play the comments down.
In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe.
'Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.'
Is this right, the designer notes class hit die sidebar makes mention that the Paladin has a d10 hit die, yet in the Paladin section it says d8, just looking for clarification.
Thanks and love the new stuff, now back to absorbing all the new info....
Did anyone else catch the 10-15 minute roughcut of the new Venture Brothers episode last night? Frikkin Awesome! I can't wait to see the whole episode.
Spoiler:
Killinger and his murder bag are the greatest negotiators ever. And Venchmen for Dr. Venture, just too good!
Okay, so the Paizo goblins ate my first attempt at this thread, lets try again! On Wednesdays, Vigil and I get together and I run a SWSE Dawn of Defiance game. However, we both were so excited at the new Paizo Pathfinder RPG rules that we decided to create characters and begin playtesting. Vigil ran us in Seige of the Spider Eaters by Tim and Eileen Connors from Dungeon 137. We managed to play through the entire adventure in one day thanks to our getting together at 11 am this morning and playing till about 7pm. Because we only had 3 players plus the DM, Vigil created a character so our party would be balanced and so we could try all 4 classes. Our party consisted of a Half-elf Cleric (played by Vigil), a Human Fighter (played by one of our friends), a Halfling Rogue (played by Vigil's wife), and an Elven Wizard (played by me). We created our characters with maximum hit points for 1st level plus our Constitution modifier and any other bonuses. In addition, each character received a flat amount of bonus hit points, regardless of race or class, 6 hit points.
On Races:
The half-elf is playable again! To quote Vigil, "They finally feel like they have half the benefits of both elves and humans." The bonus hit point for Favored Classes made everyone want to stick with their race's Favored Class. Humans felt very similar to 3.5, as did elves and halflings although the extra +2 to an ability score was nice!
On Classes:
The capstone abilities for classes have created a strong desire in all of us to actually playing our characters up to 20th level and not multiclass.
The Cleric's new Domain abilities are a useful improvement. Our cleric took the Chaos and Travel domains and his Touch of Chaos ability became his preferred attack option. A very nice combo we found was Touch of Chaos followed by the Wizard casting Sleep, giving a very good chance that the enemy would fail the save. The turning as healing/damage to undead, was also very useful as it allowed the cleric to actually get to cast the spells he had prepared rather than converting them to cure spells.
The Fighter, said he didn't notice any real difference yet between 3.5 and Pathfinder, but he did enjoy gaining a new skill at 2nd.
The Rogue, was most happy with the Rogue Talents. She was happy to gain Weapon Finesse at a level earlier than usual and without losing one of her feats. The sneak attack's ability to affect more creatures came into play as Vigil allowed it to work against some Skeletons we fought. It allowed her to participate in the fight more than she would have in 3.5.
The Wizard's at will cantrips was very nice, allowing us to not need sunrods thanks to Light. I went with a Generalist wizard so the Universal Specialist's Hand of the Apprentice was my ace ability. Thanks to the Hand's at will usage I was able to do something "wizardy" even when I couldn't/ran out of spells to cast. In fact, the damage I dealt with it was on par with the fighter (who was using a sword and shield style) when the fighter wasn't Power Attacking. The Arcane Bond ability became a lifesaver, when I had my Arcane Bonded ring cast feather fall on our cleric. Overall, I am much happier with the wizard at low-levels, feeling far more useful than in 3.5.
On Skills:
Gaining the extra skill trained at 2nd level allowed us to feel more organic with our character growth. We all chose new skills that were used in the adventure that we didn't have before, thus allowing our characters to learn from their past. The Appraise skill also got used for the first time in our games. Normally we just ignore the appraising of items but the usage of Appraise to identify magic items has made Appraise a must have skill for my Wizard.
On Feats:
Toughness, previously was a useless feat to me. 3 hit points was a pathetic gain for the cost of a feat unless it was a low-level one shot adventure. However, combining the benefits of Toughness and Improved Toughness actually has all of the player's relooking at this feat. (I did take it and am very happy I did.) Power Attack was used a lot less often by our fighter than usual but when he did use it, the extra damage saved our butts! (Namely in the fight with a webbed hydra.) The only Combat Feat that got used was Dodge by our Rogue. We are very happy with the change in Dodge since it applies to all attacks. Being her only Combat Feat, she just wrote her Dodge bonus into her AC so she wouldn't forget it. This is perhaps the best part of the new Dodge, as too often players and dm alike would forget they have Dodge and thus forget to declare an opponent for their Dodge.
