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Hello! I just received a second copy of The Pathfinder Issue #1 and the Player's Guide - I think that perhaps of adding my remaining Dragon and Dungeon issues into *one* Pathfinder subscription, it has rolled over into two concurrent ones? I'm loving Pathfinder, and want to have all my remaining Dragon and Dungeon issues rolled over into an ongoing Pathfinder subscription - but two is one more than I need. :)
I'm in a position I'm sure most would be very happy to be in - too many players. Most of the players are willing to play every other week or so, and eight players is a bit too much. So, it got me thinking about running two separate groups of four (every week, alternating which four), and every now and then weaving in the interrelated campaign so that they can 'shuffle' themselves into different groups of four. I'd start with one major adventure, with all eight (suffering through the 'fun' of eight characters), and then end with an obvious division of equally important tasks, and have the group split up into the two arcs of the story. When they do meet up again, they could role-play what they've learned, and as they gain levels, we could even use magical communication (albeit delayed) to chat between the groups (or, heck, they could do so via e-mail, really). My question becomes whether any of you have done this before, and/or how it went, what hurdles you hit, etc? I know time-keeping will be one of them, but quite frankly, if they designate a "meet-up" spot, if one group gets there days before the other, that's fine - it's bonus item creation time, or what-have-you. And I'm just imagining the extra layer of fun of having, say, the Sorcerer from group A switch with the Wizard from group B and knowing everything that happened in the A-track of adventures, but not what's been going on in the B-track... at least, until the others tell him. It does also mean there'd have to be two healers, one for each group, heh. I've only got one person who enjoys being the Cleric (other than me). Ah well, that's what cohorts are for... Any advice on 'concurrent adventure path' ideas would also be appreciated. I'm tempted to work in my 'Dagger Guild' stuff in the city base of the path(s), so that I can happily give those who return to the city early something to do...
Oh, and my Dragon 359 came wrapped in plastic - with no giant anything inside. :(
Hello! I seem to be missing my Dragon 357 (July)... :( Thanks,
...and knocked out two of them. Egad. That trio of assassins, the Sorcerer, the Rogue/Cleric, and the Fighter, showed up with their buff spells aplently, the Sorcerer in a greater invisibility, and the silence effect going on and it was ugly. Three lightning bolts and one power attack from the half-orc later, and both Gaspar (Fighter/Cleric/Radiant Servant of Pelor) and Gunther (Cleric of Kord) are down. Gavin (Fighter/Occult Slayer) is below half his hit points, Jayna (Rogue/Wizard/Arcane Trickster) has 3 hp remaining, and things are not looking bright for the group. Callis (Druid) managed to get to dire-bear form and then the tide turned, and Jayna popped off a 'see invisibility,' 'dispel magic,' and 'orb of acid' triple-play that knocked the Sorcerer out of commission, and the rest was clean up after that - the other two assassins did try to get away, but failed. Strangely, 'I-die-every-other-session' Crake (Rogue/Wizard/Thief-Acrobat) didn't get hurt at all. So, even with six characters, that scene at the start of Chapter 7? Deadly.
Hey-ho all - I've been away from forums for a while, worse luck, but I've still been whittling away on Lilith's fabulous NPC Stat bank (over at http://www.dmtools.org/ - if you've not been, you should go). I've been crafting a generic thieves guild of sorts (if you search under 'Dagger Guild' they'll all show up), and I'm getting to the best parts - the inner circle at the top, and the guildmaster. Somehow, without really meaning to, I've found myself writing back-story, history, and the like. I'm wondering if there's any interest at all for the 'when, where, why and how' that would go with the 'who' list you get when you search 'Dagger Guild.' I couldn't help myself - this became a bit of a fun mental exercise. By the time I'm finished, there'll actually be a CR for everything between 1 and 22 for the generic Dagger Guild, and ideas for hooks of each. I've decided that my next campaign will involve the Dagger Guild as an on-going 'B' or 'C' plot, as a way to give the city setting a nice consistency, and as a fun way to make back-colour suddenly turn into some really deadly immediate action, and a potential adventure all of its own at the end. Anyway, enough shameless self promotion - if you'd like to hear some of the back-story, I figured here was as good a place as any...
Hello! It looks like something went wrong with my subscriptions. I haven't received Dragon 352 (nor 353, if that has shipped to Canada) yet - but I've received double of Dungeon 143 and as of today, double of Dungeon 144... My side-bar lists me having 8 more Dragon issues to go, and 3 more Dungeon - but I purchased 12 more issues of Dungeon in November of 2006 (shouldn't there be around 8-9 of those left?), and my most recent subscription for Dragon was in June (so about 4-5 of those should be left?) I'm mightily confused! Thanks!
Hello! I placed an order for the Campaign Workbook for someone for Christmas last year (heh!) and it'll finally be out at the end of this year (heh heh!), but I've noticed that my previous incarnation of credit card has since expired for said order, placed in 2005. I can't seem to figure out how to update the credit card for said order... help?
