Bocklin's page

Hi Jason and others,

Assuming that monsters will still get skills/skill points on the basis of their racial HD, I see a potential problem with the Skill Feat as it is.

Debate on the relevance of the Fly skill is already taking place elsewhere, it here just about its current implementation in relation to racial HD.

Under the current rules, an hawk or even better a lantern archon are much much better flyers than Dragons. Under the new system, it seems that older Dragons (which are even worse flyers under 3.5) would always get better at flying and would even have so high HD/Skill ranks that they would easily offset their penalty for manoeuverability and low Dex.

Some quick math:

1) Lantern Archon (1 HD; perfect manoueverability) has Fly +12

4 Ranks + 0 (Dex) + 8 (man.)

2) An Hawk would have +7

3) An Ancient Red Dragon would have +29; while a Great Red Warm would have +35

37 Ranks + 0 (Dex) - 8 (man.)

Even if you rule that Dragons have Fly as a cross-class skill, they still beat the Lantern Archon (which they do not under 3.5 and should probably not).

Plus you find yourself in the situation where you have to consider two elements when designing flying monsters: their maneuverability AND if Fly is a class-skill or a cross-class skill.

I like the Fly skill, but this raises some issues. No suggestions from my side so far, but wanted to raise this! Hopes this helps.

Bocklin

I like the direction taken to handle damage to objects, with the "broken" condition, etc.

But if the "Mending" spell is an orison or a cantrip, it can be cast at will. So why say that it repairs 1d4 points of damage? Given a couple of rounds, a cleric or wizard could repair any damaged item with this spell.

Is this by design? Or am I missing something?

Maybe it should say: "this spell can only be used once on an object until it has been fully repaired" or something to that effect

Hi,

Quick question. I am bit lost with US volume measures. I can easily convert 2D feet, yards, etc. to metric system, but when I read that a Heward's Handy Haversack's central pouch can contain up to 8 cubic feet of volume, I have no idea whatsoever how this translate...

In the present case: can I stick a 5 ft. x 5 ft. Carpet of Flying in there?? I guess it is easy to roll or fold, but would the resulting volume fit in there?

I know it's kind of a wild guess and I'll have to see with my DM, but wanted to gauge the feeling of those who have an idea of what 8 cubic feet look like.

Thanks in advance.

Bocklin

And I really do not know why I should be a smurf on the post above?

Dear Paizo team,

Seeing that I received Dungeon #150 and Dragon #359 yesterday in the post (in the nice borwn, hand-addressed enveloppe), but still have not received Dungeon #149 so far, would it be okay to ask for a replacement copy?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Bocklin

PS: No knowing what the official procedure for this is, I have also sent an email regarding this. I hope this is okay.

Is it safe to assume that this module will be designed for 4th level character (or whatever that is characters should be at the end of "Crown of the Kobold King")?

Thanks in advance for any info!

AU-141

Reading through D0, I noticed that Falcon's Hollow is supposed to be home to 1,400 persons. Is that correct? It seems a lot for a wild lumber outpost/town.

Also, the map seem to show buildings that could host maybe half of that figure, at most (IMHO).

As way of comparison, Diamond Lake was just above 1,000 inhabitants. The way I picture Falcon's Hollow from the module, it should probably be less, isn't it?

Any official or unofficial comments?

Thanks in advance!

Bocklin

You guys over in the US ever wondered what the European institutions are all about?

Well, on top of setting norms for the diameters of apples, they also have to discuss what Vodka actually is... Sometimes they even have to try it (thanks to Polish diplomats):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6766023.stm

Bocklin

Hi all,

Reading the rules about two-weapon fighting and armor spikes, I kind of get the impression that it would be possible to use the two-weapon fighting technique by combining a two-handed weapon (e.g. Greatsword) with Armor Spikes.

Is that correct??

The rules say that "if your off-hand attack is made with a light weapon, the penalties are reduced by 2" and the armor spikes entry say that you can use them to make an off-hand attack and they count as light weapon for that purpose.