On Combat:
Unfortunately, we haven't been able to use the CMB yet. Our Rogue did use the new Feint rules however. The flat DC for the Deception check created a much smoother flow to the combat than an opposed roll would have.
Extras:
We chose to go with the fast xp gain to better simulate 3.5's level gain rate and so we can play with the new abilities sooner. On a personal note, I have always been a player who preferred fast level progression till at least 13th level. With the changes presented in the Pathfinder, I don't mind low-level play as much and wouldn't mind doing a medium or slow level progression. The only recommendation I have at this time is perhaps a Feat that allows you to treat one skill as a class skill regardless of class and can be taken multiple times.
After watching Spiderwick in theaters on Sunday night our group left talking about how much we'd like to restart our old Changeling game again. The problem we have is our DM has limited time to be able to prep a game (thus his love of Paizo and their adventures). We know that the RPGA used to do Changeling games and I was wondering if any of the sages of these boards might know where we could find some of the old modules that were written for Changeling? Any help would be most appreciated :)
Well, this last month my group started the Savage Tides adventure path. I thought it might be fun to keep a journal online to help me remember all the important NPCs and places we encounter. Please feel free to respond with your experiences on what we've already encountered. Please don't post about things that we haven't gotten to on this thread as I'm a player, not a DM of this one.
To start let me just give you a breakdown on the party. We play with 32 pt. buy, set in Greyhawk with Action Points from Eberron and Renaissance firearms from the DMG. The party are all humans who grew up in Sasserine. Our DM gave us a District Feat as a bonus feat. The party consists of:
Larat, Male Human Favored Soul of Bahamut
Freya, Female Human Swashbuckler
Ancelyn, Female Human Duskblade
and me, Syn, Male Human Gun Mage (adapted from Iron Kingdoms)
We started off not knowing each other except for Larat and myself, we both grew up in Merchant's District. The game starts with us receiving an invitation from Lavinia Vanderboren.
The trouble all started when I got that letter from Lavinia Vanderboren. I got to her manor around sundown and she was still in a meeting. While waiting around a couple of other people showed up, 2 girls and Larat. Eventually, the people Lavinia was speaking with before us stepped out, a human male in breastplate with a sword, a half-elf male with a bunch of daggers, a dwarf in green and brown with a spear and a human woman with a tatoo on her face, I would later find out they were the Jade Ravens. Lavinia introduced herself and said that she had heard rumors of each of us and she thought we might be able to help her. First there was Ancelyn, who had graduated at the top of her class at the House of the Dragon. Next, there was Freya, who won last year's annual summer swimming competition that the Church of Kord sponsors. Then there was Larat, who had been born under some Draconic prophecy. Finally there was myself, who was the new up and comer of the Arena and who's sister was part of the team that won the last Free City Games. My character's sister is a renowned sword fighter and was a respected member of Zelkarune's Horns she hasn't been seen since she came back briefly after winning the Champions Belt. As a result of my sister's success I hate swords and living in her shadow, which is why my character constantly talks about the superiorty of guns. We were offered 200gp each to help her get her father's ring back so she could access her family's vault. Only problem was her father's ring was on his ship which the Harbor Master had impounded and one of his dogs, Soller Vark took her money that would have gotten the ship out of impound. We settled on 300gp each and set out later that night. We found her ship, the Blue Nixie, moored away from the dock. We came up with a plan where Larat, Ancelyn and myself headed towards the ship on a rowboat we found while Freya swam to the other side to sneak aboard the boat and look for the ring. Thanks to Ancelyn and her legs we got the crew to let us aboard the ship. Things quickly devolved to fighting as Soller Vark and his crew thought to make Ancelyn their plaything. Most of the crew ran off as soon as they were injured and Soller Vark jumped ship when Freya ran behind him and used her spiked chain to injure him. He yelled something about "burn it down" and we heard a commotion from below deck. A lone crewman with a torch was lighting fires in cages with exotic animals. Using my talent with magic, I channeled a Ray of Frost and put out the torch while Ancelyn jumped down and put out another small fire with a Ray of Frost of her own. Some strange bug creature suddenly appeared and killed