My group is just about to wrap up the 'Test of the Smoking Eye' and as such it's time to roll out the assassins when they return to Cauldron. How did that encounter go for all of you? Tricks/tips? I'm intending to put some of the local NPCs that the PCs <I>like</I> in the room as well (it's going to be a little party to celebrate Skylar Krewis' engagement to the neighbor of one of the PCs). I do have a rather large group of PCs as well: a Druid, a Cleric/Fighter/Radiant Servant of Pelor, a Rogue/Diviner/Arcane Trickster, a Rogue/Thief-Acrobat, a Fighter/Occult Slayer, and a Cleric of Kord. Will the three assassins be enough, you think, to really throw a scare into them, or should I mayhap add a fourth assassin? Thoughts, as always, appreciated.
More fun on Occipitus: During the fight with the Rakshasa and the Fire Giant, the ever-fun Rogue/Thief-Acrobat Crake used his wand of mirror image, and I said, "Okay, so now there are four Crakes standing about." At which point, Callis, the Druid, yelled, "I'm sick of these mother-$%#^ing Crakes on this mother-%^$&ing plane!" Eventually, we continued playing.
Every time I look at one of those Maps of Mystery, I get about a dozen ideas (some lame, most average, and rarely a good one, I'm sure, but ideas nonetheless). I'm wondering if anyone other than myself would be interested in listing said ideas here in a thread? How have you used them in the past, which map/issue, etc? And of course, ideas you've had that you've never actually managed to play, etc etc...
If you've never listened to an audiobook, I highly recommend the 'Across the Nightingale Floor' audio presentation. The readers are fantastic, the storyline is wonderful, and you'll end up with a hankering to find more ancient Japan to explore. Faboo stuff, and there was just a fourth book released (but, alas, unlike the other three, there are different readers this time). Anyway, all are available through audible.com (which is how I end up listening to all of them through my iPod).
...and I get married. Holy crap that snuck up.
Just about to take my players into the 'Test of the Smoking Eye.' Any advice from those who have played it on the pacing / areas of concern, etc? I'm a little worried that there's no one in the group with much in the way of Diplomacy for a few of the events, and I'm really worried about the Fire Giant with Improved Sunder (the likely target is a human fighter 4/cleric 4/Radiant servant of Pelor 2 who has taken 'Ancestral Weapon' and made his spiked chain quite the weapon - and I think it'll just crush him to not have that chain for a while, until he can fix it...) Any thoughts or concerns to share?
I just tucked a back issue of Dungeon, the new OoTS book preorder, and the OoTS game preorder into my shopping card, and... $37.00 shipping and handling. *sigh* I'm sure you guys do your best, I really am - but is this really the only option I've got - living in Canada - to order from you guys? I really *do* want to place orders through your site, but... well, that's almost as much as one of the items I'm ordering. :(
So, my players (the Liberators) just finished up 'The Demonskaar Legacy' and to my incredulous surprise, they actually defeated the demon. Really, it was pretty much the combination of the Cleric of Kord (wielding 'Alakast') and the Druid (who maxed out his roll for Summon Monster V, and got five dire wolves, which he then 'animal growth'ed). So while Nabthatoron tried to off Alek (which he managed to do), the PCs pounded him into paste. I will admit that I had him make a decision based on faulty knowledge. When the group agreed to go hunting Alek for Jenya, they asked for official "badges" or somesuch to make it easier on their investigation. She gave them little medallions with the symbol of St. Cuthbert on it, so when the demon saw all these St. Cuthbert-wearing people in the company of Alek, his first notion was to let loose a Chaos Hammer. But, since the group has absolutely no lawful members, the only person he hurt very much at all was Alek. I was planning on him teleporting out in the very next round after slaying the Paladin, but the Druid's animal growthed wolves got off a nice round of savaging (when you roll five attack rolls twice due to haste, the chances of a natural twenty or two are quite high) and the Kord cleric decided now was a good time for his feat of strength - and then critical hit - and... Well, demon goo. It was a great scene, though. They were very scared, and now feel very chuffed. Definitely fodder for their reputation - and more annoyance for the Stormblades, who keep coming off as their poor cousins.
I could be insane, but I swear I recently read an article or a chapter in a supplement about having other characters contribute their XP when a spellcaster is using an item creation feat (ie: "I'm building these gauntlets of ogre power for you, mister fighter, so I want you to spend your experience points, not mine!") And now, of course, after discussing this with my fiance, and showing it to him... ...we can't find it. Please, sages of the world webbed wide - help?
Hello! My issue of Dragon 344 hasn't arrived yet, and it is listed as having shipped more than two weeks ago - should I be on a panic setting yet?
