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I was surprised that I did not receive a Holiday Card in either of my last two monthly shipments this year. Is Paizo not doing the Holiday Card this year? They always brought a smile to my face.
On page 460, it says spending you Hero Points causes you to return yo 1 HP. However, on page 467 it says that doing so onky stablizes you at 0 HP. Which one is thr correct ruling?
The PCs: Fumbus, Kyra, Merisiel, Seoni, and Valeros Note: I had chosen Prakhavu to be the murder prior to running this adventure. GETTING STARTED Sebnet Sanserkoht met the PCs and gave them their briefing. I attempted to talk fast to roleplay the excitable gnome, although this was no very practical for mission briefings, so I ended up having to repeat myself. Before heading to the scene of the crime, the PCs decided to go shopping first, so I had someone direct them Ladhlia. Ladhilia attempted to interest Merisiel in a variety of trinkets, but the PCs were specifically looking for something useful against golems, so Ladhilia naturally tried to sell them some Quantium Adamantine Blanch. The balked at the 15 gp price and decided to come back later. They then headed to the scene of the crime. A. THE SCENE OF THE CRIME The party conversed briefly with the guards before heading inside. Fumbus chatted one up and commented on what nice armor he had while tugging on his coat, annoying the poor man. He also noted that he had a Qunatium admantine blanch and used Thievery to pickpocket it. This combat probably lasted longer than it should have for a couple things. First, the PCs initially tried to calm down/reason with the flesh golem, thinking it was perhaps a bodyguard of Kefanes that the Nexian guard captured by mistake (inspired in part by us having played Trial of the Beast about 1-2 years ago). I made it clear that was not the case by having it cry out "Kill Kefanes!" as it make berserk slam attacks, but they still wasted a full round or two on such tactics. During this time they focused heavily on the adamantine shards, thinking that if they removed them it would calm the flesh golem down. I had to make some spot rulings. Kyra cast Mending on the shards. I had the flesh golem make a Fortitude save against her Spell DC, which he critically succeeded at, so I said this did not damage but the shards merged into a single spike. Merisiel then used Pickpocket and Thievery to remove the spike, which I said she could treat as an adamantine dagger. This would be moot as she also took the adamantine sword offered by the guard (I rolled randomly to see if this was the same guard that Fumbus had robbed, but it was the guard that still had his adamntine blanch) and used that weapon instead. Second, Kyra rolled a natural 1 on her Recall Knowledge about flesh golems, so I told her that they were immune to fire; this would limit her effectiveness and severely cripple Seoni's in this fight.
The learned that prier to their encounter, the golem had suffered three sets of wounds; fire damage from the fireball trap, the adamantine shards (although the could not identify the trap), and fragments of sand and stone. They also found the supplies from Ladhila, promting a return visit. OUT OF THE BLUE After making their Diplomacy check and returning the supplies to her, Ladhlia told her what she knew about Kefanes and introduced the PCs to the two suspects, the Mwangi transmuter Ngasi and Vuldrani conjurer Prakhavu. The PCs immediately suspected Ngasi due to her association with the fleshforges (thinking that was connected to the flesh golem). Ladhlia also gave them a second adamantine weapon blanch for returning her supplies. SOLE-SEARCHING This "encounter" was short and sweat. Rather than a straightforward combat or skill check, this presented the PCs with a rather unique dilemma--how to retrieve the the body from what was clearly a "monster" beyond their power level. However, Seoni solved this problem with three castings of Telekinetic Manuever to disarm the golem. An investigation of Kefanes's body revealed similar sand and stone wounds as on the flesh golem. They also found a letter offering to buy the Collected Directives written by someone with a native language of Mwangi, which would implicated Ngasi (I had decided beforehand to have this letter actually be from Ngasi instead of Prakhavu and not falsified evidence as I reasoned she could have made legit offer to purchase the book separately from Prakhavu's more nefarious means of obtaining the tome. B. UNSUBTLE WARNING Making their way back to Nexus House for dinner, they party were ambushed by the ifrit Keeamah and three (increased from two for five players) fire elementals. The elementals did some damage, were quickly dispatched in not small part from Seoni's Rays of Frost and Fumbus's liquid ice bombs. Keeamah had failed to land a single Strike from her crossbow (despite using Favored Aim) and surrendered once the fire elementals were bested in part due to a successful Intimidate check from the PCs. She offered to reveal her employer in exchange for the party letting her go free, which they accepted. She revealed that she had been hired by Prakhavu. The PCs pressed her on how much she was paid, which I improvised was more magic crossbow. Merisiel then demanded she turn over her crossbow as well. Keeamah objected stating that wasn't part of their deal and tried to slip away. Merisiel then attacked, and the party came to her aid when Keeamah responding with a casting of burning hands. As her HP were swiftly disappearing, Keeamah shouted "Here, take it" and threw her crossbow at Merisiel's face (she hit and dealt 1d6+2 damage, which was enough to knock Merisiel out after the fire elementals and burning hands). The party let her escape as they teneded to Merisiel instead. INTERMISSION The party regrouped with Sebnet and compared notes. Sebnet obtained invitations to the Merchant's League Soiree where they could confront Prakhavu. MERCHANT'S LEAGUE SOIREE The party started by mingling and learning some more information about Prakhavu, which garnered the attention of Ngasi. She granted them a Scroll of Hypnotic Pattern and pointed out its usefulness against conjurers. (Seoni would neglect to use this scroll in the fight to come). The PCs learned that Prakhavu and an apprentice were seen headed to the garden, and went to confront him there. C1. A BRUSH WITH HISTORY This encounter was omitted due to time. C2. SHOWDOWN IN THE GARDEN The PCs arrived to find Prakhavu ready for them, having already summoned an Animated Statue (buffed with Augment Summoning) in addition to casting his buff spells. As I had 5 PCs, he was jointed by two additional (non-augmented) Animated Statues in addition to his apprentice. The PCs noted the water elementals in the fountain, but they would not factor into the final encounter. Kyra attempted to Intimidate Prakhavu into surrendering and rolled a natural 20. I had the apprentice turn to Prakhavu in question, only to have Prakhavu rebuke him while hurtling insults at the PCs. As the PCs began to enter the room, and Prakhavu cast Stinking Cloud on them while directing the augmented Animated Statue to attack. His apprentice used his scroll to cast Web to entangle them within the stinking cloud while the other two Animated Statues also moved in to attacked. Merisiel used her magic crossbow to shoot at Prakhavu while Fumbus, Valeros, and Kyra engaged the statues in melee. Seoni was stuck in the stinking cloud/web and could not assist until she freed herself. Merisiel's attack drew Prakhavu's attention and he blasted her with heightened Acid Arrow. Fumbus then began lobbing Acid and Alchemist's Fire boms at Prakhavu and his apprentice. Prakhavu blasted all save Fumbus with a Fireball (and destroyed the Web) while the apprentice moved away from Prakhavu (after being rebuked for standing next to him while the alchemist lobbed bombs at them) and cast Flaming Sphere on Fumbus (Fumbus critically succeeded on his save). The statues downed first Merisiel than Valerous, and Kyra began burning through her channels to Heal them and keep them fighting. Merisiel went after Prakhavu with her rapier and was downed a second time by a barrage of magical missiles. Freed from the Web, Seoni began supporting the PCs against the statues. Valeros and Kyra had managed to break the one statue's armor leaving it more vulnerable to attacks. Fumbus evaded the apprentice's Flaming Sphere a second time (another critical success!) and struck the man with his dogslicer, sending the man fleeing for his life. A barrage of magical missiles followed by splash damage from Fumbus was enough to down Merisiel a second time while the statues would fell Valeros twice more as Kyra repeated revived him with Heal spells (as well as using one on herself to remain standing). One of the animated statues fell (the one with the broken armor), but the other two (including the augmented one) remained. Merisiel used a hero point to revive herself to 1 HP and she retrieved and attacked once more with her rapier. Valeros and Fumbus also closed for melee with Prakhavu, who fell to their combined assault. The conjured animated statue vanished. At this point, Sebnet and a half-dozen guards arrived (with the apprentice whom they captured en route) to help clean up the remaining animated statue and recover the Collected Directives.