The way I picture it, is that using your armor spikes leaves your hands free to wield a Greatsword or Greataxe...

Am I correct?

Bocklin

** PLEASE KEEP THIS THREAD FREE OF STAP SPOILER **

Hi all,

We are playing through STAP and my character from Sasserine just died while trying to reach Farshore on land after our ship ended on a sandbank north of the island (to make it short: he died of some mummy rot gone bad and other poison-linked complications).

I am now looking at creating an Olmani character (ranger/hunter-like) from the Isle of Dread to join the group. I have found some sources on Olman culture on Wikipedia and on Cannonfire, but this is not much.

Could anyone point to interesting sources that I might use to flesh out my character?

Thanks in advance.
Bocklin

HI Paizo folks,

Just a question, the product description says "The Flip side features rolling grassland and a mysterious clump of rocks". But you can't really see it on the product picture.

Sorry to say, but it sounds to me like "the flip side is empty but colored green". Could you say a bit more about this?

Is this really just featureless grass with one square of stone? Or is there more to the flip side than that?

Bocklin

Hi all,

Gnomes are kind of the laughing stock of my D&D group and it turns out that I'd like to have one as cohort for my character, just to make a point.

My main character is a NE Human Rogue 4/Fighter 2; "black corsair"-type, about to take his first level in the Scarlet Corsair PrC. We are right in the middle of "Sea Wyvern's Wake" (STAP), looking for fresh water before we leave the coasts of the Amedio Jungle and head for the Isle of Dread.

Anyway, I'd need a good pic to illustrate that Gnomes can be mean, evil, threatening bad-asses. The cohort will be either a Bard or a Wizard, female or male does not matter.

So, do you know of any good quality art, available on-line, that I could use to represent that character?

I am currently surfing through Deviant Art, but any pointer would be welcome.

Thanks in advance!

Bocklin

My subscriptions to Dragon and Dungeon are ending a couple of months before the transition (June I think), so I could not "transform" my subscriptions into Pathfinded and had to subscribe as "Charter Subscriber".

My question is now: can I prolongue my Dragon and Dungeon subscription for just the couple of months I'll be missing? Or do I have to get these two - three issues from a shop?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Bocklin

Recently announced product for the third trimester, with a strong Paizo presence, once more!

This time Paizo contributors Nicholas Logue and Amber Scott (working with Keith Baker and Scott Fitzgerald Grey) gratify us with...

Dragons of Eberron

Dragons of Eberron delves into the mysterious Draconic Prophecy and various draconic organizations. It [u]introduces the continent of Argonnessen[/u], homeland of the dragons, and describes various adventure sites and other places of interest that have never before been presented. The remainder of the book explores dragons on the continents of Khorvaire, Sarlona, and Xen'drik and provides several ready-to-play dragons, complete with stat blocks, lairs, encounters, and adventure hooks.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/eberron/957297200

The Paizo school is hogging the floor... ;-)

And it's nice to see one more Eberron book with Keith's name on the cover.

Bocklin

Bumpity bump for Hawaiian evening time-zone.

Hoping to catch Nic as he sips on a nice cocktail waiting for Rick and T.C.

I know it comes quite a while after the product came out, but I wanted to give two thumbs up to "Secrets of Xen'drik". I previewed the book in store and bought it right away on the base of what I saw. I have been reading it for a couple of hours and it is really well done.

The locales are nicely described, the adventure seeds are a great idea and the format is quite useful, the character options are more balanced than in other Eberron books. And the language is well over the WotC average.

So far I am getting a blast out of it and very much like the tone, very much in line with some of the best Eberron publications so far.

As I was enjoying it so much, I checked out who the authors were, an - OMG - two names I know and value (I already knew of Keith Baker, but hadn't paid attention to the others) : Amber Scott and Jason Buhlman!! Once again Paizo contributes to make a great WotC Product!

