Cojonuda's page

Mr. Jacobs,
Hi. Thanks for your last response :)

I have a question on regards to flanking condition. Even though there are extensive messages on this (and several are contradicting), I will like to hear from source.

Scenario (all medium creatures and 5' sqrs):

A|B|C
D|E|F
H|I|G

If E is the target, then:
D+B and D+C are not in flank position. Is this correct?

My apologies for the silly question.

Does TWF combined with a two-handed weapon allows you the -2 penalty on both attacks?

Mr. Jacobs,
Hi. Is there a price tag for dragons? In the game I am running the party killed a feral adult Bronze dragon. They are wondering how much they can sell the whole beast. Just in case, I already found how much armor can be made out of the hide.

THX

In the race, how would you treat Invisible Stalkers (air elemental)? Would the Pc's be able to discern their shape and see them b/c is raining and water is delineating their shape?

Would they get minuses to Stealth?

and/or

Would they get concealment (20%) or total concealment (50%)?

and/or

What would the DC for Perception be once on the ship (still 42)?

If the Stalkers are Water Elementals,

My players have been capturing ships and recruiting a lot of sailors. The rules make it difficult to sink ships so when it comes to ship to ship combat they trounce the opposition presented in the books (finishing Raiders on the Fever Sea) and take their crew and ships.

This is making them become pretty high powered. I want them to feel like heroes but I feel like the AP isn't challenging them. Especially developing a fleet so early. Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

I agree with Riggler. Yes, this AP makes it hard to sink ships.

- I talked to my players about what this AP is about and the others. I told them is too early for a fleet and talked to them about the hindrance of having too many ships in terms of upkeep/plunder.

- They have been getting several ships (I hate Make Whole spell). I always make sure to only leave behind some NPC's of the captured ship. This makes it difficult/impossible for the PC's to man more than 2 ships at once. If things get out of control in terms of them figuiring out a way to man them, then the Kraken will dispose of one of them or mutiny or have 3 Cheliax Man-o-War ships hunt them down (which fits w/ the AP).

You can always find ways reduce the number of ships.

I think the developers did not took this fact into account in terms of how easy is to get/defeat ships.

Hmm, I keep trying to find this thread but it's not stickied for me like the 5 other GM Reference threads, and when I post to it it doesn't move up to the top of the threads for me.

Is this just a problem for me, or does anyone else have this problem?

not on my end

Mr. Jacobs,
After what distance you start applying the Perception DC modifiers (+1/10'). Is it after 30' or 120' (I used max range increment for heavy xbow).

No luck finding a concrete answer on the message boards.

THX

Hmm... players never had more than app. 50 men under their control (in the whole campaign) with NPC/people drifting on and off. Main fighting force : the characters themselves. Also recruiting in one harbour depleted the pool of "possible compatriots" there and then, and everyone was extra- wary of not hiring possible Chelian agents.

Also - never taking more than one extra ship under their command, usually. They might simply have feared another "Mutiny" moment from one of the sub-ordinates. Shifty pirates and all !

I told my PC's that towards the end they will be getting more ships as part of the AP so no need to have an armada rightnow. I mentioned to keep 1 extra ship b/c the more they have the more they spend on fees, crew, etc. and more likely they will be attacked more and loose those extra ships. All those extra NPC's are fighting in the background and not engaging the bosses.

Sent you a PM re the maps, etc. Yeah, I have allowing them to recruit in the ports as well as from the crews, but not many at any one location.

hi..got your PM..but sent you the wrong file :P

DM's...I made several side quests (8) that include treasure maps, island maps, etc. If interested shoot me an email and I will share it.

For those of you who are beginning this book, I made a flow chart of people, etc. for Part Two only since it is a bit "convoluted". If interested I can share (send me email). I had to do it for me so I can keep a better track of the AP.

My group has done a good job at recruiting new crew and are at around 75 now.

WOW...75!!!! I guess I am being too hard on my PC's although since they have 2 ships their numbers will rise to 68 between both ships (full crew)

Cojonuda wrote:

PAIZO. Can you explain why we have to spent $399 on minis before being able to purchase this dragon?

I do not mind being forced to buy 1-2 boosters but a case!!!!

It's called a "case incentive" because it's an incentive for buying a case.

Also, it's available from other places without the necessity of buying a whole case that you can get one pretty easily outside of Paizo.