Is the save for Dominion Bile really only DC 23 or is this a misprint? It seems awefully low for a Level 14 monster.
The PCs: Dweevil, Human Cleric of Iomedae (Esoteric Scholar background)
We spent a good chunk leveling up the characters and selecting new magic items and spells. One important thing to note is that Scruffy spent all his money on five Rings of Resistance (granting Resist 10 vs. acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic) despite Dweevil encouraging to get Winged Boots or Potions of Fly. He had a little leftover and invested in a +1 Composite Shortbow. SETTING THE SCENE: I began with recap of the events of the previous six parts. As Keleri, informed the party that the countdown clock would reach 0 in 1 weeks time, and it was time to use the White Axiom to unlock the power of the Last Theorem. I used an Abstract Algebra textbook as a prop for the Last Theorem. THE MALIGNANT THEOREMS: Taking a page from Mark Seifter and the Live Play stream, I had the party roll either Perception or Occultism for initiative. McBlasty won initiative and used Recall Knowledge to learn about the giants and learned quite a bit on a Critical Success (most notably that they are Immune to fire). He then opted to open things up with a Polar Ray, but missed. The Rune Giants went next, encircling the PCs and blasting them with 4 cones of electricity as they Invoked Their Runes. The giants took advantage of Air Walk to remain 10 feet above the ground so they could not also blind the PCs. Dweezil cast Divine Aura, buffing the party's AC and providing a blinding effect against evil creatures. Falkon proved quite effective with his Dwarven Thrower (he also used Righteous Ally to add Holy damage to it). Scruffy, on the other hand, was forced to fall back on his +1 Composite Shortbow, and was quite ineffective in the combat, they still managed to do a little damage on the odd high roll or with near misses thanks to Certain Strike. On the giants turn, they began attacking the party, but two failed their saves against Divine Aura and were blinded for 1 minute each. In my opinion, this was the key factor that allowed the PCs to win this fight as the blinded giants rarely managed both to roll high enough to overcome the party's AC AND make the Senses miss chance form being blinded. I tried to use a couple Dominates with them, but after my first two attempts (on their Will saves, Scruffy had a Success and Falkon and Critical Success), I stuck with swinging with their greatswords and scoring an occasion hit while waiting for Invoke Rune to recharge. The other two rune giants hit hard against the PCs with their Destructive Runes, though I never got to destroy any armor. I rarely scored an AoO against the party, but a key one was when I disrupted Dweevil's attempt to cast Air Walk on Scruffy, which would allow him to close for melee with the giants, but I rolled a natural 20 and not only stopped the Air Walk from being cast, but also dropped Dweevil. Falkon revived him promptly on his turn, after smartly provoking an Attack of Opportunity from his Dwarven Thrower so he could Heal without provoking additional attacks. Dweevil would spend most of the combat healing his allies, occasionally assisted by Falkon. Meanwhile, McBlasty (as the name implies) burned through a lot of high-level damaging spells such as Horrid Wilting, Disintegrate, and Chain Lightning to great effect. At some point, Scruffy came up with a plan to get around the Rune Giants Air Walk and Reach. He used his Cloak of the Montebanc to dimension Door on top of the giant and attempted to Grapple the giant, but he rolled poorly and fell to the ground. Naturally, the party focused on downing the two non-blind giants first. Falkon and McBlasty both fell at some point during the combat, mostly from the electricity damage caused by Invoke Runes as it recharged, but each were only down for a short time as Dweevil revived them with his Heal spells. The positioning of the giants after the first two fell allowed for burst healing without also healing their enemies. Eventually, the blind giants fell before the PCs before they could recover from their blindness. The fight ran fairly long but did not drag. Nonetheless, combined with the time needed to update their characters, it was quite late so we had to end the session before they could experience the revelations (and boons!) of the Last Theorem. Until next time....
Let's look closely at this abilities: Improved Grab The monster can use Grab as a free action triggered by a hit with its initial attack. A creature with Improved Grab still needs to spend an action to extend the duration for creatures it already has grabbed. Note that this ability specifically states that the creature still needs to spend 1 Action to extend the duration for creatures it already has grabbed. Improved Grab also references the Grab ability, so let's include that as well for completion.
So the duration lasts until the end of the end of the round the monster (or hazard in this case) hits with a Strike unless it spends a Grab action to maintain. Now let's look at Constrict Constrict The monster automatically deals the listed amount of damage to any number of creatures grabbed or restrained by it. Constrict does not indicate that it extends the duration of the grapple. Now ordinarily this would be fine as most creatures get 3 actions. However, the Spectral Tentacles in Red Flags only get 1 action each. So Round 1, they spend their 1 Action to Strike a PC, then automatically grapple as a Free Action thanks to Improved Grab. Next round, they spend their 1 Action to Constrict and deal their damage. However, without having any additional actions, they are unable to spend any to extend the duration of the grapple, so after getting Constricted, they PC is released from their grasp. This seems counter-intuitive: the tentacles are unable hold you because they spent their turn squeezing you. Note most monsters have three actions (1 Strike with their tentacles or other Grab attacks, 2 maintain existing grapples, and 3 Constrict their grappled foes) so this a problem limited to his particular hazard under the Playtest Rules.
Introduction: Just some notes before we start. As my group is experiencing some playtest fatigue, namely from having to create multiple characters that they typically only get to play for 2-3 sessions, it's getting more difficult to for players to get really invested in their characters. I get that different parts of the playtest focus on different areas of the game and thus have different party requirements, but I think things would have been nicer to be able to play the same character throughout at different levels. That said, here are the PCs. Note the lack of names on most of these PCs, as I have mentioned above, player investment is waning from creating these 1-shot PCs. The PCs:
The Nemesis:
A Meeting in Calaphas:
Arrival in Plumetown:
The Gala:
N5. Kadhibat "Kad" Alysamin:
N8. Whark the Alabaster:
N9. Kitchen and N10. Servant Quarters:
N8. Kasbeel:
When asked about Necerion, she not-so-subtly hinted that she would not mind of ill will were to befall him, but she could not assist them in that matter. However, she would not stop them either. They asked her where Necerion went, and I had them roll Perception vs. her Deception DC (a hefty 39, although the rogue succeed nonetheless by rolling a natural 19) to notice her glancing towards the door, as she would not answer the question directly. They then entered the Inner Sanctum. N11. Whark's Nest. The ranger took the lead, and began to Seek the room. He critically failed and triggered the Spectral Tentacle trap, and that's where we ended the first session. TO BE CONTINUED....