So, back to reading. And thanks to Jason and Amber for a great book!

Bocklin

Hi,

Just read the article on the four FR "new FR races" from two Dragons back and noticed that the Azerblood were given landspeed 30 ft. Feels strange for Dwarf-like creatures.

It's maybe to compensate their relative "weakness" compared to other LA +1 Planetouched races?

Can someone at Dragon magazine comment or shall I ask Eric Boyd directly?

Thanks a lot in advance!
Bocklin

Seen on the web:

THE MUSTER OF MORACH TOR
by russel brown
Deep in the Evermoors a plan to conquer the town of Nesme is forming, and the only person who can warn the town is about to be sacrificd to a slimy god. Can the PCs rescue the missing officer in time to save Nesme? A forgotten realms adventure for 4th-level characters

Great news for the Forgotten Realms, I am happy. Let's hope this will be good Realms stuff.

On a side note, it would (have) be(en) neat to have (had) a 1st level adventure set in Cormyr and that sets new characters ready to directly jump in the new FR mega campaign to be started next March. Am I being difficult? :-)

Bocklin

Hi all,

"The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde" is coming out next month and I was wondering if anybody knows if there is any connection (evident or less evident) to Greyhawk in this module.

I know that it is supposed to be a core mega-adventure, but was wondering if it's "core-Greyhawk" or "core-non specified", so to speak.

Anyone knows of a "Valley of Obelisks" on the Flanaess?

The link is here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/0786941960

In advance, thanks for your replies.
Bocklin

Hi all,

I felt like spending a couple of hours on photoshop so I came up with a map for running the Red Hand of Doom in Faerûn.

As you might know, the map of Elsir Vale is a near-perfect fit to the Channath Vale (Shining South, between Halruua and the Shaar), so it was not too hard. The map is based on an excerpt of the "Shining South" map of the western Shaar and I re-did it so the region fits perfectly to RHoD. I also added the missing locations.

I hope that this is fine in terms of copyrights. Otherwise, please, could someone from WotC let me know and I will remove the file from my server.

You can visualise the map here:

http://www.bocklin.net/d&d/The%20Channath%20Vale%20in%201373%20DR_RHoD_ Final.jpg

If the link does not work, just try to list the following directory:

http://www.bocklin.net/d&d/

Comments and suggestions welcome!

Bocklin

Dear Paizo team,

I was just wondering when we would next see a three-adventure arc in Dungeon? I very much enjoyed the last one (by Eric L. Boyd) and was wondering if we'd soon see such an arc come up again any time soon.

It's been quite some time since the Istivin arc and was also hoping that the next one would be set in Greyhawk (so far we had: Greyhawk - Eberron - Faerûn, so by my count Greyhawk would be next).

Any tip, info, confirmation or bean spilling welcome!!

Bocklin

Bump.

Welcome dear reader.

This thread will be dedicated to the chronicles of a new campaign we started yesterday (14 May 06). The campaign, which for the purpose of this thread I have named "The Orogs Vs the Spider Queen", is an adapted version of CotSQ, designed by our allmighty GM to surprise, challenge (and probably kill) us all, petty players.

Our group is an all-Orog troop and our home-base is the proud city of H’radazh, located about 2 miles beneath the surface world under the peak of Mt. Dhur Gob, the forked mountain, an inactive Volcano on the eastern Side of the Desertmouth Mountains looking over the Border to the Dalelands.

The current King, Shargat Bloodthorn, has shamelessly overthrown and killed the previous allmighty leader of our great city and we, of the Darkenskull tribe, now have to suffer his incompetent rule.

The weakling is afraid because of some recent Drow attacks in the neighbouring caverns and he has asked his military officers to put together a task force to investigate the occurences. This is how we came into play (wait for the next post to see how our first sally turned out).

For a start, I will disclose the group's composition. It's been fun to discover the characters created by my three game pals and I hope that I will do them justice with the following descriptions (made from Varrax' very subjective point of view).