-Skeld

Edit: also, if you wait a few months, you can buy it from Paizo without buying a whole case.

Skeld,

PAIZO. Can you explain why we have to spent $399 on minis before being able to purchase this dragon?

I do not mind being forced to buy 1-2 boosters but a case!!!!

I ran the encounter with the Devil's Pallor tonight and the party attacked with both of their ships. They took out Svard and stopped the Sea Chanty from getting away. Upon finding out that they were Sargavian the captain and crew elected to repair her ship and escort her to Bloodcove and let them go in an attempt to gain favor with Sargava. This could play well later. However as they stocked up on rations and water I could not use needing fresh water to set up the Dominator encounter so I will have to run it later. I ran the first two nights of For Whom the Bell Tolls instead and broke for the night.

My players so far are attacking anything that moves regardless of country. They captured both ships but I managed to leave alive enough crew to skeleton 2 and not 3 ships. They salvaged the third ship.

Cojonuda wrote:

Mr. Jacobs,

Hi.
Secret Page spell.

Can you use UMD (activate blindly) to determine the secret word?

I understand you can do it with a wand, scroll or other items that were created with a magic Item Creation Feat (ICF). But, if someone casted the spell on a simple love letter (for example) or on an item not created with ICF, would it be considered a magic item and UMD can be used.

I searched the message boards and Rules forum with no luck.

A secret page isn't technically a magic item—it's a spell effect. So I would say no.

Thank you as always!!!!

Mr. Jacobs,
Hi.
Secret Page spell.

Can you use UMD (activate blindly) to determine the secret word?

I understand you can do it with a wand, scroll or other items that were created with a magic Item Creation Feat (ICF). But, if someone casted the spell on a simple love letter (for example) or on an item not created with ICF, would it be considered a magic item and UMD can be used.

I searched the message boards and Rules forum with no luck.

Hi Laithoron. Thanks for clarifying. Actually, the Letter of Marque on AP 57 (page 11) mentions the spell.

I agree, it does not belong here but on Tempest Rising (GM Reference) :)

How can I retrieve it since I do not see the Delete option :(

Secret Page spell description:

"A comprehend languages spell alone cannot reveal a secret page's contents. You are able to reveal the original contents by speaking a special word. You can then peruse the actual page and return it to its secret page form at will. You can also remove the spell by double repetition of the special word. A detect magic spell reveals dim magic on the page in question but does not reveal its true contents. True seeing reveals the presence of the hidden material but does not reveal the contents unless cast in combination with comprehend languages. A secret page spell can be dispelled, and the hidden writings can be destroyed by means of an erase spell."

If a regular item is protected with the secret page spell (like a letter of Marque):

1) is it considered a "magic item"?
2) can Use Magic Device (Activate Blindly) be used if the item in question is considered a magic item or not?

I am confused b/c the spell description tells how to go around it.

Thanks brvheart. They can cast make whole. That is how they went around Event 12 since it was not jammed but destroyed.

Mancatcher: looks very deadly especially towards the end. The swarm in in area D18 is just doing guard duty and being fed? If not molested would they attack?

Laithoron...thanks. Most likely the players will think in the line of making the rudder not operational at all :)

If disabling a rudder from the outside of the ship, how would you consider it? Difficult or Extreme in terms of the skill (Disable Device).

Hi Vikingson...thanks for the information.
On PFSRD I found that Wood has 10HP/inch. I'll crunch numbers.

thanks again!!!!!!!

Hi James,

Assassin's Death Attack:

Can an assassin use all of its attacks/round (lets say a Rogue 4/Assassin2 with TWF) to do a Death Attack? If so, then the foe has to make one or more FOR saves to prevent dying or becoming paralyzed.

Thanks.

Any idea how many HP does the rudder has? PC's captured a ship w/the destroyed rudder (Event 12). They have Make Hole but it is 1d6/lvl.

70-80 HP?

Laithoron,
Thanks. Yes, I overthink sometimes which does not help :)

Hi Ferri...that is what I planned on doing...my concern is if the PC's decide to help the NPC's then I have to give additional XP...but is doable...we game tomorrow and we will have a housekeeping session (30 minutes) to go over this and naval combat and establish some common ground to speed things up.