I really enjoyed the series of articles in Dungeon/Dragon about getting along without X (where X is the Rogue, or the Cleric, etc). I was wondering if you'd all be willing to share tips and tricks from the other side of the fence - as the DM. Do you tweak, or not tweak, and how, depending on the character classes in your player groups? I currently GM for three groups. The first doesn't require a whole lot of tweaking: They include a human male exalted monk with the vow of poverty, a human male rogue/fighter/tempest/dervish, an elf male cleric/divine disciple, and a half-elf male sorcerer/force missile mage/argent savant. They're all at around 14th level now, and the only tweaking I often have to worry about is the flexibility of wizardly/arcane spells - they have nearly none, though the cleric did pick up the Magic domain, and now scrolls are one way around this for them. The prestige class also cut into the cleric's ability to properly turn undead, so I sometimes tweak the undead encounters a little bit (either lower CRs but more of them, or scaling back a bit on the toughness of one big fella). The second group is a gestalt character one for when three of us meet up (we rotate GMing there, which is fun, though I've got the main storyline, and they fill in gaps): We play a human male Rogue/Warlock; a half-orc male Fighter/Cleric of Obad'Hai, and a human male Wizard/Spirit Shaman. They've only hit 2nd level, but the gestalt thing has been a hit so far - the tweaking is more about numbers of enemies rather than total EL or CR. That, and treasure seems to be a minor issue - everyone seems to find everything useful, so it's harder to place items for each character specifically. Last group is for the Shackled City campaign, and I'm having the hardest time with them: Human Male Druid 9, Human Female Rogue 3/Diviner 5 (aiming for Arcane Trickster), Human Male Cleric 4/Fighter 4/Radiant Servant of Pelor 1, Human Male Fighter 6, Human Male Rogue 5/Diviner 1. They've also got the Druid's former wolf animal companion, who is awakened now and his follower (Wolf Scout 4). Their lack of higher level cleric spells is mostly mitigated by the Druid, but they're really lacking for the arcane oomph - and although the Arcane Trickster will now keep gaining spell levels - the lack of automatically gained wizard spells is going to hurt, especially mid-adventure. Scrolls aren't super common in the Shackled City series, and time to scribe them into spellbooks is similarly tight during chapters. I'm tempted to apprentice her to a wizard at the Academy, and have spells in her spellbook scribed for her ahead of time by her master, and she'll have to cope with making Spellcraft checks to prepare them until such time as she can copy them into her own spellbook. So - how do you all deal with such things?
Are there other shipping options available for shipping to Canada other than the two listed? 8$ US or 7$ US for a thirteen dollar product makes me extremely hesitant to order quite a lot of the things I'd otherwise like to order through Paizo. I end up scouring Canadian sites just for a cheaper shipping cost.
I just received an "Expired Notice" for my subscription to Dungeon, saying it had been two weeks since my final issue had been shipped in my one-year subscription. However, I added 12 issues quite a while back - and the column to the left of my screen says I have 12 left... Is this just an error in the processing of the "send a letter" prompt, or is something askew?
Oh man. So, I read the entry into how the Tax Riot was supposed to work. And was immediately confused: the mob doesn't have any way to attack other than to move into someone's space, which I get - it's a swarm. But later on in the text, it talks about how the eight rioters surrounding Skylar take a club to him... But, there's no listing for rioters, on an individual basis, there's just the riot, a mob of humans. Which doesn't attack that way. Huh? I re-read, and eventually just made up my mind that the mob itself was going to meander around and cause havoc for the PCs, who were trying to help both Maavu (saving him from the Breathdrinker), and Skylar (who I surrounded with low-level thug types), but as it is written in the hardcover, did anyone make sense of how things are supposed to be? Because if Skylar is surrounded by the rioters, then he'd really be taking 5d6 damage, no avoiding it; or, if they're just all the way around him, without occupying his space, then he's not taking damage at all, because a mob has no reach/ability to damage adjacent squares? Long story short, my group managed to actually take down the Breathdrinker with little to no trouble, and the rather astute players decided that the place to be in a demonstration was the roofs (druid shapechanged into a bird, the diviner/thief used her slippers of spider climbing, the rogue just climbed and jumped his way there) The Cleric stayed close to Maavu, and the Fighter was in the crowd, but both survived, with aid from the characters above, and the druid, who dismissed the reduce animal on his dire wolf (that's how he keeps her with him while inside the city), then followed up with an enlarge animal - no movement penalties for that dire wolf. It was a good scene - they all decided to use nonlethal damage and/or spells that didn't do damage to pacify the mob, rather than killing it. They dispersed it mostly by inflicing negative levels by taking down individuals in the mob. It didn't last long.
Given the scheduling conflicts I have with my SCAP group, we're switching to a once-every-other-week schedule on a week-day night, which means we'll be playing SCAP through to, oh, 2007 or so. ;) However, two of the players and myself are thinking of round-robin GMing we few three on the alternate weeks. This means I finally get to play a PC, woo-hoo! But, before we start, I wondered if any others did a weekly or bi-monthly game where DMing rotated? Any advice? Thoughts? I'm thinking we'll just use the various fabulous Dungeon adventures when I or my fiance GM, and I'm not sure where the other player will draw his adventures, but what would you suggest for handling the multi-GM role? I see three major alternatives: (1) We each have two PCs, one for each GM. So, when GM A is in charge, my PC A and my fiance's PC A are playing, but when my fiance GMs, I use my PC B, as does our other player... so that there's no overlap. (2) We each have a PC, but at any point in time, only two of them are active. (3) We each have a PC, and the GM's PC is an NPC for the duration of the adventure, with a whole lot less central role.