Varrax Est'euumsh, male Orog Sorcerer (my character)

Varrax is a crafty and manipulative Orog from the Darkenskull tribe. Unfortunately for him, the previous king of the city (a Darkenskull himself) got overthrown after a coup and, since then, the Darkenskull have fallen into disgrace.

Varrax was away at the time the coup took place, so he managed to avoid the blood feud that followed the political upheaval. He now keeps a low profile and tries to play up his ties to the Sessmeuush (a cabal of demon binding Orog sorcerers), while playing down his ties to the Darkenskull.

Estul, his Quasit familiar, spends a lot of time spying and gathering information for Varrax, while he himself uses his incredible charisma and (magically enhanced) social talents to work his way up the social ladder.

Varrax' father (Harrax) was a mighty Cleric of Gruumsh killed in the chaotic times that followed the above-mentioned coup. From the time he suffered under his father's yoke, my mighty Orog sorcerer has kept a violent temper and a boundless admiration for Gruumsh's power.

More on Varrax will be forthcoming as occasions allow.

Molloch, male Orog fighter

As far as I can tell, Molloch is also an Orog. At least he looks like one, but he does not seem to have the noble and charismatic traits of our great race. I hear that he is somehow related to the (current) royal family and that his mother (one of the wives of the king) was actually experimenting with demons when she somehow got pregnant (voluntarily?) and later gave birth to three strange Orogs: Molloch, Legion and Belial.

Molloch seems to have gotten the short end of the gene-stick and he quickly fell out of grace with his family. It might make him a potential ally for our tribe... who knows?

To all avail, he is a strong and impressive fighter with loads of muscles that make up for his obvious lack of intelligence and poor perception. He constently mumbles about "Bakhtru" and seems to be engaged in a continuous inner dialogue with his orcish divinity.

Lormok, male Orog Cleric of Gruumsh

Much more aware of his own existence than Molloch will ever be, Lormok is the spiritual leader of the expedition. A middle-ranking cleric of Gruumsh, he has aquired a reputation for his constant swearing (I am talking by orcish standards!) and his obsession with the name of his god, which he likes to declaim, "chant" or shout at every opportunity.

Lormok sees our mission as a holy crusade and exults appropriately at every Drow that falls down on the battle field. I am not yet sure that Gruumsh has a hand in our undertaking, but at least it comforts me to know that we have proper religious guidance.

Urgalf, male Orog Druid

Gruumsh knows why the king has made this stranger the leader of our expedition! I have been told that he spent some years of his life on the surface, he might even be worshipping a non-orc divinity! This is a perfect illustration of our current king's lack of discernment.

This Orog dresses funny, talks funny and even smells funny! Believe me, I know what I talk about. I have met demons who are more of an Orog than he is! Anyway, this Sunfriend (puah!) is our leader and I will follow his lead as long as serves me. At least he has proven his usefulness on the battlefield and his mastery of plants and healing techniques should come in handy.

So, this is my first contribution. Keep your eyes open for more! I'll soon post a summary of our first stroll in the neighbouring underdark and of our lucky "escape" from a gigantic Black Pudding.

Bocklin/Varrax

Hi all,

Since I know some of those love this debate, I thought I'd throw in some figures to fuel the debate.

Google Trends

I came upon this tool thanks to Kajehase over at Candlekeep. It's quite interesting.

Basically, it is a graph comparing the volume of searches started on Google using specific keywords. It seems that "Dungeons & Dragons" (i.e. Core is well above), while the Forgotten Realms come second. Greyhawk and Eberron are competing for the third place, on a similar heigth.

Bocklin

Hi,

I have been trying to acquire some modicum of knowledge about Greyhawk and read a couple of books in the past months. So, looking at Savage Tide, I think I'll try to put a group of players together and run the AP3 in the World of Greyhawk.