Hi ferri,
I agree the PC's fight the Cpt and other Major NPC's

However, when the PC's and 7 crew members boarded Whalebone's ship, there was no enemy crew to fight in the background. The monsters the PC's had to face "alone" where Whalebone and the zombies.

In this case how can this be avoided. I do not want to tell them: "you can't do it" because is their crew.

Hi fellow DM's.

I need some help here. The PC's they have their own ship with a crew of 39. I modified (house ruled) the boarding party attacks. While the PC's are fighting the enemy marines/captain/monster (if any), both the crew sailors (from PC and NPC ships) will be fighting in the background and at random round rounds I roll to see how many die on each side.

This has not happened yet. The PC's have boarded some ships (Event 11 and Event 14) with their crew and have engaged the enemy. For these two events the enemy ships do not have crew sailors to fight the PC's crew (they are Level 2 fighters) in the background. Needless to say their APL go down, the encounter's difficulty increases (by 1 step), and they should receive less XP. I have been giving full XP and just using the APL of the PC's only b/c since Wormwood Mutiny I house ruled that their crew will not gain XP points.

So I hope you realize that it takes a bit of the fun away from a DM point of view in terms of having more men fighting (instead of being 5 PC's vs 1 monster it becomes 5PCs+5NPC's vs 1). Only 1 crew sailor has died.

Most importantly, I do not want to take the fun away form the PC's in using their crew. I like that they put in harms way their crew fighting a CR 6 creature.

How can I mitigate this w/o hindering the flow of the encounter and the fun? I want the CR to stay the same when the PC board with crew sailors and the enemy ship has no crew!!!

The only thing I can come up with is to add ad-hoc sailors (to make an Average encounter) to fight JUST the PC crew. This will not influence the CR of the encounter. My only concern is if the PC's decide to help the NPC's.

Any suggestions?
the crew so they are busy in the background.

Mr. Jacobs,
Can the onset time of a any poison be changed from rounds/minutes to 1 or more days? If so, what would the DC on Craft be?

Thanks.

1) True seeing would work, I would say. There could be other methods as well, depending on your preference. The whole point is that they should be creepy, and if allowing the PCs to notice a haunt before it manifests or to identify its powers via, say, a Perception check or a Knowledge (religion) check increases the creepy factor, by all means do it!

2) Correct.

3) Your chair is a magic item guarded by a monster. No haunts or curses involved.

Hi James,

Uri,
Thanks!!!! I was thinking of a Knowledge or Craft but you are right. It is a trap :)

Thanks again

Hi fellow DM's.
Question:
1) In Part 3 (area B2), the PC's need to replace the Eye of Dagon w/ something of exactly the same weight. What skill is the best to determine this and why?

Thanks.

Hi James,
I really liked the Tale :)

I understand you position.

THX!!!!!

Mike

Hi James,
When it comes to monster CR's. What is the proper CR "conversion"? Lets say you have a CR 6 monster capable of casting 1 spell/day. If I want to increase that to 3 spells per day how it will translate to CR? Instead of spells, lets say I give the monster a +1 or +2 weapon or a magical item or an extra feat. How does CR translates?

Reason I ask is b/c sometimes I do not want to use templates and want to add things I find challenging but do not know how to adjudicate a fair and proper CR.

Can I do the same thing to NPC's?

Thanks.

Hi

1)what level would Torius Vin and Celeste (Moon Naga) be?
2)what is Torius class? Pirate or Swasbuckler prestige (he never "sneak attack") or just a plain old fighter?
3) could not find any stat on a Moon Naga in the PFSRD site. Any ide/suggestion?

I am planning on incorporating them to this AP.

Have any of you read Pirates Honor (PF Tale):

1)what level would Torius Vin and Celeste (Moon Naga) be?
2)what is Torius class? Pirate or Swasbuckler prestige (he never "sneak attack") or just a plain old fighter?
3) could not find any stat on a Moon Naga in the PFSRD site. Any ide/suggestion?

I am planning on incorporating them to this AP.

Fitz,
Hi. They have 1 ship but the suggestions of getting another one and loosing it sounds good.

The idea is to have the mutineers not keep the PC's ship...is more of a flavour aspect to have the PC leave the group rather than: once you got to port, John Doe resigned and left the crew.

THX for the suggestion!!!!!!!!!

Hi James,
Poltergeists are undead with Natural Invisibility and are Site Bound.