the crewman. I fired my gun and the thing still wasn't slowed. Ancelyn delivered a mighty swing and managed to stagger it but with its last ounce of strength, it grabbed her and delivered a nearly lethal bite. Thankfully Larat could use divine magic and he was able to save her life. We eventually found the ring and a piece of parchment listing a bunch of monsters facing sunrise or sunset. We then sailed the ship to Azure district and released the animals. In actuality we sold the animals on the black market. I had managed to stabalize the strange bug creature and we donated it to the Zelkarune's Horns for use in the arena. Pleased with our success, Lavinia offered us a job of working for her at 100gp/month. Our next mission was to escort her to Castle Teraknian and her family vault. What a mess that was! First we're attacked by an Iron Cobra, which nearly takes me out with one bite, leaving me staggered and poisoned. Then we had to figure out how to access her money which was hidden behind a combination lock, using the note we found earlier, we determined that the eyes were the key and sunrise being east meant to move the pillar to the right on the monsters facing sunrise and to the left on monsters facing sunset. The damn Umber Hulk gave us the most problem as none of us could decide how many eyes it had and it took a few tries before we got it right. I was not happy that I was so badly injured on such an easy assignment, I just wanted my money. Then we found that most of her family's funds had been depleted. Seems she has a brother who had been dipping into the family vault. Our next mission was to find her brother, Vanthus. We started by asking around in Azure District and found that he had been shacking up with a former pick pocket turned artist named Brissa, but we were unable to find any more info on either of them in Azure District. Hearing that Brissa was a pickpocket I got the idea we should try Shadowshore next. This paid off, while we had to leave most of our money at home we found that Vanthus was recently seen in the company of a known smuggler named Penkus. They were both last seen making a scene at It Still Floats. We headed over to It Still Floats and after conning the dwarven owner Panchi that a silver coin I was flipping was a platinum coin, he let us know they set sail towards Parrot Island. I tossed him the coin and ran like hell which is probably why I didn't notice the pickpocket till I ran into him. He failed to get anything from me and I noticed the attempt so he offered to take us directly to Vanthus. We had him lead the way and we went to Parrot Island on his little boat. He lead us to a hatch that lead into some smuggling tunnels, he said Vanthus was below but refused to go in. To err on the side of safety, we knocked him out and descended down expecting a trap. Vanthus then appeared above use, cutting the rope we used to get in the tunnel and throwing the now dead body of the pickpocket in the tunnel before sealing us in. I knew this guy was going to be trouble....
Well, our group managed to find ourselves trapped in some old smuggling tunnels beneath Parrot Island and to our dismay, it seemed we were not alone. The bloody tunnels were filled with undead horrors. Things got a bit rough at one point, so we jury rigged a couple of doors shut and set watches in an abandoned room we found that had some beds. Some zombies broke in during our last watch but we were rested and prepared for the undead menace. While searching for another way out, we found the body of Penkus, the smuggler who was working with Vanthus. He had a note which pointed to Vanthus as the instigator of his demise. The note also mentioned a group known as The Lotus which could be found beneath Taxidermist Hall that Vanthus was apparently working with. In the same area we also found several locked chests and uncovered a gem which could summon forth an earth elemental for a short time. We rushed back to the original entrance and were able to use the Earth Elemental to clear the obstruction over the exit and secure a rope so we could escape. Once out we started searching for information about the Lotus and discovered that the Lotus referred to The Lotus Dragons, the toughest gang of thieves in Sasserine. Our asking questions did not go unnoticed. We were warned by a mysterious appearing note that if we continued to "poke our noses where they don't belong" we'd meet an unfortunate accident. We decided to lay low for a few days and get to know our employer. After the brief delay, we headed for Taxidermist Hall to attempt to find the entrance to the Lotus Dragons hideout. The owner of the Taxidermist Hall was none to cooperative and after a brief fight which resulted in some minor fire damage and the loss of several stuffed monsters, we found where the entrance to the hideout was and received some keys so we could enter. I just hope we're prepared to take on a group of thieves in their own den...