I understand that the RPGA local groups have advanced the timeline quite a bit since the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer came out and I was wondering how relevant it was for the Amedio jungle, Hold of the Sea Princes and Scarlet Brotherhood.

Will Savage Tide be based on what the situation was in the LGG or will it take into account RPGA developments for those regions? Or maybe it's not relevant at all?

In advance, thanks to James or whomever can answer this.

Bocklin

Yes, I did. I have to confess. I could not resist anymore.

For years, Dungeon had been working its way insidiously in my life. I started buying a few issues and then I read some editorial by a guy named Mona. He was new and was announcing that he just got some important job for the magazine. Made me happy for him, but I did not realize yet what it would mean for me and my future.

It did not take two or three months for me to get hooked on Dungeon. The adventures seemed to become better and better, you started to always get three (and of various level categories), and it focused more and more on D&D.

Yesterday I looked at my book shelf and saw that I had bought all issues of Dungeon of the past two years, and a good bunch of Dragon magazines as well. It did not make sense, really. I never had been so faithful to a magazine in my whole 30 years of life.

Then, this morning, I surfed on the Paizo website and saw the pic of some cool Sorcerer riding a Black Dragon. It made click and I did it. It was the only thing rational thing to do.

So, from now on, behold the beautiful "Subscriber" words next to my name. Dungeon AND Dragon. Yep. Did not want to do half things.

I have sold my soul and purse to Paizo, I submit to the might of the gods Onma and Cojasb. May they entertain me for a full year.

Well done Erik, James and others: I am a subscriber, and even a happy and proud one! Thanks for the delicious addiction.

Bocklin

Hi Vic and Paizo team,

I was just thinking that it would be really great if there was some kind of "AP Subscription Option".

I intend to subscribe to Dungeon for when the next AP starts, but it's never quite easy to make sure you subscribe at the right time to get the issue you want.

So, would it be possible to subscribe now, but with the explicit instruction that my 12-issues subscription should start with the first issue of the next AP?

I am asking because I will be on a very long trip far from internet for a good three month and that would coincide with when I should probably take care of this.

In advance, thanks for your feedback.

Bocklin

So, seen from the cover of issue #135, it seems that the next AP will be named "Savage Tide".

Maybe my wish for water-based and undersea adventure will be fulfiled? Or is this "tide" more like a horde of rampaging humanoids?

What do you think? Speculation time is open! (at least until some lucky folks receive their issue and can start spilling the beans)

Bocklin

Hi all,

Question to German subscribers: what is your experience with your Dungeon subscription lately?

How long does it take for an issue to reach you? Does it vary from month to month? Do issues get lost a lot?

I am asking to see if I should consider re-taking a subscription. I live in Berlin and used to have a Dungeon subscription (two years ago), but was disappointed with the delays involved in the delivery.

My first issue took 8 or 9 weeks to arrive, then the second got lost and the third arrived (with a replacement copy for the lost one) as the next issue was hitting the shelves of my local gaming store. So by that time I had all my issues, but was one issue back compared to what my local store in Berlin had.

I was kind of frustated with the situation and Paizo was kind enough to cancel my subscription after I had discussed that with them.

Since then I have been buying Dungeon every month from a German shop but I am thinking that I am losing on the price since having a subscription would be cheaper.

So I might re-subscribe, but would like to hear from you. How is the situation lately? Has it improved compared to two years ago?

Bocklin

Hi all,

I have some troubles finding a system that pleases me about this topic (character wealth and item creation Feats) and I'd like to see how you DMs handle this.

Here is how I do it so far:

1) For each of my players, I have an Excel worksheet with all the items they owe (including really everything from their holy water or sunrod to their +5 keen human bane bastard sword).

I update the sheet after every module (not during it), so I can keep track of how they are faring in terms of wealth. I also have a separate sheet to keep track of the things they owe in common (like "wands of cure x wounds" or spoils they have not sold yet).

The sheet automatically calculates their wealth as it should be for their actual XP (calculating their progression within their current level as a percentage). So it's quite precise.