Has it ever been considered to put the level of the adventure on the spine of the magazine? Something like: "Mad God's Key (1)" It just occurred to me that that would make life a bit easier for people with growing collections who want to look for the six first level adventures they have in their collection, but can't recall the names. I'm a big ol' geek and make a spreadsheet, but this would be, going forward, another way of doing things. Feasable?
Hey y'all... I just ran my group through the Istivin "Abyss" Trilogy (117-118-119) and now that they're at 13th-14th level, I'm noticing that single villains just don't have a chance. The hand-spur, tentacle-rodded, drow dark cleric of the elemental eye drow with the stitched elf face smask fella? He didn't get a turn. The swashbuckling drow dervish? She got a single turn - move action and began to dance, but that's all. It's the hit-point output damage problem of higher level characters - the group that played these adventures are: A human monk (with the vow of poverty feat)
Put simply, when they win initiative, they can churn out quite the damage in the first round, and as such, a single villain doesn't really cut it... The Malgoth did very well just from aerial superiority and multiple "Evard's Black Tentacles." I'm wondering if I should fudge the hp now and then to let the villains at least have one attack, or if I should re-work adventures to have a mix of CRs instead of one CR villain (ie: if I'd chopped a level or two from that dark elf cleric and given him a high hit-point minion to soak up some damage). How have other folks on the boards here handled this issue?
When you're running an adventure with random encounter tables (ie: the Istivin trilogy from 116-117-118), do you add more treasure in to the mix when a random encounter or two goes by, or do the adventures assume a random encounter or two? I mean, if the party stumbles into a dragon, I use the Draconomicon to figure out what it had in its hoard, and what it could use (fantastic tables, those), and so on, but, say, bumping into four mind flayers on the way through the underdark, do you pause, roll up treasure, figure out what they've got, etc etc? Just wondering what y'all do, and whether or not treasure from random encounters is included in Dungeon adventures.
The ever-shifting group of PCs of mine are about to reconvene for some Shackled City action, and I've noticed they've lost access to high leveled Arcane and Cleric-Divine spells... Back before the hardcover collection, it started with: A half-elf bard, a halfling rogue, a human fighter, a human rogue, a human wizard, a human druid, and an elf ranger. Given how tough "Life's Bazaar" was, the vast number of characters really helped keep them alive. Alas, the half-elf bard was the wife of a player, hadn't played before, didn't really like it much, and left (so, I had her be the love interest of both Fario and Fellian, and had her disappear, snatched by Vhalantru when she went looking into the history of Cauldron, and she's now a statue to be rescued in Oblivion). He went soon after, as it wasn't kosher to lose a weekend day without his wife, alas, so the halfling rogue is now a rat (part of our concession to not everyone being able to make it was to 'curse' the party with a randomly triggered baleful polymorph, where sometimes they just randomly turn into animals for a while). By the end of Zenith Trajectory, this left us with: The elf Ranger/Beloved of Valerian, the human Wizard/Incantatar, the human Rogue/Diviner (heading for Arcane Trickster), the human Fighter/Cleric of Pelor (heading for Radiant Servant of Pelor), and the human Druid (who, as my fiance, manages to make every session, and just hit 9th level, rather than 8th, so he took Leadership, used "Awaken" on his animal companion wolf, who is now his cohort, once we tossed in a few levels of Scout). Then the players of the Elf and the Wizard/Incantatar got married, found a job in another province, and vamoosed. In story, he tried to defeat the polymorphing curse that was zapping them into animals and back on a random basis, and instead merged himself with the Elf (he was trying to free her from the curse first). Now he's sometimes a half-elf male (or female) wizard/ranger with levels in both, sometimes a human male wizard with a single level in ranger, and sometimes an elf female ranger with a single level in wizard - or anywhere melded between the extremes. Poor guy/gal. He's retiring until he figures out a way to split himself up again, but (s)he cameos here and there. As does the halfling rat who has yet to change back into halfling, ever. So, I pulled in some other players. A human rogue, a human fighter, a half-elf sorcerer, and my fiance playing back-up cleric of Pelor action. I ran them through "Mad God's Key," (and had Veltargo be a part of the Ebon Triad, researching things from that book as part of the plans to create the soulcages), which let the second group following notes to Cauldron. They've almost done "Drathkar's Way," and with my extra generosity with XP, they'll be at about 6th level by the time we start "Demonskaar Legacy," (yeah, they'll be underpowered, but I'm going to do my best to level them out as they go). Where we'll end up beginning "Demonskaar" is: Human Druid 9
I'm a tad worried about the lack of higher level Cleric spells, although the Druid has access to some solutions. Has the lack of a high powered Cleric hit anyone else on the path as an issue? Ditto high levelled arcane magics?