We entered into the Lotus' den and after heading down a hallway found a pool with two watery tunnels leading out of it. Entering the pool was probably the dumbest idea I've had yet... Turns out it was guarded by a bunch of strange ray like creatures that outmaneuvered us and delivered vicious wounds upon our bodies. Twice, I felt the clammy hand of death touch my soul only to be repelled by Larat's timely healing. We beat a retreat to the shore and once out of the water, the advantage quickly turned to us. The remaining creatures swam out one of the tunnels, allowing us to enter the other. We found a small beach there and 3 of the strange bug creature we fought below the Blue Nixie. Having faced this foe before, we were better prepared and they fell with little effort on our part. Unfortunately, there was only a dead end past the bugs which meant we had to swim through the tunnel again. The damn ray creatures were waiting for us and attacked as soon as we exited the tunnel. While we finally defeated all of them I once again fell victim to their attacks and found myself in a dark tunnel with a strange light at the end. Suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared in the tunnel. It spoke in an unsettling voice and asked if I wanted to live. Of course I wanted to live, what kind of question was that? The figure held out its hand and I noticed it had six fingers. The voice came again and offered me the power to survive, the power to live all I had to do was take its hand and power would be mine. I grasped the hand and the voice screamed in my head, "You belong to me now! My power shall course through your veins and you shall live! But should you fall, then all that you are becomes mine as I take back my power!" When I awoke my companions had already finished off the rays and pulled me from the water. I knew then that I had made a terrible mistake. Still I did have a new power burning within me which I found out later allows me to blast my foes with arcane energy, although it seemed I traded off my skill with pistol and traditional spells for that power. I found that with my new power I could take an aquatic form by calling on the River Styx. I swam down the tunnel the rays came from and found another entrance into the Lotus' den. Figuring they knew we were coming from the Taxidermist Hall we headed towards this new entrance and managed to clear a room with some Lotus Dragons in it. Now we were finally makin progress. We encountered a Worg in another room but after conning it into thinking we belong there we were able to get into the rest of the lair. Man, Vanthus had better be down here after everything we've gone through!
The GunMage wasn't really working out as a class for me, so my DM allowed me to change my character into a Warlock, we just waited till we gained a level and I came up with the idea that I got the power from Graz'zt when I was dropped to negatives for the third time that night.
While continuing to explore the Lotus Dragon Den, I found that I could trust myself less. The new power I had gained gave a euphoric sensation whenever I managed to kill a foe. I feel like something is whispering to me to crush any who get in my way. Had my companions not continued to stop me, who knows how far I may have fallen. We caught a lucky break when we ran into a kobold cook named, Churtle. Churtle led us through the winding passages to reach her mistress, the leader of the Lotus Dragons. Along the way we encountered Soller Vark once more. I blasted him with arcane energy but my companions knocked him out before I could finish him off. Once they tied him up and brought him back to consciousness, we got him to tell us where Vanthus is. According to Vark, Vanthus was heading out to meet the Crimson Fleet in an attempt to steal from them. Vanthus is a bigger fool than I first thought him to be. Stealing from the Crimson Fleet is a sure fire way to get himself killed. Ancelyn knocked Vark out once more and we continued to follow Churtle to her mistress' chambers. Churtle's mistress and leader of the Lotus Dragons was Rowyn Kellani. We managed to ruin any chance Vanthus had of returning to the Lotus Dragons by presenting the note from Penkus to Rowyn. We were then offered a very lucrative position of working with the Lotus Dragons, all we had to do was take the remaining money from Lavinia's vault. I would have been up for it but the others could not betray a former employer that way. Rowyn then launched an attack, having her dragon-like companion, Gut Tugger attack us. Rowyn in the meantime drank a potion and became a cloud of smoke. She managed to float through a crack in a wall then after rematerializing she drank another potion which allowed her to run away faster then I could catch up. My companions managed to finish off Gut Tugger at least and we proceeded to loot her cache. We found a fair amount of wealth including a large sum of the missing Vanderboren treasury. We also found love letters to Rowyn from Vanthus, which included details of his murdering his parents. We returned to Lavinia and gave her back the money that rightfully belonged to her. We also presented her with the letters detailing how her brother murdered their parents. Lavinia was naturally heart broken and now presented us with the new challenge of bringing her brother to justice, though if he should die in the process she won't shed too many tears. After all the hassle we've gone through to locate her brother, we finally got a couple of days off.