One question I had while preparing to run Part 6. A key part of Necerion's tactics is that he casts Disappearance to gain invisibility as he follows the PCs to the vault. But the adventure states that anyone casting magic within the Citadel is struck with a 24-hour Faerie Fire, which reduces all forms of invisibility to concealed. So wouldn't the PCs be able to detect him then? Am I missing something (like the Faerie Fire does not extend to the inner portion of the citadel) or does Disappearance somehow trump Faerie Fire?
The PCs: Merwin, Elf Sorcerer (Angelic)
SESSION 1 ARRIVAL AT THE TEMPLE The PCs found the hidden cache in the study, and learned about the magical properties of the stain glass window and the altar. Despite hints that the window appeared fragile, they immediately cast light on it, so it only negated the resistances of the Slaver Demons, of which they had none. WAVE 1 Event 1: Slaver Demons The slaver demons showed up as indicated (each 10-20 feet from a PC). As their tactics indicate, the started with Enslave Soul, then cast Haste (2 actions). With their Quick action, they closed for melee, but were unable to attack (the stated tactics should have had the demons cast Haste before Dimension Dooring in, or arrived adjacent to a PC and attacked without “charging”). The PCs started burning through their attack spells (such as the goblin cleric casting their 6th-level fireball). A question arose as to whether or not the monk could be disarmed of their fistwraps, which I ruled they could not since it was a Worn item, not Held. The paladin was disarmed of his sword, but he spent an action to pick it up. Since the Slaver Demon had already used its reaction to Disarm it, he could not capitalize with an Attack of Opportunity. Event 2: Treachery Demons
SESSION 2 Note, Sir Scruffy's player could not make this fight, so his PC was run by Merwin's player. Event 3: Ooze Demon and Blood Demons The reverse gravity spell was still in effect from the previous fight (do spells end if the caster dies, or do they still last their full duration). As the Blood Demons approached from the south, the sorcerer once again attempted a Blade Barrier, but a natural 20 on a Dispel Magic check dismissed it once more (poor sorcerer). The blood demons Dimensioned Doored onto the ceiling and engaged in melee, and the Ooze Demon revealed itself with a Stinking Cloud and ranged attacks (although it failed to trap any with its Slime Trap ability). The Stinking Cloud both helped and hindered the Blood Demons, as they could use the concealment to Sneak and trigger their abilities, but as they are not immune to Poison, they were afflicted with Slow and Sick at this point. In the middle of the fight, the Reverse Gravity terminated, dropping all to the ground. I was unsure how this would affect the Stinking Cloud, but ruled that it fell with them. The Monk once again reduced damage with Catfall, and the Angelic Sorcerer avoided falling due to Angelic Wings. The paladin’s blade took one dent from the Slime Demon’s Protective Slime (it might have been more because I believe I forgot to have him roll the save a few times). Once the PCs were on the ground, the Slime Demon closed for melee, but was unable to cast Cloudkill (3 actions; it had 2 after moving). It instead Struck and Grabbed the Monk, but was unable to use Smother as it was out of actions. The Slime Demon did not survive until its next turn to use either of these abilities. 1 HOUR INTERLUDE The party healed using Treat Wounds. The cleric rolled a natural 1 on his first attempt, so he was unable to assist. The paladin and sorcerer were able to pick up the slack and get everyone up to max save the goblin cleric who was 2 hp short. The paladin also used Quick Repair to remove the dent in his bastard sword. I noted the sun was setting, so the cleric and sorcerer cast light on the paladin’s bastard sword as well as one of his arrows. WAVE 2 Event 4: Dread Wraiths The dread wraiths rolled poorly on their initiative, so the party was able to act before they could. The paladin and monk attempted to bottleneck them at one of the holes in the temple wall, but being incorporeal, they were able to circumvent them. The PCs then clustered up and the dread wraiths surrounded all four PCs. However, their Draining Presence was completely unaffected on the party, even with each PC needing to roll 4 saves. Initially, I thought the party might have more difficulty with this fight between the Wraiths Resistance and the fact that they healed 10 HP every time they hit (or was it the intent that they only gained HP on a successful Drain Life). The cleric attempted to use a heightened Spiritual Weapon, but his attempt was foiled by an Attack of Opportunity The sorcerer cast Death Ward on himself, which was really effective against the Wraiths (as it should be, naturally). I failed to inflect a single point of Drain as the Dread Wraiths had a difficult time hitting the PCs and they consistently made the save against Drain Life. As the PCs began using positive energy attacks (plus scoring a few critical hits to overpower their resistances), the dread wraiths fell.
Event 5: Lich and Ghost Magi As per the rules, the Lich started with Flame Shield, Fly, and Mirror Image. The Ghost Magi as written would have precast Resist Energy, but they (A) did not have the spell and (B) even if they did, it would not benefit them more than their natural resistance to all energy attacks.