So, struggling through the rat swarms, the group valiantly manages to slaughter goblins while getting peppered with crossbow bolts and suffering the little magics of the adept during area 19 of "Drathkar's Way." They're doing fairly well, so I decided to toss Drathkar's first appearance in his hit-and-run style (he's supposed to pop up, deal a bit of damage or dominate someone, then run off to fast-heal, and repeat ad nauseum, right?) Except the cleric of Pelor raised his holy symbol, used his greater turning ability, rolled well, and blasted Drathkar into destroyed bits. It's amazing what five ranks of Knowledge (religion), the Sun domain, and a nice Charisma will do, even to a vampire bugbear with his turn resistance. Moment of silence for the bad-guy who didn't even get to swing a morningstar. Even if I decide to get creative with the rules and consider "destroyed" as "reduced to 0 hit points" and let Drathkar gaseous form himself back to his coffin, it's over - as the PCs have an hour to stake him... Is there actually anything anywhere saying that a Vampire that is destroyed by turning goes gaseous, or is he just destroyed? Destroyed isn't the same as "reduced to 0 hit points" really, so I'm figuring he's just toasted, but at least the PCs will go hunting his coffin if I have him wisp away...
Having just gotten my "Races of the Dragon," I was happy to see a whole slew of new "Power Word" spells (all the way from 1st level, wooyah!). But, "Power Word, Pain," seems a tad much for a first level spell. Against creatures with less and fifty hit points (which, say, is everything a first, second, and maybe even third level character would ever encounter), the spell deals 1d6 points of damage for 4d4 rounds, no save, nothing. Granted, with bad rolls, that could be 4 points of damage. But average rolls would make that 3.5 points of damage for 10 rounds, or 35 points of damage... at first caster level. Am I missing something? Or should this spell be on the lips of every single enemy the PCs encounter, and in every starting PC's spellbook? Granted, it looses efficacy later on - an enemy with 101+ hp isn't affected, and those with 51-75, and those with 76-100 have a much lesser duration on the spell, but at the start of the game, it outclasses 'magic missile' by a wide margin. Or maybe I missed something...
Okay, I swear I remember either an ability or a feat where you can use your own spell slots to power a wand, so that it doesn't use a charge when you activate the wand. I remember this. What I can't do, is find it. Does anyone recall this feat? There's a similar feat in Lost Empires of Faerun, but that's not it - I swear it was called something like "master wand," or something like that. Argh. Any/all help appreciated.
The group I DM for, "The Liberators," finished "Zenith Trajectory," and I must say they took out Dhorlot with nary a worry. Some of it was a fluke - they all made their will saves for the fear aura (which I wasn't all that surprised to see, as everyone in the group is either a spellcaster or has multiclassed into spellcasting, ergo great Will saves), but the rest of it really was the room. Dhorlot flees if he gets below 60hp eh? Well, since the group kicked the crap out of him and he ended up at merely 20-odd, it wasn't much of a plan. He didn't manage to survive long enough to try (and the attacks of opportunity from Gaspar, the fighter/cleric with the spiked chain in a room that size was just incredible). Callis, the druid, basically summoned a small horde of animals to keep the dragon busy (or at least, surrounded and hemmed in); Gaspar the fighter/cleric of Pelor just used his spiked chain and five foot steps to dance around the edge of Dhorlot's reach, Jayna the Rogue/Diviner was pelting off perfect hits with her true strike-sonic-weapon enspelled bow; Draken, the Wizard/Incantatar rolled quite well against the spell resistance issue; and Ev the Ranger/Beloved of Valerian took the opportunity to really show off what a magic composite shortbow and a quiver full of flame arrow arrows can do. So, now the druid is wearing dragoncrafted red dragon hide armor, and a dragoncrafted black dragon mantle. I can't wait for the half-dragon progeny to show up and be somewhat miffed that the druid is wearing his father, nor for Hookface, who will likely be upset at Callis' wearing of his son. Heh.
I'm trying to put together a Cleric of Lydia (Greyhawk goddess of daylight, song/poetry, etc) and I'd like to multiclass into Bard and hit some sort of Prestige class (and/or just some Bard-Cleric feat options). I can't think of any at all - which either means (a) I'm a dunce and I've missed something, or (b) there really isn't a cleric/bard prestige class out there. Any and all input happily taken, especially in the realm of feats. I'm going to go with Sun and Knowledge for the two cleric domains, and this won't be a front-line fighting type cleric at all (more like a "longspear from the back row aid-another" cleric). The notion behind this cleric is one of guidance and knowledge - he's learned that the rest of his party were all manipulated in some major ways by some nasty baddies, and is trying to guide them back from their wounded neutral states to something a bit brighter and shinier on the alignment path - before they do all the horrible things they've been aimed toward doing. One of the major plot archs is going to be a group of lawful good types who would prefer these other three members of the party just be taken out of the way of potential horrible future (not murder, per se, but definitely knocked to the sidelines and/or imprisoned), and the cleric is going to be a bit of a "face" for the party - the one who can try to keep the group one step ahead of the "good guys" who want to ensure the badness doesn't happen, and one step ahead of the bad guys who want to finish shaping them into something horrible. 'Divine Oracle' might be good, but again, that doesn't really meld the Cleric/Bard aspect, it just builds on one or the other.
Hello! Does this spell (and the "greater" version) exist in 3.5? It's on Neverwinter Nights, but that's 3.0. Argent Savants are dying to know. ;) (Ie: my fiance).