2) If they miss on treasures because of mistakes or poor perfomances, I do not try to fix it right away.

I usually do a "fixing" action every three levels. So if they have less equipment than needed for their level and it is because of their mistake, they lag a bit behind for a level or two (doing penance) and then they find a particularly large hoard or treasure that brings them back afloat.

3) On the other hand, if I have been too generous (by mistake), I tend to starve them for spoils until it is more or less corrected.

But if I failed to give them enough treasures overall (and it's not their fault), then I try to fix it quickly to reestablish the balance.

The problem I have is this:

If the wizard can Craft Wondrous Items and she makes herself "Bracers of Armor +3". Shall these count at their full value against her wealth per level?

I tend to think "no". Since I regularly balance their actual wealth against what it should be, it would mean that she possesses the same value of equipment like her fellow adventurers, whereas her Feat is supposed to give her an edge in making the most out of her share of the money they find.

At the same time, if I count the object for only half its price (since it's what it costed her), she might end up being much much better equipped than the others (overtime). That's maybe the intention of the Feat, but can't this go too far?

Furthermore, since she is paying XPs for her stuff, it means that she should possess a bit less than the others, whereas her Feat tends to

Well, you see the mess I am in.

Maybe it is because I do control at the "exit" (i.e. what do they owe) and not at the "entrance" (what do they get). The reason I chose to do so is because potions and scrolls get used and disappear, items get sold and lose value, etc. So if I respect the official "treasure value per encounter" in the DMG, my experience is that they quickly end up underequipped (because of value loss of items used or resold).

I would be happy if you could let me know how you are dealing with this yourself and hear any tips or suggestions you'd have.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Bocklin

(just giving it a bump, in case I get more lucky today)

Hi,

I just saw that #135 will feature this adventure ("Funeral Procession") for 1st level characters and I was wondering about the location.

I understand that Saltmarsh is this town in southern Keoland (or is it Northern Sea Princes Hold? He He He!). But I thought I also saw a "Saltmarsh" in DMG II.

Is the adventure making any assumption about which Saltmarsh it is? Or maybe both Saltmarshes are the same anyway?

Bocklin

Hi James (and others),

At some point last year, Eric Boyd had suggested that it might help a lot for the conversion notes if the "conversion team" was involved in the design of the next AP (so as to spot difficult elements to convert early, and suggest minor tweakings to make the AP more "portable").

I was just wondering if this had actually taken place or not. Any update on this?

More generally, are there been any final decisions regarding the conversion policy for AP3? Will the conversion notes be in the mag or in separate online files? (I hope for the second, because having them in the mag might mean that they are very short...) Will it still be Keith and Eric doing the conversions?

Any tips and infos on the conversion issue are welcome!

Bocklin, FR-fan

Hi!

I don't know how long this has been there, but if you go on the "Year of Dragons" page:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/yearofdragons

You can download a pdf brochure with all the dragon-themed products of WotC for this year.

Among "Dragonmarked" (an Eberron source book on Dragonmarked characters and house) and "Dragon Magic" (an generic source book), you have "Scourge of the Howling Horde".

Scourge of the Howling Horde
Brave new heroes are needed to thwart goblinoid raids on the countryside and discover the draconic influence behind the attacks in this introductory adventure for players and
Dungeon Masters.
A D&D® Adventure
$14.95 US
0-7869-3935-4
SKU 953827400
November 2006

This plot sounds a lot like the one of Red Hand of Doom to me. I guess it is a strange coincidence, but can't WotC find another idea??

RHoD does already a perfect job of being THE adventure of goblinoids being run/inspired by Dragons, so why have another one the same year??

Bocklin

Hi,

Short question: surfing canonfire I was surprised to find some resources related to Ivid the Undying. I seem to remember that I saw references to him in a recent FR book ("Champions of Ruin"?).