TO BE CONTINUED
THE PCs Boblin, Goblin Rogue (Finesse)
FIRST SESSION The party began meticulous searching every hex, which in itself became rather tedious. The high DCs coupled with most of the hexes being empty did not make riveting gameplay (note that for most of the first part, I ran it with only two PCs, Dweevil and Falkon, so they had fewer chances of getting a success than a standard 4 PC party. They encountered the gnomes of first Korlabablin, and I had to improvise some gnome names on the spot since none were given in the adventure (of course, there was plenty of information in the initial briefing that the PCs missed out on because they didn't ask questions, but the gnome's name they inquired about, as always seems to be the case). They learned of the rocs and went towards their nest. Unfortunately, none of the PCs had speak with animals, so their only option here was combat. ENCOUNTER J. ROC NEST I only had 2 PCs. I mistakenly ran it with 2 Weak Rocs (which I had prepared in case only 3 PCs made it), but in hindsight I should have further weakened them (or alternately had one of the other PCs run a missing player's character). The initial fight proved difficult, with rocs snatching and then dropping the PCs from 60-90 feet in the air, but the rocs were more interested in driving the intruders away from the nest so the PCs regrouped. After using Treat Wounds to regain their hp, the PCs returned with air walk precast on the dwarf paladin, but the rocs still managed to down the cleric in the rematch. After returning to Korlabablin and securing their aid, they made their ways through the woods, but did not investigate under the lake even though they were NOT warned of the sea serpent. They then made their way to the cyclopes longhouse and offered to aid against the dragon, then traveled into the tors until they found its lair (due to a short session from outside commitments and only having 2 PCs present, we decided to end things here rather than jump into another combat--the dragon fight kicked off our second session). SECOND SESSION ENCOUNTER L. LIRUTHALL'S LAIR I only had 2 players make it to game night, but I had 2 other PCs ready to go so they were now going at full strength (each player ran 2 PCs). The giant exited the cave first and warned the PCs, and they attempted to negotiate. The dragon (who rolled a natural 1 on his Perception for initiative) then flew out of the cave and unleashed his breath weapon. Early in the fight, my dice were vicious and tore through the PCs quickly. The giant often used flame strike to attack multiple PCs (usually 2 but once or twice he was able to hit 3) with the dragon alternating between its breath weapon and draconic frenzy (with a bite first attack when it didn't need to fly/move before attacking). Round 1, the dragon used its breath weapon; Round 2, fly down and use draconic frenzy, scoring a crit to reacharge; Round 3, fly up and use breath weapon again; Round 4+, land and engage in melee until weapon recharged, at which point only the dwarf was standing. Fortunately for the PCs, my luck had turn with the dragon frequently missing and rolling low damage late in the fight. After the brutal dragon fight, the party revived the fire giant and demanded he join them or die, which due to his highly dubious bargaining position, he accepted their terms. They looted the dragon's horde, made their way back to the cyclopes and secured their aid as well. They then headed down the river towards Ramlock's tower, encountering the dryad and securing her aid with a high Diplomacy check (even without getting into the cyclopes logging operations) as they did not otherwise need to gain her trust. They then found the tower and scouted their defenses. A sending spell to Keleri made arrangements for the final assault, and with their 8 treasure points, they purchased two +3 weapons (paladin and fighter) and two +3 armors (paladin and cleric). Keleri agreed to meet them in 6 to 9 days depending how long the magic items took. In the interim, the PCs decided to check the end of the last river (recognizing the pattern of their being something at the end of each branch) and found the slain cultists. They then returned to the tower and began their final assault with 12 days remaining before the eclipse. ENCOUNTER M: RAMLOCK'S TOWER With 7 ally points, this fight was reduced to the mummy pharaoh, the brain collector, and two cultists. With 2 reseach points, the PCs and the Night Heralds were able to cast buff spells over a minute, so the two cultists spread herosim out to all of their group. The PCs had no buff spells precast. Early in the fight, the PCs made a lot of key saves. The mummy great despair aura failed to paralyze any PCs (although the way the combat shaped out only half the PCs were in range). The brain collector used confusion and phantasmal killer early in the fight, but the goblin rogue saved after 1 round of confusion and the phantasmal killer was wasted against the human fighter. Two castings of resilient sphere only resulted in capturing the dwarf paladin for a single round (since he made the save; the human fighter critically succeeded to now effect) and the human cleric critical saved against enervation. However, on the second attempt by the cultist, he critically failed resulting in enervated 4 and severely nerfing the character. Another key spell was cast by the brain collector, who cast paranoia on the goblin rogue, which even on a success, prevented him from flanking and getting his bonus sneak damage. The cultists took to the air and mirror imaged while the brian collector remained on the ground for melee (although he also cast mirror image early in the fight) with the goblin rogue and human cleric while the mummy pharaoh engaged the human fighter and dwarf paladin. The cleric attempted to dispel magic on the enervation effect, which I was not sure would work or not. It seems like the spell lasts for 1 minute and grants the condition for that length of time, so I ruled that it would. He failed the dispel check (since he took a -5 penalty for using a Level 3 dispel magic vs. a Level 4 enervation). A couple blindness spells from the cultists were also rather ineffective. One target made the save and was only blinded until the start of his turn (I think it was the goblin rogue) whereas the dwarf paladin was inflicted with blindness for 1 minute, but he was able to remove it with his mercy on his turn as well. The cultists used their last third level spells to haste themselves so they could use their crossbows (2 actions to Strike, 2 actions to reload, using the hasted action for one of the Strikes). The mummy pharaoh was the first to fall--he got two sandstorm wraths out, but was largely ineffective with her longspear (he only hit twice I believe, and infected the human fighter with insidious mummy rot). Then the combat began to drag on. The cleric cast air walk on the goblin rogue who engaged the one cultist in-the-air. This cultist switched to his mace (I forgot that he could still use his crossbow in melee range without penalty under the new rules), and the two engaged in a slap fight with both sides did little damage each round to each other. The brain collector downed the enervated cleric and then moved on to the dwarf paladin, and with the aid of some true strikes (which actually didn't help him any), downed the dwarf paladin as well. Hero points and healing would allow both to recover and rejoin the fight. The other cultist used most of his 2nd-level spells to soothe the brain collector and keep him going as he was their main offensive weapon, and combined with the mirror images, kept the Night Heralds going for several rounds. I had lost track of the rounds, so I began hand-waving when things like Fly, Enervation, Paranoia. I also had the insidious mummy rot trigger its second save by fiat. I wished I had been more meticulous with my bookkeeping here, but some of the PCs beneficial effects were also ended this way (namely the cleric's fire shield spell which he cast in the first round). From hero points and self-healing, the human cleric and dwarf paladin rejoined the fight, and eventually winnowed down the brain collector. The human fighter withdrew from melee, switching to his shortbow and taking pot shots at the one cultists while guzzling potions for several rounds. The human cultists realized they need to take out the cleric first and began focus firing on him (as the combatants had all gathered near each other by this point), but one by one they fell as well. Note that I intentionally did not replenish the mirror images as they ran out as I felt this would only prolong the fight even longer, and it was already starting the become a tedious game of attrition with mummy down and all the big spells spent. This is the first fight where it really felt things dragged on in the Doomsday Dawn playtest.
Had some confusion about this ability last night. The ability per the Rulebook:
And per the Updates (not relevant but included for completion) If the foe attacks on of your allies, the duration extends to the end of that foe's next turn. If the foe continues to attack on of your allies each turn, the duration continues to extend. The question in particular arises regarding to what the conditional damage bonus. He was using a +2 warhammer (later upgraded to a +3 warhammer). His reading was that he added 3d8 (4d8) damage to his attacks, but I believe that it should only be +3 (+4) damage as the ability states he gets a bonus equal to the NUMBER of weapon damage dice. I'm fairly certain my reading is the correct one but wanted to throw this out there in case anyone else had anything to add, or if nothing else, just to point out that this could be clarified with a quick example.
Mark mentioned thst the ability should cost two actions on Pathfinder Friday. Should we make this adjustment if we rn this encounter as part of the playtest, or should we run it as written in the Playtestiary (1 action)?
I would like some clarification as to how Flame Strike works. I am assuming it works like a 15-foot ligjtning bolt, where it has to be a line away from the giant. This seems a little weird as the giabnt only has 10 feet reacj, but okay, its a special ability. I am also assuming iy won't work on foes in a line but all adjacent to the giant like a giant cleave attack, correct? Also, am I correct in assuming the fire giant weilds the greatsword one-handed and has his other hand free to make guantlet attack?
A treant's foot strike deals less damage than its branch Strike and I am not seeing any point of ever using it. Can the treant not use it's branch attack within 5 feet or am I missing something?
Most claw attacks have the Agile trait, to balance out the lower damage with an increased chance to hit. However, the Cat (Smilodon) on Page 38 does not have this trait. Is this a mistake?