I have a question off the cuff for ye gurus of D&D... Detect Magic. Do the auras manifest visually for the caster? Ie: can a person under the effect of blindness use the spell? I'd been assuming that it was a visual spell - ie: that the person becomes able to see the auras of magical items (or a glow through barriers that are thin enough or of material that doesn't block detect magic, for example)... and one of my players (a real stickler for wordings) pointed out that it talks about sensing auras, not seeing them. How do you play it? And has there been a more distinct answer written somewhere I've not looked?
Something fun I forgot to mention: During the exploration of the Kopru ruins, one of the players couldn't make it. This meant that the group had no rogue, which, as they'd already found in the ruins, meant many traps potentially harming them (a lot). Solution? Summon Nature's Ally I and Speak with Animals Alas, the latter spell didn't matter much, as the summoning of the first monkey was directly - by chance - onto one of the glyphs of warding. Reflex save: failure. Boom. Exploded Monkey Guts. At least they fade away for summoned creatures. The wizard turned to the druid and said, "You can summon exploding monkeys? Cool!" Sadly, they repeated the exercise to the same result a short moment later once they found another glyph. Poor monkeys. We should have a moment of oot-oot or silence or something.
Hey y'all. "The Liberators" will be going onward to 'Zenith Trajectory' next, and I wondered what you all came up with for prophecies? I'm trying to make them as likely as possible, so that the spewing dwarf will provide actual hints (and, canny PCs might wonder if they should let the fight play out a little longer to learn some more)... So far I have:
"Where fatal Art will show its hand, your bloody past you'll understand." (For the Cleric/Fighter, whose parents where the former high priests at the Pelor shrine before Kristof had to take over, and were wiped out by the Wee Jas clerics who arranged for a land-slide - Ike did it, and will confess in hopes of making the Cleric/Fighter lose focus in the battle). "You who seeks a greater power, should burn yourself in a desperate hour." (The pillar of flame/Occipitus test, for the Wizard who always wants more nifty abilities and spells and such). "When the city dies around you in flames, keep eyes up high for more of the same." (For the Ranger, who will likely be the only one capable of dealing with the fly-by attacks of Hookface). ... any others y'all thought of and/or used? Or did any of you use Zenith this way? I just liked the idea of having the PCs maybe smack their heads later and go, "Oh man! This is what he meant!" when it's not-quite-too-late.
A couple of adventures ago, I DM'd the "Obsidian Eye" for my fiance, and decided to use the "strange dreams" adventure hook for his Zoser-worshipping Rogue/Fighter/Dervish (at the time, he was just a Rogue/Fighter, but since then he's become a Dervish). The villains of the tale could tell he'd had the dream and were aghast that he was aiding in the destruction of the grand plan. At the end, they took the Obsidian Eye, and wanted to bring it back to Janeer (whom they actually managed to keep safe from the Jackalweres) for her to safely destroy/hide/whatever. On the way, I threw "Palace of the Twisted King" at them (and the little meenlocks stole the Obsidian Eye, which was a nice touch, and meant the sandstorm was also full of those awful sandy undead folk). They killed the Meenlocks, got the Obsidian Eye back, got it to Jeneer, and helped finance her run to the furthest corner from which she could research a way to destroy the Eye. Since then, other adventures have happened. But I'm going to spring the dreams on poor Andiel again, in increasing levels of detail, and this will segue into a sequel. My basic plan is that the original black obelisk site was one central to the fella's kindgom, and five orbital sites with smaller temple/obelisks existed around the edge of his kingdom (and also, where the edge of the destruction happened). The eye, when used in the central place, would have activated all the five outside obelisks and had their energies focus inward to the centre, where the fella could rise again. Since the centre is now toast, the followers have been frantic to figure out something else. It turns out, however, that if the Obsidian Eye visited each of the five orbital obelisks for a short time each, they would activate, and though it would take longer, so long as they'd all been "switched on" prior to the appropriate time of alignment, the baddie could still come back. Meanwhile, Andiel's home town has seen about half its citizens begin having the dream (a good portion of the town is descended from the baddies people) and some of those have begun to wander off to see if they can follow their sight, including the childhood rival of Andiel, a cleric of Zoser. When the PCs learn that Janeer was found, and the eye stolen, the race is back on, and they've got to figure out (a) where to go and (b) how to stop the obelisks from being activated. Even better, if only some of the obelisks are activated, I can reincarnate the baddie as a lower-level villain appropriate to the PCs levels in the meantime, while he tries to get the rest of his power back... I just wondered if anyone else had played further with "The Obsidian Eye"?
I'm wondering if anyone included a PC in Haanu's "M.T.A."? I've done so with the Human Wizard in my group, but I'm pondering what to do with that - what did y'all do? Second, somewhere, there's a listing for Haanu, which I think she was a 'Fighter/Sorceror' (Gnome?) but I don't know the levels - anyone got it on hand? I'm going blind looking for it. Thanks!
...and he thinks they're interesting. Then you give him a Player's Handbook and praise his acting ability. Then you show him a computer game, or get a group of friends over to play where he can listen in on all the laughter and fun. Then he joins your game. (fastforward) Then you ask him to marry you after he comes home from a long business trip in a crowded airport and people applaud. I love Canada... :) Me. Moon. Over.