Is he originally a Greyhawk figure? Is he some kind of "crystal sphere"-hopper?

Bocklin

Hi all,

A question for the Greyhawk history beef out there (come out, don't be shy):

What other spells (i.e. other than the two in the PHB) has Tenser developped?

I don't think that there are any other spells named after him in any 3.0 or 3.5 product, but what about 2nd edition products?

It would be interesting to revisit these and try to adapt them to 3.5. It would make an interesting and unusual contribution to the spellbook of the group's wizard (adressing the issue raised on another thread).

Bocklin

Hi all,

In preparation of the Encounter with Zyrxog (HoHR), I have a couple of issues I'd like to have the help of the Messageboarders with.

My main worry is that the DC for his Mind Blast ability is quite high (DC 23) and that my players will likely end up like a bunch of standing vegetables, waiting for their brains to be plucked by the evil Illithid.

In that regard, what are the usual tricks to deal with the Mind Blast ability (beside Will save boosters)?

1) Can you "Dispel Magic" the Stunning? I don't think so.

2) Is it possible to make yourself immmune to Mind Blast by way of a level 4 (or less) spell?

3) What can you actually do while stunned? My reading is that you can't do anything at all, but I wanted to make sure. Can't you even grapple back to avoid having your brain sucked out?

4) Do you actually get a Ref save if stunned? (I am thinking of stunned characters in the way of one of Zyrxog's empowered lighting bolts). Do they get a Ref save, but without the Dex bonus? Does the Evasion class ability still works while you are stunned?

So, I have not ever run a Mind Flayer so far and I want to make sure to do it right when we get there. In advance, thanks for your help.

Bocklin

Hi all,

I am not DMing the story in Eberron, but was wondering how those of you doing so were handling the issue.

Eberron is supposed to be this low-level world where the heroes are (nearly) the only one with straight PC class progressions and there are no known Epic level NPCs to save the day if things go awry. There are even some optional rules in "S:CoT" to handle games which gives less XPs to the heroes, so as to brake their progression and maintain the feeling.

On the other hand, the AoW is a pretty fast campaign catapulting beginners to Lvl 20 in less than a year of in-setting time.

So I was wondering how you were handling this: simply ignore it and go ahead with the AP as is? Stretch the timeline and space out the various AP modules with breaks and side trecks in between? Or something else?

Bocklin

Dear Erik, James and other Dragon editors,

First of all let me thank you for all your hard work and your continuous support to the magazine(s) through these Boards. That's really amazing.

I realize that with the end of the year and the 9th of January coming up soon (seems it's a big deadline for you), you are kept quite busy, but I thought I would ask nevertheless.

Would you give us some kind of mysterious sneak preview of some great articles you have brewing for Dragon magazine in 2006?

Let's say by categories:

1) Genuine Greyhawk stuff
2) Forgotten Realms background article
3) Eberron background article
4) Old/abandonned settings

I'd be happy with just one cryptic hint for each or just some of these points. The guessing and pondering of what you might be secretely preparing there can be nearly as much fun as reading the actual articles, sometimes!

Hope you can give us some bits to keep us guessing and discussing.

In advance, thanks a lot!

Bocklin

Just a crazy idea I wanted to share here.

What if a PC comes up with the idea to wear some kind of silvered armor to gain some modicum of protection against worms of Kyuss?

Since the worms are killed by contact with silver it should be a pretty efficient way to keep them off. How would you deal with it?

I was thinking of the following approach:

Whenever a character receives one or more worm (after a slam attack, or after being sprayed by a scion or falling in a pool of worms, etc.), roll a percentage dice. Chances that one given worm hits the armor and thus dies are "AC bonus x 10%". Where AC bonus is the base AC bonus, excluding enhancement bonus from enspelled armor. Roll separately for each worm.

Example: a silvered Chainshirt has 40% of killing out right a worm coming in contact with you, while a banded plate has 60% and a full plate 80%.

Does that make sense? How would you do it?