A couple questions: If a character has 5 HP left, and another casts Vampiric Touch on him for 10 HP, how much healing does the caster get? I believe 5 would be correct, but I am not 100% sure. Also, my group and I were disusing what would happen if you cast Vampiric Touch on an undead creature. Since it deals negative damage (although technically, isn't negative damage just healing?), it would heal the undead creature, but would the caster LOSE hit points then? Under RAW, I would not think so, but it might be an interesting thing to add!
I had an issue come up in-game with this creature. One of my players cast globe of invulnerability in this fight. The spell reads:
My question is are the poltergeist's Telekinetic Object attack (and Telekinetic Storm) considered spells? I ruled no at the table, but I am not positive I made the right call as they possess the Evocation and Occult traits, as well as being similar to the Cantrip Telekinetic Projectile. Furthermore, the occult trait reads:
I would thus assume it was a spell since it has this trait, but what is the spell level then? Also, from a logical perspective, the "spell" in this case would be to hurl the object. Once the object was in motion, there is no magic affecting it, so there should be nothing for the Globe of Invulnerability to dispel.
The Party: Boblin, Goblin Rogue (Cleric of Sarenrae Multiclass)
The individuals were tasked with enlisting the aid of Professor Verik Oscilar at the behest of their employers, the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye. The Eye has questions regarding the mysterious gemstone known as the countdown clock and its connection with the Dominion of the Black. The party arrived at Sombrefell Hall and promptly knocked on the door. Lucvi Yasterna, the professor's graduate student, answered somewhat curtly, but once they state that they were here on behalf of the Eye, she fetched the professor. Jokes were made about her being evil (the last time this group of player's adventure was for my Carrion Crown Adventure Path, where I had modified the adventure narrative so that the Whispering Tyrant vessel was Professor Lorrimor's daughter, Kendra rather than Adivion Adrissant; this would be ironic due to some modifications I made to the narrative of this adventure, which I will get to later). The professor was a bit squirrelly regarding his research, only stating that it was urgent. However, he hoped to finish soon and invited the PCs into his manor. Lucvi showed them around the kitchen, dining room, pantry, library, and the three upstairs bedrooms. Scruffy offered to share a room with her since there were only three rooms upstairs, but she rebuffed his advances and returned to their studies. The also made note of the locked door leading to the attic. The party headed to the dining area for a meal, then skimmed the books in the library, finding a crypt handwritten note. Boblin wanted to check out
The party then decided to retire for the night, and I teased them to being stripping their armor for the night by explaining how the new fatigue rules worked. However, they were soon interrupted by a slow, rhythmic knocking at the front door. They party then reversed taking off their armor and Stealthed downstairs just in time to see Verik open the door and be greeted with 5 ghasts. COMBAT EVENT 1 The first round of combat was mostly the PCs moving towards the entryway and taking all three of their actions to move due to their starting position on the stairs. One of the ghasts grappled the Professor and began dragging him out the gate while the other 4 engaged the PCs. Boblin took advantage of his Fleet feat to run-down the ghast dragging the professor while the other PCs fought the remaining ghasts. The ghasts got a few lucky hits but were not much of a threat, though one did manage to paralyze Weasel towards the end of the fight. Dweezil used a couple offensive spells including searing light while Weasel used a single-target Heal one of the ghasts before he was paralyzed. After the fight, the Professor admitted that he had been experiencing periods of dissociation at night time when he was not in control of his body. He believes that this was due to a ritual performed by a group of cultists called the Night Heralds, and that by identifying and slaying their leader he can end the affliction. He fears more undead are coming, but he cannot assist them as he must secure himself in the basement lest his actions not become his own. Lucvi stays to help the party and suggests forming a barrier of broken furniture by the front door. The party does so, and one of them used a Heal spell (Dweezil I believe) to mend their wounds from the ghast fight. The party then linger in the center hallway and wait for next wave. COMBAT EVENT 2 Several minutes later, the door bursts open revealing four more ghasts and two pale cloaked figures. Weasel reacts first and fires a Heal spell in their direction, using his Conical Channel feat to fire it as a 60-ft. cone. One of the cloaked figures critically fails its Will save and is instantly knocked unconscious. Boblin wants in on the fun and lobs a bead from his necklace of fireball to destroy two of the ghasts as well. The remaining cloaked figure spider-climbs over the broken furniture and is met by Scruffy, who armed with a +1 Disrupting Silver Bastard Sword finishes off the figure just as Lucvi was sharing her knowledge about the creature: "The pale figures are vampires and as susceptible to...oh, nevermind." The remaining two ghasts plow through the broken furniture, which damages them as the past through it, with one of them hilariously killing itself on the broken furniture. The remaining, injured ghast is no match for the PCs. Lucvi states that they should stake the vampires to prevent them from being healed. Doing so to the one inside the foyer is no issue, but the PCs need to safely clear a path to reach the one outside. One he is staked as well, the close the door and rearrange their furniture trap for the next wave. COMBAT EVENT 3 Unfortunately, the next wave enters through the glass windows of the salon/research study and the dining hall. Weasel heads towards the research study first, followed by Boblin whereas Scruffy moves to secure the dining hall. Both windows have been breached by a pair of wights who move to engage the three PCs (Dweezil is still in the main hall with Lucvi as he has yet to act). The fourth wight chants something in a strange tongue (Necril) and Lucvi begins to hover. He skin melts away as she takes the appearance of the corpse found in the attic. The PCs all resist being fightened by her appearance as she vanishes from sight (as written, the poltergeist as just a spirit that happened to be at he manor from times past--I modded this a little to better provide context for its presence. Lucvi was the corpse in the attic. The Professor, during one of his periods of dissociation, noticed her growing suspicions and killed her one night, hiding her body in the attic. When her spirit showed up the next morning to continue her research, the Professor assumed this was just a bad dream, though he never found the courage to investigate the attic. As for Lucvi herself, she has a mental block preventing her from remembering her death, until the wight removed it and she lashed out in uncontrolled anger as a poltergeist). Jokes are made of knowing she was evil ("Every time we come to his country the Professor's daughter turns out to be evil!"). Dweezil finally acts, casting an offensive spell into the room with the goblins. Weasel follows up with a fireball spell, and I describe how the Professor books and research notes are incinerated by the blast. Boblin moves to flank a wight with Weasel, and using his +1 Dogslicer, he begins dealing serious damage. Lucvi, now revealed as a poltergeist, begins angrily throwing books, broken furniture, and other various sundry at the party while remaining invisible. Dweezil erects a globe of invulnerability to protect himself. One by one the wights fall with little issue, only getting an occasional hit, but one does manage to enervate Boblin on a critical hit (he otherwise would have made the save, but if I recall correctly, riders on a critical hit are treated as if the save was one result less, so the Success becomes a Failure). Lucvi turns her attention to Scruffy. After the goblins finish off their wights, Weasel joins Dweezil in the globe of invulnerability while Boblin uses his scroll of see invisibility. Lucvi, realizing that she is no longer protected, attempts to use a telekinetic maneuver to disarm him of his dogslicer, but fails to overcome his Reflex DC. Boblin and Scurry, who has likewise finished off the second wight in the dining hall, both join their allies inside the globe of invulnerability. After reading its description, the globe only protects