In the "Age of Worms," write up for Diamond Lake, there's an end piece that lists off ideas for each character class and race for tying the PCs into the adventure path. I figured that since this board was such a font of ideas, mayhap I could share a few of the tie-ins my players knowingly came up with (and some I unknowingly added to them), and share ideas of the sort. We're only at the start of the Lava Tubes in "Flood Season," so ideas are still easily added at this point... A few off the cuff from my group: Those poor highpriests! - a PC is the child of one or both of the previous shrine high-priests of Pelor, now under the somewhat dubious care of Kristof (who isn't the most effective guardian). In my campaign, this is the Fighter/Cleric (and eventually to be Radiant Servant of Pelor). The "tragic accident" death of the priests is never revealed, but again, in my campaign, I've had it that Ike arranged a landslide when the pair were coming up one of the roads into Cauldron. So sad, really. He'll eventually slip during the players' invasion of the Temple of Wee Jas and say something like, "Oh, the child is here. And no convienient tonnage of rock to bury you with. Your parents really were more accomodating!" 'The Risen,' were a great adventuring band, until they sort of vanished - Again, going for parentage or family ties, someone close to the PC is now a statue in Vhalantru's house. In my campaign, the Rogue/Diviner is the daughter of a pair of adventurers who, with their two companions, are in Vhalantru's house. The Rogue/Diviner was left in the care of Rivek Mol (of the Tipped Tankard) who, realizing that the parents weren't coming back from the "difficult task," eventually placed her with Gretchyn at the Lantern Street Orphanage. He kept her inheritance - feeling he'd explain who she was and whatnot and give it to her when she was older (and then a Last Laugh guildmember stole it and the Rogue/Diviner had to recover it on her own). Added benefit: when the party gets to Vhalantru's house, you can insta-followers with the character's own parents...
For the most part, my experiences at DMing and playing in D&D have resulted in a group of adventurers with no more cohesion than whatever threw them together in the first place. There's no signature style, no focus for the group beyond "we all met, get along, and like adventuring." Don't get me wrong - the characters are usually very detailed, with marvellous backgrounds, and role-played extremely well. I tend to run very plot driven campaigns (one of the reasons I'm loving the "Shackled City" adventure path is that I can weave the characters stories into the plot and not worry at all about all the number crunching and monsters and maps, etc., not to mention the great plot that's already there) But... now and then, I would have loved to play in a themed group, or DM for a themed group. Like, say, a Cleric of Olidamarra working with a Rogue/Temple Raider of Olidamarra, an Illusionist/Rogue/Arcane Trickster, and a Fighter/Invisible Blade. Or a group built around fire, or electricity, or somesuch. A nature/naturals group with a Druid, a Ranger, a Sorceror or Bard, and a Scout. That sort of thing. I'm just curious if anyone has had this come up, and/or if anyone has some really interesting combinations of classes/prestige classes/themes that I can steal for use in my campaigns as NPC adventuring groups (hey, I can always play 'em that way.. and I really like having NPC adventurers around to sometimes stomp on the PC's and/or steal a little glory for themselves)...
The "Shackled City" adventure path reminded me of the notion of a rival adventuring group, something I used to do quite often when I was DMing back in highschool, but somehow fell to the sidelines when I began DMing again in University (mind, in University, populations of gaming groups were so up/down, that it would have been hard to maintain recognition of a rival group). Now that I'm old(1), and my gaming group is a tad more stable, I'm delighting in playing the "Shackled City" precisely for these foils. Well, I'm delighting in playing the "Shackled City" in and of itself, but the foils are a neat cherry on top. I've downplayed Todd, and uplayed the chaotic-selfishness of the group, and when the players get into a real fix, I may add in a rescue (of sorts) from the Stormblades, just to nudge up the antipathy a bit more. Upon hearing there'd be a Flood Festival "Heroes Feast," and that the Stormblades were to be the guests of honour over their events with the kobolds, my gaming group (the Liberators) declared, "Now we <I>have</I> to recover those wands. I want to be the toast of the town, and I want them moved to a smaller table. We have a week until the feast. Let's go find the damned wands." Save the city? Motivating. Show up the rival adventurers? Priceless. I'm also playing around with another fun notion: that four of the statues in Vhalantru's house will be the mother, father, and uncle and friend of the party Rogue/Diviner. Of course, she'll want to de-petrify her mother and father, and when her 'rents de-petrify their companions, it'll seem nice at first... but how do you handle a mother who's just about your own age, a tad more wild than you, and backed up by three men who are definitely of the same chaotic flavour? They're no Stormblades (they call themselves "the Risen," and use a pheonix as a symbol since they came from the Ashes - ie: Ash avenue), and at heart, they're slightly in the good along with the chaotic neutral - but they've missed twenty years, and they'll feel like they've got a lot of catching up to do. And they might trip up the PCs on their way, unintentionally or not. Who needs sibling rivalry, when you can have it with your own parents? :) (1) Thirty. I never consider that old until some of my staff make me feel old when they say things like, "What's the A-Team?" or "Who are Tears for Fears?"