Does Detect Magic work on them? Can DM detect NI? Can DM detect to what item they are bound?

Thanks.

Sounds like you have it worked out, especially with 39 crew.

Yep...thanks for your help.

Cojonuda wrote:

Hi James,

I want to add a template (slime zombie from Tome of Horrors Complete) to a cockroach swarm.

The template states that: "The creature’s type changes to plant. It loses any subtypes it has, such as alignment subtypes (such as good) and subtypes that indicate kind (such as goblinoid or reptilian)."

Does this mean that it looses the swarm template (if so then I can not add this template)?

THX

The first rule of applying templates should be "Don't make changes that don't make sense." A swarm that doesn't have the swarm subtype isn't a swarm, so don't remove that when you add a template that normally removes subtypes if you want the templated creature to still be a swarm.

Thank you!!!! :)

Hi James,
I want to add a template (slime zombie from Tome of Horrors Complete) to a cockroach swarm.

The template states that: "The creature’s type changes to plant. It loses any subtypes it has, such as alignment subtypes (such as good) and subtypes that indicate kind (such as goblinoid or reptilian)."

Does this mean that it looses the swarm template (if so then I can not add this template)?

THX

vikingson/brvheart

The PC's crew is currently 39 NPC's. The owe a medium sized Carrack.

I think the way I did it is ok. Have some NPC's (depending on how many the Cpt wants) to deal with the fire(s).

THX

On Council of Thieves (#30)The Twice-Damned Prince, a Bag of Holding can be used to put out fires. A Type-I extinguish 3x3 square area which translates roughly to 36 buckets of water (using AP #30 "conversions") = 72 gallons of water.

How long does it take to fill a BoH-I with water (36 buckets)? Filling a single bucket is a move action.

Also, how does water retrieving works? It is not a solid object. Is it a move, standard, full round action.

Thanks Jacobs.

PS: I checked the Twice-Damned Prince (GM Reference) forum with no luck.

brvheart
Thanks!!!!

brvheart
thanks. So the key is the crew available. If the whole crew is available then is the whole crew?

Scenario:

The Ravenous has a crew of 40 without the officers. The main deck is struck by a flaming arrow (not the spell). Next round the 5 foot square catches fire (failed safe). The whole crew (40 sailors) rush over to extinguish the flames as the ship gains the Uncontrolled action.

Does this makes sense?

Bzali's approach seems more "reasonable".

I am still a bit confused. I think is the wording used in the PG.

PS:
I found the "Catastrophe!” article in Pathfinder Adventure Path #30: The Twice-Damned Prince. It has the rules on fire spread (more than 1 square/round) and the means on how to extinguish it (buckets, waterskins, bag of holding, etc.). I can share it.

James,
Hi. Thanks for all your help!!!

When a wooden floor or ship's deck is on fire, the damage is 2d6/round on a failed safe.

1) The damage is always 2d6 regardless if 1 square or 20 squares caught fire?

2) Is this damage cumulative (spreading fire on a deck or floor)? Lets say first round 1 fire arrow ignited the wooden floor and next round 10 fire arrows ignited another section of the floor (10 new squares). Is it still 2d6 for all squares on fire?

Many thanks.

FIRE!!!!

Last night the ship's main deck caught fire (only 5 squares). The S&SPG (page 16)states that:

" Once a ship has caught fire, it automatically takes 2d6 points of fire damage per round (ignoring hardness) as the fire spreads. The ship’s crew can attempt to extinguish the flames as a full-round action for the entire crew, allowing the ship to make a Reflex save (DC 15 + the number of rounds the ship has been on fire)."

1) Does this makes sense? The entire crew!?!?! We had this scenario last night in which their ship caught fire (5 adjacent squares). I ruled for that particular fire that it was ok not to use the whole crew (since half of it boarded another ship). Any RAW on this?

2) The automatic damage is for each square? I rolled 2d6 for the 5 squares.

3) How many squares per round does the fire spreads??

Hi James

1) If you have a recurring foe, lets say that my group encounters John Doe in 3 different occasions, do they get XP 3 times as if defeating him 3 times even though he is a recurring NPC???

2) If this same John Doe has a ship, does the PC's get extra XP also for defeating the ship or the ship gets "calculated" in the CR of John Doe??

Is there any RAW on this?

Thanks as always.