against Spells, and it does not appear that the poltergeist's telekinetic object/telekinetic storm ability qualifies, so I began using the group version on the clustered party. Dweezil, after spending several rounds doing so, finally succeeds at his Seek check and follows up by blasting Lucvi with a glitterdust spell, and although she made her save, it still negates her invisibility for one round. Boblin moves to flank, though he does not get his Sneak Attack bonus damage against her. A Heal spell from Dweezil on her followed by some Strikes from Scruffy and she was defeated before the glitterdust wore-off. (Couple notes as I forgot a couple special abilities in this combat. First, I forgot the wight's Final Spite ability, which would allow them to make one final Strike before being destroyed. However, given the hard time they had at hitting the PCs, it likely would not have made a difference. The poltergeist was a little more effective at hitting targets, and she might have gotten off a couple of telekinetic object strikes through her turns, and definitely should have gotten one against Boblin in the last round). We got a late start, so this is wear we had to call it for the night. We should be able to finish next week (probably Monday, but maybe Thursday depending on the player's schedules) and will likely have time to update their PCs for the next part of Doomsday Dawn. PLAYTEST TRACKING DATA How long did it take to play this part of Doomsday Dawn: 2.5 hours. How long did it take to prepare this part of the adventure: 2 hours. How many sessions did it take for you to play through this part of the adventure: 1 so far, though almost certainly 2 total. How many Hero Points (in total) did you give out during this part of the adventure: 6 (1 for each PC, with an extra one to Dweezil for hosting at his house and 1 for Boblin for rescuing the professor). How many times was a player character reduced to 0 Hit Points during this part of the adventure: 0. How many player characters were killed during this part of the adventure: 0 How many times did a player character cast a heal spell that had only one target: 3. How many times did a player character cast a heal spell that affected more than one target: 4. How many times did a player character use healing abilities other than heal: 0. How many rounds or partial rounds where spent on combat Event 1: 4. How many rounds or partial rounds where spent on combat Event 2: 2. How many rounds or partial rounds where spent on combat Event 3: 8. How many rounds or partial rounds where spent on combat Event 4: N/A How many rounds or partial rounds where spent on combat Event 5: N/A
This brain collector has a lot of Spells and Abilities. Between the new rules and not being familiar with these creatures in 1E, I am a bit unsure how to run this encounter in Part 3. Any advice on what tactics to employ?
One thing has been bothering me about how AC and DC's are calculated because under the new rules, every number is calculated the same, but in reality, they are not. The following example illustrates this point. Let's say there are two characters. One has a +7 bonus to their AC and the other a +7 bonus on their attack. Since the bonuses are equal, you would think the attacker would have a 50/50 chance of succeeding. However, this is not the case. In order to hit an AC 17, the attacker needs to roll a 10 or higher (a 55% chance). Either the attacker should have to roll HIGHER than the AC/DC or they should be based on 11 instead of 10.
My group:
To start, I had the martial characters role-off for a magic weapon. The halfing one, and received a +1 short sword. All players received 1 hero point, with the cleric getting an extra one for hosting the game at his house. I also made the PCs role Nature checks to mount the camels the first time, which all but the ranger critically failed, so I had the camels spit in their eyes the first time they attempted to mount just for a little extra fun. The party made good time on camels on the first three days, with halfling ranger succeeding at his Survival check the first day and critically succeeding the next two days. They reached the base with about 3 hours left in the day and decided to press on wards. The hyenas got the drop on the party, with the hyenadon knocking the cleric of his camel. The hyenas initially focused on him to make use of pack attack, but the fighter and ranger soon drew their attention. After the hyenadon and one of the hyenas were slain, I had the remaining hyena turn tail and run. The terrain had little or no effect on the combat. They continued to press onward on their camels. The ranger spotted the ankhrav mount and attempted to Sneak towards it, falling prey to the quicksand hazard (since he has not Seeking for traps as per the Exploration rules). The ankhrav then emerged on began tearing into the cleric and fighter with its armor-rending bite on the cleric followed by a spray acid on both the following round. The cleric moved to help the ranger out of the quickstand with his staff (using Athletics to aid in his check) while the fighter fought off the ankrav. The creature had taken enough damage that it retreated into the sands for safety. They then investigated its den and found the healing potions (with the cleric taking 10 min to identify them with Quick Identify) and the thieves' tools, though nobody had trained in Thievery. The player's recognized that the ankhrav was an ankheg and were confused as to why it was renamed. The fourth player had arrived and finished up his character; I hand-waved that he was with the party the whole time for ease of introduction. The party encountered the gnoll camp. They secured their camels on the far side. The cleric and the melee fighter attempted to engage in Diplomacy with the gnolls from across the river while the two ranged characters Sneaked to the sides. The melee fighter also gathered some river tiles for the encounter, which earned him a hero point. I ruled that their check would take a -5 penalty since nobody spoke Gnoll (the cleric was the only character with a bonus language, and he chose Auran). The critically failed the check and the gnolls drew the shortbows and began shooting. The party was well equipped for range combat and focused their attacks on a single gnoll, who then feigned surrender to lure some of the party to the other side so he could gain the aid of the giant scorpion. They PCs tied a rope to the melee fighter who swam across, at which point the gnoll drew his battleaxe while the giant scorpion emerged and joined the fight. The halfling ranger joined him on the gnoll camp side while the others provided ranged support. The scorpion never landed a single hit despite flanking with the gnoll, mainly thanks to a fear spell from the cleric (it took some research to see if he took frightened penalty on attacks, but after a bit of sifting through the rules we did find that Attacks are a type of check so the penalty applies). By now, it was the end of the third day so the party rested before climbing the mountain. I had them roll Perception checks during their watch, and the ranged fighter spotted something large flying over the mountain, foreshadowing the manticore. The ranger failed to spot the easy path, but the melee fighter managed to succeed on the survival check to negate the need for Athletics checks to climb up the mountain. They found the slain gnolls, but nobody thought to investigate the quills and attempt to identify the creature. As they continued to climb, the ranger made use of his Terrain Stalker feat to freely Stealth while Seeking for hazards/traps. He spotted the manticore flying in and combat was joined. I had the manticore hold back on its Spike Volley somewhat, only using 1 per turn as I reasoned that it would want to conserve its quills by only using them at the highest attack bonus. This allowed him some greater maneuverability, which helped somewhat by imposing some range penalties again the PCs. The PCs began a bit of meta-gaming, debating whether it had poisoned quills or a breath weapon, but I put a stop to this by pointing out that this was a new edition, so they didn't know what it had. The cleric used the scroll on the melee fighter who engaged the manticore, who continued to target the ground PCs with spike volley while using its claws on the melee fighter. The cleric was felled by the manticore before the ranged fighter finished it with his only hit of the fight. One PC fed him a minor healing potion to revive him. Scouting ahead, the ranger spotted the gnolls seeking cover by the door, and the PCs correctly surmised that the gnolls were seeking cover under the overhang from the manticore. With a little backtracking, the retrieved the manticore's head and approached the gnolls, and Zakfah proclaimed them honorary members of the Al'Chorhaiv