There should also be some kind of drawbacks for wearing a silvered armor. Suggestion:

1) It costs a lot: price x3 and it has to be mwk; this could make a silvered full plate a hefty 4,800 gp

2) The Dex penalty is augmented by 1

3) The armor can't be of another metal (which is annoying in its own right): no Mithral or Adamantine plate for you...

Comments welcome.

Bocklin

Hi!

Was wondering if there would also be a Wormfood article in the special edition of Dragon on the "Classic" settings. What will it be covering?

Thanks in advance to anyone at Paizo who will take the time to reply!

Bocklin

Hi Eric,

(I guess you are still surfing these Boards)

I just wanted to say that I really really liked your adaptation notes for the two adventures based in Waterdeep. They weave the AoW very nicely into the great city of the Realms. The way you have involved the waterdhavian families is grand, and the links with existing organisations is realy realy neat.

I am about to resurrect my AoW campaign (after an horrendous TPK in 3FoE) and really look forward to my players reaching Waterdeep.

Thanks for your great work!

Bocklin

Hi all,

In the preview of Dungeon #130 it indicates that there will be a level 1 Forgotten Realms adventure set in "the hamlet of Thistle". Any idea where that is in the FR?

Bocklin

Hi people,

The nice Greyhawk mythology background used for the AoW Adventure Path has attracted my attention and I would like to read more good stuff about Greyhawk.

I came to D&D with the 3rd, so I only know Greyhawk through the fade and distorting lense of the Core books. Hence my question:

What is the best read for someone who wants to start with Greyhawk?

I once saw the 3rd Ed. "Living Greyhawk Sourcebook" (or something like that). Is it worth it? For the old sources available as cheap pdf, what would you recommend?

Hope some Greyhawk expert can chime in and suggest something. ;-)

Thanks,
Bocklin

Dear Paizo Staff,

Welcome back to your office after some crazy time at Gencon. :-)

I was wondering if there were any news about Official Converstion Notes for the SCAP Hardcover. Is it still in your plans? Do you have an idea when that might come out?

I must admit that my decision to buy the book is actually strongly linked to the existence of such Official Conversion Notes and I would be happy to know if there will be some.

In advance, thanks for your reply.

Bocklin

Hi everybody,

I am looking at adapting TFoE for the FR and was wondering about a couple of things:

1) In TFoE, how to properly equate the deities? I am following Eric's adaptation notes and the Ebon Triad will be worshipping the "Dead Three" (Bane, Myrkul and Bhaal).

For this adventure it means that the Faceless one will be a follower of Myrkul and the followers of Hextor will be Banites. These are no-brainers.

But I am a bit hesitating to have a gang of Grimlocks worshipping Bhaal... I am not so knowledgeable about the former god of murder, but he seems much more sneaky and subtile than Erythnul and I don't see Grimlock worshipping him. What do you think? Maybe we should just replace the Grimlocks by something else?

2) The "Aspect of the Ebon Triad", which is triggered at the end of the end of the scenario, has powers (and physical features) which are directly associated to the three gods. Maybe we should also have him look differently and have other powers?

How would you do it? Once again, the "rage" thingy he got from Erythnul does not seem to fit Bhaal... And the Vecna ability is not so Myrkul-friendly, but seems kind of ok nevertheless...

For the appearance, he could have the Myrkulite horns, and attack with the radiating gauntlet of Bane. But I do not see any reasons for him to have six arms... Maybe if each of them where carrying the various weapons of the assassin, so that it is Bhaal-themed? One arm would wield a dagger, another one poisoned darts, etc.? Does not sound so great...

Let me know how you did it or how you intend to do it!

Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.

Bocklin

Hello people at Paizo,

The preview for Dragon #334 is now online and it indeed mentions the next instalment of Wormfood, but does not say anything substantial about it.

Would it be possible to know what it covers? It would help my work as DM to know what my players are likely to find in their copy. ;)

Bocklin