In "Racing the Snake," the PCs are given some <I>potions of disguise self</I>. Unless I'm really confused, I thought that you couldn't make such a potion: the Brew Potion feat lists the spells that can be brewed into a potion as those that "target one or more creatures." Every potion in the DMG treasure list I've looked up has a target of "touch," or "one or more creatures," or "one creature/level," etc, not "Personal." None of the spells with a personal range are in the list of potions, as far as I can tell. Did I miss a FAQ or Sage Advice or something? I remember looking this up for a player once who wanted to give everyone <I>potions of alter self</I>, and I turned him down. I'm starting to feel bad about that...
So, "Life's Bazaar" ended, and only one player dropped off the map (the stereotypical girlfriend trying to play for her boyfriend moment). The group finally picked a name for Skie's("The Liberators," which sounds all noble until you consider the larcenous/reward-hungry definitions, it's a nice double-entendre that fits the group about right). Rotating attendance is iffy, so I wove into the backstory of one of the characters that her mother left her a ring of protection +1 (which she had to recover from a Last Laugh guildmember in a side-adventure I ran for some of the characters to get them to third/fourth level in time for "Flood Season"). A high level cagewright, at the start of "Flood Season," when the group was on its way to the Lucky Monkey, showed up and attempted to blast them with a 'Baleful Polymorph.' The ring reacted, tried to protect them all, and half-succeeded: basically now they all have an animal form that they randomly turn into for random amounts of time (ie: if the thief can't make it, she's a cat for the duration of the session she missed, following the group but hiding/not participating/etc). It was fun to watch their reactions as they learned about their animal forms, and that the ring had the ability to do that only once, ever - no more miracles from heirlooms. (On the fun side, the characters mother was a member of an adventuring party which is now all petrified in Vhalantru's place, and she may rescue them to end up with a mother about her own age... heh heh). Anyway, they got to the Lucky Monkey - and snuck around back, thereby stumbling onto Tongue-eater right away. And they bested him. It wasn't quick (no silver items on the party), but the druid pulled one heck of a nice defense and surrounded the werebaboon with a veritable swarm of summoned wolves. That poor werebaboon must have been tripped once a round. Meanwhile, the cleric/fighter used his spike chain to smack him while was down (doing minor damage) while the rogue/wizard zapped him with her wand of <I>melf's acid arrow</I>, which she bought from Skie's. Heh. It was rather anti-climactic thereafter, as the few thugs and alleybashers that hadn't come for the fight weren't much more of a hindrance. They did stall at rescuing Shensen, however - they couldn't figure a way past the brown mold until <I>ray of frost</I> became available to the wizard who'd been a crow for most of the adventure (he missed the first session, and showed up just in time for the second session - the animal polymorphing thing is highly reccomended). Onward...
I'm not sure if I'm just not looking in the right place, but... In "The Obsidian Eye," the three Jackalweres seem to be set wrong on their CRs. A Jackalwere is a CR 2 (fiend folio), and they advance by character class. So shouldn't Khalogo (jackalwere sorceror 4) and Ahln-Veer (jackalwere druid 4) both be CR 6, not CR 4 as listed? Mahlmet (jackalwere ranger 2) is listed as CR 4, which makes sense to me. Unless I've missed something somewhere...
In "Lords of Darkness," there are a couple of Spelljammer references. This made my mouth water with the vague hope that even a few basic bits of Spelljammer might be coming in the general direction of 3.5, even in "Dragon" or "Dungeon" - but before I let my heart go pitter-pat, I was wondering if anyone had heard anything on the subject?
And, astoundingly enough, no fatalities. Mostly, I think, because I managed to roll an amazing string of 1s and the like from Kazmojen. Ah well. The only real issue we had with it was the way the party resources kept being depleted to the point where I think they ended up having a few too many rest-stops in order to not end up wiped out as a party. They did want to turn Keygan in, though the party wizard decided full access to his spellbooks was good enough for now. They shot through Jzadirune way too quickly - the elf in the party found nearly every secret door with her automatic roll (hail the elf-ranger combination, eep!). Either way, they began as:
They be happy.
Hello! Just wanted to fire some praise at Jeff from Customer Service. I had an issue with an order, and the response was both prompt, personalized, and - huzzahs for all - positive. I manage a store, and always wish I'd hear the positive feedback as well as the negative, so when someone gives me solid service, I happily pass that onward. Kudos for Jeff.
Argh. Either I suffer from over verbalization syndrome, or I just lack the ability to try and explain an adventure in "about two double-spaced pages." Is there an example (preferably successful) query letter posted somewhere on the site I could take a peek at? I'm getting very annoyed at myself trying to figure out how much to describe before it's too much (as opposed to not enough). Time for more tea.
If one were compiling some query letter ideas for submission, would it be allowed to use sites or locations given in the "Complete" or "Races" books? Specifically, if I had an idea for which "Three Falls" is perfect (as detailed in the 'Races of Destiny,' pg 28), would that be an okay, or a not-okay? I mean, on the one hand, you know there are maps, but on the other, is this in some way copywrited, and not a part of the Open Source notion?
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