tribe. Zakfah even gave his scorpion necklace to the melee fighter, as he assumed that as he was carrying the head that he was the one who slew the beast. The gnolls then departed without incident. The party then rested before entering the tomb. I followed the recommendation on the boards and head Lady Vord contact them via sending to inform them the Night Heralds were expected to arrive the next day (despite them initially be scheduled to arrive in four days). With detect magic, the cleric spotted the trap, but the party lacked anyone even Trained in thievery let alone being an Expert in it, so they couldn't disable the trap. The cleric attempted to trigger it using a force missile, but after some internal debate, I ruled that it would not trigger the trap as it did not meet the triggering condition ("A creature grasp the door latch directly or with a tool") as he was technically not grasping the latch and the force missile was not technically a tool. The halfling ranger elected to open the latch anyway and take one-for-the-team, earning him a hero point. The party began to explore the tomb, finding the earth and water room but electing not to enter it (and play "water-hopscotch" as they termed it) and continued into the main chamber. They quickly recognized the chamber as being a locking mechanism for the ornate doors, and that each of the four nodes were associated with one of the four elements (no checks needed--they figured this out from the box text alone). They then elected to explore the remaining side chamber, the fire and air room. The entered the room, trigger the two elementals to appear. The melee fighter received the brunt of the fire elementals attacks the initial round while the ranger engaged the air elemental. The cast ray of frost on the fire elemental, but kept missing due to the elementals Touch AC 20. As the melee fighter fell back, the ranged fighter switched weapons and took his place, ultimately falling unconscious to a crit while being on fire. The cleric finally managed to land a ray of frost, drawing the ire of the fire elemental, and he too was also unconscious while on fire. The halfing ranger, meanwhile, had finished off the air elemental, although the player incorrectly pondered whether it was hurting it as it dispersed every time he struck with his +1 short sword. He and the melee fighter then flanked the fire elemental to finish it off. The ranged fighter had just "died" and used a hero point to return to 1 hp instead, so when the explosion happened, he was knocked back unconscious, though he was soon revived with a healing potion. The cleric, meanwhile, was at dying 3 when the explosion triggered--I was going to check to see if he would still get a save while unconscious, but the player rolled a natural 1 so it was a moot point. He "died" and used a hero point to return to 1 hp. The party then wanted to rest, but I reminded them that the Night Heralds were expected to arrive tomorrow. It was also late, so after healing up, we decided to end the session and pickup there next week. ---- The fire elemental was the MVP of the night, "killing" two PCs and getting three of the four knockouts. I am not crazy about the hero point system as all the players simply hoard them to ensure that they can make their Recovery Saves. The dice were not on the PCs side this fight, and combined with the persistent damage rules, this fight would have been really deadly without Hero Points. Not a fan of the that drops you to Dying 4 so your dead--nope, I'm fine with 1 hp mechanic--it takes a lot of the drama out of having to role recovery saving throws. No problems with resonance, though, as it never became an issue (assuming all the players were tracking them correct) as the cleric's innate abilities and lesser staff of healing provided most of the healing all night. Other than a couple healing potions, I don't remember any of the other PCs using any magic items other than their weapons and armor; a couple had stocked up on oil of magic weapons, but I don't think any PCs actually used them. I also don't think I was using the Terrain Stalker feat correctly. After reading it after the game, it still requires a Sneak action, the PC just doesn't have to roll to see if it succeeds or not. Also, as have been pointed out, a strict interpretation of the rules means that riding a mount without the Ride feat or similar ability is a Fatiguing action and cannot be done for more than 10 min. I imagine the intent was that you needed to Handle Animal and Command Animal as two separate actions IN COMBAT, but they can be ridden as mounts in Exploration Mode. The lack of bonus languages is also a problem in the new rules, in my opinion. As instructed, I informed the PCs that they should take Auran, Gnoll, or Ancient Osiriani as bonus languages, but only the cleric qualified for one (Auran) whereas no other PC had an Int 14 or above. There also doesn't seem to be a way to pick up any as they level either (such as a General Feat). The fact that you get Common, one based on your Ancestry, and at most one other bonus language is really limiting. The cleric's player voiced his displeasure about this. Don't get me wrong, we had a lot of fun and there's a lot I like about the new system--I love how modular the feats are and the three-action Encounter Mode system, for instance, just want to point out areas that might need a little more refining.
For us stats nerds, any chance we can see more detailed results of the Chapter 1 surveys?
If we are done with Chapter 1, should we continue on now to Chapter 2 or wait until after the surveys go up?
I am a little confused on how light sources work with low-light vision a. So a torch as a 20-ft. bright light radius. Is everything outside 20-ft. considered darkness and only darkvision applies? When is something dim light then? Doesn't this make low-light vision highly situational in usefulness?
One major problem I ran with this adventure was the DC 20 Thievery checks. The PCs were unable to open any of the locked doors without the key (and broke their tools trying to do so). Also, they were unable to disarm the Pharasmin statue trap and just held their breath while running past it. Also, I missed that the giant rat was supposed to be removed from the Drakus fight, and it almost caused a TPK with my group! I had 4 PCs (plus Talga as a Goblin Bard as I knew the one player was running late and I didn't want to run with only 3 PCs--by the time he arrived and rolled a character (human fighter with a shortbow), and he was only there for the Goblin HQ fight and the Drakus fight). The other PCs were a Dwarf Paladin, Human Cleric, and Elf Wizard. Poor tactics allowed Drakus to drop the wizard in Round 1 (the wizard was top of the init order and ran into the room, at which point Drakus emerged from hiding and dropped him with single strike--the party failed to heal after the statue trap. The rat managed to crit the paladin and dropped him, and Drakus exchanged blows with the cleric until he was down as well. The rat prevented anyone from recovering and rejoining the fight (mainly because the combat had spilled into the hallway and he couldn't attack anyone else). Tulga was soon clawed and grappled, but the archer managed to finish Drakus before he could drain her next round. Had the rat not been there to harass the fallen PCs, they could have recovered and gotten back in the fight. Thankfully, I included Talga, and her Daze/Inspire Courage tactics assisted the party nicely int his fight. Also, the archer probably would have ended up the one grappled with everyone else on the ground dying, so things might have turned out quite different. None of the other fights proved too difficult. I did manage to drop the cleric in the skeleton fight, but not before he three-action healed to really soften them up. Also, the dwarf paladin was armed with a warhammer and reliably dispatched skeletons on his turn, and between the heal, and the wizards magic missiles and cantrips, the rest soon crumpled as well. The two goblin fights were both short. Talga cast sleep in both encounters, and felled 2 goblins each fight (including the pyro). The remaining goblins were unable to put up much of a fight. For the quasit fight, I had them use hit-and-run tactics of Strike, Cast invisibility, Sneak. This helped defensively, but they were not very effective with their attacks, and even when they did hit, were unable to poison anyone. One of the quasit failed their Sneak check each round, so the party was never lacking for a target, even with a 50% miss chance. The PCs avoided the centipedes ("manylegs") and mindfog fungus ("dum dum fungus") based on Talga's map, so the only other encounter the party faced was the Sewer Ooze. This was another quick fight, but it did manage to get in some good damage before being slaughtered by the party.
As I am preparing to run the Lost Star this evening, I am missing the tactics section of the monster stat block. It is really nice to have a reminder to use their special abilities and help to run the monster the way they were meant to be run. There's a lot to keep track of behind the GM screen, so every little bit that makes my job a little easier helps.
Any ideas on how to use this tactically? My first thought was to help setup flanks, but without everyone getting AoOs anymore, that not as difficult as it used to be. Any other thoughts of how it might be useful? Maybe the goblin pyro could use it to get goblins out of range of his spells?
How does this work exactly? Let say a character is at Stage 1 (1 min.) And is currently on round 3? and gets exposed again and fails the save, does he immediately advance to Stage 2 (1 min.) Does he make aniher save in 7 rounds or 10 rounds then? And what if they are in the initial onset? Do they suffer no effects until thst perior ellapses and then immediately go to Stage 2?
I am confused about this spell. It says that creatures at Level 6 or above do not have an alignment unless they are clerics, undead, and outsiders. However, the Alignment table says that creatures of Level 5 or less do not have an alignment aura. So do only clerics etc. Have auras? I suspect that is not the intent, but that is how it is warded.
Is there a table listing the effect of different size weapons like there was in 1e?
Where do I find the save DC for desth saving throws for various monsters?
"You can share a space with a prone creature if that creature is willing, unconscious, or dead, and is your size or smaller." So if an orc is killed in combat, a human could share space (since they are both the same size), but a goblin cannot (since it is a smaller size than the orc). That seems rather counter-intuitive. Maybe change it to "...and is size Medium or smaller."
Since they count as Human due to Orc Blood, would a half-orc with the Skilled alternate racial trait then be able to replace it with an alternate Human racial trait (such as Heart of the Fields?)
Dungeons of Cauldron
Dungeons of Korvosa
Dungeons of Runelords
General Char Gen Abilities: 25 point buy (don't forget you get an extra +1 to any ability at 4th level) Starting Gold: 3000 (level 3), 6000 (level 4) Hit Points: max + Con SCORE for first level, half + Con MOD for every other level. For example, a level 4 fighter with Con 14 would have 24 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 45 hp. Favored Class, Toughness, etc. also apply as normal. If you have any other questions, please email weibelbd@ptd.net
Greeting Pathfinders. My name is Devan (Brian W.), and I'm a human urban ranger. My story begins when I found a Harrow card amongst my lockpicks. On the back was written a note about Gaedren Lamm, the bastard who got my fiancee Julena hooked on shiver. Naturally, I went to the address and met several other like-minded individuals. Amongst was Doc (JJ), a human witch who just survived his own brush with a shiver overdose; Hulk (Brian Z.), a dwarf barbarian who's nephew was kidnappped by Lamm; and Cuthbert (Mike), a human cleric of Desna who was tormented by Lamm as a child. Our host was a Varisian fortuneteller named Zellara. Zellara has her own tale of woe as Gaedren Lamm stole her Harrow deck and murdered her son when he attempted to retrieve it. She reveals that she has learned that Lamm is laired a at the Old Fishery on Westpier. Naturally, we headed straight there to bring Lamm to justice (well, after Doc tried to proposition Zellara). Taking him out would certainly help on my application to the Sable Company. On the way, Cuthbert sang a song about the days of the week. I started to check out the main door and got my lockpicks out to enter stealthy when Hulk just busted the door down and started shouting for Lamm. A guard dog started barking. I tried to calm him down, but Cuthbert mercilessly killed the dog. Hulk barreled into the next room trampling an orphan in the process. A gnome was hiding amongst the orphans and ordered them to attack. I knocked out one of the children and the rest scattered as we took out their gnome taskmaster. The next room has an anoying half-orc that incessantly giggled lording over some more orphans. I had to knock out a second orphan when he too ordered them to attack while the others took the half-breed out. We then found a human hiding in an office. Hulk and I quickly rendered him unconscious and tied him. Once revived, we questioned him about Lamm's whereabouts, but he refused in spite of our threats so I knocked him out again. Having cleared the fishery, we made our way down the dock to a rickety ship in the back. Cuthbert slipped on the deck, but recovered and pretended like he met to do it all along. Hulk scouted the ship, narrowly avoiding a collapsing section of the rotten deck before heading to the aft. Inside, we faced a spider that I subdued before heading below deck. There we faced four more spiders, which we each dispatched on our own save Cuthbert who needed help from Hulk. I found a concealled door in the ship's hold that lead to a crawlspace under the fishery. We all made our way across to a door on the far side, although Cutherbert crawled hugging the deck and began crying as a jigsaw shark began nuddging the deck. That caused him to hurry along. The crawlspace led to Lamm's lair. Hulk and I took the fight to Lamm while Cuthbert and Doc provided spell support. Lamm's mistreated crocodile Gobblegut showed as between him and Lamm's dagger, I was heavily wounded, but by then so was Lamm. In its fury, Gogglegut turned on Lamm and bit off his leg. Cuthbert and Hulk were forced to put the crocodile out its misery. We looted Lamm's office and found a hatbox that intrigued Hulk. Open opening it, we found Zellara's head, and it was evident she has been dead for weeks! What is going on?
Using Channel Smite is a swift action, so you can only do it once per turn. If you have additional attacks, does it apply only to all of them or just one?
How does Channel Positive Energy work with a Cleric/Paladin multiclass? Do they just count as separate abilities? Would the cleric chanel use the cleric level to determine how many dice are rolls with SV DC = 10 + 1/2 cleric level + Cha bonus?
What type of action is it to activate/deactivate Nimbus of Light (Cleric Sun Domain ability)?
Here are some thoughts I have: The Old Courthouse is located in Old Korvosa. Crimes occuring in Old Korvosa were held there as opposed to the Longacre Building in North Point. Ten years ago, it was shut down as per the adventure and its operations were folded into the Longacre Building. Also, I'm thinking of replacing Cole with Grau, blending their backstories as needed.
Has anyone gotten D1 via subscription yet?
How does the shipping work with Gamemastery Subscription? Is it discounted?
Any chance we could get playlists for the previous two adventure paths in the near future?
Anyone else not received the latest Dungeon yet? Or is it just me?
In Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Malcanthet, you listed the following demons as corresponding to four of the seven deadly sins: Lust: succubi
Are their demons that correspond to Avarice, Sloth, and Pride as well? Please forgive me if I'm being dense here.
I wanted to commend James Jacobs on the excellent editorial in Dungeon #144 about "transvirtual" role-players, i.e. guys who play girls (or vice versa). Like James, I too am a transvirtual, which often earns me strange looks from gamers and non-gamers alike. In fact, many seem to think that because I often roleplay female characters, that must mean I'm in the closet. In truth, it is quite the opposite. I roleplay female characters because I find women attractive (and judging by the fact that Tyrlandi was inspired by the iconic female cleric of Wee Jas fan art, I suspect James might have similar attitudes). That's my 2 cp for now.
So how did Yuathyb contract the Vanishing? None of his (or the dark creepers') items are infected.
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